Another crime on the fringes of the Zodiac story was the likely abduction and murder of Donna Ann Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino on September 6th 1970. Planning to meet her friend Jo Anne Goettsche immediately after her shift at 2.00 am, the only telltale sign that she had been interrupted, was a pen mark trailing off her log book, estimated at fifteen minutes to the hour. She had left her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro at the Monte Verdi Apartments and traveled to work from her previous residence by foot to begin her shift, planning to ride home to the new flat with her friend, but unfortunately this meeting never happened and the young 25-year-old woman was never seen again. This was Labor Day weekend, so obviously Donna Lass not returning to work in the following days may not have aroused concern, ultimately circumvented by an anonymous caller ringing her employer and workplace, and stating Donna Lass had been called to a family emergency.  

But what does the phone call tell us about the perpetrator/s?
It seems on the face of it, to suggest the mystery phone caller is buying time. They appear to want to delay any police involvement - and since family, friends and associates are usually the first port of call for investigating officers, this is who would benefit most from any investigative delay.
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The perpetrator/s most likely had a vehicle parked outside the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Abducting a woman at a busy casino and hotel by dragging her away on foot is extremely unlikely and far too risky. Whatever happened subsequent to this is in the realm of speculation, but one reason to want to buy time in the following days, can be attributed to a forensic standpoint. Had Donna Lass been taken to a second location connected to the abductor, or attacked within the confines of the assailant's vehicle leaving trace evidence, then clearly this provides good reason for the perpetrator to want the clean up before the police come knocking. A murder distinct and separate, leaving nothing of forensic value to connect to the perpetrator, does not necessitate the further risk of identification through a phone call. The phone call itself provides another clue. If Donna Lass had driven to work on the day in question, her car would have been laying dormant in the casino car park, so an anonymous caller claiming she had been called out of town on family business could easily have raised suspicion from her employers, and simply negated the caller's intention of buying time. In fact, it would have had the opposite effect. The same could be said regarding the landlord of the Monte Verdi Apartments, if the landlord was familiar with her vehicle or was regularly present on site.                    

It would also suggest the abductor was not aware of Donna's intention to meet her friend Jo Ann Goettsche that night, as she could easily have raised concern about Donna's non-appearance. Was the abductor familiar enough with Donna's movements that day, that told him she had not traveled to work in her vehicle that evening? She also disappeared close to the end of her shift, having already changed from her nurses uniform into her casual clothes - another convenient circumstance for the abductor. Had she vanished from her post, let's say, hours earlier, her disappearance would have certainly raised more eyebrows, indicating the abductor likely had some knowledge of Donna Lass prior to September 6th 1970 and thereby negating the idea this was a random perpetrator. The abduction of Donna Lass has all the hallmarks of a planned abduction by somebody familiar with the young woman, her vehicle and her 'clocking off' time. And more importantly, somebody who needs to keep the police off their doorstep for as long as possible.

Her Chevrolet Camaro parked outside her Monte Verdi Apartments and the apartment itself, showed no signs of foul play or disturbance. The likelihood is she disappeared from the vicinity of the casino at approximately 1:45 am to 1:50 am - and unlikely from her nurses station - as this would have attracted too much attention. As Zodiac researcher Raymond Grant has already stated, the likeliest scenario is Donna Lass was enticed away from her work station close to the end of her shift in a planned abduction, performed under the guise of a medical emergency, that not only explains the abrupt pen mark trailing off her log book, but is the perfect ruse to necessitate her separation from the confines of the building and into the darkness. She is bundled into the abductor's vehicle with relative ease and is never seen again.            

Apart from the four confirmed Zodiac attacks, the Bay Area killer would also indicate his involvement in the Richard Radetich murder, the Cheri Jo Bates stabbing and the Kathleen Johns abduction, however, here he doesn't specifically attach himself to the crime, just the locality of the crime, some six and a half months after the fact.
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The phone call after the Donna Lass abduction is not unusual to Zodiac and neither is the mailed correspondence, but the nature of the crime is, along with the purpose of the phone call. His previous two phone calls were designed for menace and the taunting of police, whereas this call had the sole design to create breathing space, indicative of somebody connected to the victim and area. Of course, Zodiac could have been resident in the area, known Donna Lass and been the abductor. But from what we know of Zodiac's confirmed attacks, by all accounts, he attacked strangers at a specific location and never abducted them.
The phone call in the case of Donna Lass was designed to misdirect for a reason, and quite possibly the 'Pines' card was mailed for the same purpose; - the first to delay the focus and the second to take the focus away. This time the perfect fall guy would be Zodiac. However, one killer may have been responsible for both phone call and postcard and it may not be the killer we have been tracking for nearly fifty years.         

