ZODIAC CIPHERS - Zodiac News

This is the Department of Justice ballistics report dated 3rd January 1969 regarding the Lake Herman Road shooting:
'We find that the exhibits correspond only with tests fired in J.C. Higgins Model 80, .22 automatic pistol. It should not be assumed the exhibits must have been fired in such a weapon, but this is the only type presently in our files that corresponds, therefore, it appears somewhat probable the weapon was of this type.
In addition to subjecting to further tests any J.C. Higgins Model 80 automatic pistol recovered, further tests should be made on any weapon having the following characteristics;
(A) Cartridge cases: Semi-circular firing pin impression at 12 o' clock position, small extractor markings at 3 o'clock position. Very faint ejector marking at 8 o' clock position (latter may not always be detectable).
(B) Weapon barrel or test bullets: Six right hand grooves, land and groove ratio 1:1+. Bullet groove width approximately 0.056 inch. Bullet land width approximately 0.060 inch.'

This report points out that although the offending weapon is likely a J.C. Higgins, it should not be regarded as certain. However it suggests that any weapon identified should be compared to the characteristics exhibited above, on the bullets and cartridge cases.
The next line of the DOJ report is significant, stating; 'Intercomparison of the cartridge cases in items 4 and 5 indicates that all are probably fired in the same weapon and all are the same make and type of ammunition. Due to lack of sufficient unique structure it appears that considerable difficulty will be encountered in identifying the responsible weapon if it should be recovered.' The cartridge cases mentioned in items 4 and 5 are the nine cases tested from the Lake Herman Road crime scene. The problem is that ten cartridge cases were ejected and removed from Lake Herman Road that night. It is with a high degree of certainty that the bullet casing lying on the floorboard of the Rambler, towed away to a designated location, was ultimately separated from the other nine and never reached the DOJ for testing.
In addition the report stated ''All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics.'
Item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday. The ballistics report could not rule that the bullet removed from David Faraday's head was different to the other bullets recovered, but nevertheless it couldn't rule it the same, as it didn't exhibit the same ' 6 right hand groove class characteristics,' as the rest.
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-herman-road-the-ballistics-report

Responding officers questioned many of the eyewitnesses that night, including Peggy Your. She stated in the police report "They did have a gun with them that night, it was a .38 special with a small barrel and it was lying in the rear seat of the car. It was unloaded and Mr Your had the shells in his pocket."
Another eyewitness Robert Connelly was interviewed, being asked if he had a rifle. He stated 'he had an automatic rifle. The RO advised him of his constitutional rights at this time. Due to the fact he was in the area and he did have a rifle which he claimed he didn't have with him that night.'
Rangemaster George Parks tested several weapons on 28th December 1968. He test fired three rifles and made comparisons of shell casings with the casings in evidence. On the basis of his findings the following guns are eliminated as suspected weapons.
#1. Marlin automatic rifle; property of Robert Connelly.
#2. Remington automatic rifle, Model 550-1, property of James Owen.
#3. Ruger automatic rifle, SN 138577, property of James Owen.

The bullet that struck David Faraday's head was likely damaged, although didn't exhibit '6 right hand groove class characteristics,' as the rest. Bearing in mind David Faraday's body position in the Lake Herman Road turnout, he was likely facing west, standing next to the Rambler's rear right wheel, when he was shot in the left side of his head. Therefore it is plausible the shell casing observed on the front passenger floorboard of the Rambler was inextricably linked to this bullet recovered from David Faraday. Without an accurate comparison of this bullet and without locating the missing shell casing, it cannot be ruled out that these two pieces of ballistic evidence were not the product of a second gun and second shooter on the night of December 20th 1968.
The comparison by George Parks above, used to eliminate suspected weapons, was done using the shell casings, not the bullets, as some of the bullets were disfigured. The shell casings were free from distortion with identifiable extractor and ejector marks. These were used to rule out the weapons of Robert Connelly and James Owen.
The eyewitnesses interviewed in connection with Lake Herman Road, with near certainty were not involved in the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. However, countless people were interviewed in the following months and no doubt innumerable other guns were eliminated using the shell casing comparison.

The problem we have, is that the tenth casing was never tested in the Department of Justice report, only nine of the ejected casings. Therefore none of the guns tested for comparison can be ruled out as the source of this missing tenth casing, and quite possibly the bullet recovered from David Faraday at autopsy. If two shooters were involved that night, or even a second gun by the same shooter, the tested suspected firearm can never be eliminated from the double murder. At best it can likely be ruled out as the firearm used to murder Betty Lou Jensen.
It is not impossible that a suspect has been ruled out of the murders at Lake Herman Road using shell casing comparison, who owes the good fortune to one missing piece of ballistic evidence, the tenth casing.
Avid Zodiac researcher Mike Rodelli supplied some additional information regarding Lake Herman Road; "That missing casing is interesting. I remember being at Russ' home for several days in 2003 and he told me that he had one of the shell casings from LHR. We looked through several ashtrays of junk trying to find it but never did. I wonder if the one he had is the missing one, since the car would have been placed in possession of the SO after the shooting, as seen in several videos. Maybe he took it as a souvenir." If this is correct, then it may still be retrieved.
Sixteen shell casings have the capacity to be linked to the Zodiac case, either by comparison or to a suspected firearm, if we include the fifteen shell casings found scattered around the car of murder victims Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Salee (40), a Laotian couple brutality gunned down on the hard shoulder of a Sacramento highway on April 22nd 1986. Although not necessarily Zodiac victims, they appeared to be the subject of a possible Zodiac letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on May 6th 1986.

My good friend Gregory Haugevik pointed out some of the similarities to the Dennis Rader case; "Zodiac, of course, was not a sexual sadist--not on the level of Rader anyhow, but when I see the similarities between them (the M.O. in specific incidents, the letters to the media, the cat-and-mouse games, even deluded notions about their victims in the afterlife) I honestly believe they were trapped within the same pathology. I am not a psychiatrist, but perhaps this pathology occurs in one out of every 100 million people and is brought to an extreme at an even lesser, infinitesimal rate. That these two killers lived in roughly the same era and culture, it should perhaps be less than surprising the manifestation of their illness resulted in the headline-grabbing terror carried out by each."
Dennis Rader also ceased his activities for over two decades, so the 1986 letter should not be dismissed on time and handwriting analysis alone, as handwriting would obviously change over a possible 8-12 year hiatus.
There are sixteen tangible pieces of evidence that could be used to answer many questions in the Zodiac case, that are eminently retrievable if the will is there. Unfortunately it probably isn't.
In addition to the aforementioned comparisons that could be made, the same could be said of Blue Rock Springs and Presidio Heights, where a total of ten shell casings were secured in evidence.
The whole of the above premise is based upon the belief that two people could have been involved in the first attack at Lake Herman Road, irrespective of whether the other crimes were committed by one person. It is not something to be pushed or promoted, just considered. But it relies heavily on the notion that one shooter fired at the Rambler as he approached it, then secured Betty Lou Jensen as she emerged from the passenger side of the vehicle. Then David Faraday exited the passenger side and was restrained by the second assailant. The order in which they were shot will never be known, but if the first shooter then releases Betty Lou Jensen and fires at her, he has effectively fired all nine shots thus far. David Faraday is then executed point blank by the second assailant, thereby generating a unique and separate casing to the other nine. It is ejected to his rear, into the front passenger side of the Rambler and is ultimately towed away by responding personnel, taking all the answers with it.

Firstly I must issue an apology for some previous articles on this site, that will now be deleted. I was revisiting the Lake Herman Road crime scene pictures and realized that one of the images widely available on the internet is a composite posted by a contributor on the zodiackiller.com message board, constructed using 3 different crime scene photos. This image is in fact totally wrong and has been the basis on which I have argued that Betty Lou Jensen was discovered 8-10 feet from the rear of the Rambler. In addition this composite gives the impression that Betty Lou Jensen was lying at a virtual right angle to the Rambler, which is also false. Betty Lou Jensen was found 28 feet from the rear of the Rambler, her feet facing west. The Rambler was facing southeast. Using original black and white photographs of the crime scene, the true picture can be revealed. Below I have placed two red dots on the lower blood trail from David Faraday. When joined together it gives us a directional marker (blue line) pointing directly to the front wheel of the Rambler.

Next I will take the widely available composite image from the forum post and perform the identical task. It can be clearly seen that the blue line is pointing nowhere near the front wheel of the Rambler, indicating it has been constructed incorrectly.
The author of the forum post was justifiably trying to create a better feel of the scene at Lake Herman Road, which he did. The error was on my part for not realizing it was a composite or reconstruction, believing it to be a real crime scene photograph.

Below is a real photograph of the crime scene from the back of the turnout. The policeman in the distance is pointing his flashlight at the bloodstains of Betty Lou Jensen, at the northwest side of the turnout. The fence posts can be seen on the left of the image. The yellow line shows the relationship of her body to the lower blood trail from David Faraday. It is at an approximate right angle of 90 degrees. Betty Lou Jensen is only marginally off line to the axis of the Rambler.

How do we know that the policeman is directing his flashlight at the bloodstains of Betty Lou Jensen? Here is the image (below) taken from the newspaper of the day. Detective Sergeant Les Lunblad is pointing at the blooded area where David Faraday was felled by one gunshot to his head. In the distance Russ Butterbach is looking at the bloodstains from Betty Lou Jensen.

It can be seen that the position of Betty Lou Jensen is exactly 90 degrees from the lower blood trail of David Faraday, in complete unison with the wide angled photograph taken from the rear of the turnout. Below I have enlarged the policeman holding the torch and placed it next to the Russ Butterbach photograph (above) from the newspaper. Although a marginally different angle, you can see the first two fence posts in both images. Both men are standing in a virtually identical position in the turnout, looking at the same patch of ground. In the foreground we can see the lower blood trail from David Faraday's head in both instances. Both men are surveying the scene where Betty Lou Jensen was found. The Rambler would have been situated to the right of David Faraday's bloodstains

Although a slightly different camera angle, I have superimposed the Russ Butterbach and policeman image, using the first fence post as the guide. The yellow line depicts the shift in the photograph due to the angle. But the shift of the two men and the relative bloodstains is identical. Both men are standing in the Vallejo side of the turnout and both are examining the exact same piece of ground,
Using the newspaper image of Russ Butterbach and the wide angled view of the turnout, we can now reconstruct the composite image to how it should really look.
Betty Lou Jensen is now aligned roughly on the same axis as the Rambler. I have positioned her body approximately 28 feet from the rear bumper of the Rambler. The view across the blood trail of David Faraday in the left photograph and all the above photographs is identical to the perspective you would see if positioned by the red circle, at ground level in the picture below

The final piece in the jigsaw is to show an overhead view of the turnout, using an image from Google maps. Although the turnout has changed over the intervening years, the following are the relative positions of the Rambler, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, that now tally almost identically to the police sketch shown here. The Rambler is facing southeast.

If a line is drawn through the bloodstains of David Faraday to Betty Lou Jensen, the white arrow above heads directly northwest to Vallejo, to the corner of the turnout, in tandem to the direction of the road. The Rambler is parallel to the white line. This too can be seen here in the following photographs.

The Rambler being parallel to the white line, would have been situated by the red dot (upper left photograph).
Hopefully this finally sets the record straight. I apologize for any inconvenience.
I know crackproof.com did a similar analysis using the composite, so if the authors of that website could contact me, it would be appreciated, as the email address they provided with the last correspondence could not be reached when I replied.

Betty Lou Jensen Autopsy:
There are five bullet wounds of entry on the right side of the back: three on the posterior chest cage and two over the right lower posterior lumbar areas. From up downwards:
[1] The first is located in the 5th intercostal space, 3 and 3/4 inches right of the midline.
[2] The second is in the 8th intercostal space, 5 and 1/2 inches from the midline.
[3] The third is in the 9th intercostal space, 1 and 1/2 inches from the midline.
[4] The fourth in the tip of the right 12th rib, 3 and 1/2 inches from the midline.
[5] The fifth is over the crest of the posterior right iliac bone and 5 and 1/2 inches from the midline.
There are three exit wounds:
[1] The first is over the left interior chest laterally and left margin of the breast, in the 4th intercostal space and 5 and 1/2 inches from the sternum.
[2] The second is in the anterior abdominal wall, below the xyphoid process and 1/2 an inch from the midline.
[3] The third is laterally and 3 and 3/4 inches to the right of the umbilicus.

Heart: A bullet wound penetrates from right to left through both atrium.
Lungs: There are three through and through bullet wounds, corresponding to the three bullet wounds of entry on the right posterior chest cage and one bullet wound through the left lung, in line with the wound through the heart. They are associated with extensive hemorrhage of both lungs.
Abdominal Cavity: A bullet wound penetrates the liver. A bullet wound penetrates the right kidney, the left is normal.
Head: No injuries or skull fractures.
The bullet wound over the posterior iliac crest penetrates the deep muscles and exits to the right of the umbilicus. One bullet is recovered in the subcutaneous tissue of the base of the anterior neck (left side) and the other bullet in the subcutaneous tissue anterior to the right 7th rib, which it penetrated of the sternum. The entry wounds aperture 3/16 inch in diameter. The exit wounds are larger.

