ZODIAC CIPHERS - Zodiac News

The unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 has now passed the half-century mark, and little in the way of new evidence seems forthcoming, despite a breakthrough in DNA evidence in 1999. However the clues in this case may lie extremely close to home. Her brother Michael Bates, one year her senior, was convinced that Cheri Jo Bates was murdered by somebody she knew, and the evidence appears to point that way, bearing in mind the specific targeting of her Volkswagen Beetle and the apparent knowledge of her whereabouts that evening. Michael stated to Inland Empire Magazine "I’ve always felt that Cheri was killed by someone she knew. She would not have walked into a dark alley with a stranger." Cheri Jo Bates was afraid of the dark. Bearing these factors in mind, it could have been somebody connected to Riverside College, her inner circle, or somebody who she knew loosely through her family members.
Cheri Jo Bates was described as outgoing, friendly and always prepared to help people in their time of need. Cherie Curzon recalled such an occasion "For me, the best part of our story was, I was an underclass person who she wanted to help out. The people who were going to do the talent contest with me backed out and she volunteered to be my partner.
I will never forget her kindness… We had so much fun rehearsing and then performing, I loved her generosity and kindness toward me…She did it because of who she was; just a wonderful person.” Source. This is an admirable quality, but was this kindness misconstrued by someone, who ultimately fixated on Cheri Jo Bates. An interest that developed into a deadly obsession, stoked by rejection. This would certainly be nothing new.

Terracina Drive alleyway, the site of the murder, cordoned off by police

Whether or not this crime was committed by the Zodiac Killer has literally raged for as long as the crime itself. The Zodiac Killer would effectively lay claim to the Cheri Jo Bates murder on March 13th 1971 in a letter mailed to the Los Angeles Times. His reference to "they don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others," appears to suggest he followed the headlines down south, and a likely affiliation with the area and to the newspaper.
The Department of Justice report described the heel prints at the Cheri Jo Bates crime scene as "those worn by Air Force personnel" and "was identified as a B.F. Goodrich waffle design, men's four-eighths inch washer type half heel. The B.F Goodrich Products Division of Akron, Ohio, reported that this type heel is only sold to the Federal prison industries at Leavenworth, Kansas. It was subsequently learned that Federal prison industries made low quarter military type shoes and supplied them to all the armed services using black dress shoes. The measurement of the heel indicated that it would have been attached to an eight to ten size shoe. Shoes bearing the same type heel were issued and sold at the PX at March Air Force Base in Riverside." In fact the Riverside Police Department would sum this up by stating "Physical evidence found at our crime scene indicated that heel prints found by the body were made by a heel that was manufactured for military and other government agencies, including prisons."
It was speculated that bearing in mind Joseph Bates' profession, and the fact he was addressed personally by the killer, that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates may have been a friend or work colleague in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory of Joseph Bates, who was either familiar with Cheri Jo Bates or had crossed paths with her. The military boot print gives us a link, along with the fact the killer may have been on the fringes of Miss Bates' circle, in that he knew her, but they weren't necessarily friends. If the author of the 'Confession' letter was telling any semblance of truth, then the wording "I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me," suggested that she only talked to him after the offer of help, likely implying someone less than a very close friend. The area of Corona where Joseph Bates worked was in close proximity to many naval facilities, as well as the California Rehabilitation Center Prison, both situated only 15 minutes from the location of the murder.
This crafted the idea that the inspiration for the Zodiac crosshairs was based on his first murder in Riverside County, and Corona (the Circled City) itself. This is an aerial shot of Corona today, but was once perfectly symmetrical.

Michael Bates was in the Navy at the time Cheri Jo Bates was murdered, but did he have friends in the military, or aspired to be in the military that may have crossed paths with his sister in the preceding months to her murder. Somebody that may have left the B.F. Goodrich heel print in the Riverside alleyway. "It was subsequently learned that Federal prison industries made low quarter military type shoes and supplied them to all the armed services using black dress shoes."
Michael, by his own admission spent limited time with his sister before he joined the Navy. He did however work at Sears Department Store while attending the Riverside City College. In 1938 Sears would relocate to Seventh and Main Street, Riverside, where the building can be found today. Sears is short for Sears, Roebuck & Company.
Did Michael Bates have a work colleague from Sears, who may have sourced his material from the department store, and somehow became interconnected with the movements of Cheri Jo Bates. The Sears, Roebuck & Company has a distinct connection to the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1968.
In the Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, conducted by David Burd, the firearm identified as the likely murder weapon at Lake Herman Road was a J C Higgins 80 pistol. The Sears, Roebuck & Company specialized in sporting goods and recreational equipment between 1908 and 1962, with the Sears JC Higgins eventually replaced with the Ted Williams brand. The Sears, Roebuck & Company manufactured their own paper targets throughout the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, the very targets a young Zodiac may have used. The above target suggested "For best results with .22 Long Rifle."
Whether or not the Cheri Jo Bates murder on October 30th 1966 or the Lake Herman Road murders of December 20th 1968 were the Zodiac Killer's first, the crosshairs loomed large over both.

Here we will tackle the Lake Herman Road timeline for the umpteenth occasion, but examine it in relation to the movements of Officer Pierre Bidou. This is not the first article looking at the timeline of Pierre Bidou, but the previous have predominantly used the statements given by him in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, in which he said "During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by, we did not see or observe anyone in that area, because it's a turn there and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. I was pulling into the lot in the police department, we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road, and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call. We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened and for the best of my recollection we did not pass any other vehicle or traffic. I'm pretty sure of that because that is one of the things we told the sheriff's office, that we did not see any other vehicles coming our way. What could have happened, depending on where a vehicle turned onto Lake Herman Road, if it came from behind us, from Vallejo, we would not have seen them."

However, just like Donald Fouke at Presidio Heights, it depends on which version of Pierre Bidou's account you believe when constructing your timeline. Pierre Bidou passing the turnout prior to 11.00 pm, has him arriving at Benicia Police Department (10 minute journey) far too early to simply "pull into the lot in the police department, and hear the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road." It hadn't been reported until 11.25 pm, when Stella Medeiros flagged down Captain Daniel Pitta.
It has been suggested that Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta likely stopped en route back to Benicia PD to grab something to eat, something police officers have been known to do. But this seems unlikely, the reasons for which will be explained shortly.
The following explores the idea that Pierre Bidou did actually pass the turnout likely minutes before the murders, as he alluded to in the 2007 documentary: "We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened." In fact he may have been the final person to pass the turnout before the murders and not James Owen.
Multiple versions of the Lake Herman Road timeline can be created. There are so many conflicting versions of the same story, it becomes a matter of where you source your material and/or law enforcement quotes. This is not a character assassination of Pierre Bidou, who was a long standing and by all accounts a very good police officer, but with the passage of time memories become tainted, and recollections become blurred. Pierre Bidou on no less than four occasions described finding David Faraday in the front passenger seat of the Rambler, yet in the 2007 documentary stated David Faraday was found lying outside the Rambler on the turnout floor. These are discrepancies compounded by ones recollection of a distant event, and totally understandable. It is from this confliction we shall create a new timeline for Pierre Bidou.

In an interview with the Benicia Herald Pierre Bidou is consistent in his claim about arriving at Benicia Police Department, when they are informed of an incident on Lake Herman Road "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Bidou and his partner had been in the vicinity a short time before, but they hadn’t seen any traffic, let alone Faraday’s car parked in the turnout." Source.
In another Benicia Herald article the version differed. Although not a direct quote from Bidou, it could be argued that the interviewer simply didn't pluck this account out of thin air. It stated "The timing was remarkable. The officers had just participated in a narcotics raid at a building at the Lake Herman parking area and had driven back to town with suspects in the back of their cruiser. Perhaps, they thought, they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure." Source.
Here lies the problem. If more than one version can be given for the position David Faraday was discovered in the turnout, it is not unreasonable to consider their differing accounts on whether any vehicles were present in the turnout- "They couldn’t be completely sure." The two officers had just secured a big drugs bust of the day and apparently had suspects in the back of their cruiser. Not likely then, that they would stop off for a bite to eat on the way back to Benicia PD. Combine this with the fact that Pierre Bidou throughout the years has never mentioned any detour on the way back to the police department, yet has consistently reaffirmed that he had just arrived at the parking lot of the police department when he was dispatched back to Lake Herman Road, believing he had passed the turnout literally "minutes from the crime scene."

Stella Medeiros raced for help after discovering the bodies in the turnout and located Captain Daniel Pitta, according to his police report account, at 11.25 pm. He then radioed Benicia Police Department somewhere between 11.25-11.30 pm approximately. Pierre Bidou's journey time from the turnout to Benicia PD is a maximum of 10 minutes. When he pulled into the parking lot the call came in:
"I was pulling into the lot in the police department, we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road." This had to be around 11.25-11.30 pm, radioed in by Captain Daniel Pitta. Therefore deducting this 10 minute journey by Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, has the officers passing the Lake Herman Road turnout at 11.15-11.20 pm, where "they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure."
If you believe that James Owen passed the turnout at 11.14 pm, then Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta passed the turnout after James Owen, and they were the last witnesses before the murder. This however would negate the idea that the shot James Owen thought he heard 30 seconds after passing the turnout, was the shot that began the murders of the young couple. If James Owen was mistaken about the gunshot, then Pierre Bidou could easily have passed after the Humble Oil worker, and before the arrival of Stella Medeiros, widely recognized as 11.20 pm.
This timeline has Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11.15-11.20 pm, and fits nicely with reaching Benicia PD around 11.25-11.30 pm. They likely dropped off the suspects and drugs before returning to the Lake Herman Road turnout, This, bearing in mind they are traveling at increased speed on the return journey, places them back at the turnout shortly after 11.30 pm, just after Captain Daniel Pitta, whose police report has him at the turnout at 11.28 pm. This seems consistent, as both officers recall David Faraday still breathing at the scene.
It is very difficult to be specific fifty years after the crime, however if Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta had passed off the suspects to fellow officers and secured the drugs seizure, then received the dispatch of an incident on Lake Herman Road, it can easily be seen how five minutes could be added to the timeline. In this case the two officers would have passed the turnout sometime between 11.10-11.15 pm, the earlier of which (11.10-11.13 pm) would allow James Owen to pass the turnout after the officers, at 11.14 pm, and still hear the shot, yet the gunfire would be inaudible to Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, who were further away towards Benicia. If James Owen passed the turnout circa 11.08-11.09 pm, then the earlier time of Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11.10-11.15 pm, or the later time of 11.15-11.20 pm, would in both instances have the officers passing after James Owen and likely negating the premise a gunshot had been heard.
If we believe the two officers took no detours that night, then they did literally pass the turnout minutes before the murders.

This is a follow up article exploring the idea a phone call was placed approximately 10-12 minutes after the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, using the concept of a 'laughing killer' and the disputed 1986 'Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. Many magazine and newspaper articles are littered with basic errors regarding the Zodiac case, however some recurring themes not widely recognized as fact are present in many.
The Tuscaloosa News ran an article on October 17th 1969, just 20 days after the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. It stated 'Then the man said "I'm going to have to stab you people." Hartnell said "Please stab me first, I'm chicken. I couldn't stand to see her stabbed." The man told him "I'll do just that." He stabbed Hartnell until he passed out. The poor girl, she just had to watch. Then he knifed her until she fainted. When he stabbed Hartnell it was deliberate. When he stabbed the girl he laughed in a frenzy. Hartnell had been stabbed 10 times with a thin 12-inch blade. Miss Shepard, whose writhing provoked her attacker to laughter, had been stabbed 24 times.'
One can see the embellishment in the fact the newspaper reported 34 stab wounds as opposed to 16, so did the killer really laugh in a frenzy during his attack on Cecelia Shepard.
The second article involves the Argosy Magazine dated September 1970 and the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, two weeks after the Berryessa attack. The following is extremely unlikely, but was a section of the October 13th 1969 letter omitted from public consumption in similar fashion to the phrase 'by knife' written on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia, to provoke a reaction from the killer. It is highly doubtful, and likely sensationalized reporting, however this magazine article actually adds a phrase attributed to the killer, written in the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. The article read 'Four days after the murder of Paul Stine yet another scrawled letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. With it was a bloodstained piece of cloth, later established by laboratory technicians as a small part of the missing swatch ripped from Stine's shirt. The rambling letter, signed with the crossed-circle symbol, began, as had the others, with "This is the Zodiac Speaking." The writer went on to say that he was the killer of the cabbie-student, adding "and to prove it, here is a piece of his shirt." The letter also disclosed that the fugitive, from some nearby hiding place, had watched with uncontrollable amusement while police searched the area. He said "they could have caught me if they had done it right, instead of dashing around waiting for me to come out of cover. I like to died laughing."

