When the Zodiac Killer mailed the second Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969 he included a very short code of five characters, accompanied by his Zodiac crosshairs, with four smaller crosshairs in each quadrant. It has been noted by many Zodiac researchers that this configuration resembled the Halloween card design he mailed approximately ten months later, which contained the bisecting "paradice" and "slaves", with the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife in each quadrant. The rudimentary design of the Fairfield letter with four small crosshairs could be representative of these four weapons. I used this premise to place the word "By" immediately preceding the larger crosshairs, above ciphertext characters 4 & 5 (see below).

The last time the Zodiac Killer demanded we print his cipher in the newspaper, he wrote to the San Francisco Examiner and threatened "I want you to print this cipher on the frunt page by Fry afternoon Aug 1-69. If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night". To the San Francisco Chronicle he wrote "If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night". To the Vallejo Times-Herald he wrote "I want you to print this cipher on your frunt page by Fry Afternoon Aug 1-69, If you do not do this I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end". Every single time the Zodiac Killer demanded the newspaper print his cipher, he followed it up by using "Fry" to represent Friday (six times in total). Therefore, when he demanded his five character code be printed in the newspaper by stating "you better print", it could be reasoned that this sentence be completed to "you better print Fry". This satisfies the repeating ciphertext character at positions 3 & 5.  

The Zodiologists website took a deep dive into the three Cheri Jo Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967 and wrote "It can be reasonably assumed that the signature has a particular meaning beyond of just being a letter. If we should pick just one of the available options, we would say that the signature is a combination of the letter Z and the number 3. If it would be only the letter Z, there would be no need to write its top in flying-bird shape. The line at the bottom of the letter is straight. We also could not find a symbol that would resemble the signature. Therefore, we consider Z-3 as most plausible". 

​In the Confession letter, mailed on November 29th 1966, the author stated that Cheri Jo Bates was "not the first and she will not be the last", suggesting that the typist was claiming more than one victim. This conforms to the notion of a signature with an attached victim count, also displayed by the Zodiac Killer alongside his crosshairs in the numerous letters and cards he mailed. However, there is one communication that may have used a similar signature to that used in two of the Bates letters.

The Halloween card, mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 27th 1970, gave us a victim count of "14" on the skeleton's hand, and fashioned the number fourteen as "4-TEEN", using the number "4" to express the word "four". The Zodiac Killer may have used the same tactic with the symbol on the envelope and card inner, using 4 dots to indicate that the "F" stood for "fourteen" rather then "fifteen". If the symbol on the Halloween card inner and outer denoted a victim count for a third time, we have the possibility of a joined "Z" and "F" denoting the fourteen victims claimed by the killer - extremely similar to the joined "Z" and "3" suggested by the Zodiologists website. If this hypothesis is true, it could indicate a common thread from Riverside to the Bay Area through the correspondence of a killer. It must also be noted that the Halloween card was the only confirmed communication to use the letter "Z" to denote the "Zodiac" pseudonym - and it used the letter "Z" twice - just like the two Bates letters (if you believe the premise). The Zodiac Killer also used the word "BY" in prominent positions four times within the Halloween card, mirroring the "BY" which headed both Confession letters. The use of a Halloween card to convey these similarities is pertinent to the fact that the body of Cheri Jo Bates was discovered on Halloween morning  

The Zodiac's Little List letter (July 26th 1970), believed by some to be the previous communication to the Halloween card, began his little list by misspelling "victim" to "victom", and wrote. "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and sqwirm". The Confession letter author began his little list by using the misspelling "victom", before typing "She squirmed and shook as I chocked her, and her lips twiched. She let out a scream once". The author of the Confession letter had a smaller list, but included "the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store" and "the shapely blue eyed brunett that said no when I asked her for a date". The Zodiac Killer could have fashioned the Little List letter and Halloween card to make journalists and/or law enforcement draw the conclusion he was responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. This ultimately became the case, when Paul Avery presented the link in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 16th 1970, much to the dismay of law enforcement. 

The information regarding the Confession letters was readily available to the Zodiac Killer, when the Inside Detective magazine published a comprehensive article about Cheri Jo Bates in January 1969. However, the signature on two of the Bates' letters had not been published in the newspapers or magazines prior to October 27th 1970, making the possibility of two "Z's" and a victim count, deployed in Riverside and the Bay Area, through three communications and one killer, a viable proposition. If Riverside really was the Zodiac Killer, had he reset his victim total when switching from "Z" to the "Zodiac" pseudonym, beginning anew some 450 miles north? 

It could be argued that the author of the Scorpion letters, which were mailed to John Walsh, presenter of the popular television show America's Most Wanted, was hinting he was once the infamous Zodiac Killer. In a series of cryptograms and letters sent in 1991, the headline text of "Hi, Remember Me" is fairly self-explanatory (see below). The wording used in the correspondence such as "you and your over anxious associates would try and nail me even if I used a P.O. Box for a return address" is interesting, because post office box keys were a feature of the Eureka card just a few months earlier, in 1990. The Atlanta letter, almost certainly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on March 8th 1981, contained the wording "I am not writing in the same hand writing". The Scorpion letters author wrote "My style of hand writing on these cards is very much altered". There is a distinct gap between "hand" and "writing" in both instances (rather than "handwriting" written as one word). The Scorpion letter also stated "I will soon start collecting bodies for you", replacing the word "slaves" used by the Zodiac Killer. 

