All of the Zodiac letters were hand printed up to December 10th 1969, when the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer pasted horoscope was mailed to the Sacramento Bee newspaper. This horoscope page contained more information than visible in the versions shown on the internet. The FBI files state The handwritten notations on Q40 in the wording "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." could not be associated with any of the other questioned material in this case (because it was cursive handwriting and not non-cursive/hand printed). It is noted in this regard that the writing on the other specimens in this matter is hand printed and that the notations on Q40 are very limited.  

​This means that the limited handwriting contained within the message "...Flight 555 SF. 700 P.M. P.M." was redacted from the image we are accustomed to. It appears that the pasted FLT 555 was referring to "Flight 555" after all. Very likely from San Francisco at 7:00PM, according to the sender. Howard Davis of the Zodiac/Manson website, reported that Drew Peterson relayed information about a reporter who found a United Flight 555 that flew from San Francisco to San Diego every Wednesday at 7:30pm, tying in with the "Birds Fly South" pasted text on the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication. This almost lines up with the notation of  Flight 555 SF. 700 PM (using a viniculum under 00), which was written on the horoscope page (Q40). The mailing date of the Day-By-Day Forecast for Cancer communication and the abduction of Leona Roberts were both on a Wednesday. Howard Davis has toyed with the idea that the Zodiac Killer was giving hints he was more than capable of traveling to San Diego, where on February 4th 1964 at Ocean Beach, Johnny & Joyce Swindle were murdered by a sniper alongside the seafront. Bolinas Lagoon (where Leona Roberts body was found) and San Diego Bay are also both key sites in the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It has been stated that one of the keys depicted in the Eureka card mailed in December 1990 was traced to its once owner, Chester Clark Klingel. The question that has arisen is: if the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, how did he acquire the post office box key of Chester Clark Klingel in order to photocopy it? If the Zodiac Killer didn't find the key and trace its owner, then the logical conclusion is that at some point he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel. After Chester married his wife, Blandina, in 1965, they visited relatives regularly in Turlock, before they purchased property at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson, California in 1973 (now Alpine Pacific Nut Company). They eventually sold this property and bought a 20-acre ranch from walnut huller, Glenn DeLay in 1976. This is the only tenuous link that can be forged between Chester Clark Klingel and the Zodiac Killer, who, if we believe abducted Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970, may have been traveling back to Vallejo from the Turlock or Hughson area that night. Additional link.

​Although the Kathleen Johns abduction occurred three years before the Klingels purchased the property in E Keyes Road and six years before the second purchase, the Zodiac Killer could have had family or friends, or had business dealings in Turlock or Hughson, that required him traveling there from the Bay Area before and after the Kathleen Johns abduction. If he had visited this area of California in 1970, he could have visited it regularly pre and post March 22nd 1970 - possibly into the 1980s and 1990s, where he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel in a personal or professional capacity. The route that Kathleen Johns took on March 22nd 1970 had her traveling northwest on Highway 99, through Turlock and near Hughson, California, before reaching Modesto and heading west on Highway 132. In fact, E Keyes Road passed over the top of Highway 99, with the 15-acre farm at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson situated less than two miles from Highway 99.

If the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Kathleen Johns abduction in 1970, and had lived in the Bay Area during this period, it's very unlikely he would have taken a 170-mile round trip to an isolated stretch of road just to commit this type of crime, that he could have committed anywhere. This opens up the possibility he may have had reason to be in Turlock or Hughson pre and post 1970 (possibly business related). However slim, is there a chance that the Zodiac Killer trailed Kathleen Johns from Highway 99 somewhere in the region of Turlock or Hughson, or could he have traveled from this area and randomly come across Kathleen Johns as they both drove along Highway 132 at approximately 11:15pm?. Any continuing journeys to the Turlock region subsequent to the night of March 22nd 1970 may have facilitated the opportunity for the Zodiac Killer and Chester Clark Klingel to have crossed paths with one another. According to the obituary of Chester Clark Klingel, he remained in Turlock until the death of his wife Blandina on September 9th 1993, when he sold the farm and moved to Eureka. Therefore, it is entirely plausible that the Zodiac Killer 'acquired' and photocopied the post office box key from Chester in the years up to and including 1990, while Chester lived in Turlock, California.

Druzer, an extremely intelligent Zodiac researcher, noted the indented lines on certain Zodiac letters as a way to help ascertain whether particular communications may be genuine or otherwise. The structure and composition of a letter may tell you more than the handwriting itself. There is a complete change in how the Zodiac letters were structured from 1969 to 1971, compared to how the letters were structured subsequent to 1971. As pointed out by Druzer, any hoaxer subsequent to 1971 has numerous early Zodiac letters from the newspapers to analyze with respect to their structure (in particular, how the killer opened with the introduction "This is the Zodiac speaking"). In every single Zodiac communication in 1969, 1970 and 1971 where the Bay Area murderer opened with "This is the Zodiac speaking", he began the introduction in line with the text below on all 12 occasions (including the Fairfield letters). Here are two examples:     

Subsequent to 1971, we have the 1978 letter (4/24/78), the Channel 9 letter (5/2/78), the 1986 letter (5/6/1986) and the 1987 letter (10/28/1987). All of these letters began with the introduction "This is the Zodiac speaking", but each time the introduction was offset from the left margin and the text below. If these were all different hoaxers, then it is rather uncanny how all these authors not only ignored how the Zodiac Killer structured his main opening line to conform with the text below, but they all structured the opening line in the same fashion. Of the 12 Zodiac letters in 1969, 1970 and 1971, only the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969 failed to keep the "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction exclusively on the main first line (ignoring the "Dear" intro). It was written "This is the Zodiac speaking I". One may have thought a hoaxer would adopt the introduction used the majority of the time, but instead the two 1978 letters, the 1986 letter and the 1987 letter followed a similar pattern to the Melvin Bellii letter, contrary to what would be expected of a hoaxer. 

