In an attempt to cover all possible Zodiac communications, I will add the June 18th 1970 letter, postmarked Vallejo and addressed to Gerald Tagert of 1423 Roleen Drive in the northern section of Vallejo. Thanks to Michael Morford for featuring this correspondence on the Zodiac Killer Site forum. The letter contained two tickets for the Oakland A's baseball game for June 20th 1970, wrapped in a piece of paper with the brief message "GIFT FROM ZODIAC". Barbara Tagert was totally perplexed as to who may have sent the letter. It was analyzed and ultimately determined that it exhibited a slight similarity to confirmed Zodiac correspondence. 

The only address of any note in close proximity to 1423 Roleen Drive was the address of James Owen (1735 Mini Drive), the last person to pass the turnout on December 20th 1968, before the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Of course, we have no idea whether this communication was by the hand of the Zodiac Killer fifty years after the fact, but let us assume for the purpose of this article, it was. Did the Zodiac Killer know Gerald Tagert, an electrician employed at the Mare Island Shipyard? It seems unlikely that the murderer of five would unnecessarily aid the police in his capture, by linking himself as somebody known to Gerald Tagert or possibly a work colleague at the Shipyard. It could be a threat by somebody pretending to be Zodiac in order to scare the couple, but this could have just as easily been achieved without the need to spend money and purchase two valid baseball tickets - a sinister Zodiac threat of murder would have been far more effective, if your intention was to scare the living daylights out of the couple. What other possibilities exist?

1423 Roleen Drive is a corner house, so would be visible from not only neighboring properties along the same road, but several in the adjoining Alice Drive. This would only be of importance if the Zodiac Killer resided in one of the houses nearby and wanted the cheap thrill of watching the police visit the Tagert's property. However, this not only relies on the police visiting the Tagert's home address, but also necessitates the Zodiac Killer remaining at his residence throughout the relevant period. A threat to murder the couple would have been a far more effective tactic by the Zodiac Killer had he wanted to observe police activity around the property. It seemed that the Oakland A's tickets were of particular significance to the sender.   

To verify whether the Zodiac Killer was responsible for this correspondence, it is often prudent to look at the last confirmed Zodiac communication prior to  this one. The April 28th 1970 'Dragon' card stated "I hope you enjoy yourselves when I have my blast" - so is it logical to assume he would lure the couple to the Oakland Coliseum with the intention of detonating a bomb at the stadium. This is extremely unlikely. The only vague connection to the Oakland A's contained in the 'Dragon' card is the mule/donkey depicted on the card. Charlie-O the Mule was the mascot used by the Kansas City Athletics and Oakland A's from 1965 to 1976. But this is an extremely weak link and highly unlikely to have any connection to the baseball tickets mailed to Gerald Tagert.

Is it conceivable that the police would have allowed the couple to attend the baseball match with a possible threat hanging over them, covertly viewing the area in and around them for suspicious activity and anyone showing an unhealthy amount of attention towards them? Would the Zodiac Killer seriously have expected the police to have advised the couple to attend, or agreed to such a dangerous tactic even if they were willing?

The fact that the tickets were accompanied by the message "GIFT FROM ZODIAC", as opposed to a direct threat on their lives, seems to suggest the purpose behind the communication lay at the Oakland Coliseum and the half-chance that the Zodiac Killer could observe the couple squirming in their seats. But without knowing what transpired on June 20th 1970, one can only speculate. I highly doubt the couple ever attended the baseball match because of the possible ramifications had anything unsavory occurred.

One of the main reasons for covering this topic is to understand the motive behind the mailing (if the Zodiac Killer), and get some other opinions. Why were the tickets added to the correspondence, if not to center the focus on the Oakland Coliseum?   

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

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

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

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

Nobody knows for certain what the Zodiac Killer developed into after his brief, but deadly reign over Northern California during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but what we do know is that he mailed numerous letters threatening the police and promising to terrorize the citizens of the Bay Area by planting bombs. The December 7th 1969 and December 16th 1969 'Fairfield' letters stated "I will go for the Goverment life" and expressed disdain for the police, promising "any time now the will be a cop". 
These two letters were authored by the same individual, expressing "I just need help", but neither were published in the newspapers - so when the December 20th 1969 'Melvin Belli' letter arrived just days later with a piece of taxicab driver Paul Stine's shirt and proclaiming "please help me", it goes a long way to authenticating the Fairfield letters as genuine Zodiac correspondence. Rubislaw, a regular contributor to this site, pointed me in the direction of the Spiro Agnew Files in the FBI archives, regarding threats (including bomb threats) made to President Richard Nixon in 1973 (return address Leavenworth, Kansas). Rubislaw pointed to a comparison between these threats (of which there were many) to the Steve McQueen threat letter mailed in 1977 (which included a threat to President Jimmy Carter), and highlighted on the Zodiac Killer Site forum. The comparison is justified, irrespective of whether they were authored by the same individual, as the threats were aimed at high profile people in news and television. But for now I shall concentrate on the Richard Nixon threat and the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter.    

Mark Hewitt, author of a trilogy of Zodiac books, argued a case for Theodore Kaczynski as the infamous Bay Area murderer, taking his bomb threats of 1970 into reality, when he initiated a bombing campaign in the late 1970s. Whether this is in fact the case remains to be seen, but the concept of the Zodiac Killer metamorphosing into another form of terrorism, clearly illustrated by his shift in emphasis during 1970 is not without merit. So, without further ado, we will compare the Richard Nixon threats with the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter.

The December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter opened with the line "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble..I will go for the Goverment life". One of the Richard Nixon letters dated May 14th 1973 began "This is just to tell you, that you will die. There is no way to stop it believe me". There is a similarity in wording, which obviously may be coincidental, but both are a threat on "government life", refer to "pigs" or "cops", the two communications are written on lined paper and both have a circle as part of the logo. They are probably two separate individuals, but nevertheless, it cannot be dismissed out of hand that the Zodiac Killer may have gone through an evolution in the intervening three and a half years, developing the gravity of his threats. I certainly understand the drawbacks of handwriting comparisons, but here are the December 16th 1969, May 14th 1973 and June 8th 1977 (Steve McQueen) letters, all written on lined paper - and in which - each contained either "to tell you that", "to tell you this" and "to tell the people". 

In the last article we focused on the 1978 Channel Nine letter as a product born from the Symbionese Liberation Army, and highlighted the very real possibility that all the 1974 'Zodiac' communications were in fact authored by people connected to this militant organization. We discussed how the Symbionese Liberation Army specifically targeted the Hearst Corporation, not only by the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4th 1974, but by mailing the S.L.A. letter on February 3rd 1974, along with the subsequent Badlands and Red Phantom correspondences, all of which were designed with the Hearst family in mind. But it doesn't stop there. The Channel Nine letter stated "You people in LA are in for a treat. In the next three weeks you are finally gona have something good to report. I have decided to begin killing again". The August 1st 1973 Albany letter began in similar fashion: "You were wrong. I am not dead or in the hospital. I am alive and well and I am going to start killing again". This familiar trope of the Symbionese Liberation Army mimicking Zodiac correspondence may have possibly extended through a five year period, from August 1st 1973 to May 2nd 1978. The widely questioned Albany letter, I suggest, is another letter penned by this militant group for one specific reason - their hate of corporate greed and the Hearst family's apparent stranglehold on the narrative through their newspaper collective. The biggest question that has to be asked regarding the Albany letter is, why would the Zodiac Killer randomly pluck the Albany Times Union newspaper out of a hat when choosing to write his first correspondence in nearly two and a half years? What connection did the Zodiac Killer have with this newspaper? Many have put forward the notion of Richard Gaikowski and Darlene Ferrin as a connection, but this is a real stretch four years after her death. The Albany letter arrived at the Times Union only five months before the sequence of 1974 letters - it has been argued - were a subtle rebuke of the Hearst Corporation. So why should this correspondence be any different. The Symbionese Liberation Army had every reason to target this Hearst run newspaper, and may explain why it was chosen, despite being nearly 3,000 miles away from San Francisco.  

