Kelly the sociopath

[The Good Michael]

I was just re-reading Kelly's letters here: http://www.casebook.org/official_doc...y_letters.html

I find some of them to be quite manipulative in their language, and it appears to me that some of the text is akin to what I would expect a sociopath to use to get what he wants. I have experience with only one diagnosed (and eventually imprisoned) sociopath who was in my life, and the charm he exuded to take everyone in his life for all the money and possessions they had, was immense, and especially with regards to several women who saw hope within his (what they thought) boyish selfishness. This man could go for a long time, months at least, pretending to really care about someone or some ideal, when what he wanted was just a thing he had set his eyes on and wouldn't be shaken from its trail. He did snap at times and became threatening and violent when he was met with absolute negatives with regards to his demands. I think he is sill in prison, but he is not important save as my personal connection to this kind of disorder.

Back to Kelly: His letters show a careful calculation in words that could make one forget his crimes and think of him as a victim of circumstance. In fact, he admits his faults, but holds others responsible for his actions. It's the mother's fault that he wasn't comfortable living with them. It's his wife's lack of trust that cause issues which put him in Clerkenwell. He writes to her telling her that she is too good a person for him to even mention her faults at his trial.

The most telling information is his complaint to the prison official in which he tells the man that he is good, but that he builds men up and then brings them down and how can he (Kelly) be comfortable in such an environment? Then he says how he has been made to beg for any comfort and he won't do that again just to get a violin that he would only be left in suspense about. When he gets his violin, of course, not long after, he uses his participation in the prison band to escape. It appears as if this were a calculated plan that he and perhaps his co-conspirator dreamed up a long time before.

Carefully read his letters and look at all the "poor me" stuff and the "You are wonderful human beings, but you treat me like shite" declarations, and see what you think.

Mike

[Major Kong]

On to somthing I think

Hey Mike,
I'm a long time reader, and new to posting. Had a fascination with the Ripper murders for 20+ years. I think you might be on to something. I think you are on to something in regards to Kelly as sociopath. The person he reminds me of is Ted Bundy. Kelly demonstrated cunning, intelligence, and above all patience. From my understanding Kelly even attempted to escape again after he turned himself in at age 63-65 or something! Almost like his urges were compelling him to escape again to possibly kill.
In my opinion Kelly is at or darn near the top of the potential suspect list. My reasons are as follows:
1) He murdered his wife by knife. Was interrupted by in-laws in middle of act but was found holding her ON THE GROUND going at her throat with the knife.
2) Escapes Broadmoor and disappears(ends up in France at some point then America). This alone should raise red flags. He was supposedly repentant about killing his wife and said he needed to be locked up(here the sociopath/psychopath aspect of saying, and acting to get things comes in to play)
3) In his confession he states he has "been on the warpath". ALSO someone dug up his file at Broadmoor and he stated in his recount of his escape, "I didn't do IT, you know what I mean.." I think we can infer what he was alluding to. He also stated he cannot remember where he was in the months after his escape from Broadmoor, yet remembers the name of the ship that took him to America; suspicious and evasive to say the least.
I believe we can we say with some degree of certainty that the Whitechapel murders were committed by a man with a hatred of women. The escalating disfigurement of the faces, and the mutilation of their genital areas are keys here.
My two cents are that IF Kelly was the Ripper he was impotent(hence his apparently reported inability to consummate his marriage) This would account for his jealously of his wife and thinking she was either prostituting herself(probably delusional) or seeing other men(side note: I do not think he had syphilis...he lived to too old an age to have it)He tried unsuccessfully to perform with prostitutes(there is your rage/hatred) and couldn't...possibly being ridiculed when he attempted to. ALSO his mother was rumored to be a prostitute as well and he apparently knew this and adds to the attacking of prostitutes.

So....that is my two cents...

-Paul

[The Good Michael]

Hello,

Yes Kelly did try to escape again, but I imagine a deaf and feeble guy would have had a more difficult time than the younger caged animal. Yet, he did try and that points again to a need to be on the prowl in one way or another.

Mike

Addition: You say that he had patience. I believe he had enough patience and intelligence to know that he was losing his patience. What I mean by that is that you can read the desperation in his letters that speaks to his knowing that if he doesn't get out soon, he's going to become surly and unreasonable. I think had he not gotten the violin, which I assume only had to do with his well-planned escape, and not for the sake of playing it, he would have become super desperate.

