I highly recommend watching the latest Youtube video by Rick & Gavin from Solve Crimes, where they interview the birth daughter of Carol Beth Hilburn regarding her search for the identity of her mother and the sad realization of her early demise. Carol Beth Hilburn (22) was murdered by one or more perpetrators on November 14th 1970, after leaving Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento. Here is a brief introduction to the case featured in an earlier article: The Murder of Carol Beth Hilburn.

I will not reveal any of the content in the video, other than to say Rick & Gavin have made excellent progress in pushing the cases of Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hilburn forward, with new information generated through diligent research, alongside interviews with family members and people close to each respective cold case. In previous episodes they conducted a running interview with Michael Willis (son of Raymond Willis, engaged to Judith Hakari at the time of her murder). In this episode they sensitively interviewed Lynda Sue Pinochi about the case of her mother.

Rick & Gavin must be commended on their approach to these extremely distant cold cases, when interviewing people with close ties to the victims of such horrible crimes. For many, these murders are often treated as nothing more than impersonal distant events, failing to understand these crimes have far-reaching effects on family members many decades after the crime. Rick & Gavin will undoubtedly convince many more people to come forward and share their stories through the compassionate and understanding manner they adopt.

The Youtube video series of Rick Tracewell and Gavin Fish, for me personally, is the correct way to approach these often forgotten and distant cold cases, where the person being interviewed is made to feel as comfortable as possible, despite the nature of the crimes discussed. The whole series is a breath of fresh air, in what can only be described as the stifling, oppressive and unsettling topic of true crime - in which often - these murders are not as cold to some as you are led to believe.

In a previous article entitled The Dick Tracy 340 Cipher we explored the idea that the "13 punch-holes" and "red crucifix decoder" of the October 5th 1970 communication, may have been giving us a clue into the "Paradice and Slaves" formation within the 340 cipher. While this may remain the case, there could be a more direct link between the 13-Hole postcard and the April 20th 1970 13-Symbol cipher (and a case of dual functionality). There is the obvious link of 13 characters in the April 20th 1970 code and the 13 punched holes, but there is also the common link of phraseology in "What is the price tag now" and "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". These were the only two times the Zodiac Killer asked about the bounty on his capture. There is also a link between both configurations. The 13-Symbol cipher had three circled number 8's positioned in the center of the code (with 4 characters either side and two between them). The 13-Hole postcard had three distinct punch-holes in the center of the formation (with 4 punch-holes either side and two between them).

When you look at the 13-Hole postcard it is clear that the Zodiac Killer had plenty of room to configure the punch-holes into any arrangement he liked, yet he chose to overload one line with ten holes, with just three on the other. One could be forgiven for believing there was purpose in this design. 

The April 20th 1970 and October 5th 1970 communications were littered with Christian symbolism. We have the Red Crucifix, the three 8's (which in Christian numerology represents Jesus, or Christ the Redeemer), the Celtic Cross and the Anchor (adopted by Christians as a symbol of hope in future existence). The number 8 (infinity) in Christianity is representative of eternal life, rebirth, regeneration or a new beginning. They all play into the belief of an afterlife. This brought forward the notion that the number 8 in the 13-Symbol cipher was the beginning of each element of the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof" (as shown above in green). In the diagram above, one can see that the letter F becomes the 5th letter in both sequences, the letter I becomes the 7th letter in both sequences, and the letter C becomes the 9th letter in both sequences, with the K and M slotting in between. In short, the letters FIC in both instances are separated into three circles, positioned identically in both sequences. The use of circles in both the 13-Hole postcard and 13-Symbol cipher plays directly into the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof", which when placed around the already existing K and M in the code, forms an eternal and circular repeating sequence. The April 20th 1970 communication now satisfied the October 22nd 1969 challenge by cryptographer D.C.B. Marsh in the San Francisco Examiner, for the Zodiac Killer to reveal his name. The letter now read "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof".                

