 Donna Ann Lass. Click to enlarge photograph.
Donna Ann Lass (25), born November 3rd 1944 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota disappeared from Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970, having finished her shift that day at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, (now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino). where she was employed as a nurse. A few months earlier in June she had moved to South Lake Tahoe from San Francisco, where she had previously worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, near the Paul Stine murder scene. She was scheduled to work her night shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, but was logged out at 1:45 am that morning for the last time.
Sometime following, an unknown man, who could possibly have been the abductor, contacted her hotel employers and the landlord of her residence stating that Donna Ann Lass had been called out of town due to a family illness - all of which proved to be fiction and the young 25-year-old woman was never heard from again. There is no evidence whatsoever connecting the Zodiac Killer to the disappearance (and possible murder) of Donna Lass, other than a card mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22nd 1971 insinuating his involvement. But yet again, the Zodiac Killer failed to provide any useful information that indicated he was even in Stateline, Nevada on the day of her disappearance on September 6th 1970.  The Paradice Motel, 953 Park Avenue, South Lake Tahoe. Click to visit website.
Harvey Hines (see below right), a detective from Groveland, Tuolumne County, Ca, who retired from the California Police Department in 1992, had an avid interest in the Donna Lass case and remained resolute in his determination to solve her disappearance, forming close associations with the Lass family members. Along with Mary and Don Pilker, the sister and nephew of Donna Lass, they became convinced the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the abduction in South Lake Tahoe, in addition to his crimes in the north Bay Area. Harvey Hines interviewed by the Tahoe Daily Tribune stated, "There was a lot of evidence inside Sahara Tahoe Casino that she left directly from there. She was a very personal person and she left a lot of personal items behind; an opened letter, a dirty uniform and on her log, a pen was dragged from the last word she wrote to the bottom of the page".
 Sierra Club stone cross. Click to enlarge photograph.
Donna Lass had recently moved into the Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road on September 1st 1970 (street view), located just a three minute drive from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino. When she first arrived in South Lake Tahoe in early June 1970 she stayed with Ann and Larry Lowe at 4054 US Highway 50 for a brief period, before relocating to Pioneer Trail Road. She was just finding her feet in the new residence when she tragically went missing. Although her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible was discovered outside the Monte Verdi apartment complex in its usual parking spot, it is believed she had not driven it to work on the evening of her disappearance, having walked to work from this previous residence, which was just a short walking distance to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel of approximately 8 to 10 minutes. She had made plans the following day to meet up with her friend from San Francisco, Jo Anne Goettsche, who in a recorded interview with Zodiac researcher Michael Morford in 2021 stated that she had planned to meet up with Donna on the evening/night of September 6th 1970.
Harvey Hines is firmly of the conviction that Donna Lass was abducted from work - and there is a high probability that this is actually what happened. Donna Lass was a conscientious worker, described as very reliable. This allied to the dragged pen mark from her nurses log seemed to suggest she was either physically assaulted here, or more likely lured from her work station on the ruse of an emergency in the car park, where she was likely abducted. The last person apparently to see Donna Lass before her disappearance was Joan Bentley from San Francisco, who stated that Donna appeared in good spirits at approximately 1:40 am. The last entry on her log according to Mary Pilker was "patient complains of", before the pen trailed off the page. Despite the overwhelming evidence suggesting she never left the Sahara Tahoe Hotel by her own volition, many observers speculate that Donna Lass may have arrived at her Monte Verdi apartment complex in her car, where her abductor lay in wait close by - or possibly she was trailed from her workplace to the apartment complex. The phone call informing people of the Donna Lass family illness is telling. The caller was not boasting of murder like the Zodiac Killer exhibited after the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa attacks, he was seemingly trying to give the impression nothing sinister had happened, thereby suggesting the objective of the phone call was simply to 'buy time'. If the abductor was affording himself some extra breathing space, then the real possibility exists of a perpetrator local to the area or known to Donna Lass - and a credible argument can be made that he was either holding Donna Lass at this juncture, needed time to dispose of her body, or possibly needed to remove incriminating evidence from his home or vehicle before the police came knocking. This could have suggested that the responsible moved in the circle of Donna Lass, such as friends and work colleagues, who are inevitably the first people to be questioned in most police investigations.  1968 Chevrolet Camaro
If Donna Lass had walked to work that evening from a previous residence, her car had obviously never been parked outside the casino that night. If the perpetrator knew Donna Lass and the vehicle she drove, then a phone call to the casino implying she had been called out of town for a family emergency and would be away from work for some time, would be negated if her Chevrolet Camaro convertible was spotted sitting idle in the car park of the casino for any extended period. This may indicate the perpetrator knew her vehicle was parked outside the Monte Verdi Apartments, where it was less likely to attract attention, yet he still needed to allay any concerns the landlord may have concerning rent collection.
