1969 INSIDE DETECTIVE MAGAZINE There may be a slim chance that the Zodiac Killer was hinting at the murder of Cheri Jo Bates as early as November 10th 1969, rather than fourteen months later on March 13th 1971 when he claimed "riverside activity" in a letter mailed to the Los Angeles Times newspaper. If true, this would have been three weeks after Chief Kinkead of the Riverside Police Department contacted Earl Randol, Sheriff of Napa County, exploring a link between the Cheri Jo Bates and Zodiac case on October 20th 1969.
Lately I have been examining the Edward C. Adams postcard mailed from Berkeley on October 17th 1970, which stated by use of newspaper cuttings "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac".
However, this wasn't the first communication to issue a direct threat toward an individual using cuttings and similar verbiage, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mailed "Mr. (redacted) "your next" The Zodiac" in a letter postmarked Montclair, California on November 10th 1969, which is situated approximately 19 miles (by crow) from the murder site of Cheri Jo Bates. The cuttings were attached using scotch tape onto school notebook paper, such as that carried by Cheri Jo Bates when she visited the Riverside City College library on October 30th 1966 and was spotted by a Mexican-American student shortly before 6:00pm. Writing paper similar to that used in the "Bates Had to Die" letters on April 30th 1967, which suggested "There Will Be More" victims. We have the Riverside Desktop Poem also finishing with the parting message of "just wait till next time". The Montclair and Berkeley communications both signed off with the "Zodiac" pseudonym, as did the "13-Hole" postcard on October 6th 1970.
Lately I have been examining the Edward C. Adams postcard mailed from Berkeley on October 17th 1970, which stated by use of newspaper cuttings "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac".
However, this wasn't the first communication to issue a direct threat toward an individual using cuttings and similar verbiage, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mailed "Mr. (redacted) "your next" The Zodiac" in a letter postmarked Montclair, California on November 10th 1969, which is situated approximately 19 miles (by crow) from the murder site of Cheri Jo Bates. The cuttings were attached using scotch tape onto school notebook paper, such as that carried by Cheri Jo Bates when she visited the Riverside City College library on October 30th 1966 and was spotted by a Mexican-American student shortly before 6:00pm. Writing paper similar to that used in the "Bates Had to Die" letters on April 30th 1967, which suggested "There Will Be More" victims. We have the Riverside Desktop Poem also finishing with the parting message of "just wait till next time". The Montclair and Berkeley communications both signed off with the "Zodiac" pseudonym, as did the "13-Hole" postcard on October 6th 1970.
On July 26th 1970 in his "Little List" letter, the Zodiac Killer used wording similar to that in the "Confession" letter mailed on November 29th 1966, which was partially reproduced by the Inside Detective magazine in January 1969, featuring the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. The Confession letter read "She squirmed and shook as I chocked her, and her lips twiched. She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The Little List letter read "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and sqwirm". The Inside Detective magazine not only mentioned the "school notebook" of Cheri Jo Bates on page 5 (shown above), but the article was entitled "YOUR DAUGHTER MAY BE NEXT" by John Montgomery, loosely taken from "I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom" and "Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys".
Did the Zodiac Killer take "YOUR" and "NEXT" directly (or indirectly) from the Inside Detective magazine in similar fashion to the "Little List" letter, which may have borrowed from this magazine also? If the threat of "your next" was using lowercase cuttings as the FBI file appears to suggest, then this would somewhat diminish the connection between the Montclair letter and magazine.
The FBI file made the distinction that these were magazine cuttings rather than newspaper cuttings, so if the Zodiac Killer really was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then he had every reason to have focused on this magazine more than once. The connection suggested here could be construed as extremely fragile, but for the fact that this letter was mailed relatively close to Riverside (and unpublished), and offered an extremely similar threat via affixed cuttings, to that given to Edward Adams a year later. What would make this a more interesting proposition, is if the person threatened in Clarinda, Iowa could be identified by a FOIA request, and the subsequrnt male individual turned out to have some previous connection to Riverside and/or the murder investigation of Cheri Jo Bates. If this was shown to be the case, then there is a high probability that the Zodiac Killer was linking himself to Riverside far earlier than previously thought.
UPDATE SEPT 21ST 2025: At the bottom of the Montclair FBI file the name Allen L. Donielson is mentioned. If this is not the recipient of the "Zodiac Killer" threatening letter, then there is a high probability he is somehow connected to the person that did receive it. Allen L. Donielson became the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 1969. On November 1st 1976, the Governor of Iowa appointed him as the first judge of the newly created Iowa Court of Appeals. These and other United States Attorneys for the district have been responsible for the prosecution of some very important cases in the state. So this man was connected to Iowa where the threat was aimed. Two weeks before this threat (estimated: October 27th 1969) a similar letter bearing the same message had been mailed (from where to where is unknown).These two threats, likely towards an attorney (or more than one), began five days after the Zodiac Killer requested that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, two prominent and well-known attorneys, join him in a discussion on the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. The Zodiac Killer's appearance on the show was likely thwarted by the imposter, Eric Weill. But why (if the Zodiac Killer) would he switch his attention from San Francisco to Clarinda in Iowa within 19 days (or possibly 5 days)? I have added a newspaper article from December 23rd 1969 at the foot of this page, regarding the conclusion to a case of four draft dodgers. This was the nearest thing I could find of any relevance to Allen L. Donielson in this time period
Did the Zodiac Killer take "YOUR" and "NEXT" directly (or indirectly) from the Inside Detective magazine in similar fashion to the "Little List" letter, which may have borrowed from this magazine also? If the threat of "your next" was using lowercase cuttings as the FBI file appears to suggest, then this would somewhat diminish the connection between the Montclair letter and magazine.
The FBI file made the distinction that these were magazine cuttings rather than newspaper cuttings, so if the Zodiac Killer really was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then he had every reason to have focused on this magazine more than once. The connection suggested here could be construed as extremely fragile, but for the fact that this letter was mailed relatively close to Riverside (and unpublished), and offered an extremely similar threat via affixed cuttings, to that given to Edward Adams a year later. What would make this a more interesting proposition, is if the person threatened in Clarinda, Iowa could be identified by a FOIA request, and the subsequrnt male individual turned out to have some previous connection to Riverside and/or the murder investigation of Cheri Jo Bates. If this was shown to be the case, then there is a high probability that the Zodiac Killer was linking himself to Riverside far earlier than previously thought.
UPDATE SEPT 21ST 2025: At the bottom of the Montclair FBI file the name Allen L. Donielson is mentioned. If this is not the recipient of the "Zodiac Killer" threatening letter, then there is a high probability he is somehow connected to the person that did receive it. Allen L. Donielson became the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 1969. On November 1st 1976, the Governor of Iowa appointed him as the first judge of the newly created Iowa Court of Appeals. These and other United States Attorneys for the district have been responsible for the prosecution of some very important cases in the state. So this man was connected to Iowa where the threat was aimed. Two weeks before this threat (estimated: October 27th 1969) a similar letter bearing the same message had been mailed (from where to where is unknown).These two threats, likely towards an attorney (or more than one), began five days after the Zodiac Killer requested that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, two prominent and well-known attorneys, join him in a discussion on the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. The Zodiac Killer's appearance on the show was likely thwarted by the imposter, Eric Weill. But why (if the Zodiac Killer) would he switch his attention from San Francisco to Clarinda in Iowa within 19 days (or possibly 5 days)? I have added a newspaper article from December 23rd 1969 at the foot of this page, regarding the conclusion to a case of four draft dodgers. This was the nearest thing I could find of any relevance to Allen L. Donielson in this time period
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