Canonical cipher 3: Z13 vol.3. A Z408 based proposal step-1

 

An entropy-based solution of the Z13 based on a cascade consideration of ciphers vol.3: A Z408 based proposal step-1

I. Introduction

On May 5, 2024, I presented the first draft of a proposal for a solution of the Z13 based on a systemic, entropy-based method. On April 23, 2025, I made available the follow up on the solution, which included a more comprehensive explanation of the “8-ball” variant, whilst offering (1) a key, heavily based on the Z340 key plus a logical function as a singular expression for the substitution of the 8-ball with J L N for the ciphertext, followed up a transposition of the symbols for the plaintext, and (2) a teletype method for the rationalization of data in the plaintext [1].

On May 15, 2025, I offered the Runic and Zodiac systemic indexes not just as part of a hypothetical “value system” for the killer’s worldview (if not ideology), but as a practical means of identifying the significance, from a cultural-historical perspective of the Etruscan region as a “landmark”. Of course, for that to be tied to the case, the killer would have to “acknowledge” such a landmark, which I believe is the case, as I will try to demonstrate in follow-up pieces [2].

Before I proceed further with the steganography and other elements of the Z13 proposal I provided and then dwell into the Odell genealogy and its significance for New England colonialism of the Puritan Migration era, I would like to suggest a Z408-solution for Z13. I will make the case for such a method and discuss how this “co-exists” with the Z340-based proposal I have already demonstrated.

II. The Z408 key as the basis for a Z13 solution

The well-known cipher length is 13 (see Figure 1) as featured in ZodiacKiller.com [3]:

Figure 1. Cipher length [3]

Figure 2 depicts the combined key for Z408 and Z340 from David Oranchak’s site [4].

Figure 2. Combined Z408/Z340 key [4]

Table I. Z408-based key of the Z13 Cipher Alphabet

Symbols	Z408 key
A	W
E	E
N	E
Z-CROSS	D
K	S
M	H
Inv-T	R

 

Table I features the Z408-key for the seven of the eight Z13 cipher symbols. Naturally, the so-called “8-ball” is missing. In the early version of my proposal (first draft) I had attempted a first discussion on the relation of that symbol to the Z408 cipher alphabet.

However, as a broader comment, one cannot help but wander – a killer dying for such attention, and whose taunt game may include the logic of a riddle being solved that only leads to another riddle (a cascade of riddles in a systemic order), wouldn’t take into consideration the unsolved nature of Z340 when finally sending (and not necessarily drafting) the Z13?

If my Z13 proposal that I have already presented is credible (and I uphold it 100%), then its “secret” within the new riddle of “Odell” is genealogical in the broader sense of ancestry, one identifying with the last, 24^th rune of the Elder Furthark (Othala): ancestry as an expression of heritage and land/property. Meaning that the “Odell” reference is a new index, a new “cipher” if you will, waiting to provide an insight on past and motive.

This means that – please bear with me the condition that my proposal stands – the killer does not make a comment on the “contemporary” nature of events. Of course, those aligning with the proposal of Dr. Garlick will offer that this proposal addresses the then-public dialogue between various experts and the leadership of ACA, represented by Dr. Marsh, commenting and passing judgement on the killer. But I will counter-offer: a comment on Dr. Marsh by the killer would still not be a comment on the case events themselves. And as I wrote earlier - – please bear with me the condition that my proposal stands.

From a case-events perspective, the most recent canonical event is the failed murder attempt / abduction of Kathleen Johns on Palm Sunday, March 22, 1970, west of Modesto (practically, near Tracy). The term “canonical” refers to the killer’s own “assumption of responsibility” with the July 24, 1970, letter. He does not “just insert himself” into the case as he enigmatically did with the Werner victims or the “riverside activity” which may or may not relate to the Cheri-Jo Bates murder. He explicitly assumed responsibility for Johns. Of course, he offered nothing less than what was already published. But this may be a “soft alibi” or some other trick. The fact remains that the abduction/failed murder attempt on Johns is the only criminal act directly acknowledged by the killer after the Stine letter.

But let us go back to the hypothesis for Z408 and Z13. Is there a valid basis for that?

