Originally posted by Michael W Richards
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I've already expressed my view on the issue of solicitation -- that the reality of it may not have mattered as much as the perception, if indeed it was a criteria for victim selection. Lots of killers choose victims via a desirable 'template' of one sort or another but also can be seen to diverge from these ideals, sometimes dropping these altogether when opportunity presents a victim and the urge to kill is greater than his preference.
Mary Kelly was indeed a good bit younger and prettier, but who knows, she might have fit the ideal in some other, less tangible way - the sound of her voice, the way she wore her hair. In any case, it was out with the entrails, wasn't it, and he could 'complete' (or 'exhaust') his desire to mutilate with unprecedented freedom.
I don't understood the "cookie cutter' sort of idea -- where it's proposed that because not all of the murders (and to a lesser degree, victims) were *exactly* alike, they *must* have been by different hands.
I challenge anyone to show me a list of victims from a killer we know about, which does not exhibit similar levels of variation from victim to victim. In many cases, both victims and MO vary far more widely than the murders ascribed to JtR!
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