Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe MBE, M.C. (November 9th 1914 – October 1st 2006), who wrote his books under the pseudonym Alan Caillou, was an English-born author, actor, screenwriter, soldier, policeman and professional hunter. Recently I showed how the Rampage (1963) movie starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli was the primary influence behind the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 letters and 408 cryptogram, not The Most Dangerous Game movie and short story, that has been put forward as the main driver for many decades.

The Rampage movie was based upon a 1961 novel by Alan Caillou, which carried on its front cover the following text: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all". Converted by the Zodiac Killer into "the most dangerous animal of all". The Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover expanded the wording on the front of the Rampage book to "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all", which shaped the complete phrase used by the Zodiac Killer, when he enciphered "man is the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and Warner Brothers press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". The opening credits of the Rampage movie also contained crosshairs embedded within its title. The feature article entitled "Rethinking The Most Dangerous Game" has many more connections between the July 31st letters and the Rampage book and movie, including the wording on another Zodiac letter (and cryptogram) in 1971.  

The one thing I couldn't connect between the book, movie and July 31st 1969 letters, was the Zodiac Killer's choice of the words "in paradise" in his 408 cryptogram (albeit misspelled). But if I was correct, the answer would be found in either the book, the movie, or Alan Caillou himself - sometime during this period. The Rampage book was released in several versions of paperback and hardback between January 1961 and 1963, during which time, Alan Caillou was starring in an extremely popular TV series created by James A. Michener (USA) that ran for 91 episodes between 1959 and 1962. The TV series was called Adventures in Paradise, described on the Internet Movie Database as the adventures of the Tiki III and crew as they sailed from island to island through the South Pacific, carrying cargo and the odd passenger from one drama to another. Alan Caillou starred in Incident in Suva (December 26th 1960) and Errand of Mercy (May 25th 1961). Alan Caillou played the characters "Bates" and "Inspector Black" in the series.  

Therefore, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), and the "crosshairs" in the movie title. ​The Warner Brothers press book also carried the phrase "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and "they lived and loved by the code", which the Zodiac Killer enquired about on August 4th 1969, when he stated "are the police having a good time with the code". We now have the author of Rampage starring in Adventures in Paradise at the same time. James A. Michener also created the movie Return to Paradise in 1953, starring Gary Cooper.

The Monticello card mailed by the Zodiac Killer on July 13th 1971 may not be a postcard after all. The only description given to it in the 1998 DNA chart describes it as a "picture". But unlike its sister communication, the Pines postcard, it's seemingly too graphic (or insensitive) to release into the public domain. The Pines postcard was insinuating the Zodiac Killer's involvement in the murder of Donna Lass using random newspaper cuttings, whereas the Monticello "picture" was far cleverer in design.

​The Monticello communication was insinuating the murder of Kathy Bilek (18), who died in the Villa Montalvo woods on April 11th 1971, by using the burial site of her namesake Kathy Snoozy (15), who was murdered alongside her friend Debra Furlong (14) in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. Three despicable crimes, claimed by the Zodiac Killer in communications on November 8th 1969, May 1971 and July 13th 1971. However, unlike the Pines postcard, all the wording pasted on the Monticello communication was inspired by the newspaper articles about the three murder victims, Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek.

The Zodiac Killer pasted the following message into the correspondence: "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ... In The Woods Dies April". The wording was totally relevant to the killing of the three young girls, such as "near Monticello", "sought", "victims", "in the woods" and "April". Due to errors in the 1998 DNA chart, I am unsure whether the Zodiac Killer deliberately misspelled "sought", or it was typed incorrectly in the chart.

​Many newspaper articles headlined with "near Saratoga" and "near Montalvo" to describe where Kathy Bilek was killed, so it's easy to see how the Zodiac Killer derived the clue "near Monticello" in his July 13th 1971 communication. Kathy Bilek was described as being found "in woods" or "in the woods", making this connection even easier. Countless newspaper articles mentioned that a link was being "sought" between the murder of Kathy Bilek and the double slaying of Snoozy & Furlong, all stabbed dozens of times in similar fashion. Not to mention that a vicious killer was being "sought" in both the Saratoga and San Jose attacks (altered to "shought" for whatever reason). Strangely, the Zodiac Killer pasted "victims 21" rather than "victim 21", despite "victim" being widely available. But when you look at the numerous articles postulating a link between all three victims, it's easy to understand why the Zodiac Killer chose "victims", to suggest his involvement in all three murders, within his total. The pasted "April" cutting easily sourced and inspired by the date of the newspaper in 1971. The Zodiac Killer pasted a message on July 13th 1971 comprised of language taken from newspaper articles, about victims he was claiming in his running total - building upon the Pines postcard in a much more creative way.

The Zodiac Killer changed "near Saratoga" and "near Montalvo" into "near Monticello", because Kathy Snoozy was buried in the Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue in the neighborhood of Monticello, just 8.5 miles from Saratoga, where Kathy Bilek was murdered. He used the "namesake" and "location" of a previously claimed victim to clue us in to the identity of Kathy Bilek. The Zodiac Killer may have actually used "near Montalvo" from the above article to create "near Monticello" within his communication - but until the Monticello "picture" goes on display to the public (if ever), we will never know.  

This is a continuation of the article "Did the Killer of Donna Lass Make the Phone Call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel?". Link.
​
On September 19th 1970, Gordon Petrovich, security guard at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, stated that somebody calling himself "Mr. Davis" had rang the casino on either September 7th or 8th and reported that Donna Lass had left town because of a family illness. Gordon Petrovich claimed he had left a note regarding the phone call on the security desk. According to the private investigator's report, friend of Donna Lass, Jo Anne Goettsche, was planning to meet her on the night of September 7th 1970 at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, making contact with security guard George Victor Jonasson and asking of Donna's whereabouts through until 4:00am on September 8th 1970. According to Jo Anne Goettsche, George Victor Jonasson insisted he knew nothing about the whereabouts of Donna Lass. Had the "suspicious" call to Gordon Petrovich been delivered on September 7th 1970 stating she wouldn't be coming to work at 6:00pm that evening and Gordon Petrovich had left a note on the security desk stating this fact, then security guard George Victor Jonasson should have known that Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness and been able to inform Jo Anne Goettsche of these details on the night of September 7th, into the 8th. But he didn't. This would lend credence to the phone call received by Gordon Petrovich being delivered on September 8th 1970, assuming George Victor Jonasson wasn't lying about reading the note (or hadn't seen it, or wasn't informed of its contents). The fact that no Sahara Tahoe Hotel staff were able to enlighten Jo Anne Goettsche for several hours about the whereabouts of Donna Lass, appears to suggest that no note (and no phone call) was made on September 7th 1970. And if the phone call wasn't made by ​Nick Davis, it was probably the killer.

Assuming the sighting of Donna Lass near the Tahoe Bottle Shop at 3950 Lake Tahoe Blvd at 3:00pm or 4:00pm by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison was correct - and Donna Lass didn't meet Jo Anne Goettsche later that night - then something untoward likely happened to Donna Lass between approximately 4:00pm and the later hours of September 7th 1970. If Mrs. Dorothy Cullison's sighting was mistaken identity, we are left with something happening to Donna Lass between 2:00am on September 6th 1970 and September 8th 1970, when the "suspicious" phone call was made to Gordon Petrovich. This would explain why George Victor Jonasson knew nothing about the whereabouts of Donna Lass up to 4:00am on September 8th 1970.

​If Donna Lass was murdered shortly after leaving the casino at 2:00am on September 6th 1970, this would make the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970 over two days later. If the killer knew Donna Lass was still alive at the closure of September 6th 1970 (because no crime had been committed yet) and he knew she wasn't working on Labor Day, September 7th 1970, no phone call would have been necessary until September 8th 1970.

