Perfect mDNA match is proof of fraud

[Aldebaran]

I finally finished the Edwards book, "Naming Jack the Ripper". I ordered a used paperback and it came to me from England, that explaining why it took so long. However, once I had the book in my hands, it was difficult to put it down. Of all the recent Ripper books I have read, it was the most interesting. [I don't recall the ones I read long ago or who wrote them].

This forum led me not to expect much, but "Naming Jack the Ripper" was very well-written and the author seems a rather humble but enthusiastic person, not at all self-aggrandizing. I saw no sign whatsoever of anybody trying to pull the wool over the reader's eyes and I fail to see why anybody here could allege "fraud". The scientific process was well-explained and, of course, I enjoyed that. I only wish there could have been a bit more about the mtDNA of the descendant of Catherine Eddowes. I was hoping for her mt-haplogroup, but it was not mentioned, unless I missed something. I can't agree with the conclusion on the final page, but I must say I am leaning toward Kosminski as a viable suspect more than before I read this book. And it's not on account of the DNA, although I agree that the chance of DNA matching to both a descendant of Eddowes and one of Kosminski on the same item is "astronomically small". I am starting to believe that someone really did recognize Kosminski but would not give evidence against him.

But that doesn't mean I still don't have problems with Aaron Kosminski as the killer. Edwards wrote something like "It was as if the Ripper was a ghost" and that pretty much articulated my own thoughts for a long time. It's like he really did emerge from hell and then disappeared back into it without further ado. Or was a devilishly clever man--and I can't quite see Kosminski as being that calm and cool. Regardless, I found the explanation of how Sgt. Amos Simpson was able to get the shawl quite convincingly put. Experts looked at the item and didn't dispute that it was a shawl, BTW.

[drstrange169]

Hello Aldebaran,

I've only read the hardback version, but I'm told the paperback edits out some of the contentious claims. Is that correct?

[Aldebaran]

Hello Aldebaran,

I've only read the hardback version, but I'm told the paperback edits out some of the contentious claims. Is that correct?

Having seen only the paperback, I can't be sure of any edits, but I can tell you for certain that there was nothing about the mitochondrial haplogroup of Eddowes and her living relative being rare within Britain. [I recall it written here that this was claimed at some point.] However, the book does state that "the Ripper's haplogroup is very typical in people of Russian Jewish ethnicity". Polish Jewry was included in this, meaning "Ashkenazi", of course, but I dispute that T1a1 [the haplogroup] is "typical". Perhaps that was just a poor choice of words. My research indicates it is quite uncommon, but helps the author's case rather than otherwise. The Kosminski descendant who shared her DNA is Jewish and so, if her profile was a good match to the DNA obtained from the shawl, so was the "sperm donor". In fact, the shawl, itself, was likely to have been of Russian origin, according to the book, so was perhaps the property of the Kosminski family rather than Catherine Eddowes. It can have been given to her by Aaron or another male Kosminski in my own opinion.

[GUT]

Having seen only the paperback, I can't be sure of any edits, but I can tell you for certain that there was nothing about the mitochondrial haplogroup of Eddowes and her living relative being rare within Britain. [I recall it written here that this was claimed at some point.] However, the book does state that "the Ripper's haplogroup is very typical in people of Russian Jewish ethnicity". Polish Jewry was included in this, meaning "Ashkenazi", of course, but I dispute that T1a1 [the haplogroup] is "typical". Perhaps that was just a poor choice of words. My research indicates it is quite uncommon, but helps the author's case rather than otherwise. The Kosminski descendant who shared her DNA is Jewish and so, if her profile was a good match to the DNA obtained from the shawl, so was the "sperm donor". In fact, the shawl, itself, was likely to have been of Russian origin, according to the book, so was perhaps the property of the Kosminski family rather than Catherine Eddowes. It can have been given to her by Aaron or another male Kosminski in my own opinion.

Or any other person on earth.

[Aldebaran]

Or any other person on earth.

Let's not get carried away. The world of Catherine Eddowes wasn't that large.