We should probably collate all the suggestions at some point. Maybe its been done already. I always remember Ramona High and (rh)esus. The there was something haiku (Riverside? Red?) and RH Bradshaw and many more I’m sure. It’s a slightly restrictive set of letters in respect to it being a pseudonym. One befitting the presumed field of the suspected author anyway.

rack hoof … maybe our boy was a Scooby Doo fan?

On a slightly more serious note. It would appear Z liked his movies. Here’s one with a befitting subject matter and a red dress. Something I was briefly introduced to in college. The study of symbolism in movies.

http://classiq.me/style-in-filmgrace-ke … for-murder

rh equaling Ramona High does fit well with The Confession’s complaint that Cheri had snubbed him "…in years past." What perplexes me is why some San Francisco partisans insist that Zodiac had zero, zip, zilch to do with Bates’ death when so many elements–handwriting, excess postage, communication content–are virtually identical with Zodiac’s northern California crimes. To me, it’s obvious: Bates’ death began Zodiac’s career, which was continued as he moved north. If not, why were there no more Bates-type murders committed in Riverside? Are we to assume that Bates’ murderer became quiescent, and was later copy-catted by a Bay Area resident? Question: was Cheri’s murder widely broadcast in the Bay Area?

There was an article in the SF Chronicle with a picture of the crime scene at the time of Cheri Jo’s murder. I made a thread with the article long ago and now the image doesn’t work anymore. I will repost it tomorrow as it’s on my other laptop, unless someone else beats me to it!

Thanks, Seagull! Evidently it would have been possible for a Bay Area psycho to have read the news article re Bates’ murder and copycatted it. However, that doesn’t explain why the MO in Bates’ murder wasn’t repeated in the Riverside area.

Okay, I fixed the images in the thread with the SF Chronicle article about Cheri Jo’s murder. Here’s the link to the thread.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=41

rh equaling Ramona High does fit well with The Confession’s complaint that Cheri had snubbed him "…in years past." What perplexes me is why some San Francisco partisans insist that Zodiac had zero, zip, zilch to do with Bates’ death when so many elements–handwriting, excess postage, communication content–are virtually identical with Zodiac’s northern California crimes. To me, it’s obvious: Bates’ death began Zodiac’s career, which was continued as he moved north. If not, why were there no more Bates-type murders committed in Riverside? Are we to assume that Bates’ murderer became quiescent, and was later copy-catted by a Bay Area resident? Question: was Cheri’s murder widely broadcast in the Bay Area?

Well, to answer the part in bold – because there isn’t a definite, undeniable connection between the communications and the murder. It’s possible that Z, for some reason, only did the writing and not the killing.

Looking at the murder in isolation – if Bates was a rage kill (which it very much looks like) committed by someone who knew the victim (which also seems likely enough), there is no reason to expect the killer to go on killing.

It’s also worth mentioning, I think, that the MO itself – writing letters/notes subsequent to having killed someone – is indeed typical of Z, but it’s by no means an exclusive Z trait.

rh equaling Ramona High does fit well with The Confession’s complaint that Cheri had snubbed him "…in years past." What perplexes me is why some San Francisco partisans insist that Zodiac had zero, zip, zilch to do with Bates’ death when so many elements–handwriting, excess postage, communication content–are virtually identical with Zodiac’s northern California crimes. To me, it’s obvious: Bates’ death began Zodiac’s career, which was continued as he moved north. If not, why were there no more Bates-type murders committed in Riverside? Are we to assume that Bates’ murderer became quiescent, and was later copy-catted by a Bay Area resident? Question: was Cheri’s murder widely broadcast in the Bay Area?

Well, to answer the part in bold – because there isn’t a definite, undeniable connection between the communications and the murder. It’s possible that Z, for some reason, only did the writing and not the killing.

Looking at the murder in isolation – if Bates was a rage kill (which it very much looks like) committed by someone who knew the victim (which also seems likely enough), there is no reason to expect the killer to go on killing.

It’s also worth mentioning, I think, that the MO itself – writing letters/notes subsequent to having killed someone – is indeed typical of Z, but it’s by no means an exclusive Z trait.

I would just like to add to the bold statement…

We could just be talking similarities and coincidences here.

ONE STAMP was not enough postage. It would not have been delivered.

The conclusion on handwriting was NOT universal. The 3 Bates letters themselves certainly DO NOT look like Zodiac. It was the envelopes that drew any possible Zodiac connection.

***The Confession letter used the word "twich" along with other similar traits, but there is more that is very much NOT Zodiac like in that typed letter.

We must forget that Riverside contacted Napa long before Paul Avery entered the picture. It wasn’t Paul’s discovery. RPD took this seriously and considered the Lake Berryessa attacks. They weren’t completely sold on "their guy" and looked at other possibilites, and I would imagine still would if someone gave them something new; something they haven’t already considered a thousand times.

