Do you think he wrote to the Chronicle during this time? We know that he was in Riverside and Vallejo before SF, so personally I think that he might not have written them until after he "became Zodiac" and was more likely to write to his local papers. Just a feeling.

This. The Zodiac originally targeted The Vallejo-Herald Times with his three-part ciper, choosing it first among his three papers. When The Chronicle ran with the story, The Zodiac dropped the other two, but he certainly favored the VHT. So if The Zodiac wrote to a paper before July 1969, I’m sure he chose the VHT.

Good point. I have 3 months left of 1968 to get, and then I am going to go right to the 68-69 Vallejo Times Herald.

Morf…for what’s it is worth, and I’m not sure much since you do not know me, it is almost CERTAIN Zodiac wrote VHT prior to 1969. I’d be shocked, actually, if he didn’t, which isn’t the same as saying that the VHT printed his letters. For all we know, he wrote rambling screeds that went discarded.

Another thing…whatever happened to The Zodiac is very quite possibly in archives of the VHT. I’m thinking he either committed a crime that placed him in prison, or committed suicide. If you get a chance, hit up late 1974 and 1975. The Zodiac had a huge three-year break from 1971 to 1974, and I think it’s because he was committed to a mental health hospital. The Red Phantom letter confirms that much, at least for me given that that letter screams psychological projection…

From there, then, given the Exorcist letter, one has to think something happened to The Zodiac, something that silenced him for good.

I just think it’s unlikely he stopped writing letters cold turkey, especially given that his Red Phantom letter indicated he would continue to write anonymously.

Do you think he wrote to the Chronicle during this time? We know that he was in Riverside and Vallejo before SF, so personally I think that he might not have written them until after he "became Zodiac" and was more likely to write to his local papers. Just a feeling.

This. The Zodiac originally targeted The Vallejo-Herald Times with his three-part ciper, choosing it first among his three papers. When The Chronicle ran with the story, The Zodiac dropped the other two, but he certainly favored the VHT. So if The Zodiac wrote to a paper before July 1969, I’m sure he chose the VHT.

How are you reasoning that he chose VTH first and favored them?

Do you think he wrote to the Chronicle during this time? We know that he was in Riverside and Vallejo before SF, so personally I think that he might not have written them until after he "became Zodiac" and was more likely to write to his local papers. Just a feeling.

This. The Zodiac originally targeted The Vallejo-Herald Times with his three-part ciper, choosing it first among his three papers. When The Chronicle ran with the story, The Zodiac dropped the other two, but he certainly favored the VHT. So if The Zodiac wrote to a paper before July 1969, I’m sure he chose the VHT.

How are you reasoning that he chose VTH first and favored them?

Because the first part of the 408 cipher was mailed to VHT. He then, in the other two letters, mentions their order. VHT is always mentioned as first, indicating he had a plan as to what letter would go where and in what order.

EDIT: The Chronicle was last in the order. VHT, Examiner, Chronicle. May have thought his chances with The Chronicle were kind of low.

Letter one: VHT

Letter two: Examiner

Letter three: Chronicle

Each letter mentions the other two, but the order never changes, indicating The Zodiac was totally aware of what letter would go where and in what order. That such an outcome occurs by random chance…not likely.

Gotcha. I thought that’s what it was but wasn’t sure. Thanks.

I wonder though if that doesn’t suggest that it was the Chronicle that was he intended/ultimate/favored goal. All 3 letter were mailed at the same time (31st July 69) and in San Francisco. VTH makes sense in so much as the crimes took place there and then he also mails the Examiner so that’s almost like a stepping stone to the Chron. It’s like a join the dots approach in his getting published purposes and getting attention. The two SF papers so there’s communication between them to further interest and the the VTH for confirmation in the jurisdiction.

If that was the case, and it is only and an if, I wonder if that influenced his order choice in who got which part of the cipher and the order in which he refers to newspapers in his letter. 1 being the starting point, 2 the intermediate and 3 the destination.

Well, this is good discussion, and valid points about VTH getting first mention.
But then again, Vallejo also got the first two sets of attacks, the first phone calls, etc
If we consider the cipher key that was mailed in to police as being from z, then that further strengthens the case that z was from Vallejo.

vth makes sense because it was mostly likely to notice and publish. same way your missing cat is more likely to end up on local news than national news.

10/1/68 to 10/15/68

10/16/68 to 10/31/68

November 1-15,1968

November 16-30,1968

December 1-15,1968

December 16-31,1968

VERY nice, Morf.

Did you know: very near to the Napa phone booth where Zodiac made his call, there’s a street named Vallejo. Very near where Stine was murdered there is a street named Vallejo.

Doesn’t mean anything, of course, but it’s interesting how that city manages to repeatedly appear…

vth makes sense because it was mostly likely to notice and publish. same way your missing cat is more likely to end up on local news than national news.

That’s true, which is why he may have thought that The Chronicle might snub his attempt at media manipulation. After all, TC is or was one of the premier San Fran newspapers…he may have thought his exploits were too….low-brow, and hardly worthy of his stature as a mere killer of love-lane couples. Then TC ran with them and he never wrote VHT or TE ever again, AFAWK.

The thing…his order speaks to the state of his mind, IMO. He had an order. And it seems, to me anyway, he did think he had a better chance with Vallejo’s local paper than else. Doesn’t prove he was from Vallejo, but if not, why does that city keep reappearing? He even put the city’s name on Hartnell’s car even though was MILES north of Napa. Also…he didn’t see himself as quite the accomplished killer, initially.

Also, and I posted this over at Mike’s site, but do you really think the guy could run around Vallejo and not notice the city highway that looks exactly like his symbol (from the air)?

Maybe he wasn’t FROM Vallejo, but I’ll bet he haunted the place very, very often.

Kim Rossmo says he could have been from American Canyon. I’m not sure on that one…

One thing I wondered though was if he could have been from Benicia since the three kids who found Ferrin and Mageau claimed they saw car lights down LHR, and Yours IIRC claimed to have passed a car on the way to the LHR crime scene, or that’s what I read from the writings of Jake Wark. Maybe it was Stella Borges.

Then I realized that it would have been VERY difficult for The Zodiac to have committed his crimes at BRS, driven back to Benicia to clean up, driven back into Vallejo to make a phone call and then driven back into Benicia to head home. Even if he had stayed in Vallejo to make the call, The Zodiac would have STILL have had to hit LHR one mile or so south of BRS, and the cops were out and about then, up in a buzzing of activity. They even arrested some guy and his girl just for being in the area.

So to me that’s another shot for Vallejo, although American Canyon isn’t a bad idea either.

On the other hand, he could have driven to San Fran instead, but…it just doesn’t work for me. Like I said somewhere else, I think he quite often posted from San Fran because that was the source of his media fame. That was his audience. They hung on every word he wrote. No one else much cared. When they stopped giving a damn, he mailed a letter to LA from…Pleasanton.

And again, he had to mail from somewhere, so why mail from the place you live? Would YOU leave letters postage-stamped from Vallejo to San Fran if you lived in such a rather small rural city?

It’s a damned mystery for the ages, I’ll give you that much.