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Jack The Ripper In America. Did Jack The Ripper Visit The United States?

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Keira Kensington
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« Reply #15 on: April 05, 2015, 03:58:24 pm »

Murder by Gaslight’s Verdict

Ed Norris is ecstatic. He has not only solved world’s greatest cold case, but the murder of Carrie Brown, and a dozen more American murders. Murder by Gaslight is skeptical, though. There is a bit of the ugly American in Ed Norris and his cockiness is not justified by the quality of his work. The forensic evidence is laughable and can be completely dismissed. The circumstantial evidence is not much better. Norris latches on to facts and suppositions he likes while ignoring those that lead most Ripperologists to regard James Kelly as a dark horse. These logical lapses and leaps of faith may be recognizable as standard police procedure, but they are hardly good forensic science. For true crime on the Discovery Channel, stick to Aphrodite Jones.

So, was Jack the Ripper in America? Possibly. Did James Kelly murder nine women in London and thirteen more in the USA? Not bloody likely.


For a more objective look at the murder of Carrie Brown click here: Carrie Brown: Jack the Ripper in America Part 2.

For a concise summary of the Whitechapel murders with a well-reasoned solution read the “Jack the Ripper” section of The Cases That Haunt Us by FBI profiler, John Douglas.

For detailed Ripperology on the internet go to Casebook: Jack the Ripper


http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/04/jack-ripper-in-america.html
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« Reply #16 on: April 05, 2015, 04:04:28 pm »

Jack the Ripper 'may have killed abroad'
Murderer possibly a sailor rather than a surgeon, says new book

Mark Honigsbaum

Monday 2 May 2005 19.02 EDT Last modified on Monday 8 September 2014 06.02 EDT

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For all the blood spilt by Jack the Ripper, and all the ink expended since by authors claiming to know his identity, ripperologists generally agree that with the killing of the prostitute Mary Kelly in Whitechapel on November 8 1888, his frenzied murder spree came to an abrupt end.

After that "Jack" - if that was indeed his name - disappeared into the London fog, never to be seen again.

But what if the murders continued in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua? And what if, after a break of eight months, there was a further Whitechapel killing which, as in the Kelly case, ended with a prostitute's throat being cut and her body mutilated, followed, three months later, by a further killing in Germany?

That is the intriguing theory raised in a new book on the Whitechapel murders by Trevor Marriott, a former Bedfordshire police detective. Using modern police procedural techniques, Marriott has spent two years poring over the Ripper killings, re-examining the evidence given by police doctors and pathologists at the time.

His conclusions, published this week in Jack the Ripper: the 21st Century Investigation, challenge the conventional wisdom that the murderer was a skilled surgeon. Moreover, Marriott says the location and timing of the killings - not far from London docks with gaps of several weeks in between - suggest the killer may have been a merchant seaman.

Marriott thinks he may have identified the ship he arrived on - the Sylph, a 600-tonne cargo vessel which arrived in Britain from Barbados in July 1888, before the killing of the Ripper's first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, and which returned to the Caribbean on November 22, two weeks after the Kelly slaying, from where the same killer could have committed the Nicaraguan murder spree.

"The detectives at the time took a very blinkered approach,' says Marriott. "They were convinced the killer was someone who lived or worked in the Whitechapel area. They completely overlooked the fact that there was a pattern emerging which pointed to the possibility the killer may have been a sailor who only occasionally visited Whitechapel, hence the gaps between the murders."

Marriott is not the first person to claim to have uncovered sensational evidence about Whitechapel's most notorious unsolved murders. Hardly a month goes by without some revelation - the latest being the Swansea author Tony Williams's claim that the Ripper was his great-great uncle, Sir John Williams, Queen Victoria's obstetrician and a celebrated book collector who founded the National Library of Wales.
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Other recent suspects include James Maybrick, a Liverpool cotton broker who supposedly confessed to the killings in diaries which surfaced in the early 90s, and Francis Tumblety, an American doctor who before coming to England kept a collection of female body parts at his home in New York. Then there was American crime novelist Patricia Cornwell's claim two years ago that she had discovered DNA evidence tying the Victorian artist Walter Sickert to the Ripper letters. Like all similar claims to have "solved" the murders, Cornwell's thesis subsequently wilted under scrutiny.

In his book, Marriott makes no such claims. Instead, he revisits the crime scenes and the testimony of contemporary witnesses. One of this most startling conclusions is that the Ripper need not have been a skilled surgeon - a long-held assumption based on the fact that in the case of the Ripper's second victim, Annie Chapman, both her **** and part of her bladder were removed, and that in the case of Kelly her kidney was missing.

