ZODIAC CIPHERS - Zodiac News

Armond Pelissetti (2007)

Here we will take another look at the timeline of Presidio Heights from the perspective of Armond Pelissetti, to show how incredibly tight the whole affair is. We will use the police report from the following morning and the claims of Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 Zodiac documentary to create the only viable timeline based on what has been stated. These are their words, not mine.
Armond Pelissetti received the police dispatch at approximately 9.58 pm and likely exited his police car at around 9.59 pm- at which point one of the Robbins kids, who spotted Zodiac in and around the taxicab that night- pointed out to Armond Pelissetti that Zodiac was approaching the intersection of Jackson and Cherry Street. This being the case, then Zodiac is at this intersection at 9.59 pm. Armond Pelissetti then ushered the children across the street to their residence. He then proceeded back to the taxicab and checked the status of Paul Stine, stating in the documentary he was 99% sure the taxicab driver was deceased. He then retook the description from the children and was now aware it was a white male adult, so "couldn't get to the radio fast enough" to inform the other officers of the amended description. He then likely set off up Cherry.
These were his exact words in the 2007 documentary:"it was then I was told it was a white male, I couldn't get to the radio fast enough at that point to let everybody else know. The kids had told me whoever had done this crime had left the cab, went out the door and seemed to be wiping the cab down and reaching into the cab and ambling or walking down Cherry Street in a northerly direction, kind of towards the Presidio. I walked that way myself, I did not run because there are innumerable alcoves and parked cars, so I went down following every technique I knew so I didn't get my head blown off."
Nobody knows for sure how long all these actions took, but a bare minimum of 2 minutes spent at the crime scene seems a reasonable estimate. This would have Armond Pelissetti beginning his journey north on Cherry Street at 10.01 pm.

This timeline has Armond Pelissetti arriving at Jackson and Maple at 10.06 pm, allowing him enough time to return back the the crime scene.

Now we shall flip the timeline backwards using two points of reference. The first is from the police report countersigned by Armond Pelissetti on October 12th 1969. It stated "P.E.H. ambulance #82 responded, steward Dousette, victim was examined and pronounced dead at 10:10 pm. Inspector Krake responded and summoned dog units and a fire department 'spotlight' vehicle to assist in the search. R/Os called for the Crime Lab, Coroner, Yellow cab officials, and a tow." This section of the police report tallies perfectly with Armond Pelissetti's recollection in the 2007 Zodiac documentary as he approached Maple Street "I turned to the right and saw a man walking his dog. He was somewhat older than the description I had, a whole lot thinner and he had absolutely no blood on his clothes." After a brief discussion with the man, Armond Pelissetti continued "I got back to the scene, and it was sometime shortly thereafter that the ambulance crew, the coroner, a firetruck, Inspector Walt Krake of the homicide detail, and then about three or four or five minutes thereafter Inspector Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong, two of the best, arrived."

It can be seen that by marrying these two statements that Armond Pelissetti arrived back at the crime scene "sometime shortly" before the ambulance crew arrived, who "pronounced Paul Stine dead at 10:10 pm." This would place Armond Pelissetti arriving back at the crime scene at a reasonable estimate of 10.08 pm.
Therefore, Armond Pelissetti left the crime scene at 10.01 pm and arrived back at approximately 10.08 pm. According to the widely held consensus and the storyline of the 2007 Zodiac documentary, Armond Pelissetti traveled up Cherry Street (which is a 1 minute journey at normal walking pace) extremely cautiously, checking the alcoves and parked cars "following every technique I knew so I didn't get my head blown off." He then supposedly bumped into Officer Donald Fouke (whether it was on his outbound or inbound journey is irrelevant on this occasion). He then presumably applied the same caution down Jackson Street (a 2 minute journey at normal walking pace), checking the alcoves and vehicles, before bumping into a man walking his dog on Maple Street. He had a brief conversation with the dog-walker, before heading back on the 3 minute journey to the crime scene, now presumably at normal walking speed. This whole sequence of events taking just 7 minutes.
The journey from the crime scene to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is approximately 3 minutes, a fact even confirmed by Zodiac: "2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab." But if Armond Pelissetti was using every police technique he knew, checking the innumerable alcoves and parked vehicles, this journey must have taken at least 5 minutes. This would have placed Armond Pelissetti arriving to the dog-walker at about 10.06 pm. He then had just 2 minutes to talk to the dog-walker and arrive back at the crime scene at 10.08 pm, sometime before the ambulance arrived and eventually pronounced Paul Stine dead at 10.10 pm. We can throw in some leeway here and have Armond Pelissetti arriving back at 10.09 pm, giving him three minutes to converse with the man on Maple Street and return back to the intersection of Washington and Cherry. Nevertheless, it is an extremely rushed affair, considering Armond Pelissetti's outbound journey of 5 minutes or inbound journey of 3 minutes, also included talking to the dog-walker and Officer Donald Fouke.

After some grueling and labor intensive detective work on my part, I was able to track down Fido, the dog from that night, and you can tell by his expression on the right, he wasn't impressed with the timeline I presented to him either. Or the suggestion his owner was a cold-blooded killer. I stroked his furrowed brow, made my excuses and left the kennel with my tail between my legs.
But in all seriousness, this drives to the heart of the question posed by some- was the dog-walker somehow the killer? Without debating the legitimacy of suspects- if Kjell Qvale was the owner of Fido, then he had to depart the intersection of Jackson and Cherry Street at 9.59 pm (going on the sighting of the three teenagers with Pelissetti), and travel approximately 3 minutes to be firmly ensconced in his 3636 Jackson Street residence. He then needs about 1 minute to return to the area of Maple to be spotted by Armond Pelissetti. This allocation of 4 minutes shifts the time to 10.03 pm, leaving Kjell Qvale three minutes to enter his home, change clothes, put Fido on his leash and leave the residence. He would then arrive to the meeting with Armond Pelissetti at approximately 10.06 pm.
The timelines of Armond Pelissetti and Kjell Qvale are possible, albeit extremely rushed. However, this is nothing new for the Zodiac case.

The Zodiac Killer's first three attacks were on couples, before switching to the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, San Francisco on October 11th 1969. It was considered that he may have 'changed his way of collecting slaves' in the fourth attack, due to the newspaper coverage, insinuating or suggesting he targeted the females primarily and likely feared the males, or the crimes themselves had a sexual component. However, an attack on a lone person in San Francisco was probably cemented in his mind, at least as early as July 31st 1969. Two of the three letters postmarked July 31st were mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner, and both failed to mention couples: The Chronicle letter stated "I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend." The Examiner letter stated "I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or un till I kill a dozen people." The Vallejo Times-Herald letter was the only letter that mentioned couples: "I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people." This tends to indicate the Zodiac Killer was well aware of his locations of opportunity and the 'availability' of courting couples in Vallejo as opposed to San Francisco.
The following observation may be reading a little too much into the Zodiac's wording, but the Vallejo Times-Herald communication is the only one of the three letters he used the past tense regarding his mailing of the letters. He used the phrase "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle," whereas the San Francisco communications used the present tense: "The other 2 parts are being mailed to the Vallejo Times + S.F. Chronicle" and "Here is part of a cipher the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner." If he was a resident of Vallejo, and was going to post all three communications somewhere in or near the Richmond District of San Francisco, which he did, then subconsciously on his future return to his residence in Vallejo, he would have posted the other two communications. That is because he is associating the Vallejo Times-Herald with his home location. The letter he is sending to Vallejo Times-Herald is close to his residence, so he labels the two San Francisco communications as are being mailed, because he is projecting further ahead. This subconscious use of words may very early on have told us exactly where the Zodiac Killer lived- somewhere he knew that couples were readily available over the weekend, before he returned to work in San Francisco on Monday morning.

One always has to question why the killer after the Blue Rock Springs attack on Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau, who apparently lived in San Francisco, wouldn't just make the phone call somewhere equidistant between Vallejo and San Francisco, rather than from a payphone relatively close to the crime scene and extremely close to the police station. Why was he apparently constrained in choosing a payphone 10 minutes from the crime scene, yet 40 minutes after the double shooting, if it wasn't for the fact he lived in the Vallejo area, or extremely close to the payphone.
If the killer lived in Vallejo and traveled to San Francisco weekly for his occupation, where did he work?. There are plenty of reasons to believe the Zodiac Killer knew the Presidio Heights area fairly well. If you are going to murder a taxicab driver in an affluent, built-up area, in the heart of San Francisco, it would have been advisable to know everything about the area and your likely escape route in advance.
There are two ways to enter San Francisco by vehicle from Vallejo- either by the Golden Gate Bridge or Oakland Bay Bridge. Either journey from Vallejo to the Richmond District is approximately the same distance. But if you entered via the Golden Gate Bridge every day, you would certainly have every opportunity to become accustomed to the roadways in and around the Presidio Park area. This is the area the Zodiac Killer may have left his vehicle- somewhere on the fringes of the park, by West Pacific Avenue or Lyon Street- towards the east.
A man fitting the description of Zodiac was seen running into the Julius Khan playground minutes after the murder of Paul Stine- a description that virtually matched that of the three teenagers and Officer Donald Fouke. If we contend this wasn't the killer, then we have to conveniently dismiss this independent eyewitness testimony as erroneous. Even Dave Toschi believed this was a viable sighting, as search dogs and police vehicles were stationed alongside the Julius Khan playground.
A passage in Robert Graysmith's book Zodiac appears to corroborate the premise that eyewitnesses at, or near Spruce Street, observed a man running into Julius Khan playground, and tallies with the October 12th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article. Here is the excerpt: "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Khan playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County." Richardson Avenue leads onto Highway 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge- a route the killer would be completely familiar with, had he traveled this way to and from work each day. Even if he didn't travel this exact route, if he worked in the Richmond District area, he would surely be familiar with the surrounding area and his best escape route from the intersection of Washington and Cherry.

The website (now not available online) crackproof.com examined the Zodiac communications and their associated postmarks. This indicated that the July 31st 1969 '408' letters were franked in the Central Richmond District, and the Paul Stine letter, mailed two days after the murder, was franked in the Inner Richmond District. This doesn't mean they were necessarily posted here, but processed at this location (these letters were franked 1A and 1B). However, they were very likely posted by the killer somewhere in the northwest region of San Francisco, with Richmond being a strong possibility.
This area and vicinity is an extremely significant area when it comes to the exploits of the Zodiac Killer in San Francisco. This can be seen in the Google map diagram below.

The only claimed Zodiac victim outside of the canonical five and Bay Area, known to have once lived in San Francisco was Donna Lass, who disappeared on September 6th 1970 from South Lake Tahoe. She worked at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presido and resided at 4122 Balboa Street in the Outer Richmond District. Did she ever cross paths with the Zodiac Killer while she worked here?
On April 20th 1970 the '13 Symbol' cipher arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle stating "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now. I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station. Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory. But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back. I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more except that my bus bomb was a dud. I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back." In the letter the Zodiac Killer was referring to the murder of San Francisco police officer Brian McDonnell on February 16th 1970, two months earlier, when a bomb packed with fence staples exploded on an outside ledge of the 1899 Waller Street, Park Police Station in the Upper Haight neighborhood. This location, bordering Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District areas, is only 1.45 miles south of the Paul Stine crime scene.

