THE 340 CIPHER 9X9 GRID BY JOHN ROSE

6/23/2017

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

John Rose from Australia has uncovered some interesting features within the Zodiac Killer's unsolved 340 Cipher, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on November 8th 1969. This does not tackle the entirety of the cipher, as the extremities of the code still remain unbroken. What it does do however is show an extremely promising correlation between the 340 Cipher and Halloween Card, using predominantly 81 characters in a 9 X 9 grid formation at the center of the cipher. It has been achieved using nothing more than Dave Oranchak's Web Toy, implementing zkdecrypto cipher-cracking software. The tool can be found on the Zodiac Killer Ciphers website here. If you place the following letters into the Web Toy, you can recreate the results shown in the grid below. For further correspondence on this matter email: [email protected]

The Youtube video presentation can be found here.

To comment on this article visit the Zodiac Ciphers Facebook page.

32 Comments

6/25/2017 06:47:46 am

Just a quick overview of how I got to my cipher solution is using just the simple symbol being replaced by a letter technique (like the 408 was solved), no strange math, no weird jumping all over the place, no anagrams (which is what almost all 340 solutions are, which can lead to any answer), just the simple technique used to solve the first cipher, but with the small twist. Also I had kept in mind a few years back the FBI has said they believe half the cipher could be mumbo jumbo to throw people off, but half does look to be correct. I noticed the "+" symbol followed by the semi filled circle followed by another "+" vertically directly in the middle which instantly made me think of the "ArA" in "Paradice" on the halloween card, so I put that in which then made "ire" appear attached to the bottom of "paradice" - of course "fire" and I went from there (with a few other things that came to mind), the twist being the "Paradice Slaves" cross (the same as the halloween card) and I believe the 9x9 quadrant, which the word "rope" (automatically making the second word "rope" in the corner reverse "L" shape formed a kind of border in my head). The main part which I am quite sure of is the "Paradice Slaves", "By rope, by fire, by knife, by gun" parts replicating the halloween card. That is the solid core of my solution, and I believe the halloween card was literally giving them the answer to the cipher.
The "by Rader" (the BTK killer) part is of course up for speculation, but another really intriguing thing about my solution is that in the word "Rader" the letter "D" in his name, is the cipher symbol for "Z" - and as we know sometimes the Zodiac signed letters with just his symbol and a "Z" - which if my solution was correct could imply he was signing it "D" - aka Dennis (Rader). Just an interesting coincidence. I have a lot of theories and some psychological theories as well in regards to that, but I won't speculate here. - but again that is not part of the core of my solution, the halloween card replication is.

Shawn

7/2/2017 01:44:47 pm

Great Work! This is one of the most encouraging solutions I have seen. Zodiac wrote "Your Secret PAL" in the Halloween Card......Pal (inverted) is next to Rader name

L
A RADER
P

Shawn

7/3/2017 07:34:34 am

In Addition the the inverted PAL, I noticed DERBY centered in the middle of Paradice. Derby, KS is the largest suburb of Witchita, KS where Dennis Rader grew up. A good way to include the area he is from in his name raDERBY. The "BY" in DerBY is the only "BY" that does not have an associated Murder method in the GRID.

L
A raDERBY
P

7/6/2017 07:41:12 am

Some very interesting finds! Definitely missed those! Thanks Shawn!
Also replied to your email with some of my own very speculative - yet interesting theories and coincidences about Rader (which of course is fun to hypothesize about!)

Shawn

7/6/2017 01:03:04 pm

Another thing I notice......I said to myself BY PEAS?....(strange)....and it is integrated with Slaves.

ByPEASlaves

When Rader was in jail during trial for BTK in 2005 he had many Pen-Pals. He wrote a poem called "Peas in a Pod" and sent to many. During his sentencing statements he also referred to "Peas in a Pod". (found on Youtube)

Rader claimed the term referred to himself and his fellow criminals as peas in the prison pod.

Another interpretation I have seen on the net is that he felt like a victim also....a Pea in the pod with his victims.

If this is Rader in the 340 not by coincidence. I think it could mean that he did not commit all the murders by himself. He had help from other PEAS.

Or he feels like he was a victim with his slaves.

Poem Below.....

Peas in the Pod
The green color Pods at First were long and hollow.
They had grown from Mother Earth, anti-society, into a wild vine.
The vine with Pods, long and curling upward, had many follows;
How each Pod has a unique Pea, that together walks a fine line.
D.L.R., 4-19-05, Day 54

Shawn

7/6/2017 05:07:12 pm

You said the code symbol "Z" stood out to you where the D is in raDer. D for Dennis?

As you can have seen in the "Peas in a Pod" poem he uses his initials D.L.R. at the end. Look at the Capital letters below. His Initials! Only places in I have seen in your solution where you can string the letters DLR together.

Dennis Lynn Rader

The D in ParaDice is actually a D in the code.

p
a
raDeR
sLaves
D
i
c
e

Also look at BY BK last 4 characters on line 10 (Bind Kill?) At Lake Berryessa he Bound Killed (Before he evolved to Torture?)

