F
FraterLibre
Guest
Originally posted by lorddrakul
First of all, if the killer was the disorganised anti-social, the signature throat slit seems incongruous. The more common manifestation is of a weapon of opportunity on a victim of opportunity. Therefore the distinct pattern of prostitutes, with one knife, making a strikingly similar MO seems to me to be more on the side of the organised asocial. The trophy taking would also fit this. Were the killer truly of this type, a few strangulations and blunt traumas may have been expected as the killer was roused to fury and killed with whatever was to hand instead of the trusty knife.
Finally, the idea of a local does not cast much light on the matter. What does it mean exactly. The fact that among many of the witnesses and suspects there are many and varied nationalities, would seem to indicate that one would require something very striking indeed to be noticed above the noise and hubub of the street. Take this with the fact that there were still laws against public indeceny and it makes a case for the killer to have been socially acceptable enough to entice a prostitue away from crowded streets to turn a trick without alerting her to the fact that he was going to attack. Another possibility of course is that he watched for another punter to do the luring and then pounced, but this too suggests a more organised attitude.
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He cut their throats in a blitz attack, probably from behind, in order to overwhelm and control them at once. This indicates an asocial killer lacking confidence in dealing with even these low-level folks so eager to debase themselves for a penny or two.
He was likely a local not so much because he blended in, although that also would explain why the women weren't alarmed by him, as he was familiar or a familiar type, but because he knew where to commit the crimes and get away each time, despite a massive manhunt concentrated in exactly his work zone.
This is what Douglas argues. Makes sense to me. You do raise some interesting quesitons, and I'd favored Maybrick, too, until Kelly came along, and Kelly until I heard of Cohen.