Had she had been working on September 6th 1970, a murderer who killed Donna Lass in the early hours of September 6th 1970 (and known to her), should have made the phone call before her shift started on September 6th 1970 as a delaying tactic, but apparently didn't. Bearing in mind that the phone call was seemingly made on September 8th 1970 - and Jo Anne Goettsche had arranged to meet Donna Lass on the night of Labor Day, September 7th 1970 - suggests that this was her day off from work. But this would also suggest she was murdered on September 7th 1970 because no phone call arrived on September 6th 1970. Unless her vacation days off from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel were September 6th and September 7th 1970 (and these details were known by her killer).

I noticed that the statement by Gordon Petrovich referred to a phone caller who said that Donna Lass wouldn't be coming to work that day. So a phone call made by somebody on September 8th 1970 during his shift hours, was not only making that call before 6:00pm (when Donna would have started her shifts), but the caller knew she was scheduled to work that day. Nick Davis, the landlord of Donna Lass (who shouldn't have been privy to her work schedule), was fairly adamant that he wasn't the "Mr. Davis" who rang Gordon Petrovich on either September 7th or the 8th. Everything points to a "suspicious" phone call being made during the shift of Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970, who knew Donna was due to work that day, and knew that her family lived out of town. These are details that would be unknown to a random serial killer or murderer, even if they abducted her in the vicinity of the casino. A killer unknown to the victim had little reason to delay an investigation by claiming a "family illness".   

Trawling through newspapers.com, Zodiac researcher, Jibberjabber, noticed that the earliest reports into the disappearance of Donna Lass only emerged on September 22nd 1970, approximately two weeks after her absence was first noticed. Her disappearance featured in the Sacramento Bee newspaper on this date. This coincided with a date in the private investigator's report that stated "Douglas County Sheriff's office, Deputy Joe Delorey, stated that he had received a phone call from a man in Sacramento who did not identify himself, and wished to speak to the investigator in charge of the case of the subject. This party stated he would call back at noon after learning that the investigator was not in. This call was received at 10:00pm on September 22nd 1970". In light of no mentioned follow up to this call, some have thought this may have been suspicious. However, when you read the Sacramento Bee article mentioning the mysterious disappearance of a nurse at South Lake Tahoe, it becomes a strong possibility that the male caller was genuinely trying to aid the investigation and wanted the lead investigator so his call was taken seriously, by informing him of the similarity to the disappearance and eventual murder of "nurse" Judith Hakari several months earlier. She was abducted shortly after leaving the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento on March 7th 1970, to be found in a shallow grave on April 25th 1970 near Weimar, Placer County. This potential connection was posited in the Sacramento Bee two days later, on September 24th 1970

On July 27th 2023 I presented a viable solution (but not confirmed) to the 38 character code mailed by the Zodiac Killer on December 7th 1969 from Fairfield. The wording in the solution mimicked an article published by the Los Angeles Times on October 23rd 1969 about the impostor who phoned the Jim Dunbar TV Show the previous day. The article was entitled "I Want Help Zodiac Caller Tells Attorney on Telephone", with the accompanying text stating "I Don't Want To Give Myself Up". This was clearly mimicked in the December 7th 1969 letter, when the Zodiac Killer stated "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". But what had he possibly taken from the newspaper to incorporate into his 38 character code? (if anything). The wording accompanying the picture of Melvin Belli in the newspaper read "Attorney Melvin Belli in phone booth at a San Francisco television station talking to caller who said he was the Zodiac Killer. Caller made an appointment but didn't keep it". 

​The "addition" sign in the code formed the bedrock of the code when I applied the plaintext letter "P" to it, leading to the words "help" and "appointment". Once these two words were in place, the rest of the code was relatively easy to create. The composition of the message tallied with the newspaper article, except for the phrase "trying times" which began the Z38 message. Therefore, I needed to find out why the Zodiac Killer chose this phrase. Three days after the December 7th 1969 "Fairfield" letter, anothet cryptic correspondence was mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee on December 10th 1969, dubbed the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer with the pasted newspaper text of "Zodiac". Sacramento and Fairfield are only 30 miles from one another, so I had to consider the possibility that the Zodiac Killer was operating in that area in the early part of December. Many Zodiac researchers have speculated on a Zodiac Killer writing to the "Dear Editor" section of newspapers, so I began looking for language similar to that used by the Zodiac Killer in his letters (and ciphers/codes). Or a signature possibly used by the Bay Area murderer.
​Continued below........

Because the Zodiac Killer had mailed a letter from Fairfield to the San Francisco Chronicle on December 7th 1969, and possibly from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee on December 10th 1969, I trawled through the newspapers in this region just prior to December 7th 1969 for any letters to the editor that used the phrase "trying times", and a signature previously used by a "possible" Zodiac Killer, such as the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969, when a 408 cipher key was mailed to Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department. The "concerned citizen" card stated "I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer" and "Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers". In the 408 cipher the Zodiac Killer concealed the message "I will not give you my name". 

The "letter to the editor" I found on December 4th 1969 in the Sacramento Bee began with "Editor of the Bee-Sir: Since the Bee does not give out the real name of letter writers who request anonymity, may I use this column to address Harding Republicans ". The "letter to the editor", three days before the Fairfield code, continued with "In these trying times of Social Security, medicare, bank insurance and workmen's compensation creeping into our way of life, we need your voice loud and clear". It was signed "concerned conservative" instead of "concerned citizen", with "Davis" underneath. The pasted Day-by-day forecast for Cancer letter with the pseudonym "Zodiac" would be mailed to the Sacramento Bee a matter of days later.. I am not saying that the "concerned conservative" was the Zodiac Killer, but the search by Zodiac researchers for characteristics of the Bay Area murderer in "letters to the editor" columns is a worthwhile approach - preferably when he gives us his real name. If these were "trying times" for the Zodiac Killer rather than the "good times" he claimed in Vallejo, then he was certainly "finding it extremely difficult to keep it in check" by December 20th 1969 when a letter arrived at the home of Melvin Belli. 

ANOTHER LETTER TO THE SACRAMENTO BEE ON DECEMBER 12TH 1969 (APPARENTLY) RESPONDING TO THE "CONCERNED CONSERVATIVE"
​
A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE 38 CHARACTER CODE  

On September 19th 1970, Gordon Petrovich, security guard at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, stated that somebody calling himself "Mr. Davis" had rang the casino on either September 7th or 8th and reported that Donna Lass had left town because of a family illness. Gordon Petrovich claimed he had left a note regarding the phone call on the security desk.

On September 19th 1970, according to the testimony of former Monte Verdi apartments manager Nick Davis, he first learned that Donna Lass "had been called out of town for a family illness" on September 11th 1970 after he received a phone call from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. After receiving this call, he made a phone call to Bob Morgan of the South Lake Tahoe Police Station, who revealed he had received a phone call from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office about Donna Lass and the "sickness in the family". Nick Davis then rang back the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 11th 1970 and informed them of the "sickness in the family", that he believed security guard Gordon Petrovich thought was on the date of September 7th or 8th. This makes little sense.

If the Sahara Tahoe Hotel had received a call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th or 8th that Donna Lass had left town for a family illness - and we assume they had phoned Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 to inform him of this information - then he wouldn't have first learned about the "family illness" from Bob Morgan of SLTPD (which he claimed) - and there would have been no reason to ring back the Sahara Tahoe Hotel to inform them of a "family illness", if they were the ones who told him in the first place.

​If the Sahara Tahoe Hotel just contacted Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 enquiring about the whereabouts of Donna Lass, from which he contacted Bob Morgan and learned that Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness, then somebody must have reported the "family illness" to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office before Nick Davis discovered this fact. This must have been the Sahara Tahoe Hotel after Gordon Petrovich received the "family illness" phone call on September 7th/8th from somebody claiming to be Mr. Davis, who sometime between September 7th/8th and September 11th must have phoned the Douglas County Sheriff's Office expressing the concerns of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel when Donna Lass failed to return to work after the Labor Day weekend.