If Kathleen Johns story of abduction is to be believed as recounted by Robert Graysmith in his 1986 Zodiac book, then it's extremely likely Kathleen Johns wasn't taken on a 2 to 3 hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy, California. If Robert Graysmith was detailing her recollections of March 22nd and 23rd 1970 even remotely accurately, it is evident that Kathleen Johns was driven to either the city of Livermore or Pleasanton in Alameda County. This location would 16 to 22 miles west of the location she believed her abductor had taken her. A location familiar to the Zodiac community because this was the area where the Zodiac Killer mailed the Los Angeles letter on March 13th 1971. 

In the Robert Graysmith book she described passing the Arco Service Station at Chrisman Road. It recounted the events like so: Then the stranger drove her away from her car - but not to the ARCO station. "When he missed it, I really didn't think much about it. I didn't say anything. When he passed the next exit, it dawned on me something wasn't right. As long as he wasn't talking, neither was I. We went several more exits before he got off, and then I just didn't say anything. He was doing the driving". The man started down a deserted, rocky farm road. Nothing was said for a long time. The man started to pull over to the roadside and then speeded up. He repeated this several times. Kathleen thought he was going to make a pass at her. She was the one to break the silence "Do you always go around helping people on the road like this" she said sarcastically. "When I get through with them they don't need any help" said the man, his tone changing as he looked off at the dark woods in the distance.        

The journey time from South Bird Road (where her vehicle was abandoned) to Pleasanton is approximately 50 to 55 minutes. Throw in the "slow drives" up some winding farm roads and the journey time back to Highway 132, and we have effectively swallowed up the 2 to 3 hours that she claimed the journey had taken. Let us review her account to Robert Graysmith.

She explicitly stated that they passed the ARCO exit at Chrisman Road, continuing onwards. California State Route 132 switches into the 82-mile Interstate 580 and heads northwest on the south side of Tracy, California. To circle around the outskirts of Tracy (where Kathleen Johns thought the man drove), the correct departure point would have been the following exit after the ARCO station at Chrisman Road. This would have been north on Corrall Hollow Road. But according to the Robert Graysmith book, Kathleen Johns stated that after missing the first exit after Chrisman Road "we went several more exits before he got off". Even if the man had exited Interstate 580 two exits after Chrisman Road, this would have him exiting up Patterson Pass Road, about 4 miles to the west of Tracy. The third exit after Chrisman Road would have the "abductor" exiting on Grant Line Road about 6 miles shy of Livermore. The fourth exit would be Carroll Road and Altamont Pass Road in Ulmar, Livermore, just a few miles from the city center. Livermore to Pleasanton (center to center) is 6 miles. The fourth exit would have been three exits after "he passed the next exit", described by Kathleen as several. Judging by the time elapsed and the description of "several more exits", it is highly likely that Kathleen Johns was approaching Livermore and Pleasanton via Interstate 580, rather than exiting the highway at Tracy. The woods she described in the distance may have been Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.

Irrespective of the whole story making little sense, Kathleen Johns was effectively describing the natural route she would have taken to visit her sick mother in Petaluma, California. She would have taken Interstate 580 to the north side of the Bay Area. If the outward bound journey had taken Kathleen Johns past several exits, close to Livermore or Pleasanton - then approaching three hours later - she was extremely fortunate to escape into a vineyard just a few hundred meters from her stricken 1957 Chevrolet station wagon, back on Highway 132. It was effectively a journey to nowhere. 

Investigators discovered two sets of bloody fingerprints on the taxicab of Paul Stine, murdered at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The first set of prints were discovered on the dividing panel between the driver side of the taxicab and left rear passenger door. The second set of prints were discovered on the outside handle of the right front passenger door of the taxicab. Both these sets of prints were circled in red in the police report. The following excerpt from the FBI files details the findings. It clearly states that "The latent prints that show traces of blood are believed to be prints of the suspect". Since the prints from the right front door handle were believed to be prints from the killer, it's fairly obvious that they showed traces of blood. This is why they were circled with a red pen.