But Marriott points out that those were the only two cases in which vital organs were expertly cut out and that they could have been removed at the mortuary before the police surgeon arrived to perform the postmortem, possibly by traders in body parts. He also says there has never been an adequate explanation for why the killings suddenly stopped. Most experts assume the murderer was jailed for other crimes or died. But if Marriott's theory is right, and Jack the Ripper was a crewman on the Sylph, then he may have been responsible for killings in Managua in January 1889 described in a report in the Times as "six of the most atrocious murders ever committed within the limits of this city".

According to the Times report, two of the victims were "butchered out of all recognition" with their faces "horribly slashed". Both the mutilation of prostitutes' bodies and face slashing were a hallmark of the Whitechapel murders and a feature which led detectives to believe the Ripper was a serial sex attacker. Marriott also argues that the Ripper may have been responsible for a later murder of a Whitechapel prostitute not included in the usual five canonical Ripper slayings.
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Alice McKenzie was found mutilated in Castle Alley, north of Whitechapel Road, on July 17 1889. Like the other Ripper victims there were signs that she had been throttled before having her throat slit and her body mutilated. One of the police pathologists who conducted the postmortem on McKenzie concluded she should be counted as the sixth Ripper victim - a verdict with which the divisional surgeon disagreed at the time.

If Marriott is right and the Ripper was a merchant seaman it might also explain that the Washington Star, bearing the dateline, Hamburg, 18 October 1889, reported the discovery of "the mutilated body" of a woman in Flensburg, a seaport with frequent sailings to London.
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Keira Kensington
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« Reply #17 on: April 05, 2015, 04:05:10 pm »

The report was headlined, Jack the Ripper: has he left England to continue his crimes in Germany?

The unusual suspects

About 140 people have been fingered for the Ripper's crimes over the years, including:

· George Chapman A Polish immigrant arrested in 1902 for poisoning several women, including his wife. Chapman's arrival in England coincided with the start of the Whitechapel murders and the killings ceased when he went to America.

· Prince Albert Victor According to one theory, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's grandson, committed the murders after being driven mad by syphilis. According to another, the murders were committed with the aid of Victoria's physician, Sir William Gull, as part of a cover-up to protect the royal family from Albert's affair with a Catholic commoner whose nanny was Mary Kelly.

· Walter Sickert German-born painter who supposedly trawled the East End for prostitutes to model for him. One of his paintings, The Camden Town Murder, is said to bear a striking resemblance to the Mary Kelly murder scene.

· James Maybrick Liverpool cotton merchant who frequented brothels and was addicted to arsenic and strychnine. In the early 1990s Michael Barrett, a former Liverpool scrap merchant, "discovered" a diary in which Maybrick confessed to the Whitechapel murders. Barrett later confessed to forging the diaries.

· Francis Tumblety An American quack doctor who was in London at the time of the murders. Named as a suspect in 1913 by former special branch chief JG Littlechild, Tumblety was a sadist and homosexual who kept female body parts in a cabinet in his home.

· Sir John Williams Queen Victoria's former obstetrician and founder of the National Library of Wales, Williams is the latest Ripper suspect. According to his great-great nephew, Swansea author Tony Williams, he was obsessed with female anatomy and infertility because of his wife's failure to conceive. He also worked at the Whitechapel workhouse infirmary, where he treated Mary Ann Nichols and three other Ripper victims.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/03/books.ukcrime
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« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2015, 04:12:42 pm »

Anonymous says:
January 6, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    As opposed to most of the well intentioned opinions posted, I've been a detective half my life and actually worked over 300 serial sex cases in the cold case unit. I started to watch this show with skepticism.... "yeah right, JTR came here"... but once into it I recognized immediately how Kelly fit the offender typology. Norris was a bit sensational for TV, (I didn't like the composite recreation... they are notoriously inaccurate) and he left me with a few unanswered questions, but he was dead on with everything else. I was amazed that so many records still existed. Our department cant keep stuff in a box for ten years, much less 125!

    I was so entranced, (Im late to the Ripper party) I went out and bought Tully's book. I've now looked at the other suspects, and they don't even come close to James Kelly as a viable suspect.

    There is so much to the Ripper story that is facinating. Looking at the public reaction, the political forces that kicked into play, the police reaction both good and bad, the pitiful lives that the victim's had etc. Nothing has changed in human behavior.

    Even if he were not the Ripper, the story of Kelly is gripping in itself.

