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THE TAXICAB METER READING

December 15, 2017, 1:51 am
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These are the taxicab fares dated April 18th 1969:
'Rates for Taxicabs and Sedans. The rates of fare for taxicabs and sedans shall be as follows: Fifty-five Cents (55c) for the first one-fifth mile or "flag": Ten Cents (10c) for each additional one-fifth mile or fraction thereof: Ten Cents (10c) for each one and one fourth minutes of waiting or traffic delay time.
Drivers of taxicabs and sedans shall keep an accurate waybill specifically setting forth the time of hire and discharge, the number of passengers, the origin and destination and the charges authorized and made for each trip.
(Amended Ord. 234-69; App, 4/18/69)'   
The History Channel docudrama on the Zodiac Killer calculated the approximate area that Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac Killer on October 11th 1969, and explained that it was likely somewhere near the theater district in San Francisco. Here are the calculations.
The police report stated that Paul Stine's taxicab meter read $6.25 at exactly 10.46 pm. So using the taxicab meter charges above, we can backtrack and calculate the approximate pick-up point from the last known movements of Paul Stine heading back from San Francisco International Airport.
The time of the murder was specified as 9.55 pm, so by the time the meter was read at 10.46 pm, the meter had been running idle for 51 minutes. We know that it's 10c for each one and one fourth minutes (1.25) of waiting or traffic delay time. So we can discover the charge the idle taxicab ran up for these 51 minutes. (51 divided by 1.25) = 40.8. Multiplied by 10c = 4 dollars and 8 cents. The investigators deducted this from the $6.25 to give us $2.17. This calculation however, did not include any idle time en route from the proposed theater district to the intersection of Washington and Cherry. But we shall assume it negligible, as they have done. 
We know it is 55c for the first one-fifth mile. So the taxicab meter would be operating effectively from $2.17 minus 55c thereafter ($2.17 minus 55c) = $1.62. So to calculate the distance traveled we have to use the taxicab meter charges of 10c for each additional one-fifth mile or fraction thereof.  
$1.62 divided by 10c = 16.2 miles. But it is for one-fifth of a mile, so 16.2 divided by 5 = 3.24 miles traveling distance. But again, this is not factoring in any delays en route, in accordance with the History Channel calculations.
The crucial part is the 55c for the first one-fifth mile or "flag." The taxicab should be reading 55c after one-fifth of mile (0.2 miles) is achieved. Therefore, this should be added on to the 3.24 miles, to give us 3.44 miles traveling distance. This would, without any delays en route (not factored in by the History Channel), take us a little further away from Washington and Cherry.
The calculations to consider, is whether the taxicab meter started from 55c at the "flag" or 55c after one-fifth mile distance.
If it started at one-fifth distance, then without further idle time, as portrayed by the docudrama, the taxicab of Paul Stine would not have picked up Paul Stine at the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets, which is 3.0 miles from Washington and Cherry, assuming he traveled by the quickest and shortest route. The Westin St Francis Hotel in Union Square is approximately 3.1 miles.
But allowing for a small amount of idle time en route, possibly one or two minutes, we would have to deduct approximately 10 or 20 cents that was available for the taxicab to be in motion, thereby effectively reducing the distance traveled (one or two one-fifths of a mile). Going on the lower estimate, the distance traveled would therefore be closer to 3.24 miles again. 
Without any or negligible idle time en route, the distance traveled would be 3.44 miles, based on a meter clocking up 55 cents after one-fifth mile distance. A distance of 3.4 miles east of Washington and Cherry, would take the taxicab into the Financial District of San Francisco. If Paul Stine had taken Highway 101 and Interstate 80 back from the San Francisco International Airport, he could have headed to this general area. Your opinions, or any corrections to this analysis would be welcome. 
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LAKE HERMAN ROAD- THE SEQUENCE OF SHOTS

December 16, 2017, 7:32 am
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This is a representation of the likely order of the 10 shots fired in the Lake Herman Road turnout on December 20th 1968, resulting in the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Each bullet/s fired is represented by four colors, red, green, yellow and blue. This may also be the order the weapon was discharged. [1] The shot into the headliner of the Rambler [2] The shot into the rear window [3] The murder of David Faraday [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] The seven shots fired at Betty Lou Jensen, with two missing the young girl. The respective casings for each of the ten shots have been allocated the corresponding color.
This representation will be explained in greater detail below. 
[1] The killer parked approximately 10 feet alongside the Faraday Rambler. The killer exited the driver side door of his vehicle and immediately fired at the Rambler. The distance creating a relatively flat trajectory, with the bullet striking the headliner and embedding in the upper portion of the Rambler on the left side of the vehicle. The casing flew behind the shooter and bounced off the metallic surface of his vehicle, coming to rest by the red circle, approximately 20 feet from the right side of the Rambler.
[2] The killer approaches the Rambler and fires off his second shot (green line) into the right rear window, just above the window liner. The bullet came to rest in the left rear wheel well of the Rambler. By calculating the angle of the bullet trajectory of approximately 17-19 degrees to the horizontal, we know that the shooter based on a height of 5'10", had to be standing no more than 4-5 feet from the Rambler. With an extended arm, this would place the gun 25-30 inches from the Rambler window when fired. So, unless the shooter walked backwards after this shot and fired into the headliner, this was likely the second shot that night, as the killer approached the couple's vehicle. The ejected casing flies to the rear, somewhere in the region of the green circle, measured at 8'2" from the right side of the Rambler. The positions of these circles are only approximations based on the measurements given in the police report.  
[3] The couple are forced from the vehicle and David Faraday is callously executed with a bullet to the left side of his head (just under the ear). He is standing with his back to the Rambler, and the casing ejects to the rear, traveling either directly or indirectly off the Rambler door, coming to rest on the front passenger floorboard of the Rambler (yellow line and circle).
[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] The shooter takes a step or two forward and fires at Betty Lou Jensen as she flees into the distance. The first shot at extremely close range left gunpowder residue on her dress, despite this however, she would reach 33 feet from the rear of the Rambler before collapsing backwards, ultimately being discovered 28 feet from the Rambler (where the policeman is shining his torch in the background). The casings are ejected in the blue grouping- close to the right side of the Rambler. The two dark blue circles representing 2 of the 7 shots he fired at Betty Lou Jensen, that possibly missed their target. 
Two bullets were never retrieved from the scene, indicating they either missed Betty Lou Jensen while she was running for her life, missed the Rambler on the shooter's approach to the vehicle, were fired into the air as a warning, or were a combination of these possibilities. However, considering the tight grouping of seven casings close to the vehicle, it is arguable, they were fired from the same location. It is unlikely the shooter would miss the Rambler standing right next to it. Had he missed the Rambler when initially exiting his vehicle, the bullet casings would likely be much further to the right of the Rambler. The remaining option is the shooter fired into the air, but one would have expected this to have been one of the initial shots fired that night, and the casing distribution doesn't reflect this.
If you have any alternative thoughts on the sequence of shots fired on December 20th 1968, or opinions on the Lake Herman Road double murder, please leave your contributions in the comments section below. 
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BLUE ROCK SPRINGS- THE SEQUENCE OF SHOTS

December 20, 2017, 12:00 am
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Using the police reports and autopsy of Darlene Ferrin we can reconstruct the mechanics of the crime scene at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969. Michael Mageau was struck four times and survived, but Darlene Ferrin received nine entry wounds and seven exit wounds from five direct hits. The police recovered nine shell casings from the crime scene, seven to the right side of the brown Corvair and two on the floorboard of the rear passenger area. The diagrams below will show the possible order of events that night, followed by a more detailed examination.   
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[1] and [2] The widely held belief is that Michael Mageau was targeted first during the initial barrage of gunfire, but the autopsy report of Darlene Ferrin may suggest otherwise. The young woman received 4 entry and 4 exit wounds to both arms, indicating that she could have had both arms on the steering wheel when the first 2 bullets were discharged in rapid succession. Each bullet entered the right arm and exited, before striking the left arm and exiting, creating the 4 entry and exit wounds described at autopsy. If the killer had targeted Michael Mageau first, it is extremely unlikely that Darlene Ferrin's first reaction would have been to turn the key in the ignition and place her hands on the steering wheel in an attempt to pull away. There simply would not have been enough time to achieve such a feat, not withstanding the fact, that the natural reaction after seeing Michael Mageau shot, would have been to turn away from the direction of fire. Had this been the case, the wound pattern to the arms of Darlene Ferrin would be harder to explain. The killer fired off the first two shots into the vehicle, firstly striking Darlene Ferrin just above the right wrist as she was gripping the steering wheel. Her right arm came across her upper body towards her face (either manually or by the resultant force), as the second bullet entered her right upper arm, exiting and striking her left upper arm 3 1/4 inches above the elbow. 
[3] and [4] When the killer opened fire on Darlene Ferrin, Michael Mageau turned away, lowering his body from the barrel of the gun. After the initial 'quick fire' two shots, the killer then turned the gun on Michael. He was struck twice, once in the neck (facial area) and once in the shoulder, before propelling himself to the rear of the vehicle in an attempt to escape the barrage. Both of these bullets exited his body, striking Darlene Ferrin in the torso. The two bullets lost momentum after passing through Mageau and had reduced velocity when they entered Darlene Ferrin, thereby remaining in her body. #1 was removed from the right second rib. #2 was removed from the seventh and eighth rib left. These were the only two bullets recovered from Darlene Ferrin at autopsy. 
A letter was received by the San Francisco Examiner on July 4th 1969 in which Zodiac described his attack "On the 4th of July I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee."  Michael described these two shots in the police report: "He heard a muffled sound and felt a pain in his back and his neck area. He states he heard some more muffled sounds, sounding like a gun with a silencer on it, and felt pains in his body, his back and around his neck. States he tried to climb over the back seat to get away from the shooting."  The killer had now fired 4 shots. Michael Mageau had been struck twice, and Darlene Ferrin had received 6 entry wounds and 4 exit wounds. 
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[5] After Michael Mageau had found temporary refuge in the rear of the Corvair, the Zodiac Killer fired the fifth shot into Darlene Ferrin's torso. The bullet exited her body. She now had 7 entry wounds and 5 exit wounds. The killer then retreated according to Michael Mageau. But this was to be a brief respite.
[6] and [7] The Zodiac Killer returned to the passenger side window and leaned into the vehicle, and extended his arm over the front seats to fire 2 more shots at Michael Mageau, striking him in the thigh and hip. These two expended casings fell onto the rear floorboard. The Zodiac described this as "he ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee." 
[8] and [9] The killer then turned back to Darlene Ferrin, firing off the final 2 shots. Both of these bullets struck her torso and exited on through. She had now received a devastating 9 entry wounds and 7 exit wounds, as described in the autopsy.
Two of the final four shots were likely aimed at Michael Mageau first, as he explained to officers that he "could not tell if he meant to yell at the subject or if he just yelled from pain, but he let out some type of yell. At this time, the subject apparently hearing him, came back to the car and shot Michael two more times, once in the back and once in the left leg. States the subject then turned the gun on Dea and shot her twice more." Michael Mageau had actually been struck in the thigh and hip.
The killer then retreated into the night. Just under 40 minutes later, the Zodiac would announce himself to the world in a chilling phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. 
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SORRY NO CIPHER

December 23, 2017, 10:14 am
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The abduction and likely murder of Donna Lass occurred on September 6th 1970. The next communication attributed to the Zodiac Killer was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970, containing pasted text such as "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" Further text stated "The pace isn't any slower! In fact it's just one big thirteenth," situated alongside a crucifix with the number 13.
Because the Zodiac Killer was claiming 13 victims back on July 26th 1970 when he mailed the 'Little List' letter, it was assumed the '13 Hole' postcard correspondence could not be referring to the likely murder of Donna Lass. That is, unless the number 13 and "one big thirteenth" was not referring to the victim count. All may probably have been revealed just 22 days later, when the 'Halloween' card arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle on October 27th 1970. 
"One big thirteenth" suggests something larger in the form of one collective or grouping. This was followed by the crucifix with the figure 13. So it may be logical to search for these features within the 'Halloween' card.    
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The 'Halloween' card contained the words 'paradice' and  'slaves' in the form of a crucifix, creating  four corners, where the killer placed the wording By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife.
The wording paradice and slaves was written in larger lettering compared to the accompanying writing, and was crafted using 13 letters, lending credence to the phrase "one big thirteenth".
In a later postcard mailed on March 22nd 1971, widely believed to be referring to Donna Lass, the author used the phrase "peek through the pines". Returning back to the 'Halloween' card, the killer may have crafted the card such that 9 eyes were peeking from the pines.
Does this suggest we need to be looking near some Pine trees and somehow the number 9 is relevant.   Donna Lass contains 9 letters.
This means very little on its own, so we need to word search for more information.
The design of the 'Halloween' card configuration using paradise, slaves, By Fire, By Gun, By Rope and By Knife must have more purpose than "one big thirteenth." So we shall search for Donna Lass within the design.
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The 9 red circles on the right spell out Donna Lass, with no letters spare. Was this the intention of the 9 scattered eyes on the card inner by the tree, with the phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed," formed into a circular design.
The '13 Hole' postcard held the pasted text "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?
The remaining letters of the word paradice now spell price. 
The author of this postcard created a mirror image or made a negative of the letter 'N'. The two N's are contained in the name Donna. If one was meant to cancel out the other, we would be left with Doa, Dead on arrival.
But does it mean anything? The simple answer is no.
If one searches for long enough within the Zodiac correspondence, patterns start to emerge from within.
This demonstration has been designed to show that not everything we see can be believed, just like "sorry no cipher."  
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DEANA HOOPER- NEAR THE GOLF COURSE

