The so-called “Water Theory” originates from a passage of the book “Zodiac” by Robert Graysmith. It is a lead based on an observation shared by other people who studied the Zodiac case, that the serial killer carried out his attacks in places having a connection with water. Additionally, Graysmith notes that the references to water concern the name of the places where the crimes occurred.
Those references could depend on an intentional choice of the murderer, according to Graysmith, whose suspect is Arthur Leigh Allen, a Santa Rosa teacher and a former Navy reservist.
Since 2017, I have observed the validity of this theory, also finding other hidden mentions to water in the letters and ciphers by the self-proclaimed “Zodiac”.
After getting to know Joe Bevilacqua, from whom I listened an admission of guilt, I deduced that the references to water were intended to be a signature.
In a ’69 article in the Los Angeles Times, Dave Smith writes:
"Dr Leonti Thompson, a psychiatrist at Napa State Hospital 15 miles north of Vallejo, has found a number of different meanings in the killer's crossed-circle "signature." In one primitive culture it represents the earth; in another, the ancient notion of the four elements that make up the world: earth, air, fire and water. Still, another symbol, the "X", represented water in the alphabet of the legendary continent of "Mu". 'And the killings took place near water,' Thompson notes speculatively."
In 1981, researcher Gareth Penn observes in an essay published in California Magazine:
"Water. Riverside. Lake Herman. Blue Rock Springs. Lake Berryessa. The Washington Street fire hydrant. The phone calls from Springs Road and the Main Street car wash. Water, water, everywhere."
In 1986, former San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist and writer Robert Graysmith notes in his book “Zodiac” that the references to water at crime scenes are not accidental, but “contained in the name” of the location chosen for the murders.
"I thought it was strange that the killings so far had taken place in locations that had a form of water in their name..."
In the 2007 movie based on Graysmith’s book, “Zodiac” directed by David Fincher, this series of observations is called “the water theory.” I talked about it years ago, in the first article on the Zodiac – Monster of Florence connection on tempi.it.
Zodiac victims were assaulted at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rocks Springs, Lake Berryessa. Graysmith speculates that in San Francisco, where according to the criminologist Sharon Pagaling Hagan Zodiac killed a taxi driver (an “easy” victim) in order to spread his fame in the city, the serial killer chooses as a crime scene a place that can refer to water, Washington Street.
On closer inspection, other possible Zodiac victims are also connected to water, such as Ray Davis, a taxi driver killed in Oceanside (which contains the word “ocean”), the nurse Donna Lass, who disappeared on Lake Tahoe, and, best known of all, student Cheri Jo Bates, stabbed to death in Riverside.
Is there perhaps a connection between the serial killer and water?, wonders Graysmith. And if there is, what could it be? The writer still seeks an answer in 2003, in “Zodiac Unmasked.”
"Water always figured in his crimes somewhere. Possibly Zodiac was a swimmer, boatman, or sailor."
NICKNAME
There other references to water made by Zodiac during his criminal activity in the years ’69 – ’74.
In addition to the two phone booths where he called the police, located in places with names afferent to water, the serial killer referred to this element in various way in his correspondence to the press (mainly the San Francisco Chronicle).
Even the choice to use a blue felt-tip pen may imply a connection with water.
Murderer’s very nickname “Zodiac” almost certainly originates from a quite popular watch manufacturer in the United States in the ’50 – ’60, “Zodiac Watches”, which has a Celtic cross for logo, symbol that also accompanies the notes by the serial killer.
The advertising hype of this company in the ’60s was focused on its flagship product, known even nowadays by enthusiasts, the popular diving watch “Sea Wolf”.
The half-page ads for the “Zodiac Sea Wolf” appearing in various newspapers in ’67 (image below) above a dripping arm displaying the diver’s watch read:
"A skin diver's
watch?
The only time
I'm under water is
in the shower."
“AQUARIUS – LET THE SUNSHINE IN”
Trying to find the meaning of the circled 8 symbol in the Zodiac-name cipher I came across a billboard of the musical “Hair”. The cornerstone of the “hippy” generation was on stage at the Geary Theater when a few steps from the entrance the serial killer hailed the taxi driven by Paul Stine on October 11, 1969.
Could that 8 refer to Hair?
In 2022, I found the solution of the anagram of the first Zodiac cipher, which translated and adjusted reads:
"I drink and [bere e] tope I'm the hit"
What does “hit” mean?
I think Zodiac is referring to the single “Aquarius – Let the sunshine in” by 5th Dimension taken from two songs from “Hair” and which reached second place in the Billboard Hot 100 in ’69, only being ousted from the top spot at the end of the year.
