Relative of Jack the Ripper victim wants new investigation after DNA breakthrough: “A kind of justice”

Descendant of one of Victims of Jack the Ripper called for a retrial of one of history’s serial killers, after DNA evidence revealed the killer was a Polish barber.

The true identity of Jack the Ripper, whose brutal murders terrorized the slums of Whitechapel in east London in 1888, has been a mystery ever since.

There have been a number of suspects, from royalty and prime ministers to bootleggers.

After extracting DNA from the shawl was found at the scene of the murder, Jack the Ripper Russell Edwards said in 2014 the killer Aaron Kosminskia Polish immigrant, who worked as a barber.

The story goes that the shawl came from the scene of the murder of the Ripper’s fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, on September 30, 1888.

At Edward’s request, Dr. Jari Louhelainen, a senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, isolated seven small pieces of DNA from the sample’s blood samples.

They were matched to the DNA of Karen Miller, a direct descendant of Eddowes, confirming that her blood was on the shawl.

“In the test, the first result showed a match of 99.2%. Since the DNA has two parallel strands, we continued to test the other DNA strand, which played a perfect match of 100%,” Louhelainen told the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

DNA from the sperm stains on the clothing was matched to Kosminski’s offspring.

Edwards has called for an investigation into the unsolved murder, saying the genetic evidence supports that.

Miller backed the call in an interview with the Daily Mail published on Monday.

“The name Jack the Ripper has become popular. It has gone down in history like this famous character,” he told this newspaper. “People have forgotten the victims, who had no justice at the time. Now we need this investigation to officially name the killer.”

Miller added: “Having a real legal person in court who can consider all the evidence would be a form of justice for the victims.”

Kosminski’s descendants also supported the investigation, the Daily Mail reported. According to the newspaper, Kosminski’s great-niece Amanda Poulos said: “I’m so happy to finally find out what really happened.”

Some have questioned what Edwards found.

The research has not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, meaning the claims cannot be independently verified or the methodology scrutinized.

Under the law, it is up to the attorney general to authorize further investigations.

Two years ago, then the attorney general, Michael Ellis, rejected the request, saying there was not enough new evidence.

Miller said Monday it was time to reopen the case.

“It would mean a lot to me, to my family, to many people that this crime is finally solved,” he added.

Kosminski was born in Klodawa in central Poland on September 11, 1865.

His family fled the Russian anti-Jewish pogroms and moved to east London in the early 1880s. He lived near the scenes of the murders.

Some reports say that he was taken by the police to be identified by a witness who had seen him with one of the dead.

Although a good name was made, the witness refused to give any evidence, meaning there was little the police could do but release Kosminski.

He entered the workhouse in 1889, where he was described as “destitute.” He was released later that year but soon ended up in a mental asylum.

He died of decomposition in an asylum on March 24, 1919, and was buried three days later in East Ham Cemetery in east London.

As CBS News previously reportedformer FBI agent John Douglas called the murders “passion murders,” meaning the killer attacked his victims’ private parts. According to Douglas, this was a way of acting out his dream of domination, cruelty and mutilation of women.