Anna Kane (26) was found strangled to death alongside the Ontelaunee Trail in Pennsylvania on October 23rd 1988, but her killer was not identified until 2022 after a breakthrough in genetic genealogy. Male DNA was retrieved from her clothing during the initial stages of the investigation and ultimately failed to produce a match to anybody in the database. Sixteen months after her murder, in February 1990, somebody mailed a sinister letter to the Reading Eagle newspaper with intimate details about the crime and signed it from a "concerned citizen". The DNA retrieved from the saliva on the sealed part of the envelope matched the DNA from the clothing of Anna Kane, inextricably linking the sinister letter to her murder, and dispelling any notion that the communication was mailed by a hoaxer. In 2022, the genetic genealogy analysis performed by Parabon NanoLabs identified Scott Grim, who had died aged 58, only four years earlier. 

On the condition that Inspector David Toschi was correctly exonerated from having mailed the April 24th 1978 letter, it is logical to conclude that the DNA retrieved from the sealed part of this envelope was from the Zodiac Killer, when you consider the inside information that would have been required to create this communication. The 1978 letter had to be authored by either somebody from law enforcement or the murderer of taxicab driver Paul Stine, because of their intimate knowledge of the visual design of the 1969 Melvin Belli letter. There is a widespread misconception being portrayed regarding the testing of Zodiac envelopes (based around events in 2002) that all forensic DNA specialists cannot reason the pitfalls of using DNA collected from the outer surface of envelopes and stamps, believing these highly intelligent professionals are completely devoid of common sense. Nobody in their right mind would consider testing the outside of the envelopes from early Zodiac letters as a productive means to securing the DNA from the Zodiac Killer, irrespective of whether a particular individual has done so.

The arguments used by some individuals in the Zodiac community have attempted to shed doubt on the bloody fingerprints from the Paul Stine taxicab based upon the idea it was a free-for-all at the crime scene, which they have no justification or reason to believe. The same individuals (with suspects) will never give the 1978 letter fair consideration as a Zodiac letter because they know it can potentially rule their suspect out of the investigation, hence they will discredit the bloody fingerprints on the taxicab and the 1978 letter as being from the Zodiac Killer in absence of valid reasoning. Too many people continue to claim a letter is not from the Zodiac Killer because of "handwriting and tone" rather than tackle the points brought forward for its authenticity and attempt to discredit them. It would be productive for these individuals to compare the "handwriting and tone" of the July 31st 1969 trinity of communications with the Melvin Belli letter and try to reason why the tone of these letters are consistent with one another, while simultaneously explaining why the Zodiac Killer is incapable of switching the tone of a letter by design. Stating a letter's tone isn't Zodiac, is an utterly meaningless statement because the handwriting and tone of a letter is subjective to the person interpreting it. Some Zodiac researchers, who once exuded confidence in the bloody taxicab fingerprints and the existence of usable salivary amylase, immediately backpedaled and used subterfuge once they became attached to a suspect whose fingerprints and DNA were already in the system. Having a suspect in tow will inevitably cloud your judgement when investigating the Zodiac case. Not one single researcher who has a suspect in tow (whose fingerprints are on file), will ever argue that the bloody fingerprints on the taxicab of Paul Stine are Zodiac's. Every single Zodiac researcher who thinks Ross Sullivan is the Zodiac Killer will never accept any Zodiac communication subsequent to his death in 1977. They will reject the 1978, 1986, 1987, 1990 and 2001 communications irrespective of any amount of evidence you can produce, because they have already made up their mind that these communications were not authored by the Zodiac Killer. Even if they had never set eyes on these communications, they have already concluded they are hoaxes in advance. Their conclusions are preconceived through the suspect and not the available evidence.    

