Data Mining to locate the Ripper?

[thequestioner]

I am new to Ripper Research so I am possibly being naïve when I suggest data mining must offer tools not previously available so as to identify the Ripper.

The one fact that is almost universally true of serial killers is they do not stop their killing spree until some outside factor intervenes.

The Ripper’s killing spree was very intense, geographically very localised and stopped without obvious reason.

So the question is; why did the killings so abruptly stop?

Either the Ripper died, or he was arrested and imprisoned for some other offence, or he had some form of epiphany (e.g. got religion) or he was being controlled by some third party who ceased to have control over him.

My question is: in seeking to identify the killer my question is; has any research been done to identify a man probably residing in the Spitalfields area, who during the month of December 1888 either, died, or was imprisoned for a lengthy period? The epiphany option would be much harder to identify but it would form the basis for further enquiry if no obvious candidate fitting the other alternatives could be found. The controlling hand of another also leads itself to an enquiry as to whether the controller died, was imprisoned etc.

The tools are there to do this research.

[Bridewell]

Hello there & welcome to Casebook.

Such a process - probably a mammoth undertaking - might indeed unearth some additional suspects. I'm not sure it would get us any further than that, though. In 1959 Daniel Farson turned up the Aberconway version of the Macnaghten Memoranda. This, in turn, led to the identification of Montague John Druitt as a major suspect but not, as yet, proof of his being JtR.

I'll certainly be interested in anything you turn up, but I think you're going to need a lot of stamina.

Regards, Bridewell

[lynn cates]

committed

Hello TQ. Welcome to the boards.

Your proposal sounds very interesting. Of course, by choosing December you seem already committed to including MJK but excluding McKenzie. That's fine, but there are many permutations.

"Either the Ripper died, or he was arrested and imprisoned for some other offense, or he had some form of epiphany (e.g. got religion) or he was being controlled by some third party who ceased to have control over him."

Might be one other option: he never existed in the first place.

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

Might be one other option: he never existed in the first place.

Lynn, you've welcomed this poor soul to the boards and left them with a cryptic remark they're not going to be able to make head or tail of!

Questioner,

To clarify - Lynn, I believe, thinks that only Nichols & Chapman were killed by the same hand. You'll need to do a bit of research of your own to understand his thinking on that, but that is, I think, the meaning he seeks to convey.

Regards, Bridewell

[lynn cates]

all options

Hello Colin, TQ. Don't mean to be cryptic, but I was offering ALL the options. Just wanting to be exhaustive, that's all.

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

Hello Colin, TQ. Don't mean to be cryptic, but I was offering ALL the options. Just wanting to be exhaustive, that's all.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn,

It wasn't meant as criticism. I just didn't think a newcomer would understand your meaning.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Steven Russell]

There is yet another option: he stopped because his "work" was complete. Some of the more outlandish theories rely on this one. I think it highly unlikely myself but include it for the sake of completeness.

Best wishes and welcome, Q.,
Steve.

[lynn cates]

profs are us

Hello Colin. No, didn't take it as such.

I find that, occasionally, a one line observation can set one to thinking. Prof trick, you know.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

for all X, . . .

Hello Steven. Splendid. ALL the possibilities need be exposed.

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

His physical health may have collapsed. He may have been sent to an asylum. He may simply have got sick of his work.

[Bridewell]

He may simply have got sick of his work.

That's certainly what I think. He might even have got sick through his work perhaps.

Regards, Bridewell.

[Steven Russell]

He might even have got sick through his work perhaps.

Regards, Bridewell.

If you ask me, he wasn't all that well to start with.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[John Wheat]

Purely to cover everything Jack may have continued killing with a different m.o. Although I think this is highly unlikely.

[Steven Russell]

Or even continued with a similar MO elsewhere i.e. abroad.

Best wishes,
Steve.

[Fisherman]

Robert:

" He may simply have got sick of his work."

True enough, although seldom thrown forward as a possibility. But in fact, such a thing would make a very neat explanation as to why he was never found out or caught.

The best,
Fisherman