It is also very possible he knew about the comic before any of his attacks, and appropriated "by knife" for the car door in respect to the Snoozy & Furlong coverage. It doesn’t have to be a case of one or the other. That is why I think the Death Wheel was integral to both Fairfield letters.

The words in the Halloween card was a year later, not a month.

Consider this Marshall: If the Halloween card was authored by an seperate individual to the bulk of Zodiac communications, who based the Halloween card on the Tim Holt comic only (which had "by" before every mode of death), then are we to believe he was extremely fortunate that a year earlier, the real Zodiac Killer just happened to create a 340 cipher containing the word "BY" in all four quadrants of the cipher, along with PARADICE and SLAVES being a possibility, running down and across the cipher on the midpoint vertically and horizontally (17 X 17), just like the configuration on the Halloween card.

The only other possibility, is he saw that PARADICE and SLAVES was potentially in the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically, as well as the four "by’s" in the four quadrants and crafted the Halloween card from the 340 cipher, while simultaneously and fortuitously discovering (or knowing of) a Tim Holt comic that mimicked the Halloween card he was designing.

As you stated: if its safe to conclude that the same person who wrote by knife on the Halloween card is the same person who wrote on the car door, then can the same argument not be applied, that the person who designed the Halloween card, designed the 340 cipher. To fluke out 4 by’s, and the potential of PARADICE and SLAVES exactly bisecting the 340 cipher, is stronger than "by knife" alone. Its more likely he was responsible for both mailed communications and the car door.

So are the connections between the Halloween card and 340 cipher accidental. Whereas the "by knife" on the Halloween card and car door are deliberate (and not accidental) – and therefore one person.

And yet, the 340 cipher and Halloween card creator are two persons?

Tim Holt comics aren’t just any old comics. They are part of a very specific era that helped shaped America from the late 50s onward based on what kids were reading between the end of the 30s and the 50s. It has a name. It is called THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMIC BOOKS for this reason.

1938 to 1956.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Comic_Books

The government even understood the power of these comics many of which had grabbed onto the idea of the American hero vs the Nazi scum. The Nazi scum are basically the underlying template for a ton of supervillians that followed. Megalomaniac Hitlers. Superman for example has enormous parallels to Jesus. So comic narratives had scored big on linking up their fantasy creations with aspects of American culture and basically life in the day which included WWII. Some of these golden age comics just straight out had Navy heroes (no super powers) battling against foreign aggressors.

RKO got heavily involved in this also as Hollywood begun to understand it needed to get on board with this stuff. Ever see the movie Barton Fink where Barton meets a Hollywood producer dressed like a Colonel? Colonel Lipnik.

Tim Holt is a cowboy who defends civilians against rogues. That sort of thing is going to impress on some people to take on a career that does that. To help civilians. Tim Holt was even converted into a superhero to give him more appeal – the Red Mask.

These comics were a way more impressive on the youth of the moment then even the Marvel of today. It was something really big for the time and lasted over a decade. It left a big impression on those that read them.

These comics were a way more impressive on the youth of the moment then even the Marvel of today. It was something really big for the time and lasted over a decade. It left a big impression on those that read them.

Exactly. And the comic with the Death Wheel, including By Knife, was published in 1952. Descriptions of the LB killer estimate him to be 28-30 in 1969, making him 11-13 years old in 1952. That’s what I’m suggesting – that comic made a big impression on the LB killer while in his youth.

The descriptions of Shooter Z at PH have him at a consensus 40 years or so. Meaning he was about 23 years old – way past his youth – when that comic came out.

So if, as you say, those comics left a big impression on the youth, who was their intended audience, a person 28-30 in 1969 could easily have been so impressed. A guy 40 years old in 1969, not so much.

Consider this Marshall: If the Halloween card was authored by an seperate individual to the bulk of Zodiac communications, who based the Halloween card on the Tim Holt comic only (which had "by" before every mode of death), then are we to believe he was extremely fortunate that a year earlier, the real Zodiac Killer just happened to create a 340 cipher containing the word "BY" in all four quadrants of the cipher, along with PARADICE and SLAVES being a possibility, running down and across the cipher on the midpoint vertically and horizontally (17 X 17), just like the configuration on the Halloween card.

