Cragle, an excellent Zodiac researcher, has previously pointed out that one of the three Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967 very likely had a "newspaper clipping bearing photograph" inserted into the correspondence. The FBI files Q68, Q69 and Q70 shows that the letter addressed to the Riverside Police Department was the one containing the newspaper clipping. The wording in the FBI files is strongly suggestive that the newspaper clipping mailed by the author had a photograph within the story, because the FBI files stated that the newspaper clipping was "bearing" a photograph, not that the newspaper clipping was accompanied by a distinct and separate photograph.
Cheri Jo Bates When you consider the fact that a comprehensive newspaper article (see below), bearing an extremely large photograph of the Cheri Jo Bates crime scene, was released by the Press-Enterprise newspaper in Riverside on April 30th 1967 on the same day these three letters were postmarked, it is highly likely the author added this newspaper clipping into the envelope addressed to the Riverside Police Department. In this letter the author wrote "Bates had to die. There will be more". This was clearly a response to the newspaper article, which read "The last major piece of evidence came November 30 in the form of a confession letter sent to both the Riverside police department and the Press-Enterprise. The letter explained in detail how the writer allegedly tampered with Cheri's car, waited for her to return from the library and coaxed her away on the pretense of giving her a lift. The letter told of how she struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come".
The author probably added the newspaper clipping to the letter to signify the story he was responding to. The author was replying to "there would be more" by stating "there will be more". When we consider the similar phraseology, the date of April 30th 1967 being relevant to both the newspaper story and postmark date of the letters, and the large photograph attached to the press release, we can be fairly confident that the author mailed this clipping to the Riverside Police Department, who he was warning of more killings to come. What we need to fully ascertain, is what was in the newspaper article (if anything) that triggered the signature on two of the Bates letters? We know what the author was reading immediately prior to adding these two "signatures". Thanks to Cragle.
The author probably added the newspaper clipping to the letter to signify the story he was responding to. The author was replying to "there would be more" by stating "there will be more". When we consider the similar phraseology, the date of April 30th 1967 being relevant to both the newspaper story and postmark date of the letters, and the large photograph attached to the press release, we can be fairly confident that the author mailed this clipping to the Riverside Police Department, who he was warning of more killings to come. What we need to fully ascertain, is what was in the newspaper article (if anything) that triggered the signature on two of the Bates letters? We know what the author was reading immediately prior to adding these two "signatures". Thanks to Cragle.
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