You will notice below that three of the later letters failed to insert a full-stop or comma after the introduction, and before the rest of the text. Exactly the same as the authenticated Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969. All four of the communications below begin with either the subject of "I" or "You" after the introduction, rather than something non-personal. It has been shown extensively on this website how the 1986 and 1987 letters should be included as confirmed Zodiac correspondence. This being the case, the 1978 letter and the Channel 9 letter should be regarded as worthy contenders also. The change in style from 1969, 1970 and 1971, to 1978 onwards, shows a distinct pattern of "Zodiac" development in his style of writing. 

Another pattern that can be observed in the widely believed Zodiac letters, is that the August 4th 1969, October 13th 1969, November 8th 1969, November 9th 1969, December 20th 1969 and April 20th 1970 letters all have the introduction "This is the Zodiac speaking" with no significant gap to the second line. Then a seemingly conscious change, when the June 26th 1970, July 24th 1970, July 26th 1970 and March 13th 1971 letters all left a distinct gap between the first and second line (March 13th 1971 slightly less so). This shows a marked change in pattern by the Zodiac Killer. However, the latter four communications were pre-empted by both Fairfield letters on December 7tth 1969 and December 16th 1969, which both placed a noticeable gap between the opening introduction and the second line.   

On August 10th 1969, somebody mailed a typewritten communication to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch providing the code key to the 408 cipher, that may or may not have been authored by the Zodiac Killer. The communication, ending with "concerned citizen", was withheld from publication. This means that a second communication mailed just two months later, on October 7th 1969, again addressed to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, with the phraseology "code letters" and ending with "a good citizen", was very likely the same author. This was the cryptic footnote by Sergeant John Lynch regarding the "good citizen" letter.

The writer has a strong feeling of ESP. While having these feelings, the writer writes with a pencil. On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''.  

It had been approximately two months since any Zodiac communication was received, yet the "good citizen" letter referenced ESP and 56 Beach Street. A form of ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is second sight, whereby a person perceives information in the form of a vision about future events before they happen. Four days after the "good citizen" letter, the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. After his murder at the intersection of Washington & Cherry Streets, the Zodiac Killer was believed to have entered Presidio Park just a few minutes later, mocking law enforcement in a letter he mailed two days later, in which he stated "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles". The northeast corner of Presidio Park is 296 meters from Beach Street. This means we have a letter mentioning 56 Beach Street just four days before the Zodiac Killer escaped into Presidio Park, the northeast corner of which sits near the western tip of Beach Street. This street runs from Pier 39 to the Palace of Fine Arts,  A contributor to this website informed me that:"56 Beach St is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, CA is a condo home that contains 2,141 sq ft and was built in 1938".  

On April 20th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the murder of Robert Michael Salem at 745 Stevenson Street in San Francisco. The pseudonym "Zodiac" was written in blood on his apartment wall next to the body. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that "Salem's designs have been exhibited in England, Japan and Russia under State Department cultural exchange programs. Until last year (1969) he had been the lighting designer for restoration of the historic Haslett Warehouse. The address of the Haslett Warehouse is 680 Beach Street at Hyde. This location is less than one mile from 1654/56 Beach Street (see map below). The author of these two "code" communications from "concerned" and "good" citizens may not have been Zodiac, but did they know the identity of the killer?

Beginning in 1991, John Walsh from the popular television show America's Most Wanted, started receiving a sequence of sinister letters and cryptograms that many have considered may have been authored by the infamous Zodiac Killer. The title of the fifth Scorpion cipher stated "Hi!, Remember me?", and was accompanied by a 180 character cryptogram. The implication being, we were supposed to infer it may have been the Zodiac Killer. But was it? The cryptogram had 155 unique characters, meaning any conventional technique of breaking this mystery was nigh on impossible. So I decided to take a look at previous Zodiac Killer encipherments and examine if any correlation exists between the Scorpion cipher and his solved cryptograms. In previous articles (visit links provided) a case has been presented to show that the 148 character cryptogram mailed in 1971 and the Albany letter mailed in 1973 are likely connected, as well as the 340 character cipher and 148 character cipher. [1] [2]. But let's take a look at the 148 character cipher and fifth Scorpion cipher. Below is the solved 148 character cipher, followed by the accompanying text that came with this communication.

This communication was signed with a "sun cross" rather than the usual Zodiac crosshairs, leading some to believe it was an obvious hoaxer. However, somebody prepared to mail a Zodiac communication complete with a 148 character cipher, is hardly likely to be ignorant of the Zodiac Killer crosshairs that adorned virtually every single communication mailed by the Bay Area murderer. This "sun cross" signature on the letter was also present in the cryptogram, in which it was determined to represent the letter "Z". Therefore, the author of this letter likely signed off with the letter "Z" to represent the "Zodiac", as he had done in the Halloween card on October 27th 1970. It was probably a clue to begin the decoding of the 148 character cipher. When the letter "Z" was used for the "sun cross" in the cipher, the inevitable phrase of "Zodiac Speaking" is revealed (see above). The "sun cross" is also twice present in the 180 character Scorpion cipher. If you take a look at the bottom of the 180 character cipher, the letter "Z" applied to the "sun cross" allows "Zodiac Speaking" to conveniently end the cryptogram. There is even room to place "The Zodiac Speaking" before the repeated letter "N" prevents further progress.       

