Actually I think this excerpt is a better example…

The lower case r is striking! In fact, here’s the whole poster written by Marshall for people to decide for themselves….

The hand printing is similar, as is the style of writing as both Zodiac and Rick’s writing seem to slant slightly to the right.

You would be surprised, or not at how many people’s writing has Zodiac traits. I don’t have an opinion on Rick’s writing because I haven’t really looked it but here’s another – similarity.

The lower case r’s are the most obvious likeness. And again, I hope my purpose for posting this isn’t misunderstood, so maybe I should clarify. I am not suggesting that this is a link between Marshall and Z, nor am I hinting at a belief in Rick being the author of the letters. I am simply saying that of the handwriting I have seen (of the top suspects), Rick’s is, in my opinion, the closest to Z’s by far.

Don’t just look at the writing,but aso at the writing habit. Just to go off topic for a second, to another z suspect Fred Manalli as an example, he used the same odd breaks in some of his words>
instead of the word,’Something’ they wrote it as ‘Some thing’ with an odd break in the middle. There were other words too. Instead of just looking at writing that looks similar, I think we can look at people’s ‘habits’ too. Odd spacing or breaks in words, etc. Those are things that will show up unintentionally. Also choice of words, for example use of the word ‘shall’ or other common words & phrases. I think one issue is,we dont have alot of Rick’s samples to work with as compared to somebody like Manalli for example. The more samples we have, the better. Also, in the Gaik case….that guy has been researched to no end,yet I have only seen a few samples of his writing,and while a few similarities exist, there are also some glaring differences too.

Rick’s writing is too neat. Too flowing. It doesn’t have that disjointed, stilted feel that Zodiac’s writing has. Ted Kaczynski’s writing is a better match than Rick’s.

Rick’s writing is too neat. Too flowing. It doesn’t have that disjointed, stilted feel that Zodiac’s writing has. Ted Kaczynski’s writing is a better match than Rick’s.

Agreed…by far.

Don’t just look at the writing,but aso at the writing habit. Just to go off topic for a second, to another z suspect Fred Manalli as an example, he used the same odd breaks in some of his words>
instead of the word,’Something’ they wrote it as ‘Some thing’ with an odd break in the middle. There were other words too. Instead of just looking at writing that looks similar, I think we can look at people’s ‘habits’ too. Odd spacing or breaks in words, etc. Those are things that will show up unintentionally. Also choice of words, for example use of the word ‘shall’ or other common words & phrases. I think one issue is,we dont have alot of Rick’s samples to work with as compared to somebody like Manalli for example. The more samples we have, the better. Also, in the Gaik case….that guy has been researched to no end,yet I have only seen a few samples of his writing,and while a few similarities exist, there are also some glaring differences too.

I agree Morph, that is why I mentioned the two men, Marshall & Z, seeming to write with the words leaning to the right for example.

"instead of the word, ‘Something’ they wrote it as ‘Some thing’ The example that comes to mind with you saying that Morph is Zodiac’s spelling while wishing Belli a happy Christmass, Spelled as if he is wishing Melvin A happy Christ Mass, which was how the word Christmas came to be would I presume after Christ and Mass were shortened into one word to signify the Festive Season.

I wasn’t aware of the lack of Gaik handwriting being available Morph. That seems quite unusual considering the job he did? Or was Gaikowski the type to prefer doing his letter writing using a typewriter?

Rick’s writing is too neat. Too flowing. It doesn’t have that disjointed, stilted feel that Zodiac’s writing has. Ted Kaczynski’s writing is a better match than Rick’s.

Agreed…by far.

Well just the other day, after I had posted something about Zodiac probably not being employed in a role where he is required to stock take, fill out order forms etc, anything that would require him to write often and regular because his handwriting would be available to a lot of people then and would be more easily identifiable when Smithy (I think it was Smithy Anyway) asked me a very valid question…. "Why do you assume Zodiac wrote the letters in his own style of hand?" I hadn’t really even thought of that until he brought it up because it’s not something I, or anyone I know, has ever been known to be able to do.

