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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

Not wanting to just copy the entirety of Ricardo Gomez's article, I suggest you take a look at the article entitled "The Taft Theory" that I believe is the true inspiration for the Riverside Desktop Poem discovered on December 1966. Whether the writing on the desktop was the Zodiac Killer or not, we do know that the writings or thoughts of people are often inspired by previous experiences - and in the case of the Zodiac Killer, things he read in the newspaper. In brief, Rolland Taft was arrested and jailed for the stabbing of a Riverside woman at Riverside City College on April 13th 1965, subsequently reported in The Press and Daily Enterprise on April 17th 1965 under the title Clean-cut Youth Sought For Stabbing and possibly the inspiration for the beginning of the poem and its overall contents. See Ricardo Gomez's follow-up article here.

Despite the Riverside Desktop Poem being diacovered in December 1966, it is unknown when this poem was written. I highly doubt it was authored shortly after the story of the stabbing broke on April 17th 1965 because of its contents on the final line, but suspect it was etched into the plywood desk with a blue ballpoint pen shortly before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. The newspaper story of Rolland Taft and the stabbing of the young woman at Riverside City College must have been vividly remembered by the Desktop Poem author, which inspired him to create the morbid offering. The writing on the desktop is telling regarding the April 13th 1965 attack, because the poem is reflective upon past events such as "she won't die this time, someone'll find her". The young woman did seek help and ultimately survived her brutal attack. The notion of a copycat killer is nothing new, and it appears that the author of the Desktop Poem may have been one such person.

It is highly unlikely that the author of the Desktop Poem, had they been reminiscing about the stabbing of the young woman and subsequent newspaper coverage, would have been someone other than a Riverside resident at the time of both the newspaper coverage and the authorship of the poem. If this was the Zodiac Killer and he was resident in the Bay Area in 1965 and 1966, then his knowledge of this crime would be slim at best. This person had to have knowledge of the young woman's stabbing a year earlier and must have had access to the Riverside City College library, thereby spanning an extended period. So may have lived locally.  

The reason for believing the Desktop Poem was authored just prior to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, is not only the reflective tone of the writing, but the ominous projection forward of "just wait till next time" followed by two inscribed alphabetical letters. When you are proclaiming a further attack in similar fashion to the stabbing of the young woman and immediately following it with "rh", one cannot be too surprised when a further knife attack results in the death of another young woman on Halloween eve in Riverside. Hence the attribution of "rh" meaning "riverside halloween". This was the promise of "next time". 

Remember, the author of the Confession letter had suggested he was trying to lure Cheri Jo Bates into his vehicle. This could indicate that he had planned to murder Cheri Jo Bates later than the believed 10:30 pm, when screams emanated from the nearby alleyway - likely on Halloween Day itself - but something clearly had resulted in the unplanned struggle in the alleyway and her 'premature' murder from the perspective of the killer. Had he achieved his objective in luring the young woman into his vehicle, the likely prediction of the Riverside Desktop Poem would have come true. "Just wait till next time. riverside, halloween".

The choice of present tense in writing "she won't die this time, someone'll find her" rather than "she didn't die last time, someone found her", is indicative of the author reflecting as opposed to claiming the previous knife attack. That was because Rolland Taft was incarcerated shortly after the April 13th 1965 attack and was still in jail at the time of the Cheri Jo Bates murder. The author knew this fact - and why he made no direct claim to the attack on the young woman by using the past tense.

For those believing the Riverside Desktop Poem was authored by the Zodiac Killer, may now be able to place the Bay Area murderer in Riverside as early as 1965, and quite possibly up to April 30th 1967 when the three Bates letters promising even more killing arrived. The Zodiac Killer was an avid reader of the newspapers, often inspired by articles not only about his murders, but other attacks as well. Was this the case during 1965 and 1966 in Riverside?  

It is now 56 years since the brutal slaying of Robert George Domingos (18) and Linda Faye Edwards (17) at Canada Del Molino on June 4th 1963. The area was 25 miles west of Santa Barbara. The young couple had driven to the beach in their copper and black 1956 Pontiac, parking alongside Highway 101, before taking the 6 to 10 minute descent to the water's edge. It was believed they arrived at the beach at about 3:00 pm. Sometime after they arrived they were approached by one or more people, by whom they were thought to have been forced under gunpoint to be restrained using pre-cut lengths of rope. However, there may have been resistance from Robert Domingos and possibly a brief exchange of blows, before the couple fled for their lives. Their bid for freedom was short-lived, having been gunned down by 19 bullets from a .22 caliber weapon. Robert Domingos was shot eleven times and Linda Edwards was struck eight times, in which the killer reloaded at least once. Robert was dragged face down 30 feet to a nearby shack, while Linda was dragged face up and her body placed atop of Robert. Her bathing suit was found cut open exposing her breasts, but there appeared to be no sexual interaction. Several boxes of .22 ammunition was found inside the shack, along with spent matches.  

There have been the obvious parallels drawn to the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, but despite the reports of pre-cut lengths of rope, there appears little else to connect this crime to the knife attack on Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell, other than a waterfront scene (although detectives may have information unavailable to the public). However, there is much more reason to connect the murder of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards to the recent sniper reports only two days prior to this attack, on June 2nd 1963.

There were at least two reports of gunfire either side of the area where Robert and Linda were eventually murdered. Eleven teenagers in total reported two bullets whizzing past them as they were standing by their vehicles in a remote area of Gaviota State Park. They had been surfing at the beach that day. They reported that the shooting took place at around mid-afternoon. In another incident seven miles east, three teenagers camping at Tajiguas Creek reported hearing gunshots coming from the beach, just south of their location. The time was given as daybreak. Both sets of earwitnesses descrbed what they thought was the sound of a .22 gun.

