Was Paul Stine a premeditated target based on Numerology?

[SillyBilly]

Was Paul Stine a premeditated target, based on Numerology?
I red a comment somwhere on Reddit about how by setting the numbers on cab used by Paul Stine in the night of his murder and comparing with numerology, you will get the name Zodiac. So I went to check it out if it was true.
The cab Paul Stine was using on the night of his murder had the following license plate:



Now, in the West, the 2 main types of Numerology is Pythagorean (also known as Western Numerology) and Chaldean/Babylonian Numerology. Numerology is the belief that a number has a supernatural connection to events, by comparing the numbers to letters or names.
In Chaldean Numerology, the numbers used are between 1 to 8. Here is the list on the connections between numbers and letters of the Latin alphabet according to this type of Numerology:
1 = a, q, y, i, j
2 = b, r, k
3 = g, c, l, s
4 = d, m, t
5 = e, h, n, x
6 = u, v, w
7 = o, z
8 = f, p

Now, if we re-align the numbers that were on the license plate of Stine´Cab and take out the numbers that aren´t on it, here is what we get:

1 = a, q, y, i, j
7 = o, z
4 = d, m, t
1 = a, q, y, i, j
3 = g, c, l, s

It looks like the letters that form the word Zodiac are aligned (left to right) perfectly to the numbers just as you read them (left to right) on the license plate of the cab, as per Chaldean/Babylonian Numerology!

A huge coincidence? If not, does it prove that whoever was supposed to drive that cab on that night (who eventually would be Paul Stine) was a premeditated target of the Zodiac, based on the numbers of the license plate? Does it count as more circumstancial evidence that Zodiac was into occultism or mysticism?

[TomVoigt]

I came up with that theory years ago and included it in this podcast: https://youtu.be/toWE8LOvHNo

[replaceablehead]

This explains the long gap between cabby slayings; it took a few years to find the right number plate.

I looks pretty thin to me. I suppose the word does appear, but I get very toey when people start discarding parts that don’t fit.

[SillyBilly]

I came up with that theory years ago and included it in this podcast: https://youtu.be/toWE8LOvHNo

Nicely done then. I wasn´t aware of this video.

[doranchak]

I did an analysis of this a while ago:

I was curious about how many other words can be found from the same plate numbers, 1 1 3 4 7. For "Zodiac", we're allowing 1 1 3 4 7 7 so the 7s can make Z and O. Under the same rule (allowing one of the numbers to repeat), we should also allow 1 1 1 3 4 7, 1 1 3 3 4 7, and 1 1 3 4 4 7. That means we can find at least 55 words from the same numbers:

todays, atomic, idiots, scotia, somali, tacoma, mosaic, dialog, zodiac, maoist, malloy, taoist, acosta, alamos, masoli, lolita, idiocy, taoism, glitzy, lozada, algoma, idioms, camilo, amigos, logjam, damico, salado, adagio, toasty, milito, milloy, damaso, mazdas, masato, daoist, latoya, mimosa, gyatso, diallo, satomi, ladoga, joists, dayold, goliad, misato, maggio, stadio, mimico, daoism, liotta, maoism, joomla, siloam, dayglo, samoas

We can also find words directly from the original plate numbers without adding digits:

osama, samoa, alamo, saito, alito, cadiz, doyly, tioga, macao, amigo, mayos, adios

Could probably find even more words if we allowed the "Y" from the plate to be included in the search.

Also, just for fun, I wanted to know how many different 5-digit plates could make the word ZODIAC using the same rules. Turns out there are 120 possible plates:

11347, 11374, 11437, 11473, 11734, 11743, 13147, 13174, 13417, 13471, 13477, 13714, 13741, 13747, 13774, 14137, 14173, 14317, 14371, 14377, 14713, 14731, 14737, 14773, 17134, 17143, 17314, 17341, 17347, 17374, 17413, 17431, 17437, 17473, 17734, 17743, 31147, 31174, 31417, 31471, 31477, 31714, 31741, 31747, 31774, 34117, 34171, 34177, 34711, 34717, 34771, 37114, 37141, 37147, 37174, 37411, 37417, 37471, 37714, 37741, 41137, 41173, 41317, 41371, 41377, 41713, 41731, 41737, 41773, 43117, 43171, 43177, 43711, 43717, 43771, 47113, 47131, 47137, 47173, 47311, 47317, 47371, 47713, 47731, 71134, 71143, 71314, 71341, 71347, 71374, 71413, 71431, 71437, 71473, 71734, 71743, 73114, 73141, 73147, 73174, 73411, 73417, 73471, 73714, 73741, 74113, 74131, 74137, 74173, 74311, 74317, 74371, 74713, 74731, 77134, 77143, 77314, 77341, 77413, 77431

That suggests "Zodiac" can be formed from about 0.12% of all possible 5-digit license plates (that's about 1 in 800 plates).

