Gareth Penn

Gareth Sewell Penn (born 1941 in Carmel, California) is an American author and amateur detective. [http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/gareth.htm (Photo here] and [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_contributors_popup.php?contributor=13 here).]

Penn was among the first non-experts to focus effort on the famous Zodiac Killer case. He published a credible theory about the killer's motives, publicly accused a noted UC Berkeley public policy professor of the crimes, and labeled himself a one-time suspect. Most recently Penn himself has been accused of the crimes by a Connecticut-based national security and forensics expert.

Reviewing the 2007 David Fincher film "Zodiac" for the "Las Vegas Weekly," Mike D'Angelo wrote, "I think the movie erred in selecting [author Robert] Graysmith as its source and nominal protagonist. Zodiac buffs know well that the true obsessive is a fellow named Gareth Penn." [ [http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/content/fileadmin/oldsite/2007/03/01/screen1.html Magnificent obsession: "Zodiac" finds glory in investigative details] ]

Early Life and Education

Penn's writings for the "Mensa Ecphorizer" indicate he grew up in San Jose. Penn graduated from High School in 1958, enrolling at UC Berkeley the same year. He graduated from Berkeley in 1962 with Honors and a bachelor of arts degree (BA) in German. Other records indicate that he also has an MLS (Master Library Science) degree and a Master's Degree in Medieval German. [Napa County Courts] .

Military Background

In 1965, Penn entered the United States Army in Berlin , Germany and received basic training at Fort Dix, NJ. He received artillery survey training at Fort Sill, Ok., where he became an Artillery Surveyor Instructor, receiving various medals, including the National Defense Service Medal and the designation of Expert Rifle Marksman.

In 1967, Penn moved back to Berkeley, where he was transferred to the Army reserves. He was honorably discharged in 1971. [ [http://zodiackiller.21.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1131&sid=c64b61334d40edad31321763cddb88e3 OPORD Analytical] ] .

Family

Penn notes that his father, Hugh Scott Penn, worked for the California Department of Justice in the 1960's and was a U.S. Army cryptographer during World War II.

Hugh Penn was an early criminal "profiler." He wrote a [http://www.jjmcgr.org/BK/PM%20Dec%208%2077.pdf report] about the so-called [http://www.jjmcgr.org/BK/ "East Area Rapist"] who tormented Sacramento and Northern California in the 1970's.

As "Hugh S. Penn," he also authored several studies of both juvenile criminal behavior, and -- as an associate researcher for the California Highway Patrol -- several auto accident studies. [ [http://books.google.com Various books and articles by Hugh S. Penn] ]

Zodiac Killer Investigation

Gareth Penn started writing about the Zodiac case as early as 1981. In an article that year for the "Mensa Ecphorizer", he offered the Zodiac Killer's "Exorcist Letter of 29 January 1974, reproduced here for the first time in its unexpurgated form from an official photograph of the original." [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=28&page=372 "Mensa Ecphorizer"] ]

A long-time Mensa member, Penn later authored two oft-referenced treatises about the Zodiac case, "Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981", [Penn, Gareth, "Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981" (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1. ] and "The Second Power: A Mathematical Analysis of the Letters Attributed to the Zodiac Murderer." [Penn, Gareth, "The Second Power: A Mathematical Analysis of the Letters Attributed to the Zodiac Murderer and Supplement to Times 17" (self-published booklet 1999).]

In "Times 17," Penn claimed to have solved a mysterious “radian” puzzle [ [http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/radian.htm "Mt. Diablo and the Radian Theory"] ] left by the Zodiac with a map in a letter that taunted the authorities.

Though some law enforcement officials and amateur detectives consider his radian work credible, they have also complained that "Times 17" and "The Second Power" are largely unintelligible. Most of Penn's non-Zodiac writings are studies in clarity, perception, and logic, so why his Zodiac musings are so difficult to follow puzzles readers and investigators alike.

In Napa, California in 1981, Penn claims that he was considered an official suspect for a short time, which would make him the only Zodiac sleuth to achieve such a distinction. ["Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981", p. 29 (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.] [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/gzd/397.html Zodiac Message Board Archive: Zodiac Fingerprints?] ]

Neither the Napa Police Department nor the Napa County Sheriff, however, have any record of a suspect named Gareth Penn.

"Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer"

Unusual behavior has contributed to Penn's reputation as one of the more interesting and eccentric Zodiac investigators. For the November 1981 edition of "California Magazine," Penn wrote "Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer" under the pseudonym “George Oakes,” also the name of a long-time real estate agent in the Benicia/Vallejo, Calif. area [ [http://www.theoakesadvantage.com/home.asp George and Corrine Oakes Real Estate] .]

In "Portrait", Penn theorized that the Zodiac crime scenes were selected by the killer in order to create a geometric shape over the surface of the San Francisco Bay Area terrain as a sort of "murderous art project." [Rowlett, Curt, "Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy", Chapter 9, "The Z Files: Labyrinth13 Examines the Zodiac Murders", "The Rhyme of the Radian", pp. 64-68. (Lulu Press, 2006). ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.] Part of Penn's commentary about that theory included the observation that, "Other artists had sought to remove their work from the ordinary human perspective. Zodiac trumped them all." [Penn, Gareth (writing under the pseudonym "George Oakes") "Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer", "California Magazine" November 1981, pp. 114.]

The "Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer" article prompted a bizarre cat-and-mouse game between Penn and New York Press reporter Alan Cabal. Wanting to meet the author who described the Zodiac murders as high art, Cabal arranged to meet with Penn. In an April 16, 2002 book review of Robert Graysmith's "Zodiac Unmasked", Cabal would write that their planned encounter -- which never physically occurred -- turned out to be a “run down the rabbit hole of Northern California weirdness." [ [http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/nypress.html Book review of Robert Graysmith’s "Zodiac Unmasked".] ]

In a highly-critical follow-up letter to the NY Press editor some 21 years after his scheduled meeting with Cabal, [ [http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=6184 Penn, Gareth. Not Solved Yet, NY Press, April 23, 2002] ] Penn wrote that although he was "not able to harbor a grudge over a triviality for several decades," Cabal deserved "either a Nobel prize in physics or a Munchausen prize for fabricating whoppers."

Further cementing his idiosyncratic reputation, Penn spent the better part of two decades publicly accusing University of California, Berkeley public policy professor Michael O’Hare of the Zodiac murders. [ [http://gspp.berkeley.edu/academics/faculty/ohare.html O’Hare biographical statement] ]

Oddly, O’Hare never sued Penn for libel.

Accusation of Michael Henry O'Hare

Penn's accusation of Harvard-educated architect [http://gspp.berkeley.edu/academics/faculty/ohare.html Michael O'Hare] -- now a professor at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy -- made national headlines. [Fehrnstrom, Eric. "Author Targets Harvard Lecturer in Zodiac Case" Boston Herald, 29 October 1987]

Penn linked the name "Mike O" to the Zodiac murders as early as 1981 in articles for the Mensa Ecphorizer [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?page=689&issue=43 One Zero Zero] ] .

In the same publication around the same time (1981-82), he discussed the murder of Harvard co-ed Joan Webster, substituting the pseudonym "Jane Brewster" for the victim. [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?page=741&issue=47 The Geometry of Jane Brewster] ] . Webster was a graduate architecture student who disappeared in 1981 but whose skeleton was found and identified in 1990 [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5DA163AF931A35756C0A966958260 Bones Are Identified as Those Of Missing Harvard Student] , May 2, 1990] . In the Ecphorizer article, Penn tied a "geometric design" to the Webster murder that would later recall his "radian theory" about the Zodiac -- and serve as partial justification for his allegation that Michael O'Hare had committed both crimes.

Penn later openly accused O'Hare [Wesley, Kevin. "Author links Harvard professor to Webster case" Beverly, Mass. Times, 12 June 1990] [ [http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/zmachine.html The Zodiac Machine] , Michael P. Butterfield, 1998] .

FBI Involvement

“Twelve years after the last Zodiac crime was committed, I began corresponding with Mr O,” Penn wrote to author Michael Butterfield, referring to Michael O'Hare. “He received a number of anonymous cards and letters mailed from all over this continent.”

Butterfield has since written a complete description of the melee that ensued. [ [http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/gareth.htm Times 17: The World According to Gareth] ] .

