Descendant of Jack the Ripper investigator uncovers killer's identity
Sarah Bax Horton, a descendant of a police officer involved in the original investigation, claims to have identified Jack the Ripper as Hyam Hyams based on newly discovered medical records. The evidence matches witness descriptions of the man seen with the victims before their murders in 1888. Hyams, a cigar-maker, had an irregular gait, a stiff arm, and suffered from severe epilepsy. His mental and physical decline coincided with the period of the Ripper's killings, and the murders stopped when he was arrested and later committed to a mental asylum. Horton's research will be published in a forthcoming book.