Sgt Richard Radetich

The next Zodiac communication was the 'Dragon' card mailed on April 28th 1970, depicting what appears to be characters from a novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, in which Don Quixote, on his horse Rocinante, and Sancho Panza his squire, perched on a donkey called El rucio, embark on a mission to restore chivalry. The Zodiac Killer wrote on the face of the card "I hope you enjoy yourselves when I have my Blast." Was this a case of Zodiac rubbing salt into the wounds of the San Francisco Police Department, choosing this card for a specific reason. The 1899 Waller Street Police Station is situated on the boundary of the San Francisco Golden Gate Park, in which the memorial statue of Miguel de Cervantes, featuring Don Quixote and Sancho Panza sits. So was this card really just a random choice, or was Zodiac simply 'needling the blue pigs'.
In the following correspondence, the 'Button' letter, on June 26th 1970, the Zodiac Killer suggested he may have been responsible for the murder of Sgt Richard Radetich a week earlier. Officer Radetich was gunned down by three shots from a .38 caliber revolver at point blank range through the driver side window of his vehicle, while in the process of serving a parking ticket. He was sat in his police car near 643 Waller Street, San Francisco, in the Lower Haight District, where he sustained life threatening injuries and subsequently died 15 hours later.
643 Waller Street is only just over a mile from the Golden Gate Park and the Richmond District of San Francisco. One can see the clustering of these Zodiac 'events' within the northwest corner of San Francisco, and around the Richmond District area. Even the 'Dripping Pen' card mailed on November 8th 1969 was supposedly mailed just south of this area.
Nobody can definitively pin down the likely profession of the Zodiac Killer, but did it reside somewhere in this region- somewhere he could mail his communications to and from work. The question is always asked: Why would the Zodiac Killer mail a noticeable amount of his correspondence from the vicinity of where he worked?- that would be stupid. The answer probably lies within the geographical profiling term 'the least effort principle.' That, when a human can exert the least effort in accomplishing a given task (with little risk), they probably will. Obviously, he realized that the ability to trace a letter or card back to a particular mailing point is practically impossible. Only to the area the letter was franked.
The final observation on the map above, is the locality and proximity of the three golf courses to the Richmond District- bearing in mind the golf course adjacent to the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. Could the Zodiac Killer have worked at one of these locations, or did he play golf on a regular basis, taking his scorecard from the clubhouse into the very communications he mailed.

The following will be explaining in more detail the subconscious wording of the Zodiac Killer in his first three communications with the Bay Area newspapers, putting forward a compelling argument that the confirmed murderer of five was a resident of the Vallejo area. The Zodiac Killer would never willingly have given us his name or the locality of his residence, however, one could argue that had he revealed his home location without realizing it, then it is likely true. To do this, we have to examine closely the wording he chose on his July 31st 1969 letters using the present and past tense. Here is what the Zodiac stated on each communication:
Vallejo Times-Herald: "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle."
San Francisco Examiner: "Here is a cipher or that is part of one. The other 2 parts are being mailed to the Vallejo Times + S.F. Chronicle."
San Francisco Chronicle: "Here is part of a cipher the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner."

You will notice the two San Francisco newspapers are being addressed in the present tense regarding the other two mailings, using the word ARE. While the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper is being addressed in the past tense regarding the other two mailings, using the word HAVE. There is every indication that this has been written subconsciously by the Zodiac Killer and therefore he has inadvertently given us his home location of Vallejo. The word "are" immediately precedes Vallejo Times on both occasions.

If the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo when he composed these three communications, he would associate Vallejo with the present (everything that is happening in or around him). If the Zodiac Killer had traveled to San Francisco for a day out and then had returned to Vallejo, he would be referring to San Francisco in the past tense: "I have been to San Francisco and have mailed three letters." In the Vallejo Times-Herald communication text above, he is doing just that, when referring to his mailing of letters to the Chronicle and Examiner, which are approximately 40 miles away: "the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle." Because now he is back home.

San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission Street

When he is at home in Vallejo writing these communications, his mind is actually projecting forward to their future postings in San Francisco, which is where they were ultimately mailed.
In two of the communications to the Chronicle and Examiner in San Francisco, he is referring back to his hometown Vallejo in conjunction with another mailing. Therefore he uses the plural form of the present tense, in the word "are". That is because at this moment in time (the time of writing), he is present here in Vallejo, so is effectively forced to abandon the past tense of "have". The Zodiac Killer cannot refer to Vallejo in the past tense in this instance, because the Vallejo Times-Herald office is in his locality, and therefore he is referring to it in the present of "are".
Anything in the Zodiac Killer's locality is the 'here and now.' Anyplace one has to travel and return, whether in the mind or reality, will be referred to in the past tense. Traveling to San Francisco physically and returning to Vallejo will now be referred to as "I have mailed", because of the distance you associate with the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner from Vallejo. Even if you do it in your mind.
But the Vallejo Times-Herald office is effectively on your doorstep and will therefore be seen as in the "here and now" to somebody living in Vallejo, without any real distance associated with it. Therefore it doesn't need to be referred to in the past tense, which is exactly what Zodiac does in two of his communications regarding the mailing to Vallejo- he uses the word "are".

The Zodiac Killer is associating the Vallejo Times-Herald as his home location, so let us use this analogy with a fictitious friend.
Zodiac is in his house opposite the Vallejo Times-Herald office and he has just finished preparing his three July 31st 1969 letters for delivery. He bids farewell to his housemate and travels to San Francisco to post his letters. Upon his return two hours later he says to his friend "I have posted two letters to the San Francisco newspapers". Looking out of his window and pointing he states "One letter is being posted to the Vallejo Times-Herald." He would be using the present tense regarding something in the "here and now". But because he is referring to the Vallejo Times-Herald mailing in two communications he uses the present tense "are". It clearly indicates that on a subconscious level the Zodiac Killer is referring to Vallejo in the present tense, because that is where he was when he penned the three July 31st 1969 letters.

The old Vallejo Times-Herald office was at 440 Curtola Parkway, just 0.96 miles (as the crow flies) from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone.

Darlene Ferrin

Many have questioned whether or not Darlene Ferrin was stalked by an unwanted admirer in the run up to her murder during the late night hours of July 4th 1969 or early minutes of July 5th 1969, with little, if any verifiable evidence to support such a claim. This however, doesn't rule out the contention that she may have been murdered by somebody who knew her.
Much has been discussed regarding the mysterious phone calls received at the 1300 Virginia Street residence of Darlene Ferrin, and the 930 Monterey Street residence of Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin at approximately 01.30 am on the morning of July 5th 1969, just one and a half hours after the murder of Darlene Ferrin and attempted murder of Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs. It must be stressed that Darlene Ferrin had been alternatively listed as living at 930 Monterey, Vallejo on page 5 of the police report.
But how much of this makes sense and is it totally accurate. Here are the extracts regarding the phone calls that morning:
Page 19 of the police report "Stated that Darlene and her sister Christina Suennen WFJ 15 years. had been at Mr Ferrin's (Dean) place of employment Caesar's in the 300 Block of Tennessee Street at approximately 10.30 pm and at this time Darlene left, stating that she was going to take Christina home, then go home herself to 1300 Virginia Street. Take her babysitter home, and return home herself. Stated that at approximately 11.30 pm Bill Lee (Dean's employer at Caesar's) called Darlene to ask her if she would try to find a fireworks booth open, and to purchase some as they were going to have a party at 1300 Virginia Street after they closed Caesar's and had decided to have some fireworks at that time. She stated she would try to find one and hung up. Stated that this was the last any of them heard from her. Stated that after they arrived at 1300 Virginia Street and waiting for Darlene that there was two phone calls where there was no answer on the other end." There is no reference here to the time these two phone calls were received. These statements were given in the immediate aftermath of the murder, in the early hours of July 5th 1969.
Page 23 of the police report " Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin 930 Monterey Street came to the station and reported that shortly after 01.30 am on 07/05/69 their telephone rang and the party on the other end of the line said nothing but they could hear deep breathing and they were sure someone was there." There are two things to note about this statement. The statement was given at 3.35 pm on July 7th 1969, two and a half days after they had received the mysterious phone call, and it appears as if the time of the phone call on the police report has been amended. So, were all the phone calls delivered at approximately 01.30 am, or were they all made at a completely different time during the morning hours.

Blue Rock Springs parking lot

It was considered in this article that the Zodiac Killer drove home after the Blue Rock Springs attack, to somewhere around the location of the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone and walked to the intersection to make the 12.40 am phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. If the attack culminated shortly after midnight, the killer's journey has him entering his residence at approximately 12.15 am. He parks his vehicle, changes his clothes, ditches his weapon and prepares himself for the short walk to the payphone at around 12.25-12.30 am. This gives him a walking time of approximately 10-15 minutes to the payphone and a reasonable 'buffer zone'.
If the Zodiac Killer lived on the south side of the payphone, knew or lived close to Darlene Ferrin on Virginia Street, then his walking time to the payphone would be exactly 10 minutes. Once he had finished his call with Nancy Slover he would then likely have returned home at approximately 12.50-12.55 am. We don't know if the mysterious phone calls to the Ferrin family were from the Zodiac Killer, but had he returned from the public payphone at just before 01.00 am, he now has the opportunity to make these calls from the comfort of his own home. Did the Zodiac Killer make the phone call to police from a payphone fearing he could have been traced, but made the calls to the Ferrin family with no such reservations. It would seem rather foolhardy even by Zodiac's standards to reel off multiple calls that evening from payphones, with the police now in full investigative mode. If he did call the Ferrin family, one could argue he placed these additional calls shortly after arriving back at his residence, sometime between 12.50-01.00 am.

1300 Virginia Street

Here is an extract from the Vallejo Times-Herald interview with Carmela Piccolo-Coakley, who part owned Caesar's Italian Restaurant with her husband in 1969. She described arriving at 1300 Virginia Street on July 4th/5th 1969 "We were surprised when we all arrived at the house to find a babysitter. Darlene hadn't gotten home yet. It was midnight and we were a little worried. An hour or so later the phone rang but there was only breathing on the other end. Later we heard a knock on the door. It was two police officers informing us that Darlene had been shot, and someone calling himself the Zodiac had called the Vallejo Police Department informing them of the killings. We told the officers it was that same time that we had received the call at Darlene's house. Whoever it was would not respond to our questions. They just breathed into the phone. The officer warned us not to open the door for anyone while my husband and Dean went down to the station. They warned that the person calling himself the Zodiac may be watching the house. It was a warm night and all the windows were open. We locked the door and windows and pulled the blinds closed." full article.

She stated they arrived at 1300 Virginia Street at around midnight and the mysterious calls came in "an hour or so later." This is an approximation, so a reasonable estimate could be anywhere from 12.50 am to 01.10 am (with a 10 minute leeway either side), tying in with the Zodiac Killer after returning from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, sometime around 12.55 pm.
More telling is the assertion that they "told the officers it was that same time (that of Zodiac's call) that we had received the call at Darlene's house." Does this actually open up the possibility that the Zodiac Killer made the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover and the Ferrin family from the same payphone at around 12.40 am, and "an hour or so later" was really 40 minutes. Or did they arrive at 1300 Virginia Street shortly before midnight, bringing this statement somewhat back into line.
The only argument in favor of the 01.30 am phone calls in the above two pages of the police report are the recollections of Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin, two and a half days after the fact. Did they really clock the time correctly when the call came in, or was it just another estimation that may be slightly incorrect.

Footnote: In the interest of fairness, although the origin of Robert Graysmith's information is unknown, in his book Zodiac Unmasked he stated "Fifty minutes later, four phone calls were placed through the operator from a booth at Broadway and Nebraska." Arthur Leigh Allen had worked at a gas station at Tuolumne and Nebraska 3 months before Blue Rock Springs attack. Broadway and Nebraska is an approximate walking distance of 20-25 minutes from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. A murderer living somewhere between or equidistant to these locations has the opportunity to make the phone calls to police dispatcher Nancy Slover and the Ferrin family. However, verifying the Broadway and Nebraska site as the origin of the calls to the Ferrin family, or that the Zodiac Killer made any of them on July 5th 1969, is an altogether more difficult task.

Below I have placed a visual timeline of the final 90 minutes of Darlene Ferrin's life, to understand her movements in the critical period running up to the brutal attack at Blue Rock Springs Park close to midnight on July 4th and 5th of 1969. To the best of my knowledge these are the correct addresses of the key locations she visited that night, but if anybody knows better please inform me and I can correct the timeline. We cannot be sure if the Zodiac Killer knew Darlene Ferrin, but as Phillips 66 (a contributor to this site) stated "Of course I think it is possible that she did not know her killer but that requires writing off a lot of things as coincidence and writing off a lot of people as liars or dramatists. It seems far more likely to me that she did actually know her killer. To me this is the best lead in an attempt to solve the case."
When the killer is known to the victim, it certainly provides a greater opportunity to apprehend the responsible, as opposed to a completely random assailant. We will use the visual below, in conjunction with the estimated times in the police report, to pinpoint Darlene Ferrin's movements and what time she and Michael Mageau arrived at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot that night, and possibly explore where her murderer tagged onto her that night, if at all.

