THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

The one thing we can confidently state about the Zodiac Killer was his propensity to engage with the newspapers when prompted. This was demonstrated throughout his letter-writing campaign, but particularly evident when he responded to Jack E. Stiltz on August 4th 1969 and Chief of Police Martin Lee on November 9th 1969. This was clearly a tactic of the police to engage the Zodiac Killer in communication rather than murder and hopefully ascertain more knowledge of their nemesis through his wording. This was exemplified by Dr. D.C.B. Marsh on October 22nd 1969, when an article entitled Cipher Expert Dares Zodiac to Tell Name was presented to the Zodiac Killer through the San Francisco Examiner, explicitly aimed at prodding his ego. It was hoped that the murderer of five would take up the challenge rather than shy away from the dare or produce something meaningless in response.

Many people have stated that the 408 Cipher was not the hardest cryptogram to solve, despite the fact that many claiming it was an easy cipher could not have cracked it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. What the 408 Cipher told us, whether the Zodiac Killer just read a book or manual on cipher-solving, is that he had enough knowledge to comprehend that a code comprising of 13 characters was incapable of supplying a provable solution without a key. In other words, if you cannot prove the origin and voracity of the key, anything you produce will fail to meet a burden of proof. The composition and structure of the article below was likely designed to play on the narcissistic traits of the Zodiac Killer and encourage him, at least in part, to rise to the challenge. Responding to the dare in the San Francisco Examiner with absolutely nothing but 13 meaningless characters and no answer whatsoever, is a rather pointless exercise - and could be construed as a failure on Zodiac's part.

The newspaper article pressed the Zodiac Killer no less than four times, implying to do so would lead to his capture under the guise of dare, truth and honesty. I sincerely doubt anybody expected the Bay Area murderer to supply us his full name in the code, to which he would later supply the key or answer. Therefore, the question is, how could the Zodiac satisfy the challenge without giving us his forename and surname? The simple answer is, he could supply us his initials without any fear it would jeopardize his freedom. The important quote in the article is "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". Dr. D.C.B. Marsh must have known that a Zodiac Killer providing something 'in relation to his name', left the door open to the murderer supplying us his initials. Six months later, the Zodiac Killer opened his April 20th 1970 communication with "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...." 

The Zodiac Killer knew that a code of 13 was unsolvable, which is why he would eventually give us the answer in a later communication in 1970. The prompt was "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture". The answer was "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". In other words, my initials are FK and you can't solve the last cipher I sent you because I'm crackproof - although I've held my end of the bargain by supplying something in relation to my name. The Zodiac Killer satisfies his ego and the challenge by Dr. D.C.B. Marsh and the San Francisco Examiner. The answer was supplied in the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' Postcard - but would we recognise it when we saw it?

The June 26th 1970 Mount Diablo code and map were no different, except this time the Zodiac Killer supplied us the exact answer to the 32 symbol cipher after only 30 days. The Phillips 66 map contained the Zodiac crosshairs as part of the puzzle, so it wasn't that surprising that the answer came embedded within two crosshairs on the July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter. The first crosshairs with the bold circle supplied the radians, and the second crosshairs with the hashtag and arrow supplied the inches. The only two components required to locate the supposed bomb location.

The end of the Little List Letter read "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians". The Z32 was the easiest code to crack because the Zodiac Killer just gave us the answer above - the code concerned "Radians and inches along the radians". Why make it any more complicated than it has to be? A code of 29 unique symbols within a total of 32 characters is simply not solvable without a key - and there is insufficient wording on the 13 Hole Postcard, Halloween Card or Los Angeles Letter written in plain English to formulate any such key. The Z32 is even worse than giving us the English alphabet of 26 letters, replacing M with A, W with B and H with C and saying "now solve it". There is no transposition key present in the remaining three communications from October 5th 1970 to March 13th 1971, so if the Zodiac Killer was to be consistent in his inability to resist revealing his deeds, then the only realistic alternative is he gave us all the answers instead.      

Not only did the Zodiac Killer give us the answer to the 32 character code on a separate line, he capitalized the first "Radians" to effectively tell us this was the beginning of the solution (he didn't capitalize the second "radians", so why the first). You need look no further than the Paul Stine police report to notice that the hashtag symbol is used in conjunction with a number. Why insert a hashtag - and an arrow pointing to the hashtag - if you are not suggesting something should be inserted here?

