I’ve brought this thread across because I wanted to throw a few thoughts out about a certain article that Seagull links to, over on TV’s board, in this thread. I also brought the ‘articles’ thread because I wasn’t sure where to post this but I’ve plumped for here for now.

Seagull, Subject: Re: SF Chronicle Nov. 1, 1966 Cheri Jo’s Murder Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:23 pm

Here’s a link to the Riverside newspaper article, at ZK, on Cheri Jo’s murder. I’m not so sure the tone was set by the AP but rather by the local reporters because this article borders on the lurid. The Napa Register articles, written by a local reporter, about the LB attack were also in the same tone.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/BatesHeadline1.html

As is my usual habit, despite there being major Zodiac forums in existence, I like to wander around google images (less reading is probably why). Anyway, I spotted this article somewhere in the nether regions of the hinterweb on a blog concerning Zodiac, Manson, Scientology connections. I’ve seen the article before and probably the image separately but for the heck of it I thought I’d read it lol.

Now I assume that most of what I’m about to bring up has been talked to death over at Tom’s and subsequently ZKF and probably here. I did have a look obviously on the old board but I couldn’t find anything other than the link Seagull posted. Still, does no harm to have it here and maybe bring up a few new thoughts.

First here is the image I happened upon. I was staring, yes I do that a lot, at the BIG masthead – THE PRESS. Now I wonder if that’s Press Enterprise related, I’m assuming it is then I look to the bottom of the page – duh.

I’m not sure why but that has been cut off the image over on Tom’s. Anyway, this issue is printed on the same day that Cheri Jo is discovered. The afternoon of 31st Oct, 1966. If you read the whole thing, both pages, over on Tom’s it becomes pretty clear it contains a lot of information that could have been used as the basis of the "Confession" letter but I know that has been debated at length and I’m thinking about this in terms of all four being Zodiac.

Here’s a few things I was wondering about and looking answers/suggestions to. He sends the confession letter one month after the attack or just shy of but he sends it to ‘Daily Enterprise’. Why?

Now, I’m asking that in the context of that edition of Mon Oct 31st, 1966. That edition has everything he needs from visual inspiration, printed inspiration to printed details to send the next three letters six months later.

It’s the ‘Press Enterprise’
It prints Joseph Bates name and address at 4195 Via San Jose but also that brutal and personal piece on how he heard the news and not from the police. Two things, I think, that could have been the catalyst for him receiving a letter.
There’s a nice big shot of the ‘Riverside Police Dept’ badge on the shoulder of the officer ‘interrogating’ lol, the Librarian. Not that he would have need a picture to remind him to write to the police but there it is regardless, encapsulated with the other information pertinent to the recipients of those letters.

I’m also wondering if the paper carried the address for Press Enterprise at 3512 14th St (something he omits from the confession letter). It would also be interesting to know or have confirmed that the st address for Riverside Police dept is NOT in that paper. Basically if it was I think he would have used it. My premise here is that he used that newspaper for inspiration/information as to who would receive the later letters.

All the information is there nicely bundled together to send the letters. He changes Daily Enterprise to Press Enterprise with the address this time because he now has this information. He has a name and address for Joseph Bates and for the Police, well he seem to take the Confession letter approach and go generic with no address.

Now, where it always gets tricky, timings.

The newspaper is out on Mon 31st. IF he did use it for the letters 6 months later why not for the confession letter only 1 month later. i.e why change to Press Enterprise? Well my thinking is that this is about information and access to information. So when he wrote the confession letter and up until he mailed he didn’t have the information he just knew ‘of” Daily Enterprise and not even an address. Was it a big building with Daily Enterprise on it by any chance? If he didn’t have the information (the newspaper) where would he get it 6 months later? library? Daily Enterprise?? who could do that without arousing suspicion. for the latter?

Or did he have it from the day of publication and just decide to use it for the later, expanded letter campaign? I can’t think why though he wouldn’t have at least used the address along with Daily Enterprise.

The Press was printed for the evenings…The Enterprise in the morning.

Maybe the Enterprise was more widely read since it was a morning paper?

(not that that answers any of your questions Trav )

I found this at Wiki and it’s probably correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Press-Enterprise

In 1931 The Press purchased The Enterprise from the San Bernardino Sun. The newly combined company issued The Enterprise in the morning, and The Press in the evenings. In 1954 the Riverside Press changed its company name to the Press-Enterprise Company, and in 1955 the two papers began printing a joint Sunday edition called the Sunday Press-Enterprise. Due to market conditions, the two papers were combined into one morning paper, The Press-Enterprise, in 1983.

The paper was not known as the Daily Enterprise in the 20th century so I do not know why the confession letter was addressed that way.

The Riverside Daily Enterprise was first published in 1885 by David F. Sarber, and became a county paper in 1896 when it absorbed the Perris Valley Record and the Moreno Valley Indicator. The paper was published somewhat sporadically through 1911 by various owners, and under various names, including; Riverside Weekly Enterprise, Riverside Semi-weekly Enterprise, Weekly Enterprise, and the Morning Mission. In 1912, The Enterprise was sold to the owners of the San Bernardino Sun

Any searches for Daily Enterprise in Riverside come back to the Press Enterprise. An interesting and unexpected result.