Following the numbers in red above we will follow her movements:
1.Page 19 of the police report "Stated that Darlene and her sister Christina Suennen WFJ 15 years. had been at Mr Ferrin's (Dean) place of employment Caesar's in the 300 Block of Tennessee Street at approximately 10.30 pm and at this time Darlene left, stating that she was going to take Christina home, then go home herself to 1300 Virginia Street. Take her babysitter home, and return home herself." Christina stated "she collaborated the above story, but stated she and her sister had gone from Caesar's to Terry's on Magazine St, before going home." Therefore she left Caesar's at approximately 10.30 pm, arriving at Terry's Waffle Shop nearly 3 miles away, approximately 6 minutes later at 10.36 pm.
2. We cannot be sure how long she stayed at the Waffle Shop, but according to Robert Graysmith she talked to her friend for around 10 minutes, before briefly chatting to a man. This can only be estimated at 15 minutes, which would have Darlene and Christina heading off to their parents home on 130 Jordan Street at 10.51 pm. This is a small journey time of approximately 3 minutes, arriving at the Suennen family home at 10.54 pm. We know from the police report that Darlene arrived home shortly before 11.30 pm, as can be seen on page 21. This can be corroborated by page 19 of the police report, because "at approximately 11.30 pm Bill Lee (Dean's employer at Caesar's) called Darlene to ask her if she would try to find a fireworks booth open. She stated she would try to find one and hung up." The journey from the Suennen family home to Darlene's residence of around 2.6 miles is estimated at 7 minutes.
3. Therefore, Darlene Ferrin likely stayed at the 130 Jordan Street residence for about 25 minutes, leaving at 11.18-11.20 pm for her 7 minute journey, having Darlene back at the 1300 Virginia Street residence shortly before 11.30 pm.
4. On page 21 of the police report the two girls stated "that Darlene didn't return until about 11.30 pm or shortly before that. Darlene then told them that she had changed her mind about going to San Francisco and was going to have a small party when her husband got home. Darlene then spent a few minutes cleaning up the house and then she said she was going to go out and buy some fireworks and other things for the party and that she would be back by 12.30 am. Darlene left the house around 11.40 pm and they didn't see her again."
Darlene Ferrin left her residence and traveled to Michael Mageau's house at 864 Beechwood Avenue. On page 8 of the police report he stated "that Dea came over at approximately 11.30 pm or shortly thereafter and picked him up in her car."
We know it wasn't 11.30 pm, because Bill Lee and the two girls stated otherwise- plus she still had the 2 mile journey to 864 Beechwood Avenue to negotiate. This journey time is 5 minutes, placing Darlene Ferrin at Michael Mageau's residence at 11.45 pm or thereabouts (11.40 pm plus 5 minutes).
5. Michael stated in the police report "they were both hungry as they had not had supper and were going to get something to eat. Stated that she was driving her vehicle, the Corvair they were found in. Stated they drove west on Springs Road and as they were driving down Springs Road to go get something to eat, Dea stated to him that she wanted to talk to him about something. Michael stated that at approximately at the location of Mr Ed's on Springs Road they turned around and headed east at his suggestion to go to Blue Rock Springs Park where they could talk. They went directly to this location."
The journey from 864 Beechwood Avenue to approaching Mr Ed's Drive-In is about 2 minutes allowing for turning around.
They would be turning around, heading back east at approximately 11.47 pm.
6 and 7. The journey from Mr Ed's to the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs Park of 3 miles takes approximately 6-7 minutes, placing Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau arriving at the parking lot in their brown Corvair at 11.53-11.54 pm.

1963 Chevrolet Corvair

This makes perfect sense if we pick up the police report on page 8.
Michael stated "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 very short space of time, a few minutes. Shortly after this and about 5 minutes before the shooting occurred, a vehicle pulled into the lot."
We know from Michael's statement approximately 5 minutes elapsed between the first vehicle parking alongside them and supposedly returning to begin the attack. We know Michael allocated "a few minutes" from their arrival to the three cars arriving. He also allocated "a few minutes" to the duration the three vehicles remained in the parking lot. Taking this "few minutes" as about 3 minutes, we have a total of 6 minutes. Adding this to the 5 minutes the 'Zodiac' vehicle spent leaving and returning, we have a total of 11 minutes from their arrival at the parking lot to the commencement of the attack. This places the shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at 12.04-12.05 am on July 5th 1969. Even if we take the "few minutes" as two, the earliest the attack could have began was 12.02-12.04 am- the earlier time of 12.02 am the most likely. It was extremely unlikely to have taken place before midnight.

Darlene Ferrin

There are several unusual statements in the police report, notably on page 21, where the two girls stated "about 01.30 am Darlene's husband and friends came home and they told her husband what she had said and he didn't seem worried, said she's always late. Husband then took the girls home shortly before 02.00 am."
Dean Ferrin and Bill Lee were apparently under the impression she was nipping out to buy fireworks at 11.30 pm, when Bill Lee rang the 1300 Virginia Street residence from Caesar's restaurant, yet they, according to the police report, didn't arrive at the residence until 1.30 am. Apparently they stopped en route to pick up some drinks, but two hours had elapsed from the request to pick up fireworks to the time they arrived. This was apparently the exact time the suspicious calls came into the residence. Had somebody seen them arrive and made the phone calls shortly thereafter.
This contradicts what Carmela Piccolo-Coakley, then co-owner of Caesar's restaurant, said to the Vallejo Times-Herald in 2007: "We were surprised when we all arrived at the house to find a babysitter. Darlene hadn't gotten home yet. It was midnight and we were a little worried. An hour or so later the phone rang but there was only breathing on the other end." This version of events, albeit in 2007, makes more sense than arriving at 1.30 am in the morning, when you have arranged for fireworks to be collected at 11.30 pm, and are expecting a party.
Darlene Ferrin traveling to Michael Mageau's residence and finally to Blue Rock Springs, suggested she had seemingly abandoned the party and chosen to do something completely different- but this may not necessarily be the case.
Although earlier arranging to meet Michael Mageau at some point that evening, she may very well have recruited Michael Mageau in her quest to buy some fireworks, along with getting something to eat. She stated to the two girls "she would be back by 12.30 am." Therefore, she was allocating herself 60 minutes to pick up Michael, head off for a bite to eat, pick up some fireworks and then head home. There may have been something else on her shopping list that night, as revealed by the two girls on page 21 of the police report when they stated "she was going to go out and buy some fireworks and other things for the party." What were these "other things?" However, something changed abruptly on their approach to Mr Ed's Drive-In, that facilitated a change of heart. She stated "that she wanted to talk to Michael about something."
She picked Michael Mageau up at 11.45 pm and had ample time before reaching Mr Ed's to have relayed to Michael what was on her mind. They both apparently had wanted something to eat, and Darlene required fireworks, yet the "something" on her mind seemingly only occurred two minutes into their journey while approaching Mr Ed's. Had she spotted something or somebody that forced this change of plan- somebody unpleasant enough that she had now abandoned her wanting to eat, her search for fireworks and possibly the party. On the other hand, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin had arrived at the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs at approximately 11.53-11.54 pm, so still had at least 36 minutes to have their chat and for Darlene to arrive back at the 1300 Virginia Street residence at 12.30 am, with or without the fireworks she said she would try to find, and more importantly the time she told the two girls she would arrive back earlier that night. Unfortunately though, she never did.

Many have toyed with the idea of a Zodiac Killer in Riverside, California, responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 or at the very least the author of the Confession and Bates letters. There are tantalizing threads in regards to the three Bates letters allying with his 'trinity' of communications mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969, just over two years later. The double postage was evident, and the threat of "more victims " was apparent in both. The April 30th 1967 Bates letters stated "Bates had to die, there will be more." The Vallejo Times-Herald communication carried a similar threat: "I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people."
It is also pointed out that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Bates letters because he signed off two of the letters with a Z-like alphabetical character. The Z representing Zodiac. The following will cast some doubt on this supposition and hopefully give us the exact date the Zodiac Killer first thought up his pseudonym Zodiac. In other words, the pseudonym Zodiac didn't exist for this individual in 1967 and therefore the alphabetical Z wasn't representative of Zodiac, or the precursor to it.

On the right is an excerpt from the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle dated August 3rd 1969. The Vallejo Police Chief Jack E Stiltz "urged the writer yesterday to send more letters with more facts to prove his connections with the crimes." The Bay Area murderer duly obliged with the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969. It was called the "Debut" letter for good reason- it was the day the Bay Area murderer revealed his pseudonym to the world, opening with the now infamous line "This is the Zodiac speaking." But if Chief Jack E Stiltz had not requested more details, it is extremely unlikely this correspondence would have been mailed at all. We would have had to wait over two months until the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter for Zodiac to introduce his pseudonym into the public domain, if ever at all.
The 'Debut of Zodiac' letter only existed because of Chief Jack E Stiltz- and this communication is the only reason our knowledge of the killer as Zodiac existed at this point in time. The choice of the pseudonym being revealed in this letter was not a choice made by the killer, because he wouldn't have written it, if not pressed into action by reading this newspaper column.
In fact, the Zodiac Killer may never have existed under this name, if it wasn't for this publication by the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle on August 3rd 1969. There is further evidence that the American public played a key role in igniting the killer's choice of pseudonym
If the Z on the Bates letters really stood for Zodiac, then the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin had almost three years to create an appropriate pseudonym before the July 31st 1969 'trinity' of communications proclaiming his collection of slaves for the afterlife. He had six and a half months from the December 20th 1968 double murder until the attack at Blue Rock Springs Park. He had 27 days from the July 4th 1969 attack until the mailing of the July 31st 1969 'trinity.' This was his arrival to the world, yet he didn't sign off any of these letters with 'Zodiac' or even a 'Z'.
If he was surreptitiously operating under the name of Zodiac at this point, he clearly didn't give this impression when he opened up two of his communications with the rather unoriginal opening line of "I am the killer of the 2 teen-agers last Christmass at Lake Herman and the Girl last 4th of July" to the Vallejo Times-Herald and San Francisco Examiner. The San Francisco Chronicle was equally devoid of any pseudonym or initial, beginning with "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."
The reason behind this, being that he hadn't formulated the pseudonym Zodiac at this juncture. The prompt was to come just three days later on Sunday August 3rd 1969- the day the 'Zodiac Killer' was born in the mind of the killer.
The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle opened with the lines "A self-accused killer failed to keep a threat of mass murder here, but there was no slackening of tension or mystery caused by the warning. The police department telephone system was clogged at times by anxious callers asking if the "cipher killer" had been caught."
The killer read this publication and was probably dismayed at the pseudonym of "cipher killer" attributed to him. He sat back in his armchair and was likely sparked into action to create his own pseudonym. He thumbed through the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle of August 3rd 1969 during the day, until he arrived at the Zodiac horoscope page, and a light went on. This was the day the 'Zodiac Killer' was born.

Michael Morford wrote an excellent article on the June 8th 1967 murders of Enedine Molina (35) and boyfriend Fermin Rodriguez (36) near Pleasanton, California. This was covered on this site and discussed on Zodiac Killer Site forum.
Below I shall detail this double murder using a visual from Google Maps and only the newspaper reports that covered the story, to sequence the order of events that night. Here is a layout of where the victims were found in relation to the March 22nd 1970 abduction of Kathleen Johns on Highway 132, west of Modesto, and the city of Pleasanton, where Zodiac mailed the 'Los Angeles' letter on March 13th 1971.

