Jack The Ripper’s Identity Finally Unveiled

After 126 years, 500 odd suspects and a lifetime of speculation, the identity of Jack The Ripper - the serial killer who murdered five prostitutes in the autumn of 1888 in London's East End - has finally been revealed.

Russell Edwards, a businessman along with molecular biologist Dr. Jari Louhelainen cracked the mystery of the identity of one of the most brutal murderer in history.

According to Fox News, Edwards bought a shawl that belonged to Catherine Eddowes, one of the victims of Jack The Ripper, at an auction in 2007. He took the shawl to Louhelainen and asked him to help out with the mystery.

Louhelainen reportedly used a procedure called "vaccuming" to analyze the shawl. Once the shawl was exposed to infrared light, some stains were revealed.

While some stains were identified as arterial blood splatter some were fluorescent - reminiscent of seminal stains. Further analysis was performed after some epithelial cells were found on the stains.

Two strands of DNA were extracted from the cells and compared with the DNA of one of the many suspects and they matched with  Aaron Kominski, a Polish immigrant hair dresser who reportedly suffered from "paranoid schizophrenia and hallucinations."

Research showed that Kominski was about 23 years old at the time of the murders. He was of Russian Jewish ancestry and had dark hair.

Edwards claims that Kominski is "definitely, categorically and absolutely" the man behind the cruel murders.

"I've got the only piece of forensic evidence in the whole history of the case. I've spent 14 years working on it and we have definitively solved the mystery of who Jack the Ripper was," he told the Mirror. 

"Thank God the shawl has never been washed, as it held the vital evidence," he added.

"I'm excited and proud of what we've achieved and satisfied that we have established, as far as we possibly can, that Aaron Kosminski is  the culprit," Louhelainen told the Mail.

While Edwards and Louhelainen claim their find is 100 percent genuine and this is the end of the mystery, some are questioning its authenticity too because this is not the first time someone has attempted to unmask the most puzzling crime of British history.

"The shawl has been openly handled by loads of people and been touched, breathed on, spat upon," Richard Cobb, who runs Jack the Ripper conventions and tours, told The Times of London, according to Fox News.

"My DNA is probably on there. What's more, Kosminski is likely to have frequented prostitutes in the East End of London. If I examined that shawl, I'd probably find links to 150 other men from the area."

But many think this was a sensible attempt that could have correctly identified the murderer.

"If the science is correct, then the case is closed after nearly 125 years. And even though I am a historian who delights in debunking junk history, this time I'm convinced," Guy Walters of The Telegraph wrote for the National Post.

The findings will be published in a new book "Naming Jack the Ripper" by Sidgwick & Jackson and will hit the shelves Tuesday.