Click for whole letter

The Argosy Magazine article continued with reflections of the Lake Berryessa stabbing 'The mention of laughter at a murder scene struck a responsive chord in the minds of the manhunters. During his recovery, young Hartnell had told Napa sleuths that "the man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake.' This would be repeated in the Coronet Magazine in October 1973 where it described the following 'He held an automatic pistol on them, tied them securely with plastic-coated clothesline, and then stabbed them repeatedly, laughing hysterically as they thrashed and rolled in pain.'

Officer Pierre Bidou remembered a 'crank call' after the Lake Herman Road murders. He described this to the Benicia Herald newspaper ""Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene."
Officer Pierre Bidou also recalled this 'car accident' to Zodiac investigator Michael Butterfield. “…we got the call from the dispatcher that an accident, or something, had occurred on Lake Herman Road, so we turned around and came by.” Source.
This is from a previous article 'When Stella Medeiros observed the crime scene at 11.20 pm, she raced off to seek help in Benicia, eventually locating Captain Daniel Pitta at the Enco Gas Station on East 2nd Street. This is 3.4 miles from the turnout, an estimated journey time of 5 minutes on Google Maps. She is obviously driving faster than normal and flags down Captain Daniel Pitta probably slightly shy of 11.25 pm, allowing her to give her account and for Captain Daniel Pitta to head to the crime scene by 11.28 pm. In the course of this, the information would have been relayed to Benicia Police Department.
So where did the supposition of a crank call or a car accident originate from. The description given by Stella Medeiros may have been interpreted as a car crash originally and relayed this way, but why would a radio message from a respected officer of the law be interpreted as a crank call. He was a captain reporting an incident on official police channels. Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday are lying prostrate in the turnout, whether a crash or not, why would Pierre Bidou be under any illusion of a crank call, unless a payphone call had come in slightly earlier than the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta. The Zodiac Killer made phone calls after both his subsequent attacks, so why not this one. The only difference being, he called it in as a car accident, unwilling to show his hand as the murderer.

Officer Pierre Bidou

Had James Owen passed the turnout around 11.08-11.09 pm, and the Zodiac Killer had exited the turnout somewhere between 11.12-11.14 pm and headed to Vallejo via Springs Road, his journey time to the payphone at the intersection of Springs and Tuolumne would be approximately 10-12 minutes, placing the 'crank call' at 11.22-11.24 pm, just prior to Stella Borges' meeting with Captain Daniel Pitta at 11.25 pm. The 'crank call' and the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta would have been received in close proximity, leading to the confusion. The crank call being received slightly before the official police radio message.
This is where the 'laughing killer' and the phone call intersect in the aftermath of the Lake Herman Road murders. The Argosy Magazine wasn't finished yet. It continued on further '"The man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake. He had also laughed in his phone call to Vallejo Police in December 1968.' Does this validate the claim by Pierre Bidou. If the Zodiac Killer had laughed down the phone, could this be why the dispatcher had interpreted it as a crank call. Additionally, the article stated the phone call was made to Vallejo Police, exactly as the phone call would be 6 1/2 months later, after the Blue Rock Springs Park attack on July 4th 1969.
Russell Butterbach of the Solano County Sheriff's Department and his partner Wayne Waterman were just heading onto Lake Herman Road, when they received a call from the sergeant to go to the Hells Angels pad on Warren Avenue, Vallejo. After approximately 30 minutes they then received a double 187 on Lake Herman Road.
If a crank phone call from the killer was received after the Lake Herman Road double shooting, then the time of this call, likely just before 11.25 pm, ties in perfectly with a 10-12 minute journey from the turnout to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone.
This wasn't the only time that the Zodiac Killer may have directed police to the scene of an accident.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/sacramento-cold-case-contact

The following is a work in progress to amalgamate virtually every single newspaper article about Lake Herman Road into more readable form under one post. This page will be updated regularly until complete. Below is the first newspaper article exactly as it was printed. Once this project is complete, the other three confirmed Zodiac crimes featured in the newspapers will all be given their separate section and linked via the homepage. This may take a while, as you can imagine.

VALLEJO TEENAGERS ARE SHOT TO DEATH NEAR LAKE HERMAN

Sgt Leslie Lunblad

Two young Vallejoans, a boy 17 and a girl 16 years of age were found shot to death late last night on a lonely stretch of Lake Herman Road about half a mile beyond the lake itself and near the entrance to the Benicia water supply pumping station. They were identified by Solano County Coroner Dan Horan as David Faraday of 1930 Sereno Drive and as Bettilou Jensen of 123 Ridgewood Ct. Both had been shot in the head with a .22 caliber weapon. Miss Jensen apparently died immediately after the shooting David was pronounced dead on arrival in a A-1 ambulance at 12.05 am.
The gruesome double murder was discovered at about 11.24 pm when Mrs Stella Borges driving from her ranch home to pick up her youngsters at a Benicia theater, saw the two prostrate forms in the headlights of her automobile. She sped on toward town but before reaching her destination flagged down a Benicia police patrol car occupied by Captain Dan Pitta and another Benicia officer. They hurried to the scene, called an ambulance and notified the sheriff's office of the tragedy. Sheriff's investigator Leslie B Lunblad, who was heading up the investigation, was still in the Lake Herman Road area early today and could not be reached for details. But Horan said the killer apparently first fired at the two while they were in Faraday's car. One bullet hole was found in the back window of the vehicle and four empty shell casings were found on the ground nearby.
Deputy Sheriff Russell T Butterbach and his partner, Deputy Wayne Waterman came into Vallejo around midnight in the vain hope of getting a statement from David. Butterbach told the Times-Herald that the girl's body was found about 10 feet behind the car while the boy was lying outside the right side of the vehicle. "I just couldn't say how or what happened" Butterbach said "We haven't got that far in the investigation." Asked if there was any evidence of another car being in the vicinity, Horan replied in the negative. He said the ground in the area was practically frozen and that there was no possibility of tire tracks.
At Sheriff's headquarters in Vallejo Sgt Terry Cunningham said he was unable to provide any additional details. He indicated that there were no immediate suspects in the shootings and that this probably would remain true until further progress was made by investigators at the scene. Captain Pitta, who was continuing other police duties in Benicia could not be reached by telephone early today.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/

INVESTIGATORS LACKING CLUES IN TWO SLAYINGS by Francis G Flaherty

Sheriff's investigators were able to turn up only a few clues Saturday that might lead them to the killer of David Faraday,17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, whose bodies were found late Friday night near the Faraday station wagon on Lake Herman Rd, five miles northwest of here. The Faraday youth was shot once, behind the left ear, while the Jensen girl, who apparently attempted to flee from her killer, was shot five times in the right upper back. The gruesome double slaying was discovered at 11.24 pm by Mrs Manuel Borges, who resides on a ranch near the stretch of road where the shootings took place.
Sherriff's Sgt Leslie L Lunblad said Saturday night that nearly 24 hours of constant investigation had produced no real tangible leads as to the identity of the killer."We gathered all the physical evidence that was available at the scene, cartridge cases and other items." Lunblad said "and these will be tested in the laboratory."
Lunblad and Deputy Russell Butterbach spent much of the day in Vallejo interviewing the family and friends of the slain pair, to determine if these parents could shed any light on the grisly killings. "We pretty well know what time they may have reached the spot where they were killed," Lunblad said "but this has not yet been completely been pinned down." It was the first and last date Betty Lou had with David. They were to have gone to the Hogan High School Christmas music program which lasted until around 10 pm. Investigators were not overlooking the possibility the slayer could have been a rejected suitor of the Jensen girl.
"We're looking into that" Lunblad said "but at this stage we're not overlooking any possibilities whatever, slim though them might seem on the surface." He said the killings could have been done without a motive, perhaps by a demented person.

Lunblad said the bullets were small caliber, that it appeared the Faraday youth stopped his car when a slug was fired through a rear side window of the family station wagon he was driving. Once the vehicle stopped, the two young people were helpless at the hands of the slayer. Lunblad said he conducted a dozen interviews with intimates of the slain pair Saturday, and took statements from all of them. He said few could throw any light whatsoever on the case.
The Faraday youth, who resided at 1939 Sereno Drive, was a native of San Rafael and had been a Vallejo resident 3 1/2 years. He was a student at Vallejo High School, where he was a member of the Interact Club, and the high school wrestling team. He also was a member of First Presbyterian Church, and an Eagle Scout member of Explorer Post 209. He won the God and Country award through his scouting activities, and was lodge chief of the Order of the Arrow in Solano, Napa and Lake counties. He was a member of Knights of Dunamis, and was a member of the staff of the Silverado Area Council camp.

The youth is survived by his parents, Mrs Jean L Faraday, Vallejo, and Thomas Faraday, Salinas. He was the eldest of four children, with two brothers Robert and Steven, and a sister Debra, residing in Vallejo. Also surviving are his maternal grandmother Mrs Irene La Tourette, Vallejo, and his paternal grandparents Col and Mrs L M McKinley, San Francisco. A funeral service will be held at 2 pm Monday in First Presbyterian Church with rites conducted by Rev James O Hulin, assistant pastor. Inurnment will be private. Friends may call at Colonial Chapels from 10 am today until noon Monday. The Faraday family has requested that friends make contributions to a Boy Scout Camping Scholarship to be known as "The David Faraday Tribute Fund."
The Jensen girl, whose family resides at 123 Ridgewood Ct, was a native of Colorado. She was a junior and an honor student at Hogan High School. She was also grand royal guide of Prima Vera Council 32. Pythian Sunshine Girls. Surviving are her parents, Mr and Mrs Verne Jensen and a sister Melodie, Vallejo: her maternal grandparents Mr and Mrs Louis E Blenderman, Oakland, and her paternal grandmother Mrs Anna Jensen, Colorado. Christian Science services will be conducted at 11 am Monday at Colonial Chapels by Reader Hugh Martin Niemoller. Friends may call at Colonial Chapels after 9 am today.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/

The 408 cipher cracked by Donald Harden. Click image for link.

The following will not propose a solution to the '13 Symbol' cipher because the limited characters in the code make that simply impossible without a key, and the author of the letter must surely have known that, even if he had limited cipher experience. A search for the solution however, could be an unnecessary quest, as the Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer just five and a half months later. The Zodiac Killer vowed to give us his name in his earlier 408 cipher, only to renege on the promise. The idea therefore, that he would reveal his name in the April 20th 1970 correspondence is equally unlikely. But he may have given us something, useless in of itself from a standpoint of incrimination, on account of its brevity, but something nonetheless.
The October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard has links to the '13 Symbol' cipher for obvious reasons, but the author of the postcard does paste some unusual text, notably "Fk, I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now ?"
Is there a correlation to the '13 Symbol' cipher? Immediately after "Fk, I'm crackproof" the author asks about the price tag on his head. Immediately after the '13 Symbol' code on the April 20th 1970 correspondence the author writes "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now." So what is the likelihood "Fk, I'm crackproof" precedes this question also. It would make sense when the April 20th 1970 communication is read as a whole: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is FK, I'm crackproof."
The phrase itself is 14 characters, so would be infinitely circular in configuration, beginning and ending with the letter F, like so.

The letters K and M line up nicely in the code, nevertheless on its own it is pretty worthless.
Could the killer's initials be FK or KF, on account of the upside-down text on the '13 Hole' postcard, or could the killer simply want us to believe this is the case.
The FK in close proximity occurs seven times on the '340' cipher, but much more significantly, the eye is drawn to the 'mistake' on line six, where the author of the cipher elevates the letter K in reverse, next to the letter F. The author of the '13 Hole' postcard effectively rotates both letters through 180 degrees, again reversing the letter K.
The 'Exorcist' letter mailed on January 29th 1974 looks somewhat similar to the sixth line of the '340' cipher, in that the strange symbolism at the foot of the letter appears to marry up. It contains what looks like a letter F, and to its elevated left is an upside-down K. But there is much more correlation, in that five of the characters on the 'Exorcist' letter bear a striking resemblance to five of the characters by the FK on the '340' cipher. http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/340-cipher-and-exorcist-link

The elevated and reversed letter K, is positioned to the left of the letter F in both the '340' sixth line, and the 'Exorcist' letter symbolism. It is again reversed and positioned to the left of the letter F in "Fk, I'm crackproof" on the '13 Hole' postcard.
If the Zodiac Killer lived within a 10 minute walking radius of the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, then by examining land registry records in 1969 for males with FK or KF initials and cross checking their vital statistics, including photographs, would go a long way to deciding whether this is just another pattern, in a rich tapestry of Zodiac imaginings.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-fictitious-negro-male

Detective Sergeant Les Lunblad.

