Although this is questionable Zodiac material, it does appear in the FBI files and has never been featured before - so I thought I would try to unearth as much information as possible, despite the limited coverage provided by the documents available. On November 19th 1969 two notes or slips of paper, labelled Questioned Documents 1 and 2, were discovered at a Marine Amphibious Force Base.
​They read as follows:

Q1. Slip of paper bearing hand printing beginning "Dear Gunny Kramer, This is the Zodiac speaking" and ending "take head Zodiac" [sic]. Should be heed.
Q2  Slip of paper bearing hand printing beginning "Dear Jim; Here I am again" and ending "the Zodiac & The Ridder".  

The address at the top left of the FBI file reads Office of the Provost Marshall. 1st Marine Division (Rein), San Francisco 96602. The zip code being a non-designated land mass, Armed Forces Pacific, USA.

The only crumb I could note from these two communications was the phrase "Here I am again", vaguely reminiscent of the letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 24th 1978, where the author declared "I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here." I may also have identified Gunner Kramer in the 'Air Ground Team, Marine Amphibious Force', listed in the PLANS BRANCH as MCDC LNO (GND) MAJ KRAMER, R I.  Dated 1968 through 1969. There was a Holebaeur, J F, Brown, J L, Waterstreet, J R and Bailey J R from the same PLANS BRANCH section. One of these men may have been the recipient of the second note.

Clearly, access to military facilities are restricted, so the Zodiac Killer can't just wander in off the street. Handwriting comparisons were done on military personnel to find a match to the two notes, but failed to identify an individual because of the distorted nature of the questioned handwriting. The notes were also compared to known Zodiac writing, with the conclusion equally inconclusive.    

Here is another excerpt from the FBI files about an Employment Manager at Yosemite Park suggesting another YFC employee exhibited a distinct likeness to the picture of Zodiac. What is curious about this FBI file, is it states "Law Enforcement Ranger, Yosemite National Park, California, advised on January 12th 1969, that the Employment Manager of Yosemite Park and Curry Company, recently observed publicity relative to the wanted killer known as Zodiac". How does he advise this only 23 days after the Lake Herman Road double murder, when nobody knew what Zodiac looked like.

Luis Campos, born in Santiago, Dominican Republic is an inventor, poet and cryptographer who created puzzles and ciphers for the United Features Syndicate of New York, beginning in 1983. He would create six celebrity ciphers a week, featuring famous quotes from well-known people, past and present. The reader had to identify the person and quote from the encoded text. The characters in the cryptograms were deliberately spaced into separate words, as shown on the right. 

On September 25th 1990 somebody mailed the celebrity cypher to the Vallejo Times-Herald, approximately three months before the 1990 'Eureka' card, often associated with the Zodiac Killer. Bearing in mind the 408 cipher mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969, many have pondered whether this postcard was mailed by the Bay Area murderer. There is little to prove this notion one way or another, but if somebody was mimicking the Zodiac Killer, one might expect the wording on the card to equally mimic previous correspondence, in particular, phrases he used with respect to his codes and ciphers. 

Many people have put forward solutions to the celebrity cypher, including the website Zodiologists.com and Rubislaw32 (a regular contributor to this site). Some of these solutions can be found on Ricardo Gomez's Project MK-Zodiac site. But here, I am not going to tackle the celebrity cypher from the angle of cryptology, because not only do I have a basic knowledge of ciphers, but also, the mere fact that so many people of greater ability than me have come to wildly different conclusions, is evidence of a code that is malleable. In other words, this code is open to subjective interpretation and no solution, despite the belief of the code-cracker, has been universally accepted. Of course, nobody knows, or could know with certainty, who the author of this postcard is. However, if the author mailed a cipher to the Vallejo Times-Herald in an attempt to pass this communication off under the guise of Zodiac-style correspondence, could it be argued that the sender is also a murderer? One attempted solution caught my eye on the Zodiac Killer Site forum - and this is the path I will follow, despite the pitfall of characters being hidden behind the stamp. Here is the card, on which I have added some notations which will be explained later.   ​ 

​The first thing to notice is that the author likely places his name and address on the upper left hand side of the celebrity cypher, and also signs off the card with his name. Often a sender will provide a return address on the left side of a postcard or envelope. This is backed up by the identical thirteen characters beginning and ending the correspondence. Then we have to predict what the preceding text is before the author signs off with their name. On the left is the '13 Symbol' cipher mailed by the Zodiac Killer on April 20th 1970. He precedes the code or name with My name is. 

In the Luis Campos example at the top of the page, the final line is reserved for the name. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the Zodiac Killer or somebody imitating him, would write My name is before signing off with their name. This may be preceded by a question, such as "Do you know me", in view of the Bay Area murderer having committed his crimes just under 21 years ago. A variation of do you remember me? Even if the author wasn't the Zodiac Killer, they may have been projecting the idea that they were. 