The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, The symbol is described as the "number" character in an 1853 treatise on bookkeeping, and its double meaning is described in a bookkeeping text from 1880. The instruction manual of the Blickensderfer model 5 typewriter (c. 1896) appears to refer to the symbol as the "number mark". Some early-20th-century U.S. sources refer to it as the "number sign", although this could also refer to the numero sign. A 1917 manual distinguishes between two uses of the sign: "number (written before a figure)"; and "pounds (written after a figure)". Mainstream use in the United States is as follows: when it prefixes a number, it is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (indicating "a number-two pencil"). The one exception is with the # key on a phone, which is always referred to as the "pound key" or "pound". Thus instructions to dial an extension such as #77 are always read as "pound seven seven". Wikipedia.

The Zodiac Killer by use of an arrow pointer underneath the hashtag, was telling us to replace the hashtag with a number value. The Mount Diablo map scale was 6.4 miles to the inch, so it is probably unsurprising that the "Mt Diablo code would concern inches". In this instance, I have placed the number 5 into place, giving us the answer to the code of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians" (which is 32 letters in length). The reason for 5 inches is self explanatory, because 4 or 6 inches from Mount Diablo to San Francisco would fall into the sea on the east and west side. The San Francisco element will be covered shortly. The Zodiac Killer also gave us a second set of crosshairs (shown below).

This was the first time the Zodiac Killer had ever placed an accentuated zero within his crosshairs alongside the acronym SFPD. This had to be the second clue to the location of the bomb. The hashtag and arrow signified the value of inches required, so this had to signify the radian value. By some massive stroke of luck (almost beyond belief), the bold, black accentuated circle fell over 246 degrees on a compass rose - which is 4 radians and magnetic north (17 degrees in 1970). Therefore, the target of his bomb must have been 4 radians and magnetic north, and 5 inches along the radians. 

All Zodiac's bomb threats were focused towards the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Police Department, so placing this bomb location alongside the acronym SFPD should tell us that the threat was most likely focused toward a police station. By another massive stroke of luck, when we travel 4 radians and 5 inches from Mount Diablo, the target area for the bomb lies right by Ingleside Police Station. Allowing for a degree of flexibility of less than 1%, by the Zodiac Killer rounding off his radians and inches, along with the black circle diameter, no other San Francisco police station comes close. However, we need to find a location where a school bus would be traveling from north to south (with the sun to the east), that has an embankment on the right side (as displayed on the April 20th 1970 bomb diagram), with easy and covert access to that embankment, and within a few hundred feet from Ingleside Police Station. The Zodiac Killer certainly wouldn't have wanted to attract attention by parking on the road itself, but by accessing the incline from a secondary location - likely at the top of the embankment - he could achieve this task in relative anonymity. Fortunately for us, that location sits only 230 feet from Ingleside Police Station. The perfect location for the Zodiac Killer to target a school bus and thumb his nose at the San Francisco Police Department, with covert access to the top of the embankment via the car park of San Francisco City College.     

The 32 character code wasn't the complete solution, because the Zodiac Killer explicitly stated "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". The code contained the inches by way of "Radians and 5 inches along the radians", to be coupled with the map which contained the 4 radians and Mag. N (246.2 degrees). A bomb set here would have had maximum impact, striking a school bus as Zodiac had promised, but more importantly, right under the noses of the San Francisco Police Department for acute embarrassment.        

In addition to the Fk I'm crackproof clue, the 13 Hole Postcard was punched in the style of a 'Dick Tracy' code with a "red crucifix decoder". What are the chances that if we arrange the 13 holes into the shape of a cross and place them over the midsection of the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically, they would reveal the wording "paradice" and "slaves"? Then, what are the chances that the Zodiac Killer would write "paradice" and "slaves" in his next communication in a cross formation on the card, accompanied by "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation on the inside of the Halloween Card envelope? - totaling three cross formations - but supposedly, all created for absolutely no reason whatsoever in just two communications. Isn't it more believable they were created for purpose. The Zodiac Killer could easily have written "sorry no cipher" just the once, but deliberately fashioned it this way to tell us that the 340 character cipher was not a cipher after all. It was simply a design of "paradice" and "slaves" as exhibited by the Halloween Card. Throw in a few bigrams, pivots and 'corrected sixth line', and hopefully it will look convincing. 

All these clues from the back end of the Little List Letter to the Halloween Card giving us the literal answer to the Z340, Z32 and Z13 in "paradice" and "slaves", "Radians and 5 inches along the radians".and "Fk, I'm crackproof".  The following observations will go into a little more detail on the Z13 code.

