There appears a close correlation in the language the Zodiac Killer adopted in his communications, to the newspaper articles he read. But how much of this is a simple case of scanning old newspapers and forging links between the words used in each?

Something triggered the Zodiac Killer to begin a victim count on November 8th 1969, when he chronologically laid out the months of his murders in the following fashion: Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7". The Zodiac Killer, annoyed by the lack of front page coverage after his three murders and three cryptograms back in August, switched to murder by knife at Lake Berryessa after reading the extensive front page coverage of the August 3rd 1969 Snoozy & Furlong stabbings in the San Francisco Chronicle. His declarative statement of "by knife" on the car door at Lake Berryessa, a defiant response to this lack of front page coverage. The Zodiac Killer was effectively stating "do I now get front page coverage". The San Francisco Chronicle made the connection Zodiac had hoped for, by eventually linking him to the Snoozy & Furlong murders. By confronting Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa with a bladed instrument, he was prompting the newspapers to forge a link between the September 27th 1969 and August 3rd 1969 attacks.

On October 19th 1969, the San Francisco Examiner sent a message to the Zodiac Killer, stating "Five people are dead. Let there be no more killings. Police say you are intelligent. If you are, then listen to reason. You are being hunted everywhere in the state, and nation. You are alone in this world. You can share your secrets with no one. No friend can help you. You are as much a victim of your crimes as those whose lives you snuffed out. You cannot walk the streets a free man. There is no safety for you, anywhere. And you will be caught, there is no doubt. You face life as a hunted, tormented animal - unless you help yourself. We ask that you give yourself up to the Examiner. We offer you no protection, and no sympathy. But we do offer you fair treatment, the assurance of medical help and the full benefits of your legal rights. And we offer to tell your story. Why have you killed? How has life wronged you? Call the City Editor of the Examiner any time, day or night. The telephone number is (415) 781 24 24. Call collect. Your call will not be traced".

There are several things in this article that may have resonated with the Zodiac Killer, ultimately inspiring his choice of wording within the Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969. The Zodiac Killer had urged the police and newspapers to make the connection to the Snoozy & Furlong murders, by not only switching his mode of attack on September 27th 1969, but by also adding the additional text of "by knife" on the car door. The San Francisco Examiner stated "Five people are dead. Let there be no more killings". On November 8th 1969, the Zodiac Killer would declare seven victims in defiance, by chronologically listing the months of his attacks: Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7". He was effectively saying "do you get the message now".

The San Francisco Examiner article continued by adopting the isolationist language of "You are being hunted everywhere in the state, and nation. You are alone in this world. You can share your secrets with no one. No friend can help you". This statement may have also struck a nerve with the Zodiac Killer, who replied in the Dripping Pen card with "I get awfully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my thing." The Examiner article continued: "There is no safety for you, anywhere. And you will be caught, there is no doubt". On November 9th 1969 in the Bus Bomb letter, the Zodiac Killer reiterated the words "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them", also reminiscent of the wording used by the sadistic caller to Daniel Williams during this period, by way of “I’m too smart for them" when referring to the police over the phone. It is also unsurprising that the Zodiac Killer would respond to "And you will be caught, there is no doubt", with "There's no doubt I will do my Thing!" on November 21st 1969, while providing yet another code.

One month after the November 21st 1969 letter to the San Jose Police Department, the Zodiac Killer wrote to Melvin Belli at 1228 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. The San Francisco Examiner article stated "No friend can help you. You are as much a victim of your crimes as those whose lives you snuffed out. You cannot walk the streets a free man. There is no safety for you, anywhere. And you will be caught, there is no doubt. You face life as a hunted, tormented animal - unless you help yourself. We ask that you give yourself up to the Examiner. We offer you no protection, and no sympathy. But we do offer you fair treatment, the assurance of medical help".

Thrice the San Francisco Examiner mentioned the word "help" in respect to the Zodiac Killer, so did he ultimately respond in mocking fashion four times via Melvin Belli? The Zodiac Killer adopted a pleading tone in the December 20th 1969 letter, stating "The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me", along with "I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me". the brief "Please help me", and "Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer". The Zodiac Killer also continued the theme of a "thing" in three of the four communications.

Is this a case of "seek and you will find" with respect to the newspapers and language used by the killer, or did he feed off the newspapers and deliberately engineer his communications as a direct response to the articles he read? I will let you decide

Tom Voigt was recently interviewed by CBS8 News in San Diego regarding the 1962 Ray Davis and 1964 Swindle murders, and their possible connection to the same individual responsible for the Zodiac Killer murders in Northern California in the late 1960s. Tom Voigt is correct when he says he doesn't "understand why agencies withhold information after all this time. The police departments aren't that forthcoming. They are not doing the victims any justice, as they can still get a prosecution. The guy could still be alive". The same could be levelled at the Riverside Police Department, sitting on information with respect to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. Although this case, along with aforementioned murders are heading towards the 60-year mark, the suggestion that the Zodiac Killer may have been responsible and could have made mistakes in the infancy of his murderous career, is a reasonable assertion. The majority of serial killers will learn from their mistakes with time, often refining their approach to avoid capture. However, there is a possibility that towards the back end of their reign, they begin to feel impervious to capture and begin to take greater risks. This too could provide an opening.    

Tom Voigt is again correct that the answers could possibly lie outside of the four canonical attacks, which have literally been examined to breaking point. Rather than solely pinning our hopes on the search for DNA within the Zodiac communications, it is imperative that we don't put all our eggs in one basket. Linking the Zodiac Killer through different cities and using geographic profiling to pinpoint locations within those cities, could provide a common name to investigate. Tom Voigt also stated "It's amazing to me that the murder of Ray Davis was not to linked the Zodiac until earlier this year. There was nobody in the Zodiac world, professional or amateur detectives - nobody had ever heard of the murder of Ray Davis (which) it's clear is probably a Zodiac murder. I think there are other cases like that in Southern California in the early 1960s, and I think it's crucial to focus on that area in that time period".  While I agree again, there appears a contradiction when investigating the Zodiac case for potential leads. While the Ray Davis murder has rightly been hailed as a good avenue to pursue, there is another case that has been routinely ignored by virtually all amateur sleuths, despite the fact it has thirty pieces of ballistic evidence and an accompanying Zodiac letter. Not only does it have viable cartridge cases and bullets, it also has closer parallels to a known Zodiac murder than that of Ray Davis. Yet this crime lies virtually abandoned.

The two murders occurred on April 22nd 1986, and were featured in a Zodiac letter just two weeks later. I won't expand on this particular case any further, not only because it has been covered multiple times before on this site, but because no agency I have contacted is the slightest bit interested. Tom Voigt was amazed that nobody had linked the Ray Davis murder to the Zodiac until earlier this year, yet the Sacramento murders on April 22nd 1986 have been linked to the Zodiac Killer since 2013, but have essentially been ignored, gathering dust to this day. The constant search for answers down south is certainly an avenue worth investigating, yet the search for answers on the doorstep of the Bay Area under the Zodiac umbrella, seemingly appears an avenue worth ignoring. The contrast in approach to these two cases couldn't be more stark within the Zodiac community. It isn't just the police agencies we should be looking at. Cooperation is lacking at every level.  

I highly recommend watching the latest Youtube video by Rick & Gavin from Solve Crimes, where they interview the birth daughter of Carol Beth Hilburn regarding her search for the identity of her mother and the sad realization of her early demise. Carol Beth Hilburn (22) was murdered by one or more perpetrators on November 14th 1970, after leaving Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento. Here is a brief introduction to the case featured in an earlier article: The Murder of Carol Beth Hilburn.

I will not reveal any of the content in the video, other than to say Rick & Gavin have made excellent progress in pushing the cases of Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hilburn forward, with new information generated through diligent research, alongside interviews with family members and people close to each respective cold case. In previous episodes they conducted a running interview with Michael Willis (son of Raymond Willis, engaged to Judith Hakari at the time of her murder). In this episode they sensitively interviewed Lynda Sue Pinochi about the case of her mother.