Knowing that we have the possibility of running the DNA from the 1978 letter through the genealogical process, why would anybody object by using the argument they are confident that the 1978 letter was written by a hoaxer based on nothing more than a cursory glance of handwriting, which is unscientific by its very nature. The statements in 2018 regarding communications from early Zodiac activity undergoing renewed testing makes little sense, when we consider that DNA has already been discovered on the 1978 letter. If investigators stand by their claim that David Toschi was cleared of any wrongdoing in the manufacture of the 1978 letter, then there should be no barrier to using the DNA found on this communication to potentially advance the case. The 1978 letter that ruled out both Arthur Leigh Allen and Lawrence Kane as being the Zodiac Killer. However, if investigators know the identity of the individual who deposited the DNA on the 1978 letter (for example, David Toachi), then it follows that they would have no current interest in pursuing this line of investigation through genealogy. The 1978 letter cannot be ruled out by handwriting, so why the apparent reluctance in pursuing this avenue to unearth the identity of the Zodiac Killer? Or maybe genealogy has been employed and nothing was found. 

You will hear or read claims that the Kathleen Johns incident, or the Donna Lass abduction/disappearance couldn't have been Zodiac because he had never abducted somebody previously (how do we know that). You will hear or read that a victim who was raped, bludgeoned or strangled to death couldn't have been Zodiac because he had never done this previously (how do we know that). These claims, again, are without foundation. Therefore, when Zodiac targeted taxicab driver Paul Stine, we could claim it wasn't him because he had apparently never done it before. The claim he killed taxicab driver Ray Davis in 1962 could be dismissed because we cannot find evidence of something similar prior to this murder. In fact, Zodiac couldn't have wore a costume during the Lake Berryessa crime or murdered a couple on a lonely road, because he had never done it before (how do we know that). There has to be a first time for everything in life, but we simply don't know when that was for Zodiac.

​Somebody stated that the 2001 communication made racially derogative comments, never done before by Zodiac. If this is justification for ruling out the 2001 communication, then we can rule out every single Zodiac communication where he did something for the first time, such as the Melvin Belli letter which expressed vulnerability and mental fragility in direct contrast to the July 31st 1969 letters that threatened more murder and mayhem if his demands were not met. Some may suggest the Melvin Belli letter was simply mocking investigators and the Jim Dunbar Show escapade, but this again requires the reader to interpret the tone of a letter to meet their own ends or argument. How many people on Twitter have posted thousands of benign comments before posting something racially offensive and had to apologize or be cancelled. They could say "it wasn't me because I've never done that before", which I doubt would convince many as a strong argument. Others will say that certain communications don't "feel right", and therefore are unlikely to have been authored by the Zodiac Killer. Our feelings have absolutely no bearing on whether a communication is genuine or otherwise. We have DNA from the 1978 letter, so whatever our feelings are about this letter based on handwriting and tone, the importance of using this letter to shake the ancestral tree should be our first port of call. 

Sherwood Morrill, Robert Prouty and Satoru C. "John Shimoda" were just three document examiners (of many) who had differing opinions as to the authenticity of Zodiac communications and the handwriting contained within them. For those interested in handwriting analysis need to read the principles of the Daubert Standard and the admissibility of expert testimony in a US court of law regarding such nonscientific methods as handwriting analysis, which is relevant to the Zodiac case.

In other cases, such as the JonBenet Ramsey murder, you can find many certified document examiners that will claim the 3-page ransom note found in the Ramsey household was written by Patsy Ramsey, while there are many others who will counter this argument. Therefore, the creation of a list of authenticated Zodiac communications, routinely trotted out by individuals such as Tom Voigt, can only be arrived at through percentages rather than complete agreement. In argumentation theory, an argumentum ad populum (Latin for "appeal to the people") is a fallacious argument which is based on claiming a truth or affirming something is good because the majority thinks so. Just because the majority of people think the Fairfield letter or 148 character cipher & letter are obvious Zodiac hoaxes doesn't make it true. Conversely, the majority of people thinking the Fairfield letter or 148 character cipher & letter are genuine, equally doesn't make it true. These communications are either genuine or not - and this can only be ascertained through examination beyond handwriting analysis. The idea a defendant could be incarcerated for life based solely on the handwriting analysis of one document or letter is obviously preposterous, so claiming with utmost confidence that a Zodiac communication is genuine or otherwise, based solely on handwriting analysis is equally ludicrous.

