Eight years later, on March 8th 1981, the Zodiac Killer would resurface in Atlanta, Georgia when he wrote to 1611 W Peachtree Street NE, the home of the television station WXIA-TV "11 Alive", stating "Hello its me. Haven't you people figured out who is killing these little people yet. I'll give you a hint, I used to be in San Francisco. I used to stalk women, but I like to kill children now. At all my victims bodies I have left certain clues, but I guess it's too much for you Rebels to handle. So I guess I'll have to tell you. I'll (to) kill children because they are so easy to "pick off: Buy the way, if you still have letters from the other murders, I am not writing in the same hand writing". Was the Zodiac Killer targeting public radio and television stations for a wider audience reach after many barren years in the newsprint media? The Zodiac Killer may have mailed far more communications to the newspapers than we currently know of - but without allying murder to his missives - his ability to attract column inches gradually dwindled.
The Albany Medical Center in New York, alongside the Albany Medical College, established a public radio station in 1958 carrying the call letters WAMC, that served parts of seven northeastern US states including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. The Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the Albany Times Union newspaper on August 1st 1973 stating "You were wrong, I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and well and I'm going to start killing again. Below is the name and location of my next victim. But you had better hurry because I'm going to kill her August 10th at 5:00 pm when the shift change. Albany is a nice town". It contained a code, which when solved read "(name) Albany Medical Center this only the beginning". There were many medical facilities in and around New York, so why would the Zodiac Killer target this particular location? Did he have some connection to Albany, or was it because the Albany Medical Center had broadcast capabilities to get his message out to a wider audience. Or both? Eight years later, on March 8th 1981, the Zodiac Killer would resurface in Atlanta, Georgia when he wrote to 1611 W Peachtree Street NE, the home of the television station WXIA-TV "11 Alive", stating "Hello its me. Haven't you people figured out who is killing these little people yet. I'll give you a hint, I used to be in San Francisco. I used to stalk women, but I like to kill children now. At all my victims bodies I have left certain clues, but I guess it's too much for you Rebels to handle. So I guess I'll have to tell you. I'll (to) kill children because they are so easy to "pick off: Buy the way, if you still have letters from the other murders, I am not writing in the same hand writing". Was the Zodiac Killer targeting public radio and television stations for a wider audience reach after many barren years in the newsprint media? The Zodiac Killer may have mailed far more communications to the newspapers than we currently know of - but without allying murder to his missives - his ability to attract column inches gradually dwindled. These are the only two letters that we currently know of that, were not only were mailed to radio and television stations, but carried small Zodiac crosshairs on the address side of the envelope subsequent to 1969 - and both were postmarked outside of California. Two letters, mailed eight years and 1,000 miles apart (seemingly distant from the bulk of Zodiac activity), yet both envelopes mimicked the October 13th 1969 letter, which also contained small Zodiac crosshairs on the address side of the envelope (and not available to the public in 1973 and 1981). The Atlanta letter made mention of San Francisco and used phrases borrowed from his October 13th 1969 and November 9th 1969 letters (both about Paul Stine), so it seems uncanny that his 1981 envelope would mimic the envelope postmarked two days after the Paul Stine murder in San Francisco. The Albany, Atlanta and October 13th 1969 letters are the only three envelopes known to carry the small Zodiac crosshairs on the address side of the envelope. None of these envelopes were in the public domain by 1981, so could not have been used by a copycat attempting to mimic previous communications (unless they were members of the press or law enforcement).
Forty-two days before the mailing of the April 24th 1978 letter which stated "I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here", somebody made a telephone call on March 13th 1978 to an individual in the Mission District proclaiming "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press that I am back in San Francisco". The obvious similarities in the language indicates there could be one individual responsible for both messages. The person who received the telephone call is unlikely to be some random member of the public, but somebody relevant to the Zodiac Killer case who lived in the Mission District in 1978 and had some influence in passing on the message. It could be somebody in the media or somebody connected to law enforcement, so if anybody can offer a suggestion please post it on any relevant Zodiac forum. The incident was obviously taken seriously because it was personally investigated by Inspector David Toschi - and if not reported in the newspapers - made the mention of David Toschi in the 1978 letter even more curious, in accompaniment to the use of "I am back" in both messages, along with "Tell the press" and "Tell herb caen". This phone call was captured as a recording on a voice answering machine, but I suspect it was routinely dismissed as a hoax as many phone calls had been previously and likely lost to the hands of time, despite no evidence for such a conclusion. Much evidence has fell by the wayside through incompetence and lethargy in the Zodiac case, and this phone call is just another example of a missed opportunity. On May 5th 1978, just 11 days after the "I am back with you" letter, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer phoned the San Mateo Police Department and falsely reported that a bomb had been placed in the Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street. This too had a loose connection to the 1978 letter, which mimicked the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969. Both the 1978 and Melvin Belli letter began the introduction with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", which were not only grammatically incorrect in both instances by failing to punctuate between "speaking" and "I", but were the only two communications to date that didn't keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on one line. Something a copycat would have been expected to do, had he copied at least four Zodiac letters published in the newspapers. The 1978 and Melvin Belli letters also inversely mimicked each other by the use of "I can not remain in control for much longer" in 1969 (one example) and "I am now in control of all things" in 1978. Bearing in mind these comparisons between the two letters - and the Melvin Belli letter was mailed to 1228 Montgomery Street in San Francisco - it is unusual that the telephone threat on May 5th 1978 was directed against the Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street, just 600 meters south of the Belli residence. The law offices of Melvin Belli at 722 Montgomery Street, purchased in 1959, were even closer to the Transamerica Pyramid at a mere 100 meters. It should also be noted that the 1978 letter was thought to have been mailed in either San Mateo or Santa Clara County, just like the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974. On April 28th 1978, the Chronicle reported that "Toschi said yesterday that the common, white envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". The threat towards the Transamerica Pyramid was phoned into the San Mateo Police Department. When the Zodiac Killer last claimed he was to plant a bomb on June 26th 1970, he utilized the peak of Mount Diablo on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay in Contra Costa County, which dominated the skyline at 3,849 feet. When the Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972 it was the tallest building in San Francisco, with an elevation of 853 feet. Would it really be a surprise if the Zodiac Killer had chosen the two most prominent landmarks on the San Francisco Bay Area skyline to threaten its residents with bombs? The Transamerica Pyramid would also feature in the 2007 Zodiac film directed by David Fincher, shown in time lapse photography to depict the transition of time between Zodiac events. Here is a current description of the Financial Crimes Unit at the San Francisco Police Department: Tasked with the investigation of financial crimes including but not limited to: access card fraud, Bunco cases, check fraud, counterfeit currency, counterfeit trademark, embezzlement, false financial statements, forgery, identity theft, internet fraud, elder financial abuse, non-return of rental property, real estate and notary fraud, and theft by false pretense or deceit. This is the equivalent department that long time partner of Inspector David Toschi transferred to after leaving homicide detail. The transfer of William Armstrong to fraud detail was mentioned on August 26th 1976 in the San Francisco Chronicle on the same day an advertisement was placed in the personal column of the same newspaper, reading "ZODIAC, Your partner is in DEEP REAL ESTATE. You're next. The Imperial Wizard can save you. Surrender to him or I'll terminate your case. R.A." The use of "You're next" has been highlighted in several potential Zodiac communications, so it's not unusual to find it yet again appearing in a personal advertisement headed by the pseudonym "ZODIAC". The standalone use of the "Zodiac" pseudonym was allied to the pasted wording "YOU ARE NEXT" in the Edward C. Adams communication