I saw a topic on Historum on Jack the Ripper and commented that my theory is that JTR was Mary Jane Kelly but they weren't interested in knowing my evidences so I thought I would repost my list of evidences that JTR was MJK which I once posted in the Casebook forum. Also some of the comments in Historum said they thought that the JTR case was solved re the shawl Kosminski DNA evidence from a few years ago, so I will post a list of reasons why Kosminski doesn't seem very likely to be JTR.
List of my evidences for Jack the Ripper being Mary Jane Kelly:
No other very likely suspect:
- I read through the 200 pages post-mortem, police & inquest/court cases records and saw no common thread until I got to the MJK case and then it seemed to make some possible sense.
- I went through all the many JTR suspects (including those in the Wikipedia list of JTR suspects and some other suspects not listed there) and none of the other suspects seemed to be very likely for various reasons.
- Every other possibility I have considered falls apart, while this one makes the most sense (though there is possibly maybe some uncertainty on whether JTR was MJK or someone connected with MJK or Eddowes, &/or ...).
- The Mary Jane Kelly (and Eddowes?) is/are the only one(s) of the 11 WC/JTR murders that stand(s) out in various ways. (Also note: Eddowes is also connected with persons/names Jane Kelly and John Kelly and Mary Ann Kelly, and with Dorset St, and with face mutilation.)
Possible fake identity of the MJK victim:
- The mutilation of the body of the "Mary Jane Kelly" victim all seems to fit mutilating/removing all identifiers of body. The clothes were removed, unlike the other JTR/WC murders. Clothes/stuff was burnt, like when destroying evidence? (Compare Stewart says the murderess burnt her own clothes in the grate & made her escape wearing Kelly's clothes.
Compare "the crimes ended because of the culprit's death"?)
- "The body said to be hers was mutilated beyond recognition so there is no way to say 100% it was her."
- "MJK" was only identified (by Barnett) by an ear & eyes.
- Barnett (also a JTR suspect) gave his evidence very well, like as if maybe he was prepared?
- MJK was seen independently by two witnesses the day after the murder wearing clothes that were not hers.
- MJK was seen talking with an Jewish man before the murder in a way which seemed like maybe he was going to help her with something big/good (like disappearing?) ["you will be alright for what I have told you", puts right hand on shoulder].
Name Jack(y):
- The name "(Saucy) Jacky" may indicate a female (like the name Jackie).
- "Jack(y)" could be from the first two letters of Jane and the first and last letters of Kelly. (MJK was sometimes known as "Jane Kelly".) Or the name could be from JK refering to John Kelly (who MJK was related to)?
- JTR shown with "a moustache and a big floppy hat", which seems like disguise to hide a woman.
Times coincidences:
- "witnesses who sighted her (MJK) on Dorset Street at seemingly impossible times".
- MJK is the last of the 5 canonical murders.
- The police said the vigilance group's services were no longer required after the MJK murder, and they removed the extra police at/about same time too. "The great hush after MJK"?
(Compare that the "crimes ended because of the culprit's death"?)
Location:
- She was in whitechapel.
- An article posted in a forum said JTR must've been in or familiar with Spitalfields (which is where MJK was).
"All the identified victims lived in the heart of the rookery in Spitalfields, including three in George Street (later named Lolesworth Street), two in Dorset Street, two in Flower and Dean Street and one in Thrawl Street." "All roads lead to Dorset Street". MJK was in Dorset street, Spitalfields.
- "By using the latest geographical profiling techniques based on the locations of the Ripper’s five victims, experts believe the Victorian serial killer lived in Flower and Dean Street in London’s notorious East End." "All the victims lived very close to Flower and Dean Street."
MJK lived in Dorset Street which is only two streets away from Flower & Dean Street on the other side of a main road.
- JTR letter said "from Hell". Compare "Whitechapel was considered to be the most notorious criminal rookery in London. The area around Flower and Dean Street was described as "perhaps the foulest and most dangerous street in the whole metropolis". Dorset Street was called "the worst street in London". JTR must have been in Whitechapel area. MJK was in Dorset Street.
- Hanbury/Harbury Street where Chapman died is near MJK's room in Spitalfields on map.
- "DNA from one of the Ripper letters was female."
MJK was a female.
- Anatomical/surgical knowledge may fit with MJK being a woman (a woman might have female anatomical knowledge?) & "an excellent scholar" & an artist.
- Women can multi-task unlike men (re expert-like surgical speed).
- She was an aritist which might connect with adept with a knife and/or with writing in blood etc?
- Her father was in the iron works which might connect with very sharp knife of JTR?
