GETTING A FOOTHOLD IN THE SCORPION CIPHER

11/15/2024

It could be argued that the author of the Scorpion letters, which were mailed to John Walsh, presenter of the popular television show America's Most Wanted, was hinting he was once the infamous Zodiac Killer. In a series of cryptograms and letters sent in 1991, the headline text of "Hi, Remember Me" is fairly self-explanatory. To discover whether the Zodiac Killer had reinvented himself as the "Scorpion", let us take a look at the 148 character cipher, the last lengthy code mailed by the Zodiac Killer in May 1971 and see if there are any overlapping features to the longest of the Scorpion ciphers (180 characters).

THE MAIN SCORPION CIPHER

Disregarding the orientation of the characters, I have noted seven overlapping ciphertext characters from the Z148 to the main Scorpion cipher. Six of these characters (boxed in red below) had never been used by the Zodiac Killer prior to 1971. The ciphertext character "7" represented the plaintext letter "A" in both the Z148 and Albany code. The "sun cross" symbol (similar to crosshairs) and ciphertext character "7" were both present in the Z148, Albany and Scorpion codes.

The Zodiac Killer signed off his accompanying letter to the 148 character code in 1971 with a "sun cross" symbol (see below). This represented the plaintext letter "Z" in the Z148.cipher, which meant that Zodiac Killer was effectively signing off with a "Z" in his communication, just as he did in the Halloween card on October 27th 1970.

The accompanying letter to the 148 character cryptogram, courtesy of Howard Davis

So I took a gamble and presupposed that the Zodiac Killer, if he composed the Scorpion ciphers, may have used the "sun cross" symbol to represent the plaintext letter "Z" in the main Scorpion cipher. The "sun cross" symbol was only present in the main Scorpion cipher, headed by "Hi, Remember Me". If the plaintext letter "Z" was featured in the main Scorpion cipher, then it held the possibility of the pseudonym "Zodiac" being present. However, to bolster this proposition, we needed at least two repeating ciphertext characters (the same distance apart) within two runs of six consecutive characters of the Scorpion cipher - and they both had to begin with a "sun cross". It was possible.

52 Comments

Rubislaw32 link

11/15/2024 12:46:32 pm

Nice to see Scorpion's S5 cipher displayed, Richard. If by the Zodiac, which I have no doubts - then it could be also called ''Z180''.

I solved this in October 2018, with a 100% homophonic solution and no transformations. It's up to others to decide whether it is the correct solution - but it is available to be viewed at the ZKM site.

One other Scorpion cipher, S1 (Z70), has so far been published, and I solved that one at the same time as S5.

Any similarities in plain text content, between ''Z70'' and ''Z180'' ?

1) Both refer to New York City.

2) Both refer to photographs that Scorpion was sending with each cipher, believing the recipients (ultimately FBI ?) would be making a collection of these photographs. Seemingly of university students and ''Lady Boy'' prostitutes.

Conjecture: Scorpion (SF Zodiac ?) claimed that he was a serial killer who had recently moved to New Jersey. My interpretation is that Zodiac was using Newark International Airport quite regularly, and electing to take short R & R breaks in New York City - when he might decide to ''deposit'' one of his ciphers c/w a photo or two.

Richard

11/15/2024 01:01:45 pm

Currently Rubi, I'm attempting another solve using the two Zodiac sections. I'm currently 2/3 the way through. It's probably not the answer, but I enjoy the challenge. Pop your solution here for reference if you like.

Rubislaw32 link

11/15/2024 01:21:26 pm

Would love to - but have to show allegiance to ZKM, for the viewing figures and advertising, alone. The Mods and Admin leave me to my own devices, which is nice. But anyone can access the cipher solutions at the Scorpion ciphers thread in the Ciphers section of the site, if they wish.

My solutions went to the FBI (regretted), the Scottish Crown Office (semi-regretted), and the Justice Committee at the Scottish Parliament ( happy (!) ).