 

III. The Runic Paradigm: S as the Sun Symbol

In [5], Edred Thorsson discusses the Sun Symbol in Runic Position 16 of the Elder Futhark:

The sun is the guiding beacon on the roads of becoming. It is the light of consciousness-and its pattern, which stands in the objective universe for all of those who seek to transform themselves to see. The archetypal sun, and its counterpart the "night sun" (= the s sowilo Pleiades), guide the "seafarer" from one zone of consciousness to another, from one "land" to another. This is the goal that gives motivation to the will. In skylore this is "the star" of the elliptic (the Pleiades), which at night travels the same path as the sun does by day.

In ancient Nordic symbolism the sun is seen as a wheel or as a shield. That is, it has transformative and protective, nurturing aspects. As a wheel, sowilo is a sign of the wheels along the path of the yew column, Yggdrasill, by which the runester consciously evolves. Sowilo is the shield of the consciousness and provides it with greater significance toward which to strive. One who has developed the will by the light of the S-rune (in all of its aspects) is blessed with honor and success.

[…] The S-rune also has been connected with the serpentine mysteries of the north, which involve the centers at which flows of heavenly and chthonic forces converge at a point on the surface of the earth. The power of the : S : breaks down psychological or cosmic inertia and transforms it into a vital , dynamic force.

 

Please take note of the Pleaides reference as the “Night Sun”. Recall the “Sun Night” explicit reference in the “Debut Letter” of August 1969. I will return to this later on. Back on track: In my most recent piece on Z32 I mentioned the Runic position of the Sun Glyph and its transposition to Sulphur on the common basis of “16” [6], shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. S-16 reference index substitution and transposition scheme [6]

In my opinion this provides a proven example based on the Runic Paradigm for the usage of S as equivalent to the Sun Glyph: the Runic S-Rune “Sowilō / Sigel”

• In the Elder Futhark runic alphabet, the s-rune is called Sowilō (also “Sigel” in later forms) and literally means “sun” (or is associated with the sun) [5]-[7].
• The rune is transliterated “s”; its name Sowilō is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word for “sun” [7].
• The later Anglo-Saxon rune poem names the rune “Sigel” / “Sól” and speaks of it in solar terms (the poem describes “Sigel / is for seafarers a joy …”, i.e. the sun’s beneficial light over the sea) [7]

Thus, in Germanic / Norse runic tradition, the “S” rune is conceptually the Sun (or strongly solar).

Notice the glyph in sources [5] and [7]: the S symbol is associated with the Greek “Epsilon” Glyph, E, something that the killer himself acknowledges by associating the Sun Glyph with plaintext E (Z408-key) and identifying the S cipher symbol and the Syn Glyph cipher symbol as identical plaintext D (Z340-key).

A comment of interest - Association of the S cipher symbol with A in the Z408-key is two-fold: the A in Greek tradition identifies with sun god Apollo, God of wisdom, art and poetry, and in the Germanic/Norse runic tradition with Odin, God of all things, including wisdom and art. This identification provides a common ground for art and wisdom: the killer’s own perception of his ciphers.

In [8] I discussed the importance of the Sun Glyph combined Z408-Z340 key (ED) for the count of the 54 cipher symbols, a number which appears gain the frequency of plaintext E, which is the Z408 key for the Sun Glyph.

Identifying the Sun Glyph as equivalent with the S-glyph, based on all the above points, allows us to transform this combined key into SED.

If we treat these symbols as cipher text and replace with the Z408-key values of plaintext, we get the result shown in Figure 4.

SED leads to AEN, the first three cipher symbols of the Z13 cipher text.

In my opinion, this is a key moment where the killer “allows” for the usage of the Z408-key, already published since August 1969, as a method (one of the methods) for solving the Z13. A key hidden in plain sight.

Figure 4. From SED to AEN

The term "aen" is derived from the Latin word aeneus or aenus, meaning "of bronze" or "bronze". Bronze itself is an alloy of copper, with symbolism Cu and atomic number 29, which the number of non-English proper symbols employed for the Z408 cipher text and the number of unique cipher symbols for the Z32 [8], [9].

