Luigi Warren, Ph.D, is a Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) pioneer, who has written many Zodiac Killer articles on his Substack platform "Thought Crimes", including most recently, several on the identification of the remains of Donna Lass, along with his analysis of the Dragon Card and how it may be connected to the 1962 murder of Donna Frislie who was found in a shallow grave by two gold prospectors near a gold mine. Luigi has generously referenced my website a few times and has posed the following question in an article on January 7th 2024: "As far as I know, no one has ever made much of the coincidence in timing between the "Dragon card" and the discovery of Hakari’s body, despite an indirect linkage through the Lass case. Still, why should they?" He added "No one has ever offered a convincing rationale for why Zodiac would have selected the greetings card used in this communication".

​I took a look at this communication yesterday - and not totally convinced that the choice of the card necessarily has to have a meaning - I looked at it in respect to Zodiac's previous letter on April 20th 1970, which was mailed the same day the Robert Salem murder broke in the newspapers (with Zodiac having been scrawled in blood at the murder scene), Impeccable timing by a killer who hadn't written for four months, and stated "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". He didn't kill Robert Salem but the uncanny timing of this letter,suggested that he wanted police to think he did.

​Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have been long been argued for the depiction on the "Dragon card", along with gold prospectors suggested by Luigi Warren. If anybody can categorically nail down the card designer's intent behind the image, then we may have a greater possibility of determining if any meaning lay behind its selection. Without this, the card is open to many interpretations, just like the Halloween card mailed on October 27th 1970. Even with the designer's input on the meaning of the image, I have little doubt hundreds of forged connections could be made, depending on what Luigi or I (or anybody else) wanted to sell to the reader. ​

​For example, I want to convince the reader that the "Dragon card" having been mailed only eight days after the April 20th 1970 letter, is a continuation of the Robert Salem story, suggesting that police are dragging their feet in connecting Zodiac to this crime. He then selects a card depicting Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to advance his case. In the quest of Don Quixote, the author, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, depicts the struggle between Don Quixote and the Basque squire as an epic combat between equals. Their adventures together begin with Quixote's attack on some windmills which he believes to be ferocious giants. They next encounter two Benedictine friars and, nearby, an unrelated lady in a carriage. Quixote takes the friars to be enchanters who are holding the lady captive, knocks one of them from his horse, and is challenged by an armed Basque travelling with the company. The combat ends with the lady leaving her carriage and commanding those travelling with her to "surrender" to Quixote. Wikipedia. 
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The story depicts an epic battle: "With the sharp-edged swords of the two valiant and enraged combatants held and raised on high, they seemed to threaten heaven, earth, and the abyss: such was their boldness and bearing. The first to strike a blow was the choleric Basque, and he delivered it with so much force and fury that if his sword had not turned on its way down, that single blow would have been enough to end this fierce combat and all the adventures of our knight; but good fortune, which had greater things in store for Don Quixote, twisted the sword of his adversary, so that although it struck his left shoulder, it did no more than tear through the armor along that side, taking with it as it passed a good part of his helmet and half an ear, both of which, in fearful ruin, fell to the ground, leaving him in a very sad state". Although Don Quixote survived, he would be partially disfigured by having part of his left ear cut off. Robert Salem had his left ear cut off and removed from the crime scene. However, this is a connection, among many, that can be easily fashioned from the "Dragon card". There may be a meaning behind Zodiac's "Dragon card" but I highly doubt this is it. The "Dragon card" has too many variables open to interpretation. Give me a meaning behind the mythical "Dragon" (possibly from a newspaper article in the days or weeks before April 28th 1970 concerning Zodiac) and we may be in business.

Please visit Luigi Warren's Substack to read his analysis of the Zodiac case.  

We don't know for certain the author of the March 22nd 1971 Pines postcard, but for the purpose of this article let's assume it was the Zodiac Killer. Why would the murderer of five choose the Boise Cascade Company "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement to use on this communication? The identifier for this advertisement was the pasted text of "LAKE TAHOE" and "Peek through the Pines". So was the Zodiac Killer employed by Boise Cascade, did he buy a property in the area, or was the advertisement simply chosen at random for directional purposes to the burial or deposition site of Donna Lass? 

