ZODIAC CIPHERS
RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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THE 'SACRAMENTO' DMV LETTER

1/1/2019

 
Tom Voigt, creator of the Zodiackiller.com website has sought a potential Zodiac letter, described as the DMV letter. On his message board he stated "While I don't yet have as many details as I would like, at some point the Zodiac wrote a letter to the chairman of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California. The letter was authenticated, apparently via handwriting, and was kept quiet for reasons unknown". None of the following can be definitively proven, but I will attempt to expand on this elusive correspondence based on the limited information we have, and use the propensity of the Zodiac Killer to respond to newspaper and magazine articles against him. We know he closely followed anything that was written about him and often replied in kind. With that said, it is possible the DMV letter was mailed to the chairman of the Department of Motor Vehicles because he read an article referencing this department. If the letter was addressed to the chairman, it is very likely the letter was addressed to the headquarters of the DMV in Sacramento. What we now have to do is tie the Sacramento DMV to a Zodiac crime, or a crime claimed by Zodiac, written in a publication that the Zodiac Killer had reason to read - who subsequently got upset because it portrayed him as a liar and a fraud. It therefore follows, that it is highly unlikely to be a polite correspondence from the Bay Area killer. Based on the above, I believe the DMV letter was mailed in the October or November of 1971.
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As early as November 8th 1969 the Zodiac Killer was claiming the murders Debra Gaye Furlong (14) and Kathie Ann Snoozy (15), who were found murdered on August 3rd 1969 in the Bay Area of San Jose. This was his "Aug" on the Dripping Pen card. He would later insinuate his involvement in the murder of Kathy Bilek (18), murdered in the woods of Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, due west of San Jose. On July 13th 1971, a definite Zodiac communication arrived in the form of a pasted card. It read "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 ...... In The Woods Dies April". The author of the card was detailing the murder of Kathy Bilek in the woods of Villa Montalvo on April 11th 1971, just 9 miles from the neighborhood of Monticello in San Jose. He chose this neighborhood because it was home to the Oak Hill Memorial Park at 300 Curtner Avenue. The cemetery where the body of Kathie Ann Snoozy lay, and was chosen to hint at the forename "Kathy", pertaining to Kathy Bilek. The full 'Monticello' card story can be examined here.

The Monticello card was preceded by the 148 character cipher and letter (likely mailed in May 1971) beginning with the wording 
"I'll do it to because I done it 21 times" and effectively pre-empting the victim total on the Monticello card. It was almost certainly mailed shortly after the beginning of May. Despite the fact the murders of  Debra Gaye Furlong, Kathie Ann Snoozy and Kathy Bilek had already been attributed to Karl Francis Werner, it seemed that the Zodiac Killer was determined to suggest otherwise. Or, at the very least, compound the misery of the families and friends of the victims. The Monticello card featured in the San Francisco Police Department DNA testing of possible Zodiac correspondence, so was obviously held in high regard (yet may have contained sensitive material, or featured an upsetting image deemed not suitable for release). If the DMV letter had followed the Monticello card, it too may have been considered unpalatable regarding the San Jose and Saratoga murders. 

Bearing in mind that these two communications in May and July were mailed by the Bay Area murderer, it would be fairly obvious that the Zodiac Killer was following the San Jose murders closely from August 3rd 1969, through his Dripping Pen card of November 8th, to the eventual murder of Kathy Bilek, and up to his correspondences in the middle of 1971. Therefore it would be no great surprise if he continued to monitor any newspaper or magazine articles regarding the murders of the three young females. 

PictureOfficers remove the bodies of Snoozy and Furlong
In October 1971, a magazine publication entitled 'True Detective' comprehensively featured the murders of Kathie Snoozy, Debra Furlong and Kathy Bilek, and the subsequent arrest of Karl Francis Werner. There is every chance the Zodiac Killer read this magazine article and thereby felt compelled to continue his contact with authorities regarding these murders.

One particular section about Kathy Bilek caught my eye - that may have been the reason why the Zodiac Killer wrote a letter to the chairman of the DMV in Sacramento. It stated "At about the same moment, Park Ranger Ken Williamson was informing a member of the investigative team that he, too, had noticed a tall, bespectacled young man who had been a frequent visitor at Villa Montalvo. He was a loner and had impressed the Villa's ranger staff with his almost furtive conduct, said Williamson. The ranger had jotted down the license number of the strange youth's auto. The license number was forwarded to the California Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters in Sacramento, the state's capital 150 miles to the north of San Jose. The information teletyped back from the registration bureau was that the auto was the property of a Karl Francis Werner, living at an address on Shawnee Lane in San Jose".

