All of the Zodiac letters were hand printed up to December 10th 1969, when the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer pasted horoscope was mailed to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. This horoscope page contained more information than visible in the versions shown on the internet. The FBI files state The handwritten notations on Q40 in the wording "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." could not be associated with any of the other questioned material in this case (because it was cursive handwriting and not non-cursive/hand printed). It is noted in this regard that the writing on the other specimens in this matter is hand printed and that the notations on Q40 are very limited.  

​This means that the limited handwriting contained within the message "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." was redacted from the image we are accustomed to. It appears that the pasted FLT 555 was referring to "Flight 555" after all. Very likely from San Francisco at 7:00PM, according to the sender. Howard Davis of the Zodiac/Manson website, reported that Drew Peterson relayed information about a reporter who found a United Flight 555 that flew from San Francisco to San Diego every Wednesday at 7:30pm, tying in with the "Birds Fly South" pasted text on the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication. This almost lines up with the notation of  Flight 555 SF. 700 PM (using a viniculum under 00), which was written on the horoscope page (Q40). The mailing date of the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts were both on a Wednesday. Howard Davis has toyed with the idea that the Zodiac Killer was giving hints he was more than capable of traveling to San Diego, where on February 4th 1964 at Ocean Beach, Johnny & Joyce Swindle were murdered by a sniper alongside the seafront. Bolinas Lagoon (where Leona Roberts body was found) and San Diego Bay are also both key sites in the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds.

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. Authorities said it was impossible the body could have been dumped into the bay on the east side and floated through the Golden Gate Bridge. The man collecting driftwood discovered Leona Roberts body on a beach near Bolinas Lagoon - so the location was possibly the southeastern section of Stinson Beach or Red Rock Beach (which is slightly lower on the map below). However, Red Rock Beach can only be accessed by a very steep trail from Shoreline Highway, making it a very unlikely deposition site in absence of the body being thrown from the clifftop. Stinson Beach has many houses along its shoreline (even in 1969), so it could be argued that somebody disposing of a dead naked woman at this location, would probably have chosen the southeastern edge of Stinson Beach, which was devoid of residences. But why choose this location at all? 

If the killer had traveled westwards to this location and used Shoreline Highway, there are innumerable turnouts, clifftops and wooded areas before you reach Stinson Beach, near Bolinas Lagoon. In fact, there is in excess of 10 miles of winding road before you reach Stinson Beach, where a body could have been secreted quite easily. So why would you pass all these potential dump sites and place Leona Roberts on an open beach, unless you wanted her found and was making a statement? The same argument can be applied to somebody approaching by vehicle on the northern side of Bolinas Lagoon - unless she had been deposited in the water at a different location and the currents carried her to Stinson Beach (or somewhere nearby).  

​If the estimates of her time of death are fairly accurate, then we have a scenario where a woman is kidnapped, kept alive for 8 to 14 days (18th to 24th December), before being found 4 to 10 days later. It is highly unlikely her dead body had been on Stinson Beach, unnoticed for several days. So had it washed up recently, or had the killer dumped the body on the beach shortly before it was found, having stored it for several days?  There are two viable options: either she was deliberately placed on a beach somewhere near Bolinas Lagoon by her killer, or she was thrown into the water at a secondary location and was carried by the currents to the location she was found on December 28th 1969.

Associated articles: A Very Unlikely Zodiac Murder and Did Zodiac Call on January 4th 1970?

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 on December 10th 1969, in tandem with a communication of pasted words that contained "Zodiac", "Watch" and "Birds Fly South". This communication, eighteen days in advance of her body being discovered, highlighted the word "Watch" in the largest letters, and significant bearing in mind a unique wristwatch was reported missing from the girl's wrist on December 28th 1969. She was also found at Bolinas Lagoon, so the "Birds Fly South" phrase may have some meaning when we consider that Bolinas Lagoon is a major north-south Pacific flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. 