The next thing to look at is the return address. It has 10 characters followed by seven, then two. Many on the Zodiac Killer forum have deduced that the bottom line of the return address to be Oakland, CA - so I will run with this idea. The postcard was postmarked Oakland, so it's reasonable to conclude the return address would be Oakland too. This being the case, the 10 characters above must represent the area within Oakland. Now comes the simple task of finding a potential murderer who possibly authored this postcard. Somebody who knew of the Zodiac Killer, lived in an area of Oakland (comprised of 10 letters), and was eventually caught and convicted of murder. Surprisingly, if you type into Google search "Oakland, murderer, 1990" a possible answer is served up on a plate. Somebody who certainly lived in Oakland up to 1992, murdered two women in Oakland Hills that year, and lived with his grandparents near to Skyline Road and Golf Links Road, the deposition site of the two murdered women. Where exactly his grandparents lived, I have yet to ascertain, but there is a 10-letter neighborhood in East Oakland called Castlemont. It is less than a mile from Golf Links Road. His name was Monte Crawford, exactly fitting the 5 and 8 characters at the foot of the celebrity cypher.   

Monte Crawford, a military veteran, was sentenced on Friday, August 1st 2014 to 40 years to life for the 1992 double murder of Tredis Penny (26) and Shirley Wynn (38), both strangled and sexually assaulted, before being dumped in the Oakland Hills. I have no idea whatsoever if Monte Crawford was responsible for the celebrity cypher, but he did live in Oakland, in or near Castlemont, both of which fit the code, and he was capable of murder as he showed just one and a half years later, if he wasn't already a killer at this juncture.   

Diane Louise Gerrish (19), a young and attractive cosmetologist, who resided at 1042 Peralta Avenue, Albany, was found beaten and strangled to death in the grounds of the San Francisco Presidio by three soldiers on Monday, August 30th 1965 at 7:30 am. The blonde, blue-eyed, North Berkeley Beauty College graduate had been strangled with a garrotte, fashioned from her own stockings and brassiere. It was determined she had been dead for approximately 8 hours, so was likely murdered during the late night hours of Sunday, August 29th. She was last seen on Friday night after having an argument with her family over the use of a car. Diane was found lying on the bed of an ice plant near Lincoln Boulevard, close to the southern entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco Coroner, Henry Turkel, concluded the attack was sexually driven. Her skirt had been pulled up, her undergarments were removed and then her depraved attacker had subsequently mutilated her with the branch of a shrub. She had also been savagely beaten about the face and body, by what was believed to be the fists of her assailant. Investigators clearly understood they were looking for a sexual psychopath. The case was turned over to the FBI as the Presidio base came under federal jurisdiction. 

Diane was a regular visitor to the Fort Scott Presidio Enlisted Men's Club, a log cabin on Presidio Hill. 

Courtesy of Murder Inc Wordpress.com.

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) FBI agents pressed their search today for a “sexual” psychopath" who strangled a young cosmetologist and dumped her body on a field of iceplant at the Presidio of San Francisco.

​Agents said Diane Louise Gerrish, 19, of Albany, had been killed with a garrotte fashioned out of her stockings and brassiere and had been mutiliated sexually in an appalling manner. Her face was covered with blood and her skirt had been tossed carelessly over her body.

Miss Gerrish’s body was discovered by three Presidio soldiers Monday. They called MP’s who immediately turned the case over to the FBI since the military post is under federal judisdiction.

​Miss Gerrish had been missing from her family home since last Friday after she stormed put of the house in an argument over use of the family car. She was a popular girl who had recently graduated from the North Berkeley Beauty College and was to have taken her operator’s examination in San Francisco today. The tall, blue-eyed girl was considered extremely attractive and was described as a "friendly, kind girl" who was "very good with children".

In the last article 'More Than Just By Knife' we looked at the message "by knife" on the car door at Lake Berryessa and the month of "Aug" on the 'Dripping Pen' card, mailed on November 8th 1969. It was argued that the reference to "by knife" meant so much more to the killer than just telling us the patently obvious, that Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were attacked with a knife. It was a declaration of what was soon to be revealed on November 8th 1969, that the Zodiac Killer was suggesting his involvement in the Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong double stabbing on August 3rd 1969.  

The addition of the time on the car door also appeared to be lacking any great purpose, so this led me to believe that the time of 6:30, just like "by knife", also had some significance to the killer. The Zodiac Killer would certainly have been scouring the newspapers around the time of his July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969 communications to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. It is apparent that his narcissistic tendencies would have compelled him to purchase the newspapers for any reading material about himself. 

