The Zodiac Killer would employ various tactics to prove that the letters he mailed were actually authored by the murderer himself, such as removing a section of Paul Stine's shirt at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 and sending part of it to the San Francisco Chronicle two days later. He repeated this grisly tactic on November 9th 1969, and in a letter to Melvin Belli on December 20th 1969. However, this wasn't the only sinister tactic the Zodiac Killer employed when mailing a letter to Melvin Belli at 1228 Montgomery Street, San Francisco. He seemingly either photographed or recorded on paper the font style of the numbers from the residence, or made a mental note of their design, because the numbers 1228 on his envelope mailed to Melvin Belli, matched those on the front of the house. Was this a message from the Zodiac Killer to show he had visited the residence of Melvin Belli, and that nobody was beyond his reach?

​To prove he was the knife attacker at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, he took his writing to the crime scene. The Zodiac would, in the attacks at Presidio Heights and Lake Berryessa, take the scene to his writing, or take his writing to the scene.

On July 13th 1971, the Zodiac Killer would mail the Monticello card to the San Francisco Chronicle insinuating his involvement in the murder of Kathy Bilek (18) in the Villa Montalvo woods of Saratoga on April 11th 1971 - and paste the message "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 .... In The Woods Dies April" onto the communication. The Zodiac Killer had long claimed the murders of Kathie Reyne Snoozy (15) and Debra Gaye Furlong (14), murdered in San Jose on August 3rd 1969, by initially adding them to his victim total on November 8th 1969. These three murders had recently been attributed to Karl Francis Werner, a resident youth from San Jose. The Zodiac Killer now had the option of relinquishing his grip on the murders of Snoozy & Furlong, or choose to claim all three. He took the latter option by mailing the Monticello card and informing the police that Kathy Bilek was murdered "Near Monticello". The Monticello neighborhood of San Jose housed the Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery, where Kathie Snoozy was buried in 1969. 

Two years after the Monticello card was mailed, on September 18th 1973, somebody entered the Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery and removed a tombstone from a grave, and deposited it at the front gate of the cemetery for all to see. On the tombstone, written in crayon, was the pseudonym "Zodiac". Bearing in mind that the Monticello card was not currently in the public domain, it doesn't require Sherlock Holmes to work out that the Zodiac Killer had visited this cemetery and removed the tombstone of Kathie Snoozy, a victim he once claimed as his own. It seemed that after two years he still couldn't relinquish the young girl from his running murder count. 

​But one thing stands out in this newspaper cutting: The pseudonym "Zodiac" was written in crayon, not in his usual blue marker pen, or possibly chalk. The decision to use crayon as a writing implement appeared like an unusual first choice to leave a message in a cemetery (unless he expected rain in the short time the tombstone would lay undiscovered. See foot of article). This may indicate that the Zodiac Killer, although leaving the tombstone at the front cemetery gate to send a message to law enforcement, he may have taken something else away with him. Crayon (a stick of pigmented wax) is commonly used in gravestone rubbing, a technique used to create an impression of a gravestone's inscription by rubbing either a crayon, charcoal, or wax against a sheet of paper placed on the stone. Maybe he left a message, and took a message away.
​ 
Just like the mimicry of the font numbers from Melvin Belli's residence, had the Zodiac Killer taken a gravestone rubbing from the once tombstone font of Kathie Reyne Snoozy, to mail to the San Francisco Chronicle at a later date? Was the Zodiac Killer once again taking something from a crime victim to mail to the newspapers, as he had done with the body of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969? If the Zodiac Killer had taken a crayon to the tombstone of Kathie Reyne Snoozy on September 18th 1973, did he have second thoughts about mailing it inside a letter? Or did he mail it to the San Francisco Chronicle, but out of respect for the family and public decency, they decided not to release it into the public domain? Just like they may have opted to do with the Monticello card two years earlier. This begs the question as to what imagery did the Monticello card contain, when its predecessor, the March 22nd 1971 "Pines Card", was widely publicized.   

# The weather in San Jose in September 1973 was consistently above 70 degress Fahrenheit. Only one day fell below, and there was no rain from September 1st 1973 to September 22nd 1973. 
​
A FOUR YEAR JOURNEY TO TOMBSTONE ​      

After the failed attempt of the Zodiac Killer to make contact with Melvin Belli on the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, his next attempt to arrange an appointment with the flamboyant attorney likely took place on December 7th 1969, when the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle from Fairfield, stating "I just need help". This plea for help predated the Melvin Belli letter by thirteen days, and coincided with a phone call to the commercial radio station KTOK, in which the caller identified himself as the Zodiac Killer and did an "awfully good impression" of the man who rang the Jim Dunbar Show, according to KTOK news director Larry Lamotte. The Jim Dunbar Show had taken place 46 days earlier, so what triggered the Zodiac Killer to refocus on this missed opportunity in early December. Let us have a look at Melvin Belli's itinerary in the days previous.

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..

Remembered as rock's darkest hour, the Altamont Speedway debacle headlined by the Rolling Stones on December 6th 1969 attracted between 200,000 and 500,000 music fans, who occupied a stretch of land 50 miles east of San Francisco. The concert, badly organized, was literally thrown together overnight by attorney Melvin Belli, who obtained permission from Altamont. Policed by the Hells Angels and awash with drugs, the concert oversaw the deaths of four people. Two men, Richard Salov (22) and Mark Feiger (22), died in a hit and run car accident, one man drowned in a canal running from police, and Meredith Hunter (18) was stabbed twice by Hells Angel Alan Passaro after he brandished a gun and attempted to climb onstage. Organizers such as Melvin Belli received heavy criticism from certain quarters in the following days. 

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.    

Coinciding with the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969 was the challenge issued to the Zodiac Killer by Joe Stine (brother of Zodiac's last victim Paul Stine), who encouraged the Bay Area murder to visit his workplace in Modesto. Five months later, Kathleen Johns claimed she had been abducted from Highway 132, having been trailed by a vehicle from Modesto, and taken on a 1 1/2 to 2 hour journey on the outskirts of downtown Tracy. Her burnt out vehicle was found just east of South Bird Road  The area of Tracy, California was the location of the Altamont Speedway, chosen by Melvin Belli 3 1/2 months earlier. Altamont Speedway was situated 13 miles northwest of South Bird Road on the outskirts of Tracy. 

Bearing in mind the S20,000 fire damage at Melvin Belli's 1228 Montgomery Street residence, his ear infection and the debacle witnessed at Altamont Speedway in the space of two days, it may have been the trigger for the Zodiac Killer to mail his Fairfield letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on December 7th 1969, finding common ground with the attorney by stating "TRYING TIMES. SO I NEED APPOINTMENT TO GET HELP" in his 38 character code (if the solution is correct). There is a distinct possibility he was also reaching out to Melvin Belli using previous newspaper articles about the Jim Dunbar Show to compose his letter and 38 character code. If this was the case, the Zodiac Killer changed "I don't want to give myself up" into "I will turn myself in". Then changed "I want help" into "I just need help", before requesting an "appointment" with Melvin Belli which the Jim Dunbar caller didn't keep.

FURTHER READING: A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE 38 CHARACTER CODE 

A psychologically disturbed individual rang the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969 pretending to be the Zodiac Killer, to which the Bay Area murderer responded on December 20th 1969 by seemingly mocking the whole affair and claiming he was about to lose control and find more victims. It has been speculated by some that the Zodiac Killer appeared to somewhat mimic the murder scene of Frances Brown, who had been stabbed numerous times on December 10th 1945 at her 3941 North Pine Grove, Chicago apartment. The killer had left a sinister message on her apartment wall in red lipstick, reading "For Heaven's sake, stop me before I kill more. I cannot control myself".

This claim of a lack of control formed the basis of the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 in which Zodiac thrice feared he was about to lose control and needed help from Melvin Belli. I wasn't sure whether a strong connection could be forged between 1945 and the letter in 1969 until the discovery of a comprehensive analysis of the Zodiac Killer by Dr. Lawrence Z. Freedman, a psychiatric consultant to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. Chairman of the Institute of Social and Behavioral Pathology at Chicago University, his in-depth psychological analysis of the Zodiac Killer in November 1969 was part of the World Book Science Service and was published statewide in the newspapers, including The Napa Valley Register on November 21st 1969. Dr. Lawrence Z. Freedman (85), who was a pioneering forensic psychiatrist whose research and writings delved into the causes of violence, particularly assassinations, terrorism and mass murder, died on October 6th 2004 at his home in Chicago. 

