All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S03E10.720p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.chr00t

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Tonight, a spree
of gruesome murders

that shocks Victorian England
and the world,

a homicidal maniac whose
true name remains a mystery.

- The police comb
through suspect after suspect,

but there's either
no evidence to support

that they were there
or they have alibis.

So they're left
grasping at straws.

- Now we uncover
the top theories

about one of history's
most notorious serial killers.

- A few contemporaries believe
that Jack the Ripper

might well have been a woman.

- I hope to prove
my grandfather's grandfather

was also Jack the Ripper.

- Can his or her identity
ever be proven?

Who is Jack the Ripper?

♪ ♪

London, England,
August 31st, 1888.

It's early morning

in the impoverished
East End neighborhood.

- The East End
of late Victorian London

was a sprawling metropolis
within the city

of London itself.

There were
respectable artisans,

and small traders,
and shopkeepers,

but for the most part,
it was the home to the poor,

the abject poor, and sometimes
the homeless poor.

Fishburne:
Delivery driver Charles Cross,

walks through
the city's dark streets.

- Charles Cross is walking
along Box Row

on his way to work
at 3:40 a.m.,

and he spots what he perceives
is an unclaimed

or discarded tarpaulin,
which is quite a find.

Fishburne: But what
he finds isn't a tarp.

It's a female body.

- And at first,
he thinks that this woman

is either drunk or asleep.

In fact, she's dead.

Her throat has been slit,
and she's been mutilated.

Fishburne: Area residents
identify the victim

as Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols.

- Polly Nichols began life
as the daughter

of a respectable skilled
artisan and his laundress wife.

She married young.
She had children.

But alcohol
and marital discord led her

to leave the conjugal home

and to live a life
on the streets

as a sex worker.

- These women were living

very much
a day to day existence,

not necessarily knowing
where they were going

to sleep that night.

This put them at a very extreme
risk to be taken advantage of

because they did not have
a steady living.

Fishburne: At the time, most
crimes against sex workers

in London received
very little attention.

But the brutal nature
of this attack

forces police to take notice.

- This was an attack
that was beyond brutal

and almost unprecedented.

Murder was not uncommon
in the East End,

but a murder like this
was definitely something

that drew attention
to both police and citizenry.

- After the Nichols murder,
Commissioner Warren

assigned first-class inspector
Frederick Abberline

in charge of
the Whitechapel murders case.

Fishburne: Abberline
interviews the local woman,

looking for suspects.

Everyone he speaks to recalls
the same elusive figure.

He's even been
given a nickname.

- A common thread amongst all
the working women

was there was a man that was
extorting them for their money.

His nickname was Leather Apron.

The reason they called him
Leather Apron

is because
that's what he always wore.

And the working women
were convinced

that he killed Polly Nichols.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Soon,
the mysterious Leather Apron

is making headlines.

- The press latches onto
this story almost immediately

and starts running with it.

- Some of the key
sensational newspapers,

like "The Star,"
or "The Pall Mall Gazette,"

devoted particular attention

to the lurid details
of the crime.

All of these created
a media spectacle, a frenzy.

Fishburne: The publicity
quickly generates

a possible sighting.

- Two days after the murder
of Polly Nichols,

a woman sees an individual

who she thinks is Leather Apron

and yells out
to a police officer,

"There he goes!"

- The police officer
decided to chase him down.

He apprehended him.

The man denies
that he's Leather Apron.

The woman still claims
that he is.

Ultimately,
the police officer lets him go.

Fishburne:
Nearly a week passes

as the police try
to track down Leather Apron.

Before they can,
the killer strikes again.

- At about 6:00 a.m.,
an elderly man

walking along Hanbury Street
near where he lived

saw this body, again,
in the shadows of the building.

Later on,
after the police were called,

this second victim was
identified as Annie Chapman.

- Annie Chapman's wounds were
very similar

to Polly Nichols',
but much more severe.

The throat was cut deep
to the spine again.

