All language subtitles for American.Ripper.S01E04.Home.Sweet.Hell.1080p_track3_[eng]

(tense and dramatic theme)

- In 1888, Britain's
first serial killer,

Jack the Ripper went on a
killing spree in London.

(tense and dramatic theme)

He was never caught.

But I know who the Ripper is.

His real name is HH Holmes.

And he was America's
first serial killer.

And he is my great,
great grandfather.

- [Narrator] Previously
on American Ripper.

- This is the place
that evil man built

that factory of death.

- If we want physical
evidence to link

Ripper and Holmes, there is
a strong chance that it is

underneath that lot.

- This is a famous dear
boss letter that is

the first letter to be
signed Jack the Ripper.

- The language certainly
looks American.

- The Ripper
butchered Mary Kelly

to the point that she
could have in theory been

an animal carcass.

- Today, there is
amazing cutting edge

technology that can create
a composite photograph

from eyewitness accounts of what

Jack the Ripper looked like.

- If you took this
composite to a judge,

he'd issue a warrant.

(traffic running)

(soft music)

- Wow.

This is pretty compelling to me.

You've got Jack on the left,
you've got Holmes on the right.

- People have been
telling me for years

that my theory is crazy.

At times I even began
to doubt myself but now

I can look into the eyes
of Britain's most notorious

serial killer and
staring back at me

is a very familiar face.

He is obviously 27
years old here, okay,

if he was in London in 1888.

The photo here's a police photo

after his arrest and he
would've been 32 or 33.

I know that we still
have work to do

to prove this beyond a
reasonable doubt

but for the moment,

I feel vindicated.

We now have

an image of a potential suspect.

We might be talking
about Jack the Ripper.

HH Holmes.

(dramatic theme music)

How foolproof are
these comparisons

in your experience?

- The more eyewitness
accounts that you have,

with the more details involved
the better and better result.

I am really confident
about how accurate it is.

We've been able to track
down in the press 13

eyewitness reports of those
who claim that they've seen

Jack the Ripper.

That's an unusually high number.

It's still not a smoking gun,

but that composite picture
looks a lot like HH Holmes.

From what we have learned,
I've been surprised

that my major objections
are beginning to melt away.

There is not as dramatic a
difference between these two

killers as I had thought.

We know the Ripper
could have been a doctor

just like Holmes.

Both killer seem to have
enjoyed the act of dissection

after they killed their victims.

- Yeah and the
conclusions the linguists

had with the dear boss
letter was written,

in their opinion,
by an American.

- Yeah, like most investigators,

when I came here, I
thought Jack the Ripper

was the quintessential
disorganized killer.

But as we've heard about his
ability to time the routes

of law enforcement, and
how his methods evolved

with each kill, almost like
he's perfecting a process.

I am beginning to think that
maybe he was of a higher IQ,

more kind of organized,
just like HH Holmes.

- I've been convinced
from the day

I started that it had
to do with gamesmanship.

Holmes was always staying one
step ahead of law enforcement

and outsmarting the system.

- Well, this is not
conclusive evidence but

with an escalation this
dramatic and this quick

I would expect to see
the killing continue.

But the Ripper murders
just stop and we've seen

Holmes's name, an alias,
show up in ship manifest

from London to America after
the Whitechapel killings.

- I would say that
this is the first

milestone where I am truly

intrigued by your theory.

We still have more
investigating to do.

I want to continue subjecting
letters and artifacts

to forensic analysis to see
if we can find more links

between Holmes and the Ripper.

But what we are still
missing is physical evidence

from the crime scenes.

We know no murder
weapon was ever

recovered here in London.

So, if Holmes was the Ripper,
whatever physical evidence

remains may have traveled with
him back across the ocean.

- Well, it appears that
the trail leads back

to the States.

- [Amaryllis] Guess
we're on our way home.

(dramatic theme music)

- After everything
we learned in London,

I'm even more anxious to
excavate under the post office

where the murder castle stood.

- You and me both.

If we're going to find physical
evidence two tie Holmes

to Ripper, that is
where it's going to be.

- So, what's the status on that?

Have you heard anything?

- Yeah, my colleague
gave me the name

of someone at the post
office we can talk

to about getting access.

I think that as Holmes'
great, great grandson,

you should try to set
up a meeting with him.

