Have you ever wondered who inspired the Zodiac Killer to mail in a piece of Paul Stine's bloody shirt after the murder in Presidio Heights in 1969? The same member of law enforcement who influenced the arrival of the Zodiac pseudonym on August 4th 1969. The only reason the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter was ever sent to the San Francisco Examiner is because Vallejo Police Chief, Jack E. Stiltz requested the writer of the July 31st letters to prove he was the killer, asking the murderer of three to write another letter "with more facts to prove it". This request by Vallejo Police Chief, Jack E. Stiltz was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 2nd 1969, followed by the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle on August 3rd 1969.

​The Zodiac Killer's response was swift, sending a letter to the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969, replying directly to Jack Stiltz and stating "In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material". Without this prompt by Jack Stiltz, the pseudonym of "Zodiac" may never have come to pass - at least not by August 4th 1969.

The next communication was mailed just over two months later, on October 13th 1969, admitting to the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights only two days earlier. But the Zodiac Killer hadn't forgotten that Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz had doubted his involvement in the attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, by stating he required "more facts to prove it". So, the Zodiac Killer in advance of the taxicab driver's murder, decided to remove a piece of the victim's shirt and leave law enforcement in no doubt he was the true killer at Presidio Heights. Two days later, he mailed the Stine letter, stating "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt". The Zodiac Killer was responding to law enforcement who doubted him previously, but primarily to Jack Stiltz's comments in the newspapers back on August 2nd and August 3rd 1969. 

In his next descriptive letter on November 9th 1969 the Zodiac Killer would continue this theme, with Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz still in the back of his mind. The Zodiac Killer was angry with the San Francisco Police Department for "telling lies" about him, threatening to change his way of collecting slaves for the afterlife. He would finish this communication by warning San Francisco law enforcement not to bluff him, by stating "To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves." Jack Stiltz was the "Vallejo Cop" that the Zodiac Killer addressed on August 4th 1969 when he wrote to the San Francisco Examiner and described his "small pencel flash light (taped) to the barrel of (his) gun". 

​Therefore, Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz was instrumental to the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter in which the pseudonym "Zodiac" was revealed to the world, as well as the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer to decide in advance of his San Francisco murder, that something from the victim (a shirt piece in this instance} had to be mailed with his next correspondence, "to prove" undeniably he was the killer.     

On December 3rd 2020 David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke unlocked the mystery to the 51-year-old 340 cipher, mailed by the Zodiac Killer on November 8th 1969. On December 7th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed a communication from Fairfield containing a 38 character code, yet to be broken. In recent years I have had little doubt that this letter was genuine Zodiac material, but the solving of the 340 cipher put to rest any lingering doubt regarding its authenticity.

​The author of the 38 character code prominently featured two sections of the 340 cipher, that included the beginning 4 ciphertext characters of the 340 cipher, and the last 5 ciphertext characters of the 340 cipher. The only logical reason for the Zodiac Killer to have done this, would have been to give us a clue to the solving of the 340 cipher. When the code key is applied to the 340 cipher before any period 19 (diagonal shift), the first 4 plaintext characters of the 340 cipher spell IRON. The last 5 plaintext characters spell DEATH. As previously pointed out, a hoaxer would have had to be extremely lucky to keep the beginning and ending of the 340 cipher intact, to the tune of 4 & 5 characters (when creating the Z38), that just happened to create two English words in these notable positions. One would have expected a lazy hoaxer to replicate ciphertext characters 333 to 338 in the 340 cipher, because these characters were close to the spelling of "Zodiac". But the author of the December 7th 1969 letter refrained from doing this, choosing to separate these 6 ciphertext characters, so as to form the word DEATH at the end of the 38 character code. 

After the solving of the 408 and 340 cryptograms in 1969 and 2020, there is a strong argument to be had, that the Zodiac Killer's remaining unbroken codes also contain a message, which includes the Z38 mailed just one month after the 340 cipher. I have attempted to tackle the Z38 code, but it needs an expert in code breaking to take a look at this encipherment, such as Dave Oranchak, who I believe could shed more light on this small code. The message beneath - at the very least - should provide a little more insight into the thinking of the Zodiac Killer during this crucial period. 

Did the Zodiac Killer create the 38 character code so soon after his November 8th 1969 offering as a prompt to the solution of the 340 cipher? I hope Dave Oranchak will take a look and possibly correct some of the incorrect assumptions I may have made. Thanks to Druzer, a regular contributor to both main Zodiac forums, for his assistance in this matter.
CLICK HERE FOR UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW OF CODE.

The "Zodiac" Atlanta letter was mailed on March 8th 1981 claiming to be the Bay Area murderer of five, and suggesting their passion was to now target children. The author was clearly interjecting themself into the Atlanta Child Murders, for which Wayne Williams would eventually be convicted on February 27th 1982. The only way to prove this is an authentic Zodiac communication is to find something on the letter that corresponds strongly with something that the Zodiac mailed between 1969 and 1974, but was unreleased to the public. The Zodiac letters and cards were widely published in the newspapers, however, the majority of the envelopes were not in the public domain by the arrival of the Atlanta letter in 1981. The Vallejo Times-Herald, October 28th 1987 "Halloween" envelope was shown to perfectly mimic the exact thirteen words on the unreleased Vallejo Times-Herald, August 31st 1969 envelope, including the lack of punctuation (and possible incorrect spelling of Herald to Herold). This attempted to show that the Zodiac Killer was still actively writing letters in 1987. A similar technique can be applied to the Atlanta envelope, postmarked March 8th 1981. The Atlanta letter may be pointing us in the right direction. In the letter (shown below) it can be noted that the author dedicates much of the text to the San Francisco murder of Paul Stine and October 13th 1969 letter.