His detailed analysis in November 1969 of the Zodiac Killer's psyche, not only included the red lipstick writing from 1945, but heavily centered his findings around the perceived lack of control exhibited by Zodiac (see left for one example)..He also wrote "Afraid of others, envious, he has sought a fulfilment through violence. But his fear and self-loathing are now compounded by his realization that he lacks the power to control himself. Therefore he seeks that control from the outside himself, from capture and punishment.

Below are two newspaper headlines stating "Zodiac Killer Wants To Be Caught, Pleads For Control" and "Boasts by Zodiac really plea for his own control". It is extremely unlikely that a voracious newspaper reader such as the Zodiac Killer failed to see these numerous articles claiming his control was lacking. So did this detailed analysis by forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Z. Freedman, one month earlier, shape the design of the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, with the Zodiac pleading for help and a wish for control  

It has long been believed that the 1924 "The Most Dangerous Game" short story and/or 1932 RKO movie were the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's three July 31st 1969 letters and his 408 cipher, beginning "I like killing people because it is so much fun - it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". Although the "Most Dangerous Game" had some influence by being the predecessor that later movies borrowed from, I will present two more contemporary movies about "hunting" that probably had a bigger contribution in shaping the early Zodiac Killer correspondence. The first movie called "Rampage" (1963), about hunting in the dense forest of Malaysia, had all the ingredients for the design of the Zodiac Killer's July 31st 1969 offerings. The movie, starring Robert Mitchum, Jack Hawkins and Elsa Martinelli, features Harry Stanton (played by Mitchum) who prefers to hunt wild game without killing the animals, leading to conflict with the character Otto Abbot (played by Hawkins). 

Many Zodiac researchers believe the Zodiac Killer was influenced by the movies, so I wondered whether the Zodiac Killer borrowed the movie title "Rampage" when writing his threats to "kill a dozen people over the weekend", stating "If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or untill I kill a dozen people". 

​This on its own seems pretty weak, until you consider the crosshairs over the movie title during the opening credits of the movie, and the wording on the movie poster (and original Warner Brothers press book cover). The Zodiac Killer used the phrase "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his decoded 408 cipher, while the movie poster (and press book cover) carried the wording "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". One could argue that the Zodiac Killer used part of the word "woman" to create "man", and changed "the most dangerous game of all" to "the most dangerous animal of all". The movie poster and press book cover were also headlined by the words "The screen's mightiest excitements go on the rampage", with the Zodiac Killer threatening to "go on a kill rampage" in all three letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969. The movie poster of "go on the rampage" differing only slightly to the Zodiac Killer's wording, when he wrote "go on a kill rampage". Three words remained the same. 

Additionally, newspaper advertisements of the movie in 1963 carried the wording "Big, Bold, Bob Mitchum is on a Rampage", missing only the word "kill" that was added by the Zodiac  The movie's opening credits, movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover contained "go on the rampage", "the most dangerous game of all" and the "crosshairs", which were all heavily used by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969. The phrases "go on the rampage" and "the most dangerous game of all" were also featured in the newspapers throughout America in 1963. Here are three examples. 

​The movie revolves around two hunters, an American (Robert Mitchum) and a German (Jack Hawkins) who aim to catch a rare breed of panther in Malaysia. The beautiful girlfriend (Elsa Martinelli) of Otto Abbot joins them on their hunt, which further heightens tensions between the two men when Harry Stanton becomes attracted to her. The Zodiac Killer added the encoded phrase in the 408 cipher: "to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience. It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl". The "Rampage" movie contained a romantic triangle between the three main characters, which also featured Elsa Martinelli bathing naked in a rocky, mountain stream. Bearing in mind that the movie placed emphasis on the attraction of both men towards the woman (the girlfriend of Otto Abbot), it's no wonder the Zodiac Killer referenced that killing is better than "getting your rocks off with a girl" in his decoded cryptogram.    

​The movie "Rampage" was broadcast on US television on July 20th 1969 (Channel 2), 11 days before the July 31st 1969 letters were mailed by the Zodiac Killer - with the movie advertised in the San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Berkeley Gazette and Santa Cruz Sentinel, to name just a few.   

The Bay Area murderer wrote in his July 31st 1969 letters that "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". According to the official Warner Brothers press book, Elsa Martinelli was "female enough to attract a dozen men". Was the word "dozen" in the Zodiac Killer's mind when fashioning his trinity of July letters, bearing in mind the other two aforementioned phrases which strongly mirrored the movie poster? "A dozen men" becoming "a dozen people". If so, we have a 1963 movie that is more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), and the "crosshairs", In total, it would mean that the Zodiac Killer took 10 words from three phrases (of 13 words in total). But this wasn't all.

The 1963 Rampage movie was based upon a novel first published in 1961 by Alan Caillou, released as a 1963 paperback version with the following wording on the front cover: "A big novel of two white hunters who battle to possess a beautiful woman as they track the jungle for the most dangerous game of all" (see large image above). The rear cover of the 1962 hardbook version read "A killer leopard - and an even more dangerous woman. This is a leopard, Harry. He'll keep close to us just in case he can make a kill. It's the only other animal that kills for the fun of it",  followed by "But the leopard - for the sheer enjoyment of killing, just for the pleasure of it. He kills because he likes it. There's only one other animal that does that, Harry. And that's man". The Zodiac Killer began his 408 cipher with "I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all". 

Many newspaper articles featured large advertisements for the Rampage movie, carrying headline statements such as "They lived, loved and fought by the code of the jungle" [1] and "His code was to snare everything" [2]. Therefore, it is quite ironical that the Zodiac Killer would place key phrases from the Rampage movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book within his code, detailing murder. It should be noted that the original Warner Brothers press book also contained the phrase "They lived and loved by the code of the jungle". Could this possibly have influenced the Zodiac Killer to encipher his message on July 31st 1969? ​

​The Zodiac Killer would start "hunting" people on December 20th 1968 when he murdered David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in Benicia - and mentioned this attack in his July 31st 1969 letters, stating "man is the most dangerous animal of all". Two weeks prior to these letters arriving at the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, the movie "The 10th Victim" (1965) was playing at the Northside Theatre in Berkeley on July 15th 1969. This movie had appeared many times on US television screens throughout 1969. "The 10th Victim" was based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim", which was an updated version of the "Most Dangerous Game". The story centered on "The Big Hunt", in which contestants from around the world act as "hunters" and "victims" in two-person battles to the death as a means of avoiding mass warfare. 

​This movie may have featured in the Zodiac Killer's sequel communication on December 20th 1969, the first anniversary of the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, which began his "Big Hunt". The movie "The 10th Victim" was released into US cinemas on December 20th 1965. The only time the Zodiac Killer wrote a victim count in tandem with the word victim (victom) was when he mailed the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, stating he was in danger of losing control and claiming his "tenth victim". We have a movie based on "The Most Dangerous Game" released on December 20th 1965 about hunting victims, followed by the Benicia murders on December 20th 1968, followed by the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, threatening a ninth and "tenth victim". 

This movie co-starred Ursula Andress, who played Caroline Meredith, a huntress who had just killed her ninth victim and was looking for a tenth. See here for confirmation. The Zodiac Killer made a point of mentioning his ninth and tenth victim in his letter to Melvin Belli.. The co-star of Ursula Andress was Italian actress Elsa Martinelli, who also starred in the movie "Rampage" (1963), two years earlier.

​"The 10th Victim" and "The Big Hunt" spoke of "control", just like the Melvin Belli letter. Early in the movie, the "announcer" laid out the benefits of "The Big Hunt" over the tannoy system, stating "If you would do away with the terrible wars of the masses, become a member of the Big Hunt. Make your murders legal. Only the Big Hunt can give the world a feeling of true security. An enemy a day keeps the doctor away. Why have birth control when you can have death control. Live dangerously, but within the law. If you are suicidal, the Big Hunt has a special place for you". The Zodiac Killer pleaded "The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me. I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me. I am finding it extreamly difficult to hold it in check. I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer".

Just like the "Rampage" movie, "The 10th Victim" had the crosshairs present within the movie title, as shown in the original 1965 poster.on the right.  

