Chapter 9

Edwards Writes!

October 1, 2010

Neal called Cameron. “Guess what? We’re on first base!”

“You heard from Edwards!”

“You got it! I got a letter!”

Neal had sent Ed a letter in August of 2010 after he solved the cryptograms. He used the language Ed had used in the Zodiac cryptograms back at him.

Neal Best Letter to Edward Edwards

“Edwards replied immediately to Neal on some yellow note paper he borrowed from another inmate. However, the letter took several weeks to arrive.”

“Don’t keep me waiting! What does it say?” They met up shortly to examine the note.

Communication Opens. Edwards’ First Response

Edwards clearly connected to Neal. Only the author of the cryptograms would have understood Neal’s letter. Neal reminded Cameron, “When Ed says ‘Tell your dad I said hello. He sounds like a very nice person,’ he’s not referring to my dad. He’s referring to my reference in the letter ‘My father’s name is Ray. He sees us as brothers, even twins.’ Ray is Satan in ancient Egyptian history. Ed communicates through satanic spirituality. Everything has a religious connotation. The cryptograms he sent in the Zodiac case were all satanic.”

“He even reminds you that his letters are going to be worth something.” Cameron thought the letter was the catalyst that linked Edwards to the Zodiac. Edwards and Neal would communicate throughout the investigation. Several lines of the letter caught the attention of Cameron.

1) At the bottom of page 1—“You seem to know a little bit about me.” Confirming Neal was right on the cryptograms.

2) “I am told one of my letters is worth something, smile” Implying this story is going to be big! And “smile” is written in block lettering, rather than script. Puzzles. In future letters, Edwards would simply insert the smiley face “☺.” Cameron and Neal felt it signified something important or a clue.

3) Edwards mentioned the 1959 Montana State Prison riot in Deer Lodge.

“Ed wrote you for a reason, Neal. I think you tweaked something.”

“Time will tell. I know he’ll write back again.”

While Cameron waited for the next letter, he continued his investigation into the family. He located Edwards’ cousin, Dawn, on the internet and contacted her. She had lived in San Francisco and had become related to Edwards through her mother’s new marriage. Dawn filled him in on some background information on their childhood. She had lived with John Bellett and his new wife, Edith Myers Bellett, in Akron from 1945 to 1946. Ed was 12 and Edith was his aunt that attempted to replace his mother. He hated her and this reflected on his relationship with Dawn. Dawn also told of Ed’s sexually deviant behavior at the age 12. In virtually all of the psychological evaluations, Edwards exhibited behavior and sadomasochism uncharacteristic of a youth this age.

Dawn sent Cameron a family photo taken back in Christmas, 1970, along with a sticky note describing the relationships. Dawn knew Ed as Wayne because that is the name he demanded to be called after his release from Leavenworth, 1967. He is center white.

The photo was taken shortly after Edwards killed everyone in the Zodiac case. The Christmas 1970 photo shows Edwards with some of the relatives he wrote about in his book, that he despised. Curious about Dawn and the San Francisco connection, Cameron shared his suspicions about Edwards possibly being the Zodiac. He wasn’t prepared for the response. She hadn’t heard from Ed for years, but the Zodiac slayings had always terrified her mother and herself. They had even discussed the slaying of the cab driver, Paul Stine, particularly the circumstances. The Stine murder was out of character for the Zodiac. All the others followed the same M.O.—teenagers, lover’s lane, no motive, no robbery. All similar to Edwards’ killings. But the Stine killing originally went down as a cab driver robbery gone bad.

Forty years have never provided even a hint as to why the Zodiac would shift from teens to a cab driver. Dawn Bellett provided the answer. She told Cameron that her mother, Beatrice worked at Lefty O’Doul’s. A Google search shows this Irish pub in the theatre district in San Francisco at the intersection of Mason and Geary. Those two streets together send tingles down the back of any Zodiac sleuth—the very intersection the Zodiac got into the cab of Paul Stine. It was the recorded site of the pick up. Dawn followed with, “My mom lived a couple of blocks away from where Stine was killed.”