And in the meantime, we
should pick up Holmes' trail

where we left off.

If a gap in his timeline
reflects when he was in London,

we should be able to
pick his timeline back up

when he returns to Chicago
in the spring of 1889.

- Great.

Our Chicago investigation
into Holmes' paper trail

revealed a gap in
his whereabouts at

as the Ripper murders.

The evidence we found in
London supports the theory

that Holmes was there when the

Ripper killings were occurring.

But to truly connect
the two killers,

we need to look for any
traces of the Ripper

and what Holmes did next.

- [Narrator] In Chicago
in the spring of 1889,

HH Holmes hires construction
crews to convert his property

on 63rd and Wallace
into what we now know

as the Murder Castle.

His sinister intent was
to build a place to kill

and dissect his
victims in private.

- His intentions for this
building were definitely

for murder and disposing
of human remains.

- [Narrator] To find answers
about physical evidence

that might still be
buried at the site,

Jeff and Amaryllis meet
with a documentarian

and historian who is an
expert on the Castle.

- He had ideally
constructed this building

not only for murder and the
disposal of human bodies

but for him to enact
his pleasure in privacy

with these victims.

- That's an interesting
point to me because

we are just back from
London and there,

we were looking at the
Whitechapel murders

and the fifth Jack the
Ripper victim

is so much more
mutilated because

the fifth victim, Mary
Kelly is the only victim

that was killed in private.

I have to wonder if this
was kind of a killer

in his adolescence who
is developing his taste

and his desires and if
you take that to its

logical conclusion
as an industrious,

entrepreneurial psychopath,
creating your own hotel full

of such private rooms would
be an interesting next step.

- We've learned that the
1895 police investigation

of the Murder Castle
wasn't at all thorough.

So, it's possible the police
missed critical evidence

that could connect Holmes
to Jack the Ripper.

And that evidence might still
be buried underground today.

- It's straight out of the mind

of Edgar Allen Poe
when you look at this.

It is definitely not out
of Architectural Digest.

On the first floor, there
were shops and there was

a jewelry store, a drug
store on the corner

and a blacksmith's shop.

When you go up on the second
floor there were many rooms,

purposely built to disorient
people and maybe victims

that got away from him.

For instance, you walk into
this room which has five doors.

You would open the door
and it is a brick wall.

And when he was constructing
the building he would

repeatedly hire and
fire construction crews

so no one knew the full layout.

- [Amaryllis] Wow.

- if you go up to
the third floor

that is where Holmes had
rented rooms and these rooms

these rooms were
lined with asbestos

to make them sound proof.

Well, why, because he had gas
lines coming from his office

which he could gas
people in their sleep.

It was an odorless, colorless
gas that would slowly

shut down the victim's
central nervous system.

This was perfect way to
kill an unsuspecting guest

with no struggle and
without alerting any

of the other residents
of the castle.

Essentially, turning
his office into

a command center of death.

- Was there ever any
evidence of a murder

being committed in the building?

- No, and that is
how much of an evil

criminal genius Holmes was.

He knew how to
cover up everything.

He had this hidden chute
running from the roof

to the basement for a
way of quickly disposing

of the bodies.

The basement was the
most frightening place

in the whole building.
Because they found

quicklime vats down there.

Holmes may have used these in
conjunction with acid baths

to dissolve human
flesh and as a chemist

he would have realized
that a lesser known use

for quicklime is
to prevent odor.

This would have been
extremely important if Holmes

was hoarding body parts in
the Murder Castle basement.

And supposedly he did
have this crematorium

that he said was for glass
bending but it was about

the size of the human body.

- Hearing that the Murder Castle

was specifically designed
not just to kill but also

to destroy evidence is
really discouraging.

Because evidence is exactly
what we need to definitely

prove Jeff's theory.

The good news is if we can
get access to that lawn,

modern equipment is so advanced
that it may find traces

of the murders that
Holmes didn't know

he was leaving behind.

- Where did these bodies
go, were they burned?

Were they sold as skeletons?

Were they buried somewhere?

They are gone, though,
those people disappeared.

(dramatic theme music)

- This is the
industrialization of murder.

This is the Henry Ford model
of killing human beings.

You check them in and you
send them to the basement

and who knows what becomes
of their remains after that.