​The coroner also noted marks on her wrists and ankles, suggestive of somebody being bound. The two sinister communications on December 10th and 11th - obviously mailed by the same author - were horoscope forecasts, with the second communication possibly a play on words using the name of Leona Roberts. It was entitled  Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo. The fact that this author facilitated the use of forecasts in accompaniment to the word "Leo", when her body took eighteen days to surface, with the coroner estimating her death 10 to 14 days after her abduction, is some forecast. ​

The Zodiac Killer had claimed seven victims on November 9th 1969, but he didn't (assuming it was Zodiac) raise this victim count in the two forecast letters on December 10/11. He also made no change to his victim count in the two Fairfield letters mailed on December 7th and 16th. Yet he did raise his victim count to 8 on December 20th 1969, when he stated "I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom". This could imply the Zodiac Killer claimed his eighth victim between December 16th and December 20th 1969 - very close to the estimated time of death of Leona Roberts. The estimation of death with increased time is obviously more difficult to pinpoint, so it's perfectly feasible an error of just one or two days, places her time of death between the period Zodiac's victim count increased to eight. The two forecast letters were never publicly released, making the threatening "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer (18) on January 4th 1970, who lived behind the apartment where Leona Roberts was abducted, a further uncanny coincidence.   

The Zodiac Killer claimed the Snoozy & Furlong murders in his Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969, before going on to write a letter to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969, and making a phone call to the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969. This was likely done to cement the notion in investigators minds of his involvement in the Snoozy & Furlong murders in San Jose, despite the fact he had no hand in their demise. 

Leona Roberts (16) disappeared from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at around 6:00pm on December 10th 1969. Her disappearance coincided with a pasted communication on the same date from Sacramento, dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, which contained the pasted word "Zodiac". The following day, on December 11th 1969, a second pasted communication postmarked San Francisco and dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, could have been a play on "Leona" Roberts name and fate, bearing in mind she wasn't murdered for at least 11 to 14 days. Her body was found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969.

These two pasted horoscope communications were not publicly released, yet somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer just happened to phone Peggy Trainer (18) and claim she would be his next victim. Peggy Trainer lived directly behind the apartment where Leona Roberts disappeared from.

Therefore, we have two sinister communications on December 10th and 11th containing the pseudonym "Zodiac" and the "Forecast for Leo", along with a potential "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer on January 4th 1970, who was a neighbor to the apartment where Leona Roberts was last seen alive. Did the person who rang Peggy Trainer claiming to be Zodiac, if different from the author of the December 10/11 communications, just get lucky attaching the pseudonym "Zodiac" close to an abduction site, that coincided with a "Zodiac" communication mailed on Leona Roberts abduction date? Or were the communications and caller the same person, separated by 24 days? 

Thank you to Gavin Fish from True Crime on Youtube for supplying me with this newspaper article from the Contra Costa Times, dated January 7th 1970. 

The point was made in an earlier article that the immediate murder with a Zodiac connection after the "latent homosexual" suggestion was floated in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the Bay Area murderer's pseudonym was found at the crime scene, was the murder of gay man, Robert Salem, on April 15th 1970 in San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer's 13-Symbol cipher was argued as being contemporary in nature, with his April 20th 1970 letter being mailed the same day this murder was published in the newspapers. Homosexuality and acceptance has been a continuing struggle for gay activists to this day, but the 1960s and 1970s were arguably more difficult times, with newspaper coverage on this topic less than acceptable. Many religious people were unwilling to accept individual rights, claiming that homosexuality was the mark of the beast, and was an abomination in the eyes of God. The writing in blood on Robert Salem's apartment wall stating "Satan Saves" must have had some meaning to the killer - so was it in any way connected to the sexual preferences of Robert Salem? This writing was accompanied by an Egyptian ankh, adopted by Coptic Christians as early as AD 200. If the 13-Symbol cipher was based on the murder of Robert Salem, one could argue that the writing on the apartment wall, along with the murder of Robert Salem, may have featured in this extremely short code.  

The only other time the Zodiac Killer mailed a cipher in connection with a brutal knife murder, was when he mailed the 148 character cipher shortly after the arrest and interrogation of Karl Francis Werner for the murders of Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek on August 3rd 1969 and April 11th 1971. In the 148 character cipher the Zodiac Killer encrypted "I will skin three little kids and make a suit from the skin", and wrote "I will send a patch of human skin if their is some left over" in the message of the accompanying letter. Bearing in mind the killer removed Robert Salem's left ear and took it from the crime scene, I considered the possibility that the word "skin" may feature in the 13-Symbol cipher, alongside the word "satan" (or an extension of it), taken from the apartment wall. In other words, the encrypted message was related to the murder scene of Robert Salem. The dash after "My name is" in the April 20th 1970 letter, being the withheld name, with the 13-Symbol cipher being the message. 

