Jim Dunbar On July 27th 2023 I presented a viable solution (but not confirmed) to the 38 character code mailed by the Zodiac Killer on December 7th 1969 from Fairfield. The wording in the solution mimicked an article published by the Los Angeles Times on October 23rd 1969 about the impostor who phoned the Jim Dunbar TV Show the previous day. The article was entitled "I Want Help Zodiac Caller Tells Attorney on Telephone", with the accompanying text stating "I Don't Want To Give Myself Up". This was clearly mimicked in the December 7th 1969 letter, when the Zodiac Killer stated "I Just Need Help" and "I Will Turn Myself In". But what had he possibly taken from the newspaper to incorporate into his 38 character code? (if anything). The wording accompanying the picture of Melvin Belli in the newspaper read "Attorney Melvin Belli in phone booth at a San Francisco television station talking to caller who said he was the Zodiac Killer. Caller made an appointment but didn't keep it".
The "addition" sign in the code formed the bedrock of the code when I applied the plaintext letter "P" to it, leading to the words "help" and "appointment". Once these two words were in place, the rest of the code was relatively easy to create. The composition of the message tallied with the newspaper article, except for the phrase "trying times" which began the Z38 message. Therefore, I needed to find out why the Zodiac Killer chose this phrase. Three days after the December 7th 1969 "Fairfield" letter, anothet cryptic correspondence was mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee on December 10th 1969, dubbed the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer with the pasted newspaper text of "Zodiac". Sacramento and Fairfield are only 30 miles from one another, so I had to consider the possibility that the Zodiac Killer was operating in that area in the early part of December. Many Zodiac researchers have speculated on a Zodiac Killer writing to the "Dear Editor" section of newspapers, so I began looking for language similar to that used by the Zodiac Killer in his letters (and ciphers/codes). Or a signature possibly used by the Bay Area murderer.
Continued below........
The "addition" sign in the code formed the bedrock of the code when I applied the plaintext letter "P" to it, leading to the words "help" and "appointment". Once these two words were in place, the rest of the code was relatively easy to create. The composition of the message tallied with the newspaper article, except for the phrase "trying times" which began the Z38 message. Therefore, I needed to find out why the Zodiac Killer chose this phrase. Three days after the December 7th 1969 "Fairfield" letter, anothet cryptic correspondence was mailed from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee on December 10th 1969, dubbed the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer with the pasted newspaper text of "Zodiac". Sacramento and Fairfield are only 30 miles from one another, so I had to consider the possibility that the Zodiac Killer was operating in that area in the early part of December. Many Zodiac researchers have speculated on a Zodiac Killer writing to the "Dear Editor" section of newspapers, so I began looking for language similar to that used by the Zodiac Killer in his letters (and ciphers/codes). Or a signature possibly used by the Bay Area murderer.
Continued below........
Los Angeles Times, October 23rd 1969
Because the Zodiac Killer had mailed a letter from Fairfield to the San Francisco Chronicle on December 7th 1969, and possibly from Sacramento to the Sacramento Bee on December 10th 1969, I trawled through the newspapers in this region just prior to December 7th 1969 for any letters to the editor that used the phrase "trying times", and a signature previously used by a "possible" Zodiac Killer, such as the "concerned citizen" card mailed on August 10th 1969, when a 408 cipher key was mailed to Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department. The "concerned citizen" card stated "I hope the enclosed "key" will prove to be beneficial to you in connection with the cipher letter writer" and "Please forgive the absence of my signature or name as I do not wish to have my name in the papers". In the 408 cipher the Zodiac Killer concealed the message "I will not give you my name".
The "letter to the editor" I found on December 4th 1969 in the Sacramento Bee began with "Editor of the Bee-Sir: Since the Bee does not give out the real name of letter writers who request anonymity, may I use this column to address Harding Republicans ". The "letter to the editor", three days before the Fairfield code, continued with "In these trying times of Social Security, medicare, bank insurance and workmen's compensation creeping into our way of life, we need your voice loud and clear". It was signed "concerned conservative" instead of "concerned citizen", with "Davis" underneath. The pasted Day-by-day forecast for Cancer letter with the pseudonym "Zodiac" would be mailed to the Sacramento Bee a matter of days later.. I am not saying that the "concerned conservative" was the Zodiac Killer, but the search by Zodiac researchers for characteristics of the Bay Area murderer in "letters to the editor" columns is a worthwhile approach - preferably when he gives us his real name. If these were "trying times" for the Zodiac Killer rather than the "good times" he claimed in Vallejo, then he was certainly "finding it extremely difficult to keep it in check" by December 20th 1969 when a letter arrived at the home of Melvin Belli.
ANOTHER LETTER TO THE SACRAMENTO BEE ON DECEMBER 12TH 1969 (APPARENTLY) RESPONDING TO THE "CONCERNED CONSERVATIVE"
A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE 38 CHARACTER CODE
The "letter to the editor" I found on December 4th 1969 in the Sacramento Bee began with "Editor of the Bee-Sir: Since the Bee does not give out the real name of letter writers who request anonymity, may I use this column to address Harding Republicans ". The "letter to the editor", three days before the Fairfield code, continued with "In these trying times of Social Security, medicare, bank insurance and workmen's compensation creeping into our way of life, we need your voice loud and clear". It was signed "concerned conservative" instead of "concerned citizen", with "Davis" underneath. The pasted Day-by-day forecast for Cancer letter with the pseudonym "Zodiac" would be mailed to the Sacramento Bee a matter of days later.. I am not saying that the "concerned conservative" was the Zodiac Killer, but the search by Zodiac researchers for characteristics of the Bay Area murderer in "letters to the editor" columns is a worthwhile approach - preferably when he gives us his real name. If these were "trying times" for the Zodiac Killer rather than the "good times" he claimed in Vallejo, then he was certainly "finding it extremely difficult to keep it in check" by December 20th 1969 when a letter arrived at the home of Melvin Belli.
ANOTHER LETTER TO THE SACRAMENTO BEE ON DECEMBER 12TH 1969 (APPARENTLY) RESPONDING TO THE "CONCERNED CONSERVATIVE"
A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE 38 CHARACTER CODE
On December 10th 1969, somebody mailed the Day-by-day forecast for Cancer horoscope page to the Sacramento Bee newspaper
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