Rubislaw32 link

11/15/2024 02:42:13 pm

Oh yes - one other thing I found that Z180 and Z70 shared was that Scorpion liked Coffee - which he wrote as ''Cofee'' in both cases. He seems to have been none too impressed with the quality of Coffee in New York City.

I would like to get my hands on S2, S3 and S4, naturally. There seems no good reason why only S1 and S5 have been published.

Johnny

11/15/2024 03:42:17 pm

Doerr runes:

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fstate-your-case-v0-6nfejqm5rlmd1.png%3Fwidth%3D720%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D9355a0c0f51a839c7aa4e0db83b577facf35c65d

The number 3 is fairly similar ( scorpion ). Isn't it RH in the third lowest line at the right? I know what Rick written about it with the college student, but anyway...

But it isnt much similar though.

Johnny

11/16/2024 09:53:39 am

I can say one thing about this, and that is i believe it is a male individual that has composed this. Writings is one thing, but i think ciphers ( more male dominated ) is another, and the handwriting definitely is manly aswell.

But what do the cipher figues suggest? Tools, houses.
Music, flags and sky objects. Might be a few diffuse person in there but mostly this is about things.

An 8 with a flag beside it. Could he be interested in horses or car races?

Richard

11/16/2024 10:41:16 am

There are so many variables in the cipher (too many symbols). The amount of symbols with dots suggests they have functionality within the cipher rather than just decoration. Same with the filled in squares. What inspired this style Johnny is anyone's guess. I, like you, get the impression this was designed by somebody of a more mature age. Possibly in their late 50s or 60s.

Richard

11/16/2024 11:12:02 am

Like a "Pigpen cipher".

Johnny

11/16/2024 11:50:46 am

Yes, and if this is the Zodiac perhaps Chester seems a better fit compared to Doerr. Doerr seems immature and fantastical according to his writings. But ofcourse this is just speculation on my part, and what do i know from just a little writing about almost nothng at all.

Johnny

11/16/2024 09:55:18 am

This is an older man . It is almost certain when you see the very mature and decent handwriting: Hi! remember me?

Rubislaw32 link

11/16/2024 03:12:31 pm

Well, I do have ''Scorpion'' revealing the term ''Person of Age'' in the 100% homophonic Z180 solution.

''Person of Age'' might be up for grabs on interpretation ?

Not least that ''Person of Age'' contains ''son o fAg'' inside it.

''Son o' Fag'' ? Whatever next ?

Rubislaw32 link

11/16/2024 03:35:45 pm

If one spreads the term ''Person of Age'' out, thus:

Per son o fAg e

Then, one can see that son o fAg is contained within Per e.

Pere is ''father'' in French. So, Son o' Fag is within ''father''

I could call this solution 100% homophobic ? But best, perhaps, leave the jokes to Scorpion aka Zodiac.

Johnny

11/16/2024 03:51:24 pm

Could be Grants son if your right about this.

Rubisaw32 link

11/16/2024 03:52:00 pm

It might be worth noting that in my 100% homophonic Franglais solution to the 1990 Celebrity cipher, Zodiac (?) writes:

Sans Son....in the French part of the solution, which means ''without his'' in English. But, it certainly looks like ''San's son'' - a title Zodiac might give himself.

San's son...and Son o' Fag ? Nice.

Johnny

11/16/2024 03:55:33 pm

Genes has it sometimes.

Johnny

11/16/2024 03:59:22 pm

But just sometimes, Rubi. My father was an engineer like yourself. Myself im lousy at mathematics and i try my best learning from beautiful minds like yours.

Rubislaw32 link

11/16/2024 04:38:39 pm

Well thanks Johnny - a mathematician actually. But spent much of my working life in Victorian restoration.

As a general comment about the Zodiac as cipher-maker, I would say he was really a crossword fan who then took to cryptography as a means of sending veiled messages. But the wordplay content to his ciphers and puzzles always seemed to shine through. Little wonder, perhaps, that it was a crossword puzzler Don Harden who solved Zodiac's 408, and first known cipher.

