It is clear that everything contained in the November 29th 1966 Confession Letter was harvested from the newspapers, and whoever created the typed letter was deliberately dragging orchestrated words from the newspapers into their narrative. Below I have used one particular article to demonstrate how the author used superfluous and unnecessary verbiage to flesh out the Confession Letter and convince us they were the killer of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. 

The author begins by ladening their introduction with "young and beautiful" and "beautiful blond" just like the newspapers, in order to build the narrative of believability. The author then describes the disabling of the Volkswagen Beetle by disconnecting the "middle wire from the distributor" - another name for the coil wire described in the newspaper publication shown below. This was a key ingredient to convince investigators they were genuine, despite the fact they had approximately four weeks to uncover what the coil wire was. Quote from Liveaboutdotcom: "The ignition coil is the unit that takes your relatively weak battery power and turns it into a spark powerful enough to ignite fuel vapor. Inside ​a traditional ignition coil are two coils of wire on top of each other. These coils are called windings. One winding is called the primary winding, the other is the secondary. The primary winding gets the juice together to make a spark and the secondary sends it out the door to the distributor. You'll see three contacts on an ignition coil unless it has an external plug, in which case the contacts are hidden inside the case. The large contact in the middle is where the coil wire goes (the wire that links the coil to the distributor cap}. There is also a 12V+ wire that connects to a positive power source. The third contact communicates information to the rest of the car, like the tachometer". link.

The Confession letter continues with a vague reference to their car being down the street, which has been gleaned from the anonymous female earwitness account in the newspaper, telling us they heard a "car driving away". This anonymous earwitness account was further harvested for another part of the story, where the murderer apparently kicked Cheri Jo Bates in the head to stop her screaming, stating "she let out a scream once and I kicked her head to shut her up". The female earwitness described "a muffled scream" - almost as though it had been curtailed by a kick in the head.

An appeal for the weapon to be found was broadcasted by police almost immediately, describing it as a small knife or pocket knife, but it was never found. Why would a proclaimed big, brave, boasting killer add the phrase "with a small knife at her throat", if they were not using this to confirm the size of the knife described by police? The addition of the word "small" was totally unnecessary and devoid of any good reason, other than to convince the reader of the Confession Letter they were in fact the killer. If you read the multiple newspaper publications regarding the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, the overwhelming consensus is of a young woman "stabbed in the back, with her throat slashed", despite the fact that the autopsy showed far more wounds on the young woman's body, indicative of a prolonged and violent struggle between Cheri Jo Bates and her assailant. The Confession Letter just parroted these articles, stating "I plunged the knife into her, then finished the job out cutting her throat". The plunging of the knife was referencing the stab in the back, and the cutting of her throat just mimicked her throat being slashed. The fact that the author knew nothing about the intricacies of the crime was evident when they claimed "she went willingly, didn't put up a struggle and went to the slaughter like a lamb" - all of which were clearly untrue, and corroborated by not only the autopsy findings, but the freshly churned up driveway alongside the library.  

However, the most important feature of the newspapers at the time, was the reporting of the anonymous call from a female earwitness who described "an awful scream between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up". This earwithness was described as anonymous in several newspaper publications.

The author of the Confession Letter claimed they made a call to the police or newspaper. However, the Riverside Police Department and the Riverside Press-Enterprise could not confirm any phone call made to them by the claimed killer of Cheri Jo Bates. Zodiac Killer Facts wrote "Police could not confirm a phone call to the police or the local newspaper, The Press-Enterprise. The letter was considered most suspicious. Kinkead offered a disturbing conclusion: “The person who wrote the confession is aware of facts about the homicide that only the killer would know. There is no doubt that the person who wrote the confession letter is our homicide suspect.” There has been no confirmation or admission that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates made any phone calls subsequent to the crime, and as shown above, there is no evidence whatsoever that the killer and Confession Letter author are the same person. In fact, there is no evidence the author of the letter was even a man. Running the wording through many software programs has comprehensively indicated female authorship.

The only phone call we know of, was the anonymous call by a female the following day, describing screams being heard nearby. So, was the author of the Confession Letter when stating "Yes I did make that call to you also. It was just a warning" referring to this call - and pretending they were the anonymous caller as some form of practical joke. If so, then they would be claiming they were female by association. However, what they would not have known, was the extended version of this 'anonmous call' story, elaborated upon in the Inside Detective magazine on January 1969.

Other detectives interviewed residents of a nearby apartment building, A girl tenant in an apartment only a few doors from the dirt driveway where the body was discovered, told the detectives that she heard screaming and yelling about 10:30 pm. "Then I heard a muted scream, and then a loud sound like an old car being started up - this was about two minutes after I heard the first scream", the girl informant said. However, the girl admitted she had not called police that night to inform them of the sounds of apparent violence she had heard.  Inside Detective, 1969. 

The woman/girl was not anonymous because detectives had interviewed her in person at her apartment, but to any newspaper reader in 1966 they could have been forgiven for believing the woman was simply phoning police while remaining anonymous and unknown. Was the author of the Confession Letter, as they had done for all the details typed above, simply taken this "anonymous telephone caller" from the newspapers and claimed "Yes I did make that call to you also"? - and why the Riverside Police and Riverside Press-Enterprise recollect no phone call being received by the killer. If this were the case, then the author of the Confession Letter is effectively admitting they are a female, and certainly not the Zodiac Killer. If the author of the Confession Letter was actually the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then the young Riverside City College student could conceivably have been murdered by another woman - a story that I doubt many would believe.

If the Zodiac Killer was a resident of Vallejo or its surrounding areas, then a murder in the northwest corner of San Francisco would be the perfect choice for a number of reasons. With a vehicle positioned alongside the Presidio Park, a murder such as the one perpetrated on Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, would provide an escape from the big city in a matter of minutes via Highway 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge. If anything goes awry, the murderer has the added advantage of a wooded park for momentary respite from responding law enforcement. This is the one confirmed Zodiac attack where the killer would direct the victim to the scene of the crime and thereby control the location of his murder. Dr. Kim Rossmo stated "The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts. In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques". The notion of a killer who lived a matter of blocks from the intersection of Washington and Cherry, while not impossible, presents a greater risk in a number of ways. Committing such a daring murder in your own neighborhood, possibly minutes from your residence, and hoping everything goes to plan without being spotted, is not the ideal choice after previously committing three successful crimes with a comfortable buffer zone around your residence. Why now bring your murderous exploits to the doorstep of your home?  

There is every chance this murder was planned meticulously, from the standpoint of a waiting vehicle and immediate separation from San Francisco. The trip sheet of Paul Stine had a destination of Washington and Maple, but the taxicab was discovered one block further west at the intersection of Washington and Cherry. The movement of the killer, backtracking east along Jackson Street towards the Jackson and Maple intersection, strongly indicated the initial murder site had been pencilled in for Washington and Maple. If we compare the last three Washington intersections of Cherry, Maple and Spruce, and swivel Google maps around each intersection, it is clearly noticeable that this is the best choice from the perspective of a killer keen to avoid eyewitnesses. This may have indicated a level of forethought and planning.

The Zodiac Killer was last seen running into Julius Khan playground by eyewitnesses at Spruce Street. Therefore, a murder committed at Washington and Maple would allow the Zodiac Killer a walking distance of just 86 meters northwards, before heading east along Jackson Street and out of sight from the crime scene. He now has 131 meters to Spruce Street and the seclusion of Presidio Park and Julius Khan playground. This allows him three phases of separation: [1] Up Maple and east on Jackson [2] Into the park to reach his vehicle, and [3] Into his vehicle and over the Golden Gate Bridge. However, something happened as the taxicab approached the intersection of Washington and Maple, that forced a change of plan and Paul Stine to travel one block further west to Washington and Cherry. The reason for this switch could be manyfold, such as pedestrians at the desired location or occupied vehicles in the vicinity of Washington and Maple. Despite all the best laid plans, the Zodiac Killer was still reliant on the timing of the taxicab approaching a populous area with any number of distractions.

