145-521: Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron . Attacks ascribed to Jack the Ripper typically involved women working as prostitutes who lived and worked in
290-595: A Serienmörder ('serial-murderer') in his article " Die Düsseldorfer Sexualverbrechen " (1930). In his book, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (2004), criminal justice historian Peter Vronsky notes that while Ressler might have coined the English term "serial homicide" within the law in 1974, the terms serial murder and serial murderer appear in John Brophy 's book The Meaning of Murder (1966). The Washington, D.C., newspaper Evening Star , in
435-410: A clasp knife by an unknown man. She was later discharged, but died from apparently natural causes on 31 March . Millwood was later postulated to be the Ripper's first victim, although this attack cannot be definitively linked to the perpetrator. Another suspected precanonical victim was a young dressmaker named Ada Wilson, who reportedly survived being stabbed twice in the neck with a clasp knife upon
580-555: A "cooling-off period." Cases of extended bouts of sequential killings over periods of weeks or months with no apparent "cooling off period" or "return to normality" have caused some experts to suggest a hybrid category of "spree-serial killer". In Controversial Issues in Criminology , Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating that spree killers "will engage in
725-729: A 1967 review of the book: There is the mass murderer, or what he [Brophy] calls the "serial" killer, who may be actuated by greed, such as insurance, or retention or growth of power, like the Medicis of Renaissance Italy, or Landru , the " bluebeard " of the World War I period, who murdered numerous wives after taking their money. Vronsky states that the term serial killing first entered into broader American popular usage when published in The New York Times in early 1981, to describe Atlanta serial killer Wayne Williams . Subsequently, throughout
870-437: A Metropolitan Police investigation and were known collectively in the police docket as the "Whitechapel murders". Opinions vary as to whether these murders should be linked to the same culprit, but five of the eleven Whitechapel murders, known as the "canonical five", are widely believed to be the work of the Ripper. Most experts point to deep slash wounds to the throat, followed by extensive abdominal and genital-area mutilation,
1015-681: A case of a serial murderer in the 1870s, a Frenchman named Eusebius Pieydagnelle who had a sexual obsession with blood and confessed to murdering six people. The unidentified killer Jack the Ripper , who has been called the first modern serial killer, killed at least five women , and possibly more, in London in 1888. He was the subject of a massive manhunt and investigation by the Metropolitan Police , during which many modern criminal investigation techniques were pioneered. A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries, forensic material
1160-475: A confused press report of the murder of Emma Elizabeth Smith, who had a stick or other blunt object shoved into her vagina. Most authors agree that the victim "Fairy Fay" never existed. A 38-year-old widow named Annie Millwood was admitted to the Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary with numerous stab wounds to her legs and lower torso on 25 February 1888, informing staff she had been attacked with
1305-465: A crime reporter, was a career journalist who was caught after a series of articles he wrote gave clues that he had murdered people. Russell Williams was a successful and respected career Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel who was convicted of murdering two women, along with fetish burglaries and rapes. Many serial killers have faced similar problems in their childhood development. Hickey's Trauma Control Model explains how early childhood trauma can set
1450-436: A deep, jagged wound, causing her bowels to protrude. Several other incisions inflicted to both sides of her abdomen had also been caused by the same knife; each of these wounds had been inflicted in a downward thrusting manner. One week later, on Saturday 8 September 1888, the body of Annie Chapman was discovered at approximately 6 a.m. near the steps to the doorway of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street , Spitalfields. As in
1595-666: A focus of class struggle and an obvious flashpoint. This attracted the attention of the small but growing socialist movement – the Marxists of both the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and Socialist League , and the reformist socialists of the Fabian Society . Police and government attempts to suppress or divert the demonstrations also brought in the radical wing of the Liberal Party and free speech activists from
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#17330927536901740-461: A group, serial killers suffer from a variety of personality disorders . Most are often not adjudicated as insane under the law. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer , spree killer , or contract killer , there are overlaps between them. The English term and concept of serial killer are commonly attributed to former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Robert Ressler , who used
1885-479: A health-care facility, or at different locations within the same city or state. A notable exception to the typical characteristics of female serial killers is Aileen Wuornos , who killed outdoors instead of at home, used a gun instead of poison, and killed strangers instead of friends or family. One "analysis of 86 female serial killers from the United States found that the victims tended to be spouses, children or
2030-552: A high degree of control over the crime scene and usually have a solid knowledge of forensic science that enables them to cover their tracks, such as burying the body or weighing it down and sinking it in a river. They follow their crimes in the news media carefully and often take pride in their actions as if it were all a grand project. Often, organized killers have social and other interpersonal skills sufficient to enable them to develop both personal and romantic relationships, friends and lovers and sometimes even attract and maintain
2175-432: A hoax, as originally concluded by psychiatrist David Abrahamsen. Mission-oriented killers typically justify their acts as "ridding the world" of certain types of people perceived as undesirable, such as the homeless , ex-cons , homosexuals , drug users , prostitutes, or people of different ethnicity or religion; however, they are generally not psychotic. Some see themselves as attempting to change society, often to cure
2320-607: A knife on 24 April 1891 in New York City . Her body was found with a large tear through her groin area and superficial cuts on her legs and back. No organs were removed from the scene, though an ovary was found upon the bed, either purposely removed or unintentionally dislodged. At the time, the murder was compared to those in Whitechapel, though the Metropolitan Police eventually ruled out any connection. The vast majority of
2465-472: A lower mean IQ than organized serial killers, at 89.4. Mixed serial killers, with both organized and disorganized traits, have an average IQ of 100.9, but a low sample size. Some people with a pathological interest in the power of life and death tend to be attracted to medical professions or acquiring such a job. These kinds of killers are sometimes referred to as "angels of death" or angels of mercy. Medical professionals will kill their patients for money, for
2610-605: A murderer from South America, killed a minimum of 110 young girls between 1969 and 1980. However, he claims that the number is over 300. He was released from a mental facility in 1998 and his whereabouts are still unknown. He is commonly nicknamed the "Monster of the Andes". An additional non-American serial killer is Luis Garavito from Colombia. Garavito would kill and torture boys using various disguises. He murdered around 140 boys ranging in ages from 8 to 16. He would dump his victims' bodies in mass graves. The serial killing phenomenon in