"When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights."
A curious statement by the author of the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, when in actual fact only Betty Lou Jensen was 'sprayed' with bullets. This leads to the bigger question- was the style of the attack at Lake Herman Road cemented in our minds as early as the utterances from Sergeant Leslie Lunblad in 1968, in that one person forced both David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the passenger side of the vehicle and shot David Faraday almost immediately by the right rear wheel of the Rambler. The killer presumably had attached a pencil flashlight to his weapon to aid better sighting, as described in his letter: "What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across." Then why would he approach David Faraday in near darkness to the point where he could apply a contact wound directly to his left ear, when he could simply have neutralized the male threat immediately, as he attempted to do at Blue Rock Springs and Lake Beryessa. In both these instances the Zodiac Killer kept a barrier between himself and the intended victims. However in this case we are told, that despite taking the trouble to facilitate a sighting implement on his weapon, he totally negated its use, walked up to David Faraday, to what must have been mere inches, to press the muzzle of the gun behind the left ear of David Faraday. Something doesn't ring true with this scenario. Assuming our killer was less experienced at this point in time, surely more caution would have been applied.
This takes us to the second key point- why didn't the killer just shoot the two teenagers in the Rambler, where they are effectively corralled and contained within the vehicle, as he did at Blue Rock Springs six and a half months later. What was his objective in forcing them from the vehicle into an extremely dark turnout. At Blue Rock Springs, according to Michael Mageau's recollection, the killer remained silent throughout and began firing the instant he arrived by the passenger door. At Lake Herman Road the reverse was the case. The killer by all the evidence, ushered them both out of the passenger side door and then apparently approached David Faraday to literally within touching distance, in complete contrast to the caution he exhibited in his subsequent crimes. If however two assailants were involved in the murders, one could picture an element of bravado, where one assailant feeds off the other, and the concept of intimidating or scaring the victims was an overriding feature.

The Department of Justice report clearly stated that the bullet recovered from David Faraday did not exhibit the same right hand twist characteristics as the other seven bullets recovered that night. Although this is not conclusive proof of a second weapon or second shooter, it raises the question.
With eight bullets supposedly recovered from the turnout and at autopsy, the notion of a second vehicle pulling up alongside the Faraday Rambler with two occupants stacks up, in terms of a ratio of 7:1 bullets fired from each particular weapon. Here is the scenario.
The assailants vehicle pulls up approximately ten feet to the right of the Faraday Rambler. Both assailants exit their vehicle.
Under this premise, it is obvious that the driver of the second vehicle is closest to the Rambler, so he immediately upon exiting fires a shot into the right headliner of the Rambler. This was found to have a straight trajectory and embedded in the upholstery on the upper left side of the Rambler. His ejected casing, as he is standing immediately outside his driver side door, flies to his rear, over the vehicle and likely lands to the right side of his vehicle, approximately 20 feet to the right of the Rambler, as shown in the police sketch. If the distance between the two vehicles is slightly greater, say 13 feet, then taking into account the width his vehicle of 5-6 feet, makes the 'stray' bullet casing look anything but stray. He approaches the Rambler and fires a second shot into the right rear window from approximately 4 feet, accounting for its trajectory of 17-19 degrees relative to the horizontal. His accomplice at this juncture has not yet fired a shot. He is still rounding the unknown vehicle and is furthest from the Rambler, so he is not the instigator to drive the couple from the Rambler. Besides, his partner is effectively in front of him, so firing towards the Rambler is not required, and would present a risk in near darkness of striking his accomplice.
The driver of the unknown vehicle has now fired at least two shots, and gestures to the couple to exit the Rambler.
Betty Lou, who is seated in the passenger side, exits the vehicle first and is secured by this assailant. The assailant from the passenger side of the offending vehicle has now arrived, and he now secures David Faraday, by the right rear wheel of the Rambler. There is now no risk associated with getting close to David Faraday. Betty Lou Jensen is being held with a gun likely pointed at her head. David has no choice but comply. His assailant is either standing directly in front of him, with the gun pressed to his left ear, making him a right-handed shooter, or he has him secured around the neck from behind, making him a left-handed shooter. David Faraday is essentially powerless to affect the situation.

The other assailant then releases Betty Lou Jensen and tells her to run, firing 5 shots into her back from his illuminated weapon as she flees westwards, finally succumbing 28 feet to the rear of the Rambler station wagon. David Faraday, the only eyewitness left, is dispatched by the second assailant. His gun ejects the casing to the rear, into the open passenger side door of the Rambler, and is later noted lying on the passenger side floorboard. It however was later 'misplaced', and was never submitted to the Department of Justice for ballistics testing, leaving us all scratching our heads on whether this cartridge case may have exhibited different characteristics to the other nine casings recovered. If so, then the importance of the bullet recovered from David Faraday at autopsy is greatly magnified, increasing exponentially the likelihood of two shooters at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968.
It may have been the murderer of Betty Lou Jensen that wrote the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter and stated "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights." But he may have 'spoke' out of turn, issuing this statement from his perspective, not the perspective of his accomplice.
There is of course no way of establishing which of the couple was shot first, but the above example would play into the scenario of two assailants who wanted to taunt the young teenagers, in particular David Faraday.
We also cannot dismiss the testimony of William Crow, who approximately 90 minutes before the double murder was apparently chased along Lake Herman Road by two occupants in a light colored Chevrolet or blue Valiant (depending on which version you believe). Two eyewitnesses incidentally, who never came forward. Is this because they returned to the turnout sometime after 11.00 pm. This would certainly explain their reluctance to present themselves to investigators.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/two-shooters-at-lake-herman-road

Donna Ann Lass disappeared without a trace on September 6th 1970 and is presumed murdered, possibly by the Zodiac Killer.
He would insinuate a connection on March 22nd 1971 when the 'Pines' card addressed to Paul Avery arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. Donna Lass had been working as a nurse at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, where she curiously vanished from, at approximately 1.45 am, just before her shift was about to finish at 2.00 am. She had not traveled to work that day in her Chevrolet Camaro convertible, but chose to walk to work from a previous residence. Her abductor or abductors seemingly targeted the end of her shift, and in the hours after the crime rang her employer and her landlord to state she had been called away due to a family illness. A story that was subsequently proved false. This certainly suggested the phone caller was buying time before any investigation got underway, thereby strongly indicating a connection between Donna Lass and her assailant. The delay generated by such a call would enable the assailant to dispose of Donna Lass and/or possibly remove incriminating evidence from their vehicle or home address. This would heavily lean towards one thing- that the murderer was close enough to Donna Lass to expect the police to be knocking on his door sooner rather than later.

Donna Ann Lass

The gaps in Zodiac's timeline can likely indicate more about our killer than the actual murders themselves. In his timeline three notable delays in correspondence can be noted.
After the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 he waited 6 1/2 months to communicate with the public. After the disputed Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 he waited 4 months to lay claim to the crime. And finally, in the disappearance of Donna Lass it would be again 6 1/2 months before the 'Pines' card would arrive at the Chronicle. After Blue Rock Springs it was 27 days. After Lake Berryessa it was a matter of minutes, with the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. The murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, his last confirmed crime, was followed by correspondence only 2 days later.
Were the delays in communication after Lake Herman Road, Modesto and Lake Tahoe indicative of applied caution on behalf of the Zodiac Killer. Lake Herman Road may be understandable, if indeed this was his first venture into murder. But what of Modesto and Lake Tahoe? Was the Zodiac Killer temporarily stationed in these areas through employment, and waited to return to the Bay Area before communicating with the newspapers to apply separation from the area.
Many people believe the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo, or in close proximity to it, while posting his correspondence from San Francisco on his way to and from work. His profession is an avenue worth exploring regarding the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns and the Lake Tahoe disappearance of Donna Lass, particularly in light of his delayed communications. Had he traveled to either of these locations on a 'day trip', with no connection whatsoever to each area, then there would be no need for a combined delay of 10 1/2 months before his contact with the newspapers. The implication being, that these areas had greater significance to the killer than he would like us to know. This may be further borne out by the customary Zodiac phone call, but this time used to delay the investigation into the disappearance of Donna Lass, because he knew her enough to believe the police may pay him a visit.

The journey from Vallejo to South Lake Tahoe is a simple one, encompassing the two major highways of U.S. Route 80 and U.S Route 50. The latter runs past the apartment of Donna Lass at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road, the Paradice Motel (Halloween Card) and the once Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Shown here. This route also runs directly through Sacramento, notable for the murders of Judith Hakari, Nancy Bennallack and Carol Beth Hilburn on March 7th 1970, October 25th 1970 and November 14th 1970 respectively. All three of these murders have been suggested as possible Zodiac attacks.
Can we connect San Francisco, Modesto and South Lake Tahoe in terms of the Zodiac Killer's profession. The Naval Air Station Alameda is situated on San Francisco Bay, close to the Oakland Bay Bridge. However, during and since World War 2 it became headquarters for a system of auxiliary airfields, that included Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Air Station and Fallon Auxiliary Airfield.
The Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing is only 25 miles from the area where Kathleen Johns was abducted. If you exit NASA Crows Landing heading north on Interstate 5, it then joins Highway 132 only 1.4 miles before the point where Kathleen Johns was flagged over and where the vehicle was ultimately found burnt out. Zodiac would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. Fallon Auxiliary Airfield is on a direct route through South Lake Tahoe to the east, on U.S Route 50.
If the Zodiac Killer knew Donna Lass, he may have been stationed at this auxiliary airfield and frequented South Lake Tahoe. Investigators in Riverside also pursued the idea that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 may have worked at the March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, situated only 14 miles from the Terracina Drive crime scene. This was considered because of the military heel print discovered in the alleyway by the body of Cheri Jo Bates. This coupled with the military Wing Walker boot impressions found at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, may indicate an Air Force connection, or indeed airplanes in general. After all the Zodiac Killer did introduce himself with "This is the Zodiac speaking."

"An auxiliary force is an organized group supplementing but not directly incorporated in a regular military or police entity. It may comprise either civilian volunteers undertaking support functions or additional personnel directly performing military or police duties, usually on a part-time basis. Historically the designation "auxiliary" has also been given to foreign or allied troops in the service of a nation at war. In the context of colonial armies locally recruited irregulars were often described as auxiliaries." Source Wikipedia.
The immediate correspondence after the disappearance of Donna Lass was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970. However this was likely mailed in response to his 'Little List' letter of July 26th 1970 not being featured in the newspapers. Both claimed 13 victims, so Donna Lass having been abducted after July 26th cannot be the "big thirteenth".
If she truly was a Zodiac victim, then she had to be victim number 14, dispelling the idea that the 'Halloween' card was a veiled threat towards San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery.
There is some validity to the idea the 'Halloween' card was indicating the murder of Donna Lass. This and the 'Pines' card were both addressed to Paul Avery, and both made similar references. The 'Halloween' card featured a tree with an eye in the knothole, with the accompanying phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed." The 'Pines' card held the phrases "peek through the pines," and the upside-down "around in the snow."  Likely indicative of a burial or disposal site, hence the choice of skeletons on the 'Halloween' card almost two months after the crime.
Did the Zodiac Killer work as an auxiliary at Riverside, Patterson, San Francisco and Fallon. The FBI certainly considered this possibility in a least three of the locations.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/donna-lass-an-enduring-mystery

This is a continuation from the article 'The Fictitious Negro Male' examining the crucial 40 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau (19) and Darlene Ferrin (22) on July 4th 1969, which left Michael Mageau fighting for his life and Darlene Ferrin dead from five direct gunshot wounds. The killer would place a payphone call from the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street at 12.40 am, only 40 minutes after the attack in the parking lot.
Exactly one month after the double shooting, the murderer mailed the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Examiner, received on August 4th 1969. It is in this introductory letter that the killer may have inadvertently revealed the area in which he lived. Many may not share my optimism, but any assistance anybody can offer in terms of material or research regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for 1969 land registry records, phone books or directories, that contain names and addresses of individuals who lived in a 10-15 minute walking radius of the payphone at the Springs and Tuolumne intersection.
This is what the Zodiac Killer stated in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter:
"I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car. The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car."
After Michael Mageau had been shot he recalled exiting Darlene Ferrin's brown Corvair and lying alongside the vehicle, giving a rudimentary description of the assailant's vehicle as it pulled out of the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs. The killer adamantly denied leaving the scene "with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper," insisting he didn't want to draw attention to his vehicle, in direct contrast to the message the letter appeared to be pushing by the payphone.
On leaving the crime scene, he was now in possession of the 'smoking gun', and the wise choice may well have been to offload his weapon and vehicle at his residence and walk to the payphone, carrying much less risk. He knew Mageau or Ferrin would unlikely be able to give a description, on account of the tactics he employed, in particular the flashlight he used to blind the victims, however his vehicle was not afforded the same protection as he exited the parking lot, something he was infinitely aware of. He seemed confident in his phone call that he was reporting a "double murder," but whether or not he contemplated that Michael Mageau may still alive, and this was just the statement of a braggart, is open to question.

