In a previous article I examined the notion that the Confession letter mailed on November 29th 1966 was the forerunner to the July 31st 1969 Zodiac letters. When "The Most Dangerous Game" movie was released in 1932, its associate producer, Merian C. Cooper, reflected on the evil of the human condition and stated "man is the most dangerous animal of all". This would be the wording used by the Zodiac Killer in his decrypted 408 cipher, solved by Donald and Bettye June Harden on August 8th 1969. Thirteen years after "The Most Dangerous Game" was released, "A Game of Death" starring John Loder and Audrey Long opened in US cinemas on November 23rd 1945. A poor remake of the original, the only real difference was that the evil Russian, Count Zaroff, had turned into the insane German, Erich Kreiger.

​This later movie featured on television throughout California from November 5th 1966 to November 8th 1966 - so if the Zodiac Killer was present in Riverside (or California) during this period, and was responsible for any of the communications down south - could this movie have had any influence on the phrases chosen in the Confession letters? Did the flawed character traits of Count Zaroff and Erich Kreiger, who were insane, heartless, and psychopathic men with a thirst to hunt human beings, form the basis of the wording "I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game" in the Confession letters on November 29th 1966? That "game" being "a game of death", in which the insanity of Erich Kreiger and the Confession letter author created no barrier to the murderous game and ambitions of either.. "A Game of Death" in 1966 turning into a "Most Dangerous Game" in the Bay Area, two to three years later. The murders in southern and northern California cloaked under the banner of the Richard Connell short story of 1924. ​

There were extremely close similarities between the language used in the Confession letter to the Riverside Desktop Poem. The desktop poem appeared to be reminiscing in the present tense about the attempted murder by knife of Roslyn Atwood (19} on the Riverside City College campus on April 13th 1965, before switching attention to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, writing "Just wait till next time. rh." The footnote being riverside, halloween, the day Cheri Jo Bates' lifeless body was discovered next to the library. An interesting connection was made by Ricardo Gomez of MK-Zodiac, who showed a strong similarity between the headline of the Riverside Daily Press on April 17th 1965, to the opening lines from the desktop poem. The Riverside Daily Press stated "Clean-cut youth sought in stabbing", with the desktop poem beginning "cut, clean, if red/clean. blood spurting, dripping, spilling; all over her new dress". 

Was this just one big game, comparing the "unwillingness" of Roslyn Atwood to die on April 13th 1965 in the desktop poem title, to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, who the author of the Confession letter claimed was as a woman who "went very willingly" to her death. The Riverside Daily Press on April 17th 1965 with the "clean-cut" headline also mentioned that Roslyn Atwood was "stabbed in the lower abdomen with a hunting knife with a 4 1/2 inch blade". Strangely, the morning after the Riverside City College library reconstruction on November 13th 1966 concerning the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, a buried hunting knife with a blade measuring 4 1/2 inches was raked up by a groundskeeper just 50 feet from the location of Cheri Jo Bates' body, in the same driveway. Although this was unlikely the weapon used in the attack on Roslyn Atwood, was the game now being played out in the campus itself? The comparison between the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and Roslyn Atwood was briefly considered in the Riverside Daily Press newspaper published on November 3rd 1966, entitled "Key Clue Goes to C11 Unit". Only briefly, however, because Rolland Lin Taft (19) was still behind bars for the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood.      

The typed wording on the Confession letter of "I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game" may have a different meaning. Was the author of the Confession letter, just like the Riverside Desktop Poem, harking back to the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood in 1965, using a mocking defence of his actions in the stabbing of Cheri Jo Bates? It was reported in the Riverside Daily-Enterprise newspaper on September 11th 1965 that Rolland Taft had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood by reason of insanity. It appeared that the author of the Confession letter was doing the same. But I suspect this claim of insanity was just another part of the "game". It must also be noted that one of the Confession letters was mailed to the Riverside Daily-Enterprise.   

When the Zodiac Killer concealed "man is the most dangerous animal of all" in his 408 cipher, he mimicked the exact quote used by Merian C. Cooper upon the release of the 1932 film "The Most Dangerous Game". I have only found this quote in a handful of newspapers from 1932, so how did the Zodiac Killer acquire this from 37 years prior to 1969 without the use of old newspapers, possibly stored on the microfiche from a library? Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to royalty in the 17th century. The words once used by Edward Hyde of “They who are most weary of life, and yet are most unwilling to die" are extremely similar to the Riverside Desktop Poem title of "sick of living, unwilling to die," who himself survived a murderous attack, when English sailors nearly killed him at Evreux in France in 1668. If the title of the desktop poem had such lofty origins, it would seem that a library would be of great value once more. A history graduate that can migrate from southern to northern California perhaps? 

MERIAN C. COOPER AND "THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME" (1932)

It has recently been shown how phrases from the Riverside newspapers have been used to create the Riverside Desktop Poem in November/December, The Confession letters on November 29th 1966 and the "Bates Had to Die" letters on April 30th 1967. It seems like the author of the desktop poem trawled through old articles from the local newspaper (the Riverside Daily Press), and used "Clean-cut youth sought in stabbing" from April 17th 1965 about the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood (19). She was stabbed once in the lower abdomen by Rolland Taft while she was walking through a Riverside City College parking lot on April 13th 1965 at 9:30pm. The Riverside Desktop Poem stated "cut, clean, if red/clean. blood spurting, dripping, spilling; all over her new dress". 

The author of the confession letter used the same mimicry on November 29th 1966 by taking phrases and inspiration from the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper on November 24th 1966. This newspaper article was about another 19-year-old female college student, who was offered a ride in a man's car and then attacked, just like the claims in the confession letter five days later. The newspaper article stated that the man "grabbed her around the neck". The confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth". The newspaper article stated "I could just hit you in the head with this piece of wood". The confession letter author typed "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The assailant mentioned in the newspaper stated "I'm not Jack the Ripper". The confession letter author typed "But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". At one point the assailant offered to "take her home", with the confession letter author typing he "would give her a lift home".

