Jack the Ripper Mystery to be Solved?

One of the greatest murder mysteries of all time - the identity of Jack the Ripper - may soon be revealed by DNA technology developed in Australia. Scientist Ian Findlay will use the new test on saliva the notorious serial killer would have left behind if he licked the stamps on the envelopes of letters he sent to London police.

Professor Findlay's method, called Cell Track-ID, is able to extract and compile a DNA fingerprint from a single cell or strand of hair up to 160 years old. Hair believed to be from Catherine Eddowes – one of at least five prostitutes Jack the Ripper is known to have butchered in London's East End during his reign of terror in 1888 – will also be tested.

Prof Findlay, based at Queensland's Griffith University, said if DNA was found intact on the stamps, it could be compared to DNA from the descendants of suspects.

You can read more about this story at http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17127432-5001022,00.html

Comments

[ifor]

The project, like others before it, is doomed to failure because it is built on a a faulty base. The problem is that nobody knows which, if any, of the letters were sent by the Ripper.

[Lily]

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