ZODIAC CIPHERS
RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
  • Home
    • Search This Site With Google
    • The Mount Diablo Map and Code Solution
  • Zodiac News
    • Zodiac News Archive
    • Santa Barbara Attack
    • Cheri Jo Bates
    • The Confession
    • Riverside Desktop Poem
    • Bates Letter
    • The Forgotten Victims
    • Welsh Chappie - Zodiac News
  • Lake Herman Murders
    • Blue Rock Springs Attack
    • Vallejo Times Letter
    • Examiner Letter
    • Chronicle Letter
    • Complete 408 Cipher
    • Vallejo and Benicia Map
    • Kathie Snoozy and Debra Furlong Murders
    • Debut of Zodiac Letter
  • Lake Berryessa Attack
    • Presidio Heights Attack
    • Call to Chat Show
  • 340 Cipher
    • Bus Bomb Letter
    • Betsy Aardsma Murder
    • The Fairfield Letter
    • Melvin Belli Letter
    • Santa Barbara Murders 1970
    • Modesto Attack
    • My Name is Cipher
    • Dragon Card and Button Letter >
      • Phillips Road Map
    • The Sleeping Bag Murders
    • The Little List Letter
  • The Halloween Card
    • Lake Tahoe Disappearance
    • Los Angeles Times Letter
    • The Monticello Card
    • The Exorcist Letter
  • SLA Letter
    • Red Phantom Letter/American Greetings Card
    • The 1978 Letter
    • Los Angeles Times Newspaper Articles
    • Zodiac Letters Real or Fake
    • Zodiac Documentary
    • Unsolved Mysteries
    • The Colonial Parkway Murders
  • Suspects
    • Arthur Leigh Allen
    • Rick Marshall
    • Lawrence Kane
    • Theodore Kaczynski
    • Richard Gaikowski
    • Gareth Penn
    • Jack Tarrance

ROBERT SALEM-WHEN WAS THE APRIL 20TH 1970 LETTER WRITTEN?

11/7/2021

 
On Tuesday, April 21st 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled The Bloody Satan Murder stating "An autopsy yesterday morning showed Salem was slain sometime last Wednesday", which was April 15th 1970. The introduction to the article highlighted the murder of Robert Michael Salem in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment, describing the "macabre mutilation of the renowned lighting designer" found Sunday evening (April 19th). On Monday, April 20th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle produced their first article on the murder, stating "A bizarre murder - with the words Satan Saves Zodiac written in blood on the expensively decorated hippie-style pad - was discovered last night at 745 Stevenson Street". The pseudonym "Zodiac" and the drawing of a religious Ankh was also found scrawled in blood on the apartment wall. It is clear, that despite Robert Salem being murdered on April 15th 1970 (or thereabouts), his murder was not discovered until Sunday, April 19th 1970. The story not released publicly until it appeared the following morning in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

If the Zodiac Killer was not the murderer of Robert Salem - and didn't have inside knowledge of the discovery on April 19th - the first time he would have become aware of his pseudonym being found at a murder scene was when he bought his morning newspaper on April 20th 1970. The very same day, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle stating "PS I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed" and "I have killed ten people to date". After four months of not writing, was the timing of this letter really a coincidence - falling on the same day his bloody pseudonym was reported on the wall of a murder victim. The Zodiac Killer could easily have just written the victim count once, next to his crosshairs, but specifically added "I have killed ten people to date", suggesting that we should include the month of April into the equation. The Zodiac Killer was seemingly attempting to push us into concluding he was the murderer of Robert Michael Salem. By including a short code of thirteen characters, which included the three number eights (Christ the Redeemer in Christian numerology, and the opposing value of 666, the number of the beast), was the phrase of "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed" trying to lead us to "Satan Saves" on the wall of the apartment?                    
Picture
What is crucial here, is the timing of this Zodiac communication in relation to the newspaper article reporting the murder of Robert Salem. If the letter was insinuating he was responsible for the 745 Stevenson Street murder, then after reading the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer would have had to access (or buy) his writing paper, envelopes and stamps - create a thirteen character code, recall the Officer Brian McDonnell murder on February 16th 1970, compose the letter and draw his "string of bombs" diagram almost immediately - before mailing the letter in time for it still to be collected, processed and postmarked AM on the morning of Monday, April 20th 1970 (before noon),. Is that a reasonable proposition? If this were the case, it could imply that the 13-Symbol cipher was created with no forethought, was contemporary in nature and possibly related to the murder of Robert Salem (hence the numbers).
Picture
The alternative could be that the April 20th 1970 letter was created in advance of the San Francisco Chronicle article reporting the murder of Robert Salem. This could mean that the Zodiac Killer knew of the murder prior to the details being released in the newspaper, because he was the murderer of Robert Salem at 745 Stevenson Street. It just depends on what credence you place on the timing of this letter and the emphasis you place on "I have killed ten people to date" to mean "I have killed ten people to April 20th 1970", thereby highlighting the importance of April to the victim count.

