On January 4th 1970, somebody identifying as the "Zodiac" phoned Peggy Trainer in Rodeo and threatened that she was to become his next victim. But according to the newspapers there wasn't one phone call on Sunday, January 4th 1970, there were two sinister calls at approximately 10:20pm and 10:25pm. These were then followed by a further two calls by the same individual on Tuesday, January 6th 1970 at 1:00am and 12:15pm - making four malicious phone calls in total by a laughing "Zodiac". 

It was reported in the Contra Costa Times newspaper (see left) that Peggy Trainer lived directly behind the 749 Tormey Avenue apartment from which Leona Roberts disappeared. She was forcibly snatched from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at approximately 6:15pm on December 10th 1969, with her naked body being found on December 28th 1969 by an elderly man collecting driftwood near Bolinas Lagoon. The coroner estimated she had been alive 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days..

​The Independent newspaper from Richmond (see below) stated that after her experience on the phone with "Zodiac" on January 4th she left the apartment and went upstairs to a neighbor's apartment until her husband arrived home. The newspaper also stated that Peggy Trainer lived next door to the abduction site. All of these descriptions tally with the four-occupancy apartments at 749 Tormey Avenue, in which Peggy Trainer is described as living behind the address from which Leona Roberts was abducted from on the ground floor. If Leona was visiting 749A Tormey Avenue, Peggy must have lived at 749B Tormey Avenue.

Well, that's what I thought until "The Independent" newspaper on January 5th 1970 and January 7th 1970 reported that Peggy Trainer (18) lived at 180 1/2 Napa Avenue in Rodeo. This address was 800 feet east of 749 Tormey Avenue, wasn't an apartment complex and wasn't "directly behind" or "next door" to the apartment where Leona Roberts went missing. The reporting in "The Independent" newspaper makes no sense whatsoever - and neither does the 180 and a half address.

On December 10th 1969, somebody mailed the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer horoscope page to the Sacramento Bee newspaper, lollowed by the Day-by-day forecast for Leo horoscope page to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company on December 11th 1969. The mailing date of the Forecast for Cancer page on December 10th coincided with the abduction date of Leona Roberts from 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo. The pasted phrase "Birds Fly South" seemed relevant to Bolinas Lagoon, Marin County where her body was ultimately found on December 28th 1969. And it must also be noted that a novel by Stanton Arthur Coblentz called "When the Birds Fly South" (1945) was published in Marin County. The Cancer page also contained the pasted text "Zodiac".

The Forecast for Leo(na) page mailed the following day was considered a play on the name and fate of "Leona", who wasn't murdered for at least a week after her abduction. At the end of December, the newspapers told of the discovery of her body at Bolinas Lagoon and refreshed the memories of the readers by reporting on the day of her abduction from the 749 Tormey Avenue apartment. Alongside the story of Leona Roberts in the Solano-Napa News Chronicle on December 29th 1969 was the headline "Zodiac Security Tightened", warning that the Bay Area murderer might strike again soon.  

So it's probably unsurprising that this newspaper coverage was shortly followed by another "Zodiac" phone call on January 4th 1971 to Peggy Trainer, threatening her murder. Peggy Trainer lived at the same 749 Tormey Avenue address from where Leona Roberts was abducted from. The Zodiac Killer could easily have read the newspaper coverage and phoned a death threat to Peggy Trainer to attach himself to that address and the murder of Leona Roberts, but if this phone call was all he did, then how lucky was he that his pseudonym "Zodiac" was mailed by somebody else on December 10th 1969 (the day of her abduction), who pasted "Birds Fly South" which appeared to coincide with the north-south Pacific flyway of Bolinas Lagoon where her body was found, and who mailed a "Forecast for Leo" page that coincided with her name and not immediate death. 

