On October 22nd 1969, the San Francisco Examiner newspaper published an article by Will Stevens, which laid down a challenge from Professor D.C.B. Marsh of the American Cryptogram Association (ACA) to the Zodiac Killer, attempting to coax him into revealing his name. The newspaper stated "Dr Marsh told the Examiner today: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allan Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name -in cipher code - would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name".

It was probably hoped that by invoking the name of Edgar Allan Poe, the Zodiac Killer would use a technique employed by Poe in the design of his next code. The Zodiac Killer, having created two lengthy ciphers, must have known that code breakers would find it difficult to confirm a solution to such a short code of thirteen characters on April 20th 1970, so may have hinted towards an answer using material created by Edgar Allan Poe. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time.

Edgar Allan Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing began with an examination of the scytale method of encryption and decoding, which can be used to reveal Zodiac's message in the 340 cipher. The essay followed up with a second encryption technique by splitting the alphabet into two sections of thirteen characters, A through M, and N through Z. It didn't go unnoticed that Zodiac used thirteen characters in his code on April 20th 1970, beginning with the ciphertext character A, and ending with the ciphertext character M. In the next section of the essay, an individual who withheld his name, provided us with the following:  

Being the only date referenced in Poe's essay, it is noticeable that the Zodiac Killer by mailing his April 20th 1970 letter on this date, probably hoped it would be received by the newspaper on April 21st 1970, with "My name is ____", imitating the introduction above. I previously discovered that the only complete novel ever published by Edgar Allan Poe was  entitled "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". The very first line of this book read "My name is Arthur Gordon Pym". Oddly, the name "Arthur Gordon Pym" begins with the letter "A" and ends with the letter "M", just like the 13-Symbol cipher. But this wasn't all. Here is the opening chapter of the novel mentioning "money", as did Zodiac on April 20th 1970 when he wrote "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". The opening paragraph also mentions the locations of Nantucket and New Bedford.

But how does "My name is" from the novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" tie into Edgar Allan Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing? The unnamed author in the above challenge to Poe on April 21st was from Stonington, Connecticut (revealed by the postmark). Is it possible that the Zodiac Killer, having mailed the thirteen character code within one day of this postmark, was choosing the introduction of "My name is" from a Poe novel to point us towards Stonington, Connecticut? The Zodiac had given us the near-postmark from the essay, so why not give us a clue to Stonington as well. The opening paragraph of the novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket", beginning with "My name is", gave us the two locations of Nantucket and New Bedford. These locations are only 88 miles and 54 miles east of Stonington, Connecticut. The locations of Norwalk, Connecticut and Albany, New York are also relevant to two Zodiac communications on March 2nd 1981 and August 1st 1973.      

I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME - THAT WASN’T ME ON THE TV SHOW - WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME - I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE - SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH - I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH.   

"To One in Paradise" was written by Edgar Allan Poe. This poem was first published as part of the short story titled "The Visionary" (later retitled as "The Assignation"). The poem was also published under the names "To lanthe in Heaven" and "To One Beloved". The title "To One in Paradise" was used in the February 25, 1843 Saturday Musuem. This poem was written after the death of Poe's wife. He writes that she was his life and he lived for her and now he looks forward to the future where they will be together again in death. link.

​The Zodiac Killer must have known that any solution to the thirteen character code on April 20th 1970 was practically unverifiable, unless the answer resided within the works of Edgar Allan Poe - and this link could be reasonably demonstrated. If the Zodiac Killer was capable of placing "One in Paradice" from a poem title by Poe into the 340 cipher, then he is capable of giving us a solution to the thirteen character code from material within the novel of "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket". "My name is" begins the novel - and is the prelude (with dash) to the thirteen character code - so why shouldn't the answer to the Zodiac's code follow both and be the same. The solution to the thirteen character code may lie within ​"The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" by Edgar Allan Poe. Or can the method used to decode the "Stonington" cipher be used to provide a solution for the April 20th 1970 Zodiac cipher.

The nude and beaten body of a young woman ("Winona" or "Ronnie" Davis) was found on an Isla Vista beach, adjacent to the University of California at Santa Barbara on January 18th 1971 with a cut on her head and a badly mutilated face, which had been covered with a coat. Just under a year previous, on February 21st 1970, John Franklin Hood (24) and Sandra Garcia (20) had been stabbed and badly beaten on Cemetery Beach just 11 miles east of this location. Sandra Garcia was viciously beaten around the head leaving her almost unrecognizable, and a blanket had been placed over her face and body, and that of her partner. 

Four months after the Isla Vista murder, on May 10th 1971, Karen Ann Signore (21), a recent student at the University of California at Santa Barbara, was hitchhiking along Sycamore Canyon Road by Coyote Road when she was shot eight times by either a .22 rifle or gun. Stll alive when spotted by a passing motorist at 10pm, she was rushed to hospital but died on the operating table. Karen was shot just 2 miles north (by crow) from the Santa Barbara beach where Hood and Garcia were murdered.

John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia have been loosely connected to the Robert Domingos (18) and Linda Edwards (17) murders on June 4th 1963 at Canada Del Molino beach, 29 miles west of Cemetery Beach.

Like the murder of the Isla Vista female, Linda Edwards was also exposed, because her bathing suit had been cut to reveal her breasts. There were also reports that a towel had been placed over Linda's face, similar in fashion to the covering of the face with a coat, performed by the Isla Vista murderer. The face and bodies of Hood and Garcia had also been covered with a blanket. Three deadly attacks on a Santa Barbara beach within 29 miles of each other, and all the victims may have had their faces covered. Linda had been shot 8 times with a .22 caliber weapon, exactly the same caliber and times suffered by Karen Ann Signore on Sycamore Canyon Road. A further interesting aspect to the shooting murder of.Karen Ann Signore, was that her near lifeless body was found in an area occupied by a "lot of hippie types" with lean-to's and shacks. Linda Edwards was dragged (along with Robert Domingos) to a dilapidated shack used by transients, located near the beach.   

There were at least two reports of gunfire on June 2nd 1963, either side of the area where Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards were eventually murdered on June 4th 1963. Eleven teenagers in total reported two bullets whizzing past them as they were standing by their vehicles in a remote area of Gaviota State Park. They had been surfing at the beach that day. They reported that the shooting took place at around mid-afternoon. In another incident seven miles east, three teenagers camping at Tajiguas Creek reported hearing gunshots coming from the beach, just south of their location. The time was given as daybreak. Both sets of earwitnesses descrbed what they thought was the sound of a .22 gun. Four days before the murder of Karen Ann Signore with a .22 weapon, on May 6th 1971, less than one mile from where she was shot, a sniping incident was investigated by Detective William Baker. He said two officers in their patrol car were shot at as they drove along Sycamore Canyon Road.

Joseph Stephen Holt, born on November 8th 1947, would graduate from the Cupertino High School and study political science at the University of California at Santa Barbara, before studying later at UC Berkeley, receiving a bachelor's degree. Joseph Stephen Holt, who murdered Brynn Tainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Andersen (16) in 1979, and is the prime suspect for the murder of Donna Lass (25) in 1970, would have been 23 years old at the time of the Isla Vista murder on January 18th 1971, next to the University of California at Santa Barbara. ​Karen Ann Signore was also a recent student there.

​Putting ​Joseph Stephen Holt aside for any of the Santa Barbara murders, because he is an unlikely candidate, we have five murders on a Santa Barbara beach from 1963 to 1971, with the possibility that all the victims faces were concealed. Robert Domingos was found face down in the shack, with Linda Edwards placed face up on top of him, with possibly a towel over her face. John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia were covered with a blanket (John face down, Sandra face up), and the Isla Vista female had her face covered with a coat..The murderer of Sandra Garcia and the Isla Vista female, separated by 11 months, had their faces seriously disfigured. Karen Ann Signore, was murdered four months after the Isla Vista victim, 2 miles north of the Hood and Garcia killings.   

This is what Ray Grant said about the statement of Peggy Your when she was heading to the Marshall Ranch at 10:55pm :"But when you drive west on Lake Herman Road, and pass the Gate #10 turnout, which would then be to your left, your headlights don't shine into the turnout". Below is a representation of the drawing from Ray Grant's book "Zodiac Killer Solved". Ray Grant continued: "The only way Homer Your's headlights could have illuminated the Faraday Rambler is if he had his high beams on, in which case the headlights would only shine on the driver's window for a moment from about 350 feet away". What Ray is arguing for, is that neither of the Your's got a clear look at the Rambler and what its occupants were doing that night at 10:55pm.    

