The Typewriter

Police determined the fake business proposal that was sent with the flashlight bomb was typed on an electronic Smith-Corona typewriter. 

Typewriter collector Uwe Wachtendorf says police would have carefully analyzed the letter and noticed the perfect spacing and alignment of the words — a defining factor of electronic machines.

Typewriter collector Uwe Wachtendorf

7 years ago

Duration 4:13

Typewriter collector Uwe Wachtendorf

The death letter

The typewriter had a daisy wheel — a disk with letters, numbers and symbols on spokes — that serves as the printing element of an electric typewriter or printer. 

Each interchangeable wheel came with a different font. The death letter was typed with the font Script 10/12 with the daisy wheel number 59543. 

According to police, at the time, only two per cent of people who had a Smith-Corona typewriter owned the daisy wheel that made this font. 

What's more, the daisy wheel and typewriter combination used to type the letter to Wayne, displayed a unique anomaly — a small backward slash after each period. Police believe the anomaly may have been caused by a bent arm on the plastic daisy wheel.

More evidence in Wayne Greavette's case:

• The Package
• The Flashlight
• The Letter
• The Sketches