Despite having reservations that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates was the author of the Confession letter, let us look at certain aspects of the Confession letter in relation to the published details of the crime and the unpublished details of the autopsy report by November 29th 1966. Many of the newspaper articles prior to November 29th 1966 mentioned the stab wounds to her arms, back and face, along with her throat being slashed, but I could find none that mentioned stab wounds to her breasts, or any mention of Cheri Jo Bates being choked or strangled (unless you know better). The autopsy did show she had at least seven incised wounds across her throat and one stab wound to her right arm, although no concrete evidence of any stab wounds to her face (rather, blunt force lacerations and abrasions to her lip, chin and left cheek). The following snippet is the relevant part of the Confession letter pertaining to the autopsy report.

It seems unusual that Cheri Jo Bates received three stab wounds to her breasts, with no other stab wounds to her front torso, bearing in mind the author of the Confession letter infused a sexual element into their typing, by stating "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands" and mentioned "cutting off female parts to deposit for the whole world to see". The author was claiming contact with her breast region just before stating that "she died hard". The author also stated that he initially grabbed Cheri Jo Bates around the neck and mouth, and choked her. This could explain the petechial haemorrhaging visible on her forehead at autopsy. The Confession letter then mentioned her lips twitching before he kicked her in the head, which could explain the 2cm ragged non-gaping oblique laceration to the left side of her lip, and the dark blue-gray slightly swollen discoloration of the mucocutanous portions of the upper and lower lips to the right side - both consistent with a kick to her head while in close contact with the driveway floor - and to the claims in the Confession letter.

The stab wounds (as explained in the previous analysis) to her left breast (2), right breast (1), right axillary fold (1) and right upper arm, grouped on an approximate 10cm vertical plane, is also consistent with an assailant holding the victim around the neck (possibly with their left arm) from behind, and stabbing backwards into the upper torso and upper right arm of Cheri Jo Bates, thereby resulting in the relatively close grouping of stab wounds to her frontal region. Her right arm being motioned across her body for protection would explain the two stab wounds to the upper right arm and right axillary fold. In fact, had she been stabbed here while using her right arm for protection over her chest, it would further narrow the horizontal plane width of the incoming knife. After thrusting Cheri Jo Bates to the driveway floor and kicking her in the head, the author of the Confession letter then claimed he "plunged the knife into her". This, too, is consistent with the one knife wound to her back detailed at autopsy. The word "plunged" maybe suggestive of a downward strike as she lay face down on the driveway floor, before he "finished the job out cutting her throat". The limited details given in the Confession letter are consistent with the previous analysis and the autopsy report, yet insufficient to fully claim that the author and murderer are one and the same.
PART ONE  PART TWO

The following examination is not a claim to the factual dymamics of the crime committed on October 30th 1966, but one interpretation regarding the senseless murder of Cheri Jo Bates in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library.​ 

On the left there is an approximate set of measurements of the female anatomy, and the only five incised and non-abraded wounds to the front side of Cheri Jo Bates' upper body. The five wounds are clustered in an area measuring 20cm horizontally and 10cm vertically. While these could be caused by an individual standing in front of Cheri Jo Bates, it is evident that none of these wounds inflicted by a knife had significant depth penetration to prove immediately fatal.

If the killer had been holding or choking Cheri Jo Bates around the upper chest or neck from behind, then this compression could increase intra-capilliary pressure by restricting the venous return of blood, and thereby creating the petechial haemorrhaging evident on the forehead of the young woman. A killer securing her from behind, holding the knife in his right hand (or possibly left) and stabbing backwards toward her heart region, could easily have produced this grouping of injuries to her breast region and upper arms in the initial phase of the attack. The natural response by a victim would be to raise their arms and hands to protect this vital region, in addition to attempting to grab the wrist of the attacker (possibly resulting in the watch being ripped from her assailant) and could have caused the only three described "laceration" wounds to the dorsal side of Cheri Jo Bates' left hand (2) and right index finger. This may also have been the moment that Cheri desperately clawed backwards at her assailant's hair, ripping out some head hairs that collected in the blood at the base of her right thumb. 
​
Cheri Jo Bates, at this juncture, would have received eight strikes from a bladed instrument (5 to her front upper body and possibly 3 to her hands/fingers) in an attack that could have been mere seconds in duration, followed by her being thrust forward into the hard driveway floor. However, it must be noted that the two injuries to her left hand described as lacerations by F. Rene Modglin (24 & 25 in the autopsy report) could be injuries sustained through impact with the driveway floor. One is a Y-shaped laceration at the junction of the wrist and hand, often caused by the blunt force trauma of a weapon or impact from a hard surface. The other injury was an irregular laceration in the mid area, in line with the middle finger. Both these lacerations to her left hand were to the dorsal side, so could be sequential injuries as she was thrust forward and down. Therefore, it's possible only the "laceration" to the lateral aspect of her right index finger was caused by a knife blade (2cm, interrupted and moderately deep). Cheri Jo Bates had a 2cm non-gaping cut to her left upper lip, a series of three non-gaping lacerations to her left cheek and an area of blue-gray discoloration to the skin of her left cheek, all of which could be caused by an impact across the driveway floor as she was thrust from behind. Some abrasions and discoloration to the midline of her chin possibly received in the same motion. The slightly swollen discoloration to her upper and lower lips on the right side could have resulted from Cheri Jo Bates shifting her head position and further force being applied by her assailant. Although petechial haemorrhaging can be caused by choking or compression of the chest cavity, it can also be caused when excessive pressure is applied to tissue (e.g., when a tourniquet is applied to an extremity or the person is struck across the face with an open palm of the hand). In the case of Cheri Jo Bates, the forehead petechiae noted at autopsy could have been caused as a result of her head being pressed into the hard uneven ground.. 

