Two pasted communications were mailed in close proximity to one another (or possibly in unison), postmarked December 10th and December 11th 1969. The first was the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer, and the second was the Day-by-day forecast for Leo, mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee newspaper and from San Francisco to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco respectively.

When trying to understand these communications, we have to consider why the author (or Zodiac) didn't just opt to paste the words on a postcard or greeting card in similar fashion to the '13 Hole' Postcard or Pines Card. In this instance he chose an astrology backdrop with dates for both communications, suggestive that the numerical dates were the key ingredient for the message to be understood. In a recent article we investigated the possibility that the Day-by-day forecast for Leo was in reference to the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts, hence why it was mailed at about the same time as her abduction on December 10th 1969. The same goes for the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer communication which I have added below.

Rubislaw32, a contributor to this site, was correct when he stated that the pasted section FLT 555 on the Cancer communication was taken from State Express 555 Filter cigarettes, When you consider the title of the communication Day-by-day forecast for Cancer and realize that the font used on the State Express cigarette packets is identical to the pasted triple 5 below, along with FLT being an acronym for filter, then it leaves little doubt as to the origins of this phrase. The bigger question is, why did the designer of the pasted communication place it originating from the position of November 9th, and what new purpose had he adopted the acronym for, if any? As stated in the previous article, we are dealing with an abduction and murder in December, so it is the numerical values that we likely have to focus on.

If you take a quick peek at the Leo communication, you will notice that the pasted wording FLT Three of a Kind (meaning 555) also begins at the 9th of the month. Two phrases, FLT Three of a Kind and FLT 555, both beginning on the 9th. Is that really just accidental? This was the numerical day before the abduction of Leona Roberts. The connection is speculative at best, but we have to consider that the FLT (the common strand between both communications) having been placed next to this date twice, has some relevance to the 9th - and quite possibly the impending abduction date of Leona Roberts. Find, Locate and Target, or Find Leona at Tormey, akin to the acronym of BTK used by Dennis Rader several years later, is one possibility for this pasted section. However, there are multiple possibilities pertaining to the motivation and meaning of the communication's designer.  

Another link to the State Express 555 cigarette company (albeit questionable) is where the designer of the Leo communication places the word Train - in the same section of dates as FLT Three of a Kind (see here). Obviously, Express and Train can be linked through the railways, but here is an extract from Wikipedia: "The idea for the State Express brand came from the U.S.in 1893. Sir Albert Levy, a London tobacco merchant, was visiting the United States. While in New York State, Levy was a passenger on the Empire State Express train, which allegedly broke land speed records as locomotive No.999, the “Queen of Speed” sped its way from New York City to Buffalo".  

In this communication we have Action Guide, Want, Watch and Birds Fly South all touching the date of November 18th. This date featured in the previous article with respect to the release date of the 1969 film 'Run a Crooked Mile', which was pasted beginning on November 18th 1969. I will merge the two communications together using three of the pasted sections and state that "I will consult my action guide, because I want to watch the film Run a Crooked Mile". Of course, I have no idea if this was the intention of the designer of both communications, which is why your input is invaluable in making some sense of these seemingly senseless pastings. One would reasonably expect them to have some purpose - particularly with regard to the dates and the phrases attached alongside them.  

One of the most prominent features on this communication is the pseudonym Zodiac, placed beginning on the date of the 20th. The next confirmed communication from the Zodiac Killer was the Melvin Belli Letter mailed on December 20th 1969. The connection to Leona Roberts was speculated upon in the last article: "On December 20th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Melvin Belli Letter, mimicking the words written in lipstick (supposedly by William Heirens) on the apartment wall of murder victim Frances Brown. She was discovered shot and stabbed multiple times in her 3941 North Pine Grove apartment in Edgewater, Chicago. The date of Frances Brown's murder was December 10th - the exact date that Leona Roberts was abducted from 749 Tormey Ave in Rodeo".

In the Leo communication the designer has placed a cross inside a circle on the dates of the 3rd, 4th and 5th. In this communication he has pasted Magic Amulet continuing onwards through the 6th, 7th and 8th. The only relevant Christian amulet I could find that looked similar to the design on the Leo communication "is the well-known amulet among Catholic Christians, that of the Saint Benedict medal which includes the Vade Retro Satana formula to ward off Satan. This medal has been in use at least since the 1700s, and in 1742 it received the approval of Pope Benedict XIV. It later became part of the Roman Catholic ritual". Wikipedia. If this was the intended symbol placed on the Leo communication, I have no idea why, other than a vague resemblance to the crosshairs of Zodiac, or the design on the December 16th 1969 Faifield Letter and October 27th 1970 Halloween Card.

All of the above are simple word association games involving numerical values, that may have no resemblance to the meaning of both the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer and Day-by-day forecast for Leo, but the possibility of a connection between the dates and words is a tangible one.

The day after the abduction of Leona Roberts, on December 11th 1969, a pasted message entitled DAY-BY-DAY FORECAST FOR LEO was postmarked San Francisco, and mailed to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco. If Leona Roberts was one day into her captivity and was to be held for some time yet, then the December 11th 1969 mailing contained some very interesting information. The pasted forecast was for the month of November. If a perpetrator (or Zodiac) was responsible for her abduction and the pasted communication, it cannot be overlooked that the communication began with part of her name - Day-by-day forecast for Leona Roberts (Leona is a female variant of the name Leo or Leon). But this is just the beginning of the story - starting with an observation by Soze, a contributor on the Zodiac Killer Site forum. He stated "The paste before "Mystery". I can make out what appears to be the word "Mile". Combing the two, I did a search on "mile mystery" and included the date "1969". I found in the November 18, 1969 Redlands Daily Facts from Redlands, California on Page 14, a mention of "Run a crooked mile mystery". It was a TV movie that debuted that day. just wondering if anyone thinks it possible that the paste reads "run a crooked mile mystery"?

I wondered if Soze was on to something, so I checked the Internet Movie Database for the film and it returned with 'Run a Crooked Mile (1969)'. Here is a brief summary of the plot by Ralph Cabrerar: "A man witnesses a murder in a secluded mansion. When he reports it, there's no evidence of the murder, or that anyone was there. He finds a key on the floor and goes to his boss to get help when he's struck from behind. He wakes up in a hospital room after a polo accident to find he's had amnesia for two years, is now married, and living in Switzerland. He still has the key and the memories of the murder. He goes back to England to try to resolve the mystery". It was noted that a key chain with car and house keys were reported missing from Leona Roberts, however, this wasn't the point of interest regarding the pasted wording of the film - it was its position on the Day-By-Day Forecast. This got me thinking that the communication was some type of word search puzzle, with the words deliberately placed in specific positions relative to the dates on the communication. The "run a crooked mile mystery" was pasted over the beginning date of November 18th 1969 on the forecast (the exact date of the film). Obviously, if any of the other wording had relevance to the abduction of Leona Roberts in December, then we would have to focus in on the numeric dates of the forecast, rather than the month. Below I have featured the pasted forecast communication.      