The fact that Donna Lass' abduction coincided with her shift change, just moments after changing from her nurses uniform into regular clothes, is also telling. This could have indicated the perpetrator had prior knowledge regarding the location and working schedule of the young nurse. Was the killer close enough to Donna Lass to know her family lived in Beresford, South Dakota and the phone call had a better chance of buying extra time under these circumstances? The person or persons who made the phone calls stated that Donna Lass had been 'called away' or 'called out of town' on account of a family illness, indicating the caller was aware her family did not live in South Lake Tahoe. Although not impossible, this information or knowledge is not something to be expected from a random killer. Sioux Falls, South Dakota is 1,555 miles from Lake Tahoe, which would in theory buy the perpetrator a substantial amount of breathing space to complete his objective. The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the missing Donna Lass on September 26th 1970 entitled 'Nurse Vanishes...A Tahoe Mystery.' It may have suggested the phone calls had the desired effect, stating "As the absence lengthened, hotel officials contacted the South Lake Tahoe Police, who checked her apartment and could find no clue to her whereabouts. Relatives in Sioux Falls flew here a week ago". So I suppose Zodiac's paraphrasing of The Mikado on July 26th 1970 stating "none of them will be missed". partly rang true in this instance, because it bought the perpetrator a significant and measurable period of time to cover their tracks. If the author of the Pines postcard (March 22nd 1971) was the Zodiac Killer, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle six-and-a-half months later, then it opens the door to him being resident in the area of South Lake Tahoe at the time of Donna Lass' disappearance, and by extension, having been connected to her in some way. The counter argument is that the Pines Card, similar in fashion to the 13 Hole Postcard, was designed by the real murderer (not Zodiac) of Donna Lass to deflect attention away from the South Lake Tahoe region, toward the killer of five in the Bay Area of Northern California. There is one extremely compelling argument to back up the notion of the Zodiac Killer designing the Pines card, notably his addition of the phrase "sought victim 12". The absurd claim that this victim total of twelve, being out of sequence with other known Zodiac communications, is proof of a hoaxer being responsible for the Pines card, is inherently flawed logic. It relies on the premise of a hoaxer, who meticulously and deliberately pasted five selected phrases onto a postcard, being so stupid as to not have read any of the previous newspaper articles about the Zodiac Killer and his running victim totals. The logical conclusion regarding the Pines card is that it was deliberately engineered using the word "sought", which is the past participle of seek. The suggestion being, that he had once "sought" Donna Lass as his twelfth victim. 
This makes perfect sense when we consider that the April 20th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 10 victims, and his June 26th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 12 victims. Any victim "sought" between these two dates could conceivably have become Zodiac's twelfth victim. Donna Lass was resident at 4122 Balboa Street, San Francisco between the dates of April 20th 1970 and the early June of 1970, before she moved to begin her job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on June 6th 1970. A Zodiac Killer trailing Donna Lass before her move to South Lake Tahoe, could have unquestionably sought her as victim number twelve. By using the phrase "sought victim 12" in the Pines card, the Zodiac Killer is effectively connecting himself to Donna Lass through San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, hopefully cementing the belief in investigators minds that he knew Donna Lass over an extended period of time. Of course, he may not have been trailing her at all and may not have been her killer, but by using the "sought victim 12" phrase, he is effectively suggesting this as a possibility to law enforcement in order to boost his credibility. The information about Donna Lass having worked at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio Park, close to the Zodiac's final victim of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, was widely covered in the newspapers, along with the date she moved. Therefore, by incorporating the phrase "sought victim 12" into the Pines card, he is also bridging the gap between the murder of the taxicab driver and the disappearance of Donna Lass, both indelibly connected to the Presidio Heights district of San Francisco. This phrase wasn't a mistake, it was deliberately fashioned to plant a seed.
Sheriff's Inspector Stanley Parsons stated "If the Zodiac claims he killed the missing nurse at Lake Tahoe, and if in fact he did slay her, then there is a very good chance he also killed Miss Hakari and Miss Bennalack". Judith Hakari had just finished her shift at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento on March 7th 1970, when upon her return home in the late night hours (approximately 11:30 pm), she had pulled into the parking lot of the Markston Apartments, from where she was likely abducted. One and a half months later she was discovered in a shallow grave near Ponderosa Way, Weimar, Placer County. She had been savagely beaten about the face, strangled and raped. Her injuries were devastating, with her nose smashed to a pulp, her jaw broken in two places, several teeth had been knocked out and her hyoid bone fractured.