2755-509: A parent has a drug or alcohol problem, the attention in the household is on the parents rather than the child. This neglect of the child leads to the lowering of their self-esteem and helps develop a fantasy world in which they are in control. Hickey's Trauma Control Model supports how parental neglect can facilitate deviant behavior, especially if the child sees substance abuse in action. This then leads to disposition (the inability to attach), which can further lead to homicidal behavior, unless
2900-455: A problem that afflicts the whole society." Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Gangster (2001), explains how potential criminals are labeled by society , which can then lead to their offspring also developing in the same way through the cycle of violence . The ability for serial killers to appreciate the mental life of others is severely compromised, presumably leading to their dehumanization of others. This process may be considered an expression of
3045-404: A random weapon available at the time, and usually do not attempt to hide the body. They are likely to be unemployed, a loner, or both, with very few friends. They often turn out to have a history of mental illness, and their modus operandi (M.O.) or lack thereof is often marked by excessive violence and sometimes necrophilia or sexual violence. Disorganized serial killers have been found to have
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#17330927536903190-400: A revengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease but I do not think either hypothesis is likely". There is no evidence the perpetrator engaged in sexual activity with any of the victims, yet psychologists have suggested that the penetration of the victims with a knife and "leaving them on display in sexually degrading positions with
3335-554: A sense of sadistic pleasure, for a belief that they are "easing" the patient's pain, or simply "because they can". Perhaps the most prolific of these was the British doctor Harold Shipman . Another such killer was nurse Jane Toppan , who admitted during her murder trial that she was sexually aroused by death . She would administer a drug mixture to patients she chose as her victims, lie in bed with them and hold them close to her body as they died. Another medical professional serial killer
3480-553: A shabby appearance with a woman who may have been Eddowes. Lawende's companions were unable to confirm his description. The murders of Stride and Eddowes ultimately became known as the "double event". A section of Eddowes's bloodied apron was found at the entrance to a tenement in Goulston Street, Whitechapel, at 2:55 a.m. A chalk inscription upon the wall directly above this piece of apron read: "The Juwes are The men That Will not be Blamed for nothing." This graffito became known as
3625-516: A societal ill. Bloody Sunday (1887) Charles Warren Metropolitan Police : 2,000 Bloody Sunday was an event which took place in London , England on 13 November 1887, when a crowd of marchers protesting about unemployment and the Irish Coercion Acts , as well as demanding the release of MP William O'Brien , clashed with the Metropolitan Police . The demonstration was organised by
3770-523: A spouse and sustain a family including children. Among serial killers, those of this type are in the event of their capture most likely to be described by acquaintances as kind and unlikely to hurt anyone. Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy are examples of organized serial killers. In general, the IQs of organized serial killers tend to be normal range, with a mean of 98.7. Disorganized serial killers are usually far more impulsive, often committing their murders with
3915-454: A variety of fields and specialties with the goal of identifying the commonalities of knowledge regarding serial murder. The group also settled on a definition of serial murder which FBI investigators widely accept as their standard: "The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events". Serial homicide researcher Enzo Yaksic found that the FBI was justified in lowering
4060-667: Is Genene Jones . It is believed she killed 11 to 46 infants and children while working at Bexar County Medical Center Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, United States. She is currently serving a 99-year sentence for the murder of Chelsea McClellan and the attempted murder of Rolando Santos, and became eligible for parole in 2017 due to a law in Texas at the time of her sentencing to reduce prison overcrowding . A similar case occurred in Britain in 1991, where nurse Beverley Allitt killed four children at
4205-503: Is akin to a male serial killer's collecting of totems (souvenirs) from the victim as a way of exerting continued control over the victim and reliving it. By contrast, Hickey states that although popular perception sees "black widow" female serial killers as something of the Victorian past, in his statistical study of female serial killer cases reported in the United States since 1826, approximately 75% occurred since 1950. Elizabeth Báthory
4350-457: Is instigated to seek approval from parents, sexual partners, or others." This need for approval is what influences children to attempt to develop social relationships with their family and peers. "The quality of their attachments to parents and other members of the family is critical to how these children relate to and value other members of society." Wilson and Seaman (1990) conducted a study on incarcerated serial killers, and what they concluded
4495-461: Is retarded because the child's emotional and social development occurs within his self-centered fantasies. A person can do no wrong in his own world and the pain of others is of no consequence when the purpose of the fantasy world is to satisfy the needs of one person" (Garrison, 1996). Boundaries between fantasy and reality are lost and fantasies turn to dominance, control, sexual conquest, and violence, eventually leading to murder. Fantasy can lead to
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4640-474: Is sometimes cited as the most prolific female serial killer in all of history. Formally countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian , August 7, 1560 – August 21, 1614), she was a countess from the renowned Báthory family . Before her husband's death, Elizabeth took great pleasure in torturing the staff, by jamming pins under the servant's fingernails or stripping servants and throwing them into
4785-552: The City of London Police files relating to their investigation into the Whitechapel murders were destroyed in the Blitz . The surviving Metropolitan Police files allow a detailed view of investigative procedures in the Victorian era . A large team of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel. Forensic material was collected and examined. Suspects were identified, traced, and either examined more closely or eliminated from
4930-510: The Goulston Street graffito . The message appeared to imply that a Jew or Jews in general were responsible for the series of murders, but it is unclear whether the graffito was written by the murderer on dropping the section of apron, or was merely incidental and nothing to do with the case. Such graffiti were commonplace in Whitechapel. Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren feared that the graffito might spark antisemitic riots and ordered
5075-516: The Han Emperor Jing , was made Prince of Jidong in the sixth year of the middle period of Jing's reign (144 BC). According to the Chinese historian Sima Qian , he would "go out on marauding expeditions with 20 or 30 slaves or with young men who were in hiding from the law, murdering people and seizing their belongings for sheer sport". Although many of his subjects knew about these murders, it
5220-481: The Hungarian aristocrat Elizabeth Báthory , born into one of the wealthiest families in Transylvania , allegedly tortured and killed as many as 650 girls and young women before her arrest in 1610. Between 1564 and 1589, German farmer Peter Stumpp killed 14 children, including his own son. He also murdered two pregnant women and had an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Stumpp claimed to have been granted
