9781422284131

The fifth killing—the last attributed to the Ripper—was the most gruesome of all. The murder took place in the woman’s rented room, and the Ripper had plenty of time to carry out his bloody work. The head was almost completely severed; parts of the body were cut off; and much of the flesh was stripped away and placed on a nearby table. There have been more books written and more movies made about Jack the Ripper than any other serial killer, largely in part because the mystery has never been solved. Over the years, researchers have named dozens of potential suspects, from a crazy midwife to, more famously, the grandson of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert Victor. Crime writer Patricia Cornwell is convinced that the famous painter Walter Sickert was the murderer. Only one thing is certain: the identity of Jack the Ripper will never be proved. Brides in the Bath One man whose succession of murders was certainly carried out for profit was EnglishmanGeorge Joseph Smith. In 1910, already amarriedman, he went through a bigamous “wedding” with Bessie Mundy, who had a bank balance of £2,500 (U.S. $3,558)—at that time a relatively large sum. Two years later, she was found drowned in a bathtub that Smith had just purchased. It was declared “death by misadventure,” and he conveniently inherited all her money. Next year, Smith “married” Alice Burnham, whose life was insured for £500 (U.S. $712). Sure enough, “Mrs. Smith” was found dead in her bathtub as well. The third victim was Margaret Lofty, with a life insurance policy of £700 (U.S. $997). When Alice Burnham’s father learned that Margaret had died in identical circumstances to his daughter’s, he alerted the police and Smith’s killing career was at an end. He had used a variety of aliases, and it is not known how many undetected murders he had also committed. He was hanged in August 1915. A Dangerous Demonstration During Smith’s trial, the pathologist for the prosecution, Bernard Spilsbury, pointed out that the bathtub in which Bessie Mundy had died was too short for her death to be accidental. He asked the court’s permission to demonstrate how Smith had drowned her. A nurse, suitably dressed in a bathing costume, got into the water-filled bathtub, and the police inspector in charge of the case grabbed her feet and pulled her under. To his horror, the rush of water into her nose and mouth rendered her immediately unconscious, and she had to be revived by artificial respiration.

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SERIAL MURDERS