So when Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser headed to the Marshall Ranch at 9pm or 10pm (like the Your's did later), how could they have possibly recognised the truck of Bingo Wesner coming out of Gate #10? In 1968 (shown in the image below), the gate in the turnout was 100 feet from the right side of the road in extreme darkness. All they would have seen was a vehicle and its headlights from that distance. That vehicle could have been anybody from the ranches and businesses beyond that gate. Nowhere in the police report does it say that Bingo Wesner was in his truck when he spotted the white Chevrolet Impala. Nowhere in the police report does it say he was exiting the gate at 10pm (or 9pm). Nowhere in the police report does it say that Robert Connelly saw Bingo Wesner's truck exit gate #10. And nowhere in the police report does it say that Bingo Wesner saw the red pick-up truck of Connelly & Gasser pass the turnout. For a full explanation see here.

Ray stated "At 10pm, Connelly's red pickup truck with wood sideboards just happens to pass the Gate #10 turnout as Bingo Wesner's truck comes out through Gate #10. Besides noticing each other, both notice the white Chevy Impala parked in the turnout". Again, how does Robert Connelly or Frank Gasser notice Bingo Wesner in pitch black from close to 100 feet away, when the Your's could barely (if at all) see David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the Rambler from about half that distance. The cold hard facts are, that Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser could never have recognised Bingo Wesner or his truck that night. At best, they would have seen the glare of headlights coming from the gate as they passed the turnout..

RAY GRANT'S ROAMING CHEVROLET IMPALA
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
​HUNTING BY THE BENICIA PUMPING STATION 
​WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?​

If the Zodiac Killer was the abductor and murderer of Donna Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 6th 1970, then one might have expected him to claim or insinuate her murder in his next communication, the 13-Hole postcard. Despite later suggesting his involvement in her murder on March 22nd 1971 when the Pines card was mailed, he never increased his victim count from the July 26th 1970 "Little List" letter to the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970 by the Zodiac Killer, which spanned her abduction. Or did he increase the victim count and we simply didn't recognise it? The Pines postcard and 13-Hole postcard both contained punch-holes (suggestive of victims), both contained pasted text, and both carried inverted wording within the postcard. The inverted phrase of "around in the snow" on March 22nd 1971 was clearly referring to the murder and burial location of Donna Lass, so where was the reference to Donna Lass in the inverted text on October 5th 1970?

The construction of the October 5th 1970 postcard may have began just over two weeks after the disappearance of Donna Lass, because all the newspaper cuttings identified on the postcard were sourced from the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner (all separated by only 9 miles)  The cuttings were taken from publications dated September 23rd and 25th. 

On the day the 13-Hole postcard was mailed, a newspaper article by The Orlando Sentinel carried the headline "Zodiac, Killer Of 5 or 13, Silent As Police Wait". The 13-Hole postcard carried a cutting of the number 13 and used the word "police" in the inverted text - so was this section of text giving us a clue to the total victims killed, which now included Donna Lass? The text read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" Could this have been cryptic in nature, just like the Pines card mailed 5 1/2 months later, telling us surreptitiously that he was the murderer of Donna Lass and reading "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fourteen killed I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" In other words, responding to The Orlando Sentinel headline of "Zodiac, Killer Of 5 or 13" on October 5th 1970 (or earlier newspaper that carried the same or similar question).  

​It would mean that the main body of the postcard was reiterating the victim count from the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, but teasing us with the cryptic clue of "Fk" to suggest that there were now "Fourteen killied" in total. This may have been repeated when the Halloween card arrived 22 days later, on October 27th 1970, when he added 13 "floating eyes" to the card, but added the number "14" on the hand of the first skeleton, placed "4-TEEN" atop of the second skeleton, and used the letter "F" once again in the strange symbol at the foot of the card (and on the envelope). The "F" in "Fk" on the 13-Hole postcard may have denoted the number fourteen. The "F" in the strange symbol on the Halloween card may have also denoted fourteen, by combining "Z" and "F" to give us "Zodiac Fourteen". The four dots giving us a clue that "F" meant fourteen. This would mean that the Zodiac Killer gave us two cryptic clues containing the letter "F" in a span of 22 days. The Zodiac Killer could also have added the 14th punch-hole of his career to the Pines postcard, to make up for the one he deliberately withheld from the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970. A postcard in which he decided to use "Fk" instead. But did the Zodiac Killer specifically invert his text in two postcards to represent one victim? That of Donna Lass.

Kim Rossmo stated: ​​"The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts".

This may have been the case with the white Chevrolet Impala spotted by Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser when they passed the gate #10 turnout at 9pm on their way to the Marshall Ranch to hunt raccoons in the area of the Benicia Pumping Station. Later, spotted by sheepherder Bingo Wesner at 10pm as he walked the field tending his sheep near the turnout. Or he noticed the Chevrolet Impala when driving into Gate #10 to check his sheep. The question has always been: was this the vehicle of the Zodiac Killer, armed with a sighting attachment to his gun or rifle? Shooting kids in or by a vehicle, aided by headlights, doesn't really necessitate the use of a pencil flaslight. However, if his intention that night was to park in the turnout by the pumping station and head off into the dark fields to hunt potential victims connected to the businesses and ranches in that area, a sighting implement may have been much more beneficial. 

​On at least two occasions (possibly more), the Chevrolet Impala was observed empty over a minimum of one hour. It was observed by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and George "Bingo" Wesner at 9pm and 10pm, parked facing the gate on an extremely cold night in December. What purpose could the owner of this vehicle have for being in this area over this protracted length of time? Undoubtedly, police should have interviewed local ranches and businesses in the area of that turnout to see whether anybody had any late night dealings with somebody who owned a white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala. To this day, we have had no confirmation that this vehicle has been cleared from the investigation.

The Zodiac Killer could have parked his Chevrolet in the turnout sometime before 9pm and ventured into the area by the pumping station to search for victims, but was later disturbed by the arrival of Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser, armed with guns and dogs. He may have thought it wise to temporarily vacate the area and return to his vehicle. Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser reported that they "treed either a cat or raccoon in the area of the Dotta Ranch. While they were there they saw some sort of activity up there, all the lights were on, but they were a little distance away". The Zodiac Killer may have got back into his vehicle and cruised around the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs areas looking for alternative victims. The "extensive hunting activities" described by Kim Rossmo. Failing to find any victims he reverts back to his original plan and heads back to the gate #10 turnout, where he may have "encouraged" the decision by William Crow and his girlfriend to relinquish the turnout (Crow in a later account described the car that chased him as a four-door light-colored Chevy). The alternative is that Zodiac arrived after the William Crow incident. Parking back up sometime before 10pm, he once again ventures back into the field beyond the gate to resume his hunt. While he is scouting the area by the pumping station, Bingo Wesner notices his vehicle at 10pm in the turnout while walking the field tending his sheep. After seeing the vehicle has no occupants he resumes his duties. 

​Meanwhile, the Zodiac Killer has noticed Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser are still in the area, so once again returns to his vehicle at about 10:30pm. Helen Axe has previously passed the turnout heading to Benicia and possibly notices the Chevrolet facing the gate at 10:15pm, but just before she returns up the road at 10:30pm, the Zodiac Killer has changed the posiition of the Chevrolet in the process of leaving the turnout. This shift in position is noted by Helen Axe. The Zodiac Killer leaves the turnout once again, but is determined to begin collecting his slaves for the afterlife.

​After the Zodiac Killer leaves the turnout, Bingo Wesner, who has now finished tending his sheep, leaves through the vacant turnout sometime after 10:30pm. Approximately 45 minutes after Zodiac had left the turnout, he returns for a third time at about 11:15pm and notices the Faraday Ramber in the turnout. The rest is history. Later, he would recall in his August 4th 1969 letter, that "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights". There may have been no need to use the "gun sights" because these murders were not his original plan.

There was some conflict in the statement of Helen Axe according to police, who noted that when Miss Axe first contacted them, she described a Rambler backed into the gate, and then changed her story to a Rambler facing the gate before turning around. Ray Grant may have a good case for arguing that Helen Axe saw the Chevrolet Impala, who ultimately convinced herself she had seen the Faraday Rambler after the story of the murders broke in the newspaper. The shifting position of a Chevrolet facing the gate, to turning around, would effectively describe a Zodiac Killer returning from his excursion into the field at approximately 10:30pm. Her first sighting of a vehicle at 10:15pm facing into the gate would have been only 15 minutes after the sighting of an unoccupied Chevrolet in the turnout by Bingo Wesner, facing into the gate. For her sighting to be the Faraday Rambler, the owner of the Chevrolet facing the gate, would have had to return to the vehicle shortly after 10pm, leave the turnout, to be replaced by the Faraday Rambler minutes later, which also parked facing the gate at 10:15pm. This seems less likely than it being the same Chevrolet in the turnout at 10pm, 10:15pm and 10:30pm. The final time being the Chevrolet after turning around to leave.

