On October 30th 1966, Cheri Jo Bates was brutally murdered alongside the Riverside City College library by a knife-wielding Caucasian male, whose identity remains heavily clouded in mystery to this day. Numerous individuals have been investigated by law enforcement and suspected by amateur sleuths, but there is one man, known only by the alias "Bob Barnett", who has received more attention than anyone. A student at the Riverside City College, "Bob Barnett" came under the spotlight for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates because of his "close friendship" with the 18-year-old college girl, and whisperings that he had admitted to killing her. Hair and skin cells were retrieved from the fingernails and right thumb of Cheri Jo Bates and later tested for DNA, which proved negative in a comparison to the Riverside Police Department's prime suspect, "Bob Barnett". Despite this evidence appearing to rule him out of the murder, it seems to have done little to extinguish or dampen the belief of some police officers to the guilt of their long-time suspect.    

The Zodiac Killer has long been thought to be the killer of Cheri Jo Bates by many researchers, who threatened the Bay Area and once promised to "pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out" of a school bus in a letter, mailed just two days after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. The Zodiac connection to Riverside hit the newspapers on November 16th 1970 in an article by Paul Avery. Three days later, on November 19th 1970, a sniper (believed to have fired from across the street, behind a wall) took one shot at "Bob Barnett" as he left his home in Riverside and prepared to enter his vehicle. Fortunately for "Bob Barnett", the sniper missed their target and he managed to race inside his home and call the police. The Riverside Daily Press newspaper reported that the driver side window of his car was shattered, with police retrieving a .22 slug from the garage door. Although the timing of this shooting is unusual, it is very unlikely to have anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, and may be connected to his activities of a more current nature. I have obscured the real name and address of the prime suspect in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates from the newspaper article below. This information, along with the newspaper cuttings, were supplied to me by Zodiac researcher "NickDotterbart", who has done extensive work on this subject.    

"Bob Barnett" was currently awaiting trial on burglary charges, connected to a burglary ring masterminded by Riverside restauranter, Harold Fine. Owner of The Green Turtle restaurant just a short walk from the home of "Bob Barnett", Harold Fine made the unusual claim he got involved with stolen goods because it would enable him to identify the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, who he had known as a patron of The Green Turtle. The restaurant address was 9356 Magnolia Ave, approximately 2 1/2 miles from the home of Cheri Jo Bates at 4195 Via San Jose.

In a transcript from the Inland Empire magazine in 2008 (see below), Harold Fine revealed that "Bob Barnett" had admitted to him that he had killed Cheri Jo Bates. The reasoning being rejection, and the recent news that Cheri Jo Bates had become engaged to Dennis Highland. However, this obviously cannot be substantiated, and must be taken with a large pinch of salt from The Green Turtle owner. 

The validity of "Bob Barnett" as a suspect in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates depends on many factors. We have to weigh up the DNA evidence ruling him out as being the donor of the hairs clutched in the blood-soaked hand of Cheri Jo Bates, with the murderous claims of friends and informants whose utterances cannot possibly be corroborated, and the notion of the Zodiac Killer being responsible, who is distinct and separate from the individual known as "Bob Barnett".

Recently Dion Walker, a diligent Zodiac researcher, acquired 55 FBI files concerning the fingerprint evidence in the case of Cheri Jo Bates, including documents pertaining to the Riverside Police Department's prime suspect, "Bob Barnett". With the permission of Dion Walker, I have placed a link to all the 55 FBI files below, which you are free to share. Also, a big thanks to "NickDotterbart" for his contribution to this article. .

                   ACCESS TO THE 55 FBI FILES OF CHERI JO BATES  

There may be a slim chance that the Zodiac Killer was hinting at the murder of Cheri Jo Bates as early as November 10th 1969, rather than fourteen months later on March 13th 1971 when he claimed "riverside activity" in a letter mailed to the Los Angeles Times newspaper. If true, this would have been three weeks after Chief Kinkead of the Riverside Police Department contacted Earl Randol, Sheriff of Napa County, exploring a link between the Cheri Jo Bates and Zodiac case on October 20th 1969.

Lately I have been examining the Edward C. Adams postcard mailed from Berkeley on October 17th 1970, which stated by use of newspaper cuttings "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".

However, this wasn't the first communication to issue a direct threat toward an individual using cuttings and similar verbiage, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mailed "Mr. (redacted) "your next" The Zodiac" in a letter postmarked Montclair, California on November 10th 1969, which is situated approximately 19 miles (by crow) from the murder site of Cheri Jo Bates. The cuttings were attached using scotch tape onto school notebook paper, such as that carried by Cheri Jo Bates when she visited the Riverside City College library on October 30th 1966 and was spotted by a Mexican-American student shortly before 6:00pm. Writing paper similar to that used in the "Bates Had to Die" letters on April 30th 1967, which suggested "There Will Be More" victims. We have the Riverside Desktop Poem also finishing with the parting message of "just wait till next time". The Montclair and Berkeley communications both signed off with the "Zodiac" pseudonym, as did the "13-Hole" postcard on October 6th 1970.     

On July 26th 1970 in his "Little List" letter, the Zodiac Killer used wording similar to that in the "Confession" letter mailed on November 29th 1966, which was partially reproduced by the Inside Detective magazine in January 1969, featuring the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. The Confession letter read "She squirmed and shook as I chocked her, and her lips twiched. She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The Little List letter read "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and sqwirm". The Inside Detective magazine not only mentioned the "school notebook" of Cheri Jo Bates on page 5 (shown above), but the article was entitled "YOUR DAUGHTER MAY BE NEXT" by John Montgomery, loosely taken from "I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom" and "Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys". 

​Did the Zodiac Killer take "YOUR" and "NEXT" directly (or indirectly) from the Inside Detective magazine in similar fashion to the "Little List" letter, which may have borrowed from this magazine also? If the threat of "your next" was using lowercase cuttings as the FBI file appears to suggest, then this would somewhat diminish the connection between the Montclair letter and magazine.  

