A Loss In The Family as Motive?

[How Brown]

It struck me today that over the last month I had seen at least 5 serial killers ( some whose names I don't remember off hand and were featured on The FBI Files, a documentary usually found on the Discovery Channel..as well as James Kelly,who began to display behavioral problems a year after his grandmother died ) who had experienced a loss of a significant family member within a year of their first murder.

Anyone have any ideas or feelings on this premise?

Could the Ripper have suffered a loss of a family member to precipitate his subsequent violence??

Of course,its speculation at best,but in addition to other factors in his makeup,perhaps this was the straw that broke that camel's back.....

[Debbie D]

This is a very good point and somehow it got burried for a few months. (I miss out on quite a bit when hitting the "mark read" button:o )

I would surmise that Jack would have lost a mother, spouse/girlfriend, or some female figure. I can easily see how that might push a seemingly "average" guy over the edge. This would probably be the one that was for all intents and purposes was a productive member of society but one that everyone else would describe as "...I always thought he was a bit odd..."

What do we know about our usual suspects in regards to losses 1-2 years before the first murder?:confused:

[Sam Flynn]

What do we know about our usual suspects in regards to losses 1-2 years before the first murder?
Well, Debbie, there's Joe Fleming for a start. He "lost" Mary Kelly to Joe Barnett, yet continued to visit her, and ended up a "maniac" in a lunatic asylum within a handful of years of her death. Given his apparent attempts to sustain his defunct relationship with Kelly, and his mental illness, Fleming appears to be a stronger candidate than Barnett, yet the latter gets all the attention. Why Fleming isn't on the "usual suspect" list has always puzzled me, even moreso following recent revelations about his psychiatric problems.