In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter the killer seemingly goes out of his way to feature the payphone call, highlighting a negro male that spotted him after he hung up the receiver. This negro male was never mentioned in the extensive 75 page police report, or by any investigators connected with the case. The negro male also never featured in any newspaper articles up to the August 4th 1969 letter. This was called out in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969, which stated "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth."
Whether the police had identified a negro male eyewitness or not, it appeared that Zodiac wanted to capitalize on the fact he was spotted, by going into unnecessary detail on the man's age and attire: "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed." Having effectively agreed that his vehicle was brown, he went on to highlight his vehicle once more: "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." The Zodiac Killer seemed intent on corroborating the description of his vehicle by Michael Mageau, by backing it up with the negro male eyewitness, who saw exactly the same color of vehicle. This is particularly helpful on behalf of the killer, unless of course he was pushing a false narrative, in that the negro male eyewitness didn't exist and his vehicle wasn't brown. In addition the phrase "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car," is particularly telling, unnecessarily adding "my car" at the end. We already know he had a vehicle, the negro male had apparently identified it as brown. The superfluous addition of this content may very well be deliberate, to convince the reader the killer had pulled up to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone after the double shooting and placed the phone call with his vehicle in tow, when in fact he was on foot. We know he didn't drive directly to the payphone, because the payphone is situated only 10 minutes from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, yet the phone call was logged 40 minutes after the attack.

The phone call could have been made from anywhere, rather than alongside Springs Road, a prominent route traversing the crime scene and downtown Vallejo, in close proximity to the police station. However, the killer chose to remain in the vicinity at least 30 minutes beyond what was necessary. That is, unless he lived nearby and chose to remove his vehicle and weapon from his person, before making what was seemingly a predetermined decision to announce himself to the world.
A killer choosing to drive from Blue Rock Springs Park to somewhere within a 10-15 minute walking radius of the payphone would take 10 minutes. With 15 minutes to park his vehicle, change his attire, conceal his weapon and ready himself, would leave approximately 15 minutes to walk to the payphone with his imaginary "brown car" in tow and make the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover.
The premise of 10-15 minutes walking time is based on the killer applying a 'buffer zone' to his residence. He clearly didn't want to place a call in extremely close proximity to where he lived, but would also be constrained by his wanting to return to his residence in reasonable time after placing the call. Hence the estimate of 10-15 minutes as a starting point.
After the Lake Herman Road murders it was intimated by Officer Pierre Bidou that a crank call was received shortly after the killings, referring to a 'car accident' along that particular stretch of road. Had this been the Zodiac Killer, it would had to have been placed just prior to the official police message called in by Captain Daniel Pitta shortly after 11.25 pm. If the killer of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen had again placed the phone call at the Springs and Tuolumne intersection, then this 10-12 minute journey would have him leaving the turnout at the correct time based on the eyewitness accounts that night. However, by making this phone call before returning home, could have been indicative of a man confident he left no victims alive in this case, in contrast to Michael Mageau, who had extricated himself from the vehicle. This would certainly elevate the payphone's significance as a common denominator over the first two Zodiac crimes, and dispel the idea the Zodiac waited 6 1/2 months before contacting the police, if it were true.

The Zodiac's exasperation in the letter seemingly implied a familiarity with the area of Lake Herman Road, stating "Last Christmass In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees."
His compass directions from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone and/or the police station also showed familiarity with his location at this intersection. He knew the Blue Rock Springs parking lot was east of his location, situated alongside Columbus Parkway. This is what he actually said to police dispatcher Nancy Slover, with the all important pause or comma inserted into the dialogue, that changes the whole context of the phone call:
"I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye."
Unless the killer had prepared in advance by looking at a map, his directional knowledge of his immediate surroundings only 40 minutes after the attack was correct. Had he driven to a location unknown to him, the likelihood of him knowing his relative position to the crime scene using compass markers would be highly unlikely. Additionally, his targeting of lone courting couples, may also suggest an intrinsic knowledge of his hunting ground.
There appears little or no benefit in making an incriminating phone call, claiming four murders, from a payphone only 10 minutes from the crime scene, when the killer could have been 40 minutes away at this point, placing the call in a region of relative security. The fact that he traveled so little distance in 40 minutes, meant he did something else for a large percentage of this time and may well imply a connection to the area.
Cross-referencing names of residents (within the 15 minute walking radius) in 1969, with ancestry records, may turn up individuals who previously resided in Riverside in 1966 during the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th, or possibly other key locations. If anybody can provide assistance in this search it would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-fictitious-negro-male
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/a-white-chevrolet-impala-at-blue-rock-springs

On October 13th 1969, two days after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, the Zodiac began taunting the police for their incompetence, stating "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover."
He would continue this theme of ridicule a month after the crime, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter stating "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos? If you cops think I'm going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads." But if that wasn't enough he would highlight how Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms effectively let him through their grasp as he walked along Jackson Street only minutes after the murder: "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again."
Three months after the murder the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled 'Yellow Cab Sets Reward for Zodiac,' offering a reward for the Zodiac Killer's capture. It read "Yellow Cab Company yesterday posted a $1000 reward for the Zodiac Killer. Specifically the money is being offered for "information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible" for the deaths of Yellow Cab drivers Charles Jarman and Paul Stine. The Teamsters Union, which represents Yellow Cab's drivers, is also considering offering a reward in the two cases. The subject will be discussed and voted on at a meeting of drivers set for February 8."

This would not go unnoticed by the Bay Area killer, who responded on April 20th 1970 in the 'My Name is' cipher communication: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now. I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station."
The Zodiac Killer was clearly emboldened by his narrow escape along Jackson Street and from the park, likely believing he was untouchable. This was clearly demonstrated by his unashamed taunting of police in the 'Bus Bomb' letter: "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them."
Five and a half months after the April 20th letter the tone was pretty much the same, when the '13 Hole' pasted postcard was mailed on October 5th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle. He would again mention the reward on his head and further suggest to police that they "shall never catch me."
The postcard read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" The suggestion here, is that the killer is taking a swipe at the San Francisco Police Department, having mailed the correspondence to the Chronicle newspaper. The wording on the postcard is particularly telling, and seemingly directed at somebody in particular in the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof," in which the the killer again, is apparently unable to refrain from his love of cryptic messages. If the killer however is addressing the San Francisco Police Department, it makes perfect sense that 'Fk' would in fact be somebody connected to the SFPD also. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer's close call with Donald Fouke along Jackson Street, when the officer's patrol car approached him and subsequently let him on his way, it gives a new dimension to the phrase "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"
Alex Lewis (aka Welsh Chappie) came up with a plausible solution to this cryptic message which fits all the known criteria in the postcard: "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fouke knows I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" This simple solution may be the reason for the capitalized F and lower case k in the phrase. Coupled with the "price tag" in reference to the Yellow Cab Company reward of $1000, the '13 Hole' postcard mailed on the near anniversary of the Paul Stine murder, could possibly be seen in a whole new light.

Officer Donald Fouke

There is nevertheless a massive stumbling block. Apparently Officer Donald Fouke was never mentioned in the newspapers up to October 5th 1970 and the mailing of the '13 Hole' postcard, so how was the Zodiac Killer able to locate the name of the officer involved in the 'near miss' on Jackson Street, if the 'decryption' is correct.
After the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which he stated "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." This negro male was never mentioned in the police report, and the newspapers were also apparently unaware of this vital eyewitness, as detailed in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969: "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth."
If the Zodiac Killer was telling the truth about a negro male by the payphone, how was he privy to this eyewitness speaking to police, when clearly the newspapers were not. The killer also must have been fully aware of Michael Mageau's description of his vehicle, making this statement even more curious and unnecessary. In both cases, if correct, the impression taken would be of a Zodiac Killer who had inside information beyond what the newspapers had published. This could place the murderer of five much closer to the investigation than we care to imagine. However, if the above interpretations submitted are incorrect, then "Fouke knows" just about sums it up.

A big thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

Part taken from the comments section:
When somebody has a suspect they believe to be the Zodiac Killer, often a side by side comparison using the Presidio Heights sketch is presented to bolster their argument. The idea that Zodiac wore black styled 'prescription' glasses in his daily life however, is likely a false one. There could well be seven possible eyewitnesses to the Zodiac Killer who failed to mention any eyeglasses whatsoever.
The reasoning comes courtesy of Deborah Perez, the woman who falsely claimed her father Guy Ward Hendrickson was the Zodiac Killer. She claimed she had the glasses worn by Paul Stine, removed from the taxicab that fateful night. The response of the police was telling. Had it been previously established that Paul Stine's glasses were found at the crime scene or at his home, then it would be immediately obvious to police she was a liar. But that was not their response.
"San Francisco police said Thursday that they were still waiting for Perez to produce a pair of glasses that she said her father took as a souvenir from a cab driver he killed. Police believe the Zodiac shot a San Francisco taxi driver named Paul Stine on Oct. 11, 1969. Reports of the crime say that Stine's glasses were missing. Once you make complaints to a police department, you are required by law to provide the evidence to a police agency, and there is no reason to believe she is not going to do that," said San Francisco Police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Asked whether police were taking her claims seriously, Tomioka said: "We take any new leads or any new information or evidence and look at it seriously, and then we follow up to see if there is any legitimacy to the statements."
During the press conference, Perez produced the glasses she said her father took from Paul Stine, the San Francisco cabbie who was the Zodiac’s only confirmed victim in that city.
But investigation determined the glasses didn’t belong to Stine, said Kevin Jones, an inspector in the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide bureau. Jones handles the Zodiac case.
“They’re not Paul Stine’s glasses,” Jones affirmed this month, though he added he’s still working on other leads that Perez provided him with during lengthy interviews earlier this year. Jones would not say what those leads were. Perez had hoped the glasses might yield some DNA or other evidence.
Why would police contemplate the arrival or wait for them to be presented, if they had already known the glasses had never been taken. This strongly indicates,- if they had done a cursory search into the their files, that Zodiac had indeed removed Paul Stine's glasses from his person. Otherwise they would have dismissed her claim immediately. One phone call to Dave Toschi or reviewing the inventory of items recovered from the taxicab would have been a 10 minute job to discover whether the glasses were retrieved that night or not. This suggests Zodiac likely wore the glasses of Paul Stine as he exited the taxicab and was spotted by the three teenagers. He likely kept wearing them or donned them as Donald Fouke approached also.

Lake Berryessa sketch derived from the three women.

The Zodiac stated in the November 9th 'Bus Bomb' letter: "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill."
He possibly looked like the description due the the glasses he secured from Paul Stine's lifeless body. Had he been aware of the three teenagers observing him from the window, then the choice of using Paul Stine's glasses to help disguise his appearance may have been a wise choice.
Michael Mageau, after the Blue Rock Springs attack, asserted that the killer had not worn glasses, and had noted that his assailant had a particularly large face, all in line with the Berryessa sketch.
Bryan Hartnell stated: "And he had clip on sunglasses...it was hard to tell. You know, the sunglasses you clip on when you're wearing glasses, eyeglasses. He had those clipped on. I'm pretty sure...I don't think he had glasses, though. I just think he had these clipped onto his suit....you know, that little mask."
The three female eyewitnesses at Lake Berryessa (if Zodiac) also recollected a man devoid of glasses.
On the same day, around the time of the stabbing, Dr Rayfield and his son recalled a stocky man wandering the hillside approximately 0.8 miles from the area of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. Dr Rayfield continued "He wasn't nimble when he was walking. And when he turned to walk away he wasn't like a smooth, athletic person. To me he seemed a little overweight and on the clumsier side." He added "His body type matches what police said at the time-two hundred pounds or more. He was pretty big and built, but he didn't move like he was a real coordinated, smooth walking guy."
Dr Rayfield and his son did not recall or mention the man wearing any glasses.
This description mirrors the three women, who remembered a stocky build of 200-225 lbs. They also stated that he favored one leg over the other. The idea of a clumsy, uncoordinated man would again be reported two weeks later by Officer Donald Fouke, who observed the killer walking along Jackson Street shortly after the murder of Paul Stine. He described a man with a "lumbering gait, sort of stumbling along, like a semi-limp.' Up to the point of the Presidio Heights murder, and the sighting of the three teenagers and Donald Fouke, not one of a possible seven eyewitness recall seeing a man wearing eyeglasses.
In two instances it may not have been the Zodiac Killer, but we cannot know for sure. The Lake Berryessa sketch has, by many, been dismissed as the same man portrayed in the Presidio Heights sketch. However, the likeness may be a lot closer than you think. If the Zodiac Killer had changed his hairstyle during the intervening two weeks, and the Presidio Heights face is slightly widened to portray a man around 200 lbs, we get the following.