However, there is a major problem with the timeline presented above. One of the neighbors reported hearing screams from the ground floor apartment at approximately 6:15pm on December 10th 1969, with police arriving shortly thereafter. This, as yet undetermined "disturbance", was obviously not reported to the public on the 10th, so any communication mailed with a PM postmark on the same day by somebody pasting "Zodiac" onto a horoscope page, could not have been a response to the abduction, whether Zodiac or not. The Cancer horoscope page, with pasted newspaper cuttings on its face, was mailed in Sacramento, a 60 minute journey from the 749 Tormey Avenue address.

The notion of an abductor, forcibly removing a 16-year-old girl from a residence and securing her at an undetermined location, manufacturing an immediate multi-pasted communication, and then driving 58 miles to Sacramento to mail the letter, for it to somehow receive a December 10th postmark, is totally unrealistic. The fact that the designer of the two December communications chose horoscope pages from November rather than December - which would have been more relevant to the crime - could suggest that these two letters were prepared in advance of Leona Roberts abduction and the generic Cancer page mailed prior to 6:15pm on December 10th 1969.

​After the successful abduction had been achieved, the more specific "Forecast for Leo" page could then have been dispatched. The other alternative, is that neither communication had anything to do with the abduction of Leona Roberts, and the phone call on January 4th 1971 was unrelated, but for the pseudonym "Zodiac" that was relevant to both. It has yet to be definitively established whether any connection exists between the abduction of Leona Roberts and the December 10th/11th letters, or any Zodiac involvement whatsoever. The communications and phone call on January 4th 1969 could have been somebody attempting to misdirect law enforcement away from a killer known to Leona Roberts, who had personal reasons to end her life. Implicating the Zodiac Killer for a murder (especially by phone) was an easy option through 1969 and beyond. I think it much more likely that the murderer of Leona Roberts was a mentally inadequate individual with an unhealthy fantasy he failed to control. Sounds just like Zodiac doesn't it.

The consensus opinion on the decoded 408 cryptogram message is that the killer took inspiration from "The Most Dangerouse Game" short story, authored by Richard Connell in 1924, or the 1932 adapted movie version starring Joel McCrea and Leslie Banks. Subsequent Zodiac communications have led people to believe that the Bay Area murderer may have had a fascination for the theater, movies, books and comics, such as the 1952 Tim Holt comic publication, likely used in the design of the Halloween card and "The Mikado" by Gilbert & Sullivan, which premiered in 1885 and was plagiarized in the Little List and Exorcist letters. These two examples, along with the suggested links to Charlie Chan and Alfred Hitchcock, appear to suggest the Zodiac Killer wasn't averse to drawing inspiration from yesteryear.

​Recently Jarett Kobek, in his book "How to Find Zodiac", has looked into the fanzine culture, in which enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as the literary or musical genre) share their passions through a shared interest magazine. Hence the suggestion of the Zodiac Killer's ability to source the limited 1952 Tim Holt comic book to reproduce in his October 27th 1970 communication. The term was coined in a 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom, before being adopted by other communities. 

Stanton Arthur Coblentz, born in San Francisco, was a science fiction author and poet, whose first published books began with "The Sunken World" in 1928 and continued into the 1970s, that included "When the Birds Fly South" (1945) and "Hidden World" (1955). When the Birds Fly South is a fantasy novel, first published by "The Wings Press" in Mill Valley, Marin County in 1945 (later reprinted in 1951). The story features Dan Prescott, an American adventurer, who discovers the hidden valley of Sobul in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, inhabited by a strange race of winged people known as the "Ibandru". He falls in love with one of them, Yasma, and they marry in a scene of general celebration. When fall comes, however, the Ibandru abandon their valley to fly south with the birds for the winter. Stanton Coblentz also authored and released the book "Mountain of the Sleeping Maiden & Other Poems" on January 1st 1946 - a reference to Mount Tamalpais, which overlooks Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County.

Was there a possibility that the Zodiac Killer knew about the works of Stanton Coblentz and where he lived, using the cryptic pasted text of "Birds Fly South" and "Hidden", next to each other in the communication, when he mailed a horoscope page to the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 10th 1969, entitled "Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer"? This was the date Leona Roberts was abducted from the 749 Tormey Avenue residence in Rodeo, California. Her body was discovered eighteen days later on December 28th 1969 at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, a north-south Pacific flyway for birds migrating south for the winter. On December 11th 1969, another possible Zodiac letter arrived in San Francisco with the title "Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo", leading one to conclude it may have been a play on words, insinuating that it was a "Forecast for Leona Roberts", who wasn't killed for at least a week after her abduction. 