The author begins the Atlanta letter referencing "San Francisco" and referring to the murder of children, stating "I'll kill children because they are so easy to pick off", and that he had "left certain clues" at his victims bodies. In the letter referencing the murder of Paul Stine on October 13th 1969, the Zodiac Killer stated "School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out". In the second letter on November 9th 1969 mentioning his exploits in San Francisco, the Zodiac Killer stated "If you wonder why I was wipeing the cab down I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as one might say".  It is clear the author of the Atlanta letter heavily focused this communication towards the murder of children, reminiscent of his letter mailed in the aftermath of the Paul Stine killing.

The October 13th 1969 envelope mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle had not been released into the public domain at the time the Atlanta envelope and letter was mailed in 1981. The October 13th 1969 envelope was the only confirmed communication mailed by the Zodiac Killer that carried small Zodiac crosshairs on the address side of the envelope, just like the Atlanta envelope mailed eleven and a half years later. An Atlanta letter that mimicked the October 13th 1969 letter threatening to "pick off" children. We now have two envelopes from the 1980s that mimicked previously unreleased envelopes in 1969, thereby pouring cold water on suspects like Ross Sullivan and Earl Van Best Jr, who died prior to 1987.  Unfortunately, I doubt any amount of evidence will change the Zodiac narrative of a killer whose confirmed communications ceased in 1974. These beliefs have become so embedded and entrenched into Zodiac folklore, that any attempt to challenge the pervading narrative can be likened to throwing a pebble into the Pacific Ocean. 

Six days before the Atlanta letter, on March 2nd 1981, a business reply envelope, postmarked Cleveland, OH, bearing the press printed address "The Danbury Mint, Richards Avenue, P.O. Box 5260, Norwalk, Conn" was mailed with the handwritten note: "Please stop forced bussing or I will kill 3 more black boys in Atlanta in March". On or around May 2nd 1971, the Zodiac Killer encoded a message in a 148 character cipher instructing law enforcement to "stop listening to phonys" or he "will skin 3 little kids" (not in the public domain by 1981). The Zodiac Killer latched onto the murders of Debra Gaye Furlong (14), Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Kathy Bilek (18) in San Jose and Saratoga (in 1969 and 1971), claiming he was responsible for stabbing all three, despite these murders having been committed by Karl Francis Werner. He then threatened to kill a further three children. The exact same tactic employed a decade later in Atlanta, by interjecting himself into the murders of black children he was likely not responsible for, by once again threatening to kill three more children if his demands were not met. 

THE MURDERS THAT SHAPED BERRYESSA 

Doreen Gaul (19) and James Sharp (15) were found brutally stabbed and beaten in an alleyway between  Arapahoe Street and Magnolia Avenue in Los Angeles on November 21st 1969. Doreen Gaul had been a resident at the Scientology Thetan Manor hippie commune, having graduated one year earlier from a high school in Albany, where she lived with her parents at 570 Myrtle Avenue just 500 meters from the Albany Medical Center, that would become the possible target of the Zodiac Killer on August 1st 1973 when he mailed another malicious communication.

The address of Doreen Gaul in Los Angeles was 1032 South Bonnie Brae Street, with James Sharp living at 921 South Bonnie Brae Street, They were found murdered about one kilometer away from their homes. James Sharp was found fully clothed apart from his shoes, whereas Doreen Gaul was found naked but for a colored necklace described as "Indian beads" around her neck. A note from the Zodiac Killer was allegedly found in her residence (see below),  

Nobody knows for sure whether this typewritten note was created by the Zodiac Killer or an imposter. It has been typed to give the impression that Doreen Gaul was in the crosshairs of the Zodiac Killer prior to her murder, but could easily have been typed subsequent to her death in the present and future tense (absent of a postmarked envelope), so as to mislead or taunt law enforcement. Many have wondered what the attached drawing is under the signature of "The Zodiac Killer". It obviously had a meaning. Was it a clue given by the author of this note, insinuating his involvement in Doreen's murder and the crime scene at Arapahoe Street and Magnolia Avenue, in which Doreen Gaul was found naked but for a necklace hanging from her neck? 
​

​Fifteen years earlier, on December 25th 1954, Bonnie Brae Street would somewhat resemble the Zodiac Killer's last canonical crime, when 39-year-old taxicab driver Conrad John Favreau of 1312 Hazel Street, Inglewood, picked up a fare at 7th Street and Union Avenue, Los Angeles for the short trip to Bonnie Brae. Five minutes later at 8:45 pm he was discovered lying in the street alongside his taxicab, shot once in the back of the head with a 25-caliber pistol. Blood spatter was evident on the right rear of the Yellow Cab near to the taillight, shown here in a crime scene photograph. It appeared that he had been subject to a violent assault just prior to the murder, with a tooth discovered on the front seat of the taxicab. Homicide Officer Joe La-Monica stated that his pockets had been gone through, but his watch remained on his wrist. Near to the body investigators found a single 25-caliber cartridge casing. 