On January 29th 1970, the Yellow Cab Company put up a thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the Zodiac Killer. In addition, the Teamsters Union which represents the Yellow Cab Company were reported in the San Francisco Chronicle to be considering offering a further reward on February 8th 1970 in the case of Paul Stine and Charles Jarman (another taxicab murder victim). The April 20th 1970 letter gave us the code and was immediately followed by "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". The October 5th 1970 postcard gave us the possible solution of "Fk, I'm crackproof" and was immediately followed by "What is the price tag now". These are the only two communications in which the Zodiac Killer asked the police the price of his capture. These two communications not only had a code and an answer that fitted the code, but both were followed by the exact same question. When the Zodiac Killer was designing his 13 Hole Postcard, it is very likely he had at his disposal a copy of his original April 20th 1970 letter, or the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper cutting below, to which he was now supplying the answer. This may have been the trigger that influenced him to repeat the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" into the very similar "What is the price tag now". The Zodiac Killer, in essence, had inadvertently bound both communications together through phraseology, as well as code and solution.   

The Zodiac Killer introduction would now give us his name (albeit his initials) in absence of his full name. It would also read fluently as a sentence, as follows: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". Nobody realistically believed he was going to supply his full name, but this way he satisfies the promise in a restricted format. Two communications mailed nearly six months apart, with a solution that satisfies the code, as well as a satisfactory introduction to the code - and both followed by the same question.    

The three 8's (representing Jesus Christ in gematria), along with the number 8 which symbolizes a new beginning, actually begins each element of the phrase Fk I'm crackproof. In addition, when we begin the phrase on the first 8, it fits perfectly around the existing K and M already present in the code and thereby creating a cyclical format, where the code ends and begins with the same letter. The Little List Letter provided the solution to the Button Letter and Mount Diablo code that preceded it. His next communication, the 13 Hole Postcard, provided the solution to the 13 Symbol Cipher before that, and finally the Halloween Card provided the solution to the 340 cipher. Three chronological solves to the three previous ciphers - and the only thing we had to add was the number "5", for which he inserted the hashtag and arrow. Why look for convoluted and excessively complicated solutions to these ciphers, when the Zodiac Killer gave us all the answers literally word for word.

This isn't a case of dragging wording from the entire Zodiac collection of cards and letters, but using just the two crosshairs of the Little List Letter, followed by the 13 Hole Postcard and Halloween Card. The bold, black circle and "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians" to answer the Z32. The 13 holes, red cross, "paradice" and "slaves", and "sorry no cipher" to answer the Z340. And finally, "Fk, I'm crackproof" to give us a shorthanded version of his name, while still retaining his anonymity. Three answers in just three months. The alternative is that the codes are genuine, the designs on the 13 Hole Postcard and Halloween Card are devoid of any purposeful meaning, and the big-headed, braggart called Zodiac, kept his lips 'butoned' for however many years afterwards.

The Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to his six unsolved ciphers by March 13th 1971 without ambiguity, but effectively gave us all the answers by October 27th 1970. The Zodiac gave us the answer to the Mount Diablo code (32 symbol Cipher} in the Little List Letter on July 26th 1970. In fact, he gave us the answer word for word, in the form of Radians and 5 inches along the radians (all we had to do was add the number 5 where he placed the arrow and hashtag}. The 13 Hole Postcard on October 5th 1970 gave us the answer to the 13 Symbol Cipher word for word, in the form of Fk I'm crackproof. The Halloween Card on October 27th 1970 gave us the answer to the 340 Cipher word for word, in the form of Paradice and Slaves. No mathematics was required and no manipulation was needed - all we had to do was use the three phrases that Zodiac provided us with in three consecutive communications, to answer the three previously unsolved ciphers. But that wasn't all. The Zodiac gave us the answer to both the Fairfield Letter codes of December 7th and 16th of 1969, again word for word using the Halloween Card. The 18 unsolved characters in the 408 cipher he again gave us the solution word for word, using the trinity of communications on July 31st 1969 and following letter on August 4th 1969, when he revealed his pseudonym to the world. However, there is even more.