On the right the three exit wounds are marked with the letter E on Betty Lou Jensen's back. These exit wounds obviously exited the front of her body relative to the positions shown, but have been placed on the back to highlight the difference between the entry wounds and exit wounds. The other two red dots show the resting position of the remaining bullets within the body.
One can see that four of the bullets that exited or remained in the body, are all situated to the left of the entry wounds, the fifth bullet traveled from right to left also. Bullets do not necessarily follow a linear trajectory when they enter the body, they can be deflected by the body's structures, but here the pattern of all five bullets show a distinct right to left trajectory. The chances that all five bullets deflected to the left from a shooter standing directly behind Betty Lou Jensen is slim, indicating her body position was oriented on her right side in relation to the shooter for many, if not all.
'The bullet wound over the posterior iliac crest penetrates the deep muscles and exits to the right of the umbilicus'. This is bullet [5], which literally enters and exits her body one and a half inches offline. It entered her lower back (dark mark) and exited the front of her body '3 and 3/4 inches to the right of the umbilicus', indicating she was likely running away from the shooter at this point, in an upright position.
Every bullet that entered Betty Lou Jensen traveled from right to left.
Four wounds, marked in red (2 exit wounds from the front of her body and 2 bullets that remained in the body) can be seen marked on the upper portion of Betty Lou Jensen's back, yet two bullets entered low down on her right side. We know the trajectory of bullet [5], so bullet [4] clearly traveled from her lower back to upper back, strongly indicating that Betty Lou Jensen was likely hunched over at this point, struggling to escape the relentless onslaught. The likelihood therefore is that bullets [1], [2] and [3] effectively traveled directly across from the right shoulder area to the mid and left side, as stated here; 'Lungs: There are three through and through bullet wounds, corresponding to the three bullet wounds of entry on the right posterior chest cage and one bullet wound through the left lung, in line with the wound through the heart. They are associated with extensive hemorrhage of both lungs.'
It is difficult to ascertain the exact order of the wounds inflicted that night, but if the uppermost hole in Betty Lou Jensen's dress contained the gunshot residue, then it could be argued that bullet hole [1] was the first shot fired, and likely bullet hole [3] may have been the fatal or final shot that night, as the autopsy stated 'Heart: A bullet wound penetrates from right to left through both atrium.' The trajectory of bullet wound [3] is consistent with injury to the heart.
The following diagram illustrates one possibility of the order of events that night.

The Zodiac Killer shoots David Faraday by the right green circle and he falls close to where Betty Lou Jensen is standing (yellow circle). The Zodiac Killer steps to the left green circle, as Betty Lou Jensen turns to flee westwards. The Zodiac Killer fires the first shot into her upper right shoulder, depositing the gun shot residue onto her dress. This is a non fatal wound and she continues along the flight path shown. The Zodiac Killer is always angled on her right side, in accordance with the bullet trajectories found at autopsy. The first two shots would have been fired at Betty Lou Jensen when she was more side on to the shooter, possibly bullet wound [1] and [2]. The next shot may have been bullet hole [5] near the mid point of her flight path, striking her 'posterior iliac crest penetrating the deep muscles and exiting to the right of the umbilicus'. That is because this bullet deviated only 1 1/2 inches from front to back, suggesting she was further away from the shooter, slightly more straight on to him. Confirmation of this bullet wound can be found on page 9 of the police report.
It states 'Pellet found in pants of victim Betty Lou Jensen, at mortuary, during examination of the deceased. The pellet had entered the lower back, coursed through her body, emerging under the waist band elastic of her panties, where it was found.'

The previous shot into her lower back may have caused Betty Lou Jensen to hunch forward in pain, then bullet [4] struck, entering low on her back and traveling upwards to the center of her upper back, and exiting from her stomach. The direction of this bullet is shown by the blue line in the left image.
This bullet was also described in the police report; 'Pellet recovered near victim Betty Lou Jensen in blood spattered path on her attempted escape route. Pellet entered her body in the back and emerged from the center of her stomach and dropped to the ground without penetrating the front of her dress.' The stomach is situated beneath the heart, so was likely not the fatal shot that night.
The police report stated it was found along her escape route, not necessarily where she was finally discovered. Betty Lou Jensen likely staggered a few more feet, twisting to her right side, possibly falling to her knees. The final shot was likely bullet [3], striking 'the 9th intercostal space, 1 and 1/2 inches from the midline', traveling 'right to left through both atrium.'
Now angled to her right side as the final deadly shot is delivered, she falls to her right side, as viewed by Stella Medeiros. The woman who spotted the stricken couple as she passed the turnout stated "The girl was lying on her right side facing the road." Betty Lou Jensen would finally collapse onto her front side, her head facing the rear of the Rambler, just 28 feet away.
The image below shows the order the wounds may have been inflicted (white numbers). The further Betty Lou travels away from Zodiac, the narrower the angle tends to become in the bullet path. Depicted by the green arrows, bullet paths 1 and 2 are quite extreme, whereas bullet paths 3 and 4 have narrowed between the entrance and exit wounds, to 1 3/4 inches and 3 inches from right to left. Please remember the red circles are either showing the exit wounds (E) on Betty Lou Jensen's front side, or the bullets resting positions within the body. Bullet path 5 could possibly be determined by Betty Lou Jensen having collapsed on to the turnout floor, her right side facing Zodiac, when the final shot is discharged, ending her journey 28 feet away.
This analysis requires heavily on little bullet deviation from the internal structures of the body, nevertheless it attempts to give a rudimentary explanation of the right to left trajectory of all five bullets that night, that was unlikely to have happened just by chance.

On October 22nd 1969 the Oakland Police Department took a call in the early morning hours from somebody claiming to be the Zodiac, requesting that either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey, high profile lawyers at the time, appear on a chat show hosted by Jim Dunbar later that day. Melvin Belli agreed to appear on the show to which a man would eventually contact via telephone, claiming not only his name was 'Sam', but also by inference that he was the infamous Zodiac Killer.
Three people had heard the voice of the Zodiac Killer, Bryan Hartnell who survived the brutal attack in Napa and two police dispatchers Nancy Slover and Dave Slaight, who all categorically stated that the man called 'Sam', who rang into the Jim Dunbar show was not the same voice they had recalled from the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa attacks and therefore not the Zodiac. It was believed that Eric Weil, a mental patient was responsible for the hoax call to the Jim Dunbar show in the October of 1969. It is unknown whether the original caller to the Oakland Police Department was the real killer.
However, just three and a half months later on February 5th 1970 a second phone call would arrive during an on air interview by Jim Dunbar with a movie producer. The caller claimed to be the Zodiac Killer.

SAN FRANCISCO (UP!)- A man claiming to be the Zodiac killer of five persons held another on-the-air conversation today with television personality Jim Dunbar. Two police inspectors closeted themselves with Dunbar at station KGOTV immediately after the one-sided conversation, which consisted mainly of Dunbar asking questions and repealing fragments of answers. “When headaches come on, you kill to get relief?” Dunbar asked at one point. “What other stuff you been on besides glue?” Last October 23, Dunbar and attorney Melvin Belli, a guest on his early morning talk show, held a bizarre conversation with a man who said he was Zodiac. Belli set a meeting with the man, who did not show up. Today's call interrupted an interview by Dunbar with a movie producer.
Police believe Zodiac is responsible for five killings in Northern California in the last 13 months. In a series of taunting cryptograms and letters to newspapers and police he has boasted of killing seven and threatened to kill more. Dunbar’s side of the conversation was recorded but not the other voice. The station said something had gone wrong with the monitor on the caller’s voice. The conversation ran, in part, like this: "What other stuff you been on besides glue? Oh, gas? flow do you get? Oh. Do you still have parts of the shirt you sent the newspaper? Oh. . , . Did the victim make a move on you? In other words, you thought he was going to move? .... Did you have the 9 mm gun? Oh, three guns. What, four guns? How could you conceal four guns?
‘‘When headaches come on, you kill to get relief? . . . Chief evil is what ? . . . Sonny Barger of Hell’s Angels?. Meridith Hunter—you are going to do it yourself to bring justice on the Meridith Hunter murderer? Oh. . . Were you anywhere near Altamont for the rock concert? Oh, you knew it was a hoax? . . . You weren’t there?. . . . “You hate Yellow Cabs? . . . Is that why you killed Paul Stine? . . . You want Belli to represent you? . . . You want life in prison, not death?. m m Why Friday 13th? Is that a bad day? ... You say you’re a tranquility smoker? ... Oh, for 10 years? How can you say that when you’re only 18? . . . What usually brings your headache on? You go without sleep? Months? .. . Are you gassed now? . . . Why do you mix booze with drugs? "Why don’t we get together before Friday 13th? ... You say southwest corner of the Tonga Room? You have a girl? Oh, two. Pretty young, you say, 21 and 24? . . . Tell me one thing you told Belli that I don't know, or wrote to him that nobody else knows. I won't repeat it.”

Desert Sun February 5th 1970

In the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter the Zodiac Killer was clearly agitated by the response he received after mailing the Paul Stine letter on October 13th. In it he stated "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people. I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me. So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. When I committ my murders, they shall look like routine robberies, killings of anger, + a few fake accidents, etc." The newspaper article that upset him featured Chief of Police Martin Lee, who stated in the San Francisco Chronicle article on October 18th 1969 entitled 'Zodiac Called a Clumsy Criminal,' that Zodiac possibly left his fingerprints on the taxicab, allowed himself to be spotted by three teenagers, and failed to kill all his victims. He went on say "His boast of being in the area we were searching is a lie. We had the whole area flooded with lights. We had seven police dogs and a large number of patrolmen searching the area tree by tree and bush by bush. The dogs are the best in the country. A mouse couldn't have escaped our attention."
The question was; had the Zodiac already attempted or carried out a crime after the October 18th 1969 article that was designed to look accidental or natural, but had possibly failed. After all, his victim count remained at seven by the end of October, which he corroborated in the Dripping Pen Card on November 8th. To do so, we would have to look at attempted crimes, claimed by the 'Zodiac Killer' between October 18th and November 8th, in a relevant location.
As seen on the left, a Salesian High School teacher, Daniel Williams had his house broken into, but nothing was taken. A man claiming to be the Zodiac Killer made several threatening phone calls beginning on October 23rd 1969, culminating with the caller saying "You're the dead duck" on November 2nd 1969. Later that day Williams took a drink from the refrigerator, but fortunately spat it out after noticing a metallic taste. The drink contained enough arsenic to kill.
This in all likelihood is not the Zodiac Killer, however the targeting of a school teacher is interesting, bearing in mind a Salinas High School teacher, Donald Harden cracked his first cipher, and his 'Dripping Pen' card and second cipher was to arrive in just six days. It could also be argued that this attempted murder, had it been successful, may have looked 'accidental', as the Zodiac would state in the 'Bus Bomb' letter.
Daniel Williams residence was situated at 1234 Bush Street, Martinez, only 9 miles from the location of Zodiac's first crime at Lake Herman Road.
The mystery man during one of his calls talked of "killing the lady in the blue house," but as of yet the meaning behind this utterance is undetermined.
Bearing in mind the October 22nd 1969 Jim Dunbar radio show, in which Zodiac was supposed to call in, it is hardly surprising we may get a crank call by somebody claiming to be Zodiac beginning on October 23rd 1969. The only difference here, was it appeared the caller was prepared to back up his threat with action. The original caller to the Oakland Police Department at 2.00 am on October 22nd 1969 may however not be the same person as the hoaxer, who ultimately called the Jim Dunbar show and spoke to Melvin Belli.

The phrase 'dead duck' may originate from "Never waste powder on a dead duck," first recorded in 1829. Bearing in mind the use of arsenic powder, an ironic choice of words.

In a previous article we highlighted a missing casing from the Lake Herman Road police report. It detailed nine shell casings retrieved from the crime scene and sent off for ballistics testing, despite the fact that ten shots were fired. Not only did the police sketches depict ten shots within the turnout (9 on the turnout floor and one on the front passenger floorboard of the Rambler), but so did the police report on page six, where it stated '10-shots (2 in car, 5 in back of female victim, 1 in male victim, 2 unaccounted)'.
On page 9 of the police report however it clearly states under #4 and #5 that only nine casings were turned over to responding officers. We know this to be true because when the shell casings were tested and detailed in the Department of Justice ballistics report, only nine were submitted for examination.
The conclusion was that coroner Dan Horan and Sgt Silva only recovered the shell casings from the turnout floor (totaling 9), inadvertently leaving the tenth casing on the front passenger floorboard of the Rambler. This ultimately became separated from the other nine casings and was never sent for a ballistics analysis. Therefore we cannot know with any certainty that this shell casing can be linked to the other nine. It may have been fired from a second weapon or a second shooter. The Department of Justice report also stated that 'All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics.' Bearing in mind item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday's head, it therefore cannot be inextricably linked to the other bullets tested. When we consider the position of David Faraday when he was shot in the left side of his head (possibly by a right-handed shooter), it is not inconceivable that the shell casing ejected to the right and rear, into the open passenger side of the Rambler and onto the floorboard. We have an unmatched bullet and a missing shell casing that may be linked, both of which could be attributed to a second shooter. A murderer who may have secured the main threat that night, David Faraday.

How is it during a double homicide investigation, that a shell casing pivotal to the case can 'vanish' between evidence retrieval and the ballistics testing. In addition, wasn't this questioned by either the police or the forensic investigators. To make matters worse the shell casing wasn't the only crucial piece of evidence to go missing and raises further questions on the validity of any conclusions drawn from the Lake Herman Road crime scene.
Betty Lou Jensen was shot five times in the back-this is not under dispute. The post mortem revealed that there were three exit wounds, while two bullets remained within her body. The three exit wounds were described:
[1] The first is over the left interior chest laterally and left margin of the breast, in the 4th intercostal space and 5 and 1/2 inches from the sternum.
[2] The second is in the anterior abdominal wall, below the xyphoid process and 1/2 an inch from the midline.
[3] The third is laterally and 3 and 3/4 inches to the right of the umbilicus.

If there were three exit wounds, why were only two of these bullets described in the police report on page 9 and only two detailed in the Department of Justice report. On page 9 of the police report it clearly states under #2, #3 and #8 the following;
#2 Two pellets removed from victim, Betty Lou Jensen, during autopsy.
#3 Pellet found in pants of victim Betty Lou Jensen, at mortuary, during examination of the deceased. The pellet had entered the lower back, coursed through her body, emerging under the waist band elastic of her panties, where it was found.
#8 Pellet recovered near victim Betty Lou Jensen in blood spattered path on her attempted escape route. Pellet entered her body in the back and emerged from the center of her stomach and dropped to the ground without penetrating the front of her dress.