​The FBI file made the distinction that these were magazine cuttings rather than newspaper cuttings, so if the Zodiac Killer really was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then he had every reason to have focused on this magazine more than once. The connection suggested here could be construed as extremely fragile, but for the fact that this letter was mailed relatively close to Riverside (and unpublished), and offered an extremely similar threat via affixed cuttings, to that given to Edward Adams a year later. What would make this a more interesting proposition, is if the person threatened in Clarinda, Iowa could be identified by a FOIA request, and the subsequrnt male individual turned out to have some previous connection to Riverside and/or the murder investigation of Cheri Jo Bates. If this was shown to be the case, then there is a high probability that the Zodiac Killer was linking himself to Riverside far earlier than previously thought.    

UPDATE SEPT 21ST 2025: At the bottom of the Montclair FBI file the name Allen L. Donielson is mentioned. If this is not the recipient of the "Zodiac Killer" threatening letter, then there is a high probability he is somehow connected to the person that did receive it. Allen L. Donielson became the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in 1969. On November 1st 1976, the Governor of Iowa appointed him as the first judge of the newly created Iowa Court of Appeals. These and other United States Attorneys for the district have been responsible for the prosecution of some very important cases in the state. So this man was connected to Iowa where the threat was aimed. Two weeks before this threat (estimated: October 27th 1969) a similar letter bearing the same message had been mailed (from where to where is unknown).These two threats, likely towards an attorney (or more than one), began five days after the Zodiac Killer requested that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, two prominent and well-known attorneys, join him in a discussion on the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. The Zodiac Killer's appearance on the show was likely thwarted by the imposter, Eric Weill. But why (if the Zodiac Killer) would he switch his attention from San Francisco to Clarinda in Iowa within 19 days (or possibly 5 days)? I have added a newspaper article from December 23rd 1969 at the foot of this page, regarding the conclusion to a case of four draft dodgers. This was the nearest thing I could find of any relevance to Allen L. Donielson in this time period

Michael Butterfield has covered the idea of Alfred Hitchcock Presents possibly having some influence on the Zodiac Killer, when the murderer stated in the "Debut" letter on August 4th 1969: "What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light". He would back this claim up on November 9th 1969 when he wrote "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."  

In a series of 268 episodes running from 1955 to 1962, Museum Piece aired on April 4th 1961, in which a gun mounted sight on a .22 caliber rifle was used to aid in the hunting of victims, with a cursory mention of "The Most Dangerous Game" in the episode. The suggestion was that the Zodiac Killer may have watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents and used this sighting implement in his first attack at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968, before describing it in the "Debut" letter 7 1/2 months later.

Sir Howard Grubb (1844–1931) was an Irish optical engineer renowned for designing and manufacturing high-quality astronomical instruments, including some of the largest telescopes of the 19th century. He inherited and later expanded his father's company, cementing its reputation for precision optics. His innovations also included the invention of the reflector sight and improvements to the submarine periscope. In 1900, Grubb invented the reflector or "reflex" sight, a non-magnifying optical sight that uses a collimator to allow the viewer looking through the sight to see an illuminated image of a reticle or other pattern in front of them that stays in alignment with the device the sight is attached to (parallax free). This type of sight has come to be used on all kinds of weapons from small firearms to fighter aircraft.

​Using this principle, an "electric gun sight" was featured in the monthly publication of "Popular Mechanics" in the early 20th century. Michael Butterfield wrote "The Zodiac was not the first to conceive of a light attached to the barrel of a gun. Articles about a gun light had appeared in the magazine Popular Mechanics as far back as 1922 and 1933". However, the idea of an "electric gun sight" appeared in "Popular Mechanics" a little bit earlier than Michael suggested. The concept first appeared in "Popular Mechanics" in December 1908, and was featured in the San Jose Tribune, Bay Area newspaper on December 20th 1908, the very same day and month that Zodiac claimed he used an electric gun sight in his Lake Herman Road attack. The dates lining up is probably nothing more than coincidence, but it is noteworthy nonetheless.    

In a recent series of articles I attempted to show the thought process of one mind when exploring the feasibility that the Zodiac Killer may have composed communications in both Riverside and the Bay Area, through phrases such as "man is the most dangerous animal of all" and "it was about time for her to die". The thinking being that both the author in Riverside and the Bay Area used microfiche searches at the library when manufacturing the 408 cipher on July 31st 1969 and the "Confession" letter on November 29th 1966. One mind, therefore placing the Zodiac Killer in Riverside just after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. The Confession letter author claimed "I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game", while the author of the July 31st 1969 letters referenced "The Most Dangerous Game" from 1932. But were there any signs of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in the Confession letter on November 29th 1966, therefore binding further the two authors? 

The Confession letter author typed "Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb", yet they twisted the phrase "lamb to the slaughter", which comes from the Bible, specifically the Old Testament books of Isaiah and Jeremiah describing a righteous person being led to death without protest. The phrase symbolizes an innocent, unaware person being led to their own destruction. 

​In the Roald Dahl 1953 short story "Lamb to the Slaughter", the title serves as a dark, dual-meaning metaphor for Mary Maloney, who is initially an innocent, loving wife, but becomes the cunning killer who commits the act of slaughter with the leg of lamb itself. After murdering her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, she then cooks the meat to destroy any evidence and ends up serving the murder weapon in a dinner to responding law enforcement, who kindly oblige and eat the meal. While consuming the lamb, as Mary sits nearby but does not join them, the policemen discuss the murder weapon's possible location. One officer, his mouth full of meat, says it is "probably right under our very noses." I explored the possibility that the author of the Confession letter may have watched or read something about this Roald Dahl story, until I discovered that it had been made into an episode on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on April 13th 1958 under the same title of "Lamb to the Slaughter".  

If this phrase had been in the Confession letter author's mind when he typed this communication and subsequently mailed it to the Riverside Homicide Detail and Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper, had he recently watched the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Lamb to the Slaughter" in Riverside? Using a newspaper archive search in "Genealogy Bank" using the terms "Lamb to the Slaughter", "California" and the year "1966", I could find only three newspapers advertising this episode (using this platform), but crucially, all three were in November (and one was in Riverside).

​They were the Riverside Daily Press on November 5th 1966, Long Beach Press-Telegram on November 6th 1966 and Long Beach Independent on November 10th 1966. The show was due to air on Thursday, November 10th 1966 on KTLA (channel 5) from Los Angeles, about two weeks before the Confession letter author began typing the two Confession letters. It may have featured elsewhere in America during the year, but importantly, a Riverside resident could have viewed the episode "Lamb to the Slaughter" on television just fourteen days (or slightly more) before they typed "Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb" into the Confession letters. It is impossible to say if a correlation exists between the two because we would have to know the mind of the author. However, if the Confession letter author did derive inspiration from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in Riverside in 1966, did this inspiration spill over to December 20th 1968, August 4th 1969 and November 9th 1969, when his "electric gun sight" took center stage? A murderer called Zodiac who possibly enjoyed murder mysteries. Who would have guessed.      

