I would like to revisit the abduction of Kathleen Johns (22) just west of Modesto on March 22nd 1970, considered by many the primary outlier beyond the canonical four in the Bay Area. After the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 his brother, Joe Stine, issued a combative challenge to the Zodiac Killer on television and in the newspapers to come and hunt him down, giving the address of his workplace at 706 Sutter Avenue, Modesto, and the location of La Von's Walking Chicken where he lunched at noon most days. His open invitation of the Zodiac to Modesto was heavily frowned upon by investigators because authorities believed it endangered the lives of people around him and the wider community. The thought being that the Zodiac Killer may have opted to accept the challenge and target Modestans to prove he could murder anywhere.

​This is why the claimed attack on Kathleen Johns cannot be overlooked, who stated in the police report that she thought she had been trailed by a vehicle from Modesto to the area of South Bird Road on Highway 132, a distance of approximately 19 miles. Although her recollections are often contradictory, it must be considered significant that she may have been followed by a suspicious vehicle from Modesto, that she later claimed was the Zodiac Killer, who could have chosen his fifth attack anywhere in California, but began his "hunt" in the very city that Joe Stine laid down his challenge. Modesto is 90 miles from the murder site of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, so what are the chances this was pure happenstance? How likely is it that Kathleen Johns had read or seen the challenge by Joe Stine in October 1969 and waited five months to concoct a story of abduction, putting her 10-month-old daughter and unborn child through unnecessary hardship to initiate this elaborate hoax? 

Furthermore, her route from San Bernardino to Highway 132 had been achieved by traveling on Highway 99, which passed only 4,600 feet from the 706 Sutter Avenue workplace of Joe Stine, where he worked as a mechanic at the Richfield Service Station. La Von's Walking Chicken was slightly closer at 4,375 feet from Higway 99. Admittedly, this would have been late at night on a Sunday when these premises were shut, but if this was the Zodiac Killer, where had he been in the 48 hours previous? Had he picked up her trail in this location and decided to enact an alternative crime to his original intentions? 

​If the Zodiac Killer had trailed Kathleen Johns from Modesto, then it isn't inconceivable that he passed right by the workplace of Joe Stine five months after being issued the challenge. Another striking feature of the challenge was that the accompanying pictures in the many newspapers on October 23rd 1969 (including the San Francisco Chronicle), showed Joe Stine working at the Richfield Service Station close to the wheel of an elevated vehicle (it may have been the right rear wheel). Especially when we consider that the "Zodiac Killer" operated as a mechanic on the rear wheel of Kathleen Johns vehicle, five months later. Originally, Kathleen Johns claimed that the Zodiac Killer had turned onto South Chrisman Road and entered the Richfield Service Station/ARCO gas station, two miles west of her abandoned vehicle. However, finding it closed, the unidentified "Good Samaritan" continued on Highway 132 towards the city of Tracy. This detail was curiously dispensed with in some of her current and later retellings of the story.

​Had this been true, we would have had Joe Stine working near the wheel of a vehicle at the Richfield Service Station in the newspapers, which Zodiac passed by 5 months later, who then disabled the wheel of Kathleen Johns vehicle, before taking her two miles down the highway to a Richfield Service Station. All the ingredients for a good story was available in the newspapers, either concocted by Kathleen Johns or fashioned by the Zodiac Killer. If this seemed too clever a belated design by Kathleen Johns, it certainly wasn't for the Zodiac Killer, who we know liked a challenge.

Kathleen Johns was quoted in the police report, saying that the suspect "went west on Highway 132 and pulled into a Richfield service station that was closed. It is believed by undersigned to be Chrisman Road". Whether or not she identified the gas station as Richfield or ARCO, free from equivocation, would have been useful information to know. There was a large glowing sign above the gas station on South Chrisman Road identifying it as an ARCO, so anybody traveling on Highway 132 would have known where to refill, but they wouldn't necessarily know it was a Richfield Service Station unless they were familiar with this location (because it was over 800 feet from Highway 132). 

​ARCO was established in 1966 as the Atlantic Richfield Company, an independent oil and gas company formed from the merger of Atlantic Petroleum and the Richfield Oil Corporation. If Kathleen Johns had literally told police her abductor drove her to a "Richfield Service Station", then this may have made her story more credible, because from Highway 132 it would only have been recognisable as an ARCO for a first time visitor (unless signposted). Or she was given this name by her abductor. If her story was completely fabricated and no abductor existed, there would have been no need to invoke the name "Richfield", that the "undersigned" believed to be the gas station on Christman Road. That is why the story of her abductor taking her to this gas station, being omitted from her later stories, is unusual. It tends to support her story rather than negate it. Especially considering this gas station would have been unidentifiable from 2 miles away (from slightly east of South Bird Road), where the presumed abduction began. Maybe the story of a seemingly helpful man at this point in time didn't fit the menacing narrative wanted to be portrayed in later accounts. It must be stressed that the police reports also carried the story of an abductor who never made any attempts to visit a service station, making this case extremely difficult to formulate any consistent narrative. 

Four months after the Kathleen Johns affair, on July 24th 1970, the Zodiac Killer admitted that he "gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". On October 27th 1970 he incorporated "by fire" into his crime methodology within the Halloween card, which he followed up by a further communication on March 13th 1971, mailed from Pleasanton. The city of Pleasanton would have been a location passed by the Zodiac Killer had he set "fire" to Kathleen Johns vehicle and headed back to the Bay Area.

​If this abduction was committed by the Zodiac Killer, it is extremely unlikely he took a 180 mile round trip from the Bay Area just for the sole purpose of randomly abducting a woman nearing midnight. Either there was a more sinister purpose to his visit over the previous hours or days in Modesto that failed to transpire - or knowing he had upcoming business dealings or relations in this area, seized the opportunity to bring his terror to the very location where Joe Stine lived (we know that Chester Clark Klingel lived in Hughson, close to Modesto, subsequent to 1970, and had relatives in Turlock prior to this year). Did Chester Clark Klingel cross paths with the Zodiac Killer on one of the killer's continued dealings in this locality? 

Despite this presentation making a case for the Zodiac Killer being in Modesto on March 22nd 1970, it is extremely difficult to see past the many inconsistencies in the story of Kathleen Johns - not only at the time - but in the dramatized account portrayed in the Zodiac book by Robert Graysmith, that actually weakened her case still further. However, the sheer fact that the brother of Paul Stine (Zodiac's last known victim) laid down a challenge to the Bay Area murderer to come to Modesto - and the next major Zodiac story had its roots in Modesto - has to raise some eyebrows. Either Kathleen Johns, after reading the challenge by Joe Stine, deliberately fashioned a story about being followed from Modesto, to be subsequently abducted by the Bay Area murderer, or the Zodiac Killer specifically targeted this area of California after reading the bravado exhibited by Joe Stine many months earlier. But how would Kathleen Johns have known that a sketch of the Zodiac Killer would have been conveniently available to her at the Patterson Police Department, for her to say "that is the man that abducted me"? In absence of the sketch, she would have had to initiate the story using her knowledge of the sketch from elsewhere. For many Zodiac researchers, the jury is still out on the abduction of Kathleen Johns.

On November 16th 1970 Paul Avery published an article in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper about a possible link between the Zodiac Killer and the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. The Redlands Daily Facts newspaper also covered this story (see below), by noting the resemblance between the Halloween card mailed by the Zodiac Killer and the "Bates Had to Die" letters, which both were argued to have the "Z" signature. The San Francisco Chronicle and Redlands Daily Facts newspapers also covered the abduction story of Kathleen Johns, who at the time of her ordeal on March 22nd 1970 lived at 847 West Campus Way in San Bernardino, 12 miles from the murder site of Cheri Jo Bates, alongside Terracina Drive. The Zodiac Killer would graciously accept this "riverside activity" on March 13th 1971 when he wrote to the Los Angeles newspaper. But how could he simultaneously attach himself to the Kathleen Johns crime once again, while interjecting himself close to Riverside?     

On July 30th 1971, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to a Redlands resident stating "There is a bomb in your house that will go off tonight at midnight. Leave $1,000,000 at your front door at 11 p.m". Most reasonable people will accept that this demand was unlikely to be met by the resident of the house, yet it was a malicious threat nonetheless. We obviously do not know whether this letter was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, but if it was, it would be interesting to discover the name of the homeowner. A letter from the Zodiac Killer to somebody connected to the case would have had far more impact than a random Redlands resident plucked from the telephone directory.