The author of the "Bates Had to Die" letters continued the theme of mimicry from local newspapers. The sender of the three Bates' letters on April 30th 1967 parroted the words used by Jack Matthews, the Staff Writer of the Press-Enterprise newspaper. On the same day the three threatening letters arrived (one to the Press-Enterprise), he wrote an extensive article about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the content in the confession letter, stating "The letter told of how Cheri struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". The author of the Bates' letters mimicked this wording by writing "Bates had to die, there will be more".

​On October 19th 1966, eleven days before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, The Riverside Daily Press ran an article about David Karp's original drama series on ABC Stage 67. It ran from September 14th 1966 to May 4th 1967, featuring 26 episodes. The episode immediately before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, aired on October 19th 1966, was entitled "The Confession", in which a lieutenant who was unaware of the latest Supreme Court ruling on murder confessions, attempts to coerce a confession from murder suspect Brandon de Wilde. 

​On June 13th 1966 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, was a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that law enforcement in the United States must warn a person of their constitutional rights before interrogating them, or else the person's statements or confession cannot be used as evidence at their trial. Specifically, the Court held that under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot use a person's statements made in response to an interrogation while in police custody as evidence at the person's criminal trial unless they can show that the person was informed of the right to consult with a lawyer before and during questioning, and of the right against self-incrimination before police questioning, and that the defendant not only understood these rights but also voluntarily waived them before answering questions. ​ 

"The Confession" to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on November 29th 1966 may have been another time the author mimicked the local Riverside newspaper (four times in total), mockingly confessing to a recent murder, knowing that anything he typed was in advance of any Miranda rights being issued. We have the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood (19) on April 13th 1965, the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (18) on October 30th 1966, the abduction of a young 19-year-old woman on November 22nd 1966, and the fictitious "murder" of Bonnie on October 19th 1966, all wrapped up in three suspicious communications authored in Riverside, using mimicry from the local Riverside newspaper.   

If the Zodiac Killer was the abductor and murderer of Donna Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 6th 1970, then one might have expected him to claim or insinuate her murder in his next communication, the 13-Hole postcard. Despite later suggesting his involvement in her murder on March 22nd 1971 when the Pines card was mailed, he never increased his victim count from the July 26th 1970 "Little List" letter to the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970 by the Zodiac Killer, which spanned her abduction. Or did he increase the victim count and we simply didn't recognise it? The Pines postcard and 13-Hole postcard both contained punch-holes (suggestive of victims), both contained pasted text, and both carried inverted wording within the postcard. The inverted phrase of "around in the snow" on March 22nd 1971 was clearly referring to the murder and burial location of Donna Lass, so where was the reference to Donna Lass in the inverted text on October 5th 1970?

The construction of the October 5th 1970 postcard may have began just over two weeks after the disappearance of Donna Lass, because all the newspaper cuttings identified on the postcard were sourced from the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner (all separated by only 9 miles)  The cuttings were taken from publications dated September 23rd and 25th. 

On the day the 13-Hole postcard was mailed, a newspaper article by The Orlando Sentinel carried the headline "Zodiac, Killer Of 5 or 13, Silent As Police Wait". The 13-Hole postcard carried a cutting of the number 13 and used the word "police" in the inverted text - so was this section of text giving us a clue to the total victims killed, which now included Donna Lass? The text read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" Could this have been cryptic in nature, just like the Pines card mailed 5 1/2 months later, telling us surreptitiously that he was the murderer of Donna Lass and reading "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fourteen killed I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" In other words, responding to The Orlando Sentinel headline of "Zodiac, Killer Of 5 or 13" on October 5th 1970 (or earlier newspaper that carried the same or similar question).  

​It would mean that the main body of the postcard was reiterating the victim count from the Little List letter on July 26th 1970, but teasing us with the cryptic clue of "Fk" to suggest that there were now "Fourteen killied" in total. This may have been repeated when the Halloween card arrived 22 days later, on October 27th 1970, when he added 13 "floating eyes" to the card, but added the number "14" on the hand of the first skeleton, placed "4-TEEN" atop of the second skeleton, and used the letter "F" once again in the strange symbol at the foot of the card (and on the envelope). The "F" in "Fk" on the 13-Hole postcard may have denoted the number fourteen. The "F" in the strange symbol on the Halloween card may have also denoted fourteen, by combining "Z" and "F" to give us "Zodiac Fourteen". The four dots giving us a clue that "F" meant fourteen. This would mean that the Zodiac Killer gave us two cryptic clues containing the letter "F" in a span of 22 days. The Zodiac Killer could also have added the 14th punch-hole of his career to the Pines postcard, to make up for the one he deliberately withheld from the 13-Hole postcard on October 5th 1970. A postcard in which he decided to use "Fk" instead. But did the Zodiac Killer specifically invert his text in two postcards to represent one victim? That of Donna Lass.

It is clear that the author of the three Bates' letters on April 30th 1967 parroted the words used by Jack Matthews, the Staff Writer of the Press-Enterprise newspaper. On the same day the three threatening letters arrived (one to the Press-Enterprise), he wrote an extensive article about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the content in the confession letter, stating "The letter told of how Cheri struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". The author of the Bates' letters mimicked this wording by writing "Bates had to die, there will be more" (see foot of article).

​The author of the confession letter used the same mimicry on November 29th 1966 by taking phrases and inspiration from the Press-Enterprise newspaper on November 24th 1966 (see below). This newspaper article was about a 19-year-old woman who was offered a ride in a man's car and then attacked, just like the claims in the confession letter five days later. The newspaper article stated that the man "grabbed her around the neck". The confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth". The newspaper article stated "I could just hit you in the head with this piece of wood". The confession letter author typed "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The assailant mentioned in the newspaper stated "I'm not Jack the Ripper". The confession letter author typed "But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". At one point the assailant offered to "take her home", with the confession letter author typing he "would give her a lift home". The author of both the Bates' letters and confession letters borrowed phrases from a recently published newspaper article in the Press-Enterprise, and summarily addressed two of these offerings to the same newspaper..The menacing letters came in duplicate on November 29th 1966 and in triplicate on April 30th 1967. The methodology of both authors was extremely similar. The strange signature on two of the Bates' letters followed the wording "There will be more". The author was implying more victims?