Sixteen months before the Pines postcard was mailed, during several weeks in November 1969, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer telephoned school bus threats to Incline Village and Tahoe City, mobilizing deputies to patrol schools and bus routes in the area. There may have been a fair number of hoax Zodiac calls throughout the years, but this person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer and threatened Incline Village by Lake Tahoe, nearly 1 1/2 years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard which contained an advertisement of Incline Village. 

Two years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard, in January 1969, the Nevada County Planning Comission gave the green light for a multi-million dollar development on the fringe of the "Lake of the Pines" subdivision. The Auburn Journal reported "The commission's decision will allow U.S. Land Company to construct, initially, a 10,000 square-foot building and an air strip for use by Arvin Industries. Approximately 75 persons will be employed by the plant when it opens, but upwards of 500 are envisioned for the payroll". 

In March 1972 (see left), the Sacramento Bee reported that "Lake of the Pines" property owners had accepted Boise Cascade's offer of recreational facilities, having bought out the original "Lake of the Pines" developer, Western Lake Properties. Boise Cascade marketed the lots to older workers in the Bay Area and Southern California.
The Sacramento Bee and other Bay Area newspapers ran advertisements for "California's newest recreational idea" from 1969, promoting swimming, boating, golfing, fishing and water skiing. One advertisement read "Build on one of Lake of the Pines beautiful waterfront lots".

There are only two likely Zodiac Killer communications mailed about Donna Lass. The Pines postcard mailed on March 22nd 1971 used "Peek through the Pines", with the author of the December 27th 1974 Christmas card to Mary Pilker (sister of Donna Lass) writing "Best Wishes. St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines" (with Pines beginning with a capital letter).

​Bearing in mind that the remains of Donna Lass were found in the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap in 1986, heavily blanketed in Pine trees, I considered the possibility the author of the Christmas card was hinting that her remains would be found in Pine country, but giving us a clue by using words from a second Boise Cascade project. The Zodiac Killer took "Peek through the Pines" from the Boise Cascade advertisement in 1971, so did he use three words from the Boise Cascade adverisements for "Lake of the Pines" to fashion the wording for the Christmas card to Mary Pilker in December 1974? Using "of the Pines" from "Lake of the Pines" (which also began with a capital letter). The Pines postcard (1971) and Christmas card (1974) would therefore contain seven of the eight words in "Peek through the Pines" and "Lake of the Pines", taken from two Boise Cascade advertisements. These two projects by Boise Cascade at Auburn and Incline Village were bisected by the site where the remains of Donna Lass were found.

The following month, on Saturday, December 13th 1969 at 9:45pm, an unknown individual carrying a flashlight and shotgun, approached a young couple, Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19), who had parked their vehicle at the terminus of Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley (1.85 miles from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino). They were sitting on nearby rocks, close to their vehicle, when the gunman began shooting. 

In a seemingly unprovoked attack, Hoffman was struck by 40 pellets, with Parsons being hit 7 times. Officers would later retrieve 12-guage shells from the road. Both victims would survive the attack, but were unable to offer a reason why they may have been targeted. View newspaper article from the Sacramento Bee on December 15th 1969. 

​UPDATE ON THE DOUBLE SHOOTING OF HOFFMAN AND PARSONS ​

You may be wondering why the Zodiac Killer mailed the April 24th 1978 letter with the statement "I am waiting for a good movie about me" - and then possibly - followed this up with a mailing on May 2nd 1978 to KHJ-TV Studios in Los Angeles, writing "Hey-you actors-this is your lucky Break. Remember-whoever plays me has his work cut out for him". We know that most Zodiac Killer correspondence had purpose, by taking something he had read in the newspapers and incorporating it into his letters. The year 1978 was a special occasion for the Oscars because it was celebrating its 50th Academy Awards ceremony 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 Three and four weeks later, the two above communications arrived mentioning "actors" and "movies", with the second letter addressed to Los Angeles.​

Debby Boone became a household name with her 1977 hit song "You Light Up My Life", which spent 10 weeks at No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song, which she performed at the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony. Debby Boone was the daughter of actor-singer Pat Boone, who was threatened as a third target by the "Zodiac Killer" in the May 2nd 1978 letter, when he wrote "Pat Boone-his theocratic crap is an obscenity to the rest of the world". Pat Boone was present at the awards ceremony. Therefore, we can connect "actor" Pat Boone in the letter, to the Academy Awards ceremony of "actors", through his daughter. But why would the "Zodiac Killer" choose KHJ-TV Studios​ to mail his correspondence? 