It must therefore have annoyed him greatly that the Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong murders featured on the front pages of the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969 and the San Francisco Chronicle on August 6th 1969, when he had declared at the same time that he "was not happy to see that he did not get front page coverage" in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter. This is probably the moment he decided on an altogether more hands-on approach to his method of murder - by knife. The inspiration for the Lake Berryessa attack may have come straight from the pages of the San Francisco Examiner. On the same day the Zodiac Killer hand delivered his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter to the Examiner offices, the San Francisco Examiner headlined with '2 Girls Stabbed-Picnic Murders Footprint Clue'. Apart from "Girls", this headline could easily have been written for the September 27th 1969 Lake Berryessa attack.       

Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were enjoying a pleasant afternoon/early evening picnic near the Oak Shores Recreation Area, when a man in an executioner's outfit changed everything. The San Francisco Examiner (above) stated "San Jose-A killer armed with a thin-bladed stiletto was hunted here today as the one who savagely stabbed to death two teenage girls yesterday as they picknicked in Almaden Valley. The scene where the bodies were found is just south of Blossom Hill Road, two blocks west of Calahan in the northern end of the valley. About 10:00 am yesterday, the girls packed a lunch and left Deborah's parents' San Jose home for a picnic atop a grassy knoll nearby. The picnic ground is a rugged area, near a narrow, serpentine trail used by motorcyclists for hill-climbing contests". 

​The question being: did the Zodiac Killer switch from gun to knife, head down the serpentine trail of Lake Berryessa to target unsuspecting picknickers or people enjoying a relaxing day out, because he just fancied a change, or did he believe this was his path to guaranteed "front page coverage", just like the brutal stabbing of the two young girls in San Jose? The car door may have held the answer, by the addition of the "by knife" phrase. The Zodiac Killer was effectively saying "do I get front page coverage now". But how does the time of 6:30 (pm) on Bryan Hartnell's car door play into the Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong murders of August 3rd 1969.

Serial killer Karl Francis Werner may inadvertently have been responsible for the murder of Cecelia Shepard and attempted murder of Bryan Hartnell at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969. Many people have made the case for questioning the Lake Berryessa attack as a Zodiac crime, by pointing out that the Zodiac Killer included the month "Aug" on his November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card, yet he failed to include this date on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white Karmann Ghia. However, the inclusion of August on the 'Dripping Pen' card may be the confirmation of the "by knife" message on the car door withheld by police. As early as October 1st 1969, only four days after the Lake Berryessa attack, an article in the San Francisco Examiner entitled 'Sex Fiend Sought For Six Killings' stated "A psychotic killer police say brutally slays females for sexual gratification is loose in the North Bay today". Extremely irresponsible and factually incorrect journalism, that may have driven the attack on a lone male in San Francisco to prove this assertion incorrect.

The Zodiac Killer would use this "North Bay" reference only twelve days later, after the callous execution of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969 in San Francisco, to confirm his link to Berryessa. The Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle with the admission "I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". The San Francisco Examiner would detail the withholding of part of the message on the car door at Berryessa, stating "There was more to the inked car door message than dates. But Captain Townsend masked the information, considered it "classified". In the September 30th 1969 edition of the Examiner, entitled 'Police Dare Cipher Killer', Captain Don Townsend dared him to write or phone again to prove he wrote the message: "There is more, and we are not releasing it now. Why? Because this man has a pattern of contacting the police and newspapers by phone and letter after his killings. We are holding back part of the note because, when and if he writes, he can say what else was written there - and thus prove he is the 'man who loves to kill'"   

I believe the Zodiac Killer did respond - not as the police had hoped - but indirectly, by the inclusion of the month of "August" on the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card, just five weeks later. The killer wrote "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7". The murders in December, July and October were all perpetrated with a firearm, and police knew that September represented the Lake Berryessa attack with a knife. Therefore, it left "Aug" to figure out.

​The answer lies in the October 1st 1969 San Francisco Examiner edition, where investigators contemplated a link to the brutal stabbing and murder of two young girls in San Jose on August 3rd 1969. Deborah Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Ann Snoozy (15) were found murdered in the Bay Area of San Jose, in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. These murders were eventually linked to the hand of Karl F. Werner, who was also convicted of the Kathy Bilek murder. However, these murders were not solved until 1971. The October 1st 1969 Examiner stated "And today San Jose police, to the south, inquired of law enforcement officers here whether there was indication that the "Cipher Killer" might be linked to the knife slaying of two teenage girls Aug.3, still unsolved".   

This is exactly what the Zodiac Killer had hoped - and why he perpetrated the Lake Berryessa attack in the first place. He was laying the seeds for law enforcement to conclude this very idea - and the reason he switched to a knife attack on this occasion. The "Aug" reference was pushing law enforcement to conclude he was responsible for the brutal slaying of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong - "by knife" - and therefore, in his mind, unequivocally linking himself to the Lake Berryessa stabbings. Had Karl Francis Werner not killed Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong, it is my contention that Cecelia Shepard would still be alive today.