A clue to the identity of Cheri Jo Bates' murderer may have been present in the newspapers all along. Dennis Earl Highland (19) was the long time boyfriend of Cheri Jo Bates, but 6 weeks prior to her murder he had moved to San Francisco to attend college, where he played on the football team. Investigators ruled him out fairly quickly. On the weekend prior to her murder, Cheri Jo Bates and Dennis Highland's parents (Mr. and Mrs. George E. Highland) had traveled to San Francisco on October 22nd 1966 to visit him. This is why the statements of two friends of Cheri Jo Bates are extremely noteworthy - who were interviewed and taped by a Los Angeles television station shortly after her murder. The Riverside Press newspaper, published in the evening, reported on November 1st 1966 that these two girls had spoken to Cheri Jo Bates, and that they were informed by Cheri she was going to the library "to meet her boyfriend". The interview with the two girls was therefore conducted no later than one day after her body was found alongside the Riverside City College library on October 31st 1966.

The Los Angeles television station were clearly interviewing friends of Cheri Jo Bates to acquire information on the young girl's background and her possible movements on the day she was murdered  Knowing that they were being interviewed because of the October 30th 1966 murder and discovery of her body, why would these friends of Cheri be referring to anything else different than October 30th 1966, when they stated she was going to the library "to meet her boyfriend". It appears that their recollection created some confusion with investigators, who stated "We have talked to the parents of this boy in Riverside (Dennis Highland), and they have no knowledge of his being in this city Sunday".

​The two friends of Cheri specifically said "library" when interviewed about the Sunday murder of Cheri Jo Bates near the library, so how would their recollection of Sunday, October 30th 1966 (just two days before being interviewed) be mistaken for Cheri meaning anything else? It is clear that the "boy friend" Cheri was referring to wasn't Dennis. Cheri Jo Bates certainly wasn't saying she was traveling to San Francisco to meet her boyfriend on October 30th 1966, because she wasn't. And San Francisco has no relevance to the word "library". If Cheri Jo Bates had informed these two girls she was going to the library "to meet her boyfriend", she very likely meant "boy friend" as a male acquaintance or friend of the opposite sex. It is not realistic that the two friends of Cheri would confuse Sunday, October 30th 1966 with any other date. And certainly not the Sunday on October 23rd 1966, which had no relevance to why they were being interviewed. If these two girls were not lying (and why would both of them do so), then Cheri Jo Bates was going to the library to meet a male friend on October 30th 1966 (which wouldn't have been Dennis because he was in San Francisco). The police stated "There must be persons who talked to the girl or had contact with her Sunday afternoon or night, and we would like very much to talk to such persons".  

We know that initially Cheri Jo Bates wanted to do some studying in the library, because she had phoned her friend Stephanie Guttman at 3:45 pm and invited her to accompany her to the Riverside City College. She wouldn't have done this if her intention was to just check out three books and immediately go home. According to Stephanie, Cheri wanted to have some company that evening. Unfortunately for Cheri, her friend Stephanie declined the offer.

​If Cheri was determined to have somebody study with her that evening, then the statement of the two girls to the Los Angeles television station that she was going to the Riverside library to meet a "boy friend", may have greater significance. When Cheri's father (Joseph Bates) tried to phone her twice at their 4195 Via San Jose resistance at approximately 5:00 pm and 5:15 pm, the line was busy on both occasions. Was Cheri Jo Bates speaking on the phone with a male acquaintance to arrange a meeting with him at the library, having been disappointed in her earlier call to Stephanie? Or had she arranged this shortly after finishing the phone call with Stephanie Guttman at 3:45 pm? There was a 2 hour 15 minute window between 3:45 pm and 6:00 pm, when the library opened its doors 

If Cheri Jo Bates had told the two girls her intentions to meet a "boy friend" at the library on Sunday, then it realistically must have occurred in this 2 hour 15 minute window. Did she speak to the girls on the phone, outside her residence or in the neighborhood, someplace on the way to the library, or on the Riverside City College grounds? The approximate time and place the two girls spoke to Cheri is absolutely crucial to the movements of Cheri Jo Bates that afternoon and evening.

Investigators stated "We don't know what boyfriend these girls are referring to, but we are checking into it". Is this one of the reasons why investigators latched onto their long-time suspect "Bob Barnett". who it is believed dated Cheri Jo Bates in the weeks prior to her murder? DNA tests in 1999 on hair found at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb produced no match to "Bob Barnett". So if it isn't "Bob Barnett", it could be another male acquaintance of Cheri's, who she arranged to meet at the library over the phone on October 30th 1966. A "boy friend" whose phone number could have been in her diary or address book. A "boy friend" who Cheri may have spent upwards of 4 hours with after she checked out the three books from the library, who hasn't come forward to this day.

If the two girls were interviewed on Tuesday, November 1st 1966, one day after the body of Cheri Jo Bates was found in the driveway by the library, then their statement of "she was going to the library to meet her boyfriend" can only be pertinent to that weekend. If Dennis Highland was proven to be in San Francisco, it should be obvious that Cheri Jo Bates was planning to meet another male at the library that evening. A male friend close enough to her, that she felt comfortable to leave the library with him to a secondary location (in absence of her vehicle) for upwards of four hours. Somebody that may have escorted her back to her Volkswagen Beetle in the dark and wanted more than she was prepared to offer. And sadly, somebody she should never have placed her trust in. The murderer of Cheri Jo Bates could be written in the pages of her address book or diary. A killer who has escaped justice for nearly 60 years.

Although the Riverside Police Department have stymied the Cheri Jo Bates murder case through some of the actions they have undertaken in the last few decades, nobody in good faith can criticize the work done by the Riverside Police Department in the immediate aftermath of the October 30th 1966 murder. Their investigation into the 18-year-old woman's slaying was comprehensive and thorough, leaving no stone unturned. They performed a re-enactment of the day she was murdered by inviting everybody who attended the Riverside City College library that fateful evening to return on November 13th 1966, and ensured that they wore the same clothes, parked their vehicles in the same spot and sat in the same seats as previous. They took fingerprints and hair samples from everybody that attended, which amounted to over sixty people.

The Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates was scoured for fingerprints inside and out, which according to the Riverside Press newspaper "found eleven fingerprints and seven palm prints on Cheri's car. All but four fingerprints and three palm prints were later identified as those of Cheri, her father, brother, a girl friend and a service station attendant who worked on her car the week she was murdered".

The police checked the roofs of nearby buildings and used metal detectors up to a one block radius of the crime scene looking for the knife used to kill Cheri. Thirty-five members of a nearby fraternity building across from the library on the night she was murdered were located and questioned. The Timex watch found 10 feet from the body of Cheri Jo Bates had flecks of paint on it, which led investigators to chemically analyse the specific mineral content of the paint and compare it to individuals who had recently painted their house. They even consulted with anthropologists, trying to find the bone structure of the killer and his general appearance by analysing the width and length of the watch. The police retrieved a cigarette butt from the dirt driveway near the body, which was later tested for DNA in 1999. The driveway was also hand sifted in a radius of 12 feet around her body to a depth of 3 inches, hoping to unearth any dropped items during her fight for life. The investigation was conducted to the highest degree. 

From statements given, investigators believed Cheri Jo Bates entered the library annex shortly after it opened at 6 pm and checked out three books, which were found the following morning neatly piled on the front passenger seat of her Volkswagen Beetle. This would have indicated that Cheri had pulled out three books from the library shelves one after another. Her fingerprints should have been all over those books front and back. These books were relevant to both the library and her vehicle, and would have certainly been dusted for fingerprints.

The police couldn't have been certain that these books were not handled by the person who killed her, so based on the screams heard at approximately 10:30 pm by local people, investigators would have considered the possibility that Cheri Jo Bates may have gone to a secondary location and interacted with another person, who could have handled the books during this period and possibly carried the books back to the Volkswagen Beetle for her, just prior to the attack. The vehicle was comprehensively dusted on its exterior and interior, so any suggestion that they would have completely ignored the three books sitting on the front passenger seat of her vehicle, that were integral to her movements during the evening and night of October 30th 1966 - and overlooked as evidence - is not a realistic proposition. 

If the books had tested negative for Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints, then Zodiac researcher Ray Grant's assertion that she was kidnapped immediately after parking her vehicle and the female member of the "Zodiac team" used her library card to check out the books, may hold some water. However, the presence of Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints on one or all of the books, would have told investigators that she alone entered the library and checked out her own books. Three books that were relevant to what she was studying (on presidential elections and election reform). For the theory of Ray Grant to have any traction, we would have to believe that [A] Investigators didn't bother to check the books for fingerprints, or [B] Investigators tested all three books but failed to find any fingerprints of Cheri Jo Bates, despite her handling all three books individually during a period lasting several minutes up to 4 1/2 hours. The question therefore becomes; if Cheri Jo Bates removed three books from the library shelves one after another and carried them to her vehicle, how likely is it that she didn't deposit one single fingerprint on any of the books while handling them for at least a few minutes? The discovery of one single fingerprint (or palm print) from the right or left hand of Cheri Jo Bates would have confirmed to investigators her presence in the library that evening. Something they have believed to this day.

* It must be noted that the spines of each book are positioned on the left side (away from the rear of the seat), which strongly suggests they were placed here by somebody entering the driver side of the vehicle, rather than the passenger side, where the reverse would be expected. 

When you consider the fact that a comprehensive newspaper article (see below), bearing an extremely large photograph of the Cheri Jo Bates crime scene, was released by the Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside on April 30th 1967 on the same day these three letters were postmarked, it is highly likely the author added this newspaper clipping into the envelope addressed to the Riverside Police Department. In this letter the author wrote "Bates had to die. There will be more". This was clearly a response to the newspaper article, which read "The last major piece of evidence came November 30 in the form of a confession letter sent to both the Riverside police department and the Press-Enterprise. The letter explained in detail how the writer allegedly tampered with Cheri's car, waited for her to return from the library and coaxed her away on the pretense of giving her a lift. The letter told of how she struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". 

The author probably added the newspaper clipping to the letter to signify the story he was responding to. The author was replying to "there would be more" by stating "there will be more". When we consider the similar phraseology, the date of April 30th 1967 being relevant to both the newspaper story and postmark date of the letters, and the large photograph attached to the press release, we can be fairly confident that the author mailed this clipping to the Riverside Police Department, who he was warning of more killings to come. What we need to fully ascertain, is what was in the newspaper article (if anything) that triggered the signature on two of the Bates letters? We know what the author was reading immediately prior to adding these two "signatures". Thanks to Cragle.

One noticeable feature of the three Cheri Jo Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967 is the distinct lack of care or thought exhibited in creating these communications. This doesn't necessarily mean they were mailed by a different author to the two typed Confession letters sent on November 29th 1966 (that were clearly more labor intensive) - because the apparent haste shown in these letters could suggest the author was impulsively responding to something they had just read in the newspapers.

​The murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966 was now six months old, and the newspaper coverage of her brutal stabbing had sadly dwindled away. So it's clearly no coincidence that the three Bates letters on April 30th 1967 coincided with the release of a comprehensive newspaper article released by the Riverside Press-Enterprise on the same day, entitled "After Six Months Coed's Murder Remains Puzzle to Detectives". This is probably why these three letters were hastily written, and only contained eight words in each correspondence. The author may have been triggered into an immediate response by what they had read in Jack Mathews article.

The important section of text in the April 30th 1967 newspaper read "The last major piece of evidence came November 30 in the form of a confession letter sent to both the Riverside police department and the Press-Enterprise. The letter explained in detail how the writer allegedly tampered with Cheri's car, waited for her to return from the library and coaxed her away on the pretense of giving her a lift. The letter told of how she struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". Therefore, it's not difficult to contemplate somebody responding to the phrases "stabbed to death" and "there would be more" - and arriving at the wording "She had to die. There will be more" and "Bates had to die. There will be more" on the same day in three letters. The author was assuring us that the newspaper reporting of "there would be more" was to be realized by his statement of ​"there will be more". The writer was simply bringing things up to date (from the Confession letter to the Bates letters).