An earwithness, Fred Perez of 557 N Bonnie Brae Street, described hearing "a sharp crack like a 22" rifle at about 8:45 pm and seeing the Yellow Cab parked on the street. A short time later the body of Conrad John Favreau lying face up was found by a passing motorist, David Lindsay (17) of 2941-A Los Flores Boulevard. The final entry on the trip sheet was detailed as 7th Street and Union Avenue to Bonnie Brae. An all-points bulletin was issued for "a man wearing white trousers and black shoes and possibly armed with a 25-caliber pistol". 557 N Bonnie Brae Street is less than two miles from the once Los Angeles' residences of Doreen Gaul and James Sharp. None of these murders probably have anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, but the connections created between Bonnie Brae Street, a taxicab murder, the typwritten Zodiac note and the previous residence of Doreen Gaul in Albany just 500 meters from the Medical Center which became the focus of another threatening "Zodiac" communication, shows how a story can be fashioned to make you think twice. See Google maps for locations.   

On October 22nd 1969, Eric Weill (Sam) rang into the morning KGO-TV Jim Dunbar Show - but when Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli interviewed this man it was on the understanding he may have been the infamous Zodiac Killer, with the host asking him "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago". This suggests that Jim Dunbar was aware of a previous attempt by the Zodiac Killer to contact the show prior to the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. Many have considered the possibility that the Zodiac Killer may have rang into the Oakland Police Department at 2:00am on October 22nd 1969 requesting to appear on the Jim Dunbar Show, but when the show aired later that morning his appearance was hijacked by mental patient, Eric Weill, who impulsively contacted the show under the guise of the Zodiac Killer. Prior to the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, the Zodiac Killer had committed three attacks in Benicia, Vallejo and Napa County, with no known attacks in San Francisco, so why would Eric Weill take it upon himself to contact the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco in advance of the Paul Stine murder.

A much stronger case could be made for the Zodiac Killer wanting to contact the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco just several days prior to his murder of Paul Stine in San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer had already made threats to "cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again" if his cryptograms were not published in the newspapers on August 1st 1969, and that he was not happy to see he "did not get front page coverage" for his exploits thus far. Therefore, one could argue that the Zodiac Killer had tried to contact the Jim Dunbar Show before the murder of Paul Stine to threaten the citizens of San Francisco that his terror would soon be felt on the streets of the big city. Jim Dunbar asked the "Zodiac Killer" (Sam) "Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?", suggesting that the Zodiac Killer had previously chosen to ring a San Francisco TV show with a resident San Francisco lawyer as guest, just a few days prior to the Zodiac Killer switching his attacks to San Francisco. The other possibility, is that a mental patient just took it upon himself to contact a San Francisco TV show in absence of any murders being committed by the Zodiac Killer in San Francisco prior to the attack in Presidio Heights.  

The Zodiac Killer would go on to deny he was the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show in the recently decoded 340 cipher, in which he stated "That wasn't me on the TV show". But he very likely could have tuned into the broadcast to view the spectacle unfold. Without the full transcript of this call to the Jim Dunbar Show, it would be interesting to find out how many times Eric Weill pleaded for the help of Melvin Belli. On December 20th 1969, it is clear that the Zodiac Killer linked the Paul Stine murder with the Jim Dunbar Show by mailing a piece of Paul Stine's bloody shirt with the correspondence, with the letter itself carrying a mocking tone by using the phrase "please help me" on three occasions, in accompaniment to the phrase "I cannot reach out for help". 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.” The Zodiac Killer would make these cries for help the bedrock of his December 20th 1969 communication. 

​If anybody "can help" in pinpointing the exact date that Melvin Belli appeared on the Jim Dunbar Show immediately prior to the October 22nd 1969 call, please let me know by using the Zodiac Killer forums. Thank you. PART 1.

In the early hours of October 22nd 1969, a phone call was made to the Oakland Police Department asking for either Francis Lee Bailey or Melvin Belli, two prominent attorneys, to appear on the KGO Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco that morning. A few hours later, somebody rang into the Jim Dunbar Show pretending to be the Zodiac Killer, adopting the less menacing name of "Sam" once prompted. That person was later identified as a mental patient, Eric Weill. When the 340 cipher was deciphered by Dave Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke in December 2020, the Zodiac Killer message finally revealed what everyone knew all along - that the Zodiac Killer never made that call to the Jim Dunbar Show. However, he didn't deny making the phone call to the Oakland Police Department. But why would the Zodiac Killer make a phone call to Oakland police to arrange an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco? Why not ring the Jim Dunbar Show directly? The answer may lie in the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, spoken by Jim Dunbar himself.

