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

The Exorcist letter bore the postmark 'U.S. Postal Service CA 940 AM 29 Jan', listed in the FBI files as documents Qc62 and Qc63 with a lab number of D-740208094. The following month, in the February of 1974, the S.L.A. (Symbionese Liberation Army) letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. This letter has been ascribed the date of February 14th 1974 on all major websites - and because it followed the Exorcist letter, it is listed in the FBI files as documents Qc64 and Qc65 (envelope and letter) with a lab number of D-740304063. The S.L.A letter stated "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend." The following analysis detailed below is my opinion only, and should not be regarded as fact. After reading this you can obviously come to your own conclusions.

In the FBI file below, it states "Enclosed for the Bureau is one photocopy and one xerox copy of letter and envelope received 2/26/74 from Inspector (redacted) Homicide Detail, San Francisco Police Department. Enclosed for Sacramento is one xerox copy of same letter. For the information of the Bureau, on 2/20/74, Inspector (redacted) advised that on 2/14/74 the enclosed letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle and (redacted), reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle brought the letter to (redacted) as a possible Zodiac letter. (Redacted) thereafter turned the letter over to (redacted) questioned document examiner, United States Postal Office, San Francisco. Mr (redacted) has advised (redacted) that he feels the letter is a Zodiac letter".

I don't believe this letter is from the Zodiac Killer - it was likely mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, or one of their members. In fact, it pours huge doubt on the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter as being mailed by the Bay Area murderer , rather somebody masquerading as the Zodiac Killer - and here's why. 

What the above document doesn't tell you - is when the S.L.A letter was mailed or postmarked.
The above document read "that on 2/14/74 the enclosed letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle." Received is not mailed. If we travel a little further in the FBI files we can find more information on the S.L.A letter and envelope, listed under Qc64 and Qc65, as circled in red on the above document.
The FBI files state on more than one occasion:
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....."     

It is believed that the Zodiac Killer by mailing the S.L.A letter, was piggybacking the media exposure regarding the kidnapping of Patricia Campbell Hearst, granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. "On February 4, 1974, 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California, apartment. She was beaten and lost consciousness during the abduction. Shots were fired from a machine gun during the incident. An urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) claimed responsibility for the abduction". Wikipedia.
​
According to the FBI files above, the S.L.A letter was mailed on or before February 3rd 1974 (postmarked 3 FEB 1974).
Therefore, it was likely mailed one day before the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapping of Patty Hearst. This means one of four things:
[1] The Zodiac Killer was a member of the S.LA. and was involved in the kidnapping plot. 
[2] The Zodiac Killer didn't belong to the S.L.A, but somehow knew of their plans to kidnap Patty Hearst.​
[3] The Zodiac Killer just got extremely lucky, writing "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLAY spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend", then mailing the letter on February 3rd 1974, just one day before Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army​. In other words, it was sheer coincidence. Or,
[4] The letter was written by the Symbionese Liberation Army and had nothing to do with Zodiac.

If this letter was mailed on February 3rd 1974, the day before the kidnapping, then it is highly likely it was mailed by the American left-wing militant organization ​themselves. Coming just five days after the January 29th 1974 Exorcist letter, in which Kevin Robert Brooks decoded the Asian characters to spell "To Kill", it is yet another amazing coincidence that the author of the S.L.A letter would highlight the word "Kill".   

The emphasis on the word "Kill" at the foot of both letters, within days of one another, leading me to believe they are connected. If the S.LA. letter was penned by the militant Symbionese Liberation Army on or before February 3rd 1974, then a good case can be argued, that they were responsible for the Exorcist letter too. 
​

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

A pasted card mimicking the '13 Hole' postcard was mailed to the home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California, postmarked October 17th 1970 from Berkeley. Edward C. Adams was a psychiatrist. The card read "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next. you taught me to mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. Zodiac."

