Just over two weeks before the 340 cipher was mailed, Dr. D.C.B. Marsh of the American Cryptogram Association laid down a challenge to the Zodiac in the newspapers to reveal his name in a cipher, however complicated. The wording in the San Francisco Examiner on October 22nd 1969 invoked the name of Edgar Allan Poe, so possibly the designers of the article were hoping that the Zodiac Killer would invoke Edgar Allan Poe to give us his name, making any offering easier to crack. This appeared to influence the Zodiac Killer, because the first cipher mentioned in Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing actually works in decoding the message in the 340 cipher. The second cipher technique in Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing split the alphabet into two portions of 13 letters, so it was surprising that the Zodiac Killer's next code reduced dramatically to 13 characters just like Poe's design (beginning with A and ending with M). See here for essay.

Three years ago, it was suggested that the Zodiac Killer wouldn't again shy away from the challenge of giving us his name, having possibly given us it in an abbreviated format. That is why the cryptic reference of Fk, I'm crackproof caught my eye in the October 5th 1970 communication with 13 punch-holes in the fabric of the card. The punch-holes were separated into a 10 to 3 configuration, positioned in such a way that they mirrored the design of the 13-Symbol cipher. The only way to break the small code was to discover the entry point, and the three circled 8's seemed as good a place as any, especially when we consider Fk, I'm crackproof is split into three parts and fits around the existing K and M in the code. The crosshairs, anchor and Celtic Cross in the code are all religious symbols, with the number 8 representing rebirth, regeneration and a new beginning in Christianity. The figure 888 is also representative of Jesus Christ in Christian numerology. It was discovered that the first 8 began FK, the second 8 began IM and the third 8 began CRACKPROOF, which completed the circle of eternal life. The introduction to the April 20th 1970 letter was also completed, to "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof",

Anyway, this is to show that the Fk, I'm crackproof solution was found before the 340 cipher was cracked by Dave Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke on December 3rd 2020, along with its scytale links to Edgar Allan Poe's A Few Words on Secret Writing. This is extremely important when we consider the following. Edgar Allan Poe highlighted certain encipherment techniques in the essay regarding a split alphabet, which are outlined here: and, so placed, a might stand for n and n for a, o for b and b for o, &c. &c. This, again, having an air of regularity which might be fathomed, the key alphabet might be constructed absolutely at random. The next line was: Thus A might stand for P.

These examples can be summarized as;
[1] a might stand for n and n for a
[2] Therefore, r might stand for e and e for r
[3] Thus, a might stand for p (and vice-versa)
Using only these examples in the 13-Symbol cipher, I inserted the possibilities into the code, using the letters K and M as entry points, based on the aforementioned reasoning. The letters N, A and M (not boxed in blue) I have no explanation for. So the search goes on to discover whether the Zodiac applied something else to the encryption. Or whether a different technique was used entirely.

When you take into consideration that the Fk, I'm crackproof solution was suggested in 2017, before the scytale link of the 340 cipher to Edgar Allan Poe, coupled with the formation above using just Poe's examples shown in [1], [2] and [3], it shows a pattern receptive to the remaining letters in the solution. But the three remaining ciphertext characters would need explaining. 

The next encipherment technique described in A Few Words on Secret Writing were the two concentric circles (one fixed), where the outer wheel can be rotated around the inner wheel during the coding process. Here is a working cipher wheel.

On October 22nd 1969, Dr. D.C.B Marsh in alliance with investigators and the San Francisco Examiner, attempted to refocus the Zodiac Killer's attention toward creating a second major cryptogram and "reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts". Marsh would continue to press the killer throughout the article, stating "I invite Zodiac to send to The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name". However, in order to crack any cipher the killer may send, it would have been wise to place certain triggers within the article to guide the Zodiac Killer into choosing a particular cryptographic technique. This may have been the purpose of dropping the name Edgar Allan Poe into the San Francisco Examiner article, thereby influencing the killer to choose a cryptographic technique highlighted by Poe in one of his essays. If the Zodiac Killer then responds with a second cipher, your first port of call would obviously be Edgar Allan Poe.

Although Dave Oranchak doesn't believe the Zodiac Killer used the scytale method of encryption in the recently decoded 340 cipher, this decryption tool does actually decode the message in the 340 cipher. If the Zodiac Killer responded to the prompt by Dr. Marsh and read Edgar Allan Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing, he would have noticed that the first topic of discussion was the scytale cipher, which involves disguising a message by separation, avoiding the common left-to-right method of decryption. This is what the Zodiac Killer used in his 340 cipher. In further reading of A Few Words on Secret Writing, it became apparent that other encryption methods were discussed in addition to the scytale method, with the possibility existing that the Zodiac Killer may have adopted one of these techniques for his following 13-Symbol cipher on April 20th 1970. The most notable encryption methods discussed included separating the alphabet A to M, and N to Z, into two equal parts of 13 letters. This involved placing the alphabet into the following configuration.

Here is an excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's A Few Words on Secret Writing: and, so placed, a might stand for n and n for a, o for b and b for o, &c. &c. This, again, having an air of regularity which might be fathomed, the key alphabet might be constructed absolutely at random. The next line was: Thus A might stand for P.

If we then represent the second ciphertext character N (11th position} with the plaintext character A shown in Poe's writing, we get the diagram shown below, with the circular Fk, I'm crackproof starting to emerge.

The relationship  between the remaining ciphertext characters of N, A and M, to the plaintext characters in the solution of O, C and K respectively, can be seen in the diagram below. These are never more than two apart in the alphabet. This is a work in progress.