If this were true, we would now have a Chevrolet Impala being spotted in the gate #10 turnout from 9pm to 10:30pm, just 45 minutes before the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, by the occupant of a vehicle parked alongside their Rambler in the same turnout. It's quite amazing what can happen in one turnout over a 2 hour and 15 minute period. So is it likely that these were separate and coincidental events, or the dogged determination of a killer searching for his first victims before Christmas?

There is also the possibility that Helen Axe mistook the color of the vehicle she observed, because the factory color of some Chevrolet Impala's made in 1959 and 1960, were painted in ermine white, which in dark and subdued lighting can appear light brown. The very color that Michael Mageau described as the color of Zodiac's car on July 4th/5th 1969, viewed in less than favorable light. The reason that Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser described the vehicle as white, was that Frank Gasser, while hunting that night, later revealed he had approached the Chevrolet Impala and shone a flaslight at it (noticing it was unoccupied). Bingo Wesner, tending his sheep at night, also noticed the Chevrolet while walking in the field. Bingo Wesner absolutely required visibility to do his job, so it is quite reasonable to conclude he was in possession of a flashlight too. ​The following section is from a previous article, suggesting that there is a possibility Zodiac used the same vehicle during his second attack

Shortly before midnight on July 4th 1969, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin pulled into the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs and sat there talking for a while. A vehicle, that most people believe was Zodiac, came from the direction of Springs Road according to Michael Mageau, entered the parking lot and parked alongside the left side of their Corvair for about one minute, about 6 to 8 feet away. The vehicle, that Michael thought was driven by a single male, then left the parking lot and headed back towards Springs Road. He estimated that 5 minutes later the vehicle returned from that direction, once again pulled into the parking lot, but this time positioned itself to the rear of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair.

After exiting his vehicle the Zodiac Killer approached the Corvair and began shooting the couple. Subsequent to the attack (at about 12:02am on July 5th 1969) he got back in his vehicle and then drove away towards Springs Road for a second time. Michael Mageau was able to recall the assailant's vehcle had a California license plate. The Zodiac Killer, without knowing the automobile proficiency of the couple in the Corvair, especially after parking his vehicle alongside theirs for about one minute - and entering and exiting the parking lot twice - must have been aware that there was a reasonable possibility the couple had recognised the make and color of his vehicle. He even drove away from the crime scene slowly according to his story.

The Zodiac Killer, if he was familiar with Blue Rock Springs, also knew that there was a reasonable possibility that the nine shots he fired that morning may have been heard by the caretaker and/or residents of the house approximately 800 feet from the parking lot. George Bryant stated that "he could hear laughing and a few firecrackers being set off. And at approximately midnight he heard what appeared to be a gunshot. This was much louder than any of the firecrackers. A short time later he heard what appeared to be another gunshot. After another short pause he heard rapid fire of what appeared to be gunshots. He then heard a car take off".

The Zodiac Killer's vehicle had been viewed by Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin for at least 2 minutes that night/ morning, and he had fired off 9 shots in total. If he had planned to make a phone call that morning, the obvious choice was to do this immediately before police were alerted and his vehicle description was sent out over the airwaves throughout Vallejo. But wait I hear you say; Zodiac probably thought the couple were dead. After all, his phone call to Nancy Slover stated ​"I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... On Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car". This gives the impression that he thought he had killed two people - but this claim was bullshit - and he knew there was a distinct possibility he had only killed one person that morning.​  

​He knew this because he gave himself away on August 4th 1969 when he sent a letter to the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. In it he wrote "The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car". 

Michael Mageau was last described by Zodiac as thrashing around violently in the back seat when he shot him in the knee. The Zodiac Killer must have known that a knee shot was not a terminal injury, knew that there was a strong possibility that Michael Mageau was still alive when he left the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs, knew that Michael Mageau had the ability to have seen his vehicle for at least two minutes, knew there was a possibility his 9 shots were heard in the vicinity of Blue Rock Springs, and understood that the crime scene may have been discovered fairly quickly,

​Understanding all this and knowing the make and color of his vehicle could be all over the Vallejo airwaves fairly quickly, is it reasonable to conclude he drove around Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes, before parking his vehicle adjacent to a payphone, only 830 meters from the Vallejo Police Department? He also leaned into the Corvair to target Michael Mageau in the back seat, leaving two spent casings on the rear floorboard of the vehicle, which had the potential to transfer blood to his shirt from the passenger seat.

Taking all these circumstances into account, it is far more reasonable to conclude he drove home, concealed his vehicle, ditched the smoking gun, changed his clothes, and then headed to the payphone on foot to make the call. This would explain why the phone call to Nancy Slover was logged at 12:40am, when the journey time to the payphone from the murder scene was only 9 minutes. If the Zodiac Killer had made these obvious assumptions described above, it would have been reckless to have been driving around or parked up on the streets of Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes after the attack. He would have been right to conclude this, because a limited description of him and his vehicle was given to officers by Michael Mageau at the crime scene, who broadcasted this information over the airwaves. But the Zodiac Killer couldn't have been sure how limited this description would be. He knew his face was shielded by the glare of the flashlight, but his vehicle was afforded no such protection.          

​In his August 4th 1969 letter the Zodiac was giving police details about the Blue Rock Springs crime scene to prove he was the killer. He immediately jumped into a detailed description of a "man who told police that my car was brown (and) was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed". This description could have easily been verified by police had the Zodiac been telling the truth, so it would have been pretty pointless the Zodiac Killer giving this information had it not been true. But if the Zodiac Killer saw police talking to a negro male, then it was likely by the payphone that Zodiac had earlier claimed he was walking by. Which Zodiac described by stating "I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". 

We know that after the payphone call was traced, a responding officer was sent from Blue Rock Springs to the payphone to secure it for fingerprint testing, so it is logical to conclude that this is where the Zodiac saw police talking to the black man. If so, then the Zodiac Killer stil had eyes on that payphone at least 10 minutes after his call to Nancy Slover. Because if the payphone call was traced as early as 12:41am, it would have taken the responding officer from Blue Rock Springs about 9 minutes to reach that payphone, at approximately 12:50am. The longer the trace took, the longer the Zodiac Killer was hanging around the vicinity of that payphone. If the phone call was traced at 12:47am, the responding officer would arrive at the payphone at about 12:56am.

​The police may have suspected that a payphone call at 12:40am from Sptings & Tuolumne, when its journey time from the crime scene was only 9 minutes, opened up the possibility the Zodiac Killer could have lived nearby. The Zodiac Killer must also have realized this possibility, so he attributed the presence of his vehicle to the negro male, who Zodiac claimed saw it while walking by the payphone at 12:40am, and who at 12:50am (or later), Zodiac claimed he believed, had given the color of his vehicle to the police. By adding in the color of his vehicle as brown into his August 4th 1969 letter, the Zodiac can mischievously corroborate the testimony of Mageau, when in fact, it was an ermine white Chevrolet Impala.  Even if the police were not told by the negro male he had noticed the vehicle of the man in the payphone, the accuracy of the negro male's description by Zodiac (if true), would have added validity to the Zodiac Killer's claims his vehicle was present. Another reason why the Zodiac had to ensure his description of the black male was accurate, was because if this information couldn't be verified, the rest of his story loses validity. The Zodiac Killer, in his August 4th 1969 letter, was effectively telling police he was still present near that payphone when they responded to it. He was nearby, and had hung around the area after ending the call with Nancy Slover. By claiming he was still in his vehicle during and after the payphone call, he was suggesting to the police that he had the capability to travel anywhere. But everything described above, should tell you that this may very well have been a lie. His vehicle was never at that payphone (and it wasn't brown) - and the real negro male was the conduit for this deception.

On December 20th 1968 we had a Chevrolet Impala, as yet unidentified, present in the turnout on two separate occasions at 9pm and 10pm. If Helen Axe mistook the vehicle she saw and subconsciously attributed her sighting as the Faraday Rambler, then we have three sightings between 9pm and 10:30pm. When we consider what occurred about 40 to 45 minutes later, this 1959 or 1960 white Chevrolet Impala has to be strongly considered as the suspect vehicle viewed by James Owen as he passed the turnout sometime between 11:10pm and 11:15pm that night. Unfortunately, he was unable to give a satisfactory description of the vehicle parked alongside the Rambler. Had he described a Chevrolet Impala in the turnout, it could be argued that the Zodiac Killer's designs that night, bore closer resemblance to a man that thought killing people was more fun than "hunting wild game in the forest". He would have been hunting people on the hillsides of Benicia, armed with a pencil flashlight for that very purpose. What was the "activity" described by Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser at the Dotta Ranch on the south side of the lake? Was it at this point the Zodiac Killer abandoned his plans after noticing the flashlight carrying raccoon hunters in the distance?

