Jack the Ripper identity possibly solved through DNA

LONDON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Jack the Ripper's identity may finally no longer be a mystery after a DNA analysis of a shawl allegedly worn by one of the notorious killer's victims.

Businessman and author Russell Edwards told Britain's The Daily Mail, that he had forensic testing conducted on a shawl stained with blood and semen he bought at auction.

Edwards said the results of testing of the substances found on the shawl determined Jack the Ripper was actually Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew living in London at the time of the murders in 1888, near where at least one of the victims was found.

Samples from the shawl revealed DNA for two different people, both of which were matches to descendants of the victim who owned the shawl Catherine Eddowes and Kosminski.

Edwards admitted when he bought the shawl at auction in 2007, a provenance was lacking, but he received a letter from the seller saying her ancestor was a police officer at the scene of Eddowes' murder and took the item.

Kosminski was a hairdresser thought to be seriously mentally ill and a misogynist. He was identified by a witness as the suspect in one of the five murders tied to Jack the Ripper, but police didn't have enough evidence to convict him.

He was committed to a mental institution for the rest of his life after his arrest for connection to one of the murders.

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Jack the Ripper identity possibly solved through DNA