'Zodiac, your partner is in deep real estate'

[themysterymachine]

So, that classified ad. Mike? Are you on here? I know KJ had a brother. Have you looked into that angle?

And I would love it if you could post anything re. the profile Richard Walter came up with, or whatever rough sketch he may have?

[Quicktrader]

Do we know his name?

QT

[snooter]

to me that personal ad (if i am correct) could be for X.X's brother (newt) was also very successful..i have some thoughts newt may have some involvement but that is going off on a team Z tangent and well my gut says Z acted alone...i dunno what to make of this..could be or mean anything..

[joedetective]

What are you getting at here? Are you insinuating a connection between KQ and Fred Manalli? Because that is exactly who this ad was written about.

[snooter]

What are you getting at here? Are you insinuating a connection between KQ and Fred Manalli? Because that is exactly who this ad was written about.

not much...when i think real estate i think X..prolly all wet here..time to shut and move along

[themysterymachine]

What are you getting at here? Are you insinuating a connection between KQ and Fred Manalli? Because that is exactly who this ad was written about.

Do you know that definitely? And how do you know? I have wondered about this damn ad for a while and it bugs the bejesus out of me. PM me if you want, this is one of those niggling things I would like to nail down.

[Norse]

What are you getting at here? Are you insinuating a connection between KQ and Fred Manalli? Because that is exactly who this ad was written about.

Well, in fairness we don't know that. The date is obviously intriguing and if the ad is indeed linked to a known Z suspect, then it would be well-nigh impossible to look past Manalli. But we can't tell for sure if it has anything to do with Z at all. There's a zodiac reference there - which is very compelling to us (but strictly speaking pretty general) and what looks like a KKK reference to me, which is less compelling (I don't see how it fits either Z or Manalli).

[Norse]

Do we know his name?

QT

He had two brothers, I think. One of them was also in the car import business - the other was supposedly less successful. I don't know whether they're still alive so I won't mention names. Well, I don't remember the latter's anyway, but the former's is easy to find - he's mentioned in several of the articles about KQ which are available online.

In a proper Hollywood version of events the killer would turn out to be the less successful brother, of course - the crazy black sheep whose murders were covered up by his rich and mighty brother...

[themysterymachine]

I like that scenario, Norse.

I find it really hard to believe that this ad would have nothing to do with Z. EVERYONE and their mother knew about the Zodiac at that time, probably when passersby heard the word Zodiac in those days they would instantly flash to the murders, and not to astrology. So it was either a total put on or had some connection. I think.

[ophion1031]

I'm convinced that "your PARTNER is in deep real estate" is referring to Manalli. How could it not be? I know there is no way to prove it 100%, but it just has to be. Besides, I never thought Manalli had the marbles to kill, but he was probably fascinated with it and somehow he met Z and became the partner who wrote the letters, intentionally misspelling words because who's going to look at a writing teacher as the writer of the Z letters?

I don't think the personal ad is bogus. I think it is legit, and the "Imperial Wizard" was a powerful man (a lawyer maybe) who was pulling the strings.