Crime Weekly - S3 Ep278: Crime Weekly News: Jack the Ripper Identified?!

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

After over 130 years of speculation, has the mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper finally been solved? Recent DNA analysis conducted by historian Russell Edwards and molecular biologist Dr. Jari Louhelainen has linked Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old Polish barber to the infamous murders in London's Whitechapel district. While this development has reignited discussions, it's important to note that some experts urge caution, stating that there are concerns about potential contamination of the evidence and the need for peer-reviewed studies. We're coming to CrimeCon Denver! Use our code CRIMEWEEKLY for 10% off your tickets! https://www.crimecon.com/CC25 Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: 1. OneSkin.co - Use code CWN for 15% off! After you purchase, tell them we sent you!

This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news? There's a better option. I'm Will, and I created IQ Bar Plant Protein Bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel.

IQ Bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lion's mane, and zero weird stuff. And right now, you can get 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus free shipping. Try our delicious IQ Bar sampler pack with 7 plant protein bars, 4 hydration mixes, and 4 enhanced coffee sticks. Clean ingredients, amazing taste, and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ Bar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code BAR20 to get 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus free shipping. Again, go to eatiqbar. I'm Derek Levasseur. And I'm Stephanie Harlow.

And as you can tell from the title of this video, major update in the Jack the Ripper case, or we're to believe there's a major update. We're going to talk about it, but essentially from what we're hearing, and this has been out for a week or two now, there's a historian slash true crime researcher who believes that he has identified Jack the Ripper. And according to him, quote, he's a hundred percent certain. And he did this through DNA. So there's a lot more to this story. We're going to talk about it right now. Stephanie, what do we got? Well, Jack the Ripper, for those who don't know, which I don't think there's a lot of you who don't know, but we covered him. Yeah, you should know him because we covered it. He's one

of history's most infamous, unidentified serial killers responsible for a string of brutal murders in the White Chapel District of London in 1888. And despite extensive investigations over the decades, his identity remained unknown, making this case one of the most intriguing and studied unsolved mysteries in true crime history. And generally, Jack the Ripper is believed to have killed at least five women. They're known as the Cannibal Five between August and November of 1888. However, some researchers do suggest that he may have been responsible for more murders. Now, there have also been many, many people named as potential suspects for being Jack the Ripper over the years. We talked about a bunch in our series.

And there's been books written. You know, everybody's got their own idea. But one of the names that continued to pop up was Aaron Kaminsky. He has been one of the most widely discussed suspects in the Jack the Ripper case. He was a Polish Jewish immigrant and barber living in Whitechapel at the time of the murders,

and he's been linked to the crimes through both historical police records and modern forensic analysis. Now, he was first publicly linked to the Ripper murders in 1910 by a witness, but this man was never arrested because that witness refused to testify. And then later, another senior detective, Chief Inspector Donald Swenson, annotated Anderson's book and named Kuzminski as that suspect. A witness allegedly identified Kuzminski in a police lineup, but the person actually refused to testify, possibly due to fear or reluctance to incriminate another Jewish immigrant because the witness happened to be a Jewish immigrant himself, and without testimony, police had no case against him. But Kuzminski did live in or near Whitechapel where the murders occurred, and his movements aligned with the timeline of the murders. His violent behavior,

hatred of women, and auditory hallucinations could suggest he was capable of the murder, but after he was committed to an asylum in 1891, the Ripper murders stopped. And this obviously led a lot of people to theorize that he was the killer. Now, in 2014, forensic scientists analyzed a blood-stained shawl. Now, this was the shawl that belonged to one of Jack the Ripper's victims, Catherine Dowse. And the results, which were later published, claimed that mitochondrial DNA from the shawl matched a descendant of Kizminski, and mitochondrial DNA from another part of the shawl matched a descendant of Catherine Edows, who was the victim. Now, this study has been heavily criticized, the DNA could have been compromised over 130 plus years, and there's no direct evidence that Kizminski was the Ripper. But now, Russell Edwards, who is an English researcher, he has said that with this mitochondrial DNA, he can 100% say

that it was Kizminski, Aaron Kizminski, a Polish barber who was 23 at the time of the murders, who is Jack the Ripper. He said there's a 100% match with DNA found on the shawl. Now, Edwards has obviously gone on a media tour this past week since he's announced this, and he said, listen, Kaczynski had schizophrenia. He was admitted into an asylum asylum and he was a barber. So a lot of people thought at the time that Jack the Ripper was either a surgeon or a barber, somebody who had experience using sharp tools. A lot of people thought that it definitely had to be a surgeon because of the anatomical knowledge that Jack the Ripper showed when he was doing what he was doing to these women's bodies.