Advances in forensics are developing to such a degree, that hopefully techniques may still be discovered to forge an opening in the Zodiac case. The same hope that emerged with the development of DNA profiling in 1984 by Alec Jeffreys, first used in the criminal prosecution of Colin Pitchfork in respect of the 1988 Enderby murders in Narborough, England. With question marks still surrounding the origin or validity of the DNA in the Zodiac case, another equally potent crime fighting tool would be of great value, in not only ruling out suspects, that our partial DNA fingerprint is able to do, but one that will definitively rule them in.
Mitochondrial DNA (such as found in hair shaft devoid of the root) is maternally inherited, so has distinct limitations compared to nuclear DNA. It cannot be used as definitive proof a suspect is the donor of say a hair shaft found at a crime scene, only to exclude that individual from being the source. William Gregory was exonerated in 2000 when his mtDNA was subsequently found to not match six hairs from an attempted rape case. In the case of the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates, a mitochondrial DNA sample was extracted from the hair shaft retrieved from Cheri Jo's thumb at autopsy, but this failed to provide a match to their prime suspect in the case. Whether or not this mitochondrial DNA from Riverside has been compared to any suspects hair in the Zodiac case is another topic, along with any nuclear DNA retrieved from the letters in both cases.  

In 2002 Cydne Holt of the San Francisco DNA laboratory found a reddish-brown hair  sealed beneath a stamp on the Stine envelope, a letter confirmed as Zodiac correspondence, in part due to a section of taxicab driver Paul Stine's shirt accompanying it. The eyewitnesses at the crime scene described a man with a reddish-brown crew cut, so this finding carries some significance. However, as already stated, if the donor of this hair was our killer, or at the very least our letter writer, any mitochondrial DNA found in the hair shaft could rule out suspects in the Zodiac case as its contributor, including Arthur Leigh Allen. Hair is very resilient, surviving long after other biological forms have degraded, such as in archaeological digs.

Recent advances have opened up the possibility of a definitive match to a suspect, using only a shaft of hair, based upon its constituent proteins, that may be unique to an individual. So far scientists have detailed 185 protein markers and hope to focus in on 100, enough to identity an individual from the world's population.  www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09  This may be useful going forward in producing a 'protein fingerprint' database. Once a hair is taken from a suspect, either dead or alive, it would then be entered into the database to effectively single out the specific perpetrator of a crime. In respect to the Zodiac case, the horse may have bolted, but along with salivary amylase and partial DNA recovered from the stamps and envelopes in the Zodiac case, the power of mtDNA in regards to hair retrieval, should not be underestimated as a supplemental crime fighting tool in our case.      

The Paul Stine, October 13th 1969 letter, is the only confirmed correspondence by the Zodiac Killer in which he placed a crosshair on the envelope. Is it too far fetched to believe he placed the hair under the stamp deliberately, giving us a false lead. The hair effectively coming from a disguise, that he proudly boasted about in the Bus Bomb letter mailed on November 9th 1969: "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill." A crosshair can be seen in the top left of the envelope.

Was this a play on words; Across hair - found under the stamp directly across from the Zodiac sign. Was the Zodiac really this devious and clever, or just my imagination running wild? Most likely the latter.
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THE ZODIAC KILLER'S DNA PART ONE

Here we are in 2016 and there are still huge question marks on which of the Zodiac correspondence are by the killer and which are from hoaxers. We have been told that a partial DNA fingerprint of the killer has been secured from testing various letters, stamps and envelopes. A full DNA profile is much more exact in definitively securing the identification of an actual offender, whereas a partial DNA sample may produce more than one hit on a particular database. This is explained on the 'Council of Responsible Genetics' "In cases I have reviewed over the past few years, evidentiary samples from crime scenes often produce incomplete or partial DNA profiles.  Limited quantities of DNA, degradation of the sample, or the presence of inhibitors (contaminants) can make it impossible to determine the genotype at every locus.  In some instances the test yields no information about the genotype at a particular locus; in some instances one of the two alleles at a locus will "drop out" (become undetectable).  Because partial profiles contain fewer genetic markers (alleles) than complete profiles, they are more likely to match someone by chance.  The probability of a coincidental match is higher for a partial profile than for a full profile.The risk of obtaining a match by coincidence is far higher when authorities search through thousands or millions of profiles looking for a match than when they compare the evidentiary profile to the profile of a single individual who has been identified as a suspect for other reasons." 

As stated, if you have identified a Zodiac suspect through other evidence and the partial DNA then provides a match, the significance of the match is more relevant than just a random match from the general population. A comparison between Zodiac letters, if all contained partial DNA profiles, would therefore be more conclusive if a match was secured, as you have a strong evidentiary reason for doing so.      

Dr Cydne Holt of the San Francisco DNA laboratory tested the Zodiac letters to compare to several Zodiac suspects in this case, including Arthur Leigh Allen - and in doing so these suspects were excluded as the contributors of the DNA recovered from the seal of the envelopes and stamps. It is crucial what she says in this documentary (shown below) and suggests almost without question the DNA profile held by law enforcement is that of the Zodiac Killer, as not only were matches secured between letters, but crucially from one of three envelopes mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969 - letters verified as Zodiac correspondence, due to details the author revealed only known to the murderer and police. It is also crucial that the letters were tested using the sealed sections, so as to avoid contamination from the many handlers of the envelopes throughout the intervening years.