The 148 character cipher had not been released into the public domain by the time the Scorpion ciphers arrived, but I have highlighted with a blue square the five symbols used in the Scorpion cipher that look eerily similar (and the same) as the 148 character cipher. The number "7" in both the 148 character cipher and Albany communications represented the letter "A". It is present in the Scorpion cipher also. Could the Zodiac Killer have teased us with the introduction of "Hi, Remember Me" and finished the message with "This is again the Zodiac speaking"?

Here are the other parts of the Scorpion cipher communications released Science Blogs.

The following are a few extracts from the newspapers regarding the murder of Anthony Vincent Bruno on November 2nd 1975.

According to Police Captain George Stephenson, Bruno and his girlfriend (16 years) had been parked on Monte Cresta Drive, above Barclay Way in an isolated area of western hills when a man opened the driver's side door and apparently without saying anything fired the shotgun. The girl, who was not identified by police, pushed Bruno's body aside and drove the car to her home from where police were notified. She described the assailant as white, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 140 pounds and wearing an Army green parka with hood, according to police. Stephenson said also that a late model brown pick-up truck, possibly a Dodge or Chevrolet, had been seen in the area at about the time of the shooting. The killer then ran south on Monte Cresta from the dark hillside area, past a streetlight 50 yards away, and then possibly to a late model Dodge or Chevrolet pick-up truck.

Belmont police today are attempting to find a man who shotgunned a 17-year-old Carlmont High School student to death in a parked car early Sunday morning. The youth, Anthony Vincent Bruno of 213 Bayview Drive, San Carlos, died instantly, his body sprawled on the seat of the parked car beside his terrified 16-year-old girlfriend. The killer then turned, dropped the sawed-off stock of his weapon on the ground, perhaps by accident, and fled. It was disclosed Wednesday that about an hour and a half before the brutal slaying, a man was seen struggling to drag a box about two feet long and 18 inches wide up a steep rise about 100 feet from the slaying site. A rod, or perhaps a rope, protruded from the box, according to police, and the dragging was being done by a man in mechanic's overalls with longish, dark brown hair. Stephenson also confirmed that police are searching for the driver of a maroon pick-up truck, equipped with blackwall tires and white wheels; a vehicle which they have information to believe may have approached the parked couple 15 minutes before the slaying, stopped a distance away, made a u-turn, and apparently drove off. The girl gave a follow up description "She saw a face but couldn't identify him. She couldn't see whether he was black or white, or anything other than he was 5'5", 140 pounds and wearing a green army-type parka". One has to consider that under the circumstances, this description may be less than reliable.  

"We've never had a case like this before. This is the bloodiest, most brutal killing I've ever seen", Belmont Police Chief William R. Singer said as he surveyed the scene of Belmont's first potential murder case in over two years. "It could be another Zodiac", he added.  Wednesday afternoon, Juvenile Division Detective Gary Sickman drove this reporter to the scene of the slaying and replayed what police have linked together about it so far. "This is a little-known lovers' lane", Sickman said. "Many of the kids I've talked with at Carlmont were unaware of it." Sickman drove the patrol car down a narrow dirt road connecting with Monte Cresta Drive; a chuckhole-pocked stretch traversing a ridge high above Belmont Canyon. At the end of the road, a half-mile from the slaying site, a teenaged couple embraced in a parked car. Sickman checked their identification and jotted their names in his notebook after giving them a little fatherly advice.

The image on the right shows Belmont Police Chief William Singer and Captain George Stephenson examining the scene of the crime. To visit the location, click the image to enter Google maps.  

This crime has similarities to the two attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, particularly the latter (highlighted above in blue). The couple in this instance were 16 and 17 years of age just like Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday, attacked on what was described as a lovers' lane area. The killer, without uttering a word, fired into the vehicle in similar fashion to the shooting at Blue Rock Springs, this time in the early morning hours of Sunday, November 2nd 1975. The assailant at Monte Cresta Drive may have driven up to the vehicle of the young couple just prior to the murder, driving away and returning a few minutes later, before unleashing his deadly assault. Had the gun not broke apart, we could again have been looking at a repeat of December 20th 1968.

The following day, on November 3rd 1975, it was reported by KGO-TV that a possible Zodiac letter was discovered near to the crime scene in a phone booth. Michael Morford, a researcher at the Zodiac Killer Site forum, also remembered a cassette tape accompanying the letter. The attack happened early Sunday morning, with the newspapers carrying the story on Monday, November 3rd 1975, so when the letter (and possibly tape) were placed in the phone booth is an important factor. If the letter was placed there in the minutes after the crime (or Sunday night) and not discovered until Monday morning, the greater the possibility that the letter was written by the murderer of Anthony Vincent Bruno, who hadn't read or heard any reporting of the crime.

The reporting in the San Mateo Times of a letter alleged to have been written by the Zodiac Killer appears to carry weight, when you consider the wording of Chief William R. Singer, who stated "It could be another Zodiac". If this letter existed, then it is fairly obvious that law enforcement and Chief William R. Singer would have been aware of it.

There are three main possibilities regarding the letter: [1] Somebody read or heard the details of the crime, noted the similarities to the Zodiac attacks, and decided to hoax a letter. [2] The person who murdered Anthony Vincent Bruno prepared a Zodiac-style letter to shift the emphasis away from the fact it was personal attack. [3] The person who committed the murder and wrote the letter was the Zodiac Killer, however unlikely this option may seem. The Zodiac Killer hadn't conclusively been linked to a murder for six years at this point, and hadn't written a confirmed letter for well over a year, which undoubtedly weakens the intent of a person attempting to shift the blame onto the Zodiac Killer. The last widely accepted letter from the Zodiac Killer was the Exorcist letter mailed on January 29th 1974, probably mailed from San Mateo County. If this was "truly" a Zodiac letter, it too would have a San Mateo connection.

