Lindy Sue Biechler

Have not heard anything new in a while about her case. Her murder happened in Pennsylvania in 1975 AFTER the last confirmed Zodiac letter. I for one think she could be a Z victim based on the anonymous taunting letter sent to police. You can see it here-
http://www.lindyandchristy.com/articlesstories12.html

Some of the same taunting Zodiac words, phrases, and misspellings appear in the letter, and the letter writer demands to be published in the Friday paper. It sounds alot like the Zodiac's M.O.

Anyhow, Lindy worked at a flower shop at the time of her murder, near a hospital. As we know, there are a few nurses that could be possible Z victims. Also, Tracers posted this on another forum about a famous Zodiac that was getting images of who Z was:

"I'm going to try to summarize the impressions etc. that Delouise presented in these articles:

He felt that the Zodiac

*May have known the victims at BRS

*Was appr. 28 years old, weighed 135-145 lbs. and was around 5'8" and had silky brown hair

*Was possibly "high" during his Vallejo crimes and on some "downer" drug at LB

*May have worked around horses or dogs, may have had a white dog, may have had hay on his clothes, may have worked at race tracks around the area

*is lonely, loves flowers
*feels he has suffered many injustices, hates LE and committed his early murders primarily to "bug the cops"

*May have applied for a job with LE but was rejected

*May have been a former policeman or newspaper man

*May have spent time in an institution such as an orphanage oe mental hospital on an outpatient basis

Delouise also sees certain words associated with Zodiac. He sees the word "field," which could refer to a town or gas station

He also sees "r-o-t-h"

He also sees a small bridge nine miles south of town.

Delouise says he received an impression of the identity of the killer, and gave the name to LE to check out. Police then tell him the person he named was checked out earlier by police, but was ruled out when one victim "expressed doubt" that the man was the attacker after the victim was shown a photograph of the man.

Delouise said on Jan 21, 1970 that if he had been in town two weeks earlier, Zodiac may have sought help, as he predicted. (not sure why Delouise says that.)

He also says he has been told (by whom--actual people or his impressions?) that zodiac "has altered his appearance greatly in recent weeks."

Note that the Belli letter was public knowledge by Dec. 29, 1969"

The writer of the anonymous letter in Lindy's case signed the letter JANICE CRUM. Police in PA looked all over for any Janice Crum, but did not find one. I found two in the Bay area of CA. One was right near the Kathleen Johns attack site (very close to Ricardo's home i think), and the other Janice Crum was a retired teacher living in SF not far from the Stine murder scene. Could Z have moved from the Bay area to PA, and been responsible for Lindy's murder? Maybe at least wrote the letter to police? Also, on the one year anniversary of her murder, her grave stone was vandalised. It could be a longshot that Z killed Lindy, but thw letter in my opinion, matches closely with Z's letters.

morf13 wrote:

The writer of the anonymous letter in Lindy's case signed the letter JANICE CRUM. Police in PA looked all over for any Janice Crum, but did not find one. I found two in the Bay area of CA. One was right near the Kathleen Johns attack site (very close to Ricardo's home i think), and the other Janice Crum was a retired teacher living in SF not far from the Stine murder scene. Could Z have moved from the Bay area to PA, and been responsible for Lindy's murder? Maybe at least wrote the letter to police? Also, on the one year anniversary of her murder, her grave stone was vandalised. It could be a longshot that Z killed Lindy, but thw letter in my opinion, matches closely with Z's letters.

That Lindy felt she was being stalked makes me tend to think this likely was not a Zodiac killing. I'm in the group that thinks Z was a troller, not a stalker.

The vandalizing of the gravestone also strikes me as not something Z would do. The only thing close to it in the Calif. crimes is the burning of Johns' car and that took place shortly after she escaped, not a year later.

I think the person who wrote the letter was likely familiar with the Z case, but I don't think it was Z. It seems similar, but not quite right for Z. At least that's my impression. I can't say exactly why.

Quote :

From the newspaper article, "For example, investigators and the FBI have never been able to find anyone named Janice Crum who would have had any connection to the murder."

To me, this sounds like they did find a Crum or Crums, but they weren't linked to Lindy.