This describes only four of the five bullets fired into Betty Lou Jensen. Two were recovered from her body at autopsy, one bullet was found in her panties and one bullet was found along her flight path on the gravel turnout. So where is the fifth bullet.
The investigation showed ten shell casings apparent in the Lake Herman Road turnout, and the police report on page six accepted ten shots were fired, but again only seven of the eight bullets accounted for reached the ballistics laboratory for testing.

Below are the items submitted for testing, as reported by the Department of Justice. As one can see, only seven bullets were submitted, whereas above we clearly have eight.

The police report states that two bullets were unaccounted for (presumably the missed shots that night), but now we have three unaccounted for, including the one that exited Betty Lou Jensen. That is two key pieces of ballistic evidence missing from the crime scene at Lake Herman Road.
The Department of Justice report has two important pieces of information. Firstly it states 'Intercomparison of the cartridge cases in items 4 and 5 indicates that all are probably fired in the same weapon and all are the same make and type of ammunition. Due to lack of sufficient unique structure it appears that considerable difficulty will be encountered in identifying the responsible weapon if it should be recovered.'
The cartridge cases in essence could be used to rule out a particular gun, which they did many times, including the weapons of Robert Connelly and James Owen, but could not be used to definitively rule a gun into the murders, due to lack of sufficient unique structure. This means that more than one gun may have been used in the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, or possibly several. Secondly, the ballistics report states 'All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 Long Rifle bullets. Each of these was microscopically compared with the others, but in no case was an absolutely positive identification possible. This is apparently due to the condition of the rifle barrel, which does not leave coarse structures on bullets fired therein, as well as the effect of the copper coating on the bullet. From our examination it appears that a conclusive identification of the responsible weapon, will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, even if it should be recovered.'
Therefore in theory, there could be two or more weapons involved, involving multiple shooters, and any suspect weapon recovered could not be fired and provide 'a conclusive identification,' in fact it 'will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.' This coupled with the 'lack of sufficient unique structure' of the cartridge cases, means that all of the bullets and cartridge cases could have been the product of one person or many people. In fact, all that a ballistics comparison can do in this case, is simply rule out a particular weapon.
There may well have been one assailant at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968, but all other possibilities cannot be ruled out, on the basis of the evidence presented.

With little progress in the Zodiac case, often we have to return to what we already know but examine it in more depth. The search for the Zodiac Killer has become wider as the years have passed, with ever more suspects being introduced into the fold, effectively diluting the identity of the real murderer. The bigger the haystack becomes, the harder the needle is to find.
One, if not the best clue in the Zodiac case, is the phone call he made from the intersection of Springs and Tuolumne at 12.40 am, on July 5th 1969, approximately 40 minutes after the attack at Blue Rock Springs Park, particularly in light of a journey that should have taken little more than 10 minutes. What did he do during this time period. We cannot rule out that he just sat in his vehicle for the entire duration, but if the killer lived nearby, then separating himself from the weapon and any blooded clothing, before making a risky phone call, appeared to be the sensible option. It has already been surmised that the killer may be local to the area, due to the fact he seemed aware that Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Herman Road were a good place to target couples.
If the Zodiac Killer had lived in San Francisco, then he could have made this phone call anywhere en route back to his residence. There would appear little reason to sit closer to the crime scene than separate yourself from it, especially loaded down with incriminating evidence. The journey time back to San Francisco is approximately 40 minutes, with innumerable payphones on the way, thereby negating the logic of remaining in the danger zone, unless of course you lived in Vallejo and were determined to make a call to police no matter.

Kim Rossmo, who pioneered the science of geographical profiling made an important observation that the killer exhibited target selection at Presidio Heights, as opposed to his first three crimes, where the location was the overriding consideration. If we believe the Zodiac Killer to be a resident of Vallejo or Benicia and less familiar with the San Francisco area, then control would be the order of the day and his 'search attempts' in alien surroundings are less certain. He could not afford to travel around looking for victims without designated prime locations and expect to escape with any surety, thereby he targeted the victim first and took him to a predetermined location, as opposed to the location being the prime requisite. In the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attacks, he frequented known locations to find a victim, whereas in San Francisco he searched for a victim and took him to a location. Kim Rossmo states that 'criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques'.
The Zodiac Killer knew Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park were secluded locations and knew that by cruising between these two areas he would eventually find his moment to strike, shrouded by the darkness and limited traffic. Using the software Rigel, Kim Rossmo entered various details in the Zodiac case, some of which were the murder locations, travel routes and phone calls and came up with some key areas of interest. These areas were [1] southeastern Napa County, including American Canyon and north Vallejo. [2] eastern Solano County, including east and north Vallejo, Mare Island and Benicia. [3] northern Contra Costa County, just south of the Carquinez Strait, including Crockett.
All of these areas are viable destinations to reach from Blue Rock Springs Park and back to the Springs and Tuolumne intersection in 40 minutes to make the phone call to police. This is great, but we need to narrow the field of view further and begin with the most likely first, before extending outward.

In a recent re-examination of the Lake Herman Road murders, it was possible to open up the timeline of James Owen and Stella Borges to 12 minutes, to enable the Zodiac Killer to head to Vallejo after exiting the turnout and pass by the Borges Ranch before she entered Lake Herman Road in her vehicle. Michael Mageau stated the killer exited the Blue Rock Springs parking lot and headed in the direction of Ascot Parkway, Tennessee Street and Springs Road, so we could have the Zodiac approaching the same exit of Columbus Parkway on both occasions, heading in the direction of central Vallejo. However, with the many inconsistencies in Michael Mageau's testimony, we cannot be certain which direction the Zodiac traveled after leaving the parking lot.
We know that killers employ a 'buffer zone' from their residence and we know that with increased confidence, a serial killer will move from their comfort zone further afield. Often though, their initial crimes start closer to home. This is why the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park crimes, separated by only 3.9 miles, are of paramount importance.
Additionally both attacks fell on a Friday, which for somebody working a normal Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 job, would explain the lack of 'adventure', that was otherwise displayed at the Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights attacks, which both fell on a Saturday. This is referred to as the 'least effort principle'.
There is one particular area of interest, that of northern Vallejo, we can examine for all the right reasons and also examine for all the wrong reasons.

The area of interest is denoted by the red circle in the diagram. The blue circle is the Springs and Tuolumne payphone.
This area of interest is 4.7 miles from Blue Rock Springs Park (10 minutes). This area is 4.1 miles from the payphone (10 minutes). The times are approximated based on the route. A murderer leaving Blue Rock Springs at 12.04 am at the latest, with 15 minutes to hide the weapon and clothes at home, and ready himself before returning to the payphone, would arrive to make the phone call at 12.39 am.
This area of interest is also in a direct line south from the 1231 Main Street, Napa payphone, only 12 miles away. It is situated 9 miles from Lake Herman Road.
In each case a reasonable 'buffer zone' is employed from the crime scene at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, and from both payphones, while still allowing the total journey time of 36-40 minutes to be achieved after the Blue Rock Springs crime.
But in all cases the 'buffer zone' is not too large either, it is a delicate balance.
Now we will focus on this area of interest for all the wrong reasons and the following must be taken with a huge pinch of salt.
Donna Ann Lass disappeared from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino on September 6th 1970, and was presumably highlighted by the Zodiac Killer in the March 22nd 1971 'Pines' card. The card itself indicated a location, thought to be the burial site of Donna Lass, but it was vague in nature, supplying what appeared to be directional markers. The text on the card read; [1] 'Sierra Club' [2] 'Sought Victim 12' [3] 'Peek through the pines' [4] 'pass Lake Tahoe areas' [5] 'around in the snow' (pasted upside down).
Two notable Sierra Club properties were identified. In a newspaper article it stated 'the site depicted on the 'Pines' Card was from an advertisement published last Sunday by several newspapers. It was an artist's rendition of houses among the trees at a project at Incline Village', located at 895 Tanager Street, Nevada. The other was Clair Tappaan Lodge at 19940 Donner Pass Rd, Norden, highlighted as a potential burial site and investigated by police officer Harvey Hines. An excavation of the site was performed but no body was unearthed. It has been stated that a pair of sunglasses, that may have belonged to Donna Lass were found, but this cannot be verified. The directions on the 'Pines' card, if from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, seem to indicate that we have to pass some 'lake tahoe areas'. Traveling on the lake's western shore, along California State Route 89, brings us out by Truckee, only 2 miles from the Donner Memorial State Park, a few miles east of Clair Tappaan Lodge.
Here is an overhead view of Clair Tappaan Lodge on Google maps. Now let us drop to the roadside and 'peek through the pines' at Clair Tappaan Lodge.
Whether the Zodiac Killer was using a play on words, possibly bringing us out by the Donner Memorial State Park and suggesting she could be found in this area, only he knows. Or was his play on words suggestive of somewhere entirely different.
As stated above, Clair Tappaan Lodge is situated alongside Donner Pass Road, but are we in the wrong place, and does the clue point towards a totally different area, somewhere we are much more familiar with. Somewhere only 4.7 miles from Blue Rock Springs Park.

Sketch from the women

This time we will take a trip to the shores of Lake Berryessa and take a closer look at whether the mystery man spotted by the three young women from Pacific Union College was the same man that would later go on to attack Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard just a couple of hours later. A rudimentary sketch of the man, compiled using the descriptions of the three women was generated, an overall description that bore similarities to statements by Bryan Hartnell. On first look the sketch appears inconsistent with the drawing of the suspect generated from eyewitness testimony at Presidio Heights, just two weeks later on October 11th 1969, however they may be a lot closer than first thought.
Many people have questioned Lake Berryessa as a Zodiac crime, citing the different style of the attack and his failure to detail this crime in any of his subsequent correspondence with newspapers. The writing on the car door, his phone call and the mention of 'sept' on the 'Dripping Pen' card mailed on November 8th 1969, have seemingly failed to convince everyone. So later we will take a closer look at the sketch, bearing in mind the Zodiac could easily have cut and dyed his hair in the two weeks prior to the murder of Paul Stine.
The Zodiac Killer also stated in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill."

Presidio Heights sketch

Firstly let us take a look at the overall details submitted by the three women.
Earlier on in the day three young women, students of Pacific Union College parked their vehicle at the A & W in St Helena. Within seconds of leaving their vehicle, a white male driving a silver or light blue Chevrolet, 2-door sedan with California plates pulled up to the rear of their car, bumper to bumper, yet remained inside his vehicle. This man would come into play later, once the girls had headed off to Lake Berryessa and parked up. The time was approximately 3.30 pm. They again noticed the same man approximately 50 feet away observing them sunbathing, and each time they looked at him he evaded eye contact, thus drawing suspicion. He was described as being between 28 and 40 years, 200 - 225 pounds, 6 feet tall, styled black hair, with rounded eyes and thin lips, he was good looking, with a muscular or stocky build, wearing dark pants and a dark pullover shirt. He remained observing them, by their accounts, for between 30 - 45 minutes.
Here are the separate descriptions they submitted;
#1. "A subject driving a late model silver-blue Chevrolet, 2-door sedan. This subject was described as 6' tall, weighing 200/210 pounds, muscular build, rather nice looking."
#2. "Vehicle described as a 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet with California plates. Witness believes the vehicle was a 2-door sedan and described the headlights as long rather than round."
#3. "Subject was described as approximately 28 years of age, 6'1" to 6'2" tall, 200/225 lbs, black hair possibly styled, with a part on the left, rounded eyes, thin lips, medium nose, straight eyebrows, small ears, well built, rather nice looking."
#4. "Vehicle was described as a late model Chevrolet, sky blue in color. The rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round. She described the subject as 6' tall, stocky build, about 200 lbs, black short-sleeved sweater shirt, dark blue slacks, and straight dark hair neatly combed. She guessed his age at approximately 30 years."
When the three young women returned to their vehicle at 4.30 pm, the man and his vehicle had left.

Presidio Heights sketch colored

Bryan Hartnell thought the attacker to be 20-30 years, with dark brown hair visible through the hood, wearing dark blue or black pleated slacks, 5' 8" to 6' 0" tall and 225 - 250 pounds. He also noticed a knife in a case on the right side of his belt, near the front of his trousers and cut up rope in the suspects rear pocket. It was the type similar to white plastic clothesline.
Certain key aspects given by Bryan Hartnell and the three women match up. The dark hair, observed by both Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard by the eyelets of the mask worn by the assailant, may indicate his hair was drawn downwards when he pulled on the mask. The sketch by the three women indicates longer hair, probably swept back on top. The description of a heavyset man, 200-225 pounds is identical in both instances, in line with the description of a heavyset man at Presidio Heights. The age is also consistent.
The three women described what they thought was a white belt around his back, thinking it could possibly have been a tee shirt hanging out. Another girl stated he was wearing a black short sleeved sweater shirt bunched up at the front, again describing a white tee shirt hanging out the back. Did the bunched up sweater shirt hide anything sinister.
Could the descriptions given by the women, describing a white belt around his back or white tee shirt 'hanging out', actually have been the cut lengths of plastic clothesline trailing from his rear pocket in anticipation of a prepared attack on the women, but for whatever reason got cold feet, changed his mind and turned to Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard approximately two hours later.
In an interview with Sgt John Robertson, Bryan Hartnell mentioned the windbreaker worn by the assailant stating "That was dark blue. And I don't know. Maybe he had something in his pouch." The three women would describe the man as he approached the beach within 20 feet of them, noticing "a black short-sleeved sweater shirt, bunched up in front". Was the knife or gun concealed under his shirt, described by Bryan Hartnell as "a knife in a case on the right side of his belt, near the front of his trousers." Bryan Hartnell in the police report, stated the assailant was wearing "sloppy clothes. And he had on this old pair of pleated pants. Well like I say, he was dressed kind of sloppily, you know. His pants real tight up here and his stomach kind of pouched a bit." These style of pants would be later detailed by Donald Fouke, one of the responding officers at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. Bryan Hartnell would also describe the clothing worn by the assailant as old fashioned. One of the women would describe the vehicle driven by the mystery man, stating the car "as appearing very conservative and did not appear to belong to any young person, such as a teenager."