Numerology-based systems tend to produce a lot of coincidences due to ambiguous interpretations. I'd be very surprised if he actively thought through the computations of a numerological system before choosing a victim. But who knows? I don't have access to Zodiac's brain.

[replaceablehead]

0.12%

My gut told me you'd have to sift through a few plates to find a match. But don't let this low number encourage people, the bigger problem is how long would he have to stand on the street waiting for the right cab to drive by? Like did he painstakingly observe license plate numbers? Give me a break. The guy was eccentric, not esoteric... well maybe a little esoteric, but not obscure in the way some people view obscurity, there is a difference between him writing a secret code and us drawing a long bow.

I still hold out hope that Zodiacs symbolism has meaning and I applaud people who take the time to check this stuff out, because the basic premise isn't that bad; we have killer who uses symbolism, what is it that he is symbolizing? Numerology isn't really a long shot connection for someone who called themselves Zodiac. But I'm convinced that real matches will be much more precise, just like the real translation of the Z408. Also I'm convinced that real matches won't require Zodiac to go to some great length... I guess what I'm saying is you have to be fair minded in your estimation of likelihood.

[SillyBilly]

0.12%

My gut told me you'd have to sift through a few plates to find a match. But don't let this low number encourage people, the bigger problem is how long would he have to stand on the street waiting for the right cab to drive by? Like did he painstakingly observe license plate numbers? Give me a break. The guy was eccentric, not esoteric... well maybe a little esoteric, but not obscure in the way some people view obscurity, there is a difference between him writing a secret code and us drawing a long bow.

Maybe he could have had access to the registry of the license plates. Where would you have access to those in the USA? From what I have red, it would be in a Department of Motor Vehicles. I red from Tom Voigt that he had a source from an official of LE that Zodiac sent a letter to the director of the Department of Motor Vehicles of California that has been kept secret from the public. Do we have a suspect/POI that worked at the Department of Motor Vehicles of California?

[doranchak]

I could probably establish a numerology link between me and the license plate of the next Uber I take.
There are hundreds or thousands of ways to convert a license plate into words.
And there are many words that could be considered connected to me in some way.
But the connections aren't real. They just happen because of coincidence.

This is the sort of exercise that proponents of numerology fail to consider.

Could Zodiac have preselected a license plate based on his name? Sure.
But proving it is a steep hill to climb because so many things can be generated from coincidences.

[SillyBilly]

I could probably establish a numerology link between me and the license plate of the next Uber I take.

That is correct, Orachank, but that is if you take out the numbers of the license plate of this hypothetical Uber car and set them in whatever order that you would like. But if you try to apply Chaldean/Babylonian Numerology by reading the numbers of the Uber license plate left to right as most people in the West read - either it´s me, you or the Zodiac(except if you were educated as an Arab or Hebrew-speaking individual, where letters and numbers are written right to left) - the probability that will name will appear is quite unlikely.

That is the point I think you missed from my original post. As I said:

It looks like the letters that form the word Zodiac are aligned (left to right) perfectly to the numbers just as you read them (left to right) on the license plate of the cab, as per Chaldean/Babylonian Numerology!

Also, I wanna make myself clear that I am not saying this is what Zodiac did (that is why a put a question mark when I stated in my original post if this could be just a coincidence). It´s just a possibility (and anything is possible) that other people appear to have suggested before me.

[Marshall]

I could probably establish a numerology link between me and the license plate of the next Uber I take.
There are hundreds or thousands of ways to convert a license plate into words.
And there are many words that could be considered connected to me in some way.
But the connections aren't real. They just happen because of coincidence.

This is the sort of exercise that proponents of numerology fail to consider.

Could Zodiac have preselected a license plate based on his name? Sure.
But proving it is a steep hill to climb because so many things can be generated from coincidences.

Thank you for being the voice of reason.

Taking something like the numbers on a license plate, making up rules to fit a pre-defined outcome (Ignoring the letter "Y", duplicating only the number 7), rearranging the outcomes (letters) in a specific way to manufacture the pre-defined outcome, is very weak / poor methodology to begin with. Add to that, the extreme unlikelihood that a murderer would also have somehow been looking for that precise scenario (a license number on a cab that could be thus convoluted) when there was no reason for him to believe any cab could produce such a result.