​The Sahara Tahoe Hotel, having previously received a phone call on September 7th/8th that Donna Lass wouldn't be coming to work because of a "family illness", may have become concerned after a couple of days with no further news or contact from Donna Lass, so reported their concerns to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, who informed the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The Sahara Tahoe Hotel, being concerned employers, could have then contacted Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 asking on the whereabouts of his tenant because Donna had now failed to turn up for work for three days or made any phone calls to them in person explaining her current status, but the Sahara Tahoe Hotel could have failed to mention to Nick Davis the "family illness" part of the story, just her continuing absence from work (or Nick Davis failed to remember this part of the message). Nick Davis, taking these concerns on board, then contacted the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and was informed of the initial reports of a "family illness" they had received, from which, Nick Davis returned the call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 11th 1970 and informed them of the "family illness" (which they already knew because of the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th/8th). It would have served no purpose whatsoever for the killer to have phoned the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to inform them of a "family illness" concerning Donna Lass. Therefore, if Nick Davis didn't make the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th/8th (as he stated), then somebody claiming to be Nick Davis must have made that call.

In light of the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass, a phone call on September 7th/8th making false claims of a "family illness" and mimicking the landlord of Donna Lass, could only have realistically been done for one reason. And that reason would have been nefarious. If the impersonator of Nick Davis knew the name of "Mr. Davis", it is extremely likely that the murderer of Donna Lass knew where she lived and knew (at least) the surname of her landlord. This familiarity with Donna Lass and her life may indicate somebody close to the young 25-year-old nurse, who knew her family lived 1500 miles away (out of town), and knew that such a phone call would buy time. The man with the blonde hair, spotted with Donna Lass on September 7th 1970 by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison, walking in the direction of her apartment complex - who never came forward to police - must be the number one suspect in the murder of Donna Lass (if Mrs. Dorothy Cullison wasn't mistaken). 

READ THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR'S REPORT   

BUS TRIPS DIRECT TO THE SAHARA TAHOE HOTEL & CASINO FROM THE BAY AREA

It has long been believed that the 1924 "The Most Dangerous Game" short story and/or 1932 RKO movie were the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's three July 31st 1969 letters and his 408 cipher, beginning "I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Although the "Most Dangerous Game" had some influence by being the predecessor that later movies borrowed from, I will present two more contemporary movies about "hunting" that probably had a bigger contribution in shaping the early Zodiac Killer correspondence. The first movie called "Rampage" (1963), about hunting in the dense forest of Malaysia, had all the ingredients for the design of the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 offerings. The movie, starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli, features Harry Stanton (played by Mitchum) who prefers to hunt wild game without killing the animals, leading to conflict with the character Otto Abbot (played by Hawkins). 

Many Zodiac researchers believe the Zodiac Killer was influenced by the movies, so I wondered whether the Zodiac Killer borrowed the movie title "Rampage" when writing his threats to "kill a dozen people over the weekend", stating "If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or untill I kill a dozen people". 

​This on its own seems pretty weak, until you consider the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie, and the wording on the movie poster (and original Warner Brothers press book cover). The Zodiac Killer used the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his decoded 408 cipher, while the movie poster (and press book cover) carried the wording "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". One could argue that the Zodiac Killer used part of the word "woman" to create "man", and changed "the most dangerous game of all" to "the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". Three words remained the same. 

Additionally, newspaper advertisements of the movie in 1963 carried the wording "Big, Bold, Bob Mitchum is on a Rampage", missing only the word "kill" that was added by the Zodiac  The movie's opening credits, movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover contained "go on the rampage", "the most dangerous game of all" and the "crosshairs", which were all heavily used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969. The phrases "go on the rampage" and "the most dangerous game of all" were also featured in the newspapers throughout America in 1963. Here are three examples. 

​The movie revolves around two hunters, an American (Robert Mitchum) and a German (Jack Hawkins) who aim to catch a rare breed of panther in Malaysia. The beautiful girlfriend (Elsa Martinelli) of Otto Abbot joins them on their hunt, which further heightens tensions between the two men when Harry Stanton becomes attracted to her. The Zodiac Killer added the encoded phrase in the 408 cipher: "to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl". The "Rampage" movie contained a romantic triangle between the three main characters, which also featured Elsa Martinelli bathing naked in a rocky, mountain stream. Bearing in mind that the movie placed emphasis on the attraction of both men towards the woman (the girlfriend of Otto Abbot), it's no wonder the Zodiac Killer referenced that killing is better than "getting your rocks off with a girl" in his decoded cryptogram.    

​The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few.   

The Bay Area murderer wrote in his July 31st 1969 letters that "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". According to the official Warner Brothers press book, Elsa Martinelli was "female enough to attract a dozen men". Was the word "dozen" in the Zodiac Killer's mind when fashioning his trinity of July letters, bearing in mind the other two aforementioned phrases which strongly mirrored the movie poster? "A dozen men" becoming "a dozen people". If so, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and the "crosshairs", In total, it would mean that the Zodiac Killer took 10 words from three phrases (of 13 words in total). But this wasn't all.

The 1963 Rampage movie was based upon a novel first published in 1961 by Alan Caillou, released as a 1963 paperback version with the following wording on the front cover: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all" (see large image above). The rear cover of the 1962 hardbook version read "A killer leopard - and an even more dangerous woman. This is a leopard, Harry. He'll keep close to us just in case he can make a kill. It's the only other animal that kills for the fun of it",  followed by "But the leopard - for the sheer enjoyment of killing, just for the pleasure of it. He kills because he likes it. There's only one other animal that does that, Harry. And that's man". The Zodiac Killer began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". 

Many newspaper articles featured large advertisements for the Rampage movie, carrying headline statements such as "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2]. Therefore, it is quite ironical that the Zodiac Killer would place key phrases from the Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book within his code, detailing murder. It should be noted that the original Warner Brothers press book also contained the phrase "They lived and loved by the code of the jungle". Could this possibly have influenced the Zodiac Killer to encipher his message on July 31st 1969? ​

​The Zodiac Killer would start "hunting" people on December 20th 1968 when he murdered David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in Benicia - and mentioned this attack in his July 31st 1969 letters, stating "man is the most dangerous animal of all". Two weeks prior to these letters arriving at the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, the movie "The 10th Victim" (1965) was playing at the Northside Theatre in Berkeley on July 15th 1969. This movie had appeared many times on US television screens throughout 1969. "The 10th Victim" was based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim", which was an updated version of the "Most Dangerous Game". The story centered on "The Big Hunt", in which contestants from around the world act as "hunters" and "victims" in two-person battles to the death as a means of avoiding mass warfare. 

​This movie may have featured in the Zodiac Killer's sequel communication on December 20th 1969, the first anniversary of the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, which began his "Big Hunt". The movie "The 10th Victim" was released into US cinemas on December 20th 1965. The only time the Zodiac Killer wrote a victim count in tandem with the word victim (victom) was when he mailed the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, stating he was in danger of losing control and claiming his "tenth victim". We have a movie based on "The Most Dangerous Game" released on December 20th 1965 about hunting victims, followed by the Benicia murders on December 20th 1968, followed by the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, threatening a ninth and "tenth victim". 

This movie co-starred Ursula Andress, who played Caroline Meredith, a huntress who had just killed her ninth victim and was looking for a tenth. See here for confirmation. The Zodiac Killer made a point of mentioning his ninth and tenth victim in his letter to Melvin Belli.. The co-star of Ursula Andress was Italian actress Elsa Martinelli, who also starred in the movie "Rampage" (1963), two years earlier.