Fast forward to July 8th 1974, when another suspected Zodiac correspondence was mailed to Marc Henry Spinelli of the San Francisco Chronicle. He was better known as Count Marco, running an advice column in the paper for 15 years. The only time Zodiac addressed the columnist was in respect to a topic on psychiatrists and psychologists, which featured only five days prior to the July 8th 1974 'Red Phantom' letter. The column, dated July 3rd 1974, began with "When I wrote that psychiatrists and psychologists ruined more marriages than they saved, I wasn't surprised by the angry reaction. I had contended that shrinks look at ordinary marriage problems as "cases," to be dissected, rearranged and deranged, leaving the "patient" totally disoriented. What would happen if a physician examined a patient and said, "You have such and such a disease. Now do something about it," without prescribing treatment. Mother Nature is like an oyster. She heals emotional wounds through passage of time. An oyster finds a grain of sand has forced its way into the shell. As time goes on its mucous continually covers the irritant until eventually what was a sore spot becomes a magnificent pearl. However, if one instead took a sharp instrument and sliced the pearl in half, the only result would be to expose the original grain of sand, the irritant. According to a report in The Chronicle, behavioral researchers have shown unmistakably that psychiatry is a very imprecise tool in diagnosing mental illness".
    
This clearly prompted a response from the author of the 'Red Phantom' letter, who wrote "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)". Many people have attempted to analyze the Zodiac Killer from a psychological perspective, so is it possible the Zodiac Killer used his knowledge of this subject to play a game with his 'audience', throwing them red herrings throughout his communications? Directing the audience down a path he chose for them.

​"Edward C. Adams spent most of his life in the Bay Area where he attended the University of California Berkeley for his undergraduate work and Stanford University for his medical degree. His residency in psychiatry was received at the Menninger Clinic, Topeka, KS. During the Korean War he was an instructor in the Medical Field Service at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX. After retiring from an active practice in Psychiatry he devoted his energies to travel, fly fishing, the study of poetry and the enjoyment of his family and many friends. During the time spent at his Carmel home he volunteered as a docent at the Robinson Jeffers Foundation. He was a member of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society and an active supporter of many environmental groups".  SFGATE.COM.

One of the addresses for Marc H. Spinelli was 747 Geary Street, San Francisco, the location often associated with where taxicab driver Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac Killer on October 11th 1969. He would be murdered a short time later at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets. How well the Zodiac Killer knew this area is subjective, but he may have chosen this area because he was familiar with the surroundings - crucial when planning an escape route from a murder. Had the Zodiac Killer worked or trained, somewhere in or close to Presidio Heights.  

In the FBI document on the right, it is clear that Inspector David Toschi of homicide detail believed the 'You Are Next' card may have been mailed to Edward C. Adams by a former patient of his. However, if the card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, what connections could he have to Edward C. Adams, his profession, or Orinda, California? 

The crucial phrase in the card is "you taught me to mean it". You don't teach patients, you diagnose them. What if the Zodiac Killer trained as a psychologist, or went to one of Edward C. Adams' seminars or lectures? He could easily have picked up some useful 'psychological advice', used to convince his audience in the guise of the Zodiac Killer - conveying his threats with menace and meaning. In other words, Edward C. Adams "taught him to mean it" under the Zodiac umbrella.

Dr. Edward C. Adams was a member of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute & Society. "The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis was organized in 2007, combining the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute & Society, founded in 1941, with the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis, founded in 1991. The Center provides an extensive training program in psychoanalysis. The Center also sponsors a large, vibrant Extension Division which offers classes and seminars to mental health professionals as well as to the general public." link.​ Was the Zodiac Killer sitting in the audience taking a lesson from Edward C. Adams in how "to mean it"? The San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society and Institute is a facility for psychoanalytic research, training, and education located on 2420 Sutter St. in San Francisco, California. It is situated in Lower Pacific Heights, approximately one mile from the intersection of Washington and Cherry.

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

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

The author of the Monticello card would follow this up with a 148 character cipher, beginning with the wording "I'll do it to because I done it 21 times" , effectively corroborating the victim total on the Monticello card. It was therefore likely mailed shortly after July 13th 1971. Despite the fact the murders of  Deborah Gaye Furlong, Kathy Ann Snoozy and Kathy Bilek had already been attributed to Karl Francis Werner, it seemed that the Zodiac Killer (or impostor) was determined to suggest otherwise. Or, at the very least, compound the misery of the families and friends of the victims. The Monticello card featured in the San Francisco Police Department DNA testing of possible Zodiac correspondence, so was obviously held in high regard, yet may have contained sensitive material, or featured an upsetting image deemed not suitable for release. If the DMV letter had followed the Monticello card, it too may have been considered unpalatable regarding the San Jose and Saratoga murders. 

