On December 10th 1969 a paste-up horoscope communication was mailed and postmarked PM from Sacramento entitled Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, followed by a similar communication mailed and postmarked PM from San Francisco on December 11th 1969 entitled Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo. Not published in the newspapers, it was clear that both of these communications had the same author just one day apart. The following is a summary of the abduction and murder of Leona LaRell Roberts by Steph54 on Websleuths:
On Wednesday, 10 December 1969, 16-year-old Leona Larell Roberts worked her first day at a part-time job at the White Front Discount Store in Pleasant Hill. After her 1-5 p.m. shift, she drove to her boyfriend's apartment (749 Tormey Ave, Rodeo) where she planned to cook him dinner. At the time, Leona attended K's American Beauty College in Napa, where she also lived with her mother. Within 15 minutes of arriving at her boyfriend's apartment, a neighbor heard a girl scream. The neighbor called the sheriff and soon after heard someone running down the stairs at the back of the apartment house followed by the slam of a door from the direction of the downstairs apartment where Leona's boyfriend lived. When the boyfriend arrived, he saw Leona's red VW out front but did not find her inside the apartment. The apartment was dark and the back door was unlocked. He noticed scuff marks on the wall near the back door. He found that a pair of his pants had been removed from the bedroom closet and left on the living room couch, the belt missing. He noticed Leona's work smock crumpled on the couch. A sheriff's deputy arrived 30 minutes after the call. Another neighbor told the deputy of seeing a white male, about 25 years old, short blonde hair, acting suspicious. He walked several times from the front door to the rear of a blue station wagon before driving away. On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts.
From the postmark dates and times it is extremely likely the Forecast for Cancer communication was mailed prior to the abduction/murder of Leona Roberts, with the Forecast for Leo communication likely mailed after her abduction/murder. This meant that the author of the Cancer communication on December 10th in Sacramento traveled to San Francisco to mail the second correspondence. The most direct route is shown below and uses only Interstate 80. This journey between communications passes just 0.9 miles from the 749 Tormey Avenue residence from where Leona Roberts was abducted.
On Wednesday, 10 December 1969, 16-year-old Leona Larell Roberts worked her first day at a part-time job at the White Front Discount Store in Pleasant Hill. After her 1-5 p.m. shift, she drove to her boyfriend's apartment (749 Tormey Ave, Rodeo) where she planned to cook him dinner. At the time, Leona attended K's American Beauty College in Napa, where she also lived with her mother. Within 15 minutes of arriving at her boyfriend's apartment, a neighbor heard a girl scream. The neighbor called the sheriff and soon after heard someone running down the stairs at the back of the apartment house followed by the slam of a door from the direction of the downstairs apartment where Leona's boyfriend lived. When the boyfriend arrived, he saw Leona's red VW out front but did not find her inside the apartment. The apartment was dark and the back door was unlocked. He noticed scuff marks on the wall near the back door. He found that a pair of his pants had been removed from the bedroom closet and left on the living room couch, the belt missing. He noticed Leona's work smock crumpled on the couch. A sheriff's deputy arrived 30 minutes after the call. Another neighbor told the deputy of seeing a white male, about 25 years old, short blonde hair, acting suspicious. He walked several times from the front door to the rear of a blue station wagon before driving away. On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts.
From the postmark dates and times it is extremely likely the Forecast for Cancer communication was mailed prior to the abduction/murder of Leona Roberts, with the Forecast for Leo communication likely mailed after her abduction/murder. This meant that the author of the Cancer communication on December 10th in Sacramento traveled to San Francisco to mail the second correspondence. The most direct route is shown below and uses only Interstate 80. This journey between communications passes just 0.9 miles from the 749 Tormey Avenue residence from where Leona Roberts was abducted.
Less than 24 hours after the abduction/murder of Leona Roberts, the Forecast for Leo communication arrived. Was the perpetrator using a play on words to hint that her forecast was in his hands? The Forecast for Cancer communication was emblazoned with the pasted text of Zodiac - and we know that the Bay Area murder has become synonymous with abduction and murder. How many abductions and murders occurred in the Bay Area on December 10th 1969? Yet here we have two sinister communications mailed in Sacramento, followed by San Francisco, where the most direct route using Interstate 80 passes just 0.9 miles from the abduction site of Leona Roberts, which is then followed by a communication entitled Forecast for Leo. If this is a coincidence, it is one hell of a lucky one.
The question arises though - was the author of the two communications the Zodiac Killer or an impostor? Had somebody close to Leona Roberts planned her murder, and by mailing these communications with the word Zodiac in bold lettering, attempted to shift the focus of the investigation onto the Bay Area murderer, thereby making him the convenient fall guy? However, if the author of the Cancer and Leo communications wanted to achieve this goal, why would he be so cryptic? By sending a correspondence with nothing more than a heading of Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, you are leaving open the possibility that investigators will not make the connection between the communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts. If you are attempting to lay the abduction squarely at the feet of Zodiac, then you simply create a communication using the pseudonym Zodiac and mentioning Leona Roberts by name, thereby creating no ambiguity. This may put the ball back in Zodiac's court.
The question arises though - was the author of the two communications the Zodiac Killer or an impostor? Had somebody close to Leona Roberts planned her murder, and by mailing these communications with the word Zodiac in bold lettering, attempted to shift the focus of the investigation onto the Bay Area murderer, thereby making him the convenient fall guy? However, if the author of the Cancer and Leo communications wanted to achieve this goal, why would he be so cryptic? By sending a correspondence with nothing more than a heading of Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, you are leaving open the possibility that investigators will not make the connection between the communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts. If you are attempting to lay the abduction squarely at the feet of Zodiac, then you simply create a communication using the pseudonym Zodiac and mentioning Leona Roberts by name, thereby creating no ambiguity. This may put the ball back in Zodiac's court.
But it doesn't end there. Two more Zodiac communications were mailed either side of the above two forecasts. The first was mailed on December 7th 1969 from Fairfield, with the second arriving from Fairfield on December 16th 1969. These again fall directly along Interstate 80. If the four communications were the work of the Zodiac Killer, then we have a murderer mailing a correspondence from Fairfield on December 7th, before traveling northeast to Sacramento, then abducting Leona Roberts in Rodeo and continuing on to San Francisco, before heading back to Fairfield on December 16th. The author of four consecutive communications would possibly be using one direct route back and forth.
The Bus Bomb letter mailed on November 9th 1969 claimed seven victims, while the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969 claimed a search for number nine and ten. The December 7th 1969 Fairfield letter claimed no update to victim seven, leaving open the possibility that the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts on December 10th 1969 was victim number eight.
The Bus Bomb letter mailed on November 9th 1969 claimed seven victims, while the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969 claimed a search for number nine and ten. The December 7th 1969 Fairfield letter claimed no update to victim seven, leaving open the possibility that the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts on December 10th 1969 was victim number eight.
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