Click visual to enter Google maps

Click for Zodiac Killer Site forum

"According to detectives Regional Park Naturalist Richard Angel called the Santa Rita sheriff's substation last night (Thursday June 8th 1967) and reported hearing two shots in the park area at 10.05 pm. The woman's body was discovered about 11.00 pm just outside the remote Sunol Regional Park. The body was found by Deputy George Robinson, the first man to arrive at the park. Mrs Molina had been shot in the back (and possibly left wrist). It appeared she had been running when she was shot, deputies reported.
On his way back to the substation about 2.30 am (Deputy George Robinson) spotted a station wagon parked along Vallecitos Road about six miles from the park, stopped to check it and found Rodriguez's body. He had been shot in the left breast and shoulder bone. The bullets entered his body from the front deputies said. The murder weapon was believed to be a .22 caliber revolver. No gun was found." Detectives ordered weekend roadblocks to canvass individuals.
"The weekend roadblocks were in the areas of Geary Road and Calaveras Road. Captain Tom Houchins said officers questioned persons between 10.00 pm and midnight, believed to be the timespan when the two were killed. Houchins said there is the possibility that another car was involved.
A Mountain View man, Joe Martinez of 1819 Birch Street (ex-husband of Enedine Molina), turned himself in at the Sunnyvale Police Station this morning after hearing he was wanted for questioning. He was later released by Sunnyvale Police and Alameda County sheriff's officers. Captain Tom Houchins, in charge of the investigation said "as of now we have no suspects."
Detectives investigated suspicious events in the run-up to the double murder:
"Investigation of the two June 8 murders in Sunol has disclosed that each of the victims had been followed several times by an unidentified driver. Each also received mysterious phone calls over a period of many months, according to reports from Alameda County Sheriff's deputies." The daughter of Molina "told detectives the family had been receiving disturbing telephone calls at her mother's residence since July. She said that whoever called didn't speak and that all that could be heard over the phone was heavy breathing (reminiscent of the 0.1.30 am calls on July 5th 1969, after the BRS attack). The daughter said the calls usually were made between 10 and 11 am, or between 7 and 8 pm, and that her mother was usually not home when they were received. Detectives also reported that the daughter told them she had overheard her mother say that a car followed her when she was out. Substantially, the same story was given detectives by Mrs Lydia Rodriguez, widow of Fermin Rodriguez, who was found murdered in his car parked along Vallecitos Road. Mrs Rodriguez said her husband had also complained about a car following him. On another occasion, she said, her husband had told her he had seen the strange car parked in front of his house, but could not describe the driver."

Calaveras Road entering Geary Road

This was a couple attacked while parked up in their vehicle, not dissimilar to the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attack. The obvious connection is apparent with respect to the abduction of Kathleen Johns just 28 miles east of where the vehicle of Molina and Rodriguez was discovered. These murders were one and a half years prior to the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, who were also killed using .22 small caliber ammunition. Then there is the menacing silent phone calls to the 1300 Virginia Street residence of Darlene Ferrin. Yet, these murders also have the trait of jealousy, in the form of a previous partner or husband unable to move forward. What evidence was given to discount Joe Martinez, or fail to implicate him we may never know.
Detectives stated that "officers questioned persons between 10.00 pm and midnight, believed to be the timespan when the two were killed." They also believed "another vehicle was involved."
The indications from the newspaper reports seem to suggest the murder occurred at approximately 10.05 pm, when Enedine Molina was attempting to flee from her assailant, after leaving his vehicle. Fermin Rodriguez had likely already been murdered at this point in time, when the killer approached in his vehicle, murdered him and abducted the woman. His body was discovered in his vehicle 6 miles north on Vallecitos Road. The time of his murder was likely 10 minutes earlier at 9.55 pm, if the two murders were one continuous sequence of events.
One alternative could be, the killer approached the couple on foot as they were in their vehicle on a dirt turn off, just alongside Calaveras Road (by Geary Road), shot the woman, and then forced the male victim to drive north to Vallecitos Road, before murdering him and fleeting on foot. However, this seems the less likely of the two.
Whether these murders have any connection to Zodiac is likely never to be proved or disproved half a century on, but being only 38 miles south of Vallejo (as the crow flies) it is worthy of consideration.
Thanks to Michael Morford.

For those of you who dislike using measurements and timelines in the Zodiac case, look away now. The following will be a detailed analysis of the Lake Berryessa sighting of Dr Rayfield & Son and the three young girls- the latter of whom provided a possible sketch of the Zodiac Killer to police. This article will argue that the sketch created from the three girls recollection of a suspicious individual was most likely the murderer of Cecelia Shepard and four others in the Bay Area.
Using only the police report, there are enough details contained within it to place Dr Rayfield & Son and the three girls at virtually the identical location alongside the Knoxville Road that day. The "The three girls left the area about 4.30 pm and the subjects vehicle was gone." Dr Rayfield & Son, it was argued in a previous article, noticed a "white male adult subject walking in the area, described as about 5'10", heavy build, wearing dark trousers, a dark shirt with red in it, long sleeves" at about 6.50 pm that evening. Lake Berryessa-A Killer's timeline.
If the shirt with "red in it" was blood, this may likely have been the killer returning to his vehicle after the double stabbing by the lake, negating the idea it was parked behind Bryan Hartnell's Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. If Dr Rayfield & Son were at the same location as the three girls, who saw the suspect vehicle no more at 4.30 pm, this may suggest that after he had 'eyed' up the young girls for a potential attack, he ultimately decided to move his vehicle away from any potential crime scene- possibly slightly north- but not too far. He was therefore likely trawling Lake Berryessa along the hillside for victims, and after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard (signing the car door at approximately 6.30 pm or marginally earlier), he returned to the approximate location of where the three girls were earlier, and was spotted by Dr Rayfield & Son returning to his vehicle for the 28 mile journey to the 1231 Main St, Napa payphone. Two different sets of eyewitnesses, spotting a suspicious character before and after the Lake Berryessa attack, one could argue, has a high probability of being the Zodiac Killer, and more importantly the subsequent sketch created thereafter has greater significance.

But the first thing we have to do is place Dr Rayfield & Son at the approximate location alongside the Knoxville Road as the three girls. We will use these details from the police report:
The three young women who potentially saw Zodiac, "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road." The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road.
A second set of eyewitnesses saw the Zodiac later that day: "Dr Rayfield and his son stated that they did not notice a vehicle in the area of their vehicle and only this subject at a distance of about 100 yards. This location was approximately 8/10ths of a mile from the scene of the victim's vehicle. There are four coves of water between the scene of the crime and the area where the doctor saw the subject."
So it's time for some calculations.
The three girls were 2 miles north of 5100 Knoxville Road. The Rayfield's were 0.8 miles from Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. If the premise above is correct, the two sets of eyewitnesses may have seen the same suspicious individual at two different times of the day, before and after the brutal stabbing of the young couple. Below details these findings.

You will notice that the white horizontal line above passes through the identical features on both images of Lake Berryessa, indicating that Dr Rayfield & Son and the three girls were visiting the near identical location that day, adding weight to the idea, that the suspicious character observed by both had good reason to be in that area. Firstly, to contemplate an attack on the three girls, and secondly, to return to his vehicle that evening. It suggested that once he had moved it slightly before 4.30 pm, it remained in that position until he returned later that day- after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard with a "red color" on his shirt.
The payphone call he made to police dispatcher Dave Slaight at 7.40 pm from 1231 Main Street, may be further evidence, suggesting the Zodiac Killer traveled from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, 0.8 miles on foot back to his vehicle. Somewhere just past the location of Dr Rayfield & Son.
The distance from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to the payphone (had Zodiac parked here) is 27 miles. The time estimated for this journey on Google maps is 46 minutes. I shall apply some leeway and say 50 minutes. This would have Zodiac reaching the Napa payphone at 7.20 pm, traveling the journey at an average speed of just 32.4 mph.- arriving at the payphone 20 minutes too early. If he took the 70 minutes available to him (6.30-7.40 pm) his speed would be reduced to a sluggish 23.1 mph. So dispelling the latter speed, we are seemingly missing 20 minutes.
The distance of 0.8 miles, to walk from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to his vehicle, parked somewhere by Dr Rayfield & Son, would take at a sedentary walking pace of 3 mph (1 mile every 20 minutes) approximately 16 minutes. Allowing for a slightly slower pace, changing any clothes and preparing to leave, 20 minutes is a reasonable estimate. This accounts for the missing 20 minutes above. It has the Zodiac Killer entering his vehicle (now approx 28 miles away) at 6.50 pm, for the 50 minute journey back to the payphone traveling at an average speed of 33.6 mph. This now makes far better reading than 23.1 mph using California State Route 128 and California State Route 121 for the majority of the journey.
The two sets of eyewitnesses, both detailing a suspicious character on the same section of hillside alongside the Knoxville Road, in combination with the distance and timeline presented, hopefully presents a case that the Zodiac Killer had his vehicle parked approximately 0.8 miles north of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia- the tire tracks examined by police were not the Zodiac's car, and the sketch compiled from the recollections of the three girls was very likely the Bay Area murderer.

Cecelia Shepard

The Zodiac Killer quoted a portion from one of the three stanzas of The Mikado's Tit-Willow, when he mailed the 'Exorcist' letter on January 29th 1974. This may possibly have been the third correspondence, including the 'Halloween' card, where The Mikado was referenced. The Zodiac Killer began with the 'Little List' letter on July 26th 1970, in which he paraphrased 'As some day it may happen' featuring Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner. In the letter he was effectively quoting the search for future victims as paralleling his agenda throughout the state of California. If we break down the 'Exorcist' letter into its constituent parts, it becomes apparent the correspondence is a further threat towards the citizens of California rather than a declaration of his impending suicide.
If we take a look at the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card and compare it to his confirmed attacks, only one stands out. On September 27th 1969 Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were relaxing by the shores of Lake Berryessa when a man spotted by Cecelia ducked behind a tree to don an executioner's mask and waistline bib. This theatrical entrance in the form of Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner has long been suggested as an influence on the Zodiac's actions and writings. Here is an extract from the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12th 1970, just 15 days prior to the mailing of the 'Halloween' card:
"It was immediately apparent that Zodiac had plagiarized several stanzas from an aria in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta 'The Mikado'. It is the entrance aria of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. A quiet search of onetime Ko-Ko's has turned up none that could be Zodiac. Obvious differences in physical description and handwriting comparisons have cleared all Ko-Ko's tracked down since the arrival of the July 27 letters."

The 'Halloween' card depicted an eye peering from the knothole of a tree, accompanied by the words 'peek-a-boo you are doomed', implying the impending threat of the Zodiac Killer hiding behind the tree at Lake Berryessa and his ultimate arrival bedecked in an executioner's outfit. If you look up the definition of peek-a-boo in Wikipedia, it quotes "Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play primarily played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you! There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added."
However, Peek-A- Boo was also a character in another version of The Mikado at around the same time as the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. "In 1888 Jack the Ripper terrorized the Whitechapel district of London. In the same year of somewhat less significance Ed J. Smith wrote a stage parody called The Capitalist; or, The City of Fort Worth. Designed to encourage capital investment in Fort Worth, Texas, and underwritten by local banks and railroad lines, the two act piece features characters named Yankee-Doo, Kokonut, By-Gum and Peek-A-Boo." Here is an image depicting this reference.

The Halloween card

Peep-bo is the English version of peek-a-boo, and has a curious, albeit likely unintentional connection to the Lake Berryessa murder of Cecelia Shepard, in the nursery rhyme Little Bo-Peep.
"The earliest record of this rhyme is in a manuscript of around 1805, which contains only the first verse. There are references to a children's game called "bo-peep", from the 16th century, including one in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act I Scene iv), for which "bo-peep" is thought to refer to the children's game of peek-a-boo, but no evidence that the rhyme existed earlier than the 18th century. The additional verses are first recorded in the earliest printed version in a version of Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus in 1810". Wikipedia.
Peep-bo was one of the three little maids from The Mikado: "Three little maids from school are we, pert as a school-girl well can be, filled to the brim with girlish glee, three little maids from school."

Three young girls from Pacific Union College would feature in the Zodiac story of Lake Berryessa that day, when describing a suspicious individual roaming the hillsides surrounding the lake- later providing a sketch of the individual.
Little Bo-Peep was a shepherdess, so its significance to the name of Cecelia Shepard could not be ignored, although likely accidental. "She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye, and over the hillocks went rambling, and tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, to tack each again to its lambkin"
The Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 and the subsequent 'Confession' letter held an odd precursor to the events of Lake Berryessa, when it stated "Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb", along with the widely referenced "She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched" connection to the 'Little List' letter.