There are only two sections of dates obscured by the pasted words on the entire communication. The red rectangle above highlights the first two obscured dates of the 10th and 11th, accompanied by the pasted word of NOW. These were the dates of Leona Roberts abduction and the mailing of this communication, emphasized by the word now. The second set of dates obscured are highlighted by the green rectangle. They are the 25th, 26th and 27th, accompanied by the word HIDDEN. Obviously, the author of the communication would be projecting forward to these dates. A reasoned guess, is that these would be the dates he was intending to hide her body (but obviously not too hard, so it could be found and prove the communication correct). Leona Roberts body was discovered on December 28th 1969. The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery. If she had been murdered on December 24th or thereabouts, then it is logical that the killer may have 'disposed or hidden' her body on December 25th, 26th or 27th, to be found on the 28th - and why he pasted the word HIDDEN on the communication in the area he did. It is curious that the first unobscured date after this section, is the 28th - the day she was found on Bolinas Lagoon beach. Three sets of dates were accompanied by a pasted word - all of which had relevance to that particular word - and thereby bringing forth the notion of a word search puzzle, akin to the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969.

On December 20th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Melvin Belli Letter, mimicking the words written in lipstick (supposedly by William Heirens) on the apartment wall of murder victim Frances Brown. She was discovered shot and stabbed multiple times in her 3941 North Pine Grove apartment in Edgewater, Chicago. The date of Frances Brown's murder was December 10th - the exact date that Leona Roberts was abducted from 749 Tormey Ave in Rodeo.  

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

The Dick Tracy Magic Decoder was an integral part of American advertisements in the 1950s, encouraging children to eat their breakfast cereals while also capturing their interest in rudimentary code breaking. This was great for children, but likely a nightmare for parents, who were undoubtedly nagged into buying Post Sugar Crisp, Raisin Bran and Sugar Rice Krinkles to excess. The daily diet of codebreaking a fascination for many children growing up in mid twentieth century, post-war America. Fast forward to October 22nd 1969, when Dr DCB Marsh, president of The American Cryptogram Association, laid down a challenge to Zodiac. In the San Francisco Examiner article, Dr Marsh stated "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in a cipher to established cryptogram experts. "Zodiac" had not done this, Marsh suggested, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name, in cipher code, would lead to his capture. I invite 'Zodiac' to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code-however complicated." Therefore, wouldn't it be just like the Zodiac Killer to send the newspapers the most uncomplicated cipher code he could find, based on a code found in children's cereal boxes. I believe he may just have done exactly that.  

In the picture above, the writing states "This is your Red Decoder. Punch out white holes to decode answers to Red "Crimestopper" messages on the package. Green questions requires a Green Decoder from other Sugar Crisp, Post Raisin Bran, or Sugar Rice Krinkles packages".  

Where have we seen a possible "Red Decoder" and "Punched out white holes" in one of Zodiac's communications before.
The '13 Hole' Postcard was mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 5th 1970, just shy of the one year anniversary of the 340 cipher. In the postcard the Zodiac Killer provided us with his "red crucifix decoder" and "13 punch-holes" in the fabric of the card. This was his very own Dick Tracy descoder. Seagull, a contributor to the Zodiac Killer Site forum, was on the right path when she stated "If I were to attempt to try something like this, to find a hidden message, I think I would start with using the shape of the crosshair symbol for the template. The problem would be to determine a size and whether or not to round the shape or square it off. Even if you managed to hit on the right size and shape, the message could still be coded. But my totally untrained cipher gut tells me that if the 340 can be solved it's might be something as seemingly simplistic as this". It may very well have been this simplistic, with everybody expecting the Zodiac Killer to make his second cipher much harder, after his first cipher was cracked with relative ease. The Zodiac Killer taking the shape of the "red crucifix decoder" as the template, to be coupled with the 13 punch-holes he added to the October 5th 1970 postcard  All we had to do was arrange the 13 punch-holes in the shape of a crucifix, so when it was placed over the 340 cipher, a message was revealed. The Zodiac Killer did add a second tier of messages in the 340 cipher, to which he revealed in the following Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Nobody at the time understood the secret message in the '13 Hole' Postcard, which is why he added the second layer just 22 days later.    

The 13 punched holes in the postcard was the initial attempt by the Zodiac Killer to show us that the "crackproof" 340 cipher  was a Dick Tracy style code. Arranged on the template of the "red crucifix", a message would be revealed in the 340 cipher. If this first step was achieved successfully, then the message in the 340 cipher would be obvious. The "Dick Tracy Red Crucifix Decoder" with 13 punch-holes, if placed bisecting the 340 cipher both vertically and horizontally and arranged correctly, would reveal the wording "Paradice" and Slaves" on the 340 cipher. This is shown by the 13 white circles on the diagram below. Whether the red crucifix was intended to be reversed in sinister fashion (keeping the correct proportions relative to Paradice and Slaves on the 340), as hinted by the reversed writing on the '13 Hole' Postcard, is open to conjecture.

Unfortunately, nobody appeared to understand the simplicity of his message, so he added a second crucifix (or cross) just three weeks later, when he mailed the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Here, he added a second layer, by giving us the second part of the message in the 340 cipher. The Zodiac Killer placed the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife around the crucifix of Paradice and Slaves, and added the message "sorry no cipher" in the form of a third crucifix (or cross) to the envelope inner. The reason being, the 340 was "no cipher" - it was a simple Dick Tracy punched hole decoder style puzzle. The Halloween Card began with "From Your Secret Pal", so it's no surprise that it contained a secret message also. If you create the 37 punched holes in the style of a Dick Tracy Decoder (shown in the above right image) and place over the 340 cipher, the By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife wording is revealed - and derived from the Halloween Card. The respective 'method of death' remaining in each quadrant of the 340 cipher (9 by 10 and sharing the central column). 

The Zodiac Killer manufactured the Halloween Card to depict thirteen eyes, often suggested as the Eye of Horus. Funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The symbol was intended to protect the pharaoh in the "afterlife" and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bows of their vessels to ensure safe sea travel. This would certainly give us Paradice, Slaves and the Afterlife in one neat package.

Osiris, is the Egyptian god of fertility, alcohol, agriculture, the "afterlife", the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. This normally wouldn't be relevant, but for the Dick Tracy Decoder Ring (designed to conceal messages or items) and the Dick Tracy Radio Show sponsored by Quaker Oats, which featured the The Black Pearl of Osiris, given to Dick Tracy to hide in the Decoder Ring. This ring had a specific design on its face, split into four quadrants just like the Paradice and Slaves configuration on the Halloween Card. In the top left quadrant is a Zodiac-like design, bearing some similarity to the crosshairs of Zodiac, along with a moon design in the lower left quadrant. "The Dick Tracy Premium was offered in exchange for five box tops of Quaker Puffed Wheat or Rice and one wonders how many uneaten boxes were dismembered by eager kids before the offer expired". See here at the Dick Tracy Depot. 

The Dick Tracy Decoder and Dick Tracy Ring were both targeted at chidren from the 1930s onwards - and both may have had an influence on the cereal munching Zodiac in his childhood years - the rudimentary coding of which may have spawned the inspiration in his design of both the '13 Hole' Postcard and Halloween Card in the October of 1970. Many people believed the Zodiac Killer, shaken by the ease to which his first cipher was cracked, devilishly formulated a far more impenetrable cipher the second time round. Yet, it may be the case, that the inspiration for the Bay Area serial killer in his design of the 340 cipher, may have been inspired by nothing more complicated than the cereal boxes of children. 

