Oh how I wish I could compose a short and sweet post, but hey, not on issues Zahra. They are too important. So please bear with me, give this little thesis a read. Hopefully it will provide some thoughts of benefit. Apologies in advance. I just don't know how to do it with less words.
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When it comes to dating the letters there are a few clues to give us some idea of the dates. Note: I have read the Letters thread and the following contains new ideas of my own, plus some quote and references to the other thread. I thought about posting this in the Letter thread, but as this reply continues on from the previous posts in this thread, I decided to post here. If mods think it should be moved over then please do so!
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As we know, Eric Gein of serialkillerink.net says that he wrote to Elisa in jail with the pseudonym Damien, to initiate an exchange. Weeks later she wrote in reply.
It's clear from answers in
the first letter from Elisa to Gein (yellow paper, 1 sheet written on both sides) that he commenced the dialogue with certain lines of conversation and questioning (fishing for saucy material Id call it). Were told by Gein that LE has copies of his correspondence; however weve not seen them. Judging from EBs answers, I'd say he mentions Charlie Manson, Elisa's MySpace page, asks about the symbolism of 666, asks if she can receive money orders and pictures, and what sorts of things shes into movies, music. He clearly initiates the correspondence in a flattering way and gives EB the impression that he wants to be her friend.
See also the Lisa Dubs quote way down the bottom of this post for her comments about the fishing expedition by Gein.
We can get a vague preliminary indication of the timeframe of the yellow 2 page letter as we know that Elisa has asked her lawyers to take down her MySpace page, yet LE has reinstated it and her Facebook pages as well (which she alleges were both set to Private), and we know she expects to miss Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. But she does expect to be out soon! Tres optimistic! IMO it's a pretty narcissistic letter, though she invites more information about "Damien", pressuring him as "her only friend". Not one mention of the case of Zahra, or Adam ... its all about EB.
Makes me think at this point shes not told the LE about Zahras dismemberment or the burial locations.
I believe she has probably written this letter in three phases or sittings (possibly interrupted). The front page down to the word "sexual" is the first stage, and from there the writing changes to the second stage with a different slant (backwards). She continues in this second style on the reverse of the page, and then toward the bottom we see the third stage, Have you ever been in jail? where the hand finally deteriorates into a more printed form. Considerably more care is taken with the first session of writing, as the letters are more consistent and neater, and all fall at the same forwards angle. My thought is shes written the first page on a roll, saying what SHE wants to say, with a happy and optimistic feeling. No doubt glad that theres someone who cares (well, yes, he does ... about his bank balance!).
Before starting the second phase I feel she re-reads his letter. From the last sentence on page one, You ask what things I am into through to the point on page two where she writes So what do you look like? she appears to respond to his questions. You can tell as her comments assume he knows what shes talking about as she switches from one topic to the next. To a degree some of his comments appear to be responded to on the first page too, but on the more narcissistic first page she feels in control (it is about her public profile/celebrity/notoriety ... in her mind). I dont think she enjoys having the conversation driven by someone else. As she progresses, her writing has that backwards slant, and the tone becomes more and more down and depressed. She starts to feel quite sorry for herself. Once she reaches the end of his questions she suddenly mid paragraph asks him about himself ... like a child would do when trying to be polite.
But not long until she goes into what I see as the third stage of the letter, where the narcissism takes over again. This is the printed section, still slanting backwards, but not running writing (cursive). Commencing Have you ever been in jai? ... desperate for sympathy, and pours out the misery (solitary confinement, on the floor, miss my warm waterbed. Oh the crocodile tears!
