Kelly's Autopsy Report

Warning! Graphic details!

The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle and lying across the abdomen.

The right arm was slightly abducted from the body and rested on the mattress. The elbow was bent, the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk and the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubes.

The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs was removed and the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds and the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone.

The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus and kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the right foot the liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side and the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table.

The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, and on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about two feet square. The wall by the right side of the bed and in a line with the neck was marked by blood which had struck it in a number of separate splashes.

The face was gashed in all directions, the nose, cheeks, eyebrows, and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched and cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features.

The neck was cut through the skin and other tissues right down to the vertebrae, the fifth and sixth being deeply notched. The skin cuts in the front of the neck showed distinct ecchymosis. The air passage was cut at the lower part of the larynx through the cricoid cartilage.

Both breasts were more or less removed by circular incisions, the muscle down to the ribs being attached to the breasts. The intercostals between the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs were cut through and the contents of the thorax visible through the openings.

Mary Kelly as she was found in her bed at 13 Miller's Court. The skin and tissues of the abdomen from the costal arch to the pubes were removed in three large flaps. The right thigh was denuded in front to the bone, the flap of skin, including the external organs of generation, and part of the right buttock. The left thigh was stripped of skin fascia, and muscles as far as the knee.

The left calf showed a long gash through skin and tissues to the deep muscles and reaching from the knee to five inches above the ankle. Both arms and forearms had extensive jagged wounds.

The right thumb showed a small superficial incision about one inch long, with extravasation of blood in the skin, and there were several abrasions on the back of the hand moreover showing the same condition.

On opening the thorax it was found that the right lung was minimally adherent by old firm adhesions. The lower part of the lung was broken and torn away. The left lung was intact. It was adherent at the apex and there were a few adhesions over the side. In the substances of the lung there were several nodules of consolidation.

The pericardium was open below and the heart absent. In the abdominal cavity there was some partly digested food of fish and potatoes, and similar food was found in the remains of the stomach attached to the intestines.


Dr. George Bagster Phillips was also present at the scene, and gave the following testimony at the inquest:

The mutilated remains of a female were lying two-thirds over towards the edge of the bedstead nearest the door. She had only her chemise on, or some under linen garment. I am sure that the body had been removed subsequent to the injury which caused her death from that side of the bedstead that was nearest the wooden partition, because of the large quantity of blood under the bedstead and the saturated condition of the sheet and the palliasse at the corner nearest the partition.

The blood was produced by the severance of the cartoid artery, which was the cause of death. The injury was inflicted while the deceased was lying at the right side of the bedstead.

I found this picture tidying the mess Jack made of her body so that we can see what he did to her clearer. I've put it under a spoiler because the picture might be upsetting to some people.

Spoiler:

That is bad, but for some reason this murder is my favorite out of all the others.

Jack must have been ANGRY to do this.

I agree - sounds pretty sick having a favourite murder, let alone a favourite murderer, doesn't it? xD I really don't think the poor crime scene photos really highlight the true horror of what they found in that room. The drawing just shows the extent of which he was able to hack her up. I would struggle to find something else to do to that body to improve on Jack's masterpiece. That truly is a strike of real insanity.

Improvement: take the rest of the skin off? Not trying to sound sick or crazy, but really, if you're going to hack off her skin to that extent, why not go all the way?

Haha - you're right! He almost did go all the way on that one, but he might have stopped before he got carried away with it to a point where he would look like a man leaving the crime on the brink of insanity. Of course, he was, but I think what is important to remember with Jack is that he appeared normal to the public in Whitechapel and was effectively able to hide this.

Ah. But, at that point, wouldnt he have left appearing to be crazy already?

We may never know, but he certainly didn't get caught for that. I assume he would have been in some sort of sexual frenzy, but how clearly he showed this when he left the house is another story. Funny thing was, he left just minutes after the witness left and gave up watching out for Mary Kelly. What I find remarkable is the way JtR manages to escape capture with just minutes to spare, so it was a miracle for him that he never got caught.

He must either have been lucky or very smart.

I think he was both - but to be honest, I don't believe he cared so much about capture - He appeared fairly disorganised in that respect, since some of his actions are quite sloppy.

Ah. Quick, then?

Definately quick, although on Kelly's murder he was able to take the time to do whatever he wanted in as long time as he could. His main concern was the mutilations, and I don't think he gave much thought about anything else, although he would have been wary of the policemen.

This guy has to have some sort of hunting instinct, right?

Yes- that is an interesting way of putting it. I am guessing that the same man was a sort of prowler round Whitechapel getting up to all sorts of mischeif before the murders.

The photograph of Mary K has the surreal appearance of a movie studio's special effects/makeup warehouse. A work in progress, several steps to go. Very sloppy. The drawing gives you a suggestion of what was done.
He really could have used a proper workshop for his alterations, with sufficient time and lighting to get it right.

Yeah, the drawing really sheds light on exactly what he did to the poor woman, which is often quite hard to make out on the older photograph. It also makes you feel sorry for the people who cleared it too - it must have been sickening, especially by the way all the skin is stipped from her flesh and her hand is shoved into her abdoman. That's one thing the teachers never told us in school.