A Fresh Look At The Solution Unsolved 18 From Zodiac Code

[akwilks]

Most of what follows is based on excellent discoveries made by Kite. I try here to amplify, expound, illustrate and build on them.

It is well known and obvious that dozens to hundreds of real 18 letter names can be created from an unsolved 18 Caesar chart. So why should we be interested in the TJK name anymore than the Zs production of the Penn name, or any of the other dozens to hundreds of real names that could be produced?

If Zodiac did use this method, as I contend is probable, it is not just like hiding the needle of his name in a haystack. It is like hiding the needle of his name in a haystack with hundreds of other needles. (And in the Map Code, thousands). By doing so he realistically avoids any serious chance of legal jeopardy. But I speculate that Z did want to be able to prove he was Z if he was ever caught and/or his ego couldn't resist putting his name in there some how. So he put in some patterns and math formulas that only seem to tie in with his name, to the exclusion of all or almost all the other names that can be produced.

This is the shift value number sequence that produces the TJK name:

0 - 3 3 - 6 9 6 - 3 3 - 6 6 9 9 6 6 - 9 9 - 6 - 0


First, there is the murder date and time car door message that I show above. If this solution is not valid, then it is just a coincidence that when you apply the car door sequence to the unsolved 18 you get the name of a major Z suspect, TJK. I doubt that is a coincidence!

Second, look at the mathematical pattern. Keep in mind Zodiac - whoever he was - had a mind for codes and numbers, and Kaczynski was a math professor and a genius with numbers. I have mentioned this briefly but never really explored how extraordinary it is. Let us look at the numbers and the name:

T H E O D O R E -J K A C Z Y N S K I
0 3 3 6 9 6 3 3 - 6 6 9 9 6 6 9 9 6 0

If you add all the shift values that make up "Theodore" they add up to 33.

0+3+3+6+9+6+3+3 = 33

After the opening "0", we see that "33" appears at the start of the name "Theodore", and appears again in the end of that name.

If you add up all the shift values that make up "J Kaczynski" they add up to 66.

6+6+9+9+6+6+9+9+6+0 = 66

"66" appears at the start of the name "J Kaczynski", and appears again in the middle of the name.

Add the values of both names together (i.e., add up all the values used in the 18 character name) and you have 33 + 66 = 99.

"99" appears in the middle and towards the end of the name, before the actual "60" ending.

Is all this yet another coincidence? Maybe. But I highly doubt it. It seems a way to validate this name as being different from all the other names that can be produced.

Zs did produce the name "Gareth Sewell Penn ZK". I don't think the eccentric researcher Penn is a serious suspect, and the ZK doesn't really make sense, but OK, let us look at it.

Kite and I have tried to get a similar math or other pattern out of the Penn name, and many other names, and we can't. The numbers in each part of the three part name add up to numbers that do not appear in the name:

Z K G A R E T H S E W E L L P E N N
9 9 -9 9 9 0 0 0 9 0 -3 3 3 3 3 0 9 9

ZK = 18 GARETH = 27 SEWELL = 21 PENN = 21 TOTAL = 87

The numbers "18, 27, 21, 87" do not appear in the name.

Perhaps there is another name or two that by chance might have some math formulas in it. Maybe it is "Vern Eli Blandstone". But then you would have to ask if that person is as good a suspect as TJK. Is he a known code expert, bomb maker and killer who lived in the SF Bay area at the right time? In other words, the proposed code solutions are one element to consider of the total evidentiary package.

Also, in the Map Code "Theodore J" has shift value numbers of 51, and "Kaczynski" also adds up to 51. See http://unazod.com/Wilks_32.htm . I noted that a Unabomber alias "Enoch W Fischer" decodes as "Theo Kaczynski" using the Caesar Code 0-3-6-9 method. And as Kite also discovered, in the Unabomber alias "Enoch W Fischer", using not shift value but the number value of letters (i.e., "E" = 5, as it is the fifth letter), "Enoch W" adds up to 68, and "Fischer" adds up to 68. See viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25 .

