rand, Subject: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:21 pm
Here’s my simple solution. There are some minimal substitutions (see code key below). Then it’s essentially 2-line anagrams.
SOLUTION TO THE ZODIAC KILLER’S 340 CIPHER
According to my solution, it’s a letter to Chief of Police: Thomas J. Cahill
Mailed, November 8, 1969, Sent to: San Francisco Chronicle, Cipher Status: Unsolved
I KNOW Y PAUL WUZ KILLED THAT NITE, (lines 1-3)
BC I KNOW THE ROG KOP WHO GOT ME THE GORY JOB (lines 1-3
I GOT PAID FIRST BY THE KOP TO KILL PAUL, TOO, TOM (lines 4-5)
DO YOUR FEL-O KOPS KNOW OF THE (line 6-7)
GUN THAT I TOOK? (lines 6-beginning of line 7)
RELAX, ITS ONLY A TOY (lines 7-eight)
BC I KNOW THAT I’LL GO TO JAIL IF I UZ THAT GUN (lines 8-9)
ATTA BOY TOM J B-FOR K-LL (line 10)
U R TO DIE BY BOM TIK (line 11)
IT AINT BY ROP OR FIRE, TOM J, (lines 12-13)
BC I KNOW THAT DOG B TOO CLOS (lines 12-13)
TOO LATE FOR GUNS AND MORE GORY TAXI-CABZ (lines 14-15)
BC I KNOW THAT ROG KEEPS A LOOC-OUT ON U (lines 16-17)
FOLLOW BILL AND TOSCHI (lines 17-18)
BC IF I C THEM, I KNOW TWO KOPS WHO’LL B DY-IN (end of 18, 19, start of 20)
THE ZODIAC TIK (line 20, backwards D from line 19)
I KNOW WHY PAUL WAS KILLED THAT NIGHT,
BECAUSE I KNOW THE ROGUE COP WHO GOT ME THE GORY JOB.
I GOT PAID FIRST BY THE COP TO KILL PAUL, TOO, TOM
DO YOUR FELLOW COPS KNOW OF THE GUN THAT I TOOK?
RELAX, IT’S ONLY A TOY
BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I’LL GO TO JAIL IF I USE THAT GUN
ATTA BOY TOM J. BEFORE K-LL
YOU ARE TO DIE BY BOMB, TICK
IT AINT BY ROPE OR FIRE, TOM J,
BECAUSE I KNOW THAT DOG BE TOO CLOSE
TOO LATE FOR GUNS AND MORE GORY TAXI-CABS
BECAUSE I KNOW THAT ROGUE KEEPS A LOOKOUT ON YOU
FOLLOW BILL AND TOSCHI,
BECAUSE IF I SEE THEM, I KNOW TWO COPS WHO’LL BE DYING
THE ZODIAC TICK
Additional Vertical messages (these are partial messages, which I believe are correct):
I TOOK KEYS (7th column) I TOOK KEYZ.
PD GIVE YOU TO DIE COP (9th column) PD GIV U TO DI COP
RIP MR. TOM J. (column 3, starting from top) R+IP MR TOM J
VALLEJO ROGUE COP (column 12) VALYHO ROG KOP
I PITY TOO THOSE AFTER BOMB (column 14) I PT TOO (q =TH)OZ AFTR BOM
SLAVES KNOW CODE ORIGINS (column eight) SLAVZ Ø (KNOW) COD ORIJONS
DOJ KNOW CODE I OFFERED TO LIST (last column on right side) DOJ Ø (KNOW) COD I OFFRT TO LIST.
One of the lines reads: BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I’LL GO TO JAIL IF I USE THAT GUN. It never made sense to me UNTIL I discovered Troy Houghton as a suspect. He was sentenced to jail for possessing a gun with an unlicensed silencer. The implication, if my solution is correct, is that Stine’s gun had a silencer on it. And Troy is mocking his arrest and conviction (subsequently overturned) regarding the Federal weapons charge.
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:00 pm
There are several big problems with this proposed solution.
First, the translation appears to be mostly gibberish nonsense words. That is NOT how Z communicated in the first cipher.
Then, you take this gibberish and transform it into clear English sentences. What method do you use to do that? If it is not a mostly sysytematic and mathematical decode method, it is likely wrong, and will be rejected by code experts.
Even your final stage solution makes little sense. It does not "feel" like Zodiac talking. It does not use his words and style. Subjectively, it does not cry out "YES! This is the correct solution".
There have been hundreds of proposed solutions – this is better than some, but it is not right.
Also "Bill and Toschi" – very unlikley Z would be fixated on them. That was a Graysmith invention. They were not played up in the press that much, Toschi was briefly mentioned on the wanted poster, but I see no reason to think Z would know about these guys let alone care enough to mention them.
OK, now you can read my proposed solutions and tear them up!
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … e-t137.htm
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … 0-t165.htm
But those are my honest thoughts.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:54 pm
There are several big problems with this proposed solution.
First, the translation appears to be mostly gibberish nonsense words. That is NOT how Z communicated in the first cipher.
Then, you take this gibberish and transform it into clear English sentences. What method do you use to do that? If it is not a mostly sysytematic and mathematical decode method, it is likely wrong, and will be rejected by code experts.