- A woman may have escaped notice/suspicion because people/witnesses at scene would have naturally been sub/consiously more on lookout for man. Likewise a woman would be more trusted and less suspected by the victims (and cancels strong enough to man-handle?)
- The language of the JTR postcard/letters/graffitio ("cuss", "Mister Lusk", etc) seems like either a lower/working class or a youth or a female. (May also fit with MJK speaking Welsh?)
- "The writing analysis said that the person wrote as if they were from Ireland." "An Irish dialect could be detected in one of the letters".
"MJK spoke frequently about how much she wants to go back home to Ireland."
Psychological character/nature
- Seems strange the table behind door in MJK's room?
- MJK said "whatever you do don't turn out like me".
- MJK always seen with a spotless white apron.
- MJK was "superior to that of most persons in her position in life", & very "quiet" [and often people claim that it is the quiet ones that are the real bad ones.] "Her origins are obscure & undocumented".
- JTR was "some independent genius", MJK was "superior to that of most persons in her position in life", a scholar and an artist.
- JTR letter said "I'm not a Yid (Jew) nor yet a foreign skipper but I'm your own light-hearted friend", which fits someone like MJK (who was a prostitue etc).
- Perhaps the Juwes graffito and Jewish man MJK was seen talking with before the murder have a connection? MJK was a scholar so may have known the Yiddish/Masonic spelling Juwes?
- MJK was at 13 Miller's Court, and is also connected with Room 13? 13 is a "bad" number.
Others who openly agree or seemingly secretly agree:
- AC Doyle suggested a female JTR ("Jill the Ripper").
- Someone else has already proposed MJK [for some same reasons.]
- Certain MJK case papers went missing and they were only returned in 1987 on the 100th anniversary of JTR. ("a century after the murder Harrison & Paley ....")
- Why did the police say the vigilance group's services were no longer required after the MJK murder, and why did they remove the extra police at/about same time too. ("The great hush after MJK"?)
- In the American "JTR" murder case notes it was said JTR was still in London.
- "Sickert stayed in a room that JTR said to have once stayed in" (which sounds like maybe MJK's room in Dorset Street?)
- Puck poster has a woman-like person in top right hand corner with a knife?
- "A relative who grew up in the area of the killings in the 1920's was adamant that 'everyone knew Mary Jane Kelly was the Ripper'".
Possible motive:
- I'm not sure of what her possible motive(s) may have been except for vague ideas which I can't crystalise and put into words, but as a prostitute in that "hell" place she could have had motive(s) for killing those other prostitues.
- "The murders drew attention to the poor living conditions in the East End slums...." (May indicate that JTR was in Whitechapel, and was a prostitute, and a possible motive?)
For all these reasons I think MJK is a good candidate suspect for being JTR and she should at least be included in the list of main suspects.
-----
List of evidences against Kosminski being Jack the Ripper:
- Kosminski has no match for the name "Jack(y)", his name was Aaron Mordke Kosminski (&/or "Abrahams"). (Though it is believed that the JTR letters were fakes written by a journalist.)
- JTR letter said "I'm not a Yid (Jew) nor yet a foreign skipper but I'm your own light-hearted friend", but Kosminski was a Jew and a foreigner (Polish). (Though it is believed that the JTR letters were fakes written by a journalist.)
- The shawl DNA evidence is only one evidence, where are all the other evidences that Kosminski was JTR (apart from Anderson's evidence)? Edwards says he doesn't wish to find any more evidence. His "sense of disbelief"? And one of the 3 articles writers saying "nothing left to solve/no more evidence/no more leads to follow" all seems suspicious to me.
- The DNA evidence is only for one murder, what about the other 4/5/10 murders? (Though the alleged 2 shawl dates connect with 1/2 other murders.)
- Apart from the Shawl DNA evidence another different DNA evidence is "DNA from one of the Ripper letters was female". (Though it is believed that the JTR letters were fakes written by a journalist.)
- Kosminski was largely "harmless" at the asylum.
- "The mutilation of a human creates a tremendous mess and the killer would be covered in blood. Aaron lived with his brother and sister who would clearly would be aware that their brother was guilty of murder when returning home."
- The police didn't have enough evidence to convict/connect Kosminski.
- Seems maybe suspicious that the Kosminski DNA evidence news broke in 2014 just after I published my JTR is MJK evidence in 2013/2014?
- The 2006 shawl test was inconclusive.
- "FBI profiler John Douglas states that a paranoid individual such as Kosminski would likely have openly boasted of the murders while incarcerated had he been the killer, but there is no record that he ever did so".
- The 5 canonical JTR murders start in Aug 88 and end in Nov 88 (and the police closed the case after MJK, the Vigilance group was disbanded, and extra police removed), but Kosminski wasn't put in asylum until 1891, and the 5 canonical murders are different to the others before and after (to 1891).
