Do you think it was possible...

[Mitch Rowe]

Shuino, you might also remember that the very manner of mutilations was off the charts of what, then, was considered "a normal murder"..... whatever THAT is. Given that we NOW know these fellas look fairly normal (whatever THAT is) and the neighbors are always stunned that their good ole over-the-back-fence-chatting buddy was actually having his girlfriends as barbecue, the police in 1888 must have thought they were searching for the Wolfman! I'm really not making light of this, but considering some of the published "sketches" of the killer resemble Dracula without the bat wings, the cops just weren't in a mode to comprehend what was happening...actually no one was. So cut them some slack, please......no fingerprints, no DNA, no forensic anthropologists, no crime scene techs, not even a Polaroid camera...egad! Caught in the act, a REAL eyewitness, a surviving victim, or a talkative friend are just about the only options the cops had, and somehow, I DON'T think our little friend had many friends at all..........

Cheers,

Judy

I think it went down like this:
They rounded up the usual suspects and when that didnt work they checked out rumors like Pizer and when that didnt work they just started watching everyone. Doctors especially.After that. Any lead they could think of. Like Druitt. And nothing since has ever solved the mystery..

Why?

Because somehow he avoided their attention. He is either a complete nobody or he played some kind of trick on police to avoid their suspicion.
Im willing to bet at some point police were within sight of him on their normal investigations. He may have turned the other way or something. To avoid police on the street. Im sure he was reading the newspapers.

All you can really do in a case like JTR is hope for a solid clue or use profiling.
All we can do today is the same.

[Damien]

Hi

I agree in most parts with Mitch.

I think JtR was a nobody, a non-suspicious character nobody would think about. Most of the serial killers nowadays are of this kind, and I don`t see any reason not to assume this fact on previous killers in history.

In addition I think that the statements of the witnesses (or so called witnesses) could have complicated the case. The East End was an extreme melting pot of poorness, aggression and crime. Most of the statements given to the police would have been done for egoistic and selfish reasons - to blame the neighbour, the rivalry, the outsider, or just to be a hero for a day. The police spend a lot of time and energy on those statements - and the blamings in the daily press demotivated the force, too. There was no trust in the police.
I think trust in the police and the reaons for statements done by witnesses play an important role in solving a case like this without having the possibilities to take DNA, fingerprints and so on.

Damien

[aspallek]

Even if the police were convinced of the killer's identity, as some clearly were, they could have done nothing to hold him unless they had an eye-witness to the actual killing or possessed overwhelming incriminating circumstantial evidence. Fingerprints were not even admissible evidence yet in 1888.

[Mitch Rowe]

Even if the police were convinced of the killer's identity, as some clearly were, they could have done nothing to hold him unless they had an eye-witness to the actual killing or possessed overwhelming incriminating circumstantial evidence. Fingerprints were not even admissible evidence yet in 1888.

They may not have been able to arrest or hold him but I think I would be correct in assuming that if Abberline and his subordinates(Especially Thicke)were to come to the same conclusions as to who the Ripper was they would have put great pressure on this Man to confess or at least try to break him in some manner.

[YankeeSergeant]

Could they?

Shuino:
Certainly they could have caught him. I disagree with you about the training and discipline of the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard. For the tools and technology they had available, they were one of the better police forces in the world at the time. JACk the Ripper had the ability to disappear into the bowels of the city as it were. How many killers (AND other criminals) do so now in these days of DNA etc?.
AS others have stated, we really son't know that they didn't catch him and release him for a lack of proof. Neither do we know if he died or was committed to a lunatic asylum. That's one of the intrigguing aspect of the whole case. Kindest regards,