Even your final stage solution makes little sense. It does not "feel" like Zodiac talking. It does not use his words and style. Subjectively, it does not cry out "YES! This is the correct solution".
There have been hundreds of proposed solutions – this is better than some, but it is not right.
Also "Bill and Toschi" – very unlikley Z would be fixated on them. That was a Graysmith invention. They were not played up in the press that much, Toschi was briefly mentioned on the wanted poster, but I see no reason to think Z would know about these guys let alone care enough to mention them.
OK, now you can read my proposed solutions and tear them up!
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … e-t137.htm
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … 0-t165.htm
But those are my honest thoughts.
we all know that the Z was unpredictable
maybe it doesnt’ make any sense becuase Zodiac mite have psychosis and one of the symptoms of that disorganized speech and thoughts,
the zodiac had no reason to contact Melvin Belli but did.
i will read your solution sometime today AK, just a little busy trying to do a psychological profile on Z.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:11 pm
I wondered if the 340 isn’t a simple substitution but in a "Caesar’s square", meaning you read the furthest column to the left top-down first, then the next column, etc.
With all due respect, I don’t think it is some wildly complex and esoteric thing, rather something simple we have not figured out yet…
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:14 pm
I wondered if the 340 isn’t a simple substitution but in a "Caesar’s square", meaning you read the furthest column to the left top-down first, then the next column, etc.
With all due respect, I don’t think it is some wildly complex and esoteric thing, rather something simple we have not figured out yet…
that is a very interesting theory Zab, i wonder that too now. I wonder if Rand could do that.?
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:17 pm
I’ll bet he could because it is using the coded square in basically the same way, just going with a different orientation; it is still a straightforward substitution cipher…
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:19 pm
I don’t know why anyone thinks it doesn’t make sense. It makes perfect sense to me, and it relates to everyone in play at the time (Stine, Tom Cahill, Bill Armsstrong, Toschi, all on the wanted poster that appeared weeks earlier).
As for things like Y for Why BC for Because, it’s because he was limited to 34 characters per anagram sentence. That’s not easy to do. So he had to abbreviate things. But what doesn’t make sense about it? He says he shot Stine for money (a cop paid him to do the job). That he stole his gun. But he won’t use it. Then he threatens Cahill with a bomb.
Heck, Z sent a letter the next day and what was it about? A bomb threat.My translation is a Bomb threat. And it’s signed The Zodiac, Tick. And this "Tick" occurs earlier in the translation. You are to die by bomb, tick. I think this makes perfect sense.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:20 pm
http://www.thedavincigame.com/Boardgame … re_box.JPG
A simple example of such…
AuthUser is a super code expert also… :star: :star: :star:
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:26 pm
Also "Bill and Toschi" – very unlikley Z would be fixated on them. That was a Graysmith invention. They were not played up in the press that much, Toschi was briefly mentioned on the wanted poster, but I see no reason to think Z would know about these guys let alone care enough to mention them.
Toschi and Armstrong and Cahill were all on the WANTED POSTER that appeared 2 weeks earlier.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:32 pm
Hi Rand, I just posted something and it disappeared… :affraid:
I know you have put a ton of work into this…
What I feel, and I am NOT a cipher expert like you are and like AuthUser is, that Z, while not wanting to make his codes too simple to solve, did want someone to be able to solve them eventually in a fairly straightforward manner…
I think he knew that making them "uber" esoteric or relying on higher mathematics would be out of reach for most LE at that time, and so I think that his codes are relatively simple in structure, but not "super easy" to solve….There is a big difference between simple and easy, BTW…
This is why I think Penn has missed the mark…Almost no "regular" detective at that time would have had anywhere near the education to be able to process the structure that he is proposing for the codes…It is way to convoluded and entangled for the average person with a decent education, and I do not think that Zodiac wanted that…
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:35 pm
I’m not a cipher expert – not at all. ANd my solution is unbelieveably simple. Most of the letters are just as they appear in the 340. Just a few substitutions. And then you divide it into 2-line anagrams. That’s it. A child could do it. I have no math or anything in my solution. It’s nothing like AK Wilks’s solution, for example, which I can’t understand at all. I agree, Z would have done something incredibly simple. But no one wants to investigate anagrammed sentences because they believe, wrongly, that you can get too many solutions. You can get lots of solutions but they won’t make sense as a whole. My does – definitely does. It’s relevant and not gibberish at all. But I know that no one will believe this is the solution because there’s no way to prove it. All I can say is that my solution is a bomb threat against Cahill, and Z sent a bomb threat the next day. My solution has by fire, by rope, by gun, by bomb. That seems right to me. It talks about the Stine murder and adds something significant to it. And why else would he encode a message if it didn’t add anything? And it taunts LE, which seems consistent with Z. But who knows?
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Wed Jun 09, 2010 10:00 pm
"I KNOW Y PAUL WUZ KILLED THAT NITE"
That is your final stage solution for lines 1 to 3. Ok, a reasonably clear expression and something Zodiac might say.
But here is what your ACTUAL first stage solution is for lines 1 to 3:
HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO
NITBIOODWYROKEO
BYICHMTUZGWOLIGHJ
You also create words like "THE", "THAT" and "KNOW" on a totally arbritary basis, which violates all code principles. I could just as well claim the symbols you declare mean those words actually mean "DEATH", "BOMB" and "CAB".
