
On December 5th 1969 at noon, Melvin Belli was due to speak in the Speakers Podium in the West Tower Mall at the University of California in Riverside. If the Zodiac Killer had kept abreast of Melvin Belli newspaper articles (or the Riverside papers), he may have come across this story from the Riverside Daily Enterprise on December 3rd 1969. On the day Melvin Belli was scheduled to visit Riverside, on December 5th 1969, his residence at 1228 Montgomery Street in Telegraph Hill caught fire, causing S20,000 worth of damage. Firemen believed the blaze was caused by defective wiring. The font design of the "1228" numbers by his front door were used by the Zodiac Killer on his Melvin Belli envelope fifteen days later. However, it turned out that he cancelled his speaking engagement at the Riverside University campus citing an ear infection - and with advice given to him by his physician - decided not to fly..

Therefore, it wasn't much of a surprise that Melvin Belli was possibly in the forefront of Zodiac's mind when he hurriedly fashioned a short letter and 38 character code on December 7th 1969. The letter began "I just need help", pre-empting the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, which stated "please help me" three times. Both of these letters were clearly mocking the phone call received by the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, with a phone call to the KTOK Oklahoma radio station later that day continuing this theme of derision. The letter on December 7th 1969 mimicked the wording used by the impostor on the Jim Dunbar Show, while the Oklahoma caller mimicked the voice.