On October 30th 1966, several earwitnesses reported hearing screams between 10:15pm and 10:45pm from the vicinity of the driveway adjacent to Terracina Drive in Riverside. Robert Graysmith wrote in his Zodiac book that: 'A neighbor heard an awful scream between 10:15pm and 10:45pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up. A man returning to the area at 10:30 pm told us he heard two screams then'. Several people in a nearby apartment building heard screams about 10:30pm. It is clear that more than one person heard these screams. If these screams were a product of the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, then it is extremely unlikely the young woman could have left the library at 9:00pm, failed to start her vehicle, and been aided by a good Samaritan who ultimately lured her away and killed her between 9:15pm and 9:45pm in the nearby driveway. Many people will try to sell you this notion by using the daylight savings argument, when the clocks are turned back one hour. In other words, attempting to change an approximate 10:30pm murder into a 9:30pm murder, by claiming people failed to turn their clocks back. 

The clocks were scheduled to be turned back from 2:00am to 1:00am, very early morning, on Sunday, October 30th 1966. This would be 20.5 hours before a 10:30pm murder. Even accepting that most people will likely turn their clocks back when they wake up between, say 7am and 10am on Sunday morning - that still leaves 12.5 to 15.5 hours for the remainder of people to achieve this simple task. So, to believe that every earwitness who reported screams at Riverside failed to turn their clocks back, and made an error by stating 10:30pm rather than 9:30pm, is not realistic. If the screams were Cheri Jo Bates, the murder almost certainly happened at approximately 10:30pm.  

An amalgamation of articles: 

Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department received a typewritten card from a "concerned citizen" on August 10th 1969 stating "Dear Sergeant Lynch. I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer. Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue. With best wishes. concerned citizen". It also contained a working key to the 408 cipher, which was mailed by the Zodiac Killer in his three "code letters" to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969. On October 7th 1969, another concerned citizen, this time describing himself as a "good citizen", mailed another cryptic message to Sergeant John Lynch, stating "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote:Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX". The author by mentioning "code letters" is clearly referring to the trinity of communications mailed on July 31st 1969, to which the August 10th 1969 communication provided a key. Despite both the "concerned citizen" and "good citizen" communications being extremely brief in nature, both utilized the word "name" twice. The author of these two communications can be argued to be the Zodiac Killer, who also mailed the April 20th 1970 letter, teasing us with "my name is". Crucially, the "concerned citizen" card and code key had not been released into the public domain by the arrival of the "good citizen" letter.  

Recently I have been examining the murder of Robert Michael Salem, who was found stabbed in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970. The April 20th 1970 Zodiac Killer letter was received at the San Francisco Chronicle the same day the Robert Salem murder was reported in their newspaper. The letter read "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is", belatedly followed by "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". The Zodiac Killer choose three Christian symbols in his enclosed 13 character code, that mirrored the Christian symbolism written in blood on the apartment wall of Robert Salem. Above the Japanese tatami mat where Robert Salem's body lay, was the drawing of an Egyptian ankh or "crucified man", along with the wording "Satan Saves" and "Zodiac". The murder of Robert Salem and the April 20th 1970 letter so reeked of Christian symbolism, that it was hard to ignore that the two weren't connected, and led me to believe that the wording "Satan Saves" had some biblical meaning with respect to Robert Salem and his homosexual lifestyle. Whether the drawing of the Egyptian ankh or "crucified man" on the wall of Robert Salem were interchangeable in the mind of the killer is unknown, but the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970 made no mention of the Egyptian ankh - making the appearance of the Christian anchor in Zodiac's 13-Symbol cipher intriguing. Anchor and ankh have the same phonetic root - and when the Zodiac Killer's crude anchor in the code is superimposed over the ankh drawing on Robert Salem's wall - a full and complete Christian anchor is revealed.   .

The ankh (key of life) was commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife. The ankh was one of the most common decorative motifs in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures. Coptic Christians adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than oval loop (as seen in the image above), and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. The message of "Satan Saves" rather than "Jesus Saves", along with a crucifix style cross, gives the strong impression of a murder with religious connotations, bearing in mind the anti-gay and intolerant Christian attitudes that permeated society in 1970 (and to a lesser extent today). Robert Salem was a gay man, who may have unfortunately attracted somebody with the belief he was a sinner or non-believer - and hence the sarcastic message of "Satan Saves" and the "key of life" being drawn on his stomach. Clearly, the person who drew the symbol and writing, was portraying a message to the viewer (whether a belief sincerely held or not).