Narrator in the documentary "However if Doctor Cydne Holt can find enough genetic material from Zodiac's stamps and letters, she can compare it to a wafer thin slice of brain tissue from Arthur Leigh Allen's autopsy." Dr Cydne Holt "This brain tissue from Arthur Leigh Allen is the reference sample that I would use for the comparison."  Narrator "Dr Holt has already detected the possible presence of Zodiac's DNA in the seal of the envelope that contained the greeting card (Dripping Pen Card and 340 cipher), and just in case that test fails to provide a full DNA profile, she also prepares to look for DNA beneath the stamps on two of these three letters (July 31st letters)." Dr Cydne Holt "Depending on whether those DNA's match each other, might allow me to include or exclude Arthur Leigh Allen as potentially contributing the DNA on the Zodiac letters."

As she states in the last line, she must match between letters to then be sure Zodiac is the contributor of the DNA. Ruling out a suspect to just one letter is meaningless, as that letter could be from the hand of a hoaxer. But by comparing the Dripping Pen card envelope to the first three letters mailed by the killer, she can then corroborate the DNA as likely from Zodiac, before moving on and comparing it to any potential suspect. A DNA match between envelopes must have been secured, as she followed on to exclude the three subjects in the video. This with near certainty provides a link from the Dripping Pen card to the July 31st 1969 letters and to the killer.

On June 17th 1996, a reddish-brown hair was discovered sealed beneath a stamp on the Stine envelope, particularly relevant due to eyewitness recollection in the aftermath of the Paul Stine murder on October 11th 1969, with the killer described by the three teenagers overlooking the crime scene as having a reddish-brown crew cut. Unless a very clever Zodiac deliberately planted it there to throw investigators onto the wrong trail, knowing he indeed had used a disguise during the murder.

The hair failed to provide a DNA sample, as the root was missing, but advances over the last 20 years, particularly regarding mitochondrial DNA may yet provide useful information.

Here is a list of envelopes processed for DNA, minus the envelopes from July 31st 1969, as they had been misplaced at the time this list was compiled. It can be noticed that the 1978 'I am back with you' letter has yielded DNA material, but is attributed as not being an authentic Zodiac letter. Since authorities now have Zodiac's partial DNA profile, it is fairly certain that this letter has now been compared and effectively ruled out, laying to rest any debate about its authenticity. What is apparent; is that although all the preceding material, including the July 31st 1969 letters, contained the evidence of cells, there is an evident departure of any recorded biological material up to 1974 on the Halloween card, Los Angeles letter, Pines card, Monticello card, Citizen card, Red Phantom letter, and possibly 13-Hole postcard. Admittedly, many of these are postcards, hence may not have been tested or attributed on this list due to the absence of an envelope, but what we are left with, is that subsequent to the Little List letter mailed on July 26th 1970, we have to wait three-and-a-half years to the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974 for any cells to be found on the envelope again (obviously dismissing the 1978 letter). It is quite conceivable that the Little List correspondence may have been Zodiac's last, unless he willfully attached himself to the Cheri Jo Bates murder by sending the Los Angeles letter on March 13th 1971.        

One has to question the validity of all the correspondence in 1974 and beyond. The Zodiac Killer was an egotist, who craved attention, yet failed to capitalize on two films released in April and December of 1971, that of 'The Zodiac Killer' and 'Dirty Harry' respectively, but waited nearly three years to comment on a film that had nothing to do with him. Was he already dead or incarcerated.

Seasoned Zodiac researcher Mike Rodelli, featured in the ABC Primetime Investigation, stated on Zodiac Killer Site forum "The DNA on the 1978 letter is supposedly what proves that letter was NOT from Zodiac. Alan Keel, who did the early DNA testing on the SFPD evidence, told both me and LL that DNA matching the 1978 letter was found on one of the 1974 letters. We still can't find out which one, though! They are both considered forgeries. So you have to be careful, IMHO, if you make a case about a suspect that involves evidence from all four of those 1974 letters because one is the odd man out. However, one of the 1974 letters is considered a forgery AND the only letter with cells found on it from that year IS the Exorcist letter! Do I dare? It is blasphemy to suggest that the Exorcist letter is the "second forgery" because of the sacred palm print. Hey, Z never left a palm print on any other letter, so maybe that suggests that he did not write that one, either!" 

If this is true, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then one of the four 1974 letters is a fake. If we take the four correspondences; The Exorcist letter, SLA letter, Citizen card and Red Phantom letter, the most 'genuine' looking material is the Exorcist letter. A hoaxer attempting to make the correspondence look like Zodiac, will attempt to copy known Zodiac letters, as shown by the 1978 letter, so in theory the Exorcist letter could be considered the 'odd man out'.
  