Therefore, we have two movies in 1963 and 1965 about hunting, both more contemporary to the Zodiac murders, carrying the elements of "go on the rampage" (go on a kill rampage), "the most dangerous game of all" (the most dangerous animal of all), "a dozen men" (a dozen people), "the movie phrase in the code", the "crosshairs" in both movie titles, "The 10th Victim" (tenth victim), "The Big Hunt and control" and the date of December 20th running through 1965, 1968 and 1969. So was "The Most Dangerous Game" the primary inspiration for the July 31st 1969 letters? 

Here is another brief summary of the Rampage movie: "A British big game trophy hunter, Otto Abbot, is offered a job by a West German zoo to capture a pair of Malay tigers and a rare leopard-tiger hybrid known as "the Enchantress". He recruits one of the world's top trappers for the job, American Harry Stanton. Abbot intends to bring along his longtime young mistress, Anna, an Italian waif whom he has kept as a ward since she was 14". During the movie, passion for Anna (Elsa Martinelli) heightens between the two game hunters, which becomes more deadly as the movie nears its end. Hence the wording on the movie poster and original Warner Brothers press book cover, stating "The woman who was the most dangerous game of all". Otto
Abbot realizes he's in danger of losing his "most prized" trophy, as Anna becomes the key "prize" for both game hunters in the Rampage movie (see below). The Zodiac Killer would mail another cryptogram of 148 characters around May 1971, which carried the phrase "man is the most prized game" in the accompanying letter. Therefore, we have two communications containing the phrases "man is the most dangerous animal of all" (in the 408 cipher) and "man is the most prized game" (with the 148 cipher), both of which have relevance to the film. The Bay Area murderer would also mimic the crosshairs from the opening sequence of the Rampage movie at the foot of the 1971 letter, dispensing with the overhanging lines. See here.   

The following is from the introduction page of Alan Caillou's Rampage book, describing how Anna was "as much the prize" as the wild game they were pursuing. The Zodiac Killer, having targeted both male and female victims, would claim in 1971 that "man is the most prized game", just like Elsa Martinelli was portrayed in the movie.

FURTHER READING: THE AUTHOR OF RAMPAGE IN PARADISE  

In an extremely poorly worded article by Linda Field, the following article from the "Atlanta Constitution" newspaper on April 2nd 1981 gives the impression upon first reading that the Zodiac Killer had mailed a fourth piece of shirt to Melvin Belli in 1978. I believe the red section highlighted below should have made it more clear that Melvin Belli was referring to 1969, rather than a continuation of the story from 1978. Had a fourth piece of shirt been received in 1978 I have no doubt it would have been headline news. 

The article appears to suggest that Melvin Belli received a phone call from the Zodiac Killer (or hoaxer) in July 1978, in which the individual stated "Mel, you broke your word the police are all over there". Melvin Belli stated that the "Zodiac Killer" had previously contacted him in 1978 and asked to meet him at a television station, but their meeting was thwarted when police surrounded the building.

The year of 1978 heralded a renewal of Zodiac letters on April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978, so the mention of a phone call in July 1978 wouldn't have been that unusual. After all, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mimicked the yet to be received April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter during a phone call on March 13th 1978 - received by a man who lived in the Mission District of San Francisco. The phone caller stated  "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press that I am back in San Francisco". An unauthenticated third communication was mailed from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978, beginning with "I am the Zodiac and I am in control of all things" - which employed the use of the word "control" twice, in extremely similar fashion to the 1969 Melvin Belli letter. So, the timing of the phone call in July 1978 may be relevant to this letter, whether the Zodiac Killer or not.

The newspaper article is so badly written that it has seemingly fused two events from 1969 and 1978, although it would be difficult to comprehend how an article written in 1981 could confuse July 1978 with the events of October 22nd 1969, in which a Zodiac impersonator rang the KGO-TV station and spoke with Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli. Also, the article mentioned that the "Zodiac Killer" asked for a meeting at a television station rather than just making a phone call to one.

The only other way of interpreting this newspaper article, is that Melvin Belli spoke in 1978, recalling the events of 1969, when somebody claiming to be Zodiac rang the Jim Dunbar Show and later asked to meet the attorney, but police swarmed the area. Although, the Zodiac Killer wasn't claiming 13 victims in October 1969. 

It would be a far more interesting story if we knew that the Zodiac Killer had rang Melvin Belli in July 1978 and renewed his contact with the famous attorney, but unfortunately the layout and wording chosen by Linda Field has made it impossible to decipher with any confidence.  

One of the cornerstone arguments I put forward for the 1978 letter being genuine, was the fact that the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking I" on April 24th 1978 mimicked the introduction on the December 20th 1969 Melvin Belli letter. The 1969 and 1978 letters were the only two communications to date that failed to exclusively keep "This is the Zodiac speaking" as the introduction on the top line, with the grammatical error of not placing a "period" or "full stop" between "speaking" and "I" common to both. Bearing in mind that these two communications were connected through the word "control" (unique to these two letters), meant that if an image of the Melvin Belli letter had not appeared in the newspapers to date, the author of the April 24th 1978 letter likely fashioned the Melvin Belli letter, with added shirt piece. This was used to argue (along with other reasons) that the Zodiac Killer was the author of the 1978 letter.

​To his credit, notable Zodiac researcher Cragle unearthed an article in The Napa Register on December 29th 1969 that dispelled this notion (see below). But when I proposed the idea - asking people to check if a newspaper image of the Melvin Belli letter existed - it took two years to achieve. This is with the combined power of the Zodiac internet community, and a comprehensive newspaper database at our fingertips. 

The author of the 1978 letter had none of these advantages. Often described as a "lazy" hoaxer by document examiners, the author of the 1978 letter could have accessed the above article to mimic, by keeping hundreds of newspapers featuring the Zodiac Killer since 1968, by keeping hundreds of newspaper cuttings about the Zodiac Killer, by trawling through the microfiche of a public library, or they just got extremely lucky in mimicking the introduction (with grammatical error) and the use of the word "control", common to both letters. But there is another common theme binding these two letters, which is not visible in the article above. The Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 and the April 24th 1978 letter both inserted an unnecessary word (just once) into the correspondence, spelled it correctly one alphabetical letter shy of completion, and then very neatly (almost ruler like) crossed out each word. This was unique to both these letters. 

If somebody can find this section of the Melvin Belli letter in the newspapers (showing this correction technique), I will be eternally grateful. Is it more likely that the Zodiac Killer crafted the 1978 letter, with personal knowledge of the Melvin Belli letter and its composition, or is it more likely that a random hoaxer (described as lazy) went to extraordinary lengths to mimic the Melvin Belli letter? Or was the presumed hoaxer of the 1978 letter just lucky, creating all these similarities by accident? 

The April 24th 1978 letter, stating "I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here" was postmarked only 42 days after a voice message was left on the telephone answering machine of an individual living in the Mission District, using similar wording to that used in the letter, and claiming to be the "Zodiac". The telephone caller stated "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press I am back in San Francisco".  Read more. Was this the Zodiac Killer twice, or the hoaxer twice?

​Thanks to Cragle, another unusual mention in the above newspaper article may be relevant to 1978. It may indicate that the person who crafted the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters were one and the same - who had kept or read The Napa Register publication. The article above finished with the following text.

The newspaper article stated "Belli said that he has a trial starting next week in Naples and plans to confer with fugitive Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver".​ Just eight days after the April 24th 1978 letter, on May 2nd 1978, the Channel 9 letter was mailed to KHJ-TV Studios, 5615 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles,.claiming to have been mailed by the Zodiac Killer, It too mentioned Eldridge Cleaver. Bearing in mind the similarities between the April 24th 1978 and Melvin Belli letter, it is extremely curious that the very newspaper article that featured the grammatically unique introduction common to these two communications, would also feature the name of Eldridge Cleaver, that appeared in a "Zodiac" letter only eight days later. 

On October 22nd 1969 and February 5th 1970, the hoaxer called "Sam the sham" phoned into the Jim Dunbar Show at KGO-TV, both times passing himself off as the infamous Zodiac Killer. On both occasions this would be met with derision from the real Zodiac Killer, who used the newspaper headlines to incorporate into his 340 and 148 character ciphers on November 8th 1969 and May 1971. The San Francisco Chronicle headlines on October 24th 1969 stated "It Wasn't Zodiac, Say 3 Who Know", to which the Zodiac replied in the 340 cipher "That Wasn't Me on the TV Show". The San Francisco Chronicle headlined with "Talk Show's Zodiac Caller Called a Phony" on February 6th 1970 and wiith "San Jose Student Held in Slaying of 3 Girls" on April 30th 1971, to which Zodiac replied in his 148 character cipher with "I Will Skin 3 Little Kids" and "Stop Listening to Phonys" sometime in May 1971.

