ZODIAC CIPHERS - Zodiac News

Two letters were mailed from Stamford, Connecticut. One on April 13th 1988, followed by another on April 21st 1988. A cryptogram was contained in each, believed to be from the same author. The first letter contained six pages in total, laden with text. The date of April 13th 1988 is the seventeen year anniversary of the disappearance of Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), from Sacramento, California, who may have been the subject of a possible Zodiac correspondence, the 'Monticello' card, mailed on July 13th 1971. http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/in-the-woods-dies-april. Page three of the first 1988 letter began with the wording "Eat pepper-mint and puff it in your face". Page five began with "You the other night" Here is a section from the Mikado Act One Part 5a 'As Some Day it May Happen', performed by Ko-Ko: "And the people who eat peppermint and puff it in your face. They never would be missed — they never would be missed". The two pages that contained cryptograms used familiar Zodiac characters, 54 in total. Both cryptograms contained 13 characters per row, however one didn't form a complete rectangle, the last line consisting of only three characters.
94 CHARACTER CIPHER: (REDACTED) MUST DIE FOR HER FIFTY MEGAHERTZ SCREECH AND HER FLIRTATIOUSNESS. SHE IS SO IMPOSSIBLY SHALLOW AND STUCK UP.
Assuming the redacted section is a name, the deciphered text is reminiscent of the 'Confession' letter and 'Bates Had to Die' letters, mailed after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. This cipher has the three character line.
It contains 89 visible characters. Seven rows of 13 characters = 91. Adding the 3 characters over = 94. Therefore the redacted text it would seem, should contain 5 letters, although 'megahertz screech' is written as 'megahertscreech' by the author, to allow the redacted name to become 6 letters in length. The redacted name is SHAUNA. (see forum thread below).
169 CHARACTER CIPHER: (REDACTED) IF YOU WISH TO KNOW MY IDENTITY, YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT SOME EFFORT INTO IT, NOT FIDDLE AND FART AROUND. HERE IS A CLUE AS MISSUS (REDACTED) IF SHE REMEMBERS WHO DRAWS THE SYMBOL. THEN YOU WILL HAVE ME. GOOD LUCK.
This cipher draws from much of the known Zodiac correspondence, and has no incomplete lines.
It contains 154 visible characters. Thirteen rows of 13 characters = 169. Therefore the redacted text should be 15 letters in total.
However, the author again makes errors in the cipher composition and the redacted text is only 12 letters. The redacted text is SHAUNA and TAYLOR (see forum thread below).
We have a 263 character cipher in total (20 rows of 13 characters, and three over), from either Zodiac or a hoaxer.
The author began with Dear (redacted). "This is the Zodiac Speaking". One sheet of paper was the brand 'Conqueror' from the Sloan Paper Company, Doraville, Georgia. Four sheets of paper bore the watermark of Sheaffer Eaton, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The remaining sheet contained no watermark.
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/zodiac5 Page 5 onwards.

Cryptogram images below courtesy of Zodiac Killer Site Forum.
To view the six pages of text and the forum thread visit http://zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=2326

Although we disagree on the mechanics of the crime, Raymond Grant does raise some interesting issues regarding the Lake Herman Road timeline and discrepancies in certain eyewitness testimony, particularly that of Robert Connelly and Helen Axe.
With just a cursory glance at the police report, it becomes immediately apparent that if we take it at face value, either the eyewitness recollections are incorrect, or a strange sequence of events occurred that night, heaping more suspicion onto the white Chevrolet Impala than ever before. Raymond Grant has emphasized these points in his book 'Zodiac Killer Solved,' and whether you agree or disagree with his overall take on the Zodiac murders, he does make some incredibly insightful and valuable points. Firstly we will focus on the white Chevrolet Impala and take the initial eyewitness testimony at face value.

This is what Robert Connelly stated in the police report "They said that when they arrived there (LHR turnout) at 9.00 pm a white 4-door hardtop, a '59 or '60 Impala, was parked there, and also, a truck coming out of the gate. This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by."
Bingo Wesner, a local sheepherder, also stated in the police report "he was checking his sheep at approximately 10.00 pm and he observed a white Chevrolet Impala Sedan parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station. He also observed a red Ford pick-up truck with wood side boards in the area."
Instantly we see, that despite the police report stating these two coincide, there is a one hour discrepancy. Raymond Grant believes that Robert Connelly's estimate of 9.00 pm is out by one hour, it should be 10.00 pm, and the facts bear this out.
If the white Chevrolet Impala had parked in the turnout just prior to 9.00 pm, and had remained there throughout until 10.00 pm, then the account of William Crow is patently false. He stated in the police report that "He and his girlfriend were in the Lake Herman Road area between 9.30 pm and 10.00 pm on 12/20/68. He was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed. They did not attempt to gain on him, but when they got to the turn off towards Benicia, William Crow turned towards Benicia and the other car went straight ahead. The subjects were both Caucasians and there is no further identification on the car or the subjects." If the white Chevrolet Impala was there, then clearly William Crow failed to notice it for upwards of 30 minutes, and considering he was parked in the turnout, that doesn't seem likely.

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However, William Crow would later dispute this statement to police "I never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting to describe the car, the sheriff came up with a “Valiant”. In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored Chevy. I could not see the passenger seat, but the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not see his specific facial features".
This being the case, it highlights the significance of a white Chevrolet Impala circulating the area in and around the turnout that night. If Robert Connelly's recollection of a white Chevrolet Impala being present in the turnout at 9.00 pm was correct, which appears unlikely, then the Chevrolet Impala would have parked in the turnout sometime prior to 9.00 pm, leaving at some point before William Crow arrived at 9.30 pm. It would then return, spot William Crow and his girlfriend just before 10.00 pm, chase them down the road, before returning to the turnout and being spotted by Bingo Wesner at 10.00 pm. But on both occasions, just prior to 9.00 pm and 10.00 pm, the occupants of the white Chevrolet Impala would had to have vacated their vehicle, because Robert Connelly and Bingo Wesner implicitly stated the vehicle was unoccupied.
If the Chevrolet Impala contained our killer or killers, then it could be argued they were coasting the area by foot and by car, searching for victims by whatever means. Raymond Grant highlights this important period of time in 'Zodiac Killer Solved', involving a 'holding area'. I won't elaborate on his explanation, as it wouldn't be fair to reveal potent sections of his book without permission. If he chooses, he can outline his ideas in the comments section below. However it does address this critical timeline of events.
This above example of the timeline appears extremely convoluted, and the police report "information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate at 10.00 pm he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by," makes much more sense, bearing in mind William Crow's testimony of a light colored Chevrolet chasing him down the road just before 10.00 pm. The three recollections coalesce around 10.00 pm that night. This critical period would suggest that the occupants of the white Chevrolet Impala spot William Crow, chase him along the road, return to the turnout and vacate their vehicle just prior to 10.00 pm. At which point Robert Connelly and Bingo Wesner spot each other and the unoccupied Chevrolet.

Raymond Grant also questions the account of Helen Axe at 10.15 pm and 10.30 pm. Her account is detailed in the police report: "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. There is some conflict in this statement and Miss Axe has consented to bring her boyfriend to the office to clarify the actual position of the car. The first time she stated when she called, that the car was backed in. Nothing this discrepancy the RO contacted her by telephone."
Her account raises questions. For her account to be correct, the white Chevrolet Impala driver would had to have returned to the turnout just prior to 10.00 pm, after chasing William Crow, the occupants would then have to vacate their vehicle so that Robert Connelly and Bingo Wesner saw it unoccupied. They would then had to have returned to their vehicle minutes later, driven away, without passing Helen Axe's vehicle, to be replaced in the turnout by the Faraday Rambler by 10.15 pm.
Raymond Grant, understandably takes the position that Helen Axe likely saw the white Chevrolet Impala, not the Faraday Rambler. It returned to the turnout just shy of 10.00 pm, the occupants vacated the vehicle, and according to Bingo Wesner was 'parked by the south fence of the entrance to the pumping station'. A short time later, circa 10.15 pm, Helen Axe passed the turnout and viewed the Chevrolet Impala in the same position as viewed by Bingo Wesner, also 'facing in towards the gate.' Unless of course we contend that the Faraday Rambler arrived just before 10.15 pm and parked in the identical position as the Chevrolet Impala previously, as viewed by Bingo Wesner.
Fifteen minutes later, at approximately 10.30 pm, Helen Axe had returned up Lake Herman Road, by which time the occupants had returned to the Chevrolet Impala and repositioned it facing the road. It is a plausible line of investigation and is merited by the details of the case. The scenario presented by Raymond Grant would indicate that the white Chevrolet Impala had a much more pivotal role in the proceedings on December 20th 1968 than first imagined, and place this vehicle in the turnout much closer to the murders than ever before. The question is, how long did it remain in the area.
This presentation just scratches the surface of Raymond Grant's Lake Herman Road timeline, and I have attempted to skirt around the issues presented in 'Zodiac Killer Solved', without giving too much away. To read the full story...

ZODIAC KILLER SOLVED ON AMAZON

The white Chevrolet Impala spotted at Lake Herman Road has been considered a prime candidate for involvement in the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968. But what are the chances that this vehicle was the one that pulled into the parking lot on two occasions at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969 and was instrumental in the attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin. Frank Gasser (69) and Robert Connelly (27), along with Bingo Wesner, were in agreement that they spotted a white Chevrolet Impala parked in the turnout circa 10.00 pm at Lake Herman Road. These were older gentlemen who clearly knew the vehicle they had observed, as it was corroborated, whereas Michael Mageau (19) was altogether vague, on not only the assailant's description, but was indecisive on the vehicle he observed that night. He evidently was not an avid car enthusiast. Factor in the traumatic night's events and it is not surprising his recollection of details are sketchy at best.
Michael Mageau stated "Dea turned the lights and motor off and had the radio playing. They were there just a very short time, a few minutes, and three cars pulled into the parking lot where they were. They were apparently young kids and they heard some laughing and carrying on and a few firecrackers were set off, then the three vehicles left within a short time. This was just a short space of time, a few minutes. Shortly after this and about 5 minutes before the shooting occurred, a vehicle pulled into the lot, coming from the direction of Springs Road and Vallejo. The driver turned the lights off on the car and pulled around to the left or east side of their car, approximately 6 or 8 feet away and sat there for a minute. He asked Dea if she knew who it was and she stated 'Oh, never mind'. " He added "He could not see the car too clearly, however the shape of the car looked similar to the car that Dea owns, a Corvair. He could not see the color or anything as it was too dark out there".

The vehicle was only 6-8 feet away but he couldn't make out the "color or anything", but it looked similar to Darlene Ferrin's Corvair. It seems he didn't really know and may have just been trying to please the police by giving them something, rather than nothing.
The next statement he gave puts it into context "The car then drove off at a fairly fast rate of speed. Five minutes later the vehicle pulled up approximately 10 feet behind and to the right side of Dea's car. The vehicle's lights were left on and the subject got out and walked toward the car. He had a large high-powered flashlight, the kind you carry with a handle." The assailant's vehicle was directly behind, facing the Corvair, in an extremely dark parking lot, and Michael Mageau had both the headlights from the other vehicle and a high-powered flashlight in his eyes. There is absolutely no way he could determine with confidence what vehicle was parked behind them. If he couldn't determine the "color or anything" of the vehicle parked 6-8 feet to the left 5 minutes earlier, when his vision was unobstructed, he had no chance here.
After the assailant had shot the couple he drove away. Michael again described the vehicle "He only saw the rear portion of it, this rear part appearing to be a vehicle similar to or the same type as Dea's car, a Corvair. Also a very similar color, possibly a little bit lighter brown." These descriptions are less than convincing. The first page of the police report details the assailant's vehicle as a Corvair or Mustang. In a later newspaper article Michael Mageau described the vehicle as a "1958 or 1959 Falcon. The color was brown or bronze." It is apparent he was simply unsure of what vehicle he observed that night, which under the circumstances is totally understandable. But did Michael Mageau get the color correct. The answer could possibly be yes, but he was incorrect. By that I mean, his eyes saw brown, when in fact the color was closer to white.
The factory specifications of a 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala show the vehicle was manufactured with a set range of colors.
One of which was 'Ermine White'. This color has a distinctive off white appearance.