This was the dialogue between "Sam" (Eric Weill) and Jim Dunbar:
Jim Dunbar: Sam, let me ask you a question. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?
Sam: What?
Jim Dunbar: Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago when Mel Belli was with us? 
Sam: Yes
Jim Dunbar: And you couldn't get through, the phones were tied up. Is that it?
Sam: Yes  

It could be argued, when you listen to this exchange between the host and caller, that "Sam" has no idea what Jim Dunbar is referring to when he mentions a previous phone call received at the Jim Dunbar Show. He hesitates profoundly when asked the question, before saying "what". This could mean that the Zodiac Killer had previously phoned the Jim Dunbar Show between October 1st and October 8th 1969. When Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli are interviewing the caller, they are doing it under the presumption this could be the Zodiac Killer. So when they ask "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago", they are effectively asking the Zodiac Killer if he rang two or three weeks ago. This suggests they were aware of a previous call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the murder of Paul Stine. The Zodiac Killer may have rang the Jim Dunbar Show in early October but failed to get through. In other words, he attempted to call the TV show but the call was rejected for whatever reason. They may have thought it was just another crank call. This is probably why the Zodiac Killer eventually decided to ring the Oakland Police Department instead - getting them to relay the message to the Jim Dunbar Show - which they obviously did. There seems to be no other good reason why the Bay Area murderer would place a call to the Oakland Police Department, other than his failure to get his message across to the Jim Dunbar Show before October 11th 1969. It should also be noted that the San Francisco Police Department were inundated with calls after the murder of Paul Stine, probably forcing the Zodiac Killer to target his phone call to a 'less busy' police department and thereby guaranteeing the delivery of his message this time around. But what date was Melvin Belli on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to October 22nd 1969?  PART 2.

On September 27th 1969, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were brutally stabbed at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, with the Zodiac Killer leaving his signature at the crime scene by writing on the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia near the crime scene. Two weeks later, on October 11th 1969, Paul Stine was shot in his taxicab in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights, with the Zodiac Killer this time removing something personal from the victim, by tearing a piece of Paul Stine's blooded shirt and mailing a portion of it to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13th 1969.

​A crime was six months in the making, incorporating features from both of these attacks, when Robert Michael Salem was knifed to death in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 15th 1970. The killer appeared to mimic the Zodiac Killer's two previous attacks by writing a message at the crime scene, as well as removing something from the victim. However, the attack on Robert Salem was an escalation on the other attacks in regards to the sadistic nature of the crime. The killer had written the message on the apartment wall of Robert Salem in blood and taken the left ear of the victim away from the crime scene (never to be retrieved). By all accounts, the murderer had first attempted to decapitate Robert Salem. The third important facet of this crime, was that it appeared to mimic the meaning behind the Zodiac Killer's last communication on December 20th 1969, when the Melvin Belli letter arrived at 1228 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. The letter mailed to the prominent attorney could have foreshadowed the Robert Salem murder, not only because the killer of Robert Salem was seemingly "losing all control", but because the wording in the Melvin Belli letter appeared to mimic the writing in red lipstick on the apartment wall of Frances Brown, murdered by William Heirens in Chicago in 1945. 

William Heirens was also found guilty for the murder of 6-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago in 1946. Her body had been dismembered just like Robert Salem, albeit far more brutally. Her head was eventually discovered in a nearby sewer, her right leg in a catch basin and her torso in a storm drain. The killer of Robert Salem had attempted to decapitate him just like Suzanne Degnan, before apparently giving up and removing his left ear. Therefore, the 745 Stevenson Street murder not only had writing at the crime scene and something from the victim removed, but the red writing and attempted decapitation mirrored two of the crimes committed by William Heirens, which may have inspired the wording in the Melvin Belli letter. William Heirens was also responsible for the murder of Josephine Ross in Chicago in 1945, with all three victims subjected to numerous knife wounds, just like Robert Salem. 

The San Francisco murder of Robert Salem seemed like extreme overkill for robbery or revenge, due in large part to the sadistic nature of the crime and the writing in blood on the apartment wall. The killer then took the time to take a shower before leaving. The killer drew an ancient Egyptian ankh symbol on the wall of the apartment, accompanied by the wording "Satan Saves" and the pseudonym "Zodiac". The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art, often at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person's mummy. If the murderer of Robert Salem was attempting to sidetrack the police investigation and pin this crime on the Zodiac Killer, why didn't he just use the crosshairs symbol of the Bay Area murderer, write on the wall in black marker pen and refrain from decapitating Robert Salem, which would have helped his attempt to frame the Zodiac Killer as being the responsible. This approach would surely have been far easier. Additonally, if the murderer was not the Zodiac Killer, was the killer of Robert Salem just extremely fortuitous in creating a crime scene at 745 Stevenson Street that just happened to mimic two of William Heirens crimes, which may have been mimicked in the Melvin Belli letter - and the last communication mailed by the Zodiac Killer with an item removed from the victim, that of Paul Stine? Or had the killer of Robert Salem worked out the meaning behind the Melvin Belli letter and made the connection to the William Heirens murders in order to mimic them four months later? Could you have imagined the repercussions had it been reported that an ear had been mailed on April 20th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

The Zodiac Killer mailed the 148 character cipher and letter on or around May 2nd 1971, in which he refrained from taking the easy option of using his Zodiac crosshairs, when he signed his letter using a sun cross from prehistoric cultures. But did he employ the same technique on April 15th 1970, designed to confuse law enforcement until his April 20th 1970 letter arrived, A letter that didn't carry the wording "Satan Saves", but did carry the numerical figure of Jesus, with the added notation of "PS I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". The crime scene at 745 Stevenson Street appeared to be the work of a brutal and sadistic killer more in line with a murderer "losing all control" - and in direct contrast with the Zodiac Killer who never went further than necessary in his requirement to murder. Unless of course, the Zodiac Killer took the wording in the Melvin Belli letter seriously and enacted the 1945 murder of Frances Brown in Chicago to the new setting of San Francisco. He certainly liked his history.   

