Although much of the following has been covered before, I feel it is necessary to re-examine certain elements of the Donna Lass case, a 25-year-old woman, who worked as a nurse at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino in Stateline, Nevada, and was last seen at this location on September 6th 1970. Sixteen years later, in 1985/1986, some of her remains were found near Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap, but were only belatedly identified as her in December 2023. This breaking news caused a major stir in the Zodiac Killer community with renewed hope - but as happens in many cases - this awakened story has effectively disappeared from the discussion forums once again, and an unspoken resignation has returned that no further developments will be forthcoming. One of the key questions surrounding her murder was the question of Zodiac involvement, which will be examined here.
Still persisting to this day, some Zodiac sleuths are still claiming that the individual who created the Pines postcard and mailed it to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22nd 1971, was insinuating that Donna Lass was their twelfth victim. However, the postcard never claimed Donna Lass as victim number 12 on March 22nd 1971, only that they "sought" her when she had the potential to become victim number 12. The Zodiac Killer claimed 10 victims on April 20th 1970 and 12 victims on June 26th 1970, when Donna Lass was still living and working in San Francisco for much of this time.
She had left for her new job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on or around June 5th 1970. Her savings account at the Bank of America located at 3701 Balboa Street (close to where she lived at 4122 Balboa Street) had remained dormant since early June. So if the Zodiac Killer had "sought" Donna Lass as victim number 12 in San Francisco, then he had trailed or stalked her between April 20th 1970 and June 5th 1970. The Dragon card mailed on April 28th 1970 showed no movement in the victim count, so this window could potentially narrow from April 28th 1970 to June 5th 1970. If this were the case, then the Zodiac Killer had a maximum of 39 days in which Donna Lass could have been "sought" as victim number 12. The fact that Donna Lass worked and lived close to the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine, at a time when she had the potential to become the Zodiac Killer's twelfth victim, certainly wasn't lost on the designer of the Pines card. By fashioning a postcard that combined both South Lake Tahoe and San Francisco, its creator was attempting to convince law enforcement that there was a connection between the Zodiac Killer and the missing nurse, navigating through two states and lasting several months.
Still persisting to this day, some Zodiac sleuths are still claiming that the individual who created the Pines postcard and mailed it to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22nd 1971, was insinuating that Donna Lass was their twelfth victim. However, the postcard never claimed Donna Lass as victim number 12 on March 22nd 1971, only that they "sought" her when she had the potential to become victim number 12. The Zodiac Killer claimed 10 victims on April 20th 1970 and 12 victims on June 26th 1970, when Donna Lass was still living and working in San Francisco for much of this time.
She had left for her new job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on or around June 5th 1970. Her savings account at the Bank of America located at 3701 Balboa Street (close to where she lived at 4122 Balboa Street) had remained dormant since early June. So if the Zodiac Killer had "sought" Donna Lass as victim number 12 in San Francisco, then he had trailed or stalked her between April 20th 1970 and June 5th 1970. The Dragon card mailed on April 28th 1970 showed no movement in the victim count, so this window could potentially narrow from April 28th 1970 to June 5th 1970. If this were the case, then the Zodiac Killer had a maximum of 39 days in which Donna Lass could have been "sought" as victim number 12. The fact that Donna Lass worked and lived close to the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine, at a time when she had the potential to become the Zodiac Killer's twelfth victim, certainly wasn't lost on the designer of the Pines card. By fashioning a postcard that combined both South Lake Tahoe and San Francisco, its creator was attempting to convince law enforcement that there was a connection between the Zodiac Killer and the missing nurse, navigating through two states and lasting several months.
If Donna Lass was killed by somebody she knew, then creating a Pines postcard shifting the attention toward the Zodiac Killer could be seen as beneficial to the murderer. However, this postcard was mailed 6 1/2 months after the nurse went missing, so any benefit gained by such a move would have drastically diminished. You would expect somebody hoping to focus attention toward the Zodiac Killer and away from them, to have crafted the postcard in the early part of the investigation by overtly claiming her murder, not insinuating this in a cryptic communication the following year. Also, if the phone caller to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 7th/8th was the murderer of Donna Lass (and author of the Pines postcard), he could easily have implicated the Zodiac Killer by phone on any date between September 6th 1970 and March 22nd 1971, but we know of no "Zodiac Killer" calls between these dates.