The entirety of the abrasions to her hands and fingers were located on her right hand (possibly her dominant hand), that could have been received as she was forced to the driveway floor, as she attempted to arrest her descent (and some caused by subsequent struggling while being pinned to the ground}. There were no abrasion-type injuries detailed on her left hand at autopsy, suggesting her right hand was the dominant force when in contact with the driveway floor. 

The final phase of the attack may have been the solitary knife wound to her back and the seven lateral knife wounds across her neck, ultimately severing her right common carotid artery and right superficial jugular vein, resulting in death in several minutes. The attack could have lasted less than 30 seconds.  PART ONE  PART THREE

An archived forum post on May 4th 2000 from ZodiacKiller.com concerning the once Riverside Detective Steve Shumway stated "Until now, a key piece of evidence supporting RPD’s claim has been withheld. With permission from lead detective Steve Shumway, I am revealing a fact that directly points to the Bates murder as being a classic “crime of passion:” Cheri Jo Bates was stabbed 42 times.

Where Steve Shumway acquired this information is irrelevant, because it is pure fiction. In fact, Cheri Jo Bates was stabbed less than a third the amount of times claimed by Steve Shumway. A cursory glance across the 26 entries from the external examination by autopsy surgeon F. Rene Modglin shows that Cheri Jo Bates received no more than 6 incised wounds to her torso and arms (discounting the two abraded lacerations to her left forearm). Her neck received 7 incised wounds that transected the thyroid cartilage, right common carotid artery and right superficial jugular vein, indicative of a blade being drawn across the neck. Claims that Cheri Jo Bates was nearly decapitated is another wild dramatization of an already brutal and senseless murder. Also, attempting to manufacter an argument that this crime was possibly committed in an act of rage by somebody who had a relationship or was known to the victim, cannot be credibly argued based on the number of stab wounds the victim received.

Cheri Jo Bates had received three wounds to her breast region and one to her back (4 in total to her torso), none of which were life threatening (disregarding prolonged blood loss). She had two moderately superficial cuts to the anterior and medial upper left lobe of her lung, with no.pulmonary embola significant atelectasis (collapse of lung tissue with loss of volume). The three incised wounds to her breast region measured 1.9cm (0.75 inches), 1.7cm (0.67 inches) and 1.4cm (0.55 inches). F. Rene Modglin had calculated, based on the entirety of the wounds, that the minimum knife dimensions would be half inch wide and three and a half inches long. The wounds may have measured slightly more than half an inch at autopsy, but this is dependent upon the angle of delivery and removal of the knife as it entered and exited the body. But the incised wounds to her breast region and back (0.59 inches) suggest a blade of half an inch wide or fractionally bigger. Her right upper arm had only one gaping wound measuring 4cm (1.6 inches), suggestive of an angled strike with the blade, with another wound measuring 1.5cm to her right axillary fold (right armpit). Her left arm carried two "somewhat abraded lacerations" of 3.5cm and 4cm, that were not necessarily indicative of a knife wound. A laceration is caused by blunt force trauma (crushing or ripping blow) with evident tissue bridging and minimal blood loss (except for the scalp). An incised wound (by a knife in this case) exhibits no tissue bridging and greater blood loss.

​Unfortunately, the autopsy uses the word laceration throughout to show the knife wounds in this case, making it difficult to disseminate what is meant when describing the wounds to the face and hands of Cheri Jo Bates. The "2 cm oblique ragged edge fresh non gaping laceration of the upper lip on the left side, that angles laterally from above and extends completely through the thickness of the lip", is likely a blow from either the fist or foot of the murderer, or contact with the ground. As were the "series of three fresh lacerations of the skin of the left cheek, angling from above in front slightly downward and posteriorly". These injuries to her face were interspersed with abrasions (possibly received from the driveway floor). Her hands received numerous abrasions, but only three of the wounds to her hands were described as lacerations by F. Rene Modglin. There were twelve injuries to her hands described at autopsy (10 presumably to her dominant right hand and two to her left hand). F. Rene Modglin described two lacerations to her left hand and one to her right, leaving nine abrasion type injuries remaining (and so making the twelve described injuries). One entry in the autopsy described a few light linear criss-crossing abrasions of the right hand (I attributed this as one injury). If F. Rene Modglin used lacerations to describe incised wounds from a blade, then Cheri Jo Bates only had three defensive wounds to her hands. The numerous abrasions to her hands most likely received from contact with the driveway floor.     