For more on this topic: Zodiac Killer Site forum and ZodiacKiller.com discussion forum.

Cragle, a conrtributor to the Zodiac Killer Site forum, brought up an extremely valid connection to the Lake of the Pines development in Auburn, Placer County with respect to the Boise Cascade Company. He stated "As we know Donna Lass was taken from Lake Tahoe, a card was then sent implying that she was buried at Incline Village on the north shore of the lake. Also a Christmas card was received with the quote 'St Donna & Guardian of the Pines'. Now what is the connection, Judith Hakari was abducted and then found near Weimar, CA. Weimar is next to Lake of the Pines. At the time Lake of the Pines was a brand new housing development which was still in the process of being finished. The developers of Lake of the Pines were the very same company that was responsible for Incline Village".  

Western Lake Properties purchased three large ranches to create Lake of the Pines, including the Henry Pilliard spread, which was originally settled in 1860 on 1200 acres, and still had descendants running cattle on it well into the middle of the 20th century. Bulldozers carved into a natural basin of meadows and pasture land rimmed by pine forests and oak woodlands to cut out the imprint of the lake. The reservoir's dam was completed in 1966 and the 230-acre reservoir filled by April of the following year. In 1969, the Boise Cascade development company purchased the project, marketing the lots to older workers in the Bay Area and Southern California. While the developer continued construction on the common amenities, contractors were busy constructing spec houses aimed at retirees who were scaling down, and building custom vacation homes for buyers planning to use them as weekend getaways or future retirement villas. link.

On March 22nd 1971, the Zodiac Killer mailed a postcard insinuating his involvement in the disappearance and likely murder of Donna Lass in South Lake Tahoe on September 6th 1970. A newspaper report in March 1971 stated "the site depicted on the 'Pines Card' was from an advertisement published last Sunday by several newspapers. It was an artist's rendition of houses among the trees at a Boise Cascade Company project at Incline Village, where construction has just begun on the development. While much of the Sierra area is under several feet of snow, Incline Village has only two feet on the ground. Police went to the area to determine if a search is possible'. ​Chief Lauritzen added "There's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring".
The body of Donna Lass was never recovered in the location of Incline Village despite an extensive search. However, the forum thread created by Cragle may have opened the door to another possibility regarding the Boise Cascade Company.

The similarity between the cases of Donna Lass and Judith Hakari cannot be overlooked, despite the fact the Zodiac Killer was likely responsible for neither. But that doesn't preclude him from claiming his involvement in both, through a link to the Boise Cascade Company. Choosing an advertisement from the newspapers about condominiums, appears a rather banal choice by the Zodiac Killer when we consider the flamboyant Halloween card that preceded it. If it wasn't chosen for the location of Incline Village as the burial site of Donna Lass, then was it chosen to supply a connection to a previous victim, thereby hinting he was responsible for both? If the newspapers could make the connection from Donna Lass to the murder of Judith Hakari, abducted from the Markston Apartments in Sacramento on March 7th 1970, then the Zodiac Killer was certainly not averse to pushing investigators down the same train of thought.

Both Lass and Hakari were nurses, abducted shortly after finishing their shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Sutter Hospital respectively. How long they were kept alive from the moment they were snatched is unknown, but the suspicious phone calls after the disappearance of Donna Lass stating she had been called out of town due to a family illness, may have served the purpose of buying time by her abductor. If the same perpetrator was responsible for both, could he have traveled Interstate 80 from Lake Tahoe to Sacramento, and therefore was familiar with forest regions spanning both. Judith Hakari's body was eventually discovered nearly two months after her disappearance (April 25th 1970) buried in a shallow grave aside Ponderosa Way. Could her killer have disposed of Donna Lass somewhere in this region? 

The July 13th 1971 Monticello Card contained extremely similar pasted phrases to the March 22nd 1971 Pines Card, stating "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The postcard was referring to the April 11th 1971 murder of Kathy Bilek in the Villa Montalvo woods, near the neighborhood of Monticello in San Jose. The Zodiac Killer chose Monticello for one reason alone - it sat alongside the burial location of one of his previously claimed victims, Kathy Snoozy. He had claimed her murder under the month of "Aug" in the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' Card, killed in San Jose on August 3rd 1969 along with her friend Deborah Furlong. The funeral services and burial of Kathy Snoozy were held at Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue, right next to the neighborhood of Monticello. This is why the Zodiac Killer chose "near Monticello" rather than any other location closer to Villa Montalvo. He was not only pinpointing this location to suggest he had a hand in the murder of the San Jose teenagers, but specifically chose the area by the gravesite of Kathy Snoozy because her forename was identical to that of Kathy Bilek. Not only was Kathy Bilek murdered in April, in the woods, near Monticello - but her name could be inferred in the Monticello card from the Oak Hill Memorial Park burial site of her namesake. The Pines Card may have served a similar function through the choice of Boise Cascade. It was discovered that by placing the Sierra Club phrase over the Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge (just west of Lake Tahoe), the punch-hole fell over the Donner Memorial State Park.

The March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' Letter was mailed nine days prior to the Donna Lass Pines Card, so it was equally interesting to find a loose connection in this communication also. 

The Vanishing Point film, which previewed in the January of 1971, had the usual trailers, and was released to the general public on March 13th 1971, the exact mailing date of the Los Angeles letter, presumably authored by the Zodiac Killer. Here is some of the wording from the trailer: "They want to get him and put him away, but there'll have to catch him first". The author of the Los Angeles letter stated "If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something". The trailer of the film continued with a radio host from KOW reporting the chase "And there goes the Challenger being chased by the Blue, Blue Meanies on wheels". So, was the Vanishing Point trailer the inspiration for the March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letter, with its mailing date deliberately manufactured to marry up with the release date of the film? The Los Angeles letter arrived six months after the disappearance of Donna Ann Lass, who vanished close to the end of her shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, never to be seen again.

The final scene in the Vanishing Point movie was filmed in Cisco, Utah, but in the film it was portrayed as Cisco, California. This is the location that the film's main character, Kowalski, met his death. Cisco, California is 11.7 miles west of Clair Tappaan Lodge, the Sierra Club identified by former detective Harvey Hines as the location depicted on the Pines Card. Cisco was 15 miles west of the Donner Memorial State Park. In another strange quirk of fate, the officer overseeing the conclusion to Kowalski's death after he ran his 1970 Dodge Challenger into the roadblock of bulldozers, was the character Deputy Collins played by Robert Donner. 

The Zodiac Killer linked the Monticello Card to a victim he had previously claimed (Kathy Snoozy) by choosing the location of Monticello - so had he done the same using the location of the Boise Cascade Company developments situated at Incline Village and Lake of the Pines? The Boise Cascade development at Lake of the Pines were marketing the lots to older workers in the Bay Area, which may have come to the attention of the Zodiac Killer from the newspaper coverage - and why he ultimately chose this particular advertisement regarding Incline Village. Lake of the Pines is situated just 4.4 miles west of the burial site of Judith Hakari alongside Ponderosa Way. Was the Zodiac Killer inferring a link to another victim through this advertisement, bearing in mind he had already been linked to the Hakari murder by the newspapers - or is it just a case of finding faces in the clouds?        

