Nobody writes a ransom note by hand. The kidnapper cuts the words out of the papers one letter at a time, so the handwriting cannot be traced — and the players get a clue made entirely of other people's typefaces.
Type the headline, the demands and the signature, and every letter is set as a separate scrap of paper: a different typeface, weight, size and case, a different paper behind it, a slight tilt where it was glued down. A repeated letter comes from a different clipping each time, and correcting one word leaves the rest of the note where it was.
Two skins: glossy magazine letters on white copy paper for a present-day thriller, and yellowed 1920s newsprint on a page torn from a ruled notebook. A5, 148 × 210 mm, at 300 DPI. The newspaper the letters came from is a Newspaper, and a demand that came by wire is a Telegram.