​Despite the 340 cipher being unbroken in 1971, both ciphers were referring to Eric Weill, ultimately found responsible for the Jim Dunbar hoax. The phonys Zodiac was referring to in his 148 character cipher were Eric Weill and Karl Francis Werner, the latter of which, had recently been arrested and questioned by detectives for the murder of Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971 in Saratoga, and the murders of Kathie Snoozy & Debra Furlong on August 3rd 1969 in San Jose, which the Zodiac Killer had long claimed were his victims. He would compound matters by adding Kathy Bilek to his victim total when he mailed the Monticello card on July 13th 1971.

On December 7th 1969, the same day somebody impersonated the Jim Dunbar caller when phoning an Oklahoma radio station, another Zodiac letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle impersonating the Jim Dunbar caller, stating "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". Bearing in mind that this letter pre-empted the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 that thrice pleaded "please help me", there was a more than a good chance that the 38 character code that accompanied this letter, concealed a message about Melvin Belli and the hoax phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show. There would also be a high probability that the Zodiac Killer would use a recent newspaper article for his hidden 38 character message, continuing this theme. 

On October 23rd 1969, the Los Angeles Times newspaper published an article entitled "I Want Help Zodiac Caller Tells Attorney on Telephone", with the accompanying text stating "I Don't Want To Give Myself Up". This was clearly mimicked in the December 7th 1969 letter, when the Zodiac Killer stated "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". But what had he possibly taken from the newspaper to incorporates into his 38 character code? The wording accompanying the picture of Melvin Belli in the newspaper read "Attorney Melvin Belli in phone booth at a San Francisco television station talking to caller who said he was the Zodiac Killer. Caller made an appointment but didn't keep it". 

​It is the headline text accompying the Melvin Belli picture that I considered the Zodiac Killer probably responded to, just like he did when composing his 340 and 148 character ciphers. I worked out a viable message in the Z38 that read "TRYING TIMES. SO I NEED APPOINTMENT TO GET HELP". This wasn't the "good times" Zodiac was used to, but the formulated  message is in keeping with the rhetoric displayed in the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, and with the headline text in the Los Angeles Times newspaper. I am not claiming this is the answer to the 38 character code, but it does conform to the standards of cryptology, with the coded message and accompanying writing in the letter congruent with the story in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 23rd 1969. 

Nine days later, on December 16th 1969, another letter mailed from Fairfield was probably inspired by another newspaper story from the Los Angeles Times, when the Zodiac Killer began his communication with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble. I will go for the government life. So don't forget me. I will kill more people than you can count. So look for more blood.".
The newspaper article (edited for conciseness below) was published in the Los Angeles Times on December 16th 1969, a matter of hours before the second Fairfield letter was mailed with an afternoon postmark. The opening line of Zodiac's letter began with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble", which is synonymous with the newspaper article that headlined with "State Furnishes List of Murders Similar to 7 Slayings Here", as well as the opening paragraph of the article that adds "State officials have provided Los Angeles police with details of 30 unsolved murders", and the sub-headline of "All Murders Logged by State". 
​
​The Zodiac Killer would counter the list provided by state officials with a list of his own. At the foot of his December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter he would give us a list of locations and the number of police he promised to kill in each city (38 in total). This would develop in later communications, in which the Zodiac Killer gave us a list of "society offenders" to be targeted when he plagiarized verses from The Mikado, a Savoy comic opera crafted by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan,  released in London on March 14th 1885.

Government Official means any officer, employee or other individual acting in an official capacity for a Governmental Authority or agency or instrumentality thereof (including any state-owned or controlled enterprise). This may explain the Zodiac Killer's use of the phrase "government life" in his letter. It appeared that the second Fairfield letter was specifically responding to this newspaper article (see below) - both of which corresponded to one date. Susan Denise Atkins (21), one of six persons charged with the Tate-LaBiaca murders, provided information to police where they could find items of disposed bloody clothing related to the Cielo Drive attack, detailed in the article as "A station spokesman said the clothes, stained with what appeared to be blood and knotted in a bundle were turned over to police". I have highlighted these below in reference to the Zodiac Killer's statement of "look for more blood" in the Fairfield letter. The police were effectively dispatched to look for items of clothing stained with blood in the Tate-LaBianca slayings, to which Zodiac suggested there would be more blood in future for police to find. 

MORE READING:  THE "TRYING TIMES" OF THE ZODIAC KILLER?

Forty-two days before the mailing of the April 24th 1978 letter which stated "I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here", somebody made a telephone call on March 13th 1978 to an individual in the Mission District proclaiming "This is the Zodiac. Tell the press that I am back in San Francisco". The obvious similarities in the language indicates there could be one individual responsible for both messages. The person who received the telephone call is unlikely to be some random member of the public, but somebody relevant to the Zodiac Killer case who lived in the Mission District in 1978 and had some influence in passing on the message. It could be somebody in the media or somebody connected to law enforcement, so if anybody can offer a suggestion please post it on any relevant Zodiac forum. The incident was obviously taken seriously because it was personally investigated by Inspector David Toschi - and if not reported in the newspapers - made the mention of David Toschi in the 1978 letter even more curious, in accompaniment to the use of "I am back" in both messages, along with "Tell the press" and "Tell herb caen".

This phone call was captured as a recording on a voice answering machine, but I suspect it was routinely dismissed as a hoax as many phone calls had been previously and likely lost to the hands of time, despite no evidence for such a conclusion. Much evidence has fell by the wayside through incompetence and lethargy in the Zodiac case, and this phone call is just another example of a missed opportunity.

On May 5th 1978, just 11 days after the "I am back with you" letter, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer phoned the San Mateo Police Department and falsely reported that a bomb had been placed in the Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street. This too had a loose connection to the 1978 letter, which mimicked the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969. Both the 1978 and Melvin Belli letter began the introduction with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", which were not only grammatically incorrect in both instances by failing to punctuate between "speaking" and "I", but were the only two communications to date that didn't keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on one line. Something a copycat would have been expected to do, had he copied at least four Zodiac letters published in the newspapers. The 1978 and Melvin Belli letters also inversely mimicked each other by the use of  "I can not remain in control for much longer" in 1969 (one example) and "I am now in control of all things" in 1978. Bearing in mind these comparisons between the two letters - and the Melvin Belli letter was mailed to 1228 Montgomery Street in San Francisco - it is unusual that the telephone threat on May 5th 1978 was directed against the Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street, just 600 meters south of the Belli residence. The law offices of Melvin Belli at 722 Montgomery Street, purchased in 1959, were even closer to the Transamerica Pyramid at a mere 100 meters.

​It should also be noted that the 1978 letter was thought to have been mailed in either San Mateo or Santa Clara County, just like the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974. On April 28th 1978, the Chronicle reported that "Toschi said yesterday that the common, white envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". The threat towards the Transamerica Pyramid was phoned into the San Mateo Police Department.  

When the Zodiac Killer last claimed he was to plant a bomb on June 26th 1970, he utilized the peak of Mount Diablo on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay in Contra Costa County, which dominated the skyline at 3,849 feet. When the Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972 it was the tallest building in San Francisco, with an elevation of 853 feet. Would it really be a surprise if the Zodiac Killer had chosen the two most prominent landmarks on the San Francisco Bay Area skyline to threaten its residents with bombs? The Transamerica Pyramid would also feature in the 2007 Zodiac film directed by David Fincher, shown in time lapse photography to depict the transition of time between Zodiac events.

However, this wasn't the only similarity between the Melvin Belli letter and 1978 letter. Not once, in any of the widely touted list of authenticated Zodiac Killer communications from July 31st 1969 to January 29th 1974, did the killer ever cross out a spelling mistake (or otherwise) with a straight line (he blacked out errors). The Badlands card (not authenticated) on May 8th 1974 did scruffily cross out the misspelling of consternation, but failed in any capacity to identify its sender, such as the Zodiac introduction or his crosshairs. The Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 and the April 24th 1978 letter both inserted an unnecessary word (just once) into the correspondence, spelled it correctly one alphabetical letter shy of completion, and then very neatly (almost ruler like) crossed out each word. Not only did the 1978 letter carry the identical introduction and punctuation error as the Melvin Belli letter, as well as being very deliberately and carefully written, but both inserted an unrequired word into the message before crossing it out, despite it being spelled correctly thus far. These are the only two communications up to April 24th 1978 that carried both of these features. 