How you create your sentences is a mystery. These lines are gibberish:
HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO
NITBIOODWYROKEO
BYICHMTUZGWOLIGHJ
I don’t object to some anagram use (most self proclaimed Z code experts do), in fact the FBI file reveals they thought anagram was possible in the 340 and some of my proposed solutions involve anagram use.
But applying anagrams I could say these lines more naturally would include words like:
HERE PAUL PARK IT LOT TO GO BODY WOKE BITCH MUT WOE LIGHT
morf13, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:04 am
I agree with AK, the message should read like a real letter like his first solved one did:
"I like killing people, it is so much fun"
"I will not give you my name"
"You will try to slow down or stop my collecting of slaves"
These are clear, rational, complete sentences.
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:05 am
"I KNOW Y PAUL WUZ KILLED THAT NITE"
That is your final stage solution for lines 1 to 3. Ok, a reasonably clear expression and something Zodiac might say.
But here is what your ACTUAL first stage solution is for lines 1 to 3:
HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO
NITBIOODWYROKEO
BYICHMTUZGWOLIGHJ
You also create words like "THE", "THAT" and "KNOW" on a totally arbritary basis, which violates all code principles. I could just as well claim the symbols you declare mean those words actually mean "DEATH", "BOMB" and "CAB".
How you create your sentences is a mystery. These lines are gibberish:
HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO
NITBIOODWYROKEO
BYICHMTUZGWOLIGHJ
I don’t object to some anagram use (most self proclaimed Z code experts do), in fact the FBI file reveals they thought anagram was possible in the 340 and some of my proposed solutions involve anagram use.
But applying anagrams I could say these lines more naturally would include words like:
HERE PAUL PARK IT LOT TO GO BODY WOKE BITCH MUT WOE LIGHT
People always make these kinds of comparisons,which make no sense to me. How is
HERE PAUL PARK IT LOT TO GO BODY WOKE BITCH MUT WOE LIGHT comparable to what I got: I KNOW WHY PAUL WAS KILLED THAT NIGHT? Your line is gibberish; mine makes perfect sense. what am i missing here?
I don’t understand your "my first stage is gibberish" objection. My first stage is the substitutions and then it’s an anagrammed sentence. Why is this a problem for you? Of course, prior to figuring out the anagram, it reads like gibberish, e.g.: MISYDONGNMES = MY DOG’S NAME IS. So why say: these lines are gibberish? Of course, they haven’t been translated yet.
Morf: I KNOW WHY PAUL WAS KILLED THAT NIGHT isn’t a sentence? He had limitations this time that he didn’t in the 408. The 408 was simply a code that, once cracked, should read just like a regular message. You write out the message and then encode it. There are no constraints. But using anagrams does constrain you. He knew that he had to keep the anagram at roughly 2 lines or 34 characters long, or else you’d never be able to decode it. Try writing sentences with 34 characters every two lines. It’s difficult, and it puts constraints on you, such that you will use Y for WHY, D for THE, UZ for USE, null sign for KNOW, etc.
You say I create words like THE, KNOW, THAT arbitrarily. You say you could have just as easily said they were DEATH, CAB, and BOMB.
First, there’s a big difference between THE and DEATH, KNOW and CAB; THAT and BOMB. The problem, if you diid substitute DEATH, CAB, and BOMB, is that you would have to use them throughout the cipher. How would you do that? Everyone thinks that you can arbitrarily substitute things and you’ll get a meaningful outcome. I always ask them to go ahead and show me. They never do. THE is a word used quite a bit, so is THAT, and so is KNOW. THE, THAT, and KNOW had to work everytime I saw the symbols. I don’t think those words force a solution. Now, had I used BOMB, DEATH, and CAB, not only would it not work most likely to generate a meaningful solution, but then it would seem forced, right? I would be taking the liberty of using a symbol to give me a word that I can’t find using my normal anagram for 2-line method. But I have CAB, DEATH, and BOMB in my solution and I didn’t get them by using a symbol as a substitution, correct? I earned them by using the anagram method. How does substituting THE, THAT, and KNOW force a solution? These are generic words with little meaning.
Backwards D is always THE. The NULL sign is always KNOW. I stick with this throughout. It’s like license plates. D GAME = DE GAME or THE GAME; NULL for KNOW is phonetic. Anyhow, you either buy it or you don’t. But 90% of the characters that Z used, I kept. ONLY A MINIMUM OF SUBSTITIONS. So I didn’t force anything here. Though others will disagree, of course. I know how I came up with this and the process is what convinces me that I have it essentially correct.
There are many things about this solution that make me think it’s correct. For instance, cops is always spelled KOPS. I did this solution years before finding Troy Houghton. TH was a KKK member. They spell COP, KOP. It turns out to be a bomb threat. It includes Cahill, Toschi, and Armstrong. It talks about the Stine murder. It says he stole a gun but won’t use it because he knows he’ll go to jail. TH was convicted for using a silencer.
