 Debra Furlong, 15 (left) and Kathie Snoozy, 14 (right)
On July 13th 1971, a pasted card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle with the words "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". Many have speculated on the location mentioned in the card as "Monticello" in Napa County, California, because of the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard on September 27th 1969. It has been further speculated on whether "April" was a woman's name or the month of the alleged murder. After a comprehensive review of all the information, the woman's identity, labelled as victim 21 can finally be revealed, along with the exact location of Monticello.
On November 8th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Dripping Pen card to the San Francisco Chronicle insinuating his involvement in the brutal stabbing of Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose, in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. The inference of his chronological list of months on the card was suggesting there were two murders attributed to him in August. This crime was ultimately attributed to Karl Francis Werner, arrested in the April of 1971.
On November 21st 1969, a letter and code from the alleged Zodiac was mailed to the San Jose Police Department threatening a widow. Police responded by implementing 24-hour surveillance on her residence. Ten days later, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek. The abductor had likely traveled through San Jose to dispose of her body at Light House Point in Santa Cruz. 
On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach, although her killer had taken care to avoid stabbing her breasts. Her murder was also attributed to Karl Francis Werner. Wikipedia. The brutal murder of Kathy Bilek would again be claimed by 'Zodiac', not only in the Monticello card, but in another earlier Zodiac communication (the 148 character cipher and letter), also mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of months before the Monticello card. Kathy Bilek was murdered in "April", exactly as mentioned in the Monticello card, and "in the woods" at Villa Montalvo (a wooded section of the park). Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, The appearance of San Jose once again.
 Kathy Bilek
The Zodiac Killer created the Monticello card to identify the victim Kathy Bilek, who he was now claiming - responding to recent newspaper articles (one by Paul Avery) published on April 30th 1971 and May 1st 1971, which detailed Karl Francis Werner being arrested and interviewed by police regarding the murders of Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek over two months prior to the mailing of the Monticello card. The Zodiac Killer was now claiming that he was the murderer of Kathy Bilek, as he had suggested with the Debra Gaye Furlong and Kathie Reyne Snoozy murders some 20 months earlier. Now that Werner was being charged with the murders of Snoozy & Furlong, the Zodiac either had to ditch his suggestion of involvement in their murders, or now claim all three. The response was the Monticello card claiming the murder of Kathy Bilek as well, retrospectively using the word "shought" (sought) to make it appear he had previously targeted her. The final thing to examine in the July 13th 1971 pasted card, were the words "near Monticello". It was easy to get sidelined into believing Monticello was referring to Napa County because the town was completely covered by Lake Berryessa, the site of Zodiac's third attack. However, the "Monticello" the author is referring to in the pasted card, is again in San Jose.
Monticello is a neighborhood in San Jose, California, just over 9 miles east of Villa Montalvo and the site of Kathy Bilek's murder. In other words, the author of the card was saying "I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods in April". "I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods she died April". "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". To view the proximity of Monticello to Villa Montalvo click here. This wasn't the only communication to refer to the murder of Kathy Bilek. Sometime in 1971 - likely in early May and before the mailing of the Monticello card - another Zodiac correspondence and cipher was received by the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked Fairfield, California. The communication read: I'll DO IT TO BECAUSE I DONE IT 21 TIMES. I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE EACH ThAT I KILL MAKES IT WORSE AND I MUST KILL MORE. MAN IS ThE MOST PRIZED GAME. ILL NERVER GIVE MY NAME BECAUSE YOU dONT UNDERSTAND. NEXT TIME I WILL SEND A PATCH OF HUMAN SKIN if their is SOME Left OVER. The 148 character cipher decoded to "T(h)is (is) the Zodiac Speacking. Why can't you stop me. I can't stop killing. Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin". The Monticello card stated "Shought victims 21", referring to the Kathy Bilek murder, whereas, in this correspondence the author was claiming he had already "done it 21 times". Neither this or the Monticello card were ever released to the newspapers or public, so bearing in mind these two communications were both mailed in close proximity to one another, there is little doubt they were mailed by the same author - that of the Zodiac Killer. He had claimed 17+ victims on March 13th 1971 and 37 victims on January 29th 1974. These two communications were the only two offerings between these dates to claim an increasing total, and both were 21. 
Imagine the Zodiac Killer's dismay in late April of 1971 when his plans lay in tatters upon the arrest of Karl Francis Werner for the April 11th 1971 murder of Kathy Bilek at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, as well as the murders of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong in San Jose two years earlier, on August 3rd 1969. The Zodiac Killer would eventually be exposed as a fraud - caught in the act of claiming somebody else's victims at last. He reacted forthwith, by mailing two communications to the San Francisco Chronicle in the middle of 1971.
