If we want to discover the motivation and design of a Zodiac communication, we usually have to look no further than one or two newspaper articles precedent to the correspondence in question. Can the preceding newspaper article in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12th 1970 tell us anything about the Halloween card mailed on October 27th 1970, including an answer to the strange symbolism depicted on the envelope address side and card inner.

The newspaper article was entitled "Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac". Therefore, it shouldn't be any surprise that the Zodiac Killer chose a greeting card that opened with the wording "From your secret pal. I feel it in your bones, You ache to know my name, And so I'll clue you in". This was the only communication thus far that contained white text, which the Zodiac Killer adopted by adding 4-TEEN, BOO and the symbolism at the foot of the card, rather than using pasted newspaper clippings. The Zodiac Killer was very likely claiming 14 victims when he wrote this total on the skeleton's hand on the front of the card, followed by a head count of 4-TEEN above the second skeleton on the card inner, and concluding with the symbolism at foot of the card. 

The Zodiac Killer likely combined his victim count of 4-TEEN with the claimed murders of four teenagers by October 27th 1970. Having claimed the August 3rd 1969 San Jose murders of Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Debra Gaye Furlong (14) in his Dripping Pen card by the addiition of "Aug" within a monthly chronological victim count, the Zodiac Killer was effectively telling us that he was incorporating 4 teenagers in his Halloween card victim count of fourteen - David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong. The October 12th 1970 newspaper article stated "And he is now claiming 13 persons. Homicide detectives who've been hunting Zodiac for nearly two years frankly admit he is as much an enigma now as he was on Dec. 20, 1968, when he chalked up his first two victims. On Dec. 20, 1968, he gunned down teen-agers David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen". The Halloween card entry of a hyphenated 4-TEEN, not only incorporated his first two victims within his total, but "chalked them up" in blackboard style writing. The Zodiac Killer had written "14" on the hand of the first skeleton, "4-TEEN" over the skull of the second skeleton, so it could be argued that the symbolism at the foot of the card containing what appeared to be a joined "F", was likely "fourteen" as well  The symbolism could represent "Zodiac Fourteen" or "Zodiac Victims Fourteen" (with the four dots representing the four teenagers, just as he had incorporated them by separating "4" and "TEEN" earlier). His victim totals all neatly chalked up within the Halloween card.

The vast majority of the newspaper article was dedicated to the two act comic opera, The Mikado, and the search for individuals who may have played Ko-Ko in recent years, Many Zodiac researchers have considered whether the Zodiac Killer was of British origin, had British parents, or was influenced by British theatrical plays, based upon the language he adopted in his communications. It is extremely likely that the Zodiac Killer chose to write PEEK-A-BOO around the knothole of a tree because he knew the alternative British term for this saying.

​"Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you!  There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added. Another variation involves saying "Where's the baby?" while the face is covered and "There's the baby!" when uncovering the face". Wikipedia. A British term for "peek-a-boo" is "peep-bo" - which just happens to be one of the characters from The Mikado.

​The Zodiac Killer chose the introduction on the Halloween card outer in response to the newspaper article entitled "Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac", because it stated "And so I'll clue you in". He then responded to this introduction by inserting "peek-a-boo" around the knothole of a tree, with an eye peering from within. A saying which has the alternative of peep-bo - a character from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera. The teaser of "I'll clue you in" and the answer of "peep-bo" both inspired by The Mikado featured in the October 12th 1970 newspaper article. The Zodiac Killer would not give us the Ko-Ko investigators were desperately attempting to track down, only the protector or ward of Ko-Ko.

Many esteemed researchers in the Zodiac community like to say that some of the most beneficial and trusted information in the case can be found in the pages of original source documentation, such as the police reports and FBI files. They say this, until information is revealed within them that doesn't conform with something related to their suspect, or when a long held belief or consensus narrative about the case has been dismantled using the very original documents they praise. One simple example is the SLA letter mailed on February 3rd 1974. Despite the first two documents ever produced on this letter clearly showing that the letter was postmarked February 3rd 1974 from Los Angeles, certain websites and outlets want to keep pushing the myth of a February 14th 1974 postmark, because it's an inconvenient truth that goes against everything they have always believed. The consensus narrative of the Zodiac case has, and always will be, more important than the truth. 