on October 17th 1970, and a letter postmarked Montclair, California (near Riverside) on November 10th 1969, addressed to an individual in Clarinda, Iowa, that carried the message "Mr. (redacted) Your Next. The Zodiac". Neither of which had been released into the public domain by 1976. Therefore, the author of the advertisement in the personal column was somewhat mirroring two communications they could never have seen, unless they were the same individual. The wording in the personal advertisement was clearly borrowing from the newspaper article about the Zodiac Killer, mentioning that David Toschi's partner was in DEEP REAL ESTATE. William Armstrong had transferred to fraud detail, which dealt in real estate and mortgage fraud (as shown above). It appears that the threat to "terminate your case" was a direct threat towards David Toschi, who was the only San Francisco detective currently investigating the Zodiac Killer case in 1976. Inspector David Toschi was also assigned to the "Zebra murders" investigation in the years prior to the placement of this advertisement. These racially motivated murders on white people in San Francisco in 1973 and 1974 were perpetrated by black muslims. On April 28th 1974 many arrests were made, with Mayor Joseph Alioti releasing a statement that read in part "The San Francisco police, under the leadership of Chief Donald Scott, have pierced the veil of a vicious ring of murders called "DEATH ANGELS." The local group is a division of a larger organization dedicated to the murder and mutilation of whites and dissident Blacks. The pattern of killing is by random street shooting or hacking to death with machete, cleaver or knife. Decapitation or other forms of mayhem bring special credit from the organization for the killers. Hitchhikers are a particular prey. "DEATH ANGELS," a kind of reverse Ku Klux Klan, is based on the muddled aberrations clearly outside the mainstream of Islamic religions. In my opinion, it represents as much a potential threat to Blacks as to whites. Members are usually characterized by trim, neat appearance, and purport to live by a puritanical code of moral conduct. They are fanatical believers in Black separatism. The training of young boys fourteen years of age and over in what they call "martial arts" is a practice of this group. It consists of teaching manual methods and techniques of killing or incapacitating". The Zebra murders investigation was heavily criticized by many black community leaders and the public alike, drawing comparisons to the Zodiac Killer case in the Bay Area. This was evident from KRON-TV News footage on April 18th 1974, in which Reverend Cecil Williams likened the actions of police to a race war and argued that innocent black individuals were being stopped by the police - often several times - based on nothing more than their skin color. He stated "When, in fact, the Zodiac Killer and his picture came out in the newspapers, as well as television, a print of what they thought the Zodiac Killer to look like, they did, in fact, not begin to create a dragnet and a police state as it relates to white participants. So it's inherently discriminatory". I think it is unlikely that the Zodiac Killer was not aware of the Zebra murders, his name being brought up by comparison, and the involvement of Inspector David Toschi in the investigation, in a climate described as a race war. The Zodiac Killer wasn't averse to implementing newspaper and television coverage into his later communications, so the personal advertisement that threatened "The Imperial Wizard can save you. Surrender to him or I'll terminate your case", could have carried a racial element pertaining to a perceived war on black people. The Zodiac Killer may have been suggesting to Inspector David Toschi that he needed to submit to the teachings of the Imperial Wizard and Ku Klux Klan as his savior or he would be terminated from his current case. This is the only feasible connection I could find to link Inspector David Toschi to the Ku Klux Klan, who were described by Mayor Alioto as the reverse of the "Death Angels". If the personal advertisement was placed by the Zodiac Killer on August 26th 1976, one has to question how he could draw inspiration from a newspaper article that was published on the same day. To fashion an advertisement based upon this article he would had to have had advanced knowledge of its contents, which could only be realistically achieved if he was somehow connected to the newspaper or law enforcement. Greetings to Mo from Egypt. Steph 54: On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus." The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction. Articles reported the coroner's theory that Leona had been kept bound for a period of time, died as a result of the viral infection, and was disposed of by her abductor(s). Pathological and toxicological tests did not find any drugs or alcohol in her system. Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at approximately 6:00pm on December 10th 1969, and her naked body was found on December 28th 1969 by an elderly man collecting driftwood near Bolinas Lagoon. The coroner estimated she had been alive 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This suggests she was murdered (or had died in captivity) sometime between December 18th and December 24th 1969. Two of the least understood communications possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer were the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer and Day-by-day forecast for Leo horoscopes, with the first mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 10th 1969 and the second from San Francisco to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco on December 11th 1969. The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer pasted horoscope page contained the prominent words Want, Zodiac and Watch, and the phrase "Birds Fly South". One notable feature on the horoscope page was the word "Cancer", which had been ringed in the page title. The following day, on December 11th 1969, the Day-by-day forecast for Leo horoscope page was mailed, but the word Leo had not been ringed in the page title. However, this communication arrived one day after the abduction and eventual murder of Leona Roberts, whose body was ultimately discovered alongside Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County on December 28th 1969. The coroner concluded she had been kept alive for a duration of 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This makes the Day-by-day Forecast for Leo(na Roberts) horoscope page very interesting indeed, because it may imply a forecast for Leona Roberts rather than an immediate murder. Additionally, neither of these two communications (with one containing the word Zodiac) were public knowledge on January 4th 1970, when somebody telephoned Peggy Trainer, identified himself as the Zodiac Killer, and stated she would be his next victim. Peggy Trainer lived in the same building at 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo, where Leona Roberts was abducted from. This links both the phone call and December 10th 1969 communication to the pseudonym "Zodiac", and to the day of her abduction. The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer horoscope page was mailed on the same day as Leona Roberts abduction, containing the phrase "Birds Fly South". It has been difficult to find the meaning behind the author's choice of pasted words, but one thing we know about the Zodiac Killer is his inspiration was often sourced from literature and film, such as the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, first published on January 19th 1924 (or the resulting 1932 film version), the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera, The Mikado, and The Exorcist film (1973), inspired by William Peter Blatty's 1971 book, to name just a few. When the Birds Fly South is a fantasy novel by Stanton A. Coblentz, first published by The Wings Press, Mill Valley in Marin County in 1945, and reprinted in 1951. The story features Dan Prescott, an American adventurer, who discovers the hidden valley of Sobul in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, inhabited by a strange race of winged people known as the "Ibandru". He falls in love with one of them, Yasma, and they marry in a scene of general celebration. When fall comes, however, the Ibandru abandon their valley to fly south with the birds for the winter. Bearing in mind this novel was first published in Marin County and has Birds Fly South in the title, it seems extremely coincidental that the body of Leona Roberts would be found alongside Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, which is a major north-south Pacific Flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites. The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer communication was not only mailed on the day of Leona Roberts' abduction, containing the pasted word "Zodiac", but contained the phrase "Birds Fly South", present in the title of a book first published in Marin County, where the body of Leona Roberts was ultimately found alongside the north-south Pacific Flyway of migratory birds at Bolinas Lagoon. The astrological sign of Cancer (circled in the forecast below) is the cardinal sign of the Water trigon. When we factor in the Day-by-day Forecast for Leo(na Roberts) horoscope page and the telephone call on January 4th 1970 in absence of either of these communications being made public, can we really lay all this at the door of coincidence? The American Greetings card or Eureka card was believed to have been mailed by the Zodiac Killer in December 1990, depicting a wintry scene of a snowman and rabbit on its exterior, with an accompanying prewritten message of "FROM YOUR SECRET PAL CAN'T GUESS WHO I AM YET? WELL, LOOK INSIDE AND YOU'LL FIND OUT...". Once opened it revealed the prewritten reply of "...THAT I'M GONNA