Whitechapel murders

The Whitechapel murders are committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between April 3, 1888 and February 13, 1891.

At various points some or all of these eleven unsolved murders of women have been ascribed to the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Most, if not all, of the victims—Emma Elizabeth Smith, Martha Tabram, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly, Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, Frances Coles, and an unidentified woman—are prostitutes.

Smith is sexually assaulted and robbed by a gang.

Tabram is stabbed thirty-nine times.

Nichols, Chapman, Stride, Eddowes, Kelly, McKenzie and Coles have their throats cut.

Eddowes and Stride are killed on the same night, minutes and less than a mile apart; their murders are nicknamed the "double event", after a phrase in a postcard sent to the press by someone claiming to be the Ripper.

The bodies of Nichols, Chapman, Eddowes and Kelly have abdominal mutilations.

Mylett is strangled.

The body of the unidentified woman is dismembered, but the exact cause of her death is unclear.

The Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, and private organizations such as the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee are involved in the search for the killer or killers.

Despite extensive inquiries and several arrests, the culprit or culprits evade identification and capture.

The murders draw attention to the poor living conditions in the East End slums, which will subsequently be improved.

The enduring mystery of who committed the crimes will capture public imagination to the present day.