- [Narrator] The swindler
and criminal mastermind known

as HH Holmes is rumored
to have murdered hundreds

of people inside his
three story murder castle.

Now, his great, great grandson,

Jeff Mudgett and ex CIA
operative Amaryllis Fox

are chasing down leads to
determine if any evidence

connected to Jack the
Ripper might still be buried

on the castle grounds.

- The idea of being
able to actually analyze

fresh physical evidence that
hasn't been contaminated

becomes incredibly intriguing.

- If properly excavated
there is the potential

for history changing evidence.

HH Holmes may have slaughtered
hundreds of victims

in the Murder Castle which
was torn down in the 1930s.

The government later built
a post office on the plot

and part of the Murder Castle
basement would have lined up

exactly with the post
office front lawn.

- Given that we are
talking about the end

of the 19th century, it seems
unlikely that a home furnace

could fully destroy a human
body and if that's the case,

we're looking at a
potential treasure trove

of physical evidence
and body parts.

So I'd like to go check out
what furnaces at the time

were capable of and
get a sense of whether

it's reasonable that
there might actually

be human remains
under that lawn.

- [Jeff] I'm looking
forward to pleading my case

at the post office.

(dramatic theme music)

Because the Murder Castle
used to stand on grounds

now owned by the Post Office,
there's more than the usual

amount of legal
hurdles to overcome

before they'll let us dig there.

Finally meeting with someone
with the legal authority

to make this happen
is a huge step.

(train horn sounding)

(generator running)

- Wow, the heat is
really overwhelming

when you stand near it.

- [Narrator] While Jeff meets
with post office officials

to secure permission to
excavate the Murder Castle site,

Amaryllis visits a local
crematory to investigate

whether any human remains
could have survived.

- Our cremation units
go to 1600 dgrees

and a normal human body

takes about two
hours to cremate.

- [Narrator] Newspaper accounts
describe the murder castle's

furnace as large enough to
accommodate a human body.

- We brought some bone
and muscle and flesh

from a pig and so I was hoping
that we could see whether

the remains could be entirely
burned up or whether something

is left over.

- Alright.

- [Narrator] Scientists
often substitute pig bones

for human bones in forensic
research because of their

similar structure
and bone density.

Both have comparable
rates of decomposition

and reactions to
stressors, such as heat.

(soft dramatic theme)

- Wow, look at that.

- Just stand away for a minute.

- It's different from how
I expected them to look.

You're still left with very
recognizable human bones

as the remains.

I mean this wasn't an efficient

or successful way of
getting rid of a body.

- No.

- It sounds like a
wood burning furnace

was in the basement of
Holmes' Murder Castle.

Would that be equivalent
heat to this furnace?

- No.

I'd be very surprised
if he could have got

a wood burning stove
up to 1600 degrees,

and then held it
consistently for an hour.

- That would have
been a lot of wood.

- You'd have to use a lot

of wood you had.
- That's a lot of wood.

- He just couldn't put the
body and throw some wood

on it and leave.

- So, is the exhaust that
comes from the burning

of human remains, does it
have a certain odor that

in a residential environment
would be noticeable?

- If it didn't have the
equipment that we have today,

it certainly would.

- It's a very pungent odor.

- Well, this is
tremendously helpful to me,

because it's actually
a very different result

from what we would
have expected.

The fact that it would
be incredibly difficult

to dispose of human
bones by burning them,

convinces me that an
excavation might allow us

to find the physical
evidence we need.

If this was the disposal
process he was trying

to use, that there would
be fragments remaining.

(soft dramatic theme)

(phone ringing from other end)

Jeff, how did it go?

- [Jeff] I think it went well.

We should have an answer
in the next few days.

- [Amaryllis] That
is great news because

given what I've learned about
19th century furnaces today,

we are definitely going to find
evidence under that ground.

- [Jeff] Great, see you soon.

(dramatic theme music)

- What I'd really like now
that we're back is to begin

to build out Holmes'
timeline starting in 1889.

- [Adam] Alright.

- [Narrator] Some speculate
the castle claimed

as many as 200
lives, but its true

body count remains unverified.

- This was boomtown Chicago.

He saw it as a
chance to make money.

- [Narrator] Jeff
and Amaryllis connect

with Chicago
historian, Adam Selzer,

to look for clues hidden in
the trail of Holmes' many cons.

