Using the words of Mike Oh from That Chapter, this old story involves a man who isn't the Zodiac Killer, but has probably more going for him than 99% of the suspects ever named. Those old coincidences just keep following this bloke around northern and southern California. He first came to the attention of the newspapers on October 21st 1969 regarding the Zodiac case, when he underwent six hours of questioning in Ukiah, California. Bruce Kenneth Swanson (30) was arrested by California Highway Patrol for speeding along Highway 101 (120 mph) just north of Ukiah, suspected of failing to pay a Ridgewood Motel bill. When his vehicle was searched they found a 14-inch knife, a bloody shirt and pair of shoes, and a woman's handbag. They also noted a resemblance to the infamous Zodiac Killer sketch (presumably from Lake Berryessa). However, after Napa law enforcement had traveled to Ukiah for a sit-down with Bruce Kenneth "Gift of the Gab" Swanson, the police allowed him on his merry way, satisfied with his explanations. Wouldn't you just loved to have been a fly on the wall in that interrogation room - but never mind - it probably went something like this: Bruce: "I was driving along the road like a maniac and hit a deer crossing the road, which I had to drag onto the verge, getting blood all over me. Fortunately, I happened to have a change of clothing with me because I was staying at the motel overnight. I bought the 14-inch kitchen knife and the woman's handbag for a female acquaintance of mine". Police Officer: "Ok, sounds reasonable, on your way lad".   

Bruce Kenneth Swanson grew up in San Bernardino County, was a 1957 graduate of Pacific High School, married his wife Barbara Ann Gaines at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, honeymooned in Santa Barbara and then moved into 1267 Mt. View Avenue, San Bernardino. If this is the correct location. it is 7.5 miles from the Redlands home of Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein (14), who went missing on March 19th 1968, heading back home from Moore Junior High School in Mentone. The home of Bruce Kenneth Swanson was also 11.6 miles from Terracina Drive, the location of Cheri Jo Bates murder. Map.

Tragedy then struck the family of Swanson, with his wife apparently committing suicide and killing their three children. "Mother, 28, Kills 3 Children, Self UPLAND (AP) A 28-year-old woman killed herself and her three small children Saturday by carbon monoxide poisoning, police reported. Officers said Mrs. Barbara Ann Swanson ran a hose from the exhaust pipe of her car into the vehicle and then closed the windows. The children were identified as Eric Edward, 4; Elisa Marie, 3; and Keith Kenneth, 1. Mrs. Swanson's husband, Bruce, 27, earlier had filed a missing person report and was apparently out looking for her the time the deaths occurred, police said." San Bernardino County Sun, December 19th 1966: "The tragedy which destroyed the family of Bruce K. Swanson, 27, occurred after an apparent happy ride in the car by the mother and her children. A service station attendant in La-Verne told Upland police Mrs. Swanson had asked directions to the nearest hamburger stand. The children were dressed in pajamas and bathrobes, the attendant said. In answer to his request that she 'come back soon,' Mrs. Swanson said that she would. But 12 hours later, Mrs. Swanson's husband, worried and tired after an all-night search for his family, walked into a lemon grove adjacent to the yard and found the station wagon".

Much of these details can be found online, but after a bit of brain-storming and endless sleepless nights, I have managed to make potential Zodiac communications and murders follow this man around like a proverbial shadow, turning him into one of those "good old Zodiac suspects" who never was - and will never be the Bay Area murderer in a million years. Off went Bruce Kenneth Swanson from southern California to northern California sometime in the late 1960s, just in time for the Zodiac murders and communications to begin, and nestled himself in Pleasant Hill, Contra Costa County, Despite the fact he wasn't the Zodiac Killer or a murderer, coincidence would seemingly follow him around.

On December 1st 1969 Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek, believed to have been forcibly removed from the residence by one or more assailants, while in the presence of her three-year-old sister, Heidi. Her glasses and her purse containing four dollars were still in the home. Her parents described Elaine as shy, with no boyfriend or relationship problems at the time of her disappearance. Her mother had driven to nearby Concord at 10:30 pm to pick up her husband from work and was out of the residence for just 45 minutes - and it is during this period of time that Elaine Davis vanished.

On December 19th 1969 the body of a young woman (in 2000, eventually identified as Elaine Davis after an exhumation) was discovered floating off Light House Point near Santa Cruz, CA. The body was decomposed with extensive damage, described as a partial torso with arm-bones and parts of the legs. Santa Cruz's deputy county coroner, Luther Young stated "We'll work on this case until we run out of leads, but right now we have nothing that would indicate any identification. I wouldn't venture to say the body is that of Elaine Davis. We have never ruled on that possibility and we have never ruled it out".

On Wednesday December 10th 1969 Leona Roberts left her job at the White Front Discount Store in Pleasant Hill (560 Contra Costa Boulevard) at approximately 5:00 pm for the eleven mile journey to her friend's apartment (Greg V. Valo) at 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo. This location is only 8 miles from the Lake Herman Road murder site. At about 5:50 pm a neighbor, Susan Clark, heard the sound of a girl screaming, followed by somebody running from the rear of the apartment. A suspicious male was observed many times between the front door and a blue station wagon, before he eventually drove away. The man was described as 25 years old, 5'8", short blond hair and wearing brown trousers and a jacket. A while later her boyfriend arrived home to find a disturbance inside the apartment, scuff marks near the back door and her red Volkswagen parked outside. 

Here is an excerpt from Websleuths by Steph54 "On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus". link.

Cosette Ellison (15) disappeared from her 423 Canyon Road, Moraga residence (near Walnut Creek) on Tuesday March 3rd 1970, believed to have been forcibly taken from outside her home after getting off the school bus from Campolinda High School. She was dropped off by bus driver, Eugene Yee, at 3:20 pm, who saw her cross the road and remove some letters from the mailbox before heading along the driveway. The bus driver noticed a man sitting in a truck near the residence. On his return journey 10 minutes later, the truck had edged closer to the driveway of the Ellison household but the occupant was no longer inside. Thirty minutes later, at approximately 4:00 pm, Mr and Mrs Richard Ellison returned to an empty house. Cosette's school books were not in their usual place and no mail had been brought into the house, suggesting something untoward had happened close to the time Eugene Yee passed the Ellison residence. On January 1st 1971, nearly a year after the disappearance of Cosette Ellison, her body was found in a ravine of the Mount Diablo foothills. The residences of 423 Canyon Road and North Gate Road are extremely rural and spread, with a reduced chance of being overseen in the commission of an abduction. This may have been a consideration for the perpetrator, who likely followed school buses to a more remote setting. The risky nature of forcibly removing somebody from outside their residence necessitates a lack of eyewitnesses.

Patricia King (20) was murdered while attending Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill on March 5th 1970. The college layout has altered over the last 48 years, but we can pinpoint the key locations based on the wording in the newspapers. Patricia King of 2200 Lisa Lane, Pleasant Hill had attended Diablo Valley College for her gym class at 7:00 pm on Thursday evening. Her classmates informed investigators that Patricia usually only stayed for the first hour of her gym class, which is what transpired that evening, when the young woman left the building at approximately 7:50 pm. Her boyfriend was expecting her back at her home and became concerned when she didn't return by 8:15 pm.

Patricia King's body was found by a workman, Ernest Ellington, at 7:20 am the following morning in the DVC Vikings football stadium. She was wearing a black blouse and three-quarter length coat and had been strangled with her own gym tights. The newspaper reports stated "A purse (handbag) with her identification was found on the front seat of her car, in a lot adjacent to the stadium. A pair of leather sandals were on the floorboard. Her car keys were found on the Pleasant Hill campus parking lot Friday afternoon". Detective Sergeant Sam Ginsburg said "it was impossible to tell at this time if the girl knew her slayer. There was no reason for her to go into the stadium area coming to or from the parking lot to the class".

I have placed the relevant locations of these young girls in respect to Pleasant Hill in the Google map above.