'The Times Union is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The paper was founded in 1857 as the Morning Times, becoming Times-Union by 1891, and was purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1924'. Wikipedia.

George Randolph Hearst III (born 1955) is the Publisher and CEO of the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York, and a director of the Hearst Corporation.
He is the second child of George Randolph Hearst, Jr. and Mary Astrid Thompson and great-grandson of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst was previously the Director of Operations of the Times Union and then its Associate Publisher and General Manager. He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Albany Institute of History & Art, a member of the board of directors of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center  and St. Peter's Health Care Services, a hospital in Albany.

The threat issued to the Albany Times Union newspaper was the forerunner to the attack on the Hearst Corporation in at least three of the four 1974 communications, that sandwiched the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4th. Below are some communications mailed by the hand of the Symbionese Liberation Army to New York, including Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).  

In a series of recent articles it was shown that the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A. letter was mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, as likely were the other three 1974 communications purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer. The S.L.A. or Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) were thrust into the spotlight after the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, a media heiress, on February 4th 1974. They were a short-lived urban militant group, operating from 1973 to 1975. The S.L.A. letter was mailed from Los Angeles County - the location  of a deadly shootout between Symbionese Liberation Army members and law enforcement on May 17th 1974 at 1466 East 54th Street, resulting in the deaths of six urban militants. The Symbionese Liberation Army had its main headquarters in San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, despite the militant group effectively fragmenting in 1975, not all members or allies of the group were apprehended. The group mailed numerous letters and cassette recordings to the newspapers, and to radio and television stations during the height of their operations. It is certainly conceivable that all the 1974 'Zodiac' letters were in fact written by the Symbionese Liberation Army, with the January 29th 1974 specifically designed to mimic previous Zodiac correspondence. The proof for this militant group's involvement in posing as the Zodiac Killer would come approximately four years later, when the Channel Nine letter was mailed to KHJ-TV in Los Angeles on May 2nd 1978. Arriving just one week after the April 24th 1978 "I am back with you" letter, widely considered a hoax, it may indicate the Symbionese Liberation Army's involvement in both 1978 letters. There was little motivation for the Zodiac Killer to reappear in 1978 and threaten [1] Daryl Gates [2] Edward Davis [3] Pat Boone, and [4] Eldridge Cleaver, all of which had no relevance to him whatsoever. But the Symbionese Liberation Army certainly had every reason to threaten numbers 1 & 2 on the list - Daryl Gates and Edward Davis.

Patricia Hearst was convicted in March 1976 and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. 'Hearst suffered a collapsed lung in prison (the beginning of a series of medical problems) and underwent emergency surgery, which prevented her from appearing to testify against the Harrises on eleven state charges including robbery, kidnapping, and assault; she was also arraigned for those charges. Hearst, who was being held in solitary confinement for security reasons, was granted bail for an appeal in November 1976, on condition she was protected on bond. Dozens of bodyguards were hired by her father. Saying he considered that Hearst's actions had not been voluntary, Superior Court judge Talbot Callister gave her probation on the sporting goods store charge when she pleaded no contest. California Attorney General Evelle J. Younger said if there was a double standard for the wealthy it was the opposite of what was generally believed, and though Hearst had no legal brainwashing defense there was a good deal of equity favoring her in the essential point that everything started with her kidnapping. Hearst's bail was revoked in May 1978 when appeals failed and the Supreme Court declined to hear her case'. Wikipedia.

Her appeals had failed and the Channel Nine letter arrived on May 2nd, threatening to kill both Daryl Gates and Edward Davis. But why were these names top of the letter's hit list?

Daryl Gates was born Darrel Gates (as the Channel Nine letter stated).
​
'While not the first to use specially trained units, the LAPD was the first to form a police tactical unit, and originally created the term, "Special Weapons And Tactics". John Nelson was the LAPD officer who came up with the idea to form a specially trained and equipped unit in the LAPD, intended to respond to and manage critical situations involving shootings while minimizing police casualties. In 1967, Nelson's CO, then-Inspector Daryl F. Gates approved this idea, and he formed a small select group of volunteer officers. This first SWAT unit initially consisted of fifteen teams of four men each, for a total staff of sixty. These officers were given special status and benefits. They were required to attend special monthly training. This unit also served as a security unit for police facilities during times of civil unrest.

In 1971, SWAT personnel were assigned on a full-time basis to Metropolitan Division to respond to continuing action by subversive groups, the rising crime rate and the continuing difficulty of mustering a team response in a timely manner. Metropolitan Division, which had a long-established reputation as the tactical unit of the Department, was reorganized into 6 units: "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", and "K-9" Platoons. The Special Weapons And Tactics Unit was given the designation of "D" Platoon, and at the same time formally adopted the acronym SWAT.

The first significant deployment of LAPD's SWAT unit was on December 9, 1969, in a four-hour confrontation with members of the Black Panthers. The Panthers eventually surrendered, with three Panthers and three officers being injured. By 1974, there was a general acceptance of SWAT as a resource for the city and county of Los Angeles.

On the afternoon of May 17, 1974, elements of a group which called itself the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group of heavily armed leftists, barricaded themselves in a residence on East 54th Street at Compton Avenue in Los Angeles. In response, more than 400 LAPD officers, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) deputies, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers, and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters surrounded the residence. Coverage of the siege was broadcast to millions via television and radio and featured in the world press for days after. Negotiations were opened with the barricaded suspects on numerous occasions, both prior to and after the introduction of tear gas. Law enforcement units did not fire until the SLA had fired several volleys of semi-automatic and fully automatic gunfire at them. In spite of the 3,772 rounds fired by the SLA, no civilians or sworn personnel sustained injury from gunfire.

During the gun battle, a fire erupted inside the residence. The cause of the fire is officially unknown, although police sources speculated that an errant round ignited one of the suspects' Molotov cocktails. Others suspect that the repeated use of tear gas grenades, which function by burning chemicals at high temperatures, started the structure fire. All six of the suspects suffered multiple gunshot wounds and perished in the ensuing blaze.
By the time of the SLA shoot-out, SWAT teams had reorganized into six 10-man teams, each team consisting of two five-man units, called elements. An element consisted of an element leader, two assaulters, a scout, and a rear-guard. The normal complement of weapons was a sniper rifle (apparently a .243-caliber bolt-action, judging from the ordnance expended by officers at the shootout), two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, and two shotguns. SWAT officers also carried their service revolvers in shoulder holsters. The normal gear issued them included a first aid kit, gloves, and a gas mask. In fact it was a change just to have police armed with semi-automatic rifles, at a time when officers were usually issued six-shot revolvers and shotguns. The encounter with the heavily armed Symbionese Liberation Army, however, sparked a trend towards SWAT teams being issued body armor and fully automatic weapons of various types'. Wikipedia.

