It has been stated that one of the keys depicted in the Eureka card mailed in December 1990 was traced to its once owner, Chester Clark Klingel. The question that has arisen is: if the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, how did he acquire the post office box key of Chester Clark Klingel in order to photocopy it? If the Zodiac Killer didn't find the key and trace its owner, then the logical conclusion is that at some point he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel. After Chester married his wife, Blandina, in 1965, they visited relatives regularly in Turlock, before they purchased property at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson, California in 1973 (now Alpine Pacific Nut Company). They eventually sold this property and bought a 20-acre ranch from walnut huller, Glenn DeLay in 1976. This is the only tenuous link that can be forged between Chester Clark Klingel and the Zodiac Killer, who, if we believe abducted Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970, may have been traveling back to Vallejo from the Turlock or Hughson area that night. Additional link.

​Although the Kathleen Johns abduction occurred three years before the Klingels purchased the property in E Keyes Road and six years before the second purchase, the Zodiac Killer could have had family or friends, or had business dealings in Turlock or Hughson, that required him traveling there from the Bay Area before and after the Kathleen Johns abduction. If he had visited this area of California in 1970, he could have visited it regularly pre and post March 22nd 1970 - possibly into the 1980s and 1990s, where he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel in a personal or professional capacity. The route that Kathleen Johns took on March 22nd 1970 had her traveling northwest on Highway 99, through Turlock and near Hughson, California, before reaching Modesto and heading west on Highway 132. In fact, E Keyes Road passed over the top of Highway 99, with the 15-acre farm at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson situated less than two miles from Highway 99.

If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Kathleen Johns abduction in 1970, and had lived in the Bay Area during this period, it's very unlikely he would have taken a 170-mile round trip to an isolated stretch of road just to commit this type of crime, that he could have committed anywhere. This opens up the possibility he may have had reason to be in Turlock or Hughson pre and post 1970 (possibly business related). However slim, is there a chance that the Zodiac Killer trailed Kathleen Johns from Highway 99 somewhere in the region of Turlock or Hughson, or could he have traveled from this area and randomly come across Kathleen Johns as they both drove along Highway 132 at approximately 11:15pm?. Any continuing journeys to the Turlock region subsequent to the night of March 22nd 1970 may have facilitated the opportunity for the Zodiac Killer and Chester Clark Klingel to have crossed paths with one another. According to the obituary of Chester Clark Klingel, he remained in Turlock until the death of his wife Blandina on September 9th 1993, when he sold the farm and moved to Eureka. Therefore, it is entirely plausible that the Zodiac Killer 'acquired' and photocopied the post office box key from Chester in the years up to and including 1990, while Chester lived in Turlock, California.

On January 29th 1974, a letter was mailed from either San Mateo or Santa Clara County to the San Francisco Chronicle by the Zodiac Killer for the first time. The letter (minus the Asian symbols) was published in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on January 31st 1974, but the envelope was not released into the public domain prior to the arrival of the April 24th 1978 letter. Up to 1978, every single Zodiac communication that carried the *Please Rush to Editor" message on the reverse side of the envelope was either written in diagonal fashion or not contained on one line - except for one - which was written using a single line and was parallel to the upper and lower edges of the envelope. That was the Paul Stine envelope (containing the shirt piece) mailed on October 13th 1969, which was also withheld from the public domain prior to April 24th 1978.

​The only available envelope addressed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper that the 1978 letter author had available for them to mimic, was the November 8th 1969 envelope released in a newspaper article on November 16th 1970. This newspaper article clearly shows the front and back of the envelope, with "Please Rush to Editor" written in level fashion on the front of the envelope and in diagonal fashion on the rear of the envelope. The author of the 1978 envelope seemingly did an excellent job mimicking the handwriting on the front side of the November 8th 1969 envelope, yet inexplicably failed to write "Please Rush to Editor" in level fashion on the front of their 1978 envelope. Additionally, the author of the 1978 envelope failed to write "Please Rush to Editor" in diagonal fashion on the rear of the envelope, again failing to mimic the November 8th 1969 envelope - instead opting to mimic the Paul Stine letter which was never released into the public domain. In fact, the 1978 envelope was the only communication connected to the Zodiac Killer with the writing "Please Rush to Editor" in diagonal fashion on the front of an envelope. This copycat certainly wasn't very observant - apparently losing his train of thought from one side of the envelope to the other. Also, according to investigators, the author of the 1978 letter managed to mail the communication from either San Mateo or Santa Clara County, just like the Exorcist letter, four years earlier. Strange how he apparently never forgot that.

