Recently, Mike Rodelli, author of "The Hunt for Zodiac: The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer" and "In The Shadow of Mt. Diablo: The Shocking True Identity of the Zodiac Killer", has again been defending the false narrative of a Zodiac Killer who didn't lick the stamps and envelopes when mailing his communications. His argument revolves around the notion of "true" Zodiac letters containing no DNA, while the "fake" Zodiac letters do contain DNA. What is more inconceivable than the claims in his book, is that not one single person on the Tapatalk forum, with decades of sleuthing behind them, is capable of destroying his arguments once and for all.
So, once again, I will show how Mike Rodelli's claims fail to make any sense using his words only. I won't argue against his claims, because he will argue against himself. This is a recent post he made on the Tapatalk forum when responding to contributor Bolt: "You're missing the point. In 1998 using very primitive techniques from that time, Keel was reportedly able to isolate DNA from the two forgeries that matched each other. At the same time, he was unable to obtain any DNA from over a dozen Z letters. Later, using PCR, Holt was STILL unable to develop any "Zodiac DNA" from the killer from the stamps/envelopes, so she resorted to the FRONT of a contaminated stamp just to get any DNA to give to ABC to use to screw me and two other amateurs on national TV. But that is another story. And now you are hoping that there are "two cells" on these letters that will solve the case. Why haven't they been able to find ANY DNA from the Zodiac in twenty years when Keel was able to find it on the two "forgeries" as far back as 1998? I wish I could get Keel to address these questions personally but he is not talking so far".
Mike Rodelli begins with the premise that "two forgeries matched each other" because he has already drawn the conclusion that the 1978 letter is not from the Zodiac Killer. He then correctly makes the observation that the 1974 letter that matched the 1978 letter had to be the Exorcist letter, stating on October 29th 2021 "The fact remains that in 2007 Keel told me, as he had told Lafferty before me, that there is a 1974 forgery based on DNA and the ONLY 1974 letter that had been tested for the presence of cells during Keel's tenure (as demonstrated by the DNA chart that I believe Keel made in about 2000) was the Exorcist letter. This is not rocket science. Even if it is not the Exorcist letter that Keel was talking about, it IS a candidate as being a forgery whose DNA matches the 1978 letter based on the information in the chart".
In his book, The Hunt For Zodiac, he stated "Now there was DNA proof that whoever had penned the April 1978 letter had also penned one of the 1974 letters. And apparently it was not Zodiac. According to the chart of DNA testing results compiled by SFPD's lab in ca. 2000, the only one of the 1974 letters that had been tested by Keel up to that time was the January Exorcist letter. This was the letter that had a swarm of palm prints on it. This created an interesting dilemma that lends credence to the possibility that this is a forged letter. Zodiac had penned a dozen letters prior to writing the Exorcist letter and had never left even a single palm print on them. So why had he suddenly and carelessly taken off his glove(s) to write this one and leave a virtual montage of his palms all over it. From that standpoint alone, it makes sense that someone else may have written the Exorcist letter, its bizarre content notwithstanding. While it is possible that one of the other three letters was tested for DNA subsequent to the compilation of the DNA summary chart that Keel had assembled, I believe that on balance the most likely candidate for being the 1974 forgery is the Exorcist letter until proven otherwise". The fact that Mike Rodelli believes the SLA, Badlands and Red Phantom communications are from the Zodiac Killer, should leave you in no doubt that he believes that a DNA match exists between the 1978 letter and Exorcist letter - and because he has already concluded that the 1978 letter is a forgery, then the Exorcist letter must be a forgery too.
So, once again, I will show how Mike Rodelli's claims fail to make any sense using his words only. I won't argue against his claims, because he will argue against himself. This is a recent post he made on the Tapatalk forum when responding to contributor Bolt: "You're missing the point. In 1998 using very primitive techniques from that time, Keel was reportedly able to isolate DNA from the two forgeries that matched each other. At the same time, he was unable to obtain any DNA from over a dozen Z letters. Later, using PCR, Holt was STILL unable to develop any "Zodiac DNA" from the killer from the stamps/envelopes, so she resorted to the FRONT of a contaminated stamp just to get any DNA to give to ABC to use to screw me and two other amateurs on national TV. But that is another story. And now you are hoping that there are "two cells" on these letters that will solve the case. Why haven't they been able to find ANY DNA from the Zodiac in twenty years when Keel was able to find it on the two "forgeries" as far back as 1998? I wish I could get Keel to address these questions personally but he is not talking so far".
Mike Rodelli begins with the premise that "two forgeries matched each other" because he has already drawn the conclusion that the 1978 letter is not from the Zodiac Killer. He then correctly makes the observation that the 1974 letter that matched the 1978 letter had to be the Exorcist letter, stating on October 29th 2021 "The fact remains that in 2007 Keel told me, as he had told Lafferty before me, that there is a 1974 forgery based on DNA and the ONLY 1974 letter that had been tested for the presence of cells during Keel's tenure (as demonstrated by the DNA chart that I believe Keel made in about 2000) was the Exorcist letter. This is not rocket science. Even if it is not the Exorcist letter that Keel was talking about, it IS a candidate as being a forgery whose DNA matches the 1978 letter based on the information in the chart".
