On December 3rd 2020, Dave Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke cracked the 340 cipher, revealing the Zodiac Killer's response to the Jim Dunbar TV show on October 22nd 1969. The Zodiac Killer stated "that wasn't me on the TV show", yet concealed it in a cipher that remained unbroken for fifty-one years. However, he didn't elaborate on whether he was the initial caller to the Oakland Police Department requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey appear on the chat show.
On September 25th 1990, a cipher was mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald on the back of a beachfront postcard from Oakland, addressed Celebrity Cypher, Vallejo Times Herold, Vallejo, Ca. This communication arrived approximately six weeks after Robert Graysmith (author of two Zodiac books) and Pam Huckaby (sister of Darlene Ferrin) appeared on the tabloid talk show The Sally Jessy Raphael Show. The show ran from 1983 to 2002, featuring celebrity guests such as Robert Graysmith, along with ordinary members of the public, covering a wide range of social issues.
Pam Huckaby appeared on the TV show in the August of 1990 alongside Robert Graysmith (who had published The Sleeping Lady earlier that year), claiming she feared for her life after a series of sinister events befell her, that included messages and Zodiac signs scrawled on her apartment door, mailed crytograms, a cross placed on her front lawn, a coffin delivered to her residence and bodily harm by an unknown individual, which she asserts could be the work of the infamous Zodiac Killer. These stories by Pam Huckaby are widely discredited, but could an interested viewer have took it upon himself to react to the TV show and mail the Celebrity Cypher postcard to the Vallejo Times-Herald. The name of the newspaper was incorrectly spelled as "Herold" on the postcard, just like the July 31st 1969 envelope, unpublished at the time. In fact, as of 2021, only three communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald have been publicly released, which includes the October 28th 1987 letter - and all may carry the misspelling of "Herold".
On September 25th 1990, a cipher was mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald on the back of a beachfront postcard from Oakland, addressed Celebrity Cypher, Vallejo Times Herold, Vallejo, Ca. This communication arrived approximately six weeks after Robert Graysmith (author of two Zodiac books) and Pam Huckaby (sister of Darlene Ferrin) appeared on the tabloid talk show The Sally Jessy Raphael Show. The show ran from 1983 to 2002, featuring celebrity guests such as Robert Graysmith, along with ordinary members of the public, covering a wide range of social issues.
Pam Huckaby appeared on the TV show in the August of 1990 alongside Robert Graysmith (who had published The Sleeping Lady earlier that year), claiming she feared for her life after a series of sinister events befell her, that included messages and Zodiac signs scrawled on her apartment door, mailed crytograms, a cross placed on her front lawn, a coffin delivered to her residence and bodily harm by an unknown individual, which she asserts could be the work of the infamous Zodiac Killer. These stories by Pam Huckaby are widely discredited, but could an interested viewer have took it upon himself to react to the TV show and mail the Celebrity Cypher postcard to the Vallejo Times-Herald. The name of the newspaper was incorrectly spelled as "Herold" on the postcard, just like the July 31st 1969 envelope, unpublished at the time. In fact, as of 2021, only three communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald have been publicly released, which includes the October 28th 1987 letter - and all may carry the misspelling of "Herold".
Details of the TV show appeared in the Vallejo Times-Herald stating "A former Vallejo woman related to one of the Zodiac's victims told a national television audience Wednesday that she is being harassed with death threats from the serial killer. Huckaby does not have a listed telephone number in Antioch and couldn't be contacted after Wednesday's appearance. The killer is called the Zodiac because of his cryptic messages, loaded with astrological symbols, to the news media and police investigators". Therefore, it's rather curious timing, that after the celebrity appearance of Robert Graysmith on The Sally Jessy Raphael TV show in the August of 1990 featuring Pam Huckaby, that a potential Zodiac postcard would arrive on September 25th 1990 entitled the Celebrity Cypher, including a coded message. The Zodiac Killer responded to the Jim Dunbar Show soon after the TV show aired, encoding his message of "that wasn't me on the TV show" within the 340 cipher. Had he done something similar in the Celebrity Cypher just weeks after his name featured on the The Sally Jessy Raphael Show? The above message "To you from me. My name is" or "To Pam from me. My name is" (both guessed) may use a separate code key to the address side of the postcard. The second option could be argued as a direct reply to Pam Huckaby, who featured heavily in the TV show and Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper prior to this mailing.
Or was the communication directed towards Robert Graysmith?: Hence the choice of a Celebrity Cypher, originally designed by Luis Campos, an inventor, poet and cryptographer who created six celebrity ciphers a week, featuring famous quotes from well-known people, past and present.
Or was the communication directed towards Robert Graysmith?: Hence the choice of a Celebrity Cypher, originally designed by Luis Campos, an inventor, poet and cryptographer who created six celebrity ciphers a week, featuring famous quotes from well-known people, past and present.
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