Johnny

11/16/2024 12:44:43 pm

The sad thing about Doerr as i understand it, is that we have no indication that gets large enough to think it might be him. And this is leaning heavily against him as a suspect.

The more things we find about a person without finding "big things", the less of a POI this individual really is. Arthur Leigh Allen almost got excluded in this way, even without the physical evidence.

If his daughter find a photo of him with bleached hair, then we can begin to talk, because not many males back then bleached their hair.

...do you Jibby ( or anyone else ) know who this person Graysmith said chased people with an Impala ( ? ) was? I guess it was a young man though?

Richard

11/16/2024 12:51:29 pm

Only William Crow.

Johnny

11/16/2024 01:19:40 pm

It could be something Graysmith wrote to make it higher in the suspense department, because i don't think he got arrested, did he?

Anyway, it was a lone male in an Impala ( ? ) chasing peoples cars around.

VT_Squire

11/18/2024 11:52:34 am

IDK about "Zodiac" but it seems to me like dude is just writing the same 4 lines over and over again.

https://imgur.com/a/hwDWZgU

Richard

11/18/2024 02:07:05 pm

That's a good spot. The 340 also showed repeating patterns, but this is an interesting find regarding the areas you've highlighted. I have little doubt that this cipher has a genuine message because of the sheer effort of its designer, and the fact that a cipher created with no message doesn't achieve long lasting satisfaction to its creator. Do you think this cipher/accompanying letter was created by Zodiac, and have you attempted a solve?

VT_Squire

11/18/2024 11:52:57 pm

I don't think it is from the same Zodiac that killed in the SF bay.

I have not attempted a solve.

My understanding is that this cipher suffers the same poor unicity distance as the z32, preventing any solution from standing above a crowd of others. However, having identified at least 8 indicators that the cipher is the same 4 lines repeating over and over, it is potentially possible to deduce from that basis which symbols must logically be equivalent to others, and thereby reduce the total number of symbols to the end effect of producing a unique solution.

It would just be 48 symbols, period. Here's another image of some pairings I have found in spacings of either 4, 8 or 12 rows.

https://imgur.com/a/orZ19Ma

VT_Squire

11/19/2024 01:24:35 pm

Figured I would return to this one because I came up with a proof of concept.

https://ciphermysteries.com/other-ciphers/scorpion-ciphers

Per the above URL, 155 of the 180 symbols are unique. As a consequence, I can run a binomial probability calculation.

For example, let's say I just wipe out the first two rows of symbols plus 1. I replace them one at a time by drawing a random symbol which has already been used below (supposing that every symbol has already been used below.)

Since my hypothesis is that this is 4 repeating rows, each time I pick a random symbol for a slot, there are 3 symbols in the corresponding locations of each group of 4 rows below. That means the chance of a match is 3 in 155 = 0.0193548387

Because I get 25 trials and each trial is a 0.0193548387 probability in the best case scenario, AND because I've already shown 8 positive matches, I can just look up what the probability of at least 8 matches is on a table or online calculator.

https://stattrek.com/online-calculator/binomial

The probability of only 6 (or more) matches drops down to 0.00001

I've observed 10 so far, which effectively means this phenomena is a near impossibility (somewhere around 1 in 100 million or more) to occur as a result of just dumb luck.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/19/2024 01:18:39 pm

Interesting. So if I'm following this thread correctly, and I'm not sure that I am. There are two people that are 100% the Zodiac, and two separate people on here are having a conversation about their guy being 100% the Zodiac, with one person claiming 100% solves of solutions, that have not been published by any type of authoritative source?

Johnny

11/19/2024 07:18:36 pm

Tom's suspect isn't Ed Edwards from my recollection.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/20/2024 09:05:20 am

I believe that's common knowledge in the community.

