In a series of articles it has been shown that the Zodiac Killer was extremely unlikely to have reappeared in 1974 firing off four communications - of which three were primarily aimed at the feature film industry, newspaper advertising and columnists - with the other referring to the SLA directly. If this was the Zodiac Killer, then it seems he had suddenly become a film critic, calling for the removal of advertisements for the Badlands movie and the cancelling of the San Francisco Chronicle's Count Marco column. The Zodiac Killer was suddenly objecting to murder glorification, the very thing he perpetrated to propel his pseudonym onto the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. He was perfectly comfortable stabbing and shooting defenceless women in the back, but was now furious with the male chauvinist Count Marco for his ridicule of women. The claim that the Zodiac Killer had now apparently turned his life around and was repenting for his sins is an extremely difficult argument to sell, when we consider that a far better option exists with the left-wing militant organization of the Symbionese Liberation Army. This group fought for the rights of women, the oppressed and the hungry, albeit with a misguided view of how to achieve it. Their disdain for the Hearst Corporation, the capitalist media and the greedy corporations was evident in everything they wrote - and saturated throughout the four communications mailed from January 29th to July 8th of 1974. In a previous article, inspired by the findings of Rubislaw32, we showed a 5/23/74 communication that threatened the daughter of President Richard Nixon and signed off with "a concerned citizen", postmarked only 15 days after the "Citizen Card" purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer.    

It has been argued that the Symbionese Liberation Army mimicked the Zodiac Killer many times, but equally, some of their communications may have inadvertently been mistaken for the Bay Area murderer. Several members of the group even mimicked the Zodiac introduction of "This is the Zodiac Speaking" in a series of taped communications spanning February through June of 1974, with a barrage of threats toward Randolph A. Hearst, the newspapers and various corporate entities

On February 8th 1974, Donald David DeFreeze sent Taped Comminique No.4, beginning "My name is Cinque and to my comrades I am known as Cin. I am a Black man and a representative of Black people. I hold the rank of General Field Marshal in the United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Today I have received an order from the Symbionese War Council, the Court of the People, to the effect I am ordered to convey the following message in behalf of the SLA and to insert a taped word of comfort and verification that Patricia Campbell Hearst is alive and safe". This was one of many taped messages from members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974.  

The communique continued, protesting the Hearst family and their profiteering from murder and suffering, primarily through the newspapers of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. Not surprising then, that on May 8th 1974, the San Francisco Chronicle should receive the "Citizen Card" stating "Sirs -- I would like to expression my consternation concerning your poor taste + lack of sympathy for the public, as evidenced by your running of the ads for the movie "Badlands", featuring the blurb: "In 1959 most people were killing time. Kit + Holly were killing people." In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable) why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen". Followed only 15 days later from another "concerned citizen", threatening the White House of Richard Nixon, who is equally highlighted in the taped communiques of the Symbionese Liberation Army.  

Although the Hearst Corporation were not directly involved with the Exorcist and Badlands movies, the disdain for their involvement in "propaganda films for both national and international use" is apparent and relevant. when we consider the mocking nature of the Exorcist Letter towards the film on January 29th 1974, and the concern over the Badlands movie and its murder glorification in the newspapers through advertising on May 8th 1974. This is further bolstered when we consider the confrontation between Orson Welles and Randolph Hearst with regard to the "Citizen Kane" film (released on May 8th 1941 in Los Angeles), with Randolph Hearst demanding that the newspapers "cut the ads" for the film after becoming aware the movie was depicting him as the central character. The May 8th 1974 Citizen Card combined all the elements of "cutting ads", Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane, "murder glorification" and the San Francisco Chronicle under one neat banner - and all referenced in the taped communiques of the Symbionese Liberation Army, spanning not only the Citizen Card, but encompassing all 1974 communications thought to be from the Zodiac Killer  

Then came the spoken introductions to some of the taped Symbionese Liberation Army messages. Was this further proof that the Symbionese Liberation Army were mimicking the Zodiac Killer, at a time when the newspapers were replete with column inches speculating the return of the Zodiac Killer?  

In previous articles I have attempted to show that the February 3rd 1974 SLA Letter was mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, along with the Citizen Card and Red Phantom Letter. However, the Exorcist Letter mailed on January 29th 1974 (five days earlier) is difficult to ascertain whether it was mailed by the Zodiac Killer or the left-wing militant group. The SLA Letter stated "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend". Many have argued that the author of this correspondence incorrectly attributed the word "kill" to "sla" in Old Norse - but this is not true. 

Sla in Old Norse can be inferred as "kill", to which the author of this communication claimed. Sla in Old Norse means "to strike" or "to smite". The archaic use of the word "smite" as shown by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, defines "smite" as to kill or severely injure. In Wiktionary it is shown as the ability to strike down or kill with deadly force. So (in archaic usage like Old Norse) "sla" means "smite", and "smite" is used as "kill". Here is a PDF of Old Norse from York University, compiled by Ross G. Arthur. This will confirm that the author of the SLA Letter was correct all along. The author didn't write "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word with a direct translation to "kill". a friend". They used the word "meaning", which is something that it expresses or represents - and "sla" can represent or express the word "kill" through "smite". The whole communication was dedicated to highlighting the word "kill" through Old Norse.

Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, Old East Norse, and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. Most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches. Inscriptions have become synonymous with Runes. Wikipedia.

If the Symbionese Liberation Army were the architects of the SLA Letter, then the whitewashed symbols of the Exorcist Letter from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on January 31st 1974 would only be known to the designer of the SLA Letter, If those symbols also highlighted the word "kill" or the verb "to kill", we could conclude the SLA Letter was simply the answer to the Exorcist Letter. There have been several examples of people trying to compare runic symbols to the Halloween Card and Asian style characters to the Exorcist Letter. Kevin Robert Brooks, an avid Zodiac researcher, used neither in decoding the Exorcist Letter to spell the words "To Kill", and thereby tying the January 29th and February 3rd communications into one neat bundle (shown below).  

Bearing in mind the Old Norse element of the SLA Letter, I thought I would make a provisory attempt at looking for a runic connection to the Exorcist Letter that complimented Kevin Robert Brooks solution. There is an eastern Rhaetian language that used runic symbols. It is clear that in the centuries leading up to Roman imperial times, the Rhaetians had at least come under Etruscan influence, as the Rhaetic inscriptions are written in what appears to be a northern variant of the Etruscan alphabet. The ancient Roman sources mention the Rhaetic people as being reputedly of Etruscan origin, so there may at least have been some ethnic Etruscans who had settled in the region by that time. In the diagram below I have taken the Rhaetian symbols and their corresponding English letters to spell the combined wording T'Kill.

The letters K, I and L mimic the symbols used by Kevin Robert Brooks to form the word "kill", and the exclamation type symbol is used to form "T'Kil", thereby phonetically creating the sound "To Kill" using runic symbols (running from left to right on the Exorcist Letter). This last section is not claiming an answer in the slightest, just searching for a correlation between ancient or archaic characters in keeping with Old Norse from the following communication.

The disdain for "yellow journalism", capitalism, multi-media conglomerates and the Hearst Corporation in particular, was clearly evident in the actions and writings of the Symbionese Liberation Army from 1973 through to 1975. Their communications were diverse and many during this period - with the group becoming the focus of attention when they kidnapped media heiress, Patricia Campbell Hearst on February 4th 1974. The Zodiac Killer was attributed with four communications between January 29th 1974 (Exorcist Letter) and July 8th 1974 (Red Phantom Letter), however, doubt has been cast on at least three of these four communications - in particular, the SLA Letter mailed from Los Angeles on February 3rd 1974. Here is a brief summary regarding the SLA Letter and its possible links to the Exorcist Letter. The following will examine the notion of the Exorcist Letter having been mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army as a form of veiled attack on the film industry and its control of the populace through mass indoctrination. This became further evident when the Badlands Letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle on May 8th 1974, expressing consternation at the running of advertisements for the Badlands movie, directed by Terrence Malick and starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. But first, here is an example of the Symbionese Liberation Army threatening to "Seize CBS" (Columbia Broadcasting System) in a communication addressed to Paul Greenberg on February 19th 1974. CBS (an initialism of the network's former name, the Columbia Broadcasting System) is an American English language commercial broadcast television and radio network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major production facilities and operations in New York City (at the CBS Broadcast Center) and Los Angeles (at CBS Television City and the CBS Studio Center). 

William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States. William Paley met Dorothy Hart Hearst (1908–1998) while she was married to John Randolph Hearst, the third son of William Randolph Hearst. Paley fell in love with her, and, after her Las Vegas divorce from Hearst, she and Paley married on May 12, 1932, in Kingman, Arizona. This may have been one of a number of reasons why the Symbionese Liberation Army targeted this network, not withstanding the headline on the front page. Much of the Symbionese Liberation Army's communications and tape recordings were mailed to the newspapers and radio stations, often exhibiting a hatred of "big business" and global capitalism. This may have included the film industry as well, and hence the ridicule of The Exorcist movie which was attracting huge audiences and vast media coverage before and after its release. The author of the Exorcist Letter (possibly the Symbionese Liberation Army), were clearly rattled by the wallowing masses bewitched by this film, describing it as "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen". Who were subsequently irked by the coverage of the Badlands movie also.