Click to enlarge

Just prior to the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, the assailant ducked behind some trees, before reappearing adorned in his costume. The three women mentioned in the police report "the male subject watching them from the edge of the trees" at the top of the hill. Was the "black short-sleeved sweater shirt, bunched up in front", possibly the executioners hood, concealed beneath his clothing in preparation, along with the gun and knife.
The three women described his vehicle as a 'late model, 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet, the rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round.'
Below is a picture of the rear end of a 1967 Chevrolet Nova II, with long taillights, rather than round. What was actually meant by the description of 'long' can be interpreted in two ways, either long vertically or horizontally, however after much searching of vehicle specifications, this car has been chosen for a reason. Its track width is almost identical to the tire impressions found next to Bryan Hartnell's 1956 White Karmann Ghia, shortly after the Lake Berryessa attack. This was examined in much greater detail here.

Ninety minutes precedent to the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1969, William Crow and his girlfriend were parked up in the fateful turnout. 'He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed.'
William Crow described the vehicle as possibly a blue Valiant in the original police report, and bearing in mind the vehicle momentarily stopped just past the turnout, before reversing, this would undoubtedly be the best view he had of the vehicle that night, before being chased down Lake Herman Road. The rear of a 1967 Plymouth Valiant is shown in the above right photograph, with the characteristics of the rear end and taillights bearing a passing similarity to the 1967 Chevrolet Nova II. So is it possible William Crow was pursued by a 1967 Chevrolet Nova II on December 20th 1968, the same vehicle that would be viewed by the three women at Lake Berryessa nine months later. A vehicle that would further match the track width, measured by detectives alongside Bryan Hartnell's 1956 White Karmann Ghia.
Finally we shall return to the sketch attributed to the three women and compare it to the sketch generated at Presidio Heights.
The first image on the left is the original sketch (colored, without glasses) from the three teenagers overlooking 3898 Washington Street. The middle image shows the Lake Berryessa sketch with the haircut from Presidio Heights. The right image changes one further characteristic from Lake Berryessa;- the lips of the assailant. Taking into consideration the eyewitnesses at Presidio Heights were hindered by distance and poor lighting, was the Lake Berryessa sketch more accurate. Or indeed, was the man observed by the three women actually the Zodiac Killer. It depends on whether the images below could be mistaken for the same person. I will let you decide.

In the middle image below, the eyes on the Lake Berryessa sketch have been widened to match the Presidio Heights sketch. In the right image below the eyes on the Presidio Heights sketch have been narrowed to match the Lake Berryessa sketch. This has been done to compensate for any possible changes to the appearance by wearing glasses.

Although this topic has been covered before, here it shall be expanded in a little more detail, concerning the timeline of Pierre Bidou and his thoughts that he must have just passed the Lake Herman Road turnout literally minutes before the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968. This however was not the case, and his statements of not seeing any vehicles in the turnout or passing any vehicles on Lake Herman Road after his seizure of marijuana at The Cottage, is simply not relevant to the minutes before the murders. Here are a collection of statements by Pierre Bidou:
[1] 2007 documentary: "During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960's was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by, we did not see or observe anyone in that area, because it's a turn there and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. I was pulling into the lot in the police department, we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road, and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call. We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened and for the best of my recollection we did not pass any other vehicle or traffic. I'm pretty sure of that because that is one of the things we told the sheriff's office, that we did not see any other vehicles coming our way. What could have happened, depending on where a vehicle turned onto Lake Herman Road, if it came from behind us, from Vallejo, we would not have seen them."
[2] Benicia Herald: "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec 20 1968, and were on the way to deposit some marijuana in the police department's evidence locker, when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road."
[3] True Crime video with Aphrodite Jones (2010): "We had just passed here (Lake Herman Road turnout) and there was no one here. Patrols would always look here, because this was kind of known as a lovers point."

The impression that we have come to believe, is that Pierre Bidou and his partner Steve Armenta passed the turnout shortly before the murders, and on arriving at the Benicia Police Department were almost immediately dispatched back out to the double homicide. This order of events could never have happened.
The Cottage, where Pierre Bidou seized the marijuana, was not far past the turnout on the Vallejo side, with the journey time to Benicia Police Department from this location approximately 8-10 minutes.
For Pierre Bidou to have seen no vehicles in the turnout just minutes before the murders, he would at the very least had to have passed before Peggy and Homer Your, who recalled seeing the Rambler on two occasions at around 11.00 pm. Not to mention Frank Gasser, Robert Connelly, James Owen and finally Stella Borges, who passed the turnout at approximately 11.20 pm and saw the stricken couple on the turnout floor. Stella Borges raced off to Benicia to inform Officer Daniel Pitta at 11.25 pm, or thereabouts. He would then radio Benicia Police Department of a possible 187 on Lake Herman Road.
Had Pierre Bidou just literally arrived at the police department and after "pulling into the lot in the police department, had heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road," then this could be no later than 11.25 pm. We know the journey time from The Cottage to Benicia Police Department is around 10 minutes. This means Pierre Bidou must have passed the Lake Herman Road turnout at 11.15 pm according to his recollection of events. But we know this is not possible, he had to have passed the turnout prior to the Rambler first being spotted by the Your's at around 11.00 pm. Let us say he passed the turnout at 10.55 pm, he then would have arrived at Benicia Police Department at 11.05 pm, but couldn't have literally swung the car around and returned to the crime scene. The call from Officer Daniel Pitta was still at least 20 minutes in the making.

We have a further problem if we believe the police report and the testimony of Helen Axe. She claimed the earliest sighting of the Rambler in the turnout that night. The police report stated "Miss Axe reports that she and her boyfriend, a sailor, were driving on Lake Herman Road. They passed the area of the pumping station, she recognized the Rambler and the victims, Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. Stated that when she went by about 10.15 pm, the car was facing in towards the gate and when she returned about 15 minutes later after having gone to the end of the road and then came back, the car was turned around and the front was facing the field, a little to the side."
She stated she saw the Rambler at 10.15 pm, and then 15 minutes later at 10.30 pm. Assuming that David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen remained in the turnout until the Rambler was next spotted at around 11.00 pm, then Pierre Bidou would had to have passed the turnout prior to 10.15 pm to actually view no vehicles present. Let us say David Faraday parked up at 10.10 pm and Pierre Bidou passed the turnout at 10.09 pm. He then would have arrived at the Benicia Police Department at 10.19 pm, over an hour prior to the reporting of the murders by Officer Daniel Pitta, dispelling the claim that he and his partner Steve Armenta "were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened."
If Helen Axe is mistaken, and Pierre Bidou passed the turnout at 10.55 pm, his journey to Benicia Police Department is 20 minutes too long. If Helen Axe is not mistaken, his journey to Benicia Police Department is 66 minutes too long. Either way the timeline makes no sense. So where did Pierre Bidou go after the drugs bust that night. His statements to either his superiors or to any documentary, with regards to the movement of vehicles on Lake Herman Road that night, are irrelevant to the immediate timeline around the murders if this discrepancy is not resolved, and his inference that the killer likely came from behind him, from the Vallejo end, as he passed no vehicles, is meaningless.

On April 30th 1967 the supposed killer of Cheri Jo Bates mailed three handwritten letters to Joseph Bates, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Riverside Police Department. All effectively carried the same message "Bates had to die there will be more." These letters bore resemblance to the Zodiac Killer's first three letters, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, Vallejo Times-Herald and San Francisco Examiner.on July 31st 1969. Not only did both sets contain three constituent parts, they exhibited double postage and both carried the threat of more victims. In the July 31st 1969 mailings, the threat was to "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 two sets of letters were also accompanied by a symbol at the foot of the correspondence. The crosshairs of the Zodiac Killer are all too familiar, but what were the strange symbols at the foot of the Riverside Police Department and Riverside Press-Enterprise correspondence. They do not appear to be a regular letter Z, as both have an elaborate tail off the left side, as shown in the above image.
The Zodiac Killer was not averse to placing his running total of victims at the foot of each letter, and this may be the case in the Bates letters. In one of Zodiac's mailings he sent us the 'Halloween' card addressed to Paul Avery, but possibly replaced the victim count with an elaborate symbol on the inside of the card. We know he was inferring 14 victims over the entire card, so why should the symbol be any different. Below is a depiction of one possible interpretation.

The four dots are harder to interpret, but by joining three alphabetical letters together 'Zodiac Victims Fourteen' is realized. Was this a 'modern' twist on his earlier, yet more rudimentary version on the Bates letters.
On first glance the Bates symbol could be interpreted as a joined 3 and V, indicating three victims. After all, the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates was claiming previous victims, apparent in the 'Confession' letter he mailed one month after her murder. It stated "She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake at night thinking about my next victim." The question is, were his next victims that of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, just two years later.
The Zodiac Killer first gave us a running total of seven on the 'Dripping Pen' card, mailed on November 8th 1969. The Zodiac claimed "Des, July, Aug, Sept, Oct = 7" at the foot of the card. At this point in time we knew of five Zodiac murders, that included David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in December, Darlene Ferrin in July, Cecelia Shepard in September, and Paul Stine in October. We were missing two.
If we also included Cheri Jo Bates into October, then we would be missing only one victim in August. If the Zodiac Killer was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, then was his first victim just two months earlier in August 1966 and Cheri was "not the first and was not to be the last." This would give us the total of seven victims the Zodiac was referring to in the 'Dripping Pen' card. Is it possible the Zodiac Killer had already adopted his pseudonym as early as 1967, bearing in mind the symbol on the Bates letters does not conform fully.
One interpretation of the Bates symbols could have inspired his design on the 'Halloween' card, shown below. The number 2 (or possibly 3) tagged onto the left side of the arrangement, as opposed to 'fourteen' on the 'Halloween' card, tagged onto the right side. However it may be a little convoluted, and would presuppose his use of the pseudonym Zodiac in 1967, which could not be backed up with anything tangible.

Assuming the Bay Area and Riverside killer are the same person, it is conceivable that the murder of Cheri Jo Bates was one of his earliest crimes, possibly the second. The 'Confession' letter stated "She is not the first and she will not be the last," and the 'Dripping Pen' card total, if to be believed, left only one victim in August.

Had the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates killed a second victim, only two months earlier in August. His murders may have displayed much less organization back in 1966, exemplified by the brutal stabbing in the grounds of the Riverside City College, only yards from the library annex. His letter writing may equally have looked amateurish, after all, he was in the infancy of his terror.
On the right may be an early example of the Zodiac Killer's running victim total, inferring '2 victims' (or possibly '3 victims').
However, we were two murders short on the 'Dripping Pen' card, so this coupled with the five murders in the Bay Area brings us to the correct total of seven, by November 8th 1969. The total on the 'Dripping Pen' card may only be crimes under the Zodiac umbrella, which he adopted in 1969, which do not include any of the Riverside attacks. Nevertheless, the Bates symbols may still be an early example of a running victim count, which he refreshed when he became Zodiac. If this is the case, then the hunt for victims six and seven will have to start again, maybe somewhere other than Riverside.

Dave Oranchak unearthed some new videos of the Lake Herman Road crime scene from the San Francisco Bay Area news archives. Below are some relevant new images of the crime scene, showing the positions of the stricken couple within the turnout. The fourth image has been manufactured from two independent still frames, but nevertheless is a totally accurate representation, showing the position of David Faraday and the Rambler in the foreground, to Betty Lou Jensen at the western edge of the turnout. Some have been colorized to add clarity.
Here is the link to the video https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/231064 and to the thread on Zodiac Killer Site forum, where another new video featuring Paul Avery can be viewed.
Credits to Broadcasting of San Francisco, Inc and Alex Cherian.

To assess the distance from the right rear taillight of the Rambler to Betty Lou Jensen's head, two still frames have been used, capturing two white dots on the turnout floor. We know the approximate position of the rear of the Rambler next to David Faraday's outline, shown by the green dot in the below left image. Therefore when the camera pans to the right, shown in the below right image, the rear of the Rambler can still be estimated to a high degree. The orange line now gives us an unbroken image, showing the distance of the widely quoted 28 feet, from the Rambler to Betty Lou Jensen. The car in the distance is approximately 14 feet in length. The man approximately 5'8". This gives us a comparison of distances, despite the foreshortening of the camera angle.

The murder of Cheri Jo Bates outside the Riverside City College library on October 30th 1966 has one of the most questionable timelines of any. The following is going to make it even more complicated than ever before.
Two eyewitnesses placed Cheri Jo Bates' lime green Volkswagen Beetle in the vicinity of Terracina Drive at around 6.15 pm, where it was ultimately found unlocked the following day. However a young Mexican-American student 'said 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. Sergeant Gren said "he seems to have a very good memory."
However 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 of 3667 Gloreen Court, who attended the library that evening, 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'.
The Mexican-American student appeared to have good recollection, detailing her writing in a blue spiral notebook. Further corroborated by the fact that her 'abandoned' Volkswagen Beetle had two library books and a notepad neatly stacked on the front passenger seat. Dismissing the idea a third party withdrew her library books, and taking into account the Mexican-American eyewitness, and two other eyewitnesses that saw her at approximately 6.15 pm, it seems evident that Cheri Jo Bates had entered the library shortly after it had opened and had left prior to 6.30 pm. But this is where it gets strange.
The 'Inside Detective' Magazine stated 'Detectives interrogated four young men who said they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night.' But did not go into any further detail. A newspaper article though, would add the crucial information we require and expand the testimony of Walter Siebert.