As a consequence of the above findings we can determine that none of the knife wounds to her torso, arms and hands would have proved fatal had she escaped at this point and received fairly prompt medical assistance. Assuming the "lacerations" to her hands were not caused by crushing or tearing blows (and were knife wounds), then Cheri Jo Bates received just three incised wounds to her hands, of which, two were to the dorsal side (knuckle side) of her left hand, and one to the medical aspect of her right index finger. So was Cheri Jo Bates placing her hands over her breast region attempting to protect that vital area during the initial phase of the attack, thereby receiving these wounds to the back of her hands? (and possibly the two abraded lacerations to her left forearm).

​However, discounting these two abraded lacerations, which were on the volar surface (palm side) of her forearm (and assuming Cheri Jo Bates had her hands in front of her chest for some time during the attack), then she received eight incised wounds from a knife blade while standing, likely delivered by an assailant securing Cheri Jo Bates from behind during this period. Can we conclude that Cheri Jo Bates had been thrown or forced to the ground during the next phase of the attack, then punched and kicked, before being stabbed once in the back with a knife as she lay struggling on the driveway floor? All the abrasions and lacerations to her hands described at autopsy by F. Rene Modglin were to the dorsal side of her hand (knuckle side). Her fingers received injuries, but none were detailed to the palms of her hands in the autopsy report. 

We have a killer who failed to deliver any imminent life threatening injuries to the front of Cheri Jo Bates' body, with limited knife penetration to any part of her torso (whether delivered standing up or kneeling over her). Although not proven, it appears the final part of the attack occurred when Cheri Jo Bates was lying face down, with one stab wound to her back, followed by the knife blade being drawn across her neck seven times. Was this attack the product of a youthful and inexperienced lightweigt, who failed to deliver any killer blows during the initial phase of the attack, who ultimately resorted to attacking her neck region? Or is it impossible to conclude the maturity and experience of the murderer based on anything contained within the autopsy report generated by F. Rene Modglin?   PART TWO  PART THREE

On October 21st 1969 the San Francisco Chronicle released an article entitled Fear Rides the Yellow Bus, in which Fred Sowash, the transportation director of Napa Valley Unified School District stated he had been informed that somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer had telephoned a threat on October 15th 1969 to kill schoolchildren in Santa Rosa by placing bombs on the buses. This meant that this person was targeting schoolchildren and school buses at least two days before the Zodiac Killer's threat to "wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out" was released in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17th 1969. It is virtually inconceivable that a random person pretending to be the Zodiac Killer could have foreshadowed the real Zodiac Killer and just happened to pre-empt his threat on schoolchildren by sheer luck. The phone caller to Santa Rosa threatening to target school buses with bombs came 25 days prior to the Zodiac first mentioning bombs as a method to kill schoolchildren, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 letter. The individual who rang Santa Rosa on October 15th 1969 (or slightly before) was almost certainly the Zodiac Killer. This can be backed up by a further incident on October 17th 1969.

A female school bus driver was taking schoolchildren to the Yulupa Elementary School on the morning of October 17th 1969, when she reported that sound of gunfire beside the school bus, stating "As I came around this bend I heard a loud shot from the left hand side of the bus. The children heard it too. Now I don't know if anything struck the bus. We can't find anything that struck the bus". Law enforcement, as usual, were skeptical, pointing out that there was no physical evidence that a shot was fired at the bus. The KRON news footage stated that law enforcement were expecting more reports of this kind based upon the Zodiac Killer's latest letter regarding the murder of Paul Stine. The newspaper report in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Santa Rosa bombing threat on school buses wasn't released until October 21st 1969, so a school bus driver reporting shots heard alongside her school bus in Santa Rosa four days earlier, should be considered of some significance. Also, this bus driver was transporting schoolchildren on the morning of October 17th 1969 - the same morning that the Zodiac Killer's threat on schoolchildren was released in the newspaper.

​So, if the Santa Rosa school bus shooter wasn't the Zodiac Killer, we would have to believe a random individual bought the San Francisco Chronicle on the morning of the 17th, read about the "picking off kiddies as they came bouncing out" of a school bus, and almost immediately positioned themselves on a Santa Rosa street or road, from where they started shooting at a school bus (assuming the bus driver's claims are accurate). Were law enforcement suggesting that this elderly woman school bus driver bought and read the Chronicle newspaper before collecting the schoolchildren that morning and just invented the story to mirror Zodiac's threat? While this is unlikely but possible, she could have had no knowledge of the Zodiac Killer's phone call to Santa Rosa threatening school buses and schoolchildren on October 15th 1969. Bearing in mind (in the relevant timeframe) that this currently is the only reported shooting with respect to a school bus that we know of, it seems unusual that it should somewhat mirror the threat two days earlier in the same location. Unfortunately, law enforcement regularly dismissed things as hoaxes, as they did with the Oklahoma radio station recording of a man claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on December 7th 1969. Passing things off as hoaxes seems a tried and trusted method of doing absolutely no work. 