As I demonstrated in [4], the Sun aligns with Gold (Au) and atomic number 79, an attribute associated with the number of words in Z340 as I will discuss in a follow-up piece [10]. After all, AU is one of the Z340 so-called “miss-spellings”, appearing twice.

These references to bronze/copper and the “transition” from gold to copper/bronze clearly indicates a hint at mining, something already present throughout the killer’s canonical semiotics.

It is also interesting to note the Ancient Greek etymology for Aenus: a city in East Thrace, present-day Turkey [11].

Wikipedia offers [11]:

The mythical and eponymous founder of the ancient Greek city of Ainos/Aenus was said to be Aeneus, a son of the god Apollo and father of Cyzicus.

This is the mythical explanation of the “transition” from gold to copper/bronze: a transition from the Greek version of the source-word for AEN to the Latin.

For further reading on the usage and identification of the S-symbol and the Sun, the reader may be referenced to [12],  an academic treatment of why the s-rune’s name (OE Sigel) is associated with ‘sun’ (while also exploring secondary senses like ‘jewel’), and [13] where the author argues the poem’s imagery and the lexeme’s semantics, but still accepts the sun value for Sigel in key contexts.

IV. The Z13 solution on the basis of the Z408-key: step-1

Step-1 of the Z408-based solution for Z13 is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Z408-based solution of the Z13: step-1

This has been discussed both on the ZodiacKiller.com message board (Tapatalk) and on the discord server. For example, in [14] the discussion attempts to introduce further elements or vowels. The most important posts in that category are Chris (Solidsnake) iterations on the Z13, and, regarding the Z408 angle, which will be discussed analytically in the follow-up piece, specific insightful contributions by Tom Voigt.

On the ZodiacKiller.com discord server, users have discussed the narcotics angle (“weeds”), possibly in relation to the notorious “drug bust” on the LHR cottage on the night of the LHR murder. While this overlooked event can be of significance to the case, I think another dimension of “weeds” was missed: the genealogical.

Let us look at the words: WEEDS and HREWH. For, as shown in Figure 6 [15], HREWH is indeed a word.

Figure 6. HREWH definition from Wictionary [15]

In [2], on the previous piece I wrote on Z13, I discussed the Proto-Indo-European linguistics associated with the “EK” and “MAN” cipher text. Now, this context is again utilized, for an obscure word that means: to dig out, to root.

WEEDS – HREWH: to dig out weeds (read from right to left).

V. Interpretation: from literal to homicidal

In gardening/farming, to weed = pull up unwanted plants so the desired crop thrives. By at least the 16th–17th century, “weed” in English is also applied metaphorically to undesirable people, habits, or offspring. Shakespeare uses “weed” for corrupt courtiers or children (Richard II 2.3).

The KJV Bible (Matthew 13:24–30) distinguishes wheat vs. tares/weeds as righteous vs. corrupt lineages—this text strongly influenced English family and moral language.

Therefore: the English word weed has long been used figuratively for “something undesirable growing among the good.” When you combine that with family or lineage, “pluck out weeds” can indeed carry the sense of exterminating, excluding, or disowning “bad seeds” within a family tree.

Genealogical / family connotations

• Moral censure: Families described “weed” children as dissolute or illegitimate ones they wanted hidden or cut off.
• Legal/social weeding: In wills, guardianships, or pedigrees, “weeded out” heirs meant lines that died out, were attainted (stripped of rights), or were deliberately excluded.
• Eugenic/ “bad seed” language: In 19th–early 20th c. reform movements, reformers spoke of “weeding out the unfit,” explicitly comparing unwanted family traits to weeds needing extermination.
• Genealogical editing: Antiquarians and heralds sometimes “plucked out weeds” = dropped dubious or scandalous branches from printed pedigrees.