'The public became aware of SWAT in May of 1974, when a shoplifting incident at an Inglewood sporting goods store led investigators to a South Los Angeles home on 54th Street. The Symbionese Liberation Army and heiress Patty Hearst, who were barricaded inside, exchanged gunfire with tactical officers for two hours before surrendering. Six SLA members were killed, as thousands of rounds of ammunition was used. The incident, which unfolded on live television, brought home the usefulness of SWAT to Gates, who was the field commander of that incident'. Policemag.com

Edward Davis was the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1969 to 1978. He instantly became well-known internationally in 1969 when he held a press conference announcing the arrests of Charles Manson and his followers for what are known as the Tate and LaBianca murders. His role is well-documented in the book Helter Skelter, written by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the case. Wikipedia.

In an NBC News article reporting his death in 2006, it led with the words "Ed Davis, the tough-talking former Los Angeles police chief who led the department during its shootout with the Symbionese Liberation Army and the arrest of Charles Manson, died Saturday, a family spokesman said. He was 89".

You don't have to search hard on the internet to discover that Daryl Gates and Edward Davis were instrumental in the demise of the Symbionese Liberation Army and the deadly shootout on May 17th 1974 which resulted in the deaths of six of its members. The Zodiac Killer had never crossed swords with either of these two law enforcement officers and had absolutely no reason to want to threaten them with death, as displayed in the Channel Nine letter. On the contrary, an ex-member, close associate or sympathizer of the Symbionese Liberation Army had every reason to want to see these two LAPD servants dead. The author of the Channel Nine letter held them personally responsible for the slaying at 1466 East 54th Street.

On April 24th 1978, the author of the 1978 letter wrote "I am waiting for a good movie about me, who will play me". Eight days later, the Channel Nine letter was mailed to ​KHJ-TV in Los Angeles on May 2nd 1978, stating "Hey you actors, this is your lucky break. Whoever plays me has his work cut out for him". There is every chance that, if the Channel Nine letter was mailed by an associate or somebody sympathetic to the S.L.A cause, then the 1978 letter (widely regarded as a hoax anyway) was also mailed by somebody in and around the Symbionese Liberation Army circle. This wouldn't be the first time that somebody connected or loosely affiliated with the militant group mailed a letter pretending to be the Zodiac Killer. The 1974 S.L.A letter was almost certainly unconnected to the Bay Area murderer, and the remaining three 1974 letters are widely questioned.   


https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/sla-letter-not-zodiac-and-here-is-the-fbi-file-to-prove-it

Although this is questionable Zodiac material, it does appear in the FBI files and has never been featured before - so I thought I would try to unearth as much information as possible, despite the limited coverage provided by the documents available. On November 19th 1969 two notes or slips of paper, labelled Questioned Documents 1 and 2, were discovered at a Marine Amphibious Force Base.
​They read as follows:

Q1. Slip of paper bearing hand printing beginning "Dear Gunny Kramer, This is the Zodiac speaking" and ending "take head Zodiac" [sic]. Should be heed.
Q2  Slip of paper bearing hand printing beginning "Dear Jim; Here I am again" and ending "the Zodiac & The Ridder".  

The address at the top left of the FBI file reads Office of the Provost Marshall. 1st Marine Division (Rein), San Francisco 96602. The zip code being a non-designated land mass, Armed Forces Pacific, USA.

The only crumb I could note from these two communications was the phrase "Here I am again", vaguely reminiscent of the letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 24th 1978, where the author declared "I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here." I may also have identified Gunner Kramer in the 'Air Ground Team, Marine Amphibious Force', listed in the PLANS BRANCH as MCDC LNO (GND) MAJ KRAMER, R I.  Dated 1968 through 1969. There was a Holebaeur, J F, Brown, J L, Waterstreet, J R and Bailey J R from the same PLANS BRANCH section. One of these men may have been the recipient of the second note.

Clearly, access to military facilities are restricted, so the Zodiac Killer can't just wander in off the street. Handwriting comparisons were done on military personnel to find a match to the two notes, but failed to identify an individual because of the distorted nature of the questioned handwriting. The notes were also compared to known Zodiac writing, with the conclusion equally inconclusive.    

Here is another excerpt from the FBI files about an Employment Manager at Yosemite Park suggesting another YFC employee exhibited a distinct likeness to the picture of Zodiac. What is curious about this FBI file, is it states "Law Enforcement Ranger, Yosemite National Park, California, advised on January 12th 1969, that the Employment Manager of Yosemite Park and Curry Company, recently observed publicity relative to the wanted killer known as Zodiac". How does he advise this only 23 days after the Lake Herman Road double murder, when nobody knew what Zodiac looked like.

Luis Campos, born in Santiago, Dominican Republic is an inventor, poet and cryptographer who created puzzles and ciphers for the United Features Syndicate of New York, beginning in 1983. He would create six celebrity ciphers a week, featuring famous quotes from well-known people, past and present. The reader had to identify the person and quote from the encoded text. The characters in the cryptograms were deliberately spaced into separate words, as shown on the right. 

On September 25th 1990 somebody mailed the celebrity cypher to the Vallejo Times-Herald, approximately three months before the 1990 'Eureka' card, often associated with the Zodiac Killer. Bearing in mind the 408 cipher mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969, many have pondered whether this postcard was mailed by the Bay Area murderer. There is little to prove this notion one way or another, but if somebody was mimicking the Zodiac Killer, one might expect the wording on the card to equally mimic previous correspondence, in particular, phrases he used with respect to his codes and ciphers. 

Many people have put forward solutions to the celebrity cypher, including the website Zodiologists.com and Rubislaw32 (a regular contributor to this site). Some of these solutions can be found on Ricardo Gomez's Project MK-Zodiac site. But here, I am not going to tackle the celebrity cypher from the angle of cryptology, because not only do I have a basic knowledge of ciphers, but also, the mere fact that so many people of greater ability than me have come to wildly different conclusions, is evidence of a code that is malleable. In other words, this code is open to subjective interpretation and no solution, despite the belief of the code-cracker, has been universally accepted. Of course, nobody knows, or could know with certainty, who the author of this postcard is. However, if the author mailed a cipher to the Vallejo Times-Herald in an attempt to pass this communication off under the guise of Zodiac-style correspondence, could it be argued that the sender is also a murderer? One attempted solution caught my eye on the Zodiac Killer Site forum - and this is the path I will follow, despite the pitfall of characters being hidden behind the stamp. Here is the card, on which I have added some notations which will be explained later.   ​ 

​The first thing to notice is that the author likely places his name and address on the upper left hand side of the celebrity cypher, and also signs off the card with his name. Often a sender will provide a return address on the left side of a postcard or envelope. This is backed up by the identical thirteen characters beginning and ending the correspondence. Then we have to predict what the preceding text is before the author signs off with their name. On the left is the '13 Symbol' cipher mailed by the Zodiac Killer on April 20th 1970. He precedes the code or name with My name is. 

In the Luis Campos example at the top of the page, the final line is reserved for the name. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the Zodiac Killer or somebody imitating him, would write My name is before signing off with their name. This may be preceded by a question, such as "Do you know me", in view of the Bay Area murderer having committed his crimes just under 21 years ago. A variation of do you remember me? Even if the author wasn't the Zodiac Killer, they may have been projecting the idea that they were. 