The intestines were thrown
over the shoulder,

and the uterus was missing.

- Nearby,
not far from Annie's body,

was a wet leather apron,
which may have been washed

or the killer may have used
to wash their hands

and them wiped them
on the apron.

Could this be proof that the
same killer has struck again?

Fishburne:
The press thinks yes.

After the second victim
is found,

the public sentiment
in the East End turns ugly.

- At this point, the public is
becoming more and more frantic.

"Will there be another murder?"
"When will it occur?"

"Why can't the police
identify the murderer?"

The lack of solving the crime
heightened the anxiety,

not just in Whitechapel,
but in greater London as well.

♪ ♪

- The newspapers
repeat the fact

that these eyewitnesses were
describing suspects as Jewish

or "Jewish-looking."

And so it became this idea
that a Jewish man

was killing women
in Whitechapel.

Fights are breaking out
in the streets,

crowds are chanting
"down with the Jews,"

and there are full-on riots.

Fishburne: Faced
with escalating violence,

police hurry
to locate Leather Apron

and quickly nab a suspect.

- The police held an inquest,
and they realized

that there was a boot finisher

who was also a Polish Jew
named John Pizer.

- And on September 10th,
he was arrested.

Pizer's neighbors and friends
attested his innocence.

They believe him
to be a good man.

That didn't stop the police
from harassing him further

and doing a search
of his home.

When searching Pizer's home,
they found five knives,

which they believed
to have blood on them.

Fishburne: While the police
analyze the knives,

they interrogate Pizer.

- On the night
of Polly Nichols' murder,

Pizer maintains that he was
staying at Crossman's Lodge.

On the second night,
for Annie Chapman's murder,

Pizer claims he was holed up
in his own home,

living in fear.

Fishburne: Police are able
to confirm Pizer's alibis

and eliminate
the key evidence against him.

- There was no blood
on those knives.

After closer examination,

they found out that what was on
the knives was actually rust.

- The police
ultimately bring in Pizer

for additional questioning

as several eyewitnesses
questioned

whether he might've been
at the scene

of some of the murders.

They put him
through two lineups,

but the lineups amount
to nothing essentially

because the accusers
turn out to be non-credible.

Fishburne: Pizer is released
without charge

on September 11th.

- The fact that these
two lineups failed to identify

Pizer raised the ongoing
further questioning.

If Pizer wasn't the murderer,
then who was?

[dramatic music]

Fishburne: In 1888,
residents of London's East End

are on high alert in the wake
of the brutal murders

of two young women.

- After Annie Chapman's murder,
two weeks pass with nothing.

And so people might be
wondering,

"Is he done?
Was this it?

Did he leave?
Is he in prison?"

Nobody really knows
what was happening.

- A few weeks later,
not one but two more women

were discovered
brutally murdered.

Elizabeth Stride
and Catherine Eddowes

were discovered within hours
of each other.

Both had
their throats slashed,

and both had abdominal wounds
with their viscera removed.

This was clearly a pattern,

four young women
who were brutally murdered

within a short period of time,

all within blocks
of each other.

This heightened the anxiety,

not just from the neighborhood,
but from the police as well.

- This was something the likes
nobody had ever seen.

London was probably dealing

with its first
known serial killer.

♪ ♪

- At this point,

even though we now had a third
and a fourth victim,

there were no eye witnesses,
and there were no leads.

So the police, quite frankly,

were still very much
in the dark

as to who the murderer was.

Fishburne: All that changes
on October 1st,

when a memo now called
the "Dear Boss" letter

transforms
a local investigation

into a worldwide phenomenon.

- On September 27th,
the Central News Agency

received the "Dear Boss" letter
but dismissed it as a hoax,

as there were hundreds
of letters coming in.

- But then September 30th
occurred,

and Elizabeth Stride

and Catherine Eddowes
were murdered.

And in that letter,
there were two details

that matched the murders.

The first was that he was gonna
get to work right away.

