It could be argued that the author of the Scorpion letters, which were mailed to John Walsh, presenter of the popular television show America's Most Wanted, was hinting he was once the infamous Zodiac Killer. In a series of cryptograms and letters sent in 1991, the headline text of "Hi, Remember Me" is fairly self-explanatory (see below). The wording used in the correspondence such as "you and your over anxious associates would try and nail me even if I used a P.O. Box for a return address" is interesting, because post office box keys were a feature of the Eureka card just a few months earlier, in 1990. The Atlanta letter, almost certainly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on March 8th 1981, contained the wording "I am not writing in the same hand writing". The Scorpion letters author wrote "My style of hand writing on these cards is very much altered". There is a distinct gap between "hand" and "writing" in both instances (rather than "handwriting" written as one word). The Scorpion letter also stated "I will soon start collecting bodies for you", replacing the word "slaves" used by the Zodiac Killer. 

These complex cryptograms are extremely difficult to solve because of the excessive ciphertext characters used in the encoding process. However, there are some possible openings. The Zodiac Killer mailed a 408 character cipher on July 31st 1969, a 340 character cipher on November 8th 1969, a 38 character cipher on December 7th 1969, a 13 character code on April 20th 1970 and a 32 character code on June 26th 1970, but not once did he use the "sun cross" or "number 7" as a ciphertext character. The 148 character cipher mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle by the Zodiac Killer sometime in May 1971, the 50 character cipher mailed to the Albany Times Union newspaper on August 1st 1973, and the 180 character Scorpion cipher mailed in 1991 (all bearing traits of the Zodiac Killer and not contemporarily published in the newspapers), all contained the "sun cross" and "number 7" as a ciphertext character. ​The "number 7" in the 1971 and 1973 ciphers, both decoded to the plaintext letter "A".

In the 148 character cipher mailed in 1971, the Zodiac Killer used the "sun cross" as a signature rather than his traditional crosshairs - thereby signing off his communication with the letter "Z" - because the "sun cross" descoded to the plaintext letter "Z" in the 148 character cipher. Bearing in mind that the Scorpion letter author headlined with the wording "Hi, Remember Me", it had to be considered that the pseudonym "Zodiac" may have been hidden somewhere in the cryptogram. Since the Zodiac Killer probably used the "sun cross" to represent the letter "Z" in the 148 character cipher, I took a look at the 180 character Scorpion cipher to see if any repeating ciphertext characters would mimic the pseudonym "Zodiac", using the "sun cross" to represent the plaintext letter "Z". Below are the examples I found beginning on row 2 and 14. To view the Scorpion letters and ciphers, please visit Science Blogs. 

Texas Senator John Cornyn is currently introducing new legislation to provide federal funding in the solving of cold cases by using the cutting-dege crime fighting tool of Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG). Dubbed the Carla Walker Act, this would provide much needed funding to corporations such as Othram Inc. who are leading the way in this specialized field of genetics  

Carla Walker (17) was abducted from Brunswick Ridglea Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas on February 17th 1974 as she sat with her boyfriend in the parking lot. An unknown white male wrenched open the car door while brandishing a gun and pistol whipped Rodney McCoy, before grabbing the young woman and disappearing into the night. Three days later, on February 20th 1974, her battered and bruised body was found in a culvert in Lake Benbrook. The autopsy showed she had been drugged and kept alive for two days, having been tortured, raped and strangled to death. It would take 46 years to identify her killer as Glen Samuel McCurley (77), who was snared in 2020 through DNA left on her clothing by way of forensic genetic genealogy performed at Othram laboratories. Despite the DNA being heavily degraded, a full profile was achieved and closely matched family members of the killer, leading to his arrest and eventful conviction on August 24th 2021. He escaped any real justice, dying in a Texas state prison on July 15th 2023. 

In an interview with Houston's KPRC 2 news channel, retired law enforcement officer Paul Holes, instrumental in the Golden State Killer case, was asked what other cases may be solved with the assistance of federal funding. He stated "One case I had involvement with out in the Bay Area was the Zodiac case - that is still an unsolved case - and it's a very high profile case. If they can identify DNA from that offender, then this technology potentially could solve one of the biggest mysteries out there".

​There are 30+ communications connected to the Zodiac case, with DNA having already been sourced from one Zodiac letter mailed on April 24th 1978. With extra funding and an unbiased approach in testing all the contested communications mailed in the name of the Zodiac Killer, we can only hope for better news in the near future. 