An intriguing case.

Clovis, thanks for the thoughts and opinions. Even throwing out the things you mentioned, does the letter not sound alot like the wording and phrasing used by Zodiac, including some of the same misspellings?

I will disagree about the stalking part. Zodiac may have stalked Darlene Ferrin. Also, if he was responsible for the Lass case, he may have stalked her as well. And let's not forget that the Bates letter author wrote "I am stalking your girls now". If you think Z could have wrote the Bates letter, then he certainly could be a stalker. A couple more possibilities include the teacher that was being stalked (the one that ANDREW TODD WALKER supposedly stalked), and the June 67 Alameda County victims (whom I believe were Z victims) who reported an unknown man following them in the weeks leading up to their murders, and also were receiving calls from an unidentified "heavy breather". As far as Z celebrating certain dates, if he did write the Bates notes, he wrote them at one month, and six month anniversaries of her murder. Also, he wrote the Belli letter 1 year to the day after the Lake Herman Rd murders. So I think it possible that he would mark dates with letters, or in Lindy's case, attack her grave stone on the one year anniversary.

I agree with you that Z was an opportunist and attacked victims when he got the chance. But there is also the possibility that he targeted some victims. I know it is a longshot that Z could have killed Biechler, but she does fit the timeline. SHe was killed after the last confirmed Z letter. I for one dont think Z just decided to stop killing. I think he may have left town, maybe transferred to another state, and picked up where he left off, and while not calling himself Z, would still have some things that matched the Z m.o. I think even if Z did not kill Lindy, he could have wrote the anonymous letter. For me, the wording in the letter sounds too much like Z (same terms, phrases, misspellings, wanting to be published in the Friday paper). I think it could be Z, or a copycat. But then again, if it was a copycat, why wouldnt they call themself Z? I also have a hard time believing that a copycat on the other side of the country, back in the mid 70's, would have enough Z material and access to the Z letters to make a letter sound so much like Z.

Sadly, the crime lab fouled up, and lost the copy of the handwritten letter in the Biechler case, so we cant even do a side by side comparison to Z.

While I don't at all view Lindy Biechler as a "possible Zodiac victim", I do think there is a conceiveable connection to the Betsy Aardsma case here. The crimes are quite different but there is the possibility of stalking in both cases and the rather rare instance of post-crime communications in both cases.

Richard Haefner, FWIW, our possible person of interest in the Aardsma case, was residing in Lancaster, PA just a few miles away from Lindy Biechler's apartment at the time of her murder and was awaiting trial on his sexual molestation case at this time.

A picture of the "Janice Crum" letter, which has apparently been lost forever, is shown in a much later Lancaster New Era newspaper article on the case (I forget the date offhand). Sent this to morf a long time ago but the microfiche copy of a fairly small image in an old newspaper article was pretty much worthless. The handwriting was pretty generic and not particularly Zodiac-like.

This case is kinda personal to me because I very nearly moved into the apartment complex where Lindy Biechler was murdered (more than a decade later). I had never heard of the case until last year but would love to see it solved.

entropy wrote:

While I don't at all view Lindy Biechler as a "possible Zodiac victim", I do think there is a conceiveable connection to the Betsy Aardsma case here. The crimes are quite different but there is the possibility of stalking in both cases and the rather rare instance of post-crime communications in both cases.

Richard Haefner, FWIW, our possible person of interest in the Aardsma case, was residing in Lancaster, PA just a few miles away from Lindy Biechler's apartment at the time of her murder and was awaiting trial on his sexual molestation case at this time.

A picture of the "Janice Crum" letter, which has apparently been lost forever, is shown in a much later Lancaster New Era newspaper article on the case (I forget the date offhand). Sent this to morf a long time ago but the microfiche copy of a fairly small image in an old newspaper article was pretty much worthless. The handwriting was pretty generic and not particularly Zodiac-like.

This case is kinda personal to me because I very nearly moved into the apartment complex where Lindy Biechler was murdered (more than a decade later). I had never heard of the case until last year but would love to see it solved.