When we look at the similarities between the Melvin Belli letter and 1978 letter described above, we also have to note that the 1978 letter was specifically using language adopted from the Belli letter when stating "I am now in control of all things". Just over eight years earlier, the Belli letter stated  "I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom" and "I will loose all controol of my self & set the bomb up. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer". Therefore, the introduction similarity of "This is the Zodiac speaking I" between the two letters ​(with grammatical error), and the crossed out wording only existing in these two letters up to April 24th 1978, in all likelihood influenced the author of the 1978 letter when designing this latest correspondence. The introduction, the correction technique, and the use of the word "control" regarding the Zodiac Killer's mindset were unique only to these two letters up to April 24th 1978. 

Exactly one year before the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, Melvin Belli appeared in an episode of Star Trek on October 11th 1968 entitled "And the Children Shall Lead", playing the character Gorgan. When referencing the Melvin Belli letter in 1978, the Zodiac Killer stated "I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me". 

Excerpt from Wikipedia on And the Children Shall Lead: "The federation starship Enterprise arrives at the planet Triacus. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and First Officer Spock beam down in time to witness the death of Professor Starnes, the leader of a scientific expedition team. The other members of the expedition, apart from their five seemingly unconcerned children, seem to have died at their own hands. The crew bring the children back to the Enterprise, where McCoy evaluates them and determines that they are suffering from lacunar amnesia, unaware of what happened to their parents and unable to grieve. However, when left unattended in one of the ship's rooms, the children chant an evocation and summon a glowing humanoid named Gorgan. He advises them to take control of the crew in order to get to Marcus XII, his preferred destination. The eldest child, Tommy, uses mental powers Gorgan has bestowed on the children to trick the crew into steering the ship while presenting illusions that make them think they are still in orbit above Triacus. Upon reviewing a troubling expedition film recorded by Starnes, Spock, McCoy, and Kirk return to the bridge to find the children and Gorgan fully in control of the crew. Unable to break their hold on the crew, Spock observes that the children are merely possessed by Gorgan, who must be the evil embodiment of an ancient group of space-warring marauders released by Starnes's archaeological survey".

1978 letter: "I am now in control of all things". ​

The 1998 San Francisco Police Department DNA chart of suspected Zodiac correspondence shows that DNA was obtained from the 1978 letter, but it was deemed not authentic. If we believe that investigators correctly cleared Inspector David Toschi of any wrongdoing in the manufacture of the 1978 letter, then it is hard to argue against this communication being created by the same individual who mailed the 1969 Melvin Belli letter, with added shirt piece from the Paul Stine murder. The Zodiac speaking introduction with grammatical error on the opening line and the correction technique employed in the 1978 letter, which mimicked the Melvin Belli letter from 1969 (allied to the use of "control" in both communications), could only have been reasonably crafted by one person. If it wasn't David Toschi who wrote the 1978 letter, there is a good chance it was the Zodiac Killer. The DNA obtained from the 1978 letter has already ruled out both Arthur Leigh Allen and Lawrence Kane many years ago. The 1978 letter being genuine would also rule out Ross Sullivan, who died in 1977. If David Toschi didn't author the 1978 letter, then a fresh examination of this letter using more advanced DNA recovery should be a priority.
​ 
THE "I AM BACK" PHONE CALL - MARCH 13TH 1978

Recently I have been examining the inspiration behind the "Good Citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969, and its possible connection to the murder of Robert Salem at 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco on April 15th 1970. Cragle, a contributor to both Zodiac forums, found a viable connection to 680 Beach Street through Carl John Welz, Jerry Hatcher and Robert Salem, who all worked at the Haslett Warehouse in 1969. To get up to speed on this unfolding story, please visit Robert Salem-The Complete Story. Cragle has recently contacted me again with even more compelling material to advance this story.

The message in the Good Citizen letter to Sergeant John Lynch read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX".  Cragle correctly concluded that this form of writing is called automatic writing or psychography, which is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Scientists and skeptics consider automatic writing to be the result of the ideomotor effect and even proponents of automatic writing admit it has been the source of innumerable cases of self-delusion. Automatic writing is not the same thing as free writing. Spirit writing, later called Fuji (planchette writing), has a long tradition in China, where messages from various deities and spirits were received by mediums since the Song dynasty. In the 19th century, messages received through spirit writing led to the foundation of several Chinese salvationist religions. The spread of Chinese cultural techniques, such as printing and painting, introduced the influence of "spirit writing", practiced by Japanese Zen Ōbaku monks, who were said to communicate with an ancient Taoist sage credited with creation of the kung fu system. Parapsychologist William Fletcher Barrett wrote that "automatic messages may take place either by the writer passively holding a pencil on a sheet of paper, or by the planchette, or by a ouija board. In spiritualism, spirits are claimed to take control of the hand of a medium to write messages, letters, and even entire books. Automatic writing can happen in a trance or waking state. Some psychical researchers such as Thomson Jay Hudson have claimed no spirits are involved in automatic writing and the subconscious mind is the explanation. Wikipedia. So, it's pretty apparent the author of the Good Citizen letter was referring to spirit messages received through a planchette or ouija board.

Miss Winifred Moyes practiced this form of mediumship. Here is an excerpt from a Christian spiritualism website: Perhaps only those who were closest in the work could truly judge the remarkable gift of mediumship possessed by Miss Moyes, and the sensitiveness which enabled her to be used by Zodiac. Suffering from ill-health from the age of ten, when she was eventually used as an instrument by Zodiac, her weak physical body was compensated for by an iron will and a determination which forced the body to do the bidding of the Spirit. Such was her state of health that there were many times when Spirit Power alone enabled Zodiac to control his instrument and deliver his message. The strength of Miss Moyes lay in her implicit faith in the Christ power around her. Zodiac's first act on "taking control" was to place his medium under the protection of the Cross on the altar with upstretched arms and using the invocation: "Saviour Christ, into Thy hands I commend the spirit of this Thy child". Miss Moyes dedicated her gift of mediumship entirely to Zodiac's work. How closely she was attuned to the higher vibrations of Zodiac is shown in the perfection of the messages given. They are given in purity, unobstructed by the physical mind. Read the full story. 

The important section, not withstanding the constant reference to "Zodiac", was the following "My sister-in-law used the planchette several times, and we were very disappointed when the message came that she must not go on with it, and that i was to take the messages instead. I protested that the board would not move for me, and the reply came "Try to pencil alone". 

It is clear that the author of the Good Citizen letter when referring to ESP and the pencil writing, was referring to messages received from the afterlife. Cragle pointed out that just six weeks later, on November 21st 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed a communication directed towards Diane Kennedy Pike through the San Jose Police Department, that caused police to instigate 24-hour protection because of the threat on the widow. She had recently lost her husband, James Albert Pike (born February 14, 1913 – died September 3–7, 1969), who was an American Episcopal bishop, accused heretic, iconoclast, prolific writer, and one of the first mainline, charismatic religious figures to appear regularly on television. In 1966, after they had shared a sabbatical study at Cambridge University, Pike's son, Jim Jr., fatally shot himself in a New York City hotel room. Shortly after his son's death, Pike reported experiencing poltergeist phenomena—books vanishing and reappearing, safety pins open and indicating the approximate hour of his son's death, along with half the clothes in a closet disarranged and heaped up. Pike led a public pursuit of various spiritualist and clairvoyant methods of contacting his deceased son to reconcile. In September 1967, Pike participated in a televised séance with his dead son through the medium Arthur Ford, an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ church. Pike detailed these experiences in his book The Other Side (released on January 1st 1968). In 1968, in defiance of C. Kilmer Myers, the Bishop who'd succeeded him, he married Diane Kennedy, a Methodist student twenty-five years his junior, with whom he had collaborated on The Other Side. Wikipedia   ​

The connection between the Good Citizen letter and the San Jose letter can now be seen, through spirituality, mediumship, seance and the afterlife. In the words of Cragle: "So let us look at this is relation to the Welz's. Christian Science strongly condemns the idea of spirituality as this is a direct contradiction to their belief system, and we have a couple living in San Francisco responsible for the main publication of the Christian Science faith, being referenced in a communication that "was" made by one of the fundamental practices in spiritualism. I can only interpret this as a direct jibe at Christian Science and their beliefs. Also we have the two correspondences being linked by their theme and the associated work of Winifred Moyes and the "Zodiac" speaking through her. All tying in with Zodiac ideas on the afterlife. Something that is interesting regarding Winifred's "Zodiac" is that the small group of people which formed around her were the Zodiac Circle and their symbol was a cross. "Total control refers to the trance states into which a person goes when they are allowing another soul to pass messages"  

​One month after the letter to Diane Kennedy Pike, the Zodiac Killer wrote a letter to Melvin Belli on December 20th 1969, in which he stated "I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me. I am finding it extreamly difficult to hold it in check. I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & possibly tenth victom. Please help me. I am drownding. At the moment the children are safe from the bomb because it is so massive to dig in & the triger mech requires much work to get it adjusted just right. But if I hold back too long from no nine I will loose all controol of my self & set the bomb up. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer". Was the thing inside of him the spirit of Zodiac, controlling his every move? Or was this what he wanted us to believe?  