Irrespective of these facts, individuals such as Tom Voigt continue to perpetuate this myth by constantly referring to his authenticated list of communications based on little more than handwriting and opinions formed many decades ago. New findings over the last 53 years, including the solving of the 340 cipher, has created new avenues to authenticate once believed hoaxes in the Zodiac case. And I reiterate, believed hoaxes based on nothing more than handwriting, the year the communication was mailed, and the tone of the letter. Nobody in good conscience can claim that the handwriting and tone of the July 31st 1969 letters and Melvin Belli letter are the same, yet both of these communications are from the Zodiac Killer. The Melvin Belli letter, if mailed in 1986, in absence of a shirt piece would be roundly dismissed by virtually everybody, just like the Paul Stine murder as being perpetrated by Zodiac in absence of his subsequent letter and shirt piece.              

It is not difficult to destroy the arguments presented by individuals such as Tom Voigt, when he lists the SLA , Citizen card and Red Phantom letter as genuine Zodiac communications (particularly the SLA and Red Phantom letters). They sit proudly in his list of authenticated Zodiac communications based on what? Even the handwriting and tone argument is weak in both cases. Maybe he can explain why the Los Angeles letter mailed on March 13th 1971 is on his list without saying "handwriting and tone", or why the Sierra Club communication is genuine based on "att. Paul averly = chronicle". Therefore, his claim for these being Zodiac communications is based solely on "someone told him they are genuine", in absence of any research he has conducted himself.

​This drives to the heart of the problem: that he does no meaningful research into many of these communications (with the exception of the Eureka card), just smears people who do. Unfortunately, this has become a trait of people like Tom Voigt, whose first impulse is to attack and straw man people in the Zodiac community, to rally the blinkered and partisan followers who fester on his forum. He cannot tackle the points raised for claiming certain communications are genuine, so just reverts to smears and condescension, commonly used by politicians who lack policy ideas and substance. Not only won't he tackle the counter-arguments to his position on certain communications - he often doesn't know them. Anybody that wants to make serious inroads into the Zodiac case should visit forum threads such as "Reddit/Youtube Zodiac Nonsense" on Tom Voigt's forum: an uninformative and unproductive series of comments that achieves nothing, other than showing how spending your time moaning about everyone else in absence of countering credible and raised points, takes time away from doing anything meaningful and productive. The more you comment here, means the less you have to offer to the Zodiac case. 

The final Zodiac Speaking podcast for the foreseeable future will be released this Saturday, August 20th 2022, with a running time of exactly 2 hours 18 minutes. Michael Morford and I tried our best at answering twenty-four questions sent in to us from various social media platforms, so we thank all those who contributed this time round. We have thoroughly enjoyed producing 36 podcasts to date, which we hope have pushed the boundaries just a little further regarding the Bay Area murderer, his crimes, and the many confirmed and unconfirmed communications mailed to the newspapers and police. If any new and interesting developments occur in the Zodiac case in the near future, or material becomes available to generate a second series of podcasts, we will regroup for another in-depth look at the Zodiac case.

​That just leaves us both to thank everybody who has tuned in over the last eighteen months and given their support to the podcast. Take care, Richard. 

On October 21st 1969 the San Francisco Chronicle released an article entitled Fear Rides the Yellow Bus, in which Fred Sowash, the transportation director of Napa Valley Unified School District stated he had been informed that somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer had telephoned a threat on October 15th 1969 to kill schoolchildren in Santa Rosa by placing bombs on the buses. This meant that this person was targeting schoolchildren and school buses at least two days before the Zodiac Killer's threat to "wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out" was released in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17th 1969. It is virtually inconceivable that a random person pretending to be the Zodiac Killer could have foreshadowed the real Zodiac Killer and just happened to pre-empt his threat on schoolchildren by sheer luck. The phone caller to Santa Rosa threatening to target school buses with bombs came 25 days prior to the Zodiac first mentioning bombs as a method to kill schoolchildren, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 letter. The individual who rang Santa Rosa on October 15th 1969 (or slightly before) was almost certainly the Zodiac Killer. This can be backed up by a further incident on October 17th 1969.

