The Zodiac does seem to acknowledge the Bates case as his. On the surface the Zodiac seems to claim Johns as his as well. I doubt he can be attached to the Johns case though and think the Zodiac was merely being a smartass. The Zodiac, as we know him, NEVER disabled a car to reach his victims. That’s a point that should be remembered. The disabling of a car would seem to point to a separate killer. I wouldnt exclude it as an early m.o. but that would eliminate Johns later given possible evolution of Z crimes.
The confession letter was typed and didn’t include circles for dots. The additional letters that RPD speaks of were apparently sent to the police. So I doubt it’s the exorcist letter and believe law enforcement may have thought the additional letters as hoaxes right out of the envelope because of that fact. Or, shall I say, when the Zodiac started showing a pattern of behavior.
The Zodiac clearly claimed Johns, there is nothing “surface” deep about it. Obviously, I haven’t forgotten that the Johns case is controversial, and is not a confirmed Zodiac crime.
The envelope of the Confession letter had large round circles above the “i”s and on the colon. It is quite distinctive and is very similar to the Exorcist letter in particular. The “circles for dots” have been commented on many times before, right behind the “candy cane f”. the “candy cane f”, as it happens can be found in the desktop poem. Although, as I have said, I think handwriting analyses is pretty much bunk, but these more extreme examples are a little more compelling.
I’ve been thinking more about the connections. The first confirmed communication from the Zodiac came in the form of three letters. The wording of each letter was adjusted slightly for perspective. There were three Bates Had to Die letters, the last one to her father was adjusted slightly for perspective. That’s not a huge coincidence, but then again maybe it is? I mean, I suppose it could happen… well then again. I can’t decide. Three letters, it’s small, but it’s specific. There is no reason it couldn’t be a coincidence but think about the timing. It’s not like there were other letters between this triplicate set, it came chronologically straight after the Bates Had to Die set of 3, that is a striking coincidence when all aspects are considered.
I’ve been thinking more about the connections. The first confirmed communication from the Zodiac came in the form of three letters. The wording of each letter was adjusted slightly for perspective. There were three Bates Had to Die letters, the last one to her father was adjusted slightly for perspective. That’s not a huge coincidence, but then again maybe it is? I mean, I suppose it could happen… well then again. I can’t decide. Three letters, it’s small, but it’s specific. There is no reason it couldn’t be a coincidence but think about the timing. It’s not like there were other letters between this triplicate set, it came chronologically straight after the Bates Had to Die set of 3, that is a striking coincidence when all aspects are considered.
Well spotted.
However this is normal when people rush written stuff under pressure, they start off not relaxed, but tightly holding the pen, which expends energy faster, brings in cramping quicker and causes the end of the letter to veer off in some direction as the hand loses control and its ability to write more and steadily. So individuals completely independent of each other can deviate exactly the same way.
The clue to this is in how it can appear in a single letter. The dripping pen card is a good example of it.
www.zodiachalloweencard.com has a 400 paged book for free containing the super solution with an overarching explanation of the cards and more.
I’ve been thinking more about the connections. The first confirmed communication from the Zodiac came in the form of three letters. The wording of each letter was adjusted slightly for perspective. There were three Bates Had to Die letters, the last one to her father was adjusted slightly for perspective. That’s not a huge coincidence, but then again maybe it is? I mean, I suppose it could happen… well then again. I can’t decide. Three letters, it’s small, but it’s specific. There is no reason it couldn’t be a coincidence but think about the timing. It’s not like there were other letters between this triplicate set, it came chronologically straight after the Bates Had to Die set of 3, that is a striking coincidence when all aspects are considered.
Again, the January 1969 ‘Inside Detective’ magazine published the contents of the Bates case letters, included images, etc.
Zodiac COULD HAVE read that magazine, and known the details of Cheri’s case- even using it as an example for his own letters(mailing 3 letters, multiple stamps, same misspellings of Twitch and Squirm
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
https://www.pe.com/2021/08/04/reward-offered-for-conviction-in-decades-old-riverside-homicide/
Riverside mentions CJB today to publicize reward offering $50,000 for info. No mention of anyone being linked to the murderous letters.
RPD would leap at the chance to say ‘Zodiac did not write the letters, someone else has their DNA on it and here he is. Ergo Zodiac was not involved in this murder. Our local man “Bob Barnett” is still the only suspect.’ RPD could not do that. Because they need to remain honest.
A major proponent of the ‘CJB letter writer’ hypothesis on this forum refused point blank to confirm this when directly asked, on this very thread.
The person who wrote the 2016 anonymous letter claimed to write the CJB letters. He may have. May not have. You may choose to believe his word if you like. If investigators say this man’s DNA matches DNA the recovered from the CJB letter(s), we will know he was not lying.
I remain in my conclusion that the writer of the CJB murder letters is still UNSUB.
