So, a poster called SmallOrbit found the original Halloween card which is awesome. We can see where Z cut things out. We can also see he altered the eyes with white paint.
Jo Ann Bailey said this about Ross Sullivan’s job at the library: “He would work an hour or so a day lettering the books with white ink or an electric stylus. It would have to have been lettered EXACTLY as required.”
Hmm … small white ink work on the Zodiac card that needed a steady hand …
Remember, the broken watch found at the scene of the crime had white paint speckles on it.
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Today I noticed something that Bailey brought up in her letter that I hadn’t thought enough about but is very very interesting. Bailey said the day after Cheri Jo’s murder they were saying to each other at the library if Ross didn’t show up for work and came back with different clothes then he was the culprit. As it turned out, she said he didn’t come back for weeks. When he did he came back with different clothes, as predicted.
But forget that for a minute – think about the timing of all of this.
Bailey said Ross was at RCC all of the time (“like a statue” including her seeing him the Friday afternoon before talking to a girl) and Ross’s brother Tim’s friend Gerald Katz corroborated that he was a fixture on campus. Now think about the timing of Cheri Jo’s murder and when the body was discovered. She’s murdered late Sunday night and the body isn’t discovered until a grounds person sees her around 6am.
The point?
The body was found so late into Monday that everyone is coming back to school on Monday and no one could know she was murdered yet.
This is why they were waiting on that day to see if he turned up for work and why she thought he was the murderer if he didn’t. He was always there. And yet, without word getting out that Cheri Jo had been murdered, that day of all days he doesn’t show up, even though he couldn’t know yet about the murder. I agree with her. Very very suspicious.
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Speaking of that watch, everyone talks about how small it is (a 7 i think) and that Ross was too big for it.
But look at the one found and then the walking picture where Ross is wearing a watch.
He’s wearing the wristwatch up from his wrist where the arm is narrowest. And the watch band shows signs of lots of stretching. This is possibly why it came off because that’s a weird break unless the leather is already worn and frayed.
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A poster named TimexMarlin on the tapatalk remembered that one of Oranchak’s solutions for the random letters called the z18 was this:
Ross Sullivan played a character called Sepp Schmitz in Firebugs (see other postings on this blog).
This comes from the Zodiac Killer’s San Francisco Chronicle Letter on July 31st, 1969. It is a possible solve for the left over letters from the solved cypher: ebeorietemethhpiti.
In that letter Zodiac says: “Here is part of a cipher the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner. I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity. If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend.”
“In this cipher is my idenity”
In the solved cryptogram he says then says: “ … I will not give you my name … ”
If this is an actual solve, then this actually makes some sense of the what looks like Zodiac contradicting himself. Zodiac gives his “identity” – Schmitz – but not his name – Ross Sullivan.
Want to point out with this that many who don’t like this letter paint Bailey something like a grumpy old busybody who didn’t like Ross because he smelled and looked weird to her should consider that it wasn’t her but Evan Vail, the “head counselor at RCC” that tried to call the police to get them to consider him. She was not alone in seriously suspecting him.
Reddit user OkDragonfly5820 found this May 12th, 1965 article in a Banning newspaper detailing a play called The Firebugs that Ross Sullivan had a speaking role in! Here is the clipping:
I got curious and looked in the Tiger Times to see if they covered it and *drum roll* success! It is covered by the school newspaper!
May 13th, 1965
Ross is listed as playing Sepp Schmitz, a main character and arsonist.
Note the director says he wants to do interesting things with the play and the writer of the article invites the audience to a “terrifying” experience. In fact, the director, Dyer, said “It’s the type of play that people with weak hearts should not attend or come only with their nurse.”
Move forward to the next Tiger Times May 20th, and, low and behold, Ross’s performance was the masterpiece of the play according to the writer! I’ll let you read it yourself:
Concerning the play itself – it’s very interesting material, friends. Here is a write up from the April 29th Tiger Times
Here is what I wrote on Reddit about the play after I read it.
“Ok so Firebugs is very very interesting. It’s basically about how people will turn a blind eye in the name of charitableness to let bad things happen and ends with a crazy scene in hell with the protagonists speaking to different devils. It would be very easy to see Ross in the role of one of the two imposing arsonists. This is one excerpt from the beginning:
‘It is unworthy of God, unworthy of man, to call a stupidity Fate Simply because it happened. The man who acts so No longer deserves the name, No longer deserves God’s earth, Inexhaustible, fruitful and kind, Nor the air that he breathes, Nor the sun. Bestow not the name of Fate Upon man’s mistakes …’
From ‘The Confession Letter’:
‘Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb.’
