There are many ways to catch a killer: DNA analysis, psychological profiling, crime scene investigation – but now experts have added handwriting to the list.
Graphologists – or analysts who study handwriting to determine the writer’s personality traits – have closely examined the handwriting of serial killers to look for similarities that can help police assess suspects.
Although graphology is a controversial field, some believe that if a person’s handwriting possesses certain unique characteristics, it is a clear sign that he has the mentality of a serial killer.
These features include unusual spaces between words, broken letters, false letters, unusual punctuation, printed letters and inconsistent differences in font size, according to graphologist Anna Koren.
Many handwriting examples from the world’s most prolific serial killers – such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer – possess some of these stylistic characteristics.
If nothing else, graphology offers a way to peer into the mind of a killer and help experts understand their sinister psychology.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy brutally attacked and murdered twenty confirmed victims between 1974 and 1978 (but confessed to a total of thirty murders). All his victims were women.
Ted Bundy’s handwriting contains strong emphasis on the lower areas and distorted letters
Ted Bundy brutally attacked and murdered twenty confirmed victims between 1974 and 1978 (but confessed to a total of thirty murders). All his victims were women.
Biographer Ann Rule described Bundy as a “sadistic sociopath who took pleasure in the pain of another human being and the control he had over his victims, until death and even beyond.”
Koren, who has studied handwriting since the 1970s, said evidence of Bundy’s sadistic sociopathy could be found in his handwriting.
In her analysispointed them to the emphasized lower zone – or the area before the baseline into which the tails of lowercase letters such as Y or J extend.
Bundy’s writing featured large, dramatic loops in the lower zone.
While an emphasis on the higher zones is more common in serial killer writing, exaggerated features – like these loops – can also be a sign of what Koren called the “schizoid” personality, which 80 percent of the killers she analyzed possess.
She also highlighted his misshapen letters. Bundy’s handwriting was virtually illegible due to his use of strong angles, narrow letters, and busy spacing.
According to Koren, these characteristics are also indicative of the ‘schizoid’ personality.
John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy, also known as ‘the Killer Clown’, tortured, abused and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978
John Wayne Gacy’s handwriting shows high pastocity, a weak lower zone and left-leaning loops suggesting he was violent, sexually deviant and had an explosive temper
John Wayne Gacy, also known as “the Killer Clown,” tortured, abused and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978.
Twenty-six bodies of his victims were found in the crawl space of his home near Chicago, three were buried on his property and four were found in the Des Plaines River.
According to an analysis of The Handwriting Analysts Groupthere are several signs of Gacy’s deviant behavior lurking in his handwriting.
This murderer’s handwriting showed great pastocity – or a large amount of extra ink flowing onto the page.
This may indicate a strong need to satisfy urges or a tendency toward “wanton sexuality and cruel violence.”
His letter formations in the lower zone – especially the loops extending to the left in combination with a high pastocity – suggest “an explosive temper with perverse sadistic tendencies,” the analysis reads.
And the left-wing tilt and weak nature of the lower zone could indicate that Gacy was insecure about his sexuality, the analysts explain.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’, killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991
Jeffrey Dahmer’s handwriting contains right-leaning, large spaces between words and letters, and broken letters such as closed O’s and lowercase A’s
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism and the preservation of body parts.
According to Koren, his handwriting contained ‘most of the schizoid features’.
Some of the most notable features included a right-leaning, large spaces between words and letters, broken letters such as unclosed O’s and small A’s, and the use of printed letters.
According to Koren, these are all signs of a schizoid personality.
Son of Sam
David Berkowitz, commonly known by his self-proclaimed nickname “Son of Sam,” terrorized New York City from 1976 to 1977
David Berkowitz’s handwriting has strange beginnings and endings, unusual lettering, covering strokes, and a slow, tense character
David Berkowitz, commonly known by his self-proclaimed nickname “Son of Sam,” terrorized New York City from 1976 to 1977.
During those years, he shot seventeen victims with a .44 caliber revolver, killing six and wounding eleven.
Koren pointed out an odd beginning and ending in his handwriting, “as well as an abundant amount of strange lettering and covering strokes,” indicative of his disturbed personality.
According to Koren, initial and final letters can be indicative of the schizoid personality in an unusual way.
Covering strokes may indicate that the writer wants to obscure or be secretive about his thoughts Graphology report maker.
Koren believes that this trait is characteristic of the schizoid personality.
She also pointed out that his handwriting was “slow and strained.”
Writing slowly can indicate that someone is organized, methodical, and self-reliant, as serial killers often are.
The tense aspects of his handwriting are also a sign of a schizoid personality, according to Koren.
The Zodiac Killer has never been caught and he or she is only known by this self-proclaimed pseudonym
The letters of the Zodiac Killer contained a code consisting of made-up characters, large spaces between words and slightly slanted printed letters
The Zodiac Killer has never been caught and he or she is only known by this self-proclaimed pseudonym.
This prolific serial killer killed five known victims and injured two others.
The Zodiac shot most of the victims, but two were stabbed.
This killer claimed to have killed 37 people, but this has never been confirmed.
The Zodiac’s known crimes took place from 1968 to 1969, but the killer began sending letters to police in 1968 and continued until 1974.
These letters served as crucial evidence in the case and the Zodiac’s handwriting has been extensively analyzed.
Like Dahmer’s, this handwriting, according to Koren, possessed most of the features characteristic of a schizoid personality.
For example, the killer used a printed script, wrote slightly slanted and left large spaces between words.
In addition, the Zodiac created a unique code to leave cryptic messages in the letters. According to Koren, these types of fictional characters indicate a schizoid personality.