Released on August 5th 2024, Ross Geraci, host of the YouTube channel *Planet X Filmworks" focused on the post canonical activities of the Zodiac Killer with Canadian filmmaker Andrew Gray from the "Citizen Detective Podcast". Both regular contributors to the Zodiac Killer community over many years, they discussed general Zodiac topics and then ventured beyond the four confirmed attacks at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights. To view this episode of the Zodiac files, please click the image below.    .

Identified murderer Joseph Stephen Holt, responsible for the murders of ​Brynn Rainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Andersen (16) in 1979, had a love of skiing (a passion he shared with Donna Lass). When murderers dispose of bodies they often choose locations they are familiar with, so I thought I would identify the four main ski resorts around Lake Tahoe in 1970. The four locations were the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort next to his 1390 Keller Road address, the Diamond Peak Ski Resort, the Pallisades Tahoe Ski Resort (formerly Squaw Valley) and Donner Ski Ranch (Northstar Ski Resort opened in 1972).

If Joseph Stephen Holt drove from his 1390 Keller Road home towards the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, he would pass by Van Sickle.Park where the body of Brynn Rainey was found on August 20th 1977. From here, heading northwards, he would pass the Diamond Peak Ski Resort and Incline Village (the advertisement that featured on the Pines card). Heading westwards he would reach the Northstar Ski Resort where a human skull was found in 1986, then he would have gone past the Donner Ski Ranch and Clair Tappaan Lodge (the Sierra Club on the Pines card), before continuing westwards and arriving at Yuba Gap, the location of Donna Lass' skull. Traveling to Yuba Gap from his home on the west side of Lake Tahoe, he passes the Pallisades Tahoe Ski Resort (formerly Squaw Valley), the Donner Ski Ranch and Clair Tappaan Lodge. The attempted double murder of Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19) on December 13th 1969 occurred on Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley Ski Resort. All of these "Lake Tahoe areas" are "around in the snow". 

Recently a few researchers have been looking into the murders of Brynn Rainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Andersen (16) in 1979, who were both victims of Joseph Stephen Holt in the South Lake Tahoe region. A recent contributor to this website, Joseph, pointed me in the direction of another murder in South Lake Tahoe approximately 11 months before the disappearance of Brynn Rainey. 

On September 2nd 1976 at about 6:30pm, Kathleen Keohane (17) was spending some time with her fiance Mike Warren at Carrows Restaurant, where he was working as a dishwasher. She had decided to leave the restaurant for a walk to pass some time, planning to meet him back at the restaurant when his shift ended at 10:00pm. She never made it back and was found face down and fully clothed in shallow water under the Upper Truckee River Bridge 12 hours later.(6:30am). Investigators determined that Kathleen Keohane had been struck in the back of the head several times with a heavy blunt instrument, causing a massive skull fracture.

When she left the restaurant she had told her fiance she was going to head to the "Y", which is the shape formed on a map by the intersecting Highway 50 and Interstate 89 at Tahoe Valley. Kathleen would have traveled along Lake Tahoe Boulevard. This was a 4.5 mile journey, so would have taken her at least 3 hours to walk there and return back to Carrows Restaurant at 9:30pm. Had she completed the outward journey, she would have been about 4,000 feet from where her body was found. 

The location of her body under the Upper Truckee River Bridge was 3,900 feet from where Carol Andersen's body was found on Sundown Trail in 1979. Both murdered teenagers were found fully clothed. The Sahara Tahoe Hotel, where both Brynn Rainey and Donna Lass worked, was 3,400 feet from Carrows Restaurant. Donna Lass would have walked along Lake Tahoe Boulevard in 1970 had she decided to walk to her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartments from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel in the early morning hours of September 6th. Brynn Rainey would have walked along Lake Tahoe Boulevard in 1977 had she decided to walk to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from the Bittercreek Saloon shortly before her shift on July 25th. Carol Andersen would have joined Lake Tahoe Boulevard on June 30th 1979 had she decided to walk to her Lower Kingsbury residence after leaving a party on Regina Road. Kathleen Keohane would have been walking along Lake Tahoe Boulevard after leaving Carrows Restaurant. Four females, four murders, one road.   

Thanks to Joseph for highlighting this case.