These complex cryptograms are extremely difficult to solve because of the excessive ciphertext characters used in the encoding process. However, there are some possible openings. The Zodiac Killer mailed a 408 character cipher on July 31st 1969, a 340 character cipher on November 8th 1969, a 38 character cipher on December 7th 1969, a 13 character code on April 20th 1970 and a 32 character code on June 26th 1970, but not once did he use the "sun cross" or "number 7" as a ciphertext character. The 148 character cipher mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle by the Zodiac Killer sometime in May 1971, the 50 character cipher mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper on August 1st 1973, and the 180 character Scorpion cipher mailed in 1991 (all bearing traits of the Zodiac Killer and not contemporarily published in the newspapers), all contained the "sun cross" and "number 7" as a ciphertext character. ​The "number 7" in the 1971 and 1973 ciphers, both decoded to the plaintext letter "A".

In the 148 character cipher mailed in 1971, the Zodiac Killer used the "sun cross" as a signature rather than his traditional crosshairs - thereby signing off his communication with the letter "Z" - because the "sun cross" descoded to the plaintext letter "Z" in the 148 character cipher. Bearing in mind that the Scorpion letter author headlined with the wording "Hi, Remember Me", it had to be considered that the pseudonym "Zodiac" may have been hidden somewhere in the cryptogram. Since the Zodiac Killer probably used the "sun cross" to represent the letter "Z" in the 148 character cipher, I took a look at the 180 character Scorpion cipher to see if any repeating ciphertext characters would mimic the pseudonym "Zodiac", using the "sun cross" to represent the plaintext letter "Z". Below are the examples I found beginning on row 2 and 14. To view the Scorpion letters and ciphers, please visit Science Blogs. 

Recently I have been covering the autopsy reports of various Zodiac Killer victims to better understand the dynamics of each crime - and as such - dispel some of the inaccuracies and myths surrounding the four canonical attacks. The final Zodiac murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 will be examined using information taken from the autopsy report featured on the once Howard Davis website. Here is an excerpt taken from the coroner's findings; "Both lungs are moderately increased in weight. There is congestion at the base and dependant portions. Multiple intraparenchymal hemorrhages are noted". Lung parenchyma is the substance of the lung that is involved with ​gas exchange and includes the pulmonary alveoli.

If Paul Stine was of healthy disposition and had no underlying health issues, the multiple parenchymal hemorrhages causing blood to leak into the tissues of the lungs and creating congestion in the dependent portions, can be found in patients with chest trauma. An impact to the chest from such things as the steering wheel can cause parenchymal hemorrhage without injury to the sternum and ribs. "A pulmonary contusion is a bruise on the lung parenchyma. Pulmonary contusion is reported to be present in 23% of patients with significant blunt chest trauma, and occurs most often from automobile collisions with rapid deceleration. Regardless of the mechanism, injury to the lung results in injury to capillaries and the leaking of blood into the lung tissue and alveoli. This collection of fluid in the alveoli interferes with normal alveolar-capillary gas exchange". link. "Chest wall and pulmonary injuries caused by blunt thoracic trauma include many organs, tissues and systems. The age of the patient is important when evaluating a blunt chest trauma. While a trauma in the pediatric age group may not cause a chest wall injury due to bone elasticity, it may lead to serious complications and even death in the elderly population.The best example of acceleration-deceleration damage is motor vehicle accident. The most common condition is the sudden and high-speed deceleration of the anterior thorax, resulting in injury to the vascular structures, bones, soft tissues and organs. At the same time, the presence of steering wheel deformity caused by the driver hitting the steering wheel increases thoracic injuries, complications and mortality" .link..

"Signs and symptoms of thoracic trauma include: cyanosis of fingers, lips or face, dispnea, tachpnea or bradipnea and contusion". link. Cyanosis is the medical term for a blue, purplish or gray discoloration of the skin, caused by a shortage of oxygen in the blood. Peripheral cyanosis can occur in the extremities such as the hands, fingers and toes. Paul Stine had, according to the coroner, parenchymal hemorrhage in the lungs (reducing oxygen levels in the blood) and dark marks on the dorsal side of his left hand. It is not possible to conclude whether the two conditions are related to one another, but these autopsy findings of blood in the tissue of both lungs is an unusual facet of this case. If the Zodiac Killer had presented the gun earlier in Paul Stine's journey, could the taxicab driver have attempted rapid braking in an attempt to disarm his eventual killer, causing non-fatal steering wheel trauma to his anterior chest region, and causing the Zodiac Killer to strike his legs on the rear of the front seat? Officer Donald Fouke did describe the Zodiac Killer as walking with a "lumbering gait" and "stumbling along like a semi-limp" in the 2007 Zodiac documentary. But how accurate are these recollections 38 years subsequent to the events that night?

It is without doubt that Paul Stine died as a result of one shot to the right side of his head causing massive brain injury, but what occurred during the taxicab journey from the Union Square plaza in San Francisco to the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets in Presidio Heights? It is unknown when the Zodiac Killer pulled the gun on Paul Stine, despite the common portrayal of a surprise attack occurring during the very last seconds of the trip.​

The injury to Paul Stine's head was described upon opening the cranium as "a small quantity of hemorrhage into the temporal muscles bilaterally. There is extensive fracturing of the base of the skull. The above described entry wound has passed almost directly medially, passing beneath the pituitary gland and sella turcica, the floor of the left orbit and into the midportion of the left temporalis muscle near the zygomatic arch (red circle on diagram)..​A smashed and fragmented, copper jacketed lead bullet is found embedded in the left temporalis muscle. There is laceration of the ventral surface of the right temporal lobe. There is marked flattening of the gyri and diffuse hemorrhage into the subarachnoid space".