The theme of the song is zodiacal.
Aquarius is a sign of the Zodiac. Tradition depicts him with an amphora, like the diver in the 1950s Sea Wolf advert. I think the choice to call himself “Zodiac” derives precisely from this combination.
A few years before finding the solution to the anagram, I had discovered that the first part of deciphering Zodiac’s name could be achieved by following the hint in the song “let the sunshine in.” Below is a video illustration of this method.
SIGNATURE
The last certain letter attributed to Zodiac contains the only explicit connection between water and his identity.
The nickname of the serial killer is used for the last time in one of his messages dated March 1971. It is not present, in fact, in his final letter sent to San Francisco on January 29, 1974, written (if the eyewitnesses are right) when he had about forty years old. Here is how the author of the text decides to sign…
Why does the author of the message replace the nickname he has used in his correspondence since August 1969 with passage about a drowning?
Zodiac’s signature is an excerpt from the comic operetta “The Mikado” by Gilbert and Sullivan, which in 1969 was staged by the Lamplighters company at the Presentation Theater in San Francisco (which has a connection with Joe Bevilacqua).
“He plunged himself into the billowy wave…”.
The suicide’s grave is the water in which the subject of the story drowns.
In the next video, the verse is recited by Australian actor Mitchell Butel, who adapts it perfectly to the scene, making it more understandable.
“DON’T DRINK THE WATER”
The references to the term “wash” are aquatic in their own way, and they are present in Zodiac’s activity starting with the Lake Berryessa attack.
What is he alluding to?
I believe the answer lies in the disguise he adopts in the Stine murder on October 11, 1969, mentioned in a letter postmarked on November 9, 1969, and already anticipated with the serial killer’s performance at Lake Berryessa where he presents himself to the victims as a robber escaping from prison.
The description of the stocky man in his 40s spotted by three teenagers on Washington Street in San Francisco (thick-framed glasses and red hair – which in other sightings is of another color) seems to fit that of Virgil Starkwell, the bumbling bank robber in Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run,” a movie released in San Francisco three days before Stine’s murder and already screened in Los Angeles and New York in August.
This finding and a check on newspapers.com allowed me to understand one of the reasons that pushed Zodiac to play the robber played by Allen.
The famous actor and director is also the screenwriter of a brilliant theatrical comedy that is performed in Napa on the day of the attack on Lake Berryessa, entitled “Don’t Drink the Water.”
The curtain opens 50 minutes after Zodiac’s call to the police, at the Pretender’s Playhouse, just 450 foot away from the phone booth located at Main and Clinton streets (map below).
It is likely that the serial killer chose the car wash booth “Napa Car Wash” (next to a laundry) as the location for the claim, not only because of its proximity to the Pretenders theater where Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water” is being on scene, but also because of a reference to the film “Take the Money and Run” (next video).
The following October 11, Zodiac kills Paul Stine on Washington Street.
And, a little less than a month after the San Francisco murder, a postcard arrives from the serial killer that reads as follows.
Sorry I haven't written,
but I just washed
my pen...
Lav…are?
On the envelope of the “Halloween Card” (October 27, 1970), Zodiac underlines the letters LAV. Why?
As you can notice in the Collins Italian College Dictionary from ’91 (next image), in Italian most of the words starting with LAV have a link with the word “lavare,” i.e. to wash.”
In the context of the Halloween riddle, that underline can be a hint about the solution, which is also in Italian (like two words in my solution of the anagram of Z408).