In his letter to the San Francisco Chronicle two days after the murder, the Zodiac Killer began his communication "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt". By his statement of "last night", it is clear he is preparing this letter on Sunday, October 12th 1969. The Zodiac Killer may have scouted the area in advance, highlighting Washington and Maple as his preferred kill site, but this doesn't necessarily mean he knew every street in the area by name. He could have checked a map the following day and noted that his murder occurred at Washington and Cherry, but it didn't appear that this was the case or of high priority to him.

The newspaper headlines the following day were obviously unaware that this was a Zodiac crime, when the San Francisco Chronicle wrote on October 12th "A Yellow Cab driver was found shot to death in his cab last night, the victim of an apparent robbery attempt in Presidio Heights". The article continued, stating "Police said three youngsters saw a scuffle near the cab, which was stopped on Washington Street, near Cherry Street, about 10 pm". Although this should have told the Zodiac Killer the location of the murder site, we are not in a position to determine what time he prepared and sealed this letter with respect to the San Francisco Chronicle publication. If he sealed it before the article's release, he may have been unfamiliar with the road he traveled up after leaving the taxicab. I don't suppose noting down the street name after the murder was high on his priority list. If the letter was prepared after the newspaper publication and he had read it, then writing "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night" could have been a deliberate choice by the Zodiac Killer, signifying that he had knowledge of the destination contained within the trip sheet. There is no reason to conclude his writing of  "by Washington St + Maple St" was evidence of his unfamiliarity with the general area he was operating. 

The best chance of catching the Zodiac Killer is by re-examining all the evidence from his four crime scenes and hopefully extracting useable DNA from his communications mailed from 1969 to 1971. Unfortunately in recent years, despite the bloodstained shirt piece of the victim being mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle only two days after the murder, a select number of people still argue this murder could have been perpetrated by a hoaxer or group of nefarious individuals. So much so, this unknown third party decided that they should add a crime to the Zodiac portfolio that in no way resembled any previous Zodiac crimes. They were obviously aware of the murder and robbery attempt of Paul Stine, and thought they should gain access to the victim and surreptitiously tear a piece of bloodstained shirt from his body, before seeking out the trip sheet and noting the Washington and Maple destination. Or, they overheard Inspector David Toschi shouting out to all and sundry the contents of the trip sheet at the corner of Washington and Cherry, before sneaking onto the ambulance or creeping into the morgue unnoticed. Then finally, mimicking the Zodiac Killer's handwriting and threatening schoolchildren. The concept of creating well-thought-out counter narratives to the perceived narrative is a healthy one, but creating counter narratives for no other reason than you can, is counterproductive to ever pushing this case forward.

October 11th 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the murder of Paul Stine with little progress or resolution in sight. One day in the future the mask of the Zodiac Killer will hopefully be removed - the Zodiac circus will stop - and the traveling clowns will not be required to entertain the crowd anymore.

In a previous article we compared a postcard from the Symbionese Liberation Army 'Hearnap' FBI files threatening the daughter of President Richard Nixon, to the Citizen Card purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer. The composition of the Citizen Card, expressing consternation and concern at the running of advertisements for the Badlands movie and signing off with "A citizen", was compared to the Richard Nixon Postcard with respect to "A concerned citizen". This, coupled with similarities between the February 3rd 1974 SLA Letter and a communication dated February 10th 1974 from the Symbionese Liberation Army, led to the conclusion that neither the Citizen Card or SLA Letter were penned by the Zodiac Killer. This has been questioned, leading to speculation that the Zodiac Killer may in fact have been responsible for both the Richard Nixon Postcard mailed on May 23rd 1974 and the Citizen Card mailed on May 8th 1974.     

Just prior to these two communications the Symbionese Liberation mailed a similar threat to Randolph Hearst stating "It now appears to SLA that he would rather sacrifice his daughters life than to print the truth to the American people". The message finished with "We wish C.B.S, A.B.C. or N.B.C. would dedicate one hour of national network time to the founder of C.C.S.D. so the man could deliver a message to the people that could save the nation from political disaster and economical destruction". The man they wanted to be given air time was Roland L. Hayes from the corporation of Concerned Citizens for Social Development (C.C.S.D) - and included his writings. This man clearly inspired the Symbionese Liberation Army with his message of fighting for the people against corporate greed and the likes of Randolph Hearst. Is it therefore surprising that several weeks later, a postcard was mailed to President Richard Nixon invoking a threat on his daughter and signing off with "A concerned citizen for freedom"? As can be seen in the excerpts below the SLA directive, Roland L. Hayes titled many of his sections "concerned citizens for social development" and subtitled one "The President", detailing President Richard Nixon on more than one occasion.

When we look at the wording on the Richard Nixon Postcard "Dear King, We know where Patty Hearst is. But wait till we get your daughter. A concerned citizen for freedom", the comparisons can be noted. With the Citizen Card sandwiched in between the Dear Mr. Chancellor Letter and the "Dear King" Richard Nixon Postcard, we have more cause for concern about the validity of the May 8th 1974 communication as a Zodiac Killer offering. It was directing its consternation at the running of ads by the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner - two newspapers previously highlighted with ire by the Symbionese Liberation Army because of their connection to Randolph Hearst.

To view the entire FBI documents on this matter, visit page 400 of the Hearnap files, part 36 of 42.

Here is another interesting feature, discovered by investigators written on the apartment wall of a previously occupied Symbionese Liberation Army residence. The discovery would have been prior to the July 8th 1974 Red Phantom Letter, signing off with "the Red Phantom (red with rage)". The message scrawled on the wall began "Every day my rage grows fonder of the poison I pack into the heads of my bullets". But did this rage last until July 8th 1974?

The 13 Symbol Cipher is simply too short for any meaningful decryption without a key or the answer. It is certainly possible to arrive at the correct solution using a key provided by Zodiac, but then you have to prove that the key you have found is the correct one, and your implemented methodology is plausible. The best way to find the solution to the Z13, as it was for the 32 Symbol Cipher, is to do absolutely no work whatsoever and just let the Zodiac Killer give us the exact answer. On this occasion, the Zodiac Killer designed the code and waited nearly six months to supply us with a verbatim solution.

The first thing to examine in the 13 Symbol Cipher is the circled triple 8 configuration. This is the feature that stands out in the code the most and where one would envisage the answer residing. Identify the meaning of the three eights and in what context they were chosen, and half the battle may be won. We can add the numbers up to create birth years and ages, but without instruction to do so, it could be argued that the idea rests in our head and not the Zodiac's. Therefore, we shall take the number 888 as one complete entity.

In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. This representation may be justified either through gematria, by counting the letter values of the Greek transliteration of Jesus' name, or as an opposing value to 666, the number of the beast. Wikipedia. This could indicate a Christian element to the code, especially when we consider the Zodiac's Celtic Cross, a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland and Britain in the Early Middle Ages. The shape, usually decorated with interlace and other motifs from Insular art, became popular for funerary monuments and other uses. Then we have the tenth character in the code, likened to an upside down Aries symbol. However, when we consider the above and the Zodiac Killer's musings of an afterlife, another possibility emerges. Christians adopted the anchor as a symbol of hope in future existence because the anchor was regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and several of the early Church Fathers speak in this sense. The Epistle to the Hebrews 6:19-20 for the first time connects the idea of hope with the symbol of the anchor. Wikipedia. This effectively ties five of Zodiac's characters under the Christian banner and the premise of an afterlife.   