EDIT: It’s also possible Ross specifically played Beelzebub or The Figure (some kind of devil) which is really eye catching. The Beelzebub speech at the end is flat out eerie: ‘My childhood faith! My childhood faith! What are they making of my childhood faith! I, the son of a charcoal burner and a gypsy woman, who couldn’t read but knew the Ten Commandments off my heart, I’m possessed by the Devil. Why? Simply because I scorned all commandments. Go to hell, Joe, you’re possessed by the Devil. I stole whatever took my fancy … And they feared me in every village, for I was stronger than all of them, because I was possessed by the Devil … ‘
Confession Letter
‘I am not sick. I am insane …’
EDIT 5/11/21 – After revisiting the play, it’s pretty clear that if the final act is actually performed, Schmitz is definitely in the Beelzebub role.
ALSO OF NOTE ABOUT THE PLOT: There is an after section of the play. In fact, the revised title reads something like “Biedermann goes to hell”.
I’m not entirely sure that the last section was always performed (the articles above imply that it was in some ways but don’t come right out and say it) but essentially the lead, Biedermann, wakes up in hell with his wife. In the end, the two arsonists come back as devils. It’s clear that the actors of the arsonists are to transition to the devil roles in the end section. The play takes a pretty big step away from dark comedy to just dark.
The gist of the devil’s conversation is dissatisfaction that hell is only filled with petty sinners while the big, powerful people who are doing terrible things to the world are making it much more of a true hell than the hell they run. The big shots go unpunished for it and seem to be absolved by heaven. The devils want to go on strike and go to earth where the true fun is at, which they do.
I don’t want to force a “slaves in paradise” kind of thing into this, and the Little List letter isn’t exactly apples to apples to it, but the gist isn’t too far away from the list of small offence people who are collected in hell in this section. Below is a screen shot of the “list” portion.
“Once again, nothing but teenagers.”
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Below is a smattering of text from the play just to give a feel for the language used in it.
The next 3 are a continuous section of the devils speaking. Pretty eerie if you ask me.
“… the fine people who never come to hell, I’m burning to serve them afresh! … Once again sparks and crackling flames, sirens that are always too late, the barking of dogs and smoke and human cries – and ashes!”
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While the content of the black humor play is rather interesting, the bigger take away is that Ross had familiarity with another building that was very close to where Cheri Jo Bates was killed.
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Edit 5/17/21
Here are a few more thoughts after having reflected on it for a few days:
The role of Sepp Schmitz and how it might relate to Zodiac.
Schmitz is a villainous character with an outwardly pleasant demeanor. He uses his charisma and the etiquette of his society to realize the violence he internally wants to unleash. From the writing of this character, it doesn’t come across that Schmitz hates the people he is harming. Schmitz simply wants to see the world burn. It gives him pleasure. This has some eerie parallels to the Zodiac killer, to my mind. Toying with the conventions of society through letter writing. Impersonal killing simply for the thrill it gives him. Playing “the game” and doing his “thing”.
The reviewer described the role in conjunction with the other arsonist as “comedy mixed with the fear (they) instilled”. It can certainly be convincingly asserted that Zodiac attempts to take a joking tone in his letters at times.
It doesn’t come off to me as a stretch to say that Zodiac might very well have had a Sepp Schmitz type of persona.
2. What this tells us about Ross Sullivan.
First, it shows Ross had more intimate familiarity with the CJB crime scene that we previously knew, and we already knew he likely had a lot. The Little Theater was next to the library annexes. CJB was killed about 10 feet from the corner of the Harvard annex, which puts her very close to Little Theater. The college papers and magazines (Tiger Times and Nighttimes) report and lament on the parking difficulties at the college, especially at night. There was quite a bit of construction throughout that time period. Anyone driving into the college would likely have to have up to date information about parking, traffic, and weekend student population to not only potentially park down that alley but, especially, to tamper with CJB’s car. The car tampering tells us a lot because it was a risky gambit. The killer HAD to know which was her car. He HAD to know her location during that entire evening, remarkable because that is something that no one else can seem to figure out with certainty in the investigation, and he HAD to know that she would stay well after library hours, or otherwise she would just walk to the library and bang on the door or go inside with someone letting her in to use a phone. He HAD to know he wouldn’t likely be interrupted in that alley. He HAD to know she would ask specifically him to help her with the car. If he parked in that alley, he HAD to know it was an option to park there. Tampering with the car was super risky because if he’s not the first one to get to her, whoever does will see the distributer wire was pulled and get very suspicious about what happened. It’s hard to imagine someone not familiar with the campus would have chosen this gambit. Ross being a part of the production ties him to intimate familiarity with several buildings in that alley CJB died. Where there’s smoke … ?
Next, we learn that Ross was not only smart enough to memorize a whole lot of lines and cues for those lines, he was able to artfully, theatrically execute those lines. His intelligence and artistry are solidified.
