Crimes of the Century: Ripper Killers - Softcover

Ripper Killers have been feared the world over since the heinous crimes of "Jack the Ripper" in Whitechapel, London, in the late 19th century. As an unidentified perpetrator of the mutilation and murder of his victims, "Jack" as he was dubbed, wasn't the first serial killer in history, but the horrors of the case soon whipped up a media frenzy the like of which had never been seen before. Ripper killers generally share similar traits or have the same type of MO, where the use of knives and mutilation of victims, often women, are commonplace. Knives are easier to get hold of than many other types of weapons, and provide the ripper killer with the perfect "tool" with which to vent his extreme rage and anger at his vulnerable victims, who often suffer extreme torture at the hands of the perpetrator before they face an inevitable death. Victims are often subjected to being violently ripped open by their killer and many are dismembered. Most, but not all, ripper killers target prostitutes - the fact that these women work on the fringes of society makes them extremely vulnerable to attack. "Jack the Ripper" was infamous for the mutilation and disemboweling of his victims. Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, mutilated and bit his victims, and it was these bite marks that would lead to his eventual arrest. The Gainsville Ripper, Danny Rolling, also mutilated his victims, and posed them, sometimes using mirrors so that the impact when their bodies were discovered would be heightened. Like Jack the Ripper, the Craigslist Ripper has never been caught, while perhaps the worst of them all was Andrei Chikatilo, the Soviet serial killer dubbed "The Rostov Ripper". Chikatilo was responsible for the deaths of at least 53 victims, many of them children, who were mutilated by his teeth, knives and sticks before being strangled and battered. Crimes of the Century - Ripper Killers, takes a dark journey into the terrible world of these vicious serial murderers.

Claire Welch is the author of a number of crime books, including Unsolved Crimes, Robbery, Gangs, Football Hooligans, Bank Raids and Gangsters. She has also written numerous non-fiction titles and works as publisher for the Academy of Contemporary Music.