On January 29th 1970, the Yellow Cab Company put up a thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the Zodiac Killer. In addition, the Teamsters Union which represents the Yellow Cab Company were reported in the San Francisco Chronicle to be considering offering a further reward on February 8th 1970 in the case of Paul Stine and Charles Jarman (another taxicab murder victim). The April 20th 1970 letter gave us the code and was immediately followed by "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now". The October 5th 1970 postcard gave us the possible solution of "Fk, I'm crackproof" and was immediately followed by "What is the price tag now". These are the only two communications in which the Zodiac Killer asked the police the price of his capture. These two communications not only had a code and an answer that fitted the code, but both were followed by the exact same question. When the Zodiac Killer was designing his 13 Hole Postcard, it is very likely he had at his disposal a copy of his original April 20th 1970 letter, or the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper cutting below, to which he was now supplying the answer. This may have been the trigger that influenced him to repeat the phrase "how much money you have on my head now" into the very similar "What is the price tag now". The Zodiac Killer, in essence, had inadvertently bound both communications together through phraseology, as well as code and solution.   

The Zodiac Killer introduction would now give us his name (albeit his initials) in absence of his full name. It would also read fluently as a sentence, as follows: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is Fk, I'm crackproof". Nobody realistically believed he was going to supply his full name, but this way he satisfies the promise in a restricted format. Two communications mailed nearly six months apart, with a solution that satisfies the code, as well as a satisfactory introduction to the code - and both followed by the same question.  

THE ANSWER TO THE 32 SYMBOL CODE - STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

This has been covered before, but I just wanted to expand in a little more detail without pinpointing a particular location.

How embarassing is the notion of a 50-year-old unsolved cipher, that we were given the answer to in just thirty one days? - and an answer that came straight from the horse's mouth. The 32 Symbol Cipher solution was served to us on a silver platter in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter using the Zodiac crosshairs and six words. 

When the Button Letter was mailed on June 26th 1970, the Zodiac Killer gave us a map of San Francisco and Vicinity with his crosshairs centered over Mount Diablo, stating "the map coupled with this code will tell you where the bomb is set." If we were to find a perceived bomb, it is fairly obvious we have to travel a certain angle and distance from the top of Mount Diablo to find the location. Therefore, the 32 symbol code, if it served any purpose whatsoever, had to contain a measurement in the form of degrees and distance. The map scale was 6.4 miles to the inch - so that will be the distance the Zodiac Killer has to employ from Mount Diablo to make any sense. The degrees he used was radians, because he told us so in the July 26th 1970 Little List Letter. The Zodiac stated "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians". He is actually telling us that the 32 symbol code contains radians and inches in the solution.

"P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns (is about ) (has to do with) Radians + # inches along the radians". Any cipher expert such as David Oranchak, or quite frankly, any Joe Bloggs such as myself, will tell you that a 32 symbol code with only three repeating characters is unsolvable without a key. The Zodiac Killer was certainly no muppet - and clearly knew this when he concocted this jumble of random characters. But he gave us the key a mere 31 days later in the form of an arrow and a hashtag. He even gave us the answer of "Radians and # inches along the radians" on a separate line to distinguish the very fact. He then began the first "Radians" with a capital letter to emphasize this. We just had to key in the number. The symbol # is most commonly known as the number sign, The symbol is described as the "number" character in an 1853 treatise on bookkeeping, and its double meaning is described in a bookkeeping text from 1880. The instruction manual of the Blickensderfer model 5 typewriter (c. 1896) appears to refer to the symbol as the "number mark". Some early-20th-century U.S. sources refer to it as the "number sign", although this could also refer to the numero sign. A 1917 manual distinguishes between two uses of the sign: "number (written before a figure)"; and "pounds (written after a figure)". Mainstream use in the United States is as follows: when it prefixes a number, it is read as "number", as in "a #2 pencil" (indicating "a number-two pencil"). The one exception is with the # key on a phone, which is always referred to as the "pound key" or "pound". Thus instructions to dial an extension such as #77 are always read as "pound seven seven". Wikipedia.

All of Zodiac's bomb threats were mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper - even detailing the murder of San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970, who suffered devastating and sadly fatal injuries when a bomb packed with fence staples exploded on an outside ledge of Park Police Station in the Upper Haight neighborhood of San Francisco. The Zodiac constantly signed off his communications with the barbed acronym SFPD = 0 and threatened "there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back". If that wasn't enough, the Phillips 66 Road Map was labelled San Francisco and Vicinity.  Based on a map scale of 6.4 inches to the mile, only 5 inches would land in San Francisco (4 and 6 inches would fall into the sea, other than Treasure Island). Fortunately, the Zodiac Killer gave us the angle from Mount Diablo, courtesy of his bold, black circle on the Little List crosshairs. It fell 4 radians (and magnetic north) clockwise from his arrowed pointer, around the clock face he provided. Radians are usually measured counter-clockwise, but the Zodiac Killer placed the bold circle exactly 4 radians "set to Mag.N" clockwise.

The answer was now extremely simple. All we had to do was insert a number in place of the hashtag, shown by the big flashing arrow pointing us in the right direction. The hashtag conveniently preceded "inches", so it's here we will slot in the number 5 - and bingo - we have our answer to the devilishly difficult 32 Symbol Cipher: "Radians + 5 inches along the radians" or "Radians and 5 inches along the radians".  By some quirk of fate, this phrase with the addition of the number 5, just happens to be exactly 32 characters in length. What an absolute criminal mastermind the Zodiac Killer was, creating a code that we only had to add one character to. As with all the best puzzles, the answer is usually hidden in plain sight. There is a possibility that the code reads "4 radians and 5 inches along the radian", but because the Zodiac Killer inserted one hashtag, it is more likely this is the only addition required.        

In the Little List communication it is apparent that Zodiac Killer gave us two prominent crosshairs: [1] with the accentuated black circle with SFPD=0 alongside, and [2] the extra large crosshairs with "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians" scrawled across it. Attaching these important additions was clearly done for purpose, thereby informing us of the radian value required, and the correlation between the crosshairs on the Phillips 66 Map and the measurements of radians and inches. The importance of a second set of crosshairs and their position, regarding the solution of the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969 could be significant in that case also.

With 29 unique characters in a 32 character code, any correlation between the characters and alphabetical solution is going to be minimal. What we do have in the solution above, is no word running from one line to the next, with the letter C beginning the word radians at the start and end of the code. As with any cipher, the Zodiac Killer had the opportunity to provide us with a key in later communications, which he effectively did for cipher 2, 3 and 4 when he gave us the answers literally word for word. What we have to consider are the three "cryptic messages" he gave us in three consecutive communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970. The Zodiac Killer was giving us the solutions to the ciphers before his campaign ended, albeit he wanted us to put in a modicum of effort. He told us on July 26th 1970 that the Mount Diablo code concerns "radians and 5 inches along the radians" verbatim. He then gave us the cryptic "Fk I'm crackproof" that fortunately slots nicely into the 13 Symbol Cipher in a cyclical nature. And finally, he gave us "paradice and slaves" in a cross formation (17X17) that mimicked the 340 cipher formation exactly (adding sorry no cipher in the identical formation on the Halloween envelope inner). How can three consecutive "cryptic messages" just happen to seamlessly fall into each cipher with no effort required?

