Suze (By the way, is your name pronounced SOOZ or SOOZIE?): A few years ago anyone suggesting the Bates killing was connected to Zodiac would have been hooted off the Internet. Now, this position has become respectable–progress, IMO. Conservation of resources suggests that activity should be concentrated on exposing Bates’ killer. Not only would this, in itself, be a worthy enterprise, but it might well result in revealing Zodiac.

This is an excellent point IMO. There is much more evidence and reason to connect Cheri’s killer directly to her, her family, the library, and so on, than to connect Z to any of his (other) victims or crime scenes. Meaning, her murder should be the easiest one to solve, in theory.

Is anyone thinking about going to the Riverside class of 1966 reunion (I’m assuming there is one… maybe not?) I keep thinking, if a network of Cheri’s classmates could be formed, who would then help expand it to include other friends and so on, it could form a good information base for a lot of background questions people have posed on here. Some of them might have older brothers or sisters who might have known the Sullivans, for instance.

Dag – Right! Progress. Good ideas, thanks for the contributions of Soze, Dag, Marshall and others, regardless of where they come down on the Bates killer = Riverside writer = Zodiac question.

One other minor point to add to the excellent list by Soze. I think this has been briefly mentioned before, a long time ago.

People always say the "rh" at the end of the poem must be initials. Yet if the writer intended them as initials it seems likely he would have rendered them as" RH ".

Could they be something else? A clue? Another way of signing his name, or his identity? Remember the Bates killer/Riverside writer already signed one letter with what looked to be a " Z ".

R is the 18th letter, H is the 8th letter.

So " rh " numerically is 18 + 8. And 18 + 8 = 26.

The 26th letter is Z.

Cue Twilight Zone music…

Ha different TZ song.

Over the years there have been many different views on the desktop poem, was it done by the Bates killer, was it done by Zodiac. One thing that was pretty convincing to me was a comparison study done by Trav of the desk poem and Zodiac writing. The number of matches, and the details of the matches, was amazing.

Not to say it erases all doubt. But if anyone hasn’t seen it, you should look at it.

Does anyone know where that Trav desk/Zodiac comparison study thread is? If so could you bump it and/or post a link to it here in this thread?

And one can go crazy with elaborate number clues, but I think rh as 18 + 8 =26, and 26th letter is Z, is pretty straightforward. And the Bates killer did sign off a letter with a Z. I guess any two letters could randomly add up to Z about 1 out of 26 times, but I find it interesting enough to note.

Re the diminutive "rh" of the desktop poem. To me, it fits in with the writer’s perilous psychological status. I think it was written at a time when unacceptable impulses were surfacing into his consciousness. The poem was, if you will, an attempt to exorcise his evil demons. However, the "normal" personality didn’t want to be identified with the abnormal, so it disguised itself by not announcing its name, only its initials, and lower case, at that.

Relevant Info: Ramona High School Class of 1966 Reunion, 10/22/2016 6PM–8:30 PM. Contact Info: Ramona HS1966@gmail.com

It’s good that there has been so much discussion and members are finally starting to open up to this crazy "Zodiac / Riverside connection" theory. For way to long, there was a great deal of dismissive attitude towards it. Even going as far as to blow off the desktop poem as nothing important.

Odds are Z, whoever he was, had some connection to Riverside. All this means is that suspects connected to that small town should be taken seriously and not flat out dismissed from day one.

Paul (incidentally, that’s MY first name, too; it derives from the Latin, "Parvus," meaning, "small" and, except for my belly, describes me). One can take whatever stance one wishes re a Bates/Zodiac connection, yet realize that solving Cheri’s murder would be a tremendous accomplishment. Further, sufficient evidence exists to suggest that solving the Bates murder may well reveal Zodiac’s identity. When I first grappled with Cheri’s murder, I began with The Confession, and the desktop poem. I then checked out Ramona High’s past yearbooks for the years Cheri attended RHS: 1962–1966, and found an individual who interested me. There may well be others, so the 1962–1966 RHS yearbooks would be a good place to start. By the way, is Pink Phantom still among us? As I understand it, she lives in or near Riverside. Should she be willing, she would be a valuable "gofer", especially in dealing with the 10/22/2016 RHS Reunion.

Pink Panther is no longer a member. She seemed to be more interested in the many unsolved cases not related to Zodiac than the Zodiac case itself and became rather huffy when few here shared her passion. At first she was willing to go to the RCC library and look for things that people requested. She did that a total of one time and never went back to the library.