Another threat using bombs in Santa Rosa would again be reported in the newspapers, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer threatened a K-Mart store on two occasions on May 8th 1970, just ten days after the Zodiac Killer promised to have his "blast" when mailing the Dragon card to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1970. 

This lends greater credence to the claim by Robert Graysmith in his "Zodiac" book that "A man identifying himself as Zodiac had made a Santa Rosa Bomb threat exactly a year earlier". In other words, Graysmith claimed that on May 8th 1969 (before the Zodiac pseudonym was known) somebody had aimed another bomb threat at Santa Rosa. This possible threat encompassing Zodiac, telephoned bomb threats and Santa Rosa would come four months before the October 15th 1969 telephone call encompassing Zodiac, bombs and Santa Rosa. An October 15th 1969 telephone call to Santa Rosa threatening schoolchildren on school buses, that was made two days in advance of the Zodiac Killer's threat to pick off kiddies as they came bouncing off the school bus, which wasn't currently known to the public when the October 15th call was made.

If Graysmith was correct about somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969, this K-Mart bomb threat (or threat to another entity in Santa Rosa) would have come just over one month after the last major newspaper article about the Lake Herman Road murders (March 30th 1969). This Sunday Times-Herald article read "The horrifying crime may very well be the most celebrated murder mystery currently under investigation in California, and Lunblad has received aid and offers of it from a score of law enforcement agencies in the state. Those which have given him particularly large measures of support include the Vallejo Police Department, his own sheriff's department, the Benicia Police Department, the Napa and Sanoma County sheriff's departments, and the Fairfield Police Department".  All these police departments would become the focus of the Zodiac Killer's murders and threats in the following months. The county seat and largest city in Sanoma County is Santa Rosa, the focus of the K-Mart bomb threat by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969. Vallejo and Napa County both saw the wrath of Zodiac when he attacked at Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa, with the two Fairfield letters in December threatening the promise of further attacks. Every police department mentioned in this newspaper article as helping Sergeant Les Lunblad would receive the attention of the Zodiac Killer.       

The "Good Citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969 by a possible Zodiac Killer read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX". The Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street has been identified in recent articles as the common workplace of Robert Salem, Carl John Welz and Jerry Hatcher. However, 680 Beach Street wasn't 56 Beach Street, so more work was needed. Then it was discovered by Cragle that the Haslett Warehouse Company operated a state refrigeration terminal at pier 56 in China basin. This may have been the meaning behind the cryptic message above. The Haslett Warehouse was situated on Beach Street, San Francisco, and operated from pier 56. Cragle conjectured that the seven X's may be Haslett. 

To understand the full story, please read  Robert Salem-The Complete Story and The Spirit of Zodiac  

China Basin is a neighborhood built on landfill along the San Francisco Bay. It lies north of Mission Creek and the Mission Bay neighborhood, and includes Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, numerous restaurants, and the Caltrain railroad station. It borders on the South-of-Market (SOMA) neighborhood to the northwest and the South Beach neighborhood to the north. The term China Basin also refers to the body of water from which the neighborhood takes its name. This inlet where Mission Creek flows into the bay, home to a number of houseboats, was once an active ​industrial waterfront, though in recent decades the shore has been developed with residential condominiums.

The state refrigeration terminal at pier 56, operated by the Haslett Warehouse Co. was situated less than one mile from pier 64, where Paul Stine picked up his last paying fare on October 11th 1969. China basin is just over one mile from the intersection of Mason and Geary streets.

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

An amalgamation of articles: 
LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

Sergeant John Lynch of the Vallejo Police Department received a typewritten card from a "concerned citizen" on August 10th 1969 stating "Dear Sergeant Lynch. I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer. Working puzzles criptograms and word puzzles is one of my pleasures. Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers and it could be mentiond by a slip of the tongue. With best wishes. concerned citizen". It also contained a working key to the 408 cipher, which was mailed by the Zodiac Killer in his three "code letters" to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969. On October 7th 1969, another concerned citizen, this time describing himself as a "good citizen", mailed another cryptic message to Sergeant John Lynch, stating "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote:Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX". The author by mentioning "code letters" is clearly referring to the trinity of communications mailed on July 31st 1969, to which the August 10th 1969 communication provided a key. Despite both the "concerned citizen" and "good citizen" communications being extremely brief in nature, both utilized the word "name" twice. The author of these two communications can be argued to be the Zodiac Killer, who also mailed the April 20th 1970 letter, teasing us with "my name is". Crucially, the "concerned citizen" card and code key had not been released into the public domain by the arrival of the "good citizen" letter.  