Mike Rodelli added "There is *one person* (Dave Toschi) whose name has come up time and again as possibly having forged the 1978 letter, and he suffered for those claims. The presumed goal of a forger sending a letter like the 1978 letter would have possibly been to reinvigorate a dying investigation. After all, Zodiac had not written a letter since either May or July 1974. That is three years and change. When the Exorcist letter arrived, although it was not written like a true "Zodiac" letter with the correct opening phrase, it did have the effect of reviving a dead investigation once it was revealed as a "Zodiac" letter. Zodiac had not written in nearly three years at that point, so the investigation had gone a bit cold. So the Exorcist letter can at least be construed as having had the same goal as what Keel said is a known forgery in the 1978 letter."

In fact, none of the letters in 1974 opened with the line "This is the Zodiac Speaking", none were adorned with the crosshairs symbol, only one featured a running victim total and all were rather tame, truth be told, signed "Yours truly", "a friend", "A citizen" and "the Red Phantom." The final three letters in 1974 were also postmarked: Los Angeles and San Rafael, along with the 1990 American Greetings card which was mailed from Eureka, a marked deviation from the geography of earlier correspondence.

The first letter to arrive, containing any DNA/cells, after the Little List letter on July 26th 1970 was the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974 and both contained lines paraphrasing 'The Mikado', a satirical comedic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. Strange therefore that the Zodiac should refer to The Exorcist as "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen," albeit introducing 'Tit Willow' into the letter, that this time appears to have little purpose or context. But does this validate the Exorcist letter or does the three year Zodiac hiatus affect its apparent status as the last confirmed Zodiac correspondence ever mailed by the killer. The fact it was confirmed as the final correspondence likely works in its favor.

THE ZODIAC KILLER'S DNA PART TWO

Recently, a military angle and the Zodiac Killer has been explored in Riverside, concerning the profession of Joseph Bates in the Corona Naval Ordnance Laboratory. The idea presented was that somebody possibly connected to Joseph Bates or worked close by, had the opportunity and means to commit the brutal stabbing of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. There were naval warfare centers in the Corona area, particularly relevant, because of the boot impression found by Cheri Jo Bates' body, described by police; "Physical evidence found at our crime scene indicated that heel prints found by the body were made by a heel that was manufactured for military and other government agencies, including prisons." This, coupled with the visible Zodiac crosshairs over Corona and we may have a foothold: Corona-The Crosshairs Over Riverside. 

In addition, March Air Force Base was situated only 12 miles from Riverside City College library, so plenty of military personnel were in close proximity to this particular crime scene. The Zodiac could then have relocated to Northern California sometime after the Bates letters were mailed on April 30th 1967. Fast forward one year and eight months, and the confirmed Zodiac Killer attacks began at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, just 10 miles and 9 miles respectively from the Mare Island Naval Complex. 

Alameda Naval Air Station is only 4 miles east of San Francisco, separated by the Oakland Bay Bridge and 40 miles (by road) from Benicia. If the Zodiac Killer resided in this area, then mailing his letters from San Francisco is but a short journey across the bay, yet still provides separation from the Presidio Heights area and a reasonable buffer zone to Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa, the latter of which revealed the murderer's footprints. To and from the crime scene on the shores of Lake Berryessa, ten-and-one-half Wing Walker boot impressions were found (a type of military footwear used to walk on the wings of planes).
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The Zodiac Killer may well have worked at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard located at Hunters Point, only 10 miles from the crime scene at Presidio Heights. The Navy discontinued use of the yard in 1974 when it was leased for commercial ship repairs. Did the Zodiac work at Hunters Point before he was stationed in Alameda County? On May 8th 1974, the only Zodiac letter mailed from Alameda County would arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle, followed by the Red Phantom letter on July 8th 1974 from San Rafael.  

An FBI report [See below] from a confidential source mentioned a 'look alike' for Zodiac, who had served either in the US Army or US Air Force between June 1966 and August 1970, allegedly stationed in the San Francisco Bay Area and Riverside, California. This document also details the abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 on Highway 132, west of Modesto and finishes by stating the subject in question was reportedly stationed in Patterson at the time. Kathleen Johns described the man who abducted her that night as possibly having a military connection, describing him as a "WMA, 160 lbs, approx 30 years, 5'9" in height, dark hair and clean-cut, rimmed plastic glasses, having the traits of a serviceman". This crime has often divided the Zodiac community. If the Zodiac Killer lived in the Bay Area, it seems strange that he would drive a 180 mile round trip just to commit an abduction in the middle of nowhere. There is such as thing as a buffer zone employed by criminals, but 90 miles traveling distance, fast approaching midnight, appears unlikely. Unless of course, he had an alternative reason to be there that night, such as returning home from visiting relatives, had been on a hunting or fishing trip, or any other form of recreation. It is unlikely he lived close to Highway 132 (near Modesto), as many communications would subsequently arrive during 1970, postmarked San Francisco. It is conceivable he made this journey daily, lived in two places, or had a profession that required mobility and flexibility. Was he returning to the Bay Area that night from an outpost connected to the military?  