“On page 392 of Edwards’ book, he quoted his aunt belittling him upon his release from Lewisburg in 1967. ‘Ed, please get out of the cab about two blocks from our house, will you? People around here have heard you’ve been released from prison, and our neighbors will be watching. I would rather you come inconspicuously. I realize it’s raining, but I’m afraid I can’t have it any other way.’”*MOAC

“He further stated how her indifference tormented him throughout childhood. ‘It bothered me then, and it does to this day’. This quote from, ‘Metamorphosis of a Criminal,’ shows a truly remarkable tie to the Zodiac. It provides the only reasonable explanation for the 1969 Zodiac cabbie killing ever offered.”

Between this testimony and Neal’s interpretations of the cryptos, Cameron was absolutely convinced that Edwards was the Zodiac. He wrote Edwards about his conversation with Dawn. By October, he still had not heard from him, so he pulled out all the stops. He wrote again and flat out accused him of being the Zodiac killer.

Cameron’s Second Letter

While Cameron waited for an answer from Edwards, he contacted law enforcement in Ohio and Wisconsin trying to convince them that Edwards was the worst serial killer ever, and a task force was needed. It all fell on deaf ears. Nobody in law enforcement was interested in following the trail of Ed Edwards. Pressure was mounting and nobody believed Cameron. Then, in the middle of November, 2010, Edwards wrote Cameron and Neal back. John called Neal and they met in the back room of Morning Light Coffee. Cameron was beside himself. He felt it was “the proof.”

He waited impatiently while Neal studied the letter.

Edwards’ response to Cameron’s accusatory letter

Neal put the letter down in disbelief. “This is truly incredible. It’s certainly not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but he admits to knowing the Zodiac killer! That in itself is incriminating. There is way more going on here than we know about, John. This is serious scary stuff you are playing with.”

“Yeah, it’s a game, and we are going to have to play it!” yelled Cameron. “Did you read the line, ‘good luck with your Zodiac game; I’ll bet I have more answers than you do’?”

“John, listen, you open this box and there’s no closing it. Ed is serious and he has ties to people we don’t want following us.”

“I’m not stopping, Neal. This is a big puzzle of murder that has gone on for decades. This man has done things that are horrible and I can’t let it go.”

“I wish he just said he was the Zodiac, John. I’m not sure I want to play the game. It certainly is a big story already, and the letter has several points of interest. Let me explain.

“First, he seems a bit preoccupied with money. Maybe we can use that somehow, I don’t know.

“Second, look how he writes, not what he writes. His structure and syntax is horrible, and his spelling is worse. I noted several misspelled words in the letter. Four in the first two sentences, including your name. This is remarkably Zodiac-like. Zodiac was a notoriously poor speller, for whatever reason. These misspellings are clues.”

“Third, I don’t know why he is reacting so strongly about your reference to his cousin, Dawn. It’s like you touched a nerve there.”

“Fourth, why does he change his cursive text to block when he wrote Zodiac and smile?”

“Fifth, he mentions Deer Lodge twice. Responding to the Kalitske/Bogle murders and again after wishing you ‘good luck with your Zodiac game.’ There’s a connection there.”

“Sixth. I think between the lines he is screaming there is a big story here. Things like, ‘there are a lot of other cities’ and ‘my letters are going to be worth something someday.’ He is implying something here is huge.”

“Seventh, Edwards writes, ‘If you write about me, make sure you say nice things about me.’ It’s like he is giving us permission to write his story. He’s never going to admit straight out in these letters because the prison is reading them.”

Cameron finished the conversation with an observation. “Neal, I’ve been doing cold cases now for almost 30 years and there is a distinct pattern that emerges when you have found the right suspect. First off, the suspect reacts when confronted with his deeds. Edwards definitely reacted to us. Second, pieces start falling into place. A piece of the puzzle suddenly fits here and then another one answers something over there. It just starts snowballing. That’s what is going on here. Everything we have looked at has turned into more evidence because it is him. I’m sure we are right.”

“I can’t argue. And another thing. We sure haven’t found that big piece that says you’re wrong!”

That’s how the case would continue.