In other words, it seems Theodore Kaczynski used internal math formulas to distinguish his name and his name only that he hid in both Zodiac codes and Unabomber alias codes.

[akwilks]

Kaczynski Use Of The Caesar Code As The Unabomber


Kaczynski sometimes used real names of real people on return addresses for his mail bombs, and at other times used an alias. For the bomb he sent in June 1980 to Percy Wood, the head of United Airlines, he used the alias: ENOCH W FISCHER. 13 letters. Address of 3414 Ravenswood Street, Chicago IL 60657. See photo attachment of the envelope of a letter sent to Mr. Wood telling him a book would be coming soon for him. The bomb was in the book package.


This name seemed very strange and contrived to me. "Theodore Kaczynski" is 17 letters long (18 if you include middle intitial "J"), and that name appears in several of the decodes. But a 13 letter variant of his name appears in two of the decodes. And "Enoch W Fischer" was 13 letters long, the same number as the "Zodiac My Name Is Code", which Caesar 0-3-6-9 decoded gives the name "Theo Kaczynski," and one line in the Zodiac 340 Code, which gives "Theo Kaczynski See A Name". "Theo" also has a double meaning - it is the first four letters of "Theodore", but it also Greek for "God".

I applied the exact same 0-3-6-9 Caesar Code shift values as I did in the Zodiac Mt. Diablo Map Code, the My Name Is Code and the 340. It produced, with very little anagram application, the name THEO KACZYNSKI. This Caesar Code-modified Gronsfeld Cipher 0-3-6-9 system is now known or suspected to have been used by exactly TWO criminals. One is the Zodiac Killer. And the other one is Theodore Kaczynski, operating as "FC", aka the Unabomber. This is both strong circumstantial and direct evidence that the two - The Zodiac Killer and Theodore Kaczynski - are one and the same. Doug Oswell also discovered another probable instance of Kaczynski using this same Caesar Code with these same shift values, in his nine digit ID number he sent with his mailings, which Mr. Kite has developed further.


Here the name is produced with the shift values of:

3 9 0 9 3 9 3 9 0 0 9 6 9

Look at the fake address TJK gave: 3 4 1 4. Consider 4 + 4 + 1 = 9. That gives us "3 9", which are the FIRST two shift values to decode correctly, and they are used two other times. And the zip code: 6 0 6 5 7. Consider 6 + 6 = 12, and 12 + 57 = 69. And "6 9" are are the LAST two shift values to apply to decode correctly. 69 is also the total sum of all the shift values used.

It is produced with the shift values of:

3 9 0 9 3 9 3 9 0 0 9 6 9

That creates:

H E O T K N I Z S C Y K A

The chart reveals the name in a geometric pattern:


N W X L Q -------F------O R B L Q N A
K T U I N---------C------L O Y I N K X
H Q R F K -------Z------I L V F K H U

E N O C H-------W------F I S C H E R

B K L Z E--------T------C F P Z E B O
Y H I W B-------Q -----Z C M W B Y L
V E F T Y -------N -----W Z J T Y V I



3 9 0 9 3 -----9----- 3 9 0 0 9 6 9
H E O T K ----N----- I Z S C Y K A


Trans: T H E O K A C Z Y N S K I
-------- 9 3 9 0 6 9 0 9 9 9 0 3 3

Code solution, text and analysis Copyright 2009 by AK Wilks

Under the provisions of the "Fair Use" exceptions to the Copyright Act, parts or all of this may be used for valid non-commercial purposes such as study, news reporting, debate, criticism and research, without payment or notice, provided only that proper credit is given.

[KITE]

Interesting to take a look at the (3,6,9,12,15,18) places along the name THEODORE J KACZYNSKI. (E,O,J,C,N,I) Close to JANICE . As AK noticed, the (6,12,18)(O,C,I) match on the Caesar shift unknown 18 solution. But look at what (O,C,I) equals as far as number for letter. O=15 C=3 I=9. So (O,C,I)(placement along TJK 18)=(6,12,18)(number for letter)=(15,3,9). Combine and order those 6 numbers.(3,6,9,12,15,18). Strange coincidence. Also, OCI are 3 letters from ZODIAC. ZODIAC falls along (5,6,11,12,13,18)(DOACZI) on the TJK name.

