Rippers

Jack the Ripper

The most notorious ripper murderer was Jack the Ripper. Aside from being the first known murderer of this kind, he was also one of the earliest known serial killers. The case was notorious and has never been solved.

In 1888, London experienced a series of extremely brutal and vicious murders of prostitutes. Then, as quickly as they began, the murders stopped. The investigation was difficult because the police and local media received many letters with misleading and conflicting information. Investigators of the crimes doubted the authenticity of most of the letters. Today, scholars still debate the legitimacy of two that [Page 393]were evidently written by the same individual. In one, the author writes, “I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled.” He proclaims his identity in his signature: “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper.”

The Yorkshire Ripper

Nearly a century later, another serial murderer terrorized England. Peter Sutcliffe, “The Yorkshire Ripper,” killed 13 women in a 5-year period beginning in 1975 and ending in 1981. Sutcliffe began by selecting prostitutes as his victims, yet later targeted middleclass women in neighborhoods previously believed to be safe. The shift in types of victims demonstrated the vulnerability of all women, not just those leading risky lives in the red-light districts. Most often, Sutcliffe struck his victims in the head with a hammer, and once they collapsed, he stabbed and mutilated their bodies. Quite unusual for a serial killer, Sutcliffe was interrupted during some of his attacks, and seven of his intended victims survived.

Other Cases

Daniel Rolling, the “Gainesville Ripper,” murdered five young students in Gainesville, Florida, over a weekend in 1990. Before sexually assaulting his victims, torturing and mutilating them, he sadistically told them everything he planned to do to them.

Richard Cottingham was known simply as “The Ripper.” He began killing in 1977 and was subsequently arrested in 1980. Like the others, Cottingham targeted prostitutes as his victims. His victims, in the New Jersey and New York area, were badly mutilated; one had been stabbed to death and her body set on fire.

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