If the Zodiac Killer rode in the front passenger seat of the taxicab that night and executed Paul Stine, he most certainly would have received some back spatter to his hand and gun. He may also have transferred blood to his hands in the process of removing a piece of Paul Stine's shirt. If this was the case, why was no blood found on the inner door handle, yet was discovered on the outer door handle? The killer had every reason to touch the inner door handle to leave, so may have used a handkerchief to avoid getting fingerprints on this handle. However, upon exiting the front passenger door, there was absolutely no need to ever touch the outer door handle with your fingertips to close it. Just close it by pushing the door with any other part of your body (leg, foot, lower arm, elbow, shoulder, or using the handkerchief). Despite the three teenagers having described the Zodiac Killer wiping down the front passenger door with a handkerchief, it is apparent that he still left bloody prints. 

A killer traveling in the back seat would also have received back spatter on his hand and gun, but no blood was recorded being found on the inner back passenger door handle. The murderer would then have exited the right rear door and entered the front passenger door. The question would now be: did the killer successfully avoid (or even attempt to avoid) placing his fingerprints on the front outer door handle as he entered the front compartment? Bloody fingerprints were retrieved from this handle, so it's possible the answer was no (he could always attempt to clean the handle upon leaving, as noticed by the three teenagers). The killer managed to avoid depositing bloody fingerprints on the inner and outer door handle at the rear. He also avoided depositing bloody fingerprints on the front inner door handle. The only door handle to contain the killer's bloody fingerprints was the outside of the front passenger side. A handle that a front passenger never needed to close with a bloody hand, but a handle that a back passenger certainly needed to open when entering the front of the taxicab.

If the Zodiac Killer entered the front passenger door at the beginning of the journey, then it's possible he deposited a normal fingerprint on the outer door handle that required wiping away after the murder. However, a wiping motion with your fingerprints protected by a handkerchief, would be extremely unlikely to deposit any bloody prints. But if bloody prints were already on the handle, caused by a back seat passenger entering the front compartment, wiping them down upon leaving could fail to remove all of them. There will always be the claim that these fingerprints were deposited by responding personnel, despite the fact that this was a managed crime scene, with the option of elimination prints at a later date. This claim is usually trotted out by researchers with a vested interest in a particular suspect, who they don't want ruled out by bloody fingerprints. Rather than rip up years of research, it is much easier to rip up the evidence. The balance of probability in the Paul Stine murder leans toward a Zodiac Killer who rode in the back of the taxicab that night, although like most things in the Zodiac case, there is always room for doubt. 

Is it really a viable proposition that more than one person was involved in the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968? To answer this question, the only reliable way to approach this would be to examine the ballistics evidence in the turnout that night and the details in the Department of Justice Report. We know that only one of the Rambler doors was open when investigators arrived on scene, with the other three locked. Therefore, it was extremely likely that the couple were both forced out of the front passenger side of the Rambler under gunpoint, thereby necessitating Betty Lou Jensen to exit the Rambler first. If two assailants were present in the other vehicle that night, then it's extremely likely that the perpetrator who exited the driver side of the other vehicle, being closer to the right side of the Rambler, fired immediately upon exiting his vehicle into the headliner and back window of the Rambler, not only to dissuade David Faraday from attempting to escape, but to pressure them to leave the passenger side of the Rambler. If both the assailants vacated their vehicle at approximately the same time, it would be extremely risky for the passenger to fire past his partner at the Rambler. While he is negotiating his way around the second vehicle, his partner would have already fired at least two shots towards the Rambler and would be waiting to secure Betty Lou Jensen as she exited the passenger door of the Rambler. At this time, his partner would have arrived ready to secure David Faraday just shy of the right rear wheel.             

