brubaker was quoted;

“I am pretty sure the middle number is “2” (only number with a flat bottom)“

The discernable ‘7’ is somewhat curvy, so I allow the possibility that the flat

bottom of that middle whatever could be a numeral ‘1’ that has a foot, as

you see in some fonts. 

Urik said; “On the side, I see ‘Buying…’ or something similar.“

That’s a good idea.

This magnet is just a redundant, classic Zodiac clue to facilitate the solution of the cipher, in my opinion. Like the beads on the chain and a similar hint in the Sierra postcard, the magnet clue seems too obscure to understand before solving the actual cipher.

First, I should have referred to it as a magnet from the start, due to the excellent match to Tahoe27’s magnet:

Assume again that everything is deliberate in Zodiac’s puzzles. He used a dark photocopy to partly conceal the cipher codes and possibly also the text on the magnet. But did he really have to introduce the parallel striations? Or could they serve a different purpose? And why a magnet, of all things? Surely, he could have found a simpler key chain. And where have we seen this before: something magnetic, and a well-defined direction conveyed by the striations?

The elongated magnet can represent a compass needle, and we know Zodiac used such a compass. There is a strong resemblance to the Sierra postcard, where the angle between crosshairs symbols repeated part of the Z32 message, conveying an angle with respect to magnetic north. In the Eureka card, the angle of the magnet with respect to the striations should similarly have some significance, and this would explain the striations. (Without the striations, there is a modulo 90 degree ambiguity, plus an error if one uses a misaligned copy.) Measure this angle: 22 degrees. I think Zodiac repeated 22 (by the number of beads and by the magnet angle) to alert us to the presence of a concealed cipher with an s=22=”v” letter shift – which we already found earlier…

Could Zodiac also be referring to a geographic angle? Perhaps, but not very likely, as he had no choice but to use s=21, 22, or 23; other values would not translate the initials of “Mission Street San Francisco California” to “slave” with any 5-digit key. Could the resemblance of this clue to the Sierra postcard be intentional, e.g., to help us solve Z32? Who knows.

Earlier I hoped that the magnet might have belonged to the victim and could help us identify her. However, the magnet’s role as a cipher clue renders it more likely to be planned in advance and unrelated to the victim. It may nevertheless point us to the correct geographic region.

Posted by: @buyerninety

brubaker was quoted;

“I am pretty sure the middle number is “2” (only number with a flat bottom)“

 

The discernable ‘7’ is somewhat curvy, so I allow the possibility that the flat

bottom of that middle whatever could be a numeral ‘1’ that has a foot, as

you see in some fonts. 

 

Urik said; “On the side, I see ‘Buying…’ or something similar.“

That’s a good idea.

 

The base of the fifth digit seems too broad and possibly curved to be a “1”. But if you are right, then the phone number may be in Dixon. The text on the side may be “Buying a 4X4?”, but the last part is even more speculative.

Posted by: @traveller1st

tahoe27, Subject: Re: 1990 Eureka Card Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:11 pm

There is a big thread at Tom’s site about it.

It is a (707) area code.

States something like “BUX”….I’ll go back and look.

I couldn’t find a follow-up. Did the thread on Tom’s site get further on the magnet text than we did here?

Now that all elements in the Eureka card seem to have at least one reasonable explanation, I doubt we will find additional clues to identify the victim. But unless there are relevant cold cases that I missed, the Lona Robertson murder seems to be a rather unique match in terms of timing, location, circumstances, and absence of a suspect. There is something peculiar about the killer’s behavior: why dump the body off Los Alamos Road, but throw her purse to the side of Sonoma Mountain Road? These are distant, rural, and mostly parallel roads.

Edited for clarity.

I think there is a possibility the in-joke is that this is a Rabbit Hole.