If we continue the angle of spiritualism, the afterlife and contacting of the dead, and consider that the April 20th 1970 letter was mailed on the same day the Robert Salem murder story broke in the newspapers, then we can look at the 13 character code beginning with A and ending with M (half the alphabet). The ouija board was split into the two halves of the alphabet and contained the numbers 0 and 8, present in the 13 character code.

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

To indent writing is to begin text with a blank space between it and the margin

Take a look at the the four consecutive known letters from April 24th 1978, May 2nd 1978, May 6th 1986 and October 28th 1987, shown below. Now imagine these are from different authors hoaxing Zodiac letters. All four managed to use "indented writing" on the opening introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking", which was never used prior to 1978 in any of the four published introductions in the San Francisco Chronicle (or in any Zodiac communications). This means that despite having the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction available for them to mimic, all four (or multiple) authors failed to keep the introduction in line with the text beneath it (signifying a consistent change in pattern). Subsequent to the introduction, all four authors also began with the personal pronouns of "I" and "You".  In three of these the text begins with "I". All of these three examples fail to use correct punctuation between "speaking" and "I". Ideally, these two words should be separated with a comma or full stop (period), but in every instance the author fails to do so, just like the authenticated Melvin Belli letter from December 20th 1969 (with inserted shirt piece). This strongly indicates we are dealing with one author who penned the December 20th 1969, April 24th 1978, May 6th 1986 and October 27th 1987 letters. It also suggests it was the Zodiac Killer who wrote at least four of the letters, one of which we know has generated a DNA profile. If the 1978 envelope has DNA beneath the stamp and/or envelope seal, why not the others? The 1978, 1986 and 1987 letters are almost certainly genuine Zodiac communications, so why were law enforcement attempting to secure Zodiac DNA from two of the July 31st 1969 envelopes nearly four years ago, when they already have it?

From August 4th 1969 to March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer mailed 12 authenticated letters (inc. Fairfield letters} that carried the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking" on the first line of the message. Of these 12 letters, only the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on the main first line (ignoring the "Dear" intro). It was written "This is the Zodiac speaking I". The San Francisco Chronicle published at least four of these introductions, which included the October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters (shown here).

The author of the April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter (if a hoaxer) had every opportunity to just mimic any one of these common introductions, yet he chose to mimic the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, which broke with tradition. The Melvin Belli message began with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", but was grammatically incorrect in failing to place a comma or full-stop between "speaking" and "I". Therefore, the author of the 1978 letter (if a hoaxer) chose to imitate the message on the opening line of the Melvin Belli letter (including the punctuation error) rather than the standard introduction used by the Zodiac Killer. Read more: Still Driving Around in 1987 [PT2].

Thanks to Druzer for his great work on this topic of indented writing.    

This excerpt (left) was taken from the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31st 1974 after the arrival of the Exorcist letter two days earlier. It tells you that law enforcement believed the letter was mailed in either San Mateo county or Santa Clara county. Roll forward just over four years later with the arrival of the 1978 letter, that many believed to be an idle and lazy hoaxer who just mimicked the handwriting from previous Zodiac communications.

The letter and envelope of the 1978 letter was examined by law enforcement. Here is what was written in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1978: "Toschi said yesterday that the common, while envelope had no outstanding marks and that the single piece of plain white stationary on which the note was written contained nothing that would give us any indication where he might have gotten it. It was also learned that although the envelope bore a San Francisco postmark, other notations on the cancelation indicated that the letter might have been mailed in San Mateo county or Santa Clara county and was brought here for processing". Law enforcement, at the time, considered this the first contact from the Zodiac Killer since he last wrote the Exorcist letter in January, 1974. If this analysis by law enforcement is correct, then the individual who mailed the 1978 letter, mailed it from the same location as the Exorcist letter, separated by just over four years. They say old habits die hard. Proving the authenticity of the Exorcist letter.

In the San Francisco Examiner on August 3rd 1978, four experts, Keith Woodward (head of Los Angeles documents department), John Shimoda (Postal Service crime laboratory), Robert Prouty (Chief documents section/Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation) and Terry Pasco (also Criminal Identification and Investigation), all deemed the 1978 letter a fake. Keith Woodward described the 1978 letter "a carefully drawn copy of the true Zodiac printing". He concluded it "was a poor attempt by an unknown writer". John Shimoda declared it "an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic". Robert Prouty and Terry Pasco said basically the same thing, while Robert Graysmith disingenuously turned on this letter when he realized the DNA extracted from it didn't match the profile of Arthur Leigh Allen, claiming a light table may have been employed to hoax the letter. He then boldly trumpeted the above arguments of handwriting analysis - a subjective analysis - that has forever divided document examiners in the case of JonBenet Ramsey and the three-page ransom note supposedly authored by a "foreign faction".

Handwriting analysis cannot be used to exclusively and definitively argue for the authenticity, or otherwise, of a Zodiac communication. However, it can be used as a supporting argument where other evidence exists. This still hasn't stopped vociferous sections of the Zodiac community buying into the notion of an authenticated list of Zodiac communications based solely upon the narrative they have been sold from day one. 

Let us look at the words of John Shimoda, who stated that the 1978 letter was "an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic". The author of the 1978 letter was that good at duplicating Zodiac letters, they failed to duplicate the opening introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking", which was always self-contained on a separate line in every confirmed Zodiac communication mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Los Angeles Times prior to 1978. The hoaxer had four examples of this to copy from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, when it released images of the ​October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters to the public (see images below). The hoaxer failed to copy any of these. Instead, they wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking I", mimicking the Melvin Belli letter and the punctuation error present in the accompanying text - despite this communication being the only example of this deviant introduction up to April 24th 1978. The author of the 1978 letter had the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter available to them - widely published in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31st 1974 - yet they failed to misspell "truly" to "truley", clearly evident in the Exorcist letter. The author of the 1978 letter failed to add a customary running total, which would have been the easy option to choose for somebody wanting to convince us they were Zodiac. Instead they placed the word "guess". The author of the 1978 letter failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction in line with the text beneath it (thanks Druzer). In the 1978 letter they used "indented writing" (to indent is to begin text with a blank space between it and the margin). This absence of indented writing during the introduction phase was present in every published letter up to 1978 (see below). So, you can see that the claim of the 1978 letter author attempting to "duplicate Zodiac letters" from the newspapers, carries no merit whatsoever. This individual wasn't attempting to copy anybody. 

If there is one letter that "suspect chasers" have a vested interest in dismissing out of hand, it's the 1978 letter (because a DNA sample has been obtained from it). If their suspect's DNA is available for comparison to a genuine Zodiac letter tomorrow, then it would only be a matter of days or weeks before their suspect is possibly confined to the compost heap of history, along with many other poor suspects in this case. They cannot take that chance, so play the odds and reject the letter beforehand. It is in the interest of "suspect chasers" to never accept the bloody taxicab fingerprint as originating from Zodiac (if their suspect's fingerprints exist on file), to never accept that Zodiac licked the stamps and envelopes, to never accept the 1978 letter as genuine, and for a minority, that DNA is never found in the Zodiac case. The longer they can promote their suspect, the better.

The Zodiac community have been eager to constantly enquire about the round of DNA testing reported in 2018, but show little interest in submitting the 1978 letter for familial DNA analysis. The reason for this apathy, is that many have looked at the 1978 communication and concluded it wasn't authored by the Zodiac Killer, primarily because they didn't like the handwriting or the tone of the letter. You cannot argue with research like this. For those who believe the 1978 letter is genuine, the search for Zodiac DNA is over. 

