Here’s a question for anyone familiar with this case… Any idea how it was determined that there was an "attempted sexual assault" in this case when Lindy was apparently found fully clothed?

Because there was someone peeking through her windows the days before she got killed. Told it to some friends.

QT

Hmm, QT. I understand the stalking might indicate some sexual motive but that’s a big difference from an "attempted sexual assault". It seems contradictory to her being found fully clothed. Was there any physical evidence of a sexual assault? If not, how did they know there was an attempted assault?

I think, but can’t remember, there may have been semen found on her clothes, don’t hold me to that I have to sort thru my files, also, I will pm you some info

Text of the letter:

hi sheeler
Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn’t caught me yet, still around, Lindy’s marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.
Count them.
you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.
I’ll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.
got busted once for Drugs a few years back
Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs
I am 5’10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful
and capable of killing again without knowing it
Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.
Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.
Will god forgive me ———
Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it. v then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.
Help me please
P.S. chief sheeler my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That’s why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station. Janice Crum

Hm…no matter who wrote that letter – either its author or Janice Crum – both would’ve mentioned in it that her killer had a relationship with Lindy before killing her…

Do we know with whom she was together before she was murdered?

QT

When you say, ‘together’, what do you mean? Do you mean who was she with prior to her death, or who was she in a relationship with?

I think she had been out shopping with a Relative before she went home.One theory is, that while she carried her stuff from the car to her door, the killer either snuck in while her back was turned, or snuck up behind her and followed her in. Maybe he was in there waiting for her. In either case,I think an apartment resident is likely to be the perp

I honestly don’t take what’s stated in the letter at face value at all. Some it may be true but I would bet the farm that there are at least parts representing intentional misdirection. As far as Janice Crum is concerned, if she exists, she has nothing to do with Lindy’s murder and didn’t write any of the letter, IMO. The handwriting was determined to be from the same person. I do still think it’s worth while to explore if any Janice Crums were interviewed or know anything about the case.

Can someone remind me of the date that this letter was sent? For some reason, I was thinking it was sent well before Lindy’s grave was attacked but the letter references the grave attack, which didn’t occur until around December, 1976 near the one-year anniversary of her murder. The thought also crossed my mind in talking to someone else that Dominick Capellupo would have been dead when Lindy’s grave was attacked and the letter was sent. I think this makes him far less interesting unless you believe that someone completely unrelated to the case sent the letter and attacked her grave. The letter COULD be fake (I don’t believe it is) but I can’t imagine someone uninvolved attacking a victim’s grave like that.

I’ve been thinking about Haefner a lot ever since Seagull posted that article referencing the four other women "attacked sexually with a screwdriver" in December, 1975 and January, 1976. Haefner reportedly carried around a sharpened screwdriver for self-protection at Penn State, which could also be the possible murder weapon in the Betsy Aardsma case. He has a track record of stalking, almost certainly murdering one woman and violently attacking another. In December-January, he was living on the west side of Lancaster at his mother’s and awaiting trial for his sexual molestation case, which began on January 25, 1976. He was without a doubt a homosexual pedophile but, according to Derek, was not really known to have relationships with men or women. The FBI profile point to someone with an "explosive personality" (check…), full of rage (check) and the letter writer as possibly a homosexual male (I think this is based on the self-description so I don’t totally buy it).

Just a thought… Derek seems to think that Haefner would have been on a fairly tight leash at the time due to the pending molestation trial but I wouldn’t put this type of crime past him in the least.

Entropy,

The letter was sent soon after the grave vandalism,and it mentioned the scratches on her stone,"count them".
I also think that the Janice Crum thing is a total misdirection,and she has no involvement,and perhaps, the letter writer knows her and used her name. I really think that the police missed out on a golden opportunity to open up a dialogue with this writer(just think if the paper never published Z’s 1st letter). More letter from this writer may have gave them more clues,evidence,etc,and a stronger chance of arrest.