Great find, Seagull.

I think it is really interesting that the SF Chronicle article indicates Cheri Jo’s father by name and states "Miss Bates lived with her father. Her mother is in a rest home". Zodiac (we think…) then decides to write to Joseph Bates by name, not Mr. & Mrs. Bates, just Joseph Bates as the primary caretaker of Cheri Jo. Interesting that he refers to his victim’s father by name yet refers to his victim, the person he supposedly has some type of intimate emotional connection to (if you believe Riverside P.D. and/or the Confession letter) as "Bates" or "She" when addressing her father.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/BatesLetter2.html

That’s not to say that Zodiac couldn’t have gathered information about Cheri Jo’s parents on his own or couldn’t have known them through a personal connection to Cheri Jo but it seems that he could have just as easily identified the appropriate family member to contact with just this article in the SF Chronicle and a phone book.

…. and The Daily Enterprise, which started publishing in 1885.

Could suggest a much older person. Not back to 1885…but maybe older folks in the family carried on the name….? Sort of like the Oakland Coliseum….I’ll always call it that.

Thanks Guys.

Tahoe, the fact that you found questions is good enough lol. I’ve got this really unrefined habit of asking questions and trying to explain them at the same time.

Seagull, yes I see what you mean. The searches do come back to Press Enterprise. On my diagram for the envelopes I have the information above those as Daily Enterprise Press Headquarters. I have taken that info from somewhere on one of the boards but I am now not sure as to how that is.

The Press was printed for the evenings…The Enterprise in the morning.

Maybe the Enterprise was more widely read since it was a morning paper?

(not that that answers any of your questions Trav )

Actually it might. Did he know this and as such write ‘Daily’ because he said "This letter should be published for all to read it." but at this fledgling stage he was perhaps unsure as to which edition they would likely put it in. Same day evening or next day morning, if even that quickly, or he just didn’t care as long as it was one of them.

His more specific demands regarding the first Zodiac letters may be an indication that he since learned which looked better, had more impact, and would suggest less knowledge/experience of newspapers as is often considered. Did he learn it just from this experience though or, another one of the eternal questions, were there others between 1966 and 1969?

Entropy,

No phone book needed. Bottom of first page.

Great point about ‘Bates’ and ‘She’ BTW.

EDIT. Sorry Entropy. I didn’t see that were referring to the SF. Chron article. My bad. That address info is from the Riverside Press one.

Trav – a bangin’ post, baby! Plenty to consider….
(What happened to the "graphic" photograph D. found for the first post I wonder? Especially if it’s different from later ones…)
Anyway:

I’m not so sure the tone was set by the AP but rather by the local reporters because this article borders on the lurid.

Have it your own way, then, damn you.
I’ll go with the fact that EVERYONE seemed to write "slaying, slain and slayer" instead of murdered, victim, murderer etc.
Purple purple purple. Sell sell sell.

I’m not sure why but that has been cut off the image over on Tom’s.

Copyright? There are two versions of what purports to be the real Confession letter kicking around, too.
One with the Press Enterprise company name on it, one without. Tut tut.

That edition has everything he needs from visual inspiration, printed inspiration to printed details to send the next three letters six months later.

Yes, "he used that newspaper for inspiration/information as to who would receive the later letters." No doubt in my mind of that at all, at all. There are two other articles I’ve named elsewhere (endlessly) which have some useful specific information in too, but I won’t keep going on about it. (Or I’ll try not to.)
Yes, it does indeed have all the facts, Ma’am, and your points about Joe’s address, the reminder to the correct police department and the address to the Press Enterprise are excellent.
Yes, every newspaper printed always has the address of those fiends responsible (joke) on, usually as part of the footer text on page one, or someplace else "usual for them" surrounding information about the advertising rates (of course), and where to send your copy. Standard. Legal requirement? Maybe.

For my two cents, I think the "quick response" with the Confession letter was to make sure he nudged the investigation toward a local perpetrator known to the victim. That line "Making her pay for the brush-offs she had given me during the years prior" is the whole point, in my humble opinion. Why? Well…..
For my other two cents, I think he gave it all another nudge six months later when it was starting to go very cold and quiet. Strange eh?
(He did something like it with his "revival" of interest in LHR too, no?) Why? Well…..

I think the "Daily" thing’s pretty straight forward, although he may have known the previous title, yes.
I think since there was a Sunday version of the newspaper, I don’t think he wanted his copy to wait for the wrong title.
What about "Crime Desk" eh?

Glad you like Smithy although I think that first quote is Seagull and not me. I don’t sound that logical. and don’t call me ma’am lol.

Yes the Crime desk thing. Flip sake. One thing makes me think one thing then something like that contradicts it. Typical MO maybe? Did he phone them and ask? "If I have a crime story for you guys, is there a crime desk?" or maybe something less direct.