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.'.
These workmen must have been spotted by Walter Siebert and his friends when they arrived at the library at 7.15 pm. The workmen said they saw Cheri Jo Bates by her Volkwagen Beetle, as they were sitting opposite her vehicle on the fence, but she, nor her vehicle were seen by Walter Siebert & Co that evening. We know Cheri Jo Bates parked her Volkswagen Beetle on Terracina Drive no later than 6.15 pm, and it is assumed it remained there throughout, until it was discovered disabled the following day.
In recap, Cheri Jo Bates arrived at Terracina Drive at around 6.15 pm and entered the library to collect her library books, and left before her earliest friends arrived at 6.30 pm. This is presumably when her Volkswagen Beetle was disabled by the the eventual assailant. But we have a major problem. The four workmen spotted Cheri Jo Bates by her vehicle. This could only be when she left her vehicle (and when the murderer disabled it) or when she returned (and when the murderer offered her assistance). However the four workmen never mentioned a second person around her vehicle that evening, or anything being done to her car. These are the same four workmen spotted by Walter Siebert & Co at 7.15 pm. The workmen were likely sitting opposite her vehicle anywhere from 45-60 minutes, but do not recall anything suspicious. If Cheri Jo Bates was attacked shortly after discovering her vehicle disabled, surely any commotion or screams in the alley, only 100 feet away would have been heard.
This presents us with a big problem. It would mean that her vehicle was likely disabled before the workmen sat on the fence, or after they left the fence, sometime after 7.15 pm, when Walter Siebert & Co spotted them. One possible timeline, is Cheri Jo Bates arrived at 6.15 pm and entered the library. The assailant disabled her vehicle at around 6.18 pm. The workmen arrived at 6.22 pm, and only saw Cheri Jo Bates on her arrival back from the library. The problem here is that the assailant could not have been waiting to assist her, because the workmen saw no second person, and failed to mention anything about car trouble. One alternative is that Cheri Jo Bates left the library and met her eventual murderer outside the library and did not return immediately to her stricken vehicle, but instead went to a secondary location, upwards of one hour with the unknown man. The workmen, who were sitting alongside Terracina Drive until at least 7.15 pm heard nothing unusual, so it is unlikely she was murdered in the alleyway prior to 7.15 pm. We assume she was the one who placed her library books on the front passenger seat, rolled down the windows and placed the car key in the ignition. If this were the case, then it had to be subsequent to 7.15 pm. This may be suggestive that the killer knew Cheri Jo Bates, as suspected by the Riverside Police Department. 'Detectives learned from the slain girl's friends that Cheri Jo had been "terribly afraid of the darkness." This information led investigators to believe that Cheri Jo had known her killer and unsuspectedly accompanied him to her death,' and was likely followed to the library. It may also suggest the author of the 'Confession' letter is either a hoaxer, or he is trying to throw police a curveball on the timeline.

From what we know, it is almost certain that the four men dressed in work clothes saw Cheri Jo Bates when she parked up at approximately 6.15 pm, but never saw her return, as they apparently have no recollection of her being assisted by an unknown male. This would also mean that they couldn't have noticed anyone tampering with the vehicle. If the workmen left after 7.15 pm, this would suggest Cheri Jo Bates Volkswagen Beetle was disabled after 7.15 pm. But if she had been accompanied by the assailant on her leaving the library and up to this point, how could he have disabled her vehicle without her noticing, when they both returned to the Volkswagen Beetle. One possibility is a second assailant.
One man meets Cheri Jo Bates and lures her away from the library for a period of time. The accomplice disables her vehicle. This however presents further problems. The accomplice noticing four workmen opposite Cheri Jo Bates vehicle, cannot disable her car until they leave, sometime after 7.15 pm. If these workmen were an unforseen circumstance, then he is 'lucky' he is able to disable the vehicle before Cheri Jo and his partner in crime return. If we assume the one killer hypothesis, then we are back to square one.
Did a single assailant kill Cheri Jo Bates in the alleyway sometime after 7.15 pm, gather her keys and books, return to her vehicle and place everything in situ, disable her vehicle, and make it appear like she returned to her vehicle immediately after leaving the library. Coupled with the 'Confession' letter, it may deflect the investigation. This could seem a possibility, until you consider the windows of the Volkswagen Beetle were rolled down, a needless extra, if you were concocting a crime scene.
Taking everything into consideration, the question is, when did the murderer tamper with the distributor wire.
The statement in the 'Confession' letter "I first cut the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time she asked me, "about time for what ?". I said it was about time for her to die," which according to all we know, is seemingly wide of the mark, and flies against all the eyewitness testimony.

Continuing on from the previous article on the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, we will attempt to expand on the timeline.
Claims that Cheri Jo Bates never entered the library at all on October 30th 1966, require that we totally dismiss the eyewitness testimony of the Mexican-American student, 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'. We totally ignore that a male librarian at the college said he "thought he saw" Cheri Jo in the library that Sunday evening, but he was unable to pinpoint the time. And totally disregard the three library books that were discovered on the front passenger seat of Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle, which were likely dusted for fingerprints. The idea the library books may have been discharged from the library by another person, makes little sense, when somebody who knew Cheri Jo 'noticed her in the library the night in question'.
But the crucial eyewitnesses that are rarely mentioned, were the four young men, dressed in work clothes, who were noticed by Walter Siebert of 3667 Gloreen Court. He stated that on the Sunday evening in question '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.'
These four men were interrogated by police, and said "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night".
The four men, who viewed the young graduate that evening on Terracina Drive, at approximately 6.15 pm when Cheri Jo Bates parked up, were again spotted in the same location at 7.15 pm by Walter Siebert and friends. It doesn't matter if the four men spotted her at 6.15 pm, or when she returned to her vehicle at any later time, the 'interrogated' men did not recall or relay to police any information pertaining to Cheri Jo Bates being approached or accompanied by an unknown male, noticing her car being tampered with and disabled, any other car parked behind her, or her being abducted from the vicinity of her vehicle. In fact they didn't relay any suspicious activity whatsoever, and were likely in this location between 6.15 pm and 7.15 pm, corroborated by themselves and Walter Siebert.
The idea that she entered the library, her Volkswagen Beetle was then disabled, she returned and after failing to start the engine, she was aided by the 'good Samaritan', is patently false. The four men also never mentioned to police hearing any screams or cries for help that night, despite the alleyway where Cheri Jo was found murdered being only 100 feet from their location. The only way for the 'Confession' letter timeline to be correct, or for any abduction theories to prevail, is if we conveniently dismiss the eyewitness testimony of these four young men. But one can be sure that people will, to protect their long formulated beliefs.

The FBI file above stated that 'the time of her death was fixed at 6.15 pm.' If we believe the four young men and Walter Siebert, who saw them at 7.15 pm, then this is not possible.
The pathologist F. Rene Modglin stated 'the gastric contents suggest she had eaten a supper type meal probably not more than 2 to 4 hours before death.' In addition the stomach contents contained 'at least 100ml of thick fluid, with particulate food particles in which are easily recognized reasonably large pieces of beef, along with vegetable particulates and/or celery and onion, and what appears to be milk or cottage cheese.' Cheri Jo Bates consumed this meal at approximately 4.00-4.30 pm, before Joseph Bates arrived home.
Food takes approximately 2-5 hours to leave the stomach, depending on its constitution. The pathologist stated she had eaten not more than 2-4 hours before her death. This means if Cheri Jo Bates ate this meal at approximately 4.30 pm, then she would have been killed somewhere between 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm. This however contradicts the screams heard in the area at 10.15-10.45 pm, assuming it was the cries of Cheri Jo Bates. On this occasion however we shall leave the autopsy findings behind, as many internal and external factors can alter the rate of human digestion.

If the four young men were present from the time Cheri Jo Bates arrived at Terracina Drive at 6.15 pm, up to and possibly shortly after 7.15 pm, when and how was her Volkswagen Beetle disabled. We need a plausible scenario that takes Cheri Jo Bates away from the library for at least one hour or possibly more.
Earlier that day Cheri Jo had asked her friend Stephanie Guttman to accompany her to the Riverside City College library that evening, but Stephanie chose to stay home. Had Cheri Jo made alternative arrangements or met somebody she knew at the library. She had clearly not been present in the library from 6.30 pm to 9.00 pm, yet did not return to her car to find it disabled. Had she, then one could be sure that the four young men would only have been too keen to aid the attractive college student in her time of need. At the very least they would have noticed her being offered assistance by an unknown male or struggling to get the vehicle started. None of which apparently happened.
So where did she go after she left the library for upwards of one hour. The only reason for her to willingly choose not to return to her car, is if she was waylaid by a friend or acquaintance, who occupied her for some time away from the library. Or she had planned to visit a friend. But if she had chosen to visit a friend, then this person had to have lived close to the Riverside library, within walking distance, otherwise she would have opted to drive. So what happened when she exited the library annex.
It is highly unlikely she was kidnapped on the library steps during opening hours, or wandered away from the library with a complete stranger (after all her Volkswagen wasn't disabled at this point, nor had she returned to it), therefore it is highly probable Cheri Jo traveled away from the library with somebody she knew. This appears the only option left. The four young men never recalled any car trouble to police or anyone offering her assistance, so she couldn't have returned to the Volkswagen prior to 7.15 pm. Consequently she had no reason to leave the library with a stranger.

If the screams heard from the alleyway at 10.15-10.45 pm were Cheri Jo Bates, then she had left the library with somebody she knew prior to 6.30 pm, returned to her vehicle sometime after 10.00 pm, placed her library books on the seat, but failed to start the engine. It was at this point the offer of assistance arrived, when nobody was in the vicinity. The library had long been closed. Her vehicle had to have been disabled between 7.15 pm and around 10.00 pm. If the friend she spent time with hadn't accompanied her back to her vehicle, then the likelihood she was trailed to the library that night by a third party, who didn't like what he saw, and lay in wait, is one possibility. If she was accompanied back to her vehicle by the friend, then it is conceivable an argument may have occurred and the supposed 'friend' disabled her vehicle in front of her to prevent her leaving. Neither option can be ruled out.
Whatever the case, it appears the killer knew the victim and had a vested interest in the attractive woman, testified by the uncontrolled and ferocious attack in the alleyway only yards away from her vehicle.
But there are more questions. The 'Inside Detective' magazine described the scene of the murder and stated that 'a large red and tan woven straw bag was half covered by the body.'
Had Cheri Jo been at a secondary location for 3-4 hours after leaving the library, then surely she would have carried her blue spiral notebook and three library books in her 'large straw bag,' not separately. However this would mean that after she returned to her Volkswagen Beetle, she took just the library books out of the bag and placed them on the passenger seat, rather than just placing the bag itself on the seat. What caused her to leave her prized Volkswagen Beetle in a hurry, with the library books still on the seat, the key in the ignition and the windows rolled down, yet still be carrying the large straw bag. You certainly wouldn't be running for your life clutching a large woven straw bag, and you certainly wouldn't have left your vehicle in the above condition willingly at 10.00 pm at night on the promise of a lift home or phone call.
One possibility is that she had her keys ready to unlock the vehicle, sat in the driver seat, removed the bulky library books from her bag, rolled down the windows, placed the key in the ignition, at which point she was approached and either forcibly removed from the vehicle or threatened with the knife into the alleyway. Needless to say, we have only scratched the surface in the most puzzling of cases.

CHERI JO BATES-MINUTE BY MINUTE (PART1)

Click to enlarge..

In the last two articles we examined the timeline of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, particularly regarding the four young men who spotted Cheri Jo Bates by her lime green Volkswagen Beetle from across the road at 6.15 pm, when she parked alongside the curb on Terracina Drive. They spotted her, but Walter Siebert and friends who arrived at the library at 7.15 pm, noticed the four young men, but not Cheri Jo Bates, whom they all knew. This indicated that her vehicle had not been tampered with prior to 7.15 pm, as the interrogated four men recalled nothing suspicious. See Cheri Jo Bates-Minute by Minute Part One and Part Two.
Here however we shall focus on the condition the Volkswagen Beetle was found in and 'abandoned' that Sunday night, as well as the crime scene and what Cheri Jo Bates had in her possession. Assuming the independent eyewitnesses, who heard screams between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm were correct, then Cheri Jo Bates was likely away from her vehicle for at least four hours that night. When she returned to Terracina Drive, her vehicle was apparently disabled, leading to speculation she was led away to her death by a single assailant on the promise of a lift or phone call for help.
But something doesn't sit right with this scenario.
'Detectives learned from the slain girl's friends that Cheri Jo had been "terribly afraid of the darkness." This led investigators to believe that Cheri Jo had known her killer and unsuspectedly accompanied him to her death. "Cheri Jo was very proud of her little car" her boyfriend told detectives. "She worked hard to pay for the car. She never left it without locking the doors and rolling the windows up."
So it is extremely unlikely she would have left the vehicle without locking the doors, rolling the windows up, never mind leaving her library books on the passenger seat, with the key in the ignition, especially at around 10.00-10.40 pm at night. Admittedly the vehicle wouldn't start for her, but she couldn't be sure somebody else gaining access to her car at a later time wouldn't be able to start it, after all she likely didn't know the reason for it failing to fire up.
Another important piece of information surfaced in one newspaper column, but how reliable it is can only be speculated. It read 'Both windows were rolled down and the right door was ajar. The distributor had been tampered with and there was evidence that the man had been in the car with her.' Were the facts that both windows had been rolled down, indicative of the time she returned to the Volkswagen Beetle and the ambient temperature inside the vehicle. 'In October 1966 the average high temperature in Riverside, CA was 80.7°F, and this was 0.2°F cooler than the average of 80.9°F. The hottest day in October 1966 was 31 October when the temperature reached 91.9°F. Overnight the average temperature in October is 51.8°F.'
http://www.climatespy.com/climate/summary/united-states/california/march-arb/october/1966
She had rolled down both windows, not just the driver side, possibly indicating the stuffiness inside her vehicle, something you wouldn't do if you felt under any threat at this point in time, been approached by persons unknown or your vehicle hadn't started. It obviously makes logical sense to roll your windows down before starting the vehicle to pull away.

