" Or are these potential victims real people at all?

Good question. I’ve said before that one thing that bothers me most about the Confession letter is that the writer seems to present himself as both adolescent stalker and calculating serial killer. He describes fantasizing about potential victims in a sexualized manner and ascribes a sexual motivation in killing Cheri Jo Bates ("her breast felt warm and firm in my hands") yet these descriptions seem really awkward and contrived, IMO. At the same time he describes his activities as a game and his taunting goes way beyond specific victims. He threatens to deposit victims’ "female parts" and "deposit them for the whole city to see" and "this letter should be published for all to read it". Is this guy a spurned college student or Jack the Ripper?

Zodiac never seemed to care (in letters at least) about WHO his victims were and only described them to prove his claims of responsibility. He describes them as "the two teenagers", "the girl", "the taxi driver". He never showed any sexual interest in his victims even when he had the chance to act out sexually like at Lake Berryessa. If the Confession letter was written by Zodiac, I think it’s fair to ask whether he is expresssing his true motivations as well as Wier’s question about whether these potential victims are real, imagined or totally made up.

When this Confession letter broke in the media, you would think that someone might come forward?

Not everybody is so civic-minded, unfortunately.

If any of these people were real (and I think they very well could be), they probably were figures from this guy’s past.

I don’t think civic mindedness would be the issue Nacht, more like self preservation or real concern. What I meant is perhaps the babysitter/ the people she babysat for or some other friend or neighbour might have made the connection.

Also he says the girl who said no when he asked for a date in high school ( past) but (in relation to the babysitter) the one that walks down the dark alley each evening at seven (present)

Entropy wrote:-

seems to present himself as both adolescent stalker and calculating serial killer

.
Yes, there are contradictions running thought this letter and the overall crime. The initial plan ( although he got away with it) was a mess from start to finish. But then there are other aspects such as the disguising of the typewriter etc that showed alot more smarts

I think it’s total BS. It’s just like Z and his little list, his school bus full of kiddies, and his other vague threats. Z didn’t attack people he knew and the people he wrote about were purposely vague fantasies so that the reader would wonder "could it be me?" It’s all threat and a cop out way of victim blaming.

The girl who blew him off, maybe she did, but I don’t believe that she would be a target of his. and if CJB ever blew him off it wasn’t until the night she died. Just like Z and Darlene, maybe he knew her, but I would bet that she did not know him.

Ducky – I agree whole-heartedly.
Re: "The beautiful blonde that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven"…. does that even make sense?
She’s babysitting near a store? In town then, not in the ‘burbs?
She’s been walking down a dark alley, which is dark at seven, now, and he’s writing this when, in Spring?
Naaaaaaa, it sounds very good (too good – like the output of a professional writer) and it’s a load of poop. So there.

He named Cheri, and even said she’d given him "the brush-off" in the past, showing he didn’t care if it was known that he knew her.
He did in fact encourage the reader, and the police, to believe he knew her.
He Incriminated himself directly in her murder investigation, because he really was known by CJB, and he murdered her!

Well, no. I don’t think that’s too likely, personally.

(Maybe on "Columbo" or something, perhaps, knowing he had a sensational alibi since he was on stage playing guitar in front of thousands, and he had faked the forensic material at the scene. Otherwise, no.)

He named Cheri, and even said she’d given him "the brush-off" in the past, showing he didn’t care if it was known that he knew her.
He did in fact encourage the reader, and the police, to believe he knew her.
He Incriminated himself directly in her murder investigation, because he really was known by CJB, and he murdered her!

Well, no. I don’t think that’s too likely, personally.

(Maybe on "Columbo" or something, perhaps, knowing he had a sensational alibi since he was on stage playing guitar in front of thousands, and he had faked the forensic material at the scene. Otherwise, no.)

Using that same thinking, if Cheri’s killer couldn’t be linked to her,and was a stranger, what need is there to write a letter to police at all? He could simply keep his mouth shut, and steer clear of the investigation. Part of police investigation anyhow is to start with the people closest to the victim,and work their way out from there. People that Cheri knew and associated with would already be on the list to get checked out by police.

I think that her killer DID actually know her, and she knew him, although, likely they probably were not close, so he might not be cosidered as a natual suspect not being in her group of friends.

I agree, morf, that Cheri’s killer probably knew her. My "POI" probably would have become acquainted with her via her eventual fiancee, Dennis Highland. Could be he asked her out and Cheri, who was noted for her sharp tongue, may have turned him down in no uncertain terms, perhaps threatening to inform Dennis of Z-2-B’s unwelcome advances.

" Or are these potential victims real people at all?