Recently I have been examining the murder of Robert Michael Salem, who was found stabbed in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970. The April 20th 1970 Zodiac Killer letter was received at the San Francisco Chronicle the same day the Robert Salem murder was reported in their newspaper. The letter read "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is", belatedly followed by "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". The Zodiac Killer chose three Christian symbols in his enclosed 13 character code, that mirrored the Christian symbolism written in blood on the apartment wall of Robert Salem. Above the Japanese tatami mat where Robert Salem's body lay, was the drawing of an Egyptian ankh or "crucified man", along with the wording "Satan Saves" and "Zodiac". The murder of Robert Salem and the April 20th 1970 letter so reeked of Christian symbolism, that it was hard to ignore that the two weren't connected, and led me to believe that the wording "Satan Saves" had some biblical meaning with respect to Robert Salem and his homosexual lifestyle. Whether the drawing of the Egyptian ankh or "crucified man" on the wall of Robert Salem were interchangeable in the mind of the killer is unknown, but the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970 made no mention of the Egyptian ankh - making the appearance of the Christian anchor in Zodiac's 13-Symbol cipher intriguing. Anchor and ankh have the same phonetic root - and when the Zodiac Killer's crude anchor in the code is superimposed over the ankh drawing on Robert Salem's wall - a full and complete Christian anchor is revealed.   .

The ankh (key of life) was commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife. The ankh was one of the most common decorative motifs in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures. Coptic Christians adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than oval loop (as seen in the image above), and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. The message of "Satan Saves" rather than "Jesus Saves", along with a crucifix style cross, gives the strong impression of a murder with religious connotations, bearing in mind the anti-gay and intolerant Christian attitudes that permeated society in 1970 (and to a lesser extent today). Robert Salem was a gay man, who may have unfortunately attracted somebody with the belief he was a sinner or non-believer - and hence the sarcastic message of "Satan Saves" and the "key of life" being drawn on his stomach. Clearly, the person who drew the symbol and writing, was portraying a message to the viewer (whether a belief sincerely held or not).

The most unusual and notable features inflicted to the body of Robert Salem, were the crucifix style design "drawn" on his stomach and the removal of his left ear. Both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem.​

The immediate murder with a Zodiac connection after the "latent homosexual" suggestion was floated in the San Francisco Chronicle, where the Bay Area murderer's pseudonym was found at the crime scene, was the murder of gay man, Robert Salem on April 15th 1970 in San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer's 13-Symbol cipher is arguably contemporary in nature, with his April 20th 1970 letter being mailed the same day this murder was published in the newspapers. Homosexuality and acceptance has been a continuing struggle for gay activists to this day, but the 1960s and 1970s were arguably more difficult times, with newspaper coverage on this topic less than acceptable. Many religious people were unwilling to accept individual rights, claiming that homosexuality was the mark of the beast, and was an abomination in the eyes of God. The writing in blood on Robert Salem's apartment wall stating "Satan Saves" must have had some meaning to the killer - so was it in any way connected to the sexual preferences of Robert Salem? I couldn't help thinking that the "Satan Saves" element written in blood on the apartment wall had a more important role to play, not only in the fact Robert Salem was homosexual, but in the damage inflicted to his body and the removal of his left ear. So I looked for a bible verse that may have been known to the killer. 

​I also had to be mindful that the bible verse was relevant to perceived "sins of the flesh". In other words, the murderer of Robert Salem had an issue with homosexuality, believing it to be satanic, and wanted to deliver him unto Satan to be saved (see image above). Hence the wording "Satan Saves". 1 Corinthians 5:5 featured Paul, who had commanded the Christians in Corinth to remove from among them a man who was sleeping with his father's wife, a form of sexual immorality that even their own pagan culture condemned. The killer of Robert Salem may have considered his lifestyle the devil's work and a form of sexual immorality, that resulted in "destruction of the flesh" as witnessed by investigators at the crime scene. I also took the "Satan" element from the apartment wall and combined it with the "destruction of the flesh", to create a relevant solution to the 13-Symbol cipher of "Skin A Satanist". Not only did the Zodiac Killer encipher the word "skin" twice in the 148 character cipher in 1971, but it was relevant to the Robert Salem crime scene in April 1970.

Robert Michael Salem was found murdered in his 745 Stevenson Street San Francisco apartment on April 19th 1970, accompanied by the drawing of a religious crux ansata (crucified man) and the words "Satan Saves" scrawled in blood on the wall. This somewhat mirrored the religious characters in the 13 character code mailed by the Zodiac Killer the following day (April 20th 1970), when he posed the question "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed". Investigators found no forced entry at Robert Salem's apartment, and little appeared to have been taken from the property, other than possibly some money from an open wallet on a shelf. The crime scene appeared to scream of far more than a simple robbery. This opens up the possibility that Robert Salem was murdered by somebody known to him, or somebody that befriended him with common interests. Robert Salem was a lamp designer, whose products had been exhibited in Japan, England and Russia. His apartment certainly showed an Oriental influence, with a Japanese hurricane lamp hanging from the ceiling, tree trunks prominent in the apartment in the style of Japanese tea houses, and he was discovered murdered wearing Oriental lounging clothes on top of a Japanese tatami mat.