With the second assailant facing David Faraday and the gun pressed under the lobe of his left ear, he is effectively rendering David Faraday a spectator to the rest of proceedings. The reason to believe the perpetrator was securing David Faraday from the front rather than the rear is twofold. A gun discharged to the left side of David Faraday's head has a 90% chance of being delivered by a right-handed shooter. One casing was found on the passenger side floorboard, very likely to have been ejected from the position shown above. It either fell directly onto the passenger side floorboard or deflected in off the Rambler door, which was angled in such a way as to facilitate this. Bearing in mind this assailant was overwhelmingly likely to have been right-handed, had he secured David Faraday from the rear, not only would the casing be less likely to have ejected over both of them towards the Rambler door, but David Faraday's feet would unlikely to have been virtually touching the rubber of the right rear tire as he fell to the ground. This strongly suggests that the second assailant was facing David Faraday with the gun pressed behind his left ear - and from this position - incapable of shooting Betty Lou Jensen as she fled westwards across the turnout in a desperate bid for freedom. 

The first perpetrator, who initiated the original offensive, now lets Betty Lou Jensen go and likely orders her to run. He fires immediately, creating the speck of powder found around one of the holes in her dress. He then mercilessly guns her down as she flees into the darkness. If the author of the August 4th 1969 letter was telling the truth, then he is the one using the pencil flashlight attached to his gun. A flashlight that would be completely negated had he been the murderer of David Faraday also. Irrespective of whether this assailant missed Betty Lou Jensen or the Rambler as he approached, he would now have fired off every shot so far that night. The final shot delivered by the second assailant as he faced the terrified and helpless David Faraday.

The ballistics pattern on the turnout floor is consistent with the person who fired off nine shots, with the only casing found inside the Rambler, consistent with a right-handed person securing David Faraday in close proximity to the open passenger door of the Rambler. The Department of Justice ballistics report may also suggest the possibility of two shooters that night. There was one crucial section in the DOJ Report, which stated "All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". Item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday's head. The written police report (excluding the drawings) and DOJ ballistics report, both detail the collection of the nine casings from the turnout floor by Sgt Silva and Dan Horan, but neither makes any mention of the tenth casing initially noted on the Rambler floorboard. This casing was not detailed in the ballistics report (likely towed away from the crime scene and separated from the other nine casings). This means we have one casing never examined to see if it matched the other nine. We also have one bullet fired that night (retrieved from David Faraday's head), that didn't exhibit the same right hand groove class characteristics as the other bullets. The phrasing of the sentence in the ballistics report is extremely crucial.   

It stated that "although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics". If the bullet fired into David Faraday's head was simply too damaged to compare it to the other bullets, then the report should have read "it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics".  However, the phrase was prefixed with "although some were damaged", suggesting that despite this damage, it was still possible to determine that item [1] didn't have the same characteristics as the other bullets. It also didn't single out the bullet retrieved from David Faraday's head as being damaged, moreover that "some were damaged". Despite some bullets being damaged, "it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics".

If the bullet retrieved from David Faraday's head was connected to the casing ejected from gun used to shoot him, which ejected onto the Rambler floorboard, then we need to find the tenth casing. If this casing exhibited different characteristics to the other nine casings, as the Faraday bullet may have done to the other submitted bullets, then we more than likely had at least two shooters at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968. If the first assailant (who fired nine shots) had written the August 4th 1969 letter, stating "all I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose", it was very likely he was telling the truth - because from his perspective - he wasn't the one who delivered the close-contact wound that ended the short life of David Faraday one cold December night. 

Inspector David Toschi was quoted in the July 10th 1974 San Francisco Chronicle regarding the latest May 8th and July 8th "Zodiac" communications, stating "There's no doubt in my mind about either one. I took them to a documents expert and in less than five minutes he told me positively they were in fact written by the Zodiac". There are no reputable documents examiners who could conclude in five minutes that two correspondences were written by the Zodiac Killer, if Toschi's assertions were true. There still remains much doubt over the 1974 communications to this day, as there does around the April 24th 1978 letter, with conflicting interpretations on its validity as a genuine Zodiac Killer letter. Document examiners would later disregard both the 1986 and 1987 letters, despite evidence to the contrary indicating that both these letters were penned by the real Zodiac Killer. 