The only other possibility, is he saw that PARADICE and SLAVES was potentially in the 340 cipher both horizontally and vertically, as well as the four "by’s" in the four quadrants and crafted the Halloween card from the 340 cipher, while simultaneously and fortuitously discovering (or knowing of) a Tim Holt comic that mimicked the Halloween card he was designing.

As you stated: if its safe to conclude that the same person who wrote by knife on the Halloween card is the same person who wrote on the car door, then can the same argument not be applied, that the person who designed the Halloween card, designed the 340 cipher. To fluke out 4 by’s, and the potential of PARADICE and SLAVES exactly bisecting the 340 cipher, is stronger than "by knife" alone. Its more likely he was responsible for both mailed communications and the car door.

So are the connections between the Halloween card and 340 cipher accidental. Whereas the "by knife" on the Halloween card and car door are deliberate (and not accidental) – and therefore one person.

And yet, the 340 cipher and Halloween card creator are two persons?

First you are correct, the halloween card was sent a year and 2 weeks after PH. Thanks for correcting me on that.

The 340 quadrants each have 90 characters. When you say each quadrant has a "By", this isn’t quite true. What occurs is:
B, backwards Y
B, backwards Y
backwards Y, B
correct Y, B

So, in a 90 character block it is true there is either a correct or backwards Y in front of or behind a B. It would seem to me if this was intentional it would be less ambiguous. In a previous conversation you pointed out the words knife, rope, fire, and gun were also in the 340 quadrants. It turns out the letters needed to make "Rope" "Fire" and "Gun" are in 3 quadrants, and "Knife" in 2 quadrants. These letters are not adjacent – just scattered about, and given there are 90 characters per quadrant (although some are not letters) and only 10 distinct letters required to make all 4 words, this also does not look intentional, and without any rhyme or reason regarding the weapons, I see no point to the "BY" coincidence.

In short, I don’t see "By Knife,"By Gun", etc. constructed in the 340. I also think your Paradice and Slaves theory is flawed in that you are selectively cherry-picking which symbols represent certain letters, without being consistent with spacing. In other words, you are ignoring symbols that don’t fit. There are 20 characters down the middle of the 340 and you are selecting 8 of them, then forcing the word Paradice by changing those 8 symbols into the letters you need them to be. Again, without consistency regarding spacing, ignored symbols, etc.

Yes, I think the things you have found between the 340 and halloween card are coincidental. The bottom 2 rows of the 340 have 34 symbols, and only 22 of them are letters, either backwards or correct. Contained within these 22 possible letters can be made the name KACZYNSKI. To me, this is far more intriguing. 9 letters needed, only 22 letters available, and there it is. We can also come up with THEODORE in the first two lines if we double-use the O and E, and there’s a J just about in the center of the 340 as well.

I believe the By Knife on the car door, the halloween card, and the comic book are all directly related; the former 2 written by the LB killer, and the latter the inspiration for both. It is possible the LB killer did not know of the comic and did not write the halloween card, but in that case I see no reason for him to write By Knife. The murder method was not in doubt.

Considering all the bragging and details provided about the shootings – the ammo, flashlight, Jensen’s body position, places Mageau was shot, the PH escape, not to mention the Stine shirt pieces, the denial of leaving fingerprints on the cab, talking with Foulke, and on and on…. why do you suppose he said nothing about the LB attack?

why do you suppose he said nothing about the LB attack?

Because Bryan said it all. But he did lay claim to it twice.

why do you suppose he said nothing about the LB attack?

Because Bryan said it all. But he did lay claim to it twice.

"North Bay Area" is not laying claim to it.

Meaning he was about 23 years old – way past his youth – when that comic came out.

23 is not too old to be a comics nerd, far from it.

It was done for his own satisfaction. Either he wants to fulfill the supervillain fantasy. Or it’s a sort of theatrical sense of humor.