To sum up the autopsy, the bullet entered just in front of the right ear, traveled at a shallow angle anteriorally and struck the left temporalis muscle (used in chewing). Without knowing the head position of Paul Stine at the moment the gun was fired, makes it impossible to determine where the killer was seated in the taxicab when he delivered the fatal shot. The parenchymal hemorrhages to the lungs of Paul Stine (if not present prior to the taxicab journey) warrants an answer to the possible events that occurred within the taxicab during his final journey on October 11th 1969. The story is not complete. 

Texas Senator John Cornyn is currently introducing new legislation to provide federal funding in the solving of cold cases by using the cutting-dege crime fighting tool of Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG). Dubbed the Carla Walker Act, this would provide much needed funding to corporations such as Othram Inc. who are leading the way in this specialized field of genetics  

Carla Walker (17) was abducted from Brunswick Ridglea Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas on February 17th 1974 as she sat with her boyfriend in the parking lot. An unknown white male wrenched open the car door while brandishing a gun and pistol whipped Rodney McCoy, before grabbing the young woman and disappearing into the night. Three days later, on February 20th 1974, her battered and bruised body was found in a culvert in Lake Benbrook. The autopsy showed she had been drugged and kept alive for two days, having been tortured, raped and strangled to death. It would take 46 years to identify her killer as Glen Samuel McCurley (77), who was snared in 2020 through DNA left on her clothing by way of forensic genetic genealogy performed at Othram laboratories. Despite the DNA being heavily degraded, a full profile was achieved and closely matched family members of the killer, leading to his arrest and eventful conviction on August 24th 2021. He escaped any real justice, dying in a Texas state prison on July 15th 2023. 

In an interview with Houston's KPRC 2 news channel, retired law enforcement officer Paul Holes, instrumental in the Golden State Killer case, was asked what other cases may be solved with the assistance of federal funding. He stated "One case I had involvement with out in the Bay Area was the Zodiac case - that is still an unsolved case - and it's a very high profile case. If they can identify DNA from that offender, then this technology potentially could solve one of the biggest mysteries out there".

​There are 30+ communications connected to the Zodiac case, with DNA having already been sourced from one Zodiac letter mailed on April 24th 1978. With extra funding and an unbiased approach in testing all the contested communications mailed in the name of the Zodiac Killer, we can only hope for better news in the near future. 

Despite the vast majority of the 408 cipher being deciphered on August 8th 1969, we still had the small matter of 18 unsolved or unexplained characters at the foot of the cryptogram that were thought may have contained the name of the Zodiac Killer. Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department pondered this conundrum in a newspaper article on August 12th 1969 entitled "A Name in Murder Cipher", in which "Robert Emmet the hippie" was suggested as one possible solution to the mystery. Sergeant John Lynch stated that he was "pursuing the possibility that the name might be a nom de plume - or not the cipher sender's name at all". Later in the article it mentioned that the cipher was turned over to Navy cryptographers before it was solved, and suggested that the Zodiac Killer send another letter explaining the final 18 characters of the 408 cipher. 

A letter mailed on October 7th 1969 signed by a "good citizen" was addressed to Sergeant John Lynch, giving him some advice. It read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX". It is fairly evident that "code letters" was a reference to the three cryptograms mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner, postmarked July 31st 1969 - and the author of this letter was giving Sergeant John Lynch a name, who could maybe assist him by way of his knowledge of other people in codebreaking. In other words, it is possible that "Jerry" could assist Sergeant John Lynch because of his connection to law enforcement or Navy cryptography (or was holding a more advantageous position in attempting to solve the final 18 characters). If the "Jerry" mentioned in the correspondence was a real person, it could be argued that the sender believed "Jerry" could be of benefit to Sergeant John Lynch with the remaining unsolved portion of the 408 cipher. Therefore, I needed to find somebody called "Jerry", possibly with links to the Navy (and cryptography), who had a surname of seven letters, thereby explaining the XXXXXXX placed at the end of this correspondence. How Beach Street factors into the equation, I cannot ascertain. Unless Jerry is somehow linked to that address through a friend or acquaintance.   

Jerry Johnson was a Naval Intelligence Agent stationed at the Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo, who worked on the Zodiac case with former California Highway Patrol officer, Lyndon Lafferty, who went on to release the book "The Zodiac Killer Cover-Up: The Silenced Badge" with the assistance of Jerry Johnson. He appeared in a photograph alongside long-time Zodiac contributor Sandy Betts and other Zodiac researchers, when they gathered at Lake Herman Road for a reunion in 2016. The Vallejo Times-Herald article stated that "Orinda resident, Johnson said he was a federal agent stationed on Mare Island in the late 1960s, and it was then that the late Lyndon Lafferty, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, came to him about an encounter with a man he believed was the Zodiac Killer".

It was later claimed that Lafferty's suspect, William Grant, once sought help from Dr. Edward C. Adams, a psychiatrist living in Orinda, California, and the potential recipient of a Zodiac Killer communication on October 17th 1970 with the pasted newspaper text of "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it.  ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac".  

It is important to identify "Jerry" because the author of the October 7th 1969 communication was almost certainly the author of the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969, two months earlier. Both communications had a similar signature of "good citizen" and "concerned citizen", both were addressed to Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department, both referenced the 408 cipher (by way of "code letters" and the sending of a cipher key), and both used the word "name" in the correspondence twice. This is despite neither being published in the newspapers. The mischievous and cryptic nature of the "good citizen" letter may suggest that the "concerned citizen" author - if one and the same - was playing games with investigators all along. Something we know the Zodiac Killer enjoyed doing throughout his letter-writing campaign.