Investigators believed that Joseph Stephen Holt was responsible for other acts of violence, aside from his two known murders of Brynn Rainey (1977) and Carol Andersen (1979), finding a newspaper clipping in his property with the date of January 30th 1975 written by Holt in the margin. The newspaper article entitled "Pair Grapple With Suspect, One Shot" was referencing an attempted vehicle burglary in Los Gatos where one of the victims suffered a gunshot wound. The composite of the suspect looked just like Joseph Stephen Holt, giving detectives the belief he was the likely responsible. His propensity to use firearms was brought into focus during a search of his belongings, with investigators finding numerous weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun, stun guns and handcuffs. 

On the night of June 30th 1979, Carol Andersen (16) had attended a party on Regina Road before leaving at approximately 11:30pm. Joseph Stephen Holt's residence when he murdered Brynn Rainey two years earlier was at 1390 Keller Road. This location is only 350 feet from Regina Road, so it's possible Joseph Stephen Holt attended this party, or had noticed Carol Andersen walking away from the residence and offered her a lift home. It's equally possible she could have been forced into his vehicle. All we do know for certain, is the close proximity of his 1390 Keller Road home to the last place Carol Andersen was seen alive. Through the diligent research of several individuals, it has been shown that his parents purchased the 1390 Keller Road residence in 1967. This would have given him access to this address had he visited the South Lake Tahoe region in the years prior to him moving there on a permanent basis in 1974.  

There is a distinct possibility he targeted Carol Anderson in 1979 when she left the party on Regina Road, Brynn Rainey was last seen on July 24th 1977 in the Bittercreek Saloon by Sandy Way and Takela Drive at approximately 10:00pm. Her route to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from this establishment would have taken her past the northern tip of Ski Run Boulevard, extremely close to Regina Road. It's possible that both Brynn Rainey and Carol Andersen entered his vehicle either willingly or unwillingly in this area.

But could Joseph Stephen Holt have been responsible for any other serious crimes close to the 1390 Keller Road address between 1967 and 1979, possibly involving a pistol or shotgun? He would have been aged between 20 and 32 during these years. I have found the attempted murder of two individuals sitting next to their vehicle on Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in 1969, just 20 minutes walking distance from the 1390 Keller Road home (4 minutes by car), and 13 minutes on foot from Regina Road where Carol Andersen left the party. Joseph Stephen Holt would have been 22 years of age at the time of these attempted murders. 

On Saturday, December 13th 1969 at 9:45pm, an unknown individual carrying a flashlight and shotgun approached a young couple, Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19), who had parked their vehicle at the end of Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley. They were sitting on nearby rocks close to their vehicle, when the gunman from about 25 yards away extinguished his flashlight and began shooting.In a completely unprovoked attack, Heidi Hoffman was struck by 40 pellets, with Lenny Parsons hit 7 times. Officers would later retrieve 12-guage shells from the road. Both victims would survive the attack, but were unable to offer a reason why they may have been targeted. The couple made no mention of hearing or seeing a vehicle belonging to the shooter, so had the assailant parked a distance away, or had he arrived to the location on foot with the shotgun concealed under his clothing. As stated above, the location of the shooting is only 20 minutes on foot from the 1390 Keller Road residence. The last 10 minutes of which can be traversed through the woods alongside Saddle Road to create cover and concealment. This would achieve an element of surprise when approaching the victims, who were sitting on rocks at the western edge of the road. Many of the properties located in this area had not been built in 1969, so the killer could have arrived by vehicle, parked up in a nearby clearing up the road and walked the remaining few hundred feet through the woods before re-emerging.  View newspaper article from the Sacramento Bee on December 15th 1969. 

Carol Ann Andersen (16) had left a party in Regina Road, South Lake Tahoe at approximately 11:30pm on June 30th 1979 and her body was discovered in the early morning hours of July 1st 1979 by a passing motorist on the edge of the road on Sundown Trail, 3.8 miles by road from the party. Carol was fully clothed, but her shoes were discovered 1/4 mile away on Golden Bear Trail (see map below). There was evidence of strangulation and ligature marks on her wrists, and her bra had been pulled up under her shirt, with scratch marks noted on the right breast. The murderer, Joseph Stephen Holt, lived at 1390 Keller Road at the time of the Brynn Rainey murder in 1977, which was located only 350 feet from Regina Road and a 4 mile drive to Sundown Trail.. However, another address linked to him in the US Index of Public Records from 1978 to 2015 (one year after Brynn's murder, and one year before the murder of Carol Andersen) was 1101 Sierra Boulevard, South Lake Tahoe. This location was just a 1.8 mile drive to Sundown Trail. 