December 3, 2017, 4:30 am
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The disappearance and eventual discovery of the remains of Deana Hooper has been covered on many forums. It is an interesting case, primarily because of the location her skeleton was discovered bordering Columbus Parkway and Blue Rock Springs Park (see below). Thanks to Zamantha for turning the article into readable text.  
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Clik here to view. PictureDeana Hooper (18) disappeared July 11th 1974
Vallejo Times-Herald- March 13th 1975: A skeleton found Tuesday in an open field at Columbus Parkways and St.John's Mine Road was identified tentatively Wednesday. by Vallejo police as the remains of an 18 year old Chinese girl from Sonoma..
Detective Richard Hoffman said the skeleton is presumed to be that of Deana Hooper, who had been reported missing here last July 15 by her sister, Mrs Tonna Albright of 901 Georgia Street, with whom she had been staying. Hoffman said Mrs. Albright made the tentative identification after viewing the clothing and sandals found at the scene of the discovery and recognized them as her sister's. Hoffman said Mrs. Albright also identified the ruby-colored birthstone ring on the right hand as that worn by her sister when she disappeared here nine months ago. Hoffman said the first clue to the skeletons tentative identification came from Harold Thacker, a retired Vallejo police sergeant and now a criminal investigator to Mare Island. Hoffman said Thacker supplied the name of the missing Chinese girl after reading yesterday's Times-Herald account of the discovery of the skeleton. Thacker told Hoffman he recalled talking to the missing girl's father at Mare Island when he made inquiries at the shipyard after his daughter was reportedly last seen there. Hoffman said a check of Police Department records uncovered a missing persons report involving Deana Hooper which had been filed by her sister in Vallejo. Police immediately contacted the sister with the result to the skeletons' identity. Hoffman said confirmations of the identification rests with an examination of the Sonoma girl's dental charts, which have been released by a Napa dentist for checking with he skeleton's teeth.
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Clik here to view. PictureDetective Richard Hoffman and Sergeant James Husted look at the skeletal remains of Deana Hooper
​​According to the missing person's report filed last July by Mrs. Albright, Hoffman said her sister last had been seen on July 11 at the Enlisted Men's Club on Mare Island (additional information below). Hoffman said Mrs. Albright gave no reason reason for delaying the report of her sister's disappearance until July 15th. Hoffman said Deana Hooper and Tonna Albright had been adopted about eight years ago from an orphanage in Hong Kong by their foster father Dean Hooper, a Caucasian ex-serviceman who now lives at 234 Thomson Ave, Sonoma. Hoffman said he notified Hooper that the skeleton found here had been tentatively identified as his missing adopted daughter. According to Hoffman, Hooper confirmed he had suspected all along that Deana was dead, after she disappeared without a trace last July and that Mrs. Albright confirmation of the identifications of the skeleton came as no surprise to him.
Hoffman said it is his belief the skeleton found Tuesday by an Oakland chiropractor and his 8 year one son, flying kites on the Azevedo Ranch, had lain in the field undetected since last July 12. He indicated the location of the skeleton in high weeds 40 feet east of the nearest roadway would have made it virtually impossible for someone to see the remains, unless a passerby stumbled by accident on that site. Hoffman said the skeleton now is being examined by an anthropologist at the University of California at Davis in the hope of determining the cause of the death. Meanwhile, he said the police investigation into the girls' disappearance is continuing.
Here is a map showing 901 Georgia Street and St Johns Mine Road.
Images along Saint Johns Mine created by Samuel Dapore-Scwartz.

Additional information:
#1] Established in 1892, Mare Island Golf Club in Vallejo, California is the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi River. Originally built as a 9-hole course,  its first 30 years included sand greens and dry fairways. The course began near the former Marine Barracks and proceeded south to Lake Rodgers (built in 1876 and named after Rear Admiral Rodgers), then returned to the start. http://mareislandgolfclub.com/history.
#2] San Francisco Chronicle July 31st 1969 "Dear Editor This is the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman + the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo."
#3] Enlisted Men's Club on Mare Island at the Naval Inshore Operations Training Center.

Was the killer a serviceman with golfing ties, who knew this quiet retreat near Blue Rock Springs golf course was the ideal dumping ground for a body, just a short distance from the road.

California Maritime Academy, located Vallejo California. 1960s graduates.  1950s graduates.  All.
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WILLIAM LESTER SUFF

December 28, 2017, 1:52 am
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There is the very real possibility that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates went on to kill again, but identifying his signature may be difficult based upon this one crime. The author of the 'Confession' letter exhibited certain traits in his communication that may give us a clue, in particular, using terminology such as "beautiful blond," "shapely blue eyed brownett," "I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see" and "her breast felt very warm." This may indicate a sexual component in his thinking, and indeed, a willingness to continue his crimes in the future. The question though, is was his reference to "brush offs" and "I asked her for a date in high school", along with the tone of the correspondence, indicative of his immaturity and young age.
Was the offer of a lift in the 'Confession' letter a precursor to luring the young girl away from the area, possibly for sexual purposes, that ultimately failed and reached a violent conclusion in the Riverside alleyway on October 30th 1966. Cheri Jo Bates suffered many knife wounds to her face, neck and body, from which the killer apparently gained great pleasure from reliving, in addition to such details as "she squirmed and shook as I choaked her, and her lips twiched." So using all of the above details, we shall look for future crimes containing some of these key elements.
In 1995 William Lester Suff was convicted of the murders of 12 women between 1986 and 1992 in Riverside County, after being released from a 10 year prison sentence, spanning 1974 to 1984, for the murder of his two month old daughter Dijanet Suff. However, he may have committed at least 22 murders. But what was he doing from 1966 to 1974? William Suff was born August 20th 1950 in Torrance, California, so would have been 16 years of age at the time of Cheri Jo Bates' murder. He graduated from Perris High School in 1968.
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'William Lester Suff, 41--a local boy still remembered by schoolmates and teachers in the Riverside area--has been charged in two of the grisly murders. Authorities say they are confident of linking Suff to a majority of the 19 murders of women, mostly prostitutes and drug users, whose bodies had been dumped in this semirural community and elsewhere in western Riverside County. Every victim was stabbed or strangled or both, according to new details, and three of the recent bodies were mutilated--a breast cut off each.' Los Angeles Times. 1992.
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​'William L. Suff, 44, a Riverside County warehouse worker who helped deliver office furniture to the law enforcement task force that was searching for the serial killer, was found guilty of luring the prostitutes into his vehicle, strangling or stabbing them and dumping their bodies in alleys, trash bins, orange groves and fields, primarily around Riverside and Lake Elsinore'. Los Angeles Times. 1995.
The mention of cutting off body parts in the 'Confession' letter may have been an early sadistic fantasy, that eventually came to fruition.    
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The map on the left shows where 8 of his victims were discovered in relation to Terracina Drive in Riverside- the location of the alleyway where Cheri Jo Bates was murdered.
The victims were lured into his vehicle before being strangled and stabbed.
His first known victim was 23 year old Michelle Yvette Gutierrez on October 30th 1986, the 20th anniversary of the Riverside College murder. The young woman was stabbed multiple times about the face and chest in similar fashion to Cheri Jo Bates. She had also received injuries to her breast and buttocks.
Her body was discovered near Agua Mansa Road, only five miles from Riverside City College library.
'Another gruesome case began on December 11, 1986, when the half-clothed body of Charlotte Jean Palmer, 24, of Anna, Illinois was found near Highway 74 and Matthews Road in Romoland. County coroners were unable to determine the cause of her death, because of the rapidity of putrefaction. Fear and panic spread as more and more women began mysteriously disappearing. Over a period of five years, from 1986 to 1991, nineteen prostitutes were found murdered - at least three of the Riverside County victims had their breasts severed. A forensic pathologist noted that cutting off female breasts was a way in which serial killers can uniquely hurt and harm the females they loathe'. Murderpedia. Please visit Murderpedia for the full list of victims. 
On the 25th anniversary of the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, on October 30th 1991, the nude body of Delliah Zamora Wallace was discovered in Granite Hill Drive, Mira Loma.
Could the October 30th 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates have been an attempted abduction by William Lester Suff from the Riverside City College library, with the intention of killing her elsewhere, not unlike his later victims. This may have been one of his earliest crimes, exhibiting the inexperience he would later refine.
Many Zodiac forum threads and articles have discussed the possibility of 19 underscores on the 'Confession' letter introduction, where apparently the killer had left his name blank after typing the word BY.  Below, I have placed William Lester Suff into the 'Confession' letter introduction and used parts of the Bates letters.
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'In January, 1992, Suff was pulled over by a suspicious Riverside police officer moments after he saw Suff talking to a prostitute on Riverside's University Avenue, which was--along with Lake Elsinore's Main Street--one of his favorite haunts in cruising for prey.' Los Angeles Times. 1995.
University Avenue, Riverside is less than one mile from Terracina Drive.
'The Riverside Killer by Christine Keers and Dennis St Pierre was published in 1996 by Pinnacle True Crime. In 1997 Cat and Mouse - Mind Games with a Serial Killer was published by Dove Books. Suff met with author Brian Alan Lane and told his story. The book includes short stories and poems written by Suff and photos of several of his victims.' Wikipedia.
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HOW INTELLIGENT WAS THE ZODIAC KILLER

December 31, 2017, 3:22 am
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For nearly half a century law enforcement, newspaper journalists, television commentators and the Zodiac community have speculated and argued on the likely intelligence of the Bay Area murderer. So, I have created a poll using the Current Wechsler IQ classification with seven categories. Here is your chance to vote.
'The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. The original WAIS (Form I) was published in February 1955 by David Wechsler, as a revision of the Wechsler–Bellevue Intelligence Scale, released in 1939. It is currently in its fourth edition (WAIS-IV) released in 2008 by Pearson, and is the most widely used IQ test, for both adults and older adolescents, in the world'. Wikipedia.​   
How intelligent was the Zodiac Killer
 
pollcode.com free polls
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BLACK MALE ADULT [PART TWO]