After Penn added phone calls to his letters, O'Hare filed an FBI complaint and in May 1981, the Bureau investigated Penn for possible extortion. [ [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/zodiac.htm Federal Bureau of Investigation: Zodiac Killer Files] ] .

According to FBI memos, an agent “contacted [Penn] telephonically and told [Penn] that if he is responsible for the correspondence to [O'Hare] he should immediately cease and desist, pointing out that it could jeopardize any investigation and he could possibly be subject to both civil and criminal penalties.”

In a May 1981 meeting with FBI agents, Penn “freely admitted sending material to [O'Hare] but stated he had no intent to extort anything. His motive was to elicit some response from [O'Hare] if he was, in fact, the Zodiac.”

Penn later told "San Francisco Chronicle" writer Sandra Konte that he was not worried about possible lawsuits. “My suspect knows I’m right.”

Talk Show Trap

After learning of Penn’s books and articles, California radio personality Anthony Hilder wanted Penn and O'Hare to confront one another on air. Luring O'Hare under false pretenses, Hilder confronted his guest.

HILDER: One particular book that came across my desk in the past couple of days was one called TIMES 17, by a gentlemen out of San Francisco named Gareth Penn. Have you heard of him?

O'HARE: Have I heard of Gareth Penn? Well, Gareth Penn has been a minor bane of my existence for, gee, I guess, seven or eight years now.

HILDER: Well, I’m curious about this particular book, of course, Gareth Penn is making claims, that you are, according to Gareth Penn, the Zodiac killer.

O'Hare later said that he “had nothing to do with the Zodiac murders or any other homicides or any felony, in California or any other place. This is intended to be the most complete, inclusive, unqualified denial I can phrase. I’ve never initiated any contact with Gareth Penn and as far as I know I’ve never met him or had anything to do with him. I think his hobby is not only abusive of me but more importantly a cruel deception of the victims’ families and survivors.”

Family Tree

In fact, Penn's accusations could not have been directed at a more unlikely person.

Michael O'Hare hails from a noted family. His grandmother, Kate Richards O'Hare, was one of this nation's leading socialist agitators in the early part of the 20th century. At the height of her fame, Richards-O'Hare was second in popularity only to one-time presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs. [ [http://www.binghamton.edu/womhist/kro/intro.htm Letters of Kate Richards O'Hare] ]

O'Hare's grandfather, Francis P. "Frank" O'Hare was a leading activist in his own right. A Teamster newspaper referred to Frank O'Hare as "one of the truly great men of St. Louis--possibly the ONLY one." [ [http://www.umsystem.edu/upress/spring1996/buckingh.htm Rebel Against Injustice: The Life of Frank P. O'Hare] ]

Kate O'Hare divorced Frank P. O'Hare in 1928, eventually marrying San Francisco attorney Charles C. Cunningham in San Jose. In 1939-40 she was assistant director of the California Department of Penology. She died in Benicia, California, on January 10, 1948. [ [http://www.binghamton.edu/womhist/kro/intro.htm Letters of Kate Richards O'Hare] ] [ [http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/women/KROHare.htm Speeches of Kate Richard's O'Hare] ] .

O'Hare's father, Eugene O'Hare, was born in Oklahoma. He married noted sculptor Berta Margoulies, O'Hare's mother. He also wrote several how-to books. [ [http://www.artnet.com/artist/11141/berta-margoulies.html Works of Berta O'Hare Margoulies] ] .

Parallels between Penn and the Zodiac

Autobiographical tidbits and numerous writings have led to comparisons between the Zodiac and Gareth Penn which may help explain his one-time status, if true, as an official Zodiac suspect. [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/SuspectOHare.html Penn notation in Michael O'Hare profile] ] [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/gzd/828.html Zodiac expert Ed Neil suggests Gareth Penn DNA Test October 20, 2002] ]

Profile

Police profilers considered the Zodiac killer an "extremely shrewd, methodical planner" who would have had knowledge of cryptography, guns, map reading, meteorology, astronomy, drafting, and a probable military background. [Graysmith, Robert, "Zodiac" (Berkley; reissue edition, January 2007). ISBN 0-4252-1218-1.]

