Has Jack the Ripper been identified? Patricia Cornwell points to a DNA match between a sample from an envelope which apparently contained a letter sent by Jack the Ripper in 1888, and a sample from a letter sent by an artist named Walter Sickert.
Sickert used prostitutes as models for his work, and, Cromwell says, some of his portaits resemble Jack the Ripper's victims. A letter sent by Jack the Ripper, moreover, contains the same watermark as the stationary used by Sickert and his wife.
Reuters report is here.