REFERENCES TO “WATER” BY ZODIAC
1. Riverside, October 30, 1966 (the city where the murder was committed);
2. Watch brand “Zodiac,” their best known watch between ’50s – ’60s was the water-proof “Sea Wolf,” example from 1967 (advertisement);
3. Lake Herman Road, Vallejo, December 20, 1968 (crime location);
4. Blue Rock Springs, Vallejo, July 4, 1969 (crime location);
5. Springs Road and Tuolumne Street (oil and gas station Joe’s Union), Vallejo, July 5, 1969 (phone booth location);
6. “Paradice,” July 31, 1969 (408-cipher);
7. “Paradice,” keyword, July 31, 1969 (anagram solution of Z408);
8. “I [bere e] drink and tope I’m the hit,” July 31, luglio 1969 (my decryption of the last words of the 408-cipher);
9. “Aquarius – Let the sunshine in”, “hit” by the 5th Dimension taken from two songs of “Hair” (solution of the anagrammed riddle of Z408);
10. “Water hose,” August 4, 1969 (letter);
11. Lake Berryessa, September 27, 1969 (crime location);
12. “Paradice“, November 9, 1969 (340-cipher);
13. “I am drownding (sic)”, December 20, 1969 (letter);
14. “Blue meannies (sic),” “Yellow Submarine” (movie on The Beatles), April 20, 1970 (letter – possible reference);
15. “I was swamped out by the rain,” April 20, 1970 (letter);
16. “Aquarius – Let the sunshine in”, hit by the 5th Dimension, April 20, 1970 (method of decryption of Z13 first part);
17. “Paradice,” July 26, 1970 (letter);
18. “I shall listen to their pleass for water (sic)”, July 26, 1970 (letter);
19. “I am (water?) crack proof”, October 5, 1970 (postcard);
20. “Paradice,” October 27, 1970 (Halloween card);
21. “By fire, by gun, by knife, by rope (by water?),” October 27, 1970 (Halloween card – the reference is the cover of Tim Holt #30 found by Tahoe27 and commented here);
22. “I am (water?) crack proof,” March 13, 1971 (letter);
23. “Blue meannies (sic),” “Yellow Submarine,” March 13, 1971 (letter – possible reference);
24. “Signed, yours truley (sic): He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicides grave titwillo titwillo titwillo (sic)” (an excerpt on a drowning taken from “The Mikado” by Gilbert and Sullivan), January 29, 1974 (last signature). Watch the scene at this link.
25. Blue felt-tip pen with which the majority of Zodiac’s letters are written, 1969 – 1974 (letters and ciphers).
REFERENCES TO “WASH”
1. Washing line, September 27, 1969 (rope used in the Lake Berryessa attack);
2. Car wash, September 27, 1969 (phone booth location from which Zodiac called the police after the Lake Berryessa attack);
3. Washington Street, October 11, 1969 (crime scene);
4. “Washington street,” October 13, 1969 (letter);
5. “I just washed my pen,” November 8, 1969 (greetings card);
6. “Paul Averly,” lav… underlined (possibly from “lavare,” “wash” in Italian), October 27, 1970 (Halloween card, envelope).
Monster of Florence
In the “Monster” case, the serial killer certainly mentions water in ’74 and ’85, at the beginning and end of his criminal activity.
As in the Zodiac murders, the first certain crime attributed to the Monster is also set in a place with a connection to water, “Le Fontanine” (Little Fountains) in Rabatta.
There is also a reference to water in the Monster’s first post-mortem ritual on the female victim.
As for the one from the ’80s, blogger De Gothia and lawyer Nino Filastò see a reference to “Maniac”, written, performed and produced by the Italian-American Joe Spinell.
I think the serial killer was inspired by a film also in ’74, the same one mentioned by Zodiac in his last definite letter, “The Exorcist.”
The body of Stefania Pettini, the girl murdered by the Monster in ’74, is found supine, naked with the limbs stretched out and a branch inserted into the vagina. These details resembles two scenes of “The Exorcist”, the levitation and that where the possessed girl, Regan, sticks a crucifix into her vagina. The almost 100 knife wounds on Stefania’s body are much more numerous than those inflicted to the next female victims whose pubic area is instead cut off. They recall those that holy water causes on Regan’s skin.
In ’85, on the crime scene in Via Scopeti, near the Florence American Cemetery, the serial killer places the body of the male victim between some buckets of paint. In the photos of the forensic police below, the product “Aquabel” is clearly visible in the foreground.
The reference to water is also in the so-called “final act” of the Monster, the only definite note by the serial killer, the letter sent from San Piero a Sieve to the deputy DA Silvia Della Monica after the last double homicide.
In the address on the envelope made up of newspaper clippings, the only full word, useful for identifying the issue and the magazine (found by Valeria Vecchione in 2020) is a DELLA directing to an article by Piero Chiara. Above a two-page photo of the writer at the bow of his sailing boat on Lake Maggiore this title stands out:
"DEAR SWEET WATERS, I DO NOT KNOW YOU ANYMORE: MY CHILDHOOD DREAM IS ENDED HERE"
From the title, the Monster cuts out, in addition to DELLA, only the last two letters on the envelope, the E of “acque” and the Z.
REFERENCES TO WATER IN THE “MONSTER” CASE
1. Le Fontanine di Rabatta, The Little Fountains of Rabatta , September 14, 1974 (crime scene);
2. Holy water, September 14, 1974, quote from the film “The Exorcist” (post-mortem ritual);
3. Aquabel, September 6-8, 1985, bucket of paint next to the body of the male victim (post-mortem ritual);
4. “E” of “acque”, waters, and the photo of Piero Chiara on Lake Maggiore, December 14-20, 1984 (magazine) – September 9, 1985 (letter sent to deputy DA Silvia Della Monica).
Zodiac, il Mostro 
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