Hi,

Thanks for the compliment on my book.

The DNA issue with respect to the Z letters has nothing to do with storage, if we can assume that the 1974 and 1978 letters individually, and all the other Z letters collectively were stored under about the same conditions. Had the saliva, cells and DNA on the 1969-1971 letters "degraded," you’d expect to see at least some degradation of the DNA on the 1974 and 1978 letters, since the amount of time that passed before DNA analysis became available is not much different for (especially) the 1971 and 1974 letters (i.e., three years) compared to the amount of time that passed after 1974 until DNA technology became available (i.e., the difference between 1971 and, say, 1998 is 27 years vs. 24 years between 1974 and 1998). This amount of time would presumably have given the 1974 DNA plenty of time to degrade if that were the issue. Alan Keel said that the DNA on both the 1974 and 1978 letters is easily extractable, such as one would find in a letter that was licked by the sender.

I was told that the Zodiac letters are segregated by the lab into two groups: the "true" Zodiac letters, which are characterized by very few cells and only small amount of saliva, vs. the forged 1974 and 1978 letters, where there is an abundance of saliva, many cells and DNA that is easily extracted and matched between them.

We can’t presume that The Exorcist letter is the other forgery but it is my best bet based on what I know from the 2000 chart of letters that were tested for DNA and the accusations against Toschi from 1978.

This is all in my book (except the degradation discussion).

Mike

Thank you kindly for your thoughts on degradation Mike – it makes a lot of sense and I trust your opinion on after so many years in the trenches of this debate. It sounds like you feel that it is legitimate, at least in theory, that the 78 and the Exorcist could have come from the same sender and that neither are authentic Zodiac. Would you care to share any thoughts on the authenticity of the Fairfield letter or its potential relationship to the Exorcist author? I perfectly understand if you would rather that I get back to you after I have read the book. Thanks for your efforts!

Hi,

I have not spent a lot of time thinking about the Fairfield letter of December 16, 1969. The only possible Z letter that interests me is the DMV letter, if it exists. I don’t particularly think that the Fairfield letter looks like it comes from Z’s hand.

Mike

I’m skeptical of Allen. But DNA is the only way this case really gets solved. And that puts Allen back on the table.

I keep hearing that they didn’t detect saliva on the back of any of the confirmed Zodiac stamps. I’m wondering why they would still not analyze for DNA. The back of the stamps are likely the best chance of ever getting any new evidence in this case. Short of a confession or someone stumbling into Stines wallet or a murder weapon.

I keep hearing that they didn’t detect saliva on the back of any of the confirmed Zodiac stamps. I’m wondering why they would still not analyze for DNA. The back of the stamps are likely the best chance of ever getting any new evidence in this case. Short of a confession or someone stumbling into Stines wallet or a murder weapon.

Stamps, or the sealed flaps of envelopes

I keep hearing that they didn’t detect saliva on the back of any of the confirmed Zodiac stamps. I’m wondering why they would still not analyze for DNA. The back of the stamps are likely the best chance of ever getting any new evidence in this case. Short of a confession or someone stumbling into Stines wallet or a murder weapon.

Stamps, or the sealed flaps of envelopes

Morf, any hopes this gets solved by DNA this year?

I keep hearing that they didn’t detect saliva on the back of any of the confirmed Zodiac stamps. I’m wondering why they would still not analyze for DNA. The back of the stamps are likely the best chance of ever getting any new evidence in this case. Short of a confession or someone stumbling into Stines wallet or a murder weapon.

Stamps, or the sealed flaps of envelopes

Morf, any hopes this gets solved by DNA this year?

Morf, is the sky going to be red tomorrow morning?

Let’s see what you look like.

There were some insults thrown around in this thread. I deleted them. PLEASE we are all adults here. Do we really need to babysit?