The Symbionese Liberation Army held headquarters in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the latter of which, ties both The Exorcist and Badlands movies together under the banner of Burbank, California. The Exorcist and Badlands films were both distributed by Warner Brothers. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in Burbank, California and a flagship subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia. Founded in 1923. It has operations in film, television and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The "Big Five" are the five major players in the film industry that included Columbia Pictures, who in 1972 went into partnership with Warner Bros.to form the Burbank Studios in the heart of SLA country. Was this a secondary motive for the Symbionese Liberation Army (if responsible), highlighting The Exorcist and Badlands movies because they were both the product of Warner Bros. in Los Angeles? The January 29th 1974 Exorcist Letter featured Tit-Willow from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. The 1967 British film adaptation, directed by Stuart Burge, was also distributed by Warner Brothers, as ironically, was the Dirty Harry film starring Clint Eastwood, that passed Zodiac by.

The disdain would continue with the Red Phantom Letter, mailed on July 8th 1974 to the San Francisco Chronicle, when Count Marco was told to go back to the "hell-hole from whence it came". The letter was again demanding the removal of elements featured in the newspaper. The appearance of sensationalized material, "yellow journalism" and the coverage of challenging material such as The Exorcist and Badlands movies through adverisements - and likely swaying the masses - seemed only to engender the mocking derision in the author of the 1974 communications. The overblown and dramatic coverage of The Exorcist film, featured in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 11th 1974 under the title of Weird Goings on at the Movies, appeared the driver behind the January 29th 1974 letter. But was that driver the Symbionese Liberation Army or the Zodiac Killer?  

On November 6th 1973, in Oakland, California, two members of the Symbionese Liberation Army killed school superintendent Marcus Foster and badly wounded his deputy, Robert Blackburn, as the two men left an Oakland school board meeting. The hollow-point bullets used to kill Foster had been laden with cyanide. Although Foster had been the first black school superintendent in the history of Oakland, the SLA had condemned him for his supposed plan to introduce identification cards into Oakland schools, calling him "fascist". In fact, Foster had opposed the use of identification cards in his schools, and his plan was a watered-down version of other similar proposals. On January 10th 1974, Joseph Remiro and Russell Little were arrested and charged with Foster's murder, and initially both men were convicted of murder. Both men received sentences of life imprisonment. On February 7th 1974, just three days after the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, a communication was addressed to Andy Park, Channel 5, KPIX, San Francisco demanding the release of Joseph Remiro and Russell Little. If the demands in the letter were not heeded, the author promised that Patricia Campbell Hearst would pay the ultimate price.

This Symbionese Liberation Army correspondence was preceded by two letters attributed to the Zodiac Killer. The Exorcist Letter was postmarked January 29th 1974 from San Mateo or Santa Clara County, closely followed by the S.L.A. Letter on February 3rd 1974 from Los Angeles. Then came the Symbionese Liberation Army letter demanding the release of their jailed comrades. The letter was almost certainly mailed by a woman, because the the top left corner of the correspondence contained the wording "P.S. Hury. Russle Little. We miss you babe". Not withstanding, that the rest of the text had the traits of female authorship. Although I cannot know for certain, I believe this February 7th 1974 communication was written in disguised writing by either Camilla Christine Hall (eventually killed in the 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles shootout on May 17th 1974), or  Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah) who is still alive today. 

I have long believed that at least three of the four 1974 letters attributed to the Zodiac Killer, were in fact authored by the members or close affiliates of the Symbionese Liberation Army. There were four communications mailed in a 12 day period from January 29th 1974 to February 10th 1974 - and all were interwoven with one another. The Exorcist Letter (01-29-74) had a hidden message in the form of Asian-style characters, possibly decoded by Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks to spell the words "To Kill". This was extremely significant, because five days later the S.L.A. Letter was mailed on February 3rd 1974, stating "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend". Then, just one week after this mailing, a typed communication postmarked February 10th 1974 and addressed to the Hearst Family or FBI, was intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex. This communication also began with "Dear" and ended with "A friend" - and the Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.) was the common denominator in both.

But it is the February 7th 1974 communication that provides the bridge to the other three letters in this 12 day period, that may pour huge doubt on the validity of the Exorcist Letter as a Zodiac correspondence, ultimately relegating the Bay Area murderer back to 1971. The February 7th 1974 communication has many features contained in both the Exorcist and S.L.A. letters. In effect, the Symbionese Liberation Army were mimicking the Zodiac Killer in 1974 and the Zodiac Killer never returned at all for his 'second phase'. The assumed Zodiac S.L.A. Letter (not released to the newspapers), mailed the day before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, which was mimicked in its introduction and ending ("Dear" and "A friend") just one week later in the February 10th 1974 Symbionese Liberation Army typed letter, should be pause for thought. So, let us take a look at the February 7th 1974 letter.

Whether the Patty Hearst kidnapping was in response to the Joseph Remiro and Russell Little arrests one cannot be certain, nevertheless, this correspondence had some interesting features. Although it is not compelling to find the word "kill" in a threat letter, this word was possibly present in the rearranged Exorcist Letter characters, was highlighted in quotation marks in the S.L.A. Letter, and was significant within the above correspondence. Although not a staunch advocate of handwriting comparisons, I have placed "kill" and "friend" from the February 7th 1974 communication alongside the same wording on the S.L.A. letter to show a distinct similarity. Both letters, unsurprisingly, contain the American left-wing terrorist organization's name, the Symbionese Liberation Army, however, it is the language used pertaining to the Exorcist Letter that caught my eye.

The Exorcist Letter stated "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing." The February 7th 1974 communication stated "I want you to put this in the news and in your paper, and if you don't you might be our next victim". This similarity would not normally be unusual in threatening letters, but for the fact that all these communications crossed over one another in just 12 days, along with the uncanny "Dear" and "A friend" in the February 3rd 1974 letter - thus far attributed to Zodiac - with the same introduction and ending attributed to the Symbionese Liberation Army on February 10th 1974. Merge this with the similar phraseology between the Exorcist Letter and the February 7th 1974 communication in such a short space of time, and you have to consider a link between all four.   

The "old Norse" reference on the S.L.A. Letter indicated we may be looking for a Symbionese Liberation Army member with Scandinavian heritage.

One possible author of the S.L.A letter (and possibly the Exorcist letter) was Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947). She was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst?

The other was Camilla Christine Hall, whose parents, George Fridolph Hall (1908-2000) and Lorena Daeschner Hall (1911-1995), worked at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota from 1938-1952. In addition, her father was a minister in the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church in America, and later the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her mother, Lorena (Daeschner) Hall, helped found Gustavus Adolphus College's Art Department and served as the department head.

Camilla Hall attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. She transferred to the University of Minnesota after her freshman year at Gustavus. Hall attended special lectures, exhibits, and concerts at the University. On June 10, 1967, Hall graduated with a humanities degree from the University of Minnesota. Gustavus Adolphus College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. A four-year, residential institution, Gustavus Adolphus College was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college retains its Swedish and Lutheran heritage. Gustavus is guided by five core values: excellence, community, justice, service, and faith.
Camilla Hall's blonde hair and fair complexion caused people to remark of her Scandinavian ancestors.

Since the author of the February 7th 1974 communication was likely a woman - and bearing in mind the Scandinavian connection to the S.L.A. Letter - it has to be considered that one of these female members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, could be the author of the S.L.A. Letter - and quite possibly the Exorcist Letter too.  

Most, if not all Zodiac forums and websites classify the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter as confirmed Zodiac correspondence. It is widely touted by law enforcement, newspapers and documentaries as the last confirmed Zodiac communication, and in a poll conducted on this site, 86% of visitors believe it to be genuine Zodiac material. This mailing was listed in the 2000 San Francisco 'Suspected Zodiac Correspondence' DNA Report as one of the communications processed for DNA. The subsequent 1974 letters were not processed for DNA, otherwise the report would have stated this. Since the Exorcist letter was widely considered to be the last confirmed Zodiac communication, it would therefore make perfect sense that this took priority over the Citizen Card and Red Phantom letter to be the only 1974 correspondence tested.

Mike Rodelli wrote in his book, 'The Hunt for Zodiac:The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer', that Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California from 1996 to 1999 "revealed that there were two letters in possession of the department that, in contrast to the "true" Zodiac letters, had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells on them, that DNA was easily extracted from these two letters, and that the DNA extracted from these two letters matched between them. These two letters were considered forgeries, since the "true" Zodiac verifiable letters had not been licked by the sender." Mike Rodelli added that "In contrast (to earlier communications), Keel analyzed two other letters, one of which is the 1978 forgery, and finds that this letter and one of the 1974 letters are loaded with saliva and cells. He then easily extracts DNA from both of these letters using the more primitive DNA technology of that time and finds that the DNA matches between those two letters, thus proving that one person sent both."  

