John Kelly, with numerous television and mass media appearances under his belt, is a renowned criminal profiler and forensic examiner whose extensive knowledge has been utilized by law enforcement in over 100 cases. The founder of S.T.A.L.K. Inc. (System To Apprehend Lethal Killers), he has recently initiated a Youtube channel entitled 'John Kelly Profiler', examining cases such as Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Long Island Serial Killer and the Delphi Murders, to name but a few. In 2012 he teamed up with M. William Phelps, a crime author and researcher, for three seasons of the popular Discovery Network 'Dark Minds' series, delving into the sinister world of the serial killer with criminal profiling at its core. 

As of writing, John has currently amassed 40 videos dating back to May 5th 2018 and is keen to add more subscribers to his burgeoning channel. It is extremely important to support independent media, so please visit 'John Kelly Profiler' on Youtube and click the subscribe button. You can also click the notification bell to be alerted when any new videos are published. 

​After many viewer requests, a 55 minute episode of the Zodiac Killer is now available, but be sure to check out the rest of John Kelly's informative Youtube channel. 

I shall be taking a break from the Zodiac scene for a few months to consider my future contributions to the case. It has become increasingly more difficult to find topics that haven't already been covered extensively. The danger in continuing to contribute further articles, is the danger of repeating oneself or starting to fall into the realms of fantasy. I will maintain the website in its current form, although comments will be turned off in approximately two weeks. I will assess things again in the near future. I hope eventually this case will be solved by any means possible, but unfortunately I see little hope.
​Thanks, Richard.

The following is highly speculative and not intended as a solution to the identity of the Zodiac Killer, moreover, an exploration of the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter in which the author wrote the tantalizing words "Signed, yours truley". Usually the word "signed" would be followed by an author's name, either in full or part. The author of the Exorcist letter stated "Signed, yours truley: He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicides grave, titwillo, titwillo, titwillo".

The designer of the Exorcist letter was seemingly substituting the signature with a verse from The Mikado's Tit-Willow. In other words, it could suggest his name is present somewhere within the verse. The Zodiac Killer (if the author) chose a verse not in keeping with his two previous Mikado selections,  As some day it may happen and A more humane Mikado - both of which had threatening overtones of torture and murder. Whereas, Tit-Willow is about a little tom-tit's last reflective moments before his suicidal plunge into a billowy wave. This may suggest the verse Tit-Willow was chosen for an entirely different reason, particularly in view of the preceding line of "Signed, yours truley" notable on the Dear Boss letter signed by Jack the Ripper and postmarked September 27th 1988, just three years after The Mikado opened at the Savoy Theatre. It should also be noted that William S. Gilbert, responsible for the libretto of The Mikado, released Songs of a Savoyard in 1890 featuring many of the songs from their comic operas. Six songs from The Mikado can be found in Songs of a Savoyard, three of which Zodiac chose - assuming of course, Zodiac was responsible for the January 1974 offering. 

Did the Zodiac Killer embed his name somewhere in his communications as he had promised in his later correspondence? - giving away his forename would certainly not lead to his capture. It has been speculated that the Exorcist letter was a contemplation of suicide on behalf of the author, however, this is hardly in keeping with the threatening overtones of the Bay Area murderer and certainly out of kilter with the foot of the Exorcist letter which threatens to "do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing". It gives the impression that he is threatening to take somebody else's life, not his own. 

There is a strange dichotomy evidenced in the letter, where the author begins by referencing 'The Exorcist' movie (1973) and immediately follows it up by paraphrasing 'Tit-Willow' from 'The Mikado' (1885). 'The Mikado' is often described as the best in British satire, as well as a comedy opera, therefore the word usage of the author describing it as a 'satirical comedy' is unlikely to be accidental. Additionally, the attempted blending of these vastly different productions into one correspondence seems forced, as if chosen for a specific purpose.

The libretto or text was plagiarized from William S. Gilbert. The Exorcist is an  American horror film released in 1973, directed by William Friedkin and adapted for screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 book. The movie divided audiences and critics alike, as it explored the subject of demonic possession, in this case, that of a 12-year-old girl played by Linda Denise Blair. This masterpiece of evil still remains one of the most iconic movies in the horror genre to this day. It is fairly evident that the three main protagonists in these productions all have the forename "William". It is also apparent that every verse of Tit-Willow  ends with "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!", in which the name "Will" can be observed three times. The shortened version of William is also present in "billowy". Did the Zodiac Killer choose the Tit-Willow verse after "Signed, yours truley" for no other reason than it contained his name embedded in the text? The next line after "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" is "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name".

Bearing in mind the estimated age of the Zodiac given as between 25-45 in 1969, this would make his birth date between 1924 and 1944. So, from a statistical standpoint, I looked at the most popular boys names in the USA in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. William was ranked 4th highest in the 1920s with 512,400, 4th highest in the 1930s with 416,646 and 4th highest in the 1940s with 556,399.

In the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher, Zodiac stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."  The cipher contained three characters twice (A, N, and M) and one character three times (joined O and 8). Therefore, the name "William" gives us a good starting point with two repeating letters.

