GA GA - Atlanta Child Murders Letters - "Zodiac", Poem, Message

AKWILKS

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FROM MORF:

In the past 12months, I made several FOIA requests to the FBI for any previously unreleased confirmed, or unconfirmed Zodiac letters to be released. I had early success with Bleeding Knife & a couple others. But mostly I got letters stating that the material I requested could not be released. Today I got one that I asked for. It starts with "HELLO IT'S ME". It was one of the letters mentioned in the FBI Zodiac files. Please forgive me. I forget when the letter supposedly came in or where it was mailed from. There is an FBI file in the reports that mentions this letter. It may have been one of the Atlanta letters, but I will have to double check. I will not share my opinion yer on this letter until more people see it. But let me know what you think pro or con, and please feel free to distribute to any other Zodiac related forums or sites for further evaluation.



FROM AK:

That IS the famous never before seen until now "Atlanta Child Murders" - "Zodiac" letter!

It was postmarked "Atlanta, GA March 8, 1981".

I wrote about it before:

I am doing a FOIA request for this letter mentioned in the FBI Atlanta Child Murders file.

It says it is from the Zodiac, and the FBI handwriting analyst could not say it was from Zodiac, but he could NOT exclude it as being from Zodiac.

All we know is it starts:

"Hello its me. Haven't you..."

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Another letter is this time frame, perhaps also from this "Zodiac", was a demand that the Washington Post classified run this ad as a secret message:

DANIEL PLEASE CALL HOME

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At almost the same time, a message was sent in the same way as the Zodiac Sacramento Cancer and Leo cards - in a prepaid envelope.

This letter was treated as credible, there are 10 pages on it in the files, and 3 kids were killed that March in Atlanta.

Only three cities got this insert for classic model cars that the message came in - Harrisburg PA, Chicago IL and Long Beach FLA.

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My FIRST thought is that most of this does not look much like "Classic" Zodiac writing, and thus is probably a "fake." Or perhaps from the "real" Atlanta Child Killer, just trying to lead police down a false Zodiac trail. But more likley just a hoax.

My SECOND thought is that the writing looks somewhat like the May 1978 "Zodiac" letter sent to the LA TV station. That letter also had racist elements in it (use of the "N" word, threat to kill black radical Eldridge Cleaver) and the Atlanta Child Killer targeted blacks. I see SOME similarities in the writing.

My THIRD thought is that since the FBI could not dismiss this as being from the real Zodiac, I (and others) need to study this more before reaching any final conclusion.

There were some things found on and near the bodies, as the writer mentions.

This is interesting.

My FIRST thought is that most of this does not look much like "Classic" Zodiac writing, and thus is probably a "fake." Or perhaps from the "real" Atlanta Child Killer, just trying to lead police down a false Zodiac trail. But more likley just a hoax.

My SECOND thought is that the writing looks somewhat like the May 1978 "Zodiac" letter sent to the LA TV station. That letter also had racist elements in it (use of the "N" word, threat to kill black radical Eldridge Cleaver) and the Atlanta Child Killer targeted blacks. I see SOME similarities in the writing.

My THIRD thought is that since the FBI could not dismiss this as being from the real Zodiac, I (and others) need to study this more before reaching any final conclusion.

There were some things found on and near the bodies, as the writer mentions.

This is interesting.


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morf13 said:
I thought the term "used to stalk women" was interesting for two reasons.

First, it reminds me of the Bates letter..."I am stalking your girls"

And second, I think most people outside of CA would mostly associate Z with lovers lanes attacks and shootings. I dont know how much someone in Atlanta would know about the Z case, and that he was suspected of attacking girls like Bates, Johns, or Lass.

Lastly, the writing to me does not look much like Z. But I am interested that the FBI couldnt rule this letter out as being a real Z letter.

Good points Morf.

IF Zodiac did kill Bates, Lass and maybe some other women like Hakari, Bennallack and some of the "Sonoma County Coed" cases, then he may well have thought of himself as a killer of women. We do have the fact that in 2 of the 3 couples attacks, the women died while the men lived, leading some to speculate that his fury was focused on women. Yet it seems a faker would say Z was a "lovers lane couples killer". Also, as you note the use of "stalk" matches the "Confession" letter in the Bates case.

The term "little people" is odd.

The term "Rebels" seems a jibe at the intelligence (or lack thereof) of Southern law enforcement.

The "pick off" reference is to the bus threat letter? "pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out"?

"I'll ------ to kill children to kill children because they are so easy to 'pick off' ".

Can anyone decipher the "-----" ?

--------------------

The FBI dismissed this poem as from an "educated individual" who wanted attention, but likely NOT the real killer.

What they didn't know at that time is that this writer WAS RIGHT, and another body of a boy WOULD be found in the area where Lubie was found.

What do people think of the content? Both Zodiac and EAR/ONS wrote poems.

What do people think of the cursive writing? Any similarities to the Lass card? Other writing from another case?

"Ghost" is like a "Phantom". Red Phantom? DC Freeway Phatom, who also killed young black children?