​The murder of Cheri Jo Bates (18) and the attack on the 19-year-old woman happened 2 1/2 miles from each other. The man who picked up the woman on Linden Street on November 22nd 1966, had initially given her a lift in his car three weeks earlier. This would have been approximately November 1st 1966, one day after the body of Cheri Jo Bates was found murdered in the driveway alongside Terracina Drive. He was described as 35 years old, 5-foot 9-inches, with a "chunky protruding stomach". I wonder what he looked like on October 11th 1969?

​It is difficult not to see a connection between the Riverside Desktop Poem, Confession letter and Bates' letters when they have the common language of "to die" running through all three, along with the numerous similarities between the poem and the Confession letter, explored here in great detail. A further comprehensive examination of the Confession letter with the then unreleased autopsy report of Cheri Jo Bates, strongly points to an author who knew too much. If the Confession letter author on November 29th 1966 was the murderer of the young college student, then he was very likely responsible for the desktop poem also. 

Only three days after the discovery of Cheri Jo Bates' body on Halloween morning (October 31st 1966), the Riverside Daily Press newspaper published an article on November 3rd 1966 entitled "Key Clue Goes to C11 Unit", comparing the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood (19) on April 13th 1965 with the murder of Cheri Jo Bates.(18) on the same campus (see below). It was soon discovered that Rolland Taft (19), responsible for the attack on Atwood, was still in jail when Cheri was murdered and therefore was not responsible for her murder and any of the subsequent communications. I suspect that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates read this newspaper article and composed a desktop poem mentioning how Roslyn Atwood was "unwilling to die" and had escaped to a nearby house after her stabbing. with "blood spurting, dripping and spilling over her new red dress". The author concluded that she wouldn't "die this time," but Cheri Jo Bates wouldn't be so lucky, stating "just wait till next time", The addition of "rh" likely dating her demise as happening in Riverside on Halloween, because that is when her body was discovered.

The poem was predominately structured around the Roslyn Atwood attack, and was possibly written in blue ballpoint pen a matter of days after the November 3rd 1966 newspaper article. The Confession letter on November 29th 1966 likely continued where the desktop poem finished off, by describing that "next time". The Confession letter would contrast the fact that Roslyn Atwood was "unwilling to die" by remarking how Cheri Jo Bates "went to the slaughter like a lamb" and "went very willingly". The Confession letter also used the phrase "to die" again, stating "I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die". It must also be noted how the word "time" appeared 5 times in these two communications.   

It is hard to believe that when the desktop poem was discovered in December 1966, a connection wasn't made between the Roslyn Atwood story and the contents of the desktop poem. I have trawled through approximately a dozen newspaper articles about the attempted murder of Roslyn Atwood and found no mention of a "new red dress" in any. All police really had to do was reinterview Roslyn Atwood and discover if she had bought a new red dress shortly before she was stabbed. If she had been able to confirm this fact, it would have placed the desktop poem author and likely murderer of Cheri Jo Bates in her proximity the day she was stabbed. How else could he have reasonably acquired the knowledge she had recently purchased a new red dress and had worn it that night, other than her telling him directly, by somebody who knew Roslyn telling him, or through him overhearing a conversation of her telling someone else?

Roslyn Atwood attended night classes at the Riverside City College and had been attacked traveling home at 9:30pm that night, so it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that the desktop poem author attended the same night class as Roslyn, or had been at the Riverside college for other classes on April 13th 1965. Either way, if police could have confirmed she had bought such a dress and was wearing it when she was stabbed, it would have placed the author of the desktop poem extremely close to Roslyn Atwood at the Riverside City College. A college he would have been writing a desktop poem about 19 months later. For those who believe Zodiac to be responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, Roslyn Atwood could be the key.

Ten injuries were noted at autopsy on the right hand of Cheri Jo Bates and only two on her left hand, along with brown Caucasian hairs found in blood at the base of her right thumb (microscopically different to her hair). Just like her killer, there was a 90% chance she was right-handed, which appeared to be her dominant hand during the attack. As was her right arm, which received two knife wounds to the axillay fold (armpit) and mid upper arm. A killer thrusting a knife forward while facing her is not born out by the autopsy report, as demonstrated in these three articles. She was close enough to her killer to grab his hair and scratch either his head, hands, arms or face (because of foreign skin under her fingernails), and likely tear the Timex wristwatch from his left wrist. If Cheri Jo Bates was being held by an assailant from behind with his non-dominant arm and hand around her neck and mouth, his hair, face, arms and wrists would all be in close proximity and make this possible.

Close quarter restraint was also evidenced by the narrow vertical grouping of wounds to her breasts and right axillary fold, and the close mirroring of the knife wound widths on her upper torso (1,4cm, 1.5cm, 1.7cm, 1.9cm) to the estimated width of the blade (0.5 inches/1.27cm), along with what seemed to be compression or strangulation petechiae noted on her forehead at autopsy. If the killer had been forcibly restraining or choking Cheri Jo Bates around the neck from behind, then this compression could increase intra-capilliary pressure by restricting the venous return of blood, thereby creating the petechial haemorrhaging evident on the forehead of the young woman..But why would our killer be using his left hand to choke her? - or as he put it - "grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat".

​If we go by statistics, the killer would be right-handed, restraining her from behind with his left arm, while using his right hand to stab backwards into her upper torso. Because a right-handed person usually wears their watch on the non-dominant left side, it would mean that his watch would be over her mouth or neck during the initial part of the attack - and the area she would naturally grab to remove this restriction. This could explain why she pulled the watch from his wrist (and why skin was found under her fingernails). If the killer was facing Cheri Jo Bates and thrusting the knife forward with his right hand in an unrestrained attack, the chance of her being able to grab his left wrist and watch with enough purchase to remove it from his person would diminish in likelihood. It could be argued that there was a higher probability of the watch being yanked from his wrist before the stabbing began (or early part of the attack), because there appeared to be no blood found on the watch, which would be much more likely as the attack unfolded.  