For two letters to have a definitive match of DNA they must have a complete profile. A partial DNA profile from one letter compared to a full DNA profile of the other could only be used to exclude them as having been licked by the same person, not conclusively tie them together as having a single contributor. Since the Exorcist letter appeared to be the only 1974 letter processed for DNA, it can be argued from Alan Keel's statement that the two letters that matched in DNA were the 1978 letter and Exorcist letter. If the San Francisco DNA report concluded that the 1978 letter was "not an authentic Zodiac letter", then there is a strong possibility that neither was the Exorcist letter.

For those who resolutely argue that the Exorcist letter is a genuine Zodiac communication, may have to accept the authenticity of the 1978 letter too. According to all the above observations, these two communications are inextricably linked by one sender. In early 2018 Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser, who has worked the Zodiac case for four years, said his agency has submitted two envelopes (in late 2017) that contained letters from the Zodiac Killer for a type of advanced DNA analysis that previously had not been available in the case. Poyser declined to identify the lab, but said it would attempt to obtain a full DNA profile from saliva on the envelope flap and stamps. He said he expected to have results back from the lab as soon as in the next few weeks, and almost certainly by summer. Sacramento Bee.

Why are they attempting to find a full DNA profile, when presumably they have already achieved a full DNA profile, according to Alan Keel and the San Francisco Police Department DNA report? They cannot claim the 1978 letter as "not an authentic Zodiac letter" in a DNA report, unless a full profile exists. Furthermore, how did they ascertain the 1978 letter was not Zodiac, unless they knew who licked the envelope and stamp seal - and knew that person wasn't Zodiac. They couldn't ascertain the 1978 letter wasn't Zodiac by comparing it authenticated early Zodiac material, because seemingly these had not yielded a full DNA profile as we stand today. They clearly seem to have little faith in the Exorcist letter either, because if this has generated a full DNA profile in the past, but they are still "attempting to obtain a full DNA profile from saliva" today, then I presume this invalidates their confidence in its authenticity.  

Tom Voigt recently began a forum thread on the Zodiac Killer message board entitled Vallejo Police Department DNA Update, stating "The lab work has turned into more lab work. VPD is still at it. The hunt continues..." Why are they still hunting for viable DNA when apparently a full profile has been secured previously? Even if law enforcement have little confidence in the Exorcist and 1978 letter, these would have provided the best options to run through a genealogy website 18 months ago and the results would have been in by now had anything fruitful been generated. Unless of course, you already know who forged both of these letters. I see no benefit in not seeking profiles from these two letters (generated from the 1978 letter and another, if different to suggested) to enter into a familial DNA program. If the familial search threw out a notable family tree, or the lineage of a recognized Zodiac suspect, then it would add credence to the previously doubted Zodiac communication. 

For the 60% of people who voted on this site, believing the 1978 letter to be from the hand of the Zodiac Killer, the question you should be asking is, why did the the 2000 San Francisco DNA  Report determine the 1978 correspondence to be "not an authentic Zodiac letter" if they hadn't already obtained a full DNA profile to make such an authoritative and conclusive judgement? The only other reasonable conclusion, is that they already know who the author is.    ​

The widely held consensus is that the Zodiac Killer wrote his last communication in 1971 during his first letter writing campaign, before returning to fire off another brief volley of four communications in 1974. For this to be the case, we would have to believe the Zodiac Killer, either willingly or through circumstances beyond his control, chose not to correspond with the newspapers to comment on The Zodiac Killer film directed by Tom Hanson released on April 7th 1971, or the Dirty Harry movie directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, released on December 23rd 1971. Yet, he returned from his hibernation after nearly three years because he was driven or felt compelled to comment on The Exorcist movie, describing it as "the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen". You would have thought he would have got his priorities in order.

The letter was effectively a mishmash of previous Zodiac tropes, but significantly, it mimicked his first ever letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. These 1969 letters threatened to go on a "kill rampage" over the weekend if his ciphers were not published on the front page of the respective newspapers. The Exorcist letter mailed on January 29th 1974 was identical, threatening that if his note was not published in the paper he would do something nasty which you knew he was capable of doing. The only thing synonymous with the Zodiac Killer that we knew he was capable of doing, was "to kill". This logically should be the conclusion. Therefore, it makes perfect sense, that the strange collection of characters at the foot of the Exorcist letter should be able to be rearranged to the spell the verb "to kill". This is exactly what Kevin Robert Brooks, author of the upcoming book The Montana Connection, discovered several years ago - and it is the logical extension to the passage above it. Whether or not the Exorcist letter was written by the Zodiac Killer is another matter entirely. 

The San Francisco Chronicle placed this letter in their newspaper on January 31st 1974 under the title 'Zodiac Mystery Letter-the First Since 1971', but crucially omitted and whitewashed the strange Asian characters from their publication, meaning that any follow-up letters pertaining to this disguised message could be verified as likely originating from the same author. In other words, if a follow-up letter made a point of highlighting the verb "to kill", then they were likely the author of the Exorcist letter also. All the San Francisco Chronicle and law enforcement had to do, was to look at any highlighted word in the subsequent letter/s and ascertain whether this word could be created using the Exorcist symbols or characters. If it could, then it's highly likely the two letters had the same author. This is exactly what happened only five days after the Exorcist letter was mailed, and only three days after the San Francisco Chronicle omitted the Asian characters from their publication.

On February 3rd 1974 (the day before the Patty Hearst kidnapping) somebody mailed the S.L.A. letter to the San Francisco Chronicle from Los Angeles, with the whole communication focused on introducing us to the verb "to kill" in the Old Norse language. Irrespective that "to kill" in Old Norse is actually 'drepa', this is what the author believed at the time of writing. The S.L.A. communication finished off the message by highlighting the word "kill", exactly as the Exorcist letter had done just 5 days earlier. Furthermore, the S.L.A. letter began its introduction with "Dear" and signed off with "a friend". This is important, because 7 days later the real Symbionese Liberation Army mailed a letter to the Hearst family on February 10th 1974, beginning their correspondence with "Dear" and ending the communication with "A friend". Uncanny that. 

So, did the Zodiac Killer reappear from his slumber after nearly three years to critique the Exorcist film for our benefit, and tell us that "sla" (Symbionese Liberation Army) was the Old Norse word for "kill" to expand our foreign language skills? - which in all likelihood is the dominant hidden word in the Exorcist letter.
​Or, is it more likely the Symbionese Liberation Army wrote the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A. letter, one day before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst by the S.L.A, and referenced the Symbionese Liberation Army within their own communication? Then just happened to mail another letter only 7 days later writing "Dear" and "A friend", exactly mimicking their previous one. "Absolute nonsense, it had to be Zodiac. That's what I've believed for more than a decade and I'm sticking with it. Shove your evidence and your article where the sun doesn't shine, you traitorous wretch. How dare you take three years of Zodiac away. Nothing will convince me it wasn't the Zodiac Killer".

The legend lives on.

Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California from 1996 to 1999 "revealed that there were two letters in possession of the department that, in contrast to the "true" Zodiac letters, had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells on them, that DNA was easily extracted from these two letters, and that the DNA extracted from these two letters matched between them. These two letters were considered forgeries, since the "true" Zodiac verifiable letters had not been licked by the sender". Mike Rodelli, an avid Zodiac researcher, who conversed with Alan Keel, revealed "In contrast (to earlier communications), Keel analyzes two other letters, one of which is the 1978 forgery, and finds that this letter and one of the 1974 letters are loaded with saliva and cells. He then easily extracts DNA from both of these letters using the more primitive DNA technology of that time and finds that the DNA matches between those two letters, thus proving that one person sent both".  Mike Rodelli.

​If you take a look at the San Francisco Police Department DNA report, the 1974 Exorcist letter is the only letter that year to produce any viable results, described as "cells found". The S.L.A letter was totally disregarded, and the "Citizen" and "Red Phantom" communications had no entry in comments. If Alan Keel is correct in his assertion, then the Exorcist letter would enter the classification of unlikely Zodiac correspondences - ones that had "been licked by the sender". 

In the latest round of DNA testing in the Zodiac case, two of the three July 31st 1969 communications have again come under scrutiny. These were unavailable at the time the San Francisco Police Department DNA testing was undertaken. It is apparent that these letters have struggled to give up their secrets, as have other communications listed in the report, which includes the October 13th 1969 'Paul Stine' letter, the November 8th 1969  'Dripping Pen' card, the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter, the December 20th 1969 'Melvin Belli' letter, the April 20th 1970 'My Name Is' letter, the April 28th 1970 'Dragon' card and the June 26th 1970 'Button' letter. In total, nine consecutive communications that, it is fair to say, have produced little in the way of a recognizable DNA fingerprint. Most of these are labelled in comments as "few cells".

The only remaining communications in the DNA report subsequent to June 26th 1970 which produced any notable results, classified as "cells found", were:
[1] The July 24th 1970 'Kathleen Johns' letter.
[2] The July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter, and
[3] The January 29th 1974 'Exorcist' letter.
And all three had one crucial element in common - The Mikado. 