​The border of Redlands was only 4.25 miles from the once home of Kathleen Johns (847 West Campus Way), where she had lived at the time of her abduction. Where was she living on July 30th 1971? Could the homeowner have been somebody connected to Kathleen Johns or to Cheri Jo Bates? If this letter was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, it may have been a strategic move on his behalf to connect himself to an area relevant to both Kathleen Johns and Riverside, arriving just 4 months after his claim of "riverside activity". 

The San Francisco Chronicle and Redlands Daily Facts newspapers highlighted the "Z" connection between the Halloween card and "Bates Had to Die" letters, so did the author of the July 30th 1971 letter provide a compelling literary connection to a Zodiac Killer letter? (preferably using a letter unreleased into the public domain). Although spelt slightly differently, the author of the July 30th 1971 letter signed off his communication with "har! har! har!", using three exclamation marks. When the Zodiac Killer mailed the second Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969 he signed off the letter with "ha! ha! ha!". We have two letters with laughing signatures, both referencing the Zodiac Killer, with the later communication mailed relatively close to the once residence of Kathleen Johns and Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates, both of whom were the main focus of the above two newspapers (and many more), coming 4 months after his admission of "riverside activity". Was this his attempt to apply significance to his claims on March 13th 1971? 

Recently deceased Zodiac researcher Howard Davis spoke with Kathleen Johns, stating "She told us when she jumped from the car and ran to a vineyard he was calling out to her and scanning the area with a flashlight and he was holding a gun. She told me she did mention it to an officer who didn’t take any notes as she spoke. They really didn’t want this to be a kidnap. Then in departing we were talking (and) she mentioned he sent her a Halloween card Oct.70 as l have posted several times. Inside it read:“To the lady in the blue station wagon”. She sent it to Paul Avery who had interviewed her relative to the abduction and did an article. We called him but he said he never got it". This claim by Kathleen Johns may carry some weight, because the telephone threats to Daniel Williams over a two week period beginning October 23rd 1969 by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer, made the threat to "kill the lady in the blue house". The language adopted of "the lady in the blue" was pertinent in both instances. 

After the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 his brother, Joe Stine, made an ill-advised challenge to the Zodiac Killer shortly afterwards, by advertising his workplace and routes to and from the Richfield service station where he worked as a mechanic. On October 22nd 1969 he was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying "Zodiac has to be sick, a maniac. I hope that by offering myself as a target I can flush him out. I work at the Richfield Service Station at 706 Sutter Street in Modesto, near Rouse Street. I start at 7 am. I go to lunch at the Walk-In Chicken in a shopping center two blocks away, riding a bicycle along Sutter Street and leaving the station at noon each day. I go back to the service station and work until 5". 

This challenge was widely condemned by Modesto residents and law enforcement, who accused Joe Stine of bringing potential danger to their city, that resulted in advise being given to school bus drivers in the event of an attack. Most days at noon Joe Stine went for lunch at La Von's Walking Chicken at 440 Paradise Road in Modesto, a 650 meter, 10 minute walk along Sutter Avenue. If the Zodiac Killer had targeted Joe Stine here, he would literally have been securing a kill in Paradise. Situated along Paradise Road and H Street is the Modesto High School, home of the Paul Tischer Performing Arts Theatre. It would have been quite the thing for a young Zodiac to have left his high school each day and walked home along Paradise Road.

But how coincidental was it that the subsequent crime to the Paul Stine murder, which was connected to the Zodiac Killer, was along Highway 132 near Modesto, where Joe Stine worked and invited the Zodiac Killer to pay him a visit? Kathleen Johns' route from San Bernardino to Petaluma on March 22nd 1970 via Highway 99, took her 4,750 feet from the Richfield service station of Joe Stine. Assuming that Kathleen Johns didn't read or watch the Joe Stine challenge to Zodiac back in October 1969 and decide to concoct an abduction story involving the Zodiac Killer near Modesto, it must be considered an unusual coincidence that - of all the places in California - the Zodiac Killer would strike in the very location the challenge was issued (assuming it was the Bay Area murderer). Some researchers from the Zodiac forums uncovered an unusual letter mailed to the Modesto Bee newspaper that they suspected could have been the Zodiac Killer playing games. AK Wilks stated "Someone reacted to Joe Stine very strongly. Doug Oswell and I, and some others, wonder if this letter from AROUSED is actually the Zodiac". Joe Stine worked near ROUSE Street. This individual claimed he went to Hughson Union High School with Paul Stine (a notable alumni in 1957). 

Two decades after the claimed abduction of Kathleen Johns, in December 1990, a Christmas card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from Eureka, California, that dragged Chester Clark Kilingel into the Zodiac story. Believed by many to have been sent by the Zodiac Killer, the card carried the image of a disguised snowman wearing spectacles, with the photocopied image of two post office box keys. The numbers on these keys were traced to Chester Clark Klingel.

The last time the Zodiac Killer could be linked to spectacles, a possible disguise and keys, is when he left the taxicab of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, having taken the keys of the taxicab driver. Regarding the Eureka card, it appears that the Zodiac Killer may have also swiped a key belonging to Chester Clark Klingel, twenty-one years later. 

​If the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, how did he acquire one of the post office box keys of Chester Clark Klingel in order to photocopy it? If the Zodiac Killer didn't find the key and trace its owner, then the logical conclusion is that at some point he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel.

After Chester married his wife, Blandina, in 1965, they visited relatives regularly in Turlock, before they purchased property at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson, California in 1973 (now Alpine Pacific Nut Company). The route taken by Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 had her traveling northwest on Highway 99, through Turlock and near Hughson, California, before reaching Modesto and heading west on Highway 132. It so happens that E Keyes Road passes over the top of Highway 99, with the 15-acre farm at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson situated less than two miles from Highway 99. The farm purchased by Chester Clark Klingel was just 3 miles from Hughson High School that Paul Stine attended. The school is located at 7419 E Whitmore Ave, only 5 miles from Highway 99. It means that Kathleen Johns, on March 22nd 1970, drove close to the high school of Paul Stine, the workplace of Joe Stine and the East Keyes farm eventually owned by Chester Clark Klingel (who Zodiac sent xeroxed keys from in 1990), before she was abducted by the Zodiac Killer on Highway 132 near Modesto - if you believe her story. You can't make this stuff up. 

Many Zodiac researchers have contemplated which production of The Mikado inspired the Zodiac Killer to plagiarize two acts from the Gilbert & Sullivan opera, that included "A More Humane Mikado" and "As Some Day It May Happen" on July 26th 1970. Hopefully the following presentation may help answer that question.

​Although the Zodiac Killer heavily featured The Mikado in the July 26th 1970 letter, it wasn't his first reference to the satirical play, when he wrote about Kathleen Johns two days earlier (on July 24th 1970), stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice (Zodiac symbol inserted) buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The Zodiac Killer was effectively pre-empting his "Little List" letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 26th 1970. The Bay Area murderer was often a reactive author, commenting on recent newspaper articles he had read, or something he had watched on television.

Throughout California (and other regions of America), the D'Oyly Carte 1939 production of The Mikado was featured on Channel 11 on the late night of Thursday, July 23rd 1970 and the early morning hours of Friday, July 24th 1970. That is the night before and the same day that the Zodiac Killer mailed his brief letter to the Chronicle, claiming the abduction of Kathleen Johns, and informing us that he had begun his "little list". Below are just a few examples from California.   

Curiously, but not by any means compelling, The Mikado (1939) starred Kathleen Naylor (the namesake of Johns), who joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1933 and also played key roles in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Princess Ida" and "Iolanthe". But that isn't the interesting part of the story. Widely considered the next confirmed communication of the Zodiac Killer, the Halloween card was mailed on October 27th 1970 with the added wording of "Peek-A-Boo" and "Boo". Bearing in mind that The Mikado was a British production, "Peek-A-Boo" is usually referred to as "Peep-Bo" in the English equivalent. Kathleen Naylor played the character "Peep-Bo" in the 1939 version of The Mikado.   

It has been stated that one of the keys depicted in the Eureka card mailed in December 1990 was traced to its once owner, Chester Clark Klingel. The question that has arisen is: if the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, how did he acquire the post office box key of Chester Clark Klingel in order to photocopy it? If the Zodiac Killer didn't find the key and trace its owner, then the logical conclusion is that at some point he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel. After Chester married his wife, Blandina, in 1965, they visited relatives regularly in Turlock, before they purchased property at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson, California in 1973 (now Alpine Pacific Nut Company). They eventually sold this property and bought a 20-acre ranch from walnut huller, Glenn DeLay in 1976. This is the only tenuous link that can be forged between Chester Clark Klingel and the Zodiac Killer, who, if we believe abducted Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970, may have been traveling back to Vallejo from the Turlock or Hughson area that night. Additional link.