In his book, The Hunt For Zodiac, he stated "Now there was DNA proof that whoever had penned the April 1978 letter had also penned one of the 1974 letters. And apparently it was not Zodiac. According to the chart of DNA testing results compiled by SFPD's lab in ca. 2000, the only one of the 1974 letters that had been tested by Keel up to that time was the January Exorcist letter. This was the letter that had a swarm of palm prints on it. This created an interesting dilemma that lends credence to the possibility that this is a forged letter. Zodiac had penned a dozen letters prior to writing the Exorcist letter and had never left even a single palm print on them. So why had he suddenly and carelessly taken off his glove(s) to write this one and leave a virtual montage of his palms all over it. From that standpoint alone, it makes sense that someone else may have written the Exorcist letter, its bizarre content notwithstanding. While it is possible that one of the other three letters was tested for DNA subsequent to the compilation of the DNA summary chart that Keel had assembled, I believe that on balance the most likely candidate for being the 1974 forgery is the Exorcist letter until proven otherwise". The fact that Mike Rodelli believes the SLA, Badlands and Red Phantom communications are from the Zodiac Killer, should leave you in no doubt that he believes that a DNA match exists between the 1978 letter and Exorcist letter - and because he has already concluded that the 1978 letter is a forgery, then the Exorcist letter must be a forgery too.
Mike Rodelli was strident in his claims in a discussion with me about the SLA envelope, stating "Envelopes: This is where the rubber truly meets the road in this discussion and where we can see that it is unlikely that anyone but Zodiac wrote the SLA letter. When you look at the hand printing on the SLA letter in a vacuum, it certainly does not jump off the page to me that it was penned by Zodiac. But when you take a close look at the envelope, that is a different story". Mike Rodelli pointed out a comparison to the 340 & Dripping Pen card envelope to bolster the authenticity of the SLA envelope and letter. Irrespective of my opinion regarding the SLA letter. let's take a look at the two envelopes from November 1969 and February 1974.
Disregarding my opinion on the comparison (and ignoring the fact that the 340 envelope had appeared in the newspapers before 1974), let us now accept the claims of Mike Rodelli that the Zodiac Killer wrote the wording on both the 340 and SLA envelopes, because (as he claims) both are genuine Zodiac communications. If he believes that the handwriting shown above is a close enough match to authenticate the SLA letter, then he has to agree that the handwriting match between the Exorcist envelope and the two April 1970 envelopes (shown below) are also a match (particularly the April 28th 1970 Dragon card). Neither envelope from April 1970 had been released into the public domain by January 29th 1974, so the author of the Exorcist letter (if a hoaxer) not only used an address style that matched the two April 1970 envelopes (only used in these three letters), but the handwriting and composition is virtually identical. If Mike Rodelli claims the handwriting on the SLA envelope matches the 340 envelope (which was in the public domain), then it's impossible for him to argue against a match between the Exorcist envelope and the genuine Zodiac letters mailed in April 1970 (particularly the April 28th 1970 envelope), which hadn't been released into the public domain. Therefore, if the Exorcist letter author is the same as the author of the two April 1970 letters, then all three were created by the Zodiac Killer. If Mike Rodelli is claiming a DNA match between the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter (which is genuine), it makes the 1978 letter genuine too. This totally negates his claims that the Zodiac Killer didn't lick his stamps or envelopes. The only way Mike Rodelli can escape this hole is to now claim that both April 1970 letters were forgeries (and others before them), or claim that a hoaxer (with no access to the two April 1970 letters), just luckily matched the address format and handwriting of envelopes he could never have seen. If Mike Rodelli wants to take the route that he cannot see a similarity between the Exorcist envelope and the two April 1970 envelopes, then he cannot justify the comparison he argues for the SLA and 340 envelope.
What has been presented here, shows that the claims of Mike Rodelli are completely backwards. His own words have effectively argued the case that the Zodiac Killer licked both the Exorcist and 1978 letters, by making statements such as "In 1998 using very primitive techniques from that time, Keel was reportedly able to isolate DNA from the two forgeries that matched each other". The notion that the 1978 and Exorcist letters were those forgeries has been completely dismantled. If Alan Keel found a DNA match between the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter, he found a complete DNA profile of two genuine Zodiac Killer letters and the Zodiac Killer himself. But will Mike Rodelli now reverse course, realize he has made a grave mistake, and correct these errors? He has written two books and made countless forum posts and videos pushing this narrative - so the answer is no. The consequences of abandoning this narrative will come at too great a cost. The most disheartening aspect of this whole story, is the inability of the Tapatalk forum members to recognise a claim that holds no (tap) water, when that claim is destroyed by the very person making it.
What has been presented here, shows that the claims of Mike Rodelli are completely backwards. His own words have effectively argued the case that the Zodiac Killer licked both the Exorcist and 1978 letters, by making statements such as "In 1998 using very primitive techniques from that time, Keel was reportedly able to isolate DNA from the two forgeries that matched each other". The notion that the 1978 and Exorcist letters were those forgeries has been completely dismantled. If Alan Keel found a DNA match between the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter, he found a complete DNA profile of two genuine Zodiac Killer letters and the Zodiac Killer himself. But will Mike Rodelli now reverse course, realize he has made a grave mistake, and correct these errors? He has written two books and made countless forum posts and videos pushing this narrative - so the answer is no. The consequences of abandoning this narrative will come at too great a cost. The most disheartening aspect of this whole story, is the inability of the Tapatalk forum members to recognise a claim that holds no (tap) water, when that claim is destroyed by the very person making it.
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