January 5, 2018, 3:21 am
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We will take another look at the claim that both Armond Pelissetti and Donald Fouke received an initial radio broadcast of a negro male adult suspect, and question whether in fact this ever took place. There is a distinct possibility this was a later addition, boldly underlined in the November 12th 1969 Donald Fouke memorandum, to explain away why Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms supposedly bypassed a viable suspect walking along Jackson Street only three minutes after a reported assault and robbery on a taxicab driver. Later determined to be a murder, this 'oversight' had to be addressed. It is clear that this sighting was known within the police department, alluded to by Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, when he stated "I spoke to Officer Fouke later that evening and I was unaware he'd stopped anybody, black, white or any other color, however, in subsequent conversations with him, he told me that he did stop somebody." 
This visual of a potential suspect by two officers along Jackson Street was never reported in any newspapers up to November 9th 1969, so for the Zodiac Killer to be aware of these police officers in a patrol car near the intersection of Jackson and Maple, belatedly corroborated three days later in the Donald Fouke interdepartmental memorandum, confirmed the Zodiac claim of the 'meeting' on Jackson Street. This would prove unequivocally the letter writer had first hand information not known to the general public, and bearing in mind the Paul Stine bloodied shirt piece, would place the Zodiac Killer in the location he claimed. If Donald Fouke stopped the suspect, then he stopped the Zodiac. The time Zodiac left the taxicab, and the time Donald Fouke received the first radio broadcast at Washington and Presidio Avenue, match up perfectly for a collision course near the intersection of Jackson and Maple.
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We have heard plenty from two police dispatchers over the years, namely Dave Slaight and Nancy Slover, who both took calls from Zodiac, yet the police dispatcher who received the call from the three teenagers at Presidio Heights, we have a noticeable silence in any documented material. The same can be said of the three teenagers. Therefore the widely reported notion of the radio dispatcher either receiving or hearing incorrect information, and incorrectly informing responding officers of a negro male adult suspect has gone widely unchallenged. The idea of a black male adult supposedly involved in the taxicab 'assault and robbery' could certainly be used as a reasonable excuse for bypassing a white man walking on Jackson Street only minutes after the attack. But there is every reason to believe this 'mistake' never happened.
The description given by the three teenagers was "A white male, 25-30 years old, 5'8" to 5'9", stocky build, reddish-brown hair worn in a crew cut, heavy rimmed glasses and dark clothing." Are we to believe the description given to the police dispatcher was heavily redacted to "be on the lookout for a black male adult," when passed to responding officers, with no accompanying detail. The idea of a negro male adult in 1969 with a crew-cut and reddish-brown hair should have at least raised a question of its validity with both dispatcher and officers alike. Unless the dispatcher decided to ignore the full description and pass on the bare minimum.
Donald Fouke described his approach to the intersection of Jackson and Maple in the 2007 Zodiac documentary "I would like to say the Zodiac made eye contact with us, but I can't picture it. I remember seeing his eyes, but I couldn't tell you what color they were, it was dark enough that his eyes were concealed, but you could sort of say he looked down, perhaps this lumbering gait, stumbling along, like a semi-limp may have come up in my mind, because he was putting his head down when he spotted the police car." This was only three minutes after a perceived assault and robbery on a taxicab driver- so one would assume an officer spotting a man so soon after the attack, walking with a limp or lumbering gait, and avoiding eye contact by putting his head down, was certainly suspicion enough for a stop. If for nothing else, but to question the white male on whether he had spotted a black man in the area. Just simply bypassing him doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Donald Fouke described the white male in alarming detail, such as tan engineering boots, low-cut shoes, a jacket with elasticated waist and cuffs, pleated trousers and graying hair at the rear. All of which would have been unnecessary details to focus upon as you approached from say 50 feet away- because the man was white and therefore presumably not the suspect. The fact that Donald Fouke claimed in a 1989 documentary, that he got a second radio broadcast approaching Arguello Boulevard, goes a long way to proving he stopped the Zodiac Killer. He stated "We proceeded on Jackson Street towards Arguello continuing our search, as we arrived at Arguello Street the description of the suspect was changed to a white male adult, believing this suspect was possibly the one involved in the shooting we entered the Presidio of San Francisco and conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect." Why would he be heading away from the taxicab crime scene, when he should have been heading towards it. The answer is self explanatory- the Zodiac Killer directed him there, after they stopped him. This proves Armond Pelissetti correct, when he claimed that Donald Fouke admitted to him, that he had indeed stopped the white male adult. This was backed up by Zodiac in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter.              
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"2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again." 
When Donald Fouke stopped the white male subject, his next logical question would have been "have you seen a black male adult in the area." But the Zodiac Killer in his communication makes no mention of this fact. 
Many observers have noted how the Zodiac Killer liked to taunt the police, as he did numerous times in the November 9th 1969 correspondence. Had he been stopped by Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms on Jackson Street, and asked if he had seen a black male in the area, this certainly would have been of great amusement to Zodiac, realizing the police were searching for a suspect with the wrong ethnicity or color, and without doubt would have been capitalized upon in his forthcoming correspondence- yet he mentions nothing. Only referring to the instruction as "I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber." The fact he doesn't mention this "booboo," is strong indication, that the police were not looking for a black male​ at any point in the night's proceedings, particularly one with a reddish-brown crewcut. 
In the 2007 documentary Donald Fouke stated "The initial radio description of the suspect was that of a black male, 5'10" or something like that. Seeing that it was a white male in an affluent neighborhood walking along the street, we didn't think it was the suspect."  Not withstanding the racial overtones in this statement- apparently the white male was evading eye contact, stumbling along, supposedly turning into a residence (omitted, and contradictory to the memorandum), as well as matching every indicator in the initial radio description of the suspect apart from color, yet the police car simply rolled on past, not even asking the man if he had seen anybody in the area. This is very difficult to believe. 

BLACK MALE ADULT [PART ONE]
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PRESIDIO HEIGHTS- ZODIAC PASSED TWICE?

January 11, 2018, 12:58 am
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Robert Graysmith has been accused of many factual inaccuracies down the years, of which many are well founded. One of these we shall revisit and explore whether it has any basis in truth.
​Michael Butterfield highlighted this 'inaccuracy' under the title Robert Graysmith-Separating Fact and Fiction, where Robert Graysmith notes the sighting of the Zodiac Killer incorrectly on two occasions- firstly on the TLC show The Ultimate Ten, by 3758 Jackson Street, and secondly on Cherry Street 'lumbering along in the fog toward the Presidio'.   
However, the reality is, we only have the word of Donald Fouke on where he last saw the Zodiac Killer on October 11th 1969, and he also placed the murderer of Paul Stine in two locations- firstly, walking up a flight of stairs, approaching the residence of 3712 Jackson Street, and secondly, he last saw the Zodiac Killer turning north on Maple Street as he drove past.
If you are going to question the statements of Robert Graysmith, then you have to equally challenge the conflicting statements of Donald Fouke in the November 12th 1969 interdepartmental police memorandum and the 2007 Zodiac documentary.  
But there may be a possibility that Robert Graysmith and Donald Fouke are both correct, and the Zodiac Killer was spotted at both locations. The three teenagers gave a second, more comprehensive account of the events that night, recalling their meeting with Armond Pelissetti at the intersection of Washington and Cherry, and the Zodiac Killer attempting to haul Paul Stine into an upright position behind the steering wheel of the taxicab. These recollections tally with Armond Pelissetti's statements in the 2007 documentary, along with the bloodied right-handed fingerprint retrieved from the dividing panel between the driver side door and left rear passenger door. The statement of Lindsey that  "He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry. At this exact point, the first SFPD car arrives with two officers. One, Pelissetti, approached Lindsey and tried to extract what was happening. The other officer went to the cab and found the bloody victim. While Pelissetti was asking questions, Lindsey was trying to explain that the suspect was in sight on Cherry St. By the time Pelissetti got the point, they both looked and the Zodiac was gone," however, would not tally with the timeline of Zodiac approaching the intersection of Jackson and Maple, and being spotted by Donald Fouke.      
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If Armond Pelissetti and Lindsey were both watching Zodiac as he approached the corner of Jackson and Cherry, then the Zodiac Killer still had 128 meters of traveling distance to reach 3712 Jackson Street, close to the intersection of Jackson and Maple. At an average walking speed of 1.4 m/s, this would take 91 seconds.
​If Armond Pelissetti only took 30 seconds to arrive en scene, and he got the initial radio broadcast at 9.58 pm, the time is now 9.58:30 pm.
Zodiac would therefore arrive at 3712 Jackson Street at approximately 10.00 pm, where he is spotted by Donald Fouke.
But Donald Fouke's journey at just 30 mph from the intersection of Presidio Avenue and Washington Street, where he received the initial 9.58 pm broadcast, is just 60 seconds. He arrived at Jackson and Maple at 9.59 pm, so couldn't possibly have seen Zodiac here, who wouldn't have arrived until 10.00 pm. Zodiac cannot travel from the upper reaches of Cherry to the near intersection of Jackson and Maple in 30 seconds.
If Armond Pelissetti took 1 minute to arrive en scene and met with Lindsey, then they are both viewing Zodiac approach the intersection of Jackson and Cherry at 9.59 pm.
Donald Fouke is also viewing Zodiac approaching the intersection of Jackson and Maple at 9.59 pm- and Zodiac cannot be in two places at once. But the Robert Graysmith statement of Zodiac being spotted somewhere near the intersection of Jackson and Cherry is certainly plausible. 
In the Zodiac book by Robert Graysmith it stated "The patrol reached Jackson and Cherry by 10.00 and saw a stocky man "lumbering" along in the fog toward the Presidio. The radio unit, Patrolmen Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms, looking for a black man, shouted to the stranger and asked if he had seen anything unusual in the last minute or so. The stocky man called out he'd seen a man waving a gun running east on Washington, and the patrol car sped off in that direction."   
It would take Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms approximately 1 minute 15/20 seconds from the initial broadcast, to be somewhere between the 3758 Jackson Street residence and the Jackson/Cherry intersection, and would take Zodiac a similar time from the taxicab.
Zodiac cannot reach the Jackson/Maple intersection at normal walking speed to be spotted by Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms, but their patrol car can reach Zodiac at the beginning of his journey, east along Jackson Street. This would tally with the claims of Robert Graysmith, along with the sighting of Lindsey and Armond Pelissetti.    
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According to Graysmith "Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms, looking for a black man, shouted to the stranger and asked if he had seen anything unusual in the last minute or so."
This sounds perfectly feasible, because Donald Fouke had received the initial broadcast just over a minute previous.
Graysmith also stated "The stocky man called out he'd seen a man waving a gun running east on Washington, and the patrol car sped off in that direction."
​This would have resulted in Donald Fouke turning southbound on Cherry, and turning left (east) on Washington Street, past Armond Pelissetti and the crime scene- likely while Pelissetti was ushering the teenagers back to their residence. Noticing another officer was dealing with the crime scene, he proceeded east along Washington looking for the assailant. But does this make sense?
Zodiac stated in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter: 
"I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again." If the Zodiac saw them go around the corner, then that corner may have been the Jackson/Cherry intersection. But why would he state the man waving the gun was heading east on Washington Street? Was there purpose behind this?
The Zodiac had murdered Paul Stine at the intersection of Washington and Cherry, but the trip sheet had recorded Washington and Maple, so had the Zodiac Killer subconsciously or deliberately directed the patrol car east to the area of Washington and Maple, in order to throw the police a false lead, so they would focus their search near that intersection. 
Donald Fouke stated in the 2007 documentary "He was putting his head down when he spotted the police car and turned into the entrance way of a house. By entrance way, I mean stairs, leading up that are concrete, to a path, that leads to a front door. Never saw him get to the top of the stairs. You want the address of that residence- 3712 Jackson Street."  But was Donald Fouke mistaken. The residence at 3758 Jackson Street conforms to his description of a flight of concrete stairs, leading to a path, that leads to a front door, and is closer to Cherry Street than 3712 Jackson Street. It is also exactly a "block and half away" from the thoroughfare of Spruce Street into the park- the last place eyewitnesses saw Zodiac that night.  
There is a reasonable argument to be had, that Donald Fouke passed Zodiac twice that night, leading to his two separate and distinct recollections, in the police memorandum and the 2007 documentary. Both of which have become muddled in time.    
The Zodiac Killer turns out of view from Lindsey Robbins and Armond Pelissetti, and heads down the hill towards 3758 Jackson Street, where he observes the patrol car of Donald Fouke approaching. He makes a snap decision to turn into the stairs of a residence and is spotted by the patrol car. Because he is white (and police are searching for a NMA), they ask him has he seen anything suspicious. He gratefully directs them south on Cherry and east on Washington Street, before continuing his journey down the hill.
Donald Fouke travels two blocks on Washington Street, to Spruce Street, searching for a black male, but finds nobody. Believing the assailant may have headed for the Presidio, he turns north on Spruce Street towards the thoroughfare entering Julius Khan playground, but fails to spot his charge. He turns west on Jackson Street and heads toward the Jackson and Maple intersection, where he spots the white male again- this time turning north on Maple. This would explain the timeline and the two different stories given by Donald Fouke in the police memorandum and 2007 Zodiac documentary.
The journey time for Donald Fouke traveling at 30 mph, following the yellow directional markers above is approximately 1 minute, as is the time for Zodiac to walk from 3758 Jackson Street to the intersection of Jackson and Maple. Both journey times are comparable. 
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Clik here to view. PicturePolice memorandum. Click to view.
The police memorandum on the right states "Sir: I respectfully wish to report the following, that while responding to the area of Cherry and Washington Streets a suspect fitting the description of the Zodiac Killer was observed by officer Donald Fouke walking in an easterly direction on Jackson Street and then turn north on Maple Street. The subject was not stopped as the description received from communication was that of a negro male." The detail is particularly cautious and guarded. 
The question arises- did Donald Fouke pass the Zodiac twice? Firstly, walking up stairs to a residence, and then later, heading north on Maple. From his accounts in 1969 and 2007, we would have to believe he just plucked the second story out of thin air, or that both events did occur, but have been viewed as contradictory to one another, when this doesn't necessarily need to be the case, had he viewed the WMA on two distinct and separate occasions.
Donald Fouke passed the Zodiac on the second occasion, but still hadn't received the amended update after approximately two minutes 15 seconds. He doesn't need to attend the crime scene, because he has already seen this being taken care of, so heads towards Arguello Boulevard to search the park area. He now receives the second broadcast updating the description to a WMA. Realizing he may have just passed the suspect, last seen heading north on Maple, he turns east on West Pacific Avenue. He fails to find the suspect, so returns to Cherry Street, where he meets up with Armond Pelissetti.
The above is just a suggestion, hopefully incorporating both the accounts of Donald Fouke and Robert Graysmith, without pitting one against the other, and more importantly, blending all the recollections together in a plausible, if unlikely, course of events   
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CHERI JO BATES- THE ANATOMY OF A CRIME