The next thing to look at is the return address. It has 10 characters followed by seven, then two. Many on the Zodiac Killer forum have deduced that the bottom line of the return address to be Oakland, CA - so I will run with this idea. The postcard was postmarked Oakland, so it's reasonable to conclude the return address would be Oakland too. This being the case, the 10 characters above must represent the area within Oakland. Now comes the simple task of finding a potential murderer who possibly authored this postcard. Somebody who knew of the Zodiac Killer, lived in an area of Oakland (comprised of 10 letters), and was eventually caught and convicted of murder. Surprisingly, if you type into Google search "Oakland, murderer, 1990" a possible answer is served up on a plate. Somebody who certainly lived in Oakland up to 1992, murdered two women in Oakland Hills that year, and lived with his grandparents near to Skyline Road and Golf Links Road, the deposition site of the two murdered women. Where exactly his grandparents lived, I have yet to ascertain, but there is a 10-letter neighborhood in East Oakland called Castlemont. It is less than a mile from Golf Links Road. His name was Monte Crawford, exactly fitting the 5 and 8 characters at the foot of the celebrity cypher.   

Monte Crawford, a military veteran, was sentenced on Friday, August 1st 2014 to 40 years to life for the 1992 double murder of Tredis Penny (26) and Shirley Wynn (38), both strangled and sexually assaulted, before being dumped in the Oakland Hills. I have no idea whatsoever if Monte Crawford was responsible for the celebrity cypher, but he did live in Oakland, in or near Castlemont, both of which fit the code, and he was capable of murder as he showed just one and a half years later, if he wasn't already a killer at this juncture.   

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

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

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

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

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

Both the Monticello card and '148 Character' cipher inferred a total of 21 victims, suggesting they were authored by the same individual.    

We are coming towards the end of the series of articles examining the 1974 letters. This article will be a continuation of 'The Hearst Family Connection' with one final piece of the jigsaw regarding the May 8th 1974 Citizen card to look at. Here is a brief recap of the previous article: "This all began on February 3rd 1974 with the S.L.A letter, postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". This was the eve of the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, which occurred on February 4th 1974. The letter signed off with "a friend". On February 10th 1974, a Symbionese Liberation Army member mailed a typed letter to the Hearst family at 233 W. Santa Inez Ave, Hillsborough, California, postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 940 PM 10 FEB 1974". It too was signed off with "A friend". 

​The article argued that the Citizen card had been targeted at William Randolph Hearst Sr, who had previously forbade his newspapers running any ads for the Orson Welles Citizen Kane movie, released in Los Angeles on May 8th 1941. Hence the context of the card and the signing off with "A citizen". 

The day after the Symbionese Liberation Army mailed the February 10th 1974 typed communication to the Hearst family, another typed communication arrived stating:
Hearst Family, 
(Second Commandment: "For I the Lord as a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.)
No, we are not religious nuts, but we hate you for your father's part in starting the Spanish-American War, and also for his later, cheap liason with the trollop Marion Davies."
Our male ancestors were killed in your father's war and their wives were left with pensions of $25 to $50 a month for life. We wonder how you can hold up your heads in decent society, and why your contemporaries can stomach your presence. Our once proud families were destroyed by your father's war.....which he started to boost his circulation 
                                     HERE IS WHAT WE DEMAND;
Before we release your daughter Patricia, you must show proper humility by acknowledging the guilt of William Randolph Hearst (in regard to starting yellow journalism and instigating the Spanish-American War. You must publicly beg the forgiveness of your country. This must be done on ALL media and must be expressed in terms of abject humility.
When we are convinced you are showing abject humility for the sins of your father and his papers, we will release Patricia, whose only sin is that she carries the genes of William Randolph Hearst.
                                                                                        The SLA   

The February 11th 1974 Hearst letter focused on the "yellow journalism" employed by William Randolph Hearst regarding the Spanish-American War and called for his forgiveness to be "expressed with abject humility". The following purported Zodiac communication on May 8th 1974 "expressed consternation at the lack of concern for public sensibilities" and demanded some action regarding the "yellow journalism" of murder-glorification that featured in the paper. Yellow journalism is described as exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism, designed to boost a newspapers circulation and increase sales - which includes the sensationalizing of murder. Exactly what the Citizen letter was calling out.

"The term was coined in the mid-1890s to characterize the sensational journalism that used some yellow ink in the circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The battle peaked from 1895 to about 1898, and historical usage often refers specifically to this period. Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well. An English magazine in 1898 noted, "All American journalism is not 'yellow', though all strictly 'up-to-date' yellow journalism is American" Wikipedia.

"During the Gilded Age, yellow journalism flourished, using fake interviews, false experts and bogus stories to spark sympathy and rage as desired. Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World published exaggerated crime dramas to sell papers. In the 1890s, plutocrats like Randolph Hearst and his Morning Journal used exaggeration to help spark the Spanish-American War. When Hearst’s correspondent in Havana wired that there would be no war, Hearst — the inspiration for Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" — famously responded: “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.” Hearst published fake drawings of Cuban officials strip searching American women — and he got his war". Politico.

We now have a May 8th 1974 Citizen card mailed on the same day as the Los Angeles release date of Citizen Kane, calling for advertisements not to be run about the Badlands movie, just like William Randolph Hearst insisted his paper do with the Orson Welles movie Citizen Kane, and an insistence in both cases that "yellow journalism" was not acceptable, beginning on February 11th 1974 and ending on May 8th 1974.

We could include the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter featuring the much sensationalized William Friedkin movie "The Exorcist", in which the author plays down its impact, claiming it "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen." In the final correspondence of 1974, on July 8th, the author complains about the "superiority complex" of Count Marco, who gave outrageous advice to women in a San Francisco Chronicle column geared towards sensationalism - the presentation of stories in a way that is intended to provoke public interest or excitement, at the expense of accuracy. The emphasis exhibited by the author of these three communications, was of somebody clearly irked by the newspapers coverage of events current and past, in the form of "yellow journalism." It certainly brings a new perspective to the phrase "red with rage." 

When tying a single author or group to the mailing of the S.L.A letter, Citizen card and Red Phantom letter together under one banner, it is important to understand the focus of the communications as a whole. This all began on February 3rd 1974 with the S.L.A letter, postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". This was the eve of the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, which occurred on February 4th 1974. The letter signed off with "a friend". On February 10th 1974, a Symbionese Liberation Army member mailed a typed letter to the Hearst family at 233 W. Santa Inez Ave, Hillsborough, California, postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 940 PM 10 FEB 1974". It too was signed off with "A friend". The impending and eventual kidnapping of Patricia Hearst may have been the inspiration behind the latter three communications in 1974, with the Hearst family and corporation the main focus. In other words, the S.L.A letter, Citizen card and Red Phantom letter were aimed at William Randolph Hearst Sr (deceased), William Randolph Hearst Jr and the Hearst Corporation as a whole. The Symbionese Liberation Army ran on an anti-capitalist agenda and against everything the Hearst Corporation stood for, hence their targeting of the young woman and the forced distribution of food, sourced from the Hearst's and given to the working class in the form of a ransom. Despite sending an incoherent message to the American public, the Symbionese Liberation Army had extremely well-educated members, which may have played a part in the design of the Citizen card and subsequent Red Phantom letter, with references to the Hearst family. In particular, the "signing off" portion of each correspondence.  