Pop over to Gavin Fish True Crime on Youtube in the new year for a "video a day to commemorate the solving of the 340 cipher" by David Oranchak, Jarl Van Eycke and Sam Blake on December 3rd 2020. Gavin will cover the crimes of the Zodiac Killer, as well as some of the unsolved murders, believed by many Zodiac researchers to be connected to the infamous Bay Area murderer. 

​If general true crime is your interest, Gavin has many more videos including the murders of Ellen Greenberg, Gabby Petito, Shelbey Thornburgh, Amanda Wienckowski and Father Joe Moreno, along with other videos analyzing the forensic tools used in modern day crime fighting. Visit his channel and give him your support.   

Gavin Fish True Crime   

According to Zodiac researcher Mike Rodelli, criminalist Alan Keel stated that DNA matched between the 1978 letter and one of the 1974 letters (almost certainly the Exorcist letter). It has been shown recently that the Exorcist letter is without doubt authentic Zodiac correspondence, so if Alan Keel is correct, then the 1978 letter is genuine too. We don't actually need the DNA match that has been accredited to Alan Keel, because comparisons between the Melvin Belli letter and 1978 letter, along with the indented writing analysis, is good enough reason to validate the 1978 letter.

​The one thing we know about the Zodiac Killer was his eagerness to follow the newspaper coverage about his crimes and communications, often responding directly in subsequent letters to the San Francisco Chronicle. Being a narcissist, there is every chance the Zodiac Killer kept news cuttings of his escapades, just like many narcissistic trends on social media today. This may explain why he was able to respond to law enforcement quotes in the newspapers after eight years had passed (unless the following is a coincidence). One such example was the 1986 'Freeway' letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on May 6th 1986. This letter began, "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am still out here and crack proof". This is what Inspector David Toschi stated in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 26th 1978 after the arrival of the latest Zodiac letter. Was the introduction in the 1986 letter a response to Inspector David Toschi after an eight year hiatus?            

This is what Inspector David Toschi said to the San Francisco Chronicle on August 26th 1976, the same day a Zodiac "Deep Real Estate" advertisement was placed in the personal column of the newspaper.  

In fact, the 1978 letter may have been a response to the above article, when the Zodiac wrote "Tell herb caen I am here".

This excerpt (left) was taken from the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31st 1974 after the arrival of the Exorcist letter two days earlier. It tells you that law enforcement believed the letter was mailed in either San Mateo county or Santa Clara county. Roll forward just over four years later with the arrival of the 1978 letter, that many believed to be an idle and lazy hoaxer who just mimicked the handwriting from previous Zodiac communications.

The letter and envelope of the 1978 letter was examined by law enforcement. Here is what was written in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1978: "Toschi said yesterday that the common, while envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". Law enforcement, at the time, considered this the first contact from the Zodiac Killer since he last wrote the Exorcist letter in January, 1974. If this analysis by law enforcement is correct, then the individual who mailed the 1978 letter, mailed it from the same location as the Exorcist letter, separated by just over four years. They say old habits die hard.      

Here is the private investigator's report regarding the disappearance of Donna Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 6th 1970, conducted on behalf of her family (Mary Pilker). Although conflicting in parts, hopefully it will shed some more light on the 51-year-old case into the missing nurse from Stateline, Nevada. Donna Ann Lass (25), ​born November 3rd 1944 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was last seen nearing the end of her shift at the nurses station in the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino (now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino), where she was employed as a nurse. A few months earlier, in June, she had moved to South Lake Tahoe from 4122 Balboa Street in San Francisco, having previously worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, located north of the Paul Stine murder scene. Her residence in San Francisco was located 2.66 miles (as the crow flies) from the intersection of Washington and Cherry streets, where she roomed with Jo Anne Goettsche and Carol Emerich. On September 5th 1970 she was scheduled to work her evening/night shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, but was logged out shortly before 2:00 am that morning for the last time.  
​
The investigator's report will also be available on Michael Morford's Zodiac Killer Net forum.
PODCAST 21: An interview with Jo Anne Goettsche, followed by a discussion about the interview and the private investigator's report (shown below). Podcast running time 2hr 14m 15s. LINK.
​            CLICK THE EXPAND ICON TO VIEW THIS DOCUMENT IN FULL SCREEN 