The Zodiac Killer, having previously mailed two communications (Monticello card and 148 character cipher) referencing the murder of Kathy Bilek and the victim total of 21, it wouldn't be at all surprising if he fired off a third communication, this time to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Sacramento after reading these two paragraphs. Although this magazine article was published in October of 1971, there were numerous newspaper articles in September about Ken Williamson and his role in the downfall of Karl Francis Werner through a DMV search of license plates, so the DMV letter may have been postmarked in the latter months of that year - possibly September, October, or November at the latest. The fascination of the Zodiac Killer in claiming, or interjecting himself into the middle of these murders, may have been the driver behind his contact with the chairman of the DMV. The content of this communication is unknown, but I guess he is continuing the menacing theme of his previous two correspondences, suggesting the identification of the vehicle belonging to Karl Francis Werner is somehow another red herring - and threatening more murder and mayhem.

ESSENTIAL READING: KEN WILLIAMSON AND THE DMV LETTER

Rubislaw 32 link
1/1/2019 09:32:39 am

Thanks for being brave enough,to put an article forward,as ''speculative'',in nature,such as this,Richard.

I believe that Mr.Voigts attempts,though noble in attempting to find further truths,will be unsuccessful.

Not a great leap forward,in making predictions.perhaps [?].

All that I am able to do,is state what the late Lyndon Lafferty told me :

It was Lyndon's belief,through his ''sources'',that the letter,is one of complaint,to the Director of the DMV,which concerned the Zodiac's unsuccessful attempt,to secure a driver's licence,in the name of William Joseph Grant.

As far as Lafferty was aware,the man who is believed to have been the Zodiac,had attempted to acquire the driver's licence,twice in one day.....and had not succeeded.

Lafferty came to his own personal conclusions,over this,for which I did not concur.

I would put forward that this is yet another example,of the Zodiac's efforts to further his abilities to impersonate Mr.Grant,successfully.

And that,the DMV letter in question,lays out,if only by inference,the transparency,of the Zodiac's intentions.

Unless,of course,like Lafferty,you believed that Mr.Grant was continually suffering from some sort of ''double personality'' disorder.

Richard
1/1/2019 10:07:28 am

This is just another take on the possible motivation behind the DMV letter. I would have to read the entire book of Lyndon Lafferty to guage whether I bought into any of his claims, particularly regarding Grant. I will reserve judgement for now. The only thing I do know, are the opinions of people who have read the book, which are extremely mixed.

Rubislaw 32 link
1/1/2019 10:40:06 am

Most understandable,Richard.

Lafferty's ''The Silenced Badge'' has never been my ''bible'',but his shoulders have been ones that I have taken the liberty of standing on,to get a perceived ''better view'' of proceedings,and how the land lay,in the vicinity of Vallejo,and how it related to the Zodiac case,as a whole.

This is why Mr.Fagan of the SF Chronicle,put Lafferty and I,together,in the first place.

I will always have ears for other's suggestions,as to the content of the letter,also,though.

I believe that Mr.Fagan,''did alright'' out of this,as the usual ''parasite and leech'' mentality of newspaper folk,go.

But,that would be me bitching....yet again.

Shawn
1/1/2019 09:45:25 am

"I believe the DMV letter was mailed in the October or November of 1971."

If this true and it is a authentic letter it could be his swan song letter until he resurfaces with the 1974 Exorcist letter.

Currently the March 13th, 1971 Los Angeles letter is officially his hiatus letter until he comes around again in 1974.

Richard
1/1/2019 10:02:00 am

I used to believe Zodiac's swansong letter in 1971 was the Pines card, mistaken as a forgery because Harvey Hines created an alternative Pines card, previously unreleased. I have pushed that forward to at least July 13th 1971. With regards to the DMV letter, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if it was authentic Zodiac.

Judith N Chapman
1/1/2019 03:42:13 pm

Is there not also the possibility that they stopped publishing zodiac Letters by order of the FBI or other law enforcement agencies ? That they stopped allowing him to terrorize the entire northern part of California? that there are many letters received by law enforcement which the public are completely unaware of?

Richard
1/1/2019 04:11:19 pm

The problem is, they resumed in 1974 with the Exorcist letter and in 1978 with the 'I am back' letter. It's conceivable they thought some of the letters inauthentic and therefore didn't want them published. The Fairfield letters were withheld for example. I don't know what sort of relationship the newspapers had with the police with respect to publishing, but this wouldn't have applied to the DMV letter, which was mailed to the DMV offices, and therefore bypassed the newspapers.

