Why does LE think that Excitement's Crave is legit?

[winters]

Or do they? If I'm remembering correctly, Larry Crompton seemed quite ambivalent about it in Sudden Terror.

From what I understand, attribution to the EAR is based on two facts:

1) It refers to the Mafia, and the attack against the Italian family was in close proximity to this letter.

2) The typewriter. Some info on the typewriter:

A producer from one of the TV segments stated that the typewriter used to write the letter was "a 'Royal' brand blue metal, with blue fiberglass case 22x14x8" and implied that a model of that type had been stolen somewhere in Sacramento.

Later, user portofleith added the following information in this post:

"The typewriter was a portable Royal in a fiberglass case. (great pic F1guyus and they were very lightweight and easy to transport). Here are a few more interesting facts about the crime scene where the typewriter was stolen:

1) the typewriter was stolen in a home burglary between 7:00-8:00 pm in August , prior to the rape attempt that occurred in December. The typewriter, a photograph of the victim and an engagement ring were the only items stolen. A jar of pickles was moved in the refrigerator.

2) the victim attended the rape awareness meeting at Foothill JHS 10/27/77

3) husband was a Lt Colonel in the Army and not home

4) victim had been receiving phone calls for weeks

5) a group of loitering teenagers outside the home deterred the rape. One of the teenagers, Kippi Vaught, later in a strange twist of fate, became a victim of the sex slave killers Charlene and Gerard Gallego."

Very interesting information and she's always great at providing info, I'm just not sure of the source. I didn't find it in Crompon's book and I don't have the other ones on me.

The main reason I find myself wanting to pursue the validity of Excitement's Crave is that it's really the sole communication we may have from EAR that was intended for public consumption. What I find odd about it is that the last line about the papers and TV can be taken to mean that further communications were planned, although the most common way of reading that is that there would be further news reports about him.

And honestly, the whole thing seems like it could easily be a prank. Although if the same model used to type it was indeed the same as one that was just stolen, that's a coincidence that's hard to ignore. Can someone verify that a typewriter of that model was indeed stolen? If not, what do you folks think about the authenticity of the poem?

[woofytreats]

Personally, I've always been ambivalent about the poem because, rightly or wrongly, I can see a bored UC Davis frat boy penning that poem more than our friend. While it may be the sole communication from EAR/ONS for public consumption...it's probably because it IS such a singular item that I find it questionable. Similar situation to the "Afraid" letter that was supposedly mailed to...what was it??...the TV station and the city council...but whose existence and authenticity seems close to the vest...with differing levels of acknowledgement.

The second bit is the "mafia lord" or other component as supposedly having meaning to the Italian family from the Sand Bar Circle attack and thus legitimizing the poem as being from the EAR. I can't remember if "sonofstrutter" mentioned this in his posts or not, but it seems a little too vague to make a determination one way or another without detailing the specifics.

Lastly, Royal typewriters were ubiquitous in the 70s and could be found everywhere. I posted a couple years ago on a similar thread that the first time I went over to a girlfriend's house in the late 70s, I saw that she had the same model Royal as I did. While I believe there was a Royal typewriter stolen, I think the kicker is that although authorities can identify the Royal model that generated the poem, there would have be a reference to typeset anomalies or an identifying factor to confirm if it was indeed that particular typewriter. My understanding is that there were no such anomalies that they found that could be used for comparison.

[NaptimeNancy]

I too have a hard time believing the same guy that allegedly wrote 'Mad is the Word' also wrote 'Excitement's Crave. EC seems much more clever writing and grammar than the author of that notebook is capable of. I'm with you on thinking it was a prank. I do however believe the Afraid letter exists/existed and that is was dumb to publish acknowledgement of letter and put the person who wrote it in danger. No wonder no one ever claimed it.

[Drifter]

Interesting thread.

I too have a hard time believing the same guy that allegedly wrote 'Mad is the Word' also wrote 'Excitement's Crave.

Agree.

An analogy to this would be that it's hard for me to believe that the VR doughboy sketch is the same person represented in some of the Sacramento sketches.

At the risk of stating the obvious, we have 4 possibilities, one of which is correct:
1. Mad is the Word and Excitement's Crave were both written by the EAR,
2. neither Mad is the Word nor Excitement's Crave was written by the EAR,
3. Mad is the Word was written by the EAR, but Excitement's Crave was not,
4. Mad is the Word was not written by the EAR, but Excitement's Crave was.

As just a guess, I lean toward #4.

D.

[winters]

Does anyone know if the dogs smelled the offender's scent ON the Mad is the Word essay? That wouldn't prove he wrote it, but it might suggest it and at least prove he handled it or possessed it.

[NaptimeNancy]

Great question, Winters. Also, what type of car was it that was seen parked there? I know the car was gone when they found it but did anyone report seeing what was parked there?

[winters]

Dec 1, 2016 15:35:27 GMT NaptimeNancy said:

Great question, Winters. Also, what type of car was it that was seen parked there? I know the car was gone when they found it but did anyone report seeing what was parked there?

It was a dark van. It was initially seen in the driveway of the residence that was attacked, and then it seems before the attack that ONS moved it quite a ways away and then returned to the residence on foot.

Edit: I should clarify. A dark van was seen in the driveway of the residence, and ONS' scent was traced from there to an area quite a ways away, where it then vanished. It's quite likely but not certain but it's assumed that the van was ONS. A van matching that vague description was also seen at one of the other residences that ONS attacked. For this attack, a side gate was also opened, and it seemed to LE at the time that ONS parked there and a did a few things like open the gate to confuse any tracking dogs that might be used. The side gate was not used by ONS to enter the property for his attack.