Robert Prouty joined the San Diego Police Department after his service in the U.S. Air Force, before relocating to Sacramento in 1973 and working for the Department of Justice as a Questioned Documents Examiner. In the San Francisco Examiner on October 30th 1987, he stated in reference to two potential Zodiac letters "My very firm opinion is that they were not written by the authentic Zodiac. They appear to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public. All of us were hoping we'd heard the last of him", said Prouty, who analyzes about fifteen bogus Zodiac letters a year.

If we take the word of Robert Prouty, then he must have examined a minimum of 222 communications alleged to have been mailed by the Zodiac Killer over those nearly fifteen years.. Even if 20% of these were genuine, the Zodiac Killer may have mailed at least 44 communications from 1973 to October 1987. With a high degree of probability the Zodiac Killer mailed at least four, if not five communications in 1971. We therefore have a potential 222 communications ruled as bogus, when in fact some of them may have been genuine Zodiac letters - and as such - provided invaluable information as to his identity, or further insight into his movements and character? Hoping that you've "heard the last of him" is hoping for less information about the killer. More disturbing still, is how many of these communications have ended up being discarded and destroyed, when they could have contained valuable DNA evidence at a time when major breakthroughs in biological science were surfacing, along with the advancement in preservation and storage of samples pertaining to criminal investigations.         

Very few communications have been featured since 1974. Notable examples are three in 1978, one in 1986, two in 1987 (of which one was withheld), a postcard and greeting card in 1990, and a 2001 'Happy New Year' card. If these were deemed not authentic by Questioned Document Examiner's, why release these and not the other communications between 1974 and 1987, also deemed to have been penned by hoaxers. What is the difference? 

In respect to the 1987 letter received by the Vallejo Times-Herald, Robert Prouty said it "appeared to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public". In other words, it had been copied from previous letters and was a case of mimicry. Here is what Robert Prouty stated in respect to the 1978 letter: "I examined the photographs of the April letter and those of previous letters attributed to Zodiac. My first impression was that it was in the same general style as previous letters, but after closer examination my ultimate conclusion was that there were so many differences that it was not written by the same person who wrote the previous Zodiac letters … Several letter characteristics in my opinion did not match the style used by Zodiac. The slant of some letters was not consistent with previous Zodiac communications". In summary, one was ruled out because it looked too similar to previous letters and one was ruled out because it looked too different. John Shimoda of the US Postal Service crime laboratory originally deemed the 1978 letter genuine, before reversing that decision and stating “I am of the opinion that the letter of April 24 was an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic".       

There was a eight-year gap from the bulk of Zodiac communications in 1970 to the April 24th 1978 letter, and a further nine-year gap to the 1987 letter. Handwriting can change over time - and can change depending on the speed of writing, the surface you are writing on, the time of day, the style of pen you are using, the angle you are writing, the level of alcohol and drugs in your system and your health at any given time. Determining that certain letters vary slightly in style, particularly over many years - and thereby concluding a different author for the Zodiac letters - is stacked with inponderables such as these.

The Zodiac Killer contacted the Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969 in his first contact with the newspapers, but according to the Vallejo Times-Herald City Editor Mary Apanasewicz on October 30th 1987, the newspaper had never received a crank letter in the previous eighteen years. Therefore, we would have to conclude that up to 222 random hoax Zodiac letters could have been mailed between 1973 and 1987, yet not one single individual hoaxer ever wrote to the Herald. The fact that somebody wrote to them on October 28th 1987, using the same thirteen words on the envelope as the July 31st 1969 envelope, with no punctuation in either, using the full title of Vallejo Times-Herald (with both likely misspelling Herald to Herold), when the 1969 envelope had not been released into the public domain by October 28th 1987, should have told Mary Apanasewicz that she still hadn't received a hoax letter by the end of 1987 either.        

It is fairly obvious by now that the Zodiac Killer didn't just pluck Mount Diablo out of a hat for the starting point of his Mount Diablo code in the Button letter on June 26th 1970. He knew the history of Mount Diablo and knew that the peak of Mount Diablo was used for the purpose of land boundaries in the majority of Northern California and Nevada, with the summit used as the "initial point", the north/south meridian and east/west baseline intersection point. However, because of the vastness of California, surveying required three "initial points" of Mount Diablo, Mount Pierce and the San Bernardino Mountain to form grid lines.

