Thanks Dave!!!
There are 3 possibilities.
1) Z wrote the Riverside writings.
2) The Riverside writing were unrelated to Zodiac.
3) Z did not write the Riverside writing, however he:
*Read a very specific article in Inside Detective.
*Copied the misspellings and wording styles from the confession reproduction.
*Somehow managed to guess the handwriting style of the Riverside writer.
*Fooled the state handwriting expert with his forged Riverside handwriting.
(All this with the low intelligence that Harden notes)
Then Z
*Happened to also use double postage like many of the Riverside envelopes.
*Managed to have the Riverside case linked to the Z crimes.
*Happened to take credit for a crime that was, like his crimes, never solved to this day.
IMO these copycat/hoax claims spread misinformation and are simply disrespectful to the case, victims and investigators.
There are 3 possibilities.
1) Z wrote the Riverside writings.
2) The Riverside writing were unrelated to Zodiac.
3) Z did not write the Riverside writing, however he:
*Read a very specific article in Inside Detective.
*Copied the misspellings and wording styles from the confession reproduction. Why not–if one believes he copied the Death Wheel…
*Somehow managed to guess the handwriting style of the Riverside writer. The letters don’t look like Zodiac’s writing.
*Fooled the state handwriting expert with his forged Riverside handwriting. Shimoda didn’t think it was Zodiac
(All this with the low intelligence that Harden notes)Then Z
*Happened to also use double postage like many of the Riverside envelopes. The Riverside envelopes had to have double postage with the stamp used.
*Managed to have the Riverside case linked to the Z crimes. Zodiac didn’t "manage to"…it just happened.
*Happened to take credit for a crime that was, like his crimes, never solved to this day. Zodiac never took credit for Cheri Jo Bates…only "activity",
which yes, could have been writings or even murders, but never claimed her. If it was solved and he didn’t do it…no big deal..IMO these copycat/hoax claims spread misinformation and are simply disrespectful to the case, victims and investigators.
My replies in blue, of course.
It’s the copycat/hoaxers themselves who are to be blamed here. They have flooded this case for years. Zodiac was even guilty himself. BS-ers have squirmed their way into these message boards too. It’s the fake crap that got mixed in with the real stuff that has messed up the case—not the people who take the possibility into consideration.
I hear Donna Lass’ sister Mary was quite grateful we were able to prove a sender of creepy cards was not the work of Zodiac–cards which were being used as clues as to where her body might be located!
So please don’t say it’s disrespectful to consider the possibility of things being faked. If we can prove something is…that is a good thing. 
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
There are 3 possibilities.
1) Z wrote the Riverside writings.
2) The Riverside writing were unrelated to Zodiac.
3) Z did not write the Riverside writing, however he:
*Read a very specific article in Inside Detective.
*Copied the misspellings and wording styles from the confession reproduction.
*Somehow managed to guess the handwriting style of the Riverside writer.
*Fooled the state handwriting expert with his forged Riverside handwriting.
(All this with the low intelligence that Harden notes)Then Z
*Happened to also use double postage like many of the Riverside envelopes.
*Managed to have the Riverside case linked to the Z crimes.
*Happened to take credit for a crime that was, like his crimes, never solved to this day.IMO these copycat/hoax claims spread misinformation and are simply disrespectful to the case, victims and investigators.
I am only going to address the two points I have bolded in your quote, Paul, though I expect that others might be able to address some of the other stuff you have written.
First, Zodiac did not "manage" to have Cheri Jo’s murder linked to his crimes. Looking a similar crimes is standard police procedure. That is why Sheriff Randol in Napa County replied to a letter sent by Riverside in 1969 inquiring about the LB case and the similar excessive stabbing. That is why Los Angeles detectives interviewed Napa County LE after the stabbing deaths of Doreen Gaul and James Sharp. That is why LE looked at the Snoozy/Furlong stabbings as being the work of Zodiac. That is why the stabbing death of Robert Salem was briefly considered that it might be the work of Zodiac. And I’m sure that I’ve left out a couple that could be included.