Question marks have always hung over the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' or 'Pace' Postcard as to whether the author was the Zodiac Killer or a copycat. This article will hopefully go a long way to convince people that the communication was indeed mailed by the Bay Area murderer. The Zodiac Killer wrote the lengthy 'Little List' Letter on July 26th 1970, beginning the correspondence with his intentions for his slaves in paradise, followed by the torture methods he was going to apply, before finishing with the plagiarism of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, from the Act As Some Day it May Happen. The crucial thing to remember here, is that this communication was withheld from the newspapers and public alike, so by October 5th 1970 when this postcard was postmarked, the author (if not Zodiac} was totally unaware to the contents of the Little List Letter. The Zodiac Killer could have been reemphasizing his victim total of thirteen, or a copycat could have been suggesting thirteen victims for the first time, unaware that the Little List Letter had ever been mailed. Therefore, this is no help in determining whether the author of the '13 Hole' Postcard was the Zodiac Killer or not. We need to look at the wording on both communications back to back.

The first thing to notice on the '13 Hole' Postcard is the crucifix and number 13 in close alliance - extremely relevant when we consider the Zodiac Killer using the phrase "I shall (on top of everything else) torture all 13 of my slaves that I have waiting for me in Paradice" in the Little List Letter. The crucifix, a symbol of Christianity and the progression from life on earth to the paradise of heaven, is further cemented by the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card where the Zodiac Killer actually combines all three elements. However, if you are also a skeptic of the Halloween Card, then we need to focus entirely on finding a link between the '13 Hole' Postcard and the previously unpublished Little List Letter, both eventually released in tandem with one another on October 12th 1970 in a newspaper article by Paul Avery. Below I have separated the Little List Letter into its constituent parts - his promise of torture, his methods of torture and the search for victims.            

The Zodiac Killer refers to his victims in the plural and in the future tense, beginning his torture methods with "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and sqwirm. Others shall have pine splinters driven under their nails + then burned. Others shall be placed in cages + fed salt beef untill they are gorged then I shall listen to their pleass for water and I shall laugh at them". He uses the word "some" to begin his rhetoric, then continues with his Little List of potential victims, sourced from As Some Day it May Happen, beginning with "As some day it may hapen that a victom must be found". Therefore, is it any great surprise that the Zodiac Killer having noted his lengthy communication was not published in the newspapers, would begin the '13 Hole' Postcard in the past tense, stating "The pace isn't any slower. In fact it's just one big thirteenth. 'Some of them fought it was horrible'".

The Zodiac Killer is effectively saying that he had now tortured his victims in paradice and "some of them had fought". He is telling Paul Avery and the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper he had made good on his promises. This strongly suggests that the author of the '13 Hole' Postcard knew the contents of the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, thereby cementing the notion that the Zodiac Killer was the author of both communications. The alternative, is that a copycat just threw together a random postcard that not only continued the theme of the previous letter accidentally, but was adopted by the Zodiac Killer in the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card and the following March 13th 1971 letter, where the Zodiac Killer stated "This is the Zodiac speaking Like I have allways said, I am crack proof". The copycat scenario proliferated by many, a sensational subplot to discredit certain Zodiac communications and attacks, where no merit for such claims exist. 

The other notable element of the '13 Hole' Postcard is the Mon, Oct 5, 1970 attribution in the top right corner. The Zodiac Killer did recite the Gilbert & Sullivan Act As Some Day it May Happen. So was Monday, October 5th the day something happened - and the reason he added a specific date for the very first time?   

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

Unable to solve the 340 cipher and crack the message (in which I'm not alone), my only recourse is to try and prove that the 50-year-old cryptogram is unsolvable. I cannot do this on my own, so I need the Zodiac Killer to give me a hand and show me that it's not a valid cipher in his own words. The Zodiac Killer only gave us two visible 'crucifixes or crosses' (without the circle) in the cards and letters, throughout his entire correspondence with the newspapers. We can assume he did this for absolutely no reason whatsoever, or these two 'crucifixes or crosses' had a purpose. The two crosses were present in two consecutive cards - the '13 Hole' Postcard on October 5th 1970 and the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. Both these cards also contained a hint that something was unsolvable. The '13 Hole' Postcard contained the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof", while the Zodiac Killer fashioned "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation on the envelope inner of the Halloween Card. If these statements are relevant to his ciphers, then we need to marry up the design of each card to his codes. Before we start, it must be noted that PARADICE and SLAVES in the cross formation is made up of 13 letters (the A pivotal to both words), but individually both words contain 14 letters - the total highlighted on each card. 

In the image below with respect to the '13 Hole' Postcard, you will notice that the Zodiac Killer has carefully positioned the cross beneath the number 13 - and we know Paradice and Slaves contains 13 letters in the cross formation. This is placed approximately in the center of the postcard with text either side. The 13 characters identified on the 340 cipher as Paradice and Slaves exactly mirroring this formation. Below the number 13 and cross on the postcard is the pseudonym Zodiac, accompanied by his crosshairs, almost mirroring the 340 cipher formation. The most notable feature on the 340 cipher is the corrected sixth line involving the letters F and K. Highlighted with a blue rectangle on the '13 Hole' Postcard we have "Fk I'm crackproof" written upside down. All we have to do now, is rotate the '13 Hole' Postcard 180 degrees clockwise to correct this text, so it can be read in the standard way. The corrected "Fk I'm crackproof" would now be present in the top right quadrant, just like the correctred FK in the 340 cipher.        

The Halloween Card also has the cross formation of Paradice and Slaves. This not only mirrors the "sorry no cipher" formation he provided on the envelope inner, but mirrors the 340 cipher formation also. In essence, the Zodiac Killer is telling us by extension that the 340 cryptogram is no cipher. Two consecutive communications, probably close to the anniversary he created the 340 cipher, and both designed to reveal the hidden crucifix or cross within the 340 cipher. Throw in the four By's in each quadrant and the pseudonym Zodiac from the '13 Hole' Postcard, along with "Fk I'm crackproof" and "sorry no cipher", and we have the Zodiac in his own words admitting the 340 character cryptogram has no solution. On the other hand, the Zodiac Killer is widely believed to be a liar - so maybe there's a message after all.

But just in case, let us stick "Fk I'm crackproof" into his third cipher and see if that's unsolvable as well.        

The Zodiac Killer again uses 13 characters/letters in his design, with the feature of three circled 8's. The circle and number 8 can be used to represent infinity or something of a cyclic nature. The cipher came with the handily placed K and M in the center of the code. All we have to do is place "Fk I'm crackproof" into place using these two letters (shown in blue), and in an unusual stroke of luck, the phrase is cyclic in nature. In addition, the three 8's (shown in green) just happen to begin each element of the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof" (Fk, I'm and crackproof). The Zodiac Killer may have twice told us his ciphers were unsolvable in the '13 Hole' Postcard and Halloween Card, but here he simply wouldn't shut up.