The image on the left is described by Wikipedia as the "typewritten confession received by Riverside police and the Riverside Press-Enterprise November 29, 1966". This statement is seemingly at odds with what has been released, because the typewritten message shown in the image on the left was sent to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and is different to the typewritten message shown on most of the websites and forums on the internet. The Confession letter widely shown on the internet, stamped as having been submitted to the FBI laboratory, is not the same letter shown in the image on the left. When you enlarge and examine the letter on the left, there are at least ten major differences in text compared to the one widely viewed on the internet. The whole structure and sentencing is also different.

In other words, we have to contemplate that the author of the two Confession letters typed two individual correspondences on plain white paper to the value of fourth or fith generation, using carbon paper. A quick look at the image on the left compared to the one with FBI laboratory stamped on it, will show three noticeable differences immediately. The length of underscores after BY are different in each instance. THE CONFESSION title above is underlined, which isn't the case on the FBI laboratory image shown by clicking the link above. The CC. CHIEF OF POLICE ENTERPRISE list of recipients is further from the left margin and a line further down in the image shown above, compared to the image stamped with FBI laboratory. The image widely shown on the internet (and in the link above), should in theory have been addressed to the Riverside police because it is different to the Riverside Press-Enterprise version. Below is the image of the Confession letter widely viewed on the internet (which should have been addressed to the Riverside police). Beneath that is the Confession letter sent to the Press-Enterprise, highlighting ten major differences. The only other explanation for two versions, is that the widely shown Confession letter is a product of having been retyped for greater clarity by law enforcement personnel, but somehow was retyped incorrectly, adding spelling mistakes, correcting spelling mistakes, attempting to correct spelling mistakes but replacing the word with another misspelling, removing sections of typing such as the XXX on the fifth row, and altering words such as "finished the job out" to "finished the job by". One would have thought this would have been done professionally, had the Riverside Police Confession letter sent by the author been the same as the Press-Enterprise version.  

THE CONFESSION LETTER - RIVERSIDE POLICE ​

Therefore, attempting to fit an author's name after BY to align to a particular suspect may be negated by the differing lengths of the underscores in each Confession letter. The author of the Confession letters would also have gained and lost the ability to spell (as well as misspelling the same word twice) between each communication. But why would the author bother to type out two separate and unique communications, when they could have sent the fourth and fifth generation carbon copies from the first typing? Whatever the case, the "ripped at both ends" version sent to the Press-Enterprise (shown in the photograph with the scissors) is an unadulterated version typed by the author. The other version has either been retyped by law enforcement (or under instruction from law enforcement), or was a completely different version sent by the original author.

In 2016 investigators received a communication from an individual in San Bernardino who claimed that he had authored the three Bates letters on April 30th 1967, stating he was a troubled teenager at the time he sent the trinity of malicious handwritten letters to the Riverside Police Department, Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper and Joseph Bates. In 2020, four years after the admission in the 2016 communication, the Homicide Cold Case Unit and the FBI Los Angeles Investigative Genealogy Team submitted the stamp for additional DNA analysis and subsequent interviews were conducted. The individual linked to the DNA evidence on the (2016) stamp admitted to writing the (2016) letter and sending it to Riverside Police Department. 

It appears from the wording in the statement that it was the additional DNA testing that unearthed the identity of the 2016 author. But why did it take four years from receiving the 2016 letter until further DNA testing identified the sender, when you consider that the Riverside Police Department have always had their sights set on an individual for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, who went by the fictitious name of "Bob Barnett"? It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that when the Riverside Police Department received this 2016 communication from somebody alleging he was not the Zodiac Killer or the killer of Cheri Jo Bates, he may very well have been the murderer in the case of Cheri Jo Bates, playing more games with police as he did in 1967. Investigators obviously found the 2016 communication compelling enough to consider it for DNA testing in 2020, rather than just dismiss it as another hoax letter. They must have received many crank communications down the years regarding the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the associated communications in the case, so what set the 2016 letter apart for the FBI Los Angeles Investigative Genealogy Team to get involved? Or do they routinely DNA every crank letter making claims or admitting some responsibility to the events in 1966 and 1967? I highly doubt it.

The Riverside Police Department further stated that "Additional information was developed regarding a separate set of letters sent to Northern California police agencies. The author claimed to be the "Zodiac Killer", but the author ultimately admitted to sending the letters to keep the investigation going". The wording here (like the rest of the statement) is extremely ambiguous, but the way it is constructed in contemporary fashion using "additional information was developed", appears to suggest that the author of the 2016 letter was ultimately claiming responsibility for several letters sent to Northern California police agencies. The reason for believing this to be the case, is that no known set of letters claiming to be from the Zodiac Killer in Northern California were ever mailed to police agencies to "keep the investigation going".