On April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer referenced the Park Police Station bombing in San Francisco and the resulting death of Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970. Eight days later, he mailed the Dragon card to the San Francisco Chronicle asking them to publish the workings of his bus bomb with all the details, with failure to do so resulting in him having his blast. The Zodiac Killer informed the San Francisco Chronicle that he would like to see some nice Zodiac buttons around town. On June 26th 1970, the Zodiac Killer had become upset because the people of San Francisco had not complied with his wishes to wear some nice Zodiac buttons, but had to delay his bombing of a school bus until the Fall, as school was out for the summer. However, he supplied us with a map of San Francisco & Vicinity, stating  "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". So, it's a real head-scratcher where the bomb was to be set? Was it San Francisco by any chance? Or was Fayçal Ziraoui correct when he identified a school in South Lake Tahoe, that wasn't even present on the Phillips 66 Map that Zodiac provided? Many have asked whether it is possible to find the location of the bomb without the extra clues he provided in the Little List letter on July 26th 1970 of "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians". Clearly the Zodiac Killer thought it was, when he mailed the map and code on June 26th 1970.

From the above sarcasm, it is reasonable to conclude that the target was a school bus in San Francisco. So how do we find that location? The crosshairs he placed on the map where "0 was to be set to Mag.N", along with the clock face numerals, are a good indication that we must travel around the circumference of Mount Diablo and measure a certain distance from it. However, we can't use individual degrees as a measurement tool, because any number of degrees can fall over the land mass of San Francisco from north to south (and there isn't enough information on the map to conclude which number of degrees is correct). Therefore, we have to find an angular measurement where only one answer exists. If somebody had looked up radians in 1970, they would have concluded that only the whole measurement of 4 radians and magnetic north can fall inside the land mass of San Francisco between its northernmost and southernmost tips. No other radian value can fall within San Francisco. This would have to be the starting point. 

The map scale was in inches and miles, however, the answer could not be in miles because any number of miles can fall inside the land mass of San Francisco between its easternmost and westernmost tips. But using the map scale of 6.4 miles to the inch, only the whole measurment of 5 inches can possibly fall inside the land mass of San Francisco. Had somebody concluded the measurements in radians and inches immediately after receiving the Phillips 66 Map in 1970 using the scant information provided by the Zodiac Killer, then one month later when the Little List letter arrived stating "PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians", they would likely have been taken seriously. The lack of information on the map meant that we had to be looking for measurements where only one answer was possible for the angle and distance. That answer was whole numbers of radians and inches over San Francisco. Since the code concerned radians and inches, it could be concluded that placing "four radians and five inches" in the code was the obvious choice, before finding the meaning behind the remaining eight characters that painted the full picture. The location the Zodiac Killer selected to claim his bomb placement was a function of roadside, school bus and San Francisco Police Department - so was very unlikely to satisfy such an exact measurement. 

The Zodiac Killer appeared to be using Mount Diablo as a reference point as early as November 9th 1969, when he mailed the Bus Bomb letter and supplied us with some crosshairs and five X's on its circumference. Using this diagram it is possible to determine that the Zodiac Killer was identifying Mount Diablo as his initial or center point. Mount Diablo was used for the purpose of land boundaries in the majority of Northern California and Nevada, with the summit used as the "initial point", the north/south meridian and the east/west baseline intersection point. However, because of the vastness of California, surveying required three "initial points" of Mount Diablo, Mount Pierce and the San Bernardino Mountain to form grid lines. The Zodiac Killer knew the prominence of Mount Diablo from an elevation standpoint, but very likely knew some of the history from a navigational perspective  - and why he chose this mountain as his "initial point".

In the Dripping Pen card the Zodiac Killer was claiming the brutal stabbings of Kathie Reyne Snoozy & Debra Gaye Furlong on August 3rd 1969. On November 12th 1969, somebody featured in the San Francisco Chronicle used the San Jose double murder in their analysis of the Bus Bomb letter crosshairs, very likely concluding the "initial point" was Mount Diablo, without actually referring to the mountain by name. When you look at the five X's around the circumference, it's fairly obvious that they all sit on the left side of the crosshairs center (from 180 degrees to 330 degrees). They were positioned at 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 on a clock face. Therefore, the "initial point" must be to the east of all the confirmed attack sites. When we attempt to line up the uppermost X with the Zodiac Killer's uppermost crime at Lake Berryessa, it becomes quickly apparent that only one position satisfies four of the X's on the circumference, and that one X represents both Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs. If we draw a line through the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attack sites, the line passes directly over the summit of Mount Diablo and beyond. By moving the crosshairs "initial point" along this line, we can see that only one position satisfies at least four of the X's.     