The 'Kathleen Johns' letter began the trilogy by stating "So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them".  This would be continued two days later with the paraphrasing of two of Gilbert and Sullivan's acts from The Mikado. The first section of the 'Little List' letter pulls lines from the A more humane Mikado, where the author uses the words billiard along with crooked cues and twisted shoes.
This correspondence goes on to paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan's  As some day it may happen, performed by Ko-Ko, as did the future correspondence of the Exorcist Letter in 1974, when reciting Tit-Willow from Ko-Ko's On a tree by a river, part of Act Two.  

We don't know the exact concentrations of DNA retrieved from these three communications, but it is evident that these were the only three letters classified as "cells found" - and all three made reference to The Mikado. If "cells found" could be proven as "saliva" found, and the "true Zodiac verifiable letters had not been licked by the sender" according to Alan Keel, then this could indicate that all The Mikado letters were not authored by the Zodiac Killer. An extremely hard notion to accept when we look at the handwriting and design of each of these correspondences. 

One can understand why certain sections of the Zodiac communications were withheld from the public, such as his bomb diagrams - yet the entire July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter was not released to the newspapers until October 12th 1970. This innocuous correspondence for the most part was withheld for two and a half months until it featured in a San Francisco Chronicle article entitled 'Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac', in tandem with the subsequent October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard. If the 'Little List' letter and '13 Hole' postcard were authored by the Zodiac Killer, then it is notable that, despite putting a lot of effort into this rather lengthy correspondence on July 26th 1970, he failed to make any issue about the complete absence of newspaper coverage that this letter received when he mailed his next correspondence. It is believed he repeated his victim count of 13 because his last letter hadn't been published in the newspapers. But could it have been the case that the Zodiac Killer wasn't reaffirming the victim count of 13 because his previous correspondence wasn't published, rather, he was unaware somebody had mailed the 'Little List' letter in his name? Hence his lack of concern about "front page coverage", or for that matter, any coverage at all. 

If the Zodiac Killer hadn't written any of The Mikado communications, then he also wasn't claiming the abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970. In fact, the notion of a killer driven by the theatrical librettos of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert would be quashed entirely. It is extremely difficult to sell a story of a Zodiac Killer who didn't author any of The Mikado communications, let alone all of the 1974 communications - so the curtain call will be cancelled for this performance only. 

In 2002, a new round of DNA testing was performed on some of the Zodiac letters by Dr. Cydne Holt, yet despite an ABC Primetime documentary opening up with the promising statements of "But today thanks to new crime scene technology there's reason to believe time may have run out on Zodiac. Somewhere, perhaps on the back of this postage stamp or in the seal of this envelope, may be microscopic clues that will now finally lead police to the killer", it appears the early optimism of a Zodiac breakthrough has soured. Dr. Cydne Holt stated "We are hoping to be able to get some genetic information about the individual or individuals that did seal these envelopes or place stamps on them". 

It is patently obvious by these statements the importance of securing genetic material from the sealed sections of the stamps and envelopes. Any testing performed on the outside of the stamps and envelopes is absolutely meaningless from a standpoint of identifying the person who was present at the time of their sealing. Since this documentary aired, it is now claimed that this is exactly what transpired in the laboratory - with the letters being swabbed from the outside. The only reason to perform such a pointless procedure, would be if you had failed to find any or enough saliva on the sealed section of the envelopes or stamps tested, yet were determined to carry on with the 'show'. In other words, the ABC Primetime documentary ended up becoming a circus sideshow for ratings, rather than applying the correct procedure which was promised in the opening statements of the documentary. This led to previously ruled out suspects getting a new day in the sun. Despite the fact this round of testing has been routinely discredited by many in the Zodiac community, the documentary has inadvertently revealed so much more about the Zodiac case. 

The San Francisco Police Department DNA report of communications tested in the late 1990s, indicates that "few cells" were found on any of the Zodiac communications up to and including the June 26th 1970 'Button' letter. The letters subsequently tested after this date were all labelled as "cells found". The Kathleen Johns, Little List, Exorcist and 1978 letters all contained potentially measurable genetic material.

​Even Criminalist Alan Keel (according to Mike Rodelli) revealed: "In contrast (to earlier communications), Keel analyzes two other letters, one of which is the 1978 forgery, and finds that this letter and one of the 1974 letters are loaded with saliva and cells. He then easily extracts DNA from both of these letters using the more primitive DNA technology of that time and finds that the DNA matches between those two letters, thus proving that one person sent both."  The only other letter in 1974 processed for DNA (where cells were found), was the Exorcist letter. Therefore, the two letters described by Alan Keel "as matching between them" had to be the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter. If the 1978 letter is 'not an authentic Zodiac letter', then the Exorcist letter is 'not an authentic Zodiac letter' either.​

So, here we have four communications that provided notable results, but none were featured in the 2002 ABC Primetime documentary. The fact that the 1978 letter or Exorcist letter were apparently never tested in the documentary, despite being "loaded with saliva and cells", should be enough evidence to conclude that this round of testing didn't consider these two letters as reliable Zodiac communications. Whereas the majority of Zodiac sleuths consider the Exorcist letter to be genuine Zodiac material, the findings of Alan Keel and the reluctance to use this letter at all in the documentary, seems to reject this premise. The documentary made specific reference to the July 31st 1969 letters, the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter and the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card, all of which apparently contained "few cells" according to the San Francisco Police Department DNA report only two years earlier, but made no mention of the July 24th 1970 Kathleen Johns letter or the July 26th 1970 Little List letter, both of which were labelled as "cells found". If you were to choose letters for testing, surely you would choose ones that contained more cells on the sealed sections of the envelopes and stamps. 

Despite the controversy this documentary has generated, it did clearly state "Dr. Holt has already detected the possible presence of Zodiac's DNA in the seal of the envelope that contained the greeting card, and just in case that fails to provide a full DNA profile, she also prepares to look for DNA  beneath the stamps on two of these three letters (July 31st 1969 letters)." 

They would ultimately claim a partial DNA fingerprint which they used to rule out Arthur Leigh Allen, Kjell Qvale and Charles Collins as the infamous Zodiac Killer. But many believe they failed to find enough material from the sealed sections of the communications and thus resorted to swabbing the outside of the envelopes and stamps. However, Dr. Cydne Holt did affirm that she needed to find DNA matching between the envelope seal of the greeting card and the July 31st 1969 letters, stating "Depending on whether those DNA's match each other, might allow me to include or exclude Arthur Leigh Allen as potentially contributing the DNA on the Zodiac letters". The act of later ruling out all three suspects, including Arthur Leigh Allen, implied she had found a DNA match between these two separate correspondences. Even if she had swabbed the outside of the letters to keep the 'show' on the road, it would still imply (using her words) that a match between separate communications must be found before ruling Arthur Leigh Allen in or out as "contributing the DNA on the Zodiac letters". But what are the realistic chances of finding a DNA match between the Dripping Pen card envelope and one of the July 31st 1969 letters by swabbing the outside of each correspondence? The concluding elimination of the suspects near the finale of the show seemed to suggest, one way or another, she did. The subsequent reluctance of the participants in the documentary to confirm the validity of the testing and the new round of testing in 2018, appears to negate the ABC Primetime documentary as a reliable venture. 

But here we are again in 2019, waiting on results from the latest attempt to secure a viable genetic fingerprint of Zodiac to submit to GEDmatch. "Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser, who has worked the Zodiac case for four years, said his agency has submitted two envelopes that contained letters from the Zodiac Killer for a type of advanced DNA analysis that previously had not been available in the case. Poyser declined to identify the lab, but said it would attempt to obtain a full DNA profile from saliva on the envelope flap and stamps. He said he expected to have results back from the lab as soon as in the next few weeks, and almost certainly by summer. The department has three letters and two envelopes from the Zodiac, Poyser said. The envelopes each have a double stamp, which Poyser said was a trademark of the Zodiac. They originally were sent to the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, he said. The third letter was sent to the Vallejo Times-Herald, but does not have an envelope with it, he said. Allen largely was cleared as a suspect in 2002, when investigators obtained a partial DNA sample from the envelopes that didn't match his. Poyser said that DNA profile only had a few markers on it, less than half of the genetic points needed to definitively clear or identify a suspect". Sacramento Bee.

Again, the emphasis squarely focuses on the July 31st 1969 envelopes and stamps, despite the much earlier Zodiac correspondences showing a tendency toward "few cells" being discovered. The July 31st 1969 letters were not available during the San Francisco Police Department DNA testing in the late 1990s, but why are the Kathleen Johns and Little List letters seemingly passing under the radar again in this latest round of testing, when the 2000 SFPD report clearly states that "cells were found" on these communications? The apparent omission of the Exorcist letter for submission this time round, despite being "loaded with saliva and cells" according to Criminalist Alan Keel, may further bolster the notion that law enforcement have no confidence in this being a Zodiac letter. Does the apparent reluctance to consider the Kathleen Johns and Little List letters for testing in 2018, suggest an equal lack of confidence?