I still have zodiac in the back of my head as the letter writer in this case, based on the similar words,phrases, spelling errors,etc, and the need to be published in the Friday Paper, as well as the timing of the vandalism & letter coming at close to the anniversary of this letter. A longshot,but worth exploring. I had found an older woman(70’s?)that was involved in the CB radio craze of the 60’s and lived in Vallejo before moving to lancaster. And recently, I found a guy that wrote a letter to the editor living in Vallejo,and he too moved to the lancaster area. No solid connections to either of them yet.

Definitely some weird Zynchronicity in that letter for sure, morf. I don’t know why I thought the letter was written earlier as the letter obviously references the grave attack.

Why the heck would anyone move from Vallejo to Lancaster?

When you say, ‘together’, what do you mean? Do you mean who was she with prior to her death, or who was she in a relationship with?

I think she had been out shopping with a Relative before she went home.One theory is, that while she carried her stuff from the car to her door, the killer either snuck in while her back was turned, or snuck up behind her and followed her in. Maybe he was in there waiting for her. In either case,I think an apartment resident is likely to be the perp

Rather think about a relationship she may have had with someone. This relationship could also have been a family relationship. So if she went shopping with a relative, I’d guess he is a POI. He didn’t live in Mechanicsburg and was in a relationship with a Janice Crum later, did he?

QT

When you say, ‘together’, what do you mean? Do you mean who was she with prior to her death, or who was she in a relationship with?

I think she had been out shopping with a Relative before she went home.One theory is, that while she carried her stuff from the car to her door, the killer either snuck in while her back was turned, or snuck up behind her and followed her in. Maybe he was in there waiting for her. In either case,I think an apartment resident is likely to be the perp

Rather think about a relationship she may have had with someone. This relationship could also have been a family relationship. So if she went shopping with a relative, I’d guess he is a POI. He didn’t live in Mechanicsburg and was in a relationship with a Janice Crum later, did he?

QT

When I said a ‘Relative’, I meant, a FEMALE Relative,and personally, you are putting too much stock into the name JANICE CRUM-at BEST maybe she was an ex-gf of his, a schoolmate, somebody he worked with,etc

When you say, ‘together’, what do you mean? Do you mean who was she with prior to her death, or who was she in a relationship with?

I think she had been out shopping with a Relative before she went home.One theory is, that while she carried her stuff from the car to her door, the killer either snuck in while her back was turned, or snuck up behind her and followed her in. Maybe he was in there waiting for her. In either case,I think an apartment resident is likely to be the perp

Rather think about a relationship she may have had with someone. This relationship could also have been a family relationship. So if she went shopping with a relative, I’d guess he is a POI. He didn’t live in Mechanicsburg and was in a relationship with a Janice Crum later, did he?

QT

When I said a ‘Relative’, I meant, a FEMALE Relative,and personally, you are putting too much stock into the name JANICE CRUM-at BEST maybe she was an ex-gf of his, a schoolmate, somebody he worked with,etc

Well, the name Janice Crum appears in this letter. No matter who had written it, someone is obviously referring to Lindy Sue Biechler’s previous relationship with a guy. So I’d be very interested in both, the Janice Crum living near the scene in Mechanicsburg (possibly his next girlfriend) AND Lindy Sue Biechler’s previous boyfriends. Wouldn’t focus too much on other acquaintances of Lindy as the author or co-author of the letter literally refers to a ‘relationship’. Authorities also believe she might have known her killer, as she was putting groceries into her fridge when being killed. And finally, the author refers to ‘the community’ and that he lives in ‘Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs’.

Lindy had known her killer, imo, and is this letter actually explaining not only how and why but also claiming that her killer had been in a relationship with her. It even is written that he ‘described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her’. So no matter if ‘confession’ or ‘witness’ (‘as God is my witness’), the relationship was not only e.g. years earlier but rather ‘before he killed her’.

So if that guy, she might have had a relationship with, also got ‘busted’ for drugs a few years ago, I’d really like to go for his handwriting. And, regarding the Janice Crum, without any solid interrogation of her nothing can be considered regarding her role or innocence in this case.

