EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: Forensic Investigation of a Shawl Linked to the “Jack the Ripper” Murders

Abstract

EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: J. Louhelainen, and D. Miller, “Forensic Investigation of a Shawl Linked to the “Jack the Ripper” Murders.” Journal of Forensic Sciences 65 no. 1 (2020): 295–303, https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14038.

This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on 12 March 2019 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and has been published by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Michael Peat; and the Publisher, Wiley Periodicals LLC, on behalf of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Following an investigation by the publisher, the Expression of Concern has been agreed due to concerns raised by third parties after publication regarding the conclusions drawn from the mtDNA analysis performed by the authors. Related concerns were also summarized in two Letters to the Editor [1, 2] published by the journal, to which the authors responded with their own Letters to the Editor [3, 4]. During the investigation, the publisher and Editor-in-Chief made every effort to obtain from the authors the original raw data from the mtDNA analysis. However, the authors stated that the data were no longer available, due to instrument data failure and other complications. Through further investigation it was concluded that, because it was not possible to examine the original data, no determination could be made regarding the third-party complaints. The journal is issuing this Expression of Concern because the concerns regarding the data and the results presented cannot be resolved. The authors have been informed about this Expression of Concern and agree to its publication.