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

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

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

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

Thirteen days after the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Dripping Pen' card and 340 cipher on November 8th 1969, another letter and code purporting to be from the Bay Area murderer was mailed to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969, possibly containing a threat on a "widow" in the San Jose area. Both mailings have so much in common, along with the December 7th and 16th 1969 Fairfield letters, which also contained rudimentary codes. The Zodiac Killer wrote the chronological months of his murders at the foot of the 'Dripping Pen' card: "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7". Bearing in mind that all but August were accounted for, it is now clear the card was inferring the murders of two young girls, Deborah Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathy Ann Snoozy (15), who were found savagely stabbed on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose. It is therefore no surprise that his next communication should be focused on San Jose just two weeks later. Below is part of the FBI file revealing some of its contents.

Placing "November=8" could be viewed as an extension to his "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7", indicating he was claiming another murder in November. He also began the communication with familiar words: "There's no doubt I will do my Thing". As the communication was mailed to the San Jose Police Department, we would now have three victims in San Jose to which he was laying claim to. The short code (shown above) was -- + 6 2 + --, containing two dashes either side, two pluses, and the numbers 6 and 2. Both Fairfield letters contained rudimentary codes pertaining to the 340 cipher, as though he was giving us a clue to its design. This may also have been the case when he mailed the Halloween card on October 27th 1970, intersecting the words Paradice and Slaves in a cross formation and writing "sorry no cipher" in similar fashion on the envelope. In fact, the December 16th 1969 Fairfield letter contained a design similar to the Halloween card. The 340 cipher can be shown to accommodate the words Paradice and Slaves, bisecting the cipher horizontally and vertically across its mid-section. This opened up the possibility that the San Jose code was somehow connected to this design. Both Fairfield letters harked back to the 340 cipher, so why not the San Jose code also.  

The symbols contained in the San Jose code exactly mirror the order shown on the horizontal mid-section of the 340 cipher. The 10th line is where some believe the cipher could be divided, along with the possibility of the word Slaves residing. Not only do the dashes and pluses line up exactly with the San Jose code using the mid-section of the 340 cipher, but the numbers 6 and 2 would slot nicely in between. If we used basic number play, and converted 6 to F and 2 to B, both these letters can be found together on the 10th line also. All six characters from the San Jose code present on the Slaves line of the 340 cipher. 

This may very well be coincidence, but with "There's no doubt I will do my Thing", "November=8" and this correspondence immediately following the 'Dripping Pen' card and 340 cipher, one could argue the Zodiac Killer was dropping us hints to the mechanics of his "crackproof" cipher. Something he would again do with the arrival of both Fairfield letters in December.

The Zodiac Killer could wait only one month after the Button letter, to give us further clues regarding the bomb he claimed to have buried, when he wrote "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians". Why should the San Jose and Fairfield letters be any different?   

The Zodiac Killer, in all probability, was claiming the August 1969 San Jose murders in his November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card. The author of the Monticello card was insinuating his involvement in the Kathy Bilek murder. Thwarted, and proven a liar by the arrest and incarceration of Karl Francis Werner, was the murder of Janet Mallicoat a response by either, or the same person, in order to shed doubt on the arrest? The pouring of flammable liquid on the body may suggest otherwise, and point to an altogether different individual. Miss Mallicoat, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Mallicoat, 1614 Noreen Drive, had 130 stab wounds to her head, neck and upper body in what seemed like a frenzied attack. However, the Santa Clara County coroner, John Hauser, freely admitted that this was a conservative estimate.  

The San Jose Police Department, target of a potential Zodiac correspondence on November 21st 1969, was situated 3 miles northwest of 63 Keyes Street. The letter (with accompanying code) "after a cursory analysis, officers of the San Jose, California PD, believe widow in message may be Mrs (redacted), San Jose, California. San Jose PD instituting 24 hour surveillance on Mrs (redacted)".

