Profile of Jack the Ripper

[Wickerman]

Yes, Jon. But very soon after the C-5 murders. "Kosminski" being confined almost immediately afterwards.

This would be accepting Macnaghten's claim that Kozminski was removed to a lunatic asylum about March 1889?

Assuming this to be true, do you think it likely that he was placed in the asylum because he was suspected to be the Ripper?

If so, then perhaps you can explain why he was released, was it because the police checked him out and discovered they were wrong?

We cannot corroborate Mac's claim concerning the incarceration of Mar. 1889, yet we do have evidence that Kozminski was later brought to Mile End Asylum on July 12 of 1890, not examined by a doctor, so whatever the reason it cannot have been of a serious nature. Then released merely 4 days later, on the 15th.
If the police suspected they had the Ripper locked up, then why do they release him, a second time?

There is nothing here to suggest anyone believed Kozminski was a danger to society. He is finally incarcerated in Feb. 1891 and certified insane, for what? Hardly as a Ripper suspect, the informant at this time was given as 'brother'. If Kozminski was placed here by police the informant would be a police official.
So once again, nothing to suggest Kozminski was a danger to the public.

[Scott Nelson]

Sorry Jon, but as you may remember my preferred Kosminski was David Cohen (probably anglicized from "Kosminski"), who was arrested on (or held just prior to) December 7, 1888. He was at a brothel operated by Gertrude Smith at 254 Whitechapel Road, next to where the Corman knife was found on the sidewalk on October 1st.

Gertrude Smith may have written a letter of warning to Charles Warren (HO/144/220/A4901.C, subsection 8(iii): 'A brothel keeper who will not give her address or name writes to say that aman living in her house was seen with blood on him on the morning of the murder (Chapman's on 8 Sept.). She described his appearance and said where he might be seen - when detectives came near him he bolted, got away and there is no clue to the writer of the letter.'

This potentially ties Cohen to the murders of Chapman (Warren letter), and Stride and Eddowes (Coram knife).

Macnaghten's March 1889 date for the confinement of Kosminski may have been a slight misremembering of Swanson's Seaside Home identification of Kosminski and his re-confinement afterwards.

[Sunny Delight]

Anyone that's familiar with the modern technique of profiling. Could someone put here a general profile of the killer? Not to mention, what could've been done to draw him out, trap him, etc? In your opinion, how did he blend in so well, what would you be looking for if you could go back in time with knowledge of the MO but without knowledge of what he'll do next. All you have is the profile. What do you say to Abberline or anyone else? Who would you go to?

The FBI completed a profile which can be found here https://vault.fbi.gov/Jack%20the%20Ripper

It seems to me that profile wise the Ripper was probably:

- 30-35 years old.
- physically strong. Probably involved in manual work of some kind.
- A bit of a loner or someone who was seen as solitary. Not many friends or acquaintances.
- Someone who would be neat and tidy. Maybe obsessively so.
- Someone very cool and calculating not easily flustered. Someone known for being very calm even in the most stressful situations.

In relation to smoking him out that would be very difficult. Most serial killers are caught either by luck or through a mistake made by the killer. JTR was lucky and made very few errors substantial enough to pinpoint him. Very difficult to nail such a perpetrator. In 1888 practically impossible.

[Aethelwulf]

The FBI completed a profile which can be found here https://vault.fbi.gov/Jack%20the%20Ripper

It seems to me that profile wise the Ripper was probably:

- 30-35 years old.
- physically strong. Probably involved in manual work of some kind.
- A bit of a loner or someone who was seen as solitary. Not many friends or acquaintances.
- Someone who would be neat and tidy. Maybe obsessively so.
- Someone very cool and calculating not easily flustered. Someone known for being very calm even in the most stressful situations.

In relation to smoking him out that would be very difficult. Most serial killers are caught either by luck or through a mistake made by the killer. JTR was lucky and made very few errors substantial enough to pinpoint him. Very difficult to nail such a perpetrator. In 1888 practically impossible.

• The age of onset for these types of homicides is generally between the mid to late 20s. Bury was 29 when hanged in 1889.

• He comes from a family where he was raised by a domineering mother and weak, passive and/or absent father. Bury’s father died when he was a child, and his mother was in a lunatic asylum.

• For employment, he would seek a position where he could work alone and vicariously experience his destructive fantasies. Bury certainly worked alone and set his own hours, travelling around selling sawdust. There are suggestions horse meat butcher, but I’m not sure this has ever been verified.

• Would not expect suspect to be married, if so, it would be to someone older and it would be short-lived. Ellen was 31, Bury was 28 when they married – we know the marriage was short-lived (less than a year) and how it ended.

• He has carried a knife for defense purposes-just in case he was ever attacked, he would be ready. Ellen discovered that Bury was sleeping with a penknife under his pillow – he owned to knives at his arrest

• This paranoid-type of thinking (associated with knife carrying) is in part justified because of his poor self-image. He would be expected to have some type of physical abnormality. The profiles include above or below average height in this. Bury was 5.2. The profile also mentions a scarred complexion and should he noted Bury's 1884 police record references a cut on his neck as a notable physical characteristic. He appears to have been sensitive about his neck and covered it with a collar. Note also the very good physical description match to Farmer's attacker with a scar on the neck.