Definitely a longshot that Lindy's case was Z related, although I find many of the same words, phrases, misspellings, and other similarity in the Biechler letter compared against Zodiac's. I actually wouldnt be surprised if Z moved to another area after his murders and wrote letters taking credit for local crimes. The photo of the letter itself is really gone forever which is a disaster. The copy you sent me was very small and hard to read. You are right, Lindy's case as well as Betsy's, do have similarities involving stalking, and Hefener did have ties close to Lindy's apartment. I looked into Haefner as a possible suspect briefly, but didnt have much to go on. It's not a crazy idea.

Link not working for me.

zodio wrote:

Link not working for me.

Text of the letter from http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71381

hi sheeler
Just Eats up your heart knowing you havn't caught me yet, still around, Lindy's marker on her grave just turned me on like she did, and the way she looked all bloody, like the paint on her Marker, the scratch and nick marks represent the knife stabes.
Count them.
you wondered if the guy at the gas station in Mountville were related to Biechlers murder. forget it man, no way.
I'll tell you what Chief Pig, you print this Letter in the paper along with a Picture in Friday nights Lancaster Paper and saturday mornings paper, and I might confesss When I get off my trip. You see the world owes me a living, maybe I give you a few hints who I am.
got busted once for Drugs a few years back
Live in West end of Lancaster Suburbs
I am 5'10" tall 205 LBS fat and Beautiful
and capable of killing again without knowing it
Dec. 5, 1975 was under the stupor of amfetamines Like right know.
Well educated man in the Community, single, good job but god please chief help me I am loosing my mind help me before I kill again, the headaches kill me Every time it aches, the Drugs only Calm it temporarily.
Will god forgive me ---------
Please print this Chief in the paper so I know you got it. v then I write you again, god I need a priest what have I done.
Help me please
P.S. chief sheeler my friend has confess to the killing of Lindy Sue biechler, as god is my withness Do as he asks, print this letter on the front page, I am not aware of his intentions right now but contemplating murder is not his intentions, he is mentally sick. When the letter appears, then he will turn himself in, he described the relationship he and Lindy had before he killed her. He only realizes it now when your on Drugs your not responsible for your actions. Please he is asleep now. That's why I finished the letter. All I can tell you my friend frequents manor shopping center in the Evenings and the fields around it. Mostly weeknights. He will contact you very soon and oh when he Does please bring a Catholic priest to the police station. Janice Crum

Thanks NIN.

Yes, thanks for the transcript, Nin. As I mentioned, I've seen a fairly small version of this letter, which was being held up by a detective in a photo for a later newspaper article on the case. Unfortunately the lindyandchristy.com website appears to be down or no longer exists. Local police never released the content of the letter until about 25 years later, which is absolutely stunning to me.

This letter is pretty freaky actually. The handwriting in the "P.S." portion appears different, or perhaps written at a different time with a different pen, but was determined to have been written by the same hand. Could that be an indication of someone truly suffering from a Dissociative Disorder, writing under the influence and sober or is it simply a smokescreen? Either way, I certainly wouldn't accept the writer's self-description as truthful. In this case we have the killer, letter-writer and grave-stabber. Are all three the same person? Considering that the writer is obviously local, alludes to having "a relationship" (real or imagined?) with Lindy Biechler and even includes her middle name in the letter, I think it points toward one stalking murderer.

The comparisons with Zodiac are pretty obvious here- demands to have his information printed on the front page, following the case in the local newspaper, taunting police yet asking for help at the same time and lousy spelling, including misspelling "loosing" like Zodiac. I have difficulty imagining, however, notorious Zodiac taking his gig to sleepy Lancaster, PA to continue killing and taunting. The claim to be a "Well educated man in the Community" seems to contradict the writer's crappy spelling and punctuation. Other observations?

FWIW, our stalker from the Aardsma case (not you, Ted) may have lived blocks away from Lindy's workplace at the time of her death. Trying to track down that angle a little further...

entropy wrote:

Yes, thanks for the transcript, Nin. As I mentioned, I've seen a fairly small version of this letter, which was being held up by a detective in a photo for a later newspaper article on the case. Unfortunately the lindyandchristy.com website appears to be down or no longer exists. Local police never released the content of the letter until about 25 years later, which is absolutely stunning to me.

