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Here is a reproduced copy of the Confession letter as shown in the November 1968 edition of Inside Detective. They acknowledge it had been reprinted in the "Riverside Enterprise" (prior to this printing). –Thanks to Seagull.

Here is the entire article, and links to the entire issue:

viewtopic.php?f=94&t=3154

Regarding the authenticity of the confession letter:

Police, if I remember correctly, had once stated that the author of the letter was aware about details only the killer of CJB could have known. Others have claimed the author of the letter might have learned about such details from various newspaper articles.

Here is a small detail only the killer would have known (as far as I know this detail has not been mentioned in any article):

Confession letter:
"I FIRST PULLED THE MIDDLE WIRE FROM THE DISTRIBUTOR."

A four-cylinder motor of a VW beetle had such a distributor cap:

Generally, like in any other car, there is one or two ignition coils which level-up the voltage for later distribution to each ignition plug. Starting from those ignition coils, the current is first lead to a the distributor cap (middle wire). Inside that cap, in a certain order, the electric power is distributed via a rotating pin to each ignition wire (leading to the ignition plugs). Thus the ignition plugs are connected to the distributor as well, however on the outside ring of the cap.

The author clearly states that he had pulled the ‘middle’ wire of the distributor cap. Therefore he interrupted the INPUT coming from the ignition coils rather than the output wires leading to the ignition plugs. This action causeed a total break-down of CJB’s car. If only one output wire had been pulled out, the motor would have started and even run on three cylinders (‘out of round’). Obviously the author had exactly known WHICH wire had been pulled out, a detail only the killer of CJB (or his partner in crime) would know.

In different sources there is said that the killer had ‘pulled out the distributor coil and the condenser and disconnected the middle wire of the distributor‘. As you can see on the third picture in the following link, the condenser plug is attached directly to the distributor cap:

http://www.vct2.com/vwtech/Pages/Mainte … denser.htm

While I still have not understood what the ‘distributor coil’ should be (I only know about the ignition coil and the distributor, nothing about a ‘distributor coil’..amplifier wire?), it seems to be certain that CJB’s killer had plugged out the middle wire and the the condenser, however not all five wires on the distributor cap. Thus the confession letter contains a reference to the fact that ‘only’ the middle wire had been pulled out – a detail only CJB’s killer could have known.

QT

The input of a coil is from a 12 v or 6 v battery and the coils purpose is to convert it to thirty thousand volts +- a special high voltage lead transfers the extreme voltage to the center of the distributor that has a spinning rotor in it.. it is then distributed to the four spark plugs via four more high tension leads. as the rotor is spun it sends a spark to each plug in turn which causes the gasoline to explode in its chamber above the piston forcing it down.. thousands of times a minute. RPM
this voltage would never kill you but will give you a jolt.
Most teenagers of that era knew how they worked.. remove the middle (supply) wire from either coil or distributor and no high voltage, it will never start. remove any one of the other four and it may start, but it would run rough and backfire. The backfire is unburnt fuel exploding in the exhaust system.
in short..pulling the middle wire is a perfect summation in the letter.

While I still have not understood what the ‘distributor coil’ should be (I only know about the ignition coil and the distributor, nothing about a ‘distributor coil’..amplifier wire?), it seems to be certain that CJB’s killer had plugged out the middle wire and the the condenser, however not all five wires on the distributor cap. Thus the confession letter contains a reference to the fact that ‘only’ the middle wire had been pulled out – a detail only CJB’s killer could have known.

QT

Distributor coil is simply an alternate name for the ignition coil. Many auto parts have differing names by what’s popular locally, if you’re in the US. And if you’re from the UK, Australia or New Zealand, they may well have yet another name. I work in auto parts and run into this kind of thing regularly.

If the person who removed the middle wire of the distributor knew the basics of vehicle management, why would he also state
" I first cut the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then."
Pulling the middle wire or any wire for that matter would not drain the battery in the time period under question and would not be the reason for the vehicle not starting. So the idea he knew anything about cars is unlikely, unless this was the impression he was attempting to facilitate.

If the person who removed the middle wire of the distributor knew the basics of vehicle management, why would he also state
" I first cut the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then."
Pulling the middle wire or any wire for that matter would not drain the battery in the time period under question and would not be the reason for the vehicle not starting. So the idea he knew anything about cars is unlikely, unless this was the impression he was attempting to facilitate.

I think what the author of the confession letter meant was that after two minutes of Cheri Jo cranking her engine
over trying to start it that the battery must have been drained by then.

VW beetles of that era had 6 volt batteries and were notoriously weak, it likely would not have taken much cranking
to drain that battery.

"I think what the author of the confession letter meant was that after two minutes of Cheri Jo cranking her engine over trying to start it that the battery must have been drained by then."

Good point. Therefore, he must have known that Cheri had planned to go to her car. Obviously he had spoken to her, otherwise she might have gone anywhere else, instead he knew that she would try to start her car for leaving (which also might have been obvious as it was already evening).

QT

Quick….

I would think killer saw Cheri Jo leave her car and enter Library, so he would know she would be coming out. He very well may have followed her there.