The Zodiac Killer knew that he had to kill to secure the attention of the newspapers, and the bolder the attack, the more publicity he would generate. He had murdered three young people by July 4th 1969 and had sent newspapers a trinity of communications on July 31st 1969 containing three parts of a cipher, determined to secure the headlines he felt he deserved. His letters promised more murder 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". To his dismay, he felt he was being short-changed, writing in the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter "I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage". At this point in time, without doubt, the Zodiac Killer would have been scouring the newspapers for progress on solving his cipher, along with updates on his crimes. Then came the savage knife attack on Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong in San Jose, featured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on August 6th 1969: ​   

The Zodiac Killer likely read this article and knew the course of action he needed to take to secure "front page coverage". His next crime had to be bolder, more savage and more personal - using a knife. The brutal murder of these two young girls by Karl Francis Werner would ultimately change the tactics of the Zodiac Killer in his relentless pursuit of notoriety. Seven weeks later he arrived on the shores of Lake Berryessa.

It has been questioned as to why the Zodiac Killer wrote "by knife" on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, when it was patently obvious the couple had been stabbed with a knife. But it was much more than this. The writing of "by knife" on the car door was a statement to the publicity he felt he deserved - and was also partly alluding to the Snoozy and Furlong murders he would lay claim to just six weeks later. The "Aug" reference on the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card was further corroboration to the 'hidden' message on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. The Zodiac Killer attacked Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard with a knife at Lake Berryessa, then planted the seed on the car door to hint towards the San Jose murders just seven weeks earlier, to which he would finally confirm on his 'Dripping Pen' card at the beginning of November. He knew the month of August would be interpreted by law enforcement as the murder of Snoozy and Furlong, because law enforcement had contemplated the link only weeks earlier. The "by knife" message on the car door at Lake Berryessa, would on November 8th 1969, now hold much more significance than it did on September 27th 1969. 

Confirmation of the Snoozy and Furlong "August" link, would arrive on July 13th 1971, when a pasted card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle with the words "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The Zodiac Killer was now claiming (or at the very least associating himself with) Karl Francis Werner's third victim, Kathy Bilek. On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, with the intent to read and engage in a spot of birdwatching in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach. The Zodiac Killer's requirement to associate himself with three brutal stabbings, despite the fact he wasn't responsible for any, tells you all you need to know regarding his quest for notoriety - and why he was only too willing to write "by knife" on the car door at Lake Berryessa.on September 27th 1969. Its meaning went far beyond the obvious.      

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.

John Kelly, with numerous television and mass media appearances under his belt, is a renowned criminal profiler and forensic examiner whose extensive knowledge has been utilized by law enforcement in over 100 cases. The founder of S.T.A.L.K. Inc. (System To Apprehend Lethal Killers), he has recently initiated a Youtube channel entitled 'John Kelly Profiler', examining cases such as Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Long Island Serial Killer and the Delphi Murders, to name but a few. In 2012 he teamed up with M. William Phelps, a crime author and researcher, for three seasons of the popular Discovery Network 'Dark Minds' series, delving into the sinister world of the serial killer with criminal profiling at its core. 

As of writing, John has currently amassed 40 videos dating back to May 5th 2018 and is keen to add more subscribers to his burgeoning channel. It is extremely important to support independent media, so please visit 'John Kelly Profiler' on Youtube and click the subscribe button. You can also click the notification bell to be alerted when any new videos are published. 

​After many viewer requests, a 55 minute episode of the Zodiac Killer is now available, but be sure to check out the rest of John Kelly's informative Youtube channel. 

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 Zodiac Killer stated in the March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' letter "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". The November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter stated "She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victon. May'be she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school" and "Beware....I am stalking your girls now". So, in the interest of impartiality, we shall look at a murder in the transition period between Riverside and the emergence of the Zodiac Killer.  

On March 19th 1968 Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein (14) was heading back to her home in Redlands, near San Bernardino from Moore Junior High School in Mentone. The young, brown-haired girl, wearing a blue dress with white flowers, dark olive corduroy reversible coat and tennis shoes was last seen leaving the school at approximately 3:40 pm. The Desert Sun newspaper described her route home: "Elizabeth's school day passed without incident. She attended her last class, then left school at 3:40 pm, to walk home, a two-mile route through blossoming orange groves. She never arrived home. Somewhere along the lonely street, Elizabeth Ernstein vanished. A Redlands businessman thought he saw a girl resembling Elizabeth walking toward the corner of the street on which she lived". 