5365-608: The Liberal Party and made it easy for the Conservatives to gain a majority in the House of Commons. The period from 1885 to 1906 was one of Tory dominance, with short intermissions. Coercion Acts were the answer of British governments perturbed by rural unrest in Ireland, and they involved various degrees of suspension of civil rights. Although one purpose of the 13 November demonstration
5510-615: The Metropolitan Police Service and Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), wrote a report that stated: "the Whitechapel murderer had 5 victims—& 5 victims only". Similarly, the canonical five victims were linked together in a letter written by police surgeon Thomas Bond to Robert Anderson , head of the London CID, on 10 November 1888. Some researchers have posited that some of
5655-505: The NHS ). He was considered a pillar of the local community; he even won a professional award for a children's asthma clinic and was interviewed by Granada Television 's World in Action on ITV . Dennis Nilsen was an ex-soldier turned civil servant and trade unionist who had no previous criminal record when arrested. Neither was known to have exhibited many of the tell-tale signs. Vlado Taneski ,
5800-762: The National Secular Society . The working class in British cities contained many people of Irish birth or origin. London, like industrial areas of northern England and western Scotland, had a large Irish working class, concentrated in the East End, where it rubbed shoulders with increasing numbers of Jews from Eastern Europe. Some 30,000 people, "mostly respectable spectators", encircled Trafalgar Square as at least 10,000 protesters marched in from several different directions, led by (among others) Elizabeth Reynolds, John Burns , William Morris , Annie Besant and Robert Cunninghame-Graham , who were primarily leaders of
5945-490: The Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League . Violent clashes took place between the police and demonstrators, many "armed with iron bars, knives, pokers and gas pipes". A contemporary report noted that 400 were arrested and 75 people were badly injured, including many police, two policemen being stabbed and one protester bayonetted. Gladstone's espousal of the cause of Irish home rule had split
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6090-487: The Social Democratic Federation . Also marching were the Fabian playwright George Bernard Shaw , Eleanor Marx , and Charlotte Wilson . There were approximately 14,000 police officers for 5.5 million Londoners. Two thousand police and 400 troops were deployed to halt the demonstration. Burns and Cunninghame-Graham were arrested and imprisoned for six weeks. Annie Besant, who was a Marxist , Fabian and secularist , spoke at
6235-628: The Vietnam War were preventing California from experiencing the Big One . As the war wound down, Mullin claimed his father instructed him via telepathy to raise the number of "human sacrifices to nature" to delay a catastrophic earthquake that would plunge California into the ocean. David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") may also be an example of a visionary serial killer, having claimed a demon transmitted orders through his neighbor's dog and instructed him to commit murder. Berkowitz later described those claims as
6380-507: The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee and came with half of a preserved human kidney, purportedly taken from one of the victims. The public came increasingly to believe in the existence of a single serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, mainly because of both the extraordinarily brutal nature of the murders and media coverage of the crimes. Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on
6525-433: The inquest into Chapman's murder, Elizabeth Long described having seen Chapman standing outside 29 Hanbury Street at about 5:30 a.m. in the company of a dark-haired man wearing a brown deerstalker hat and dark overcoat, and of a "shabby- genteel " appearance. According to this eyewitness, the man had asked Chapman, "Will you?" to which Chapman had replied, "Yes." Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were both killed in
6670-448: The intersubjectivity associated with a cognitive deficit regarding the capability to make sharp distinctions between other people and inanimate objects. For these individuals, objects can appear to possess animistic or humanistic power while people are perceived as objects. Before he was executed, serial killer Ted Bundy stated media violence and pornography had stimulated and increased his need to commit homicide, although this statement
6815-459: The power to control the mistreatment they suffer sometimes create a new reality to which they can escape. This new reality becomes their fantasy that they have total control of and becomes part of their daily existence. In this fantasy world, their emotional development is guided and maintained. According to Garrison (1996), "the child becomes sociopathic because the normal development of the concepts of right and wrong and empathy towards others
6960-449: The "Torso killer". It is debatable whether Jack the Ripper and the "Torso killer" were the same person or separate serial killers active in the same area. The modus operandi of the Torso killer differed from that of the Ripper, and police at the time discounted any connection between the two. Only one of the four victims linked to the Torso killer, Elizabeth Jackson, was ever identified. Jackson
7105-446: The 1980s, the term was used again in the pages of The New York Times , one of the major national news publications of the United States, on 233 occasions. By the end of the 1990s, the use of the term had increased to 2,514 instances in the paper. When defining serial killers, researchers generally use "three or more murders" as the baseline, considering it sufficient to provide a pattern without being overly restrictive. Independent of
7250-400: The 1990s include increased incarceration in the United States , the end of the crack epidemic in the United States , and decreased lead exposure in early childhood. Some commonly found characteristics of serial killers include the following: There are exceptions to these criteria, however. For example, Harold Shipman was a successful professional (a General Practitioner working for
7395-595: The CID, Assistant Commissioner Robert Anderson , was on leave in Switzerland between 7 September and 6 October , during the time when Chapman, Stride, and Eddowes were killed. This prompted Colonel Sir Charles Warren, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police , to appoint Chief Inspector Donald Swanson to coordinate the enquiry from Scotland Yard. Butchers, slaughterers, surgeons, and physicians were suspected because of
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#17330927536907540-545: The Islamic Calendar), "a strangler from Baghdad was apprehended. He had murdered a number of women and buried them in the house where he was living." The majority of documented serial killers were active in the United States. In one study of serial homicide in South Africa, many patterns were similar to established patterns in the U.S., with some exceptions: no offenders were female, offenders were lower educated than in
7685-495: The Metropolitan Police, Sir Charles Warren , declined. In the fighting, many rioters were injured by police truncheons and under the hooves of police horses . The British Army dispatched a force of 400 men, consisting of both infantry and cavalry. Although the infantry were marched into position with bayonets fixed, they were not ordered to open fire and the cavalry were not ordered to draw their swords. An Australian newspaper, of conservative political orientation, reported that
7830-547: The Pinchin Street torso, and Frances Coles. The strangled body of 26-year-old Rose Mylett was found in Clarke's Yard, High Street, Poplar on 20 December 1888. There was no sign of a struggle, and the police believed that she had either accidentally hanged herself with her collar while in a drunken stupor or committed suicide. However, faint markings left by a cord on one side of her neck suggested Mylett had been strangled. At
7975-462: The Ripper case. Tabram was murdered on a staircase landing in George Yard, Whitechapel, on 7 August 1888; she had suffered 39 stab wounds to her throat, lungs, heart, liver, spleen , stomach, and abdomen, with additional knife wounds inflicted to her breasts and vagina. All but one of Tabram's wounds had been inflicted with a bladed instrument such as a penknife , and with one possible exception, all