The creator of the Pines postcard didn't just fashion any old communication, they took the time to add a "Forest Pines" advertisement onto face of the postcard and searched for relevant directional text in the form of newspaper cuttings to paste onto it, while punching a hole in the top right corner and scalloping all four sides. Then they acquired the knowledge to know that Donna Lass would have been "sought" as victim 12 in San Francisco at the appropriate time she lived and worked there. This person placed some considerable thought into the design of this postcard, unlikely to have been created by somebody attempting to shift the disappearance of Donna Lass toward the Zodiac Killer, who could have done so with far less effort. The time and effort, along with the subtlety employed in the creation of this communication, is something we know from previous Zodiac correspondence.
This subtlety was clear to see, when four months after the arrival of the Pines postcard, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Monticello card on July 13th 1971 claiming the murder of Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971, again using a retrospective victim total. The pasted text read "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The Zodiac Killer was retrospectively claiming he "sought" Kathy Bilek before her murder, just as he had done with Donna Lass from San Francisco to South Lake Tahoe. If he didn't murder Kathy Bilek when using this tactic, what are the chances that he killed Donna Lass but was telling the truth on this occasion? To establish whether the Zodiac Killer knew Donna Lass from San Francisco and/or South Lake Tahoe enough to trail her from one state to another, we have to return to the phone call received by security guard, Gordon Petrovich, at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 7th/8th 1970. We have to determine if the phone caller knew Donna Lass to some extent, or was a complete stranger. The following section is taken from a previous article.
The creator of the Pines postcard didn't just fashion any old communication, they took the time to add a "Forest Pines" advertisement onto face of the postcard and searched for relevant directional text in the form of newspaper cuttings to paste onto it, while punching a hole in the top right corner and scalloping all four sides. Then they acquired the knowledge to know that Donna Lass would have been "sought" as victim 12 in San Francisco at the appropriate time she lived and worked there. This person placed some considerable thought into the design of this postcard, unlikely to have been created by somebody attempting to shift the disappearance of Donna Lass toward the Zodiac Killer, who could have done so with far less effort. The time and effort, along with the subtlety employed in the creation of this communication, is something we know from previous Zodiac correspondence.
This subtlety was clear to see, when four months after the arrival of the Pines postcard, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Monticello card on July 13th 1971 claiming the murder of Kathy Bilek on April 11th 1971, again using a retrospective victim total. The pasted text read "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The Zodiac Killer was retrospectively claiming he "sought" Kathy Bilek before her murder, just as he had done with Donna Lass from San Francisco to South Lake Tahoe. If he didn't murder Kathy Bilek when using this tactic, what are the chances that he killed Donna Lass but was telling the truth on this occasion? To establish whether the Zodiac Killer knew Donna Lass from San Francisco and/or South Lake Tahoe enough to trail her from one state to another, we have to return to the phone call received by security guard, Gordon Petrovich, at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on September 7th/8th 1970. We have to determine if the phone caller knew Donna Lass to some extent, or was a complete stranger. The following section is taken from a previous article.
It is fairly obvious that the story of the mysterious phone call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino didn't originate from the police, so its origin must have come from the killer of Donna Lass for the following reasons. The security guard at the casino, Gordon Petrovich, claimed he received a phone call from somebody calling themselves Mr. Davis on either September 7th or 8th, who stated Donna Lass had been called out of town for a family illness. If Gordon Petrovich had murdered Donna Lass, it would be totally ridiculous to pretend he received a phone call from Mr. Davis about an illness in the Lass family, that he knew would be denied later by the landlord of Donna Lass, Nick Davis. This could only have served to draw suspicion upon himself. Also, why would Nick Davis ring Gordon Petrovich and report a family illness that never was, if he had murdered Donna Lass? Once the family illness story was found to be fake, likewise, Nick Davis would have brought suspicion upon himself. Neither of these two men would have had anything to gain by fabricating a story of illness in the family of Donna Lass, that would eventually be found out to be a lie.
