Hi,
Board newbie. Far from a Z specialist. More of an occasional hobbyist with famous cold cases. Really enjoying the site on the past few days, .
A few questions:
1) Concerning the 340 cipher and the FBI, which of the following is closest to true, in your opinion:
a) The FBI has solved it and they simply are not disclosing it publicly.
b) The FBI has solved a portion of it, perhaps even most of it, or maybe a first stage of it, but they are using the remaining unsolved portions to be able to say that they have not solved it.
c) They have not solved it, and they are using the linguistic entropy (randomness of symbols) to feel "highly confident" that there is a message in the six-line configuration.
2) I’ve noticed some feeling that Paul Stine might have known his passenger. My question is, was Stine regularly assigned to that neighborhood, or was he randomly there that night and got the call? I find it hard to believe that Zodiac knew Stine in a spooky "Hello, Paul. So good to see you again" sort of way. But I could believe, if he were regularly assigned to the neighborhood, that Z might have been a bit of a regular customer. Which would tell us something about his location.
3) How many normal people do you think know of the Deer Lodge Penitentiary in Montana? How many people know the name of any state prisons outside of the states they have lived in?
NNN, nice to have you here.
Question 1 My opinion about the cipher is that the FBI has not solved it. I don’t think that they know any more than some of our cipher people here. There are plenty of people who take on the unsolvable ciphers, not necessarily the Zodiac ciphers, and it’s always big news in their community when one of the unsolvables gets solved. My guess is that if the FBI had solved Zodiac’s cipher news would trickle down and there would be an announcement.
Question 2 The cab drivers in San Francisco were not assigned any particular beat or route. That would be way too hard to adhere to because if a fare were picked up somewhere in the city and wanted to go to the airport, the cabby would not come back into the city with an empty cab if he could help it. The cabbies did hang out at places where there would be fares though and the theater district, where Zodiac was thought to have been picked up would qualify as one of those type of places.
Question 3 Many people could have known about Deer Lodge Prison because there was a huge riot there in 1959 and it made national news almost immediately. Just do a Google search for Deer Lodge Prison Riot, tons of articles.
Hope that helps.
NNN, you might want to read what the FBI had to say about where they feel there is a message in the 340 cipher.
http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/4 … aWlVenbKM8
1) Out of your choices, "c"
2) Paul was in the theater district and Zodiac got into his cab and directed him to PH. I think Paul was just in the wrong place and the wrong time.
3) What Seagull said. 
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Tahoe, seeing that Zodiac craved publicity, would he ever have revisited the crime scenes to either relive the "thrill" or possibly drop hints?
It seems that it could fit his profile.
I could see him doing that.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
1) Out of your choices, "c"
2) Paul was in the theater district and Zodiac got into his cab and directed him to PH. I think Paul was just in the wrong place and the wrong time.
3) What Seagull said.
Z hailed a cab in the "Theater District." Has anyone ever researched what movies or plays there were in that area, that evening, that would’ve ended shortly before Z hopped in that cab?
I’m just wondering if he was watching something that may have "motivated" him.
It has been researched and if I am not mistaken, "Hair" was one of the productions going on that evening.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
OK. Why am I under the impression that the cab hub was two blocks east of the Geary Theater and that Paul was parked there when he got the fateful call?
Soze
OK. Why am I under the impression that the cab hub was two blocks east of the Geary Theater and that Paul was parked there when he got the fateful call?
Soze
Was he "called" or hailed? If called, then Z couldn’t have been targeting him specifically.
OK. Why am I under the impression that the cab hub was two blocks east of the Geary Theater and that Paul was parked there when he got the fateful call?
Soze
Was he "called" or hailed? If called, then Z couldn’t have been targeting him specifically.
Both, but hailed by Zodiac.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
I don’t know why I said what I did except that st Francis hotel comes to mind. That was the location I was thinking of. My understanding is that Paul got a call and was hailed by Z enroute.
Soze
OK. Why am I under the impression that the cab hub was two blocks east of the Geary Theater and that Paul was parked there when he got the fateful call?
Soze
Was he "called" or hailed? If called, then Z couldn’t have been targeting him specifically.
Both, but hailed by Zodiac.
What Tahoe said. Sorry. Didn’t see your post.
Soze