​Wayne Thomas joined KHJ-TV Studios as an announcer in 1959 and served for 27 years. He created a show on the eve of the Oscars called "Your Choice for the Oscars", in which public polling decided upon the nominations in six categories. On the eve of the 50th Academy Awards ceremony, the predicted awards by KHJ-TV were John Travolta, Jane Fonda, Star Wars, Melinds Dillon, Alec Guiness and the song "You Light Up My Life" (sung at the ceremony by Debby Boone). This now binds Pat Boone, KHJ-TV and the Oscars into one neat bundle. So it's no surprise that the "Zodiac Killer" wanted to know which actor was going to play him in a movie a few weeks later, hinting at the Academy Awards and stating "I have decided to start killing again-please hold the applause". Two months prior to the May 2nd 1978 letter, in which the "Zodiac Killer" targeted "Ex Chief piggy Ed Davis" as his second potential victim, the once Los Angeles police chief (turned politician) spoke with KHJ-TV interviewers Ann Kesner and Nathan Roberts about his reputation as "the marshal from Dodge City who will make this a safe state".

Many newspaper articles and Zodiac researchers over the years have speculated that the "around in the snow" phrase pasted upside down onto the Pines card (along with the punch-hole in the top right corner) was a clue to the burial or disposal site of Donna Lass. But the way the card is viewed it appears incorrect from the standpoint of the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club", which sits close to Donner Pass Road and Interstate 80. The only two things on the postcard that appear specific are the punch-hole and "Sierra Club", which sit alongside each other.

The Zodiac Killer made a conscious decision to paste the wording "around in the snow" upside down, so one would like to think this has a purpose, in the form of a clue. Maybe if we had righted the postcard by inverting it through 180 degrees, the burial or deposition site of Donna would have become clearer. In other words, turn the postcard upside down to reveal where the killer placed the body. This now places the punch-hole west of the pasted "Sierra Club".
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Let us imagine that the murderer of Donna Lass (whether Zodiiac or not) was the creator of the Pines card. Why would the person who created this postcard place "Sierra Club" on the postcard if it had no meaning or specificity? One would like to think it had a purpose. If the murderer had passed the "lake tahoe areas" on the west side of the lake, he may have opted to take the Donner Pass Road, rather than a major route such as Interstate 80 with Donna Lass (either dead or alive) inside his vehicle. This route would have taken him directly past the signage for the Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club en route to the Camp Spaulding area, to either murder the young nurse, or dispose of her remains. If we assume (like many have) that the punch-hole in the Pines postcard was her burial site or the location of her remains, then it would be important for the murderer to provide us with something relative to this location on the postcard, so we could work out her final resting place. The Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge may have been his choice. But why not any other landmark or place name en route to the Camp Spaulding area?

Most are fairly confident that the designer of the Pines postcard acquired the "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement from either the San Francisco Chronicle or San Francisco Examiner newspaper on March 19th 1971, because these have used a capital "P" in "Peek". If the Pines card creator was also the murderer - and he knew the route he took the day he drove Donna Lass to the Camp Spaulding area - then the only way he can give us a clue to Donna's location, is to search the newspapers for something relevant to the route he traveled. So, I further examined the San Francisco Examiner on March 19th 1971, that the killer may have read.

BIG NEWS IN THE DONNA LASS CASE- ZODIAC SPEAKING PODCAST

The San Francisco Examiner newspaper of March 19th 1971 (3 days before the Pines card was mailed) carried the Forest Pines advertisement on page 15. Six pages earlier, on page 9 of the March 19th 1971 newspaper, there was an article entitled "Sierra Club Backs Park Tax Boost" about the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club (using the correct font).

Based upon the measurements of the San Francisco Examiner's pages, I calculated that the "Sierra Club" headline measured about 1.65 inches in width, which was the same as the "Sierra Club" pasted on the Pines postcard. If the murderer had been reading this newspaper through its main pages on March 19th 1971, he could easily have chosen to cut out the "Sierra Club" on page 9 to represent the Clair Tappaan Lodge that he drove past en route to the Camp Spaulding area, The mention of "Sierra Club" in the newspaper may have been the closest thing he could find to represent something about the route he traveled that day. It would also provide the viewer of the Pines postcard with something relative to his burial or deposition site.