On the right is a 1963 Corvette in 'Ermine White'.
It can be clearly seen that it has a distinct brown hue, although it is classified as white. In the image below I have created a night setting closer to that experienced by Michael Mageau. The 'Ermine White' vehicle takes on a distinctly more medium brown or bronze color, similar to the Corvair driven by Darlene Ferrin. This could easily account for the discrepancies in identification between Robert Connelly, Bingo Wesner and Michael Mageau. particularly considering the circumstances Michael Mageau faced that night.
Because of Michael Mageau's uncertainty, it is certainly possible the vehicle he encountered that night could have been the same vehicle observed at Lake Herman Road, a 1959 or 1960 white Chevrolet Impala, and go a long way in linking both these crimes together.
But was the vehicle that pulled alongside Darlene Ferin's Corvair only 6-8 feet to the left, the same vehicle that returned 5 minutes later and parked 10 feet behind. The answer is yet to be determined, but the curious behavior of the first sighting in an empty parking lot just prior to the shooting seems to suggest the two may very well be connected.
Raymond Grant- The White Chevrolet Impala.

FOOTNOTE:
In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969, the Zodiac Killer stated;
"The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." This negro male was never traced and did not feature in the police report.
The details of his age range and what he was wearing, on the face of it appear unnecessary, unless of course the Zodiac Killer was deliberately creating a fictional character who just so happened to observe his brown car. Bearing in mind Zodiac had likely read newspaper reports of Michael Mageau detailing a brown car in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs, what better way to corroborate his sighting by further implanting the seed of a brown car into the minds of investigators, by the hand of this fictional eyewitness. If Zodiac's vehicle was 'Ermine White' then clearly this is to his advantage. Voluntarily offering the color of his vehicle as brown, if in fact it was brown, must be viewed with suspicion.

The following is nothing new, but is a further re-examination of the critical period after the Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Herman Road attacks, focusing in on 'two phone calls' made shortly after each crime. It will place particular emphasis on the area around the Springs/Tuolumne payphone, and the possibility the killer's residence on foot, was mere minutes away. We shall also look again at the wording of the Zodiac Killer in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969. Here is what we noted in a previous article:
'In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969, the Zodiac Killer stated;
"The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." This negro male was never traced and did not feature in the police report. The details of his age range and what he was wearing, on the face of it appear unnecessary, unless of course the Zodiac Killer was deliberately creating a fictional character who just so happened to observe his brown car. Bearing in mind Zodiac had likely read newspaper reports of Michael Mageau detailing a brown car in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs, what better way to corroborate his sighting by further implanting the seed of a brown car into the minds of investigators, by the hand of this fictional eyewitness. If Zodiac's vehicle was 'Ermine White' then clearly this is to his advantage. Voluntarily offering the color of his vehicle as brown, if in fact it was brown, must be viewed with suspicion'.

Two other things strike you about this section of correspondence. The Zodiac's willingness to accept he made an error of judgment when he hung up the phone, unless of course he had an ulterior motive for it.
In his communications to police the Zodiac would never refer to his victims by name, calling them boy, girl, teenagers or taxicab driver. He only expanded on their descriptions when attempting to verify he was the killer, or in this case to verify he was spotted in his "brown car", by a "40-45 year old shabbily dressed negro male." Indeed, very helpful descriptions by the murderer, yet somewhat unnecessary. What had the killer to gain by adding this superfluous information, other than to benefit himself. He made specific reference to "that drew his attention to me + my car", when he could simply have said "that drew his attention to me". The killer appeared to be emphasizing that not only was he in his car, but it was also brown, just like Mageau had described. By placing himself at the payphone in his vehicle approximately 40 minutes after the attack, when it was only 10 minutes from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, may have suggested to police that he drove to the payphone and could live almost anywhere. Or was that what he wanted them to believe, by being so utterly unselfish and extremely forthright, in adding in the detailed eyewitness and his brown car parked nearby. When in fact he was on foot, and had placed the phone call after returning home, ditching his weapon, vehicle and clothing (which may have received blood transfer from the shooting).
The downside of a killer resident in downtown Vallejo, American Canyon or Benicia, is that, had he driven home to these locations to ditch his clothing and weapon, he would effectively be driving back towards or nearer to the crime scene to place the phone call. What killer would make a phone call after a murder extremely close to his residence? A killer who was implanting the seed of a brown car, when in fact it was white and not there.
The content of the phone call may also be telling. The directions he gave were correct, apart from the distance. He stated "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye"
This appears incorrect on first reading, whether from the payphone or the police station, but by inserting one break or comma, the directions make perfect sense. "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east..... on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye" Or by changing one word regarding the recollection of Nancy Slover. "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east..... on Columbus Parkway by a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye"
However, is the killer playing down his familiarity with this particular payphone by placing it one mile west of Columbus Parkway, when its true distance is 2 miles.

Let us consider the Zodiac Killer lived in a residence extremely close to the payphone, but how close? If he drove to a residence ten minutes from Blue Rock Springs, would he be prepared to walk 20-30 minutes to the payphone, and place the call, knowing he had the equivalent journey back home. In distance terms, one mile from the payphone. Or would he more likely venture 5 or 10 minutes. Could the 'crank call' made after the Lake Herman Road double murder help us, and did the Zodiac Killer place this phone call on foot, from the exact same payphone. This much shallower timeline may place his residence yards from Springs and Tuolumne.
The timeline of Lake Herman Road is debatable, but it is fairly certain that James Owen passed the turnout at 11.08-11.10 pm and heard a shot 30 seconds later. This being the case puts the killer in the turnout at around 11.10 pm.
Stella Medeiros spotting the bodies in the turnout, raced off to Benicia and flagged down Officer Daniel Pitta. This has been argued between 11.19-11.25 pm (Officer Daniel Pitta's police report states 11.25 pm). The dispatch to Benicia Police Department was shortly after. It is widely believed to be around 11.28-11.30 pm.
"Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene."
But why, in the plural, had "police at first suspected it was a crank call." What gave them this idea, after all this incident was radioed in by an experienced officer. Was the supposition of a crank call, which police "first suspected," allayed when the radio message arrived moments later from Officer Daniel Pitta. Had this been called in by Zodiac? Had this been called in from the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne, just as it was to be some six and a half months later? If police first suspected this was a crank call, then it was likely called in before Officer Daniel Pitta radioed in, whose confirmation would effectively quash the idea it was a hoax, as police first suspected.
The journey time from the Gate #10 turnout to Springs and Tuolumne is 12 minutes. Had the Zodiac Killer left the turnout at approximately 11.10 pm or shortly thereafter, let us say 11.11-11.12 pm, then the killer was able to place the phone call 12 minutes later at 11.23-11.24 pm, before Daniel Pitta radioed in, leading to the initial confusion experienced by police officers and the assumption it was a crank call. The Zodiac Killer may even have had a extra 3-5 minute window to travel home, ditch his vehicle and weapon, and walk to the payphone. Whatever the case, the author of the 'Debut Letter' was seemingly eager to sell us a narrative.

3841 18th Street, San Francisco

Desert Sun Newspaper -November 10th 1969: Arsenic Is Found In Soft Drink MARTINEZ (UPI)-- 'A young schoolteacher who received threatening telephone calls for 10 days thought the caller was a crank who was pretending to be the Zodiac killer. But police took the threats seriously after 24-year-old Daniel Williams found a lethal dose of arsenic in a bottle of soft drink in his refrigerator. Williams, a teacher at Salesian High School in Richmond, told police the caller talked of how he intended to kill several persons, then last; Sunday said: “You’re the dead duck.” Williams went out and when he returned home found someone had pried open the screen on a back door. However, a police search showed nothing was missing. But after the officers left and Williams took a drink from a bottle of opened soft drink in his refrigerator, he found it tasted “metallic” and immediately spit it out. Police reported Friday that the bottle contained more than enough arsenic to kill a human being. Williams said the caller identified himself as the still sought Zodiac killer of five, but police discounted the idea. The caller would “sob and complain of headaches.” Williams said, and on one occasion said he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but left when he found police there. Williams said the caller told him: “I’m too smart for them.” link
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the same subject on November 8th 1969, stating "The string of sadistic calls began on October 23rd. On one occasion, the caller told Williams he had gone to a Martinez school in search of victims but had left when he found police there. Another time, the teacher said the caller, whose voice he described as muffled as if speaking through a handkerchief, said he was going to "kill the lady in the blue house."
The arsenic laden drink was discovered on November 2nd 1969. This may not have been the Zodiac Killer, however this threat was seemingly backed up.
The article ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 8th 1969, so if this was the Zodiac, he may have been unaware at the point he mailed the 'Dripping Pen' card on November 8th, on whether his deadly attack had been successful. He mailed the "poison pen" letter on the same day and declared "I thought you would need a good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't get the news for a while yet." Clearly, had Daniel Williams died from the poisoning, he may not have been discovered immediately. The style of attack would also conform to Zodiac's new declaration on November 9th, in that "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 threatening phone calls and attempted murder of this high school teacher would precede the second cipher offering from the Zodiac. An offering accompanied by what could be interpreted as a "poison pen" letter. The Zodiac Killer's first cipher was cracked in a matter of days by Donald Gene and Bettye June Harden. Don Harden began teaching at North Salinas High School in 1960.

Donald Gene Harden

There is slim chance this was Zodiac, but it doesn't hurt to explore every angle.
Martinez and Richmond, California, where Daniel Williams lived and worked are direct routes from Vallejo and Benicia through to San Francisco. The threatening caller stated he was going to "kill the lady in the blue house." So if the caller was Zodiac, however small the likelihood, what is the reasoning behind this threat, and was he familiar with the woman or the area in question.
The famous "blue house" is situated in the Castro District at 3841 18th Street, San Francisco, near Haight-Ashbury and the Golden Gate Park. It is 3.4 miles southeast of the October 11th 1969 murder of Paul Stine, a month earlier.
It was memorialized in music by French singer Maxime Le Forestier in 1971, inspired by his time living in the blue house with a hippie commune called "Hunga Dunga."
'Maxime Le Forestier spoke of the house where everyone was welcome, where Tom, Phil and Psylvia lived. The house was in fact home to the Hunga Dunga commune, and several of the people mentioned in the song still live in the Bay Area'. Mission Local.
Could Daniel Williams have been Zodiac's intended eighth victim, and was the 'Bus Bomb' letter on November 9th 1969, stating "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people" so precisely, indicative that an eighth victim was yet to be discovered, somewhere between October 31st 1969 and the date of this letter.
The fact that Zodiac made a point of highlighting the "end of Oct" in the Bus Bomb letter, rather than just stating "to date I have killed 7 people" is extremely suggestive that we hadn't "heard the bad news yet".