January 15, 2018, 12:00 am
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We will take a look at the 'Confession' letter- and with the consideration of one murderer in mind, examine its contents in relation to the autopsy findings by pathologist Rene Modglin, in respect to the brutal murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. This may go someway to determining whether or not the 'Confession' letter was authored by the killer. 
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On the right is a representation of the wound pattern inflicted upon Cheri Jo Bates. One can see that all the lacerations noted in the post-mortem findings were effectively delivered by the killer from the breasts upwards, with the ferocity of the attack centered around the neck and face (the hands and arms raised to protect these vital areas). Some may say, that with six injuries to the face and seven lacerations to the neck, the killer's intention was to wipe away the identity of the pretty young student in a distinctly personal attack, but I will leave that to the observer to consider.
The lacerations and their directions have a story to tell- one that doesn't indicate an overhand knife attack from the front, in a downwards motion. Or an underhand grip from the front in a straight, or upwards motion- an argument  strengthened somewhat by the evident lack of injuries to the area of the abdomen.
The 'Confession' letter stated "I said it was about time for her to die. I grabbed her round the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat." The killer was effectively gaining control from the beginning of the attack, rather than performing an uncontrolled full frontal assault, stabbing wildly. If we base this analysis on one assailant, as the letter implies, it is reasonable to deduce the assailant had grabbed Cheri Jo Bates around the neck and mouth with his left arm, in a form of choke-hold.
Cheri Jo Bates' autopsy findings showed numerous petechiae in the forehead (broken capillary blood vessels). Petechiae are commonly present in the eyes or eyelids as a result of manual compression of the neck area, but not always, and can also be present on the face, especially the forehead. The manual force compressing the neck increases the vascular pressure, causing the blood vessels to rupture. 
The assailant can now use his right hand to stab and slash the young girl, in effect, reaching over her right shoulder and directing the knife back towards himself (possibly an underhand grip), causing the three injuries to her breast region and several to her face. Clearly, at this point, Cheri Jo Bates is using her hands and arms in a defensive motion to protect her upper torso and face (eleven injuries noted to her hands and fingers, including lacerations and abrasions), as noted in the diagram. The small knife is being deflected as it's delivered, resulting in lacerations running laterally across her body. There must have been a violent struggle at this point, with Cheri Jo Bates trying desperately to secure her release, and the attacker resisting her escape, resulting in the alleyway floor being disturbed by their footwear, described in the 'Inside Detective' magazine by law enforcement: "The driveway adjacent to 3680 Terracina Street was so churned up it looked like a tractor had been over the ground. The girl, who was very athletic, put up a terrific struggle."      
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The 'Confession' letter continued: "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands, but only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for all the brush off's that she had given me during the years prior. She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched." The squirming being her attempt to break free from his clutches. The sheer terror and exertion, coupled with the compression applied to her neck, resulted in the petechial hemorrhaging to her forehead. It may have been at this point (or quite possibly later), that the assailant, in an attempt to gain control, shifted his grip from around her neck and started to slash (or stab) her throat.
One must also note the correlation between the wounds inflicted to her breasts, his reference in the letter to "her breast felt very warm and firm" and his promise to "cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see." In addition, if her breast felt very warm, was this indicative of an assailant who was not wearing gloves, and who had earlier deposited fingerprints on her lime green Volkswagen Beetle. 
The 'Confession' letter then stated: "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up." If this were true, then clearly, he cannot kick her in the head standing upright behind her, while she is upright too. Bearing in mind the position she was found in the turnout the following day- face down- she may likely have been thrust forward at this point, onto the alleyway floor, causing abrasions to her hands (noted at autopsy). Free from the choke-hold, she is able to let out a scream, which resulted in the assailant kicking her in the face. Whether this action ever took place is debatable- but here are three excerpts from the autopsy to consider: [1] "A 2 cm oblique ragged edge gaping laceration of the upper lip on the left side that angles laterally from above and extends completely through the thickness of the lip. The teeth behind are not loose or broken." [2] "A dark blue-gray, slightly swollen discoloration of mainly the mucocutaneous portions of the upper and lower lips on the right side involving a 2 cm greatest diameter." [3] "An area of dark blue-gray discoloration of the skin of the left cheek angling from above in front slightly downward and posteriorly. The overall length is 3 cm.
None of the injuries thus far, despite being extensive, are necessarily terminal at this juncture.
With Cheri Jo Bates having been forced, face-down into the alleyway floor, the 'Confession' letter kicks in again: "I plunged the knife into her and it broke." The assailant, likely atop and astride the young woman, plunges the knife into her left upper back (shown in blue in the diagram above). The back region being very firm, coupled with an extensive attack using a small pocket knife, may well have caused the hinge mechanism to fail, resulting in the blade closing and quite possibly injuring the hand or fingers of the assailant. The History Channel documentary 'The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer,' alluded to the fact the killer's blood may have dripped onto the attire of Cheri Jo Bates. This is a very real possibility and likely resulted in the end of the attack on the young woman, but for the final coup de grace: "I finished the job by cutting her throat."  
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The cause of death listed in the autopsy was laceration of the right carotid artery. There was in fact extensive marking to the neck, all of which may have played a factor. The full description in the report was as follows: "The anterior neck skin extensively and irregularly lacerated with marked gaping. A deep cut is in the thyroid cartilage on both sides and the right common carotid is completely transected as well as the right superficial jugular vein."
​If this cut (shown on the right) originated on the left side of the thyroid cartilage near the midline and extended in one motion to the right side of the neck, this would be indicative of a right-handed assailant kneeling above Cheri Jo Bates (who is lying face down) and drawing the blade from left to right. This ultimately, is where her valiant fight for life abruptly ended.
However, she would before this happened, reach back with her right hand and grab the hair of her attacker. The autopsy stated "Considerable partially dried blood over the hand and especially about the fingers and under the unpainted moderately long but not carefully manicured fingernails."  When Cheri Jo Bates grabbed her assailant's hair, the extensive blood on her dominant hand trapped the hair at the base of her right thumb- crucial evidence that would later be used to extract mitochondrial DNA from her murderer.    
There is one more important thing to consider, other than finding foreign DNA on the clothes of Cheri Jo Bates, and that is blood tying. 
In the 'Inside Detective' magazine it stated "At the murder scene, drops of blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detectives, that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying." 
This may have been the blood of the victim dripping from the knife or assailant. But, there surely must have been consideration from investigators that this may have been blood from the murderer's cut right hand, which is common during attacks with bladed instruments. This blood was either collected and stored, or completely disregarded as originating from the victim, which could have been a big mistake.
Cheri Jo Bates' blood type detailed at autopsy is rare in the USA population. It was AB RhD positive, which accounts for only 3.4% of the American population. Even with the limited forensic capabilities in 1966, this testing was a simple affair, and could have determined whether the blood trail extending towards Terracina Drive was that of the killer's, and subsequently stored appropriately for future testing. Different samples could also have been retrieved from the clothing of Cheri Jo Bates and stored separately. What are the chances the killer also possessed this very rare blood group? 
Whether or not this trail of blood was tested and stored in controlled conditions, and ruled out, we may never know. But if it wasn't, then this story could possibly have had a very different ending from the one it's likely to have.
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FULL MOON MADNESS

January 18, 2018, 3:33 am
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Clik here to view. PictureJohn Franklin Hood (24)
We certainly cannot take the early victim count of the Zodiac Killer as gospel, but bearing in mind the confidence of many regarding the murders of Robert Domingos (18) and Linda Edwards (17) on June 4th 1963 as possibly the precursor to the Lake Berryessa attack, the murders of John Franklin Hood (24) and Sandra Garcia (20) on February 21st 1970 appear a little under-reported. The Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969 indicated the Zodiac Killer may have been looking for a ninth and possibly tenth victim- so bearing in mind his propensity of searching for a couple, this double murder is certainly in the correct timeframe, exactly bisecting the Melvin Belli and '13 Symbol' cipher letter on April 20th 1970. In addition, this letter would claim ten victims.
The young couple had traveled to East Beach, Santa Barbara, near East Cabrillo Boulevard on Saturday afternoon, with John telling his parents he was to spend the day with his fiancee. Sandra had informed her parents that they "wouldn't be gone long." When they didn't return home that night the families were understandably concerned.
Their bodies were discovered early Sunday morning by beachgoers, fully clothed underneath a blanket. They had been brutally beaten and stabbed, predominantly in the back and face. John Hood had been stabbed eleven times, but it appears Sandra Garcia suffered far worse, not dissimilar to the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969. Had the Zodiac Killer returned to a familiar method of execution after his venture into the heart of San Francisco, and was the Melvin Belli letter the foreboding of a man who had lost control once again. 
The Oxnard Press Courier of John Franklin's home town reported the murders on February 23rd 1970: "Oxnard Man, Fiancee Murdered Victims. Bodies Found on Beach; Man was decorated veteran John F. Hood found slain with fiancee. The brutally stabbed and beaten bodies of a highly decorated Vietnam veteran from Oxnard and his attractive fiancee were discovered Sunday on an east side Santa Barbara beach just below a cemetery. Police identified the victims as John Franklin Hood, 24. who was discharged from the Army last month with the rank of staff sergeant after a combat-filled year in Vietnam, and Sandra Garcia, 20. of Santa Barbara. Early-morning beachgoers discovered the fully-clothed bodies under a blanket and hailed a passing patrolman. Police immediately closed off the area and later gave some brief details. However, they did not release some information for what they termed was a “good reason.” Detectives have questioned relatives and friends of the victims in an effort to trace the steps that led them to that beach." 
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Clik here to view. PictureSandra Garcia (20)
Continued - Page 2 of above article: "by Oxnard police. After the bodies were moved police found a 9 inch bone-handled fish knife in the sand. Santa Barbara authorities said the knife, possibly the murder weapon, had a 4 inch blade. Hood was stabbed 11 times in the face and back. The girl had multiple stab wounds, and authorities said she was not sexually molested.
Both bodies were discovered face-down, apparently left that way to give the appearance that the victims were sleeping, authorities said. 
The Hood family drove to Santa Barbara last night to be with Sandra's parents, Mr and Mrs Cruz Garcia, 3088 Calle Pinon, who were reported under heavy sedation. The families said "they had no idea" as to what happened at the beach. There were no difficulties and neither of the victims had any enemies as far as the families knew. Police said their investigation would continue. 
The eldest of six children, Hood was born in Seattle. He came to California with his family in 1950. He attended El Rio Elementary School and graduated from Camarillo High School in June, 1965. After graduation, he worked at Wimpy's Drive-In in Oxnard and then joined the Army in January 1966. He spent two years in Germany with the 64th Armored Division after boot training in Ft. Bliss, Texas, and then returned home for leave before being sent to Vietnam. While on leave, Hood met Sandra while they were both vacationing in Tijuana, Mexico. An expert marksman, Hood was sent to Vietnam on January 6, 1969 with the 64th Armored Division. Hood was closed-mouthed about the combat-filled year he spent there and about the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and other medals he had received for valor. After returning to Oxnard, he went back to work for the drive-in eatery. Although Hood and Sandra were planning to be married, they had not set a wedding date.
Besides his parents, Hood is survived by his sisters, Mrs Linda Jean Ortiz, 19, Lauretta Ann Hood, 16, and Virginia Sue, 13; and two brothers Jerry Allen, 18, and Joseph William, 10. The elder Hood is employed with the Associated Concrete Co, Saticoy, and Mrs Hood drives a small school bus. Hood's fiancee had been an employee of the State Motor Vehicle Department in Santa Barbara. Her father is the owner of the Garcia Auto Wrecking Co, Besides her parents, she is survived by three brothers."  Oxnard Press Courier, February 23, 1970.   