B
Y BY BK
R
O
P
E

mean

10/23/2017 01:26:15 am

test

mean

10/23/2017 02:47:33 am

i looked over this and did some research and this is what i came up with if jr is correct on cipher.
i found a name inside this cipher please correct me on any false findings so here we go
my suspect
1- is the correct age IMO born 1940
2- is a writer and professor
3- is a detective. i read that one of Z letters was mailed out on
Oct 5 then another exactly 29 days later O529 the detectives badge number is 2905
4- Z called into a tv show and in that conversation said the name
sonny this detective used the undercover name sonny
5- a survivor said Z pulled up behind them and thought it was the cops by his actions
6- if Z was a cop this would explain how he was able to gain trust with victims and know the cops movement and where the investagation was at
7- 13 holes in card Z sent there is a 13th precinct in the area this detective worked
8- in a interview with this detective he made the statement
they wanted me to go to san francisco
9- this detective could have easily got names and numbers to make his list
10- this detective had ties to quantico
so this is as far that i have gotten but only been working on this suspect 2 days
the name?
cipher
line 204 1 and 2= B O
line 221 2 = B
BOB
LINE 204-221-238 also spells bobby
bobby or bob is also robert the detective goes by both
line 187 5= L
line 204 7= U
line 204 8=C
line 204 9=I
line 221 8=E
my suspect is Robert Leuci

Ray Jenkins

10/24/2017 04:16:22 pm

Interesting theory! Unfortunately you will face the very same problem that others face with the Dennis Rader theory. Rader was stationed overseas during the Zodiac era, and Robert Leuci was in New York. The challenge would be to place either of them in California on any of the dates when the Zodiac is known to have been active. You will also have the problem of convincing people that Leuci was a serial killer, let alone a killer. There is presently no evidence to suggest this. At least with Rader, everybody accepts that he was a serial killer. The other huge problem is the passage of time. Records tend to get buried or lost. I tried to get law enforcement in Solano County interested in checking records at the nearby air base to see if Rader may have made regular trips back to the US as a part of his work detail, and also to see if these dates could match with known Zodiac activity, but I received a rather blunt reply that nobody is presently investigating the case. I have reached the conclusion that nobody in law enforcement wants anything to do with the Zodiac these days. As far as the authorities are concerned, he was either Allen Leigh or he got away. But good luck in your investigations.

Michele Woods

5/1/2018 04:20:13 pm

I was wondering how anyone could be sure that Z did not use anagrams? Couldn’t he have constructed the puzzle however he wanted?

Karen C

5/1/2018 04:34:54 pm

Michele, many people have considered anagrams. In fact they seem to be the "topic of the year" on most of the Zodiac cipher forums. The huge problem with anagrams of course is that they simply add more variability to what is already a highly variable problem. Even if a "solution" is found that shows the entire cipher is one big anagram, who is going to believe it? Other people will come up with other solutions based on other anagrams. Therein lies the problem when relying on anagrams as a solution.

Ophion1031 link

10/29/2019 02:36:57 am

John, this is very cool!! I haven't bee doing a whole lot of Zodiac research for the last few years so this is the first time I have seen this and it is a cool find. The way that it looks just like the words from the Halloween card makes it even more interesting. I would bet that everything outside of the 9x9 grid there is even more to be found.

Simon Lince link

6/26/2017 11:15:56 am

Hi John Rose,

As someone who has submitted a solution to Zodiac's 340 cipher to FBI's Cryptanalysis Unit,it is now of interest to me to look around and see what others have made of prospective solutions to this,most compelling cipher.

Your partial attempt is ''eye catching'',and I commend your efforts,to date.

Granted that the core of your solution is replication of aspects pertaining to The Halloween Card,it would be interesting to know where you stand on Timeline,with respect to the ''408'' cipher,the ''340'' cipher and Halloween Card [?].

The 3-part ''408'' was mailed July 31st 1969.
The ''340'' was mailed November 8th 1969.

.......Then,almost a year later,The Halloween Card was mailed on October 27th 1970.

Wouldn't it be more likely that the solution to the ''340'' and indeed,the ''408'',might have had influence on The Halloween Card,than the other way around,as you infer [?].

A serious question,John Rose,which should not detract from your respected efforts.

Kind regards,

Rubislaw 32

7/6/2017 07:35:45 am

Thanks Simon/Rubislaw, I appreciate the feedback!
And yes you are indeed right!
When I said he was giving them the answer with the halloween card, I meant because it was sent a year later and he was sort of cluing them in because a year had passed without them figuring it out, so if my solution was indeed correct in anyway it might of been a message he wanted them to see (the "Paradice Slaves" + "by rope, by knife.."etc.), so he simply did the halloween card to either clue them in on the answer, or because he wanted them to see that message in general.
And yes I did make a little blunder when I posted and said it was replicating the halloween card, when it was the halloween card which would be replicating it, haha, I was explaining my solution which was replicating the halloween card, but of course the halloween card would be replicating the cipher timeline wise.

But again thank you for your input, it's appreciated, if you do know people who are in the Cryptanalysis Unit I would love for it to be passed on!

Ray Jenkins

8/28/2017 07:12:32 pm

I agree with JR. People often get too caught up in perceived timelines. It seems highly likely to me that the Zodiac was providing clues or perhaps even a key to the puzzle in that Halloween card. In fact he even said so on the front of the card, didn't he?!

He also tried other ways to clue people in. A good example is the Zodiac's Symbionese Liberation Army letter. He was still trying to "clue people in" as late as May 8th 1974. Of course the Symbionese Liberation Army was just a ruse to lead the unwary astray. What he was really getting at was the idea of initials. The Zodiac spelt it out "SLA" and he also vaguely added the next letter, but it could be either a "V" or a "Y". He has deliberately drawn that character obscurely.