​"The 10th Victim" and "The Big Hunt" spoke of "control", just like the Melvin Belli letter. Early in the movie, the "announcer" laid out the benefits of "The Big Hunt" over the tannoy system, stating "If you would do away with the terrible wars of the masses, become a member of the Big Hunt. Make your murders legal. Only the Big Hunt can give the world a feeling of true security. An enemy a day keeps the doctor away. Why have birth control when you can have death control. Live dangerously, but within the law. If you are suicidal, the Big Hunt has a special place for you". The Zodiac Killer pleaded "The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me. I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me. I am finding it extreamly difficult to hold it in check. I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer".

Just like the "Rampage" movie, "The 10th Victim" had the crosshairs present within the movie title, as shown in the original 1965 poster.on the right.  

Therefore, we have two movies in 1963 and 1965 about hunting, both more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), "the movie phrase in the code", the "crosshairs" in both movie titles, "The 10th Victim" (tenth victim), "The Big Hunt and control" and the date of December 20th running through 1965, 1968 and 1969. So was "The Most Dangerous Game" the primary inspiration for the July 31st 1969 letters? 

Here is another brief summary of the Rampage movie: "A British big game trophy hunter, Otto Abbot, is offered a job by a West German zoo to capture a pair of Malay tigers and a rare leopard-tiger hybrid known as "the Enchantress". He recruits one of the world's top trappers for the job, American Harry Stanton. Abbot intends to bring along his longtime young mistress, Anna, an Italian waif whom he has kept as a ward since she was 14". During the movie, passion for Anna (Elsa Martinelli) heightens between the two game hunters, which becomes more deadly as the movie nears its end. Hence the wording on the movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover, stating "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". Otto
Abbot realizes he's in danger of losing his "most prized" trophy, as Anna becomes the key "prize" for both game hunters in the Rampage movie (see below). The Zodiac Killer would mail another cryptogram of 148 characters around May 1971, which carried the phrase "man is the most prized game" in the accompanying letter. Therefore, we have two communications containing the phrases "man is the most dangerous animal of all" (in the 408 cipher) and "man is the most prized game" (with the 148 cipher), both of which have relevance to the film. The Bay Area murderer would also mimic the crosshairs from the opening sequence of the Rampage movie at the foot of the 1971 letter, dispensing with the overhanging lines. See here.   

The following is from the introduction page of Alan Caillou's Rampage book, describing how Anna was "as much the prize" as the wild game they were pursuing. The Zodiac Killer, having targeted both male and female victims, would claim in 1971 that "man is the most prized game", just like Elsa Martinelli was portrayed in the movie.

FURTHER READING: THE AUTHOR OF RAMPAGE IN PARADISE  

Let us examine one option in the disappearance of Donna Lass from Stateline, Nevada, having worked her shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino until the early morning hours of September 6th 1970. Many newspaper articles ran with the idea that the young 25-year-old nurse had disappeared from the casino, with statements such as "Miss Lass, formerly of Beresford, had been working up to the time of her disappearance at about 2:00am, Sunday, Sept, 6". This seeds into the mind of the reader that something nefarious must have taken place at this time, such as an abduction in the casino car park, that correlated with some trailed off writing on the nurses log. There were no eyewitnesses to an abduction, no screaming heard in the casino grounds, and no evidence that the trailed off writing on the nurses log has any connection to her disappearance. In fact, there is no tangible evidence that she disappeared from the casino on September 6th 1970. 

However, there is an eyewitness who claimed that she saw Donna Lass on Labor Day, September 7th 1970 at approximately 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Mrs. Dorothy Cullison stated that she observed Donna Lass (who she recognised from a later photograph) in the company of a blonde haired man traveling southbound on Pioneer Trail Road near the Tahoe Bottle Shop at 3950 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe. Of course, she could have been mistaken, but the location would have been relevant to Donna Lass as she lived nearby, having just moved into the Monte Verdi apartments at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. The location described by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison would have placed Donna Lass just 650 feet from her home residence  So, assuming that Mrs. Dorothy Cullison hadn't read the home address of Donna Lass in the newspapers, or been prompted by her interviewer - or had subsequently convinced herself of the sighting nearby - her identification of Donna Lass so close to her Monte Verdi apartment is extremely noteworthy. Mrs. Dorothy Cullison could have seen Donna Lass anywhere in the Lake Tahoe region, but claimed it was 0.1 miles from the residence of Donna Lass on September 7th 1970. Not only would Mrs. Dorothy Cullison claim she saw Donna Lass in close proximity to her home, but she was walking with a blonde man southbound along Pioneer Trail Road in the direction of her apartment. 

However, this sighting would place Donna Lass still alive at least 37 hours after her shift ended on September 6th 1970 at 2:00am. Ann and Larry Lowe, who Donna lived with until September 4th 1970, stated that they last saw her on that date at 11:30pm.

Donna Lass would have set off for work shortly before 6:00pm on September 5th 1970. So If Ann and Larry Lowe didn't see her on the 5th (and were out), Donna Lass could have left for the casino from either the Lowe's residence or her own apartment. Either way, it was extremeley unlikely she had slept at her own apartment during the early hours of September 5th 1970, and hadn't used her car for the journey which was discovered by investigators outside her Monte Verdi apartment.

​The private investigator's report stated that "no fingerprints were lifted from inside or outside of the car, a 1968 Camero Convertible". If this statement is accurate - and is to be interpreted as detectives tried and failed to find any fingerprints inside or outside the vehicle - then this is extremely suspicious. It could indicate that the murderer of Donna Lass used her vehicle to dispose of her body and wiped the vehicle down. So where was Donna Lass for 37 hours if the sighting of Mrs. Dorothy Cullison was correct?

Donna Lass could have opted to walk home from the casino in the early hours of September 6th 1970 (the journey is less than a mile). She arrives home, goes to bed and wakes up on September 6th 1970, opting to remain at home that day to clean and organize her new apartment. On September 7th 1970, she had either arranged to meet up with somebody (or casually came across somebody) and headed off northbound along Pioneer Trail Road, where she was spotted in the company of this individual by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison at 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Of course, this sequence of events may not be what happened, but it is a reasonable explanation for the missing 37 hours. If the blonde haired man in the company of Donna Lass was a correct sighting, then this individual clearly failed to present himself to police to aid in their investigation. This could mean he was concerned about being implicated in her disappearance and possible murder, or was indeed her murderer. The last person to be seen with a victim usually comes under great scrutiny from law enforcement. If we factor in the possibility that her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro may have been wiped clean of fingerprints - and she was last seen heading in the direction of her Monte Verdi apartment on September 7th 1970 with a yet identified blonde male - it is easy to start painting a worrisome picture. So let's add another observation into the story.

Mr. Frank Desimone, new manager of the Monte Verdi apartments, entered the apartment of Donna Lass on September 11th 1970 and noticed everything in order, except that the bathroom light had been left on. Usually, one would put on a light during the evening or night hours, before switching it off upon leaving  Hypothetically, Donna Lass could have arrived back at her apartment with the blonde haired man shortly after 4:00pm and spent the evening with him, when things took a turn for the worse (in absence of blood loss). The bathroom is used to clean away evidence, with the killer biding his time until the early morning hours, which he believes will be the safest time to remove her body from the apartment into the Chevrolet Camaro. He plunges the apartment into darkness to reduce the prospect of him being seen exiting the apartment, but inadvertently leaves on the bathroom light, which is later noticed by the new landlord on September 11th 1970. He then drives the 1968 Chevrolet Camaro in the early morning hours of September 8th 1970 to Camp Spaulding or Yuba Gap to dispose of her body. But why wouldn't the killer just leave her body in the apartment, clean up and leave?

