THE LETTER ADDRESSED TO PAUL AVERY IN 1969

On December 20th 1969, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the home address of Melvin Belli at 1228 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, pleading for help and claiming he was in danger of murdering a ninth and tenth victim. After this letter, the communications ceased for exactly four months, until the April 20th 1970 letter containing his 13-Symbol code arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. So did the Zodiac Killer leave California during this period, or leave the state to visit family or friends over the festive period?

​Newspaper articles from Paul Avery intensified over the months of October, November and December 1969, with two articles in the San Francisco Chronicle on December 29th 1969 and December 30th 1969, entitled "Urgent Appeal By Belli to Zodiac" and "Belli Sure Zodiac Will Talk To Him" respectively. "On Sunday (December 28th), Belli made an appeal to Zodiac to contact him by writing or telephoning the Chronicle". Melvin Belli stressed that any letter and/or telephone call would be treated with the strictest confidence. Therefore, any letter urgently mailed by the Zodiac Killer at the end of December being released into the newspapers, could have possibly scuppered any meeting with Melvin Belli or further contact with the newspaper. So did we have any Zodiac Killer letters at the end of December, mailed in urgency and withheld from the public?  

Sandy Betts contacted me regarding a possible "Zodiac" envelope she managed to get an image of while being given a tour of the San Francisco Chronicle offices a few years ago. Sandy stated "Reporter Kevin Fagan gave us a tour and showed us the drawers where they kept what Zodiac had sent over the years. I somehow missed noticing one of the envelopes which was addressed to Paul Avery, thinking it was the one which was made public, so no big deal.  But while going through my pictures, I looked closer and saw it was sent "Air Mail" from New York, NY on Dec 30th, 1969, it was most definitely written by Zodiac with his blue felt pen".

"During 1969, after he sent a letter to Melvin Belli on Dec 20th, there wasn't any communication from Zodiac until April 20th, 1970.  Being in New York, NY for four months, could explain why. That would also eliminate several suspects, we know were still in California during that time. Did he go there to spend Christmas with family, or friends, or was it because he had a job there?".

The following envelope, with two affixed 6c Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps, was sent to me by Sandy, postmarked in the afternoon of December 30th 1969 from New York and addressed to Paul Avery. The use of "Air Mail" may have been the urgent and immediate response to the appeal by Melvin Belli, featured in the San Francisco Chronicle by reporter Paul Avery. An envelope not released into the public domain, which underlined the newspaper reporter's name, just like the Halloween card envelope on October 27th 1970, ten months later. 

Thanks to Sandy Betts for supplying the following image and accompanying information.