A female school bus driver was taking schoolchildren to the Yulupa Elementary School on the morning of October 17th 1969, when she reported that sound of gunfire beside the school bus, stating "As I came around this bend I heard a loud shot from the left hand side of the bus. The children heard it too. Now I don't know if anything struck the bus. We can't find anything that struck the bus". Law enforcement, as usual, were skeptical, pointing out that there was no physical evidence that a shot was fired at the bus. The KRON news footage stated that law enforcement were expecting more reports of this kind based upon the Zodiac Killer's latest letter regarding the murder of Paul Stine. The newspaper report in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Santa Rosa bombing threat on school buses wasn't released until October 21st 1969, so a school bus driver reporting shots heard alongside her school bus in Santa Rosa four days earlier, should be considered of some significance. Also, this bus driver was transporting schoolchildren on the morning of October 17th 1969 - the same morning that the Zodiac Killer's threat on schoolchildren was released in the newspaper.

​So, if the Santa Rosa school bus shooter wasn't the Zodiac Killer, we would have to believe a random individual bought the San Francisco Chronicle on the morning of the 17th, read about the "picking off kiddies as they came bouncing out" of a school bus, and almost immediately positioned themselves on a Santa Rosa street or road, from where they started shooting at a school bus (assuming the bus driver's claims are accurate). Were law enforcement suggesting that this elderly woman school bus driver bought and read the Chronicle newspaper before collecting the schoolchildren that morning and just invented the story to mirror Zodiac's threat? While this is unlikely but possible, she could have had no knowledge of the Zodiac Killer's phone call to Santa Rosa threatening school buses and schoolchildren on October 15th 1969. Bearing in mind (in the relevant timeframe) that this currently is the only reported shooting with respect to a school bus that we know of, it seems unusual that it should somewhat mirror the threat two days earlier in the same location. Unfortunately, law enforcement regularly dismissed things as hoaxes, as they did with the Oklahoma radio station recording of a man claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on December 7th 1969. Passing things off as hoaxes seems a tried and trusted method of doing absolutely no work. 

Another threat using bombs in Santa Rosa would again be reported in the newspapers, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer threatened a K-Mart store on two occasions on May 8th 1970, just ten days after the Zodiac Killer promised to have his "blast" when mailing the Dragon card to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1970. 

This lends greater credence to the claim by Robert Graysmith in his "Zodiac" book that "A man identifying himself as Zodiac had made a Santa Rosa Bomb threat exactly a year earlier". In other words, Graysmith claimed that on May 8th 1969 (before the Zodiac pseudonym was known) somebody had aimed another bomb threat at Santa Rosa. This possible threat encompassing Zodiac, telephoned bomb threats and Santa Rosa would come four months before the October 15th 1969 telephone call encompassing Zodiac, bombs and Santa Rosa. An October 15th 1969 telephone call to Santa Rosa threatening schoolchildren on school buses, that was made two days in advance of the Zodiac Killer's threat to pick off kiddies as they came bouncing off the school bus, which wasn't currently known to the public when the October 15th call was made.

If Graysmith was correct about somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969, this K-Mart bomb threat (or threat to another entity in Santa Rosa) would have come just over one month after the last major newspaper article about the Lake Herman Road murders (March 30th 1969). This Sunday Times-Herald article read "The horrifying crime may very well be the most celebrated murder mystery currently under investigation in California, and Lunblad has received aid and offers of it from a score of law enforcement agencies in the state. Those which have given him particularly large measures of support include the Vallejo Police Department, his own sheriff's department, the Benicia Police Department, the Napa and Sanoma County sheriff's departments, and the Fairfield Police Department".  All these police departments would become the focus of the Zodiac Killer's murders and threats in the following months. The county seat and largest city in Sanoma County is Santa Rosa, the focus of the K-Mart bomb threat by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969. Vallejo and Napa County both saw the wrath of Zodiac when he attacked at Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa, with the two Fairfield letters in December threatening the promise of further attacks. Every police department mentioned in this newspaper article as helping Sergeant Les Lunblad would receive the attention of the Zodiac Killer.       