What happens when you circle the "SLAV" part of the Paradice/Slaves cross? You clearly get the initials DLR (Rader's initials), going clockwise from the V in SLAVES, which is like a down pointing arrow on a compass. Not only that but the first part of Rader's surname is staring right back at us, from the very middle of the cross: "RAD".

There is also a natural tendency for the human eye when looking clockwise on that angle to see the other bit: On the N-S axis we find "RAD" (with "0" set to North!), then following the line of the "V" back up on an angle (i.e. "radian") we get "RAD-ER". Also, the word "radians" is of course a play on his own surname "rader". I also notice that the eyes peering through the holes in the Halloween card are all looking inwards, towards the center. This was perhaps intended as another clue, telling us to look in the center. The sorry no cipher cross was ALSO telling us to look in the centre!

And what do we find in the middle of the middle? Rader's initials and name!! I think all of these things combined are really too much for any competent and profession investigator to simply dismiss out of hand.

Richard

6/26/2017 01:25:05 pm

It would be nice to hear from Dave Oranchak John. I think you have made an extremely good effort in fitting the words you have using limited character space. The good thing about it, is that you are not relying on anagrams and artistic license to twist the results. It is created using only the Web Toy software. My guess is that Dave Oranchak will tell you that the flexibility of so many characters in the grid of 81 could produce several results similar to yours. The difficult part is arranging it correctly from scratch. Nevertheless I am impressed by your achievement. Have you tried creating a different set up in the grid or around it? Dave may be able to demonstrate alternatives, which will go a long way to showing the percentages, likelihood and validity of your finding. All the best Rich.

7/6/2017 08:02:39 am

Thanks Rich!
I have tried so many different things over the years, from cutting it into 4s, into halves, turning 1 half upside down or flipping it to the other side etc. doing all sorts of strange methods to get something from it, but when keeping in mind the FBI saying that it would maybe just be a partial solution and partial mumbo jumbo from the looks of it, I kept focusing on smaller segments, which is when the center caught my eye with the "+ semi-circle +" symbols vertically, which as I said above made me think of the halloween card.
If you open the webtoy and put "paradice" in first, you will see "ire" form at the bottom (where I have fire) automatically - just from the symbols-letters in "paradice" alone (minus the "F" in fire). I felt that was really a bit to strong to be a coincidence.
I have definitely tried a few different ones, even using my same solution around the card and I could get some varying results but it eliminated words like "bus" (which again I felt was something from that period of time which would of been in there) and so on.
It was actually hard to replicate else where on the grid, as rarely is there a symbol followed by another symbol and then the same symbol (like with the "+ semi-circle +") - which can then work with "Paradice". But of course I would love to see some other peoples interpretations or efforts in a similar vein.
But yes I would of course be interested in hearing what Dave has to say about it as I am of course open to criticism and so on and am not someone who can't handle critique :)

Shawn

7/15/2017 10:34:32 am

Hello Richard,

Maybe Rader name in Zodiac's 340 is coincidence. The word puzzle Rader mailed in 2004 was also 340 characters.

Oranchak did reply at ZKS with the following response to John Rose solution.

http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=3491

"Looks like 58 of the 340 total letters are supplied. So only 17% of a solution has been found. I think many such partial solutions are possible. This solution will be more compelling if it covers more of the grid. Otherwise, you have to demonstrate that no other compelling partial solutions can be found. I suspect many can be. One good reason to suspect this is to consider the symbols covered by the 58 letters: There are 42 unique symbols. That means there are only a few repeated cipher symbols within those 58 positions, which means you get a whole lot of room to come up with all sorts of words."

Richard

7/15/2017 12:21:40 pm

Cheers Shawn, I gathered that is what Dave would say, having looked at it myself. Nevertheless a very interesting result, based on the webtoy, with no manipulation. Probably the best effort I have seen to date. The Rader word search puzzle being exactly 340 characters is very interesting. My guess this is deliberate on Rader's part. Obviously he is not Zodiac, as he was serving in Japan at the time. So the discovery of Rader in the 340 'solution' is likely incidental.

Shawn

7/18/2017 08:02:18 pm

Richard,

Can you send me your email address?

Thanks,
Shawn

Richard

7/19/2017 12:46:51 am

[email protected]

Karen C

5/1/2018 05:01:21 pm

Richard, you speak as though Dave Oranchak is the "be all and end all" of the 340 cipher.

Basically, I have found Dave Oranchak to be rather dismissive of just about anything he has not thought of himself.

Always he patronizes those who find interesting things in the 340, rather than acknowledge them for their efforts.

I note that he always harps on about the huge amount of variability in the 340, but he never considers any new or interesting find as a "possibility". It seems to me that one part of "variability" is "possibility" and, by default, "plausibility". The two should go hand in hand in cryptography, otherwise what is the point of trying to solve any cipher? He never asks positively: "Why should that particular pattern be there and look so interesting and tantalizing and what are the chances of that being replicated?" Always he talks in the negative, by claiming "There is just too much variability and as such, this is probably just a strange anomaly that the variability allows us to make."

There are always two ways to look at variability: impossibility or possibility.

The negative state of mind dictates that the variability is so enormous that the solution is largely impossible. The positive mind, on the other hand, would consider anything that seems so centrally placed, and which cannot otherwise be replicated, is, DESPITE the variability, unique and POSSIBLE.