Rick & Gavin must be commended on their approach to these extremely distant cold cases, when interviewing people with close ties to the victims of such horrible crimes. For many, these murders are often treated as nothing more than impersonal distant events, failing to understand these crimes have far-reaching effects on family members many decades after the crime. Rick & Gavin will undoubtedly convince many more people to come forward and share their stories through the compassionate and understanding manner they adopt.

The Youtube video series of Rick Tracewell and Gavin Fish, for me personally, is the correct way to approach these often forgotten and distant cold cases, where the person being interviewed is made to feel as comfortable as possible, despite the nature of the crimes discussed. The whole series is a breath of fresh air, in what can only be described as the stifling, oppressive and unsettling topic of true crime - in which often - these murders are not as cold to some as you are led to believe.

Inspector David Toschi was quoted in the July 10th 1974 San Francisco Chronicle regarding the latest May 8th and July 8th "Zodiac" communications, stating "There's no doubt in my mind about either one. I took them to a documents expert and in less than five minutes he told me positively they were in fact written by the Zodiac". There are no reputable documents examiners who could conclude in five minutes that two correspondences were written by the Zodiac Killer, if Toschi's assertions were true. There still remains much doubt over the 1974 communications to this day, as there does around the April 24th 1978 letter, with conflicting interpretations on its validity as a genuine Zodiac Killer letter. Document examiners would later disregard both the 1986 and 1987 letters, despite evidence to the contrary indicating that both these letters were penned by the real Zodiac Killer. 

Robert Prouty joined the San Diego Police Department after his service in the U.S. Air Force, before relocating to Sacramento in 1973 and working for the Department of Justice as a Questioned Documents Examiner. In the San Francisco Examiner on October 30th 1987, he stated in reference to two potential Zodiac letters "My very firm opinion is that they were not written by the authentic Zodiac. They appear to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public. All of us were hoping we'd heard the last of him", said Prouty, who analyzes about fifteen bogus Zodiac letters a year.

If we take the word of Robert Prouty, then he must have examined a minimum of 222 communications alleged to have been mailed by the Zodiac Killer over those nearly fifteen years.. Even if 20% of these were genuine, the Zodiac Killer may have mailed at least 44 communications from 1973 to October 1987. With a high degree of probability the Zodiac Killer mailed at least four, if not five communications in 1971. We therefore have a potential 222 communications ruled as bogus, when in fact some of them may have been genuine Zodiac letters - and as such - provided invaluable information as to his identity, or further insight into his movements and character? Hoping that you've "heard the last of him" is hoping for less information about the killer. More disturbing still, is how many of these communications have ended up being discarded and destroyed, when they could have contained valuable DNA evidence at a time when major breakthroughs in biological science were surfacing, along with the advancement in preservation and storage of samples pertaining to criminal investigations.         

Very few communications have been featured since 1974. Notable examples are three in 1978, one in 1986, two in 1987 (of which one was withheld), a postcard and greeting card in 1990, and a 2001 'Happy New Year' card. If these were deemed not authentic by Questioned Document Examiner's, why release these and not the other communications between 1974 and 1987, also deemed to have been penned by hoaxers. What is the difference? 

In respect to the 1987 letter received by the Vallejo Times-Herald, Robert Prouty said it "appeared to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public". In other words, it had been copied from previous letters and was a case of mimicry. Here is what Robert Prouty stated in respect to the 1978 letter: "I examined the photographs of the April letter and those of previous letters attributed to Zodiac. My first impression was that it was in the same general style as previous letters, but after closer examination my ultimate conclusion was that there were so many differences that it was not written by the same person who wrote the previous Zodiac letters … Several letter characteristics in my opinion did not match the style used by Zodiac. The slant of some letters was not consistent with previous Zodiac communications". In summary, one was ruled out because it looked too similar to previous letters and one was ruled out because it looked too different. John Shimoda of the US Postal Service crime laboratory originally deemed the 1978 letter genuine, before reversing that decision and stating “I am of the opinion that the letter of April 24 was an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic".       

There was a eight-year gap from the bulk of Zodiac communications in 1970 to the April 24th 1978 letter, and a further nine-year gap to the 1987 letter. Handwriting can change over time - and can change depending on the speed of writing, the surface you are writing on, the time of day, the style of pen you are using, the angle you are writing, the level of alcohol and drugs in your system and your health at any given time. Determining that certain letters vary slightly in style, particularly over many years - and thereby concluding a different author for the Zodiac letters - is stacked with inponderables such as these.

The Zodiac Killer contacted the Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969 in his first contact with the newspapers, but according to the Vallejo Times-Herald City Editor Mary Apanasewicz on October 30th 1987, the newspaper had never received a crank letter in the previous eighteen years. Therefore, we would have to conclude that up to 222 random hoax Zodiac letters could have been mailed between 1973 and 1987, yet not one single individual hoaxer ever wrote to the Herald. The fact that somebody wrote to them on October 28th 1987, using the same thirteen words on the envelope as the July 31st 1969 envelope, with no punctuation in either, using the full title of Vallejo Times-Herald (with both likely misspelling Herald to Herold), when the 1969 envelope had not been released into the public domain by October 28th 1987, should have told Mary Apanasewicz that she still hadn't received a hoax letter by the end of 1987 either.        

The nearly nude body of Nancy Darlene Feusi (23), a separated mother of five, was discovered by a fisherman at 6:30 am on July 22nd 1973 alongside Pleasant Grove Road and Steelhead Creek, approximately half-a-mile north of West Riego Road in Sutter County.

Dressed in a miniskirt and bikini-style briefs, with a blouse discovered nearby, she had been brutally stabbed 29 times in the stomach, chest and arm in what appeared a sexually driven crime. Shoe prints and tire tracks were discovered close to where the young woman was found, opening up the possibility she was murdered elsewhere and transported to the area she was found.

Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. Investigators concluded by examining the crime scene that she had been transported to the location she was ultimately found, and the perpetrator/s vehicle would have been  heavily bloodstained. Therefore, the location of her murder was considered to lie elsewhere, possibly close to the area she was last seen alive.  

Stephine Black (11) went missing from a Rio Linda bus stop on October 24th 1974 while walking from her home to school, testimony to this were her school books found lying abandoned on 18th Street. Her body was recovered on November 11th 1974, when two 16-year-old boys out rabbit hunting discovered her badly decomposed body behind cattails in a rice paddy just 25 feet off Jackson Road, north of Baseline Road. The location was only five miles from her residence.

A sexual component to the crime was fairly obvious because the young girl was clothed in only a blouse, with no other clothing found at the crime scene. Despite this, nothing conclusive could be determined from the autopsy by Placer County officials, other than she was likely dumped in the rice paddy shortly after her abduction from the bus stop.

The age of the victim, nature of her disappearance and location of her body would lead investigators to believe that Herman Lee Hobbs may very likely be responsible for her murder, based upon the circumstances discussed in the next case on this page - the murder of 13-year-old Terri Maree Pata. Despite lingering suspicions, the murder of Stephine Black remains unsolved to this day. Without any DNA collected in her case due to her being submerged in water, a likely resolution to her horrific murder will probably never materialize. 

Terri Maree Pata (13) was last seen leaving Rio Linda High School on January 21st 1975. Nine days later, the young girl was found by a man collecting aluminium cans stuffed inside a pipe in a drainage ditch alongside Lone Tree Road, close to Elverta Road in North Highlands. Terri Maree Pata had been brutally murdered, her throat had been slit and she had been stabbed a minimum of 27 times about the face, back and abdomen. The young girl had also been raped. The amount of stab wounds was very similar to the attack on Nancy Darlene Feusi, although the age of the victim's in each case were vastly different.

Many years later, DNA testing would eventually identify the murderer of Terri Maree Pata. Herman Lee Hobbs (57) was arrested at Pleasant Valley Prison in Coalinga (already in jail for rape) and brought to Sacramento County, before he was ultimately convicted of her murder, having lived close to Terri at the time of her disappearance and murder. He has been linked to many other rapes and murders, including Stephine Black, Brenda Ann Tucker, Katherine Harlan and Harriet Elizabeth Riley, the latter two of which both lived in North Highlands.

