The Zodiac Killer mailed a threat to the San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969 stating "I want you to print this cipher on the frunt page by Fry afternoon Aug 1-69. If you do not print this cipher, I will go on a kill rampage Fry night". The murderer of three would use the word "Fry" six times and the word "print" five times in his trinity of letters, that included the San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald. He claimed that he would "kill Fry night" if his cipher wasn't printed "by Fry afternoon".
Therefore, it isn't a great leap of faith that immediately following the demand of "you better print" on the December 16th 1969 "Fairfield" letter to the San Francisco Examiner, his 5 character code with one repeating symbol at position 3 and 5 contained "By" and "Fry". However, to satisfy the code the words would have to be reversed to "Fry" and "By". Bearing in mind that the Fairfield letter was postmarked on Tuesday, December 16th 1969, the Zodiac Killer's threat of "you better print Fry" would have given the newspaper three days to comply, as opposed to the one day he gave the newspapers on Thursday, July 31st 1969 Had investigators similarly concluded that "Fry" was the first word of the code, then the word "By" would have been the inevitable answer to the final two characters.
Therefore, it isn't a great leap of faith that immediately following the demand of "you better print" on the December 16th 1969 "Fairfield" letter to the San Francisco Examiner, his 5 character code with one repeating symbol at position 3 and 5 contained "By" and "Fry". However, to satisfy the code the words would have to be reversed to "Fry" and "By". Bearing in mind that the Fairfield letter was postmarked on Tuesday, December 16th 1969, the Zodiac Killer's threat of "you better print Fry" would have given the newspaper three days to comply, as opposed to the one day he gave the newspapers on Thursday, July 31st 1969 Had investigators similarly concluded that "Fry" was the first word of the code, then the word "By" would have been the inevitable answer to the final two characters.
Both Fairfield letters in December threatened to murder "cops". The December 7th 1969 letter stated "I will kill again, so expect it any time the will be a cop". While the December 16th 1969 letter gave us a list of locations he would kill 38 cops, which included San Francisco (3), San Jose (1), Vallejo (6), Napa (8), Fairfield (3), Sacramento (9) and Oakland (8). If the initial part of the 5 character code on December 16th 1969 had read "Fry", then the introduction of "you better print" would have completed the phrase to "you better print Fry".
Obviously, a failure to comply to his instructions of printing the 5 character code had consequences, just like on July 31st 1969, when he demanded compliance that his cipher be printed in the newspapers or he would kill a dozen people over the weekend. The San Francisco Examiner did not publish the Zodiac Killer's letter by Friday, December 19th 1969, so it probably comes as no surprise that on December 19th 1969 the Zodiac Killer made a phone call to Shirley Searey of the San Jose Highway Patrol on Friday night (10:10pm), stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The vicious verbal assault on police continued. This late night threat on Friday, December 19th 1969 to kill 10 people in total over the weekend, somewhat validates the threat of "you better print Fry" on December 16th 1969. It also mirrored the Zodiac Killer promises on July 31st 1969 to go on a "kill rampage" Friday night if his cipher wasn't printed in the newspapers.
Obviously, a failure to comply to his instructions of printing the 5 character code had consequences, just like on July 31st 1969, when he demanded compliance that his cipher be printed in the newspapers or he would kill a dozen people over the weekend. The San Francisco Examiner did not publish the Zodiac Killer's letter by Friday, December 19th 1969, so it probably comes as no surprise that on December 19th 1969 the Zodiac Killer made a phone call to Shirley Searey of the San Jose Highway Patrol on Friday night (10:10pm), stating "I am going to kill five of you officers and a family of five between now and Monday". The vicious verbal assault on police continued. This late night threat on Friday, December 19th 1969 to kill 10 people in total over the weekend, somewhat validates the threat of "you better print Fry" on December 16th 1969. It also mirrored the Zodiac Killer promises on July 31st 1969 to go on a "kill rampage" Friday night if his cipher wasn't printed in the newspapers.
DECEMBER 16TH 1969 "FAIRFIELD" LETTER
The threat to target 38 cops on December 16th 1969 (including in San Jose for the first time) was reinforced by the pledge to kill 5 cops over the weekend beginning December 19th 1969, when the Zodiac Killer phoned Shirley Searey at the San Jose Highway Patrol office and threatened murder between now (10:10pm) and Monday..
The next part of the Fairfield letter code on December 16th 1969 may have contained the word "By", when you consider the yet-to-be-mailed Halloween card on October 27th 1970. The configuration of 4 offerings in 4 quadrants within both communications, possibly contained the common thread of "By". This word also satisfied the repeating symbol at position 3 and 5 of the code. The notion that Zodiac's message read "you better print Fry" or he would "By Gun, Rope, Knife and Fire" kill multiple cops at various locations, appeared to materialize when he issued the phone threat on Friday, December 19th 1969. This phone call made to the San Jose Highway Patrol should be of interest because the Fairfield letter had not yet been published in the newspapers. The phone caller at 10:10pm on Friday (if not the same person as the letter writer) couldn't possibly have known that a Friday threat was issued on December 16th 1969 (assuming the decoding is correct).
The next part of the Fairfield letter code on December 16th 1969 may have contained the word "By", when you consider the yet-to-be-mailed Halloween card on October 27th 1970. The configuration of 4 offerings in 4 quadrants within both communications, possibly contained the common thread of "By". This word also satisfied the repeating symbol at position 3 and 5 of the code. The notion that Zodiac's message read "you better print Fry" or he would "By Gun, Rope, Knife and Fire" kill multiple cops at various locations, appeared to materialize when he issued the phone threat on Friday, December 19th 1969. This phone call made to the San Jose Highway Patrol should be of interest because the Fairfield letter had not yet been published in the newspapers. The phone caller at 10:10pm on Friday (if not the same person as the letter writer) couldn't possibly have known that a Friday threat was issued on December 16th 1969 (assuming the decoding is correct).
Joe Stine, the brother of the murdered taxicab driver Paul Stine, issued a confrontational challenge to the Zodiac Killer on October 23rd 1969, daring him to pay him a visit to his workplace in Modesto. Therefore, if the Zodiac Killer had the concept of By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire in his mind on December 16th 1969 (partly demonstrated by the car door at Lake Berryessa), it would have been extremely noteworthy that the next crime linked to him via the testimony of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 involved the burning of her vehicle "by fire" in Modesto. The Zodiac Killer told us he was starting a "little list" on July 24th 1970, owning up to the abduction of Kathleen Johns and the burning of her car, which was accompanied by the "Little List" letter two days later. Three months later he placed By Gun, By Rope, By Knife and By Fire on the back face of the Halloween card in a clockwise fashion, mimicking the order he presented his "killing tools" through time.
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