Pure unadulterated speculation on my part, but does anyone think the SLA Letter could be a subtle hint that Zodiac joined the SLA or was an SLA sympathizer? This assumes that Zodiac wrote that letter, which is disputed.

I wouldn’t be surprised if law enforcement considered this in 1974. Gaikowski was probably an SLA sympathizer.

I saw the Monticello card back in 1998 at the Hall of Justice in SF. There was nothing to indicate it was from Zodiac.

I will give you something to consider Tom, that may change your mind. When the Zodiac Killer mailed the Dripping Pen card, it was correctly surmised that the extra two victims Zodiac was claiming in "Aug" were Kathy Snoozy and Debra Furlong. This bumped his victim total from 5 to 7.

Now fast forward to the July 13th 1971 Monticello card, adorned with cryptic pasted clues, akin to the Pines card. It has been believed for many years that the Pines card was a clue to the burial location of Donna Lass. The following Monticello card stated "Near Monticello Shought Victims 21 …… In The Woods Dies April".

Kathy Bilek (another victim of Karl Werner, along with Snoozy & Furlong) was the subject of the Monticello card. She was murdered in the woods, in April, and near Monticello. The author of the Monticello card chose the phrase "near Monticello" because it was a clue, not only to the identity of Kathy Bilek (featured in the Monticello card), but because her namesake, Kathy Snoozy, was buried in the Monticello neighbourhood of San Jose. She was buried in the Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Monticello. The Zodiac Killer was effectively tying the Dripping Pen card claim of the Snoozy & Furlong murders with the Monticello card of Kathy Bilek.

The Zodiac Killer irked by press coverage claiming that Karl Francis Werner was being attributed with two previous murders he had insinuated his involvement in on November 8th 1969, fired of the July 13th 1971 Monticello card, effectively attempting to reclaim his stake in all three murders. This is why, about the same time, the Zodiac Killer mailed another communication in 1971, telling the investigators who were holding Werner to "stop listening to phonys". It arrived shortly after the arrest of Karl Francis Werner was reported in the newspapers by Paul Avery. The article was entitled ‘San Jose Student Held in Slaying of Three Girls’.

The Monticello card was giving us the clue of "Kathy", but more importantly, it was giving us "Monticello", where Kathy Snoozy had been buried in San Jose.

This is interesting. Something that always stood out for me is the use of the word Monticello. If the letter writer was referring to the Monticello neighborhood in San Jose, then wouldn’t that mean he had a pretty good understanding of the neighborhood? Of San Jose? In 1969 the city didn’t post signs saying that you are now entering the Monticello neighborhood of San Jose. Just like they don’t post signs saying that you are entering the Pocket Neighborhood in South Sac or Cow Hollow in San Francisco. So how would he have known about it? Was he a local? Family there? Work?

Just a thought.

Pure unadulterated speculation on my part, but does anyone think the SLA Letter could be a subtle hint that Zodiac joined the SLA or was an SLA sympathizer? This assumes that Zodiac wrote that letter, which is disputed.

Yes

Pure unadulterated speculation on my part, but does anyone think the SLA Letter could be a subtle hint that Zodiac joined the SLA or was an SLA sympathizer? This assumes that Zodiac wrote that letter, which is disputed.

Yes

Or possibly he was doing his usual trick of trying to use current affairs to bolster his own image.

Again assuming it was Zodiac who wrote it.

Pure unadulterated speculation on my part, but does anyone think the SLA Letter could be a subtle hint that Zodiac joined the SLA or was an SLA sympathizer? This assumes that Zodiac wrote that letter, which is disputed.

Yes

Or possibly he was doing his usual trick of trying to use current affairs to bolster his own image.

Again assuming it was Zodiac who wrote it.

Did he not get enough publicity and took his ball and went home? Why the short comeback? It’s as if a boxer got KOed in the first round of his comeback fight and hung up the gloves.

As the Exorcist letter insinuated it was his last hoorah, a big f**k you to world.

IF he was connected to the “Sla” why draw attention to it, what would be the gain ? None what so ever, he would only be directing LE towards him and surely he would not have wanted that. Then in the following letter sanctimoniously condemning violence, sorry I don’t buy it.

As the Exorcist letter insinuated it was his last hoorah, a big f**k you to world.

IF he was connected to the “Sla” why draw attention to it, what would be the gain ? None what so ever, he would only be directing LE towards him and surely he would not have wanted that. Then in the following letter sanctimoniously condemning violence, sorry I don’t buy it.

But IF he knew them (SLA), and heard what they were up too… would he be able to curb his enthusiasm?

As the Exorcist letter insinuated it was his last hoorah, a big f**k you to world.

IF he was connected to the “Sla” why draw attention to it, what would be the gain ? None what so ever, he would only be directing LE towards him and surely he would not have wanted that. Then in the following letter sanctimoniously condemning violence, sorry I don’t buy it.

But IF he knew them (SLA), and heard what they were up too… would he be able to curb his enthusiasm?

He was being derogatory though.

Pure unadulterated speculation on my part, but does anyone think the SLA Letter could be a subtle hint that Zodiac joined the SLA or was an SLA sympathizer? This assumes that Zodiac wrote that letter, which is disputed.

Yes

Or possibly he was doing his usual trick of trying to use current affairs to bolster his own image.

Again assuming it was Zodiac who wrote it.

Which “current affairs” are you referring too here? Personally I don’t get the feeling of him using current affairs at all until the 1978 letters and even then it’s not to bolster his image. IF him, those just sound like he’s been gone a while and is trying to be relevant. Or is it the reference to Snoozy and Furlong? Which some people think he’s responsible for. Then he wouldn’t be using current affairs, he’d be using his affairs.