- Holmes was up to
any number of scams.

All these furniture companies,

all these insurance companies.

We've got the ABC Copier company
that he was borrowing money

on and never
actually paying back.

- So, this was a
legitimate company?

- It was more or less
a legitimate company,

he just didn't
legitimately own it.

They did this over
and over again,

buying things on credit and
then never paying for it.

I found at least 60 lawsuits
in Chicago alone that this guy

ended up in.

Just all of these scams, this
one is from borrowing money

to add a third story
to the building

from a couple of residents.

Which, unbeknownst to them,
helped to fund the Castle.

Which he then never paid back.

This one is about
buying barber shop goods

to outfit the place which he
also never actually paid back.

Then he was selling this and
he said it was mineral water

that he got out of an
artesian well in the basement.

It is regular tap water.

- The real amazing
story bout Holmes is not

the serial killer aspect,
it's the con, it's the fraud.

It's the man who manipulated
everyone in his life.

- They were calling him things
like the King of Criminals

and the arch fiend of the
century before they

suspected him of
a single murder.

- When does he go from being
a skilled legal trickster

and scam artist to
taking human life?

- [Adam] Well, the
Conners were the first

of the allegedly murders
that could have taken place

in the castle.

That would be Julia
and Pearl Conner.

- [Amaryllis]
Pearl's the daughter?

- Pearl is the daughter, yes.

Julia and her husband had come

to live in the castle building.
Her husband Ned was working

in the jewelry department.

She ended up keeping the books

and also having an
affair with Holmes.

- Wow.

Where was the husband,
was the affair going on

right under his nose?

- For a little while,
yeah, but then he left.

- So Adam, why did
he kill the Conners?

- Most likely it was because
she just knew too much.

She was keeping the books at
the Murder Castle, and Holmes

was up to any number of
scams that she might have

found out about.

Julia and Pearl then disappeared
around Christmas of 1891.

- [Amaryllis] Pearl
looks quite young here.

- She would have been about
six when she disappeared.

- Wow.

What did Holmes say
happened to them?

- Holmes was fairly consistent
in saying that Julia

died in an abortion.

(dramatic and tense theme)

Then he had to get
rid of the kid too.

Most likely he would have
put Julia and Pearl down

with the chloroform
and then just going

with the chloroform.

Now, when they were
digging up the castle

a few years later, they
started finding bones

that appeared to a
six year old child.

- [Jeff] No kidding.

- If the police at
the time found bones

in the murder castle basement,
it supports the theory

that the furnace couldn't
get hot enough to process

all these bodies.

He must have had to dispose
of them in a variety

of different ways,
including burial.

- So if Pearl's body
was buried underground,

what did he do with Julia?

- While the police were
digging up the castle in 1895,

they brought in this
supposedly witnessed,

they called him the
machinist or a bone rigger?

He bought several dead
bodies from HH Holmes to turn

into skeletons which could then
be sold to medical schools.

- [Amaryllis] And one of
those we think was Julia?

- Presumably, yeah.

In one of the descriptions
he says the body looked like

that of a jackrabbit which
is been skinned by splitting

the skin down the base
and rolling it back off

the entire body.

- Wow.

That's not the Holmes I
had been imagining at all.

Jeff, that's similar to what
we have seen with Mary Kelly,

the fifth Jack
the Ripper victim.

- Hearing of a body laid
horizontal and the skin removed

and flayed open like a
jackrabbit is pretty striking.

Jack the Ripper's victims
were all cut open along

the abdomen and splayed in
that exact same fashion.

This makes me wonder if Holmes
could have been conducting

the same kind of savage
killings as Jack but because

it was in his own hotel,
in his own castle,

it was never really
known to the public.

- Yeah.

- Especially when you consider
Holmes in the basement.

He had complete privacy there.

- What I really want
to get my hands on

is more physical evidence.

And for that we really need
sites where we know that

Holmes was active.

- He was active all
over the country,

he had some scams going
in St. Louis for a while,

several months in Fort
Worth, Philadelphia.

He went to New
York several times,

stayed at the Aster
House, very fancy.

Right around 1893.

There was a woman named Mae
Barretts who apparently met

HH Holmes, went to work for him
in New York and disappeared.