Click to enlarge

The Zodiac Killer, after mailing his response to the unearthed Riverside connection would then go into hibernation from March 13th 1971 until the arrival of the 'Exorcist' letter nearly three years later on January 29th 1974, leading many to believe the Zodiac Killer was likely incarcerated during this period.
"Taken from the county jail
By a set of curious chances;
Liberated then on bail,
On my own recognizances;
Wafted by a favouring gale
As one sometimes is in trances,
To a height that few can scale." Behold the Lord High Executioner Youtube
The Mikado/Act I/Part V
The Lord High Executioner was to return, berating the 1973 film 'The Exorcist,' yet curiously comparing it to the Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical operatic comedy, The Mikado, calling it "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen." He then signed his name using the verse of Tit-Willow by Ko-Ko: "He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicides grave, titwillo, titwillo, titwillo."
The whole letter was effectively announcing the return of the Lord High Executioner after nearly three years. Here is the 'Exorcist' letter broken down into its constituent parts to reveal its likely meaning.
"I saw and think "The Exorcist" was the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen, even better than The Mikado. Signed, yours truley: The Lord High Executioner. If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing- To Kill."
Kevin Robert Brooks came up with possibly the best interpretation of the Japanese/Asian symbols at the foot of the letter, befitting of Ko-Ko the Lord High Executioner. The "This is the Zodiac speaking" introduction was apparent by its absence, as well as the Zodiac crosshairs- but the Lord High Executioner was alive and well, and still making threats.

The following observations are crafted with little, to no knowledge of cryptology, in respect to the validity or otherwise of the Zodiac 340 cipher. The cipher has withstood nearly 50 years of computer assaults, as well as some of the greatest minds in the field of codebreaking, yet as of writing, nothing has been officially verified as a solution despite many claims to the contrary.
The criteria for a definitive solution to the 340 cipher, is not when one person or few believe a solution has been achieved, it is when there is overwhelming consensus across the board, removing subjectivity from the equation.
If the 340 cipher doesn't actually contain a message, it will never be broken, and paradoxically will remain unsolved despite no solution being possible. Having examined this cipher innumerable times, the only solution I can come to- is it has no solution.
This revolves around two key issues: In that, the Zodiac Killer may have had 'cipher three' formulated or drafted before he designed 'cipher two', to enable the interconnectivity between both. He had to think forwards to create backwards.
If we assume the 340 cipher has a solution and therefore a key (no matter how complex), then one may assume the Zodiac created the key, then created the message, and then applied the message to the key, so as to encrypt it. If this were the case, we must believe that the 'near Zodiac' that emerged on line 20 was by sheer chance. We would also have to believe, that had he crafted 'cipher three' completely independent of 'cipher two', with no intention of connecting both, then the following observations also happened completely by chance.

Although covered many times before, the following will help explain the conundrum.
Because the '13 Symbol' cipher was thirteen characters in total (half the alphabet) and began with an A and ended with an M, it was considered that by placing the first half of the alphabet alongside the '13 Symbol' cipher and numerically counting the difference between the columns, something may emerge. It did.
For example: C to N produces a difference of 11, whereas B and E produces a difference of 3. Non alphabetical symbols cannot produce a difference, so a zero is inserted. The resulting numbers produced have been color coded. The red section is before the first circled 8, the green section is after the last circled 8 and the blue section spans the first and last circled 8. Notice the perfect symmetry. The red and green numbers are identical read forwards or backwards, and the blue numbers again read identically in either direction, producing a mirror image.
An equally symmetrical pattern was created using the identical technique, when placing the correct spelling of Zodiac alongside the 'near Zodiac' on line 20 of the 340 cipher.
Furthermore, the three 0's and three 8's created, can be combined and carried forward onto his '13 Symbol' cipher, which seemingly is what he did.
It is also apparent on the '13 Symbol' cipher, that either side of the three circled 8's are the Zodiac crosshairs and an inverted Aries symbol, apparent either side of the 'near Zodiac' on the final line of the 340 Cipher. So, the author has effectively carried eight symbols from one cipher to another.
The point being, that when the Zodiac Killer sat down at his desk and began to create a unique key for his 340 cipher, into which he was to place his message, it accidentally created the 'near Zodiac' on the 20th line, accidentally created the correlation between 'near Zodiac' and Zodiac to produce three circled 8's, accidentally created the symbols either side of 'near Zodiac,' that fully or in part, carried forward to the '13 Symbol' cipher in the correct position, and accidentally created symmetry in both instances. Or, the Zodiac crafted the '13 Symbol' cipher before the 340 cipher, which I would argue nobody believes.
The Zodiac Killer may have began his 340 cipher key from the bottom first, deliberately allocating specific letters in his message to create the 'near Zodiac' characters and continuing from there. But, if the interconnectivity exists between the 340 cipher and '13 Symbol' cipher, he effectively began with 'cipher three' first and worked backwards. However, this doesn't seem the likeliest of answers. The alternative, one could argue, is that the 340 contains only his pseudonym and nothing more.

The Zodiac may have presented us with a fictitious negro male on August 4th 1969, who by inference, provided us with some valuable information about the Zodiac Killer driving his brown car by the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne. Was this a red herring of a clue, much like the correction on line 6 of the 340 cipher.
It can be clearly seen on the left, that the Zodiac Killer was conscientious enough to correct an alphabetical K to a reversed K on line 6, even though spelling correctly was never much of an issue with the Zodiac Killer. To validate that this was a genuine mistake, he made sure that the original K had not been fully obscured. This may give the impression it is easy to mix up your K's when implementing your encrypted text. Or maybe this is what he wanted us to believe. Who in their right mind would correct a fake cipher? Therefore it must be genuine.
Did the Zodiac Killer implement this correction, conveniently leaving the blacked out character still visible (and just reversing it), to give us the impression that the 340 cipher is undeniably genuine. Was this move just another red herring, to again validate something that never was.
Alternatively, the final line of the 340 cipher may contain just a part message, yet incomplete, bearing in mind that many believe the '13 Symbol' cipher may contain some form of a name. The 340 cipher may end with: "the Zodiac is".... to be continued on the next cipher. The anticipation of the newspapers and readers alike, for the sequel to be released, would be a Zodiac dream.

Click image to compare to 340 cipher envelope

April 22nd 2018
Today is the 32nd anniversary of the callous double murder of a couple just north of Sacramento.
This is a follow up, looking in greater detail at the claimed Zodiac letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on May 6th 1986. This letter may not be by the hand of the Zodiac Killer or the two unfortunate victims described within it, but without doubt this letter is detailing the murders of Laotian couple Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Salee (40).
The couple had left their residence in Dorman Avenue, Yuba City, approximately 39 miles north of Sacramento, for the 195 mile (3 hour) journey to Merced County to visit their son in hospital. Later that day, April 22nd 1986, they would make the exhausting three hour journey back home- or so they thought. Somebody would change these plans as they approached the interchange of Highway 99 and I-5 Sacramento, just north of the city.
For whatever reason, the couple decided to pull over onto the hard shoulder of the freeway, a decision that proved fateful. A merciless killer approached their vehicle and unloaded 15 bullets into the car, blowing out both front side windows in a relentless barrage of gunfire. Small caliber shell casings were strewn beside the vehicle.
Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Salee were left with no chance of survival at the hands of a brutal killer or killers.
The couple were only 45-50 minutes away from their home residence during a 3 hour 10 minute journey- which could indicate that they decided to take a rest momentarily, or possibly were signaled to the side of the freeway by a trailing motorist, similar to the tactic employed in the abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970. The killer/s may have approached from the rear of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Salee's vehicle in similar fashion to the Modesto attack, or in the case of Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, where in identical fashion, the killer approached the passenger side of the vehicle and unleashed a deadly attack on the defenseless young couple, firing off nine shots from a 9mm Luger. The double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 was also perpetrated by a killer approaching the victims vehicle.

A short time after the murders a 'hitchhiker' flagged down an East Nicolaus Highway Patrol Officer and informed him of an accident at the said location.
If the killer was the 'hitchhiker', then this 'mystery man' likely drove his vehicle north to East Nicolaus and informed the Highway Patrol Officer of this crash in absence of his vehicle. Relaying this information to the officer with his vehicle in tow may not have been the desired option. The claim of being a hitchhiker separates him from his vehicle and distances himself from the yet to be discovered double murder, which he described as an accident to likely avoid being dragged in deeper.
This was not unlike the phone call possibly received after the Lake Herman Road double murder: "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 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.
Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene."
Was the Zodiac Killer employing a similar tactic on April 22nd 1986, especially considering this time he is face-to-face with a Highway Patrol Officer and doesn't want to be detained. Whether this officer took any details from the hitchhiker, or gave a description is unknown, but the author of the 1986 letter may have referenced this encounter "two weeks" later.
The Zodiac Killer was certainly keen on informing the police of his murders, as demonstrated by his payphone calls after both the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa attacks, when on both occasions he directed the police to the scene of the crime.
Sacramento Police spokesman Bob Burns stated "there is still no known motive for the slayings. They may have been the victims of a random killer. The hitchhiker is still being sought."
A letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle, postmarked May 6th 1986. It stated:

"This is the Zodiac speaking. I am still out here an crackproof. I want you to know about my latest slaves that I have collected about two weeks ago up by Sacramento Ca. I will give you clue to help you with the mystry. They were killed by a freeway. The Blue Meannies almost caught me. The body count is growing now 100+ all over the state of Ca and Na."

The murders occurred on April 22nd 1986, tying in exactly with the claim in the letter of a murder "about two weeks ago."
In fact, from the date of the postmark on this letter, the double murder occurred exactly two weeks ago. The author's reference to "they" and "slaves" certainly indicated more than one victim in this brutal attack. The author's reference to a "freeway up by Sacramento" is more than adequate, to finally confirm that this letter was claiming responsibility for the murders of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Salee along Highway 99.. No other murders in this timeframe or location even remotely parallel this communication. But whether the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murders or the letter will no doubt rage on.

Kathleen Johns was traveling along Highway 99 before turning west on Highway 132, shortly before she was abducted and returned close to Interstate 5. This is where her burnt out vehicle was located. Did the assailant exit north on Interstate 5, heading toward Sacramento, before turning west and heading toward the Bay Area? Was this a tactic employed by the Zodiac Killer on Highway 99?
The 1986 letter stated "the blue meannies almost caught me."
The police confirmed that a Highway Patrol Officer was directed to the scene of the crime under the pretense of an accident by a hitchhiker. This letter may very well have been inferring as much, mocking the police once again for letting him on his way, not dissimilar to the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine and subsequent 'Bus Bomb' letter, in which the killer stated "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. The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly."
The quality of collection and storage of evidence in 1986 should have moved on from the late 1960s, with less degraded biological material hopefully still available in this case. With advancements in the retrieval of DNA from ever smaller samples, such as bullet casings, all hope is not necessarily lost. If this crime was committed by the Zodiac Killer, then there is an outside chance that the identity of the Bay Area murder may still be resting in fifteen crucial places.

Devon Stuart Olson confessed to the murder of the Yuba couple, apparently providing investigators with details of the crime, however, little connected him to the crime and he was never charged..Sergeant James Lewis in 2001 reiterated that none of Olson's statements matched to any of the crimes he claimed and he wasn't charged in these murders.

See handwritten original below

This correspondence dated December 15th 1971 was mailed from Scottsville, New York and addressed to Mr J Edgar Hoover, first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In respect to the Zodiac timeline, it was sent 15 months after the disappearance of Donna Lass from Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970.
The communication claims to have evidence that with proper investigation would disclose the name and identity of the infamous 'Zodiac Killer of California.'
The author of this letter would receive a reply dated December 23rd 1971, informing him that the matter was not within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI and he should advise the San Francisco, California Police Department of any information which pertains to the Zodiac Killer. Signed by Director, John Edgar Hoover.
The identity or signature of this individual is redacted, with a return address of some description- therefore determining its sincerity or otherwise is difficult to determine. One would like to think this was an extremely concerned citizen or somebody from an official agency, frustrated enough to mail a letter to the FBI offices (handwritten letter below).