The FBI document mentions the subject may have been stationed in the Patterson area at the time. Whether this subject was the murderer or not, the military angle is still a valid one for the Zodiac Killer, bearing in mind Kathleen Johns said the person who abducted her was the same man in the Presidio Heights sketch hanging on the wall of the Patterson Police Station. The Zodiac letter on the right, mailed on July 24th 1970, stated "So now I have a little list, starting with the woeman & her baby that I gave a rather interesting ride for a couple of hours one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". 

Kathleen Johns was abducted on Highway 132, just west of the I-5 and Vernalis Road crossover point, near Bird Road, the location her vehicle was ultimately found burnt out by police a few hours later. If the Zodiac Killer was traveling west on Highway 132, where had he come from that night? He was in possession of a flashlight, so had he been working late in a military facility which required the use of such an aid, that would be located such that it brought him out onto Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns circa 11:45 pm.

Only 25 miles south of the area where Kathleen Johns was abducted is the Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing in Patterson. Following World War II, Crows Landing became an Outlying Land Field to the Naval Air Station in Alameda, and later Moffett Field, near the south end of San Francisco. So another connection exists. As you exit NASA Crows Landing to return to the Bay Area, the quickest route is immediately onto Interstate 5, which then joins Highway 132 only 1.4 miles before the point where Kathleen Johns was flagged over, and where her vehicle was eventually discovered burnt out. The Zodiac Killer would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. 

One last noteworthy observation is in respect to the immediate correspondence after the Modesto abduction. The 13-Symbol cipher was mailed on April 20th 1970, one month after this presumed abduction.  Below is the code the Zodiac mailed, and to the left is the Nasa Crows Landing military patch.

On June 19th 1970, Sgt Richard Radetich was gunned down by three shots from a .38 caliber revolver at point blank range through the driver side window of his vehicle, while in the process of serving a parking ticket. He was sat in his police car near 643 Waller Street, San Francisco in the Lower Haight District when he sustained life threatening injuries and subsequently died 15 hours later. Local residents heard a vehicle speeding away from the area, unfortunately however, the number of assailants present at the crime scene is unknown. The parking ticket Richard Radetich had just written, was for a 1965 Oldsmobile bereft of 1970 license tags, albeit, Police Chief Alfred J. Nelder at the time said they had no reason to suspect the owner of this vehicle to be a participant in the commission of the murder. Detectives suspect the killer or killers pulled their vehicle alongside the officer's police car, and without exiting their vehicle, fired through the closed window, shattering the glass and fatefully striking Richard Radetich in the head. ​

A short distance from the crime scene (0.3 miles), a gas station attendant recalled seeing a white Cadillac racing down Oak Street and entering Divisadero Street. Officer Radetich's murder shocked the local community, as he left behind a wife, Nancy, and his eight-month-old daughter Janine. Seven days later, a letter from the Zodiac Killer arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle that suggested he may have been the responsible - stating that he "shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38".  But was the Zodiac Killer the murderer or was it an attempt to lay claim to somebody else's crime? Two violent groups operating in the early 70s needed little prompting to come forward and admit their crimes, despite this however, neither the 'Black Liberation Army' or the 'Weather Underground' ever admitted any involvement in the Richard Radetich murder. So was the Zodiac Killer the murderer of Richard Radetich?

On April 20th 1970, two months before this murder, the Zodiac Killer mailed his 13-Symbol cipher to the San Francisco Chronicle and proclaimed "I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station. Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory.  But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back.  I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more except that my bus bomb was a dud.  I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back". The Zodiac Killer was referencing the murder of Sgt Brian McDonnell (44) on February 16th 1970, who was killed by a bomb packed with fence staples, planted on the window ledge of the 1899 Waller Street Park Police Station in Upper Haight, San Francisco. It seemed strange that the Zodiac Killer would deny this murder, stating "It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory"- because this murder took place in Upper Haight, less than 2 miles from the Richard Radetich murder in Lower Haight, to which he was intimating a link.  

Two months after the Brian McDonnell murder and eight days after his previous correspondence, the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Dragon' card on April 28th 1970, depicting what appears to be characters from a novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. The novel featured Don Quixote and his horse Rocinante, along with his squire Sancho Panza, perched on a nameless donkey, who both embark on a mission to restore chivalry.