The most unusual and notable features inflicted to the body of Robert Salem, were the crucifix style design "drawn" on his stomach and the removal of his left ear. Both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem.​

The immediate murder with a Zodiac connection after the "latent homosexual" suggestion was floated in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the Bay Area murderer's pseudonym was found at the crime scene, was the murder of gay man, Robert Salem on April 15th 1970 in San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer's 13-Symbol cipher is arguably contemporary in nature, with his April 20th 1970 letter being mailed the same day this murder was published in the newspapers. Homosexuality and acceptance has been a continuing struggle for gay activists to this day, but the 1960s and 1970s were arguably more difficult times, with newspaper coverage on this topic less than acceptable. Many religious people were unwilling to accept individual rights, claiming that homosexuality was the mark of the beast, and was an abomination in the eyes of God. The writing in blood on Robert Salem's apartment wall stating "Satan Saves" must have had some meaning to the killer - so was it in any way connected to the sexual preferences of Robert Salem? I couldn't help thinking that the "Satan Saves" element written in blood on the apartment wall had a more important role to play, not only in the fact Robert Salem was homosexual, but in the damage inflicted to his body and the removal of his left ear. So I looked for a bible verse that may have been known to the killer. 

​I also had to be mindful that the bible verse was relevant to perceived "sins of the flesh". In other words, the murderer of Robert Salem had an issue with homosexuality, believing it to be satanic, and wanted to deliver him unto Satan to be saved (see image above). Hence the wording "Satan Saves". 1 Corinthians 5:5 featured Paul, who had commanded the Christians in Corinth to remove from among them a man who was sleeping with his father's wife, a form of sexual immorality that even their own pagan culture condemned. The killer of Robert Salem may have considered his lifestyle the devil's work and a form of sexual immorality, that resulted in "destruction of the flesh" as witnessed by investigators at the crime scene. I also took the "Satan" element from the apartment wall and combined it with the "destruction of the flesh", to create a relevant solution to the 13-Symbol cipher of "Skin A Satanist". Not only did the Zodiac Killer encipher the word "skin" twice in the 148 character cipher in 1971, but it was relevant to the Robert Salem crime scene in April 1970.

Robert Michael Salem was found murdered in his 745 Stevenson Street San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970, accompanied by the drawing of a religious crux ansata (crucified man) and the words "Satan Saves" scrawled in blood on the wall. This somewhat mirrored the religious characters in the 13 character code mailed by the Zodiac Killer the following day (April 20th 1970), when he posed the question "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". Investigators found no forced entry at Robert Salem's apartment, and little appeared to have been taken from the property, other than possibly some money from an open wallet on a shelf. The crime scene appeared to scream of far more than a simple robbery. This opens up the possibility that Robert Salem was murdered by somebody known to him, or somebody that befriended him with common interests. Robert Salem was a lamp designer, whose products had been exhibited in Japan, England and Russia. His apartment certainly showed an Oriental influence, with a Japanese hurricane lamp hanging from the ceiling, tree trunks prominent in the apartment in the style of Japanese tea houses, and he was discovered murdered wearing Oriental lounging clothes on top of a Japanese tatami mat.

Three months after this crime, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, paraphrasing two acts from The Mikado, a Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera set in Japan. The first act he paraphrased was entitled A More Humane Mikado, followed by As Some Day It May Happen, in which victims or society offenders must be found, and who would never be missed. His introduction in the communication detailed how he would torture his victims in paradise, stating in one part: "Others I shall skin them alive + let them run around screaming". In the middle of 1971, the Zodiac Killer would again mention the skinning of victims, when he encrypted the following in his 148 character cipher: "If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin", and wrote in accompaniment to the cipher "Next time I will send a patch of human skin". This is why I found the phrase "Skin A Satanist" very interesting, when from a cryptology standpoint, it satisfied the 13 character code on April 20th 1970, arriving the same day the Robert Salem story broke in the San Francisco Chronicle detailing the "Satan Saves" on the apartment wall. Robert Salem was effectively skinned, when his left ear was severed and taken from the crime scene. On January 29th 1974, the Zodiac Killer would again recite a section from The Mikado, using a verse from Tit-Willow. Not only did he paraphrase the Japanese based opera, but he added some Oriental characters at the foot of the letter. One line in this act reminded me of the introduction in the April 20th 1970 (My Name Is letter). It read "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow", 

Robert Salem was a flamboyant character with an interest in the arts, having been the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco in 1969. Other than the mention of Washington and Maple streets on October 13th 1969, the only other street the Zodiac Killer ever imentioned in his communications (if authentic} was when he mailed a letter to Sergeant John Lynch on October 7th 1969, when he wrote ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. So, was the Zodiac Killer in the apartment of Robert Salem in April 1970?​​​

​​Cragle, an excellent Zodiac researcher who contributes to both forums, sent Michael Morford some invaluable information that he knew I would like (and Mike subsequently added some extra findings). It was fantastic news. A letter was possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 7th 1969, containing the wording ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX'' (and mentioned code letters). This letter can now be inextricably linked to the Concerned Citizen card postmarked August 10th 1969, which gave us a key to the 408 cipher, mailed by the Zodiac Killer within three "code letters" on July 31st 1969. The 56 Beach Street address never existed in 1969, only on street planning maps. Cragle found a Carl John Welz (married to Jerry Hatcher) who were working at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco and living at 2529 Union Street, San Francisco in 1969, He had a Batchelor and Master of Arts, taught in many public and  private schools and was well known in Christian science circles, with a mentioned periodical from him in 1967 (see below).