How is it being disrespectful to the investigators when the investigators themselves very rightly looked for a connection among all of these crimes?
Addressing the "Happened to take credit for a crime that was, like his crimes, never solved to this day" part of your reply, is that a joke? Zodiac himself took credit for many murders that he did not conclusively commit with his never ending "score" at the end of his letters. That kind of thing invites people to speculate on possible murders he could have committed. It’s certainly not disrespecting anyone to try to determine if any other murders could be connected to Zodiac. There are literally 100s of murders that have never been solved in California. Are the families of those victims any less worthy of having their loved ones murder solved? If just one of those unsolved murders did happen to connect to Zodiac and helped to solve the case how is it disrespectful to the families, victims or LE?
Wait… when/how did we prove the cards sent to Mary were not the work of the Zodiac?
The St. Donna card?
Wait… when/how did we prove the cards sent to Mary were not the work of the Zodiac?
The St. Donna card?
A new batch came later: http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/3 … YISloQrK70
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Just a bit of extra information regarding this case as a whole.
2011 RIVERSIDE: Ex-detective Granville Douglas “Bud” Kelley Jr charged with molestation. Kelley was a 30-year department veteran. He served five years in the U.S. Marines, joined the Riverside Police Department in 1960 and was in the detective bureau for 22 years before he retired in 1990.
He was one of the investigators who continued work on the 1966 unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates. Kelley gave no credence to those who claimed she was an early victim of California’s Zodiac Killer serial slayer.
Thanks Tahoe, Interesting. just read that thread. That was before my time of getting sucked into the case.
So many crazy people out there… (not quite ruling out myself)
Just a bit of extra information regarding this case as a whole.
2011 RIVERSIDE: Ex-detective Granville Douglas “Bud” Kelley Jr charged with molestation. Kelley was a 30-year department veteran. He served five years in the U.S. Marines, joined the Riverside Police Department in 1960 and was in the detective bureau for 22 years before he retired in 1990.
He was one of the investigators who continued work on the 1966 unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates. Kelley gave no credence to those who claimed she was an early victim of California’s Zodiac Killer serial slayer.
"…he started a small ministry in 2004 for police officers". I can’t help, but think of BTK. Not that I am comparing the two, but both should burn in hell. 
Molesting girls, starting a ministry….rummaging through Cheri Jo’s diary. Gives me the creeps. Did he have brown hair?
***
You’re welcome YSP. We’ve had our fair share at this site too.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
That reminds me… is Cheri Jo’s diary or phonebook avaiable anywhere? Anything been published…Like Darlene Ferrin’s? of course still looking for some connection to my suspect.
No, it has never been made public.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Morf – I took the liberty of modifying your good, concise and very helpful graphic showing similarities between the Riverside Bates case and the Zodiac. I reduced it in size so it doesn’t expand beyond the screen and gave you an authorship credit. I think it shows very clearly the matches between the two cases. On my computer it was so large it expanded off the screen, and you could not see all of it at one time. Two other things to consider is the "Z" sign off and both the Bates letter writer and Zodiac request that their letters be published in the paper.
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^^To make things more confusing…there is talk of the Exorcist letter being fake. 
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Morf – I took the liberty of modifying your good, concise and very helpful graphic showing similarities between the Riverside Bates case and the Zodiac. I reduced it in size so it doesn’t expand beyond the screen and gave you an authorship credit. I think it shows very clearly the matches between the two cases. On my computer it was so large it expanded off the screen, and you could not see all of it at one time. Two other things to consider is the "Z" sign off and both the Bates letter writer and Zodiac request that their letters be published in the paper.
Very nice work!
It would be very logical to consider Z to have also written the Riverside writings. However, as we can see from this thread, people have amazing ways of twisting around evidence to come up with highly improbable, and nearly impossible scenarios.
In the end, if the writing is Z, who killed CJB is insignificant. The link to Z is in the writing.
(My position: Z did all of it, CJB murder, Riverside writing and later Z crimes)
In the end, if the writing is Z, who killed CJB is insignificant. The link to Z is in the writing.
Wow. You have actually left me speechless.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