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     

On April 30th 2022, Ross Geraci of Planet X Filmworks was kind enough to invite me to discuss the Zodiac Killer case on his Zodiac Files Interview series on Youtube. We had a comprehensive discussion for 2 hours 23 minutes on the entire case. Ross has also recently released an episode on the Cheri Jo Bates mystery in Riverside, to accompany his previous videos on the Ray Davis taxicab murder in Oceanside and the sniper slayings of Johnny & Joyce Swindle at Ocean Beach, as well as conducting interviews and reviews with Dr. Mark Hewitt, Thomas Horan, Michael Morford, Ned DeHan, Howard Davis, Drew Beeson (on Zodiac and Dan Cooper) and Bryan (usngunner1976). Please give his Youtube channel your support by visiting and subscribing to Planet X Filmworks.      

Prior to, and continuing on after the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, investigators painted the Zodiac Killer as a sexual deviant, targeting couples (primarily the females), because of some relationship inadequacies in his own life. Despite no evidence whatsoever that the Zodiac murders were sexually motivated, the psychological profile of the killer was deemed sexual in nature. The next murder was the clinical, execution style shooting of a lone male taxicab driver in the heart of San Francisco on October 11th 1969.   

The attribution of a sexual component to the Zodiac crimes were not scotched by the taxicab murder however. The Zodiac Killer was now being labeled a "latent homosexual" in a Paul Avery article on October 18th 1969.  

The next murder in San Francisco with the Zodiac pseudonym placed at the crime scene (similar to Berryessa), was the murder of a gay man, Robert Michael Salem on April 15th 1970, who had been callously stabbed numerous times in his 745 Stevenson Street apartment - and "Zodiac" had been written in the victim's blood on the apartment wall. 

The 408 cipher mailed on July 31st 1969 could be considered an introductory cipher by the Zodiac Killer, laying out his plans to collect more slaves for his afterlife and warning police of more murder to come. The 340 cipher, solved by eminent cryptographers David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke in December 2020 was contemporary in nature, and effectively called out Eric Weill who telephoned into the Jim Dunbar TV Show on October 22nd 1969, that initiated the response of Zodiac just over two weeks later, who stated "That wasn't me on the TV show". The 32-Symbol cipher was also contemporary in nature, threatening to detonate a bomb in San Francisco & Vicinity soon after the Zodiac Killer had referenced the Park Police Station bombing (on April 20th 1970) which killed San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell. The Zodiac Killer also called out Karl Francis Werner shortly after his arrest and interrogation for the murders of Snoozy & Furlong on April 29th 1971, again encoding a contemporary message stating "stop listening to phonys". This message (plural in nature) was not only labelling Karl Francis Werner as an imposter, but included Eric Weill from the Jim Dunbar Show - and effectively bound the 340 and 148 character ciphers under the banner of one author.

This should make you think, when you consider the April 20th 1970 letter arriving after 121 days sf silence from the Zodiac Killer, mailed on the same day his Zodiac pseudonym was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle as being written in blood on the wall of murder victim Robert Michael Salem, stabbed to death in his 745 Stevenson Street apartment. Was this just sheer coincidence after four months, or was the letter a rushed response to the breaking news in the Chronicle newspaper on the same day (with an AM postmark)? If you play the odds, the chances that this was coincidence, may appear unlikely. If the April 20th 1970 letter was a response to the San Francisco Chronicle article, then the cipher and bus bomb diagram were literally created in a matter of hours. Of course, the 13-Symbol code could have been designed in advance and added to his letter - but if not - the message contained within the code could likely be a reaction to the latest news about Robert Salem, or at the very least, be extremely contemporary in nature if his other three ciphers are anything to go by.

In fact, if you believe the 148 character cipher and letter in 1971 as genuine Zodiac material (as I do), then there will never be any reasonable chance of the Zodiac Killer ever revealing his real name in any code or communication, because the Zodiac Killer comprehensively stated in the 1971 letter that "I will never give my name because you don't understand". The offering of an alternative name in the Z13 seems equally unlikely, because its lack of ciphertext characters lends itself to thousands of possibilities, rendering any alternative name a pointless exercise when it cannot be verified. There appears two ways forward: [1] either the Zodiac Killer fashioned a code based on the Robert Salem murder or its column inches, so contemporary in nature, that it would carry great significance when unearthed, or [2] It isn't necessarily contemporary in nature and the answer or key lies in subsequent communications. The Zodiac Killer would almost certainly have known a code of just 13 characters was practically unsolvable, so the notion of a solve so contemporary in nature as to cement its validity, appears a justifiable avenue to explore. 