So, when there are certain letters, words, etc in a suspects writing style that are of striking similarity to that of Z’s, and then the next sentence has other letters and words that do not at all seem consistant, is it at all possible that him being able to write in two totally different styles, styles that will sometimes overlap each other, responsible for certain or partial matches in a suspects writing? (No specific suspect in mind, I mean in the general sense).

I tell one thing that Ihave always been undecided on, was the writing on Bryans door. I always see the word ‘Vallejo’ and associate it with Z’s hand (just my own perception), then while looking down just underneath that, the phrase ‘By Knife’ doesn’t look, at least to me, anything like Z’s hand. That Phrase may have the appearance of being inconsistent with his usual hand due to Z possibly having to lean and twist the pen at an angle while writing the phrase as it is low down on the door itself. Who knows. But I have always wondered why, if Zodiac both commited the murders and wrote every one of the authenticated letters, then how can it be that there is still no match for the palm print, no match for the partial finger print, and no DNA hit found? I mean if, lets say, a suspect was rules out based on handwriting and palm print exclusively, then that may rule that person out as the author of the letters, but it is not conclusive proof that he could not have been responsible for pulling the trigger on Oct 11 at the Corner of W & C?

Nach, Zodiac could tidy up his writing very considerably when he felt like it. He could write like this…..

But when he wanted to, he could make the effort to make his printing appear more presentable, neat, readable and had obviously taken time to do so, like this…

You would be surprised, or not at how many people’s writing has Zodiac traits. I don’t have an opinion on Rick’s writing because I haven’t really looked it but here’s another – similarity.

Very good post..the ‘M’ is really very close to the Count Marco ‘M’ as well…nevertheless, Rick presumably may be almost ruled out as he – as far as I know – is not even nearly 6’0” tall..true?

QT

You would be surprised, or not at how many people’s writing has Zodiac traits. I don’t have an opinion on Rick’s writing because I haven’t really looked it but here’s another – similarity.

Very good post..the ‘M’ is really very close to the Count Marco ‘M’ as well…nevertheless, Rick presumably may be almost ruled out as he – as far as I know – is not even nearly 6’0” tall..true?

QT

Not sure his Height Q is the short and honest answer lol. But Ricks exact height is only going to really rule him out if we can say we know Zodiac was x y or z tall, but we don’t. We know he was described as being between 5 10 and 6ft tall (that is the most consistent height range I have always found given for him anyway. If, lets assume for a second that we are able to know that Zodiac did in fact wear a disguise of some kind, if that be colouring his hair a different colour, changing the style, to adding layer’s and layers of undergarments to appear around 200lbs when he was nowhere near that and a variety of other precautions, then he may have worn been wearing boots that made him appear a few inches taller. Or, if I wanted to get really imaginative, I could do so by suggesting that he may even have been using some other device itself to appear much taller and point to his apparent unsteadiness and stumbling and limping motion. I won’t suggest that this time though because Tahoe would start throwing Bricks and Rocks at me again lol. (That, as Tahoe will know, is not intended as offensive or negative, but as a recognition of her meticulous attention to factual evidence

I, too, am no graphologist. However, back in ’92 or so, I stumbled across a comedic greeting card that featured printing that, to my lay eyes, identically matched Z’s printing. I haven’t encountered a similarly printed greeting card since then, but keep an eye open when I visit a Hallmarl’s, et cetera.

You would be surprised, or not at how many people’s writing has Zodiac traits. I don’t have an opinion on Rick’s writing because I haven’t really looked it but here’s another – similarity.

Very good post..the ‘M’ is really very close to the Count Marco ‘M’ as well…nevertheless, Rick presumably may be almost ruled out as he – as far as I know – is not even nearly 6’0” tall..true?

QT

He doesn’t look to tall but also the kids who saw Zodiac said Rick was to fat to be the person they saw. As for the writing I think I remember there was speculation if Rick even wrote the posters. Think some thought it may have been his buddy Vaughn or another person he worked with. That I’m not totally sure on and Rick was my favorite suspect for awhile when I first started to study this case.

He just died a couple years ago you can get his death record which likely would list height etc