Two and a half years later, a cryptic letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 19th 1978, in what can only be described as unintelligent ramblings. With respect to the 1975 letter (and possibly cassette tape) placed in the phone booth near the crime scene, a certain section of text in the July 19th 1978 was of particular interest. It may have no connection whatsoever to the Anthony Vincent Bruno murder, but read "I have my real name on a small metallic tape. You see, while you have it in your possession, I want you to know it belongs to me and you think I may have left it accidentally".  Was this "small metallic tape", a ferric cassette tape, which was deliberately placed in the phone booth and was now in the possession of law enforcement? The murder of Anthony Vincent Bruno in San Mateo on November 2nd 1975 is a difficult crime to connect to the Bay Area murders of the Zodiac Killer without access to this letter (and tape), but the broken stock of the shotgun found ten feet from the murder scene could contain valuable evidence if stored correctly.

Thanks to Zodiac Killer Site forum.

One would presume the only person who knew that Leona Roberts wasn't going to be killed immediately after being abducted was the killer, which is why the two "forecast" letters on December 10th 1969 and December 11th 1969 are extremely interesting. The two pasted horoscope communications entitled Day-By-Day Forecast For Cancer and Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo, bearing in mind the latter could easily be interpreted as Day-By-Day Forecast For Leona Roberts, is extremely perintinent when we consider the timing of the communications and her abduction. The December 10th communication also came with the pasted pseudonym of "ZODIAC" emblazoned across its face. The fact that these communications were a forecast (a prediction of what will happen), coupled with a Zodiac horoscope and the distinct possibility that "Leo" was chosen for purpose, then the discovery of her body eighteen days later at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, is rather curious.

The coroner concluded that she had likely been dead "4 to 7 days prior to recovery, and he theorized that she had been alive 10-14 days after her abduction". She was abducted on Wednesday December 10th 1969 and found at Bolinas Lagoon on December 28th 1969, so that places her murder between December 20th 1969 and December 24th 1969, allowing for a small margin of error. The longer between death and discovery, the more difficult it is to make an accurate determination. 

The Zodiac Killer mailed the Fairfield letter on December 16th 1969, but he made no update to his running total of seven victims. In this communication he added a supplemental drawing of a "Bleeding Knife" with seven drops of blood, possibly fashioned to incorporate the two extra victims he was claiming, that of Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong murdered in San Jose on August 3rd 1969, by knife. Just four days later, the Melvin Belli letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle stating the Zodiac Killer was resisting the temptation to murder his ninth and tenth victim. This appears to indicate that victim number eight was secured between December 16th 1969 and December 20th 1969, which falls around the approximate time the coroner determined that Leona Roberts was murdered. If the above interpretation is correct, we would have three Zodiac communications on December 11th 1969, December 16th 1969 and December 20th 1969, giving us a "forecast for Leo", a failure to update the running victim total five days later, followed by an update to eight victims just four days later, around the time Leona Roberts was killed.         

The phrases on the Cancer and Leo communications are difficult to interpret, but when we consider the random phrase of "BIRDS FLY SOUTH" (pasted between the 18th and 24th) and the location where her body was discovered, on a north to south Pacific Flyway for migratory birds, one can't help thinking that the pasted clues were cryptic in nature. Irrespective of their correct meanings or otherwise, the "forecast" letters and the timing of Leona Roberts abduction should not be overlooked. It is likely only one person knew the day-by-day forecast for Leona Roberts, and his identity remains a mystery to this day. 

A man was seen running into Julius Khan playground shortly after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, detailed by author Robert Graysmith, who stated "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Khan playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County".

It was speculated whether the Zodiac Killer had exited the Presidio Park on its eastern edge to a waiting vehicle, with his escape via the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County a matter of minutes away, providing separation from the San Francisco area. If the Zodiac Killer worked in San Francisco (near Presidio Heights), but commuted from Vallejo, then he may have used Highway 101 on a regular basis, passing through Marin County. Highway 101 straddles Shoreline Highway by just 724 meters, which we will return to shortly.

Here is an excerpt from Websleuths by Steph54 "On 28 December 1969, a man searching for driftwood on the beach at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County found the nude body of Leona Roberts. It was later determined that a unique wristwatch was missing from the girl's wrist, but a Napa High School class ring given to her by a neighbor still remained on her finger. The tan dress she wore when last seen, along with two pairs of bell-bottomed pants, a blouse, a black purse and wallet, a key chain with car and house keys were also reported missing. There were marks on the wrists and ankles indicative of binding, but the coroner was unsure whether they occurred before or after death. The cause of death was reported as "due to viral infection of an unidentified species." It was also reported that there was "evidence of choking which could probably be linked to the virus." link. 

Leona LaRell Roberts had been abducted on December 10th 1969 from 749 Tormey Avenue in Rodeo. At about 5:50 pm a neighbor, Susan Clark, heard the sound of a girl screaming, followed by somebody running from the rear of the apartment. A suspicious male was observed many times between the front door and a blue station wagon, before he eventually drove away. The man was described as 25 years old, 5'8", short blond hair and wearing brown trousers and a jacket. A while later her boyfriend arrived home to find a disturbance inside the apartment, scuff marks near the back door and her red Volkswagen parked outside.