The Zodiac Killer knew the prominence of Mount Diablo from an elevation standpoint, but very likely knew some of the history and purpose of Mount Diablo - and why he chose this mountain as his "initial point" for the code of radians and inches to be measured from.

It is true that only a tiny proportion of a population would understand what a radian is, but the conclusion drawn from the Zodiac Killer's use of radians as an angular measurement, that he must have been familiar with them through his profession or hobby, is not necessarily the case. He could easily have read a book, magazine, or newspaper article in the preceding hours, days, weeks or months to mailing the Button letter. While most people will not be knowledgeable to the concept of radians, it takes very little time to familiarize oneself with them. Therefore, the idea of radians being a requirement to his daily life through his work (past or present) is not necessarily the case. It may have been a topic he had recently read and so decided to utilize the measurement of radians in his Mount Diablo code. Despite highlighting this point, it is clear that the Zodiac Killer through his communications with the newspapers, did exhibit good "mental mapping" skills in relation to the environment around him. His compass skills were correct in all instances, whether by use of a map or through an extensive knowledge of the locations he murdered in. 

The Zodiac Killer stated correctly that "the girl was on her right side feet to the west" regarding the murder of Betty Lou Jensen at Lake Herman Road. He was correct in his payphone directions after the attack at Blue Rock Springs, stating "If you will go one mile east...... On Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car". The Zodiac Killer was aware of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia at Lake Berryessa being north of Park Headquarters. He showed his "cardinal points" awareness  in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter, describing his exit through the park of "The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west + there was only 2 groups of parking about 10 min apart then the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west". All this, along with the use of radians in the Mount Diablo map pinpointing Ingleside Police Station and the Southern Freeway as his supposed bomb target, should give you pause for thought when the Zodiac Killer identified "Washington St and Maple St" as the location of the Paul Stine murder.   

When you factor in the cryptic directions given in the Pines and Monticello cards, it becomes increasingly likely that the Zodiac Killer had a keen interest in maps, the surroundings in which he lived and worked, along with the hunting grounds he chose for murder. It may suggest that he methodically planned out these attacks well in advance, so as to facilitate the best possible chance of escape. Taking this all into consideration, it now becomes a much more reasonable argument to suggest that the Zodiac Killer may have had prior and extensive knowledge of radians, rather than just a passing whim prior to his mailing of the Button letter on June 26th 1970.

The nearly nude body of 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. Shoe prints and tire tracks were discovered close to where the young woman was found, opening up the possibility she was murdered elsewhere and transported to the area she was found.

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. Investigators concluded by examining the crime scene that she had been transported to the location she was ultimately found, and the perpetrator/s vehicle would have been heavily bloodstained. Therefore, the location of her murder was considered to lie elsewhere, possibly close to the area she was last seen alive.  

Stephine Black (11) went missing from a Rio Linda bus stop on October 24th 1974 while walking from her home to school - testimony to this were her school books found lying abandoned on 18th Street. Her body was recovered on November 11th 1974, when two 16-year-old boys out rabbit hunting discovered her badly decomposed body behind cattails in a rice paddy just 25 feet off Jackson Road, north of Baseline Road. The location was only five miles from her residence.

A sexual component to the crime was fairly obvious because the young girl was clothed in only a blouse, with no other clothing found at the crime scene. Despite this, nothing conclusive could be determined from the autopsy by Placer County officials, other than she was likely dumped in the rice paddy shortly after her abduction from the bus stop.

The age of the victim, nature of her disappearance and location of her body would lead investigators to believe that Herman Lee Hobbs may very likely be responsible for her murder based upon the circumstances discussed in the next case on this page - the murder of 13-year-old Terri Maree Pata. Despite lingering suspicions, the murder of Stephine Black remains unsolved to this day. Without any DNA collected in her case due to her being submerged in water, a likely resolution to her horrific murder will probably never materialize. 

