Interesting theory

Even today, this circle is easy to see. If we expanded the search for CJB’s killer to include Corona, how might that impact the pool of suspects?

Well, if Joseph had a work colleague, who frequented his residence, he may have come into brief contact with Miss Bates. This would have been somebody in her outer circle, who knew her by sight, but was stranger enough to avoid being tested for fingerprints. It is only a 15-20 minute journey from Corona to Terracina Drive, where Cheri Jo was killed. This is a perfect buffer zone, not too close, not too far. Was this person a colleague of Joseph Bates, worked as a machinist like him, and lived nearby. Remember the Los Angeles letter mailed on March 13th 1971. The Zodiac Killer seemed to like his play on words. I doubt it, but did he leave a subtle hint in this letter. Zodiac stated "I do have to give them credit for stumbling a-cross my riverside activity."
The north of Corona (Norco), underwent massive redevelopment, to become a resort area. In September–October 1941, the United States Navy purchased the resort, and on December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, the resort was commissioned the United States Naval Hospital in Corona. The hospital was located in the city of Corona at that time, but when the City of Norco was established in 1964, the hospital was officially located in Norco as well as the post office which is now called the Norco Post Office.
The naval hospital was eventually closed, and five years later in 1962 the area was commissioned by the State of California to be used as a narcotics addicts rehabilitation center, and later as a prison. The naval facilities have continued to the present day.
As stated above the area of Corona where Joseph Bates worked was in close proximity to many naval facilities, as well as the California Rehabilitation Center Prison, both situated only 15 minutes from the location of the murder.

And of course we have this. I have contacted the FBI for a redacted version.

Here is the last redacted document I got.

Moving on to Patterson and the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns.
Many people question this as a Zodiac crime, as I do, but there could be a military connection throughout. If this was a Zodiac crime, what are the chances the Zodiac drove a 180 mile round trip from the Bay Area, where most people believe he lived, to commit an opportunistic crime at 11.45 pm at night, in effectively the middle of nowhere. If this were Zodiac, then it is very likely he was in the area for other reasons, such as recreation, family or business engagements, and the abduction of Kathleen Johns was simply a spur of the moment opportunistic crime, he believed would be a relatively safe bet, with little chance of being apprehended.
Kathleen Johns described the man as having the traits of a serviceman, his polished boots shining from the interior dash lights. He was also in possession of a black rubber handled flashlight. These are slim pickings, but I suppose the next question to ask was where was the nearest military facility to Highway 132, west of Modesto, far enough for a buffer zone to the abduction, but that fed its traffic onto Highway 132.
The nearest facility is the Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing in Patterson, only 25 miles from the abduction site, that from 1946 onward became an outlying field to Alameda and later Moffett Field. In recent years, the Navy maintained a permanent detachment at the field that supplied crash equipment and refueling services for Naval aircraft from the stations in the area. This was an isolated airfield, that at night, certainly may facilitate the use of a flashlight. But what is important is that anybody finishing work that night, somebody who may have had a connection to this naval facility and Alameda Naval Air Station and possibly commuted between the two, had they driven back to the Bay Area that night would take the quickest and easiest route. The I-5 runs right past Nasa Crows Landing and filters its traffic onto Highway 132 only 1.4 miles before the point of Kathleen Johns abduction. Zodiac would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. @37.5507724,-121.3006932,45779m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8091b068933f09ed:0xbb14ea12188f929!2m2!1d-121.109444!2d37.408054!1m5!1m1!1s0x80903a6fb06a6be3:0x147ac67c51263360!2m2!1d-121.361199!2d37.6433669!3e0″> https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Nasa+Cr … 433669!3e0

The other road that runs past Nasa Crows Landing is Highway 33, this also empties onto the 132 only 4 miles before Bird Road where Kathleen Johns was abducted and ultimately her car was found burnt out.
@37.6275103,-121.2925051,9662m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x80903a6fb06a6be3:0x147ac67c51263360!2m2!1d-121.361199!2d37.6433669!3e0″> https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.6383 … 433669!3e0

Here are two coincidences;
1.The immediate correspondence after the Kathleen Johns abduction was the ’13 Symbol’ cipher and what appeared to be three circled 8 symbols or Aries/Taurus symbols. This is the military patch of Nasa Crows Landing.

2. Bearing in mind the date of the ’13 Symbol’ cipher, the date of Kathleen Johns abduction and the date that Zodiac mailed his admission to the Kathleen Johns abduction, we have;
March 22nd- Aries begins on March 21st.
April 20th- Taurus begins on April 20th.
July 24th- Leo begins on July 23rd.
All three correspondences, if there is a connection to Kathleen Johns in the ’13 Symbol’ cipher, fall within one day of the star sign beginning date.

