ZODIAC CIPHERS
RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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MISDIRECTION AT ITS FINEST

4/21/2020

 
Here is the wording from the August 4th 1969 Debut of Zodiac letter.

Dear Editor
This is the Zodiac speaking. 
In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police having a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it, they will have me.
On the 4th of July I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car.
The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.

Last Christmass
In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is surrounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.
                                                     

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July 6th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle

"Mageau was able to tell police only that the car door was torn open shortly after they had parked". Zodiac replied "On the 4th of July I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready".

The gunman immediately let loose with a fusillade of shots. The girl was behind the wheel. Mageau fell outside the car on the passenger's side. Zodiac replied "The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing".


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July 6th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald 

"But he heard the car take off at a high rate of speed, peeling rubber and cutting corners. He wasn't sure, but he thought it was headed to the freeway".

Zodiac replied "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car".



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December 23rd 1968 Vallejo Times-Herald.

"Lunblad explained the killer needed no artificial lighting for accuracy in shooting the girl, since she was running on a plateau and her body was silhouetted against the sky".

Zodiac replied
"They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is surrounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun".

The Zodiac Killer, being the narcissist he was, very likely kept the newspapers or cuttings of his reported crimes. It can be seen from the above excerpts that the Zodiac Killer carefully crafted his responses to particular sections of the newspaper text. That is, until he completely deviated off script when writing "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". There was no mention whatsoever of a negro male adult identifying the vehicle of Zodiac, either from the police or in any newspaper by the time the Zodiac Killer sent his August 4th 1969 letter. The Zodiac Killer, who carefully read every detail about himself during a 6 1/2 month period (from December 23rd 1968 to July 6th 1969 in the examples above), had suddenly and apparently crafted a "negro about 40-45, who was rather shabbly dressed" out of thin air, in total contrast to his specific responses to the San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald. 

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In the July 5th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald, it read "Officers at the scene broadcast an alert for a young, heavyset, white male adult, riding in a brown automobile". In the July 6th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald, it read under the sub-heading Brown Car "The officers are looking for a stocky young white man who was driving a brown car". In the July 7th 1969 Vallejo Evening News Chronicle, it read "The surviving shooting victim Michael Renault Mageau, 19, of 864 Beechwood Ave, described the killer as short and heavyset. He was driving a brown car similar to the 1963 Chevrolet Corvair driven by the slain victim, Mrs Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin". In the July 7th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald, it read "Rust said Mageau believes the car was identical or similar to the one his companion, Mrs Darlene Ferrin was driving". In the July 8th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald, it read "The Mageau youth was able to add a little to his earlier account of the shootings. He described the killer as short and heavyset, and said he was driving a brown car similar to Mrs Ferrin's brown 1963 Corvair".

Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer's coordinated responses to the newspapers above and his eagerness to follow developments as they unfolded, he would seemingly fail to notice that it was Michael Mageau who reported his car was brown on no less than five occasions. In fact, he had carefully whisked Michael Mageau away and replaced him with a "negro about 40-45, who was rather shabbly dressed". A negro male who was never mentioned once in any of the newspapers.
Why do you think the Zodiac Killer was transplanting the description of his vehicle as a "brown car" into the story at the payphone, as well as giving an excessive description of an eyewitness, who was "about 40-45 and rather shabbly dressed"? The Zodiac Killer was suggesting to us that somebody other than Michael Mageau had spotted him, and this negro male had also corroborated to police that his vehicle was brown. However, the Zodiac Killer wasn't telling us anything new in just confirming his vehicle was brown through the eyes of a second eyewitness - so what was the purpose of introducing this unknown eyewitness?
     


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The reason the Zodiac Killer introduced the fictitious negro male eyewitness who obviously couldn't be traced, was to give the impression he was in tandem with his vehicle when making the payphone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. When the Zodiac Killer stated "The man who told police that my car was brown", he was attempting to link the story from the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs to the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne Streets, as one continuous sequence.

By concentrating on the description given by Zodiac of a "brown car", we are not considering the option of no car at all. His follow up statement of
"When I hung the phone up the damn X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car" should have revealed that the killer is selling us a story. There was a conscious and deliberate effort to add "my car" to the end of that statement, when it was totally unnecessary to do so.