This letter is pretty freaky actually. The handwriting in the "P.S." portion appears different, or perhaps written at a different time with a different pen, but was determined to have been written by the same hand. Could that be an indication of someone truly suffering from a Dissociative Disorder, writing under the influence and sober or is it simply a smokescreen? Either way, I certainly wouldn't accept the writer's self-description as truthful. In this case we have the killer, letter-writer and grave-stabber. Are all three the same person? Considering that the writer is obviously local, alludes to having "a relationship" (real or imagined?) with Lindy Biechler and even includes her middle name in the letter, I think it points toward one stalking murderer.

The comparisons with Zodiac are pretty obvious here- demands to have his information printed on the front page, following the case in the local newspaper, taunting police yet asking for help at the same time and lousy spelling, including misspelling "loosing" like Zodiac. I have difficulty imagining, however, notorious Zodiac taking his gig to sleepy Lancaster, PA to continue killing and taunting. The claim to be a "Well educated man in the Community" seems to contradict the writer's crappy spelling and punctuation. Other observations?

FWIW, our stalker from the Aardsma case (not you, Ted) may have lived blocks away from Lindy's workplace at the time of her death. Trying to track down that angle a little further...

Yeah, the letter writing including the same misspellings as Z, and the demand to be printed in the FRIDAY paper(same as Z), are really interesting. As I said, it is a longshot that this letter was written by Zodiac, I think it could certainlt be a possibility that Z moved from CA, and continued his patterns elsewhere. Too bad we can not see the writing to do our own comparison to Z. I really think the cops blew a golden chance to open up a line of communication with the letter writer. By the way, regarding Janice Crum, I found a retired school teacher in the San Fran area named Janice Crum..not far from the Stine murder scene..., and another one(possibly the same one)that lived in the Modesto area...of course there were a few of them in the country. Let's not firget that the anonymous letter was received on or around the one year anniversary of Lindy's murder, and her grave stone was vandalized around the same time.

Maybe having an open line of communication would have provided additional clues or an arrest. Imagine if the newspapers would have never honored Zodiac's demands to be printed.

And as far as Haefner, he was an interesting guy. I had done some research on him a long time back, and I actually was probably the first person to post a photo of him on the internet. He had done some geological research in 'RED LODGE' MT. That caught my attention as did his initials RH(Bates case). But I could never link him to Riverside or Vallejo, and think there was very little chance he was Z. But he certainly is a good suspect in the Aardsma case, and perhaps the Biechler case.

By the way, if you are interested in similar M.O. crimes in PA, with Penn State ties, you have to check out the cases of-

Dana Bailey. She was a Penn State student murdered in her own apartment. As in the Biechler case, the knife used in the attack came from her own apartment, and the knife was left embedded in her body.Like in the Bates case, her Father later received an anonymous letter. In the link tha tfollows, it mentions that the knife used to kill Bailey was found in the bathroom, but they may not be correct(I think it was stuck in her body)I will check with the Detective in her case and verify that.
http://www.defrostingcoldcases.com/forensics/penn-state-remembers-dana-bailey-1987

Holly Branagain, was murdered in her own Pennsylvania home. As in the Biechler & Bailey cases, the murderer used a knife from the victim's home. The knife was found embedded in her body. Sometime shortly before her murder, Holly had either applied for, or had been accepted to PENN STATE.
http://www.defrostingcoldcases.com/forensics/moira-holly-branagan

Something that didnt even register until now is that Biechler, Bailey, and Branagan all start with a B.

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

whokilledbetsy wrote:

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

I'm not sold on the idea- just found a number of factors quite similar with Aardsma although we don't, of course, know the motivation involved in either case. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with point #2 here, Derek, because I don't believe that letter is an accurate reflection of anything about the writer.

FWIW, I did hear back from Lindy's brother, who consulted with their mother about where Lindy worked. The flower shop where she worked was actually on the other side of Lancaster from where Haefner lived, which may make a chance encounter less plausible. Lindy's mother is apparently quite focused on another individual who worked with Lindy. He allegedly made some incriminating statements later, which Lindy's mother believes makes him a prime suspect.

entropy wrote:

whokilledbetsy wrote:

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

I'm not sold on the idea- just found that fact a number of factors quite similar with Aardsma although we don't, of course, know the motivation involved in either case. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with point #2 here, Derek, because I don't believe that letter is an accurate reflection of anything about the writer.