Here is the section regarding LeRoy Sweet in the October 12th 1969 police report: "Assistant traffic manager of Yellow Cab, LeRoy Sweet responded and gave reporting officers the victim's identification. Mr. Sweet further stated the last dispatch given the victim was at 9:45 pm to 500 9th Ave. apt. #1. Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm". The prevailing narrative is that the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab somewhere by the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in the theater district of San Francisco and then traveled to the Presidio Heights district. But Mason and Geary (or Union Square) is unlikely to be where Paul Stine was when he received the 9:45pm dispatch from LeRoy Sweet, asking him to pick up a fare from 500 9th Avenue.

The journey time from Mason and Geary (or Union Square) to 500 9th Avenue on a busy Saturday night is about 12 to 13 minutes. Therefore, if LeRoy Sweet knew that Paul Stine was in the vicinity of Mason and Geary or Union Square at 9:45pm when he gave him his second fare that night, he would have known that Paul Stine's journey time to 500 9th Avenue would have him arriving there at 9:58pm. So why did the police report state that another taxicab was allocated to that address at 9:58pm, when that was the time Paul Stine was expected at the address? Unless, of course, Paul Stine wasn't near the theater district when he received the 9:45pm dispatch - and the dispatch was given to him much closer to Washington and Cherry Streets, with the Zodiac Killer already seated in the taxicab. Paul Stine may have been already heading to Presidio Heights when he accepted the dispatch to 500 9th Avenue. One would assume that LeRoy Sweet knew exactly where Paul Stine was at 9:45pm because he expected Paul Stine to arrive at 500 9th Avenue earlier than 9:58pm. So when he didn't, LeRoy Sweet reassigned the dispatch to another taxicab.      

For example: if Paul Stine was two minutes away from the intersection of Washington and Cherry, and 5 minutes away from 500 9th Avenue when he received the 9:45pm dispatch, then LeRoy Sweet (and possibly the resident of 500 9th Avenue) could have expected Paul Stine's arrival at the address at 9:50pm. If the customer was in a rush and became impatient by 9:58pm, then it's reasonable to conclude they rang the Yellow Taxicab Company again and another taxicab was summoned to that address.

​If the expected time of arrival was 9:58pm from Mason and Geary Streets and the customer knew this, then there would have never have been any need for LeRoy Sweet to reassign another taxicab to the address that night. However, if Paul Stine arrived at Washington and Cherry two minutes after the 9:45pm dispatch, then he arrived at the murder scene at 9:47pm, eight minutes before the 9:55pm time of attack given in the police report (supposedly when the three teenagers first looked out of the window). If this was the case, then what was the Zodiac Killer doing in the taxicab for eight minutes? The further back towards Mason and Geary Streets (or Union Square) we take the taxicab when the 9:45pm dispatch was given by LeRoy Sweet, the less reason the customer has to become impatient and for another taxicab to be assigned to that address. 

Paul Stine would likely have been traveling along Highway 101 from the San Francisco International Airport after his first fare was dropped off, and may have exited Highway 101 and Interstate 80 by 7th Street to pick up a random fare at the theater district - so the Zodiac Killer could have entered the taxicab anywhere in this locality. The taxicab meter reading taken at the crime scene supports the Zodiac Killer entering the taxicab in this area. However, when LeRoy Sweet gave Paul Stine the final dispatch, he was possibly much closer to Presidio Heights than once considered. Many will not like this analysis of a killer arriving at Washington and Cherry up to eight minutes prior to the 9:55pm attack time, because it doesn't conform to the widely held narrative of a taxicab driver being murdered the moment he parked up at the Washington and Cherry intersection. The statements of LeRoy Sweet may be erroneous, but they are what they are. Is it possible this extra time was swallowed up by something that occurred at the intersection of Washington and Maple Streets - the destination written in the taxicab trip sheet? 

The following examination is not a claim to the factual dymamics of the crime committed on October 30th 1966, but one interpretation regarding the senseless murder of Cheri Jo Bates in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library.​ 

On the left there is an approximate set of measurements of the female anatomy, and the only five incised and non-abraded wounds to the front side of Cheri Jo Bates' upper body. The five wounds are clustered in an area measuring 20cm horizontally and 10cm vertically. While these could be caused by an individual standing in front of Cheri Jo Bates, it is evident that none of these wounds inflicted by a knife had significant depth penetration to prove immediately fatal.

