Alphabet Murders
Rochester
Why Rochester?
The Alphabet Killer chose Rochester because he could morph the name to reference the Zodiac Killings.
The Alphabet Killer used a QWERTY typewriter keyboard to change the letters in the town’s name. First, he located the letter he intended to change on the keyboard, then moved one place left or right to obtain the replacement letter he wanted. He changed letters based on 2:1 patterns.
In this instance, he selected the middle letter of ROCHESTER to split the name into two groups of letters, with four letters in each group. Calculating the position of letters in the group from either end, he produced two 2:1 relationships.
The Alphabet Killer produced a message using changed and unchanged letters, then a second message using only the unchanged letters. He then combined these messages to create a third message.
The messages refer to the backstory of the Zodiac Killings. The Zodiac referred to his ‘slaves‘ as ‘the herd’ for three reasons. He is emulating Zeus, who transformed Io into a white heifer. Nietzsche referred to people adhering to slave morality as the herd. In the backstory, the Zodiac enters into a mystical union with Poseidon to become Master Geryon. After the ruler of Elysium, Poseidon’s father, Cronus, abdicated in favour of Master Geryon, the three-headed, three-bodied god moved Elysium to Erythrea, the island home of the monster Geryon and his fabulous herd of red cattle.
The Zodiac had a penchant for transforming the word ‘street’ into ‘steer’ plus the letter ‘t’, although strictly speaking, a steer is a neutered male bull not a heifer.
Talk to us
Have any questions, observations or suggestions? We would love to hear from you.