No, the Zodiac killer/Cheri Jo Bates connection was not the invention of a newspaper reporter
By Tom Voigt | Founder: Zodiackiller.com | tomvoigt@zodiackiller.com
Welcome to 2026, where any moron with an Internet connection can provide “Zodiac content,” no matter how obscenely misinformed. This post deals with one such example, sometimes appearing in the form of “RIVERSIDE POLICE NEVER THUNK Z KILLED BATES!” but occasionally in the form of “A REPORTER MADE UP THAT BATES STUFF TO SELL NEWSPAPERS!”
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
THE TRUTH: More than a year prior to newspaper reporter Paul Avery going public with the story, detectives in Riverside had not only found links between their Cheri Jo Bates murder and the Zodiac killer, but had shared details with other law enforcement agencies.
Below is the pertinent information taken from a report sent from Riverside detectives to their counterparts in both Napa and San Francisco. The red color I added means it’s important:
( Read all three pages of the police report here: 1, 2, 3 )
As you can see below, it was more than a year later before Paul Avery found out and went public, immediately making headlines:
TLDR/CLIFFS: The possibility that Cheri Jo Bates was a victim of the Zodiac killer was entirely initiated by Riverside police and had literally nothing to do with Paul Avery.
For those who wish to contribute:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XULCL3G2K2986