Splotches
The Stine letter has splotches near the center and at the bottom of the page. I have assumed that the marks are blood stains from the piece of Paul Stine's shirt that was inside the letter. (I could...
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Interesting arguments on both sides here. Z could have written the letter in advance, I just don't see how it would have benefitted him or his plans to do so. We could probably think of a million...
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I would tend to think this is preplanned and the letter was written prior to the crime. Blood will cogaulate within seconds and dry within minutes. Plus the material would wick the blood into the...
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If the envelope somehow got dampened even slightly during delivery (rain?) at post office or after it was delivered, there could be some sort of blood transfer from swatch to letter.
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I can think of no earthly reason why anyone with any modicum of sense would write a letter admitting to having committed a murder before the fact. What's to gain? Z was under some time pressure to...
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I can think of no earthly reason why anyone with any modicum of sense would write a letter admitting to having committed a murder before the fact.That's a fair statement, Smithy, except that Z was no...
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Or his alibi required him to commit the crime Sat. night, mail the letter while in S.F., and be somewhere else the following day. No mail delivery on Sunday, so letter is posted on Monday, and Z is...
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Seagull and others,I hear what you are saying about pre-planning, but I still believe some of the events "like the taking of Stine's shirt" were not planned. There is a phrase in the...
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Many large cities still had Sunday pickup from boxes well into the 1980s; I'd be surprised if SF didn't have that during 1969.
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Eastcoast_ I recall some of the big blue mailboxes had Sunday pick up. The ones that were closest to the post office. I realise, too, that the letter could have been mailed from a large hotel with an...
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San Francisco still has a Sunday pickup at the substation at Macy's and I believe also at the main post office.
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actually to rectify some inaccuracies of several post between eastcoast and seagull, columbus day was observed on october 12 each year untill 1971 when the "monday holiday bill" was...
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Excellent observation, jeffp. It appears you're correct and that would explain the apparent delay in mailing the Stine letter. Z, of course, still could have pre-written it but that does seem to clear...
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Seagull wrote:Eastcoast I'm not so sure that the phrase "last night" is accurate. The murder occured on Oct 11, the letter was postmarked PM Oct 13, strictly speaking the letter...
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IMO, the smudges look like dusted fingerprints, I think that is what they are unless there is a report somewhere that indicates blood was found on the letter.The fingerprints argument might be valid,...
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NachtThe splotches on the letter do look like they could be blood and when the letter is folded and placed on the envelope the two stains seem to be in the same position as if something seeped...
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I'm more inclined to think what we are looking at here with regard to the "splotches" is a letter/envelope that has gone through the process.The envelope has a lot more markings on...
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As Sean has referred to in his process term, the discoloration may be the result of iodine fuming or ninhydrin spray in an effort to discover latent fingerprints. Iodine fume stains would have...
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My intuition tells me that if the color on the letter came from paul stine shirt, it would have been potent anough to soke through the envelope.just a notion.
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