Was Mackenzie a copycat?

[RivkahChaya]

If De Salvo ad not been caught, some casebookers would see a dozen of different killers behind his crimes.
And that's just an example among many.

Well, there was almost certainly more than just De Salvo involved. or so i have been informed by some diehard afficionados.

LC

The pattern of the murders attributed to a "Boston Strangler" were several murder-rapes of middle-aged to elderly white women all in 1962 They were all strangled with their own nylon stockings, or other personal items, like bathrobe cords, except for one woman, who died of a heart attack during the rape. Then, in late 1962, through 1964, several very young women, all under 25, both black and white, were murdered, and most of them were raped. The first two young women, in spite of being young enough to be the granddaughters of the first set of victims, were considered part of the same cluster, because they followed close in time, and were also strangled with nylon stockings.

There were two middle-aged to elderly women murdered during the second cluster, but one was stabbed and beaten. The second one, however, was raped and strangled with nylons. One of the other "second cluster" victims was murdered without being raped, and she was stabbed, and beaten around the face. The very last victim was beaten and strangled with nylons.

Albert DeSalvo confessed to all the murders, and so once he was sentenced to life for other crimes (serial rape), the police closed the books. He had prior convictions for rape and assault as well. However, he was never actually tried for the murders and rapes of any of the women, and a lot of the police at the time didn't think all the "Boston Stranglings" were committed by one person. That was a public perception fueled by the press.

The current belief of the Boston police as well as the FBI is that The first cluster of murders was the work of one person, and he may have committed one of the second ones, with the reason for the time gap unknown. The young women who were raped and strangled were the victims of a second killer who copied the "Boston Strangler's" MO, but not victimology, and two of the second cluster were a burglary that was interrupted, and a domestic violence case-- the two stabbings/beatings without sexual assault.

It's worth noting that the first cluster of nylon stranglings almost certainly were done with stocking that belonged to the victims, and at any rate, used nylons, while the second victims appeared to be strangled with new nylons the killer brought with him.

Also, the age gap is not just a "there will always be an oldest and youngest" sort of thing. The range of ages of the young victims was 19-23, and the old victims was 55-85. So they really look like two sets of victims. About the only thing they had in common was that they were women who were home alone, who were attacked in their own homes. That's less odd than it might seem to us now, back when a lot of women were home alone during the day, and they let salesmen, and delivery people in pretty regularly.

FWIW, there were strangle-murder/rapes in the Boston area after DeSalvo's arrest, but since the press assumed that the Boston Strangler was in custody, the murders weren't reported as part of the "Boston Strangler" series of crimes.

[DVV]

Sigh

In the case of Kelly, and perhaps Eddowes, what I have in mind is a killer seeking to hide his domestic murder as the Ripper's work, by imitating what he has read in the press. So not copy-cat per se, or influenced, but deliberate at second hand.
Phil

Domestic murder in Mitre Square.

It gets better.

[Phil H]

Thanks DVV - I meant STRIDE of course, not Eddowes.

[RivkahChaya]

I fail to see how Eddowes of Kelly can be in any sense a "copycat." Both of them were far more gruesome than any previous murder, and that's not so much a copy, as one-upmanship.

If you want to murder someone, and cover it up by making it look like it was done by a serial killer, you are going to copy the serial killer's crime meticulously, not go all meat-grinder on the body. You run the risk of the police thinking someone else did it, because the previous killer never did anything this gory.

Do a little Googling-- I think you'll find that, if anything, copies tend to be less gory than the original murder scenes.

Also, carving designs on the face strikes me as something a killer does to a stranger. The facial mutilations in neither case were intended to hide the victims' identities-- they were for fun, I'm pretty sure, mainly because they seem to be symmetrical, and not random: I've seen the cuts on Eddowes face described as a "clown face"-- I don't know that I'd call it that, but I understand what people mean. The killer had a look in mind, and it just seems like it would be harder to project that onto a face that is familiar; a stranger would present more of a blank canvas.

I'm not even getting into how a killer would treat someone he knows vs. someone he doesn't know, vis a vis being willing to obliterate a familiar face-- although for what it's worth, Eddowes' face wasn't obliterated, and while to us, it looks like Kelly's is just a mess, it might not look that way to the killer, because he spent some time carving the skin just so, until it looked the way he wanted it to look (making an assumption, but bear me out). If all he wanted was to obliterate, he could have smashed it in with the kettle.

[lynn cates]

resemblance

Hello Jon. Thanks.

"The Birtley boy was influenced by the Ripper. There is nothing about the victim, injuries, weapon and location of the murder that resembles the Ripper."

That was the eventual assessment. But so I may say of MANY of the WCM.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

copious copies

Hello Rivkah. Thanks for that on the Boston Strangler.

May I make copies? It is grist for my mill.

Cheers.
LC

[DVV]

One step forward, three steps backward

Thanks DVV - I meant STRIDE of course, not Eddowes.

Ok. I change my headline.

Domestic ripperish murder without abdominal mutilation in Berner Street, then.

It's well and good to mock a certain type of ripperology (crazy midwife, royal theory, etc), but the current deconstruction is equally grotesque - and lacks charm.
Where does it lead, seriously ?
To the Berner Street conspiration, as in Lynn's recent post ?
To that poor Michael Kidney ?

Think of it : if Stride and MJK aren't ripper-victims, Bacon has to be Shakespeare.

[lynn cates]

truth

Hello David.

"Where does it lead, seriously?"

The truth, one hopes.

Cheers.
LC

[Phil H]

I fail to see how Eddowes of Kelly can be in any sense a "copycat." Both of them were far more gruesome than any previous murder, and that's not so much a copy, as one-upmanship.

It was Stride I meant, not Eddowes, and a slit throat is the hallmark of no one.

However, in the case of kelly, I perceive a possibility that someone having read about the earlier murders, attempted to reproduce one and went too far. The chief characteristic of the crimes in the press was their horror - the murderer was probably not trying to outdo himself - he was doing what felt natural - someone seeking to emulate his style might easily over do it. Just my thought.

With Mckenzie the opposite is true - someone not the Ripper would have over done the mutilation. Only "Jack" could "under do it" (for whatever reason).

For what it's worthy, my belief is that the "truth" or a solution (of sorts) in this case is likely to come from work along the lines of the recent post on the Levy's etc of Mitre Street.

Phil

[DVV]

Hello David.

"Where does it lead, seriously?"

The truth, one hopes.

Cheers.
LC

"One" must refer to the number.

Cheers

[DVV]

However, in the case of kelly, I perceive a possibility that someone having read about the earlier murders, attempted to reproduce one and went too far.
Phil

This possiblility being, of course, more likely than the Ripper taking his time.

[lynn cates]

One is the loneliest number.

Hello David. Thanks.

""One" must refer to the number."

Of what?

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

The reason Eddowes had her clothes cut through was because she was wearing more layers of clothes. She also had a number of items tied around her waist.

And her killer was working under greater time pressure than he had been on previous occasions perhaps?

[lynn cates]

time pressure

Hello Colin.

"And her killer was working under greater time pressure than he had been on previous occasions perhaps?"

Greater time pressure than at Hanbury, after sunrise, with a house full of people?

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

This possiblility being, of course, more likely than the Ripper taking his time.

And if you wanted to make Kelly look like a Ripper murder, wouldn't you kill her on the street where the Ripper murders took place, not in a bed in a private room where they didn't.