After two Zodiac attacks in close succession on September 27th 1969 and October 11th 1969, investigators must have feared an escalation in terror from the Bay Area murderer, so it would have certainly been in their interests to switch the Zodiac Killer's attention to communication instead of murder. On October 22nd 1969, Dr. D.C.B Marsh in alliance with investigators and the San Francisco Examiner, attempted to refocus the Zodiac Killer's attention toward creating a second major cryptogram and "reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts". Marsh would continue to press the killer throughout the article, stating "I invite Zodiac to send to The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name". However, in order to crack any cipher the killer may send, it would have been wise to place certain triggers within the article to guide the Zodiac Killer into choosing a particular cryptographic technique. This may have been the purpose of dropping the name Edgar Allan Poe into the San Francisco Examiner article, thereby influencing the killer to choose a cryptographic technique highlighted by Poe in one of his essays. If the Zodiac Killer then responds with a second cipher, your first port of call would obviously be Edgar Allan Poe.

Although Dave Oranchak doesn't believe the Zodiac Killer used the scytale method of encryption in the recently decoded 340 cipher, this decryption tool does actually decode the message in the 340 cipher. If the Zodiac Killer responded to the prompt by Dr. Marsh and read Edgar Allan Poe's essay A Few Words on Secret Writing, he would have noticed that the first topic of discussion was the scytale cipher, which involves disguising a message by separation, avoiding the common left-to-right method of decryption. This is what the Zodiac Killer used in his 340 cipher. In further reading of A Few Words on Secret Writing, it became apparent that other encryption methods were discussed in addition to the scytale method, with the possibility existing that the Zodiac Killer may have adopted one of these techniques for his following 13-Symbol cipher on April 20th 1970. The most notable encryption methods discussed included separating the alphabet A to M, and N to Z, into two equal parts of 13 letters. Followed by a technique involving two concentric discs, akin to the Union Cipher Disk that held the number configurations of 000 and 888. These techniques show promise when we consider the design and structure of the 13-Symbol cipher. This has been covered in a much more extensive article, so it will not be covered any further here.  

Dr. Marsh, under the banner of Cipher Expert Dares Zodiac to Tell Name, would persist throughout the article into cajoling the Zodiac Killer to reveal his name by way of a cryptogram. This is why another passage in A Few Words on Secret Writing caught my attention - and may have resonated with the Zodiac Killer too. It concerned a reader sending in cryptograms to Edgar Allan Poe, but refraining from giving his name. The passage read "This challenge has elicited but a single response, which is embraced in the following letter. The only quarrel we have with the epistle, is that its writer has declined giving us his name in full. We beg that he will take an early opportunity of doing this, and thus relieve us of the chance of that suspicion which was attached to the cryptography of the weekly journal above-mentioned–the suspicion of inditing ciphers to ourselves. The postmark of the letter is Stonington, Conn".

This reminded me of the statement by Dr. Marsh when he challenged Zodiac, who he contended "had not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald". He claimed "Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name would lead to his capture". Did the Zodiac Killer read this passage in A Few Words on Secret Writing and get some ideas?

The reader who mailed Edgar Allan Poe from Stonington, Connecticut, failed to supply his name, but did begin by placing a letter S, followed by a horizontal dash, similar to the Zodiac Killer's introduction on April 20th 1970, The Zodiac Killer began the introduction to his 13-Symbol cipher by stating MY NAME IS ---------. The sender of the cryptograms to Poe only signed his name at the bottom of the intoductory letter by use of initials, concluding with "I am yours, respectfully S.D.L." Not wanting to shy away from the challenge of Dr. Marsh a second time, I couldn't help thinking that the Zodiac Killer may have rose to the challenge and given us the initials to his name (or fictitious initials), just like the sender of the cryptograms from Stonington, Connecticut. Another thing to note, is that Dr. Marsh laid down this challenge on October 22nd 1969, so 182 days had elapsed before the Zodiac Killer's third confirmed cryptogram arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21st 1970.

Paul Avery wrote on April 22nd 1970, in an article entitled Zodiac Sends New Letter-Claims Ten, that "the killer who calls himself Zodiac has once again written to the Chronicle. In a letter received yesterday, Zodiac claims he has killed again". This letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle on April 21st 1970, the exact day and month the letter from Stonington, Connecticut was postmarked from the anonymous sender to Edgar Allan Poe. This all may have been coincidence, but it would certainly be worth looking for the Zodiac Killer's initials as part of the answer to the 13-Symbol cipher.

That answer could be "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof", given to us in the Zodiac Killer's postcard five-and-a-half months later as a big hint to its decipherment. The 340 character cipher was split into rows of 9, 9 and 2 sections. The 13-Symbol cipher may have been split into 2. 2 and 9 sections, with the circled 8's beginning each section of the phrase. The letters K and M were already in place for a perfectly circular message, as highlighted in the October 5th 1970 communication by the Zodiac Killer, in which he supplied us with the phrase Fk I'm crackproof.   

On April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed a 13-Symbol cipher to the San Francisco Chronicle, in addition to a bus bomb diagram threatening to blow up a school bus. Let's compare the 13-Symbol cipher to the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970, in which the Zodiac Killer may have completed the introduction of "My name is" to "My name is Fk, I'm crackproof", again teasing us with a less than complete resolution to his real identity.