After he had abducted Carol Andersen and did whatever he did, he drove to Sundown Trail and dragged the young girl's body to the side of the road and continued westwards. Because Sundown Trail was effectively a dead end, he must have traveled west and then turned south on Lodgepole Trail, before heading northeast on Golden Bear Trail. Carol's shoes were found on Golden Bear Trail about 1/4 mile from her body, so Joseph Stephen Holt realizing her shoes had likely come off inside his vehicle, probably tossed them out of the vehicle window at the southern edge of Golden Bear Trail before exiting the area.

Brynn Rainey (27) was abducted by Joseph Stephen Holt after leaving the Bittercreek Saloon at Sandy Way and Takela Drive at approximately 10:00pm on July 24th 1977​, who was due at work at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel at 2:00am for her shift. Her body was found a month later in a shallow grave at Stateline Stables at Van Sickle State Park, with her purse and casino identification found about 30 feet from the gravesite. It is thought she was strangled and sexually assaulted. Stateline Stables (at the time) was approximately 1.6 miles drive from 1390 Keller Road (the 1977 residence of Holt).

So if he used the 1101 Sierra Boulevard residence in 1979 when Carol was murdered, he would never have disposed of a victim more than 1.8 miles from either residence. Therefore, if he was responsible for the abduction of Donna Lass in 1970 from somewhere close to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel or her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home, why did her dump her body 76 miles from 1390 Keller Road? Was this his first murder and he was being extremely cautious, or was he known to Donna Lass (unlike Rainey and Andersen), so took greater precautions to delay any resulting investigation into her murder?

​However, It does appear that greater effort was used in the body disposal of the two women who worked at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Donna Lass was eventually found 74 miles from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, and Brynn Rainey was found in a 2 foot deep shallow grave. There may have also been delaying tactics with the two Sahara Tahoe Hotel employees, with the killer ringing the casino and excusing their absence in 1970 and 1977. Whereas Carol Andersen was just dumped on the side of the road in plain sight. A connection between Joseph Stephen Holt and the two Sahara Tahoe Hotel workers may have caused him to want to buy time and delay any investigation into their disappearances. If Donna Lass been discovered in a 2 foot shallow grave in 1970 we may have had our answer by now.  

​READ THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR'S REPORT INTO DONNA LASS  

Joseph Stephen Holt was identified in 2019 through DNA to be responsible for the murders of Brynn Rainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Ann Andersen (16) in 1979, both in South Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately he had already died in 2014 so he escaped justice.

​Brynn Rainey had headed to work on Sunday, July 24th 1977 at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel for her 2am shift, when she decided to stop off at the Bittercreek Saloon close to Sandy Way and Takela Drive at approximately 10:00pm. This was the last time she was seen alive, being found strangled at Sunset Stables a month later. So had she been abducted as she traveled to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, the reverse of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, who some believe was abducted as she exited the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, or during her journey home? Both Donna Lass and Brynn Rainey were last seen alive at the end and near beginning of their 2am shift, who both worked at the same establishment. The distance from the Bittercreek Saloon at Sandy Way and Takela Drive to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel is 1.86 miles by crow.

Carol Andersen had gone to a party on June 30th 1979 near the Heavenly Ski Resort on Regina Road, and decided to leave sometime between 11pm and 11:30pm rather than accept a lift from partygoers. Carol was found facedown over the curb line on Sundown Trail on July 1st 1979. Where she went after leaving the party is unknown, but had she headed toward her lower Kingsbury home, she would have likely joined Lake Tahoe Boulevard at some point.

