On July 10th 2024 I wrote an article about Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19) who had parked their vehicle at the end of Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley in South Lake Tahoe on December 13th 1969, when a man approached the young couple at approximately 9:45 pm carrying a flashlight, before shooting them with a 12-guage shotgun. Heidi Hoffman was struck by 40 pellets, with Lenny Parsons hit 7 times.
This came one month after the Sacramento Bee reported multiple threats by the "Zodiac Killer" on school buses at Incline Village over the previous few weeks, culminating on November 23rd 1969. There remained a faint chance this may have been the Bay Area murderer, who was known to target couples armed with a flashlight. On the other hand, it was considered they may have been targetted by known double murderer, Joseph Stephen Holt, who lived at 1390 Keller Road when he murdered Brynn Rainey eight years later in 1977. This address was less than a mile from the double shooting.
However, after further digging, I discovered another newspaper from the Sacramento Bee on December 17th 1969, which describes the confession of Gerald Paul Smith (17), a marine from Camp Pendleton, who admitted to police he was responsible for firing at the couple with a shotgun in a case of blind panic. In an extremely suspect account of events, he claimed himself and a 15-year old companion were looking for a Christmas tree, when they mistook footsteps in the distance for an approaching bear or bobcat and fired indiscriminately to protect themselves. What a load of baloney.
Anyway, just recently I have added some additional material to the article "The Reason Why the Zodiac Killer Wrote the Exorcist Letter on January 29th 1974", explaining its links to the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters, including some newspaper cuttings from 1972 showing why the Zodiac Killer wrote "Pat Boone is an obscenity to the rest of the world". The Bay Area murder had a long memory, which may have extended to the use of library microfiche to compose his communications. The above article and its follow up "A Pawn in a Game of Death", corroborates the case that the April 24th 1978 letter was mailed by the Zodiac.
This came one month after the Sacramento Bee reported multiple threats by the "Zodiac Killer" on school buses at Incline Village over the previous few weeks, culminating on November 23rd 1969. There remained a faint chance this may have been the Bay Area murderer, who was known to target couples armed with a flashlight. On the other hand, it was considered they may have been targetted by known double murderer, Joseph Stephen Holt, who lived at 1390 Keller Road when he murdered Brynn Rainey eight years later in 1977. This address was less than a mile from the double shooting.
However, after further digging, I discovered another newspaper from the Sacramento Bee on December 17th 1969, which describes the confession of Gerald Paul Smith (17), a marine from Camp Pendleton, who admitted to police he was responsible for firing at the couple with a shotgun in a case of blind panic. In an extremely suspect account of events, he claimed himself and a 15-year old companion were looking for a Christmas tree, when they mistook footsteps in the distance for an approaching bear or bobcat and fired indiscriminately to protect themselves. What a load of baloney.
Anyway, just recently I have added some additional material to the article "The Reason Why the Zodiac Killer Wrote the Exorcist Letter on January 29th 1974", explaining its links to the April 24th 1978 and May 2nd 1978 letters, including some newspaper cuttings from 1972 showing why the Zodiac Killer wrote "Pat Boone is an obscenity to the rest of the world". The Bay Area murder had a long memory, which may have extended to the use of library microfiche to compose his communications. The above article and its follow up "A Pawn in a Game of Death", corroborates the case that the April 24th 1978 letter was mailed by the Zodiac.
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