Returning back to the Vallejo News Chronicle article reporting on Swanson being quizzed for six hours the morning of October 21st 1969, it stated "He had been arrested by the California Highway Patrol Monday (20th) on US 101 north of Ukiah", obviously with "squealling tires and raceing engine" so as to attract everybody to his car in Mendocino County. The following morning, after his release by Ukiah law enforcement, somebody was driving on Lake Mendocino Drive at 3:00 pm that same day (October 21st 1969) just north of Ukiah and threw a note attached to a twig at an eight-year-old girl. The crudely printed note read "You're Next - Z". A few minutes later, a man asked another eight-year-old girl in Bargain Lane what color panties she was wearing. There had also been a spate of "Zodiac sightings" in nearby Anderson Valley.   

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on November 8th 1969, stating "The string of sadistic calls began on October 23rd 1969 (the day after the Jim Dunbar Show call). On one occasion, the caller told Williams he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but had left when he found police there. Another time, the teacher said the caller, whose voice he described as muffled as if speaking through a handkerchief, said he was going to "kill the lady in the blue house". These calls began two days after the Ukiah incidents. 

Daniel Williams (24), a teacher at Salesian High School in Richmond, told police the caller talked of how he intended to kill several persons, then last; Sunday said: “You’re the dead duck.” Williams went out and when he returned home found someone had pried open the screen on a back door. However, a police search showed nothing was missing. But after the officers left and Williams took a drink from a bottle of opened soft drink in his refrigerator, he found it tasted “metallic” and immediately spat it out. Police reported Friday that the bottle contained more than enough arsenic to kill a human being. Williams said the caller identified himself as the still sought Zodiac Killer of five, but police discounted the idea. The caller would “sob and complain of headaches". Williams said, and on one occasion said he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but left when he found police there. Williams said the caller told him: “I’m too smart for them".

If the caller had told Daniel Williams that "he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims", then he didn't have far to travel if he lived in Pleasant Hill. The city of  Martinez is only 6 miles to the north, with the residence of Daniel Williams at 1234 Bush Street a mere 5 miles away.

Approximately eleven months later, a pasted card, mimicking the 13-Hole Postcard was mailed to the home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California, postmarked October 17th 1970 from Berkeley. Edward C. Adams was a psychiatrist. The card read "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac". The home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams is 8 miles from Pleasant Hill.

Seven-and-a-half months later, on June 1st 1971, a woman from South Dora Road, Ukiah complained she had received a series of threatening phone calls from an adult male, one of which stated "This is Zodiac - you're next". Her residence at South Dora Road is only 4 miles from where the threatening note of "You're Next - Z" was thrown to the eight-year-old girl walking on Lake Mendocino Drive. One man is relevant to all these locations, particularly on October 21st 1969. The city of Ukiah is 115 miles from San Francisco, yet here we have two reports of similar threats with extremely similar phraseology, separated by over a year-and-a-half, when the peak of Zodiac activity had subsided.

We have taken Bruce Kenneth Swanson from the Riverside area and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and Elizabeth Ernstein in 1966 and 1968, through the sad demise of his wife and children, into the heart of northern California and the Pleasant Hill connected murders of Elaine Davis (12/01/69), Leona Roberts (12/10/69), Cosette Ellison (03/03/70) and Patricia King (03/05/70). We have shown the Ukiah connection through two threatening messages of "You're Next - Z" and "This is Zodiac - you're next", to the ominous communication and phone call to Dr. Edward C. Adams in Orinda and Daniel Williams in Martinez. However, Bruce Kenneth Swanson is not the Zodiac Killer, or likely the murderer of any of these young women. This presentation was put together to show how easy it is to create a series of events to paint a picture of perceived involvement in murder. The reason today we have hundreds of suspects in the Zodiac case, many of which are staunchly presented as the Zodiac Killer, is perfect testimony to the frailty of techniques such as this. If these coincidence building techniques were reliable in identifying the Zodiac Killer, everybody would have reached the same conclusion as to who the Bay Area murderer was. The fact we have hundreds of Zodiac Killer's today, is evidence that this approach to case building is wholly flawed. Of course, it goes without saying, that everybody has a better case for their suspect than the one I have presented here.  

Desert Sun Newspaper, November 10th 1969: Arsenic Is Found In Soft Drink MARTINEZ (UPI) -- 'A young schoolteacher who received threatening telephone calls for 10 days thought the caller was a crank who was pretending to be the Zodiac killer. But police took the threats seriously after 24-year-old Daniel Williams found a lethal dose of arsenic in a bottle of soft drink in his refrigerator.

Williams, a teacher at Salesian High School in Richmond, told police the caller talked of how he intended to kill several persons, then last; Sunday said: “You’re the dead duck.” Williams went out and when he returned home found someone had pried open the screen on a back door. However, a police search showed nothing was missing. But after the officers left and Williams took a drink from a bottle of opened soft drink in his refrigerator, he found it tasted “metallic” and immediately spat it out. Police reported Friday that the bottle contained more than enough arsenic to kill a human being. Williams said the caller identified himself as the still sought Zodiac Killer of five, but police discounted the idea. The caller would “sob and complain of headaches". Williams said, and on one occasion said he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but left when he found police there. Williams said the caller told him: “I’m too smart for them".

On the face of it, this seems like a hoaxer, bearing in mind the imposter on the October 22nd 1969 Jim Dunbar Show imitating Zodiac and complaining of headaches. However, the discovery of a lethal dose of arsenic in his soft drink clearly elevated this to more than just an idle threat or malicious phone call. The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the same subject on November 8th 1969, stating "The string of sadistic calls began on October 23rd 1969 (the day after the Jim Dunbar Show call). On one occasion, the caller told Williams he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but had left when he found police there. Another time, the teacher said the caller, whose voice he described as muffled as if speaking through a handkerchief, said he was going to "kill the lady in the blue house". 

One famous blue house, built in 1886 and immortalized by French singer Maxime Le Forestier, was located at in the Castro District at 3841 18th Street, San Francisco, near Haight-Ashbury. The nearest claimed Zodiac crime to the "blue house" was the murder of San Francisco Police officer Richard Radetich, who 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. This location is less than a mile from the blue house.

There are and were several "blue houses" in San Francisco, but this one apparently stood out enough to be forever remembered by Forrestier in one of his many songs. "San Francisco", one of his best known songs, begins with the line: "C'est une maison bleue adossée à la colline" (meaning "It's a blue house with its back to the hill"). In 1971, a young Le Forestier was living in a hippie commune, called "Hunga Dunga", in a blue house situated at 3841 18th Street in San Francisco. The anthemic song was written as a fond tribute to Le Forestier’s housemates and hippie friends, and the names mentioned in the song refer to real people. These include Phil Polizatto, who recalls with great affection Le Forestier’s stay in the blue house, in a critically acclaimed book entitled “Hunga Dunga: Confessions of an Unapologetic Hippie”. Was this "blue house" located somewhere the Zodiac Killer may have passed by and noticed, resulting in him threatening the "lady in the blue house" in his phone call to Daniel Williams. After all, most of Zodiac's threats were focused in San Francisco. The school teacher lived at 1234 Bush Street, Martinez (just 2.34 miles from Benicia), so possibly the threat was focused towards a woman living in a blue house in close proximity to Daniel Williams, of which, one may have particular relevance to the phone-caller in 1969

The only reason I have covered this topic of the famous "blue house" at 3841 18th Street in San Francisco, is because of two San Francisco Examiner advertisements dated February 23rd 1962 and March 6th 1962, from a resident of 4117 19th Street, San Francisco, selling oil paintings under the pseudonym of "Zodiac". The first advertisement stated "16 CENT. Catholic-Spanish oil, $750. ZODIAC, 4117 19th St".  The second advertisement stated "16 CENT, oil painting of Christ, $750. Zodiac, 4117 19th St". This residence was situated only 562 meters from the "blue house" in San Francisco. Irrespective of whether any connection exists to the "blue house" at 3841 18th Street, these are an interesting pair of advertisements using the pseudonym "Zodiac" in San Francisco. The next time we would see the pseudonym appear in an advertisement pertaining to the Zodiac case, was the Deep Real Estate message placed on August 26th 1976 in the San Francisco Chronicle, to run for one week.