8120-401: The Ripper murders led to press speculation that the Ripper had killed him. The boy's employer, 23-year-old milkman William Barrett, was twice arrested for the murder but was released due to insufficient evidence . No-one was ever prosecuted. Carrie Brown (nicknamed " Shakespeare ", reportedly for her habit of quoting Shakespeare's sonnets ) was strangled with clothing and then mutilated with
8265-468: The Ripper, and the legend solidified. A police investigation into a series of eleven brutal murders committed in Whitechapel and Spitalfields between 1888 and 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders of 1888. Five victims— Mary Ann Nichols , Annie Chapman , Elizabeth Stride , Catherine Eddowes , and Mary Jane Kelly —are known as the "canonical five" and their murders between 31 August and 9 November 1888 are often considered
8410-557: The Ripper. "The Pinchin Street torso" was a decomposing headless and legless torso of an unidentified woman aged between 30 and 40 discovered beneath a railway arch in Pinchin Street, Whitechapel, on 10 September 1889. Bruising about the victim's back, hip, and arm indicated the decedent had been extensively beaten shortly before her death. The victim's abdomen was also extensively mutilated, although her genitals had not been wounded. She appeared to have been killed approximately one day prior to
8555-541: The Russian Empire and other areas of Eastern Europe emigrated into the same area. The parish of Whitechapel in the East End became increasingly overcrowded, with the population increasing to approximately 80,000 inhabitants by 1888. Work and housing conditions worsened, and a significant economic underclass developed. Fifty-five per cent of children born in the East End died before they were five years old. Robbery, violence, and alcohol dependency were commonplace, and
8700-482: The U.S., and both victims and offenders were predominantly black. In the 15th century, one of the wealthiest men in Europe and a former companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc , Gilles de Rais , was alleged to have sexually assaulted and killed peasant children, mainly boys, whom he had abducted from the surrounding villages and had taken to his castle. It is estimated that his victims numbered between 140 and 800. Similarly,
8845-470: The United States since that time. The decline in serial killers has no known single cause but is attributed to a number of factors. Mike Aamodt , emeritus professor at Radford University in Virginia, attributes the decline in number of serial killings to less frequent use of parole , improved forensic technology , and people behaving more cautiously. Causes for the general reduction in violent crime following
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#17330927536908990-472: The United States between 1800 and 2004 (64 females from a total of 416 known offenders), or that around 15% of U.S. serial killers have been women, with a collective number of victims between 427 and 612. The authors of Lethal Ladies , Amanda L. Farrell, Robert D. Keppel, and Victoria B. Titterington, state that "the Justice Department indicated 36 female serial killers have been active over the course of
9135-511: The United States indicated that sexual activity was one of several motives in 10% of the cases, enjoyment in 11% and control in 14% and that 51% of all U.S. female serial killers murdered at least one woman and 31% murdered at least one child. In other cases, women have been involved as an accomplice with a male serial killer as a part of a serial killing team. A 2015 study published in The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology found that
9280-434: The United States was especially prominent from 1970 to 2000, which has been described as the "golden age of serial murder". The cause of the spike in serial killings has been attributed to urbanization , which put people in close proximity and offered anonymity. The number of active serial killers in the United States peaked in 1989 and has been steadily trending downward since, coinciding with an overall decrease in crime in
9425-426: The United States. According to a 2016 study, since the year 2000, African Americans accounted for roughly 60% of all serial killers in the United States. Anthony Walsh found that the prevalence of non-white serial killers has typically been drastically underestimated in both professional research literature and the mass media. Black males were over-represented among serial killers by a factor of 2. Walsh argues that
9570-687: The ability to turn into a werewolf by the Devil. As punishment for his crimes, Stumpp was put on a torture wheel and executed. His head was later severed and put on a pole next to the figure of a wolf to scare other people away from claiming themselves werewolves too. Members of the Thuggee cult in India may have murdered a million people between 1740 and 1840. Thug Behram , a member of the cult, may have murdered as many as 931 victims. In his 1886 book, Psychopathia Sexualis , psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing noted
9715-443: The actual identity and profession of Jack the Ripper, but authorities are not agreed upon any of them, and the number of named suspects reaches over one hundred. Despite continued interest in the case, the Ripper's identity remains unknown. Serial killer Note: Varies by jurisdiction Note: Varies by jurisdiction A serial killer (also called a serial murderer ) is a person who murders three or more people, with
9860-409: The bed and sections of her abdomen and thighs upon a bedside table. The heart was missing from the crime scene. Multiple ashes found within the fireplace at 13 Miller's Court suggested Kelly's murderer had burned several combustible items to illuminate the single room as he mutilated her body. A recent fire had been severe enough to melt the solder between a kettle and its spout, which had fallen into
10005-540: The behavior. While juvenile serial killers are rare, the youngest felon on death row is a juvenile serial killer named Harvey Miguel Robinson who was 17 at the time of his crimes and 18 at the time of his arrest. There is a myth that most serial killers are white males. However, according to the FBI, based on percentages of the U.S. population, white males are not more likely than other races to be serial killers. White males are actually greatly under-represented among serial killers in proportion to their overall numbers in
10150-432: The case of psychological decompensation or overconfidence due to having evaded capture. Organized serial killers often plan their crimes methodically, usually abducting victims, killing them in one place and disposing of them in another. They often lure the victims with ploys appealing to their sense of sympathy. Others specifically target prostitutes, who are likely to go voluntarily with a stranger. These killers maintain
10295-413: The case of Nichols, the throat was severed by two deep cuts. Her abdomen had been cut entirely open, with a section of the flesh from her stomach being placed upon her left shoulder and another section of skin and flesh—plus her small intestines —being removed and placed above her right shoulder. Chapman's autopsy also revealed that her uterus and sections of her bladder and vagina had been removed. At
10440-399: The categories of the black widow or team killer. Although motivations for female serial killers can include attention seeking, addiction, or the result of psychopathological behavioral factors, female serial killers are commonly categorized as murdering men for material gain, usually being emotionally close to their victims, and generally needing to have a relationship with the victim, hence
10585-448: The child finds a way to develop substantial relationships and fight the label they receive. If a child receives no support from anyone, then they are unlikely to recover from the traumatic event in a positive way. As stated by E. E. Maccoby, "the family has continued to be seen as a major—perhaps the major—arena for socialization". There have been studies looking into the possibility that an abnormality with one's chromosomes could be
