[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Handwriting analysis is often criticized for its lack of scientific foundation and the lack of serious study found in its application in the courts, but Kim Iannetta has solidified her work in recognizing dangerousness in writing in an advanced way as she examines the murder case against Casey Anthony and the role of Casey's mother, Cindy, in the development of her daughter’s dysfunctional patterns.
Iannetta has practiced handwriting analysis for nearly fifty years. During that time she attained a reputation for her superior ability in pinpointing the deviance of different individuals who have mental illness or criminal behavior. To solidify that reputation, years ago she participated in a scientific study at Hawaii State Hospital where her analyses of psychiatric patients were found to correlate significantly with those of professionals in psychology and psychiatry.
Over the years Iannetta has been admired for her uncanny ability to assess specific behavioral characteristics of people through her system of profiling. Her book, Danger Between the Lines, is used by security departments, police officers, detectives, psychologists and others in the mental health or security professions as a tool to assess dangerousness in clients or crooks.
One of the most famous cases in Hawaii that utilized Iannetta’s proficiencies, was one involving former Chief of Police Gibbs and a threatening letter. Police were trying to determine the letter’s author because of the potential danger from those threats. Iannetta was asked to identify the writer, and to do so she used techniques of both document examination and behavioral analysis, two specialties in which she has expertise. Working with the police Iannetta used writing samples from the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hawaii and identified the writer of the threatening letter, leading to criminal experts in security, law and behavioral sciences to rely upon her work in future cases.
In the case of Casey Anthony, the mother accused of killing her daughter Caylee in a high profile trial being followed by millions of people around the world, Iannetta has examined the elements of it as well as handwriting samples that have been printed in the Orlando newspapers. Her careful eye for detail and her ability to synthesize data from a variety of sources has allowed her to make a reasonable estimate about serious problems within the Anthony family. Parenting problems helped form the personality of a daughter who could lie without apparent emotion and be involved in a murder as heinous as the one of Caylee Anthony, the tot allegedly killed by her mother, Casey, according to the prosecution in this case.
What Iannetta has concluded is the Anthonys to be a dysfunctional family in its broadest and most classic sense. The core of lying behavior is seen in Cindy Anthony, a cold, distant and punitive mother of Casey, whose need to look good even when circumstances are bad led to a pattern of manipulation and deceit within the family constellation. It is the reason Casey Anthony might lie about the death of her child and continue to fabricate more and more stories over time, each different in focus than the other and each revealing how the Anthony patterns of deceit have been dramatized at their worst.
Iannetta examined the writing of all family members, however this article looks primarily at the assessment of Cindy Anthony whom Iannetta describes as having personality defects that helped set the stage for Casey's acting out behavior and potential to kill Caylee. Iannetta strongly believes in the American system of justice of innocence until proven guilty and theorizes that Casey could have killed her daughter accidentally, then covered up the crime. But Iannetta’s focus has been to look at the individual members of the family to hypothesize about the motivation for their behaviors as opposed to making a judgment about the guilt or innocence of Casey specific to killing Caylee.
Iannetta at the outset tells us, “This is a very dysfunctional family, “ then goes on to describe Cindy Anthony as the foundation for much of that dysfunction.
[caption id="attachment_5984" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cindy Anthony handwriting"]
[/caption]“In looking at Cindy’s writing, one can observe the characteristics thsat show her to be conventional, organized, a doer, but someone for whom appearances are more important than substantive truth. When things don’t look right, she can lie and make up stories, something that is said to have become a pattern in her daughter Casey’s life.
Cindy’s focus with her family is to hurry to make things right. Her writing reveals a lack of empathy for real feelings to be expressed. While her husband, George, relies on her for family connections; it wouldn’t be surprising to learn he had affairs because of Cindy’s over-riding conventional concerns and lack of warmth.
It’s in the relationship with her daughter Casey that Cindy’s handwriting gives evidence of control, jealousy and lack of warmth in maternal parenting behavior. She has likely been jealous of the emotional ties between her husband, George, and Casey, as it is likely Casey got her affection mostly from her father. That jealousy has led to more lies in order to cover up the family problems now revealed in the murder trial against Casey. Casey, immature, and narcissistic, needed to get free.
The tragedy, Iannetta concludes, does not just come from in the constellation of the family dynamics, but those that have taken place outside the courtroom as well. That too is a type of dysfunction Iannetta sees in a culture that has not strayed far from those maddening crowds of long ago that enjoyed the spectacle of gladiator games when folks were killed. “We need to remember Casey is on trial for her life, and any addition I am making to the understanding in this case is done in order to help folks recognize how family patterns can lead to awful things, as happened in the case of the Anthony family, where one of its members is facing a murder conviction and the death penalty.”
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Handwriting examples provided by Trialrun:
[caption id="attachment_5988" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Casey Anthony writing"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_5989" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Casey Anthony signature"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_5991" align="alignleft" width="244" caption="George Anthony"]
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