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

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

On November 8th 1969 the Zodiac mailed the 'Dripping Pen' card to the San Francisco Chronicle insinuating his involvement in the brutal stabbing of Deborah Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathy Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose, in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. The inference of his chronological list of months on the card was suggesting there were two murders attributed to him in August. This crime was ultimately attributed to Karl Francis Werner.
On November 21st 1969 a letter and code from the alleged Zodiac was mailed to the San Jose Police Department threatening a widow. Police responded by implementing 24 hour surveillance on her residence. 
Ten days later, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek. The abductor had likely traveled through San Jose to dispose of her body at Light House Point in Santa Cruz.

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

If Zodiac created the Monticello card, the reason may have been  a response, albeit belated, to an article written by Paul Avery in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 13th 1971, suggesting a possible link between the murder of Kathy Bilek and the Bay Area murders. Karl Werner was  charged with the murders of Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek over two months prior to the mailing of the Monticello card, so it's possible Zodiac saw the irony of claiming the Kathy Bilek murder, as he had done with the Deborah Gaye Furlong and Kathie Ann Snoozy murders some 20 months earlier. The final thing to examine in the July 13th 1971 pasted card, were the words "near Monticello". It was easy to get sidelined into believing Monticello was referring to Napa County, because the town was completely covered by Lake Berryessa, the site of Zodiac's third attack.

However, the "Monticello" the author is referring to in the pasted card, is again in San Jose. Monticello is a neighborhood in San Jose, California, just over 9 miles east of Villa Montalvo, the site of Kathy Bilek's murder.
​In other words, the author of the card was saying "I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods in April".
​To view the proximity of Monticello to Villa Montalvo click here.  

This wasn't the only communication to refer to the murder of Kathy Bilek.
Sometime in 1971, likely just after the mailing of the Monticello card, a questionable Zodiac correspondence and cipher was received by the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked Fairfield, California. It read:
I'll DO IT TO BECAUSE I DONE IT 21 TIMES. I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE EACH ThAT I KILL MAKES IT WORSE AND I MUST KILL MORE. MAN IS ThE MOST PRIZED GAME. ILL NERVER GIVE MY NAME BECAUSE YOU dONT UNDERSTAND. NEXT TIME I WILL SEND A PATCH OF HUMAN SKIN if their is SOME Left OVER.

The Monticello card stated "Shought victims 21", referring to the Kathy Bilek murder, whereas, in this correspondence the author was claiming he had already "done it 21 times." The Monticello card was never released to the newspapers or public, so bearing in mind these two communications were both likely mailed at approximately the same time, there is a high probability they were mailed by the same author - or Zodiac himself.

"I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods in April".
"Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April".

The ​November 8th 1969 'Dripping Pen' card would not be the only communication insinuating his involvement in the murder of Deborah Gaye Furlong and Kathy Ann Snoozy, when the Monticello card arrived just over 20 months later, on July 13th 1971. The San Francisco Police Department had reason enough to place the Monticello card in 'suspected Zodiac correspondence' when searching for traces of DNA on potential Zodiac communications, so, from here on in I will refer to the Monticello card as though it was mailed from the Bay Area murderer to make things easier.

It is with little doubt that Karl Francis Werner was responsible for the murder of Deborah Furlong, Kathy Snoozy and Kathy Bilek in 1969 and 1971, but the overarching question is, why did the Zodiac Killer describe the location of Kathy Bilek's body as "near Monticello"? The neighborhood of Monticello is 9 miles east of Villa Montalvo. Why did the Zodiac Killer choose to pinpoint this particular location, rather than any other neighborhood in between Monticello and Villa Montalvo? He could have pasted "near Willow Glen", "near Oster", "near Carlton", or any other location closer than Monticello. It is arguable that he chose this particular location for a specific reason.      

