Which Modern Era Killer Shares Most Similarity with Jack the Ripper?

[lynn cates]

codicil

Hello (yet again) Bridewell.

"If we accept that the FBI know what they're talking about, . . ."

Important codicil, that.

Cheers.
LC

[ChrisGeorge]

This is also taken from the FBI website:

Myth: Serial killers are all dysfunctional loners.

The majority of serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone. They are not monsters and may not appear strange. Many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities. Serial murderers often have families and homes, are gainfully employed, and appear to be normal members of the community. Because many serial murderers can blend in so effortlessly, they are oftentimes overlooked by law enforcement and the public.

Hi Bridewell

This fits the description of Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. Rader was a pillar of the community in Wichita, Kansas: husband, father, church leader, scout leader, who was respectably and gainfully employed as a local official. The man had an officious side to him but nobody suspected that he was the man who had tortured and killed ten people in Sedgwick County, Wichita, between 1974 and 1991.

Best regards

Chris

[Harry the Hawker]

thought experiment re similarities with Sutcliffe

The criminal career of Peter Sutcliffe has many similarities with that of JtR.
Sutcliffe victims were mostly prostitutes, who,he claimed,offended his morals to the point of indignant rage. I am certain Jack would may have rationalised his crimes in a similar fashion,but it might be more accurate to consider them convenient vessels of his innarticulated anger. The only real difference in the crimes is the level of mutilation and the removal of organs from victims bodies. Sutcliffe did not plunder his victims bodies,but Andre Chickatillo,who was a victim of psycho sexual problems, did.

After reading a couple of books on Sutcliffe (Wicked Beyond Belief and Someone's Husband, Someone's Son, both highly recommended), I was struck by the differences among the murders attributed to Sutcliffe (I am aware that there is a belief he didn't commit them all, but assuming for a moment that he did). Imagine also for a moment Sutcliffe wasn't caught (not such an outlandish proposition given the police invesitgation at the time, as outlined in the book Wicked Beyond Belief at any rate). Now imagine the discussions that would be raging on a site such as this dedicated to discussing the Yorkshire Ripper's crimes. I am convinced many people would (imo understandably) rule out Yvonne Pearson and Marguerita Walls as Ripper victims, owing to significant differences in MO. And probably a lot of people would (imo understandably) rule in Joan Harrison (whose murderer has postumously been identified by dna and a confession, according to a story on the BBC some time ago), on the grounds of striking similarities to two of the other murders (the bite on Helen Rytka and the boot mark on Emily Jackson). My point? Well, just a cautionary tale about assumptions - considering JtR after reading those books, I was more inclinded than ever to rule Tabram and Stride in. I am still generally so inclined, but in the awareness that there is so much we don't know, and any assumption must remain just that until proof can be found.

[Errata]

I'm going to throw out a vote for Ed Gein.

Obviously the two don't have a lot in common in MO or almost any other evidentiary capacity.

But we all get gut feelings about Jack the Ripper, things that just can't be proven by the evidence. Hinted at maybe, but never proven. For example, some people think Jack was schizophrenic. Some people think he was Jewish. Some think he had occupational anatomical knowledge. Some think he was a foreigner. Things about the case or society at the time can give us a handhold on a theory, but clearly never a good grip or we would have solved this.

Personally, I think he had a Mother. Like a Norman Bates Mother. I think Catherine Eddowes may have resembled her. I think that Jack had one of those awful worshipping/abusive/sexualized relationships like Ed Gein had. Jack took uteri. Gein had a box of vulvas. I think Jack was incapable of any type of normal sexual relationship because of his mother. I think he had the same hatred and undying adoration that Ed Gein had, and that it is the primary factor in his choice of victims and his methods.

I can't prove it. Never will be able to. But that's what my gut says, and so based on my perception of his inner workings, I gotta go with Ed Gein.