​Lake Tahoe Boulevard joins Highway 50, which would have taken her past the Sahara Tahoe Hotel situated 1.7 miles by crow from Regina Road, and just shy of lower Kingsbury, which sits just beyond the California/Nevada border. If she had decided to walk home from the party it was a 45 to 50 minute journey. Had she had left the party and traveled on Ski Run Boulevard to Lake Tahoe Boulevard, this location would have placed her only 3,400 feet from the Bittercreek Saloon where Brynn Rainey was last seen. She would have had to head east along Lake Tahoe Boulevard, the same route that Brynn Rainey would have needed to take to reach the Sahara Tahoe Hotel for her 2am shift. Donna Lass would also have had to walk along Lake Tahoe Boulevard to reach her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home in 1970, had she chosen this option. Although it may seem extremely unlikely, all three females could have been abducted on the same road. The apartment of Donna Lass is 5,000 feet from Regina Road and 400 feet from Lake Tahoe Boulevard.   

"Joseph Stephen Holt was born on November 8, 1947, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the first child of an airline pilot and a high school teacher. Shortly after his birth, the family began moving around various locations before finally settling in San Jose, California, where Holt spend most of his youth. After graduating from the Cupertino High School, he studied political science at the UC Santa Barbara and later UC Berkeley, receiving a bachelor's degree. He moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1974, where he soon began a career in real estate, holding down that job up until his death. As a realtor, he frequently travelled between San Jose and South Lake Tahoe, and was regarded as very familiar with the area". Taken from Wikipedia. 

The overriding question, is did Joseph Stephen Holt ever visit South Lake Tahoe prior to moving there? As a 22-year-old man he may have vacationed there in September 1970 (or many times) - and liked the location so much - he decided to up sticks after his stint at the University of California in Berkeley and move 140 miles northeast (by crow) to South Lake Tahoe. Just because he didn't move there until 1974, doesn't mean he had never visited there previously. But was he there on September 6th 1970? The last seen locations of Brynn Rainey and Carol Andersen are tantalizingly close to the apartment of Donna Lass, so could the intelligent and articulate Joseph Stephen Holt have befriended Donna Lass several years earlier? 

​FURTHER READING: ​ANOTHER SINISTER PHONE CALL TO THE SAHARA IN 1977 

Thanks to Canadian filmmaker Andrew Gray (Druzer) from the Citizen Detective YouTube channel, who inspired this article.   

With 43,000 devotees to her YouTube channel as of March 17th 2024, Profiling With Pat Brown is heavily undersubscribed as a platform, deserving far more recognition than it currently garners. Using deductive reasoning, behavioural profiling and crime scene analysis, Pat Brown doesn't claim her primary focus is to solve crimes, moreover, her objective is to drive an investigation towards a more productive and realistic use of police resources, where funding and time can be best used to generate a positive outcome.

With many books such as Only the Truth, The Murder of Cleopatra, The Profiler, How to Save Your Daughter, Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann and Killing For Sport, and a host of television appearances, Pat Brown has been a valuable asset and resource to the crime community for many decades. In simplistic terms, her strength is using common sense and logic, a virtue sadly lacking in large parts of the crime community, where sensationalism and fantastical thinking, driven by money, clicks and likes, blinkers these individuals to creating meaningful and cogent analysis. When common sense becomes a rare commodity, it is incumbent for voices like Pat Brown to flourish and redirect people away from much of the noise of mainstream media, where the driving force is ratings and profit, not usually the truth.          

​Her approach to crime scene analysis and investigation is at the heart of her criticism for the United States legal system (and other countries), where 12 people from a "bus stop" can be housed in a court of law to adjudicate on something as important as a murder trial, where the life and death of an individual can invariably hang in the balance of jurors who are not sufficiently educated to prescribe such an outcome. Often jurors will be selected because they are beneficial to the prosecution or defence based on what they don't know. In a murder trial where biology and DNA is the compelling arm of the prosecution, the defence will rightly favour jurors who are ignorant to science, who can easily be bamboozled by a slick and disingenuous court jester, whose primary aim is to feed off this lack of knowledge.

​If you need to rewire your house, you consult with certified electrician with a history and proven track record behind them, but in the matter of life and death in a court setting, requiring an analytical brain with a knowledge of biology, forensics and crime scene analysis, you wouldn't ideally drag somebody off the street who likely knows nothing of the aforementioned attributes. With the very real possibility of somebody being sentenced to death in a US court of law, this should not be treated as a game, overseen by 12 random individuals who could potentially kill somebody, armed with an inadequate set of skills. 

