I would like to expand on a previously discussed topic, regarding two cards likely mailed by the Zodiac Killer on March 22nd 1971 and July 13th 1971, dubbed the 'Pines' and 'Monticello' cards respectively. The March 22nd 'Pines' card contained the phrases [1] Sierra Club  [2] Sought Victim 12  [3] Peek through the pines  [4] pass Lake Tahoe areas and [5] around in the snow. The 'Monticello' card stated "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April." One can see the similarities, with "sought" and "shought", "woods" and "pines", as well as "near Monticello" and "pass lake Tahoe areas". They were both directions to the location of a murder victim, but crucially, both postcards held the victims forenames within the design of each. They were so cleverly designed, it is difficult to believe they were not authored by the same individual, with two words linking both cards - Memorial Park. A memorial park is a designated area for remembrance of the departed. 

In the case of the 'Pines' card, the author chose a postcard of "an artist's rendition of houses among the trees at a Boise Cascade Company project at Incline Village, where construction has just begun on the development". He then directed us to "pass lake Tahoe areas" to an area by the "Sierra Club". If we follow these simple instructions we find ourselves at two locations in close proximity. The first is Clair Tappaan Lodge on Donner Pass Road - but more importantly - the second is Donner Memorial State Park (preserving the site of the Donner Camp, where members of the ill-fated Donner Party were trapped by weather during the winter of 1846–1847, resulting in 39 deaths). Bearing in mind the 'Pines' card was thought to have been mailed by the murderer of Donna Ann Lass, this may be the motivation behind its design. The author was pointing us towards the Donner Memorial to signify the forename of his murder victim. Of course, this could be a simple coincidence and not the intended meaning behind the postcard. Therefore, if we can find the identical design or meaning within its sister card, mailed on July 13th 1971 (just 4 months later), then we can just call it a double coincidence, or quite possibly accept that the designer fashioned them both with the intention to give us the forename of the murdered women in question.

The July 13th 1971 'Monticello' card stated "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April." So we need to be looking for a woman who was murdered in April, in the woods and near Monticello. On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching​ in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach. Villa Montalvo is situated 9 miles west of the neighborhood of Monticello. The author of the 'Pines' card directed us to a Memorial Park called Donner. In the case of the 'Monticello' card, the author didn't need to direct us to her body, because she wasn't missing - and therefore we have to discover the purpose behind him choosing Monticello. This has to be the clue to the woman's forename, as well as the destination of a Memorial Park, if we are to satisfy the template of the 'Pines' card. 

Fortunately for us, another coincidence exists. Sitting in the Monticello neighborhood is Oak Hill Memorial Park, where one of Zodiac's previous claimed victims is interred. The Zodiac Killer insinuated his involvement in the brutal stabbing of Deborah Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathy Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose. By writing "Aug" on the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card, he was effectively laying claim to the Furlong and Snoozy murders - and the very reason he chose the location of Monticello on the July 13th 1971 postcard. Not only was Kathy Snoozy buried at Oak Hill Memorial Park, but she shared the same forename as Kathy Bilek. The Zodiac Killer was leading us towards a memorial park and forename in both postcards - Donna and Kathy.

After five murders in a matter of 10 months in 1968 and 1969, followed by numerous communications, 1971 was a watershed year for the Zodiac Killer. When all is said and done, it will probably be remembered as the year Zodiac tried to convince law enforcement he had committed four brutal stabbings, when in fact he had committed none. The Zodiac legacy was coming to an end and his final two communications in the latter half of 1971 failed to make the newspapers, ultimately marking the final days of the Zodiac Killer. He wouldn't be heard from again. When Paul Avery wrote the San Francisco Chronicle article 'New Evidence in Zodiac Killings' on November 16th 1970, it must have been a heavenly blessing for the Zodiac Killer. He was being linked to the Cheri Jo Bates murder in Riverside on October 30th 1966. He would gladly accept this offering on March 13th 1971 when he unashamedly wrote a letter stating "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". A man inspired to attack Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard with a knife at Lake Berryessa, driven by the front page coverage of the August 3rd 1969 Snoozy/Furlong murders in San Jose - something he yearned - not only laid claim to the murder of these two young girls in the November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card, but was only too happy to claim another in Riverside. 

​Then, just one month later, a gift arrived from the Vallejo Times-Herald on April 13th 1971, when the Zodiac Killer saw the words "One thing's certain, Miss Bilek's murder is almost a carbon copy of a double killing Santa Clara County" homicide detective said. "And all three could well be the work of the so-called Zodiac".

