Why would Toschi, an inspector on the Zodiac case, send a fake letter crediting himself when he would have known, as the reputed forger, his letter would be determined inauthentic?

He would’ve had to be pretty stupid. Or drunk.

Anyway, Toschi was cleared. No reason to second guess that, I think.

As mentioned in the other thread, this isn’t really about Toschi Vs Graysmith as the only viable candidates. It could be a crank or a prankster of some kind. If there’s nothing in the fake which the faker couldn’t have picked up from reading the papers, then the list of suspects is long.

I used to think it had been determined that the faker would’ve had to have access to originals in order to pull it off – but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

What I mean is, why did people at the time think it was him?

Not very bright of them.

What I mean is, why did people at the time think it was him?

Not very bright of them.

Because Maupin told them he suspected Toschi

And the infamous “politics” again. Toschi was unpopular in certain circles.

I guess you could say he allowed himself to become an easy target by writing those stupid Maupin letters.

What I mean is, why did people at the time think it was him?

Not very bright of them.

Because Maupin told them he suspected Toschi

With good reason I think. Especially with Toschi specifically being mentioned. It is quite bizarre of someone in his position to write such shmoozy letters about himself.

What I mean is, why did people at the time think it was him?

Not very bright of them.

Because Maupin told them he suspected Toschi

With good reason I think. Especially with Toschi specifically being mentioned. It is quite bizarre of someone in his position to write such shmoozy letters about himself.

First off, I think the letter is fake, BUT, it wouldn’t surprise me if Z mailed a letter singling out Toschi, after all, he mailed a letter to Avery. I am curious if any kind of article ran about Toschi investigating Z shortly before the 78 letter was mailed. Why would somebody, real Z or not hoaxer, mail one in 78 when Z had not been heard from in 4 yrs?

I have checked my SF Chronicle files, I have copies of over 100 SF Chronicle articles related to Zodiac, and can not find an article written about Zodiac just before the ’78 letter was sent. The last Zodiac article written before the ’78 was about Zodiac and Toschi and published Aug. 26, 1976. I may not have all the Zodiac articles though, from time to time a article will come to my attention that is not in my collection. Also, there may have been an article about Toschi and a different murder in a Chron article shortly before the ’78 letter arrived that inspired someone to fake a Zodiac letter.

I have checked my SF Chronicle files, I have copies of over 100 SF Chronicle articles related to Zodiac, and can not find an article written about Zodiac just before the ’78 letter was sent. The last Zodiac article written before the ’78 was about Zodiac and Toschi and published Aug. 26, 1976. I may not have all the Zodiac articles though, from time to time a article will come to my attention that is not in my collection. Also, there may have been an article about Toschi and a different murder in a Chron article shortly before the ’78 letter arrived that inspired someone to fake a Zodiac letter.

Thanks Seagull, that timing is just weird.

Sorry but wasn’t this letter identified as a possible fake because it didn’t meet various conditions like handwriting that are known Zodiac traits?

So why would one of the very few people who had total access to everything Zodiac be unable copycat the perfect letter?

If anyone was going to fake the perfect letter it would be the detectives who had all the evidence.

So for Toschi to have written this letter we must assume that he is incapable of even getting it right while copying from the source… and can’t even add a single detail that is inside information to make it look more real.

How do proponents of Toschi writing the letter explain all that?

The FBI files state Toschi was the author of letters to the Chronicle: https://vault.fbi.gov/The%20Zodiac%20Killer/The%20Zodiac%20Killer%20Part%2005%20of%2006/view (page 136, paragraph 3.) It doesn’t state how they arrived at this determination though, and could be a mistake.

@bdholland Alan Keel, former SFPD criminalist, revealed to Mike Rodelli that Toschi admitted to writing the letter. I think he was responsible for several other questioned correspondence as well.

Actually, that was Lyndon Lafferty and Jerry Johnson. Keel (allegedly) told them that Toschi refused to volunteer a DNA sample. When Lafferty offered an envelope from Toschi, Keel seemed eager to dive in, but Keel ultimately declined with a confusing answering machine message.

We went over all this about a year ago. It isn’t clear what Keel meant by “admitted writing it,” when he starts by saying they “eliminated” him.

@coffee-time Keel had the same conversation with Mike Rodelli and told him the exact same thing:

https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/postid/77457/

Well, it’s not hugely important at the end of the day, but Rodelli was talking about the alleged 1978/1974 DNA match. Toschi “admitting” to writing something came from Lafferty’s book. His partner Jerry got the weird phone message that mentioned it.

There’s also this passage where LL flat-out states that SFPD thinks Toschi wrote the two fakes. In the present tense. Hard to tell if he’s just being a blowhard (there IS a lot of risible stuff in that book, and LL, admittedly, did not get along with Toschi), but his conversations with Keel seem to back it up.

Posted by: @norse

Why would Toschi, an inspector on the Zodiac case, send a fake letter crediting himself when he would have known, as the reputed forger, his letter would be determined inauthentic?

He would’ve had to be pretty stupid. Or drunk.

Anyway, Toschi was cleared. No reason to second guess that, I think.

As mentioned in the other thread, this isn’t really about Toschi Vs Graysmith as the only viable candidates. It could be a crank or a prankster of some kind. If there’s nothing in the fake which the faker couldn’t have picked up from reading the papers, then the list of suspects is long.

I used to think it had been determined that the faker would’ve had to have access to originals in order to pull it off – but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Toschi apparently thought that ALA was the guy. If he did fake any letters then I think it would be a case of “noble cause corruption”, his desire to keep resources on the case through the suggestion that Zodiac was still active.