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/skeleton-in-the-closet

This is a continuation to the article 'Two Assailants at Presidio Heights', examining the statement given by the Robbins teenagers in the aftermath of the Paul Stine murder. The initial police report found on most websites is noticeably brief compared to the other three crimes, and certainly doesn't encompass the whole story that night. The Robbins teenagers themselves have certainly not been publicity hungry during the last 48 years, so couldn't be accused of witness embellishment. Furthermore, their story has been totally corroborated by Officer Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, along with the blooded fingerprints noted from two areas of the taxicab. Here is a reminder of their story:
"As both Robbins kids were the oldest, their statements were the given the most weight. Also they were the least traumatized by the event. One of the kids (not sure which) noticed a cab parked outside (in that now famous spot) with the interior lights on. So when Lindsey told me that the light inside the car was like a spotlight, it was so bright.
The first kid at the window said the driver looked "sick, or something". Lindsey and Rebecca went to the window and saw the driver laying across the front seat, head toward the passenger door. His head was in the lap of another man (passenger). Rebecca saw blood and said out loud, "he's stabbing that man." She was seeing blood on the victim and saw the glint of a knife, so she assumed a stabbing was taking place. (No shots were heard by anyone). We know now that Zodiac was cutting off a large piece of Stine's shirt with the knife.
At this time, Lindsey went downstairs to get a better look at what was happening, while one of the kids upstairs called the police. Downstairs, the lights were off, so Lindsey knew he could not be seen from the outside. He got close to the window and watched his actions. He was shortly joined by Rebecca. They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north.
Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry."

The blooded fingerprints shown on the right are indicative of a suspect bracing his right hand on the dividing panel to pull Paul Stine upright with his left hand, in line with the version given by the Robbins teenagers. Lindsey's venture into the street, latterly joined by the others, is also backed up by the first responding officer, Armond Pelissetti. There is every reason to believe that this is the expanded version of a very brief and inadequate police report, consisting of less than two full pages. But more importantly it helps us with the timeline.
A timeline that strongly suggests the person seen by the three teenagers is not the killer of Paul Stine, just an accomplice to the crime. This could possibly explain the disparity of hair color and age range given by the older teenagers and Officer Donald Fouke, which has a median age difference of almost 13 years and a maximum difference of 20 years.
Lindsey went downstairs as the phone call was being placed. What they saw subsequent to this is: "they both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north." The amount of time this took is subjective, but a minimum of 30 seconds is a fair estimate. Then the suspect walked casually north on Cherry Street.
Armond Pelissetti arrived when the suspect was approaching the corner of Jackson and Cherry, approximately 50 seconds walking time. This indicates that Armond Pelissetti was very close when he received the radio dispatch, likely one and a half minutes after the teenagers called the police. The first job of the police dispatcher however, is to take the description and reported offence, before then relaying this information to responding units. This would indicate Pelissetti received the message and arrived in one minute or less. All the indications are, that the suspect began his journey up Cherry Street the moment that Armond Pelisstti received the initial dispatch. When he arrived, the suspect was approaching the intersection of Jackson and Cherry, approximately 50 seconds later. The major problem, is that Donald Fouke also responded to the initial radio broadcast at the identical time as Pelissetti. This means that Donald Fouke began his journey from the intersection of Washington and Presidio Avenue at the time the suspect began his journey from the crime scene, just like Pelissetti did. The journey time for Donald Fouke traveling at a moderate speed of 30 mph, places him at the intersection of Jackson and Maple one minute later, where he spots the 'Zodiac'. For this to be the suspect observed by the three teenagers, the suspect would have to travel this 3 minute journey at walking pace in approximately one minute. Something he ultimately failed to achieve, because he was pointed out to Armond Pelissetti at the top of Cherry by Lindsey.
If we take the story of the three teenagers as reliable, which by all accounts it is, then the man observed removing the shirt piece of Paul Stine cannot be the man who pulled the trigger that night. He had exited the scene just prior to the teenagers looking out of the window. This would be the suspect observed by Donald Fouke. This is another explanation for the lack of blood on the clothes of the man walking on Jackson Street, he was never present in the front of the taxicab.
Donald Fouke described the sketch given by the three teenagers as 'similar', only that he was 'older and heavier'. Is it likely these two assailants were related, father and son, or brothers. Or did Donald Fouke exhibit confirmation bias, molding his story to fit that of the three teenagers. It would have been far more helpful had two independent sketches been sought. Had the sketches then matched, the validity of the eyewitnesses recollection would have been greatly enhanced.

What is extremely difficult to reconcile is the wildly different versions given by Donald Fouke. The first was from his memorandum only one month after the murder on November 12th 1969 where he stated "The Zodiac Killer was observed walking in an easterly direction on Jackson Street and then turning north on Maple Street."
However, his description in the 2007 Zodiac documentary was taken after observing a man heading into a residence: "We turned west on Jackson Street, as we approached Maple Street I noticed on the north side of the street a white male adult. We slowed down as we passed him, I don't know, we we're still rolling, saw that it was a white male, step on the gas, 5, 10, 15 seconds tops from first spotting him to passing him. He sort of looked down, perhaps this lumbering gait, stumbling along, like a semi-limp might have come up in my mind, because he was putting his head down when he spotted the police car, and turned into the entrance way of a house, and by entrance way I mean stairs that are leading up that are concrete to a path, that leads to a front door. Never saw him get to the top of the stairs. You want the address of that residence, 3712 Jackson Street."
'Never saw him get to the top of the stairs' suggests this is when the subject went out of view. This does not tally with a man last seen heading north on Maple in the November 12th memorandum. He also stated this in the 2007 documentary: "we conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect." But in the above recollection the last place he saw the subject heading was up the stairs of 3712 Jackson Street. Bearing in mind these two wholly irreconcilable statements, what is the possibility both accounts have a shred of truth, muddled by time, and Donald Fouke actually saw two men on Jackson Street that night. The first heading north on Maple, the second feigning a move into 3712 Jackson Street.
The timeline would have the first assailant heading towards Maple as Donald Fouke is approaching the intersection. The second assailant is turning the corner of Jackson and Cherry. Donald Fouke slows down and beckons the man over, who states he saw somebody waving a gun heading towards Arguello Boulevard. The second assailant meanwhile is heading towards his accomplice, thinking he may have to intervene. But fortunately Donald Fouke, under the impression he is searching for a negro male adult buys the story and continues on Jackson Street, when he spots the second subject. The second assailant then feigns to turn into 3712 Jackson Street instinctively to give the impression to the patrol car he is a resident of that house. Donald Fouke, satisfied by the first assailant's story slows down to observe this man, but ultimately decides to head towards Arguello Boulevard. This may explain the conflicted versions given by Donald Fouke that night, and his difficulty when it comes to a coherent account of the events that night.
The timeline is suggestive of two assailants, along with two subjects spotted in two different locations by Donald Fouke. This may explain why the man observed in and around the taxicab that night by the three teenagers was apparently so calm. He possibly had no gun, or not the gun that fired the fatal shot and was simply aiding a stricken taxicab driver. This may have been his alibi had he required one.
The Zodiac stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt." He didn't say we, so maybe we shall have to take his word on it.

TWO ASSAILANTS AT PRESIDIO HEIGHTS [PT1]

Eighteen years before the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California, on February 8th 1948, another senseless murder was perpetrated on a young woman in Riverside County. Marjorie Lee Winn (17), a Redlands High School student, was traveling with her companion Jim Sloan Jr in his Mercury Coupe along Highway 99, just past Beaumont, at around 2.30 am, when they pulled over for a brief moment. Suddenly a man yanked open the passenger door of his Mercury Coupe and pointed a shotgun at Marjorie. Jim Sloan stepped on the gas to pull away and the gun discharged, leaving the young student with what would prove fatal injuries.
On the evening of the 7th, Albert Strickland had been drinking at a bar located on 14th Street and Howard Avenue in Riverside, when his vehicle, carelessly parked outside with a loaded shotgun lying on the seat, was stolen. The bar was situated only four minutes drive, or one mile from the Terracina Drive alleyway where Cheri Jo Bates would ultimately be murdered in 1966.
Sometime after 1.00 am Adolph Eilts and his wife were disturbed in their Beaumont home by an intruder carrying a flashlight. Confronted by the home owner the man fled, but when the homeowner went outside he discovered the abandoned Packard of Albert Strickland minus the shotgun. Just over an hour later Marjorie would be dead. After the murder of Margie Lee Winn, a massive manhunt ensued, becoming headline news, yet the killer was never identified. An unsigned 'confession' letter was received by Redlands Police Chief A.O. Peterson stating "I killed M. Winn because I loved her. I am traveling north by Greyhound bus. I bought my ticket from a bus driver by the name of Mr. Lee in Los Angeles." An anonymous caller to Riverside Police Department led to the discovery of a pair of size seven shoes in a vacant lot, that matched the impressions taken from the location of the murder and therefore were determined by police to be those of the killer.
Prime suspect Richard Olsen (25) admitted to being the author of the anonymous letter, however, he denied the murder, and despite wearing size seven shoes was eventually ruled out by police in the murder of Margie Lee Winn.
The murder in Beaumont was perpetrated approximately 26 miles east of the Riverside City College library and has some overlapping characteristics to the Zodiac Killer and Cheri Jo Bates, but this is extremely unlikely to be connected to either, having the hallmarks of robbery, rather than premeditated murder. To read more in depth on this murder please visit
http://tonimomberger.weebly.com/the-unsolved-killing-of-margie-lee-winn.html

The Zodiac Killer wrote in his 'Bus Bomb' letter "If you wonder why I was wipeing the cab down I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as one might say." This has been mulled over incessantly to discover the true meaning to which the Zodiac was referring, with many believing the Zodiac killer was likely leaving fake fingerprints. But unless the identity of the fingerprints was discovered by comparison, the police wouldn't be running anywhere.
Three years earlier in a Riverside alleyway, Cheri Jo Bates' lifeless body was discovered by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin. She had been brutally stabbed and slashed with a short-bladed knife on October 30th 1966. Sitting just 10 feet away was a Timex watch, believed to have been ripped from the assailant's wrist during the struggle. Or possibly that is what the killer wanted us to believe. It was determined that the wristband was set for a man with a 7 inch wrist. Was this a 'fake clew' designed to throw investigators off the scent of the killer.

Click image for first part of article

The Zodiac Killer appeared well read, certainly keeping abreast of the newspaper coverage of his crimes. The extract on the left was published in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday November 1st 1966, only two days after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. It states 'Police have arrested no suspects, but they said they were examining several clews. A man's wristwatch was found about 10 feet from the body.' Did the Zodiac drag these clews into his November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter, this time replacing the 7 inch leather watch with a pair of size 7 black leather gloves as his 'fake clews'.
Although Robert Graysmith claimed in his first book these gloves may have been left in the taxicab by a prior female passenger, he effectively contradicted this account in 'Zodiac Unmasked,' using them, in effect, to implicate Arthur Leigh Allen.
Shortly after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, three teenagers noticed a man in the front seat of the taxicab, stating "The suspect appeared to be searching the victim's pockets. The suspect then appeared to be wiping (fingerprints) on the interior of the cab, leaning over the victim to the driver's compartment." The three teenagers later recalled "They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard." But was the Zodiac only wiping down the driver side compartment and dashboard. Could he have been removing gloves from his own pocket to deposit them underneath the dashboard. Robert Graysmith stated in Zodiac "Just under the dash, Toschi found a pair of dull black leather gloves." Were these Zodiac's "fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as one might say," despite the fact he could have said "fake clews for the police to dash all over town with," but he didn't.