Great find !!! concerning the Confession letter envelope

Here is a copy of an old post of mine, the post I posted a link to the other day, it was originally posted at zodiackillerfacts.com Nov 2011.
(In my original post I had the DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 3: written as VICTOM when it in fact said VICTON, I have now corrected it.

I find it SO odd how LE apparently changed and added words, even sentences, in the original Confession letter when writing out a copy, bc as I understand it the "yellow Confession letter" is a copy written by LE right?.

http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/forum/ … 208#p23208

I made this file back in Jan 2009, but never got it posted, here it is:

THE CONFESSION LETTER NOVEMBER 29,1966

For some reason there are many inconsistances between
the Oct 3, 1969 Department Of Justice report version of
THE CONFESSION, and the, to most of us KNOWN, version
of THE CONFESSION.

The words highlighted in red, are words that are ONLY to be found in the, to most of us, KNOWN version.

Which of thise two versions that is the true ORIGINAL ZODIAC version, I´m not 100% sure.

And WHY there are all thise incosistances, I don´t know???

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 3: VICTON
COPY Line 3: VICTIM

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 4 : BEAUTIFUL BLOND BABY SITS NEAR THE STORE
COPY Line 3 : BEAUTIFUL BLOND THAT BABYSITS NEAR

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 6 : BRUNETTE
COPY Line 5 : BROWNETT

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 9 : SO, DON´T MAKE IT EASY FOR ME
COPY Line 7/8 : SO, DON´T MAKE IT TO EASY FOR ME

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 14 : MINUTES
COPY Line 12 : MINUTS

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 14: THE BATTERY MUST HAVE BEEN DEAD BY THEN :
COPY Line 12 : THE BATTERY MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT DEAD BY THEN

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 24/25 : SHE SQUIRMED AND I KICKED HER IN THE HEAD TO SHUT HER UP.
COPY Line 21/22 : SHE SQUIRMED AND SHOOK AS I CHOAKED HER, AND HER LIPS TWICHED. SHE LET OUT A SCREAM ONCE AND I KICKED HER IN THE HEAD TO SHUT HER UP.

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 26: I THEN FINISHED THE JOB CUTTING HER THROAT
COPY Line 23 : I THEN FINISHED THE JOB BY CUTTING HER THROAT

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 31 : IT WAS JUST A WARNING PERIOD
COPY Line IT 27 : IT WAS JUST A WARNING

DOJ´s ORIGINAL Line 31 : BEWARE I AM STALKING YOUR GIRLS NOW.
COPY Line 27 : BEWARE…I AM STALKING YOUR GIRLS NOW.

I doubt I’m the first to note the following, but I thought I’d mention it as confirmation that Bates’ killer was Zodiac. In "The Confession" he told CJ "It’s about time, and that "It’s about time for you to die." Well, the (traditional) Zodiac is about time, right? And, remember the squiggly little signature Zs on the "Bates Had To Die" letters. The foregoing are by-products of the Bates murder, and appear long before Zodiac declared himself. Further, Zodiac didn’t take credit for the Bates murder until after he was IDed by Morrill. We know Zodiac wasn’t a shy guy. So, why did he wait so long? Because he knew there were clues to his identity to be found in the Bates case. RPD unfortunately pursued "Bob Barnett", and botched the investigation.

Just watching a (german) Medical Detectives series..according to expert Peter Tyrell it was taught at typewriting schools to leave two blanks after finishing a sentence. Thus, I immediately checked the confession letter and here we go…in the first few sentences, the author indeed had left two blanks after each sentence.

Now, that is somehow irritating..one might conclude that Z (if he was the author of the letter) in fact had some lessons in typewriting (possibly taught at school?). Enough to not make too many errors. As some of the later sentences do not show up with two blanks but only one, however, one may also assume that he wasn’t used to typewrite for a longer period of time but might have had learned it recently.

At what age was typewriting usually taught at school or university?

QT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItvaxkaIFrc
(5:19 min)

I had my typewriting course in grade 8, and I learned to put 2 spaces after the period. I had to unlearn that later.

Thank you for the answer TheMist..

This shows that

– a young(er) Z (or author) was already capable to write such a letter
– the author was rather educated than uneducated
– the author most likely came from the US (as typewriting isn’t part of regular school education in Europe

I had to learn typewriting at around 20 or 21 in a separate course. AND I can still remember when I tried to typewrite at the age of 8-12 or so how difficult that was..many errors, difficult to correct etc..

If the author was Z, it seems he at least went to school until the 8th grade. The way the letter is written, shows that he was able to type such a letter with almost, actually no typing error (although one or two dyslectic errors do exist: ‘brownett’, ‘minuts’, ‘choaked’, ‘twiched’). After all, the author was good at typewriting.

Another detail of the confession letter: The author used the word ‘plunged’ when talking about the knife going into CJB’s body. It reminds me the Mikado poem where the bird also plunges himself into the waves..

But back to the typewriting..if Z and CJB had a typewriting course together (brush-offs over the years) it should be able to identify him, shouldn’t it?

QT

Rick Marshall operated a royal typewriter, lived in the same area as Cheri and by his own statement was "a voracious reader". Of course Rick well knew the Mikado.