The Zodiac Killer wrote on the face of the card "I hope you enjoy yourselves when I have my Blast". Was this postcard chosen for a specific reason - a case of Zodiac rubbing salt into the wounds of the San Francisco Police Department by bringing up the suggestion of another impending bomb? The 1899 Waller Street Police Station and location of the murder of Sgt Brian McDonnell is situated on the boundary of the San Francisco Golden Gate Park and in close proximity to the memorial statue of Miguel de Cervantes featuring Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. So, was this card really just a random choice, or was the Zodiac Killer simply 'needling the blue pigs' with the threat of another blast in that location?
Furthermore, standing outside the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, just opposite the Miguel de Cervantes statue, is a memorial to Robert Emmet, an Irish nationalist. Robert Emmet the hippie was suggested as a solution to the indecipherable 18 characters at the foot of the Zodiac's 408 cipher.
   
Then came the 'Button' letter on June 26th 1970, hinting at the murder of Richard Radetich, despite earlier protestations it wouldn't do to move in on somebody else's territory. The murders in Upper and Lower Haight, and the Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra statue, mentioned in these three correspondences by the Zodiac Killer, are all contained within a 2 mile radius.
Shortly after the murder of Richard Radetich a white Cadillac was spotted speeding north on Divisadero Street from Oak Street. In a previous article it was reasoned that the Zodiac Killer shortly after the murder of Paul Stine entered the Presidio Park and made his escape eastwards into the Cow Hollow region. A murderer heading northbound on Divisadero Street is on a direct collision course with the Cow Hollow region. Divisadero Street terminates at Marina Boulevard on San Francisco's northern edge. 

On July 24th 1970, the Zodiac Killer would claim his involvement in the abduction of Kathleen Johns just west of Modesto, California - a crime that has also gone unsolved - despite the claims of Kathleen Johns it was indeed the Zodiac Killer. The contradictions and connections between the '13 Symbol' cipher, 'Dragon' card and 'Button' letter are there for all to see - but did the Zodiac Killer ever take the unlikely step from 'needling the blue pigs' to killing them?

The Department of Justice report described the heel prints at the Cheri Jo Bates crime scene as "those worn by Air Force personnel" and "was identified as a B.F. Goodrich waffle design, men's four-eighths inch washer type half heel. The B.F Goodrich Products Division of Akron, Ohio, reported that this type heel is only sold to the Federal prison industries at Leavenworth, Kansas. It was subsequently learned that Federal prison industries made low quarter military type shoes and supplied them to all the armed services using black dress shoes. The measurement of the heel indicated that it would have been attached to an eight to ten size shoe. Shoes bearing the same type heel were issued and sold at the PX at March Air Force Base in Riverside". In fact, the Riverside Police Department would sum this up by stating "Physical evidence found at our crime scene indicated that heel prints found by the body were made by a heel that was manufactured for military and other government agencies, including prisons".

A connection has been long proposed between the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 and the Zodiac murders in the Bay Area, along with a military theme, in part, due to Wing Walker footwear impressions being discovered to and from the Lake Berryessa crime scene.

In a previous article CORONA-THE CROSSHAIRS OVER RIVERSIDE, it was noted that the father of Cheri Jo Bates worked as a machinist at the Corona Naval Ordnance Laboratory. The north of Corona (Norco), underwent massive redevelopment, to become a resort area: In September–October 1941, the United States Navy purchased the resort, and on December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, the resort was commissioned the United States Naval Hospital in Corona. The hospital was located in the city of Corona at that time, but when the City of Norco was established in 1964, the hospital was officially located in Norco as well as the post office which is now called the Norco Post Office. 
From Wikipedia. 

The naval hospital was eventually closed, and five years later in 1962 the area was commissioned by the State of California to be used as a narcotics addicts rehabilitation center, and later as a prison. The naval facilities have continued to the present day. It was speculated that bearing in mind Joseph Bates' profession, and the fact he was addressed personally by the killer, that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates may have been a friend or work colleague in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory of Joseph Bates, who was either familiar with Cheri Jo Bates or had crossed paths with her. The military boot print gives us a link, along with the fact the killer may have been on the fringes of Miss Bates' circle - in that he knew her - but they weren't necessarily friends. If the author of the 'Confession' letter was telling any semblance of truth, then the wording "I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me," suggests she only talked to him after the offer of help, implying something less than a close friend. The area of Corona where Joseph Bates worked was in close proximity to many naval facilities, as well as the California Rehabilitation Center Prison, both situated only 15 minutes from the location of the murder.  

The murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, who is unlikely a close friend, due to fingerprint screening, may have just eluded suspicion on account of his loose connection to the victim through her father. He could have been an unwanted admirer who worked in the military - somebody who knew her vehicle and possibly trailed her to the Riverside City College Library - and was mechanically minded enough to disable her vehicle, along with a familiarity of her father to address him personally.

​As stated in the previous Riverside article; if this was the birthplace or origin of the Zodiac Killer, then he had the perfect symbol to adopt, bearing in mind the Zodiac crosshairs centered directly over the heart of Corona, as seen by clicking Google Maps on the right. The original aerial view can be seen on Hemmings Daily exhibiting the perfect crosshairs of the 'Circled City'.