I had a great discussion on all things Zodiac with Ross Geraci, host of the Planet X Filmworks Youtube channel and long-time Zodiac researcher, Druzer, who is the engine behind the Citizen Detective Podcast, covering many aspects of true crime. The Zodiac Files Interviews series on Planet X Filmworks has featured former Bay Area resident Bryan, Thomas Horan (author of The Myth of the Zodiac Killer), Drew Beeson (author of Sighting In On the Zodiac Killer), Michael Morford (author of The Case of the Zodiac Killer), Howard Davis (author of The Zodiac Manson Connection) and Mark Hewitt (author of The Zodiac Hunted, Exposed and Revealed trilogy).

​The Planet X Filmworks channel has also covered The Seaside Slayings of Johnny & Joyce Swindle (Ocean Beach), The Death of Ray Davis (Oceanside) and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (Riverside). These can be found in the Zodiac Files section.  


​[1] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Bryan former Bay Area Resident During the Zodiac Era
[2] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Drew Beeson 
[3] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Howard Davis
[4] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Professor Thomas Henry Horan
[5] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Author Dr. Mark Hewitt 
[6] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Richard Grinell
[7] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Professor Thomas Henry Horan & Richard Grinell
[8] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Michael Morford
[9] The Zodiac Files Interviews: Richard Grinell & Druzer

[1] The Zodiac Files Debate Series: Author Drew Beeson Vs Druzer on Suspect Donald Lee Cheney: Scheduled for September 2nd 2023 9:00pm UK time.

[1] The Zodiac Files: The Seaside Slayings 
[2] The Zodiac Files: The Death of Ray Davis 
[3] The Zodiac Files: The Cheri Jo Bates' Mystery ​

Zodiac Killer investigators and amateur sleuths will often quote "original source documentation" in their research as the most valuable resource in their arsenal. You will see this referenced in many Zodiac books where it is used to validate a suspect or promote a theory in the Zodiac case. One of the more recent books, released by Tom Voigt entitled "Zodiac Killer:Just the Facts", lays out the police reports in a more readable format for people to access this "original source documentation". Although this is a noble endeavor, to supply information contemporary to the Zodiac murders in Northern California, the researchers who read this information will often cherry pick the information that benefits the story they are selling, and ignore the information that doesn't suit their narrative. So, while this "original source documentation" is extremely important to have at our fingertips, it routinely gets bent and twisted out of shape by individuals trying to sell you fictional versions of reality. 

Taking fiction to a completely new level, you can read "Zodiac Killer Solved" by Ray Grant, which is the perfect example of how to completely dismiss certain eyewitness accounts and bolster others, to paint a preconceived picture you have created in your mind. What Ray Grant does in his book, is create a fictional story of multiple "Zodiacs" and cherry pick certain details in the police report that suit his narrative, while ignoring and fabricating other accounts. One such example in his chapter on Lake Herman Road is his account of Robert Connelly after he left the Marshall Ranch, quote "Connley (sic) saw the Faraday Rambler now parked in the Gate #10 turnout, but with no one inside it". While this is true, he accompanies this text with a picture of Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser heading east to Benicia at 11:05pm, with the Rambler positioned on the east bank of the turnout, which is pure fiction based on the two recorded accounts of Robert Connelly in the police report. Ray Grant has wilfully and deliberately left this out of his story about Lake Herman Road to mislead the reader into believing his contrived narrative. However, he is not alone when it comes to deception such as this.   

Robert Connelly in his first statement to police on December 21st 1968 was recorded as "a light colored 1960 Rambler S/W that was parked at the gate. It was parked southwest of where we finally found the car. This discrepancy wasn't noted at first." In his second interview on December 26th 1968 "Connelly insists that the Rambler was parked on the bank. That would be the south side. He did not see any person in the car."

The police sketch on the left clearly depicts the Rambler on the south/west bank. Due to a slightly erroneous compass drawing on the sketch, the Rambler was in fact facing south and parked on the west bank. In his book, Ray Grant deliberately placed the Rambler on the east bank when Robert Connelly passed the turnout at 11:05pm, despite two statements by Connelly to the contrary. That is because he chooses to believe some eyewitnesses over others to manipulate the story he is selling. There are countless other examples throughout his fictional retelling of the Zodiac story.

