Despite the continued negative criticism of looking into these outlier communications from certain quarters, this site will not deviate in exploring every avenue possible that has the capability of shedding more light on the Zodiac Killer story. Remaining entrenched in a common narrative has, and will always, fail to push this case forward.

One rarely covered communication is the "Ambler Tours" letter postmarked Los Angeles County and credited with two dates of March 7th 1986 and March 12th 1986  Mailed to "(Redacted) Ambler Tours 101 2ND AVE. Suite 1900 SAN DieGo, CA. 92101", it has very little information attached to it in the FBI files, other than the sender appeared to be addressing the San Diego owners and founders of Ambler Tours & Travel Agency, Frank and Virginia "Ginny" Ambler. They had two sons, Dale and Wayne. The ZIP code 92101 corresponds to the city of San Diego, California, and is primarily associated with downtown San Diego, including areas like the Gaslamp District and Petco Park. Something about this letter, so distant in time and location to the main body of Zodiac communications must have peaked the interest of law enforcement to have found its way into the Zodiac FBI files.

This letter arrived about two months before the "Freeway" letter on May 6th 1986, and approximately 10 weeks after the release of Robert Graysmith's book "Zodiac". Letters postmarked Los Angeles were not unprecedented in the Zodiac case, with the previous two California letters from the Zodiac Killer having both been mailed from this location on May 2nd 1978 and July 19th 1978. The "Channel 9" letter sent to KHJ-TV at 5515 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles on May 2nd 1978, was postmarked in Anaheim, a city in Orange County and part of the Greater Los Angeles area..Therefore, we have three known letters postmarked in this locality within an 8 year period (absent to the knowledge of others).  

The only crime that has regularly been touted as a potential Zodiac attack was the double murder of Johnny Ray Swindle (20) and Joyce Ann Swindle (19) at Ocean Beach in San Diego on February 5th 1964,.when they were murdered on a concrete patio overlooking the sea by a sniper situated approximately 50 feet away. Perched on the bluff above the patio, the sniper fired five shots at the couple from this distance, before walking down to where Johnny and Joyce lay and firing two more shots from near point blank range into their heads. Their location on the patio just beneath the terminus of Narragansett Avenue can be found only 5.5 miles northwest of the Ambler Tours & Travel Agency office. 

Founded in 1953, Frank and Ginny Ambler had run the travel agency for 33 years by the time this "Zodiac Killer" letter arrived on their doorstep. Their travel service organized bus tours throughout California, so if the Zodiac Killer had targeted their company, what possible threat could he have imparted upon them? We know that the Zodiac Killer had a propensity to threaten schoolchildren by way of bombs on the buses or by the roadside, so it's not incomprehensible that this would have been his leverage when targeting Frank and Ginny Ambler (or their family). 

​The previous year, on May 7th 1985 a comprehensive newspaper article on Johnny and Joyce Swindle featured in the San Diego Union newspaper, in which ongoing work was still being undertaken on the case. A recent television news story on the Swindle murders had generated "one pretty damn interesting phone call", which Sergeant Ed Stevens forwarded to the current homicide lieutenant, Paul Ybarrondo. Sgt Stevens is still of the belief that the murders were committed by a teenage boy "thrill sniper", despite no evidence forthcoming on the age of the unknown murderer in 1964. 

The 1986 "Amber Tours" letter would have been an unusual deviation for the Zodiac Killer, directed toward a business. However, it would be followed two years later, on February 1st 1988 and February 8th 1988, by two letters aimed at the McDonald's regional office at 2 Northgate Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with the signature "This is the Zodiac" introduction. Seemingly, two threats on businesses, both withheld from the newspapers. Without further information on this correspondence it is practically impossible to determine if the author of the "Ambler Tours" letter was the infamous Zodiac Killer, but it certainly doesn't hurt to explore the possibility. I may do a FOIA request for this letter in the near future.   