If the newspaper report is correct, what was the evidence that somebody 'had been in the car with her.' The likely answer to this, is probably contained within the same report, that the right door was ajar. From the police photographs of the Volkswagen Beetle, if the right door was ajar, then it was only slight, just probably not shut properly. If somebody had entered the passenger side of her vehicle on her return, then clearly Betty Lou had placed her library books down subsequent to him or her exiting, or they had opened the passenger door to engage with her on a more personal level.
This would also explain why the passenger door may be unlocked, she knew the person. If you had returned to your vehicle that night, then rolling down the windows, placing your library books down next to you and placing the keys in the ignition are all perfectly plausible events, but unlocking the right passenger side door to a complete stranger is not one, especially gone 10.00 pm at night.
Her friends stated that Cheri Jo would never have "left her vehicle without locking the doors and rolling the windows up." That is unless a person she knew and trusted offered to stay with her vehicle, while a second person she knew and trusted offered to accompany her to a payphone, or a lift to make a call. One has to consider why a young woman would leave her prized Volkswagen Beetle with the windows rolled down, library books on the seat, door possibly ajar and keys in the ignition so late at night, yet still took her 'large red and tan woven straw bag', which was ultimately found half covered by her body.
It has to be pointed out that many women will never be without their handbag, which often contains their personal items, such as a purse (and associated money), make-up, hair brush and such-like. It would therefore not be unusual to leave her vehicle with somebody she thought she could trust, but instinctively taking her handbag with her. In this case her woven straw bag.
It is apparent that Cheri Jo was "terribly afraid of the darkness," and unlikely to have entered a dark, unlit alleyway at approximately 10.30 pm at night, but in the company of somebody she knew her fears would be allayed, coupled with her necessity to ring home or seek help.

The time she returned to her vehicle cannot be fully corroborated by the screams in the alleyway, because we cannot be be 100% certain of the eyewitnesses testimony or that any screams were that of Cheri Jo Bates. But recapping all of the above and from information gleaned from the four young men and Walter Siebert, it is likely her vehicle was sabotaged sometime after 7.15 pm, by one, or two assailants working together.
One possibility is that two people, who knew and sought malice on Cheri Jo Bates, trailed her to the Riverside library that evening, waited for the four young men to leave and tampered with her vehicle. They may have been unsure of her plans after exiting the library that evening, they may have had something else in store for her, but when she left the area for an undetermined time period, and subsequent to the four young men moving away from the Volkswagen, they decided to disable her vehicle and wait close by.
Cheri Jo Bates arrived back at her vehicle, placed her library books on the passenger seat, rolled both windows because it was stuffy, then placed the keys in the ignition to start the vehicle. Her Volkswagen turned over a few times and the two men (or possibly one man and a woman) approached, both known to Cheri Jo Bates, offering their help. At some point Cheri Jo, or one of the good Samaritans opened the passenger door (through the open window) kneeled and spoke to Cheri Jo, partially closing it after their conversation. The second opened the hood and pretended to look at the engine. When the vehicle failed to start, one person offered to accompany Cheri Jo Bates to their car to go for help, or offered to escort her to a payphone. The other stayed behind to keep an eye on her car, which is why she had no worries about leaving the windows down and key in the ignition. She grabs her purse and woven straw bag, slings it over her shoulder and heads off toward the alleyway.
The detectives stated that after the murder 'drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Drive indicated that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying.' Back to their accomplice, back to their car, or possibly both? During the reenactment two weeks later students recalled a 1947-1952 Studebaker with "light-colored oxidized paint", parked just south of Terracina Drive at 7.00 pm, that failed to show. Was this our killer/s vehicle, parked just out of sight from Terracina Drive.
Two important questions remain. Where had Cheri Jo Bates gone after leaving the library just prior to 6.30 pm. If she had gone to a friend's house nearby, why didn't this person come forward to police. Were they afraid of being implicated in the crime.
Secondly, what was the exact time Cheri Jo Bates arrived back at her Volkswagen Beetle on Terracina Drive. Does the weather give us a clue. The sun set at approximately 6.15 pm that evening on Riverside, it was the first day of Daylight Savings, and the daytime temperature hit 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Was the fact that Cheri Jo Bates rolled both windows, as opposed to just the driver side window, indicative of the temperature inside her vehicle when she returned, and that she had arrived back earlier rather than later on October 30th 1966, or had she rolled down both windows to speak to her approaching 'good Samaritans'. The state her vehicle was found the following day by police tells a story. A story of a young girl who knew and trusted her killer/s, and sadly a trust that was devastatingly betrayed.

'Mr. Sweet further stated the last dispatch given the victim was at 9:45 pm to 500 9th Ave. apt. #1. Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm. R/Os noted that the meter of the cab was running, indicating that the victim possibly picked up another fare (suspect) en route to his original assignment. (The meter read $ 6.25 at exactly 10:46 pm) A check with the Yellow Cab Co. revealed the victim arrived at work at approximately 8:45 pm and had only one fare prior, that being from Pier 64 to the Air Terminal.'
The above is listed in the police report concerning the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, but something isn't quite right with these statements. The last dispatch given to Paul Stine was supposedly in the area of Union Square, San Francisco at 9.45 pm.
Leroy Sweet, fully aware it was a busy Saturday night deployed Paul Stine to a regular pick up at 500 9th Avenue. This is a minimum journey time of 18 minutes from Union Square, to which Paul Stine should have arrived at 10.03 pm, yet Leroy Sweet had already reassigned another taxicab to 500 9th Avenue at 9.58 pm, after only 13 minutes, so why the impatience.

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There are several reasons to dispel the idea that Paul Stine had picked up the Zodiac Killer en route to 500 9th Avenue.
The time of the attack was marked at approximately 9.55 pm, with the radio dispatch to police officers issued at 9.58 pm. This on the face of it ties perfectly with the statement of Zodiac, who stated in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter "2 cops pulled a goof about 3 min after I left the cab." Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms received the dispatch at 9.58 pm traveling northbound on Presidio Avenue, having just passed Washington Street. The journey time to the intersection of Jackson and Maple where he they spotted the 'lumbering man', is just shy of one minute, placing them there at 9.59 pm. We know the journey time from the taxicab to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is 3 minutes walking time, validating that the Zodiac Killer left the taxicab at 9.56 pm. The attack on Paul Stine was observed by the three teenagers at 9.55 pm, with the Zodiac leaving one minute later.
We do not know exactly how long the taxicab was sitting at the Washington and Cherry intersection before the teenagers set eyes on it, however we know that the Zodiac had already exited the rear of the taxicab to enter the front passenger seat. The taxicab may have arrived slightly earlier than 9.55 pm, but for the sake of argument we will leave the time at 9.55 pm. This would mean that had Paul Stine received a dispatch from Leroy Sweet at 9.45 pm, the journey time took 10 minutes from Union Square, possibly as low as 9 minutes, when the journey time should have took a minimum of 12-13 minutes. This could have Paul Stine leaving Union Square at 9.42-9.43 pm, instead of 9.45 pm. The margins are small and may seem inconsequential. However, if Paul Stine had departed Union Square at 9.45 pm, a journey time of 18 minutes to 500 9th Avenue would be 10.03 pm, at which point Leroy Sweet had already allocated another taxicab for the fare up to five minutes earlier. His impatience in removing Paul Stine from the scheduled pick up seems unwarranted, unless of course the time delay was considerably longer.

Paul Stine arrived at the Yellow Cab Company depot that evening at 8.45 pm. He is immediately dispatched to Pier 64, a journey time of 8 minutes. But taking into consideration the fare was for San Francisco International Airport, we will factor in a couple of minutes for the loading of any suitcases. This now is 8.55 pm. The distance to the airport via Highway 101 is approximately 12 miles, a journey time of approximately 15 minutes. This would now give us a time of 9.10 pm. As Michael Cole pointed out on Zodiac Revisited "he has two options: 1) to wait for a return fare to take him back to San Francisco, or 2) to return directly to San Francisco to take advantage of the busy evening demands for a taxi in the downtown area. Stine likely noticed that the queue for available taxis was long and that he would be sitting idle for some time, waiting for a fare. He would have decided to return to San Francisco alone and head for the Theater District/Downtown to maximize his chance of fares." zodiacrevisited.com/paul-stine-a-victim-of-opportunity/
The return journey to Union Square is approximately 21 minutes, bringing Paul Stine back to the theater district at 9.31 pm, fourteen minutes earlier than the final dispatch by Leroy Sweet of 9.45 pm. It is unlikely he arrived back quite this early, but 9.45 pm, allowing for Paul Stine to pick up Zodiac, in an unscheduled stop, fill out his trip sheet and arrive at Washington and Cherry in 9-10 minutes is not likely.
The Harvey Hines report, secured by Alex Lewis, seems to suggest that the Zodiac Killer ordered a taxicab from a public payphone at Union Square near to the St. Francis Hotel on the night of October 11th 1969. It stated "In looking at an area map of San Francisco, I found 217 Eddy Street appeared to only be two to three blocks from where Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac on October 11, 1969. I then called Inspector Dave Toschi at the SFPD and got more details on the Stine Killing. Toschi said that they had determined that the killer had called for a cab using the public payphone located at Union Square. Toschi said the cab then picked the killer up and drove to the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets."
If the killer had entered the taxicab, say 9.42 pm, then Paul Stine would be three minutes en route, with the Zodiac Killer already in tow, heading toward Washington and Cherry when he received the dispatch from Leroy Sweet at 9.45 pm. This now gives Paul Stine enough time to reach Washington and Cherry by 9.54-9.55 pm. In other words the dispatch by Leroy Sweet was issued to Paul Stine close to the theater district, but not in it.

Even discounting these claims by Harvey Hines, it is likely Paul Stine arrived earlier than 9.45 pm from the airport, headed to Union Square and waited for a customer. He picks up Zodiac at around 9.40-9.42 pm, now leaving him ample time to reach the Washington and Cherry intersection by 9.54-9.55 pm, but again the killer would already be present in the taxicab when Leroy Sweet offered Paul Stine the fare at 500 9th Avenue, and considering he was already heading in that direction, he accepted. What are the chances that Paul Stine would head off to a scheduled fare at 500 9th Avenue and just randomly stop for somebody flagging him down at the intersection of Mason and Geary, on the off chance the person was requiring a lift westwards. Besides, the 9.45 pm dispatch from Union Square doesn't afford him the time.
There appeared only one reason for Leroy Sweet to reallocate a second taxicab at 9.58 pm to 500 9th Avenue, after just 13 minutes, for a 18 minute journey. The reason was not likely impatience, but the fact he was likely informed of the regrettable events at Washington and Cherry almost immediately, so the police could learn where the passenger entered the taxicab, along with any associated details, and sadly for him was compelled to send an alternative taxicab. Using the 9.45 pm dispatch time by Leroy Sweet, allied with the taxicab meter reading, it is highly likely the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab of Paul Stine in the theater district of San Francisco, but not after 9.45 pm, and not en route. He was already firmly seated in the back of Paul Stine's taxicab, away from Union Square.

The following is a comprehensive analysis of the timeline of Cheri Jo Bates' movements and eyewitness testimony from the evening of October 30th 1966. It will not attempt to promote or discredit any of the reported statements.

A Mexican-American student: 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'.
The library opened at 6.00 pm and it was only then he noticed Cheri Jo Bates, indicating that Cheri Jo entered the library close to opening time, or several minutes after.
His attention to detail mentioning the 'blue spiral notebook' could easily have been verified by police, to corroborate that he wasn't mistaken.
In addition to the Mexican-American student, a male librarian at the college said he "thought he saw" Cheri Jo in the library that Sunday evening.

Detective Sergeant David Bonine, stated that a close friend of Cheri Jo Bates saw her drive past in her lime green Volkswagen Beetle at approximately 6.10 pm, heading toward the Riverside City College on Magnolia Avenue. The friend waved at her, but apparently she failed to notice and did not reciprocate the gesture. A second report from about the same time period was relayed to police from an Air Force man who lived close to Riverside City College library. He was passed by a lime green Volkswagen Beetle driven by a blond female up an alley parallel to Magnolia, east of the Sherri Lynn Apartments. Her vehicle was being followed by a 1965-66 bronze Oldsmobile. This must have been slightly after 6.10 pm, indicating that Cheri Jo Bates was heading to the library to park up. Her vehicle was ultimately found on Terracina Drive, right next to Magnolia Avenue.
If we assume she discharged her own three library books, then she must have entered the library at approximately 6.15 pm.
The above two eyewitnesses times are approximated, so if the Mexican-American student saw Cheri Jo Bates "in the library the night in question," shortly after it opened, it was likely closer to 6.15 pm.

Shortly after 6.10 pm, four young men, under police interrogation stated "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night." They didn't recall any suspicious activity around the Volkswagen Beetle that evening, so the claim she was abducted as she arrived on Terracina Drive, or had returned to a disabled Volkswagen Beetle could not have happened during the time they were sitting on the fence opposite her vehicle. They were later spotted by other eyewitnesses in exactly the same location. The time the four young men spotted Cheri Jo Bates has been approximated at 6.13 pm, likely when she had exited her vehicle to take the short walk to the library. It couldn't have been on her return, because if somebody had tampered with her vehicle during her absence and she had failed to start the Volkswagen Beetle, this would have been relayed to police by the four young men, which they didn't.