The investigators certainly considered these gloves as belonging to the killer, and were taken into evidence (see right). It is equally certain they would have attempted to trace the origin and manufacturer of the gloves, as they did with the Wing Walker's that created the boot impressions noted at the Lake Berryessa crime scene. This would have given the police "some bussy work to do to keep them happy," and would most certainly have had them "running all over town."
In an interview with Bryan Hartnell shortly after the Lake Berryessa stabbing, he was asked if the assailant wore gloves. He replied "I don't remember if he had gloves on or not. I can't remember now. I keep thinking he had gloves on."
Did the Zodiac Killer purchase gloves with the express intention of dropping them in the taxicab, to give police the runaround. Or was he steering us towards his previous exploits at Lake Berryessa..
One doesn't know if the San Francisco Police Department traced the origin of the gloves, or indeed whether the gloves were labeled, but one of the premier glove manufacturers in the USA and California was the Napa Glove Company in Napa Valley, whose beginnings stretch back as far as 1888. The Napa Glove Company is situated one mile west of the 1231 Main Steet payphone, where Zodiac placed his second phone call to police. Napa leather was first 'coined' by Emanuel Manasse in 1875 while working for the Sawyer Tanning Company in Napa, California, and can be found in Merriam-Webster's dictionary. See Wikipedia.
This however would have been one hell of a 'fake clew'.

The unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 has now passed the half-century mark, and little in the way of new evidence seems forthcoming, despite a breakthrough in DNA evidence in 1999. However the clues in this case may lie extremely close to home. Her brother Michael Bates, one year her senior, was convinced that Cheri Jo Bates was murdered by somebody she knew, and the evidence appears to point that way, bearing in mind the specific targeting of her Volkswagen Beetle and the apparent knowledge of her whereabouts that evening. Michael stated to Inland Empire Magazine "I’ve always felt that Cheri was killed by someone she knew. She would not have walked into a dark alley with a stranger." Cheri Jo Bates was afraid of the dark. Bearing these factors in mind, it could have been somebody connected to Riverside College, her inner circle, or somebody who she knew loosely through her family members.
Cheri Jo Bates was described as outgoing, friendly and always prepared to help people in their time of need. Cherie Curzon recalled such an occasion "For me, the best part of our story was, I was an underclass person who she wanted to help out. The people who were going to do the talent contest with me backed out and she volunteered to be my partner.
I will never forget her kindness… We had so much fun rehearsing and then performing, I loved her generosity and kindness toward me…She did it because of who she was; just a wonderful person.” Source. This is an admirable quality, but was this kindness misconstrued by someone, who ultimately fixated on Cheri Jo Bates. An interest that developed into a deadly obsession, stoked by rejection. This would certainly be nothing new.

Terracina Drive alleyway, the site of the murder, cordoned off by police

Whether or not this crime was committed by the Zodiac Killer has literally raged for as long as the crime itself. The Zodiac Killer would effectively lay claim to the Cheri Jo Bates murder on March 13th 1971 in a letter mailed to the Los Angeles Times. His reference to "they don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others," appears to suggest he followed the headlines down south, and a likely affiliation with the area and to the newspaper.
The Department of Justice report described the heel prints at the Cheri Jo Bates crime scene as "those worn by Air Force personnel" and "was identified as a B.F. Goodrich waffle design, men's four-eighths inch washer type half heel. The B.F Goodrich Products Division of Akron, Ohio, reported that this type heel is only sold to the Federal prison industries at Leavenworth, Kansas. It was subsequently learned that Federal prison industries made low quarter military type shoes and supplied them to all the armed services using black dress shoes. The measurement of the heel indicated that it would have been attached to an eight to ten size shoe. Shoes bearing the same type heel were issued and sold at the PX at March Air Force Base in Riverside." In fact the Riverside Police Department would sum this up by stating "Physical evidence found at our crime scene indicated that heel prints found by the body were made by a heel that was manufactured for military and other government agencies, including prisons."
It was speculated that bearing in mind Joseph Bates' profession, and the fact he was addressed personally by the killer, that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates may have been a friend or work colleague in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory of Joseph Bates, who was either familiar with Cheri Jo Bates or had crossed paths with her. The military boot print gives us a link, along with the fact the killer may have been on the fringes of Miss Bates' circle, in that he knew her, but they weren't necessarily friends. If the author of the 'Confession' letter was telling any semblance of truth, then the wording "I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me," suggested that she only talked to him after the offer of help, likely implying someone less than a very close friend. The area of Corona where Joseph Bates worked was in close proximity to many naval facilities, as well as the California Rehabilitation Center Prison, both situated only 15 minutes from the location of the murder.
This crafted the idea that the inspiration for the Zodiac crosshairs was based on his first murder in Riverside County, and Corona (the Circled City) itself. This is an aerial shot of Corona today, but was once perfectly symmetrical.

Michael Bates was in the Navy at the time Cheri Jo Bates was murdered, but did he have friends in the military, or aspired to be in the military that may have crossed paths with his sister in the preceding months to her murder. Somebody that may have left the B.F. Goodrich heel print in the Riverside alleyway. "It was subsequently learned that Federal prison industries made low quarter military type shoes and supplied them to all the armed services using black dress shoes."
Michael, by his own admission spent limited time with his sister before he joined the Navy. He did however work at Sears Department Store while attending the Riverside City College. In 1938 Sears would relocate to Seventh and Main Street, Riverside, where the building can be found today. Sears is short for Sears, Roebuck & Company.
Did Michael Bates have a work colleague from Sears, who may have sourced his material from the department store, and somehow became interconnected with the movements of Cheri Jo Bates. The Sears, Roebuck & Company has a distinct connection to the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1968.
In the Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, conducted by David Burd, the firearm identified as the likely murder weapon at Lake Herman Road was a J C Higgins 80 pistol. The Sears, Roebuck & Company specialized in sporting goods and recreational equipment between 1908 and 1962, with the Sears JC Higgins eventually replaced with the Ted Williams brand. The Sears, Roebuck & Company manufactured their own paper targets throughout the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, the very targets a young Zodiac may have used. The above target suggested "For best results with .22 Long Rifle."
Whether or not the Cheri Jo Bates murder on October 30th 1966 or the Lake Herman Road murders of December 20th 1968 were the Zodiac Killer's first, the crosshairs loomed large over both.

Here we will tackle the Lake Herman Road timeline for the umpteenth occasion, but examine it in relation to the movements of Officer Pierre Bidou. This is not the first article looking at the timeline of Pierre Bidou, but the previous have predominantly used the statements given by him in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, in which he said "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."

However, just like Donald Fouke at Presidio Heights, it depends on which version of Pierre Bidou's account you believe when constructing your timeline. Pierre Bidou passing the turnout prior to 11.00 pm, has him arriving at Benicia Police Department (10 minute journey) far too early to simply "pull into the lot in the police department, and hear the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road." It hadn't been reported until 11.25 pm, when Stella Medeiros flagged down Captain Daniel Pitta.
It has been suggested that Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta likely stopped en route back to Benicia PD to grab something to eat, something police officers have been known to do. But this seems unlikely, the reasons for which will be explained shortly.
The following explores the idea that Pierre Bidou did actually pass the turnout likely minutes before the murders, as he alluded to in the 2007 documentary: "We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened." In fact he may have been the final person to pass the turnout before the murders and not James Owen.
Multiple versions of the Lake Herman Road timeline can be created. There are so many conflicting versions of the same story, it becomes a matter of where you source your material and/or law enforcement quotes. This is not a character assassination of Pierre Bidou, who was a long standing and by all accounts a very good police officer, but with the passage of time memories become tainted, and recollections become blurred. Pierre Bidou on no less than four occasions described finding David Faraday in the front passenger seat of the Rambler, yet in the 2007 documentary stated David Faraday was found lying outside the Rambler on the turnout floor. These are discrepancies compounded by ones recollection of a distant event, and totally understandable. It is from this confliction we shall create a new timeline for Pierre Bidou.

In an interview with the Benicia Herald Pierre Bidou is consistent in his claim about arriving at Benicia Police Department, when they are informed of an incident on Lake Herman Road "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Bidou and his partner had been in the vicinity a short time before, but they hadn’t seen any traffic, let alone Faraday’s car parked in the turnout." Source.
In another Benicia Herald article the version differed. Although not a direct quote from Bidou, it could be argued that the interviewer simply didn't pluck this account out of thin air. It stated "The timing was remarkable. The officers had just participated in a narcotics raid at a building at the Lake Herman parking area and had driven back to town with suspects in the back of their cruiser. Perhaps, they thought, they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure." Source.
Here lies the problem. If more than one version can be given for the position David Faraday was discovered in the turnout, it is not unreasonable to consider their differing accounts on whether any vehicles were present in the turnout- "They couldn’t be completely sure." The two officers had just secured a big drugs bust of the day and apparently had suspects in the back of their cruiser. Not likely then, that they would stop off for a bite to eat on the way back to Benicia PD. Combine this with the fact that Pierre Bidou throughout the years has never mentioned any detour on the way back to the police department, yet has consistently reaffirmed that he had just arrived at the parking lot of the police department when he was dispatched back to Lake Herman Road, believing he had passed the turnout literally "minutes from the crime scene."

Stella Medeiros raced for help after discovering the bodies in the turnout and located Captain Daniel Pitta, according to his police report account, at 11.25 pm. He then radioed Benicia Police Department somewhere between 11.25-11.30 pm approximately. Pierre Bidou's journey time from the turnout to Benicia PD is a maximum of 10 minutes. When he pulled into the parking lot the call came in:
"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." This had to be around 11.25-11.30 pm, radioed in by Captain Daniel Pitta. Therefore deducting this 10 minute journey by Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, has the officers passing the Lake Herman Road turnout at 11.15-11.20 pm, where "they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure."
If you believe that James Owen passed the turnout at 11.14 pm, then Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta passed the turnout after James Owen, and they were the last witnesses before the murder. This however would negate the idea that the shot James Owen thought he heard 30 seconds after passing the turnout, was the shot that began the murders of the young couple. If James Owen was mistaken about the gunshot, then Pierre Bidou could easily have passed after the Humble Oil worker, and before the arrival of Stella Medeiros, widely recognized as 11.20 pm.
This timeline has Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11.15-11.20 pm, and fits nicely with reaching Benicia PD around 11.25-11.30 pm. They likely dropped off the suspects and drugs before returning to the Lake Herman Road turnout, This, bearing in mind they are traveling at increased speed on the return journey, places them back at the turnout shortly after 11.30 pm, just after Captain Daniel Pitta, whose police report has him at the turnout at 11.28 pm. This seems consistent, as both officers recall David Faraday still breathing at the scene.
It is very difficult to be specific fifty years after the crime, however if Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta had passed off the suspects to fellow officers and secured the drugs seizure, then received the dispatch of an incident on Lake Herman Road, it can easily be seen how five minutes could be added to the timeline. In this case the two officers would have passed the turnout sometime between 11.10-11.15 pm, the earlier of which (11.10-11.13 pm) would allow James Owen to pass the turnout after the officers, at 11.14 pm, and still hear the shot, yet the gunfire would be inaudible to Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, who were further away towards Benicia. If James Owen passed the turnout circa 11.08-11.09 pm, then the earlier time of Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11.10-11.15 pm, or the later time of 11.15-11.20 pm, would in both instances have the officers passing after James Owen and likely negating the premise a gunshot had been heard.
If we believe the two officers took no detours that night, then they did literally pass the turnout minutes before the murders.