Well, if Joseph had a work colleague, who frequented his residence, he may have come into brief contact with Miss Bates. This would have been somebody in her outer circle, who knew her by sight, but was stranger enough to avoid being tested for fingerprints. It is only a 15-20 minute journey from Corona to Terracina Drive, where Cheri Jo was killed. This is a perfect buffer zone, not too close, not too far. Was this person a colleague of Joseph Bates, worked as a machinist like him, and lived nearby. Remember the Los Angeles letter mailed on March 13th 1971. The Zodiac Killer seemed to like his play on words. I doubt it, but did he leave a subtle hint in this letter. Zodiac stated "I do have to give them credit for stumbling a-cross my riverside activity."
The north of Corona (Norco), underwent massive redevelopment, to become a resort area. In September–October 1941, the United States Navy purchased the resort, and on December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, the resort was commissioned the United States Naval Hospital in Corona. The hospital was located in the city of Corona at that time, but when the City of Norco was established in 1964, the hospital was officially located in Norco as well as the post office which is now called the Norco Post Office.
The naval hospital was eventually closed, and five years later in 1962 the area was commissioned by the State of California to be used as a narcotics addicts rehabilitation center, and later as a prison. The naval facilities have continued to the present day.
As stated above the area of Corona where Joseph Bates worked was in close proximity to many naval facilities, as well as the California Rehabilitation Center Prison, both situated only 15 minutes from the location of the murder.

And of course we have this. I have contacted the FBI for a redacted version.

Here is the last redacted document I got.

Moving on to Patterson and the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns.
Many people question this as a Zodiac crime, as I do, but there could be a military connection throughout. If this was a Zodiac crime, what are the chances the Zodiac drove a 180 mile round trip from the Bay Area, where most people believe he lived, to commit an opportunistic crime at 11.45 pm at night, in effectively the middle of nowhere. If this were Zodiac, then it is very likely he was in the area for other reasons, such as recreation, family or business engagements, and the abduction of Kathleen Johns was simply a spur of the moment opportunistic crime, he believed would be a relatively safe bet, with little chance of being apprehended.
Kathleen Johns described the man as having the traits of a serviceman, his polished boots shining from the interior dash lights. He was also in possession of a black rubber handled flashlight. These are slim pickings, but I suppose the next question to ask was where was the nearest military facility to Highway 132, west of Modesto, far enough for a buffer zone to the abduction, but that fed its traffic onto Highway 132.
The nearest facility is the Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing in Patterson, only 25 miles from the abduction site, that from 1946 onward became an outlying field to Alameda and later Moffett Field. In recent years, the Navy maintained a permanent detachment at the field that supplied crash equipment and refueling services for Naval aircraft from the stations in the area. This was an isolated airfield, that at night, certainly may facilitate the use of a flashlight. But what is important is that anybody finishing work that night, somebody who may have had a connection to this naval facility and Alameda Naval Air Station and possibly commuted between the two, had they driven back to the Bay Area that night would take the quickest and easiest route. The I-5 runs right past Nasa Crows Landing and filters its traffic onto Highway 132 only 1.4 miles before the point of Kathleen Johns abduction. Zodiac would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. @37.5507724,-121.3006932,45779m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8091b068933f09ed:0xbb14ea12188f929!2m2!1d-121.109444!2d37.408054!1m5!1m1!1s0x80903a6fb06a6be3:0x147ac67c51263360!2m2!1d-121.361199!2d37.6433669!3e0″> https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Nasa+Cr … 433669!3e0

The other road that runs past Nasa Crows Landing is Highway 33, this also empties onto the 132 only 4 miles before Bird Road where Kathleen Johns was abducted and ultimately her car was found burnt out.
@37.6275103,-121.2925051,9662m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x80903a6fb06a6be3:0x147ac67c51263360!2m2!1d-121.361199!2d37.6433669!3e0″> https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.6383 … 433669!3e0

Here are two coincidences;
1.The immediate correspondence after the Kathleen Johns abduction was the ’13 Symbol’ cipher and what appeared to be three circled 8 symbols or Aries/Taurus symbols. This is the military patch of Nasa Crows Landing.

2. Bearing in mind the date of the ’13 Symbol’ cipher, the date of Kathleen Johns abduction and the date that Zodiac mailed his admission to the Kathleen Johns abduction, we have;
March 22nd- Aries begins on March 21st.
April 20th- Taurus begins on April 20th.
July 24th- Leo begins on July 23rd.
All three correspondences, if there is a connection to Kathleen Johns in the ’13 Symbol’ cipher, fall within one day of the star sign beginning date.