Pat Brown, as of writing, has compiled 628 videos covering solved and unsolved cases such as The Zodiac Killer, The Dardeen Family Murders, The Unsolved Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit, Lizzie Borden, The Freeway Phantom, Sam Sheppard, The Springfield Three, The Annecy Shootings and Madeleine McCann, to name but a few. Many of these videos have a running time in excess of two hours, providing a comprehensive and thorough examination of each case. Described by Pat as an educational channel, it provides a rational and reasonable approach to the analysis of true crime, dispensing with the ridiculous and incoherent offerings churned out by other platforms in the genre. 

The aim of Pat Brown is to transfer the methodology of good criminal profiling into the mindset of detectives and their police departments, who can take on the responsibility, focus current investigations and cold cases down a more productive avenue, and hopefully achieve a higher success rate when identifying and arresting criminals. Investigations can often go awry when the thinking of those bestowed with solving crimes is flawed. Good criminal profiling can be the difference between apprehending a murderer or allowing them to kill again, so getting into the mind of a detective should take precedence over delving into the mind of a killer. Without changing the mind of the first, will allow the second more chance to evade justice.         


​Her YouTube channel is available to everybody, with a combination of standard video presentations and several live shows available on Patreon for 5 dollars a month, where you are able to participate in live chats. However, these live shows do become accessible to everybody after about a week, so nothing is excluded from public viewing. With a vast and impressive back catalogue of cases to delve into, hopefully you will subscribe to Pat's channel and help drive the subscribers beyond the 100K mark. In a true crime community peppered with erroneous and flawed analysis, the insightful and intelligent, but reasonable and logical approach adopted by Pat Brown is a breath of fresh air.

​To visit her YouTube live streams click here. To access The Pat Brown Criminal Profiling Agency with a link to her television appearances, news articles and books, visit PatBrownProfiling.Com.            

The number of individuals who have Zodiac Killer "pet suspects" has exponentially grown over the last two decades, proliferated through the wide reaching tentacles of the internet. Many (but not all), when pressed, have stated that they are 95 to 100% confident they have identified the Zodiac Killer in the murders of David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Darlene Ferrin, Cecelia Shepard and Paul Stine. It is fair to say that Zodiac investigators and enthusiasts such as Michael Morford, Mike Rodelli, Drew Beeson and Adam Ivester, naming William McDuff, Kjell Qvale, Don Cheney and John Parr Cox respectively, all fall into this category of confidence upwards of 95%. However, the number of people exhibiting such belief is much more widespread and not confined to these individuals. Furthermore, those who are prepared to write books, create long-standing YouTube channels and heavily contribute to Zodiac Killer forums naming their suspect over many years or even decades, do not do so unless they are utterly convinced they have identified the Zodiac Killer beyond a reasonable doubt.

So, if these individuals were the judge in a bench trial, where the decision of guilt or innocence fell squarely on their shoulders, how many Zodiac researchers would convict their own suspect based on their own research, and be prepared to sentence their suspect to death through capital punishment? In other words (assuming their suspect was still alive), would they be prepared to kill that person based on their internet research. It's a frightening thought, but it's a legitimate question. Assuming the Zodiac Killer is one individual - and using William McDuff, Kjell Qvale, Don Cheney and John Parr Cox as examples - it would mean that at a bare minimum, three innocent individuals would be executed by three Zodiac researchers. Multiply those suspects to 300 individuals, would mean that 299 people would be wrongly executed. The fact that 300 "suspects" can be identified beyond a reasonable doubt by Zodiac researchers, where at least 299 are totally innocent of the crime, shows beyond any doubt, how horrible a technique internet sleuthing is when pointing the finger at people for the Zodiac crimes.

​Every Zodiac researcher must believe they use better investigative techniques than everybody else, because if they didn't, they would be advocating for somebody else's suspect. This means that every researcher must be identifying flaws in other peoples reasoning, that they fail to recognise within themselves. It is this bias that is at the heart of flawed reasoning. Take this sort of reasoning and apply it to eleven followers of each proposed "suspect", and you have a jury of like-minded individuals you wouldn't want anywhere near a justice system deciding on the life or death of another human being.