The following newspaper cuttings in relation to their proximity to the "blue house" were brought to my attention by Cragle, a regular contributor to the Zodiac Killer Site and Zodiac Killer Message Board forums.

Susan Marie Lynch (22) was discovered murdered on July 31st 1971, found buried alive in sand by "bottle hunters" near East Levee Road, one-half mile north of Del Paso Road and 0.6 miles southwest of the dump site of Carol Beth Hilburn. Carol (22) was last seen at Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento and found later that day on Saturday, November 14th 1970, battered and naked only 30 feet south of West Ascot Avenue and West 4th Street near Rio Linda.

Betty Cloer (21) almost certainly crossed paths with her killer (Phillip Arthur Thompson) on Madison Avenue, Sacramento on June 18, 1971. She was found beaten and shot in Cameron Park, El Dorado County on June 19th 1971. Judith Hakari (23) was abducted from the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970, discovered beaten and raped in a shallow grave on April 25th 1970 alongside Ponderosa Way, near Weimar. 

Nancy Darlene Feusi (23), a separated mother of five, was discovered by a fisherman at 6:30 am on July 22nd 1973 alongside Pleasant Grove Road and Steelhead Creek, approximately half a mile north of West Riego Road in Sutter County. Dressed in a miniskirt and bikini-style briefs, with a blouse discovered nearby, she had been brutally stabbed 29 times in the stomach, chest and arm in what appeared a sexually driven crime. Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. Denise Kathleen Anderson (22) disappeared on April 13th 1971, having been last seen by one of her roommates at 5:30 am at their residence located on 925 16th Street in Sacramento. An extraordinary number of shocking crimes in such a small area - and this is just a snapshot. 

The bodies of Susan Marie Lynch and Carol Beth Hilburn were discovered on East Levee Road and West Ascot Avenue respectively, which both flanked the Dry Creek and 265 acre Hansen Ranch Park Site, often used by fishermen. The two roads pass within 230 meters of one another. Nancy Darlene Feusi's body was dumped 6 miles north of  West Ascot Avenue (where Carol Beth Hilburn was found). The bodies of Susan Marie Lynch and Nancy Darlene Feusi were both discovered next to Steelhead Creek.

It was thought that Susan Marie Lynch may have been unconscious before she was buried, leaving the possibility that she was transported to this location and buried (believing she was already dead). It is clear that Carol Beth Hilburn was not murdered where she was found, with a reasonable conclusion to be had, that both young women were transported to these locations by vehicle and dragged to where they were ultimately found. Susan Marie Lynch was found clothed in only a blouse, pulled up towards her neck, with one tennis shoe on her left foot. Carol Beth Hilburn was found naked with only one suede boot on her feet. It is fairly obvious from the state of undress of both women that a sexual component was the driving force behind both these crimes. The proximity of both dump sites, alongside roads separated by no more than 230 meters, could indicate that this area around the Hansen Park Ranch Site including Steelhead Creek and Dry Creek, was an area familiar to the perpetrator or perpetrators in each crime. But were they responsible for both or all these murders?

I would like to thank Shawn (a regular contributor to this site) for drawing my attention to this crime and providing the newspaper cutting.

The first three San Francisco Police officers killed in the line of duty in 1970 were Eric Zelms, murdered when he lost control of his firearm when investigating a pawn shop robbery on January 1st. The second was Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970, who suffered devastating and sadly fatal injuries seven weeks later, when a bomb packed with fence staples exploded on an outside ledge of Park Police Station in the Upper Haight neighborhood. The third was Richard Radetich on June 19th 1970 at 5:25 am, who 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.

The Zodiac Killer didn't personally name any of them, but referred to them indirectly when he stated "two cops pulled a goof", "I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station" and "I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38". Additonally, all three communications carried the message of his bomb-making. 

The April 20th 1970 communication not only threatened that there was "more glory in killing a cop", but provided us with imagery that showed he had already set aside a location for his school bus bomb. The Zodiac Killer had specifically chosen a bus route traveling from north to south with a steep embankment on the right and the sun rising to the east. When deciding where to place his bus bomb, one would think the killer would be drawing from experience with regards to the best location. The diagram of the bus bomb location in the April 20th 1970 letter would eventually be discovered to be the embankment directly opposite Ingleside Police Station and alongside the parking lot of the City College of San Francisco. The addition of two crosshairs on the July 26th 1970 "Little List" letter would expand on the Button letter (a month earlier), and show to a 98% accuracy that the target was the Southern Freeway embankment opposite Ingleside Police Station - which was also a bus route. This would effectively kill two birds with one stone for the Zodiac Killer. Was the Zodiac Killer familiar with the City College of San Francisco, having worked at this location or even studied there?   

The Zodiac Killer certainly wanted to paint a picture he was familiar with law enforcement practices, giving rise to the notion he may have worked at, or attended the City College of San Francisco, where he could possibly have crossed paths with Richard Radetich, who attended a criminology course prior to becoming a police officer with the San Francisco Police Department. Greg Corrales was a legendary San Francisco Police officer who knew Richard Radetich and stated that "Richard, who had recently been assigned to Traffic, regularly stopped at Ingleside Police Station to say hello to his former colleagues. He glowed when he talked about his new baby girl and his wife. He was an outstanding police officer and a devoted family man". It is clear that Richard Radetich took criminology classes at the City College of San Francisco before being assigned to duties at Ingleside Police Station just 850 feet east of the college. Richard Radetich had formerly been a student at Balboa High School, 585 meters to the east of Ingleside Police Station. This aligns Sgt. Richard Radetich at the City College of San Francisco (and likely parking lot) studying criminology, with the bus bomb designated for the eastern edge of the parking lot on an embankment, alongside a bus route traveling north to south (with the sun rising to the east), only 274 feet from Ingleside Police Station (where Radetich had worked) - and subsequently - the Mount Diablo code pinpointing this location. The Mount Diablo code letter would also indirectly reference the murder of Sgt. Richard Radetich on June 19th 1970.

It is highly unlikely that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murder of Sgt. Richard Radetich, with the previous observations just a simple case of unfortunate coincidences, but it still leaves pause for thought when you consider the location of the bomb had been earmarked in a letter two months in advance of his murder, on April 20th 1970. A letter that highlighted the bombing of Park Police Station and the murder of Brian McDonnell, with the claim that "It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory". So, did the Zodiac Killer move to a territory slightly south of Park Police Station, the clue to which lay in the attached bus bomb diagram?

Parabon NanoLabs are at the forefront of nonopharmaceuticals, phenotyping and genetic genealogy, with the latter headed by genealogist CeCe Moore, already renowned for cracking long unsolved cold cases, including the brutal murders of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook (1987), April Tinsley (1988) and Virginia Freeman (1981). Approximately 50% of DNA loaded onto the GEDmatch database will fail to produce a match, while 20% can be cracked relatively quickly, and 30% with the assistance of police and the appropriate manpower. Out of 300 DNA searches by Parabon NanoLabs nearly 100 cases have been solved, with several dozen having yet to result in arrests. As long as DNA and biological evidence exists in the case, a comprehensive and detailed phenotype report can be created, as well as DNA being run through public genetic genealogy databases (such as GEDmatch). The DNA testing uses microarray analysis that is capable of identifying many thousands of genetic markers, increasing the amount of information generated.

They explain how their technique differs from searches in CODIS (Combined DNA Index System): "Our genetic genealogy service is somewhat like familial search, but it differs in three very important ways: (1) we only search public genetic genealogy databases, not government-owned criminal (STR profile) databases, such as CODIS; (2) because the DNA SNP profiles we generate contain vastly more information than traditional STR profiles, genetic relatedness can be detected at a far greater distance (see Snapshot Kinship Inference); and (3) because genetic genealogy matches can be cross-referenced by name with traditional genealogy sources, such as Ancestry.com, existing family trees can be used to expedite tree-building and case-solving. This technology and our innovative techniques combine to create a groundbreaking system for forensic human identification".