We can place thousands of names into the 13 Symbol Cipher and then attempt to justify why this is correct by providing additional information on the subject. There have been hundreds of "solutions" to the 340 cipher, when we know only one can realistically be correct. This demonstrates the subjectivity of the 340 cipher to conform to what you had already decided upon before the decoding process began. You have the predetermined answer in your head and work towards that goal to the exclusion of all others. Our own biases will govern the answer we require. The 32 Symbol Cipher is too character variable to be decoded using standard cryptographic techniques, and therefore can literally give rise to an infinite number of possibilities, requiring only three characters to match. What better way to solve the ciphers than straight from the horse's mouth. The Zodiac Killer supplied us with 32 characters in the Little List Letter, 14 characters in the 13 Hole Postcard (that began and ended in the same letter), and 13 characters in the Halloween Card - all of which required no 'square pegs in round holes' technique to land unadulterated into every cipher. The notion of a braggart remaining tight-lipped about his ciphers, while still staggering around the streets of America some 50 years later, deserves a book all by itself.  

THE CODE SOLUTIONS BY ZODIAC

In a series of articles it has been shown that the Zodiac Killer was extremely unlikely to have reappeared in 1974 firing off four communications - of which three were primarily aimed at the feature film industry, newspaper advertising and columnists - with the other referring to the SLA directly. If this was the Zodiac Killer, then it seems he had suddenly become a film critic, calling for the removal of advertisements for the Badlands movie and the cancelling of the San Francisco Chronicle's Count Marco column. The Zodiac Killer was suddenly objecting to murder glorification, the very thing he perpetrated to propel his pseudonym onto the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. He was perfectly comfortable stabbing and shooting defenceless women in the back, but was now furious with the male chauvinist Count Marco for his ridicule of women. The claim that the Zodiac Killer had now apparently turned his life around and was repenting for his sins is an extremely difficult argument to sell, when we consider that a far better option exists with the left-wing militant organization of the Symbionese Liberation Army. This group fought for the rights of women, the oppressed and the hungry, albeit with a misguided view of how to achieve it. Their disdain for the Hearst Corporation, the capitalist media and the greedy corporations was evident in everything they wrote - and saturated throughout the four communications mailed from January 29th to July 8th of 1974. In a previous article, inspired by the findings of Rubislaw32, we showed a 5/23/74 communication that threatened the daughter of President Richard Nixon and signed off with "a concerned citizen", postmarked only 15 days after the "Citizen Card" purportedly mailed by the Zodiac Killer.    

It has been argued that the Symbionese Liberation Army mimicked the Zodiac Killer many times, but equally, some of their communications may have inadvertently been mistaken for the Bay Area murderer. Several members of the group even mimicked the Zodiac introduction of "This is the Zodiac Speaking" in a series of taped communications spanning February through June of 1974, with a barrage of threats toward Randolph A. Hearst, the newspapers and various corporate entities

On February 8th 1974, Donald David DeFreeze sent Taped Comminique No.4, beginning "My name is Cinque and to my comrades I am known as Cin. I am a Black man and a representative of Black people. I hold the rank of General Field Marshal in the United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Today I have received an order from the Symbionese War Council, the Court of the People, to the effect I am ordered to convey the following message in behalf of the SLA and to insert a taped word of comfort and verification that Patricia Campbell Hearst is alive and safe". This was one of many taped messages from members of the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974.  

The communique continued, protesting the Hearst family and their profiteering from murder and suffering, primarily through the newspapers of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. Not surprising then, that on May 8th 1974, the San Francisco Chronicle should receive the "Citizen Card" stating "Sirs -- I would like to expression my consternation concerning your poor taste + lack of sympathy for the public, as evidenced by your running of the ads for the movie "Badlands", featuring the blurb: "In 1959 most people were killing time. Kit + Holly were killing people." In light of recent events, this kind of murder-glorification can only be deplorable at best (not that glorification of violence was ever justifiable) why don't you show some concern for public sensibilities + cut the ad?  A citizen". Followed only 15 days later from another "concerned citizen", threatening the White House of Richard Nixon, who is equally highlighted in the taped communiques of the Symbionese Liberation Army.  

Although the Hearst Corporation were not directly involved with the Exorcist and Badlands movies, the disdain for their involvement in "propaganda films for both national and international use" is apparent and relevant. when we consider the mocking nature of the Exorcist Letter towards the film on January 29th 1974, and the concern over the Badlands movie and its murder glorification in the newspapers through advertising on May 8th 1974. This is further bolstered when we consider the confrontation between Orson Welles and Randolph Hearst with regard to the "Citizen Kane" film (released on May 8th 1941 in Los Angeles), with Randolph Hearst demanding that the newspapers "cut the ads" for the film after becoming aware the movie was depicting him as the central character. The May 8th 1974 Citizen Card combined all the elements of "cutting ads", Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane, "murder glorification" and the San Francisco Chronicle under one neat banner - and all referenced in the taped communiques of the Symbionese Liberation Army, spanning not only the Citizen Card, but encompassing all 1974 communications thought to be from the Zodiac Killer  

Then came the spoken introductions to some of the taped Symbionese Liberation Army messages. Was this further proof that the Symbionese Liberation Army were mimicking the Zodiac Killer, at a time when the newspapers were replete with column inches speculating the return of the Zodiac Killer?  

In previous articles I have attempted to show that the February 3rd 1974 SLA Letter was mailed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, along with the Citizen Card and Red Phantom Letter. However, the Exorcist Letter mailed on January 29th 1974 (five days earlier) is difficult to ascertain whether it was mailed by the Zodiac Killer or the left-wing militant group. The SLA Letter stated "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word meaning "kill". a friend". Many have argued that the author of this correspondence incorrectly attributed the word "kill" to "sla" in Old Norse - but this is not true. 

Sla in Old Norse can be inferred as "kill", to which the author of this communication claimed. Sla in Old Norse means "to strike" or "to smite". The archaic use of the word "smite" as shown by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, defines "smite" as to kill or severely injure. In Wiktionary it is shown as the ability to strike down or kill with deadly force. So (in archaic usage like Old Norse) "sla" means "smite", and "smite" is used as "kill". Here is a PDF of Old Norse from York University, compiled by Ross G. Arthur. This will confirm that the author of the SLA Letter was correct all along. The author didn't write "Dear Mr Editor, Did you know that the initials SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla", an old Norse word with a direct translation to "kill". a friend". They used the word "meaning", which is something that it expresses or represents - and "sla" can represent or express the word "kill" through "smite". The whole communication was dedicated to highlighting the word "kill" through Old Norse.

Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, Old East Norse, and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. Most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches. Inscriptions have become synonymous with Runes. Wikipedia.

If the Symbionese Liberation Army were the architects of the SLA Letter, then the whitewashed symbols of the Exorcist Letter from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper on January 31st 1974 would only be known to the designer of the SLA Letter, If those symbols also highlighted the word "kill" or the verb "to kill", we could conclude the SLA Letter was simply the answer to the Exorcist Letter. There have been several examples of people trying to compare runic symbols to the Halloween Card and Asian style characters to the Exorcist Letter. Kevin Robert Brooks, an avid Zodiac researcher, used neither in decoding the Exorcist Letter to spell the words "To Kill", and thereby tying the January 29th and February 3rd communications into one neat bundle (shown below).  

Bearing in mind the Old Norse element of the SLA Letter, I thought I would make a provisory attempt at looking for a runic connection to the Exorcist Letter that complimented Kevin Robert Brooks solution. There is an eastern Rhaetian language that used runic symbols. It is clear that in the centuries leading up to Roman imperial times, the Rhaetians had at least come under Etruscan influence, as the Rhaetic inscriptions are written in what appears to be a northern variant of the Etruscan alphabet. The ancient Roman sources mention the Rhaetic people as being reputedly of Etruscan origin, so there may at least have been some ethnic Etruscans who had settled in the region by that time. In the diagram below I have taken the Rhaetian symbols and their corresponding English letters to spell the combined wording T'Kill.

The letters K, I and L mimic the symbols used by Kevin Robert Brooks to form the word "kill", and the exclamation type symbol is used to form "T'Kil", thereby phonetically creating the sound "To Kill" using runic symbols (running from left to right on the Exorcist Letter). This last section is not claiming an answer in the slightest, just searching for a correlation between ancient or archaic characters in keeping with Old Norse from the following communication.

