Tahoe:
I consider tree out of seven a disproportionate sample of the general population. I mean, no geezers? No middle-aged, even? If nothing else, this suggests Z was young and bore a grudge against his peers.

I just watched the docu about the LE/RD murders there near Gaviota and its insane how many bits match up with Z. The more that I look at that case, and then cast my eye back this way, it looks less and less like Z. Its the manner of killing that is so unlike him. That seems to be the thing that should define the crime, up to a certain point. If you look at the fact that it was a .22, Super X ammo, pre=cut lengths of cord, victimology and manner of death, as well as having one victim tie up the other, the location, as well as it being near Lompoc AFB (Wingwalkers/codes/et al) that one just screams Z. With Bates, you have letters. And that’s it. That just seems to weigh heavily against it.

if you like to entertain the "riverside connection" CJB very well could be Z..and you could also reason Z had some type of intimate connection to her..CJB was not random or in the wrong place at the wrong time..CJB and her killer both seem to have more relationship then a simple hello while walking past each other in the hallway at school..

if you like to entertain the "riverside connection" CJB very well could be Z..and you could also reason Z had some type of intimate connection to her..CJB was not random or in the wrong place at the wrong time..CJB and her killer both seem to have more relationship then a simple hello while walking past each other in the hallway at school..

This is what I’m thinking as well. He HAD to have known her. And if the letter writer knew her, why call her "Bates"? If he was POd enough to kill her, in a way that we have all had driven into our heads is abjectly personal, then why retreat from that in the letters?

And from what I understand, the letter itself doesn’t seem to match the forensic evidence. Correct me on that, if I am wrong.

Unfortunately sometimes a girl just being nice to a guy gets them to think they have some sort of special "friendship" and I have a feeling that is what happened between Cheri and her killer. She probably knew him more in passing.

It’s dark out, her car won’t start, and there is "JoeBlow". She has a false sense of relief that someone is there to help her.

I’ve often thought of an old friend of her brother, or maybe the brother (cousin, etc.) of one of her friends…someone who very much paid attention to her (if even from afar), but she simply did not reciprocate. Regardless, this person had serious issues–he was capable of murder. There HAD to be people who suspected someone and I bet the RPD got a lot of calls, yet…there was also probably someone who had an idea about another who never said a word.

This is what I’m thinking as well. He HAD to have known her. And if the letter writer knew her, why call her "Bates"? If he was POd enough to kill her, in a way that we have all had driven into our heads is abjectly personal, then why retreat from that in the letters?

And from what I understand, the letter itself doesn’t seem to match the forensic evidence. Correct me on that, if I am wrong.

For exactly that reason. If he did know her, it makes sense that he would want to depersonalize her to himself, and personally distance himself from the letter.

I definitely think Cheri knew her Killer in some way, closely or not. I just don’t think Cheri was going down that dark alley with a total Stranger, ESPECIALLY if it’s true she spent several minutes or almost an hour before her attack,but that’s a whole different thread in my opinion,as I think she didn’t spend that much time with them, but rather that time change that weekend threw off the timing of the ‘scream’ heard by a Witness,etc.

The bates letters – Again if we look to the handwriting experts for answers we again get a verdict of inconclusive. Morrill yes, Shimoda no, FBI inconclusive. While confession letters are not very common there is cases of this happening. Saying it looks like Zodiac activity is simply not good enough.

Three nearly identical letters were sent, like Zodiac would later send, and the letters were signed with a Z shaped symbol. This is an amazing coincidence.

I find it highly unlikely that the following is a mere coincidence:

-a student at RCC called himself Zodiac and was well known for doing so
-someone sent three nearly identical letters signed with a Z symbol

and then a few years later someone calling himself the Zodiac sends three nearly identical letters that are matched by a handwriting expert.

The fact that he didn’t claim credit for it until he was called out by the media? Excellent evidence for the idea that he just wrote the letters.

I might be willing to swallow an argument that Z just knew about the Bates letters and was inspired by them, but even that is a Riverside Connection in itself.

The bates letters – Again if we look to the handwriting experts for answers we again get a verdict of inconclusive. Morrill yes, Shimoda no, FBI inconclusive. While confession letters are not very common there is cases of this happening. Saying it looks like Zodiac activity is simply not good enough.

Three nearly identical letters were sent, like Zodiac would later send, and the letters were signed with a Z shaped symbol. This is an amazing coincidence.

Is it Z-like though because that is what is in OUR minds?

I wonder why Zodiac didn’t call himself Zodiac in the beginning if he already had "Z(odiac)" as his moniker?

It would seem (imo) he didn’t come up with Zodiac until after they started calling him the "Cipher Slayer".

Is it Z-like though because that is what is in OUR minds?

Three nearly identical letters signed with a symbol which claim credit for a murder are "Z-like" yes. If the symbol happens to be shaped like a Z, well…

I def. think he hated the "cipher slayer" name, that’s for sure.

To me though, the letters aren’t Zodiac-like. The letters themselves look nothing like Zodiac’s handwriting. Zip. Zodiac never used names and he never wrote to family members or police. Personally, I don’t see a Z at the bottom. They look more like a 1,2, and 3 meshed together. I see three letters as a coincidence. Zodiac (imo) just wanted to address three particular newspapers. It’s all a matter of perception and when we have Zodiac on the brain, well…

the first 3 letters have an odd symbol that looks like a Z with a wavy top, almost like a M and L merged (altho on the letter to the bates family it looks more like a Z that has the wavy line trailing off above). Does it look exactly like a Z? Obviously not, that’s why we’ve puzzled over it. But it doesn’t look like a 2 or a 1 or a S or anything else.

The second set of 3 have a gunsight/celtic cross whatever you’d like to call it.

It’s a very strong coincidence that these two sets of letters used symbols as a signature and were sent in triplicate.

That the killer ended up calling himself Zodiac and there was a student at Riverside who called himself Zodiac and was well known for doing so?

I can’t swallow all of that as purely coincidental.

2’s can easily look like z’s, imo.

the Bates family letter being three straight lines with a squiggle off to the side makes it hard for me to accept that the author intended to give us anything like a 2, but it’s not impossible.

But the idea that I’m just "seeing" a Z because I want to, or have Z on the brain? The Z shape of it is hardly subtle, especially in the bates family letter.