Handwriting of Amish Schoolhouse Killer Shows He Was a Ticking Time Bomb

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked me to analyze the handwritten suicide note of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the milk truck driver who shot 13 Amish children in a one-room school-house in Pennsylvania.

From Roberts’ handwriting, I could see that he was a “ticking time bomb,” ready to explode. You can read the article and view a copy of his letter at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06278/727605-85.stm

First posting

Handwriting can infallibly show whether it comes from a person who is noble-minded or from one who is vulgar.

K'ung-fu-tzu, 500 B.C.

Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience, and written words the symbol of spoken words. Just as all men have not the same speech sounds, so all men have not the same writing.

Aristotle, 330 B.C.

Have you ever looked at someone and thought:

• He looks honest.
• She seems friendly.
• He doesn't look like a serial killer.

Are you always right?

Looks can be deceiving...but handwriting never lies.

Michelle Dresbold, Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, 2006