The Zodiac Killer's 408 Cipher was effectively a written message that he enciphered into characters. When you take a look at the decoded message, it isn't structured and organized - because one line or row bleeds into the following. The Zodiac Killer didn't contain his words within the confines of one row. For example, when he opened the cipher with "I like killing people", the letter E is positioned at the beginning of the second row. This randomness is not displayed in the answers to his remaining six unsolved portions of code. The answer to the 18 unsolved characters, the 340 Cipher, the two Fairfield letters, the 13 Symbol Cipher and the 32 Symbol Cipher are all organized and deliberately structured, where every single solution and word is contained within each line - and do not leak from one row to another. Let us take a look at the 13 Symbol Cipher that exhibits symmetry within its design.

When the Zodiac's solution or answer to the 13 Symbol Cipher was inserted into the code above, it showed an organized and structured pattern without a word bleeding from one end of the cipher to the other. The Zodiac Killer gave us the cyclical solution of Fk I'm crackproof on October 5th 1970, and followed this up with the line "This is the Zodiac speaking Like I have allways said, I am crack proof" on March 13th 1971. But in the Los Angeles Letter you will notice he separates "crackproof" to "crack proof", exactly how it is found in the 13 Symbol Cipher. It does not bleed from the end of the cipher to the start.

The first 8 begins FK. The second 8 begins IM. The third 8 begins CRACKPROOF. But CRACK and PROOF are separated, without either word being fragmented. The FK and IM also fit nicely around the existing K and M in the cipher. The cipher solution maintains an organized and symmetrical appearance. The introduction on the April 20th 1970 letter now read "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". He was leading us into the belief these were his initials.

The Paradice and Slaves configuration from the Halloween Card to the 340 Cipher also exhibited form, with Paradice exactly bisecting the columns of the 340 Cipher, and Slaves exactly bisecting the rows of the 340 Cipher in a 17 X 17 pattern. Each word contained within a row or column. The Halloween Card envelope providing us with "sorry no cipher" in a cross formation, not only telling us that the 340 wasn't a standard cipher, but the design of the 340 was to be found in a cross formation.

The 32 Symbol Cipher also adhered to a solution where no word bled from one row to another. The 32 Symbol Cipher contained two rows of 17 and 15 characters - obviously created this way for a purpose. When we discovered that the number 5 was to be inserted into the cipher using the arrow and hashtag, the answer of Radians and 5 inches along the radians again fell perfectly into the 32 Symbol Cipher with no word extending from one line to another. You will notice that when the Zodiac Killer provided us with the answer in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, he self-contained the answer on a separate line, with the first Radians beginning with a capital letter. This was the beginning of the code solution.

"PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians and # inches along the radians" was in fact Radians and 5 inches along the radians. When this is placed into the 32 Symbol Cipher, you will notice that once again it retains separation, with "inches" ending line one, and "along" beginning line two. Each word is contained within the line. This organization and structure flies in the face of the solved portion of the 408 Cipher and implies a deliberate and calculated design. But we need to take it even further.

Explained in greater detail in the article The Answer to the Z38 Code, the structure of the Zodiac 38 character cipher was pointed out. The code below has been structured with different character counts on each line (unlike the 408 and 340 ciphers), but is instead arranged in a formation of 12 characters on line one, 7 characters on line two, 5 characters on line three, 6 characters on line four and 8 characters on line five. This may suggest that the words are contained separately on each line, without running from one line to another. We would expect Slaves and Paradice to be grouped together - and the last two lines satisfy this character count of 6 and 8. We then have three lines remaining of 12, 7 and 5 characters. By Gun satisfies the 5 characters, By Knife satisfies the 7 characters, and By Fire, By Rope satisfies the 12 characters. This forms the basis of the completed 38 character code solution, mimicking the second Fairfield Letter design and the exact wording on the Halloween Card configuration. Furthermore, no word extends from one line to another, exactly as displayed in the above codes.

For anybody believing that the two Fairfield letters mailed on December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 were just a hoaxer, unrelated to Zodiac, then they have to explain, not only what purpose they served, but how the 38 character code manufactured by a lazy imbecile, incapable of even recreating a credible Zodiac Killer communication, just so happened to design five lines of 12, 7, 5, 6 and 8 characters, which could by sheer accident allow by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice to fall nicely onto each line. Ten words, self-contained on each line, which just happened to correlate with the October 27th 1970 Halloween card, ten months in the making. Not to mention, that by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice can be found in the "word search" 340 cipher just 29 days prior, in exactly the same design as the Halloween card.