It is patently obvious that Herman Lee Hobbs was a deviant sociopath responsible for many more crimes than police could pin on him. During the 1970s, several girls near Pata's age were found murdered in the vicinity of North Highlands. In most cases, the bodies were so badly decomposed that detectives were unable to determine the cause of death or whether the victims had been sexually assaulted.

Katherine Harlan (9) was abducted on her walk to a bus stop on March 7th 1979 and found four days later just inside Sutter County beside Powerline Road, again likely transported to this location rather than murdered there. Her body was discovered by fishermen in a drainage ditch. Katherine lived less than a mile from murder victim Harriet Elizabeth Riley (6), who on the afternoon of January 9th 1975 disappeared close to her Gratton Way, North Highlands residence while playing in a park. Harriet was discovered suffocated a few blocks from her residence callously discarded in a dumpster. Her disposal site differed markedly from the other victims.

Fred Franklin Robinson (33) stood trial for the murder of Katherine Harlan, but despite investigators claiming he had admitted strangling the young 9-year-old girl he plead innocent at his trial. Several material eyewitnesses came forward vouching for Robinson's whereabouts at the time of Katherine's abduction, with the autopsy showing she was beaten to death. Charges against Robinson were eventually dropped by the judiciary claiming lack of evidence and nobody has subsequently been identified as the murderer of Katherine Harlan. Four of these murders (excluding Harriet Elizabeth Riley) have one striking feature in common, to which we shall turn to now.       

There were many more murder victims during this six-year window in Sacramento, but these four young girls were dumped in extremely close proximity to one another, close to West Riego Road. Nancy Darlene Feusi was found approximately 729 meters from West Riego Road. Stephine Black was found 1.8 miles from West Riego Road and only 1.44 miles from the dump site of Nancy Darlene Feusi. Katherine Harlan was found on Powerline Road which crosses West Riego Road. Terri Maree Pata's body was found approximately 2.4 miles south of West Riego Road. All four victims were found just off the side of a road in an extremely rural area of Sutter County and Placer County, which border each other. Their ages may vary from nine to twenty-three, but the close proximity to each other sets off the alarm bells. Herman Lee Hobbs was inextricably tied to the murder of Terri Maree Pata through DNA, but was he responsible for some or all of the other victims?

We have discussed Nancy Darlene Feusi (23) before, so it was particularly unnerving to find the dump site of Stephine Black (11) was in the same Pleasant Grove neighborhood, only one-and-a-half miles northeast. Their ages differed markedly, with Stephine Black being abducted on her way to school and Nancy Darlene Feusi having likely been abducted closer to 3:00 am after leaving a dance hall. However, they were both abducted from Sacramento County 15 months apart from one another and both were found only 1.44 miles apart in a remote northern location, just beyond Sacramento County lines. This area was extremely rural, having seemingly been chosen through familiarity and knowledge of this location. In terms of how the victims were killed, we know that both Nancy Darlene Feusi and Terri Maree Pata were stabbed at least 29 and 27 times respectively about the body, so was Herman Lee Hobbs responsible for the murder of Nancy Feusi also?

Using the words of Mike Oh from That Chapter, this old story involves a man who isn't the Zodiac Killer, but has probably more going for him than 99% of the suspects ever named. Those old coincidences just keep following this bloke around northern and southern California. He first came to the attention of the newspapers on October 21st 1969 regarding the Zodiac case, when he underwent six hours of questioning in Ukiah, California. Bruce Kenneth Swanson (30) was arrested by California Highway Patrol for speeding along Highway 101 (120 mph) just north of Ukiah, suspected of failing to pay a Ridgewood Motel bill. When his vehicle was searched they found a 14-inch knife, a bloody shirt and pair of shoes, and a woman's handbag. They also noted a resemblance to the infamous Zodiac Killer sketch (presumably from Lake Berryessa). However, after Napa law enforcement had traveled to Ukiah for a sit-down with Bruce Kenneth "Gift of the Gab" Swanson, the police allowed him on his merry way, satisfied with his explanations. Wouldn't you just loved to have been a fly on the wall in that interrogation room - but never mind - it probably went something like this: Bruce: "I was driving along the road like a maniac and hit a deer crossing the road, which I had to drag onto the verge, getting blood all over me. Fortunately, I happened to have a change of clothing with me because I was staying at the motel overnight. I bought the 14-inch kitchen knife and the woman's handbag for a female acquaintance of mine". Police Officer: "Ok, sounds reasonable, on your way lad".   

Bruce Kenneth Swanson grew up in San Bernardino County, was a 1957 graduate of Pacific High School, married his wife Barbara Ann Gaines at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, honeymooned in Santa Barbara and then moved into 1267 Mt. View Avenue, San Bernardino. If this is the correct location. it is 7.5 miles from the Redlands home of Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein (14), who went missing on March 19th 1968, heading back home from Moore Junior High School in Mentone. The home of Bruce Kenneth Swanson was also 11.6 miles from Terracina Drive, the location of Cheri Jo Bates murder. Map.

Tragedy then struck the family of Swanson, with his wife apparently committing suicide and killing their three children. "Mother, 28, Kills 3 Children, Self UPLAND (AP) A 28-year-old woman killed herself and her three small children Saturday by carbon monoxide poisoning, police reported. Officers said Mrs. Barbara Ann Swanson ran a hose from the exhaust pipe of her car into the vehicle and then closed the windows. The children were identified as Eric Edward, 4; Elisa Marie, 3; and Keith Kenneth, 1. Mrs. Swanson's husband, Bruce, 27, earlier had filed a missing person report and was apparently out looking for her the time the deaths occurred, police said." San Bernardino County Sun, December 19th 1966: "The tragedy which destroyed the family of Bruce K. Swanson, 27, occurred after an apparent happy ride in the car by the mother and her children. A service station attendant in La-Verne told Upland police Mrs. Swanson had asked directions to the nearest hamburger stand. The children were dressed in pajamas and bathrobes, the attendant said. In answer to his request that she 'come back soon,' Mrs. Swanson said that she would. But 12 hours later, Mrs. Swanson's husband, worried and tired after an all-night search for his family, walked into a lemon grove adjacent to the yard and found the station wagon".

Much of these details can be found online, but after a bit of brain-storming and endless sleepless nights, I have managed to make potential Zodiac communications and murders follow this man around like a proverbial shadow, turning him into one of those "good old Zodiac suspects" who never was - and will never be the Bay Area murderer in a million years. Off went Bruce Kenneth Swanson from southern California to northern California sometime in the late 1960s, just in time for the Zodiac murders and communications to begin, and nestled himself in Pleasant Hill, Contra Costa County, Despite the fact he wasn't the Zodiac Killer or a murderer, coincidence would seemingly follow him around.

On December 1st 1969 Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek, believed to have been forcibly removed from the residence by one or more assailants, while in the presence of her three-year-old sister, Heidi. Her glasses and her purse containing four dollars were still in the home. Her parents described Elaine as shy, with no boyfriend or relationship problems at the time of her disappearance. Her mother had driven to nearby Concord at 10:30 pm to pick up her husband from work and was out of the residence for just 45 minutes - and it is during this period of time that Elaine Davis vanished.

On December 19th 1969 the body of a young woman (in 2000, eventually identified as Elaine Davis after an exhumation) was discovered floating off Light House Point near Santa Cruz, CA. The body was decomposed with extensive damage, described as a partial torso with arm-bones and parts of the legs. Santa Cruz's deputy county coroner, Luther Young stated "We'll work on this case until we run out of leads, but right now we have nothing that would indicate any identification. I wouldn't venture to say the body is that of Elaine Davis. We have never ruled on that possibility and we have never ruled it out".