​Although the Kathleen Johns abduction occurred three years before the Klingels purchased the property in E Keyes Road and six years before the second purchase, the Zodiac Killer could have had family or friends, or had business dealings in Turlock or Hughson, that required him traveling there from the Bay Area before and after the Kathleen Johns abduction. If he had visited this area of California in 1970, he could have visited it regularly pre and post March 22nd 1970 - possibly into the 1980s and 1990s, where he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel in a personal or professional capacity. The route that Kathleen Johns took on March 22nd 1970 had her traveling northwest on Highway 99, through Turlock and near Hughson, California, before reaching Modesto and heading west on Highway 132. In fact, E Keyes Road passed over the top of Highway 99, with the 15-acre farm at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson situated less than two miles from Highway 99.

If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Kathleen Johns abduction in 1970, and had lived in the Bay Area during this period, it's very unlikely he would have taken a 170-mile round trip to an isolated stretch of road just to commit this type of crime, that he could have committed anywhere. This opens up the possibility he may have had reason to be in Turlock or Hughson pre and post 1970 (possibly business related). However slim, is there a chance that the Zodiac Killer trailed Kathleen Johns from Highway 99 somewhere in the region of Turlock or Hughson, or could he have traveled from this area and randomly come across Kathleen Johns as they both drove along Highway 132 at approximately 11:15pm?. Any continuing journeys to the Turlock region subsequent to the night of March 22nd 1970 may have facilitated the opportunity for the Zodiac Killer and Chester Clark Klingel to have crossed paths with one another. According to the obituary of Chester Clark Klingel, he remained in Turlock until the death of his wife Blandina on September 9th 1993, when he sold the farm and moved to Eureka. Therefore, it is entirely plausible that the Zodiac Killer 'acquired' and photocopied the post office box key from Chester in the years up to and including 1990, while Chester lived in Turlock, California.

If Kathleen Johns story of abduction is to be believed as recounted by Robert Graysmith in his 1986 Zodiac book, then it's extremely likely Kathleen Johns wasn't taken on a 2 to 3 hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy, California. If Robert Graysmith was detailing her recollections of March 22nd and 23rd 1970 even remotely accurately, it is evident that Kathleen Johns was driven to either the city of Livermore or Pleasanton in Alameda County. This location would 16 to 22 miles west of the location she believed her abductor had taken her. A location familiar to the Zodiac community because this was the area where the Zodiac Killer mailed the Los Angeles letter on March 13th 1971. 

In the Robert Graysmith book she described passing the Arco Service Station at Chrisman Road. It recounted the events like so: Then the stranger drove her away from her car - but not to the ARCO station. "When he missed it, I really didn't think much about it. I didn't say anything. When he passed the next exit, it dawned on me something wasn't right. As long as he wasn't talking, neither was I. We went several more exits before he got off, and then I just didn't say anything. He was doing the driving". The man started down a deserted, rocky farm road. Nothing was said for a long time. The man started to pull over to the roadside and then speeded up. He repeated this several times. Kathleen thought he was going to make a pass at her. She was the one to break the silence "Do you always go around helping people on the road like this" she said sarcastically. "When I get through with them they don't need any help" said the man, his tone changing as he looked off at the dark woods in the distance.        

The journey time from South Bird Road (where her vehicle was abandoned) to Pleasanton is approximately 50 to 55 minutes. Throw in the "slow drives" up some winding farm roads and the journey time back to Highway 132, and we have effectively swallowed up the 2 to 3 hours that she claimed the journey had taken. Let us review her account to Robert Graysmith.

She explicitly stated that they passed the ARCO exit at Chrisman Road, continuing onwards. California State Route 132 switches into the 82-mile Interstate 580 and heads northwest on the south side of Tracy, California. To circle around the outskirts of Tracy (where Kathleen Johns thought the man drove), the correct departure point would have been the following exit after the ARCO station at Chrisman Road. This would have been north on Corrall Hollow Road. But according to the Robert Graysmith book, Kathleen Johns stated that after missing the first exit after Chrisman Road "we went several more exits before he got off". Even if the man had exited Interstate 580 two exits after Chrisman Road, this would have him exiting up Patterson Pass Road, about 4 miles to the west of Tracy. The third exit after Chrisman Road would have the "abductor" exiting on Grant Line Road about 6 miles shy of Livermore. The fourth exit would be Carroll Road and Altamont Pass Road in Ulmar, Livermore, just a few miles from the city center. Livermore to Pleasanton (center to center) is 6 miles. The fourth exit would have been three exits after "he passed the next exit", described by Kathleen as several. Judging by the time elapsed and the description of "several more exits", it is highly likely that Kathleen Johns was approaching Livermore and Pleasanton via Interstate 580, rather than exiting the highway at Tracy. The woods she described in the distance may have been Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.

Irrespective of the whole story making little sense, Kathleen Johns was effectively describing the natural route she would have taken to visit her sick mother in Petaluma, California. She would have taken Interstate 580 to the north side of the Bay Area. If the outward bound journey had taken Kathleen Johns past several exits, close to Livermore or Pleasanton - then approaching three hours later - she was extremely fortunate to escape into a vineyard just a few hundred meters from her stricken 1957 Chevrolet station wagon, back on Highway 132. It was effectively a journey to nowhere. 

Kathleen Johns was purportedly abducted on March 22nd 1970 and taken on a 2-hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy, California, before emerging from the vineyards bordering Highway 132 and South Bird Road and rescued by some people from Missouri. The vineyards were only a few hundred meters from her disabled and burnt out vehicle, and the site of her abduction. This would have been one of the rare instances where an abductor actually returned the victim to the site of their abduction. There are people who don't believe Kathleen Johns was abducted at all, claiming it was pure fiction. I shall let you decide.      

Joe Stine, brother of victim Paul Stine, who was murdered in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 by the Zodiac Killer, issued a challenge from Modesto on a KPIX news report. He was asked on October 22nd 1969 "What is the feeling among them (law enforcement) and people here in the city that you may be drawing the Zodiac here unnecessarily". Joe Stine replied "I haven't even considered these people on this, I am very selfish on this". Joe Stine lived and worked in Modesto as a mechanic..

The Zodiac Killer had struck in the Bay Area four times, so what was the likelihood he would now bypass this area and other closer cities and make the 150 mile round trip to Modesto from Vallejo (assuming he lived there or close by). This was the first time the Zodiac Killer was publicly challenged by a murder victim's famiy member, drawing ire from investigators and some people in Modesto towards Joe Stine for effectively enticing the killer into their midst - and we know how Zodiac rose to being challenged or questioned in the newspapers. If we believe the account of Kathleen Johns, the next time the Zodiac would resurface would be in Modesto exactly 5 months later. If this abduction was the work of the Bay Area murderer, was this simply a coincidence or had the Zodiac Killer chosen Modesto deliberately to add to the frustrations of law enforcement and bring condemnation upon the brother of Paul Stine?

If the Zodiac Killer lived in the Bay Area, would he really travel this distance late at night solely for the purpose of disabling a woman's vehicle and taking her on a trip around Tracy for upwards of two hours, unless it was important to strike fear into the people of Modesto in a wilful and deliberate choice on his part? After the challenge by Joe Stine on October 22nd 1969, two communications would arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle. The first contained the hidden message of Paradice and Slaves, along with By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire clockwise in each quadrant, effectively mimicking the Halloween card that would arrive nearly one year later. The second correspondence opened with the words "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people. I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me. So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. When I committ my murders, they shall look like routine robberies, killings of anger, + a few fake accidents, etc".

The Zodiac Killer had already completed his attacks using a gun, rope and knife in that order, so what were the odds that his next attack after the challenge by Joe Stine would be in Modesto, use fire as part of the crime and attempt to imitate a fake accident, thereby changing his way of collecting slaves. The answer may have come five months later on March 22nd 1970, when the abductor of Kathleen Johns took her into nearby Tracy, but inexplicably headed back towards Modesto before she escaped into a field along Highway 132. Then for some unexplained reason decided to set fire to her vehicle, even though there seemed no purpose in doing so. If the Zodiac Killer had deposited any fingerprints on her vehicle by "snapping off the lights, and pocketing the keys" as Robert Graysmith claimed in his book, then it was a far easier task to just wipe down the couple of places he touched. Setting fire to her vehicle by the side of Highway 132 to extinguish fingerprints was totally unnecessary, unless of course, the Zodiac Killer wanted to satisfy the "by fire" element in his agenda.