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most frequent sequence variations in the human genome, occurring approximately once every 100 to 300 bp. Apart from identical twins, each individual has a unique combination of nucleotides at these positions. Thus, a SNP profile provides a kind of fingerprint. .Joseph James DeAngelo was identified and arrested only because crime-scene DNA had been preserved. This allowed forensic scientists to compare it to genetic material using modern techniques that determine the sequence of hundreds of thousands of DNA variants, or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), across the genome. This is the same genotyping approach used in consumer genetics testing and many biomedical studies. 

That laboratory is likely Parabon NanoLabs based in Reston Virginia, which specializes in phenotyping services to be used in the identification of criminals by law enforcement, as well as home to the genealogy unit in which CeCe Moore was appointed head in May 2018. This coincided with renewed speculation regarding the testing of envelopes in the Zodiac Killer case and the hope of utilizing this new technology in the search for DNA deposited in the form of saliva, nearly 50 years prior. The identification of the long sought-after Zodiac Killer, going by early percentages, has a 50% chance of producing a result with the full cooperation and assistance of law enforcement (if a viable sample can be harnessed). But new privacy laws enacted by public genealogy databases such as GEDmatch, with an opt-out clause, has forced CeCe Moore to utilize Family Tree DNA (a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas).

It was reported in the Sacramento Bee newspaper in May 2018 that Detective Poyser expected to see results on the envelopes arrive by the summer, with CeCe Moore stating in July 2018 that "a team is already working to identify the Zodiac Killer, who shot and stabbed five people to death in Northern California in 1968 and 1969". Therefore, it's safe to assume that the Zodiac envelopes were submitted (likely to Parabon NanoLabs) nearly two-and-a-half years ago. Despite this being a highly efficient and successful company who submit DNA SNP profiles with greater reach, there has been no news forthcoming in the intervening twenty-eight months, thereby leaving two reasonable conclusions of: [1] DNA has been secured from the Zodiac envelopes but has failed to produce a match using GEDmatch databases and Family Tree DNA (which analyzes autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA). Or [2] No viable DNA has been secured from any Zodiac envelopes.  

On October 12th 1970, Paul Avery of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article concerning the Zodiac Killer's latest two communications, notably the July 26th 1970 "Mikado" letter and the October 5th 1970 "13 Hole" postcard. The Zodiac Killer may have used much of this newspaper article to choose and fashion the October 27th 1970 Halloween card, including a continuance of The Mikado theme. The Zodiac Killer wasn't averse to plagiarising reading material for his communications, with the Halloween card fashioned not only from the Tim Holt comic book, but possibly crafted using the Paul Avery article as his inspiration.

The October 12th 1970 newspaper article was entitled Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac, thereby giving the Bay Area murderer about two weeks to find the appropriate reply in the form of a Halloween card beginning "I feel it in my bones you ache to know my name. And so I'll clue you in". The newspaper article detailed "Sheriff's detective sergeant Kenneth Narlow who had fruitlessly followed up another 900 tips as to Zodiac's identity since Sept 27, 1969". So finding a Halloween card teasing us again with his name and offering to clue us in, appeared like the ideal card in response.

In the first column of the article, Paul Avery wrote "Homicide detectives who've been hunting Zodiac for nearly two years frankly admit he is much an enigma now as he was on Dec. 20, 1968, when he chalked up his first two victims". Those two victims were teenagers David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. The Zodiac Killer decided to chalk his victims on the Halloween card in white marker pen above the head of the inner skeleton and beneath its feet, in the form of 4-TEEN and what could be Zodiac Victims Fourteen or Zodiac Fourteen.

The author of the card could have written 14 (similar to the outer skeleton hand) or fourteen, but intentionally separated it to 4-TEEN. David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were two of Zodiac's confirmed victims, but he had also claimed Deborah Furlong and Kathy Snoozy by the addition of "Aug" in the Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969, who were both teenagers. The Zodiac Killer had claimed 4-TEENS as victims, hence why he altered fourteen to 4-TEEN, to incorporate them into his running victim total. The addition of four dots (little marks) around ZVF or ZF possibly created for a similar reason. It can be noted that Paul Avery also referred to David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the article as teenagers, but he hyphenated the word into teen-agers, just like Zodiac did with his running teenager total of 4-TEEN.

The majority of the newspaper article focused on the July 26th 1970 "Mikado" letter and the search for potential Ko-Ko's, The Lord High Executioner featured prominantly in the July 26th 1970 (Little List) letter. The Mikado Act One Part 5a  As some day it may happen was performed by Ko-Ko of the town of Titipu. This led investigators to consider the possibility of a Zodiac Killer who played Ko-Ko in his student days. But where was The Mikado and Ko-Ko in the Halloween card? Perhaps the investigators could have searched the knothole in the tree.

The original card came with one eye peeking from the knothole in the tree, in which the Zodiac Killer circled the words "Peek-a-Boo you are doomed". But notice how "Peek-a-Boo" and "you are doomed" are deliberately separated.

The Mikado is a two-part comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, which opened to the paying public on March 14th 1885 and was hugely successful, running for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre in London. However, this wasn't the only version of the opera from that time period, In 1888, Ed J. Smith wrote a stage parody of The Mikado called The Capitalist; or, The City of Fort Worth to encourage capital investment in Fort Worth, Texas. In this version, Peek-A-Boo is listed as one of the three sisters and wards of Kokonut (The Lord High Executionist).

The Mikado original featured Peep-Bo: A ward of Ko-Ko and sister of Yum-Yum and Pitti-Sing. Peep-Bo is the British version of Peek-a-Boo. Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play primarily played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you! There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added.

Peep-Bo can also be reversed to Bo-Peep, believed to originate from the 16th century practice of concealment, before reappearing to startle or surprise. See here. Little Bo Peep is a popular English nursery rhyme The earliest record of this rhyme is in a manuscript of around 1805, which contains only the first verse. There are references to a children's game called "Bo-Peep", from the 16th century, including one in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act I Scene iv), but little evidence that the rhyme existed. The additional verses are first recorded in the earliest printed version in a version of Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus in 1810.

The phrase "to play bo peep" was in use from the 14th century to refer to the punishment of being stood in a pillory. For example, in 1364, an ale-wife, Alice Causton, was convicted of giving short measure, for which crime she had to "play bo pepe thorowe a pillery". Andrew Boorde uses the same phrase in 1542, "And evyll bakers, the which doth nat make good breade of whete, but wyl myngle other corne with whete, or do nat order and seson hit, gyving good wegght, I would they myghte play bo pepe throwe a pyllery". Taken from Wikipedia. The skeleton on the card inner also appeared to be hanging in the form of punishment, as if placed in a pillory. I suppose the "punishment must fit the crime".

Bearing in mind the newspaper article of Paul Avery, was the Halloween card drawing on the search for Ko-Ko's by its design of inserting Peek-a-Boo around the knothole of the trunk, with the eye "hiding behind that tree"? Was the chalked-up victim count of 4-TEEN above the pilloried skeleton denoting the running total of fourteen, including four teen-agers? The newspaper article of Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac may have spawned the choice of Halloween card with the introduction of "I feel it in my bones you ache to know my name. And so I'll clue you in". But did it inspire anything else?

The Red Phantom letter, postmarked San Rafael on July 8th 1974, was authored by the same individual who created the Symbionese Liberation Army letter on February 3rd 1974. Irrespective of who mailed each correspondence, it was almost certainly not the Zodiac Killer. The entire focus of the Red Phantom letter was aimed at Count Marco (Marc H. Spinelli) and his overtly chauvenistic views towards women, calling for the cancellation of his column in the San Francisco Chronicle. Much of the rhetoric evident in the communications of the left-leaning Symbionese Liberation Army would carry the message of equality for women. A search for the inspiration behind the Red Phantom pseudonym has long been sought, with many possible explanations having been suggested, including the theatrical release of the 1908 Pathé Frères film, El Espectro Rojo or The Red Phantom at the Port Theater in Mill Valley, Marin County on the 27th and 28th April 1974. However, the inspiration for the pseudonym may be nothing more than an angry response to the July 3rd 1974 article by Count Marco in the San Francisco Chronicle, with the Red Phantom pseudonym inspired by the article itself.   