This would explain why the watch was discovered 10 feet distant from her right foot, pulled from the assailant's wrist the moment his left arm was placed around her mouth/neck area. A brief struggle ensued, before she was thrust forward into the ground, detaching the straw bag from her shoulder.  A kick to her head and one knife wound to her back, probably culminated with the seven slice wounds to her neck. A brief, but undeniably horrible and brutal murder of a gregarious, intelligent young woman. 

Zodiac researcher Andrew Gray noted that the author of the Confession letter on November 29th 1966 typed "I plunged the knife into her and it broke", despite this never being featured in the newspapers or detailed at autopsy. It seemed strange to consider a hoaxer just inventing this unnecessary inadequacy regarding the attack if it didn't actually happen. Bearing in mind the sequence of events described above, the plunging of the knife into her appears to be describing the wound to her back, opposite the spinous process of her 7th thoracic vertebrae. This would explain why the small knife could have broken as it struck the bony processes of the spinal column. A broken hinge mechanism would now only be good for the final action of drawing the knife across her neck region, which the author described. Despite volunteering this unnecessary admission of a malfunctioning knife, the author of the Confession letter doesn't address the elephant in the room, notably the Timex watch found by the body of Cheri Jo Bates and mentioned heavily in the newspapers. The inclusion of the broken knife, but omission of the watch, forces one to conclude it was probably his timepiece.

The author of the Confession letter stated "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands" and "I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". This focus on "female parts"and "her breast", allied with the claim of "brush offs" in the very next sentence, gives rise to the notion of a sexually motivated attack when one considers there were only three knife wounds to her torso and all three were to her breasts (four attempted wounds to her breasts if you include the axillary fold injury slightly above the right breast). An individual who had focused his unhealthy attention towards the attractive young woman beyond his reach and unattainable, may have driven him to target the very objects of his desire - an attack on her sexuality. The knife wounds to this region was another detail that was absent from the newspapers. The author also claimed that "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The scream was noted in the newspapers, but 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" was exclusive to the autopsy. A severe kick to the head is perfectly capable of lacerating the lip from back to front without damaging the teeth, if delivered as an angular blow. 

The entire attack, short in duration, with "only" 5 stab wounds to her front upper torso and right arm (clustered in an area measuring 20cm horizontally and 10cm vertically), all above the breast line, taking place in a small section of the driveway, with petechiae on her forehead and the straw bag alongside and partially under her body, suggests an attack of close contact and restraint. The hair from the assailant at the base of her right thumb, the skin under her fingernails and the Timex watch found just 10 feel from her body, confirms this hypothesis and is commensurate with the details provided by the author of the Confession letter, who was probably the killer of Cheri Jo Bates.        

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

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

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

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

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

On June 26th 1970 the Zodiac Killer mailed a Phillips 66 map with the instructions "the map coupled with the code will tell you where the bomb is set". He claimed he had buried a bomb. A month later another communication was sent with extra clues of "The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians" and crosshairs with a bold, black circle positioned at close to 4 radians set to Magnetic North (246.2 degrees). When the Zodiac Killer mailed the Pines postcard on March 22nd 1971 he used a punch-hole (another circle) and the wording "Sierra Club", "pass.Lake Tahoe areas" and "around in the snow", coupled with an advertisement of Incline Village, to probably direct us to the burial site of Donna Lass.

Using measurements between the "Sierra Club" pasting and the punch-hole (after inverting the postcard), I was able to determine that the 1.96 square mile punch-hole around Yuba Gap captured the location of the jawbone of Donna Lass, discovered on December 31st 1985. This suggested that the author of the Pines postcard knew where the remains of Donna Lass were. If the circles in both instances were the location of a buried mystery that we had to solve, could the Zodiac Killer have added another layer to the Pines postcard to identify the burial site of Donna, similar to the June 26th and July 26th 1970 letters? In other words, did the Zodiac Killer bury Donna Lass at a specific location west of Clair Tappaan Lodge Sierra Club?  

The three major locations regarding Donna Lass were her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home, the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino where she worked and the Yuba Gap area where her jawbone was found. So I placed a compass rose over the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home and the casino, and calculated the position of Yuba Gap in degrees. From her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home it measured 303.5 to 304 degrees. From the casino it measured 303 to 303.5 degrees. There could be a margin of error of one degree. The measurement of 303.5 degrees is exactly 5 radians and Magnetic North (5 X 57.3 + 17). Therefore, the Zodiac Killer may have twice given us a "circle" denoting a burial location, and both times it was positioned at a radian value plus Magnetic North. In 1970 from Mount Diablo, in 1971 from either the home or work address of Donna Lass.  

​A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART ONE)
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART TWO]
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART THREE] 

Expanding on my last article, I have calculated the position and area of the punch-hole on the Pines postcard to 1.96 square miles, and placed it over the map below. If the punch-hole was intended to be a burial or deposition site, then the measurement and direction of this punch-hole with respect to the "Sierra Club" pasting on the card, coupled with the map scale, means that the jawbone of Donna Lass falls inside the punch-hole created by the author of the postcard (shown on the map below).This technique was previously used by the Zodiac Killer on June 26th 1970, when he used radians and inches along those radians to pinpoint the location of a buried bomb. Only this time in the Pines postcard it was a human being. 

Years ago I identified a location for this bomb alongside a road close to Ingleside Police Station of 4 radians and 5 inches (tilted to Magnetic North). Long time Zodiac researcher, Andrew Gray, later took these measurements and slotted them into the Z32 code, reading "Estimate Four Radians and Five Inches". The word "estimate" allowed for a margin of error. When the Zodiac Killer crafted his Bus Bomb letter on November 9th 1970, he may have used the 9 o' clock position tilted to Magnetic North to identify the Salesian High School of teacher Daniel Williams, who had just been targeted for death by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer. The 9 o' clock position had been highlighted along with 0, 3 and 6 on the June 26th 1970 Phillips 66 map.

So this technique of using a clock face, radians and inches (measurements) to identify a location, is not without precedent. On this occasion the Pines postcard author placed the punch-hole of 1.96 square miles.over the remains of Donna Lass. This location also landed on the 9 o' clock position of a clock face from the Sierra Club of Clair Tappaan Lodge. But were these measurements created deliberately by the Zodiac Killer, or was he just lucky when he applied the "Sierra Club" and punch-hole 2.19 inches apart on the same horizontal plane, and used "around in the snow" upside down, which when flipped through 180 degrees forced a change and corrected their east-west relationship to one another? It's rather curious that the newspaper read in January 1986 that remains had been "found in 2 inches of snow", given that the author of the postcard likely expected her to be found "around in the snow". Read more.  

