homework

[woofytreats]

You've got to think that there's a bit of Occam's Razor element to these papers. They'd likely be eliminated from interest if they were found in a condition that indicated they'd be out in the elements for x period...but they were found in very good condition. I have an inherent bias in that I grew up nearby and I don't attribute a notebook, shoe, or clothing on those SP tracks as singular events whether this notebook was dropped by DeAngelo or not.

Looking at the known, salient bits of the contents, it might steer you more toward connections than trying to prove it was JJD's outright. So, if the Davis city engineer was correct in saying that the map exhibited specific features that were only part of the Village Homes development in Davis...and a Stockton victim was a Girl Friday for a large developer, the related connections ( if any ) likely mean more than, for example, trying to find a development that doesn't exist as drawn. If DeAngelo's brother or brother-in-law was in real estate / development, I can see JJD having the opportunity to take a notebook from his child, relation ( used by more than one person ), or just be something he found in the area. It would seem unusual on the surface to have these connections above involve a notebook map ( independent of any "freaky tween" essays ) found 50 miles or more away from a specific connection with the Davis development and a possible tied connection with a victim. Whether that moves the needle might be hard to determine.

As mentioned up thread, if it's correct to think that Holes has more unreleased information in terms of connections, it might help put things into place. Why was he in Contra Costa specifically??...and potentially related elements might cascade from there. In other words, there may be elements that are answered by broader questions...and although that might seem obvious, it's not a subtle distinction if people are hung up in specificities that don't matter. Post-arrest, it might come down to how much more actual speculation you want to assign to these papers with limited information.

[kg]

The papers were written by a person who would become incensed when held accountable for his/her actions. If that is a trait that fits JJD, then it is reasonable he could have written the Mad is the Word essay. We do not know the answer to that question. I would direct you to the Greg Pippen thread if you want to read about someone that does fit the criteria of someone who could have written that essay.

[Red909XMZ1]

Yep, it could really be anyone - but, don't people get that? I guess not.

Those papers were discovered near the railroad tracks - they could be attributed to a million different people involving a million different scenarios.

If I may digress...I love margaritas🍸 and being on vacation! Life is sweet!🤣

[ralphman]

Apr 18, 2019 18:48:10 GMT Red909XMZ1 said:

Yep, it could really be anyone - but, don't people get that? I guess not.

Those papers were discovered near the railroad tracks - they could be attributed to a million different people involving a million different scenarios.

If I may digress...I love margaritas🍸 and being on vacation! Life is sweet!🤣

enjoy your vacation Red and please drink responsibly!!!

[kg]

The street where the homework papers were found was originally named Hansen Lane. This location was later renamed Rhett Place. Does anyone know anything about the history of the name change? I see a possible link here, however small the likelihood.

[casita57]

Apr 12, 2019 14:35:53 GMT woofytreats said:

There's a copy of a page from DeAngelo's Revocable Trust on reddit that's purported to show the two hand writings together. Based on that document being accurate, I think there are significant differences in the handwriting but I also doubt that DeAngelo's handwriting is involved to begin with versus dropping someone else's notebook if he had any involvement at all.

That notebook was found in a narrow section of the SP right-of-way and up against the fence, so you have an area that's going to condense and magnify whatever's there. If the crime occurred a mile or so north on the other side of the freeway where the right-of-way widens out, I'm not sure I'd give it the same significance and more importantly, I'm not sure I'd give it anywhere near Holy Grail status in either case like it's been given for the last five years. I grew up in the area and walked those tracks as a teenager. By "Holy Grail" standards, every shoe, ripped backpack, binder paper, and broken bike lock should also be DeAngelo's...so hopefully we'll find out at some point.

If I remember right the papers were found by a bloodhound that follow the scent from the crime scene. 

