by Hodel, Steve
Because of this inherent subjectivity, one must use great caution when considering the results of any single QDE’s findings. (That includes my own expert’s opinions and reports as presented in BDA and Most Evil.)
With that disclaimer, let me add that as far as handwriting is concerned, I believe that in both its psychology and technical writing aspects, one cannot ignore the fact that each of us, in our handwriting, regularly and unconsciously display some unique “characteristics” in both our cursive and printed writings.
Consider these somewhat akin to the “points” in a fingerprint. The more unique points one finds in a HW sample, the stronger the case becomes that he or she is “probably” the writer. (But unlike fingerprints where a “make” or positive can be scientifically verified to a certainty, HW cannot.)
Bottom Line: In my opinion, HW analysis and findings should be considered as a piece of the overall puzzle and circumstantially relevant, but the “expert findings” should never be overweighed to the point where they become the major consideration in determining an individual’s guilt or innocence, especially when the HW is deliberately DISGUISED.
Handwriting is such a large part of both the AVENGER and ZODIAC INVESTIGATIONS that it demands major consideration. In the 1947 Avenger communications, we have about a dozen letters, and twenty years later, Zodiac’s separate mailings include two dozen—over 4000 words! [That is approximately ten times the amount of words written in Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.”]
At the end of this chapter, I will provide twenty-five separate “known” samples of my father’s handwriting, which include both letters and numbers. They span a seventy-three-year period from 1925 to 1998. I offer them for your individual consideration and analysis.
1948 AVENGER Kern Letter–1966 ZODIAC-Bates Poem—Some Comparisons
Gladys Kern was one of the Los Angeles Lone Woman Murder victims. She was a real estate agent, who, in 1948, was stabbed multiple times in the back with a long-bladed knife. The suspect, posing as a prospective house buyer, met her at her office and requested that she take him to view a vacant Hollywood residence that was up for sale. Witnesses observed two men leaving the residence, but no description was made public on the second suspect.
The Hollywood murder occurred in the Los Feliz district of Hollywood, less than two miles from the Franklin house. The victim’s office was just one mile from George Hodel’s residence.
1948 witness composite drawing of the Gladys Kern killer
Body found inside the vacant residence two days after the murder
Immediately following the murder, her killer mailed a long rambling hand printed letter to the police from a downtown mailbox, located at Fifth and Olive, just three blocks from George Hodel’s medical office. The mailbox was the same one used by the Black Dahlia Avenger in 1947. The police received the killer’s letter before the victim’s body was discovered at the vacant residence some two days later.
Los Angeles 1948, Gladys Kern Letter—Her Killer’s Handwriting
Riverside, Cheri Jo Bates Notes—1966
In 1966, in what the San Francisco Police Department now believes was a likely Zodiac connected murder, Riverside college student Cheri Jo Bates was brutally attacked in the dark of night, after she exited the library on the Riverside Community College campus.
It was a savage attack, and, as in the Gladys Kern murder, the cause of death was due to multiple stab wounds to the body.
As he had in the 1947 Black Dahlia Avenger crimes, the suspect, subsequent to the crime, called and taunted both police and press by telephone, and later mailed in multiple handwritten letters, promising “There will be more.”
The investigation revealed that the suspect was likely “lying in wait” and wrote the below sadistic “poem” on a library desktop while waiting for the victim to exit the library. The message was discovered only after the attack.
On April 30, 1967, which was the sixth month “anniversary” of his killing, he mailed in more sadistic notes, both to the Riverside police and to the victim’s father. One was a lengthy typewritten letter, and the second, scribbled in his distinctive block printing, read: “Bates had to die. There will be more—signed, “Z.”
1966 Bates Desktop Poem
Bates killer’s typed and hand printed letters mailed April 30, 1967
In the below exhibit I have taken each letter of the alphabet and created a side-by-side comparison of the 1948 Los Angeles Kern killer’s HW to the 1966 Riverside Bates/Zodiac’s HW. Keeping in mind that the two author’s HW was separated by twenty years, what is the likelihood that so many of the letters would be identical? I count twenty-one (21)—what is your count?
SAME AUTHOR?