[akwilks]

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10..11..12..13..14..15..16..17..18
T...H...E..O...D...O..R...E...J.....K.....A...C...Z....Y....N....S...K....I

If Ted applied a 3 sequence to his name he comes up with:

E O J C N I

Which as Kite suggests, can form:

J O N I C E

If he wanted to use an alias based on this math, of course this comes to mind - and remember he once sought a sex change operation:

J A N I C E

Interestingly enough, an East Coast murder case with many similarities to Zodiac had a strange message, certainly from the killer, signed JANICE CRUM.

This is the basic info on this case and some possibly related cases, researched by myself and Morf:

Time: December 5, 1975
Place: Pennsylvania, Lancaster County
MO: Beautiful young woman named Lindy Biechler killed in her Spring Manor apartment. Formerly named Lindy Little, and that was still the name on her mailbox and in the phone book. Stabbed 11 times with a knife. Her grave was set up in November 1976, and around Thanksgiving time that year her grave was desecrated with 11 blows. Police believe killer desecrated the grave because only the killer knew the number of knife wounds.

Other PA victims: Betsy Aardsma was killed by knife attack in the Penn State University library on November 28, 1969. Other PA victms include a Mary (1984) and a Christy (December 21, 1992), but no strong indication they are linked, and evidence suggests Mary may have been killed by boyfriend. May be a total coincidence, but these names - Betsy, Mary, Lindy, Christy, Perry, even Cheri - all have something in common, don't they?

Campus Library victim: On October 30, 1966 Cheri Jo Bates was killed after leaving campus library in Riverside, CA. Killed by 1 1/2 by 4 inch knife, same as Aardsma. Poem on desk, matched to Zodiac handwriting, talked of killing girl in a red dress by a knife - Aardsma was wearing a red dress.

Grave desecration: January 12 1974 caller saying he is Zodiac gives garbled message about a body in a church. Same month, same county, Zodiac sends the "Exorcist" letter. Movie has scene of a crucifix inserted into vagina. On October 12 (Columbus Day) 1974 (approx 5th year anniversary of Zodiac murder of Stine) Arlis Perry was found dead in Stanford University church, killed by ice pick to rear of head. Church candle inserted into vagina. On October 30-31, 1974, the temporary headstone of Perry is stolen from her gravesite in Bismark, ND.

Man dead at gas station was considered to be another victim of Lindy's killer, but police later arrested another man. In his letter, the killer of Lindy correctly states he had nothing to do with that crime. What do you think are things in this letter that either do or don't remind you of aspects of Z, TJK or any other known killer?

Letter sent to Police Chief Sheeler regarding murder of Lindy Biechler:

hi sheeler

Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn't caught me yet, still around, Lindy's marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.

Count them.

you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.

I'll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.

got busted once for Drugs a few years back

Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs

I am 5'10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful

and capable of killing again without knowing it

Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.

Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.

Will god forgive me ---------

Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it.

then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.

Help me please

P.S. chief sheeler

my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That's why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station.

Janice Crum

[KITE]

2 interesting parallels to the Zodiac case revolving around incorrect spelling. STABES misspelled allowing for BATES anagram. Then the writer goes on to say...I MIGHT CONFESS. Then he writes...Please chief help me I am LOOSING my mind help me before I kill again. Very similar to the December 20, 1969 Zodiac letter. In that letter, Zodiac spells LOSE as LOOSE twice.