If this was the "Jerry" a possible Zodiac Killer was referring to, then this is an enormous find, Carl John Welz (and wife) would most likely have been working at 680 Beach Street at the same time as Robert Michael Salem, who was murdered by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on April 15th 1970. Throughout 1969, Robert Salem worked as the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street. Carl John Welz wrote an anti gay article entitled Homosexuality Can Be Healed, so the fact that murdered Robert Salem was a homosexual, with the wording "Satan Saves" and a "crucified man" drawn in blood on his apartment wall, with the pseudonym Zodiac present also, makes this is a significant find. We can now connect the August 10th and October 7th 1969 communications, link the name "Jerry" to the Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street, and to murder victim Robert Salem, who also worked there - and finally - combine the religious overtones from the above article to the apartment wall, and to the Zodiac Killer's 13-Symbol cipher.. 

Cragle, an excellent Zodiac researcher who contributes to both forums, sent Michael Morford some invaluable information that he knew I would like (and Mike subsequently added some extra findings). It was fantastic news. A letter was possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 7th 1969, containing the wording ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX'' (and mentioned code letters). This letter can now be inextricably linked to the Concerned Citizen card postmarked August 10th 1969, which gave us a key to the 408 cipher, mailed by the Zodiac Killer within three "code letters" on July 31st 1969. The 56 Beach Street address never existed in 1969, only on street planning maps. Cragle found a Carl John Welz (married to Jerry Hatcher) who were working at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco and living at 2529 Union Street, San Francisco in 1969, He had a Batchelor and Master of Arts, taught in many public and  private schools and was well known in Christian science circles, with a mentioned periodical from him in 1967 (see below).

If this was the "Jerry" a possible Zodiac Killer was referring to, then this is an enormous find, Carl John Welz (and wife) would most likely have been working at 680 Beach Street at the same time as Robert Michael Salem, who was murdered by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on April 15th 1970. Throughout 1969, Robert Salem worked as the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street. Carl John Welz wrote an anti gay article entitled Homosexuality Can Be Healed, so the fact that murdered Robert Salem was a homosexual, with the wording "Satan Saves" and a "crucified man" drawn in blood on his apartment wall, with the pseudonym Zodiac present also, makes this is a significant find. We can now connect the August 10th and October 7th 1969 communications, possibly link the name "Jerry" to the Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street and to murder victim Robert Salem, and finally, combine the religious overtones from the article to the apartment wall. 

Thanks to Cragle and Mike.

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 
THE "SKIN MARKINGS" ON ROBERT SALEM 
​DELIVER UNTO SATAN
MURDER THROUGH THEATRE?

Kenneth Mains, cold case detective, private investigator, former undercover FBI operative and best selling author (to name just a few of his credentials), now runs the extremely popular and burgeoning Youtube channel Unsolved No More, currently standing at 58,000 subscribers as of June 22nd 2022. His Youtube channel features an array of different cases, including the Delphi Murders, Sam Sheppard, The Springfield Three, Ted Bundy, The Starved Rock Murders, The Yoghurt Shop Murders, and many more. Most of you may be familiar with Ken Mains, when he partnered with Sal LaBarbera for the five part docudrama entitled The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer in 2017, which featured the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966.

Cheri Josephine Bates (18) was brutally murdered in a dirt driveway adjacent to the Riverside City College library annex by a knife-wielding assailant, who has remained unidentified for nearly 56 years. The murder appeared premeditated, with her prized lime green Volkswagen Beetle found disabled about 325 feet from her body, parked just 90 feet east of the library entrance. Ken Mains is about to release another video, re-examining the many facets of this unexplained and intriguing case, in which justice has remained elusive for far too long. To view his latest Youtube video on Cheri Jo Bates (to be released on Thursday, June 23rd 2022) and the many other cases he has delved into, please click here. To visit the website of Detective Kenneth L. Mains, click the image on the left.

Robert Michael Salem was found murdered in his 745 Stevenson Street San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970, accompanied by the drawing of a religious crux ansata (crucified man) and the words "Satan Saves" scrawled in blood on the wall. This mirrored the religious characters in the 13 character code mailed by the Zodiac Killer the following day (April 20th 1970), when he posed the question "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". Investigators found no forced entry at Robert Salem's apartment, and little appeared to have been taken from the property, other than possibly some money from an open wallet on a shelf. The crime scene appeared to scream of far more than a simple robbery. This opens up the possibility that Robert Salem was murdered by somebody known to him, or somebody that befriended him with common interests. Robert Salem was a lamp designer, whose products had been exhibited in Japan, England and Russia. His apartment certainly showed an Oriental influence, with a Japanese hurricane lamp hanging from the ceiling, tree trunks prominent in the apartment in the style of Japanese tea houses, and he was discovered murdered wearing Oriental lounging clothes on top of a Japanese tatami mat.