The Zodiac Killer only gave us a rough drawing of his crosshairs, so any interpretation must take this into account. The above diagram, centered over Mount Diablo, lines up the five locations the Zodiac Killer was claiming as his murders (Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa, San Francisco and San Jose). The (unaccounted for) red line above, travels directly over the Salesian High School of Daniel Williams, who Zodiac targeted from October 23rd 1969 to November 5th 1969 by prowling his house, poisoning his drink, making malicious phone calls, and threatening to shoot him via the Martinez Police Department. His subtle threats continued in the Dripping Pen card and Bus Bomb letter, explained thoroughly in the article The Quest For Number Eight. This is why he wrote "PS. Be Shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing" next to the crosshairs on the Bus Bomb letter. That "thing" was a threatened attack on Salesian High School, depicted by the red line on the map. The orange line shows Magnetic North of 16.5 to 17.0 degrees in 1969. The tilted crosshairs are slightly shy of this mark. But remember, the Zodiac Killer only drew us a rough guide in his correspondence. These Bus Bomb crosshairs were the precursor to the Mount Diablo map on June 26th 1970, when the Zodiac Killer again used the mountain's "initial point" as a directional tool, but this time to locate a proposed bus bomb on the Southern Freeway by Ingleside Police Station, using four radians and five inches. The Mount Diablo Map and Code Solution.     

The Zodiac Killer's 38 character code may be solved by examining three of his other ciphers (two solved and one unsolved), including the day he mailed the first Fairfield letter in December. The Z340 (November 8th 1969), Z38 (December 7th 1969), Z13 (April 20th 1970) and Z148 (probably May 3rd 1971) all have one other date in common - October 22nd 1969.

[1] The Z340 (November 8th 1969) was a response to the October 22nd 1969 Jim Dunbar Show, stating that the person who phoned into the show was effectively an imposter or phony, encoding a contemporary message and using wording similar to the headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 24th 1969. The 340 message read, in part "That wasn't me on the TV Show", mimicking the headlines of "That Wasn't Zodiac, Say 3 Who Know" and "It Wasn't Zodiac, Say 3 Who Know". He also responded to the Jim Dunbar Show and the October 23rd 1969 Chronicle article, entitled "A TV Runaround With Zodiac Calls", in which "Belli told Sam he'd attempt to get a promise from District Attorney John J. Ferdon that Zodiac would be spared the gas chamber if convicted of murder". The Zodiac Killer responded in code that he was "not afraid of the gas chamber".​ 

​[2] The Z148 code (probably mailed May 3rd 1971) was again contemporary in nature, and a response to the police arrest and interview of Karl Francis Werner on April 29th 1971. Three newspaper articles ran with the headlines "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of Three Girls", "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls" and "Youth Arraigned in Knife Slayings of Three Girls". The Zodiac Killer encoded these headlines in his 148 character cipher by promising to "skin three kids and make a suit from the skin" if his latest letter was not published. He also encoded the statement "stop listening to phonys" in the Z148, referring to both Karl Francis Werner (who was being interviewed for the Snoozy & Furlong murders on August 3rd 1969, to which the Zodiac Killer had already claimed as his victims) and Eric Weill (who phoned into the Jim Dunbar Show at least twice, claiming to be Zodiac}. The second phone call was reported in San Francisco Chronicle on February 6th 1970, entitled "Talk Show's 'Zodiac' Caller a Phony", with Inspector David Toschi pitching in: "Homicide detectives later listened to a tape recording of the conversation and concluded that Sam was a phony. It most certainly was not Zodiac, said Inspector David Toschi".  The headlines of the October 24th 1969 and February 6th 1970 Chronicle articles both placed within the encoded text of the Z340 and Z148.

[3] The Zodiac Killer mailed the Z13 on April 20th 1970, very likely a response to the October 22nd 1969 article in the San Francisco Examiner, entitled "Cipher Expert Dares Zodiac to Tell Name". It read "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, which will truly and honestly include his name". The Zodiac responded on April 20th 1970 by stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is___ " The letters N, A, M and E could be found in the ciphertext of the code.