My first thought, was the Zodiac Killer was simply not going to make things easy, and had used Monticello to confuse people in the search for meaning behind the card. Having attacked Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa (submerging the town of Monticello) on September 27th 1969, the possibility existed that the Zodiac Killer was attempting to divert the reader down this train of thought. However, something far more compelling came to light regarding the neighborhood of Monticello, not only that it was near the murder site of Kathy Bilek, but that it once again suggested his involvement in the murder of the two young girls on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose.

The neighborhood of Monticello sits right next to the Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, shown here. Here is an extract from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on August 6th 1969: "The other Furlong children are Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11. Furlong said he did not know and had not yet talked to Kathy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Snoozy. Both Snoozy, a carpet layer, and Mrs. Snoozy reportedly are in a state of collapse. Her funeral has been scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at the Place Funeral Home in Los Gatos. Burial will be at Oak Wood Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Funeral services for Kathy will be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Oak Hill Memorial Park Mortuary in San Jose. Burial will be at Oak Hill Memorial Park."  

The funeral services and burial of Kathy Snoozy were held at Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue, right next to the neighborhood of Monticello. This, in all probability, is why the Zodiac Killer chose "near Monticello" rather than any other location closer to Villa Montalvo. He was not only pinpointing this location to suggest he had a hand in the murder of the San Jose teenagers, but specifically chose the area by the gravesite of Kathy Snoozy because her forename was identical to that of Kathy Bilek. Not only was Kathy Bilek murdered in April, in the woods, near Monticello - but her name could be inferred in the Monticello card from the Oak Hill Memorial Park burial site of her namesake. The Pines card and '13 Hole' postcard were published in the newspapers, yet this card has always been withheld. What are the chances that the picture on the Monticello card contains sensitive material, deemed inappropriate for release by law enforcement, and may have something to do with Oak Hill Memorial Park.

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

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

Just like the July 13th 1971 Monticello card, giving us clues and directions to the murder of Kathy Bilek in April, near Monticello in San Jose, California, the March 22nd 1971 Pines card, in similar fashion, may have been designed to direct us to the deposition or burial site of Donna Ann Lass (25), who disappeared from Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970 having finished her shift that day at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Harvey Hines, a retired detective from Groveland, believed that Donna Lass was likely buried on the Donner Ski Ranch. He stated "After studying the card, I drove to Nordin, located on old Highway 40, north of Lake Tahoe, and found the SIERRA CLUB. I learned the club was not called the Sierra Club. It was named the Claire Tappan Lodge and it was a private club for Sierra Club members only. I believed if I followed the directions on the postcard I would find Donna Lass' grave. I believe she was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch. I would later have the pictures of the Sierra Club developed. Then using a copy of Zodiac's card, I cut out the phrases he had pasted on his card. Using these phrases, I overpasted them on the copy of the Sierra Club picture. It was striking similar to the original card." [see below left].
​   

​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".

If we use the directions given by the card from Incline Village, it tells us to "pass Lake Tahoe areas". To pass the areas of Lake Tahoe we have to travel westward, until we reach Clair Tappaan Lodge, "a private club for Sierra Club members only". 

Howard Davis, a contributor to the ZodiacKiller.com message board can pick up the story here: "Incredibly, her [Lass] grave remained hidden until August 1976, when retired Norden postmaster Otto Fredricks is believed to have found it on Donner Summit. He was hiking past the SIERRA CLUB'S Claire Tappan Lodge, near Norden, when he came across the intricately contrived wooden symbols alongside the path: in the center was a triangle around a cross containing 13 stones, and that was surrounded first by a six foot square and then by a circle of wood with a 14 foot diameter". The October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard contained 13 punch holes and a red crucifix.