Oranchak frequently rules out the factor of possibility due to his persistent negativity. Moreover his negativity is extremely biased. He is often willing to pander to the possibilities of a bizarre solution if it is presented by one of his peers, but if the person is an amateur he is more likely to dismiss it entirely and immediately and also provide a rather condescending remark to the presenter.

Ray Grant link

6/26/2017 07:29:57 pm

Richard, since I’ve contributed numerous times to your website, and since I mentioned you favorably during my House of Mystery monologue, I hope you won’t mind if I use the Comments section to address Dave Oranchak, at least rhetorically, since he doesn’t reply to my emails or posts on his infamous You Tube video. As Gavin de Becker might say, Dave has been given The Gift of Fear. This article was linked over on ZodiacKillerSite under the thread title “340 partial solve via webtoy?”

Hey Dave--

What’s with the anonymous reviews on Amazon?

Do you have so little faith in your arguments (granted, you don’t offer any) that you’re unwilling to sign your name to them?

Dave also gave my books two 1-star ratings over on Goodreads, even though he clearly hasn’t read either book.

Is this any way for a respected (though not by me) cryptographer to behave?

Just in case your multitudinous minions haven’t read it, here is the two-pronged Amazon review, posted to both my Zodiac books:

“[One Star] Nonsensical conspiracy theory that exploits the victims of the Zodiac murders

By Paul Numina on December 22, 2015

Ray Grant's books are only suitable for people who have an appetite for unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. If your idea of quality evidence involves filling in the gaps of the Zodiac case's narrative with contrived scenarios involving four conspirators building an elaborate "art project", then this is the book for you. Like many other BS merchants, he will "Gish Gallop" his way into capitalizing on the Zodiac crimes with his nonsensical ideas and his pretentious claims to be the "World's #1 amateur criminologist". Buying his books will only encourage continued exploitation of the victims of the Zodiac murders.”

1. Dave told me, years ago, that he doesn’t LIKE my theory because he rejects conspiracy theories out of hand. Okay, but there have been many successful conspiracies, including Lincoln’s murder and the September 11th attacks. Assuming that every crime committed MUST be the product of a single mind is ludicrous on its face. What about the Mafia? For that matter, what about the CIA? What about Russian hacking of the 2016 Presidential election?

The JFK assassination has given conspiracy theories a bad reputation that they don’t deserve, at least historically speaking.

2. Look, I know this is going to be hard for you, but let’s see what you can do if you apply yourself: What, exactly, is UNSUBSTANTIATED about my theory? I know you haven’t bothered to read my books, even though you inhale every post on Mike Morford’s board, but if you’ve gone to the trouble of filing multiple 1-star ratings of my books in at least two book venues, you must have some detail in mind that you can point to. It can’t just be that you don’t LIKE what I’m saying.

3. You mention “quality evidence,” and yet, you and your fellow posters on ZodiacKillerSite.com consistently ignore forensics (such as the Bates and Jensen autopsies), ballistics (the behavior of bullets in the Gate #10 turnout), eyewitness accounts (no one in the RCC Library remembers Cheri Bates being there the night of her murder, despite her popularity and beauty and the presence of numerous friends), circumstantial proofs (David Faraday’s stated intent, the night of his murder, was to give his class ring to Betty Lou Jensen and ask her to Go Steady, and yet, somehow, after supposedly cuddling in a car with her for more than two hours, David still had his class ring clutched in his fingers after being declared D. O. A. at the hospital). I don’t think you nad your friends would know quality evidence if it slapped you across the face.

4. “contrived scenarios”—Dave Oranchak has lazily compared me to Thomas Horan, who often presents intricately detailed hypotheses to explain his belief that there was no Zodiac, only a letter writer who created a counterfeit killer connecting unrelated crimes. As I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, Horan’s fundamental thesis is nonsensical. He says, in his most recent incarnation of the hoax theory, that Robert Graysmith was involved in sending the Zodiac letters, in order to give himself a serial killer to write about.

Keep in mind that, as of July 1980, the statute of limitations (six years) of the California Penal Code would have kept any letter writer not directly involved in the Zodiac crimes out of jail. The hoaxer could have come forward and shouted his successful prank from a downtown San Francisco rooftop. He could have inked a deal with a publisher or with Hollywood and made millions from his notorious hoax, finally revealed. So why would Graysmith go to the immense trouble of doing a standard investigative reporting angle on the story, when he alone knew the truth? Particularly since we know that Graysmith was peddling that book

Ray Grant link

6/26/2017 07:36:34 pm

Uh, let’s try this again. I’ve divided my comment into two parts. It’s exasperating that one can’t edit or even just delete comments on this website.

Richard, since I’ve contributed numerous times to your website, and since I mentioned you favorably during my House of Mystery monologue, I hope you won’t mind if I use the Comments section to address Dave Oranchak, at least rhetorically, since he doesn’t reply to my emails or posts on his infamous You Tube video. As Gavin de Becker might say, Dave has been given The Gift of Fear. This article was linked over on ZodiacKillerSite under the thread title “340 partial solve via webtoy?”

Hey Dave--

What’s with the anonymous reviews on Amazon?

Do you have so little faith in your arguments (granted, you don’t offer any) that you’re unwilling to sign your name to them?