Paul (incidentally, that’s MY first name, too; it derives from the Latin, "Parvus," meaning, "small" and, except for my belly, describes me). One can take whatever stance one wishes re a Bates/Zodiac connection, yet realize that solving Cheri’s murder would be a tremendous accomplishment. Further, sufficient evidence exists to suggest that solving the Bates murder may well reveal Zodiac’s identity. When I first grappled with Cheri’s murder, I began with The Confession, and the desktop poem. I then checked out Ramona High’s past yearbooks for the years Cheri attended RHS: 1962–1966, and found an individual who interested me. There may well be others, so the 1962–1966 RHS yearbooks would be a good place to start. By the way, is Pink Phantom still among us? As I understand it, she lives in or near Riverside. Should she be willing, she would be a valuable "gofer", especially in dealing with the 10/22/2016 RHS Reunion.

I agree that solving Bates is the key to the Zodiac case. It’s the one crime that he could be personally connected to. As for the yearbooks, many have been there. I don’t think you will find anyone better than the suspect we are looking into right now. It’s not likely a second Riverside resident will fit so many aspects of the evidence, suffer from mental illness, die in the bay area at the right time, and oh yeah, look just like the sketch.

It has long been accepted that Z wrote the Riverside letters taking credit for the Bates murder. This could be true, but that rumor started because, even though Sherwood matched the writing to Z, RPD was sure BB was the perp and his handwriting didn’t match. I also assume they figured he had no Bay Area ties and couldn’t be Z. But we now know that BB probably didn’t kill CJB. The case is also unsolved after 50 years so it would seem that Z would be the most logical person to kill CJB, write the Riverside stuff and later move to the bay area and become Z.

However, even though it seems like finding the murderer of Bates would be the best approach, we can narrow it down even more. Don’t ask who killed Bates, ask who wrote an unrelated poem on a desk in the RCC library. Then if that person fits in with what we know of Z, we should be able to solve this.

Everybody with skin in the game as far as having a suspect they are pushing tries to connect their Suspect to Riverside….

Mr X went to the races there, Allen went to the races and to college there,(no evidence he went to college there) Gaikowski could have come all the way back from Albany to write the letters some people claim. People have tried to link their Suspect to Riverside thru some flimsy connections, but in the end, there’s only one that can be placed in the RCC library after all these years.

Remember, Morf, RCC’s library was public; also, it was readily accessed by students and staff. One need not have had to work in the library to have the opportunity to pen the desktop poem.

Remember, Morf, RCC’s library was public; also, it was readily accessed by students and staff. One need not have had to work in the library to have the opportunity to pen the desktop poem.

True, but there is also evidence, the perp was in the library more than once, knew Bates, typed the confession in the library, and was still around Riverside in 1967. This points to a person living in Riverside.

After Bates couldn’t start her car, she was offered one of two things. A ride or a phone. She left her books in her car, so the ride might have been on a motorcycle, and if a phone was offered, that would mean someone with access to RCC.

Remember, Morf, RCC’s library was public; also, it was readily accessed by students and staff. One need not have had to work in the library to have the opportunity to pen the desktop poem.

True, but there is also evidence, the perp was in the library more than once, knew Bates, typed the confession in the library, and was still around Riverside in 1967. This points to a person living in Riverside.

After Bates couldn’t start her car, she was offered one of two things. A ride or a phone. She left her books in her car, so the ride might have been on a motorcycle, and if a phone was offered, that would mean someone with access to RCC.

1. What evidence is there that the confession letter was typed in the library? Of course the library had typewriters, but was one from the library ever matched to the letter? Was that analysis ever done?

2. If she was offered a phone, why would she go away from the library with the killer? Wouldn’t she have gone back to the library?

The motorcycle theory is interesting. It could be as simple as Cheri not wanting to accept a ride on a bike that set the killer off. But other than someone hearing something that sounded like a motorcycle, what evidence is there to support the theory?

I still question why she didn’t walk right back into the library but rather walked off with somebody into the darkness.I think she knew her killer,whomever it was

I still question why she didn’t walk right back into the library but rather walked off with somebody into the darkness.I think she knew her killer,whomever it was

Right. If she was offered use of a phone, she’d have gone back to the library. If she was offered a ride in a car, she’d have stayed in the area where all the cars were. So that leaves two possibilities I can think of:

A. She went somewhere to have a discussion with someone she knew.
B. She went with someone who offered her a ride, but the ride was away from the library. It would be odd that someone she knew would just happen to be there, when her car was disabled, and had driven a car but for whatever reason had not parked where the other cars were. So, a motorcycle parked near the vacant houses, or beyond would be a plausible scenario. This would still suggest she felt comfortable enough with the guy to go with him.

Because of the weapon used, it’s been speculated that it wasn’t a planned killing. I can see where the killer could’ve been looking forward to having Cheri on his bike, her arms around him to hang on, and he then either plays hero by taking her home, or he takes her somewhere else to continue a discussion. But if she changed her mind and rejected his offer…

But without motorcycle tracks or more evidence to support it, it’s just a guess.