Her body was discovered in 1969 in a shallow grave near Wrightwood, 33 miles northwest of Redlands (as the crow flies). "Located in a pine covered valley in the San Gabriel Mountains, the area was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th century by Nathan and Truman Swarthout, then later the main ranch, owned by Sumner Wright was broken up into residential and commercial lots and by the 1920s a community took roots. Early ski enthusiasts discovered the north facing slopes of the San Gabriels above the Swarthout Valley. Until 1937 the ski area, originally known as Big Pines were part of a Los Angeles County Park". Wikipedia. The murderer had clearly chosen a remote location to conceal her body, likely traveling Interstate 215 and 15 from Redlands. 

Elizabeth Ernstein's remains were unidentified until an exhumation in 2011, when DNA was matched to her younger brother, Jeff, finally completing, the last but one missing piece of the jigsaw - who was the murderer of Elizabeth Ernstein? There is little, if anything, to connect this to murder to the Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966, or the Zodiac Killer, however, it is an unsolved murder in which the family of Elizabeth would no doubt like to see resolved. The assumed location of her "vanishing" is situated 13 miles east (as the crow flies) from the alleyway where Cheri Jo Bates was discovered on the Halloween morning of 1966, and occurred 11 months after the Bates letters claiming "there will be more".

With virtually no coverage of this crime on the internet other than a few newspaper clippings, I have attempted to expand on the murder of Patricia King (20) at Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill on March 5th 1970. The college layout has altered over the last 48 years, but we can pinpoint the key locations based on the wording in the newspapers. Patricia King of 2200 Lisa Lane, Pleasant Hill had attended Diablo Valley College for her gym class at 7:00 pm on Thursday evening. Her classmates informed investigators that Patricia usually only stayed for the first hour of her gym class, which is what transpired that evening, when the young woman left the building at approximately 7:50 pm. Her boyfriend was expecting her back at her home and became concerned when she didn't return by 8:15 pm. 

Patricia King's body was found by a workman, Ernest Ellington, at 7:20 am the following morning in the DVC Vikings football stadium. She was wearing a black blouse and three-quarter length coat and had been strangled with her own gym tights. The newspaper reports stated "A purse (handbag) with her identification was found on the front seat of her car, in a lot adjacent to the stadium. A pair of leather sandals were on the floorboard. Her car keys were found on the Pleasant Hill campus parking lot Friday afternoon". Detective Sergeant Sam Ginsburg said "it was impossible to tell at this time if the girl knew her slayer. There was no reason for her to go into the stadium area coming to or from the parking lot to the class". If the gymnasium is located in the same position today, it is a short 300 feet walk from her class to the parking lot. It was later reported that no identification was found in her purse (handbag), but she was identified by a bus pass found in her clothing. Her wallet was apparently missing according to the newspapers, although Contra Costa sheriffs were in the process of interviewing her friends to discover if Patricia normally left her purse in the car, taking her wallet with her.  

Although detectives initially thought she may have been sexually assaulted or raped, the chief medical examiner, Dr. William Bogart, said preliminary tests did not bear this out. Results were inconclusive.  

Based on three newspaper statements of "A purse (handbag) with her identification was found on the front seat of her car, in a lot adjacent to the stadium", "The purse was left in her car parked near the body" and "The body was found across the college stadium's sunken football field from the women's gym structure", we can create a map of the likely locations within the Diablo Valley College campus.

The yellow rectangle is the likely location of the parking lot adjacent to the Vikings football stadium, with the gymnasium just 270 feet north of the stadium. Patricia King's body was discovered at 7:20 am on Friday March 6th 1970, but according to the newspaper reports, her keys were not found until Friday afternoon. This would indicate that it took police in excess of four hours to locate her keys, suggesting they were not discovered in close proximity to her vehicle, If they were found in the parking lot, one could therefore conclude they were likely found a distance from her car, on the route she took from the gymnasium towards her vehicle. There are many scenarios, but here are a couple:  [1] She was attacked on the journey back to her car, or [2] She fled from her car dropping her keys as she was accosted heading in the opposite direction. The end result being, she was forced into the adjacent football stadium and murdered. Since she was murdered with her own gym tights, does this indicate that the murderer carried no weapon and it wasn't planned in advance, or that she knew her murderer?  

The journey time from the gymnasium to the parking lot is 90-120 seconds, so either Patricia King was extremely unlucky to have crossed paths with a merciless killer in this short space of time, somebody followed her out of the gymnasium, or somebody, knowing she usually remained in her gym class for just one hour, lay in wait outside. Few leads transpired. 

Cosette Ellison (15) disappeared from her 423 Canyon Road, Moraga residence (near Walnut Creek) on Tuesday March 3rd 1970, believed to have been forcibly taken from outside her home after getting off the school bus from Campolinda High School. She was dropped off by bus driver, Eugene Yee, at 3:20 pm, who saw her cross the road and remove some letters from the mailbox before heading along the driveway. The bus driver noticed a man sitting in a truck near the residence. On his return journey 10 minutes later, the truck had edged closer to the driveway of the Ellison household, but the occupant was no longer inside. Thirty minutes later, at approximately 4:00 pm, Mr and Mrs Richard Ellison returned to an empty house. Cosette's school books were not in their usual place and no mail had been brought into the house, suggesting something untoward had happened close to the time Eugene Yee passed the Ellison residence. 