If the killer had been holding or choking Cheri Jo Bates around the upper chest or neck from behind, then this compression could increase intra-capilliary pressure by restricting the venous return of blood, and thereby creating the petechial haemorrhaging evident on the forehead of the young woman. A killer securing her from behind, holding the knife in his right hand (or possibly left) and stabbing backwards toward her heart region, has the potential to produce this grouping of injuries to her breast region and upper arms in the initial phase of the attack. The natural response by a victim would be to raise their arms and hands to protect this vital region, in addition to attempting to grab the wrist of the attacker (possibly resulting in the watch being ripped from her assailant) and could have caused the only three described "laceration" wounds to the dorsal side of Cheri Jo Bates' left hand (2) and right index finger. This may also have been the moment that Cheri desperately clawed backwards at her assailant's hair, ripping out some head hairs that collected in the blood at the base of her right thumb. 
​
Cheri Jo Bates, at this juncture, would have received eight strikes from a bladed instrument (5 to her front upper body and possibly 3 to her hands/fingers) in an attack that was likely mere seconds in duration, followed by her being thrust forward into the hard driveway floor. However, it must be noted that the two injuries to her left hand described as lacerations by F. Rene Modglin (24 & 25 in the autopsy report) could be injuries sustained through impact with the driveway floor. One is a Y-shaped laceration at the junction of the wrist and hand, often caused by the blunt force trauma of a weapon or impact from a hard surface. The other injury was an irregular laceration in the mid area, in line with the middle finger. Both these lacerations to her left hand were to the dorsal side, so could be sequential injuries as she was thrust forward and down. Therefore, it's possible only the "laceration" to the lateral aspect of her right index finger was caused by a knife blade (2cm, interrupted and moderately deep). Cheri Jo Bates had a 2cm non-gaping cut to her left upper lip, a series of three non-gaping lacerations to her left cheek and an area of blue-gray discoloration to the skin of her left cheek, all of which could be caused by an impact across the driveway floor as she was thrust from behind. Some abrasions and discoloration to the midline of her chin possibly received in the same motion. The slightly swollen discoloration to her upper and lower lips on the right side could have resulted from Cheri Jo Bates shifting her head position and further force being applied by her assailant. Although petechial haemorrhaging can be caused by choking or compression of the chest cavity, it can also be caused when excessive pressure is applied to tissue (e.g., when a tourniquet is applied to an extremity or the person is struck across the face with an open palm of the hand). In the case of Cheri Jo Bates, the forehead petechiae noted at autopsy could have been caused as a result of her head being pressed into the hard uneven ground.. 

The entirety of the abrasions to her hands and fingers were located on her right hand (possibly her dominant hand), that could have been received as she was forced to the driveway floor, as she attempted to arrest her descent (and some caused by subsequent struggling while being pinned to the ground}. There were no abrasion-type injuries detailed on her left hand at autopsy, suggesting her right hand was the dominant force when in contact with the driveway floor. 

The final phase of the attack may have been the solitary knife wound to her back and the seven lateral knife wounds across her neck, ultimately severing her right common carotid artery and right superficial jugular vein, resulting in death in several minutes. The attack could have lasted less than 30 seconds.  PART ONE  PART THREE

WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES?
WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? [PART TWO]

An archived forum post on May 4th 2000 from ZodiacKiller.com concerning the once Riverside Detective Steve Shumway stated "Until now, a key piece of evidence supporting RPD’s claim has been withheld. With permission from lead detective Steve Shumway, I am revealing a fact that directly points to the Bates murder as being a classic “crime of passion:” Cheri Jo Bates was stabbed 42 times.

Where Steve Shumway acquired this information is irrelevant, because it is pure fiction. In fact, Cheri Jo Bates was stabbed less than one-quarter the amount of times put forward by Steve Shumway. A cursory glance across the 26 entries from the external examination by autopsy surgeon F. Rene Modglin shows that Cheri Jo Bates received no more than 6 incised wounds to her torso and arms (discounting the two abraded lacerations to her left forearm). Her neck received 7 incised wounds that transected the thyroid cartilage, right common carotid artery and right superficial jugular vein, indicative of a blade being drawn across the neck (they were not stab wounds). Claims that Cheri Jo Bates was nearly decapitated is another wild dramatization of an already brutal and senseless murder. Also, attempting to manufacture an argument that this crime was possibly committed in an act of rage by somebody who had a relationship or was known to the victim, cannot be credibly argued based on the number of stab wounds the victim received.