At Presidio Heights three similar descriptions of the Zodiac Killer's clothing were given by three sets of eyewitness in a six minute window, during the time the killer left the taxicab and entered the Presidio park. But their description of his age were extremely significant. The teenagers described a man in his early forties. Officer Donald Fouke described a man between 35 and 45. The sighting of a man running into Julius Kahn playground was given an estimation of about forty. Bearing in mind the small window of time that these three descriptions were given, they have to be considered as the likeliest age of our killer. Coalescing the arguments above for Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs and Presidio Heights, there is a reasonable argument to be had, that we should prioritize our search for a man aged about 40, who drove a white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala, who lived within a one mile radius of the Springs & Tuolumne payphone in Vallejo. Such a record search in 1969 may have had a fighting chance of identifying the Zodiac Killer. But was it done?

RAY GRANT'S ROAMING CHEVROLET IMPALA
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
CONNELLY AND GASSER NEVER SAW WESNER
WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?

Ray Grant for a long time has argued that Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser passed the gate #10 turnout on Lake Herman Road at 10pm, heading to the Marshall Ranch for a spot of raccoon hunting, not the 9pm as Connelly claimed in the police report. Ray Grant believes the sighting of the white Chevrolet Impala in the turnout was spotted simultaneously by Robert Connelly and sheepherder Bingo Wesner at 10pm, as Bingo Wesner exited the gate to enter Lake Herman Road. The major problem with this hypothesis, is that nowhere in the police report does it say that Bingo Wesner was in his truck when he spotted the white Chevrolet Impala. Nowhere in the police report does it say he was exiting the turnout at 10pm. Nowhere in the police report does it say that Robert Connelly saw Bingo Wesner's truck exit gate #10. And nowhere in the police report does it say that Bingo Wesner saw the red pick-up truck of Connelly & Gasser pass the turnout.

In the only account given by Bingo Wesner in the police report, he stated "Last night he was checking his sheep at approximately 10:00 pm and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area". Bingo Wesner tended his sheep east of the Benicia Pumping Station. The land he tended his sheep on was likely the Frank Dotta Ranch, located (on maps in 1919) east of the pumping station and bordering the gate #10 turnout. Two parcels of land were owned by Frank Dotta alongside Lake Herman Road. Whether the eastern portion was still owned by Frank Dotta in 1968, I cannot verify, but this is the location Bingo Wesner tended his sheep. You will notice that the police report states "he was checking his sheep at approximately 10:00 pm and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance". Nowhere in this statement does it say he noticed the Chevrolet while driving his truck. He said he noticed the Chevrolet while checking his sheep. That's because he was still in the field at 10pm. Then he made the belated statement that he had "observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area". He didn't say he observed a red pick-up truck by the same turnout he just saw the Chevrolet.

The police report of Robert Connelly recalled that "when they arrived there at 9:00 pm a white 4-door hardtop, a '59 or '60 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate. This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by". Nowhere in this statement does it say they saw the truck of Bingo Wesner exiting the gate. Bingo Wesner never said he exited the gate at 9pm. In fact, Bingo Wesner never said he exited the gate at 10pm. Neither Connelly or Gasser described the truck coming out of the gate at 9pm. They never even identified its color. There were many businesses and ranches beyond the gate #10 turnout, so this truck could have belonged to anybody. The big mistake that police made was evident in the final paragraph of page 22. They remarked upon the Connelly & Gasser statement, by stating "This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by". But it didn't coincide at all with his statement. Bingo Wesner never said he saw the Chevrolet when he came out of the gate, and Bingo Wesner never said he saw a red pick-up truck go by. Bingo Wesner said he saw a red truck in the area. Unfortunately, the police took two separate accounts of that night and believed they coincided with each other. Here's what most likely happened.    

We don't have any idea of the movements of Bingo Wesner before his account of tending his sheep. Let us assume he had been in Vallejo earlier that evening/night and headed east along Lake Herman Road towards gate #10 somewhere between 9pm and 10pm. As he passed the turnout of the Marshall Ranch he noticed the red pick-up truck of Connelly & Gasser parked 25 feet into the field/property. He could have noticed the red pick-up truck on his outward or inward journey, or both. This is where the Your's also saw the red truck just before 11pm. Bingo Wesner continued his drive to the Lake Herman Road turnout and entered gate #10 (let's say 9:30pm) to tend his sheep. After parking and exiting his truck, he walked onto the field east of the Benicia Pumping Station, and sometime later while checking his sheep he "observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance". The time was 10pm. He would later recall to police that he "also observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area". That's it.

Even Robert Graysmith in his 2002 book "Zodiac Unmasked", indicated that the truck coming out of gate #10 at 9pm hadn't been identified as Bingo Wesner. He described the truck as "unidentified". It means that the Chevrolet Impala was parked in the turnout on at least two separate occasions - 9pm and 10pm. It must have left and returned between this hour, making it a little more suspicious when you consider what would transpire shortly after 11pm that cold winter night.  

​RAY GRANT'S ROAMING CHEVROLET IMPALA
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
​HUNTING BY THE BENICIA PUMPING STATION 
​CONNELLY AND GASSER NEVER SAW WESNER
WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?

Robert Connelly (27), one of the eyewitnesses at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968, traveled from his home in Napa along California State Route 12, through Jameson Canyon, before turning south approaching  Cordelia and heading to the Gasser Ranch on Highway 21. He arrived at the Gasser Ranch, just north of the Goodyear Station, at 6pm. Robert Connelly stated that he and Frank Gasser (69) left the residence and headed to the Marshall Ranch along Lake Herman Road, passing the gate #10 turnout at approximately 9pm, when they spotted Bingo George Wesner (33) exiting the gate.

Admittedly, the police report is poorly written, and can be interpreted as 10pm if we rely solely on the "time testimony" given by Bingo Wesner (a Rancher at the Old Borges Ranch by Humble Oil, Benicia). He was quoted by police as saying "last night he was checking his sheep at approximately 10:00pm (east of the Benicia Pumping Station) and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan, parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up with wood side boards in the area (the pick-up was later identified as the one Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly were riding in)". Bingo Wesner was also quoted as saying "that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by". It is whether his sighting of the red pick-up truck "go by" and "in the area" is one event or two. Zodiac researcher, Ray Grant, staunchly argues that Robert Connelly's timing was off by one hour, and he passed the gate #10 turnout at 10pm. It's fair to say that sizeable portions of the Lake Herman Road section of his book, "Zodiac Killer Solved", relies on Connelly & Gasser heading to the Marshall Ranch and passing the turnout at approximately 10pm. The Marshall Ranch entrance was 960 feet west of gate #10. So let us examine the validity of Ray Grant's assertions. 

Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser, after passing the turnout and parking 25 yards into the Marshall Ranch, would have secured their guns, leashed the dogs and began their journey to the area around the Benicia Pumping Station and the Dotta Ranch (just below Lake Herman) at about 10:03pm. They had to cross Lake Herman Road to do so. They were partaking in a spot of raccoon hunting.

​Let us now jump forward to the time when they had concluded their night's hunting and were heading back to the driveway of the Marshall Ranch. Robert Connelly stated in the police report that after they had finished hunting that night "it took them about 10 minutes to walk back to the truck". Bearing in mind it was a cold dark night, Frank Gasser was 69 years old, with two dogs in tow, walking on uneven terrain and carrying weapons, a generous estimate of their walking speed would be 3 feet per second. Therefore, we can approximate a position on the hillside to 1800 feet from the Marshall Ranch entrance (a 10 minute walk back}. From this we can calculate the distance to this point from the gate #10 turnout of 1022 feet (see below). They may have started hunting raccoons by the trees in that area. The police report said they "treed either a cat or raccoon in the area of the Dotta Ranch", which was situated south of the treeline, underneath Lake Herman. So they probably began their hunting from the eastern edge of the treeline and headed west.