When Donna Lass began working at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino in June 1970 it would have been her responsibility to supply the casino with her contact details (phone number and/or current address), and encumbent upon her, to acquire the contact details (phone number) of the casino in case she needed to ring them in the event of unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness to herself, family illness, accident or medical emergency By September 6th 1970, this most certainly would have been done. If Donna Lass had really received an urgent message from her family because of an illness, what would have been the appropriate response - waste valuable time trying to locate her landlord, Nick Davis, asking him to ring the casino on her behalf - or simply making the phone call to the casino herself by using a public payphone or asking to use her landlord's phone? If the relations of Donna Lass did have an illness in the family and only had the phone number of Nick Davis by way of contacting her, he would have then made contact with Donna Lass, who would have rang her family back enquiring about the gravity of the situation, before contacting the casino. Any phone call received by Gordon Petrovich of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, on behalf of Donna Lass, makes little sense. The only person who had anything to gain by reporting a family illness on behalf of Donna Lass, is an individual who knew that Donna Lass was incapable of making the phone call herself, because she was either under duress at the time, or dead.
When Donna Lass began working at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino in June 1970 it would have been her responsibility to supply the casino with her contact details (phone number and/or current address), and encumbent upon her, to acquire the contact details (phone number) of the casino in case she needed to ring them in the event of unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness to herself, family illness, accident or medical emergency By September 6th 1970, this most certainly would have been done. If Donna Lass had really received an urgent message from her family because of an illness, what would have been the appropriate response - waste valuable time trying to locate her landlord, Nick Davis, asking him to ring the casino on her behalf - or simply making the phone call to the casino herself by using a public payphone or asking to use her landlord's phone? If the relations of Donna Lass did have an illness in the family and only had the phone number of Nick Davis by way of contacting her, he would have then made contact with Donna Lass, who would have rang her family back enquiring about the gravity of the situation, before contacting the casino. Any phone call received by Gordon Petrovich of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, on behalf of Donna Lass, makes little sense. The only person who had anything to gain by reporting a family illness on behalf of Donna Lass, is an individual who knew that Donna Lass was incapable of making the phone call herself, because she was either under duress at the time, or dead.
According to Jo Anne Goettsche, who was visiting Donna Lass during this period, she had no way of contacting Donna Lass by phone when she arrived at the casino and found her friend absent. Therefore, Donna Lass had no phone in her apartment. But this still doesn't explain the obvious path Donna Lass should have taken if she had somehow received a message from her family about an illness. She would have notified her workplace by using the nearest convenient public or private phone. Or made the call en route to South Dakota (apparently without her vehicle). If the family of Donna Lass had wanted to contact her in an emergency, what phone number would Donna have given them? She would have given them either the phone number of Larry & Ann Lowe (where she previously lived), the Monte Verdi apartment landlord (if she had relayed this to her family yet) and the casino. Or any combination of all three.
Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartments, so how likely is it that the family of Donna Lass had the phone number of the landlord, Nick Davis, to even ring him about a family illness? And even if they had, why would Nick Davis bypass Donna Lass and inform the casino of the family illness himself, rather than informing Donna Lass of the family illness and her taking responsibility in notifying the casino?
The mysterious phone call using the name of Mr. Davis, which he denied was him, must have come from a murderer familiar enough with Donna Lass to know the name of her landlord. Another question that must be asked - is how many people (then or today) would know the name of their friend's landlord? Taking into account that Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartment complex, there may have been some friends that would have known her plans, but how many of these friends would have known that her landlord was called Mr. Davis? One such friend (or casual acquaintance) that may have been privy to this information, would have been somebody who lived at the Monte Verdi apartments themselves. Possibly somebody who informed Donna Lass previously that the Monte Verdi apartments were a good place to live. Often, people move into future premises on the recommendations of others - usually friends they trust.
Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartments, so how likely is it that the family of Donna Lass had the phone number of the landlord, Nick Davis, to even ring him about a family illness? And even if they had, why would Nick Davis bypass Donna Lass and inform the casino of the family illness himself, rather than informing Donna Lass of the family illness and her taking responsibility in notifying the casino?