As the Exorcist letter insinuated it was his last hoorah, a big f**k you to world.

IF he was connected to the “Sla” why draw attention to it, what would be the gain ? None what so ever, he would only be directing LE towards him and surely he would not have wanted that. Then in the following letter sanctimoniously condemning violence, sorry I don’t buy it.

But IF he knew them (SLA), and heard what they were up too… would he be able to curb his enthusiasm?

He was being derogatory though.

Was he?

This is interesting. Something that always stood out for me is the use of the word Monticello. If the letter writer was referring to the Monticello neighborhood in San Jose, then wouldn’t that mean he had a pretty good understanding of the neighborhood? Of San Jose? In 1969 the city didn’t post signs saying that you are now entering the Monticello neighborhood of San Jose. Just like they don’t post signs saying that you are entering the Pocket Neighborhood in South Sac or Cow Hollow in San Francisco. So how would he have known about it? Was he a local? Family there? Work?
Just a thought.

I partially explain it in the podcast. After his 408 cipher had been mailed, he is obviously scouring the newspapers for whether its been cracked. Zodiac notices that the Snoozy & Furlong murders have captured full page coverage in the Chronicle on August 6th, whereas he was relegated to the inner pages of both the Chronicle & Examiner. This was probably his inspiration for the knife attack at Berryessa, to which he eventually adds "Aug" in the Dripping Pen card. In that August 6th article is the burial location of Kathie Snoozy at Oak Hill Memorial Park. This August 6th article changed the direction of the Zodiac Killer in his attacks, so is something he would have been familiar with. I doubt highly any casual hoaxer in 1971 would connect this burial site to Kathie Snoozy, which in turn was used as the clue to the murder victim Kathy Bilek in the Villa Montalvo woods in April in the Monticello card, all under the banner of the real murderer Karl Francis Werner. Monticello was just a clue, pointing to the phonetic namesake of Kathy Bilek in Kathie Snoozy (the latter of which was spelled Kathy in the newspapers). Monticello was just a clue to the name of Kathy Bilek in the July 13th 1971 card. Further corroborated in "likely May" when Zodiac calls Werner a phony in another cryptic letter.

Here is the entire story: https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-ne … f-san-jose

As the Exorcist letter insinuated it was his last hoorah, a big f**k you to world.

IF he was connected to the “Sla” why draw attention to it, what would be the gain ? None what so ever, he would only be directing LE towards him and surely he would not have wanted that. Then in the following letter sanctimoniously condemning violence, sorry I don’t buy it.

Do we know any of those 1974 letters were written by Zodiac? I’m not a handwriting expert, but the last letter that looks remotely like Zodiac’s writing was the March 13, 1971 Letter. The Badlands Letter looks a little bit like Zodiac’s writing, but the rest of them are quite different.

This is interesting. Something that always stood out for me is the use of the word Monticello. If the letter writer was referring to the Monticello neighborhood in San Jose, then wouldn’t that mean he had a pretty good understanding of the neighborhood? Of San Jose? In 1969 the city didn’t post signs saying that you are now entering the Monticello neighborhood of San Jose. Just like they don’t post signs saying that you are entering the Pocket Neighborhood in South Sac or Cow Hollow in San Francisco. So how would he have known about it? Was he a local? Family there? Work?
Just a thought.

I partially explain it in the podcast. After his 408 cipher had been mailed, he is obviously scouring the newspapers for whether its been cracked. Zodiac notices that the Snoozy & Furlong murders have captured full page coverage in the Chronicle on August 6th, whereas he was relegated to the inner pages of both the Chronicle & Examiner. This was probably his inspiration for the knife attack at Berryessa, to which he eventually adds "Aug" in the Dripping Pen card. In that August 6th article is the burial location of Kathie Snoozy at Oak Hill Memorial Park. This August 6th article changed the direction of the Zodiac Killer in his attacks, so is something he would have been familiar with. I doubt highly any casual hoaxer in 1971 would connect this burial site to Kathie Snoozy, which in turn was used as the clue to the murder victim Kathy Bilek in the Villa Montalvo woods in April in the Monticello card, all under the banner of the real murderer Karl Francis Werner. Monticello was just a clue, pointing to the phonetic namesake of Kathy Bilek in Kathie Snoozy (the latter of which was spelled Kathy in the newspapers). Monticello was just a clue to the name of Kathy Bilek in the July 13th 1971 card. Further corroborated in "likely May" when Zodiac calls Werner a phony in another cryptic letter.

Here is the entire story: https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-ne … f-san-jose

Richard, I looked up the link and read the article,

"The other Furlong children are Glen, 16; Floyd, 12, and Pamela, 11. Furlong said he did not know and had not yet talked to Kathy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Snoozy. Both Snoozy, a carpet layer, and Mrs. Snoozy reportedly are in a state of collapse. Her funeral has been scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at the Place Funeral Home in Los Gatos. Burial will be at Oak Wood Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Funeral services for Kathy will be held tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. at the Oak Hill Memorial Park Mortuary in San Jose. Burial will be at Oak Hill Memorial Park."

No where does it mention Monticello. Just Oak Hill Memorial Park.

So, either he went threw the added effort of looking it up, ( which is kinda odd because why would he look up where she’s buried when he could have just used the reference in the news paper, Oak Hill, San Jose, Los Gatos Funeral home) or, he was familiar with the area and new the area is called Monticello. Is there a third option I don’t see?

And Richard I need to thank you, I didn’t know that Snoozy was taken to a funeral home in Los Gatos. That could be very important. This isn’t meant to be sarcastic.

Richard, correct me if I am wrong, I gather that you don’t believe that Snoozy or Furlong were Zodiac victims, as he took credit for those victims after the Stine murder, but Bilek was a Zodiac victim?