This is a continuation from the article The Day the Zodiac Killer Rang Oklahoma. The original article will be replicated here under Part One, immediately followed by some fresh information under Part Two (with the help of Zodiac Killer Net forum).

Part One: ​An imposter by the name of Eric Weill called into the Jim Dunbar KGO-TV station on the morning of October 22nd 1969 and attempted to pass himself off to the host and Melvin Belli as the infamous Zodiac Killer. During the phone call Eric Weill pleaded with Melvin Belli, stating "I want help".  On October 23rd 1969, the Desert Sun newspaper claimed that Melvin Belli told the caller “All of San Francisco wants to help you. The hand is out, you can feel the hands out.” The Zodiac Killer clearly latched onto this plea for help, when in mocking fashion he wrote to the residence of Melvin Belli on December 20th 1969 and stated "please help me" on three occasions, in accompaniment to the phrase "I cannot reach out for help". However, this wasn't the first time the Zodiac Killer would mock the spectacle of the Jim Dunbar Show, when on December 7th 1969 he mailed a letter from Fairfield to the San Francisco Chronicle stating "I just need help. I will kill again so expect it any time soon the will be a cop". Thirteen days later, the Melvin Belli letter would replicate this plea for help, despite the fact the December 7th 1969 correspondence was never released to the newspapers. But here's the kicker.

After the Zodiac Killer communication, postmarked December 7th 1969, a phone call was received later that night by the host of commercial radio station KTOK in Oklahoma City claiming to be from the Zodiac Killer. KTOK news director Larry Lamotte told the San Francisco Chronicle that a man rang the station and declared that he had to leave California because "it got too hot for me", remarking that the man did an awfully good impression of the man who rang the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. This is the crucial part. On the same day of December 7th 1969, we have a man mailing a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle mocking the call to the Jim Dunbar Show by stating "I just need help", followed a few hours later by a call to an Oklahoma radio station by a man doing an awfully good impression of the man who rang the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969. This impressionist caller could possibly be the Zodiac Killer mocking the Jim Dunbar Show, just as he had done in the letter earlier that day - and would do thirteen days later when he thrice pleaded "please help me". There is no way of finding out the full transcript of the phone call to the Oklahoma radio station, but it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe he mockingly asked for help on this occasion too.   

The caller to the Oklahoma radio station, doing an impression of the Jim Dunbar Show caller, claimed he left California because "it got too hot for me". A few hours before the October 22nd 1969 Oakland Police Department phone call requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, high profile lawyers at the time, appear on a chat show hosted by Jim Dunbar later that day, somebody rang the Palo Alto Times newspaper claiming to be the Zodiac Killer and stated that he had left San Francisco because "because I'm too hot there". Two similar pieces of phraseology connected by two phone calls and the Jim Dunbar Show.

​In addition, we have the December 7th 1969 letter stating "I will kill again so expect it any time soon the will be a cop", followed by the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter listing 38 "cops" as potential victims, and a December 19th 1969 payphone call to Sergeant Robert Rengsdorff of the San Jose Highway Patrol threatening "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". Three threats to kill cops within twelve days of December. Then came the mocking Melvin Belli letter just one day later. Neither of the Fairfield letters were released to the newspapers, making the December 19th 1969 payphone caller just another lucky chap if it wasn't the Zodiac Killer. It is fairly evident that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for many more phone calls than the two he has been accredited with, including a phone call to the Santa Rosa Police Department on October 15th 1969. 

The apparent familiarity with the KTOK radio station, by choosing to call one of its hosts over 1,000 miles from the Bay Area, could suggest an affinity to their style of broadcasting. During the 1960s KTOK radio station featured news, sport and adult music, with the 1960 Broadcasting Yearbook describing its content as "toe tapping music (no rock and roll) and all the announcers are adults". That music included such artists as Tony Bennett, The Mills Brothers and Al Martino. This may give an insight into the maturity and age of the Zodiac Killer when the phone call was made on December 7th 1969, in a year when all three sets of eyewitnesses at Presidio Heights described the Zodiac Killer as 40 years or above. Was the Zodiac Killer an avid listener to this radio station, or did he once have roots in Oklahoma?   

Part Two: Then came the ridiculous statements in the Lodi News-Sentinel by a detective sergeant and KTOK news director, Larry Lamotte. The detective sergeant told the Sentinel that "Major Miller told us it was a hoax. I don't know if we even looked into the case". Apparently the police ended their investigation inside of one day - and according to Larry Lamotte they didn't even come to collect recordings of the man's voice when offered the tapes. Larry Lamotte remarked "I don't see how it can be anything but a hoax. The caller was too familiar with Oklahoma City. He knew the name of our shopping centers and mentioned our high rate of traffic fatalities and even the governor's 'Live for the 70s program". Well, maybe he had visited Oklahoma recently, and/or had possibly lived there at some point Larry. Maybe he read newspapers and magazines.   

When the caller was asked if he was the Zodiac Killer, he stated "I could be", and added that "I don't need to kill. There are too many people killed on the highways and that's legal". The conversation continued with the caller remarking "You're going to try and trace it" - and when met with the affirmative - replied "then I better hang up". The caller added one final thing, threatening more killings by stating "There are plenty of parking lots" - mentioning one large Oklahoma shopping center by name. This call to Oklahoma City on December 7th 1969 came forty-seven days after the Jim Dunbar Show, yet it mimicked the October 22nd 1969 call to KGO-TV station the very same day a Zodiac letter was postmarked to the San Francisco Chronicle, also mimicking the Jim Dunbar Show hoaxer by stating "I just need help". Again, predating the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 that thrice pleaded "please help me". The caller to the Oklahoma radio station stated he had to leave California because "it got too hot for me", just like the caller to the Palo Alto newspaper just hours before the Oakland Police Department call in the early morning hours of October 22nd 1969. On that occasion the caller stated that he left San Francisco "because I'm too hot there". So, the notion the Oklahoma City caller was an isolated hoaxer that was currently resident in Oklahoma doesn't stack up, especially when you consider the December 7th 1969 letter was postmarked Fairfield, California. This Oklahoma City recording could reveal the true voice of the Zodiac Killer. At the very least, it should have been played to Bryan Hartnell, Nancy Slover and David Slaight, who had all heard the Zodiac Killer's voice a matter of months earlier.       

Additional Information: On October 19th 1969, the San Francisco Examiner ran an article entitled "Message to the Zodiac Killer". It read: "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".

This message may have inspired the Zodiac Killer to ring the Oakland Police Department on October 22nd 1969 requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, two high profile lawyers at the time, appear on a chat show hosted by Jim Dunbar later that day. The San Francisco Examiner article was published on October 19th 1969 with the assurance of "legal rights" if the Zodiac Killer phoned in - and requested the murderer to "give yourself up". It was reported in a magazine article in August 1971 that after the caller to Oakland Police made contact, the main thrust of the conversation was that the Zodiac Killer wanted to give himself up, but only if he could be represented by a famous lawyer. Approximately six weeks after the Oakland call, a letter mailed on December 7th 1969 to the San Francisco Chronicle (now validated as Zodiac correspondence), mocked the dialogue in the Jim Dunbar Show by opening his communication with "I just need help", but after threatening to kill a cop he stated "I will turn myself in". This was the only time the Zodiac Killer offered to turn himself in, other than the caller to the Oakland Police Department. To the best of my knowledge no newspaper articles immediately subsequent to the Jim Dunbar Show mentioned the Oakland caller offering to turn himself in - and neither did the Jim Dunbar Show hoaxer. This last section will be deleted if fresh information proves otherwise.  

On April 24th 1978, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle declaring "I am back with you", authenticated by documents examiner, Sherwood Morrill. Then came the arrival of San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Armistead Maupin, who joined the San Francisco Associated Press in 1971, and went on to launch nine novels that included the popular Tales of the City series. He caused a stink when he revealed that Inspector David Toschi had forged fan mail in regards to his character in the Tales of the City series, which resulted in Inspector David Toschi being demoted to pawn shop detail despite no solid evidence he crafted the 1978 letter.