1948 Avenger - 1966 Zodiac HW letter comparisons
Lower case letter comparisons of 1948 Kern letter to 1966 Bates poem
In the below exhibit I am comparing not just letters, but the HW of the complete words found in both the Kern and Bates writings. The Kern words are found inside the boxes with a line connecting them to their Bates counterparts. Note the highly distinctive and uncommon use of the word “TILL” in both letters. The Kern killer proclaims, “I won’t rest till I find him.” The Bates killer warns, “Just wait till next time.”
In reviewing the Kern/Bates writings a few years back, I noticed what to me is one of the most distinctive HW “anomalies” yet discovered. Take a look at the unusual letter “h” written by the suspect in the 1948 Kern letter. It is found in the word—“attached” and only appears ONCE in the entire letter.
Now compare it to the letter “h” written by Zodiac in the words: “hell-hole” and “Chronicle” in his 1974 “Red Phantom” letter.
Unusual letter “h” in Avenger-Kern Note compared to Zodiac “h” in Red Phantom letter
Some additional KERN Letter idiosyncrasies:
Note the writing variations on the letter “M” within the same sentence.
Note the stylistic writing variations of the letter “a” [tail up then tail down] and in the letter “n” [upper and lower case [aNd vs. and] all within the same sentence.
More samples of the writer’s fluidity as we see a switch in the same sentence from “aNd” to “And” deviating from the previous use of—“and.” Most notably, in the below sentence, he has written a backward or “mirrored” letter r. My guess is that this was not intentional on his part, but just “came out” as he wrote it—simply an unconscious writing anomaly.
Below we see the killer changing his style of writing the letter “R” from upper case to lower—again within the same sentence and within a word.
Are these unusual writing characteristics exhibited in the 1948 Kern letter indicative of someone with high intelligence, who is simply “wired differently” than most of us?
Obviously, we cannot say, but in closing this chapter, let me offer some observations originally made in 2002 by questioned document expert Hannah McFarland.
After positively identifying George Hodel’s handwriting as being the same as the “Black Dahlia Avenger” and providing her expert opinion that “it was highly probable that he authored at least four of the 1947 “Black Dahlia Avenger” notes,” QDE McFarland went on to describe one of my father’s unique and highly unusual HW characteristics.
I quote from BDA I, my chapter on “Handwriting Analysis” pages 289-290:
… In the sample below, I have enlarged my name, “STEVEN.” During her character analysis of the known writing, Ms. McFarland noted a handwriting phenomenon so exceptionally rare that in her examination of documents over many years she had never come across it. This rarity related to the manner in which the three letters “TEV” in “STEVEN” were written. As Ms. McFarland explained:
It appears that all three letters were highly connected. The T bar connects directly to the top of the E. Most people lift the pen at this point to complete the E. But instead, the printer keeps going in order to form the V, and then goes back to complete the E.
She advised me that
to find two connected letters was not particularly rare, but three connected was unheard of, and would indicate the type of exceptionally high intelligence and forethought that might be found in a master chess champion such as a Boris Spassky or a Bobby Fischer. Confirmation of her observation was possible because I possessed the original drawing and was therefore able to verify the three unbroken letters. Thus, in this particular instance, because we were able to view the original document, her analysis of the three connected letters was “positive” instead of highly probable.
Section of George Hodel’s handwriting from April 1949
Above is the sample K-5, with an enlargement of the name “STEVEN” demonstrating the printed “TEV” connected and unbroken.
I suspect that some of these other Kern HW “characteristics” we have seen and noted above would fall into a similar classification or category—HW authored by a mind that works quickly and functions somewhat “out of the norm.”
The final exhibit compares what also may be an unconscious handwriting “habit” or characteristic. Note that the Bates killer has used a slashmark [arrow] to divide two separate thoughts at the heading of his “poem”: “Sick of living/unwilling to die.” Likewise, George Hodel at the heading of his conference notes for June Hodel has also used a slashmark to divide his thoughts: “Notes/Qs [Questions].
Coincidence or Characteristic?
