wanted to introduce myself so as not to seem like a lurker

[praline]

I have always been a crime "whodunit" kind of junkie and though I was familiar with the Ripper cases, I never did any serious research into it until recently. I saw the Nat Geo doc on the murders and had questions of the conclusions or facts that would point to the conclusion that the German seaman was the ripper. I am by no means an expert and most of this stuff I am reading for the first time. I am however familiar with several other crimes as police forensics simply fascinate me. I guess that makes me a computer chair detective

I do have pages and pages of questions I have made notes about. I am trying desperately to find answers to my questions without bugging you experts more then I need to I wanted to send out a quick howdy as I have always thought lurkers were a bit on the rude side.

I hope to get to know this case and am in awe of the amount of information this site has! Its a tad bit overwhelming for me and I am familiar with the case LOL
~Brook

[The Grave Maurice]

Welcome, Brook. We always appreciate enthusiastic new members.

Does the moniker "praline" mean, perhaps, that you're from N'Awlins? I've always loved that town. (However, if it only means that you like the candy, you're welcome none the less.)

[praline]

WOW ~ there are some great detectives on this website

This site has so much great information but at the same time it seems that so much is lacking (from the case not the website). It almost would seem if you cut the fat from the cow the only real evidence pointing to anything would fit in a shoe box

Poor women who lived a sad life and were let down after death.

[Hatchett]

Hi Praline,

Welcome. It will be pleasant to discuss things with you. A fresh approach is always good.

Best wishes.

[JtRMordke]

Welcome!
I am also new, and probably considerably younger than most of the members here! I never knew you could post an introduction so please excuse me if it seems I am hijacking your thread!

Anyway - I am also fascinated by all the crime stuff and Jack the Ripper just pulled me in. Nice to know I'm not the only one who did serious internet research into the murders!

[Jasper]

Hello I am also new so hi! I am fascinated with forensics and always love it when Jack the Ripper comes on the discussion of different suspects is great and I love debating it personally my favourite suspect is Dr Francis Tumblety because he has motive, opportunity, and was in the right places for all the murders. Just my thoughts

[praline]

Thanks for the welcome everyone! I am glad I am not the only noobie recently who decided to do further research into this case rather then the basic knowledge of it.
Tumblety, huh? I haven't considered him as a top suspect. Granted there is so little evidence in these cases it leaves the suspect open to be just about anyone at the time.
When I read about him and picture him, I think of a self centered con artist. Someone who loves attention on him. I would think he would more likely confess to being JTR only to find out later it was a false confession drummed up for the attention.

[JtRMordke]

Tumbelty isn't one of my top suspects either for the reasons highlighted, plus I think his moustache was too big! xD
My favourite suspect has to be Kozminski - At first I wasn't sure because of the nature that he was described in, but I've become obsessed in him after doing a little more research and it seems the more I find out about him, the more likely it is that he's the Ripper. I love digging deep into things!

[praline]

I think great minds think alike jt

I will admit I do favor the "crazy as a loon" suspect theory. I haven't done near enough research to say with any educated guess who the killer is. Almost every serial killer caught ended up having severe mental illness (go figure). My problem is I like Cohen as it seems he has more personality points towards being the killer except I think he might have been TOO crazy to be able to pull it off. At the same time I can't help but have it keep popping in my head that Kozminski wasn't crazy enough. My ideal suspect pick would be to combine these 2 people into 1 person

[JtRMordke]

Why thank you Praline! ^^

I remember reading some stuff on Cohen and I liked the idea too, but I have the same issues as you do with the theory - also I believe there is more evidence pointing to Kozminski than there is with Cohen, even though at first glance it appears he has more of the right state of mind to have committed them.

Over to Kozminski, we have no idea what his mind was like at the time of the murders as the only evidence we have of him (pointing to a drooling, stinking, masturbating maniac) was given as evidence for his incarnation to the asylum, a couple of years after the murders. Sounds to me like he was already burnt out by this point, thus reduced to a shadow of what he once was. Since the Ripper's crimes were becoming increasingly more violent and evolved to try and reach satisfaction of his fantasies, we can only assume that he would have become burnt out by the end of the MJK murder if he was Kozminski for the sake of argument, this explaining the lapse in time which is so commonly used as evidence against Kozminski's candidacy as Jack the Ripper. Also, there is the possibility that his family shielded him (such in the theory of the Batty Street lodger) and went into complete lock down after MJK.

[The Good Michael]

It's funny. I was thinking earlier, "Who's this Praline person? Some kind of lurker?" and look who appears.

If that don't beat all


Mike

[SarahLee]

Hello from another lurker!!!

Hope you don't mind the thread hijack Praline, but I thought I'd pop in here to say hello too.

I've been lurking in the shadows for a while, but finally decided to register and get involved on the message boards

JTR is a long term interest of mine - probably an inherited fascination from my mother who used to tell me about the Whitechapel murders (albeit highly sanitised version) when I was younger.

Anyway this seems to be the place to be for discussions, questions and theories . . . and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all - and maybe adding some of my own thoughts into the melting pot!

Best Wishes,
Sarah

[praline]

Mike ~ I hope that was a good thing?

I do apologize for asking so many questions but there is just such a huge amount of research! I just want to make sure I understand everything I am reading.

Hi Sara, I too have always been interested in JTR but never did any serious research into the crimes. I would watch shows and read the occasional book about him but just took the writers word for what I was reading and never really made opinions of my own. I have always been fascinated with behavior science, especially when it relates to forensic investigations. I think at times I have scared my hubby with my interest in serial killers
I have assured him that its more the science behind catching them, the research that is done to understand this type of killer in order to catch future killers. I think at that point hubby said, "oh ok, so your not interested in the violence just how not to get caught!"
Got to keep a hubby on his toes I guess

[SarahLee]

Never a bad thing to keep your hubby on his toes.

It's the psychology of it that interests me too. I fear that too much time has passed for us to ever positively identify JTR, but I'm fascinated in what would motivate somebody to do what he did.
I also have an interest in the human side of the victims. Who were they? What brought them to where they ended up?

[JtRMordke]

Oh, all that totally. I'm fascinated in the psychological approach to it all, and linking this to possible suspects. I am also of the opinion that the identity of the Ripper can never be proven, but I think we can make a pretty good stab at guessing it! The thing that really drew me into the case was my History teacher telling me when I asked, that the identity of the murderer was not relevant to the GCSE course, and this led me to investigate this further, so that is where my Jack the Ripper obsession stemmed. My analytical mind was driving my parents insane and they much supported my late decision to join Casebook so that they could get a break from it all. xD