The Zodiac saw the publicity generated from the brutal stabbing of Deborah Furlong and Kathy Snoozy on August 3rd and capitalized on this at Lake Berryessa in September. It had now paid dividends on April 11th 1971, when Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching​ in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach. This crime was obviously linked to the Snoozy/Furlong murders because of the extensive knife wounds and the locality. But by committing the savage knife attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa and hinting at his involvement in the San Jose murders of Snoozy and Furlong, the Zodiac Killer had now been given the opportunity by Paul Avery to accept the Riverside murder in 1966, along with the Kathy Bilek murder by the Vallejo Times-Herald on April 13th 1971. His switching to a knife in the commission of murder would inevitably lead law enforcement to link him to more crimes - something he knew only too well.

The 'Monticello' card mailed on July 13th 1971 was open-ended. It didn't directly claim the murder of Kathy Bilek, thereby allowing him a get out clause should this crime be later attributed to somebody else. The Zodiac Killer had used this tactic before when he insinuated his involvement in the murder of Officer Richard Radetich by stating "I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38". Then in the 'Pines' card, by again offering a cryptic message open to interpretation. He never actually claimed the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, simply stating "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity". Everything designed in such a fashion to avoid full admission.

The "August" reference on the 'Dripping Pen' card, while not actually writing it on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, had metaphorically opened the door to the speculation shown by law enforcement in the article by the Vallejo Times-Herald. The September 27th 1969 attack, effectively enabled the Zodiac Killer to extend his reign of terror far beyond the shores of Lake Berryessa, into the heart of San Jose. The July 13th 1971 'Monticello' card was now the fifth communication referencing San Jose in the last 20 months - but there was still time for one more.

The final communication of 1971 may have been the elusive 'Sacramento DMV' letter, probably mailed in the November or December of 1971. This correspondence likely mirrored the November 21st 1969 San Jose letter and code, in which the Zodiac Killer mailed a correspondence to the San Jose Police Department and threatened a "widow". I have little doubt this woman had some involvement in the Deborah Furlong and Kathy Snoozy murders from the perspective of an eyewitness, and by Zodiac threatening her, he was effectively giving the impression that the murders were somehow pertinent to him. The Sacramento DMV letter was used for the same purpose - to keep the Zodiac story alive by means of interjection.  
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In October 1971, a magazine publication entitled 'True Detective' comprehensively featured the murders of Kathy Snoozy, Deborah Furlong and Kathy Bilek, and the subsequent arrest of Karl Francis Werner. There is every chance the Zodiac Killer read this magazine article, compelling him to continue his contact with authorities regarding these murders.

One particular section about Kathy Bilek caught my eye - that may have been the reason why the Zodiac Killer wrote a letter to the chairman of the DMV in Sacramento. It stated "At about the same moment, Park Ranger Ken Williamson was informing a member of the investigative team that he, too, had noticed a tall, bespectacled young man who had been a frequent visitor at Villa Montalvo. He was a loner and had impressed the Villa's ranger staff with his almost furtive conduct, said Williamson. The ranger had jotted down the license number of the strange youth's auto.
The license number was forwarded to the California Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Sacramento, the state's capital 150 miles to the north of San Jose. The information teletyped back from the registration bureau was that the auto was the property of a Karl Francis Werner, living at an address on Shawnee Lane in San Jose."

This was the final entry point of the Zodiac Killer. The 'Monticello' card and 'Sacramento DMV' letter had failed to hit the newspapers - and the reign of the Zodiac Killer had reached its end. The arrest of Karl Francis Werner for the three murders in San Jose had finally exposed the Zodiac Killer for the fraud he had metamorphosed into. The long shadow he had cast over the Bay Area of Northern California was starting to recede - and he knew his days were numbered.

On July 13th 1971, the Zodiac Killer claimed his involvement in the April 11th 1971 murder of Kathy Bilek, brutality stabbed at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. The Monticello card also inferred his involvement in the murders of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong on August 3rd 1969 in San Jose. This wasn't the first time he implicated himself in the murder of these girls, and it wouldn't be the last. On April 29th 1971, Karl Francis Werner (18) was arrested for the knife slayings of all three girls, much to the surprise of many who knew him. Karl Werner, a lanky 6'2" freshman at San .lose City College, who worked six nights a week at a hamburger stand, was described by his boss as “very sincere, hard-working, quiet, of good character.” Eve Schulman, 19, a classmate who rode to the campus with Werner each day, called him “the typical boy next door.” She said Werner, a high ranking student in mathematics and physics, who has been constructing a computer as a class project, is “really smart, really neat.”  

