On August 10th 1969, somebody mailed a typewritten communication to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch providing the code key to the 408 cipher, that may or may not have been authored by the Zodiac Killer. The communication, ending with "concerned citizen", was withheld from publication. This means that a second communication mailed just two months later, on October 7th 1969, again addressed to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, with the phraseology "code letters" and ending with "a good citizen", was very likely the same author. This was the cryptic footnote by Sergeant John Lynch regarding the "good citizen" letter.

The writer has a strong feeling of ESP. While having these feelings, the writer writes with a pencil. 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 had been approximately two months since any Zodiac communication was received, yet the "good citizen" letter referenced ESP and 56 Beach Street. A form of ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is second sight, whereby a person perceives information in the form of a vision about future events before they happen. Four days after the "good citizen" letter, the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. After his murder at the intersection of Washington & Cherry Streets, the Zodiac Killer was believed to have entered Presidio Park just a few minutes later, mocking law enforcement in a letter he mailed two days later, in which he stated "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles". The northeast corner of Presidio Park is 296 meters from Beach Street. This means we have a letter mentioning 56 Beach Street just four days before the Zodiac Killer escaped into Presidio Park, the northeast corner of which sits near the western tip of Beach Street. This street runs from Pier 39 to the Palace of Fine Arts,  A contributor to this website informed me that:"56 Beach St is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, CA is a condo home that contains 2,141 sq ft and was built in 1938".  

On April 20th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the murder of Robert Michael Salem at 745 Stevenson Street in San Francisco. The pseudonym "Zodiac" was written in blood on his apartment wall next to the body. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that "Salem's designs have been exhibited in England, Japan and Russia under State Department cultural exchange programs. Until last year (1969) he had been the lighting designer for restoration of the historic Haslett Warehouse. The address of the Haslett Warehouse is 680 Beach Street at Hyde. This location is less than one mile from 1654/56 Beach Street (see map below). The author of these two "code" communications from "concerned" and "good" citizens may not have been Zodiac, but did they know the identity of the killer?

The Concerned Citizen card was mailed from San Francisco and postmarked August 10th 1969, arriving one day after the article A Murder Code is Broken which featured in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. In this article "Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, in charge of the investigation of the murders and of the cipher letter writer, asked The Chronicle to send Harden's code breaking worksheets to him for further checking; which was done". The Concerned Citizen communication (with attached 408 cipher key) was not mailed by Donald Harden, having been sent from either a genuinely helpful citizen or from the Zodiac Killer himself. When deciding which is the case, we can look at the typed message on the card (shown below).

For somebody who pleasures in the solving of cryptograms and word puzzles, while at the same time making basic spelling mistakes and errors in punctuation, seems rather reminiscent of somebody we have become accustomed to. Three months after this correspondence, the Zodiac Killer mailed the infamous 340 cipher, a curious blend of both word puzzle and cryptogram. This cipher had "paradice" and "slaves" criss-crossed on its canvas, with a full message beneath the superficial design. The canvas and cipher both contained the encoded words of "paradice" and "slaves", thereby continuing the theme from the 408 cipher, but on this occasion he seemed eager to add a little more complexity to its design.

The decoding of the 340 cipher revealed that the majority of the message effectively ran diagonally (one down, two across) in a cipher divided up into three parts of 9, 9 and 2 rows. The last two rows were composed of a curious blend of forward and backward words, which is standard fare in the construction of word search puzzles, as is the creation of diagonal wording running across a word search grid. When we couple this with the disguised "paradice" and "slaves" running down and across the center of the 340 cipher canvas, this cryptogram becomes the embodiment of cipher and word puzzle all rolled into one.

If that wasn't enough, the Zodiac Killer would mail two more communications on December 10th 1969 and December 11th 1969 with coherent messages in the form of a pre-printed horoscope, overlayed with cryptic messages pasted predominantly 90 degrees clockwise, running down the page. These two communications were entitled Day-by-day forecast for Cancer and Day-by-day forecast for Leo. The second coming the day after the abduction of Leona LaRell Roberts (16) on December 10th 1969, leading to the possibility that this was a further play on words by the Zodiac Killer, who may have used the phrase "forecast for Leo" to insinuate the future plight of Leona Roberts. He may have had no hand in the abduction of Leona Roberts, but it wasn't unusual for the Zodiac Killer to insinuate his involvement in crimes committed by others. 

The two pasted communications in December (with Hidden and FLT a component of both) must have taken some forethought, so the idea that these two communications have no meaning whatsoever, doesn't quite sit right. These messages may need decoding just like the 340 cryptogram, albeit in a slightly different way. The choice of two horoscopes, when we consider the contemporary speculation behind the Zodiac Killer's choice of pseudonym, may have some significance. These two communications were straddled by both Fairfield letters, the first of which (December 7th 1969) contained sections of ciphertext that married up with the beginning and end of the 340 cipher. The months of July, November and December certainly seemed one big cryptic puzzle for the Zodiac Killer, but was it "one of his pleasures" in August. 