Many Zodiac researchers cannot understand why others don't see their suspect as strongly as they see them - and would ideally wish that most people would agree with their conclusions. It's obviously more pleasurable when you have spent a long time researching and presenting a suspect, to have people concur with your findings, rather than reject them. If such a Zodiac researcher was the prosecutor in a jury trial where their suspect was on trial, it would be the clear objective of that researcher to sell their findings to 12 jury members and convince them of the suspect's guilt. If the jury members thought like the researcher, it could be argued that a guilty verdict and possible death sentence would be a satisfactory verdict for the Zodiac researcher, who has sold his beliefs beyond a reasonable doubt. If we scale this argument up to 300 Zodiac researchers, we would effectively have a potential 299 murderers by proxy. The question being - would these Zodiac researchers really see somebody executed based on the research they've compiled - or would they take a step backwards and consider the difference between belief and reality?   

We know that the Zodiac Killer was prepared to link himself to many murders with little to no evidence that vindicated his claims, such as Donna Lass, Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong, Cheri Jo Bates, Richard Radetich and the Atlanta Child murders. Law enforcement claimed that they had received dozens of hoax Zodiac letters by the end of 1970, which they obviously classified as such, based on nothing more than handwriting analysis and gut feelings, resulting in the loss of many communications that could have shed greater light on the Zodiac Killer mystery. Unfortunately, this method of determining authentic and inauthentic letters in the Zodiac case still persists 54 years later, with individuals that currently have the ability to spot fake Zodiac letters by the shape of the writing and the tone of a letter. But don't expect this quackery to change.

I mention this as a cautionary warning in regards to the perceived gaps in Zodiac Killer activity, such as the widely touted 4-year hiatus in Zodiac communications between 1974 and 1978. It's one thing believing a letter hasn't met the threshold of evidence to declare its authenticity, but quite another claiming it's a hoax based on nothing more than looking at it. With that said, I will continue the following observations based upon the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters being genuine Zodiac material, because the evidence against is practically zero compared to the evidence for. 

The Hillside Strangler murders, eventually discovered to be both Kenneth Bianci and Angelo Buono Jr., took place in Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978, resulting in the murder of ten women and girls who were abducted, raped and tortured. The Hillside Strangler murders took the police far afield, with their investigation spreading to New York and the United Kingdom in pursuit of the killer/s identity, unsure of whether more than one individual was involved in the horrific crimes. One person in 1978 would have had a keen interest in the unfolding newspaper coverage, which makes a multiple page letter mailed to police in respect to this case in January 1978, very interesting. On December 7th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter from Fairfield threatening to kill a cop, which after he would turn himself in. On January 19th 1978, Los Angeles Chief Daryl Gates held a news conference on television and stated "The fact we have not had any more murders in the last five weeks suggests that the individual or individuals are not operating. Hopefully that will continue to be the situation. I'm hopeful the killer or killers will come forward and talk with us and give themselves up". Daryl Gates informed reporters that the manhunt was the biggest since the Tate-LaBianca murders which cost 500, 000 dollars.       

Later that day a letter was mailed to Mayor Tom Bradley, with portions of the text released by Chief Daryl Gates. The letter, handwritten and several pages long, stated he was very sick and claimed he had killed his mother, writing "My mother told me to kill those bad and evil ladys", and offering to turn himself in, along with "a friend". The author of the letter also promised to mail an article of clothing from one of the victims to prove the authenticity of the claims.

The Zodiac Killer would apparently reappear on March 13th 1978 and April 24th 1978 stating "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press that I am back in San Francisco" and "I am back with you", before mailing another letter from Los Angeles threatening to kill five people, in which Chief Daryl Gates was number one on that list, with former Los Angeles Chief Ed Davis second. Susan Atkins, part of the Manson family responsible for the Tate-LaBianca murders, was also mentioned fifth on the list mailed to the KHJ-TV studios. As such, we have a letter postmarked January 19th 1978 promising proof to the claims of murder and offering to give himself (and "a friend") up to police, in response to a news conference hosted by Chief Daryl Gates, who asked the killer or killers to give themselves up - followed by another letter mailed from Los Angeles on May 2nd 1978 threatening Chief Daryl Gates, who spearheaded the Hillside Strangler investigation. Who knows whether this was the Zodiac Killer interjecting himself into another major investigation, but it's certainly a possibility.       