The second was he's gonna

clip the ear off one
of the women.

So the police decided
to publish that letter.

- It's called
the "Dear Boss" letter

because that's how
the letter begins.

The killer is
addressing the head

of the police as "Boss."

And in it,
he mocks the police efforts

and suggests
they're miles off track

in their assumptions
and searches.

- The "Dear Boss" letter

creates a gripping
public persona

and seems
to invite both investigators

and the public to want
to know more about him.

Fishburne:
The disturbing letter ends

with perhaps the most
famous alias of all time.

- "My knife's so nice and sharp

"I want to get to work
right away if I get a chance.

Good luck.
Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."

The "Dear Boss" letter
fundamentally changed

how people began to think
about the murderer

because it endowed the murderer
with a playful,

sardonic, wicked,

and some thought perverted
and maniacal lust

to violate the bodies
of these sex workers.

This letter associated
these murders

as the victims
of Jack the Ripper

rather than what
they had been beforehand,

the Whitechapel murders.

Fishburne: On November 9th,

the Ripper claims
another victim.

25-year-old sex worker,
Mary Jane Kelly.

- Mary Jane Kelly's murder
was the most horrific

of all of the murders.

She had her own little room
at 13 Miller's Court

where she spent her nights,
and so the Ripper was able

to take his time with her
after he murdered her.

When they opened the room
in the morning,

they discovered pieces of her
spread out around the room.

She had been carved down
to the bone in some cases.

And they also weren't
entirely sure

that the body
was Mary Jane Kelly

because her face was
so mutilated

that identification
is nearly impossible.

♪ ♪

- It was long assumed
that the killer had anatomical

or medical knowledge
of the human body.

And Mary Kelly's murder
totally cemented that.

She had many organs removed.

And they were removed cleanly
and precisely.

And that took
a significant level of skill

to be able to achieve that.

Fishburne:
After Kelly's murder,

the killing stopped,

but the culprit
remains at large.

- It's easy to go back and look
at the police work

of 1888 and be critical.

However, we have to realize
they had so few tools

in order
to investigate any crime.

So much of the evidence
was innuendo,

was suspicion, was rumor.

And that doesn't pin down the
identity of Jack the Ripper.

Fishburne: The case languishes
for several years

until a new detective
is assigned in early 1892.

- Melville Macnaughten is
asked to investigate

the Ripper murders further.

Macnaughten began
to build a profile,

which a lot of people
still turn to today.

He believed the Ripper
was well-educated,

potentially
a Polish immigrant,

and he also thought
that it was somebody

that, again, had anatomical
or medical knowledge.

♪ ♪

He conducts
different interviews,

compiling suspects,

and a name that pops out
to him is Michael Ostrog.

Fishburne: Ostrog seems to fit
the profile perfectly.

- Macnaughten stated two main
points about Ostrog,

that he had surgical
experience from Russia,

and also that he was
a homicidal maniac.

He writes,

"This man was said to have
been habitually cruel to women

"and for a long time was known
to have carried with him

"surgical knives
and other instruments,

"and his whereabouts

"at the time
of the Whitechapel murders,

could never been
satisfactorily accounted for."

Fishburne: Despite a manhunt,

police are unable
to locate Ostrog.

Later investigations
reveal why.

- Several
of the original investigators

went to their graves believing

that Jack the Ripper
was Michael Ostrog.

But Ostrog could not have,
in fact, been Jack the Ripper

because he was imprisoned
in France

at the time
under the name of Grand Guidon.

Fishburne: But Ostrog isn't
the only potential suspect

named by Macnaughten.

There's another possibility.

♪ ♪

- Macnaughten also named
another suspect

in his memoranda,
and it wasn't a full name,

it was just simply
a last name, Kosminski.

He was a tailor who arrived
in Whitechapel in the 1880s,

early 1880s,
and later became a barber.

Kosminski was a great fit
for the Ripper profile.