Self described as the son of an Army cryptographer and former employee of the California Attorney General’s office, Penn has written that he had a "checkered career" as a “medievalist, artillery surveyor, free lance writer, economic researcher, reference librarian, and receptionist in a robot factory.” [Penn, Gareth, "Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981" (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.]

In "Times 17" Penn writes that he received artillery training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma during the mid-1960's. A U.S. Army artillery surveyor performs astronomical observations; measures azimuths, grid coordinates, and angles on maps; and operates/maintains vehicles, radios, weapons, and other survey equipment in support of artillery operations. [Penn, Gareth, "Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981" (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.]

Amateur investigators have noted that in "Times 17," Penn audaciouly lays out a scenario whereby, as duty person in charge of daily roll call, he could have falsified an entry and left Fort Sill in October, 1966, taken a military hop to March AFB, and killed Cheri Jo Bates in nearby Riverside. [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/gzd/397.html Zodiac killer message board archive entry] ] ["Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981", p. 29, (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.]

Based on his dates of service, Penn would have served during the Vietnam War. ["Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981", p. 29, (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.]

Appearance

In a recent appearance on a WE Television's "Case Reopened: The Zodiac", Gareth Penn wore glasses and a beard [ [http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/gareth.htm WE Photograph of Gareth Penn] ] . The Zodiac made reference to a disguise that could simply have been a beard in what is known as his "bomb letter, i.e., where he was clean-shaven "like the description" on the wanted posters when he did his "thing," and having a full beard otherwise. [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/BombLetter1.html Zodiac bomb letter] ]

On the night of her murder, Riverside police connected Zodiac victim Cheri Jo Bates with a young man, about 25 years of age, wearing a brown beard. [ [http://www.se7en-x.com/zodiac/riverside.htm Oct. 30, 1966 Cheri Jo Bates] ] [ [http://www.zodiacmurders.com/victim_bates.html Cheri Josephine Bates: Possible Zodiac Victim] ]

Writing style

A prolific letter-to-the-editor writer, Zodiac used British phrasing that incorporated numerous references to theatrical, literary, or linguistic works.

Recurring Zodiac themes included Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado; Old Norse limericks and poetry; epigrams, acrostics, and cryptograms; and high-handed word play intended to baffle and belittle the authorities.

Gareth Penn’s proclivity toward astute, officious, and often biting letters to the editors of the world’s top intellectual periodicals -- such as "Scientific American", "Nature", "The Economist," and at least 15 letters over the years to "National Public Radio" -- has tantalized amateur sleuths as another similarity between Penn and Zodiac [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/ozs/419.html Zodiac Killer Message Board: Penn's Non-Zodiac Writings] .]

In an Ecphorizer article entitled "Lima Riki", Penn notes that "in a previous incarnation," he used to write limericks "in Old Norse." A Zodiac letter mentions Old Norse writing, an issue Penn subsequently addressed. [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=24&page=289 "Lima Riki"] ] [ [http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/SLA.html This Is The Zodiac Speaking; SLA letter] ] [ [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac/25.html Crime Library Zodiac article, SLA letter] ]

Penn also made several contributions to Tom Burnam's 1980 book, "More Misinformation", including an at-length discussion of the ancient Norse poem Edda and its author, 12th century Norse historian Snorri Sturluson.

As the Zodiac killer did in his letters to the press, Penn frequently cites Gilbert and Sullivan in his own writing. In "Lima Riki," Penn notes that, "While some purists insist on pure rhyme, a contrived or near rhyme, especially in the pointe, heightens the humorous effect, a technique well known to fans of Ogden Nash, Sir William S. Gilbert, and the shaggy-dog story."

In a "Time Magazine" letter to the editor regarding a review of "The Mikado" in which the reviewer mistakenly attributed the lyrics to Sullivan and the music to Gilbert, Penn writes: "Let's see, now. Sullivan wrote the words, and Gilbert wrote the music. Holmes is the doctor, and Watson the detective. Harpo had the cigar, and Groucho tooted the auto horn. Thanks for setting the record straight." ["Time Magazine," July 20, 1994]