- Well that's interesting.

We've been hearing story
after story of victims

of Holmes disappearing
in the murder castle.

But knowing that an employee
of Holmes disappeared

in New York is an
interesting lead.

This may mean that
there are more victims

than we originally
thought and potentially

more crime scenes.

- He covered his tracks really
well when he was in New York.

Most of the time he was
traveling around I have

a pretty good idea what
he was doing in the city.

New York is total
mystery every time.

There is documentation
that he took multiple trips

between 1889 and 1894.

One interesting gap for
me is towards the middle

of spring of 1891.

There is not much data for him
for a couple of weeks there.

- Holmes being unaccounted
for in New York

is an interesting thread for me.

- I'd like to do some
more research on crimes

that were occurring there
that might have a similar MO.

(dramatic theme music)

- Looking through media
clippings and newspaper reports

is our best bet to see the
if there's any evidence

of similar crimes in New York.

- [Narrator] At the
Chicago Public Library,

Jeff and Amaryllis access
a database of local media

and police reports from
the spring of 1891.

They're searching for
any unsolved murders

in New York City that could
be the work of HH Holmes.

- This is the first of the
results I found for New York.

Killed and Boiled her.

This is the slaughter
of a little girl.

Holmes had interesting means
of disposing of his victims,

though the MO seems
a little off to me.

This is a multi
victim murder spree.

- [Jeff] That's not really
Holmes' style either.

- Holmes was a sophisticated,
premeditative killer,

who mutilated his victims.

So we're looking for
privately executed killings

where the body appears
to have been dissected.

No link there.

- I agree.

- [Amaryllis] That string of
murders was in fact, solved.

- So we can eliminate
that from our list.

That wasn't Holmes.

- Yeah, this one's interesting.

Choked then mutilated,

body horribly slashed
and disemboweled.

That really doesound more
like Holmes' killing style.

This is 1891, so it's
an appropriate time period

for Holmes to be in New York.

The murder was committed
on the southeast corner

of Catherine and Water Street,
in the East River Hotel.

- Wait a minute.

That's very close to the
Astor House where Holmes liked

to stay when he was
in New York City.

- Oh, really?

- Yes.

- So, her name was Carrie Brown.

The victim was an aged woman.

There were marks
about her throat,

before the mutilations
were performed.

It says on the back
was a mark like an X.

- That's the same as the
fourth ripper murder.

Catherine Eddows,
the X on her cheek.

- This was evidently
the murderer's sign.

Many of the details
recall the crimes with

which Jack the Ripper
horrified London.

The crime remains unsolved.

This is crazy, the police
at the time really thought

this murder was committed
by Jack the Ripper.

Scotland Yard came over
to New York to follow

that potential lead and Holmes
was in New York at the time.

It's worth me going and
digging though records

in New York and seeing
whether we can turn up

some more information.

- I'm gonna stick around
in Chicago in case there's

an answer on our dig.

I'm gonna give up on
getting the government

to allow us to excavate
the Post Office grounds.

(dramatic theme music)

- This remains an open

- Yes.

case on New York Police
Department books.

- Yes, right.

Cases are never
closed until we have

the actual perpetrator.

- [Narrator] In New York
City, Amaryllis connects

with former NYPD
detective, Ike Illkiw,

an expert on the unsolved
murder of Carrie Brown to get

the facts on the case.

- From a detective's mind,
could you walk me through

what happened with Carrie Brown?

(woman laughing)

- [Ike] We're talking about
April 1891 and Carrie Brown was

a prostitute working
on the East River.

- [Amaryllis] And we know the
Ripper targeted prostitutes

as his victims in White Chapel.

- So apparently she had picked
up a male, brought him up

to room 31, at what was
then the East River Hotel.

(woman laughing)

She wasn't found until the
next morning when the girl

that was hired to clean the
room went up and there was

no answer to the door.

To the knock.

- Does she provide
any witness statement?

- All it says is not the
slightest noise was heard

during the night from the
chamber, but in the morning

when a servant
rapped on the door

the summons was unanswered.

With the assistance of the
porter, burst open the door.

The woman was found
in bed, quite dead

and covered with blood.

(woman crying)

- So, why do people believe
that Carrie Brown might have

been a Ripper victim?

- She was disemboweled, her
intestines had been removed.