There are obvious similarities in these events to the Domingos and Edwards story, in that the ammunition used in their murders was .22 caliber. They too were teenagers hanging out close to the coastline - and two of the attacks were believed to have occurred in mid-afternoon (about 3:00 pm in the case of Domingos and Edwards). The sniper attack at Gaviota State Park occurred 3.38 miles west of Canada Del Molino, and the teenagers at Tajiguas Creek heard gunshots coming from the beach approximately 3.84 miles east of Canada Del Molino. Then, two days later Robert and Linda were killed in an area bisecting these two points. What is extremely interesting (if correct) is Sheriff Webster stated that the lot number of the ammunition used in the murder of Robert and Linda was the same as the lot number of ammunition sold at a Santa Barbara store in April. The lot numbers also matched ammunition sold at Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the boxes at the crime scene were devoid of the price tags usually sold at the Air Base. The ammunition was Western Super X .22 caliber long rifle with a lot number TL-21. A lot number is an identification number assigned to a particular quantity or lot of material from a single manufacturer. Lot numbers can typically be found on the outside of packaging. Western Super X .22 caliber was used by the Zodiac Killer at Lake Herman Road.

Even though there were reports that the murderer of Robert and Linda attempted to burn down the shack where he placed the bodies, determining when these matches were struck, along with the tarpaulin scorch marks noted, is impossible to correlate with the murders. But why would the murderer or murderers waste valuable time dragging two bodies over difficult terrain, at least 60 feet in total? Why not just exit the area as soon as possible and immediately separate yourself from the crime scene? The stacking of the bodies one on top of the other must have been done for purpose. Likely a male killer, it is probably no surprise that Linda was discovered on top of Robert with her breasts exposed. Unless her bathing costume had been torn during the dragging of the bodies, then it's extremely likely there was a sexual component to this crime. The killer may have wanted to spend time with the bodies in the seclusion of the shack. The hunter bringing home the prey to satisfy his necrophilic tendencies (a fascination with dead bodies). There seems little other purpose to relocate the bodies in such a fashion. If the killer had worn gloves and shot the couple at distance, there appears no barrier stopping the person just leaving the scene.

It is highly unlikely that a killer would carry boxes of ammunition to a crime scene to perpetrate one or two murders. A clip or two is more than enough. If this person was a hunter who enjoyed taking pot-shots at wildlife (including birds), a day by the ocean in relative seclusion would be the ideal day out - and somebody arriving at the shack with several boxes of ammunition could certainly keep themselves entertained for a long period of time. If this hunter of animals had an over zealous intersest in killing (or was maybe the sniper taking pot-shots at teenagers), then when Robert and Linda inadvertently walked into his lair, their fate was effectively sealed. This time he could get close up and personal. His eventual slaying of the couple was certainly overkill by any standards - suggesting he enjoyed the act of killing - and his enjoyment continued with his interaction with the bodies far longer than the crime scene necessitated. The notion of a killer attempting to burn down the shack to destroy evidence makes little sense. It would have actually drawn attention to the area and any vehicle he may have parked nearby. However, separating yourself from the boxes of ammunition makes far more sense. It is also extremely likely the killer was familiar with this area - off the beaten track, away from prying eyes and ideal for a spot of shooting practice, inanimate or otherwise.

These beach side locations were the perfect spot for somebody wanting a degree of privacy and cover, while shooting at unsuspecting beachgoers, as was the case with the surfers at Gaviota State Park. An area such as the one shown here provides ample cover as well as an exposed target. The same can be seen at the beach area by Tajiguas Creek. It is difficult to say with any certainty that a sniper was operating at Gaviota State Park and Tajiguas Creek, however, these two reports so close to the murders of Robert and Linda are extremely pertinent with respect to their untimely deaths. As with serial killers, the employment of a buffer zone from residence to crime scene can be resourced as a valuable tool in narrowing down the offender's home location, so somebody traveling from Goleta or Santa Barbara would be leaving a buffer zone of 18 and 25 miles respectively to Canada Del Molino.

205 miles southeast of Canada Del Molino and eight months later,  John and Joyce Swindle, a newlywed couple were brutally gunned down on Wednesday February 5th 1964 as they were enjoying an evening out on Ocean Beach, San Diego, near Narragansett Avenue. It appeared the killer had shot them from distance first, perched near a retaining wall overlooking the sea, before moving in to deliver the final shots at close range. Five shots from a .22 caliber weapon had been discharged from his sniper position by the rocks, with the last two as he approached the felled couple. "On the ledge of the retaining wall police found a box of Valentine candy. Police assume the Swindles bought the candy while on their stroll but they said it could have been left behind as a deranged killer's calling card".

Early on in the investigation of the Domingos and Edwards murders, a 17-year-old boy from Lompoc was arrested due to intoxication and revealed to investigators that he knew the murdered couple, having been jealous of Robert Domingos - and it was noted by investigators that the boy had a badly bruised hand and knuckles "pushed in", consistent with a fight. It was believed that Robert Domingos may have struggled with the assailant before being shot. He explained to officers he had been at Refugio Beach on the Tuesday of their murder and Refugio Beach is 5.65 miles east of the crime scene. Under questioning the teenager was combative and belligerent, indicative of somebody who was already known to Lompoc police, having a previous arrest record.

On June 5th 1963, investigators traveled to Santa Cruz to apprehend two teenagers, James L. Coleman and J, C, Reed for the fatal stabbing of Vernon Charles Smith (63) in Lompoc during a robbery. They claimed their vehicle had ran out of gas and asked Vernon Smith for his assistance. Neither were considered suspects in the Domingos and Edwards slayings, but implicated a third person called "Sandy" in the murder of Vernon Smith. The two youths admitted their part in the robbery, but claimed it was "Sandy" who perpetrated the murder of Vernon Smith at San Miguelito Canyon, approximately 3 miles south of Lompoc. He was discovered lying on his back in a gravel ditch, towards the front side of his green 1951 Willy's Jeep pick-up. Close by was the gasoline can and fuel that he had acquired at a nearby gas station to help the teenagers. His cause of death was a knife wound to the back which penetrated his heart. Coleman and Reed were eventually convicted in a Santa Barbara County court and sentenced to 5 years to life for second-degree murder. "Sandy" was then sought for questioning in relation to the Domingos and Edwards murders. Santa Barbara detectives later stated that they discovered a vehicle stolen by the three youths and inside retrieved some clothing thought to have been owned by "Sandy". The clothing contained the names "Robert Coffman" and "William Carr", one of which they believe could be the true identity of "Sandy".