Both "The Wings Press" and Stanton Coblentz's residence were located in Marin County, where Leona Roberts body would ultimately be found, During the early Zodiac Killer years, Stanton Coblentz lived at 37 Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley, just 600 feet from the Throckmorton Theater at 142 Throckmorton Avenue (originally called The Hub Theater when it opened in 1912), and only 5.8 miles from Bolinas Lagoon. Not too far from his residence was the Port Theater (forever connected to The Red Phantom & El Espectro Rojo), once operated by Zodiac suspect Richard Marshall, circa 1974 and beyond.

It seems rather uncanny that Leona Roberts was abducted on the same day the "Forecast for Cancer" horoscope letter arived on December 10th 1969 with the pasted text of "Zodiac" and "Birds Fly South", to be then followed by the "Forecast for Leo" horoscope page, with her body being found eighteen days later at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County where "Birds Fly South", which was prominent in the book title of a science fiction author, whose home and the publishing house for this book, was located in Marin County. If that wasn't enough, somebody calling themself "Zodiac" made a phone call to Peggy Trainer and threatened her life on January 4th 1970. She lived at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo, where Leona Roberts was abducted from on December 10th 1969. The two horoscope letters had not been published in the newspapers by January 4th 1970, meaning the phone caller was not mimicking the author of the letters in December. This phone call arrived just seven days after Leona Roberts' body was found at Bolinas Lagoon..

Was the Zodiac Killer laying down cryptic clues in the two horoscope letters, partly using the works of a book author, with the intention of pointing us towards the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts? The pseudonym of "Zodiac" being present in a communication the day of Leona Roberts abduction, and spoken in a phone call on January 4th 1970 to the address she was abducted from. If these were different individuals, then that is a coincidence worthy of science fiction and the writings of Stanton Arthur Coblentz.

​Steph 54: 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." The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction. Articles reported the coroner's theory that Leona had been kept bound for a period of time, died as a result of the viral infection, and was disposed of by her abductor(s). Pathological and toxicological tests did not find any drugs or alcohol in her system.

Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at approximately 6:00pm on December 10th 1969, and her naked body was found on December 28th 1969 by an elderly man collecting driftwood near Bolinas Lagoon. The coroner estimated she had been alive 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This suggests she was murdered (or had died in captivity) sometime between December 18th and December 24th 1969.​

Two of the least understood communications possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer were the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer and Day-by-day forecast for Leo horoscopes, with the first mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 10th 1969 and the second from San Francisco to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco on December 11th 1969. The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer pasted horoscope page contained the prominent words Want, Zodiac and Watch, and the phrase "Birds Fly South". One notable feature on the horoscope page was the word "Cancer", which had been ringed in the page title.

​The following day, on December 11th 1969, the Day-by-day forecast for Leo horoscope page was mailed, but the word Leo had not been ringed in the page title. However, this communication arrived one day after the abduction and eventual murder of Leona Roberts, whose body was ultimately discovered alongside Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County on December 28th 1969. The coroner concluded she had been kept alive for a duration of 10 to 14 days after her abduction, with the sheriff's office stating she had been dead about 10 days. This makes the Day-by-day Forecast for Leo(na Roberts) horoscope page very interesting indeed, because it may imply a forecast for Leona Roberts rather than an immediate murder. Additionally, neither of these two communications (with one containing the word Zodiac) were public knowledge on January 4th 1970, when somebody telephoned Peggy Trainer, identified himself as the Zodiac Killer, and stated she would be his next victim. Peggy Trainer lived in the same building at 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo, where Leona Roberts was abducted from. This links both the phone call and December 10th 1969 communication to the pseudonym "Zodiac", and to the day of her abduction. 