He was considered violent
towards women,

he had homicidal tendencies,

his mental stability came
into question,

and he was also local
during the murders.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Fishburne:
Little else is known

about Aaron Kosminski
at the time.

But in 2014,
a British author,

Russell Edwards,
makes a shocking discovery.

- Edwards attends an auction
and buys a shawl

that is supposed to have
belonged to Catherine Eddowes

and had been found on her body
the night of her murder.

- Her found two blood samples
on Eddowes' scarf.

It was his hope
that these blood stains

might lead to the identify
of the Ripper,

and specifically to Kosminski.

The results were very,
very intriguing.

- When they compare the DNA
on the shawl

with the DNA
of Kosminski's descendants,

they discover a match of 99.2%
and a match of 100%.

It sounds like they found him.

However, the DNA on the shawl
that was tested

was mitochondrial DNA
and not nuclear DNA.

- Nuclear DNA can pretty
much identify

an individual, specifically.

On the other hand,
mitochondrial DNA can say

this blood came from someone
with Eastern European ancestry.

So even though this blood
on the scarf of Eddowes

was consistent with Kosminski,

it by no means identified
Kosminski as the murderer.

- So it appears
Jack the Ripper has again

slipped through our grasp.

Fishburne: Or has he?

[dramatic music]

Fishburne:
As London police struggle

to find Jack the Ripper,

their task seems
nearly impossible.

- The police comb
through suspect after suspect,

but there's either no evidence
to support

that they were there,
or they have alibis.

So they're left grasping
at straws.

John Pizer, Michael Ostrog,
Aaron Kosminski.

Each of them has seemed like
a promising suspect,

but ultimately each is cleared.

Fishburne:
But one expert believes

Macnaughten was on the right
track with one name,

Kosminski.

It's just a simple case
of mistaken identity.

♪ ♪

- Macnaughten's
initial instincts

with Kosminski were sound,

but later research led us
to a different person

with an even darker history.

Fishburne: In December, 1888,
a man named David Cohen

is admitted
to a London asylum.

- David Cohen wasn't
actually a real name.

It's the name
that the police would use

for an unknown Jewish suspect,

much like we use
the name John Doe today.

- Whilst committed, Cohen
exhibits violent behavior.

He attacks staff.
He attacks women.

He shows violent tendencies,

the very tendencies
that elevates somebody

to Ripper suspect status.

Cohen also had syphilis
and had been treated for it,

which suggests
that he potentially engaged

with prostitutes and may
have caught it from them,

which would attribute
his disdain

to the working ladies
of the East End.

Fishburne: Most notable about
this suspect is the timing.

- The murders cease
after Cohen is committed,

but the police don't make
the connection in time,

and he dies before
his true identity is known.

Fishburne:
Cohen remains anonymous

until 1987 when British
researcher, Martin Fido,

claims to finally know
his true identity.

- Cohen's real name is believed
to be Nathan Kaminski.

Kaminski, Kosminski,
it's very easy to see

how Macnaughten could have

confused one name
for the other.

Fishburne: And the parallels
don't end there.

- Nathan Kaminski was a Jewish
resident at the East End

who was treated for syphilis.

There's one other key detail
about Kaminski.

He was a boot maker,
so he spent hours

working with very sharp tools,
and he wore a leather apron.

- It certainly
appears plausible

that this simply
may have been a mistake

between two names
that were very similar.

♪ ♪

- When Inspector Abberline
retired in 1892,

that was not the end
of the case for him.

He still conducted
more research

in compiling a list
of suspects.

For him,
it was unfinished business.

Fishburne: In 1903, almost
15 years after the crime,

the now retired
chief investigator,

Frederick Abberline,
announces another suspect.

- So a man named
George Chapman was executed

in February, 1903.

And Abberline after reading
that saw the similarities

between the Whitechapel murders
and the murders

that Chapman did.

It convinced him enough

that Chapman may very well
have been Jack the Ripper.