[Major Kong]

Hello,

Yes Kelly did try to escape again, but I imagine a deaf and feeble guy would have had a more difficult time than the younger caged animal. Yet, he did try and that points again to a need to be on the prowl in one way or another.

Mike

Addition: You say that he had patience. I believe he had enough patience and intelligence to know that he was losing his patience. What I mean by that is that you can read the desperation in his letters that speaks to his knowing that if he doesn't get out soon, he's going to become surly and unreasonable. I think had he not gotten the violin, which I assume only had to do with his well-planned escape, and not for the sake of playing it, he would have become super desperate.

Hey Mike,
"I think had he not gotten the violin, which I assume only had to do with his well-planned escape, and not for the sake of playing it, he would have become super desperate." My feeling is the violin was all part of his escape plan. I have a gut feeling he was only using the violin playing to aid in his escape and to demonstrate to the guards he was being a "good boy".

Someone on here said they were transcribing Kelly's Broadmoor file...I wish I could get my hands on that!!!!

[Major Kong]

Mike,
About the Agnes Bing killing...some info on Kelly's whereabouts during that time...was not sure if you were aware of this:

March 26th 1896 - The Capella arrives in Liverpool a day early. The authorities have not thought to check. Kelly waits around for some time to be arrested, then finally gets tired of waiting and heads off into Liverpool. When the escort party arrive the next day there is no sign of him. Kelly remains in England for a further two or three years working as a coach trimmer in Guildford, then takes a steamer, the SS Beechdale, to Vancouver.

1901 Kelly again resolves to give himself up. He tells his story to the British Consul in Vancouver but when the information is communicated back to London nobody appears interested. After waiting 3 months Kelly heads back to England under his own steam but on arrival changes his mind and does not give himself up. It is not known how long he stays this time. He works for some time as a coach trimmer in Godalming, and is spotted at one point working as an upholsterer in North London. At some point he returns to America, and crosses the Atlantic several more times in the years up until 1927.

[The Good Michael]

Yes, that's from Alan Sharp's dissertation on this site. If he left after 2 or 3 years for vancouver, that puts him in the area between 1898 and 1899. Bing was murdered in 99.

Mike

[Major Kong]

Yes, that's from Alan Sharp's dissertation on this site. If he left after 2 or 3 years for vancouver, that puts him in the area between 1898 and 1899. Bing was murdered in 99.

Mike

Exactly....strange coincidence huh?

[Barnaby]

I'm not familiar with what an upholsterer did in Victorian London (or now LOL) but I assume that involved some ripping with a knife, no?

I also think Kelly had some real mommy issues due to being abandoned by his probably prostitute mother. He failed sexually in his own relationship yet curiously seems to have had a creepy relationship with his wife's mom - even after he killed his wife!

He remains tenuously at the top of my list, although I am susceptible to all this Lechmere talk!

[Barnaby]

And his writings do come across as a psychopath. I've briefly looked for some parallels in some JTR letters, but haven't found anything yet. Given this penchant for writing letters, I'd suspect that if Kelly was the Ripper he would try to communicate with the police or press.

[The Good Michael]

And his writings do come across as a psychopath. I've briefly looked for some parallels in some JTR letters, but haven't found anything yet. Given this penchant for writing letters, I'd suspect that if Kelly was the Ripper he would try to communicate with the police or press.

Barnaby, I don't know about that. I think he used his writing to get what he wanted. I don't think the letters would have bought him anything. That's just my feeling...again, if he had been the Ripper. The Graffiti is another story altogether. I could see him trying to pass his alter-ego off as a Jew. But that's also a stretch.

Mike

[Barnaby]

I see your point, Mike. To me he comes off as so manipulative that he might have gotten his jollies manipulating the press and public opinion as well.

[The Good Michael]

I see your point, Mike. To me he comes off as so manipulative that he might have gotten his jollies manipulating the press and public opinion as well.

Maybe. I think he was calculated in what he did. If he wrote letters for misdirection, I could....sort of go with that. But for fun...I don't think he had real fun.

Mike