Without beating around the bush, we can now say with certainty that the 'Concerned Citizen' card, postmarked August 10th 1969, was not mailed by Donald Harden. The typist responsible for the 3" x 5" card had clearly read several of the recent newspaper articles before he fashioned this correspondence, including the August 4th 1969 edition of the Vallejo Times-Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle article on August 9th 1969 entitled 'A Murder Code is Broken' and the Vallejo Times-Herald on August 9th 1969, stating "Lynch talked to Harden and said, "I'm convinced he has it solved". He said he would talk to him again today. Meanwhile Lynch has Harden's worksheets and is studying and comparing them with the three-part cryptogram and the translation."  

The August 9th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article stated "Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, in charge of the investigation of the murders and of the cipher letter writer, asked The Chronicle to send Harden's code breaking worksheets to him for further checking; which was done." The author of the 'Concerned Citizen' card had used the same clumsy wording present in this article, when he addressed Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department. The 'Concerned Citizen' card stated "Dear Sergeant Lynch. I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer.  Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue. With best wishes. concerned citizen". 

The idea that the 'Concerned Citizen' would just happen to accidentally use this uncomfortable array of wording, such as "cipher letter writer", and didn't read the San Francisco Chronicle article one day before his August 10th 1969 card, would beggar belief. Additionally, why would Donald Harden mail the cipher key to Sergeant John Lynch, when the article clearly stated that Sergeant Lynch already had Harden's worksheets "and is studying and comparing them with the three-part cryptogram and the translation?"  We also have the 'Concerned Citizen' asking that his "signature or name" not appear in the newspapers. Why would Donald Harden request that his name not appear in the newspapers, when it had already been plastered all over them - and the "Concerned Citizen" card author had most certainly read them, on account of his word salad "cipher letter writer"?                           

The other reason we certainly know that the author of the 'Concerned Citizen' card was not Donald Harden, is because "he went to the University of Florida, Gainesville in 1956 for his master degree in education. During his time in University of Florida, Don gained experience by deciphering codes. Harden eventually graduated from the university. Harden began to teach at Howard High School in Orlando, Florida. Don eventually left Howard High School and went to teach at Aurora Central High School in Denver, Colorado in 1960. In 1960, Harden left Aurora Central High School and moved to Salinas, California. He began teaching history and economics at North Salinas High School in 1960". Fandom.com. 

So, would an educated school teacher, good at deciphering codes, be unable to spell the word "cryptogram"? The 'Concerned Citizen' was clever enough to mail in a cipher key to the Zodiac Killer's 408 cipher, but was incapable of spelling the word "cryptogram", failed to put an "e" in mentioned and failed to put a comma after the first "puzzles". And achieved all this in just 69 words. The author of the card was great with "word puzzles" but couldn't spell. This person was clearly pulling our leg - that much is apparent. One person that liked to play 'cat and mouse' games with the newspapers and police was the Zodiac Killer, who I have little doubt was the author of the 'Concerned Citizen' card on August 10th 1969. The cipher key worksheet he mailed to Sergeant Lynch contained mistakes, and was likely one of his draft copies. The Zodiac Killer certainly followed his stories in the newspapers, which is where he likely found his temporary pseudonym of the "concerned citizen" for one day only.   

Here is a newspaper cutting from the August 4th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald, stating "Police received a few anxious telephone calls from concerned citizens Sunday, but no leads to the identity of the cipher writer who claims he killed two teenagers on Lake Herman Road and a young woman at Blue Rock Springs. The callers wanted to know if police had caught the man who confessed the slayings in letters to Gibson Publications and two San Francisco newspapers. His three cryptograms, sent with the letters and supposedly giving clues to his identity, still were in the hands of a Navy Cryptographer who at last report had not solved them".  

Was this newspaper article the origin of the "concerned citizen" offering his help to Sergeant John Lynch on August 10th 1969? If the Zodiac Killer created the 'Concerned Citizen' card, was he also concerned enough to have phoned the Vallejo Police Department on August 3rd 1969, asking the police if they had unearthed the identity of the triple murderer? I certainly wouldn't put it past him. 

It is clear, that whoever mailed the 'Concerned Citizen' card had read the August 9th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article 'A Murder Code is Broken', by using the phrase cipher letter writer. They therefore knew the 'Murder Code was Broken', and the cipher key therefore unnecessary. But the Zodiac Killer didn't play by the rules.   

As explained in the previous article, there appears little doubt that the author of the "concerned citizen" card had read the August 9th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article entitled 'A Murder Code is Broken'. The article clearly stated that Donald Harden's worksheets had been forwarded from the Chronicle to the Vallejo Police Department (which would obviously contain the cipher key and method of decryption). It stated "Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, in charge of the investigation of the murders and of the cipher letter writer, asked The Chronicle to send Harden's code breaking worksheets to him for further checking; which was done." The wording "cipher letter writer" is an unusual combination of words, that apparently didn't go unnoticed by the "concerned citizen" author, who used the same sequence in his opening gambit: "I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer." This should be proof enough that the "concerned citizen" had read the Chronicle article, knew the code had been broken, and knew Donald Harden's worksheets had already been sent to the Vallejo Police Department and Sergeant John Lynch. Therefore, do you have to question the integrity of the "concerned citizen" regarding the motivation behind his August 10th 1969 mailing?    

