Either the Zodiac Killer or somebody purporting to be the Zodiac Killer mailed a Happy New Year card to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 10th 2001, disgusted that San Francisco citizens were "getting murdered" by Muni drivers. The day before, on January 9th 2001, the Examiner ran an article describing how a Muni streetcar struck and killed pedestrian Guang Zhan Ouyang on Sunday, January 7th 2001. Another fatality occurred the following day on Van Ness Avenue. This newspaper article is courtesy of Cragle from Zodiac Killer Site forum - and is undoubtedly the trigger for the January 10th 2001 Happy New Year card. After all, the author opened up with the line [corrected] "Dear Sir. Wherever you are. This is disgusting to read, what seems to be a news that nobody really cares, but the relatives of innocent citizens murdered in our beloved S.F. It's always the pedestrians fault and never those bastard Muni drivers".

The Zodiac Killer was extremely fond of reacting to newspaper articles in his heyday, but what was it about this particular article that triggered such a response, just over eleven years after the December 1990 Eureka card (assuming the Zodiac Killer was responsible for both communications). Cragle pondered the question; Could the line "Noboby really cares but the relatives of innocent citizens MURDER in our beloved SF" allude to a relationship of some sorts to the person quoted in the article?

Here is another Examiner newspaper article, dated January 3rd 2001, describing the death of Brian Edward Cotter (18) as he played the game of "chicken" with a Muni streetcar. Thanks again to Cragle for supplying this cutting.

Here is a communication mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 10th 2001 threatening the Muni drivers of San Francisco, widely believed to be somebody mimicking the Zodiac Killer. While this may be the case, one has to consider the style and format of the writing (particularly on the envelope) with respect to previous Zodiac communications. No other authenticated Zodiac communication prior to this one carried the address of "901 Mission Street" with "San Francisco, CA 94103". Additionally, no previous Zodiac communication (or suspected copycat communication) was ever mailed as a festive greetings card, other than the Eureka card, which is bound to this communication by three unique features. I believe Tom Voigt of Zodiackiller.com considers the Eureka card mailed in 1990 to be a plausible Zodiac correspondence, placing this communication in his "Letters from the Zodiac" section on the message forum.  

The Eureka card is the only other possible Zodiac communication addressed in near identical fashion to the 2001 offering (shown in tandem with the envelope below). The problem arises when we consider that the Eureka card was not discovered until March 3rd 2007 by editorial assistant Daniel King of the San Francisco Chronicle among some photo files. The 2007 Zodiac movie directed by David Fincher and based on the Robert Graysmith book, was released in the USA the day before this correspondence was unearthed, on March 2nd. The movie had its premier in Los Angeles and California on March 1st.

This means that whoever wrote the January 10th 2001 card, addressed it in near identical fashion to a previously unreleased and potential Zodiac communication (thought to be genuine by many). The Eureka card wasn't made public until 2007, so the author of the 2001 communication has a high probability of being the author of the December 1990 Christmas card. You cannot 'copycat' the handwriting or style of an envelope that hasn't been released into the public domain. If you believe the Eureka card to be genuine, it follows that you should lean towards the 2001 communication being genuine also. If you hold the opinion that Zodiac was still alive in 1990 mailing Christmas cards, then it is extremely likely he was still active in 2001 doing exactly the same thing. ​

This is another speculative article searching for the name of the Zodiac Killer within his communications - so caution must be applied to any conclusions that are reached in the following analysis.

After the challenge by Dr. Marsh on October 22nd 1969 requesting that the Zodiac Killer give us his real name in a cipher "however complicated", the notion of a killer hinting at his name in later communications is certainly plausible. Presented in a hidden format, the Zodiac Killer knew that it could never be used as evidence against him, unless the unearthed solution could be proven beyond doubt to be the correct one. In the article Return to Sender we explored the introduction and answer to the 13 symbol cipher of "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is....Fk, I'm crackproof". The Zodiac Killer effectively giving us his name, but in the shortened format. 