Was the Zodiac Killer's choice of disabling the wheel of Kathleen Johns vehicle and subsequent abduction, based somewhat on the article above, making the deliberate choice of taking her on a two-hour ride of terror in order to bring condemnation back onto Joe Stine for the challenge he laid down in the media. It would also have had the added "noze rubed in your booboos" effect for law enforcement, who were initially upset and perplexed by the actions of Joe Stine.  

Did the Zodiac Killer pick up the trail of Kathleen Johns in Modesto as she passed near the area where Joe Stine worked at the Richfield Service Station at 706 Sutter Avenue? Her journey along Highway 99, before turning west onto Highway 132, would have taken her only 4,750 feet from the Richfield Service Station. If this were the case, then we have the challenge laid down by Joe Stine in Modesto, followed by two communications that included "by fire" and "fake accidents", with the Zodiac Killer turning up in Modesto within one mile of the Richfield Service Station and subsequently disabling Kathleen Johns vehicle before setting it on fire. Does such a departure from his previous crimes pour doubt on this as a Zodiac attack, or is the Modesto connection reason enough to forge a viable fifth attack into the hands of the Bay Area murderer? 

If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Kathleen Johns abduction on March 22nd 1970, then where had he been and where was he going to at around 11:15 pm? If he was heading back to the Bay Area when he picked up Kathleen Johns trail, had he finished working late that night and the attack on the young woman was simply an opportunistic abduction? It certainly makes little sense that the Zodiac Killer would make a round trip of 140 miles from somewhere like Vallejo, just to abduct a woman on a lonely stetch of highway. In the Robert Graysmith book, Kathleen Johns route that night was as follows:"She had made her way up dusty Interstate 5 and onto Highway 99 just before Bakersfield, through Fresno, Merced and Modesto, where she swung left onto Highway 132, a rarely used road. In her rear view mirror she noticed a car she seemed to have picked up on her tail in Modesto. It was near midnight whe Kathleen slowed to let the car pass her. Abruptly, the driver behind began to blink his lights and honk his horn. When Kathleen ignored this, the stranger accelerated and pulled into the lane alongside her 1957 Chevrolet station wagon. He yelled through his open side passenger window that her left rear wheel was wobbling. "But I didn't stop, because it was dangerous out there. I waited until I got to the freeway, then I stopped by 5''. If this was an opportunistic attack by the Zodiac Killer, where had he come from? Kathleen Johns could have picked up this tail anywhere along Highway 132, so we should examine the location in and around Modesto more closely. Below is a map showing the route taken by Kathleen Johns.         

You will notice on the map above I have added two notable military bases that are pertinent to Highway 132. Somebody leaving NASA Crows Landing and heading to the Bay Area, would enter Interstate 5, travel 23 miles and join Highway 132, just 0.8 miles before the location of where Kathleen Johns pulled over her vehicle. This location was marginally east of Bird Road.
Somebody leaving Castle Air Force Base would also have joined Highway 99 (just like Kathleen Johns) and headed 34 miles to Modesto and then took Highway 132. Bearing in mind Kathleen Johns described her abductor as a "clean shaven and very neatly dressed man, thinking he may have been a service man or something", the possibility he had left one of these military airfields in his wing walker boots or some other military footwear, is certainly worthy of considerarion. When he had convinced Kathleen to take a ride with him, she noted that the "stranger's shoes had been shined so brightly, 'spit-shined' that they reflected the yellow interior lights of the car". The most direct route from both of these military airfields drops right onto Highway 132 and the route that Kathleen Johns noticed she had picked up a tail that night. The map below shows the position where Kathleen Johns vehicle was discovered burnt out, and the exact location where somebody traveling from NASA Crows Landing would have picked up Highway 132.

Crow’s Landing is an auxiliary field that served Alameda Naval Air Station and NASA Ames Research Center / Moffett Field.  It opened in 1942. From the 1960s to the 1990s NASA used it to conduct flight tests on experimental aircraft. The Navy also used its runways to simulate carrier landings, installing portable “Meatball” lights and arrestor cables. link. Howard Gillins recalled, “I was at Crows Landing from 5/68 to 6/70. I was assigned to the Crash Fire Rescue Dept under civilian Fire Chief Walt Latham. We had 1 SAR helo assigned at Crows Landing: an H-34 & later an H-2. We had at that time 50 enlisted (5 CPO including LCPO) 1 OIC (Lcdr) & 5 civilians. We built & occupied the Club / Rec Center / Ship Store. We provided daytime touch & go practices for the military aircraft & at night carrier landing practices. We supported the LSO, hot refueling & minor maintenance & repairs". link.

Castle Air Force Base (1941–1995) is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced and about 115 miles south of Sacramento, California. The base, located in unincorporated Merced County, was closed in 1995 pursuant to a Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision following the end of the Cold War and the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command. It is now known as the Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center. From April 1968 to April 1974, the 93rd operated a special B-52 replacement training unit to support SAC's B-52 operation in Southeast Asia. Also, the 328th and 329th Bomb Squadrons deployed to U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand where they flew combat missions over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the Vietnam War. link.

Crows Landing was an auxiliary airfield connected to Alameda Naval Air Station and Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara County, both in the Bay Area where we know the Zodiac Killer operated. Did these military bases play any part in the Zodiac Killer's chosen profession, being contracted to work between the Patterson area, just south of Modesto, and the eastern fringe of San Francisco? This area of work would certainly facilitate his mailing of letters without too much deviation.

Just one month after the abduction of Kathleen Johns, the Zodiac Killer mailed the April 20th 1970 '13 Symbol' cipher, in which one of the characters resembled a circled 8. Some have considered it could represent an 8-ball or eightball, bearing in mind the July 26th 1970 'Little List' letter - in which Zodiac promised to place Kathleen Johns top of. In the 'Little List' letter, he quoted from The Mikado, that "all billiard players I shall have them play in a darkened dungeon cell with crooked cues and twisted shoes. Yes, I shall have great fun inflicting the most delicious of pain to my slaves". Two days prior to the 'Little List' letter he addressed Kathleen Johns, stating "So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The above makes the connection to the military even more interesting, when we consider the design of the NASA Crows Landing military patch, and the 'circled 8' letter that followed the abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970.

It has been claimed by Kathleen Johns that she received phone calls and a Halloween card (likely October 1970) from the Zodiac Killer, addressed "To the woman in the blue station wagon". This greeting card may have been simultaneously mailed with the Halloween card to Paul Avery on October 27th 1970, so it would be interesting to search for correlations between the 10/27/70 Halloween card and the abduction of Kathleen Johns. If the two Halloween cards were mailed by the Zodiac Killer around the same timeframe, then the inclusion of "by fire" alongside "To the woman in the blue station wagon" would leave little doubt that the two are connected. Traveling clockwise around the 10/27/70 Halloween card, the Zodiac Killer presented the weapons he used in the correct order of their appearance up to March 23rd 1970 - By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire. The young woman apparently forwarded this card she received to newspaper reporter Paul Avery, but like everything else in the Zodiac case it disappeared into the ether (assuming her story is true). It has been claimed that if the Zodiac was responsible for the mailing of a Halloween card to Kathleen Johns, then he was responsible for her abduction, because no mention of her driving a blue station wagon was published in the newspapers. Without trawling the entire newspaper collection from 1970, I cannot verify this detail one way or another. 

As has already been suggested, the Zodiac Killer (or her abductor) would have had ample time to rummage through her vehicle after her ordeal was over and search for any letters or documents that contained her address and telephone details. Having deposited his fingerprints all over her vehicle, this may explain why he thought it easier to torch her 1957 Chevrolet, and why he returned to her vehicle after the 2-hour abduction - to gather information for his future correspondence. 

Kathleen Johns effectively contradicted herself when she named Lawrence Kane as her likely abductor that night, because he would have been 45 years of age on March 22nd 1970. She described her abductor as white, around 30 years of age, 5'9" in height, 160 lbs, dark hair, clean-cut and having the traits of a serviceman. So how can we reconcile this difference?