OFFERING A SOLUTION TO 18 ON 10/7/1969   

I had a great discussion on all things Zodiac with Ross Geraci, host of the Planet X Filmworks Youtube channel and long-time Zodiac researcher, Druzer, who is the engine behind the Citizen Detective Podcast, covering many aspects of true crime. The Zodiac Files Interviews series on Planet X Filmworks has featured former Bay Area resident Bryan, Thomas Horan (author of The Myth of the Zodiac Killer), Drew Beeson (author of Sighting In On the Zodiac Killer), Michael Morford (author of The Case of the Zodiac Killer), Howard Davis (author of The Zodiac Manson Connection) and Mark Hewitt (author of The Zodiac Hunted, Exposed and Revealed trilogy).

​The Planet X Filmworks channel has also covered The Seaside Slayings of Johnny & Joyce Swindle (Ocean Beach), The Death of Ray Davis (Oceanside) and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (Riverside). These can be found in the Zodiac Files section.  


​[1] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Bryan former Bay Area Resident During the Zodiac Era
[2] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Drew Beeson 
[3] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Howard Davis
[4] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Professor Thomas Henry Horan
[5] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Dr. Mark Hewitt 
[6] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Richard Grinell
[7] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Professor Thomas Henry Horan & Richard Grinell
[8] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Michael Morford
[9] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Richard Grinell & Druzer

[1] The Zodiac Files Debate Series: Author Drew Beeson Vs Druzer on Suspect Donald Lee Cheney: Scheduled for September 2nd 2023 9:00pm UK time.

[1] The Zodiac Files: The Seaside Slayings 
[2] The Zodiac Files: The Death of Ray Davis 
[3] The Zodiac Files: The Cheri Jo Bates' Mystery ​

Below are the injuries to the face and neck of Cheri Jo Bates detailed at autopsy. .

Although emergency medicine providers commonly describe any break in the skin as a laceration, this terminology is forensically and technically incorrect. A laceration is defined as a tear in tissue caused by a shearing or crushing force. Therefore, a laceration is the result of a blunt-trauma mechanism. A laceration is further characterized by incomplete separation of stronger tissue elements, such as blood vessels and nerves. These stronger tissue elements account for “tissue bridging” which is seen in lacerations. In addition, lacerations commonly occur over bony prominences and tend to be irregularly shaped with abraded or contused margins. Lacerations are typically caused by hard objects like a pipe, rock, or the ground. Link to ACEPNow.

Unfortunately, F. Rene Modglin detailed the autopsy findings of Cheri Jo Bates incorrectly, when he labeled "incised wounds" as "lacerations" when describing the stab wounds to her torso. Therefore, we are presented with the injuries to her face as lacerations - and have to determine whether any of these wounds were caused by a knife blade or the mechanism of blunt force trauma, such as a hard object, punch or kick to the head, or from impact with the driveway floor. The analysis above shows that lacerations are commonly found over bony prominences and tend to be irregularly shaped with abraded margins. The three wounds described at autopsy (excluding the discoloration of the right lip) are found over the bony prominences of the zygomatic bone (cheekbone), the mentum (chin) and left side of the maxilla (upper jawbone}, where we have two accompanying abraded areas on the left cheek and chin, and an irregular (ragged edge) wound to her left upper lip. These wounds are all consistent with blunt force trauma, bearing in mind we have a dark blue-grey discoloration (probable bruising) present on the left cheek and chin. We have to discern whether these proposed blunt force injuries were caused through kicking (as claimed in the Confession letter), or by impact with the driveway floor.

The below image shows the 5 incised (stab) wounds to the front torso and right arm of Cheri Jo Bates (denoted by the blue circles). Wound 6 is described as two abraded lacerations, so it's unclear whether this injury was caused by a knife blade.
Wounds 7, 8 and 9 to the dorsal side of the left hand and lateral aspect of the right index finger are congruent with Cheri Jo Bates using her hands and arms in a defensive posture while being secured from behind. The absence of prolonged screaming and the close grouping of these 9 wounds, can be argued from the standpoint of a killer restraining Cheri Jo Bates around the neck while stabbing backwards into her chest region.

Without more information it is difficult to ascertain whether the injuries to her hand and finger were separate stab wounds that never struck her torso, or were injuries created as the knife passed by. Discounting wound 6, we have 5 knife wounds to the upper region of her body in close proximity to one another. It must be pointed out that I have placed the 2 wounds to her left breast slightly off-center to avoid showing the blue circles over her right hand and confuse the observer. If the right hand of Cheri Jo Bates was more centrally positioned when injury 9 occurred, it can be seen how the grouping of stab wounds narrows. This grouping would be much more difficult to achieve if no restraint was applied by the killer and the interaction was much more dynamic in nature. If we change the position of Cheri Jo Bates' hands, with her right hand protecting her right side, and her left hand protecting her left side, then the incised wounds to each hand would mirror the stab wounds to her left and right breast. For these to be related it would require three knife strikes cutting her hands and finger as the blade passed by. With the final stab wound to her back possibly being administered after she was forced forward onto the driveway floor, with the killer kneeling over her.

In conclusion, we have between 6 and 10 stab wounds in total, with the seven knife slices across her neck being the final horrific act that night. The close grouping of the stab wounds, the lack of screaming, and the consistency of the wound widths to her breasts and right armpit of 1.4 cm, 1.5 cm, 1.7 cm and 1.9 cm (with her back wound 1.5 cm), could suggest restraint rather than a dynamic moving target, in which more shearing type wounds may be expected (as observed in the Cecelia Shepard autopsy). This can be seen on the arms of Cheri Jo Bates by the two somewhat abraded wounds to her left arm (of 3.5 cm and 4.0 cm), and the 4.0 cm wound to her right arm, which would have exhibited greater motion than her torso, assuming she was restrained by the neck region. These observations are consistent with the claims of the Confession letter author.  PART TWO. 

