I couldn’t find more letters by Bob L. from the aforementioned years.

I know "L." is probably the first initial of Bob’s last name… but I did find it interesting that a Robert L. Barrett was asking the FBI for fingerprints on file. See discussion here.

This Robert L. Barrett detail is interesting, will have to look more into it.

I did some searching on Bobs/Richards with an L-surname. One of these Bobs brings up some navy-related stuff on Newspapers but I am not sure if it’s the same guy or someone else with the same name.

The bits about Betty Loud & David were in all probability written by their friends or schoolmates. I was actually surprised there wasn’t anything about Darlene & Mike from concerned Valleojans.

Thank you, Morf for adding this topic. I also wondered about some of the Zodiac letter words and phrases, and wonder if they were found before, during or after the crimes in articles or letters to the editor.

Found your letters to the editor from Napa people interesting – such as Al Cardwell and Harry Martin. I don’t think I ever met Cardwell, but he was a constant letter writer. Harry Martin was interesting that you mentioned him- when I moved to Napa in 1993, he had his own little newspaper, had some local articles, long opinion pieces, and letters to the editor. As a citizen then, I saw his side of the story. After working at the City of Napa, I saw the total opposite of him. He basically ran stories without backing them up, checking additional peoples views or evidence. He had one police officer that he ripped on frequently. The officer was doing his job, really wasn’t doing anything illegal or unethical as Harry Martin put in his paper. Harry Martin did actually become a City of Napa politician, and served on the City Council for 2 terms. I personally found him rather cold, and odd, at the same time. He ended up having financial problems and ended up almost homeless and dying, which was a sad end.

As far as the letters to the editor, the story behind the story in Napa. The police chief when I worked there was Dan Monez. He would get calls from the kooks and crazies in town, and would speak with them. These people were heavily investigated if they were any threat to the public, and watched carefully. Like those letters from an African country, where they ask you to put money in your bank account- he played with those people and hooked them in as long as he could, he found it fascinating.

Basically, a lot of investigation went on behind the scenes of people who write in those letters to the editor, letters to the chief, etc. That was not published in the paper or common knowledge about town- that info was on the downlow. I don’t know historically in 1968/69 of the time of the Zodiac how things were handled back then. I can say, after working with the police officers, they had a great poker face when talking with their "customers" parolees, people on probation, those being mentally ill and doing strange things- they gathered information. So, possibly, during the zodiac killings and investigations, they were also checking out any letter writers that seemed "off" and checking their alibis and running down leads. Now, 50 years later, things are obviously quite cold in this case. I don’t know if we can tie any letter to the editor to this killer. But an interesting possibility!

Thanks,

CathyO

I think this could be a Zodiac letter to the editor

Familiar tone of smug self-satisfaction and veiled menace. It’s an odd attempt to paint a high school student of seemingly good reputation as authoritarian. The slander is somewhat incoherent in that sense, mismatching political categories. There’s a peculiar sense of rivalry to the letter. Who’d be the rival of a high school student?

Also interesting that the author, seems to be taking personal issue with a Glick as an editorialist. I’ve long suspected Zodiac of engaging in parasocial relationships (as with Belli, Count Marco, Avery and Toschi, even).

Parasocial interaction (PSI) refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television […] as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them.

I know it’s 1969, but the overall tone is somewhat ‘arch’ (or arch-villainous, even) to the point of being old-fashioned. Perhaps people did write like this, but it seems out of time, somehow.

Familiar tone of smug self-satisfaction and veiled menace. It’s an odd attempt to paint a high school student of seemingly good reputation as authoritarian. The slander is somewhat incoherent in that sense, mismatching political categories. There’s a peculiar sense of rivalry to the letter. Who’d be the rival of a high school student?

Also interesting that the author, seems to be taking personal issue with a Glick as an editorialist. I’ve long suspected Zodiac of engaging in parasocial relationships (as with Belli, Count Marco, Avery and Toschi, even).

Parasocial interaction (PSI) refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television […] as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them.

I know it’s 1969, but the overall tone is somewhat ‘arch’ (or arch-villainous, even) to the point of being old-fashioned. Perhaps people did write like this, but it seems out of time, somehow.

Just 3 weeks before BRS attack

Just 3 weeks before BRS attack

Given there’s a tone of jealousy in this letter, has anyone every come across any Vallejo Times Herald articles celebrating David Faraday’s prestigious God & Country award, which curiously is a religious accolade?

Just 3 weeks before BRS attack

Given there’s a tone of jealousy in this letter, has anyone every come across any Vallejo Times Herald articles celebrating David Faraday’s prestigious God & Country award, which curiously is a religious accolade?

I think since the letter I posted was AFTER the first Z killings, Zodiac may not have used his real name after that. Prior to LHR murders, similar letters might contain his name

I wonder if it’s the same Peter E. Glick, attorney at law in Sacramento. Would he remember having an admirer (or a fan club)?

I wonder if it’s the same Peter E. Glick, attorney at law in Sacramento. Would he remember having an admirer (or a fan club)?

Nancy Bennallack, possible Zodiac victim in Sacramento, was the fiance of high-profile attorney Farris Salamay.

I saw this posted a while back on Reddit. As long as we’re doing this ….. Letter to the editor, Monterey Herald, 2009. Contains the lyrics of the Tit-Willow song.

Judging by what’s known about him online, the writer was a high-achieving, arty air force and navy person. Specialty was satellite meteorology. I should be all over this. But I’m not. He seems like a greenie peacenik who likes Gilbert and Sullivan and writing letters to the editor about environmental causes. Nothing more.

I thought it would be worth passing along, FTR.

https://www.montereyherald.com/2009/02/ … on-target/

Peter E Glick is still alive as far as I can tell. He was born feb 1951. I feel that the letter to the editor was written by a classmate. The use of "shall" is common amongst the law fraternity, which is the field that Peter went into.

The high frequency of the use of the word ‘shall’ is telling.

The use of "shall" is common amongst the law fraternity, which is the field that Peter went into.

Zodiac’s use of ‘shall’ comes up a lot so I decided to look into. I found out that law students do in fact osmose the term ‘shall’ through study it seems. Yet, there’s been considerable effort to render it obsolete since it’s regarded as "officious".

In the US, within law the use of ‘shall’ is advised against nearly all contexts. Some people claim that Zodiac’s use of shall suggests there might be a Canadian influence on Zodiac’s speech, but that’s not the case, it’s also discouraged in law there too, specifically because it creates ambiguity. Even in the UK, where usage differs from the US, it’s considered antiquated and too polysemic. The law requires greater accuracy.

Most countries now follow the "American rule’ for the word, with the exception of wherever it means "to have duty to do".

Which sets up an interesting question: Does Zodiac believe it’s his duty to carry out these deeds? Duty is a peculiarly pompous motivation, to my mind.

This thread includes letters to the editors of Bay area papers. It was with the hope that maybe we could spot potential instances where Zodiac wrote using his real name, perhaps before the Z crimes. There are Napa & SF letters to the editor here as well as 66-67 Riverside letters to the editor. Of course there are also Vallejo letters to the editor, but I think they are AFTER 1968. I am working on getting 66-68 in small batches. The letters were published in VTH weekly, so 52 times a year. I am getting them in spurts a month at a time if anyone wants to look through them. Here is Jan 1966

Here is Feb 66

March, 1966