Three months after this crime, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, paraphrasing two acts from The Mikado, a Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera set in Japan. The first act he paraphrased was entitled A More Humane Mikado, followed by As Some Day It May Happen, in which victims or society offenders must be found, and who would never be missed. His introduction in the communication detailed how he would torture his victims in paradise, stating in one part: "Others I shall skin them alive + let them run around screaming". In the middle of 1971, the Zodiac Killer would again mention the skinning of victims, when he encrypted the following in his 148 character cipher: "If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin", and wrote in accompaniment to the cipher "Next time I will send a patch of human skin". This is why I found the phrase "Skin A Satanist" very interesting, when from a cryptology standpoint, it satisfied the 13 character code on April 20th 1970, arriving the same day the Robert Salem story broke in the San Francisco Chronicle detailing the "Satan Saves" on the apartment wall. Robert Salem was effectively skinned, when his left ear was severed and taken from the crime scene. On January 29th 1974, the Zodiac Killer would again recite a section from The Mikado, using a verse from Tit-Willow. Not only did he paraphrase the Japanese based opera, but he added some Oriental characters at the foot of the letter. One line in this act reminded me of the introduction in the April 20th 1970 (My Name Is letter). It read "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow", 

Robert Salem was a flamboyant character with an interest in the arts, having been the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco in 1969. Other than the mention of Washington and Maple streets on October 13th 1969, the only other street the Zodiac Killer ever imentioned in his communications (if authentic} was when he mailed a letter to Sergeant John Lynch on October 7th 1969, when he wrote ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. So, was the Zodiac Killer in the apartment of Robert Salem in April 1970?​

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 
THE "SKIN MARKINGS" ON ROBERT SALEM 
​DELIVER UNTO SATAN

​Recently I have been examining the horrific murder of Robert Salem (40), stabbed seven times in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 15th 1970. Robert was a gay man, whose lifestyle may have attracted the attention of the Zodiac Killer or another sick individual, who left many clues at the crime scene to suggest a religious element to the comissmion of this murder. Either that, or the person responsible wanted us to draw this conclusion. The murderer of Robert Salem had written "Satan Saves", "Zodiac", and drawn an Egyptian ankh (or crux ansata/cross surmounted by a loop) in blood on the apartment wall. The same day this story broke in the newspapers, on April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle with a short thirteen character code containing a Christian anchor, Celtic cross (a form of Christian cross) and 888 (the number representing Jesus in Christian numerology). Not only did the Christian element span both crime scene and letter, the ear of Robert Salem was also severed and removed from the crime scene by the killer. The murderer had also drawn a crucifix style design on Robert Salem's stomach. 

In a previous article, it was noted that both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem. However, I couldn't help thinking that the "Satan Saves" element written in blood on the apartment wall had a more important role to play, not only in the fact Robert Salem was homosexual, but in the damage inflicted to his body and the removal of his left ear. So I looked for a bible verse that may have been known to the killer.     

I also had to be mindful that the bible verse was relevant to perceived "sins of the flesh". In other words, the murderer of Robert Salem had an issue with homosexuality, believing it to be satanic, and wanted to deliver him unto Satan to be saved (see left image). Hence the wording "Satan Saves".

1 Corinthians 5:5 featured Paul, who had commanded the Christians in Corinth to remove from among them a man who was sleeping with his father's wife, a form of sexual immorality that even their own pagan culture condemned. The killer of Robert Salem may have considered his lifestyle the devil's work and a form of sexual immorality, that resulted in "destruction of the flesh" as witnessed by investigators at the crime scene. 

I also took the "Satan" element from the apartment wall and combined it with the "destruction of the flesh", to create a relevant solution to the 13-Symbol cipher of "Skin A Satanist". Not only did the Zodiac Killer encipher the word "skin" twice in the 148 character cipher in 1971, but it was relevant to the Robert Salem crime scene in April 1970.

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 
THE "SKIN MARKINGS" ON ROBERT SALEM 

Postmarked Vallejo on Thursday, June 18th 1970, two Oakland A's baseball tickets were mailed to Gerald Tagert of 1423 Roleen Drive in Vallejo, wrapped in a piece of paper with the message "Gift from Zodiac". The tickets for the baseball game were dated Saturday, June 20th 1970. It appeared that "Zodiac" or the impersonator wanted the couple to vacate their house and attend the baseball game in two days time. This communication was not released to the public and has only surfaced in recent years. Just over two years later, on Thursday, June 29th 1972 (and 18 miles west of Roleen Drive), Edward J. Salmina of 25 Crescent Lane, Novato received a death threat signed "Zodiac", stating "If you leave your house past 3:13:47 on the next ten Saturdays, you will be killed". Edward J. Salmina was a sports editor of the Novato Advance newspaper for 33 years and was a staunch baseball fan, who funded and managed the Novato Knicks team, while also having served as a sports correspondent for The Examiner newspaper. The specific threat on Salmina to not leave his house on ten consecutive Saturdays was almost certainly connected to his management of the Novato Knicks baseball team, thereby preventing his coaching of the team during this period of time.