Terri Maree Pata (13) was last seen leaving Rio Linda High School on January 21st 1975. Nine days later, the young girl was found by a man collecting aluminium cans, with her body stuffed inside a pipe in a drainage ditch alongside Lone Tree Road, close to Elverta Road in North Highlands. Terri Maree Pata had been brutally murdered, her throat had been slit and she had been stabbed a minimum of 27 times about the face, back and abdomen. The young girl had also been raped. The amount of stab wounds was very similar to the attack on Nancy Darlene Feusi, although the age of the victim's in each case were vastly different.

Many years later, DNA testing would eventually identify the murderer of Terri Maree Pata. Herman Lee Hobbs (57) was arrested at Pleasant Valley Prison in Coalinga (already in jail for rape) and brought to Sacramento County, before he was ultimately convicted of her murder, having lived close to Terri at the time of her disappearance and murder. He has been linked to many other rapes and murders, including Stephine Black, Brenda Ann Tucker, Katherine Harlan and Harriet Elizabeth Riley, the latter two of which both lived in North Highlands.

It is patently obvious that Herman Lee Hobbs was a deviant sociopath responsible for many more crimes than police could pin on him. During the 1970s, several girls near Pata's age were found murdered in the vicinity of North Highlands. In most cases, the bodies were so badly decomposed that detectives were unable to determine the cause of death or whether the victims had been sexually assaulted.

Katherine Harlan (9) was abducted on her walk to a bus stop on March 7th 1979 and found four days later just inside Sutter County beside Powerline Road, again likely transported to this location rather than murdered there. Her body was discovered by fishermen in a drainage ditch. Katherine lived less than a mile from murder victim Harriet Elizabeth Riley (6), who on the afternoon of January 9th 1975 disappeared close to her Gratton Way, North Highlands residence while playing in a park. Harriet was discovered suffocated a few blocks from her residence callously discarded in a dumpster. Her disposal site differed markedly from the other victims.

Fred Franklin Robinson (33) stood trial for the murder of Katherine Harlan, but despite investigators claiming he had admitted strangling the young 9-year-old girl he plead innocent at his trial. Several material eyewitnesses came forward vouching for Robinson's whereabouts at the time of Katherine's abduction, with the autopsy showing she was beaten to death. Charges against Robinson were eventually dropped by the judiciary claiming lack of evidence and nobody has subsequently been identified as the murderer of Katherine Harlan. Four of these murders (excluding Harriet Elizabeth Riley) have one striking feature in common, to which we shall turn to now.       

There were many more murder victims during this six-year window in Sacramento, but these four young girls were dumped in extremely close proximity to one another, close to West Riego Road. Nancy Darlene Feusi was found approximately 729 meters from West Riego Road. Stephine Black was found 1.8 miles from West Riego Road and only 1.44 miles from the dump site of Nancy Darlene Feusi. Katherine Harlan was found on Powerline Road which crosses West Riego Road. Terri Maree Pata's body was found approximately 2.4 miles south of West Riego Road. All four victims were found just off the side of a road in an extremely rural area of Sutter County and Placer County, which border each other. Their ages may vary from nine to twenty-three, but the close proximity to each other sets off the alarm bells. Herman Lee Hobbs was inextricably tied to the murder of Terri Maree Pata through DNA, but was he responsible for some or all of the other victims?

We have discussed Nancy Darlene Feusi (23) before, so it was particularly unnerving to find the dump site of Stephine Black (11) was in the same Pleasant Grove neighborhood, only one-and-a-half miles northeast. Their ages differed markedly, with Stephine Black being abducted on her way to school and Nancy Darlene Feusi having likely been abducted closer to 3:00 am after leaving a dance hall. However, they were both abducted from Sacramento County 15 months apart from one another and both were found only 1.44 miles apart in a remote northern location, just beyond Sacramento County lines. This area was extremely rural, having seemingly been chosen through familiarity and knowledge of this location. In terms of how the victims were killed, we know that both Nancy Darlene Feusi and Terri Maree Pata were stabbed at least 29 and 27 times respectively about the body, so was Herman Lee Hobbs responsible for the murder of Nancy Feusi also?