♪ ♪

- George Chapman was not
his birth name.

He was born
as Seweryn Klosowski,

and he came to London
from Poland in 1888,

coincidentally the same year
of the Ripper murders.

- In Poland, he was
a surgeon's assistant,

dressing wounds and the like.

In London, he became a barber

and ran a barbershop
on Cable Street

during the times
of the murders.

Klosowski left for America,

and his departure
from English shores

coincided with the ceasing
of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Fishburne: If Chapman
was Jack the Ripper,

it's possible his killing
streak didn't stop after all.

- George Chapman marries
three more times

over a period of nine years,

and all three succumbed
at his hand to poisoning.

Fishburne:
Chapman is tried

and executed for his wives'
murders in 1903.

♪ ♪

The case generates
headlines for weeks.

- Upon his arrest
and hanging in 1903,

he says to Inspector Godley,

"Congratulations,
you have caught

Jack the Ripper at last."

On Abberline's own admission,

Chapman was not even
on his radar

as a suspect
at the time of the murders,

but due to subsequent
research and Abberline

building a greater profile
of what he was after,

George Chapman just ticked
every box for him.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: But Abberline's
suspicions come too late.

- Chapman was hung,
so he went to his death

without ever being identified
as Jack the Ripper.

We will never
have that answer.

♪ ♪

- Jack the Ripper,

three words at the end
of an 1888 letter

that continue
to elicit fear to this day.

For over a century,
that letter has been thought

to be the only piece
of physical evidence

tied to the true killer.

That changes in 2011

when one man uncovers
a dark family secret.

♪ ♪

May 7th, 1896,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Inside Moyamensing Prison,

a serial killer
is executed by hanging,

his name, H.H. Holmes.

- H.H. Holmes was taken
down off of the scaffold

and placed
in a double-wide coffin

that was already half full
of cement.

Then the coffin was filled
the rest of the way with cement

and buried
in an unmarked grave.

Fishburne: Decades later,

one man finds out
an alarming fact.

- When I was 40 years old

and my grandfather
had passed away,

I was given some material
which led me to believe

that the man known to history
as Dr. H.H. Holmes

was actually
Herman Webster Mudgett,

my great-great-grandfather.

For the last 10
to 15 years of my life,

I've been researching the
possibility that Dr. Holmes,

along
with the 40 other aliases

he used
on his criminal exploits,

was also the most notorious
cold case of all time,

Jack the Ripper.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Born Herman Mudgett,

Holmes moves
to Chicago in 1886,

where he eventually rushes
to build a three-story hotel

for the upcoming World's Fair.

- This World's Fair was
especially important

for Chicago because Chicago

won out over
so many better-known cities.

This was the chance for Chicago
to prove to the world

that they were a city
worth reckoning with.

♪ ♪

- Everyone
that went to the Fair

needed a place to stay.

Holmes knew that.
He planned the building.

He constructed it as a motel
in order for innocent victims

to spend the night
so that he could choose

which one he wanted to pursue
his terrible business.

- He had secret rooms,
rooms that could be sealed off

and people could be suffocated

or rooms
that could be filled with gas.

After Holmes murdered his
victims on the upper floors,

he sent them down chutes
into the basement,

where they could be dissolved
in vats of acid or quicklime.

He would then sell the
skeletons to medical schools

for about $200 each,

which would be $5,000
to $10,000 in today's money.

This is someone
who is truly monstrous.

So much time and dedication
to create the perfect space

for him to murder exactly when
and how he wants to.

Fishburne: Then in 2011,

fresh information
raises new questions.

Could Britain's
infamous serial killer

actually be H.H. Holmes?

- I was approached
by a group of gentlemen

who are also investigating
the possibility

that Holmes had been in London

during the infamous
Whitechapel murders.

He had been there looking
into the possibility

of opening up a business
selling human body parts

and articulated skeletons
to medical schools

and universities,
just as he had done in America.

