14 The Zndiac Murders--Solved !

could make the most noise. The

car drivers should have just
parked their cars + sat there
quietly waiting for me to come
out of cover.
School children make nice targ-
ets, I think I shall wipe out
a school bus some mornirg, just
shoot out the frunt tire + then
pick off the kiddies as they come
bouncing out.

The Zodiac, who had killed teenagers, college students, and a cab driver so far,
now branched out with the killing of a child.
_ Shelly Holmboe, 1, disappeared from her home at 1709 Peony Lane in Los Gatos
on Sunday evening. Her body was found in a field near her house [illustration #9]. She
had been stabbed and nearly decapitated in a manner similar to the killing of Cheri Bates,
who had also died on a Sunday.
The killing defied any psychotogical profile that police were familiar with--a child
snatched and murdered immediately. The child had notbeen molested. Nor was the crime
an attempted kidnapping gone wrong, since the child had not been discovered missing for
some time. It didn't make sense.
One "detective" came to the amazing conclusion that the child had wandered away
from her home and been killed by stray dogs.

The call came in to the OaklandPolice Deparrnent at 2AM ftdneffiy.

"This is the Zodiac speaking. f want you to get in
touch with F. Lee Bailey. If you can't come up with
Bailey, I'II settle for Mel BeIIi. I want one or the
other to appear on the Channel Seven talk show. I'll
make contact by telephone."
F. l,ee Bailey had, at that time, achieved his greatest farne as defense council for
The Boston Strangler, Alben deSalvo. Melvin Belli lived at 1228 Montgomery Street, on
Telegraph HiU in San Francisco. Belli was contacted by police and agreed to appear on the
TV talk show that morning. Starting at 7:20AM, calls came in from a man who called
himself "Sarl", who was ultimately found to be an inmate at a local mental hospital.
However, before those calls began, an initial, brief call was registered at 7:10AM.

November 40- inher

The next T.r:diac message came in the form of a cdmmercial greeting card
[illustration #10]. The theme of the greeting card was a fountain pen; the Zodiac's nore
harped on one word from the printed punchline--'TlllNc'.