​The overwhelming majority of Zodiac researchers believe that the Zodiac Killer arrived at the Lake Herman Road turnout on December 20th 1968 and pulled alongside, and to the right of the Rambler, before exiting his vehicle and beginning the attack. While this may be true, it is certainly not the obvious choice based on the eyewitness statements in the police report. The last eyewitness to pass the turnout before two vehicles were spotted in the turnout, was Robert Connely. In other words, the last position we know the Rambler to have been placed in the turnout before Zodiac arrived, was on the west bank facing south. David Faraday could have initially parked on the east bank, relocated to the west bank, before being forced back across the turnout by the arriving Zodiac (the Rambler was detailed in three different positions that night in the police report). Or David Faraday could have wilfully moved his vehicle twice. However, this doesn't change the fact that the Rambler was last spotted alone in the turnout on the west bank before Zodiac arrived. The question therefore, is why was the sighting by Robert Connelly doubted by the police, and why do Zodiac investigators largely ignore the testimony of Robert Connelly, to paint a certain narrative of a Zodiac Killer who arrived at the turnout and pulled immediately to the right side of the Rambler? The answer can be easily explained. They ignore the details in the police report and repeat the story passed down from the many decades before. It is often more comfortable to go with the "argumentum ad populum" (what most people believe), rather than question the narrative we have been conditioned to accept.

​Another series of "Zodiac Killer" phone calls have been unearthed and sent to me by Jibberjabber, a previous contributor to the Zodiac Tapatalk forum. The first were received by Redding, California police on March 18th 1970, four days before the claimed attack on Kathleen Johns near Modesto on March 22nd 1970. Two calls were received - the first at 2:46am by police dispatcher Mrs. Wanda J. Derra - in which the person identified himself as "Zodiac" and stated "Today's the day_an Enterprise school bus". Several minutes later he rang again and reiterated the threat, saying "If you don't believe me just watch the kiddies tomorrow". Unfortunately, without any extra dialogue or information, it is practically impossible to determine the validity of this threat. The city of Redding straddles Interstate 5, approximately 140 miles north of Sacramento.

The second series of phone calls from somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer were received in Middletown, California, threatening students from the Middletown Unified School District on January 19th 1971, just under two months before the Los Angeles letter was mailed by the Zodiac Killer. Middletown lies about 20 miles north of Santa Rosa, from where the Zodiac Killer aimed a bombing threat on school buses on October 15th 1969, before the threat on schoolchildren was released in the newspapers (L.A. Times Oct 16th, S. F. Chronicle Oct 17th). At 2:15pm somebody claiming to be "The Zodiac" rang the high school and stated "I'm going to get some of the monsters". When questioned by the person in the office who he was referring to, the caller added "The ones walking home". About 45 minutes later, at 3:00pm, an anonymous individual rang the household of one of the school bus drivers and spoke to his wife, stating "You don't have to worry about your husband tomorrow morning because he won't be coming home. Neither are the kids because I'm going to take care of them". Again, without any pertinent information being revealed by the caller, no verification is possible. 

The third series of calls were received by Redwood City and Belmont police in the Bay Area on Sunday, June 11th 1978, forty-eight days after the Zodiac Killer "I am back with you" letter was mailed on April 24th 1978. The difference here, was that all three phone calls were recorded by police. The calls, literally back-to-back, began at 3:20am with something like "I'm still around". San Francisco Homicide investigator James Tedesco revealed that the phone calls (similar to the 1978 letter) didn't contain any direct threats, and was unwilling to reveal how they were going to determine if the caller was the Zodiac Killer or not. Obviously, these are the most interesting of all the phone calls because they were recorded. However, like the Oklahoma radio station phone call on December 7th 1969 by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer, the likelihood these recordings still exist today, or were ever played to Bryan Hartnell, David Slaight or Nancy Slover to give some indication of their authenticity or otherwise, will likely never be known.    

On December 19th 1969, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer threatened cops by making a phone call to Sergeant Robert Rengstorff of the San Jose Highway Patrol, stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". This threat towards San Jose police and a family of five was issued on a Friday, exactly as was the November 21st 1969 letter, mailed to San Jose police threatening harm on a widow. After the threat on the widow was thwarted by 24-hour police surveillance on her residence, was this the response, to once again instigate fear in the San Jose community? 

The threat of killing "a family of five between now and Monday" is rather specific, almost as though he had earmarked a couple with three children. We know the Zodiac Killer read the August 4th 1969 San Francisco Examiner and August 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle newspapers, which may have inspired his attack at Lake Berryessa and certain subsequent claim to the Snoozy and Furlong murders by the addition of "Aug" on the November 8th 1969 Dripping Pen card. This was an obsession he would carry forward into 1971, referencing the Snoozy and Furlong murders at least two more times, if not three.

