ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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THE CONFESSION LETTER-KILLER OR NOT

5/15/2017

 
PictureThe Confession letter. Click to enlarge.
It has long been believed the Zodiac Killer may have taken credit for crimes he never committed. One such example was the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970, to which he claimed credit four months later, giving us details about the crime that had already been published in the newspapers. This may also have been the case in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, when one month after the crime somebody sent typed Confession letters to Riverside Homicide Detail and the Riverside Press Enterprise on November 29th 1966. But were these from the killer, or an elaborate hoaxer?

When a person is manufacturing a story or crime they never committed they will obviously use material gleaned from the newspapers, but may subconsciously structure details in the letter in the same order they appeared in the newspaper. In addition, they may use identical or similar words used by the author of the article. The person may have attempted to present the Confession letter as first hand information but inadvertently leaked elements of the article into its wording and structure. Here is one such newspaper article released before the Confession letter arrived:

'Riverside Police say their only clue in the brutal murder of a pretty, 18-year-old co-ed is a man's wristwatch found 10 feet from her slashed body. Officers speculated that while Cheri Jo Bates, a blonde cheerleader, studied Sunday night at the Riverside City College library, her killer disabled her car. Miss Bates' body, stabbed in the back, her throat slashed, was found early Monday under a tree, 100 feet from the car. The ignition key was in place in the compact car, but the distributor and coil wire had been torn loose, police said. Officers said an anonymous caller telephoned saying she had heard a terrified scream Sunday, then a muffled scream, then a car driving away The caller said she had not thought it serious enough to report until Monday'.            

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Let us compare this article to the Confession letter, to view any similarities.
#1.The first thing the article details is the 'brutal murder of a pretty, 18-year-old co-ed', in addition to being a 'blonde cheerleader.' The Confession letter opens with "she was young and beautiful", along with "maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits,' or "the shapely blue eyed brownett that said no when I asked for a date in high school".

#2. The article then details the car being disabled. The Confession letter similarly switches to the Volkswagen Beetle, stating "I first pulled the middle wire from the distributor", but the author retrieves some additional material from later in the article, where it states 'the distributor and coil wire had been torn loose'. This topic of the 'middle wire' has been hotly debated in many forums, on whether the author of the Confession letter is supplying information only known to the killer. Here is some additional information to help you decide. "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 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".
https://www.thoughtco.com/your-ignition-system-how-does-it-work
​
http://www.1966vwbeetle.com/1966%20Wiring%20Diagram.htm
http://www.carparts.com/classroom/ignition.htm​​
 
#3. The article then mentions how Cheri Jo Bates was murdered: 'Miss Bates' body, stabbed in the back, her throat slashed, was found early Monday under a tree'. ​The author of the Confession letter again follows: "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat", continuing on to parrot the article "I plunged the knife into her. Then I finished the job by cutting her throat".  The article gives the impression Cheri Jo Bates suffered only two wounds, one to the back and one to the throat. The author of the Confession letter equally describes only two strikes with the knife, despite the fact Cheri Jo Bates suffered numerous lacerations to her body over a prolonged period, and did not "go to the slaughter like a lamb".

#4. 
The article then details an anonymous caller who 'had heard a terrified scream.' The Confession letter again mimics this detail: "She let out a scream once and I kicked her head to shut her up". Triggered by the anonymous caller, the author of the Confession letter is reminded to state, "Yes I did make that call to you also". 

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Finally, the author of the Confession letter stated "I first pulled the wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minuts. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me". None of which actually happened. 

Walter Siebert stated that "he and a few friends were in the library from 7:15 pm until 9, but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew. They said they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them". These workmen must have been spotted by Walter Siebert and his friends when they arrived at the library at 7:15 pm. The workmen said they saw Cheri Jo Bates by her Volkswagen Beetle as they were sitting opposite her vehicle on the fence - but Cheri Jo Bates was not recollected by Walter Siebert & Co that evening. We know that Cheri Jo Bates parked her Volkswagen Beetle on Terracina Drive no later than 6:15 pm, and it is assumed it remained in that position throughout until it was discovered disabled the following day. The four young men were interrogated by police, stating "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night". They must have seen Cheri Jo Bates at 6:15 pm when she parked up to enter the library. They do not mention to police anybody tampering with the Volkswagen Beetle, anybody assisting Cheri Jo Bates, or Cheri Jo Bates experiencing any car trouble. They fail to see anything suspicious, including hearing any commotion or screams from the alleyway. This totally negates the claims issued by the author of the Confession letter, and reinforces the idea the author is simply mimicking what they have read in the newspapers. So, was the author of the Confession letter the killer? I will let you decide.  

CHERI JO BATES-MINUTE BY MINUTE
CHERI JO BATES-MINUTE BY MINUTE [PT2]
​
CHERI JO BATES-THE COMPLETE EYEWITNESS TIMELINE

keith
5/15/2017 03:42:20 pm

never thought this was the zodiac

Bobby Goodwin link
5/16/2017 04:15:54 pm

“FAKE NEWS” - Created A Fictitious Serial Killer Known As The “ZODIAC KILLER”. It's The Biggest Hoax In True Crime History!

