On August 26th 1976, an article appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled Tips Still Pursue Multiple Slayer, chronicling the relentless pursuit of the Zodiac Killer by Inspector David Toschi, who stated "I feel he's out there. I feel he's going to surface". The third paragraph of the newspaper article continued: "With the transfer of his long time partner, William Armstrong, to the fraud detail, Toschi is the only San Francisco detective on the case now, one of the most baffling in the history of American crime". A personal advertisement appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on the same day, seemingly connected to the now extremely rare coverage of the Zodiac Killer story. The fact that the story and personal advertisement coincided is confusing to say the least. The advertisement (under 30 PERSONALS) read "ZODIAC, Your partner is in DEEP REAL ESTATE. You're next. The Imperial Wizard can save you. Surrender to him or I'll terminate your case. R.A."
Mailed to me by the excellent Zodiac researcher, Cragle, below is an advertisement placed in the newspapers on January 14th 1975 under the same "30 PERSONALS" column, signed with the same initials as the August 26th 1976 advertisement. The message read "ZODIAC it is time: your capture is approaching soon. r.a." Therefore, we have the same individual placing an advertisement 19 months prior to the "deep real estate" message. The language of "your capture is approaching" used in the earlier 1975 communication, could be argued with confidence, that both of these advertisements were referring to the infamous Zodiac Killer rather than an innocuous message delivered in 1976 that has been misinterpreted. This may require a reassessment of the later message and the author's identity.