In the first communication he was trying vainly to convince us that he was in fact the murderer of all three girls (Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek), and by extension, claiming that Karl Francis Werner was a fraud or phony. Paul Avery, arch nemesis of Zodiac, wrote an article on April 30th 1971 detailing the capture of Werner. The newspaper article stated "He was immediately advised of his rights concerning any statements he may make and legal representation to which he is entitled, the detectives said. Werner was then taken to the scenes of the crimes. Late yesterday he was undergoing questioning. The detectives would not reveal what statements, if any, he had made concerning the killings of the three girls". The Zodiac Killer would respond in his decoded letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, warning the police "Tis the Zodiac Speacking. Why can't you stop me. I can't stop killing. Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin" (coded section). On October 22nd 1969 and February 5th 1970, the hoaxer called "Sam the sham" phoned into the Jim Dunbar Show at KGO-TV, both times passing himself off as the infamous Zodiac Killer. On both occasions this would be met with derision from the real Zodiac Killer, who used the newspaper headlines to incorporate into his 340 and 148 character ciphers on November 8th 1969 and May 1971. The San Francisco Chronicle headlines on October 24th 1969 stated "It Wasn't Zodiac, Say 3 Who Know", to which the Zodiac replied in the 340 cipher "That Wasn't Me on the TV Show". The San Francisco Chronicle headlined with "Talk Show's Zodiac Caller Called a Phony" on February 6th 1970 and wiith "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls" on April 30th 1971, to which Zodiac replied in his 148 character cipher with "I Will Skin 3 Little Kids" and "Stop Listening to Phonys" sometime in May 1971. Despite the 340 cipher being unbroken in 1971, both ciphers were referring to Eric Weill, ultimately found responsible for the Jim Dunbar hoax. The phonys Zodiac was referring to in his 148 character cipher were Eric Weill and Karl Francis Werner. 
The November 8th 1969 Dripping Pen card would not be the only communication insinuating his involvement in the murder of Debra Gaye Furlong and Kathie Reyne Snoozy, when the Monticello card arrived just over 20 months later, on July 13th 1971. The San Francisco Police Department had reason enough to place the Monticello card in 'suspected Zodiac correspondence' when searching for traces of DNA on potential Zodiac communications, indicating that this correspondence was considered of high importance.
It is with little doubt that Karl Francis Werner was responsible for the murder of Debra Furlong, Kathie Snoozy and Kathy Bilek in 1969 and 1971, but the overarching question is, why did the Zodiac Killer describe the location of Kathy Bilek's body as "near Monticello"? The neighborhood of Monticello is 9 miles east of Villa Montalvo. Why did the Zodiac Killer choose to pinpoint this particular location, rather than any other neighborhood in between Monticello and Villa Montalvo? He could have pasted "near Willow Glen", "near Oster", "near Carlton", or any other location closer than Monticello. It is arguable that he chose this particular location for a specific reason. 
My first thought, was the Zodiac Killer was simply not going to make things easy, and had used Monticello to confuse people in the search for meaning behind the card. Having attacked Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa (submerging the town of Monticello) on September 27th 1969, the possibility existed that the Zodiac Killer was attempting to divert the reader down this train of thought. However, something far more compelling came to light regarding the neighborhood of Monticello - not only that it was near the murder site of Kathy Bilek - but that it once again suggested his involvement in the murder of the two young girls on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose.
The neighborhood of Monticello is the site of the Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, shown here. Here is an extract from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on August 6th 1969: "The other Furlong children are Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11. Furlong said he did not know and had not yet talked to Kathy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Snoozy. Both Snoozy, a carpet layer, and Mrs. Snoozy reportedly are in a state of collapse. Her funeral has been scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at the Place Funeral Home in Los Gatos. Burial will be at Oak Wood Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Funeral services for Kathy will be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Oak Hill Memorial Park Mortuary in San Jose. Burial will be at Oak Hill Memorial Park." The funeral services and burial of Kathie Snoozy were held at Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue in the neighborhood of Monticello. This is without any doubt why the Zodiac Killer chose "near Monticello" rather than any other location closer to Villa Montalvo. He was not only pinpointing this location to suggest he had a hand in the murder of the San Jose teenagers, but specifically chose this area that held the gravesite of Kathie Snoozy, because her forename was phonetically identical to that of Kathy Bilek. Not only was Kathy Bilek murdered in April, in the woods, near Monticello, but her name could be inferred in the Monticello card from the Oak Hill Memorial Park burial site of her namesake. The Pines card and 13-Hole postcard were published in the newspapers, yet this card has always been withheld. What are the chances that the picture on the Monticello card contains sensitive material, deemed inappropriate for release by law enforcement, and may have something to do with Oak Hill Memorial Park. 