The Zodiac Killer's writings were inspired (or were introduced as misdirection) from the movies, theater and reading material, such as The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, first published on January 19th 1924 and made into a 1932 film starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks. The Mikado, a comic opera, which opened on March 14th 1885 in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, The Exorcist movie, a horror production released in 1973, directed by William Friedkin and adapted for screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 book.  And the 1952 Tim Holt comic book that possibly featured in his October 27th 1970 Halloween card, to name but a few.

It is difficult to say which, if any, serial killers inspired the murderous acts of the Bay Area murderer, but one may have inspired the seventh confirmed code (cryptic offering) of the Zodiac Killer. 

Edward Theodore Gein, known as the Butcher of Plainfield, was only convicted of the murder of Bernice Worden, who disappeared from her local hardware store on November 16th 1957, despite his confession to the murder of Mary Hogan in 1954. The inevitable search of his house in Wisconsin would unearth a house of horrors, with trophies and keepsakes fashioned from the skin and bones of exhumed bodies from the local graveyards. Authorities found chairs made from human skin, skulls adorning the bedposts, a corset made from a female torso, leggings made from human skin and a lampshade made from a human face. However, this was just a fraction of the unspeakable imagery that greeted investigators when they arrived at the remote dwelling. Ed Gein's descent into madness began after the death of his mother, Augusta, in 1945, igniting a desire within him to create a suit from the skin of middle-aged women dug up from their graves. A suit of human skin that he would begin to craft into the embodiment of his mother, so he could effectively crawl into her skin.  The Ed Gein story would ultimately enter American popular culture and inspire the 1959 novel, Psycho, by crime author Robert Bloch. The story then hit the big screen on June 16th 1960, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. It would also inspire later films, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

But the Ed Gein story may have also inspired the writings of the Zodiac Killer in the middle of 1971 (possibly May), when he composed his 148 character cipher and letter, trying desperately to keep hold of the murders of Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15), who were each found brutally stabbed in excess of 100 times on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose. Having claimed them in his running victim count on November 8th 1969, he now faced having them deducted from his total, when Karl Francis Werner was arrested and interrogated on April 29th 1971 for their murders, and the recent murder of Kathy Bilek (18). The murder of Kathy Bilek in the Villa Montalvo woods on April 11th 1971, the Zodiac Killer would eventually claim on July 13th 1971 when the Monticello card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Zodiac Killer would make reference to all three girls in his 148 character and letter, asking investigators not to listen to "phonys" such as Werner, and warning them he would "skin three little kids and make a suit from the skin", and "send a patch of human skin if their is some left over". I wonder what inspired the Zodiac Killer to threaten to make a suit from the skin? 

This is a follow up article to Anchors Aweigh concerning the knife murder of Robert Michael Salem, whose body was discovered in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970. The Zodiac Killer mailed a communication to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970, the very same day this story broke in the San Francisco Chronicle. If this wasn't a coincidence after 121 days of silence from the Zodiac Killer - and he reacted to the San Francisco Chronicle morning edition about the Robert Salem murder - then he had to write this letter (that included a code and bomb diagram) and mail it extremely quickly, to enable this communication to bear the postmark "SAN FRANCISCO CALIF, 4A AM 20 APR". In other words, it had to be created, mailed, collected and processed in the morning to carry an AM postmark. But was the letter designed with Robert Salem in mind? 

The San Francisco Chronicle article on April 20th 1970 only described the drawing on Robert Salem's apartment wall as "a weird cross like design with an arc, similar to the Zodiac's circled cross insignia". There was no mention of an Egyptian ankh or Crux Ansata, no mention of a crucifix style design - and other than the writing "Satan Saves Zodiac" - no mention of Christianity or Jesus Christ. The ankh or key of life (drawn in blood on the apartment wall of Robert Salem) is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol used in Egyptian art and writing to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself. It was especially commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife. Because it symbolizes immortality and the universe it was initially borrowed by the fourth-century Coptic Christians who used it as a symbol to reinforce Christ's message that there is life after death. The ankh cross as a symbol of eternal life eventually lost its loop at the top to become the Christian cross which, like the ancient ankh, is worn by believers in Jesus Christ in the present day for the same reason: to identify with their god and all that god promises. link.  Much more recently, the ankh has become a popular symbol in modern Western culture, particularly as a design for jewelry and tattoos. Its resurgence began when the counterculture of the 1960s stirred a greater interest in ancient religions.

