THE AUTOMOBILE NOTE

12/3/2019

The Zodiac Killer story is full of strange coincidences, so here is another one. Alex Lewis managed to secure a redacted document from the FBI in 2016 regarding the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The redacted document read "Xenophon Lusby Anthony, WMA, DOB 28th February 1931, Resides at 3218 Jackson Street, San Francisco. For Info Ident Division, San Francisco Police Department advised; eight year old witness in murder of cab driver identified Anthony as possible subject in this matter". Just ten days after the Paul Stine murder, on Tuesday October 21st 1969, an 8-year-old girl was walking along Lake Mendocino Drive with her parents when a passing motorist flung a note attached to a twig at her feet, stating "You're next..Z".

The Zodiac Killer had threatened schoolchildren when his October 13th 1969 letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. The letter had promised that "School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out". The day before this note was thrown towards the young girl from the car, a newspaper article featured in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 20th 1969 entitled Bus Precautions-A Seminar Here on Zodiac Killer, mentioning protection for schoolchildren in many areas. Obviously there is no way to validate if this was the Zodiac Killer responding to this article or just another copycat buying into the Zodiac story.

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There is quite a distance from San Francisco to Lake Mendocino Drive in Ukiah, but it is a direct journey along Highway 101 from the Bay Area that can be accomplished in two hours - and from the standpoint of the Zodiac Killer - likely outside the target zone of the police. The wording on the note would eventually become familiar, when a pasted card (mimicking the 13 Hole postcard) was mailed to the home address of Dr. Edward C. Adams at 102 Camino Don Miguel, Orinda, California, postmarked October 17th 1970 from Berkeley. Edward C. Adams was a psychiatrist. The card read: "Mon Oct 12, 1970. Edward Adams. The Zodiac is going to change the way of committing murders. I shall announce when I shall commit my murders, The Adamses are next. you taught me to mean it. Adams you are next. Zodiac".

This communication arrived almost one year after the note in Ukiah with very similar phraseology. The October 21st 1969 note read "You're next..Z" and the October 17th 1970 communication read "You are next. Zodiac". On August 26th 1976, an advertisement ran in the San Francisco Chronicle for one week, beginning "Zodiac, Your partner is in deep real estate. You're next". Three communications bridging a span of seven years.

The two sketches of the suspect in the Paul Stine murder were released on October 13th and October 18th 1969, so it was probably unsurprising that many people in the subsequent days believed they had spotted the Zodiac Killer. However, five residents of Anderson Valley (15 miles southwest of Lake Mendocino Drive} did make claims of seeing the "killer" in the area and reported it to police on Sunday October 19th 1969. Two days later, the incident involving the 8-year-old girl transpired. The sightings of Boonville residents in Anderson Valley were reported in the Ukiah Daily Journal on October 20th 1969.

Bus patrols were widespread after the Zodiac threat on schoolchildren, with newspaper reports detailing the vigilance of authorities as far as the Napa Valley and Santa Rosa. Had the Zodiac Killer ventured just beyond the perceived safety net to fulfil his promise to target schoolchildren, or was this just another sick individual cashing in on the terror experienced in the Bay Area and beyond?

Captain Hays Hickey of the California Highway Patrol had met with authorities on October 20th 1969 to finalize plans for a CHP-Sheriff's Unit Protection on half a dozen or more school buses in the outlying districts of Mendocino County in the wake of Zodiac's threats. Operation Zodiac initially began with three outlying areas covered on October 20th 1969, believing the killer was more likely to threaten areas of a more rural nature.

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24 Comments

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 05:03:50 am

Just to let you know,Richard,that I have passed on your thanks and interest in ''The Taft Theory'' article,to Ricardo.

Also your highlighting of the ''6:30'' on Hartnell's car door,as a persuasive link to the Desk Top Poem....as inference of ''Scrapbook Plagiarism'' in the habits of the same author ( ? ) - Zodiac.

Hopefully,if he has the whole article,then he will pass it on to you.

Richard

12/3/2019 05:14:53 am

Thanks Rubislaw, much appreciated. You never know we may see something from a different perspective. It was a good article by Ricardo and deserves a follow up if possible.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 05:43:34 am

While I think about it ,Richard....this expression '' Get your rocks off '',has been the subject of re-visited debate recently.

I researched its derivation about five years ago....and,although derivations are not ''set in stone'' as a single source....it does seem that this expression came from Texas cowboys,as an expression employed to ''break in'' a young horse,by taking it out for a gallop.

Nothing actually,to do with sex,at all.Although of course,it has come to have this association.

(...refer 408 solution..and indeed the ''V'' brand,as associated with a Texas Longhorn...)