"This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is FK, I'm crackproof".

On November 6th 1973, in Oakland, California, two members of the Symbionese Liberation Army killed school superintendent Marcus Foster and badly wounded his deputy, Robert Blackburn, as the two men left an Oakland school board meeting. The hollow-point bullets used to kill Foster had been laden with cyanide. Although Foster had been the first black school superintendent in the history of Oakland, the SLA had condemned him for his supposed plan to introduce identification cards into Oakland schools, calling him "fascist". In fact, Foster had opposed the use of identification cards in his schools, and his plan was a watered-down version of other similar proposals. On January 10th 1974, Joseph Remiro and Russell Little were arrested and charged with Foster's murder, and initially both men were convicted of murder. Both men received sentences of life imprisonment. On February 7th 1974, just three days after the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, a communication was addressed to Andy Park, Channel 5, KPIX, San Francisco demanding the release of Joseph Remiro and Russell Little. If the demands in the letter were not heeded, the author promised that Patricia Campbell Hearst would pay the ultimate price.

This Symbionese Liberation Army correspondence was preceded by two letters attributed to the Zodiac Killer. The Exorcist Letter was postmarked January 29th 1974 from San Mateo or Santa Clara County, closely followed by the S.L.A. Letter on February 3rd 1974 from Los Angeles. Then came the Symbionese Liberation Army letter demanding the release of their jailed comrades. The letter was almost certainly mailed by a woman, because the the top left corner of the correspondence contained the wording "P.S. Hury. Russle Little. We miss you babe". Not withstanding, that the rest of the text had the traits of female authorship. Although I cannot know for certain, I believe this February 7th 1974 communication was written in disguised writing by either Camilla Christine Hall (eventually killed in the 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles shootout on May 17th 1974), or  Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah) who is still alive today. 

I have long believed that at least three of the four 1974 letters attributed to the Zodiac Killer, were in fact authored by the members or close affiliates of the Symbionese Liberation Army. There were four communications mailed in a 12 day period from January 29th 1974 to February 10th 1974 - and all were interwoven with one another. The Exorcist Letter (01-29-74) had a hidden message in the form of Asian-style characters, possibly decoded by Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks to spell the words "To Kill". This was extremely significant, because five days later the S.L.A. Letter was mailed on February 3rd 1974, stating "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend". Then, just one week after this mailing, a typed communication postmarked February 10th 1974 and addressed to the Hearst Family or FBI, was intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex. This communication also began with "Dear" and ended with "A friend" - and the Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.) was the common denominator in both.

But it is the February 7th 1974 communication that provides the bridge to the other three letters in this 12 day period, that may pour huge doubt on the validity of the Exorcist Letter as a Zodiac correspondence, ultimately relegating the Bay Area murderer back to 1971. The February 7th 1974 communication has many features contained in both the Exorcist and S.L.A. letters. In effect, the Symbionese Liberation Army were mimicking the Zodiac Killer in 1974 and the Zodiac Killer never returned at all for his 'second phase'. The assumed Zodiac S.L.A. Letter (not released to the newspapers), mailed the day before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, which was mimicked in its introduction and ending ("Dear" and "A friend") just one week later in the February 10th 1974 Symbionese Liberation Army typed letter, should be pause for thought. So, let us take a look at the February 7th 1974 letter.

Whether the Patty Hearst kidnapping was in response to the Joseph Remiro and Russell Little arrests one cannot be certain, nevertheless, this correspondence had some interesting features. Although it is not compelling to find the word "kill" in a threat letter, this word was possibly present in the rearranged Exorcist Letter characters, was highlighted in quotation marks in the S.L.A. Letter, and was significant within the above correspondence. Although not a staunch advocate of handwriting comparisons, I have placed "kill" and "friend" from the February 7th 1974 communication alongside the same wording on the S.L.A. letter to show a distinct similarity. Both letters, unsurprisingly, contain the American left-wing terrorist organization's name, the Symbionese Liberation Army, however, it is the language used pertaining to the Exorcist Letter that caught my eye.

The Exorcist Letter stated "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing." The February 7th 1974 communication stated "I want you to put this in the news and in your paper, and if you don't you might be our next victim". This similarity would not normally be unusual in threatening letters, but for the fact that all these communications crossed over one another in just 12 days, along with the uncanny "Dear" and "A friend" in the February 3rd 1974 letter - thus far attributed to Zodiac - with the same introduction and ending attributed to the Symbionese Liberation Army on February 10th 1974. Merge this with the similar phraseology between the Exorcist Letter and the February 7th 1974 communication in such a short space of time, and you have to consider a link between all four.   

The "old Norse" reference on the S.L.A. Letter indicated we may be looking for a Symbionese Liberation Army member with Scandinavian heritage.

One possible author of the S.L.A letter (and possibly the Exorcist letter) was Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947). She was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst?

The other was Camilla Christine Hall, whose parents, George Fridolph Hall (1908-2000) and Lorena Daeschner Hall (1911-1995), worked at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota from 1938-1952. In addition, her father was a minister in the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church in America, and later the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her mother, Lorena (Daeschner) Hall, helped found Gustavus Adolphus College's Art Department and served as the department head.

Camilla Hall attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. She transferred to the University of Minnesota after her freshman year at Gustavus. Hall attended special lectures, exhibits, and concerts at the University. On June 10, 1967, Hall graduated with a humanities degree from the University of Minnesota. Gustavus Adolphus College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. A four-year, residential institution, Gustavus Adolphus College was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college retains its Swedish and Lutheran heritage. Gustavus is guided by five core values: excellence, community, justice, service, and faith.
Camilla Hall's blonde hair and fair complexion caused people to remark of her Scandinavian ancestors.

Since the author of the February 7th 1974 communication was likely a woman - and bearing in mind the Scandinavian connection to the S.L.A. Letter - it has to be considered that one of these female members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, could be the author of the S.L.A. Letter - and quite possibly the Exorcist Letter too.  

Donna Lass lived at 4122 Balboa Street, San Francisco, just west of the Presidio, where she worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital. It was the Presidio where Zodiac was seen entering just minutes after the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, never to be seen again. On June 5th 1970, Donna was preparing for her move to South Lake Tahoe to begin a new job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on June 6th 1970, temporarily moving in with Ann and Larry Lowe at 4054 US Highway 50, before taking up residence at the Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. Exactly three months later, she would mysteriously disappear at the end of her shift on September 6th 1970. Her whereabouts have never been ascertained, but it is presumed she was murdered shortly after her abduction. Six months later, on March 22nd 1971,  a postcard arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle containing a punch-hole and five pasted phrases - one of which stated "sought victim 12". Many have claimed this postcard was at the hands of a hoaxer because the victim total took a retrograde step, although it should be fairly obvious that somebody who was prepared to cut and paste this card, punch a hole and scallop the edges - who was equally determined to mimic the Zodiac Killer - would certainly have known the killer had already claimed 13, 14 and 17+ victims in his previous four communications. The past participle of the verb seek should have been the clue.