The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer horoscope page was mailed on the same day as Leona Roberts abduction, containing the phrase "Birds Fly South". It has been difficult to find the meaning behind the author's choice of pasted words, but one thing we know about the Zodiac Killer is his inspiration was often sourced from literature and film, such as the short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, first published on January 19th 1924 (or the resulting 1932 film version), the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera, The Mikado, and The Exorcist film (1973), inspired by William Peter Blatty's 1971 book, to name just a few.

When the Birds Fly South is a fantasy novel by Stanton A. Coblentz, first published by The Wings Press, Mill Valley in Marin County in 1945, and reprinted in 1951. The story features Dan Prescott, an American adventurer, who discovers the hidden valley of Sobul in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, inhabited by a strange race of winged people known as the "Ibandru". He falls in love with one of them, Yasma, and they marry in a scene of general celebration. When fall comes, however, the Ibandru abandon their valley to fly south with the birds for the winter.

Bearing in mind this novel was first published in Marin County and has Birds Fly South in the title, it seems extremely coincidental that the body of Leona Roberts would be found alongside Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, which is a major north-south Pacific Flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites.

​The Day-by-day forecast for Cancer communication was not only mailed on the day of Leona Roberts' abduction, containing the pasted word "Zodiac", but contained the phrase "Birds Fly South", present in the title of a book first published in Marin County, where the body of Leona Roberts was ultimately found alongside the north-south Pacific Flyway of migratory birds at Bolinas Lagoon. The astrological sign of Cancer (circled in the forecast below) is the cardinal sign of the Water trigon. When we factor in the Day-by-day Forecast for Leo(na Roberts) horoscope page and the telephone call on January 4th 1970 in absence of either of these communications being made public, can we really lay all this at the door of coincidence?  

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

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

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

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

Steph 54: 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." The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction. Articles reported the coroner's theory that Leona had been kept bound for a period of time, died as a result of the viral infection, and was disposed of by her abductor(s). Pathological and toxicological tests did not find any drugs or alcohol in her system.

Leona Roberts was abducted on December 10th 1969, in tandem with a communication of pasted words that contained "Zodiac", "Watch" and "Birds Fly South". This communication, eighteen days in advance of her body being discovered, highlighted the word "Watch" in the largest letters, and significant bearing in mind a unique wristwatch was reported missing from the girl's wrist on December 28th 1969. She was also found at Bolinas Lagoon, so the "Birds Fly South" phrase may have some meaning when we consider that Bolinas Lagoon is a major north-south Pacific flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. 

​The coroner also noted marks on her wrists and ankles, suggestive of somebody being bound. The two sinister communications on December 10th and 11th - obviously mailed by the same author - were horoscope forecasts, with the second communication possibly a play on words using the name of Leona Roberts. It was entitled  Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo. The fact that this author facilitated the use of forecasts in accompaniment to the word "Leo", when her body took eighteen days to surface, with the coroner estimating her death 10 to 14 days after her abduction, is some forecast. ​

The Zodiac Killer had claimed seven victims on November 9th 1969, but he didn't (assuming it was Zodiac) raise this victim count in the two forecast letters on December 10/11. He also made no change to his victim count in the two Fairfield letters mailed on December 7th and 16th. Yet he did raise his victim count to 8 on December 20th 1969, when he stated "I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom". This could imply the Zodiac Killer claimed his eighth victim between December 16th and December 20th 1969 - very close to the estimated time of death of Leona Roberts. The estimation of death with increased time is obviously more difficult to pinpoint, so it's perfectly feasible an error of just one or two days, places her time of death between the period Zodiac's victim count increased to eight. The two forecast letters were never publicly released at the time, making the threatening "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer (18) on January 4th 1970, who lived in the same building from where Leona Roberts was abducted, a further uncanny coincidence.   

The Zodiac Killer claimed the Snoozy & Furlong murders in his Dripping Pen card on November 8th 1969, before going on to write a letter to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969, and making a phone call to the San Jose Highway Patrol on December 19th 1969. This was likely done to cement the notion in investigators minds of his involvement in the Snoozy & Furlong murders in San Jose, despite the fact he had no hand in their demise. 