Nikki Alexandra Benedict (14) had left her friend Kathie Gomski's house in Halper Road, Poway on May 1st 1967 shortly after 6:00 pm, to walk the 2 1/2 mile journey to her home at 13530 Olive Tree Lane, when approximately 25 minutes into her journey her life was cruelly snatched away. She was just passing the intersection of 12784 Poway and Carriage Road, traveling along a dirt pathway that straddled the Poway Road, when a man laying in wait leapt from a grassy depression and viciously attacked the young teenage girl with a short-bladed knife. She had a knife wound to her neck and bruises on her elbows and knees, but the fatal injuries were two stab wounds that penetrated her heart. The young girl did not succumb to her injuries immediately, with a trail of blood extending 200 yards to the west side of Carriage Road as she desperately sought help near a local shopping center. At approximately 6:30 pm, an 11-year-old boy, Ronald Fisk, discovered the critically injured girl and raced away on his bicycle to seek help from his father, who worked at a nearby market store. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of responding personnel, Nikki Benedict would be pronounced dead upon her arrival at Palomar Hospital.

Nikki Benedict would usually travel the 2.3 mile journey home from Meadowbrook Junior High School on the school bus, however, on this Monday she visited her friend Kathie in Halper Road to discuss an art project. Kathie was planning to escort Nikki along the initial part of her journey home, but was unable to accompany her friend because she had to stay home for her dinner. Nikki Benedict would have traveled south, before heading east alongside the Poway Road toward home, or traveled southeast from Halper Road to the intersection of Poway and Carriage Road, near to where her body was discovered. Whether she had been trailed by her attacker or had walked into his path has yet to be fully determined, but the attack was swift and deadly, with no robbery or sexual interference apparent. One eyewitness recalled a white man fleeing the scene, although no solid suspects have subsequently emerged from this sighting and the case has remained relatively trapped in time for just over 52 years.

Links have been forged to the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, some six months earlier. She too was savagely attacked with a short-bladed knife, with the Zodiac Killer belatedly laying claim to her murder on March 13th 1971 when he wrote to the Los Angeles Times, stating "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". Poway, San Diego is 83 miles south of Terracina Drive in Riverside, where Cheri Jo Bates body was ultimately discovered on Halloween morning by Riverside City College caretaker, Cleophus Martin.

I always find it helpful to provide a map regarding any crime scenes, so below I have identified the relevant locations in the murder of Nikki Benedict, despite the fact the topography has changed over the last half-century.  

On the map I have highlighted a second attack - that of Patricia Lee Kuzara (7), who was murdered while walking home on Saturday, September 28th 1974, with her badly beaten body discovered the following morning in a field just off Midland and Hilleary Road, Poway, just alongside the First Baptist Church. She was just a few blocks from her home in Putney Road when the attacker struck, inflicting numerous blows to her head with a blunt instrument. She had been staying with family friends/babysitters approximately 2 1/2 miles away and had left shortly before dusk (6:30 pm) according to the friends. Why on earth a babysitter would allow a seven-year-old girl to walk this distance unaccompanied I have no idea? Four days after her body was discovered, a 40-inch long angle iron with pieces of wood attached was found on Hilleary Road. It was believed to have been innocently moved from its original location in the field. 

Sergeant Doug Clements was of the opinion that the killer probably lived nearby, creating understandable apprehension in the local community. The killing of Patty Lee Kuzara was only a mile from the murder site of Nikki Benedict, and both were attacked alongside the Poway Road in a grassy area. Both young girls lived only 660 meters from one another. Investigators in a press release stated that the Patty Lee Kuzara murder appeared sexually motivated, so whether any connection exists to the murder of Nikki Benedict is sheer speculation. Had the murderer of Nikki Benedict failed to complete his objective that day because of the vigorous defence she displayed in countering his attack, and therefore had chosen easier prey in his subsequent attacks? (if any). Of course, the two may be totally unrelated.

The question for most Zodiac sleuths, is whether any credence can be placed in his Los Angeles Letter of March 13th 1971, of "a hell of a lot more down there". The Zodiac Killer certainly claimed or insinuated many more murders than the canonical five attributed to him, so whether his exploits took him to Poway on May 1st 1967 is wholly dependent on which side of the fence you sit. The timeline bridges the gap between Riverside and Lake Herman Road - and the April 30th 1967 Bates' letters were mailed only one day before the murder of  Nikki Benedict - and did promise "there will be more".

Here is a complimentary video venerating the memory Nikki Benedict. Zodiac Killer Insights.

Benicia Herald: "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene". It is reported that Stella Medeiros was the only eyewitness to see the stricken couple lying on the turnout floor, who then raced off to Benicia and flagged down Captain Daniel Pitta, recorded in the Benicia Police report at 11:25 pm. It was estimated that Stella Medeiros passed the turnout at approximately 11:20 pm. Captain Daniel Pitta would have then radioed into the Benicia Police Department reporting the details and requesting possible assistance. Coming from a experienced officer over the radio, it is difficult to understand how this could be interpreted as a "crank call". A call indicates a telephone call, and not a radio message. This opens up the possibility that somebody other than Captain Daniel Pitta called the Benicia Police Department at around the same time and reported something that was interpreted as an accident on Lake Herman Road. The last reported eyewitness to have passed the turnout prior to Stella Medeiros was James Owen, who was traveling to his graveyard shift at Humble Oil in Benicia.   

How many times have we passed a certain area and seen somebody lying on the ground and made the assumption that the person has had too many drinks or taken drugs, and just continued on our way, reluctant to get involved. Is it possible that James Owen was driving to work that night and noticed one or both victims lying on the turnout floor and just assumed it was teenagers worse for wear? In other words, his initial reaction was different to that of Stella Medeiros. He continued on to Humble Oil in Benicia and parked up at around 11:18 pm to 11:19 pm. He then entered his place of work, and upon refection, considered that the wise decision was to ring the Benicia Police Department and report that he had seen a "woman lying outside a car" in a turnout. The time of any such phone call would have been very close to 11:25 pm (possibly slightly before) with the unsure nature of the phone call possibly resulting in the police dispatcher considering it a crank call. If a phone call was received by Benicia Police Department reporting a "woman lying outside a car", we only know of one other eyewitness who passed the turnout immediately prior to Stella Medeiros, who could possibly have made this call at around the same time as Captain Daniel Pitta's radio message. That person was James Owen. 

In an interview with Michael Morford in 2012, he stated "As I was getting ready to leave work the next morning, a worker on the morning shift came in talking about the crime. When I left work, I passed the scene, and there were police there working, so I stopped and told them what I had seen.”

Having now been informed of the gravity of the crime, he did the dutiful thing by informing the police of his recollection of the second vehicle in the turnout, but how would it have been received in light of the double murder, had he now admitted seeing the young girl lying on the turnout floor and just drove on past without seeking the immediate help of police, and making what was described as a "crank call" (possibly lacking urgency). Was James Owen reluctant to admit what he saw in the turnout that night because of his misinterpretation of the crime scene on his way to Humble Oil, and how it may have been viewed by police? Is it possible he saw one or both victims on the turnout floor and didn't make the phone call, making him even more reluctant to reveal the whole truth to police?

In the police report James Owen stated 'that just before he approached the scene, a vehicle passed him going in the opposite direction toward Vallejo. He could give no description of this vehicle. This occurred near the Borges Ranch'. The occupants of this vehicle never came forward - which leaves the possibility that this vehicle could have played some part in the crime. James Owen's gave a second statement on 12.24.68: "He definitely saw two cars, a station wagon and another vehicle, parked approximately three or four feet to the right of the station wagon. He did not see anyone in the cars or around them. He stated as he traveled approximately one quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot."  It is this statement that makes little sense from the standpoint of other eyewitnesses.