Dave also gave my books two 1-star ratings over on Goodreads, even though he clearly hasn’t read either book.

Is this any way for a respected (though not by me) cryptographer to behave?

Just in case your multitudinous minions haven’t read it, here is the two-pronged Amazon review, posted to both my Zodiac books:

“[One Star] Nonsensical conspiracy theory that exploits the victims of the Zodiac murders

By Paul Numina on December 22, 2015

Ray Grant's books are only suitable for people who have an appetite for unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. If your idea of quality evidence involves filling in the gaps of the Zodiac case's narrative with contrived scenarios involving four conspirators building an elaborate "art project", then this is the book for you. Like many other BS merchants, he will "Gish Gallop" his way into capitalizing on the Zodiac crimes with his nonsensical ideas and his pretentious claims to be the "World's #1 amateur criminologist". Buying his books will only encourage continued exploitation of the victims of the Zodiac murders.”

1. Dave told me, years ago, that he doesn’t LIKE my theory because he rejects conspiracy theories out of hand. Okay, but there have been many successful conspiracies, including Lincoln’s murder and the September 11th attacks. Assuming that every crime committed MUST be the product of a single mind is ludicrous on its face. What about the Mafia? For that matter, what about the CIA? What about Russian hacking of the 2016 Presidential election?

The JFK assassination has given conspiracy theories a bad reputation that they don’t deserve, at least historically speaking.

2. Look, I know this is going to be hard for you, but let’s see what you can do if you apply yourself: What, exactly, is UNSUBSTANTIATED about my theory? I know you haven’t bothered to read my books, even though you inhale every post on Mike Morford’s board, but if you’ve gone to the trouble of filing multiple 1-star ratings of my books in at least two book venues, you must have some detail in mind that you can point to. It can’t just be that you don’t LIKE what I’m saying.

3. You mention “quality evidence,” and yet, you and your fellow posters on ZodiacKillerSite.com consistently ignore forensics (such as the Bates and Jensen autopsies), ballistics (the behavior of bullets in the Gate #10 turnout), eyewitness accounts (no one in the RCC Library remembers Cheri Bates being there the night of her murder, despite her popularity and beauty and the presence of numerous friends), circumstantial proofs (David Faraday’s stated intent, the night of his murder, was to give his class ring to Betty Lou Jensen and ask her to Go Steady, and yet, somehow, after supposedly cuddling in a car with her for more than two hours, David still had his class ring clutched in his fingers after being declared D. O. A. at the hospital). I don’t think you and your friends would know quality evidence if it slapped you across the face.

Ray Grant link

6/26/2017 07:37:48 pm

4. “contrived scenarios”—Dave Oranchak has lazily compared me to Thomas Horan, who often presents intricately detailed hypotheses to explain his belief that there was no Zodiac, only a letter writer who created a counterfeit killer connecting unrelated crimes. As I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, Horan’s fundamental thesis is nonsensical. He says, in his most recent incarnation of the hoax theory, that Robert Graysmith was involved in sending the Zodiac letters, in order to give himself a serial killer to write about.

Keep in mind that, as of July 1980, the statute of limitations (six years) of the California Penal Code would have kept any letter writer not directly involved in the Zodiac crimes out of jail. The hoaxer could have come forward and shouted his successful prank from a downtown San Francisco rooftop. He could have inked a deal with a publisher or with Hollywood and made millions from his notorious hoax, finally revealed. So why would Graysmith go to the immense trouble of doing a standard investigative reporting angle on the story, when he alone knew the truth? Particularly since we know that Graysmith was peddling that book for the better part of a decade with no luck (I should know, since Graysmith’s editor and publisher was my own Independent Editor’s Group reader, Richard Marek, who filled me in on the details)?

As to Horan’s specific details, give me a break. Horan says Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were police informants, which is why they were shot by drug dealers. Drug-related homicides invariably involve large amounts of money or large amounts of drugs, or both. Darlene and Mike had 13¢ on them and no drugs to be seen. So did police give them the dime and three pennies and tell them to make the best deal they could? I’ve never smoked marijuana in my life, but I did know, from pot-smoking friends back in the 1960s, that there was such a thing as a “nickel bag” of weed, which cost $5, which was the cheapest retail purchase you could make from a dealer. So Darlene and Mike were $4.87 short. I doubt seriously that that’s what cost Darlene her life.

5. Accusing me of “Gish galloping” is itself a specious argument, since we’re not engaged in verbal debate. Duane Gish short circuited the debating process in person by using a rapid-fire approach and changing topics frequently, and ignoring his opponent’s points. Dave Oranchak is essentially saying that, since I have a large quantity of points to make on almost any Zodiac Killer topic, I must be “Gish galloping.”

I have a large quantity of points to make because I’ve analyzed the case in detail. But I’m more than willing to discuss any individual aspect of the case with Dave. For example:

Does Dave think Cheri Bates was in the RCC Library the night she was murdered? It seems clear from his posts on ZodiacKillerSIte.com that Dave does think that. But why? None of the eyewitnesses, including several friends of hers, puts her in the library. The only piece of evidence that does seem to place her in the library was the presence, on the passenger seat of her car, of three books on the Electoral College which were charged out on her student ID that evening.

