Would the Ripper have stopped by himself?

[Harry D]

Is there anyone here who accepts that the Ripper could've stopped of his own accord after his final victim?

It's something of a myth that serial killers cannot stop themselves once they get going. Each killer has his or her own idiosyncrasies which guide them, and there's any number of reasons for quitting. However, it's fair to say that Jack was a fairly unique killer, driven by more demons than most, thereby making it hard to imagine that the one responsible for turning Miller's Court into a butcher's shop window could've simply hung up his apron afterwards and returned to a normal life - a gaping hole in one particular carman-turned-Ripper theory which shall remain nameless.

While the Ripper surely had some degree of control, he still committed a series of violent murders within a few months, in a vicinity of one square mile. Whoever he was, he certainly wasn't wasting any time about it. This is a man with an almost insatiable urge to live out his depraved fantasies. Is it plausible that Mary Kelly's murder could've been viewed by the Ripper as his piece-de-resistance, and enough for him to retire? Or is that straying too far into the realms of amateur psychology?

[Batman]

One reason for stopping is in response to the investigation closing in. For example following the murder of MJK the police conducted house to house searches to find who could be at liberty to commit these crimes. Kozminski believers seem to indicate that his family knew they couldn't hide him anymore and so had him committed.

[Errata]

I don't think we have a lot of examples of serial killers retiring.

Serial killers can stop, but I still don't think they can stop of their own accord. Which isn't to say that the only thing that stops them is prison or death. Clearly it's not. But if someone is serial killing away to their hearts content and nothing changes, they don't change. Something has to change. Something has to make the murders not worth it. For BTK, it was his family and his schedule. He didn't want to get caught, he didn't want to lose his cover (wife and kids), he enjoyed the veneer of normalcy, and frankly he couldn't juggle a family and a murder schedule. He stopped. He didn't give it up, but he put it on hold.

To know why the Ripper stopped we would have to know who he was and what the conflict was. Maybe he was about to get caught. Maybe his mother died. Maybe he got married and couldn't sneak out as easily. Maybe she got promoted to Mother Superior. We have no idea. But he didn't just decide to end on a high note. The serial killer pathology doesn't allow that. Anymore than an anorexic quits being an anorexic once they hit their goal weight. But any number of things may have happened to put the killing on indefinite hold.

There is a theory that a serial killers who are killing substitutes for the object of their rage will stop once they kill the actual object of their rage. On the surface, Kemper would appear to bear that out. In actuality it doesn't really work like that as best I can tell, but who knows. Jack may have been the one for whom that was true, and everything he did was because it took him awhile to screw up the courage to kill Mary Kelly.

[barnflatwyngarde]

I personally think that he wouldn't have stopped voluntarily.
He may have committed suicide or been sectioned, but there is always the intriguing possibility that he stopped for very mundane and understandable reasons.

Dennis Rader (BTK Killer) killed 7 people in a 3 year period, then carried out no more murders for 8 years.

The generally accepted reason for this hiatus is that Rader decided to concentrate on raising his young family (his son was born in 1975 and his daughter in 1978).

[John Wheat]

What about the Torso Killer?

I doubt it but did the Torso Killer stop of his own accord? Considering the Torso Killer could be responsible for the Torso Murders of 1873 and 1874, the two in 1884 and then the four in 1887-1889. He could maybe have stopped from 1874-1884 and then again from 1884-1887.

Cheers John

[Wickerman]

Quite often the need to kill is in response to a trigger, what that trigger is can be different among a variety of serial killers - they don't just wander the streets every night looking for victims, typically something sets them off.
If the perpetrator is no longer exposed to this trigger he will have no cause to go off the deep end and may resume a more 'normal' life.

[Errata]

Quite often the need to kill is in response to a trigger, what that trigger is can be different among a variety of serial killers - they don't just wander the streets every night looking for victims, typically something sets them off.
If the perpetrator is no longer exposed to this trigger he will have no cause to go off the deep end and may resume a more 'normal' life.

But the triggers are never very specific. Far less specific than he triggers for PTSD. A popular trigger is stress, another is boredom. Unfortunately nothing that can be put off forever.

[Harry D]

Doesn't a distinction have to be made between BTK and the Ripper? Rader was a patient control-freak who stalked victims for months, whereas the Ripper appears to have been far more opportunistic in nature, a disorganized killer as they say. I don't think he went out with much of a plan beyond "ripping" the first hooker he could get his hands on. That doesn't necessarily mean the Ripper was a street prowler. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the murders occurred by happenstance. He might've been taking a shortcut home after a few jars at his local when the chance presented itself. There's also the obvious discrepancy in the level of violence between the two. As far as I know, Rader was mainly a strangler, who dabbled in some post-mortem fondling but that was about the limit of his fantasy. Now compare that to our man, who was butchering victims, stealing their organs, and mainly working outdoors. Not only was the Ripper prone to much greater violence than Rader, he was also a true risk-taker. For those reasons I don't believe we can rationalize why the Ripper stopped based on what we know from serial killers like "BTK."

[barnflatwyngarde]

Fair point Harry, but I still find it astonishing that a killer like Rader can "switch off" their murderous impulses and live an ostensibly normal life for many years.

As I said earlier, I don't think that JTR stopped voluntarily.

In my ideal world someone will come up with the report of a suicide of a Whitechapel resident in late 1888.

The man involved will be described as having a blotchy face and carrotty whiskers.

[sdreid]

I think he could have just stopped. There were dozens of unsolved serial killer cases in the 20th century and I find it extremely unlikely that all of them either died or were arrested for another crime.

[elleryqueen74]

To answer this question I think you have to know what the motive was.

For example, if I were ritual killing or killings done purely for organs, then yes he could of once his goal was achieved. Or if he was just dribbling nutjob then the likelihood of him being able to stop himself would be low, so no.

So this question is moot until you know the motive, and we will probably never know that.

[GUT]

I think he could have just stopped. There were dozens of unsolved serial killer cases in the 20th century and I find it extremely unlikely that all of them either died or were arrested for another crime.

G'day Stan

But when they are unsolved, we just don't know.

We don't know if the killer stopped killing.

If they did we don't know why.

With the solved ones we don't know if they stopped killing or simply took a holiday [as it seems the police may think BTK did.]

[SirJohnFalstaff]

I doubt it but did the Torso Killer stop of his own accord? Considering the Torso Killer could be responsible for the Torso Murders of 1873 and 1874, the two in 1884 and then the four in 1887-1889. He could maybe have stopped from 1874-1884 and then again from 1884-1887.

Cheers John

Is there any sign that the torso killings were made by the same person?

Maybe it was a method of killing by organized crime to prevent victim's identification.

[DVV]

Is there anyone here who accepts that the Ripper could've stopped of his own accord after his final victim?

Hi Harry.
Yes I do.
Not sure whether the last victim is MJK or McKenzie, though.
Must ask Lynn.

[lynn cates]

stopping point

Hello David. Thanks for that.

Why stop at McKenzie? Why not include Coles?

Cheers.
LC