When they dug near the location of Clair Tappaan Lodge they found a pair of green tinted glasses, similar to a pair believed to have been worn by Donna Lass. It is not known for certain whether these glasses belonged to Donna Lass, or that the configuration was constructed by her murderer. Some believe the stone and wood configuration to be Rosicrucian in design, whereas 'The Foreigner' thought that Harvey Hines had misread the finding and it was a YMCA "Ragger’s Point" creation. Nevertheless, it is curious that "pass Lake Tahoe areas" takes us to the "Sierra Club" members of Clair Tappaan Lodge along Donner Pass Road, where we can "peek through the Pines" at the entrance to the lodge, and find some g(lass)es buried in the ground. The entrance to Clair Tappaan Lodge looks extremely similar to the depiction of the 1974 Christmas card mailed to Mary Pilker, Donna Lass' sister.​ Once inside the grounds we search "around in the snow". This can be interpreted as "a round in the snow" meaning "a circle in the snow". The circle of wood containing the crucifix. The alternative to finding meaning in the phrases pasted on the Pines card, is to believe the author pasted the text for no reason whatsoever. The two communications immediately after the Donna Lass disappearance were the '13 Hole' postcard and the Halloween card, each containing an inference to the number 13. The punch holes in the October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard from the front side, arranged in a 10:3 formation (October 3rd), which could specify when he arranged the wood and stone configuration, meaning look for 13 in the form of a circle. The following Halloween card using 13 eyes in the design, telling us to look for 13. However, it must be stressed, that searching for clues and meaning behind such communications is down to the interpretation of the observer, with the above ideas often finding a resting place in the ever expanding graveyard of Zodiac theories. 

The Monticello card was mailed four months later, by somebody purporting to be the Zodiac Killer, and referencing the murder of Kathy Bilek in San Jose on April 11th 1971.

San Jose is home to the "Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, devoted to Ancient Egypt, located at Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States. It was founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC). The Rosicrucian Order continues to support and expand the museum and its educational and scientific activities. The museum holds the largest collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the Western United States, and is located next to the Rosicrucian headquarters". Wikipedia. The museum also had a purpose-built planetarium, where a budding Zodiac could add a knowledge of astronomy and the night sky to his search for the afterlife.  

"Rosicrucian Grand Master Julie Scott talks about the ancient Egyptian concept of the afterlife and shows us around the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose California". link.

But what if the murderer of Donna Lass added further directions using the crucifix, triangle, square and circle symbols as clues. Harvey Hines believed Donna Lass "was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch". So, were the symbols somehow related to the Donner Ski Ranch? Had the murderer of Donna Lass occasionally vacationed at Lake Tahoe, using the trails of Donner Ski Ranch? From 1964 to 1968 ski trails were rated on difficulty using a colored triangle, square and circle. Did the designer of the stone and wood configuration place the crucifix within the triangle, square and circle, using the glasses, to signify that Donna Lass was buried on Donner Ski Ranch along one of the trails? If the bottom left of the Pines card is placed over Clair Tappaan Lodge, the punch hole in the top right corner is facing the northeast, exactly where the ski lifts and trails are located. Was this the deduction of Harvey Hines? 

I would have to say that 'The Foreigner' is most likely correct, with the wood and stone configuration likely created by somebody other than the author of the Pines card (or Zodiac), and most probably a Ragger's Point creation. However, this doesn't preclude the Zodiac or an impostor using a pre-existing configuration as a burial site for the glasses. The wood and stone configuration would have been a perfect marker to direct the police towards, using the Pines card phrases from Incline Village.     

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

On November 8th 1969 the Zodiac mailed the 'Dripping Pen' card to the San Francisco Chronicle insinuating his involvement in the brutal stabbing of Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose, in what can only be described as a barrage of knife wounds. The inference of his chronological list of months on the card was suggesting there were two murders attributed to him in August. This crime was ultimately attributed to Karl Francis Werner.
On November 21st 1969 a letter and code from the alleged Zodiac was mailed to the San Jose Police Department threatening a widow. Police responded by implementing 24 hour surveillance on her residence. 
Ten days later, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (17), a Pleasant Hill High School senior disappeared from her 158 Pioneer Avenue home in Walnut Creek. The abductor had likely traveled through San Jose to dispose of her body at Light House Point in Santa Cruz.