JIbberjabber

11/19/2024 10:24:30 pm

I didn't know anything about cryptography before taking an interest in the Zodiac case, I know some absolute basics now after watching few videos reading a few books and articles etc my 2 cents for what it is worth:

I noticed Zodiac was "economical?" with his use of symbols, ie he could get more than 1 use out of a symbol by reflecting it. if it was a symbol that looked the same when reflected such as the anchor symbol, he differentiated it by adding a dot which would be on the opposite side when reflected. I am noticing the author of the scoprion cipher for example uses a left arrow "<" but then uses a right arrow with a dot ".>" I think the Zodiac of 1969/1970 would have just reflected the left arrow to point right and there would be no need to add the dot to distinguish it as a right arrow is distinguishable from a left arrow anyway.

I dont know if that is relevant? The fact I noticed it and do not know anything about ciphers makes me think the scorpion writer (who clearly does know how to construct a cipher) would know it.

I personally think Zodiac intentionally used as small a set of cipher chatacters as possible, and by that I mean even going back to a symbol which he was using more than once by reflecting it, I would count that as ultimately 1 symbol in his toolbox.

I now think he maybe had some scrabble squares with his crypto symbols on and he constructed the ciphers that way, just rotating the little tiles when he needed an extra use.

The Zodiac symbols were also pretty common from a typewriter, maybe some from the teletype machine or some other 1960s era device with a priting head.

My view is Zodiac was economical in his ciphers, he used the minimum of symbols he could, they were not too complex shapes etc The Scorpion cipher symbols are a bit more "artistic" a lot of them I have not seen before and I would doubt they were on any print heads prior to the 1970s.

Would Z change his symbol library if what he used previously was working for him? also why does the author of the Scorpion cipher not reflect any of the characters, he/she creates new ones instead of reflecting ones he/she has already used. is that what a "professional" cipher writer would do? If you introduce more base symbols are you not making it harder to keep track of your cipher as the author.

is there anything in cipher training about keeping the number of symbols (and sources) as low as possible?

I feel the scorpion cipher author is showing off for want of a better word. Zodiac ciphers just seem more.......I cant think of a better word than economical. They were impressive and meticolously detailed but the symbols are very basic, and kept even basicer by simply reflecting them to get more than one use rather than just introducing a completely new symbol.

Dont know if any of this means anything in terms of comparing the ciphers and cipher authors

Johnny

11/19/2024 10:31:16 pm

Do you recall, Jibby, the man chasing cars in one of Graysmiths books? Was it a Impala he drove?

Jibberjabber

11/20/2024 08:37:45 am

There was a white Chevrolet Impala reported at the Lake Herman Road pumping station Gate 10 turnout (where Betty Lou and David were killed) by various people but I don't know if it was there continuously or came and went a couple of times, this car is suspicious because it was never identified so it could be Zodiac. I think the man getting chased around 9:30-10pm was William Crow,but he initially reported the car as a blue Valiant and maybe even with 2 people driving, but I think in later years he said he was misquoted and that the car was a white Chevrolet with one driver WMA. I think some of the witnesses may have made mistakes on what they saw and what time they saw it, but because more than 1 person saw the White Impala I believe it was definitely there that night and has never been explained. Whether it was Zodiac or not who knows

Johnny

11/20/2024 11:56:10 am

The male chasing cars between villages/ cities and then being chased off by the police? Don't you remember it. Is a just a small episode in one of his 2 books.

Ok, then i need to look into it myself, because it's important that people can trust what i say in here.

Johnny

11/20/2024 12:08:39 pm

I found it in "Unmasked": " The Impala showed up again in Santa Rosa on November 15, 1970. At 4:00 A.M. a woman driver saw “a 1962-63 White Chevrolet” fol owing her from a Santa Rosa post office. Shortly after, a “white Chevrolet Impala, sedan 1964,” fol owed a

second woman on Mendocino Avenue and Chanate Road. At 5:10 A.M. a “white Chevy, 1963-64” tailgating a woman on Fourth Street was stopped by police and tried to speed off. The driver, a twenty-five-year-old Val ejo man, said he was lost and looking for way out of town. The officer escorted him out of town."