February 24th 1970: "Police Hunt Pair In Twin Murders Santa Barbara. Detectives today were combing their city for two young men wanted for questioning in the vicious knife-slaying of an Oxnard Vietnam war veteran and his pretty Santa Barbara fiancee. Detectives said the pair, both in their early 20s, were seen “washing cut wounds” at an east beach area service station near where the bodies of the couple, John Franklin Hood, 23, of 460 Helsam Ave, and Sandra Garcia, 20, of 3088 Calle Pinon, Santa Barbara, were found. Witnesses told detectives the two men walked into the station about I a.m. with cut wounds they said they had received as the result of a fight in the east beach area. Detectives said one of the men had a vertical cut across the center of his forehead, extending from his hairline to an eyebrow. The other man had a wound on the back of his right hand. They were seen driving an early 1950 vintage light blue sedan with primer spots on the right side and trunk deck. Pathological tests revealed Hood and Miss Garcia were killed sometime between IO p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday. The tests were conducted by Dr. John P. Blanchard, pathologist there."  Oxnard Press Courier, February 24, 1970.   
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Early details of crimes are usually withheld, though it later became apparent the killer had murdered the young couple with a 4 inch bone-handled knife, partially buried in the sand underneath the blanket. Why the killer failed to take the knife with him can only be speculated upon.
Whether this was the Zodiac Killer venturing south to commit this double murder may never be known, but bearing in mind the murders were in the correct Zodiac timeline, the only reasonable approach with such limited information available, is to examine his following correspondence- the April 20th '13 Symbol' cipher.
This correspondence and cipher has been analyzed with a view to the code giving us a name.
However, the introduction: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is ------," leaves us with the possibility we are not looking for a name within the code, we were in fact, simply supposed to fill in the blank. Later in the communication he states "I have killed ten people to date" and "I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed."​​​ Was this a subtle clue, that we are supposed to be figuring out a date to unlock who his ninth and tenth victims were. By the sheer law of averages of his known victims, he attacked a couple 75% of the time. He also never claimed a ninth victim independently  between December 20th 1969 and April 20th 1970. 
The Zodiac Killer used symbols in his ciphers, so we will strip the '13 Symbol' cipher back to basics to attempt to uncover his intentions. He gave us three Taurus symbols and an Aries symbol reversed. He also gave us three circles.
The '13 Symbol'  cipher was mailed on April 20th, which is the exact date the star sign switches from Aries to Taurus.
The blank or white circle is the symbol for a full moon. See 1970 calendar. The astrological signs and full moon symbol are both relevant to the calendar.
The Zodiac Killer has placed the Taurus symbols within the circles- so by simple wordplay we have 'full moon in Taurus'.
The only 1970 full moon in Taurus is April 21st. If we are 'trying to figure out who he killed,'  the figure 21 isn't a bad place to start. The next thing to tackle, is the reasoning behind the Zodiac Killer giving us three full moon symbols. Because he is challenging us to discover who he killed, it isn't unreasonable to assume the three full moons play a significant part in this game. The '13 Symbol' cipher gave us the first full moon, so we will look back at the last two Zodiac events.
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One month prior, Kathleen Johns, accompanied by her 10 month old daughter Jennifer, were traveling along Highway 132, west of Modesto, en route to Petaluma, California, when her routine journey turned upside down. She was to make the near fatal mistake of stopping on a deserted highway at approximately 11.45 pm at night, ushered to the side of the road by a passing motorist, flashing his headlights and gesturing towards her 1957 Chevrolet. Believing he was indicating a fault with her vehicle, Kathleen Johns drew over to the side of the road. The man explained that her wheel appeared loose, offering to tighten it up for her, and she duly obliged. This innocent error was to begin a chain of events that are still not fully understood to this day, and have initiated countless years of debate on whether the man who approached Kathleen Johns car that fateful night was actually the Zodiac Killer, and the 'proposed madman' responsible for unleashing terror in the Bay Area of Northern California, and bringing the 'Summer of Love' into the summer of fear just two short years later.
Kathleen Johns was 'abducted' just before midnight on March 22nd 1970 and escaped at approximately 1.50-2.00 am on March 23rd 1970. March 22nd was as full moon. This is our second full moon. The third, with the figure 21 in mind, must be the date that Zodiac was asking us to "figure out". Therefore we will travel back to the previous full moon.
John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia, were not only are a couple, but a couple who were murdered under the Berryessa template, which fell on the full moon day of February 21st 1970, to give us our third full moon as depicted in the '13 Symbol' cipher. 
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/1970 
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CLOSING IN ON A KILLER

January 21, 2018, 12:00 am
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The Zodiac Killer changed his approach from Lake Herman Road to Blue Rock Springs, in that, he decided to open fire on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 while they remained seated in their vehicle. Did his plans at Lake Herman Road backfire to some extent, that forced such a change. He may have wanted more control over the victims by keeping them boxed in their vehicle. But did the weather and the actions of Michael Mageau ultimately force the Zodiac Killer into a critical mistake, when he decided to return to the 1963 brown Corvair of Darlene Ferrin, to fire off his final four shots. A choice that would inadvertently reveal the likely home location of the Zodiac Killer.
We have previously examined the possibility of a phone call being placed after the Lake Herman Road double murder, at the exact same payphone at Springs and Tuolumne, described as a 'crank call' by Pierre Bidou. It was determined, that this being the Zodiac Killer, it had the possibility of shifting the time of the Lake Herman Road murders approximately 5-6 minutes earlier than previously thought, allowing the killer to head in the direction of Vallejo before Stella Borges left her ranch and declaring that she had passed no vehicles en route. After the first two attacks the killer would be heading toward Springs Road on both occasions, turning west and heading for the payphone to place his call, before taking refuge at his residence. The early murders of a serial killer are more likely to be closer to home, before he gains in confidence and ventures further afield, placing the area around the payphone of great interest.         
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Despite the understandable sketchy recollections of Michael Mageau, he may very well be the unlikely savior here. His description of the assailant's clothing and his reflex decision to seek refuge in the back seat of the Corvair may have been the undoing of the killer.
Michael stated two things in the police report. Firstly: "Subject appeared to be short, possibly 5'8", was real heavy set, beefy build. States subject was not blubbery fat, but real beefy, possibly 195 to 200, or maybe even larger. Stated he had short curly hair, light brown, almost blond. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, blue in color. Cannot remember if it was light or dark blue."  Secondly: "States that he tried to climb over the back seat to get away from the shooting and subject kept shooting him again and again. States subject finally quit shooting him and apparently turned the gun on Dea and started shooting her again and again. States subject then turned around and started to walk back to his vehicle which still had the headlights on. Michael stated he could not tell if he meant to yell at the subject or if he just yelled from pain, but he let out some kind of yell. At this time, the subject apparently hearing him, came back to the car and shot Michael two more times, once in the back and once in the left leg. States the subject then turned the gun on Dea and shot her twice more." This final action by the killer may unwittingly have changed the course of the next 40 minutes.
The time of the year couldn't have been more different from the Lake Herman Road attack- the murders at Lake Herman Road committed in sub-zero temperatures of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, and Blue Rock Springs in very agreeable temperatures that averaged above 80 degrees Fahrenheit for much of the day, which is why the killer was described as "wearing a short-sleeved shirt, blue in color," something he was unlikely to have been wearing the night of December 20th 1968. 
It is my guess the assailant's shirt was relatively light in color, and when Michael Mageau "let out some kind of yell", it forced the killer into something he hadn't planned to do- interact closely with the crime scene. 
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At Lake Herman Road the killer shot David Faraday once in the head, and Betty Lou Jensen while she was running for her life. His contact or interaction with the Rambler and victims was kept to a minimum. This was likely his intention at Blue Rock Springs when firing through the open window of the Corvair, but Michael Mageau effectively refusing to die and letting out a yell, would inadvertently scupper his well laid plans.
The first shots at Michael Mageau struck him in the neck (facial area) and once in the shoulder, before he clambered over the seat to the rear of the vehicle, in an attempt to escape the initial barrage. The killer also fired three direct shots at Darlene Ferrin, but struck her far more. Michael Mageau would have been bleeding heavily at this point, more than likely coating the passenger seat in blood as he clambered over it to seek refuge in the rear of the vehicle. The killer after firing five shots, retreated, but after hearing Michael Mageau yell, returned to the vehicle and leaned into the open window and over the front passenger seat, in all likelihood smearing blood on his "light blue short-sleeved shirt" and arms from the top of the seat. To angle the gun, striking Michael Mageau in the lower regions, and leaving two spent casings on the rear floorboard of the Corvair, he likely had to lean a reasonable distance into the vehicle. He then delivered the final two shots into Darlene Ferrin. This final action by the killer may very well have created blood transfer to his shirt and body, and ultimately transferred it to his vehicle. The wise choice, is now, not to make his planned phone call immediately after departing the scene of the crime, exiting his vehicle and entering the payphone covered in blood, but to travel home and get cleaned up, thereby minimizing the obvious risk when placing the call.   
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Investigators must have considered the possibility of the Zodiac Killer living in the proximity of the payphone because of the time disparity of a payphone only 10 minutes from the crime scene, yet a phone call being placed 40 minutes subsequent to the attack. They must have toyed with the idea, that the killer had remained in the vicinity.
They certainly must have searched for eyewitnesses to the phone call, and likely canvassed the surrounding area. It is highly probable that they knocked on the door of the killer and chatted with him briefly. Although Michael Mageau's description of the killer and his vehicle were sketchy, they had some loose indicators to rule out certain people. The investigators probably combed the area around the payphone for a brown Corvair, or a vehicle resembling it.
Nearly one month later, the Zodiac sent three coded segments in three letters on July 31st 1969 to the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo-Times Herald, giving details of the first two crimes to prove he was the actual killer. However, the Zodiac Killer was doubted as to whether the letter writer and killer were one and the same, and Police Chief Jack E Stiltz still wanted more proof, as detailed in the Saturday August 2nd 1969 San Francisco Chronicle. He requested the writer to send a second letter "with more facts to prove it." This may have proved the perfect opportunity for the killer to switch the emphasis away from his home locality.
He created the perfect phantom witness of a "negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed," who he would not only describe in unnecessary detail, but fortunately a witness that would verify twice that Zodiac was in a car, and it was brown in color. The Zodiac Killer has never been so forthcoming. By placing himself in his vehicle, he gives the impression he could have lived anywhere, as opposed to a killer who probably walked to the payphone. The unaccounted time between the Blue Rock Springs attack and the placement of the phone call, may be indicative of a killer cleaning himself up and removing the bloodied clothing, resulting from his return to Darlene Ferrin's Corvair for the final four shots. And Michael Mageau was the trigger.   

Kim Rossmo talked about the possible home locations for the Zodiac Killer using Rigel: "There's a number of possibilities. But remember, Rancho Vallejo was possibly 26,000 people at that time, of which only 13,000 will be male, and only a certain proportion of those are of the correct age, and a certain portion of those are only going to be white. Then we start looking at the neighborhoods involved, we have a pretty small subset. Then we start combining that with some of the personal and behavioral descriptors, and then we work in the vehicle information. If this case was active today, it would not be too difficult to find this person." Apply this to a 20 minute walking radius of the payphone and you can see it's a very real avenue of investigation, if you can acquire the details of residency. Zodiac Killer-Geographic Profiling.     

See also: A Stone's Throw Away.    
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'THIS IS NOT THE ZODIAC SPEAKING' BY BILL BRIERE

January 29, 2018, 7:06 am
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"From mid-November to mid-December of 2017, well over a million U.S. viewers tuned in for each of the five episodes of The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer. It’s likely that many more will see it before the inevitable second season is announced." 
These are the opening lines of a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the Zodiac Killer docudrama, that aired on the History Channel from November 14th 2017 to December 12th 2017, authored by Bill Briere. It is an extremely well written body of work, encompassing all aspects of the chase to breathe new life into the Zodiac case, including the dogged groundwork of investigators Sal LaBarbera and Kenneth Mains, and the rather more sedentary pursuit of a team of codebreakers, working in harmony with their software sidekick Carmel. 
There are plenty of fresh insights into the Karga Seven Pictures production, exploring the balance between fact and fiction in the near half a century cold case, that has left the audience somewhat divided in anticipation for the inevitable second series. Bill would like to receive your feedback on his thought provoking Linkedin article, so follow the link provided or click the image above. This is not the Zodiac speaking.   
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THE COTTAGE ON LAKE HERMAN ROAD

February 1, 2018, 9:31 am
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The following will examine the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 independently, without the future Zodiac connection.  

Here are some excerpts from newspapers and magazines indicating David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen may have attended the Hogan High School concert.
#1. Vallejo Times-Herald December 22nd 1968: "They were to have gone to the Hogan High School Christmas music program which lasted until around 10 pm."
#2 Sunday Examiner December 22nd 1968: "Detective Sergeant Leslie Lunblad, the graying, husky officer in charge of the investigation, said there was a distinct possibility the young couple had been trailed to the murder scene from a pre-Christmas concert in Vallejo to the Lake Herman Rd, 10 miles east of here." and "The couple had attended a Christmas concert at Hogan High School in Vallejo where Bettylou was a third-year student."
#3 December 23rd 1968: "The two youths on their first date had apparently "parked" alongside the road following a Christmas concert they were attending."
#4 San Francisco Chronicle December 23rd 1968: "Sergeant Lunblad said the young couple had attended a pre-Christmas concert and then parked on a dirt road off Lake Herman Road, ten miles east of here near Benicia."