Generally people audition for specific roles in this kind of production but even if not it tells us something. Ross either wanted this role, the role of a monster disguised under pleasant protocol, smiles, and charm, who portrays a devil in the end, or the director saw this in him and thought he was right for it. Either tells us something about Ross. Several other productions happened around this one at RCC and it’s notable that none of them list Ross as a performer for them, even though he drew rave reviews here. This was the part for him.
The reviewer including Ross’s performance choice of a “low, wicked rumble delight” when the flame was lit has Ross portraying a villain who destroys simply because he enjoys it. She also calls the portrayal “crude, slovenly” which has some parallels to Hartnell saying his attacked was “sloppily dressed”.
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None of these things are smoking guns but they are very interesting and give us some insight into Ross. That insight, in my opinion, draws him closer towards a Zodiac persona, not farther away.
Feb 20th, 1964 Tiger Times “Construction on New Library To Begin in 1965; Meanwhile .. ” In ’64 they were letting unsupervised study happen in the Quad English Office and maybe the foyer of the auditorium. Perhaps Cheri was allowed to study in a room like this? It seems like Bach favored this sort of thing. But then why wouldn’t a librarian remember her?
Sept – Oct 1965 Nightimes “Night Library Use is Low: Bach”. Maybe I could see Cheri Jo not being noticed in this space although I’m not sure it existed in 1966 and RCC just had a lot more people attending in ’66. I still struggle to understand how she wasn’t seen for 3 hours if she was there.
ibid Riverside Avenue, about a half mile away, 1 am
1965 Nov Dec Nightimes “Night Students Aid Opera” Apparently this was a course credit kind of thing. With Zodiac’s love of the Mikado I thought this was noteworthy.
March 26th 1964 Tiger Times “Patton Party Held” According to the unofficial Ross Sullivan timeline from Jo Ann Bailey, this is right about the time Ross got out. Gamma Iota Alpha was a guy’s frat with some sort of military slant to its membership. Gamma Nu had a girl with the last name Sullivan, although I’m not sure if she had any relation to him.
Sept. 23rd 1966 Tiger Times “Construction Nears Hallfway Point”
Sept. 30th, 1966 Tiger Times “City official close Fairfax”
Oct. 7th 1966 Tiger Times “RCC blocks street”
ibid “RCC Library expands” & “RCC student police force will aid parking problems” Library hours are here as well as the head librarian Bach discussing books moved to the house on the alley in which Cheri Jo was murdered and the hours it was open. If you’ve read my other stuff you know that I think it’s a possibility that explains a lot, particularly the missing time, that Cheri Jo may have been allowed to study here or to retrieve books needed for the bibliography she had lost for her paper on the Electoral College.
Older articles from Sept. 23rd, 1965 Tiger Times, “Construction: A Way Of Life at RCC” & “RCC Library Plans Near Completion”
Take note the last paragraph Bach talks about less supervision. That could play a part in the librarians not knowing if Cheri Jo was there or not.
ibid an “Editorial” on the difficulties of parking and the differences for day time vs. night time students.
The September October Nightimes 1966 “Librarian recalls African safari” This is an article about Ross Sullivan champion Winifred Turner. I’m sure she discussed with Ross how man is the most dangerous game 😉
ibid “Night library use declines: Bach” Bach clearly required his staff to take notation of books lent out and students numbers using the building but only one librarian recalls he “might have seen” Cheri Jo, even though she checked out books. Hmm …
ibid “City okays college’s proposal to barricade Fairfax Avenue” and the famous CJB (? some questions have raised if this is really her) photo. The comparison is day vs. night.
Here is the “less used” study room in the library. Could CJB have gone unnoticed for 3 hours in this room?
April – May 1967 Nightimes “Library urges visits to Harvard” Talk of the annex in the alley Cheri Jo was killed. The article talks of storing books there and urges to use it to keep down overcrowding in the small library. There is a picture of the small library on pg. 2.
Could Cheri Jo have gone unnoticed in here for 3 hours?
ibid An article on custodians breaks up the above story but may be of interest to some researchers.
ibid Harvard annex article continued and talk of the new library. Note the last paragraph states the staff was “Five professional librarians and six non-professional librarian-clerks” plus “100 hours of student help per week”.
You might be getting sick of seeing Ross posts. I get a little tired of it myself. However, I’m going to drop some older photo finds that I’ve spread around a bit here for posterity.
First, we got a pic I believe from the ’64 – ’65 course catalogue. They reused photos for these so it’s hard to know when it was taken. According to the unsubstantiated Ross Sullivan timeline he was MIA in at Patton State from ’61 to ’64. I think this is probably a ’64 pic.
Someone pointed out that everyone else in the photo has a coat on but this guy.