The couple were spotted in their vehicle shortly after 11:00 pm by Peggy and Homer Your, but 10 minutes later, according to James Owen, they had completely vanished from the turnout. He didn't mention the doors of either vehicle being open. So, if the Zodiac Killer had driven the young couple from the Rambler, but noticed James Owen approaching the turnout and hidden David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen out of sight, we would have to assume he closed the door of his vehicle and the Rambler, and then later reopened the passenger side door of the Rambler for some unexplained reason - because this is how it was discovered by responding officers. The actual crime makes much more sense if the couple had already been shot when James Owen approached the turnout and simply misinterpreted what he saw. Had there been a second vehicle present at that time, then James Owen would have passed the turnout with Zodiac still on scene, but possibly out of sight. If there was no second vehicle, then the car traveling toward Vallejo by the Borges Ranch could have been the Zodiac Killer. 

But the bottom line is, that had a phone call been received by Benicia Police Department - described as a "crank call" - then the person who made this phone call had to have passed the turnout very close to the time of Stella Medeiros. If it wasn't James Owen, it may have been the Zodiac Killer himself.   

A serial killer exhibiting the traits of a marauder will operate using a buffer zone from their residence but radiate from this base when committing their murders, whereas a commuter will operate outside their normal activity spaces, thereby shifting the focus of the investigation away from the offenders anchor point. A serial killer living in Vallejo and operating as a commuter, would in the examples below, travel to San Francisco or Pleasanton to commit their murders and so shift the focus of the investigation away from their home base or residence. Canter and Larkin (1993) proposed the Circle Theory of Environmental Range that suggested a circle drawn around the two furthest offences from each other, would likely reveal the offender's home base, at or near the circle center (as shown by the Zodiac map on the right of the illustration below). This is just a rough example, as the circle could be shifted slightly to the left. Regardless, the center point falls in the approximate area of Vallejo or American Canyon. The problem arises when we draw a circle around a commuter's known offences, in that it would reveal a home location for the killer completely unrelated to his true residence. Therefore, it is critical that we identify whether the Zodiac Killer was a marauder or commuter.

There have been several studies done that suggest the vast majority of serial killers are marauders, who venture out from their anchor point, with the distance chosen from their residence based upon a buffer zone, the least effort principle, distance decay and a mental map of the area. A serial killer will often commit his earlier crimes closer to home because of uncertainty and inexperience, but venture further afield as their confidence grows. From the perspective of a killer working Monday to Friday, one might expect their Friday crimes to be situated closer to their home location, governed by the least effort principle and time constraints. Whereas their Saturday crimes, free from time constraints and tiredness, would unburden their unwillingness to travel further afield. If the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo, then the Canter and Larkin model looks like a good fit. Once the Zodiac Killer had committed his first two attacks close to his residence, the natural inclination on a Saturday would be to shift the emphasis away from the Vallejo and Benicia areas. The third attack at Lake Berryessa swung the focus approximately 42 miles north, while the Presidio Heights murder veered the investigation 35 miles south, into a fourth jurisdiction. It could be argued that the Zodiac Killer was deliberately attempting to redirect investigators away from where he lived. 

Canter and Young noted from a geographical standpoint that a commuter's crimes will generally be grouped closer together, whereas a marauder's crimes will be more spread. If the Zodiac Killer was a commuter living in Vallejo, one could expect him to commit multiple attacks at a secondary location such as San Francisco, in an attempt to focus the investigation far from home. Grouping the attacks within San Francisco would achieve this objective, but spreading the attacks would effectively nullify this tactic. A killer living in Vallejo may attempt to spread his attacks in all directions with each subsequent attack, designed in such a fashion to confuse investigators trying to pinpoint the murderer's anchor point, but may in essence have the reverse effect to the one desired. However, there is one important dichotomy to unpick when we consider the Zodiac Killer compared to most serial murderers - and that is the copious communications he mailed primarily from San Francisco.        

The Zodiac Killer's attacks spread out as time went by, but apart from his Vallejo Times-Herald communication on July 31st 1969, his focus for letter writing centered squarely on San Francisco. The least effort principle argues that when an offender is presented with two or more options to commit a crime, with equal availability and outcome, they will usually opt for the one that takes the least effort to achieve the same objective. The Zodiac Killer only committed four attacks, but likely mailed in excess of 20 letters. Therefore, is he more likely to go out of his way to deceive investigators by shifting his murders around the map in two or three instances, or mail his letters from an array of different locations to achieve a similar objective? He could have mailed his letters from anywhere, but primarily focused on San Francisco. When you are applying the least effort principle to his letter writing, it is easy to understand why he would choose the path of least resistance. If he had lived in Vallejo and mailed them at various locations on his route to work in San Francisco, then investigators (in his mind) may have been able to piece together his route taken and thereby identify an approximate home location. But by mailing virtually everything in San Francisco it could be interpreted by investigators that he lived in San Francisco - which is something the Zodiac Killer probably realized early on when his communications to the Vallejo Times-Herald went no further.  

His attacks took on the appearance of a marauder, while his letter writing took on the appearance of a commuter - which is exactly what he would have been, had he worked in San Francisco and lived in Vallejo. When your letter writing count outweighs your murder sites five to one, it is far easier to use this in order to focus investigators into a belief that you live in San Francisco, when it requires no more effort than traveling to work each day. The final confirmed murder at Presidio Heights could have been a deliberate choice by a killer determined to divert the investigation down a path far from home, but by reverse psychology, may have achieved the complete opposite to the one intended. 

The Zodiac Killer showed his ability to be unconstrained by a method of operation or modus operandi, with the 'couple killings' more a result of circumstance than choice. Had a third person been present in either vehicle at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, does anybody believe that the Zodiac Killer would have turned around and gone home? The same could be said for a single person. This was evident when the Zodiac Killer mailed his trinity of letters on July 31st 1969, stating "I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone, then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". His other two letters made no mention of couples. The idea that this was a sexually frustrated hater of courting couples is not warranted by the limited number of attacks in the sample size, and the idea that he would have just skulked off home, disappointed that he didn't see any couple's making out, is a hard argument to sell. However, the notion of earlier attacks carrying less risk and distance in respect to a home residence, has statistically been proven in previous studies of serial killers, whether or not it is true in this instance.    

In the final instalment of this series we will attempt to refine the previous conclusions gleaned from the Zodiac Killer letters.
The Zodiac Killer stated on April 20th 1970 "I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station. Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory.  But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back.  I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more except that my bus bomb was a dud.  I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back." In the correspondence, the Zodiac Killer was referring to the murder of San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970, who suffered devastating and sadly fatal injuries two months earlier, when a bomb packed with fence staples exploded on an outside ledge of Park Police Station in the Upper Haight neighborhood. The wording in the letter suggested that the Upper Haight neighborhood was not somewhere he was prepared to venture, but the suggestion of a school bus bomb and police station, when we take into account the SFPD positioned strategically by the bold, black circle on the Little List crosshairs and indicative of a location point, brings forth the notion of a school bus bomb under the noses of the San Francisco Police Department. Targeting a school bus within sight of a police station would certainly have dealt law enforcement a mighty blow.

The Zodiac Killer may have had a location in mind, despite the fact it was never followed through on - and this location has tentatively been identified as four radians (+magnetic north) and five inches along the radian in two previous articles. The exact position he had in mind to set up his photoelectric cells to detonate the bomb didn't necessarily have to conform to these measurements exactly, just be close enough to be rounded off by the Zodiac Killer. However, the other clues he gave us in the April 20th 1970 and July 26th 1970 communications were replete with information. We narrowed down a section on Google Maps between Daly City and Ingleside in San Francisco (between 246 and 249 degrees).