10730-426: The child up for deviant behavior in adulthood; the child's environment (either their parents or society) is the dominant factor determining whether or not the child's behavior escalates into homicidal activity. Family, or lack thereof, is the most prominent part of a child's development because it is what the child can identify with on a regular basis. "The serial killer is no different from any other individual who
10875-471: The cost of sleeping upon a "lean-to" or "hang-over" rope stretched across the dormitory being two pence per person. The economic problems in Whitechapel were accompanied by a steady rise in social tensions . Between 1886 and 1889, frequent demonstrations led to police intervention and public unrest, such as Bloody Sunday (1887) . Antisemitism , crime, nativism , racism , social disturbance, and severe deprivation influenced public perceptions that Whitechapel
11020-459: The dates of the murders did not coincide with a single boat's movements and the transfer of a crewman between boats was also ruled out. In September 1888, a group of volunteer citizens in London's East End formed the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee . They patrolled the streets looking for suspicious characters, partly because of dissatisfaction with the failure of police to apprehend the perpetrator, and also because some members were concerned that
11165-464: The discovery of her body by a Mrs. Emily Holland, with whom she had previously shared a bed at a common lodging-house in Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, walking in the direction of Whitechapel Road . Her throat was severed by two deep cuts, one of which completely severed all the tissue down to the vertebrae . Her vagina had been stabbed twice, and the lower part of her abdomen was partly ripped open by
11310-458: The discovery of her torso. The dismembered sections of the body are believed to have been transported to the railway arch, hidden under an old chemise. At 2:15 a.m. on 13 February 1891, PC Ernest Thompson discovered a 31-year-old prostitute named Frances Coles lying beneath a railway arch at Swallow Gardens, Whitechapel. Her throat had been deeply cut but her body was not mutilated, leading some to believe Thompson had disturbed her assailant. Coles
11455-526: The doorstep of her home in Bow on 28 March 1888 by a man who had demanded money from her. A further possible victim, 40-year-old Annie Farmer, resided at the same lodging house as Martha Tabram and reported an attack on 21 November 1888. She had received a superficial cut to her throat. Although an unknown man with blood on his mouth and hands had run out of this lodging house, shouting, "Look at what she has done!" before two eyewitnesses heard Farmer scream, her wound
11600-647: The early 1890s. The case was one of the first involving a serial murderer that gained widespread notoriety and publicity through sensationalized accounts in William Randolph Hearst 's newspapers. However, at the same time of the Holmes case, in France, Joseph Vacher became known as "The French Ripper" after killing and mutilating 11 women and children. He was executed in 1898 after confessing to his crimes. Another notable non-American serial killer is Pedro Lopez ,
11745-536: The early morning hours of Sunday 30 September 1888. Stride's body was discovered at approximately 1 a.m. in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street (now Henriques Street ) in Whitechapel. The cause of death was a single clear-cut incision, measuring six inches across her neck which had severed her left carotid artery and her trachea before terminating beneath her right jaw. The absence of any further mutilations to her body has led to uncertainty as to whether Stride's murder
11890-640: The elderly". Other studies indicate that since 1975, increasingly strangers are marginally the most preferred victim of female serial killers, or that only 26% of female serial killers kill for material gain only. Sources state that each killer will have her own proclivities, needs and triggers. A review of the published literature on female serial murder stated that "sexual or sadistic motives are believed to be extremely rare in female serial murderers, and psychopathic traits and histories of childhood abuse have been consistently reported in these women." A study by Eric W. Hickey (2010) of 64 female serial killers in
12035-524: The eleven Whitechapel murders, commentators have linked other attacks to the Ripper. In the case of "Fairy Fay", it is unclear whether this attack was real or fabricated as a part of Ripper lore. "Fairy Fay" was a nickname given to an unidentified woman whose body was allegedly found in a doorway close to Commercial Road on 26 December 1887 "after a stake had been thrust through her abdomen", but there were no recorded murders in Whitechapel at or around Christmas 1887. "Fairy Fay" seems to have been created through
12180-439: The endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution to survive on a daily basis. In October 1888, London's Metropolitan Police Service estimated that there were 62 brothels and 1,200 women working as prostitutes in Whitechapel, with approximately 8,500 people residing in the 233 common lodging-houses within Whitechapel every night, with the nightly price for a coffin bed being fourpence (equivalent to £2 in 2023) and
12325-759: The evidence against each of these individuals is, at best, circumstantial . In addition to the contradictions and unreliability of contemporaneous accounts, attempts to identify the murderer are hampered by the lack of any confirmed surviving forensic evidence . DNA analysis on extant letters is inconclusive; the available material has been handled many times and is too contaminated to provide meaningful results. There have been mutually incompatible claims that DNA evidence points conclusively to two different suspects: Aaron Kosminski (a Whitechapel barber) and artist Walter Sickert. The scientific methodology used to advance both of these claims by their proponents has also been criticised. There are numerous, varied theories about
12470-399: The examining pathologists, Thomas Bond, believed this to be a Ripper murder, though his colleague George Bagster Phillips, who had examined the bodies of three previous victims, disagreed. Opinions among writers are also divided between those who suspect McKenzie's murderer copied the modus operandi of Jack the Ripper to deflect suspicion from himself, and those who ascribe this murder to Jack
12615-413: The extent of the murderer's surgical skill and knowledge. The opinion offered by Bond on the character of the "Whitechapel murderer" is the earliest surviving offender profile . Bond's assessment was based on his own examination of the most extensively mutilated victim and the post mortem notes from the four previous canonical murders. He wrote: All five murders no doubt were committed by the same hand. In
12760-444: The face and received a cut to her ear. A blunt object was also inserted into her vagina , rupturing her peritoneum . She developed peritonitis and died the following day at London Hospital . Smith stated that she had been attacked by two or three men, one of whom she described as a teenager. This attack was linked to the later murders by the press, but most authors attribute this murder to general East End gang violence unrelated to
12905-445: The first four the throats appear to have been cut from left to right, in the last case owing to the extensive mutilation it is impossible to say in what direction the fatal cut was made, but arterial blood was found on the wall in splashes close to where the woman's head must have been lying. All the circumstances surrounding the murders lead me to form the opinion that the women must have been lying down when murdered and in every case
13050-418: The first step in the process of a dissociative state, which, in the words of Stephen Giannangelo, "allows the serial killer to leave the stream of consciousness for what is, to him, a better place". Criminologist Jose Sanchez reports, "The young criminal you see today is more detached from his victim, more ready to hurt or kill. The lack of empathy for their victims among young criminals is just one symptom of