The Pines card and Monticello card both contained similar wording, such as "pass lake Tahoe areas" and "near Monticello", as well as "around in the snow" and "in the woods". Harvey Hines, a retired detective from Groveland, believed that Donna Lass was likely buried on the Donner Ski Ranch. This area is extremely close to Donner Memorial State Park, as is Monticello to Oak Hill Memorial Park. Another uncanny connection in the murder of two innocent lives.
Just prior to the Monticello card, likely in the May of 1971, the Zodiac Killer mailed the 148 character cipher to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked Fairfield, California. Bearing in mind Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek were all stabbed innumerable times, disfiguring their bodies, it is rather telling that the Zodiac Killer should threaten 3 more young people in the code, stating "Tis the Zodiac Speacking. Why can't you stop me. I can't stop killing. Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin", and in the accompanying letter by adding "next time I will send a patch of human skin if there is some left over". |
1963 June 4th-The Domingos/Edwards Murders
1966 October 30th-The Cheri Jo Bates Murder 1966 November 29th-The Confession Letter 1966 December- The Riverside Desktop Poem 1967 April 30th- The Three Bates Letters 1968 December 20th-The Lake Herman Murders 1969 July 4th-The Blue Rock Springs Attack 1969 July 31st- Vallejo Times-Herald Letter and 408 Cipher Page1 (solved) 1969 July 31st- Examiner Letter and 408 Cipher Page 2 (solved) 1969 July 31st- Chronicle Letter and 408 Cipher Page 3 (87% solved) 1969 July 31st- The Complete 408 Cipher 1969 August 3rd- The Snoozy & Furlong Murders 1969 August 4th- Debut of Zodiac Letter 1969 August 10th- Concerned Citizen Card 1969 September 27th- The Lake Berryessa Attack 1969 October 7th- The Good Citizen Letter 1969 October 11th- The Presidio Heights Murder 1969 October 13th-The Paul Stine Letters 1969 October 14/15th- Zodiac Call to Santa Rosa 1969 October 21st- The Phone Call to Palo Alto 1969 October 22nd- Call to Chat Show 1969 November 2nd- Daniel Williams Poisoning 1969 November 8th-The Dripping Pen Card and 340 Cipher (solved in 2020) 1969 November 9th-The Bus Bomb Letter 1969 November 19th-The Riddler Notes 1969 November 21st-The San Jose Code Letter 1969 November 28th-The Betsy Aardsma Murder 1969 December 7th- Oklahoma Radio Call 1969 December 7th-The 1st Fairfield Letter 1969 December 10th- Forecast for Cancer 1969 December 11th- Forecast for Leo 1969 December 16th-The 2nd Fairfield Letter 1969 December 19th- Zodiac Call to San Jose 1969 December 20th-The Melvin Belli Letter 1970 January 4th- Phone Call to Peggy Trainer 1970 Feb 21st- The Hood and Garcia Murders 1970 March 22nd-The Modesto Attack 1970 April 15th-The Robert Salem Murder 1970 April 20th-"My Name is" Letter, Cipher 3 and Bus Bomb Diagram 1970 April 28th-The Dragon Card 1970 June 18th- Oakland A's Letter 1970 June 26th-The Button Letter Cipher 4 and Map 1970 July 4th-The Sleeping Bag Murders 1970 July 24th-The Kathleen Johns Letter 1970 July 26th-The Little List Letter 1970 Sept 6th-The Donna Lass Disappearance 1970 October 5th-13 Hole Postcard 1970 October 17th- "You Are Next" Postcard 1970 October 27th-The Halloween Card 1971 March 13th-The Los Angeles Letter 1971 March 22nd-The Pines Card 1971 Possibly May- The 148 Character Cipher 1971 July 13th-The Monticello Card 1972 June 29th- The Novato Letter 1973 August 1st- The Albany Letter 1974 January 29th-The Exorcist Letter 1974 February 3rd-The SLA Letter 1974 May 8th-The Citizen Card 1974 July 8th-The Red Phantom Letter 1974 December 27th- Christmas Card 1975 November 3rd- The Belmont Letter 1976 August 26th-The Deep Real Estate Ad 1978 March 13th- The "I Am Back" Phone Call 1978 April 24th-The 1978 Letter 1978 May 2nd- The Channel Nine Letter 1978 July 19th- The Scotch Tape Letter 1981 March 8th- The Atlanta Letter 1982 January (?) - The Santa Claus Card 1986 May 6th- The Freeway Letter 1987 October 28th- The 1987 Letter 1988 February 1st- The McDonald's Letter 1988 February 8th- The McDonald's Letter [2] 1990 September 25th- The Celebrity Cypher 1990 December-American Greetings Card 1991-The Scorpion Ciphers to John Walsh 2001 January 10th- Happy New Year Card Unknown DMV Letter (possibly November 1971) 
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The Zodiac Killer chose the location of "Monticello" to bind together the murders of Kathy Bilek, Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong, the latter two of which he had claimed on November 8th 1969 in the Dripping Pen card. He added Kathy Bilek to his total when he mailed the 148 character cipher and letter in (likely) May of 1971, and ratified this on July 13th 1971 with the mailing of the Monticello card. These two communications in 1971 were a response to the arrest of Karl Francis Werner for the murder of all three girls. The burial location of Kathie Snoozy became integral to the Zodiac story on July 13th 1971, but investigators have apparently never made this connection. This is what makes the events of September 18th 1973 so very, very interesting.