In a previous article entitled The Dick Tracy 340 Cipher we explored the idea that the "13 punch-holes" and "red crucifix decoder" of the October 5th 1970 communication, may have been giving us a clue into the "Paradice and Slaves" formation within the 340 cipher. While this may remain the case, there could be a more direct link between the 13-Hole postcard and the April 20th 1970 13-Symbol cipher (and a case of dual functionality). There is the obvious link of 13 characters in the April 20th 1970 code and the 13 punched holes, but there is also the common link of phraseology in "What is the price tag now" and "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". These were the only two times the Zodiac Killer asked about the bounty on his capture. There is also a link between both configurations. The 13-Symbol cipher had three circled number 8's positioned in the center of the code (with 4 characters either side and two between them). The 13-Hole postcard had three distinct punch-holes in the center of the formation (with 4 punch-holes either side and two between them).

When you look at the 13-Hole postcard it is clear that the Zodiac Killer had plenty of room to configure the punch-holes into any arrangement he liked, yet he chose to overload one line with ten holes, with just three on the other. One could be forgiven for believing there was purpose in this design. 

The April 20th 1970 and October 5th 1970 communications were littered with Christian symbolism. We have the Red Crucifix, the three 8's (which in Christian numerology represents Jesus, or Christ the Redeemer), the Celtic Cross and the Anchor (adopted by Christians as a symbol of hope in future existence). The number 8 (infinity) in Christianity is representative of eternal life, rebirth, regeneration or a new beginning. They all play into the belief of an afterlife. This brought forward the notion that the number 8 in the 13-Symbol cipher was the beginning of each element of the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof" (as shown above in green). In the diagram above, one can see that the letter F becomes the 5th letter in both sequences, the letter I becomes the 7th letter in both sequences, and the letter C becomes the 9th letter in both sequences, with the K and M slotting in between. In short, the letters FIC in both instances are separated into three circles, positioned identically in both sequences. The use of circles in both the 13-Hole postcard and 13-Symbol cipher plays directly into the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof", which when placed around the already existing K and M in the code, forms an eternal and circular repeating sequence. The April 20th 1970 communication now satisfied the October 22nd 1969 challenge by cryptographer D.C.B. Marsh in the San Francisco Examiner, for the Zodiac Killer to reveal his name. The 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".                

Without any additional information the April 20th 1970 code is unsolvable. The Zodiac Killer was many things, but he wasn't a  half-witted imbecile with the brain of a gibbering lunatic when he designed this short 13 character code. In a newspaper article authored by Will Stevens on October 22nd 1969 in the San Francisco Examiner, Dr. D.C.B. Marsh challenged the Zodiac Killer no less than four times to supply us with his name in a cipher. Dr. Marsh stated in one section "The killer wouldn't dare...as he claimed in letters to the newspapers...to reveal his name in a cipher to established cryptogram experts". He added: "I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association, care of Dr. D.C.B. Marsh, a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name", quoting Edgar Allan Poe "that any cipher devised by man can be solved by man". Therefore, it was no great surprise when Zodiac's April 20th 1970 letter landed on the desk of the San Francisco Chronicle with the contemptuous opening line of "By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is------".  He knew his last cipher had not been solved, yet in mocking fashion was replying to the claim "that any cipher devised by man can be solved by man". The phrase "by the way" is used to introduce a new subject to be considered or to give further information. The Zodiac was effectively saying to Dr. Marsh he was wrong, now try this new cipher for size.

The Zodiac Killer chose to include eight characters from the English alphabet in his cipher, with 26 to choose from. Bearing in mind the challenge by Dr. Marsh was for Zodiac to reveal his name in the cipher, what are the odds of "NAM" forming consecutively, along with seven of the eight letters chosen from the alphabet being present in the word "name", being unintentional? Thereby leaving only K surplus to requirements. Although not impossible that this was just coincidental, one could argue that the N, A, M and E were chosen deliberately, considering the challenge by Dr. Marsh and the mocking introduction to the cipher by the Zodiac Killer. Did the Bay Area murderer, responding to the proposition of the eminent cryptographic expert to supply his "true identity" and "name", include his "identity" on line 20 of the 340 cipher, and use the word "name" in the Z13 just five months later?

Was the Zodiac Killer was just playing games with The American Cryptogram Association, determined not to have a further two ciphers cracked in a matter of days? - and thereby avoiding the acute embarrassment of creating "a cipher designed by man that can be solved by man". After the challenge on October 22nd 1969, the Zodiac Killer was going to design the remaining ciphers on his terms, to which he would ultimately reveal the answers. He wasn't going to allow Dr. Marsh the satisfaction of using cryptographic techniques to pry open his ciphers, so used the wording of Dr. Marsh "to send a cipher code, however complicated" against him, by sending two of the most infantile ciphers possible.

If we strike out the seven letters that have now formed "NAME" we are left with "NAME K". If this was the beginning letter of his surname, then the first circled 8 could represent his forename. So, if we are looking for an expanded declaration of his name using both forename and surname in later communications, we would be looking for a two letter combination, ending in K. But in addition, this would have to be accompanied by some pertinent text alongside the two letter declaration. This occurs in only one subsequent communication of the Zodiac Killer.   

You will notice how he begins this section of text, with "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me". The text refers to the notion that law enforcement could possibly be close to capturing him, with the last word of "me" followed by a comma. One would therefore expect the next line to be a reaction by him in relation to this news. This has long been thought to be the abbreviated word "fuck" - an approach he didn't take in the August 4th 1969 Debut of Zodiac letter, when he wrote "When I hung the phone up, the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". The two letters of Fk may very well have been his initials - and a declaration that he "Fk, was crackproof". It may also be the answer to the 13 Symbol cipher, when responding to the challenge of Dr. Marsh.