Is this a hoax? If so, how did the writer know another body would be found in that field? Lucky guess, maybe.

Wayne Williams was convicted of killing two mentally retarded adult men, and they said "He also killed all the children, case closed". Even though a white male was seen with some of the victims, and caucasian light brown body hair was found on some victims.

Some recent mtDNA tests showed Williams likely did kill some of the children, but very serious doubts remain he killed them all.

And Williams was not a white male.

The tie-in is that there were items found on or near some of the bodies of Atlanta victims as this 3/8/81 letter claims, and I don't think that was reported in the press at the time. It seemed like the FBI treated this Atlanta Zodiac letter very seriously. And while there are dozens of hoax letters dismissed as such in the FBI Zodiac file, they did not dismiss this one. To my eye it doesn't look much like most Z writing, yet the FBI expert says Zodiac can't be ruled out. Weird.



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Yes, overall, looking at this 3/8/81 letter, it is not very impressive. Some of the word play and langauge doesn't really seem like real Zodiac, and most of the handwriting doesn't fit too well. And like thebigZ noted, the author makes an excuse why his handwriting doesn't match.

The puzzling thing is, why did the FBI expert say the real Zodiac could NOT be dismissed as the writer of this letter? Do they know things we don't? We don't have the envelope, and we don't know the circumstances surrounding this letter.

Weird things were going on in Atlanta. A letter that may have been from the killer of Betsy Aardsma was sent in from Atlanta, I think in 1979.

And the in the VANPAC case, the Judge Vance mail bomber did bombs and threat letters there in Atlanta in 1989. See http://unazod.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=107

And we have the "3 black boys" card, the "Daniel Please Call Home", the Ghost Killer poem that seems to know inside info and others.

This letter seems sloppy, like it was written with a non-dominant hand. It does have low cross "t" 's like Zodiac, and the "k" 's and "r" 's are Z like. But most of it seems way off. I would like to know why the FBI thought this could be Zodiac, when they quickly dismiss dozens of other fakes in the file.

The possibilities would be:

1. Was the Zodiac involved in any of the Atlanta Murders?

2. Was it from the real Zodiac falsely injecting himself into the Atlanta case? Like he did with the SLA case?

3. Or is it from the real Atlanta Killer, laying a false trail to Zodiac to confuse police?

4. Or was it just a hoaxer?


http://foia2.fbi.gov/atlanta/atchi2b.pdf

"The Ghost Killer" Poem is there p. 37 and after.

Atlanta Constitution newspaper gave poem to FBI on 2/10/81. That is just 2 days after the post mark on the "Zodiac" Atlanta letter. IMO likely these two messages were sent by the same person.

As to items found on or near the bodies as mentioned by the writer of the "Zodiac" letter, there were several, I have to go through my notes. It was debated if all of these were planted by the killer, or some may have already been there in fields.

In one case it was two Remington Peters shotgun shells. In others it was cigarette butts.

Female victim Angela Lanier was found with her hands bound with an electrical cord and panties stuffed in her mouth.

Another was a tablecloth and doily.

Theforeigner wrote:

I found out who the march 8, 1981 letter was addressed to.
It was posted on Zodiackiller.com by somone nickanmed Artny February 01, 2007 & February 04, 2007 :

Quote:
Details about the March 8, 1981 letter:
was addressed to 1611 W Peachtree ST NE 30308 (WXIA-TV-11). Fingerprints & palm prints were found. I have the exact # somewhere

Quote:
I had seen the letter referenced in the Zodiac FBI file. The results that are in the Zodiac file are barely legible. This is where I got the actual Atlanta address from, the copy is so bad they never scored off the address (they probably couldnt read it either) So I figured maybe the Atlanta file would have a clearer copier, and it did


FROM AK:

Thats interesting, if true, about this racist Atlanta "Zodiac" letter.

The racist May 78 Zodiac letter was sent to LA TV Station 9.

The racist Judge Vance mailbomber sent a letter to Atlanta TV Station 5, WAGA, to Brenda Wood.

And the racist Judge Vance mailbomber used as a return address the exact same Atlanta street that the "Zodiac" Atlanta letter was addressed to, PEACHTREE. I understand that is a big downtown street. But there must be a hundred such streets in Atlanta, odd that this one street shows up twice, each time in a racist killer in a major Atlanta crime.
 
Interesting, AK - I've missed this over at the other site.
 
Welcome Dreamnine!!!

What other site? I am trying to catch up again on this fascinating puzzle.
 
believe09, this site:

http://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com/

Is run by MORF, and I am a mod there. Consider yourself invited. As are others with a serious interest in the Zodiac case, and who agree to the site rules.

www.unazod.com has a message board, run by Doug Oswell, and for those interested in the possible Zodiac-Kaczynski connection, I advise joining.
 
I grew up just south of Atlanta during the Atlanta Child Murders. I never thought for one minute that Wayne Williams was the real killer.

This is very interesting.
 
More FBI documents, some pertaining to this Atlanta "Zodiac" letter and some pertaining to the other Atlanta letters mentioned here. Also a MISSING flyer in the case, and the Mayor with the reward money.

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