To narrow down the location even futher, we should be looking for a bus route approaching a school from north to south (so the sun is rising from the east on the left side). The roadway must have sufficient embankment on its right side to elevate photoelectic switch B. It must be within the parameters of 4 radians and 5 inches (allowing for a small margin of error). The addition of the pronounced black circle within the crosshairs of the Little List Letter in the form of SFPD=0, is suggestive of a location close to a San Francisco Police Department. In other words, the Zodiac Killer may have intended his "blast" right under the noses of law enforcement: "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos?" Despite not knowing the exact topography of this location in 1970, I have found a site just 230 feet from Ingleside Police Station alongside Southern Freeway. 

The Zodiac Killer mailed us three parts of one cipher on July 31st 1969, to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald. In his communication to the Chronicle he stated "In this cipher is my idenity". Bearing in mind this is the only portion of cipher with unsolved characters, it could be argued that any identity the Zodiac was offering would be found at the signing off phase in this cipher. It didn't really matter, because only four days later he gave us his identity in the form of "This is the Zodiac Speaking". The Zodiac Killer clearly made a mistake when taking his draught message into his 408 cipher, accidentally omitting the word "people" from the final offering. If we therefore conclude his original identity to be left was actually six characters shorter, it would have reduced the 18 unsolved characters to 12. Using the first-person singular pronoun of "I", his identity at the base of the 408 cipher would read "I am the Zodiac", to become "I am the Zodiac Killer" upon realization of his mistake. The Bay Area murderer literally gave us the exact wording to his unsolved 18 characters through his introductions in the Examiner and Herald letters (both communications began with "I am the killer"). Once we knew the pseudonym or identity as Zodiac on August 4th 1969, the conversion to "I am the Zodiac Killer" was the next logical step. This would become a habit for the Zodiac Killer, who would ultimately give us the exact wording to solve his remaining three ciphers. Not only would he give us the solutions to the codes, but his practice of using 'filler' with no apparent correlation to the solution would continue.  

The Zodiac Killer was no master criminal in the style of Moriarty, but he was nobody's fool either. To make the false assumption he didn't understand ciphers or codes when creating his remaining three offerings to the San Francisco Chronicle, would be a misguided one. Even somebody with limited knowledge of coding, knows that giving us a 32 character code with 29 unique characters within its framework, is practically unsolvable without a key. You can literally fill in the blanks as you choose. Therefore, the only realistic solution to the two smaller codes can come in two forms: [1] The Zodiac Killer can give us a key to decrypt the code, or [2] He can simply give us the answer. The Zodiac Killer may well have chosen option two, and given us the entire solution to all his three unsolved codes in subsequent communications. In fact, the possibilty exists that he supplied us with all the answers in three consecutive communications from July 26th 1970 to October 27th 1970 - in the Little List Letter (07/26/70), 13 Hole Postcard (10/05/70) and Halloween Card (10/27/70). The Zodiac Killer was likely giving us all the solutions before slipping back into anonymity. The newspaper article on November 16th 1970 by Paul Avery, linking Zodiac to the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, likely drew one final breath from the Zodiac Killer through 1971, before his race was run.    

The "key" phrases for the four codes are *in this cipher is my identity", "the Mt. Diablo code concerns radians and inches",  "Fk, I'm crackproof" and "sorry no cipher". The 408 cipher we have examined, so we will now tackle the 32 symbol code.

The Little List Letter mailed on July 26th 1970, one month after the Mount Diablo code (06/26/70), told us the code "concerns radians and # inches along the radians". It was as simple as adding in two figures to complete the code (hence the hashtag symbol denoting a number). The Zodiac gave us the exact wording for the solution, detailed here in a previous article. As stated above, the 32 symbol code with 29 unique characters couldn't be solved without a key or the answer. The Mount Diablo map and crosshairs were the framework, onto which we "coupled" the code for the location of the bomb. The answer was likely "4 radians and 5 inches along the radian", thereby giving us the solution word for word. An alternative to this solution (where only the hashtag is replaced by the number 5), is "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians and 5 inches along the radians". The Zodiac didn't necessarily have to incorporate the number 4 because we already knew the radian value from the bold, black circle provided on the Little List Letter crosshairs.

The next solutions were given to us in the 13 Hole Postcard - that may ultimately become the most important communication of them all. By combining the "red crucifix" decoder and 13 punch-holes in true "Dick Tracy" style, the Paradice and Slaves formation would be revealed, bisecting the 340 cipher along its mid-section both horizontally and vertically. See the article 'The Dick Tracy 340 Cipher'. The Zodiac Killer would again push us in the right direction by revealing the 340 was "sorry no cipher", by way of a cross formation on the Halloween Card envelope just 22 days later. If that wasn't enough, he wrote Paradice and Slaves in the identical formation it could be found within the 340 cipher. Three clues within the space of three weeks. See the article 'Zodiac Admitted 340 Not a Real Cipher'.

The Zodiac Killer also gave us the phrase "Fk, I'm crackproof" (upside down) on the 13 Hole Postcard. Apart from an expletive, the other viable option here, is the Zodiac Killer exclaiming that he is crackproof, preceded by his initials. The reason for this line of thinking, is the Zodiac Killer's wording before the 13 Symbol Cipher on April 20th 1970. The code is designed symmetrically and looks contrived, with three circled 8's fashioned at its center. The Zodiac Killer couldn't have supplied us with his name with any expectation it would be solved, because the code was simply too short and capable of providing us with thousands of solutions. However, he could provide us a solution to the code by giving us his initials. By doing it this way, he is in a roundabout way, giving us his name and a solution to the code that satisfies the introduction that preceded it: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is Fk, I'm crackproof".

This solution not only fits into the 13 Symbol Cipher, but reads continuously if imagined in circular fashion. The Zodiac Killer gave us three 8's within a circle (the symbol of infinity, and regeneration and rebirth within Christianity), with the letters K and M positioned ideally in the code to fit "Fk, I'm crackproof" around. There are three elements to this phrase: Fk, I'm, and crackproof. When the entire phrase is slotted around the letters K and M, the number 8 begins each element of the phrase (as shown below). As a side note, "Fk, I'm crackproof" can be spelled using the letters from the 32 Symbol Cipher characters, with only the F and K reversed.      

The Zodiac Killer had effectively given us the exact wording of "I am the Zodiac Killer", "Paradice and Slaves", "Fk I'm crackproof" and "radians and inches along the radian" - all of which can be inserted untouched into all four ciphers and provide us with solutions that don't require a key. The idea of a killer who constantly responded to the newspapers at every turn, somehow resisting the temptation to ever disclose the workings of his codes and ciphers is a difficult story to sell. If we are of the belief that the 32 and 13 character codes are simply too short and too variable to be solved, then without a key the Zodiac Killer likely supplied an alternative. In the case presented above, the "key" and "answer" could be described as exactly the same thing - and It was just a case of transferring the wording from one communication to another in at least three of the examples.

John Rose used Dave Oranchak's webtoy to create features of the Halloween Card in just an 81 character block around the center of the 340 cipher. Some have stated that the variability of the characters in this area of the cipher have allowed the freedom to manufacture such a result. While that may be the case, a larger pattern of Paradice and Slaves is replicated in a 17 X 17 formation along both same midsections, effectively mirroring the John Rose presentation. The fact that both are even achievable in the same cipher, is worthy of mention. The Bay Area braggart must have been itching to throw us a few clues to his unbroken codes and ciphers - so the notion that he didn't give us any before he disappeared into the twilight - is somehow difficult to swallow.   