[4] The Z38 mailed on December 7th 1969 began with "This is the Zodiac speaking. I just need help", mimicking the caller (Eric Weill) to the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. It is clear that this cry for help was a disingenuous attempt at ridicule from a killer who either listened to the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, or read the subsequent newspaper articles. On October 22nd 1969, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Belli was put on the line, and the voice said "I want help". On October 23rd 1969, the Desert Sun newspaper claimed that Melvin Belli told the caller “All of San Francisco wants to help you. The hand is out, you can feel the hands out.” On the same day of December 7th 1969, we have a man mailing a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle mocking the call to the Jim Dunbar Show by stating "I just need help", followed a few hours later by a call to an Oklahoma radio station by a man doing an awfully good impression of the man who rang the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. This impressionist caller could possibly be the Zodiac Killer mocking the Jim Dunbar Show, just as he had done in the letter earlier that day.

​Therefore, we have the Z340 (November 8th 1969), Z38 (December 7th 1969), Z13 (April 20th 1970) and Z148 (probably May 3rd 1971), all relevant to the date of October 22nd 1969. Bearing in mind the Z38 carried the same four and five characters from the beginning and the end of the 340 cipher, along with the observations above, we could expect the Z38 message to be somehow related to these other ciphers. The message may very well lie in the newspaper inches from October 22nd 1969 to December 7th 1969 - and may be related to the Jim Dunbar TV Show yet again. 

On December 18th 2021, the Zodiac Speaking podcast will be releasing an interview with Jo Anne Goettsche, former roommate of Donna Lass at 4122 Balboa Street in San Francisco. It is approximately 55 minutes running time.

​Interviewed by Mike Morford, she talks frankly about her recollections of Donna Lass and the relevant time period before and after September 6th 1970, having traveled to South Lake Tahoe the day of her disappearance to spend a couple of days sightseeing with Donna. Unfortunately, that meeting never transpired, and Donna Lass was never seen again. We will also discuss a private investigator's report, provided to the family of Donna Lass by the investigator they hired. The season finishing podcast should be an interesting listen of about 90-120 minutes. So don't forget to tune in on December 18th.           

To indent writing is to begin text with a blank space between it and the margin

Take a look at the the four consecutive known letters from April 24th 1978, May 2nd 1978, May 6th 1986 and October 28th 1987, shown below. Now imagine these are from different authors hoaxing Zodiac letters. All four managed to use "indented writing" on the opening introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking", which was never used prior to 1978 in any of the four published introductions in the San Francisco Chronicle (or in any Zodiac communications). This means that despite having the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction available for them to mimic, all four (or multiple) authors failed to keep the introduction in line with the text beneath it (signifying a consistent change in pattern). Subsequent to the introduction, all four authors also began with the personal pronouns of "I" and "You".  In three of these the text begins with "I". All of these three examples fail to use correct punctuation between "speaking" and "I". Ideally, these two words should be separated with a comma or full stop (period), but in every instance the author fails to do so, just like the authenticated Melvin Belli letter from December 20th 1969, an image of which was not available to the author of the 1978 letter (if they were a hoaxer). This should prove beyond any reasonable doubt we are dealing with one author who penned the December 20th 1969, April 24th 1978, May 6th 1986 and October 28th 1987 letters. It should also prove it was the Zodiac Killer who wrote at least four of the letters, one of which we know has a full DNA profile. If the 1978 envelope has DNA beneath the stamp and/or envelope seal, why not the others? The 1978, 1986 and 1987 letters are almost certainly genuine Zodiac communications, so why were law enforcement attempting to secure Zodiac DNA from two of the July 31st 1969 envelopes nearly four years ago, when they already have it?

From August 4th 1969 to March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer mailed 12 authenticated letters (inc. Fairfield letters} that carried the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking" on the first line of the message. Of these 12 letters, only the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on the main first line (ignoring the "Dear" intro). It was written "This is the Zodiac speaking I". The San Francisco Chronicle published at least four of these introductions, which included the October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters (shown here).

The author of the April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter (if a hoaxer) had every opportunity to just mimic any one of these published introductions, yet he chose to mimic the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, which broke with tradition. The Melvin Belli message began with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", but was grammatically incorrect in failing to place a comma or full-stop between "speaking" and "I". Therefore, the author of the 1978 letter (if a hoaxer) managed to imitate the message on the opening line of the Melvin Belli letter (including the punctuation error) despite the fact an image of the Melvin Belli letter was not published in any newspapers. Sadly, this is another avenue that will be ignored.     
​​Relevant articles: We Already Have Zodiac DNA, Still Driving Around in 1987 [PT2].