The second letter is the 3pp white one also released to the media by Gein (1st sheet written on both sides, 2nd sheet written on single side). From her comments it is apparent that Gein (Damien) has not written back to her: since I heard from you I wrote to you and still havent heard back. She is concerned his interest in her (ha!) may have been affected detrimentally by the media which she knows is not favourable. She writes in her first phase of this letter down to the he says it could take 6 to 8 months. Once again her first page is written consistently and neatly (though as she get down to the final sentence of that first phase she starts to tire and writing is messier). She stops at a point where the mood is becoming depressed again (after starting far more confidently). If she had an eraser I think shed have rubbed out some of it, but instead she seems to just write spontaneously not a whole lot of thought goes into it, and there are no crossed out words either. I think she makes do with the little equipment she has (just a little paper, an envelope and an envelope). I think its also telling that she gets so down about her circumstances, you can see the depression and self-pity coming through, BUT theres not one skerrick of remorse or acceptance of responsibility for what shes done to get herself in this situation! But hey, I guess she thinks it can work for her!
When the second phase of misery guts starts up, her writing slopes dramatically to the right. Its still fairly neat, but the content is all over place about her suffering solitary confinement still, now suicide watch, missing Halloween BOO! Nothing to live for, NG, a fighting chicken. By the end of that phase at the fighting chicken bit, the pencil is really getting scrappy. Ah no sharpener!
An indication of timeframe is: I am gonna be debriefed this week so Adam is suppose to be arrested then again. Also that she is missing Halloween.
Third phase is clearly written after a gap in time I think; possibly days.
When I saw my attorneys today is one key to timeframe. I feel this is since the second phase was written, and shes not happy with the news. I am beyond stressed ... and you can tell exactly how messed up she feels, as her writings all over the place upright, backwards, forwards, and the pressure of the pencil on the paper is inconsistent. Shes aggressively pressing harder into the paper IMO. Shes fuming as
Adam has been let out of jail another key to timeframe. It suddenly becomes a little bit Obi-Wan Kenobi youre my only hope! in the way she gushes at Damien; quite desperately. Shes realising shes losing this battle.
Note: Adam was arrested on Monday 25th Oct 2010. He was released on Friday 29th Oct. At this point in time we know they have found Zahra prosthetic leg/gel liner (?).
Her words also reveal that in some way Damien gave an impression of his own character (well, fake character) ... as EB feels some affinity with him. Clearly shes under the impression that hes like her, an outsider, one of the freaks ... after all shes going to launch a campaign for people like us. I think she ends this phase of writing at the point: need to know exactly what I am dealing with out there. Theres a very final period at this point. I think she then re-reads her letter (either immediately or a while later) and returns to writing as if the line of thought continues.
Some pscho... is the fourth phase, with writing slanting to the right. Note: in the Letter thread,
DLT88 (11-05-2010, 11:51 AM) mentioned how the left edge alignment of the handwriting can indicate when lies are being told. At this point the writing suddenly moves inwards down the page, indicating (according to
DLT88s graphology studies) that EB is being more spontaneous and honest.** She does sound fearful for her life.
The third page gives us another indication of time-frame as well. She states the cops know where she is and what he has done. Thats right what he has done. And then claims that Adam wrote the ransom note. Big deflection going on here. After all,
she should have been out in 3 weeks if she hadnt written that stupid note ... Of course its not her that was stupid, it was the note! Reminds me of children that bump into a table and hurt themselves and then smack the bad table for hurting them!
Ie she has been in jail for over 3 weeks at the time of writing this letter.
After another little reprise she writes the final fifth phase of the letter asking about Halloween, and eager for another letter from her good mate Damien.
Again, Id love to see what Eric Gein wrote to her. I wonder if all the dark and freak stuff has to do with how he introduced himself. I suspect the choice of the name Damien was deliberately a reference to The Omen movie, and that set the stage for him to appeal to her darker side as a kindred spirit (I suspect with talk of vampires, dark sides, Goth culture, etc). I think he was very flattering to her, like she was on a pedestal as some kind of celebrity, and preyed upon her ego.
**
I want to add, in my own defense, that Im not certain this always applies in isolation. My handwriting which is very old fashioned, Victorian English style, is always perfectly aligned at the left, almost as straight as a ruler. If I meandered down the page, Id re-write it! Needless to say, if anyone was analysing my writing Im certain theyd be able to determine enough other information about me to know that this inward means telling the truth doesnt apply, as it would mean everything I write is lies! I think there need to be more things considered than just the alignment of the left edge, though I accept it is a significant issue when considered in the overall scheme of things. DLT88's is certainly a good point to consider.
