It is fairly obvious that the story of the mysterious phone call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino didn't originate from the police, so its origin must have come from the killer of Donna Lass for the following reasons. Security Guard at the casino, Gordon Petrovich, claimed he received a phone call from somebody calling themselves Mr. Davis on either September 7th or 8th, who stated Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness. If Gordon Petrovich had murdered Donna Lass, it would be totally ridiculous to pretend he received a phone call from Mr. Davis about an illness in the Lass family, that he knew would be denied later by the landlord of Donna Lass, Nick Davis. This could only have served to draw suspicion upon himself. Also, why would Nick Davis ring Gordon Petrovich and report a family illness that never was, if he had murdered Donna Lass? Once the family illness story was found to be fake, likewise, Nick Davis would have brought suspicion upon himself. Neither of these two men would have had anything to gain by fabricating a story of illness in the family of Donna Lass, that would eventually be found out to be a lie. 

When Donna Lass began working at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino in June 1970 it would have been her responsibility to supply the casino with her contact details (phone number and/or current address), and encumbent upon her, to acquire the contact details (phone number) of the casino in case she needed to ring them in the event of unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness to herself, family illness, accident or medical emergency  By September 6th 1970, this most certainly would have been done. If Donna Lass had really received an urgent message from her family because of an illness, what would have been the appropriate response - waste valuable time trying to locate her landlord, Nick Davis, asking him to ring the casino on her behalf - or simply making the phone call to the casino herself by using a public payphone or asking to use her landlord's phone? If the relations of Donna Lass did have an illness in the family and only had the phone number of Nick Davis by way of contacting her, he would have then made contact with Donna Lass, who would have rang her family back enquiring about the gravity of the situation, before contacting the casino. Any phone call received by Gordon Petrovich of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, on behalf of Donna Lass, makes little sense. The only person who had anything to gain by reporting a family illness on behalf of Donna Lass, is an individual who knew that Donna Lass was incapable of making the phone call herself, because she was either under duress at the time, or dead.          

According to Jo Anne Goettsche, who was visiting Donna Lass during this period, she had no way of contacting Donna Lass by phone when she arrived at the casino and found her friend absent. Therefore, Donna Lass had no phone in her apartment. But this still doesn't explain the obvious path Donna Lass should have taken if she had somehow received a message from her family about an illness. She would have notified her workplace by using the nearest convenient public or private phone. Or made the call en route to South Dakota (apparently without her vehicle). If the family of Donna Lass had wanted to contact her in an emergency, what phone number would Donna have given them? She would have given them either the phone number of Larry & Ann Lowe (where she previously lived), the Monte Verdi apartment landlord (if she had relayed this to her family yet) and the casino. Or any combination of all three.

Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartments, so how likely is it that the family of Donna Lass had the phone number of the landlord, Nick Davis, to even ring him about a family illness? And even if they had, why would Nick Davis bypass Donna Lass and inform the casino of the family illness himself, rather than informing Donna Lass of the family illness and her taking responsibility in notifying the casino?

The mysterious phone call using the name of Mr. Davis, which he denied was him, must have come from a murderer familiar enough with Donna Lass to know the name of her landlord. Another question that must be asked - is how many people (then or today) would know the name of their friend's landlord? Taking into account that Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartment complex, there may have been some friends that would have known her plans, but how many of these friends would have known that her landlord was called Mr. Davis? One such friend (or casual acquaintance) that may have been privy to this information, would have been somebody who lived at the Monte Verdi apartments themselves. Possibly somebody who informed Donna Lass previously that the Monte Verdi apartments were a good place to live. Often, people move into future premises on the recommendations of others - usually friends they trust.

This is a continuation of the article "Did the Killer of Donna Lass Make the Phone Call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel?". Link.
​
On September 19th 1970, Gordon Petrovich, security guard at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, stated that somebody calling himself "Mr. Davis" had rang the casino on either September 7th or 8th and reported that Donna Lass had left town because of a family illness. Gordon Petrovich claimed he had left a note regarding the phone call on the security desk. According to the private investigator's report, friend of Donna Lass, Jo Anne Goettsche, was planning to meet her on the night of September 7th 1970 at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, making contact with security guard George Victor Jonasson and asking of Donna's whereabouts through until 4:00am on September 8th 1970. According to Jo Anne Goettsche, George Victor Jonasson insisted he knew nothing about the whereabouts of Donna Lass. Had the "suspicious" call to Gordon Petrovich been delivered on September 7th 1970 stating she wouldn't be coming to work at 6:00pm that evening and Gordon Petrovich had left a note on the security desk stating this fact, then security guard George Victor Jonasson should have known that Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness and been able to inform Jo Anne Goettsche of these details on the night of September 7th, into the 8th. But he didn't. This would lend credence to the phone call received by Gordon Petrovich being delivered on September 8th 1970, assuming George Victor Jonasson wasn't lying about reading the note (or hadn't seen it, or wasn't informed of its contents). The fact that no Sahara Tahoe Hotel staff were able to enlighten Jo Anne Goettsche for several hours about the whereabouts of Donna Lass, appears to suggest that no note (and no phone call) was made on September 7th 1970. And if the phone call wasn't made by ​Nick Davis, it was probably the killer.

Assuming the sighting of Donna Lass near the Tahoe Bottle Shop at 3950 Lake Tahoe Blvd at 3:00pm or 4:00pm by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison was correct - and Donna Lass didn't meet Jo Anne Goettsche later that night - then something untoward likely happened to Donna Lass between approximately 4:00pm and the later hours of September 7th 1970. If Mrs. Dorothy Cullison's sighting was mistaken identity, we are left with something happening to Donna Lass between 2:00am on September 6th 1970 and September 8th 1970, when the "suspicious" phone call was made to Gordon Petrovich. This would explain why George Victor Jonasson knew nothing about the whereabouts of Donna Lass up to 4:00am on September 8th 1970.

​If Donna Lass was murdered shortly after leaving the casino at 2:00am on September 6th 1970, this would make the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970 over two days later. If the killer knew Donna Lass was still alive at the closure of September 6th 1970 (because no crime had been committed yet) and he knew she wasn't working on Labor Day, September 7th 1970, no phone call would have been necessary until September 8th 1970.

Had she had been working on September 6th 1970, a murderer who killed Donna Lass in the early hours of September 6th 1970 (and known to her), should have made the phone call before her shift started on September 6th 1970 as a delaying tactic, but apparently didn't. Bearing in mind that the phone call was seemingly made on September 8th 1970 - and Jo Anne Goettsche had arranged to meet Donna Lass on the night of Labor Day, September 7th 1970 - suggests that this was her day off from work. But this would also suggest she was murdered on September 7th 1970 because no phone call arrived on September 6th 1970. Unless her vacation days off from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel were September 6th and September 7th 1970 (and these details were known by her killer).