The Confession letter did suggest "there would be more killings to come", however, it specifically referred to the possible killings as potential victims, by stating "She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom. Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Or maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school". 

The Press=Enterprise newspaper could easily have stated "there would be more victims to come". This may be one possible answer to the "signature" on two of the Bates letters, which "undersigns" the wording "She/Bates had to die. There will be more". If we complete the phrase, we get "She/Bates had to die. There will be more......more victims".   

On might expect that a signature (such as the pseudonym "Zodiac") would feature more prominently at the foot of these letters, rather than the small and obscure offering given. The writings at the base of these two letters are consistent in nature, suggesting that these two designs were deliberately conceived. However, they were extremely small in comparison to the rest of the lettering in these communications, which seems to detract from any importance the author placed on them. If these really were the signatures of the killer (or author), it is unusual that they would design them in such an understated manner.

If the unresolved writing at the base of two of the letters was nothing more than an afterthought, then this may explain the rather insignificant way the author finalized each letter. Could they have been 2L and 3L, denoting two parts of a trinity of letters, as mentioned by the Zodiac Killer when he wrote "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle" on July 31st 1969? The answer to the "signature" on the Bates letters may lie in the Press-Enterprise newspaper on April 30th 1967. 
​
​Two and a half months after the three Bates' letters were mailed promising "there will be more", a former Ramona High School classmate of Cheri Jo Bates (18) was strangled unconscious in the driveway of her home in Arlington, California, just 5 miles southwest of Terracina Drive, where Cheri was murdered in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library. According to police the young 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, with Detective Wayne Durrington of the belief that her assailant lay in wait in some nearby tall bushes and attacked her shortly after she left her car at 10:30 pm when returning home from a nearby church function. After regaining consciousness, she was found screaming in a neighbor's yard and was transported to Parkview Hospital at 3865 Jackson Street in Riverside.

​Arlington is only 1.4 miles from the once 4195 Via San Jose home of Cheri Jo Bates and her father. There is little to connect the two cases, despite the common thread of Ramona High School, and a strangulation/choking in a driveway at approximately 10:30 pm in both instances. The author of the Confession letter stated "maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school" and. "dont make it to easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys. I am stalking your girls now". So the proximity of the two girls addresses is at the very least noteworthy, if both were deliberately targeted by an attacker stalking young women. Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle had seemingly been identified and disabled in advance by her killer, while in this case, on or around July 14th 1967, the assailant was apparently waiting in the bushes outside her home as she parked up in her car. It would be interesting to search for other possible attacks in the Riverside, Ramona and Arlington areas in the ensuing months and years. Two Ramona High School classmates aged 18, living approximately 1 1/2 miles apart, murdered and sexually assaulted (and both choked) within nine months of one another. It makes you wonder. 

The March 13th 1971 and March 22nd 1971 communications were effectively claiming murders from October 1966 and September 1970. However, the next murder Zodiac would ultimately claim, occurred just four days after the San Francisco, California release of Tom Hanson's "Zodiac Killer" (April 7th 1971). This movie was advertised extensively in the San Francisco Chronicle the week before, and several days after the murder of Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971 "in the woods" of Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. The movie poster and advertisements carried the wording from the Confession letter, mailed on November 29th 1966 after the Cheri Jo Bates murder, a month earlier. It read "Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets", Or Zodiac Says "I lay awake nights; thinking of my next victim" (see foot of article).

Two days after this movie was advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 13th 1971, a "Zodiac" letter was received at the San Jose Sheriff's Office dated "Thursday", which was April 15th 1971. It was addressed to the "Homicide Inspector". On the same day the movie was advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle (April 13th 1971), newspaper reports from around the country asked the question of whether Zodiac was responsible for the murder of Kathy Bilek (including The Riverside Press), stating "the teenager might be another victim of the Zodiac Killer".

​Therefore, we.have the San Francisco Chronicle and The Riverside Press newspapers using the phrases "next victim" and "another victim" on the same day. Followed two days later by a suggested Zodiac letter on April 15th 1971, which the local San Jose newspaper reported as a communication that spoke of "Zodiac" and "another victim". The newspaper also mentioned that the letter told of a girl who works in a hospital, who could be his "next victim". It appears that the author was incorporating phrases from the newspapers into his correspondence, which could demonstrate attentiveness to any story related to the Zodiac Killer. The letter was addressed to the "Homicide Inspector", whereas the threat of a "next victim" in one of the Confession letters from 1966, was addressed to "Homicide Detail". This letter was mailed one month after the Zodiac Killer admitted to "riverside activity" on March 13th 1971, which included a promised "next victim" in Riverside in 1966.  

The April 15th 1971 letter wasn't the first time a claimed Zodiac Killer wrote to San Jose law enforcement. A letter was mailed to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969 threatening a widow in San Jose, which resulted in police providing the woman with 24 hours of protection. This current author would not have been aware of that threat, because the November 21st 1969 communication has never been released into the public domain. Unless of course, the current author was the Zodiac Killer - and he wrote both letters.

​Another curious feature of the  April 15th 1971 letter, is the suggestion that the "next victim" could be a girl who works in a hospital. On August 1st 1973 the Zodiac Killer seemed to confirm this wish by writing a letter to the Albany Times Union newspaper and threatening that the location of his "next victim" would be the Albany Medical Center in New York. The letter read "You were wrong I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and I'm going to start killing again. Below is the name and location of my next victim. But you had better hurry because I'm going to kill her August 10th at 5:00 PM when the shift change". The thought being that the Zodiac Killer was promising to murder a female nurse.  

It really is no surprise that in May 1971 and on July 13th 1971, the Zodiac Killer would mail a further two communications laying claim to the murder of Kathy Bilek (18), alongside his previously claimed victims of Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Debra Gaye Furlong (14), murdered in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. And that he would link the May 1971 and August 1st 1973 cryptograms together through ciphertext and plaintext similarities.

​On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching​ in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach. 

​The Gabriel Hounds is a romantic mystery by Mary Stewart, set in Lebanon. The "Gabriel Hounds" are spectral hounds in folklore, believed to foretell death or misfortune to those who hear their howls, and are associated with the crumbling palace of Dar Ibrahim in the Adonis Valley of Lebanon.  