We have two June communications separated by two years, both extremely brief in nature and connected to baseball, with both signed by the pseudonym "Zodiac" and mailed on the Thursday before the Saturday in question. Each letter was focused on the Saturday, The Oakland A's tickets were chosen for Saturday, June 20th 1970, encouraging the recipients to leave their house on 1423 Roleen Drive and attend the baseball game, whereas the letter to Edward J. Salmina on June 29th 1972 was encouraging him not to leave his house on the next ten Saturdays (and probably threatening him not to attend the baseball). The second author in 1972, if different to the one in 1970, could never have imitated the original threat without inside knowledge.       

Particular dates were the overriding focus of each letter, involving eleven Saturdays in total. The only other time the Zodiac Killer made reference to a specific date he would kill, is when he mailed the trinity of communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, July 31st 1969, stating to the Chronicle that  "the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner. I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity. 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". These specific threats to kill, again occurring on a Thursday, just one or two days before the intended premise of the letter.

The 1972 Novato letter threatening to kill Edward J. Salmina contained a series of symbols under the heading "message" (believed to be a short code). This is extremely interesting, because the next letter we know of (claimed to be from Zodiac) also contained a short code, while claiming he would kill on a specific date. The author of the Albany letter, mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York on August 1st 1973 and targeting the Albany Medical Center, promised to "kill her on August 10th at 5:00pm". The author of this letter gave a specific time he would murder, just like the author of the Novato letter who stated "If you leave your house past 3:13:47 on the next ten Saturdays, you will be killed". This was unique to both these letters. Although the Albany message was issued on a Wednesday for a week Friday, it was again issued with time being the central focus. The two 1970 Oakland A's tickets bore a time and date, the 1972 Novato letter bore a time and ten dates, as did the Albany letter in 1973. All three letters were aimed at a specific individual - Gerald Tagert, Edward J.Salmina and Connie Henly (from the decoded portion).

Mike Rodelli is convinced that DNA will not solve the Zodiac case because the authenticated letters were not licked by the sender. Mike Rodelli spoke to Alan Keel in 2007, who was a Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department from 1996 to 1999. He gave Mike Rodelli the following information: "that there were two letters in possession of the department that, in contrast to the "true" Zodiac letters, had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells on them, that DNA was easily extracted from these two letters, and that the DNA extracted from these two letters matched between them. These two letters were considered forgeries, since the "true" Zodiac verifiable letters had not been licked by the sender". According to Mike, Alan Keel had "analyzed two letters, one of which is the 1978 'forgery', and finds that this letter and one of the 1974 letters are loaded with saliva and cells. He then easily extracts DNA from both of these letters using the more primitive DNA technology of that time and finds that the DNA matches between those two letters, thus proving that one person sent both".

On October 29th 2021, Mike Rodelli stated on the Zodiac Killer message board "The fact remains that in 2007 Keel told me, as he had told Lafferty before me, that there is a 1974 forgery based on DNA and the ONLY 1974 letter that had been tested for the presence of cells during Keel's tenure (as demonstrated by the DNA chart that I believe Keel made in about 2000) was the Exorcist letter. This is not rocket science.  Even if it is not the Exorcist letter that Keel was talking about, it IS a candidate as being a forgery whose DNA matches the 1978 letter based on the information in the chart".

In his book, The Hunt For Zodiac, he stated "Now there was DNA proof that whoever had penned the April 1978 letter had also penned one of the 1974 letters. And apparently it was not Zodiac. According to the chart of DNA testing results compiled by SFPD's lab in ca. 2000, the only one of the 1974 letters that had been tested by Keel up to that time was the January Exorcist letter. This was the letter that had a swarm of palm prints on it. This created an interesting dilemma that lends credence to the possibility that this is a forged letter. Zodiac had penned a dozen letters prior to writing the Exorcist letter and had never left even a single palm print on them. So why had he suddenly and carelessly taken off his glove(s) to write this one and leave a virtual montage of his palms all over it. From that standpoint alone, it makes sense that someone else may have written the Exorcist letter, its bizarre content notwithstanding. While it is possible that one of the other three letters was tested for DNA subsequent to the compilation of the DNA summary chart that Keel had assembled, I believe that on balance the most likely candidate for being the 1974 forgery is the Exorcist letter until proven otherwise". Mike Rodelli is almost certainly correct that the 1974 Exorcist letter is overwhelmingly the most likely DNA match for the 1978 letter (because it was the only tested in the DNA chart), but here is the almost certain proof that neither the 1974 Exorcist or April 1978 letter were forgeries. 
​
Take a look at the address style, spacing and handwriting of the Exorcist letter envelope (below), and compare it to the two April 1970 communications (in particular the Dragon Card envelope). These two April 1970 envelopes had not been publicly released by 1974. They were the only confirmed Zodiac communications to use the address style of San Fran (dot) Chronicle prior to January 29th 1974. The January 29th 1974 author (if a hoaxer) could never have produced such similarity, or had knowledge of the address style of the April 1970 communications. But the real Zodiac Killer could have. 