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

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

Cosette Ellison (15) disappeared from her 423 Canyon Road, Moraga residence (near Walnut Creek) on Tuesday March 3rd 1970, believed to have been forcibly taken from outside her home after getting off the school bus from Campolinda High School. She was dropped off by bus driver, Eugene Yee, at 3:20 pm, who saw her cross the road and remove some letters from the mailbox before heading along the driveway. The bus driver noticed a man sitting in a truck near the residence. On his return journey 10 minutes later, the truck had edged closer to the driveway of the Ellison household but the occupant was no longer inside. Thirty minutes later, at approximately 4:00 pm, Mr and Mrs Richard Ellison returned to an empty house. Cosette's school books were not in their usual place and no mail had been brought into the house, suggesting something untoward had happened close to the time Eugene Yee passed the Ellison residence. On January 1st 1971, nearly a year after the disappearance of Cosette Ellison, her body was found in a ravine of the Mount Diablo foothills. The residences of 423 Canyon Road and North Gate Road are extremely rural and spread, with a reduced chance of being overseen in the commission of an abduction. This may have been a consideration for the perpetrator, who likely followed school buses to a more remote setting. The risky nature of forcibly removing somebody from outside their residence necessitates a lack of eyewitnesses.

Patricia King (20) was murdered while attending Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill on March 5th 1970. The college layout has altered over the last 48 years, but we can pinpoint the key locations based on the wording in the newspapers. Patricia King of 2200 Lisa Lane, Pleasant Hill had attended Diablo Valley College for her gym class at 7:00 pm on Thursday evening. Her classmates informed investigators that Patricia usually only stayed for the first hour of her gym class, which is what transpired that evening, when the young woman left the building at approximately 7:50 pm. Her boyfriend was expecting her back at her home and became concerned when she didn't return by 8:15 pm.

Patricia King's body was found by a workman, Ernest Ellington, at 7:20 am the following morning in the DVC Vikings football stadium. She was wearing a black blouse and three-quarter length coat and had been strangled with her own gym tights. The newspaper reports stated "A purse (handbag) with her identification was found on the front seat of her car, in a lot adjacent to the stadium. A pair of leather sandals were on the floorboard. Her car keys were found on the Pleasant Hill campus parking lot Friday afternoon". Detective Sergeant Sam Ginsburg said "it was impossible to tell at this time if the girl knew her slayer. There was no reason for her to go into the stadium area coming to or from the parking lot to the class".

I have placed the relevant locations of these young girls in respect to Pleasant Hill in the Google map above.

Returning back to the Vallejo News Chronicle article reporting on Swanson being quizzed for six hours the morning of October 21st 1969, it stated "He had been arrested by the California Highway Patrol Monday (20th) on US 101 north of Ukiah", obviously with "squealling tires and raceing engine" so as to attract everybody to his car in Mendocino County. The following morning, after his release by Ukiah law enforcement, somebody was driving on Lake Mendocino Drive at 3:00 pm that same day (October 21st 1969) just north of Ukiah and threw a note attached to a twig at an eight-year-old girl. The crudely printed note read "You're Next - Z". A few minutes later, a man asked another eight-year-old girl in Bargain Lane what color panties she was wearing. There had also been a spate of "Zodiac sightings" in nearby Anderson Valley.   

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on November 8th 1969, stating "The string of sadistic calls began on October 23rd 1969 (the day after the Jim Dunbar Show call). On one occasion, the caller told Williams he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but had left when he found police there. Another time, the teacher said the caller, whose voice he described as muffled as if speaking through a handkerchief, said he was going to "kill the lady in the blue house". These calls began two days after the Ukiah incidents. 

Daniel Williams (24), a teacher at Salesian High School in Richmond, told police the caller talked of how he intended to kill several persons, then last; Sunday said: “You’re the dead duck.” Williams went out and when he returned home found someone had pried open the screen on a back door. However, a police search showed nothing was missing. But after the officers left and Williams took a drink from a bottle of opened soft drink in his refrigerator, he found it tasted “metallic” and immediately spat it out. Police reported Friday that the bottle contained more than enough arsenic to kill a human being. Williams said the caller identified himself as the still sought Zodiac Killer of five, but police discounted the idea. The caller would “sob and complain of headaches". Williams said, and on one occasion said he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but left when he found police there. Williams said the caller told him: “I’m too smart for them".

If the caller had told Daniel Williams that "he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims", then he didn't have far to travel if he lived in Pleasant Hill. The city of  Martinez is only 6 miles to the north, with the residence of Daniel Williams at 1234 Bush Street a mere 5 miles away.

Approximately eleven months later, a pasted card, mimicking the 13-Hole Postcard was mailed to the home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California, postmarked October 17th 1970 from Berkeley. Edward C. Adams was a psychiatrist. The card read "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac". The home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams is 8 miles from Pleasant Hill.

Seven-and-a-half months later, on June 1st 1971, a woman from South Dora Road, Ukiah complained she had received a series of threatening phone calls from an adult male, one of which stated "This is Zodiac - you're next". Her residence at South Dora Road is only 4 miles from where the threatening note of "You're Next - Z" was thrown to the eight-year-old girl walking on Lake Mendocino Drive. One man is relevant to all these locations, particularly on October 21st 1969. The city of Ukiah is 115 miles from San Francisco, yet here we have two reports of similar threats with extremely similar phraseology, separated by over a year-and-a-half, when the peak of Zodiac activity had subsided.

We have taken Bruce Kenneth Swanson from the Riverside area and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and Elizabeth Ernstein in 1966 and 1968, through the sad demise of his wife and children, into the heart of northern California and the Pleasant Hill connected murders of Elaine Davis (12/01/69), Leona Roberts (12/10/69), Cosette Ellison (03/03/70) and Patricia King (03/05/70). We have shown the Ukiah connection through two threatening messages of "You're Next - Z" and "This is Zodiac - you're next", to the ominous communication and phone call to Dr. Edward C. Adams in Orinda and Daniel Williams in Martinez. However, Bruce Kenneth Swanson is not the Zodiac Killer, or likely the murderer of any of these young women. This presentation was put together to show how easy it is to create a series of events to paint a picture of perceived involvement in murder. The reason today we have hundreds of suspects in the Zodiac case, many of which are staunchly presented as the Zodiac Killer, is perfect testimony to the frailty of techniques such as this. If these coincidence building techniques were reliable in identifying the Zodiac Killer, everybody would have reached the same conclusion as to who the Bay Area murderer was. The fact we have hundreds of Zodiac Killer's today, is evidence that this approach to case building is wholly flawed. Of course, it goes without saying, that everybody has a better case for their suspect than the one I have presented here.  

Susan Marie Lynch (22) was discovered murdered on July 31st 1971, found buried alive in sand by "bottle hunters" near East Levee Road, one-half mile north of Del Paso Road and 0.6 miles southwest of the dump site of Carol Beth Hilburn. Carol (22) was last seen at Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento and found later that day on Saturday, November 14th 1970, battered and naked only 30 feet south of West Ascot Avenue and West 4th Street near Rio Linda.

Betty Cloer (21) almost certainly crossed paths with her killer (Phillip Arthur Thompson) on Madison Avenue, Sacramento on June 18, 1971. She was found beaten and shot in Cameron Park, El Dorado County on June 19th 1971. Judith Hakari (23) was abducted from the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970, discovered beaten and raped in a shallow grave on April 25th 1970 alongside Ponderosa Way, near Weimar. 

Nancy Darlene Feusi (23), a separated mother of five, was discovered by a fisherman at 6:30 am on July 22nd 1973 alongside Pleasant Grove Road and Steelhead Creek, approximately half a mile north of West Riego Road in Sutter County. Dressed in a miniskirt and bikini-style briefs, with a blouse discovered nearby, she had been brutally stabbed 29 times in the stomach, chest and arm in what appeared a sexually driven crime. Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. Denise Kathleen Anderson (22) disappeared on April 13th 1971, having been last seen by one of her roommates at 5:30 am at their residence located on 925 16th Street in Sacramento. An extraordinary number of shocking crimes in such a small area - and this is just a snapshot. 

The bodies of Susan Marie Lynch and Carol Beth Hilburn were discovered on East Levee Road and West Ascot Avenue respectively, which both flanked the Dry Creek and 265 acre Hansen Ranch Park Site, often used by fishermen. The two roads pass within 230 meters of one another. Nancy Darlene Feusi's body was dumped 6 miles north of  West Ascot Avenue (where Carol Beth Hilburn was found). The bodies of Susan Marie Lynch and Nancy Darlene Feusi were both discovered next to Steelhead Creek.