The same day, a potential Zodiac correspondence arrived at the Sacramento Bee newspaper containing a horoscope page with pasted wording. This communication entitled Day-By-Day Forecast For Cancer was pasted with the wording ZODIAC, WATCH, FLT 555 and BIRDS FLY SOUTH. The day after the Leona LaRell Roberts abduction, on December 11th 1969, a communication entitled Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo arrived at the San Francisco Newspaper Printing Company at Rincon Annex, again  with many pasted words, including FLT THREE OF A KIND. It was thought that the Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo may have been a sinister play on words for Day-By-Day Forecast For Leona Roberts, considering the date of her abduction and the mailing of this communication the following day.

A day-by-day forecast may have been an appropriate message considering her abduction on December 10th 1969 to the eventual discovery of her body eighteen days later at Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County. This is where Shoreline Highway comes into play, being just 724 meters from Highway 101, and a route that the Zodiac Killer may have commuted to and from work. Shoreline Highway runs alongside Bolinas Bay to Bolinas Lagoon where Leona Robert's body was discovered. When we consider the December 10th 1969 communication containing the words ZODIAC and BIRDS FLY SOUTH, coupled with the December 11th 1969 Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo and her body being discovered at Bolinas Lagoon, the following information may become relevant.

Bolinas Lagoon is a tidal estuary, approximately 1,100 acres in area, located in the West Marin region of Marin County, California, United States, adjacent to the town of Bolinas. The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in America, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites. Along the Pacific Flyway, there are many key rest stops where birds of many species gather, sometimes in the millions, to feed and regain their strength before continuing. Some species may remain in these rest stops for the entire season, but most stay a few days before moving on. Wikipedia.     

Four months later, on April 19th 1970, Pat Tan, a woman of Eurasian descent was discovered hanging by rope and electrical cord from an oak tree near Bootjack Campground on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. She was identified because of a key found in her pocket by Coroner, Keith Craig, which he traced to a Greyhound bus terminal and the eventual discovery of her address book. The question remains as to whether the death of Pat Tan was suicide or murder.

Bootjack Campground is located 553 meters from the Pantoll Campground along Panoramic Highway, which joins Shoreline Highway at its southern tip, Pat Tan's body was discovered hanging just 2.5 miles from the dump site of Leona Roberts at Bolinas Lagoon. Leona Roberts abduction was paralleled by two communications entitled Day-By-Day Forecast For Cancer and Day-By-Day Forecast For Leo, along with the pasted pseudonym of ZODIAC, as was the untimely death of Pat Tan, when the following day on the April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed the 13-Symbol cipher containing THREE OF A KIND. However, this time it would be 888 instead of 555.

Two years later, on April 7th 1972, Isobel Watson (33) had just got off the bus on the evening of April 7th 1972, and was walking home along Pine Hill Road, Tamalpais Valley, Marin County at 9.00 pm, when a light colored vehicle veered towards her, knocking her to the ground. The driver exited his vehicle offering to take her home, but after she had refused his offer of apparent help a second time, the concerned citizen suddenly became enraged, pulling out a knife and stabbing the woman in the neck and shoulder. ​Her screams alerted the neighborhood, forcing the assailant into a hasty retreat from the scene. She was treated at Marin General Hospital and fortunately survived the brutal attack.

Her description of the man alerted investigators to a possible Zodiac connection, that of a man with heavy-rimmed black glasses, around 40 years of age, 5' 9" in height and short brown hair. It was not overlooked by police that the killer had attempted to lure the woman into his vehicle, not dissimilar to the method employed in the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns. Napa County homicide detective Kenneth Narlow believed in a greater than 50-50 chance of a Zodiac connection, bearing in mind the description given by Isobel Watson. Pine Hill Road, where the attack occurred, joins Shoreline Highway at its southern edge, just 4 miles from the Bootjack Campground and 7 miles from Bolinas Lagoon. Shoreline Highway joins Panoramic Highway only 1 mile from Pine Hill Road. So, had the attacker of Isobel Watson managed to lure her into his vehicle, would we have found her near Bootjack Campground or Bolinas Lagoon, just like Pat Tan and Leona Roberts? Of course, we don't know whether the Zodiac Killer had anything to do with the unfortunate events that befell these three women, but the location of Marin County and the proximity of Pine Hill Road, Bootjack Campground and Bolinas Lagoon is worthy of further investigation.     

On July 19th 1978, a typewritten letter from Los Angeles arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle stating: "I am the ZODIAC and I am in control of all things. I am going to tell you a secret. I like friction tape. I like to have it around in case I need to truss someone up in a hurry....I have my real name on a small metallic tape. You see, while you have it in your possession, I want you to know it belongs to me and you think I may have left it accidentally. I am athletic. It could be swim fins, or a piece of scuba gear. But maybe you play chess with me. I have several cheap sets in closets all over. I have my name on the bottom of the lid with the scotch tape....My tape is waiting for me all over California. Do you know me? I am the ZODIAC and I am in control". 

It was not uncommon for the Zodiac Killer to draw his inspiration from the previous newspaper articles about him, with this rather cryptic offering possibly another such example. On July 14th 1978, an exclusive interview with David Toschi was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled New Zodiac Disclosures. Everything in the letter above appears to be inspired by the wording in the newspaper article. Inspector David Toschi had suspicions lingering over him that he had authored the April 24th 1978 letter to reinvigorate the Zodiac Killer investigation, and this interview with him was conducted at the time he had been transferred from homicide detail.   

[1] 7/14/78 Chronicle:  As Toschi talked rapidly and nervously, skipping from subject to subject like a man who has too much feeling inside him to control or regulate, he never mentioned any of the 100 other homicide investigations in which he participated. Only Zodiac. 
Zodiac: I am the ZODIAC and I am in control of all things. I am the ZODIAC and I am in control.