I noticed that the statement by Gordon Petrovich referred to a phone caller who said that Donna Lass wouldn't be coming to work that day. So a phone call made by somebody on September 8th 1970 during his shift hours, was not only making that call before 6:00pm (when Donna would have started her shifts), but the caller knew she was scheduled to work that day. Nick Davis, the landlord of Donna Lass (who shouldn't have been privy to her work schedule), was fairly adamant that he wasn't the "Mr. Davis" who rang Gordon Petrovich on either September 7th or the 8th. Everything points to a "suspicious" phone call being made during the shift of Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970, who knew Donna was due to work that day, and knew that her family lived out of town. These are details that would be unknown to a random serial killer or murderer, even if they abducted her in the vicinity of the casino. A killer unknown to the victim had little reason to delay an investigation by claiming a "family illness".   

Trawling through newspapers.com, Zodiac researcher, Jibberjabber, noticed that the earliest reports into the disappearance of Donna Lass only emerged on September 22nd 1970, approximately two weeks after her absence was first noticed. Her disappearance featured in the Sacramento Bee newspaper on this date. This coincided with a date in the private investigator's report that stated "Douglas County Sheriff's office, Deputy Joe Delorey, stated that he had received a phone call from a man in Sacramento who did not identify himself, and wished to speak to the investigator in charge of the case of the subject. This party stated he would call back at noon after learning that the investigator was not in. This call was received at 10:00pm on September 22nd 1970". In light of no mentioned follow up to this call, some have thought this may have been suspicious. However, when you read the Sacramento Bee article mentioning the mysterious disappearance of a nurse at South Lake Tahoe, it becomes a strong possibility that the male caller was genuinely trying to aid the investigation and wanted the lead investigator so his call was taken seriously, by informing him of the similarity to the disappearance and eventual murder of "nurse" Judith Hakari several months earlier. She was abducted shortly after leaving the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento on March 7th 1970, to be found in a shallow grave on April 25th 1970 near Weimar, Placer County. This potential connection was posited in the Sacramento Bee two days later, on September 24th 1970

On September 19th 1970, Gordon Petrovich, security guard at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, stated that somebody calling himself "Mr. Davis" had rang the casino on either September 7th or 8th and reported that Donna Lass had left town because of a family illness. Gordon Petrovich claimed he had left a note regarding the phone call on the security desk.

On September 19th 1970, according to the testimony of former Monte Verdi apartments manager Nick Davis, he first learned that Donna Lass "had been called out of town for a family illness" on September 11th 1970 after he received a phone call from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. After receiving this call, he made a phone call to Bob Morgan of the South Lake Tahoe Police Station, who revealed he had received a phone call from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office about Donna Lass and the "sickness in the family". Nick Davis then rang back the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 11th 1970 and informed them of the "sickness in the family", that he believed security guard Gordon Petrovich thought was on the date of September 7th or 8th. This makes little sense.

If the Sahara Tahoe Hotel had received a call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th or 8th that Donna Lass had left town for a family illness - and we assume they had phoned Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 to inform him of this information - then he wouldn't have first learned about the "family illness" from Bob Morgan of SLTPD (which he claimed) - and there would have been no reason to ring back the Sahara Tahoe Hotel to inform them of a "family illness", if they were the ones who told him in the first place.

​If the Sahara Tahoe Hotel just contacted Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 enquiring about the whereabouts of Donna Lass, from which he contacted Bob Morgan and learned that Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness, then somebody must have reported the "family illness" to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office before Nick Davis discovered this fact. This must have been the Sahara Tahoe Hotel after Gordon Petrovich received the "family illness" phone call on September 7th/8th from somebody claiming to be Mr. Davis, who sometime between September 7th/8th and September 11th must have phoned the Douglas County Sheriff's Office expressing the concerns of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel when Donna Lass failed to return to work after the Labor Day weekend.

​The Sahara Tahoe Hotel, having previously received a phone call on September 7th/8th that Donna Lass wouldn't be coming to work because of a "family illness", may have become concerned after a couple of days with no further news or contact from Donna Lass, so reported their concerns to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, who informed the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The Sahara Tahoe Hotel, being concerned employers, could have then contacted Nick Davis on September 11th 1970 asking on the whereabouts of his tenant because Donna had now failed to turn up for work for three days or made any phone calls to them in person explaining her current status, but the Sahara Tahoe Hotel could have failed to mention to Nick Davis the "family illness" part of the story, just her continuing absence from work (or Nick Davis failed to remember this part of the message). Nick Davis, taking these concerns on board, then contacted the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and was informed of the initial reports of a "family illness" they had received, from which, Nick Davis returned the call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 11th 1970 and informed them of the "family illness" (which they already knew because of the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th/8th). It would have served no purpose whatsoever for the killer to have phoned the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to inform them of a "family illness" concerning Donna Lass. Therefore, if Nick Davis didn't make the phone call to Gordon Petrovich on September 7th/8th (as he stated), then somebody claiming to be Nick Davis must have made that call.

In light of the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass, a phone call on September 7th/8th making false claims of a "family illness" and mimicking the landlord of Donna Lass, could only have realistically been done for one reason. And that reason would have been nefarious. If the impersonator of Nick Davis knew the name of "Mr. Davis", it is extremely likely that the murderer of Donna Lass knew where she lived and knew (at least) the surname of her landlord. This familiarity with Donna Lass and her life may indicate somebody close to the young 25-year-old nurse, who knew her family lived 1500 miles away (out of town), and knew that such a phone call would buy time. The man with the blonde hair, spotted with Donna Lass on September 7th 1970 by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison, walking in the direction of her apartment complex - who never came forward to police - must be the number one suspect in the murder of Donna Lass (if Mrs. Dorothy Cullison wasn't mistaken). 

READ THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR'S REPORT   

BUS TRIPS DIRECT TO THE SAHARA TAHOE HOTEL & CASINO FROM THE BAY AREA

Let us examine one option in the disappearance of Donna Lass from Stateline, Nevada, having worked her shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino until the early morning hours of September 6th 1970. Many newspaper articles ran with the idea that the young 25-year-old nurse had disappeared from the casino, with statements such as "Miss Lass, formerly of Beresford, had been working up to the time of her disappearance at about 2:00am, Sunday, Sept, 6". This seeds into the mind of the reader that something nefarious must have taken place at this time, such as an abduction in the casino car park, that correlated with some trailed off writing on the nurses log. There were no eyewitnesses to an abduction, no screaming heard in the casino grounds, and no evidence that the trailed off writing on the nurses log has any connection to her disappearance. In fact, there is no tangible evidence that she disappeared from the casino on September 6th 1970. 