I think any choice as to who we think resembles Jack the most is probably more revealing of our characters than that of our choice of comparison. I'm just completely fascinated with the "why" of things. I don't even particularly care who Jack the Ripper was, I want to know why. I think people who support theories of a Jack with a mental illness are probably like me, but from a more... I don't know exactly how to say this but a more rigid perspective? Codified? Some people need or want to put this kind of behavior in a very well labelled box. He did this because of this etc. For some people, they don't consider a profile complete without that specific information. For others I think they find comfort in the idea that no killer acts in complete solitude, that there has to be some tacit permission from people who should know better. And who should have reported it. Personally, as someone with a mental illness, that kind of specificity doesn't really interest me other than that people be aware of how a disease actually works. Which is enlightened self interest really. I've had people back away from me before when they found out I was bipolar. I run after them screaming like a banshee. It's not nice, but it's fun. For me once the brain breaks, it doesn't really matter how. The knowledge doesn't let you predict behavior nor explain it.

For me, this is why this case is so fascinating. More than any other intellectual exercise, this case is a Rorschach test for the people who dabble in it. I see a box of vulvas. Someone else sees a pair of dead young lovers. Someone else sees male genitalia in a freezer. And for the year or so I've been on these boards, I've learned a lot about the case from you guys. But I've also learned a lot about myself and how I think from how I see the case.

[Harry the Hawker]

Great post, Errata. I like your thinking. My gut feeling is gentile, poor, socially dysfunctional but not strikingly so. Sure, there's a lot of rationalisation and subliminally internalised information going on behind that 'gut feeling' - maybe it's hardly worthy of the name any more - but that's what it is. (And of course it's super-generic. Could be anyone. But there you go.) Oh, and I am pretty damn well almost certain he had a moustache! ;o{

[Bridewell]

Hi Bridewell

This fits the description of Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. Rader was a pillar of the community in Wichita, Kansas: husband, father, church leader, scout leader, who was respectably and gainfully employed as a local official. The man had an officious side to him but nobody suspected that he was the man who had tortured and killed ten people in Sedgwick County, Wichita, between 1974 and 1991.

Best regards

Chris

It could also be said to fit John Wayne Gacy. His victims were male, but Gacy was a married man, with decent employment who became a Jaycee Vice President and, like Rader, was, for a long time, seen as the proverbial community pillar.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Bridewell]

John Cannan?

The Ripper was able to lull his victims into some kind of false sense of security, even in the middle of his own campaign. Cannan employed a different MO, but was undoubtedly possessed of a superficial charm, sufficient to lower the defences of several victims.

[Mort Belfry]

Forgive me if it's already been floated, but is it possible that the killer selected JonBenet as a target after going to one of her pageant shows?

[kensei]

I don't think anyone's mentioned the Texarkana Phantom Killer here yet. The way he stalked and preyed on people engaged in amorous activity- there's a hint of JTR in him, though Jack only attacked women and the Phantom attacked couples, which also links him to Son of Sam.

[RedBundy13]

Hookers

But the ripper killed prostitutes. Alot of the other killers mentioned did not, or mainly didnt.

[Penny_Dredfull]

Which Modern era killer shares most similarity with Jack the Ripper?

As has already been pointed out- depends what you mean by "modern". Joseph Vacher, the "French Ripper" of the 1890's is an obvious comparison, and a contemporary of JTR. Although Vacher's choice of victims ( young shepherds and shepherdesses), the rural setting and predilection for sodomy are points of difference, the throat cutting, sexualized knifing, disembowelment and mutilations are strikingly similar in nature.

[DVV]

Hi Penny Dredfull, very good post, you're right pointing out the differences and similarities between these two rippers. Certainly Vacher was a "necro-paedophile", which JtR was not, but throat-cutting and mutilations make them worth comparing.
Now, Vacher didn't take organs, if I'm correct. That is also a significant difference.

[Barnaby]

No one has mentioned the Gainesville Ripper, Danny Rolling. Similar in terms of the shock value in which he displayed his victims.

[clark2710]

Ok I'm going to put it out there, Gary Ridgeway the Green River Killer, he doesn't share all of the traits of JtR but he has a few