Ray Grant has stated in his book that "Frank Gasser, on his way up through the brush of the hillside, would then step through Gate #10 and walk over to the white Chevy Impala circa 10:20pm, and shine his flashlight into it, wondering what the car was doing there with no one inside it". Attributing zero minutes to his inspection of the Chevy (maybe 20 seconds), it would now take approximately 6 minutes for him and Connelly to reach the arbitrary point of 1800 feet from the Marshall Ranch entrance (which was 10 minutes away). This would have been a total walking time of 16 minutes subsequent to Frank Gasser shining his flashlight at the Chevy on the outward bound journey. Their raccoon hunting would have been by the treeline shown on the map above. The police report stated that they "treed either a cat or raccoon in the area of the Dotta Ranch. While they were there they saw some sort of activity up there, all the lights were on, but they were a little distance away". To notice this activity and lights on at the Dotta Ranch, Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser were probably situated by the blue circle on the above map.

They arrived back at their red pick-up truck at approximately 10:50pm according to Ray Grant. If we add the 16 minutes calculated above to 10:20pm, we get 10:36pm. This would have left only 14 minutes available hunting time for Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser that night, if they were to make it back to their truck by 10:50pm. If Frank Gasser (along with Connelly) had walked directly from the gate #10 turnout after observing the Chevy at 10:20pm, to the area of the Dotta Ranch to begin hunting (by the blue circle}, then their available hunting time becomes less. However, when they left gate #10, they may have started hunting at the arbitary point 1,022 feel from the turnout and walked along the treeline in a westerly direction, hunting as they went. The blue circle is still approximately 10 minutes walking time back to the Marshall Ranch entrance.​

​The police report (page 23) stated that when they first arrived at the entrance to the Marshall Ranch, they walked the creek (Sulphur Springs Creek) towards the pump station, near the Dotta Ranch. There was no mention of viewing the Chevrolet Impala. See their likely route. If they had taken this direct route to the creek, having left the Marshall Ranch entrance at 10:03pm, Connelly & Gasser would have had more hunting time available to them once they reached the main body of trees (possibly 34 minutes)..This amount of time would not include the initial 3 minutes walking time to the main body of trees from the Marshall Ranch entrance, and the 10 minutes that is required to travel back from the area by the Dotta Ranch (blue circle) to their red pick-up truck (a total of 13 minutes). This amount of traveling time and the 34 minutes hunting time, would total 47 minutes, and allow Connelly & Gasser to return to their vehicle at 10:50pm.  .
​
On the other hand, if we go with the observations of Ray Grant, Robert Connelly would have traveled 20 miles to the Gasser Ranch on Highway 21, arriving there at 6pm and spending about 3 hours and 45 minutes with Frank Gasser, before they both headed towards the gate #10 turnout, passing this location at 10pm. Once they had arrived at the Marshall Ranch and had eventually (after viewing the Chevy) made their way to the eastern edge of the tree-lined area near the Benicia Pumping Station, they would only have had about 14 minutes hunting time before needing to walk back to their vehicle. Had Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser passed the gate #10 turnout earlier that night at 9pm (and visited the Chevy), this would have given them a maximum of 74 minutes for their raccoon hunting. Which is more realistic?

Ray Grant also questions why William Crow didn't hear any gunshots from the area behind gate #10 while he and his girlfriend were parked in the turnout between 9:30pm and 10pm, if Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser were hunting at this time. The answer is: the police report didn't state that William Crow was parked in the turnout between 9:30pm and 10pm. It read "Mr. Crow saw an article in the newspaper requesting assistance and he phoned the office to report that he and his girlfriend were in the Lake Herman area between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM on 12/20/68. He stated he was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant, coming down the road from Vallejo to Benicia".

The police report clearly states that William Crow was in the "Lake Herman area" between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM, not in the "turnout" between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM. He was "driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor". So if he was "driving" it during this time, he couldn't have been in the turnout for the whole 30 minutes. He only referred to the one instance he was in the turnout - and that was when he noticed the Valiant coming from Vallejo. This is when he was "adjusting the motor". The rest of the time he was probably "driving around", checking if the adjustments had worked. He and his girlfriend could have been in the turnout a matter of minutes between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM - and this would easily explain why he heard no gunshots that night. Because he wasn't near the area of the pumping station for the vast majority of the 30 minutes. 

RAY GRANT'S ROAMING CHEVROLET IMPALA
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
​HUNTING BY THE BENICIA PUMPING STATION
​CONNELLY AND GASSER NEVER SAW WESNER
​WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?

On October 31st 1966, the day Cheri Jo Bates was found by 3692 Terracina Drive, detectives conducted a thorough search of the driveway where her body was found, using metal detectors to locate the possible murder weapon. They came up empty handed. The morning after the highly publicized library reconstruction, on November 14th 1966, a hunting knife was discovered by a Riverside City College gardener while raking the ground, just 50 feet from the location where the body of Cheri was found. It was unearthed at the other end of the house at 3692 Terracina Drive. Assuming a competent and thorough search of this area was undertaken on October 31st 1966 (including the use of metal detectors), one must assume that this knife was buried in shallow dirt at this location subsequent to the search, and up to the early morning hours of October 14th 1966. The timing of this discovery hours after the library reconstruction is unusual to say the least. I have shown the approximate location of the knife below (it may have been slightly out of shot).  

Investigators stated that preliminary reports suggested it wasn't the knife that killed Cheri Jo Bates. Either they missed it on October 31st 1966, having searched the driveway and the shrubbery only yards from the hunting knife, or it was deliberately placed there sometime in the following two weeks by a mischievous individual or the killer (who used a different knife). The knife was covered with rust, so it may have been there all along and simply missed. A slight oversight one could argue.

The five knife wounds to the front torso and right arm of Cheri Jo Bates were almost certainly delivered while the young woman was standing upright (likely restrained by the killer from behind). The initial part of the attack to this region was probably over in as little as five seconds. She was then likely thrust forward, face down, into the position her body was eventually found on the driveway floor. It is in this position the sixth knife wound was "plunged into her". When the Confession letter author mailed their two typed letters on November 29th 1966, this strike was described as the one prior to "cutting her throat". The sequence of the attack described in the letters matches with the findings in the autopsy report. But crucially, the author stated "I plunged the knife into her and it broke".    

During the initial part of the attack Cheri suffered a "1.7 cm mainly transverse fresh laceration of the skin of the left chest over the 5th rib and centered about 2 cm medial to the left vertical nipple line". This produced a "1.5 cm oblique cut in the bony portion of the 5th rib anteriorly on the left corresponding somewhat to the skin lacerations over it". This is the only damage noted at autopsy to the hard skeletal structures of her body. It is at this point the lock mechanism of the knife was most likely compromised. The knife may still have appeared functioning, but it's possible that the blade was not fixed in position (see here).

​If this bone injury was the fifth knife wound administered to the front of her body before she was thrust forward to the ground, a faulty lock mechanism, weakened during this strike, would have meant that the sixth and final stab wound glancing the transverse process of her spine "2 cm lateral to the midline and opposite the spinous process of the 7th thoracic vertebrae", would have alerted the stabber to the malfunctioning knife blade - which was described by the Confession letter author as a knife that "broke". However, a knife in this condition can still function perfectly well as a slicing tool. A right or left-handed person drawing the knife across their victim's neck would effectively keep the blade open. The author describing the cutting of her throat immediately after they "plunged the knife into her and it broke", is a possible consequence of the prior strike and the rib injury detailed at autopsy. It also shouldn't be forgotten that the Confession letter author mentioned "her breast felt very warm and firm under [his] hands". when we consider that all three wounds to her front torso were to her breasts.

​Andrew Gray, an excellent Zodiac researcher, speculated why a hoaxer would need to add the phrase about the broken knife into the typed Confession letter, because this appears like an unnecessary addition to a letter if you are a hoaxer. This statement seems like an admission only relevant to somebody who was present in the moment. Somebody who needed to explain why the knife attack was brought to a premature end.

It is clear that the author of the three Bates' letters on April 30th 1967 parroted the words used by Jack Matthews, the Staff Writer of the Press-Enterprise newspaper. On the same day the three threatening letters arrived (one to the Press-Enterprise), he wrote an extensive article about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the content in the confession letter, stating "The letter told of how Cheri struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". The author of the Bates' letters mimicked this wording by writing "Bates had to die, there will be more" (see foot of article).