However, there is an eyewitness who claimed that she saw Donna Lass on Labor Day, September 7th 1970 at approximately 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Mrs. Dorothy Cullison stated that she observed Donna Lass (who she recognised from a later photograph) in the company of a blonde haired man traveling southbound on Pioneer Trail Road near the Tahoe Bottle Shop at 3950 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe. Of course, she could have been mistaken, but the location would have been relevant to Donna Lass as she lived nearby, having just moved into the Monte Verdi apartments at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. The location described by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison would have placed Donna Lass just 650 feet from her home residence  So, assuming that Mrs. Dorothy Cullison hadn't read the home address of Donna Lass in the newspapers, or been prompted by her interviewer - or had subsequently convinced herself of the sighting nearby - her identification of Donna Lass so close to her Monte Verdi apartment is extremely noteworthy. Mrs. Dorothy Cullison could have seen Donna Lass anywhere in the Lake Tahoe region, but claimed it was 0.1 miles from the residence of Donna Lass on September 7th 1970. Not only would Mrs. Dorothy Cullison claim she saw Donna Lass in close proximity to her home, but she was walking with a blonde man southbound along Pioneer Trail Road in the direction of her apartment. 

However, this sighting would place Donna Lass still alive at least 37 hours after her shift ended on September 6th 1970 at 2:00am. Ann and Larry Lowe, who Donna lived with until September 4th 1970, stated that they last saw her on that date at 11:30pm.

Donna Lass would have set off for work shortly before 6:00pm on September 5th 1970. So If Ann and Larry Lowe didn't see her on the 5th (and were out), Donna Lass could have left for the casino from either the Lowe's residence or her own apartment. Either way, it was extremeley unlikely she had slept at her own apartment during the early hours of September 5th 1970, and hadn't used her car for the journey which was discovered by investigators outside her Monte Verdi apartment.

​The private investigator's report stated that "no fingerprints were lifted from inside or outside of the car, a 1968 Camero Convertible". If this statement is accurate - and is to be interpreted as detectives tried and failed to find any fingerprints inside or outside the vehicle - then this is extremely suspicious. It could indicate that the murderer of Donna Lass used her vehicle to dispose of her body and wiped the vehicle down. So where was Donna Lass for 37 hours if the sighting of Mrs. Dorothy Cullison was correct?

Donna Lass could have opted to walk home from the casino in the early hours of September 6th 1970 (the journey is less than a mile). She arrives home, goes to bed and wakes up on September 6th 1970, opting to remain at home that day to clean and organize her new apartment. On September 7th 1970, she had either arranged to meet up with somebody (or casually came across somebody) and headed off northbound along Pioneer Trail Road, where she was spotted in the company of this individual by Mrs. Dorothy Cullison at 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Of course, this sequence of events may not be what happened, but it is a reasonable explanation for the missing 37 hours. If the blonde haired man in the company of Donna Lass was a correct sighting, then this individual clearly failed to present himself to police to aid in their investigation. This could mean he was concerned about being implicated in her disappearance and possible murder, or was indeed her murderer. The last person to be seen with a victim usually comes under great scrutiny from law enforcement. If we factor in the possibility that her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro may have been wiped clean of fingerprints - and she was last seen heading in the direction of her Monte Verdi apartment on September 7th 1970 with a yet identified blonde male - it is easy to start painting a worrisome picture. So let's add another observation into the story.

Mr. Frank Desimone, new manager of the Monte Verdi apartments, entered the apartment of Donna Lass on September 11th 1970 and noticed everything in order, except that the bathroom light had been left on. Usually, one would put on a light during the evening or night hours, before switching it off upon leaving  Hypothetically, Donna Lass could have arrived back at her apartment with the blonde haired man shortly after 4:00pm and spent the evening with him, when things took a turn for the worse (in absence of blood loss). The bathroom is used to clean away evidence, with the killer biding his time until the early morning hours, which he believes will be the safest time to remove her body from the apartment into the Chevrolet Camaro. He plunges the apartment into darkness to reduce the prospect of him being seen exiting the apartment, but inadvertently leaves on the bathroom light, which is later noticed by the new landlord on September 11th 1970. He then drives the 1968 Chevrolet Camaro in the early morning hours of September 8th 1970 to Camp Spaulding or Yuba Gap to dispose of her body. But why wouldn't the killer just leave her body in the apartment, clean up and leave?

​Often, a killer known to the victim will want to conceal the body, because if there is no body, there isn't an immediate murder investigation (or sometimes not one at all) whereby family and friends become the first port of call for police. This was a time when no body, no crime, was often the pervading narrative. The murderer in the case of Donna Lass could have disposed of her body, then returned the vehicle, fingerprint free, to her apartment complex to give the impression nothing was untoward. A random serial killer or murderer, unknown to Donna Lass, just needs to clean the apartment and get the hell out of there. The great distance her body was found from the Monte Verdi apartments (and South Lake Tahoe region) suggests that the killer didn't want her body found immediately after her absence from work was discovered. A victim found in their residence will automatically draw the investigation to people associated with Donna Lass.   

If this chain of events is remotely true, then the murderer of Donna Lass would have returned her vehicle to her apartment complex in the early morning hours of September 8th 1970. If the killer wanted to delay any investigation into her absence from work on September 8th 1970, then a phone call to the casino prior to her shift that day (before 6:00pm) would have been the appropriate time.

Security Guard Gordon Petrovich claimed he received a phone call from a "Mr. Davis", the landlord of Donna Lass, on either September 7th or September 8th, but didn't recognise the voice. Then he stated he couldn't be sure if it was a Tuesday or Wednesday (which was the 8th or 9th). The only consistency between these two statements is September 8th 1970 for the phone call, which would coincide with my version of events. However, Mr. Nick Davis stated that he didn't call Gordon Petrovich at the Sahara Tahoe casino until September 11th 1970, which opens up the possibility that the person calling Gordon Petrovich on September 8th 1970 could have been somebody pretending to be Mr. Davis (the landlord of Donna Lass), adding legitimacy to the call. This, however, would imply that the murderer of Donna Lass knew her well enough to know the name of her landlord. Phoning the casino and claiming Donna Lass left town for a family ilness would also suggest familiarity with Donna Lass, because her family lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, nearly 1500 miles from Lake Tahoe. The phone call had the added advantage of delaying any investigation. A phone call by an impersonator would mean that neither Gordon Petrovich or Nick Davis necessarily had to be wildly off with their times.

Under this scenario, we have Donna Lass seen walking in the direction of her apartment with a blonde haired man on September 7th 1970, her vehicle seemingly devoid of fingerprints, the bathroom light left on, with the possibility of an impersonated phone call on September 8th 1970, who knew the name of her landlord, and was conversant to the fact that her family lived out of town. So, did Donna Lass know her killer? A killer who chose the Lake Spaulding and Lake Valley Reservoir region as a disposal site - known by many as a popular area for fishing, hiking and camping.    

The Sierra Club is an environmental organization that has been in existence for 132 years, spanning all US 50 states. The club is known for engaging in two main activities: promoting and guiding outdoor recreational activities, which is done throughout the United States but primarily in California, and political activism to promote environmental causes. After trawling through newspapers.com from the 1950s, but primarily the 1960s, it became clear that Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club was not only a meeting point for Sierra Club members wanting to explore the rugged and beautiful countryside of this area, but was well known to ordinary members of the public who visited the Donner Pass Ski  Ranch, which sits one mile east, and whose grounds extend north and west towards Clair Tappaan Lodge.