​Mike Rodelli is confident that the SLA letter mailed in 1974 was authored by the Zodiac Killer, stating "Envelopes: This is where the rubber truly meets the road in this discussion and where we can see that it is unlikely that anyone but Zodiac wrote the SLA letter. When you look at the hand printing on the SLA letter in a vacuum, it certainly does not jump off the page to me that it was penned by Zodiac. But when you take a close look at the envelope, that is a different story". Mike then gave me a list of envelopes here, to compare with the SLA envelope. If Mike is confident that these comparisons strongly argue for the SLA letter being Zodiac, there is no way he can argue against the Exorcist letter envelope being the same author as the two April 1970 communications (particularly the Dragon Card). If the two April 1970 communications are genuine Zodiac, then so is the Exorcist letter. If the Exorcist letter is genuine, and the argument in favor of the Exorcist letter DNA matching the 1978 letter DNA by Mike Rodelli is correct, then the 1978 letter is genuine too. 

In the link above, Mike Rodelli argued that the writing on the SLA envelope is consistent with the Stine envelope, 340 envelope, Bus Bomb envelope and Kathleen Johns envelope, stating "It's hard to look at these envelopes and not see the similarities. And note that the November 8, 1969 envelope contained a piece of Stine's shirt, thus proving its authorship as being from Zodiac. There it is in black and white. So the evidence seems to show that, regardless of the timing and his reason for being in Los Angeles on February 3, 1974 (assuming that the letter was posted from there on that date), it was, in fact, the Zodiac killer who sent the SLA letter, not the SLA itself, which, once again, would not have benefitted from its contents. Nor is there any reason why they would have benefitted from imitating Zodiac's handwriting on the envelope but not attributing the enclosed later to him".

Again, if Mike Rodelli is claiming these envelope comparisons are good proof the SLA letter is genuine, he now cannot with any good conscience claim that the comparisons between the Exorcist envelope and the two April 1970 envelopes are not equally as good. Especially when the April 28th 1970 envelope had never been released into the public domain for the author of the Exorcist envelope to copy (not only the handwriting, but the format of San Fran (dot) Chronicle). This being the case, Mike Rodelli (based on his statements) must now accept that the Exorcist letter and SLA letter are genuine Zodiac correspondence. Therefore, if Alan Keel is correct and the 1978 letter DNA matches one of the 1974 communications, we are left with the Badlands card or Red Phantom letter for Mike Rodelli to choose from. But this is what happens to the SLA envelope when we add the "tails" from the Red Phantom envelope. Bearing in mind the SLA envelope wasn't available for the author of the Red Phantom envelope to copy, the writing is virtually indistinguishable from one another, along with a single comma and address format. If Mike Rodelli finds "It hard to look at the envelopes he suggested and not see the similarities to the SLA envelope", he cannot fail to see the similarity between the SLA envelope and Red Phantom envelope. If he believes that the SLA letter was authored by the Zodiac Killer, he now must accept (using his arguments) that the Red Phantom letter was authored by the Zodiac Killer as well. Fortunately, in his book he does.    

However, in his book Hunt For the Zodiac, he also makes an extended case for the Badlands letter being the Zodiac Killer, stating "In it (the Badlands letter), the anonymous author is accepted based on hand printing as having once again been Zodiac". So, Mike Rodelli is arguing that the SLA letter, Badlands card and Red Phantom letter are genuine Zodiac, but the Exorcist letter is the one he questions most. But if he accepts the arguments he has given for these communications being authentic Zodiac (including the SLA envelope handwriting), he can only come to the conclusion that the Exorcist letter is genuine too. We can therefore conclude, using Mike Rodelli's own words, that if Alan Keel showed a DNA match between the 1978 letter and one of the 1974 letters (and all the 1974 letters are genuine), then the Zodiac Killer licked the envelopes and stamps on the 1978 letter, Exorcist letter, SLA letter, Badlands card and Red Phantom letter. In other words, he never used tap water. The only way that Mike Rodelli can maintain the claims made at the beginning of this article, is to say the comparisons between the two April 1970 envelopes and the Exorcist envelope are not as valid as the comparisons he has made between the SLA envelope and the four envelopes he listed. In good faith, that argument cannot be made. The reality is, that the Exorcist letter is genuine Zodiac correspondence, and contrary to the arguments Mike Rodelli has made. 