We only have 2 of the 3 letters, but it appears that the two we have are possibly consecutive (though ?????). As we all know these were all for sale on Eric Gein's serialkillerink.net website.
The first two were accompanied by envelopes bearing the location of origin, indicating jail. The third letter was abruptly withdrawn from sale. I'm not able to confirm if it had an envelope or not.
We know
the third letter has not been released in full to the public, but was discussed on NG, in certain newspapers, and in our EB letter thread.
It was apparently written after the others (was it?????). I suspect the reason the third letter may have been removed from sale is EB's lawyers were able to force Gein to remove it on the basis of deception. The others may have been sold by this stage (??). Possibly the third letter was also filled with very sensitive and disturbing information, or secret for the LE investigation (???).
A comment was made by EBs ex-lawyer, Lisa Dubs, prior to the court hearing on Monday 15th November 2010, stating:
"Unfortunately, this man, who apparently goes by the false persona of 'Damien' used fraud and deceit with the sole intention of profiting from the disappearance of Zahra Baker ... Ms. Baker unfortunately believed this man's representations that he only wanted to offer friendship and support during her incarceration. Much of the information in these letters is in response to specific questions posed by this man.
The release of these letters is regrettable and only serves to sensationalize an already complicated situation," she added.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010...-stepmom-alludes-to-death/UPI-46771289873745/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-exclusive-elisa-baker-jailhouse-letter/story?id=12145895&page=1
Kudos to
dar107,
salvarenga and
tehcloser for their posts in the Letter thread that give us some information and media links on the content of the third letter. Adding to their excellent research:
Ive taken the sample of the letter into Photoshop so I can read a little better, plus added in material from media links. Its hard to read the full date as the watermark from serialkillerink.net partially covers the second numeral. Ive seen an
abc article that says this date is the 29th October, 2010, but I am not convinced by what I can see an upwards kick at the base of the second numeral which
tends to indicate its Oct 22. The formation of the 2 at the start of the date gives us a basis for comparison for the second digit. Also, given my info below regarding the envelope (
which I believe is dated 27 Oct), I am strongly leaning to the 22nd. It makes sense that there might be a delays of days from a prisoner writing and the post-office processing. Given the abc who claims this letter was dated 29th Oct., I wonder if they saw the original? The article states: In the latest letter, obtained exclusively by ABC News. But they may have received the watermarked version too, but in full rather than the crop we see. But, who knows?
There is a distinct possibility that this letter was actually written in between the other two!
Its certainly odd that she dated this as neither of the other letters appear to bear a date. Maybe time was starting to mean more to her?
Here it is again:
Hello My Darkest Friend(?).
So where is my dark Knight. Hopefully you haven't disappeared too. It takes forever for those letters to get through the mail I know. I figure they read every- thing I write, so much for privacy, huh. Well if you been watching the news you know some truth of whats going on. And I say some litely(likely?). I am helping the cops try and get soon-to-be ex-husband in here. The cops promised if I would help them with what I know, they would keep him locked up for my safety.
Other quotes available in the media from the third letter are cited as:
"I was trying to save us both, but why should I? He is letting everyone destroy me,"
EB says she "ain't the monster people are saying."
"I want a chance to be heard damn it. This is my life and everyone is playing with and I have no control over what is said or done"
"Maybe I should just change my name to Evil, what do you think? LOL."
"My family will never believe Adam has done what he has"
EB feels like a "freak in a carnival" whenever she's in view of the media's cameras and is concerned about being attacked while in prison
"[But it's] not like I am not able to defend my freaking self"
EB announces she has changed her name from Elisa to Elesa
The letter is signed: "Dark Wishes, Elesa."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-exclusive-elisa-baker-jailhouse-letter/story?id=12145895&page=1
Also from the abcnews website we see this letter was also 3 pages long: In the letter, written to crime memorabilia dealer Eric Gein, Baker says she will be living alone when she gets out of prison. In three rambling pages, she never mentions Zahra or any concern for her stepdaughter, who was still a missing person when the letter was written on Oct. 29. She also doesn't cite any remorse for the girl's disappearance.