The Washington Post, and the New York Times are not the only newspapers to publish “Fake News”, because in 1969, a number of Newspapers in northern California used fake news to helped create and promote a fictional character which quickly became known world-wide as the “Zodiac Killer”. People ended-up believing, and still do today, that he was a real serial killer.

The San Francisco Chronicle news articles and other newspaper stories were editorial views and/or articles which led readers to assume the Zodiac was a real person. Actually, there was no substantial evidence showing the Zodiac even existed, except on paper, i.e. handwritten letters. As we know, an unsigned letter is an unreliable source and “here-say” evidence.

When the Newspapers started attributing the Bay Area killings to the Zodiac, they had no proof. They hadn’t vetted anything because their only source was anonymous. They didn’t know if Zodiac was even real, but they led people to assume he was the killer! Fake Reporting! Here is the REAL story. https://www.facebook.com/654113054762457/videos/716642751842820/

keith
5/16/2017 05:23:45 pm

interesting but.......what's the motive? people were killed and that's a fact

Pamela Simone
5/15/2017 11:56:55 pm

I'm not fully convinced Cheri Jo Bates was a Zodiac victim.
I'm also not so sure about Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards. That seems like they may have been inadvertent witnesses to some illegal activity that occurred at the beach shack.
It is debatable that Zodiac is the one who picked up Kathleen Johns because it was really out of pattern. Some of her statements have varied over time.
There were some who similarities between Zodiac and the murders at Jenner Beach. They now have the suspect for that case in custody.

keith
5/16/2017 05:27:28 pm

she definitely knew her killer......it was a crime of passion.....the real zodiac was all to happy to have the bay area cops think he was associated with this to throw them off more......this web site is awesome full of great stuffl

Richard
5/17/2017 12:16:00 am

Thanks Keith, I too believe the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates knew her, not necessarily a close friend, but somebody who knew of her, and likely was an 'admirer' of her. If the young woman eyewitness on October 30th 1966 is telling the truth, and she saw a man standing in the alleyway at approximately 9.30 pm, smoking a cigarette, with no body on the ground, then this person is likely the most viable suspect in respect to the screams heard in the neighborhood about an hour later. The library had already shut half an hour ago, so what purpose did this man have in the alleyway. It is perfectly conceivable he was the person who disabled her vehicle and may have thought Cheri was in the library that night. He knew she was likely to return to her vehicle that night and the alleyway provides good cover, only 100 feet from the Volkswagen Beetle. The police clearly took the sighting of the man as a valid one, as they retrieved a cigarette butt from the alleyway, presumably one that was located within the area the woman sighted the man. This cigarette butt revealed DNA, that could be crucial. My question lately, is was this DNA compared to the DNA retrieved from Cheri's hand. If either couldn't be excluded from one another, it could suggest this man smoking in the alleyway was Cheri Jo Bates' killer. The Volkswagen Beetle revealed greasy fingerprints, supposedly from the man who disabled her vehicle. Undoubtedly these must have been compared to the blooded prints on the taxicab in the Stine murder, assuming the same individual finger mark was left on both occasions. The question is, are the prints on the Volkswagen Beetle definitely the killer's. If so, it may suggest that the murderer planned to confront Cheri Jo that night, but not kill her. Why would a person plan a murder, involving the disabling of a vehicle, yet fail to wear gloves, a simple preventative measure to avoid leaving incriminating evidence. But the confrontation turned deadly and in his haste to leave the crime scene, failed to return to the vehicle to retrospectively remove his prints. The crime doesn't appear calculated, moreover a crime of 'passion' or rage. To me anyway, this murderer had some fixation or loose connection to Cheri Jo Bates.

Richard
5/16/2017 03:44:56 am

I too don't believe Zodiac murdered Cheri Jo Bates, and although I cannot prove that the Confession letter wasn't typed by the killer, there appears nothing in the Confession letter to indicate a personal knowledge of the crime. Zodiac may have been the hoaxer of the Confession letter, in that he claimed a crime he didn't perpetrate. If this were the case, the link from the Bay Area to Riverside would be a productive avenue of investigation. The Domingos/Edwards murders are equally tenuous links to Zodiac. As for Kathleen Johns, even if it were Zodiac, her conflicting accounts shed doubt on the story. Like many eyewitnesses in the case, her story was embellished with time, and there is but one truth.

Mickey the chicken
5/17/2017 04:56:47 pm

It was the zodiac. This letter I cannot speak about. The desk engraved carving however, that contains a zodiac cipher. His name is enciphered in a shape that he commonly used as a "cloak of arms" so to speak.


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    The Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer almost word-for-word when he wrote PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians. The code solution identified was Estimate: Four Radians and Five Inches To read more, click the image.
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