​The August 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article, entitled The Frenzy Of San Jose Girls Slayer, read under the banner of Children "The other Furlong children are Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11.  Furlong said he did not know and had not yet talked to Kathy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Snoozy. Both Snoozy, a carpet layer, and Mrs. Snoozy reportedly are in a state of collapse. Her funeral has been scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at the Place Funeral Home in Los Gatos. Burial will be at Oak Wood Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Funeral services for Kathy will be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Oak Hill Memorial Park Mortuary in San Jose. Burial will be at Oak Hill Memorial Park". The Furlong's had three surviving children called Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11, which ties in with the threat from the December 19th 1969 telephone caller to kill "a family of five between now and Monday".

The rather obscure article about the phone call to San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969, threatening "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday", was somewhat mirrored by the person claiming to be the Zodiac Killer in Barstow, California on March 26th 1971. Not only did this individual make a phone call at 9:15pm to the KWTC radio station stating "This is the Zodiac. I'm coming out there", which he repeated and hung up, he also rang the radio station at 11:30pm claiming "This is the Zodiac. There are going to be four people dead in Barstow by morning", before repeating the statement and hanging up once again. The California Highway Patrol, as it did on December 19th 1969, also received a threatening phone call from the "Zodiac Killer" at 5:00pm on March 26th 1971. On December 19th 1969, I believe the threat was aimed towards the Furlong family of five in San Jose, so were the four people mentioned in this latest phone call in Barstow just a random and empty threat on four random people, or was the threat target specific? These are the only two "Zodiac" calls known to have been aimed at the California Highway Patrol, with both issued on a Friday, separated by 15 months, with the possibility of multiple targets. However, this doesn't reach the level of "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the callers on December 19th 1969 and March 26th 1971 were the same person, or the infamous Zodiac Killer. 

THE ZODIAC KILLER PHONE CALLS TO BARSTOW [PART ONE]

Thanks to Jibberjabber for his assistance in this matter.

Attorney Jennifer Taylor and investigator Chris Williamson are currently in the midst of a series of podcasts covering the Zodiac Killer case and the pre-canonical attacks in Southern California, which are often linked with the Bay Area murderer. The first two episodes, just shy of three hours each, with contributions from Raven & Mandy from the Sirens Podcast, feature several guest speakers from the Zodiac community. In the first instalment, Michael Cole, author of the The Zodiac Revisited book trilogy and website, is joined by Kristi S. Hawthorne, who unearthed a possible link between the murder of taxicab driver Ray Davis in Oceanside in 1962 and the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The second podcast features somebody from England and Ross Geraci, host of the Planet X Filmworks Youtube Channel, who has compiled several videos on the pre-canonical murders of Ray Davis (1962), Johnny & Joyce Swindle (1964) and Cheri Jo Bates (1966). He is soon to release another comprehensive video on the murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards in Santa Barbara in 1963 

The Vanished Podcast, hosted by Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson, can be found on multiple outlets, such as Audioboom, Apple, Spotify, Podchaser, Podbean and Deezer, to name just a few. Here is a link to the Apple Podcast. The investigative duo have extensively covered many other cases, including D.B. Cooper (1971), Jack the Ripper (1888) and Amelia Earhart (1937).
​
Part One: Vanished: Zodiac: "Sick of Living, Unwilling to Die"
Part Two: Vanished Zodiac: “Many Undiscovered Victims”
Part Three: Vanished Zodiac: "Trial by Jury"
​More episodes will be added upon release. 

David Oranchak has just released another excellent Youtube video on his Let's Crack Zodiac series, examining the numeric codes of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who killed three and injured twenty-three in a seventeen year reign of terror between 1978 and 1995. David Oranchak has delivered the often complex and difficult topic of cryptography to the masses by attempting to simplify this topic through his visual presentations, orchestrated in such a way, it elevates the understanding of the many who once found the art of cryptography perplexing and impenetrable. One of the key members of the team that finally broke the Zodiac Killer's 340 cipher after fifty-one years, alongside Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke,

David Oranchak has sought to demystify the specialized skills of codebreaking through eighteen well produced videos. Although some uncharitable individuals claim the hard work in breaking the 340 cipher was achieved predominantly through the use of computers, this overlooks the fact that we have had these powerful computers for many years with no resolution until 2020, the requirement to develop new systems such as "zkdecrypto", and the human input required to recognize the Zodiac Killer's language as it emerges from the noise. These three gentlemen achieved what every other person failed to surmount in over fifty years - and for this - they deserve all the accolades they have been rightly bestowed. 