The December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 Fairfield letters mailed by the Zodiac Killer were almost certainly responses to two newspaper articles published by the Los Angeles Times. A third Los Angeles Times article on December 18th 1969 likely triggered the Zodiac Killer into phoning the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969, stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The newspaper headlined with "Cult May Be Linked to Slaying of 2 Girls", incorrectly suggesting a possible connection between the Mansion Family and the murders of Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong in San Jose on August 3rd 1969, to which the Zodiac Killer had already claimed on November 8th 1969 when he mailed the Dripping Pen card.

The newspaper detailed the slayings of the Manson Family at the Sharon Tate residence and stated "San Jose detectives developed a possible connection between the cases after conferring with Los Angeles officers. Six members of a hippie clan led by Charles Manson have been charged with murdering five persons. One of the members of the nomadic band, Susan Denise Atkins, 21, is from San Jose. The Manson "family" has visited Miss Atkins' father there". This newspaper article had all the ingredients for the phone call on December 19th 1969. in which the Zodiac Killer may have used the Manson "family" murder of "five" people to concoct the San Jose telephone message of "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". 

It must also be remembered that a comprehensive newspaper article published by the San Francisco Chronicle on August 6th 1969 about the San Jose murders conducted an interview with the father of murdered Debra Furlong, who had a wife and three surviving children. In other words, a remaining "family of five" from San Jose. Probably upset that San Jose law enforcement had mentioned two of Zodiac's claimed victims and were implying a murder link to the Manson Family, it probably wasn't too surprising that he would phone the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969 and threaten five officers, just as he had threatened multiple cops in different jurisdictions when he mailed the Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969, just three days earlier.  

​The Zodiac Killer may have had a long memory, because 8 1/2 years later, a letter mailed to a Los Angeles radio station again threatened to kill two officers and "five" people in total, including Susan Atkins of the Manson Family, whose name featured three times in the Los Angeles Times article on December 18th 1969. On May 2nd 1978, a letter arrived at KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, stating that the Zodiac Killer was "planning to kill five people in the next three weeks", rather than "five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The new threat promised to kill Chief Daryl Gates, Chief Ed Davis, Pat Boone, Eldridge Cleaver and Susan Atkins. The phone call on December 19th 1969, and the letter mailed on May 2nd 1978, were both seemingly inspired by news related to the Manson Family and Susan Atkins, suggestive of one mindset that yearned to kill five. 

The consensus opinion on the decoded 408 cryptogram message is that the killer took inspiration from "The Most Dangerouse Game" short story, authored by Richard Connell in 1924, or the 1932 adapted movie version starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks. Subsequent Zodiac communications have led people to believe that the Bay Area murderer may have had a fascination for the theater, movies, books and comics, such as the 1952 Tim Holt comic publication, likely used in the design of the Halloween card and "The Mikado" by Gilbert & Sullivan, which premiered in 1885 and was plagiarized in the Little List and Exorcist letters. These two examples, along with the suggested links to Charlie Chan and Alfred Hitchcock, appear to suggest the Zodiac Killer wasn't averse to drawing inspiration from yesteryear.

​Recently Jarett Kobek, in his book "How to Find Zodiac", has looked into the fanzine culture, in which enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as the literary or musical genre) share their passions through a shared interest magazine. Hence the suggestion of the Zodiac Killer's ability to source the limited 1952 Tim Holt comic book to reproduce in his October 27th 1970 communication. The term was coined in a 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, before being adopted by other communities. 

Stanton Arthur Coblentz, born in San Francisco, was a science fiction author and poet, whose first published books began with "The Sunken World" in 1928 and continued into the 1970s, that included "When the Birds Fly South" (1945) and "Hidden World" (1955). When the Birds Fly South is a fantasy novel, first published by "The Wings Press" in Mill Valley, Marin County in 1945 (later reprinted in 1951). The story features Dan Prescott, an American adventurer, who discovers the hidden valley of Sobul in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, inhabited by a strange race of winged people known as the "Ibandru". He falls in love with one of them, Yasma, and they marry in a scene of general celebration. When fall comes, however, the Ibandru abandon their valley to fly south with the birds for the winter. Stanton Coblentz also authored and released the book "Mountain of the Sleeping Maiden & Other Poems" on January 1st 1946 - a reference to Mount Tamalpais, which overlooks Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County.

Was there a possibility that the Zodiac Killer knew about the works of Stanton Coblentz and where he lived, using the cryptic pasted text of "Birds Fly South" and "Hidden", next to each other in the communication, when he mailed a horoscope page to the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 10th 1969, entitled "Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer"? This was the date Leona Roberts was abducted from the 749 Tormey Avenue residence in Rodeo, California. Her body was discovered eighteen days later on December 28th 1969 at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, a north-south Pacific flyway for birds migrating south for the winter. On December 11th 1969, another possible Zodiac letter arrived in San Francisco with the title "Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo", leading one to conclude it may have been a play on words, insinuating that it was a "Forecast for Leona Roberts", who wasn't killed for at least a week after her abduction. 

Both "The Wings Press" and Stanton Coblentz's residence were located in Marin County, where Leona Roberts body would ultimately be found, During the early Zodiac Killer years, Stanton Coblentz lived at 37 Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley, just 600 feet from the Throckmorton Theater at 142 Throckmorton Avenue (originally called The Hub Theater when it opened in 1912), and only 5.8 miles from Bolinas Lagoon. Not too far from his residence was the Port Theater (forever connected to The Red Phantom & El Espectro Rojo), once operated by Zodiac suspect Richard Marshall, circa 1974 and beyond.