As an experiment, I looked at the most popular American surnames that could possibly fit the criteria required by the '13 Symbol' cipher and the already inserted "William". Sixteenth on the list was the name Martin, giving us an estimated name of William Martin for the Zodiac Killer. There are many alternative second names that could be applied, but if "William" was the responsible's forename, we would be looking for a 6-letter surname for the confirmed murderer of five.

Unless something extremely important surfaces in the coming weeks, this will be the final installment regarding the 1974 communications, and the distinct possibility that none were authored by the Zodiac Killer - effectively stripping just over three years from his perceived reign of terror. Changing this perception will inevitably generate fierce resistance from the hierarchy of 'Zodiac researchers', who have built a comfortable and reinforced narrative over the last fifty years. This has been my experience with many aspects of the Zodiac case, and the S.L.A letter is just another example of circumnavigating the truth to keep a lie afloat. Faced with tearing a chapter from a prized book, will certainly galvanize the mind into sailing around the facts and ultimately create an alternative reality. It started when Tom Voigt unwittingly announced a new Zodiac letter on his website, labelled the S.L.A letter - mailed on February 14th 1974 and postmarked "unknown". Neither of which are true. Unfortunately however, nearly everybody has embraced this narrative, and will likely carry on believing it, no matter the truth.  

The S.L.A letter was postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". This tells you unequivocally that the S.L.A letter was mailed from Los Angeles County, and was likely posted on February 2nd or February 3rd - a day or two before the Patricia Hearst kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army, on February 4th 1974. 

What you will be told by the 'narrative keepers' is that a postmark is not visible on the S.L.A envelope, despite its obvious nth generation appearance. However, what they won't tell you - is they must therefore believe that the two FBI files have been created with malintent. They must believe the FBI files have simply been manufactured - just purposely created to deceive - despite the fact the general public had no access to them. Regardless of the fact that the Zodiac Killer mailed nearly all of his communications from San Francisco, the FBI (according to the doubters of a February 3rd postmark) must have apparently sat round a table and concocted both of these files, including the date and origin of the mailing. The idea that the FBI just chose, or 'plucked from thin air' the February 3rd 1974 date and zip code 913, from Los Angeles County, even though the Zodiac Killer had never mailed a correspondence from this location before, would be patently absurd. The 'narrative keepers' have two choices: If they have a book heavily reliant on a February 14th 1974 mailing, possibly involving a suspect, they can [1] Admit they are wrong and rewrite the chapter, or [2] Kill the messenger and destroy the credibility of the evidence presented. I think you know which number they will choose. This deliberate massaging of the facts to keep a narrative on track rears its ugly head throughout the Zodiac scene, evidently demonstrated in the Robert Graysmith Zodiac book, riddled with contradiction. Many have put faith in a DNA resolution to this case in the near future. But does anybody believe this will result in a mass book burning orgy by renowned Zodiac researchers, finally admitting their passionate fervor was flawed, or another round of circumnavigating reality? For many, the answer is set in stone and nothing will steer them away from the impervious cocoon they have built for themselves. 

I hope that the 'narrative keepers' maintain a February 14th 1974 mailing for the S.L.A letter, because then they have to explain how the Zodiac Killer reappeared after nearly three years of hibernation, to then write a letter about the Symbionese Liberation Army, beginning the correspondence with "Dear" and ending with "a friend", only four days after the actual Symbionese Liberation Army mailed a letter (not publicized) to the Hearst family on February 10th 1974, beginning the correspondence with "Dear" and ending with "A friend". Now that is one hell of a coincidence.  

Then we take a look at the Exorcist letter, mailed on January 29th 1974, which hopefully was not doctored by the FBI.
Kevin Robert Brooks created an extremely credible solution to the Exorcist letter symbols in the form of the words "To Kill". In view of the preceding paragraph, his solution is incredibly convincing: "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing. To Kill". Whether this is the answer or not, it is certainly a powerful argument, when we consider the S.L.A letter was entirely geared to giving us the word "Kill". This seemed the only purpose behind the S.L.A communication - as though the letter was designed to give us an answer. The fact that the Exorcist letter symbols were withheld from the January 31st 1974 San Francisco Chronicle publication, may have been the inspiration for the February 3rd 1974 correspondence. It was certainly very fortunate that "Kill" could even be created by the symbols at all, and subsequently highlighted in quotation marks, a matter of days later. 

After the February 10th 1974 Hearst letter, ending with "A friend", another Symbionese Liberation Army communication quickly followed (shown above). Both were intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex and both were addressed to Santa Inez Avenue in Hillsborough. The February 10th letter was postmarked CA 940 - so could have been mailed from Burlingame in San Mateo County, or Santa Clara County. The February 11th letter was postmarked Palo Alto, CA 943. Palo Alto is situated in the northwest region of Santa Clara County. Just shy of two weeks earlier, the Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked CA 940. The FBI determined that the Exorcist letter was mailed from either San Mateo County or Santa Clara County, just like the two letters above. Probably another coincidence?     
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