​Sierra Club members from San Francisco and the Bay Area could make reservations at the Clair Tappaan Lodge by visiting 1050 Mills Tower at 220 Bush Street, San Francisco, which provided chartered bus trips. This was a national office from 1931 to 1975. The Mills Tower location is only 3,400 feet from the once residence of Melvin Belli, who lived at 1228 Montgomery Street, which would receive a letter from the Zodiac Killer on December 20th 1969 (thanks to Jibberjabber for this). The Clair Tappaan Lodge (15 miles west of Lake Tahoe), was (and is) the predominant "Sierra Club" in this region, leaving little doubt that the Zodiac Killer (or hoaxer) was referencing this Sierra Club when affixing this newspaper cutting to the Pines postcard on March 22nd 1971.

​I attempted to find a solid correlation between the Pines postcard and the Mary Pilker Christmas card mailed on December 27th 1974 stating "Best Wishes. St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines", by combining the Sierra Club values of environmental protection and the wording "Guardian of the Pines". Although my finding was three years subsequent to the 1974 Christmas card, I wondered whether this phrase was used in previous years by parties concerned with forestry preservation.

​On October 28th 1977, the "Press of Atlantic City" newspaper ran an article about the Pinelands Environmental Council in respect to the Pine Barrens, stretching over the seven counties of New Jersey. It read "As the official guardian of the pines, I'm afraid we lost valuable time". The Sierra Club had an active interest in the preservation of the Pine Barrens during the relevant period to both the Pines postcard and Mary Pilker Christmas card. On the left is one example from 1971. Could the Zodiac Killer have been suggesting that Donna Lass being buried amongst the pines, was somehow looking over and protecting them in the afterlife?

The Zodiac Killer, having a voracious appetite for trawling the newspaper columns, would very likely have been aware of the Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club and its activities, including its involvement in caring for the environment. The Sierra Club meetings and trips were heavily featured in the Bay Area newspapers (and vicinity) on a continuous basis. Various examples have been presented below. Some people will attempt to downplay the Sierra Club pasting on the Pines postcard as the Clair Tappaan Lodge, explaining that we cannot be sure this was the intended "Sierra Club". While we cannot be certain, the overwhelming evidence suggests that this was the location insinuated by the designer of the postcard, bearing in mind its sender included an advertisement of "Forest Pines at Incline" Village. So, was the Zodiac Killer aware of the Clair Tappaan Lodge through the newspapers, through visiting the Donner Ski Ranch as a tourist/hiker, or was he a member of the Sierra Club in the Bay Area?  

As stated previously on this website, many Zodiac researchers have floated the idea that the punch-hole in the Pines postcard was the likely burial or disposal site of Donna Lass - with the phrase "around in the snow" (pasted upside down) suggesting this as a possibility. If we invert the postcard to correct this anomaly, we are presented with a "burial site" west of Clair Tappaan Lodge of an undetermined distance (ignoring any measurements of the postcard). If the postcard was meant to be flipped 180 degrees, then we not only have a "burial site" west of Clair Tappaan Lodge, but a "burial site" exactly 270 degrees west of Clair Tappaan Lodge, as presented by the inverted postcard (which has the pasted Sierra Club directly in line with the punch-hole).
However, caution must be applied to any analysis achieved with hindsight (in this instance, the approximate location of Donna Lass' remains). Credit to Howard Davis for providing me with the Mary Pilker Christmas card. 

FURTHER READING: THE BOISE CASCADE CHRISTMAS CARD TO MARY PILKER IN 1974?

We don't know for certain the author of the March 22nd 1971 Pines postcard, but for the purpose of this article let's assume it was the Zodiac Killer. Why would the murderer of five choose the Boise Cascade Company "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement to use on this communication? The identifier for this advertisement was the pasted text of "LAKE TAHOE" and "Peek through the Pines". So was the Zodiac Killer employed by Boise Cascade, did he buy a property in the area, or was the advertisement simply chosen at random for directional purposes to the burial or deposition site of Donna Lass? 

Sixteen months before the Pines postcard was mailed, during several weeks in November 1969, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer telephoned school bus threats to Incline Village and Tahoe City, mobilizing deputies to patrol schools and bus routes in the area. There may have been a fair number of hoax Zodiac calls throughout the years, but this person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer and threatened Incline Village by Lake Tahoe, nearly 1 1/2 years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard which contained an advertisement of Incline Village. 

Two years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard, in January 1969, the Nevada County Planning Comission gave the green light for a multi-million dollar development on the fringe of the "Lake of the Pines" subdivision. The Auburn Journal reported "The commission's decision will allow U.S. Land Company to construct, initially, a 10,000 square-foot building and an air strip for use by Arvin Industries. Approximately 75 persons will be employed by the plant when it opens, but upwards of 500 are envisioned for the payroll". 

In March 1972 (see left), the Sacramento Bee reported that "Lake of the Pines" property owners had accepted Boise Cascade's offer of recreational facilities, having bought out the original "Lake of the Pines" developer, Western Lake Properties. Boise Cascade marketed the lots to older workers in the Bay Area and Southern California.
The Sacramento Bee and other Bay Area newspapers ran advertisements for "California's newest recreational idea" from 1969, promoting swimming, boating, golfing, fishing and water skiing. One advertisement read "Build on one of Lake of the Pines beautiful waterfront lots".

There are only two likely Zodiac Killer communications mailed about Donna Lass. The Pines postcard mailed on March 22nd 1971 used "Peek through the Pines", with the author of the December 27th 1974 Christmas card to Mary Pilker (sister of Donna Lass) writing "Best Wishes. St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines" (with Pines beginning with a capital letter).

​Bearing in mind that the remains of Donna Lass were found in the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap in 1986, heavily blanketed in Pine trees, I considered the possibility the author of the Christmas card was hinting that her remains would be found in Pine country, but giving us a clue by using words from a second Boise Cascade project. The Zodiac Killer took "Peek through the Pines" from the Boise Cascade advertisement in 1971, so did he use three words from the Boise Cascade adverisements for "Lake of the Pines" to fashion the wording for the Christmas card to Mary Pilker in December 1974? Using "of the Pines" from "Lake of the Pines" (which also began with a capital letter). The Pines postcard (1971) and Christmas card (1974) would therefore contain seven of the eight words in "Peek through the Pines" and "Lake of the Pines", taken from two Boise Cascade advertisements. These two projects by Boise Cascade at Auburn and Incline Village were bisected by the site where the remains of Donna Lass were found.

The following month, on Saturday, December 13th 1969 at 9:45pm, an unknown individual carrying a flashlight and shotgun, approached a young couple, Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19), who had parked their vehicle at the terminus of Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley (1.85 miles from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino). They were sitting on nearby rocks, close to their vehicle, when the gunman began shooting. 