 A FOUR YEAR JOURNEY TO TOMBSTONE 
ANOTHER "ZODIAC" LETTER ON APRIL 15TH 1971

In previous articles I attempted to show the common methodology employed by the Zodiac Killer and the Riverside author of the Confession letter through the use of historical microfiche searches, such as "man is the most dangerous animal of all" from 1932 (The Most Dangerous Game), and "it was about time for her to die" from 1888 (Jack the Ripper). This unusual approach possibly being the product of one mind and one author. The murderer of Cheri Jo Bates and the typist of the Confession letter on November 29th 1966 (if one person) would have been somebody who savagely cut the throat of Cheri Jo Bates seven times. The author of the letter stated that they would "cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see", had "finished the job out cutting her throat", threatened that he was "stalking your girls now", and possibly used a phrase from "The Sturdy Beggar" newspaper article from 1888 of "it was about time for her to die". A phrase (other than the reporting of the Confession letter) was only found in one publication in 334 years. The notion that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates was influenced by "Jack the Ripper" now didn't seem so fanciful. So I took a look at the media events in 1966. 

There was some standard fare, such as the release of the movie "A Study in Terror", with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the trail of Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel. Although a 1965 release in the United Kingdom, it made its American debut on August 10th 1966 in the USA, about eleven weeks before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. "A Study in Terror" was also made into a book in 1966, featuring the fictional detective Ellery Queen. However, 1966 became a significant year in the story of Jack the Ripper, when long lost Ripper letters were released into the public domain by Dr. Francis Camps, Britain's leadng murder pathologist. Letters that hadn't seen the light of day for nearly 80 years, and told of a sender who promised that "The next job I do I shall clip the lady's ears off and send them to the police" (corrected for spelling).

The Jack the Ripper letters were unearthed by a man sent to search through old files in a London hospital, who turned them over to Dr. Francis Camps. Understanding their historical value he first published them in the London Hospital Gazette, before they were more widely circulated in the public domain. Numerous newspapers throughout America carried the message of the Jack the Ripper letters being published, so it is noteworthy that the Confession letter author typed "I then finished the job out cutting her throat. I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game. This letter should be published for all to read it. It just might save that girl in the alley. But that's up to you. It will be on your conscience. Not mine. Yes I did make that call to you also. It was just a warning". Confessions to murders and warnings ever present in the released Ripper letters. On September 25th 1888 a letter addressed to the police commissioner stated that "You will soon hear of me and my funny little games", A game that the Confession letter author promised would not stop.

Were the Riverside Desktop Poem, the Confession letter and Bates' letters the product of mimicry from a disturbed mind, who wanted to replicate the terror of Whitechapel's Jack the Ripper to the streets of Riverside, warning the residents to "Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys", and that they would "cut off female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". 

The final trigger may have been The Press newspaper on November 24th 1966, which compared the abduction of a 19-year-old girl to that of Cheri Jo Bates, five days before the Confession letter arrived. The unknown perpetrator in that case, after the young woman declined an offer of a ride in his vehicle, remarked  "Well, after all, I'm not Jack the Ripper". How much influence, if any, did the release of numerous Jack the Ripper letters and postcards in 1966 have on the Confession letter author - along with the accompanying Riverside Desktop Poem and Bates' letters? This was a momentous year for many Ripper enthusiasts, who could now cast their eyes over these grizzly new published communications. But was the Riverside author, possibly responsible for all three offerings in 1966, one of them? A killer who may have taken his "dangerous game" to the unsuspecting residents of the Bay Area of northern California. 

JACK THE RIPPER- A SEVEN PART EXPLORATION TO RIVERSIDE AND THE BAY AREA  

After the brutal murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 the newspapers ran several articles giving limited details of the autopsy findings. Deputy Coroner Mike Reilly said it appeared as though the girl was punched several times in the face, yet the author of the Confession letter refused to take the easy option of regurgitating this information. Not once did the Confession letter author state that he punched Cheri Jo Bates in the face, instead choosing to type that he "kicked her in the head to shut her up". He didn't even capitalize on the multiple blows suggested by the Deputy Coroner. After looking again at the autopsy report in detail, the story told by the Confession letter author appears to be closer to the truth. Here are the key findings recorded at autopsy. Both of these entries came with criss-crossed abrasions to the chin and cheek, with associated blue-grey discoloration  The abrasions likely caused by the gravel against the face of Cheri Jo Bates as she was resisting being pushed into the driveway floor.

[1] A 2 cm oblique ragged edge fresh non gaping laceration of the upper lip on the left side, that angles laterally from above and extends completely through the thickness of the lip. The teeth behind are not loose or broken.

[2] An in line series of three fresh lacerations of the skin of the left cheek, angling from above in front slightly downward and posteriorly. The anterior is 2 cm long, the intermediate 0.5 cm long and the posterior one 2 cm long. The overall length is about 3 cm and all extend into the superficial subcutaneous tissue, but do not gape.
​
When we look at the injuries to the face of Cheri Jo Bates below, we have four prominent wounds across the left side of her face: Three described as laceratuions across her left cheek (measuring 2cm, 0.5cm and 2cm), and one measuring 2cm across her left lip. While these may easily be interpreted as several punches to the face, all four of the "lacerations" are pretty much in line with each other, with three of the wounds all measuring 2cm in length. The wounds appear much more consistent with a single glancing kick across her face. Thereby not loosening or breaking any teeth.

But how would a single glancing kick cause the injuries to her face observed at autopsy? Law enforcement stated that "the driveway adjacent to 3680 Terracina Street was so churned up it looked like a tractor had been over the ground. The girl, who was very athletic, put up a terrific struggle." Therefore, it isn't difficult to see how an attacker with shoes or boots could easily have got pieces of the gravel driveway transferred into the grooved treads of his footwear. These small pieces of gravel trapped in the grooves of the tread have the capacity to cause several serious in-line lacerations across a person's face when kicked at an angle. For example, if Cheri Jo Bates was lying on the driveway floor with her face upwards, a right-footed kick across her face could have easily caused these four injuries in close proximity to one another. Take a look at the following example, showing gravel wedged in the tread of a boot (represented by the white and red circles).    

