Well perhaps he can just relate the story of how he came into the possession of this yearbook, and what is the reason he thinks Ross Sullivan is the writer.

Does Ed Knox give a statement that he was friends with Sullivan and that Sullivan indeed signed his yearbook? How did Ham come in possession of the book from Knox?

This book is from 1959. I’d like to see some of the other writing in it. The part in red believed to be signed by Sullivan, is bright, very legible and not faded at all. It does not, IMO, look anything like 60 year old writing. I looked at my yearbooks from 75 – 79 era, so just 40 years ago, and most of the writing is far less bright, much more faded and in some cases not even very legible. Of course writing will vary based on the ink used, force of application, how the book was stored, etc. I guess for me, and I think for police, you have to put weight only in writing you can definitely prove came from the POI.

I’ll do you one better. Here is Richard Chase’s fathers yearbook from 1939. 1939!! You know who Chase is? Vampire of Sacramento? Doesnt matter… Anyway, check out some of the ink in here. Looks good for 80 year old ink, eh? Most of these things sit untouched in a closet for decades. No air can get to it, yada yada.

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Well, to my eye, and in my opinion, some things like the unique squiggly line on the Z, match so exactly, it seems possible that someone simply copied the squiggly Z on the Bates letter and put it into this yearbook.

That’s not a Z in the yearbook. It’s an H turned sideways.

Heres an entry from the school Ted Bundy went to in ’65:

Ham Friend – Thanks for the background information on how it came into your possession. That’s the kind of info I was looking for. IMO, from what you related, there is no verifiable unbroken chain of custody that would meet a police or legal evidentiary standard. And no person who can state that Sullivan signed the book.

But you offer a reasonable account of the origin of the book, how it came into your possession, and with some assumptions, accepting good faith on the part of all and absent any hoaxing, a basis for some to believe, at least provisionally as a basis for further exploration and testing, hat the writing could indeed perhaps be from Sullivan.

1. Forgive me if I missed it, if so you can just direct me to it. But can you account in detail how you came across this year book, who you got it from, etc?

2. It’s difficult to compare cursive writing to print writing, but having said that, many of the similarities are quite interesting. But what can you offer in terms of concrete proof that this is actually Ross Sullivan’s handwriting? In other words, is there a reasonable chain of custody and independent evidence you can point to that verifies that this is Ross Sullivan’s book and that this is his handwriting?

There will probably be no way to prove that Ross actually wrote this and it’s a yearbook that was probably passed around. So a chain of custody would be impossible to establish.

The simple logical argument would be, if someone wanted to fake this in order to match Ross to Z, why would they use cursive and forge a small sample to pull from.

Like the SS app, the stimulates are not obvious at first look.

There is a way….you test the ink markers to see if it is grom that era…don’t handle it with oil from your hands use editors gloves in case that becomes necessary….my advice

Well, to my eye, and in my opinion, some things like the unique squiggly line on the Z, match so exactly, it seems possible that someone simply copied the squiggly Z on the Bates letter and put it into this yearbook.

If there’s absolutely nothing even approaching a chain of custody, or even a reasonable set of facts as to where the yearbook came from, and absolutely no evidence to show that Ross Sullivan is the actual writer, I would question the value of the writing. But that’s just my opinion. I’ll leave this post to those who want to discuss it more.

Again, I think you need to show some account of where this your book came from, who it came from and what evidence is available that Ross Sullivan did the writing. Otherwise there’s nothing to say that this isn’t a hoax, and since some of the writing seems an exact match, that’s what I’m inclined to consider. There must be some story as how the yearbook came into his possession and some reason he believes Ross Sullivan as the writer.

Without any account of where it came from, who it came from, some version of the chain of custody and some evidence to show the Ross Sullivan is the writer, it would have absolutely zero evidentiary value to the police or in a court of law. Or to me. So I will leave this thread to those who want to examine it more.

The writing is not trying to be a hoax, there is your first evidence…the ink markers are there, if it is from era, we should know with certainty it’s Sullivan. The boy had several others sign from the school and we have those markers, ink can be tested for age.

Ham Friend – Thanks for the background information on how it came into your possession. That’s the kind of info I was looking for. IMO, from what you related, there is no verifiable unbroken chain of custody that would meet a police or legal evidentiary standard. And no person who can state that Sullivan signed the book.

But you offer a reasonable account of the origin of the book, how it came into your possession, and with some assumptions, accepting good faith on the part of all and absent any hoaxing, a basis for some to believe, at least provisionally as a basis for further exploration and testing, hat the writing could indeed perhaps be from Sullivan.

Sure thing. Give it time; I do believe this book will eventually be looked at professionally and help put some at ease. I’ll post a link to a video tour of the book when its done and send pics of the receipts as well as the packaging. Assuming IM innocent, who the heck goes through this kind of elaborate hoax for $40?

1. Forgive me if I missed it, if so you can just direct me to it. But can you account in detail how you came across this year book, who you got it from, etc?