It was thought that Susan Marie Lynch may have been unconscious before she was buried, leaving the possibility that she was transported to this location and buried (believing she was already dead). It is clear that Carol Beth Hilburn was not murdered where she was found, with a reasonable conclusion to be had, that both young women were transported to these locations by vehicle and dragged to where they were ultimately found. Susan Marie Lynch was found clothed in only a blouse, pulled up towards her neck, with one tennis shoe on her left foot. Carol Beth Hilburn was found naked with only one suede boot on her feet. It is fairly obvious from the state of undress of both women that a sexual component was the driving force behind both these crimes. The proximity of both dump sites, alongside roads separated by no more than 230 meters, could indicate that this area around the Hansen Park Ranch Site including Steelhead Creek and Dry Creek, was an area familiar to the perpetrator or perpetrators in each crime. But were they responsible for both or all these murders?

I would like to thank Shawn (a regular contributor to this site) for drawing my attention to this crime and providing the newspaper cutting.

Solve Crimes with Rick & Gavin is a new Youtube channel, website, True Crime podcast series and forum where you can get involved and help to find a resolution to the many unsolved murders and disappearances that have haunted so many people for far too long. In the words of Rick & Gavin "help us solve the mystery and provide the victim, the victim's family, community and law enforcement with justice and peace of mind".

They invite you to join their burgeoning venture by joining the forum, providing new information or tips, suggesting possible new cold cases for them to investigate and even the option of confessing to a crime (and hopefully remove all the murderers and criminals that visit my site). To date they have currently produced six extremely well-researched Youtube videos on the murder of Judith Hakari (4), the disappearance of Denise Anderson and an additional video entitled "Killer Wine" (I will leave you to work that one out). They welcome everybody with a keen interest in solving cold cases to cooperatively make this venture an ongoing success, which judging by the first few videos, I have no doubt it will be. To view each video shown below, click the images. 

Rick Tracewell and Gavin Fish present an introductory first episode regarding the abduction and murder of Judith Ann Hakari (23) on March 7th 1970 outside the Markston Apartments in Sacramento. This video presentation will include a mixture of crime scene imagery, newspaper cuttings, and a back and forth discussion between Rick and Gavin. They will also touch on the Nancy Bennallack, Carol Beth Hilburn and Donna Lass crimes, to be expanded upon in further episodes.   

The second episode explores in much more detail the abduction of Judith Hakari, along with the devastating impact this crime had on the family and community. The episode concentrates mainly on the crime scene outside of the Markston Apartments and the condition her vehicle was found by her boyfriend, Raymond Willis (24), at approximately 1:45 am. There would be no happy ending seven weeks later. As Gavin stated "The Placer County Sheriff's Offce were very swift to go and notify the Hakari's - and that is when the first chapter of their nightmare ended".

The third episode takes you on a journey between the two crime scenes and apartments of Judith Hakari and Nancy Bennallack. This young woman was brutally stabbed in the Tahitian Apartment complex on October 25th 1970, located just 830 feet from the Markston Apartments. No solid link has ever been forged between the two murders, but their close proximity within eight months of each other has led to much speculation of a single perpetrator. Offender DNA has been secured in the case of Nancy Bennallack.

The fourth episode explores the discovery of Judith Hakari's shallow grave alongside Ponderosa Way in Weimar and its implications regarding the possible perpetrator or perpetrators of the savage and brutal murder of the young nurse. Rick & Gavin detail the items found at the crime scene and an eyewitness to three men acting suspiciously in the area prior to the discovery of her body. Judith Hakari went missing on March 7th 1970, with her body discovered by two hikers on April 25th 1970. Episode five.

The sixth episode covers the rarely covered case of Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), who was last seen in her 925 16th Street apartment in Sacramento on April 13th 1971. Information on this crime is so lacking and threadbare, they have done an excellent job in airing this crime for 29 minutes. I say crime, because the body of Denise Anderson has never been found, but everything points to her abduction at or in close proximity to her residence. If you knew Denise Anderson, or have any information on her life and disappearance, please contact Rick & Gavin via the website link posted above.   

Denise Kathleen Anderson (22) disappeared on April 13th 1971, having been last seen by one of her roommates at 5:30 am at their residence located on 925 16th Street in Sacramento. One of the women who shared with Denise borrowed her car that fateful day, returning at 2:30 pm to find the residence empty. From that day forward Denise Anderson has never been seen or heard from again. It was reported in the Sacramento Bee newspaper that she had left behind all her personal belongings and her bank account remained dormant. She was an employee of the Wells Fargo Bank in Sacramento, but failed to appear on July 13th 1971.

Denise was also an avid performer in the Centerplayers theater group, which she also failed to attend for rehearsals that day. The group had recently performed in the Crossroads Shopping Center at 35th Avenue and Freeport Boulevard. 

In light of recent articles concerning the murders of Judith Hakari, Carol Beth Hilburn and Betty Cloer, the disappearance of Denise Anderson at or in the proximity of her residence at 925 16th Street, is rather pertinent. Her residence was only 1.28 miles from the home of convicted murderer, Phillip Arthur Thompson (2526 V Street}, and only 1.19 miles from Alhambra Boulevard where he worked with partner Mark Masterson. Betty Cloer was raped and murdered by Phillip Arthur Thompson on June 19th 1971, just two months after the disappearance of Denise Anderson.

Assuming she left her residence early that morning for work, it may be extremely useful to find out which branch of the Wells Fargo Bank she worked - and headed toward (on foot) that day. There is a branch of Wells Fargo at 1831 S Street in Midtown about 1km from the 2526 V Street residence of Thompson, but without knowing whether it was on that site in 1971 leaves only speculation. This journey would have certainly taken her into the hot zone of Thompson. The United States District Court transcripts stated that "Petitioner and a partner, Mark Masterson, operated a used car sales and service company located on Alhambra Boulevard", thereby providing a secure and private location out of business hours, distinct and separate from his home residence.

Under Distinguishing Characteristics on The Charley Project it details Denise Anderson as a Caucasian female with brown hair, brown eyes, 5'2" to 5'4" inches in height and 120lbs. Although her hair was long at the time of her disappearance, Anderson has been known to wear a wig which would give her a short hairstyle. This item was missing from her apartment after she disappeared.

Tying the disappearance of Denise Anderson to the murders of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari is much more difficult without knowing exactly her fate and any injuries she may have sustained. If her body had been discovered shortly after her disappearance and exhibited the excessive trauma to the head and face as evident in the other three cases, then the location of her residence and her bank would certainly be much more significant with respect to the home and business addresses of Phillip Arthur Thompson. But one thing is for sure. The bodies of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari were all found north or north easterly to their last known positions. The killer in each case sought to dispose of his victim in a rural setting - with all the dump sites north or north easterly from the residence and workplace of Thompson. 

The map above shows the pertinent addresses regarding the murders of Betty Cloer, Carol Beth Hilburn and Judith Hakari. At approximately 1:00 am on June 19th 1971, Betty Cloer left the club and traveled to the Texaco gas station on Madison Avenue (probably 4300 Madison Avenue). where they first encountered Phillip Arthur Thompson, who apparently trailed them to her apartment (located somewhere in North Sacramento). We can get an approximate position of the apartment because it was 6.5 miles north from the V Street residence of Thompson and Saylor. It was 5.5 miles from Thompson's used car sales and service company at Alhambra Boulevard. Thompson's home address and business were just 2 miles and 1.5 miles respectively, from the Sutter Memorial Hospital at F Street between 51st and 53rd Streets. If Thompson trailed Betty Cloer from a dance club around 1:00 am, is it possible he trailed Judith Hakari on March 7th 1970 from Sutter Memorial Hospital to the Markston Apartments? Did he also set his sights on Carol Beth Hilburn (22) as she exited Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, November 14th 1970. The close proximity of all these locations could suggest a hunting ground extremely close to his residence on the northern and eastern side of downtown Sacramento.