SAC - Special Agent in Charge......... Bureau of Files contain no record of this correspondent

Tracers wrote this on the Zodiac Killer Tapatalk forum: "I did find this old reference to a letter: In a letter from J.Edgar Hoover dated 11/30/70 to Senator Karl E. Mundt concerning his interest in finding Donna A. Lass, he says, "In an effort to be of assistance, a search of our Identification Division files was conducted but I regret to tell you no indication of the whereabouts was disclosed. A missing person notice was previously placed in file in behalf of Senator George McGovern. In view of your interest I am having a notification added to the effect that any information we may receive will also be forwarded to you. We do not, of course, have the authority to conduct an active investigation in the absence of a violation of a federal statute within our jurisdiction."

Senator George Stanley McGovern was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator born in Avon, South Dakota, approximately 100 miles from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which may reflect his interest in the case.

Another communication in the form of a Christmas card was mailed to the sister of Donna Lass, Mary Pilker, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on December 27th 1974. The Christmas card read 'Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year', followed by the handwriting "Best Wishes, St Donna & Guardian of the Pines."
It is unknown whether this card had sinister connotations in respect to where Donna Lass may be buried (somewhere in between the pines), or whether it is just misguided support. There are, however, some similarities in the handwriting of the John Edgar Hoover letter and the Christmas card mailed to Mary Pilker (shown below).
Handwriting comparisons in the Zodiac case are the topic of much debate, as they are extremely subjective, and should always be used in conjunction with other evidence.

John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American detective and the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. He was appointed as the director of the Bureau of Investigation — the FBI's predecessor — in 1924 and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at the age of 77. Hoover has been credited with building the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency than it was at its inception and with instituting a number of modernizations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
Wikipedia.

There has been much discussion about the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter, typed and sent by the alleged murderer of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. The image of the of the 'Confession' letter (shown below) was published in the Argosy magazine in March 1971. This 27 line letter was clearly later retyped into a different version by police, but with the same amount of lines. The length of some lines have been altered in the retyped version, changing the layout slightly. The Department of Justice (DOJ) produced a completely different version of the 'Confession' letter on October 3rd 1969, comprising 31 lines of text. This appears to contain many mistakes, and differs markedly from the photographed version and retyped police version below. The only conceivable alternative, is the author sent two different versions of the 'Confession' letter, but this seems unlikely.
I have magnified the photographed version from the magazine and retyped it below. It almost concurs with the written version by the Argosy magazine. The original photographed version definitely states minutes not minuts, brunett as opposed to brownett, and victon as opposed to victim or victom. The words pertaining to each line is now correct in the retyped photograph version.

Argosy magazine March 1971

Photographed version retyped

Retyped police version

12 underscores on photographed version

Here we will take one final look at the October 30th 1966 Cheri Jo Bates murder in Riverside, utilizing the 3D graphics of Google maps to give an overview of the crime scene that evening or night. Cheri Jo Bates lime green Volkswagen Beetle was discovered on October 31st 1966 parked 30 yards past the library entrance, and 75 yards east of the ill-fated alleyway. Whether it remained in this position from the moment she arrived at the library just before opening time, until being discovered by investigators the following day, is open to question. Below is a representation of the Volkswagen Beetle, library annex, the alleyway (drawn into its approximate position), and the movements of Cheri Jo Bates (1 to 5) from the perspective of the November 29th 'Confession' letter.

A Mexican-American student noticed Cheri Jo Bates close to opening time and shortly after: who stated "he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen" in her blue spiral school notebook." The boy told us he was outside about 5.30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl."
Other students who were acquainted with Cheri Jo said they were in the library between 6.30 pm and 6.40 pm, and did not see the girl during that time.
Walter Siebert stated that "he and a few friends were in the library from 7.15 pm until 9, but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew. They said they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them."
If we believe the 'Confession' letter and tie it alongside these statements, a picture unravels of a woman who likely discharged her books and left the library within a very short time- leaving prior to 6.30 pm. However, according to the author of the 'Confession' letter, he would have effectively disabled her vehicle extremely close to the library entrance sometime between 6.00 pm and when she exited the library. She would then have discovered her disabled Volkswagen and taken up the offer of assistance by this unknown person, walking back past the library entrance, completely dismissing the option of assistance from anybody inside the library, including making a phone call, and traveling into a dark alleyway (despite being afraid of the dark), while simultaneously leaving her car keys in the ignition, windows rolled down and car doors unlocked. Not withstanding the fact, a female eyewitness saw no body in the alleyway circa 9.30 pm, and screams were heard from that location by two earwitnesses around 10.30 pm. One could argue, that if these observations make no sense, then the story depicted by the 'Confession' letter is fiction regarding the timeline it suggests.

There is no guarantee that the Volkswagen Beetle remained in this position upwards of 12 hours until its discovery on the morning of the 31st. Since detectives seemingly operated upon the assumption it did, one could infer that eyewitnesses leaving the library on the evening and night of the murder, saw the Volkswagen Beetle in exactly the same position it was ultimately discovered on the Monday.
If this were the case, and with screams heard around 10.30 pm- then other than abduction- she must have left willingly on foot after departing the library to a secondary destination, either on her own or with an unknown person or party. The problems began four hours later just before the screams were heard. The 'Confession' letter gives the impression of a good Samaritan "offering to help" when Cheri Jo Bates failed to start her vehicle, and she blissfully wandered off with him into a dark alleyway. The added suggestion of "brush offs" in the letter may have wanted to infer that the killer and victim were known to one another and hence her willingness to walk alongside him. Yet this seems too obvious a conclusion to be drawn, focusing the investigation inward to friends and relations, and thereby would not have been wholly relied upon as the truth by investigators- who could easily have formed an opposite stance.
But if Cheri Jo Bates willingly left the library with somebody she knew or had arranged to meet shortly after opening time, and had returned to her vehicle circa 10.30 pm with this person, then it is conceivable the confrontation or disagreement began by her vehicle, and the disabling of her vehicle was integral to it. The condition of her vehicle the following morning may suggest she was preparing to leave for home that night when things took a turn. The sabotaging of her distributor not distinct and separate to her discovering her disabled vehicle, but part of one continuous sequence. Left with little option but to seek help, she headed off to ring for assistance, leaving her vehicle in a condition she otherwise would never have done. She is dragged or forced into the alleyway and the rest is history.
The 'Inside Detective' magazine stated 'Two young girls who said they knew Cheri Jo, gave a taped interview to a crew from a Los Angeles television station. The girls in the interview, said that Cheri Jo had told them Sunday that she was "going to the library to meet her boyfriend." However, Sgt Gren said that while Cheri Jo had met her boyfriend in San Francisco the weekend prior to her murder, the boy was still in the Bay Area at the time of her death. The statements of the two girls were based on hearsay and not on fact Captain Cross told newsmen.'
However, were the two young girls referring to Dennis Highland or somebody else. If Cheri Jo Bates had made alternative plans to meet somebody that evening, could this be our murderer. He may certainly have been known to the young girl and more crucially to the friends of Cheri Jo Bates.

Michael Morford, an avid Zodiac researcher, conducted an interesting interview with James Owen in 2012 about his recollections on the night of December 20th 1968, in which he seemed rather unaffected or unconcerned about the gravity of the night that ultimately drew him into the Zodiac story. When responding to questions such as "How closely did you follow the case?," he replied "it was no biggie" and was apparently unaware of the month the actual crime occurred. It was a rather curious and subdued interview from somebody involved in what has now become the most infamous unsolved murder case in American history. There is little doubt that James Owen was not the Zodiac Killer, but there are definite conclusions that could be argued from his statements to investigators on December 21st and 24th of 1968.
[1] 12.21.68 "He states 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."
[2] 12.24.68 "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. He stated as he traveled approximately one quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot."
He also stated that "just before he approached the scene, a vehicle passed him going in the opposite direction toward Vallejo. He could give no description of the vehicle. This occurred near the Borges Ranch."
James Owen recalled this vehicle passing him by the Borges Ranch, but no vehicles ahead or behind him as he traveled towards Benicia on Lake Herman Road. This route is an unlit, pitch-black road- and any vehicle's headlights or taillights would have been obviously visible to James Owen had there been one. There is a notable area just past Syar Industries, where the road is relatively straight and flat, and any vehicle ahead of James Owen would be noticeable in the distance.
His obvious failure to mention any such vehicle would suggest that when he arrived at the ill-fated turnout and saw the second vehicle alongside the Faraday Rambler, that it simply hadn't just pulled up that instant- it had been there a reasonable amount of time. David Faraday had taken Betty Lou Jensen out that evening on their first date, charged with taking care of the young woman, and supposedly under a curfew of around 11.00 pm. The autopsy of Betty Lou Jensen showed her bladder was full.
These elements therefore make it extremely unlikely that David Faraday, by all accounts, a responsible and caring young man, would allow a second vehicle to pull alongside the Rambler in a deserted and dark turnout and just sit there doing nothing, when they have no idea what the occupant of this vehicle had in mind. Additionally, we are of the understanding, that when the Zodiac Killer pulled alongside the Rambler, he would have immediately left his vehicle and fired the warning shots into the rear window and headliner of the Rambler to drive the couple from their vehicle. But if he was slightly ahead of James Owen (but out of sight) traveling in the same direction or had entered the turnout from the Benicia side, he clearly didn't do this, because James Owen stated that he saw no persons "in or around the vehicles." when he arrived at the turnout. He also heard no shots coming from the turnout as he approached. One would assume if he had heard a shot a quarter of a mile after passing the turnout, then he logically would have heard shots a quarter of a mile preceding the turnout- but he didn't.
The Zodiac Killer, by the fact that James Owen saw no vehicles in front of him, or entering the turnout from the opposite side as he approached the area in question (see below), would indicate the Zodiac Killer had been in the turnout for a measurable amount of time, but failed to initiate his attack on the Rambler the moment he pulled up. We know this, because James Owen failed to see any occupants in or around either vehicle. We also have to believe, David Faraday not only didn't pull out of the turnout in the amount of time from when Zodiac arrived, to the time James Owen arrived, but continued to remain in the turnout for a further 30 seconds (or quarter of a mile) after James Owen passed. The shot that James Owen supposedly heard being the beginning of the attack. Is it reasonable to believe David Faraday, past his curfew, Betty Lou Jensen needing the toilet and a 'mysterious vehicle' parked literally feet to the right side of the Rambler in pitch-black conditions, David Faraday would just sit in his vehicle without doing anything upwards of a minute or more.

The approach to the turnout, heading towards Benicia.

James Owen was clear that nobody was in or around the vehicles as he passed. Therefore, had the attack already begun and the Zodiac Killer had arrived considerably earlier than James Owen, why were the couple supposedly still alive and now out of sight. If the Zodiac Killer had already fired off the warning shots while Owen was out of audible or visible range, he certainly didn't immediately kill the couple the instant they left their vehicle. Let us assume he had already forced the couple out of their vehicle, but as he did so, he heard or saw James Owen in the distance- he then had to close the Rambler door and hide the couple out of view, before resuming the attack when he thought James Owen had traveled a reasonable distance past the turnout. But then why did he re-open the Rambler door?- the condition it was found in when investigators later arrived. This scenario makes little sense.
The further we put James Owen away from the turnout on his approach to it, the more time Zodiac has to begin his attack, and the more time David Faraday has to leave- neither of which apparently happened. The closer we put James Owen to the turnout on his approach to it, the more likely he would have heard any shots fired, and the more likely he would have seen the Zodiac entering the turnout ahead of him, or from the Benicia side. Yet he still saw nobody in or around the vehicles as he passed.
Peggy Your who passed the turnout before James Owen stated "As they were driving west on Lake Herman Road at the turn off to the Benicia Water Pumping Station, she observed a Rambler station wagon parked with front end heading east, there were two Caucasians in the front seat, male and female, when the lights from the car came upon the station wagon, the male sat up in the seat. Mrs Your said it was a cold night and she noticed no frost on the station wagon" Are we to assume that when James Owen passed everybody ducked down in their vehicles? Because James Owen heard no shots on his approach to the turnout, by his statement alone, we could conclude that he was out of audible distance from the turnout and therefore a considerable distance away. But again, why did Zodiac supposedly just sit there doing nothing and why did David Faraday fail to leave. One could argue, if it's not logical it's not true.