I asked Druzer, a Zodiac researcher who contributes to both Zodiac forums, to send me a series of questions that I could incorporate into the next Zodiac Speaking podcast on June 4th 2022 for Mike Morford to tackle. However, because he devoted a lot of time compiling these questions and there wouldn't be enough time to address them all in the next podcast, I decided to answer the majority of them here myself. ​The topics covered are confined to the four canonical attacks at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights, in respect to the victims and eyewitnesses in the case. Running time: 30m 17s.  

Robert Michael Salem was stabbed seven times and murdered in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 15th 1970. His body was discovered by friends from the nearby San Franciscan Hotel on April 19th 1970 when they realized they hadn't seen Robert Salem for several days. Investigators found a gruesome scene, with the blood of Robert Salem having been used to scrawl the words "Satan Saves" and "Zodiac" on the apartment wall, accompanied by a drawing of the ancient Egyptian ankh symbol. The ankh symbol, as detailed in the newspapers, was also "drawn on Salem's stomach". Whether the symbol on Robert Salem's stomach had been carved into his flesh or "drawn" on by a marker pen cannot be ascertained by this wording alone, but clearly this symbol held some significance to the person who perpetrated this murder (or wanted us to believe it did).

The ankh (key of life) was commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife. The ankh was one of the most common decorative motifs in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures. Coptic Christians adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than oval loop (as seen in the image above), and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. The message of "Satan Saves" rather than "Jesus Saves", along with a crucifix style cross, gives the strong impression of a murder with religious connotations, bearing in mind the anti-gay and intolerant Christian attitudes that permeated society in 1970 (and to a lesser extent today). Robert Salem was a gay man, who may have unfortunately attracted somebody with the belief he was a sinner or non-believer - and hence the sarcastic message of "Satan Saves" and the "key of life" being drawn on his stomach. Clearly, the person who drew the symbol and writing, was portraying a message to the viewer (whether a belief sincerely held or not).

This idea was exacerbated by the Zodiac Killer's use of three circled eights (Jesus in Christian numerology) and the "anchor" symbol  in his April 20th 1970 letter. The word "anchor" has the same phonetic root as the Egyptian "Ankh", and Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. Maybe significant, was the fact the ankh symbol or crux ansata featured twice at the Robert Salem crime scene, which Christians used as a variant for the Christian cross (seen as a representation of the crucifixion of Jesus on a large wooden cross). Bearing in mind the crucifix style design in blood on the wall of Robert Salem, coupled with his unusual injuries, it was important to examine if any correlation between the two existed (no matter how unlikely). 

The most unusual and notable features inflicted to the body of Robert Salem, were the crucifix style design "drawn" on his stomach and the removal of his left ear. Both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem.

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 

All of the Zodiac letters were hand printed up to December 10th 1969, when the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer pasted horoscope was mailed to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. This horoscope page contained more information than visible in the versions shown on the internet. The FBI files state The handwritten notations on Q40 in the wording "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." could not be associated with any of the other questioned material in this case (because it was cursive handwriting and not non-cursive/hand printed). It is noted in this regard that the writing on the other specimens in this matter is hand printed and that the notations on Q40 are very limited.  

​This means that the limited handwriting contained within the message "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." was redacted from the image we are accustomed to. It appears that the pasted FLT 555 was referring to "Flight 555" after all. Very likely from San Francisco at 7:00PM, according to the sender. Howard Davis of the Zodiac/Manson website, reported that Drew Peterson relayed information about a reporter who found a United Flight 555 that flew from San Francisco to San Diego every Wednesday at 7:30pm, tying in with the "Birds Fly South" pasted text on the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication. This almost lines up with the notation of  Flight 555 SF. 700 PM (using a viniculum under 00), which was written on the horoscope page (Q40). The mailing date of the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts were both on a Wednesday. Howard Davis has toyed with the idea that the Zodiac Killer was giving hints he was more than capable of traveling to San Diego, where on February 4th 1964 at Ocean Beach, Johnny & Joyce Swindle were murdered by a sniper alongside the seafront. Bolinas Lagoon (where Leona Roberts body was found) and San Diego Bay are also both key sites in the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds.

Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at approximately 6:00pm on December 10th 1969, and her naked body was found on December 28th 1969 by an elderly man collecting driftwood near Bolinas Lagoon. The coroner estimated she had been alive 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This suggests she was murdered (or had died in captivity) sometime between December 18th and December 24th 1969. Authorities said it was impossible the body could have been dumped into the bay on the east side and floated through the Golden Gate Bridge. The man collecting driftwood discovered Leona Roberts body on a beach near Bolinas Lagoon - so the location was possibly the southeastern section of Stinson Beach or Red Rock Beach (which is slightly lower on the map below). However, Red Rock Beach can only be accessed by a very steep trail from Shoreline Highway, making it a very unlikely deposition site in absence of the body being thrown from the clifftop. Stinson Beach has many houses along its shoreline (even in 1969), so it could be argued that somebody disposing of a dead naked woman at this location, would probably have chosen the southeastern edge of Stinson Beach, which was devoid of residences. But why choose this location at all? 