Betty Cloer's body was discovered lying in Cameron Park, El Dorado County on June 19th 1971, located just 10 miles west of Placerville. Despite being shot in the head, chest and arm, Phillip Arthur Thompson felt the need (probably before) to inflict crushing blows to her head and face, leaving her unrecognizable. These same destructive blows to the face and head were evident in the murders of Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hilburn. Investigators described the condition of Judith Hakari as "one of the most godawful assaults ever investigated", with her nose smashed to a pulp, several teeth knocked out, and her jaw broken in at least two places. Coroners in the murder of Carol Beth Hilburn stated that she "was so badly beaten that she was unrecognizable, suffering several skull and facial fractures, and her throat was cut". In all of the murders, the perpetrator went far beyond what was necessary to kill each woman - seemingly gaining pleasure in destroying the identity of Cloer, Hilburn and Hakari. All women were found in a state of near full or partial disrobing, with sexual degradation the overriding feature of each crime. The bodies of Betty Cloer and Judith Hakari were discovered in remote wilderness either side of Auburn, California, with just 24 miles (as the crow flies) separating each dump site. Both Hakari and Cloer were taken from their apartments (located just a few miles apart) and found 38 miles and 28 miles respectively, to the east of Sacramento - almost equidistant between South Lake Tahoe and Sacramento.         

In the case of Phillip Arthur Thompson, the prosecution presented evidence regarding two prior incidents in which petitioner had sexually assaulted young women, the first involving Sharon S. on December 2, 1970, and the second involving Melinda M. on March 9, 1972. Sharon S. and Melinda M. were both, like Cloer, young white females who appear to have been chosen by random encounter. Both Sharon S. and Melinda M. alleged that they had agreed to go somewhere with petitioner and another man, then were taken by car to a different location where they could be rendered helpless. Petitioner physically assaulted both women, and threated to kill them. He put a gun to Melissa M.’s head. Petitioner had sexual intercourse with both women. Petitioner and Mark Masterson (who operated the car sales and service company with Thompson) were tried for the Sharon S. assault in 1971.

Testimony from the preliminary hearing in that case, including the victim’s testimony, was read into the record of the instant case. The jury also heard live witness testimony regarding the Sharon S.case. Mark Masterson testified that he and petitioner had both raped Sharon S. and that petitioner had persuaded another employee, John Mays, to falsely testify at the 1971 trial that both men had been with him at the auto shop on the night of the rape. Petitioner and Masterson were both acquitted in the Sharon S. case. Petitioner had been charged in the Melinda M. matter and eventually entered a negotiated plea to assault, with the sex offense charges being dropped. Melinda M. testified at petitioner’s trial that he had raped her in 1972 after he and James Allen picked her up when she was hitchhiking.

This seems extremely pertinent information when we have the testimony of a landowner on Ponderosa Way, who described three men at the gravesite where Judith Hakari would ultimately be found, acting suspiciously. He described the trunk of their vehicle open while digging into the earth. When he approached they closed the trunk and stated they were looking for bottles. A vehicle description could be extremely important with respect to vehicles owned by each of the men in the above case.

Donna Ann Lass (25) disappeared from Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970, having finished her shift that day at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, (now the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino). where she was employed as a nurse. A few months earlier in June she had moved to South Lake Tahoe from San Francisco, where she had previously worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, near the Paul Stine murder scene. She was scheduled to work her night shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, but was logged out at 1:45 am that morning for the last time. She is considered murdered, but her remains have never been discovered.

The similarity between the Donna Lass and Judith Hakari cases, are the fact that both women had just finished their respective shifts as a nurse, either side of midnight and separated by just six months. One hopes that Donna Lass didn't receive the barbaric beatings suffered by Cloer, Hilburn and Hakari - but bearing in mind the above United States District Court transcript - it was mentioned that "Cloer told Ford she was going to Lake Tahoe and needed a coat". It is clear that Phillip Arthur Thompson was heading in that direction from Sacramento, but whether they reached South Lake Tahoe and Betty Cloer was murdered on the return journey is unclear. Whatever the case, Phillip Arthur Thompson must have mentioned Lake Tahoe to Betty Cloer - being somewhere he was undoubtedly familiar with. The question that has to be asked is, was he present near the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 6th 1970, with the lifeless body of Donna Lass to be found somewhere near Auburn, California? I sincerely hope this is not the case.

According to Dr. Doogie on the Zodiac Killer message board, Phillip Arthur Thompson and his wife first lived in Kings Beach, CA (on Lake Tahoe) after June 1968, but quickly moved to various locations in the Bay Area and on to Sacramento. Kings Beach sits next to Incline Village, the area featured on the infamous Pines card of March 22nd 1971, purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer.

Under an FBI file marked "Zodiac Extortion", there was a "request to compare writing on demand note submitted previously in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" with the specimens in captioned case". The FBI were comparing the handwriting on a bank robbery note with submitted handwriting from samples in the captioned case. The bank robbery note (demand note) shown below, read "This is Bank Rhobery IF you don't do as I say I will shot. Zodiac".  with this threatening communication considered relevant enough to be placed in the Zodiac FBI files under "Zodiac Extortion". The demand note also carried the date of December 3rd 1968, seventeen days before the Zodiac's first murders on Lake Herman Road.

The FBI files continued with "It was not determined whether the specimens in captioned case were prepared by the writer of the Q1 demand note in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Was a fledgling Zodiac hovering around San Francisco in the December of 1968? The Wells Fargo Bank in Sutter Street is a two minute walk from Union Square, where the Zodiac Killer likely entered the taxicab of murder victim, Paul Stine.

The story became a little more quirky when I read a post on the Zodiac Killer message board by BugsMoran regarding an outlaw called Black Bart, one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers in Northern California. BugsMoran wrote "Like the Zodiac, Black Bart would also send the police taunting letters (usually lousy poems about his capers). At times he even handed his victims these letters. It took years for the Pinkerton Detective Agencty to crack the case. I think his last robbery was foiled - and in his flight - he left behind a hankerchef with a laundry marking on it. The police had to go to every Chinese laundry in San Francisco before they were able to trace the hankerchef to Bart. Being from San Francisco the Zodiac would have known of the as local bandit". 

Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles) adopted the nickname "Black Bart" and proceeded to rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches at least 28 times across northern California between 1875 and 1883, Boles was invariably polite and used no foul language, despite its appearance in his poems. He dressed in a long linen duster coat and a bowler hat, using a flour sack with holes cut for his eyes as a mask. He brandished a shotgun, but never used it. These features became his trademarks. The idea of a robber, handing out poetic notes in northern California, wearing a head sack with eyeholes, sort of rang a bell for some reason. Especially with the Wells Fargo connection. 

Black Bart is a 1948 American western film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea as the real-life cowboy bandit Charles Boles, and Jeffrey Lynn. It was distributed by Universal-International and produced by Leonard Goldstein. It was shot in Technicolor and was also known as Black Bart, Highwayman. The film was written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford, and William Bowers and was released on March 3, 1948.

The results of the handwriting comparison were inconclusive "because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Despite the handwriting in the Zodiac case failing to be conclusively matched to the demand note because of "lack of material", it appears that this 15-worded note was enough to place it in the Zodiac files under "Zodiac Extortion". Was this because the author of the bank robbery note used the word "Zodiac" and/or investigators noticed a similarity of handwriting in the demand note? The notion of a threatening bank robbery note containing the pseudonym Zodiac, seven months in advance of the Debut of Zodiac letter, in which the Bay Area killer introduced himself for the first time, is puzzling to say the least. The FBI report stated "It is noted that the Q1 demand note mentioned in the attached Laboratory report was submitted by San Francisco with an airtel dated 6/27/69". June 27th 1969 was still one week before the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969, and just over a month before the Debut of Zodiac letter. Why would this threatening note be considered Zodiac material before the Zodiac pseudonym ever emerged in the San Francisco Examiner offices?