    I think Murder by Gaslamp was a bit harsh in their evaluation. As for Norris' "attitude"? He cracked me up... Puhlese, its TV!
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« Reply #19 on: April 05, 2015, 04:14:56 pm »

Anonymous says:
January 20, 2011 at 6:22 AM

    I agree with all of you in some way. Yes we all thought Norris was a bit to over the top, cocky, yada yada... I had never thought of Kelly as top suspect but after the show i had to reconsider. Why. Forget the USA connection, or the number of victims, and of course the stupid de-aging pic. Kelly fits in numerous ways.
    -The expert use of a blade. (yes anyone can cut, but to have strength combined with the precision to cut fast and accurate.)
    -A stesser. His disease combined with the marital problems. For someone with a known past of being "...obviously not right in the head." according to his boss, these stressers resulted in the used of a knife on his wife instead of a piece of furniture. Possibly feeling a sense of relief, his need to fulfill that feeling could consume his already warped brain.
    -Mix of alcohol, his state-of-mind and need to lash out at those who "wronged him". Being called a schizophrenic in the late 1800's England doesn't mean he would fit that criteria now. What ever his mental state was, without any medication that we use today he was knowledgeable enough to make the key to escape and survive without being caught.
    -The kidney - Anyone who enjoyed that for dinner would have spent time at a butchers watching them work. Without medical knowledge it wouldn't take much to know what the kidney looks like and where in the human body it is found.
    -The fact that he left. Whether or not you believe the stories of his possible killings in the USA. He did leave England. What other reasons would there be for a raging lunatic who has killed at will, stop cold turkey? Death (maybe), Being caught (obviously not) or simply leaving town. Why leave, only he knows.
    -His memoirs. Correct me if i'm wrong. Aren't many serial criminals wanting to be known for there work. They don't want to be caught necessarily but they crave having the acknowledgment of there work. He didn't come out and admit to it, but he definitely hints towards something evil. Even if he, or any other inmate did admit to it the "experts" would have problems believing someone who is insane, its just not hard evidence. So take his writings as you may.
    I don't know much about some of the other suspects but it seems to me that many of them, whether criminals or not, don't have as many similar traits. Someone who strangles or beats a person to death will most likely not start cutting and disemboweling a human. As well, someone who does that with such ferocity is not going to stop on there own, and many of the suspects lived long lives, free of any other incident. It might not be Kelly, but I think he fits this serial killers profile much more than most of the others do.
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« Reply #20 on: April 05, 2015, 04:46:49 pm »

Carrie Brown (murder victim)

Carrie Brown (died April 24, 1891) was a New York prostitute who was murdered and mutilated in a lodging house. She is occasionally mentioned as an alleged victim of Jack the Ripper. Although known to use numerous aliases, a common practice in her occupation, she supposedly won her nickname of Shakespeare for her habit of quoting William Shakespeare during drinking games. She has often been erroneously referred to as Old Shakespeare in later news articles and books.
Murder

The badly mutilated body of Carrie Brown, a longtime Bowery prostitute, was found in a room in a squalid lodging house known as the East River Hotel on April 24, 1891. Newspapers were quick to report the murder as proof of the alleged arrival in America of Jack the Ripper, whose murders of prostitutes in London's Whitechapel district were well known during the time. News of the possibility that Jack the Ripper had arrived in New York posed a challenge to NYPD Chief Inspector Thomas Byrnes who had criticized Scotland Yard for its inability to capture Jack the Ripper.

As the murder of the middle-aged prostitute was soon becoming one of the most publicized in the city's history, pressure was on Byrnes to solve the murder as quickly as possible and soon after, an Algerian named Ameer Ben Ali (who also went by "Frenchy" or "Frenchy No. 1") was arrested for the murder. However, evidence against Ben Ali was largely circumstantial and based primarily on the claim that unidentified bloodstains had been found leading from the room where Brown was killed into the room he was staying in. Reporters who had been at the scene of the crime said that no such bloodstains were actually there. Due to testimony from doctors who made claims that could not be supported by medical tests at the time, Ben Ali was tried and convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, despite his claims of innocence.

However, a group of reformers pointed out instances of police misconduct in the investigation and evidence to support Ben Ali's innocence. The group was able to prove the NYPD had made no attempt to find the missing key to the locked room or the unidentified man who witnesses claimed she had last been seen with the night before.

Years later it was claimed that a man in a New Jersey farm had found the missing key to Room 31 and a bloody shirt in a bureau drawer of a room he had rented out to a man who had disappeared shortly after the murder. Faced with this testimony, coupled with the longstanding belief of many for years that Ben Ali had been set up and the fact that Byrnes had been removed from office for corruption, Ben Ali was released after serving 11 years and left for his native Algeria shortly afterwards.

Although no conclusive evidence proved that Jack the Ripper was responsible, the case remained unsolved nonetheless. If the murder really was committed by Jack the Ripper, the culprit could be George Chapman, a Ripper suspect who definitely did move from London to the US at roughly this time, [1] although recent research suggests that he only moved to the US after this murder. [2]
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« Reply #21 on: April 05, 2015, 04:52:56 pm »


Broadmoor files could unmask Jack the Ripper
For more than a century, the identity of Jack the Ripper has eluded detectives and historians.