KEEP YOU GUESSIN'! HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ANYWAY". No additional writing from the sender was found on the card inner. Many Zodiac Killer enthusiasts have questioned over the last sixteen years whether the imagery on the original American Greetings card was altered by the sender of the communication. These individuals have considered that the Zodiac Killer may have manipulated the snowman to look like Groucho Marx, because he was cast as Ko-Ko in The Mikado, reciting both A More Humane Mikado and As Some Day it May Happen, two Gilbert & Sullivan acts used by the Zodiac Killer in his Little List letter mailed on July 26th 1970. The designer of the card was George Schill, a contract artist with the American Greetings Card Company (Corporation) for 38 years, who informed me that all the imagery on the card (including the snowman) is exactly as he created it. In other words, nothing was added to the card outer by the Zodiac Killer. George, who retired several years ago, remarked "I did create the card as shown" and that "The ‘“guess who“ copy is typical of a greeting card friendship/secret admirer type of card, and I added the Groucho Marx glasses which are cliche". George's website lists his accomplishments as an illustrator, stating "my work has garnered a number of awards and has been selected for inclusion in the NY Society of Illustrators Annuals, Communication Arts, Printʼs Regional Design Annuals, and the Addyʼs. In addition to my freelance work, I have designed thousands of greeting cards as a contract artist with the humor divisions at American Greetings, where I also write gags, develop characters, and concept new lines. Several of my cards have been nominated for the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award". I would like to thank George for supplying me with this information and clearing up some of the outstanding questions regarding the design of the Eureka card. You can visit George's website at https://www.georgeschill.com/ David Oranchak has just released another excellent Youtube video on his Let's Crack Zodiac series, examining the numeric codes of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who killed three and injured twenty-three in a seventeen year reign of terror between 1978 and 1995. David Oranchak has delivered the often complex and difficult topic of cryptography to the masses by attempting to simplify this topic through his visual presentations, orchestrated in such a way, it elevates the understanding of the many who once found the art of cryptography perplexing and impenetrable. One of the key members of the team that finally broke the Zodiac Killer's 340 cipher after fifty-one years, alongside Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke, David Oranchak has sought to demystify the specialized skills of codebreaking through eighteen well produced videos. Although some uncharitable individuals claim the hard work in breaking the 340 cipher was achieved predominantly through the use of computers, this overlooks the fact that we have had these powerful computers for many years with no resolution until 2020, the requirement to develop new systems such as "zkdecrypto", and the human input required to recognize the Zodiac Killer's language as it emerges from the noise. These three gentlemen achieved what every other person failed to surmount in over fifty years - and for this - they deserve all the accolades they have been rightly bestowed. The 340 message, claimed by many to be another rambling and meaningless collection of Zodiac tropes, has in fact, opened the window to many other Zodiac Killer communications such as the first Fairfield letter mailed on December 7th 1969 and the third Fairfield letter mailed on or around May 2nd 1971, both containing cryptograms known as the Z38 and Z148 respectively (the latter having been solved). Both of these communications were related to the 340 cipher through coding and messaging, despite the 340 cipher solution being decades away from being solved. The Z38 appeared to know the wording in the 340 cipher before the code was broken, and the text in the accompanying letter seemed to pre-empt the wording in the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969, just thirteen days later. The Fairfield letter on December 7th 1969 also pre-empted the phone call to an Oklahoma radio station later that day, in which the author of the letter and phone caller both mocked the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show and Melvin Belli on October 22nd 1969. The phone caller to Oklahoma, mimicking the person who rang into the Jim Dunbar Show, also stated he left California because "it got too hot for me", just like phone caller to the Palo Alto Times newspaper, who stated he had left San Francisco because "because I'm too hot there", less than a day before the Jim Dunbar TV Show. If that isn't enough evidence that the Zodiac Killer was the responsible, we have the solved message in the Z148 calling out both Karl Francis Werner and Eric Weill (the Jim Dunbar caller) as phonys, just like the message in the 340 cipher calling out Eric Well by stating "That wasn't me on the TV show". The Jim Dunbar TV show, in which a second phone call was received on February 5th 1970, from somebody that the San Francisco Chronicle and homicide detectives described as a phony. To ascertain whether a communication is authentic or unproven, we must get away from consistently using the reasoning of "handwriting and tone" as a throwaway line to examine Zodiac communications in a matter of minutes. The interconnectivity of Zodiac communications must be examined through the picture created by the Zodiac Killer throughout many years and multiple correspondences and phone calls, just like the story of the San Jose murders which spanned the time period of August 3rd 1969 to July 13th 1971, when the Zodiac Killer mailed the Monticello card to the San Francisco Chronicle. The interconnectivity between the Monticello card and the Z148 character cipher (and Pines card), the interconnectivity between the Z148 cipher and Albany letter code mailed in 1973, and the interconnectivity between the second Fairfield letter mailed on December 16th 1969 to the phone call delivered to the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969, are just a fraction of the strands in the spider web that link these occurrences together. Just staring at a letter for a handful of minutes and declaring it a hoax, is inadequate, when we consider that the Zodiac Killer was traveling on a journey of murder and domestic terrorism spanning many years. To view the whole picture, please open the links provided in this article. I am fairly confident that the Z38 code mailed on December 7th 1969 is somehow related to the 340 and 148 character ciphers through its messaging. Both the Z340 and Z148 ciphers referenced Eric Weill (the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show), by stating "That wasn't me on the TV show" and "stop listening to phonys" - and the Z38 code was mailed on the same day that somebody rang the Oklahoma radio station mimicking Eric Weill. My contention is that all three were the Zodiac Killer. I am not confident I can crack the Zodiac Killer's Z38 cipher because, despite having some limited knowledge of cryptography, this pales into insignificance when compared to individuals such as David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke, who ultimately broke the Zodiac Killer's masterpiece cipher. The recognition of the phrase "gas chamber" in the cryptogram was pivotal in understanding that the Zodiac Killer referenced recent newspaper articles (or the Jim Dunbar TV show) which detailed this very subject pertaining to Zodiac's capture. If we run with this concept, it may help to unearth the message in the Z38 code, which may (or may not) hold vital information of a contemporary nature and unlock the fifth of eight known enciphered messages. I have a strong belief that David Oranchak could make some valuable observations and inroads into the Z38 cipher if he chooses to tackle yet another Zodiac mystery, and thereby, attempt to close another chapter in this intriguing story. David Oranchak (zodiackillerciphers.com) and Nick Pelling (ciphermysteries.com) unearthed some extremely interesting information regarding the Albany letter mailed by the Zodiac Killer on August 1st 1973. The letter postmarked Albany, New York was mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper declaring "You were wrong, I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and well and I'm going to start killing again. Below is the name and location of my next victim. But you had better hurry because I'm going to kill her August 10th at 5:00 pm when the shift change. Albany is a nice town". It contained a code stating "(name) Albany Medical Center this only the beginning". The Albany letter was a direct response to a New York Daily News article about the Zodiac Killer on July 22nd 1973. The Zodiac Killer was continuing his well-worn method of constructing his communications based upon recent newspaper articles he had read. The snippet on the left from the New York Daily News carried all the ingredients to shape the response given in the Albany letter, including the reply that he was "not dead or in the hospital" and his inclusion of a cryptogram with the letter. His rebuttal came with a threat to kill a female member of the Albany Medical Center during a shift change. Based on everything we know about the Zodiac Killer and his propensity for creating terror, it is extremely likely that this chosen victim was a real individual selected from this hospital. If the Zodiac Killer applied the same methodology he had used in the past, claiming victims such as Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong, Richard Radetich, Donna Lass, Cheri Jo Bates and Kathy Bilek, along with possible future victims such