Cheri Jo Bates entered the Riverside City College library and took out three library books. The Mexican-American student noticed her in the library. The male librarian thought he saw her in the library.
Extract from the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter "I first cut the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time she asked me, "about time for what?". I said it was about time for her to die." The four young men sitting opposite Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle never saw anybody tamper with the engine. The four young men were still sitting on this fence at 7.15 pm, one hour after seeing Cheri Jo Bates park up. Therefore the only way the author of the 'Confession' letter may be proved correct, is if the four young men left that location shortly after spotting Cheri Jo Bates leave her vehicle, only to return to the same spot some time later. The four men notice the young woman leave her vehicle, they walk away from the near vicinity, at which point the assailant disables the Volkswagen, tracks Cheri Jo Bates, offers her assistance, then murders her in the alleyway, likely before 6.30 pm. The four young men then return to the original location after 6.30 pm, and before 7.15 pm, hence see or hear nothing untoward. However this is not possible, because a later eyewitness present in the alleyway at 9.30 pm saw no signs of murder.

'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.'
This suggests that Cheri Jo Bates had entered the library at approximately 6.15 pm, but had discharged her reading material and had exited the vicinity of the library annex by 6.29 pm at the latest. Had she traveled back to her Volkswagen Beetle at this point, it is likely her friends would have spotted her by the stricken vehicle. Had she left the library slightly earlier at 6.20 pm, finding her car unresponsive, it is likely she would have returned to the library for assistance or to make a phone call.
She could not have immediately been lured away and murdered in the alleyway, as her body was apparently not lying in the alleyway up to 9.30 pm, backed up by a female eyewitness.

The library shuts and the remaining patrons leave the building. There is still no sign of Cheri Jo Bates.
Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Graysmith: 'Cheri Jo checked out three books from the local college library. Though her friends were at the small, cramped library between 7.15 pm and 8.57 pm, none recalled seeing her there. At 9.00 pm when the archives closed, she returned to her car to discover the engine would not catch. And here she had been working part-time at the Riverside National Bank. Parked behind her car was a Tucker Torpedo that was not there before.'
Some of this is clearly not true, because if nobody saw her, how could she have been seen returning to her vehicle at 9.00 pm. The mention of the Tucker Torpedo is interesting however, since only 51 vehicles were ever made before the company folded in 1949. The eyewitnesses may have mistaken the make of the vehicle, but if not, the screams heard later in the alleyway, closely followed by the sound of an old vehicle pulling away, may have a bearing.
The Daily Enterprise, Riverside 1966: 'Detectives investigating the murder of Cheri Bates are looking for a car almost identical to this one. Police say a 1947-52 model Studebaker with light-colored, oxidized paint was parked on Riverside Avenue just south of Terracina Drive about 7 p.m. on the night that the Riverside City College freshman was stabbed to death. Detectives said a recent re-enactment of the murder at the college campus provided this information. They ask anyone who knows of a car similar to this one, used by police to stage this photograph, to contact the Police Department.'
Since the Tucker Torpedo was supposedly spotted behind Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle when people were leaving the library, with both vehicles facing the library, it could be argued that the witnesses to the Tucker Torpedo only saw its front end. Both the Tucker Torpedo and Studebaker have similar aeroplane front end characteristics. Could these vehicles have been mistaken as one?

At approximately 9.30 pm a female student noticed a man standing in the fateful alleyway smoking a cigarette and exchanged brief greetings with him. She later failed to identify anybody from a photographic line-up, including 'Bob Barnett', the prime suspect in the Riverside Police Department investigation. He would later be excluded using mitochondrial DNA retrieved from blood clotted hair found at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' thumb. The female student eyewitness was certainly credible enough to police, because they later retrieved a cigarette butt from the alleyway, close to where the man was seen standing. It was listed in the Riverside DNA evidence analysis report. The cigarette butt had a DNA concentration of 0.003 nanograms per microliter. The question is, could the cigarette DNA be ruled out from the DNA recovered from the base of Cheri Jo Bates' thumb. Was this man waiting in the alleyway for Cheri Jo Bates to return to her vehicle. Was he expecting her to have been in the library, but when she didn't exit the library at 9.00 pm, he hung around the shadows of the alleyway, with one eye on her vehicle.

Screams were heard coming from the vicinity of the alleyway sometime between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm. Zodiac by Robert Graysmith: 'A neighbor heard an awful scream between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up. A man returning to the area at 10.30 pm told us he heard two screams then'.
If the details are accurate, then was the killer returning to his old 1948 Tucker Torpedo parked just behind Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle. This would be a matter of 100 feet from the alleyway. So why the two minutes of silence? Was he frantically searching in the darkness for the Timex yanked from his wrist.
Magazine dated January 1969: "At the murder scene, drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Drive were discovered indicated to the detective that the murderer had walked to the street following the slaying." This would certainly be the right direction to his vehicle, had he parked it behind the Volkswagen Beetle.

On Halloween morning, groundskeeper Cleophus Martin (48) was traveling along Terracina Drive at 6.30 am, slightly west of the Riverside City College library annex, when he discovered the lifeless body of Cheri Jo Bates lying face down in the gravel alleyway. She had been brutally stabbed and slashed with a knife. The young Ramona High graduate had been 'missing' for just over 12 hours.
Five days later her grief stricken father Joseph Bates collapsed at her funeral, inconsolable at the loss of a daughter, who had so much to live for, but whose life was cruelly snatched away on October 30th 1966 by a coward who lurked in the shadows and a coward that has done so ever since.

In the Melvin Belli letter mailed on December 20th 1969 the Zodiac Killer stated he was afraid of "losing control again and taking his ninth or possibly tenth victim." Bearing in mind that three of his four attacks thus far were on couples, and his threat of claiming two victims in one letter, it is hardly surprising his next correspondence on April 20th 1970 has a total of ten proclaimed victims. But had he actually killed anybody, or was it again a case of idle bragging. The 'My Name is..'.letter contained a 13 symbol code, where the central focus was seemingly three circled eights positioned symmetrically in its design. These have been interpreted as Taurus symbols, due to the fact the Zodiac Killer had also apparently added an Aries symbol within the code, albeit upside down. The Zodiac Killer may have circled the characters so they could be interpreted as both. Since the Zodiac horoscope is prominent in astrology, the use of these symbols by the Zodiac Killer cannot be regarded as unusual.

The author of the correspondence would sign off with the words "PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed." Was this a subtle clue using the misspelled 'figgure' to shunt us in the right direction. He gave us three circled 'figure of eights' and an extra 'g' in 'figgure'. In addition the symbol for a full moon is a circle

The '13 Symbol' cipher was mailed in April, and a quick look at the entire moon cycle for San Francisco in April shows a full moon on April 21st. A Waxing Gibbous denotes 95% illumination approaching a full moon and a Waning Gibbous denotes 95% illumination as we leave the full moon, everything in between can be regarded as varying degrees of a full moon. These are the four key phases in April. Considering the Zodiac used the Taurus symbol in his code, it is therefore not surprising that the date of this letter, April 20th, is the exact date that Taurus takes over from Aries in the Zodiac horoscope, and the varying degrees of the full moon from waxing to waning are in exactly the same 3:1 ratio as the '13 Symbol' cipher code. This is displayed below, placing the dates from the calendar above onto the cipher.

The center of the cipher is where we shall focus. It is the 21st and a full moon. These are our first two clues.
The Zodiac Killer stated "I have killed ten people to date". So was this the 21st on a full moon. Considering the Melvin Belli letter was mailed on December 20th 1969, any double murder would have to fall on December 21st 1969, January 21st 1970, February 21st 1970 or March 21st 1970. The attack on Kathleen Johns on March 22nd fell on a full moon, but does not fit the criteria There is only one month that follows the exact four lunar phases as above, waxing and waning from the 19th to the 22nd, where the full moon falls on the 21st, and that is February 1970.
Let us return to the phrase "PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed." We have the figure 21 for the date, but what about the circled eight and the letter 'g' from 'figgure.' The '13 Symbol' cipher begins with an A and ends with an M, half the alphabet. The cipher showed perfect symmetry when the alphabet was placed alongside it here.
When the identical technique is used here, the letter G falls over the central 8 (and the 21st). The number 8 is also represented by the letter H. Even the three 8's total 21, if we take their numerical position on the cipher.

Putting everything together, we are looking for possibly a double murder, on a couple, similar to other Zodiac attacks, on February 21st 1970, during a full moon, where the two letters G and H may feature.
On Saturday February 21st 1970, John Franklin Hood (24), who had served decorated time in Vietnam in the 64th Armored Division and Sandra Garcia (20), who worked in the California Department of Motor Vehicles, decided to visit the quiet retreat of East Beach, Santa Barbara one evening, where unfortunately they fell victim to a knife wielding assassin.
John F Hood and Sandra Garcia were shortly to be married and were enjoying the evening tranquility lying on a blanket under a full moon, when a man armed with a bone handled 4" blade approached them and shattered their dreams. Despite apparently fighting back against their attacker, both unfortunately had their lives cruelly snatched away on the remote Santa Barbara beach. John Hood suffered eleven knife wounds, the majority inflicted to the face and back, with Sandra Garcia receiving the brunt of the vicious attack, leaving her almost unrecognizable, in what appeared a senseless and motiveless crime. There appeared to be no sexual interference and robbery was ruled out.
The couple were discovered the following day, Sunday 22nd February, lying face down on their blanket. The bone handled fish knife used in their murder was retrieved from beneath the blanket, partially buried in the sand.
These murders came five months after the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, and the similarities have not gone unnoticed, with the use of a knife and cut pieces of rope, along with the beach location.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-mathematics-of-the-13-symbol-cipher

On December 20th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Melvin Belli' letter containing a third piece of Paul Stine's shirt, the murdered taxicab driver in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The 'Dripping Pen' card and 'Bus Bomb' letter were postmarked within a day of each other, so this was effectively the third mailing in a row harboring a sinister 'trophy'.
The 'Melvin Belli' letter, whether a ruse or not, painted the picture of a Zodiac Killer going off the rails. In the correspondence he stated "I cannot reach out for help because this thing inside me wont let me. I am finding it extremely difficult to hold it in check. I am afraid I will loose all control again and take my nineth and posibly tenth victom. Please help me I am drownding," Later he continues "But if I hold back too long from no nine, I will loose all controol of my self and set the bomb up. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer."

This letter had very similar overtones to the murders attributed to William Heirens, known as the Lipstick Killer, who was convicted of three murders over a seven month period. Josephine Ross had been stabbed numerous times in her apartment at 4108 North Kenmore Avenue on June 5th 1945. Frances Brown was discovered on December 10th 1945 at her 3941 North Pine Grove apartment, again in Edgewater, Chicago. She had multiple knife wounds. In fact a knife was found present in the victim's neck, along with a bullet wound to her head. But on this occasion the killer had left a calling card, in the form of a message written in lipstick on the wall. It read: "For heavens Sake catch me Before I kill more I cannot control myself."
On January 7th 1946 six year old Suzanne Degnan disappeared from her 5943 North Kenmore residence. A ladder was discovered outside the girl's window, and a ransom note was also found by police. The misspelled note read: "GeI $20,000 Reddy & wAITe foR WoRd, do NoT NoTify FBI oR Police. Bills IN 5's & 10's." Later an anonymous phone call was received instructing police to check the sewers and subsequent searches found dismembered body parts of Suzanne Degnan at various locations.
Considering the Zodiac Killer's apparent fragile state of mind in the 'Melvin Belli' letter and its allusions to the William Heirens murders, was there a possibility the Zodiac Killer's next murder would carry any of these traits, and be referenced in his following communication. That is, writing on the wall, the use of a knife in the murder, possible dismemberment and a San Francisco connection.
On April 19th 1970 the mutilated body of Robert Salem was discovered in his 745 Stevenson Street, San Francisco apartment. In an article by Paul Avery entitled 'The Bloody 'Satan' Murder' it reported that they didn't believe it to be a Zodiac murder "The 40 year old designer of lamps had been repeatedly stabbed with a long-bladed knife. The killer had apparently tried to decapitate his victim and when that failed he cut off Salem's left ear, carrying it away with him when he fled. There was also this bizarre touch: scrawled on the wall in Salem's blood, were the words "Satan Saves." The killer then in larger letters wrote "Zodiac" and drew a strange symbol resembling a crucified man. The same symbol had been drawn on Salem's stomach."

Click image for link to article

Remember we stated that based on the 'Melvin Belli' and William Heirens murders, the next crime may contain components of these, such as: writing on the wall, the use of a knife in the murder, possible dismemberment and a San Francisco connection. The murder of Robert Salem had them all, and the Zodiac signature in blood.
One curious feature in the crime scene, is the killer, had he wrote "Zodiac" similar in size to "Satan Saves", there would have been no need to write Zodiac in such fashion, split into two parts, so he could fit it onto the wall. Unless it was intentional. In the article it stated "An autopsy yesterday morning showed Salem was slain sometime last Wednesday."
This puts the murder on April 15th 1970, five days before the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'My Name is....' letter and '13 Symbol' cipher, postmarked April 20th 1970.

In a previous article, an avenue was explored that may connect the '340 Symbol' Cipher and '13 Symbol' cipher using the Zodiac's name. It is well recognized that the Zodiac Killer was an egotist, with inflated self importance, who just may have given us his pseudonym at the foot of the '340' cipher. It is written slightly differently, but nevertheless it was believed that this may have been a clue. When the correct spelling of Zodiac was placed under it and a numerical value was obtained, by alphabetically counting the difference between the six columns, it generated 0, 0, 0, 8, 8, 8. The three circled 8's he carried forward to his following '13 Symbol' cipher.
See this article to read more. This effectively splits Zodiac into two halves, shown by the pink line in the diagram on the right. Exactly what the killer did on the wall of Robert Salem's 745 Stevenson Street apartment, situated a mile drive from Union Square, the location where it is believed Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac Killer shortly before his murder. The number 888 in Christian numerology represents Jesus or sometimes more specifically Christ the Redeemer. In view of the killer writing "Satan Saves" rather than "Jesus Saves" is there any connection.
On the April 20th 1970 'My Name is...' letter, the Zodiac signed off with "PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed." Look at the way the killer wrote "Zodiac" on Robert Salem's wall. Is that designed to look like the 'figgure' 201.