Here are two interesting snippets from the Harvey Hines 120 page report on Lawrence Kane. The first indicates a call was placed by the Zodiac Killer from a public payphone in Union Square, San Francisco. The second features a unique image of the Pines Card created by Harvey Hines and photographs of the crucifix stone formation at the Sierra Club.
"Now, according to John Miles, I find that Kane lived at 217 Eddy Street in San Francisco prior to his moving to South Lake Tahoe. In looking at an area map of San Francisco, I found 217 Eddy Street appeared to be only about two to three blocks from where Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac on October 11th 1969. I then called inspector Dave Toschi at the San Francisco Police Department and got more details on the Stine killing. Toschi said they had determined the killer had called for a cab using the public payphone located at Union Square. Toschi said the cab picked the killer up and drove to the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets. At this point the cab driver was shot in the head. The killer was then seen by three witnesses from a residence nearby, wiping down the cab. Apparently wiping away fingerprints. Toschi said he also cut away a portion of Stine's bloodied shirt. After doing this, he calmly walked away in the direction of the Presidio Army Installation.
Two police officers, Don Foukes and Eric Zelms, heard the first radio broadcast and went directly to the area. The first broadcast, however, according to Toschi, erroneously identified the shooter as a black man. As Zelms and Foukes approached, they saw a white male walking toward the Presidio in the direction of Letterman General Hospital. They briefly stopped and asked him if he had seen a man with a gun. He told them he had just seen a man waving a gun and running the other direction. The two officers then hurriedly left in search of the black man.
Now we have the Zodiac running into the Presidio in the direction of Letterman General Hospital. The very place that Donna Lass worked. Also, in looking at the area map, I found that Lass lived six blocks south in the 4000 block of Balboa. That meant the Zodiac Killer started his ride near where Kane lived and ended it several blocks away where Donna Lass lived and worked.
During the time she worked in San Francisco she lived at 4122 Balboa Street with a roommate named Carol Emerich. Emerich was also a nurse. According to the employment records, Lass was working a late night shift in October of 1969 when the San Francisco cab driver, Paul Stine, was killed by the Zodiac."
Harvey Hines went on to elaborate about his search for Donna Lass, in particular the 'Pines' card mailed on March 22nd 1971: "After studying the card, I drove to Nordin, located on old Highway 40, north of Lake Tahoe, and found the SIERRA CLUB. I learned the club was not called the Sierra Club. It was named the Claire Tappan Lodge and it was a private club for Sierra Club members only. I believed if I followed the directions on the postcard I would find Donna Lass' grave. I believe she was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch. I would later have the pictures of the Sierra Club developed. Then using a copy of Zodiac's card, I cut out the phrases he had pasted on his card. Using these phrases, I overpasted them on the copy of the Sierra Club picture. It was striking similar to the original card."

Thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

James Owen was the only eyewitness at Lake Herman Road who saw two vehicles parked in the turnout on December 20th 1968. He recalled very little about the vehicle parked alongside the Faraday Rambler, but recalled them being 3-10 feet apart. His statement to police recalled that "he did not see anyone in the cars or around them." This is probably the most puzzling aspect of the Lake Herman Road murders, and is often explained away in unsatisfactory terms. Raymond Grant, author of 'Zodiac Killer Solved' alerted me to this problem, in respect to how the Faraday Rambler was discovered by police in the turnout, with the passenger side door open. Ray has tackled this 'anomaly' in his book and presented a comprehensive timeline of the eyewitnesses present that fateful night. The following however, will view the crime from a different angle.
It is possible that James Owen was mistaken and didn't notice David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the Rambler, but for now we will take his account in good faith.
It is extremely unlikely David Faraday would have just remained in the pitch black turnout for any considerable time, if another vehicle had pulled up alongside them. So it is likely that the vehicle that James Owen saw alongside the Rambler had just pulled into the turnout before he arrived. Approximately 30 seconds after he had passed the turnout he "thought he heard a shot." Many observers have speculated that the Zodiac Killer had already forced the couple from the Rambler before James Owen arrived. He was about to murder the couple when he saw or heard James Owen's vehicle approaching, so improvised and forced the couple out of sight between the vehicles. But we have a major problem. James Owen does not mention the car doors on either vehicle open, particularly the Rambler. This can be simply explained away, in that the killer, keen to avoid drawing unwanted attention, closed the Rambler door before forcing the couple out of sight.

Once James Owen had passed, the killer began his brutal execution of the couple, or initially David Faraday, just 30 seconds later. It was then assumed, he returned to his vehicle and left the turnout. If this version of events were true, why did the killer reopen the passenger side door of the Rambler before he left, as this is how it was found by investigators. Nothing was apparently taken from the victims by the perpetrator, or mailed by the killer thereafter.
It has been suggested that James Owen likely didn't see the couple in the vehicle because they were 'making out' with the seats reclined. This would be highly unlikely once a second vehicle had pulled alongside them, in extremely close proximity.
It was a dark, isolated turnout, late at night and anybody would be reasonably apprehensive at this point, and David Faraday, a conscientious young man, accompanying a girl on a first date, would certainly have been aware of the dangers.
If James Owen was correct, and the couple were not in the vehicle, and unlikely they were under duress between the vehicles, then where were they. Raymond Grant has presented his version of events in 'Zodiac Killer Solved', but here we will explore some alternatives. The simplest, is that the couple were in the vehicle, but James Owen simply failed to notice them.
If they were between the vehicles, then we have to believe that the killer pulled up alongside the Rambler, forced them out of the vehicle with warning shots, out of the audible range of James Owen's approaching vehicle, but didn't strike immediately. The assailant then noticed the vehicle of James Owen approaching, hiding the couple out of sight and closing his door, and the door of the Rambler. Once he believed James Owen had passed beyond audible range, he began his attack. Just before he left though, he reopened the Rambler door for no reason. Unless he decided he wanted a souvenir from the vehicle. But with nothing reported missing from the young couple, the murderer either didn't find anything of satisfaction within the Rambler, or this chain of events never occurred.

Did James Owen see a vehicle parked alongside the Rambler at all. For this to be the case, we would have to believe the assailant arrived on foot, however the sighting of the empty white Chevrolet Impala earlier that night, along with the 'suspicious' vehicle reported by William Crow, would have to be put down as sheer coincidence in view of the events that ultimately unfolded later that night. This tips the scales, that likely verifies James Owen's sighting of a second vehicle as correct. He may have been unsure of the distance between the two vehicles, but in his statement to police he stressed that "he definitely saw two cars."
The final alternative, if we dismiss the above, has been presented by Raymond Grant, in that the couple were held captive, contained within the trunk of a vehicle, likely the Impala.
It is not a valid hypothesis to argue the killer entered the rear of the Rambler, forcing the couple out of sight as James Owen passed, because the rear doors were discovered locked by investigators. Either James Owen was mistaken and he failed to notice the couple in the Rambler, the killer opened the front passenger door after the murders to possibly collect a 'souvenir' or for some ulterior motive, or a third unexplored option exists,
one not dissimilar to that suggested by Raymond Grant. It's a question of whether the simplest answer is the correct one.

The first three crimes of Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Berryessa were committed in situ, in that the Zodiac Killer attacked the couples where he discovered them. The Zodiac at Presidio Heights entered the taxicab of Paul Stine in the bustling theater district of San Francisco and murdered him at Washington and Cherry, although Paul Stine effectively remained in situ, within the taxicab throughout. The three crimes that have widely been attributed to Zodiac, are the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates, the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns and the disappearance of Donna Lass from the Sahara Tahoe Casino, all of which were followed by alleged communications from the Zodiac Killer. These three crimes had one thing in common, the perpetrator used a ruse, to lure the women into his vehicle and remove them from the first point of contact. Cheri Jo Bates' car distributor was tampered with, followed by the promise of a lift home, to lure the young woman into his vehicle. Kathleen Johns, again would fall prey to the same tactic, her wheel was tampered with, followed by the promise of a lift to a service station. Donna Lass was lured away from her place of work, by a false medical emergency, to again draw the nurse toward his vehicle. Three crimes, involving three young women, and in all instances similar tactics were employed, followed by a correspondence claiming the crime. Here though, it is the Donna Lass abduction we shall concentrate on.
In the aftermath of the disappearance, the search for Donna Lass would be badly affected by the inclement weather in the coming months, highlighted by Police Chief Ray Lauritzen in the newspapers from the outset: "We don't know where we're going to begin. There's a four or five foot pack of snow out there and it's still snowing heavily. There's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring."
The Zodiac Killer, we know, was an avid reader of the newspapers, and it is likely he also read this statement by Chief Ray Lauritzen. It is possible the 'Pines' card, mailed on March 22nd 1971 was a direct response to this article, but in a very subtle way. This we will come to later.

It is far from certain the perpetrator of this crime knew Donna Lass, but the following will explore reasons why this may be the case.
Similar to the second and third crimes by the Zodiac Killer, the disappearance of Donna Lass was again followed by a phone call from the supposed perpetrator. But unlike Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Berryessa, this phone call didn't brag about his crime, it claimed Donna Lass had been 'called away' or 'called out of town' due to a family illness, all of which was subsequently proved to be false. The caller was seemingly trying to give the impression nothing sinister had happened, suggesting the act of the phone call was simply to 'buy time'. If the abductor was affording himself some extra breathing space, then the real possibility he was local to the area or known to Donna Lass is a credible argument, and he was either holding Donna Lass at this juncture, needed time to dispose of her body, or possibly needed to remove incriminating evidence from his home or vehicle before the police came knocking. This may have suggested that the responsible moved in the circle of Donna Lass, such as friends and work colleagues, who are inevitably the first people to be questioned in most police investigations.
The nature of the call was also suggestive of a perpetrator who knew Donna Lass. A friend or work colleague through conversation or private details, would be privy to information about her family, and the fact they lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1,555 miles away. A phone call in this instance, using a family illness as a ruse, would be of the utmost benefit to the caller, possibly 'buying' the perpetrator plenty of time. The caller it would seem, knew her family did not reside in South Lake Tahoe or nearby, because this would have made the call ineffectual.
Two phone calls were laid, one to her employer and one to her landlord. The first would obviously explain her absence from work after the Labor Day weekend, the second would possibly allay the concerns of her landlord over rent collection. He may have known Donna Lass, but would unlikely have known the exact date her payments were due. The fact he called her landlord at all, is indicative of somebody who was familiar with Donna Lass, unlikely to be known by a random killer or abductor, who just turned up at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel that morning. If the perpetrator was the Zodiac Killer, then his close ties to Donna Lass could be of crucial importance, bearing in mind the widely held belief he was unknown to his victims in the first four confirmed attacks in the Bay Area. If the Zodiac Killer was also known to Cheri Jo Bates, due to the specific targeting of her Volkswagen Beetle, then Riverside and South Lake Tahoe may be more closely linked than ever imagined.

Donna Lass had recently moved into the Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road, located just a three minute drive from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. When she first arrived in South Lake Tahoe in June she stayed with Ann and Larry Lowe at 4054 US Highway 50, and was just finding her feet in the new residence when she went missing. Although her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible was discovered outside the Monte Verdi apartment complex in its usual parking spot, it is believed she had not driven it to work on the evening of her disappearance, having walked to work from this previous residence, which was a short walking distance to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel of approximately 8-10 minutes. She had made plans to meet up with her friend Jo Anne Goettsche, intending to travel back to the Monte Verdi Apartments in her vehicle, once her shift at the casino had finished.
The fact she was targeted immediately on her shift change at around 1.50 am is also telling. Had a nurse just vanished from the start or middle of her shift, this would obviously have raised a red flag with the Sahara Tahoe Casino, negating the intention of the abductor, and most certainly rendering the phone call unnecessary and highly suspicious. She had already changed from her nurses uniform into her civilian clothes, as her shift was due to end at 2.00 am, something the perpetrator likely knew.
The last person apparently to see Donna Lass before her disappearance was a Joan Bentley from San Francisco, who stated that Donna appeared in good spirits at approximately 1.40 am. The last entry on her log according to her sister, Mary Pilker, was "patient complains of", before the pen trailed off the page. This pen mark is unlikely to have been created by her being physically manhandled from the casino, as it was extremely busy during the Labor Day weekend. More likely, is that somebody approached her nurses station and asked for medical assistance in the car park. Donna Lass may have been writing in her nurses log, when she had her arm tugged in a gesture of 'please help,' or had been in the middle of writing, when she abruptly rushed off to aid the concerned citizen. Either way, her pen trailed down the page.

The person who made the phone call was also likely aware Donna Lass had not traveled to work that evening in her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible. Had he contacted the Sahara Tahoe Hotel explaining the family illness, and that she had been called 'out of town', then this would have been negated, had her employer or work colleagues noticed her vehicle sitting idle in the car park over the next few days. A vehicle she would likely have used for her trip to South Dakota.
Was the perpetrator aware of her plans to meet Jo Anne Goettsche at around 2.00 am inside the casino, so acted just before the end of her shift. The subsequent phone call may then have served an extra purpose of allaying the worries of Jo Anne Goettsche, had she informed the casino of her concerns or contacted the police. If the perpetrator knew of Donna Lass' arrangement with her friend, he may very well have spoken to her in the preceding days, further cementing the idea he was known to the young woman.
Six and a half months after her disappearance, the 'Pines' postcard was mailed by Zodiac to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22nd 1971. But why did the likely killer of Donna Lass wait this long to mail the communication. Did his closeness to Donna Lass play any part?
There could be another answer in the words of Police Chief Ray Lauritzen; "We don't know where we're going to begin. There's a four or five foot pack of snow out there and it's still snowing heavily. There's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring."
The Zodiac did refer to snow in the 'Pines' card. His exact wording was "around in the snow," pasted at ground level and upside-down, possibly signifying that Donna had been buried, or placed under the snow. The snowfall was extremely heavy that winter, and it was "unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring." Fitting then, that Zodiac contacted the newspapers on March 22nd 1971, just two days after the beginning of Spring.

In several articles we have explored the concept of geographical profiling to narrow down the search area for the likely residence of the Zodiac Killer, using timelines and his own words in an effort to identify the elusive murderer. A forum member of Zodiac Killer Site with the moniker 'Seagull' has been invaluable in this quest, mailing me names and addresses around the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone in Vallejo in 1969. By cross checking these to previous residency in Riverside and other locations using ancestry records, a common thread is hoped to be unearthed. The problem is, it may take months or even years to manually trawl through a sample area radius of just 0.5 miles around the payphone.
Another common thread that has been explored, is a possible link between Donna Lass and the Zodiac Killer. According to former police officer Harvey Hines "During the time she worked in San Francisco she lived at 4122 Balboa Street with a roommate named Carol Emerich. Emerich was also a nurse. According to the employment records, Lass was working a late night shift in October of 1969 when the San Francisco cab driver, Paul Stine, was killed by the Zodiac."
This, bearing in mind the disappearance and likely murder of Donna Lass only eleven months later, along with the alleged Zodiac 'Pines' card mailed on March 22nd 1971, it is something not to be overlooked. It may be coincidence, but the 'Pines' card does reveal an interesting feature, long believed to be from the hands of a hoaxer because of the victim count not marrying up with known Zodiac correspondence. However, it does in fact fit perfectly into the Zodiac timeline.

The Letterman Army Hospital

'Lemonboy', a contributor to this site triggered this article, when he stated "What if Donna lass saw Zodiac as he was walking away from the Stine murder? After that he targets her thinking she might have recognized him. The fact she lived so close to the crime scene seems more than coincidence."
But what if the Zodiac moved in the circle of Donna Lass, knew the young nurse, or even worked alongside her. His confidence in these surroundings was evident after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, apparent by his detailed account of events in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter. He may have lived in the Vallejo area and worked in San Francisco, hence the copious mailings to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. If we could tie this person to Donna Lass through San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, and possibly Cheri Jo Bates at Riverside, we may inch a little closer. The 'Pines' card may be suspect Zodiac material, but the wording on the postcard does leave a subtle hint that a connection may exist.
It all lies in the wording "Sought Victim 12", considered by some an error on behalf of its sender. But if we examine the victim count of the Zodiac Killer, the past participle of seek, indicated the killer may have been targeting Donna Lass during her residency in San Francisco some four months earlier.
"Sought Victim 12" suggested that the Zodiac Killer at some point in his recent history had trailed victim 12. Bearing in mind the 'Pines' card was supposedly referencing the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, then it isn't a giant leap of faith to believe that the murderer was searching for victim 12 relative to his timeline and the young nurse.
On April 20th 1970 the Zodiac Killer mailed the '13 Symbol' cipher claiming 10 victims. On June 26th 1970 the killer mailed the 'Button' letter and Phillips 66 map claiming 12 victims. His search for victim 12 was clearly over, according to him, therefore it couldn't have been Donna Lass, who was abducted just over two months later. However, she may have been the original target. If she had been earmarked as victim 12, as hinted by the 'Pines' card, his plans were clearly thwarted or sidelined.

Donna Ann Lass

Before Zodiac could "seek victim 12" though, he had to secure victim 11, which he wasn't claiming when the 'Dragon' card landed at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1970. Donna Lass left her job at the Letterman General Hospital and moved to South Lake Tahoe on June 6th 1970 to begin her new post at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino. If he had targeted Donna Lass in San Francisco, it would likely have fell somewhere between the dates of April 28th 1970 and June 6th 1970, but was ultimately denied to him by circumstances unknown or her move away from the Bay Area. Even if Zodiac had claimed victim 11 as early as the end of April, then we could be looking for a man who either worked with the young nurse during the month of May, was in her near circle, or had a romantic or unhealthy interest in Donna Lass during this short timeframe.
Friends and colleagues of Donna Lass included Carol Emerich and Jo Anne Goettsche, who visited her on the day she disappeared, and it is these friends, or persons close to them, that may hold the key to the identity of the Zodiac Killer during that crucial month in 1970. When the killer mailed the 'Pines' card on March 22nd 1971, either by accident or design, his mask of anonymity may have slipped even further upon pasting the words "Sought Victim 12," and place him a lot closer to Donna Lass than we care to imagine.

The Zodiac Killer teased us with his name on more than one occasion, firstly in the July 31st 1969 San Francisco Chronicle letter where he stated "I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity." He would follow this up with the 'My Name is...' letter on April 20th 1970 and the 'Halloween' card on October 27th 1970 tempting us with his name again; "I feel it in my bones, You ache to know my name, And so I'll clue you in.."
It would appear however, this was never to be the case and we are still no nearer to securing the identity of the Zodiac Killer nearly half a century later. It always seemed strange the Zodiac Killer would interpose the Gilbert and Sullivan Mikado into his correspondence, leading researchers to believe he was a fan of the theater, having quoted three acts of The Mikado in the 'Little List' letter of July 26th 1970 and 'Exorcist' letter of January 29th 1974. But there may be an ulterior motive behind this apparent fascination with Gilbert and Sullivan, in that the killer was using the Mikado to reveal his name, and likely through four mailings rather than the accepted two. We will take a closer look at these four correspondences and the speculative links between them, without claiming this is anything more than coincidence. Let us first look at the 'Exorcist' letter.

Click to enlarge

The first thing to notice is its carefully structured appearance, being divided neatly into four sections of text. The curious thing about the correspondence is Zodiac wrote "Signed, yours truley," as though he was about to offer up his name in the third block of writing. He then recited Act II -On a tree by a river from The Mikado. It seemed like Zodiac was wasting our time, plucking out random verses from The Mikado, that is until you read verse three of this particular act. It not only contained a reference to 'name', but pointed us towards 'The My Name is...' cipher, mailed on April 20th 1970. Here is verse three.
Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name
Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow,
That 'twas blighted affection that made him exclaim
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
And if you remain callous and obdurate, I
Shall perish as he did, and you will know why,
Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die,
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"

Was the Zodiac Killer giving us clues to his identity or name, by leading us back to the '13 Symbol' cipher. This observation on its own is meaningless, so we will travel back in time to the 'Little List' letter mailed on July 26th 1970, the supposed only other correspondence to contain references to The Mikado- in fact two. The first section of the 'Little List' letter pulled lines from 'A more humane Mikado', and continued on to extensively recite Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado Act One Part 5a 'As some day it may happen', performed by Ko-Ko. In the introductory part of the letter, Zodiac simply boasted about how he would torture his slaves in paradise, but he again did something curious, by selecting just one small section of 'A more humane Mikado,' despite it being ten verses in length. The same as he did in the 'Exorcist' letter. He then continued to paraphrase the entirety of 'As some day it may happen'.
The 'Exorcist' letter, we have shown to have tenuous links to the April 20th 1970 'My Name is...' letter, using verse three of 'Tit-Willow'. So let us look at the small section of text Zodiac selected from 'A more humane Mikado.'
The 'Little List' letter read "And all billiard players I shall have them play in a darkened dungen cell with crooked cues + Twisted Shoes." Why does Zodiac select this small portion. Was this also hinting towards the 'My Name is...' cipher.
When we think of billiard players or billiard balls from the standpoint of America, eight-ball comes to mind, and the circled eights on the '13 Symbol' cipher.

This is the full verse (right) from 'A more humane Mikado.' It is actually verse eight out of ten, providing us with the numerical link, as did verse three from the 'Exorcist' letter. The Zodiac Killer did state on the 'My Name is...' letter; "PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed."
There is however another link from 'A more humane Mikado,' to the alphabetical characters on the '13 Symbol' code mailed by Zodiac.
The Zodiac Killer supplied us with eight alphabetical characters, reading from left to right A, E, N, K, M, N, A and M.
In the diagram below, key sections of 'A more humane Mikado' are highlighted for comparison to the '13 Symbol' cipher. Seven letters have been highlighted in green and yellow. This is where we must take a bold leap of faith, and consider that the Zodiac Killer chose The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan because it simply contained his name, Kim. Nothing more theatrical than that.

The green highlighted sections on 'A more humane Mikado' in reverse, read KIMNAM. If we believe therefore, that the middle eight represents the letter I on the '13 Symbol' cipher, it reads forward KIMNAM, exactly the same. The remaining letters of the cipher AEN are shown highlighted in yellow. Every letter on the '13 Symbol' cipher is contained within this section of seven letters.
The three eights encapsulated his identity, just like the three eights at the foot of the '340' character cipher mailed on November 8th 1969: The Mathematics of the 13 Symbol Cipher. Who said the Magic 8 ball was just for telling fortunes! Additionally, Mikado can be formed using the alphabetical characters on the 20th line of the '340' cipher.
The Zodiac was keen to share with us what he had in store for his slaves in paradise:
"This is the Zodiac speaking. Being that you will not wear some nice buttons, how about wearing some nasty buttons. Or any kind of buttons that you can think up. If you do not wear any type of buttons, I shall (on top of everything else) torture all 13 of my slaves that I have waiting for me in Paradice. Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and squirm. Others shall have pine splinters driven under their nails + then burned. Others shall be placed in cages + fed salt beef untill they are gorged then I shall listen to their pleass for water and I shall laugh at them. Others will hang by their thumbs + burn in the sun then I will rub them down with deep heat to warm them up. Others I shall skin them alive + let them run around screaming. And all billiard players I shall have them play in a darkened dungen cell with crooked cues + Twisted Shoes. Yes I shall have great fun inflicting the most delicious of pain to my slaves."
The talk of slaves, paradise, pine splinters, dungeons and hanging his 'prisoners' by the thumbs, catapulted me to the 'Halloween' card mailed on October 27th 1970, and the last Mikado installment. The Zodiac Killer placed some wording around the knothole in the tree:"peek a boo you are doomed." Bearing in mind that The Mikado opened to the paying public on March 14th 1885, and was hugely successful, running for 672 performances at the Savoy Theatre in London, a British connection had to be sought. The British term for peek-a-boo is peep-bo, and peep-bo is a character in The Mikado.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/fk-im-crackproof

Here we will take a fresh look at the Cheri Jo Bates murder in Riverside on October 30th 1966, using the 'Confession' letter, excerpts from Robert Graysmith's book, details from police, and earwitnesses to pinpoint the location of Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle and the vehicle of her assailant.
The 'Inside Detective' Magazine from January 1969 stated "At the murder scene, drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detective that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying." This indicated the killer was walking back to his vehicle, parked on Terracina Drive. But which way did he head, east or west. The Riverside City College library was situated approximately 75- 80 yards (240 feet) east of the alleyway, where the slain girl was discovered. There are, as always, conflicting versions of the same event. The 'Inside Detective' Magazine stated "The Riverside Sheriff's Department picked up the broadcast. Minutes later, Sheriff's Detective Sergeant Jack Reid and Detective Jack Elms discovered the little car. It was parked at the curb in front of the college library about 75 feet (25 yards) from the entrance of the roadway where the girl's body was found."
Robert Graysmith, in his book Zodiac. stated "He probably came up and offered help, offered her a lift in his car. Then he got her to go down the unlit gravel road to the parking lot, about 75 yards east of her car."
The Riverside Police Department memorandum stated "She returned to her vehicle, which was parked on a city street a short distance from the library, placed her books in the vehicle, and attempted to start her vehicle, The vehicle had been tampered with so it would not start. This was evidently done by the suspect to keep the victim near her vehicle, so the suspect could make his approach. Our victim then left her vehicle, accompanied by the suspect, and walked approximately 200 feet (67 yards) into a dirt driveway between two houses."
Below I have interpreted the statements. One vehicle is placed between 67-75 yards west of the alleyway (which was "about 75 yards east of her car"). The second interpretation places the vehicle "in front of the college library" about 25 yards west of the alleyway. These appear the two options.