​The Vallejo Times-Herald also broke the story on August 9th 1969, stating "Lynch talked to Harden and said, "I'm convinced he has it solved". He said he would talk to him again today. Meanwhile Lynch has Harden's worksheets and is studying and comparing them with the three-part cryptogram and the translation." 

So, having presumably read all this, was the "concerned citizen" just a helpful member of the public attempting to corroborate the Harden's solution, or did the Zodiac Killer, knowing his cipher had been broken quickly, begin playing a game of 'cat and mouse'. The author of the "concerned citizen" card didn't want to give the Vallejo Police Department his name for fear it would be published in the newspapers, just like Zodiac stated in the 408 - but did the anonymous card reveal his identity? 

The "concerned citizen" card only contained 69 words, so why did the sender bother to type the message rather than write a handwritten message or simply capitalize the text. When he wrote the cipher key he capitalized the alphabetical letters to mirror the 408, so what purpose was behind him choosing not to do this in his message?

The sender would certainly not have given away his identity by using upper case lettering in the message (as he had already done it in the key), nevertheless, he chose to type it anyway. If the author was the Zodiac Killer, did he believe, that by using capitals in his message rather than handwriting it may have been construed as suspicious, so opted to use a typewriter for a more professional approach and give the card a level of credibility. Opting to write the message in his normal handwriting would obviously have given the game away. He also may have thought it easier to type the message rather than make the effort to disguise his handwriting. The cipher key was obviously written rather than typed because of the unusual characters present within the 408 cipher not being available on a standard typewriter. 

 This is all very speculative, however, with very little to indicate one way or another as to the identity of the "concerned citizen", feeding on scraps may be the only avenue. Was the sender of the August 10th correspondence simply being a helpful citizen wanting to corroborate the Harden's solution, or Zodiac attempting to regain a semblance of lost pride by surreptitiously offering a lending hand to the Vallejo Police Department, declaring "I do not wish to have my name in the papers".

This may have been the Zodiac Killer's idea of a joke after having previously stated "I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity." This contradiction certainly wouldn't have been lost on a killer who craved attention at every turn. A killer who was prepared to confuse with "name" and "identity" in his first communications with the newspapers would not be averse to creating similar parallels with "signature" or "name" in the "concerned citizen" card, just ten days later. 

THE CONCERNED CITIZEN CARD [PT1]    THE CONCERNED CITIZEN CARD [PT3]

Having not covered this topic previously, I thought I would add the Concerned Citizen card to this site, mailed from San Francisco and postmarked August 10th 1969, one day after the article A Murder Code is Broken featured in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. In this article "Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, in charge of the investigation of the murders and of the cipher letter writer, asked The Chronicle to send Harden's code breaking worksheets to him for further checking; which was done" (see foot of article for newspaper cutting).     

Many have asked the identity of the "concerned citizen."  Was it Donald Harden, the Zodiac Killer, or a third party who broke the code independently? The latter having not been aware of the code being broken as published in the newspaper. The San Francisco Chronicle according to the August 9th 1969 newspaper article had "already done" sending Sergeant John Lynch the worksheets, so why would Donald Harden be mailing the cipher key through the mail when clearly he was already in contact with police. Therefore, this option can be summarily dismissed as the least likely option. 

The Bay Area murderer, as of August 4th 1969, had already given us his pseudonym with the dramatic introduction of "This is the Zodiac Speaking", so why would he now be acting coy in giving us the cipher key under the guise of a "concerned citizen". This tactic may have surfaced during the 1974 communications, but to implement it so early, just after threatening to "cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend", seemed an immediate backpedal. From "ruthless killer" to "concerned citizen" in a matter of days. On the other hand, this may have been the start of his game with both the newspapers and law enforcement alike. 

The card reads:
Dear Sergeant Lynch.
   I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer.
  Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue.
      With best wishes.
                                     concerned citizen.

​Although it has been stated on many forums that the author of the "concerned citizen" card may have mailed it, unaware of the code being broken and published in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 9th 1969, this seems highly unlikely.

The author used the wording "cipher letter writer", exactly as published in the newspaper. This, from a grammatical standpoint, is highly likely to have been copied from the newspaper, thereby indicating that the person who mailed in the cipher key already knew it had been broken. This could indicate it was Zodiac after all.

Zodiac researcher and cryptographer, David Oranchak, has comprehensively covered all aspects of the Zodiac ciphers on his excellent ZodiacKillerCiphers website, including two offerings on the topic covered in this article. The first is a Detailed Analysis of the 408 Solution  and the second is entitled Who is the Concerned Citizen. The latter will show you the code key mailed by the "concerned citizen" for handwriting comparison purposes. 
​
THE CONCERNED CITIZEN CARD [PT2]    THE CONCERNED CITIZEN CARD [PT3]

Vallejo Times-Herald - Cryptogram Deciphered by Teacher August 9th 1969