Except now we have been told of the possibility the Exorcist letter is a fake….another thread.

We have? Where’s that mentioned, wouldn’t mind a read. I know it’s authenticity was suspected to begin with when it first turned up. I assume this new doubt is a recent reiteration?

Mike R. has brought this to our attention in several threads.

Let me see if I can round some of it up and I can create a thread. I’m sure Mike would join in with further detail.

Except now we have been told of the possibility the Exorcist letter is a fake….another thread.

We have? Where’s that mentioned, wouldn’t mind a read. I know it’s authenticity was suspected to begin with when it first turned up. I assume this new doubt is a recent reiteration?

Mike R. has brought this to our attention in several threads.

Let me see if I can round some of it up and I can create a thread. I’m sure Mike would join in with further detail.

It’s ok T. I read my post again and it reads like I’d never heard any other doubt regarding it, ever. Now I can’t remember myself exactly what I was thinking. It must have been that I maybe thought there had been even more and recent news in that area.

I love this thread, and this topic

Except now we have been told of the possibility the Exorcist letter is a fake….another thread.

We have? Where’s that mentioned, wouldn’t mind a read. I know it’s authenticity was suspected to begin with when it first turned up. I assume this new doubt is a recent reiteration?

Mike R. has brought this to our attention in several threads.

Let me see if I can round some of it up and I can create a thread. I’m sure Mike would join in with further detail.

Writing experts, including those at the FBI, ruled this as a real Z letter. I for one have to agree with them as opposed to some unsubstantiated here-say.

The issue for me is, if this one’s not real, then are any of the 1974 letters? We have to pick and choose which ones we think are fake and which ones are not. No offense to Anybody here, but who here is a trained document examiner and feels that their opinion can hold more weight then a trained professional or the FBI? (Myself included).

Are document examiners sometimes wrong? Sure they can be, look at Barto, Wakshull, etc. But Sherwood was the state’s TOP docs examiner, and the FBI backed him up. I just don’t see anything that proves any of these confirmed Z letters are fakes. Of course, everybody can agree to disagree

All good points, morf – and I for one have no choice but to take the verdicts of someone like Morrill very seriously. The problem – for me – begins when it turns out that other experts may have disagreed with some of his conclusions. Then it becomes a matter of which expert you place your faith in – and that is something else entirely. Morrill versus Some Guy On The Internet? No contest. Morrill versus Other Expert? Hard to say – isn’t it?

The thing about the desktop poem is that it’s very tempting in many ways to simply go along with Morrill on this. It makes the poem itself less relevant, if you will. It reads like it was written by a teenage girl to me – and I find it extremely hard to reconcile parts of the content with anything other than a suicide fantasy of sorts, one which does not point beyond the writer herself. But if Morrill is right, none of that matters – because Z undoubtedly wrote the damn thing.

Re: Exorcist.

Two points: 1. If someone has indeed ruled Exorcist out as a genuine Z letter, it would – as I take it – be a matter of DNA, not handwriting. Let’s say DNA was found under the stamp, making it all but certain that it was left by the writer and nobody else. Let’s say, further, that the DNA in question has been matched to someone – and that this someone could not possibly have been Z. Something along those lines is what we’re dealing with here, I think – IF there is anything to this at all. 2. I don’t think it has been said in no uncertain terms that the letter in question was Exorcist. It could be one of the others. From what I remember of Mike’s account of the interview with the LE guy, he (the LE guy) could not remember exactly which letter it was.

Norse, valid points. Personally, until I see something official that any of the Z letters are being discounted, I think they are all CONFIRMED. As far as the desk poem, that goes back to each reader’s interpretation of the poem. Some think it sounds like a suicidal girl, I think it sounds like a disturbed young man’s dark and twisted thoughts & fantasies. And let’s not forget, Morrill connected the desk AND the Bates letters to Z.

morf–I imagine we’ll all continue to go around and around with this, but the F.B.I. did not agree with Morrill.

I won’t post the images again as they can be found on this site–probably even in this thread. It was basically "inconclusive". I have read nowhere that the F.B.I. agreed the handwriting was that of Zodiac.

John Shimoda, another Zodiac handwriting expert, disagreed with Morrill. So if we add his opinion to the F.B.I.’s being inconclusive, I think it is fair for some of us to question the desktop poem’s authenticity.

Norse wrote:
It makes the poem itself less relevant, if you will. It reads like it was written by a teenage girl to me – and I find it extremely hard to reconcile parts of the content with anything other than a suicide fantasy of sorts, one which does not point beyond the writer herself.

I wholeheartedly agree with the above opinion. My main reason is due less to the body of the poem and more to the title.
Sick of living/unwilling to die
That, to me, portrays someone dealing with thoughts of suicide but has not yet come to terms with the actual finality of the deed. It does not sound like a yearning for murder which seemingly would have required a somewhat more imposing title.