The OPORD Files

On December 1, 2008, Deborah Perez - known on our forum as "gutsygal" - posted the following:


I am happy to announce that thanks to Debbie, for posting her childhood recollection, the Zodiac's 340 Character Cipher has been solved.

Like many before me, I tried to solve the 340 as a substitution type cipher, as was the Zodiac's ("I like killing...."") 408 Character Cipher, solved by Mr. Harden. After almost three years of work, I had to admit that such a route only led to one dead end after another. A couple of weeks ago, as I erased my cipher worksheet for the unteenth time, I remembered that Debbie had mentioned something about the 340 being a word puzzle. I looked up her quote, and decided to give it a try.

For a handfull of nickels and dimes I found on EBAY a dusty old stack of Highlights magazines from the years 1965 to August 1969.

I found one, and only one word search puzzle among the 1969 issues. This is page 9 of February 1969's edition:


Here is a close-up view of the word search puzzle:


How many numbers did you find?

Here is the solution:

So, according to the Highlights Word Search Puzzle rules, the following moves are allowed:

HIGHLIGHTS WORD SEARCH PUZZLE RULES

FIND WORDS BY STARTING WITH ANY SQUARE AND MOVING TO OTHER SQUARES THAT TOUCH IT.

1. YOU CAN MOVE UP

2. YOU CAN MOVE DOWN

3. YOU CAN MOVE ACROSS

4. YOU CAN MOVE DIAGONALLY

5. YOU CAN MOVE FOWARD OR GO BACK OVER THE SAME LETTERS AS MANY TIMES AS YOU LIKE, AS LONG AS THE SQUARES TOUCH.

Now let's apply these rules to the 340 Character Cipher:
First I applied to the 340 the same letters of the alphabet that Mr. Harden used to solve the corresponding 408 cipher text characters


Here are the 408 cipher text characters and their equivalent plain text letters in alphabetic order, as solved by Mr. Harden:

There are 16 cipher text characters the Zodiac included in the 340 that were not present in the 408. It took me about a week to figure 15 of them out. I need help in figuring out the remaining cipher text character. Any ideas? Here is the list:


This is the 340 Character Cipher with Mr. Harden's 408 plain text applied, plus the 15 cipher text characters of the 340 that I solved:

Now all that's left to do is to apply the Highlights magazine Word Search Puzzle rules, and start finding words.

I will be posting the words that I have found, but there are many more "buried" in the puzzle. Please feel free to jump in and search for more Zodiac related words.

This is for you gutsygal, for having had the Courage to come forth with the Truth, for the Perseverance you demonstrated amidst all the attacks, and the Faith that you have in God, that would not allow you to give up. I am honored, Debbie, to be your friend.

And this is also for you Thermopylae, for your selfless dedication to Opord Analytical, for your service to our Nation, for your leadership, and for utilizing that intellectual genius of yours for the good of mankind. If it were not for you, this case would have never been solved. I am proud to be a part of the Opord Analytical team.

These are the first words I came across.

As we used to say in the Army, Mighty Fine Job!

The greater lesson inherent here is to use the evidence supplied by the killer, which is what we have been doing all along. It never occurred to anyone to use the solved 408 cipher variable translation and bounce it off of the 340. Notice too that the G in Gareth is the only G on line 17, the start of his name, which is an indication of TIMES "17". We haven't even begun to publish the Times 17 material yet.

Back2good deserves a round of applause from everyone for this work. Make sure that she gets one.

_________________
The army is the true nobility of our country. - Napoleon Bonaparte

Back2good you are awesome

Excellent work Back2good!!

Tell me, how is Ms. Perez these days?

_________________
"If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will." - Paul Harvey

I have been looking forward to the Arecibo work.

_________________
"If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will." - Paul Harvey

Other names to look for in the 340 cipher:

Dee or Darlene Ferrin
Robert Domingos
Linda Edwards
Cheri Jo Bates
Guadalupe
David Farraday/Betty Lou Jensen
Mike Maggeau
Paul Stine
Cecila Shepard/Bryan Hartnell
Kathleen Johns
Donna Lass

I found Ohare on 9th line.(9:1, 9:2, 8:2, 8:3, 7:3..)
Maybe of no importance. But perhaps its good to collect all that we find..)

Lass is on 7:6, 6:6, 6:5, 7:4..
By the way what program are you using for the....table..? Whats it called?

Why thank you, cluznar.

Thank you, Blitz. Debbie is busy with her family, her work and this case. Hopefully, soon her burden will be lightened when the Zodiac Killer case is officially declared solved by the authorities.

Yes, the names "Dee" and "Darlene" are there, as is "Robert," "Cheri Jo Bates," "Lee," and "Lass." And there are more! Promise to have them posted by tonight.

Yes, excellent observation, Closer.

I believe the name "O'Hare" in the puzzle is associated with the word "Red," and the name "Kate." "Red Kate" was the nickname of Michael O'Hare's grandma. The mother of Mike O'Hare's dad, Eugene. She was a passionate socialist/activist in the early 20th Century.

I remember Guy W. Hendrickson's daughter Janice commenting last year that her dad was a bit of a Socialist. I could imagine "Red Kate" made an impression on Guy. "Red Kate" retired in the Bay Area, so Gareth Penn would have been aware of her - or her legacy - as well.

Oh, it's just a "Microsoft Word" basic table and "Paint" for editing and highlights. That is about the extent of my computer expertise.