For people who still believe that the Zodiac Killer was 20-30 years of age during his attacks, while also believing that the Kathleen Johns abduction was the work of the Zodiac Killer, we have to consider the amount of time she spent in his vehicle and her detailed description regarding the interior of the vehicle. Kathleen described his car as messy and had noticed men's and children's clothing scattered about, along with books and papers, a black rubber-handled flashlight, and two colored plastic scouring pads on the console dashboard. Kathleen estimated that the smaller patterned T-shirts were designed in the age range of 8-12 years. Unless the Zodiac Killer was a traveling salesman selling children's clothing, or had borrowed the vehicle, a reasonable assumption would be that these haphazardly scattered clothes were part of a family vehicle. If Kathleen Johns upper estimate of the clothing was correct at 12 years - and a 20 to 30 year Zodiac conceived this child - he would have been approximately 8 to 18 years of age at the time (12 to 22 at the lower estimate), making the case for a Zodiac Killer of at least 30 or above more believable. If you don't accept that these clothes were necessarily the clothing of the Zodiac Killer's chidren, then an alternative explanation is necessary.

In 1972, the average age of fathers of newborns in the U.S. was 27 - so if the Zodiac was the biological father of the 12-year-old who wore the clothing present in his vehicle, then the statistical average would suggest a killer of about 39 years of age in 1970, in closer proximity to the age of Lawrence Kane (who she identified as her abductor), and very close to the average age of 40 described by three sets of eyewitnesses at Presidio Heights.   

Howard Davis wrote on the old zodiackiller.com message board that "This woman felt that the PD rednecks were put off by Kathleen Johns hippy appearance and really didn't put much credence or interest in her recounting the event of that night". Was the same conclusion on the appearance of Kathleen Johns drawn by the Zodiac Killer, who paraphrased the Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado in his communication on July 26th 1970, opening with the lines from 'As Some Day it May Happen', performed by Ko-Ko. The beginning of Act One stated "As some day it may hapen that a victom must be found. I've got a little list. I've got a little list, of society offenders who might well be underground, who would never be missed, who would never be missed".

Did the Zodiac Killer regard Kathleen Johns hippy tendencies as part of the counterculture or underground movement that he had on his "little list".- people that wouldn't be missed? The letter mailed only two days earlier to the San Francisco Chronicle would suggest so. He wrote on July 24th 1970, threatening "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice (Zodiac symbol inserted)  buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". The phrase "I now have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby" appeared to suggest that her escape would be short-lived and that some day it might happen. It appeared that three months later she may still have been in his sights, when she apparently received a Halloween card from her abductor at her home address. He had promised to "start" with her and he wasn't finished yet.

The 'As Some Day it May Happen' verse ended with "But it really doesn't matter whom you place upon the list, for none of them be missed, none of them be missed". Sadly, Kathleen Johns is no longer with us and deeply missed by her loved ones - but fortunately for her family and friends, it wasn't at the hand of the Zodiac Killer.

The Zodiac Killer appeared to have targeted specific areas in his search for victims, such as the secluded areas of Lake Herman Road, the Blue Rock Springs parking lot and Lake Berryessa, as well as his venture into the theater district of Union Square to deliberately target a San Francisco taxicab driver. But if the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns was a Zodiac crime, and he lived in the Bay Area, or more specifically Vallejo, then he went to extraordinary lengths to perpetrate his fifth recorded attack. Modesto is 86 miles from the site of his first attack at Lake Herman Road. That is a 172 mile round trip from Benicia.

If the abduction was the only purpose of his visit, we would have to believe he left his residence at sometime around 9:30 pm on Sunday night at the latest, to travel for 1.5 to 2 hours to a random stretch of highway in Modesto, for the sole purpose of flagging down a passing motorist, when this same technique could have been applied anywhere from Martinez, Concord or Walnut Creek - or an area he was possibly more familiar with. Three to four hours of driving to and from the destination, plus a 2 hour abduction, would mean anywhere up to 6 hours driving, for what turned out to be nothing more than a 'joyride'. Unless of course, there was a purpose behind his visit to Modesto, and the Kathleen Johns abduction was a mere afterthought and spur of the moment decision on his way home.       

On October 11th 1969, taxicab driver Paul Stine was murdered in Presidio Heights. On October 22nd 1969, the same day as the supposed Oakland PD phone call by Zodiac, requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, high profile lawyers at the time, appear on a chat show hosted by Jim Dunbar, Joe Stine, brother of the victim, issued a challenge to Zodiac on a KPIX news report. It was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle the following day. Joe Stine stated "Zodiac has to be sick, a maniac. I hope that by offering myself as a target I can flush him out. I work at the Richfield Service Station at 706 Sutter Street in Modesto, near Rouse Street. I start at 7 am. I go to lunch at the Walk-In Chicken in a shopping center two blocks away, riding a bicycle along Sutter Street and leaving the station at noon each day. I go back to the service station and work until 5".
Joe Stine lived with his mother in Modesto. 

During the interview on the KPIX news report, Joe Stine was asked: "What is your feeling among them or people in the city that you may be drawing the Zodiac here unnecessarily". Joe Stine stated that it was 99% likely the Zodiac wouldn't take up his challenge. It seemed unlikely, but exactly 5 months later the Zodiac appeared on Highway 132, west of Modesto. If this was Zodiac - was it a coincidence? Did the Zodiac make the journey to Modesto over the weekend of March 20th to the early hours of March 23rd (possibly even stopping over) with the express intention of taking up Joe Stine on his challenge and proving this 99% assertion incorrect?

Joe Stine rode a bicycle to work, that may have indicated his mother's residence was relatively close to the Richfield Service Station at Sutter Street. Had the Zodiac Killer traveled to Modesto and followed Joe Stine at any point over the weekend, thereby locating the residence of his mother - presumably Joe Stine would not have been working on a Sunday. Whatever the case, the attack never materialized. Then Kathleen Johns was abducted just shy of Bird Road on Highway 132, en route to Petaluma, and ironically, according to the police report, the suspect drove "west on Highway 132 and pulled into a Richfield service station that was closed". He surely must have been aware it was closed?        

Kathleen Johns traveled from San Bernardino, California to Highway 132, via Highway 99, turning west just by downtown Modesto. She would have traveled on Highway 99, just 4,840 feet, or 1.48 km east of the Richfield Service Station where Joe Stine worked - and likely close to where he resided with his mother. ​Is this where Zodiac picked up her trail, somewhere along Highway 132, en route to his weekend residence, or on his way home to the Bay Area? This may be an unlikely scenario of events, but if the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns was unrelated to Joe Stine, why did the Zodiac Killer make a daunting 6 hour trek all over California just to flag down and give a ride to a random motorist, that he could have done anywhere? Additionally, do we put the abduction in Modesto as a coincidence, bearing in mind Joe Stine's connection to Modesto, and the previous attack was on his brother in San Francisco. Was it just a case of happenstance?

On Zodiac Killer Site forum there is an interesting letter highlighted- sent to the editor of the Modesto Bee newspaper. AK Wilks stated "Someone reacted to Joe Stine very strongly. Doug Oswell and I, and some others, wonder if this letter from AROUSED is actually the Zodiac"  Joe Stine worked near ROUSE Street. Bearing in mind how Zodiac signed off some of his letters, it's worthy of consideration.​ The Modesto Bee communication can be viewed on the forum, or directly here.

Kathleen Johns, seven months pregnant, and accompanied by her 10-month-old daughter Jennifer, were traveling along Highway 132, west of Modesto, en route to Petaluma, California to visit her sick mother, when she was 'abducted' and taken on a two-hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy. She claimed it was the notorious Zodiac Killer, identifying him from a wanted poster hanging at nearby Patterson Police Station. It seems extremely odd that Kathleen Johns was taken on a two-hour journey around Tracy, California by an extremely dangerous individual, yet managed to escape into a field possibly as little as 400 meters from her abandoned car. In other words, she just happened to escape from the perpetrator's vehicle at the point she began her two-hour abduction. According to Robert Graysmith, who told her story in his Zodiac book, Kathleen Johns scooped up Jennifer and jumped from the car, dashed across the road, and leapt into an irrigation ditch surrounded by tall grass in the middle of a field. "It was all wine vineyard with a little gully and I just laid as flat as I could".  As Gian Quasar stated in his excellent article: Johns made many mistakes in her retelling of the events that prove damning to her own initial story let alone the legend she later adopted. One very significant one is that she said when she escaped from “The ZODIAC” into the fields she plainly described them as vineyards (Graysmith). The only vineyards around 132 are at Bird Road. They are still there today. The only thing Johns has ever been able to clearly describe is the immediate area of where she initially stopped. No other place. link.