In a seemingly unprovoked attack, Hoffman was struck by 40 pellets, with Parsons being hit 7 times. Officers would later retrieve 12-guage shells from the road. Both victims would survive the attack, but were unable to offer a reason why they may have been targeted. View newspaper article from the Sacramento Bee on December 15th 1969. ​

Many newspaper articles and Zodiac researchers over the years have speculated that the "around in the snow" phrase pasted upside down onto the Pines card (along with the punch-hole in the top right corner) was a clue to the burial or disposal site of Donna Lass. But the way the card is viewed it appears incorrect from the standpoint of the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club", which sits close to Donner Pass Road and Interstate 80. The only two things on the postcard that appear specific are the punch-hole and "Sierra Club", which sit alongside each other.

The Zodiac Killer made a conscious decision to paste the wording "around in the snow" upside down, so one would like to think this has a purpose, in the form of a clue. Maybe if we had righted the postcard by inverting it through 180 degrees, the burial or deposition site of Donna would have become clearer. In other words, turn the postcard upside down to reveal where the killer placed the body. This now places the punch-hole west of the pasted "Sierra Club".
​
Let us imagine that the murderer of Donna Lass (whether Zodiiac or not) was the creator of the Pines card. Why would the person who created this postcard place "Sierra Club" on the postcard if it had no meaning or specificity? One would like to think it had a purpose. If the murderer had passed the "lake tahoe areas" on the west side of the lake, he may have opted to take the Donner Pass Road, rather than a major route such as Interstate 80 with Donna Lass (either dead or alive) inside his vehicle. This route would have taken him directly past the signage for the Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club en route to the Camp Spaulding area, to either murder the young nurse, or dispose of her remains. If we assume (like many have) that the punch-hole in the Pines postcard was her burial site or the location of her remains, then it would be important for the murderer to provide us with something relative to this location on the postcard, so we could work out her final resting place. The Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge may have been his choice. But why not any other landmark or place name en route to the Camp Spaulding area?

Most are fairly confident that the designer of the Pines postcard acquired the "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement from either the San Francisco Chronicle or San Francisco Examiner newspaper on March 19th 1971, because these have used a capital "P" in "Peek". If the Pines card creator was also the murderer - and he knew the route he took the day he drove Donna Lass to the Camp Spaulding area - then the only way he can give us a clue to Donna's location, is to search the newspapers for something relevant to the route he traveled. So, I further examined the San Francisco Examiner on March 19th 1971, that the killer may have read.

BIG NEWS IN THE DONNA LASS CASE- ZODIAC SPEAKING PODCAST

The San Francisco Examiner newspaper of March 19th 1971 (3 days before the Pines card was mailed) carried the Forest Pines advertisement on page 15. Six pages earlier, on page 9 of the March 19th 1971 newspaper, there was an article entitled "Sierra Club Backs Park Tax Boost" about the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club (using the correct font).

Based upon the measurements of the San Francisco Examiner's pages, I calculated that the "Sierra Club" headline measured about 1.65 inches in width, which was the same as the "Sierra Club" pasted on the Pines postcard. If the murderer had been reading this newspaper through its main pages on March 19th 1971, he could easily have chosen to cut out the "Sierra Club" on page 9 to represent the Clair Tappaan Lodge that he drove past en route to the Camp Spaulding area, The mention of "Sierra Club" in the newspaper may have been the closest thing he could find to represent something about the route he traveled that day. It would also provide the viewer of the Pines postcard with something relative to his burial or deposition site.

The distance between the pasted "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole is 2.39 inches, so using the standard width of a US postcard (5.8 inches) and the Mount Diablo map scale of 6.4 miles to the inch, I was able to calculate that the distance in miles between the pasted "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole was 15.3 miles (2.39 X 6.4). When I measured the distance on Google maps between Clair Tappaan Lodge and Camp Spaulding, it was exactly the same - 15.3 miles by crow. If my interpretation of the Pines postcard is correct, its designer was the killer of Donna Lass. If my interpretation is wrong, then we are back to square one.​

What we do know for certain is that the author of the Pines postcard pated "pass Lake Tahoe areas" onto the advertisement, and the remains of Donna Lass were found near Camp Spaulding (or in the close vicinity). So anyone transporting Donna Lass via the east or west side of Lake Tahoe would have to head due west after they reached the north side of the lake to reach the Camp Spaulding area. This would take them right past the Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge on Donner Pass Road, if this was the route chosen. If they took Interstate 80, then they would have passed approximately one mile north of Clair Tappaan Lodge. Either way, the route chosen by the killer to reach Camp Spaulding (and Yuba Gap) had a "Sierra Club" close to his direction of travel (or on the road itself). So was the decision to paste "Sierra Club" onto the Pines postcard just a lucky guess by somebody unconnected to the murder? And why did the author of the Pines postcard choose to use a "Forest Pines at Incline" advertisement?

If the murderer of Donna Lass is going to give us clues to her burial or deposition site, then he has to give us a beginning or reference point from which to work with. This reference point could have been the "Forest Pines at Incline" site by Juanita Drive. The second important reference point was the pasted "Sierra Club", with Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" located 22 miles due west  To arrive at Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" we have to travel from Incline Village and "pass the Lake Tahoe areas" on its northern side by driving west. The third reference point is the punch-hole, that many believe would reveal the location of her remains. Irrespective of inverting the postcard, or measuring distances on its face, if we started our journey at Incline Village, passed the Lake Tahoe areas and headed towards the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club", we would be driving westward in the direction of Camp Spaulding (or Yuba Gap), which is 15.3 miles from Clair Tappaan Lodge. Donna Lass could have been discarded by her killer anywhere in California, Nevada, or a myriad of other locations - yet despite this - the author of the Pines postcard took us to the northern edge of the lake at Incline Village and instructed us to "pass the Lake Tahoe areas" on a heading west towards Clair Tappaan Lodge (and possibly beyond). Could somebody with no knowledge of the murder of Donna Lass have set us on this trajectory by chance, when so many other disposal options were available? 

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: TWO POSTCARDS, TWO BURIAL SITES?  

From January 1st 1971 to March 22nd 1971 (Pines postcard mailing) I could only find the complete phrase of "around in the snow" three times from newspapers in California. This was performed by searching the newspapers.com database. Strangely, two of these were found on January 1st 1971 and January 22nd 1971 from the Paradise Post in Paradise, California, both on the Editorial Feature Page.  

