THE IMPOSTOR RUNNING AMOK

6/21/2019

THE 340 CIPHER WAS CRACKED ON DECEMBER 3RD 2020 BY DAVE ORANCHAK, SAM BLAKE AND JARL VAN EYCKE, SO THIS EARLIER ARTICLE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN RESPECT TO RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

Cecelia Shepard

There is a significant number of people who believe the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard was not the Zodiac Killer, rather an impostor or fraud masquerading as the Bay Area murderer. Despite the overwhelming evidence this attack was by the hand of the Zodiac Killer, the ever grandiose theories of a copycat or 'newspaper driven' conspiracy keep filling the message boards. If you believe the Lake Berryessa murderer was an impostor, then it is reasonable to assume that you also believe the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card was the same impostor. The murderer of Cecelia Shepard wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle, finishing his message with the immortal words "by knife". This phrase was withheld from the newspapers and wasn't known by the time the 'Halloween' card was mailed. Since the author of the 'Halloween' card wrote the phrase "by knife" within his communication and selected imagery of a an eye peering from behind a tree with the additional phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed", it seems rather logical that the author is referring to Lake Berryessa and his escapade of vanishing behind a tree, before reemerging in his masked costume. Unless of course, he just guessed the phrase "by knife" withheld from the newspapers, by simultaneously discovering a Tim Holt comic book with the exact phrase around a death wheel. This impostor is rather a lucky chap.

This impostor would then discover the workings of the unbroken 340 cipher, writing "sorry no cipher" on the envelope inner of the 'Halloween' card, despite the fact (to our knowledge) that nobody at this juncture had noticed that the paradice and slaves configuration on the card was also present on the 340 cipher, bisecting it at its center both horizontally and vertically. Not only had this impostor accidentally stumbled across the withheld "by knife" in the Tim Holt comic book, but he had also told us the puzzle contained in the 340 cipher. By writing "sorry no cipher" in the same style as paradice and slaves, he was effectively linking the two and stating that the unbroken 340 character cipher contained the configuration paradice and slaves within its design.

This links the apparent impostor to the Lake Berryessa attack, the 'Halloween' card and the 340 cipher. It is rather amazing that the impostor not only found the hidden "by knife" on the car door by inadvertently thumbing through his comic book collection just prior to the 'Halloween' card, but he found it around a death wheel that he could conveniently transfer and place it around the paradice and slaves configuration on the card. Even more fortunate, was the real Zodiac Killer had apparently allowed the option of paradice and slaves within the design of the 340 cipher, placing the word "by" accidentally in all four quadrants to equally mimic the 'Halloween' card. It is rather more logical to conclude that the designer of the 'Halloween' card also designed the 340 cipher - and because of "by knife", was the perpetrator of the September 27th 1969 Lake Berryessa attack. If you believe the Lake Berryessa attack was an impostor and not Zodiac, then by extension you have to believe the designer of the 340 cipher was the same impostor.

If the impostor created the 340 cipher, then he mailed the 'Bus Bomb' letter also. The 'Bus Bomb' communication was mailed in tandem with the 340 cipher and contained the same victim count of 7 in the passage "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people". It also contained "Oct" in the same fashion as the writing on the 'Dripping Pen' card. Most people are in agreement that the 340 cipher/'Dripping Pen' card and 'Bus Bomb' letter were mailed by the same author. But if an impostor created the 340 cipher, he also sent the 'Bus Bomb' letter containing a piece of Paul Stine's blooded shirt from the October 11th 1969 taxicab murder. By extension therefore, the impostor must be responsible for the murder of Paul Stine and the October 13th 1969 letter. Furthermore, he must be responsible for the December 20th 1969 'Melvin Belli' letter, which also contained a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt. The bottom line being that, if you believe the Lake Berryessa attack to be an impostor, then you have to believe the Paul Stine murder wasn't Zodiac either, along with five other communications that include the October 13th 1969 mailing, the 340 cipher and 'Bus Bomb' letters, the 'Melvin Belli' letter and finally the 'Halloween' card. You cannot have one without the others. The logical conclusion is that the entirety were mailed by the Zodiac Killer, who was responsible for four attacks in the Bay Area. But no doubt, this will be far too boring a conclusion, in a case where facts seem to no longer matter anymore.

For more on the 'Illusion of the 340 Cipher' click the hidden link in the article

Wolfman

6/22/2019 03:43:16 am

Why don't you refer to the "Vallejo" handwriting comparison between whoever killed Cecilia Shepard and the author of the zodiac letters? It's probably what drove you to write this article, here is a link if anyone is interested: http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4401

Richard

6/22/2019 04:38:47 am

That forum post had nothing to do with me writing this article, it was written to argue the point that if you don't believe the Berryessa attack was Zodiac, you have to equally believe the Stine murder wasn't Zodiac and at least 5 communications accredited to Zodiac. What you state in the post on the forum I don't disagree with. I have absolutely not 0.0001% of doubt Zodiac was responsible for the Berryessa attack. I have never read a cogent argument refuting Berryessa. I believe the few people you are trying to convince on your forum post, as I am here, that Berryessa was Zodiac, will ultimately and inevitably fail. The people who have been into the Zodiac case generally have their views cemented in stone. Backpedaling is viewed as a weakness. That doesn't mean they shouldn't believe Berryessa as being an impostor, but a credible argument would help, rather than quoting the tired MO argument, or Zodiac wouldn't have worn a costume or used a knife, and could have copied the handwriting or the phone call, which in essence are not very good reasons.