[walter]

Jul 10, 2019 19:46:10 GMT casita57 said:

Apr 12, 2019 14:35:53 GMT woofytreats said:

There's a copy of a page from DeAngelo's Revocable Trust on reddit that's purported to show the two hand writings together. Based on that document being accurate, I think there are significant differences in the handwriting but I also doubt that DeAngelo's handwriting is involved to begin with versus dropping someone else's notebook if he had any involvement at all.

That notebook was found in a narrow section of the SP right-of-way and up against the fence, so you have an area that's going to condense and magnify whatever's there. If the crime occurred a mile or so north on the other side of the freeway where the right-of-way widens out, I'm not sure I'd give it the same significance and more importantly, I'm not sure I'd give it anywhere near Holy Grail status in either case like it's been given for the last five years. I grew up in the area and walked those tracks as a teenager. By "Holy Grail" standards, every shoe, ripped backpack, binder paper, and broken bike lock should also be DeAngelo's...so hopefully we'll find out at some point.

If I remember right the papers were found by a bloodhound that follow the scent from the crime scene. 

It was but so were a lot of things there. The papers themselves weren’t thought of us much until holes found them in the bottom of an evidence box while he was looking for something else. They’d been there for decades.

From what I recall (and I could be wrong on this) there were multiple dogs used and there were some issues and inconsistencies as to where they led investigators. On top of it, someone else posted all of the issues with using bloodhounds and how many factors they can react to that cause issues with their scent tracking.

But entirely possible they were related in some way. You have a really reasonable explanation below.

[casita57]

Apr 18, 2019 4:04:17 GMT Red909XMZ1 said:

I speculate two possible theories with the homework papers:

Why would anyone spend an inordinate amount of time drawing out such a map that includes the eerie word "punishment" along with other leading words, phrases, and symbols?

Someone who was doing his very best to trick and elude LE. Hmmm...I wonder who that could be?🤔

Or, I speculate it could of been a legitimate, angsty, hormone-driven teenager who accidentally (or even purposely) dropped his poorly written papers near the end of the scent trail by the railroad tracks. What an amazing coincidence that would be!

Almost too amazing...yet, stranger things have happened.

 I would like to add another one with your permission Red. The papers were found by a bloodhound following the scent of the crime and if I remember right, in that area was a VW beetle parked, the police thought he used that car. What if the papers belong to the person who owns  the car and JJD  borrow it that day?
He could take his rape kit out of the car and the papers fell.

[woofytreats]

I don't think that there's a specific scent trail associated with the homework papers anymore than a shoe or backpack that might've been there. So, if JJD used a narrow corridor of railroad track, then the scent trail is going to lead you by things that might be connected with the case and also detritus that isn't. Leading the dogs in a "what's that boy??" prompt based on a visual isn't the same as following a scent trail and my understanding is these papers were more "come upon" than they were lead to specifically by the dogs.

If the scent follows the then Southern Pacific tracks used regularly as a short cut, it's logical that you're going to find things that aren't necessarily particular to the crime...that's why I mentioned my experience growing up nearby and walking these tracks a little north of there around the same time. It's kind of analogous to saying "The dog found a girl's shoe so it has to be connected to JJD". The papers were really magnified by Michelle McNamara as an almost Holy Grail that had been overlooked. They were certainly in very good condition....but IMO hypothetically so might have been a Pee-Chee folder not dropped by JJD a half mile up that actually had a name and school on it. The idea of a borrowed or stolen car having papers that weren't associated with EAR/ONS being dropped...either accidentally or purposefully...is always a good one in my opinion. There's a sizable divide between someone speculating these papers are DeAngelo's personally and some kind of obfuscation he laid on LE as a gift....if they even involve him at all.

[cherylh]

I think Michelle McNamara's interest in the papers can be somewhat credited to Paul Holes deciding a few years back that, without other new leads, they were something he could focus on and try to run with as far as it would go.

It's great that Holes later found a far more productive line to pursue.