​The author of the confession letter used the same mimicry on November 29th 1966 by taking phrases and inspiration from the Press-Enterprise newspaper on November 24th 1966 (see below). This newspaper article was about a 19-year-old woman who was offered a ride in a man's car and then attacked, just like the claims in the confession letter five days later. The newspaper article stated that the man "grabbed her around the neck". The confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth". The newspaper article stated "I could just hit you in the head with this piece of wood". The confession letter author typed "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The assailant mentioned in the newspaper stated "I'm not Jack the Ripper". The confession letter author typed "But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". At one point the assailant offered to "take her home", with the confession letter author typing he "would give her a lift home". The author of both the Bates' letters and confession letters borrowed phrases from a recently published newspaper article in the Press-Enterprise, and summarily addressed two of these offerings to the same newspaper..The menacing letters came in duplicate on November 29th 1966 and in triplicate on April 30th 1967. The methodology of both authors was extremely similar. The strange signature on two of the Bates' letters followed the wording "There will be more". The author was implying more victims?

​The murder of Cheri Jo Bates (18) and the attack on the 19-year-old woman happened 2 1/2 miles from each other. The man who picked up the woman on Linden Street on November 22nd 1966, had initially given her a lift in his car three weeks earlier. This would have been approximately November 1st 1966, one day after the body of Cheri Jo Bates was found murdered in the driveway alongside Terracina Drive. He was described as 35 years old, 5-foot 9-inches, with a "chunky protruding stomach". I wonder what he looked like on October 11th 1969?

​It is difficult not to see a connection between the Riverside Desktop Poem, Confession letter and Bates' letters when they have the common language of "to die" running through all three, along with the numerous similarities between the poem and the Confession letter, explored here in great detail. A further comprehensive examination of the Confession letter with the then unreleased autopsy report of Cheri Jo Bates, strongly points to an author who knew too much. If the Confession letter author on November 29th 1966 was the murderer of the young college student, then he was very likely responsible for the desktop poem also. 

Only three days after the discovery of Cheri Jo Bates' body on Halloween morning (October 31st 1966), the Riverside Daily Press newspaper published an article on November 3rd 1966 entitled "Key Clue Goes to C11 Unit", comparing the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood (19) on April 13th 1965 with the murder of Cheri Jo Bates.(18) on the same campus (see below). It was soon discovered that Rolland Taft (19), responsible for the attack on Atwood, was still in jail when Cheri was murdered and therefore was not responsible for her murder and any of the subsequent communications. I suspect that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates read this newspaper article and composed a desktop poem mentioning how Roslyn Atwood was "unwilling to die" and had escaped to a nearby house after her stabbing. with "blood spurting, dripping and spilling over her new red dress". The author concluded that she wouldn't "die this time," but Cheri Jo Bates wouldn't be so lucky, stating "just wait till next time", The addition of "rh" likely dating her demise as happening in Riverside on Halloween, because that is when her body was discovered.

The poem was predominately structured around the Roslyn Atwood attack, and was possibly written in blue ballpoint pen a matter of days after the November 3rd 1966 newspaper article. The Confession letter on November 29th 1966 likely continued where the desktop poem finished off, by describing that "next time". The Confession letter would contrast the fact that Roslyn Atwood was "unwilling to die" by remarking how Cheri Jo Bates "went to the slaughter like a lamb" and "went very willingly". The Confession letter also used the phrase "to die" again, stating "I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die". It must also be noted how the word "time" appeared 5 times in these two communications.   

It is hard to believe that when the desktop poem was discovered in December 1966, a connection wasn't made between the Roslyn Atwood story and the contents of the desktop poem. I have trawled through approximately a dozen newspaper articles about the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood and found no mention of a "new red dress" in any. All police really had to do was reinterview Roslyn Atwood and discover if she had bought a new red dress shortly before she was stabbed. If she had been able to confirm this fact, it would have placed the desktop poem author and likely murderer of Cheri Jo Bates in her proximity the day she was stabbed. How else could he have reasonably acquired the knowledge she had recently purchased a new red dress and had worn it that night, other than her telling him directly, by somebody who knew Roslyn telling him, or through him overhearing a conversation of her telling someone else?

Roslyn Atwood attended night classes at the Riverside City College and had been attacked traveling home at 9:30pm that night, so it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that the desktop poem author attended the same night class as Roslyn, or had been at the Riverside college for other classes on April 13th 1965. Either way, if police could have confirmed she had bought such a dress and was wearing it when she was stabbed, it would have placed the author of the desktop poem extremely close to Roslyn Atwood at the Riverside City College. A college he would have been writing a desktop poem about 19 months later. For those who believe Zodiac to be responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, Roslyn Atwood could be the key.

There may finally be a credible answer to the meaning of the 1966 Riverside Desktop Poem and the "rh" signature at its base. The first part of the poem, reminiscing in the present tense, is referring to the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood (19), who was stabbed once in the lower abdomen by Rolland Taft while she was walking through a Riverside City College parking lot on April 13th 1965 at 9:30pm. Asking the college student if she needed a ride several times, she refused and started walking up the stairs on the north side of the lot east of Cutter Pool. After leaving his vehicle and approaching her, she resisted his attempts to grab her and was stabbed once. After he fled, she made her way to 4531 Lemon, across the street from her home at 4510 Lemon. A hunting knife with a 4 1/2 inch blade was found by officers on the steps. Miss Atwood was released from hospital on April 22nd 1965 after nine days. While there she helped create a photo-fit of her attacker. She attended night classes at the college. 

The poem's author probably read the retelling of the Roslyn Atwood story only four days after the Cheri Jo Bates murder on October 30th 1966, when the Riverside Daily Press newspaper on November 3rd 1966 compared the murder of Cheri Jo Bates to the Roslyn Atwood stabbing on the same campus (see below). But was the desktop author the murderer? Investigators realised Rolland Taft was still behind bars on October 30th 1966, so couldn't have been responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates or the poem.

The Riverside Desktop author must have been inspired to search for details regarding this attempted murder in 1965, that would ultimately form the first part of the desktop poem, which borrowed from the Riverside Daily Press newspaper headline on April 17th 1965 entitled "Clean-cut youth sought in stabbing".(Credit: MK Zodiac). The Riverside Desktop Poem began with "cut, clean, if red/clean. blood spurting, dripping, spilling; all over her new dress". The second section of the poem moved from Roslyn Atwood to Cheri Jo Bates, stating "Someone'll find her. Just wait till next time. rh." The "rh" abbreviation can be found in a newspaper article about Roslyn Atwood from the Riverside Daily Press newspaper on April 29th 1965. It is not a signature.    

It appears like the author of the desktop poem trawled through old articles from the local newspaper (the Riverside Daily Press), and created the beginning and ending of the poem from "Clean-cut youth sought in stabbing" and an educational footnote from a second article on April 29th 1965, entitled "Accused youth sent to Juvenile Court" (see below)..Two further communications would have relevance to The Press-Enterprise on November 29th 1966 and April 30th 1967 regarding Cheri Jo Bates. 

The author, by adding of the "rh" footnote in a poem shortly after the killing of Cheri Jo Bates, about the attempted murder of a woman with a knife, whose blood was "spurting, dripping, spilling; all over her new dress", may have been attempting to clue us in to the Roslyn Atwood story on the same campus. If the above newspaper article published by the Riverside Daily Press had been found, the "RH" abbreviation concerning blood may have peaked some interest - but does the RH factor have any bearing on the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, when the author declared "just wait till next time"?

The Rh blood group system is a human blood group system. It contains proteins on the surface of red blood cells. After the ABO blood group system, it is the most likely to be involved in transfusion reactions. The Rh blood group system consisted of 49 defined blood group antigens in 2005. As of 2023, there are over 50 antigens among which the five antigens D, C, c, E, and e are the most important. There is no d antigen. Rh(D) status of an individual is normally described with a positive (+) or negative (−) suffix after the ​ABO type (e.g., someone who is A+ has the A antigen and Rh(D) antigen, whereas someone who is A− has the A antigen but lacks the Rh(D) antigen). The terms Rh factor, Rh positive, and Rh negative refer to the Rh(D) antigen only. Antibodies to Rh antigens can be involved in hemolytic transfusion reactions and antibodies to the Rh(D) and Rh antigens confer significant risk of hemolytic disease of the newborn.

Cheri Jo Bates' blood type detailed at autopsy is rare in the USA population. It was AB RhD positive, which accounts for only 3% of the American population. Did the author of the poem use the "rh" footnote in the Roslyn Atwood newspaper article on April 29th 1965 because they knew the rarity of Cheri Jo Bates' blood grouping? Disregarding this last observation, we still have a November 3rd 1966 newspaper article from the Riverside Daily Press comparing the Atwood and Bates cases only four days after the Riverside murder, and another article from the same newspaper on April 29th 1965 about the stabbing of Roslyn Atwood with an attached educational footnote, reading "The RH factor in blood was identified in 1940". So did the author create the desktop poem shortly after the November 3rd 1966 article, that would ultimately shape the linguistics of the Confession letter on November 29th 1966? 