as Diane Kennedy Pike and Daniel Williams, then there is good reason to believe he sourced his potential victim's name from the newspaper, rather than ambling around the hospital identifying potential targets in person or trawling through a phone book. The potential target, more than likely, had been featured in the newspapers which mentioned her working at the Albany Medical Center. One suggestion by David Oranchak for the name of the woman in the Albany letter was Connie Shenly (as shown below), but this name (in the short format) has not been found in any relevant and recent newspaper articles prior to August 1st 1973 . As David pointed out, some of the characters in the cryptogram are less than clear, so there is margin for error when attempting to decode the cryptogram. Between Nick Pelling and David Oranchak, the name "Consuelo" was put forward as a possibility because this could be reasoned based on the first eight characters of the cryptogram and the newspaper article unearthed by David Oranchak in comments. The newspaper article from the Times Record in New York on April 20th 1973 mentions the upcoming wedding of Miss Barbara Jeanne Zonitch of Watervliet and F. Michael Consuelo on Friday, August 17th 1973. She is detailed as a graduate of Troy High School in 1965, who was working at the Albany Medical Center Hospital at the time. Although "Consuelo" is a surname in this instance, when used as a forename it is sometimes shortened to "Connie". The threat to kill such a woman on the latest available Friday (August 10th) before her wedding, may be something the Zodiac Killer factored into the equation. When the Zodiac Killer mailed this letter on Wednesday, August 1st (or possibly a day earlier) he had every opportunity to select Friday, August 3rd 1973, but for whatever reason chose the weekend before the wedding. Of course, this assumes many things, such as whether this woman was ever the chosen target at all. However, she did work at the Albany Medical Center, she had an upcoming wedding one week after the proposed attack, and her married name fits into 5 of the first 8 characters of the cipher, despite the remaining 4 characters of the first 12 remaining problematic (unless these 4 are not part of the name, and are a mistake connected to the word "only" in the cryptogram message, which should have originally read "this is the beginning"). Admittedly, this newspaper article was dated just over three months before the arrival of the Albany letter on August 1st 1973, so it may be difficult to argue a strong connection unless the wedding between the eventual couple, Michael and Barbara Consuelo, was featured again in the newspapers closer to August 1st 1973. It may be productive for anybody with a subscription to newspapers.com to search the newspapers in and around Albany, New York in the July of 1973, or within the New York Daily News published on July 22nd 1973, which triggered the writing of the Albany letter in the first place. This is a good line of thinking by Nick Pelling and David Oranchak regarding the identity of the woman threatened in the Albany letter, and it could suggest that the Zodiac Killer spent considerable time in the New York region during this time period. It is fairly obvious that a threat on a female at the Albany Medical Center by the Zodiac Killer would have been taken very seriously by law enforcement, who would undoubtedly have informed the hospital and its staff of developments, and likely upped security during this period. If Barbara Zonitch Consuelo was the target of the threat in 1973, it's very likely she is unaware of the suggestion to this day. The 408, 340 and 148 character ciphers of the Zodiac Killer have officially been broken, and all revealed coherent messages. The Albany cipher was also genuine, containing the message "Albany Medical Center this only the beginning". Therefore, it's reasonable to assume the opening part of the message contained the name of his target, because without a readable or genuine name the threat would lose its impact through a perceived lack of knowledge by its sender. The specificity of name, location and time undoubtedly carries greater weight from the aspect of terror, despite the fact the Zodiac Killer was unlikely to have ever followed through after giving police notice of his proclaimed intentions. If the woman in the message isn't Barbara Zonitch Consuelo, then the real target may still be found in the pages of a New York newspaper in the weeks prior to August 1st 1973. Anna Kane (26) was found strangled to death alongside the Ontelaunee Trail in Pennsylvania on October 23rd 1988, but her killer was not identified until 2022 after a breakthrough in genetic genealogy. Male DNA was retrieved from her clothing during the initial stages of the investigation and ultimately failed to produce a match to anybody in the database. Sixteen months after her murder, in February 1990, somebody mailed a sinister letter to the Reading Eagle newspaper with intimate details about the crime and signed it from a "concerned citizen". The DNA retrieved from the saliva on the sealed part of the envelope matched the DNA from the clothing of Anna Kane, inextricably linking the sinister letter to her murder, and dispelling any notion that the communication was mailed by a hoaxer. In 2022, the genetic genealogy analysis performed by Parabon NanoLabs identified Scott Grim, who had died aged 58, only four years earlier. On the condition that Inspector David Toschi was correctly exonerated from having mailed the April 24th 1978 letter, it is logical to conclude that the DNA retrieved from the sealed part of this envelope was from the Zodiac Killer, when you consider the inside information that would have been required to create this communication. The 1978 letter had to be authored by either somebody from law enforcement or the murderer of taxicab driver Paul Stine, because of their intimate knowledge of the visual design of the 1969 Melvin Belli letter. There is a widespread misconception being portrayed regarding the testing of Zodiac envelopes (based around events in 2002) that all forensic DNA specialists cannot reason the pitfalls of using DNA collected from the outer surface of envelopes and stamps, believing these highly intelligent professionals are completely devoid of common sense. Nobody in their right mind would consider testing the outside of the envelopes from early Zodiac letters as a productive means to securing the DNA from the Zodiac Killer, irrespective of whether a particular individual has done so. The arguments used by some individuals in the Zodiac community have attempted to shed doubt on the bloody fingerprints from the Paul Stine taxicab based upon the idea it was a free-for-all at the crime scene, which they have no justification or reason to believe. The same individuals (with suspects) will never give the 1978 letter fair consideration as a Zodiac letter because they know it can potentially rule their suspect out of the investigation, hence they will discredit the bloody fingerprints on the taxicab and the 1978 letter as being from the Zodiac Killer in absence of valid reasoning. Too many people continue to claim a letter is not from the Zodiac Killer because of "handwriting and tone" rather than tackle the points brought forward for its authenticity and attempt to discredit them. It would be productive for these individuals to compare the "handwriting and tone" of the July 31st 1969 trinity of communications with the Melvin Belli letter and try to reason why the tone of these letters are consistent with one another, while simultaneously explaining why the Zodiac Killer is incapable of switching the tone of a letter by design. Stating a letter's tone isn't Zodiac, is an utterly meaningless statement because the handwriting and tone of a letter is subjective to the person interpreting it. Some Zodiac researchers, who once exuded confidence in the bloody taxicab fingerprints and the existence of usable salivary amylase, immediately backpedaled and used subterfuge once they became attached to a suspect whose fingerprints and DNA were already in the system. Having a suspect in tow will inevitably cloud your judgement when investigating the Zodiac case. Not one single researcher who has a suspect in tow (whose fingerprints are on file), will ever argue that the bloody fingerprints on the taxicab of Paul Stine are Zodiac's. Every single Zodiac researcher who thinks Ross Sullivan is the Zodiac Killer will never accept any Zodiac communication subsequent to his death in 1977. They will reject the 1978, 1986, 1987, 1990 and 2001 communications irrespective of any amount of evidence you can produce, because they have already made up their mind that these communications were not authored by the Zodiac Killer. Even if they had never set eyes on these communications, they have already concluded they are hoaxes in advance. Their conclusions are preconceived through the suspect and not the available evidence. Knowing that we have the possibility of running the DNA from the 1978 letter through the genealogical process, why would anybody object by using the argument they are confident that the 1978 letter was written by a hoaxer based on nothing more than a cursory glance of handwriting, which is unscientific by its very nature. The statements in 2018 regarding communications from early Zodiac activity undergoing renewed testing makes little sense, when we consider that DNA has already been discovered on the 1978 letter. If investigators stand by their claim that David Toschi was cleared of any wrongdoing in the manufacture of the 1978 letter, then there should be no barrier to using the DNA found on this communication to potentially advance the case. The 1978 letter that ruled out both Arthur Leigh Allen and Lawrence Kane as being the Zodiac Killer. However, if investigators know the identity of the individual who deposited the DNA on the 