By Wendy Moore and Ben Leach

8:18PM GMT 08 Nov 2008

Now, new files released from Broadmoor high security hospital will provide tantalising new evidence that could finally help to solve Britain's most notorious unsolved murder case.

Among the patients whose files are to be disclosed, as the psychiatric hospital opens its archives to public view for the first time, is Thomas Hayne Cutbush, who was identified at the time as a leading suspect in the killing and mutilation of at least 11 women in the East End of London between 1888 and 1891.

Cutbush, who is described by one author writing a book about the Ripper murders as the "number one suspect", was sent to Lambeth Infirmary in 1891 suffering delusions thought to have been caused by syphilis. But he immediately escaped and stabbed one woman then attempted to stab a second.

He was pronounced insane and committed to Broadmoor in 1891 where he remained until his death in 1903. From the day he was detained, the Ripper murders ceased.

The Broadmoor file on Cutbush is understood to contain about 20 documents which provide fresh clues which could link him further to the killings.
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« Reply #22 on: April 05, 2015, 04:53:34 pm »

They include admission details, medical notes on his behaviour, documents relating to his death and a letter from the hospital medical superintendent to Cutbush's mother.

They are also understood to include detailed descriptions of Cutbush which match eyewitness accounts of Jack the Ripper. In one document, he is described as having "brilliant blue eyes" and a limp, fitting a description provided by a witness who had seen the murderer.

The file is also understood to include letters written by Broadmoor staff detailing Cutbush's rants while at the hospital. He was said to have repeatedly threatened to "rip" them open with a knife.

Cutbush first came under suspicion in 1894 when a newspaper claimed to know the identity of the Ripper. Although it did not name the suspect, the details plainly pointed to Cutbush, a nephew of a Scotland Yard superintendent who killed himself two years later.

The newspaper article claimed that Cutbush's defence team had thought that he was Jack the Ripper, and had evidence of this. But it was never shown to the court because Cutbush was sectioned.

David Bullock, who is writing a book about the Ripper killings called The Man Who Would Be Jack, said the files would shed "invaluable light" on Cutbush's role in the killings.

"Cutbush really is the number one suspect. He was a known psychopath and his family actually suspected him of having something to do with the killings because of his strange behaviour.

"He was nocturnal, would spend the day studying medical books and would often spend the night walking the streets of London and would come home covered in mud and blood. There is all sorts of evidence that point to him as the killer but I have never seen any evidence that rules him out.

"There is even a conspiracy theory for why he was never put forward as a suspect by the police. Imagine the uproar if the public had found out that he was a suspect, and that his uncle was a senior member of the Met."

Experts researching the Ripper case have previously approached the Broadmoor authorities seeking permission to view the Cutbush files, but have been turned away.

One of them, Richard Jones, author of Jack the Ripper: The Casebook, said Cutbush was "hugely important" to the way the police investigation unfolded.

Cutbush was interviewed by detectives about the Ripper murders after his arrest for the stabbing incidents but ruled out of the frame, because police were not able to place him in the Whitechapel area at the time the crimes occurred, said Jones.

But it was in publicly dismissing claims that Cutbush was the killer that Scotland Yard named three other key suspects and identified five of the murders as being definitely by the same hand, he explained.

Broadmoor's unique collection of historical records, which dates back to the hospital's opening in 1863, will provide a rich hunting ground for historians, family history enthusiasts and criminologists alike when it opens to the public on November 18.

Access to the records, including around 1,500 individual patient files and many photographs, has previously only been granted to a handful of researchers, largely due to the logistical problems inherent in visiting the high security hospital in Berkshire.

The vast majority of the archives, which take up an estimated 10.5 cubic metres, have therefore never been viewed by the outside world.

The decision to open them to the public follows requests from the public under Freedom of Information legislation, which took effect in 2005. Only records more than 100 years old will be available to view at their new permanent home at Berkshire Record Office, in Reading. Information on living patients, who include Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, remains confidential.

Also among the newly-released files will be records of other patients who would have committed violent crimes around the time of the Ripper murders.

Records on another Ripper suspect, James Kelly, who was committed to Broadmoor after murdering his wife in 1883 but escaped in 1888, could become available by request. Kelly remained at large until 1927 when he returned voluntarily to Broadmoor, where he died two years later.