[akwilks]

This is the 18 character code sequence that produces the TJK name from the 18 unsolved:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

This is an alias used by Ted, KONRAD:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

This is the presumed alias of the Santa Barbara suspect, SANDY:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

This is the first name of the letter writer in the Lindy case, JANICE:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

And these are the initials left by the Riverside poem said by Cal DOJ to be written by the Zodiac, RH:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

And you can also get THE ZODIAC:

H...S...K...R...A...O...Y...T...N...D...K...C...E...E...J...O...Z...I

And of course from the name
T...H...E...O...D...O...R...E...J...K...A...C...Z...Y...N...S...K...I

You can get

T...H...E...O...D...O...R...E...J...K...A...C...Z......Y...N...S...K...I

THE ZODIAC

[akwilks]

One thing worth noting is that the writer of the Lindy letter calls the Chief of Police:

"CHIEF PIG"

Look what the Chief of Police is called in the unconfirmed Zodiac letter from May 1978:

[akwilks]

THIS IS A POST FROM MORF - I AM PUTTING IT HERE IN THE SECTION ON THE UNSOLVED 18 AS IT RELATES TO THE "JONICE" - "JANICE" ASPECT.

FROM MORF:

AK, I dont want to take this train off the TED K track....too far off topic, but since you asked for it, here it is:

Lindy Biechler was murdered in her Manor Twp apartment in Lancaster county, PA on 12/5/75. She was stabbed eleven times with a knife from her own home. (Zodiac victim Cecilia Shepard was stabbed 10 times) In adition, Lindy’s killer may have brought his own knife to the scene. The knife that belonged to Lindy was found still in her body. In the weeks before her murder, Lindy thought she was being stalked. (One of Zodiac’s victims, Darlene Ferrin, said she too was being stalked in the time before her murder). Lindy worked in a flower shop, near a hospital. In addition, her husband was a college student.

On or around the one year anniversary of Lindy’s murder, her grave stone was vandalized, and Several weeks later, on Jan. 5, 1977, a letter marked "Urgent" arrived at the Manor Township Police Department.. Addressed to Chief Donald Sheeler, the two-page letter is written as if it was penned by the man who brutally stabbed Lindy and later vandalized her tombstone. Written in a stream-of-consciousness tone, filled with misspellings and odd capitalizations, the letter begins with a taunt to Chief Sheeler: "Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn't caught me yet."

The letter-writer makes reference to another murder that happened at the time in Mountville, telling police there is no connection. Indeed, police later arrested someone else for the crime and do not think the man was connected to Lindy's killing.(The Zodiac took credit for the murder of police officer Richard Radetich ,although the police already had made an arrest in the case)

The writer then continues to mock Sheeler, calling him "Chief Pig."

Zodiac wrote in a letter “Hey Pig doesn’t it rile you up to have your noze rubbed in your booboos?”

The Biechler letter also says, “"Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn't caught me yet."
(Is it just me, or do the two above sentences sound like they are from the same author?)
The Biechler letter writer writes “I am 5'10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautifull"
Witnesses who saw Zodiac described him as Stocky to heavyset around 200 lbs, and being around 5 ft 10 – 6 ft tall.

The Biechler letter writer wrote "god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily."

Zodiac wrote in his letter to Attorney Melvin Beli “Please help me I am drownding” and “I am afraid I will loose control” and “I will loose all control of myself”
(Notice the misspelling of the same word , LOSE, with the same misspelling from both writers?)

The Biechler letter wrote “you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper ”
Zodiac wrote “I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry. 1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-page Fry night”

The Biechler letter writer wrote “the headaches kill me Every time it aches”
In the Zodiac case, a man called in to a morning talk show claiming to be Zodiac. He wanted to talk on the air to Attorney Melvin Beli. They arranged to have Beli appear. They asked that nobody call into the show so that Zodiac could get through on the phones. Police were in place, and ready to place any calls. Then the call came, and the caller started to talk. He sounded a bit incoherent, and started rambling about his HEADACHES. The call was traced, to a mental patient in a hospital. The patient was NOT the Zodiac. Police asked witnesses who had heard the REAL Zodiac’s voice , to listen to the tv show caller.Only a few witnesses had heard the Zodiacs voice. They were two police operators, who had taken calls from Zodiac after two of his attacks. Also, Surviving witness Brian Hartnell (who spent the most time with Zodiac, and talked with him the longest) was asked to listen to the voice on the show. ALL of them confirmed , that the caller was NOT Zodiac. Anyhow, it was a well known “blunder” by police in the Zodiac case. I think the Biechler letter writer may have been mocking this tv show, and the whole “headaches” thing

Full Text of letter


hi sheeler

Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn't caught me yet, still around, Lindy's marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.(IS "STABES" AN ANAGRAM FOR BATES??)
Count them.

you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.