[NaptimeNancy]

Dec 1, 2016 16:36:24 GMT winters said:

Dec 1, 2016 15:35:27 GMT NaptimeNancy said:

Great question, Winters. Also, what type of car was it that was seen parked there? I know the car was gone when they found it but did anyone report seeing what was parked there?

It was a dark van. It was initially seen in the driveway of the residence that was attacked, and then it seems before the attack that ONS moved it quite a ways away and then returned to the residence on foot.

Edit: I should clarify. A dark van was seen in the driveway of the residence, and ONS' scent was traced from there to an area quite a ways away, where it then vanished. It's quite likely but not certain but it's assumed that the van was ONS. A van matching that vague description was also seen at one of the other residences that ONS attacked. For this attack, a side gate was also opened, and it seemed to LE at the time that ONS parked there and a did a few things like open the gate to confuse any tracking dogs that might be used. The side gate was not used by ONS to enter the property for his attack.

Thank you!

[sketch]

Sorry more questions here - was the same typewriter used for the "Afraid" letter?

[ambertmbg]

Dec 2, 2016 12:08:26 GMT @masootz said:

great discussion. i agree the wife of a mafia lord is vague and only tenuously connected if we take the italian father of a victim as the reference, which doesnt make much direct sense. since he wasnt a prolific writer or communicator there probably isnt a lot we can get from this. im much more interested in the van at the two connected rapes.

I'm trying to get the timing down in my head. At first, I thought there was too much time past between the letter and the attack on sonofstrutter's home. It dawned on me though...when was the letter received in regards to the town hall meeting? Is this the one mentioned in the OP?

Where does the typewriter theft fit in as far as dates go?

[woofytreats]

Dec 8, 2016 4:45:44 GMT ambertmbg said:

Dec 2, 2016 12:08:26 GMT @masootz said:

great discussion. i agree the wife of a mafia lord is vague and only tenuously connected if we take the italian father of a victim as the reference, which doesnt make much direct sense. since he wasnt a prolific writer or communicator there probably isnt a lot we can get from this. im much more interested in the van at the two connected rapes.

I'm trying to get the timing down in my head. At first, I thought there was too much time past between the letter and the attack on sonofstrutter's home. It dawned on me though...when was the letter received in regards to the town hall meeting? Is this the one mentioned in the OP?

Where does the typewriter theft fit in as far as dates go?

If I'm correct, the typewriter was stolen in a burglary from the victim of the aborted Revelstock attack in Foothill Farms four months before her attempted rape in December of '77. The Revelstock incident and Excitements Crave both happened in December of '77. The Sand Bar Circle ( sonofstrutter ) attack took place a few months before the theft of the typewriter and 6-7 months before Excitements Crave was mailed.  About the same time period passed between when the Italian man stood up at the town hall meeting and when they were attacked in 5/77.

Apparently, there's evidence that the neighbor of the strutter might have been the primary target so that might discount the idea of a vendetta from EAR although they lived close enough to the meeting that they could've been followed home pretty easily.

If LE is advising that the typewriter is a dead end as there's no comparative samples to ID that it was the stolen one, I'd have to go with that information. My understanding is that there are some type anomalies in Excitements Crave so I think it's a little strange that there weren't any typewriting examples around their house / files that might have served as comparison. Maybe someone understands the specifics better than I do or they're of a kind that's non-recurring and based on the typist and not the typeset.

[NaptimeNancy]

Wonder if the envelope that Excitment's Crave was mailed in was kept (ha). And if the address on the envelope was handwritten, whether it was ever compared to the Danville notebook...

[winters]

Dec 10, 2016 5:20:37 GMT NaptimeNancy said:

Wonder if the envelope that Excitment's Crave was mailed in was kept (ha). And if the address on the envelope was handwritten, whether it was ever compared to the Danville notebook...

Excellent questions, as always, Mrs. B. Does anyone know?

I've not seen any documentation on what the addresses on the envelopes looked like.

[Drifter]

Dec 12, 2016 15:04:33 GMT winters said:

Dec 10, 2016 5:20:37 GMT NaptimeNancy said:

Wonder if the envelope that Excitment's Crave was mailed in was kept (ha). And if the address on the envelope was handwritten, whether it was ever compared to the Danville notebook...

Excellent questions, as always, Mrs. B. Does anyone know?

I've not seen any documentation on what the addresses on the envelopes looked like.

That's detail that I do not believe has ever been discussed before.  I don't recall any information on our message board that would answer the question that mrsbloodhound has asked.

EC poem has been known about for a very long time.  But the Danville info has been known, at least publicly, only in the last few years.

D.

[rocker]

Dec 14, 2016 7:32:11 GMT Drifter said:

Dec 12, 2016 15:04:33 GMT winters said:

Excellent questions, as always, Mrs. B. Does anyone know?

I've not seen any documentation on what the addresses on the envelopes looked like.

That's detail that I do not believe has ever been discussed before.  I don't recall any information on our message board that would answer the question that mrsbloodhound has asked.

EC poem has been known about for a very long time.  But the Danville info has been known, at least publicly, only in the last few years.

D.

Statement from a post pertaining to the EC poem envelope:

 "I was recently directed to something written by a former member of this board named Sandia who no longer posts here. She has written that there was a return address on the envelope that originally contained EC, and that it led back to a "curmudgeonly" amateur poet who was a member of a class called World of Poetry run by a man named Eddie Lou Cole, who apparently held classes, contests, and a publication for amateur poets in the Sacramento area. Apparently the police concluded that the curmudgeonly poet was not the author of EC."

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