The UNKNOWN suspect

[Pettifogger]

I've been out of the loop on this subject and was wondering how many ripperites think that none of the named suspects is really JtR?

When I was last on the site, it seemed most already had a suspect in mind.

I'm not sold on anyone myself. I do think that JtR was more psychotic then the normal serial killer. I don't buy into the standard FBI profiler mode that so many seem ready to impose on this case.

[Limehouse]

I definitely lean towards the 'unknown local' as a suspect. The only 'known' suspects I have favoured even slightly are people like Cutbush.

[Ben]

Hi Pettifogger,

I do think that JtR was more psychotic then the normal serial killer. I don't buy into the standard FBI profiler mode that so many seem ready to impose on this case

Bear in mind though that the "standard FBI profile" also suggested that JTR was more psychotic than most serial killers.

Best regards,
Ben

[aspallek]

While I believe Montague Druitt to be the most likely named suspect for reasons that I have made abundantly clear, I do believe that the most likely scenario is the the crimes were committed by an unknown perpetrator.

[mariag]

I do believe that the killer was an unknown- and probably unknowable- local.

My most likely named suspect is Cutbush.

[Pettifogger]

The one unchallengeable fact remains that JtR was knowledgeable about the Whitechapel area at night.

This doesn't necessarily make him a denizen of Whitechapel but certainly someone who frequented the area at night.

Since I'm someone who believes that he was operational from August 1888 (Tabram?/Nichols) until February 1891 (Coles), I've eliminated many of the named suspects who didn't fit that timeline.

[Pettifogger]

Hi Pettifogger,



Bear in mind though that the "standard FBI profile" also suggested that JTR was more psychotic than most serial killers.

I noted the original profile by John Douglas that was written several years ago. I was unaware that Douglas saw psychotic features in JtR.

[JTRSickert]

To me, JTR has characteristics of both an organized and disorganized killer. He was organized to engage his victims in conversation, gain their trust, and lead him to a secluded spot to kill his victims. Also, he was careful enough to make sure he didn't leave any weapons behind or a bloodtrail from the scene of the crime. His disorganized characters are shown by (with the exception of the alleged last victim) he willingness to kill them in relatively high-risk situations e.g. out in the open in public thoroughfares and the fact that he left the body at the scene without bothering to dispose of it. Unless, of course, he wanted his work to be displayed to cause a shock in the community in which he resided.

[Pettifogger]

I also accept the duality of the organized/disorganized killer assessment.

That's my primary reason for concluding that JtR was under the influence of psychosis.

[Barnaby]

Is an unknown suspect theory really a theory? For example, imagine if a serial killer was at large today and the police held a press conference and stated that they didn't have the foggiest idea of who it was. But, they assure the public, the killer is not among their usual suspect pool of sex offenders. Is that a theory?

[Sam Flynn]

Is an unknown suspect theory really a theory? For example, imagine if a serial killer was at large today and the police held a press conference and stated that they didn't have the foggiest idea of who it was. But, they assure the public, the killer is not among their usual suspect pool of sex offenders. Is that a theory?

It is, because if the police had good reasons for ruling out the usual suspects, it would give them more time to focus their precious efforts elsewhere. Note that an "unknown suspect" does NOT mean an unknowable suspect - a fact that ripperologists of a certain persuasion tend to ignore.

[Pettifogger]

I'm not necessarily referring to it as a theory but merely stating that I don't think any of the listed suspects currently fulfills my criteria for being JtR.

Because I believe that JtR was operational from August 1888 until February 1891, I have to eliminate certain prime suspects.

Naturally, I could be wrong of course.

[Varqm]

The one unchallengeable fact remains that JtR was knowledgeable about the Whitechapel area at night.

This doesn't necessarily make him a denizen of Whitechapel but certainly someone who frequented the area at night.

Since I'm someone who believes that he was operational from August 1888 (Tabram?/Nichols) until February 1891 (Coles), I've eliminated many of the named suspects who didn't fit that timeline.

The one unchallengeable fact remains that JtR was knowledgeable about the Whitechapel area at night.

There should be a poll on this.
Can include did he knew the victims/or a bit of their routines slightly or not. Did he know Mary Kelly was alone that night and sneaked in or Mary Kelly went out and brought him. Or the other view he knocked and Mary Kelly opened.
Views on these things helps.

[brummie]

Of late I've been giving a great deal of consideration to Francis Thompson as a suspect, he was known to have been living in the Whitechapel in the summer of 1888 as a pauper. It is quite likely he even shared the same lodging houses as some of the victims, indeed he was known to have lived with a Whitechapel prostitue (unnamed) who eventually rejected him. Perhaps it was during this time he wrote his poem 'The ballad of the Witch Babies' in which the hero(?) roams the fog killing and disembowelling women. All circumstantial I know but surely at least as strong as any evidence against any other suspect.

[Pettifogger]

The one unchallengeable fact remains that JtR was knowledgeable about the Whitechapel area at night.

There should be a poll on this.

If JtR was not a Whitechapel night owl, he was the luckiest SOB who ever lived!

Take any London neighborhood in 1888 (or today) and attempt to dismiss the fact that those neighborhoods are significantly different from sundown to sunup than they are in daylight hours.