What Makes A Victim?

[Holmes' Idiot Brother]

This makes sense, but what about random unknowns.

For instance, Peter Sutcliffe was not suspected of having killed 5 or so women he had in fact killed, simply because they were not prostitutes.

We can also presume Jack as pressed for time, out in the open. He may not always be able to do what he wants and we're looking for a pattern that may not be present or has been hidden/misinterpreted.

I think Tabram was Ripper but she was stabbed, not ripped; however we know that in their infancy serial killers often have a period of working through what they want to do, changing weapons, tactic, MO etc.

These are the kinds of things I'm wondering about; especially as some think Jack was also Torso Man, which I'm very unsure about.

I'm afraid too much sand has fallen in the hourglass to accurately and effectively determine unknown victims of the Ripper. The best we can do is look at the modus operandi of the killer and look for similarities and patterns. But we also could be dealing with a copycat. I include Tabram as a Ripper victim as well, as she was a prostitute living in the exact same area, was found in a similar position as the others, and the extensive stab wounds indicate a frenzied attack and rage. It must also be noted that although violence against women was commonplace in the East End slums, murder of women was still relatively rare. And in those cases, the motives were robbery, gangs (Emma Smith), and domestic violence. Here we have a series of motiveless crimes, which was unknown to the Metropolitan Police, and they were virtually helpless in solving this type of crime. In the case of JTR and other psychopathic serial killers, the motive exists solely in the killer's mind. I'm very uninformed as to the details of the Torso Murderer; however, in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1930s there was a very similar serial killer operating in the Depression-era shanty towns and "Cody's Camps" of the day. This lunatic killed derelict men, mostly, though there was a female victim or two. He eluded capture, and even ruined the career of Eliot Ness, the former agent who had brought down Al Capone a few years before. Could the Victorian torso killer and JTR be one and the same? Certainly. Were they? Who knows. Happy hunting!