In the previous article regarding the design of the Pines card, we measured the distance between between the pasted "Sierra Club" (thought to be Clair Tappaan Lodge) and the center of the punch-hole. This distance, based upon the standard postcard size in the US of 5.8 X 4.2 inches, measured 2.39 inches. Using the scale of 6.4 miles to the inch on the Phillips 66 map, mailed by the Zodiac Killer with his Button letter on June 26th 1970, we can convert this distance to miles. Multiplying 2.39 by 6.4, we get a distance of 15.3 miles between the pasted Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and the center of the punch-hole. If the punch-hole was designed to indicate a burial or deposition site, the author of the postcard (or Zodiac) was claiming Donna Lass was to be found in the Camp Spaulding area (which is 15.3 miles by crow from Clair Tappaan Lodge). We don't yet know the exact location of her remains, but a postcard identifying the region of Camp Spaulding would be pretty damning evidence of prior knowledge. This, of course, depends on the above interpretation being correct. It would mean that the sole purpose of the Pines card was to identify a deposition or burial site containing the remains of Donna Lass.

​Whether or not you believe this interpretation, it is vitally important that you consider the design of the Monticello card, mailed by the Zodiac Killer on July 13th 1971. This postcard did identify the burial site of one of Zodiac's previously claimed victims - that of Kathy Snoozy - who the Zodiac Killer claimed alongside Debra Furlong, when he added August to his chronological victim count in the "Dripping Pen" card on November 8th 1969. The Monticello card (like the Pines card) contained a message of pasted newspaper text, reading "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". This text was identifying the name of Kathy Bilek by using the namesake of one of his previously claimed victims.

​Kathy Bilek was murdered in the Villa Montalvo woods on April 11th 1971, hence the words "In The Woods Dies April". The Zodiac Killer also gave us a clue to the name of Kathy Bilek by identifying her namesake, Kathy Snoozy, who was buried in the Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery in the Monticello neighborhood of San Jose. The murder of Kathy Bilek in the woods in April was near to the Monticello neighborhood. The three murder victims of Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek were all credited to Karl Francis Werner, who was arrested and questioned about their murders on April 29th 1971. The Zodiac Killer, having previously insinuated himself responsible for the murders of Snoozy & Furlong on November 8th 1969, now felt compelled to also claim the murder of Kathy Bilek in the Monticello card. The fact that Kathy Bilek, "in the woods died April", with "Monticello" containing the burial site of Kathy Snoozy, who were both murdered by Karl Francis Werner (along with Debra Furlong) and claimed by the Zodiac Killer, should not be overlooked when examining the Pines card mailed four months earlier. 

The Monticello card contained pasted newspaper text, never directly named Kathy Bilek as the victim he was claiming, and gave us directions to the burial site of one of his previously claimed victims (Kathy Snoozy). The Pines card used the same template by failing to mention the name of Donna Lass (but insinuating her as the victim) - and may have used the newspaper cuttings to direct us to the deposition or burial site of the Lake Tahoe nurse, just like he did with Kathy Snoozy at Monticello. If the Zodiac Killer was the author of the Pines card, then he retrospectively claimed the lives of Donna Lass, Kathy Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek months after their murders. He would retrospectively claim the murder of Cheri Jo Bates also. We may now have two pasted postcards, both possibly giving us directions to the remains of a murder victim claimed by the Zodiac Killer.

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: DRIVING PAST THE SIERRA CLUB

"ZODIAC" PSEUDONYM WRITTEN ON TOMBSTONE 
Read more: The Monticello card and The San Jose Murders 

When the Zodiac Killer challenged us to find a bomb in his June 26th 1970 "Button" letter, he provided a Phillips 66 map with a scale of 6.4 miles to the inch to aid us. The standard postcard size in the US is 5.8 X 4.2 inches. The distance (by crow) between Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and Camp Spaulding is 15.3 miles, so if we divide 15.3 by 6.4 we get the number of inches on a map (if using the same scale). It works out to 2.39 inches between the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" and Camp Spaulding. If the Pines postcard was standard size, the Zodiac Killer should have placed the end of his pasted "Sierra Club" 2.39 inches from the center of the punch-hole. The Zodiac Killer did separate them by that distance on the postcard (approximately 2.4 inches). That would mean the remains of Donna Lass, according to the measurement on the postcard, were to be found 15.3 miles or 2.39 inches from Clair Tappaan Lodge in a westerly direction. Which they were. Of course, this analysis was done with hindsight. 

The distance (by crow) from the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" to Yuba Gap is 14.32 miles, so if we divide 14.32 by 6.4 we get 2.24 inches in map distance from the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" to Yuba Gap. This still places Yuba Gap inside the punch-hole on the postcard (check below). There is reasonable leeway on the east-west axis either side of Camp Spaulding where her remains could be pinpointed more accurately in the future, and they would still fall inside the punch-hole on the Pines card. We also know, according to newspaper reports, that the remains were identified approximately one mile northeast of Interstate 80, alongside a mountainous road (likely Lake Spaulding Road) by Melvin Bennett on his way to Yuba Gap and Lake Valley Reservoir. This area falls comfortably inside the punch-hole. There is a 1.80 mile stretch of road that can fall inside the punch-hole (anywhere from 14,20 miles to 16.00 miles from Clair Tappaan Lodge). Whatever the case, the 2.39 inch measurement between the pasted "Sierra Club" (if Clair Tappaan Lodge) and the center of the punch-hole, can be shown to point towards the location of Camp Spaulding (irrespective of the exact location of her remains). This distance may not have any relevance if my interpretation of Zodiac's thought process and the design of the postcard is wrong.  

FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: TWO POSTCARDS, TWO BURIAL SITES? 

Using all the descriptors available in multiple newspapers, my best estimation is that the remains found by Melvin Bennett as he traveled towards Yuba Gap to fish at the nearby Lake Valley Reservoir, were found approximately 500-600 feet beyond Camp Spaulding, alongside Lake Spaulding Road (one mile northeast of Interstate 80). This is one of the rare mountainous roads accessible by vehicle on the north side of the I-80 near Yuba Gap. If the abductor/murderer had traveled from South Lake Tahoe "past the Lake Tahoe areas" on the west side of the lake, they would have driven 26 miles west (23 miles by crow) along Interstate 80 and then Highway 20, before heading north on Lake Spaulding Road for about 2,500 feet to dispose of the remains or possibly kill Donna Lass. An abduction from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino at about 01:50am, to make this journey in one continuous sequence, would place the murderer and victim at Camp Spaulding at about 03:20am. How realistic is this scenario? Or was Donna Lass taken elsewhere, murdered and deposited in the Camp Spaulding region at a later time?

​A video of the Lake Spaulding Campground and an Aerial View.of Lake Spaulding are available on YouTube. The Lake Spaulding Dam is owned by Pacific Gas & Electric, and impounds the South Fork of the Yuba River, which originates at Lake Angela, 2,600 feet from Donner Pass. 

​The route along Interstate 80 and Highway 20 does have other options well in advance of Camp Spaulding, if the intention was the disposal of a body or murder. Billy Mack Road at the Johnson Canyon Trailhead, Boreal Ridge Road at the Castle Peak Trailhead, Castle Creek Drive, Towle Mountain Drive and the Lola Montez Road, all sit within 11 miles of the killer joining Interstate 80. There were plenty of other options even earlier on California State Route 89 (alongside Lake Tahoe) and east past Truckee, Yet the perpetrator in this case headed 26 miles along Interstate 80 and Highway 20 to Camp Spaulding at Yuba Gap. Does this indicate the killer had prior knowledge of this location, and relied on his previous history of this area as the ideal spot for intimacy and seclusion? Or did the killer live close (or a limited distance) to the deposition site? The Lake Spaulding Road location is extremely remote and blanketed by Pine trees.