On this date, somebody removed a tombstone from the Oak Hill Cemetery at First Street & Curtner Avenue and placed it in front of the cemetery gate. The tombstone had the pseudonym "Zodiac" written on it in crayon. We don't know the identity of the perpetrator who committed this unsavoury act, but we do know that the Zodiac Killer had a vested interest in the murder of Kathy Snoozy and the location of her burial site. I will leave it to you to guess the tombstone removed.
The Zodiac Killer's interest in the case of Kathy Snoozy & Debra Furlong likely began on August 6th 1969 (3 days after their murders) when the San Francisco Chronicle released a comprehensive front page article of the knife slayings, with a reference to her burial at the Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose. The Zodiac Killer, having been relegated to pages four and nine of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner respectively - and killing three people and writing four letters - was probably frustrated his efforts didn't receive comparable coverage. Therefore, it was no surprise he turned up on the shores of Lake Berryessa armed with a bladed weapon and wrote "by knife" on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. There is also the possibility he threatened the family members of Debra Furlong on December 19th 1969, when a phone call was received by police dispatcher, Shirley Searey, of the San Jose Highway Patrol, claiming to be the Zodiac Killer and stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The remaining five Furlong family members were Glen Furlong and his wife, along with Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11. All the information required to create this phone call and know the burial site location of Kathy Snoozy was available in the August 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article. To read the entire Snoozy & Furlong story from March 27th 2022, click the following link.
THE SAN JOSE MURDERS AND ZODIAC - THE COMPLETE STORY
A FOUR YEAR JOURNEY TO TOMBSTONE
On this date, somebody removed a tombstone from the Oak Hill Cemetery at First Street & Curtner Avenue and placed it in front of the cemetery gate. The tombstone had the pseudonym "Zodiac" written on it in crayon. We don't know the identity of the perpetrator who committed this unsavoury act, but we do know that the Zodiac Killer had a vested interest in the murder of Kathy Snoozy and the location of her burial site. I will leave it to you to guess the tombstone removed.
The Zodiac Killer's interest in the case of Kathy Snoozy & Debra Furlong likely began on August 6th 1969 (3 days after their murders) when the San Francisco Chronicle released a comprehensive front page article of the knife slayings, with a reference to her burial at the Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose. The Zodiac Killer, having been relegated to pages four and nine of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner respectively - and killing three people and writing four letters - was probably frustrated his efforts didn't receive comparable coverage. Therefore, it was no surprise he turned up on the shores of Lake Berryessa armed with a bladed weapon and wrote "by knife" on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. There is also the possibility he threatened the family members of Debra Furlong on December 19th 1969, when a phone call was received by police dispatcher, Shirley Searey, of the San Jose Highway Patrol, claiming to be the Zodiac Killer and stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The remaining five Furlong family members were Glen Furlong and his wife, along with Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11. All the information required to create this phone call and know the burial site location of Kathy Snoozy was available in the August 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article. To read the entire Snoozy & Furlong story from March 27th 2022, click the following link.
THE SAN JOSE MURDERS AND ZODIAC - THE COMPLETE STORY
A FOUR YEAR JOURNEY TO TOMBSTONE
The 148 character cipher was featured in the San Francisco Examiner newspaper on December 21st 1986