Luigi Warren, Ph.D, is a Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) pioneer, who has written many Zodiac Killer articles on his Substack platform "Thought Crimes", including most recently, several on the identification of the remains of Donna Lass, along with his analysis of the Dragon Card and how it may be connected to the 1962 murder of Donna Frislie who was found in a shallow grave by two gold prospectors near a gold mine. Luigi has generously referenced my website a few times and has posed the following question in an article on January 7th 2024: "As far as I know, no one has ever made much of the coincidence in timing between the "Dragon card" and the discovery of Hakari’s body, despite an indirect linkage through the Lass case. Still, why should they?" He added "No one has ever offered a convincing rationale for why Zodiac would have selected the greetings card used in this communication".

​I took a look at this communication yesterday - and not totally convinced that the choice of the card necessarily has to have a meaning - I looked at it in respect to Zodiac's previous letter on April 20th 1970, which was mailed the same day the Robert Salem murder broke in the newspapers (with Zodiac having been scrawled in blood at the murder scene), Impeccable timing by a killer who hadn't written for four months, and stated "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". He didn't kill Robert Salem but the uncanny timing of this letter,suggested that he wanted police to think he did.

​Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have been long been argued for the depiction on the "Dragon card", along with gold prospectors suggested by Luigi Warren. If anybody can categorically nail down the card designer's intent behind the image, then we may have a greater possibility of determining if any meaning lay behind its selection. Without this, the card is open to many interpretations, just like the Halloween card mailed on October 27th 1970. Even with the designer's input on the meaning of the image, I have little doubt hundreds of forged connections could be made, depending on what Luigi or I (or anybody else) wanted to sell to the reader. ​

​For example, I want to convince the reader that the "Dragon card" having been mailed only eight days after the April 20th 1970 letter, is a continuation of the Robert Salem story, suggesting that police are dragging their feet in connecting Zodiac to this crime. He then selects a card depicting Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to advance his case. In the quest of Don Quixote, the author, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, depicts the struggle between Don Quixote and the Basque squire as an epic combat between equals. Their adventures together begin with Quixote's attack on some windmills which he believes to be ferocious giants. They next encounter two Benedictine friars and, nearby, an unrelated lady in a carriage. Quixote takes the friars to be enchanters who are holding the lady captive, knocks one of them from his horse, and is challenged by an armed Basque travelling with the company. The combat ends with the lady leaving her carriage and commanding those travelling with her to "surrender" to Quixote. Wikipedia. 
​
The story depicts an epic battle: "With the sharp-edged swords of the two valiant and enraged combatants held and raised on high, they seemed to threaten heaven, earth, and the abyss: such was their boldness and bearing. The first to strike a blow was the choleric Basque, and he delivered it with so much force and fury that if his sword had not turned on its way down, that single blow would have been enough to end this fierce combat and all the adventures of our knight; but good fortune, which had greater things in store for Don Quixote, twisted the sword of his adversary, so that although it struck his left shoulder, it did no more than tear through the armor along that side, taking with it as it passed a good part of his helmet and half an ear, both of which, in fearful ruin, fell to the ground, leaving him in a very sad state". Although Don Quixote survived, he would be partially disfigured by having part of his left ear cut off. Robert Salem had his left ear cut off and removed from the crime scene. However, this is a connection, among many, that can be easily fashioned from the "Dragon card". There may be a meaning behind Zodiac's "Dragon card" but I highly doubt this is it. The "Dragon card" has too many variables open to interpretation. Give me a meaning behind the mythical "Dragon" (possibly from a newspaper article in the days or weeks before April 28th 1970 concerning Zodiac) and we may be in business.

Please visit Luigi Warren's Substack to read his analysis of the Zodiac case.  

Recently the Zodiac Killer Channel "Interviews With The Experts" series (hosted by Ned Dehan) returned with a bonus episode featuring Andrew Gray, who contributes heavily to the Citizen Detective podcast with on-camera contributors Michael Morford, Dr. Lee Mellor, Alex Ralph, Cloyd Steiger and Suzanna Ryan. The latest episode with Andrew Gray has turned out to be the most heavily viewed presentation in the brief time it has been available - receiving 7,257 views in just five weeks (as of Christmas day, 2023). Much credit must be given to the erudite manner in which Andrew Gray approaches all aspects of the Zodiac Killer case. The tables will be turned on December 30th 2023, when Ned Dehan of Black Box Online Radio (currently in the Philippines) will be interviewed by yours truly. Barring any unforseen circumstances in the next five days, this second bonus episode should air shortly after its recording. 

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.