The mysterious phone call using the name of Mr. Davis, which he denied was him, must have come from a murderer familiar enough with Donna Lass to know the name of her landlord. Another question that must be asked - is how many people (then or today) would know the name of their friend's landlord? Taking into account that Donna Lass had just moved into the Monte Verdi apartment complex, there may have been some friends that would have known her plans, but how many of these friends would have known that her landlord was called Mr. Davis? One such friend (or casual acquaintance) that may have been privy to this information, would have been somebody who lived at the Monte Verdi apartments themselves. Possibly somebody who informed Donna Lass previously that the Monte Verdi apartments were a good place to live. Often, people move into future premises on the recommendations of others - usually friends they trust.
The Zodiac Killer was clearly familiar with San Francisco on some level, so it is feasible he could have known Donna Lass from the Letterman General Hospital where she worked, or from activities outside of her employment. He could have lived or worked close to her 4122 Balboa Street address - and chose Presidio Heights as a suitable location for his October 11th 1969 murder based on local knowledge.
It is also possible that when Donna Lass went missing in South Lake Tahoe and the newspapers printed her previous employment at the very park the Zodiac Killer claimed he escaped into, the Bay Area murderer would almost certainly have known that linking himself to her disappearance was an opportunity too good to turn down. He must have calculated that investigators would forge the connection between South Lake Tahoe and San Francisco through her profession, and hopefully boost his credibility on March 22nd 1971.
The delay between the Donna Lass disappearance and the arrival of the Pines postcard may have been an indication he wasn't her murderer. He could have waited 6 1/2 months to satisfy himself the young nurse wasn't just missing, or that her real murderer would likely not be found. On the other hand, it is possible he was unaware of the Donna Lass story until early 1971.
Establishing a connection between the Zodiac Killer and South Lake Tahoe in advance of Donna Lass' murder was further confused by several threatening phone calls (reported in the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 15th 1969) aimed towards school buses from Incline Village and Tahoe City in November 1969. There may have been a fair number of hoax Zodiac calls throughout the years, but this person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer and threatened Incline Village by Lake Tahoe, nearly 1 1/2 years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard which contained an advertisement of Incline Village. This, on its surface, appears to lend credence to the Zodiac Killer being responsible for the Pines postcard. Or, that he wasn't responsible for the 1969 threat and somehow gained access to the Sacramento Bee newspaper article after the fact (had kept the newspaper when bought, or kept a cutting in his possession from the time), or had it stored in his memory bank and decided in 1971 to choose anything he could find in the newspapers concerning Incline Village to paste onto his postcard, so as to cement a connection between both. By issuing a second malicious threat involving Incline Village, maybe the Zodiac Killer was hoping law enforcement would take his latest threat more seriously, just as he had done by adding "sought victim 12" onto the postcard and again linking himself back to activity in the Bay Area and vicinity.
It is also possible that when Donna Lass went missing in South Lake Tahoe and the newspapers printed her previous employment at the very park the Zodiac Killer claimed he escaped into, the Bay Area murderer would almost certainly have known that linking himself to her disappearance was an opportunity too good to turn down. He must have calculated that investigators would forge the connection between South Lake Tahoe and San Francisco through her profession, and hopefully boost his credibility on March 22nd 1971.
The delay between the Donna Lass disappearance and the arrival of the Pines postcard may have been an indication he wasn't her murderer. He could have waited 6 1/2 months to satisfy himself the young nurse wasn't just missing, or that her real murderer would likely not be found. On the other hand, it is possible he was unaware of the Donna Lass story until early 1971.
Establishing a connection between the Zodiac Killer and South Lake Tahoe in advance of Donna Lass' murder was further confused by several threatening phone calls (reported in the Sacramento Bee newspaper on December 15th 1969) aimed towards school buses from Incline Village and Tahoe City in November 1969. There may have been a fair number of hoax Zodiac calls throughout the years, but this person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer and threatened Incline Village by Lake Tahoe, nearly 1 1/2 years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard which contained an advertisement of Incline Village. This, on its surface, appears to lend credence to the Zodiac Killer being responsible for the Pines postcard. Or, that he wasn't responsible for the 1969 threat and somehow gained access to the Sacramento Bee newspaper article after the fact (had kept the newspaper when bought, or kept a cutting in his possession from the time), or had it stored in his memory bank and decided in 1971 to choose anything he could find in the newspapers concerning Incline Village to paste onto his postcard, so as to cement a connection between both. By issuing a second malicious threat involving Incline Village, maybe the Zodiac Killer was hoping law enforcement would take his latest threat more seriously, just as he had done by adding "sought victim 12" onto the postcard and again linking himself back to activity in the Bay Area and vicinity.