The Broadmoor archives were originally transferred to Berkshire Record Office in 2006 but have taken two years to sort and catalogue with funding from the Wellcome Trust. As well as containing remarkable new information on infamous Victorian killers, they provide fascinating insights into the medical care, welfare and social activities – often surprisingly rich and liberal - of numerous forgotten individuals incarcerated in Britain's first criminal asylum.

They can be viewed by appointment with the record office. An exhibition, 'The Secret World of Victorian Broadmoor', featuring stories from the archives, opened yesterday [November 8] at Reading Museum.

www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk
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« Reply #23 on: April 05, 2015, 04:58:26 pm »




Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum
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« Reply #24 on: April 05, 2015, 05:01:53 pm »

44-D’s True Crime: Discovery Channel’s Jack the Ripper in America

TrueCrime-490X136

Reviewed by Audiegrl
The greatest serial killer in history has never been named. But what if we are looking in the wrong place?


In 1888, a deranged killer stalked his prey on the streets of east London at night. After 121 years since the murder and mutilation of at least five prostitutes, the case remains unsolved and the true identity of Jack the Ripper has never been known. The world’s greatest criminal investigators have focused on searching for answers in London. However, in the 1890s a series of horrific murders took place across the United States in New York, San Francisco, Galveston and Atlanta, that mirrored the attacks in attacks in the UK. In this one hour special, Discovery Channel’s viewers will witness the new evidence, science and analytical techniques being used to reveal the true identity of Jack the Ripper.

NYPD Cold Case Detective Ed Norris
The Discovery Channel’s documentary, Jack the Ripper in America focuses on Detective Ed Norris, former head of the NYPD Cold Case Unit, who investigates and uncovers new evidence not seen since the time of the murders. In trying to solve the 118 year old murder of New York prostitute Carrie Brown, he begins to note the similarities between her murder and the famous Whitechapel murders in London. Brown’s murderer had a three-stage MO (strangled, penetrating wound, pulled apart) Because of the unusual and gruesome nature of the crime, the press of the day, immediately began asking the question, “Is Jack the Ripper in New York“. Norris sees the same unusual ‘signature‘ in both the London and New York killers. They both kill prostitutes by strangling, cutting the throat, and eviscerating the body. For Norris this indicates that he might be looking at the same killer.

Carrie Brown aka Old Shakespeare

Carrie Brown aka Old Shakespeare
The key in all cold cases is finding the clues missed by the original investigators. Although, Brown was murdered on April 23, 1891, Norris decides to let a new set of eyes look at the evidence. Enter Dr. Jonathan Hayes, the Manhattan Senior Medical Examiner. Dr. Hayes combs through the autopsy report of Carry Brown. He reaches some interesting conclusions, including a special marking on the body, which I won’t reveal here, you’ll have to watch the show. On August 7th, 1891, another unidentified prostitute is murdered with the same MO as Brown, and pulled from the East river. Visiting the New York Municipal Archives, Norris finds that the old newspapers of that time, reveal another shocking detail. The killer actually wrote to the NYPD, before the murder of Carry Brown. His letter is recreated below:

    Capt. Ryan,

    You think that “Jack the Ripper” is in England, but he is not, I am right here and I expect to kill somebody by Thursday next, and so get ready for me with your pistols, but I have a knife that has done more than your pistols. Next thing you will hear of some woman dead.

    Yours truly,

    Jack the Ripper

Richard Jones
Detective Norris wants to get into Jack’s head, and walk in his foot steps. He feels that he was an organized killer that took advantage of the conditions of the time: no ambient street lighting, a black curtain of smoke over the city caused by burning low quality coal, and counting on his victims to naturally take him to the dark, secluded places used in the prostitution trade. Norris takes viewers through a summary of the Ripper murders by using re-enactments and walking through the crime scenes. Next, Norris consults London historian Richard Jones, owner of Ripper Walking Tours and author of Uncovering Jack the Ripper’s London. Jones has spent more than two decades investigating the Whitechapel murders. He asks Jones if any of the serious Ripper suspects had ever traveled to the United States after the death of Mary Kelly. Jones provided him with three names: Severin Klosowski, Francis Tumblety, and James Kelly.

Known as the From Hell or Lusk Letter
Norris then consults with Sheila Kurtz, a Forensic Hand Writing Analyst, Master Graphologist and President of Graphology Consulting Group. Kurtz had successfully worked on the Son of Sam case among many others. After reviewing samples of the Ripper’s hand writing, Kurtz identified the writer as a very disturbed individual, who she said, “I wouldn’t want to be in his company“. For additional details on her analysis please visit her blog. The graphic to the left shows the letter was purportedly written in 1888 by Jack the Ripper.