I do hope more reliable evidence arises that proves me wrong. I want truth in this case. Not excited flim-flam.
That was too much!
Posted by: @morf13
Zodiac COULD HAVE read that magazine, and known the details of Cheri’s case- even using it as an example for his own letters(mailing 3 letters, multiple stamps, same misspellings of Twitch and Squirm
“Plunge” is another word from the CJB typewritten letter that Zodiac would later use in a mailing.
That was too much!
A major proponent of the ‘CJB letter writer’ hypothesis on this forum refused point blank to confirm this when directly asked, on this very thread.
I’m not a “proponent” of anything. All I did was release some info as requested.
Mods?
This guy can’t stop himself.
@russ-thompson I agree that the press release is poorly worded, but I will trust that investigators did their due diligence in ascribing the Bates Had To Die letters to him. It would be gross incompetence on their part to merely take his word for it.
I would like to see some follow-up from RPD to clear up the confusion. I think they could do that without revealing anything detrimental to the investigation.
“Murder will out, this my conclusion.”
– Geoffrey Chaucer
@russ-thompson I agree that the press release is poorly worded, but I will trust that investigators did their due diligence in ascribing the Bates Had To Die letters to him. It would be gross incompetence on their part to merely take his word for it.
I would like to see some follow-up from RPD to clear up the confusion. I think they could do that without revealing anything detrimental to the investigation.
I hope they did, but I don’t have much confidence in them after the last 55 years of investigating the Bates case, and the letters surrounding it.
I can tell you that I, and many others have already reached out to RPD asking them to further explain stuff and end the confusion, and so far we have been ignored
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
@russ-thompson I agree that the press release is poorly worded, but I will trust that investigators did their due diligence in ascribing the Bates Had To Die letters to him. It would be gross incompetence on their part to merely take his word for it.
I would like to see some follow-up from RPD to clear up the confusion. I think they could do that without revealing anything detrimental to the investigation.
I feel the same way despite my protests. In all likelihood it will turn out to be true. But one name keeps rattling around in my brain “Henry Lee Lucas”.
It would be gross incompetence on their part to merely take his word for it.
If we go exclusively by the info given in the press release, that’s exactly what was done.
Zodiac COULD HAVE read that magazine, and known the details of Cheri’s case
Stepping back a bit, which makes more sense?
- Zodiac read about the CJB crime and was inspired to become a serial killer, adopting the trappings of the CJB crime for his own crimes and even taking credit for that unsolved crime.
- This stipulates two killers 1) Cheri Jo Bates’ psychopathic killer and 2) the later, inspired Zodiac killer psychopath.
- In some speculative scenarios, this also prompts a third actor – another person who wrote and sent the CJB murderous letters entirely apart from the former two.
- Zodiac committed the CJB crime, and continued “evolving” those behaviors into the Zodiac persona.
- This is neater in that stipulates only one killer, and does not force us to speculate about copy-catting, or who wrote the letters
I always felt the Zodiac took inspiration from the Whitechapel Murders panic. Zodiac could use both I’m sure.
That was too much!
Zodiac COULD HAVE read that magazine, and known the details of Cheri’s case
Stepping back a bit, which makes more sense?
- Zodiac read about the CJB crime and was inspired to become a serial killer, adopting the trappings of the CJB crime for his own crimes and even taking credit for that unsolved crime.
- This stipulates two killers 1) Cheri Jo Bates’ psychopathic killer and 2) the later, inspired Zodiac killer psychopath.
- In some speculative scenarios, this also prompts a third actor – another person who wrote and sent the CJB murderous letters entirely apart from the former two.
- Zodiac committed the CJB crime, and continued “evolving” those behaviors into the Zodiac persona.
- This is neater in that stipulates only one killer, and does not force us to speculate about copy-catting, or who wrote the letters
I always felt the Zodiac took inspiration from the Whitechapel Murders panic. Zodiac could use both I’m sure.
Manson thought (according to Paul Watkins, Tex Watson, and Vince Bugliosi) that the Beatles lyrics were about the upcoming race-war apocolypse. And people followed him and carried out multiple murders. So the idea of there being multiple crazy people around this case is not so far-fetched really. Why shouldn’t there be multiple people as you stipulate? Bates killer, the Zodiac, and another letter writer (and a hoaxer – there are always plenty of them around in these sorts of cases!)
When you say Whitechapel Murders, I assume you mean JtR? I did wonder if the 5 victims was to match JtR, and maybe Zodiac went for couples to beat JtR and have 6 victims. Then, when 2 survived, he kills Stine in a desperate attempt to match him.
Also, why did he wait over 2 years between the Cheri Jo Bates murder and the Lake Herman Road murders? And why the de-escalation in MO? LHR is just walk up, shoot 2 people, leave. CJB is frenzied.
what was the mans name?