Three months earlier, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (16) had been abducted from her 158 Pioneer Avenue residence in Walnut Creek. She was later found floating off Light House Point in Santa Cruz on December 19th 1969.
Police investigating her disappearance were contacted by a resident of North Gate Road, approximately 4 miles east of Elaine Davis' residence, stating her 17 year old daughter was being harassed. The Contra Costa Times stated "A resident of Northgate Road reported to the sheriff's office Tuesday that the man, described as between 30 and 35 years old, has been following her daughter for almost a week. Last Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, deputy sheriffs said, the man followed the petite mini-skirted high school girl home from a school bus stop. They said she received two suspicious phone calls Saturday morning, each time the caller attempting to find out if her parents were home. The girl finally told the caller her 19 year old brother was home, although she has no brother. She received no more phone calls. On Sunday, she was riding her horse in the yard of her home when the same man drove past in a small blue car. He later returned, stopped his car, but did not get out. About 6 pm, Monday, a car drove past the residence three times while the girl's parents were shopping. After the third time, there was a knock at the door and a man repeatedly said "I know you are home alone. Can I use your phone-my car has broken down". Lieutenant Holthus said the home was staked out but the man did not show up." 

​Was the man stalking this girl by trailing the school bus? Cosette Ellison had just been dropped off home, after returning from school, when she went missing. North Gate Road extends right into the Mount Diablo State Park foothills, which will become extremely relevant when we consider the location Cosette Ellison's body was discovered    

On January 1st 1971, nearly a year after the disappearance of Cosette Ellison, her body was found in a ravine of the Mount Diablo foothills. The residences of 423 Canyon Road and North Gate Road are extremely rural and spread, with a reduced chance of being overseen in the commission of an abduction. This may have been a consideration for the perpetrator, who likely followed school buses to a more remote setting. The risky nature of forcibly removing somebody from outside their residence necessitates a lack of eyewitnesses.

Shortly after the Elaine Davis abduction on December 1st 1969, a resident of North Gate Road reported a suspicious male hovering outside their residence and stalking their daughter. Was North Gate Road familiar to the suspicious male - somewhere he would return three months later in depositing the body of Cosette Ellison in the foothills of Mount Diablo? The method employed by the perpetrator in both cases is eerily similar, choosing remote locations, and likely trailing, or waiting for the school bus to deliver his victim to him. 

On December 10th 1969, Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo residence. This deviates a little from the two cases above, however, in this case the perpetrator again targeted a residence and was observed numerous times between the front door and a blue station wagon, his likely getaway vehicle.  

If you have any pertinent information regarding the abduction and murder of Cosette Ellison, please contact the Moraga, California, Police Department via their website. Thank you.               

With extensive work done by AK Wilks on this topic, I would like to take a further look at the letter and code mailed to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969. This came just ten days before the abduction of Elaine Davis from Walnut Creek on December 1st 1969. Her abductor traveling from the Bay Area, depositing her Navy peacoat just 26 miles south of San Jose, likely passing through it on his way to Light House Point in Santa Cruz. If the Zodiac was responsible for both letter and murder, then San Jose is a worthy avenue of interest. AK Wilks asked a pertinent question of the forum: "Does someone know of a recent murder case in San Jose that left someone a widow? Or a prominent widow who lived in San Jose in 1969? The police were seemingly able to determine who it was, so perhaps it was a well known case or person". The brief text in the letter clearly contained enough information for police to identify the woman and implement 24 hour surveillance on her residence. Was the author threatening to kill the 'widow' or abduct her from her residence?

The Zodiac Killer (or copycat) mailed a menacing postcard to Dr, Edward Adams in Orinda, California (near Walnut Creek) on October 12th 1970 stating "The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next you taught me to Mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. ZODIAC."
As shown on the ZodiacKillerSite forum, Dr. Edward Adams and his wife featured in the newspapers prior to this threatening communication, so it is perfectly feasible that the author of the San Jose letter and code had identified his target in the days, weeks or months prior to the November 21st 1969 correspondence. Because of the nature of the redacted text, it appears that this letter was addressed specifically to a titled officer (possibly a Sergeant or Chief) of the San Jose Police Department. Bearing in mind the target of a 'widow' mentioned in the text, the author may be referring to a newspaper article involving the death of her husband, featuring commentary by the police official the letter is addressed to. The officer's name could be any number of characters in length depending on the title he holds, with the widow's surname just 5 or 6 characters in length. 
Was the widow a prominent member of society as suggested by AK Wilks, possibly a policewoman or politician, titled like Dr. Edward Adams. The Zodiac, on December 16th 1969, had set his sights on a cop or "government life". 