​All but two of the authenticated and unauthenticated Zodiac letters we know of currently, were mailed to newspapers not police agencies. The letters to a police agency in Northern California from 1969 to 2001 were mailed to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969 (which threatened a widow), and the August 10th 1969 Concerned Citizen card to Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department. But this wasn't a set of letters, or letters designed to keep the investigation going. One way in which the Riverside Police Department could have judged the authenticity of the individual's claims in 2016 would have been to request details of the further hoax letters he mailed to Northern California claiming to be the "Zodiac Killer" and attempting to keep the investigation going. Had Riverside Police Department checked these further claims and verified them, it would have given more credence to this individual that he was a serial hoaxer involved in manufacturing the three Bates letters. These further hoax Zodiac letters and the way they were written and designed could be the key to the confidence displayed in the recent statement from the Riverside Police Department. 

The first time it was widely known of the Zodiac Killer connection to the Cheri Jo Bates murder case, was when Paul Avery wrote extensively about this in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 16th 1970 in an article entitled New Evidence in Zodiac Killings. It read "On April 30, 1967, exactly six months after the killing, three stamped letters - addressed to the Press-Enterprise, the police, and cruelly, to the slain girl's father - were dropped into a city mailbox. BATES HAD TO DIE THERE WILL BE MORE was printed in large scrawled letters on each of the notes penciled on pages of lined 3-hole school paper".  So any additional hoax letters created to keep the Zodiac investigation going, mailed by the 2016 claimant of the three Bates letters, likely came when he saw the connection between the Riverside and Northern California murders. This article may have been the incentive to project himself into the Zodiac case and mail additional hoax letters to Northern California police agencies. Assuming these further letters were retained, it could have been a simple case of interviewing the 2016 individual and asking him where he mailed these additional letters from (and their content), and cross-checking the postmark to verify his claims. Four months after the Paul Avery article, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer decided to shift his letter writing from the San Francisco Chronicle to the Los Angeles Times, because "they don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others". The author of the March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letter begrudgingly  acknowledged the authorities for stumbling across his Riverside activity, adding that there was a hell of a lot more down there. Downtown Los Angeles is about 60 miles west of San Bernardino. 

The three Bates letters have become very topical at the moment based on Riverside police claiming an individual hoaxed the three handwritten communications. They stated "In April 2016, investigators received an anonymous letter postmarked from San Bernardino, California. This letter was typed and appeared to have been generated from a computer. The author of the anonymous letter admitted to writing the hand written letters. The author apologized for sending the letters and said it was a sick joke. The author admitted that he was not the Zodiac killer or the killer of Cheri Jo Bates and was just looking for attention. In 2020, the Homicide Cold Case Unit and the FBI Los Angeles Investigative Genealogy Team, submitted the stamp from the letter for additional DNA analysis and subsequent interviews were conducted. The individual linked to the DNA evidence on the stamp admitted to writing the letter and sending it to Riverside Police Department. The author was a young teenager at the time and had a troubled youth. He said he wrote the letter seeking attention and was remorseful for his actions".

​However, we cannot say with certainty based on this statement, whether the individual in 2016 was telling the truth. Recently I made a comparison between the Riverside Desktop Poem, the Confession Letter and Bates Letters, as follows: If the wording of the Confession letter had been withheld from the newspapers in 1966, it would make any similarities between the Confession letter and Riverside Desktop Poem more significant. It appears that the majority of the text from the Confession letter wasn't released until November 1968, when it was published in the Press-Enterprise newspaper. The title of the Desktop Poem was "Sick of living/unwilling to die".  When we look at the Confession letter the author types two sentences carrying the similar wording of "She was then very willing to talk to me" and "she went very willingly".  The Confession Letter author also typed "I am not sick. I am insane". In other words, the Desktop Poem title is embedded in the story of the Confession Letter. The Desktop Poem concludes with the wording "She won't die, this time someone'll find her. Just wait till next time", suggestive of an impending death - and mirrored in the Confession Letter when the author types the word "time" on a further three occasions and utilizes the word "die" in the same string of wording, by stating "When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die".  The Riverside Desktop Poem contained the words "to die". The Confession Letter harbored the wording "I said it was about time for her to die" (meaning Bates had to die). Then, five months later, the three Bates Letters contained the wording "Bates had to die there will be more" and "She had to die there will be more".  

​Just over one year later, somebody wrote a series of 5 handwritten letters to Edward Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson in the June and July of 1968 with various threats. One of which was addressed to Mr. Joseph P. Kennedy, Brookline, Massachusetts and postmarked West Palm Beach, Florida on June 17th 1968. The Confession letter author remarked that "I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom", and seemingly deliberately misspelled the word "victim" by typing "victom" instead. The handwritten note to Joseph Kennedy followed a similar pattern to the Confession Letter, stating "Do you propose "Tedd" to be the next victum", but this time spelling "victim" as "victum".. 

A short time earlier, on June 14th 1968, a handwritten letter to Mrs. Ethel Kennedy, Hickory Hill, McClean, Virginia, postmarked Boston, Massachusetts was received at Senator Kennedy's offices, stating that "Jack had to die. Bobby had to die. Teddy has to die". The three Bates letters contained the threats of "Bates had to die", "Bates had to die" and "She had to die". The author below wasn't "sick of living" however, he was sick of the Kennedy's. The author of the five Kennedy communications is very likely different to the author of the Riverside communications, but I thought it was a noteworthy addition to ponder in light of recent developments.  