FWIW, I did hear back from Lindy's brother, who consulted with their mother about where Lindy worked. The flower shop where she worked was actually on the other side of Lancaster from where Haefner lived, which may make a chance encounter less plasuble. Lindy's mother is apparently quite focused on another individual who worked with Lindy. He allegedly made some incriminating statements later, which Lindy's mother believes makes him a prime suspect.

Yeah, that flower shop was near a hospital. There was also a man that worked in the hospital who was a susepct. And for what it is worth, Lindy's husband was attending college at the time of her murder(forget which one). Maybe that is worth checking out.

ENTROPY....Please pm me your email address,not sure I still have it. I have a LOAD of Biechler files to email you!

entropy wrote:

whokilledbetsy wrote:

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

I'm not sold on the idea- just found that fact a number of factors quite similar with Aardsma although we don't, of course, know the motivation involved in either case. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with point #2 here, Derek, because I don't believe that letter is an accurate reflection of anything about the writer.

FWIW, I did hear back from Lindy's brother, who consulted with their mother about where Lindy worked. The flower shop where she worked was actually on the other side of Lancaster from where Haefner lived, which may make a chance encounter less plasuble. Lindy's mother is apparently quite focused on another individual who worked with Lindy. He allegedly made some incriminating statements later, which Lindy's mother believes makes him a prime suspect.

I guess I can see what you're saying about the letter being purposely to throw people off, or not reveal information about the author. I've always just felt that Rick was far too anal to do something like that -- I think it would have bothered him to do that. Plus, I think he was smart enough to know that once he got away with something, don't taunt the police -- that's why I don't believe the letter in the Aardsma case was from him.

I was just throwing my hat in the ring on that one. Hope you don't mind.

I'd be interested to hear more about this other suspect. What happened to the lindyandchristy site?? I emailed the Christy Mirack Facebook page to offer free hosting for the site through my whokilledbetsy.com site hosting. Will see what they have to say. If you can pass along that info to Lindy's family, I'd appreciate it -- it wouldn't take long to set up and I'd be more than happy to do it as a service.

whokilledbetsy wrote:

entropy wrote:

whokilledbetsy wrote:

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

I'm not sold on the idea- just found that fact a number of factors quite similar with Aardsma although we don't, of course, know the motivation involved in either case. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with point #2 here, Derek, because I don't believe that letter is an accurate reflection of anything about the writer.

FWIW, I did hear back from Lindy's brother, who consulted with their mother about where Lindy worked. The flower shop where she worked was actually on the other side of Lancaster from where Haefner lived, which may make a chance encounter less plasuble. Lindy's mother is apparently quite focused on another individual who worked with Lindy. He allegedly made some incriminating statements later, which Lindy's mother believes makes him a prime suspect.

I guess I can see what you're saying about the letter being purposely to throw people off, or not reveal information about the author. I've always just felt that Rick was far too anal to do something like that -- I think it would have bothered him to do that. Plus, I think he was smart enough to know that once he got away with something, don't taunt the police -- that's why I don't believe the letter in the Aardsma case was from him.

I was just throwing my hat in the ring on that one. Hope you don't mind.

I'd be interested to hear more about this other suspect. What happened to the lindyandchristy site?? I emailed the Christy Mirack Facebook page to offer free hosting for the site through my whokilledbetsy.com site hosting. Will see what they have to say. If you can pass along that info to Lindy's family, I'd appreciate it -- it wouldn't take long to set up and I'd be more than happy to do it as a service.

Your input is of course welcome, Derek, and you certainly know Haefner better than anyone. Do you think Haefner could/would have had any involvement in any of the later activities (the shrine etc.) that have been possibly attributed to Betsy Aardsma's killer. I think it's interesting that the letter writer in the Biechler case refers to himself as well-educated while the content of the letter appears to say otherwise. I do believe that if it's not an unrelated hoax, the self-description in the letter is pure smokescreen.