On the left is a December 22nd 1969 newspaper report from the San Mateo Times of somebody identifying himself as 'Zodiac' and threatening to kill five patrolmen and a family of five over the weekend, not dissimilar to his written threats in his trinity of July 31st 1969 letters: "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". 
The phone call was received on Friday December 19th 1969 by San Jose police dispatcher Shirley Searcy.

The disputed December 7th and 16th 1969 Fairfield letters (not published in the newspapers) both contained threats to murder cops for the first time, with the latter threatening to murder one policeman in San Jose. Three days later, this call to a San Jose Highway Patrol station threatening to murder police is remarkable timing. Was the caller responsible for both Fairfield letters - and more importantly - was it the Zodiac Killer?

I have searched high and low for the identity of this woman, but without a newspapers.com account to aid in the search, I have failed to make any inroads. The author of the San Jose letter (if Zodiac) certainly didn't need a valid reason to target anybody, as shown by his murderous assault in the Bay Area, but the identity of the 'widow' could help to add legitimacy to both Fairfield letters mailed in December, dependent on her profession or previous relationship. The November 21st, December 7th and December 16th communications all contained short codes, the amateurish nature of which, has led many to believe these three letters are the work of an impostor. But these features may actually bolster the argument for Zodiac involvement, as all three were never attempting to mimic the previously polished 408 and 340 cipher, which somebody attempting to mimic the Zodiac would surely have done.  

On December 20th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Melvin Belli' letter claiming he may "lose control again and take his ninth or possibly tenth victim". The Zodiac Killer last stated his victim count on November 9th 1969, when he claimed "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people". Therefore victim number eight (if there ever was one) would have to fall between these two dates. However, in this article I will present some new information that could narrow down victim number eight to a period of just thirteen days, and add some intriguing connections to the murder of Leona LaRell Roberts (16) who featured in Robert Graysmith's 1986 Zodiac book. 

Just four days before the 'Melvin Belli' letter arrived, the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter was mailed to the San Francisco Examiner insinuating the author's involvement in the September 27th 1969 Lake Berryessa attack, by including a drawing and the wording "The Bleeding Knife of Zodiac." The same author had mailed a previous Fairfield letter on December 7th 1969 to the San Francisco Chronicle. This communication failed to acknowledge any current victim count, in conflict to the majority of his future correspondence - and he made no mention of victim number eight - leaving the very real possibility that victim number eight fell between the dates of December 7th 1969 and December 20th 1969. There are also three other mailings that point to the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts as a Zodiac victim, or at the very least, a claimed Zodiac victim, ending with the 'Melvin Belli' letter on December 20th 1969 (the first anniversary of the Lake Herman Road murders). But first, let's outline the story of Leona Roberts, abducted from her boyfriend's house on December 10th 1969.   

On Wednesday December 10th 1969 Leona Roberts left her job at the White Front Discount Store in Pleasant Hill (560 Contra Costa Boulevard) at approximately 5:00 pm for the eleven mile journey to her boyfriend's (Greg V. Valo) apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo. This location is only 8 miles from the Lake Herman Road murder site. At about 5:50 pm a neighbor, Susan Clark, heard the sound of a girl screaming, followed by somebody running from the rear of the apartment. A suspicious male was observed many times between the front door and a blue station wagon, before he eventually drove away. The man was described as 25 years old, 5'8", short blond hair and wearing brown trousers and a jacket. A while later her boyfriend arrived home to find a disturbance inside the apartment, scuff marks near the back door and her red Volkswagen parked outside. 

Here is an excerpt from Websleuths by Steph54 "On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus." link.

Leona Roberts time of death has not been pinned down, but it has been estimated at approximately ten days to two weeks before her discovery, somewhere between December 14th and 18th 1969, just before the mailing of the 'Melvin Belli' letter. It is this letter that may contain a subtle clue to the abduction of Leona Roberts on December 10th 1969. The Zodiac Killer wrote in the 'Melvin Belli' letter "I will loose all controol of myself. Please help me. I can not remain in control for much longer" (edited). This mirrored closely a message written in lipstick on the wall of a murder victim in Chicago in 1945. The message read "For heavens Sake catch me Before I kill more. I cannot control myself". Frances Brown was discovered at her 3941 North Pine Grove apartment in Edgewater, Chicago. She had multiple knife wounds, along with a bullet wound to the head. William George Heirens would eventually be convicted for this and two other murders, and jailed for life. But why would the Zodiac Killer seemingly pluck the wording from a murder case 24 years prior? Was it a clue to his eighth victim? Frances Brown was discovered on December 10th, exactly the same date as the abduction of Leona Roberts from the 749 Tormey Avenue apartment. She was abducted and likely restrained for approximately one week before her eventual murder.

Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer may have mailed the two Fairfield letters on December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969, had he held the young girl somewhere in the vicinity of Fairfield, California, before eventually driving her body 65 miles to Bolinas Lagoon, located in the West Marin region of Marin County. There are another two potential Zodiac communications that may add weight to the Fairfield connection, mailed from Sacramento and Fairfield on December 10th and 11th of 1969. 

On December 10th 1969 (again, the date of Leona Roberts abduction), the Cancer FLT 555 Paste-Up Message was mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee newspaper, containing the wording "Action Guide, Watch, Want, Zodiac, Birds Fly South, Hidden, FLT 555 and Magic Amulet." The word "watch" has some relevance, regarding the missing "unique wristwatch" from the body of Leona Roberts, however, the phrase "Birds Fly South" may hold the biggest clue of all. Was the 'Cancer' card representative of the abduction of Leona Roberts and the invasion of her 'home' by an unwanted presence? A deadly invader of sorts. Her "cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species."​

The following day, December 11th 1969, a similar paste-up message was postmarked Fairfield, and mailed to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco. If Leona Roberts was one day into her captivity and was to be held under duress for several days to one week, then the December 11th 1969 mailing was the most pertinent communication of all. It was entitled DAY-BY-DAY FORECAST FOR LEO, containing the words "A THRILLING PHENOMENON" and "C HARRY OTT can be Ridden", along with FLT Three of a kind, Hangups, Hidden, Train, time, Now, dangerous ride, warring love emotions and Ember's Lucky.  If Leona Roberts was being kept "hidden" in Fairfield, was the Zodiac Killer preparing to give us day-to-day updates and forecasts regarding the captivity and current status of Leona Roberts? The title of the communication may be a play on words by the Zodiac Killer: "DAY-BY-DAY FORECAST FOR LEONA ROBERTS". Unfortunately, the forecast for Leona Roberts would turn out deadly in a matter of days.

The murderer of Leona Roberts may have known the location he was going to dispose of her body in advance. The phrase "Birds Fly South" could very well be a reference to his chosen dumping ground of Bolinas Lagoon, somewhere he may have frequented on a regular basis. "One of the main attractions at Bolinas Lagoon are the millions of shorebirds and other waterfowl that visit the mudflats and quiet waters each year. The lagoon is one of the most important stopover points for birds that migrate along the Pacific Flyway. The lagoon is also home to a thriving population of harbor seals that can always be seen at low tide when they haul out to rest and replenish their depleted oxygen supply. Wildlife at this preserve should be observed at a respectful distance; seals that are flushed into the water suffer if they aren’t allowed to spend a minimum amount of time drying out. Birds may be exhausted and near starvation after having traveled nonstop for several hundred miles to reach the safe haven of the lagoon". Marin County Parks.

Bolinas Lagoon is a tidal estuary, approximately 1,100 acres in area, located in the West Marin region of Marin County, California, United States, adjacent to the town of Bolinas. The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites. Along the Pacific Flyway, there are many key rest stops where birds of many species gather, sometimes in the millions, to feed and regain their strength before continuing. Some species may remain in these rest stops for the entire season, but most stay a few days before moving on. Wikipedia.

So, we have the 'Melvin Belli' letter and the December 10th murder of Frances Brown and abduction of Leona Roberts, linked by the wording in the correspondence, the "DAY-BY-DAY FORECAST FOR LEONA ROBERTS" mailed on December 11th 1969, and the dumping ground of Bolinas Lagoon, where "Birds Fly South". 

Other crimes loosely linked to the Zodiac Killer (and close to Bolinas Lagoon) involve the hanging of Pat Tan on Mount Tamalpais on April 19th 1970 (one day before the '13 Symbol' cipher communication) and the 'Tamalpais Valley Attack' on Isobel Watson. 
Isobel Watson (33) had just got off the bus on the evening of April 7th 1972, and was walking home along Pine Hill Road, Tamalpais Valley, Marin County at 9.00 pm, when a light colored vehicle veered towards her, knocking her to the ground. The driver exited his vehicle offering to take her home, but after she had refused his offer of apparent help a second time, the concerned citizen suddenly became enraged, pulling out a knife and stabbing the woman in the neck and shoulder. ​Her screams alerted the neighborhood, forcing the assailant into a hasty retreat from the scene. She was treated at Marin General Hospital and fortunately survived the brutal attack. Her description of the man alerted investigators to a possible Zodiac connection - that of a man with heavy rimmed black glasses, in his early 40's, 5' 9" in height and short brown hair. It was not overlooked by police that the killer had attempted to lure the woman into his vehicle, not dissimilar to the method employed in the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns. Napa County homicide detective Ken Narlow believed in a greater than 50-50 chance of a Zodiac connection, bearing in mind the description given by Isobel Watson.