Were the July 31st 1969 letters submitted in 2018 because current law enforcement do believe in the validity of the findings of the 2002 documentary? After all, Detective Poyser did state "Allen largely was cleared as a suspect in 2002, when investigators obtained a partial DNA sample from the envelopes that didn't match his. Poyser said that DNA profile only had a few markers on it, less than half of the genetic points needed to definitively clear or identify a suspect". Law enforcement must believe that DNA was found on the sealed side of the envelopes and stamps from the July 31st 1969 letters, hence why they are focusing on these communications again, in the hope of finding a full or more complete DNA profile using more advanced technology. If law enforcement really believed the DNA testing from 2002 was only achieved by swabbing the exterior of the July 31st 1969 letters, then their unreserved targeting of these communications would be misplaced. But they seemingly don't believe this to be the case. ​They apparently don't share the reservations of the Zodiac community. 

It could be regarded as contradictory that the majority of the Zodiac community believe the Exorcist letter to be a genuine Zodiac correspondence - one that is widely touted as the final confirmed communication by the Bay Area murderer by ardent sleuths and law enforcement alike, which according to Alan Keel is "loaded with saliva and cells" - yet was seemingly roundly ignored in 2002, and once again in 2018, when this letter by all accounts should be the first port of call regarding biological material. It strongly suggests that the exhibited confidence in the January 29th 1974 letter is totally misplaced - and the Zodiac Killer may never have returned in 1974 at all.

DNA AND THE DAVID TOSCHI CONTROVERSY

Mike Rodelli wrote in his book, 'The Hunt for Zodiac:The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer', that Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco, California from 1996 to 1999 "revealed that there were two letters in possession of the department that, in contrast to the "true" Zodiac letters, had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells on them, that DNA was easily extracted from these two letters, and that the DNA extracted from these two letters matched between them. These two letters were considered forgeries, since the "true" Zodiac verifiable letters had not been licked by the sender." Mike Rodelli also stated "In contrast (to earlier communications), Keel analyzes two other letters, one of which is the 1978 forgery, and finds that this letter and one of the 1974 letters are loaded with saliva and cells. He then easily extracts DNA from both of these letters using the more primitive DNA technology of that time and finds that the DNA matches between those two letters, thus proving that one person sent both."  

The San Francisco Police Department DNA report clearly states that the 1978 letter was tested for DNA (which was obtained) and deemed 'not an authentic Zodiac letter'. The only other letter in 1974 processed for DNA (where cells were found), was the Exorcist letter. Therefore, the two letters described by Alan Keel "as matching between them" had to be the 1978 letter and the Exorcist letter. If the 1978 letter is 'not an authentic Zodiac letter', then the Exorcist letter is 'not an authentic Zodiac letter' either. But how can the San Francisco Police Department claim that the 1978 letter is not an authentic Zodiac communication, when you don't have the Zodiac Killer's DNA to test it against? The only two possible answers, are that (Inspector) David Toschi, accused of forging the 1978 letter, had his DNA compared to the 1978 letter and it matched, thus proving it couldn't have been written by Zodiac, or the DNA markers on the 1978 letter confirmed it was written by a woman. Females typically have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX), and are called the homogametic sex. Males typically have two different kinds of sex chromosomes (XY), and are called the heterogametic sex. 

If we conclude that David Toschi hadn't forged either the 1978 letter or the Exorcist letter, and the "DNA matched between them" as stated by Criminalist Alan Keel, then we are left to conclude that both were authored by a woman. However, if this had been determined to be the case, why not release this to the public and officially exonerate David Toschi beyond any doubt and clear this perceived stain on his character. This would be the least you would do for a respected and dedicated law enforcement officer, who served the San Francisco Police Department from 1952 to 1987. The fact they didn't do this, suggests that both the 1978 letter and Exorcist letter were not authored by a woman. But this once again places the spotlight back onto David Toschi as the only other option. 

It has been claimed that a palm print discovered on the Exorcist letter has ruled out Arthur Leigh Allen as the contributor. Michael Butterfield wrote "The San Francisco Police department also announced that Allen’s palm print did not match the palm print found on the Zodiac’s “Exorcist” letter of 1974". Zodiac Killer Facts. If this palm print ruled out Arthur Leigh Allen as the author of the Exorcist letter, then it could also be used to rule out David Toschi. If the Exorcist letter and 1978 letter are inextricably linked through DNA and therefore the stamps and envelopes were licked by the same individual, as inferred by Mike Rodelli (from the findings of Criminalist Alan Keel), then by logical extension, if David Toschi was ruled out as the author of the Exorcist letter by palm print, he would also be ruled out as the author of the 1978 letter. 

Deputy Police Chief Clement DeAmicis stated on July 14th 1978, regarding the Exorcist and 1978 letter "We are looking into the authentication of the letters. We have submitted a number of specimens of handwriting. Toschi's is one". Referring to other Zodiac correspondence he continued "We want to know whether they are authentic or whether they are written by somebody we know." Why wouldn't you just compare David Toschi's palm print to the Exorcist letter, as they had apparently done to rule out Arthur Leigh Allen. The San Francisco Police Department stated in 1999 "The Police Department has never made a statement regarding accusations that Toschi faked a Zodiac letter one way or another. We will confirm that not all Zodiac letters are authentic". This final line tells you everything you need to know. The only way they can claim definitively that "not all Zodiac letters are authentic", is if they have confirmed this with DNA. Efforts to harbor DNA from these communications began in the late 1990s - the same time this SFPD statement was released. This lack of transparency from the San Francisco Police Department, the bold claim of ruling out the 1978 letter through DNA (without having confirmed Zodiac DNA), the failure to openly rule out David Toschi using the palm print, and the reluctance to publicly exonerate David Toschi using the 'apparent DNA match between the 1978 letter and Exorcist letter', unfortunately tells you everything. If the San Francisco Police Department have ruled out the 1978 letter through DNA, and not because it's a woman, then it doesn't leave too many other options.

The following is highly speculative and not intended as a solution to the identity of the Zodiac Killer, moreover, an exploration of the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter in which the author wrote the tantalizing words "Signed, yours truley". Usually the word "signed" would be followed by an author's name, either in full or part. The author of the Exorcist letter stated "Signed, yours truley: He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicides grave, titwillo, titwillo, titwillo."
The designer of the Exorcist letter was effectively substituting the signature with a verse from The Mikado's Tit-Willow. In other words, it could suggest his name is present within the verse. The Zodiac Killer (if the author) chose a verse not in keeping with his two previous Mikado selections,  As some day it may happen and A more humane Mikado - both of which had threatening overtones of torture and murder. Whereas, Tit-Willow is about a little tom-tit's last reflective moments before his suicidal plunge into a billowy wave. This may suggest the verse Tit-Willow was chosen for an entirely different reason, particularly in view of the preceding line of "Signed, yours truley", notable on the Dear Boss letter signed by Jack the Ripper and postmarked September 27th 1988, just three years after The Mikado opened at the Savoy Theatre. It should also be noted that William S. Gilbert, responsible for the libretto of The Mikado, released Songs of a Savoyard in 1890 featuring many of the songs from their comic operas. Six songs from The Mikado can be found in Songs of a Savoyard, three of which Zodiac chose - assuming of course, Zodiac was responsible for the January 1974 offering. 

Did the Zodiac Killer embed his name somewhere in his communications as he had promised in his later correspondence? - giving away his forename would certainly not lead to his capture. It has been speculated that the Exorcist letter was a contemplation of suicide on behalf of the author, however, this is hardly in keeping with the threatening overtones of the Bay Area murderer and certainly out of kilter with the foot of the Exorcist letter, which threatens to "do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing." It gives the impression that he is threatening to take somebody else's life, not his own. 

There is a strange dichotomy evidenced in the letter, where the author begins by referencing 'The Exorcist' movie (1973) and immediately follows it up by paraphrasing 'Tit-Willow' from 'The Mikado' (1885). 'The Mikado' is often described as the best in British satire, as well as a comedy opera, therefore the word usage of the author describing it as a 'satirical comedy' is unlikely to be accidental. Additionally, the attempted blending of these vastly different productions into one correspondence seems forced, as if chosen for a specific purpose.

The libretto or text was plagiarized from William S. Gilbert. The Exorcist is an  American horror film released in 1973, directed by William Friedkin and adapted for screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 book. The movie divided audiences and critics alike, as it explored the subject of demonic possession, in this case, that of a 12 year old girl played by Linda Denise Blair. This masterpiece of evil still remains one of the most iconic movies in the horror genre to this day. It is fairly evident that the three main protagonists in these productions all have the forename "William". It is also apparent that every verse of Tit-Willow  ends with "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!", in which the name "Will" can be observed three times. The shortened version of William is also present in "billowy". Did the Zodiac Killer choose the Tit-Willow verse after "Signed, yours truley" for no other reason than it contained his name embedded in the text? The next line after "Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!" is "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name".