Fishburne: Jeff believes
Holmes' background

is a perfect match
for the Ripper.

- H.H. Holmes,
as Herman Webster Mudgett,

obtained his degree
as a doctor,

a licensed physician to
practice medicine in America.

Fishburne: Some speculate
that like H.H. Holmes,

Jack the Ripper might be
selling pieces of his victims.

- One of the rumors
going around at the time

was that there was a doctor
who was willing to pay £20

for each human uterus
he received.

Two of Jack the Ripper's
victims had

their uteri removed.

This is similar
to the idea of Holmes

selling human skeletons
for money.

Could they be connected?

Fishburne:
As a next step,

Jeff investigates the infamous
"Dear Boss" letter.

- While I was investigating
the possibility

that Holmes had been in London,
had written "Dear Boss,"

and had murdered
Catherine Eddowes,

I was approached by a gentleman
from Pennsylvania,

and he presented me with
some handwriting comparisons.

I was shown
these handwriting comparisons

with perhaps the most infamous
true crime letter of all time,

"Dear Boss."

It chilled me to the bone.

It was obviously
the same handwriting.

I knew that graphology
and handwriting comparison

was a powerful
forensic science.

I went to the scientists
at the University of Buffalo

who had designed
a computer program,

the CEDAR-FOX system,

which was recognized
by the federal courts,

which was recognized
by the FBI,

which was recognized
by Scotland Yard.

They took the material,
the "Dear Boss" letter

and the Holmes correspondence,
and their professional opinion

was that
it was similar in style.

They ran it
through their system,

and when they returned
with their results,

over 90% similarity.

I needed to tell the world
we had done it.

We had--after 134 years,

we had finally solved
Jack the Ripper.

Fishburne: With such
a prolific crime spree

in America,

how could Holmes have
committed a murder in London?

- While investigating
the possibility

that Holmes
had been in London

at the exact time
of the Whitechapel murders,

we were able
to discover letters

that Holmes had written
expressing his frustration

with being unable to obtain his
favorite American periodicals

while he was in London.

Fishburne: In 2006,
Scotland Yard and the BBC

commissioned a composite
rendering of Jack the Ripper

based on firsthand
accounts from 1888.

- While it's not something
that could prove guilt

at a murder trial, the drawing,
if you'll take a close look,

has a remarkable resemblance
to the photograph

the Boston police took
of H.H. Holmes

after they arrested him.

It's almost exact.

♪ ♪

There is a fascination

with how many H.H. Holmes
actually murdered,

just as there is a fascination

with serial killing
in our society.

We all want to know how many
innocents died at his hand.

One day, I hope to prove
that H.H. Holmes,

my direct ancestor,
my grandfather's grandfather,

is also Jack the Ripper.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Until that day,
the Holmes theory remains

yet another
intriguing possibility.

Fishburne: At the time
of Jack the Ripper's murders,

and in the decades since,

nearly every investigator
has relied

on one crucial assumption,

that the killer was male.

- Most violent murderers
of women are men,

but not all of them.

- The poor women of East London
were no strangers to courts.

Many were hauled in
for disorderly conduct,

for rough taunts,
for fighting,

for themselves engaging
in violent acts,

sometimes against men,
sometimes against other women.

This understanding that women
were capable of violence

perhaps fueled at least a few
to speculate

that Jack the Ripper might
have been Jill the Ripper...

♪ ♪

A female killer.

- The idea of Jill the Ripper
actually originates

from the time
of the murders themselves.

After the murder
of the fifth victim,

Mary Jane Kelly,

Mary Kelly's estimated time
of death

was between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m.

And this is based on the doctor
looking at her body,

the stiffness of her limbs,

and the temperature
of her body,

as well as witnesses who heard

or last saw
Mary Jane Kelly alive.

There is, however,
one witness, Caroline Maxwell,

who claims to have seen
Mary Jane Kelly the morning

after her murder
at 8:00 and 9:00 a.m.