The Zodiac Killer never went into any descriptive detail about the age and attire of his victims, yet here, he is giving us an approximate age range for the eyewitness, along with an assessment to the quality of the man's attire. This smacks of a Zodiac Killer attempting to bring the eyewitness to life, by suggesting that he made a conscious evaluation of the negro male's age and clothing through observation. The addition of a man aged 40 to 45 and dressed rather shabbily, is drawing the observer into the story through the eyes of Zodiac. He is using overtly descriptive language and narration, totally unnecessary to the story, in order to sell you a believable eyewitness that just happened to notice his vehicle by the payphone. The use of the word "rather" (
meaning: to a certain or significant extent or degree) is again suggestive of somebody who wanted you to believe they had taken the time to assess the appearance of the eyewitness. The word "rather" is a qualifier word and totally unnecessary in a correspondence that is supposed to be supplying extra details to police regarding his crimes. In fact, the story of the negro male appears a classic case of misdirection. The Zodiac Killer, by placing the eyewitness, the payphone and his vehicle into one neat bundle together, was hoping you would never consider the option he had traveled to the payphone that morning on foot.   

~Bill
4/21/2020 05:37:23 am

Yes, I agree. There should be a capable psychological profiler to look at this case ABSTRACTLY, who can parse FACT from the rest of the text. I brought this up on another forum, but I don't think they want me there or something.

~
4/21/2020 06:23:56 am

Richard,

I have a certain skill in an area of 'abstract" thought. If you do not know what this is, I cannot explain it to you. If you would like, I could post a couple of observations on this case to this forum, if you like, but I don't want to waste anyone's time.

~Bill

Richard
4/21/2020 06:33:51 am

Post whatever you want WildBill. There was an excellent linguistics analysis of Zodiac and SFPD here.
Søren Korsgaard, [email protected]
Reviewers: Mark McClish, Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal; Caroline Cheruiyot, MSc Clinical Linguistics

https://www.crimeandpower.com/2019/07/22/statement-analysis-exposes-the-zodiac-and-san-francisco-police-department/

I think he could do greater justice to the August 4th 1969 letter.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/21/2020 02:23:33 pm

August 4th 1969 :

'' ....tell them to cheer up ; when they do crack it , they WILL HAVE ME .''

1988 New Canaan Letters :

''...who draws the symbol ; then you WILL HAVE ME....''

I note Richard , that Mike Morford has referred to '' The Envelope '' , in the thread , at his site , with reference to the 1988 New Canaan Letters .

Does this '' envelope '' exist , and is it available for public viewing ?

Richard
4/21/2020 03:20:54 pm

Isn't this one envelope
http://zodiackillersite.com/download/file.php?id=3190
And this the other
http://zodiackillersite.com/download/file.php?id=3197

That article by me was from 2017 and a bloody mess. I've done a very quick tidy job. Needs more work however.

Richard
4/21/2020 03:34:11 pm

The April 13th 1988 letter carries two 1985 14c Transportation Series: Iceboat, 1880s stamps = 28c.

The April 21st 1988 letter carries one 22c Flag Over Capitol stamp.

Richard
4/21/2020 03:41:34 pm

The postal rate went up for letters (first ounce) from 22c to 25c on April 3rd 1988.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/21/2020 04:03:43 pm

Thanks for the information .

I didn't know about these dates . Is it possible to view these envelopes ? The access references just sent me to '' boxofrain.wordpress.com '' .

Richard
4/21/2020 04:15:28 pm

Click the link for the forum on the Canaan article. They are on Morf's forum.

Richard
4/21/2020 04:19:02 pm

Have posted a slightly better image of the 1987 envelope on posts. I may yet find a better image. Got a feeling "Herald" is spelt "Herald".

Rubislaw 32 link
4/21/2020 04:34:45 pm

Still struggling to get anything other than '' Box of rain '' , Richard .

Does one have to be a member of Morf's site ?

The 1988 New Canaan Letters were given to him , by the FBI , in March / April 2015 . Five years ago .

These letters seem to be the only significant '' unconfirmed '' correspondences that have yet to be made fully transparent , to the public .

A bit surprising , to say the least ( ? ) .

Richard
4/21/2020 04:52:00 pm

With those links I gave you, did you scroll over them to turn them blue, then right click, and then click open link in new tab?

Some images will be unavailable to non-members on the forum.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/21/2020 05:12:25 pm

I scrolled through the whole of the boxofrain site , Richard .

I am '' old school '' and only know the basics of operating a laptop - if that .

I am back to being stunned by Morf not having made everything available , by now . I even posted to-day , to defend his honour , ironically .

Even Lafferty , with two significant ''unconfirmed '' correspondences , gave one ( The Celebrity Cipher ) to the internet community , and held one back ( Benicia High School Note ) for the publication of his book .

Didn't Morf understand the '' deal '' ? If official law enforcement give you anything , then their expectation is that you will eventually , at least , share with every other member of the public .

The implications of not doing this , is like asking '' How long is a piece of string ? '' It could be nothing , but it could mean '' everything '' also.

'' Immaturity '' just doesn't quite cover it .

Rubislaw 32 link
4/21/2020 06:12:22 pm

Thanks for the better image , Richard . Yes it could be '' Herald '' , but would still be swayed that it is the Zodiac . For why do '' they '' seem so troubled '' not '' to make available a decent image ( ? ) .