Nearly two months after the disappearance of Donna Lass, Nancy Bennallack, a court reporter, was found brutally stabbed numerous times at the Tahitian Apartments on October 25th 1970, just two days prior to the Zodiac Halloween card and just one block away from the Markston Apartments where Judith Hakari vanished. This, if indeed the Zodiac Killer, would suggest a marked deviation from his previous crimes. For more information on the Judith Hakari and Nancy Bennallack murders, please visit here: The Quester Files. A letter received by the San Francisco Chronicle on May 6th 1986 claiming to be from the Zodiac Killer would detail a further crime in Sacramento, extremely close to the murders of these two young women. The letter is without doubt describing the murders of Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Saelee (40) alongside Highway 99, as they rested in their parked car on the hard shoulder of a Sacramento freeway. See here. 
 View South Lake Tahoe on Google Maps
Donna's Chevrolet Camaro convertible was found locked outside her Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. Her flat showed no signs of disturbance or any suggestion that a violent struggle had occurred. In addition, no suspicious activity subsequent to September 6th had been noted on her credit card or savings account.
On September 6th 1970 Jo Anne Goettsche, a former roommate and work colleague of Donna Lass at the Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco (mentioned above), had planned to visit her friend at the Lake Tahoe Casino and spend Labor Day weekend with her, however, with Donna Lass nowhere to be found after her shift, her friend returned back to San Francisco the following day none the wiser - and from here on in the mystery deepened. Does the fact that Donna Lass, having already changed from her nurses uniform into civilian clothes before her shift end, suggest a planned meeting that morning with somebody she knew? Somebody that would later murder her? On April 20th 1970, a letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, containing a cipher of only 13 characters, widely known as the 'My Name Is...Letter'. Harvey Hines believed he had decoded it to reveal the name of proposed Zodiac suspect Lawrence Kane, closely aligned to the missing woman on the grounds he supposedly worked at the same South Lake Tahoe Casino as Donna Lass. In fact (according to Harvey Hines), he worked for Alan Dorfman selling Arizona real estate from his office located just down the hallway from Donna Lass' work station. Harvey Hines drew further parallels to his suspect, citing the similar writing styles of the Zodiac and Lawrence Kane. To view a video of Harvey Hines and his proposed solution to the 13 Symbol Cipher (My Name is Letter), click the banner link top right of this page. 
 Kathleen Johns. Click to enlarge photograph.
Kathleen Johns and her 10-month-old daughter Jennifer were abducted on Highway 132, near Modesto on March 22nd 1970, that became known as the Modesto Attack. This is a crime that sits on the edge of the Zodiac Killer story, with many enthusiasts feeling it has received unwarranted attention on such flimsy evidence, that basically relies on two key focal points. Firstly, the identification of her abductor from a composite drawing at the Patterson Police Station, in connection to the Paul Stine murder at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. And secondly, the Zodiac Killer himself claiming to be responsible for the abduction four months later in a mailed letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 24th 1970. Kathleen Johns was lured into the abductor's car on a ruse that the wheel of her car was coming loose, ultimately offering her a lift to the nearest service station. He would, however, take her on a two-hour mystery tour through the outskirts of Tracy, California, before she managed to escape across a field clutching her infant child. According to Harvey Hines, Kathleen Johns in the 1980s would review her ordeal that night, pinpointing Larry Kane as her likely abductor.
 Pines Card mailed on March 22nd 1971. Click to enlarge.
Also Pam Huckaby, the sister of Darlene Ferrin, who tragically died at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969, stated that Lawrence Kane had been trailing her sister in the run up to that fateful night at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. Unfortunately her recollections and suspicions have changed many times throughout the years, having now placed her faith in Lyndon Lafferty's claim that William Grant was the Zodiac Killer.
The Pines Card, 3.22.71, was mailed six-and-a- half months after the disappearance of Donna Lass, falling on the first anniversary of the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns. The card was likely engineered by the Zodiac Killer sometime between March 19th 1971 and March 21st 1971, and mailed on the Sunday or Monday morning. The authenticity of this postcard as a Zodiac communication has divided the community ever since. It contained five phrases pasted onto a postcard, but their meaning has yet to be fully determined. It was addressed personally to Paul Avery, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. To view the original undoctored Forest Pines advertisement from the March 19th 1971 San Francisco Chronicle, that Zodiac likely used to create the Pines Card, click here. We can ascertain that this was the advertisement Zodiac probably used for the Pines Card because "Peek through the pines" began with a capital letter, whereas the adverisements for "Forest Pines at Incline" displayed on other websites carries the phrase "peek through the pines" without the capital letter. The Zodiac Killer's postcard contained the capitalized version. The text on the card read; [1] 'Sierra Club' [2] 'Sought Victim 12' [3] 'Peek through the pines' [4] 'pass Lake Tahoe areas' [5] 'around in the snow' (pasted upside down).