Caroline was very certain
of her identification

because she knew Kelly
and because Kelly was

wearing a very specific outfit
that Maxwell had seen before,

including
a very specific red shawl.

Despite the fact
that her evidence seems

to go against what
the doctors have said,

Caroline Maxwell is very
certain of both the date

and the time

because of when her husband
would have to go to work.

Fishburne: Although it was
just one witness' account,

Inspector Frederick Abberline

believes there could be
something to it.

- Abberline concludes

that it could've been
the Ripper

who put on
Mary Jane Kelly's clothes

and was seen
by Caroline Maxwell.

So therefore,
the Ripper could be a woman.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Abberline, however,

is never able to identify
who this woman might be.

So he moves on
to investigate other theories.

But in 1939,
author William Stewart

picks up
where Abberline left off.

- William Stewart believes
that if Jack the Ripper

actually had been
a woman that she,

in fact,
might've been a midwife.

Many of these young women
were prostitutes.

It would not have
been uncommon

that they would be
seeking an abortion

or, in some cases,
a delivery.

So, therefore,
a midwife walking those streets

in the middle of the night
with an apron with blood

on it would not necessarily
have caused suspicion.

It could've been
fairly commonplace,

given that environment
at that time.

Fishburne:
Stewart points to the state

of Mary Jane Kelly's room
as further proof.

- A midwife could have gotten
close to these women.

When Mary Jane Kelly's body
was discovered,

her clothes were folded
on the chair next to the bed.

This was an indication
that she was very comfortable,

and calm,
and was not surprised

by somebody coming
in unexpectedly.

Fishburne:
But why would a midwife

specifically target
Mary Kelly?

- We don't know
Mary Jane Kelly was killed,

but Stewart suggests
that she asked the midwife

to come
to perform an abortion,

changed her mind,

and then threatens to rat
the midwife out to the police

since abortions were,
at the time, illegal.

Fishburne: If the killer was
a woman, who was she?

- Any surgeon will tell you

that to make
an abdominal incision,

to remove the viscera, requires
a fair amount of strength.

It's not something that can
be done without some power.

And it takes some time.

So that, again,
leads me to believe

that Jack the Ripper

was a fairly well-built,
strong individual.

About two years later,
the police identified a woman

who they thought might
have been Jack the Ripper.

- In December of 1890, a woman
named Mary Pearcey is executed

because she murdered
her lover's wife and child

and dumped their bodies
in the streets.

Similar to
the Ripper's victims,

both the wife and child
had their throats cut.

We don't actually know
very much about Mary Pearcey.

We don't know for sure
that she was a midwife

or had medical knowledge.

But we do know
that she was capable

of this kind of violence.

Ripper investigator
Melville Macnaughten

describes Pearcey saying,

"I have never seen a woman
of stronger physique.

Her nerves were
as iron-cast as her body."

Fishburne: Ultimately,
no female is arrested

in the Jack the Ripper case.

- I can understand
why Macnaughten

may have thought this,
but people at the time

especially would not
have wanted to believe

that a young woman would've
been capable of such things.

Fishburne: At the time,

that was the end
of the Jill the Ripper theory

until new evidence surfaces.

- In May of 2006,
an Australian researcher,

Ian Findlay,

identified female DNA
from the saliva

of one of the envelopes that
was sent by Jack the Ripper.

However, I think you need
to put this in the context

of even
with modern DNA analysis,

you're still dealing with
samples over a century old.

And I think
that calls into question

how valid those findings are.

It's really a shame that
we can't explore this further.

But I think for the time being,

we should continue to refer
to him as Jack the Ripper.

Fishburne: There's no doubt
that the most famous

unsolved murder case
in London's history is

that of Jack the Ripper.

- Jack the Ripper ruthlessly
ended the lives of five women.

But his legacy has been

immensely productive
of cultural forms,

of novels, documentaries,
works of art,

each of which seeks
to try to tell this story

and understand its meanings.

