Thanks Cragle for the cuttings, that is fantastic. Two great minds think alike.

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-ne … hth-victim

Must be the water in the Midlands.

I previously mentioned this :-

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=4439

"To recap she was abducted from her boyfriends house at 749 Tormey Ave, Rodeo. Witnesses describe a young looking blonde man in a blue station wagon on the 10/12/1969. Sadly she was found dead on the 29/12/1969 West Side Bolinas Lagoon, Marin (Dropped from Bolinas Rd). Police belive she had been killed around 7-10 days earlier. She was found virtually naked (no evidence of a sexual attack) apart from a class ring she was wearing, which had been given to her by a friend. Her ex fiancé was at Vallejo high a year above David Faraday (obviously not him though, just mentioned for reference). Graduate from Napa high and attending K’s American Beauty College.

She had only reported visited her boyfriends house twice before so police believed that she been followed from elsewhere.

Her mother and father were separated, he lived at Twin Bridges Trailer park in Vallejo. Her mother who she lived with was at 1742 Third St, Napa, just over half a mile from where 3 months earlier Z made his Napa phone call after LB.

To put into context we have a 16 year old (Same age as Betty Lou Jensen), killed on nearly 1 year to date of Lake Herman Road. Wearing only a class ring (David Faraday was found holding his class ring in his hand). In direct proximity to one of Z’s known locations. With a direct tie to Vallejo also"

Some good additional information Cragle, and I agree that this murder should receive a little more attention – if not as a Zodiac murder – then from the standpoint of making sense of the December 10th and 11th communications. Zodiac had already claimed Snoozy & Furlong as victims 4 and 5 (which he wasn’t responsible for), so he had already begun his inflated victim total before victim 8. I tend to doubt Zodiac’s involvement in this crime, but making sense of his communications is certainly relevant to the overall understanding of the Bay Area murderer. I tend to believe he chose the positions he pasted the words on both the Leo and Cancer dates (more so from the day rather than the month), because the wording and date combined had relevance

Soze stated "The paste before "Mystery". I can make out what appears to be the word "Mile". Combing the two, I did a search on "mile mystery" and included the date "1969". I found in the November 18, 1969 Redlands Daily Facts from Redlands, California on Page 14, a mention of "Run a crooked mile mystery". It was a TV movie that debuted that day. just wondering if anyone thinks it possible that the paste reads "run a crooked mile mystery"?

The film Run a Crooked Mile was pasted next to November 18th 1969. The TV movie was released on November 18th 1969.

"There are only two sections of dates obscured by the pasted words on the entire communication. The red rectangle above highlights the first two obscured dates of the 10th and 11th, accompanied by the pasted word of NOW. These were the dates of Leona Roberts abduction and the mailing of this communication, emphasized by the word now. The second set of dates obscured are highlighted by the green rectangle. They are the 25th, 26th and 27th, accompanied by the word HIDDEN. Obviously, the author of the communication would be projecting forward to these dates. A reasoned guess, is that these would be the dates he was intending to hide her body (but obviously not too hard, so it could be found and prove the communication correct). Leona Roberts body was discovered on December 28th 1969. The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days in one report (December 21-24) prior to recovery. If she had been murdered on December 24th or thereabouts, then it is logical that the killer may have ‘disposed or hidden’ her body on December 25th, 26th or 27th, to be found on the 28th – and why he pasted the word HIDDEN on the communication in the area he did. It is curious that the first unobscured date after this section, is the 28th – the day she was found on Bolinas Lagoon beach. Three sets of dates were accompanied by a pasted word – all of which had relevance to that particular word – and thereby bringing forth the notion of a word search puzzle, akin to the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969".

The Leo and Cancer communications have two phrases, FLT Three of a Kind and FLT 555, both beginning on the 9th. Was this deliberate or just accidental?

Another link to the State Express 555 cigarette company (albeit questionable) is where the designer of the Leo communication places the word Train – in the same section of dates as FLT Three of a Kind. Obviously, Express and Train can be linked through the railways, but here is an extract from Wikipedia: "The idea for the State Express brand came from the U.S.in 1893. Sir Albert Levy, a London tobacco merchant, was visiting the United States. While in New York State, Levy was a passenger on the Empire State Express train, which allegedly broke land speed records as locomotive No.999, the “Queen of Speed” sped its way from New York City to Buffalo".

These seem rather random and rather pointless pasted communications, unless we believe a correlation between pasted text and number (or date), as exhibited by Run a Crooked Mile.

Can you find any alternatives to the dates (numbers) I have speculated on – or some new ones Cragle.

One problem is Richard the Cancer horoscope was postmarked on the 10th December. This obviously means that it was sent before Leona was abducted. So if you believe Zodiac sent this unfortunately it has to him who abducted Leona as well ?