1978 letter (for example, David Toachi), then it follows that they would have no current interest in pursuing this line of investigation through genealogy. The 1978 letter cannot be ruled out by handwriting, so why the apparent reluctance in pursuing this avenue to unearth the identity of the Zodiac Killer? Or maybe genealogy has been employed and nothing was found. You will hear or read claims that the Kathleen Johns incident, or the Donna Lass abduction/disappearance couldn't have been Zodiac because he had never abducted somebody previously (how do we know that). You will hear or read that a victim who was raped, bludgeoned or strangled to death couldn't have been Zodiac because he had never done this previously (how do we know that). These claims, again, are without foundation. Therefore, when Zodiac targeted taxicab driver Paul Stine, we could claim it wasn't him because he had apparently never done it before. The claim he killed taxicab driver Ray Davis in 1962 could be dismissed because we cannot find evidence of something similar prior to this murder. In fact, Zodiac couldn't have wore a costume during the Lake Berryessa crime or murdered a couple on a lonely road, because he had never done it before (how do we know that). There has to be a first time for everything in life, but we simply don't know when that was for Zodiac. Somebody stated that the 2001 communication made racially derogative comments, never done before by Zodiac. If this is justification for ruling out the 2001 communication, then we can rule out every single Zodiac communication where he did something for the first time, such as the Melvin Belli letter which expressed vulnerability and mental fragility in direct contrast to the July 31st 1969 letters that threatened more murder and mayhem if his demands were not met. Some may suggest the Melvin Belli letter was simply mocking investigators and the Jim Dunbar Show escapade, but this again requires the reader to interpret the tone of a letter to meet their own ends or argument. How many people on Twitter have posted thousands of benign comments before posting something racially offensive and had to apologize or be cancelled. They could say "it wasn't me because I've never done that before", which I doubt would convince many as a strong argument. Others will say that certain communications don't "feel right", and therefore are unlikely to have been authored by the Zodiac Killer. Our feelings have absolutely no bearing on whether a communication is genuine or otherwise. We have DNA from the 1978 letter, so whatever our feelings are about this letter based on handwriting and tone, the importance of using this letter to shake the ancestral tree should be our first port of call. From August 4th 1969 to March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer mailed 12 authenticated letters (inc. Fairfield letters} that carried the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking" on the first line of the message. Of these 12 letters, only the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on the main first line (ignoring the "Dear" intro). It was written "This is the Zodiac speaking I". The San Francisco Chronicle published at least four of these introductions, which included the October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters (shown here). The author of the April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter (if a hoaxer) had every opportunity to just mimic any one of these common introductions, yet he chose to mimic the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, which broke with tradition. The Melvin Belli message began with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", but was grammatically incorrect in failing to place a comma or full-stop between "speaking" and "I". Therefore, the author of the 1978 letter (if a hoaxer) chose to imitate the message on the opening line of the Melvin Belli letter (including the punctuation error) rather than the standard introduction used by the Zodiac Killer. However, this wasn't the only similarity between the Melvin Belli letter and 1978 letter. Not once, in any of the widely touted list of authenticated Zodiac Killer communications from July 31st 1969 to January 29th 1974, did the killer ever cross out a spelling mistake (or otherwise) with a straight line (he blacked out errors). The Badlands card (not authenticated) on May 8th 1974 did scruffily cross out the misspelling of consternation, but failed in any capacity to identify its sender, such as the Zodiac introduction or his crosshairs. The Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 and the April 24th 1978 letter both inserted an unnecessary word (just once) into the correspondence, spelled it correctly one alphabetical letter shy of completion, and then very neatly (almost ruler like) crossed out each word. Not only did the 1978 letter carry the identical introduction and punctuation error as the Melvin Belli letter, as well as being very deliberately and carefully written, but both inserted an unrequired word into the message before crossing it out, despite it being spelled correctly thus far. These are the only two communications up to April 24th 1978 that carried both of these features. When we look at the similarities between the Melvin Belli letter and 1978 letter described above, we also have to note that the 1978 letter was specifically using language adopted from the Belli letter when stating "I am now in control of all things". Just over eight years earlier, the Belli letter stated "I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom" and "I will loose all controol of my self & set the bomb up. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer". Therefore, the introduction similarity of "This is the Zodiac speaking I" between the two letters (with grammatical error), and the crossed out wording only existing in these two letters up to April 24th 1978, in all likelihood influenced the author of the 1978 letter when designing this latest correspondence. The introduction, the correction technique, and the use of the word "control" regarding the Zodiac Killer's mindset were unique only to these two letters up to April 24th 1978. The letter and envelope of the 1978 letter was examined by law enforcement. Here is what was written in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1978: "Toschi said yesterday that the common, white envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". Law enforcement, at the time, considered this the first contact from the Zodiac Killer since he last wrote the Exorcist letter in January, 1974. If this analysis by law enforcement is correct, then the individual who mailed the 1978 letter, mailed it from the same location as the Exorcist letter, separated by just over four years. Exactly one year before the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, Melvin Belli appeared in an episode of Star Trek on October 11th 1968 entitled "And the Children Shall Lead", playing the character Gorgan. When referencing the Melvin Belli letter in 1978, the Zodiac Killer stated "I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me". Excerpt from Wikipedia on And the Children Shall Lead: "The federation starship Enterprise arrives at the planet Triacus. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and First Officer Spock beam down in time to witness the death of Professor Starnes, the leader of a scientific expedition team. The other members of the expedition, apart from their five seemingly unconcerned children, seem to have died at their own hands. The crew bring the children back to the Enterprise, where McCoy evaluates them and determines that they are suffering from lacunar amnesia, unaware of what happened to their parents and unable to grieve. However, when left unattended in one of the ship's rooms, the children chant an evocation and summon a glowing humanoid named Gorgan. He advises them to take control of the crew in order to get to Marcus XII, his preferred destination. The eldest child, Tommy, uses mental powers Gorgan has bestowed on the children to trick the crew into steering the ship while presenting illusions that make them think they are still in orbit above Triacus. Upon reviewing a troubling expedition film recorded by Starnes, Spock, McCoy, and Kirk return to the bridge to find the children and Gorgan fully in control of the crew. Unable to break their hold on the crew, Spock observes that the children are merely possessed by Gorgan, who must be the evil embodiment of an ancient group of space-warring marauders released by Starnes's archaeological survey". 