Bates Killer Desk Poem Heading
George Hodel Conference Notes Heading
As promised, for those interested in pursuing additional HW comparisons, I have here provided an additional five [5] exhibits which contain a total of twenty-five [25] separate samples of George Hodel’s handwriting, spanning some seventy-three years. As can be seen, he nearly always wrote using block printing. Most of his correspondence to me was typewritten. I am in possession of only one instant sample of his lower case cursives. [V]
Handwriting samples of George Hill Hodel 1925-1997
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Chapter 19
George Hodel—Angel City Abortion Ring Link
Just when I thought it was finally okay to file away the LADA Black Dahlia-Hodel Surveillance Files—to quote an outdated and overused term—“The plot thickens.”
In a recent rereading of some of the transcribed pages, I noted the mention of a name that seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place—“Dr. E.W. DeLong.”
The reference to Dr. DeLong is found in DA investigator Walter Morgan’s entry for February 20, 1950, at 4:15 p.m., just three days after the stakeout began.
Detective Morgan, seated at his listening post in the basement of Hollywood Police Station makes the following recorded entry in his log:
5:45 P Telephone rang – answered by Hodel – conversation about crime prevention; Delinquent accounts; Dr. E.W. DeLong’s October 1948 account; Blood and spinal fluids; employment of Collector; Hodel’s stock ownership in a company – maid entered conversation about time; Hodel stated that it was six o’clock, that he had to leave at seven, that he would be back at twelve-began to type.
DA Hodel File-February 20, 1950 entry re. Dr. E.W. DeLong
This log entry documents a link between Dr. George Hodel and Beverly Hills physician, Dr. E.W. DeLong.
It mentioned a business connection between the two physicians and that George Hodel was going to pursue a collection of funds owed to him by Dr. DeLong for work performed, apparently related to some laboratory testing. [George Hodel, in addition to his VD clinic and private practice, also owned and supervised his own private serology laboratory in downtown LA.]
What makes this highly relevant to our ongoing investigation is the revelation that Dr. E.W. DeLong was a longtime friend and the personal attending physician to Dr. L.C. Audrain.
More than that, Dr. Delong personally responded to Dr. Audrain’s Hollywood Hills home where he pronounced him dead on May 20, 1949 at 3:00 a.m.
Below is a copy of Dr. Audrain’s death certificate in which Dr. DeLong listed the cause of death as due to natural causes—“Heart Disease”—and ordered that no autopsy be performed. Forrest Lawn Cemetery picked up the body, and, apparently, that was the end of the story. Natural death—no questions asked. Sound familiar?
Dr. L.C. Audrain Death Certificate May 20, 1949 prepared and signed by Dr. E.W. DeLong
Well, at least not publicly. However, for those IN THE KNOW, I’m sure there were many whispered questions in City Hall, in the DA’s Office, and at LAPD’s Homicide Division. I’m confident that the late night lamps were burning bright in all three buildings. Here’s why:
Who was Dr. Leslie Carl Audrain?
Dr. L.C. Audrain first appeared on the Los Angeles radar screen in June 1921 when the following article was printed in the Los Angeles Times:
LURED BY SOUTHLAND
Dr. L.C. Audrain, who as head of the entertainment committee received THE MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL Chamber of Commerce at Mazatlan during their excursion to Mexico, is coming to Los Angeles to live. Mrs. Audrain arrived in this city a few days ago to settle in her home at the Murray Apartments, 1026 Orange Street.
While at Mazatlan a number of Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce members, including President Weaver, were entertained at the home of Dr. Audrain. There the only hospital between San Diego and the Panama Canal is located. Wound soldiers and sailors were received there during the war.
Mr. and Mrs. Audrain will make their home in the United States after a nine-year sojourn on the west coast of Mexico.
Dr. Audrain after relocating from Mexico became a prominent Los Angeles OB-GYN physician and surgeon, and the personal physician to famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, up until her death in 1944.
Records show that his wife; Mathilde Audrain was a nurse who assisted him at his office in the Professional Building, located at 1052 W. Sixth Street.
