ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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A FRESH LOOK AT THE 1987 LETTER

4/7/2020

 
PictureClick to enlarge
When the Zodiac Killer mailed his July 31st 1969 letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, he informed each newspaper to the fact he had mailed letters to the other two. He addressed the San Francisco Chronicle as S.F. Chronicle on its envelope and in the letters to the other newspapers, the San Francisco Examiner as S.F. Examiner on its envelope and in the letters to the other newspapers, but addressed the Vallejo Times-Herald as Vallejo Times Herald on its envelope and Vallejo Times to the other newspapers. The 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope had not been made visible to the public at the time the disputed October 28th 1987 Halloween letter arrived at the Vallejo Times-Herald (as far as I can ascertain). The three July 31st 1969 envelopes even failed to make the San Francisco Police Department DNA report in the late 1990s.

An article from ABC News in 2003: "The lab has found a partial DNA "fingerprint" on one of the envelopes, but not enough for definitive matching. However, a Primetime investigation prompted the discovery of three envelopes that offer new hope. The envelopes (July 31st 1969) were thought to have been lost, but an anonymous Primetime source — a long-retired investigator — found them, in mint condition, during a search of his personal files and turned them over to the San Francisco police".

Experts very quickly determined the 1987 letter was mailed by a hoaxer. "The fake letter sent to the Vallejo Times-Herald in midweek was a simulation of a hoax letter written in 1978", police Capt. Roy Conway said Thursday. "The determination was made by experts in the state Department of Justice", he said. In Sacramento, spokeswoman Melinda Stehr of the attorney general's office said handwriting experts confirmed the letter was a simulation of a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle a decade ago, which was also considered to be a hoax."Someone saw the letter and was using it as a copy."  Stehr said. "It's a fake. It's a hoax". When they made this determination, they clearly didn't have the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope at their disposal, so they could compare it to the October 28th 1987 envelope. If they had, they may very well have come to a different conclusion. The Zodiac Killer wrote 'Vallejo Times' in his letters when he addressed the Chronicle and Examiner on July 31st 1969 (which were made public), but his envelope to the Vallejo newspaper contained the full name of 'Vallejo Times Herald'. An envelope not made public prior to October 28th 1987. Yet the recent 1987 envelope contained the full title of 'Vallejo Times Herald', just like the unpublished 1969 Vallejo envelope.

If you compare the now available July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope, with the October 28th 1987 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope, the similarity is noticeable. How could a hoaxer mimic the 1969 Vallejo envelope so closely if he had never laid eyes on it. The same words and amount of words (and abbreviations) are used in both, with no commas or full stops in either address. The dominant alphabetical V is present on both, with a distinct right leaning slant extending over the "a" of Vallejo. Up to October 28th 1987, these were the only two communications ever mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald from either Zodiac, or a supposed copycat of Zodiac. If the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope was never made public prior to October 28th 1987, I suggest that this recent Halloween offering should be declared genuine Zodiac Killer correspondence. This is the best image available of the 1987 envelope. There are two March 29th 1985 issue date 22c stamps of Flag Over Capitol on the 1987 envelope. The May 6th 1986 'Zodiac' envelope contains one smaller Flag Over Capitol stamp.          

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1987 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope
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1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope
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1987 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope
This article is what I would describe as an investigative piece written with impartiality to the best of my knowledge. We know that the July 31st 1969 letters were the Zodiac Killer because of their content, so if the October 28th 1987 envelope can unequivocally be tied to one of these letters through the handwriting style and composition of each envelope, we can say without doubt the Bay Area murderer was still alive in 1987. However, if any reader of this article can find the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope published prior to October 28th 1987, for the latest Halloween letter author to mimic, I will delete this article immediately.  
A FRESH LOOK AT THE 1987 LETTER [PART TWO]
Rubislaw 32 link
4/7/2020 07:35:56 am

Lies , damn lies , and Zodiac's letters , Richard .

All I can think about here , is a further shielding of '' Was it Herald or Herold ? ''.

'' Herold '' in all two cases , me thinks , and so the link to the 1990 Celebrity Cipher .

Richard
4/7/2020 07:46:35 am

Yes Rubislaw, Herold could link all three letters. I have always believed the 1987 letter to be genuine because of the subtle but horrible link to San Jose. That is why I have searched every newspaper high and low, and failed to find the July 31st 1969 envelopes. If this 1987 letter is a hoaxer, then he managed to write "Vallejo Times Herald" in its entirety on the envelope like the 69 envelope. It just looks too good a job to not consider it genuine. This is the only tangible way to confirm later letters, using unpublished details the current author uses. If we could get our hands on a clear version of the 1987 envelope and it says "Herold", the deal is 100% closed for me.

Richard
4/7/2020 07:50:10 am

I cannot see a tail on "a" of "Herald" on the 69 envelope, suggesting it is "Herold". The Celebrity Cypher definitely says "Herold". That leaves 1987.

Richard
4/7/2020 07:59:41 am

I've blown up the postmark on the 1969 envelope above.
Here is the Celebrity Cypher "Herold".
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/published/message.gif?1560893475

Rubislaw 32 link
4/7/2020 08:41:41 am

Certainly go along with your thinking , on the 1987 letter , Richard .