That is a very generous offer to host the family's website. I have no idea why it is down but I'll pass on the offer to Lindy's brother. Thanks!

entropy wrote:

whokilledbetsy wrote:

entropy wrote:

whokilledbetsy wrote:

My problem with Rick and Lindy is twofold:

1. Never been able to make even the slightest connection between Rick (32 years old and embroiled in his own issues at the time, also dating a woman named Kathy), and Lindy, 19, newly married, etc.
2. Rick was such a narcissist and perfectionist that he NEVER would have written a note with spelling errors. It would have reflected poorly on the "great Dr. Haefner," as he seemed to see himself.

I have a suicide note he wrote and even in that case, when he was planning to end it all and didn't care, his grammar and spelling are perfect.

I didn't realize the lindy and christy site was down.

I'm not sold on the idea- just found that fact a number of factors quite similar with Aardsma although we don't, of course, know the motivation involved in either case. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with point #2 here, Derek, because I don't believe that letter is an accurate reflection of anything about the writer.

FWIW, I did hear back from Lindy's brother, who consulted with their mother about where Lindy worked. The flower shop where she worked was actually on the other side of Lancaster from where Haefner lived, which may make a chance encounter less plasuble. Lindy's mother is apparently quite focused on another individual who worked with Lindy. He allegedly made some incriminating statements later, which Lindy's mother believes makes him a prime suspect.

I guess I can see what you're saying about the letter being purposely to throw people off, or not reveal information about the author. I've always just felt that Rick was far too anal to do something like that -- I think it would have bothered him to do that. Plus, I think he was smart enough to know that once he got away with something, don't taunt the police -- that's why I don't believe the letter in the Aardsma case was from him.

I was just throwing my hat in the ring on that one. Hope you don't mind.

I'd be interested to hear more about this other suspect. What happened to the lindyandchristy site?? I emailed the Christy Mirack Facebook page to offer free hosting for the site through my whokilledbetsy.com site hosting. Will see what they have to say. If you can pass along that info to Lindy's family, I'd appreciate it -- it wouldn't take long to set up and I'd be more than happy to do it as a service.

Your input is of course welcome, Derek, and you certainly know Haefner better than anyone. Do you think Haefner could/would have had any involvement in any of the later activities (the shrine etc.) that have been possibly attributed to Betsy Aardsma's killer. I think it's interesting that the letter writer in the Biechler case refers to himself as well-educated while the content of the letter appears to say otherwise. I do believe that if it's not an unrelated hoax, the self-description in the letter is pure smokescreen.

That is a very generous offer to host the family's website. I have no idea why it is down but I'll pass on the offer to Lindy's brother. Thanks!

My gut feeling tells me Rick didn't think much about Betsy after he got away with killing her. For your date and time info, Rick had a preliminary hearing in the Klivansky molestation on December 3rd, 1975, and Lindy was murdered December 5th. That's the closest thing I can find going on in Rick's life at that time. I doubt he was stalking anyone at that time -- besides being embroiled in the molestation case, he was living at home with Mom and Dad, who I'm sure were keeping a firm grip on him, what with all the allegations and arrest stuff.

Closest thing to the shrine was a court hearing where he pled on some charges of assaulting an officer in 1994. So the possibility is there to draw a connection between him blowing off steam and these court dates, but IMHO, probably not connected.

If anything it could have been a Zodiac copycat. The era is right and the type of weak-minded person likely to have done this probably would feel empowered and smart by copying a serial killer. The asking for a priest is interesting, but when you consider that a large percentage of Lancaster is Catholic, it becomes less revealing.

"If anything it could have been a Zodiac copycat. The era is right and the type of weak-minded person likely to have done this probably would feel empowered and smart by copying a serial killer. The asking for a priest is interesting, but when you consider that a large percentage of Lancaster is Catholic, it becomes less revealing"

Certainly a copycat is possible,but if they are a copycat,they even went to great lengths to copy Zodiac,even spelling the same words wrong with the same errors.

morf13 wrote:

"If anything it could have been a Zodiac copycat. The era is right and the type of weak-minded person likely to have done this probably would feel empowered and smart by copying a serial killer. The asking for a priest is interesting, but when you consider that a large percentage of Lancaster is Catholic, it becomes less revealing"

Certainly a copycat is possible,but if they are a copycat,they even went to great lengths to copy Zodiac,even spelling the same words wrong with the same errors.