Dr Thomas Bond

Dr. Thomas Bond
Norris then paid a visit to Britain’s National Archives. The archives hold thousands of original documents in the Ripper case. There, Norris discovers a document not previously used in the investigation. A profile of the killer. Sir Robert Anderson, the head of the police Criminal Investigation Departments, asked Dr Thomas Bond, Britain’s top police surgeon in 1888 to examine material connected with the Whitechapel murder investigation. Bond wrote a 19th-century version of a modern day unsub profile, based on personally examining the body of Mary Kelly and reading the autopsy reports on the first four victims. In the report, he describes in detail the type of person they should be investigating. Dr. Bond was sure that all five women had been killed by the same hand, because the throats of all victims had been cut in a similar way and the victims were presumably lying down when murdered. (for additional details on Dr. Bond’s profile, click here to read the report) Norris ultimately uses this 121 year old profile to narrow the three suspects down to one name. James Kelly. In the world of police parlance, Norris says that “Kelly looks good“.

Jack the Ripper victims: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catharine Eddowes, Mary Kelly
In 1883, James Kelly only one month married, argues with his wife and accuses her of being unfaithful. In a psychotic rage, he uses the methods of strangulation and throat slashing to kill her. Kelly is caught, convicted and sentenced to die by hanging. Then his employer comes forward and explains that he believes Kelly is mentally disturbed. Kelly was then examined by a alienist and committed to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Kelly’s psychiatric report has been sealed for over 125 years, until Norris examines it.

Broadmoor Old Gate

Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum
In 1863, Broadmoor was the first custom-built asylum to house criminal lunatics. In Broadmoor, Kelly is a outwardly a model prisoner, but at the same time he is secretly planning his escape. Working in the asylum’s carpentry shop, he cunningly uses a piece of medal he carved into a key to aid his escape. In January of 1888, Kelly escaped and just disappeared. At that time a series of stabbings and slashing attacks of women start in London. Three victims: Annie Millwood, (February 25, 1888, stabbed repeatedly, but survived), Ada Wilson, (March 28, 1888, slashed in the throat, but survived), and Martha Tabram, (August 7, 1888, stabbed 23 times, did not survive). Norris feels these are the early attempts of Jack the Ripper, who like many serial killers, escalates and only gets more brutal over time. After these three attacks, the first London Ripper murder occurs. Surprisingly, Kelly was once considered a suspect by London police, but after only minimal checking at his old residence, they simply gave up, and were never able to find him. With the huge amount of pressure they were under, the case against Kelly went cold…

blank
Astonishingly, in 1927…forty years later, a much older Kelly voluntarily returns to the insane asylum and began to chronicle his travels. A typed copy of Kelly’s confession letter survives in the National Archives, and Norris is the first detective to read it. In the letter, Kelly describes having “problems dealing with society“, and being “overtaken with feelings of envy, jealousy, and malice“. Kelly states, “the thing has been hard because of all kinds of ‘skank’” (a term he uses to refers to women of low moral character) and “I’ve been on the warpath since I left Broadmoor Asylum.” Also in his letter, he admits to traveling to London after his escape, and more interestingly he tells of traveling to the United States and arriving in New York conveniently before the Carrie Brown murder. He was by profession, a trained upholsterer, and would have known quiet a bit about knives and how to use them effectively for the purpose of murder. Kelly also mentioned traveling to many cities in the US before returning to England and admitted that he came to the US many times over a period of 40 years.

USS Zaandam
First Norris wanted to check to make sure that Kelly’s confession matched up with actual travel records of the day. In Britain’s National Maritime Museum, they kept track of every ship that came to the United States. Kelly said he traveled to America aboard an Anglo-German steamer named the Zaandam that sailed from Rotterdam to New York. At the museum, Norris not only confirmed the ship existed, but that it sailed from Rotterdam to New York on October 7, 1890—two years after the last Ripper murder in London (11/88) and months before the April 23, 1891 murder of Carrie Brown in New York. You might be thinking, “How does a ‘wanted man’ get into the United States without detection?” Professor Dan Citrum is an expert in 19th-century immigration and explains how easily it could have been done. Remember this was before Ellis Island was established, so getting in and out of the country was very easy. No drivers licenses, no passports, and no photo id whatsoever. Many people back then, came to this country to start over, and remake themselves and get lost in the huge crowds of New York city. In his confession, Kelly admits to changing his name once his ship arrives to ‘John Miller‘, one of the most common names both then and now. Kelly used his new name like a disguise to blend in and escape police scrutiny.