The distance between the pasted "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole is 2.39 inches, so using the standard width of a US postcard (5.8 inches) and the Mount Diablo map scale of 6.4 miles to the inch, I was able to calculate that the distance in miles between the pasted "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole was 15.3 miles (2.39 X 6.4). When I measured the distance on Google maps between Clair Tappaan Lodge and Camp Spaulding, it was exactly the same - 15.3 miles by crow. If my interpretation of the Pines postcard is correct, its designer was the killer of Donna Lass. If my interpretation is wrong, then we are back to square one.​

What we do know for certain is that the author of the Pines postcard pated "pass Lake Tahoe areas" onto the advertisement, and the remains of Donna Lass were found near Camp Spaulding (or in the close vicinity). So anyone transporting Donna Lass via the east or west side of Lake Tahoe would have to head due west after they reached the north side of the lake to reach the Camp Spaulding area. This would take them right past the Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge on Donner Pass Road, if this was the route chosen. If they took Interstate 80, then they would have passed approximately one mile north of Clair Tappaan Lodge. Either way, the route chosen by the killer to reach Camp Spaulding (and Yuba Gap) had a "Sierra Club" close to his direction of travel (or on the road itself). So was the decision to paste "Sierra Club" onto the Pines postcard just a lucky guess by somebody unconnected to the murder? And why did the author of the Pines postcard choose to use a "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement?

If the murderer of Donna Lass is going to give us clues to her burial or deposition site, then he has to give us a beginning or reference point from which to work with. This reference point could have been the "Forest Pines at Incline" site by Juanita Drive. The second important reference point was the pasted "Sierra Club", with Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" located 22 miles due west  To arrive at Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" we have to travel from Incline Village and "pass the Lake Tahoe areas" on its northern side by driving west. The third reference point is the punch-hole, that many believe would reveal the location of her remains. Irrespective of inverting the postcard, or measuring distances on its face, if we started our journey at Incline Village, passed the Lake Tahoe areas and headed towards the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club", we would be driving westward in the direction of Camp Spaulding (or Yuba Gap), which is 15.3 miles from Clair Tappaan Lodge. Donna Lass could have been discarded by her killer anywhere in California, Nevada, or a myriad of other locations - yet despite this - the author of the Pines postcard took us to the northern edge of the lake at Incline Village and instructed us to "pass the Lake Tahoe areas" on a heading west towards Clair Tappaan Lodge (and possibly beyond). Could somebody with no knowledge of the murder of Donna Lass have set us on this trajectory by chance, when so many other disposal options were available? 

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: TWO POSTCARDS, TWO BURIAL SITES?  

From January 1st 1971 to March 22nd 1971 (Pines postcard mailing) I could only find the complete phrase of "around in the snow" three times from newspapers in California. This was performed by searching the newspapers.com database. Strangely, two of these were found on January 1st 1971 and January 22nd 1971 from the Paradise Post in Paradise, California, both on the Editorial Feature Page.  

In the previous article regarding the design of the Pines card, we measured the distance between between the pasted "Sierra Club" (thought to be Clair Tappaan Lodge) and the center of the punch-hole. This distance, based upon the standard postcard size in the US of 5.8 X 4.2 inches, measured 2.39 inches. Using the scale of 6.4 miles to the inch on the Phillips 66 map, mailed by the Zodiac Killer with his Button letter on June 26th 1970, we can convert this distance to miles. Multiplying 2.39 by 6.4, we get a distance of 15.3 miles between the pasted Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole. If the punch-hole was designed to indicate a burial or deposition site, the author of the postcard (or Zodiac) was claiming Donna Lass was to be found in the Camp Spaulding area (which is 15.3 miles by crow from Clair Tappaan Lodge). We don't yet know the exact location of her remains, but a postcard identifying the region of Camp Spaulding would be pretty damning evidence of prior knowledge. This, of course, depends on the above interpretation being correct. It would mean that the sole purpose of the Pines card was to identify a deposition or burial site containing the remains of Donna Lass.

​Whether or not you believe this interpretation, it is vitally important that you consider the design of the Monticello card, mailed by the Zodiac Killer on July 13th 1971. This postcard did identify the burial site of one of Zodiac's previously claimed victims - that of Kathy Snoozy - who the Zodiac Killer claimed alongside Debra Furlong, when he added August to his chronological victim count in the "Dripping Pen" card on November 8th 1969. The Monticello card (like the Pines card) contained a message of pasted newspaper text, reading "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". This text was identifying the name of Kathy Bilek by using the namesake of one of his previously claimed victims.