About three years ago , I offered Morf publicly an '' in '' on my leads of investigation of what official LE were up to , which included the implications of the 1988 New Canaan Letters , and specifically , the timing of when Morf was in receipt of those letters ,and the ramifications of that timing .

So , he wasn't interested , presumably ( ? ) . But this does not excuse finding '' bits and bobs '' of the 1988 New Canaan Letters '' strewn '' around '' , in incomplete form...so that anyone apart from the very interested , like me , would fail to understand what they are actually looking at .

Even if Morf's excuse is forgetfulness or complacency....after five years , there is no excuse for having held back the potential for more Zodiac followers having the opportunity to discus and debate the letters' possible implications within the case , as a whole .

And , this includes the follow-up anonymous e-mail , received by Morf .

Richard
4/22/2020 12:17:47 am

I've put the envelopes on my site. The address is redacted in both, but you can make out both stamps. There are three added letters also.

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/photographs-11.html

Place this address in new tab

Rubislaw 32 link
4/22/2020 05:35:54 am

Pretty amazing , and thanks for your efforts , Richard .

Postmark '' Stamford '' , with the receipt of letters being New Canaan , Conneticut - and New Canaan being about 7 miles north-east of Stamford .

Perhaps Toots might like to come in on this , if he knows more about George Webster ( ? ) . A week-end family retreat , perhaps ( ? ) .

ARTGEOW on a column of Z263 , should have ( incorrectly ) been :

ARTGGOW....but the cipher maker appears to have deliberately made it look like an '' unforced error ''.

And , the postage stamps , taken from a 1985 issue - the same as , in the case of the 1987 letter .

Interesting stuff...and the notion of an '' underage genius '' being responsible , looking even more like a '' cock and bull '' story .

Well , Morf had his chance , no longer available to him , as I believe history will no doubt bear testimony .For now , there are some politicians that are , at least latching on to an almighty squabble between DOJ's and '' major '' police forces .

But,as so often the case , politicians '' chuck '' law enforcement public money , and expect law enforcement to get on with it , and '' not '' break the law , themselves .

I could prattle on...suffice to say that Mr.Trump , as was his right , elected to fire a certain Mr.Comey...for '' showboating ''. Something that didn't appear to have bothered a ''lawyer '' call Mr.Obama .

Mr.Trump , a businessman , took away Mr.Comey's '' pet project '' from him . It wasn't '' Russian intervention '' , and it wasn't '' Mrs.Clinton's e-mails '' .

Any guesses.....anyone ?

Rubislaw 32 link
4/22/2020 06:26:41 am

Hey Toots , why don't you ask Ms.Carson , if New Canaan rings any bells ?

I'm fed up with certain aspects of what could be called '' subterfuge '' , in order to protect and defend '' pet suspects '' .

Until anyone can come up with a persuading '' core and catalytic '' motive for a suspect , beyond the usual needs for publicity , then...

They have nothing.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/22/2020 06:43:19 am

...and that's a sincere request , Toots .

Your suspect is the only one that I have come across , that has '' lively '' possibilities , beyond my own investigations .

Thanks .

Ansar
4/22/2020 10:11:58 am

Kind of eerie that the fictitious "Negro male" was also the description given (incorrectly) to police in the later Stine killing.

Rubislaw 32 link
4/22/2020 04:50:39 pm

Good observation Ansar .

Perhaps , the confusion as claimed had got to the Zodiac , over the years ( ? ) .

I've Got a little list - Gilbert & Sullivan :

''...There's the banjo serenader and others of his race...''

Little List Letter - July 1970 :

''....There's the banjo seranader and others of his race....''

New Canaan Letter - April 1988 :

''....And that nigger serenader and the others of his race...''

Deep down , an affront to the Zodiac's sensitivities ( ? ) .

Rubislaw 32 link
4/23/2020 10:42:25 pm

Hey Toots...nice one .And , well-structured question .

We await a reply , with baited breath ( ? ) .

Rubislaw 32 link
5/12/2020 12:00:30 pm

Looking likely now , that the allusions to choir singing and the voice of '' Shauna '' , in the solution to the Z263 cipher linked to the April 1988 New Canaan Letters , refer by inference to :

The Greenwich Choral Society , founded in 1924 , and now internationally acknowledged ,giving regular performances locally in Connecticut , and the city of New York .

The Greenwich Choral Society was named as such , after starting as a choir at the Congressional Church of Greenwich , Sound Beach , CT . In 1931 Sound Beach was renamed '' Old Greenwich '' .

Old Greenwich lies beside Stamford , on the coast of Connecticut , with Stamford being the chosen posting point of the April 1988 New Canaan Letters .


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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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