Three months later, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Little List letter on July 26th 1970 paraphrasing the recital of Groucho Marx's As some day it may happen from the Gilbert & Sullivan comedic opera, The Mikado. On October 12th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle featured this letter under the title of Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac, stating "A quiet search for onetime Ko-Ko's has turned up none that could be Zodiac. Obvious differences in physical description and handwriting comparisons have cleared all Ko-Ko's tracked down since the arrival of the July 27 letters". But what if the Zodiac Killer wasn't choosing the character of Ko-Ko because he played him in a production or even liked the theater, but the name Ko-Ko was somehow pertinent to his identity. Bearing in mind the phrase "My name is....Fk, I'm crackproof", could the Zodiac Killer's surname begin with Ko. The phrase "FK, I'm crackproof" is actually 14 letters long, but it was fashioned into a code of only 13 characters. Could this deliberate formatting indicate his initials were FK in a name comprising of 13 letters?

Although questionable Zodiac correspondence, the December 1990 Eureka card yet again featured Groucho Marx in imagery on the front of the card, promising us his name yet again. The card read "From your secret pal, can't guess who I am yet? Well, look inside and you'll find out" - and contained within was a xerox copy of two keys. This too triggered the notion of a surname beginning with K. The Exorcist letter mailed on January 29th 1974 also featured a verse recited by Groucho Marx, but more importantly, the verse of Tit-Willow by Ko-Ko was preceded by the line "Signed, yours truley", implying the character in the verse had something to do with his name. This wasn't all.

We argued that the Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to all his "unsolved" codes in his own words, and the Celebrity Cypher mailed on September 25th 1990 to the Vallejo Times-Herald may have followed a similar pattern. The name of the sender was hidden behind 5 and 8 characters totaling 13, placed on the address side of the postcard and at the foot of the communication. A Celebrity Cypher with a likely introduction of "My name is", exactly like 13 symbol cipher mailed on April 20th 1970. If the initials of the killer were given in that instance within the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof", then there are reasonable grounds to believe the 5 and 8 letters of the name on the Celebrity Cypher begin with an F and K also. In the Return to Sender article we hypothesized the forename as "Frank", based upon the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" in reference to the stamp on the April 20th 1970 letter - and this fits nicely into the Celebrity Cypher solution. I have speculatively placed "Ko" at the beginning of the surname regarding The Mikado references, but will venture no further. There are possibilities based on the "keys" provided by the Eureka card to suggest his surname could end in "key" or "ki" such as "Kominski", however, there are plenty of other options pertaining to the xeroxed image.

Comparisons can be drawn between the April 20th 1970 and September 25th 1990 communications with respect to a name comprising of 13 letters (split into 5 and 8 characters) - and bearing in mind the Christmas card, likely mailed close to December 25th 1990 continuing the theme of promising us his name - can a link be forged between all three regarding the identity or name of the Zodiac Killer? 

On October 22nd 1969 the Oakland Police Department took a call at 2:00 am from somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer, requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, high profile lawyers at the time, appear on a chat show hosted by Jim Dunbar later that day. Melvin Belli agreed to appear on the show, to which a man would eventually contact via telephone, claiming not only his name was 'Sam', but by inference that he was the infamous Zodiac Killer.