"Mabel Keener, manager of the Royal Motel, Arroye Grande, testified a boy resembling "Sandy" came to her hotel at 4 a.m, June 3 and registered as William Carr, of Bakersfield. He stayed until the next morning and left, she said. She declared the sheriff's composite drawing of "Sandy" as made by Hal C. Clark, resembled "Sandy" in some ways but not exactly about the mouth and hair. Raymond W. Kissian and Gilberto Serros, Lompoc gas station attendants, also testified. Serros said he waited on Smith (Vernon) that night when Smith drove up in his jeep, which also contained a youth resembling "Sandy". Smith, who was playing the part of "Good Samaritan" filling up a gas can to take to the youths stalled car in Miguelito Canyon, drove off with a full can of gas, said Serros".

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 19 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.

In the following examination we shall take a further look at statements by several key eyewitnesses on the evening of October 30th 1966, shortly before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. The first being Walter Siebert and the four workmen. Walter Siebert stated that "he and a few friends were in the library from 7:15 pm until 9, but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew. They said they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them". This statement is explicit, when it mentions that Walter Siebert noticed the four workmen opposite to where Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle was "found", not opposite her vehicle on the night of the murder. It is apparent that Walter Siebert already knew where the young woman's vehicle had been found on October 31st 1966 and told police that four workmen were sitting in that location on the evening of the murder, but he never saw Cheri Jo Bates - and never mentioned seeing her vehicle that night either. Now let us consider the brief statement of the four workmen.

They stated "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night". If they knew it was her vehicle, there is a high probability they saw the young woman either exit her vehicle to proceed to the library, or enter her vehicle to drive away and place the books she had acquired from the library on the passenger seat. If we coalesced the two statements of Walter Siebert and the four workmen as a one time event, then it's clear that the four workmen saw Cheri Jo Bates, but Walter Siebert didn't. If this were the case, the young woman couldn't have been exiting her vehicle at 7:15 pm to enter the library, because shortly afterwards Walter Siebert entered the library with a few friends "but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew". Had Cheri Jo Bates been exiting the library and entering her vehicle at 7:15 pm to drive away, the four workmen would have noticed her failing to start the car and being offered assistance by the "good Samaritan", but they mentioned neither. Therefore, the workmen couldn't have been present on the fence opposite her vehicle at 7:15 pm at the same time they saw Cheri. They must have seen her at a different time.

A Mexican-American student: stated 'he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen in her blue spiral school notebook". The boy told us he was outside about 5:30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl'. In part, this is an ambiguous statement, but clearly states that he saw Cheri Jo Bates "in" the library that evening shortly after it had opened. If the four workmen saw Cheri Jo Bates when she parked her vehicle to enter the library around 6:00 pm, then we have to consider the Confession Letter mailed on November 29th 1966, which stated "I first pulled the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help". The idea that her car was disabled shortly after she exited her vehicle and entered the library, before leaving two minutes later, would have required the four workmen seeing neither the man disabling her vehicle, Cheri Jo Bates failing to start her vehicle, or the man assisting and talking to Cheri Jo Bates. They clearly recalled none of these events, otherwise police wouldn't be at a loss as to what happened that evening. 

Since we know Cheri Jo Bates entered the library around 6:00 pm opening time, the four workmen must have seen the young woman at this time, because no other sightings were given to police of Cheri Jo Bates subsequent to this period of time. The four workmen described no activity of any note regarding her Volkswagen Beetle. There is a small window of time that can be argued however. Could the workmen have noticed Cheri Jo Bates park her vehicle and walk to the library, and then left the arrea - at which point the perpetrator disabled her vehicle? For this to be the case, we would have to believe that Cheri Jo Bates arrived back at her vehicle shortly after 6:00 pm and after failing to start her vehicle, the amiable "good Samaritan" offered his assistance. The Confession Letter stated "She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home". So obviously, Cheri Jo Bates having spoken to this friendly and helpful "good Samaritan", decided to totally ignore the library which had a telephone and proceeded to walk off with this person, leaving her windows rolled down, the vehicle unlocked, one door slightly ajar and her keys in the ignition (that may also have had her house keys on). This was her prized Volkswagen Beetle, but thought "what the heck", I'll trundle off down this dark alleyway (even though she was afraid of the dark) with a complete stranger. Even if she knew the person, who to this point was friendly, it doesn't make any sense that she would leave her vehicle in such disarray.

At approximately 9:30 pm, a female student purportedly noticed a man standing in the fateful alleyway smoking a cigarette and exchanged brief greetings with him. She later failed to identify anybody from a photographic line-up, including 'Bob Barnett', the prime suspect in the Riverside Police Department investigation. He would later be excluded using mitochondrial DNA retrieved from blood-clotted hair found at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb. The female student eyewitness was certainly credible enough to police, because they later retrieved a cigarette butt from the alleyway close to where the man was last seen standing. She mentioned no body lying in the alleyway. Then we have the screams heard by people coming from the alleyway. A female earwitness described "an awful scream between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up". For Cheri Jo Bates to have been killed shortly after 6:00 pm, we would have to disregard both of these statements and believe that she wilfully left her vehicle in the state it was eventually found.  

The last known sighting of Cheri Jo Bates was her arriving and entering the library at 6:00 pm, so this had to be the time the four workmen saw her. The four workmen were again seen at 7:15 pm by Walter Siebert and friends. If the four workmen remained sitting on the fence opposite the Volkswagen Beetle throughout this time period, they clearly didn't report any suspicious activity around the vehicle and didn't hear any screams from the nearby alleyway either. They could have spotted Cheri Jo Bates around 6:00 pm, then vacated the area and returned at 7:15 pm, but this doesn't change the fact they saw nothing untoward in the near time Cheri was spotted leaving or returning to her vehicle around 6:00 pm. Her Volkswagen Beetle must have been disabled at a later time. From everything we have learned, it is apparent she went off the radar for about 4 1/2 hours until her death at around 10:30 pm. Whoever she was with has never come forward - and this is likely the person who disabled the Volkswagen Beetle and murdered the young woman. If she walked away from the library shortly after 6:00 pm (in absence of her vehicle) with a friend or somebody she trusted, then this person may have lived nearby. It is my contention that the disabling of her vehicle and subsequent murder were one continuous event by somebody she trusted. You may have a different opinion.

