Managua Ripper
{{Short description|Alleged unidentified Nicaraguan serial killer}}
The Managua Ripper was an alleged unidentified serial killer who murdered six women in Managua, Nicaragua, in January 1889.{{Cite news |date=February 6, 1889 |title=Is This Jack the Ripper? |work=The Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/186232809 |via=newspapers.com |access-date=August 29, 2024}}
Murders
According to a report from The Sun on 24 January 1889, six impoverished female sex workers were murdered in secluded areas of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, in the span of ten days. Each victim was disfigured with a knife, with two being found "butchered out of all recognition". Robbery was ruled out as a motive due to two of the victims still possessing their jewellery. No evidence was left behind by the perpetrator.{{Cite news |date=March 29, 1889 |title="Jack the Ripper" Again |work=The Evening News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/937984915 |via=newspapers.com |access-date=August 29, 2024}}
Jack the Ripper
Author and retired detective Trevor Marriott speculated that Jack the Ripper and the Managua Ripper were the same individual due to similarities in the murders—and the fact that the first Managua murder occurred months after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (the final canonical Jack the Ripper victim in England) and the recent arrival of the British Sylph cargo ship in the Caribbean. The Sylph had also departed from Barbados to England shortly before the murder of Mary Ann Nichols (the first canonical Jack the Ripper victim in 1888).{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/03/books.ukcrime |last=Honigsbaum |first=Mark |title=Jack the Ripper 'may have killed abroad' |access-date=August 29, 2024 |date=May 3, 2005 |publisher=The Guardian |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714131704/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/03/books.ukcrime |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/entretenimiento/jack-el-destripador-pudo-ser-tambien-el-asesino-de-managua/20050503/nota/170059.aspx |title=Jack el Destripador pudo ser también el asesino de Managua |access-date=August 29, 2024 |date=May 3, 2005 |publisher=Caracol Radio |archive-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728045246/http://www.caracol.com.co/noticias/entretenimiento/jack-el-destripador-pudo-ser-tambien-el-asesino-de-managua/20050503/nota/170059.aspx |language=Spanish |url-status=dead}} Contemporaneous reports also noted similarities in the murders.
Possible hoax
During an unrelated visit to Nicaragua in July 1889, the Courier Journal reported that the murders were "absolutely unknown" to the locals of Managua.{{Cite news |date=July 13, 1889 |title=In Nicaragua |work=Courier Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32451310 |via=newspapers.com |access-date=August 29, 2024}}