If we look at the desktop poem alongside the Confession letter, we need go no further than the title of the desktop poem, which reads "Sick of living/unwilling to die". The desktop poem begins with "Sick of living", and the Confession letter states "I am not sick. I am insane". The desktop poem title uses the word "unwilling", to which the Confession letter states "She was then very willing to talk to me" and "She went very willingly". One referenced an unwillingness to die, whereas one claimed Cheri Jo Bates went "willingly" to her death. In other words, Miss Atwood resisted her death and didn't die "that time", but Cheri Jo Bates died hard and willingly. The desktop poem title uses the phrase "to die", with the Confession letter stating "I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die". This brings forth another connection between both communications with the word "time" central to both. The desktop poem uses the word "time" twice, when stating "She won't die, this time someone'll find her. Just wait till next time", whereas the Confession letter uses the word "time" three times by stating "I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die". We have the words "sick", "unwilling" (in root form) and "time" from the desktop poem, used 6 times in the Confession letter by way of "sick", "willing", "willingly", "time", "time" and "time". In fact, the words "die" and "time" are used in the same context in both communications by the sentences "she won't die, this time someone'll find her" and "I said it was about time for her to die". If you add in the three Bates letters of "Bates had to die", "She had to die" and "She had to die" into the equation, we have the phrase "to die" used 5 times in all three communications.

Miss Atwood escaped the clutches of Rolland Lin Taft in 1965, expressed by the desktop author when they stated "she won't die, this time someone'll find her", but reminded everybody that the next time Cheri Jo Bates wouldn't be so lucky by finishing the poem with "Just wait till next time. rh".

Thanks to Jibberjabber for giving me access to a new newspaper database 

The Lake Herman Road presence on December 20th 1968 of Robert Connelly (27), Frank Gasser (69) and Bingo George Wesner (33) can be confirmed by the testimony of each. Raccoon hunters, Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser saw Bingo Wesner at the Lake Herman Road turnout and vice versa. Robert Connelly stated that "when they arrived there at 9:00pm a white 4-door hardtop, a 1959 or 1960 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate". Bingo Wesner stated "that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by". 

However, Bingo Wesner was also quoted as saying that "last night he was checking his sheep at approximately 10:00pm (east of the Benicia Pumping Station) and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan, parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up with wood side boards in the area (the pick-up was later identified as the one Frank Gasser and Robert Connelly were riding in)".

The question has always been, did Robert Connelly or Bingo Wesner get their time wrong by a whole hour, and the two statements of "saw the red pick-up truck go by" and "observed a red Ford pick-up with wood side boards in the area", had been the same sighting by the turnout?. Or had Bingo Wesner seen the red pick-up truck pass the turnout, and later saw it parked "in the area" by the entrance of the Marshall Ranch? It would be important to qualify these ambiguous statements, because it would mean we either have a Chevrolet Impala seen at the turnout only once at either 9pm or 10pm, or twice at both 9pm and 10pm.

​The testimony of William Crow, who stated he was in the turnout with his girlfriend between 9:30pm and 10pm, was unable to be confirmed by an impartial eyewitness, so we cannot be certain whether his version of events are correct. Regardless, in a much later statement he claimed "I never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting to describe the car and the sheriff came up with a “Valiant”. In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored Chevy.  I could not see the passenger seat, but the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not see his specific facial features". His earlier statement on December 22nd 1968 described two subjects "who were both Caucasians".

Ray Grant, long-time Zodiac researcher, points out that the Helen Axe statement may be erroneous. Miss Axe claimed that the Faraday Rambler was facing south towards the gate when she passed the turnout at 10:15pm, but when she returned 15 minutes later it had turned around. However, she only reported this after reading the newspaper reports, so may have convinced herself that the light-colored Chevrolet Impala she saw facing gate #10 was actually the Rambler.

​If Ray Grant is correct that Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and Bingo Wesner saw the empty white Chevrolet Impala facing south towards the gate at 10pm, then it is extremely noteworthy that Helen Axe saw a tan-colored vehicle also facing the gate only 15 minutes later (that she believed to be the Rambler). The 1959/1960 Chevrolet Impala was made in "ermine white", which when viewed in the headlights of Bingo Wesner exiting gate #10, would have looked off white, but when viewed in darkness, such as by Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs, it would have appeared tan-colored or light to medium brown (which is how he described the vehicle). Therefore, if Helen Axe saw an "ermine white" Chevrolet in the turnout in darkness, she could have easily mistaken it for tan-colored or light brown, just like the Rambler. The 1961 Faraday Rambler was two tone, dark tan over light tan. Ray Grant has stated that Frank Gasser had approached the Chevrolet Impala in the turnout and illuminated it with a flashlight (so would have moticed its white color). He and Robert Connelly, after they parked up at the Marshall Ranch about 10pm, had walked by Sulphur Springs Creek and the turnout on their way towards Benicia Pumping Station and the Dotta Ranch for a spot of raccoon hunting..

At approximately 10:30pm, a 14-year-old male called "Stan" and his friend spotted what they described as a 1963 blue Chevrolet Impala with two occupants exiting Lake Herman Road and entering Columbus Parkway. The front end characteristics of a 1963 Chevrolet Impala can be compared to a 1960 Chevrolet Impala below. The approximate time of 10:30pm given by Helen Axe when she last saw a vehicle in the Lake Herman Road turnout and "Stan" at Columbus Parkway, could be shifted 5 minutes either way to allow the same vehicle to make this journey. But how does an "ermine white" Chevrolet Impala become blue in 5 minutes? 

By the mid-20th century, increasing motorization necessitated better illumination, particularly in business districts where there was more mixing of cars and pedestrians, as well as along commercial thoroughfares. Streets needed to be illuminated more evenly, and a minimum level of lighting needed to be maintained throughout the night. Street lighting became a major expense for US cities, which sought to control costs in various ways. From the point of view of a municipal lighting department, the fact that incandescent lamps "radiate with very low efficiency, producing relatively little light at visible wavelengths", made them less and less attractive for public street lighting. Mercury vapor streetlights started to be used more widely in the United States after 1950, mainly due to their cost efficiency. By then, the lifespan of mercury vapor lamps had been extended to 16,000 hours, and they could provide up to 40 lumens per watt, whereas incandescent lamps could only deliver 16 to 21 lumens. I must confess, I don't know if Columbus Parkway was illuminated by Mercury Vapor streetlights in 1968, but "ermine white" under these conditions takes on a blue tinge. Wikipedia. 

​So was the Zodiac Killer (or Zodiac Killers) driving an "ermine white" Chevrolet Impala around on December 20th 1968, cruising between Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park looking for victims, the latter which he would murder for a third time just over 6 months later?

RAY GRANT'S ROBERT CONNELLY TIMELINE
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
HUNTING BY THE BENICIA PUMPING STATION
​CONNELLY AND GASSER NEVER SAW WESNER
WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?

In the last three articles entitled "When The Black Man Was Walking By" [1], [2], [3], I examined the possibility that the Zodiac Killer lived near the payphone at Springs & Tuolumne and walked there (absent of his vehicle), which I will examine further here.

One reason often given why it was unlikely that the Zodiac Killer lived close to the payphone, is he would not want to draw attention to the neighborhood in which he lived. Many people argue they would opt for a payphone distant to where they lived. If the Zodiac Killer thought the police had the same mindset, then choosing a payphone close to his residence is the perfect bluff. However, when I am claiming there is a strong possibility that Zodiac lived close to the payphone, I am talking about a considerable area approximating 4 square miles. That would be one mile north, east, south and west of the payphone, and anywhere in between. The Zodiac could live one mile, or as little as 160 feet from the payphone. The image below uses a residence at the intersection of Tuolumne Street and Valle Vista Avenue as an example, which is nearly one mile from the payphone.    

A journey from the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs to this address would be 9 minutes, so if the Zodiac Killer lived here and left the crime scene at the estimated time of 12:02am, he would arrive home at about 12:11am. If he took 10 minutes to conceal/park his vehicle, change his clothes, wash his hands/arms, and hide the smoking gun, it would now be 12:21am and leave him 19 minutes to walk to the payphone and make the call to Nancy Slover (which is the journey time on foot shown by Google maps).

Obviously, a car journey from Blue Rock Springs to different addresses within the red square will marginally affect the available time somebody has remaining to spend at home and walk to the payphone, so the area highlighted above must be viewed as a rough guide, representing an approximate area of 4 square miles. We are not talking about a small area to search, but it's a lot better than placing a dragnet over the entire Bay Area or northern California to identify the Zodiac Killer. All I am suggesting, is that there is good reason to prioritize this location - and if the search for potential suspects doesn't unearth any likely candidates, we can move on to alternative locations. For reference, Arthur Leigh Allen's residence at 32 Fresno Street was 9 minutes walking distance to the payphone. 

