Sixteen months before the Pines postcard was mailed, during several weeks in November 1969, somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer telephoned school bus threats to Incline Village and Tahoe City, mobilizing deputies to patrol schools and bus routes in the area. There may have been a fair number of hoax Zodiac calls throughout the years, but this person claimed to be the Zodiac Killer and threatened Incline Village by Lake Tahoe, nearly 1 1/2 years prior to the mailing of the Pines postcard which contained an advertisement of Incline Village.
In March 1972 (see left), the Sacramento Bee reported that "Lake of the Pines" property owners had accepted Boise Cascade's offer of recreational facilities, having bought out the original "Lake of the Pines" developer, Western Lake Properties. Boise Cascade marketed the lots to older workers in the Bay Area and Southern California.
The Sacramento Bee and other Bay Area newspapers ran advertisements for "California's newest recreational idea" from 1969, promoting swimming, boating, golfing, fishing and water skiing. One advertisement read "Build on one of Lake of the Pines beautiful waterfront lots".
There are only two likely Zodiac Killer communications mailed about Donna Lass. The Pines postcard mailed on March 22nd 1971 used "Peek through the Pines", with the author of the December 27th 1974 Christmas card to Mary Pilker (sister of Donna Lass) writing "Best Wishes. St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines" (with Pines beginning with a capital letter).
Bearing in mind that the remains of Donna Lass were found in the area of Camp Spaulding and Yuba Gap in 1986, heavily blanketed in Pine trees, I considered the possibility the author of the Christmas card was hinting that her remains would be found in Pine country, but giving us a clue by using words from a second Boise Cascade project. The Zodiac Killer took "Peek through the Pines" from the Boise Cascade advertisement in 1971, so did he use three words from the Boise Cascade adverisements for "Lake of the Pines" to fashion the wording for the Christmas card to Mary Pilker in December 1974? Using "of the Pines" from "Lake of the Pines" (which also began with a capital letter). The Pines postcard (1971) and Christmas card (1974) would therefore contain seven of the eight words in "Peek through the Pines" and "Lake of the Pines", taken from two Boise Cascade advertisements. These two projects by Boise Cascade at Auburn and Incline Village were bisected by the site where the remains of Donna Lass were found.