Any doubts that the December 7th 1969 coding was a hint to the solution of the 340 cipher, should have been lessened by the inclusion of many repeating sequences of characters from the November 8th 1969 offering. The above configuration in the 340 cipher will probably be described as accidental by eminent codebreakers. However, if the December 7th 1969 author was just an ignorant charlaton, bereft of the solution to the 340 cipher, who just slapped a quick and meaningless 38 character code together, then it has to be purely by chance once again, that he managed to fortuitously create a code of 38 characters that mimicked the exact character count of by fire, by rope, by knife, by gun, slaves and paradice, present in two other cryptic communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer. Not only was this extremely lucky, but the clown impersonator of Zodiac, would for a futher time, just happen to create another cryptic addition on December 16th 1969 that mimicked the Zodiac designs in the 340 cipher and Halloween card.  

The Zodiac Killer was rather quite polite on November 8th 1969, when he cordially requested "could you print this new cipher in your frunt page?" However, after 38 days his patience was running thin, aghast at the inability of code breakers to pry open his simplistic cipher. In fact, he was starting to get bloody pissed off with authorities, demanding "you better print" in his December 16th 1969 letter (see right). Underneath his demand was yet another clue to his 340 cipher, and a design that again mimicked the yet to be mailed Halloween card.

The Tim Holt comic book connection unearthed by Tahoe27 (displayed in the Halloween card), not only contained the four phrases of by gun, by knife, by rope and by fire in each quadrant, but they were preceded by the word "death" in the comic itself. Exactly as depicted in the configuration on the right.
There are five characters, followed by four crosshairs placed around a larger crossed circle. This hoaxer was certainly having a bit of luck, creating 38 characters to mimic the Halloween card words of paradice, slaves, by gun, by knife, by rope and by fire, but also mimicking the design - including each mode of murder by the possible 5-letter introduction of "death", found on the wheel of the Tim Holt comic book.

The luck doesn't end there mind. The author of the December 7th 1969 letter wrote the words "I just need help". The phrase "please help me" would appear thrice in the authenticated Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, despite the fact neither of the two Fairfield letters were ever published in the newspapers. Damn, this hoaxer is seemingly getting a lot of things correct, even thirteen days and ten months in advance.

So far (including the Tim Holt comic book unearthed by Tahoe27), every single solution or answer to the ciphers can be achieved using the exact words employed by Zodiac from three consecutive communications spanning July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. [1] Radians and 5 inches along the radians [2] Fk I'm crackproof [3] Paradise and Slaves, and [4] By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. And none extend or bleed into another line, or from end to beginning in the 13 Symbol Cipher. That is five ciphers down with one to go. 

The Zodiac Killer claimed that his 408 Cipher contained his identity or pseudonym. What was important to the Bay Area murderer was the structure exhibited by all the above codes. The characters he used were of no particular significance, because they weren't designed to be solved without future Zodiac input. This input came towards the end of his letter writing campaign, when he supplied us all the answers in just three consecutive communications. He was effectively wrapping up business. There was no way a man with such an inflated ego and inability to resist writing to the newspapers, could keep the secret to his ciphers for upwards of five decades. The answer to the 408 Cipher was given to us in just four days, contained in the trinity of July 31st 1969 letters and the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' Letter. He claimed his identity was in the 408 cipher - and we know his identity was "Zodiac" because he gave us his pseudonym. All we then had to do, was fit Zodiac around the declaration of who he was. 

Initially, the Zodiac Killer had intended to leave 12 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher, but his accidental omission of the word "people" when he encoded his message, inadvertently left him with 18 unsolved characters. However, this was of no consequence - it was an easy adjustment. You will notice again, that the unsolved 18 characters are split into an ungainly 1 and 17 configuration. If we are to hold true to single words not bleeding from one line to another, then the single character must stand for I or A. We know that the Zodiac Killer was an egotist, beginning the 408 Cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun". He also began two of the July 31st letters with "I am the killer". So it wouldn't be any great leap of faith to believe that the isolated singular character on line 23 was "I". Coupling the "Zodiac" with "I am the killer" to produce "I am the Zodiac Killer" satisfies his declaration of identity and the 18 characters at the base of the 408 Cipher. We again have used only the words written by the Zodiac Killer - and no word extends from one line to another. The third of code containing his identity was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, which is why he began that introduction with "This is the murderer". He was reserving "I am the Zodiac Killer" for the base of the 408 Cipher.  

We now have six unsolved portions of code answered, using only the words written by the Zodiac Killer in a total of four communications. Every single answer was organized and structured to remain within each row, line and column with no manipulation whatsoever. We can wait another 50 years for these codes to be "solved" - or believe they were all answered by October 27th 1970 from the pen of the Zodiac Killer.

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.