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Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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A FRESH LOOK AT THE 1987 LETTER [PT 2] AND A SECOND 1987 LETTER

4/9/2020

 
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On October 29th 1987, one day after the 1987 Halloween letter arrived at the Vallejo Times-Herald claiming to be from the Zodiac Killer, Department of Justice documents experts declared it a clever copy of a 1978 hoax letter. Shortly after that announcement, a similar letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. That letter, too, was declared a hoax. "My very firm opinion is that they were not written by the authentic "Zodiac," said Justice Department handwriting expert Robert Prouty". This means that a second Halloween letter was mailed alongside the Vallejo Times-Herald offering. 

The statement above is one that argues against itself, concluding that the author of the 1987 Vallejo Times-Herald Halloween letter would choose to hoax a hoax letter. They declared it a clever copy of a 1978 hoax letter. Therefore, the 1987 copycat, copycatted a copycat of the real Zodiac Killer, when it would have been far simpler for the copycat to choose any number of authenticated Zodiac letters from either Robert Graysmith's 1986 book or any good library archive. Instead, we have to believe the 1987 copycat made the schoolboy error of choosing one of the few unauthenticated Zodiac letters ever released, and widely touted as such in many newspaper articles. 

Robert Prouty added "They appear to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public". Does this mean that the 1987 San Francisco Chronicle communication was determined to have been composed of writing mimicking letters other than the 1978 correspondence? The emphasis here, is that it seems handwriting analysts compared the writing on the 1987 letters with previous letters - and not the handwriting on the 1987 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope with the only other envelope ever mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, on July 31st 1969. The similarity and composition of both the 1969 and 1987 envelopes may have changed their determination.

It is my understanding that the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope was not released into the public domain, so the author of the 1987 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope could not have mimicked it. However, he did a pretty good job, even using the full address of 'Vallejo Times Herald' on both occasions, in contrast to the publicly available 'Valejo Times' in Zodiac's July 31st 1969 letters to the Chronicle and Examiner. If anybody can find the July 31st 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald envelope in any newspaper prior to the October 28th 1987 letter, please let me know in comments. I do not want to draw any unnecessary conclusions based on incorrect understanding. This currently is just a probing exercise.      


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An article dated October 29th 1987 in the San Francisco Chronicle (shown below) made no reference to any Halloween letter received by them. According to the San Francisco Examiner article above, "Department of Justice documents experts declared (the Vallejo Times-Herald letter) a clever copy of a 1978 hoax letter. Shortly after that announcement, a similar letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. One can only assume the second Halloween letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle shortly after this article went to print, and they subsequently decided not to feature it. That means a second letter, likely mailed in tandem with the known 1987 Halloween letter, is yet to be unearthed. 
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A FRESH LOOK AT THE 1987 LETTER [PART ONE]
Rubislaw 32 link
4/9/2020 07:28:14 am

Well , I'd like to think that others might be getting the gist , now , Richard ( ? } .

News about a fake , that makes newspaper news - among thousands of other fakes ( ? ) . Exercise caution - but , '' pull the other one ''.

The Zodiac was a compulsive letter writer and , modified this habit , according to the '' happiness meter '' in his private life , and if any news related to the saga of a long investigation , often perpetuated by his compulsion , anyway , took his further fancy .

'' There are a hell of a lot out there .'' ? - letters , that is .

Richard
4/9/2020 08:43:40 am

Robert Prouty says he analysed about 15 claimed Zodiac letters a year. That means there could be more Zodiac letters tucked away, or of course, a potential 15 fakes a year. It would be nice to at least see them.

Richard
4/9/2020 08:46:48 am

You weren't a great fan of the 1987 letter being Zodiac before. Are you still of that opinion Rubislaw, or have you changed your mind?

Rubislaw 32 link
4/9/2020 09:00:25 am

I was a bit in a an indecision , over the '' Death Machine '' ambiguity , Richard , seeing how the Zodiac originally employed the term for his bomb .

But that tragic news story about the children , that you highlighted , settled any doubts that the letter could be a fake . I think that the letter is '' more than likely '' authentic Zodiac now .

Richard
4/9/2020 09:09:57 am

If we can unequivocally bind the 1969 and 1987 envelope together under one author, suspects like Ross Sullivan would be entirely ruled out once and for all.

BB
4/11/2020 06:18:28 pm

Richard - Earl Van Best, Jr. (14 Jul 1934 to 20 May 1984) - 100% Eliminated.

Also, guys in prison are not able to get messages to the outside without approval.

Ted Kazinski, Bruce Davis, BTK, - not the Zodiac

How about Karl Werner has he been released? If he was sentenced to 40 years. I think he'd be out by now? Unless he went to a place for the criminally insane.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/9/2020 09:28:48 am

Perhaps flippant of me to add , but once one starts accepting , at least , the probability of authenticity of most of the '' unconfirmed '' ' s , then for content , alone , none of the '' usual suspects '' cut the mustard on '' warped humour '' of the Zodiac .

The 1987 letter , that we know , is another of his '' Greatest Hits '' of familiar words and expression , previously employed . This seems to be a tell tale sign of the Zodiac when , he hadn't written for a period prior . He was just '' flexing his muscles '' , so to speak....looking for new inspiration .

And,that is what drew me to the 1988 New Canaan Letters as being persuading , from the start ....though few others have yet to be convinced . The primary purpose of the FBI releasing those two letters was to get feedback on the solution to the riddle , incorporated in the cipher . And , very shortly , I was convinced that these two 1988 New Canaan Letters , were directed at George Webster , father of missing daughter , Joan .

It should be noted , perhaps , that Mike Morford received an explanation to those letters , in a follow-up e-mail , from an anonymous source .'' Counts for nothing '' , really ( ? ) .

Rubislaw 32 link
4/9/2020 10:01:13 am

It has occurred to me , albeit being droll , that the real No .1 Zodiac suspect should be :

The FBI's Counter-Intelligence .


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    The Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer almost word-for-word when he wrote PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians. The code solution identified was Estimate: Four Radians and Five Inches To read more, click the image.
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