by Steve Hodel
Reproduced below is her report:
Hannah McFarland
HANDWRITING & DOCUMENT EXAMINER
May 29, 2008
Steve Hodel
Studio City, California 91604
RE: Examination of Zodiac documents
Dear Mr. Hodel:
I am providing this report pursuant to your request.
Assignment
I examined 34 photocopy documents associated with the Zodiac murder cases in San Francisco, California. These questioned documents include letters, notes and envelopes. Most of these questioned documents are executed in lowercase printing. Three are executed in uppercase printing. I am informed these documents were produced between 1966 and 1990.
I understand that another document examiner has examined these original documents and concluded that they were all produced by the same person. By comparing these photocopy documents with each other I found evidence indicating that most of them could have been produced by the same person.
Exemplars
I compared these questioned documents to documents that you have represented to me as having been authored by George Hill Hodel. These are the same documents that I list in my report to you dated May 7, 2003 (K-1 through K-9). Following are additional hand-printing samples that you have represented to me as having been authored by George Hill Hodel:
1. “Steve and Dad, April 1961 Baguio” from photograph of Steve and George Hodel
2. Section of art document referencing items to be sold in auction, Jan. 11, 1999
3. Section of document referencing military experience, no date indicated
4. Lowercase hand printing inserted in letter addressed to you, dated 6/4/80
5. Section of death certificate from Los Angeles, dated Dec. 24, 1949
6. One page from Passport, no date indicated
7. Envelope addressed to Dorothy Barbe
Finding
I found many significant similarities between the exemplars of George Hill Hodel and the Zodiac documents. Therefore, based upon the available evidence it is my professional opinion that George Hill Hodel probably authored 19 of the Zodiac documents.
My opinions are subject to review should the original questioned Zodiac documents become available for examination.
Many of the Zodiac documents appear to be disguised. There was a deliberate attempt to hand print in such a way as to avoid being identified.
Attached as Exhibit A is an illustration with a section of a questioned Zodiac note and samples of George Hill Hodel.
14.1
Following are similarities between the Zodiac documents and the exemplars of George Hill Hodel:
1. Wide spacing between the end of a word and the punctuation that follows the word as shown by arrow 1 in Exhibit A;
2. The letter “O” begins and ends on the left portion of the circle shown by arrow 2 in Exhibit A;
3. The letter “S” is enlarged shown by arrow 3 in Exhibit A;
4. The initial stroke on the lowercase letter “e” is extra long as shown by arrow 4 in Exhibit A;
5. The letter “U” does not have a downstroke on the right side of it;
6. The capital letter “M” has a u shape between the two vertical strokes;
7. The number “4” has a short horizontal stroke;
8. The number “2” does not have a loop at the bottom;
9. The letter “O” is often reduced in size;
10. The letters “D”, “P”, and “B” are sometimes open at the bottom;
11. Spacing of individual letters, between letters and between words;
12. Letter proportions;
13. A Greek-style E;
14. Some of the lower extensions are extra long and move toward the left
Theoretical Bases
Many people learn the same system of handwriting in school. In spite of this, no one completely adheres to the system they were taught. Everyone develops a unique set of handwriting characteristics. A particular writer can be identified or eliminated from having written a questioned handwriting by identifying the combination of handwriting traits that are unique to one person only.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
EXECUTED this 29th day of May 2008, in Port Townsend, Washington.
HANNAH McFARLAND
To repeat, in Hannah McFarland’s professional opinion “George Hill Hodel probably authored 19 of the Zodiac documents.”
The following is a summary of her analysis and expert opinion on authorship of all questioned writings relating to my multiple investigations over the past eight years (2000-2008):
1. 1945 Frances Brown Note in lipstick on wall: “Indications it was written by George Hodel.”
2. 1946 Suzanne Degnan Ransom Note: “Probably written by George Hodel.”
3. 1943-1946 (Unknown date) Elizabeth Short photo album snapshots: “Probably written by George Hodel.”
4. 1947 Elizabeth Short Avenger Notes: “Highly probably written by George Hodel.
5. 1947 Jeanne French lipstick message on body: “Highly probably written by George Hodel.”
6. 1948 Gladys Kern Note: “Probably written by George Hodel.”
7. 1966 Bates Notes: “Indications written by George Hodel.”
8. 1969-1990 Zodiac Notes: “Probably written by George Hodel.”
Zodiac Returns—The 1990 Missive
On March 2, 2007, the motion picture Zodiac was released in the United States. Directed by David Fincher, the film examines the impact of the investigation on four men, Paul Avery, Robert Graysmith, and Detectives David Toschi and Bill Armstrong—all of whom became obsessed with trying to solve the serial killings.