Knowing from experience that many serial killers travel extensively, to avoid detection, Detective Norris plots the cities Kelly claims to have visited against the murders written about in the newspapers. He begins to see similarities in Ripper-like murders committed in other cities: New York NY, Trenton, NJ, Galveston, TX, New Orleans, LA, Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, MD, Jackson, CA, San Francisco, CA, Denver, CO. Each of these murders occurred during the time that Kelly, thorough his confession letter, said he was in that city. Even the city newspapers asked the same question “Is this the work of Jack the Ripper” and “Is this the fiend of Whitechapel?” and “Has Jack the Ripper Invaded Texas at Last“. Detective Norris identified twelve murders across five states in just four years…and remember, Kelly was gone for forty years…you can do the math. To read an amazing collection of news reports, please visit Casebook: Jack the Ripper.

Using a asylum photo of Kelly provided by the National Archives, he was able to see what Kelly looked like at age 67. Norris then contacted Steve Mancusi, a NYPD senior forensic artist who has helped solve the most difficult cases for the last 30 years. He wanted Mancusi to use forensic imaging technology normally used for age-progression in missing child cases, but with this case, he wanted him to reverse the effects of aging, to show what Kelly would have looked like in his 30’s. The striking illustration below on the right is based on their findings.

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Both illustrations of Jack the Ripper

The left composite, was drawn based on 118 year old eye-witness accounts of Jack the Ripper in London. They examined different witness statements and used modern day forensics to come up with a portrait of the killer, even indicating what type of hat he wore.

The drawing on the right, is the result of Mancusi shaving 40 years off of James Kelly’s photo at age 67. As you can see, once they added the type of hat mentioned by eye witnesses, the drawings are a very close match.

In the end, there is no doubt in Norris’ mind that he has found Jack the Ripper. We may never know. John Kelly died of natural causes in 1929 inside Broadmoor Asylum and took his secrets to his grave. In my opinion, Jack the Ripper in America was very well done and is a must-see for all forensic buffs and amateur Ripperologists. I’m interested in seeing further research, analysis and discussion of Norris’ theory. Regarding any factual errors in this post, I apologize in advance, and encourage everyone to let me know what needs to be corrected.

    Time After Time

    On a lighter note, anybody remember the movie “Time After Time” starring Malcolm McDowell, John Warner and Mary Steenburgen? McDowell played H.G. Wells, who uses his time machine to chase his friend, Warner (aka Jack the Ripper) through the streets of modern day (1979) San Francisco. After watching Norris’ documentary, maybe Hollywood’s silly (but entertaining) version of the Ripper story had a sliver of truth to it after all. ;-)

    The Secret of Prisoner 1167: Was This Man Jack the Ripper? by James Tully


    Hat tip and special thanks to Roy Corduroy for his suggestion to add this book to this post. Casebook: Jack the Ripper gives this book a three-starred review:

    A triumphant achievement on the part of Jim Tully, well-researched and written. James Kelly is his suspect, a lunatic upholsterer and wife-murderer who is actually in the Guinness book of world records for his escape from Broadmoor asylum. Tully weaves a fascinating story, regardless of your feelings on Kelly as a suspect. Recommended.”


Related Articles and Sites

Casebook: Jack the Ripper

Maps of Whitechapel, 1888-1894

Ripperological Preservation Society

Jack the Ripper Tours

Serial Killer Database – Jack the Ripper

The Whitechapel Society

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Filed under California, Computers, Crime, Documentary, England, Forensics, Georgia, History, Law, New Jeresy, New York, News, Pennsylvania, Police, Technology, Texas, True Crime, Uncategorized, Violence, World

Tagged as 1167, Ada, after, america, annie, asylum, Britain, Broadmoor, brown, by, Carrie, case, Channel, chapel, cold, criminal, detective, discovery, dr., ed, from, hayes, hell, investigates, investigation, Jack, jack ripper, jack the ripper, jack the ripper casebook, jack the ripper in America, jack the ripper letters, jack the ripper photos, Jack the Ripper: The Casebook, jonathan, jones, Kelly, killers, kurtz, letter, letters, london, lunatics, lusk, lusk letter, mancusi, Martha, Mary, Millwood, murders, norris, NYPD, old, photographs, photos, pictures, pictures of jack the ripper's victims, prisoner, prostitutes, Richard, Richard Jones, ripper, ripperologist, ripperology, secret, serial, Shakespeare, Sheila, society, steve, suspect, Tabram, the, this, time, uk, underworld, unit, victim, victims, victorian, was, white, wilson, women, world
55 responses to “44-D’s True Crime: Discovery Channel’s Jack the Ripper in America”

    JPGARC   
    November 19, 2009 at 12:18 pm   
     
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    Nice job, very well done!

    About a week earlier MysteryQuest did a show on Jack the Ripper where they examined three possible suspects; none of which was James Kelly. In that examination, “they” concluded that the Ripper was in fact Francis Tumblety.