Richard

11/20/2024 01:34:45 pm

Nice find Johnny.

Richard

11/20/2024 01:38:56 pm

Trying to find newspaper reports. I'll let you know if I find anything.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/20/2024 09:13:04 am

Well, it sounds as if you're basing a lot of this on the assumption that the cipher writers are the same.

Like you, I'm no expert on cryptography, but I believe I've had some success with finding -- something.

What I would say is, when creating a cipher you would not want to use the same symbols as this is in contravention to a direct attack vector from frequency analysis. This is what helped the Hardens. The frequency of the "L" in "kill" is what they used as an attack vector to solve a cipher.

So it stands to reason, one set of homophones that create one alphabet, would not make a good candidate for another cipher. As that would leave you wide open to a frequency attack.

So even if the letter writers were the same, understanding this feature of cryptography would inform the choices to make, to avoid this error in cipher creation. If that makes sense.

JIbberjabber

11/20/2024 10:15:15 am

But that does not matter if you make the symbol mean a different word when you use it in the next cipher. Zodiac used some of the same symbols between ciphers but he made them stand for different plain text between the Z408 and the Z340 for instance.

A cipher symbol only means what you want it to mean in that particular configuration (key) when making homophonic substitution ciphers

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/20/2024 04:58:19 pm

What I believe you're describing is the "alphabet" in either a Mono Alphabetic Substitution Cipher (MASC) or a Poly Alphabetic (PASC). So I would agree with you, and say yes, that is possible. Almost de rigeur.

But if Scorpion did use the homophones directly that could either simply be an homage or taunt, and not necessarily indicative of them being the same person. Which would perform the same as if you were doing a frequency analysis.

This would get into though, if they were the same person and he was in fact trying to taunt. Which we won't know, because the person above does not have the solve that they proposed and it has not been authenticated. No one has.

As far as a "Key", it's possible that he traveled with a key (Zodiac). In fact I believe he did. As I believe I have found it (Unauthenticated of course).

My understanding is that the key space is too large for the S ciphers though. And traditional ciphers are not my thing. So I leave that alone. At least for now. You could almost say, my attack vector is unique and may not translate, if even they were the same, which is unknown at this time.

JIbberjabber

11/20/2024 12:54:49 pm

I have just started reading Zodiac unmasked again myself Johnny. I recently re-read Zodiac 1986 and picked up a couple of minor things since last time I had read it. I hope I see a couple of other things in unmasked since last time I read it.

I was interested to read Graysmith say that the police did their own in-house composite of Zodiac at Presidio Heights and this man has a rounder/fuller face. Whether this is true or not is anyone's guess and I can now see Graysmith says so much that we can just not substantiate, at the same time a LOT of what he wrote has been verified as we have found it ourselves in newspaper articles, FOIA requests etc

I think it would be important if Zodiac did have a fuller face at Preisidio Heights because then I think it could be more likely the "voyeur" at Lake Berryessa was Zodiac, and I think the man saw by David Reyfield was Zodiac anyway.

Does not help us identify Zodiac but I think it shows he was an older guy, with fuller face and really strange behaviour ie let himself be seen by the sunbathers, but then still went on and committed a double attack, and then allowed himself to be seen by Reyfield.

I think Zodiac may have even been considering attacking the dentist and his son but he thought the better of it when he saw the gun.

my point is Zodiac behaviour is off the wall, completely off the wall and unpredictable. WHich means really the guy could be responsible for so much more than we know of because we think Zodiac only committed "Zodiac" like crimes.

What if Zodiac also committed crimes that were NOT zodiac like??

Johnny

11/20/2024 08:31:53 pm

The fuller face is interesting if true and the odds is low on that i think, if we consider Zodiacs weight. But Chesters face seems pretty thin genetically, so maybe he could have a thin face and a larger body, if it's him that is.