It seems rather uncanny that Leona Roberts was abducted on the same day the "Forecast for Cancer" horoscope letter arived on December 10th 1969 with the pasted text of "Zodiac" and "Birds Fly South", to be then followed by the "Forecast for Leo" horoscope page, with her body being found eighteen days later at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County where "Birds Fly South", which was prominent in the book title of a science fiction author, whose home and the publishing house for this book, was located in Marin County. If that wasn't enough, somebody calling themself "Zodiac" made a phone call to Peggy Trainer and threatened her life on January 4th 1970. She lived at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo, where Leona Roberts was abducted from on December 10th 1969. The two horoscope letters had not been published in the newspapers by January 4th 1970, meaning the phone caller was not mimicking the author of the letters in December. This phone call arrived just seven days after Leona Roberts' body was found at Bolinas Lagoon..

Was the Zodiac Killer laying down cryptic clues in the two horoscope letters, partly using the works of a book author, with the intention of pointing us towards the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts? The pseudonym of "Zodiac" being present in a communication the day of Leona Roberts abduction, and spoken in a phone call on January 4th 1970 to the address she was abducted from. If these were different individuals, then that is a coincidence worthy of science fiction and the writings of Stanton Arthur Coblentz.

In the aftermath of the Lake Herman Road double murder on December 20th 1968, law enforcement combed the turnout for ballistics evidence well into the next day. A supplemental investigation report listed the 2 bullets removed from Betty Lou Jensen's body at autopsy, the bullet retrieved from her panties and the bullet found on her "blood splattered path" on the turnout floor. It described this bullet as exiting from the center of her stomach and falling to the ground without penetrating the front of her dress. Only 4 of the 5 bullets were noted. There were 5 bullet holes in the rear of her dress and only one to the front of her dress. The bullet wound mentioned as passing through her stomach was described at autopsy as the one that entered "the tip of the right 12th rib, 3 and 1/2 inches from the midline", penetrated the liver and exited "below the xyphoid process and 1/2 an inch from the midline". This is entry wound 4 on the diagram, described in the supplemental investigation report as being found near her body in the turnout - backing up the contention that this was very probably the final shot fired by the Zodiac Killer that night, as Betty Lou Jensen was hunched forward, before collapsing backwards onto the ground.  Both the bullet found in her panties and the bullet that fell to the ground had both lost such velocity through her body, that neither penetrated the front of her dress.  

The exit wound (furthest red circle to the left in the diagram) is described at autopsy as "over the left interior chest laterally and left margin of the breast, in the 4th intercostal space and 5 and 1/2 inches from the sternum". This is the bullet wound that caused the hole in Betty Lou Jensen's dress and had an extreme right to left trajectory, fired by the Zodiac Killer as her right side was predominantly facing him at very close range. If this bullet had lost comparable velocity to the other two bullets that exited her body, it should have been found just a few feet to the right of the Rambler, close to the cluster of shell casings that peppered the turnout floor. Yet this bullet was seemingly never retrieved from the Lake Herman Road turnout, despite an extensive search by law enforcement. In fact, this bullet was never documented as submitted items in the Department of Justice report either (see below).

So what happened to this bullet? Despite traveling across her body at an extreme right to left trajectory, can we expect this bullet to have retained a markedly higher velocity than the other two "exited bullets", that it flew out of the much larger turnout of 1968? Or did the Zodiac Killer retrieve this bullet from the turnout floor using his "pencil flashlight", to later mail in a letter alongside the shirt piece of Paul Stine, thereby proving he was responsible for the murders of the "people in the north bay area" as well. The opening section of the October 13th 1969 letter referring to the San Francisco murder through the evidence of the shirt piece, with the bullet being the evidence for his following line of "I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". This (if it happened) would be two crime scenes where the Zodiac Killer took evidence away, with Lake Berryessa being the crime scene where he left evidence behind.  

Bearing in mind we have two documents that have failed to itemize the same bullet that exited Betty Lou Jensen's dress, it is rather unusual that a 1995 BBC2 documentary called "Great Crimes and Trials" stated that "any doubts about the killer's identity were dispelled the next day when a letter from Zodiac arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. With it was a bloodstained piece of the driver's shirt and a bullet from the same pistol that had killed Jensen and Faraday". We do come across errors in newspapers and documentaries, but considering we do have a "missing bullet" from the Jensen/Faraday murders, this outrageous claim doesn't seem so outrageous after all. It certainly isn't unusual for law enforcement to withhold evidence from the public to distinguish between any future hoaxers and the real murderer in any crime. But was this one instance? 

On October 22nd 1969 and February 5th 1970, the hoaxer called "Sam the sham" phoned into the Jim Dunbar Show at KGO-TV, both times passing himself off as the infamous Zodiac Killer. On both occasions this would be met with derision from the real Zodiac Killer, who used the newspaper headlines to incorporate into his 340 and 148 character ciphers on November 8th 1969 and May 1971. The San Francisco Chronicle headlines on October 24th 1969 stated "It Wasn't Zodiac, Say 3 Who Know", to which the Zodiac replied in the 340 cipher "That Wasn't Me on the TV Show". The San Francisco Chronicle headlined with "Talk Show's Zodiac Caller Called a Phony" on February 6th 1970 and wiith "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls" on April 30th 1971, to which Zodiac replied in his 148 character cipher with "I Will Skin 3 Little Kids" and "Stop Listening to Phonys" sometime in May 1971.