The Desert Sun newspaper reported "SAN FRANCISCO (UPI)- A man who said he was Northern California’s "Zodiac killer” of five persons talked with a San Francisco attorney by telephone today while television viewers listened in. Attorney Melvin Belli also talked with the man on another, private line, then said he had arranged to meet with him. Police said they had no way of knowing whether the man was "Zodiac,” who has boasted in notes of five killings in the San Francisco Bay area in the last nine months. But they said they did not consider the caller a prankster. The caller first called a police station at 2 a.m. and said he wanted to get in touch wbth either Belli, the attorney who once defended Jack Ruby in Dallas, or Boston lawyer F. Lee Bailey. He asked that one of them be on the morning talk show of disc jockey Jim Dunbar on KGO-TV. Police contacted Belli, who went to the studio. The man, who said his name was "Sam,” called shortly after 7 a.m and said he was the ‘‘Zodiac killer.” He hung up immediately, but called back a total of 12 more times. While Belli and Jim Dunbar, host of the show, pleaded with him to give himself up, the caller said he suffered from recurring headaches and impulses to kill. Finally, the caller agreed to have Belli go to the San Francisco district attorney’s office to see if prosecutors would assure him they would not ask for the death penalty. Belli said that in another call off camera, the man had agreed to meet him at a secret location after the conference with the district attorney".

In January of 1970, a person claiming to be Zodiac rang the Belli residence, spoke with his housekeeper Erna and requested to speak with the flamboyant lawyer, only to be told he was unavailable and out of the country. The caller replied "I can't wait, today's my birthday". This interaction was detailed in a partially redacted FBI file on January 14th 1970. The phone call would have been placed in the days before this urgent request, labeled "instant date January 14th". On February 18th 1970, the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show was identified by San Francisco Police as Eric Weill. They contacted the FBI with the details, but this information did not appear in the newspapers. Eric Weill was almost certainly the responsible for both the Jim Dunbar Show call and the call to Bellii's residence, stating "I can't wait, today's my birthday". Eric Weill was born on January 10th 1940 and his father's name was "Sam".

San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Paul Avery, would later document the Jim Dunbar Show phone call in 1971 (see below), misspelling the name "Eric Weill" to "Eric Weil", accidentally omitting one of the L's. The Zodiac Killer followed the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper coverage throughout his campaign of terror, so couldn't have failed to know the correct spelling of Paul Avery which sat under the title of many articles. So it was rather curious to see that the Zodiac Killer had seemingly added one of the L's back, by inserting it into the reporter's name, changing "Paul Avery" to "Paul Averly" in both the October 27th 1970 Halloween card and March 22nd 1971 Pines card. If the spelling error by the Zodiac Killer was deliberate, could it have been a subtle dig at Paul Avery for his misspelling of Eric Weill in the run-up to this report. However, for this to be the case, Paul Avery would have needed to know the identity of Eric Weill sometime between February 18th 1970 and the writing of this report in 1971, have previously misspelled the name - and the Zodiac Killer to have known this. The only reason for this speculation, is the idea suggested by some, that the Zodiac Killer may have worked for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper and hence his numerous communications mailed to them. This notion would rely heavily on the "Paul Averly" misspelling being deliberate and done for purpose. The problem with this train of thought, is the Zodiac Killer posed as an illiterate communicator throughout his correspondence, so singling out one specific section has its drawbacks.

But there is a strong possibility that the "birthday call" was placed on January 10th 1970, with Eric Weill likely believing, that being honest about his birthday would never lead to his identification. It didn't, but the resultant tracing of the calls to him and the FBI files detailing the "birthday call" just prior to January 14th 1970, further strengthening the case against him. The choice of "Sam" as his chosen name on the Jim Dunbar Show call may also be very close to home.

The Zodiac Killer story is full of strange coincidences, so here is another one. Alex Lewis managed to secure a redacted document from the FBI in 2016 regarding the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The redacted document read "Xenophon Lusby Anthony, WMA, DOB 28th February 1931, Resides at 3218 Jackson Street, San Francisco. For Info Ident Division, San Francisco Police Department advised; eight year old witness in murder of cab driver identified Anthony as possible subject in this matter". Just ten days after the Paul Stine murder, on Tuesday October 21st 1969, an 8-year-old girl was walking along Lake Mendocino Drive with her parents when a passing motorist flung a note attached to a twig at her feet, stating "You're next..Z".