    What a great debate that would make to get them both together to discuss all their facts and findings in one show.
    Reply   
        audiegrl   
        November 19, 2009 at 6:01 pm   
         
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        Thank you JP, my husband thought I was crazy. ;-) I kept pausing the show, and running to my computer to make notes. LOL

        It was very interesting, and hopefully will foster more investigation and debate. There are so many theories out there, I hope one day someone will finally solve it.

        My only problem with the show was that it was too short. They could have used the second hour dedicated to examining the travels of Kelly and trying to find more American cases that could be tied to him. That would have been a great addition. They only got to cover 12 deaths, in 5 states during 4 years. I kept thinking (if my math is correct), if he kept that pace up, it would be over a thousand deaths during his 40 years of trolling. That’s pretty scary.

        https://the44diaries.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/44-ds-true-crime-discovery-channels-jack-the-ripper-in-america/
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Keira Kensington
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« Reply #25 on: April 05, 2015, 05:09:47 pm »

Joanna   
December 4, 2009 at 1:56 am   
 
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JTR is something of a cottage industry in London, so I was thrilled to watch a re-run of “JTR in America” tonight. I didn’t catch any mis-steps in his investigation, and his reasoning was sound and logical as he followed the leads, much more so than the theories that JTR was a member of the British royal family.

I too dismissed “Time After Time” as Hollywood’s fantasy, but recently read somewhere that JTR was believed to be responsible for the same type of murders in Texas in the right timeframe, so why not San Francisco?

Ed Norris’s investigation verified James Kelly was in both places, as well as every other American city where prostitutes were murdered in a simlar fashion. Far as I’m concerned, no doubt in my mind now that James Kelly was “Jack the Ripper”.
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« Reply #26 on: April 05, 2015, 05:14:36 pm »



NYPD Cold Case Detective Ed Norris
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Keira Kensington
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« Reply #27 on: April 05, 2015, 05:17:30 pm »

Visiting the New York Municipal Archives, Norris finds that the old newspapers of that time, reveal another shocking detail. The killer actually wrote to the NYPD, before the murder of Carry Brown. His letter is recreated below:

    Capt. Ryan,

    You think that “Jack the Ripper” is in England, but he is not, I am right here and I expect to kill somebody by Thursday next, and so get ready for me with your pistols, but I have a knife that has done more than your pistols. Next thing you will hear of some woman dead.

    Yours truly,

    Jack the Ripper
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« Reply #28 on: April 05, 2015, 05:18:18 pm »

Detective Norris wants to get into Jack’s head, and walk in his foot steps. He feels that he was an organized killer that took advantage of the conditions of the time: no ambient street lighting, a black curtain of smoke over the city caused by burning low quality coal, and counting on his victims to naturally take him to the dark, secluded places used in the prostitution trade. Norris takes viewers through a summary of the Ripper murders by using re-enactments and walking through the crime scenes. Next, Norris consults London historian Richard Jones, owner of Ripper Walking Tours and author of Uncovering Jack the Ripper’s London. Jones has spent more than two decades investigating the Whitechapel murders. He asks Jones if any of the serious Ripper suspects had ever traveled to the United States after the death of Mary Kelly. Jones provided him with three names: Severin Klosowski, Francis Tumblety, and James Kelly.
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« Reply #29 on: April 05, 2015, 05:20:45 pm »

In 1883, James Kelly only one month married, argues with his wife and accuses her of being unfaithful. In a psychotic rage, he uses the methods of strangulation and throat slashing to kill her. Kelly is caught, convicted and sentenced to die by hanging. Then his employer comes forward and explains that he believes Kelly is mentally disturbed. Kelly was then examined by a alienist and committed to the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Kelly’s psychiatric report has been sealed for over 125 years, until Norris examines it.

Broadmoor Old Gate

Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum
In 1863, Broadmoor was the first custom-built asylum to house criminal lunatics. In Broadmoor, Kelly is a outwardly a model prisoner, but at the same time he is secretly planning his escape. Working in the asylum’s carpentry shop, he cunningly uses a piece of medal he carved into a key to aid his escape. In January of 1888, Kelly escaped and just disappeared. At that time a series of stabbings and slashing attacks of women start in London. Three victims: Annie Millwood, (February 25, 1888, stabbed repeatedly, but survived), Ada Wilson, (March 28, 1888, slashed in the throat, but survived), and Martha Tabram, (August 7, 1888, stabbed 23 times, did not survive). Norris feels these are the early attempts of Jack the Ripper, who like many serial killers, escalates and only gets more brutal over time. After these three attacks, the first London Ripper murder occurs. Surprisingly, Kelly was once considered a suspect by London police, but after only minimal checking at his old residence, they simply gave up, and were never able to find him. With the huge amount of pressure they were under, the case against Kelly went cold…
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