13195-511: The grate of the fireplace. Each of the canonical five murders was perpetrated at night, on or close to a weekend, either at the end of a month or a week (or so) after. The mutilations became increasingly severe as the series of murders proceeded, except for that of Stride, whose attacker may have been interrupted. Nichols was not missing any organs; Chapman's uterus and sections of her bladder and vagina were taken; Eddowes had her uterus and left kidney removed and her face mutilated; and Kelly's body
13340-547: The hospital where she worked, attempted to kill three more, and injured a further six over the course of two months. A 21st-century example is Canadian nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer , who murdered elderly patients in the nursing homes where she worked. William George Davis is another hospital nurse who was sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of four patients. Female serial killers are rare compared to their male counterparts. Sources suggest that female serial killers represented less than one in every six known serial murderers in
13485-480: The inquest into Mylett's death, the jury returned a verdict of murder. Alice McKenzie was murdered shortly after midnight on 17 July 1889 in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. She had suffered two stab wounds to her neck, and her left carotid artery had been severed. Several minor bruises and cuts were found on her body, which also bore a seven-inch long superficial wound extending from her left breast to her navel . One of
13630-646: The inquiry. Modern police work follows the same pattern. More than 2,000 people were interviewed, "upwards of 300" people were investigated, and 80 people were detained. Following the murders of Stride and Eddowes, the Commissioner of the City Police , Sir James Fraser , offered a reward of £500 for the arrest of the Ripper. The investigation was initially conducted by the Metropolitan Police Whitechapel (H) Division Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid . After
13775-429: The killer was an educated upper-class man, possibly a doctor or an aristocrat who ventured into Whitechapel from a more well-to-do area. Such theories draw on cultural perceptions such as fear of the medical profession, a mistrust of modern science, or the exploitation of the poor by the rich. The term "Ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper case in an effort to determine his identity, and
13920-399: The killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary". Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder, and Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing. In 2005, the FBI hosted a multi-disciplinary symposium in San Antonio, Texas, which brought together 135 experts on serial murder from
14065-598: The killings taking place over a significant period of time in separate events. Their psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking , financial gain, and attention seeking , and killings may be executed as such . The victims tend to have things in common, such as demographic profile , appearance, gender, or race . As
14210-505: The last century." According to The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology , there is evidence that 16% of all serial killers are women. Michael D. Kelleher and C. L. Kelleher created several categories to describe female serial killers. They used the classifications of black widow , angel of death , sexual predator , revenge , profit or crime , team killer , question of sanity , unexplained , and unsolved . In using these categories, they observed that most women fell into
14355-464: The later murders because of this difference in the wound pattern. The canonical five Ripper victims are Mary Ann Nichols , Annie Chapman , Elizabeth Stride , Catherine Eddowes , and Mary Jane Kelly . The body of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered at about 3:40 a.m. on Friday 31 August 1888 in Buck's Row (now Durward Street ), Whitechapel. Nichols had last been seen alive approximately one hour before
14500-425: The major part of Eddowes's uterus had been removed, and her face had been disfigured, with her nose severed, her cheek slashed, and cuts measuring a quarter of an inch and a half an inch respectively vertically incised through each of her eyelids. A triangular incision—the apex of which pointed towards Eddowes's eye—had also been carved upon each of her cheeks, and a section of the auricle and lobe of her right ear
14645-525: The manner of the mutilations. A surviving note from Major Henry Smith, Acting Commissioner of the City Police , indicates that the alibis of local butchers and slaughterers were investigated, with the result that they were eliminated from the inquiry. A report from Inspector Swanson to the Home Office confirms that 76 butchers and slaughterers were visited, and that the inquiry encompassed all their employees for
14790-422: The midst of the wealth of London focused the media's attention on the plight of the urban poor and gained coverage worldwide. Jack the Ripper has also been called the most infamous serial killer of all time, and his legend has spawned hundreds of theories on his real identity and many works of fiction . H. H. Holmes was a serial killer in the United States, responsible for the death of at least nine victims in
14935-835: The misconceptions concerning female criminality. In the article, Perri and Lichtenwald analyze the current research regarding female psychopathy, including case studies of female psychopathic killers featuring Munchausen syndrome by proxy , cesarean section homicide, fraud detection homicide, female kill teams, and a female serial killer. Juvenile serial killers are rare. There are three main categories that juvenile serial killers can fit into: primary, maturing, and secondary killers. There have been studies done to compare and contrast these three groups and to discover similarities and differences between them. Although these types of serial killers are less common, oftentimes adult serial killers may make their debut at an early age and it can be an opportunity for researchers to study what factors brought about
15080-536: The most common motive for female serial killers was for financial gain and almost 40% of them had experienced some sort of mental illness. Peter Vronsky in Female Serial Killers (2007) maintains that female serial killers today often kill for the same reason males do: as a means of expressing rage and control. He suggests that sometimes the theft of the victims' property by the female "black widow" type serial killer appears to be for material gain, but really
15225-491: The most likely to be linked. The murders were never solved, and the legends surrounding these crimes became a combination of historical research, folklore , and pseudohistory , capturing public imagination to the present day. In the mid-19th century, England experienced an influx of Irish immigrants who swelled the populations of the major cities, including the East End of London . From 1882, Jewish refugees fleeing pogroms in
15370-499: The motives of any given killer may display considerable overlap among these categories. Visionary serial killers suffer from psychotic breaks with reality, sometimes believing they are another person or are compelled to murder by entities such as the Devil or God. The two most common subgroups are "demon mandated" and "God mandated". Herbert Mullin believed the American casualties in
15515-468: The murder of Nichols, Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline , Henry Moore , and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist. The City of London Police were involved under Detective Inspector James McWilliam after the Eddowes murder, which occurred within the City of London . The overall direction of the murder enquiries was hampered by the fact that the newly appointed head of
15660-416: The murderer. The name "Jack the Ripper" originated in the " Dear Boss letter " written by an individual claiming to be the murderer, which was disseminated in the press. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax and may have been written by journalists to heighten interest in the story and increase their newspapers' circulation. Another letter, the " From Hell letter ", was received by George Lusk of