​A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART ONE)
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART TWO]
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART THREE]   

The phone caller to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino was most likely the murderer of Donna Lass, but who was it that rang security guard Gordon Petrovich on either September 7th or 8th 1970 stating that he was "Mr. Davis" and claiming that the young 25-year-old nurse would not be coming to work because she had been called out of town for a family illness? This individual appeared to know two crucial factors about Donna Lass: [1] That her family lived out of town (they lived in South Dakota), and [2] The surname of her landlord. If she was murdered in the few hours after she was last seen at 1:50am on September 6th 1970 at the casino, they should have made the phone call to buy time on that day but they didn't. A complete stranger killing Donna Lass after she left the casino on the 6th wouldn't have known the name of her landlord, and the residency of her family. 

The private investigator's report stated Mr. Davis had accompanied subject (Donna) on an inspection tour of the apartment on September 5th 1970, and his inventory sheet is dated September 5th 1970. Also with him was Frank Desimone". Even if this was 9:00am in the morning, Donna Lass, had she set off for work at about 5:00pm that evening (for her 6pm shift), would only have been living at her new apartment for 8 hours if she was abducted outside the casino or on her way home in the early morning hours of the 6th. It would mean she had never slept at the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartment.

Several possibilities have been put forward. She could have been coaxed from her work station by somebody claiming they needed urgent assistance in the parking lot and abducted, or she could have been lured to somewhere within the casino, murdered, and surreptitiously removed at a later date. Donna may have been offered a lift home and murdered in her apartment by somebody she trusted, or driven elsewhere. Or she could have walked home and been abducted along the way, or the moment she arrived at her 3893 Pioneer Trail Road home. Another possibility is that Donna Lass could have arrived home safely and gone to sleep, to be murdered at this juncture by somebody entering her apartment. She could also have been murdered later, on September 6th, 7th or 8th (depending when Gordon Petrovich received the mystery call)..We could wade through all these options forever, so the best approach is to discover how the phone caller knew the name of her landlord and that her family lived out of town. 

Testimony from Nick Davis (Donna's landlord} stated that he received a call from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel security office on September 11th 1970 enquiring on the whereabouts of Donna Lass (so they knew he was her landlord and knew his phone number). This means that Donna Lass could have informed the casino of her new address and the name of her landlord when she arrived to work on September 5th 1970, or the Sahara Tahoe Hotel security were given this information by somebody else. But who else would have known that she now lived at the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartments, let alone the name of her landlord, "Mr. Davis", by the time she was last seen?

​Donna inspected the apartment on September 5th 1970, accepted the accommodation and then went to work a few hours later, where she was last seen at approximately 1:50am on September 6th 1970. The only people that could possibly have known this information would have been the casino itself, or friends/work colleagues that she told between the time she signed the rental agreement on September 5th 1970 and 1:50am on September 6th 1970. This information is not going to be known by a random abductor from the casino parking lot, or a stranger snatching her from the street while walking home. We also have to factor in that the perpetrator likely knew that her family lived in South Dakota, and by making the phone call claiming a family illness out of town, he was affording himself plenty of time to cover his tracks.

​If he had known Donna Lass when she moved to South Lake Tahoe in early June 1970, he had plenty of opportunity to know about her family circumstances in the intervening 3 months, but could only have learned about her new apartment and the name of her landlord from the moment she put pen to paper on September 5th 1970 to the time she was last seen. Even if he was the person who recommended the apartment complex to her in advance of September 5th 1970, it is not certain she would have accepted the accommodation until after the inspection. This information could only realistically have been known after she signed the contract. 

While working from 6:00pm to 1:50am on September 5th and 6th 1970, what work colleagues and friends could she have told about the name of her landlord - who would then make a mental note of this name for the purpose of a murder they knew they were soon going to commit - to use on September 7th or 8th as a delaying tactic. Does this sound plausible? If Donna had informed the casino of her address and the name of her landlord when arriving for work on September 5th 1970, the only people who would know this information, were the people who could reasonably gain access to her written details.

Without access to this information, the notion that somebody would make a conscious decision to remember the spoken mention of her landlord's name (had she ever told anybody), knowing they were going to kill Donna Lass in the coming hours and then make a phone call to the casino they worked at, or frequented as one of her male friends, takes some believing. But if the person who made the phone call using the name "Mr. Davis" had access to this written information at the casino, he is in danger of drawing the police to people who worked at the casino, including himself. It is possible that this was a mistake by the killer, who was desperate to buy time by using the credible name of her landlord to deliver the message. 

​Somebody who knew Donna Lass had signed the rental agreement at the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartments and knew the landlord's name, could have been another resident at the complex. Such a person had the opportunity to abduct her if she had made it back to this location in the early morning hours of September 6th 1970 (or on September 7th/8th), but how many people at this complex would Donna Lass have told about her family "living out of town" in the few hours between signing the contract and leaving for work? In those few hours she could have spoken with a neighbour who asked where she had moved from - and at some point she told them she was originally from South Dakota. This scenario isn't implausible.    

On November 18th 1970 the private investigator interviewed taxicab driver Raymond Jacobs, who lived at apartment 11 of the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road complex when Donna Lass went missing. Her apartment was number 6. Sometime between September 6th 1970 and November 18th 1970 he had moved to 3780 Aspen Avenue, a multi-family residence, 530 meters south of the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartments. He stated "he observed the subject on many occasions, and that he drove a cab on the street at the same time the subject was getting off work, but had never seen her on the way home walking. He had not observed any male companions around her apartment on any occasion". Bearing in mind Donna Lass moved into the apartment on September 5th 1970 and was last seen at 1:50am on September 6th 1970, how did he "observe the subject on many occasions" and how could he possibly have observed "male companions around her apartment on any occasion". Only if Donna Lass was alive on September 5th, 6th and 7th could this be somewhat true.