Richard

12/3/2019 06:18:35 am

The closest to 1968 was the Bob Dylan song.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 06:48:37 am

Strangely,that Dylan song is about a man who is threatened with a mugging ,unless he hands over his ''valuables''...with rocks a loose term,as in precious stones,like diamonds.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 07:46:11 am

So the presumption is,that the Zodiac employs the expression,as ''arrived'' in the sixties sexual revolution.

And,like many others,his sources for some of his words/expressions came from the radio,with catchy songs,regardless of lyrical context....
as well as the written word.

''Mororcicles'' from ''The Motorcycle Song'' by Arlo Guthrie...and possibly '' If you want it '' from ''Come and get it'',by Badfinger,with the ''message in a bottle'' find.

Zodiac certainly seems ''want'' to carry songs around in his head,and then put down on paper ( ? ).

''Little List'' the most well known example of this.....where he went '' hell for leather ''.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 01:55:27 pm

Back to topic...and an interesting notion that the ''You're next'' expression had already been employed by the Zodiac,before the obervation of the '' Dr.Adams '' cut and paste note and 1976 personal ad..

I certainly believe in the ''Zodiac authenticity'' of the latter two....both with WJGrant possible links....Grant's psychiatrist,Adams....and the ad.in the same month that Grant moved house,and possibly made to look as if it had been signed by his wife's psychiatrist.

For persecution of Grant,was at the heart of the Zodiac's motives.

Did the Zodiac read about this ''first note'',which then influenced him in creating the other two ? Or,was it the Zodiac,in the first instance ?

I just don't know.

Richard

12/3/2019 02:58:32 pm

It's impossible to form any solid opinion Rubislaw. This article ran alongside the Melvin Belli story, so it's perfectly feasible the Zodiac Killer may have read it. But it was a side story, so retaining a particular phrase in your head to regurgitate a year later seems unlikely. The phrase "you're next" is not particularly unique however, and could be argued is a common threat. The fact it is alongside Highway 101, commonly associated with Zodiac activities (as we have previously addressed) makes it a viable Zodiac incident for a man wishing to operate away from the focus of police activity. It is an intriguing possibility, although it doesn't get us much further. If it was the Zodiac Killer, then he could have chosen anywhere in California - so was Highway 101 and a familiarity with the Ukiah area and the two lakes close to it, indicative of a man whose pastime of fishing or boating made this choice of area somewhere he felt comfortable in. Clear Lake is larger than Lake Berryessa and may very well be somewhere familiar to a keen outdoors man and hunter.
Lake Herman, Lake Berrryessa, Fishermans Wharf and the coast and Clear Lake obvious places for recreational pursuits such as fishing or boating.

Richard

12/3/2019 03:01:55 pm

Lake Herman and Clear Lake popular Bass fishing spots.

Tom1

12/5/2019 06:32:14 am

I made this point long ago. Many outdoorsmen would have extensive knowledge of these areas. This would include avid deer and waterfowl hunters and fishermen. That is a clear indication that our friend was involved in these activities. Unfortunately it doesn't narrow the field very much. My other point is that many posters seem fascinated by remote and obscure coincidence rather than obvious connections. All of the phrases mentioned on this site and in Mr Z's correspondence were common in the lexicon of that period.

Richard

12/5/2019 07:50:47 am

Absolutely Tom, it is a real possibility. I think his pastimes gave him familiarity with these areas, and in which to operate - an outdoors man with orienteering, hiking and fishing, along with a directional awareness born out in his communications.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 03:10:02 pm

Certainly the crux of it,Richard...that '' You're next '' is not so unique.But,I suppose that coupled with a ''Z'' signature,does at least,warrant attention.

We've seen this recently,with Bobby,Jack ''had to die'',in the wake of Robert Kennedy's assassination....with thoughts turning to a note for Joseph Bates.

It's the extortionist and hoaxers,that do things to one's head ( ? ).

Richard

12/3/2019 03:30:55 pm

True, it's not that the phrase is unique, but in the context of Zodiac threats in the relevant time period, this appeared the forerunner to the other two communications in 1970 and 1976. There certainly is nothing against it being Zodiac. I know Mike Morford did a request for the note, which one would like to have thought they would have retained and not just chucked away. The fact such a request for an innoccuos correspondence like this was rejected could mean two things [1] they don't have it anymore or [2] it is more important than we think. We have to reconcile communications such as the 13 Hole postcard and Pines card being made public, with the Monticello card flatly denied. The Zodiac case is effectively open and unsolved, but the Bilek case is closed - so why the reticence.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 04:32:36 pm

Absolutely,and I think that you are asking the right ''rhetorical'' questions.