The Corona Lab moved to the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center near Trona in 1971. http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showth … st12866570

Some history of the area. https://vividlyvintage.com/2010/07/06/n … ed-resort/

There’s also a Crosshair symbol atop of the Church Joseph and Cheri Jo attended. Yeah that’s an impossible one to know, so many places it could derive from. I’m sure comic books had their share also. When the symbol first came out in the Chronicle I affiliated it with a gunsight. It made sense the guys a killer.. Sometime shortly thereafter someone brought up it could have to do with the Astrological Symbol, well there was a lot of interest in that in the Bay Area at the time, so that made sense also, then there was the Pagan spin, hey it could have come from that too. Lots of ideas, I can’t say any of them are bad, the person who picks out the most bizarre one could be right. No way to know really. I still like the gun sight, I think it reflects Z’s message, it has a scary flare to it. but who knows….

BayArea60’s

Nice find, Spycatcher. I had recently been looking at ideas involving Mt Diablo Avenue, Riverside, and Z’s letters so this really caught my eye. I have an interesting set of images to share which ties some of Z’s clues together quite well, however it falls short due to me not being able to find any further aerial shots of the Corona area from the era. If anyone knows how we could find a detailed map of the area c.1969 then the red circle might hold some significance. I also like the fact that the halloween rune symbol, when overlaid, turns the ‘Z’ into ‘.N’ as per the Mt Diablo map instruction . However, I don’t like the fact that the dots of the symbol don’t match up to anything on the old map but, again, this could change if a more detailed map is discovered:

]Final 2 overlays:

Here is an aerial shot of Corona circa 1955, on the north side.
http://coastdaylight.com/scph003/scph_r … orona.html
Topographical maps of Corona 1929
http://www.efghmaps.com/RIVERSIDE/

Thanks – wow, that angled aerial shot really gives a scale of the area, would be a massive ego trip to have such a large logo….
I have been googling Corona maps all day with little success; there is a hard-copy streetmap from 1969 stored at the Corona city library if anyone lives nearby…
I also found an image from your website where you had already performed a similar overlay with similar results – I should have guessed that this had already been tried! My results put the address nearer to the hospital, but other than that I can’t find any good info on what was in my marked area in 1969.
Whether or not the overlay idea is on the right lines I can’t help but be drawn in by the Mt Diablo connection to the two areas.

Jamesmsv, try www.historicaerials.com

Wouldn’t this whole theory be based on the Bates homicide being a definitive Zodiac killing?

Thanks

It has always been debated where the Zodiac derived his crosshairs symbol from, a gunsight, the Zodiac watch, a film leader, etc, but it may well have originated or been inspired from the area of his first crime, in Riverside, after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. The crosshairs may all along have been a tantalizing clue to the origin of the Zodiac Killer and where it all began. In other words the inspiration for its design, as we usually draw on our experiences.
Joseph Bates worked as a machinist at the Corona Naval Ordnance Laboratory and possibly Zodiac crossed paths with Cheri Jo Bates’ father and possibly her. After all the heel print discovered at the crime scene was cross referenced to a B.F. Goodrich waffle design, men’s four-eighths inch washer type half heel. worn by military personnel, and Zodiac has often been thought to be of military persuasion.
Corona was aplenty with naval personnel and was known as the ‘circled city‘, on account of the layout of the streets, that were ideal, and were famed for their ‘road races.‘
Below is the aerial topography of Corona now, showing the Zodiac crosshairs, and below that are the perfect crosshairs that would have been present in Zodiac’s time, before roadworks were implemented, that slightly altered the layout.
If the Zodiac crimes began in Riverside, then it was probably fitting the killer adopted his logo from where it all began, and possibly where he worked and/or resided during the Riverside attack. The crosshairs were the target all along.

@33.8731362,-117.5647303,3008m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80dcb0b9ea5d606d:0x8998d10fd29252f1!8m2!3d33.8752935!4d-117.5664384?hl=en”> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Cor … 4384?hl=en

Extremely interesting IMO for the following reason:

If the supposition that her killer’s true motivation was being spurned at some point by CJB, my impression is that most feel this would have happened in a school setting.
UKSpycatcher’s post triggered in my mind the thought that the potential spurning could have happened in the military setting outlined above.
One "profile" (by "Oleg") posted elsewhere on this site posits that Z’s father was likely a military medical professional. There would seem to be a potential linkage to this facility.
I’ll see if can correlate these thoughts to see if they make any sense.