The only way Joseph Stephen Holt, responsible for the murders of ​Brynn Rainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Andersen (16) in 1979, could have reasonably known the name of Donna's landlord and that her family lived out of town, was if he was either in the casino on September 5th or 6th 1970 and had picked up this information by word of mouth, or had coerced this information from her for the purpose of the phone call. It's unlikely a stranger to Donna would need to force information from her to to buy time, yet somebody known to her may want to create this necessary breathing space, knowing that they could come under suspicion, Forcing information from somebody you've abducted to create a delaying phone call isn't the likeliest of scenarios, however, since we now know that Joseph Stephen Holt was responsible for the murder of Brynn Rainey in 1977, in which a phone call was made to her place of work (the Sahara Tahoe Hotel) to excuse her absence, it doesn't seem inconceivable in 1970. After all, both Donna Lass and Brynn Rainey's family lived a considerable distance from South Lake Tahoe, in South Dakota and Ohio respectively. I still doubt the involvement of Joseph Stephen Holt in the murder of Donna Lass, so if it isn't him, the focus should still remain on the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and anybody that knew she signed that rental agreement with Nick Davis just a few short hours earlier.

FURTHER READING: THE MYSTERIOUS PHONE CALL TO THE CASINO RE-EXAMINED ​

After Donna Lass was last seen at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 6th 1970, Gordon Petrovich, security guard at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, stated that somebody calling himself "Mr. Davis" had rang the casino on either September 7th or 8th and reported that Donna Lass had left town because of a family illness. The landlord of Donna Lass, Nick Davis, said he first learned of the family illness story from Bob Morgan of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department on September 11th 1970, so he couldn't have been the "Mr. Davis" who rang the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 7th or 8th. The caller was most likely Donna's killer, buying time after the murder. It is now clear that the Sahara Tahoe Hotel informed the police of Donna's absence from work after not hearing from her for a few days. They must have made this call to police sometime sfter the call received by Gordon Petrovich, and before the call made by Nick Davis on September 11th. This sinister phone call from the killer successfully bought him valuable breathing space. 

Recently we learned that in an episode of "Bloodline Detectives" with Nancy Grace entitled "The South Lake Tahoe Strangler", Joe Alexander, the Deputy District Attorney of El Dorado County stated "One of the interesting facts in this case is that an unidentified male called Brynn Rainey's employer and informed them that she would not be showing up for her shift at the casino where she worked. We certainly don't know for sure who that was that made the call, but under the circumstances, and the fact that Brynn at that time was likely already dead, it would strongly suggest that the killer made that call in order to buy more time before people knew she was missing". This information was backed up by the host, Nancy Grace, who added "While detectives tried to trace that mystery caller, they also pieced together Brynn Rainey's last known movements". But there was something else in the documentary that supports the fact that Brynn Rainey's killer rang the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and relayed information to quell any worries over her absence from work - and it must have been pretty compelling. 

There is a good chance it was convincing because the Sahara Tahoe Hotel didn't report Brynn Rainey missing to the police in the three weeks that followed this phone call. The "Bloodline Detecives" episode Investigator John Gaines stated "She was due to work at 2:00am on the 25th (July 1977). She never showed up for that work shift. On August 15th (1977) her landlord reported her missing. The landlord said he had seen her around the last she had been seen, which would have been around July 24th, and that he had not seen her since".

​In the Donna Lass case the phone caller on September 7th or 8th 1970 didn't ring the casino in the 16 hours after her last shift ended at 2;00am, suggesting that if he had abducted her on September 6th he may have known that Donna Lass wasn't due into work at 6:00pm on September 6th 1970 at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. The caller also stated that she had been called "out of town" for a family illness. So how did he know her family didn't live "in town"? A murder on September 6th and a call to the casino on September 7th would very likely have failed had she been married. Therefore, was he somebody fairly close to Donna, who knew her marital status, knew her work pattern and knew her family lived in South Dakota approximately 1,560 miles away. A phone call in this instance would have bought plenty of time for the killer. Or did he coerce this information out of her primarily for the purpose of the phone call?

​Brynn Rainey fell in love with South Lake Tahoe and had moved there from Ohio, which was a journey of 2,240 miles. She took up employment at the Crystal Range Motel located at 941 Emerald Bay Road, working as a maid, before becoming a Keno runner at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel in April 1977. So if her killer had rang the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on July 25th 1977 and used the "called out of town because of a family illness" ruse, it would have been just as effective as the deceit used in the Donna Lass case. It must have been something along these lines because she was excused from work on July 25th 1977 by a male caller and wasn't reported missing until August 15th 1977 (and not by the casino). This information was corroborated by the newspapers of the day. Does this show intimate knowledge of the life of Brynn Rainey, which also appeared to be the case with Donna Lass? Both women lived alone in rented accommodation overseen by landlords.

​Did the killer in 1970 and 1977 spend considerable time with each victim after their abduction, thereby necessitating the phone calls in order to buy time? If he had killed and disposed of them within hours, why would a phone call be necessary? Or was a phone call made in each case to delay any impending investigation into their murders, because he had some previous interactions with both women at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and feared the police may come knocking at his door? The burial of Brynn Rainey and the deposition site of Donna Lass ​74 miles from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel (possibly buried) showed a marked deviation from the murder of Carol Andersen in 1979, who was just dumped by the side of the road in plain sight. But she never worked at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel.  

FURTHER READING: THE MYSTERIOUS PHONE CALL TO THE CASINO RE-EXAMINED 

At the time of Brynn Rainey's murder in 1977 Joseph Stephen Holt was living at 1390 Keller Road. We know he lived in South Lake Tahoe in 1974, but we don't know for certain whether he had vacationed or visited the area before moving there. There is some evidence pointing to his family owning the 1390 Keller Road residence prior to 1970, so it's perfectly feasible he could have stayed at this location at the time of Donna Lass' disappearance on September 6th 1970. He was listed at this address from 1971 to 2015 in the US Index to Public Records, so it's possible he stayed at an earlier time.