It has by fire, by gun, by knife, by bomb. It has a theme of TICK in it. And look at line 10 of the 340:
First part:
U + R/OTEIDYB
YOU ARE (everything after backslash is backwards) TO DIE BY and you see BOM (the backslash = B), so BOMB. T9K (TIK)
This was a clue in my opinion about how to solve the puzzle. Also the MY NAME IS cipher was a clue: "By the way have you solved the last cipher I sent you? My Name is –"
Then it’s MY NAME KANE as a anagram. It’s a clue: the cipher is really an anagram.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:28 am
With all due respect, the entire solution and solving process is way too convoluded; remember, Z was a narcissist, and while he wanted the codes to be somewhat hard to crack, he DID, I think want them to be solved eventually, and to generally be readable/make sense to the general public.
I also think the coded statements were more psychological/sociological statements written about him by him, rather than "hard" evidence type of stuff.
I have had, BTW, the same issues after working on the 340 for a while; I think I am seeing things that are really not there, and that is my cue to put it down and stop working on it…
Remember, the code is simple, but not easy…
Z wasn’t going to make a "busy" convoluded code…
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:50 am
I don’t know what you mean by convoluted solution or process. It’s a simple anagram. How much simpler can you get? As for the solution being convoluted, it’s an entirely readable solution that makes sense. It turns out that Paul Stine’s first stop was at the airport where he made a pickup of some kind. Then he meets Z. Z’s fingerprints are on the driver’s side. This indicates to me that Stine was looking for Z and he was looking for Stine. He approaches the cab at the directed spot and says: Yes, I’m Z (whoever his name was), and Stine says: Get in.
Then the exchange is made, and Z shoots Stine rather than paying him for it.
Who directed this? According to my solution: A rogue cop. Does it make sense? Does to me. Think about the Serpico story in NYC. Cops were taking profits from drugdealers. That’s what I think the Stine murder was abut — at least, that’s what it appears to have been about from my solution. Anyhow, I’m off to NYC for three days. I’ll be back on Sunday.
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:56 am
With all due respect, the entire solution and solving process is way too convoluded; remember, Z was a narcissist, and while he wanted the codes to be somewhat hard to crack, he DID, I think want them to be solved eventually, and to generally be readable/make sense to the general public.
Well, he failed, right? It’s been 40 years and no one has "solved" the 340. This is a simple solution. The reason it hasn’t been found is that cipher experts, like AUTH, unanimously view anagrams as "non-solutions." They believe that there are too many degrees of freedom, so you can get anything from anagrams. I disagree. But I’ll never win that debate One must actually try to do what I did to understand the many constraints and limitations. You can get dozens of solutions. But they won’t make sense. Sure, a sentence or two will make sense; but the entire 340 won’t. I don’t understand why people say this solution doesn’t make sense. Where doesn’t it make sense? It discusses the main players at the time, the Stine murder, it’s a bomb threat, it has by gun, by rope, by fire…it is signed: THE ZODIAC, TICK. What do people want from a solution? It’s nothing like Graysmith’s solution, which makes no sense at all, says nothing about the murders, adds nothing to the case. ACID DROPPED blah blah blah. Of course, people will say my solution is no different than his, but I just can’t understand this comparison. The only similarity is that we both got TOSCHI in the same place. Big deal? He guessed right once.
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:51 am
So are you saying Paul Stine was a drug dealer? On what basis? Show me a single shred of evidence to suggest that this graduate student who had to work as a cabbie to make ends meet dealt drugs.
Then you suggest that a rogue cop wanted to kill Stine – because Stine wouldn’t give him pay off money? Nonsense. If you knew anything about corrupt cops you would know that 99% of the time they bust drug dealers then offer to let them go for a pay off, and continue dealing for regular payoffs. They don’t kill small time drug dealers who don’t pay them on a routine basis.
Let us pretend that there was a shred of proof for anything above – than you claim that this rogue cop knew who Zodiac was and offered a serial killer who guns down teens in lovers lanes money to kill Stine? Are you serious?
And you are saying Houghton is Zodiac, who hates cops, but works for them?
I found some of your evidence on TH interesting, but this theory is nonsense, and I tell you that as a favor so you don’t present this to law enforcement and ruin your credibility. I would actually like LE to know about TH – I don’t think TH was Z, but you have shown some stuff that is worth checking out.
But in all frankness every aspect of what you present here makes no sense at all. If you really think there is something to this, please start by showing any evidence that Stine was a drug dealer. If you can’t, that is really a wrong thing to say about someone who is dead and can’t defend themselves.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:59 am
…and an honest hardworking man at that who was cheated out of his chance to have a family and be a father…
AuthUser, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:52 pm
A simple example of such…
AuthUser is a super code expert also… :star: :star: :star:
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Zab, but I am not an expert.
Glurk has forgotten more than I know about ciphers. I’ll defer
any questions to him…
Auth
PS – I believe that all of the suggested rearrangements have been performed
and ran through ZKDecrypto. Nothing.
I’m still looking for a programmer that will write a program to create files
that contain all of the column transpositions. If anyone knows anyone
that can do this, please contact me.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:31 pm
OK, Glurk….you are the super, super-expert; what do you think??? 
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:33 pm
…So Auth, you think it has been run with "downwards" columns in various orientations…..crap….