​If the Zodiac Killer did live in this area, one other thing we have to consider, that we can only ponder, is how far was the Zodiac Killer prepared to walk from his residence to the payphone and back? The Tuolumne Street and Valle Vista Avenue address would take 38 minutes walking time, whereas an address such as Arthur Leigh Allen's would take 18 minutes. Did the slayer of three factor in a buffer zone from his residence to the chosen payphone, or did he play the bluffing game, that nobody would ever believe he would be so daft to make an admission of murder so close to home? The insertion of his "brown car" into the letter on August 4th 1969, described by the negro male walking by the payphone, may have been an attempt to shift the focus away from the area surrounding the payphone. A killer still in his vehicle while making the phone call can literally travel anywhere.

At the Lake Herman Road turnout Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser stated "that when they arrived there at 9:00 pm a white 4-door hardtop, a '59 or '60 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate. This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by". This make of Chevrolet Impala was manufactured in "ermine white", often described as cream colored, sometimes with a tinge of very mild browm. Many vehicles online described as "ermine white" just look white, while some have this slight hint of brown. Illuminated by the vehicle headlights driven by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and Bingo Wesner, could this 1959/1960 Chevrolet Impala (in ermine white) at Lake Herman Road have appeared white, but not illuminated by the headlights of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair at Blue Rock Springs, appeared light brown in color when in the dark parking lot? The below images show how an "ermine white" Chevrolet Impala changes to light brown in dark conditions. On page one of the police report Michael Mageau describes the assailant's vehicle as medium light brown, but It was clear by his further statements that he wasn't sure what type of vehicle was driven by the Zodiac Killer, who was perfectly happy to confirm his vehicle was brown when he sent his August 4th 1969 letter. The question being, was he in an "ermine white" Chevrolet Impala at Blue Rock Springs. The vehicle parked in the Lake Herman Road turnout as early as 9pm or 10pm (or both). The police report is ambiguous. 

Shortly before midnight on July 4th 1969, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin pulled into the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs and sat there talking for a while. A vehicle, that most people believe was Zodiac, came from the direction of Springs Road according to Michael Mageau, entered the parking lot and parked alongside the left side of their Corvair for about one minute, about 6 to 8 feet away. The vehicle, that Michael thought was driven by a single male, then left the parking lot and headed back towards Springs Road. He estimated that 5 minutes later the vehicle returned from that direction, once again pulled into the parking lot, but this time positioned itself to the rear of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair.

After exiting his vehicle the Zodiac Killer approached the Corvair and began shooting the couple. Subsequent to the attack (at about 12:02am on July 5th 1969) he got back in his vehicle and then drove away towards Springs Road for a second time. Michael Mageau was able to recall the assailant's vehcle had a California license plate. The Zodiac Killer, without knowing the automobile proficiency of the couple in the Corvair, especially after parking his vehicle alongside theirs for about one minute - and entering and exiting the parking lot twice - must have been aware that there was a reasonable possibility the couple had recognised the make and color of his vehicle. He even drove away from the crime scene slowly according to his story.

The Zodiac Killer, if he was familiar with Blue Rock Springs, also knew that there was a reasonable possibility that the nine shots he fired that morning may have been heard by the caretaker and/or residents of the house approximately 800 feet from the parking lot. George Bryant stated that "he could hear laughing and a few firecrackers being set off. And at approximately midnight he heard what appeared to be a gunshot. This was much louder than any of the firecrackers. A short time later he heard what appeared to be another gunshot. After another short pause he heard rapid fire of what appeared to be gunshots. He then heard a car take off".

The Zodiac Killer's vehicle had been viewed by Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin for at least 2 minutes that night/ morning, and he had fired off 9 shots in total. If he had planned to make a phone call that morning, the obvious choice was to do this immediately before police were alerted and his vehicle description was sent out over the airwaves throughout Vallejo. But wait I hear you say; Zodiac probably thought the couple were dead. After all, his phone call to Nancy Slover stated ​"I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... On Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car". This gives the impression that he thought he had killed two people - but this claim was bullshit - and he knew there was a distinct possibility he had only killed one person that morning.​  

​He knew this because he gave himself away on August 4th 1969 when he sent a letter to the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. In it he wrote "The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car". 

Michael Mageau was last described by Zodiac as thrashing around violently in the back seat when he shot him in the knee. The Zodiac Killer must have known that a knee shot was not a terminal injury, knew that there was a strong possibility that Michael Mageau was still alive when he left the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs, knew that Michael Mageau had the ability to have seen his vehicle for at least two minutes, knew there was a possibility his 9 shots were heard in the vicinity of Blue Rock Springs, and understood that the crime scene may have been discovered fairly quickly,

​Understanding all this and knowing the make and color of his vehicle could be all over the Vallejo airwaves fairly quickly, is it reasonable to conclude he drove around Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes, before parking his vehicle adjacent to a payphone, only 830 meters from the Vallejo Police Department? He also leaned into the Corvair to target Michael Mageau in the back seat, leaving two spent casings on the rear floorboard of the vehicle, which had the potential to transfer blood to his shirt from the passenger seat.

Taking all these circumstances into account, it is far more reasonable to conclude he drove home, concealed his vehicle, ditched the smoking gun, changed his clothes, and then headed to the payphone on foot to make the call. This would explain why the phone call to Nancy Slover was logged at 12:40am, when the journey time to the payphone from the murder scene was only 9 minutes. If the Zodiac Killer had made these obvious assumptions described above, it would have been reckless to have been driving around or parked up on the streets of Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes after the attack. He would have been right to conclude this, because a limited description of him and his vehicle was given to officers by Michael Mageau at the crime scene, who broadcasted this information over the airwaves. But the Zodiac Killer couldn't have been sure how limited this description would be. He knew his face was shielded by the glare of the flashlight, but his vehicle was afforded no such protection.          

In his August 4th 1969 letter the Zodiac was giving police details about the Blue Rock Springs crime scene to prove he was the killer. He immediately jumped into a detailed description of a "man who told police that my car was brown (and) was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed". This description could have easily been verified by police had the Zodiac been telling the truth, so it would have been pretty pointless the Zodiac Killer giving this information had it not been true. But if the Zodiac Killer saw police talking to a negro male, then it was likely by the payphone that Zodiac had earlier claimed he was walking by. Which Zodiac described by stating "I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". 

We know that after the payphone call was traced, a responding officer was sent from Blue Rock Springs to the payphone to secure it for fingerprint testing, so it is logical to conclude that this is where the Zodiac saw police talking to the black man. If so, then the Zodiac Killer stil had eyes on that payphone at least 10 minutes after his call to Nancy Slover. Because if the payphone call was traced as early as 12:41am, it would have taken the responding officer from Blue Rock Springs about 9 minutes to reach that payphone, at approximately 12:50am. The longer the trace took, the longer the Zodiac Killer was hanging around the vicinity of that payphone. If the phone call was traced at 12:47am, the responding officer would arrive at the payphone at about 12:56am.

​The police may have suspected that a payphone call at 12:40am from Sptings & Tuolumne, when its journey time from the crime scene was only 9 minutes, opened up the possibility the Zodiac Killer could have lived nearby. The Zodiac Killer must also have realized this possibility, so he attributed the presence of his vehicle to the negro male, who Zodiac claimed saw it while walking by the payphone at 12:40am, and who at 12:50am (or later), Zodiac claimed he believed, had given the color of his vehicle to the police. Even if the police were not told by the negro male he had noticed the vehicle of the man in the payphone, the accuracy of the negro male's description by Zodiac (if true), would have added validity to the Zodiac Killer's claims his vehicle was present. Another reason why the Zodiac had to ensure his description of the black male was accurate, was because if this information couldn't be verified, the rest of his story loses validity. The Zodiac Killer, in his August 4th 1969 letter, was effectively telling police he was still present near that payphone when they responded to it. He was nearby, and had hung around the area after ending the call with Nancy Slover. By claiming he was still in his vehicle during and after the payphone call, he was suggesting to the police that he had the capability to travel anywhere. But everything described in the first part of this article, should tell you that this may very well have been a lie. His vehicle was never at that payphone - and the real negro male was the conduit for this deception   

WHEN THE BLACK MAN WAS WALKING BY [PT1]
WHEN THE BLACK MAN WAS WALKING BY [PT2]