Thanks to Druzer for his great work on this topic of indented writing.    

This excerpt (left) was taken from the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31st 1974 after the arrival of the Exorcist letter two days earlier. It tells you that law enforcement believed the letter was mailed in either San Mateo county or Santa Clara county. Roll forward just over four years later with the arrival of the 1978 letter, that many believed to be an idle and lazy hoaxer who just mimicked the handwriting from previous Zodiac communications.

The letter and envelope of the 1978 letter was examined by law enforcement. Here is what was written in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1978: "Toschi said yesterday that the common, while envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". Law enforcement, at the time, considered this the first contact from the Zodiac Killer since he last wrote the Exorcist letter in January, 1974. If this analysis by law enforcement is correct, then the individual who mailed the 1978 letter, mailed it from the same location as the Exorcist letter, separated by just over four years. They say old habits die hard. Proving the authenticity of the Exorcist letter.

In the San Francisco Examiner on August 3rd 1978, four experts, Keith Woodward (head of Los Angeles documents department), John Shimoda (Postal Service crime laboratory), Robert Prouty (Chief documents section/Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation) and Terry Pasco (also Criminal Identification and Investigation), all deemed the 1978 letter a fake. Keith Woodward described the 1978 letter "a carefully drawn copy of the true Zodiac printing". He concluded it "was a poor attempt by an unknown writer". John Shimoda declared it "an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic". Robert Prouty and Terry Pasco said basically the same thing, while Robert Graysmith disingenuously turned on this letter when he realized the DNA extracted from it didn't match the profile of Arthur Leigh Allen, claiming a light table may have been employed to hoax the letter. He then boldly trumpeted the above arguments of handwriting analysis - a subjective analysis - that has forever divided document examiners in the case of JonBenet Ramsey and the three-page ransom note supposedly authored by a "foreign faction".

Handwriting analysis cannot be used to exclusively and definitively argue for the authenticity, or otherwise, of a Zodiac communication. However, it can be used as a supporting argument where other evidence exists. This still hasn't stopped vociferous sections of the Zodiac community buying into the notion of an authenticated list of Zodiac communications based solely upon the narrative they have been sold from day one. 

Let us look at the words of John Shimoda, who stated that the 1978 letter was "an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic". The author of the 1978 letter was that good at duplicating Zodiac letters, they failed to duplicate the opening introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking", which was always self-contained on a separate line in every confirmed Zodiac communication mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Los Angeles Times prior to 1978. The hoaxer had four examples of this to copy from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, when it released images of the ​October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters to the public (see images below). The hoaxer failed to copy any of these. Instead, they wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking I" (mimicking the unreleased image of the Melvin Belli letter and its punctuation error). The author of the 1978 letter had the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter available to them - widely published in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31st 1974 - yet they failed to misspell "truly" to "truley", clearly evident in the Exorcist letter. The author of the 1978 letter failed to add a customary running total, which would have been the easy option to choose for somebody wanting to convince us they were Zodiac. Instead they placed the word "guess". The author of the 1978 letter failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction in line with the text beneath it (thanks Druzer). In the 1978 letter they used "indented writing" (to indent is to begin text with a blank space between it and the margin). This absence of indented writing during the introduction phase was present in every published letter up to 1978 (see below). So, you can see that the claim of the 1978 letter author attempting to "duplicate Zodiac letters" from the newspapers, carries no merit whatsoever. This individual wasn't attempting to copy anybody. 

If there is one letter that "suspect chasers" have a vested interest in dismissing out of hand, it's the 1978 letter (because a DNA sample has been obtained from it). If their suspect's DNA is available for comparison to a genuine Zodiac letter tomorrow, then it would only be a matter of days or weeks before their suspect is possibly confined to the compost heap of history, along with many other poor suspects in this case. They cannot take that chance, so play the odds and reject the letter beforehand. It is in the interest of "suspect chasers" to never accept the bloody taxicab fingerprint as originating from Zodiac (if their suspect's fingerprints exist on file), to never accept that Zodiac licked the stamps and envelopes, to never accept the 1978 letter as genuine, and for a minority, that DNA is never found in the Zodiac case. The longer they can promote their suspect, the better.