Zodiac never seemed to care (in letters at least) about WHO his victims were and only described them to prove his claims of responsibility. He describes them as "the two teenagers", "the girl", "the taxi driver". He never showed any sexual interest in his victims even when he had the chance to act out sexually like at Lake Berryessa. If the Confession letter was written by Zodiac, I think it’s fair to ask whether he is expresssing his true motivations as well as Wier’s question about whether these potential victims are real, imagined or totally made up.

I have to slightly disagree. I think the Zodiac cared more about who his victims were than he wanted us to believe. I think the fact that he fails to mention his victims by name, when he had ample time to read their names in the paper or hear about it on the news and include those names in his letters, shows that he knew his victims and is attempting to disassociate himself from them. Cheri is only slightly different in my opinion. I believe she is an early zodiac attack and I do believe he knew her. The letter to the father reaches out on a personal level, as if, to explain away what he did but without explanation.

Just an opinion.

Soze

There’s definitely an honest difference of opinion here between a lot of us on this topic, Soze. I guess Z is the only one who knows what his real or perceived relationship with his victims really was. For me, it’s just hard to reconcile the Zodiac that we know from later letters referring to victims like the Confession letter-writer does (without being disingenuous). I guess we can agree that he’s being disingenuous somewhere along the line.

Just as an example, here’s Zodiac in his first confirmed letter:

Boy was on his back with feet to car"
Girl was lyeing on right side feet to west
girl was wearing patterned pants
boy was also shot in knee

And the Confession letter:

She was young and beautiful
Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store…
Or maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brownett…
Her breast felt warm and firm under my hands…

I supposed the difference could represent an evolution of Zodiac as a killer and learning to view his victims as objects. There are a lot of things that make me believe Z probably wrote the Confession letter but it’s just hard for me to reconcile how different the motivations appear. To me, the objectifying Z in confirmed letters just seems more sincere somehow.

Using that same thinking, if Cheri’s killer couldn’t be linked to her,and was a stranger, what need is there to write a letter to police at all? He could simply keep his mouth shut, and steer clear of the investigation.

Correct! I think that’s exactly what he did, her killer. Kept his mouth shut and steered clear of the investigation. And he bought another Timex.

Using that same thinking, if Cheri’s killer couldn’t be linked to her,and was a stranger, what need is there to write a letter to police at all? He could simply keep his mouth shut, and steer clear of the investigation.

Correct! I think that’s exactly what he did, her killer. Kept his mouth shut and steered clear of the investigation. And he bought another Timex.

Okay, so you think her killer didn’t mail the confession letter, is that correct?

Yes Mike, I think the guy who wrote the Confession letter gleaned the information from the newspaper stories of the time, which were abundantly clear on all the real facts mentioned.
Not a completely popular or universal opinion perhaps, but it’s mine.
It SHOULD mean that CJB’s killer is easier to find. I fervently hope so. Doesn’t seem like there’s been much progress though, does there…..

.It SHOULD mean that CJB’s killer is easier to find. I fervently hope so…

If you are correct, I think it would make it that much harder to find her Killer. Essentially, we would be looking for a guy that has slipped thru the cracks after 47 years,and has no connection to the Confession letter,and maybe not to the desktop poem. That makes the suspect pool even more deep. At least if her killer could be connected to the letters and desktop with certainty, that would give the cops a bit more to work with,although Cheri’s case is not likely to ever be solved since they are barking up the wrong tree in regards to Barnett,at least as far as DNA evidence is concerned.

Cheri’s case aside, if Zodiac wrote the letters, that greatly narrows the Zodiac suspect pool. We are looking for a guy that lived in/worked in the SF bay area in 68-74,and had lived/worked in the Riverside area in 66-67. Take away guys of the wrong age,race,etc, and that undoubtedly leaves a rather small amount of men, Although, I know of one guy on Napa’s suspect list with no verifiable connections (as far as I and a couple others could find anyway)to the Bay area, who has a long Family history in Riverside,and who was living in Riverside when Cheri died. Scratching my head why he is a suspect, or how he came to be a suspect, when he apparently wasnt in the Napa area,unless I just have not found the link.

.It SHOULD mean that CJB’s killer is easier to find. I fervently hope so…

Although, I know of one guy on Napa’s suspect list with no verifiable connections (as far as I and a couple others could find anyway)to the Bay area, who has a long Family history in Riverside,and who was living in Riverside when Cheri died. Scratching my head why he is a suspect, or how he came to be a suspect, when he apparently wasnt in the Napa area,unless I just have not found the link.

Anything you can speak of openly?

Soze

He was an Air Force Guy, he graduated from High School in the early 60’s in San Diego(made me think of the Joyce & Johnny Swindle case down there). All of the records I see for him always show him in Riverside, I have not found anything tying him to the SF Bay area, but he is definitely on the suspect list.