Bearing in mind the estimated age of the Zodiac given as between 25-45 in 1969, this would make his birth date between 1924 and 1944. So, from a statistical standpoint, I looked at the most popular boys names in the USA in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. William was ranked 4th highest in the 1920s with 512,400, 4th highest in the 1930s with 416,646 and 4th highest in the 1940s with 556,399.

In the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher, Zodiac stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is...."  The cipher contained three characters twice (A, N, and M) and one character three times (joined O and 8). Therefore, the name "William" gives us a good starting point with two repeating letters.
As an experiment, I looked at the most popular American surnames that could possibly fit the criteria required by the '13 Symbol' cipher and the already inserted "William". Sixteenth on the list was the name Martin, giving us an estimated name of William Martin for the Zodiac Killer. There are many alternative second names that could be applied, but if "William" was the responsible's forename, we would be looking for a 6-letter surname for the confirmed murderer of five.

Unless something extremely important surfaces in the coming weeks, this will be the final installment regarding the 1974 communications, and the distinct possibility that none were authored by the Zodiac Killer - effectively stripping just over three years from his perceived reign of terror. Changing this perception will inevitably generate fierce resistance from the hierarchy of 'Zodiac researchers', who have built a comfortable and reinforced narrative over the last fifty years. This has been my experience with many aspects of the Zodiac case, and the S.L.A letter is just another example of circumnavigating the truth to keep a lie afloat. Faced with tearing a chapter from a prized book, will certainly galvanize the mind into sailing around the facts and ultimately create an alternative reality. It started when Tom Voigt unwittingly announced a new Zodiac letter on his website, labelled the S.L.A letter - mailed on February 14th 1974 and postmarked "unknown". Neither of which are true. Unfortunately however, nearly everybody has embraced this narrative, and will likely carry on believing it, no matter the truth.  

The S.L.A letter was postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". This tells you unequivocally that the S.L.A letter was mailed from Los Angeles County, and was likely posted on February 2nd or February 3rd - a day or two before the Patricia Hearst kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army, on February 4th 1974. 

What you will be told by the 'narrative keepers' is that a postmark is not visible on the S.L.A envelope, despite its obvious nth generation appearance. However, what they won't tell you - is they must therefore believe that the two FBI files have been created with malintent. They must believe the FBI files have simply been manufactured - just purposely created to deceive - despite the fact the general public had no access to them. Regardless of the fact that the Zodiac Killer mailed nearly all of his communications from San Francisco, the FBI (according to the doubters of a February 3rd postmark) must have apparently sat round a table and concocted both of these files, including the date and origin of the mailing. The idea that the FBI just chose, or 'plucked from thin air' the February 3rd 1974 date and zip code 913, from Los Angeles County, even though the Zodiac Killer had never mailed a correspondence from this location before, would be patently absurd. The 'narrative keepers' have two choices: If they have a book heavily reliant on a February 14th 1974 mailing, possibly involving a suspect, they can [1] Admit they are wrong and rewrite the chapter, or [2] Kill the messenger and destroy the credibility of the evidence presented. I think you know which number they will choose. This deliberate massaging of the facts to keep a narrative on track rears its ugly head throughout the Zodiac scene, evidently demonstrated in the Robert Graysmith Zodiac book, riddled with contradiction. Many have put faith in a DNA resolution to this case in the near future. But does anybody believe this will result in a mass book burning orgy by renowned Zodiac researchers, finally admitting their passionate fervor was flawed, or another round of circumnavigating reality? For many, the answer is set in stone and nothing will steer them away from the impervious cocoon they have built for themselves. 

I hope that the 'narrative keepers' maintain a February 14th 1974 mailing for the S.L.A letter, because then they have to explain how the Zodiac Killer reappeared after nearly three years of hibernation, to then write a letter about the Symbionese Liberation Army, beginning the correspondence with "Dear" and ending with "a friend", only four days after the actual Symbionese Liberation Army mailed a letter (not publicized) to the Hearst family on February 10th 1974, beginning the correspondence with "Dear" and ending with "A friend". Now that is one hell of a coincidence.  

Then we take a look at the Exorcist letter, mailed on January 29th 1974, which hopefully was not doctored by the FBI.
Kevin Robert Brooks created an extremely credible solution to the Exorcist letter symbols in the form of the words "To Kill". In view of the preceding paragraph, his solution is incredibly convincing: "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing. To Kill". Whether this is the answer or not, it is certainly a powerful argument, when we consider the S.L.A letter was entirely geared to giving us the word "Kill". This seemed the only purpose behind the S.L.A communication - as though the letter was designed to give us an answer. The fact that the Exorcist letter symbols were withheld from the January 31st 1974 San Francisco Chronicle publication, may have been the inspiration for the February 3rd 1974 correspondence. It was certainly very fortunate that "Kill" could even be created by the symbols at all, and subsequently highlighted in quotation marks, a matter of days later. 

After the February 10th 1974 Hearst letter, ending with "A friend", another Symbionese Liberation Army communication quickly followed (shown above). Both were intercepted at the Burlingame, California, U.S. Postal Annex and both were addressed to Santa Inez Avenue in Hillsborough. The February 10th letter was postmarked CA 940 - so could have been mailed from Burlingame in San Mateo County, or Santa Clara County. The February 11th letter was postmarked Palo Alto, CA 943. Palo Alto is situated in the northwest region of Santa Clara County. Just shy of two weeks earlier, the Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked CA 940. The FBI determined that the Exorcist letter was mailed from either San Mateo County or Santa Clara County, just like the two letters above. Probably another coincidence?     
​ 

The Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 29th 1974 featuring a 'review' of the 1973 William Friedkin Exorcist movie, a verse from The Mikado's 'Tit-Willow', the usual threat and some curious Asian characters at the foot of the letter, whitewashed from the January 31st San Francisco Chronicle article regarding this communication. Just three days later, a follow-up correspondence, widely labelled the S.L.A letter was mailed, highlighting the word "Kill" at its foot. The Asian characters on the Exorcist letter have been 'decoded' by Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks to spell "To Kill", opening up the possibility that the designer of the S.L.A letter was immediately responding to the Chronicle's whitewashing of the characters, giving us the solution and thus verifying they were the author of both. However, without being able to convince everybody or anybody of the "To Kill" solution, more is needed in tying these two communications together, along with the May 8th 1974 Citizen card and July 8th 1974 Red Phantom letter. 

The Zodiac Killer had a penchant for the theatrical, appearing in costume at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and citing Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado twice in his July 26th 1970 letter. The 1974 Exorcist letter would feature film and theater, the Citizen card expressed consternation at the 1973 Badlands movie and the Red Phantom letter, likewise, may have been referencing a theatrical release of the film El Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom, as detailed by Tom Voigt on Zodiackiller.com. This provides another avenue of inspiration behind the Red Phantom pseudonym chosen by the July 8th 1974 author. It is certainly in keeping with the film and theater angle, heavily laden in the 1974 communications. Tom Voigt articulates that El Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom played at the Port Theater in Mill Valley, Marin County on the 27th and 28th April 1974, just three months prior to the arrival of the Red Phantom letter. The critical part now, is unearthing the inspiration behind the S.L.A letter from a film or theatrical standpoint, and connecting this to a Symbionese Liberation Army member. In a previous article, it has been shown that a Symbionese Liberation Army member typed a letter to the Hearst Family on February 10th 1974 and signed off with "A friend" - a few days earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle S.L.A letter arrived, also signing off with "a friend".  

One possible author of the S.L.A letter (and possibly the Exorcist letter) was Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947). She was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst?

To examine this possibility we have to examine her background. The S.L.A letter was postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". Kathleen Ann Soliah was brought up in Palmdale, Los Angeles County, California, often frequenting the nearby census-designated area of Agua Dulce. In fact, Agua Dulce was the commuter route from Palmdale to 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles -  the site of the deadly shootout between Symbionese Liberation Army members and law enforcement on May 17th 1974, resulting in the deaths of six urban militants. The Symbionese Liberation Army had its main headquarters in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Agua Dulce had a postal zip code of 91390, tying in nicely with the postmark on the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter. It is less than five miles from Palmdale. 

To discover the author of the 1974 communications attributed to the Zodiac Killer, we may be looking for somebody familiar with the Zodiac murders and correspondence (particularly with regards to the Exorcist letter), but also, somebody with film and theatrical leanings that may have a strong bearing on the design of the S.L.A letter.

​Kathleen Ann Soliah, after leaving high school, studied acting at nearby Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California, near Palmdale. She then moved to study theater at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she met her boyfriend and future Symbionese Liberation Army member, James Kilgore. After graduating in 1969 her radicalization intensified during future years in the Bay Area, eventually becoming friends with the notorious Angela Atwood. This is where a blend of her theatrical leanings, Norwegian-American heritage and a passion for writing may have come into play.