If the killer had traveled westwards to this location and used Shoreline Highway, there are innumerable turnouts, clifftops and wooded areas before you reach Stinson Beach, near Bolinas Lagoon. In fact, there is in excess of 10 miles of winding road before you reach Stinson Beach, where a body could have been secreted quite easily. So why would you pass all these potential dump sites and place Leona Roberts on an open beach, unless you wanted her found and was making a statement? The same argument can be applied to somebody approaching by vehicle on the northern side of Bolinas Lagoon - unless she had been deposited in the water at a different location and the currents carried her to Stinson Beach (or somewhere nearby).  

​If the estimates of her time of death are fairly accurate, then we have a scenario where a woman is kidnapped, kept alive for 8 to 14 days (18th to 24th December), before being found 4 to 10 days later. It is highly unlikely her dead body had been on Stinson Beach, unnoticed for several days. So had it washed up recently, or had the killer dumped the body on the beach shortly before it was found, having stored it for several days?  There are two viable options: either she was deliberately placed on a beach somewhere near Bolinas Lagoon by her killer, or she was thrown into the water at a secondary location and was carried by the currents to the location she was found on December 28th 1969.

Associated articles: A Very Unlikely Zodiac Murder and Did Zodiac Call on January 4th 1970?

Steph 54: On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus." The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction. Articles reported the coroner's theory that Leona had been kept bound for a period of time, died as a result of the viral infection, and was disposed of by her abductor(s). Pathological and toxicological tests did not find any drugs or alcohol in her system.

Leona Roberts was abducted on December 10th 1969, in tandem with a communication of pasted words that contained "Zodiac", "Watch" and "Birds Fly South". This communication, eighteen days in advance of her body being discovered, highlighted the word "Watch" in the largest letters, and significant bearing in mind a unique wristwatch was reported missing from the girl's wrist on December 28th 1969. She was also found at Bolinas Lagoon, so the "Birds Fly South" phrase may have some meaning when we consider that Bolinas Lagoon is a major north-south Pacific flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. 

​The coroner also noted marks on her wrists and ankles, suggestive of somebody being bound. The two sinister communications on December 10th and 11th - obviously mailed by the same author - were horoscope forecasts, with the second communication possibly a play on words using the name of Leona Roberts. It was entitled  Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo. The fact that this author facilitated the use of forecasts in accompaniment to the word "Leo", when her body took eighteen days to surface, with the coroner estimating her death 10 to 14 days after her abduction, is some forecast. ​

The Zodiac Killer had claimed seven victims on November 9th 1969, but he didn't (assuming it was Zodiac) raise this victim count in the two forecast letters on December 10/11. He also made no change to his victim count in the two Fairfield letters mailed on December 7th and 16th. Yet he did raise his victim count to 8 on December 20th 1969, when he stated "I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom". This could imply the Zodiac Killer claimed his eighth victim between December 16th and December 20th 1969 - very close to the estimated time of death of Leona Roberts. The estimation of death with increased time is obviously more difficult to pinpoint, so it's perfectly feasible an error of just one or two days, places her time of death between the period Zodiac's victim count increased to eight. The two forecast letters were never publicly released, making the threatening "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer (18) on January 4th 1970, who lived behind the apartment where Leona Roberts was abducted, a further uncanny coincidence.   

The Zodiac Killer claimed the Snoozy & Furlong murders in his Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969, before going on to write a letter to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969, and making a phone call to the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969. This was likely done to cement the notion in investigators minds of his involvement in the Snoozy & Furlong murders in San Jose, despite the fact he had no hand in their demise. 

Leona Roberts (16) disappeared from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at around 6:00pm on December 10th 1969. Her disappearance coincided with a pasted communication on the same date from Sacramento, dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, which contained the pasted word "Zodiac". The following day, on December 11th 1969, a second pasted communication postmarked San Francisco and dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, could have been a play on "Leona" Roberts name and fate, bearing in mind she wasn't murdered for at least 11 to 14 days. Her body was found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969.

These two pasted horoscope communications were not publicly released, yet somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer just happened to phone Peggy Trainer (18) and claim she would be his next victim. Peggy Trainer lived directly behind the apartment where Leona Roberts disappeared from.

Therefore, we have two sinister communications on December 10th and 11th containing the pseudonym "Zodiac" and the "Forecast for Leo", along with a potential "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer on January 4th 1970, who was a neighbor to the apartment where Leona Roberts was last seen alive. Did the person who rang Peggy Trainer claiming to be Zodiac, if different from the author of the December 10/11 communications, just get lucky attaching the pseudonym "Zodiac" close to an abduction site, that coincided with a "Zodiac" communication mailed on Leona Roberts abduction date? Or were the communications and caller the same person, separated by 24 days? 

Thank you to Gavin Fish from True Crime on Youtube for supplying me with this newspaper article from the Contra Costa Times, dated January 7th 1970.