Episode Details

Zodiac Killer: The Cipher Years and the Bus Bomb Threat

Season 5 Episode 25 Published 3 months, 1 week ago

In the weeks after Paul Stine’s murder, the Bay Area waited for the next strike—but what came next wasn’t a confirmed attack. Instead, the Zodiac launched a long, unnerving campaign of letters, ciphers, and threats that kept the region in fear for years.
In Episode 7, “The Cipher Years,” we track the communications that defined the next phase of the case: the Dripping Pen card, the infamous Z340 cipher, shifting “scorecards,” and messages that escalated from taunting investigators to threatening mass harm.
We also examine major flashpoints from 1969–1970: the letter to celebrity attorney Melvin Belli, the disputed abduction of Kathleen Johns, the “My name is—” cipher, the Mount Diablo map, the “Little List” letter, and the chilling Halloween card sent to journalist Paul Avery.
This is the story of how the Zodiac may have paused his confirmed killings—but never stopped trying to control the narrative.

00:00 After Stine Fear

01:06 Dripping Pen Card

01:58 Z340 Cipher Arrives

34:43 Building Trust First

36:55 Assembling the Review Team

37:53 Forensic Rethink and DNA

41:23 AI Promise and Pitfalls

42:51 Suspects and Linked Crimes

44:25 Science in the Field

51:31 Why Murders Get Solved

54:21 Assumptions and Outliers

55:51 Managing Media Tip Floods

01:01:36 Ego Games and Wrap Up

Next episode: the investigation itself—how multiple agencies coordinated, what evidence they had, and why an arrest never came.

The Robert Black Murders mentioned in this episode can be found in season 1 Episodes 3-8

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