ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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THE SEARCH FOR A NAME

12/11/2019

 
This is another speculative article searching for the name of the Zodiac Killer within his communications - so caution must be applied to any conclusions that are reached in the following analysis.
PictureGroucho Marx
After the challenge by Dr. Marsh on October 22nd 1969 requesting that the Zodiac Killer give us his real name in a cipher "however complicated", the notion of a killer hinting at his name in later communications is certainly plausible. Presented in a hidden format, the Zodiac Killer knew that it could never be used as evidence against him, unless the unearthed solution could be proven beyond doubt to be the correct one. In the article Return to Sender we explored the introduction and answer to the 13 symbol cipher of "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is....Fk, I'm crackproof". The Zodiac Killer effectively giving us his name, but in the shortened format. 

Three months later, the Zodiac Killer mailed the Little List letter on July 26th 1970 paraphrasing the recital
of Groucho Marx's As some day it may happen from the Gilbert & Sullivan comedic opera, The Mikado. On October 12th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle featured this letter under the title of Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac, stating "A quiet search for onetime Ko-Ko's has turned up none that could be Zodiac. Obvious differences in physical description and handwriting comparisons have cleared all Ko-Ko's tracked down since the arrival of the July 27 letters". But what if the Zodiac Killer wasn't choosing the character of Ko-Ko because he played him in a production or even liked the theater, but the name Ko-Ko was somehow pertinent to his identity. Bearing in mind the phrase "My name is....Fk, I'm crackproof", could the Zodiac Killer's surname begin with Ko. The phrase "FK, I'm crackproof" is actually 14 letters long, but it was fashioned into a code of only 13 characters. Could this deliberate formatting indicate his initials were FK in a name comprising of 13 letters?

Picture1990 Eureka card
Although questionable Zodiac correspondence, the December 1990 Eureka card yet again featured Groucho Marx in imagery on the front of the card, promising us his name yet again. The card read "From your secret pal, can't guess who I am yet? Well, look inside and you'll find out" - and contained within was a xerox copy of two keys. This too triggered the notion of a surname beginning with K. The Exorcist letter mailed on January 29th 1974 also featured a verse recited by Groucho Marx, but more importantly, the verse of Tit-Willow by Ko-Ko was preceded by the line "Signed, yours truley", implying the character in the verse had something to do with his name. This wasn't all.

We argued that the Zodiac Killer gave us the answers to all his "unsolved" codes in his own words, and the Celebrity Cypher mailed on September 25th 1990 to the Vallejo Times-Herald may have followed a similar pattern. The name of the sender was hidden behind 5 and 8 characters totaling 13, placed on the address side of the postcard and at the foot of the communication. A Celebrity Cypher with a likely introduction of "My name is", exactly like 13 symbol cipher mailed on April 20th 1970. If the initials of the killer were given in that instance within the phrase
"Fk, I'm crackproof", then there are reasonable grounds to believe the 5 and 8 letters of the name on the Celebrity Cypher begin with an F and K also. In the Return to Sender article we hypothesized the forename as "Frank", based upon the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" in reference to the stamp on the April 20th 1970 letter - and this fits nicely into the Celebrity Cypher solution. I have speculatively placed "Ko" at the beginning of the surname regarding The Mikado references, but will venture no further. There are possibilities based on the "keys" provided by the Eureka card to suggest his surname could end in "key" or "ki" such as "Kominski", however, there are plenty of other options pertaining to the xeroxed image.

Comparisons can be drawn between the April 20th 1970 and September 25th 1990 communications with respect to a name comprising of 13 letters (split into 5 and 8 characters) - and bearing in mind the Christmas card, likely mailed close to December 25th 1990 continuing the theme of promising us his name - can a link be forged between all three regarding the identity or name of the Zodiac Killer? 

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Tom1
12/11/2019 03:24:51 pm

Keys. As in “keys” to a puzzle?