However, anyone in possession of Cheri’s ID could have charged out the books. And all of the other evidence (eyewitnesses in the RCC Library, the condition of her car with the key still in the ignition, and the contents of her stomach as documented in the autopsy) suggests she was abducted just after parking her car on Terracina, circa 6:20pm. If she was abducted, it would not have been difficult for her abductor(s) to take her student ID and use it to charge out library books, thus seeming to place her in the library. Plus, two people unknown to anyone, who did not show up for the reenactment two weeks later, were seen in the library that night. They were seen to speak with each other, but not with anyone else. Their presence is consistent with the scenario I’m suggesting, that the books were taken out to misdirect investigators into thinking Cheri made it to the library. One advantage of doing that, among other things, is it moves back the timing of her initial confrontation with her killer(s), from 6:20pm to after the library closed at 9pm.

Again, if I’m really a BS merchant, Dave shouldn’t have any trouble demonstrating that. This is someone who’s willing to beat his head against a Z340 that he thinks fell from the sky, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, but he can’t handle the criminological context for these artifacts he focuses all his attention on.

Rubislaw 32 link

7/6/2017 09:30:24 am

Hi John Rose,

Good of you to take my ''nudging'' question well.Just wanted you to be aware that you are,in effect,creating a ''parent'' for The Halloween Card.And not an ''offspring'' [?].

Of course,''correlation'',by definition,can work both ways.

I don't know anyone in the FBI,personally,but when you feel ready,you can just use their contact e-mail.There is a little bit of automated vetting to negotiate,but if you stay focused,you won't have a problem.

I would tentatively suggest you try to pan out your findings,a bit more.Just be sure that you satisfy yourself,first,before offering up something [?].A complete solution would,of course,be more ''satisfactory''.

The best of luck to you.

Rubislaw 32

Ray Jenkins

8/24/2017 05:18:04 pm

This partial solution is interesting and may well be the solution, or at least part of the solution. Unfortunately it could also be a complete coincidence, considering that only a very small portion of the entire cipher has been involved. A false solution can result from such highly selective reasoning. I do not mean to rain on anyone's hard work, but I have personally found that it is possible to make this cipher point to other culprits. I recently came up with a very convincing partial solution that is similar to this one, but which points to Herb Baumeister as the Zodiac, as crazy as this sounds! I used his name and the names of members of his family and filled in a large part of the cipher in a seemingly logical way, which coincidentally matches with the design of an old Hebrew amulet that forms a swastika. I am sure it would be possible to make this cipher fit many other names and patterns.

Ray Jenkins

8/26/2017 09:03:02 pm

I have now had some time to reflect on this cipher solution by John Rose and am having second thoughts about my earlier criticisms above. I had to ask myself what are the possibilities that this solution is a complete coincidence, and in all honesty I had to admit that the chances of it being a coincidence are extremely slim. The paradice/Slaves cross is quite complex and I think far too complex to mean it could be reproduced so well in the cipher. It seems to me that the Zodiac must have intended it this way. So my apologies to Doranchak, but I disagree with him that this is just "random and coincidental background noise", or whatever it was he dismissed it as. Put it this way, if ever you picked up a wallet on the street and found a scrap of paper inside with a name on it, would you just dismiss the scrap of paper as just something random that could have come from anywhere, or would you logically presume that the name may have some connection to the owner of the wallet? Then if you dug deeper into the wallet and found the same name, written exactly the same way, wouldn't it be logical to presume that the two names and the wallet are connected? I think it would.

What if the Paradise/Slaves cross is a "key"? It is certainly shaped like one. You use the key in the middle of the cipher and it opens up a window in the cipher, which provides the solution. The window mirrors aspects of the key, and also adds extra information. The two together give you the solution. This is a perfectly viable cipher. It is one in which the clues have basically been "hidden in plain sight" by obfuscation. It took lateral thinking together with logic to uncover it.

It also occurred to me that this relates well to the Zodiac's letter about "SLA" (means Symbionese Liberation Army). The Symbionese Liberation Army was most likely just a ruse. What the Zodiac was really hinting at was the idea of "initials".

The first thing investigators should have done was draw a circle around the letters SLA in the Zodiac's Paradice/Slaves cross. By doing so they would have had his initials right there!

"DLR"

This is what he was most likely getting at with the idea of initials and the N-S-W-E compass directions. He even tried to offer a hint with the word "radians", which suggested angles in between the main compass directions. If only someone had understood this, rather than chase phantoms around maps, they would have seen his surname staring straight back at them. On the N-S axis we find "RAD" (with "0" set to North!), then following the line of the "V" back up on an angle (i.e. "radian") we get "RAD-ER". Also, the word "radians" is of course a play on his own surname "Rader". I also notice that the eyes peering through the holes in the Halloween card are all looking inwards, towards the center. This was perhaps intended as another clue, telling us to look in the middle.

The clues were there all along, right in our face. The "DLR" initials, even his surname, right smack bang in the middle of the Paradise/Slaves cross, which, as John Rose has shown us, also sits smack bang in the middle of the 340 cipher. Coincidence? I think not! It seems to me the 340 cipher was mostly "filling" that served as the substitution material for the important mid-section. I also think there were some interesting dot points in the 340 (he did tell us to "connect the dots" after all!). The "key" was the Paradice/Slaves cross, which incidentally is shaped like a key for that reason! This key opens a window in the 340 cipher, revealing the solution.

