Elizabeth Stride - 30th September 1888

Jack the Ripper's third victim was Elizabeth Stride, a Swedish-born immigrant to England. Elizabeth's story is unusual, not just because of her country of birth but because she took to prostitution at a much younger age than her killer's other victims. By the time she was murdered, she had likely been a prostitute for more than 20 years.

Elizabeth was the first woman killed in the early morning hours of September 30, 1888. Earlier in the evening, she was seen in the company of a man. Bits and pieces of their conversation were overheard, but there is no way to confirm that this man was her murderer. Elizabeth's body was discovered by a jewelery salesman, who originally thought that the body was that of a drunkard. She was not mutilated as the other victims were, perhaps because the arrival of the salesman and his carriage startled her attacker.

The citizens of London were so outraged and fearful after news of Elizabeth's murder was released that they formed a citizens' mob dedicated to catching Jack the Ripper. He was quickly becoming the priority of Scotland Yard. In response to her murder, London police distributed more than 80,000 leaflets requesting information about the murders and interviewed more than 2000 neighbourhood residents.

Elizabeth was buried in a public grave in the East London Cemetery, and the funeral was paid for by the parish undertaker, at the expense of the parish. Despite the fact that Elizabeth had previously married and lived with a dock laborer, she had no surviving children.