​Then came further handwriting experts claiming that the 1978 letter looked traced and too similar to previous correspondence. In the San Francisco Examiner on August 3rd 1978, four experts, Keith Woodward (head of Los Angeles documents department), John Shimoda (Postal Service crime laboratory), Robert Prouty (Chief documents section/Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation) and Terry Pasco (also Criminal Identification and Investigation), all deemed the 1978 letter a fake. Keith Woodward described the 1978 letter "a carefully drawn copy of the true Zodiac printing". He concluded it "was a poor attempt by an unknown writer". John Shimoda declared it "an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic". Robert Prouty and Terry Pasco said basically the same thing. 

The experts concluded that the 1978 was effectively a "copy", attempting to duplicate authentic Zodiac letters. So why would an obvious copycat duplicate the Melvin Belli letter introduction, when this was the only Zodiac communication up to April 24th 1978 that had the deviant introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking I". If the author of the 1978 letter was attempting to imitate previous Zodiac communications so precisely, then why didn't he duplicate the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking" from at least four letters published in the newspapers?. This introduction was much more widely publicized. 

​From August 4th 1969 to March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer mailed 12 authenticated letters (inc. Fairfield letters} that carried the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking" on the first line of the message. Of these 12 letters, only the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on the main first line (ignoring the "Dear" intro). It was written "This is the Zodiac speaking I". The San Francisco Chronicle published at least four of these introductions, which included the October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, April 20th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters (shown here).

The author of the April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter (if a hoaxer) had every opportunity to just mimic any one of these common introductions, yet he chose to mimic the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, which broke with tradition. The Melvin Belli message began with "This is the Zodiac speaking I", but was grammatically incorrect in failing to place a comma or full-stop between "speaking" and "I". Therefore, the author of the 1978 letter (if a hoaxer) chose to imitate the message on the opening line of the Melvin Belli letter (including the punctuation error) rather than the standard introduction used by the Zodiac Killer. One would have expected a Zodiac copycat to mimic any one of the four introductions available in the San Francisco Chronicle  - but they didn't. The 1978 author mimicked the only one not publicly available in the Chronicle. Both letters also began with the author addressing the receiver by way of "Dear Melvin" and "Dear Editor". From August 4th 1969 to March 13th 1971, this "addressing of the receiver" within the letter was only performed twice (8/4/69 and 12/20/69). These observations may suggest the Zodiac Killer authored the 1978 letter after all. When you consider the same introduction present in the Melvin Belli and 1978 letter, was it just coincidence that the Melvin Belli letter stated "I can not remain in control for much longer", to which the 1978 letter replied with "I am now in control of all things"? 

According to Mike Rodelli, Alan Keel, Criminalist at the San Francisco Police Department "revealed that there were two letters in possession of the department that had abundant saliva and DNA-containing oral epithelial cells on them, and that the DNA extracted from these two letters matched between them". The San Francisco Police Department DNA chart concurred that a DNA sample was obtained from the 1978 letter. Zodiac researcher, Michael Butterfield, curator of the Zodiac Killer Facts website, wrote in an article entitled The Magic Bullet, that In the late 1990s San Francisco police obtained DNA from a suspected Zodiac letter, and the DNA did not match Allen’s DNA. That communication was the 1978 letter, described in comments in the DNA chart as "DNA Sample Obtained". The evidence above, pours fresh light on the 1978 letter being considered a genuine Zodiac letter, unless of course, the hoaxer just happened to ignore the widely publicized letters in the newspapers carrying the usual introduction, and instead opted to mimic the introduction and error in punctuation in the Melvin Belli letter, which would have seemed the less likely option.

In late 2017 there was optimism regarding a new round of testing of the Zodiac letters. In early 2018, the Sacramento Bee reported that "Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser, who has worked the Zodiac case for four years, said his agency has submitted two envelopes (in late 2017) that contained letters from the Zodiac Killer for a type of advanced DNA analysis that previously had not been available in the case. Poyser declined to identify the lab, but said it would attempt to obtain a full DNA profile from saliva on the envelope flap and stamps. He said he expected to have results back from the lab as soon as in the next few weeks, and almost certainly by summer". But according to the above sources and the "DNA Sample Obtained" comment by the San Francisco Police Department laboratory, we already have a DNA sample from the 1978 letter. Therefore, with little doubt, we have DNA from the Zodiac Killer - and have done for many years. This DNA from the 1978 letter should now be run through the genealogy database to generate fresh information in this long-standing case. If Alan Keel is correct, then we definitively have a full DNA profile of the Zodiac Killer from the 1978 letter, that he claimed matched one of the 1974 letters (which could very well be the Exorcist letter, as this was the only 1974 letter processed for DNA according to the chart). This sounds plausible, because recent information has shown that the Exorcist letter is without doubt genuine Zodiac correspondence based on comparisons between envelopes. All of this should exonerate David Toschi of having any involvement in forging Zodiac letters, and exclude Arthur Leigh Allen once and for all. But if the Exorcist letter and 1978 letter matched in DNA - and the 1978 letter was considered a forgery by investigators - why hasn't the Exorcist letter been more heavily questioned as authentic? Irrespective of any matches noted by Alan Keel, if the 1978 letter provided a DNA sample, then we may be able to identify the Zodiac Killer if the arguments made using the Melvin Belli letter stack up.

ADDITIONAL READING: A PATTERN OF WRITING  

Many people believe that the Zodiac Killer's "terroristic" exploits didn't begin with Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and the subsequent letter writing campaign - and have searched in the Editor's columns of newspapers for any hints of Zodiac type language. The following does not claim this is a Zodiac communication, but it is worthy of a mention because it involves a threatening letter to Mr. Melvin Belli prior to the inception of the Zodiac Killer.

A typewritten letter was postmarked Starkville, Mississippi on March 24th 1964, addressed to Mr. Melvin Belli, Attorney at Law, San Francisco, California, with a return address of R. A. Wagner, 1302 E. Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi. Investigators could find no such number on E. Capitol Street and no R. A. Wagner by searching the Polk Directory in Mississippi. The letter read:

"Old Dago Belli says of Dallas, 'This city stinks', We have news for you jelly belli -- that's your upper lip you smell. Furthermore, if you're not careful some-body's going to put a slug of hot lead between those beady eyes of yours". It was signed "The Commitee" and followed by "Remember, San Francisco is no sanctuary."         

This letter was in response to the conviction and death sentence imposed on Jack Ruby on March 14th 1964 for the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, and Melvin Belli's response to the verdict. Melvin Belli, who defended Jack Ruby, was quoted in a newspaper article: "ANOTHER MAN ON THE STREET, L. D. ENNES, DECLARED: "I THINK IF IT. HAD GONE ANY OTHER WAY, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A DISGRACE TO OUR LAWS." THERE WERE THOSE, HOWEVER, WHO SIDED WITH BELLI. BESIDE HIMSELF WITH RAGE AT THE VERDICT, THE NORMALLY SUAGE SAN FRANCISCO LAWYER ROARED IN COURT WITH RAGE AT THE VERDICT, THE NORMALLY SUAVE SAN FRANCISCO LAWYER ROARED IN COURT: "THIS IS A VICTORY FOR BIGOTRY. DON'T WORRY JACK, WE'LL APPEAL THIS AND TAKE IT OUT OF TEXAS." THE 55-YEAR-OLD BELLI WAS EQUALLY VEHEMENT TODAY IN ASSERTING, "THIS CITY STINKS." 

Mississippi was a hotbed of racial tension in the civil rights movement era, with the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders or the Mississippi Burning murders, which occurred in the latter half of 1964. The reason I bring this up, is the name adopted by the sender from Mississippi. Why would the sender choose this name? Richard Wagner was a German composer,  theater director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas. "The self-taught 19th-century German composer was born into a performing family – several of his sisters became opera singers and actresses. A vehement anti-Semite, Wagner is one of the most controversial figures in the history of classical music. The Ku Klux Klan-glorifying 1915 silent film, The Birth of a Nation, featured music from one of Wagner’s operas, Ride of the Valkyries". Post Magazine.. Adolf Wagner was a German soldier and high-ranking Nazi Party official born in Algrange, Alsace-Lorraine, and appointed by Adolf Hitler. So, did the roots of racism play any part in the fictitious name chosen by the sender from Mississippi.  

On August 26th 1976, a personal advertisement mentioning "The Imperial Wizard" and beginning with "ZODIAC" was placed in the San Francisco Chronicle to run for one week. This advertisement carried the initials R. A., just like the threatening letter from Mississippi addressed to Mr. Melvin Belli.