The Zodiac Killer mailed the Paul Stine letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13th 1969 and stated "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". Bearing in mind that the murderer had previously referenced the murders at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park under the umbrella of Vallejo on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, it is clear that the switch to the north bay area was deliberately chosen to incorporate his latest attack at Lake Berryessa. The North Bay is a subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The largest city is Santa Rosa, which is the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. It is the location of the Napa and Sonoma wine regions, and is the least populous and least urbanized part of the Bay Area. It consists of Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties. This is just the first of many times he referenced his Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, which claimed the life of the young woman. The November 8th 1969 'Drippng Pen' Card and 340 character cipher were pivotal to the Lake Berryessa attack in a number of ways.      

Up to this point, the Zodiac Killer had given us details of the two attacks in Benicia and Vallejo with "some facts which only I + the police know". and confirmed he was the murderer of Paul Stine by the addition of the blood stained shirt piece in the October 13th 1969 letter. Why should he then mail two communications in near tandem with one another, if one of them was not a belated offering? The wording on the front of the card, stating "Sorry I haven't written, but I just washed my pen" appeared chosen for purpose, because Lake Berryessa was the only attack he hadn't written about. Maybe it took the Zodiac time to search for an appropriate message and card, which fitted the bill regarding his exploits by the lake. Once he found a suitable card, he designed his 340 character cipher and mailed it alongside the Bus Bomb Letter, franked one day apart. If this were the case, then it's highly probable that the message in the 340 is relevant to Lake Berryessa as well.

The image and writing on the card outer marries up perfectly with the Zodiac message on the card inner. The Zodiac supplied us with his crosshairs, which underneath he wrote the months of his claimed attacks ("Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7"). This mirrored the message he wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, where he also added the months of his crimes, thereby generating another link to the crime. These were the only two occasions he did this. The reason for the 'Dripping Pen' Card choice, was because when he wrote on the car door with the same hand that he had stabbed the young couple, he transferred blood onto the pen - and hence the sardonic introduction of "Sorry I haven't written, but I just washed my pen" and the imagery shown.

If the Zodiac Killer apologized for not having written because his blood stained pen had been washed and gave us his attack months on the card inner - thereby replicating the design on the car door - then one could expect the "by knife" attribution to be present somewhere in the card or cipher as well. The card outer and card inner were inextricably linked by the act of Zodiac writing on the car door after the Berrryessa attack. Investigators asked the Zodiac Killer to confirm the "by knife" writing to prove he was the murderer and he duly obliged in the 340 character cipher. The Zodiac Killer placed "death by knife" in the bottom left quadrant of the 340 cipher and was confident that investigators wouldn't "get the news for a while". This turned out to be true, because the Zodiac Killer had to show us the workings of the 340 cipher nearly a year later, using By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice, Slaves and Sorry No Cipher. 

Tahoe27 found the link between the Halloween Card and the Tim Holt comic book, where victims were placed on a Death Wheel. The four prominent execution methods featured on the cover were Death By Fire, Death By Gun, Death By Rope and Death By Knife, with the executioner spinning the wheel. Therefore, is it any great surprise that the Zodiac Killer turned up at Lake Berryessa dressed as an executioner and wrote "by knife" on the car door. This strongly suggests that the Tim Holt comic book not only played a major part in the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card, but in the Lake Berryessa attack, murder of Cecelia Shepard and the design of the 340 character cipher. The two communications mirror each other perfectly, with the Halloween Card even designed with an eye peering from behind a tree, mimicking the Lake Berryessa attack where Zodiac hid behind a tree to don his costume. For more information on the parallels between the Halloween Card and 340 cipher, please read Zodiac Admitted 340 Not a Real Cipher and The Answer to the Z38 Code.

However, we mustn't forget that the months and total provided on the 'Dripping Pen' Card only referenced the Zodiac's claimed murder victims (the Aug attribution referring to the August 3rd 1969 Snoozy/Furlong murders). This may suggest that the 340 character cipher only contained a basic message with regards to the murder of Cecelia Shepard - and why the cipher began with the word "Her". The "By Knife" phrase in the bottom left quadrant of the 340 cipher was, in effect, the Zodiac Killer supplying the answer to investigators about the writing they concealed on the car door. Nobody said Zodiac was going to make it easy and play by the rules. The "By Knife" attribution was in fact "Death By Knife" from the wheel of the Tim Holt comic book. 

If we now read the 'Dripping Pen' Card from outer to inner, and through the 340 cipher, it effectively reads "Sorry I haven't written about the Lake Berryessa attack, but I just washed my pen of the blood. Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7. Her death by knife. Zodiac".

The Halloween Card curiously contained 4-TEEN on the Lake Berryessa depiction. Only four teenagers had been murdered and claimed by Zodiac on November 8th 1969. They were David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Deborah Furlong and Kathy Snoozy. Two communications forever linked.

# In medieval and ancient philosophy the Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae, is a symbol of the capricious nature of Fate. The wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna (Greek equivalent Tyche) who spins it at random, changing the positions of those on the wheel: some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls. The metaphor was already a cliche in ancient times, complained about by Tacitus, but was greatly popularized for the Middle Ages by its extended treatment in the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius from around 520. It became a common image in manuscripts of the book, and then other media, where Fortuna, often blindfolded (second skeleton), turns a large wheel of the sort used in watermills, to which kings and other powerful figures are attached. The origin of the word is from the "wheel of fortune" - the zodiac, referring to the Celestial spheres of which the 8th holds the stars, and the 9th is where the signs of the zodiac are placed. The concept was first invented in Babylon and later developed by the ancient Greeks. Wikipedia.

Many Zodiac enthusiasts have pondered from where did the Zodiac Killer acquire his pseudonym, or when he decided upon the name Zodiac. The Bay Area murderer arrived at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968, where he callously executed David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen with six shots to the head and body. Just over seven months later, on July 31st 1969, he mailed three pieces of correspondence to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, but failed to introduce himself as Zodiac despite having over half a year to formulate a pseudonym. He only introduced himself as the "killer" and "murderer".

Three letters, detailing his crimes and awash with cryptograms, announcing his arrival to the newspapers, seemed like the perfect opportunity to announce those infamous words of "This is the Zodiac speaking" - yet nothing. His next communication was only sent in response to Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz, who doubted the letter writer and killer were the same person and "urged the writer yesterday to send more letters with more facts to prove his connection with the crimes". The Bay Area murderer immediately replied on August 4th 1969, stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material". It can be seen that this letter would never have been sent, had Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz not urged the killer to do so. If the letter had not been sent, then our killer would not have presented himself as Zodiac on August 4th 1969. In fact, he may not have adopted the pseudonym at all.