If "Fk, I'm crackproof" was the answer to the 13 Symbol cipher, then one would have expected the Zodiac Killer to have designed the cipher with some markers present, that the answer could be fitted around later. Especially if no cryptographic technique was required. The phrase of "Fk, I'm crackproof" was the perfect response to Dr. Marsh, in that Zodiac could satisfy the request of Dr. Marsh by giving us his name, albeit in the shortened format. He began the April 20th 1970 letter by stating "By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is------". He responded immediately with his name (FK), before rubbing Dr. Marsh's "noze in his booboos" by declaring he was crackproof, having also just taunted the cryptographic expert with the mocking introduction of "have you cracked the last cipher I sent you?". The Zodiac Killer knew that Dr. Marsh would never solve his Z340 and Z13 ciphers when he designed them, because they couldn't be solved using standard cryptographic methods - and more importantly - the answers were 6 months in the making.

The circled eights (The number 8 in the Bible represents a new beginning) seemed to have extra significance compared to the other characters in the cipher. Because the Celtic Cross and Anchor have relevance in Christianity, it was considered that the number 8 was the beginning of each word. The three circled eights, along with the K and M inside them, were the markers I described earlier, so that his later solution would be understood. All we had to do now, was place the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof" into the 13 Symbol cipher, with each number 8 beginning each element of the phrase.

The completed introduction to the April 20th 1970 letter now read perfectly with respect to the Zodiac Killer giving us his name: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". And so did the phrase "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me, Fk I'm crackproof". Placing his real name in the 13 Symbol cipher was never a realistic proposition - and even if this had been done - it would never have been revealed and could never be proven. The only way a solution to the 13 Symbol cipher could be proven beyond any doubt, was for the Zodiac Killer to give us the answer. He obliged on October 5th 1970, as he did for the Z32 on July 26th 1970 and the Z340 on October 27th 1970. Proving this is the answer to the Z13 in isolation, is nigh on impossible, but when all three ciphers can be answered in three consecutive communications using only the words of Zodiac, it exposes a killer unable to resist temptation. The Zodiac Killer simply didn't have the temperament to take his secrets to the grave. 

Professor D.C.B. Marsh told the San Francisco Examiner on October 22nd 1969: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name". According to Edgar Allen Poe, any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Which is why Zodiac created the apologetic "sorry no cipher".

The video has a minor error - the "rope" in the bottom right quadrant should look like the image on the left. Click to enlarge.

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.

The following will be extremely speculatory and should not to be taken too seriously, but I wanted to examine the prompt by Professor D.C.B. Marsh who told the Examiner on October 22nd 1969: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name - in cipher code - would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name".

When recently promoting the notion of a killer providing us with all the solutions to his ciphers in Three Months After the Mount Diablo Code, it was considered that the Zodiac Killer did respond to Dr. Marsh, but he certainly wasn't going to be as forthcoming as to provide us with his full name as Dr. Marsh had honestly requested. Hence the idea that he did give us his name, albeit in the abridged version of his initials which he supplied to us in the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' Postcard. When this was slotted into the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' Cipher it read like so: "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 had in effect answered the request of Dr. Marsh, although in a rather devious manner. However, Dr. Marsh issued this challenge on October 22nd 1969 and the 340 Cipher came before the 13 Symbol Cipher.     

One of the most prominent features in the 340 Cipher is the sixth line where he corrects a forward facing K to a backwards facing K, similar in nature to the way he reversed the "Fk, I'm crackproof" phrase on the 13 Hole Postcard. The proximity of F and K can be noted in these two outstanding features - and possibly the Zodiac thought it mildly amusing to provide his name to Dr. Marsh in the extremely "complicated" manner of reversing his name or initials. Everybody was searching for a stunningly complicated solution to the 340 character cipher as Dr. Marsh had requested, so the Zodiac Killer gave us the complete opposite.

The connection between the 13 Hole Postcard and 13 Symbol Cipher was not only bound in the "Fk, I'm crackproof" solution, but the two phrases he used in each communication didn't go unnoticed either. The Zodiac Killer inextricably tied the two correspondences together using similar phraseology, such as "What is the price tag now" and "how much money you have on my head now". 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). This news was likely what prompted the Zodiac Killer to open this communication with the words "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now".  Or could there be another more subtle clue in these phrases with regard to his name?

Where on the April 20th 1970 letter and throughout much of his communications to date (including the 340 Cipher) could money or a price tag be found on a head? The 13 Symbol Cipher letter carried a dated 1966 Franklin D. Roosevelt stamp, where indeed "money" or a "price tag" could be found 'on' the head of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Was this a subtle hint to his first name of "Franklin" or "Frank". This would satisfy the F part of "Fk, I'm crackproof" - but as stated earlier,  very speculative to say the least.

Another communication where he promised us his name was the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' Card, in which he gave us an odd-looking symbol and placed it on the left side of the envelope and the Halloween Card inner, followed by the letter Z. The correct way to address an envelope is to write the sender's name and address in the top left corner of the envelope, shown here on a Youtube video, and the recipient address (in this case Paul Avery) in the center of the envelope. Therefore, this strange symbol could equate to the sender's name. Since we are looking for the initials of the Zodiac Killer (which may be reversed for a third time), it is extremely promising that we have an F looking character on the right side yet again. I don't like too much manipulation and the use of mathematics anymore, but on this occasion I will choose the path of least resistance and take the 7 and 4 dots to equal 11 (K being the 11th letter of the alphabet) - and therefore give us a joined K and F for his name on the return section of the envelope. Unfortunately, manipulation such as this always leads to the possibility of multiple solutions, so we have to be guarded to any conclusions we make. Finally, I would like to take a look at the sister card to the Halloween Card mailed in the December of 1990. It too promised us his name.       