And there's been never any proof of sexual assault to his five victims, which leads a lot of people to believe that he just did it for the thrill of it. He did it because he liked killing. But according to Edwards, he said that at that time in 19th century London, barbers had to have an anatomical knowledge. He said, quote, in those days you had anatomical knowledge as a barber, which when you know the case, you know that the murderers must have had anatomical knowledge to commit the crimes that he did. has allegedly confirmed with the help of a senior lecturer and a doctor at Liverpool John Moores University that Kuzminski's DNA is 100% on Idao's shawl. And what they did is they isolated small segments of DNA from bloodstains on the garment. Those segments were then matched with a direct descendant of Idao's while DNA from semen stains on the shawl was matched with a

descendant of Kizminski. So not only is this kind of shaking things up where it's like, okay, we know that it was Kizminski, we have DNA, but now they're also saying that the DNA came from semen stains, which could mean maybe not necessarily that there was a sexual assault, but that in some way this was sexually appealing to the killer of these women. Some people do doubt Edwards' findings, as the DNA evidence integral to the claim has not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Yet, he, along with 10 descendants of Jack the Ripper's victims, all want closure, and they're seeking legal acknowledgement

that Kuzminski is the man responsible for Catherine Nadeau and other victims' murders. And this is a lengthy process that they've already started. Now, this is interesting for many reasons because Aaron Kuzminski's name has come up multiple times in Jack the Ripper lore. He is one of the, you know, top sort of suspects that people continue coming back to. That's right. I think that having that DNA and matching it to his ancestors and knowing that he was in the right place at the right time and also he was not super mentally stable. And in other instances, not just with these victims as Jack the Ripper, but as himself,

he had issues where people were like, yeah, he's violent. He's not a fan of women, things like that. He has a thing against women. And obviously, he targeted his victims for specific reasons. We know that he targeted his victims because they were women. We know that he targeted his victims because they were often sex workers, and he had vocal issues with women and sex workers. So it does make sense. He had the same MO. He attacked at night in poorly lit streets or secluded areas.

He always used a sharp knife, possibly a surgeon's scalpel or butcher's knife. He slashed their throats, and this was followed by mutilation of the abdomen and removal of organs, oftentimes their uteruses. Some victims were found with facial mutilations, possibly as a form of post-mortem humiliation. And like I said, no sexual assault was confirmed, which suggests that the killer's motive was likely psychological or sadistic rather than sexual. But if he relieved himself after these women were dead and in a way on their bodies or on the clothing that they were wearing, there does suggest that there's some kind of sexual connection or thrill happening.

Because if there's no sign of sexual assault on their bodies, it kind of does suggest that maybe in the aftermath, like some of those post-mortem facial wounds, he was not finished with them. The killing was just the beginning. No, I agree. There's a lot of explanations for it. And you also have to think about at the time,

the ability to determine whether a sexual assault occurred or not is not as good as it is today. So you're only as good as the person doing the investigation. And so it's very possible that they misidentified that. And there could have been a sexual assault as well. But based on the conditions of the body, they weren't able to determine that. I have a lot of opinions on this. Let's take our break and then we'll be right back. This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. I've got good news and bad news.

Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news? There's a better option. I'm Will, and I created IQ Bar Plant Protein Bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel. IQ Bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and lion's mane, and zero weird stuff. And right now, you can get 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus free shipping.

