Five canonical victims · disputed letters · no identified killer
Five murders in Whitechapel form the commonly accepted core of the case. Disputed letters created the killer's famous name while the offender's identity remained unknown.
Jack the Ripper is the name given to the unidentified killer associated with the Whitechapel murders in London in 1888, including the later-designated 'canonical five' victims. The crimes, the taunting correspondence attributed to the killer, and the enduring uncertainty over the murderer's identity have made the case one of the world's most famous unsolved homicide investigations.
Public mythology
An unresolved case became mass entertainment
Recent developments
Recent reporting and official developments, labeled by source and verification status.
Apr 14, 2026 · Pen and Sword Books
In the Shadow of the Ripper revisits the Whitechapel murders through the development and limits of Victorian forensic science, focusing on why contemporary medical, policing, and evidentiary practices failed to identify the killer.
View book →The scale
Key figures are drawn from the published case record.
The canonical sequence
The accepted sequence runs from Mary Ann Nichols to Mary Jane Kelly. The same period also produced correspondence that shaped the name and mythology.
See all 10 mapped locations →Aug 31, 1888
Mary Ann 'Polly' Nichols, 43, is considered the first canonical victim. Her throat was slit twice, and her abdomen was partially ripped open by a deep, jagged wound.
Sep 8, 1888
Annie Chapman, 47, was found with her throat cut. Her abdomen was entirely laid open, and her uterus had been removed.
Sep 27, 1888
The Central News Agency receives a letter, dated September 25, signed 'Jack the Ripper'. This is the first time the name is used. The author taunts the police and promises to 'clip the lady's ears off'.
Sep 30, 1888
Elizabeth Stride, 44, was found with her throat cut but with no other mutilations. It is believed the killer was interrupted during the attack by the cart of Louis Diemschutz.
Sep 30, 1888
Less than an hour after Stride's murder, Catherine Eddowes, 46, was found dead. Her throat was slit, and she was severely mutilated, with her left kidney and a major part of her uterus removed.
Nov 9, 1888
Mary Jane Kelly, around 25, was the final canonical victim. She was murdered indoors, allowing the killer an extended period of time for the most extensive mutilation of the series.
How the case is bounded
The canonical Ripper series is generally treated as beginning with Mary Ann Nichols on August 31, 1888.
Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were killed on the same night, forming the event traditionally called the Double Event.
The Dear Boss letter introduced the name Jack the Ripper into the case record and public mythology.
The authenticity of the Ripper letters remains uncertain and should not be treated as uniformly reliable evidence.
The best-known correspondence shaped the killer's name and public mythology, even though its authenticity remains disputed.
Examine the correspondence imagery →Where certainty changes
Open each layer to see what the archive treats as core, contested, or unresolved.
Go deeper
This overview is the map. The case tabs hold the underlying events, people, media, locations, and source material.