The sister card to the March 22nd 1971 offering, arrived on July 13th 1971 and was dubbed the Monticello Card. It was designed in similar fashion, stating "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The author had once more used the past participle of the word seek, with the slight variation of "shought" - but was again suggesting that the victim had at one point in time been targeted. Kathy Bilek was being claimed by the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact that this murder had already been attributed to Karl Francis Werner. See here for details. 

The Monticello Card was postmarked July 13th 1971 and Kathy Bilek was targeted and murdered in the Villa Montalvo woods in Saratoga on April 11th 1971. Therefore, a Zodiac Killer stating "shought victim 21", would be referring to a victim he targeted 94 days ago. In other words, he "shought" Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971. This total of 21 would fit correctly in the Zodiac Killer sequence, because he claimed 17+ victims on March 13th 1971 when he mailed the Los Angeles letter. Let us apply this template of 94 days to the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, to discover whether the "sought victim 12" would now fall into line with her being targeted in the Bay Area when she worked at the Letterman General Hospital.

If we deduct 94 days from the date of her disappearance on September 6th 1970, we get June 5th 1970 - the exact day she prepared for her move to South Lake Tahoe to begin work at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino. Was the Zodiac Killer effectively hinting that he had "sought" Donna Lass as victim number 12 in the Bay Area, but she had moved from San Francisco on June 5th or 6th 1970, thereby thwarting his plans? The April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher claimed 10 victims, which wasn't updated on the April 28th 1970 Dragon Card. The June 26th 1970 Button Letter had claimed 12 victims. Therefore, if Donna Lass had been "sought" as victim 12 by the Zodiac Killer, it would have fell somewhere between April 28th 1970 and June 5th 1970. Effectively, we are looking at the preceding month (May 1970) to when she packed up and left for South Lake Tahoe. This month could be pivotal in revealing the identity of the Zodiac Killer through the circles of Donna Ann Lass. Who were her close friends, colleagues or 'admirers' during this short window of time?

Through alliances with the Monticello Card, the Pines Card was almost certainly a Zodiac Killer offering - and therefore inconceivable that the phrase "sought victim 12" was simply a 'schoolby error' on behalf of the killer. Equally, a copycat with even the remnants of a brain, couldn't have made such a nonsensical mistake having made all the effort to mimic a Zodiac Killer communication in the first place. It wasn't like he was short of newspaper coverage. The retrograde step of the victim count to 12, in combination with the past tense of "sought" certainly wasn't a mistake - it was chosen for purpose. Possibly the day the Zodiac Killer's plans were scuppered as Donna Lass upped sticks and headed out of state to South Lake Tahoe.

If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Kathleen Johns abduction on March 22nd 1970, then where had he been and where was he going to at around 11:15 pm? If he was heading back to the Bay Area when he picked up Kathleen Johns trail, had he finished working late that night and the attack on the young woman was simply an opportunistic abduction? It certainly makes little sense that the Zodiac Killer would make a round trip of 140 miles from somewhere like Vallejo, just to abduct a woman on a lonely stetch of highway. In the Robert Graysmith book, Kathleen Johns route that night was as follows:"She had made her way up dusty Interstate 5 and onto Highway 99 just before Bakersfield, through Fresno, Merced and Modesto, where she swung left onto Highway 132, a rarely used road. In her rear view mirror she noticed a car she seemed to have picked up on her tail in Modesto. It was near midnight whe Kathleen slowed to let the car pass her. Abruptly, the driver behind began to blink his lights and honk his horn. When Kathleen ignored this, the stranger accelerated and pulled into the lane alongside her 1957 Chevrolet station wagon. He yelled through his open side passenger window that her left rear wheel was wobbling. "But I didn't stop, because it was dangerous out there. I waited until I got to the freeway, then I stopped by 5''. If this was an opportunistic attack by the Zodiac Killer, where had he come from? Kathleen Johns could have picked up this tail anywhere along Highway 132, so we should examine the location in and around Modesto more closely. Below is a map showing the route taken by Kathleen Johns.         

You will notice on the map above I have added two notable military bases that are pertinent to Highway 132. Somebody leaving NASA Crows Landing and heading to the Bay Area, would enter Interstate 5, travel 23 miles and join Highway 132, just 0.8 miles before the location of where Kathleen Johns pulled over her vehicle. This location was marginally east of Bird Road.
Somebody leaving Castle Air Force Base would also have joined Highway 99 (just like Kathleen Johns) and headed 34 miles to Modesto and then took Highway 132. Bearing in mind Kathleen Johns described her abductor as a "clean shaven and very neatly dressed man, thinking he may have been a service man or something", the possibility he had left one of these military airfields in his wing walker boots or some other military footwear, is certainly worthy of considerarion. When he had convinced Kathleen to take a ride with him, she noted that the "stranger's shoes had been shined so brightly, 'spit-shined' that they reflected the yellow interior lights of the car". The most direct route from both of these military airfields drops right onto Highway 132 and the route that Kathleen Johns noticed she had picked up a tail that night. The map below shows the position where Kathleen Johns vehicle was discovered burnt out, and the exact location where somebody traveling from NASA Crows Landing would have picked up Highway 132.

Crow’s Landing is an auxiliary field that served Alameda Naval Air Station and NASA Ames Research Center / Moffett Field.  It opened in 1942. From the 1960s to the 1990s NASA used it to conduct flight tests on experimental aircraft. The Navy also used its runways to simulate carrier landings, installing portable “Meatball” lights and arrestor cables. link. Howard Gillins recalled, “I was at Crows Landing from 5/68 to 6/70. I was assigned to the Crash Fire Rescue Dept under civilian Fire Chief Walt Latham. We had 1 SAR helo assigned at Crows Landing: an H-34 & later an H-2. We had at that time 50 enlisted (5 CPO including LCPO) 1 OIC (Lcdr) & 5 civilians. We built & occupied the Club / Rec Center / Ship Store. We provided daytime touch & go practices for the military aircraft & at night carrier landing practices. We supported the LSO, hot refueling & minor maintenance & repairs". link.

Castle Air Force Base (1941–1995) is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced and about 115 miles south of Sacramento, California. The base, located in unincorporated Merced County, was closed in 1995 pursuant to a Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision following the end of the Cold War and the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command. It is now known as the Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center. From April 1968 to April 1974, the 93rd operated a special B-52 replacement training unit to support SAC's B-52 operation in Southeast Asia. Also, the 328th and 329th Bomb Squadrons deployed to U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand where they flew combat missions over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the Vietnam War. link.

Crows Landing was an auxiliary airfield connected to Alameda Naval Air Station and Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara County, both in the Bay Area where we know the Zodiac Killer operated. Did these military bases play any part in the Zodiac Killer's chosen profession, being contracted to work between the Patterson area, just south of Modesto, and the eastern fringe of San Francisco? This area of work would certainly facilitate his mailing of letters without too much deviation.