15805-686: The murders have inspired numerous works of fiction . Suspects proposed years after the murders include virtually anyone remotely connected to the case by contemporaneous documents, as well as many famous names who were never considered in the police investigation, including Prince Albert Victor , artist Walter Sickert , and author Lewis Carroll . Everyone alive at the time is now long dead, and modern authors are free to accuse anyone "without any need for any supporting historical evidence". Suspects named in contemporaneous police documents include three in Sir Melville Macnaghten 's 1894 memorandum, but
15950-451: The murders were affecting businesses in the area. The Committee petitioned the government to raise a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer, offered their own reward of £50 (the equivalent of between £5,900 and £86,000 in 2021) for information leading to his capture, and hired private detectives to question witnesses independently. At the end of October, Robert Anderson asked police surgeon Thomas Bond to give his opinion on
16095-440: The murders were undoubtedly the work of a single killer, but an unknown larger number of killers acting independently were responsible for the other crimes. Authors Stewart P. Evans and Donald Rumbelow argue that the canonical five is a "Ripper myth" and that three cases (Nichols, Chapman, and Eddowes) can be definitely linked to the same perpetrator, but that less certainty exists as to whether Stride and Kelly were also murdered by
16240-406: The number of murders, they need to have been committed at different times, and are usually committed in different places. The lack of a cooling-off period (a significant break between the murders) marks the difference between a spree killer and a serial killer. The category has, however, been found to be of no real value to law enforcement, because of definitional problems relating to the concept of
16385-418: The popular media ignores black serial killers because of a fear of allegations of racism, and that this may enable black serial killers to operate more effectively, as their crimes do not get the same media attention as the crimes of non-black serial killers. The motives of serial killers are generally placed into four categories: visionary , mission-oriented , hedonistic , and power or control ; however,
16530-471: The previous six months. Some contemporaneous figures, including Queen Victoria , thought the pattern of the murders indicated that the culprit was a butcher or cattle drover on one of the cattle boats that plied between London and mainland Europe. Whitechapel was close to the London Docks , and usually such boats docked on Thursday or Friday and departed on Saturday or Sunday. The cattle boats were examined but
16675-459: The rally and offered herself for arrest, but the police declined to do so. Of the 400 arrested, 50 were detained in custody. At some point James Compton Merryweather, head of the firm Merryweather & Sons , and a Conservative supporter, offered to use a 400-gallons-per-minute steam fire engine as a water cannon of the day to clear the rioters from Trafalgar Square. However the Commissioner of
16820-486: The removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of the Ripper's modus operandi . The first two cases in the Whitechapel murders file, those of Emma Elizabeth Smith and Martha Tabram , are not included in the canonical five. Smith was robbed and sexually assaulted in Osborn Street , Whitechapel, at approximately 1:30 a.m. on 3 April 1888. She had been bludgeoned about
16965-403: The same individual. Conversely, others suppose that the six murders between Tabram and Kelly were the work of a single killer. Percy Clark, assistant to the examining pathologist George Bagster Phillips , linked only three of the murders and thought that the others were perpetrated by "weak-minded individual[s] ... induced to emulate the crime". Macnaghten did not join the police force until
17110-480: The slums of the East End of London . Their throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to speculation that their killer had some anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and numerous letters were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard from individuals purporting to be
17255-554: The snow. After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted. In 1610, however, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later. A 2010 article by Perri and Lichtenwald addressed some of
17400-675: The term serial homicide in 1974 in a lecture at Police Staff College, in Bramshill , Hampshire , England. Author Ann Rule postulates in her 2004 book Kiss Me, Kill Me , that the English-language credit for coining the term goes to Los Angeles Police Department detective Pierce Brooks, who created the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) system in 1985. The German term and concept were coined by criminologist Ernst Gennat , who described Peter Kürten as
17545-485: The throat was first cut. Bond was strongly opposed to the idea that the murderer possessed any kind of scientific or anatomical knowledge, or even "the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer". In his opinion, the killer must have been a man of solitary habits, subject to "periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania ", with the character of the mutilations possibly indicating " satyriasis ". Bond also stated that "the homicidal impulse may have developed from
17690-479: The torso was found on 17 October. The other limbs and head were never recovered and the body was never identified. The mutilations were similar to those in the Pinchin Street torso case, where the legs and head were severed but not the arms. Both the Whitehall Mystery and the Pinchin Street case may have been part of a series of murders known as the " Thames Mysteries ", committed by a single serial killer dubbed
17835-435: The towns and cities in thousands, eroding employment, wages and working conditions. By November 1887, unemployed workers' demonstrations from the East End of London had been building up for more than two years. There had already been clashes with the police and with the members of upper class clubs. Trafalgar Square was seen symbolically as the point at which the working-class East End met the upper-class West End of London ,
17980-403: The traditional cultural image of the "black widow". The methods that female serial killers use for murder are frequently covert or low-profile, such as murder by poison (the preferred choice for killing). Other methods used by female serial killers include shootings (used by 20%), suffocation (16%), stabbing (11%), and drowning (5%). They commit killings in specific places, such as their home or
18125-607: The trigger for serial killers. Two serial killers, Bobby Joe Long and Richard Speck , came to attention for reported chromosomal abnormalities. Long had an extra X chromosome . Speck was erroneously reported to have an extra Y chromosome ; in fact, his karyotype was performed twice and was normal each time. While attempts have been made to link the XYY karyotype to violence, including serial murder, research has consistently found little or no association between violent criminal behaviour and an extra Y chromosome. Children who do not have
18270-538: The unemployed and Irish movements. William Morris, leader of the Socialist League, gave the main speech and "advocated a holy war to prevent London from being turned into a huge prison". A smaller but similar event marked the burial of another of those killed, W. B. Curner, which took place in January. The release of those imprisoned was celebrated on 20 February 1888, with a large public meeting. Henry Hyndman , leader of
18415-439: The victim threshold from three to two victims given that serial murderers from these groups share similar pathologies. Historical criminologists suggest that there have been serial killers throughout history. Some sources suggest that legends such as werewolves and vampires were inspired by medieval serial killers. In Africa, there have been periodic outbreaks of murder by leopard men . Liu Pengli of China, nephew of