This is a follow up article exploring the idea a phone call was placed approximately 10-12 minutes after the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, using the concept of a 'laughing killer' and the disputed 1986 'Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. Many magazine and newspaper articles are littered with basic errors regarding the Zodiac case, however some recurring themes not widely recognized as fact are present in many.
The Tuscaloosa News ran an article on October 17th 1969, just 20 days after the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. It stated 'Then the man said "I'm going to have to stab you people." Hartnell said "Please stab me first, I'm chicken. I couldn't stand to see her stabbed." The man told him "I'll do just that." He stabbed Hartnell until he passed out. The poor girl, she just had to watch. Then he knifed her until she fainted. When he stabbed Hartnell it was deliberate. When he stabbed the girl he laughed in a frenzy. Hartnell had been stabbed 10 times with a thin 12-inch blade. Miss Shepard, whose writhing provoked her attacker to laughter, had been stabbed 24 times.'
One can see the embellishment in the fact the newspaper reported 34 stab wounds as opposed to 22, so did the killer really laugh in a frenzy during his attack on Cecelia Shepard.
The second article involves the Argosy Magazine dated September 1970 and the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, two weeks after the Berryessa attack. The following is extremely unlikely, but was a section of the October 13th 1969 letter omitted from public consumption in similar fashion to the phrase 'by knife' written on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia, to provoke a reaction from the killer. It is highly doubtful, and likely sensationalized reporting, however this magazine article actually adds a phrase attributed to the killer, written in the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. The article read 'Four days after the murder of Paul Stine yet another scrawled letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. With it was a bloodstained piece of cloth, later established by laboratory technicians as a small part of the missing swatch ripped from Stine's shirt. The rambling letter, signed with the crossed-circle symbol, began, as had the others, with "This is the Zodiac Speaking." The writer went on to say that he was the killer of the cabbie-student, adding "and to prove it, here is a piece of his shirt." The letter also disclosed that the fugitive, from some nearby hiding place, had watched with uncontrollable amusement while police searched the area. He said "they could have caught me if they had done it right, instead of dashing around waiting for me to come out of cover. I like to died laughing."

Click for whole letter

The Argosy Magazine article continued with reflections of the Lake Berryessa stabbing 'The mention of laughter at a murder scene struck a responsive chord in the minds of the manhunters. During his recovery, young Hartnell had told Napa sleuths that "the man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake.' This would be repeated in the Coronet Magazine in October 1973 where it described the following 'He held an automatic pistol on them, tied them securely with plastic-coated clothesline, and then stabbed them repeatedly, laughing hysterically as they thrashed and rolled in pain.'

Officer Pierre Bidou remembered a 'crank call' after the Lake Herman Road murders. He described this to the Benicia Herald newspaper ""Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene."
Officer Pierre Bidou also recalled this 'car accident' to Zodiac investigator Michael Butterfield. “…we got the call from the dispatcher that an accident, or something, had occurred on Lake Herman Road, so we turned around and came by.” Source.
This is from a previous article 'When Stella Medeiros observed the crime scene at 11.20 pm, she raced off to seek help in Benicia, eventually locating Captain Daniel Pitta at the Enco Gas Station on East 2nd Street. This is 3.4 miles from the turnout, an estimated journey time of 5 minutes on Google Maps. She is obviously driving faster than normal and flags down Captain Daniel Pitta probably slightly shy of 11.25 pm, allowing her to give her account and for Captain Daniel Pitta to head to the crime scene by 11.28 pm. In the course of this, the information would have been relayed to Benicia Police Department.
So where did the supposition of a crank call or a car accident originate from. The description given by Stella Medeiros may have been interpreted as a car crash originally and relayed this way, but why would a radio message from a respected officer of the law be interpreted as a crank call. He was a captain reporting an incident on official police channels. Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday are lying prostrate in the turnout, whether a crash or not, why would Pierre Bidou be under any illusion of a crank call, unless a payphone call had come in slightly earlier than the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta. The Zodiac Killer made phone calls after both his subsequent attacks, so why not this one. The only difference being, he called it in as a car accident, unwilling to show his hand as the murderer.

Officer Pierre Bidou

Had James Owen passed the turnout around 11.08-11.09 pm, and the Zodiac Killer had exited the turnout somewhere between 11.12-11.14 pm and headed to Vallejo via Springs Road, his journey time to the payphone at the intersection of Springs and Tuolumne would be approximately 10-12 minutes, placing the 'crank call' at 11.22-11.24 pm, just prior to Stella Borges' meeting with Captain Daniel Pitta at 11.25 pm. The 'crank call' and the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta would have been received in close proximity, leading to the confusion. The crank call being received slightly before the official police radio message.
This is where the 'laughing killer' and the phone call intersect in the aftermath of the Lake Herman Road murders. The Argosy Magazine wasn't finished yet. It continued on further '"The man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake. He had also laughed in his phone call to Vallejo Police in December 1968.' Does this validate the claim by Pierre Bidou. If the Zodiac Killer had laughed down the phone, could this be why the dispatcher had interpreted it as a crank call. Additionally, the article stated the phone call was made to Vallejo Police, exactly as the phone call would be 6 1/2 months later, after the Blue Rock Springs Park attack on July 4th 1969.
If a phone call was received after the Lake Herman Road double shooting, then the time of this call, likely just before 11.25 pm, ties in perfectly with a 10-12 minute journey from the turnout to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone.
This wasn't the only time that the Zodiac Killer may have directed police to the scene of an accident.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/sacramento-cold-case-contact

The following is a work in progress to amalgamate virtually every single newspaper article about Lake Herman Road into more readable form under one post. This page will be updated regularly until complete. Below is the first newspaper article exactly as it was printed. Once this project is complete, the other three confirmed Zodiac crimes featured in the newspapers will all be given their separate section and linked via the homepage. This may take a while, as you can imagine.

VALLEJO TEENAGERS ARE SHOT TO DEATH NEAR LAKE HERMAN

Sgt Leslie Lunblad

Two young Vallejoans, a boy 17 and a girl 16 years of age were found shot to death late last night on a lonely stretch of Lake Herman Road about half a mile beyond the lake itself and near the entrance to the Benicia water supply pumping station. They were identified by Solano County Coroner Dan Horan as David Faraday of 1930 Sereno Drive and as Bettilou Jensen of 123 Ridgewood Ct. Both had been shot in the head with a .22 caliber weapon. Miss Jensen apparently died immediately after the shooting David was pronounced dead on arrival in a A-1 ambulance at 12.05 am.
The gruesome double murder was discovered at about 11.24 pm when Mrs Stella Borges driving from her ranch home to pick up her youngsters at a Benicia theater, saw the two prostrate forms in the headlights of her automobile. She sped on toward town but before reaching her destination flagged down a Benicia police patrol car occupied by Captain Dan Pitta and another Benicia officer. They hurried to the scene, called an ambulance and notified the sheriff's office of the tragedy. Sheriff's investigator Leslie B Lunblad, who was heading up the investigation, was still in the Lake Herman Road area early today and could not be reached for details. But Horan said the killer apparently first fired at the two while they were in Faraday's car. One bullet hole was found in the back window of the vehicle and four empty shell casings were found on the ground nearby.
Deputy Sheriff Russell T Butterbach and his partner, Deputy Wayne Waterman came into Vallejo around midnight in the vain hope of getting a statement from David. Butterbach told the Times-Herald that the girl's body was found about 10 feet behind the car while the boy was lying outside the right side of the vehicle. "I just couldn't say how or what happened" Butterbach said "We haven't got that far in the investigation." Asked if there was any evidence of another car being in the vicinity, Horan replied in the negative. He said the ground in the area was practically frozen and that there was no possibility of tire tracks.
At Sheriff's headquarters in Vallejo Sgt Terry Cunningham said he was unable to provide any additional details. He indicated that there were no immediate suspects in the shootings and that this probably would remain true until further progress was made by investigators at the scene. Captain Pitta, who was continuing other police duties in Benicia could not be reached by telephone early today.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/

INVESTIGATORS LACKING CLUES IN TWO SLAYINGS by Francis G Flaherty

Sheriff's investigators were able to turn up only a few clues Saturday that might lead them to the killer of David Faraday,17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, whose bodies were found late Friday night near the Faraday station wagon on Lake Herman Rd, five miles northwest of here. The Faraday youth was shot once, behind the left ear, while the Jensen girl, who apparently attempted to flee from her killer, was shot five times in the right upper back. The gruesome double slaying was discovered at 11.24 pm by Mrs Manuel Borges, who resides on a ranch near the stretch of road where the shootings took place.
Sherriff's Sgt Leslie L Lunblad said Saturday night that nearly 24 hours of constant investigation had produced no real tangible leads as to the identity of the killer."We gathered all the physical evidence that was available at the scene, cartridge cases and other items." Lunblad said "and these will be tested in the laboratory."
Lunblad and Deputy Russell Butterbach spent much of the day in Vallejo interviewing the family and friends of the slain pair, to determine if these parents could shed any light on the grisly killings. "We pretty well know what time they may have reached the spot where they were killed," Lunblad said "but this has not yet been completely been pinned down." It was the first and last date Betty Lou had with David. They were to have gone to the Hogan High School Christmas music program which lasted until around 10 pm. Investigators were not overlooking the possibility the slayer could have been a rejected suitor of the Jensen girl.
"We're looking into that" Lunblad said "but at this stage we're not overlooking any possibilities whatever, slim though them might seem on the surface." He said the killings could have been done without a motive, perhaps by a demented person.

Lunblad said the bullets were small caliber, that it appeared the Faraday youth stopped his car when a slug was fired through a rear side window of the family station wagon he was driving. Once the vehicle stopped, the two young people were helpless at the hands of the slayer. Lunblad said he conducted a dozen interviews with intimates of the slain pair Saturday, and took statements from all of them. He said few could throw any light whatsoever on the case.
The Faraday youth, who resided at 1939 Sereno Drive, was a native of San Rafael and had been a Vallejo resident 3 1/2 years. He was a student at Vallejo High School, where he was a member of the Interact Club, and the high school wrestling team. He also was a member of First Presbyterian Church, and an Eagle Scout member of Explorer Post 209. He won the God and Country award through his scouting activities, and was lodge chief of the Order of the Arrow in Solano, Napa and Lake counties. He was a member of Knights of Dunamis, and was a member of the staff of the Silverado Area Council camp.

The youth is survived by his parents, Mrs Jean L Faraday, Vallejo, and Thomas Faraday, Salinas. He was the eldest of four children, with two brothers Robert and Steven, and a sister Debra, residing in Vallejo. Also surviving are his maternal grandmother Mrs Irene La Tourette, Vallejo, and his paternal grandparents Col and Mrs L M McKinley, San Francisco. A funeral service will be held at 2 pm Monday in First Presbyterian Church with rites conducted by Rev James O Hulin, assistant pastor. Inurnment will be private. Friends may call at Colonial Chapels from 10 am today until noon Monday. The Faraday family has requested that friends make contributions to a Boy Scout Camping Scholarship to be known as "The David Faraday Tribute Fund."
The Jensen girl, whose family resides at 123 Ridgewood Ct, was a native of Colorado. She was a junior and an honor student at Hogan High School. She was also grand royal guide of Prima Vera Council 32. Pythian Sunshine Girls. Surviving are her parents, Mr and Mrs Verne Jensen and a sister Melodie, Vallejo: her maternal grandparents Mr and Mrs Louis E Blenderman, Oakland, and her paternal grandmother Mrs Anna Jensen, Colorado. Christian Science services will be conducted at 11 am Monday at Colonial Chapels by Reader Hugh Martin Niemoller. Friends may call at Colonial Chapels after 9 am today.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/

The 408 cipher cracked by Donald Harden. Click image for link.

The following will not propose a solution to the '13 Symbol' cipher because the limited characters in the code make that simply impossible without a key, and the author of the letter must surely have known that, even if he had limited cipher experience. A search for the solution however, could be an unnecessary quest, as the Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer just five and a half months later. The Zodiac Killer vowed to give us his name in his earlier 408 cipher, only to renege on the promise. The idea therefore, that he would reveal his name in the April 20th 1970 correspondence is equally unlikely. But he may have given us something, useless in of itself from a standpoint of incrimination, on account of its brevity, but something nonetheless.
The October 5th 1970 '13 Hole' postcard has links to the '13 Symbol' cipher for obvious reasons, but the author of the postcard does paste some unusual text, notably "Fk, I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now ?"
Is there a correlation to the '13 Symbol' cipher? Immediately after "Fk, I'm crackproof" the author asks about the price tag on his head. Immediately after the '13 Symbol' code on the April 20th 1970 correspondence the author writes "I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now." So what is the likelihood "Fk, I'm crackproof" precedes this question also. It would make sense when the April 20th 1970 communication is read as a whole: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. My name is FK, I'm crackproof."
The phrase itself is 14 characters, so would be infinitely circular in configuration, beginning and ending with the letter F, like so.