Obviously many factors are at play here. Three pieces of trapped gravel could be sitting slightly higher in the tread than a fourth piece, thereby staying in contact with the skin longer and producing 2cm lacerations, rather than the 0.5cm wound. A lot depends on the size of the pieces of gravel and angle the footwear makes contact with the face. All four pieces could conceivably be in the same tread line. But a glancing blow from footwear traveling in one direction, containing pieces of gravel, could easily produce four lacerations to the face in line with one another. The 2cm long wound to the upper left lip went completely through the thickness of the lip, yet didn't loosen or dislodge any teeth. This would be consistent with a glancing blow from footwear. As stated previously, the Confession letter author had every opportunity to use the autopsy findings of Mike Reilly (or should I say, his thoughts on the matter), to create a story of him brutally punching Cheri Jo Bates in the face many times. However, he rejected this opportunity in favor of one kick to the head, which is more consistent with the near parallel lacerations to the left cheek and upper lip of Cheri Jo Bates. Bearing in mind the braggadocious manner of his letter throughout, it seemed that the downplaying of the attack to her face when presented with a "several punches" scenario, could be argued as a typist telling the truth.  

The canonical murders of Jack the Ripper began on August 31st 1888 with the brutal murder of Mary Ann Nichols in Buck's Row, her throat severed, her vagina stabbed and her lower abdomen partly ripped open to expose her bowels. This grisly affair was followed on September 8th 1888, when the body of Annie Chapman was discovered in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. She had also suffered deep cuts to her throat and abdomen, but this time the killer had removed her small intestine and placed it on her right shoulder, and excised part of her stomach and deposited it on her left shoulder. Annie Chapman's uterus was missing, along with parts of her bladder and vagina. 

Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes both met their fate on September 30th 1888, with Elizabeth Stride being found in Dutfield's Yard, having received one knife wound to her neck. The severity of her injuries were believed to be considerably less because of the arrival of Louis Diemschutz, the steward of the International Working Men's Educational Club, who arrived at the location in his horse and two-wheeled cart. The killer, now unable to perform the mutilation of the corpse as in previous attacks, sought out Catherine Eddowes less than an hour later, cutting her throat and once again ripping her intestines from her body. Her left kidney and the majority of her uterus had been taken from the site of the murder. The final attack, that of Mary Jane Kelly inside her single room at 13 Miller's Court on November 9th 1888 is almost impossible to describe, other than to say that her body was destroyed beyond recognition.          

Jack the Ripper was fond of removing various body parts, some of which he carried away from the crime scene and some he left on public display for the whole world to see. This sickening display of the grotesque was the seeming ambition of the Confession letter author in Riverside on November 29th 1966, who confessed that he wanted to mutilate furher victims, stating that he would "cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see" and had recently "finished the job out cutting her throat", referring to the October 30th 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates. The Confession letter author issued the Riverside Police Department a stark warning, that he was "stalking your girls now", just like the Ripper had done in the dimly lit streets of Whitechapel, 78 years earlier.

Five days before the Confession letter was postmarked, a newspaper article from the Press-Enterprise told of the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and postulated a connection to the abduction of a 19-year-old girl on November 22nd 1966. The perpetrator in this case invoked the name of "Jack the Ripper", by stating "Well, after all, I'm not Jack the Ripper" after she refused to enter his vehicle. This led me to explore the idea that the author of the Confession letter, who plagiarized key phrases from this newspaper article, had also been inspired to create a typed letter using the sadistic reportings of Jack the Ripper. The promise to cut off female parts, the stalking of girls, and the casual and brutal way he described cutting the throat of Cheri Jo Bates - synonymous with the Whitechapel murderer - required further exploration to see whether this was coincidental or a deliberate choice by the Confession letter typist. And indeed, if the author of the letter was the killer of Cheri Jo Bates.         

To discover material on Jack the Ripper, the easiest route for the killer in 1966 was to use the Riverside library (possibly) on his doorstep, writing a poem on the desktop in between his searches of the microfiche reels. The Riverside City College library may have been convenient for him, but any library would have sufficed. Today, I approached the task at hand by typing in key phrases from the Confession letter, and/or the year 1888, to see if the newspaper archives churned up any interesting results, whereas in 1966 the task would have been a bit more arduous and labor intensive. However, it would have been easily  accomplished by somebody who was determined enough, who was prepared put considerable thought into his compositions. Somebody like the Zodiac Killer.

The following section of the Confession letter looked contrived, 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 last phrase reading "I said it was about time for her to die" appeared over-dramatic and had a punchline effect, as though it had been borrowed for purpose from elsewhere. I typed the shortened phrase of "it was about time for her to die" into the newspaper archive and it produced only one result in 336 years. That year was 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper. Alongside the stories of Jack the Ripper in 1888 was the accompanying story of "The Sturdy Beggar", who attempted to scrounge food from a woman inside her home and placed his hand into his hip pocket (probably reaching for a presumed knife) and stated that "it was about time for her to die".​ Had the Confession letter author added this phrase into his communication to bolster the Jack the Ripper theme of "body parts" and "cutting her throat"?

​In 1927, multiple American newspapers reported the Ripper like murders from New York, spanning the previous 15 years. The first in 1912, detailed the savage knife murder of Julia Connors by Nathan Swartz, who wrote a confession letter after the killing and an additional message on a soiled linen collar with a lead pencil, reading "I am guilty. I am insane", using five of the same words from the Riverside Confession letter, which read "I am not sick. I am insane". Two stories, loosely connected to Jack the Ripper, with two perinent phrases. But there had to be more.

On October 27th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Halloween card with the skeleton of an unknown victim. One observer of this communication by the name of Phil Sins contacted San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reporter, Paul Avery, believing that the greeting card was insinuating the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, whose lifeless body was discovered by a Riverside groundskeeper on Halloween morning in 1966.

It turned out that the prominent word "by" was shared 6 times by the Halloween card and the two typed Confession letters. The Halloween card author also used the signature "Z" for the first time, that was suggested by Paul Avery as the signature present on two of the three Bates' letters on April 30th 1967. The presumed connection was laid bare by Paul Avery in a comprehensive newspaper article in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 16th 1970. By claiming a connection between the Zodiac Killer and the Riverside communications, Paul Avery was suggesting that the murder of Cheri Jo Bates may have been the early work of the Zodiac Killer. To see if this has any validity, I decided to explore the Jack the Ripper connection a little further. Did the Zodiac Killer select the Halloween card with wording similar to the Confession letter?