The greeting card was again from our Secret Pal just like the Halloween Card twenty years earlier - it began with the message "FROM YOUR SECRET PAL CAN'T GUESS WHO I AM YET? WELL, LOOK INSIDE AND YOU'LL FIND OUT". Then promised to keep us guessing on the card inner.

All the Zodiac Killer added to the card inner was a Xerox copy of some "keys". It really couldn't be any simpler. The card outer stated "From your secret pal, can't guess who I am yet? Well, look inside and you'll find out" followed by "keys". This may very well be the final really complicated answer to the challenge laid down by Dr. Marsh all those years earlier. The surname of Keys, Keyes or Keays would satisfy the K of FK, from the phrase "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof".

This mocking response to Professor D.C.B. Marsh, who requested that the Zodiac Killer "send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name" was probably befitting of the Zodiac Killer. The answer may have been simpler than we could ever of imagined. Return to sender: Franklin Keys (or alternate options above).

Of course, I am not claiming this to be the answer regarding the identity of the Zodiac Killer, but it would be rather appropriate for the Zodiac Killer to have begun his letter writing campaign with Franklin on the stamps of his July 31st 1969 trinity of communications, and ended with his surname of Keys in 1990 - and thumb a finger to all the cipher experts trying vainly to crack his extremely complicated ciphers, when the answer was literally staring us in the face all along. 

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. It is important to read Three Months After the Mount Diablo Code to understand all of the following, but I shall give a very brief recap. 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 does not leak from one row to another. Let us take a look at the 13 Symbol Cipher that exhibits symmetry within its design.             

I don't have to explain the above, because its structure and symmetry is there for all to see. The Zodiac Killer had already responded to prompts by Vallejo Police Chief Jack Stiltz to send more details to prove the letter writer and killer were one and the same. The more the Zodiac Killer wrote, not only lessened his time for killing, but may have provided additional clues to detectives regarding his identity. This tactic was likely adopted by Professor D.C.B. Marsh in the October 22nd 1969 San Francisco Examiner newspaper article by Will Stevens, which laid down a challenge to the Zodiac Killer to reveal his name. The newspaper stated Dr Marsh told the Examiner today: "The killer wouldn't dare, as he claimed in letters to the newspapers, to reveal his name in the cipher to established cryptogram experts. He knows, to quote Edgar Allen Poe, that any cipher created by man can be solved by man. Zodiac has not told the truth in his cipher messages to the Examiner, the Chronicle and the Vallejo Times-Herald. Zodiac has not done this, because to tell the complete truth in relation to his name -in cipher code - would lead to his capture. I invite Zodiac to send The American Cryptogram Association a cipher code - however complicated - which will truly and honestly include his name".

The above invitation by Dr. Marsh, quoting Edgar Allen Poe, was met with the 13 Symbol Cipher that mirrored a code used in Poe's A Few Words on Secret Writing. The alphabet being split A to M, and N to Z. The 13 Symbol Cipher began with A and ended with M. So it was logical to place the alphabet alongside the 13 Symbol Cipher and see if any patterns emerged by counting the numerical difference between corresponding characters. This resulted.

I don't want to labor the point again, so for a full explanation please visit the article Embedded Symmetry  Suffice to say, that 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.

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.

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".

The Gladman Hospital where Richard H. Adler worked is today listed as a Psychiatric Health Facility in Oakland. Telecare was founded by psychiatrist, Art Gladman in 1965. The Gladman Hospital was a traditional psychiatric hospital back in 1976,  extremely interesting and noteworthy, bearing in mind the FBI file concerning the Edward C. Adams Letter (shown below), which indicates Dr. Adams informed Inspector David Toschi of his belief that the threatening letter he received was sent by a former psychiatric patient who resided in Berkeley. The city of Berkeley lies on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, adjacent to Oakland.

"Edward C. Adams spent most of his life in the Bay Area where he attended the University of California Berkeley for his undergraduate work and Stanford University for his medical degree. His residency in psychiatry was received at the Menninger Clinic, Topeka, KS. During the Korean War he was an instructor in the Medical Field Service at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX. After retiring from an active practice in Psychiatry he devoted his energies to travel, fly fishing, the study of poetry and the enjoyment of his family and many friends. During the time spent at his Carmel home he volunteered as a docent at the Robinson Jeffers Foundation. He was a member of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society and an active supporter of many environmental groups".  SFGATE.COM.

The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis was organized in 2007, combining the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute & Society, founded in 1941, with the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis, founded in 1991. The Center provides an extensive training program in psychoanalysis. The Center also sponsors a large, vibrant Extension Division which offers classes and seminars to mental health professionals as well as to the general public. The San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society and Institute is a facility for psychoanalytic research, training, and education located on 2420 Sutter Street in San Francisco, California. It is situated in Lower Pacific Heights, approximately one mile from the intersection of Washington and Cherry.

It can be seen on the map below that Gladman Hospital (Mental Health Rehab) is only 6.5 miles from Orinda, 6.3 miles from Berkeley and 12 miles from 2420 Sutter Street. In summary, we have two communications sent six years apart, containing the phrases "You are next" and "You're next", both likely to psychiatrists, who lived and worked in close proximity to one another, and who both were addressed by the name "Zodiac" in the message. And one had the initials R.A. 

Edward C. Adams and Richard H. Alder may have crossed paths in their profession of psychiatry, either at the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis or their places of work, and the personal ad stating "Your partner is in deep real estate" may have been referencing Edward C. Adams as a man in deep trouble, using the word partner as "business partner", or in a more loose term, as a "partner in the same profession". Bearing in mind the almost identical threat six years earlier to somebody in the same profession, this seems a distinct possibility.

