Jack the Ripper identified by DNA evidence

[Boris Godunov]

Maybe, if the results stand up to peer review:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746321/Jack-Ripper-unmasked-How-amateur-sleuth-used-DNA-breakthrough-identify-Britains-notorious-criminal-126-years-string-terrible-murders.html

Kosminski was supposedly a top suspect of the police according to the notes of one of the chief investigators, but they didn't have sufficient evidence to arrest him. This aligns with other serial killer investigations, where it is common that the police interview the actual culprit and suspect him but are unable to definitely prove it until the killer makes a mistake or is caught by luck.

[Nikolai]

Yeah, I read that. The thing that makes me a bit wary is that the news article I read cited the results as being from distant relatives of the suspected killer and the victim owning the scarf, and said results are said to be a "perfect match". Perhaps unfortunate wording on the journalist's part, I dunno.

[regexcellent]

It works the same way as a paternity test. You can figure out if one DNA sample is from an ancestor of the other DNA sample. I did this in high school biology class.

In the method we used in class, you take the DNA sample and mix it with an enzyme that blasts it apart whenever it encounters a particular sequence of base pairs, so for instance if you get TTCATTG or whatever (just as an example) it will split up the DNA into separate chunks wherever that sequence occurs. Then you dye it and stick a precisely measured amount in some agarose gel. You turn on electrodes on either side of the gel for a specified period of time. This attracts the DNA and causes it to slowly move toward the ends of the piece of gel. Small chunks of DNA will travel further and large chunks won't travel as far. You compare the positions of the dye in the gel between the two different samples, and if they line up, it's a match.

[Nikolai]

Perfect match sounds much like 100% DNA match, and in my ears that sounds like the test subject was the killer.

[Dr Strangelove]

It's ok. Poland was part of Russia, so technically he was Russian. You see? Another crime to blame on Russians. Go ahead, you know you want to.

[Boris Godunov]

I'm also a bit wary of the alleged DNA test results. Did the scientist be sure to control for contamination from the samples he had from the descendants? Did he follow standard procedures as expected?

There was a documentary from a couple years ago featuring this same shawl, only the documentary producer was trying to pin the murders on a fellow named Deeming. At the time, the scientists analyzing the scarf said they couldn't even get a decent DNA sample from it. So how did this Finnish scientist get two distinct DNA profiles?

[kentonio]

They said something about they were using new methods that weren't possible 5 years ago.

[DaShi]

I'm just glad it isn't me this time.

[Lorizael]

So Jack the Ripper isn't a time-traveling alien demon psychopath? That's disappointing.

[DinoDoc]

So Jack the Ripper isn't a time-traveling alien demon psychopath? That's disappointing.

He could still be Redjac.

[Sava]

did they find jimmy hoffa too?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I would imagine the average budget-class Victorian hooker had the DNA of many, many other men on her too. It's hardly conclusive.

[DinoDoc]

Were you hoping for a Royal Family member?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Entertaining, but unlikely.

[DinoDoc]

Fair enough. Which suspect do you consider the most plausible then?