Shawn
1/1/2019 08:01:46 pm

Seems like handwriting expert Sherwood Morrill was the official Zodiac Killer letter authenticator, based on inference from the 2007 Zodiac movie and Graysmith book.

To me, there is not enough handwriting example to definitively proof the Tahoe Card, Halloween Card and 13 hole card were Zodiac communications. Unless there was a way to authenticate these communications unbeknownst to us.

Richard
1/2/2019 01:52:58 am

I have always tended to use handwriting in accompaniment with the substance, design and tone of the communication as a whole. The example of handwriting (although not on paper) I always give, is the writing on the car door at Berryessa. Four 6's all different from one another, as well as three e's all different. The technique used to cherry pick similar looking letters from different communications can easily be turned on its head, where you deliberately choose the same letter from several communications which look different. If people are promoting suspects they will inevitably want to bolster their case by taking the nearest comparisons, whereas somebody wanting to debunk the suspect will adopt the reverse policy. Massive variation can be found within individual correspondences, which is probably why handwriting alone could never convict anybody. Sherwood Morrill obviously has to consider pen pressure, and other factors in his assessment, but the long and short of it, is that highly qualified experts seemingly can never agree on anything in court cases. Admittedly, they can be bribed, but one would like to think their reputation counts for something. Or maybe that's me being naive. Didn't Morrill authenticate the Bates letters, which to be honest, I don't know how anybody can do. But I take your point Shawn - the less writing available obviously makes a comparison more difficult.

Lemonboy
1/1/2019 07:22:21 pm

Richard,great article as usual. I have a question though I couldn’t find with a quick google search. Did Werner go to trial or did he plead guilty. Any chance he’s not responsible for these murders? If Zodiac is proven to be a liar and took credit for a murder,which we assumed but haven’t actually confirmed,then he loses all credibility with cases such as Bates and Lass. If he did indeed write to the DMV, he’s not subtly hinting anymore that he was involved, he’s outright saying he committed these murders. He never did this with Lass or Bates. I don’t think he wanted to be viewed as someone who took credit for a murder he didn’t commit, so why out out of your way with the DMV letter to possibly be outed to the public as a fraud?

Richard
1/2/2019 12:26:01 am

He was found guilty of all three murders with the weapons recovered from both attacks, and in the Bilek murder the knife was recovered from a storm drain after Karl Werner took them to the location. Here is the full story.
http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=889

Carl Karas link
1/1/2019 08:47:36 pm

Just noticed something: the use of the misspelling 'Shought' victim 21 in the Monticello card, and the same word, spelled correctly- used on the Pines card: 'Sought' victim 12. May strengthen the argument for Z taking credit for the 'Aug' murders and the others. Sought- a verb not really widely used here

Richard
1/2/2019 02:38:36 am

It certainly ties up nicely being only 4 months apart.

Richard
1/2/2019 02:40:17 am

Shought is sometimes used as slang, combining should of and ought have.

Richard
1/2/2019 02:41:56 am

Now I want to find the chairman of the Sacramento DMV in 1971. If this man was alive, it would help.

Shawn
1/2/2019 09:29:29 am

Speaking of Sacramento...

Two potential Zodiac victims, Nancy Bennallack and Judith Hakari lived about a mile apart and were both killed or abducted within the city limits of Sacramento in October and March of 1970. Scroll to bottom of page to link below.

https://www.sacsheriff.com/pages/organization/cid/CCase/Homicide.aspx

Nancy Bennallack was killed on Oct. 25 1970. The Halloween Card is postmarked two days later on Oct 27 1970. Authorites have a full DNA profile of Judith's killer. Maybe GEDmatch is the next step for Judith's case since they cannot find a direct DNA match with existing databases.

Per a KCRA TV 3, Jan. 28th, 2018 article..."47 years later, Nancy Bennallack's murder remains unsolved"

"The suspect cut himself during the assault, Links said. Deputies have a DNA profile on the person who killed Bennallack and the DNA has been in the state and national databases for years.

Deputies found similarities to a case that happened earlier that year – Judith Hakari’s murder. Both women were around the same age and lived less than a mile from each other. They were both soon to be married. Deputies have not found a connection linking their cases together other than those similarities."

https://www.kcra.com/article/47-years-later-nancy-bennallacks-murder-remains-unsolved/14767070

Shawn
1/2/2019 04:17:46 pm

Regarding Judith Hakari....

Here is an excellent investigative article on her murder....

https://prettydeathseller.com/2018/08/26/who-killed-judith-hakari/

Richard
1/3/2019 10:31:27 am

Cheers Shawn, definitely a good read.


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