In a previous article we showed with a high degree of probability that the 13 Hole Postcard mailed on October 5th 1970 was connected to the as yet unpublished Little List Letter through its wording, and therefore both were authored by the Zodiac Killer. Most people accept that the Little List Letter is authenticated Zodiac correspondence, so by extension, if the October 17th 1970 Edward C. Adams Letter and "Deep Real Estate" Letter were authored by the same person, and we can connect the two pasted letters in October 1970, then we can verify Zodiac was responsible for all. This would mean that Edward C. Adams suspicions that the letter mailed to his home address in Orinda by a former psychiatric patient who resided in Berkeley, could have been the Zodiac Killer.        

On the flip side, Richard H. Adler may have been addressing Zodiac, or somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer.

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 following article will coalesce several pieces of work from 2019 into one cogent story regarding a handful of communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer in 1970. For some, the following will be repetitive, for which I apologize. It will hopefully make the case that the Zodiac Killer was winding down his operations and ultimately revealing the answers to his Z340, Z32 and Z13 ciphers and codes, to which he knew were practically unsolvable without such a prompt. The Zodiac Killer was a narcissistic braggart, who boasted of his exploits and threatened all and sundry with the possibility of more murders and mayhem if his demands were not met, including the claim he had killed far more than could be accounted for. If we applied the same model to his ciphers and codes, we would have expected him to be unable to resist giving us the answers - or at the very least - some clues to break open his puzzles. The notion of a killer keeping deathly silent on the solutions to his codes for up to 50 years, runs contrary to everything we know about the Bay Area murderer during his brief but deadly reign. That is why I don't believe he did.

The story begins with the final thing he wrote on the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter, and finishes just two communications later with the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card. All the answers to his codes were contained in just three short months. 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. 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.             

Then came the 13 Hole Postcard punched in the style of a 'Dick Tracy' code with a "red crucifix decoder". What are the chances that if we arranged the 13 holes into the shape of a cross and place it over the midsection of the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically, it 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 both the Z340 and Z32 in "paradice" and "slaves", and "Radians and 5 inches along the radians". Could either the 13 Hole Postcard or Halloween Card give us the answer to the Z13 as well? Again, totally unsolvable because of its limited number of characters, the Zodiac Killer could either keep quiet for up to fifty years or give us the answer.

From a previous article: 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. 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.  

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE:
THE ANSWER, ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE SIX UNSOLVED CODES

The 13 Symbol Cipher is simply too short for any meaningful decryption without a key or the answer. It is certainly possible to arrive at the correct solution using a key provided by Zodiac, but then you have to prove that the key you have found is the correct one, and your implemented methodology is plausible. The best way to find the solution to the Z13, as it was for the 32 Symbol Cipher, is to do absolutely no work whatsoever and just let the Zodiac Killer give us the exact answer. On this occasion, the Zodiac Killer designed the code and waited nearly six months to supply us with a verbatim solution.

The first thing to examine in the 13 Symbol Cipher is the circled triple 8 configuration. This is the feature that stands out in the code the most and where one would envisage the answer residing. Identify the meaning of the three eights and in what context they were chosen, and half the battle may be won. We can add the numbers up to create birth years and ages, but without instruction to do so, it could be argued that the idea rests in our head and not the Zodiac's. Therefore, we shall take the number 888 as one complete entity.

In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast. Wikipedia. This could indicate a Christian element to the code, especially when we consider the Zodiac's Celtic Cross, a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland and Britain in the Early Middle Ages. The shape, usually decorated with interlace and other motifs from Insular art, became popular for funerary monuments and other uses. Then we have the tenth character in the code, likened to an upside down Aries symbol. However, when we consider the above and the Zodiac Killer's musings of an afterlife, another possibility emerges. Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and several of the early Church Fathers speak in this sense. The Epistle to the Hebrews 6:19-20 for the first time connects the idea of hope with the symbol of the anchor. Wikipedia. This effectively ties five of Zodiac's characters under the Christian banner and the premise of an afterlife.   

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 ANSWER TO THE 32 SYMBOL CODE - STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

This has been covered before, but I just wanted to expand in a little more detail without pinpointing a particular location.

How embarassing is the notion of a 50-year-old unsolved cipher, that we were given the answer to in just thirty one days? - and an answer that came straight from the horse's mouth. The 32 Symbol Cipher solution was served to us on a silver platter in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter using the Zodiac crosshairs and six words. 

When the Button Letter was mailed on June 26th 1970, the Zodiac Killer gave us a map of San Francisco and Vicinity with his crosshairs centered over Mount Diablo, stating "the map coupled with this code will tell you where the bomb is set." If we were to find a perceived bomb, it is fairly obvious we have to travel a certain angle and distance from the top of Mount Diablo to find the location. Therefore, the 32 symbol code, if it served any purpose whatsoever, had to contain a measurement in the form of degrees and distance. The map scale was 6.4 miles to the inch - so that will be the distance the Zodiac Killer has to employ from Mount Diablo to make any sense. The degrees he used was radians, because he told us so in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter. The Zodiac stated "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians". He is actually telling us that the 32 symbol code contains radians and inches in the solution.

"P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns (is about ) (has to do with) Radians + # inches along the radians". Any cipher expert such as David Oranchak, or quite frankly, any Joe Bloggs such as myself, will tell you that a 32 symbol code with only three repeating characters is unsolvable without a key. The Zodiac Killer was certainly no muppet - and clearly knew this when he concocted this jumble of random characters. But he gave us the key a mere 31 days later in the form of an arrow and a hashtag. He even gave us the answer of "Radians and # inches along the radians" on a separate line to distinguish the very fact. He then began the first "Radians" with a capital letter to emphasize this. We just had to key in the number. 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.