Kenneth Mains, cold case detective, private investigator, former undercover FBI operative and best selling author (to name just a few of his credentials), now runs the extremely popular and burgeoning Youtube channel Unsolved No More, currently standing at 58,000 subscribers as of June 22nd 2022. His Youtube channel features an array of different cases, including the Delphi Murders, Sam Sheppard, The Springfield Three, Ted Bundy, The Starved Rock Murders, The Yoghurt Shop Murders, and many more. Most of you may be familiar with Ken Mains, when he partnered with Sal LaBarbera for the five part docudrama entitled The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer in 2017, which featured the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966.

Cheri Josephine Bates (18) was brutally murdered in a dirt driveway adjacent to the Riverside City College library annex by a knife-wielding assailant, who has remained unidentified for nearly 56 years. The murder appeared premeditated, with her prized lime green Volkswagen Beetle found disabled about 325 feet from her body, parked just 90 feet east of the library entrance. Ken Mains is about to release another video, re-examining the many facets of this unexplained and intriguing case, in which justice has remained elusive for far too long. To view his latest Youtube video on Cheri Jo Bates (to be released on Thursday, June 23rd 2022) and the many other cases he has delved into, please click here. To visit the website of Detective Kenneth L. Mains, click the image on the left.

Postmarked Vallejo on Thursday, June 18th 1970, two Oakland A's baseball tickets were mailed to Gerald Tagert of 1423 Roleen Drive in Vallejo, wrapped in a piece of paper with the message "Gift from Zodiac". The tickets for the baseball game were dated Saturday, June 20th 1970. It appeared that "Zodiac" or the impersonator wanted the couple to vacate their house and attend the baseball game in two days time. This communication was not released to the public and has only surfaced in recent years. Just over two years later, on Thursday, June 29th 1972 (and 18 miles west of Roleen Drive), Edward J. Salmina of 25 Crescent Lane, Novato received a death threat signed "Zodiac", stating "If you leave your house past 3:13:47 on the next ten Saturdays, you will be killed". Edward J. Salmina was a sports editor of the Novato Advance newspaper for 33 years and was a staunch baseball fan, who funded and managed the Novato Knicks team, while also having served as a sports correspondent for The Examiner newspaper. The specific threat on Salmina to not leave his house on ten consecutive Saturdays was almost certainly connected to his management of the Novato Knicks baseball team, thereby preventing his coaching of the team during this period of time.

We have two June communications separated by two years, both extremely brief in nature and connected to baseball, with both signed by the pseudonym "Zodiac" and mailed on the Thursday before the Saturday in question. Each letter was focused on the Saturday, The Oakland A's tickets were chosen for Saturday, June 20th 1970, encouraging the recipients to leave their house on 1423 Roleen Drive and attend the baseball game, whereas the letter to Edward J. Salmina on June 29th 1972 was encouraging him not to leave his house on the next ten Saturdays (and probably threatening him not to attend the baseball). The second author in 1972, if different to the one in 1970, could never have imitated the original threat without inside knowledge.       

Particular dates were the overriding focus of each letter, involving eleven Saturdays in total. The only other time the Zodiac Killer made reference to a specific date he would kill, is when he mailed the trinity of communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, July 31st 1969, stating to the Chronicle that  "the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner. I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity. If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". These specific threats to kill, again occurring on a Thursday, just one or two days before the intended premise of the letter.