The Zodiac Killer had threatened schoolchildren when his October 13th 1969 letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. The letter had promised that "School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out". The day before this note was thrown towards the young girl from the car, a newspaper article featured in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 20th 1969 entitled Bus Precautions-A Seminar Here on Zodiac Killer, mentioning protection for schoolchildren in many areas. Obviously there is no way to validate if this was the Zodiac Killer responding to this article or just another copycat buying into the Zodiac story.

There is quite a distance from San Francisco to Lake Mendocino Drive in Ukiah, but it is a direct journey along Highway 101 from the Bay Area that can be accomplished in two hours - and from the standpoint of the Zodiac Killer - likely outside the target zone of the police. The wording on the note would eventually become familiar, when a pasted card (mimicking the 13 Hole postcard) was mailed to the home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California, postmarked October 17th 1970 from Berkeley. Edward C. Adams was a psychiatrist. The card read: "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are next. you taught me to mean it. Adams you are next. Zodiac".

This communication arrived almost one year after the note in Ukiah with very similar phraseology. The October 21st 1969 note read "You're next..Z" and the October 17th 1970 communication read "You are next. Zodiac". On August 26th 1976, an advertisement ran in the San Francisco Chronicle for one week, beginning "Zodiac, Your partner is in deep real estate. You're next". Three communications bridging a span of seven years.

The two sketches of the suspect in the Paul Stine murder were released on October 13th and October 18th 1969, so it was probably unsurprising that many people in the subsequent days believed they had spotted the Zodiac Killer. However, five residents of Anderson Valley (15 miles southwest of Lake Mendocino Drive} did make claims of seeing the "killer" in the area and reported it to police on Sunday October 19th 1969. Two days later, the incident involving the 8-year-old girl transpired. The sightings of Boonville residents in Anderson Valley were reported in the Ukiah Daily Journal on October 20th 1969.

Bus patrols were widespread after the Zodiac threat on schoolchildren, with newspaper reports detailing the vigilance of authorities as far as the Napa Valley and Santa Rosa. Had the Zodiac Killer ventured just beyond the perceived safety net to fulfil his promise to target schoolchildren, or was this just another sick individual cashing in on the terror experienced in the Bay Area and beyond? 

Captain Hays Hickey of the California Highway Patrol had met with authorities on October 20th 1969 to finalize plans for a CHP-Sheriff's Unit Protection on half a dozen or more school buses in the outlying districts of Mendocino County in the wake of Zodiac's threats. Operation Zodiac initially began with three outlying areas covered on October 20th 1969, believing the killer was more likely to threaten areas of a more rural nature.  

Michael Butterfield is amassing thoroughly excellent coverage of the Zodiac story via a series of podcasts called Zodiac: A to Z. They cover the canonical attacks and the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, which still sits on the periphery of the Zodiac case, unable to be fully corroborated as a forerunner to the Bay Area murders. The podcasts also cover the ciphers, including the 408 and 340 character codes, with guest appearances from the knowledgeable Mike Morford, as well as renowned cryptologist David Oranchak, who provides an extensive insight into the mechanics of both ciphers. I have personally gained much from listening to the 2 hour and 7 minute episodes on the two main ciphers - and is why I wanted to make the case against the premise we have an unsolved 340 cipher, that is based upon the structure of the Z13 and Z32 codes. This is just my opinion, to which I know many will strongly disagree - and can freely do so in comments. The reason I refute the claim we have three main unsolved ciphers or codes, is based upon statements made by people with a much better understanding of cryptology than me.