I believe the Zodiac Killer constantly followed the newspapers with respect to the murders he was claiming. He knew that if the police believed he was the likely murderer his reign of terror would be continue, and the newspaper coverage he so badly craved would extend his perceived legacy. The newspaper cutting on the left was authored by Paul Avery (a journalist from the San Francisco Chronicle), and somebody the Zodiac Killer followed closely at the height of his 'reign of terror'. Karl Francis Werner had just been arrested for the murders of the three young girls, and his story was covered by Paul Avery on April 30th 1971 under the title of 'San Jose Student Held in Slaying of Three Girls'. In a revised timeline, I believe the Zodiac Killer responded to this particular newspaper article, when he mailed the '148 Character' cipher to the San Francisco Chronicle, most likely in the May of 1971. 

The newspaper article stated "He was immediately advised of his rights concerning any statements he may make and legal representation to which he is entitled, the detectives said. Werner was then taken to the scenes of the crimes. Late yesterday he was undergoing questioning. The detectives would not reveal what statements, if any, he had made concerning the killings of the three girls". The Zodiac Killer would respond in his decoded letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, warning the police "Tis the Zodiac Speacking. Why can't you stop me. I can't stop killing. Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on your front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin" (coded section).  

He was effectively saying to police who were questioning Karl Werner "stop listening to this phony (impostor, fraud). I am the real killer". In view of the title of this article 'San Jose Student Held in Slaying of Three Girls', it probably isn't too surprising he threatened a further "three little kids" if they didn't print this letter and cipher on their front page. 

He also wrote on the '148 Character' cipher letter "Next time I will send a patch of skin if their is some left over". Bearing in mind the 200+ stab wounds these young girls suffered, this statement doesn't require much explanation. 

Both the Monticello card and '148 Character' cipher inferred a total of 21 victims and had not been publicly released, suggesting they were authored by the same individual.    

Tom Voigt, creator of the hugely successful Zodiackiller.com website has sought a potential Zodiac letter, described as the DMV letter. On his message board he stated "While I don't yet have as many details as I would like, at some point the Zodiac wrote a letter to the chairman of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California. The letter was authenticated, apparently via handwriting, and was kept quiet for reasons unknown". None of the following can be definitively proven, but I will attempt to expand on this elusive correspondence based on the limited information we have, and use the propensity of the Zodiac Killer to respond to newspaper and magazine articles against him. We know he closely followed anything that was written about him and often replied in kind. With that said, it is possible the DMV letter was mailed to the chairman of the Department of Motor Vehicles because he read an article referencing this department. If the letter was addressed to the chairman, it is very likely the letter was addressed to the headquarters of the DMV in Sacramento. What we now have to do is tie the Sacramento DMV to a Zodiac crime, or a crime claimed by Zodiac, written in a publication that the Zodiac Killer had reason to read - who subsequently got upset because it portrayed him as a liar and a fraud. It therefore follows, that it is highly unlikely to be a polite correspondence from the Bay Area killer. Based on the above, I believe the DMV letter was mailed in the October or November of 1971.

As early as November 8th 1969 the Zodiac Killer was claiming the murders Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose. This was his "Aug" on the Dripping Pen card. He would later insinuate his involvement in the murder of Kathy Bilek (18), murdered in the woods of Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, due west of San Jose. On July 13th 1971, a potential Zodiac communication arrived in the form of a pasted card. It read "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The author of the card was detailing the murder of Kathy Bilek in the woods of Villa Montalvo on April 11th 1971, just 9 miles from the neighborhood of Monticello in San Jose. He chose this neighborhood because it sat adjacent to Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue. The cemetery where the body of Kathy Ann Snoozy lay, and chosen to hint at the forename "Kathy", pertaining to Kathy Bilek. The full 'Monticello' card story can be examined here.

The Monticello card was preceded by the 148 character cipher and letter (likely mailed in May 1971) beginning with the wording "I'll do it to because I done it 21 times" and effectively pre-empting the victim total on the Monticello card. It was almost certainly mailed shortly after the beginning of May. Despite the fact the murders of  Debra Gaye Furlong, Kathie Ann Snoozy and Kathy Bilek had already been attributed to Karl Francis Werner, it seemed that the Zodiac Killer was determined to suggest otherwise. Or, at the very least, compound the misery of the families and friends of the victims. The Monticello card featured in the San Francisco Police Department DNA testing of possible Zodiac correspondence, so was obviously held in high regard (yet may have contained sensitive material, or featured an upsetting image deemed not suitable for release). If the DMV letter had followed the Monticello card it too may have been considered unpalatable regarding the San Jose and Saratoga murders. 

Assuming these communications were mailed by the Bay Area murderer it would be fairly obvious that the Zodiac Killer was following the San Jose murders closely from August 3rd 1969, through his Dripping Pen card of November 8th, to the eventual murder of Kathy Bilek, and up to his correspondences in the middle of 1971. Therefore it would be no great surprise if he continued to monitor any newspaper or magazine articles regarding the murders of the three young females. 

In October 1971, a magazine publication entitled 'True Detective' comprehensively featured the murders of Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek, and the subsequent arrest of Karl Francis Werner. There is every chance the Zodiac Killer read this magazine article and thereby felt compelled to continue his contact with authorities regarding these murders.

One particular section about Kathy Bilek caught my eye - that may have been the reason why the Zodiac Killer wrote a letter to the chairman of the DMV in Sacramento. It stated "At about the same moment, Park Ranger Ken Williamson was informing a member of the investigative team that he, too, had noticed a tall, bespectacled young man who had been a frequent visitor at Villa Montalvo. He was a loner and had impressed the Villa's ranger staff with his almost furtive conduct, said Williamson. The ranger had jotted down the license number of the strange youth's auto. The license number was forwarded to the California Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Sacramento, the state's capital 150 miles to the north of San Jose. The information teletyped back from the registration bureau was that the auto was the property of a Karl Francis Werner, living at an address on Shawnee Lane in San Jose".

The Zodiac Killer, having previously mailed two communications (Monticello card and 148 character cipher) referencing the murder of Kathy Bilek and the victim total of 21, it wouldn't be at all surprising if he fired off a third communication, this time to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Sacramento after reading these two paragraphs. As this magazine article was published in October of 1971, the DMV letter may have been postmarked with the latter months of that year - possibly October, November or December. The fascination of the Zodiac Killer in claiming, or interjecting himself into the middle of these murders may have been the driver behind his contact with the chairman of the DMV. The content of this communication is unknown, but I guess he is continuing the menacing theme of his previous two correspondences, suggesting the identification of the vehicle belonging to Karl Francis Werner is somehow another red herring and threatening more murder and mayhem.

This is a follow up to the article The Meaning Behind the Monticello Card. I have placed the entirety of the original article below, under which I have place Part Two. This is to complete the entire picture under one banner.  

​​On July 13th 1971, a pasted card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle with the words "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April".  Many have speculated on the location mentioned in the card as "Monticello" in Napa County, California, because of the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard on September 27th 1969. It has been further speculated on whether "April" was a woman's name or the month of the alleged murder. After a comprehensive review of all the information, I believe the woman's identity, labelled as victim number 21, can finally be revealed, along with the exact location of Monticello.  

On November 8th 1969, the Zodiac mailed the Dripping Pen card to the San Francisco Chronicle insinuating his involvement in the brutal stabbing of Deborah Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathy Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose, in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. The inference of his chronological list of months on the card was suggesting there were two murders attributed to him in August. This crime was ultimately attributed to Karl Francis Werner.

On November 21st 1969, a letter and code from the alleged Zodiac was mailed to the San Jose Police Department threatening a widow. Police responded by implementing 24-hour surveillance on her residence. Ten days later, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek. The abductor had likely traveled through San Jose to dispose of her body at Light House Point in Santa Cruz.

On Sunday, April 11th 1971, Kathy Bilek (18) visited Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, having planned to read a paperback book (The Gabriel Hounds) and engage in a spot of bird watching​ in the seclusion of a remote, wooded portion of the park, near a small stream. Her body was found the next day by her father, Charles, while Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies searched nearby. She had been stabbed 17 times in the back and 32 times in her chest and stomach, although her killer had taken care to avoid stabbing her breasts. Her murder was also attributed to Karl Francis Werner. Wikipedia. The brutal murder of Kathy Bilek would again be claimed by 'Zodiac', not only in the Monticello card, but in another alleged Zodiac communication (148 character cipher and letter), also mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of months before the Monticello card. Kathy Bilek was murdered in "April", exactly as mentioned in the Monticello card, and "in the woods" at Villa Montalvo (a wooded section of the park). Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, The appearance of San Jose once again. 

The Pines card and Monticello card both contained similar wording, such as "pass lake Tahoe areas" and "near Monticello", as well as "around in the snow" and "in the woods". Harvey Hines, a retired detective from Groveland, believed that Donna Lass was likely buried on the Donner Ski Ranch. This area is extremely close to Donner Memorial State Park, as is Monticello to Oak Hill Memorial Park. Another uncanny connection in the murder of two innocent lives.

Just prior to the Monticello card, likely in the May of 1971, the Zodiac Killer mailed the 148 character cipher to the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked Fairfield, California. Bearing in mind Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek were all stabbed innumerable times, disfiguring their bodies, it is rather telling that the Zodiac Killer should threaten 3 more young people like so: "Tis the Zodiac Speacking. Why can't you stop me. I can't stop killing. Stop listening t(o) phonys. If this is not on the front page in a week I will skin 3 little kids and make a suit from the skin" and "next time I will send a patch of human skin if there is some left over".

THE SAN JOSE MURDERS AND ZODIAC - THE COMPLETE STORY ​