The Zodiac community have been eager to constantly enquire about the round of DNA testing reported in 2018, but show little interest in submitting the 1978 letter for familial DNA analysis. The reason for this apathy, is that many have looked at the 1978 communication and concluded it wasn't authored by the Zodiac Killer, primarily because they didn't like the handwriting or the tone of the letter. You cannot argue with research like this. For those who believe the 1978 letter is genuine, the search for Zodiac DNA is over. 

The Zodiac Killer is allowed to produce handwriting in subsequent letters the same or similar to previous communications because he is effectively doing no more than mimicking himself. A copycat or hoaxer can mimic the Zodiac Killer using previously published letters and envelopes in the newspapers, but what they cannot do is mimic unreleased communications by the Zodiac Killer. To my knowledge, only two envelopes were released to the newspapers prior to January 29th 1974 that were addressed to San Francisco. The envelope to the Melvin Belli letter was released on December 28th 1969 with the address of "Mr. Melvin M. Belli 1228 Mtgy San Fran Calif". The envelope to the 340 cipher was released on November 16th 1970 with the address of "S.F. Chronicle San Francisco Calif Please Rush to Editor".  The author of the Exorcist letter (if a hoaxer) when addressing their envelope to the San Francisco Chronicle only had these two envelopes to work with, but copied neither. This mimicry would have been expected of a hoaxer.  

Instead, the author of the Exorcist letter chose to mimic part of the address from two envelopes mailed by the Zodiac Killer in April 1970. These two envelopes were addressed San Fran (dot) Chronicle on April 20th and April 28th 1970 and never publicly released via the newspapers prior to January 29th 1974. When you look at the April 28th 1970 envelope in particular, it isn't just the handwriting that is extremely similar, it's the positioning of the detached full-stop, the spacing between each of the three components, the very slight left to right slant, the marginally elevated letter L, the letter I is dotted directly above in every instance, and both the letters R and H are slightly separated. The April 20th and April 28th envelopes were the only two Zodiac communications up to January 29th 1974 that were addressed in this fashion, yet the author of the Exorcist letter (if a hoaxer) would have managed to virtually replicate every facet of this address despite having never laid eyes on them. This clearly shows that the Exorcist letter author was the Zodiac Killer, putting to rest any notion that this letter may have been fraudulent.     

People will say this just further proves that the Exorcist letter was penned by Inspector David Toschi, who had inside knowledge of the two April 1970 letters. Why would Inspector David Toschi copy the address so perfectly from an envelope that had never been released into the public domain by January 29th 1974, thereby drawing suspicion towards somebody from within? He was an intelligent seasoned investigator, not an imbecile. The exact same reasoning can be applied to the 1978 letter when comparing the opening line from each communication. A copycat or investigator would apply logic, and mimic the widely publicized "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction displayed in four San Francisco Chronicle publications (or mimic the 11 out of the 12 communications prior to January 29th 1974 that carried this introduction), not mimic an introduction never released into the public domain such as "This is the Zodiac speaking I" in the Melvin Belli letter. However, the Zodiac Killer is perfectly allowed to be himself.   

According to Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California from 1996 to 1999, he "revealed 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 Zodiac researcher, Mike Rodelli, 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". 

In Mike Rodelli's latest book In the Shadow of Mount Diablo he makes it obvious that he believes the SLA and Red Phantom letters are communications mailed by the Zodiac Killer. He is also fairly confident that the true Zodiac letters were not licked by the sender. This being the case, then he must accept that the SLA and Red Phantom letters should have no oral epithelial cells on them. The Badlands postcard was pre-stamped, so provided no opportunity for reliable DNA testing. Therefore, the only possible match between the DNA from the 1978 letter and one of the 1974 letters, using Mike Rodelli's thought process, had to be between the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter. If Alan Keel's claimed statement is correct, then I agree. The problem however, is that the Exorcist letter is almost certainly genuine Zodiac material because of the comparison between its envelope and the unpublished envelopes from April 1970 (which hadn't been published by January 29th 1974). So, if the Exorcist letter is genuine, so is the 1978 letter.        

If the SLA and Red Phantom letters had been tested and had hypothetically produced a full DNA sample, then Mike would probably agree that the DNA on both letters should have matched (and therefore was secreted from Zodiac). In fact, they couldn't have been tested to produce a full DNA sample, because if they had been authored by the same individual, the 1978 letter would have matched at least two 1974 letters, not one (as apparently claimed by Alan Keel). This is apparent in the DNA chart, that doesn't attribute anything to the Red Phantom letter in comments, and doesn't even include the SLA letter at all. If correct, then the statements of Alan Keel implies that both the 1978 and Exorcist letters have a full DNA profile, which can then be stored and entered into CODIS when required, or used in the science of genetic genealogy. Unless this DNA "print out" has been mislaid or thrown away (which would seem inconceivable), then the profile of these communications can be used, much like Joseph James DeAngelo Jr, to search for any genealogical links that may be relevant to a killer operating in the Bay Area of Northern California.  

