Originally posted by NotBlamedForNothing
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Personally, I do tend to agree with you, and think the way in which B.S. seems to suddenly attack Stride seems different from the other crimes. But, it is also possible that Stride and B.S. had spent time together earlier that evening, and he's angry at her over something from that time (maybe she gave him the slip from a pub, for example). In other words, while it does seem different, we have to consider if that's due to our assumptions about how the other crimes were committed is wrong, and what we're seeing is JtR's more typical sequence (obviously here I'm presenting B.S. as JtR, and to be clear, I'm not convinced he was, nor convinced he wasn't - I'm wishy washy on Stride's inclusion).
Again, I do think the evidence suggests JtR tended to spend at least a bit of time posing as a customer, and didn't just suddenly attack women he walked by, but at the same time, that isn't a proven fact. It's just the most probable given what we have to interpret. As such, we need to be a bit cautious about ruling Stride out on that basis alone. Also, serial killers are not robots, they do vary in their behaviours from one crime to the next, and Stride may simply be an example of that variation.
Or, of course, Stride might not be a victim of JtR at all, that too has to be considered.
In my view, though, the differences in the Stride case are enough to make us question her inclusion, but not enough to confidently conclude she should be excluded. And, the similarities are sufficient to make us consider her inclusion but not enough to confidently conclude we should include her. In short, I can confidently state that I have very little idea about whether or not Stride should be put into the series.
And, as I say, I do tend to agree with you that her attack by B.S. does seem to deviate from the other C5 cases, but the nature of her throat wound is almost a carbon copy of the wound to Eddowes (Eddowes' was a bit deeper, but not by all that much). Also, there is time unaccounted for in which B.S. could leave the area, and someone else shows up, so again it's not a sure thing that B.S. killed Stride (and if he didn't, it's unlikely he's JtR though I suppose by some bizarre coincidence he could be; i.e. JtR assaults Stride, leaves and kills Eddowes, and someone else showed up and killed Stride! But let's not go there as that sort of "just so" story is best left to Hollywood).
- Jeff
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