On October 27th 1987 the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the Vallejo Times-Herald threatening to run over children on Halloween night. Three months later, two communications were mailed from Chattanooga in Tennessee on February 1st 1988 and February 8th 1988 to McDonald's regional office at 2 Northgate Park, with claims to be from the Zodiac Killer and the pasted messages of "CHINESE ZODIAC", "The Chinese Zodiac" and "Many Chinese believe". The rest of the text has been withheld from the FBI files.

​There is currently no possible way to determine whether these two letters were from the Zodiac Killer or an imposter, but we do know that any communication from the Zodiac Killer would likely have been inspired by recent newspaper articles, or current media affairs. Therefore, if these letters were from the Zodiac Killer, why would he create a union of the McDonald's fast food chain and the Chinese? There is usually reason behind his offerings. Bearing in mind that the Zodiac Killer had threatened children just a few months previous, we have to consider that his Halloween theme of targeting children may have continued regarding McDonald's, a popular outlet for kids. So how can we possibly group the "Chinese Zodiac", McDonald's and children into one neat package?

The Chinese zodiac is a cycle of 12 animals, each associated with a specific year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The animals in order are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Each animal is believed to influence the personalities and destinies of those born in its respective year. In 1988, according to the Chinese zodiac, it was the Year of the Earth Dragon, spanning from February 17th 1988, to February 5th 1989. These two communications arrived with the upcoming Chinese New Year on the horizon. 

The Chinese New Year in 1988 wasn't just celebrated in the Chinese community and their restaurants,  the year of the dragon was a feature of the McDonald's Happy Meal. A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley face and the McDonald's logo. The packaging and toy are frequently part of a marketing tie-in to an existing television series, film or toyline. This was the case in 1988, when different colored Chinese dragons were included in the Happy Meal of children. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zodiac Killer contacted the McDonald's regional office to threaten kids within McDonald's establishments, which was listed under "extortion" in the FBI files. The Zodiac Killer (if responsible) may have threatened children if his demands were not met, using the Chinese New Year as his inspiration.  

On August 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer hand delivered a letter to the San Francisco Examiner and wrote "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed", suggesting that he was still viewing the payphone at Springs & Tuolumne at least 9 minutes after ending the call to dispatcher Nancy Slover. The police made an appeal in the newspapers for this negro male to come forward, but it appears that he never responded to their request for assistance. 

The only way the Zodiac Killer could reasonably have seen the negro male talking to police, is if they had both remained in the area of the payphone after ending his ominous call to police at approximately 12:41am. The negro male that Zodiac described after finishing his phone call to Nancy Slover must have remained in the area of the payphone for a period of time, to be present when an officer responded to this location from Blue Rock Springs to secure the payphone for fingerprint retrieval. If the payphone location was traced immediately (at 12:41am), the earliest an officer could have arrived at the intersection of Springs & Tuolumne was about 12:50am (a 9 minute journey from the crime scene).

The Zodiac Killer claimed that the negro male saw him at the payphone, yet we do not know for certain to what degree the black man saw Zodiac. The encounter may have been significant to Zodiac, but it would have been pretty insignificant to the negro male, who may have just seen a white man making a phone call. If an officer did speak to this black man, he may have told the police he didn't see anything, not wanting to co-operate or get involved with law enforcement. He may have glanced at Zodiac momentarily but was unable to give any useful description to the officer and let on his way.

Can we ascertain whether this black man was a fictional character or a real individual? If the black man was real and did speak to a police officer by the payphone, then it adds more weight to the notion of a killer who either had access to a residence/building within eyeshot of the payphone, or was lurking in the shadows nearby. The idea that he would still be in his vehicle close to the payphone, dressed in the same clothes (possibly with blood on them), and holding the smoking gun, 9 minutes after finishing the call to Nancy Slover, is highly unlikely. The suggestion being, that he had already gone home and walked to the payphone, absent of any incriminating evidence. I know that newspapers can sometimes get information wrong, but let us assume in this instance that the information they gave out was correctly reported. How did the police know that the negro male was a "local man" if they had never spoken to him? If they spoke to him by the payphone and Zodiac knew this, then the Zodiac Killer still had eyes on the payphone at 12:50am or beyond.

Thanks to Jibberjabber for sending me this newspaper cutting.