The letters K and M line up nicely in the code, nevertheless on its own it is pretty worthless.
Could the killer's initials be FK or KF, on account of the upside-down text on the '13 Hole' postcard, or could the killer simply want us to believe this is the case.
The FK in close proximity occurs seven times on the '340' cipher, but much more significantly, the eye is drawn to the 'mistake' on line six, where the author of the cipher elevates the letter K in reverse, next to the letter F. The author of the '13 Hole' postcard effectively rotates both letters through 180 degrees, again reversing the letter K.
The 'Exorcist' letter mailed on January 29th 1974 looks somewhat similar to the sixth line of the '340' cipher, in that the strange symbolism at the foot of the letter appears to marry up. It contains what looks like a letter F, and to its elevated left is an upside-down K. But there is much more correlation, in that five of the characters on the 'Exorcist' letter bear a striking resemblance to five of the characters by the FK on the '340' cipher. http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/340-cipher-and-exorcist-link

The elevated and reversed letter K, is positioned to the left of the letter F in both the '340' sixth line, and the 'Exorcist' letter symbolism. It is again reversed and positioned to the left of the letter F in "Fk, I'm crackproof" on the '13 Hole' postcard.
If the Zodiac Killer lived within a 10 minute walking radius of the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, then by examining land registry records in 1969 for males with FK or KF initials and cross checking their vital statistics, including photographs, would go a long way to deciding whether this is just another pattern, in a rich tapestry of Zodiac imaginings.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-fictitious-negro-male

Detective Sergeant Les Lunblad.

"When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights."
A curious statement by the author of the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, when in actual fact only Betty Lou Jensen was 'sprayed' with bullets. This leads to the bigger question- was the style of the attack at Lake Herman Road cemented in our minds as early as the utterances from Sergeant Leslie Lunblad in 1968, in that one person forced both David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the passenger side of the vehicle and shot David Faraday almost immediately by the right rear wheel of the Rambler. The killer presumably had attached a pencil flashlight to his weapon to aid better sighting, as described in his letter: "What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across." Then why would he approach David Faraday in near darkness to the point where he could apply a contact wound directly to his left ear, when he could simply have neutralized the male threat immediately, as he attempted to do at Blue Rock Springs and Lake Beryessa. In both these instances the Zodiac Killer kept a barrier between himself and the intended victims. However in this case we are told, that despite taking the trouble to facilitate a sighting implement on his weapon, he totally negated its use, walked up to David Faraday, to what must have been mere inches, to press the muzzle of the gun behind the left ear of David Faraday. Something doesn't ring true with this scenario. Assuming our killer was less experienced at this point in time, surely more caution would have been applied.
This takes us to the second key point- why didn't the killer just shoot the two teenagers in the Rambler, where they are effectively corralled and contained within the vehicle, as he did at Blue Rock Springs six and a half months later. What was his objective in forcing them from the vehicle into an extremely dark turnout. At Blue Rock Springs, according to Michael Mageau's recollection, the killer remained silent throughout and began firing the instant he arrived by the passenger door. At Lake Herman Road the reverse was the case. The killer by all the evidence, ushered them both out of the passenger side door and then apparently approached David Faraday to literally within touching distance, in complete contrast to the caution he exhibited in his subsequent crimes. If however two assailants were involved in the murders, one could picture an element of bravado, where one assailant feeds off the other, and the concept of intimidating or scaring the victims was an overriding feature.

The Department of Justice report clearly stated that the bullet recovered from David Faraday did not exhibit the same right hand twist characteristics as the other seven bullets recovered that night. Although this is not conclusive proof of a second weapon or second shooter, it raises the question.
With eight bullets supposedly recovered from the turnout and at autopsy, the notion of a second vehicle pulling up alongside the Faraday Rambler with two occupants stacks up, in terms of a ratio of 7:1 bullets fired from each particular weapon. Here is the scenario.
The assailants vehicle pulls up approximately ten feet to the right of the Faraday Rambler. Both assailants exit their vehicle.
Under this premise, it is obvious that the driver of the second vehicle is closest to the Rambler, so he immediately upon exiting fires a shot into the right headliner of the Rambler. This was found to have a straight trajectory and embedded in the upholstery on the upper left side of the Rambler. His ejected casing, as he is standing immediately outside his driver side door, flies to his rear, over the vehicle and likely lands to the right side of his vehicle, approximately 20 feet to the right of the Rambler, as shown in the police sketch. If the distance between the two vehicles is slightly greater, say 13 feet, then taking into account the width his vehicle of 5-6 feet, makes the 'stray' bullet casing look anything but stray. He approaches the Rambler and fires a second shot into the right rear window from approximately 4 feet, accounting for its trajectory of 17-19 degrees relative to the horizontal. His accomplice at this juncture has not yet fired a shot. He is still rounding the unknown vehicle and is furthest from the Rambler, so he is not the instigator to drive the couple from the Rambler. Besides, his partner is effectively in front of him, so firing towards the Rambler is not required, and would present a risk in near darkness of striking his accomplice.
The driver of the unknown vehicle has now fired at least two shots, and gestures to the couple to exit the Rambler.
Betty Lou, who is seated in the passenger side, exits the vehicle first and is secured by this assailant. The assailant from the passenger side of the offending vehicle has now arrived, and he now secures David Faraday, by the right rear wheel of the Rambler. There is now no risk associated with getting close to David Faraday. Betty Lou Jensen is being held with a gun likely pointed at her head. David has no choice but comply. His assailant is either standing directly in front of him, with the gun pressed to his left ear, making him a right-handed shooter, or he has him secured around the neck from behind, making him a left-handed shooter. David Faraday is essentially powerless to affect the situation.

The other assailant then releases Betty Lou Jensen and tells her to run, firing 5 shots into her back from his illuminated weapon as she flees westwards, finally succumbing 28 feet to the rear of the Rambler station wagon. David Faraday, the only eyewitness left, is dispatched by the second assailant. His gun ejects the casing to the rear, into the open passenger side door of the Rambler, and is later noted lying on the passenger side floorboard. It however was later 'misplaced', and was never submitted to the Department of Justice for ballistics testing, leaving us all scratching our heads on whether this cartridge case may have exhibited different characteristics to the other nine casings recovered. If so, then the importance of the bullet recovered from David Faraday at autopsy is greatly magnified, increasing exponentially the likelihood of two shooters at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968.
It may have been the murderer of Betty Lou Jensen that wrote the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter and stated "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights." But he may have 'spoke' out of turn, issuing this statement from his perspective, not the perspective of his accomplice.
There is of course no way of establishing which of the couple was shot first, but the above example would play into the scenario of two assailants who wanted to taunt the young teenagers, in particular David Faraday.
We also cannot dismiss the testimony of William Crow, who approximately 90 minutes before the double murder was apparently chased along Lake Herman Road by two occupants in a light colored Chevrolet or blue Valiant (depending on which version you believe). Two eyewitnesses incidentally, who never came forward. Is this because they returned to the turnout sometime after 11.00 pm. This would certainly explain their reluctance to present themselves to investigators.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/two-shooters-at-lake-herman-road

Donna Ann Lass disappeared without a trace on September 6th 1970 and is presumed murdered, possibly by the Zodiac Killer.
He would insinuate a connection on March 22nd 1971 when the 'Pines' card addressed to Paul Avery arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. Donna Lass had been working as a nurse at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino, where she curiously vanished from, at approximately 1.45 am, just before her shift was about to finish at 2.00 am. She had not traveled to work that day in her Chevrolet Camaro convertible, but chose to walk to work from a previous residence. Her abductor or abductors seemingly targeted the end of her shift, and in the hours after the crime rang her employer and her landlord to state she had been called away due to a family illness. A story that was subsequently proved false. This certainly suggested the phone caller was buying time before any investigation got underway, thereby strongly indicating a connection between Donna Lass and her assailant. The delay generated by such a call would enable the assailant to dispose of Donna Lass and/or possibly remove incriminating evidence from their vehicle or home address. This would heavily lean towards one thing- that the murderer was close enough to Donna Lass to expect the police to be knocking on his door sooner rather than later.

Donna Ann Lass

The gaps in Zodiac's timeline can likely indicate more about our killer than the actual murders themselves. In his timeline three notable delays in correspondence can be noted.
After the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 he waited 6 1/2 months to communicate with the public. After the disputed Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 he waited 4 months to lay claim to the crime. And finally, in the disappearance of Donna Lass it would be again 6 1/2 months before the 'Pines' card would arrive at the Chronicle. After Blue Rock Springs it was 27 days. After Lake Berryessa it was a matter of minutes, with the writing on the car door of Bryan Hartnell. The murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, his last confirmed crime, was followed by correspondence only 2 days later.
Were the delays in communication after Lake Herman Road, Modesto and Lake Tahoe indicative of applied caution on behalf of the Zodiac Killer. Lake Herman Road may be understandable, if indeed this was his first venture into murder. But what of Modesto and Lake Tahoe? Was the Zodiac Killer temporarily stationed in these areas through employment, and waited to return to the Bay Area before communicating with the newspapers to apply separation from the area.
Many people believe the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo, or in close proximity to it, while posting his correspondence from San Francisco on his way to and from work. His profession is an avenue worth exploring regarding the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns and the Lake Tahoe disappearance of Donna Lass, particularly in light of his delayed communications. Had he traveled to either of these locations on a 'day trip', with no connection whatsoever to each area, then there would be no need for a combined delay of 10 1/2 months before his contact with the newspapers. The implication being, that these areas had greater significance to the killer than he would like us to know. This may be further borne out by the customary Zodiac phone call, but this time used to delay the investigation into the disappearance of Donna Lass, because he knew her enough to believe the police may pay him a visit.

The journey from Vallejo to South Lake Tahoe is a simple one, encompassing the two major highways of U.S. Route 80 and U.S Route 50. The latter runs past the apartment of Donna Lass at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road, the Paradice Motel (Halloween Card) and the once Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Shown here. This route also runs directly through Sacramento, notable for the murders of Judith Hakari, Nancy Bennallack and Carol Beth Hilburn on March 7th 1970, October 25th 1970 and November 14th 1970 respectively. All three of these murders have been suggested as possible Zodiac attacks.
Can we connect San Francisco, Modesto and South Lake Tahoe in terms of the Zodiac Killer's profession. The Naval Air Station Alameda is situated on San Francisco Bay, close to the Oakland Bay Bridge. However, during and since World War 2 it became headquarters for a system of auxiliary airfields, that included Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Air Station and Fallon Auxiliary Airfield.
The Naval Auxiliary Air Station Crows Landing is only 25 miles from the area where Kathleen Johns was abducted. If you exit NASA Crows Landing heading north on Interstate 5, it then joins Highway 132 only 1.4 miles before the point where Kathleen Johns was flagged over and where the vehicle was ultimately found burnt out. Zodiac would have entered Highway 132 just behind Kathleen Johns and trailed her for approximately 2 minutes, before he made his move. Fallon Auxiliary Airfield is on a direct route through South Lake Tahoe to the east, on U.S Route 50.
If the Zodiac Killer knew Donna Lass, he may have been stationed at this auxiliary airfield and frequented South Lake Tahoe. Investigators in Riverside also pursued the idea that the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 may have worked at the March Air Reserve Base, Riverside, situated only 14 miles from the Terracina Drive crime scene. This was considered because of the military heel print discovered in the alleyway by the body of Cheri Jo Bates. This coupled with the military Wing Walker boot impressions found at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, may indicate an Air Force connection, or indeed airplanes in general. After all the Zodiac Killer did introduce himself with "This is the Zodiac speaking."