​Often, a killer known to the victim will want to conceal the body, because if there is no body, there isn't an immediate murder investigation (or sometimes not one at all) whereby family and friends become the first port of call for police. This was a time when no body, no crime, was often the pervading narrative. The murderer in the case of Donna Lass could have disposed of her body, then returned the vehicle, fingerprint free, to her apartment complex to give the impression nothing was untoward. A random serial killer or murderer, unknown to Donna Lass, just needs to clean the apartment and get the hell out of there. The great distance her body was found from the Monte Verdi apartments (and South Lake Tahoe region) suggests that the killer didn't want her body found immediately after her absence from work was discovered. A victim found in their residence will automatically draw the investigation to people associated with Donna Lass.   

If this chain of events is remotely true, then the murderer of Donna Lass would have returned her vehicle to her apartment complex in the early morning hours of September 8th 1970. If the killer wanted to delay any investigation into her absence from work on September 8th 1970, then a phone call to the casino prior to her shift that day (before 6:00pm) would have been the appropriate time.

Security Guard Gordon Petrovich claimed he received a phone call from a "Mr. Davis", the landlord of Donna Lass, on either September 7th or September 8th, but didn't recognise the voice. Then he stated he couldn't be sure if it was a Tuesday or Wednesday (which was the 8th or 9th). The only consistency between these two statements is September 8th 1970 for the phone call, which would coincide with my version of events. However, Mr. Nick Davis stated that he didn't call Gordon Petrovich at the Sahara Tahoe casino until September 11th 1970, which opens up the possibility that the person calling Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970 could have been somebody pretending to be Mr. Davis (the landlord of Donna Lass), adding legitimacy to the call. This, however, would imply that the murderer of Donna Lass knew her well enough to know the name of her landlord. Phoning the casino and claiming Donna Lass left town for a family ilness would also suggest familiarity with Donna Lass, because her family lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, nearly 1500 miles from Lake Tahoe. The phone call had the added advantage of delaying any investigation. A phone call by an impersonator would mean that neither Gordon Petrovich or Nick Davis necessarily had to be wildly off with their times.

Under this scenario, we have Donna Lass seen walking in the direction of her apartment with a blonde haired man on September 7th 1970, her vehicle seemingly devoid of fingerprints, the bathroom light left on, with the possibility of an impersonated phone call on September 8th 1970, who knew the name of her landlord, and was conversant to the fact that her family lived out of town. So, did Donna Lass know her killer? A killer who chose the Lake Spaulding and Lake Valley Reservoir region as a disposal site - known by many as a popular area for fishing, hiking and camping.    

Many people believe (but not everyone) that the Zodiac Killer paraphrased the wording from Groucho Marx's version of The Mikado into his Little List letter on July 26th 1970. The Groucho Marx connection would reappear in a possible Zodiac Killer communication in 1990, when a Christmas card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from Eureka. The designer of the card was George Schill, a contract artist with the American Greetings Card Company (Corporation) for 38 years, who informed me that all the imagery on the card (including the snowman) is exactly as he created it. In other words, nothing was added to the card outer by the Zodiac Killer. So, if the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, why did he choose to resurrect a connection to Groucho Marx after 20 years? (assuming the original connection was correct). If the image design on the Christmas card was chosen specifically, what could have triggered this choice?

The Zodiac Killer appeared to commemorate anniversaries and dates, such as the Lake Herman Road murders and Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1968 and 1969 (possibly with the release date of the 1965 movie The 10th Victim). He mailed the Pines card on March 22nd 1971 referring to the abduction of the missing Donna Lass, exactly one year after the abduction of Kathleen Johns on Highway 132. He mailed the 1987 "Halloween" letter seventeen years after the 1970 Halloween card. The March 13th 1971 "Los Angeles" letter was mailed on the US release date of the Vanishing Point movie, which used the same language as the letter in its January trailer..The August 1st 1973 "Albany" letter was mailed in response to a recent newspaper article that featured the date of August 1st 1969, by mentioning the receipt of the Zodiac Killer's first three letters and cryptograms. The "Albany" letter also carried another cryptic offering. One could argue that these are just coincidental. But if they were not, what anniverary or date could have inspired the Zodiac Killer to select a Groucho Marx Christmas card in 1990, which he may have had to source in advance to ensure his selected choice.   

Although Groucho Marx died on August 19th 1977, the year 1990 commemorated the 100th year of Groucho Marx's birth on October 2nd 1890. This was featured in many American newspapers in the run up to Christmas, with a flurry of Groucho Marx movies gracing the television screens as a mark of respect. Was this an anniversary noted by the Zodiac Killer, who decided to feature the comedian and actor on his Christmas greeting card, twenty years subsequent to the Little List letter that many believe was plagiariized from a Groucho Marx recital of The Mikado.   

Recently it was shown how the Zodiac Killer responded to 31st Golden Globe film awards at the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California on January 26th 1974, by mailing the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974, and reacted to 50th Academy Awards ceremony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles on April 3rd 1978, by mailing the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters (the latter mailed from Los Angeles). See here. Two and a half months later, a questionable "Zodiac Killer" letter would be mailed from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978. This communication may also have been partly influenced by a big event. The culmination of the letter read "But maybe you play chess with me. I have several cheap sets in closets all over. I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape....My tape is waiting for me all over California".

I have previously suggested that this section of the letter may have been poking fun at David Toschi, who had recently been demoted to "pawn" detail after suggestions he may have been the author of the 1978 letter. However, based on the Zodiac Killer's propensity to infuse recent newspaper articles into his wording, I looked for the keyword "chess" in the days prior to the July 19th 1978 letter. On July 18th 1978, the Santa Cruz Sentinel (and numerous others), reported on the opening game in the World Chess Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in the Philippines. And chess was a big thing in the 1970s. But the Santa Cruz Sentinel coverage had one peculiar aspect - it carried the headline "Korchnoi, Karpov Play To Draw" alongside another article entitled "SF Chief Says Inspector Didn't Write Zodiac Letter". Could the Zodiac Killer (or impostor) have read the two articles and coalesced them both into his July 19th 1978 letter, the following day. The Santa Cruz Sentinel article also mentioned that David Toschi had been "transferred from the homicide squad to the pawn shop detail last week". Therefore, we have the mention of "pawn detail", "chess" and David Toschi alongside each other, on the same page.       

The whole letter read "I am the ZODIAC and I am in control of all things. I am going to tell you a secret. I like friction tape. I like to have it around in case I need to truss someone up in a hurry....I have my real name on a small metallic tape. You see, while you have it in your possession, I want you to know it belongs to me and you think I may have left it accidentally. I am athletic. It could be swim fins, or a piece of scuba gear. But maybe you play chess with me. I have several cheap sets in closets all over. I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape....My tape is waiting for me all over California. Do you know me? I am the ZODIAC and I am in control". 

I noticed that the author used "My tape is waiting for me all over California" and "I have cheap sets in closets all over", suggesting that his "cheap chess sets" and "tape" were maybe in the same locations or relevant to one another. The author also stated that "I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape" - and we know a chess case or chess box has a lid. Was the author suggesting that he could play David Toschi at chess anywhere in California, now that he was reported in the newspapers to be "vacationing at an undisclosed location"? In a previous article (linked above), a common theme was shown between the January 29th 1974, April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters through the film industry, so could any common verbiage be unearthed between the consecutive May and July letters mailed from Los Angeles, bearing in mind the May letter wasn't released to the public. On May 2nd 1978, the Zodiac Killer wrote in respect to the film industry "whoever plays me has his work cut out for him", while the following July 19th 1978 letter stated "But maybe you play chess with me". The two phrases of "plays me" and "play chess with me" both used in respect to another participant. It's not compelling, only noteworthy.  