Cheri Jo Bates had received three wounds to her breast region and one to her back (4 in total to her torso), none of which were life threatening (disregarding prolonged blood loss). She had two moderately superficial cuts to the anterior and medial upper left lobe of her lung, with no.pulmonary embola significant atelectasis (collapse of lung tissue with loss of volume). The three incised wounds to her breast region measured 1.9cm (0.75 inches), 1.7cm (0.67 inches) and 1.4cm (0.55 inches). F. Rene Modglin had calculated, based on the entirety of the wounds, that the minimum knife dimensions would be half inch wide and three and a half inches long. The wounds may have measured slightly more than half an inch at autopsy, but this is dependent upon the angle of delivery and removal of the knife as it entered and exited the body. But the incised wounds to her breast region and back (0.59 inches) suggest a blade of half an inch wide or fractionally bigger. Her right upper arm had only one gaping wound measuring 4cm (1.6 inches), suggestive of an angled strike with the blade, with another wound measuring 1.5cm to her right axillary fold (right armpit). Her left arm carried two "somewhat abraded lacerations" of 3.5cm and 4cm, that were not necessarily indicative of a knife wound. A laceration is caused by blunt force trauma (crushing or ripping blow) with evident tissue bridging and minimal blood loss (except for the scalp). An incised wound (by a knife in this case) exhibits no tissue bridging and greater blood loss.

​Unfortunately, the autopsy uses the word laceration throughout to show the knife wounds in this case, making it difficult to disseminate what is meant when describing the wounds to the face and hands of Cheri Jo Bates. The "2 cm oblique ragged edge fresh non gaping laceration of the upper lip on the left side, that angles laterally from above and extends completely through the thickness of the lip", is likely a blow from either the fist or foot of the murderer, or contact with the ground. As were the "series of three fresh lacerations of the skin of the left cheek, angling from above in front slightly downward and posteriorly". These injuries to her face were interspersed with abrasions (possibly received from the driveway floor). Her hands received numerous abrasions, but only three of the wounds to her hands were described as lacerations by F. Rene Modglin. There were twelve injuries to her hands described at autopsy (10 presumably to her dominant right hand and two to her left hand). F. Rene Modglin described two lacerations to her left hand and one to her right, leaving nine abrasion type injuries remaining (and so making the twelve described injuries). One entry in the autopsy described a few light linear criss-crossing abrasions of the right hand (I attributed this as one injury). If F. Rene Modglin used lacerations to describe incised wounds from a blade, then Cheri Jo Bates only had three defensive wounds to her hands. The numerous abrasions to her hands most likely received from contact with the driveway floor.     

As a consequence of the above findings we can determine that none of the knife wounds to her torso, arms and hands would have proved fatal had she escaped at this point and received fairly prompt medical assistance. Assuming the "lacerations" to her hands were not caused by crushing or tearing blows (and were knife wounds), then Cheri Jo Bates received just three incised wounds to her hands, of which, two were to the dorsal side (knuckle side) of her left hand, and one to the medical aspect of her right index finger. So was Cheri Jo Bates placing her hands over her breast region attempting to protect that vital area during the initial phase of the attack, thereby receiving these wounds to the back of her hands? (and possibly the two abraded lacerations to her left forearm).

​However, discounting these two abraded lacerations, which were on the volar surface (palm side) of her forearm (and assuming Cheri Jo Bates had her hands in front of her chest for some time during the attack), then she received eight incised wounds from a knife blade while standing, likely delivered by an assailant securing Cheri Jo Bates from behind during this period. Can we conclude that Cheri Jo Bates had been thrown or forced to the ground during the next phase of the attack, then punched and kicked, before being stabbed once in the back with a knife as she lay struggling on the driveway floor? All the abrasions and lacerations to her hands described at autopsy by F. Rene Modglin were to the dorsal side of her hand (knuckle side). Her fingers received injuries, but none were detailed to the palms of her hands in the autopsy report. 

