I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangerous animal of all. To kill something gives me the most thrilling experence. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl. The best part of it, is that when I die I will be reborn in paradice and all the (lone or stray people) I have killed will become my slaves. I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife. ebeorietemethhpiti .
This letter, mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper is similar to the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner letters, containing Part 1 of a trinity of ciphers, which totaled up to become known as the 408 cipher, due to each part containing 136 characters. The letters claimed credit for the first two attacks at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969.
Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday died in the December Lake Herman Road attacks, but in the following encounter with the Zodiac Killer at Blue Rock Springs, Michael Mageau survived despite being shot four times, however, his companion Darlene Ferrin was not so fortunate and succumbed to her injuries upon arrival at Kaiser Hospital at 12:38 am. On August 8th 1969, just over a week after the arrival of the three letters, the 408 cipher was cracked by Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden of Salinas, California, who both used homophonic substitution to identify a solution. The decoded cipher turned out to be the killer's thoughts and ramblings, containing numerous spelling errors either by design or otherwise, yet despite the Zodiac Killer claiming he would reveal his identity within the cipher it turned out he was not so forthcoming. The envelope of the 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald (shown below right) was never published in the newspapers, yet the author of the October 28th 1987 letter was able to mimic the wording and handwriting on the envelope from 1969 exactly. The 1987 communication not only carried the full address of Vallejo Times Herald, just like the 1969 envelope, but both contained no full stops or commas, both carried the "Please Rush To Editor" phrase twice, both contained the exact same 13 words, both used "Calif" for "California" and both contained extremely excessive postage. It is also extremely likely the 1987 envelope misspelled "Herald" to "Herold", just like the July 31st 1969 envelope and September 25th 1990 Celebrity Cypher postcard. The postal rate in 1969 was 6c, but the Zodiac placed 24c on his Vallejo Times-Herald envelope (an excess of 18c). The postal rate in 1987 was 22c, but the author affixed 44c worth of stamps (an excess of 22c). These were by far the most excessive postage used in any Zodiac or suspected Zodiac communications. When you consider the fact that a copycat would never have seen the 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope in 1987, he did a remarkable job imitating the real killer in all of the above, not withstanding the fact that the handwriting looked eerily similar. The author would have had handwriting available to him from published Zodiac letters and the Dripping Pen card envelope published in the November 16th 1970 San Francisco Chronicle, but how on earth does he use this to mimic the July 31st 1969 envelope so perfectly in 1987. The author of the 1987 envelope could have designed it in a multitude of different ways, yet he just happened to choose the exact wording from an envelope in 1969 to which he had no knowledge of. The October 28th 1987 envelope (shown below) is the best available image we have currently. To read the full story, click here. 
Click image to enlarge
See also;
San Francisco Examiner and Part 2 of Cipher San Francisco Chronicle Letter and Part 3 of Cipher |
Dear Editor
I am the killer of the 2 teen-agers last Christmass at Lake Herman and the Girl last 4th of July. To Prove this I shall state some facts which only I + the police know. Christmass 1 Brand name of ammo Super X 2 10 Shots fired 3 Boy was on back feet to car 4 Girl was lyeing on right side feet to west 4th of July 1 Girl was wearing patterned Pants 2 Boy was also shot in knee 3 Brand name of ammo was Western Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle 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 August 11th 1969, a letter was received by Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department under the title of a concerned citizen, containing a brief typewritten message and the key for the 408 cipher. The card read: Dear Sergeant Lynch, I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer. Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue. With best wishes. concerned citizen. For a three part analysis of this correspondence, click here.
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FBI document headed Leslie B. Lundblad, showing handwriting comparisons to the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope, Debut of Zodiac letter and the Little List letter. But crucially, it spells the newspaper as "Herold" just like the 1990 Celebrity Cypher postcard - and possibly the 1987 envelope. This is important because the 1969 envelope wasn't released to the public.
The FBI files (part one) also shows the Vallejo Times-Herald envelope was addressed "Herold"