The Zodiac would later admit to his Riverside activity in the 'Los Angeles' letter mailed on March 13th 1971, stating "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity". If indeed he was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then Mount Diablo was not the first time he would use a crossed circle over California. 

​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-crosshairs-over-riverside Part 1

​FOOTNOTE: If you superimpose and center the Zodiac crosshair from the 'Little List' letter over Mount Diablo and over the center of Corona, on both occasions the 'black circle' lands over or near Merrill Street. 
Image 1  Image 2 

Back in June of this year, Zodiac researcher Alex Lewis managed to acquire an unredacted FBI document releasing the following information: Xenophon Lusby Anthony, WMA, DOB 28th February 1931. Resides at 3218 Jackson Street, San Francisco. For Info Ident Division, San Francisco Police Department advised; 8 year old witness in murder of cab driver identified Anthony as possible subject in this matter.

This was on page 15 of 41 on Zodiac 2 PDF and dated November 6th 1969. The follow up, on page 16 of 41 was regarding the testing of latent fingerprints for comparison to known fingerprints held on file, dated November 7th 1969, in regard to the 11/6/69 teletype. It was important to see what follow up was conducted regarding this sighting. The FBI file below, indicates that the presumed sighting of Xenophon Anthony by the 8-year-old witness was followed up immediately and found that Xenophon L Anthony's fingerprints bore no correlation to the fingerprints on file. Here are the files I managed to acquire from an FOIA request to the FBI.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/zodiac2.pdf

Shortly after the first two attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner with the now infamous line "This is the Zodiac speaking".The origin of the crosshairs symbol that adorned the majority of his communications has often given rise to many theories, such as the Zodiac watch logo, a gun-sight, or a film leader used in motion picture reels. However, is it possible the origin of the symbol was born from the origin of the Zodiac Killer, if that makes any sense. In other words, from where he began his murderous campaign, the area of Riverside County and the vicious stabbing of Cheri Jo Bates.

The 'Los Angeles' letter mailed on March 13th 1971 would concede the Riverside connection and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on Sunday October 30th 1966, stating "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there." A connection was forged through correspondence sent by the alleged killer in Riverside, including a trinity of letters mailed to Joseph Bates (Cheri's father), the Riverside Press Enterprise and the Riverside Police, bearing what looked like a letter 'Z' signing off the letters. But was the area of Riverside the inspiration behind the infamous crossed circle and the inception of his murderous beginnings. 

Cheri Jo Bates was brutally stabbed and slashed in the alleyway just west of the Riverside City College library annex. Two key pieces of evidence were retrieved, firstly, heel prints with a military/prison connection (see here), and a Timex watch, bearing white paint splashes, ripped from the assailant and retrieved just ten feet from the body of Cheri Jo Bates. It was suggested that had Cheri Jo Bates' killer been a stranger or somebody not connected to the Riverside City College library, her obvious choice after being unable to start her Volkswagen Beetle, would have been to return to the library to seek assistance - it was after all, only about 30 seconds away. 

Cheri Jo Bates' father, Joseph Bates, worked as a machinist for the Corona Naval Ordnance Laboratory. Corona, California is situated in Riverside County, only 15 miles southwest of central Riverside, a relatively short journey of 17 minutes by car. Was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates connected to the Corona Naval Laboratory and did he own military style footwear, with the white paint flecks found on the Timex watch originating from this facility.
Corona used to hold car racing around its city center in the early 1900s, on account of the unique layout of its streets, incorporating Main Street, East Grand Boulevard and West Grand Boulevard, which formed a perfect circle. It was originally called South Riverside and is widely known as  'Circle City.'  
Main Street was a straight north-south thoroughfare until it was redesigned in recent years, adding a deviation around its east-west 6th Street crossover point. This image on Google Maps shows the layout of Corona now, whereas in this following image on Hemmings Daily we see the perfect crosshairs of the 'Circled City.'  
​
If the connection between the Bay Area murderer and Riverside could be proven, then this may have been the very inception of the Zodiac Killer, a man on the very fringes of Cheri Jo Bates' life, a man on the very fringes of Riverside and a crossed circle born from the 'Circled City' of Corona.

"I do have to give them credit for stumbling a-cross my riverside activity."

Again, we will take another look at the Cheri Jo Bates murder on October 30th 1966, but on this occasion we shall take the path of least resistance, to arrive at Cheri Jo Bates fending off her attacker three to four hours earlier than the widely accepted consensus - because it takes away the unresolved time from her leaving the library to her eventual demise. There are still a lot of unresolved factors, in particular whether Cheri Jo Bates ever entered the library, or had been abducted during the missing four hours and returned back to the scene. The following should be regarded as the simplistic approach.