Fishburne: But what
if this famed British mystery

isn't strictly British?

- In 2005, Trevor Marriott
releases a book

that offers a new possibility,
a new suspect,

bringing infamy
to a relatively unknown.

It suggests that the Ripper
might have been

a merchant seaman who never
lived in London at all

but was docked at the Thames

during the times
of the Jack the Ripper murders.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

In 1894, Juliana Hoffman
is found slain

in her New York apartment.

Her throat was cut
from ear to ear.

Two years later,
the culprit was executed

in Sing Sing Prison
via electrocution.

Her killer was a man
named Carl Feigenbaum,

and his lawyer
upon his execution has said,

"I believe
that Carl Feigenbaum,

whom you have just seen put to
death in the electric chair,

"can easily be connected with
the Jack the Ripper murders

in Whitechapel, London."

Fishburne: When
Trevor Marriott digs deeper,

he realizes
there's a chance

that Feigenbaum's lawyer
was right.

- The docks on the Thames are
in very close proximity

to the murder sites
in Whitechapel,

so that does lend to the fact

that he could have done this.

He was definitely
close enough.

- As a merchant seaman,
such as Feigenbaum,

they would never have
been caught

because they come into port,

commit the murder,
and then leave,

only to return again
to commit the next murder.

Fishburne:
When Marriott analyzes

London's port records,

his theory becomes
more plausible.

- Trevor Marriott believes that
Carl Feigenbaum was German.

And his theory
on Feigenbaum centers

around the Norddeutscher
Lloyd Shipping Company.

According to Trevor's theory,

a lot of vessels from
this German shipping company

had boats docked in London
at the time of the murders.

And that could place him

on the Norddeutscher line
of vessels.

Fishburne:
According to Marriott,

the killings
might not stop there.

- This theory makes
a lot of sense,

in part because the police
were looking

very specifically at locals,

at people living there or
with connections to the area.

And especially because Jack
the Ripper was never caught.

And so Jack the Ripper
may have had murders

in other ports of call
that were never connected back.

- Marriott
does further research

into the Norddeutscher Lloyd
Shipping Company

and tracks departures from
Bremen and analyzes the times

that they are docked
in other countries.

He stated in addition

to the London killings,

there are six prostitutes
murdered in Nicaragua

in January, 1889,
one in Wisconsin in 1890,

two more in Germany and
Switzerland that same year,

and three more in America
through 1894,

all of which coincide with
those German merchant vessels

coming and going.

Many of the woman
had their throats cut,

which is a Ripper trademark.

The targets were also similar.
Many were prostitutes.

So there was definitely a
crossover between the killings

that Marriott found
in other countries,

along with the Ripper murders
in London.

Fishburne: But without
more solid evidence,

it's impossible
to prove Feigenbaum's guilt.

- While there is evidence

that contradicts Feigenbaum
as Jack the Ripper,

the underlying theory
of the killer

being a merchant seaman
is very credible.

- It's interesting, sure,
but tying all of this

to one man is
a bit of a stretch.

I mean, there are plenty
of misogynistic,

violent men in the world.

I mean, just look at how many

we've spoken of
just from London.

♪ ♪

- The most powerful evidence
that we have

about the Ripper's crimes
were the bodies of his victims.

♪ ♪

And while he taunted
the police and the public

by producing
for himself a diabolical,

wicked, witty public persona,

he left behind
so few hard clues

by which we can actually
nail down who he was.

Fishburne: Can we ever crack
the case of Jack the Ripper?

- I don't think
we're ever going to find out

who Jack the Ripper
really was,

but I also don't think
we're gonna stop looking.

♪ ♪

- There may be
no killing spree in history

with more possible suspects

and fewer pieces
of concrete evidence

than the one committed

by the self-proclaimed
Jack the Ripper.

But with so many
obsessed investigators

dedicated to closing this case,

perhaps soon Jack the Ripper
will get a new name,

one that finally reveals
his true identity.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."