Handwriting Analysis of DC Madam’s Suicide Note

Handwriting Analysis of DC Madam’s Suicide Note

I originally wrote this article for my blog Moneytalksmagazine.com. I included it in my book What Makes People Tick - Handwriting Analysis Xray to the Soul which I published on Amazon and Kindle.

On May 1st 2008, so called DC Madam Deborah Jean Palfrey was found hanging in a storage shed at her mother’s mobile home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. A couple suicide notes were found.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department officially declared that it was a suicide. They made the notes public. The Sheriff’s Department announced that her mother and sister have seen the suicide notes and say that it is Deborah’s handwriting.
As a Certified Handwriting Analyst, my training experience includes examining writing found on suicide notes. The typical suicide note reveals personality traits that are emotional dynamics of a suicide state. Depression, low self esteem, moodiness, and impulsiveness, which indicate a person who may act in a self destructive manor. It is the combination of such traits that tell the hidden tale of what was going through their mind when they wrote the note.
There are a couple limiting factors to my analysis. I do not have access to the original notes. Without them, I am unable to determine the depth of pressure in the writing. Pressure indicates the passion and drive in the personality. Heavy pressured writing would show someone who has a challenge letting go of emotional hurt. In this examination, the letters seem relatively heavy, but I can’t be totally sure.
I also do not have a sample of Palfrey’s handwriting to see how she normally wrote.
There is an overlapping of letters on each other, especially the y-loops. This shows confusion of interests. “Too many pans in the fire”
Block printing – hiding the expression of true emotions in the writing. Often a sign of trouble, especially if other traits are found.
There are not many lower case letters but the few that can be measured have a emotionally expressive slant. This person shows her feelings, tends to be moody and impulsive. But this alone is not something that would cause someone to kill themselves.
There are only a few lower case t’s. They have low t-bars. The height of the t-bar crossing the t-stem is a general measure of the writer’s self esteem. The t-bars are low - some have the bar dropping down to the “baseline” which is the bottom of the letters.
In the Palfrey’s notes, there was no indication of depression. Depression is revealed by the downward slant of a line of words. Optimism on the other hand is revealed in upward slanting words, such as the word “Mom” in the greeting on the mom-note.
The o’s are open and well formed meaning that the writer is a frank speaker. No lying or self-deception is indicated.
Many of the y’s have large lower loops extending into the words underneath. Large lower loops indicate strong physical imagination. Lots of energy in the physical life. Desire for travel, physical activity. People with large y-loops often have strong sex drives. This is an interesting aspect. I have analyzed handwriting in autographs of porn stars and was surprised to find small or incomplete y-loops. Meaning very little real interest in sex, or even feeling frustration in that area. This is a generalization, but sex workers often have no real interest in sex. They are really in it for the money.
Y-loops that overlap on other words often indicate promiscuity. They have too many ‘irons in the fire”.
Relationships with several people at the same time. Life is complicated for them. It also shows a problem with setting personal boundaries.
The word ‘know’ in the first sentence of the Mom note is larger than normal. This is a rebellious “go to Hell” trait typical in self employed business people. They don’t like to be told what to do.
There are hooks at the end of many strokes. That indicates the desire to acquire. These people like material things. They are motivated by money. They often are collectors. They may have closets full of shoes.
So this writer is motivated by material things.
Bottom line – for me there is no clear indication of a suicidal state in the handwriting. There are some problems, but not to the extreme usually found in a suicide note. The language is very casual. If it weren’t for the circumstances surrounding the notes and what is being talked about, I would almost think it was someone saying she was going away on vacation for a while.
“Bye Mom, I’m going away for a while. See you later.”