- [Amaryllis] Is there
a coroner's report?

- [Ike] Yeah.

Her abdomen had been
ripped open by a dull,

broken table knife which
was found in the room.

Part of the intestines had
been removed and are missing.

- [Amaryllis] So, an
organ was removed, hm.

Was her throat slit?

- No, it was
strangulation by clothing,

according to the
coroner's report.

- That's interesting
because from what I learned

from investigators in London,
each of the five canonical

Ripper victims were
killed by strangulation

and, or the cutting
of the throat.

-Right.

Was she disemboweled
from between the legs

up through the abdomen?

- It would appear so.

- That is strikingly
similar to

[Ike] Right.

Jack the Ripper's
killings in London.

This is a picture of
Catherine Eddowes,

who of course had been
disemboweled and her uterus

and her kidney had been removed.

What strikes me comparing
the Catherine Eddowes

and Carrie Brown autopsy
photos, is that they both have

this cadaver on the
dissection table feel to them.

HH Holmes had a long history
of dissecting cadavers.

Holmes was described as
opening up his cadavers

like a jackrabbit
being dissected.

And that is not a bad
description for both

Carrie Brown and
Catherine Eddowes.

Assuming that Carrie
Brown was a victim

of Jack the Ripper in America,
then proving that Holmes

killed Carrie Brown
means proving that

Holmes is the Ripper.

Why Holmes would execute this
particular killing outside

of the Murder Castle,
we don't know.

But it's a fascinating find.

- What I always find interesting
is the, where it says here,

the characteristics of this
tragedy are so exactly similar

to the White Chapel murders
that the police confidently

express the belief that the
murderer is Jack the Ripper.

- Carrie Brown was a
quintessential Ripper victim.

She was a prostitute,
she was strangled

and disemboweled indoors,
just like the fifth

Jack the Ripper killing.

Class Jack M.O.

- [Narrator] Amaryllis returns
to Chicago to debrief Jeff

on her New York
investigation while they wait

for news on the
Murder Castle dig.

- So more Holmes
Ripper coincidences.

- I mean they do keep piling up.

And I think we can say
from this that it validates

our theory that Jack the Ripper
may have been an American

and that his killing may have
picked up in the United States

after it stopped in London.

- Hold on, this might
be the post office.

- Yeah, Jeff Mudget.

Oh, thanks for calling.

Do you have any word
back on my request?

- If Holmes really
was Jack the Ripper,

this could be the only site
where we can find evidence

that links Holmes to
the London murders.

Gaining access to the
castle lawn would be

a huge breakthrough
in our investigation.

- I appreciate the call.

Goodbye.

- [Amaryllis] That
didn't sound good.

- No, they said no.

Post office shut us down.

They were concerned that
the excavation would be

a disruption of the mail and
perhaps even a disservice

to the community.

- I mean, for any
investigator to be told

that you're investigating
a multiple homicide

but you're not allowed access
to the scene of the crime,

is a really tough blow.

If this were a case that that
was open and active right now,

we would be getting
a different answer.

- Getting underground
at the Murder Castle was

the best chance we had at
proving Holmes was the Ripper.

It sounds like an excavation
is off the table for now.

That is a big disappointment.

I still have my fingers crossed
that we'll get the chance

one day if we keep
up the pressure.

- Cold cases are tough.

There are always two steps
forward, one step back.

This is definitely a setback
for our investigation.

But we do have some evidence
we haven't analyzed yet.

We have a couple of letters
from the Jack the Ripper

killings that forensic linguists
have told us may have been

written by an American.

And at this stage
we have many samples

of Holmes' handwriting.

So I've sent those to a
forensic handwriting expert

to see if there were
any similarities

that could prove or
disprove your theory.

- If we do get a positive
match, that would go a long way

to proving they are
the same killer.

(soft dramatic theme)

- The normal lay person
will look at letters.

The letter L looks the
same, the G looks the same,

the T looks the same.

What the expert does,
we'll look at patterns.

- [Narrator] Like fingerprints,
handwriting is unique

to each individual and
different to fake or manipulate.

Forensic document examiners
can identify criminals

and forgeries by
studying writing samples.

- Could you give us a few
examples of what it is

you look for?

- Sure.

In this particular case
that I was working on

when you came in, we
look for common letters

but we'll also look
for common words.