​Two reasons that Joseph Stephen Holt may have chosen to visit South Lake Tahoe in the years before moving there was his passion for skiing and swimming (according to his obituary), making this an ideal place for permanent residency. The love of skiing was something he had in common with Donna Lass, who when speaking to Joan Bentley at the casino just before the end of her shift on September 6th 1970, said that she was looking forward to skiing that upcoming winter. For Joseph Stephen Holt, the 1390 Keller Road location was ideal to pursue that passion, with the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort right next to the Keller Road address.

Opening in 1955, the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort is situated on 3860 Saddle Road and the Heavenly Village base location on 4080 Lake Tahoe Boulevard. I am currently unsure what facilities (if any) were available at 4080 Lake Tahoe Boulevard in 1970 but it would be very interesting to find out, because had Joseph Stephen Holt left his 1390 Keller Road address on foot (or by car), his quickest route to the base location of the Heavenly Ski Resort (or the Sahara Tahoe Hotel) would have taken him alongside the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartment of Donna Lass (shown by the red line on the map below). With a common interest in skiing it is not implausible that they may have crossed paths - quite literally. The Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort was extremely close to both addresses on their south side.

Assuming that a sinister phone call was received by the Sahara Tahoe Hotel in 1977 stating that Brynn Rainey wouldn't be turning up for her shift at 2am, the one big difference between this and the phone call received on behalf of Donna Lass in 1970, was that the caller in Donna's case knew the name of her landlord (Mr. Davis). This could indicate a more personal connection to Donna Lass, rather than a killer who just performed a random abduction from the street. Knowledge of her address would be required.  

Thanks to all the contributors that have made the last three articles possible. 
Further reading:   ​THE 1970s, ONE ROAD, THREE MURDERS    
​ANOTHER SINISTER PHONE CALL TO THE SAHARA IN 1977 

Thanks to the great work of researchers Adam and Andrew Gray we now have more information about Joseph Stephen Holt and the murders of Brynn Rainey (27) in 1977 and Carol Ann Andersen (16) in 1979, who both lived in South Lake Tahoe. What we don't yet know is whether Joseph Stephen Holt had ever visited or vacationed in the region prior to moving there in 1974. If he was prepared to move to South Lake Tahoe and begin a career in the real estate business, one would have thought he was already accustomed with this area and liked it enough to move there. How many people are prepared to move house and relocate without knowing anything about the destination they are moving to? Visit the previous introductory article on this subject. 

​At the time Joseph Stephen Holt murdered Brynn Rainey in 1977 he was living at 1390 Keller Road, just 4,400 feet from the once address of Donna Lass at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road in 1970. Had he visited this specific area of South Lake Tahoe in 1970 and thought it was a good place to live? Every residence associated with Joseph Stephen Holt is situated on the south side of the lake, with four of them within a 4.3 mile radius of 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. If he was responsible for the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass in 1970, did he consider this area the ideal hunting ground for his depravity and choose to set up base here in 1974? But this isn't where the coincidences stop? 

In an episode of Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace entitled "The South Lake Tahoe Strangler", Joe Alexander, the Deputy District Attorney of El Dorado County stated "One of the interesting facts in this case is that an unidentified male called Brynn Rainey's employer and informed them that she would not be showing up for her shift at the casino where she worked. We certainly don't know for sure who that was that made the call, but under the circumstances, and the fact that Brynn at that time was likely already dead, it would strongly suggest that the killer made that call in order to buy more time before people knew she was missing".

​If this is correct, it means that Joseph Stephen Holt rang the Sahara Tahoe Hotel to delay any investigation into Brynn Rainey's murder (She was carrying her casino ID). This is the exact playbook used by the murderer of Donna Lass, who phoned the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and stated that Donna Lass wouldn't be turning up to work at the casino because of a family illness. Nowhere in this documentary did it mention Donna Lass or reference her case whatsoever. This could mean that both Brynn Rainey and Donna Lass both went missing traveling to and from their 2:00am shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, followed by a phone call from the killer excusing their absence. This information is difficult to ignore.  

Joseph Stephen Holt moved to South Lake Tahoe to begin a career in real estate, so had he shown any interest in the property under construction at Incline Village in 1971, that featured in the mailing of the Pines card on March 22nd 1971. A newspaper article stated that 'the site depicted on the 'Pines Card' was from an advertisement published last Sunday by several newspapers. It was 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. While much of the Sierra area is under several feet of snow, Incline Village has only two feet on the ground. Police went to the area to determine if a search is possible'. ​Chief Lauritzen, who was involved in the search for Donna Lass, remarked that "there's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring". Is it conceivable that Joseph Stephen Holt, an intelligent individual, mailed this postcard to shift the attention of Donna's murder onto the Zodiac Killer?  

Thanks again to Adam and Andrew Gray for the information used in this article. 
Further reading: The 1970s, One Road, Three Murders 

Despite conflicting reports regarding the time of the Johnny and Joyce Swindle murders on February 5th 1964, several investigators place the time closer to 8:15pm, including Sergeant Ed Stevens. Although it was reported that "a man was seen running away from the beach about two blocks away" from the crime scene, I wasn't able to consolidate this sighting with a time and location. Fortunately there was additional and more promising eyewitness testimony. 

There was another report that a man was seen running on Del Monte Avenue at 8:16pm, about one minute after the earliest estimates of the murders (8:15pm) The shortest route from the top of the stairwell at Narragansett Avenue (above the crime scene) to Del Monte Avenue in a southerly direction is a journey of 558 feet. Typical walking speed is 4.6 feet per second, so if this was the killer running at approximately 10 feet per second, it would take him about 55.8 seconds to reach the western edge of Del Monte Avenue and correlate with the 8:16pm eyewitness sighting. This would have placed the man only 82 feet from the cliff edge. 

If this was the killer, he refused to choose the option of heading a considerable distance east on Narragansett Avenue by traveling south on Ocean Front Street. After this brief journey, he again had the option of heading a considerable distance east on a narrow side road (marked with a red line on the map), but instead he continued on Ocean Front Street to Del Monte Avenue. See Google maps. 