One problem is Richard the Cancer horoscope was postmarked on the 10th December. This obviously means that it was sent before Leona was abducted. So if you believe Zodiac sent this unfortunately it has to him who abducted Leona as well ?

Good point Cragle. What do you think? The word pasting has all the hallmarks of Zodiac, mailed obviously prior to the Halloween card, 13 Hole postcard and Pines card – and may have a cryptic appeal as well.

The Cancer paste-up was postmarked PM on the 10th. Leona was abducted at approximately 5:40- 6:00 pm on the 10th. Therefore it was likely mailed in advance of the kidnapping. The Leo horoscope maybe immediately after the abduction. Possibly a good indication that the killer was confident of her movements and ability to abduct her. If, of course, the communications had anything to do with Leona Roberts. But interesting timing nonetheless, with Leona being abducted on the 10th and a Forecast for Leo being postmarked the following day. Quite a fortunate coincidence if the abduction and Leo correspondence were two different perpetrators, with Zodiac pasted on the 10th December communication.

A few things of note Richard, lets assume for one minute that the writer of these was the abductor of Leona.
10th December – Cancer card is sent from Sacramento
10th December – Leona is abducted from Rodeo
11th December – Leo Card is sent from San Francisco

As it safe to assume that the same person sent both mailing’s they would have been in Sacramento then to Rodeo then to SF. What’s interesting is the 10th was a Wednesday and the 11th was a Thursday, obviously not a weekend. As the cancer card was sent before Leona’s abduction again it is safe to assume that the letters and Leona were premeditated. Now as she had only been to her friends residence a couple of times before her stalking had obviously taken place at a different location.
A witness (Susan Clark) recounted the following:-
6.00 She saw Leona arrive at the apartment then heard a “bad scream” 15 minutes later
6.30 She heard the “apartment door slam sharply and saw a station wagon drive off”
“About 6.30 I heard the back door to the downstairs apartment close, and the stereo was off. I then heard running on the building’s back stairs, a door slam and a station wagon drive off”.
Also Betty Rei another resident stated:-
“told deputies she had seen the same blue station wagon with a young man standing beside it shortly before 6 p.m. as she parked her car nearby. She said the man was white, about 25, with short blond hair. He was wearing a brown jacket and trousers and “acted nervous””

The front door of the apartment was locked so the abductor must have gone through the back door. All the lights had been turned off in the apartment her car was still where she parked it but her purse was missing.
The ring she was found with was a 1963 Napa High ring. Police believed that she had been dead since around the 20th and had been dumped on around the 25th. Her death was determined to be by a “Unidentified Viral Infection”. The coroner also stated there was “evidence of terminal choking which could probably be linked to the virus”.

But sorry I have gone off on a tangent again.

I have no doubt that the abduction was premeditated, with one communication arriving before the abduction and one after. The person who abducted her was confident of her movements – and quite possibly familiar with her personally. There is an interesting connection between Sacramento and San Francisco via Interstate 80 and 749 Tormey Avenue. https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-ne … unications

Some good additional information Cragle, and I agree that this murder should receive a little more attention – if not as a Zodiac murder – then from the standpoint of making sense of the December 10th and 11th communications. Zodiac had already claimed Snoozy & Furlong as victims 4 and 5 (which he wasn’t responsible for), so he had already begun his inflated victim total before victim 8. I tend to doubt Zodiac’s involvement in this crime, but making sense of his communications is certainly relevant to the overall understanding of the Bay Area murderer. I tend to believe he chose the positions he pasted the words on both the Leo and Cancer dates (more so from the day rather than the month), because the wording and date combined had relevance

Soze stated "The paste before "Mystery". I can make out what appears to be the word "Mile". Combing the two, I did a search on "mile mystery" and included the date "1969". I found in the November 18, 1969 Redlands Daily Facts from Redlands, California on Page 14, a mention of "Run a crooked mile mystery". It was a TV movie that debuted that day. just wondering if anyone thinks it possible that the paste reads "run a crooked mile mystery"?

The film Run a Crooked Mile was pasted next to November 18th 1969. The TV movie was released on November 18th 1969.