It has been widely shown that the Z32 and Z13 codes are simply too malleable - one is too short and open to thousands of different interpretations, while the other has 29 unique characters within a 32 character code, allowing amateur sleuths to literally fill in the blanks, make it say whatever they want and subsequently justify that solution with an explanation of biblical proportions which could never be proved or disproved. I am sure that the overwhelming consensus of experts in the field of cryptology, is that without a key to the Z32 and Z13, two of the remaining three "unsolved ciphers" are effectively unsolvable. It becomes plainly evident that no such key exists subsequent to April 20th 1970 with respect to the 45 unsolved characters. The following communications have no content pertaining to a key for either the Z13 and Z32, especially when you look at the remaining communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer in 1970. If these two codes cannot be truly solved because of their brevity and character make-up - and the Zodiac Killer provided no key - then the only option remaining is he provided us with the answers. If these answers were provided in 1970, what are the odds that they would be contained in three consecutive communications, the answers would be in the exact words of Zodiac, and each would pertain to each cipher in reverse chronological order? The answer to the Mount Diablo code provided by the Little List Letter on July 26th 1970, the answer to the '13 Symbol' Cipher provided by the '13 Hole' Postcard on October 5th 1970 and the answer to the 340 Cipher provided by the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970. I won't expand any further on this because I've covered it extensively in this article and the link at its foot.     

Michael Butterfield stated at the beginning of the 340 Cipher podcast that "In the decades since, experts and amateurs have tried to crack the Zodiac's cipher, but the puzzle remains unsolved".  It is my contention that the codes are not unsolved because there has been nothing to solve over the last 50 years. The ciphers were 'cracked' by Zodiac five decades ago.

The Zodiac Killer mailed copious communications to the newspapers showing us his willingness to engage with the San Francisco Chronicle and the investigators chasing him. His literary verbosity fell from his dripping pen throughout his campaign of terror from 1969 to 1971, eager to prove he was the killer of five in the Bay Area through a succession of boasting communications. Yet this model of the Zodiac Killer is totally abandoned when it comes to his ciphers - we now have a killer who has stayed deathly silent on the workings of his codes for upwards of 50 years, unable to provide us with a single clue to their construction. A murderer who provided us with extensive details to his Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attacks, his recollections in Presidio Park, as well as finding the time to write on a car door, but has since remained astonishingly reserved and tight-lipped regarding any of his codes to this day. He has supposedly been able to resist this temptation for a possible five decades, squashing his hands and pen firmly under his buttocks in order to prevent the ink flowing from his previously rampant pen. From everything we have learned about the Zodiac Killer, could a murderer who spent more time writing than killing, just shut up shop and keep us guessing for just over 50 years?

Many people have staked a claim to have solved the 340 character cipher, but as yet, none of the solutions have been universally verified by esteemed arbitors of cryptology. The approach I have taken in the above two articles is not claiming a solve to the three unbroken codes, because I don't believe a code such as the Z32 and Z13 could ever be broken, as their design doesn't facilitate the possibility of a verifiable solution. Therefore, without a key that doesn't exist, the only other options are the Zodiac Killer left us hanging for upwards of 50 years or gave us the answer. Rather fortuitous then, that the exact wording of Zodiac through three consecutive communications fell exactly into his three 'unsolved' ciphers. We don't need to find a solution to the three 'unsolved' codes because they were never enciphered in the first place. A code that is only designed with respect to length and not the content of its characters, just needs an answer of corresponding length. The Zodiac Killer wasn't a dumb-ass, and knew that the Z32 and Z13 codes required his later input to be answered - and we knew he had a big mouth, who couldn't resist putting his thoughts down on paper.

Why do we need to play mathematical games, create anagrams, twist like a pretzel, jump through hoops, bang square pegs into round holes and create convoluted essays describing how we arrived at the solution we did, when the answer had already been given to us 50 years ago. Sometimes the answer to something doesn't require an abstract, mind-bending solution - sometimes it doesn't require a solution at all. "In the decades since, experts and amateurs have tried to crack the Zodiac's cipher, but the puzzle remains unsolved" - and will remain so until you heed the words of Zodiac. He may have been a ruthless killer, but he had loose lips and an even more loose pen.

Regardless of my thoughts, the podcasts by Michael Butterfield make interesting listening with excellent conrtributions from a number of people - and well worth the time spent to brush up on the cryptological aspect of the case.