Writing to the San Francisco Chronicle on May 8th 1974, the author reprimanded the editors for "lack of sympathy for the public, as evidenced by your running of the ads for the movie "Badlands". This was the primary focus of the card, before signing off the communication with "A citizen". Notice the correlation between this and the February 10th 1974 typed Hearst family letter, ending with "A friend". There may have been a tinge of sarcasm portrayed in the Citizen card in relation to the "running of ads" for the Badlands movie. 

In the FBI files pertaining to the Symionese Liberation Army, a memorandum dated April 30th 1974 indicated that the Hearst Corporation was prepared to offer a 4 million dollar food plan on May 3rd 1974 for the safe return of their daughter. The Sunday San Francisco Examiner, asking for "citizen assistance" had already run a feature article on April 28th 1974 (based on the file information), which resulted in the paper receiving 75 telephone calls offering information regarding S.L.A members. Only 10 days later, on May 8th 1974, the 'Citizen' card arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle, scolding the paper for its movie advertisements, before signing off the letter with "A citizen". 

However, this may not have been the only explanation for the "citizen" reference. Here is an extract from Wikipedia:
"The quasi-biographical film (Citizen Kane) examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, and aspects of the screenwriters' own lives. Upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. Kane's career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power". The film incensed William Randolph Hearst Sr and started a long running feud with Orson Welles, resulting in the newspaper magnate forbidding his newspapers to run any advertisements for the Citizen Kane movie. Does this ring any bells? - "Sirs, I would like to expression my consternation concerning your poor taste + lack of sympathy for the public, as evidenced by your running of the ads for the movie "Badlands". why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen." 

This was detailed in History.com with the title 'William Randolph Hearst Stops Citizen Kane Ads': "One of Hollywood’s most famous clashes of the titans–an upstart “boy genius” filmmaker versus a furious 76-year-old newspaper tycoon–heats up on this day in 1941, when William Randolph Hearst forbids any of his newspapers to run advertisements for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Only a few days after the screening, Hearst sent the word out to all his publications not to run advertisements for the film. Far from stopping there, he also threatened to make war against the Hollywood studio system in general, publicly condemning the number of “immigrants” and “refugees” working in the film industry instead of Americans, a none-too-subtle reference to the many Jewish members of the Hollywood establishment. Hearst’s newspapers also went after Welles, accusing him of Communist sympathies and questioning his patriotism".

In the Telegraph under the title 'Citizen Kane 'feud' between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst thaws after 70 years' it states "When Welles' masterpiece was released in 1941 Hearst, who was the partial inspiration for the movie, was incensed and banned his newspapers from reviewing or even mentioning it".

Therefore, it must be an amazing coincidence that the Citizen card called for "cutting the ads" before signing off with "A citizen". Not to mention that the release date in Los Angeles, California for the movie Citizen Kane was May 8th 1941 - the exact date this correspondence was postmarked, on May 8th 1974.   

Two months later, the Red Phantom letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked July 8th 1974, targeting the 'male chauvinistic' Count Marco column of Marc H. Spinelli. This letter continued the theme, demanding that the Chronicle "cancel the Count Marco column", before signing off with the rather curious "Red Phantom (red with rage)". But what did this pseudonym have to do with the Hearst family?

Entitled 'The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dallies Volume One 1936-1937' by Lee Falk, it states "Leon Harrison Gross was born on April 28, 1911, in St. Louis. By the time he sold his first comic strip, Mandrake the Magician, he had changed his name to Lee Falk. His tendency was to shave a few years off his age and he often told interviewers he was a 19-year-old junior at the University of Illinois when he started Mandrake. Actually he was 23, still an impressively young age to sell a comic strip to the largest syndicate in America, William Randolph Hearst's King Features. Two years later he came up with 'The Phantom' and King bought that one as well". See here.

​Founded in 1914, King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate is a unit of Hearst Holdings, Inc., which combines the Hearst Corporation's cable-network partnerships, television programming and distribution activities, and syndication companies. King Features' affiliate syndicates are North America Syndicate and Cowles Syndicate. Each week, Reed Brennan Media Associates, a unit of Hearst, edits and distributes more than 200 features for King Features. Wikipedia.

The author of the July 8th 1974 Red Phantom letter was again demanding that the newspaper "cut or cancel" another section they disliked. The question being - was this another sarcastic dig at the Hearst Corporation, threatening to release 'The Phantom', a fictional costumed crime-fighter, to seek retribution on the San Francisco Chronicle and Count Marco. Except this time, 'The Phantom' had morphed into the 'Red Phantom', red with rage.

The four 1974 communications were mailed in and around the height of the Symbionese Liberation Army, beginning on January 29th 1974, just days before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst and ending on July 8th 1974, just six weeks after the deadly shootout between Symbionese Liberation Army members and law enforcement on May 17th 1974, resulting in the deaths of six urban militants. The Hearst family being front and center of everything.    

The Exorcist letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 29th 1974 featuring a 'review' of the 1973 William Friedkin Exorcist movie, a verse from The Mikado's 'Tit-Willow', the usual threat and some curious Asian characters at the foot of the letter, whitewashed from the January 31st San Francisco Chronicle article regarding this communication. Just three days later, a follow-up correspondence, widely labelled the S.L.A letter was mailed, highlighting the word "Kill" at its foot. The Asian characters on the Exorcist letter have been 'decoded' by Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks to spell "To Kill", opening up the possibility that the designer of the S.L.A letter was immediately responding to the Chronicle's whitewashing of the characters, giving us the solution and thus verifying they were the author of both. However, without being able to convince everybody or anybody of the "To Kill" solution, more is needed in tying these two communications together, along with the May 8th 1974 Citizen card and July 8th 1974 Red Phantom letter. 

The Zodiac Killer had a penchant for the theatrical, appearing in costume at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and citing Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado twice in his July 26th 1970 letter. The 1974 Exorcist letter would feature film and theater, the Citizen card expressed consternation at the 1973 Badlands movie and the Red Phantom letter, likewise, may have been referencing a theatrical release of the film El Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom, as detailed by Tom Voigt on Zodiackiller.com. This provides another avenue of inspiration behind the Red Phantom pseudonym chosen by the July 8th 1974 author. It is certainly in keeping with the film and theater angle, heavily laden in the 1974 communications. Tom Voigt articulates that El Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom played at the Port Theater in Mill Valley, Marin County on the 27th and 28th April 1974, just three months prior to the arrival of the Red Phantom letter. The critical part now, is unearthing the inspiration behind the S.L.A letter from a film or theatrical standpoint, and connecting this to a Symbionese Liberation Army member. In a previous article, it has been shown that a Symbionese Liberation Army member typed a letter to the Hearst Family on February 10th 1974 and signed off with "A friend" - a few days earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle S.L.A letter arrived, also signing off with "a friend".  

One possible author of the S.L.A letter (and possibly the Exorcist letter) was Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947). She was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst?

To examine this possibility we have to examine her background. The S.L.A letter was postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974". Kathleen Ann Soliah was brought up in Palmdale, Los Angeles County, California, often frequenting the nearby census-designated area of Agua Dulce. In fact, Agua Dulce was the commuter route from Palmdale to 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles -  the site of the deadly shootout between Symbionese Liberation Army members and law enforcement on May 17th 1974, resulting in the deaths of six urban militants. The Symbionese Liberation Army had its main headquarters in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Agua Dulce had a postal zip code of 91390, tying in nicely with the postmark on the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter. It is less than five miles from Palmdale. 