​Kathy Bilek was murdered in the Villa Montalvo woods on April 11th 1971, hence the words "In The Woods Dies April". The Zodiac Killer also gave us a clue to the name of Kathy Bilek by identifying her namesake, Kathy Snoozy, who was buried in the Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery in the Monticello neighborhood of San Jose. The murder of Kathy Bilek in the woods in April was near to the Monticello neighborhood. The three murder victims of Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek were all credited to Karl Francis Werner, who was arrested and questioned about their murders on April 29th 1971. The Zodiac Killer, having previously insinuated himself responsible for the murders of Snoozy & Furlong on November 8th 1969, now felt compelled to also claim the murder of Kathy Bilek in the Monticello card. The fact that Kathy Bilek, "in the woods died April", with "Monticello" containing the burial site of Kathy Snoozy, who were both murdered by Karl Francis Werner (along with Debra Furlong) and claimed by the Zodiac Killer, should not be overlooked when examining the Pines card mailed four months earlier. 

The Monticello card contained pasted newspaper text, never directly named Kathy Bilek as the victim he was claiming, and gave us directions to the burial site of one of his previously claimed victims (Kathy Snoozy). The Pines card used the same template by failing to mention the name of Donna Lass (but insinuating her as the victim) - and may have used the newspaper cuttings to direct us to the deposition or burial site of the Lake Tahoe nurse, just like he did with Kathy Snoozy at Monticello. If the Zodiac Killer was the author of the Pines card, then he retrospectively claimed the lives of Donna Lass, Kathy Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek months after their murders. He would retrospectively claim the murder of Cheri Jo Bates also. We may now have two pasted postcards, both possibly giving us directions to the remains of a murder victim claimed by the Zodiac Killer.

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: DRIVING PAST THE SIERRA CLUB

"ZODIAC" PSEUDONYM WRITTEN ON TOMBSTONE 
Read more: The Monticello card and The San Jose Murders 

When the Zodiac Killer challenged us to find a bomb in his June 26th 1970 "Button" letter, he provided a Phillips 66 map with a scale of 6.4 miles to the inch to aid us. The standard postcard size in the US is 5.8 X 4.2 inches. The distance (by crow) between Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and Camp Spaulding is 15.3 miles, so if we divide 15.3 by 6.4 we get the number of inches on a map (if using the same scale). It works out to 2.39 inches between the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and Camp Spaulding. If the Pines postcard was standard size, the Zodiac Killer should have placed the end of his pasted "Sierra Club" 2.39 inches from the center of the punch-hole. The Zodiac Killer did separate them by that distance on the postcard (approximately 2.4 inches). That would mean the remains of Donna Lass, according to the measurement on the postcard, were to be found 15.3 miles or 2.39 inches from Clair Tappaan Lodge in a westerly direction. Which they were. Of course, this analysis was done with hindsight. 

The distance (by crow) from the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" to Yuba Gap is 14.32 miles, so if we divide 14.32 by 6.4 we get 2.24 inches in map distance from the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" to Yuba Gap. This still places Yuba Gap inside the punch-hole on the postcard (check below). There is reasonable leeway on the east-west axis either side of Camp Spaulding where her remains could be pinpointed more accurately in the future, and they would still fall inside the punch-hole on the Pines card. We also know, according to newspaper reports, that the remains were identified approximately one mile northeast of Interstate 80, alongside a mountainous road (likely Lake Spaulding Road) by Melvin Bennett on his way to Yuba Gap and Lake Valley Reservoir. This area falls comfortably inside the punch-hole. There is a 1.80 mile stretch of road that can fall inside the punch-hole (anywhere from 14,20 miles to 16.00 miles from Clair Tappaan Lodge). Whatever the case, the 2.39 inch measurement between the pasted "Sierra Club" (if Clair Tappaan Lodge) and the center of the punch-hole, can be shown to point towards the location of Camp Spaulding (irrespective of the exact location of her remains). This distance may not have any relevance if my interpretation of Zodiac's thought process and the design of the postcard is wrong.  

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: TWO POSTCARDS, TWO BURIAL SITES?