"There are only two sections of dates obscured by the pasted words on the entire communication. The red rectangle above highlights the first two obscured dates of the 10th and 11th, accompanied by the pasted word of NOW. These were the dates of Leona Roberts abduction and the mailing of this communication, emphasized by the word now. The second set of dates obscured are highlighted by the green rectangle. They are the 25th, 26th and 27th, accompanied by the word HIDDEN. Obviously, the author of the communication would be projecting forward to these dates. A reasoned guess, is that these would be the dates he was intending to hide her body (but obviously not too hard, so it could be found and prove the communication correct). Leona Roberts body was discovered on December 28th 1969. The coroner estimated that she had been dead 4-7 days in one report (December 21-24) prior to recovery. If she had been murdered on December 24th or thereabouts, then it is logical that the killer may have ‘disposed or hidden’ her body on December 25th, 26th or 27th, to be found on the 28th – and why he pasted the word HIDDEN on the communication in the area he did. It is curious that the first unobscured date after this section, is the 28th – the day she was found on Bolinas Lagoon beach. Three sets of dates were accompanied by a pasted word – all of which had relevance to that particular word – and thereby bringing forth the notion of a word search puzzle, akin to the 340 cipher on November 8th 1969".

The Leo and Cancer communications have two phrases, FLT Three of a Kind and FLT 555, both beginning on the 9th. Was this deliberate or just accidental?

Another link to the State Express 555 cigarette company (albeit questionable) is where the designer of the Leo communication places the word Train – in the same section of dates as FLT Three of a Kind. Obviously, Express and Train can be linked through the railways, but here is an extract from Wikipedia: "The idea for the State Express brand came from the U.S.in 1893. Sir Albert Levy, a London tobacco merchant, was visiting the United States. While in New York State, Levy was a passenger on the Empire State Express train, which allegedly broke land speed records as locomotive No.999, the “Queen of Speed” sped its way from New York City to Buffalo".

These seem rather random and rather pointless pasted communications, unless we believe a correlation between pasted text and number (or date), as exhibited by Run a Crooked Mile.

Can you find any alternatives to the dates (numbers) I have speculated on – or some new ones Cragle.

I’ve been looking at this again today Richard. Along with the now on the 10th it looks like we also have BO and Flight. So BO as in Boo (making somebody jump) and flight as in fleeing from the scene. I think you are correct, this is some sort of diary. They even allude to that on the Cancer letter with the first line being “Action guide”.

Also where it says embers lucky, look to the left and you can make out the letter D with a 5 pasted over the top. I think it December’s lucky, perhaps the 5 is a date ?
Also the word “time” is pasted on the 20th, possibly time to die.

Good spot on the action guide Cragle. Read in order "want zodiac watch, birds fly south (on) FLT 555. It’s very much like a cryptic crossword using numbered positions to correlate with words, and as you inferred a horoscope of predictions and forecasts. Whoever designed the communications had to spend a measurable period of time pasting the thing together, so with so many phrases and words available to be cut out of magazines and newspapers, is it realistic to believe he just cut out any old rubbish and stuck them anywhere. These communications took time – and as such – one would like to think they had meaning behind them. Of course, that doesn’t mean they have, but I’d rather err on the side of a relatively cogent mind. If the communications were the Zodiac Killer, then he has previously and subsequently proved this to be the case by constructing relatively complex ciphers. If the 340 is basically paradice and slaves in a cross formation (in the form of a word search rather than a fully fledged cipher), then it is not unrealistic to believe that the Leo and Cancer communications are variants of that design, with pasted words criss-crossing a sea of noise. The 20th may have relevance either as you suggested and the time of the murder, or someway related to the Belli letter. These two communications are fascinating from the standpoint they are not easy to ‘decode’ – but I’m sure the answer lies within.

This is the two card overlay-ed with only the pasted parts showing. Interesting how some of the parts line up.

Good idea attempting to correlate the two Cragle. Do you believe they contain a fluid message pre and post abduction, or am I being too hopeful?

Honestly not sure Richard but what it does look like to me is a newspaper article. You have a header and then two columns but maybe I have just been looking at it too long.

I only wish we could see what the obscured pieces are.

The magic amulet seems too much of a coincidence though.

A well-known amulet among Catholic Christians is the Saint Benedict medal which includes the Vade Retro Satana formula to ward off Satan. This medal has been in use at least since the 1700s, and in 1742 it received the approval of Pope Benedict XIV. It later became part of the Roman Catholic ritual.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amulet#Christianity

Similar structure to the December 16th Fairfield letter a few days later. Trouble is it’s not very magic.

Honestly not sure Richard but what it does look like to me is a newspaper article. You have a header and then two columns but maybe I have just been looking at it too long.

I only wish we could see what the obscured pieces are.

The magic amulet seems too much of a coincidence though.

Just thinking out loud but I wonder is their was an article about Zodiac on December 5th, maybe in the Sacramento bee ? I’m sure that it has something to do with December 5th. Any known attempted attacks on that date ?

I’m willing to believe this is a real Zodiac communication because it looks so appropriately cryptic. An attention-seeking hoaxer would usually be unsubtle in saying "THIS IS THE ZODIAC SPEAKING!!!" Not this sender.