The Red Phantom letter begins with "Put Marco back in the hell-hole whence it came - he has a serious psychological disorder". A sentence clearly inspired by the article on the left, in which Marc H. Spinelli uses the words psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatry multiple times. Then the letter suggests to the San Francisco Chronicle that they "refer him to a shrink".

The Red Phantom letter ends with "Meanwhile, cancel the Count Marco column. Since the Count can write anonymously, so can I". The article on the left ends with "You don't need psychiatry. All you need is the Count Marco column". Hence the reference to "column" in the letter.

Marc H. Spinelli wrote this column under an anonymous pseudonym - and why the author of the July 8th 1974 communication used the word "Phantom". A phantom can be described as a ghost, a figment of the imagination, not real or illusory. The author was simply choosing a pseudonym lacking visibility and substance. Although, The Phantom was an American adventure comic strip published by Lee Falk in February 1936 that has run in many newspapers to this day, syndicated by King Features of Hearst Holdings, Inc.

The addition of "Red" before "Phantom" explained perfectly by the bracketed "red with rage" placed underneath. The Count Marco column had already detailed in the first paragraph that he "wasn't surprised by the angry reaction" when he wrote about psychiatrists and psychologists, so it's probably no surprise that the author of the San Rafael letter used the word "Red" before "Phantom" to express their anger or rage. No external "Red Phantom" was required as inspiration for this correspondence, because every element of the correspondence was derived from within the July 3rd 1974 Count Marco column. The Red Phantom is just a construct of the author's mind, that has ultimately become a figment of our imagination.   

Solve Crimes with Rick & Gavin is a new Youtube channel, website, true crime podcast series and forum where you can get involved and help to find a resolution to the many unsolved murders and disappearances that have haunted so many people for far too long. In the words of Rick & Gavin "help us solve the mystery and provide the victim, the victim's family, community and law enforcement with justice and peace of mind".

They invite you to join their burgeoning venture by joining the forum, providing new information or tips, suggesting possible new cold cases for them to investigate and even the option of confessing to a crime (and hopefully remove all the murderers and criminals that visit my site). To date they have currently produced six extremely well-researched Youtube videos on the murder of Judith Hakari (currently 4), the disappearance of Denise Anderson and an additional video entitled "Killer Wine" (I will leave you to work that one out). They welcome everybody with a keen interest in solving cold cases to cooperatively make this venture an ongoing success, which judging by the first few videos I have no doubt it will be. To view each video shown below, click the images. 

Rick Tracewell and Gavin Fish present an introductory first episode regarding the abduction and murder of Judith Ann Hakari (23) on March 7th 1970 outside the Markston Apartments in Sacramento. This video presentation will include a mixture of crime scene imagery, newspaper cuttings, and a back and forth discussion between Rick and Gavin. They will also touch on the Nancy Bennallack, Carol Beth Hilburn and Donna Lass crimes, to be expanded upon in further episodes.   

The second episode explores in much more detail the abduction of Judith Hakari, along with the devastating impact this crime had on the family and community. The episode concentrates mainly on the crime scene outside of the Markston Apartments and the condition her vehicle was found by her boyfriend, Raymond Willis (24), at approximately 1:45 am. There would be no happy ending seven weeks later when the body of Judith Hakari was unearthed in Placer County. As Gavin stated "The Placer County Sheriff's Offce were very swift to go and notify the Hakari's - and that is when the first chapter of their nightmare ended".

The third episode takes you on a journey between the two crime scenes and apartments of Judith Hakari and Nancy Bennallack. This young woman was brutally stabbed in the Tahitian Apartment complex on October 25th/26th 1970, located just 830 feet from the Markston Apartments. No solid link has ever been forged between the two murders, but their close proximity within eight months of each other has led to much speculation regarding a single perpetrator. Offender DNA has been secured in the case of Nancy Bennallack.

The fourth episode explores the discovery of Judith Hakari's shallow grave alongside Ponderosa Way in Weimar and its implications regarding the possible perpetrator or perpetrators of the savage and brutal murder of the young nurse. Rick & Gavin detail the items found at the crime scene and an eyewitness to three men acting suspiciously in the area prior to the discovery of her body. Judith Hakari went missing on March 7th 1970, with her body discovered by two hikers on April 25th 1970. Episode five.

The sixth episode covers the rarely covered case of Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), who was last seen in her 925 16th Street apartment in Sacramento on April 13th 1971. Information on this crime is so lacking and threadbare, they have done an excellent job in airing this crime for 29 minutes. I say crime, because the body of Denise Anderson has never been found, despite everything pointing to an abduction at, or in close proximity to her residence. If you knew Denise Anderson, or have any information on her life and disappearance, please contact Rick & Gavin via the website link posted above.   

Denise Kathleen Anderson (22) disappeared on April 13th 1971, having been last seen by one of her roommates at 5:30 am at their residence located on 925 16th Street in Sacramento. One of the women who shared with Denise borrowed her car that fateful day, returning at 2:30 pm to find the residence empty. From that day forward Denise Anderson has never been seen or heard from again. It was reported in the Sacramento Bee newspaper that she had left behind all her personal belongings and her bank account remained dormant. She was an employee of the Wells Fargo Bank in Sacramento, but failed to appear on July 13th 1971.

Denise was also an avid performer in the Centerplayers theater group, which she also failed to attend for rehearsals that day. The group had recently performed in the Crossroads Shopping Center at 35th Avenue and Freeport Boulevard. 

In light of recent articles concerning the murders of Judith Hakari, Carol Beth Hilburn and Betty Cloer, the disappearance of Denise Anderson at or in the proximity of her residence at 925 16th Street, is rather pertinent. Her residence was only 1.28 miles from the home of convicted murderer, Phillip Arthur Thompson (2526 V Street}, and only 1.19 miles from Alhambra Boulevard where he worked with partner Mark Masterson. Betty Cloer was raped and murdered by Phillip Arthur Thompson on June 19th 1971, just two months after the disappearance of Denise Anderson.

Assuming she left her residence early that morning for work, it may be extremely useful to find out which branch of the Wells Fargo Bank she worked - and headed toward (on foot) that day. There is a branch of Wells Fargo at 1831 S Street in Midtown about 1km from the 2526 V Street residence of Thompson, but without knowing whether it was on that site in 1971 leaves only speculation. This journey would have certainly taken her into the hot zone of Thompson. The United States District Court transcripts stated that "Petitioner and a partner, Mark Masterson, operated a used car sales and service company located on Alhambra Boulevard", thereby providing a secure and private location out of business hours, distinct and separate from his home residence.

Under Distinguishing Characteristics on The Charley Project it details Denise Anderson as a Caucasian female with brown hair, brown eyes, 5'2" to 5'4" inches in height and 120lbs. Although her hair was long at the time of her disappearance, Anderson has been known to wear a wig which would give her a short hairstyle. This item was missing from her apartment after she disappeared.

Tying the disappearance of Denise Anderson to the murders of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari is much more difficult without knowing exactly her fate and any injuries she may have sustained. If her body had been discovered shortly after her disappearance and exhibited the excessive trauma to the head and face as evident in the other three cases, then the location of her residence and her bank would certainly be much more significant with respect to the home and business addresses of Phillip Arthur Thompson. But one thing is for sure. The bodies of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari were all found north or north easterly to their last known positions. The killer in each case sought to dispose of his victim in a rural setting - with all the dump sites north or north easterly from the residence and workplace of Thompson. 