In the word, In, this looks
like a U, but in fact it's an N.

We'll look at different
height relationships between

different letters, or,

the skill and speed of the
writer, to provide the basis

for our identification
or elimination

of a particular writer.

- And how much would this
be a factor of education

or of the time.

For example, when we look
at the older documents

and they are frequently kind
of embellishments on capital

letters that you wouldn't see
in today's hand writing very

frequently to our modernize
we immediately believe

that this is written
by the same person.

- That's a very good question.

You have to be very careful
at looking at something

and determining if
this is very unique.

When, in fact it's not that
individual characteristic but it

is just a class characteristic
of those writers

from that time period.

- How would you tell
when letters are written

by the same person who
was intentionally trying

to mask their identity?

- If I suspect a disguise,
I will go right to the end,

because it's very difficult
to keep up the disguise

from the beginning to the end.

And then start from the
end and work our way up.

Then you'll see more of the
natural writing of the person.

- So, we have here
two sets of letters.

And we're interested in
your professional opinion

about whether or not they
could have been penned

by the same hand.

- OK.

- How long does it take you
to do this kind of analysis?

- Generally about a week
for us to turn it around.

- [Amaryllis] Sounds good.

(dramatic theme music)

- [Narrator] With the
handwriting analysis underway,

Jeff and Amaryllis meet
with Ray Johnson to plan

their next move.

- We've been officially
shut down from digging under

the post office.

And the frustrating
thing is that that lawn,

where the Murder
Castle used to stand,

is the only repository
of Holmes' victims.

- Well, I wouldn't say only.

While the Murder Castle
was one of Holmes

most famous buildings, he did
own property all over Chicago

in fact all over the country.

And the reason being was to
cover up his various schemes.

Some of the properties he owned-
were the Wilmette property

which he owned with his
second wife, Myrta Belknap.

A small farm just
outside of Joliet.

The glass bending factory in
the North Side of Chicago.

And everywhere that he owned
real estate

you can be sure he was
killing people.

The unfortunate thing is
that like the Murder Castle,

the other locations that he
operated in had been torn down

to make room for condos
and other buildings.

So to be able to dig there
would be next to impossible.

- [Jeff] So is there anywhere
left that we could possibly

find physical evidence.

- Well, the one business that
Holmes did own that might be

worth investigating is the
William Green & company.

Now, that is the location that
I believe in 1892 he disposed

of one of his victims,
Emmeline Segrand.

She moved to the castle and
started working for Holmes.

She was a stenographer
and secretary.

All of a sudden out of
nowhere this announcement hits

the newspaper that
she is getting married

to someone named Robert Phelps.

(flame raging)

And one of her friends is
like, That's odd because I had

contact with her on
December 5th and 6th

and she never
mentioned anything.

So, flags were going
up all over the place.

And then she disappeared.

Now, when Holmes was
approached about it,

he said that she got
married in Minnesota.

At another point he said
she got married in Michigan.

And then his story
kept changing.

It wasn't until the actual
investigation started that

someone who worked at
the castle mentioned that

on December 7th they
remember Holmes asking

men to help him carry a very
heavy trunk out of the castle.

And where it went
they weren't sure.

- Where did they end up?

- Well, that's when it
gets really interesting.

William Green and Company.

They were a warehouse facility
in the business of storing

and supposedly selling cement.

The funny thing is that
they were buying a lot

of cement but they
never sold any.

And check out the
location of the factory.

- [Amaryllis] The warehouse
is located on North Water St.

1600 feet east of St. Clair
Street and running to the river.

- It kind of made the hair
stand up on my neck when I first

saw where the warehouse was.

If you're serial killer and
you're trying to get rid

of bodies, and you want to
do it less conspicuously

then let's say burning
them up in a furnace

in the murder Castle, it'd
be much easier to dispose

of bodies by...

Incasing them in cement
very easily and dropping

them in the Chicago river

(dramatic theme music)

Holmes was tied to this
business that had a warehouse

along the Chicago River
filled with cement.

- [Narrator] On the
hunt to prove HH Holmes

is Jack the Ripper, a tip
from Ray Johnson has opened up

a new lead that could
produce the physical evidence

Jeff and Amaryllis
are looking for.