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

​The Zodiac Killer responded on November 8th 1969 by using the scytale method of decryption featured at the top of Poe's essay A Few Words On Secret Writing. Or should I say, it can be used to crack the 340 cipher encrypted message, that contained the wording "one in paradice" just like Edgar Allen Poe's poem to his dead wife entitled "To One In Paradise". The next method of encryption in Poe's A Few Words On Secret Writing involved splitting the alphabet A to M and N to Z (two sections of thirteen) mirroring the Zodiac's 13 character code which began with A and ended with M - and because of the distinct lack of characters in this code - it has been considered unsolvable using standard cryptographic methods.

​The Zodiac seemingly didn't supply us with a key to this code in later communications, leading me to believe that the key or answer lies in the Edgar Allen Poe essay mentioned above. I believe the answer to the code is ​"This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is....Fk, I'm crackproof, in which each element of the phrase is begun by each of the circled eights, thereby creating an infinite circular cipher (hence the circled 8's which represent infinity and a new beginning). The Zodiac Killer may have supplied us with the answer to the Z13 code in the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970 in which he configured the punched holes in an arrangement of 10 to 3, pinpointing the position of the three eights, and supplying the answer of Fk, I'm crackproof. Using Edgar Allen Poe's reasoning in A Few Words On Secret Writing, I can now place five letters in the correct position within the 13 character code, albeit not to my complete satisfaction.  

Here is a section of reasoning from Edgar Allen Poe's A Few Words On Secret Writing where A can represent N and vice versa, where B can represent O and vice versa, and where C can represent P and vice versa. But he also makes a point of saying A might stand for P (or vice vera). This is where I shall jump into the code using a trial and error approach. 

If A can stand for P, I shall place P above the A in the beginning of the Z13 code like so:

If A can stand for P, and P can also represent C, then A can also stand for C. So let us insert the letter C above A in the Z13 code.

If A can represent N and vice versa, B can represent O and vice versa, and C can represent P and vice versa, then E can represented R. So let us place R in the Z13 code.

Edgar Allen Poe stated that N can represent A, so let us place A above the second N in the Z13 code:

If A can stand for P, and P can also represent C, then A can also stand for C. This means that if M can stand for X, and X can represent K, then M can also stand for K (just like A stood for C). So let us insert K into the Z13 code:

If the K and M between the three eights are representative of themselves as I have previously surmised, then we have the beginning of the answer to the Z13 code. But without this assumption, we have five letters inserted that mirror the previous solution I have suggested - all reasoned from Edgar Allen Poe's essay. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

If the wording of the Confession letter had been withheld from the newspapers in 1966, it would make any similarities between the Confession letter and Riverside Desktop Poem more significant. It appears that the majority of the text from the Confession letter wasn't released until November 1968, when it was published in the Press-Enterprise newspaper. Here is a brief section from a previous article:making a comparison between the Desktop Poem and Confession letter, both of which begin with a title.

​The title of the Desktop Poem was "Sick of living/unwilling to die".  When we look at the Confession letter the author types two sentences carrying the similar wording of "She was then very willing to talk to me" and "she went very willingly".  The Confession letter author also typed "I am not sick. I am insane". In other words, the Desktop Poem title is embedded in the story of the Confession letter. The Desktop Poem concludes with the wording "She won't die, this time someone'll find her. Just wait till next time", suggestive of an impending death - and mirrored in the Confession letter when the author types the word "time" on a further three occasions and utilizes the word "die" in the same string of wording, by stating "When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die".   

Is this enough correlation to point to one author of the Riverside Desktop Poem and Confession letter? And could the author of the Bates letters (whoever that may be) be responsible for the two previous communications. Recently, the Riverside Police Department have stated that somebody contacted them via a letter in 2016 claiming responsibilty for the three Bates letters postmarked April 30th 1967. "The author apologized for sending the letters and said it was a sick joke. The author admitted that he was not the Zodiac killer or the killer of Cheri Jo Bates and was just looking for attention". But was the individual who made this admission in 2016 telling the truth? Despite the three Bates letters containing only eight words, they managed to continue the theme of the previous two communications in 1966. The Desktop Poem was titled "Sick of living/unwilling to die". The Confession letter harbored the wording "I said it was about time for her to die" (meaning Bates had to die). Then, five months later, the three Bates letters contained the wording "Bates had to die there will be more" and "She had to die there will be more". In addition, all three communications ended with the threat of further murder. The ending of each carried the wording "Just wait till next time", "I am stalking your girls now" and "There will be more". It is also noteworthy that the Zodiac Killer never used the wording "to die", "die" or "died" in any of his communications spanning eighteen years.