AuthUser, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:54 pm
…So Auth, you think it has been run with "downwards" columns in various orientations…..crap….
I believe almost every reconfiguration, aside from all transpositions, has been performed.
Right to left, bottom to top, circles, zig zags, quadrants, etc. Nothing usable was found.
Auth
PS – No, we didn’t post our tests. We talked about it, but decided it was too much work.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:50 pm
Thank you for the information, Auth! I completely understand why you would not want to post that stuff…
I am curious about something…
I speak one other language fluently other than English (French…when I say fluently, I mean that; I have done translation work for a large university’s Economics Department…), and a smattering of a few other languages (Italian, German, Armenian, Russian)….Any indication that the ciphers were in, e.g., German or something where the results seemd to be "gibberish" but "looked like" word forms in a known language (other than English?)…??
AuthUser, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:56 pm
Thank you for the information, Auth! I completely understand why you would not want to post that stuff…
I am curious about something…
I speak one other language fluently other than English (French…when I say fluently, I mean that; I have done translation work for a large university’s Economics Department…), and a smattering of a few other languages (Italian, German, Armenian, Russian)….Any indication that the ciphers were in, e.g., German or something where the results seemd to be "gibberish" but "looked like" word forms in a known language (other than English?)…??
Zab,
ZKDecrypto also supports Spanish, Italian and German. I believe that Glurk ran those tests though.
I ran a couple in Spanish, since I know a little, and I didn’t find anything.
Auth
Theforeigner, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:01 am
Thank you for the information, Auth! I completely understand why you would not want to post that stuff…
I am curious about something…
I speak one other language fluently other than English (French…when I say fluently, I mean that; I have done translation work for a large university’s Economics Department…), and a smattering of a few other languages (Italian, German, Armenian, Russian)….Any indication that the ciphers were in, e.g., German or something where the results seemd to be "gibberish" but "looked like" word forms in a known language (other than English?)…??
Zab,
ZKDecrypto also supports Spanish, Italian and German. I believe that Glurk ran those tests though.
I ran a couple in Spanish, since I know a little, and I didn’t find anything.Auth
What about nowegian/old norse? due to the "SLA letter" were Zodiac wrote:
Dear Mr. Editor,
Did you know that the initials SLAY (Symbionese Liberation Army) spell "sla," an old Norse word meaning "kill."
A friend
IMO there sure seems to be somthing up with this letter.
Basicly the whole wording is confusing and incorrect as far as I can see. To me it seemd that Z wrote that SLAY is the initials of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
BUT it is NOT, the initials for the Symbionese Liberation Army is SLA, the added "y" is NOT part of that initials.
SLAY means kill in english, and then he goes on and states that "sla" is an old norse word for kill, which it is NOT as far as I know. "Slå" in norwegian means "to strike" I know this for sure due to that I´m half norwegian and speak nowegian (and half swedish) "slå" also means "to strike" in danish and swedish (i speak all 3 languishes).
Here are the old norse words for kill, Note that there is no "sla":
banamaðr = slayer
bani = death; cause of death, slayer
drepa = smite, strike; knock; kill, slay
vega = lift; smite, fight; kill, slay
So, another thought is; could this letter be som kind of "Key" to how the 340 cipher should be solved ?
Somthing like that; sla = kill meaning s= k l=i a=l
OR
slay = kill meaning s= k l=i a=l y= l
Just a thought!
Here are som additional info and thopughts on the SLA letter, I found on the net:
The letter arrived at the Chronicle on February 14, 1974, seven days after the Symbionese Liberation Army had kidnapped Patty Hearst. It was transcribed by the Chronicle in August 1976. Though its postmark is unclear in published photographs, an FBI report states that it was sent from San Rafael.
The terms "Old Norse" and "Old Icelandic" refer to the same tongue, but there is debate among scholars over which is more appropriate. Some use the former in respect to the language’s Norwegian origins, but most use the latter because most of the surviving texts were written in Iceland. Gareth Penn, a former student of medieval literature and historical linguistics, points out that the Nordic "sla" in fact means "to strike," and goes on to list the English language dictionaries which name it as a cognate of the English "slay" without giving its original definition, and with Norse rather than Icelandic named as the original tongue: Webster’s Third International; Chambers’ Dictionary; the Oxford English Dictionary; the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology; and Eric Partridge’s Origins. "All are scholarly, not popular", 2 writes Penn, who suggests that the gleaning of this misinformation came as the result of a higher education than the SFPD and armchair profilers everywhere had attributed to the Zodiac. For their part, the FBI seems less than certain that this letter was written by the Zodiac.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:24 am
….Oh Lord, that would actually be terrible, because then we would go from the symbols to this…LOLOL 
http://im.typotheque.com/specimens/samp … /42_18.gif
Theforeigner, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:27 am
….Oh Lord, that would actually be terrible, because then we would go from the symbols to this…LOLOL
Zamantha, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:10 am
….Oh Lord, that would actually be terrible, because then we would go from the symbols to this…LOLOL
LOL*, LOVE it….so what’s it saying The Foreigner. Looks like it’s speaking your language…do tell?
AuthUser, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:53 am
TF,
If it’s written in one of those languages, I’ll have to defer to someone like you
that can actually read/interpret it. I don’t think this would be the case though…
IF there IS a message AND the Zodiac wanted it to be found, he wouldn’t
have made it THAT difficult.
