What's your profile for Jack?

[Busy Beaver]

My description of Jack would be:
White Male
Aged between 25-40
Unmarried
Knows his way very well around Whitechapel & Surrounding Areas
May have had an interest in the Dark Side
Possibly a Policeman
Works Shifts
Could be someone others would say, "No, not Him, you're having a laugh".
May have had a bit of a temper when provoked
Knew what he was doing and didn't want to be caught
Probably went to church on a Sunday

Busy Beaver

[Scorpio]

Suspect: Unknown. Aka ' Jack the Ripper '.

White Male
Age 25+
good physical condition
Resides/and or employed within 1.5 miles of primary crime scene ( George Yard).
High probability of assaults/threatening behaviour or petty crime predating homicide.
Probable animal cruelty.
working class or skilled working class professional.
Possible history of mental disturbance.
Drinks socially.
IQ within average range.
Established associate of prostitutes in WhiteChapel area.
Single or dysfunctional relationship/s.
Conventional appearance.

[Fisherman]

It isn't profiling when you actually know these things.

Mike

Touché, Mike!

Fisherman

[The Good Michael]

Wow, Mike, thatīs very detailed. I thought you were not into profiling much ...?

It isn't profiling when you actually know these things.

Mike

[Observer]

You know the more I look at Mr Potatohead the more I think of Lawende's man !

[Observer]

Incidently there is a thread here in Casebook which maintains that Vincent Van Gough was the Ripper, I wonder if I'm on to something?

[Deathtosnails]

I stand corrected

[Observer]

Oh I don't know DTS, have a look at this Van Gough, dated 1885, The Potato Eaters



Regars

Observer

[Deathtosnails]

He was 27
Height 5'9"
Weight, approx: 145
Occupation: Policeman
Father: a carnival clown who took his make-up and left when the boy was young
Mother: Remarried to a Sepoy soldier, causing even more emotional problems
Afflictions: Near-sighted, pock-marked face
Education: Tutored by M. Druitt
Reasons for hating women: strong allergies to make-up in much the same way people allergic to cats can hate them irrationally
Reads pornographic pamphlets that were sold to him by a tall man with a massive mustache in order to get himself riled up
Lives with his uncle Lem who has a nail polish fetish
Hobbies: Graffiti and cooking...owns a lot of aprons
Criminal background: Owned the first Mr. Potato head, this is where he learned his anatomy as well

That's the silliest post I've seen!

Everyone here knows Mr Potato Head didn't go on sale until Xmas 1889!



I can understand profiles may seem like unscientific guesswork but I believe the gut instinct of a Detective or policeman is something tangible.

[Errata]

I've assumed this about him myself, especially 'attends lectures', although I don't know why I believe that. Why do you think so?

A couple reasons I guess. I don't think he had any training in either butchery or medicine, yet he could immediately locate the uterus, which is pretty well hidden. If he wasn't in the trade, then he picked up the knowledge in his spare time, which means books and lectures. Not even attending autopsies would give him that kind of familiarity, since at autopsies you didn't sit that close to the corpse. There seems to be a vibe about these crimes, which is the least scientific term I can come up with. Yes there is rage, yes there is clearly pathology in a psychological sense. But there is a certain level of detachment for certain parts of the crime, a sort of distaste. Not disgust, which would manifest as more humiliation of the corpse, but distaste. Like someone with airs. I see it as someone who thinks they are better than these women. Not because they are women, because that has certain hallmarks, and not because they are prostitutes, but there is an element of that. It's not as personal as it should be if it were not at least in part an academic exercise.

Basically, I know a bunch of people who have bettered themselves out of bad situations. And they like to think it was hard work and skill, and it was. But a lot of it is luck, and I've seen these people when they confront people who are what they would be if they hadn't gotten out, and it's not happy. They don't like being reminded they came from the gutter, or that luck played a big part of getting them out. They distance themselves, they start speaking a little clinically, they are embarrassed, but they also get angry, shut down a little... These crimes just remind me of that. He's not angry at his victims. He's angry at how they make him feel about his past. These crimes seem conflicted to me because he's clearly in a rage, and it's clearly transference, but he pulls back. It's like once he shreds the throat and rips open the abdomen the rage is spent, and it gets clinical and a little dainty. In my experience people that conflicted have a conflicted life.

[Ginger]

Compulsive about the acquisition of knowledge. Reads incessantly, any number of subjects. May attend lectures.

I've assumed this about him myself, especially 'attends lectures', although I don't know why I believe that. Why do you think so?

[Fisherman]

Wow, Mike, thatīs very detailed. I thought you were not into profiling much ...?

Fisherman

[The Good Michael]

He was 27
Height 5'9"
Weight, approx: 145
Occupation: Policeman
Father: a carnival clown who took his make-up and left when the boy was young
Mother: Remarried to a Sepoy soldier, causing even more emotional problems
Afflictions: Near-sighted, pock-marked face
Education: Tutored by M. Druitt
Reasons for hating women: strong allergies to make-up in much the same way people allergic to cats can hate them irrationally
Reads pornographic pamphlets that were sold to him by a tall man with a massive mustache in order to get himself riled up
Lives with his uncle Lem who has a nail polish fetish
Hobbies: Graffiti and cooking...owns a lot of aprons
Criminal background: Owned the first Mr. Potato head, this is where he learned his anatomy as well

[Mr Lucky]

unknown male
unknown motive

[Errata]

I think mine might be a little different.

White male
Mid thirties
English
Grew up in Whitechapel, but bettered himself out of it.
Job that requires some education. Clerk, business owner, priest,
Single
Dominant and abusive mother, possibly highly religious, possibly a prostitute (possibly died just before the first murder)
Seemingly meek in manner, quiet, possibly pious, goes unnoticed at work and in social situations.
Easily dominated by people in power
Possible hypochondriac, convinced of some defect
Compulsive about the acquisition of knowledge. Reads incessantly, any number of subjects. May attend lectures.
Fascinated by knives.
May concentrate on the plight of poor children.
No history of arrests, appearance of model citizen
Is hesitant about marriage and family
Knows the streets of Whitechapel
Familiar with the basic habits of local prostitutes through observation
He would not stand out talking to a prostitute, but he may well be awkward while doing it.

I think this was about control and revenge. I think he specifically targeted the organs of generation because he believed that he was somehow damaged by a prostitute, either by being born to one, or fearing an inability to procreate through having sex with one. I think he targeted women who reminded him of his mother in some way. I think that the only way he ever felt control was committing these mission oriented murders. I think in his regular life he would have exhibited more confidence for a few days after each murder. I think he was sterilizing them, I think he was silencing them. I think all his anatomical knowledge came from books, and had little practical experience with cutting flesh before the murders began. I think he felt that his advancement that got him out of the neighborhood was either unearned, or he felt like it could never compensate for the circumstances of his birth.