Modus Operandi and Signature

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Well, I've never broken anybody's neck before, but I'm fairly certain that it would be an easily doable thing. Jack used a lot of force with that knife, both for slashing the throat and cutting open the abdomen, I'm sure he could've snapped a neck with relative ease and do the job properly. It would've been a lot quicker and spared him quite a bit of time in order to carry out the mutilations; all he'd have to do is talk nicely in the spot, catch them completely offguard and break their neck, vóla. Would've been over in seconds.

[CLK]

Perhaps strangling his victims was something he enjoyed doing.

[Mascara & Paranoia]

That's a valid point. Kind of lends credence to his killings being an odd sexual thing too.

[BLUE WIZZARD]

Mascara & Paranoia,

what you say is true, however neck breaking is a skill you have to know how to do it, not just anyone can do it. now if Jack did break the neck before gutting then he would have to be a man of more than just gutting knowledge.

BW

[Sam Flynn]

Well, I've never broken anybody's neck before, but I'm fairly certain that it would be an easily doable thing.

I wouldn't bet on it - certainly not as easy as slitting their throat with a razor-sharp knife, nor as quick. Plus, breaking the neck would leave more blood inside the body, in contrast to the massive drainage of blood that would result from a severed carotid artery. Happily - from Jack's point of view - his method meant that the mutilations and organ extractions would be comparatively less bloody. Anyone who had slaughtered a domestic animal, or had seen it done (i.e. a majority of working-classes at that time), would have known as much - so it doesn't necessarily follow that he'd have had any "specialist" knowledge of butchery either.

[Mascara & Paranoia]

No disrespect intended, but I just don't see how that's necessarily true. Breaking a neck is a lot easier than cutting a throat down to the vertebrae. Like I said, Jack was quick and used a hell of a lot of force, snapping a neck would've been piss easy I'd have thought. I just don't buy into the breaking of necks being a science; be it in a chokehold and jerking the victims' head back or holding both sides of their face and snapping it forcibly to the side, it would've been over in less than 5 seconds.

What I'm getting at is, why would Jack prefer to strangle and cut his victims' throats (which is a little time-consuming) if there were much easier and quicker options, unless he enjoyed it? If he was solely in it for the abdominal mutilations (and later facial), then I wouldn't have thought he'd waste any time (and risk being caught) killing his victims in a complicated way when he could've gotten it over and done with instantly before starting on the body work. The throat cutting (and in some of his victims' cases, strangulation) was something he also probably enjoyed doing.

@ Sam: I agree completely that slashing the throat would get rid of the majority of the blood in his victims' bodies and in doing so would make it less likely for him to get as bloody while performing the mutilations, in fact I said the same thing myself a couple of posts back. I just think Jack may have enjoyed cutting their throats and strangling them too.

[Sox]

I simplify all this into 'what he does' & 'what he needs'.

What he does: Possibly engages the victim in conversation, an offer of business would seem most likely, but not certainly. Uses a sudden attack if the opportunity presents itself, strangles the victim to shut off any cries, and once she is unconsious he lowers her to the floor (if the struggle has not already placed her there). Time is of the essence, so he cuts her throat to be sure she will remain silent.

What he needs: Broadly speaking he attacks the 'woman', sexual areas are paramount to his needs, and if he see's what HE percieves to be a trace of beauty, then he eradicates it.

I do not see the death of the victim as being important to him in the slightest, in fact I would be surprised if all the victims were in fact dead when he commenced the mutilations.

[DarkPassenger]

The real clue lies in why he was doing it, which sounds obvious but until we know that, we can't interpret anything.

[protohistorian]

We can interpret the killers physical actions on the victim without positing why. He most certainly used some internal criteria when deciding what to do. Respectfully Dave