Try our delicious IQ Bar sampler pack with 7 plant protein bars, 4 hydration mixes, and 4 enhanced coffee sticks. Clean ingredients, amazing taste, and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ Bar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code BAR20 to get 20% off all IQ Bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eatiqbar.com and enter code BAR20. Okay, we're back. And first off, let's just address the concern that I'm sure a lot of people have. You have this individual, Russell Edwards, who we don't know him. We don't know what his intentions are. He's been doing this for a long time.

It's reasonable for people out there to question his findings because he has some skin in the game. Is he completely unbiased in all of this? No, probably not. He spent a large portion of his life trying to identify Jack the Ripper. And thinking it was Kuzminski. Yes. And thinking that it's, you know, it's Aaron Kuzminski and wanting to be right. And could there be some confirmation bias? Could be there some, some tunnel vision to get that done? Of course. Wouldn't be the first time it's been done before. It happens. And it may not even be intentional. So I think it's important to

have an outside party substantiate these claims, look at the information. The good news is it's science. So it can be replicated and it can be confirmed or discredited. So I'm sure that will happen. I'm sure that will happen. And I sure that will happen. And I, I will say without knowing Mr. Edwards, I would assume these are things that he would have considered. And so he knows that it's going to be scrutinized and he knows that people are going to pick it apart. And so if he's going to put his entire reputation on the line, I would like to think that he, he actually does believe that what he has is in fact the truth. So when we look at what he actually does believe that what he has is in fact the truth. So when we look at what he actually has, just from a 35,000 foot level here,

not going into the weeds of it all, there's more than one thing that leads to Aaron Kuzminski, right? This DNA is kind of like the icing on the cake at this point, because as you mentioned, and you got to go back and watch our series, guys, I believe we talked about Aaron Kuzminski in our series. Oh, I believe we had to. Yeah. Like I said, his name, you can't really get into Jack the Ripper and theories without coming. Yeah. So we talked about him a lot and I don't know if we included this portion of it, but as Stephanie mentioned here, there was a witness who potentially identified Aaron, but didn't want to come forward for whatever reason. Didn't want to

like officially come forward. Didn't want to like officially come forward. Didn't want to officially come forward. So Aaron was already on the radar. And then you consider the fact that he was a barber. And I know that people are saying, you know, a sharp knife, a surgical scalpel. What about a razor? Right. Back in the day.

A straight razor, you mean? A straight razor. You know, back in the day, they still do it to this day where they use a straight edge to shave their beard. It's more like it's supposed to be more like targeted. Well, it's also a lot cleaner shave and all these things. So you have to be very good with a razor to do that. You're on someone's neck. You could easily kill them if you shave it the wrong way.

You go in too deep and maybe not trying to go too far in the weeds here. But we don't know what Aaron was thinking at those times when he was shaving people how much of an impulse he had to maybe just slit someone's throat but didn't act on it because he's in a public environment at the time then you add in there that all these murders are happening and then when aaron goes away the murder stop right he's put into a facility and then the murder stop, right? He's put into a facility and then the murder stop. Could be a coincidence. Sure. I'm with you there, but now you have a possible witness. You have the murder stopping when he goes away. And then you have this DNA evidence on the shawl that happens to match a descendant of Aaron Kosminski. So when I paint this picture for you without going into all the details, it's very easy to deduce that Aaron's the guy. And that's what Edwards is doing here. And I'm doing it in much more basic way, but that's,

that's how you come to that conclusion. It's based on historical data coupled with new science and technology confirming a original suspicion of Aaron Kuzminski being Jack the Ripper. So on the surface, without analyzing the DNA match myself, sounds credible to me. Yes. And I think it's super interesting because when this first came out and for a while, I've always been like, oh, he was a barber. And there was other suspects that were actual surgeons and stuff that seemed to fit better simply because of the precise nature of how he removed their organs. But their DNA is not on a victim's shawl. Not only that, but in the 1800s, barbers did perform surgery.