2. It’s difficult to compare cursive writing to print writing, but having said that, many of the similarities are quite interesting. But what can you offer in terms of concrete proof that this is actually Ross Sullivan’s handwriting? In other words, is there a reasonable chain of custody and independent evidence you can point to that verifies that this is Ross Sullivan’s book and that this is his handwriting?

There will probably be no way to prove that Ross actually wrote this and it’s a yearbook that was probably passed around. So a chain of custody would be impossible to establish.

The simple logical argument would be, if someone wanted to fake this in order to match Ross to Z, why would they use cursive and forge a small sample to pull from.

Like the SS app, the stimulates are not obvious at first look.

There is a way….you test the ink markers to see if it is grom that era…don’t handle it with oil from your hands use editors gloves in case that becomes necessary….my advice

Yes, I havent gone anywhere near it as far as touching it since the first discovery. I’ll definitely glove up

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Well perhaps he can just relate the story of how he came into the possession of this yearbook, and what is the reason he thinks Ross Sullivan is the writer.

Yes sir, no problem! I guess I should first start by saying I am in the hobby of true crime collecting; specifically yearbooks. After reading up on Sullivan my thoughts were something like "holy crap, this dude did it." So naturally I did some yb digging and came across a Glendale High School Stylus ’58 and ’59 for pretty cheap($40). It was not advertised as a "Ross Sullivan signed yearbook" or anything like that. It seemed obvious the seller had no clue what they had as the price tag was so low. Yes, $40 is considered fairly cheap for an original yearbook. These books were purchased by me on a website called Abebooks.com. Judging by the writing in the books, it seems they were owned by the Knox bros. ’58 was owned by older brother Al knox and ’59 was owned by younger brother Eddie. Eddie was a sophomore at the time and Ross a senior. Eddie was a member of the HAM radio club and is pictured twice in the yearbook. My guess is that either one or both of the brothers passed and a relative decided to clean out and sell some of their stuff. Im not certain though. When I spotted the signature/passage I knew I had something so I saved everything; the box they came in, the receipts, everything. It appears the name of the seller using Abe Books was S.C. Sumner. It’s a book store in Venice, Florida. I suppose I could try to contact them about it. I am going to go ahead and shoot a video of the yearbook. I hope that helps somewhat. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; im 100% on board with sending this thing off to the right people for analysis and authentication. I have ZERO doubts about its legitimacy. I want everybody else, people such as yourself, to be comfortable with this too- trust me. I am talking to a detective in Vallejo and am more than willing to send it off. There aren’t start/stop points all over it, it doesn’t look deliberate or slowly written, seems to match much of the other ink in the book, etc. Im not sure if you saw his signature that I posted alongside the sig on his ss form but its a dead ringer. Im here to cooperate, fellas!

hi Ham
Thanks for the explanation. so in your search for the yearbook-how many did you purchase? just these two?

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Mind if I ask where you get those samples from you are comparing on the Paul Avery writing? Because they don’t look like they come from the yearbook.

Maybe see if you can get some fingerprints from the pages in question from the yearbook?

Well perhaps he can just relate the story of how he came into the possession of this yearbook, and what is the reason he thinks Ross Sullivan is the writer.

Yes sir, no problem! I guess I should first start by saying I am in the hobby of true crime collecting; specifically yearbooks. After reading up on Sullivan my thoughts were something like "holy crap, this dude did it." So naturally I did some yb digging and came across a Glendale High School Stylus ’58 and ’59 for pretty cheap($40). It was not advertised as a "Ross Sullivan signed yearbook" or anything like that. It seemed obvious the seller had no clue what they had as the price tag was so low. Yes, $40 is considered fairly cheap for an original yearbook. These books were purchased by me on a website called Abebooks.com. Judging by the writing in the books, it seems they were owned by the Knox bros. ’58 was owned by older brother Al knox and ’59 was owned by younger brother Eddie. Eddie was a sophomore at the time and Ross a senior. Eddie was a member of the HAM radio club and is pictured twice in the yearbook. My guess is that either one or both of the brothers passed and a relative decided to clean out and sell some of their stuff. Im not certain though. When I spotted the signature/passage I knew I had something so I saved everything; the box they came in, the receipts, everything. It appears the name of the seller using Abe Books was S.C. Sumner. It’s a book store in Venice, Florida. I suppose I could try to contact them about it. I am going to go ahead and shoot a video of the yearbook. I hope that helps somewhat. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; im 100% on board with sending this thing off to the right people for analysis and authentication. I have ZERO doubts about its legitimacy. I want everybody else, people such as yourself, to be comfortable with this too- trust me. I am talking to a detective in Vallejo and am more than willing to send it off. There aren’t start/stop points all over it, it doesn’t look deliberate or slowly written, seems to match much of the other ink in the book, etc. Im not sure if you saw his signature that I posted alongside the sig on his ss form but its a dead ringer. Im here to cooperate, fellas!

hi Ham
Thanks for the explanation. so in your search for the yearbook-how many did you purchase? just these two?

Technically I purschased 3. Two ’58’s and one ’59. 2 from one seller(Knox bros) and one from another seller. All had signatures but Ross’ sig was only in the one.