Lake Spaulding and Lake Valley Reservoir, 2.25 miles apart and close to major commuter routes, provide excellent camping, fishing and boating to the public. So, is our suspect somebody who had regularly frequented these recreation areas, that also had a connection to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino and/or the life of Donna Lass. The abduction of Donna Lass from a hotel and casino close to the end of her shift could be considered a targetted attack by somebody she knew, or somebody that knew of her. I am not convinced about the directional accuracy of the March 22nd 1971 "Pines Card", despite having no doubt that it was designed by the Zodiac Killer. Most things point to a Zodiac Killer who knew nothing regarding the whereabouts or fate of the missing nurse, Donna Lass. Which is why the Pines card only retrospectively claimed he "sought" her when she lived in San Francisco, just like he did with Kathy Bilek in the Monticello card. The Zodiac Killer didn't even increase his victim count in the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970, one month after her abduction. 

The abductor and murderer of Donna Lass seemingly chose the Lake Spaulding area near Yuba Gap to (more than likely) dispose of her remains, which were found seventy miles from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino (now the Golden Nugget Lake Hotel & Casino). Is the distance he was prepared to travel to make Donna Lass vanish an indication of his connection to her? Hopefully more information will be revealed in the coming months and years, that finally answers the questions put forth in this article.  PART ONE  PART TWO.

There is very little evidence to suggest that the Zodiac Killer had any involvement in the abduction and murder of Donna Lass in 1970, but let's examine the March 22nd 1971 Pines card and the March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letter, mailed nine days earlier. If we look at the Pines card from right to left, it indicates that we have to "pass the Lake Tahoe areas", locate the "Sierra Club" and then search "around in the snow" for any remains. Assuming these were a guide to law enforcement from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at Fremont Avenue and Mono Way (on the south tip of the lake), they would have had to travel on California State Route 89 "past the Lake Tahoe areas" to Interstate 80. They would then have to travel west to the "Sierra Club" at Clair Tappaan Lodge, and then further west on Interstate 80 an indeterminate distance to locate the remains of Donna Lass "around in the snow". This is giving a generous interpretation to the Pines card, now knowing that the partial remains of Donna Lass were found near Yuba Gap and the Camp Spaulding area. This could be argued as hindsight.

Before you read on, check the newspaper article on the left from the Elko Daily Free Press on November 17th 2000 regarding South Lake Tahoe Detective Tom Conner

There is a high degree of probability that the Zodiac Killer was using the Boise Cascade Incline Village advertisement as a template to identify the Clair Tappaan Lodge "Sierra Club" alongside Interstate 80 and Donner Pass Road..So at the very least, the Zodiac Killer had referenced a location on the northwest side of Lake Tahoe, heading towards the location where the remains of Donna Lass were eventually found on December 31st 1985 and early January 1986 (reported in the newspapers as 1986).

​His previous communication, the Los Angeles letter, was not only postmarked the same day as the general release in the USA of the movie "Vanishing Point", but the letter mimicked the wording from the January trailer of the car chase movie, in which "a radio host from KOW stated "And there goes the Challenger being chased by the Blue, Blue Meanies on wheels. They want to get him and put him away, but there'll have to catch him first". The author of the Los Angeles letter (Zodiac) stated "If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something". The beginning and ending of the movie (in which the main protagonist, Kowalski, met his death) was portrayed as occurring in Cisco, California (alongside Interstate 80), where the remains of Donna Lass were found close by.

​Consequently, we have two consecutive Zodiac Killer communications (9 days apart) containing material that can be linked to Interstate 80 on the northwest side of Lake Tahoe. Clair Tappaan Lodge and Cisco are 10.55 miles apart (as the crow flies). Of course, the appearance of Cisco in the movie may have had no bearing on the Zodiac Killer when referencing the Vanishing Point movie in the Los Angeles letter (if you believe the premise of the movie connection). It could easily be argued that either connection is fortuitous and coincidental. 

Only the skull and jawbone of Donna Lass has reportedly been found, which could suggest her remains were dispersed by wildlife, or she was murdered elsewhere, dismembered and her remains scattered in the area. The Zodiac Killer didn't necessarily imply a burial site on the Pines card, only that her remains may have been found "around in the snow" (if that is the correct interpretation).  PART ONE. PART THREE

A jawbone (and all teeth) were found close to Interstate 80 and Highway 20, near Camp Spaulding in Placer County on December 31st 1985 (reported in the newspapers as 1986) by a fisherman traveling towards Lake Valley Reservoir via Yuba Gap. A human skull was found near to the other remains in January 1986 during follow-up searches headed by Deputy Lowell Carleton. These bones remained unidentified until December 2023, when it was finally determined through DNA to be that of Donna Lass, her fate unknown for almost 53 years and 4 months. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department has notified the surviving members of the Lass family. There may be an interesting connection to the Los Angeles letter, mailed by the Zodiac Killer on March 13th 1971. ​

As shown many times on this site, the Zodiac Killer was able to forage through newspaper articles many years previously to gain inspiration for the content of his contemporary communications. It was believed this was achievable with such ease because the Bay Area murderer, a voracious narcissist, kept newspaper cuttings from his published crimes and communications. One outlier correspondence mailed on December 27th 1974 to Mary Pilker, sister of missing nurse Donna Lass, came in the form of a Christmas card addressed to Mrs. Mary Pilker 1609 South Grange, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It depicted snow covered pine trees with the already inserted message of  "Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year", followed by a cryptic addition from the author, stating "Best Wishes, St. Donna & Guardians of the Pines". The question has always been - was this festive greetings card mailed by the Zodiac Killer? To answer this, we have to unearth the likely inspiration for the message, and whether the Christmas card was intended to be malicious or otherwise.

Jibberjabber, a previous contributor to the Tapatalk Zodiac forum, forwarded me a newspaper article from the Sacramento Bee published shortly after the disappearance of Donna Lass, on September 24th 1970. This newspaper article, highlighted by Jibberjabber, had all the ingredients to create the 1974 Christmas card mailed to Mary Pilker, including her address. 