The Zodiac Killer was incapable of keeping the secrets to his ciphers for any length of time, arguable by his eagerness in responding to the various newspaper articles about his crimes. The two Fairfield letters, mailed on December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969, were perfect examples of a killer who could barely go one month subsequent to the "340" cipher before hinting at the workings of his masterpiece cipher.

The December 7th 1969 cipher of 38 characters was the beginning of many short and apparently unsolvable codes. The sheer fact that he mailed the Z38, Z9, Z13 and Z32, comprising of no more than 92 characters in total, should have set off the alarm bells that these codes were nothing more than a message only understood to their designer without further input. That further input began only 29 days after the mailing of the "340" cipher with the wording of "paradice" and "slaves", gleaned from the 408 cipher of "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" - and would play an integral part in the Z38 and Z9 codes, as they did in the superficial design of the November 8th 1969 "340" cipher and the configuration on the October 27th 1970 Halloween card. The chosen phraseology of "paradice and slaves" long preceded the Halloween card and the presumed Tim Holt comic book connection.

Nobody can dispute that "paradice" and "slaves" can be slotted into the 340 cipher in cruciform. The only dispute is whether it was unintentional or by design. That is why we must turn (in absence of the code in the November 21st 1969 letter) to the Zodiac Killer's next two cryptic offerings on December 7th and 16th. He gave us three consecutive coded communications after the 340 cipher, that may show the Bay Area murderer's incompatabilty with keeping secrets, especially when you consider that these three codes were hopelessly short of characters - and as such - designed as clues to the workings of the 340 cipher rather than standalone codes in their own right. The codes of the Z38, Z9, Z13 and Z32 were all simplistic in nature, to be later revealed from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. The one sure thing we know of the Zodiac Killer, was his narcissism and his inability to withhold communication from the newspapers. Irrespective of this character trait, we assume he was able to remain deathly silent regarding his codes for up to 51 years.

The fact that the December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 letters came within nine days of one another, separated by 29 days from the 340 cipher, facilitates an argument based on their limited characters, that these two Fairfield codes contained clues to the workings of the 340 cipher and therefore carried the same purpose. If we remove 14 characters (paradice, slaves) from the total of the Z38 code, we would have 24 characters remaining  (by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun). Those 14 characters present at the base of the Z38, separated into rows of 6 and 8 characters (paradice, slaves). The others rows conveniently accommodating the remainder of the Halloween card phrase of by fire, by rope, by knife and by gun. 

The second Fairfield letter (Z9 code) effectively becomes a 29 character code of DEATH by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun - and the rudimentary forerunner to the Halloween card configuration - inspired by the Tim Holt comic book, which harboured the word "death" as a precursor to the instrument of death. Unless, we conclude that the two designs in the Fairfield letters were another case of unintentional scrawlings, lacking any meaning whatsoever. The design of the Z9 code with four small crosshairs around the larger crosshairs would have to be regarded as an unfortunate mirroring of the Halloween card, only nine days after a code of 38 characters was mailed in the December 7th 1969 letter (paradice, slaves, by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun). Not withstanding that death, paradice, slaves, by fire, by rope, by knife and by gun are all self-contained on a separate row.

This interwoven pattern traversing the four communications of November 8th 1969, December 7th 1969, December 16th 1969 and October 27th 1970 will still be categorized under the category of unproven and likely unintentional. Short of a cryptographic solution to the 340 cipher, approaches to the codes such as the one presented here, will always be discarded and casually dismissed under the banner of "seeing patterns in the clouds" - thereby making any non-cryptographic solution to these codes and ciphers a non-starter. This means, that if the Zodiac Killer created a puzzle rather than a cryptogram, you will never be able to prove the case. Therefore, I have just wasted my time writing this article.