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Until today, there has been long and ongoing debate if the Confession Letter has been authored by the Zodiac Killer. Many people believe that the Cheri Jo Bates homicide had been a crime of passion, committed by a person other than the Zodiac. They believe that the crime had been committed by a local man known to the victim. However, no arrest has been made until today, and DNA of the main suspect did not match DNA samples collected at the crime scene.
In our opinion, the author of the Confession Letter unmistakably shows traits of an actual or evolving serial killer. Not only does he confess to his crime, he explains his motivation for the crime and the emotions that he felt before and during the commitment of the crime.
Committing the crime, the killer felt powerful, felt like a god in control over life and death, it thrilled him, it made him feel good, it made him feel alive. Possibly, it was an experience that he found sexually arousing. The author of the Confession Letter indicates that probably he stalked and killed before, that he enjoyed killing, and he confirms and even announces that he is going to stalk and kill again, and the only question is who will be his next victim. He explains how he fantasizes and anticipates his crimes with excitement, how his fantasies build up, and his decision process selecting his next victim. If the Cheri Jo Bates killing has been an emotional act, his next killing is for sure intentional.
Looking at the Confession Letter, we do not see anything that would suggest that the killer felt any guilt or remorse for the crime. Obviously, the real purpose of the letter was to brag, shock, frighten, taunt and intimidate. Announcing the start or continuation of “THE GAME”, the killer challenged law enforcement, and threatened females in particular and society in the overall.
Based on the above, we see nothing that would suggest that the author of the Confession Letter was just a heartbroken local boy that committed a single crime of passion in a sudden rage. Instead, the Confession Letter appears to be the product of a wicked and perfidious mind and its author clearly bears the hallmarks of an actual or evolving serial killer.
Considering that the killer had almost thirty days of time to think before he sent his letter, we believe that he would have written nothing that would point into his direction or could have even lead to his potential identification. While police findings at the crime scene confirmed that the killer was truthful with his Confession Letter in all verifiable aspects, we believe that the killer intentionally created the (mis)perception of a local man or boy and former local high school student in order to send law enforcement into his opposite direction. We furthermore believe that important clues are hidden behind the missing 60-90 minutes that the killer avoided so carefully.
That the author of the Confession Letter had in depth knowledge of the crime and was therefore most likely the killer of Cheri Jo Bates is widely accepted. The questions that remain to be answered are if the author of the Confession Letter and the author of the Desktop Poem were the same person, and if the killer of Cheri Jo Bates was the person that would later become known as the Zodiac Killer years after.v
If we approach these questions logically and pragmatically, they are actually not too difficult to answer.
That a local heartbroken man or boy would write such a letter to mislead the police would sound more than far-fetched, particularly since the Confession Letter pointed clearly into the “local man or boy” direction. Why would a local boy or man write such letter? No point. For that reason and for those mentioned before, we consider the local man or boy that just committed a single crime theory as extremely unlikely.
The author of the Confession Letter was obviously not just a local heartbroken man or boy that committed a crime in a rage. The author of the Confession Letter was almost certainly the killer of Cheri Jo Bates, and he had all the characteristics of either an actual or an evolving serial killer. Not only that, the author of the Confession Letter even confirmed exactly this in writing.
So, if the killer was an actual or evolving serial killer, how many serial killers are known for having been operating in California at that time, say within a period of plus/minus five years? Here, in our opinion, the possibility of a totally unknown serial killer is negligible, since it is evident from the Confession Letter that the author had the obvious desire to communicate with police and the media in order to brag, shock, frighten, taunt and intimidate.
When we compared our Confession Letter Interpretation findings with a List of American Serial Killers and ran a simple elimination process, we found only one candidate that would match the profile of the author of the Confession Letter - the Zodiac Killer. The match is perfect. Since there is no other matching candidate on the list at all, we consider it as extremely likely that the author of the Confession Letter and the individual that would become known as the Zodiac Killer years later were the same person.
We also consider it as very probable that the author of the Desktop Poem and the author of the Confession Letter were the same person. Obviously, the author of the Confession Letter had a particular and well-structured writing style that indicates familiarity with literature and writing, and possibly poetry and ancient Greek drama.
The author of the Desktop Poem fantasized about a murder. The Confession Letter confirmed an actual murder in every gruesome detail, providing some details that were only known to the police and the killer at that time.
We see full consistency of the Desktop Poem, the crime, the Confession Letter that followed, and the Zodiac in every aspect. Therefore, we believe and conclude that most probably Cheri Jo Bates was a victim of the evolving Zodiac Killer.
What further strengthens our theory is that Zodiac Killer handwriting specialist Sherwood Morrill had confirmed both, Confession Letter and the Desktop Poem, as authentic Zodiac Killer communications and that the Zodiac Killer indirectly confirmed being the killer of Cheri Jo Bates in his letter dated March 13, 1971.
If indeed the Confession Letter and the Desktop Poem were the work of the evolving Zodiac, the importance of these documents for profiling the Zodiac Killer cannot be overemphasized.
We hope that our interpretation of the Riverside Confession letter will provide input for further research and discussion. As always, we would appreciate your feedback, no matter if you agree or disagree with us.
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