Before the advent of the Rigel software system, utilizing the geographic profiling techniques of criminologist Dr. Kim Rossmo, a rudimentary form of geographic profiling was used by Stuart Kine before the capture of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe. This is mentioned by Dr. Kim Rossmo in a 1998 NCIS Conference, stating "I’m sure people in this room are familiar with this case. This is an example of an investigation going awry because of geography. The tape that was sent to the investigators from someone claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper led to analysis of the accents, they felt there was a Geordie accent, the person was from the Sunderland area, and they focused on that part of England which was about a hundred miles away from where the crimes were occurring. That was wrong. Sutcliffe lived close to the area. Interesting, and I’m not sure how many people are aware of it, but shortly before Sutcliffe’s arrest through work by some patrol officers, a Home Office scientist by the name of Stuart Kine did a sort of basic geographic analysis of the crimes and was quite successful as it turned out in his predictions".  He was in fact very accurate, bearing in mind the size of the killing field - and by literally sticking pins in a map - highlighted an area somewhere by Shipley, only 6 miles from the 6 Garden Lane, Bradford address of Peter Sutcliffe. View geoprofile.

Covered extensively in previous articles, had the Zodiac Killer worked a conventional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 profession and had lived in the Vallejo area at the time of his murders, we would expect to see his first two Friday attacks relatively close to his home base. Unconstrained by time on Saturday, the Zodiac Killer would be able to venture further afield for his attacks - which is exactly what happened. However, we now have another tool in our arsenal, highlighted in this short but informative video by BCU professor Craig Jackson. Here is a small extract: "Wherever the Yorkshire Ripper was based, the time of his murders would be a vital clue to where he lived. So, if one of the Yorkshire Ripper's victims was murdered in the early evening, 8 o' clock or 9 o' clock at night, that individual could be based very far away from where the Yorkshire Ripper's base was. But if the victim was murdered in the very small hours, midnight, or one or two in the morning, that victim would probably be very close to where the Ripper's base was, assuming that the Ripper would have to be home at a reasonable time to be with their partner or families, or friends who they lived with". The type of victim targeted, the areas they frequented and their availability also has to be factored into the target backcloth. Therefore, we will use the Zodiac Killer's four attacks and see if they conform to a home base in Vallejo.

If the Zodiac had left his house to search for victims on a Friday in the area of Columbus Parkway and Lake Herman Road, then he likely had a knowledge that young courting couples or lone individuals may be found in these remote locations. He has a mental map of the area and an optimal time he would like to return to his residence - but he knows that this sort of victim targeting is unreliable. Sometimes the opportunity may present itself immediately, while other times he may have to do several passes before a suitable target or targets appear. He has to factor this into his thinking when leaving his residence. In other words, if he wants to arrive home no later than 12:15 am, he has to allow for this when leaving his residence. In respect to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, he could have left his residence at 10:00 pm to allow for this "hit and miss" technique of trawling the eastern edge of Vallejo. This may have accounted for the earlier suspicious sightings on December 20th 1968, prior to the eventual double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen.

If we apply the model of professor Craig Jackson to our killer, then an attack at approximately 11:15 pm at Lake Herman Road and midnight at Blue Rock Springs Park, would suggest a killer who lived close by and was aiming to return home sometime in the late evening to early morning hours. If the Zodiac Killer had lived near to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone, he would have arrived home at around 11:30 pm on 12/20/68, and 12:15 am on 07/04/69. The Zodiac Killer's attack at Presidio Heights would not have been affected by a "hit and miss" targeting technique. Had the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine been planned ahead of time, he would know where he was to find his victim, where he was going to murder the taxicab driver and where his escape route lay before him - including his journey time back to Vallejo. Paul Stine was murdered shortly before 10:00 pm on 10/11/69. The Zodiac Killer (had he parked his vehicle near the Presidio Park) would have about 5-15 minutes of walk time, followed by a 50 to 60 minute journey home via the Golden Gate Bridge. At the latest, he would arrive home at approximately 11:15 pm. Therefore, his window of time to arrive back at his residence after three of his attacks, would fall within one hour of each other (between 11:15 pm and 12:15am) - although it may be slightly more.     

The Lake Berrryessa crime is altogether different. If we believe that the Zodiac Killer targeted areas he was familiar with, then he knew that the outskirts of eastern Vallejo, in the secluded areas of Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs during the weekend or holiday season, was likely rich pickings for courting "couples" or "stray people" in the night. The sheer fact he wrote about killing "over a dozen people" at the weekend, showed an element of confidence in these surroundings, despite the obvious braggadocio displayed.

The Presidio Heights area must also have been familiar to him, to risk such an audacious attack in a built-up area of San Francisco. Dr. Kim Rossmo summed it up perfectly: ​​"The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts. In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques".

His familiarity with Lake Berryessa (09/27/69) was also obvious. The Zodiac Killer knew on this occasion that a targeted attack in the late evening hours (close to midnight), similar to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, was wholly uncertain with respect to finding a suitable victim or victims in this location. But he knew that a late afternoon or early evening attack within the expanse of Lake Berryessa, would be the safest bet, The location, on this occasion, effectively governed the earlier attack time. When this constraint was unburdened during his first, second and fourth attacks (assuming he lived in Vallejo and went directly home), his arrival time to his residence would have always fell within a 60-75 minute window of time. If the Zodiac Killer had a preconceived time he wanted to return home by, then Vallejo by the payphone was a perfect fit for a good night's sleep - as well as not arousing suspicion - had he been married (with children).     

In a previous article we concluded that the 32 character code mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on June 26th 1970 stated "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns 4 Radians and 5 inches along the radian", based upon the clues the Zodiac Killer gave us in the Little List Letter on July 26th 1970. This led to an area somewhere between Ingleside and Daly City on the south edge of San Francisco. The Zodiac drew us a bus bomb diagram on April 20th 1970, suggesting he was going to place two photoelectric switches on an embankment or hillside on the right side of the road. He stated it was to be set up early in the morning when the sun was rising in the east. The images below show the El Camino Real by Outer Mission, heading south, with the April 20th 1970 'Bus Bomb' diagram superimposed over it. The hillside to the right is the type required to place his two photoelectric switches - one by the roadside and the other higher on the banking. Any school bus heading along this road for early morning assembly, would have the sun rising in the east (shining left to right in the image below).

If the Zodiac Killer had any intentions of blowing up a school bus (which is unlikely), then he would be targeting the schoolchildren on their way to school in the morning. If the children were being bussed in from other parts of San Francisco for this particular school (St. Thomas More Catholic School), then traveling from the north and east, the bus driver could be using Highway 101 and Interstate 280 in the direction shown by the red line below (recommended on Google maps). The blue circle is 4 radians (+ magnetic north), and 5 inches from Mount Diablo, satisfying the 32 character cipher and Zodiac's statement of "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians". The highway under the blue circle is traveling south with the sun to the east in the morning - and is heading toward St. Thomas More Catholic School (just 1.37 miles away).      

The Zodiac Killer stated on April 20th 1970 "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now.  I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station.  Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory.  But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back.  I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more except that my bus bomb was a dud.  I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back. The new bomb is set up like this. Sun light in early morning. A + B are photoelectric swiches when sun beam is broken A closes circut. B opens circut, which makes B the cloudy day disconect so the bomb won't go off by accid. PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed".

​​The choice of words the Zodiac used at the beginning of this communication were unfortunate, had his target been children from St. Thomas More Catholic School. The school was named after Thomas More, an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a Chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532. He was sentenced under the Treasons Act 1534 and decapitated with an axe. Therefore, it was very unfortunate that the Zodiac Killer should state "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now".

There are several other schools in this area between Ingleside and Daly City, but we must remember that it is the bus he was targeting, not the school. Therefore, we should prioritize the roadways in this area (shown by the red rectangle), from the perspective of a bus traveling south, with its left side facing east.