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I have taken some time out of late to recharge the batteries and recently began researching the Zodiac case once more. I had been reading about the last 18 letters of the Zodiac's 408 cipher on Reddit, staring at the letters which were written as ROBTOHEMETHIPIEE I started to wonder if those words seperated and moved around like an anagram meant anything that could relate to the Zodiac case.
After so much searching the web staring at the letters I came across some interesting links which led me as usual to something which may be of interest about the last 18 letters Zodiac left us to solve. If the solution to the last 18 letters is ROBTOHEMETHIPIEE then there is a possibility that Zodiac was leading us to a place?
ROBE TO HEMET I thought a Robe makes sense in the Cult aspect so ok but what if it's a place lets look at Robe Hemet, Hemet is actually a place in Riverside California so I was like wow, what I first found was a name from a Book on US Dept Transportation, Federal Motor Carriers, the listing was as follows - LAYNES ROBE LAYNES TRANSFER APACHE JUNCTION EAST OF PHEONIX, there is a connection to the Lost Dutchmans Gold Mine which peaked my interest in Superstition Mountains. The Old Gold towns seem to have appealed to Zodiac so could be some form of clue that he wanted to leave, the old west is an area of interest and the Superstition Mountains are known for people just disappearing forever.
Further research lead to a Los Angeles Company who started in 1964. A Shell Oil Company selling all kinds of chemicals, nail varnish, turps etc. I am unsure as to if this has any significance at all, is it possible Zodiac worked with chemicals?, it could be a possibility so it is open to debate.
Doing more research into the town of Hemet, I found out that Hemet is home to the Ramona Pageant where an Outdoor Play is performed every year, known as California's official outdoor play. It has been performed in an open Amphitheatre in Hemet every year since 1923. The Ramona Play is based on an 1884 book by Helen Hunt Jackson about a mixed race Scot - Native American orphan girl who suffers racial abuse and hardship.
There has also been an interesting Broadway tradition since 1950 called the Gypsy Robe which is passed on to Chorus Performers as a gift of good luck. It started with a 60 yr old chorus member Bill Bradley who sent it to a friend to wear. Chorus performers are known as Gypsy's which I didn't know. It is also a tradition in the town of Hemet to pass on the Robe.
So was Zodiac a chorus performer, did he work in a Shell company? or in Federal transportation? That Hemet should have such a strong connection to the Theatre and with a lucky robe given to it's performers seems to fit with Zodiac's traits.
So the last six letters I was thinking HIPIEE could be Hi, PI as in mathematics 3.14159265359, the EE could stand for Extended Essay in Maths or Electronic Engineer.
One of the other solution's I looked at was on the Zodiackillermystery.com website, looking at Rubislaw32's solution to the Z18 also gave me pause for thought. After I had read Rubislaw32's posts on the 408 there had been the mention of a phone call received by Vallejo PD on 8th August 1969 from a Robert H Coon, Hyde Street, for some reason it made me think of Jekyll & Hyde, could Zodiac have been referencing the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr Henry Jekyll would become Edward Hyde.
Photo by Henry Van der Weyde (1838-1924; London, England) - http://www.photography-museum.com/jekyll.html /
Robert Louis Stevenson had also written a play about Deacon Brodie which he later reworked with the help of Willian Ernest Henley who is known for his poem Invictus which I think would have spoken to the Zodiac. Deacon Brodie was also about a man having a secret life behind his everyday facade.
Invictus
BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde also has something in common with the Gilbert & Sullivan plays, an actor Richard Mansefield, who was one of the Great Shakespearian Actors of his day, he had played Dr Jekyll in London while the Jack the Ripper case was going on, he was even accused as being Jack the Ripper.
Could this be what Zodiac was conveying, that he like Jack would never be caught, he was of dual nature, good and evil? living a secret life.
I kept on researching the town of Hemet, Riverside and learned that the Ryan School of Aeronautics was in Hemet in the early 1940's, it was here that Pilots, Engineers, Navigators etc learned everything about Flying and Navigation. As you know one thing leads to another, which is where I came across the 303rd Bomb Group, an Original Crew who flew the Thunderbird on missions during the second world war from Molesworth, England. The plane is in the background of the photo but has painted on it's side The 8 Ball which is what I gather they called the plane, weird coincidence? thought it may be of interest.
I had recently been taking a look at the Cheri Jo Bates murder again and looking at her High School picture I noticed that she attended Ramona High School, is it coincidence or could it be that the last 18 letters of Zodiac's code refer to Cheri Jo Bates?. I find it too coincidental that the word Hemet refers to Ramona but I leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves if there is any connection between Zodiac and Cheri Jo Bates.