Penn has also signed his emails with a quote from a British duo known for their Gilbert and Sullivan parodies, Flanders and Swann: "But people have always eaten people! What else is there to eat? If the Juju had meant us not to eat people, he wouldn't have made them of meat!" [ [https://lists.fsu.edu/pipermail/slis_fsu/1997-July/001002.html Email about "journal quality," 23 Jul 1997, NMFS Tiburon Laboratory] ] [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/ozs/419.html Zodiac Killer Message Board: Penn's Non-Zodiac Writings] ]

Finally, like the Zodiac, Penn has used British phrasing -- some of it obscure -- in his writings. In his 1981 story for the Ecphorizer, "Cruising the Baja Triangle", Penn twice used the obscure British term "trash midden," which refers to a garbage heap. [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=31&page=433 "Cruising the Baja Triangle"] ]

Berkeley's Blue Meanies

In one of his letters, the Zodiac killer referenced the Blue Meanies. The term 'Blue Meanies' was popular vernacular during the late 1960s for a couple of reasons. The Beatles featured characters of that name in the film 'Yellow Submarine'. Also, Alameda County sheriff deputies responsible for Berkeley's Bloody Thursday People's Park police riot in May 1969 were dubbed the "Blue Meanies".

A Barrington Hall resident at UC Berkeley who says he taught at the school in 1962, Penn was familiar with the Blue Meanies.

"In May of 1969, I was standing on the front steps of the duplex in Berkeley which I shared with a person named Gerard," Penn wrote in a Mensa Ecphorizer article entitled "Where Were You?" [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?page=642&issue=41 Where Were You?] ] . "Gerard and I were both watching a National Guard helicopter circling over the campus of the University of California, which had been the center, over the previous week, of the so-called People's Park disturbances."

Long-time librarian

Zodiac victim Cheri Jo Bates was killed outside the Riverside City College library just after studying there. [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/Bates.html The Cheri Jo Bates Murder] ] .

Penn was a long-time librarian, even referencing library practices at UC Berkeley's Doe Library in the appendix of his 1972 academic treatise, "Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art". [Penn. Gareth S. "Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art" Colloquia Germanica 1972] .

Revolution (and Murder) as Theatre

A controversial article in the "The New Republic" preceded -- by three months -- the first appearance of theatrical references in Zodiac’s letters. ["The New Republic," April 25, 1970] With references to Gilbert and Sullivan’s "The Mikado", "Badlands," and "The Exorcist," theatre became a recurring theme in Zodiac's communications in the summer of 1970.

On July 26, 1970, Zodiac began this new set of allusions with a misspelled version of the "Mikado" aria, “I've got a little list” in a letter he sent to the "San Francisco Chronicle." [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/Mikado1.html Zodiac "Mikado" letter] ]

The "Mikado" letter appeared almost three months to the day after a letter to the editor Gareth Penn wrote from Berkeley in the April 25, 1970 issue of "The New Republic." In his letter, Penn responded to "Revolution as Theatre," a March 9, 1970 "New Republic" article by Yale University drama professor Robert Brustein.

Brustein bemoaned a “selfish white working class” so paralyzed it could not move a Vietnam-torn nation toward revolution against a “government that holds absolute power to suppress any insurrection.” Revolution had become not real but theatrical, Brustein surmised, with revolutionaries “broadcasting their violent plans, including the intention to overthrow the government, to a wide audience.”

Penn agreed, writing that members of the “selfish white working class” were in direct need of “spiritual revolution” because they had not “paid their admission into the ‘moral institution’ of the theatre.” “The revolution has to be brought literally home to them,” Penn added. “The revolutionary show has to go into the streets where everyone can see it, must see it, "nolens volens," and force itself to the attention of the great unwashed public.”

Brustein later incorporated Penn's letter into the appendices of his book, " [http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/backlist/040045.htm Revolution as Theatre] ". [Brustein, Robert, "Revolution as Theatre: Notes on the New Radical Style" (Liveright Publishing Corporation, September 1970). ISBN 0-87140-045-6]

According to Penn's account in "California Magazine," the Zodiac Killer may have been following a similarly theatrical approach to serial murder. [Oakes, George: "Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer," California Magazine, November 1981]

Berkeley Academic

Based mostly on his behavior and his Zodiac writings, Zodiac sleuths have dismissed Gareth Penn as everything from “childish” to “a few french fry's [sic] short of a happy meal." [ [http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/gzd/764.html Zodiac Killer message board archive: "The Gareth Penn Show"] ]

But his [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_contributors.php?page_num=5 33 articles] for the 1981-82 Mensa Ecphorizer and a 1972 academic treatise he wrote while attending UC Berkeley, "Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art", suggest Penn may be a Zodiac investigator whose intellect rivals that of his quarry.