I only found out about Adler and Adams being Marian's and Grant's psychiatrists,through Lafferty....albeit on Lyndon's ''claim''..and seems to ''fit in''...but it's still not 100% certain.

But,more pertinently,it's what LE are prepared to give us,and why they choose to deny us other information,that can be as much a mystery,as anything else.

Thinking about the Celebrity Cipher...the denial of its picture,must have been,primarily,because a reluctance,on behalf of the authorities,to focus on a threat from the Zodiac,to cast his eyes towards the ''rich and famous'',and Clint Eastwood,in particular.

And,now I'm extra hacked off with The Hearst Corporation,for using ''Carmel'' as the name for their fictional computer.For the San Francisco Chronicle ''is'' a ''flag planter''...which is their reward,for keeping in with Law Enforcement,on the case...doing what they are told.

All these ''little things'' can come to light,when one uncovers something that LE wished us ''not'' to know.

But....we've come so far,and I would suggest that the internet sleuths have given LE so much extra information.

I think that we deserve better,from them.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/3/2019 08:58:53 pm

Interesting...the timing of a return to the internet of Ms.Apple Florez ,with two extra pieces of ''information'' in the conundrum of Donna Lass.

Firstly that the mother of Mr.Powers is unhappy that he is continuing with this claim that his grandfather,Kenneth Lester German,was the Zodiac.

And secondly,that there is a photo of a claimed daughter of Donna Lass.Even an inference that this claimed daughter ''might'' be contactable.

Well....to the second piece of information - what does it matter ( ? ),it will still remain in ''claim'' form.And,with Donna Lass now 75 years old,if still alive...it brings us no closer with any prospect of her speaking for herself.

But...''most pertinent''.of all.I would venture is....that in all this time of our awareness and observation of a photograph of a claimed Donna Lass,in middle age .....why are we still not ''with knowledge'' of the source of the photograph of Donna Lass,in question ??

As opposed to '' tittle tattle'' extra information,perhaps Ms.Florez could answer one basic question ( ? ) :

Does the photograph of a middle-aged Donna Lass,emanate from :

Either :

Mr.Powers

Or :

Detective Herminghaus

It would,indeed,be ''enlightening'' to know the truth of this....instead of seemingly,''beating about the bush'' on this point.

Roger

12/4/2019 11:49:02 pm

A note in a bottle. A note tied to a twig? Perhaps he also sent one by pigeon but a cat ate it before anybody could read it. lol!

Rubislaw 32 link

12/5/2019 03:18:29 am

I doubt it ,Roger....but the real realms of ''funniness'' are,for example,recent photographs turning up at a well-known site,claiming to be graffiti alluding to ''Glitter Doll'',the nickname that Richard Gaikowski gave,to his friend and spurned lover,Mr.Blaine Blaine.

It rarely gets more hilarious and indeed ''pitiful'' than these amateur attempts to palm off as some sort of ''telling'' evidence.

What a hoot.

Roger

12/5/2019 04:43:01 pm

You've got to love evidence that suddenly materializes out of thin air. Only on the internet can such things ever be considered "real".

Takes the concept of "fake news" to a whole new level.

Rubislaw 32 link

12/5/2019 03:32:03 am

With reference to the above,these claimed '' crime scene '' photos,can be viewd at zodiackiller.com , The General Gaikowski section ,under thread : Gaik/Zodiac handwriting comparisons by EddieBarsh92 ,Page 13.

Even Mr.Barsh,who posted the crime scene photos,is unable to explain their source.

Roger

12/5/2019 03:48:14 pm

Oh my, what can you say?! That blue "GLITTER DOLL" writing looks like really BAD Photoshop. Note when questioned, we get this in response: "By all means, if you know someone else who called Blaine "Glitter Doll" please show them to me....." and "What exact crimes those were, I'm unsure of." So where did the alleged graffiti originate? From crime scenes he is not sure about. lol!

Rubislaw 32 link

12/5/2019 06:32:03 pm

Yes,that collection of photos must indeed be,one the worst examples of hoaxed attempts to ''bolster'' an extremely ''dodgy'' assertion,by Mr.Blaine,that he witnessed and participated in murders carried out by Mr.Gaikowski....in the whole history of internet sleuthing.

In view of hoaxes,such as the ''Greetings from Ireland '' card,with its ramifications transferring to actual events,in public....and subsequent hoaxes,such as the '' Burger Chef Promo''...it is most unlikely that the FBI's counter intelligence unit ''haven't'' been monitoring these sorts of ''shenanigans'',and quite closely.