I also believe the doctor's son saw Zodiac, but when i think this thought i always get reminded of Tom Voigt saying he couldn't be the caller, because the timeline doesn't fit.

Happy reading, Jibby and please tell us if you come across something interesting! ...maybe the book has changed somewhat after all these years? Be careful when reading, boooohhhh!

JIbberjabber

11/20/2024 10:45:50 pm

I am not sure about the timeline not fitting, if it was quiet on those roads out to the Lake then Zodiac could have had time to drive back to Napa to make the phonecall. The witness statements that day show there could be a discrepency in the police timeline, but yes Zodiac needed to make the distance between the lake and the phonebooth but I have not seen anything yet that excludes it being Z

Richard

11/21/2024 03:03:41 am

Yes, that 27/28 mile journey to the payphone was about 50 minutes max, which would have our killer needing to enter his vehicle just beyond the Rayfield location at 6:50pm. The journey time from a 6:30pm signature to a location by the Rayfield's is about 20 minutes. This timeline works. A killer heading straight from the car door to payphone, has him arriving 20 minutes too early at 7:20pm. The extra 20 minutes can be accounted for by the walk from the Ghia to just beyond the Rayfield's.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/20/2024 04:51:47 pm

If Zodiac committed crimes that were NOT Zodiac like, we would need to figure out a theme of some kind or be able to get inside of the mind of the killer to be able to suss that out.

No one as of yet has been able to do that.

Johnny

11/20/2024 08:18:25 pm

The odds is against him to have perpetrated other crimes. It's unusual as it is, that he somehow managed to slip away. He was fast ending his career without leaving enough evidence and therefore we cant find him. This is at least my take on it.

If he against better reason did any more crimes thereafter, i think these were so cowardly done, that we will never find any proofs of them.

If he was around 40 when doing his last desperate spree, we might have a lead with his age and the testosterone going down.

Before this i would think he could have attacked animals, starting fires, writing evilness to newspapers, threats, mysterious shootings against private residents etc.

JIbberjabber

11/20/2024 10:42:58 pm

My approach with Z now is, if the guy was in his 40s and in 1968/1969 was committing uneccessarily elaborate crimes with multitudes of weapons, seemingly changing MO, adding the taunting calls & ciphers - then he simply cannot be new to the game, no one stumbles into being a serial killer / taunting letter writer that manages to become the most wanted man in America in less than a year on their first attempt.

Zodiac may have been a new name for him, but this man was already formed by the time he pulled the trigger at LHR Dec20th 1968

Just my opinion

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/21/2024 07:54:21 am

I would agree with this sentiment.

It is one of the more confusing beliefs that I see in this community. I call it "The Superman effect". It's the belief that this killer swooped in completely formed from nothing, and then swooped out never to be heard from again.

I believe that's a fairytale, and a thing for childish thinking.

Basic behavioral science disproves that belief with what we know of how most serial killers are formed and developed. Basic dark triad from when they were young. Including progression of kills, which user-Johnny, alludes to above.

In my opinion, this kind of belief is appealing and amateurish because of its appeal. I believe it is one of the reasons law enforcement, and possibly the public, doesn't look kindly on "Amateur Sleuths". It makes people look amateurish IMO.

The boldness, control of the scene, and everything on top of the crimes, like the taunting and ciphers. This was not the first rodeo of someone who did this. And once that person had crossed that threshold, the likelihood of him stopping in my untrained opinion, is that he didn't.

I've changed and developed multiple new habits in my life. It boggles my mind that people don't believe that anyone else can just simply do that. Including changing one's name or persona. We do it all the time including right here, and right now.

I'm sure your real name when you apply for a job is not JibberJabber. Just like I know my name in real life is not Edward Wayne Edwards.