Generally , the '' out of focus '' is yet another example of an infuriating obstacle to overcome .

I wonder why this blurred photo is all that is available to us ( ? ) .

Richard
4/7/2020 08:50:35 am

There is one on Zodiac Killer Site, but that is worse. This was a snapshot from the video above, and edited on lunapic. There is no better version, because the envelope hasn't been published anywhere. If it hasn't been flung away, it's either with the VTH or possibly Sacramento.

Richard
4/7/2020 12:23:39 pm

Caido made a pretty good observation on Tom's forum. The 1978 letter finished with the word "guess". The 1987 letter finished with the word "guess". The 1990 card said ""FROM YOUR SECRET PAL CAN'T "GUESS" WHO I AM YET? WELL, LOOK INSIDE AND YOU'LL FIND OUT..." and once opened it revealed: "...THAT I'M GONNA KEEP YOU "GUESSIN". HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ANYWAY".

Three guessing games and a VTH cipher in four well-known communications.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiackillerfr/viewtopic.php?t=8819

Rubislaw 32 link
4/7/2020 08:19:55 pm

Like the '' guess '' repetition , from Caido , Richard , and these sorts of spots do add persuasion .

There are a few of these sorts of links out there in Zodiac's '' land of correspondences '' , just needing to be identified and hauled in as sleuth's '' trophies '' . '' You better '' or '' You had better '' another example .

In the Bus Bomb letter of November 9th 1969 :

'' I have grown RATHER angry with the police , for telling lies about me. ''

In the Kathleen Johns letter of July 14th 1970 :

'' I am RATHER unhappy because you people will not wear nice Zodiac buttons . ''

Then....circa 1996 , with Scorpions letter of introduction , the word '' RATHER '' is employed , no less than five ( ! ) times .

( Of course I will plug an '' unconfirmed '' - for most of them show persuading reasons , to believe that they may well be authentic Zodiac . And , the authorities gave up on '' the authentication game '' , with the public relations disaster over the April 1978 letter . )

Toots
4/7/2020 07:28:28 pm

Hello Richard,
Can I share with you a new look at the Halloween Card and an overlay that I believe is really interesting and needs a bigger audience to review and debate? Can you send me your email?
Thanks.

Richard
4/8/2020 01:28:07 am

The only way your theory/overlay could be presented on this site for it to be reviewed by other people Toots, is for me to present it under an article in Zodiac news. But if I stay consistent and fair, I would have to present future requests from other regular contributors (or not so regular). This presents a problem, because before you know it you are effectively running a site containing many other peoples theories that I may or may not endorse, that will show up on Google searches. Since the John Rose 340 presentation I had to make a decision to stop doing this because of the many requests from people to run their theory or presentation. I felt it fair that I either run them all, remain impartial and show no bias towards contributors, or run none at all. I chose the latter. I took the contact page off my site not to be aloof to people, moreover because I've got enough on my plate with my own stuff. The only constructive suggestion I have is present it at the two major forums and link it via posts here, either in a presented URL or via your name in each comment. I hope you understand. Richard.

Richard
4/8/2020 01:39:06 am

Why don't you present it in blog or website form (that has comments) and every time you post here, link it with a url in your comment. The Weebly website platform is free. Although this website is a paid version now, it was the free version for many years.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=weebly

~Bill
4/23/2020 11:32:32 am

Richard, thank you for the resource, i will check it out. I really need to get out and mow the grass! lol.

One more note I would like to make on the '87 letter after briefly looking on its content:

The writing style and message are strikingly similar to the '78 Toschi letter. This in itself would tend to bely its credibility/authenticity. It has many of the same characteristics construction and design as the '78 letter, as well is an "extension" of the "Herb Caen" angle, which i believe has been an incorrectly categorized assumption. In other words, one "hoax" reinforced by "another", but appear do be both categorically dissimilar. These two writings, and especially the message, is consistent with the "78 Toschi letter, and this "weights" even further the determination that this letter is more than likely "not authentic" in my opinion.

Regards,

~Bill

sandy betts link
6/17/2020 03:13:26 pm

Richard, I sent you a email letting you know that Darlene's sister Pam reported to the police that someone wrote a large Zodiac symbol on her garage door in blue felt pen and that she received a Zodiac letter two days before the one was received by the VTH. Vallejo PD went to her home and picked it up on Wed,the 28th 1987. I am sure that can be verified. I do not believe any of that to be from a Hoaxer. The day I met her in March 1990, she showed me Z like writing on her phone box outside of her condo. I don't remember what the words said exactly, it was a warning about her talking.

I have the newspaper for those dates , there was not a envelope shown in those articles it shows only the letter. It worries me to think that the DOJ thought that was a hoax letter!

sandy betts link
8/19/2020 08:51:59 pm

It is too bad we don't have you Richard working on the Zodiac case, I think you would make a excellent detective! And a much better handwriting expert! How did those so called "experts" get that title anyway? I believe all of the letters you mentioned were from Zodiac. Thank you for all the work that you do!

Richard
8/20/2020 03:53:43 am

Thanks Sandy, I must have took the wrong turn when I became a postman!


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