Auth
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:55 am
You mean your average policeman does not speak Old Norse-Icelandic fluently?? :joker:
tahoe27, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:41 pm
I’m with the FBI.
I do not think Zodiac wrote that, I don’t think it looks like his writing.
There is no doubt in my mind in came from the SLA themselves. One of those kooks wrote it.
Why would Zodiac write a note like that and give a shout-out to them? Nah…
But hey, check all avenues.
Theforeigner, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:03 pm
TF,
If it’s written in one of those languages, I’ll have to defer to someone like you
that can actually read/interpret it. I don’t think this would be the case though…
IF there IS a message AND the Zodiac wanted it to be found, he wouldn’t
have made it THAT difficult.
Auth
Basicly I think you are right on that one, but on the other hand maybe he thought his clue was obvious when he sent the "old norse" note?
The thing is, IMHO, that the messages seems to make no sense in it self AT ALL, so IMO it sure is not the SLA themselvs who sent it, but indeed could have been ment by Z as som kind of clue to somthing.
Hi Tahoe:)
The SLA letter handwriting is pretty concistent with the desk top poem, which Morrill stated was written by Z , Morrill also stated that the SLA was by Z.
(Morrill is the document expert that I belive in the most)
Aadd to that, that the handwritten address on the SLA letter envelope, is a classic Zodiac handwriting, different from the actual letter.
Theforeigner, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:06 pm
….Oh Lord, that would actually be terrible, because then we would go from the symbols to this…LOLOL
LOL*, LOVE it….so what’s it saying The Foreigner. Looks like it’s speaking your language…do tell?
Na Na..How much will you pay
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:46 pm
So are you saying Paul Stine was a drug dealer? On what basis? Show me a single shred of evidence to suggest that this graduate student who had to work as a cabbie to make ends meet dealt drugs.
Then you suggest that a rogue cop wanted to kill Stine – because Stine wouldn’t give him pay off money? Nonsense. If you knew anything about corrupt cops you would know that 99% of the time they bust drug dealers then offer to let them go for a pay off, and continue dealing for regular payoffs. They don’t kill small time drug dealers who don’t pay them on a routine basis.
Let us pretend that there was a shred of proof for anything above – than you claim that this rogue cop knew who Zodiac was and offered a serial killer who guns down teens in lovers lanes money to kill Stine? Are you serious?
And you are saying Houghton is Zodiac, who hates cops, but works for them?
I found some of your evidence on TH interesting, but this theory is nonsense, and I tell you that as a favor so you don’t present this to law enforcement and ruin your credibility. I would actually like LE to know about TH – I don’t think TH was Z, but you have shown some stuff that is worth checking out.
But in all frankness every aspect of what you present here makes no sense at all. If you really think there is something to this, please start by showing any evidence that Stine was a drug dealer. If you can’t, that is really a wrong thing to say about someone who is dead and can’t defend themselves.
I decoded the cipher using my method, and that’s what I found. What do you want me to do about it? I found what I found. That said, I then discovered that Stine made a pickup at the airport before picking up Z. There were fingerprints on the driver’s side, which indicates to me that he went up to the driver’s side first. So why not a conversation like: Yes, I’m the one you’re looking for, etc.? Again, the message is what I found after decoding it. At a minimum, there’s nothing inconsistent with the facts as we know them. Which is not to say that I know or think that Stine was a drug dealer. I’m simply saying that there’s nothing inconsistent, unless you can show me something that makes it impossible that Stine could have been a messenger/delivery person for drug dealers. A cab driver told me that this happened all the time. Who knows?
I never said anything about why the rogue cop might have wanted to kill Stine. Maybe he knew too much? I don’t know. Why are you suggesting that I gave a motive for the rogue cop wanting Stine dead?
As for a rogue cop working with Z, remember: "Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gunsight." What’s that about? And then there’s the rest of the message about a bomb threat, etc. etc. So what’s so hard to believe? If you don’t believe it, fine. But what do you want me to do about my solution? Discard it because it doesn’t say what you or someone else wants it to say? I decoded it and reported what I found. If you don’t like the solution, that’s fine. But why accuse me of some terrible thing here?
Also, I want to make clear that this solution was done more than a year PRIOR to my finding TH as a suspect. There’s no connection whatsoever between my solution and my interest in Houghton. I think you understand that, but I want it to be perfectly clear.
That said, Raithby Husted, the kid who testified against DePugh and Houghton, then feared for his life and wanted to make amends with the Minutemen, might very well have been related tot James Husted, the Vallejo Lt who championed ALA as the prime Z suspect. So there may very well have been a link between Houghton and the Vallejo PD.
Here’s what the Foreigner found about this possible connection:
I would say that its a possibility.
Husted is a rare last name, and in Raithby Husted´s mothers obit it is stated:
"She lived near San Francisco, California for many years."