To discover the author of the 1974 communications attributed to the Zodiac Killer, we may be looking for somebody familiar with the Zodiac murders and correspondence (particularly with regards to the Exorcist letter), but also, somebody with film and theatrical leanings that may have a strong bearing on the design of the S.L.A letter.

​Kathleen Ann Soliah, after leaving high school, studied acting at nearby Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California, near Palmdale. She then moved to study theater at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she met her boyfriend and future Symbionese Liberation Army member, James Kilgore. After graduating in 1969 her radicalization intensified during future years in the Bay Area, eventually becoming friends with the notorious Angela Atwood. This is where a blend of her theatrical leanings, Norwegian-American heritage and a passion for writing may have come into play.

S.L.A  member and boyfriend of Kathleen Ann Soliah, James Kilgore, was ultimately jailed in 2002 for his participation in the April 21st 1975 Crocker National Bank robbery that resulted in the murder of bank customer Myrna Lee Opsahl. “I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day,” said Kilgore, a former San Rafael High School honors student and one-time economics major who became an SLA bomb maker and eventually a professor at the University of Cape Town" ReligionNewsBlog. The July 8th 1974 'Red Phantom' letter was mailed from San Rafael, Marin County, and the May 8th 1974 'Badlands' letter was mailed from Alameda County, where the County Coroner's Office received Symbionese Liberation Army threats after the 1973 murder of Marcus Foster. Espectro Rojo or Red Phantom played at the Port Theater in Mill Valley, Marin County.      

When looking for the inspiration behind the S.L.A letter and "Old Norse", keeping in line with the theatrical influences of the Exorcist letter only days earlier, I looked for a link to the theater in the S.L.A letter too. Whoever designed the Exorcist letter, mimicked the July 26th 1970 Mikado letter mailed by Zodiac. The Mikado is a two part comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, which opened to the paying public on March 14th 1885, and was hugely successful, running for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre in London. Hedda Gabler is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen was present at the world premiere, which took place on  January 31st 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. It is recognized as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theater, and world drama. The title character, Hedda, is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theater.

Symbionese Liberation Army member, Angela DeAngelis "General Gelina" Atwood died in the Los Angeles shootout on May 17th 1974. A year earlier "Kathleen Ann Soliah worked as a cocktail waitress in San Francisco and took small acting roles. She befriended Angela Atwood, the daughter of a New Jersey Teamsters boss who, like Soliah, had grown up in a middle-class home before coming to Berkeley. Atwood, who appeared with Soliah in "Hedda Gabler," helped her friend get a job at the Great Electric Underground, an upscale restaurant in the Bank of America world headquarters". link.

​If Kathleen Ann Soliah authored the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter referencing her Norwegian heritage of "Old Norse" and signing off with "a friend", then she was likely the author of the February 10th 1974 S.L.A Hearst letter, again signing off with "A friend". ​Her role in the Norwegian Hedda Gabler theater production would be an influence she carried forward, when we consider the presence of "Old Norse" in the February 3rd 1974 communication. The premiere of Hedda Gabbler opened on January 31st - the same day in history that the San Francisco Chronicle featured the arrival of the Exorcist letter. 

"At this period of Ibsen's youth, Norway experienced a nationalist awakening. The new literary generation, after 400 years of Danish rule, sought to revive the glories of Norwegian history and medieval literature. The middle ages were glorified as well because the romantic movement was in full swing throughout Europe. Thus, when Ole Bull, the great violinist, founded a norse theater at Bergen, the project met with enthusiastic approval from all the youthful idealists eager to subvert the influence of Danish culture.  Encouraged by the success of Ole Bull’s Norse theater in Bergen, enthusiasts of nationalist poetry in the capital also founded a new theater in direct competition with the conservative, Danish-influenced Christiania Theater. Asked to direct this new venture, Ibsen’s promised salary was twice the amount he received at Bergen, about six hundred specie dollars  The problems of Ibsen’s social dramas are consistent throughout all his works. Georg Brandes, a contemporary critic, said of Ibsen, as early as the 1860s, that “his progress from one work to the other is not due to a rich variety of themes and ideas, but on the contrary to a perpetual scrutiny of the same general questions, regarded from different points of view.”
Hedda Gabler, with its emphasis on individual psychology, is a close scrutiny of a woman like Nora Helmer or Mrs. Alving, who searches for personal meaning in a society which denies freedom of expression". link.

The Det norske Theater is a former theater in Bergen, Norway, and regarded as the first pure Norwegian stage theatre. It opened in 1850 by primus motor, violinist Ole Bull, and closed in 1863, after a bankruptcy. Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties, and some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. Wikipedia.

In a previous article entitled 'The Symbionese Liberation Army and the Zodiac Killer', an S.L.A member was considered as the possible author of the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter because of the "Old Norse" reference. Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents. So, can we wipe away any preconceived notions about the S.L.A letter, Badlands card and Red Phantom letter with respect to the Zodiac Killer, and view them from the perspective of having been written by a woman, or at the very least, a member or affiliate of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Here is the text from the three communications:
[1] The S.L.A letter: Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend.

[2]The Badlands card: Sirs -- I would like to expression my consternt (crossed out) consternation concerning your poor taste + lack of sympathy for the public, as evidenced by your running of the ads for the movie "Badlands," featuring the blurb: "In 1959 most people were killing time. Kit + Holly were killing people." In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable) why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen.
​ 
[3]The Red Phantom letter: Editor: Put Marco back in the hell-hole from whence it came- he has a serious psychological disorder- always needs to feel superior. I suggest you refer him to a shrink. Meanwhile, cancel the Count Marco column. Since the count can write anonymously, so can I----the Red Phantom (red with rage).

Other than the psychological connection we touched upon in the Edward C. Adams article, what other possible reasons would the Zodiac Killer have for addressing Count Marco, a columnist who gave outrageous advice to women via the San Francisco Chronicle for 15 years. A murderer, who didn't give a second thought to shooting two women a total of 10 times, before also ruthlessly stabbing Cecelia Shepard in the back and abdomen 10 times, was now, just a few years later, objecting to "murder-glorification" and bigoted advise to women. A man devoid of empathy and driven by an insatiable ego had now become the proverbial "snowflake", quivering and upset because of an advice columnist and a film advertisement. Had the Zodiac Killer really achieved a complete transformation in just a matter of three years. If we believe the Exorcist letter as genuine Zodiac material, stating "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing", then the transformation had occurred in just over 3 months.  

The Zodiac Killer could have been toying with the newspapers, disingenuously feigning concern while laughing at the authorities - or he was simply not the author of these banal communications that surfaced in 1974.

The Symbionese Liberation Army didn't have unrealistic ideals, but unfortunately used contemptible means to achieve them.

"In his manifesto "Symbionese Liberation Army Declaration of Revolutionary War & the Symbionese Program", Donald DeFreeze wrote, "The name 'symbionese' is taken from the word symbiosis and we define its meaning as a body of dissimilar bodies and organisms living in deep and loving harmony and partnership in the best interest of all within the body. "This political symbiosis DeFreeze describes means the unity of all left-wing struggles, feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and others. DeFreeze wanted all races, genders, and ages to fight together in a left-wing united front, and to live together peacefully". Wikipedia.

​With many female S.L.A members aligned with feminist ideals, would it be that difficult to believe, that the Red Phantom letter was aimed at Marc H. Spinelli (Count Marco) and his San Francisco Chronicle column because of its often belittling or denigrating comments towards women?