S.L.A  member and boyfriend of Kathleen Ann Soliah, James Kilgore, was ultimately jailed in 2002 for his participation in the April 21st 1975 Crocker National Bank robbery that resulted in the murder of bank customer Myrna Lee Opsahl. “I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day,” said Kilgore, a former San Rafael High School honors student and one-time economics major who became an SLA bomb maker and eventually a professor at the University of Cape Town" ReligionNewsBlog. The July 8th 1974 'Red Phantom' letter was mailed from San Rafael, Marin County, and the May 8th 1974 'Badlands' letter was mailed from Alameda County, where the County Coroner's Office received Symbionese Liberation Army threats after the 1973 murder of Marcus Foster. Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom played at the Port Theater in Mill Valley, Marin County.      

When looking for the inspiration behind the S.L.A letter and "Old Norse", keeping in line with the theatrical influences of the Exorcist letter only days earlier, I looked for a link to the theater in the S.L.A letter too. Whoever designed the Exorcist letter, mimicked the July 26th 1970 Mikado letter mailed by Zodiac. The Mikado is a two part comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, which opened to the paying public on March 14th 1885, and was hugely successful, running for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre in London. Hedda Gabler is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen was present at the world premiere, which took place on  January 31st 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. It is recognized as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theater, and world drama. The title character, Hedda, is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theater.

Symbionese Liberation Army member, Angela DeAngelis "General Gelina" Atwood died in the Los Angeles shootout on May 17th 1974. A year earlier "Kathleen Ann Soliah worked as a cocktail waitress in San Francisco and took small acting roles. She befriended Angela Atwood, the daughter of a New Jersey Teamsters boss who, like Soliah, had grown up in a middle-class home before coming to Berkeley. Atwood, who appeared with Soliah in "Hedda Gabler," helped her friend get a job at the Great Electric Underground, an upscale restaurant in the Bank of America world headquarters". link.

​If Kathleen Ann Soliah authored the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter referencing her Norwegian heritage of "Old Norse" and signing off with "a friend", then she was likely the author of the February 10th 1974 S.L.A Hearst letter, again signing off with "A friend". ​Her role in the Norwegian Hedda Gabler theater production would be an influence she carried forward, when we consider the presence of "Old Norse" in the February 3rd 1974 communication. The premiere of Hedda Gabbler opened on January 31st - the same day in history that the San Francisco Chronicle featured the arrival of the Exorcist letter. 

"At this period of Ibsen's youth, Norway experienced a nationalist awakening. The new literary generation, after 400 years of Danish rule, sought to revive the glories of Norwegian history and medieval literature. The middle ages were glorified as well because the romantic movement was in full swing throughout Europe. Thus, when Ole Bull, the great violinist, founded a norse theater at Bergen, the project met with enthusiastic approval from all the youthful idealists eager to subvert the influence of Danish culture.  Encouraged by the success of Ole Bull’s Norse theater in Bergen, enthusiasts of nationalist poetry in the capital also founded a new theater in direct competition with the conservative, Danish-influenced Christiania Theater. Asked to direct this new venture, Ibsen’s promised salary was twice the amount he received at Bergen, about six hundred specie dollars  The problems of Ibsen’s social dramas are consistent throughout all his works. Georg Brandes, a contemporary critic, said of Ibsen, as early as the 1860s, that “his progress from one work to the other is not due to a rich variety of themes and ideas, but on the contrary to a perpetual scrutiny of the same general questions, regarded from different points of view.”
Hedda Gabler, with its emphasis on individual psychology, is a close scrutiny of a woman like Nora Helmer or Mrs. Alving, who searches for personal meaning in a society which denies freedom of expression". link.

The Det norske Theater is a former theater in Bergen, Norway, and regarded as the first pure Norwegian stage theatre. It opened in 1850 by primus motor, violinist Ole Bull, and closed in 1863, after a bankruptcy. Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties, and some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. Wikipedia.

The S.L.A letter was postmarked - and likely mailed the day before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst. The envelope bore the postmark "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974." Considering the February 3rd 1974 letter referred to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the brazen kidnapping of Hearst followed the next day, there is valid case for believing this urban militant group was responsible for the mailing of the S.L.A  letter. But could they have been responsible for the Exorcist letter too? On January 29th 1974 a communication, dubbed the Exorcist letter, arrived at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle. It featured a critique of the  William Friedkin movie 'The Exorcist', followed by a sprinkling of The Mikado's Tit-Willow, the usual threat to print in paper, a set of Asian-style characters and finally the author signing off with Me-37 SFPD-0. However, the San Francisco Chronicle whitewashed the strange characters near the base of the letter. The Zodiac Killer hadn't written for nearly three years, so this may have been done to weed out any future hoaxers. If the author of the Exorcist letter, which was believed to be the Zodiac Killer, was to mail any future correspondence, he could use the contents whitewashed by the Chronicle to confirm he was the author of the January 29th 1974 communication. This had been done before, when "by knife" written on Bryan Hartnell's car door was withheld from publication after the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969.  

On January 31st, in an article entitled 'Zodiac Mystery Letter-the First Since 1971', the San Francisco Chronicle presented the Exorcist letter like so. Only two or three days had elapsed, when the S.L.A letter was also mailed to the Chronicle. But had the author of the February 3rd 1974 letter revealed something about the Exorcist letter known only to them and the police? Had the author of the S.L.A letter effectively decoded the Exorcist letter characters for them, but they just didn't realize? 

Just before the author signs off with "a friend" on the S.L.A letter, he highlights the word "Kill" at the foot of the letter, referencing Old Norse. In the identical position at the foot of the Exorcist letter the author highlights the strange characters in bold marker, before signing off with Me-37. Was the author of the S.L.A letter telling us that the word "Kill" could be decoded in the Exorcist letter characters, thereby confirming they were the author of both? The author of the S.L.A letter would not only have to know that characters existed at the foot of the Exorcist letter, because the San Francisco Chronicle had whitewashed them, but also know that they could possibly feature the word "Kill". Could the author of the S.L.A letter, if different from the author of the Exorcist letter, accidentally place the word "Kill" in the same position through two letters, and highlight them both in bold writing and quotation marks to signify their importance? 

The San Francisco Chronicle, along with law enforcement seemingly didn't make the connection, because it wasn't until a few years ago that Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks offered up a possible solution to the Asian-style characters. When rearranged they were the perfect continuation to the author's preceding paragraph.   

The Exorcist letter would now read "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing. To Kill."
Was this the focus behind the entire S.L.A letter, using the Symbionese Liberation Army and "sla" as a precursor to providing the word "Kill" to the San Francisco Chronicle and law enforcement, and therefore verifying they were also responsible for the Exorcist letter? It seemed very fortunate that the word "Kill" in quotation marks was able to be formed by the Asian-style characters of the Exorcist letter, especially considering it was completely whitewashed from publication in the Chronicle.

If the Symbionese Liberation Army were responsible for the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter, then what are the chances they created the Exorcist letter too? - fashioned by weaving together traits of old Zodiac Killer letters such as the July 31st 1969 trinity and the Little List letter of July 26th 1970. Or did the Zodiac Killer simply strike gold, writing a letter about the ​Symbionese Liberation Army just one day before Patricia Hearst's kidnapping? 

There is another intriguing possibility albeit without foundation. The Zodiac Killer stopped his letter writing sometime in 1971, with his campaign of terror having probably run its course. What are the chances he pursued different avenues in life, before joining the Symbionese Liberation Army, or becoming affiliated with them in some capacity by the turn of 1974. He then fires off a quartet of diluted Zodiac letters under the umbrella of his new found affiliation. The Symbionese Liberation Army's notable year was 1974, responsible for the Patricia Hearst kidnapping, the raid on the Hibernia Bank and the May 17th deadly shootout in Los Angeles, where six members were shot or burnt to death at 1466 East 54th Street after a standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department. The third letter of the quartet was the 'Badlands' card stating "In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable)", mailed one week before the shootout. Subsequent to the shootout only one more communication would arrive in 1974  - the Red Phantom letter of July 8th 1974 - then radio silence. No correspondence subsequent to 1974 would ever be attributed as genuine Zodiac material. 

The Zodiac Killer wrote copious communications to the newspapers throughout 1969 and 1970, finally ceasing sometime in 1971. It would be nearly a three year hiatus, when suddenly four communications in approximately five months landed at the doorstep of the San Francisco Chronicle. Is it reasonable to assume that the Zodiac Killer just reappeared in 1974 for his encore performance, or something or someone else was responsible for the four correspondences that year? Who, in San Francisco appeared in 1973, ran through 1974, and effectively disappeared by 1975? - the Symbionese Liberation Army is high on that list. "The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American left-wing militant organization active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a vanguard army. The group committed bank robberies, two murders, and other acts of violence". Wikipedia.  In the previous article it was shown that the S.L.A letter was postmarked February 3rd 1974, not February 14th 1974 as widely touted. This changes the whole story surrounding this letter - now mailed one or two days before the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. Bearing in mind its contents, it's either an amazing stroke of good fortune for the Zodiac Killer, or it was most likely mailed by a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, knowing that Patty Hearst was soon to be kidnapped from Berkeley, California.   