In absence of this letter, the next letter to contain his pseudonym was mailed two days after the Paul Stine murder on October 13th 1969. So, it's entirely plausible that the muderer of five could have begun and ended his attacks in the Bay Area as a nameless killer. The Vallejo News Chronicle published one-third of his 408 Cipher on August 1st 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle did the same on August 2nd 1969, with the San Francisco Examiner waiting until August 3rd 1969 and publishing all three parts, but on a lowly page nine. All three carried the message from Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz, yet despite the Examiner publishing their part of the cipher the latest and relegating it further from the front page than the other publications, in defiance of his demands for front page coverage by Friday afternoon, it was the Examiner he chose to introduce his pseudonym to. In other words, they complied the least, but the killer chose to "supply more details" to them rather than a Vallejo publication and to the home city of Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz, who he was supposedly addressing.

There is a real possibility that the murderer of three chose the San Francisco Examiner because they were the only publication to give the murderer a pseudonym, which may have ultimately triggered the following communication a day later. The Examiner wrote "The police telephone system was clogged by anxious callers asking if the "cipher killer" had been caught". The murderer seemingly didn't appreciate the pseudonym given to him and a day later, on August 4th 1969, he introduced himself to the Bay Area with "This is the Zodiac speaking". But why this phrase? The Examiner article noted that "the police telephone system was clogged by anxious callers asking if the "cipher killer" had been caught", so what better way to announce yourself as you might do over the telephone. This wasn't an anxious caller, this was the Zodiac speaking.  

Without this San Francisco Examiner article and resultant Debut of Zodiac Letter on August 4th - announcing yourself as the "Zodiac" on October 13th 1969 after the end of a ten month series of murders, certainly wouldn't have had the same impact. Without the publication of "cipher killer", the pseudonym of the Zodiac Killer would in all probability never have existed.

The counter-argument to the above, is the killer had ample time to give himself a pseudonym from December 20th 1968 to July 31st 1969, and only began the trinity of letters with "murderer" and "killer" because he had reserved the pseudonym "Zodiac" for the 18 characters at the foot of the Chronicle cipher. This was the portion he claimed held his "identity". A hidden pseudonym would be negated had he began the correspondence with "This is the Zodiac speaking". With the entirety of his communications beginning with this phrase, does it lend credence to the notion its absence from the introduction to these three letters, is validation to its concealment in the 18 unsolved characters?  If he hadn't preselected his pseudonym in advance of the July 31st 1969 letters, one could revert back to the notion it was the "cipher killer" attribution that triggered his reply on August 4th 1969. For 35 years starting in 1965, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner operated under a Joint Operating Agreement whereby the Chronicle published a morning paper and the Examiner published in the afternoon. The Examiner published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the Chronicle contributed the features. Circulation was approximately 100,000 on weekdays and 500,000 on Sundays. By 1995, discussion was already brewing in print media about the possible shuttering of the Examiner due to low circulation and an extremely disadvantageous revenue sharing agreement for the Chronicle. Wikipedia. The Bay Area murderer's reply on August 4th, including his pseudonym for the first time, would therefore have been formulated in the mind of the killer from the moment he read the Sunday Examiner publication to his creation of the letter. The Zodiac Killer being born on August 3rd 1969, or early Monday morning on the fourth.
   

However, if he had decided upon his pseudonym in advance of the July 31st 1969 letters and had consciously withheld his pseudonym from his introduction so as to place it within the 18 unsolved characters - then having failed to do so - would be counterintuitive. One could argue that his use of the words "killer" and "murderer" were chosen for purpose, thereby lending credence to a viable solution with respect to the 18 unsolved characters. 

The 18 unsolved characters (if they contain any meaning whatsoever) clearly operate under a different technique of decryption to the other 390 characters. So if the Zodiac Killer didn't happen upon his pseudonym on August 3rd or 4th, then we have the very real possibility that the identity of "Zodiac" does reside in these final 18 characters, to which he alluded to in his address to Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz on August 4th 1969. The Zodiac Killer stated "when they do crack it, they will have me".

The Benicia High School note was placed on the front door of the premises sometime in 1972 or 1973. I will attempt to analyze this correspondence from two angles:
[1] It was designed by two young children who were eventually arrested by law enforcement in 1974, and [2] It was authored by a Zodiac Killer employing a different handwriting technique. So first we will take a look at an article published in the Vallejo Times-Herald on May 17th 1974:

"Two 16-year-old Benicia youths were apprehended by police here as suspects in a series of phoned bomb threats that prompted the evacuation of Benicia High School four times during the day. Officers said the pair allegedly made two phone calls to the Benicia Fire Department, warning firemen that two bombs had been planted at the high school and were going to explode. Police said the youths allegedly made two other phone calls to the school, informing officials two bombs had been planted - one inside and the other outside the building. In each instance, police said, the 700 high school students and faculty were evacuated and a thorough search of the building made for explosives. Poilice said the two youths are Benicia High School students and were apprehended near a payphone on J Street, between West Fifth and West Sixth Streets. Officers said the youths admitted making the bomb scare calls from a phone booth but gave no reason for doing so. Police said both were lodged in Juvenile Hall in Fairfield on felony charges accusing them of phoning bomb threats. Officers revealed Benicia High School has been plagued with a series of phoned bomb threats since the start of Fall term last September. During one two week period, police said, school authorities received one or two such calls every day. Police said two 14-year-old boys were arrested as suspects about a month ago (approximately April 17th 1974), admitted making the phone calls and now are on probation".

This article in the Vallejo Times-Herald, coupled with the Benicia High School note (below) could give us the exact date the threatening note was directed toward the school, assuming these two youths were responsible for both. There is an extremely high probability this was the case - and if so - the Benicia High School note was likely placed at the school in the September of 1973. The next thing to do is pinpoint an exact date using the note itself.

The wording on the note as interpreted by Lyndon Lafferty I believe is correct, with "son" meaning Sunday. This is my interpretation of the communication.

"I'm sorry, but by Sunday I shouldn't have said anything about what time I was to blow up the school, so instead I will do it between now and the 22nd December. So, I have killed by Sunday and you will find him (the body) up by Lake Herman Road. If you get there in time you will find him before the dogs eat him. I hope they do".