The Zodiac Killer would shape his communications around previous newspaper articles - and I noticed that the author of the July 19th 1978 letter used the phrase "I am in control" at the beginning and end of the letter, rather than "I am now in control" that was used at the end of the April 24th 1978 communication. This meant that the author of the July 19th 1978 letter could have altered the wording to mimic the misquoted phrase used in some newspaper articles in April, such as the Atlanta Journal shown above. Was this the Zodiac Killer reaffirming to the public what he had read in the newspapers, or somebody simply misquoting or deliberately changing the wording of the Zodiac Killer? The April 24th 1978, May 2nd 1978 and July 19th 1978 letters all had one common theme, with only the first letter being published in the newspapers. They read "I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me" (04/24/78), "whoever plays me has his work cut out for him" (05/02/78} and "Maybe you play chess with me" (07/19/78). All three used the verb "play" and the singular pronoun "me" in the same sentence. The third author could not have copied the second author if different individuals, but they could have been the same person. If the author of the January 29th 1974 (Exorcist), April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters is one person (linked through a film industry theme), then where does that leave us with the July 19th 1978 letter, which has a common theme with both the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters? The author of the July 19th 1978 letter could have borrowed wording from the published April 24th 1978 letter, however, they did manage to continue the consistency in language used in the May 2nd 1978 letter, which they could never have seen if not the same person. The author on May 2nd 1978 and July 19th 1978, on both occasions, opted to mimic the verb "play" and singular pronoun "me" in the same sentence, from the April 24th 1978 letter. That probably leaves one author responsible for the last two letters. And if the May 2nd 1978 letter is genuine Zodiac material, then the July 19th 1978 letter probably is too. 
​
APRIL 24TH 1978: "I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me".
MAY 2ND 1978: "Whoever plays me has his work cut out for him". (unpublished)
JULY 19TH 1978: "Maybe you play chess with me". (unpublished)

When the newspaper articles about the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were tailing off by March 1969, what inspired the Zodiac Killer to start using cryptograms within his opening letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969? As we've seen with many other letters mailed by the Zodiac Killer, his primary inspiration for the design of his communications comes from recent newspaper articles. As reported in the "Hartford Courant" newspaper on March 2nd 1969 (and others), Joseph Verner Reed released a book called "Fun With Cryptograms" in 1968 and "Fun With Codes" in January 1969, ranging from easy to extremely difficult challenges. 

Joseph Verner Reed "was a hustling theatrical entrepreneur in New York, a land developer in Florida, a diplomat in Paris, a newspaper reporter, art collector, author and loving compiler of word games and cryptograms". Quote from the New York Times. His cryptograms featured in newspapers around the USA on a regular basis over many years and throughout 1969. His love of cryptograms and word games, ever present, and often under the banner of puzzles in the newspapers, reminds one of the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969 to Sergeant John Lynch, which stated "Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures". However, that is the least interesting thing about Joseph Verner Reed and a possible Zodiac connection. 

Did the Zodiac Killer employ a play on words when he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity [sic]" in his message to the San Francisco Chronicle, or when he began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun", and finally wrote "By the way, are the police having a good time with the code" in his "Debut of Zodiac" letter on August 4th 1969. His use of the word "fun" and the phrase "good time with the code", not dissimilar to Joseph Verner Reed's book entitled "Fun With Codes". The Zodiac Killer altering "fun with codes" into the singular "good time with the code". ​But the crucial part is where the Zodiac Killer offers us his identity within the cryptogram (name being part of identity)..I wondered what inspired the Zodiac Killer to claim he embedded his name within the cryptogram, despite later admitting in the decoded 408 that his promise was an empty one, by stating "I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife". Joseph Verner Reed would place his name within the cryptograms he designed (his forename and middle initial), as can be seen in the numerous examples from 1969 shown below. Joseph Verner Reed's book was advertised in the newspapers in 1969, we have the similarity of "fun" and "good time" with codes, and we have the promise and deliverance of a name within a cryptogram by the Zodiac Killer and Joseph Verner Reed respectively. 

It has previously been shown that the Zodiac Killer designed the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters in response to the Oscars movie ceremony, which was celebrating its 50th Academy Awards of cinematic achievement at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles on April 3rd 1978. The Dorothy Chandler Pavillion at North Grand Avenue was situated 4.5 miles from the KHJ-TV Studios at 5615 Melrose Avenue, which was the target of the May 2nd 1978 letter mailed by the Zodiac Killer that opened with the words "Dear Channel Nine".

But why would the Zodiac Killer choose a seemingly random television station in Los Angeles to deliver his Oscars message, by writing "Hey-you actors-this is your lucky Break. Remember-whoever plays me has his work cut out for him", preceded by the message "I am waiting for a good movie about me" on April 24th 1978?

On the eve of the Academy Awards ceremony the KHJ-TV Studios ran its yearly special about the Oscars (voted on by polling), hosted in 1978 by George Hamilton and Brenda Vaccaro on Channel 9. Wayne Thomas joined KHJ-TV Studios as an announcer in 1959 and served for 27 years. The "Your Choice for the Oscars" production was the brainchild of Wayne Thomas, which voted for the best film, best actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, and best song, spanning six categories. The Zodiac Killer, back with us in 1978 after four years in the wilderness, was clearly yearning attention from the movie industry for his perceived special achievements (or he wanted to make it appear so). The May 2nd 1978 "Channel 9" letter would target Pat Boone for his perceived religious zealotry, stating "Pat Boone-his theocratic crap is an obscenity to the rest of the world". He was present at the Oscars watching his daughter, Debby Boone, perform her 1977 hit song "You Light Up My Life", which spent 10 weeks at No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won the best original song category at the Academy Awards ceremony. This song was also voted for in the  KHJ-TV Studios 2-hour television special. So it's no surprise that the Zodiac Killer wanted to know which actor was going to play him in a "good movie" a few weeks later, hinting at the Academy Awards and stating "I have decided to start killing again-please hold the applause". However, this tactic employed by the Zodiac Killer in 1978 was not the first time he used this methodology of invoking movie award ceremonies in his correspondence, when he mailed the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974 - effectively binding three consecutive letters under the banner of acting and film awards.    

One has to ask themselves the question of why did the Zodiac Killer wait from December 26th 1973 (The Exorcist release date) to January 29th 1974, to mail a letter beginning with "I saw + think "The Exorcist" was the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen"? The use of "best satirical comedy" gives the impression of comparison to other movies in a genre, by categorizing The Exorcist into a grouping of comedy films. In other words, it wasn't the best movie, it was the best satirical comedy. The timing of this letter, the Zodiac Killer's use of the word "best", and his propensity to respond to recent newspaper coverage, compelled me to search through newspapers.com in the days leading up to the Exorcist communication, to see what may have inspired the Bay Area murderer to compose this introduction. I didn't have to go far.

​The Exorcist movie won multiple 31st Golden Globe film awards at the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California on January 26th 1974 for "Best Film", "Best Director", "Best Supporting Actress" and "Best Screenplay". This was featured in many newspapers, including the Santa Cruz Sentinel and The Sun Times on January 28th 1974. So, it's not difficult to see why the Zodiac Killer mailed the Exorcist letter three days later (January 29th 1974) and began his snarky rebuttal of the film by writing "I saw + think "The Exorcist" was the best saterical comidy". He simply used the newspaper headlines and stories to compose a response to the accolades received by an extremely popular and successful film. His response to the Golden Globe film awards would be replicated after the 50th Academy Awards ceremony on April 3rd 1978, when he mailed the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters, stating "I am waiting for a good movie about me", "Hey-you actors-this is your lucky Break. Remember-whoever plays me has his work cut out for him" and "please hold the applause". 

