MJK Murder

[kensei]

I don't think any assumptions can be made about the manner of MJK's murder based on the position her body was found in. Rubyretro is right, the body would have been moved during the mutilation, probably significantly and several times over given the extreme level of damage to the body which would have taken a considerable amount of time to do.

Also, I don't think MJK allowing someone into her bed had anything to do with how comfortable she felt with him. When she was prostituting herself, she was enticing both because of her physical attractiveness and because of the fact that she had a private room available rather than having to do business quickly in a dirty alleyway, whereas most of the other victims did not have permanent or semi-permanent lodgings. And if she brought a client to her room, they'd use the bed. I believe that on the night she died she first had Blotchy Face as a client and that after singing for him for a time they had sex in her bed, and that she then brought Astrakan Man there for the same purpose. Why would she get into her nightgown? Well, she was quite drunk by then and may have felt that she couldn't go out anymore and this was definitely the last customer of the night and then it was time to sleep. Perhaps he told her he would pay extra to spend the night with her. Whatever. But I believe he was the Ripper and that he killed her while she was in a very tipsy state, close to or even after passing out. I also believe the cry of "Murder" heard by Mrs. Prater was uttered not by MJK but by a passerby who saw the Ripper making his exit. But of course there are many who will vigorously disagree. Basically, I do not believe that Mary Jane's killer was someone who knew her or that there is any reason to feel that this must be so.

[Rubyretro]

Interesting, Chava..

Personally, I think that Hutch hung around for such a long time to give MJK the time to be well asleep before he reached through the window to open the door.

There was a fire burning in the grate which may have given a dim light -enough to see that the woman in the bed was static and in a sleeping position.

She had been drinking so she might even have been snoring for all we know.
If the cries of 'Murder!' that were heard came from Mary, then she DID wake up and shout -but nobody came to her aid.

If she awoke then she must have struggled, so her position in the bed was not the same when she died as when she was sleeping.

JtR probably moved her as he was killing her and/or whilst mutilating her.

[Chava]

I could very well be over-thinking this, but here goes:

We know from the PM etc and the in situ evidence that MJK was killed while facing somewhat downwards on the far right hand side of the bed in her room. There is arterial splatter on the wall beside this side of the bed and it's in line with her neck as she is found in the bed. She's either killed while face-down or facing that wall. Chances are she was slashed while face-down and moved afterwards so that arterial blood splashes on the wall. We also know that she is wearing some kind of nightgown, and her clothes are draped over a chair at the other side of the room. A handy sketch--which I hope someone will link too but which I cannot at present find--also shows her shoes beside this chair. It's very likely that she got undressed by herself and got into her nightgown by herself.

Now here's what bothers me and this has always bothered me. She was killed facing over to the right of the bed. If she had been alone in that bed and someone crept up on her, it's likely that she would have been killed further over to the middle of the bed. She would have been by herself. And it wasn't a big bed! Even if someone surprised her, I doubt they could have angled her quite that efficiently. The position she was in when killed sounds more like she was sharing that bed with someone who occupied the other side. He could have grabbed her in a blitz attack, but more likely to me he suggested sex from behind in some fashion, and killed her while she was on her hands and knees and so defenceless.

So where do we go with this? Well for a start I don't believe in the random or purposeful killer breaking into the room and attacking her while she sleeps. That would be a very risky thing to do. Even if he managed to push the cloth aside and look through the window, it's not like there's any light around that will help him see through to the far side of the room to make sure she's asleep or dead drunk. And if he attempts a break-in and she isn't asleep and yells her head off, he's very possibly caught.

What makes sense to me is that she let him in her room either while she was dressed or after she got into her nightclothes. If that's the case, he could kill her at any time. If it's Blotchy Face, and he doesn't want to interrupt the concert, he waits until she starts taking her clothes off, at which time she's occupied with unbuttoning skirts, pulling off chemises etc. She's basically helpless to attack at that moment. She's also helpless as she pulls her nightgown over her head. He could kill her at any time. If it's someone who comes along after Blotchy-Face has left, same thing. Even if she's already dressed for bed when she lets him in, at some point she will turn her back and he can kill her.

But he doesn't. It looks very much to me as if he kills her while they are in bed. And that's nowhere near as easy to do as it sounds. For a start she might not agree to the sex-from-behind thing. And if she doesn't, he's not in a very good position to kill her without her having the chance to struggle which is the last thing he wants. He could seize her and roll her over and then slash her. But that would still mean he got into bed beside her. The Ripper doesn't hang around, he appears to kill his victims as soon as he gets an opportunity. This happens with Eddowes, it apparently happens with Chapman if Mrs Long's evidence is to be believed. It likely occurs with Nicholls and Stride. I'd expect the Ripper to attack MJK at the very first opportunity but he doesn't. MJK's murderer takes his time. He goes to bed with the victim. She is relaxed enough around him to share her bed with him and wear her nightgown. This does not mean to say she's necessarily known him long. According to Barnett, she moved in with him the day after she met him. But I doubt she would move in with someone the night she met him.

What we have here, I'm pretty certain, is a personal murder. Whether it was the Ripper or someone else, he knew MJK and she knew him. It could still be Blotchy Face. Certainly a man with his description comes up in other murders and attacks. But even if it is the Ripper who kills MJK, I doubt he kills her for the same reasons he kills the others. I'll go further and suggest that the man that got into bed with MJK that night may not have intended to kill her. Something happened or something was said, and everything changed.