The handwriting on the car door isn't actually the greatest argument to prove it was Zodiac by comparison to the letters (besides the fact Zodiac didn't write the letters squatting after having brutally stabbing two people). When people compare handwriting they often select individual letters, which is pointless. I doubt I write the same letter identically in my correspondence. That car door has four 6's and every one is different. That car door has three E's and every one is different. Are we therefore to conclude that several people were writing on the car door - of course not. When a Zodiac correspondence is compared to another piece of writing, some people will conclude that it looks nothing like Zodiac, and therefore isn't Zodiac. Some people look at the 1978 letter and say it looks so much like Zodiac it must have been traced or copied. You can't win. You cannot say for example, the Channel 9 letter was a Zodiac copycat because it looks nothing like Zodiac's handwriting. Then he wasn't much of a copycat was he. It is extremely easy to copy somebodies handwriting. If you are determined to mimic Zodiac and mail in a piece of correspondence to the Chronicle, the first thing you do is attempt to make the writing look similar to Zodiac. But if you are actually Zodiac then you don't care. So there is as argument to be made that a letter that looks nothing like Zodiac, but claimed to be Zodiac, is actually Zodiac. So, these arguments over whether the car door writing was Zodiac are superfluous. There are many more compelling arguments to prove Berryessa was Zodiac, in particular the extreme care and attention he spent in creating his costume. Something a copycat didn't have to do - the car door and phone call would have been enough, allied with a bin bag on his head.

Wolfman

6/22/2019 08:49:41 am

u took it a bit too personal, eh? I don't think u can prove any of the theories u have posted here over the years more than I can prove that Cecilia Shepard's killer is not the thick voiced 30 years old or older light colored haired stocky 5'8" to 5'10" who murdered both Darlene Ferrin and Paul Stine, but u don't see me coming here to call ur arguments "weak" and other superlatives u had called mine.

Richard

6/22/2019 09:25:08 am

No, I just answered honestly. I agreed with your hypothesis that Zodiac was the Berryessa killer, but I've never been a great advocate of handwriting analysis in recent years. I'm sure we are all a little biased towards our own theories and ideas, but I certainly don't mind if people disagree with me. I won't lose any sleep over it. Cheers Wolfman.

Richard

6/22/2019 10:17:17 am

Please show me in my previous post where I called your "arguments weak" or attacked you personally. If you want me to say I'm a staunch advocate of handwriting analysis just let me know and I will write another post saying how great it is. This is why people are terrified to comment on people's theories, suspects and ideas any more. People get upset if you don't agree with them The post above was a general statement on handwriting analysis, which you took as a personal insult for no reason. If people don't want to be disagreed with, don't post.

Richard

6/22/2019 10:36:41 am

Let me clarify: I agree with you that Zodiac was likely the author of the message on the car door. Nothing in the handwriting on the car door suggests a conclusion otherwise, or it was an impostor. But I'm not a great fan of handwriting analysis because of the reasons I gave. So, in essence we're on the same page. Is that fair?

Scott

6/22/2019 03:22:38 pm

I don't know that I agree that in order to write a letter containing the phrase "by knife" a purported impostor first had to see either the Tim Holt comic or magically see underneath the butcher paper the NSO had covered the Ghia's door with.

It was well publicized that Cecelia Shepard had been murdered by stabbing, that is, by a knife. https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanutbutter/2462851685

Richard

6/22/2019 03:41:00 pm

That is true, he could have just stated "by knife" because of the way she was murdered. The problem is that it is widely touted he got his inspiration for the by knife, by gun, by fire, by rope configuration around the paradice and slaves from the comic, so it's rather convenient for him if he was an impostor that the 340 cipher contained the possibility of creating paradice and slaves exactly bisecting the cipher horizontally and vertically, with 17 columns and 17 rows. The point being that if an impostor was responsible for Berryessa and the Halloween card and nothing else, what a stroke of luck the 340 cipher accidentally matched his Halloween configuration. It is possible he stumbled or guessed "by knife", but the rest I'm not so sure.

Richard

6/22/2019 03:48:12 pm

The only other possibility is that he was lucky and struck gold by writing "by knife", in tandem with spotting the paradice and slaves possibility in the 340 cipher by examining it in the paper, as well as the four "by's" in each quadrant. Then simultaneously finding the comic to design the Halloween card. I don't find that realistic, but I'm open to suggestions.

Scott

6/26/2019 03:30:18 pm

I think what is far more likely, Richard, is that the Berryessa murder was in fact that of the Zodiac. To me its MO--including the daytime outfit, post-crime phone, etc.--are too similar to the prior, "authenticated" crimes especially given that, as of September of 1969 the Zodiac persona was still in its fairly early stages and thus not fully ripe for imitation.

I admire your work attempting to parse the logical sequencing of letters and their possible authors but for my money they present a dreadful black hole syllogistically dovetailed by the 340 cipher itself.

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