Using the measurements on Google maps, Kathleen Johns ​1957 Chevrolet station wagon, parked just east of Bird Road, could have been as little as 300-400 meters from the location she escaped into the vineyard, assuming the abductor was returning from Tracy. Kathleen Johns stated in the Robert Graysmith book "I couldn't handle it anymore, so I decided the next time he came to one of those Hollywood stops - you know - not a complete stop - that he made at the different stop signs, I was going to jump out." Suddenly the car came to a halt. The man had inadvertently driven up a freeway offramp (A short section of road which allows vehicles to enter or exit a highway; also called entrance ramp or highway ramp). Somewhere in the location (shown in the link above or image below) we have the likelihood of an intersection 'offramp' and vineyard in close proximity to one another. ​The police report stated "Mrs Johns then got to a roadway or highway, this part is not clear to undersigned or to the Stanislaus Deputy, Mr Lovett, but finally did get back on highway or near Highway 132, where she was given a ride by some people from Missouri". Not being clear or able to remember you were rescued a mere stone's throw from your vehicle, could be useful in an abduction claim.  

The premise here, is that Kathleen Johns was not abducted, and was able to recollect or describe the vineyards and the freeway offramp, because she abandoned her vehicle and walked to the vineyard nearby. This however, would require her to disable the lug nuts on her wheel and then set the car on fire, before leaving her vehicle and carrying her daughter into the field. We also have to consider that any rescuer traveling from east to west, would likely spot the burning vehicle before they discovered her by the roadside. The anonymous good Samaritan, despite Kathleen Johns harrowing experience over two uncomfortable hours, heavily pregnant and carrying a 10-month-old child, who took the time to rescue the pair, apparently and inexplicably didn't escort her into Patterson Police Station in a show of support and comfort. The police report mentioned nothing about this eyewitness because Kathleen Johns stated "when I got to this little one-horse town, she let me off in front of the police station". This seems extremely odd, bearing in mind the concern previously exhibited by her savior. Some people have suggested this may have been an insurance job by burning her vehicle, although this seems a hell of a lot of effort, 368 miles from her San Bernardino residence, to claim such a payout. Is it possible that this was something far more creative and designed for publicity, by feeding into the Zodiac Killer story for gain. There may be three possibilities, assuming Kathleen Johns didn't disable and destroy her own vehicle, particularly bearing in mind she was pregnant with a small child. 

[1] Kathleen Johns traveled with another adult, who drove her near to, or by Patterson Police Station (where she just happened to spot a picture of Zodiac who resembled her abductor), then drove the vehicle back to the predetermined location, disabled the vehicle and set it alight, taking the car keys with them. The police never recovered the vehicle's keys. [2] Kathleen Johns was rescued by the good Samaritan and taken to Patterson Police Station, while the person who traveled with her remained near the vehicle. Once Kathleen had been rescued, the accomplice grabbed the car keys, then disabled and set fire to the vehicle. [3] Kathleen Johns was telling the truth, and she truly is a victim here.
​
But we have to consider the story told in Robert Graysmith's book: "Kathleen gathered up Jennifer and got into the man's car. Just as they were pulling out, she noticed that the lights to her car were still on and remembered that the keys were still in the ignition. The man smiled, went back to her car, snapped off the lights, and pocketed the keys".  Despite him being friendly at this juncture, she failed to ask for her keys?   

It was reported in the Modesto Bee newspaper that Kathleen Johns had "set out at 4:00 pm from San Bernardino". But was this true, or was it designed to place her on Highway 132 at 11.15 pm - the time stated in the police report as her time of abduction. Kathleen Johns was seven months pregnant with a 10-month-old child. Heavily pregnant women have to visit the toilet regularly, not withstanding the fact, she was driving a 1957 Chevrolet station wagon she described in the Robert Graysmith book as junky: "The man (supposedly Zodiac) started flashing his lights off and on. My car was such a clunker I figured something was wrong with it".

From San Bernardino to Bird Road is 368 miles. It would take just over 6 hours traveling non-stop at 60 mph to reach Bird Road. That would place Kathleen Johns being pulled over at around 10:00 pm. But she was driving a "clunky" 1957 Chevrolet station wagon and was pregnant with a small child in tow. It likely took longer. We will allow an hour extra (7 hours journey time), which give or take a few minutes, would mean that an approximate 4:00 pm departure time, has her traveling towards Bird Road around 11:15 pm. However, did the truth come out when relaxed and being interviewed by Robert Graysmith at a later date, when she was far more detailed : "Kathleen Johns bundled up her ten month-old daughter, Jennifer, and left her home in San Bernardino at 7:00 pm for the trip to Petaluma, a small dairy-farming community, where her sick mother lived. It was easier to travel at night while the baby slept".

If this was the true time, it would make the abduction claim virtually impossible. A 368 mile journey with such a vehicle, in her condition, could only be achieved in just over 4 hours (7:00 pm to 11:15 pm), if you were traveling at 86 mph non-stop. But if you took 7 hours (as described above), then you would arrive at Bird Road on Highway 132 at around 2:00 am, the approximate time she was 'rescued' and taken to Patterson Police Station, thereby making the abduction story now fiction. She is either driven by her accomplice to Patterson Police Department (20-30 minute journey), who drove the vehicle back, or she is picked up by the good Samaritan from Missouri and taken to the police department. Either way, she would now arrive at the Patterson Police Station at 2:30 am. The time recorded by Sergeant Charles J McNatt.

Donna Ann Lass disappeared without a trace on September 6th 1970 and is presumed murdered, possibly by the Zodiac Killer.
He would insinuate a connection on March 22nd 1971 when the 'Pines' card addressed to Paul Avery arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. Donna Lass had been working as a nurse at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, where she curiously vanished from at approximately 1:45 am, just before her shift was about to finish at 2:00 am. She had not traveled to work that day in her Chevrolet Camaro convertible, but chose to walk to work from a previous residence. Her abductor or abductors seemingly targeted the end of her shift - and in the hours after the crime - rang her employer and her landlord to state she had been called away due to a family illness. A story that was subsequently proved false. This certainly suggested that the phone caller was buying time before any investigation got underway, thereby strongly indicating a connection between Donna Lass and her assailant. The delay generated by such a call would enable the assailant to dispose of Donna Lass and/or possibly remove incriminating evidence from their vehicle or home address. This would heavily lean towards one thing - that the murderer was close enough to Donna Lass to expect the police to be knocking on his door sooner rather than later.

The gaps in Zodiac's timeline can likely indicate more about our killer than the actual murders themselves. In his timeline three notable delays in correspondence can be noted.
After the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 he waited 6 1/2 months to communicate with the public. After the disputed Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 he waited 4 months to lay claim to the crime. And finally, in the disappearance of Donna Lass it would be again 6 1/2 months before the 'Pines' card would arrive at the Chronicle. After Blue Rock Springs it was 27 days. After Lake Berryessa it was a matter of minutes, with the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. The murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, his last confirmed crime, was followed by correspondence only 2 days later. Were the delays in communication after Lake Herman Road, Modesto and Lake Tahoe indicative of applied caution on behalf of the Zodiac Killer? Lake Herman Road may be understandable, if indeed this was his first venture into murder. But what of Modesto and Lake Tahoe? Was the Zodiac Killer temporarily stationed in these areas through employment, and waited to return to the Bay Area before communicating with the newspapers to apply separation from the area?

Many people believe the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo, or in close proximity to it, while posting his correspondence from San Francisco on his way to and from work. His profession is an avenue worth exploring regarding the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns and the Lake Tahoe disappearance of Donna Lass, particularly in light of his delayed communications. If he traveled to either of these locations on a 'day trip', with no connection whatsoever to each area, then there would be no need for a combined delay of 10 1/2 months before his contact with the newspapers. The implication being, that these areas had greater significance to the killer than he would like us to know. This may be further borne out by the customary Zodiac phone call - but this time used to delay the investigation into the disappearance of Donna Lass, because he knew her enough to believe the police may pay him a visit. 

The journey from Vallejo to South Lake Tahoe is a simple one, encompassing the two major highways of U.S. Route 80 and U.S Route 50. The latter runs past the apartment of Donna Lass at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road, the Paradice Motel (Halloween Card) and the once Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Shown here. This route also runs directly through Sacramento, notable for the murders of Judith Hakari, Nancy Bennallack and Carol Beth Hilburn on March 7th 1970, October 25th 1970 and November 14th 1970 respectively. All three of these murders have been suggested as possible Zodiac attacks. Can we connect San Francisco, Modesto and South Lake Tahoe in terms of the Zodiac Killer's profession?

The Naval Air Station Alameda is situated on San Francisco Bay, close to the Oakland Bay Bridge. However, during and since World War 2 it became headquarters for a system of auxiliary airfields, that included Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Air Station and Fallon Auxiliary Airfield. The Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing is only 25 miles from the area where Kathleen Johns was abducted. If you exit NASA Crows Landing heading north on Interstate 5, it then joins Highway 132 only 0.8 miles before the point where Kathleen Johns was flagged over and where the vehicle was ultimately found burnt out. Zodiac would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. 