- "No peer review"? (Though "A peer-reviewed article on the DNA analysis was published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2019". But "Scientists from Innsbruck Medical University criticised the paper and its conclusions, substantiating that there were mistakes and (mis)assumptions made by its authors, and the journal printed an expression of concern.")
- the authors were unable to produce the original data.
- Kosminski wouldn't have anatomical knowledge (& surgical speed)? (Though barbers/hairdressers shared same guild as surgeons.)
- "Many consider it conjecture without substantial evidence that the shawl, allegedly taken from the crime scene by police constable Amos Simpson, even belonged to Eddowes...." They say that Eddowes was too poor to own the expensive shawl.
- Kosminski was under surveilance/monitoring. (Kosminski "had been watched at his brother's home in Whitechapel by the police".)
- "Macnaghten stated that no one was ever identified as the Ripper, which directly contradicts Anderson's recollection."
- The shawl was supposed to be "soaked in blood", and "unwashed", yet there were only some spots/stains?
- The shawl DNA may not belong to Eddowes and to Kosminski. The shawl dna & test is disputed as being tenuous and doubtful/unreliable. Dna maybe can be deceptive/misleading (misinterpreted, contaminated, planted, shared by or common to more than one related persons)? ("Mitochondrial DNA can be shared by thousands of individuals and, therefore, can be reliably used in crime analysis only to exclude suspects, not to implicate them". "Jeffreys and others later stated that a claim presented in the book as a statistically significant match with the DNA from Eddowes's descendant—a sequence variation described as 314.1C and claimed to be rare—was the result of an error in nomenclature for the common sequence variation 315.1C, which is present in more than 99% of people of European descent." Mitochondrial DNA expert Peter Gill said the shawl "is of dubious origin and has been handled by several people who could have shared that mitochondrial DNA profile". "The shawl or other material could have been contaminated before or while DNA was being tested; two of Eddowes's descendants are known to have been in the same room as the shawl for three days in 2007, and in the words of one critic, 'The shawl has been openly handled by loads of people and been touched, breathed on, spat upon'.") The DNA if it is Kosminski's could have got there in other ways like maybe he was a client of the prostitute.
- How did they know that the dna was Kosminski's in that they had to find a near relative of Kosminski from over a 100 years ago?
- It seems doubtful that he (JTR / Kosminski) would "leave it (the scarf/shawl) as an obscure clue of where he was going to strike next".
- It seems strange that the DNA result just happened to agree with the Ripperologist's favoured suspect?
- It seems abit doubtful why the policeman took the shawl and give the shawl to his wife?
- The way one of the 3 Pro-Kosminski articles writers wrote insulting amateurs/etc makes me suspicious ("obsessive", "delights to debunk", "junk", "empty and ... worthless" "faux-scientific", "anguished denial", "peevishly dismissed", "flimsy", "desperate claim", "fevered", coupled with the also maybe-suspicious "JFK shot by lone misfit" comment).
- Edwards saying Kosminski was "a pathetic creature" / "lunatic" rings suspicious to me.
- What was Kosminski's motive/motivation (as Edwards says/implies himself even)?
- Why did the MJK papers go missing until 1987 (a century after 1888)?
- Was Kosminski strong enough? ("His poor diet seems to have kept him in an emaciated state for years; his low weight was recorded in the asylum case notes. By February 1919, he weighed just 96 pounds (44 kg).")
- Kosminski doesn't fit the language of the JTR letters? (Though it is believed that the JTR letters were fakes written by a journalist.)
- It is possible Kosminski was confused with another Polish Jew of the same age named Aaron David Cohen or David Cohen (real name possibly Nathan Kaminsky).
- "In the asylum, Kosminski preferred to speak his native language, Yiddish, which indicates that his English may have been poor, and that he was unable to persuade English-speaking victims into dark alleyways, as the Ripper was supposed to do."
- "Some authors express scepticism that this identification (of Kosminski as the Ripper) ever happened.... For example, Donald Rumbelow thought the story unlikely...."
- The shawl DNA may not be Kosminski's. ".... Figure 7 of the same paper shows two differences between the suspect candidate's mtDNA sequence and the sequence obtained from the shawl, and in their conclusion the authors state, 'According to the SWGDAM 2013 guidelines, if samples have two or more nucleotide position differences, they can be excluded as coming from the same source or maternal lineage, except when heteroplasmy is encountered." There is no suggestion that heteroplasmy is present.'"
So for all these reasons I think the shawl DNA evidence is not good enough proof that Kosminski was JTR.