The phrase "This his blood" has been fashioned with the S's reversed, possibly indicating that the alleged murder had taken place on Saturday 22nd September 1973 - in other words, by Sunday. It is then easy to subconsciously write December 22nd 1973 as an end date for blowing up the school, as this date is already in your mind for September (and a nice round figure of 3 months to project forward from and arrive at December 22nd). A suggested murder committed on Saturday September 22nd 1973, with the note being placed at Benicia High School later that day or the following day, and hence the past tense of "you will find him" and get there "before the dogs eat him". Mischievous kids with too much time on their hands at the weekend, depositing the note at the high school. It is my guess that the note was likely authored on the Saturday and placed at Benicia High School later that day - on September 22nd 1973.

The interpreted wording of "but by Sunday I shouldn't have said anything about what time I was to blow up the school" appears like the author is referring to the past Sunday as the ultimatum and date he had previously phoned in for the deadline of the bomb exploding, to which he was now backtracking. That would have been Sunday September 16th 1973, satisfying the two weeks of incessant phone calls detailed in the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper article and beginning in the Fall. No letter was mentioned in the 1974 article, suggesting it may have been linked to these two children and dismissed as a credible Zodiac correspondence.

Then we have to consider the chance that it was authored by the Zodiac Killer. On the face of it, the communication appears to be inspired by previous Zodiac correspondence, with the threat of a bomb, the reversed letter N on the first line mimicking the Halloween Card, the Confession Letter "about time" and the reference to Lake Herman Road, with the near date of December 22nd a reminder of past events. The only way to confirm the authorship of this letter as being written by the hand of the Zodiac Killer, would be to draw parallels to previously unreleased Zodiac material by 1973. The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter is the only correspondence to exhibit any promise, with a comparison of "blood" to "bleeding", the knife-like shape smeared across the Benicia note, the droplets beneath the knife in both instances, and the positioning of the pseudonym "Zodiac" toward the right side of the blade-like design.

Other than this cursory observation, it simply depends on whether you believe that two Benicia High School youths were responsible for the note, having previously made numerous bomb threats upon the school, or the Zodiac Killer had reappeared and threatened Benicia, four years after the brutal murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968. I shall take the first option, but the decision is yours.

The nearly nude body of Nancy Darlene Feusi (23), a separated mother of five, was discovered by a fisherman at 6:30 am on July 22nd 1973 alongside Pleasant Grove Road and Steelhead Creek, approximately half a mile north of West Riego Road in Sutter County. Dressed in a miniskirt and bikini-style briefs, with a blouse discovered nearby, she had been brutally stabbed 29 times in the stomach, chest and arm in what appeared a sexually driven crime. Shoe prints and tire tracks were discovered close to where the young woman was found, opening up the possibility she was murdered elsewhere and transported to the scene of the crime. 

Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. It was clearly evident she had been transported to the location she was ultimately found by a vehicle, which investigators surmised would have been heavily bloodstained. Therefore, the location of her murder was considered to lie elsewhere, possibly close to the area she was last seen alive.  

Below I have added the relevant locations regarding Nancy's last known movements that morning.   

The quickest route from downtown Sacramento to Pleasant Grove Road is via Interstate 5 and Highway 99, before turning east at the interchange of West Riego Road, traveling 2.74 miles to Pleasant Grove Road and then heading north for just half a mile to the body deposition site. Clearly, the murderer had many earlier opportunisties to dispose of her body on the 15-mile journey north, so one could be forgiven for believing that this location was familiar to the killer as a safe option. This opens up the possibility that the murderer was actually traveling home that morning and dropped off the body of the young woman, not only somewhere he had likely previously visited, but en route to his residence, slightly further north. Continuing north at the interchange for just 10 miles, brings you to the the census-designated place of East Nicolaus that may be familiar to some with respect to the murders of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Saelee.

On Tuesday April 22nd 1986, Laotian couple Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Saelee (40) were traveling back on the two-and-a-half hour journey to their residence in Dorman Road, Yuba City after visiting their son in a Merced CA hospital, situated in the area of the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. They were only 45 minutes from home when it was believed they had opted to take a rest on the roadside edge (or ushered over by a second vehicle), near the interchange of Highway 99 and I-5 Sacramento and attacked without remorse. How the killer approached is open to question, but the assailant unleashed a barrage of gunfire into their car blowing out both front side windows, testimony to which, was the 15 small caliber shell casings scattered and retrieved from beside the vehicle. The couple suffered multiple shots to the head. Two weeks later, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle purportedly from the Zodiac Killer laying claim to the savage killings. There were reports in the newspaper that an unidentified "hitchiker" flagged down an East Nicolaus patrol officer and directed him to the murder site, although only describing it as a car accident. In the 1986 Letter the author stated "The Blue Meannies almost caught me", bringing forth the notion he was describing the encounter with the patrol officer and effectively taunting the police.   

The distance between the crime scenes (as the crow flies) of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Saelee, to the deposition site of Nancy Feusi, is just 8 miles - and on both occasions the perpetrator may have been heading to East Nicolaus or somewhere nearby. Of course, the two crimes are separated by thirteen years and therefore probably unrelated to one another, but it was important to put the murder of Nancy Feusi into perspective from a Zodiac standpoint.

Judith Hakari was a nurse at Sutter Hospital, who disappeared heading back to the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970 and later discovered murdered. At 11:30 pm. Hakari calls her fiance to tell him she's leaving Sutter Memorial Hospital where she works as a nurse. By 1:30 in the morning, she has still not come home. Her fiance, waiting at her apartment, begins to worry. "He went out to the apartment complex parking lot and discovered her car was parked in the assigned space that she had," Links said. But Judith was nowhere to be seen. She was found one month later, strangled and bludgeoned to death. "Some hikers discovered a body in a shallow grave up in the town of Weimar, in Placer County. And during their investigation they determined that it was Judith Hakari," Links said.
Sutter Hospital is just two miles from the location where Nancy Feusi was last seen - although it appears the murderer in the respective cases headed in different directions to conceal the body.