All of Zodiac's bomb threats were mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper - even detailing the murder of San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970, who suffered devastating and sadly fatal injuries when a bomb packed with fence staples exploded on an outside ledge of Park Police Station in the Upper Haight neighborhood of San Francisco. The Zodiac constantly signed off his communications with the barbed acronym SFPD = 0 and threatened "there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back". If that wasn't enough, the Phillips 66 Road Map was labelled San Francisco and Vicinity.  Based on a map scale of 6.4 miles to the inch, only 5 inches would land in San Francisco (4 and 6 inches would fall into the sea, other than Treasure Island). Fortunately, the Zodiac Killer gave us the angle from Mount Diablo, courtesy of his bold, black circle on the Little List crosshairs. It fell 4 radians (and magnetic north) clockwise from his arrowed pointer, around the clock face he provided. Radians are usually measured counter-clockwise, but the Zodiac Killer placed the bold circle exactly 4 radians "set to Mag.N" clockwise.

The answer was now extremely simple. All we had to do was insert a number in place of the hashtag, shown by the big flashing arrow pointing us in the right direction. The hashtag conveniently preceded "inches", so it's here we will slot in the number 5 - and bingo - we have our answer to the devilishly difficult 32 Symbol Cipher: "Radians + 5 inches along the radians" or "Radians and 5 inches along the radians".  By some quirk of fate, this phrase with the addition of the number 5, just happens to be exactly 32 characters in length. What an absolute criminal mastermind the Zodiac Killer was, creating a code that we only had to add one character to. As with all the best puzzles, the answer is usually hidden in plain sight. There is a possibility that the code reads "4 radians and 5 inches along the radian", but because the Zodiac Killer inserted one hashtag, it is more likely this is the only addition required.        

In the Little List communication it is apparent that Zodiac Killer gave us two prominent crosshairs: [1] with the accentuated black circle with SFPD=0 alongside, and [2] the extra large crosshairs with "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians" scrawled across it. Attaching these important additions was clearly done for purpose, thereby informing us of the radian value required, and the correlation between the crosshairs on the Phillips 66 Map and the measurements of radians and inches. The importance of a second set of crosshairs and their position, regarding the solution of the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969 could be significant in that case also.

With 29 unique characters in a 32 character code, any correlation between the characters and alphabetical solution is going to be minimal. What we do have in the solution above, is no word running from one line to the next, with the letter C beginning the word radians at the start and end of the code. As with any cipher, the Zodiac Killer had the opportunity to provide us with a key in later communications, which he effectively did for cipher 2, 3 and 4 when he gave us the answers literally word for word. What we have to consider are the three "cryptic messages" he gave us in three consecutive communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. The Zodiac Killer was giving us the solutions to the ciphers before his campaign ended, albeit he wanted us to put in a modicum of effort. He told us on July 26th 1970 that the Mount Diablo code concerns "radians and 5 inches along the radians" verbatim. He then gave us the cryptic "Fk I'm crackproof" that fortunately slots nicely into the 13 Symbol Cipher in a cyclical nature. And finally, he gave us "paradice and slaves" in a cross formation (17X17) that mimicked the 340 cipher formation exactly. How can three consecutive "cryptic messages" just happen to seamlessly fall into each cipher with no effort required?

We can place thousands of names into the 13 Symbol Cipher and then attempt to justify why this is correct by providing additional information on the subject. There have been hundreds of "solutions" to the 340 cipher, when we know only one can realistically be correct. This demonstrates the subjectivity of the 340 cipher to conform to what you had already decided upon before the decoding process began. You have the predetermined answer in your head and work towards that goal to the exclusion of all others. Our own biases will govern the answer we require. The 32 Symbol Cipher is too character variable to be decoded using standard cryptographic techniques, and therefore can literally give rise to an infinite number of possibilities, requiring only three characters to match. What better way to solve the ciphers than straight from the horse's mouth. The Zodiac Killer supplied us with 32 characters in the Little List Letter, 14 characters in the 13 Hole Postcard (that began and ended in the same letter), and 13 characters in the Halloween Card - all of which required no 'square pegs in round holes' technique to land unadulterated into every cipher. The notion of a braggart remaining tight-lipped about his ciphers, while still staggering around the streets of America some 50 years later, deserves a book all by itself.  

THE CODE SOLUTIONS BY ZODIAC

The Zodiac Killer mailed us three parts of one cipher on July 31st 1969, to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. In his communication to the Chronicle he stated "In this cipher is my idenity". Bearing in mind this is the only portion of cipher with unsolved characters, it could be argued that any identity the Zodiac was offering would be found at the signing off phase in this cipher. It didn't really matter, because only four days later he gave us his identity in the form of "This is the Zodiac Speaking". The Zodiac Killer clearly made a mistake when taking his draught message into his 408 cipher, accidentally omitting the word "people" from the final offering. If we therefore conclude his original identity to be left was actually six characters shorter, it would have reduced the 18 unsolved characters to 12. Using the first-person singular pronoun of "I", his identity at the base of the 408 cipher would read "I am the Zodiac", to become "I am the Zodiac Killer" upon realization of his mistake. The Bay Area murderer literally gave us the exact wording to his unsolved 18 characters through his introductions in the Examiner and Herald letters (both communications began with "I am the killer"). Once we knew the pseudonym or identity as Zodiac on August 4th 1969, the conversion to "I am the Zodiac Killer" was the next logical step. This would become a habit for the Zodiac Killer, who would ultimately give us the exact wording to solve his remaining three ciphers. Not only would he give us the solutions to the codes, but his practice of using 'filler' with no apparent correlation to the solution would continue.  