[2] 7/14/78 Chronicle: "I came back. I was told to sit in a chair. A tape recorder was turned on" Toschi remembered. The policeman who was interrogating him, a member of his own detail, asked "Have you read the allegations". The 47-year-old inspector, a 25-year veteran of the police force was taken off the prestigious homicide squad after 10 years for writing letters in 1976 to Maupin to which Toschi praised himself and signed fictitious names.
Zodiac: I like friction tape. I like to have it around in case I need to truss someone up in a hurry....I have my real name on a small metallic tape.
If the tape used to interview Inspector David Toschi was labelled "Interview with Inspector Toschi", accused of using fictitious names when writing fan letters to Armistead Maupin, then the response by the Zodiac Killer of "I have my real name on a small metallic tape", could be reasoned.

[3] 7/14/78 Chronicle: When "Tales of the City" was completed, things quieted way down for Toschi. He knew he was tired. It was a bad week. He had pulled two all night murder investigations. He went to his doctor. The doctor said "Can you make it over to St Mary's hospital? Something is wrong with your heart". It turned out to be a leaky left valve. It wasn't pumping the way it should. Also, he was walking around with pneumonia.
Zodiac: I am athletic. It could be swim fins, or a piece of scuba gear.   
Was the Zodiac Killer ridiculing David Toschi's stamina and fitness?  

Inspector David Toschi was quoted in the July 10th 1974 San Francisco Chronicle regarding the latest May 8th and July 8th "Zodiac" communications, stating "There's no doubt in my mind about either one. I took them to a documents expert and in less than five minutes he told me positively they were in fact written by the Zodiac". There are no reputable documents examiners who could conclude in five minutes that two correspondences were written by the Zodiac Killer, if Toschi's assertions were true. There still remains much doubt over the 1974 communications to this day, as there does around the April 24th 1978 letter, with conflicting interpretations on its validity as a genuine Zodiac Killer letter. Document examiners would later disregard both the 1986 and 1987 letters, despite evidence to the contrary indicating that both these letters were penned by the real Zodiac Killer. 

Robert Prouty joined the San Diego Police Department after his service in the U.S. Air Force, before relocating to Sacramento in 1973 and working for the Department of Justice as a Questioned Documents Examiner. In the San Francisco Examiner on October 30th 1987, he stated in reference to two potential Zodiac letters "My very firm opinion is that they were not written by the authentic Zodiac. They appear to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public. All of us were hoping we'd heard the last of him", said Prouty, who analyzes about fifteen bogus Zodiac letters a year.

If we take the word of Robert Prouty, then he must have examined a minimum of 222 communications alleged to have been mailed by the Zodiac Killer over those nearly fifteen years.. Even if 20% of these were genuine, the Zodiac Killer may have mailed at least 44 communications from 1973 to October 1987. With a high degree of probability the Zodiac Killer mailed at least four, if not five communications in 1971. We therefore have a potential 222 communications ruled as bogus, when in fact some of them may have been genuine Zodiac letters - and as such - provided invaluable information as to his identity, or further insight into his movements and character? Hoping that you've "heard the last of him" is hoping for less information about the killer. More disturbing still, is how many of these communications have ended up being discarded and destroyed, when they could have contained valuable DNA evidence at a time when major breakthroughs in biological science were surfacing, along with the advancement in preservation and storage of samples pertaining to criminal investigations.         

Very few communications have been featured since 1974. Notable examples are three in 1978, one in 1986, two in 1987 (of which one was withheld), a postcard and greeting card in 1990, and a 2001 'Happy New Year' card. If these were deemed not authentic by Questioned Document Examiner's, why release these and not the other communications between 1974 and 1987, also deemed to have been penned by hoaxers. What is the difference? 

In respect to the 1987 letter received by the Vallejo Times-Herald, Robert Prouty said it "appeared to be composed of previous letters which have since been made public". In other words, it had been copied from previous letters and was a case of mimicry. Here is what Robert Prouty stated in respect to the 1978 letter: "I examined the photographs of the April letter and those of previous letters attributed to Zodiac. My first impression was that it was in the same general style as previous letters, but after closer examination my ultimate conclusion was that there were so many differences that it was not written by the same person who wrote the previous Zodiac letters … Several letter characteristics in my opinion did not match the style used by Zodiac. The slant of some letters was not consistent with previous Zodiac communications". In summary, one was ruled out because it looked too similar to previous letters and one was ruled out because it looked too different. John Shimoda of the US Postal Service crime laboratory originally deemed the 1978 letter genuine, before reversing that decision and stating “I am of the opinion that the letter of April 24 was an attempt to duplicate Zodiac letters and is not authentic".       

There was a eight-year gap from the bulk of Zodiac communications in 1970 to the April 24th 1978 letter, and a further nine-year gap to the 1987 letter. Handwriting can change over time - and can change depending on the speed of writing, the surface you are writing on, the time of day, the style of pen you are using, the angle you are writing, the level of alcohol and drugs in your system and your health at any given time. Determining that certain letters vary slightly in style, particularly over many years - and thereby concluding a different author for the Zodiac letters - is stacked with inponderables such as these.

The Zodiac Killer contacted the Vallejo Times-Herald on July 31st 1969 in his first contact with the newspapers, but according to the Vallejo Times-Herald City Editor Mary Apanasewicz on October 30th 1987, the newspaper had never received a crank letter in the previous eighteen years. Therefore, we would have to conclude that up to 222 random hoax Zodiac letters could have been mailed between 1973 and 1987, yet not one single individual hoaxer ever wrote to the Herald. The fact that somebody wrote to them on October 28th 1987, using the same thirteen words on the envelope as the July 31st 1969 envelope, with no punctuation in either, using the full title of Vallejo Times-Herald (with both likely misspelling Herald to Herold), when the 1969 envelope had not been released into the public domain by October 28th 1987, should have told Mary Apanasewicz that she still hadn't received a hoax letter by the end of 1987 either.        