Her introduction indicates that she still has not received a reply from Damien; in the final two she claims shes not received a reply at the time of writing. Beyond the small ample posted by
I have managed to find an image of the envelope from one of the letters that accompanied the sale of a letter by Eric Gein.
The hand-written address confirms that this was sent from a PO Box at the Catawba County Sheriffs Dept. It has a dot matrix post-mark stamped over the stamp at the right. Unfortunately the baselines of the dot matrix printer are out of alignment, slightly over to the right, which makes some of the letter and numerals hard to read. When enhanced in Photoshop and with the baseline of the post mark 1 pixel high shifted to the left x 2 pixels, I can see that the formation of pixels indicates that the first number in the date resembles the 2 in the 2010. This is also confirmed by the fact that the font used in the date does not have a serif on the ascending portion of the numeral 1. So my conclusion is the postmark is
27 October 2010. Please see notes on the below image.
So when we consider all this information in the context of events on timelines that we have (I only have done the one above in my previous post), I estimate that
the first of these letters (yellow) predates the interview with LE regarding the dismemberment and burial of Zahra which took place on the Tues 19th Oct. She does not reveal anything about involvement in the case. E know she has confessed to the ransom note, but at this stage it would seem that she is not revealing much certainly not to her admirer Damien. She appears (perhaps delusionally) to think she will only be in jail for a short period of time. I think
the second letter post-dates the 19th Oct interview (as she states that LE knows the details). We know from her comments that it is written prior to the date of Halloween Sunday 31st October 2010. And she is furious that Adam has been released from jail which puts this letter at about the 29th Oct. Then
the third letter comes hmmmmm maybe before the "second" white letter, around the 22nd (or 29th) October, well into the investigation, when EB realises things are not going her way at all, and starts to sound angry.
I suspect this was the letter mailed in the envelope above, dated 27th Oct. Again, I could have this wrong
Either way I think the mail is slow to get out of prison, they process it, and then despatch to the post office, so the envelope date kind of confuses things.
We know that the letters were released to the media
in the first days of November.
Note the following:
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A bond request made Monday in a North Carolina court revealed Elisha Baker told lawyers weeks ago she knew how and when her stepdaughter died, an attorney said.
On Oct. 22, Baker allegedly told her legal team, led by Scott Reilly, about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and death of 10-year-old Zahra Baker, Charlotte's WBTV reported.
Reilly said his team obtained a significant bit of evidence that was turned over to authorities and within two days told police Zahra was dead, and her body dismembered and dispersed in different locations.
...
Before the bail hearing, Baker had many people speculating about how much she really knew because of three letters she wrote to crime memorabilia dealer Eric Gein, a man who also goes by the nickname, Damien, ABC News reported Monday.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010...-stepmom-alludes-to-death/UPI-46771289873745/
Adding to that ... messy dates again ... the police already knew on the
19th October that Zahra was dead, dismembered and buried in various locations, if we are to trust the date given in the warrant I have cited in posts prior to this one. However they had not yet located the prosthetic leg or any of her at this time. I am therefore a little suspicious about the date 22nd October. Though consider the letter that I think was written on the 22nd Oct (third letter) that sounds quite desperate and angry. Hmmmmm...
Anyway, I started this great long post thinking clearly in my mind that the third letter came after the explosive one known as the Second letter. But after doing this I have decided that perhaps that's not quite right. I think the third letter came in between them. The envelope contributed to this conclusion, but also the issues about Adam being let out of jail in the second letter. If only we had access to the entire third letter!!!
Please accept that these are just my own ideas. I am not a professional hand-writing expert; however my amateur analysis of handwriting related to the formation of letters, pressure of imprint on paper, etc, has been used successfully in court to prove forgery of documents. As for the Photoshop and typography stuff ... that's what I do for $. This DOES NOT mean that I have the facts straight in the above. I'm just trying to follow on from a question in a thread, and got carried away in the moment.
Now my brain is scrambled egg.