They were known as barber surgeons, and they were considered the primary practitioners of minor surgical procedures due to their skill with sharp instruments like razors. And this made them adept at tasks like bloodletting, tooth extraction, and even small amputations, which were often viewed as lower class medical practices, which wouldn't be undertaken by the more educated, high class physicians of the time, right? So barbers were already skilled at using sharp tools

like razors to shave. This made them well-suited for surgical procedures requiring precise cuts. And compared to physicians, barbers were more readily available and affordable to the general public, which made them the go-to option for basic surgical needs. And some, like we said, bloodletting, wound care, tooth extraction, even minor amputating. So it's very interesting because maybe Kuzminski was more kind of into that side of things and he did extra work, extra research, extra education of himself. And maybe he even used these women as a way to like sharpen and hone his surgeon skills as opposed to his barber skills. Because it was very difficult to understand that just a simple barber that we know of today could do these kinds of surgeries and remove these organs in such a clean and precise way.

But Aaron Kuzminski, even though he was mentally not super well and did have schizophrenia, he clearly, I think, would have had the ability to do something like this. Yeah. And now just to give the counter to all this, because as we mentioned, there are people who are not completely convinced by this DNA. And one of those individuals is a forensic DNA interpretation expert, Jarrett Abreu. He actually had a conversation with News Nation where he said simply this conclusion could be, quote unquote, a mile off. He said the DNA testing used was mitochondrial, as you mentioned, which is not as accurate as nuclear DNA. And he said, quote, it doesn't have the kind of power to identify

someone individually that nuclear DNA has or cellular DNA has. He went on to say't have the kind of power to identify someone individually that nuclear DNA has or cellular DNA has. He went on to say, we have the second problem, which is the fact that the DNA is degraded over the years. And also it wasn't preserved in a way to be analyzed at a later date. It was just kind of thrown into a filing cabinet or a bank vault, and it wasn't properly preserved. So with all of those custodial issues and the type of process that was used, there are experts out there who say this isn't

going to be good enough. I don't know. It just seems very like what a coincidence that one of the people who was in the area who would have had the skills and now his DNA is on the shawl of one of the victims. And it's just like, oh, you could be a mile off. Like, come on. If the DNA is good, that's the problem. Well, if it's not good, we're assuming that they're just lying about it, tracing back to one of his ancestors. I know. Or that it's not as accurate. There definitely needs to be a peer review. And there will be. And as there should be, right? There definitely should be. And that's what we're saying. We're not on the surface. It looks good. It needs to be scrutinized. The only other thing that I would say needs to be questioned is whoever the victim this belonged to the shawl just to confirm there was no relationship with Kuzminski. I don't think there was, but that's something that also needs to be ruled out. If they were friends or romantic partners, even if there's anything like that, that could be tied to this, that would discredit that DNA, right? That would say, okay, of course it's going to be on there.

You know, this person had a relationship with Kuzminski at one point. It's very easy to get your DNA on this shawl at some point or another and not be criminal in nature. So that is also something as far from a historical perspective that you have to rule out that he did not know this victim in any way, shape or form. And therefore his DNA being found on one of her items would not make sense. So you have that element of it, and then you have the science element of it. And there's going to be a bunch of experts like this. I'm sure a Bray use one of them. I'm sure there's five others that would say it is good enough. So it has to be reviewed. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we hear about it because there are a

couple of people who've made a lot of money off these types of cases, written books about it. And if it comes out that they're wrong, that's obviously not good for business. So there's an incentive there, right? There's always a rationale behind why someone will choose to come forward and say what they say. You just got to kind of cut through the bullshit and go with the facts. Yeah, absolutely.

But it's such an interesting thing that even this long, I mean, this was the 1880s. Yeah. This long after we can use DNA. And we kind of talked about this last week in our Bear Brook murders. It's crazy. It's so exciting.

Yeah, it's very exciting. And it's also kind of like scary how fast it moves and how you can find so much out through mitochondrial DNA and other forms of DNA testing. Very, very interesting. And even when we were talking about the isotope testing and how interesting that was and how much you can figure out about somebody after their death, how much their body, their bones, their teeth, their hair even can tell you about what they were like and where they lived and what they did and what kind of diet they had even. It's just very interesting. Science is crazy. Yeah, I mean, especially in the Bear Brook murders where they're like, oh, northern New Hampshire.

It's not even just New Hampshire. They're able to tell the actual territory. Yeah, based on soil, climate, water quality, things like that. Insane. Insane. It's very cool. No, you are right. It's exciting, but it is happening very rapidly. So we have to proceed with caution. We don't want to go all in.