 Pines Card address side. Click to enlarge.
The Pines card never made any direct reference to the missing Donna Lass, only insinuated a connection through the 'Lake Tahoe' and 'Sierra Club' references. If Donna Lass was murdered by the Zodiac Killer, then the Pines Card may hold a cryptic message - although it may be simply just another blind alley and another cruel hoax.
Parts of the June 26th 1970 Button letter and Phillips 66 map, as well as the entire July 26th 1970 Little List letter were withheld from publication by the San Francisco Chronicle to generate a reaction from the Zodiac Killer and possibly force him into a mistake. A San Francisco Chronicle article on June 30th 1970 detailed the Button letter, stating that Zodiac was now boasting 12 victims, but withheld the images and code contained within the correspondence. The Zodiac Killer certainly did not appreciate anything less than 'front page' coverage.. However, he did not bite on this occasion. On October 12th 1970 the San Francisco Chronicle finally relented and published the Little List letter, along the 13 Hole postcard, which was mailed on October 5th 1970, a week earlier. These communications displayed the Zodiac victim count at 13. Then the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970 raised the Zodiac total to 14, before his March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letter claiming 17+ victims. Despite little in the way of handwriting on the postcard, Questioned Documents Examiner Sherwood Morrill determined that the postcard was authentic Zodiac material. He was confident of recognizing Zodiac's handwriting, stating "I've got him down cold. If he were standing beside me, say, in a bank, filing out a deposit slip, I know I'd recognize that printing anywhere. Basically I identity handwriting, inks, typing, erasures, obliterations, alterations, even the paper itself. Handwriting is as individual as fingerprints. With sufficient samples of a person's handwriting or in Zodiac's case, printing - I can tell if he wrote the document in question". The two immediate communications after the Donna Lass disappearance were both mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. As stated above, the first was the 13 Hole Postcard on October 5th 1970, and the second was the Halloween Card, on October 27th 1970 which addressed Paul Avery by name. The following image belongs to an article exploring a link between the Pines Card and unreleased Monticello card, which was mailed just under four months later, on July 13th 1971. Designing the Monticello Card. 
The search for Donna Lass would be badly affected by the inclement weather in the coming months, highlighted by Police Chief Ray Lauritzen from the outset: "We don't know where we're going to begin. There's a four or five foot pack of snow out there and it's still snowing heavily". The Pines Card made reference to the snow, but in a sinister way, by pasting the words 'around in the snow' at ground level and upside down, the author may be insinuating that Donna Lass was buried under it.
A newspaper article stated that 'the site depicted on the 'Pines Card' was from an advertisement published last Sunday by several newspapers. It was an artist's rendition of houses among the trees at a Boise Cascade Company project at Incline Village, where construction has just begun on the development. While much of the Sierra area is under several feet of snow, Incline Village has only two feet on the ground. Police went to the area to determine if a search is possible'. Chief Lauritzen added "There's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring". The following is an excerpt from the unreleased 120-page Harvey Hines report, regarding his investigation into the missing Donna Lass. The following pictures show a unique image of the Pines Card created by Harvey Hines and a photograph of the crucifix stone formation at the Sierra Club. "After studying the card, I drove to Nordin, located on old Highway 40, north of Lake Tahoe, and found the SIERRA CLUB. I learned the club was not called the Sierra Club. It was named the Claire Tappan Lodge and it was a private club for Sierra Club members only. I believed if I followed the directions on the postcard I would find Donna Lass' grave. I believe she was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch. I would later have the pictures of the Sierra Club developed. Then using a copy of Zodiac's card, I cut out the phrases he had pasted on his card. Using these phrases, I overpasted them on the copy of the Sierra Club picture. It was striking similar to the original card". http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/two-short-extracts-from-the-harvey-hines-report 
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The Murder of Judith Hakari. Click image to read more.
The Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino
Click to enlarge
Harvey Hines believed the punch-hole in the top right corner of the Pines Card may have indicated a burial site or at least revealed key information to the disappearance of Donna Lass.