FOLLOW UP ARTICLES:
THE GENETIC IDENTITY OF THE KILLER      WE MAY ALREADY HAVE ZODIAC DNA

Based on Mike Rodelli's book and everything he has stated over the last few years, we should today have the ability to either incriminate or exclude Kjell Qvale as the Zodiac Killer.once and for all. According to Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California from 1996 to 1999, he "revealed 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". The only problem with the statements by Alan Keel is that the 1978 letter is unlikely to be a forgery. 

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". Mike Rodelli is correct. The only communication from 1974 that can conceivably match the DNA from the 1978 letter is the Exorcist letter. Mike also stated on the Zodiac Killer Net forum "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 shows comparisons between the SLA envelope and the Stine envelope, 340 envelope, Bus Bomb envelope and Kathleen Johns envelope, arguing "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".       

Therefore, if Mike Rodelli is being fair-minded and believes the SLA handwriting is consistent with these other communications, then he should have no argument conceding that the handwriting and construction of the Exorcist envelope handwriting is consistent with the envelopes from April 20th 1970 and April 28th 1970, which he believes are Zodiac communications. Mike should therefore come to the same conclusion, that since the two April 1970 envelopes were the Zodiac Killer, then so is the Exorcist letter. The April 1970 communications were the only two confirmed Zodiac envelopes to carry the address of San Fran (dot) Chronicle prior to January 29th 1974. The envelopes were also never released into the public domain, meaning the Exorcist letter author could not have mimicked them.       

Mike should now agree that having established the Exorcist letter as genuine Zodiac material - and using the findings of Alan Keel and Mike's correct argument that the 1978 DNA should conceivably match the Exorcist letter DNA (being the only ones tested in the DNA chart) - we have to conclude that the 1978 letter is genuine as well. Mike went on to say on the Zodiac Killer message board "Keel further allowed, although not in this email but in a conversation I had with him at about the same time, that there was so little saliva on the Zodiac letters that it would not be unfair to say that they had been sealed with tap water and the stamps applied with tap water. So if you're wondering why after 20 years we still don't have a verified sample of Zodiac's DNA it's because the only DNA he may have left on these letters is from when he applied the stamps to the envelopes. If he wet the stamps with water but didn't wear gloves then as he applied the stamps to the envelopes the glue could have pulled a few odd cells off of the tips of his fingers thus leaving essentially touch DNA on the stamps. That is why if they do have Zodiac's DNA today it is because of this minute number of cells that they have had to find using the most Advanced Techniques available".

The argument being that the "true Zodiac letters" had few cells, whereas the fraudulent Zodiac letters had "had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells". However, we have now established that the Exorcist letter is genuine, just like the two April 1970 communications. Yet these two envelopes have few cells found in the DNA chart, whereas the Exorcist letter has abundant cells, despite one author throughout. This disproves the contention of Alan Keel that the 1978 letter is a forgery, that matches one of the 1974 communications. All it proves is that the Zodiac Killer authored the 1978 letter and one of the 1974 communications. These findings also disprove the notion that the Zodiac Killer didn't lick his envelopes and/or stamps. The only way to argue the findings presented above, is to claim that there is unfounded similarity between the Exorcist envelope handwriting and the two April 1970 envelopes, while simultaneously claiming there is a similarity between the SLA envelope and the Stine envelope, 340 envelope, Bus Bomb envelope and Kathleen Johns envelope, But this would be an argument in bad faith.

The DNA chart stating that a "DNA sample was obtained" from the 1978 letter appears to back up Mike Rodelli's statement of this letter producing enough DNA to create a profile, based on the findings of Alan Keel. This being the case, if the profile of the 1978 letter matches the profile of the Exorcist letter, then we have a full DNA profile of the Zodiac Killer. Forensic genetic genealogy can now be used to discover the ancestry of the killer and ultimately identify him, in similar fashion to that used in the case of the Golden State Killer, resulting in Joseph James DeAngelo,Jr. pleading guilty to thirteen counts of murder on June 29th 2020 

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: WE MAY ALREADY HAVE ZODIAC DNA