One of the first tasks in the investigation was to secure a timeline of the young couple's movements, by tracing people who attended the Hogan High School concert, and ascertain whether David or Betty Lou attended. But despite the above, there are doubts.
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#5 Vallejo Times-Herald December 23rd 1968: "Authorities are experiencing some difficulty in tracing the slain pair's whereabouts after 9 pm Friday. At approximately that hour they left the home of a close friend of the Jensen girl, but their immediate destination has not been learned. Lunblad is convinced they did not go to the Lake Herman Road trysting spot much before 11 pm." The close friend was Sharon Henslin, detailed in the police report.
#6 San Francisco Chronicle December 24th 1968: "We're getting to the point where we have times pretty well established as to the couple's movements and now we are trying to match those times with the whereabouts of possible suspects in the case." said Sheriff's Sgt Leslie B Lunblad."
#7 Vallejo News Chronicle December 26th 1968: "If you drove on any portion of Lake Herman Road east of Vallejo last Friday between 9 and 11.30 pm you may be able to help authorities capture the killer who shot to death two teenagers with a .22 caliber automatic rifle."
#8 Sunday Times-Herald March 30th 1969: "Mrs Faraday reminisced "but he hadn't done much dating- for one thing he could use the car only when I didn't need it to go to work." She is employed in the passenger reservations department at Travis Air Force Base. She said that when he did take the car for a date "he was good about observing curfews" (12.30 on Friday nights). "So I didn't think a thing about it that night. I was asleep when the phone rang at 3 am."
#9 Two Magazine excerpts:
[A] "During his many hours of investigation (Les Lunblad), the graying veteran detective sergeant learned the terrible murders on Lake Herman were the tragic end of a first date for the young couple. They had attended a pre-Christmas concert and chorale at Vallejo's Hogan High School, where pretty Betty Lou had been a student. The couple had left the school auditorium at 10.00 pm, bidding goodnight to their school chums."  
[B] "At the concert, classmates of Betty Lou noticed the couple sitting side by side in the gymnasium bleachers (retractable seats), holding hands. Nobody remembers seeing them after they left the concert."
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Here is the police report  omitting any visit to Hogan High School, but the shallow timeline to reach the turnout from Hogan High School may work in our favor.
​The Helen Axe sighting of David Faraday's Rambler in the turnout at 10.15 pm would just about tally with the couple leaving the concert at 10.00 pm on a 15 minute journey. But this sighting will come under scrutiny. 
On page 48 of the police report it states "Betty Lou brought David home to her parents at 8.00 pm on the 20th. There he met her parents and they left with their permission to go to Hogan High School and then to a party afterwards."  
On page 53 it states "Mrs Faraday stated she did not know Betty Lou that she and David had only been going together for a short time, she had never met Betty Lou. She stated she did not know of any enemies David may have had. She stated that on Friday night at 7.10 pm David drove his sister Debbie to a meeting of the Rainbow Girls at the Pythian Castle on Sonoma Boulevard, and David came back home at 7.20 pm and left again at 7.30 pm. Responding officer talked to Debbie Faraday, WFJ 16 years, sister of David. She relates the following David told her on the afternoon of Friday 12/20/68 that he was going out to Lake Herman Road that night because a bunch of the kids were going out there that night." 
If these statements were true, was there a party planned with a bunch of kids on Lake Herman Road? 
On page 34 it states "The story went on to say that David was going to turn in a subject for pushing grass (or marijuana)." This was supposed to have occurred at the Pancake House on Tennessee Street. 
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View distance from the turnout to The Cottage by clicking the image above.
Officers Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta secured a drugs bust at The Cottage on Lake Herman Road that night. Pierre Bidou stated on the 2007 documentary "During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We had left and were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by we didn't see or observe anybody in that area, there's a turn there (the crime scene turnout) and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. As I was pulling into the lot at the police department we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatcher put out a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call." https://youtu.be/HI0jnsbZwys?t=3m5s

According to the Benicia Herald online "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec 20th 1968 and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department's evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road." http://beniciaheraldonline.com/citizens-police-academy-signs-of-the-zodiac/

Several eyewitnesses passed the turnout that night and saw the Faraday Rambler. Peggy and Homer Your passed the turnout, heading for the Marshall Ranch at approximately 10.55 pm. They saw the Rambler parked up. It didn't leave the turnout again that night. For Officer Pierre Bidou to have seen no vehicles in the turnout, he must have passed prior to 10.55 pm (assuming he wasn't mistaken). There was however, a vehicle parked in the turnout between 10.15 pm and 10.30 pm. according to Helen Axe's police statement. It was stated in the police report that "Miss Axe reports that she and her boyfriend, a sailor, were driving on Lake Herman Road. They passed the area of the pumping station, she recognized the Rambler and the victims, Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. Stated that when she went by about 10.15 pm, the car was facing in towards the gate and when she returned about 15 minutes later after having gone to the end of the road and then came back, the car was turned around and the front was facing the field, a little to the side."

This however, may not have been the Rambler, and she may have replaced the vehicle she observed with the Rambler after subsequently reading newspaper reports of the double murder at the Lake Herman Road turnout, effectively jigsawing the two together. This was ably pointed out by Ray Grant in Zodiac Killer Solved. What she likely saw, was the white Chevrolet Impala described by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and Bingo Wesner, who all saw an empty 'white 4-door hardtop, 1959 or 1960 Impala' parked in the turnout at about 10.00 pm. This vehicle could have driven away shortly after 10.00 pm and been replaced by the arrival of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the Rambler at around 10.15 pm. But the vehicle shifting in position is interesting, coupled with an approximate 10.30 pm sighting of a blue 1963 Chevrolet Impala, with two occupants, at the crossroads of Lake Herman Road and Columbus Parkway by Stan, a 14 year old boy. The Helen Axe sighting and Stan's are only approximations of time, so with the journey from the turnout to Columbus Parkway taking about five minutes, this could be the same vehicle. The white Chevrolet under street lighting may have skewed the color. This again, an insightful observation by Ray Grant.
The empty white Chevrolet Impala was spotted by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and Bingo Wesner at 10.00 pm. The two occupants returned at approximately 10.30 pm and started to turn the vehicle to exit the turnout. At this precise moment Helen Axe passed the turnout heading in the direction of Vallejo, and noticed the vehicle had shifted its position. Once Helen Axe had passed the turnout, the white Chevrolet Impala followed behind.
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We don't know exactly when the Chevrolet Impala arrived at the turnout. It was spotted at 10.00 pm. However, William Crow and his girlfriend were parked in the turnout earlier.
The police report stated "he was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed. They did not attempt to gain on him, but when they got to the turn off towards Benicia, William Crow turned towards Benicia and the other car went straight ahead. The subjects were both Caucasians and there is no further identification on the car or the subjects." 
William Crow and his girlfriend were estimated to have been on Lake Herman Road between 9.30 pm and 10.00 pm.

William Crow would later claim he never said "blue valiant." In a revised offering he said "I could not see the passenger seat, but the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not see his specific facial features. I never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting to describe the car, the sheriff came up with a “Valiant”. In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored Chevy."  He couldn't see the passenger seat, so it could have been another man, a woman, or a single occupant.  
Was this the four-door white Chevrolet Impala described by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and Bingo Wesner. After effectively 'removing' William Crow from the turnout, and assuming this was the same vehicle as observed by the above three eyewitnesses, did it then park in the turnout shortly before 10.00 pm. 
The two occupants vacate their Chevrolet Impala just before 10.00 pm and return at 10.30 pm, when spotted turning their vehicle by Helen Axe at 10.30 pm, or thereabouts. 
But where would the two occupants have gone for 30-35 minutes on an extremely cold 22 degrees Fahrenheit night? You would think that the occupants were determined in their goal, or desperate. We are therefore looking for an approximate 10-12 minute journey either way, that necessitated them leaving their vehicle in the turnout. The Marshall Ranch was just up the road, but one would assume the occupants of the ranch would have been questioned, not withstanding the fact, that if the occupants of the Chevrolet were visiting the Marshall Ranch at 10.00 pm at night, they would likely have arranged in advance for their ease of entrance to be accommodated. The Cottage, however, is exactly 10 minutes walking distance from the turnout, and the turnout is the nearest accessible parking area to The Cottage. 'The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia,' so it may have been gated or secured that night by either the city, or the occupants of The Cottage, requiring the search warrant for entry by Officers Bidou and Armenta. Which may have been why the occupants of the Chevrolet had to park their vehicle at the closest point. Either that, or they didn't want their vehicle being seen by The Cottage when buying their drugs. After all, police 'confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust.' 
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Russell Butterbach of the Solano County Sheriff's Department and his partner Wayne Waterman were just heading onto Lake Herman Road, when they received a call from the sergeant to go to the Hells Angels pad on Warren Avenue, Vallejo. After approximately 30 minutes they then received a double 187 on Lake Herman Road.
Were the drugs at The Cottage connected in any way to Warren Avenue. 
The two occupants left their Chevrolet in the turnout slightly before 10.00 pm, walked the 10 minutes to The Cottage and bought their drugs. They spent 5-10 minutes at The Cottage, before the 10 minute journey back to their vehicle around 10.25-10.30 pm. But what if they had a conversation with an undetermined number of people at The Cottage, stating they were parked down the road in the turnout and were heading back? They left the 'drugs party' at approximately 10.15 pm, and shortly thereafter, the police rolled up to The Cottage securing 'about a pound and a half of marijuana.' The two dealers are hauled off to Benicia Police Department by Officers Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, leaving a scattered crowd. The two officers pass the turnout heading back to Benicia sometime around 10.45 pm.
"We had left and were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by we didn't see or observe anybody in that area, there's a turn there (the crime scene turnout) and your headlights shine right in there as you go by."  The Chevrolet has now gone, but...
David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen pull into the turnout shortly after, and within 25 minutes both are dead.

The crime was eventually attributed to a 'crazed maniac' serial killer, who belatedly owned up to the double murder nearly seven months later. The person may have been 'crazed' that night, but was it because they had been party to a 'big drugs bust', and were looking for revenge. They recalled the two occupants heading back to the turnout just minutes before the police arrived. Did they eventually head to the pitch-black turnout, seeing two occupants parked up, before committing the brutal double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in error, that ultimately initiated the birth, of who we now know as the Zodiac Killer.
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PRESIDIO HEIGHTS-THE FINAL DESTINATION

February 8, 2018, 1:20 am
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Here is a portion of the charter for taxicabs and sedans 'Drivers of taxicabs and sedans shall keep an accurate waybill specifically setting forth the time of hire and discharge, the number of passengers, the origin and destination and the charges authorized and made for each trip.' It is believed Paul Stine was returning back to the theater district after dropping off a passenger at the San Francisco International Airport, when he received his final dispatch from the assistant traffic manager of the Yellow Cab Company, Leroy Sweet. The police report stated "the last dispatch given the victim was at 9:45 pm to 500 9th Ave. apt. #1. Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm. R/Os noted that the meter of the cab was running, indicating that the victim possibly picked up another fare (suspect) en route to his original assignment."
The language used, that 'the victim possibly picked up another fare (suspect) en route to his original assignment' seems to suggest that the exact location of Zodiac entering the taxicab has not been pinned down, despite the charter indicating the origin of the fare be noted. Investigators took a reading of the taxicab meter at 10.46 pm and calculated the Zodiac likely entered the taxicab somewhere in or close to Union Square.     
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The attack on Paul Stine was specified as 9.55 pm in the police report- this being the time the three teenagers first spotted the taxicab outside their window. We actually don't know how long it was sitting there prior to the eyewitness testimony, but we will estimate 9.54-9.55 pm. 
The journey time from Union Square, traveling through in excess of thirty intersections to Washington and Cherry Street, is approximated on Google maps as 12 minutes. However, the taxicab, on a busy Saturday night, would have arrived in 9-10 minutes had Leroy Sweet's 9.45 pm statement been accurate. Leroy Sweet directed Paul Stine to a fare on 500 9th Avenue, and the assumption was, that somewhere en route the Zodiac Killer flagged down the taxicab.
​It seems unlikely that Paul Stine would stop for a random customer on the off chance he was going in roughly the same direction. If you pulled up and the person stated he was going in the opposite direction, do you just simply say sorry, and drive off. It is more likely that your taxicab is stationary when your potential fare approaches, just as your receiving the dispatch from Leroy Sweet to proceed to 500 9th Avenue. Then, upon hearing a destination of Washington and Cherry, it makes perfect sense to accommodate the pedestrian, as you are traveling in that direction anyway. A 9-10 minute journey is possible, but it's a tight timeline.
Then we factor in another statement in the police report: "Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm."  Even if we take this journey at 10 minutes, Paul Stine has to drop this passenger off, and then proceed to 500 9th Avenue, which is a further journey time of 5 minutes from the Washington and Cherry intersection. Trimming this down to 4 minutes, and allowing for the previous passenger to pay and vacate the vehicle, we have a minimum journey time to 500 9th Avenue from Union Square of 14 minutes, and that is a stretch. From a starting point of 9.45 pm, this should have Paul Stine reaching 500 9th Avenue at 9.59 pm. Yet, reading between the lines, Leroy Sweet is already reassigning this fare to another taxicab at 9.58 pm. How did Leroy Sweet conclude that Paul Stine was somehow late?          
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Unless, Paul Stine wasn't approaching the theater district when he got the radio message to proceed to 500 9th Avenue- but was well into his journey to Washington and Cherry, and Zodiac was already seated in the rear of the taxicab, having entered the vehicle several minutes before.
If this were the case, and Leroy Sweet knew that Paul Stine was much closer to 500 9th Avenue than Union Square or thereabouts, then it could be argued that he would reallocate the fare to another taxicab, that wouldn't be justified after just 13 minutes (9.58 pm minus 9.45 pm). Even if Leroy Sweet thought that Paul Stine was 5 minutes overdue, then he would have been expecting Paul Stine to reach 500 9th Avenue by 9.53 pm, which is an impossible journey time on Saturday night of 8 minutes from Union Square.  
This could indicate that Leroy Sweet knew that Paul Stine was proceeding west, towards Washington and Cherry, when he gave Paul Stine the 9.45 pm dispatch. But even this, hardly  explains the impatience of reallocating another taxicab to the aforementioned destination. 
The simplest answer could be, that Leroy Sweet dispatched Paul Stine at 9.35 pm, not 9.45 pm. thereby justifying any perceived impatience on his part, however, this turns the journey time of Paul Stine from Union Square to the Washington and Cherry Street intersection, into a 20 minute journey, which is now too long. Unless something happened along the way? Something that takes the focus away from the crime scene.   
These are the details regarding the taxicab meter reading taken from a previous post.
The rates of fare for taxicabs and sedans shall be as follows: Fifty-five Cents (55c) for the first one-fifth mile or "flag": Ten Cents (10c) for each additional one-fifth mile or fraction thereof: Ten Cents (10c) for each one and one fourth minutes of waiting or traffic delay time.
'The police report stated that Paul Stine's taxicab meter read $6.25 at exactly 10.46 pm. So using the taxicab meter charges here, we can backtrack and calculate the approximate pick-up point from the last known movements of Paul Stine heading back from San Francisco International Airport.
The time of the murder was specified as 9.55 pm, so by the time the meter was read at 10.46 pm, the meter had been running idle for 51 minutes. We know that it's 10c for each one and one fourth minutes (1.25) of waiting or traffic delay time. So we can discover the charge the idle taxicab ran up for these 51 minutes. (51 divided by 1.25) = 40.8. Multiplied by 10c = 4 dollars and 8 cents. The investigators deducted this from the $6.25 to give us $2.17. This calculation however, did not include any idle time en route from the proposed theater district to the intersection of Washington and Cherry. But we shall assume it negligible, as they have done. 
We know it is 55c for the first one-fifth mile. So the taxicab meter would be operating effectively from $2.17 minus 55c thereafter ($2.17 minus 55c) = $1.62. So to calculate the distance traveled we have to use the taxicab meter charges of 10c for each additional one-fifth mile or fraction thereof.  
$1.62 divided by 10c = 16.2 miles. But it is for one-fifth of a mile, so 16.2 divided by 5 = 3.24 miles traveling distance. But again, this is not factoring in any delays en route, in accordance with the History Channel calculations.
The crucial part is the 55c for the first one-fifth mile or "flag." The taxicab should be reading 55c after one-fifth of mile (0.2 miles) is achieved. Therefore, this should be added on to the 3.24 miles, to give us 3.44 miles traveling distance. This would, without any delays en route (not factored in by the History Channel), take us a little further away from Washington and Cherry.'
But these calculations are a fragile balance. What if the idle time above was 61 minutes in total, instead of 51 minutes, and Leroy Sweet's 9.45 pm, was in fact 9.35 pm. This makes the journey time from Union Square to Washington and Cherry, 20 minutes. This could be 10 minutes with the taxicab in motion, and 10 minutes parked up anywhere en route.
Below are two parks, the accessibility at night in 1969 I have no idea. These two parks, Lafayette and Alta Plaza, would not take the taxicab off route, and could have been used (holding the taxicab driver under gunpoint) by either entering or parking alongside, to execute Paul Stine. The murderer could take 10 minutes, or anytime up to 10 minutes to shoot the taxicab driver and remove a piece of shirt, before taking control of the vehicle and driving it to Washington and Cherry, accidentally or mistakenly parking the taxicab one block further west to the destination he gave as Washington and Maple- the one recorded on the trip sheet. This could explain the lack of gunshot and the assumed confidence displayed by the killer in removing the shirt piece at the crime scene- because he had already acquired it. He may have began to leave the crime scene, but returned via the front passenger door to recover the keys he had touched, wiped the steering wheel, driver side compartment, before leaving and wiping down both exterior doors. The three teenagers pick up the story once he has entered the front passenger door. This may seem unlikely, but a simpler variation of this is certainly possible. 
One has to remember though, that any extra idle time can dramatically affect the potential origin or pick up point of the Zodiac Killer. The taxicab sitting idle for an extra, let's say, 3 minutes somewhere along the route, will have a marked effect.   
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If we add the 3 minutes extra idle time to 51 minutes, to give us 54 minutes, the traveling distance backwards from Washington and Cherry would drop from the 3.44 miles calculated above, to 2.96 miles. That is approximately half a mile. Then, if we throw any more waiting time, explained in the charges above, the distance traveled by the taxicab diminishes even further, making the calculations used to determine where the taxicab picked up Zodiac, an extremely inaccurate affair.
However, this 2.96 miles, is closer to the 3.00 miles from Mason and Geary to the crime scene, as calculated by Google maps, than the 3.44 miles calculated above. Without knowing the exact 'traffic delay time' experienced during Paul Stine's final journey, we cannot say with any confidence that the taxicab parked up along the route to Washington and Cherry. However, we can say that, if this was the method employed to discover the location of where Zodiac entered the taxicab, it could be massively off. If we assume that Paul Stine was heading back to the theater district after leaving San Francisco International Airport, and Leroy Sweet gave the heading of 500 9th Avenue at 9.45 pm, then we are back to where we started.    
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THREE VEHICLES IN THE TURNOUT?