Peggy and Homer Your stated that that they saw the couple in the Rambler on their approach to the Marshall Ranch and when they passed for a second time returning to Benicia, but saw no second vehicle.
Fifteen minutes later Stella Medeiros passed the turnout and saw the bodies of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen lying on the turnout floor, cut down by six bullets to the head and back. In between these two eyewitness statements, James Owen saw nobody anywhere "in or around the vehicles."
We cannot rectify the open door conundrum easily. Neither can we explain the inaction of both Zodiac and David Faraday to any great satisfaction- and are we to assume everybody just vanished during this fifteen minute period.
However, it can be resolved if we take away the "dark car" that James Owen couldn't describe- because it may not have existed.
James Owen stated in the interview with Michael Morford “as I was getting ready to leave work the next morning, a worker on the morning shift came in talking about the crime. When I left work, I passed the scene, and there were police there working, so I stopped and told them what I had seen.” It has been suggested that James Owen embellished his version of that night, edging the two vehicles closer to one another, and possibly hearing a shot once he had passed the turnout, in his second interview. It wouldn't be the first time somebody exaggerated their recollection of events, as demonstrated by the second version of William Crow's story that night.
There are two schools of thought when approaching this. The eyewitness is just remembering more details about the events, or they are inflating their importance within those events to become more integral to them. This can be seen throughout the Zodiac case, then and now. The sequence of events that night on Lake Herman Road would be a lot easier to explain if James Owen saw one vehicle in the turnout that night, and the Zodiac Killer arrived after James Owen. But believing he may have invented the second vehicle or was mistaken, doesn't make it true.

Much expectation has surrounded the capture of 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo on suspicion of 50 rapes and 12 murders between 1976 and 1986 in California, with respect to the possible future identification of the Zodiac Killer through the use of genealogy websites and familial DNA testing. The Sacramento Bee newspaper stated "Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser, who has worked the Zodiac case for four years, said his agency has submitted two envelopes that contained letters from the Zodiac Killer for a type of advanced DNA analysis that previously had not been available in the case. Poyser declined to identify the lab, but said it would attempt to obtain a full DNA profile from saliva on the envelope flap and stamps. He said he expected to have results back from the lab as soon as in the next few weeks, and almost certainly by summer. Referring to testing done in 2002 "Poyser said that DNA sample was hampered because technology didn't exist at the time to separate the glue used on the stamps and envelopes from the genetic material. However, science now has advanced to allow a clean grab of the DNA."

Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, was convicted of thirteen counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder in England between 1969 and 1980. The case was severely hampered by poor detective work and the intervention of a hoaxer dubbed 'Wearside Jack,' who falsely claimed to be the murderer, sending detectives three letters and a cassette recording between 1978 and 1979.
One letter read "Dear Sir
I am sorry I cannot give my name for obvious reasons. I am the Ripper. I've been dubbed a maniac by the Press but not by you, you call me clever and I am. You and your mates haven't a clue that photo in the paper gave me fits and that bit about killing myself, no chance. I've got things to do. My purpose to rid the streets of them sluts. My one regret is that young lassie McDonald, did not know cause changed routine that night. Up to number 8 now you say 7 but remember Preston '75. get about you know. You were right I travel a bit. You probably look for me in Sunderland, don't bother, I am not daft, just posted letter there on one of my trips. Not a bad place compared with Chapeltown and Manningham and other places. Warn whores to keep off streets cause I feel it coming on again. Sorry about young lassie.
Yours respectfully
Jack the Ripper
Might write again later I not sure last one really deserved it. Whores getting younger each time. Old slut next time I hope. Huddersfield never again, too small close call last one."

In 2005, only three years after the Zodiac documentary with Cydne Holt, in which the programme claimed only a partial DNA sample was acquired, police made a major breakthrough in the 'Wearside Jack' investigation. "Senior officers from West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Inquiry Team, headed by Det Chief Supt Chris Gregg, decided to review the case. A small piece of the gummed seal from one of the envelopes was located in a forensic laboratory and following publicity about the cold case review the hoax tape was retrieved from a retired scientist who had worked on the original investigation. As a result of this cold case review, DNA from envelopes sent by Humble as part of the hoax were matched in the United Kingdom National DNA Database with samples police had obtained from Humble in an unrelated incident in 2000, when he had been arrested and cautioned for being drunk and disorderly. By this time Humble had become an alcoholic loner." Wikipedia. John Samuel Humble was arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail. After 26 years, the gum on the 1979 envelope required only a few cells to generate a profile from the DNA database. It would seem the technology did exist in 2005 for a "clean grab" of DNA from the glue- and other cases exist.
Yet here we are, thirteen years later, waiting in expectation once again, despite having a possible 21 letters at our disposal and numerous double postage stamps available for testing. Whether or not the Zodiac envelopes and stamps were licked by the killer and contain enough traces of saliva, if at all, should not be an argument in 2018.
The Golden State Killer case may have jolted the investigation into the Zodiac Killer into life, with the use of familial DNA testing- but this scientific advancement is nothing new, having been available through current DNA databases for years. The use of familial DNA testing in the USA has been bedeviled with privacy issues, currently adopted by very few states in America, including California.

Clothing and personal effects from Lake Berryessa

The implementation or otherwise of familial DNA testing through databases such as CODIS, searching for near matches of blood relatives, could be the difference between apprehending a serial killer such as the Zodiac or Golden State Killer, or not.
There is a possibility that besides the July 31st 1969 letters and others, the items recovered from Lake Berryessa may contain the Zodiac Killer's blood. Often during bladed attacks, the assailant will cut themselves, depositing blood at the crime scene. By all accounts Bryan Hartnell played dead to avoid further repeated stabbing, but seemingly Cecelia Shepard did not adopt this strategy and hence sustained greater knife injuries to her back and abdomen.
If the Zodiac had knowingly left while under the impression one person was still alive, then had he cut himself during the latter part of the attack as the knife became sodden with blood, not dissimilar to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966.
If so, this may provide investigators with the possibility of testing for DNA on the clothing and blanket recovered from Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969.

On June 9th 1984, Melanie Road, 17, was stabbed to death in Bath, Somerset, England. She had been brutally stabbed 26 times. "A trail of blood matching Hampton's blood group, and later his DNA, was found leading from nearby St Stephen's Road in the direction of his home half a mile away." Independent. It was entered into the UK database.
Thirty years later his daughter, then aged 41, was arrested for a domestic incident, leading to a familial DNA match to the genetic fingerprint stored in the database. Christopher Hampton was jailed for 22 years in 2015.
Privacy issues have been argued over the recent Golden State Killer case and aggressively pursued in many American states regarding the use of familial DNA to trace offenders. The same issues have arisen over the use of CCTV trailing our every move. One can ask yourself the question- if the killer of your mother was captured on CCTV or through familial DNA testing, would you argue against its use when it helps you, or only argue against it when it helps somebody else.
If you think the DNA in the Zodiac case is too old and degraded, then think again. Detectives in the 'Little Red Riding Hood' murder of 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater from Swansea in 1946, extracted DNA from a semen stain on her coat in 2008.
This has been touted as "possibly the oldest one in the world to be successfully extracted in a murder investigation.
In 2008, a team of retired detectives investigating cold cases found Drinkwater's clothes in storage. Her blue coat, her underwear and school uniform had been wrapped in a paper bag and stored. On the back of the coat, a no-longer visible semen stain was circled with yellow crayon. Scientists successfully retrieved a DNA profile from the stain on the coat. A familial DNA profile was extracted using a technique called Y-STR, but no match was found in the national DNA database. Hubert Hoyles, who saw her after buying eggs at her parent's farm, was cleared by the DNA evidence. He stated he had long been suspected by some locals as the murderer and was happy to clear his name."
Wikipedia.
It seems rather odd to now claim with renewed optimism, the possibility of generating a full and complete DNA fingerprint of the Zodiac Killer, when this possibility has been there for years. The recent likely capture of the Golden State Killer has given a much needed 'kick up the backside' to the Zodiac investigation. But it shouldn't have been required.

If the Zodiac Killer touched the stamp or envelope inner while sealing either, even if he didn't lick the glue, there remains a reasonable probability of securing a full DNA profile of the Bay Area murderer in the coming weeks, so long as the evidence has been stored correctly in a controlled temperature and humidity. However, this may not be the case with the July 31st 1969 letters, which were apparently kept in the private files of a "retired police source."
If the numerous Zodiac letters have been treated in a similar manner to other cases around the world, then just a few cells would be needed.
The amount of cells required can be as small as a millionth the size of a grain of salt. This DNA can be harbored from skin cells stuck to the back of the envelope or stamp, or from the pasted newspaper cuttings from the '13 Hole' postcard, the 'Pines' card or the 'Halloween'.card This has been achieved before in cold cases.
Low Copy Number (LCN) was developed in 1999 by the UK Forensic Science Service, but has not been adopted by all countries due to the risk of contamination in the sample.
The amount of material or DNA required is so microscopically small the results achieved are effectively non-reproducible, but with so many Zodiac letters available, the possibility of a match between letters could produce corroborative proof.
This technique has led to the successful apprehension of numerous individuals in the UK.
One such case was the conviction of Paul Hutchinson in 2010, who raped and strangled Colette Aram (16) in Nottingham, England in 1983, despite the case being cold for 27 years. "After the murder, Hutchinson, a psychology graduate who had also been a youth worker, returned to the village to watch the police investigation unfold and later sent a letter taunting officers that he was still free."No one knows what I look like. That is why you have not got me," he wrote, also claiming he was wearing a Halloween mask. "You will never get me." The Guardian.
A DNA profile was generated using 'Low Copy Number' taken from the letter and matched in the nationwide database to one of his relatives, ultimately leading to his arrest and conviction. Remarkably a fingerprint from the letter was also matched to Hutchinson.
This extremely small sample size offers hope in the Zodiac case. Even if the results are questioned due to the risk of contamination- once a suspect has been identified, further comparisons could be then implemented using the bloodied fingerprint from the taxicab of Paul Stine or the palm print from the 'Exorcist' letter, as two simple examples. This would then be followed up by looking at all aspects of the subject identified, in order to validate or refute the credibility of the DNA results.

In 2017, Osmond Bell was eventually convicted 36 years after the murder of Nova Welsh in Birmingham, England in 1981 by saliva retrieved from chewing gum he had used to seal the door of a cupboard he had hidden her body in.
"The 60-year-old killer also left traces of DNA on the envelope of a letter he sent after the killing in an attempt to frame an innocent man for the crime.
Jurors acquitted the pensioner of murder, opting instead to convict him of manslaughter by an 11-1 majority verdict following a six-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday." The Sun.
DNA retrieval after 27 and 36 years was successful in both cases, resulting in conviction. This gives us the hope that correctly preserved evidence can without doubt generate a full DNA profile in the Zodiac case, whether through saliva or skin cells in the smallest of samples.

Kim Rossmo is a Canadian criminologist who pioneered the art of geographic profiling- a technique used to compliment conventional police work in the tracking of criminals. He has used data from the Zodiac Killer case to narrow down the likely residence and possible commuter routes of the murderer, and even a suggestion of where he may have worked. When the details from the Zodiac case were placed into the Rigel crime mapping software it created significant zones of interest in Rancho Vallejo, northern Vallejo, American Canyon and Benicia. These areas have one critical commuter route relevant to all- that of California State Route 37- which the significance of regarding Zodiac's knowledge of courting couples, his base location and possible workplace will become apparent. Some of Kim Rossmo's ideas will be presented here, but to read his excellent analysis of the Zodiac case, please visit here.
Below is a map showing all the relevant locations concerning the killer's first two crimes- the red circle at the northern end of Tuolumne Street being of significant interest, as it also brings into focus the easy access to and from the payphone after his murder and attempted murder of Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot on July 5th 1969. The journey time to the payphone from the crime scene of less than 10 minutes, and the phone call to police nearly 40 minutes after the attack lends good weight to the premise the killer was a native Vallejoan, and possibly returned home to ditch his weapon and/or clothes before returning to place the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover.