It is interesting to comment further on that last note: an informal metaphor for clean-up work on a family tree, usually on collaborative sites (FamilySearch, WikiTree) or in a private tree. Typical “weeds” are:

• Bad links (child attached to the wrong parents; wrong spouse)
• Duplicates / conflated profiles
• Unsourced or low-quality claims (copy-pasted “mythical” ancestors)
• Sloppy citations (no source, broken links)
• Junk hints that were accepted without checking

Genealogists often pair “weeding” with “pruning” (removing bad branches) and “grafting” (re-attaching a person to the correct family). You’ll see the language in community spaces and how-to posts: WikiTree users talk about “pruning and weeding” a world tree, and individuals describe moving data “so I could weed out errors” as they rebuild a sound tree [16].

Circumstances where “pluck out weeds” = “exterminate bad seeds”

• Heraldic/gentry pedigrees (16th–18th c.): editors “weeded” trees of “base-born” children, criminals, or rebels.
• Puritan / moralist writings (17th c.): sermons exhorted families to “pluck out the weeds” of sin among their seed, meaning to discipline or disown errant children.
• Victorian eugenics discourse (19th–20th c.): social reformers spoke of “weeding the national stock,” i.e. preventing reproduction of families with criminal/insane reputations.
• Modern genealogy slang: hobbyists say they “weed out bad branches” when removing disproved or shameful connections.

As a summary: the metaphor almost always connotes active removal for the health of the whole stock. In family/genealogical contexts, that can mean:

• Exclusion (not recorded, disinherited).
• Erasure (removing from tree charts).
• Extermination (in darker political contexts, actual killing/sterilization).

 

VI. Murder and genealogy-based pseudo-biology: Contextual Holistic and Systemic interpretation

Much of the above, as the paradigm shifts from a literal gardening/biological description to a genealogical and then homicidal, can evoke the universal awareness of 20^th century systemic genocide carried out in the context of “racial purity”, even with the usage of “biological” terminology. The horrors of the Second World War and the atrocities carried out by the political madness of the NSDAP and its regime across the “Greater German Reich” will haunt mankind for generations to come.

The Z13 was indeed mailed on April 20, 1970. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. This, along with the deciphered message discussed in the previous section, and the discussion concerning the Armanen runic system employed by the killer, provide a bleak contextual landscape. But is it systemic?

The first cipher was sent July 31, 1969. On July 31, 1932, the Nazi party (NSDAP) became the leading party in the Reichstag, albeit without a majority [17]. This would begin a period of crisis ending in the disaster of the "extreme emergency Staat" launched in the first months of 1933.

Z340 was sent on Nov 8, 1969, but combined with a communique on the previous day. This highly deliberate choice marks the Nov 8-9 ensemble. These are the dates of the "Beer Hall Putsch" launched by the fascists in 1923 for a seizure of power in then-Weimar era Germany [18]. When the Nazis made Germany a police state, they launched on the very same date the Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938), essentially the first act of the Shoah [19].

Z13 was sent, as already mentioned on Hitler's birthday, April 20.

Z32 was sent June 26, 1970. On June 26, 1942, the BBC broadcasts for the first time news about extermination of the Jews [20]. 

Within this framework, the decoding of “HREWH” based on Ancestral Linguistics, from a perspective that historical fascism and Nazism also embraced for their own political ends and – eventual – genocidal crimes, opens the way for a solution which is Contextual, Holistic and Systemic, in consistency with my generalized approach on this case.

• The Contextual analysis provides the raw material and the dictionary.
• The Holistic approach weaves this material into a network of connections.
• The Systemic model explains the structure and logic of that network.

This CHS thesis on the Z13 proposal based on the Z408 (step-1) is summarized in figure 7 and juxtaposed with the already published Z340-based proposal I have submitted.

Figure 7. Combined Z408/Z340-key proposal for the Z13 decoding: CHS approach

This approach unifies the two proposals under the common ground of genealogy and the linguistics of biology and planting.

More specifically:

In the Z340-based proposal, the key word, as discussed in [1] and [2] is Odell. This links, as further work will demonstrate, to the New England Puritan Migration, ancestry, property, land. The root of the Odell surname is the village in Bedfordshire. Variants of the name include Woodell, a reference to wood and the discussion held previously on “weeding the tree” (in terms of genealogical correction), by a combination of the Z340 and Z408 affiliated proposals.

Furthermore, as shown in [21], the village was known as Wadehelle in the Domesday Book, from Old English wād (“woad”) + hyll (“hill”). So the linguistics remains a common “coding basis” and semantics for both proposals.