#1 Stanley Dean Baker confessed to the murder of Robert Salem, despite no evidence linking him to the crime, and he was never charged by police. http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/baker-stanley-dean.htm.

#2 The crucified image on the wall of Robert Salem's wall, is the Egyptian ankh. The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art, often at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person's mummy; this is thought to symbolize the act of conception. Wikipedia.

Adam Gray posted a question on Facebook a while back: "I'm doing some research about Mr. Ed's drive in and its connections to Zodiac. Graysmith alleges that both Dee Ferrin/Mageau and Faraday/Jensen went there right before they were murdered. This has been repeated over and over again, but I don't believe is mentioned in a any police reports in regards to Faraday/Jensen. I was wondering if you happen to know if David and Betty Lou planned on going there that night?" So I thought I would take a look at the approximate two hour period before the murders.
The crime was committed nearly half a century ago, so their movements on December 20th 1968 is wholly reliant on eyewitness testimony. Without knowing the mindset of the individuals involved, I will not discredit any of the reported sightings of the couple that evening, but will err on the side of statements, police reports, newspaper or magazine articles that corroborate the same narrative.
The police report stated that 'Betty Lou brought David home to her parents at 8.00 pm on the 20th. There he met her parents and they left with their permission to go to Hogan High School and then to a party afterwards. They were to be home sometime around 11.00 pm.' A magazine article, whether accurate or not added a little more 'At the Jensen house Betty Lou invited David in to meet her parents. The four of them chatted for about 20 minutes, then David nervously looked at his watch and announced that they would miss the 8.30 pm concert if they did not leave soon.'

David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16). Murdered at Lake Herman Road, Benicia, Northern California on December 20th 1968.

The police report from a friend of Betty Lou follows on nicely. Sharon Henslin recalled that 'Betty Lou and David came to her house at approximately 8.20 pm on Friday. They remained there until 9.00 pm. She stated she walked to the car with them. They did not state to her where they were going.'
David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were clearly not in a rush to get to the concert by 8.30 pm, as they had gone to Sharon's. But where did they go after leaving 926 Brentwood Avenue at 9.00 pm.
It is here we will go with the preponderance of evidence, as opposed to the Robert Graysmith account in his first Zodiac book. In it he described the couple 'having a Coke at Mr Ed's, a local drive-in,' before immediately heading off towards the Lake Herman Road turnout. In 'Zodiac Unmasked' Robert Graysmith wrote 'Betty Lou and David had stopped at Mr Ed's too (referring to Mageau/Ferrin) just before being shot. The teenagers had visited their friend Sharon on Brentwood Avenue at 8.20 pm, and remained until 9.00 pm. At 10.30 pm their Christmas concert was over and they went from there to Mr Ed's, then Lake Herman Road.' Well, if they had left the concert at 10.30 pm, traveled to Mr Ed's, bought a couple of drinks, then traveled to the Lake Herman Road turnout, which took approximately 15 minutes, the couple couldn't have been spotted by Helen Axe and her boyfriend in the turnout at 10.15 pm. In Robert Graysmith's original book he contradicts himself saying 'just before 10.15 pm, David pulled off the road to the right, and parked 15 feet off it, facing south, in the graveled area outside gate #10. At 10.15 pm a woman and her boyfriend, a sailor, drove by. When they reached the end of the road and came back past fifteen minutes later, the car (Faraday Rambler) was still there.'
You cannot have it both ways. Robert Graysmith additionally inferred it was a coincidence that Mageau and Ferrin had stopped at Mr Ed's also, which they didn't.
Unfortunately there is no corroborating evidence from any reports or eyewitnesses that place the couple at Mr Ed's diner that evening, however there are many other alleged sightings and reports that place them at the Hogan High School concert. One such sighting would indicate that they left Hogan High School and traveled directly to Lake Herman Road, a journey that took approximately 15 minutes by car.
#1 'During his many hours of investigation (Les Lunblad), the graying veteran detective sergeant learned the terrible murders on Lake Herman were the tragic end of a first date for the young couple. They had attended a pre-Christmas concert and chorale at Vallejo's Hogan High School, where pretty Betty Lou had been a student. The couple had left the school auditorium at 10.00 pm, bidding goodnight to their school chums.' The next sighting of the couple was approximately 10.15 pm by Helen Axe and her boyfriend in the Lake Herman Road turnout, which is a 13-15 minute car drive from Hogan High. The time given when they left the auditorium indicates their decision to head straight to the lovers lane turnout. This being the case, they couldn't have left Mr Ed's and headed straight to the turnout, as stated in Robert Graysmith's book.

They may have gone to Mr Ed's diner, then Hogan High School, but the concert was at 8.30 pm, so it's likely they traveled directly there from Sharon Henslin's house at 9.00 pm, arrived circa 9.10 pm and spent 50 minutes at the school before leaving for some extra privacy. Doing both is not impossible, but would seem a little rushed. In addition they were spotted by several people at Hogan High School, but by nobody at Mr Ed's.
#2 'At the concert, classmates of Betty Lou noticed the couple sitting side by side in the gymnasium bleachers (retractable seats), holding hands. Nobody remembers seeing them after they left the concert.'
#3 Les Lunblad in the December 22nd 1968 Sunday Examiner and Chronicle: 'Detective Sgt Les Lunblad, the graying, husky officer in charge of the investigation said there was a distinct possibility the young couple had been trailed to the murder scene from the pre-Christmas concert in Vallejo.'
#4 Sunday Times Herald: 'Authorities said the couple, David Faraday (17) and Miss Betty Lou Jensen (16), had driven to the reservoir after attending a Friday night concert at Hogan High School here, where Miss Jensen was a junior.'
It is therefore extremely likely that Les Lunblad would have checked on their whereabouts prior to the murder, discovering they had attended the concert that evening, and somewhere the couple had expressly said they were going to, while at Betty Lou's parents house.
In the police report we have William Crow in and around the Lake Herman Road turnout between 9.30 pm and 10.00 pm and no mention of the Faraday Rambler, but by 10.15 pm it is spotted by Helen Axe and boyfriend. This ties in perfectly with David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen leaving the school auditorium at 10.00 pm in pursuit of a romantic trip to the scenic Lake Herman Road setting.

Detective Sergeant Les Lunblad.

When David Faraday left his house that evening at 7.30 pm, his mother gave him 1 dollar 55 cents. At the hospital later, it was discovered David Faraday had 85 cents remaining.
He had therefore spent 70 cents from 7.30 pm to 10.15 pm. This is important to consider when we postulate his movements during the relevant time. Did he buy any food or drink at Mr Ed's or Hogan High School, or en route to either. There are two viable alternatives.
This was David Faraday's first date with Betty Lou Jensen and no doubt was keen to impress. He had borrowed his parents vehicle, so he may have filled up with gas out of courtesy or instruction, or he may have popped into a local store to make a purchase prior to his meeting with Betty Lou. The police report on page 2 details that a bottle of Binaca breath drops were found on David Faraday. Something you may buy especially for such an occasion. A cursory search of 1968/69 advertisements shows Binaca breath drops came in varying sizes, with the price in general varying from 60 cents to 1 dollar.
These two options may account for the 'missing' 70 cents, as opposed to a trip to Mr Ed's diner, for which we have no corroborating eyewitness testimony.
However, it is extremely likely through several eyewitnesses of 'classmates of Betty Lou noticing the couple sitting side by side in the gymnasium bleachers' and 'leaving the school auditorium at 10.00 pm', that indeed the couple had attended the concert and had driven directly to the Lake Herman Road turnout, where they were spotted by Helen Axe at 10.15 pm. But being trailed there, as Les Lunblad had initially conjectured remains unlikely, as the murders were still an hour in the making.
In the aftermath of the second Zodiac attack Michael Mageau stated in the police report '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 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.'
It appears that neither couple, on December 20th 1968 or July 4th 1969, went to Mr Ed's. Had they done so, things may have turned out very differently, but we will never know.

In the December of 1968 it all began. Not the murders of five innocent people, as if that wasn't enough, but the falsehoods, embellishment and deception that has marred this case for nearly fifty years. It started with some of the eyewitness testimony after the murders, extended during and after the Arthur Leigh Allen witch hunt, and has continued to the present day, where the Zodiac case now resembles a bloated carcass of fiction. In 1968 he was described as a "madman" or "psychopath." He transformed into a "latent homosexual" and an "intelligent and cunning criminal," who liked to play chess with the police and newspapers. But he is a lot more than that today. He is a master criminal and genius, part of a grand conspiracy, a complex hoax perpetrated by multiple individuals, that permeates to the heart of law enforcement and government officialdom. The only thing he hasn't seemingly acquired yet, is his own version of the Batmobile, however there is still time.
If the Zodiac Killer were alive today, looking in the mirror, it wouldn't be Alzheimer's disease that stopped him from recognizing himself, it would be the descriptions attributed to him in numerous Facebook and forum posts up and down every country in the world.
One may be forgiven for believing this is akin to Darwin's theory of evolution, or the metamorphosis of a chrysalis into a butterfly, however it has much more in common with creationism, where facts and reality are set aside, to pursue a self serving belief of importance. The claim to absolutely know who the Zodiac is, to have definitively solved the ciphers beyond any shadow of doubt and thereafter routinely demean anyone who questions your hypothesis, is somebody who is symptomatic of an ever growing problem highlighted by Andy Warhol, that "in the future everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame." Unfortunately it is far worse than fifteen minutes. If you don't listen the first time, that Facebook post will be repeated ad infinitum, until you are beaten into submission. The problem today, is you will not get noticed with an ordinary story, it has to be headline grabbing, it has to be sensational, it has to sell. What we are left with is fiction, that new recruits to the Zodiac case have to wade through to get to the truth, and undoubtedly they will find it much harder with every passing year.
You will often read this; "People don't believe my claims because they will realize their ideas, they have long held for years, have been wrong." Or "Now that I have solved the case people are upset, because their sleuthing days are over." The self importance is oozing from every pore in their body. Modesty is not a word they understand.
Thomas Horan described the Zodiac period as the 'Great Zodiac Hoax.' He is correct in one respect, but is nearly half a century out. The greatest Zodiac hoax is occurring now, being perpetrated on the keyboards of the modern world, by people who have attempted to shift the Zodiac case to the next level of creationism, where evidence is irrelevant.
Many people were excited when the DNA advancements were applied to the Zodiac case. Had the DNA not ruled out their suspect, one could guarantee this would have been shouted from the rooftops, presented in their book or routinely quoted on the internet, as further corroborating evidence that their suspect was indeed Zodiac. However, when it ruled out their suspect, the DNA was presented as 'contaminated' or that the stamps and envelopes were licked by somebody else. If they truly believed that the DNA was worthless as evidence, why did they bother submitting their suspect sample in the first place. It is a no lose situation for them, and clear evidence that these people are not seeking the truth, they are seeking self promotion.
Blinkered detective work, where belief is promoted over evidence has stained many murder investigations, and the Zodiac case is no different. Having a firm suspect you believe is Zodiac is fine, but when you carry this suspect in the back of your mind when analyzing a particular murder or crime scene, it will affect your impartiality.
The perfect example to illustrate this, is the sketch generated from eyewitness testimony at Presidio Heights. The truth of the matter, is that eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. The sketch may be a good visual representation of the Zodiac Killer, on the other hand it may not. However, if your suspect looks exactly like the sketch, you will endeavor to promote the validity of the sighting, while if your suspect looks nothing like the sketch, the reverse will be the case. The neutral and objective approach has been lost. Another example is when somebody is challenged on whether their suspect was even in Northern California on the date of one of the Zodiac murders. The response is thrown back at you, to prove that he wasn't. It is clear that this is the worst argument in history. The onus is squarely on the claimant.
The exchange of ideas, theories and presentations in the Zodiac case is the healthy alternative to the self righteous and sanctimonious individuals that have now infected the Zodiac case. The unfaltering belief they are 100% correct and the rest of us need to wake up and behold them like a glowing beacon, like minions to a superior being. Conviction is great, but misplaced superiority should be rejected at every turn.
The Zodiac case has taken a downturn in recent years, where many individuals simply don't discuss the various aspects of the case, but unrelentingly pursue a personal driven agenda of self promotion, and only they have the answer. The internet is littered with these individuals, who have managed to turn a criminal investigation into a circus. Thomas Horan authored the books 'The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1969' and 'The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1986.' If this hoax were the case, one could now argue that the hoaxed have now become the hoaxers, with evidence that wouldn't even enter the courtroom toilet.
If you follow the Zodiac case in current media, an unhealthy proportion of what you read and hear, is the self promotion of the individual, who claims to have all the answers, or to have solved the Zodiac case. When you are faced with this claim you need go no further, it's false. When the case is solved, you won't read it in a book first. It will come through official channels.

"10 SHOTS WERE FIRED"

LAKE HERMAN ROAD-THE CORRECTION

LAKE HERMAN ROAD-THE FLIGHT FOR FREEDOM

SECOND 'ZODIAC' CALL TO JIM DUNBAR

YOU'RE THE DEAD DUCK

THE MISSING EVIDENCE AT LAKE HERMAN ROAD

TEN MINUTES FROM HOME

WAS THE LAKE BERRYESSA SKETCH THE ZODIAC KILLER

LAKE HERMAN ROAD-THE FALSE TIMELINE

THE BATES SYMBOLS AND DRIPPING PEN TOTAL

NEW IMAGES OF THE LAKE HERMAN ROAD CRIME SCENE

CHERI JO BATES-MINUTE BY MINUTE

CHERI JO BATES-MINUTE BY MINUTE (PT2)

CHERI JO BATES-TWO ASSAILANTS ?

PRESIDIO HEIGHTS-EN ROUTE TO 500 9TH AVENUE

CHERI JO BATES-THE COMPLETE EYEWITNESS TIMELINE

THE MOON CIPHER

THE ROBERT SALEM MURDER

MR ED'S DRIVE-IN

THE GREATEST DECEPTION OF THEM ALL