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victoria
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - 8:58 pm: | 
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Los Alamos scientists just published a paper on a new super fingerprinting technology. Will this aid in finding a print on those postage stamps that Patricia Cornwell spoke about? Let's get those young men at Los Alamos to finally break the JTR case! |
Victoria Alexander
Police Constable
Username: Kwanitaka
Post Number: 1
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 05, 2005 - 1:48 pm: |
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This is the email I received from Chris Worley of Los Alamos National Laboratory regarding the possibility of a fingerprint on a JTR stamp.
Victoria,
That is an interesting question. If there were ample inorganic elements such as potassium or chlorine present in his fingerprints left on the stamps, and they have not been exposed to water that would wash them off, then it might be possible to detect them.
Chris
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Glenn G. Lauritz Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 3355
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 05, 2005 - 8:05 pm: |
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Hi Victoria
(welcome to the Boards, by the way),
That is all very interesting, but as has been pointed out earlier, that is pretty much a redundant exercise in a 117 year old case, and can hardly provide a solution.
1) as with DNA, fingerprints are useless if you don't have a person to match them with. In other words, even if fingerprints were found, we don't have anything -- or anyone -- to compare them with.
2) there are absolutely no evidence whatsoever saying that the letters were written by Jack the Ripper, and they probably weren't anyway. This has all been a matter of debate for decades. Most of them have been declared as hoaxes.
Particia Cornwell's problem, was that she took for granted that the letters were written by the killer, and therefore -- even if it could be proven that Sickert or anyone else did write them (by against all odds finding DNA or fingerprints belonging to an identified individual from over hundred years ago) -- that is all a totally useless effort, since the letters can't be linked to the killer with certainty.
Identifying the writer(s) of the letters can be interesting from a sociohistorical point of view and as a curiousity, but in no way does it provide any help in identifying Jack the Ripper.
All the best
G. Andersson, author/crime historian
Sweden
The Swedes are the men That Will not be Blamed for Nothing
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Victoria Alexander
Police Constable
Username: Kwanitaka
Post Number: 2
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2005 - 2:58 pm: |
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Thanks Glenn for the support! I just think it would be good to get "fresh" young scientific blood interested in the case. I'm sure many people were well aware of who JTR was. To think that Scotland Yard would let such a famous case go unsolved and affect their reputation seems to me there was some other good reason for the shameful publicity Scotland Yard had to endure.
Why not tell the world if it was some crazy butcher? Be pleased that the killer was safely locked away in a mental hospital? Hardly makes any sense.
Something important is still missing. |
Glenn G. Lauritz Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 3357
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2005 - 3:43 pm: |
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Hi Victoria,
Thanks for the response.
Well, nothing can be said for certain, of course, but -- from studying the original internal police documentation -- I really doubt that the men of Scotland Yard had any idea whatsoever about the Ripper's identify.
If they knew, then why did most of them have different pet suspects -- Macnaghten had Druitt, Abberline favoured both William H Bury and Severin Klosowski briefly (but said in 1903 that the police had no more clue to the killer's identity than they "had 30 years ago") while Anderson and possibly Swanson favoured Kosminski or someone similar.
Very little actually indicate that they knew who the Ripper was, but that their claims was in fact nothing but personal theories.
I really se no clear evidence of a conspiracy to keep it all quiet either, but the probable answer is that they simply didn't know.
The police of 1888 were completely inexperienced with serial killer cases of this kind and had no forensic knowledge to their advantage. In order for them to solve the case, they would have to catch the killer red handed in the act or rely on several witnesses who pointed out the same person. Without that, they were pretty much screwed. They probably did a lot of mistakes, but that can very much be expected considering their situation.
I agree on "young scientific blood" and I don't want to come out like the discouraging party killer, but in an over 100 year old case, I fear DNA and fingerprints can supply very little assistance. As I said, studying the letters is a waste of time, since they can't be linked to the killer (crank letters are more rule than exception) and they contain no information besides what could be read in the newspapers.
And again, in order for fingerprint technique and DNA evidence to be useful, you need something or someone to compare it to. That is seldom the case in a 117 year old murder mystery. Those are methods that generally are only relevant in modern cases.
All the best
G. Andersson, author/crime historian
Sweden
The Swedes are the men That Will not be Blamed for Nothing
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Howard Brown
Inspector
Username: Howard
Post Number: 306
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2005 - 4:47 pm: |
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Dear Victoria....
You are a queen for the effort. Even though Glenn may be wrong about one or two of the letters coming from the Ripper [ sorry,Glenners..], it was worth a shot...Nice try regardless... |
Glenn G. Lauritz Andersson
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Glenna
Post Number: 3358
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2005 - 5:10 pm: |
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Hi Howard,
I don't know which letters you are referring to, Howie, but as far as I know, there are no serious indications on that the letters came from the murderer, and so did the police think as well.
The only letter to my knowledge that some claim could be genuine, is the Lusk letter, but that is pretty much held in doubt as well.
And as I said, it really doesn't matter, since we have no person to match any fingerprints or DNA with anyway. Unless you have something to compare it with, DNA and fingerprints are of no value.
The only way a DNA testing could be relevant in a case like this, if one could extract DNA from the victims' clothes, but as we know, they do not exist anymore (although it would still mean that we would be forced to look for 100 year old DNA from an unknown person to correspond it with).
Extracting DNA from the letters is totally useless, which Patricia Cornwell's pathetic attempts all too clearly illustrated. It would be a different story if they were proven to be written from the killer, but --although some desperately wants to think so -- there is nothing at all that even suggests it.
All the best
(Message edited by Glenna on April 06, 2005)
G. Andersson, author/crime historian
Sweden
The Swedes are the men That Will not be Blamed for Nothing
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