Jack the Ripper is one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world of true crime due to his brutality and viciousness. He was the first serial killer recorded in the UK and is one of the most notorious killers in the world. The details of his particular case are disturbing and will not be fully discussed, but there is a warning for explicit content ahead.
The murders of Jack the Ripper first started in London, England, in August of 1888. His first victim was Mary Ann Nicholes, a woman who had been hitting rock bottom and resorted to prostitution to provide for herself.
According to thehistorypress.co.uk, “At 2:30 a.m., an acquaintance encountered her, drunk and staggering in the darkness…At 3:45 am, two men walking west along Buck’s Row saw what they thought might have been an abandoned [tarp] lying on the footpath. Closer inspection showed that it was the body of a woman.”
Nicholes was murdered in a gruesome way; beyond her throat being cut, she also had lacerations to her abdomen, causing her intestine to be visible. Due to the brutality of the murder, it became incredibly eye-opening for women around the surrounding area.
The next victim of Jack the Ripper was Annie Chapman. She had been raised in wealth and had been living quite comfortably until about the 1880s. In 1880, her money had dwindled, and she became malnourished.
According to thehistorypress.co.uk, “On Sept. 8, Annie’s body was discovered in the unsecured yard behind 29 Hanbury Street and, as before, no sign of the perpetrator.”
The third victim of Jack the Ripper was Elizabeth Stride. She had been a prostitute as well. She hadn’t been mutilated as the other victims before her, and many wondered why the perpetrator had decelerated this murder. They soon found their answer when another body was found.
Catherine Eddowes was found brutally murdered only forty-five minutes after the body of Stride had been found.
The last murder of Jack the Ripper was Mary Jane. She, much like the other victims, had also been a prostitute. The difference about this murder was it happened inside Mary’s room, with Jack the Ripper only previously killing his victims outside.
According to thehistorypress.co.uk, “Living upstairs, Elizabeth Prater heard a cry of murder at about four in the morning on Nov. 9, 1888 – but she did nothing about it. Mary Jane’s lifeless body was discovered shortly before eleven.” This was the most brutal murder of his yet. The murder’s identity also died that night, for there was no other murders believed to be connected to Jack the Ripper, however.
During the times of the murders, there had been notes dropped off at the police stations, though they had been discounted fairly quickly.
Though his identity remains a secret, his behavior can outline who he was, and by connecting his victims to his behavior, it can further show the mind of Jack the Ripper.
A practice called victimology helps to show a killer’s true behavior. Victimology is the study of the victims of a crime and the psychological effects it has on them.
According to fbi.gov, the patterns shown in the victimology of this case show the perpetrator had killed mainly prostitutes along with having a reputation for drinking. Although it is horrible and wrong, the murder of prostitutes is very common in the world.
According to aetv.com, “The sex worker serial murder victim isn’t just a stereotype—it’s a dominant demographic reality. According to a recent study, 22 percent of confirmed U.S. serial murder victims between 1970 and 2009 were known prostitutes. And those numbers are climbing—over the last decade, 43 percent of victims were sex workers. Considering that prostitutes make up just over 0.3 percent of the nation as a whole, those numbers are staggering.”
The killer known as Jack the Ripper can be profiled as being a white male in his mid to late 20s, due to most people in their area being of that race and this type of crime generally being interracial.
He had also been profiled as having a dominant mother and a “weak” father. This caused a build-up of anger toward women, which would have pushed him to “fantasize” about hurting women.
He likely would have been paranoid and asocial, preferring to be alone rather than being around others. He was most likely not married and probably talked to the police during the investigation. This type of killer would have liked to insert himself into the investigation and learn exactly what the police knew.
According to fbi.gov, there had been no sexual assault on the victim. The victims had been killed quite quickly, and all mutilation was done postmortem (after death). This shows he also had no need to sexualize these women but more the need to degrade and show dominance over them.
These murders are tragic and horrendous, but they present a chance to learn. It gives investigators a place to start when learning about serial killers and criminal profiling.
This article is purely for informational purposes and using true crime as entertainment is not the goal with this article.
