Does anybody happen to recall whether the three letters mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle on July 31st 1969 were published in the newspapers in full alongside the ciphers (and, if so, when)?
Many thanks,
Silkweaver
VTH published it on 8/1/1969:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AAGf6IEkvOZD … M6JuzX9yw4
But it is a text version, not an image of the actual letter.
On 8/4, VTH published the image of it:
https://www.evernote.com/l/AAGMSYNbBshL … 1Ex0kHTJvo
Very many thanks. Do you happen to have similar information for the August 1969 letter? Was this letter published in the newspaper in full at the time, or was only a portion of it released to the press?
Thanks again.
Silkweaver
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112412867 … 880253085/
August 4th 1969.
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/
“I simply cannot accept that there are, on every story, two equal and logical sides to an argument.” Edward R. Murrow.
Thank you, Richard. Was that text version of the August 1969 letter definitely published on August 4th 1969? If so, it’s very odd that in the November 9th 1969 letter Zodiac should imagine that asking ‘the Vallejo cop’ about ‘my electric gun sight’ would ‘prove’ that the letter writer is the killer. The August 1969 letter discusses the ‘gun sight’ at length, so by November this would no longer be information known only to Zodiac and the police. I know you’ve written about the November letter elsewhere, Richard, so any help you may be able to offer in this connection would be much appreciated.
Thanks again.
Silkweaver
Yes, the evening edition of August 4th 1969. The letter arrived at the Examiner early morning and was immediately sent to Vallejo.
When Zodiac sent his July 31st 1969 letters he failed to convince law enforcement fully that he was both letter writer and killer, so Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz requested the writer to send a further correspondence "with more facts to prove it". Zodiac immediately replied with "In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material".
In the newspaper articles after the Stine murder, he was likewise disbelieved by Chief of Police Martin Lee, who called Zodiac a liar and claimed that he didn’t enter the park. Again he was being disbelieved by law enforcement. So, he reiterated with the words "To prove that I am Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves". He was referring to Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz, to whom he provided extra details about his crimes including the gunsight. In effect, he was saying don’t disbelieve me to Martin Lee – and ask Chief Jack E. Stiltz if you want proof. The day he announced himself as Zodiac.
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/
“I simply cannot accept that there are, on every story, two equal and logical sides to an argument.” Edward R. Murrow.
Thank you, Richard. I appreciate your responses to my questions; you are in such command of the detail that it’s always a pleasure to correspond with you.
What you write about Stiltz provides crucial context for understanding the November 1969 letter. But I’m still confused by the last lines of that letter. After all, if it was widely known that Zodiac had sent more details in to Stiltz in the August letter — including details of the ‘electric gun sight’ — then to mention in November that he had done so would hardly ‘prove’ that the November letter writer is Zodiac. If I’ve understood all of this correctly, then Zodiac was certainly in a position to needle Martin Lee with a taunt along the lines of ‘don’t disbelieve me now, and be sure to ask Stiltz what it feels like to have disbelieved me once’. But proof of who he is is what Zodiac reckons his mentioning the electric gun sight amounts to in November. And I can only see it being that if the gun sight stuff remained unknown to the public beyond August.
Perhaps I’m getting hung up on the word ‘prove’, but Zodiac does seem to have been punctilious at other times about getting his proofs right.
Thanks again.
Silkweaver
The gunsights of Zodiac was mentioned in the August 4th 1969 newspaper article. But yes, I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on the word "prove", after all, he mailed in a piece of Paul Stine’s shirt with the Bus Bomb letter and Oct 13 letter, so proof wasn’t necessary with regard to asking the Vallejo cop.
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/
“I simply cannot accept that there are, on every story, two equal and logical sides to an argument.” Edward R. Murrow.
The pencel flashlight was mentioned in the L.A. Times and the Vallejo News Chronicle. The S.F. Examiner & S.F. Chronicle omitted this detail. If there’s specifically a Vallejo Times-Herald article about this, I can’t find it here.