18560-406: The wounds exposed" indicates that the perpetrator derived sexual pleasure from the attacks. This view is challenged by others, who dismiss such hypotheses as insupportable supposition. The concentration of the killings around weekends and public holidays and within a short distance of each other has indicated to many that the Ripper was in regular employment and lived locally. Others have opined that
18705-592: The wounds had been inflicted by a right-handed individual. Tabram had not been raped . The savagery of the Tabram murder, the lack of an obvious motive , and the closeness of the location and date to the later canonical Ripper murders led police to link this murder to those later committed by Jack the Ripper. However, this murder differs from the later canonical murders because although Tabram had been repeatedly stabbed, she had not suffered any slash wounds to her throat or abdomen. Many experts do not connect Tabram's murder with
18850-453: The wounds received by the mob were less severe than those of the constables. The following Sunday, 20 November, saw another demonstration and more casualties. According to a report in the partisan Socialist Review , among them was a young clerk named Alfred Linnell, who was run down by a police horse, dying in hospital a fortnight later from complications of a shattered thigh. The funeral of Linnell on 18 December provided another focus for
18995-550: The writing washed away before dawn. The extensively mutilated and disembowelled body of Mary Jane Kelly was discovered lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller's Court, off Dorset Street , Spitalfields, at 10:45 a.m. on Friday 9 November 1888. Her face had been "hacked beyond all recognition", with her throat severed down to the spine, and the abdomen almost emptied of its organs. Her uterus, kidneys and one breast had been placed beneath her head, and other viscera from her body placed beside her foot, about
19140-439: The year after the murders, and his memorandum contains serious factual errors about possible suspects. Mary Jane Kelly is generally considered to be the Ripper's final victim, and it is assumed that the crimes ended because of the culprit's death, imprisonment, institutionalisation , or emigration. The Whitechapel murders file details another four murders that occurred after the canonical five: those of Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie,
19285-588: Was a 24-year-old prostitute from Chelsea whose various body parts were collected from the River Thames over a three-week period between 31 May and 25 June 1889. On 29 December 1888, the body of a seven-year-old boy named John Gill was found in a stable block in Manningham, Bradford . Gill had been missing since the morning of 27 December. His legs had been severed, his abdomen opened, his intestines partly drawn out, and his heart and one ear removed. Similarities with
19430-454: Was a notorious den of immorality . Such perceptions were strengthened in 1888 when the series of vicious and grotesque murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper" received unprecedented coverage in the media. The large number of attacks against women in the East End during this time adds uncertainty to how many victims were murdered by the same individual. Eleven separate murders, stretching from 3 April 1888 to 13 February 1891, were included in
19575-427: Was collected and suspects were identified and traced. Police surgeon Thomas Bond assembled one of the earliest character profiles of the offender . The Ripper murders also marked an important watershed in the treatment of crime by journalists. While not the first serial killer in history, Jack the Ripper's case was the first to create a worldwide media frenzy. The dramatic murders of financially destitute women in
19720-430: Was committed by the Ripper, or whether he was interrupted during the attack. Several witnesses later informed police they had seen Stride in the company of a man in or close to Berner Street on the evening of 29 September and in the early hours of 30 September, but each gave differing descriptions: some said that her companion was fair, others dark; some said that he was shabbily dressed, others well-dressed. Eddowes's body
19865-458: Was extensively eviscerated , with her face "gashed in all directions" and the tissue of her neck being severed to the bone, although the heart was the sole body organ missing from this crime scene. Historically, the belief these five canonical murders were committed by the same perpetrator is derived from contemporaneous documents which link them together to the exclusion of others. In 1894, Sir Melville Macnaghten , Assistant Chief Constable of
20010-428: Was found in a corner of Mitre Square in the City of London , three-quarters of an hour after the discovery of the body of Elizabeth Stride. Her throat was severed from ear to ear and her abdomen ripped open by a long, deep and jagged wound before her intestines had been placed over her right shoulder, with a section of the intestine being completely detached and placed between her body and left arm. The left kidney and
20155-431: Was later recovered from her clothing. The police surgeon who conducted the post mortem upon Eddowes's body stated his opinion these mutilations would have taken "at least five minutes" to complete. A local cigarette salesman named Joseph Lawende had passed by a narrow walkway to Mitre Square named Church Passage with two friends shortly before the murder; he later described seeing a fair-haired man of medium build with
20300-546: Was light, and possibly self-inflicted . "The Whitehall Mystery " was a term coined for the discovery of a headless torso of a woman on 2 October 1888 in the basement of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters being built in Whitehall . An arm and shoulder belonging to the body were previously discovered floating in the River Thames near Pimlico on 11 September, and the left leg was subsequently discovered buried near where
20445-553: Was made during last-ditch efforts to appeal his death sentence. In the 1970s and 1980s, FBI profilers instigated a simple division of serial killers into "organized" and "disorganized"; that is, those who plan their crimes, and those who act on impulse. The FBI's Crime Classification Manual now places serial killers into three categories: organized , disorganized , and mixed (i.e., offenders who exhibit organized and disorganized characteristics). Some killers descend from organized to disorganized as their killings continue, as in
20590-399: Was not until the 29th year of his reign that the son of one of his victims finally sent a report to the emperor. Eventually, it was discovered that he had murdered at least 100 people. The officials of the court requested that Liu Pengli be executed; however, the emperor could not bear to have his own nephew killed, so Liu Pengli was made a commoner and banished. In the 9th century (year 257 of
20735-436: Was still alive, although she died before medical help could arrive. A 53-year-old stoker , James Thomas Sadler , had earlier been seen drinking with Coles, and the two are known to have argued approximately three hours before her death. Sadler was arrested by the police and charged with her murder. He was briefly thought to be the Ripper, but was later discharged from court for lack of evidence on 3 March 1891. In addition to
20880-446: Was the most influential factor that contributed to their homicidal activity. Almost all of the serial killers in the study had experienced some sort of environmental problems during their childhood, such as a broken home caused by divorce, or a lack of a parental figure to discipline the child. Nearly half of the serial killers had experienced some type of physical or sexual abuse, and more of them had experienced emotional neglect. When
21025-632: Was to protest about the handling of the Irish situation by the Conservative government of Lord Salisbury , it had a much wider context. The Long Depression , starting in 1873 and lasting almost to the end of the century, created difficult social conditions in Britain—similar to the economic problems that drove rural agitation in Ireland. Falling food prices created rural unemployment, which resulted in both emigration and internal migration . Workers moved to
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