Cheri Jo Bates entered the library at about 6:00 pm to pick up some reading material, having parked her Volkswagen Beetle on Terracina Drive and walked to the library annex, approximately 30 yards away. Robert Graysmith stated in his book "We figure Cheri Jo arrived at the RCC Library annex around six and went into the library. She had friends studying in the library, but none of them recall seeing her. We know she actually entered the library only because of three books on the Electoral College she checked out, which were found on the front seat of her car".  

Two weeks after the murder, a reenactment was performed bringing 65 people back to the library who were present on Sunday October 30th, however, nobody recalled seeing Cheri Jo Bates in the library subsequent to the few minutes after it opened. It is highly unlikely that all 65 attendees were in the library just after 6:00 pm, so if Cheri Jo Bates did enter the library, she would had to have left almost immediately in order to go unnoticed. It has also been suggested that possibly somebody else charged out the books using her ID card, left the books in her Volkswagen and disabled the distributor coil to center the murder around the college campus. This could have been resolved by checking the books for Miss Bates' fingerprints. which one assumes would have been done by police, as they did with other areas of the vehicle. Cheri Jo Bates, had she entered the library, was certainly not there for a prolonged period of time - certainly not until 9:00 pm closing time, as many people would have remembered her present that night.

Assuming she entered the library, it had to be of short duration to avoid being noticed. Bearing in mind she arrived at the library at around 6:00 pm, it is conceivable she had left as early as 6:15-6:20 pm. She attempted to start her vehicle, is offered assistance by an unknown male (the one who disabled it) and the irrevocable chain of events unfolded.

Cheri Jo Bates could simply have decided to walk back to the RCC Library to phone home, seek assistance or ask for a lift home, once a suitable friend arrived. Had the 'good Samaritan' offering her help been a stranger, this would appear the sensible option, bearing in mind the library was a mere 30 yards from her parked vehicle. If the good Samaritan was known to her, she may very well have accompanied him on the promise of a lift.

Depending on her interaction with the eventual murderer, this would shift the timeline about four hours before the widely accepted time of her murder, to around 6:20-6.40 pm. Sunset in Riverside was just prior to 6:00 pm that evening, so the light had effectively ebbed away and her body could have lay there unnoticed for 12 hours, before Riverside City College caretaker Cleophus Martin discovered the stricken Miss Bates at 6:30 am on October 31st 1966. But could Cheri Jo's body lie just off Terracina Drive for approximately 2 1/2 hours while people entered and exited the library that night without being spotted. It seems difficult to believe, but this has to be more likely than Cheri Jo Bates entering the cramped library at around 6:00 pm and leaving at 9.00 pm without anybody noticing her. At least the library is illuminated.

Although not definitive, the autopsy results back up the earlier murder scenario, discussed here in Cheri-Jo-Bates-the-autopsy-findings. Stomach contents generally empty within 2 to 4 hours, but Cheri still had 100 ml in her stomach (a sizeable amount}. Her last meal was at her Via San Jose residence around 4:30 pm, as testified by Joseph Bates and backed up by the constituent stomach contents. With the amount of food remaining in her stomach, her likely murder occurred no later than three hours after she had eaten, possibly as little as two hours, placing the time between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

If Cheri Jo Bates had entered the library at approximate 6:00 pm and stayed there until closing, not only would she have been spotted by numerous people, but she couldn't have had 100 ml of food in her stomach 5 to 6 hours later. Stomach digestion is severely restricted during periods of great stress, indicating she may have been held under duress at a second location, but this suggests an abduction from the scene, only for the abductor/s to then return hours later and murder Cheri Jo Bates at the original location they took her from. Other than this scenario, a murder at 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm is what we are left with.

The liver temperature of 26-28 degrees at autopsy (9:31 am) the following day, seems to back up the findings of the stomach contents, indicating a murder some 13-15 hours earlier. But considering the fact that Cheri Jo arrived at the library at 6:00 pm, the bottom end estimate of 6.30 pm seems the most likely. 

The supposed killer would send a 'Confession' letter a month later, also backing up this earlier timeline. The author of the correspondence typed "Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time she asked me, "about time for what?". I said it was about time for her to die".

If this person was the killer - and he followed her out of the library, or waited outside - then it had to be early, because the only way for Cheri Jo Bates to have gone unnoticed by so many people, was to enter and leave the library relatively close to opening time, before the library filled up. The question is, how do you interpret the phrase "Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes". Did the killer wait for two minutes after Cheri Jo Bates left the library or did Cheri Jo Bates enter the library and leave two minutes later? The fly in the ointment are the screams heard by eyewitnesses around 10:30 pm. But are these accurate and did they originate from Cheri Jo Bates? They are seemingly four hours too late, and appear to conflict with all of the above. In addition, a female eyewitness apparently told police she was in the alleyway at around 9:30 pm. where she saw a man smoking a cigarette. Where this account originated from, or whether it is has been fully authenticated is open to question. 

                                             FBI files, Zodiac 5, page 139/249
         http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/zodiac5_pages_1-249.pdf