​"Betty Friedan, whose 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is credited with reviving the feminist movement, originally called the strike at the conference of the National Organization for Women in March. As head of the hastily assembled National Women's Strike Coalition, she had predicted an impressive turnout. Inevitably, the women had their detractors. The San Francisco Chronicle's Count Marco called the strike "a day of infamy and shame" and urged his supporters to wear black armbands "mourning the death of femininity." link. 
"Count Marco was an extremely popular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle with an outrageous persona; this book of advice (Beauty and the Beast) on how to please a man was mainly for the ladies of "The Greatest Generation" and pre-boomers, whom it surely shocked and annoyed with its sexual frankness and its assumption that American women had everything to learn from European women; feminist readers now would be shocked by his assumption that women's lives are empty without masculine love and their main goal in life should be to please their "beasts." link.  In other words, the Red Phantom letter was authored by a female member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (or a male member with a belief in feminism) in order to confront the opinionated columnist. 

I am not a staunch advocate of handwriting analysis due to its subjective nature and the fact it can be disguised, but here is the Red Phantom letter next to an extract taken from a Symbionese Liberation Army notebook - written before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4th 1974.

The S.L.A letter was postmarked - and likely mailed the day before the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst. The envelope bore the postmark "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974." Considering the February 3rd 1974 letter referred to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the brazen kidnapping of Hearst followed the next day, there is valid case for believing this urban militant group was responsible for the mailing of the S.L.A  letter. But could they have been responsible for the Exorcist letter too? On January 29th 1974 a communication, dubbed the Exorcist letter, arrived at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle. It featured a critique of the  William Friedkin movie 'The Exorcist', followed by a sprinkling of The Mikado's Tit-Willow, the usual threat to print in paper, a set of Asian-style characters and finally the author signing off with Me-37 SFPD-0. However, the San Francisco Chronicle whitewashed the strange characters near the base of the letter. The Zodiac Killer hadn't written for nearly three years, so this may have been done to weed out any future hoaxers. If the author of the Exorcist letter, which was believed to be the Zodiac Killer, was to mail any future correspondence, he could use the contents whitewashed by the Chronicle to confirm he was the author of the January 29th 1974 communication. This had been done before, when "by knife" written on Bryan Hartnell's car door was withheld from publication after the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969.  

On January 31st, in an article entitled 'Zodiac Mystery Letter-the First Since 1971', the San Francisco Chronicle presented the Exorcist letter like so. Only two or three days had elapsed, when the S.L.A letter was also mailed to the Chronicle. But had the author of the February 3rd 1974 letter revealed something about the Exorcist letter known only to them and the police? Had the author of the S.L.A letter effectively decoded the Exorcist letter characters for them, but they just didn't realize? 

Just before the author signs off with "a friend" on the S.L.A letter, he highlights the word "Kill" at the foot of the letter, referencing Old Norse. In the identical position at the foot of the Exorcist letter the author highlights the strange characters in bold marker, before signing off with Me-37. Was the author of the S.L.A letter telling us that the word "Kill" could be decoded in the Exorcist letter characters, thereby confirming they were the author of both? The author of the S.L.A letter would not only have to know that characters existed at the foot of the Exorcist letter, because the San Francisco Chronicle had whitewashed them, but also know that they could possibly feature the word "Kill". Could the author of the S.L.A letter, if different from the author of the Exorcist letter, accidentally place the word "Kill" in the same position through two letters, and highlight them both in bold writing and quotation marks to signify their importance? 

The San Francisco Chronicle, along with law enforcement seemingly didn't make the connection, because it wasn't until a few years ago that Zodiac researcher Kevin Robert Brooks offered up a possible solution to the Asian-style characters. When rearranged they were the perfect continuation to the author's preceding paragraph.   

The Exorcist letter would now read "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing. To Kill."
Was this the focus behind the entire S.L.A letter, using the Symbionese Liberation Army and "sla" as a precursor to providing the word "Kill" to the San Francisco Chronicle and law enforcement, and therefore verifying they were also responsible for the Exorcist letter? It seemed very fortunate that the word "Kill" in quotation marks was able to be formed by the Asian-style characters of the Exorcist letter, especially considering it was completely whitewashed from publication in the Chronicle.

If the Symbionese Liberation Army were responsible for the February 3rd 1974 S.L.A letter, then what are the chances they created the Exorcist letter too? - fashioned by weaving together traits of old Zodiac Killer letters such as the July 31st 1969 trinity and the Little List letter of July 26th 1970. Or did the Zodiac Killer simply strike gold, writing a letter about the ​Symbionese Liberation Army just one day before Patricia Hearst's kidnapping? 

There is another intriguing possibility albeit without foundation. The Zodiac Killer stopped his letter writing sometime in 1971, with his campaign of terror having probably run its course. What are the chances he pursued different avenues in life, before joining the Symbionese Liberation Army, or becoming affiliated with them in some capacity by the turn of 1974. He then fires off a quartet of diluted Zodiac letters under the umbrella of his new found affiliation. The Symbionese Liberation Army's notable year was 1974, responsible for the Patricia Hearst kidnapping, the raid on the Hibernia Bank and the May 17th deadly shootout in Los Angeles, where six members were shot or burnt to death at 1466 East 54th Street after a standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department. The third letter of the quartet was the 'Badlands' card stating "In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable)", mailed one week before the shootout. Subsequent to the shootout only one more communication would arrive in 1974  - the Red Phantom letter of July 8th 1974 - then radio silence. No correspondence subsequent to 1974 would ever be attributed as genuine Zodiac material. 

The S.L.A letter with the wording "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend" was postmarked one day before the kidnapping of media heiress Patricia Campbell Hearst by the urban militant group Symbionese Liberation Army. The FBI files state:
Qc64 Photocopy of envelope postmarked "U.S. Postal Service, CA 913 PM 3 FEB 1974", bearing the hand printed address "Editor San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco, California".
Qc65 Accompanying photocopy of sheet of paper bearing the hand printed message beginning "Dear Mr. Editor, Did you know that the.....".
The postmark of CA 913 indicates it was mailed in north Los Angeles, an area the Zodiac Killer had never previously mailed a communication from (the S.L.A had headquarters in Los Angeles). The same applied to the two subsequent 1974 mailings - the 'Badlands' card postmarked Alameda County on May 8th 1974 and the 'Red Phantom' letter postmarked San Rafael on July 8th 1974. The city of Los Angeles would become headline news for the 1466 East 54th Street deadly shootout between S.L.A members and law enforcement on May 17th 1974, leaving six members dead. 

​although received on June 4, was mailed in Alameda County nearly a month earlier, on May 8. There was no explanation for its delayed arrival at the Chronicle offices".    

Although we cannot say for certain who mailed the S.L.A letter, it was the second letter in a matter of five days after a three year 'hibernation' by the Zodiac Killer. If the S.L.A letter was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, it shows astonishing timing having been postmarked one day before the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, undoubtedly the Symbionese Liberation Army's most daring escapade thus far. But why was both this letter and the 'Badlands' postcard delayed in transit by a total of 38 days? Had somebody at the San Francisco Chronicle not realized the significance of these two mailings because of their lack of identifying features?    