I like this ‘nudge’ consideration. Why indeed? Just because he could or was there another purpose? Hmmm.

Entropy,

No phone book needed. Bottom of first page.

Great point about ‘Bates’ and ‘She’ BTW.

EDIT. Sorry Entropy. I didn’t see that were referring to the SF. Chron article. My bad. That address info is from the Riverside Press one.

Thanks, trav. Still really interesting how virtually everything required for the Bates letters was laid out in the local newspapers. That does kind of contradict my theory of why Joseph Bates alone was contacted, however, since it would seem more likely to have been taken verbatim from the Riverside paper. It’s odd actually that her mother was not mentioned. Does anyone happen to know why Mrs. Bates was in a "rest home"? She would have been awfully young to require a nursing home.

When you say the mother wasn’t mentioned, do you mean in that Press Enterprise Edition? She is at the start of page two just to say that she is living separately.

As for being in a rest home I don’t know. Maybe she was unwell or had, had surgery as opposed to it being an old persons home. Maybe it’s a polite euphemism for rehab.

E., I too wonder if they were protecting delicate sensibilities by writing that about her Mom, Irene Karolevitz. A rest home? Ha! Yes, I suspect so. When you’re writing about a murder victim you don’t want to distract from the sympathy angle, after all. The Bates moved to Riverside in 1959 from Nebraska, where Cheri Jo was born. When and why Irene took off afterward, and where to, I haven’t yet read. Maybe it’s a polite euphemism for "took off with a sailor". Don’t know. Should be something easy enough to find out, though.

Glad you like Smithy although I think that first quote is Seagull and not me. I don’t sound that logical. and don’t call me ma’am lol.

Wow! That will be the only time I’ll ever get you two confused, I promise.

Yes, the "nudge". The trail goes cold, it looks like he’s gotten away with it scot-free, and he writes in. Doh!

Did he write between 1966 and 1969? Yes it’s an Eternal Question damnit, and I’m absolutely desperate to know. Gut feel says yes, of course.
I suppose it’s possible to at least find the murders he MIGHT have written about, by looking at those which were newsworthy state-wide in those three years. Wire stories about murders, indeed. Going to the SF offices of Associated Press for a look might sort that one out, I think.

Did he write BEFORE 1966? Perhaps. After all the Confession letter’s a polished piece of writing, and the MO to write to everyone mentioned in the article is quite a sophisticated one. Did he perhaps write just to relatives in at least one or more earlier crime? Would that have given him enough jollies? Or just to the police? Or just to the local rag? I’d love to know.

How to find which ones he DID write about, even in a narrow window like those three years? That’s difficult. People write strange, stupid and lurid stuff in to newspapers all the time, and if it took three years before anyone got excited about receiving stuff from him, (and maybe it did), I’d guess any he HAD written to threw that material away forgot it (and retired!) a long time ago. After all, newspapers held a place in society that on-line media has today. That’s why people wrote this sort of crap to them. Who remembers last years Tweets?

The only people who might remember such a thing would be the families of the murder victims whose names and addresses made it into the newspapers… It’s a damn tough thing to go back and ask though, ain’t it. And would you keep a letter like that? I very much doubt it. Bummer.

BTW, you attribute the writer with enough savvy to ask "Is there a Crime Desk?" eh? Does everyone know newspapers have desks? I often wonder.

BTW, you attribute the writer with enough savvy to ask "Is there a Crime Desk?" eh? Does everyone know newspapers have desks? I often wonder.

Yes, true. I did add though ‘something less direct’ so not necessarily that question but an enquiry that gave the response "address it for the attention of crime". Did they have a "crime" section/desk? I suppose if we knew that then it would at least make that idea feasible. I was also specifically thinking of "Yes I did make that call to you also". Given that the letter is to Daily Enterprise/Press Enterprise or whatever they called themselves it would make a reasonable context for this supposed phonecall and the explain the inclusion of att:crime on the envelope. One phonecall to a busy paper with a general enquiry? Maybe easy to miss or not attribute.

BTW, you attribute the writer with enough savvy to ask "Is there a Crime Desk?" eh? Does everyone know newspapers have desks? I often wonder.

Yes, true. I did add though ‘something less direct’ so not necessarily that question but an enquiry that gave the response "address it for the attention of crime". Did they have a "crime" section/desk? I suppose if we knew that then it would at least make that idea feasible. I was also specifically thinking of "Yes I did make that call to you also". Given that the letter is to Daily Enterprise/Press Enterprise or whatever they called themselves it would make a reasonable context for this supposed phonecall and the explain the inclusion of att:crime on the envelope. One phonecall to a busy paper with a general enquiry? Maybe easy to miss or not attribute.

I think this is an interesting point. How many folks would know there was a crime desk/dept.? And was there?

At the time of Cheri’s death, the building outside read "Press Enterprise".

It would appear though, the paper WAS addressed as the "Daily Enterprise". This is a photo I took from Cheri’s 1966 yearbook. The man in this paper (Porfirio Rubirosa) was killed in 1965.

(didn’t want to use my scanner…the yearbook is coming apart!)