Hi all. I have a few queries about this part of the Zodiac investigation which would be appreciated if they can be answered.

The first concerns the Timex watch with broken strap found at the scene- made for a man with a 7 inch wrist according to one report, and of British make. This would suggest the killer (if it is presumed to be his) may have travelled abroad to purchase it. One report says it was still working and there is a photograph showing it at 9.07, yet other reports suggest it had stopped at 12.24 (again with a photograph to prove as evidence). Can anyone shed any confirmation on the ‘it was still working’ vs ‘it was stopped’? One site even has both photographs, so if they are real images of the true watch then was the watch really working but the photographs taken at different times? (Although the watch may be the same one, in the photographs the backgrounds seem different, so this does raise an issue of challenging what has been said.)

The reason for asking this is that there is a suggestion the watch may not even be Zodiac’s, and it may have belonged to Jonny Ray Swindle who was a member of the U.S Navy and killed with his wife in San Diego in 1964. The 340 cipher possibly links the watch to ‘J+S’ at the scene of CRB, by the gym hall as I read it. It had paint specs on it, so there is speculation someone working on the RCC building renovations may have owned it; however, Jonny Swindle was known to have also been painting an apartment as a favour around the time he was murdered, and his watch was missing according to reports. Logically, if Jonny’s killer took his watch and planted it at another murder scene 18 months later as a subtle link, then the killer may not have shown it the care an owner like Jonny would, especially if it was brought when he was abroad on navy duty. (It was British make, so were these Timex’s hard to come by in America at the time?)

This could offer a reasonable theory as to why it had stopped, if it had indeed so, because it was also reported that only its strap was broken. If the watch belonged to the killer, then why would he leave a British made watch, possibly hard to come by, as an identifying element at the scene? Why should it have to come from Cheri’s killer in a frantic struggle in the first place? Surely the killer would have retrieved his own watch when it was left so obviously in view near her body, so my instinct tells me it was left there on purpose as other people have speculated.

The next question I have concerns Cheri Jo Bates and the following- Tuesday October 18th/room 90- tol(d?) CRB. Does this bear any relevance or stir any theories/thoughts?
I presume this is relevant to Cheri Bates as the nearest Tuesdays falling on October 18th which may be relevant are 1966 (12 days before her murder) and 1973, which would be too late for the 340 cipher date of 8th November, 1969.
Not sure if these have relevancy but they are snippets I can see when reading the 340 cipher, using a logical method that would suggest a form of communication between parties, with the newspapers being used as an obvious form of delivery. By making sense of the information I am reading, I am hoping to see the patterns which could be used to set the keys in place.

I have also seen multiple names so there is absolutely no definitive way of suggesting zodiac names himself, and it is quite easy to read names into the 340 which is why there are so many people claiming their relative was he/they. Hell, I can even forge my name into the 340 with ease, so this goes to show just how cleverly made it is.
At one point, it had crossed my mind that Zodiac was a member of mensa. What do you think?