Despite no direct mention of Christianity, Jesus Christ or the Egyptian Ankh in the San Francisco Chronicle article on April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer within hours would manufacture a code letter containing the three circled eights (which represents the name Jesus in Christian numerology, with the number 8 representing rebirth and regeneration, and infinity/eternity), along with a Christian anchor symbol. Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and several of the early ​Church Fathers speak in this sense. link. 

So, did the Zodiac Killer create the 13-Symbol code the same day the Chronicle article was released, containing four characters of Christian symbolism, representing Jesus Christ, eternity and the afterlife, based solely upon the phrase "Satan Saves Zodiac", or was the Zodiac Killer fully aware of the Egyptian ankh symbol (representing Christianity and the hope of everlasting life) drawn in blood, because he was present in the 745 Stevenson Street apartment of Robert Salem? The other possibility is that my interpretation of the Zodiac Killer's symbols are incorrect, and they in no way correlate to the Egyptian ankh on the apartment wall. 

On April 19th 1970, the mutilated body of Robert Michael Salem was discovered in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment by some friends. He had been stabbed several times, and his blood had been used to draw an Egyptian Ankh on his apartment wall, accompanied by the wording "Satan Saves Zodiac". This story would be reported in the newspapers the following morning, when on April 20th 1970 the San Francisco Chronicle released an article entitled "Bizarre 'Zodiac' Murder". At this point, the Zodiac Killer had remained silent for 121 days, so was the timing of his April 20th 1970 letter, having being mailed on the same date as the news coverage of the pseudonym "Zodiac" being discovered on the apartment wall of a murder victim, just sheer coincidence? Or had the Zodiac Killer read the morning edition of the San Francisco Chronicle and hastily created a 2-page letter containing a code and bus bomb diagram to quickly mail to the newspapers? In other words, he fashioned a communication in double-quick time to coincide with the newspaper article, stating "I hope you have fun trying to figure out who I killed", to insinuate himself as the murderer.  

This may explain why he didn't have the time to create a more complex cryptogram in the same fashion as his 408 and 340 ciphers. If the Zodiac Killer didn't murder Robert Salem and wasn't an employee of the San Francisco Chronicle, then he had to create the code in a matter of hours, because his envelope was postmarked April 20th 1970, the same date as the newspaper article. Therefore, his 13-Symbol code was about as contemporary as could be. It could have been inspired by the very newspaper article that inspired the letter.

​The April 20th 1970 newspaper article did not show an image of the apartment wall, it only mentioned the "Satan Saves Zodiac" writing, and descrbed the drawing on the wall as "a weird cross like design with an arc, similar to the Zodiac's circled cross insignia". It made no mention of an Egyptian Ankh. The image at the top of this article was taken from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article released on April 21st 1970.

In the Zodiac Killer's short code, he added the Celtic Cross, three circled eights (which represents the name Jesus in Christian numerology) and the Christian anchor (a symbol of hope in future existence for many Christians). All the symbols have a religious connotation. The image on the right is a Christian anchor. The word "anchor" has the same phonetic root as the Egyptian "Ankh". However, the interesting aspect of the Christian anchor, is that its imagery comprises that of the crude anchor Zodiac placed in his 13 character code and the drawing of the Egyptian Ankh placed on the apartment wall of Robert Michael Salem. A drawing he should have had no knowledge of on April 20th 1970, because that image wasn't released until April 21st 1970. Not only do we have the 888 of Jesus Christ and "Satan Saves" connection, but we have the Christian anchor being a combination of Zodiac's crude "code anchor" and the yet to be released image of the Ankh, discovered the night before. Was this another coincidence, or was the Zodiac Killer responsible for the murder at 745 Stevenson Street?    

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?      

The Badlands (or Citizen Card) communication has always been difficult to prove as authentic Zodiac correspondence, sandwiched between the SLA and Red Phantom letters, which are almost certainly inauthentic. Without determining the validity of the Badlands correspondence or otherwise, let us look at some facts.