The map above shows the pertinent addresses regarding the murders of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari. At approximately 1:00 am on June 19th 1971, Betty Cloer left the club and traveled to the Texaco gas station on Madison Avenue (probably 4300 Madison Avenue). where they first encountered Phillip Arthur Thompson, who apparently trailed them to her apartment (located somewhere in North Sacramento). We can get an approximate position of the apartment because it was 6.5 miles north from the V Street residence of Thompson and Saylor. It was 5.5 miles from Thompson's used car sales and service company at Alhambra Boulevard. Thompson's home address and business were just 2 miles and 1.5 miles respectively, from the Sutter Memorial Hospital at F Street between 51st and 53rd Streets. If Thompson trailed Betty Cloer from a dance club around 1:00 am, is it possible he trailed Judith Hakari on March 7th 1970 from Sutter Memorial Hospital to the Markston Apartments? Did he also set his sights on Carol Beth Hilburn (22) as she exited Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, November 14th 1970. The close proximity of all these locations could suggest a hunting ground extremely close to his residence on the northern and eastern side of downtown Sacramento.

Betty Cloer's body was discovered lying in Cameron Park, El Dorado County on June 19th 1971, located just 10 miles west of Placerville. Despite being shot in the head, chest and arm, Phillip Arthur Thompson felt the need (probably before) to inflict crushing blows to her head and face, leaving her unrecognizable. These same destructive blows to the face and head were evident in the murders of Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hilburn. Investigators described the condition of Judith Hakari as "one of the most godawful assaults ever investigated", with her nose smashed to a pulp, several teeth knocked out, and her jaw broken in at least two places. Coroners in the murder of Carol Beth Hilburn stated that she "was so badly beaten that she was unrecognizable, suffering several skull and facial fractures, and her throat was cut". In all of the murders, the perpetrator went far beyond what was necessary to kill each woman - seemingly gaining pleasure in destroying the identity of Cloer, Hilburn and Hakari. All women were found in a state of near full or partial disrobing, with sexual degradation the overriding feature of each crime. The bodies of Betty Cloer and Judith Hakari were discovered in remote wilderness either side of Auburn, California, with just 24 miles (as the crow flies) separating each dump site. Both Hakari and Cloer were taken from their apartments (located just a few miles apart) and found 38 miles and 28 miles respectively, to the east of Sacramento - almost equidistant between South Lake Tahoe and Sacramento.         

In the case of Phillip Arthur Thompson, the prosecution presented evidence regarding two prior incidents in which petitioner had sexually assaulted young women, the first involving Sharon S. on December 2, 1970, and the second involving Melinda M. on March 9, 1972. Sharon S. and Melinda M. were both, like Cloer, young white females who appear to have been chosen by random encounter. Both Sharon S. and Melinda M. alleged that they had agreed to go somewhere with petitioner and another man, then were taken by car to a different location where they could be rendered helpless. Petitioner physically assaulted both women, and threated to kill them. He put a gun to Melissa M.’s head. Petitioner had sexual intercourse with both women. Petitioner and Mark Masterson (who operated the car sales and service company with Thompson) were tried for the Sharon S. assault in 1971.

Testimony from the preliminary hearing in that case, including the victim’s testimony, was read into the record of the instant case. The jury also heard live witness testimony regarding the Sharon S.case. Mark Masterson testified that he and petitioner had both raped Sharon S. and that petitioner had persuaded another employee, John Mays, to falsely testify at the 1971 trial that both men had been with him at the auto shop on the night of the rape. Petitioner and Masterson were both acquitted in the Sharon S. case. Petitioner had been charged in the Melinda M. matter and eventually entered a negotiated plea to assault, with the sex offense charges being dropped. Melinda M. testified at petitioner’s trial that he had raped her in 1972 after he and James Allen picked her up when she was hitchhiking.

This seems extremely pertinent information when we have the testimony of a landowner on Ponderosa Way, who described three men at the gravesite where Judith Hakari would ultimately be found, acting suspiciously. He described the trunk of their vehicle open while digging into the earth. When he approached they closed the trunk and stated they were looking for bottles. A vehicle description could be extremely important with respect to vehicles owned by each of the men in the above case.

Donna Ann Lass (25) disappeared from Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970, having finished her shift that day at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, (now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino). where she was employed as a nurse. A few months earlier in June she had moved to South Lake Tahoe from San Francisco, where she had previously worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, near the Paul Stine murder scene. She was scheduled to work her night shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, but was logged out at 1:45 am that morning for the last time. She is considered murdered, but her remains have never been discovered.

The similarity between the Donna Lass and Judith Hakari cases, are the fact that both women had just finished their respective shifts as a nurse, either side of midnight and separated by just six months. One hopes that Donna Lass didn't receive the barbaric beatings suffered by Cloer, Hilburn and Hakari - but bearing in mind the above United States District Court transcript - it was mentioned that "Cloer told Ford she was going to Lake Tahoe and needed a coat". It is clear that Phillip Arthur Thompson was heading in that direction from Sacramento, but whether they reached South Lake Tahoe and Betty Cloer was murdered on the return journey is unclear. Whatever the case, Phillip Arthur Thompson must have mentioned Lake Tahoe to Betty Cloer - being somewhere he was undoubtedly familiar with. The question that has to be asked is, was he present near the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 6th 1970, with the lifeless body of Donna Lass to be found somewhere near Auburn, California? I sincerely hope this is not the case.

According to Dr. Doogie on the Zodiac Killer message board, Phillip Arthur Thompson and his wife first lived in Kings Beach, CA (on Lake Tahoe) after June 1968, but quickly moved to various locations in the Bay Area and on to Sacramento. Kings Beach sits next to Incline Village, the area featured on the infamous Pines card of March 22nd 1971, purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer.

On March 2nd 1981, a business reply envelope postmarked Cleveland, OH, bearing the press printed address "The Danbury Mint, Richards Avenue, P.O. Box 5260, Norwalk, Conn" was mailed with the message: "Please stop forced bussing or I will kill 3 more black boys in Atlanta in March". On March 8th 1981, the Atlanta letter arived, signed Zodiac and replete with crosshairs, intimating he was killing the black children of Atlanta.  On March 18th 1981, the Washington Post received a letter addressed to "Editor of the Washington Post", claiming to have information on the Atlanta killings and requesting that the editor place an advertisement in the newspaper, stating "Daniel Please Call Home". Another letter, postmarked Williamsport PA 177 PM 23 APR 1981, bearing a pre-printed address was mailed with the accompanying handwritten note beginning "You shall die I'm going to..." The postage-paid envelope was used by a company to distribute literature to its prospective customers. The distribution was made from the New York office of the company.

On or about January 20th 1982, a Santa Claus card was mailed to the family home of missing 25-year-old Harvard graduate, Joan Webster, with the pre-printed address of 654 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, New York, mailed inside a business reply envelope for the Better Life Journal with the press-printed address of 7617-D Metro Drive, Austin, Texas. The Santa Claus card carried the message "Please, where can I write you,?" Three of these ominous/cryptic brief messages contained the polite request of "Please", either in the first or second word of the message. At least three of the communications had another thing in common - notably the use of pre-printed or business reply envelopes. There may be a geographical connection as well.

If you look at the map above you will notice the close proximity relationship of the Santa Claus card (with the pre-printed address of 654 Grandview Avenue) to the Glen Ridge home of the Webster family, to where it was mailed. The author had glued a newspaper cutting around the envelope carrying the message "Offer 10G reward for missing coed". This was cut from the New York Daily News article of January 18th 1982. The Santa Claus card was almost certainly a response to a heartfelt appeal by the Webster family for any information pertaining to their missing daughter, which was broadcast throughout New England on Christmas Day of 1981, less than a month after her disappearance.on 28th November 1981.