The article read: "Donna lived during the summer with Mr. and Mrs. Larry Lowe, a young couple who had planned to return to college but are remaining here also in the hope of being some assistance in locating her. Mrs. Lowe also is a nurse and worked with Donna from 1967 to 1969 at Santa Barbara. The missing woman was working at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco when she was persuaded to seek employment at South Lake Tahoe by the Lowes last June. Donna was described by Mrs. Lowe as shy and retiring, a girl who never smoked, who drank very little and was generally opposed to the free lifestyle of many of her contemporaries. She attended church at St. Mary's in the Pines every Sunday". If Donna Lass attended St. Mary's in the Pines, it isn't difficult to contemplate how the author of the 1974 Christmas card invoked a religious element and arrived at the message "Best Wishes, St. Donna & Guardians of the Pines".​

​If the Sacramento Bee (or another contemporary article containing this information) was the source of the inspiration for the 1974 Christmas card, would this lend credence to the Mary Pilker communication being mailed by the Zodiac Killer, irrespective of whether he had a hand in the disappearance of Donna Lass? We know the Zodiac Killer was able to source newspaper articles from distant years, so does the similarity in wording between the 1970 Sacramento Bee article and 1974 Christmas card, specific to the religious tendencies of Donna Lass, lean towards the Zodiac Killer being the author of this festive message to Mary Pilker in South Dakota.  Thanks to Jibberjabber.

When the Zodiac Killer mailed the Los Angeles letter on March 13th 1971 he claimed 17+ victims, with the plus sign likely added to claim "there are a hell of a lot more down there", when referring to his Riverside activity down south. The Zodiac Killer's last known victim count was 14 when he mailed the Halloween card on October 27th 1970. So was the addition of three more victims deliberately chosen with particular murders or disappearances in mind? And what triggered the Zodiac Killer to switch his mailing to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, rather than continue with the San Francisco Chronicle? His suggestion was that he wrote to the Times because "they don't bury him on the back pages like some of the others". This probably wasn't the reason at all.

​The one thing we know for sure about the Zodiac Killer was his propensity to respond to newspaper articles concerning his exploits, or potential victims he may be responsible for. Bearing in mind his switch to the Los Angeles Times, let us take a look at the previous article regarding the Zodiac Killer in the Times newspaper prior to March 13th 1971. One week earlier, on March 6th 1971, the newspaper revealed that the body of Lynda Kanes (20) had been discovered alongside Howell Mountain Road in a shallow grave 15 miles west of Lake Berryessa, and noted that she was a Pacific Union College student just like murder victim Cecelia Shepard. In other words, the newspaper had tentatively connected Lynda Kanes to one of Zodiac's attack sites. Enter the Zodiac Killer, writing to the Los Angeles Times the following Saturday, claiming at least 17 victims. But this may have just been the primer.​         

Nine days later, the Zodiac Killer not only addressed the Pines card to the Los Angeles Times for a second time, but added the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner as well. The Pines card wasn't referring to the once "Missing Coed" Lynda Kanes, but the missing Donna Lass, who disappeared from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 6th 1970, with her story covered extensively by the San Francisco Chronicle on September 26th 1970. The article, entitled Nurse Vanishes--A Tahoe Mystery, compared the case of Donna Lass to the murder victim, Judith Hakari, who also went missing for seven weeks until her body was discovered in a shallow grave alongside Ponderosa Way in Weimar. Both Donna Lass and Judith Hakari were nurses. However, these crimes were not currently linked to the Zodiac Killer.

The Pines card was clearly suggesting an involvement in the missing Donna Lass case because of the pasted wording "pass Lake Tahoe areas" and "sought victim 12". But the key part of the Pines card may have been the "around in the snow" phrase, pasted upside down, as if to suggest a burial site. Lynda Kanes was found buried in a shallow grave, just like Judith Hakari. So, if the Zodiac Killer could suggest he was the murderer of Donna Lass, who was linked to Judith Hakari, who was buried in a shallow grave - the timing of the Los Angeles letter, coupled with the Pines card, may force investigators to consider the possibility of Zodiac's involvement in all three murders. Hence the victim total rising by three to 17, with Donna Lass to be also found buried.

The Zodiac Killer, had he read the March 6th 1971 article about Lynda Kanes (shown left), would have realized that his name was brought up because of the proximity of the murder victim's gravesite to Lake Berryessa. He would also have known, had he read the September 26th 1970 article about Donna Lass, the close proximity of the murder of Paul Stine and his claimed escape into Presidio park, to the workplace of Donna Lass at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio grounds. By linking himself to Donna Lass, he is adding credence to his claim through proximity, and hoping investigators would draw this conclusion too.

The one extremely compelling argument to back up the notion of the Zodiac Killer designing the Pines card is his addition of the phrase "sought victim 12". The claim that the victim total of twelve being out of sequence with other known Zodiac communications is proof of a hoaxer being responsible for the Pines card, is inherently flawed logic. It relies on the premise of a hoaxer, who meticulously and deliberately chose certain newspaper cuttings and pasted five selected phrases onto a postcard, along with taking the time to punch a hole in one corner and scalloping its edges, being so stupid as to not have read any of the previous and numerous newspaper articles about the Zodiac Killer and his widely available running victim totals. The logical conclusion regarding the Pines card, is that it was deliberately engineered using the word "sought", which is the past participle of seek. The suggestion being, that he had once "sought" Donna Lass as his twelfth victim.

This makes perfect sense when we consider that the April 20th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 10 victims, and his June 26th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 12 victims. Any victim "sought" between these two dates could conceivably have become Zodiac's twelfth victim. Donna Lass was resident at 4122 Balboa Street, San Francisco between the dates of April 20th 1970 and the early part of June 1970, before she moved to begin her job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on June 6th 1970. A Zodiac Killer trailing or having "sought" Donna Lass before her move to South Lake Tahoe, could have unquestionably targeted her as victim number twelve between these dates. By using the phrase "sought victim 12" in the Pines card, the Zodiac Killer is effectively connecting himself to Donna Lass through San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, hopefully cementing the belief in investigators minds that he knew Donna Lass over an extended period of time. Of course, he may not have been trailing her at all and may not have been her killer, but by using the "sought victim 12" phrase, he is effectively suggesting this as a possibility to law enforcement in order to boost his credibility.

The information about Donna Lass having worked at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio park, close to the Zodiac's final victim of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969 was widely covered in the September 26th 1970 San Francisco Chronicle article, along with the date she moved. Therefore, by incorporating the phrase "sought victim 12" into the Pines card, the Zodiac Killer is bridging the gap between the murder of the taxicab driver and the disappearance of Donna Lass, both indelibly connected to the Presidio Heights district of San Francisco. This phrase wasn't a mistake, it was deliberately fashioned to plant a seed. The Los Angeles Times would form a similar connection to the murder and burial site of Lynda Kanes to the Zodiac Killer's attack at Lake Berryessa. Therefore, the Zodiac Killer mailing two communications immediately after the discovery of her body may have been designed to engineer a conclusion that the Zodiac had not only killed Donna Lass and Judith Hakari, but Lynda Kanes also. The Los Angeles Times letter came nearly five months after his previous communication, but only one week after the discovery of Lynda Kanes' shallow grave, with the passage "I'm writing to the Times (because) they don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others".  

​The murder of Lynda Kanes would eventually be attributed to Walter Williams (aka Willie the Woodcutter), who was ultimately convicted of the crime.