​Despite the 340 cipher being unbroken in 1971, both ciphers were referring to Eric Weill, ultimately found responsible for the Jim Dunbar hoax. The phonys Zodiac was referring to in his 148 character cipher were Eric Weill and Karl Francis Werner, the latter of which, had recently been arrested and questioned by detectives for the murder of Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971 in Saratoga, and the murders of Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong on August 3rd 1969 in San Jose, which the Zodiac Killer had long claimed were his victims. He would compound matters by adding Kathy Bilek to his victim total when he mailed the Monticello card on July 13th 1971.

On December 7th 1969, the same day somebody impersonated the Jim Dunbar caller when phoning an Oklahoma radio station, another Zodiac letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle impersonating the Jim Dunbar caller, stating "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". Bearing in mind that this letter pre-empted the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 that thrice pleaded "please help me", there was a more than a good chance that the 38 character code that accompanied this letter, concealed a message about Melvin Belli and the hoax phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show. There would also be a high probability that the Zodiac Killer would use a recent newspaper article for his hidden 38 character message, continuing this theme. 

On October 23rd 1969, the Los Angeles Times newspaper published an article entitled "I Want Help Zodiac Caller Tells Attorney on Telephone", with the accompanying text stating "I Don't Want To Give Myself Up". This was clearly mimicked in the December 7th 1969 letter, when the Zodiac Killer stated "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". But what had he possibly taken from the newspaper to incorporates into his 38 character code? The wording accompanying the picture of Melvin Belli in the newspaper read "Attorney Melvin Belli in phone booth at a San Francisco television station talking to caller who said he was the Zodiac Killer. Caller made an appointment but didn't keep it". 

​It is the headline text accompying the Melvin Belli picture that I considered the Zodiac Killer probably responded to, just like he did when composing his 340 and 148 character ciphers. I worked out a viable message in the Z38 that read "TRYING TIMES. SO I NEED APPOINTMENT TO GET HELP". This wasn't the "good times" Zodiac was used to, but the formulated  message is in keeping with the rhetoric displayed in the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, and with the headline text in the Los Angeles Times newspaper. I am not claiming this is the answer to the 38 character code, but it does conform to the standards of cryptology, with the coded message and accompanying writing in the letter congruent with the story in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 23rd 1969. 

Nine days later, on December 16th 1969, another letter mailed from Fairfield was probably inspired by another newspaper story from the Los Angeles Times, when the Zodiac Killer began his communication with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the government life. So don't forget me. I will kill more people than you can count. So look for more blood.".
The newspaper article (edited for conciseness below) was published in the Los Angeles Times on December 16th 1969, a matter of hours before the second Fairfield letter was mailed with an afternoon postmark. The opening line of Zodiac's letter began with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble", which is synonymous with the newspaper article that headlined with "State Furnishes List of Murders Similar to 7 Slayings Here", as well as the opening paragraph of the article that adds "State officials have provided Los Angeles police with details of 30 unsolved murders", and the sub-headline of "All Murders Logged by State". 
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​The Zodiac Killer would counter the list provided by state officials with a list of his own. At the foot of his December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter he would give us a list of locations and the number of police he promised to kill in each city (38 in total). This would develop in later communications, in which the Zodiac Killer gave us a list of "society offenders" to be targeted when he plagiarized verses from The Mikado, a Savoy comic opera crafted by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan,  released in London on March 14th 1885.

Government Official means any officer, employee or other individual acting in an official capacity for a Governmental Authority or agency or instrumentality thereof (including any state-owned or controlled enterprise). This may explain the Zodiac Killer's use of the phrase "government life" in his letter. It appeared that the second Fairfield letter was specifically responding to this newspaper article (see below) - both of which corresponded to one date. Susan Denise Atkins (21), one of six persons charged with the Tate-LaBiaca murders, provided information to police where they could find items of disposed bloody clothing related to the Cielo Drive attack, detailed in the article as "A station spokesman said the clothes, stained with what appeared to be blood and knotted in a bundle were turned over to police". I have highlighted these below in reference to the Zodiac Killer's statement of "look for more blood" in the Fairfield letter. The police were effectively dispatched to look for items of clothing stained with blood in the Tate-LaBianca slayings, to which Zodiac suggested there would be more blood in future for police to find. 

Several earwitnesses described hearing screams the night of Cheri Jo Bates' murder in Riverside on October 30th 1966, such as this one reported in the newspapers; "A neighbor heard an awful scream between 10:15pm and 10:45pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up. A man returning to the area at 10:30 pm told us he heard two screams then". Another report stated "A girl tenant in an apartment only a few doors from the dirt driveway where the body was discovered, told the detectives that she heard screaming and yelling about 10:30 pm. Then I heard a muted scream, and then a loud sound like an old car being started up - this was about two minutes after I heard the first scream". Both earwitnesses (a man and girl) highlighted two screams at about 10:30pm, but no more. None of the 6 incised wounds to the torso (3 to chest, 1 to back and 2 to the right arm) of Cheri Jo Bates were fatal - and wouldn't have interfered with her ability to run and scream incessantly, yet these were the only two screams reported. 

The Confession letter author claimed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly. Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands. But only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for all the brush offs that she had given me during the years prior. She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I chocked her, and her lips twiched". None of the newspaper articles described Cheri Jo Bates being restrained around the neck, and her mouth being obstructed prior to the Confession letter on November 29th 1966, because this would only have been known to the killer (and possibly through examining the autopsy report). This claim by the author of the Confession letter would explain why Cheri Jo Bates didn't immediately scream when initially attacked. The grabbing of the neck and obstruction of her mouth, claimed to be the first actions by the killer that night, prevented the young woman from doing so. As explained in an earlier examination of the autopsy report, this is when the author of the Confession letter stated "she died hard", and when the killer likely began thrusting the knife backwards into the breast region and right arm of Cheri (which she may have used in a defensive motion across her chest). The close grouping of wounds to her breast region and upper right arm being the "only" 5 stab wounds to her front upper body. In an unrestrained scenario, in which Cheri Jo Bates had freedom of movement, one might expect more screams and less wound grouping. 