​The wording on the selected Halloween card inner read "But, then why spoil our game. Happy Halloween". The typed Confession letter read "I then finished the job by cutting her throat. I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game". One communication didn't want the game spoiled, while the other pledged to not to stop the game.

On October 16th 1888 the "From Hell" letter, addressed to George Lusk, the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, arrived inside a cardboard box from somebody claiming to be Jack the Ripper. It contained a "body part" in the form of half a kidney, with the message "Mr Lusk, Sor I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman and prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer". signed "Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk". 

​Just before Halloween, on October 29th 1888 (one day before the date Cheri was murdered), a letter was sent to Dr. Openshaw, who performed the medical examination on the portion of kidney received by George Lusk. The letter stated "Old boss you was rite it was the left kidny i was goin to hoperate agin close to you ospitle just as i was going to dror mi nife along of er bloomin throte them cusses of coppers spoilt the game but i guess i wil be on the jobn soon and will send you another bit of innerds. Jack the Ripper. O have you seen the devle with his mikerscope and scalpul a-lookin at a kidney with a slide cocked up". 

This letter arrived on October 29th 1888, Cheri Jo Bates was murdered on October 30th 1966, her body was found the next day on Halloween morning, and the Confession letter about Cheri Jo Bates contained many plausible links to Jack the Ripper (shown above). The Halloween card contained the phrase "spoil our game", that somewhat mirrored "spoilt the game" from the Openshaw letter, and "stop the game" from the Confession letter. Throw in "The Most Dangerous Game" and we have a cocktail of "games". You may also notice that the Openshaw letter described murder as a "job", just like the Confession letter author, who typed "I then finished the job out cutting her throat".  Many Ripper letters use the word "job" in respect to the killing of women.
​
​Four months after reading the San Francisco Chronicle article by Paul Avery (on November 16th 1970), the Zodiac killer replied to the claim he was involved in Riverside, by stating on March 13th 1971 "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". Not only was the Zodiac Killer invoking the word "hell" and using similar phraseology from the Bates' letters that "there will be more", he was apparently accepting his involvement to some capacity in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. If that "activity" was suggestive of the communications, involving the Confession letter with Jack the Ripper overtones, then it's really curious that his next two widely published letters (mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle) on January 29th 1974 and April 24th 1978, began using the Jack the Ripper valediction of "yours truley" and "yours truly", that the Whitechapel murderer used in the majority of his letters from 1888. If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the "riverside activity" down south, was his use of "yours truley" and "yours truly" in these following communications a case of playing more "games" with law enforcement? The continuation of the Jack the Ripper theme in these letters laying bare his character - and belatedly pointing a finger to the secrets of the Confession letter, now that his Riverside connection had finally come to light?

In his July 31st 1969 letters and 408 cipher, the Zodiac Killer would delve into the distant newspaper archive of 1932 to create the significant phrase of "man is the most dangerous animal of all", which he plagiarised from the utterances of Merian C. Cooper, the associate producer of "The Most Dangerous Game". Was the same archival  technique used to fashion the typed Confession letter in 1966, borrowing the wording of "it was about time for her to die" from "The Sturdy Beggar" in 1888, with both the Riverside and Bay Area communications created by the cunning disposition of one author and one mind?   ​
​THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MURDER.

It appears as though the Confession letter on November 29th 1966 primarily focused on attractive women, who "crazed " the author enough to want to kill them. The typed letter began "She was young and beautiful. But now she is battered and dead. She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom. Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Or maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school".

After discovering that the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" from the Zodiac Killer's 408 cipher was uttered by Merian C. Cooper, the associate producer of "The Most Dangerous Game" movie in 1932, which could only reasonably have been found by diligently trawling through microfiche reels from newspapers of the day, I wanted to see if the author of the Confession letter employed the same technique. By finding a commonality of approach between the 408 cipher and Confession letter authors, it may shed light on the idea of one mind and one person responsible for the communications in 1966 and 1969. This is the first step in determining whether the Zodiac Killer was responsible for "riverside activity" or "riverside murder".

I then looked at the seemingly contrived section of the Confession letter where it stated "I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die". After dropping the phrase "it was about time for her to die" into a newspaper archive search, I was surprised to receive a hit from 1888 (the year of "Jack the Ripper"), bearing in mind that the Confession letter author appeared to mimic the language of a recent newspaper article on November 24th 1966, mentioning Cheri Jo Bates and invoking the name of "Jack the Ripper". The two phrases of "man is the most dangerous animal of all" and "it was about time for her to die", I could only find in newspaper articles dated 1932 and 1888 respectively, despite searching 331 years of newspaper archives.  

​If the author was searching the archives in 1966 for Jack the Ripper related material to insert into the Confession letter, I needed to know if anything other than "it was about time for her to die" could be found to bolster the argument for this hypothesis. Although the following isn't compelling, it does provide a possible second layer to consider. I focused in on another section of the Confession letter where the author typed "I am not sick. I am insane", which seemed an unnecessary addition to the story. However, I was unable to find this exact quote from 1690 to 2021 in the Genealogy Bank archives.

​So I refined the search to "Jack the Ripper" and "I am insane", hoping to find these two sections of text within one newspaper story. The search was successful, when I found several large articles in 1927 detailing the horrible mutilations of "Jack the Ripper", The newspapers stated "Nothing the London monster did exceeded the wanton devilishness the murders of half a dozen New York children by "rippers" whose crimes have stirred the city during the past fifteen years" (see below). This was a promising find, but I needed more.

​The Nathan Swartz murder of Julia Connors had some of the features of Riverside, in that he wrote a Confession letter, told of being crazed by the beautiful make-up of women, stabbed a young girl to death, articulated a "two minutes" window, and stated that "I am guilty. I am insane". The Confession letter author at Riverside mentioned that they would "cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see" in "Jack the Ripper" style, only five days after a newspaper article mentioning Cheri Jo Bates and "Jack the Ripper". We also have the phrase "it was about time for her to die", found in a newspaper article entitled "The Sturdy Beggar"​ from 1888 (the year of "Jack the Ripper"), in which a women was threatened by a man motioning towards a potential knife in his pocket. And finally, the Nathan Swartz story was embedded within a comprehensive "Jack the Ripper" newspaper article from 1927. It may be nothing, but it could be something.   

CONNECTING RIVERSIDE TO THE ZODIAC USING JACK THE RIPPER [IN 7 PARTS]