Nancy Feusi was last seen at approximately 3:00 am on July 22nd 1973 and discovered at 6:30 am, just 3 1/2 hours later. The journey time by vehicle from 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in Sacramento to Pleasant Grove Road is about 30 minutes, thereby leaving a shortfall of 3 hours. Had she befriended her killer at Plumbers Hall while dancing and met her demise shortly afterwards? Had this been the case, it is likely the murderer headed to somewhere he was sure he wouldn't be spotted while disposing of the body, while minimizing the time he was driving around with a body in the bloodstained vehicle. The fact that he drove just 15 miles to this "out of the way" location, could suggest it was somebody familiar with the area and quite possibly somebody who didn't live too far beyond.

In the article Three Months After the Mount Diablo Code we showed how the Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to his three main unsolved ciphers in three consecutive communications spanning July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. Here we will do exactly the same thing regarding the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter (the companion to the December 16th 1969 letter). The December 7th 1969 letter showed traits of the 408 cipher, in which the author had simply dragged characters from above to provide filler for the remaining 18 unsolved characters. In the December 7th 1969 letter he had dragged groups of characters from the 340 cipher in similar fashion. 

Tahoe27 made an excellent discovery when she linked the October 27th 1970 Halloween Card to the Tim Holt comic book, showing the connection to the configuration displayed on the card in the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. However, the Zodiac Killer had likely made this connection much earlier than October 27th 1970, when he designed the December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter (shown on the left}. In this communication he gave us a rudimentary design of the Halloween Card configuration preceded by the word "death", thereby satisfying the Tim Holt comic book of "Death By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. Below I have shown the interconnectivity between the Halloween Card, 340 cipher and both Fairfield letters, demonstrating how the Tim Holt comic book played a part in the design of them all, with By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves the running theme.

The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter was essentially a very rudimentary precursor to the Halloween Card design of By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. It was also very likely a clue to the December 7th 1969 code scribbled at the base of that letter, containing 38 characters. If this code followed the same way as all the others, in that the Zodiac Killer simply provided us with the answer to his codes in later communications, then what are the chances the solution depended on the wording in the Halloween Card, which mimicked the design of the second Fairfield Letter?

The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter stated "Look for more blood", then provided us with the Halloween Card style design of large crosshairs surrounded by four smaller crosshairs in each quadrant, intended to signify By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves. But the Zodiac Killer inexplicably chose the over inflated promise of 38 more victims from San Francisco, San Jose, Vallejo, Napa, Fairfield, Sacramento and Oakland. Curiously, the exact same number as characters on the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter. These victims, likely to be murdered By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife. So, was there a correlation between the two letters using these words? You will notice that the code above hasn't been structured uniformly like the 408 and 340 ciphers, but 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, satisfying the non-uniformity displayed by the 38 character code. We now have By Fire, By Gun, By Rope, By Knife, Paradice and Slaves running through four communications - that of the Halloween Card, 340 cipher and both Fairfield letters. The Zodiac Killer yet again supplying us with the answer to one of his codes in subsequent communications.          

Doreen Gaul (19) and James Sharp (15) were murdered on November 21st 1969, their bodies discovered in a Los Angeles alleyway, between Arapahoe Street and Magnolia Avenue. A threatening typed letter signed "The Zodiac Killer" was discovered in Doreen Gaul's belongings with the message "So you think you can fool the old killer, ha ha. I know all your movements and the time they are made. Time is short, enjoy life while you can. You are to beautiful to live and I must kill you".

On August 1st 1973, a letter postmarked Albany, New York was mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper declaring "You were wrong, I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and well and I'm going to start killing again. Below is the name and location of my next victim. But you had better hurry because I'm going to kill her August 10th at 5:00 pm when the shift change. Albany is a nice town". It contained a code stating "(name) Albany Medical Center this only the beginning". The Albany Letter was a direct response to a New York Daily News article about the Zodiac Killer.

The two-page news article was published on July 22nd 1973, speculating on whether the Zodiac Killer was in "a mental hospital or dead", so it wasn't too surprising that the author of the Albany Letter replied just nine days later and began with "You were wrong, I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and well". And then added a cryptogram threatening a medical center. But was the Zodiac Killer or hoaxer a resident of Albany, New York, or had traveled there for family or business? Albany Medical Center was 350 feet from Myrtle Avenue, the street on which Doreen Gaul previously lived. The exact address was 570 Myrtle Avenue, shown here on Google Maps. 

Five months after the Albany Letter, The Exorcist film was released in the USA on December 26th 1973 - a supernatural horror movie showcasing the fight between good and evil through the practice of exorcism and the Catholic Church. Sixteen or seventeen days later, on January 11th/12th 1974, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer telephoned the San Francisco police and several news outlets, stating they had killed a woman and placed her body in a Daly City church. Despite an extensive search, no such victim was discovered. This newspaper cutting is courtesy of Seagull from the Zodiac Killer Site forum.   

 Was the release of The Exorcist film the trigger for the phone calls? These telephone calls arrived at about the same time as a San Francisco Chronicle publication on January 11th 1974 by Paul Avery, entitled "Weird Goings-On At the Movies" and describing the audience reaction to The Exorcist film. The Zodiac Killer may have been responding to this Paul Avery newspaper article by phoning the police and applying a religious angle to his threats. A movie featuring Catholicism and exorcism, shortly followed by the claim of a "murdered woman in a church" would be remiss to ignore. The 01/29/74 Exorcist Letter postmark has been linked to San Mateo County, California, in which Daly City is the largest city.

On July 10th 1972, Jan and Brian Neven requested the assistance of psychics, reporting that paranormal activity and fires were spontaneously occurring in their home in Daly City (bordering San Francisco). This "poltergeist activity" eventually drew the services of Greek Orthodox priest Father Karl Pazelt, renowned for performing exorcisms.

This story was featured heavily 18 months later in a New York Times article on January 25th 1974, stating  "Father Pazelt said the family members were reportedly the victims of peculiar forces that he labeled as “exterior signs of the devil.” At times, he said, the devil choked them by the throat, knocked them unconscious, threw knives and glasses through the air and caused objects to break, burn, move, and fly.” Father Pazelt concluded that After receiving permission from San Francisco Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken, Father Pazelt performed 14 exorcisms of the Nevens family and Dr. Freda Morris in 1972-73". If the Zodiac Killer (or impersonator) had been living in New York (in or near Albany), could this New York Times article only four days prior to the mailing of the Exorcist Letter on January 29th 1974, coupled with The Exorcist film, have been the inspiration behind the Exorcist communication? The Daly City escapades of Father Karl Pazelt also appeared in a January 19th 1974 Watertown Daily (New York) feature, describing the unfolding drama in the Nevens family home.link.