Fallon Auxiliary Airfield is on a direct route through South Lake Tahoe to the east, on U.S Route 50. If the Zodiac Killer knew Donna Lass, he may have been stationed at this auxiliary airfield and frequented South Lake Tahoe. Investigators in Riverside also pursued the idea that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 may have worked at the March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, situated only 14 miles from the Terracina Drive crime scene. This was considered because of the military heel print discovered in the alleyway by the body of Cheri Jo Bates. This coupled with the military Wing Walker boot impressions found at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 may indicate an Air Force connection, or indeed airplanes in general. After all, the Zodiac Killer did introduce himself with "This is the Zodiac speaking".   

"An auxiliary force is an organized group supplementing but not directly incorporated in a regular military or police entity. It may comprise either civilian volunteers undertaking support functions or additional personnel directly performing military or police duties, usually on a part-time basis. Historically the designation "auxiliary" has also been given to foreign or allied troops in the service of a nation at war. In the context of colonial armies locally recruited irregulars were often described as auxiliaries". Source Wikipedia.

The immediate correspondence after the disappearance of Donna Lass was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970. However, this was likely mailed in response to his 'Little List' letter of July 26th 1970 having not being featured in the newspapers. Both claimed 13 victims, so Donna Lass being abducted after July 26th 1970 cannot be the "big thirteenth". ​If she truly was a Zodiac victim, then she had to be victim number 14, dispelling the idea that the 'Halloween' card was a veiled threat towards San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery.

There is some validity to the idea that the 'Halloween' card was indicating the murder of Donna Lass. This correspondence and the 'Pines' card were both addressed to Paul Avery, and both made similar references. The 'Halloween' card featured a tree with an eye in the knothole, with the accompanying phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed". The 'Pines' card held the phrases "peek through the pines", and the upside-down "around in the snow" -  likely indicative of a burial or disposal site, along with the choice of skeletons on the 'Halloween' card almost two months after the crime. Did the Zodiac Killer work as an auxiliary at Riverside, Patterson, San Francisco and Fallon? The FBI certainly considered this possibility in a least three of the locations.   

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/donna-lass-an-enduring-mystery    

Kathleen Johns was supposedly abducted by the Zodiac Killer on March 22nd 1970, but what really happened on Highway 132 late that night? The first thing to examine is the very beginning when Kathleen accepted a lift from a complete stranger.

In the Robert Graysmith book, in her first contact with the man on Highway 132 she said "he seemed like a reliable person. Nobody that looked in anyway freaky", and continued "I really wouldn't have gotten in his car if I had had any bad vibes about it." It is therefore unusual that as they pulled away she remembered that she had left her keys in the ignition of her 1957 Chevrolet, which the man offered to and ultimately retrieved for her. According to the book "the man went back to the car, snapped off the lights and pocketed the keys". If Kathleen Johns had observed this, then why wouldn't she simply ask the man for the keys when he returned, after all, he seemed amiable up to this point? These keys were never recovered from the burnt out vehicle or from Kathleen Johns.

In most crimes, particularly regarding eyewitness testimony, it is imperative to retrieve information while memories are stronger. Often years later, such as the Robert Graysmith book 'Zodiac', memories have often faded or have become embellished with fiction as our minds attempt to fill in the gaps. So let us take a look at the police report detailing the interview with Kathleen Johns immediately following the abduction in the early hours of March 23rd 1970. It states the complainant approximated the beginning of the abduction at 11:15 pm, followed by a one, to one and a half hour drive around the outskirts of Tracy, CA, before she managed to escape into a nearby field back alongside Highway 132. According to Robert Graysmith, a semi-truck arrived and forced her abductor to drive off into the night, followed a short time later by "some people from Missouri" who drove Kathleen to Patterson Police Station, located approximately 20 minutes away from Highway 132 and recorded by the Sheriff's Department at 2:30 am.

This, however, places a serious strain on the timeline. Even a 90 minute abduction, a 20 minute journey to the police station and an extra 15 minutes thrown in for good measure, giving a total of 125 minutes (2 hours and 5 minutes), leaves us a heavy shortfall. An 11:15 pm abduction, plus 125 minutes, takes us to 1:20 am, not 2:30 am as recorded on the police statement. This has subsequently been padded out in the Robert Graysmith book to an abduction occurring close to midnight and an abduction lasting 2-3 hours, a massive change from the original police report that only sears holes in the validity of this account, or at the very least raises serious questions.

It seems inconceivable that a young woman would torch her own vehicle in the early hours of a cold March 23rd 1970 in the middle of nowhere, endangering not only herself and the lives of her unborn child and 10-month-old daughter Jennifer, to concoct a story of abduction, particularly at the hands of the Zodiac Killer. To deliberately interject herself into the Zodiac story for material gain would rely heavily on the Zodiac sketch being conveniently displayed on the wall of the Patterson Police Station for her to say "that's the man who abducted me", and presumably a police station she had previously never visited.

Interviewing Officer Charles McNatt would describe Kathleen Johns as screaming and hysterical, which no doubt she would be after her terrifying ordeal: "On the morning of 23rd March 1970, at about 02:30 hours Mrs Kathleen Johns was brought to the Patterson Police Department in a hysterical condition". All the more strange then, that the "people from Missouri" who picked her up, failed to accompany her into the police station to give her some moral support, particularly after going out of their way and driving her 20 minutes to the police station in the first place.

The depiction of this crime in many documentaries has led us to believe that Kathleen Johns wheel came off after being sabotaged by a 'good Samaritan', but there is no evidence to corroborate this. In fact, the opposite is true. In the police report it states that Mr Reed of 'Reed and Son Towing Services' found that "the right rear wheel had had only two lug bolts on it and both of these lug bolts were very loose. Mr Reed advised that he took two of the lug bolts from the right front wheel and put them on the back wheel and tightened the lug bolts up prior to towing the vehicle to his shop on Highway 50".  The responsible had loosened the lug bolts but the wheel never actually detached from her vehicle - and Mr Reed makes no mention of retrieving a wheel along with its missing lug nuts, and reattaching it to Kathleen Johns car. The only thing that flew off her vehicle was the hubcap, dislodged by the instability of the wheel. A hubcap was later retrieved and dusted for fingerprints.

Another thing that did not happen that night, are claims that her vehicle was found burnt out at a different location to where she was abducted. This is a fiction straight from the book of Robert Graysmith. If we take a look at passages from the 'Zodiac' book, it states that Kathleen Johns was offered a lift "not more than a quarter of a mile away was an ARCO service station". Kathleen, according to Robert Graysmith's book, had been pulled over by the edge of Maze Road near Interstate 5. Deputy Lovett was incorrect in stating the vehicle was found 2 miles east of Interstate 5, but was corrected in Detective Bauer's report which indicated the burnt vehicle was located west of Interstate 5, further confirmed by Mr Reed from 'Reed and Son Towing Services' stating he "towed the vehicle in from Highway 132, just east of Bird Road". East of Bird Road is west of Interstate 5. See here on Google Maps. If we drop down to street level we see the vineyards that Kathleen Johns eventually escaped into, meaning she actually ended up in very close proximity to where she was abducted.​

On the left we see the approximate location of the ARCO service station (marked in red) and the location of Kathleen Johns burnt out vehicle (marked in blue), both west of Interstate 5. In fact, in Robert Graysmith's book, Kathleen Johns describes seeing the ARCO sevice station in the distance, "not more than a quarter of a mile away", when in fact it was over two miles away.

If Deputy Lovett was correct in stating the vehicle was found 2 miles east of Interstate 5, then Kathleen Johns would have been pulled over by her assailant nearly 5 miles from the ARCO station and clearly out of visible range.

As Gian Quasar points out in the excellent Quester Files here: "when she escaped from “The ZODIAC” into the fields she plainly described them as vineyards (Graysmith). The only vineyards around 132 are at Bird Road. They are still there today. The only thing Johns has ever been able to clearly describe is the immediate area of where she initially stopped. No other place." The police report stated "Mrs Johns then got to a roadway or highway, this part is not clear to undersigned or to the Stanislaus Deputy, Mr Lovett, but finally did get back on highway or near Highway 132, where she was given a ride by some people from Missouri".

