Item 14 of 30: Letter from Dave Peterson regarding the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (bottom portion), from History.com- Zodiac page by Brynn Holland.
These are documents of Dave Peterson, police reporter for the Vallejo Times-Herald, who covered the case from the start:
Full letter below
Cecelia Ann Shepard (left above) and Cheri Jo Bates. At a distance they might be mistaken for one another. Two victims who attended school in 1966 ten miles apart.
Both stabbed by an unknown assailant who writes in his cipher…
The knife attacks were 3 years apart. He had to have been stalking Cecelia Shepard on and off over these years. He wore a disguise because she might have recognized him. She was likely not familiar with his voice. He had become obsessed with her from afar, which hints at a crippling shyness.
There are two very personal knife murders here, being disguised by other more impersonal killings by gun, and the ensuing creation of a mask…the Zodiac mask.
It explains why he was able to stop. His work done, and his motive buried under a mountain of deception, he was able to move on.
Or was he?
ZodiacKmak to Kpack: blog by Carl Karas 