On March 22, 1971, the Chronicle received a postcard from Zodiac. The postcard showed a condominium complex called Forrest Pines that was still under construction at the time. Forrest Pines was located near Incline Village on the northern shore of Lake Tahoe. In his postcard, Zodiac claimed his twelfth known victim. He did not name the victim but police determined that it was Donna Lass, a nurse who worked for a casino at the Sahara Hotel in Stateline, Nevada.
On September 26, 1970, she left work and was never seen again. Her car was found still parked at her apartment complex. Her purse and the clothes she wore that day were never found. The same day she vanished, somebody called Lasss landlord and employer and told them that Miss Lass would not be returning due to a death in the family. Police determined that there was no death in Lasss family. Obviously, the caller, a man, was Lasss killer and the death he was reporting was her own. Police searched quite diligently for Lasss body but have never found a trace of her to this day.
Oddly, Lass and her friend, Jo Anne, lived in San Francisco at one time and used to go flying with two men from Riverside, California where Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. Lass had worked at Letterman General Hospital located on the Presidio and had lived in an apartment nearby. This was an area that Zodiac knew well and had killed Paul Stine near there and had fled into the Presidio to make his escape. Lass had worked at the Presidio until June of 1970 before relocating to Nevada. Did she and Zodiac meet during that time? Had they become friends? Did Zodiac also work at the Presidio? Darlene Ferrins estranged husband, Jim Phillips, had married Darlene some five months after being discharged from the Presidio in the summer of 1965. Had he met Zodiac while he was there?
I believe the "Mt. Diablo" letter that Zodiac had sent three months prior to the disappeance of Lass was telling people that she would be his next victim. The letter contained his signature circle-and-crosshairs with 5 X's affixed to it.
Zodiac explained: "P.S. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # of inches along the radians." The use of the word radian would indicate that Zodiac has more than an average interest in mathematics as about 99% of the population does not have this word in its vocabulary. Further evidence of his possible training as an engineer. A radian is basically the angular measure of a circle equal to its radius or 360°/2pi or approximately 57.3° of a full circle (albeit radians are not actually measured in degrees, e.g. 180 degrees = pi radians, while 90° = pi/2 radians, etc.). The legs of the angle are equal to the length of the arc that subtends that angle.
Other researchers have noticed somethng about the X's on the crosshairs--that they are 57.3 degrees apart and point out different cities if the intersection of the cross is laid on Mt. Diablo. I think this is correct speculation because an occult freak like Zodiac would choose his own axis mundi just as earlier religions have done and that axis mundi is almost always a mountain. Mt. Diablo has a very special significance for Zodiac as I'll explain in a bit.
Looking at the five X's on the crosshairs from lowest to highest measure this way to me: 1. San Francisco or due west, 2. Vallejo/Santa Rose (or Napa measured from due west), 3, Lake Berryessa or Paradise, CA(It is Paradise, CA as measured from Stateline, Nevada), 4. Sacramento (as measured from Napa), 5. Stateline, Nevada (as measured from Paradise, CA).
Since that missive was sent three months prior to Lass's disappearance from the Statelin area, i think he was hinting that she was already targeted. I think this is bolstered by the fact that the missive containing the symbol was sent three months to the day prior to Lass's disappearance and on the same day she left San Francisco for Stateline, Nevada.
On September 26, 1970, she left work and was never seen again. Her car was found still parked at her apartment complex. Her purse and the clothes she wore that day were never found. The same day she vanished, somebody called Lasss landlord and employer and told them that Miss Lass would not be returning due to a death in the family. Police determined that there was no death in Lasss family. Obviously, the caller, a man, was Lasss killer and the death he was reporting was her own. Police searched quite diligently for Lasss body but have never found a trace of her to this day.
Oddly, Lass and her friend, Jo Anne, lived in San Francisco at one time and used to go flying with two men from Riverside, California where Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. Lass had worked at Letterman General Hospital located on the Presidio and had lived in an apartment nearby. This was an area that Zodiac knew well and had killed Paul Stine near there and had fled into the Presidio to make his escape. Lass had worked at the Presidio until June of 1970 before relocating to Nevada. Did she and Zodiac meet during that time? Had they become friends? Did Zodiac also work at the Presidio? Darlene Ferrins estranged husband, Jim Phillips, had married Darlene some five months after being discharged from the Presidio in the summer of 1965. Had he met Zodiac while he was there?
I believe the "Mt. Diablo" letter that Zodiac had sent three months prior to the disappeance of Lass was telling people that she would be his next victim. The letter contained his signature circle-and-crosshairs with 5 X's affixed to it.
Zodiac explained: "P.S. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # of inches along the radians." The use of the word radian would indicate that Zodiac has more than an average interest in mathematics as about 99% of the population does not have this word in its vocabulary. Further evidence of his possible training as an engineer. A radian is basically the angular measure of a circle equal to its radius or 360°/2pi or approximately 57.3° of a full circle (albeit radians are not actually measured in degrees, e.g. 180 degrees = pi radians, while 90° = pi/2 radians, etc.). The legs of the angle are equal to the length of the arc that subtends that angle.
Other researchers have noticed somethng about the X's on the crosshairs--that they are 57.3 degrees apart and point out different cities if the intersection of the cross is laid on Mt. Diablo. I think this is correct speculation because an occult freak like Zodiac would choose his own axis mundi just as earlier religions have done and that axis mundi is almost always a mountain. Mt. Diablo has a very special significance for Zodiac as I'll explain in a bit.
Looking at the five X's on the crosshairs from lowest to highest measure this way to me: 1. San Francisco or due west, 2. Vallejo/Santa Rose (or Napa measured from due west), 3, Lake Berryessa or Paradise, CA(It is Paradise, CA as measured from Stateline, Nevada), 4. Sacramento (as measured from Napa), 5. Stateline, Nevada (as measured from Paradise, CA).
Since that missive was sent three months prior to Lass's disappearance from the Statelin area, i think he was hinting that she was already targeted. I think this is bolstered by the fact that the missive containing the symbol was sent three months to the day prior to Lass's disappearance and on the same day she left San Francisco for Stateline, Nevada.