Three months after this crime, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, paraphrasing two acts from The Mikado, a Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera set in Japan. The first act he paraphrased was entitled A More Humane Mikado, followed by As Some Day It May Happen, in which victims or society offenders must be found, and who would never be missed. His introduction in the communication detailed how he would torture his victims in paradise, stating in one part: "Others I shall skin them alive + let them run around screaming". In the middle of 1971, the Zodiac Killer would again mention the skinning of victims, when he encrypted the following in his 148 character cipher: "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 wrote in accompaniment to the cipher "Next time I will send a patch of human skin". This is why I found the phrase "Skin A Satanist" very interesting, when from a cryptology standpoint, it satisfied the 13 character code on April 20th 1970, arriving the same day the Robert Salem story broke in the San Francisco Chronicle detailing the "Satan Saves" on the apartment wall. Robert Salem was effectively skinned, when his left ear was severed and taken from the crime scene. On January 29th 1974, the Zodiac Killer would again recite a section from The Mikado, using a verse from Tit-Willow. Not only did he paraphrase the Japanese based opera, but he added some Oriental characters at the foot of the letter. One line in this act reminded me of the introduction in the April 20th 1970 (My Name Is letter). It read "Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow", 

Robert Salem was a flamboyant character with an interest in the arts, having been the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco in 1969. Other than the mention of Washington and Maple streets on October 13th 1969, the only other street the Zodiac Killer ever imentioned in his communications (if authentic} was when he mailed a letter to Sergeant John Lynch on October 7th 1969, when he wrote ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. So, was the Zodiac Killer in the apartment of Robert Salem in April 1970?​​​

​​Cragle, an excellent Zodiac researcher who contributes to both forums, sent Michael Morford some invaluable information that he knew I would like (and Mike subsequently added some extra findings). It was fantastic news. A letter was possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 7th 1969, containing the wording ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX'' (and mentioned code letters). This letter can now be inextricably linked to the Concerned Citizen card postmarked August 10th 1969, which gave us a key to the 408 cipher, mailed by the Zodiac Killer within three "code letters" on July 31st 1969. The 56 Beach Street address never existed in 1969, only on street planning maps. Cragle found a Carl John Welz (married to Jerry Hatcher) who were working at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco and living at 2529 Union Street, San Francisco in 1969, He had a Batchelor and Master of Arts, taught in many public and  private schools and was well known in Christian science circles, with a mentioned periodical from him in 1967 (see below).

If this was the "Jerry" a possible Zodiac Killer was referring to, then this is an enormous find, Carl John Welz (and wife) would most likely have been working at 680 Beach Street at the same time as Robert Michael Salem, who was murdered by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on April 15th 1970. Throughout 1969, Robert Salem worked as the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street. Carl John Welz wrote an anti gay article entitled Homosexuality Can Be Healed, so the fact that murdered Robert Salem was a homosexual, with the wording "Satan Saves" and a "crucified man" drawn in blood on his apartment wall, with the pseudonym Zodiac present also, makes this is a significant find. We can now connect the August 10th and October 7th 1969 communications, link the name "Jerry" to the Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street, and to murder victim Robert Salem, who also worked there - and finally - combine the religious overtones from the above article to the apartment wall, and to the Zodiac Killer's 13-Symbol cipher.. 

Cragle, an excellent Zodiac researcher who contributes to both forums, sent Michael Morford some invaluable information that he knew I would like (and Mike subsequently added some extra findings). It was fantastic news. A letter was possibly mailed by the Zodiac Killer on October 7th 1969, containing the wording ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX'' (and mentioned code letters). This letter can now be inextricably linked to the Concerned Citizen card postmarked August 10th 1969, which gave us a key to the 408 cipher, mailed by the Zodiac Killer within three "code letters" on July 31st 1969. The 56 Beach Street address never existed in 1969, only on street planning maps. Cragle found a Carl John Welz (married to Jerry Hatcher) who were working at 680 Beach Street, San Francisco and living at 2529 Union Street, San Francisco in 1969, He had a Batchelor and Master of Arts, taught in many public and  private schools and was well known in Christian science circles, with a mentioned periodical from him in 1967 (see below).

If this was the "Jerry" a possible Zodiac Killer was referring to, then this is an enormous find, Carl John Welz (and wife) would most likely have been working at 680 Beach Street at the same time as Robert Michael Salem, who was murdered by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on April 15th 1970. Throughout 1969, Robert Salem worked as the lighting designer for the historic Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street. Carl John Welz wrote an anti gay article entitled Homosexuality Can Be Healed, so the fact that murdered Robert Salem was a homosexual, with the wording "Satan Saves" and a "crucified man" drawn in blood on his apartment wall, with the pseudonym Zodiac present also, makes this is a significant find. We can now connect the August 10th and October 7th 1969 communications, possibly link the name "Jerry" to the Haslett Warehouse at 680 Beach Street and to murder victim Robert Salem, and finally, combine the religious overtones from the article to the apartment wall. 

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

Thanks to Cragle and Mike.

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 
THE "SKIN MARKINGS" ON ROBERT SALEM 
​DELIVER UNTO SATAN
MURDER THROUGH THEATRE?

Kenneth Mains, cold case detective, private investigator, former undercover FBI operative and best selling author (to name just a few of his credentials), now runs the extremely popular and burgeoning Youtube channel Unsolved No More, currently standing at 58,000 subscribers as of June 22nd 2022. His Youtube channel features an array of different cases, including the Delphi Murders, Sam Sheppard, The Springfield Three, Ted Bundy, The Starved Rock Murders, The Yoghurt Shop Murders, and many more. Most of you may be familiar with Ken Mains, when he partnered with Sal LaBarbera for the five part docudrama entitled The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer in 2017, which featured the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966.