• He is not adept in meeting people socially and the major extent of his heterosexual relationships would be with prostitutes – he would have contracted venereal disease. In May 1888 Bury contracted VD a gave it to his wife.

• Quiet. Margaret Robertson describing Bury and his wife who were lodging with her in Dundee for a time. ‘They said they were going to Princes Street with it (the packing box). When with us, Prisoner was very quiet but several times worse of liquor. Other references from Dundee suggest he was a lot more sociable when drinking, something mentioned in the profile as well.

The profile also discusses the ripper being a lust murderer that would mutilate genital areas. By this definition Bury carried out a lust murder in a manner that was identical in some very specific ways to Eddowes.

[Aethelwulf]

Both the FBI profile and Bond's summary seem to me to give an impression of an otherwise quiet, unremarkable man. Something that I have wondered about is whether with the repeated venturing out and killing in a small area swarming with police where the risks were very high, Kelly's murder on the day of the LM's show (if that wasn't just a coincidence), posing of the bodies and potential letter writing (e.g. from hell if you think real), could he have been a bit more of a gregarious/show-off type person? Agreed when looking for victims, going to and from the murder locations he was unremarkable, but perhaps socially was he someone that liked to be the centre of attention, which in itself could have provided good cover 'just one of the lads' sort of thing? Just an idea.

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

He has carried a knife for defense purposes-just in case he was ever attacked, he would be ready. Ellen discovered that Bury was sleeping with a penknife under his pillow – he owned to knives at his arrest

This paranoid-type of thinking (associated with knife carrying) is in part justified because of his poor self-image.

The murderer did not need to be paranoid to be in the habit of carrying a knife.

It was common for sailors to carry knives.

[Aethelwulf]

PI, loads of people probably carried knives, including your best friend meatball Sven. Did meatball sven murder and mutilate a woman with one or was he too busy stroking little polly parrot on his shoulder?

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

PI, loads of people probably carried knives, including your best friend meatball Sven. Did meatball sven murder and mutilate a woman with one or was he too busy stroking little polly parrot on his shoulder?

I don't know anyone called Meatball Sven.

I read a book many years ago about the famous pathologist Bernard Spillsbury.

It made a point about it being unusual for men in England to carry knives, with the exception of sailors.

And it did not qualify the point by using the adverb probably.

[Aethelwulf]

I don't know anyone called Meatball Sven.

Meatball Magnus?

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

Meatball Magnus?

I am not acquainted with him, either, and refer you to the greater part of my last post, which did not deal with meatballs.

[PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR 1]

PI, loads of people probably carried knives, including your best friend meatball Sven. Did meatball sven murder and mutilate a woman with one or was he too busy stroking little polly parrot on his shoulder?

I now see, as you are baiting me on What evidence would it take? too, that your mention of Sven is a reference to my theory that the murderer came from a Germanic country.

I would hope that almost everyone here would agree with me that it is inappropriate to refer to an infamous murderer as my best friend, even as a joke.

[Chava]

I've thought about the profile quite a lot recently.
So here's my profile:

Working class.
Alcoholic/abusive mother.
Not English--Scandinavian or Northern Europe a possibility but I think more likely Scots.
Spends time with the victims before he kills them.
Has a preferred & specific kind of location.
Has a preferred & specific kind of victim.

And here's my victimology:

Alcoholic or heavy drinker. Drunk when he meets her.
Below the poverty line.
Habitual or occasional prostitute.
Mother who no longer has contact with her child/children.

[Lewis C]

I think your victim profile is pretty solid. On suspects, I agree he prefers a certain kind of victim. For location, he preferred a certain area, but did you mean more than that?

I think he probably was working class, because he probably lived in the area, and it was a working class area.

He doesn't seem to have spent much time with Eddowes, unless he spent time with her previously. If we believe Schwartz' story and also conclude that BS man killed Stride, he seems to have approached Stride just before he hit her.

What do you base your ethnic part on, and are you counting Poland as part of northern Europe?

[John Wheat]

I've thought about the profile quite a lot recently.
So here's my profile:

Working class.
Alcoholic/abusive mother.
Not English--Scandinavian or Northern Europe a possibility but I think more likely Scots.
Spends time with the victims before he kills them.
Has a preferred & specific kind of location.
Has a preferred & specific kind of victim.

And here's my victimology:

Alcoholic or heavy drinker. Drunk when he meets her.
Below the poverty line.
Habitual or occasional prostitute.
Mother who no longer has contact with her child/children.

I think your profile is okay. But why the not English line?

[jason_c]

I've thought about the profile quite a lot recently.
So here's my profile:

Working class.
Alcoholic/abusive mother.
Not English--Scandinavian or Northern Europe a possibility but I think more likely Scots.
Spends time with the victims before he kills them.
Has a preferred & specific kind of location.
Has a preferred & specific kind of victim.

And here's my victimology:

Alcoholic or heavy drinker. Drunk when he meets her.
Below the poverty line.
Habitual or occasional prostitute.
Mother who no longer has contact with her child/children.

One of the few aspects of the case that I have strong feelings about is the working class background of the perp. It's highly likely the perp was a working class local. You can define local as you wish; from someone brought up in Whitechapel to foreign born sailor who regularly lived in the area between stints at sea.