Has the Zodiac Killer been identified? A group called Case Breakers claimed to have new evidence identifying Gary Poste as the Zodiac Killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s. In this interview with CNN, https://youtu.be/EKncdXxw2OU, Mike Wakshull describes the quality of the forensic evidence offered in the press release distributed […]
In the FX program, The Most Dangerous Animal of All, first aired on March 6, 2020, document examiner Patti Fisher inaccurately critiqued the work I performed in 2012 for the book by the same name. Ms. Fisher said a document examiner must not cherry pick letters and words when comparing the writing on various documents. […]
Use Stories Imagine that you are driving down the road at high speed. You come to a sharp curve in the road. You have a choice. Either you can slow down and properly execute the turn, or continue at your speed and crash. Logic says you will slow down to execute the turn. The same […]
On March 28 I was honored to speak at the International Association of Scientists and Researchers conference on Forensic document examination which was held in New Delhi, India. The conference which was delivered via Zoom featured speakers from #Egypt, #Turkey, #India, the #USA and other countries. My topic was “Little known secrets about altered documents.” […]
In trial or deposition, the question, “Is forensic document examination a science?” is often asked of the expert witness. The expert witness must provide a valid answer to this question to sustain credibility. This article seeks to answer the question from the perspective of legal opinions and practicality. The 1993 United States Supreme Court case, […]
Is correct provenance of documents important for obtaining a correct opinion in a forensic document examination analysis? Forensic document examiners are asked to authenticate documents. Often this authentication requires examination of signatures and handwriting to determine whether the writer of the known documents also wrote the document in question. An issue arises whether it is […]
In the FX program, The Most Dangerous Animal of All, first aired on March 6, 2020, document examiner Patricia Fisher inaccurately critiqued the work I performed in 2012 for the book by the same name. Ms. Fisher said a document examiner must not cherry pick letters and words when comparing the writing on various documents. […]
In 2012 I was retained to compare the handwriting of Earl Van Best, jr. with that of the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac stalked the streets and parks of the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The examination was done for the book “The Most Dangerous Animal of All.” A result […]
On Tuesday, February 12, I delivered a presentation to the Inland Empire chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI). The title of the presentation was, “The forensic examiner is a project manager.” The essence of the presentation was applying project management skills and techniques to a forensic examination. This essay is focused on forensic document examination […]
On Friday, October 18 I had the privilege of presenting “Document Fraud in Elder Abuse and Probate Cases” to the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys at their conference in Coronado, CA. This organization is excellent at planning. They have speakers perform a microphone check and test presenting the slides the day before the presentation. […]