Dr. Leslie C. Audrain was named by LAPD Sgt. Charles Stoker in a secret 1949 grand jury testimony, as being the head of an Abortion Ring of Los Angeles MD’s all of whom paid “protection money” to LAPD detectives, which kept them immune from being arrested. [MD’s and chiropractors who were performing abortions and who were not making police payoffs to LAPD were arrested and given stiff prison sentences.]
LAPD Sgt. Charles Stoker
“Stoker is the real informer in this case. Brenda Allen is just peanuts compared to what he has given us. He should be under guard. If he continues to name names and situations like he did today, he will be found dead on the curb within five days.”
Harry A. Lawson,
1949 Grand Jury Foreman
Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1949
Those of you, who have read Black Dahlia Avenger, will recognize Sgt. Charles Stoker’s name. I devoted Chapter 25, “Sergeant Stoker, LAPD’s Gangster Squad, and the Abortion Ring,” and two following chapters in an attempt to provide a historical perspective on his critical involvement and impact in Los Angeles during two of Los Angeles’s most dynamic and politically volatile years—1948-1950.
LAPD Vice Sgt. Charles Stoker, circa 1949, assigned to Vice and Uniform Patrol
Thicker’n Thieves originally published in 1951 and republished in 2011
Sgt. Stoker’s real-time expose, Thicker N’ Thieves, published in 1951, documented the police and political corruption of those years. And in his book, he pulled no punches and provided us with real names, dates, and locations.
Up until 2011, it had been virtually impossible to find a copy of his book. The 1951 out-of-print edition was so scarce that it was selling on-line for $300-$500.
In April of 2011, I wrote a short forward to a new, republished edition, which is now available to all as a low cost paperback or downloadable e-book. [Thicker’n Thieves, by Charles Stoker, Thoughtprint Press, 2011, Los Angeles]
In Thicker’n Thieves, Sgt. Stoker documented the historical events that changed Los Angeles and the LAPD and narrated them as they actually unfolded in real time during the years 1948-1
950.
Stoker laid out how the police cabal operated, and, in his chapter, “Angel City Abortion Ring,” provided critical information and answers to many of my early questions.
His book gives us some real insights into the man and reveals that he was an honest cop, trying to do the right thing. However, being somewhat politically naive, Stoker was unaware of how dangerous it was to try and buck the established system of corruption in the “City of Angles,” which had been in place for more than a quarter century.
Sgt. Charles Stoker testified in secret before the 1949 grand jury hearings, revealing graft and corruption and naming names twenty-years before his New York counterpart Frank Serpico. But unlike Serpico, Stoker never received fame or recognition, and he died relatively young, a broken and forgotten man.
Los Angeles Times headlines July 8, 1949
Sgt. Stoker related headlines 1948-1949
Twenty Years Before SERPICO There Was STOKER
Stoker’s testimony opened up a Pandora’s Box for LA politicos and LAPD. He blew the lid off most of the major corruption scandals of 1949, which included: Mickey Cohen’s wire taps; and Brenda Allen’s prostitution ring, and her payoffs to LA vice cops and their superiors.
Earlier in the year, in a sworn testimony, Stoker confirmed Hollywood Vice Squad’s intimidations and extortions of bar owners who would not “pay to play,” along with the systematic brutality and false arrests of their customers on trumped up charges of “drunk” or “lewd conduct.”
As a result of the secret hearings and testimony from Stoker and others, the 1949 grand jury ordered a reinvestigation of the many unsolved Lone Woman Murders of the day, and ordered that the Black Dahlia Murder investigation be taken away from LAPD and reinvestigated by the DA’s Office. [This was an unheard of action coming from a seated grand jury, which to my knowledge had never occurred prior to or after 1949. LAPD command was in a rolling boil over the grand jury’s labeling of them as inept and corrupt.]
In 1949, as a result of Stoker’s testimony, LAPD, in an effort to “circle the wagons,” arrested him on a trumped up “burglary” charge. Their “star witness” was his vice partner, policewoman Audre Davis, whom they approached with an offer that she couldn’t refuse. “Testify that you saw Stoker break into an office building, and we will give you immunity. Refuse and you’re fired.” They knew that the bogus case was a “humbug” and a loser, but, at the very least, it would throw mud on Stoker’s bright shiny badge.