An area near Clair Tappaan Lodge, Norden, California, on Sierra Club groundsi was identified, where a rock configuration of 13 stones were positioned in the form of a cross. This area had initially been discovered by Otto Fredericks while out hiking in 1976 and revealed to Hines several years later. Harvey Hines informed Zodiac expert Dave Peterson, and a limited excavation the site was undertaken, but no remains were found. Lawrence Kane, Hines' main suspect was questioned by police, however, through lack of evidence no case could be brought against him. In the August of 2000, the South Shore law agencies were presented with an 80-page report from Harvey Hines. Detective Tom O' Conner reviewed the issues it raised and although not in total agreement with its findings, it nevertheless generated enough to spike his interest. The South Lake detective took blood samples from Lass' sister Mary Pilker and using identity cards once owned by Donna Lass, created a record of DNA to cross match any present unidentified remains, or ones discovered in the future. Detective Conner said "There is the possibility that her remains have already been found and entered into the data bank". He went on to add "If we get a match at least we'll know where she was found. Hopefully that would be some kind of closure for the family". The family of Donna Lass have become disillusioned with certain aspects of the case, "I haven't heard from anyone", Mary Pilker said. "It is quite a disappointment. Conner seems to be doing as much as he can and he seems to be doing it all on his own time". Mary Pilker is convinced the Harvey Hines Hines report is the key to solving Donna's case. Harvey Hines stated "What I've wanted to do for a long time is hand my case over to some agency and let them run with it. I don't care if I don't get a dime's worth of credit as long as someone closes it out". View the Hines Report at Zodiackiller.com. 
Monte Verdi Apartments, 3893 Pioneer Trail. Click to view on Google Maps.
Donna's nurses uniform was discovered in her office and her car found was outside her residence at the Monte Verdi apartments on Pioneer Trail Road. These apartments are only 0.4 miles from the Paradice Motel.
Street view of Paradice Hotel, 953 Park Avenue 
Judith Hakari, abducted and killed March 7th 1970
Nancy Bennallack, murdered October 25th 1970
Composite of suspect in Bennallack murder
1974 Christmas Card envelope. Mrs Mary Pilker, 1609 South Grange, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
December 27th 1974 Christmas card. Click to enlarge.
On December 27th 1974, a Christmas card was mailed to Mary Pilker, Donna Lass' sister, portraying trees covered in snow. Once opened it revealed a message that was part of the card itself - 'Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year', followed by the handwriting "Best Wishes, St Donna & Guardian of the Pines"
Currier & Ives original print depicted on the Christmas card stamp. Click image to enlarge.
Questioned Documents Examiner Sherwood Morrill
Clifton Calvez
Clifton Calvez, a retired Air Force colonel thought he knew where the body of Donna Lass may be found, employing the unusual approach of satellite imagery, before venturing to the area to put his theory to the test. He entered the Lake Tahoe region via Highway 89, however due to a fire in the region was abruptly halted at Emerald Bay, so proceeded another way around the lake to eventually arrive at his predetermined destination of Antelope Way, when he received that eureka moment. Placing a line through Antelope Way to the Rubicon Peaks summit, it bisected the trees [peek through the pines]. When he progressed into the woods, he found two trees had been carved into. One depicted a baboon, the other a satyr. He took photographs of the area where he believed Donna Lass' burial site could possibly be located, although after a thorough excavation of the site no remains were found. A second location was identified, but again he came up empty handed. Nevertheless he is still of the opinion that the body of Donna Lass is located somewhere in this region and remains optimistic of a resolution some day. CLAIR S. TAPPAAN Clair Sprague Tappaan (May 14, 1878 – November 30, 1932) was an American lawyer, professor and jurist who was on the faculty of the University of Southern California Law School from its formation as an official school of the university in 1904 until 1928, and served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court and California Court of Appeal from 1927 until his death in 1932. Tappaan suffered a fatal heart attack at age 54 while walking to his office in downtown Los Angeles, shortly after addressing a luncheon of the Los Angeles Bar Association. His death was ruled the result of chronic myocarditis and sclerosis of the left coronary artery. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary E. Darling, whom he married on May 12, 1906. Their only child Francis was an All-American for the USC football team in 1929. Tappaan was a longtime official of the Sierra Club, serving as its fifth president, from 1922 to 1924, and on the board of directors from 1912 until his death. At the time of Tappaan's death, Sierra Club members were organizing to build a ski lodge on Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. One Lodge founder, Lewis Clark, said in about 1989 that they named the yet-unnamed lodge after Tappaan to use his popularity to help with fundraising. The Lodge opened on Christmas Eve, 1934, according to Lodge oldtimer Frank Shoemaker. Clair Tappaan Lodge is the Sierra Club's largest and most popular lodge, known among its many supporters as the Sierra Club's "flagship lodge". Tappaan's photo hangs in the entry. Wikipedia. 
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