The challenge now is for investigators to find proof that Rader's alibi was not as waterproof as he wanted people to believe. Just because he was in the air force, stationed in Japan, does not mean his duties were confined to the Japanese air base. What if, as a part of his work duties and vacation periods, there were periods when he had the opportunity to regularly return to Travis air base and possible others?

As for the DNA and fingerprints, these are possibly incomplete and contaminated, and could very well be detrimental. Blind faith in DNA and fingerprints could lead investigators astray.

Sigmund

5/26/2018 05:37:22 pm

I am finding myself in agreement with Dave Oranchak's recent estimation that the 340 cipher has much more in common with fake ciphers than real ciphers. But I would take this one step further. I think the cipher may be a "twist" on this idea, which, in fact, makes it a legitimate cipher after all, just not a true homophonic cipher... at least not in its entirety.

I think it is a "hidden in plain sight" cipher. Such ciphers were occasionally used during war times. They are crude but also very effective in their ability to confuse the "enemy".

When we sit back and really look at the 340, it just looks "too good to be true". It has symmetry. It has dashes placed centrally on either side, as if deliberately, also other symbols that look to have been deliberately placed, and of course the tauntingly tantalizing "ZODAIK" string of symbols at the end. The cipher almost appears to have "fold lines", splitting it into quadrants. There are other oddities too, like the "^>v." cluster of symbols that appear to go in a circle in the bottom right quadrant, and the "K" crossed out/backwards "K" for example in the top right quadrant. The cipher also has odd word-like strings of symbols throughout that seem intentional, as they appear to relate to other Zodiac correspodence. For example, there are strings of symbols that resemble "Zodiac", "posh boy (Toschi?)", "FBI", "god"; and there is even a backwards "boo" just off centre. Also we find word-like patterns: "here", "by" etc. It all looks too good to be true. One would expect a real cipher to be much more "random" in its general appearance. In fact when we look at the 408 by comparison, that cipher is much more random in appearance.

If this is a real cipher I think it can only be a "hidden in plain sight" cipher.

My firm belief is that the Zodiac put something in a central position in the cipher which suggests some critical detail or "clue", perhaps about himself or his identity, or of meaning only to him. It is the "D" I think. That near central "D" is perhaps what it is all about.

John Rose discovered a similar pattern to the Paradise/Slaves motif and the "by gun, by knife, by rope" etc. in the centre of the cipher. This may be all part and parcel of this "too good to be true" cipher. I believe this was a deliberate inclusion on the part of the Zodiac, by design, perhaps added as a bit of fun or practical joke aimed at those who may have found it and then insisted that this snippet suggests a more complex and complete homophonic cipher. I therefore do not feel that the paradise/slaves motif in dead centre of the cipher is a coincidence, mainly because it is so centrally placed. It is most likely there by design.

Look at the Zodiac's trademark symbol, sitting big and large at the bottom of the cipher. It is placed there to taunt and therefore to be noticed. It is a cross inside a circle. It is a gun sight. What is the most important position of any gun sight? It is its centre, is it not? I think the entire cipher is telling us to look in the approximate centre. The key is in the centre. The key must be "D".

What he was trying to tell us by "D" is still of course a mystery, because nobody knows the Zodiac's identity or anything about him for that matter. What had meaning for him may at present be entirely meaningless to us.

Warning, this next paragraph is complete conjecture! Another poster has noted that if we "connect the dots" as the Zodiac requested, we do find many shapes, mostly triangles. We find triangles for instance if we join each of the same symbols that also contain a dot. Then by joining every single dot with every other single dot throughout the cipher, we inevitably get a sort of crazy, lopsided diamond shape whose pointed base "sits" on the "ZODAIK" string of symbols in bottom right. The most perfect 3-dimensional representation of multiple triangles is of course a cut diamond. I cannot understand the significance of a diamond shape. Perhaps it is entrely coincidental, but I do note that the word diamond begins with the letter "D". But whether the Zodiac intended this is just conjecture. It is interesting however when we consider that big "D", so close to the centre.

Ray Jenkins

5/27/2018 05:30:58 pm

I admit to being the person who thought up the triangles leading to a diamond theory. That is to say, I practiced what the Zodiac preached and "connected the dots".

It is a theory that I have never discussed in too much detail online because I realize it all looks rather "wishy washy" to the first time, "casual" observer. The theory would probably take a few dedicated pages of space to explain, and also requires some background research, which is in itself problematic. Generally solutions do not require explanations. They should speak for themselves. So the more explaining one has to do the more open the idea becomes to criticism. For this reason I have never revealed the theory in intricate detail. I was at the time examining the symbolism and looked at the problem strictly from a Freemason's perspective.

As a side note, I always like to refer to Dennis Rader, when he was asked to outline the solution to one of his ciphers. He said he could not recall exactly what it meant, then mumbled on about it being in relation to something. I can never quite catch what he claims it is actually in relation to, as he sort of mumbles and then drifts off. Basically he shrugs it off as being largely inconsequential and unimportant. For someone so eager to recount his misdeeds in intricate detail to others, this struck me as being strangely out of character. But he genuinely did seem dis-interested in that cipher and largely treated it as something of no real importance. I firmly believe he had forgotten the precise details of the solution. It was something lost to his past.

People place such huge significance on the Zodiac's unsolved cipher, as if it is like the Holy Grail of ciphers and once we solve it we will have his identity. <Insert drum roll here>. Well maybe the cipher was never all that important. Maybe it was, like Rader's cipher, just "something in relation to something" and really not all that important to him.