There are two things that make me think Berryessa could be a copycat;
The first is the nature of the attack(knife,daylight,costume) is clearly different.
The second is more subtle; Why did he send a piece of Paul Stine’s shirt with his next letter? Is he upset that a copycat did Berryessa and he really wanted to emphasize that the Stine murder was a real Z murder? Think about it,if he wanted to send proof with his letters,it would have been a lot easier to cut off a piece off Cecilia Shepards dress and mail that,then have to scramble at a crime scene with more potential witnesses on a city street,to cut off a piece of Stine’s shirt. Maybe the copycat at Berryessa set Z off and now he felt like he needed to mail proof with his letters. If it was a copycat,I’m sure Z wouldnt be too happy creating a costume out of his identity!

There are two things that make me think Berryessa could be a copycat;
The first is the nature of the attack(knife,daylight,costume) is clearly different.
The second is more subtle; Why did he send a piece of Paul Stine’s shirt with his next letter? Is he upset that a copycat did Berryessa and he really wanted to emphasize that the Stine murder was a real Z murder? Think about it,if he wanted to send proof with his letters,it would have been a lot easier to cut off a piece off Cecilia Shepards dress and mail that,then have to scramble at a crime scene with more potential witnesses on a city street,to cut off a piece of Stine’s shirt. Maybe the copycat at Berryessa set Z off and now he felt like he needed to mail proof with his letters. If it was a copycat,I’m sure Z wouldnt be too happy creating a costume out of his identity!

Exactly! Z committing a crime like LB and NOT bragging about it? Z was all about his communications, bragging, gloating, taunting. He commits the most brazen murder of his persona’s career and he goes radio silent about it? Not at all plausible IMO. It would be like winning a million bucks at a casino and not bothering to pick up the money.

Further…. why was PH just 2 weeks later? Before that it was months between attacks. And then, as you say, overkill (so to speak) on proving he did it, with the shirt, his account of his Great Escape, conversation with Foulke……

There was a British serial killer (Peter Sutcliff, I think) nicknamed the Yorkshire Ripper. He had a makeshift piece of clothing that he used as a masturbation device. It was a sweater into which he sewed knee-pads into the sleeves. He wore the sweater as a pair of underwear. When he would kill his victims he would kneel next to them and masturbate easily by pulling his outer pants down and have easy access (and kneeling comfort) for his sick fantasies. He was captured wearing it, so it definitely existed. He never spoke of it in any interviews.

The author who discovered that was Michael Bilton in his book "Wicked Beyond Belief". A+ crime book. Police watched Sutcliffe undressing while in custody and saw it but didn’t understand it. Sutcliffe told them he put his sweater on that way because he was cold. He wasn’t wearing underwear though. It was discovered for that books research decades later in a brown paper bag in evidence lockup. I don’t think this even made it to trial. If it did it would have had massive impact and it shows all sorts of premeditation going on and may have undone some of Sutcliffe’s story.

The Zodiac killer’s hood reminds me of this in a way. If you had clergy vestment with a hood and wore it in reverse with an open back exposing the rear of your head you might just have a Celtic cross designed for the rear, now appearing on the front. Cut out some eyes on the back of the hood and off you go.

Does anyone know if Sherwood Morrill authenticated the handwriting on Hartnell’s
car door ? (It looks like Z’s handwriting to me FWIW)

If so then LB was committed by Zodiac !

"By knife" had leaked to the national press only a month after the attack, it just wasn’t reported in the CA papers that people have historically referred to.

If you’re going to discount the card because of the handwriting (valid)…but discount the car door because…um, the writing doesn’t matter?…I don’t know, I could never wrap my head around it. And I won’t claim that handwriting is absolute proof of anything, it’s the logic of that particular "Master Copycat" argument that puzzles me.

If you had clergy vestment with a hood and wore it in reverse with an open back exposing the rear of your head you might just have a Celtic cross designed for the rear, now appearing on the front. Cut out some eyes on the back of the hood and off you go.

This seems more plausible than the only other explanation of him meticulously stitching the symbol onto the costume, which though possible, has always seemed ridiculous to me on the face of it (which isn’t to say serial killers aren’t capable of behaving this strangely).