Operating out of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the members of the S.L.A would have certainly been aware of the Zodiac Killer - and in someway mirrored his form of domestic terrorism. 

"It wasn't until January 10, 1974 that Oakland Police found their first clues. Two men arrested during a gunfight with police in Concord had a truck full of Symbionese Liberation Army literature. Later that day in Concord, a house torched by arson was also full of SLA literature, a stockpile of weapons and two pipe-bombs. The police found a letter titled “The August Seventh Movement,” a group that claimed responsibility for shooting down two Oakland officers in a helicopter by sniper as well as a communique targeting state prison officials and their wives with death by cyanide. In November 1973, Superintendent Marcus Foster (the first black superintendent in the city) of the Oakland School Administration was shot and killed. Deputy Superintendent Robert Blackburn was seriously wounded. The attackers used bullets whose core had been removed and replaced with cyanide crystals. Letters and calls were made to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Alameda County Coroner's Office, and a Berkeley radio station by the Symbionese Liberation Army", Ghoulifornia.

The Symbionese Liberation Army, not only wrote threatening letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, but in similar fashion to the 'Phone call to Melvin Belli' on the Jim Dunbar KGO-TV show, the S.L.A  mailed a cut-and-paste lettered correspondence to KGO-TV. Therefore, isn't it very likely a militant group, operating between 1973 and 1975, who wrote letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, would likely be responsible for the S.L.A letter mailed one day before Patricia Hearst's kidnapping. Or is it more likely that the Zodiac Killer just resurfaced after nearly three years?

On May 8th 1974, twenty-three days after the April 15th 1974 Hibernia Bank Robbery,  the 'Badlands' or 'Citizen Card' was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from Alameda County, stating "In 1959 most people were killing time. Kit + Holly were killing people." In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable) why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen." It too ended with a rather benign 'signature', similar to "a friend" on the S.L.A letter, and may have been mailed to mock the authorities, flavored with insincerity. 

S.L.A  member James Kilgore was ultimately jailed in 2002 for his participation in the April 21st 1975 Crocker National Bank robbery that resulted in the murder of bank customer Myrna Lee Opsahl. “I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day,” said Kilgore, a former San Rafael High School honors student and one-time economics major who became an SLA bomb maker and eventually a professor at the University of Cape Town" ReligionNewsBlog. The July 8th 1974 'Red Phantom' letter was mailed from San Rafael, and the May 8th 1974 'Badlands' letter was mailed from Alameda County, where the County Coroner's Office received threats after the 1973 murder of Marcus Foster. The January 29th 1974 'Exorcist' letter was mailed from either San Mateo or Santa Clara County, completing a list of communications mailed from areas the Zodiac Killer had never previously dispatched his correspondence from.  

Mike Rodelli, avid Zodiac researcher and author of the book 'The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer-The Hunt for Zodiac,' examined his suspect Kjell Qvale. It is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of every aspect of the Zodiac crimes from the perspective of his suspect, as well as a valuable resource on the case as a whole.

Mike Rodelli considered the wording on the S.L.A letter pertinent to his suspect from a Scandinavian perspective. The S.L.A letter read "Dear Mr Editor,   Did you know that the initials SLAY (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend." Kjell Qvale was a Norwegian-American business executive and was one of the key figures in the creation of the Jensen-Healey. He became the first distributor for Jaguar on the Pacific West Coast.

The author of the S.L.A letter by referencing "sla" and "old Norse" was certainly indicating they may have had a Scandinavian connection, although stating "sla" meant "kill" rather than "strike" may have suggested a loose connection through family. Here is an English-Old Norse Dictionary. Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, which she most likely had knowledge of?

"Kathleen Soliah was born in Fargo, North Dakota, while her family were living in Barnesville, Minnesota. When she was eight, her conservative Lutheran family relocated to Southern California. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Soliah moved to Berkeley, California, with her boyfriend, James Kilgore.
On April 21, 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, in the process killing 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four depositing money for her church. Patty Hearst, who was switch getaway driver during the crime, provided the original information that led the police to implicate the SLA in the robbery and murder; she also stated that Soliah was one of the actual robbers. According to Hearst, Soliah also kicked a pregnant teller in the abdomen, leading to a miscarriage. Several rounds of 9 mm ammunition spilled on the floor and found in Opsahl's body during the robbery bore manufacturing marks that matched that of ammunition loaded in a 9 mm Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol found by police in Soliah's bedroom dresser drawer at the SLA safehouse on Precita Avenue in San Francisco. In 2002, new forensics technology allowed police to link these shells definitively to those found at Crocker Bank prior to charging the former members of SLA, including Soliah, with the crime. Prosecutor Michael Latin said that Soliah was tied to the crime through fingerprints, a palm print, and handwriting evidence. The palm print was found on a garage door from a garage in which the SLA kept a getaway car". Wikipedia.

​The date the S.L.A letter was mailed changes the whole concept of what we can infer from its contents. On February 14th 1974 the Zodiac Killer is simply latching onto the publicity generated by the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4th 1974, but on February 3rd 1974 that whole dynamic changes. It now sheds much doubt on the Zodiac Killer being responsible for the S.L.A letter and a lot more besides.  

​S.L.A LETTER NOT ZODIAC - AND HERE IS THE FBI FILE TO PROVE IT

The Exorcist letter bore the postmark 'U.S. Postal Service CA 940 AM 29 Jan', listed in the FBI files as documents Qc62 and Qc63 with a lab number of D-740208094. The following month, in the February of 1974, the S.L.A. (Symbionese Liberation Army) letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. This letter has been ascribed the date of February 14th 1974 on all major websites - and because it followed the Exorcist letter, it is listed in the FBI files as documents Qc64 and Qc65 (envelope and letter) with a lab number of D-740304063. The S.L.A letter stated "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend." The following analysis detailed below is my opinion only, and should not be regarded as fact. After reading this you can obviously come to your own conclusions.

In the FBI file below, it states "Enclosed for the Bureau is one photocopy and one xerox copy of letter and envelope received 2/26/74 from Inspector (redacted) Homicide Detail, San Francisco Police Department. Enclosed for Sacramento is one xerox copy of same letter. For the information of the Bureau, on 2/20/74, Inspector (redacted) advised that on 2/14/74 the enclosed letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle and (redacted), reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle brought the letter to (redacted) as a possible Zodiac letter. (Redacted) thereafter turned the letter over to (redacted) questioned document examiner, United States Postal Office, San Francisco. Mr (redacted) has advised (redacted) that he feels the letter is a Zodiac letter".

I don't believe this letter is from the Zodiac Killer - it was likely mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, or one of their members. In fact, it pours huge doubt on the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter as being mailed by the Bay Area murderer , rather somebody masquerading as the Zodiac Killer - and here's why. 

What the above document doesn't tell you - is when the S.L.A letter was mailed or postmarked.
The above document read "that on 2/14/74 the enclosed letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle." Received is not mailed. If we travel a little further in the FBI files we can find more information on the S.L.A letter and envelope, listed under Qc64 and Qc65, as circled in red on the above document.
The FBI files state on more than one occasion:
Qc64 Photocopy of envelope postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974", bearing the hand printed address "Editor San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco, California".
Qc65 Accompanying photocopy of sheet of paper bearing the hand printed message beginning "Dear Mr. Editor, Did you know that the....."     

It is believed that the Zodiac Killer by mailing the S.L.A letter, was piggybacking the media exposure regarding the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. "On February 4, 1974, 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California, apartment. She was beaten and lost consciousness during the abduction. Shots were fired from a machine gun during the incident. An urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) claimed responsibility for the abduction". Wikipedia.
​
According to the FBI files above, the S.L.A letter was mailed on or before February 3rd 1974 (postmarked 3 FEB 1974).
Therefore, it was likely mailed one day before the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapping of Patty Hearst. This means one of four things:
[1] The Zodiac Killer was a member of the S.LA. and was involved in the kidnapping plot. 
[2] The Zodiac Killer didn't belong to the S.L.A, but somehow knew of their plans to kidnap Patty Hearst.​
[3] The Zodiac Killer just got extremely lucky, writing "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend", then mailing the letter on February 3rd 1974, just one day before Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army​. In other words, it was sheer coincidence. Or,
[4] The letter was written by the Symbionese Liberation Army and had nothing to do with Zodiac.

If this letter was mailed on February 3rd 1974, the day before the kidnapping, then it is highly likely it was mailed by the American left-wing militant organization ​themselves. Coming just five days after the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter, in which Kevin Robert Brooks decoded the Asian characters to spell "To Kill", it is yet another amazing coincidence that the author of the S.L.A letter would highlight the word "Kill".   

The emphasis on the word "Kill" at the foot of both letters, within days of one another, leading me to believe they are connected. If the S.LA. letter was penned by the militant Symbionese Liberation Army on or before February 3rd 1974, then a good case can be argued, that they were responsible for the Exorcist letter too. 
​

​S.L.A LETTER NOT ZODIAC - AND HERE IS THE FBI FILE TO PROVE IT