The 1972 Novato letter threatening to kill Edward J. Salmina contained a series of symbols under the heading "message" (believed to be a short code). This is extremely interesting, because the next letter we know of (claimed to be from Zodiac) also contained a short code, while claiming he would kill on a specific date. The author of the Albany letter, mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York on August 1st 1973 and targeting the Albany Medical Center, promised to "kill her on August 10th at 5:00pm". The author of this letter gave a specific time he would murder, just like the author of the Novato letter who stated "If you leave your house past 3:13:47 on the next ten Saturdays, you will be killed". This was unique to both these letters. Although the Albany message was issued on a Wednesday for a week Friday, it was again issued with time being the central focus. The two 1970 Oakland A's tickets bore a time and date, the 1972 Novato letter bore a time and ten dates, as did the Albany letter in 1973. All three letters were aimed at a specific individual - Gerald Tagert, Edward J.Salmina and Connie Henly (from the decoded portion).

I asked Druzer, a Zodiac researcher who contributes to both Zodiac forums, to send me a series of questions that I could incorporate into the next Zodiac Speaking podcast on June 4th 2022 for Mike Morford to tackle. However, because he devoted a lot of time compiling these questions and there wouldn't be enough time to address them all in the next podcast, I decided to answer the majority of them here myself. ​The topics covered are confined to the four canonical attacks at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights, in respect to the victims and eyewitnesses in the case. Running time: 30m 17s.  

Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at approximately 6:00pm on December 10th 1969, and her naked body was found on December 28th 1969 by an elderly man collecting driftwood near Bolinas Lagoon. The coroner estimated she had been alive 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This suggests she was murdered (or had died in captivity) sometime between December 18th and December 24th 1969. Authorities said it was impossible the body could have been dumped into the bay on the east side and floated through the Golden Gate Bridge. The man collecting driftwood discovered Leona Roberts body on a beach near Bolinas Lagoon - so the location was possibly the southeastern section of Stinson Beach or Red Rock Beach (which is slightly lower on the map below). However, Red Rock Beach can only be accessed by a very steep trail from Shoreline Highway, making it a very unlikely deposition site in absence of the body being thrown from the clifftop. Stinson Beach has many houses along its shoreline (even in 1969), so it could be argued that somebody disposing of a dead naked woman at this location, would probably have chosen the southeastern edge of Stinson Beach, which was devoid of residences. But why choose this location at all? 

If the killer had traveled westwards to this location and used Shoreline Highway, there are innumerable turnouts, clifftops and wooded areas before you reach Stinson Beach, near Bolinas Lagoon. In fact, there is in excess of 10 miles of winding road before you reach Stinson Beach, where a body could have been secreted quite easily. So why would you pass all these potential dump sites and place Leona Roberts on an open beach, unless you wanted her found and was making a statement? The same argument can be applied to somebody approaching by vehicle on the northern side of Bolinas Lagoon - unless she had been deposited in the water at a different location and the currents carried her to Stinson Beach (or somewhere nearby).  

​If the estimates of her time of death are fairly accurate, then we have a scenario where a woman is kidnapped, kept alive for 8 to 14 days (18th to 24th December), before being found 4 to 10 days later. It is highly unlikely her dead body had been on Stinson Beach, unnoticed for several days. So had it washed up recently, or had the killer dumped the body on the beach shortly before it was found, having stored it for several days?  There are two viable options: either she was deliberately placed on a beach somewhere near Bolinas Lagoon by her killer, or she was thrown into the water at a secondary location and was carried by the currents to the location she was found on December 28th 1969.

Associated articles: A Very Unlikely Zodiac Murder and Did Zodiac Call on January 4th 1970?