Leona Roberts (16) disappeared from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at around 6:00pm on December 10th 1969. Her disappearance coincided with a pasted communication on the same date from Sacramento, dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, which contained the pasted word "Zodiac". The following day, on December 11th 1969, a second pasted communication postmarked San Francisco and dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, could have been a play on "Leona" Roberts name and fate, bearing in mind she wasn't murdered for at least a week after her abduction. Her body was found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969.

These two pasted horoscope communications were not publicly released, yet somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer just happened to phone Peggy Trainer (18) and claim she would be his next victim. Peggy Trainer lived directly behind the apartment where Leona Roberts disappeared from, in the same multi-dwelling residence at 749 Tormey Avenue.

Therefore, we have two sinister horoscope communications on December 10th and 11th containing the pseudonym "Zodiac" and the "Forecast for Leo", along with a potential "Zodiac" phone call to Peggy Trainer on January 4th 1970, who was a neighbor to the apartment where Leona Roberts was last seen alive. Did the person who rang Peggy Trainer claiming to be Zodiac, if different from the author of the December 10/11 communications, just get lucky attaching the pseudonym "Zodiac" close to an abduction site, that coincided with a "Zodiac" communication mailed on Leona Roberts abduction date? Or were the communications and caller the same person, separated by 24 days? 

Thank you to Gavin Fish from True Crime on Youtube for supplying me with this newspaper article from the Contra Costa Times, dated January 7th 1970. 

One would presume the only person who knew that Leona Roberts wasn't going to be killed immediately after being abducted was the killer, which is why the two "forecast" letters on December 10th 1969 and December 11th 1969 are extremely interesting. The two pasted horoscope communications entitled Day-By-Day Forecast For Cancer and Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo, bearing in mind the latter could easily be interpreted as Day-By-Day Forecast For Leona Roberts, is extremely perintinent when we consider the timing of the communications and her abduction. The December 10th communication also came with the pasted pseudonym of "ZODIAC" emblazoned across its face. The fact that these communications were a forecast (a prediction of what will happen), coupled with a Zodiac horoscope and the distinct possibility that "Leo" was chosen for purpose, then the discovery of her body eighteen days later at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, is rather curious.

The coroner concluded that she had likely been dead "4 to 7 days prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction". She was abducted on Wednesday December 10th 1969 and found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969, so that places her murder between December 20th 1969 and December 24th 1969, allowing for a small margin of error. The longer between death and discovery, the more difficult it is to make an accurate determination. 

The Zodiac Killer mailed the Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969, but he made no update to his running total of seven victims. In this communication he added a supplemental drawing of a "Bleeding Knife" with seven drops of blood, possibly fashioned to incorporate the two extra victims he was claiming, that of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong murdered in San Jose on August 3rd 1969, by knife. Just four days later, the Melvin Belli letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle stating the Zodiac Killer was resisting the temptation to murder his ninth and tenth victim. This appears to indicate that victim number eight was secured between December 16th 1969 and December 20th 1969, which falls around the approximate time the coroner determined that Leona Roberts was murdered. If the above interpretation is correct, we would have three Zodiac communications on December 11th 1969, December 16th 1969 and December 20th 1969, giving us a "forecast for Leo", a failure to update the running victim total five days later, followed by an update to eight victims just four days later, around the time Leona Roberts was killed.         

The phrases on the Cancer and Leo communications are difficult to interpret, but when we consider the random phrase of "BIRDS FLY SOUTH" (pasted between the 18th and 24th) and the location where her body was discovered, on a north to south Pacific Flyway for migratory birds, one can't help thinking that the pasted clues were cryptic in nature. Irrespective of their correct meanings or otherwise, the "forecast" letters and the timing of Leona Roberts abduction should not be overlooked. It is likely only one person knew the day-by-day forecast for Leona Roberts, and his identity remains a mystery to this day. 