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

If Zodiac created the Monticello card, the reason may have been  a response, albeit belated, to an article written by Paul Avery in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 13th 1971, suggesting a possible link between the murder of Kathy Bilek and the Bay Area murders. Karl Werner was  charged with the murders of Snoozy, Furlong and Bilek over two months prior to the mailing of the Monticello card, so it's possible Zodiac saw the irony of claiming the Kathy Bilek murder, as he had done with the Debra Gaye Furlong and Kathie Ann Snoozy murders some 20 months earlier. The final thing to examine in the July 13th 1971 pasted card, were the words "near Monticello". It was easy to get sidelined into believing Monticello was referring to Napa County, because the town was completely covered by Lake Berryessa, the site of Zodiac's third attack.

However, the "Monticello" the author is referring to in the pasted card, is again in San Jose. Monticello is a neighborhood in San Jose, California, just over 9 miles east of Villa Montalvo, the site of Kathy Bilek's murder.
​In other words, the author of the card was saying "I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods in April".
​To view the proximity of Monticello to Villa Montalvo click here. 

This wasn't the only communication to refer to the murder of Kathy Bilek.
Sometime in 1971, likely just after the mailing of the Monticello card, a questionable Zodiac correspondence and cipher was received by the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked Fairfield, California. It read:
I'll DO IT TO BECAUSE I DONE IT 21 TIMES. I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE EACH ThAT I KILL MAKES IT WORSE AND I MUST KILL MORE. MAN IS ThE MOST PRIZED GAME. ILL NERVER GIVE MY NAME BECAUSE YOU dONT UNDERSTAND. NEXT TIME I WILL SEND A PATCH OF HUMAN SKIN if their is SOME Left OVER.

The Monticello card stated "Shought victims 21", referring to the Kathy Bilek murder, whereas, in this correspondence the author was claiming he had already "done it 21 times." The Monticello card was never released to the newspapers or public, so bearing in mind these two communications were both likely mailed at approximately the same time, there is a high probability they were mailed by the same author - or Zodiac himself.

"I killed Kathy Bilek near Monticello, in the Villa Montalvo woods in April".
"Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April".

With extensive work done by AK Wilks on this topic, I would like to take a further look at the letter and code mailed to the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969. This came just ten days before the abduction of Elaine Davis from Walnut Creek on December 1st 1969. Her abductor traveling from the Bay Area, depositing her Navy peacoat just 26 miles south of San Jose, likely passing through it on his way to Light House Point in Santa Cruz. If the Zodiac was responsible for both letter and murder, then San Jose is a worthy avenue of interest. AK Wilks asked a pertinent question of the forum: "Does someone know of a recent murder case in San Jose that left someone a widow? Or a prominent widow who lived in San Jose in 1969? The police were seemingly able to determine who it was, so perhaps it was a well known case or person". The brief text in the letter clearly contained enough information for police to identify the woman and implement 24 hour surveillance on her residence. Was the author threatening to kill the 'widow' or abduct her from her residence?

The Zodiac Killer (or copycat) mailed a menacing postcard to Dr, Edward Adams in Orinda, California (near Walnut Creek) on October 12th 1970 stating "The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are Next you taught me to Mean it. ADAMS YOU ARE NEXT. ZODIAC."
As shown on the ZodiacKillerSite forum, Dr. Edward Adams and his wife featured in the newspapers prior to this threatening communication, so it is perfectly feasible that the author of the San Jose letter and code had identified his target in the days, weeks or months prior to the November 21st 1969 correspondence. Because of the nature of the redacted text, it appears that this letter was addressed specifically to a titled officer (possibly a Sergeant or Chief) of the San Jose Police Department. Bearing in mind the target of a 'widow' mentioned in the text, the author may be referring to a newspaper article involving the death of her husband, featuring commentary by the police official the letter is addressed to. The officer's name could be any number of characters in length depending on the title he holds, with the widow's surname just 5 or 6 characters in length. 
Was the widow a prominent member of society as suggested by AK Wilks, possibly a policewoman or politician, titled like Dr. Edward Adams. The Zodiac, on December 16th 1969, had set his sights on a cop or "government life". 

On the left is a December 22nd 1969 newspaper report from the San Mateo Times of somebody identifying himself as 'Zodiac' and threatening to kill five patrolmen and a family of five over the weekend, not dissimilar to his written threats in his trinity of July 31st 1969 letters: "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". 
The phone call was received on Friday December 19th 1969 by San Jose police dispatcher Shirley Searcy.