The Confession letter author then concedes that Cheri Jo Bates had shifted position when he claimed he "kicked her head to shut her up". He cannot do this while still choking her. The author stated he kicked her because "she let out a scream once". This could very well have occurred when he released his grip on her throat and thrust her forward onto the driveway floor. The author then claimed he "plunged the knife into her". A killer grabbing Cheri Jo Bates from behind, who then pushes her to the ground and delivers a sixth strike from the knife, would ultimately deliver one knife wound to her back (which is the only wound noted to her rear torso at autopsy). A second, muffled scream during this part of the attack may have been all Cheri Jo Bates could muster at this point, restricted by being pressed into the ground while the sixth and final knife blow was administered. The remainder of the attack being the 7 slices drawn across the neck of Cheri Jo Bates to prevent any more screams. The petechia described on the forehead at autopsy, along with the 2cm ragged edge non-gaping laceration to her upper lip, is consistent with a killer choking and kicking Cheri Jo Bates.

The author of the Confession letter may have weaved his story around the screams reported by earwitnesses in the newspapers, and inadvertently (and somewhat) matched the autopsy report by sheer luck. Regardless of this argument, it is important to give some weight to the notion of the author and killer being one and the same. Previously, it has been stated on this website that the murder of Cheri Jo Bates was a prolonged and brutal attack, probably lasting upwards of one minute. However, the 6 stab wounds to her upper torso and right arm, along with the 7 neck injuries described at autopsy, could have been inflicted in as little as 20 seconds (or less). Would we have expected more screams from Cheri Jo Bates if the attack was dynamic and absent of restraint? There were 5 knife wounds to her front upper region (2 left breast, 1 right breast, 2 upper right arm) and a maximum of 3 possible knife wounds to her hands described at autopsy. That is 5 knife strikes and a potential 3 defensive wounds as the blade glanced her left and right hand as it passed by. If her right and left hand were shielding her respective breast region, then it must be noted that her left breast received 2 stab wounds and her left hand received 2 stab wounds, with her right breast receiving 1 stab wound and her right hand receiving 1 stab wound (see below). All the remaining injuries to her hands were described as abrasions at autopsy (likely as a result of impact and struggling while lying on the driveway floor).   
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[1] A curved and interrupted moderately deep laceration (2 cm overall} in the skin of the base of the lateral aspect of the right index finger.
[2] A more or less Y shape laceration in the skin of the dorsum of the left hand medially and at the junction of the wrist and hand.
[3] An irregular laceration of the skin of the dorsum of the left hand in line with the middle finger and is about the mid area.

F. Rene Modglin used the term "laceration" rather than "incised wound" or "stab wound" when describing the injuries at autopsy, thereby confusing its interpretation. 

Bearing in mind Michael Mageau was shot 4 times (and had 4 entry wounds), many have asked why did Darlene Ferrin have 9 entry wounds, when it is reasonable to conclude she should have had 5 entry wounds, due to 9 bullets being fired into the vehicle. The Corvair of Darlene Ferrin was in gear, the ignition switch was turned to "on", the handbrake was off, and her hands were possibly holding the steering wheel when the Zodiac Killer arrived at the passenger side window. There was an entry wound 3.5 inches above her right wrist and an entry wound 2 inches above her left wrist. If she had turned away at the point of receiving these injuries, with her right arm coming across her body, it isn't too difficult to understand how a second bullet would strike 5.5 inches above the right elbow, exit 1.25 inches distal to the right elbow and enter 3.25 inches above the elbow on her left arm. The 2 bullets fired towards her arms created 4 entry and 4 exit wounds. Her torso showed 5 entry wounds and 3 exit wounds. That is 9 entry and 7 exit wounds in total (as noted at autopsy). This shows that Darlene Ferrin was struck by 7 bullets, two of which passed through Michael Mageau into her. These bullets likely lost momentum and, as a result, remained in the body of Darlene Ferrin, as shown in the depiction. These can be observed as [2] and [4] in the diagram above. 

If the first shot fired by the Zodiac Killer that morning (just past midnight) struck Darlene Ferrin's right and left wrist, she would have instinctively turned her right side away from the perpetrator, thereby exposing the "posterior axillary line" of her right torso (shown in the accompanying diagram). This explains why the 5 bullets that entered her right side, entered the posterior side of her trunk and right shoulder.  

Michael Mageau was struck by 4 bullets. One was removed from his left thigh during surgery by Dr. Shirai. One bullet had exited his hip and was noted on the ground by his person when responding officers arrived at the crime scene. This had likely trapped in his clothing and fell to the floor when he exited the Corvair. The remaining 2 bullets exited his jaw and right shoulder (through skin), and struck Darlene Ferrin seated to his left. I suspect the bullet that struck Michael Mageau's right shoulder region was the bullet that created pathway [2] in the anatomy diagram above. While the one that struck his jaw region created pathway [4]. 

It cannot be claimed with certainty that Darlene Ferrin was targeted first that morning, but the coinciding bullet wounds to her right and left wrist, in addition to her vehicle being "primed" to drive away, could suggest an uneasiness in Darlene Ferrin caused by the approaching man at Blue Rock Springs. If the Zodiac Killer had suspected this, it would have made sense to target the driver first.

A WHISKER AWAY FROM ESCAPE