I'll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.

got busted once for Drugs a few years back

Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs

I am 5'10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful

and capable of killing again without knowing it

Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.

Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.

Will god forgive me ---------

Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it.

then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.

Help me please

P.S. chief sheeler

my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That's why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station.

Janice Crum


Why do I think Lindy may be a Zodiac victim? Anybody that doesn’t see similarities in the spelling errors, expression, and writing style, between the known Zodiac writing, and the writer of the Biechler letter, isn’t looking! The two writers use the same exact words, and even make some of the same spelling errors! If Lindy Biechler’s case was in California instead of Pennsylvania, there is NO DOUBT, that she would be considered a possible Zodiac victim

Just as in the murder of suspected Zodiac victim, Cheri jo Bates, you have anonymous letters to the police from someone claiming to be her killer. And you also have the “anniversary aspect” in both cases. Aprox the one year anniv of Lindys murder you have the vandalism and letter to police. On the 6 month anniversary of Cheri Jo Bates’ murder, you have anon letters to police and her Father.

One other thing to point out about the Biechler letter. The letter writer and her killer, may NOT have been the same person. Remember, I listed the Zodiac letter regarding Officer Richard Radetich’s murder. Zodiac wrote a letter about it taking credit for it, even though police already had somebody in custody.

Also, there is no CONFIRMED Zodiac attack of any victims in their own homes. However, one suspected Zodiac victim, Donna Lass, a Lake Tahoe, CA. nurse , disappeared from her job as a nurse at the Sahara hotel in Stateline, Nevada late at night On Labor Day, September 6, 1970. HOWEVER, her car was found outside of her apartment the next day,indicating she had made it home possibly, and was attacked in her home, or in the parking lot where she parked.
And also, the Biechler letter writer writes about the gas station victim, even though the police arrested somebody else for it.

Regarding the “Janice Crum” name on the bottom of the letter, police searched and found no one by that name in the PA area, with any apparent connection to the case. In the Cheri Jo Bates case, a suspicious letter was sent to a local paper in 1967. The writer signed the letter “Patricia Hautz - Fellow Student”. NO Patricia Hautz was a fellow student of Cheri Jo’s ,and no woman by that name was ever found! (Sound a bit like JANICE CRUM? By the way...I found a retired teacher in Oakland named Janice Crum..minutes from the Stine murder scene). Think of it, the Biechler letter writer uses that name in PA, and police search and find no connection, as the writer probably knows they will not. The writer may have known her, or been a student of hers. I haven’t confirmed yet how old she is, or what/where she taught. Oakland is MINUTES from the Zodiac crime scenes!

AK, since this train is already heading off the tracks( ) I will say one more thing about another case in PA that has some similarities to Biechler & Zodiac. That is the case of Penn State student, Dana Bailey.

March 1987 - Sometime between March 4-5, 1987, Dana Bailey, a Penn State student and a part time waitress at the Corner Room restaurant, was murdered in her second floor apartment. She died from multiple stab wounds. She was tied up. There was signs of forced entry, but not of any robbery, or rape. The investigation revealed that the suspect was watching Dana's apartment from a building that was being remodeled. The building was located to the north of hers. The suspect gained entry to Dana's apartment through a window, which faced the surveillance point. (I found the remodeling part interesting. Remember back in the Bates case, a paint splattered watch had been found at the scene of the crime. Perhaps Dana’s killer was a painter, and would have been painting at the place being remodeled?)

In March, 1989, Dana Bailey's father received an anonymous letter signed "Concerned Officers", implicating an officer Rusnak in Dana's murder. As a result, the Attorney General's office conducted an investigation into the allegation. Rusnak cooperated fully with the investigation, which found no evidence to support the letter writer’s claims.

(Sounds a lot like the Cheri Jo Bates case in which her father received an anonymous letter on the 6 month anniversary of her murder, not to mention like Z giving the cops "fake clews" & "busy work")


Why do I think Dana Bailey may be a Zodiac victim?