A reflection on the legend of Tristan, a 12th century hero of Celtic folklore, "Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art" is a dense academic tome published in the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal of Germanic studies, [http://www.periodicals.com/html/ihp_e.html?gc02818 Colloquia Germanica] .

Penn suggested that in writing Tristan, which scholars consider one of great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages, von Strassburg employed the use of so-called "memory theatre," a Renaissance method of recall that used space, location, and architecture as a form of physical mnemonic.
Frances Yates' "The Art of Memory" is considered the definitive text on this idea, which Penn regarded as "no more nor less than an internalized information-retrieval system" that anticipated everything from the Dewey decimal system to the computer. Von Strassburg also used [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5392 acrostics] -- a form of word puzzle -- in "Tristan". Penn refers to him as a "crypto-magician" in the paper's appendix.

Recent Accusations

With a combination of circumstantial evidence and cryptographic analysis, [http://www.opordanalytical.com OPORD Analytical] founder [http://www.opordanalytical.com/team.htm Christopher Farmer] -- who bills himself as a national security and forensic technology expert -- recently settled on Gareth Penn as prime suspect in the Zodiac murders.

A graduate of the University of New Haven’s [http://estrada2.newhaven.edu/9 Henry C.Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences] with a masters degree in [http://estrada2.newhaven.edu/5759 national security and public safety] , Farmer's work was featured in a July 30, 2007 [http://www.americanchronicle.com American Chronicle] article entitled [http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=33637 "OPORD Analytical Founder Unmasks Zodiac Killer"] .

"Mr. Farmer may not have only unmasked the Zodiac killer, Gareth Penn, but he also suggests that there could be more victims left unaccounted for," writes the story's author Frank Brooks.

Other works by Gareth Penn

About the Zodiac

[http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=12&page=101 11.0010010000 11111101101]

[http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=38&page=582 Incline Village Unit 6]

[http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=28&page=371 Te Moriarty Salutamus]

"The Calculus of Evil," Mensa Bulletin, July/August 1985. (This article contained an offer by the author to "expand on the conclusions offered here for any Mensans who send a SASE to him." That expansion came in the form of 16 supplementary pages that do not name his suspect but do provide the means to identify him.)

Also written as George Oakes

[http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/domebuilder's_blues.html Domebuilder’s Blues]

Same story about building a geodesic dome written as Gareth Penn: [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_page.php?issue=40&page=609 Paint It Yellow]

elected Letters to the Editor

"The Economist" December 16, 2000 from Larkspur, California; Correction regarding use of the word "elector"

"The Economist" August 26, 2000 from Tiburon, California; Correction regarding invention of the acronym WASP.

"The Economist" January 29, 2000 from Stinson Beach, California; Correction regarding first political jurisdiction to give women the vote.

"The Economist" October 16, 1999 from Tiburon, California; Clarification regarding ancient Greek riddle.

"The Economist" August 21, 1999 from Stinson Beach, California; Comment regarding leftwing activists of the 1960's and 1970's.

"The Economist" January 9, 1999 from Larkspur, California; Correction regarding steel used in barbed wire fencing.

"San Francisco Chronicle" November 23, 1997 fromCorte Madera, California; Correction regarding Latin roots of the word "skibby."

"National Public Radio" 20 July 2002; Comment that "nobility does not sell newspapers."