1978 letter: "I am now in control of all things". The 1998 San Francisco Police Department DNA chart of suspected Zodiac correspondence shows that DNA was obtained from the 1978 letter, but it was deemed not authentic. If we believe that investigators correctly cleared Inspector David Toschi of any wrongdoing in the manufacture of the 1978 letter, then it is hard to argue against this communication being created by the same individual who mailed the 1969 Melvin Belli letter, with added shirt piece from the Paul Stine murder. The Zodiac speaking introduction with grammatical error on the opening line and the correction technique employed in the 1978 letter, which mimicked the Melvin Belli letter from 1969 (allied to the use of "control" in both communications), could only have been reasonably crafted by one person. If it wasn't David Toschi who wrote the 1978 letter, there is a good chance it was the Zodiac Killer. The DNA obtained from the 1978 letter has already ruled out both Arthur Leigh Allen and Lawrence Kane many years ago. The 1978 letter being genuine would also rule out Ross Sullivan, who died in 1977. If David Toschi didn't author the 1978 letter, then a fresh examination of this letter using more advanced DNA recovery should be a priority. THE "I AM BACK" PHONE CALL - MARCH 13TH 1978 As shown numerous times before, we can usually find the inspiration for Zodiac communications by looking at the most recent newspaper articles published in the Bay Area or Los Angeles. The November 21st 1969 letter to the San Jose Police Department was possibly directed at the recently widowed Diane Kennedy Pike, whose husband James Albert Pike had met an unfortunate death in Israel in September (information provided by Cragle). The letter caused enough alarm to institute 24-hour surveillance on the young woman and her residence. Information regarding this letter is sparse, but the language adopted in this communication is taken directly from the last San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article on November 13th 1969 entitled Zodiac 'Legally Sane', featuring the Zodiac Killer's 340 cipher and investigators attempts to snag the murderer of five. The newspaper snippet on the left reads "Through physical clues Zodiac has clumsily left behind at crime scenes and bits and pieces of information about himself he has inadvertently revealed in letters sent to The Chronicle, police feel sure there will be no doubt they have the right man in custody when an arrest is made". Eight days after this newspaper article was released, and thirteen days after he had claimed seven victims (the canonical five and the two San Jose murders of Snoozy & Furlong), the Zodiac Killer wrote to the San Jose Police Department and responded to "there will be no doubt they have the right man in custody when an arrest is made", by writing "There's no doubt I will do my Thing". The Zodiac Killer was clearly confident that no arrest was forthcoming, and his reign of terror would continue by doing his "Thing". His chronological list of victims by using months of the year would continue, when he wrote November=8 in his latest letter. He also added a short six character code of ~+62+~. His next letter, postmarked December 7th 1969 from Fairfield, was shown to be authentic by pre-empting the pleading nature of the Melvin Belli letter and his use of another code of 38 characters. This code contained similar characters to the 340 cipher, unlike the following 13-Symbol and 32-Symbol ciphers. It opened the door to the possibility that the 38 character code was somehow related to the 340 cipher and maybe contained a clue to its construction. Druzer, an avid and diligent Zodiac researcher, mailed me the 38 character code deciphered with the 340 cipher key. The result is mostly garbled, but he drew my attention to the final line of both codes ending in "death". The Zodiac Killer only took a 4+ horizontal combination of characters from the 340 cipher to the 38 character code on two occasions. Those were HER> and AIKꞮ+, which spelled the standalone words of IRON and DEATH before the diagonal shift was applied to the 340 cipher to reveal the message. Despite the last two rows of the 340 cipher being a mixture of forward and backward reading words, the word "death" sits at the end of both the 340 and 38 character ciphers, indicating that this word likely concludes the message in each instance. Other horizontal words do exist in this format, however, the Zodiac Killer gave us 4 and 5 characters which bound the 340 and 38 character ciphers together, and both formed English words. The Zodiac Killer began and ended his 38 character code with two prominent sections from the start and end of the 340 cipher, both of which contained visible words before any shift was applied (the final word remaining static). This may be another observation, which confirms to the doubters the December 7th 1969 letter as an authentic Zodiac communication. Unless of course, the 38 code hoaxer identified two passages of 4 and 5 characters from the undeciphered 340 cipher, that just happened to accidentally find two English words after the 340 key was applied. This hoaxer would also have to guess that by separating the prominent ZO∆AIKꞮ+ characters on the bottom line of the 340 cipher, into AIKꞮ+ on the bottom line of the 38 character code, he would be reducing these characters to create something meaningful. He apparently did. By separating these characters into the five visible at the end of the 38 character code, he created the word "death", just like the solved 340 cipher. Druzer pointed out the same thing, stating "The most curious/compelling feats are that the author isolated actual words, most notably death, and that he refrained from copying Zodaik, which would certainly be expected of a hoaxer". In other words, he dismantled the ZO∆AIK element, while leaving Ɪ+ in place, to form "death" as the final word on the 38 character code. This appears to show knowledge of the hidden message in the 340 cipher. The above image from the San Francisco Chronicle on November 13th 1969 shows the correlation on three rows of the 38 character code to the 340 cipher. We have 4, 5 and 5 characters from three rows of the 38 character code, organized in the correct order to three rows on the 340 cipher. The crucial 10th row of the 340 cipher which begins the second section of the 3-part cipher (9, 9 and 2), contains the four symbols of ~+62+~ in the correct order (and FB which numerically equals 62). Both the November 21st 1969 and December 7th 1969 letters were unreleased to the public, so it would be difficult to envisage how two different authors would choose to supply two relatively short codes that mimicked important features of the 340 cipher independent of one another. The three rows of the Z38 highlighted in blue rectangles above, all either begin or end a row on the 340 cipher - as does the six character code of the November 21st 1969 letter. Was the 38 character code on December 7th 1969 a clue to the construction of the 340 cipher or somehow related to the message ultimately found within it? If so, then the short code of ~+62+~ in the November 21st 1969 letter could be somehow related to the 340 cipher also. The December 16th 1969 letter, also mailed from Fairfield, contained another short code of five characters. This completed a quartet of puzzles from the Zodiac Killer in just over a month.
The Zodiac Killer was likely reading this newspaper article on November 13th 1969 when he used the wording "There's no doubt I will do my Thing", so it's perfectly feasible that the presence of his 340 cipher prominently displayed within this article, may have been the inspiration to provide further codes based upon its construction. The newspaper article concluded with "Amateur cryptographers by the hundreds were at work trying to decode the cryptogram from Zodiac published in yesterday's Chronicle. It was an amateur - a Salinas teacher - who cracked Zodiac's cipher message in August to which he said the people he killed would serve him as his slaves in paradise. One cryptographer, who has studied the latest message, says it definitely contains word patterns hidden in the 340 symbols. "There is a definite message" he said. "Testing shows it is not just gibberish. Once that is determined then it's just a matter of patience before it pieces itself together". Did the Zodiac Killer take note of this section and provide "bits and pieces" in his next two codes to help in its decryption? The following is an amalgamation of previous articles: Six months after the Zodiac Killer's Albany, New York letter and code, another letter would arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle on January 30th 1974. Postmarked the day before (January 29th), this letter was a curious blend of The Exorcist movie (1973) and the comedic opera The Mikado (1885), two productions separated by 88 years. The Zodiac Killer plagiarized The Mikado twice in the July 26th 1970 letter, but this appeared to have some purpose in relation to his hunting activities - that the Zodiac Killer had created a list of potential victims, who he would then kill and ultimately torture in paradise. This seemed at odds with his use of The Mikado in 1974. Any suggestion that the Zodiac Killer was contemplating suicide at this juncture because of his choice of Tit-Willow, appeared to be dashed in the following paragraph when he stated "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing". The notion that the Zodiac Killer had reached a watershed moment and was about to ditch the pseudonym he had coveted for so many years, would also be premature, when he mailed the 1978, 1986 and 1987 letters, all containing his infamous introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking". The 1978 and 1987 letters had one thing in common with the 1974 letter, in that they all carried the wording "yours truly" or "yours truley", followed by a colon. This wording is commonly used before a signature, with the colon used to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first. In the 1978 and 1987 letters the Zodiac Killer follows "yours truly" with "guess", whereas, he inserts the plagiarized verse from Tit-Willow where his signature should be placed in the 1974 Exorcist letter. The primary conclusion to draw from this, is the Zodiac Killer was yet again asking us to "guess" his name through the verse of Tit-Willow. He may have been bluffing, but giving us his first name in such cryptic fashion could never be realistically used as evidence against him, because any conclusions drawn from this verse through subjective interpretation, would never have any standing in a court of law. There are five things in relation to The Exorcist movie and the Tit-Willow verse that point to one name. There is also another that points backwards to the April 20th 1970 letter, when the Zodiac Killer teased us with his name by stating "My name is", followed by a thirteen character code. The Exorcist book was written by William Blatty in 1971, which told the story of a twelve-year-old girl possessed by a powerful demon, that was later adapted by director William Friedkin in the film version released on December 26th 1973. The Tit-Willow