Concerning the Z408-based proposal, the exterminating angle (homicidal context) of this “biological and genealogical purity” is a direct reminiscence of the worst times of the 20^th century. Indeed, all four canonical ciphers resonate with that period of tragedy and disaster. What is more interesting is that, from a Runic perspective, the dominant rune in this approach (aligned with the Othala genealogy rune of the Z340-based proposal), is the Death Rune [22]. In this context, death on the motive of genealogy and ancestry, much like the Shoah.

The Death Rune, as the Nazi version of Guido von List’s “inverted elk/life” rune, is a Metamorphosis of the inverted 15^th Rune of the Elder Futhark. Inverting a rune provides the negative meaning to the original, its Doppelganger. The Elk Rune is the (phonetic) Z-rune, aligned with the Z-shaped 13^th rune (Yew). In the younger Futhark, Yew-concept and Inverted-Elk glyph identify. This is the basis for Guido Von List’s later “invention”, but with a context which insults and violates all previous manifestations of runic expression and culture.  

VII. The Z13 solution on the basis of the Z408-key: onwards to step-2

Three points of interest – first, the initials ED stand for Enumerical District. The Sun God, Apollo in Greek lore, is Sol in Latin, which can be interpreted as “Sol – Enumerical District”, a hint at Census for Solano County.

Second, in the same way that we identified Sun Glyph with S, using also the common Z340 key for both symbols, we can identify A (already matched with S via the Z408 sub-set) and the Zodiac Cross, which in fact, viewed in its totality (combined Z408/Z340 key) is the inverted order of the S combined key. Inverting S provides an 8-like glyph. Could the “8-ball” from a Z408 perspective be connected to either S or the Sun glyph?

Third point – the Z340-based proposal of Z13 [1] is essentially a polyalphabetic substitution cipher for the “8-ball” with an internal key based on position and transposition, a localized “Caesar cipher”, if you will. It can be (and will be in vol. 5) be treated as a Vigenère cipher. Back on the step-1 of the Z408-based proposal, the “blank” value (plaintext) of the “8-ball” is a by-pass feature. Looking again (transposition rationale) across the board, from a Z340-based perspective, this would mean, in Vigenère key terms, a value of “A”. Which leads to Figure 8, as a glimpse of step-2.

Figure 8. Z408-based solution of the Z13: step-2

 

And thus – onwards to step-2.

SDS

September 25, 2025

 

References

1.        https://zodiacresearch.blogspot.com/2025/07/canonical-cipher-3-z13-vol1-entropy.html

2.        https://zodiacresearch.blogspot.com/2025/07/canonical-cipher-3-z13-vol2-runic-and.html

3.        https://zodiackiller.com/MyNameIsLetter.html

4.        http://zodiackillerciphers.com/images/z408-z340-combined-keys.png

5.        Edred Thorsson, Runelore: a handbook of esoteric runology, Weiser Books, 1987.

6.        https://zodiacresearch.blogspot.com/2025/07/canonical-cipher-3-z13-vol3-spatial.html

7.        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowil%C5%8D_%28rune%29?utm_source=chatgpt.com

8.        https://zodiacresearch.blogspot.com/2025/09/canonical-cipher-1-z408-vol1-purgatory.html

9.        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper

10.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold

11.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enez

12.   Douglas P. A. Simms (2017), Journal of Germanic Linguistics: “The Old English Name of the S-Rune and ‘Sun’ in Germanic.”

13.   Alan Griffiths (2012), “The Anglo-Saxon Name for the s-Rune: Sigel, a Precious Jewel”.

14.   https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiackillerfr/baker-suggestion-t11414.html#p275320

15.   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/(H)rewH-

16.   https://family-tree-advice.blogspot.com/2021/02/unreliable-sources.html

17.   https://history-commons.net/topics/july_1932_german_federal_election/

18.   https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munich-putsch

19.   https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht

20.   https://www.jhi.pl/en/articles/june-26-1942-bbc-informs-about-the-extermination-of-polish-jews,5812

21.   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Odell

22.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiz