Those are good points Norse. And not a bad idea PP. Something seems to have changed Zodiac by 1974. The closeness of almost being caught for Stine? On probation? Living at home or with others? Or just a desire to play a mind game by sending a different kind of letter?

As I see it there are two basic possibilities:

a) Something happened which made Z behave differently. He still had a desire to get published (obviously, or he wouldn’t have sent the letters in the first place), but he no longer desired to promote himself or his “thing”.

b) He didn’t write those letters.

I think somewhere between April of 1971 and January of 1974 the Zodiac was in some sort of custody or institution because the letters stopped. Then in January of 1974 or so Zodiac was under some sort of supervision (conservatorship? Probation?) that left him unable to go out into public (and kill) and unable to implicate himself directly in his Correspondence (should someone supervising him read his letter before it was sent off).

AK,

I thought your post was great in terms of understanding the deviance. The only discrepancy that I saw was the suggestion that a signature will never change. The theme of a signature will definitely stay the same but the objects (I use that term loosely) can change very frequently. In terms of understanding signature is the ability to pick up on what the "theme" is by looking at the various "objects" you have to work with. For example, a killer could pose a victim with arms outstretched in one killing, position candles in another killing but without the victims arms outstretched, and then in another killing have the victim positioned as praying. They can change up their signature to the point where nothing appears to be the same. Where signature comes alive is in the theme. In this case the theme is religion. The theme is whats important and its this theme that has to be realized. The Zodiac didn’t deviate. He always remained the same.

Soze

I don’t think Z intended for his SLA letter to be found and linked to him. How could he know it would be? It simply doesn’t contain any clues,threats,etc. That tells me, somebody at the paper was in charge of carefully screening every letter coming in to the Editors, looking for letters that may be from Z

That tells me, somebody at the paper was in charge of carefully screening every letter coming in to the Editors, looking for letters that may be from Z

To screen for letters, which I agree occurred, would imply that they had to have had something as a guide to use in screening. Which, in turn, suggests that there were tell tale signs. Personally, i don’t think it was the handwriting.

Soze

Soze: Thanks, and you are right. In your example of a killer who poses bodies in different ways, John Douglas would say the signature is posing. Posing is the need he fulfills, and it may be expressed in different ways and different poses, but it is always present. Maybe writing letters is a signature of Zodiac, a need he has to fufill. Even if, as it seems to be in 1974, there are no crimes of his to write about, he still fufills the need by writing about other violent crimes (SLA, Starkweather) or violent movies (The Exorcist, Badlands). Or as Morf suggests, writing even when he doesn’t identify himself or thinks it likely he will be identified.

What letter was Starkweather mentioned?

That was the Citizen Letter May 8, 1974.

Right. The film "Badlands" is loosely based on the real life James Dean wannabe killer Charles Starkweather and his teen girlfriend and/or accomplice. So at least three times Z mentions other crimes, twice in 1974 – the police station bombing, the SLA and (indirectly) Starkweather. And at least three times Z mentions a movie, also twice in 1974 – "The Most Dangerous Game", "The Exorcist" and "Badlands".