On April 30th 2022, Ross Geraci of Planet X Filmworks was kind enough to invite me to discuss the Zodiac Killer case on his Zodiac Files Interview series on Youtube. We had a comprehensive discussion for 2 hours 23 minutes on the entire case. Ross has also recently released an episode on the Cheri Jo Bates mystery in Riverside, to accompany his previous videos on the Ray Davis taxicab murder in Oceanside and the sniper slayings of Johnny & Joyce Swindle at Ocean Beach, as well as conducting interviews and reviews with Dr. Mark Hewitt, Thomas Horan, Michael Morford, Ned DeHan, Howard Davis, Drew Beeson (on Zodiac and Dan Cooper) and Bryan (usngunner1976). Please give his Youtube channel your support by visiting and subscribing to Planet X Filmworks.      

There are a number of individuals in the Zodiac community who have long vouched for suspects, confident to degrees of near certainty they have found the elusive Bay Area murderer, while simultaneously claiming that the Zodiac Killer was an extremely clever individual, deliberately misspelling his words to misdirect us into believing he had a lower intellectual capacity. Therefore, these individuals should think twice about using the Zodiac communications with unabashed confidence to proclaim their suspect had theatrical leanings, was proficient in mathematics, had a penchant for comics and the movies, or had artistic leanings. A killer who can misdirect by way of spelling mistakes, can easily misdirect by composing three musical numbers from The Mikado, or reference a comic book. The Zodiac Killer could very easily have painted a picture of himself completely antithetical to the person he actually was. So, when somebody arrives at a suspect based on the Zodiac communications, they may want to re-evaluate and consider a suspect completely opposite to the one they have chosen. It is extremely difficult to support the idea of misdirection, only when it suits the conclusions you have already concluded. In other words, a Zodiac Killer who only misdirects when you say so. But did the Zodiac Killer deliberately misspell in his communications? The evidence doesn't support this claim.  

In an article in the San Francisco Examiner on January 30th 1978 entitled Zodiac:4 Years Later,  Sherwood Morrill, a respected documents examiner stated "He is an intelligent guy and we know he deliberately misspells some words because he sometimes spells them correctly". If the Zodiac Killer was intelligent and deliberately misspelling words to misdirect investigators into believing he was less intelligent, why would he spell the word "buttons" in the Dragon card on April 28th 1970 incorrectly, and then nine words later spell it correctly. If the Zodiac Killer was deliberately manufacturing his spelling mistakes, did his attention span falter after only nine words. An intentional and wilful deception would be categorically undermined by such a correction. Twenty-four words later, he would again spell the word incorrectly. This doesn't appear to be an individual achieving a grand deception by constantly fluctuating between good grammar and bad.

Three months later, on April 24th 1978, the Zodiac Killer claimed he was now in "control of all things", unlike the Melvin Belli letter when he was afraid he would "loose all controol" and "loose control". Despite the claimed four year hiatus between the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter and the April 24th 1978 letter, the Zodiac Killer seemingly didn't forget to mail both communications from San Mateo County or Santa Clara County according to the impression given by investigators. Yet he couldn't remember how to incorrectly spell the word "buttons" twice, within a time span of approximately thirty seconds, eight years earlier    

Pop over to Gavin Fish True Crime on Youtube in the new year for a "video a day to commemorate the solving of the 340 cipher" by David Oranchak, Jarl Van Eycke and Sam Blake on December 3rd 2020. Gavin will cover the crimes of the Zodiac Killer, as well as some of the unsolved murders, believed by many Zodiac researchers to be connected to the infamous Bay Area murderer. 

​If general true crime is your interest, Gavin has many more videos including the murders of Ellen Greenberg, Gabby Petito, Shelbey Thornburgh, Amanda Wienckowski and Father Joe Moreno, along with other videos analyzing the forensic tools used in modern day crime fighting. Visit his channel and give him your support.   

Gavin Fish True Crime   

On December 18th 2021, the Zodiac Speaking podcast will be releasing an interview with Jo Anne Goettsche, former roommate of Donna Lass at 4122 Balboa Street in San Francisco. It is approximately 55 minutes running time.

