The School-Bus Threat: Stine, the October Letter, and the Birth of a Bomb
The Zodiac Killer entered Paul Stine’s cab at or near Mason and Geary Street in San Francisco on October 11, 1969, requesting a destination of Washington and Maple Street. Once at Maple, he directed Paul Stine to move one block further to the corner of Washington and Cherry Street – a move that makes no tactical sense. Maple sits higher on the Presidio Heights slope and offers a clear downhill walk toward Presidio Avenue. From Washington and Cherry Street, the Zodiac must walk uphill to Jackson Street, then turn east toward Maple Street, adding unnecessary movement, visibility, and time. This makes the move from Washington and Maple Street to Washington and Cherry Street appear deliberate for reasons other than terrain. I believe those reasons are psychological and symbolic, but that is for a later article.
While the cab was moving from Washington and Maple Street to Washington and Cherry Street, the Zodiac likely had his gun positioned at Paul Stine’s head, maintaining control while also scanning the perimeter for activity. Once at the northeast corner of Washington and Cherry Street he had Paul Stine put the cab in park and then he shot him at approximately 9:55 pm. The gun used was a 9mm semi-automatic pistol fired at point-blank range, and it was not the same gun used at Blue Rock Springs Park just a few months earlier.After the shot, the Zodiac may have paused briefly to see whether anyone reacted to the sound. From his position inside the cab, he likely could not see the second-story window across the street. As he steps from the cab, he continues scanning the area – not with broad head movements that a fearful criminal would have, but with controlled eye movements. Even while wiping the cab down and moving around it, he would maintain awareness of his surroundings.
Three children in the house directly across the street watched the Zodiac from roughly forty feet away, observing from a second-story window. They saw him struggle with Paul Stine’s body to collect a shirt swatch, wallet, and keys. They also saw him wipe down the cab with a cloth – possibly the same cloth he took from Paul Stine’s shirt. While watching, they called police and described a white male, 25 to 30 years old, 5’8” to 5’9”, reddish-brown crew cut hair, heavy-rimmed glasses, and dark clothing. They last saw him walking casually north on Cherry Street. His departure at this location begins the escape route sequence through the Presidio and his exit out the Lombard Gate. These articles are linked at the end of this article.
The next morning, on October 12, 1969, the Zodiac writes a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. He claims responsibility for Paul Stine’s murder and states that the crime took place “over by Washington St. and Maple St.” The fact that he referenced Maple – rather than Cherry - shows that the narrative of Washington and Maple Street was more important to him than the act of murder itself. In the same letter, he claims responsibility for the earlier murders in the North Bay area and mocked the police for failing to catch him. He ended the letter with a threat:
“School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the frunt tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.”
Because he wrote this letter after escaping through the Lombard Gate around midnight, many researchers assume the Zodiac saw the children watching him from the second story window – perhaps while he was wiping the cab down. Under that interpretation, the school-bus threat becomes a direct warning to the three kids. It is a compelling theory, but the linguistic context of the letter shows that the Zodiac Killer was entirely unaware of the witnesses during the murder.
The Zodiac Killer was an egomaniac who bragged whenever he believed he had outsmarted someone. If he had looked up and seen the three children watching him, he would have boasted about it, just as he did in every other instance where he believed he had the upper hand; the encounter with Fouke and Zelms would be just one example. In his statement about school children, one must ask: Where is the Zodiac Killer’s I gotcha moment?
There is none.
If the Zodiac had truly seen the three children that night, he would have called them out:
“I saw the three kids watching me. School children make nice targets. I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the frunt tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.”
But he doesn’t. His letter ignores the three witnesses entirely. He does not know that, before he mailed the letter, a newspaper had already published that “youngsters” saw the crime. He does not know that, on October 13th, when he actually mailed the letter, the first composite sketch had been released.
Twenty-seven days later, in the November 9th “bus bomb” letter, he clearly knows about the sketch the “youngsters” helped create and attempts damage control:
“The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them….I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing”…..I look nothing like the description that was given…..”The rest of the time I look entirle different”.
This confirms that the school-bus threat in the October 12th letter was not directed at those witnesses; it was an independent, preplanned escalation. He had already targeted people in secluded areas. He had just killed a cab driver in a wealthy neighborhood. The next logical step in a terror campaign would be the most vulnerable target of all – school children. It was a demonstration that he could strike anywhere.
The Zodiac had been thinking about buses before he committed the murder of Paul Stine, but I doubt he would have acted on this specific plan. The threat itself, while not impossible, would have required a higher level of planning, careful execution, and a quick escape that makes it far from a simple act. For me, I don’t think he intended to act at all. The collection of a swatch fits a shift toward communication over further public attacks. A large swatch can be cut up and used many times in his communications. By October 14th I believe he realizes that a gun threat can only be taken so far and has an awakening: a bomb is a better marketing tool than a gun. A bomb allows him to be creative. A bomb lets him talk for months on end. A bomb lets him claim technical expertise. A bomb lets him embarrass police for believing he would do exactly what he openly stated he would do. A bomb is thus born.
He phones Santa Rosa police the next day. Why he chooses Santa Rosa is really anyone’s guess, but my current hypothesis is that he intended to expand his territory north. Two days after that, someone else - almost certainly not Zodiac - shoots out a school‑bus window in Santa Rosa. That act seems local, impulsive, and inconsistent with the Zodiac’s prior and future bomb narrative. It looks connected only because it happened close in time to the Stine murder. In reality, it’s just another offender inserting himself into a story that was already gaining traction.
With the bomb idea established and a phone call made, he quickly began shaping that idea into a campaign of terror he could market, stretch over weeks and months, and allow him to talk, taunt, and instruct without any further need to kill. The whole process, from October 15, 1969, to November 8, 1969, took all of twenty-five days to set up. Part two tracks that campaign through the letters: where it appears, which dates it marks, and how those dates also hold the short ciphers and the map code.
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