AK Wilks, Subject: Unconfirmed Zodiac Code – Fairfield 12/7/69   Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:33 pm

This post shows my work and thoughts as they happened while a reached a proposed solution to the cipher included in the 12/7/69 Zodiac letter postmarked Fairfield, CA, that has the line "+ he will be a cop"

AK Wilks, Subject: Re: Unconfirmed Zodiac Code – Fairfield 12/7/69   Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:37 pm

Has anyone ever tried to decipher this code? It seems to be a real Z letter, though the writing is a bit varied in spots. And we have no good copy, so some of these could be wrong, because it is hard to see many of the symbols. Just applying very basic Harden 408 and Graysmith/Kite 340 translations, some code solving, and "?" means I don’t know could be any letter maybe "I", "Y" or "O", I get :

T E W C T S E N H N T T
I O K R E L T
E E D ? E
E I E K E Y
I Y N N L S T E

Last three of 3rd line could be "DIE".

Last three of 4th line is "KEY"

5th line could anagram to "LISTEN". Or "LIST" and "YEN".

1st line, 6th letter going down is "SKI". That is the last part of the last name of two well known Polish – American Zodiac suspects.

First three lines you can get "THEODORE". Or "DICK".

Of course it could be a fake letter, or a real Z letter but a fake or gibberish code.

AK Wilks, Subject: Re: Unconfirmed Zodiac Code – Fairfield 12/7/69   Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:51 pm

I reached a possible solution on the probable but unconfirmed Zodiac cipher of 12/7/69.

http://zodiackillertruth.com/images/fbi/cs4fbi.pdf

Relevant docs about 1/5 of the way down. They are generally organized by date. Generally from page 30 to 70. Cipher info on page 53 – 63.

The FBI did try to decipher this 12/7/69 cipher, in conjunction with the 340. They note the 12/7/69 may be too short to translate. They did try using the Harden translation on both the 340 and the 12/7/69, with limited results. They note there are many new symbols – about 20% – that do not appear in Harden. They mention it and the 340 may have word anagrams.

They list these possible translations:

+ = L, T, S, R, O and E
9 or P (backwards) = O
Dot in Triangle = K, F (A, S in Harden).
B = L

Other tidbits include request by police to check fingerprints in FBI ID Bureau of 18 persons, listed as "veterans" "white male Americans" suggestion of "mental disorders" and named as "suspects". As none are mentioned to have arrest records, perhaps they assumed FBI could check their military record for prints, as all are listed as "veterans". It is not clear if all had prints on record, but no matches are noted. Other persons were checked as they were noted as "sex deviates", "member of Communist Party", "interested in astrology" and/or a "loner." All names are blacked out.

HERE IS MY PROPOSED FIRST STAGE SOLUTION:

T E W C T S E N H N T T
I O K R E L T E E D O E
E I E K E Y I Y N N L S T E

ALTERNATE TRANSLATION OF FIRST STAGE SOLUTION:

T E W C T S E N H N A A
I O K R E L T R R D O P
P I E K E Y I Y N N L S T R

Using basic "ETA" frequency chart and general code solving principles, my first translation has too many "T" ‘s and "E" ‘s and not a single "A" or "P" and only one "R". "A" is the third most used letter in the English language, and it would be very difficult to form any kind of coherent English paragraph without, so I was no doubt wrong to rely so strictly on Harden 408 and general 340 solves.

So I now propose solving the "LL" as "AA" instead of "TT". As it seems fairly clear we have an anagram here, and the FBI treated it as a probable anagram, I will not be overly wed to the fact that LL and TT are frequent doubles and AA is not. If it is a real code, it must have some "A" ‘s to form words, and it would be a nice fake for Z to trick us into thinking it is a non-anagram and thus sticking with LL=TT, as I first did. We still have too many "E" ‘s. The FBI mentions multiple possible translations for "+", including "R". So lets go with that, because we have only one "R" and likely need more to form words. We also lack a single letter "P", so I will solve the backwards "9" or backwards "P" (can’t tell from poor copy) as a "P".

Last line could anagram as:

STINE KEY IN PRYLN

HERE IS MY PROPOSED FINAL STAGE SOLUTION:

Entire translated code can anagram as:

STINE KEY WALLET IN CHERRY PRESIDO PARK

Left over are: T T N N O

Which could also be T H N R O likely to anagram as NORTH

This above sentence closely matches a part of my multi step 340 solution, which gives an even more specific location in "CHERRY PRESIDO PARK".

The above sentence is unlikely to be mere coincidence. It seems intentional, and could be the work of a very smart hoaxer, or it is a real message from Zodiac.

Going against it being a hoax is the fact that it matches my multi step solution to the 340, except the 340 gives a more specific location.

What do other people think of this? Is my proposed solution likely correct? Or partially correct? Could it be a coincidence that those words come up? Is it a hoax cipher? Or is it real?

I think about 90- 95% of the symbol translations are either from Harden solved, 340 solves from ZK archive board and FBI report.

AK Wilks, Subject: Re: Unconfirmed Zodiac Code – Fairfield 12/7/69   Sun Mar 28, 2010 7:57 pm

This is the breakdown on my proposed solution to the possible Zodiac cipher of 12/7/69. There are 38 symbols:

25 come from Harden solved 408 (HARDEN) = 66%
5 come from me using frequency analysis (AK) 13%
4 come from Graysmith-ZK Archive 340 (ZKA) 11%
3 come from 12/69 FBI Report-Z ciphers (FBI) 8%
1 is unsolved (UNSOLVED) 2%

The cipher copy is poor and some symbols are hard to make out. For the worst I put a (?). One symbol remains unsolved and that is noted with a "?". Here is the translation breakdown in detail:

H = H (ZKA)
E = E (HARDEN)
A = W (HARDEN)
> = C (ZKA)
< = T (ZKA)
Square w/ dot = S (HARDEN)
Circle (?) w/ dot (?) = E (HARDEN)
Circle w/ vertical line = N (HARDEN)
Circle w/ horizontal line = H (HARDEN)
O = O (ZKA)
L = A (AK)
L = A (AK)

Triangle = I (HARDEN)
T = O (HARDEN)
/ = K (HARDEN)
Upside down T = R (HARDEN)
W = E (HARDEN)
B = L (HARDEN)
I = T (HARDEN)

+ = R (FBI)
+ = R (FBI)
Cross over circle = D (HARDEN)
Square (?) w/ vertical line = ? (UNSOLVED)
Backwards P = P (AK)

Backwards P = P (AK)
U = I (HARDEN)
Z = E (HARDEN)
/ = K (HARDEN)
Circle w/ dot = E (HARDEN)
Square = Y (HARDEN)

Triangle = I (HARDEN)
Square (?) = Y (HARDEN)
O = N (HARDEN)
^ = N (HARDEN)
Short vertical line (?) = L (AK)
K = S (HARDEN)
I = T (HARDEN)
+ = R (FBI)

So full translation is:

H E W C T S E N H O A A

I O K R E L T R R D ? P

P I E K E Y I Y N N L S T R

My proposed anagram solution is:

STINE KEY WALLET IN

CHERRY PRESIDO PARK

Left over are: H N O T ? Which could be: N O R T H

The message here is an almost exact match to part of my multi stage solution to the 340, except that the 340 solution goes further by giving a more specific location.

Does anyone want to check my work? Can anyone come up with a better anagram?