"An auxiliary force is an organized group supplementing but not directly incorporated in a regular military or police entity. It may comprise either civilian volunteers undertaking support functions or additional personnel directly performing military or police duties, usually on a part-time basis. Historically the designation "auxiliary" has also been given to foreign or allied troops in the service of a nation at war. In the context of colonial armies locally recruited irregulars were often described as auxiliaries." Source Wikipedia.
The immediate correspondence after the disappearance of Donna Lass was the '13 Hole' postcard on October 5th 1970. However this was likely mailed in response to his 'Little List' letter of July 26th 1970 not being featured in the newspapers. Both claimed 13 victims, so Donna Lass having been abducted after July 26th cannot be the "big thirteenth".
If she truly was a Zodiac victim, then she had to be victim number 14, dispelling the idea that the 'Halloween' card was a veiled threat towards San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery.
There is some validity to the idea the 'Halloween' card was indicating the murder of Donna Lass. This and the 'Pines' card were both addressed to Paul Avery, and both made similar references. The 'Halloween' card featured a tree with an eye in the knothole, with the accompanying phrase "peek-a-boo you are doomed." The 'Pines' card held the phrases "peek through the pines," and the upside-down "around in the snow."  Likely indicative of a burial or disposal site, hence the choice of skeletons on the 'Halloween' card almost two months after the crime.
Did the Zodiac Killer work as an auxiliary at Riverside, Patterson, San Francisco and Fallon. The FBI certainly considered this possibility in a least three of the locations.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/donna-lass-an-enduring-mystery

This is a continuation from the article 'The Fictitious Negro Male' examining the crucial 40 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau (19) and Darlene Ferrin (22) on July 4th 1969, which left Michael Mageau fighting for his life and Darlene Ferrin dead from five direct gunshot wounds. The killer would place a payphone call from the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street at 12.40 am, only 40 minutes after the attack in the parking lot.
Exactly one month after the double shooting, the murderer mailed the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Examiner, received on August 4th 1969. It is in this introductory letter that the killer may have inadvertently revealed the area in which he lived. Many may not share my optimism, but any assistance anybody can offer in terms of material or research regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for 1969 land registry records, phone books or directories, that contain names and addresses of individuals who lived in a 10-15 minute walking radius of the payphone at the Springs and Tuolumne intersection.
This is what the Zodiac Killer stated in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter:
"I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car. The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car."
After Michael Mageau had been shot he recalled exiting Darlene Ferrin's brown Corvair and lying alongside the vehicle, giving a rudimentary description of the assailant's vehicle as it pulled out of the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs. The killer adamantly denied leaving the scene "with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper," insisting he didn't want to draw attention to his vehicle, in direct contrast to the message the letter appeared to be pushing by the payphone.
On leaving the crime scene, he was now in possession of the 'smoking gun', and the wise choice may well have been to offload his weapon and vehicle at his residence and walk to the payphone, carrying much less risk. He knew Mageau or Ferrin would unlikely be able to give a description, on account of the tactics he employed, in particular the flashlight he used to blind the victims, however his vehicle was not afforded the same protection as he exited the parking lot, something he was infinitely aware of. He seemed confident in his phone call that he was reporting a "double murder," but whether or not he contemplated that Michael Mageau may still alive, and this was just the statement of a braggart, is open to question.

In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter the killer seemingly goes out of his way to feature the payphone call, highlighting a negro male that spotted him after he hung up the receiver. This negro male was never mentioned in the extensive 75 page police report, or by any investigators connected with the case. The negro male also never featured in any newspaper articles up to the August 4th 1969 letter. This was called out in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969, which stated "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth."
Whether the police had identified a negro male eyewitness or not, it appeared that Zodiac wanted to capitalize on the fact he was spotted, by going into unnecessary detail on the man's age and attire: "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed." Having effectively agreed that his vehicle was brown, he went on to highlight his vehicle once more: "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." The Zodiac Killer seemed intent on corroborating the description of his vehicle by Michael Mageau, by backing it up with the negro male eyewitness, who saw exactly the same color of vehicle. This is particularly helpful on behalf of the killer, unless of course he was pushing a false narrative, in that the negro male eyewitness didn't exist and his vehicle wasn't brown. In addition the phrase "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car," is particularly telling, unnecessarily adding "my car" at the end. We already know he had a vehicle, the negro male had apparently identified it as brown. The superfluous addition of this content may very well be deliberate, to convince the reader the killer had pulled up to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone after the double shooting and placed the phone call with his vehicle in tow, when in fact he was on foot. We know he didn't drive directly to the payphone, because the payphone is situated only 10 minutes from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, yet the phone call was logged 40 minutes after the attack.

The phone call could have been made from anywhere, rather than alongside Springs Road, a prominent route traversing the crime scene and downtown Vallejo, in close proximity to the police station. However, the killer chose to remain in the vicinity at least 30 minutes beyond what was necessary. That is, unless he lived nearby and chose to remove his vehicle and weapon from his person, before making what was seemingly a predetermined decision to announce himself to the world.
A killer choosing to drive from Blue Rock Springs Park to somewhere within a 10-15 minute walking radius of the payphone would take 10 minutes. With 15 minutes to park his vehicle, change his attire, conceal his weapon and ready himself, would leave approximately 15 minutes to walk to the payphone with his imaginary "brown car" in tow and make the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover.
The premise of 10-15 minutes walking time is based on the killer applying a 'buffer zone' to his residence. He clearly didn't want to place a call in extremely close proximity to where he lived, but would also be constrained by his wanting to return to his residence in reasonable time after placing the call. Hence the estimate of 10-15 minutes as a starting point.
After the Lake Herman Road murders it was intimated by Officer Pierre Bidou that a crank call was received shortly after the killings, referring to a 'car accident' along that particular stretch of road. Had this been the Zodiac Killer, it would had to have been placed just prior to the official police message called in by Captain Daniel Pitta shortly after 11.25 pm. If the killer of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen had again placed the phone call at the Springs and Tuolumne intersection, then this 10-12 minute journey would have him leaving the turnout at the correct time based on the eyewitness accounts that night. However, by making this phone call before returning home, could have been indicative of a man confident he left no victims alive in this case, in contrast to Michael Mageau, who had extricated himself from the vehicle. This would certainly elevate the payphone's significance as a common denominator over the first two Zodiac crimes, and dispel the idea the Zodiac waited 6 1/2 months before contacting the police, if it were true.

The Zodiac's exasperation in the letter seemingly implied a familiarity with the area of Lake Herman Road, stating "Last Christmass In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees."
His compass directions from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone and/or the police station also showed familiarity with his location at this intersection. He knew the Blue Rock Springs parking lot was east of his location, situated alongside Columbus Parkway. This is what he actually said to police dispatcher Nancy Slover, with the all important pause or comma inserted into the dialogue, that changes the whole context of the phone call:
"I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye."
Unless the killer had prepared in advance by looking at a map, his directional knowledge of his immediate surroundings only 40 minutes after the attack was correct. Had he driven to a location unknown to him, the likelihood of him knowing his relative position to the crime scene using compass markers would be highly unlikely. Additionally, his targeting of lone courting couples, may also suggest an intrinsic knowledge of his hunting ground.
There appears little or no benefit in making an incriminating phone call, claiming four murders, from a payphone only 10 minutes from the crime scene, when the killer could have been 40 minutes away at this point, placing the call in a region of relative security. The fact that he traveled so little distance in 40 minutes, meant he did something else for a large percentage of this time and may well imply a connection to the area.
Cross-referencing names of residents (within the 15 minute walking radius) in 1969, with ancestry records, may turn up individuals who previously resided in Riverside in 1966 during the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th, or possibly other key locations. If anybody can provide assistance in this search it would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-fictitious-negro-male
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/a-white-chevrolet-impala-at-blue-rock-springs

On October 13th 1969, two days after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, the Zodiac began taunting the police for their incompetence, stating "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover."
He would continue this theme of ridicule a month after the crime, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter stating "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos? If you cops think I'm going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads." But if that wasn't enough he would highlight how Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms effectively let him through their grasp as he walked along Jackson Street only minutes after the murder: "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again."
Three months after the murder the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled 'Yellow Cab Sets Reward for Zodiac,' offering a reward for the Zodiac Killer's capture. It read "Yellow Cab Company yesterday posted a $1000 reward for the Zodiac Killer. Specifically the money is being offered for "information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible" for the deaths of Yellow Cab drivers Charles Jarman and Paul Stine. The Teamsters Union, which represents Yellow Cab's drivers, is also considering offering a reward in the two cases. The subject will be discussed and voted on at a meeting of drivers set for February 8."

This would not go unnoticed by the Bay Area killer, who responded on April 20th 1970 in the 'My Name is' cipher communication: "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now. I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station."
The Zodiac Killer was clearly emboldened by his narrow escape along Jackson Street and from the park, likely believing he was untouchable. This was clearly demonstrated by his unashamed taunting of police in the 'Bus Bomb' letter: "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them."
Five and a half months after the April 20th letter the tone was pretty much the same, when the '13 Hole' pasted postcard was mailed on October 5th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle. He would again mention the reward on his head and further suggest to police that they "shall never catch me."
The postcard read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" The suggestion here, is that the killer is taking a swipe at the San Francisco Police Department, having mailed the correspondence to the Chronicle newspaper. The wording on the postcard is particularly telling, and seemingly directed at somebody in particular in the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof," in which the the killer again, is apparently unable to refrain from his love of cryptic messages. If the killer however is addressing the San Francisco Police Department, it makes perfect sense that 'Fk' would in fact be somebody connected to the SFPD also. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer's close call with Donald Fouke along Jackson Street, when the officer's patrol car approached him and subsequently let him on his way, it gives a new dimension to the phrase "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"
Alex Lewis (aka Welsh Chappie) came up with a plausible solution to this cryptic message which fits all the known criteria in the postcard: "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fouke knows I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" This simple solution may be the reason for the capitalized F and lower case k in the phrase. Coupled with the "price tag" in reference to the Yellow Cab Company reward of $1000, the '13 Hole' postcard mailed on the near anniversary of the Paul Stine murder, could possibly be seen in a whole new light.

Officer Donald Fouke

There is nevertheless a massive stumbling block. Apparently Officer Donald Fouke was never mentioned in the newspapers up to October 5th 1970 and the mailing of the '13 Hole' postcard, so how was the Zodiac Killer able to locate the name of the officer involved in the 'near miss' on Jackson Street, if the 'decryption' is correct.
After the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which he stated "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." This negro male was never mentioned in the police report, and the newspapers were also apparently unaware of this vital eyewitness, as detailed in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969: "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth."
If the Zodiac Killer was telling the truth about a negro male by the payphone, how was he privy to this eyewitness speaking to police, when clearly the newspapers were not. The killer also must have been fully aware of Michael Mageau's description of his vehicle, making this statement even more curious and unnecessary. In both cases, if correct, the impression taken would be of a Zodiac Killer who had inside information beyond what the newspapers had published. This could place the murderer of five much closer to the investigation than we care to imagine. However, if the above interpretations submitted are incorrect, then "Fouke knows" just about sums it up.