What better way to have knowledge that Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs were frequented regularly by courting couples, than if you routinely traveled this route to reach your place of work, not unlike eyewitness James Owen who lived at 1735 Mini Drive and would have likely used California State Route 37 at the beginning of his journey, to arrive at Humble Oil in Benicia. The same applies to an area around Mare Island Shipyard and Rancho Vallejo, where Tuolumne Street nears State Route 37. Lake Herman Road on the eastern fringes of Vallejo and Benicia, is a dark, unlit stretch of rural road infrequently used. It is, however, a logical choice for somebody living in Ranch Vallejo (north Vallejo) or American Canyon to use, if they worked in the industrial area of Benicia.
The northern side of the green line on the map above, shows that access to State Route 37 would take somebody towards the northern side of Columbus Parkway, before heading southeast along Lake Herman Road towards Benicia, and crucially encompassing both crime scenes. If the killer lived in the northern region of Vallejo and worked in Benicia, his 'compass' knowledge of specific locations would not be surprising. This was evident in his first attack when he stated in the July 31st 1969 letters, that Betty Lou Jensen "was on her right side feet to the west." Of course, he had six and a half months to work this out, but had only 36-38 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs attack, in which he was able to direct Vallejo police to the crime scene along Springs Road and Columbus Parkway with completely accurate directions when he called Nancy Slover, stating "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye."
Knowledge such as this, could suggest complete familiarity with the public park, golf course, Lake Herman Road and the location of the police station with respect to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone.
The killer would have one direct route, to and from his residence to the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street. His route to work (possibly a night-shift) also giving him first hand knowledge of courting couples and where to trawl for victims at the weekend.

Kim Rossmo, referring to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, stated "In contrast, his target selection at Lake Berryessa and San Francisco did not show any evidence of local area knowledge. Also, the time lapse between the Blue Rock Springs shooting and the Zodiac’s telephone call was approximately 40 minutes, even though the distance between these two locations is only 3.5 miles (7 minutes normal driving time). What did he do for that other half hour? One possibility is that he returned home and disposed of his weapon. If so, that means he most likely lived within a five-mile radius of the crime site. The Zodiac also knew to telephone the Vallejo Police Department, even though the Blue Rock Spring Golf Course and park area was an unusual offshoot of municipal jurisdiction, totally surrounded by Solana County. The Zodiac’s comfort zone clearly includes the Vallejo area."
However, there is one thorn in our side- the testimony of Michael Mageau. He stated in the police report "as he fell out onto the ground the vehicle the subject was in backed up in a turning movement and then took off toward Springs Road in Vallejo at a very high rate of speed." The obvious route back home for the killer, had he lived somewhere by the top of Tuolumne Street, and wanted to ditch his weapon and clothes before making the call to police, would have been to head north and west along Columbus Parkway- the opposite direction that he chose for work. There may be several explanations for this.
Michael Mageau was simply mistaken, the killer's initial intention was to make the phone call immediately but changed his mind, preferring to remove his weapon and possibly bloodied clothing from the equation, or the intended payphone at the initial time of his arrival had potential eyewitnesses, forcing a hasty change of plan. This may have been his preferred choice of payphone, as it provided easy access to and from his home residence, yet allowed a reasonable 'buffer zone' of just over two miles. It had the added benefit of a voyeur killer who wanted to remain in his vehicle and watch responding officers scurry into action from the police station, along Springs Road to the crime scene. It may actually have been the primary reason he chose this particular payphone so close to the police station, despite it seemingly being an added unnecessary risk on his part.

There may be another reason why the Zodiac Killer chose the 'wrong way' after leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. A reason that involved near eyewitnesses to the murder in the parking lot..
Three young kids, Debbie, Jerry and Roger were the first to find Michael Mageau just after he had extracted himself from the brown Corvair and was lying adjacent to it.
They must have arrived extremely close to the time of the attack- possibly as little as a minute or two after the brutal shooting. The time of the attack can be calculated with a fair degree of confidence to 12.02 am on July 5th 1969. See here.
Police dispatcher Nancy Slover received a phone call from Jerry's house at  938 Catlewood Drive, Vallejo from Debbie at 12.10 am. The drive to 938 Castlewood Drive from Blue Rock Springs is approximately 6 minutes, indicating they would have had to leave the parking lot by about 12.04 am to make this phone call in time.
Yet, this isn't the time they arrived at the parking lot, which must have been around a minute earlier at 12.03 am- just after the attack at 12.02 am. The Zodiac Killer may literally have been leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot as they were approaching it. This may have influenced the direction Zodiac exited from the crime scene.
Debbie, Jerry and Roger stated in the police report that "they had been downtown to see the festivities for the 4th of July. After this was over, at about 11 pm, they decided to look for this girl that Roger knows. They drove around town and did not see her and decided to go to Blue Rock Springs Park to look for her. They went out the freeway to Columbus Parkway and came into the park the back way. While they were driving in toward the park neither boy recalls seeing any vehicle coming out, none parked along the road, nor did they pass any vehicle." They must have been almost on top of Zodiac as they approached from the north side of Columbus Parkway. Had Zodiac intended to travel home before making the phone call, his obvious route north and then west along Columbus Parkway, was now not so obvious if he didn't want himself or his vehicle spotted by the three kids. They obviously didn't see him, but he may have spotted their vehicle approaching in the distance. This may have forced a change of plan and coerced Zodiac south toward Springs Road.
The journey time heading in this direction to somewhere close to the green circle at the top of Tuolumne Street, would take approximately 11-12 minutes. The Zodiac Killer would arrive home at about 12.14 am- leaving him approximately 20 minutes at his residence before driving back to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone to make the call. Once doing so, his escape home is a mere 4 minutes.
Calfornia State Route 37 and Highway 101 may have played a decisive factor when selecting a quick and easy separation from San Francisco after the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. Whether or not the murderer had entered the Presidio Park is a moot point today, but in 1969 the Zodiac Killer would certainly have wanted to escape from the area in as little time as possible. A vehicle parked somewhere along West Pacific Avenue or to the east of the park in Cow Hollow, would provide immediate access to Highway 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge, and in a handful of minutes out of San Francisco. The killer can then head north and eventually east just before Novato, taking California State Route 37 right onto his doorstep.

The selection of a taxicab driver to take him to a predetermined destination so close to an exit route from San Francisco, one could argue was the perfect choice for a resident of Vallejo. The killer has a nearby park in case things don't go to plan, along with an immediate escape and separation from the crime scene via Highway 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even Inspector Dave Toschi thought this a viable proposition: "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Khan playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County."
Kim Rossmo made an extremely salient point regarding the murder of Paul Stine.
He stated: "The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts. In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques." Control your location and you control your escape route.
The Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969 speaks for itself. The killer headed to downtown Napa and the payphone at 1231 Main Street. He may have been only 12 miles from California State Route 37 and home, had he continued the trajectory he had set for himself. Was the Zodiac Killer's apparent knowledge of a road on the fringes of Vallejo more indicative of his recreational habits or a route he traveled daily..... particularly when the sun went down.

There remains a widespread misconception that the Zodiac Killer's directions in the phone call after the Blue Rock Springs Park attack were incorrect, even though the police report clearly specified that the recollection of police dispatcher Nancy Slover was in effect the 'substance of the statement', not a verbatim transcription. The Zodiac Killer likely planned the payphone call and location, yet, we assume his directions to the crime scene were horribly wrong based on the version remembered by Nancy Slover. There is no evidence to support such a conclusion based on the wording of the call shown below. Nancy Slover even recalled that the Zodiac Killer was speaking in a rehearsed, monotone fashion, as if reading from a script- which is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis. If we conclude he had prepared a written script, then this would seemingly fly in the face of him getting his directions completely wrong.
The Zodiac Killer was correct when he placed Betty Lou Jensen's feet facing west, along with his apparent knowledge of the the infrequently traveled Lake Herman Road as a location for courting couples, yet, somehow became completely disoriented when making one turn off Columbus Parkway to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne Street.
When Zodiac made the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa phone calls, he rang the police. Therefore, it follows logically, that any directions given would be to direct the police to the crime scene from their location. In these cases, the Sheriff's Office was located at the junction of Virginia and Tuolumne Streets, the Vallejo Police Department at 111 Amador Street, and Park Headquarters at Lake Berryessa.

If you were calling the police at 12.40 am on July 5th 1969, issuing them with directions to Blue Rock Springs, then your first statement would be to tell them to go east, which is what the Zodiac Killer did. Then take Columbus Parkway to the crime scene. Police dispatcher Nancy Slover was certainly not prepared for the call she was about to receive, crucially interrupting the caller and asking him for his details as he began his message. In other words, she spoke over the killer while simultaneously having to register what he was saying. She may have been a trained police dispatcher, but little prepares you for a serial killer ringing in, claiming the murder of four people in total. She often recalled how unnerving the phone call was.
In the aftermath of the call, she then had to remember its totality, word for word, along with the exact sequence of the message and any pauses or sentence breaks within it, to fully recollect the message delivered in its correct context.
The message shown above was composed of 46 words, delivered in approximately 20 seconds. The chances of recalling this amount of words in exactly the correct order and context, one could suggest is extremely unlikely and unrealistic. There is often the false assumption that the Zodiac Killer was incorrect in his delivery of the message, whereas, it is a far more credible proposition that Nancy Slover simply recalled the message incorrectly.
We have previously shown, that by inserting one break into the message, it reads perfectly from a directional standpoint, although incorrectly regarding the distances given. Here is the message with the break or pause inserted "I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye."
This message now makes sense regarding a killer directing police from 111 Armador Street to Blue Rock Springs Park. However, there are many alternatives.

You can see from the map above, it is impossible to direct anybody to the crime scene traveling "one mile east on Columbus Parkway" You would be traveling "one mile north northeast" or "one mile southeast". Additionally, you would be traveling to the crime scene from effectively nowhere of any note- least of all a police station.
It can be seen that responding officers heading away from the police station would be traveling along Springs Road or Georgia Street, approximately 2 miles east, as opposed to the 'supposed' one mile east given in the phone call. But, this may not be the case if Nancy Slover jumbled her recollection of the message.
The widely portrayed message reads ""I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." The important parts to look out for, are the words "to" and "one" in the second sentence. This shall now be flipped to give coherent and correct directions from the police station to the public park.
"I want to report a double murder. If you will go two miles east. then one mile on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye"
The Zodiac Killer wasn't going to deliver fractions of distances in his payphone call, so rounded 1.88 miles east to 2 miles, and 1.5 miles to 1 mile, now giving a perfectly reasonable set of directions and distances in his message to Nancy Slover. Unfortunately, yet understandably, it was recalled incorrectly through memory and talking over the killer during the first part of the message. We must not make the blind assumption that the "substance of the statement," was in fact a perfect transcription of what the Zodiac Killer actually said that night. If it was a perfection transcription, then it makes little sense regarding a call directing the police to the crime scene. If it makes little sense, one can argue it wasn't spoken.

Footnote:
"I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia ...... I'm the one that did it".
"I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. There are two people one mile north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia ...... I'm the one that did it".

THE TIMELINE OF ARMOND PELISSETTI

OUT TO LUNCH

THE ZODIAC KILLER- A VALLEJO RESIDENT?

THE 01.30 AM PHONE CALLS

ONE BLOCK TOO FAR

THE DARLENE FERRIN TIMELINE

ZODIAC- BORN ON AUGUST 3RD

THE SUNOL PARK SLAYINGS

LAKE BERRYESSA- THE TWO SIGHTINGS

ZODIAC- THE LORD HIGH EXECUTIONER

THE FAKE 340 CIPHER?

MURDER BY THE FREEWAY

THE JOHN EDGAR HOOVER LETTER

THE CONFESSION LETTER RETYPED

AWAY FROM THE LIBRARY

THE RECOLLECTION OF JAMES OWEN

THE ZODIAC KILLER- FAMILIAL DNA

WHAT LIES BENEATH

AT THE CROSSROADS OF EVIL

THE JULY 5TH 1969 PAYPHONE CALL