MJK 1 Colour version - WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGE

[JtRMordke]

That is some marvellous colouration there! It brings the whole murder scene photo to life and makes the mutilations much easier to distinguish in all its Technicolor glory.

[Canopy]

PHEW!!! I read the warning sign and then entered (does that make me ill of mind?) I THEN read 7 pages to get here (does that make me ill of mind?)

I am a historian. I have walked Hell Fire Pass/crossed the river Kwai bridge many times and stopped to hold their iron struts that have not been replaced overtime. I have crawled through the tunnels of Vietnam and NOW I'm viewing coloured photographs of a JTR victim...does that make me ill of mind??? (I hope not as I have 3 children!)

I am a historian - the past is very important to me. It matters not whether it's a victim of JTR or somebody a stranger wishes to find - that person was once 'real', they lived and breathed and had an opinion in life...they are no longer here to speak for themselves and so, as living people, we are the only ones that can piece togther their story. ANYTHING that can help the dead relate their stories is a blessing as more of us living will understand...

Thank you for your hard work in producing these coloured images.

C.

[gidgey]

Wickerman

Now that I have seen the colored photo (which was brilliant by the way..you actually see a human in all the muck and mess) I think you might be right about her head being almost detatched.
xx

[Critteranne]

I am posting a belated thank you for your work on this photograph. Like others have said, it gives a whole new perspective to a murder we already know was horrid. It helps remind us that there was a person here, a victim.

Apologies for any errors as I am typing this on the browser in my Nook Color.

[Tenth Bell]

wow...

Utterly fantastic, and there is hardly any mystery to the apparent amount of detailed work - a few mm x mm at a time perhaps - that went into this colourized augmentation of one of history's most infamous photo reproductions. (BTW, is this actual photo - not only the book in which it was first published - actually still in existence @ Scotland Yard, Black Museum or somewhere?) Anyhow, although not knowing you personally, Steve, I would say you have outdone yourself (and almost any other attempt, for that matter!) here in this enriched undertaking. I would almost go a step further, and say that your work here almost lays to rest any other individual attempts at rendering the same ends: in other words, "how can you top Steve's work on MJK 1?" *Round of applause and whistles ensues*

The deep wounds in Mary's forearm definitely look like deliberate mutilations to me, not "defensive wounds" as was surmised in the past.

I'm wondering what the flesh-toned bit just above Mary's left forearm and the crook of her elbow is- Do you think it's a strip of flesh?
It looks too large to come from her forearm, unless its from the underside that we can't see. Nor do I see the faint pattern that would tell us it's part of her chemise.

Mary's bicep was clearly singled out for removal, and the detail your enhancement reveals is amazing. It reminds me of the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer had a 'bicep fetish'. When he murdered his victims he made a practice of removing their biceps in order to indulge his cannibalistic fantasies. I've heard of other killers doing this too.

The ghastly mutilation of Mary's poor face is so beyond words that I won't even try. I don't really believe in Hell, but this photo makes me feel that's where her killer belongs.

** Some insights from the peanut gallery **

As I know many of you have forensic and other types of background which would make any knowledge of the human form, anatomy, physiology, etc. abundant on this Casebook, I too have some surgical/trauma background and hence, some notions as to what we are seeing in these regions in the photo.

I believe that, as is quite common in a traumatic "degloving" or partial degloving" injury (we see this quite often in the Summertime with motorcylce traffic accidents) the portion of the LEFT forearm which has been jaggedly disengaged from the connective tissue formerly anchoring this small section to the underlying periosteal cortex has, of course, "come away" , and appears to be now both "elevated slightly" - possibly due to the "bouncy" nature of a minor amount of adipose (fat) tissue - and moved slightly medial toward Mary's midline (likely, not "moved" of course, but just where the section of flesh has come to rest.) It is still likely attached on the underside (which is anatomically the ventral or anterior aspect of her LEFT forearm.

That is one notion - the one I go with the most. Another option is that, this fleshy portion is the skin and muscle which has clearly been dissected from the anteriolateral portion of the LEFT humerus/Biceps, as has been clearly noted. I don't remember the bedside report (Dr. Bond was it?) making note of this, but I will check again.

Also, with regards to Mary's face: I can finally get a good point of reference and make out what we can see of the RIGHT eyeball/eye - the nose has always been a challenge for me to spot - and are we seeing the derailed aspect of the upper teeth, just diagonal southwesterly to the RIGHT eye, and slightly shifted-over up and to the right of facial midline? I think so, and I would not be the least bit surprised if her jaw was broken amidst the fury, and her Maxilla fractured and moderately displaced superiorly and slightly to her right. I have seen all of these things, firsthand, on trauma patients brought in following self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the face-gone-awry and motorcycle/auto wrecks. Also, some examples, like the way flesh moves about when disengaged from the underlying anchoring tissue, is more clearly evident in the surgical suite.

Finally, and I won't quote, but with regards to the earlier post about her having her toenails painted -I concur 100% - and in fact used to think this when viewing the non-colourized version. Let me digress, and just think about this for a moment:
here is a poor young lady, almost never making ends meet (or barely so), sometimes afraid and not knowing what tomorrow will bring, maybe lonely, depressed even ... Talk to any woman today, and many of those women will tell you that when they "paint their toes", they feel a little more "ladylike", a bit more feminine, they feel as though they've treated themselves to a bit of pampering, or a bit of "ME-TIME"... I fervently believe that in this one small aspect, we are able to see a side of Mary that, when able, enjoyed a bit of low-cost or cheap or free Toenail Polish - as it made her feel pretty - special - not so destitute - and constituted what might be inferred as "a little Mary Kelly TLC-for-meself-time..."
<3
Cheers and much respect to the wizards on these boards,
Cathh