We have a killer who failed to deliver any imminent life threatening injuries to the front of Cheri Jo Bates' body, with limited knife penetration to any part of her torso (whether delivered standing up or kneeling over her). Although not proven, it appears the final part of the attack occurred when Cheri Jo Bates was lying face down, with one stab wound to her back, followed by the knife blade being drawn across her neck seven times. Was this attack the product of a youthful and inexperienced lightweigt, who failed to deliver any killer blows during the initial phase of the attack, who ultimately resorted to attacking her neck region? Or is it impossible to conclude the maturity and experience of the murderer based on anything contained within the autopsy report generated by F. Rene Modglin?   PART TWO  PART THREE

WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES?
WAS THE CONFESSION LETTER AUTHOR THE KILLER OF CHERI JO BATES? [PART TWO]

On October 17th 1970 there is a strong possibility that the Zodiac Killer mailed a correspondence from Berkeley to Dr. Edward C. Adams, a psychiatrist and docent (teacher), who resided at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California. The postcard was clearly a threat towards the family, stating "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". If this was the Zodiac Killer, why did he choose to target Dr. Adams from Orinda? The Zodiac Killer would often claim or insinuate his involvement in murders (and possible murders), such as Richard Radetich, Donna Lass, Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong, and Cheri Jo Bates - so what was the purpose of this communication - and what triggered it? The pasted wording of "you taught me to mean it" and "Adams you are next" would suggest the Zodiac Killer was implying he had previously crossed paths with Dr. Adams. The statement of "you are next" would have carried more weight as a threat had Dr. Adams been aware of a recent murder in close proximity to his residence - thereby adding more terror to the postcard. Could this have been a factor in the Zodiac Killer (or copycat) selecting Orinda as a destination to mail this latest communication?

About three-quarters of a mile from his residence, six months earlier, on Friday, April 10th 1970, Barbara Bates Keenan (42) was found shot dead with a .22 caliber gun in the kitchen of her 8 La Campana, Orinda home at approximately 3:45 pm by her 14-year-old daughter, Margaret. She had suffered two bullet wounds to her head and one to her back in an apparently motiveless attack. She had the cord from a steam iron wrapped around her neck, having apparently been struck on the back of the head with it also. However, it was concluded at autopsy that strangulation wasn't the cause of death. There was no signs of robbery and she had not been sexually molested. Investigators believed that the murderer knew the victim. Her husband, Oakland Insurance Executive Harold F. Keenan (45) was not a suspect in her murder.   

Newspaper reports outlined that Barbara Keenan was an elementary school student teacher in Concord before assuming substitute teacher duties last fall. She had graduated from U.C. Berkeley, where she had met her husband in 1949, and was married in 1950. Edward C. Adams attended  the University of California, Berkeley for his undergraduate work and was a docent (teacher) at the Robinson Jeffers Foundation and was a member of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society.

The Zodiac Killer may have targeted Diane Kennedy Pike in a letter to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969 and Daniel Williams for two weeks beginning on October 23rd 1969. Diane Kennedy Pike was an American writer and educator who lived in San Jose at the time this threatening letter was mailed. She was a school teacher at Willow Glen High School in San Jose between 1962 and 1964. Daniel Williams was a Salesian High School teacher in the city of Richmond, living at 1234 Bush Street in Martinez when he was threatened by a series of malicious phone calls just before the arrival of the Dripping Pen card..Both the phone caller and letter writer claimed they were the Zodiac Killer. 

I am not suggesting that the Zodiac Killer had any hand in the murder of Barbara Keenan, but as an avid newspaper consumer, had the Zodiac Killer read about the murder on April 10th 1970 in any publication and chosen to target Edward C. Adams six months later, who lived just 3,730 feet from the residence of Barbara Keenan? If Edward C. Adams was aware of the murder in his neighborhood, then the out-of-the-blue threat on him and his family stating "you are next" may have engendered a higher degree of gravitas. ​By targeting the Adamses in Orinda so close to a brutal murder just six months earlier, it's possible the Zodiac Killer was hoping that investigators may consider his involvement in the unsolved murder of Barbara Keenan. In terms of topography, both residences are heavily shrouded with trees on Google maps. Whether this was the case in 1970 I am unsure. The Zodiac Killer never outright claimed his involvement in the attacks on Richard Radetich, Donna Lass, Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong, and Cheri Jo Bates by name, but insinuated his participation - so it's possible - in this instance - he had hoped that the statement of "you are next" to Edward C. Adams may have pushed investigators to consider him a suspect in a recent and local previous murder - that of Barbara Bates Keenan. If Edward C. Adams and Barbara Keenan were known to each other, the threatening postcard on October 17th 1970 would have had greater significance.