February 10, 2018, 10:46 am
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The assailant at Blue Rock Springs Park walked up to the brown Corvair and immediately opened fire. The perpetrator at Lake Berryessa, not wanting to open fire at 6.15 pm with potential eyewitnesses in the area, secured both victims before stabbing them. In his final confirmed act at Presidio Heights, the killer callously executed Paul Stine with one shot to the head  However, the first confirmed crime at Lake Herman Road was altogether different.
If the responsible was embarking on a life as a serial killer, beginning with Lake Herman Road, why didn't he simply employ the method he used in his second attack, where all nine bullets struck their target. Whether he knew that people were in the area that night, or was just lucky in finding a slender timeline between eyewitnesses, may never be known, but if we assume this was the beginning of his quest for immortality as the Zodiac Killer, one would assume he would take less risks. 
Firstly, we have to question why he supposedly parked alongside the right of the Rambler, furthest from the road. Wouldn't a more calculated and foolproof strategy been, to have parked to the rear of the Rambler, effectively boxing the couple into the turnout. Secondly, the killer fired off 10 shots that night, with only 6 striking their target. It has been speculated the killer fired off an array of warning shots, two that struck the vehicle, and possibly one or two into the air. But why? The purpose of the 'exercise', as it was at Blue Rock Springs Park, was to murder the couple. The assailant could simply have shot both victims through the passenger side window, or shot them the instant the passenger door opened.           
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Yes, this was an isolated road, but with residences within earshot and limited escape routes, the killer wasted valuable time by firing off warning shots before the murders. 
Investigators believed the couple were effectively forced out of the vehicle before being shot- but for what purpose?. According to most observers, the Zodiac Killer's actions were not that of a sadist- his murders being secondary to his primary goal- that of publicity from the crimes he committed and his incessant contact with the newspapers.
One could argue, that if the killer ushered David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the Rambler, he did so for a reason.
A sexual motive and robbery were soon ruled out, but this may not necessarily have been the case. 
One of the first responding officers on December 20th 1968 was Russell Butterbach. He stated in the 2007 Zodiac documentary "that's where he found out about the ring (David Faraday's class ring). I noticed he had it like this (gesturing that David Faraday was holding it between his finger and thumb), holding it like somebody was trying to take it from him."
Then we have the final eyewitness, before the victims were spotted lying on the turnout floor by Stella Medeiros. 
James Owen passed the turnout on his way to Humble Oil in Benicia, and stated in the police report "He definitely saw two cars, a station wagon and another vehicle, parked approximately three or four feet to the right of the station wagon. He did not see anyone in the cars or around them." Several minutes later both victims were discovered dead in the turnout.
James Owen never mentioned the Rambler door being open. So, if the killer had closed the Rambler door and forced the couple out of sight, behind the Rambler, as James Owen passed, why did somebody reopen the passenger door likely after shooting both David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, later to be observed by investigators at the crime scene (courtesy of Ray Grant). Was the perpetrator looking for valuables, drugs or money, and had David Faraday earlier, begun the process of loosening his class ring to offer to the assailant. An action that angered the perpetrator, resulting in the close quarter execution to the left side of his head.​ 
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The killer could have parked to the rear of the Rambler, illuminating it using his headlights, and in the process, boxing it into the turnout. Then, without the need for a pencil flashlight strapped to his gun, that he claimed in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, he could have executed the couple within their vehicle as he did at Blue Rock Springs Park. The loose class ring on the hand of David Faraday, the passenger door being open, and the need to usher the couple out of the Rambler by force, using several warning shots, could indicate that the individual or individuals wanted the couple out of the vehicle for a reason. Either to confront them, or rob them.
In a previous article we explored the idea of a connection between the white Chevrolet Impala, the drugs bust at The Cottage and the arrival of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen shortly thereafter. Could the killer have opened the Rambler passenger door looking for the recently purchased drugs, in a case of mistaken identity, connected with the Chevrolet Impala. See here. 
Many eyewitnesses gave their accounts of that night, apart from the occupant/s of the Chevrolet Impala and the 'pursuer/s' of William Crow (assuming they were separate). I wonder why?
But there was another rarely mentioned vehicle on Lake Herman Road that night, that passed the turnout only 3 1/2 minutes before James Owen heard a shot pierce the night. James Owen in his statement on the 24th December 1968 stated "just before he approached the scene a vehicle passed him in the opposite direction towards Vallejo. This occurred near the Borges Ranch."  The Borges Ranch is 1.5 miles from the turnout, or about 3 minutes journey time traveling at 30 mph.
Had this vehicle been in the turnout prior to James Owen passing it, meaning that two vehicles were in the turnout, as well as the Rambler, but when things turned sour, the occupant/s of this vehicle decided to leave and head towards Vallejo. Or was this just an innocent motorist, unaware of the unfolding events that night. Either way, the occupant/s of this vehicle never came forward to report seeing the Rambler and another vehicle alongside, in the turnout, to add validity to the sighting of James Owen. Did they fear being implicated, or more importantly, did they know the killer?  
What may have begun as a 'confrontation' that descended into murder, may ultimately have morphed into something completely different, some six and a half months later. The killer may not have created the Zodiac, he may have evolved into him, 'mesmerized' by the newspaper coverage he received after the Lake Herman Road double murder..        
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THE LAKE BERRYESSA GREETING CARD

February 14, 2018, 5:23 am
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The 'Dripping Pen' greeting card and cipher were purportedly mailed virtually alongside the 'Bus Bomb' letter, on November 8th and November 9th 1969 respectively. The postmark on the 'Dripping Pen' card envelope is less than clear in many reproductions, but there may be a better version available somewhere online. However, there is something rather out of place regarding this Zodiac communication, particularly when one compares it to the 'Bus Bomb' letter postmarked just one day later.   
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The Zodiac wrote his victim count using months of the year: "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7," but in his next 'Bus Bomb' communication he adds "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people. I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me. So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. When I committ my murders, they shall look like routine robberies, killings of anger, + a few fake accidents, etc."
Why is the killer informing us he has killed seven people up to the end of October, when he has made this plainly obvious in the 'Dripping Pen' card by addition of the last entry as "Oct," meaning October. If the Zodiac Killer had murdered anybody in November, then surely the total would be 8 victims, with November added to the list of months. The killer further states "I though(t) you would nead a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet." But we didn't hear of any bad news before he mailed the Melvin Belli letter on December 20th 1969, or for months thereafter. 
This may be because we had already heard the bad news, and the 'Dripping Pen' card was intended to be mailed slightly over a month earlier.
Mail can go astray from mailing to being postmarked, however, that avenue will not be explored here.
It seemed unusual for two such prominent communications to be sent either in tandem, or one day apart. The Zodiac Killer had obviously invested a lot of time crafting a new and innovative cipher, after becoming aware his first cipher had been cracked in a matter of days, and announced in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 9th 1969. So, after investing time and energy into his new masterpiece, it seemed strange he would take the shine and emphasis away from this new cipher, by tying it alongside the rather lengthy 'Bus Bomb' letter about the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969 and his exploits in the park.
The 'Dripping Pen' card and cipher could have been mailed two weeks later to maximize impact. The context and choice of card, if chosen for purpose, also makes little sense. The message on the purchased greetings card read "Sorry I haven't written, but I just washed my pen."  The Zodiac Killer, however, had written only 27 days earlier, when he mailed the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter containing the swatch of bloodied shirt. The supposed bad news we were supposed to get also never materialized, and in addition, he would repeat the month of October just one day later, reminding us of seven victims claimed, as if our attention span only lasted 24 hours. All these factors place this correspondence and its contents curiously out of place. ​
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We will attempt to put this card chronologically in its rightful place, where its contents can be understood. 
The wording "Sorry I haven't written, but I just washed my pen,"​ if this card was chosen carefully, seems to imply the killer had not written to the newspapers for a while-  longer than 27 days.
The Zodiac Killer prior to the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter, had not written to the newspapers since August 4th 1969, when the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner. That is over two months. It is longer regarding the San Francisco Chronicle, of over 10 weeks. This card now makes more sense. But why would the dripping pen (possibly red in color) be relevant to the Zodiac. 
On September 27th 1969, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were enjoying a pleasant picnic at Lake Berryessa when a knife-wielding man approached wearing an theatrical executioners costume, brutally stabbing the young couple 16 times in their back and abdomen. The assailant's hand or glove would have been covered in blood. Minutes later he wrote on the car door with a pen: Vallejo 12-20-68, 7-4-69, Sept 27-69 -6:30 by knife.
The pen would have been covered with blood. What better time to ironically proclaim in your next correspondence "Sorry I haven't written, but I just washed my pen," as if to imply he was the responsible for the callous attack and murder of Cecelia Shepard just days earlier, and was washing the blood from his pen. The author of the 'Dripping Pen' card further added "Could you print this new cipher in your frunt page? I get aufully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my Thing."
The Zodiac Killer, like most serial killers, don't have horns growing from their head- they go largely unnoticed and blend into society. The Zodiac Killer was certainly searching for notoriety, as opposed to the loneliness he experienced in everyday life. What better way, than to dress up in an executioners costume and do his "thing." 
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The 'Dripping Pen' card would sit nicely between the Lake Berryessa attack and the murder of Paul Stine, had it been mailed sometime around September 30th 1969. The text on the card would then make further sense in respect to the month of October and the wording "I though(t) you would nead a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet."
The seventh victim was to become Paul Stine (or another taxicab driver) in San Francisco. He had already earmarked his next murder, and this was the "bad news" we were soon to receive. The addition of the month of October was the precursor to death, and unlike his previous attacks where he had to search out victims- in San Francisco they would literally come to him.
But why wasn't the 'Dripping Pen' card mailed after the Lake Berryessa attack?, assuming the communication didn't go astray from posting to postmark.
The Zodiac Killer likely had his ego dented after Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden cracked his 408 cipher in a matter of days. He may have began developing his more challenging cipher immediately in response, or at the very least sometime in August or September. 
The Zodiac Killer chose the greetings card in respect to the Lake Berryessa stabbings, for which he could have then attached his cipher and mailed it. But something changed.
​Did he want to revise or add to his cipher to incorporate the attack by the lake? Some have suggested the cipher may have been separated into two halves. Did the killer originally encipher a banal message, much like his original code, and wanted to completely redesign it. The intended murder at Presidio Heights was looming, and the killer was planning ahead. The cipher and card may have been placed on the back-burner. 
On October 11th 1969, taxicab driver Paul Stine was murdered in Presidio Heights. The killer mailed a piece of the taxicab driver's shirt two days later, and followed up with more details on November 9th 1969 about his excursion into the park. 
In between the October 13th 1969 Stine letter and November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter, the killer may have finalized his cipher, unable to replace the 'Dripping Pen' greeting card with an identical or relevant card, and with the Lake Berryessa attack cooling, mailed off both communications in unison. He stated we wouldn't "get the news for a while yet," totally negating the message he delivered one day later, that "I shall no longer announce to anyone when I committ my murders." Seemed like a quick change of heart. The card choice still made sense to him, if not us at this juncture, but the message inside now appeared chronologically repetitive in respect to the 'Bus Bomb' letter and the intended "bad news" had already occurred, although not apparent to the reader, so the threat still remained. 
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SIX FEET AWAY AND JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT

February 15, 2018, 5:46 am
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The description of the assailant's vehicle at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969 by Michael Mageau is probably deemed by most observers to be unreliable at best. The vehicle on page 1 of the police report lists Corvair-Mustang as an option.
In a prominent newspaper article Michael Mageau described the vehicle as a "1958 or 1959 Falcon. The color was brown or bronze." 
The poliice report on page 8 describes the vehicle five minutes before the shooting: "Dea turned the lights and motor off and had the radio playing. They were there just a very short time, a few minutes, and three cars pulled into the parking lot where they were. They were apparently young kids and they heard some laughing and carrying on and a few firecrackers were set off, then the three vehicles left within a short time. This was just a short space of time, a few minutes. Shortly after this and about 5 minutes before the shooting occurred, a vehicle pulled into the lot, coming from the direction of Springs Road and Vallejo. The driver turned the lights off on the car and pulled around to the left or east side of their car, approximately 6 or 8 feet away and sat there for a minute. He asked Dea if she knew who it was and she stated 'Oh, never mind'."  He added "He could not see the car too clearly, however the shape of the car looked similar to the car that Dea owns, a Corvair. He could not see the color or anything as it was too dark out there".  
On page 9 the vehicle returns: "Five minutes later the vehicle pulled up approximately 10 feet behind and to the right side of Dea's car. The vehicle's lights were left on and the subject got out and walked toward the car. He had a large high-powered flashlight, the kind you carry with a handle. He only saw the rear portion of it (as it left the crime scene), this rear part appearing to be a vehicle similar to or the same type as Dea's car, a Corvair. Also a very similar color, possibly a little bit lighter brown."
Although sketchy, he refers to the vehicle looking similar to Darlene Ferrin's Corvair on both occasions- but clearly, that doesn't mean it was.   
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This crime has been constantly referenced as the most likely of the four Zodiac attacks to have not been chosen at random, in regards to Darlene Ferrin. The suggestion being, that the murderer of five took the time to blend some 'personal business' into his random killings. The strange phone calls on July 5th 1969 testament to this fact. However, many disagree with the notion that the murderer of Darlene Ferrin knew his victim.
One cannot deny that there were unexplained events at Lake Herman Road prior to the murders. Some will claim an absolute conviction of exactly what transpired on December 20th 1968, above all others. This is not possible- unless you were there.
There were several pertinent vehicles (at least three) in the run up to the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, with an unknown number of occupants who failed to come forward in the ensuing police investigation. There may or may not be an innocent explanation for their failure to do so- as could be said of Blue Rock Springs, if the second vehicle observed by Michael Mageau was independent of the first.
​Why would a stalker of Darlene Ferrin target the passenger side of the brown Corvair where Michael Mageau was sitting, having supposedly already driven up to the driver side of the Corvair only 5 minutes earlier. Why target Mageau at all?
Darlene Ferrin was struck 5 times directly, and Michael Mageau 4 times, of whom, most people believe received the initial two shots fired that night. The killer then retreated and returned, shooting both victims twice more. Once Michael Mageau had been shot twice and had retreated to the rear of the vehicle, with Darlene Ferrin completely disabled in the driver seat, there was little further threat from the male. On the face of it, both or neither appeared to be the primary target that night.
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The first vehicle pulled up on the left side of the Corvair and apparently extinguished its headlights. The Blue Rock Springs parking lot was totally empty at this point, so this act could understandably be perceived as unnerving and suspicious. If there was any time to primarily target Darlene Ferrin, or the couple, this was it. With the passenger side window down and parked alongside, it would have have taken literally seconds to lean out of your window, taking aim at the driver side of the Corvair from distance, and in addition, would have negated any risk of blood transfer. Leaving the vehicle via the passenger side, a matter of seconds more.
The act of driving away to survey Columbus Parkway for vehicles (suggested by some) and then returning back to the parking lot, leaves you in the identical position before you left, therefore makes little sense as an explanation to why the vehicle departed and returned 5 minutes later. 
It has been speculated as to whether the couple were followed to the parking lot that night. Michael Mageau stated that after they parked up "Dea turned the lights and motor off and had the radio playing. They were there just a very short time, a few minutes, and three cars pulled into the parking lot where they were. They were apparently young kids and they heard some laughing and carrying on and a few firecrackers were set off, then the three vehicles left within a short time."
Where was the supposed vehicle trailing them to the parking lot? Had somebody followed them, surely they would have been present in the parking lot just after the couple parked up and before the young kids arrived, but Michael Mageau mentioned nobody else at this juncture, other than the young kids letting firecrackers off. The vehicle that pulled alongside them arrived at least five minutes after Darlene Ferrin first parked up. If this was the vehicle supposedly following them, the driver would presumably have parked alongside them, in the few minutes before the young kids arrived. 
Robert Graysmith stated in his book that after Darlene picked up Michael, the young man uttered the words "we're being followed." Darlene sped off towards Blue Rock Springs. The car raced behind them at full speed. Darlene kept turning to lose the stranger. When they arrived in the parking lot, they sat in the parking lot only a moment, when the other auto, similar in design to the Corvair, pulled up alongside them. This is fiction.
There was no mention of them being chased in the police report, and apparently the kids letting off firecrackers had now mysteriously evaporated from the timeline.    
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If the two vehicles observed by Michael Mageau were one and the same, occupied by the Zodiac Killer, are we to believe he departed the parking lot to retrieve his weapon- the killing tool integral to his other three attacks- and this crime was simply spur of the moment. If this were the case, what was he doing lurking in a parking lot at midnight unprepared in the first instance, if not for pre-planned ill intent. If already armed, leaving and returning makes little sense- his time is now.
In five minutes, the vehicle parked alongside the Corvair, assuming the Zodiac Killer didn't travel home to retrieve the weapon he already should have had, apparently is leaving and returning for no purpose other than hesitation. Unless the Zodiac Killer had second thoughts, which seems unlikely, one could assert the vehicle that parked alongside the Corvair five minutes prior to the attack is incidental and irrelevant to the murder that night- only becoming a vehicle of note because of what transpired a few minutes later. Michael Mageau's recollection of the vehicle, bearing in mind what he had endured during the attack, may have become more suspicious in his mind when he recounted the night's events at Kaiser Hospital.
Could Michael Mageau's description of the vehicle driving away after the attack been subconsciously transferred to the first vehicle, which had now moved suspiciously within 6 or 8 feet of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair, with extinguished headlights. The 'innocent' motorist observed in the parking lot on July 4th 1969 had suddenly become integral to the story that night, with imagination the key driver.
The same could be said of James Owen on Lake Herman Road. In his first statement to police he recalled that "he saw two cars parked near the entrance to the pumping station. He stated the car parked nearest was a 1955 or 1956 station wagon, boxy type, neutral in color. The other was parked to the right and abreast of the station wagon. The cars were about ten feet apart. He stated he could not give a description of the make or color of the other car."
In his second statement, the vehicles had closed up to a menacing 3-4 feet, with a shot now being heard about a quarter of a mile beyond the turnout. 
The story of July 4th 1969 would be far simpler without the first vehicle 'appearing suspicious', but to move it further away from brown Corvair, with the headlights switched on, as inferred, could also be construed as imagination, which leaves us back to where we started. 
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THE HUNT FOR ZODIAC BY MIKE RODELLI

February 16, 2018, 12:56 am
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Mike Rodelli, an avid Zodiac researcher and regular contributor to the Zodiackillersite forum has recently released a book examining Kjell Qvale as the notorious Zodiac Killer. Entitled 'The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer-The Hunt for Zodiac,' it is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of every aspect of the Zodiac crimes from the perspective of his suspect, as well as a valuable resource on the case as a whole.
Kjell Qvale was a Norwegian-American business executive born in Trondheim, Norway on July 7th 1919, who established a business in San Francisco and resided near the final confirmed Zodiac murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. He lived at 3636 Jackson Street, a residence that overlooked the Presidio Park, and the last place Zodiac was observed heading by eyewitnesses reported in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12th 1969. The Zodiac would eventually seize his moment and escape from the park as the motorcycles were circling. But did he escape from West Pacific Avenue via the gate to the rear of 3634 Jackson Street and view the unfolding events from the safety of his home.
To answer these pertinent questions and many more about Kjell Qvale being the infamous Zodiac Killer, follow the link provided.   
Amazon books- 'The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer-The Hunt for Zodiac'.
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THE HEAD OF THE CROSS

February 19, 2018, 11:40 am
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In many previous articles it was considered whether the Zodiac Killer murdered with religious motivation, from his references to paradise and the afterlife, to a numerical system buried deep within his cards and ciphers. The numbers 888 and 444 were integral to this hypothesis. In Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus, or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. In English numerology 444 represents Jesus, based upon a multiplication factor of 6.   
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Numbers are attributed to the alphabet (see right). However, with this system everything is multiplied by six. A (6), B (12), C (18) etc
JESUS is therefore 60+30+114+126+114= 444. But things may not have been so straightforward with the Zodiac Killer.
Here is a quick recap of the story so far.
Peek Through the Pines. 
After the abduction and likely murder of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed two cards. The first was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970- notable for the number 13, with a cross pasted underneath.
The second was the 'Halloween' card with the number 14 written as 4-TEEN, with a skeleton underneath, in the style of Jesus being crucified on the cross. In both instances, a number written at the top of the cross or crucified form. 
When Jesus was crucified, the letters INRI were affixed at the top of the cross above his head: 'Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum'' meaning ''Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.'' Bearing this in mind, we shall consider why the Zodiac Killer decided to write 4-TEEN instead of fourteen or 14. There surely must be a reason.
Switching back to '13 Hole' postcard, we will place CROSS (a symbol of Christianity) into the code above using the factor of 6 again: 
CROSS = 18+108+90+114+114 = 444, exactly the same as Jesus. Could this link our two cards together. 
JESUS and CROSS together equal 888, reminiscent of the numbers contained within the '13 Symbol' cipher, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 20th 1970.. 
One has to ask- why would the Zodiac Killer paste a cross on the '13 Hole' postcard in red, if not the suggestion of a bloodied crucifix. 
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Was the murderer of five likening himself to Jesus Christ, the savior of souls for the afterlife. The thirteen eyes representing 13 souls he was allegedly claiming, looking at the crucified form of Jesus Christ or a potential fourteenth victim. This was after all a Halloween Card:
Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of All Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween,  All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Taken from Wikipedia.
​The problem we have with the 'Halloween' card, is that the Zodiac Killer has already given us one number- the number 4. This is not present in the system of coding above, based on a factor of 6. So, we will return to basics, where A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4 etc.
4-TEEN = 4- 20+5+5+14 = 4-44, to give us the figure 444 over the crucified form, or Jesus.
This now is in tandem with INRI representing Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, Prophesy! And the guards took him and beat him. - Mark 14:65

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