Elena

Yeah, they weren't like, maybe this is a different situation.

Yeah, they weren't like, maybe this is a different situation.

Yeah. So those suspicions were strengthened a few weeks later when the San Francisco area newspapers all received similar letters from somebody claiming to be the killer.

Yeah. So those suspicions were strengthened a few weeks later when the San Francisco area newspapers all received similar letters from somebody claiming to be the killer.

The first letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle was written in crude block printing and read, Dear Editor, This is the murder of the two teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman plus the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo. To prove I killed them, I shall state some facts which only I plus the police know. Christmas. Over. Indicating to them to flip the sheet of paper over.

The first letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle was written in crude block printing and read, Dear Editor, This is the murder of the two teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman plus the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo. To prove I killed them, I shall state some facts which only I plus the police know. Christmas. Over. Indicating to them to flip the sheet of paper over.

Here is part of a cipher. The other two parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times plus SF Examiner. And I kind of tried to pause where he breaks.

Here is part of a cipher. The other two parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times plus SF Examiner. And I kind of tried to pause where he breaks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it's written very interestingly. Like it's a new line when you don't necessarily need a new line.

Because it's written very interestingly. Like it's a new line when you don't necessarily need a new line.

It's interesting.

It's interesting.

Yeah. That's very unsettling. It's very unsettling. There's a lot to be made of the way that the Zodiac communicates.

Yeah. That's very unsettling. It's very unsettling. There's a lot to be made of the way that the Zodiac communicates.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In time, the letters to the news outlets would become a hallmark, like we know, of the Zodiac Killer, and the press would eventually dub him the Zodiac Killer. But when they got these initial letters, everybody was incredibly confused, and really, they could have just been easily dismissed as the confession of a mentally ill person who maybe hadn't committed these crimes.

In time, the letters to the news outlets would become a hallmark, like we know, of the Zodiac Killer, and the press would eventually dub him the Zodiac Killer. But when they got these initial letters, everybody was incredibly confused, and really, they could have just been easily dismissed as the confession of a mentally ill person who maybe hadn't committed these crimes.