For those believing the S.L.A letter was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, we have a letter mailed from Los Angeles to San Francisco, something the Zodiac had never done before - areas of California where the Symbionese Liberation Army had their headquarters. The Zodiac Killer then got lucky, writing about the Symbionese Liberation Army the day before Patty Hearst's kidnapping in Berkeley - all after a three year hiatus. The S.L.A letter signed off with "a friend", the 'Badlands' postcard signed off with "A citizen" and the 'Red Phantom' letter signed off with "the Red Phantom (red with rage)", none had the menacing introduction of "This is the Zodiac Speaking", none had the Zodiac crosshairs, none had a running victim count and none had any spelling errors. Were these three communications piggybacking off the return of the Zodiac Killer on January 29th 1974, or were all four communications in 1974 the work of somebody other than the Zodiac Killer?       

The Zodiac Killer wrote copious communications to the newspapers throughout 1969 and 1970, finally ceasing sometime in 1971. It would be nearly a three year hiatus, when suddenly four communications in approximately five months landed at the doorstep of the San Francisco Chronicle. Is it reasonable to assume that the Zodiac Killer just reappeared in 1974 for his encore performance, or something or someone else was responsible for the four correspondences that year? Who, in San Francisco appeared in 1973, ran through 1974, and effectively disappeared by 1975? - the Symbionese Liberation Army is high on that list. "The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was an American left-wing militant organization active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a vanguard army. The group committed bank robberies, two murders, and other acts of violence". Wikipedia.  In the previous article it was shown that the S.L.A letter was postmarked February 3rd 1974, not February 14th 1974 as widely touted. This changes the whole story surrounding this letter - now mailed one or two days before the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. Bearing in mind its contents, it's either an amazing stroke of good fortune for the Zodiac Killer, or it was most likely mailed by a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, knowing that Patty Hearst was soon to be kidnapped from Berkeley, California.   

Operating out of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the members of the S.L.A would have certainly been aware of the Zodiac Killer - and in someway mirrored his form of domestic terrorism. 

"It wasn't until January 10, 1974 that Oakland Police found their first clues. Two men arrested during a gunfight with police in Concord had a truck full of Symbionese Liberation Army literature. Later that day in Concord, a house torched by arson was also full of SLA literature, a stockpile of weapons and two pipe-bombs. The police found a letter titled “The August Seventh Movement,” a group that claimed responsibility for shooting down two Oakland officers in a helicopter by sniper as well as a communique targeting state prison officials and their wives with death by cyanide. In November 1973, Superintendent Marcus Foster (the first black superintendent in the city) of the Oakland School Administration was shot and killed. Deputy Superintendent Robert Blackburn was seriously wounded. The attackers used bullets whose core had been removed and replaced with cyanide crystals. Letters and calls were made to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Alameda County Coroner's Office, and a Berkeley radio station by the Symbionese Liberation Army", Ghoulifornia.

The Symbionese Liberation Army, not only wrote threatening letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, but in similar fashion to the 'Phone call to Melvin Belli' on the Jim Dunbar KGO-TV show, the S.L.A  mailed a cut-and-paste lettered correspondence to KGO-TV. Therefore, isn't it very likely a militant group, operating between 1973 and 1975, who wrote letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, would likely be responsible for the S.L.A letter mailed one day before Patricia Hearst's kidnapping. Or is it more likely that the Zodiac Killer just resurfaced after nearly three years?

On May 8th 1974, twenty-three days after the April 15th 1974 Hibernia Bank Robbery,  the 'Badlands' or 'Citizen Card' was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from Alameda County, stating "In 1959 most people were killing time. Kit + Holly were killing people." In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable) why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen." It too ended with a rather benign 'signature', similar to "a friend" on the S.L.A letter, and may have been mailed to mock the authorities, flavored with insincerity. 

S.L.A  member James Kilgore was ultimately jailed in 2002 for his participation in the April 21st 1975 Crocker National Bank robbery that resulted in the murder of bank customer Myrna Lee Opsahl. “I accept full responsibility for my actions on that day,” said Kilgore, a former San Rafael High School honors student and one-time economics major who became an SLA bomb maker and eventually a professor at the University of Cape Town" ReligionNewsBlog. The July 8th 1974 'Red Phantom' letter was mailed from San Rafael, and the May 8th 1974 'Badlands' letter was mailed from Alameda County, where the County Coroner's Office received threats after the 1973 murder of Marcus Foster. The January 29th 1974 'Exorcist' letter was mailed from either San Mateo or Santa Clara County, completing a list of communications mailed from areas the Zodiac Killer had never previously dispatched his correspondence from.  

Mike Rodelli, avid Zodiac researcher and author of the book 'The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer-The Hunt for Zodiac,' examined his suspect Kjell Qvale. It is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of every aspect of the Zodiac crimes from the perspective of his suspect, as well as a valuable resource on the case as a whole.

Mike Rodelli considered the wording on the S.L.A letter pertinent to his suspect from a Scandinavian perspective. The S.L.A letter read "Dear Mr Editor,   Did you know that the initials SLAY (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend." Kjell Qvale was a Norwegian-American business executive and was one of the key figures in the creation of the Jensen-Healey. He became the first distributor for Jaguar on the Pacific West Coast.

The author of the S.L.A letter by referencing "sla" and "old Norse" was certainly indicating they may have had a Scandinavian connection, although stating "sla" meant "kill" rather than "strike" may have suggested a loose connection through family. Here is an English-Old Norse Dictionary. Sara Jane Olson (born Kathleen Ann Soliah on January 16, 1947) was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s. She grew up in Palmdale, California, the daughter of Norwegian-American parents, Elsie Soliah (née Engstrom) and Palmdale High School English teacher and coach Martin Soliah. Engström, Engstrøm and Engstrom are surnames of Swedish and Norwegian origin. Was she responsible for authoring the S.L.A letter on February 3rd 1974, one or two days before the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, which she most likely had knowledge of?

"Kathleen Soliah was born in Fargo, North Dakota, while her family were living in Barnesville, Minnesota. When she was eight, her conservative Lutheran family relocated to Southern California. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Soliah moved to Berkeley, California, with her boyfriend, James Kilgore.
On April 21, 1975, SLA members robbed the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael, California, in the process killing 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, a mother of four depositing money for her church. Patty Hearst, who was switch getaway driver during the crime, provided the original information that led the police to implicate the SLA in the robbery and murder; she also stated that Soliah was one of the actual robbers. According to Hearst, Soliah also kicked a pregnant teller in the abdomen, leading to a miscarriage. Several rounds of 9 mm ammunition spilled on the floor and found in Opsahl's body during the robbery bore manufacturing marks that matched that of ammunition loaded in a 9 mm Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol found by police in Soliah's bedroom dresser drawer at the SLA safehouse on Precita Avenue in San Francisco. In 2002, new forensics technology allowed police to link these shells definitively to those found at Crocker Bank prior to charging the former members of SLA, including Soliah, with the crime. Prosecutor Michael Latin said that Soliah was tied to the crime through fingerprints, a palm print, and handwriting evidence. The palm print was found on a garage door from a garage in which the SLA kept a getaway car". Wikipedia.

​The date the S.L.A letter was mailed changes the whole concept of what we can infer from its contents. On February 14th 1974 the Zodiac Killer is simply latching onto the publicity generated by the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst on February 4th 1974, but on February 3rd 1974 that whole dynamic changes. It now sheds much doubt on the Zodiac Killer being responsible for the S.L.A letter and a lot more besides.  

​S.L.A LETTER NOT ZODIAC - AND HERE IS THE FBI FILE TO PROVE IT