Richard
12/11/2019 03:55:35 pm

Quite possibly. May be a reference to the September communication indicating it has two keys. Unfortunately, without finding links to this "blank" Eureka card it's open to numerous interpretations. But I suppose that is part of the challenge. Even if it wasn't Zodiac, it still likely has a meaning to the sender.

Tom1
12/12/2019 06:34:45 am

He left clews to his identity all over the place. The ciphers and letters are only two pieces of the puzzle. His overall behavior reveals so much more. It is amazing that he got away without being discovered. Somehow he knew he was crackproof thereby enabling him to deliberately leave incriminating evidence everywhere. He was hiding in plain sight.

Roger
12/12/2019 10:30:25 pm

I am sure the strange symbol that he put in the sender's space on the envelope mailed to Avery has some significance to his own address. But good luck making any sense of that. It could mean any one of a million things. He could not have been more obscure if he had drawn a picture of Snoopy lying on top of his doghouse. The Zodiac told us "the devil is in the detail". I think he meant this literally. He was telling us that in the detail of his communications we will find no truth at all, only subterfuge, trickery, and deception.

Roger
12/12/2019 10:58:00 pm

Richard - Regarding the DNA side of things, I note that there have been no realistic updates on this since February this year. At the beginning of 2019 there were a flurry of media reports and posts on online forums, all discussing the possibility of running recovered Zodiac DNA through online genealogy sites. Well it has all gone quiet since then and has remained very quiet.

We all know that the police will not release anything until they are 100% sure and they have the perp in custody (if he is still alive). They are not going to tell the public anything in the meantime. So the sad reality is that if nothing ever comes out of the whole DNA thing, years could go by and the public will be left in the dark. It could be decades before we hear about the outcome of the DNA.

There seems little hope to me, because it seems the Zodiac may have taken considerable care not to leave incriminating evidence behind. Some have even suggested he may have been smart enough to get other people to lick his stamps for him. If this was true, he was possibly more concerned about leaving an errant finger print on the sticky undersurface than saliva. Or maybe he was just lucky, and now time will have helped erase any tracks he had inadvertently left behind?

The Cheri Jo Bates case has the highest chance of success IMHO, considering her killer potentially left several hairs behind, but I do not believe that case had anything to do with the Zodiac. DNA may prove me wrong in future, but I have never been convinced of a Riverside connection.

I have always been astounded that Cheri Jo's killer still remains unidentified, when other killers have been brought to justice who left far less DNA evidence behind.

Rubislaw 32 link
12/13/2019 06:22:50 am

Naturally,we can't be certain about what goes on ,behind closed doors , at Departments of Justice where , the future of the Zodiac case is in the hands of the prosecuting services ,decided by appointed trials lawyers and criminologists.

Some of us ,among the Zodiac internet community ,anticipate that we will be '' spoon-fed '' information ,by various law enforcement agents ,every step of the way . Occasionally ,'' they '' might make a decision ,or even hand us some form of information....but we have to,largely figure out any consequences or ramifications ,for ourselves.

First,and foremost ,the FBI's Zodiac DNA work ,carried out in 2002/2003 HAS NEVER BEEN REVOKED...regardless of any ''provincial police force rumours '',to the contrary ,in the last couple of years.

Secondly ,with the advent of GSK finally being hauled into custody ,under extremely ''tenuous'' legal grounds of genealogy searches ,it is extremely unlikely that those DOJ experts are willingly going to go down the same route ,to find the Zodiac's identity....if more ''legal'' methods are available to them.

The prosecution of GSK may take another 4 years ,if the prosecution and defense teams can't come to an agreement ,behind closed doors .What the defense team ''might'' hold in their favour is,that tenuous nature of identification by genealogy.

At least ,I believe ,any further investigative work required ,in the Zodiac case ,will ensure that an appointed prosecting team ,will not be ''burdened'' by this potential '' handicap ''....and that,if an arrest is made ,then due judicial processes will operate much swifter.