When looking at the envelopes/addresses, the Zodiac Killer abbreviated the San Francisco portion of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner into initials, when he mailed the July 31st 1969 Chronicle letter, July 31st 1969 Examiner letter, October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter, November 8th 1969 Dripping Pen card, November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb letter, June 26th 1970 Button letter, July 24th 1970 Kathleen Johns letter, July 26th 1970 Little List letter, October 27th 1970 Halloween card (abbreviated twice) and April 24th 1978 "I Am Back With You" letter. The Zodiac Killer abbreviated to S.F. (using periods or full stops) on all the eleven occasions he adopted this format. From July 31st 1969 to April 24th 1978, only the Badlands communication failed to follow this pattern. When mailing the December 20th 1969 Melvin Belli letter and March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letters, he also used periods after abbreviating the addressee into initials. Even on the March 22nd 1971 Pines card, the Zodiac Killer pasted the initials S.F. using periods.

The Zodiac Killer used San Fran. or San Fran on the envelopes/addresses on eleven occasions between July 31st 1969 and January 29th 1974, but never once was this the last part of the address. The Badlands communication yet again broke with tradition, with the envelope ending San Fran. 

In his very first communications, the Zodiac Killer wrote three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969, and fully expected to receive front page coverage, demanding "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". After all, he had now committed the murders of David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin, while seriously injuring Michael Mageau. He again reiterated the importance of publicity when the August 4th 1969 Debut of Zodiac letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner offices, stating "I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage". This trend would continue in the Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969 when he asked politely "Could you print this new cipher in your frunt page", and when the Los Angeles letter was mailed on March 13th 1971, declaring "The reason I'm writing to the Times is this, They don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others". By August 4th 1969 he had killed three, nearly killed another, sent four letters and created a 408 character cipher formed of three parts - but despite this - the two main newspapers in the Bay Area relegated his cipher offerings to page four and page nine in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner respectively. The Zodiac Killer was probably wondering what more he had to do to achieve the front page coverage his crimes and communications merited. The answer would come sharply into focus, when two days after he announced himself to the world as "Zodiac" - and while he was scouring the newspapers for any progress on his 408 cipher - the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a comprehensive article on the front page of their newspaper featuring the brutal slayings of Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Debra Gaye Furlong (14) in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. The two young teenage girls were brutally stabbed countless times as they picnicked atop an oak grove in Alamedan Valley.        

The father of one of the girls, Glen Furlong, spoke of some unsettling phone calls in the aftermath of his daughter's murder, stating "The individual or individuals who did this either had to be deranged or high on dope or something of that nature, They didn't know what they were doing. It was such a senseless killing. On several occasions people have called and as soon as we answer, they hang up". he said in bewilderment. At the foot of the San Francisco Chronicle article, it mentioned the surviving Furlong children and described the funeral services for both girls (see above). This section of the San Francisco Chronicle publication would be crucial regarding a phone call to the San Jose Highway Patrol by the Zodiac Killer on December 19th 1969 and a postcard mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 13th 1971, both of which were inspired, in part, by this section of the August 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper,

The Zodiac Killer, having created terror in Benicia and Vallejo - and having sent four communications to date - noticed that the Snoozy & Furlong murders received front page coverage, while he received inner-page status. Is it really any surprise that the Zodiac Killer reappeared on the shores of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, armed with a large knife and wearing an ominous executioner's costume. Dr. John E. Hauser, Santa Clara county's chief medical examiner and coroner, stated of the Snoozy & Furlong murders  "I've never seen a case with this many stab wounds. You know, I've been in this profession a long time and sometimes I think I'm rather callous, but when I saw these girls, believe me it was terrifying. The Nazi sex mutilations during World War II were nothing compared to what was done to these young girls". The Zodiac Killer had to perform an attack that would shock, so it's not difficult to understand why he ramped up the terror in the manner he did, knowing that a close-quarter attack should secure him the front page coverage he felt he warranted. After the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, the Zodiac Killer traveled back up the hill and wrote "Vallejo 12-20-68, 7-4-69, Sept 27-69 - 6:30. by knife" on the car door of the young couples' vehicle. The addition of "by knife" was effectively saying to law enforcement "I've now killed with a knife, do I now get front page coverage like the San Jose murders". The plan worked perfectly, because the Lake Berryessa attack had the added advantage of him being linked to the murders of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong. Something he would capitalize on in the Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969, when he upped his victim count to seven and added the month of August to his chronological list of murder months.  

