Do those of you who think Zodiac wrote the poem on the desk think he was disguising his handwriting when he wrote it?

I don’t think he disguised his writing

If he wrote it as a student at RCC, that is not as "Z" but as a regular, depressed young man (under the guise of being a depressed young woman, it must be added, but that could be explained as a literary device, I suppose) then…no, there is no reason to believe he was deliberately disguising his handwriting.

Morf: The fact remains that Z DID take credit for Bates, after a fashion. If he was worried about his connection to that crime (and/or to the desktop poem), surely the obvious strategy would be silence on his part. He basically confirmed that the cops were on the right track regarding his "Riverside activity". If he was worried that this connection was too close to home…well, why did he confirm it?

If he wrote it as a student at RCC, that is not as "Z" but as a regular, depressed young man (under the guise of being a depressed young woman, it must be added, but that could be explained as a literary device, I suppose) then…no, there is no reason to believe he was deliberately disguising his handwriting.

Morf: The fact remains that Z DID take credit for Bates, after a fashion. If he was worried about his connection to that crime (and/or to the desktop poem), surely the obvious strategy would be silence on his part. He basically confirmed that the cops were on the right track regarding his "Riverside activity". If he was worried that this connection was too close to home…well, why did he confirm it?

Paul Avery, "Zodiac Link is Definite" (San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 17, 1970)

3/13/71, Zodiac’s mails his letter about his "riverside activity".

Why the 5 month wait? If Z was in no way connected to the ‘Riverside Activity’, then why not take credit immediately while it was front page news and build up his ‘brand’ ??? I’ll tell you why(in my opinion at least ) -because he was sweating bullets, and looking over his shoulder to see if Police were going to knock on his door, realizing the connection they had made to Riverside. After 5 months, he felt safe and the coast was clear, and he decided to write again. And another consideration, and possible insurance on Zodiac’s part…the letter taking credit for Bates was mailed from Alameda County area, and his previous ones from SF. Why the change there? Maybe Z was overly paranoid, so he switched up his mailing locations for the letter???

Fair point. You could be right. I still say that if he was actually worried about the connection, it doesn’t make sense that he affirmed it at all, at any point in time.

Do those of you who think Zodiac wrote the poem on the desk think he was disguising his handwriting when he wrote it?

I don’t think he disguised his writing

I think it’s not beyond a possibility. Actually, I think it’s a reality. I don’t know how much of it he disguised, or why at the time but he later returns to some of that styling in the 74 letters.

The poem was Zodiac’s achilles heel. He probably wrote it before killing Bates and knew the Riverside link would lead LE to him.

After that last letter, where Z admitted to the Riverside activity, he tried to downplay the connection. Then he disappeared and never wrote a letter signed as Zodiac again.

The poem was Zodiac’s achilles heel. He probably wrote it before killing Bates and knew the Riverside link would lead LE to him.

After that last letter, where Z admitted to the Riverside activity, he tried to downplay the connection. Then he disappeared and never wrote a letter signed as Zodiac again.

I used to think that too. I probably still do lol.

Bit cryptic I know but I was wondering about something yesterday and I’m not sure if it’s been suggested before, maybe parts of it have. It concerns the desk and the other aspects/evidence in this crime. I don’t think it added up but I’ll try and summarily post it and see what you guys think.

This is all under the assumption that he killed Cheri Jo of course.

It is normally assumed that he knew her but did he? I know we probably think that given the content of the ‘confession’ letter and the other letters of course. The thing is though, and I’m sure this has been mentioned, it’s almost like he’s trying too hard to convince the reader of that. The other thing that occurred to me regarding the name is that he technically didn’t use her name. He refers to her as Miss Bates or Bates or She. These uses of reference to her appear almost contextual in their purpose and not personal. Yet the confession letter tries to convey the opposite. That it was personal. So which is it?

I’m starting to wonder if he did know her or did he just select her, follow her to get the address and got her father’s name from that. Not a huge leap to then refer to Cheri Jo as just Miss Bates, Bates or the undeniably safe, she and be right. He may have been watching her for a while to select a good place to attack her. We know there was planning involved by the crime itself so why not pre-planning including confirmation of her address and her father’s name.

The other thing that makes me wonder if there wasn’t some ‘scouting out’ going on prior to the crime is the confession letter’s own ‘little list’ of potential victims. Were they mentioned because he had been watching them and then settled on Cheri Jo? Was poor Cheri’s unknowing and tragically simple undoing that she had a car, did that swing it for him? He also doubles up on the rather puerile rejection excuse in that letter with both the Brownett and Bates yet the Blond seems to have no personal reason for being selected. It just all feels like a lot of risky info to proffer on the cusp of becoming Zodiac.