During the preproduction phase of the movie, the San Francisco Chronicle offered to let the filmmakers look into their thirty-five-year-old Zodiac files. As a result, a new, previously overlooked Zodiac letter came to public attention. It was a Christmas card mailed to “Editor, San Francisco Chronicle,” postmarked from Eureka, California, and dated 1990.
14.2
14.3
This newly discovered evidence immediately generated a new wave of excitement among Zodiac researchers. Tom Voigt of zodiackiller.com, who in my opinion is one of the most knowledgeable and balanced Zodiacologists, went on record as saying that he believes “the 1990 Christmas card is a legitimate Zodiac mailing.” I tend to agree for the following reasons:
14.4
1. The card’s envelope (14.2) appears to be in Zodiac’s hand printing, and the writing characteristics are identical in all respects to those of my father, Dr. George Hodel.
The card (14.3) is identical in design to another holiday card (14.5) mailed to the Chronicle by Zodiac in 1970, which also used the theme “From Your Secret Pal.” (The holiday in that case was Halloween.) In that 1970 mailing some investigators have speculated that Zodiac’s printed format may have been a subtle clue to his last name—possibly a monogram with the words forming the letter “H” as seen below.
14.5
2. As in many of Zodiac’s previous correspondences, this 1990 card contains a riddle wrapped in a mystery that conceals Zodiac’s familiar taunt, “catch me if you can.” The card (14.3) depicts the “Secret Pal” as a Christmas snowman disguised as the well-known film, radio, and television comedian Groucho Marx. In 1960 Marx starred in the NBC television special Bell Telephone Hour performance of The Mikado. His role? Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner. Groucho sang both the Titwillo and “As Some Day It May Happen,” songs cannibalized by Zodiac in his written taunts to the press and police. The 1990 Christmas card appears to be another of his mind games that takes us from Zodiac to Groucho, to Ko-Ko, back to Zodiac, running us in circles.
3. Included with the card is a Xerox copy of two post office box keys (14.4). The numbers on the keys appear to be 79408 and 59851, or 58851. They may be a ruse, or they could have the potential to provide future leads
for law enforcement follow-up. Knowing that there is a reason and purpose to every Zodiac communication, I cannot help but think the photocopied keys may be a link to a victim. Could the keys belong to cabdriver Paul Stine or one of the other original victims? Has this “new evidence” been checked out by today’s law enforcement? Or could the keys belong to a yet unidentified victim in Eureka? Why mail the card from Eureka, a small town that is a three-hour-drive north of San Francisco?
4. The 1990 card has an additional clue that has been brought to my attention by Tom Voigt and the “collective detectives” at zodiackiller.com—namely, a subtle and distinctive “saddle M,” which was frequently used by Zodiac. This unique writing characteristic (one of fourteen) was also independently identified by QDE Hannah McFarland in her handwriting comparison report of George Hodel to Zodiac. From her report: “The capital letter ‘M’ has a ‘U’ shape between the two vertical strokes.”
Figure 14.6 shows five selected samples from Zodiac’s previous handwriting using this swayback “saddle M.”
14.6
Figure 14.7 below shows samples of the “saddle M” from known samples of my father’s hand printing.
14.7
The exhibit on the following page shows a side-by-side comparison between three separate lowercase handwritten murder notes:
1. 1948 Gladys Kern “Avenger confession”
2. 1966 Cheri Jo Bates “Confession note”
3. 1990 Zodiac “Keep You Guessin” card
In my opinion the similarities in the individual letters are dramatic.
14.8
In 1990, after nearly forty years of expatriate life with residences in Manila, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, George Hodel at age eighty-three made a decision to “come home” to San Francisco—the city of his youth. Several months after his return, I believe he couldn’t resist mailing the Christmas card (14.3) from nearby Eureka. His message was clear: I’m back.
And who better to break the news than his old pen pal and former employer, the San Francisco Chronicle? The old panther, long of tooth, too frail now to even include a threatening note, must have been saddened to discover that his name and reputation were all but forgotten. His final taunt was now reduced to a subtle whisper, never publicized in his lifetime: “I’m gonna keep you guessin.”
Chapter Fifteen
The devil is in the details.