​Interviewed by Mike Morford, she talks frankly about her recollections of Donna Lass and the relevant time period before and after September 6th 1970, having traveled to South Lake Tahoe the day of her disappearance to spend a couple of days sightseeing with Donna. Unfortunately, that meeting never transpired, and Donna Lass was never seen again. We will also discuss a private investigator's report, provided to the family of Donna Lass by the investigator they hired. The season finishing podcast should be an interesting listen of about 90-120 minutes. So don't forget to tune in on December 18th.           

Doreen Gaul (19) and James Sharp (15) were found brutally stabbed and beaten in an alleyway between  Arapahoe Street and Magnolia Avenue in Los Angeles on November 21st 1969. Doreen Gaul had been a resident at the Scientology Thetan Manor hippie commune, having graduated one year earlier from a high school in Albany, where she lived with her parents at 570 Myrtle Avenue just 500 meters from the Albany Medical Center, that would become the possible target of the Zodiac Killer on August 1st 1973 when he mailed another malicious communication.

The address of Doreen Gaul in Los Angeles was 1032 South Bonnie Brae Street, with James Sharp living at 921 South Bonnie Brae Street, They were found murdered about one kilometer away from their homes. James Sharp was found fully clothed apart from his shoes, whereas Doreen Gaul was found naked but for a colored necklace described as "Indian beads" around her neck. A note from the Zodiac Killer was allegedly found in her residence (see below),  

Nobody knows for sure whether this typewritten note was created by the Zodiac Killer or an imposter. It has been typed to give the impression that Doreen Gaul was in the crosshairs of the Zodiac Killer prior to her murder, but could easily have been typed subsequent to her death in the present and future tense (absent of a postmarked envelope), so as to mislead or taunt law enforcement. Many have wondered what the attached drawing is under the signature of "The Zodiac Killer". It obviously had a meaning. Was it a clue given by the author of this note, insinuating his involvement in Doreen's murder and the crime scene at Arapahoe Street and Magnolia Avenue, in which Doreen Gaul was found naked but for a necklace hanging from her neck? 
​

​Fifteen years earlier, on December 25th 1954, Bonnie Brae Street would somewhat resemble the Zodiac Killer's last canonical crime, when 39-year-old taxicab driver Conrad John Favreau of 1312 Hazel Street, Inglewood, picked up a fare at 7th Street and Union Avenue, Los Angeles for the short trip to Bonnie Brae. Five minutes later at 8:45 pm he was discovered lying in the street alongside his taxicab, shot once in the back of the head with a 25-caliber pistol. Blood spatter was evident on the right rear of the Yellow Cab near to the taillight, shown here in a crime scene photograph. It appeared that he had been subject to a violent assault just prior to the murder, with a tooth discovered on the front seat of the taxicab. Homicide Officer Joe La-Monica stated that his pockets had been gone through, but his watch remained on his wrist. Near to the body investigators found a single 25-caliber cartridge casing. 

An earwithness, Fred Perez of 557 N Bonnie Brae Street, described hearing "a sharp crack like a 22" rifle at about 8:45 pm and seeing the Yellow Cab parked on the street. A short time later the body of Conrad John Favreau lying face up was found by a passing motorist, David Lindsay (17) of 2941-A Los Flores Boulevard. The final entry on the trip sheet was detailed as 7th Street and Union Avenue to Bonnie Brae. An all-points bulletin was issued for "a man wearing white trousers and black shoes and possibly armed with a 25-caliber pistol". 557 N Bonnie Brae Street is less than two miles from the once Los Angeles' residences of Doreen Gaul and James Sharp. None of these murders probably have anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, but the connections created between Bonnie Brae Street, a taxicab murder, the typwritten Zodiac note and the previous residence of Doreen Gaul in Albany just 500 meters from the Medical Center which became the focus of another threatening "Zodiac" communication, shows how a story can be fashioned to make you think twice. See Google maps for locations.   

Colin Marchelletta (marchellettacolin@gmail.com), creator of the Zodiac Killer Library on Facebook, has now developed a Zodiac Ciphers free website app which is now available on Google Play. Colin has invested considerable time and effort into this project, so hopefully you will find this application useful should you choose to install it.