And then there’s the desk. Was it part of it? An extra little insurance policy to point towards a student? A fake clew? I mean there seems to be a possibility that he constructed it using letterforms that were not part of his natural, everyday writing. If that is the case then you have to wonder why. That and the fact the it was in storage. Much safer to have the time to create it and possibly refer to your font sheet for reference.

I don’t know TBH but it seems like there could have been a reasonable amount of work put into this crime and it all seems to serve the purpose of pointing those looking at it towards someone of a similar age and situation as Cheri Jo.

Was this crime personal or was he creating a fake starting point from which he later became Zodiac? A crime to serve a purpose and not just a need. It seems odd that in the last letters from 74 we have a variety of styles almost saying look what I can do ha ha and in those he produces the citizen letter, the closest one to date, in overall style to the desk poem and then the SLA card using that K which only appears in one other place, the desk poem. Those 74 letters served a personal purpose and I wonder if he’s hinting that this was also the case with the desk poem.

TRAV, Joseph Bates’s name was in the phone book and in the newspaper, so even if the letter writer didn’t know her Father’s address, it would be easy to find.

You know what else connects the Desktop writing & the citizen letter? The fact that the Author had no way to know that either would ever be found & attributed to the Bates or Z case, yet both were, and later, linked to each other. Two cities, 6+ hours & 8 years apart. Pretty amazing if you think about it. The fact that the Citizen letter was attributed to Zodiac at all is very interesting, because it was not signed as Zodiac, and included no threats, etc., that tells me, that the police, or a designated person, was sifting thru every letter to the editor that came in, and looking for possible Z letters, perhaps, using his real name.

The fact that the Author had no way to know that either would ever be found & attributed to the Bates or Z case, yet both were, and later, linked to each other.

Yup that’s fair enough about the address. What about the poem though. You say he had no way of knowing it would be found so why the altered characters? or is that ‘K’ his real one?

The fact that the Author had no way to know that either would ever be found & attributed to the Bates or Z case, yet both were, and later, linked to each other.

Yup that’s fair enough about the address. What about the poem though. You say he had no way of knowing it would be found so why the altered characters? or is that ‘K’ his real one?

The Zodiac was confirmed, by Sherwood if I remember correctly, to have used two letter k’s, which is why I always have been interested in Manalli, as we know he used both a 2 stroke & a 3 stroke, and that does not seem natural to me. You either use a 2 stroke or 3.

I don’t know, but to me it seems as though Z simply would have kept quiet about the Riverside connection if he wanted to downplay it. Why mention it at all?

I can think of a couple of plausible reasons why he’d confirm the connection if it wasn’t real, though: 1. He liked to boast. 2. He didn’t mind having the cops spend fruitless hours investigating a non-existing connection.

If there WAS a Riverside connection I don’t think Z was worried about it. If he had been, I don’t see why he didn’t – simply – refrain from commenting on it. What could he possible gain from mentioning it at all if it bothered him that they were looking into his "Riverside activity"?

Look, this conversation has been going in circles. My opinion, Z did all of it. The desk, the letters, and killed Bates.
I think this way based on the available evidence. The evidence points to Z. If you don’t think Z was behind it, that is fine, but what evidence is there to support this?

Is it all just a big coincidence that the writing on the desk for the most part matches Z? Is it all just a big coincidence the killer used a ruse to trap a victim? Is it all just a big coincidence the killer wrote letters to the newspaper?

If Riverside was not Z then show us what evidence supports that theory. Not opinions, evidence.

Yes, I agree it’s going round in circles.

I’ve said my piece about the desktop poem and Morrill and the rest of it. I see no reason to reiterate any of it. You’re entitled to your opinion and you may very well be right. Hopefully we’ll find out the truth one day.

Amazing!

This wooden desk with words on lines
stacked like a column read.

Looks like the 1899 Christmas periodical.
Something not found anymore in library’s.

Post cards- Periodicals…
Genre; Advertisements…

Like Peek-A-Boo (with eyelashes)
Blind Bat

As I understand it, the "CONFESSION" letter and the "BATES HAD TO DIE’ notes were created a month after Cheri’s murder, and before the "Desktop Poem" was discovered. This suggests to me that whoever wrote the letter and notes did so to avoid being linked to the "Poem." Why? Because the "Poem" would identify him as an RCC student with the initials, "RH". Does anyone know if RPD attempted such a match-up? Or were they already so enamored of Bill Bennett that they ignored the "RH" possibility?
Incidentally, I was a high school janitor for a time, which leads me to suspect that the "Poem" was written sometime between the beginning of RCC’s Fall semester, and Winter Break in December. Had it been written before the beginning of Fall semester, it likely would have been discovered during the extensive Summer cleanup, and been replaced.
Finally, let us put to rest the wacky suggestion that the "Poem" was written by a suicidal female. Not only is the handwriting distinctively masculine, but women prefer ODing to stabbing themselves to death.