verse from The Mikado was created by William Schwenck Gilbert, which contained multiple examples of "Will" and "Bill" within words such as "Willo" and "Billowy" (Will and Bill being short for William). This verse followed The Exorcist introduction and the promise of a signature by use of "yours truley". If we look at the next paragraph in the Tit-Willow verse from the complete version, it reads "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow". Very reminiscent of the "My name is" letter, but in this instance "My name Isn't". Now let us take a look at the final paragraph of the Exorcist letter where he wrote "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing". This mirrors his very first communications on July 31st 1969 when he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on your frunt page by Fry Afternoon Aug 1-69, If you do not do this I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end. I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". On July 31st 1969 and January 29th 1974, he concluded both correspondences with the threat "to kill" more people if his letters were not published in the newspapers. In his decoded 408 cipher, he wrote "To kill something gives me the most thrilling experence". To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time the Zodiac Killer used the word "something" prior to January 29th 1974 - and used it in reference "to kill something". So, when we look at the final paragraph of the Exorcist letter where he wrote the words "I will do something nasty", it is apparent that "to kill something" was his likely threat. The Zodiac Killer then finished the letter with another puzzle (likely decoded by Kevin Robert Brooks).
Despite having reservations that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates was the author of the Confession letter, let us look at certain aspects of the Confession letter in relation to the published details of the crime and the unpublished details of the autopsy report by November 29th 1966. Many of the newspaper articles prior to November 29th 1966 mentioned the stab wounds to her arms, back and face, along with her throat being slashed, but I could find none that mentioned stab wounds to her breasts, or any mention of Cheri Jo Bates being choked or strangled (unless you know better). The autopsy did show she had at least seven incised wounds across her throat and one stab wound to her right arm, although no concrete evidence of any stab wounds to her face (rather, blunt force lacerations and abrasions to her lip, chin and left cheek). The following snippet is the relevant part of the Confession letter pertaining to the autopsy report. It seems unusual that Cheri Jo Bates received three stab wounds to her breasts, with no other stab wounds to her front torso, bearing in mind the author of the Confession letter infused a sexual element into their typing, by stating "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands" and mentioned "cutting off female parts to deposit for the whole world to see". The author was claiming contact with her breast region just before stating that "she died hard". The author also stated that he initially grabbed Cheri Jo Bates around the neck and mouth, and choked her. This could explain the petechial haemorrhaging visible on her forehead at autopsy. The Confession letter then mentioned her lips twitching before he kicked her in the head, which could explain the 2cm ragged non-gaping oblique laceration to the left side of her lip, and the dark blue-gray slightly swollen discoloration of the mucocutanous portions of the upper and lower lips to the right side - both consistent with a kick to her head while in close contact with the driveway floor - and to the claims in the Confession letter.
The stab wounds (as explained in the previous analysis) to her left breast (2), right breast (1), right axillary fold (1) and right upper arm, grouped on an approximate 10cm vertical plane, is also consistent with an assailant holding the victim around the neck (possibly with their left arm) from behind, and stabbing backwards into the upper torso and upper right arm of Cheri Jo Bates, thereby resulting in the relatively close grouping of stab wounds to her frontal region. Her right arm being motioned across her body for protection would explain the two stab wounds to the upper right arm and right axillary fold. In fact, had she been stabbed here while using her right arm for protection over her chest, it would further narrow the horizontal plane width of the incoming knife. After thrusting Cheri Jo Bates to the driveway floor and kicking her in the head, the author of the Confession letter then claimed he "plunged the knife into her". This, too, is consistent with the one knife wound to her back detailed at autopsy. The word "plunged" maybe suggestive of a downward strike as she lay face down on the driveway floor, before he "finished the job out cutting her throat". The limited details given in the Confession letter are consistent with the previous analysis and the autopsy report, yet insufficient to fully claim that the author and murderer are one and the same. PART ONE PART TWO WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? [PART TWO] If we want to discover the motivation and design of a Zodiac communication, we usually have to look no further than one or two newspaper articles precedent to the correspondence in question. Can the preceding newspaper article in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12th 1970 tell us anything about the Halloween card mailed on October 27th 1970, including an answer to the strange symbolism depicted on the envelope address side and card inner. The newspaper article was entitled "Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac". Therefore, it shouldn't be any surprise that the Zodiac Killer chose a greeting card that opened with the wording "From your secret pal. I feel it in your bones, You ache to know my name, And so I'll clue you in". This was the only communication thus far that contained white text, which the Zodiac Killer adopted by adding 4-TEEN, BOO and the symbolism at the foot of the card, rather than using pasted newspaper clippings. The Zodiac Killer was very likely claiming 14 victims when he wrote this total on the skeleton's hand on the front of the card, followed by a head count of 4-TEEN above the second skeleton on the card inner, and concluding with the symbolism at foot of the card. The Zodiac Killer likely combined his victim count of 4-TEEN with the claimed murders of four teenagers by October 27th 1970. Having claimed the August 3rd 1969 San Jose murders of Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Debra Gaye Furlong (14) in his Dripping Pen card by the addiition of "Aug" within a monthly chronological victim count, the Zodiac Killer was effectively telling us that he was incorporating 4 teenagers in his Halloween card victim count of fourteen - David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong. The October 12th 1970 newspaper article stated "And he is now claiming 13 persons. Homicide detectives who've been hunting Zodiac for nearly two years frankly admit he is as much an enigma now as he was on Dec. 20, 1968, when he chalked up his first two victims. On Dec. 20, 1968, he gunned down teen-agers David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen". The Halloween card entry of a hyphenated 4-TEEN, not only incorporated his first two victims within his total, but "chalked them up" in blackboard style writing. The Zodiac Killer had written "14" on the hand of the first skeleton, "4-TEEN" over the skull of the second skeleton, so it could be argued that the symbolism at the foot of the card containing what appeared to be a joined "F", was likely "fourteen" as well The symbolism could represent "Zodiac Fourteen" or "Zodiac Victims Fourteen" (with the four dots representing the four teenagers, just as he had incorporated them by separating "4" and "TEEN" earlier). His victim totals all neatly chalked up within the Halloween card. The vast majority of the newspaper article was dedicated to the two act comic opera, The Mikado, and the search for individuals who may have played Ko-Ko in recent years, Many Zodiac researchers have considered whether the Zodiac Killer was of British origin, had British parents, or was influenced by British theatrical plays, based upon the language he adopted in his communications. It is extremely likely that the Zodiac Killer chose to write PEEK-A-BOO around the knothole of a tree because he knew the alternative British term for this saying. "Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you! There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added. Another variation involves saying "Where's the baby?" while the face is covered and "There's the baby!" when uncovering the face". Wikipedia. A British term for "peek-a-boo" is "peep-bo" - which just happens to be one of the characters from The Mikado. The Zodiac Killer chose the introduction on the Halloween card outer in response to the newspaper article entitled "Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac", because it stated "And so I'll clue you in". He then responded to this introduction by inserting "peek-a-boo" around the knothole of a tree, with an eye peering from within. A saying which has the alternative of peep-bo - a character from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera. The teaser of "I'll clue you in" and the answer of "peep-bo" both inspired by The Mikado featured in the October 12th 1970 newspaper article. The Zodiac Killer would not give us the Ko-Ko investigators were desperately attempting to track down, only the protector or ward of Ko-Ko. Many esteemed researchers in the Zodiac community like to say that some of the most beneficial and trusted information in the case can be found in the pages of original source documentation, such as the police reports and FBI files. They say this, until information is revealed within them that doesn't conform with something related to their suspect, or when a long held belief or consensus narrative about the case has been dismantled using the very original documents they praise. One simple example is the SLA letter mailed on February 3rd 1974. Despite the first two documents ever produced on this letter clearly showing that the letter was postmarked February 3rd 1974 from Los Angeles, certain websites and outlets want to keep pushing the myth of a February 14th 1974 postmark, because it's an inconvenient truth that goes against everything they have always believed. The consensus narrative of the Zodiac case has, and always will be, more important than the truth. Here is the section regarding LeRoy Sweet in the October 12th 1969 police report: "Assistant traffic manager of Yellow Cab, LeRoy Sweet responded and gave reporting officers the victim's identification. Mr. Sweet further stated the last dispatch given the victim was at 9:45 pm to 500 9th Ave. apt. #1. Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm". The prevailing narrative is that the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab somewhere by the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in the theater district of San Francisco and then traveled to the Presidio Heights district. But Mason and Geary (or Union Square) is unlikely to be where Paul Stine was when he received the 9:45pm dispatch from LeRoy Sweet, asking him to pick up a fare from 500 9th Avenue. The journey time from Mason and Geary (or Union Square) to 500 9th Avenue on a busy Saturday night is about 12 to 13 minutes. Therefore, if LeRoy Sweet knew that Paul Stine was in the vicinity of Mason and Geary or Union Square at 9:45pm when he gave him his second fare that night, he would have known that Paul Stine's journey time to 500 9th Avenue would have him arriving there at 9:58pm. So why did the police report state that another taxicab was allocated to that address at 9:58pm, when that was the time Paul Stine was expected at the address? Unless, of course, Paul Stine wasn't near the theater district when he received the 9:45pm dispatch - and the dispatch was given to him much closer to Washington and Cherry Streets, with the Zodiac Killer already seated in the taxicab. Paul Stine may have been already heading to Presidio Heights when he accepted the dispatch to 500 9th Avenue. One would assume that LeRoy Sweet knew exactly where Paul Stine was at 9:45pm because he expected Paul Stine to arrive at 500 9th Avenue earlier than 9:58pm. So when he didn't, LeRoy Sweet reassigned the dispatch to another taxicab. For example: if Paul Stine was two minutes away from the intersection of Washington and Cherry, and 5 minutes away from 500 9th Avenue when he received the 9:45pm dispatch, then LeRoy Sweet (and possibly the resident of 500 9th Avenue) could have expected Paul Stine's arrival at the address at 9:50pm. If the customer was in a rush and became impatient by 9:58pm, then it's reasonable to conclude they rang the Yellow Taxicab Company again and another taxicab was summoned to that address. If the expected time of arrival was 9:58pm from Mason and Geary Streets and the customer knew this, then there would have never have been any need for LeRoy Sweet to reassign another taxicab to the address that night. However, if Paul Stine arrived at Washington and Cherry two minutes after the 9:45pm dispatch, then he arrived at the murder scene at 9:47pm, eight minutes before the 9:55pm time of attack given in the police report (supposedly when the three teenagers first looked out of the window). If this was the case, then what was the Zodiac Killer doing in the taxicab for eight minutes? The further back towards Mason and Geary Streets (or Union Square) we take the taxicab when the 9:45pm dispatch was given by LeRoy Sweet, the less reason the customer has to become impatient and for another taxicab to be assigned to that address. Paul Stine would likely have been traveling along Highway 101 from the San Francisco International Airport after his first fare was dropped off, and may have exited Highway 101 and Interstate 80 by 7th Street to pick up a random fare at the theater district - so the Zodiac Killer could have entered the taxicab anywhere in this locality. The taxicab meter reading taken at the crime scene supports the Zodiac Killer entering the taxicab in this area. However, when LeRoy Sweet gave Paul Stine the final dispatch, he was possibly much closer to Presidio Heights than once considered. Many will not like this analysis of a killer arriving at Washington and Cherry up to eight minutes prior to the 9:55pm attack time, because it doesn't conform to the widely held narrative of a taxicab driver being murdered the moment he parked up at the Washington and Cherry intersection. The statements of LeRoy Sweet may be erroneous, but they are what they are. Is it possible this extra time was swallowed up by something that occurred at the intersection of Washington and Maple Streets - the destination written in the taxicab trip sheet? The following examination is not a claim to the factual dymamics of the crime committed on October 30th 1966, but one interpretation regarding the senseless murder of Cheri Jo Bates in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library. On the left there is an approximate set of measurements of the female anatomy, and the only five incised and non-abraded wounds to the front side of Cheri Jo Bates' upper body. The five wounds are clustered in an area measuring 20cm horizontally and 10cm vertically. While these could be caused by an individual standing in front of Cheri Jo Bates, it is evident that none of these wounds inflicted by a knife had significant depth penetration to prove immediately fatal. If the killer had been holding or choking Cheri Jo Bates around the upper chest or neck from behind, then this compression could increase intra-capilliary pressure by restricting the venous return of blood, and thereby creating the petechial haemorrhaging evident on the forehead of the young woman. A killer securing her from behind, holding the knife in his right hand (or possibly left) and stabbing backwards toward her heart region, has the potential to produce this grouping of injuries to her breast region and upper arms in the initial phase of the attack. The natural response by a victim would be to raise their arms and hands to protect this vital region, in addition to attempting to grab the wrist of the attacker (possibly resulting in the watch being ripped from her assailant) and could have caused the only three described "laceration" wounds to the dorsal side of Cheri Jo Bates' left hand (2) and right index finger. This may also have been the moment that Cheri desperately clawed backwards at her assailant's hair, ripping out some head hairs that collected in the blood at the base of her right thumb. Cheri Jo Bates, at this juncture, would have received eight strikes from a bladed instrument (5 to her front upper body and possibly 3 to her hands/fingers) in an attack that was likely mere seconds in duration, followed by her being thrust forward into the hard driveway floor. However, it must be noted that the two injuries to her left hand described as lacerations by F. Rene Modglin (24 & 25 in the autopsy report) could be injuries sustained through impact with the driveway floor. One is a Y-shaped laceration at the junction of the wrist and hand, often caused by the blunt force trauma of a weapon or impact from a hard surface. The other injury was an irregular laceration in the mid area, in line with the middle finger. Both these lacerations to her left hand were to the dorsal side, so could be sequential injuries as she was thrust forward and down. Therefore, it's possible only the "laceration" to the lateral aspect of her right index finger was caused by a knife blade (2cm, interrupted and moderately deep). Cheri Jo Bates had a 2cm non-gaping cut to her left upper lip, a series of three non-gaping lacerations to her left cheek and an area of blue-gray discoloration to the skin of her left cheek, all of which could be caused by an impact across the driveway floor as she was thrust from behind. Some abrasions and discoloration to the midline of her chin possibly received in the same motion. The slightly swollen discoloration to her upper and lower lips on the right side could have resulted from Cheri Jo Bates shifting her head position and further force being applied by her assailant. Although petechial haemorrhaging can be caused by choking or compression of the chest cavity, it can also be caused when excessive pressure is applied to tissue (e.g., when a tourniquet is applied to an extremity or the person is struck across the face with an open palm of the hand). In the case of Cheri Jo Bates, the forehead petechiae noted at autopsy could have been caused as a result of her head being pressed into the hard uneven ground.. The entirety of the abrasions to her hands and fingers were located on her right hand (possibly her dominant hand), that could have been received as she was forced to the driveway floor, as she attempted to arrest her descent (and some caused by subsequent struggling while being pinned to the ground}. There were no abrasion-type injuries detailed on her left hand at autopsy, suggesting her right hand was the dominant force when in contact with the driveway floor. The final phase of the attack may have been the solitary knife wound to her back and the seven lateral knife wounds across her neck, ultimately severing her right common carotid artery and right superficial jugular vein, resulting in death in several minutes. The attack could have lasted less than 30 seconds. PART ONE PART THREE WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? [PART TWO] |
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