Dr Barbara Zipser’s linguistic profiling work is currently being featured on Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian state broadcasting house) on the radio news throughout the day.
Dr Zipser conducted a linguistic analysis of two ransom notes, which was, along with some other data, submitted to the state prosecutor’s office by the brother of the victim. The analysis included a comparison between the ransom notes and texts written by the Werner M., who is currently serving a life sentence for this crime. The result was that M. is very likely not the author of these letters.
Moreover, Dr Zipser discovered notes for Sixth Form mathematics on indented writing on one of the ransom notes. M.’s children were too young at the time for this type of probability calculations. She also found evidence suggestive of a thought disorder in one of the ransom notes.
Ursula Herrmann was ten years old when she was abducted on her way home from gymnastics class. She was sedated and placed in a wooden box that was buried in the ground in a forest. The box was lined with blue and pink striped fabric and designed like a miniature home with a desk, a radio, comic books, sweets, apple juice and a toilet bucket. The box was connected to the outside world by a bizarre system of pipes, which could not have provided a sufficient exchange of air. Ursula did not move after she was placed into the box, which suggests that she was either dead or in a coma at this point.