Here is some additional information regarding the Confession letter. Before the development of photographic copiers, a carbon copy was the under-copy of a typed or written document placed over carbon paper and the under-copy sheet itself (not to be confused with the carbon print family of photographic reproduction processes). When copies of business letters were so produced, it was customary to use the acronym "CC" or "cc" before a colon and below the writer's signature to inform the principal recipient that carbon copies had been made and distributed to the parties listed after the colon. With the advent of word processors and e-mail, "cc" is used as a merely formal indication of the distribution of letters to secondary recipients. A sheet of carbon paper is placed between two or more sheets of paper. The pressure applied by the writing implement (pen, pencil, typewriter or impact printer) to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to reproduce the similar mark on the copy sheet(s). More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. Four or five copies is a practical limit. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy. A sheet of carbon paper is placed between two or more sheets of paper. The pressure applied by the writing implement (pen, pencil, typewriter or impact printer) to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to reproduce the similar mark on the copy sheet(s). More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. Four or five copies is a practical limit. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy. Wikipedia. .

Robert Graysmith in Zodiac Unmasked stated "November 29, 1966. Two carbon copies of a "confession" letter sent to the press and Riverside Police. Zodiac typed on a sandwich of Teletype paper and carbon paper and mailed the faintest, the fourth and fifth impressions. The original typed top page was never sent". Ordinarily it is wise to double check anything Robert Graysmith claimed, however, in this instance his claims appear to concur with Wikipedia that four or five copies is perfectly feasible in this instance. The fact that the Confession letter was cut at the top and bottom suggests the paper used was taken from a Teletype roll

Colin Marchelletta (marchellettacolin@gmail.com), creator of the Zodiac Killer Library on Facebook, has now developed a Zodiac Ciphers free website app which is now available on Google Play. Colin has invested considerable time and effort into this project, so hopefully you will find this application useful should you choose to install it. 

There is a reasonable argument to be had, that the Confession letter mailed on November 29th 1966 was created by the same author as the Riverside Desktop Poem, with both being created at around the same time by somebody who had access to the Riverside library photocopier and the desktops themselves - possibly a young student who lived in Riverside and attended the college. The author of the Riverside Desktop Poem may have split his poem into two parts: The first part reminiscing in the present tense about the April 1965 attempted murder of a young female student on the Riverside City College campus, who narrowly escaped death after being stabbed by Rolland Taft. A newspaper article entitled "Clean-cut Youth Sought In Stabbing" was released shortly after the attack, that seemed to mirror the opening two words of the Riverside Desktop Poem, and detailed on Ricardo Gomez's MK Zodiac website. The first part of the poem was correct when it asserted "she won't die, this time someone'll find her". The young woman fled the attack and sought help from a nearby residence and was rushed to hospital. The second part of the poem reminisced in the present tense that the next woman would not be so lucky, by stating "Just wait till next time. r h." That person may have been Cheri Jo Bates, brutally stabbed on October 30th 1966 close to the Riverside City College library annex and found on Halloween morning. The newspapers detailed that screams were heard on the night of October 30th 1966 but that her body was discovered the morning of Halloween, so the author of the Desktop Poem may have been using this date when he added Riverside, Halloween at the end of the poem.   

If the wording of the Confession letter had been withheld from the newspapers in 1966, it would make any similarities between the Confession letter and Riverside Desktop Poem more significant. It appears that the majority of the text from the Confession letter wasn't released until November 1968, when it was published in the Press-Enterprise newspaper. Let us make a comparison between the Desktop Poem and Confession letter, both of which begin with a title. The title of the Desktop Poem was "Sick of living/unwilling to die".  When we look at the Confession letter the author types two sentences carrying the similar wording of "She was then very willing to talk to me" and "she went very willingly".  The Confession letter author also typed "I am not sick. I am insane". In other words, the Desktop Poem title is embedded in the story of the Confession letter. The Desktop Poem concludes with the wording "She won't die, this time someone'll find her. Just wait till next time", suggestive of an impending death - and mirrored in the Confession letter when the author types the word "time" on a further three occasions and utilizes the word "die" in the same string of wording, by stating "When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die".   

There is every chance that the author of these two communications was a young prankster connected to the Riverside City College campus and library, who had knowledge of both attacks in 1965 and 1966, and gleaned everything about these two young women from the newspapers. The connection to both these attacks can be reasoned in the Riverside Desktop Poem, along with the claim of one author being responsible for both communications by the very wording they utilized.   

It has been speculated that Donna Lass, who was nearing the end of her shift, was abducted from the parking lot of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 6th 1970, having possibly been lured there by claim of a false emergency from her abductor and bundled into a waiting vehicle. Harvey Hines stated in the Tahoe Daily Tribune that "There was a lot of evidence inside the Sahara Tahoe Casino that she left directly from there. She was a very personal person and she left a lot of personal items behind; an opened letter, a dirty uniform, and on her log a pen was dragged from the last word she wrote on the page". The last entry according to Mary Pilker (Donna's sister) was "patient complains of". Ten months later, on July 13th 1971, Trudy Ann Hiler (22) went missing from Cal Neva Lodge & Casino after finishing her shift, reported as being bundled into a vehicle in the parking lot of the casino. It was situated on the northern tip of Lake Tahoe just three miles from Incline Village. Trudy Ann Hiler was found strangled and stabbed two days later under a rock ledge between the casino and lake shore. The man who found the body also reported the abduction. That man was Michael Anselmo (18 at the time of the murder), who worked as a busboy in the same casino as Trudy. The following year he received life in prison for the murder of the young woman. He spent 47 years in jail before being released. I wonder where he got the idea of her being bundled into a vehicle in the parking lot?