Cheri Josephine Bates (18) was brutally murdered in a dirt driveway adjacent to the Riverside City College library annex by a knife-wielding assailant, who has remained unidentified for nearly 56 years. The murder appeared premeditated, with her prized lime green Volkswagen Beetle found disabled about 325 feet from her body, parked just 90 feet east of the library entrance. Ken Mains is about to release another video, re-examining the many facets of this unexplained and intriguing case, in which justice has remained elusive for far too long. To view his latest Youtube video on Cheri Jo Bates (to be released on Thursday, June 23rd 2022) and the many other cases he has delved into, please click here. To visit the website of Detective Kenneth L. Mains, click the image on the left.

​Recently I have been examining the horrific murder of Robert Salem (40), stabbed seven times in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 15th 1970. Robert was a gay man, whose lifestyle may have attracted the attention of the Zodiac Killer or another sick individual, who left many clues at the crime scene to suggest a religious element to the comissmion of this murder. Either that, or the person responsible wanted us to draw this conclusion. The murderer of Robert Salem had written "Satan Saves", "Zodiac", and drawn an Egyptian ankh (or crux ansata/cross surmounted by a loop) in blood on the apartment wall. The same day this story broke in the newspapers, on April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle with a short thirteen character code containing a Christian anchor, Celtic cross (a form of Christian cross) and 888 (the number representing Jesus in Christian numerology). Not only did the Christian element span both crime scene and letter, the ear of Robert Salem was also severed and removed from the crime scene by the killer. The murderer had also drawn a crucifix style design on Robert Salem's stomach. 

In a previous article, it was noted that both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem. However, I couldn't help thinking that the "Satan Saves" element written in blood on the apartment wall had a more important role to play, not only in the fact Robert Salem was homosexual, but in the damage inflicted to his body and the removal of his left ear. So I looked for a bible verse that may have been known to the killer.     

I also had to be mindful that the bible verse was relevant to perceived "sins of the flesh". In other words, the murderer of Robert Salem had an issue with homosexuality, believing it to be satanic, and wanted to deliver him unto Satan to be saved (see left image). Hence the wording "Satan Saves".

1 Corinthians 5:5 featured Paul, who had commanded the Christians in Corinth to remove from among them a man who was sleeping with his father's wife, a form of sexual immorality that even their own pagan culture condemned. The killer of Robert Salem may have considered his lifestyle the devil's work and a form of sexual immorality, that resulted in "destruction of the flesh" as witnessed by investigators at the crime scene. 

I also took the "Satan" element from the apartment wall and combined it with the "destruction of the flesh", to create a relevant solution to the 13-Symbol cipher of "Skin A Satanist". Not only did the Zodiac Killer encipher the word "skin" twice in the 148 character cipher in 1971, but it was relevant to the Robert Salem crime scene in April 1970.

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 
THE "SKIN MARKINGS" ON ROBERT SALEM 

Robert Michael Salem was stabbed seven times and murdered in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment on April 15th 1970. His body was discovered by friends from the nearby San Franciscan Hotel on April 19th 1970 when they realized they hadn't seen Robert Salem for several days. Investigators found a gruesome scene, with the blood of Robert Salem having been used to scrawl the words "Satan Saves" and "Zodiac" on the apartment wall, accompanied by a drawing of the ancient Egyptian ankh symbol. The ankh symbol, as detailed in the newspapers, was also "drawn on Salem's stomach". Whether the symbol on Robert Salem's stomach had been carved into his flesh or "drawn" on by a marker pen cannot be ascertained by this wording alone, but clearly this symbol held some significance to the person who perpetrated this murder (or wanted us to believe it did).

The ankh (key of life) was commonly held in the hands of ancient Egyptian deities, or being given by them to the pharaoh, to represent their power to sustain life and to revive human souls in the afterlife. The ankh was one of the most common decorative motifs in ancient Egypt and was also used decoratively by neighbouring cultures. Coptic Christians adapted it into the crux ansata, a shape with a circular rather than oval loop (as seen in the image above), and used it as a variant of the Christian cross. The message of "Satan Saves" rather than "Jesus Saves", along with a crucifix style cross, gives the strong impression of a murder with religious connotations, bearing in mind the anti-gay and intolerant Christian attitudes that permeated society in 1970 (and to a lesser extent today). Robert Salem was a gay man, who may have unfortunately attracted somebody with the belief he was a sinner or non-believer - and hence the sarcastic message of "Satan Saves" and the "key of life" being drawn on his stomach. Clearly, the person who drew the symbol and writing, was portraying a message to the viewer (whether a belief sincerely held or not).