I just re-read that -- didn't mean to suggest that it couldn't be Zodiac, as well. Just saying if it were between Rick or a copycat, I think it might be a copycat. Of course, why would you write that letter at all, unless you had some serious issues with her, or wanted to throw the police off? Why tell them anything about yourself?

It's a weird mental running-in-circles thing with that letter, for me.

I doubt that anyone was purposely trying to present themselves as Zodiac with that letter but they certainly could have been influenced even though Zodiac was not in the headlines by this time.

I'm thinking of two examples in which this kind of post-crime communication served as pure smokescreen.

First is the "Fayetteville Zodiac" case of 2008 in which the victim's boyfriend/father of her unborn child attempted to obfuscate the investigation by leaving a Zodiac sign at the crime scene and writing a "Zodiac letter".

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/07/edgar_patino_lopez_arrested_fo.php

Second is a letter from Dennis Rader (BTK) providing a very specific (but very false) personal history, which quickly led to the arrest of a totally innocent man.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=405346&page=1

So we have one case where a killer tried to make his crime seem like the work of a serial killer and one case of a serial killer offering false clews as bussy work for police and possibly to implicate someone besides himself. I'm sure there are other examples to be found.

Hope I am not the only one that notice a Oil Producing connection here.

Could Z case be a so simple answer as it's been in a old dusty file cabinet some where in a Oil Company personal office all this time.

Ca to Pa a worker's transfer? Make sense to me if you wanted leave a state for a while..

Other questible Pa unsloved case's be so simple as going to Pa. for a few week's of company training ? Such as Betsy Aardsma case.

To myself appear transfers be greatly different as more worker's be wanting to move to Ca. and not Pa.

Hope this not a waste of time & idea I noticed to others.

Wonder what nationwide Oil Company or Oil Well Service company that was base out of Southwestern Pa back in that time period.

Hope I am not too far off topic on this post.. Reading this thread and this came into my mind as a other Z thing again.

entropy wrote:

I doubt that anyone was purposely trying to present themselves as Zodiac with that letter but they certainly could have been influenced even though Zodiac was not in the headlines by this time.

I'm thinking of two examples in which this kind of post-crime communication served as pure smokescreen.

First is the "Fayetteville Zodiac" case of 2008 in which the victim's boyfriend/father of her unborn child attempted to obfuscate the investigation by leaving a Zodiac sign at the crime scene and writing a "Zodiac letter".

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2008/07/edgar_patino_lopez_arrested_fo.php

Second is a letter from Dennis Rader (BTK) providing a very specific (but very false) personal history, which quickly led to the arrest of a totally innocent man.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=405346&page=1

So we have one case where a killer tried to make his crime seem like the work of a serial killer and one case of a serial killer offering false clews as bussy work for police and possibly to implicate someone besides himself. I'm sure there are other examples to be found.

You said it better than I did -- that's what I meant by "copycat" in this case -- just an influence or trying to throw people off.

Like Zodiac, the Biechler letter writer wanted his letter published in "the Friday paper". Sadly, the cops missed a golden chance to open up a line of communication with the writer. Maybe additional letters from the writer would have eventually gave police more clues.

morf13 wrote:

Like Zodiac, the Biechler letter writer wanted his letter published in "the Friday paper". Sadly, the cops missed a golden chance to open up a line of communication with the writer. Maybe additional letters from the writer would have eventually gave police more clues.

Were you able to get in touch with Lindy's family yet?

whokilledbetsy wrote:

morf13 wrote:

Like Zodiac, the Biechler letter writer wanted his letter published in "the Friday paper". Sadly, the cops missed a golden chance to open up a line of communication with the writer. Maybe additional letters from the writer would have eventually gave police more clues.

Were you able to get in touch with Lindy's family yet?

Yeah,I was in touch with her Brother. We were going to meet up out in Lancaster,but it never materialized as he was stationed out on the west coast and was overseas for a while. Havent been in touch with him in a while,although Entropy has been