The Case For Kaczynski As The Zodiac

[akwilks]

New picture from auction items. I think it is Ted at his U of M graduation, 1967?

Compare to Zodiac sketch, notice shape of the face, jaw, overall smoothness and lack of distinctive features.

Zodiac Sketch 1969 Without Glasses Hair Cropped.jpg (29.67 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

Ted Kaczynski Graduation University of Michigan 1967.jpg (11.44 KiB) Viewed 3185 times

[Doug]

Actually, AK, this one has been around for quite some time. But where did you find it?

[akwilks]

I never saw it before. I found it among the auction items.

[akwilks]

We all know that Ted Kaczynski eluded capture as the Unabomber for 18 years, and that the FBI had a 25,000 name suspect list that did not include his name. But Ted Kaczynski's downfall, what led to his capture, was that he used certain very specific and odd words and phrases that virtually no one else used. David Kaczynski recognized these words and phrases used by the Unabomber as ones that his brother Ted had used. This included the phrase "cool headed logician." It also included Ted's unique phrasing of the old cliche "You can't have your cake and eat it too" as "You can't eat your cake and have it too."

Similarly, when we look at the words and phrases of the Zodiac, many very specific and unusual, we see that Ted Kaczynski often used these exact same odd words and phrases. This first example was discussed first by Doug Oswell, Linda and Kite, but I don't think it has been examined in depth.

Six months after the abduction and presumed murder of Nevada resident Donna Lass, the Zodiac sent in a card thought to hint at her murder. The card included the very odd phrase "AROUND IN THE SNOW". The card seems to imply that the dead body of Donna Lass can be found AROUND IN THE SNOW. The phrase is odd. Normally we might expect to hear that a body is "IN THE SNOW", or "ON THE SNOW", or "OUT IN THE SNOW".

Thus the term "AROUND IN THE SNOW" is very unusual.


In his new book Technological Slavery, on page 400, Ted Kaczynski discusses hunting rabbits and states that after shooting a rabbit it can be found bouncing "AROUND IN THE SNOW."

Both the Zodiac and Ted Kaczynski use the odd term "AROUND IN THE SNOW" to refer to where a body may be found.

There are many, many other examples.

Zodiac: Police should have "sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover." Zodiac Stine Letter, October 13, 1969, to SF Chronicle.

Kaczynski: "I went down there and watched, from cover, a guy with a bulldozer...". Unabomber: The Secret Life of Ted Kaczynski, by Chris Waits and Dave Shors, p. 278.

Analysis: Both Zodiac and Kaczynski descibe hiding from and watching enemies behind forestry as from "cover", a military term.

Zodiac: "was a negro about 40 -45 rather shabbly dressed." Zodiac Letter of August 4, 1969, to SF Examiner.

Kaczynski: "their homes looked shabby". Technological Slavery, p. 397.

[akwilks]

I actually got a good and positive letter from the FBI the other day.

Or strictly speaking, not the FBI as such, but the US Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy. They deal with FOIA resuests and appeals.

The letter was in regard to my pending appeal of a FBI denial of my FOIA request for records in the mailbomb murder of Judge Vance, including a document with a DNA report. The FBI said they "could not find" the requested records. The letter stated that she had reviewed my request, personally spoke to the FBI agents, and has now resubmitted my request and has asked that the records be found and sent.

Which is good news. I can't explain why the Justice Department is seemingly changing their tune.

I also have a pending appeal on my request for Zodiac letters, including the 7/13/71 confirmed Zodiac letter that mentions "In the woods dies April" and "Monticello".

I also have a pending FOIA request to the SFPD for the 7/13/71 Zodiac letter, which I requested under California laws. If it works I will tell Morf and anyone else interested the relevant California laws to cite and any helpful hints I have learned in the process.

Still no word on the FBI seeking Ted Kaczynski's DNA for the Tylenol Murders case. Last I have heard is Ted refused the request and the FBI is seeking a court order, but I don't know if they are still preparing the motion or if it has been filed under seal.

[Doug]

I wonder if the feds would now be amenable to providing a photocopy of that 1985 letter to the San Francisco Examiner, in which Kaczynski, as the Unabomber, introduced himself, taking credit for the Hugh Scrutton murder and other incidents, in tones very similar to Zodiac's first letter to the same newspaper. It's hard to see how they could object, since they themselves have released to the public all the documents in the case.

[akwilks]

I could ask for it.

Do we have the complete text of that letter?

Do you think something interesting might be revealed by looking at a photocopy of the letter/envelope?

[Doug]

They never released the full thing; only snippets. This was a copy of the actual letter, which Kaczynski kept in his cabin; the letter itself was never recovered--evidently the Examiner set it aside and never informed the authorities, even though in it he took credit for a very nasty bombing that had occurred in Sacramento weeks prior to its receipt. Consequently, there won't be an envelope. But it might prove very instructive to see the entire text.

[akwilks]

I agree. I would like to read the whole text.

They might have auctioned off the letter. But they certainly (one would hope) have a photocopy of the letter.

Next week I will start a FOIA request for it. If there are one or two other things from the UNABOMB case you or another member would like to see, let me know over the weekend, and I will consider adding those to the request.

Might as well strike why the iron is hot. This may be the first and last time I am deemed to be in the good graces of the Justice Department.

[Doug]

Here are the extant quotes:

"The bomb that crippled the right arm of a graduate. student in electrical engineering and damaged a computer lab at U. Of Cal. Berkeley last May was planted by a terrorist group called Freedom Club... To prove that we are the ones who planted the bomb at U. Of Cal. last May we will mention a few details that could be known only to us and the FBI who investigated the incident."

"We are also responsible for some earlier bombing attempts; among others . . . the fire bomb planted at the Business School of the U. Of Utah, which never went off."

"We are also responsible for some earlier bombing attempts; among others . . . the mail bomb that injured the secretary of computer expert Patrick Fischer of Vanderbilt University 3 1/2 years ago."

"We are also responsible for some earlier bombing attempts; among others, the bomb that injured a professor in the computer science building of the U. Of Cal. . . ."

Those familiar with the Zodiac case will immediately see the similarities between this and Zodiac's introductory letter to the Examiner of August, 1969. Both writers take credit for the murder immediately preceding and offer proof of their complicity in that, and earlier crimes.