This idea was exacerbated by the Zodiac Killer's use of three circled eights (Jesus in Christian numerology) and the "anchor" symbol  in his April 20th 1970 letter. The word "anchor" has the same phonetic root as the Egyptian "Ankh", and Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. Maybe significant, was the fact the ankh symbol or crux ansata featured twice at the Robert Salem crime scene, which Christians used as a variant for the Christian cross (seen as a representation of the crucifixion of Jesus on a large wooden cross). Bearing in mind the crucifix style design in blood on the wall of Robert Salem, coupled with his unusual injuries, it was important to examine if any correlation between the two existed (no matter how unlikely). 

The most unusual and notable features inflicted to the body of Robert Salem, were the crucifix style design "drawn" on his stomach and the removal of his left ear. Both of these featured heavily in the crucifixion of Jesus. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, attempted to "save" and protect Jesus from arrest by severing the ear of Malchus, who was a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. According to the gospels, Calaphas organized a plot to kill Jesus. The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally said to have been an act of betrayal since Judas made a deal with the chief priests to arrest Jesus. This event ultimately led, in the Gospel accounts, to the crucifixion of Jesus. Although the right ear of Malchus was severed, as opposed to the left ear of Robert Salem, this was the most viable connection I could find that links the two unusual features discovered by investigators on the body of Robert Salem.
​
LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

ASSOCIATED ARTICLES:
ANCHORS AWEIGH
ROBERT SALEM-A ZODIAC MURDER?
A CONTEMPORARY CODE ON APRIL 20TH 1970
THE ZODIAC KILLER-DRIVEN BY DEVIANCY     
A SATANIC MESSAGE IN CODE? 

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

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

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

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

Steph 54: On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus." The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days (December 21-24) prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction. Articles reported the coroner's theory that Leona had been kept bound for a period of time, died as a result of the viral infection, and was disposed of by her abductor(s). Pathological and toxicological tests did not find any drugs or alcohol in her system.

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

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

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

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

Leona Roberts (16) disappeared from her boyfriend's apartment at 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo at around 6:00pm on December 10th 1969. Her disappearance coincided with a pasted communication on the same date from Sacramento, dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer, which contained the pasted word "Zodiac". The following day, on December 11th 1969, a second pasted communication postmarked San Francisco and dubbed the Day-By-Day Forecast for Leo, could have been a play on "Leona" Roberts name and fate, bearing in mind she wasn't murdered for at least 11 to 14 days. Her body was found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969.

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

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

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

On October 14th 1969 a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle laying claim to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine, in addition to a further ominous threat of "School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out". 

​In compliance with the wishes of the San Francisco Police Department, the Chronicle withheld the threat on a school bus when this latest Zodiac letter was published in the newspaper on October 15th 1969. It wasn't until October 17th 1969 that the Chronicle published the threat on a school bus. Therefore, the threat delivered by telephone to Santa Rosa by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on October 15th 1969, promising to blow up a school bus, was made before the Zodiac Killer's threat in his letter was ever released in the newspapers. This suggests it was the Zodiac Killer who telephoned the school bus threat in Santa Rosa on October 15th 1969. This is what was reported in the Chronicle on October 21st 1969: "Someone hinting he might be Zodiac has telephoned such a threat in Santa Rosa. The man responsible for the safety of the students who ride the buses is Fred Sowash, the district's transportation director. Since last Wednesday, when he learned of Zodiac's threat, Sowash has been devoting 18 to 20 hours a day to blunt it".  Last Wednesday was October 15th. 

On October 17th 1969, a female school bus driver was traveling southeast towards Yulupa Elementary School in the morning, when she claimed she heard a shot ring out, stating "As I came around this bend I heard a loud shot from the left hand side of the bus. The children heard it too. Now I don't know if anything struck the bus. We can't find anything that struck the bus". Looking at the October 17th 1969 KRON News footage, it appears she may have been traveling along Bennett Valley Road in Santa Rosa, with relatively low density housing dotting the route and the Sanoma Mountains in the distance. This route would have provided the perfect cover for the Zodiac Killer to shoot out the tires of a school bus in relative seclusion. Assuming a shot was fired at the bus and heard by the driver and/or schoolchildren, either he missed, or his intention was merely to create panic on the school bus to ensure the shots were heard and reported - and thus lend credibility to his telephone threat two days earlier. After the shot, the woman driver "hit the foot feed and started going on", realizing there were no other cars in the vicinity she could get the attention of. "So I just kept going fast to the Yulupa School" she added.   

Unfortunately, investigators were skeptical because they could find no evidence of any bullets striking the bus. One would have thought that a Santa Rosa telephone threat from the Zodiac Killer directed at a school bus, followed by a woman driving a school bus in Santa Rosa reporting what she described as "a loud shot", would have stimulated less skepticism  It seemed that Fred Sowash took it seriously, because when he learned of the threat on Wednesday, October 15th 1969, he devoted 18 to 20 hours a day to repel the threat. Yet it appears that no police vehicles were trailing this school bus on October 17th 1969 as it approached Yulupa Elementary School in Santa Rosa, despite the Zodiac threat to shoot out the front tires of a school bus and "pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out", and the direct threat to Santa Rosa itself.  

​FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: THE SPOTLIGHT ON SANTA ROSA