There needs to be some level of skepticism to make sure we get it right. I just think it's cool to be alive during this time and be able to see it happening. And I always get stressed out because I'm like, oh, like, what do I have? You know, another 50 years if I'm lucky. What's going to happen after I die? All this cool, like, technological advancements and scientific stuff in DNA. And I'm never even going to be able to witness it. Like, who could we possibly identify at that time? Because we just identified allegedly, maybe not, but Jack the Ripper. You know, I believe it.

I believe it. I will say I absolutely believe it. I don't see why there's any reason why these people would lie. There is confirmation bias. There is the idea of, hey, this guy worked on this his whole life, not his whole life, but for a long time, and he really thought that it was Kizminski. But you have other people involved in this who aren't Edwards, actual scientists and researchers who helped him get to these conclusions who don't have skin in the game the way he does. So you have to kind of take that for what it is, and I believe it. But what's going to happen in 50 years, 100 years, 200 years? What's life going to be like?

What's the world going to be like? What's going to be the state of technology and scientific advancements and DNA testing? Is it going to be minority report? Probably. Maybe. I don't want to be alive for that. But I think overall, the number one thing to take from this is what you said at the end of your little kind of rundown there is the fact that these victims, the trauma is generational. It affects the ancestors, the next of kin and their children, because there's always that what if. What happened to this loved one? Who did it? Who was responsible? All these years later, we still don't know. So like you said, you have 10 descendants who are hoping that it was

Kuzminski and they can publicly name him because even though it's not going to do anything now, it gives that resolution to those family members so that they can move on, not only in their own lives, but like I just said, generationally without those unanswered questions. So this is important. It's not just about quote unquote, Jack the Ripper and finding him. It's about giving the answers to the families that were victims of Jack the Ripper and science is going to be the thing that does it. So I hope for them. They're asking for another inquest. And I guess they've been trying to get the government to do this for a while and they've been saying no no no but now they're kind of like all right well

yep we'll consider it yeah yeah and so i hope for them that it is in fact him and that they can finally move on because when you hear about it the descendants of these victims it's crazy still wondering like what happened to auntie or you know what what I mean? Like it, it doesn't stop with just the victim or their immediate family members. It carries on, it carries on and it can carry on well past the people that were actually affected can pass on to the people who weren't even alive when it happened. So it's, it's impactful. Scientifically, they've shown that trauma can pass down in your, in your DNA, in your cells. It's, oh yeah. it's super interesting. Because if you think about it, when your mom was in her mother's uterus, she, it's basically,

it's just very interesting how the egg that you came from was in your grandmother because it was in your mother. And so whatever your grandmother was going through at the time that she was pregnant is going to express in her DNA, which then passes down to her daughter. And because you were in your mother when she was in her mother, that expression is going to pass down to you. Well, it explains a lot. And so it's just this never ending, right? Right?

Explains a lot. No, I love you, grandma. Rest in peace. Love you. And so it's just this never ending, right? Right. Explains a lot. No, I love you, grandma. Rest in peace. Love you. Generational trauma. But yeah, no, we're happy. We're hoping this is a happy ending story where we find out and we can put this case to rest and that it is in fact, Aaron Kosminski, because it'll give a lot of people the answers they deserve. Fascinating case. If there's an update with it, if there's a wrinkle in this case, if it turns out not to be the outcome that we all hope for, we will update you guys here. That's what Crime Weekly News is for. Any final words, Stephanie Harlow? I mean, no, I just think it's very cool. You guys know I love history. I love historical cases. I'm just wondering when we're going to get some

affirmation on whether or not Lizzie Borden murdered her father and stepmother with an ax because she says she didn't. So maybe DNA can help us solve that one too. So you did have final words. Yes. All right, guys, we appreciate you being here. Everyone stay safe out there. We'll be back later this week with the Bear Brook murders part two. Fascinating case. If you haven't checked out part one, make sure you do. Back on Friday with audio, back on Sunday with YouTube. Everyone stay safe out there. Have a good night. Bye.