Under an FBI file marked "Zodiac Extortion", there was a "request to compare writing on demand note submitted previously in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" with the specimens in captioned case". The FBI were comparing the handwriting on a bank robbery note with submitted handwriting from samples in the captioned case. The bank robbery note (demand note) shown below, read "This is Bank Rhobery IF you don't do as I say I will shot. Zodiac".  with this threatening communication considered relevant enough to be placed in the Zodiac FBI files under "Zodiac Extortion". The demand note also carried the date of December 3rd 1968, seventeen days before the Zodiac's first murders on Lake Herman Road.

The FBI files continued with "It was not determined whether the specimens in captioned case were prepared by the writer of the Q1 demand note in the case (redacted) Wells Fargo Bank, Sutter Street Office, San Francisco, California, 12/3/68; BR" because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Was a fledgling Zodiac hovering around San Francisco in the December of 1968? The Wells Fargo Bank in Sutter Street is a two minute walk from Union Square, where the Zodiac Killer likely entered the taxicab of murder victim, Paul Stine.

The story became a little more quirky when I read a post on the Zodiac Killer message board by BugsMoran regarding an outlaw called Black Bart, one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers in Northern California. BugsMoran wrote "Like the Zodiac, Black Bart would also send the police taunting letters (usually lousy poems about his capers). At times he even handed his victims these letters. It took years for the Pinkerton Detective Agencty to crack the case. I think his last robbery was foiled - and in his flight - he left behind a hankerchef with a laundry marking on it. The police had to go to every Chinese laundry in San Francisco before they were able to trace the hankerchef to Bart. Being from San Francisco the Zodiac would have known of the as local bandit". 

Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles) adopted the nickname "Black Bart" and proceeded to rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches at least 28 times across northern California between 1875 and 1883, Boles was invariably polite and used no foul language, despite its appearance in his poems. He dressed in a long linen duster coat and a bowler hat, using a flour sack with holes cut for his eyes as a mask. He brandished a shotgun, but never used it. These features became his trademarks. The idea of a robber, handing out poetic notes in northern California, wearing a head sack with eyeholes, sort of rang a bell for some reason. Especially with the Wells Fargo connection. 

Black Bart is a 1948 American western film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea as the real-life cowboy bandit Charles Boles, and Jeffrey Lynn. It was distributed by Universal-International and produced by Leonard Goldstein. It was shot in Technicolor and was also known as Black Bart, Highwayman. The film was written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford, and William Bowers and was released on March 3, 1948.

The results of the handwriting comparison were inconclusive "because of distortion in the Q1 demand note and a lack of comparable material". Despite the handwriting in the Zodiac case failing to be conclusively matched to the demand note because of "lack of material", it appears that this 15-worded note was enough to place it in the Zodiac files under "Zodiac Extortion". Was this because the author of the bank robbery note used the word "Zodiac" and/or investigators noticed a similarity of handwriting in the demand note? The notion of a threatening bank robbery note containing the pseudonym Zodiac, seven months in advance of the Debut of Zodiac letter, in which the Bay Area killer introduced himself for the first time, is puzzling to say the least. The FBI report stated "It is noted that the Q1 demand note mentioned in the attached Laboratory report was submitted by San Francisco with an airtel dated 6/27/69". June 27th 1969 was still one week before the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969, and just over a month before the Debut of Zodiac letter. Why would this threatening note be considered Zodiac material before the Zodiac pseudonym ever emerged in the San Francisco Examiner offices?

The Zodiac Killer FBI files featured two multi-paged letters, mailed on April 13th 1988 and April 21st 1988 from Stamford, Connecticut. Zodiac researcher, Michael Morford described an anonymous email he received concerning the Stamford communications: "The letters that came from New Haven, CT were from a 17 year old emotionally disturbed genius, He wrote Zodiac symbols on the chalkboard to scare a Girl. He also wrote a graphic letter of how he was going to kill her. The FBI came into town, caught him, and he was sent to Residential counseling". However, the envelopes were postmarked Stamford, Connecticut, 36 miles west of New Haven. The city of Stamford, Connecticut, on the other hand, is just 6 miles south of New Canaan High School.      

The nearest other outlier Zodiac communication we can place in the proximity of New Canaan High School is based around the Atlanta Child murders, in which the author wrote a short note stating "Please stop forced bussing or I will kill 3 more black boys in Atlanta in March". This was a business reply envelope postmarked Cleveland, OH, March 2nd 1981, bearing the press printed address "The Danbury Mint, Richards Avenue, P.O. Box 5260, Norwalk, Conn". The Danbury Mint at 47 Richards Avenue in the city of Norwalk, Connecticut is just 3.28 miles from New Canaan High School   

In order to discover the possible 17-year-old responsible for the two 1988 Stamford communications, we can look for 18-year-old graduates in high school yearbooks. The only clues in the Stamford communications were the two decoded cryptograms that mentioned a Shauna (twice) and Missus Taylor. One section read "Shauna, if you wish to know my identity you will have to put some effort into it, not fiddle and fart around. Here is a clue as Missus Taylor. If she remembers who draws the symbol then you will have me". In the 1989 New Canaan High School yearbook, we have the extremely uncommon name of "Shauna" in the name Shauna McCarthy, and "Missus Taylor" in the name Christa Taylor, thereby corroborating the notion of "he wrote Zodiac symbols on the chalkboard to scare a girl". However, if this individual was a disturbed genius, then it would be rather foolish to provide two names that linked back to a classroom he attended, contained within envelopes that bore the address New Canaan. The alternative, is it was somebody who wanted us to believe it was some unhinged 17-year-old teenager writing the Stamford communications. The only viable connection to this classroom with respect to a more plausible Zodiac communication, is the press printed 1981 envelope carrying the Danbury Mint address, just 3.28 miles south of the New Canaan High School. 