Inspired by the savage knife murders of Kathy Snoozy (15) and Deborah Furlong (14) on August 3rd 1969, the Zodiac Killer drove away from the shores of Lake Berryessa to the corner of Clinton and Main Streets in Napa. By November 9th 1969, the Zodiac Killer had retrospectively added the San Jose murders of the two teenagers into his running victim count. Just twelve days later he was claiming an eighth victim, when a letter arrived at the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969 with the insertion of November = 8. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer had now switched to brutal knife attacks, whether he was claiming them or participating in them, there is a distinct possibility that victim number eight was along these lines. He had no involvement in the Snoozy and Furlong murders, but the ferocity of the attack which left both victims absolutely brutalized, was ideal for a killer intent on stoking fear in the psyche of the American people. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "the Snoozy youngster had 150 wounds on her back, 50 on the front and a "storm" of punctures on her neck. Deborah's body had about 100 wounds on her back and upper front and a dozen on her neck". The location of the attack was another advantageous feature for the Zodiac Killer, keen to bolster his burgeoning reputation as the most feared sociopath in the Bay Area. It was imperative that the Zodiac Killer chose his next victim wisely.

It is extremely unlikely that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murder of Reet Jurvetson (19) on November 14th 1969, found in dense undergrowth alongside Mulholland Drive two days later, but he was claiming victim number eight by November 21st 1969. Like the Snoozy and Furlong murders, Reet Jurvetson had been viciously stabbed 157 times in the neck, chest and torso, yet apparently transported to this location and thrown down the canyon from the roadside edge. Her body was discovered just north of Kimridge Avenue, only eight miles west of her last known address, at 5311 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. The journey would have been west on Melrose Avenue, before heading north on Loma Vista Drive to Mulholland Canyon.

This, coupled with the fact she had consumed a meal just two hours prior to her death, could have given police an indication of where that meal had been eaten, bearing in mind the journey time from 5311 Melrose Avenue to the location of her body is about 25 minutes, and her apartment (by all indications) wasn't the site of her murder. That leaves approximately 90 minutes for events to unfold. Accounting for the fact that somebody had to murder the young woman by way of 157 stab wounds, carry or drag her body to a waiting vehicle and drive to Mulholland Drive, it is very likely she was murdered not long after seemingly being at ease in taking a meal. The victim's body showed no evidence that this crime was the result of robbery, or driven by a sexual motive. Drag marks at the crime scene indicated Reet Jurvetson had been transported to the crime scene in an upright position within a car and rolled down the ravine where she snagged in the brush just a short distance down, resulting in her being discovered by a 15-year-old birdwatcher. Her identity remained unknown until 2016.

Had the Zodiac Killer read about the case of the woman alongside Mulholland Drive, noted the similarity in the ferocity of the attack to murders he had already claimed - and so insinuated his involvement by adding November = 8 in his November 21st 1969 communication? The last time he had written the months of his murders, he was also attempting to deceive.

The November 21st 1969 communication was postmarked five days after Reet Jurvetson's body was discovered, claiming an eighth victim, but was postmarked the exact day that Doreen Gaul and James Sharp's bodies were found on November 21st 1969 at around 11:00 PM in an alley behind the residence at 1138 South Magnolia, Los Angeles. They were murdered elsewhere and stabbed in excess of 50 times. This may not seem that unusual, until we consider that Doreen Gaul and James Sharp's bodies were found less than 3 miles (by crow) from the residence of Reet Jurvetson at 5311 Melrose Avenue. Even more curious that a typewritten letter from the supposed Zodiac Killer was discovered in the room of Doreen Gaul stating "You are too beautiful to live and I must kill you". And even more unusual that the Zodiac Killer purportedly mailed a threatening letter to the Albany Times Union newspaper on August 1st 1973 claiming his next victim would be from the Albany Medical Center, only 350 feet from 570 Myrtle Avenue, the street on which Doreen Gaul had previously lived. Then we have the May 2nd 1978 Channel 9 letter mailed to KHJ-TV Studios at 5515 Melrose Avenue - also purported to be from the Zodiac Killer - and located just 437 meters from the once residence of Reet Jurvetson (pointed out to me by Toots). The murders of Kathy Snoozy, Deborah Furlong, Reet Jurvetson, James Sharp and Doreen Gaul bound by the savagery of excessive knife wounds, with the Zodiac Killer never seemingly far away. Certainly not responsible for the murders of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong - and unlikely the murderer of Reet Jurvetson, James Sharp and Doreen Gaul - but the Bay Area murderer appears to have an uncanny sense of timing and location. 

Vallejo Times-Herald, July 31st 1969, 4 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
San Francisco Examiner, July 31st 1969, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
San Francisco Chronicle, July 31st 1969, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
San Francisco Examiner, August 4th 1969, hand delivered, no envelope.
Paul Stine Letter, October 13th 1969, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Dripping Pen Card, November 8th 1969, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Bus Bomb Letter November 9th 1969, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.

Issue Date: January 29, 1966.

Fairfield Letter, December 7th 1969, 1 X 5c George Washington stamp.
Fairfield Letter, December 16th 1969, 1 X 5c George Washington stamp.

Issue Date: November 17, 1967.

Melvin Belli Letter, December 20th 1969, 6 X 1c Thomas Jefferson stamps.

Issue Date: January 12, 1968.

My Name Is Letter, April 20th 1970, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Dragon Card, April 28th 1970, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Button Letter, June 26th 1970, 1 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Kathleen Johns Letter, July 24th 1970, 1 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.
Little List Letter, July 26th 1970, 1 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.

Issue Date: January 29, 1966.

Thirteen Hole Postcard, October 5th 1970, 1 X Apollo 8 Moon Orbit stamp.

Issue Date:  May 5, 1969.

'Zodiac Is Going To' Postcard, October 17th 1970, 2 X 3c Statue of Liberty stamp. 

Issue Date: June 24, 1954.

Halloween Card, October 27th 1970, 1 X Apollo 8 Moon Orbit stamp.

Issue Date:  May 5, 1969.

Los Angeles Times Letter, March 13th 1971, 2 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.

Issue Date: January 29, 1966.

Pines Postcard, March 22nd 1971, Abraham Lincoln 4c Card.

U.S. Postcard rate from January 7th 1968 to May 16th 1971 = 5c.

Albany Medical Center Letter, August 1st 1973, 3 X 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps.

Issue Date: January 29, 1966.

Exorcist Letter, January 29th 1974, 1 X 8c Dwight D. Eisenhower stamp.
SLA Letter, February 3rd 1974, 1 X 8c Dwight D. Eisenhower stamp.

Issue Date: May 10, 1971.

Citizen Postcard, May 8th 1974, Samuel Adams 8c Card.

U.S. Postcard rate from March 2nd 1974 to September 14th 1975 = 8c.

Red Phantom Letter, July 8th 1974, 1 X 10c Famous Works of Art: Goya stamp.

Issue Date: June 6, 1974.

Mary Pilker Christmas Card, December 27th 1974, 2 X 10c Contemporary Christmas: Currier and Ives "Winter Road" stamp.

Issue Date: October 23, 1974. 

1978 (I Am Back With You) Letter, April 24th 1978, 2 X 13c Americana Series: Liberty Bell stamp.

Issue Date: November 25, 1975.

Atlanta Letter, March 8th 1981, 1 X 15c 1980 Americana Series stamp.

The 1986 (Freeway) Letter, May 6th 1986, 1 X 22c Flag Over Capitol stamp.
The 1987 (Cars Make Nice Weapons) Letter, October 28th 1987, 2 X 22c Flag Over Capitol stamp.

Issue Date: March 29, 1985.

Celebrity Cypher Postcard, September 25th 1990, 1 X 25c Literary Arts: Marianne Moore stamp.

Issue Date: April 18, 1990.

Eureka Card, December 1990, 1 X 25c Contemporary Christmas: Tree and Greetings stamp. 

Issue Date: October 18, 1990.

Happy New Year Card, January 10th 2001, 1 X 34c Statue of Liberty stamp.

Issue Date: December 15, 2000.