The March 2nd 1981 business reply envelope, postmarked Cleveland, OH, bearing the press printed address "The Danbury Mint, Richards Avenue, P.O. Box 5260, Norwalk, Conn" was mailed with the handwritten note: "Please stop forced bussing or I will kill 3 more black boys in Atlanta in March". The Danbury Mint ran advertisements in eighteen newspapers through a mail order company, advertising miniature pewter models of classic automobiles. The Danbury Mint is a division of MBI, Inc. that markets a variety of collectibles. Danbury Mint historically marketed high quality medals and ingots produced by others exclusively for them. The company also sold numerous other collectible offering including plates, bells, sculptures, etc. Danbury Mint is well known for its 1:24 scale die-cast vehicles, including a now discontinued James Bond's DB5. These advertisements ran on March 1st 1981, the day before the press printed Danbury Mint envelope was mailed. These envelopes were inserted inside each newspaper. One prominent newspaper on the list was the Staten Island Advance in New York, which could very well be where the author of the "forced bussing" letter sourced the envelope. The Better Life Journal business printed envelope, used for the Joan Webster family Santa Claus card, may also have been sourced from the Staten Island Advance. The Better Life Journal advertised its literature through subscription advertisements in selected newspapers. Here is an image of the Better Life Journals, including 1981.     

There is good reason to believe the March 2nd 1981 "forced bussing" letter is connected to the March 8th 1981 "Zodiac" Atlanta letter. If this was the Zodiac Killer, then the Danbury Mint business reply envelope used in the March 2nd correspondence - possibly sourced from inside the Staten Island Advance newspaper - could place the Zodiac Killer in and around New York in 1981. The business reply envelope used for the Santa Claus card (addressed 654 Grandview Avenue, Ridgewood, New York), mailed to Glen Ridge, New Jersey and using a New York Daily News cutting, could easily be the same author. Whoever mailed these communications had a propensity to use pre-printed business reply envelopes, distributed free in the newspapers. And in both instances, readdressed them to their desired recipient. In the case of the Better Life Journal envelope, it was readdressed to the Webster family. In the case of the Danbury Mint envelope, it was directed to investigators in the Atlanta child murders. Gareth Penn believed the Santa Claus card was mailed to the Webster family by the Zodiac Killer in the aftermath of their daughter's disappearance. The links shown above may bolster his case - but only if the March 8th 1981 "Zodiac" Atlanta letter can be comprehensively proven to be the real Zodiac Killer.

Under an FBI file marked "Zodiac Extortion", there was a "request to compare writing on demand note submitted previously in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" with the specimens in captioned case". The FBI were comparing the handwriting on a bank robbery note with submitted handwriting from samples in the captioned case. The bank robbery note (demand note) shown below, read "This is Bank Rhobery IF you don't do as I say I will shot. Zodiac".  with this threatening communication considered relevant enough to be placed in the Zodiac FBI files under "Zodiac Extortion". The demand note also carried the date of December 3rd 1968, seventeen days before the Zodiac's first murders on Lake Herman Road.

The FBI files continued with "It was not determined whether the specimens in captioned case were prepared by the writer of the Q1 demand note in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Was a fledgling Zodiac hovering around San Francisco in the December of 1968? The Wells Fargo Bank in Sutter Street is a two minute walk from Union Square, where the Zodiac Killer likely entered the taxicab of murder victim, Paul Stine.

The story became a little more quirky when I read a post on the Zodiac Killer message board by BugsMoran regarding an outlaw called Black Bart, one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers in Northern California. BugsMoran wrote "Like the Zodiac, Black Bart would also send the police taunting letters (usually lousy poems about his capers). At times he even handed his victims these letters. It took years for the Pinkerton Detective Agencty to crack the case. I think his last robbery was foiled - and in his flight - he left behind a hankerchef with a laundry marking on it. The police had to go to every Chinese laundry in San Francisco before they were able to trace the hankerchef to Bart. Being from San Francisco the Zodiac would have known of the as local bandit". 

Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles) adopted the nickname "Black Bart" and proceeded to rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches at least 28 times across northern California between 1875 and 1883, Boles was invariably polite and used no foul language, despite its appearance in his poems. He dressed in a long linen duster coat and a bowler hat, using a flour sack with holes cut for his eyes as a mask. He brandished a shotgun, but never used it. These features became his trademarks. The idea of a robber, handing out poetic notes in northern California, wearing a head sack with eyeholes, sort of rang a bell for some reason. Especially with the Wells Fargo connection. 

Black Bart is a 1948 American western film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea as the real-life cowboy bandit Charles Boles, and Jeffrey Lynn. It was distributed by Universal-International and produced by Leonard Goldstein. It was shot in Technicolor and was also known as Black Bart, Highwayman. The film was written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford, and William Bowers and was released on March 3, 1948.

The results of the handwriting comparison were inconclusive "because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Despite the handwriting in the Zodiac case failing to be conclusively matched to the demand note because of "lack of material", it appears that this 15-worded note was enough to place it in the Zodiac files under "Zodiac Extortion". Was this because the author of the bank robbery note used the word "Zodiac" and/or investigators noticed a similarity of handwriting in the demand note? The notion of a threatening bank robbery note containing the pseudonym Zodiac, seven months in advance of the Debut of Zodiac letter, in which the Bay Area killer introduced himself for the first time, is puzzling to say the least. The FBI report stated "It is noted that the Q1 demand note mentioned in the attached Laboratory report was submitted by San Francisco with an airtel dated 6/27/69". June 27th 1969 was still one week before the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969, and just over a month before the Debut of Zodiac letter. Why would this threatening note be considered Zodiac material before the Zodiac pseudonym ever emerged in the San Francisco Examiner offices?

Carol Beth Hilburn (22) was last seen at Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento (where she had previously worked) at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, November 14th 1970. She was discovered murdered later that day, her near naked body beaten about the face, with a deep cut to her throat. The severity of her injuries were such, that her face was unrecognizable and had to be identified through dental records and fingerprints. Coroner George Nielsen reported that she was not sexually molested, but that seems difficult to believe when a naked and lifeless woman is discovered lying in a field beaten to death. The ferocity of the injuries to her face reminiscent of the destructive blows suffered by Judith Hakari, whose remains were discovered near Weimar on April 25th 1970. 

Carol Beth Hilburn was found lying in weeds, 30 feet south of West Ascot Avenue and West 4th Street near Rio Linda, just 6 miles (14 minutes) north along Rio Linda Boulevard from her last known location. Investigators concluded she had been bludgeoned to death, transported to this location and dragged naked through the field for approximately 30 feet and dumped in some weeds. With only one suede boot on her feet and her panties around one knee, it clearly indicates she was murdered elsewhere and transported to this location. 

Fishermen occasionally use the field where her body was discovered to park their vehicles and fish in the nearby Dry Creek. The nearest point of Dry Creek to the location her body was found is only 398 meters. The time between Carol Beth Hilburn going missing and being discovered, is 10 hours or less, leaving the perpetrator or perpetrators little time to consider where to dispose of her body. Often a murderer will choose somewhere remote and somewhere they are familiar with. Her body lay next to the 265 acre Hansen Ranch Park Site, through which the Dry Creek runs.

Carol Beth Hilburn had previously separated from her husband, Jay Hilburn (24) of Sebastopol, California, in what was described as an amicable separation only three months earlier. As the crow flies, 1819 Del Paso Boulevard is 2.6 miles from the Markston Apartments, where Judith Hakari was also snatched from the street and transported to a second location, while also suffering devastating injuries to her face and neck, as well as her underwear displaced. The noticeable difference between the two cases lies only in the time difference of the two women's discovery. Could Judith Hakari have been killed within hours of her abduction, buried inside of 10 hours, and the three men spotted on Ponderosa Way be unconnected to her abduction and burial? Or were the same three men cruising the nightlife along Del Paso Boulevard on November 14th 1970, emboldened by their "successful" exploits on March 7th 1970.

Add to the equation the murder of Nancy Bennallack on October 25th 1970, and we have three attractive young women murdered or abducted in eight months, within a 3-mile radius of one another. Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), who resided in Sacramento at 925 16th Street, also went missing and was last seen at 5:30 am on April 13th 1971 by her roommate. Her residence was 2.6 miles from the location Carol Beth Hilburn was last seen alive. 