Gustave Flaubert
So far we’ve learned that, in the opinion of a court certified handwriting expert, the writings of Dr. George Hodel link him to L.A.’s Black Dahlia Avenger, the Chicago Lipstick Killer of the 1940s, and his 1960s California counterparts “Z” and Zodiac. Before we move on, let’s take a minute to consider some of the numerous and distinct similarities between the various communications:
• cut-and-pasted letters
• block printing, appearing very similar in style
• multiple mailings (Avenger, 14; Zodiac, 25)
• taunting words and childlike pictures
• deliberate misspellings, feigned illiteracy
• double postage
• sadistic and misogynistic content
• addressed to police and press
• avenger theme (wronged or scorned by a woman)
• demands for publicity
• piece of victim’s clothing and or personal effects mailed to press to prove he was the killer
• postmortem messages written in lipstick on the wall of a victim’s residence, on a post outside “the murder room,” on a victim’s body and in marker pen on a victim’s vehicle
There are, in addition, several fascinating anomalies found in the penmanship, word usage, and even type of paper used by Zodiac that are obvious even to the untrained eye. Since the common threads that run through the notes are so important, I’m going to take the time to illustrate these characteristics one by one.
1. Letters “C” and “G”
Figure 15.1 shows examples of George Hodel’s highly unusual double-looped letter G in a 1999 document signed weeks before his death, and double-looped C’s and G’s and in two samples from 1949 (Figure 15.2). The same double-looped C’s and G’s appear in the “Corporal Guy” notation on an Elizabeth Short photo and the Frances Brown lipstick writings (Figure 15.3).
15.1
15.2
15.3
Figure 15.4 is the brown wrapping paper that contained a human ear that was addressed and mailed to Mrs. Degnan in 1946. At first glance the handwriting style, with its flared letters, appears quite different from George Hodel’s. However, closer scrutiny reveals a curious similarity to the double-looped letter “C” in the word “Chicago.” Compare that to the known cursive samples of the letter “G” in George Hodel and G. Hill Hodel, which also contain double loops.
15.4
2. Dots and circles over lowercase letter “i”
Figure 15.5 illustrates the Zodiac’s tendency to use a circle rather than a dot or period. Evidence of this is seen in the “Exorcist” and “L.A. Times” missives. Compare these to my father’s notations in Elizabeth Short’s photo album (Figure 15.6).
15.5 Zodiac handwriting from the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times
15.6
3. Lowercase “i”
The following mailings from Zodiac and the Black Dahlia Avenger span more than twenty years. In each note the killer printed in uppercase with the sole (and unusual) exception of the letter “i.”
15.7
1. Zodiac’s Bates confession envelope—1966 DAiLY ENTERPRiSE RiVERSiDE CALIF ATTN : CRiME
2. Zodiac’s Halloween Card—1970 BY FiRE—BY KNiFE—PARADiCE
3. George Hodel “Avenger” envelope—1947 BUiLDiNG
4. George Hodel “Avenger” surrender note—1947 HERE iT iS TURNiNG iN WED JAN. 29 10 A.M. HAD MY FUN AT POLiCE BLACK DAHLiA AVENGER
4. Dot inside letter “O”
Figure 15.8 on page 179 shows examples of Zodiac’s characteristic dot inside the letter “O” as seen in the Bates poem and various San Francisco mailings. Researchers have speculated that Zodiac intentionally inserted the universally acknowledged symbol for the sun. But I believe there’s a more mundane explanation.
Figure 15.9 was written by my father on the back of a photograph, which he mailed to my mother, Dorothy “Dorero” Hodel, at Christmas, 1981.15 At first glance the letter “O” in the word “Love” appears to be a circle with a dot. Closer examination reveals that George Hodel formed the letter “O” beginning at the nine o’clock position and ending at the eleven o’clock, where it curves inward and terminates inside itself. Figure 15.10 was written by George Hodel and mailed from Manila to San Francisco in 1986. At normal size it appears to be a dot inside a circle, but when enlarged (as seen at the bottom of Figure 15.10), we can see that the dot is actually the termination of his letter O. Many of the Zodiac letter O’s appear to have been written this way.
15.8
15.9
15.10
5. Typewriter “e”
Handwriting samples taken from Brown, Degnan, Black Dahlia Avenger, Elizabeth Short’s photo album, Kern, Bates, and Zodiac all show the consistent use of the “typewriter e,” which matches the known handwriting of George Hodel.
15.11 Samples of the typewriter letter “e”
6. Mathematical < “less than” symbol
At the bottom of George Hodel’s 1990 “June Hodel Conference Notes” (Figure 15.12) he uses this rather unusual symbol: “Look frwd to day with anticip- to endure pain <” Beside it is a reproduction of Zodiac’s handwritten cryptogram mailed to the press in 1969 in which he employs the same symbol six times. Though rarely seen, this symbol is commonly used by two types of professionals: mathematicians and medical doctors.