Her is the mothers obit:
CARROL G. HUSTED
Nov. 11, 1919-May 16, 2006 CARROL G. HUSTED, 86, formerly of Lebanon, Oregon, died on Tuesday May 16, 2006 in Vancouver, Washington. Carrol was born November 11, 1919 in Glasgow, Montana, the daughter of Charles and Grace (Martin) Roosevelt. She lived in North Dakota during her childhood. She married Edgar Husted in Portland, Oregon on May 19, 1942. She lived near San Francisco, California for many years. She moved to Lebanon in 1980 where she resided until 2002.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Edgar on August 22, 2002.
She was also preceded in death by a brother, Allen Roosevelt, and sisters, Helen Larson and Ruth Fouts.
She is survived by a daughter, Anne Tuttle of Vancouver, Washington; a son, Raithby Husted of Burleson, Texas; sister, Gertrude Siemsen of Tennessee; nine grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. A graveside service will be held on Monday, May 22, 2006, 11:00a.m., at the Jefferson City Cemetery. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 2:00p.m., at the Vancouver Seventh-day Adventist Church. To leave an online condolence to the family go to www.hustonjost.com. The family requests that memorials be sent to the Adventist Disaster Relief Agency, c/o Huston-Jost Funeral home, 86 W. Grant St. Lebanon, OR 97355.
Published in the Columbian on 05/20/2006
And in 1957+1961 Raithby Husted attened Mountain View Academy :
http://www.classmates.com/directory/sch … ?org=11162
Mountain View Academy, Mountain view, CA
Raithby Husted 1957-1961
In 1969 Raithby R Husted married in Santa Cruz, CA:
California Marriage Index, 1960-1985
about Raithby R Husted
Name: Raithby R Husted
Age: 25
Est. Birth: abt 1944
Spouse Name: Marilyn J Downing
Spouse Age: 26
Date: 9 Mar 1969
Location: Santa Cruz
His father had an adress in San mateo in 1975:
fathers address in 1975 San Mateo:
Edgar R. Husted
187 Linden Ave San Mateo
( Atherton, CA 94027)
—–
Here is info concerning the Vallejo Lt. Jim Husted you refered to:
Now, there was/is a James Husted who divorced a woman in Solano County in 1974, re married in Solano County in May 1976, Divorced in Solano in 1982, remarried in Napa in 1984 (I cant be sure this is the Lt you are refering to but IMO the possibility is pretty high it is him:.
California Marriage Index, 1960-1985
about James J Husted
Name: James J Husted
Age: 36
Est. Birth: abt 1940
Spouse Name: Joana M Feldman
Spouse Age: 35
Date: 8 May 1976
Location: Solano
James Husted has several connection to Oregon just like the Raithby R Husted family:
HUSTED, JAMES JOHN (Age 70)
Associated names:
HUSTED, JAMES A
Possible Employment / Business Associations:
AFFORDABLE GEMS AND JEWELRY
EAGLE POINT RANCH, INC
GALLERY4COLLECTORS
JJH AND ASSOCIATES
JJH AND ASSOCIATES
THE OREGON PROPERTY CONNECTION, INC
MEDFORD, OR
CENTRAL POINT, OR
TALENT, OR
NAPA, CA
BOWMAN, CA
ASHLAND, OR Possible Relatives:
HUSTED, MARILYN LJENSEN (Age 54)
HUSTED, MARILYN L
Possible Roommates / Associates:
DYER, RICHARD R (Age 46)
WIDMER, JAMES ROYCE (Age 62)
DYERFOWLER, CINDRA (Age 43)
WIDMER, NANCY LEE (Age 61)
AYALA, LAZARO D (Age 43)
ROSEBERRY, BARBARA (Age 86)
ROSEBERRY, LYNN MATTHIAS (Age 81)
CARLSON, GAIL LYNN (Age 63)
WIDMER, MINDY SUE (Age 37)
James Husted moved to Napa, Ca, in mid 80´s a presume and I belive still lives there
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:52 pm
" I’m simply saying that there’s nothing inconsistent, unless you can show me something that makes it impossible that Stine could have been a messenger/delivery person for drug dealers. "
So you accuse him of drug dealing because there is nothing to show it is impossible for him to be a drug dealer?
I prefer to have evidence to lead me to theories rather than come up with theories and say "show me the evidence to disprove my theory".
Good luck with your investigation.
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:55 pm
First of all, you ignored all the things I suggested to back up the solution in my post above. Why? If you want to discuss this in a civil and respectful way, I’m all for that. But you just ignore what I post and say there’s not a shred of anything to support it.
I’ve never said that my solution to the 340 is evidence. I said that it is my solution. That’s all I said. You seem to have a beef with my reporting my solution. Do you understand the difference? I’m not investigating the Stine murder and telling anyone what MUST have happened based on the facts or evidence I uncovered. I’m reporting my solution to the 340. That’s all.
You should get down off your high horse about this. I don’t need a lecture about what is and is not evidence or what is or is not a sound way to investigate the case. This is a solution to the 340. It’s not an investigation and I never said this is what happened to Stine. Believe my decoded solution or don’t. I believe it because I believe my solution, which took several months of my life to work through. I know how and why I did what I did. Go ahead and dismiss it. That’s your prerogative.
If you insist on reading bad motives into what I’ve done, okay. What does your solution to the 340 say about the case?
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:10 am
Whatever, it is IMO a nonsense solution that violates every code rule.