Next we will examine the 'Confession letter' wording to pinpoint the location of the assailant/s vehicle, along with the true location of Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle. The 'Confession' letter stated "Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what." I said it was about time for her to die."
If the author of the 'Confession' letter was honest in his directional movements that night, then his choice of words "when we were away from the library walking," seems to suggest he was walking away from the library, towards the alleyway and his vehicle, having already offered Cheri Jo Bates help in fixing her Volkswagen Beetle. This indicated that Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle was parked somewhere close to the library, and going by the above options, 25 yards east of the alleyway.
If her disabled Volkswagen Beetle was parked 70 yards west of the alleyway, then his statement in the 'Confession' letter of "When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what." I said it was about time for her to die," makes it appear he is heading in the wrong direction. Considering the relative positions of the Volkswagen Beetle (70 yards west) and the alleyway in this instance, he would have been walking towards the library, not away from the library.
However, the Volkswagen Beetle being parked 25 yards east of the alleyway flies in the face of the Riverside Police Department memorandum, which indicated her vehicle was parked 200 feet (67 yards) from the alleyway. The Riverside Police Department memorandum and Robert Graysmith's book appear to corroborate one another in terms of distance from the alleyway.

But what if the Volkswagen Beetle was parked 67-75 yards east of the alleyway, instead of 75 yards west, as Robert Graysmith stated in his book. This would literally place the Volkswagen Beetle very close to the library doors, using the measurement capabilities of Google maps, and corroborate the Riverside Police Department memorandum, which stated "her vehicle was parked on a city street a short distance from the library." This also tallies with the 'Inside Detective' Magazine, in which police said her Volkswagen Beetle "was parked at the curb in front of the college library." They did however, go on to state her vehicle was 75 feet from the alleyway, not 75 yards. But it's my guess they made a mistake or were misquoted.
One wouldn't have imagined parking spaces that difficult to find on a Sunday evening, particularly bearing in mind Cheri Jo Bates had arrived at the library around opening time, before many of the other 65 attendees. This may also challenge the notion of her parking her vehicle 150 yards (450 feet) from the library entrance, along Terracina Drive, leaving her an unnecessary distance to walk. This revamped assessment now places her vehicle approximately 75 yards east of the alleyway, very close to the library, and "parked at the curb in front of the college library." Or "parked on a city street a short distance from the library." Not on the west side of the alleyway as originally believed.
But where was the assailant's vehicle parked? In the 'Confession' letter the author stated he "waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes." We know that Cheri Jo Bates was not murdered until approximately 10.30 pm, so much of what the 'Confession' letter depicts is false, however his wording can still give us a clue to the location of where his vehicle was parked. It is extremely likely the killer either trailed Cheri Jo Bates to the library that evening, or pulled up near to the library on the expectation of her arrival, maintaining a visual on the entrance. Regardless of what time she entered the library, or where she went that evening, the assailant would have parked somewhere on Terracina Drive to facilitate his plan, hence the wording on the 'Confession' letter: "I told her that my car was down the street and I would give her a lift home." and "when we were away from the library walking." This indicated his vehicle was parked west of the library entrance, towards the alleyway.

He clearly didn't want to park his vehicle by the Riverside City College library steps, as this would risk his vehicle being associated with the Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates. The wording on the 'Confession' letter of his vehicle "down the street," to lure her towards the alleyway, would suggest his vehicle was somewhere close to the alleyway. This would facilitate a speedy exit from the alleyway after the knife attack on Cheri Jo Bates, which would inevitably have left him with blood on his clothes. This was backed up by earwitnesses close to the alleyway, who likely heard the perpetrator's vehicle pulling away from the scene.
In the Robert Graysmith book it stated "A neighbor heard an 'awful scream' between 10.15 and 10.45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up."
The neighbor's claim is backed up by the latter part of the 'Confession' letter: "She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched. She let out a scream once and I kicked her head to shut her up. I plunged the knife into her and it broke. I then finished the job by cutting her throat."
After Cheri Jo Bates screamed, according to the author, he kicked her and then used the knife twice to finally kill her. Taking this at less than 30 seconds, and assuming the killer and starting car are connected, what did the killer do for the remaining 90 odd seconds. If his vehicle was relatively close by (30 seconds journey)- so that the neighbor was able to hear it starting up, then we are probably looking for an unaccounted minute of time. Was this time used in searching for the Timex watch, wrenched off his wrist in the struggle with Cheri Jo Bates.
Based on everything learned, the Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates was likely parked very close to the library annex, 75 yards east, or thereabouts from the ill fated alleyway. The assailant's vehicle was also parked on Terracina Drive, within earshot of the alleyway, on either the east or west side. "At the murder scene, drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detective that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying."
But only a matter of yards from the alleyway, before driving away.

FOOTNOTE: Newspaper article excerpt - Death on a Driveway, A life that ended too soon.
"Some of her friends were at the library between 7 and 9 pm, but none can recall seeing Cheri. She had been there, however, because three books stamped that day were found in the front seat of her yellow-green Volkswagen found parked on Terracina, near the annex. Someone else was there too. Someone who police believe knew Cheri- knew her well enough to recognize her car. The distributor had been tampered with and there was evidence that the man had been in the car with her. The keys were still in the ignition when the car was found the next day. Both windows had been rolled down and the right door was ajar."

Here we will take an even deeper look into the events of October 30th 1966, partially using the excellent timeline of Ray Grant from his book 'Zodiac Killer Solved.' We may disagree on certain aspects of the crime, but he makes extremely interesting observations regarding the movements of Cheri Jo Bates that evening, and the fact that the young woman would never have willingly left her prized Volkswagen Beetle in the state it was found the following morning.
We can agree that Cheri Jo Bates left her 4195 Via San Jose residence at approximately 5.05 pm. The next important sighting was from a Mexican-American student, who later stated that "he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen" in her blue spiral school notebook. The boy told us he was outside about 5.30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl." This statement can be interpreted in two ways. He either saw the girl at 5.30 pm or 6.00 pm. But on this occasion we will opt for around 5.30 pm. for reasons explained in 'Zodiac Killer Solved,' while adding a further component from the 'Inside Detective' Magazine.
The journey time from her residence to Terracina Drive, where her vehicle was ultimately found 'abandoned,' is a journey time of about 12-15 minutes. She parked her vehicle 30 yards east of the library annex, as explained in the previous article, on the right hand side of the road. The time now is 5.20 pm. She walked the short distance to the library, where the Mexican-American student noticed Cheri Jo Bates "about 5.30 pm." It was likely a few minutes before, because as Ray Grant pointed out, she would eventually notice she wasn't in possession of her bibliography and ventured off to place a payphone call to her co-worker Donna at the Riverside National Bank at 5.30 pm, who said she hadn't seen the bibliography. This call probably lasted for approximately 5 minutes, because the next sighting of Cheri Jo Bates was at 5.40 pm, when she returned back to her vehicle by the library. This eyewitness was not 100% sure of the girl's identity, but there is a high probability it was Cheri Jo Bates, as she was returning to her vehicle, to make the journey back home to retrieve her bibliography.

This is where the 'Inside Detective' Magazine comes in handy. It stated "The participants in the reenactment at the detectives' request, wore the same clothing and sat in the same seats that they had occupied the Sunday night of the murder. They were also asked to park their cars in the same places they had on the night of October 30. It had been determined that Cheri Jo (or a girl resembling her and in similar clothes) had arrived at the library about 5.40 pm and waited for about 20 minutes for the doors to be opened. The girl apparently entered the library as soon as the doors were opened at 6.00 pm, and checked out the books she had come for." This seemingly near corroborates everything before it- the sighting of the Mexican-American student just before 5.30 pm, the phone call to Donna at 5.30 pm, and her return to the library at 5.40 pm. There is one big problem however, pointed out by Ray Grant in 'Zodiac Killer Solved.'
Cheri Jo Bates was spotted by two eyewitnesses (a March Air Force Base man and a friend of Cheri's driving on Magnolia Avenue) that evening, arriving toward Terracina Drive at 6.10-6.15 pm. How could she be arriving at the college at 6.15 pm, when supposedly she was entering the library at 6.00 pm, having earlier arrived at the college library around 5.20 pm. Had she arrived at the college twice, then she must have returned home at some point to search for her bibliography.
If we take the 5.40 pm eyewitness sighting as Cheri Jo Bates, this may corroborate her Volkswagen Beetle parked only 90 feet east of the library entrance. She was returning from the payphone, heading west to east, toward the library entrance, to consider a journey back home. Had her vehicle been parked 360 feet west of the library or 75 yards west of the alleyway, as asserted by Robert Graysmith, then this eyewitness would not have assumed Cheri Jo Bates was "arriving at the library at 5.40 pm." The magazine stated that apparently she entered the library at 6.00 pm, and had waited 20 minutes from arriving. It is highly likely this is supposition on behalf of the investigators, based upon the 5.40 pm sighting. As Ray Grant suggested, Cheri Jo Bates likely entered her vehicle at 5.40 pm or thereabouts, and drove the 24 minute journey to and from her residence to collect her bibliography. Allowing for the turnaround and locating her bibliography, 30 minutes is a reasonable estimate, placing her arriving back on Terracina Drive at 6.10 pm, where she was spotted by both the March Air Force Base man and her friend.

In one newspaper article it stated, "Some of her friends were at the library between 7 and 9 pm, but none can recall seeing Cheri. She had been there, however, because three books stamped that day were found in the front seat of her yellow-green Volkswagen found parked on Terracina, near the annex. Someone else was there too. Someone who police believe knew Cheri- knew her well enough to recognize her car. The distributor had been tampered with and there was evidence that the man had been in the car with her. The keys were still in the ignition when the car was found the next day. Both windows had been rolled down and the right door was ajar."
The 'Inside Detective' Magazine added that "the keys were in the ignition, but the car had been disabled and would not start. It was found that the distributor coil and condenser had been ripped out. Greasy finger and palm prints were discovered on the door of the car. Two school books and a notepad were found in the front seat."
Ray Grant believes that Cheri Jo Bates was abducted from her Volkswagen Beetle shortly after arriving at the library at 6.10-6.15 pm, indicating she never entered the library that night. Had the Mexican-American student only spotted Cheri Jo Bates at "about 5.30 pm" outside the library, then no eyewitnesses at all that night had recalled Cheri Jo Bates inside the library. Ray Grant believes it wasn't Cheri Jo Bates that checked out the library books, but the perpetrators of the crime.
We may disagree on the events from 6.15 pm onward, but an abduction cannot be ruled out, as the young woman was 'missing' for just over 4 hours, until screams were heard coming from the alleyway, where Cheri Jo Bates would ultimately be found by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin the following morning.
She was almost certainly forcibly removed from her vehicle, particularly so, if only one assailant approached her vehicle that evening or night. If, as the 'Confession' letter intimated, she walked willingly away from her vehicle, then it is extremely unlikely a conscientious woman, who prided her Volkswagen Beetle, would leave the keys in the ignition, both windows rolled down and the doors unlocked, with one possibly ajar. The state of her vehicle clearly indicated she was under duress at this point.

We have to emphasize the fact that both her vehicle windows were rolled down. 'In October 1966 the average high temperature in Riverside, CA was 80.7°F, and this was 0.2°F cooler than the average of 80.9°F. The hottest day in October 1966 was 31 October when the temperature reached 91.9°F. Overnight the average temperature in October is 51.8°F.'
Had Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle been sitting idle for an extended period of time in front of her 4195 Via San Jose residence, earlier that day, then the temperature inside her Volkswagen Beetle would have been stifling. This certainly would have necessitated her rolling down both windows before her journey. On either journey, it's highly likely one would roll down both windows to circulate the air in temperatures exceeding 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This fact alone may support her abduction or forcible removal from her vehicle as she parked up on Terracina Drive, before she had chance to roll up the windows and exit the vehicle. It may also explain the keys still in the ignition and the doors unlocked, with one not fully closed, especially if more than one assailant was involved. This however, is where the library books come into play in Ray Grant's diversion theory, in 'Zodiac Killer Solved'. It is an extremely interesting read.
If on the other hand she was forcibly removed, let's say under gunpoint or knife, shortly before 10.30 pm, when she arrived back from her 'missing' 4 hours, and then coerced into the alleyway, before being murdered, we have to ask ourselves the question. Would Cheri Jo Bates have arrived back at her vehicle at approximately 10.25 pm at night and rolled down both windows of her vehicle, before attempting to drive away. Or had she rolled down the passenger side window specifically, to converse with somebody on the sidewalk, who was offering her assistance with the stricken vehicle. Were the unlocked doors, greasy fingerprints and "evidence that the man had been in the car with her," a sign that she initially felt comfortable with the good Samaritan, or that it was somebody she knew.
All the evidence suggests that Cheri Jo Bates was forced from her vehicle that night, but was it around 6.15-6.20 pm, or shortly before 10.30 pm. Or is there another scenario, that may yet shed light on the events of October 30th 1966.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/cheri-jo-bates-re-evaluating-the-crime-scene

Zodiac Killer Solved by Ray Grant.

Hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford have now completed eight episodes of their excellent podcast series, covering all the confirmed crimes and communications of the Zodiac Killer, as well as some of the possible links to the Bay Area murderer. The podcast series is an excellent way to introduce yourself to the Zodiac case in double quick time, without having to scour numerous websites and forums. Below are the eight individual episodes listed chronologically, as well as the main Criminology homepage.
Episode 1- A Killer Strikes
Episode 2- A Killer Deciphered
Episode 3- A Killer Changes His MO
Episode 4- A Killer Takes Credit
Episode 5- The Riverside Connection
Episode 6- Zodiac's Riverside Roots Examined
Episode 7- Looking In Lake Tahoe
Episode 8- A Killer's Epilogue

But this podcast series is far from over. There are still more Zodiac Killer episodes to come, which will be added in due course.
The Criminology series, hosted by Stitcher, will then move on to cover other well known criminal investigations.
Here is Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford's introduction to the show:"Criminology is a true crime podcast that takes a deep dive into some of the most famous cases in the annals of crime. Hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford will give you every details of these infamous crimes. Each season is a new case, told over 8-10 episodes."
These podcasts are also available on iTunes and Google Play, the links to which can be found on Facebook and Twitter below.
Twitter.com/@CriminologyPod and Facebook.com/CriminologyPodcast.
These pages can also be used to leave your feedback on the series so far, as well as contribute to the infamous cases covered.

The 'Confession' letter purportedly typed by the hand of Cheri Jo Bates' murderer delivered a sense of foreboding: "She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victim. Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Or maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brownett that said no when I asked her for a date in high school. But maybe it will not be either....Yes I did make that call to you. It was just a warning. Beware...I am stalking your girls now."
This was equally true of the Riverside Desktop Poem, discovered by a Janitor at Riverside City College in the December of 1966, after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, and after the 'Confession' letter, but in all probability was written before the October 30th 1966 murder. It gave a chilling prelude to what may transpire, what may be denied, but ultimately the threat of more to come: "Just wait till next time. rh."
If the Desktop Poem was written in the October of 1966 by the same mind who typed the 'Confession' letter, then it could be argued it was the prelude to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, and equally argued as the first correspondence of the Zodiac Killer, if you believe a connection exists between the Bay Area and Riverside.

Click to enlarge

The Zodiac Killer often ended his communications with an unbridled mockery of police, giving a running total of victims so far. He would often compliment this in correspondence, such as the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter, stating "up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people." In the November 8th 'Dripping Pen' card he added the months of his alleged attacks, stating "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7." On March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer referenced his exploits in Riverside by 'complimenting' the police on connecting the murder of Cheri Jo Bates to him: "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones."
Could the initials rh be offering us something similar. The author of the Riverside Desktop Poem warned us of a "next time," then gave us the initials. Could the author have instructed us on the time and place of his next murder, much like the unconfirmed 'Albany' letter mailed on August 1st 1973.
"Just wait till next time. riverside, halloween." The author was giving us the area of the crime and the exact date. The Riverside Desktop Poem was the ode to murder, the 'Confession' letter was its completion. The murder was believed to have taken place at approximately 10.30 pm on October 30th 1966, the day before Halloween. However, if we believe the author of the 'Confession' letter, then his original intention may have been the abduction of Cheri Jo Bates in his vehicle, before things unexpectedly changed course. He may have planned the murder of the young woman on October 31st 1966, the day she was ultimately discovered by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin.

In the aftermath of the Cheri Jo Bates murder the police made appeals to the public to be on the lookout for the murder weapon, described as a small knife: "An unrelenting search had been in progress for the murder weapon, and that Tuesday detectives used a metal detector (see right) in shrubbery adjacent to the murder scene in an effort to find the knife used by the slayer. Captain Cross revealed to the news media that the autopsy showed that the murder weapon was probably a pocket knife with a 3 inch blade or less. The broadcast and published information about the knife caused the police switchboard to be flooded with calls reporting knives of similar description being found all over the city of Riverside."
Was one of those callers the murderer, who did state in the 'Confession' letter "Yes, I did make that call to you."
How many of these calls were followed up is hard to determine, but curiously on November 14th 1966, one day after the highly publicized library reconstruction, the police did get a call from a Riverside City College gardener: "That he had unearthed a hunting knife with his rake. The knife had apparently been buried near the murder scene. Detectives hurried to the campus and turned over the knife to the homicide detail. However, examination failed to show any evidence of dried blood on the knife blade. Also, its width did not compare with the incisions made by the stab wounds."
Did the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates plant the hunting knife and make a call to police, which ultimately got lost in the myriad of calls flooding the switchboard, and consequently was not followed through. Or did the killer make contact with the Riverside City College gardener to volunteer this information, while viewing the unfolding police presence from a distance.
The police had thoroughly searched the crime scene with metal detectors in the days after the murder, so it seems likely the knife was planted subsequent to their search by either the perpetrator, or a misguided prankster. The planting of a larger hunting knife near the murder scene may have been another foreboding message by the killer, that "It was just a warning. Beware...I am stalking your girls now." Stalking them with a larger and more deadly knife. After all, he did claim that he "plunged the knife into her and it broke."

For many people, Cheri Jo Bates checked out her own library books. This being the case, we have approximately four hours in which her whereabouts are unexplained. Had she gone somewhere willingly, it is highly likely she traveled there by foot, having left her vehicle parked on Terracina Drive at about 6.15 pm.
Does this center the investigation close to the college campus?
The author of the 'Confession' letter was fond of referring to that "alley," when he stated "Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven" and "it just might save that girl in the alley." Was he referring to the alleyway in which Cheri Jo Bates was murdered, or some other alley in the vicinity of the Riverside City College campus. Somewhere he could monitor the comings and goings of young attractive women.
If he was able to go unnoticed, without drawing suspicion to himself around the college campus the evening of October 30th 1966, had composed the Desktop Poem earlier that month, and had subsequently planted the knife near the crime scene, was this indicative of somebody who worked at, or frequented the college on a regular basis. Somebody who could travel within the confines of Riverside City College unchallenged and blend into the background.
The Timex watch discovered ten feet from the body of Cheri Jo Bates, apparently ripped off the wrist of the killer in the struggle, had white paint specks on its face. The Riverside City College was undergoing renovation at this point in time, so is this another small pointer. The attack on Cheri Jo Bates was fairly prolonged, evident by the wounds sustained by the young woman, inflicted on her in an alleyway bordered by two vacant properties. Is this yet further indication of prior knowledge to college affairs, that the killer was prepared to attack Cheri Jo Bates here, knowing that nobody resided within these properties. This again, reinforcing the idea that the murderer either worked within the college campus, or frequented it regularly. He would seemingly stick around until at least April 30th 1967, when three more virtually simultaneous communications were received from the alleged murderer, in similar fashion to the beginning of the Zodiac correspondence, just over two years later.

The following will re-examine the timeline of the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, placing the Zodiac Killer's vehicle approximately 1.1 to 1.2 miles from the crime scene during the brutal stabbing of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard.
Two other sets of eyewitnesses, Dr Rayfield and his son, and the three young women, both may have seen the killer that day, possibly from the near identical location. This location being 0.8 miles from the 1956 White Volkswagen Karmann Ghia of Bryan Hartnell.
To get an overview of the crime scene we must use details given in the police report, and in addition to this, use the Zodiac Killer's phone call to Dave Slaight to pinpoint the likely location of his vehicle. These are some of the crucial measurements:
The Zodiac Killer stated in the phone call to police, "I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. I'm the one that did it". They were in fact 0.7 miles north of Park Headquarters.
The three young women who potentially saw Zodiac, "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road." The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road.
The second set of eyewitnesses saw the Zodiac later that day: "Dr Rayfield and his son stated that they did not notice a vehicle in the area of their vehicle and only this subject at a distance of about 100 yards. This location was approximately 8/10ths of a mile from the scene of the victim's vehicle. There are four coves of water between the scene of the crime and the area where the doctor saw the subject."
Using these statements we can now create the relative positions of everybody that day, using the measurement tools on Google Maps.

The first thing to be noticed using these approximate measurements, is that the position of Dr Rayfield & his son would be at the very same location as the three young women, or at the very least, in the same vicinity. The Zodiac Killer's vehicle would have been relocated 0.3-0.4 miles north of the three young women, after he had 'stalked' them from the hillside.
The police report stated that "at 3.30 pm she and her two girlfriends parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road." They then walked to the beach. "After approximately one-half hour had passed, they observed what appeared to be the same subject standing with 40 or 50 feet of them, apparently observing them. The subject hung around the area for approximately 45 minutes and then the girls observed him walk up the hill." Allowing 10 minutes for the girls to get their belongings from their vehicle and walk to the beach, the total time passed, would have the man walking up the hill at around 4.55 pm.
One page later in the police report, it stated "The three girls left the area about 4.30 pm and the subjects vehicle was gone." This discrepancy is not crucial to the remaining timeline, so we will estimate the time the man left at 4.55 pm, with the girls shortly after.
If the Zodiac Killer was preparing an attack on the three girls, he certainly had second thoughts and departed the scene, not unlike his attack at Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, and his switch of intersections at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. In both of these examples he was not to be denied, and continued on with his murderous intentions. There may be good reason to believe he had the very same intentions here. The reason being:

Cecelia Shepard

"Dr Rayfield stated that about 6.30 pm the previous evening, he and his son had parked their car north of Park Headquarters in the general area of the crime scene. They stated they went down towards the beach area when David noticed a white male adult subject walking in the area, described as about 5'10", heavy build, wearing dark trousers, a dark shirt with red in it, long sleeves."
The time they reached the beach and then noticed the man, was likely closer to 6.45-6.50 pm. There is a very good chance that the individual they saw that evening was the Zodiac Killer, and the dark shirt he was wearing "with red in it," was likely the blood of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. The Zodiac Killer was returning to his vehicle from the crime scene 0.8 miles south. The killer was effectively traveling from south to north, and likely had the pass the location of Dr Rayfield and his son to reach his vehicle.
We have established that this is virtually the same location the three girls were present earlier that afternoon.
Therefore, when the three sunbathing girls saw the man leave up the hill at approximately 4.55 pm, it could be argued he drove northwards, just beyond this location, which is why he had to pass this area after the brutal double stabbing of the young couple.
The journey time on foot from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (6:30 pm) to the location of Dr Rayfield and son, is approximately 20 minutes along the hillside, This ties in with the estimated time of the David Rayfield sighting, given earlier as 6.50 pm.
But why did the Zodiac Killer leave the scene of the three girls and park a short distance north of their location?
This cannot be fully established, but he may have had second thoughts about murdering the three girls with his vehicle in such close proximity to the scene. There is every chance he left with the full intention of returning 15 minutes later, with a 'buffer zone' in place. The girls however, had left shortly after him, and his murderous plot was foiled.
I have made a calculated guess on the position of the Zodiac Killer's vehicle that afternoon and evening, based on his possible movements after leaving the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, the fact an off-road parking area is present at that position on Google Maps (and maybe 1969), and the phone call he made from 1231 Main Street, which we will return to later.

The man would have walked back to the girls location at around 5.10 pm (4.55 pm + 15 minutes). He then had to walk back down the hill to approach the girls for a second time. However, they had left the area and returned home, leaving the Zodiac Killer searching the area in vain, and possibly for alternative victims. The search, and travel time up and down the hill, we shall guesstimate at 30 minutes, taking the time to 5.40 pm. The Zodiac Killer then travels 0.8 miles south along the hillside, searching for potential targets along the way. He happens upon the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia at 6.00 pm (0.8 miles walking time of 20 minutes). This allows the killer 30 minutes to approach Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, enter into brief dialogue, secure them, and begin his deadly attack, before returning up the hill to 'sign' the car door with 6:30 pm.
His journey time back to his vehicle, past the Rayfield's, takes roughly 25-30 minutes, which has him entering his vehicle at approximately 6.55-7.00 pm for the 28 mile return journey towards the Napa payphone. Traveling at near 40 mph, he would have arrived at the 1231 Main Street, Napa payphone circa 7.35-7.40 pm, the exact time the call was logged by police dispatcher Dave Slaight.
The phone call contained the ominous message "I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. I'm the one that did it." However, Park Headquarters was 0.7 miles from the crime scene, not 2 miles as he claimed. So how could the killer make such a big error, particularly if he was familiar with the area. It is perfectly conceivable he simply made a basic mistake. His vehicle was likely parked about 2 miles from Park Headquarters as the crow flies.
Deputy Ray Land and Sergeant David Collins were dispatched directly to the crime scene from St Helena and Napa respectively. Sgt David Collins spoke on the documentary 'This is the Zodiac Speaking' "It took us a half hour from Napa and/or St Helena to arrive at the location. And we later found out of course that crime had occurred at least half an hour before we were notified." They were notified at 7.10 pm, so arrived en scene at approximately 7.40 pm.
The Zodiac Killer would have exited the Berryessa-Knoxville Road literally minutes before they entered it.

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