Just one month after the abduction of Kathleen Johns, the Zodiac Killer mailed the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher, in which one of the characters resembled a circled 8. Some have considered it could represent an 8-ball or eightball, bearing in mind the July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter - in which Zodiac promised to place Kathleen Johns top of. In the 'Little List' letter, he quoted from The Mikado, that "all billiard players I shall have them play in a darkened dungeon cell with crooked cues and twisted shoes. Yes, I shall have great fun inflicting the most delicious of pain to my slaves". Two days prior to the 'Little List' letter he addressed Kathleen Johns, stating "So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The above makes the connection to the military even more interesting, when we consider the design of the NASA Crows Landing military patch, and the 'circled 8' letter that followed the abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970.

It has been claimed by Kathleen Johns that she received phone calls and a Halloween card (likely October 1970) from the Zodiac Killer, addressed "To the woman in the blue station wagon". This greeting card may have been simultaneously mailed with the Halloween card to Paul Avery on October 27th 1970, so it would be interesting to search for correlations between the 10/27/70 Halloween card and the abduction of Kathleen Johns. If the two Halloween cards were mailed by the Zodiac Killer around the same timeframe, then the inclusion of "by fire" alongside "To the woman in the blue station wagon" would leave little doubt that the two are connected. Traveling clockwise around the 10/27/70 Halloween card, the Zodiac Killer presented the weapons he used in the correct order of their appearance up to March 23rd 1970 - By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire. The young woman apparently forwarded this card she received to newspaper reporter Paul Avery, but like everything else in the Zodiac case it disappeared into the ether (assuming her story is true). It has been claimed that if the Zodiac was responsible for the mailing of a Halloween card to Kathleen Johns, then he was responsible for her abduction, because no mention of her driving a blue station wagon was published in the newspapers. Without trawling the entire newspaper collection from 1970, I cannot verify this detail one way or another. 

As has already been suggested, the Zodiac Killer (or her abductor) would have had ample time to rummage through her vehicle after her ordeal was over and search for any letters or documents that contained her address and telephone details. Having deposited his fingerprints all over her vehicle, this may explain why he thought it easier to torch her 1957 Chevrolet, and why he returned to her vehicle after the 2-hour abduction - to gather information for his future correspondence. 

Kathleen Johns effectively contradicted herself when she named Lawrence Kane as her likely abductor that night, because he would have been 45 years of age on March 22nd 1970. She described her abductor as white, around 30 years of age, 5'9" in height, 160 lbs, dark hair, clean-cut and having the traits of a serviceman. So how can we reconcile this difference?

For people who still believe that the Zodiac Killer was 20-30 years of age during his attacks, while also believing that the Kathleen Johns abduction was the work of the Zodiac Killer, we have to consider the amount of time she spent in his vehicle and her detailed description regarding the interior of the vehicle. Kathleen described his car as messy and had noticed men's and children's clothing scattered about, along with books and papers, a black rubber-handled flashlight, and two colored plastic scouring pads on the console dashboard. Kathleen estimated that the smaller patterned T-shirts were designed in the age range of 8-12 years. Unless the Zodiac Killer was a traveling salesman selling children's clothing, or had borrowed the vehicle, a reasonable assumption would be that these haphazardly scattered clothes were part of a family vehicle. If Kathleen Johns upper estimate of the clothing was correct at 12 years - and a 20 to 30 year Zodiac conceived this child - he would have been approximately 8 to 18 years of age at the time (12 to 22 at the lower estimate), making the case for a Zodiac Killer of at least 30 or above more believable. If you don't accept that these clothes were necessarily the clothing of the Zodiac Killer's chidren, then an alternative explanation is necessary.

In 1972, the average age of fathers of newborns in the U.S. was 27 - so if the Zodiac was the biological father of the 12-year-old who wore the clothing present in his vehicle, then the statistical average would suggest a killer of about 39 years of age in 1970, in closer proximity to the age of Lawrence Kane (who she identified as her abductor), and very close to the average age of 40 described by three sets of eyewitnesses at Presidio Heights.   

Howard Davis wrote on the old zodiackiller.com message board that "This woman felt that the PD rednecks were put off by Kathleen Johns hippy appearance and really didn't put much credence or interest in her recounting the event of that night". Was the same conclusion on the appearance of Kathleen Johns drawn by the Zodiac Killer, who paraphrased the Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado in his communication on July 26th 1970, opening with the lines from 'As Some Day it May Happen', performed by Ko-Ko. The beginning of Act One stated "As some day it may hapen that a victom must be found. I've got a little list. I've got a little list, of society offenders who might well be underground, who would never be missed, who would never be missed".

Did the Zodiac Killer regard Kathleen Johns hippy tendencies as part of the counterculture or underground movement that he had on his "little list".- people that wouldn't be missed? The letter mailed only two days earlier to the San Francisco Chronicle would suggest so. He wrote on July 24th 1970, threatening "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice (Zodiac symbol inserted)  buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The phrase "I now have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby" appeared to suggest that her escape would be short-lived and that some day it might happen. It appeared that three months later she may still have been in his sights, when she apparently received a Halloween card from her abductor at her home address. He had promised to "start" with her and he wasn't finished yet.

The 'As Some Day it May Happen' verse ended with "But it really doesn't matter whom you place upon the list, for none of them be missed, none of them be missed". Sadly, Kathleen Johns is no longer with us and deeply missed by her loved ones - but fortunately for her family and friends, it wasn't at the hand of the Zodiac Killer.

David Oranchak, owner of the Zodiac Killer Ciphers website, gave a very interesting and informative presentation on the Zodiac ciphers at the Cryptologic History Symposium on October 22nd 2015. If you want to discover some of the features and quirks regarding the composition of the ciphers, this is an extremely good place to start. But there was one particular section that peaked my interest, despite the fact it would probably contradict a number of articles I have featured on this site. Nevertheless, I would like to present the part of the Cryptologic History Symposium here, using the words of David Oranchak. In the video, beginning at 34:37, David states "Here's an interesting coincidence. If you take two standard sized pieces of paper, 8 1/2 inches wide by 11 inches in length and you divide the paper into equal half inch squares, you end up with these sheets that have 17 columns and 22 rows. If you write both ciphers (the 340 and 408) back to back, you end up filling both sheets exactly with no leftover squares. It is an interesting coincidence. Does it mean that Zodiac drafted both of his ciphers together on two sheets of paper? It's an interesting question".

It certainly is an interesting question, bearing in mind the difficulty experienced in solving the 50-year-old 340 cipher and the still unsolved 18 characters at the foot of the 408 cipher. The Zodiac Killer stated in the 408 cipher, preceding the final 18 characters, that "I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife". If the unsolved section of the 408 cipher didn't contain his name or identity, is it possible these 18 characters were supposed to bleed into the message on the 340 cipher. This has to be a realistic proposition when we consider the 340 cipher begins with the final three letters of the word cipher. Was this just another coincidence - or did each cryptogram share half of the word cipher, as well as sharing a message? It is a compelling argument that the Zodiac Killer may have intended to leave only 12 unsolved characters at the foot of the first cipher (possibly decoding to "I am the Zodiac"), but the seeming omission of the word people from the message may have resulted in an unwanted extra 6 characters, thereby forcing a change of plan. Could the 18 characters now form part of a 21 character bridge (or more) between cipher one and two? The 408 cipher ending with cip and joining the her of the yet to be released 340 cipher. If the remainder of the 408 cipher and beginning of the 340 cipher was somehow conveying the idea of "sorry no cipher", in similar fashion to the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card, then the message on the November 8th 1969 greeting card stating "I thought you would need a good laugh before you hear the bad news", may be pertinent to the cipher that accompanied it.           