This running theme of movie awards present in three consecutive Zodiac Killer communications, that hasn't been spotted by amateur researchers for nearly 50 years, should convince you that one mind was responsible for composing the January 29th 1974, April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters. But unfortunately for many it won't. The idea that a hoaxer could have spotted the inspiration for the Exorcist letter and replicated it four years later (in 1978), that no Zodiac researcher has found in nearly half a century, will now be used as a viable explanation. For some, no amount of evidence will shift their belief that the April 24th 1978 letter is a hoax. They will die with this inscription on their tombstone. But hopefully, some people will keep an open mind and consider the possibility that the Zodiac Killer did return in 1978.

MORE READING:  A PAWN IN A GAME OF DEATH     REVIVING THE 1978 LETTER   

THE 1978 LETTER UNLIKELY PENNED BY TOSCHI     THE GREATEST COPYCAT IN TOWN

In an extremely poorly worded article by Linda Field, the following article from the "Atlanta Constitution" newspaper on April 2nd 1981 gives the impression upon first reading that the Zodiac Killer had mailed a fourth piece of shirt to Melvin Belli in 1978. I believe the red section highlighted below should have made it more clear that Melvin Belli was referring to 1969, rather than a continuation of the story from 1978. Had a fourth piece of shirt been received in 1978 I have no doubt it would have been headline news. 

The article appears to suggest that Melvin Belli received a phone call from the Zodiac Killer (or hoaxer) in July 1978, in which the individual stated "Mel, you broke your word the police are all over there". Melvin Belli stated that the "Zodiac Killer" had previously contacted him in 1978 and asked to meet him at a television station, but their meeting was thwarted when police surrounded the building.

The year of 1978 heralded a renewal of Zodiac letters on April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978, so the mention of a phone call in July 1978 wouldn't have been that unusual. After all, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mimicked the yet to be received April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter during a phone call on March 13th 1978 - received by a man who lived in the Mission District of San Francisco. The phone caller stated  "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press that I am back in San Francisco". An unauthenticated third communication was mailed from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978, beginning with "I am the Zodiac and I am in control of all things" - which employed the use of the word "control" twice, in extremely similar fashion to the 1969 Melvin Belli letter. So, the timing of the phone call in July 1978 may be relevant to this letter, whether the Zodiac Killer or not.

The newspaper article is so badly written that it has seemingly fused two events from 1969 and 1978, although it would be difficult to comprehend how an article written in 1981 could confuse July 1978 with the events of October 22nd 1969, in which a Zodiac impersonator rang the KGO-TV station and spoke with Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli. Also, the article mentioned that the "Zodiac Killer" asked for a meeting at a television station rather than just making a phone call to one.

The only other way of interpreting this newspaper article, is that Melvin Belli spoke in 1978, recalling the events of 1969, when somebody claiming to be Zodiac rang the Jim Dunbar Show and later asked to meet the attorney, but police swarmed the area. Although, the Zodiac Killer wasn't claiming 13 victims in October 1969. 

It would be a far more interesting story if we knew that the Zodiac Killer had rang Melvin Belli in July 1978 and renewed his contact with the famous attorney, but unfortunately the layout and wording chosen by Linda Field has made it impossible to decipher with any confidence.  

Postmarked October 27th 1987, a letter was mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am crackproof. Tell herb caen that I am still here. Tell the blue pigs if want me I will be out driving around on Halloween in my death machine looking for some kiddies to run over. Cars make nice weapons. The pigs can catch me if They can find me out there. Just like in the movie The Car. Tell the kiddies watch before they cross the street on Halloween nite. Tell Tochi my new plans". 

​Just over a month before the arrival of this correspondence, on September 12th 1987, Jose Santo Bugarin (26) and Rodolfo Alvaro (31) were traveling on King Road, San Jose, California when their car slammed into four children playing on the front lawn of a residence, killing three and injuring one. The driver then backed over the bodies and left the scene. Both were apprehended a short time later. "Bugarin was arrested on three counts of second-degree murder. Alvaro also was arrested on murder charges". This was covered extensively in the newspapers.

​Did the Zodiac Killer read the news stories of this senseless crime and callously draw inspiration from this tragedy (Cars make nice weapons), compelling him to write the above correspondence and piggybacking off newspaper articles in not dissimilar fashion to his early communications? However, the Zodiac Killer communications were not usually the product of reading just one or two newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle or San Francisco Examiner - he seemed to have access to numerous newspaper publications from near and afar - harnessing the column inches to create his letters. So, was his October 28th 1987 letter influenced by the story of children being run over in San Jose, or was it fashioned from a more national story such as the one detailed below?

One distinguishing characteristic of his latest communication was the use of a "death machine" as a weapon for running over children on Halloween, which meant there was a high probability that the Zodiac Killer took this from recent news stories, despite having previously used this phrase to describe his claimed bomb when writing his lengthy November 9th 1969 correspondence.

​On October 20th 1987 and October 21st 1987 (predominantly) a major news story was published throughout America about vehicle deaths. The Los Angeles Times wrote "Alarmed by a rising number of injuries and deaths, attorneys general in 23 states Monday asked the nation's largest manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles to meet with them to discuss ways of making their machines safer. The request was made in a letter to Honda under the auspices of the National Association of Attorneys General. Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox said "These vehicles are rolling death machines. There have been nearly 800 deaths and 300,000 injuries related to these machines since 1982". This quotation was parroted in virtually every newspaper I could find. The coverage continued with the statement "In what remains a largely unregulated pastime, all-terrain vehicles have been linked to an average of 20 deaths and 7,000 serious injuries each month nationwide in the last two years, according to a federal safety agency. About half the victims are under 16". The fact that the Zodiac Killer chose the phrase "death machine" while newspaper stories were abound with vehicular "death machines" being a major talking point, is a strong argument for the two being connected.  Therefore it's not difficult to see how the Zodiac Killer may have arrived at the wording of "I will be out driving around on Halloween in my death machine looking for some kiddies to run over".  But what inspired the Zodiac Killer to use "death machine" in 1969?  

​Many Zodiac researchers have looked into history (and around the world) for the inspiration and design of the Zodiac Killer's hood/costume at Lake Berryessa. Many suggestions have been put forward, ranging from Renaissance Fair's, police riot gear,  Ned Kelly's outfit and executioner's costumes. However, it's equally possible that the costume he designed had no particular inspiration at all, other than what he read in recent newspaper articles.

From my standpoint, the inspiration for the Lake Berryessa attack was conceived when his lack of front page coverage was compared to the brutal knife slayings of Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. This obsession progressed into claiming their murders on November 8th 1969 and calling out their real killer, Karl Francis Werner, in 1971. However, this doesn't mean that other murders had no influence on his decision to switch to a bladed instrument on the shores of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969.

As pointed out by Zodiac researchers Cragle and Druzer (among others), the recent Manson family murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowskion and Steven Parent on August 8th 1969, along with the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca on August 9th 1969, likely had a part-influence in the Zodiac Killer changing course in his style of attack. When we consider why the Zodiac Killer chose to wear a hood at Lake Berryessa, it's probably wise to examine the murders of all these nine victims when considering the choices made by the Zodiac Killer at Lake Berryessa. Therefore, it's important to review the newspaper coverage in the run up to the attack on September 27th 1969 because we know the Zodiac Killer was heavily influenced by what he read..    