If our killer was on foot heading to safety in the direction of his home (without a vehicle) and lived in San Diego, this may suggest that he didn't live anywhere north of Narragansett Avenue.because he was heading away from this location. He could have lived on Del Monte Avenue or further south such as Bacon St, Santa Cruz Ave, Coronado Ave, lower Cable St, or Del Mar Ave (or beyond). If on foot, it would just depend on what "buffer zone" he was prepared to implement between his residence and the crime scene, and how far he was prepared to travel on foot in the public gaze after committing a double murder with a gun in his possession.

We may all apply different standards to this conundrum but I doubt it would extend beyond a mile at most. The red circles below extend southwards about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile from the crime scene. If this was the murderer of Johnny and Joyce Swindle spotted by an eyewitness, then his refusal to head a significant distance east when twice presented with the opportunity before he reached Del Monte Avenue, has the potential to narrow down the search for the killer's residnce or anchor point. The sighting of this individual running away from the crime scene is the nearest to the site of the murders and relevant to the time the shootings were believed to have occurred. This analysis is obviously highly dependent on a murderer who didn't park a getaway vehicle close to the crime scene, but it's a start. 

​Had the killer used a vehicle it still makes sense from the standpoint of caution that he would apply a discretionary buffer zone. A murderer parking his vehicle at the top of the stairwell on Narragansett Avenue would have been taking a huge risk of his vehicle being spotted in close proximity to the crime scene (and possibly the sound of gunfire), so it would have been safer to park his vehicle one block south away from any immediate potential eyewitnesses. However, applying common sense to the criminal mind is probably the definition of madness.      

THE SWINDLE MURDERS AT OCEAN BEACH (PT1)

Thanks to the diligent research of Kristi Hawthorne, we now know that on April 9th 1962 an unknown caller rang the Oceanside Police Department and declared “I am going to pull something here in Oceanside and you will never be able to figure it out”. Two days later, in the early hours of April 11th 1962, taxicab driver Ray Davis was found shot to death and dumped in an alley by 1926 South Pacific Street in Oceanside. His vehicle was not located in close proximity to his body, having been driven away by the murderer and abandoned 1.5 miles northwest on the same street. One week later, on April 16th 1962, the same caller rang the Oceanside Police Department again and ominously reminded them of his previous contact by stating “Do you remember me calling you last week and telling you that I was going to pull a real baffling crime. I killed the cab driver and I am going to get me a bus driver next".

Many people have drawn comparisons between this crime and the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, noting that the sinister phone calls and the promise of a future threat on a bus driver mirrored elements of previous Zodiac activity, and his communications subsequent to the Stine murder which threatened to target school buses and their occupants. However, there were never any phone threats immediately prior to Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa or Presidio Heights. Or were there?

​When the Zodiac impersonator rang into the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, the caller was asked by the host "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". Bearing in mind that Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli were working under the premise that this could be the Zodiac Killer, it makes the statement of "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago" very important. It opens up the possibility that the real Zodiac Killer tried to contact the show two or three weeks previous to October 22nd 1969. Allowing for some leeway (2 days either side), we will go with 12 to 23 days ago. This means that the real Zodiac Killer may have tried to phone the Jim Dunbar Show between September 30th 1969 and October 10th 1969. The earliest would have been three days after the Lake Berryessa attack, with the latest phone call the day before the taxicab murder of Paul Stine, just like the threat before the murder of Ray Davis in 1962.     

The host of the Jim Dunbar Show made this specific remark when questioning the fake Zodiac, asking "Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". It is fairly obvious that Eric Weill knew nothing about the call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago" by his lack of conviction. However, the phone caller to the Oakland Police Department at 2am on October 22nd 1969 knew all about this phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago", because the caller to the Oakland Police Department specifically requested either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey to appear on the show.

It can be no coincidence that the Oakland Police Department caller and the Jim Dunbar Show caller prior to the Stine murder, both wanted to appear on the TV show alongside Melvin Belli. And with the Oakland Police Department caller providing information to the patrolman who took the call, information about the killings only known to the real Zodiac, it would mean that the real Zodiac Killer did ring the Jim Dunbar Show in the days before the Stine murder. There would have been less reason for Eric Weill to want to appear on a San Francisco TV show before the Stine murder because no Zodiac murders had occurred in San Francisco, but the real Zodiac Killer had every reason to phone the Jim Dunbar TV Show in San Francisco prior to the Stine murder, because he was planning to kill somebody there.   

The phone caller in Oceanside made the threat on the eve of the murder of taxicab driver Ray Davis, and it could have repeated itself on October 10th 1969 had the real Zodiac Killer managed to secure an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine. If the receptionist for the show had taken the call seriously (because it was very likely just another case of believing it to be a crank call), we may have heard from the real Zodiac Killer on the Jim Dunbar Show in early October, rather than Eric Weill crying about headaches on October 22nd 1969. If the Zodiac Killer had appeared on the show prior to the Stine murder and proclaimed “I am going to pull something here in San Francisco and you will never be able to figure it out”, before mailing a shirt piece several days after the murder for confirmation, then we may be looking at the Ray Davis case in a totally different light today. After all, he did say months later "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed".

Any phone call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the Paul Stine murder would have coincided with the "Good Citizen" letter mailed to Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department on October 7th 1969, stating ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. Therefore, we could have had a Zodiac phone call to Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli promising something sinister in San Francisco, followed by the murder of Paul Stine at the intersection of Washington & Cherry a few days later, by a killer last seen entering Presidio Park by Julius Kahn Playground, just 5,000 feet from Beach Street in San Francisco. Of all the streets to name in the Bay Area, the "Good Citizen" letter author not only chose one less than a mile from Julius Kahn Playground, but chose a street in the direction Zodiac was heading. 

Having failed in his bid to appear on the Jim Dunbar Show with Melvin Belli, probably in early October, he would try again on October 22nd 1969, but this time he used the Oakland Police Department as the conduit by supplying them with details about the murders only known to him and the police. Obviously, what he gave them worked, because the Jim Dunbar Show hastily rearranged their scheduling and contacted Melvin Belli. I sincerely doubt they would have done all this without verification from the Oakland caller that he was indeed the real Zodiac Killer. Unfortunately for Zodiac, his grand declaration was hijacked by a mental patient, who literally stole the show.