Over half of the Danbury Mint's profits support mental health research. The Stanley Family Foundation is the majority shareholder of the company. This charitable organization funds research that would reduce the burden of serious mental illness. Top scientists in the field of genetics, stem cell biology and neurobiology rely on funding from The Stanley Family Foundation to finance their research 

A music or drama teacher would be quite an interesting proposition for a Zodiac Killer who cherished The Mikado.

Inspired by the savage knife murders of Kathy Snoozy (15) and Deborah Furlong (14) on August 3rd 1969, the Zodiac Killer drove away from the shores of Lake Berryessa to the corner of Clinton and Main Streets in Napa. By November 9th 1969, the Zodiac Killer had retrospectively added the San Jose murders of the two teenagers into his running victim count. Just twelve days later he was claiming an eighth victim, when a letter arrived at the San Jose Police Department on November 21st 1969 with the insertion of November = 8. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer had now switched to brutal knife attacks, whether he was claiming them or participating in them, there is a distinct possibility that victim number eight was along these lines. He had no involvement in the Snoozy and Furlong murders, but the ferocity of the attack which left both victims absolutely brutalized, was ideal for a killer intent on stoking fear in the psyche of the American people. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "the Snoozy youngster had 150 wounds on her back, 50 on the front and a "storm" of punctures on her neck. Deborah's body had about 100 wounds on her back and upper front and a dozen on her neck". The location of the attack was another advantageous feature for the Zodiac Killer, keen to bolster his burgeoning reputation as the most feared sociopath in the Bay Area. It was imperative that the Zodiac Killer chose his next victim wisely.

It is extremely unlikely that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murder of Reet Jurvetson (19) on November 14th 1969, found in dense undergrowth alongside Mulholland Drive two days later, but he was claiming victim number eight by November 21st 1969. Like the Snoozy and Furlong murders, Reet Jurvetson had been viciously stabbed 157 times in the neck, chest and torso, yet apparently transported to this location and thrown down the canyon from the roadside edge. Her body was discovered just north of Kimridge Avenue, only eight miles west of her last known address, at 5311 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. The journey would have been west on Melrose Avenue, before heading north on Loma Vista Drive to Mulholland Canyon.

This, coupled with the fact she had consumed a meal just two hours prior to her death, could have given police an indication of where that meal had been eaten, bearing in mind the journey time from 5311 Melrose Avenue to the location of her body is about 25 minutes, and her apartment (by all indications) wasn't the site of her murder. That leaves approximately 90 minutes for events to unfold. Accounting for the fact that somebody had to murder the young woman by way of 157 stab wounds, carry or drag her body to a waiting vehicle and drive to Mulholland Drive, it is very likely she was murdered not long after seemingly being at ease in taking a meal. The victim's body showed no evidence that this crime was the result of robbery, or driven by a sexual motive. Drag marks at the crime scene indicated Reet Jurvetson had been transported to the crime scene in an upright position within a car and rolled down the ravine where she snagged in the brush just a short distance down, resulting in her being discovered by a 15-year-old birdwatcher. Her identity remained unknown until 2016.

Had the Zodiac Killer read about the case of the woman alongside Mulholland Drive, noted the similarity in the ferocity of the attack to murders he had already claimed - and so insinuated his involvement by adding November = 8 in his November 21st 1969 communication? The last time he had written the months of his murders, he was also attempting to deceive.

The November 21st 1969 communication was postmarked five days after Reet Jurvetson's body was discovered, claiming an eighth victim, but was postmarked the exact day that Doreen Gaul and James Sharp's bodies were found on November 21st 1969 at around 11:00 PM in an alley behind the residence at 1138 South Magnolia, Los Angeles. They were murdered elsewhere and stabbed in excess of 50 times. This may not seem that unusual, until we consider that Doreen Gaul and James Sharp's bodies were found less than 3 miles (by crow) from the residence of Reet Jurvetson at 5311 Melrose Avenue. Even more curious that a typewritten letter from the supposed Zodiac Killer was discovered in the room of Doreen Gaul stating "You are too beautiful to live and I must kill you". And even more unusual that the Zodiac Killer purportedly mailed a threatening letter to the Albany Times Union newspaper on August 1st 1973 claiming his next victim would be from the Albany Medical Center, only 350 feet from 570 Myrtle Avenue, the street on which Doreen Gaul had previously lived. Then we have the May 2nd 1978 Channel 9 letter mailed to KHJ-TV Studios at 5515 Melrose Avenue - also purported to be from the Zodiac Killer - and located just 437 meters from the once residence of Reet Jurvetson (pointed out to me by Toots). The murders of Kathy Snoozy, Deborah Furlong, Reet Jurvetson, James Sharp and Doreen Gaul bound by the savagery of excessive knife wounds, with the Zodiac Killer never seemingly far away. Certainly not responsible for the murders of Kathy Snoozy and Deborah Furlong - and unlikely the murderer of Reet Jurvetson, James Sharp and Doreen Gaul - but the Bay Area murderer appears to have an uncanny sense of timing and location.