Shawn
12/13/2019 09:50:36 am

Below is how the Zodiac case will probably be solved, if solved by DNA.

The cold case rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl has been solved after 36 years but her accused killer isn't around to be brought to justice, a Texas TV station reported Friday. The victim was Julie Fuller, who was found slain in Fort Worth in 1983 after her abduction from an Arlington motel.

The DNA testing tying McNichols to the crime came 15 years after his death, the station reported.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/dead-man-tied-to-girls-cold-case-murder-texas-dna

Rubislaw 32 link
12/13/2019 10:18:21 am

Interesting, Shawn....and this sort of case might well be ''the way to go''.

Personally,I believe that the authorities already have a match - to a close relative,that was '' a victim '',in a criminal case.

Whether true or not ,the point is perhaps made - that one doesn't necessarily need to chase the Zodiac,himself....and entirely ''legally '',to find a close enough match ,and hence identify the Zodiac - beyond reasonable doubt.

Richard
12/13/2019 01:23:46 pm

It is approximately 2 years since the so-called fresh DNA round of testing. If Zodiac had licked the stamps, then some salivary amylase should be detected. Don't forget, we have a 1986 and 1987 letter, which haven't been satisfactorily ruled out by any means. These are only three decades old and DNA was used first in the arrest of Colin Pitchfork in Narborough, England. These DNA tests were 1985. Timothy Spencer was the first convicted using DNA in 1988 in the USA. These letters should have been tested, along with the confirmed Zodiac letters long before they were. Why are they testing the early Zodiac letters again, when they have had no success with them. They apparently have a full DNA profile already for the Exorcist letter according to Keel and Rodelli. If the police keep harping on that this was a confirmed Zodiac letter, then WHY are we looking for DNA when we already have it. Their own DNA chart in the 1990s tells you DNA was discovered in this and the 1978 letter. It should tell you everything when they keep choosing pre-1974 letters to test - that they don't believe the Exorcist letter is Zodiac. And anybody who runs a DNA test by using material from the outside of a stamp is a certified buffoon - even the dumbest of fools knows that is a meaningless test.

Richard
12/13/2019 01:31:22 pm

Ask yourself one question - how do they declare the 1978 "not authentic Zodiac letter" in a DNA table of results, if they don't already have Zodiac DNA to compare it with. The answer is threefold [1] They are confident they already have a full Zodiac DNA profile, which is unlikely, because they wouldn't be pissing around now [2] They know the sex of the author was female, or [3] They know it was David Toschi

Rubislaw 32 link
12/13/2019 01:45:38 pm

The ''long and the short of it '' Richard is ,that that these individuals that make ''second hand '' claims ,are abdicating recognition of the ''chain of command '' in the Zodiac case.

In July 1969 ,the CA DOJ awarded jurisdiction in (...apart from other aspects , also...) ALL FORENSICS to the FBI.

The only reliable sources of information ,will be found with this agency ,and those they serve , The CA DOJ.

The last member of public ,to receive any information from either of the above ,was Lyndon Lafferty in 2003 ,when they informed him that WJGrant did not hold a DNA match to the Zodiac.

A few ''chancers'' assume they will find answers outside the above agencies.

Those few....only fool themselves.

