November 12th 1969 article An article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Paul Avery dated November 12th 1969 and titled I've Killed Seven, The Zodiac Claims, clearly states "As proof the letters were from the true Zodiac and not an imposter, the mass murderer enclosed another portion of the piece of shirt he tore off the body of San Francisco taxi driver Paul Stine". Then in a second article on December 28th 1969, entitled New Zodiac Letter...Fears He'll Kill Again, it states "A few days after the Stine killing, Zodiac sent a letter to San Francisco newspapers and also included a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt. Another letter and another piece of Stine's shirt was sent to a Newspaper on November 11th". The 340 Cipher and Dripping Pen Card/Bus Bomb Letter were mailed in close succession on November 8th and 9th at the weekend and may have arrived at the beginning of the following week, accounting for the November 11th attribution. Then, in a Youtube documentary commencing at the 3 minute mark, it confirms that a total of three shirt pieces were sent. Two articles and one documentary, all indicating that a third section of Paul Stine's was sent accompanying either the 340 Cipher or Bus Bomb Letter.
Had the Zodiac Killer set aside three portions of shirt to send, it is highly unlikely he would want to be sitting on incriminating evidence for too long - and after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 he would mail his three portions of shirt with his next three correspondences. His first being the October 13th letter, just two days after the murder, his next letters were postmarked within one day of each other, so he sent the second portion with these, with the final piece being mailed with the Melvin Belli Letter on December 20th 1969. What he didn't do however, was mail a piece of shirt with the Fairfield Letter on December 16th, four days before the Melvin Belli Letter.
Had the Zodiac Killer set aside three portions of shirt to send, it is highly unlikely he would want to be sitting on incriminating evidence for too long - and after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 he would mail his three portions of shirt with his next three correspondences. His first being the October 13th letter, just two days after the murder, his next letters were postmarked within one day of each other, so he sent the second portion with these, with the final piece being mailed with the Melvin Belli Letter on December 20th 1969. What he didn't do however, was mail a piece of shirt with the Fairfield Letter on December 16th, four days before the Melvin Belli Letter.
The Fairfield drawing mailed on December 16th 1969 It cannot be known for certain, but the Fairfield Letter seems to be suggesting a link to the Lake Berryessa stabbing on September 27th 1969, the only crime committed thus far with a knife. It was always questioned why the Zodiac failed to brag about his theatrical crime on the shoreline of Lake Berryessa, after all, it was his most daring to date. There is no definitive answer, but one thing the Zodiac Killer never foresaw, was that he was to leave a surviving witness, in Bryan Hartnell. He could have bragged endlessly about this crime, but in hindsight his failure to kill both victims actually played right into his hands. The detailed account of Bryan Hartnell, the description of the killer's costume and the extensive newspaper accounts gave him all the publicity he could ever have wished for. What more was there to add.
However, newspaper accounts were starved of the full details, because the 'by knife' attribution on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's car was withheld from the public in an attempt to flush out the real killer from any subsequent hoaxers - and the Fairfield Letter may be one example. Anybody who was aware of the Lake Berryessa attack could have concocted the phrase 'The Bleeding Knife of Zodiac' - and more importantly its failure to highlight 'by knife' was an opportunity missed from a killer now determined to link himself to the authenticity of his correspondence by enclosing the swatches of Paul Stine's shirt.
The Zodiac Killer had his ego dented when his first cipher was cracked in a matter of days by school teacher Donald Gene Harden and his wife, Bettye June Harden, two amateur sleuths. His response was to send us the still unsolved 340 Cipher, crafted either with no solution, or a solution that went far beyond simple homophonic substitution. The Fairfield Letter, however, seemed a retrograde step into mediocrity, when the supposed Zodiac Killer mailed just nine symbols, showing little effort in the apparent guise of a small code and beginning his letter with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble, I will go for the government life". This appeared more like a politically motivated correspondence, with bold claims of another potential 38 victims. The 'knife' wording does look similar to the writing on the card door at Lake Berryessa, but the template for these letters was freely available throughout his correspondence up to this point. The one thing that is apparent, is his failure to corroborate this letter with a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt, that has led some people to believe the Fairfield Letter was written by the hand of a hoaxer and the real Zodiac Killer was to contact authorities just four days later.
However, newspaper accounts were starved of the full details, because the 'by knife' attribution on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's car was withheld from the public in an attempt to flush out the real killer from any subsequent hoaxers - and the Fairfield Letter may be one example. Anybody who was aware of the Lake Berryessa attack could have concocted the phrase 'The Bleeding Knife of Zodiac' - and more importantly its failure to highlight 'by knife' was an opportunity missed from a killer now determined to link himself to the authenticity of his correspondence by enclosing the swatches of Paul Stine's shirt.
The Zodiac Killer had his ego dented when his first cipher was cracked in a matter of days by school teacher Donald Gene Harden and his wife, Bettye June Harden, two amateur sleuths. His response was to send us the still unsolved 340 Cipher, crafted either with no solution, or a solution that went far beyond simple homophonic substitution. The Fairfield Letter, however, seemed a retrograde step into mediocrity, when the supposed Zodiac Killer mailed just nine symbols, showing little effort in the apparent guise of a small code and beginning his letter with "I just want to tell you this state is in trouble, I will go for the government life". This appeared more like a politically motivated correspondence, with bold claims of another potential 38 victims. The 'knife' wording does look similar to the writing on the card door at Lake Berryessa, but the template for these letters was freely available throughout his correspondence up to this point. The one thing that is apparent, is his failure to corroborate this letter with a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt, that has led some people to believe the Fairfield Letter was written by the hand of a hoaxer and the real Zodiac Killer was to contact authorities just four days later.
The Fairfield Letter was mailed on December 16th 1969, sandwiched between the Bus Bomb Letter of November 9th and the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th - and it was this reason, along with its design that has placed this relatively early letter into the section of unlikely Zodiac correspondence. The main reason for this, centers on the belief that the Zodiac Killer after murdering Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, actually mailed three pieces of Paul Stine's shirt to the newspapers, not two as is widely believed. This is not a new concept, with a thorough section devoted to this on the excellent ZodiacKillerSite forum here - but for those who have not come across this, we shall do a brief summary.
It is widely acknowledged that two pieces of Paul Stine's shirt were sent - firstly to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13th 1969, just two days after his murder and secondly on December 20th 1969 to the home residence of prominent attorney Melvin Belli - but a third piece was mailed along with the Bus Bomb Letter on November 9th 1969, outlined in two articles written by the San Francisco Chronicle and mentioned in a Youtube documentary. Anyone can believe in mistakes, but the wording in the Chronicle is specific. Additionally, the mailing of three portions of Paul Stine's shirt makes perfect sense, as shown in photographs of the shirt on the Zodiac Killer Facts website, marked A, B and C.
Here is an excerpt from the FBI files (Zodiac 5 page 46/249), clearly showing three shirt pieces were mailed.
It is widely acknowledged that two pieces of Paul Stine's shirt were sent - firstly to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 13th 1969, just two days after his murder and secondly on December 20th 1969 to the home residence of prominent attorney Melvin Belli - but a third piece was mailed along with the Bus Bomb Letter on November 9th 1969, outlined in two articles written by the San Francisco Chronicle and mentioned in a Youtube documentary. Anyone can believe in mistakes, but the wording in the Chronicle is specific. Additionally, the mailing of three portions of Paul Stine's shirt makes perfect sense, as shown in photographs of the shirt on the Zodiac Killer Facts website, marked A, B and C.
Here is an excerpt from the FBI files (Zodiac 5 page 46/249), clearly showing three shirt pieces were mailed.
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