I note that one prominent commentator on these blog ages frequently talks of the 340 in hallowed tones, even claiming it to be the Zodiac's "masterpiece".

Well maybe the 340 was just something he sent out in order to taunt and waste the time of authorities. It could in fact turn out that John Rose's "solution" is indeed THE only solution, or one of a handful of different solutions based on a similar theme. The Zodiac may have thought it "cool" to replicate the same things from the Halloween card in that cipher for no other reason but to prove that both correspondences came from him!

A lot of people will say "Well what would be the point?" The question should perhaps be: "Why should there be a point?" Maybe the cipher was entirely pointless in meaning and the only intention behind it was to prove to authorities that both correspondences came from him. That seems a very likely scenario to me.

The Zodiac knew that people would attempt to solve it by homophonic substitution. Moreover he told people many times that things in his other correspondence were of great importance to solving the cipher. So he knew that people would inevitably compare them and try to find matches. So it was only a matter of time before "partials" like John Rose's solution came to light. Amazingly, it took how many decades before someone discovered it? Maybe the Zodiac thought this snippet would be revealed much sooner. Or maybe he didn't really care how long it took. Maybe he did not really care (period!).

I still think there is something to my triangles and diamond idea. I just wish it was not so wishy washy or I would reveal it in greater detail. I know the way it is at present it just seems like a whacky concept that might or might not be true. Freemasons will get it entirely, but let's face it there are not that many Freemasons around. So most people will fail to get it.

Still, I note that there are many triangle shapes in the 340 when you connect the dots. In particular, there are often three symbols containing dots, which when connected naturally form a triangle. There are also symbols like dotted circles. To any Freemason, dotted circles and triangles are of tremendous significance. And when you take the idea to an extreme and connect every dot to every other dot, they do all seem to create a lopsided diamond shape when joined together. One can use the general rules of geometry and produce a very typical and rather beautiful 3-D diamond shape by connecting the most prominent of these dot points. The diamond rests nicely on top of the end of the ZODAIK string of symbols in bottom right.

I applied nothing more than the rudimentary rules of Freemason's geometry in order to produce this shape. Still I am in two minds about it, mainly because of D. Oranchak's insistence that there is "too much coincidence".

To my mind, Oranchak's "mistake" has always been in presuming and then insisting that this cipher has to be homophonic. I always get the feeling that his mind is made up. It has to be homophonic or nothing

Ray Jenkins (cont.)

5/27/2018 05:38:29 pm

I note that Oranchak has resorted to calling the 340 a fake cipher, following another failed "homophonic solution" attempt, rather than examine other possibilities. Whenever people show him other possibilities he automatically discounts and discredits them on the basis of "too much improbability". But as any professional cryptographer should know, it is sometimes the seemingly improbable that turns out to be the actual solution. The thing about cryptography is that the person who designed a cipher may actually be trying to trick the cryptographer into making presumptions that are not in fact true. Simply because an idea does not fit an idea of a homophonic cipher or appear to conform to certain "rules" of probability, this does not mean it should be ruled out. It may be that the cipher works by different rules because it is a different kind of cipher! Oranchak often shows a reluctance to look at other possibilities, which suggests a highly selective and subjective manner of thinking. But this is just my estimation, based on what I have noticed by reading online discussions.

Anyway, as for my diamond idea, I am at a loss to understand what its relevance may be, or if it is even something that the Zodiac may have intended. Oranchak may be correct after all, and it is all so highly random that any sense we make is just an artefact of chance alone. In other words we are seeing things that were never really intentionally put there. So the proposed solution then becomes a question of nature or nurture! Still, the Zodiac did tell us to "connect the dots", an instruction which I decided to take literally.

A friend of mine did have this to offer: "What if he was referencing his initials by way of this obscurity: Maybe he was spelling it out for people: "Diamond" = "D", I AM ON "D". (The letter "D" is of course close to being central in the cipher.) Or maybe he was saying "D", I AM O.N.D. In other words his initials are O.N.D., surname beginning with "D".

Sigmund mentions the symmetry in relation to the gun sight motif. I think this cipher has everything to do with what lies in the centre. The centre is the key. But then again maybe this was part of the Zodiac's "fun", and our eyes are being directed inwardly to that position merely for purposes of deception. Perhaps the real solution is in fact peripheral?!! After all, the point of the large diamond shape does rest on the dotted "I" in the string of symbols "ZODAIK" in the far bottom right of the 340.

Chris

5/17/2020 12:11:17 pm

This is good but shortening the cipher to 81 characters does allow for more solutions to be made to fit.

Also, you have used the letter E for characters 198 & 230 and I for characters 175, 196, 214 & 228 which all have the same symbol (filled in circle). This results in the misspelling of paradice and fire whichever way you do it.

I would say it is unlikely to be the solution. The BTK killer was stationed in Japan at the time I think. Also, his crimes were sexually motivated whereas the Zodiac seemed to kill for sport.

There are too many different symbols and not enough repeating patterns like there was in the 408 so the 340 might never be solved.

I have some possible solutions to the random 18 letters at the end of the 408 and the Z13 if anyone is interested? They implicate Arthur Leigh Allen who was a major suspect who they couldn't charge because his handwriting and palm print did not match that of the Zodiacs.

THE 340 CIPHER 9X9 GRID BY JOHN ROSE

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