They've arranged a
meeting with an underwater

reconnaissance team to
uncover whether Holmes' cement

warehouse on the Chicago
River may have been a front

to conceal it's true purpose.

Body disposal.

- The area where the
warehouse was located

was on the north side of
Chicago River just west

of the mouth.

What type of area was it?

- In the late 1890s, that was
all factories and this was all

heavy industrial stuff.

Now it is obviously not.

It's high-end
hotels, residences.

Totally changed
from that period.

Plus, the River
itself has changed.

- [Amaryllis] How do you mean?

- Well, In 1892 they reversed
the flow of the River.

- [Narrator] While Chicago's
industry booms in the 1870s

and 80s, the drinking water
the city relies on is being

contaminated by sewage
and commercial waste.

In 1885, a heavy rainstorm
flushes the polluted water into

the lake starting an epidemic
of waterborne diseases

that kills nearly 12%
of Chicago's population.

The city begins a massive
project to keep its water safe

by reversing the flow
of the Chicago River.

It is regarded as one of the
greatest engineering feats

of the 19th century.

- The Army Corp of engineers
dredged the River 15 feet

deeper and it took
them about seven years.

- When they dredged the River,

they dredged the entire river.

- Including the portion that
we are talking about now?

- Including the portion
we are talking about.

But,

Chicago River's a
little bit unique.

Unlike many rivers that
have a fair amount of flow,

Chicago River doesn't.

Everything kind of
just sits there.

So, we have a better
chance with this river,

it's worth taking a look.

- That is encouraging.

It sounds like a
higher likelihood

in this River that in most that
something would remain there

for a long period of time.

- I would guess that, yeah.

- [Amaryllis] What do you say
we go take a look at the site?

- [Greg] Sounds like a plan.

(dramatic theme music)

- If we were standing
here in the 1890s,

what would we be looking at?

- If you look at that little
atrium that kind of splits

the two Towers, that is
kind of dead center where

the warehouse was.

- [Jeff] So, how would we go
about searching the bottom

of the river

- We've got an ROV.

A remote operated vehicle
that we'll put in the water,

put the boat against
the Riverwalk here

and work a kind of a
grid pattern search.

- [Amaryllis] What
would we be looking for?

- What I've seen in the past,
for example in going to get

cannonballs out of some of
the sites off of Canada,

you actually find
holes in the muck--

- Really.

- [Greg] Where the
cannonballs went in.

- Wow, like a depression
in the bottom.

- Exactly.

That hole will stay
there for years.

That's kind of what I am
going to be looking for,

do we have these craters
which is an indication

that something has
been tossed in there.

- OK, so let's meet
back up in the morning

and scan this river.

(dramatic theme music)

- Consider this.

We are on the verge of
using this submersible robot

to attempt to investigate
HH Holmes connection

with Jack the Ripper.

- We've got a chance of finding
bodies encased in cement

at the bottom of
this river floor.

What we don't know
is what to expect.

These could be human-sized
cement coffins,

or they could be
smaller chunks of cement

that contain body parts.

Either way, they could be
time capsules of evidence.

- [Greg] He's in.

Adam, let out some cable.

We're going to run it a
little bit further east.

(soft dramatic theme)

Go ahead and bring her down.

(soft dramatic theme)

- [Jeff] What exactly
are we looking at here?

- Probably anywhere from
three to six feet of silt.

(soft dramatic theme)

Here we go, there we go.

Can we hold it right in there?

- [All] Wow.

- Go up a little bit.

Just a little bit, OK.

You see these little bumps here?

- [Amaryllis] Whoa, there
are so many of them.

- This is an indication that
things have been dumped here.

- [Narrator] Next time
on American Ripper.

- What could have been a
more perfect place on Earth

for a killer of his nature
than something like this.

Two miles from his hotel.

- There was a number of
things I found about women

with their throats cut.

- My great, great aunt
took a trip to Chicago

and was never heard from again.

- [Man] I wonder how many
unknown women were found

with Ripper-esque type
of murders in Chicago.

That's interesting.

Unknown woman, unknown woman.

Throat cut from ear to ear.

- We have some results
that are regressing.

A picture's worth
a thousand words.

- How can you best preserve
a body for 100 years?

Encase it in concrete?

- So, we're talking about
a forensic time capsule.

- Oh yea.