​READ THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON LEONA ROBERTS 

On December 10th 1969 a paste-up horoscope communication was mailed and postmarked PM from Sacramento entitled Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, followed by a similar communication mailed and postmarked PM from San Francisco on December 11th 1969 entitled Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo. Not published in the newspapers, it was clear that both of these communications had the same author just one day apart. The following is a summary of the abduction and murder of Leona LaRell Roberts by Steph54 on Websleuths:

On Wednesday, 10 December 1969, 16-year-old Leona Larell Roberts worked her first day at a part-time job at the White Front Discount Store in Pleasant Hill. After her 1-5 p.m. shift, she drove to her boyfriend's apartment (749 Tormey Ave, Rodeo) where she planned to cook him dinner. At the time, Leona attended K's American Beauty College in Napa, where she also lived with her mother. Within 15 minutes of arriving at her boyfriend's apartment, a neighbor heard a girl scream. The neighbor called the sheriff and soon after heard someone running down the stairs at the back of the apartment house followed by the slam of a door from the direction of the downstairs apartment where Leona's boyfriend lived. When the boyfriend arrived, he saw Leona's red VW out front but did not find her inside the apartment. The apartment was dark and the back door was unlocked. He noticed scuff marks on the wall near the back door. He found that a pair of his pants had been removed from the bedroom closet and left on the living room couch, the belt missing. He noticed Leona's work smock crumpled on the couch. A sheriff's deputy arrived 30 minutes after the call. Another neighbor told the deputy of seeing a white male, about 25 years old, short blonde hair, acting suspicious. He walked several times from the front door to the rear of a blue station wagon before driving away. 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.

From the postmark dates and times it is extremely likely the Forecast for Cancer communication was mailed prior to the abduction/murder of Leona Roberts, with the Forecast for Leo communication likely mailed after her abduction/murder. This meant that the author of the Cancer communication on December 10th in Sacramento traveled to San Francisco to mail the second correspondence. The most direct route is shown below and uses only Interstate 80. This journey between communications passes just 0.9 miles from the 749 Tormey Avenue residence from where Leona Roberts was abducted. 

Less than 24 hours after the abduction/murder of Leona Roberts, the Forecast for Leo communication arrived. Was the perpetrator using a play on words to hint that her forecast was in his hands? The Forecast for Cancer communication was emblazoned with the pasted text of Zodiac - and we know that the Bay Area murder has become synonymous with abduction and murder. How many abductions and murders occurred in the Bay Area on December 10th 1969? Yet here we have two sinister communications mailed in Sacramento, followed by San Francisco, where the most direct route using Interstate 80 passes just 0.9 miles from the abduction site of Leona Roberts, which is then followed by a communication entitled Forecast for Leo. If this is a coincidence, it is one hell of a lucky one.

The question arises though - was the author of the two communications the Zodiac Killer or an impostor? Had somebody close to Leona Roberts planned her murder, and by mailing these communications with the word Zodiac in bold lettering, attempted to shift the focus of the investigation onto the Bay Area murderer, thereby making him the convenient fall guy? However, if the author of the Cancer and Leo communications wanted to achieve this goal, why would he be so cryptic? By sending a correspondence with nothing more than a heading of Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, you are leaving open the possibility that investigators will not make the connection between the communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts. If you are attempting to lay the abduction squarely at the feet of Zodiac, then you simply create a communication using the pseudonym Zodiac and mentioning Leona Roberts by name, thereby creating no ambiguity. This may put the ball back in Zodiac's court.   

But it doesn't end there. Two more Zodiac communications were mailed either side of the above two forecasts. The first was mailed on December 7th 1969 from Fairfield, with the second arriving from Fairfield on December 16th 1969. These again fall directly along Interstate 80. If the four communications were the work of the Zodiac Killer, then we have a murderer mailing a correspondence from Fairfield on December 7th, before traveling northeast to Sacramento, then abducting Leona Roberts in Rodeo and continuing on to San Francisco, before heading back to Fairfield on December 16th. The author of four consecutive communications would possibly be using one direct route back and forth.