1-The multiple stabbings sounds like the Biechler case.
2-She was a Penn state student like Aardsma was.
3-As with the Cheri Jo Bates case, her father received an anonymous letter on the anniversary of her murder.4-The family of suspected Zodiac victim, Donna Lass, the nurse who disappeared in Lake Tahoe Calif., received a holiday card from someone that was suspected to be the Zodiac. It has been remarked that the hand-written message was insensitive and cruel. Yet another Zodiac mannerism - like the note sent to Joseph Bates.

[akwilks]

OK BACK TO THE CODES NOW!!!

[akwilks]

BASICS OF THE CAESAR SHIFT CODE ANALYSIS OF THE ZODIAC CODES WITH THE 0 - 3 - 6 - 9 SHIFT VALUES

NOTE: Several people have told me they are interested in learning more about the code work done by Kite, myself and others, but that they don't really understand the Caesar code and the the shift values. This is my best effort to try to explain it!


In 1969, some 40 years ago, Don and Bettye Harden solved the first Zodiac code. Since that time, the three other codes Zodiac sent to the SF Chronicle have remained unsolved. If one takes the Harden solution and general code solving principles and applies them to the unsolved codes, you get a string of letters with no apparent meaning. It seems clear that there is at least one more "step" needed to solve the codes. But what is it? And did Zodiac give us a clue as to what it might be?

If the next step involves a number, I thought it would be a number with meaning to the killer. The first probable Zodiac killing was of Cheri Jo Bates, in Riverside, California, on Devil's Night, 10/30/1966. One other killing had similar numbers — the murder of Cecilia Shepherd and wounding of Bryan Hartnell on 9/27/1969 at Lake Berryessa. In fact, Zodiac wrote a message on the victims' car door, the last part of which read:

"Sept 27 1969 6:30."


Why write the time? Looking at the common numbers, with the Bates murder date we have 30 (1)966 and with the door message we have (1)969 630. So we have possible numbers of 30 9 66 and 9 69 6 3 0. So we have common numbers of 0-3-6-9. And in Norse mythology, something we know Zodiac (and my main suspect) had knowledge of, the numbers 3, 6, 9 and 27 (which is 3 x 9 and also 2 + 7 = 9) have special meaning.

Using a clue on the cipher sent by Zodiac, the Phillips 66 Map Code, there is the Zodiac symbol and the numbers 0, 3, 6 and 9.

Once again, we have the numbers 0-3-6-9. In the context of the map, one would expect to see N, E, S and W, or perhaps 0, 90, 180, 270. Could the numbers 0-3-6-9 be a clue, a clue on how to break all the Zodiac codes?

There is a famous code system that used shifts of 3 letters. It is called a Caesar Code, as it was first used by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar.

For example, the message ATTACK would be encoded as DWWDFN. The person getting the message DWWDFN would then go backwards (or forwards) in the alphabet three spaces for each letter. Caesar used a shift value of three, but any shift value can be used. From Wiki:

In cryptography, a Caesar cipher, also known as a Caesar's cipher, the shift cipher, Caesar's code or Caesar shift, is one of the simplest and most widely known encryption techniques. It is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a shift of 3, A would be replaced by D, B would become E, and so on. The method is named after Julius Caesar, who used it to communicate with his generals.

For a quick 10 minute lesson on the Caesar Code, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_code

A variation of a Caesar Code was also used by the Confederate Army — below is a picture of a Confederate decoding wheel, showing "C" lined up with "F", for example, as "F" is three letters after "C". Kaczynski signed his Unabomber letters with "FC".

Since a classic Caesar Code is fairly easy to break, more complex versions were formed, some keyed to a book passage (Vigenere Cipher) or a sequence of numbers (Gronsfeld Cipher).

Zodiac time and time again gives us the numbers 0, 3, 6 and 9 - if these are clues to the decrypt sequence, then they reveal the name and message Zodiac encrypted. And that name revealed in the unsolved 18 is THEODORE J KACZYNSKI.