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 investigated serial killers’ penmanship to look for commonalities that could help law enforcement evaluate suspects.
While graphology is a controversial field, some believe that if a person’s handwriting possesses certain unique features, it’s a clear sign that they have a serial killer’s mentality.
Those features include unusual spacing between words, broken letters, fake letters, unusual punctuation, printed letters, and inconsistent variances in letter sizing, according to graphologist Anna Koren.
Many handwriting samples from the world’s most prolific serial killers – such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer – possess some of these stylistic traits.
If nothing else, graphology offers a way to peer into the mind of a murderer and help experts understand their sinister psychology.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy brutally assaulted and murdered 20 confirmed victims (but confessed to a total of 30 murders) between 1974 and 1978. All of his victims were female
Ted Bundy’s handwriting contains strong lower zone emphasis and deformed letters
Ted Bundy brutally assaulted and murdered 20 confirmed victims (but confessed to a total of 30 murders) between 1974 and 1978. All of his victims were female.
Biographer Ann Rule described Bundy as a ‘sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human’s pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death and even after.’
Koren, who has been studying penmanship since the 1970s, said that evidence of Bundy’s sadistic sociopathy could be found in his handwriting.
In her analysis, she pointed out the emphasized lower zone – or the area before the baseline into which the tails of lowercase letters like Y or J extend.
Bundy’s writing included large, dramatic loops in the lower zone.
While upper-zone emphasis is more common in the penmanship of serial killers, exaggerated features – like these loops – can also be a sign of what Koren called the ‘schizoid’ personality, which 80 percent of the killers she’s analyzed possess.
She also highlighted his deformed letters. Bundy’s handwriting was practically illegible due to his use of strong angles, narrow letters and crowded spacing.
These features are also indicative of the ‘schizoid’ personality, according to Koren.
John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy, also known as ‘the Killer Clown,’ tortured, assaulted 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 that suggest he was violent, sexually deviant and had an explosive temper
John Wayne Gacy, also known as ‘the Killer Clown,’ tortured, assaulted and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978.
Twenty six of his victims’ bodies 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 by The Handwriting Analysts Group, there are several signs of Gacy’s deviant behavior lurking in his penmanship.
This killer’s handwriting showed heavy pastocity – or a high 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 lower zone letter formations – especially the loops that extend to the left combined with high pastocity – suggest ‘an explosive temper with perverse sadistic tendencies,’ the analysis reads.
And the left-leaning tendency and weak nature of the lower zone may indicate that Gacy was unsure of his sexuality, the analysts explain.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal,’ killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991
Jeffrey Dahmer’s handwriting contains a right-leaning slant, wide spaces between words and letters, and broken letters such as unclosed O’s and lowercase A’s
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal,’ killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the preservation of body parts.
His handwriting contained ‘most schizoid characteristics,’ according to Koren.
Some of the most notable features included a right-leaning slant, wide spaces between words and letters, broken letters such as unclosed O’s and lowercase A’s, and the use of printed letters.
All of these are signs of a schizoid personality, according to Koren.
Son of Sam
David Berkowitz, widely known by his self-given nickname ‘Son of Sam,’ terrorized New York City from 1976 to 1977
David Berkowitz’s handwriting has strange beginnings and endings, unusual letters, covering strokes and a slow, tense nature
David Berkowitz, widely known by his self-given nickname ‘Son of Sam,’ terrorized New York City from 1976 to 1977.
During those years, he shot 17 victims with a .44 caliber revolver, killing six and wounding 11.
Koren pointed to strange beginnings and endings in his handwriting, ‘as well as an abundant amount of strange letters and covering strokes,’ that point to his disturbed personality.
Beginning and ending letters in an unusual way may be indicative of the schizoid personality, according to Koren.
Covering strokes can suggest that the writer wants to cover up their thoughts or be secretive, according to Graphology Report Maker.
Koren believes that this feature is characteristic of the schizoid personality.
She also pointed out that his handwriting was ‘slow and tense.’
Writing slowly can can indicate that a person is organized, methodical and self-reliant, as serial killers often are.
The tense aspects of his penmanship are also a sign of a schizoid personality, according to Koren.
The Zodiac Killer has never been caught, and he or she is known only by this self-given pseudonym
The Zodiac Killer’s letters included a code made up of invented characters, wide spaces between words, and slightly slanted, printed letters
The Zodiac Killer has never been caught, and he or she is known only by this self-given pseudonym.
This prolific serial murderer killed five known victims and injured two others.
The Zodiac shot most of the victims, but two were stabbed.
This killer claimed to have taken the lives of 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 have served as critical evidence in the case, and the Zodiac’s handwriting has been extensively analyzed.
Like Dahmer’s, this penmanship possessed most of the features that are characteristic of a schizoid personality, according to Koren.
For example, the murderer used print script, wrote at a slight slant and left wide spaces between words.
Additionally, the Zodiac created a unique code to leave cryptic messages in the letters. Invented characters such as these are indicative of a schizoid personality, according to Koren.