The "Press Tribune" newspaper on August 11th 1969, along with many others, reported on the August 8/9th murders and described a black hood over the head of Jay Sebring and the parallels between these two crimes, with words written in blood, numerous stab wounds, and electrical cord around the neck of victims. The newspaper stated "In the Bel Air slayings, the word "pigs" was scrawled in blood on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home, and one of the five victims, hair stylist Jay Sebring, was found with a black hood over his head. LaBianca's wife, Rosemary, owner of a boutique in the Wilshire business district, was found in the master bedroom. Police said she had been stabbed numerous times with a bayonet-type weapon".
​
​All the ingredients were present in these newspaper articles to shape the Zodiac Killer's Lake Berryessa attack, with the use of clothesline cord, the black hood, the bayonet-style weapon as described by Dr DE Petris at the autopsy of Cecilia Shepard, and the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell (to replace the front door). If the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders part-influenced the shift from gun to knife in the Zodiac Killer slayings, why couldn't the reading of "a black hood over a head" have inspired him to create his theatrical costume at Lake Berryessa.

I am also confident that the Sharon Tate & LaBianca murders influenced the design of the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter (with the "Bleeding Knife of Zodiac" drawing), when the Zodiac Killer wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the government life. So don't forget me. I will kill more people than you can count. So look for more blood.". (corrected for errors). The following article (edited for conciseness) was published in the Los Angeles Times on December 16th 1969, a matter of hours before the Fairfield letter was mailed with an afternoon postmark. Therefore, a strong possibility exists that this article, featuring the Zodiac Killer, could have influenced the language and tone of the Fairfield letter. The opening sentence of the Fairfield letter stated "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble", which can be seen to be synonymous with the newspaper article that headlines with "State Furnishes List of Murders Similar to 7 Slayings Here", as well as the opening paragraph of the article that reads "State officials have provided Los Angeles police with details of 30 unsolved murders", and the sub-headline of "All Murders Logged by State". ​ We know that the Zodiac Killer kept himself informed of murders other than his own, so wouldn't have been averse to using those newspaper articles to style his own communications (and possibly his attacks}  

​The Zodiac Killer would counter the list provided by state officials with a list of his own. At the foot of his Fairfield letter he would give us a list of locations and the number of police he promised to kill in each city (38 in total). This would develop in later communications, when the Zodiac Killer gave us a list of "society offenders" to be targeted from the plagiarized verses of The Mikado, a Savoy comic opera crafted by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan,  released in London on March 14th 1885.

Government Official means any officer, employee or other individual acting in an official capacity for a Governmental Authority or agency or instrumentality thereof (including any state-owned or controlled enterprise). This may explain the Zodiac Killer's use of the phrase "government life" in his letter. It appeared that the Fairfield letter was specifically responding to this newspaper article - both of which corresponded to the date of December 16th. Susan Denise Atkins (21), one of six persons charged with the Tate-LaBiaca murders, provided information to police where they could find items of disposed bloody clothing related to the Cielo Drive attack, detailed in the article as "A station spokesman said the clothes, stained with what appeared to be blood and knotted in a bundle were turned over to police". I have highlighted these above in reference to the Zodiac Killer's statement of "look for more blood" in the Fairfield letter. The police were effectively dispatched to look for items of clothing stained with blood in the Tate-LaBianca slayings, to which the Zodiac Killer suggested there would be "more blood" in future for police to find. 

​If the Zodiac Killer was inspired to write on the door of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Karmann Ghia by reading newspaper articles about the Manson murders and the writing on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home, was he also influenced by the same thing, when (in all probability) he designed the "Channel 9" letter on May 2nd 1978 by using "1,2,3,4,5,6,7 -- All Good Children Go to Heaven" on the envelope, taken from the "Helter Skelter" door at the Spahn Ranch? It originated from a Beatles song (hence the Apple logo drawn on the envelope), but by describing Susan Atkins (a member of the Manson family) in the letter as the "Judas of the Manson Family", it isn't hard to envisage that the Zodiac Killer could have been inspired by the two doors from the Benedict Canyon home and Spahn Ranch in his writings on September 27th 1969 and May 2nd 1978.

The Sierra Club is an environmental organization that has been in existence for 132 years, spanning all US 50 states. The club is known for engaging in two main activities: promoting and guiding outdoor recreational activities, which is done throughout the United States but primarily in California, and political activism to promote environmental causes. After trawling through newspapers.com from the 1950s, but primarily the 1960s, it became clear that Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club was not only a meeting point for Sierra Club members wanting to explore the rugged and beautiful countryside of this area, but was well known to ordinary members of the public who visited the Donner Pass Ski  Ranch, which sits one mile east, and whose grounds extend north and west towards Clair Tappaan Lodge.

​Sierra Club members from San Francisco and the Bay Area could make reservations at the Clair Tappaan Lodge by visiting 1050 Mills Tower at 220 Bush Street, San Francisco, which provided chartered bus trips. This was a national office from 1931 to 1975. The Mills Tower location is only 3,400 feet from the once residence of Melvin Belli, who lived at 1228 Montgomery Street, which would receive a letter from the Zodiac Killer on December 20th 1969 (thanks to Jibberjabber for this). The Clair Tappaan Lodge (15 miles west of Lake Tahoe), was (and is) the predominant "Sierra Club" in this region, leaving little doubt that the Zodiac Killer (or hoaxer) was referencing this Sierra Club when affixing this newspaper cutting to the Pines postcard on March 22nd 1971.

​I attempted to find a solid correlation between the Pines postcard and the Mary Pilker Christmas card mailed on December 27th 1974 stating "Best Wishes. St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines", by combining the Sierra Club values of environmental protection and the wording "Guardian of the Pines". Although my finding was three years subsequent to the 1974 Christmas card, I wondered whether this phrase was used in previous years by parties concerned with forestry preservation.

​On October 28th 1977, the "Press of Atlantic City" newspaper ran an article about the Pinelands Environmental Council in respect to the Pine Barrens, stretching over the seven counties of New Jersey. It read "As the official guardian of the pines, I'm afraid we lost valuable time". The Sierra Club had an active interest in the preservation of the Pine Barrens during the relevant period to both the Pines postcard and Mary Pilker Christmas card. On the left is one example from 1971. Could the Zodiac Killer have been suggesting that Donna Lass being buried amongst the pines, was somehow looking over and protecting them in the afterlife?

The Zodiac Killer, having a voracious appetite for trawling the newspaper columns, would very likely have been aware of the Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club and its activities, including its involvement in caring for the environment. The Sierra Club meetings and trips were heavily featured in the Bay Area newspapers (and vicinity) on a continuous basis. Various examples have been presented below. Some people will attempt to downplay the Sierra Club pasting on the Pines postcard as the Clair Tappaan Lodge, explaining that we cannot be sure this was the intended "Sierra Club". While we cannot be certain, the overwhelming evidence suggests that this was the location insinuated by the designer of the postcard, bearing in mind its sender included an advertisement of "Forest Pines at Incline" Village. So, was the Zodiac Killer aware of the Clair Tappaan Lodge through the newspapers, through visiting the Donner Ski Ranch as a tourist/hiker, or was he a member of the Sierra Club in the Bay Area?  

As stated previously on this website, many Zodiac researchers have floated the idea that the punch-hole in the Pines postcard was the likely burial or disposal site of Donna Lass - with the phrase "around in the snow" (pasted upside down) suggesting this as a possibility. If we invert the postcard to correct this anomaly, we are presented with a "burial site" west of Clair Tappaan Lodge of an undetermined distance (ignoring any measurements of the postcard). If the postcard was meant to be flipped 180 degrees, then we not only have a "burial site" west of Clair Tappaan Lodge, but a "burial site" exactly 270 degrees west of Clair Tappaan Lodge, as presented by the inverted postcard (which has the pasted Sierra Club directly in line with the punch-hole).
However, caution must be applied to any analysis achieved with hindsight (in this instance, the approximate location of Donna Lass' remains). Credit to Howard Davis for providing me with the Mary Pilker Christmas card. 

FURTHER READING: THE BOISE CASCADE CHRISTMAS CARD TO MARY PILKER IN 1974?