The disputed December 7th and 16th 1969 Fairfield letters (not published in the newspapers) both contained threats to murder cops for the first time, with the latter threatening to murder one policeman in San Jose. Three days later, this call to a San Jose Highway Patrol station threatening to murder police is remarkable timing. Was the caller responsible for both Fairfield letters - and more importantly - was it the Zodiac Killer?

I have searched high and low for the identity of this woman, but without a newspapers.com account to aid in the search, I have failed to make any inroads. The author of the San Jose letter (if Zodiac) certainly didn't need a valid reason to target anybody, as shown by his murderous assault in the Bay Area, but the identity of the 'widow' could help to add legitimacy to both Fairfield letters mailed in December, dependent on her profession or previous relationship. The November 21st, December 7th and December 16th communications all contained short codes, the amateurish nature of which, has led many to believe these three letters are the work of an impostor. But these features may actually bolster the argument for Zodiac involvement, as all three were never attempting to mimic the previously polished 408 and 340 cipher, which somebody attempting to mimic the Zodiac would surely have done.  

Below is the envelope and letter mailed to the television station WXIA-TV "11 Alive" at 1611 West Peachtree Street, 30308 in Atlanta, Georgia. This article has been created for those unfamiliar with this correspondence. The letter stated:
Hello its me. Haven't you people figured out who is killing these little people yet. I'll give you a hint, I used to be in San Francisco. I used to stalk women, but I like to kill children now. At all my victims bodies I have left certain clues, but I guess it's too much for you Rebels to handle. So I guess I'll have to tell you. I'll (to) kill children because they are so easy to "pick off: Buy the way, if you still have letters from the other murders, I am not writing in the same hand writing. 

The author of the letter, dated March 8th 1981, was suggesting he was responsible (in part) for the Atlanta Child Murders from 1979-81, 

Wayne Williams would eventually be arrested on June 21st 1981 in connection to the Atlanta Child Murders  He was found guilty on two counts of murder and sentenced on February 27th 1982 to two consecutive life terms in Georgia's Hancock State Prison in Sparta. Some of the child murders were attributed to Wayne Williams and some were unresolved. The author of the Peachtree letter (Zodiac or not) was likely piggybacking off these crimes to garner attention.

The FBI Bureau requested that the FBI laboratory "compare this letter with any other letters on file from the Zodiac Killer, responsible for a string of unsolved murders in San Francisco in the early and mid 1970's." What 'unsolved murders' the Zodiac was responsible for in the early to mid 1970's is difficult to ascertain. 

Here is more great discussion on the ZodiacKillerSite forum regarding the 'Hello It's Me' or 'Peachtree' letter. If you scroll down the forum page you will notice a second mailing around the same timeframe, described as similar to the Sacramento 'Cancer' and 'Fairfield' Leo cards mailed on December 10th 1969 and December 11th 1969 respectively - in a prepaid envelope. The message read "PLEASE STOP FORCED BUSSING OR I WILL KILL 3 MORE BLACK BOYS IN ATLANTA IN MARCH !".. Note the comparison to the 148 character cipher and letter mailed from Fairfield to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1971, where the author threatened to "SKIN 3 LITTLE KIDS" if his communication was not published on the front page of the Chronicle. A weak connection admittedly.  

There is a strong possibility that the author of the 'Peachtree' letter was the same individual responsible for the May 1978 'Channel Nine' letter. Both were mailed to television stations, WXIA-TV in Atlanta and KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, the handwriting looked similar (although subjective) and both contained racial overtones. The 'Peachtree' envelope contained the acronym ATKID for Atlanta Child Murders, along with the Zodiac crosshairs. The 'Channel Nine' envelope contained the acronym AIC 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AGCGTH (All Good Children Go To Heaven) from the Manson Family's Spahn Ranch, along with the Zodiac crosshairs once again. All Good Children Go To Heaven is a British nursery rhyme: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good children go to heaven; When they die their sin's forgiven, One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, All good children go to heaven: A penny by the water, Tuppence by the sea, Threepence by the railway, Out goes she!"
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