The Bus Bomb letter mailed on November 9th 1969 claimed seven victims, while the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969 claimed a search for number nine and ten. The December 7th 1969 Fairfield letter claimed no update to victim seven, leaving open the possibility that the abduction and murder of Leona Roberts on December 10th 1969 was victim number eight.

The day after the abduction of Leona Roberts, on December 11th 1969, a pasted message entitled DAY-BY-DAY FORECAST FOR LEO was postmarked San Francisco, and mailed to the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company, P.O. Box 3100, Rincon Annex, San Francisco. If Leona Roberts was one day into her captivity and was to be held for some time yet, then the December 11th 1969 mailing contained some very interesting information. The pasted forecast was for the month of November. If a perpetrator (or Zodiac) was responsible for her abduction and the pasted communication, it cannot be overlooked that the communication began with part of her name - Day-by-day forecast for Leona Roberts (Leona is a female variant of the name Leo or Leon). But this is just the beginning of the story - starting with an observation by Soze, a contributor on the Zodiac Killer Site forum. He stated "The paste before "Mystery". I can make out what appears to be the word "Mile". Combing the two, I did a search on "mile mystery" and included the date "1969". I found in the November 18, 1969 Redlands Daily Facts from Redlands, California on Page 14, a mention of "Run a crooked mile mystery". It was a TV movie that debuted that day. just wondering if anyone thinks it possible that the paste reads "run a crooked mile mystery"?

I wondered if Soze was on to something, so I checked the Internet Movie Database for the film and it returned with 'Run a Crooked Mile (1969)'. Here is a brief summary of the plot by Ralph Cabrerar: "A man witnesses a murder in a secluded mansion. When he reports it, there's no evidence of the murder, or that anyone was there. He finds a key on the floor and goes to his boss to get help when he's struck from behind. He wakes up in a hospital room after a polo accident to find he's had amnesia for two years, is now married, and living in Switzerland. He still has the key and the memories of the murder. He goes back to England to try to resolve the mystery". It was noted that a key chain with car and house keys were reported missing from Leona Roberts, however, this wasn't the point of interest regarding the pasted wording of the film - it was its position on the Day-By-Day Forecast. This got me thinking that the communication was some type of word search puzzle, with the words deliberately placed in specific positions relative to the dates on the communication. The "run a crooked mile mystery" was pasted over the beginning date of November 18th 1969 on the forecast (the exact date of the film). Obviously, if any of the other wording had relevance to the abduction of Leona Roberts in December, then we would have to focus in on the numeric dates of the forecast, rather than the month. Below I have featured the pasted forecast communication.      

There are only two sections of dates obscured by the pasted words on the entire communication. The red rectangle above highlights the first two obscured dates of the 10th and 11th, accompanied by the pasted word of NOW. These were the dates of Leona Roberts abduction and the mailing of this communication, emphasized by the word now. The second set of dates obscured are highlighted by the green rectangle. They are the 25th, 26th and 27th, accompanied by the word HIDDEN. Obviously, the author of the communication would be projecting forward to these dates. A reasoned guess, is that these would be the dates he was intending to hide her body (but obviously not too hard, so it could be found and prove the communication correct). Leona Roberts body was discovered on December 28th 1969. The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery. If she had been murdered on December 24th or thereabouts, then it is logical that the killer may have 'disposed or hidden' her body on December 25th, 26th or 27th, to be found on the 28th - and why he pasted the word HIDDEN on the communication in the area he did. It is curious that the first unobscured date after this section, is the 28th - the day she was found on Bolinas Lagoon beach. Three sets of dates were accompanied by a pasted word - all of which had relevance to that particular word - and thereby bringing forth the notion of a word search puzzle, akin to the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969.

On December 20th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Melvin Belli Letter, mimicking the words written in lipstick (supposedly by William Heirens) on the apartment wall of murder victim Frances Brown. She was discovered shot and stabbed multiple times in her 3941 North Pine Grove apartment in Edgewater, Chicago. The date of Frances Brown's murder was December 10th - the exact date that Leona Roberts was abducted from 749 Tormey Ave in Rodeo.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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