A little bit of filtering now:
This one is from the ’66 Yearbook. This guy is writing and looks to have a black wristwatch on. The hair is pretty dark to be Ross but his hair does appear dark in some photos. I still am very unsure it’s him. I do think it’s a decent Zodiac sizes and shape. The jacket looks similar to artist renditions.
Filtered:
Comparison photo. Props to the person who compiled the images on the right. I didn’t do those.
These screenshots are from the Nov – Dec 1966 Nightimes magazine.
General Reaction:
Note the back cover heading. Here’s a blow up of the photo they took of where the crime happened.
And here are two blow ups of the alley after the lights were added. I struggle to understand the perspective of where this was taken. Still very creepy if you ask me.
This is footage of a parade in Riverside circa 1966. Of note, Ramona High School’s Band participated in the parade.
Here is a screen capture around 13 seconds in:
Note the woman in the red pants and the man sitting next to her.
The video is not high quality but here is a blown up screenshot of that photo.
(EDIT 10/27/24 – Some CJB photos for comparison)
At the time I discovered this video on YouTube and posted a link on zodiackillersite about 6 months back I declared the footage too grainy for identifying a person but that the guy on the right looked like a “Ross shaped blob”. Here is a comparison photo.
The jacket on the left photo above looks similar to the man in the parade. Here is a blow up of the collar for comparison.
In the above photo he is looking to the right or talking to her. Body language is him inclined toward her and her leaning away. She has her elbow resting on her knee and her hand holding up her chin, making it hard to talk. (ALTENATIVELY: Her left hand could be straight, resting on the right side of her face.)
For what it’s worth, I don’t think a positive identification can be made here with the tools I have. I’d say it’s plausible that that is Ross but far from a sure thing.
Now for her, and this is where it gets interesting. Way back I entertained the notion that might be Cheri Jo Bates. Beside from general shape, this girl has red capri’s that look like the one’s she had on when she died. (Alternatively that’s a red dress but I’ve enhanced several screen shots and I’d say I’m fairly certain they are capri’s)
(UPDATE: A note that seems pertinent here. According to the newspaper article ‘Death on a dirt driveway: A life that ended too soon’ Cheri made the capri’s she wore the night she was killed. You can read that article here: http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=73)
(EDIT 10/27/24 – Just want to note that her prized car was light green like the jacket in this picture. I wonder if Green was her favorite color.)
However, Cheri in the photos provided wears her hair generally hanging to the left of her face rather than the right and she had blonde highlights around this time. (EDIT 10/27/24 – the new photos above of her show her with hairstyles that could work with what is seen in the video) It’s possible it’s a pony tail, wind is blowing it that way, or it’s just short and symmetrical but the shadows and poor quality of the footage are distorting an accurate idea of what it actually looks like. No matter what, the footage is such low quality that very little detail of the face is possible to see. I abandoned the idea.
Relooking over the photo now it struck me: where is this girl’s purse?
I played with filters …
Look closely in-between them where his hands are resting. You’ll likely have to expand the pic a good bit to see it so I’ve added some pictures below.
A striped bag is resting behind them. That bag looked familiar.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT NEXT CONTAINING CRIME SCENE PHOTO OF CHERI JO
Very similar purse. Very similar pants as well. Similar outfit and body shape in general. Is that Cheri Jo at the parade?
It appears she is with a boy on her right in the shadows next to a pillar. The face is clearer for the child in some of the screenshots than these two. Is that her brother, another relative, or a child she babysat? I’ve never seen a pic of her brother or if he’s even younger than her but that would be pretty big to identifying if it’s her or not.
(UPDATE: Apparently her brother was 20 at the time according to the article I linked above so that’s definitely not him next to the mystery girl in this video. There is a quote in that article from her friend Kathy Sites in that article that stuck out to me. “Cheri had a lot of friends. When we went to parties I was amazed at the number of kids from other schools that knew her.”)
(UPDATE 2022: Because of the blood stains I couldn’t tell but today i saw a crime scene photo from the opposite angle and it appears that the sweater/jacket Cheri Jo was wearing on the night of the murder was green just like the one in this video. (EDIT 2024 – Apparently it was a long sleeved pale yellow blouse with a ribbon tied at the throat according to Inside Detective. Cheri’s car, though, was the color green of her car so that’s something to think about) Crazy, but this may very well be Cheri Jo Bates. The same red capri pants, green coat, and black striped straw purse – it’s the same outfit. Cheri Jo was pictured with dark hair in some photos and went to Ramona which was on parade (and I think she was a cheerleader so she had extra reasons to be there). The “Ross shaped blob” is impossible to ID but that guy has a coat very very similar to the one Ross had on in the Deja Vive photo and is the same general look and body shape of Ross Sullivan.)
Please Rush to Editor 