The 340 message, claimed by many to be another rambling and meaningless collection of Zodiac tropes, has in fact, opened the window to many other Zodiac Killer communications such as the first Fairfield letter mailed on December 7th 1969 and the third Fairfield letter mailed on or around May 2nd 1971, both containing cryptograms known as the Z38 and Z148 respectively (the latter having been solved). Both of these communications were related to the 340 cipher through coding and messaging, despite the 340 cipher solution being decades away from being solved. The Z38 appeared to know the wording in the 340 cipher before the code was broken, and the text in the accompanying letter seemed to pre-empt the wording in the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969, just thirteen days later. The Fairfield letter on December 7th 1969 also pre-empted the phone call to an Oklahoma radio station later that day, in which the author of the letter and phone caller both mocked the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show and Melvin Belli on October 22nd 1969. The phone caller to Oklahoma, mimicking the person who rang into the Jim Dunbar Show, also stated he left California because "it got too hot for me", just like phone caller to the Palo Alto Times newspaper, who stated he had left San Francisco because "because I'm too hot there", less than a day before the Jim Dunbar TV Show. If that isn't enough evidence that the Zodiac Killer was the responsible, we have the solved message in the Z148 calling out both Karl Francis Werner and Eric Weill (the Jim Dunbar caller) as phonys, just like the message in the 340 cipher calling out Eric Well by stating "That wasn't me on the TV show". The Jim Dunbar TV show, in which a second phone call was received on February 5th 1970, from somebody that the San Francisco Chronicle and homicide detectives described as a phony. 

To ascertain whether a communication is authentic or unproven, we must get away from consistently using the reasoning of "handwriting and tone" as a throwaway line to examine Zodiac communications in a matter of minutes. The interconnectivity of Zodiac communications must be examined through the picture created by the Zodiac Killer throughout many years and multiple correspondences and phone calls, just like the story of the San Jose murders which spanned the time period of August 3rd 1969 to July 13th 1971, when the Zodiac Killer mailed the Monticello card to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The interconnectivity between the Monticello card and the Z148 character cipher (and Pines card), the interconnectivity between the Z148 cipher and Albany letter code mailed in 1973, and the interconnectivity between the second Fairfield letter mailed on December 16th 1969 to the phone call delivered to the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969, are just a fraction of the strands in the spider web that link these occurrences together. Just staring at a letter for a handful of minutes and declaring it a hoax, is inadequate, when we consider that the Zodiac Killer was traveling on a journey of murder and domestic terrorism spanning many years. To view the whole picture, please open the links provided in this article.

I am fairly confident that the Z38 code mailed on December 7th 1969 is somehow related to the 340 and 148 character ciphers through its messaging. Both the Z340 and Z148 ciphers referenced Eric Weill (the caller to the Jim Dunbar Show), by stating "That wasn't me on the TV show" and "stop listening to phonys" - and the Z38 code was mailed on the same day that somebody rang the Oklahoma radio station mimicking Eric Weill. My contention is that all three were the Zodiac Killer.

​I am not confident I can crack the Zodiac Killer's Z38 cipher because, despite having some limited knowledge of cryptography, this pales into insignificance when compared to individuals such as David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke, who ultimately broke the Zodiac Killer's masterpiece cipher. The recognition of the phrase "gas chamber" in the cryptogram was pivotal in understanding that the Zodiac Killer referenced recent newspaper articles (or the Jim Dunbar TV show) which detailed this very subject pertaining to Zodiac's capture. If we run with this concept, it may help to unearth the message in the Z38 code, which may (or may not) hold vital information of a contemporary nature and unlock the fifth of eight known enciphered messages. I have a strong belief that David Oranchak could make some valuable observations and inroads into the Z38 cipher if he chooses to tackle yet another Zodiac mystery, and thereby, attempt to close another chapter in this intriguing story.

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 one day 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 Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 16th 1969, and two days before San Francisco Chronicle released the details 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. 

​So, if the Santa Rosa school bus shooter wasn't the Zodiac Killer, we would have to believe a random individual bought the Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 16th, read about the "picking off kiddies as they came bouncing out" of a school bus, and then decided to target Santa Rosa the following day (but pre-ermpted the location of Santa Rosa mentioned on October 21st). The female bus driver could have had no knowledge of the Zodiac Killer's phone call to Santa Rosa threatening school buses and schoolchildren on October 15th 1969, unless the specific threat was relayed to her and she was unduly influenced to report an attack that never happened. 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 at least one day in advance of the Zodiac Killer's threat on a school bus was released to the newspapers, and therefore, not 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).