After the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, the Zodiac Killer drew the attention of investigators in the August 3rd 1969 knife slayings of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong in San Jose. This is the attention he likely courted in switching from gun to knife, after reading the extensive front page coverage received in the double homicide. However, because he knew he wasn't responsible for the murders in San Jose, he never came right out and said so, like he did in his previous four attacks. In the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attack he made a phone call 40 minutes after the second attack and provided details in three July 31st 1969 letters only the police and he knew. At Lake Berryessa he adorned the Zodiac symbol, wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia and made a phone call about 70 minutes later from a Napa payphone. While at Presidio Heights he effectively attached the crime scene to his correspondence by including a piece of the murdered taxicab driver's shirt.

He never did anything of value to corroborate his involvement in the murder of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong. He merely insinuated he was their murderer by dropping "Aug" into his Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969 and bumping up his total victims from five to seven. The Zodiac Killer, at this juncture, was effectively leaving himself an escape clause if these murders were ever attributed to the real killer. His vagueness was evidence of deception, unlike his four canonical attacks, which he backed up by near irrefutable proof of his involvement.

On June 26th 1970, the Zodiac Killer would repeat this tactic by insinuating his involvement in the shooting death of Sgt Richard P. Radetich (25) on June 19th at 5:25 am, who was gunned down by three shots from a .38 caliber revolver at point blank range through the driver side window of his vehicle while in the process of serving a parking ticket. He was sat in his police car near 643 Waller Street in San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer once again left himself an escape clause if Sgt Richard Radetich's real murderer was ever apprehended. Rather than write "I shot a cop sitting in a parked car with a .38" which is a little more specific, he merely stated "I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38". The Zodiac Killer avoided inextricably binding himself to the crime by leaving the door half open.  

The Kathleen Johns abduction he again laid claim to on July 24th 1970, by stating "So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". Yet again, the only information he ever gave was readily available in the newspapers. This newspaper story was a no-brainer for the Zodiac Killer, because Kathleen Johns had already identified her attacker as him from the Presidio Heights sketch on the wall of Patterson Police Station. This night of terror for Kathleen Johns would extend Zodiac's portfolio well beyond the Bay Area. Now nobody was safe.

On September 26th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about the missing (believed abducted) nurse Donna Lass in South Lake Tahoe on September 6th 1970, and the murder of nurse Judith Hakari, who was abducted on March 7th 1970 and discovered in a shallow grave aside Ponderosa Way in Weimar nearly two months later. But why did the Zodiac Killer latch onto this newspaper story? 

This newspaper publication had all the ingredients the Zodiac Killer could possibly have wished for. He didn't want to appear too eager to claim either of these crimes, not only because the immediacy of the claim would have looked forced, but Donna Lass had only been missing for twenty days at the time the San Francisco Chronicle article featured and she may have turned up unharmed. Investigators feared Donna Lass may have been abducted, just like the abduction and eventual murder of Judith Hakari six months earlier. The Zodiac Killer had just come off the back of being linked with the abduction of Kathleen Johns in Tracy, California, so the story of these two women was the perfect opportunity to spread his terror into Placer County and Nevada.

Lake Tahoe borders Placer County, so when the Zodiac Killer mailed his Pines card on March 22nd 1971 with the words "pass Lake Tahoe areas", he was effectively leaving the Pines card open to interpretation. He could be insinuating his involvement in the abduction of Donna Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, which bordered the lake, or he could be insinuating his involvement in the abduction and murder of Judith Hakari from the Sutter Hospital, who was ultimately discovered in a shallow grave in Placer County. "Pass lake Tahoe areas" could be referencing the burial site of Donna Lass or Judith Hakari - or both. By leaving the Pines card intentionally vague in design, the Zodiac Killer is effectively introducing to the observer the idea of three abductions into his portfolio of crime, all of whom were young women, of which, two were nurses with an unfortunate connection to the lake. The Zodiac Killer knew by mailing the Pines card in such an unspecific way, that investigators would make the connection between these crimes, but yet again, the Zodiac Killer had left the door ajar if any of these crimes by the lake were solved, and subsequently proven not to be the Bay Area murderer. The vagueness of the Dripping Pen card, Button letter and Pines card are telling. They are a complete departure from the specificity exhibited by the Zodiac Killer's actions during and after Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights - and indicative of a man who was lying about Snoozy & Furlong, who also had no hand in any of these 1970 crimes.

The Zodiac Killer couldn't believe his luck, when on November 16th 1970 the San Francisco Chronicle published an article by Paul Avery, giving persuasive evidence of a link between the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 and the Zodiac crimes. Cheri Jo Bates was brutally attacked by a knife-wielding psychopath in the alleyway bordering the Riverside City College library. She was discovered the following morning by Riverside City College caretaker, Cleophus Martin.

He would again bide his time, before begrudgingly uttering the words "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". The Zodiac Killer seemed surprised that investigators had stumbled across his Riverside activity, but probably not half as surprised as when Paul Avery presented him with another murder to add to his growing portfolio. His acceptance speech in the March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' letter, yet again replete with vaguness and a ready made get out clause. He could easily have stated "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside library murder, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there", but used the word "activity" as a less than full confession. I chose the word "confession" carefully, because the Zodiac Killer left the door open to being responsible for the Riverside letters on November 29th 1966 and April 30th 1967, and nothing more.

He then cements the notion of involvement by claiming "a hell of a lot more down there", when he hasn't given us one shred of evidence he was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates. The Zodiac Killer didn't supply one piece of evidence in his 'Los Angeles' letter only known to him and Riverside police, just like the Confession letter author did 4 1/2 years earlier. Riverside activity doesn't equate to Riverside murder - and neither does boasting about more murders in Southern California as a way to validate the crime you haven't yet proven. There was a sea change in Zodiac activity after the October 11th 1969 Paul Stine murder, from a ruthless killer, to a killer who wanted to appear ruthless. But he did remain consistent subsequent to October 11th 1969, in that he always left the back door open, clutching his escape clauses firmly between his grubby hands. 

Detective Terry Poyser of the Vallejo Police told The Bee that DNA from saliva may be recovered from the envelopes. If that happens, and “we get a good profile, then you start tracking back,” Poyser said. “It really comes down to DNA. Without it, you have nothing. It’s a 50-years-old case". Results from the DNA analysis are expected back in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, the "coming weeks" has now extended to 2 1/2 years with limited hope of a resolution - but all is not lost. Searching for a killer in a pool of potentially millions of people, is like finding a needle in a field of haystacks. Identifying a person of interest and lego-building a case around them in the fashion displayed on the internet has spawned a growing list of suspects, cobbled together with weak circumstantial evidence and viewed through rose-tinted glasses by their promoter. Any inconvenient observation regarding that suspect, which pours huge doubt on their guilt, will be routinely dismissed - an essential prerequisite for anybody with a long-standing fixation or unfaltering conviction in their suspect as the Zodiac Killer. The healthy interest in a person as a likely candidate for the Bay Area murders often metamorphosizes into an unhealthy obsession, in which the author ends up creating something akin to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - a hideously manufactured humanlike creature that ultimately bears no resemblance to the Zodiac Killer or the facts of the case. The fact we have hundreds of Zodiac suspects in 2020, is testimony to how easy it is to manipulate the communications and crimes to fit our desired choice.

In a case stretching back 50 years, we have to play the odds and drain the ever-growing ocean of suspects by reducing the search field. We can do this by employing the useful tool of geographic profiling and creating a mental map of the killer. This is not a replacement for good old fashioned police work and forensics, but can prioritize where we begin our search, before extending outwards. Dr IPIP (Investigative Psychology for Investigative Practitioners) was created by Dr Susanne Knabe-Nicol, an investigative psychologist. She has created an excellent video playlist of investigative tools on Youtube, including a 53 minute interview with Kim Rossmo, a Canadian criminologist specializing in geographic profiling. This interview should give you an insight into all aspects of geographic profiling and its uses in a criminal investigation such as the Zodiac Killer. Dr Susanne Knabe-Nicol (Dr IPIP) can also be accessed via her website here.