Johnny

11/20/2024 11:39:48 pm

Have you heard Hazelwood say that sexual sadists often begin late in life with their elaborate fantasies already formed ( because normal rape isnt enough for them ), and this seemingly at odds with what you say, Jibby? Nowadays these people might never form because of violent pornography, VR and things in that nature. But give whoever the chance to become Sardanapalus and their will be an queue exactly as long as all the humans on earth, despite what lies we humans tell ourselves.

I think some of us never start out to be criminals because it's not enough temptation to act on our inner demons. I believe Zodiac did some diabolical things earlier on aswell, but as long as an individual is under a certain age ( say maximimun 45 as long as a life like Sardanapalus isnt in the cards. Then we need to extend the age rage indefinitely ) and all things in his life begin to line up, it's never to late for a loser in life like Zodiac to act out.

Johnny

11/21/2024 12:03:14 am

The more eloborate the crime, the later the criminal must wait before acting out. These are controlling perfectionists that demand almost the impossible.

They mature very slow into their fantasies because their fantasy is bigger then their current capacity to act on it, and they are afraid aswell and when young they are terribly depressed sometimes and other times they have the strength of a youth to get satisfaction from more normal fantasies. But it comes a window when their inner drive is still high and they have deliberated on the consequences and negated most of their conscience. If they act within this period, maybe a decade or two, we have a criminal and if not they will die out as an average Joe.

EdEdwardsCiphers link

11/21/2024 07:58:55 am

Where are you getting any of this? This sounds completely made up and not in line with anything I've read about basic normal or abnormal psychology especially as it pertains to killers or serial killers.

Bundy, BTK, Son of Sam -- all are similar in origin. Arrested development at a young age. A crisis of identity. Dark Triad behaviors for some of the worst offenders. Then a reliving of those trauma, commensurate with what we now know as PTSD. Etc.

It sounds like you're just making stuff up.

JIbberjabber

11/21/2024 08:16:24 am

Personally Johnny I see it the exact opposite of you, I think Zodiac was committing these weird elaborate crimes by 1968/1969 because he had some earlier kills under his belt and he was always trying to keep things interesting - to himself.The changing MO, changing weapons, lack of fingerprints - all this was by design as he references it in some of his letters, but how many killers were writing letters by 1968/1969 in California?? Not too many I would think. This is extremely unusual behaviour with a capital E! I would agree with what you say if he wasnt also a taunting letter writer. I feel the odds are against someone just stumbling into being an effictive killer on their first attempt, I also feel someone stumbling across the idea of sending a 3 part cipher to grab the media attention is not likely, but put both of that together - no way, no one knows how to be a taunting letter writer killer without having learned and refined etc

The problem is we will never be able to prove any of this because at the time he was calling himself Zodic, he may have been into a later phase of his career and even then it was predating any concept of DNA etc Zodiac could have the highest kill count of any killer in the USA but without the forensics to prove it, it is all lost to time.

Johnny

11/21/2024 01:31:05 pm

Jibby! I think you might be correct in this case because its so unusual, and we don't therefore have any references?! I say this to you because i also have some experience ( because of life ), but that doesn't have to do anything with this case.

Johnny

11/21/2024 01:40:37 pm

Edward. I try to back up what i say if somebody ask something particular. I think my rant was pretty clear and nothing special.

Johnny

11/21/2024 02:07:57 pm

But, Edward. The difference between us, is that i take on thought processes while you describe concepts. I personally are suspicious of concepts if we leave them unexplained.

You also talk about relieving traumas. I think these people have a thing or two in their cognitive profile that makes it hard for them to find their place in society, and i think these disabilities lead them into a elobarate but base fantasy life that will somewhat make up for their struggles in life.

I think your trauma concept is somewhat misleading because of our human genes. That is to say that bad genes often end up in families where problem solving isn’t the best in the business. But bad genes would need even better families then usual and this is impossible. Nowadays society knows about this problem and try to find resources to certain people in school and psychiatry,. This will stigmatise them but will make it more safe for us.

GETTING A FOOTHOLD IN THE SCORPION CIPHER

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