Judith Hakari (23) was abducted from the parking lot of the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970 at approximately 11:30 pm, after returning home from her nurses shift at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. Her partially buried body was discovered by two hikers on April 25th 1970 just 677 feet off Ponderosa Way, near Weimar. The location of her burial site was 43 miles from the site of her abduction and 3.1 miles from Interstate 80 at Weimar.

Her Mercury Cougar (discovered by her boyfriend) showed signs of foul play, with the passenger door open, her ignition keys on the floorboard, buttons scattered about and ripped strips of Cannon-brand towel, indicating that these may have been used to restrain the young woman. The same style toweling was discovered in the burial site of Judith Hakari seven weeks later and therefore provided a common link between both locations. Her body was found inside a canvas laundry bag, laying over a grey sweatshirt. She had been savagely beaten in the face, strangled and raped, with her bra torn in two and her underwear found beneath her.

Detectives stated that on March 13th 1970 (six days after her disappearance) the owner of the land where Judith Hakari was eventually discovered, noticed three sharply-dressed men in their late 20s at the site with the trunk of their vehicle open and digging into the ground. Their lame excuse of digging for bottles, while suspiciously closing the trunk of their vehicle seemed sinister. There is very good reason to believe these three men were involved in the murder and disposal of Judith Hakari. At the very least, one murderer and two accomplices after the fact. With little to go on after 50 years, an examination of the abduction and burial site can reveal so much about this crime.        

The presence of ripped toweling in Judith Hakari's vehicle indicated malice aforethought. The killer or killers had possibly pre-planned this abduction ahead of time with the primary goal of feeding their sexual peversion at the cost of a young and promising life. Judith Hakari had to travel a matter of seconds from her Mercury Cougar to the front door of her residence. We have to weigh up the odds of a random and opportunistic abduction in this slender window of time, to the possibility that somebody knew her routine and lay in wait. An attractive 23-year-old young woman, dressed in a nurses uniform, following a regular pattern to and from Sutter Memorial Hospital each day, always has the potential to draw in the sickest of predators. Judith Hakari arriving back to her apartment complex at a similar time each night may very well have been noticed by such an individual, who came pre-prepared with materials of restraint. This opens up the possibility that the perpetrator or perpetrators lived in the same Markston Apartments as Judith Hakari, or in close proximity to it. Or she was trailed from Sutter Memorial Hospital.  

Nancy Bennallack (28), a court reporter, was found brutally stabbed numerous times at the Tahitian Apartments on October 25th 1970. The Tahitian Apartments were just 830 feet from the Markston Apartments, where Judith Hakari was abducted just seven months earlier. Two young women attacked in and around their apartments opens up the possibility of a single perpetrator who specifically targeted both of these women. Update: Recent discoveries through genetic genealogy in 2022 has identified Richard John Davis as the murderer of Nancy Bennallack, who lived in the same apartment complex as the victim. Sadly, Richard Davis will elude justice because he died of an alcohol related illness in 1997.

We can now switch to the burial location of Judith Hakari, highly suggestive of somebody who had frequented this location before. The perpetrator or perpetrators of this murder had clearly used the canvas bag to transport the lifeless body of Judith Hakari - which if had been done by the three well-dressed men  - must have been done six days after her abduction. Whether she was killed a short time after her abduction and stored, or held captive for several days, will likely never be known unless a resolution is found in the next few years. The notion of a killer distancing the body from his home location is not unusual, so as to shift the focus of the investigation to another area. But whoever abducted Judith Hakari made no attempt to disguise the fact she was the victim of foul play, leaving her vehicle in disarray outside of her apartment complex.

The killer or killers chose the extremely remote, hilly and winding road of Ponderosa Way. They could have pulled up their vehicle on the roadside edge and tossed the body of Judith Hakari in a matter of seconds down any steep ravine into dense woodland, where she may have gone undetected for months, years, or forever. They could have thrown her body into the North Fork American River, thereby destroying any remaining evidence on the body. Instead, they inexplicably chose to pull onto a dirt road off Ponderosa Way into an area containing wooden buildings, near an old deserted mine entrance. This appears to suggest that this location was known to them - and in relative seclusion away from the main roadway - it would allow them the time to dig a grave. So, what advantage was the killer or killers attempting to gain by delaying or preventing the discovery of the body? They certainly made no effort to disguise the abduction. Was it simply a case of no body, no murder?

The likelihood is that the three young men were responsible for the burial of Judith Hakari, with at least one directly involved in her savage murder. The crime was undoubtedly pre-planned by somebody who had observed her routine and took full advantage of a dark, secluded parking lot at near midnight. Although not conclusive, it appears as though her abductor was either familiar with the young woman from Sutter Memorial Hospital or her comings and goings from the Markston Apartments. The canvas bag, manufactured in Sacramento for the San Juan Unified School District and the ripped toweling could provide a tenuous link to the people responsible.

There is little to suggest the abduction and murder of Judith Hakari has anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact he may have latched onto her murder through the San Francisco Chronicle article on September 26th 1970, featuring the disappearance of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970. By mailing the Pines card on March 22nd 1971, he was effectively insinuating he was in the Lake Tahoe/Placer County area in the near timeframe. The murder and rape of Judith Hakari showed none of the features of the Zodiac killings, other than a propensity to rob young victims of their lives with no remorse.

There is a well-researched and informative documentary series on Youtube called Solve Crimes with Rick & Gavin, taking a deep dive into the story of Judith Hakari. If you want to extend your knowledge on the murder of Judith Hakari and hopefully forge a resolution to this 50-year-old case, please click the link above. Or visit their website here. 

Inspired by an idea floated by Dave Oranchak of Zodiac Killer Ciphers and the third instalment of his Let's Crack Zodiac series, we will take another look at the 408 cipher and the notion of a killer who simply skipped a line accidentally when transferring his 17 by 24 plaintext grid into three separate 17 by 8 ciphertext mailings. It was an easy error to make, bearing in mind that the letter E may have began three consecutive rows on the original plaintext 408 (rows 17, 18 and 19). The Zodiac Killer may have inadvertently missed out ELONEORSTRAYPEOPL while transferring from his 17 by 24 plaintext grid into the ciphertext mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. He accidentally enciphered the next row, which also began with the letter E, converting EIHAVEKILLEDWILLB into ciphertext (which unfortunately now began the enciphered message to the Chronicle). This created the appearance of a missing word (such as people) in "the best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and all the (people) I have killed will become my slaves".  

The reason for believing that ELONEORSTRAYPEOPL are the missing 17 letters of plaintext, is based on his threats to the three newspapers, who he threatened with devastating consequences if they failed to publish his cipher by the afternoon of Friday, August 1st. The Zodiac Killer, when finishing his encryption, would now realise his mistake, but for whatever reason decided not to go back and correct the error. His original intention may very well have been to leave just one apparently meaningless plaintext letter E at the end of the 408 cipher (effectively creating a 407 character cipher). That is, until we run the decoding process for a second time.

Dave Oranchak showed us how the Zodiac Killer enciphered his letter E's as he traveled through the 408 cipher, by cycling through Z9W+ONE (O with dot). which all represented the letter E and created a repeating sequence (despite breaking down towards the end). This is shown at 32:47 on his Let's Crack Zodiac episode. If we apply a second decoding to the letter E remaining at the end of the 408 cipher, the letter E would now be replaced by the letter Z, which begins this repeating sequence. The 408 cipher would now be complete with a message and signature (or identity). The Zodiac Killer would be signing off his cipher with the letter Z, partially and fully evident in the April 30th 1967 Bates letters and October 27th 1970 Halloween card. Whether the letter E required a second decoding is unproven, but it's a tantalizing prospect regarding a killer who initially boasted "in this cipher is my idenity" - and a missing line that makes this all possible.

Let's Crack Zodiac (Part One)      Let's Crack Zodiac (Part Two)