The Zodiac Killer knew that just committing an attack "by knife" and adding "Aug" to his Dripping Pen card, he may need more reinforcement to convince law enforcement he was responsible for the Snoozy & Furlong murders, so kept on with the San Jose angle by mailing a letter to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969. A letter that would again promise more mayhem, by threatening a woman in San Jose and force police to instigate 24-hour protection to quell the possibilty of further attacks. But it didn't stop there.

On December 16th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter from Fairfield to the newspapers, threatening to kill 38 cops by targeting 9 in Sacramento, 8 in Oakland, 8 in Napa, 6 in Vallejo, 3 in Fairfield, 3 in San Francisco and 1 in San Jose. The Zodiac Killer would include San Jose once again. This letter was withheld from the newspapers, making it fairly obvious that the person who rang the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969, was the same person who authored this letter. 

On December 19th 1969, the Zodiac Killer again threatened multiple cops, making a phone call to Sergeant Robert Rengsdorff of the San Jose Highway Patrol, stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday".  The Zodiac Killer had made a list of cops he wanted to kill on December 16th 1969, but would up his San Jose total from one to five on December 19th 1969, adding that he also wanted to kill a family of five in San Jose (which is very specific}. This is where the San Francisco Chronicle article from August 6th 1969 comes into play. The article heavily featured Glen Furlong, who spoke about his daughter and the unsettling phone calls he was receiving. The article also mentioned his wife and their three children,  by stating "The other Furlong children are Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11". This was almost certainly the family of five the Zodiac Killer was referring to, staying relevant in San Jose, and keeping with tradition by never referring to his victims or potential victims by name. As stated earlier, the relevance of the San Francisco Chronicle article would again resurface on July 13th 1971. 

On October 27th 1970, the Zodiac Killer would mail the Halloween card, upping his victim count to fourteen, but chose to write 4-TEEN as an alternative, to include the only four teenagers he was claiming thus far. Those four were David Faraday (17), Betty Lou Jensen (16), Kathie Snoozy (15) and Debra Furlong (14). Seven months later (probably early May, 1971), the Zodiac Killer mailed the 148 character cipher and letter in response to the recent arrest and interrogation of Karl Francis Werner (18) for the murders of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong, as well as the recent murder of Kathy Bilek (18) in Saratoga on April 11th 1971. The headlines stated San Jose Student Held in Slaying of Three Girls, San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls and Youth Arraigned in Knife Slayings of Three Girls.  Paul Avery of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "He (Werner) 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, having invested nearly two years linking himself to the Snoozy & Furlong murders, could now abandon his connection to the two young teenagers, or continue the facade, and now claim all three murders, which included Kathy Bilek. It was either all three, or none at all. His choice became apparent when the 148 character cipher included in his 1971 letter was deciphered. It read "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 Zodiac Killer was urging investigators not to listen to Karl Francis Werner, referring to him as a "phony". Bearing in mind the newspaper headlines of "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls", it wasn't a surprise the Zodiac Killer was threatening to further "skin 3 little kids", adding in his letter that he would "send a patch of human skin if their was some left over". All three girls in San Jose and Saratoga were stabbed in excess of 100 times, so it doesn't require much imagination to understand the notion of little skin being left over. However, the story doesn't end there. The Zodiac Killer now had to add Kathy Bilek to his ever-increasing victim total. 

This is where the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article from August 6th 1969 comes into play for the third time. An article that probably inspired the Lake Berryessa attack and the December 19th 1969 payphone call threatening a family of five. In the same section of newspaper under the subheading of "CHILDREN", the article detailed the burial sites of both Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong, but only one was the phonetic namesake of Kathy Bilek. The article read "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". It should therefore come as no surprise that the Zodiac Killer would mail a postcard on July 13th 1971 with newspaper cuttings reading "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". Kathy Bilek was murdered on April 11th 1971, in the Villa Montalvo woods in Saratoga, near the neighborhood of Monticello. Just nine miles east of the Villa Montalvo woods in Saratoga, sits the neighborhood of Monticello in San Jose. The neighborhood of Monticello contains the Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery where Kathie Snoozy is buried. The phonetic namesake of Kathy Bilek. The Zodiac Killer did like playing word games.    

THE HEADLINES THAT INSPIRED THE 340 AND 148 CHARACTER CIPHERS