LATEST UPDATE, INCLUDING POLICE REPORTS & PHOTOGRAPHS

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    All
    13 Hole Postcard
    148 Character Cipher
    1978 Letter
    1986 Letter
    1987 Letter
    2001 Happy New Year Card
    Albany Letter
    Allan/Peyton Murders
    Arthur Leigh Allen
    Atlanta Letter
    Betsy Aardsma
    Blue Rock Springs Attack
    Bus Bomb Letter
    Button Letter
    Call To Chat Show
    Carol Beth Hilburn
    Channel 9 Letter
    Cheri Jo Bates
    Cipher Theories
    Citizen Card
    Concerned Citizen Card
    Confession Letter
    Daniel Williams Poisoning
    Debut Of Zodiac Letter
    Deep Real Estate Ad
    DMV Letter
    Domingos/Edwards Murders
    Donald Lee Bujok
    Donna Lass
    Dragon Card
    Earl Van Best Jr
    Eureka Card
    Exorcist Letter
    Fairfield Letter
    Fingerprint Evidence
    Forecast For Cancer
    Forecast For Leo
    Gareth Penn
    General News Articles
    Gilbert And Sullivan
    Good Citizen Letter
    Halloween Card
    Hood/Garcia Murders
    Internet Articles
    Joan Webster
    Johnny & Joyce Swindle
    Judith Hakari
    Kevin Robert Brooks
    Lake Berryessa Attack
    Lake Herman Road Murders
    Lake Tahoe Disappearance
    Larry Kane
    Leona Roberts Murder
    Los Angeles Letter
    Melvin Belli Letter
    Mike Morford (Morf13)
    Modesto Attack
    Molina/Rodriguez Murders
    Monticello Card
    My Name Is Letter
    Nancy Bennallack
    New Canaan Letters
    Novato Letter
    Oakland A's Letter
    Pines Card
    Possible Zodiac Attacks
    Possible Zodiac Letters
    Presidio Heights Murder
    Radians
    Red Phantom Letter
    Richard Gaikowski
    Riverside Desktop Poem
    Robert Salem Murder
    Ross Sullivan
    Saechao/Saelee Murders
    San Jose Code Letter
    Santa Claus Card
    Scorpion Ciphers
    Scotch Tape Letter
    Sla Letter
    Tamalpais Valley Attack
    Ted Kaczynski
    Telegraph Avenue Incident
    The 340 Cipher
    The 408 Cipher
    The Celebrity Cypher
    The Little List
    The Mikado
    Thomas Horan
    You Are Next Letter
    Zodiac Letters Poll
    Zodiac Postage
    Zodiac Theories

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    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.
    Picture
    Picture
    The Zodiac Atlas: The Zodiac Killer Enigma by Randall Scott Clemons. Click image for details.
    Picture
    The Zodiac Killer Map: Part of the Zodiac Killer Enigma by Randall Scott Clemons. Click image for color version
    For black and white issue..
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    January 2012

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Photos from Marcin Wichary, zAppledot, vyusseem, Alex Barth, Alan Cleaver, jocelynsart, Richard Perry, taberandrew, eschipul, MrJamesAckerley