Who was the most famous Jack The Ripper suspect?

Answer 1

Leading scholars on the subject believe Jack the Ripper was an unknown local whose name has been lost to history. Cases can be made for contemporary suspects such as George Chapman and Aaron Kosminski. Cases can be made for other persons of interest like Joseph Barnett. But we simply don't have enough information to name a Most Likely Suspect.

Previous Answer: According to Patricia Cornwell it is one Walter Sickert.

According to pretty much everyone else, it was not

//In the case of Jack The Ripper there is no shortage of theories and opinions. So at this point it is best to deal only in facts.

Fact:The Ripper's crimes did not end with the murder of Mary Kelly.

Fact:Mitochondrial DNA linked letters written by Jack The Ripper to artist Walter Sickert and Sickert's first wife Ellen, found in stamp and envelope adhesives. It should be noted here that Sickert would often have his wife seal and post his correspondences.

Fact:Many Ripper letters where written with artist's supplies. Not cheap supplies either, but expensive paints, resins, artist's pencils, ect. Quality supplies that a serious artist would have in abundence.

Fact:The drawings on some of the Ripper letters and postcards were consistant with Sickert's artwork, as was the handwriting on Sickert letters and Ripper letters.

Fact:Through paper experts, many Sickert letters and Ripper letters were found to have identical watermarks, from small custom batches of writing paper.

Fact:A Ripper letter came from a batch of custom writing paper of which only 24 sheets were ever made, for Eleanor Sickert, Sickert's mother. Sickert had access to her writing supplies.

Fact:The 'Dear Boss' letter received by Dr. Openshaw, London Hospital and Museum, had watermarks that were identical to Sickert's known writing paper. Although the letter seemed to be from an impoverished, illiterate (postmark Whitechapl), again the paper is a dead giveaway being expensive paper, from small batches, something a poor east-ender would never have access to, even if he knew how to write, the majority of the poor could neither read nor write.

Fact:Several Ripper letters arrived with brownish stains resembling dried blood. With testing, the spots were revealed as artist's resin in the particular mixture that was Sickert's trademark.

Fact:Sickert knew the east end like the back of his own hand and would in fact wander through Whitechapel's dark streets and alleys in the wee hours of the morning.

Fact:Sickert was an actor before taking to painting full time. He was a genius at disguises and more than once had fooled his own family including his mother.

Fact:Sickert sketched a woman that looked identical to Mary Ann Nichols, eyes open, black slit across the throat, same bonnet Nichols was wearing at the time of her murder. Nichols before she was taken to the morg.

Fact:Sickert had physical problems with his reproductive organs, none of the victims showed evidence of rape.

Fact:Sickert claimed several different times that he was Jack The Ripper.

Fact:John Grieve, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Scotland Yard, after reviewing the evidence collected by Patricia Cornwell, said had he had this evidence at the time of the killings, he would have gotten warrents and would proceed to trial, confident of a conviction.

These are only a few of the facts uncovered by Cornwell's investigation. Not to be confused with personal opinions or theories. Many who study the Ripper crimes have their 'favorites' as suspects. The above is not intended to try to sway public opinion one way or the other, but to clarify fact from fiction. Facts cannot be changed after the fact. They are what they are, reguardless of the passage of time.//

Answer 2

This is a great question. The most well-known or famous suspect was not a suspect at the time of the murders. Walter Richard Sickert was an impressionist artist that lived in London during the Victorian era. The next most famous would most likely be the Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's grandson.

Answer 3

At the time, murders were from a person that a victim knew and those were easy. A murder of an unknown person by another unknown person is always harder to solve and sometimes becomes unsolved. Investigating in those days was harder because they had no DNA of finger prints and other investigating technics. There was no number one place for the suspects. The following is a list of people suspected of being Jack the Ripper. Please note that while most of the main suspects in the case are represented below, this is by no means an exhaustive list of suspects. By some counts, more than 500 individuals have been put forward by various experts, historians and theorists most based on flimsy or non-existent evidence. But now, a DNA sample has proven Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski. In September 2014, author Russell Edwards claimed to have proved Kosminski's guilt using mitochondrial DNA evidence, though this claim has not been published or verified by the peer-review process.