And not to forget – if we can believe true crime diary: She was found on her kitchen floor. She had been stabbed several times, and there was a knife still embedded in her neck. Investigators would discover that the knife in Lindy’s neck was a knife that belonged to her from her own kitchen, but that a second knife was used in the attack as well, one that was not found at the crime scene and presumably was brought to and from the scene by her killer. Although police believed the attack was sexual in nature, there was no evidence of rape, or robbery.
http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm … e=comments

QT

What about this letter shows that the writer is indicating he had a relationship with Lindy?

hi sheeler (Police Chief Sheeler)

Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn’t caught me yet, still around, Lindy’s marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.

Count them.

you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.

I’ll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.

got busted once for Drugs a few years back

Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs

I am 5’10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful

and capable of killing again without knowing it

Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.

Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.

Will god forgive me ———

Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it. v then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.

Help me please

P.S. chief sheeler my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That’s why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station. Janice Crum"

All this letter states,is that Lindy ‘turned him on’, which does not indicate a relationship.

I think it’s rather interesting that the P.S. from "Janice Crum" states "he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her". You’re right, morf, that the letter really doesn’t describe any actual relationship other than a one-way lecherous infatuation but Janice Crum (who is likely the letter writer commenting on himself in the 3rd person) refers to a relationship, which could certainly just be imaginary. "Janice" also refers to Lindy by her full name, including middle name, which seems to indicate some pretty close familiarity.

The identified letter writer is dismissive of her as a victim and focused on taunting police while "Janice" is apologetic and refers to her as a human being with a middle name and all. When I have some time, I need to go through the entire letter and offer some opinions. I think it is really interesting and there are some (possibly) telling contradictions.

Thanks, missed the Crum part mentioning a relationship,of course,I dont think the letter writer had a relationship with her,just misdirection. I have a chart someplace(buried on my computer),that showed all of the similarities to zodiac’s writing,terms,phrases,words,subject matter,etc, which is what made me think this could be a Z letter if he wound up moving to PA.

I will note some of those things next

hi sheeler (Police Chief Sheeler)

Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn’t caught me yet, still around, Lindy’s marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.

Count them.

you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.

I’ll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.

got busted once for Drugs a few years back

Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs

I am 5’10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful

and capable of killing again without knowing it

Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.

Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.

Will god forgive me ———

Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it. v then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.

Help me please

P.S. chief sheeler my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That’s why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station. Janice Crum"

Line by line comparison to zodiac-

"Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn’t caught me yet" sounds similar to Zodiac’s "Doesnt it rile you up to have your noses rubbed in your boo boos"

"I’ll tell you what Chief Pig" like zodiac’s, use of Blue,pigs,meannies,

"print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper" essentially, just like Zodiac

"You see the world owes me a living" questioned Z letter stated, "I will go for the Government life"

"5ft 10, fat and beautiful", generally fits Zodiac’s description

" loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily", like Zodiac’s letter to melvin Belli "please help I am drownding" & the whole fake call to Melvin Belli..headaches.

letter mentions ‘confession’ sort of like the Bates case, and also, filled with spelling errors, including same misspelling of the word LOSING (Loosing, spelled same incorrect way as Z spelled that in Belli letter)

The vandalism and letter mailing marking the anniversary of her murder, also similar to z.

This is all the stuff I can think of off hand. I know its a longshot to be zodiac that killed Lindy, but if Zodiac moved from CA, and continued on his taunting letters, he couldnt call himself Zodiac, or else police would be able to track down who moved from the bay area alot more easy,but his writing habits may still show in his writing. Also, the Janice Crum name, while there are some in PA, there are a few in SF Bay area,if this was z and he used a name he was associated with back in CA, he might have figured that police would never link it back to the west coast. Lindy’s murder & letter, fall in line with zodiac’s last confirmed letter in 74. Somebody else pointed out to me that the word STABS is spelled wrong as STABES (Bates anagramed)

As I stated before, I really think the cops missed a golden chance to open a line of communication with this letter writer, which may have lead to more letters, clues,or evidence. Imagine if the papers never posted Zodiac’s first communication, he may have never sent another