Roger
12/13/2019 02:20:30 pm

They may have obtained a lot of conflicting DNA samples. The process of narrowing things down could literally go on forever. With a case as long-running and complex as the Zodiac case, and with the strong likelihood of hoaxers left, right and center, post-1969, sorting the wheat from the straw could become very time consuming. The result of modern DNA tests may create more confusing than the so-called "evidence" to date. And of course the people doing the DNA forensics work have to be able to prove conclusively that their methodology and results leave no room for doubt. DNA forensics is definitely not guess work. Guess work is the domain of internet sleuths putting 2 and 2 together and (most times) coming up with 15 in order to force a fit with their pet suspect, be he Sullivan, Gaike, or Kane etc. They do this in the complete absence of smoking gun evidence or flagrante delicto, or strong direct evidence for that matter! DNA evidence is getting so good these days that it is coming close to flagrante delicto (it can, many years after the fact, literally place the suspect at the crime scene, when the DNA is inextricably connected to the incriminating evidence. If the suspect was the only other person who could have been at the scene apart from the victims, then the evidence becomes pretty overwhelming. There is of course room for error, which is why so much time must be taken to "get it right". But for the most part it is a precise science, now valued more highly than fingerprints. The only time it fails is when DNA contamination occurs and we end up with partial and confusing results. I believe there are methods available now to magnify DNA in order to separate and refine partial, contaminated and mixed samples. We live in exciting times with many cold cases solved and many more will be solved in the near future. Of course if the Zodiac's identity is ever revealed and he is somebody no-one had ever heard of, the groupies from the Sullivan, Kane, Gaike camps will call foul and seek to find fault with the forensic methodology. Evidence is one thing. Mind sets are quite another.

Rubislaw 32 link
12/13/2019 05:58:32 pm

For many years ,it would appear to be official : The four canonical attacks at LHR , BRS , LB and PH, are tied together,in that they were committed by a '' one and the same '' ,armed and dangerous extortionist ,known as The Zodiac Killer.

With all this loose and unsubstantiated talk about there being '' No Zodiac DNA '',what exactly does everyone think that the four attacks are held together,by ?

'' Airplane Cement '' ( ? ).

(....genuine suggestions would be appreciated....)

Tom1
12/14/2019 06:34:25 am

Forensic evidence and Mr. Z’s knowledge of the events relayed in his communications. Not DNA

Rubislaw 32 link
12/14/2019 08:26:11 am

Interesting assessment , Tom 1 ,and since we don't know definitively ,it's entirely possible that the FBI have had a ''criteria'',for which they are happy.I suspect it's a '' combination '' of elements possibly steeped in Criminlogy theory ,anyway.

Reading back to 2002 ,newspaper reports indicate that Arthur Leigh Allen ''may'' have been the FBI's ''only'' official Zodiac suspect ,with individuals like Kjell Qvale ''only'' regarded as Zodiac POI's.But from reports,also there were a large number ( 250 ? ) of '' POI's '' eliminated.

A special case,seems to have been WJGrant,in 2003 , since Grant was prohibited legally ,from being a Zodiac suspect or Zodiac POI .

But,all things considered ,including the canvassing work of Lafferty to President Bush ....the US DOJ made special dispensation.

Both Allen and Grant were eliminated by DNA ,at that time.

And Lafferty became a local hero ,with the Bay area press .

Robyne
12/14/2019 06:51:14 am

All clues point to the plausible scenario that zodiac's name was Tim(othy); his only constent misspelled word was "vicTIM" as "victom" and his clue to his name in the Halloween card (October 27th, 1970) was the "death wheel" from Tim Holt #30 comic book from 1953. I bet he took into account that there were 10,000s of Timothys in the Bay Area back then, and that it'll be insufficient for the SFPD or any other PD to summon them all up to investigation in order to pin him down.

Robyne
12/14/2019 11:49:26 am

Also, in this case/card/communication, which I doubt that was penned by the actual zodiac, the name can also be "floyd", and the last cipher line on the left can be "Benicia, CA".

BB
12/14/2019 04:17:02 pm

KTIM RADIO

http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/ktim-radio/

Richard Marshall seems to have done some work at KTIM

http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/marshall.htm

"In 1969, Marshall reportedly lived in a basement apartment on Scott Street in San Francisco" The FBI thought the Zodiac was a ham radio operator which Marshall was. He also was an associate of Bob Vaughn.


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    The Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer almost word-for-word when he wrote PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians. The code solution identified was Estimate: Four Radians and Five Inches To read more, click the image.
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