Sorry no cipher written on the Halloween card once would have sufficed in order to inform us that no code was present on the greeting card, yet the Zodiac Killer appeared to fashion it to mimic the Paradice and Slaves configuration on the card, which equally mimicked the possibility shown present in the 340 cipher on the right. This configuration perfectly bisected the 340 cipher (17 by 17) both horizontally and vertically.

By extension, from the Halloween card to the 340 cipher, was the Zodiac Killer telling us that the second cryptogram was "sorry no cipher"? And by extension, was the Zodiac Killer telling us exactly the same thing from the 408 cipher to the 340 cipher, hence the tantalizing her at the beginning of the cryptogram. It could be argued that the placement of her at the beginning and the near-Zodiac towards the end, is a little too convenient. A message of "sorry no cipher" through three sets of communications may be a bit difficult to shake off as coincidental.

If the Zodiac Killer created a rambling message akin to the 408 cipher and randomly allotted his cipher key, then he was extremely fortunate to have crafted the possibility of the configuration on the right, involving the words paradice and slaves, by in each quadrant, with her at the beginning and Zodaik near the end. This design may have been a superficial message with an underlying cryptographic solution beneath. The prospect of finding the same mini-message shared between the 408 and 340 cipher, that was found on the envelope inner of the Halloween card would certainly be "bad news" for some.

I would like to thank David Oranchak for his contribution regarding the Cryptologic History Symposium, and would encourage everybody who is interested in ciphers to click the highlighted link. Below is just one rudimentary example I have drummed together, using a screenshot of the Youtube video, keeping 7 of the 21 characters in their original format.

Serial killer Karl Francis Werner may have found himself in the ignominious position of not only having been considered brieifly as a contender for being the Zodiac Killer, as well as the man who inspired the Zodiac Killer to his Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, but also the man who ultimately brought down the Zodiac Killer and ended his reign of terror, when he was booked for the murders of Kathy Snoozy, Deborah Furlong and Kathy Bilek on April 29th 1971. However, none of this would have been possible if it wasn't for the keen observations of park ranger Ken Williamson at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. This man noticed that the bespectacled Werner was attending the Villa Montalvo park and woods by himself virtually every day, until such time as Kathy Bilek's brutally stabbed body was discovered down a ravine in the woods. Finding this particularly suspicious, park ranger Williamson took it upon himself to track down the man known only to him as Karl and the search began in earnest. Knowing he was a college student due to previous interactions with the young man, he visited the nearby campus and traced the vehicle he remembered Werner driving, and subsequently noted the vehicle's registrtion. This information and the excellent observation skills of Ken Williamson gave police the vital lead, that ultimately led to the capture and conviction of serial predator Karl Francis Werner. Without the astute detective work of this observant park ranger, there is no doubt whatsoever that other girls and women would have lost their lives to this heartless killer. Werner (69) is currently incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville    

Ken Williamson may also be responsible for the premature end of the Zodiac Killer's letter writing campaign in 1971. By the October of 1971, the Zodiac Killer had mailed two cards and two letters that year (one including a cipher), but it was the fifth and final communication of 1971 that may have been the elusive DMV letter - the correspondence that may eventually usurp the Exorcist letter as the final confirmed Zodiac communication - and long overdue, expose a killer for claiming the murders of another. He intimated he murdered Snoozy and Furlong by the inclusion of "Aug" in the November 8th 1969 'Driping Pen' card, and also claimed the murder of Kathy Bilek in the July 13th 1971 'Montcello' card, despite the fact that Karl Francis Werner had already been charged with all three murders. The Zodiac Killer was driven to claim the Bilek murder from Werner, because for nearly two years he had laid claim to Werner's other two victims (Snoozy and Furlong). This, in essence, is what drove him to reply to a 1971 San Francisco Chronicle article by Paul Avery regarding the questioning by police of Karl Francis Werner. The Zodiac wrote to the Chronicle stating "Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on your front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin". In other words, don't listen to Werner, I killed those three females. The threat of a further three kids doesn't require explanation - the correlation is there to see.   

None of these events would have transpired but for the diligence of Ken Williamson, who would ultimately inspire the last puff of defiant hot air from the Zodiac Killer before he was shamed and discredited into anonymity. He may have got away with claiming the abduction of Kathleen Johns, the murder of Richard Radetich and the disappearance of Donna Lass by virtue that none of these crimes had been solved. He was gifted the murder of Cheri Jo Bates by the column inches of Paul Avery - and not surprisingly accepted this gift with open arms, before throwing in a few more unnamed murders for good measure. None of which he revealed any information only pertinent to him and the police. He was only too willing to supply extra details in the July and August of 1969, make phone calls to the police after his second and third attack, write on a car door by a lake and send a blooded piece of shirt to the San Francisco Chronicle - yet any evidence thereafter was sadly lacking.

The dying fumes of the Zodiac Killer may have transpired in the latter months of 1971, or early months of 1972, when the Zodiac Killer was driven to communicate to the chairman of the DMV in Sacramento. A communication facilitated by the excellent work of Ken Williamson, whose 'vehicle license plate' details of Karl Francis Werner, resulted in the police identifying the home address of Werner at Shawnee Lane in San Jose and his eventual arrest. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer had directly and indirectly included San Jose in a total of five communications to date, with two consecutive ones in 1971, then it wouldn't be too surprising if the one mailed to the DMV in Sacramento (likely in the November or December of 1971) had a San Jose connection also.        

In October 1971, a magazine publication entitled 'True Detective' comprehensively featured the murders of Kathy Snoozy, Deborah Furlong and Kathy Bilek, stating "At about the same moment, Park Ranger Ken Williamson was informing a member of the investigative team that he, too, had noticed a tall, bespectacled young man who had been a frequent visitor at Villa Montalvo. He was a loner and had impressed the Villa's ranger staff with his almost furtive conduct, said Williamson. The ranger had jotted down the license number of the strange youth's auto. The license number was forwarded to the California Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Sacramento, the state's capital 150 miles to the north of San Jose. The information teletyped back from the registration bureau was that the auto was the property of a Karl Francis Werner, living at an address on Shawnee Lane in San Jose".

The Zodiac Killer, probably in one last throw of the dice, sent a letter to the chairman of the DMV in a desperate attempt to reclaim some lost pride. It likely read as follows "I am the murderer of the two kids in San Jose in August and the girl on the 11th of April near the park in Saratoga. I drove away quite slowly from both crime scenes so as not to draw attention to my car. Stop listening to phonys". Yet, on this occasion he couldn't supply any extra details known only to him and the police, finally bringing the Zodiac Killer's unabated fortune of claiming unsolved crimes to a crashing halt, and thereby exposing him as the real phony that many suspected he always was. The Zodiac Killer's race was run - and Ken Williamson was the architect in his unthroning.