Rudy Guede is the third person convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher along with Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
Guede
fled to Germany after the murder for unknown reasons and was
subsequently detained by the police. As he awaited extradition to Italy
he wrote a letter to his friend to say hello and give thanks. Then he
wrote more, a diary, describing the events surrounding Meredith's
death. This 'diary' was obtained from perugiamurderfile.org
In the slideshow is the letter he wrote to his friend and former teacher, Paulo Barbini. This is what I will be analyzing.
Page 2 - Letter to Paulo
His words are evenly spaced apart showing his need to keep his space (literally and figuratively) from others. He doesn't get too chummy too quickly and would rather keep a distance until he knows someone well.
This is contrasted to the letters of each word which are very tightly written together. Letters crammed together in each work shows him feeling restricted and could indicate a narrow way of thinking.
Along with the small size of the letters, his writing shows that he is introverted and does not seek the limelight (quite the opposite of the other two defendants who have made millions with publicly sharing their stories.) Rudy would rather keep out of the public eye and has done so for some time, mainly because he is in prison. This wouldn't prevent him from giving interviews if he wished but he chooses not to speak to the press.
The slant of his writing is mostly straight up and down, indicating that he is an analytical and independent thinker. Some of his letters slant slightly backwards which indicates that he is more reserved, could be more selfish and cautious. Rudy is someone who values his privacy, keeps his distance from others and can be mistrustful of others.
The relatively large spacing between each line of his writing shows that he likes to be more rational and not emotional in his thinking. The regularity of the spacing between lines show that he is organized and may have executive abilities. He would also have an interest in cultural topics.
However, he may also be a bit out of touch with his own emotions at times, not knowing how to feel about things right away. He showed this tendency when he described finding Meredith bleeding and he hesitated on how to react. He wanted to call the police but decided against it as he knew he would be blamed. Later on, he would be beaten up in jail but drop the charges at the last minute.
His hesitancy to act is reiterated by the mainly rounded shape of his letters with a few angular formed letters dispersed throughout. This shows that his is moderately aggressive, that is only when he has to be. Otherwise he would be tranquil and docile for the most part which would also cause him to miss opportunities or not act when he should.
The Upper Zone is most dominant in his writing but does not become entangled with the writing above it. This shows that his thinking is clear and his thoughts are in order. He is not confused or lacking in drive to express what he knows.
His writing also shows well positioned upper zone and well-placed i's and t's. Karen Amend and Mary Ruiz write in their book Hand Writing Analysis [pg11], "Well-proportioned loops and stems with sensibly placed i-dots and t-bars reveal mental capability and alertness."
The upper zone loops of his h's and l's are well-formed and often are simplified to a stick formation or have no 'lead in stroke.' Expert graphologist Andrea McNichol in her book Handwriting Analysis Putting it to Work for You, writes on pg 166," Cursive writing with few or no lead-in strokes means intelligence, directness, efficiency, and speed. If you think fast, you will write fast, and making stick figures affords you one of the easiest means possible to do this."
There is a consistency or overall regularity to the size of the lettering and zones of his writing. This reflects his maturity, self-awareness and discipline.
Notice he spells Meredith's name correctly even though he barely knew her and English is not his first language. [This diary was written from a German jail cell on November 19, 2007 when the tabloids were only just starting to catch on to this huge story. Patrick Lumumba who had been the focus of the investigation due to Amanda Knox's false accusation, was released the next day, November 20, 2007.]
The almost complete lack of ornamentation (aside from the P's which are very nicely formed) indicates that Rudy is not pretentious or putting on a show. He also has a strong inner core or fortitude.
His o's are carefully closed which indicates that he can keep a secret.
He ends his letter with a very large 'Grazie di tutto' - 'Thank you for everything'. Showing that this was very important for Rudy to express to his friend.
The whole purpose of Rudy's letter was to thank Paulo for everything he had done for him. Again the healthy mind, self-awareness and generosity in Rudy's character shows in the fact that his writing was to show appreciation for someone else and not to merely talk about himself to himself. This is also shown by the dominance of the upper zone vs. the middle zone which is more self-oriented.
Rudy wrote to his dearest friend at a time when his life was spiraling out of control. He had just been part of a gruesome murder and knew that life as he knew it was over. This was a moment of death of his previous life or crisis for Rudy. This is shown by his signature which Rudy crossed out. He hated himself at this time. It also appears that he crosses out 'Guede' but underlines Rudy Thomas which indicates that he would much prefer to be addressed as 'Rudy' and not 'Mr. Guede'.
Rudy seems to have great affection for the number '8' written three times at the end of his letter. Rudy explains this earlier in the letter when he expressed that he had wanted to be this number like Paulo's son who was a talented soccer player with the number 8.
The length of his letter and the somewhat quick pace of writing, shows that Rudy is very comfortable and expresses himself easily in writing . . . quite possible that he may come out with his own book one day. If he does, it will be more objective than subjective as his writing is less self-centered and more aware of the bigger picture.