[woofytreats]

You're probably right Cheryl...the papers were something tangible that resurfaced years later and were made public...which in this case, contextualized for the time ( around 2013 as I remember ), is a big deal. It's kind of the same argument for why so much time was evidently spent on the the license plate / autos connection...it was the most tangible thing they had at the time with potentially multiple pathways. The actual relevance level between the two notwithstanding.

[Agent99 aka Sandia]

This criminal was constantly throwing out false leads. Almost everything out of his mouth was a false lead. I should have know that dropping these 3 papers (map, 6th grade rant, Custer homework paper) was not an accident and meant to throw a red herring into the case.

We know he wasn't in construction but the map made Holes and many other in LE believe he was. So much time was spent chasing down that lead. I think the word "PUNISHMENT" written on the back and "Come from Snelling" were to make it seem more likely it came from the EAR.

Regarding the 6th grade rant, I took that red herring and was working on that lead. I was convinced that Mr. Sato at Cordova Gardens elementary school was the teacher. It wasn't. DeAngelo was too old to have been in his 6th grade class during the years he taught. HOWEVER, this is something I find very interesting. Mr. Sato's daughter found the thread on this board mentioning her father. She posted and after a misunderstanding caused by her mother mistakenly thinking I said I was in LE -- I guess she assumed that when I said I was working on a cold case. I guess she forgot that I had explained to her who I was and how I came to work on it. We got it straightened out and she related many scary incidents. One including taking down the clothes line in the yard, seeing a shadowy figure run through the yard, AND a terrifying incident where the person was inside her house. I won't be more specific other than to say that she was not harmed at all, just scared badly.  I got hold of Shelby who passed this information onto the DA and then the DA investigator spent a lot of time looking into the Mr. Sato's class connection.  

Even though we now know that he was not in Mr. Sato's class, the Sato's did live in Rancho Cordova and they did have incidents. I am wondering if the EAR did intend to indicate Mr. Sato as the teacher. Some years he taught an all male class of disciplinary students. (Mr. Sato while very strict was also very loving, and some students say he was the best teacher they ever had.)

This EAR/GSK criminal thought he was so clever and he was, he probably got a lot of enjoyment of throwing out the false leads and having the cops chase them down but look where he is now. This is actually a good thing for potential criminals to notice, now with DNA and the new technology being used, being clever won't help, still going to be caught.

[woofytreats]

Although it might be hard to stomach, I guess you could say he's getting a last laugh if we're still talking about these papers...and we're still at least a year away from a trial in which these papers might never be brought up in the course of the charges and prosecution. At least Rader wanted to tell all even if he was basically indifferent to the families of the victims. Pursuing the death penalty and all the other machinations around this guy, I'm sensing the possibility that these papers won't get 20 seconds of fame let alone 15 minutes...but maybe I'm wrong.

If there ends up being testimony about DeAngelo morphing satellite images for use in his neighborhood reconnoitering and nothing about the Danville papers...then I probably won't return here...even if some might think that's a good thing.

[Agent99 aka Sandia]

I wonder how hard he's laughing while sitting in a cell, wasting away to a skeleton, and eating green bologna. Laugh away, funny boy!

[Any of N]

Back in they day I used to lean strongly in the direction of the EAR being a younger offender back in 1976, and I would roll my eyes whenever a POI was linked in any fashion to any female named Bonnie. We know how all that worked out, so when I say the Danville Homework Papers are most likely red herrings, take it for what little worth it is.

And then there's DeAngelo's minuscule handwriting sample that we have access to, which is just close enough to keep the issue unsettled.

Imagine Joe DeAngelo making a big uncharacteristic goof and dropping some old papers near one of his crime scenes. Sure seems like that could be his undoing, doesn't it? A map and drafts of old homework assignments might be loaded with clues that lead in his direction. But, no, it seems as if he was incredibly lucky and just happened to have omitted anything useful when he drafted them years prior.

Reminds me too much of the old UFO/Yeti/Loch Ness sightings when, darn it, the witness's camera was out of film.That was before the digital age and smart phones. Now the gullible have to come up with new excuses.