"Scientific American" July 1996 from San Rafael, California; Comment about Jules Verne

Additional publications

Thirty three stories for [http://www.ecphorizer.com/EPS/site_contributors.php?page_num=4 The Mensa Ecphorizer]

[https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/bitstream/1912/437/1/proc96039.pdf Light under a bushel: a profile of Point Reyes Bird Observatory]

Coastal Awareness: A Resource Guide for Teachers

US copyrights relating to the Zodiac case [ [http://www.copyright.gov/search/cohm.html U.S. Copyright Office Search] ]

These titles represent many pages of written documents copyrighted and deposited by Gareth Penn with the U.S. Copyright Office. They cannot be reviewed by any other person except with the author's written permission or under court order. Two of the titles are taken from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

Registration Number: TXu-126-336 A Secret kept from all the restRegistered: 16May83

Registration Number: TXu-176-361 Zodiac problems Registered: 29Oct84

Registration Number: TXu-234-140 The Red king's dream Registered: 31Mar86

Registration Number: TXu-238-116 New documents Registered: 7May86

Registration Number: TXu-240-019 Three more documents Registered: 23May86

Registration Number: TXu-254-364 The 13-character cipher Registered: 22Sep86

Registration Number: TXu-354-164 Papers relating to the impending suicide of Michael Henry O'Hare on 17 May 1989 Registered: 15Dec88

Registration Number: TXu-383-923 The Geometry of life and death Registered: 5Sep89 Title on © Application: Resolution of the Zodiac mystery on 19 September 1989. Author on © Application: Gareth Penn.

Registration Number: TXu-385-039 Language as geometryRegistered: 10Aug89

Registration Number: TXu-406-808 Zodiac calendars Registered: 13Feb90 Title on © Application: Papers relating to the resolution of the zodiac matter on or about 19 February 1990. Special Codes: 1/B/D//A

Registration Number: TXu-430-480 8790 Registered: 1Aug90

Registration Number: TXu-927-707 The second power : a mathematical analysis of the letters attributed to the Zodiac murderer Registered: 13Dec99

Registration Number: TXu-937-814 The end : a prediction of the future in six pages Registered: 22Feb2000

Registration Number: TXu-1-044-778 Digital, two-dimensional, private language : the letters of the zodiac murderer Registered: 18Mar02

Personal life

Gareth Penn has three children. Several pictures of Penn and his family are collected [http://www.opordanalytical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=199&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60 here] .

Penn has written about a first wife, Sandra Scott, whom he married circa 1960. They had one daughter and divorced in 1963.

Married in 1966 to his second wife, Mary Ann Winterrowd, Penn writes that she was from Cincinnati, Ohio. They divorced in 1982. Mary Ann Winterrowd taught for nearly 20 years in the Vallejo Unified School District, spending most of that time at Solano Junior High School. She lived for a time in Irvine and Santa Ana, Calif. and died in Chicago, Illinois in 1991 [ [http://www.timesheraldonline.com VALLEJO TIMES HERALD, Wed., 23 Oct 1991] ] .

Penn married his third wife, Diane Merrill, a Marin County artist, in 1984. [ [http://saber.net/~markfenn Diane Merrill Fine Arts and Crafts] ] They divorced in 1997.

Penn writes that he has lived in Berkeley; cities all around Marin County, including Tiburon, Vallejo, Stinson Beach, Corte Real, San Rafael, Larkspur, Corte Madera; and in Napa, Calif.

He also writes that he was a long-time member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA, a medieval re-enactment society founded in Berkeley, Calif. by the author Diana Paxson in 1966. [ [http://www.ecphorizer.com "Mensa Ecphorizer"] ] .

Gareth Penn retired in 2000 as a librarian at the National Marine Fisheries Service Tiburon Laboratory and Point Reyes Bird Observatory near San Francisco. He now lives in Seattle.

References

Further reading

*Cole, Michael F. [http://www.mikecole.org/zodiac/two_theories/1.2/ Two New Theories Regarding the Zodiac Case]

*The Crime Library [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac/25.html The Zodiac Killer]

*Graysmith, Robert, "Zodiac", (Berkley; Reissue edition, January 2007). ISBN 0-4252-1218-1.

*Kelleher, Michael D. and Van Nuys, David, "“This is the Zodiac Speaking”: Into the Mind of a Serial Killer" (Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, January 2002). ISBN 0-2759-7338-7.

*Penn, Gareth, "Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981" (The Foxglove Press, CA, April 1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.

*Rowlett, Curt [http://labyrinth13.com/ZFiles_Radian_Theory.htm The Rhyme of the Radian]

*Rowlett, Curt [http://labyrinth13.com/ZFiles.htm The Z Files]

*Wark, Jake [http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/ This is the Zodiac Speaking website]