The Zodiac Killer was no master criminal in the style of Moriarty, but he was nobody's fool either. To make the false assumption he didn't understand ciphers or codes when creating his remaining three offerings to the San Francisco Chronicle, would be a misguided one. Even somebody with limited knowledge of coding, knows that giving us a 32 character code with 29 unique characters within its framework, is practically unsolvable without a key. You can literally fill in the blanks as you choose. Therefore, the only realistic solution to the two smaller codes can come in two forms: [1] The Zodiac Killer can give us a key to decrypt the code, or [2] He can simply give us the answer. The Zodiac Killer may well have chosen option two, and given us the entire solution to all his three unsolved codes in subsequent communications. In fact, the possibilty exists that he supplied us with all the answers in three consecutive communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970 - in the Little List Letter (07/26/70), 13 Hole Postcard (10/05/70) and Halloween Card (10/27/70). The Zodiac Killer was likely giving us all the solutions before slipping back into anonymity. The newspaper article on November 16th 1970 by Paul Avery, linking Zodiac to the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, likely drew one final breath from the Zodiac Killer through 1971, before his race was run.    

The "key" phrases for the four codes are *in this cipher is my identity", "the Mt. Diablo code concerns radians and inches",  "Fk, I'm crackproof" and "paradice and slaves". The 408 cipher we have examined, so we will now tackle the 32 symbol code.

The Little List Letter mailed on July 26th 1970, one month after the Mount Diablo code (06/26/70), told us the code "concerns radians and # inches along the radians". It was as simple as adding in two figures to complete the code (hence the hashtag symbol denoting a number). The Zodiac gave us the exact wording for the solution, detailed here in a previous article. As stated above, the 32 symbol code with 29 unique characters couldn't be solved without a key or the answer. The Mount Diablo map and crosshairs were the framework, onto which we "coupled" the code for the location of the bomb. The answer was likely "4 radians and 5 inches along the radian", thereby giving us the solution word for word. An alternative to this solution (where only the hashtag is replaced by the number 5), is "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians and 5 inches along the radians". The Zodiac didn't necessarily have to incorporate the number 4 because we already knew the radian value from the bold, black circle provided on the Little List Letter crosshairs.

The next solutions may have been given to us in the 13 Hole Postcard - that may ultimately become the most important communication of them all. By combining the "red crucifix" decoder and 13 punch-holes in true "Dick Tracy" style, the Paradice and Slaves formation would be revealed, bisecting the 340 cipher superficially along its mid-section both horizontally and vertically. See the article 'The Dick Tracy 340 Cipher'.  The Zodiac Killer wrote Paradice and Slaves on the Halloween card in the identical formation it could be found on the face of the 340 cipher. Three clues within the space of three weeks.

The Zodiac Killer also gave us the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof" (upside down) on the 13 Hole Postcard. Apart from an expletive, the other viable option here, is the Zodiac Killer exclaiming that he is crackproof, preceded by his initials. The reason for this line of thinking, is the Zodiac Killer's wording before the 13 Symbol Cipher on April 20th 1970. The code is designed symmetrically and looks contrived, with three circled 8's fashioned at its center. The Zodiac Killer couldn't have supplied us with his name with any expectation it would be solved, because the code was simply too short and capable of providing us with thousands of solutions. However, he could provide us a solution to the code by giving us his initials. By doing it this way, he is in a roundabout way, giving us his name and a solution to the code that satisfies the introduction that preceded it: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof".

This solution not only fits into the 13 Symbol Cipher, but reads continuously if imagined in circular fashion. The Zodiac Killer gave us three 8's within a circle (the symbol of infinity, and regeneration and rebirth within Christianity), with the letters K and M positioned ideally in the code to fit "Fk, I'm crackproof" around. There are three elements to this phrase: Fk, I'm, and crackproof. When the entire phrase is slotted around the letters K and M, the number 8 begins each element of the phrase (as shown below).

The Zodiac Killer had effectively given us the exact wording of "I am the Zodiac Killer", "Paradice and Slaves", "Fk I'm crackproof" and "Radians and (5) inches along the radians" - all of which can be inserted untouched into all four ciphers and provide us with solutions that don't require a key (The "paradice and slaves" solution would only be present on the "canvas" of the 340 cipher, so this would only be a superficial observation). The idea of a killer who constantly responded to the newspapers at every turn, somehow resisting the temptation to ever disclose the workings of his codes and ciphers is a difficult story to sell. If we are of the belief that the 32 and 13 character codes are simply too short and too variable to be solved, then without a key the Zodiac Killer likely supplied an alternative. In the case presented above, the "key" and "answer" could be described as exactly the same thing - and It was just a case of transferring the wording from one communication to another in at least three of the examples.

John Rose used Dave Oranchak's webtoy to create features of the Halloween Card in just an 81 character block around the center of the 340 cipher. Some have stated that the variability of the characters in this area of the cipher have allowed the freedom to manufacture such a result. While that may be the case, a larger pattern of Paradice and Slaves is replicated in a 17 X 17 formation along both same midsections, effectively mirroring the John Rose presentation. The fact that both are even achievable in the same cipher, is worthy of mention. The Bay Area braggart must have been itching to throw us a few clues to his unbroken codes and ciphers - so the notion that he didn't give us any before he disappeared into the twilight - is somehow difficult to swallow.