With the former home address of Doreen Gaul, the typed letter and her eventual murder, the Albany Letter, and the New York publications regarding Father Karl Pazelt occurring in the ten days run-up to the Exorcist Letter, can we argue a case for the Zodiac Killer in New York on these dates? Or was he firmly resident in the Bay Area and vicinity, claiming a "church murder" as a response to Paul Avery or the recent release of the Exorcist film - or both?

Unearthed by Michael Morford in 2013, here is an unusual addition to the Zodiac Killer communications featured in the Modesto Bee newspaper on May 11th 1973. A bottle was discovered floating in the Delta by Paradise Point near Stockton, California, containing a purported message from the Zodiac Killer. It stated "The war is over, thank God. Please help me. Am still the Zodiac and going to kill a baby. P.S. Help! Save the world". It was self dated February 2nd.

Paradise Point is 44 miles from the Carquinez Bridge (and Interstate 80) which runs from Vallejo to Crockett, and about 10 miles from Lodi, California. The San Joaquin River flows west from the high elevations of the Sierra Nevada Range to the valley floor and then heads north to Vernalis where it flows into the Delta. The area where the bottle was discovered is punctuated by the White Slough Wildlife Area - 880 acres of man-made ditches, canals, freshwater marshes and grassland. It is highly improbable a bottle dropped into the water by Vallejo would find itself here three months later, and every chance the bottle was thrown or placed into the water in the vicinity of where it was found, or east of this location.  

On January 15th 1973, the United States, North and South Vietnam and the Vietcong signed a peace agreement and so ended direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam war. Therefore, we know that the message in the bottle declaring "the war is over", was very likely dated February 2nd 1973 and placed into the water around this date. It must have sat in the water for just over three months before being discovered if this was the case. Of course, it could have been backdated and placed in the water more recently - but there seems little to be gained by such subterfuge.

The author of this note can easily mimic previous Zodiac communications, so very little can be done to prove its authenticity or otherwise. The phraseology of "please help me" is identical to the wording on the Melvin Belli Letter mailed on December 20th 1969, and similar to the "I just need help" on the December 7th 1969 Fairfield Letter. To give some form of timeline to this  communication - it was likely placed into the water six months prior to the Albany Times Union Letter mailed on August 1st 1973, stating "You were wrong, I am not dead. I am alive and well and I'm going to start killing again".

There would be a devastating number of murders in Lodi, California that year (10 miles from Paradise Point)  when on November 9th 1973 Willie L. Steelman (28) and Douglas E. Gretzler (22) were arrested for the massacre of nine people in a family home. Walter Parkin, his wife and two children, along with five friends had been bound and shot in the head. Stories of the Forgotten.

Thanks to Michael Morford and Zodiac Killer Site forum.

The Zodiac Killer committed the senseless slayings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968. Six and a half months later he would follow this up with a second attempted double murder at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969, in which sadly, Darlene Ferrin would succumb to her devastating injuries. Approximately one month later, the Zodiac Killer mailed three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald announcing that he was responsible for the three murders and attempted murder, while challenging authorities to decode a 408 character cipher. The Zodiac Killer threatened the newspapers, stating "If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend".  Imagine his horror when the two main newspapers failed to bow to his threats, with the San Francisco Chronicle placing the story on page 4 of the August 2nd 1969 edition, and the San Francisco Examiner demoting him to a lowly page 9 on August 3rd 1969. The problem was further compounded, with Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz even questioning the validity of the author and "urged the writer to send more letters, with more facts to prove his connections to the crimes."

The Zodiac Killer in his haste to prove he was the killer responsible for three people, immediately sent a letter to the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969 - and despite the Examiner printing his letter the same day, in which he declared "This is the Zodiac Speaking" and that he "was not happy to see that he did not get front page coverage", imagine his utter disbelief when he discovered that the San Francisco Examiner had again relegated his letter supplying more details of the crimes to page 4. It equally wouldn't have escaped his attention, that on the front page of the same paper it featured the double knife slaying of two young girls from San Jose. Deborah Furlong (14) and Kathy Snoozy (15) had been brutally stabbed while picnicking on a grassy knoll on August 3rd 1969. The Zodiac Killer had now murdered three people, nearly killed Michael Mageau and sent four communications (including three cryptograms), yet he was still unable to command front page coverage. But now he knew exactly what was required - and it was staring him squarely in the face on page one. August 4th 1969 was not only the day he announced his pseudonym to the world, but the day he realized that a brutal stabbing was required to secure himself front page coverage. This was the day the fate of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard would be sealed, almost two months in the making.   

Forever the narcissist, the Zodiac Killer couldn't believe his luck when he happened upon three young girls on the shores of Lake Berrryessa by Smittle Creek. I am sure for a brief moment he could see the headlines flash in front of his eyes: "3 Girls Stabbed, Sunbathing Murders, Footprint Clue". However, the Zodiac Killer for whatever reason, decided against the attack, returned to his vehicle and drove away. Fortunately, the three young women from Pacific Union College would escape the wrath of the Zodiac Killer - but he was not done yet. Approximately two hours later and eight tenths of a mile south, the Zodiac Killer would reappear and set his sights on the 1956 White Karmann Ghia of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, before traversing the 510 yard hillside descent to the area of the picnicking couple. Driven by an insatiable desire to secure front page coverage, he proceeded to callously stab the young couple sixteen times before finally returning up the hillside and out of sight. The thoughts of the San Jose murders of Deborah Furlong and Kathy Snoozy - and the headline news they generated - were probably in the forefront of his mind when he approached the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and pulled the black marker pen from his pocket. He proceeded to write on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, to leave you in no doubt that he was mimicking the murders of the two young girls from San Jose. He wrote "Vallejo 12-20-68, 7-4-69, Sept 27-69 - 6:30 by knife". If you ever wondered why he wrote the time 6:30 on the car door, even though he rang in the crime just seventy minutes later, then the newspaper article below may give you a clue. This is the article from the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969 - the very reason why the Zodiac Killer arrived at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 in the first place.  

This annotation of 6:30 on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle was supposed to mark the time that the young couple at Lake Berryessa failed to return home also.