In essence, the abductor took Kathleen Johns on a 1-2 hour journey around the outskirts of Tracy, before eventually returning her to exactly the same location she was abducted, where her vehicle was burnt out and where she escaped into the vineyards. Of all the places to escape, just where your car was originally left. That could be interpreted as cynical, but it begs the question that something about this story doesn't sit well, as it contains so many inconsistencies that all cannot be attributed to hysteria. Since Kathleen Johns was discovered by the vineyards of Bird Road close to where her vehicle was 'abandoned', there is no way the abductor could have driven immediately from this location to her vehicle and set it ablaze, as this would have been noticed by, not only Kathleen Johns, but by the occupants of the vehicle that rescued her, who obviously were traveling along Highway 132 before spotting the semi-truck and the stricken Johns. There was clearly no mention of her vehicle being on fire in the police report prior to its discovery by Deputy Lovett. This can only mean one thing - that Zodiac was likely observing from a distance until the rescue and removal of Kathleen Johns from the area, before he torched her vehicle.

The Zodiac Killer would eventually lay claim to the abduction on July 24th 1970: "This is the Zodiac speaking.
I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice ( Zodiac symbol inserted )  buttons.  So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her baby that I gave a rather intersting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them". But was it really Zodiac?

Possible timeline;
11.15 pm- Kathleen Johns flagged down by suspect. 
11.20 pm- Kathleen Johns accepts lift from suspect. 
01.50 am- After 2 hours and 30 minutes driving around Tracy, CA, Kathleen Johns escapes into vineyard.
01.55 am- Semi-truck arrives, Kathleen Johns reluctant to seek help from the male driver.
02.00 am- Second vehicle arrives with female occupant and rescues Kathleen Johns.
02.30 am- Kathleen Johns arrives at Patterson PD.
03.00 am- Deputy Lovett locates smoldering vehicle of Kathleen Johns.

We as humans fall into patterns or habits that may last for months, years, or even a lifetime, depending on our circumstances at any given point. The Zodiac Killer may have changed weapons, vehicles or his residency during his reign of terror from December of 1968 to his eventual drift into complete anonymity, so the concept of this article is to focus in on the last three chronological attacks he committed or claimed to have committed. That of Paul Stine, murdered in Presidio Heights, San Francisco on October 11th 1969, the abduction of Kathleen Johns near Modesto five months later, on March 22nd 1970 and finally the murder of Richard Radetich on June 19th 1970, in his police car near 643 Waller Street, San Francisco. These three attacks spanned an eighth month period, after which no future crimes were ever directly claimed by the Bay Area Killer. Two of these three crimes deviated from his previous attacks, in the sense the killer actually positioned himself within the vehicle with the victim - as a passenger in Presidio Heights and as the driver on Highway 132, near Modesto. But are the crimes linked in any other way? What follows are slim pickings, however we shall proceed.   
  

A white car was noted precedent to the Lake Herman Road murders by several eyewitnesses, notably a 1959/60 Chevrolet Impala. The factory specifications show this 1960 model of Chevrolet was produced in Ermine White. The color has a distinctive brown hue, which is further enhanced under dim or artificial light conditions. Kathleen Johns described the assailant's vehicle as light tan.

On the same evening as the Kathleen Johns abduction, two men, Frederick Beaman and William Horton were traveling on Highway 132, near Highway 33 and Interstate 580, when a man passed them in a white 1959 Buick and continued about a mile down the road where he pulled up and attempted to flag them down. They continued on without stopping. The incident was reported to Sergeant Hall of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office on March 23rd 1970, the day after the Kathleen Johns abduction. They had read the abduction account in the Modesto Bee newspaper - and believing it to be relevant information - reported it to authorities. Whether these two vehicles are one and the same will never be known, however, three months later Richard Radetich was murdered and another white car would come into play.

The Zodiac Killer on April 20th 1970, in his '13 Symbol' cipher correspondence, intimated the murder of a policeman, stating "There is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back". Two months later, Richard Radetich was dead, gunned down by three shots from a .38 caliber revolver at point blank range through the driver side window of his vehicle while in the process of serving a parking ticket. A crime the Zodiac Killer would claim only seven days later. Curiously, a white car was spotted speeding away from the area of the murder that night. A gas station attendant recalled seeing a white Cadillac racing down Oak Street and entering Divisadero Street only 0.3 miles from the murder scene. Could this white car have been the one observed in the area of Highway 132? It's a stretch, so let us examine any parallels between the last two murders claimed by the Zodiac Killer, separated by only eight months and 2.5 miles. View here on Google Maps.

The Zodiac Killer traveled in Paul Stine's taxicab along Washington Street, yet when he exited from the crime scene and headed up Cherry Street, he effectively backtracked on himself. He headed east along Jackson Street, when he may as well have exited the taxicab at least one block earlier, the destination of Washington and Maple, written on the trip sheet. It's as though he had his plans changed by unforseen circumstances, or was leaving a 'buffer zone' to his vehicle or residence.
Parking his vehicle somewhere near to Jackson Street, to travel away to the theater district, then hail a taxicab to enable his return to Presidio Heights in order to commit a murder and make his escape by vehicle, has always seemed a convoluted way of perpetrating a crime. There are far easier ways of negotiating this crime.

The movements of the killer also suggested there was no vehicle lying in wait somewhere by Jackson Street, as eyewitness recollections and Zodiac ramblings in the Bus Bomb letter seem to indicate. Zodiac stated that he entered the park at Spruce Street "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again". This was corroborated by eyewitnesses in Spruce Street, who described a man similar in nature to the three teenagers and Donald Fouke, seen running into the Julius Khan playground entrance.               

The Zodiac Killer would further state in the Bus Bomb letter that "The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west". The sniffer dogs were assembled by the Julius Khan playground, so at this point in time Zodiac had obviously moved eastwards by two blocks, now placing him in the bushes opposite Laurel Street. The dogs were fanning across the park from the north, west and south (by the park entrance). The Zodiac Killer had only one option - the one he had most likely already planned - to head for the safety of home and so continued eastwards. His final directional statement was "there was only 2 groups of parking about 10 min apart then the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west". The only possible vantage point that appears to corroborate this statement are the bushes and trees bordering Presidio Boulevard (see here). From here the motorcycles circling the Presidio Park would be 150 feet from Zodiac, traveling along Presidio Boulevard from the 'south to the nothwest'.

"The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover". But they didn't, so Zodiac took his opportunity once the motorcycles had passed and exited the park via Presidio Boulevard into the Cow Hollow region on the eastern flank of the park. Was the killer's residence close by? Now of course, this is speculation and we cannot know for sure, but the Zodiac Killer's statements, allied to the eyewitness observations by Spruce Street are the only tangible snippets we have to go on regarding the events of October 11th 1969. Well almost....     

The Paul Stine letter was mailed from the Inner Richmond area two days later, very close to Presidio Park. If indeed the Zodiac Killer lived in the Cow Hollow region bordering the park, this would certainly exhibit the least effort principle, where humans tend not to expend any extra energy to what is required - yet in the case of a serial killer using a measure of caution, applying a buffer zone to his activity is logical. In the case of Inner Richmond and Cow Hollow, this would be the bare minimum.

As stated earlier, a white Cadillac was observed speeding away from the Richard Radetich murder site, traveling on Oak Street, before turning north on Divisadero Street. The murderer had options after the killing, to travel east, west, north or south. The driver made three directional changes to enable a northerly heading on Divisadero Street. If the killer had proceeded north on Divisadero Street, he would eventually have passed Washington Street and Jackson Street into the Cow Hollow region on the eastern fringes of Presidio Park and aligned with the directional movements of the Zodiac Killer on October 11th 1969. It's weak, but it's all we have from the Zodiac and eyewitness testimony.

Finally, Alex Lewis secured the redacted FBI file naming Xenophon Anthony as a possible subject in the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, who resided at 3218 Jackson Street. This is the only subject named by an eyewitness regarding all four confirmed attacks - so from this standpoint it carries some measure of weight - although from here the trail appears to go cold again. 3218 Jackson Street however, is only 0.4 mile or 2 minutes west of Divisadero Street, and a stone's throw from Presidio Park.

The connections are weak, but the killer's movements are literally all we have to go on - and in both instances, that of the Richard Radetich and Paul Stine murder - a collision course somewhere along Jackson Street could be argued, along with a white vehicle, possibly identified three times inside of three months, from the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns to the murder of Richard Radetich by 643 Waller Street.

There are many basement properties along Divisadero Street, and steep inclines from at least two directions entering the intersections, so I wonder if the Zodiac stating "I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more except that my bus bomb was a dud.  I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back" could be a consideration.
Throughout the Zodiac Killer's correspondence the focus would remain on the San Francisco Chronicle, but did he work in the area, live there or possibly both. The jury is out.