Paul Stine was a real person and some people who knew him read here. It is bad taste, in my opinion, to accuse him of being a drug dealer when you don’t have a shred of proof to back that up, other than your nonsense code solution. The idea that the police hired Zodiac to kill Stine is also IMO a non-starter with no basis in known reality.
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:11 am
My 340 first stage solution is here:
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … 0-t165.htm
And the unsolved 18 from the first Zodiac Code is solved here:
http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com … e-t137.htm
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:27 am
And you claim that my solution is nonsense? Unbelieveable. What does your solution say? PLEASE JUST PRINT THE SOLUTION IN A POST. I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE TORTURED LOGIC YOU USED TO GET IT BEFORE I EVEN KNOW WHAT IT SAYS.
All i did was make a few minor substitutions (which is unavoidable because some of the characters aren’t letters), and the rest (85%?) of it is precisely the letters that Z wrote (some are backwards). Then it’s two-line anagrams. So my solution is essentially to treat the 340 as two-line anagrams with the characters he used. That’s it. It provides a BOMB THREAT, which is what Z sent the next day. It has STINE, TOSCHI, ARMSTRONG, and CAHILL in it. All on the Wanted Poster three weeks earlier. It has by gun, by knife, by rope, by bomb in it. It has a repeated TICK, TICK in it. And it’s signed; THE ZODIAC. But THAT’S NONSENSE?! AND your solution IS WHAT? You have pages and pages of tortured logic to get WHAT? Why should I buy your machinations about numbers and other letters etc. etc. etc. etc. Why not two-line anagrams? That’s TORTURED? NONSENSE? GEEZ.
ENOCH FISCHER!!!! OMG! And you call what I’ve come up with nonsense. and you say my logic is tortured. Incredible.
AK Wilks, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:30 am
Ted used the alias ENOCH W FISCHER. Why is that so funny?
A state police code unit has examined my proposed solutions, and based on them and other evidence I (and others) have given them, are seeking the DNA of TK and doing other things. Maybe I am wrong about your proposed solution send it to law enforcement and see what they think.
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:35 am
Let’s just drop this cipher debate. It’s a total loser. No matter what you or I claim as a "solution," no one will agree. It’s a total waste of time, IMO. I believe my solution makes perfect sense. I believe it is 1000 times or more simpler and more logical than what you’ve presented. I can explain every line; they all go together and they are relevant to the case. Even Tom J BEFORE K-HILL makes sense: J comes before K in the alphabet. And no matter how many times I tell people that it doesn’t read like the 408 because 34 characters per line puts constraints on the message format, they don’t seem to understand this, to my mind, simple idea. So I’m done explaining it. Look how simple my code key is. THE, THAT, KNOW are not at all the same as BOMB, KILL, MURDER. I was working with few degrees of freedom and I always chose the route that put the most limitations on my degrees of freedom. But I’m done with ciphers. I don’t care anymore. There’s no winning.
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:24 am
Wilks and Rand…
Not meant to disrespect the hours both of you have put into this, but neither solution or approach is correct. Can we move on now?
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:19 am
I’m just curious, but why do you know that my solution and approach are incorrect? That’s a rather bold statement. You are judge and jury about the 340? Who appointed you? What makes you so confident in your assessments? I’m a fairly smart person. What do you know that I don’t that allows you to dismiss my solution out of hand? Fair questions, right?
As for moving on, I already have. Like I said, I solved it 2 years ago to my satisfaction but couldn’t care less if anyone buys it or not. There’s no way to prove it one way or another. So as far as I’m concerned, end of story.
This thread was simply to report my solution for the record. I’m not going to defend it, esp. since I don’t think most people, such as yourself, have even looked at or understand what I did (though it’s transparent and simple as can be).
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:34 pm
You’re a cop, or better yet, a detective…a cop with maybe a 2 year college degree (back in the ’60’s anyway)…
The first "unexplained" line of your solved ciper reads as follows:
HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO …really???
I just don’t see see going to the "bother" he went through to create this damned thing to have that as the "first blush solution", followed by going through and making tortuous anagrams that only certain people can "see" from it, knowing who his general "audience" was probably going to be (cops, LE, detective, FBI agencts,etc.).
Rather, I see him doing one of thwo things, either:
1. Creating some type of code similar to the "solved" cipher based on some general rule that generally holds for the entire ciper, noting that Z makes some spelling errors to make things more interesting BECAUSE HE WANTED HIS CIPERHS TO EVENTAULLY BE SOLVED; or
2. The cipher is ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS BECAUSE HE ONLY HAD ONE SOLVABLE ONE, AND THE REST ARE GARBAGE.
Your solution is something in between #1’s 1 and 2, therefore, no go.
I am entitled to say what I think about any proposed ciper solution here, just like you can tell me why you think my common sense analysis based on Z’s past practices is incorrect….
I’m listening….
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:11 pm
What do you mean the first line of my translation reads: HEREPLUAPKIOLTGO …really???
It reads: I KNOW Y PAUL WUZ KILLED THAT NITE BC I KNOW THE ROG KOP WHO GOT ME THE GORY JOB
, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:14 am
…but remember, only you know that… 
rand, Subject: Re: A SOLUTION TO THE 340 Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:26 pm
Yep. Apparently so