Strangely,these hoaxes all seem to come from the same Zodiac site.

Coincidence...or what ?

Richard

12/6/2019 02:46:39 pm

The statement "it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl" may have been issued because it was something Zodiac didn't value, because he was homosexual like the Avery article alluded.

1970: First Gay Pride Parade: On June 27, 20 to 30 people march down Polk Street from Aquatic Park to City Hall in San Francisco's first gay rights march. A "gay-in'' the next day in Golden Gate Park draws many more people. This is the start of the Gay Freedom Day Parade, also known as Pride.

New York: Meetings to organize an LGBT march began in early January 1970 at Rodwell's apartment in 350 Bleecker Street.[17] At first there was difficulty getting some of the major New York City organizations like Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) to send representatives. Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, Michael Brown, Marty Nixon, and Foster Gunnison of Mattachine made up the core group of the CSLD Umbrella Committee (CSLDUC). For initial funding, Gunnison served as treasurer and sought donations from the national homophile organizations and sponsors, while Sargeant solicited donations via the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop customer mailing list and Nixon worked to gain financial support from GLF in his position as treasurer for that organization. Other mainstays of the organizing committee were Judy Miller, Jack Waluska, Steve Gerrie and Brenda Howard of GLF. Believing that more people would turn out for the march on a Sunday, and so as to mark the date of the start of the Stonewall uprising, the committee scheduled the date for the first march for Sunday, June 28, 1970. With Dick Leitsch's replacement as president of Mattachine NY by Michael Kotis in April, 1970, opposition to the march by Mattachine ended. Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970 marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots with a march from Sheridan Square, covering the 51 blocks to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. The march took less than half the scheduled time due to excitement, but also due to wariness about walking through the city with gay banners and signs.

The Zodiac Killer mailed the Dragon con April 28th 1970 asking people wear buttons and invoking the phrase "Melvin eats bluber". The day before the San Francisco "gay march" Zodiac again reiterated the reference to buttons. Jose Sarria, a gay activist, fought against police harassment, both of gays and of gay bars. Raids on gay bars were routine, with everyone inside the raided bar taken into custody and charged with such crimes as being "inmates in a disorderly house". Although the charges were routinely dropped, the arrested patrons' names, addresses and workplaces were printed in the newspapers. When charges were not dropped, the arrested men usually quietly pleaded guilty. Sarria encouraged men to plead not guilty and demand a jury trial. Following Sarria's advice, more and more gay men began demanding jury trials, so many that court dockets were overloaded and judges began expecting that prosecutors have actual evidence against the accused before going to trial. One favored harassment technique, employed especially on Halloween after midnight, was to arrest drag queens under an old city ordinance that made it illegal for a man to dress in women's clothing with an "intent to deceive". In consultation with attorney Melvin Belli, Sarria countered this tactic by distributing labels to his fellow drag queens (hand-made, in the shape of a black cat's head) that read "I am a boy". If confronted, the queen would simply display the tag to prove that there was no intent to deceive. Sarria's actions helped bring an end to Halloween police raids.

Jose Sarria, with the help of Belli, designed these early style buttons and both featured in the run up to the gay marches in New York and San Francisco. One night at the Black Cat, Sarria recognized the piano player's rendition of Bizet's opera Carmen and began singing arias from the opera while he delivered drinks. This quickly led to a schedule of three to four shows a night, along with a regular Sunday afternoon show. Sarria was billed as "The Nightingale of Montgomery Street".[42] Initially he focused on singing parodies of popular torch songs. Soon, however, Sarria was performing full-blown parodic operas in his natural high tenor. His specialty was a re-working of Carmen set in modern-day San Francisco. Sarria as Carmen would prowl through the popular cruising area Union Square. Zodiac was also inspired by opera. Halloween became the day of celebration for LGBT in which people dressed up, often in Halloween costumes. I wonder if the pumpkin on October 27th 1970 had significance in it's placement and whether Paul Stine was murdered because Zodiac wanted to prove he wasn't wrangling with his own sexuality in his commission of crimes on courting couples.

Richard

12/6/2019 02:52:43 pm

The Belli and Sarria "labels" stated "I am a boy". The people who worked with Avery wore the buttons "I am not Paul Avery".

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/published/blubber.jpg?1574070373

Tom1

12/9/2019 05:04:52 pm

How about this angle. If the Zodiac realized he had been spotted by some youngsters the night of the Stine Murder, he may have resorted to threatening young people in an effort to maintain their silence. School aged children could be easily influenced by this type of threatening behavior. I have not read this fairly obvious theory mentioned before.

THE AUTOMOBILE NOTE

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