The murderer of Donna Lass, when traveling from South Lake Tahoe to the body deposition site (had this been his route), bypassed innumerable earlier and more remote locations where he could have separated himself from her body, assuming she was dead. Yet he chose to select an area popular with campers, fishermen and hikers, which appeared far riskier. This may suggest a familiarity with the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap, because killers will often choose a deposition site based on knowledge and risk level, rather than areas they are totally unfamiliar with. The murderer of Donna Lass could have known pockets within the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap that presented minimal risk in darkness, despite it being a popular area with locals and tourists alike. This is an argument for "better the devil you know" over uncertainty. If this deposition site was chosen because the killer was a previous or frequent visitor to this location in Placer County, while simultaneously knowing the name of Donna Lass' landlord, we could be looking for somebody known to Donna Lass whose history is connected to this tourist destination. He may have stayed, drank or eaten at any of the several lodges or establishments that lay close to Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap. He may even have visited this area with Donna Lass during the brief three months she lived at South Lake Tahoe. I certainly don't know with certainty, but I strongly suspect that the killer and victim in this case were known to one another, in absence of the Zodiac Killer.
"Considering the fact that offenders transporting a dead body are subject to time, distance, speed, weather, geographical, and effort constraints (Häkkänen et al., 2007), it is not surprising that in the current study, most offenders did not travel to dispose of the body, but rather, left it at the murder site. Similarly, as most sexual homicides are committed by strangers, it is possible that as suggested by Häkkänen et al. (2007), offenders see no rationale for making the effort to dump the body at a different location. Offenders with stranger victims may perceive the risk of moving the victim's body to be greater than that of being linked to the crime should they simply leave the body at the attack location". Research Gate. The distance traveled by the murderer of Donna Lass to dispose of her body appears to indicate a desire to delay the analysis of her murder, in which family, friends and work colleagues would inevitably become the first port of call for investigators. A complete stranger, with no prior links to Donna Lass, will be less likely to feel the need for concealment. The distance from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino (now the Golden Nugget) to the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap is approximately 80 miles. The phone call to Gordon Petrovich at the casino claiming Donna Lass had left town for a family illness is extremely likely to have been placed to diffuse any concern when Donna Lass failed to return to work. This would buy the killer more time to relocate the body and clean up any incriminating evidence. The need to buy time until the police come knocking is far more relevant to somebody known to Donna Lass than a stranger.
"Considering the fact that offenders transporting a dead body are subject to time, distance, speed, weather, geographical, and effort constraints (Häkkänen et al., 2007), it is not surprising that in the current study, most offenders did not travel to dispose of the body, but rather, left it at the murder site. Similarly, as most sexual homicides are committed by strangers, it is possible that as suggested by Häkkänen et al. (2007), offenders see no rationale for making the effort to dump the body at a different location. Offenders with stranger victims may perceive the risk of moving the victim's body to be greater than that of being linked to the crime should they simply leave the body at the attack location". Research Gate. The distance traveled by the murderer of Donna Lass to dispose of her body appears to indicate a desire to delay the analysis of her murder, in which family, friends and work colleagues would inevitably become the first port of call for investigators. A complete stranger, with no prior links to Donna Lass, will be less likely to feel the need for concealment. The distance from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino (now the Golden Nugget) to the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap is approximately 80 miles. The phone call to Gordon Petrovich at the casino claiming Donna Lass had left town for a family illness is extremely likely to have been placed to diffuse any concern when Donna Lass failed to return to work. This would buy the killer more time to relocate the body and clean up any incriminating evidence. The need to buy time until the police come knocking is far more relevant to somebody known to Donna Lass than a stranger.
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