A big thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

Part taken from the comments section:
When somebody has a suspect they believe to be the Zodiac Killer, often a side by side comparison using the Presidio Heights sketch is presented to bolster their argument. The idea that Zodiac wore black styled 'prescription' glasses in his daily life however, is likely a false one. There could well be seven possible eyewitnesses to the Zodiac Killer who failed to mention any eyeglasses whatsoever.
The reasoning comes courtesy of Deborah Perez, the woman who falsely claimed her father Guy Ward Hendrickson was the Zodiac Killer. She claimed she had the glasses worn by Paul Stine, removed from the taxicab that fateful night. The response of the police was telling. Had it been previously established that Paul Stine's glasses were found at the crime scene or at his home, then it would be immediately obvious to police she was a liar. But that was not their response.
"San Francisco police said Thursday that they were still waiting for Perez to produce a pair of glasses that she said her father took as a souvenir from a cab driver he killed. Police believe the Zodiac shot a San Francisco taxi driver named Paul Stine on Oct. 11, 1969. Reports of the crime say that Stine's glasses were missing. Once you make complaints to a police department, you are required by law to provide the evidence to a police agency, and there is no reason to believe she is not going to do that," said San Francisco Police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Asked whether police were taking her claims seriously, Tomioka said: "We take any new leads or any new information or evidence and look at it seriously, and then we follow up to see if there is any legitimacy to the statements."
During the press conference, Perez produced the glasses she said her father took from Paul Stine, the San Francisco cabbie who was the Zodiac’s only confirmed victim in that city.
But investigation determined the glasses didn’t belong to Stine, said Kevin Jones, an inspector in the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide bureau. Jones handles the Zodiac case.
“They’re not Paul Stine’s glasses,” Jones affirmed this month, though he added he’s still working on other leads that Perez provided him with during lengthy interviews earlier this year. Jones would not say what those leads were. Perez had hoped the glasses might yield some DNA or other evidence.
Why would police contemplate the arrival or wait for them to be presented, if they had already known the glasses had never been taken. This strongly indicates,- if they had done a cursory search into the their files, that Zodiac had indeed removed Paul Stine's glasses from his person. Otherwise they would have dismissed her claim immediately. One phone call to Dave Toschi or reviewing the inventory of items recovered from the taxicab would have been a 10 minute job to discover whether the glasses were retrieved that night or not. This suggests Zodiac likely wore the glasses of Paul Stine as he exited the taxicab and was spotted by the three teenagers. He likely kept wearing them or donned them as Donald Fouke approached also.

Lake Berryessa sketch derived from the three women.

The Zodiac stated in the November 9th '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."
He possibly looked like the description due the the glasses he secured from Paul Stine's lifeless body. Had he been aware of the three teenagers observing him from the window, then the choice of using Paul Stine's glasses to help disguise his appearance may have been a wise choice.
Michael Mageau, after the Blue Rock Springs attack, asserted that the killer had not worn glasses, and had noted that his assailant had a particularly large face, all in line with the Berryessa sketch.
Bryan Hartnell stated: "And he had clip on sunglasses...it was hard to tell. You know, the sunglasses you clip on when you're wearing glasses, eyeglasses. He had those clipped on. I'm pretty sure...I don't think he had glasses, though. I just think he had these clipped onto his suit....you know, that little mask."
The three female eyewitnesses at Lake Berryessa (if Zodiac) also recollected a man devoid of glasses.
On the same day, around the time of the stabbing, Dr Rayfield and his son recalled a stocky man wandering the hillside approximately 0.8 miles from the area of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. Dr Rayfield continued "He wasn't nimble when he was walking. And when he turned to walk away he wasn't like a smooth, athletic person. To me he seemed a little overweight and on the clumsier side." He added "His body type matches what police said at the time-two hundred pounds or more. He was pretty big and built, but he didn't move like he was a real coordinated, smooth walking guy."
Dr Rayfield and his son did not recall or mention the man wearing any glasses.
This description mirrors the three women, who remembered a stocky build of 200-225 lbs. They also stated that he favored one leg over the other. The idea of a clumsy, uncoordinated man would again be reported two weeks later by Officer Donald Fouke, who observed the killer walking along Jackson Street shortly after the murder of Paul Stine. He described a man with a "lumbering gait, sort of stumbling along, like a semi-limp.' Up to the point of the Presidio Heights murder, and the sighting of the three teenagers and Donald Fouke, not one of a possible seven eyewitness recall seeing a man wearing eyeglasses.
In two instances it may not have been the Zodiac Killer, but we cannot know for sure. The Lake Berryessa sketch has, by many, been dismissed as the same man portrayed in the Presidio Heights sketch. However, the likeness may be a lot closer than you think. If the Zodiac Killer had changed his hairstyle during the intervening two weeks, and the Presidio Heights face is slightly widened to portray a man around 200 lbs, we get the following.

Here are two interesting snippets from the Harvey Hines 120 page report on Lawrence Kane. The first indicates a call was placed by the Zodiac Killer from a public payphone in Union Square, San Francisco. The second features a unique image of the Pines Card created by Harvey Hines and photographs of the crucifix stone formation at the Sierra Club.
"Now, according to John Miles, I find that Kane lived at 217 Eddy Street in San Francisco prior to his moving to South Lake Tahoe. In looking at an area map of San Francisco, I found 217 Eddy Street appeared to be only about two to three blocks from where Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac on October 11th 1969. I then called inspector Dave Toschi at the San Francisco Police Department and got more details on the Stine killing. Toschi said they had determined the killer had called for a cab using the public payphone located at Union Square. Toschi said the cab picked the killer up and drove to the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets. At this point the cab driver was shot in the head. The killer was then seen by three witnesses from a residence nearby, wiping down the cab. Apparently wiping away fingerprints. Toschi said he also cut away a portion of Stine's bloodied shirt. After doing this, he calmly walked away in the direction of the Presidio Army Installation.
Two police officers, Don Foukes and Eric Zelms, heard the first radio broadcast and went directly to the area. The first broadcast, however, according to Toschi, erroneously identified the shooter as a black man. As Zelms and Foukes approached, they saw a white male walking toward the Presidio in the direction of Letterman General Hospital. They briefly stopped and asked him if he had seen a man with a gun. He told them he had just seen a man waving a gun and running the other direction. The two officers then hurriedly left in search of the black man.
Now we have the Zodiac running into the Presidio in the direction of Letterman General Hospital. The very place that Donna Lass worked. Also, in looking at the area map, I found that Lass lived six blocks south in the 4000 block of Balboa. That meant the Zodiac Killer started his ride near where Kane lived and ended it several blocks away where Donna Lass lived and worked.
During the time she worked in San Francisco she lived at 4122 Balboa Street with a roommate named Carol Emerich. Emerich was also a nurse. According to the employment records, Lass was working a late night shift in October of 1969 when the San Francisco cab driver, Paul Stine, was killed by the Zodiac."
Harvey Hines went on to elaborate about his search for Donna Lass, in particular the 'Pines' card mailed on March 22nd 1971: "After studying the card, I drove to Nordin, located on old Highway 40, north of Lake Tahoe, and found the SIERRA CLUB. I learned the club was not called the Sierra Club. It was named the Claire Tappan Lodge and it was a private club for Sierra Club members only. I believed if I followed the directions on the postcard I would find Donna Lass' grave. I believe she was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch. I would later have the pictures of the Sierra Club developed. Then using a copy of Zodiac's card, I cut out the phrases he had pasted on his card. Using these phrases, I overpasted them on the copy of the Sierra Club picture. It was striking similar to the original card."

Thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

James Owen was the only eyewitness at Lake Herman Road who saw two vehicles parked in the turnout on December 20th 1968. He recalled very little about the vehicle parked alongside the Faraday Rambler, but recalled them being 3-10 feet apart. His statement to police recalled that "he did not see anyone in the cars or around them." This is probably the most puzzling aspect of the Lake Herman Road murders, and is often explained away in unsatisfactory terms. Raymond Grant, author of 'Zodiac Killer Solved' alerted me to this problem, in respect to how the Faraday Rambler was discovered by police in the turnout, with the passenger side door open. Ray has tackled this 'anomaly' in his book and presented a comprehensive timeline of the eyewitnesses present that fateful night. The following however, will view the crime from a different angle.
It is possible that James Owen was mistaken and didn't notice David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the Rambler, but for now we will take his account in good faith.
It is extremely unlikely David Faraday would have just remained in the pitch black turnout for any considerable time, if another vehicle had pulled up alongside them. So it is likely that the vehicle that James Owen saw alongside the Rambler had just pulled into the turnout before he arrived. Approximately 30 seconds after he had passed the turnout he "thought he heard a shot." Many observers have speculated that the Zodiac Killer had already forced the couple from the Rambler before James Owen arrived. He was about to murder the couple when he saw or heard James Owen's vehicle approaching, so improvised and forced the couple out of sight between the vehicles. But we have a major problem. James Owen does not mention the car doors on either vehicle open, particularly the Rambler. This can be simply explained away, in that the killer, keen to avoid drawing unwanted attention, closed the Rambler door before forcing the couple out of sight.

Once James Owen had passed, the killer began his brutal execution of the couple, or initially David Faraday, just 30 seconds later. It was then assumed, he returned to his vehicle and left the turnout. If this version of events were true, why did the killer reopen the passenger side door of the Rambler before he left, as this is how it was found by investigators. Nothing was apparently taken from the victims by the perpetrator, or mailed by the killer thereafter.
It has been suggested that James Owen likely didn't see the couple in the vehicle because they were 'making out' with the seats reclined. This would be highly unlikely once a second vehicle had pulled alongside them, in extremely close proximity.
It was a dark, isolated turnout, late at night and anybody would be reasonably apprehensive at this point, and David Faraday, a conscientious young man, accompanying a girl on a first date, would certainly have been aware of the dangers.
If James Owen was correct, and the couple were not in the vehicle, and unlikely they were under duress between the vehicles, then where were they. Raymond Grant has presented his version of events in 'Zodiac Killer Solved', but here we will explore some alternatives. The simplest, is that the couple were in the vehicle, but James Owen simply failed to notice them.
If they were between the vehicles, then we have to believe that the killer pulled up alongside the Rambler, forced them out of the vehicle with warning shots, out of the audible range of James Owen's approaching vehicle, but didn't strike immediately. The assailant then noticed the vehicle of James Owen approaching, hiding the couple out of sight and closing his door, and the door of the Rambler. Once he believed James Owen had passed beyond audible range, he began his attack. Just before he left though, he reopened the Rambler door for no reason. Unless he decided he wanted a souvenir from the vehicle. But with nothing reported missing from the young couple, the murderer either didn't find anything of satisfaction within the Rambler, or this chain of events never occurred.

Did James Owen see a vehicle parked alongside the Rambler at all. For this to be the case, we would have to believe the assailant arrived on foot, however the sighting of the empty white Chevrolet Impala earlier that night, along with the 'suspicious' vehicle reported by William Crow, would have to be put down as sheer coincidence in view of the events that ultimately unfolded later that night. This tips the scales, that likely verifies James Owen's sighting of a second vehicle as correct. He may have been unsure of the distance between the two vehicles, but in his statement to police he stressed that "he definitely saw two cars."
The final alternative, if we dismiss the above, has been presented by Raymond Grant, in that the couple were held captive, contained within the trunk of a vehicle, likely the Impala.
It is not a valid hypothesis to argue the killer entered the rear of the Rambler, forcing the couple out of sight as James Owen passed, because the rear doors were discovered locked by investigators. Either James Owen was mistaken and he failed to notice the couple in the Rambler, the killer opened the front passenger door after the murders to possibly collect a 'souvenir' or for some ulterior motive, or a third unexplored option exists,
one not dissimilar to that suggested by Raymond Grant. It's a question of whether the simplest answer is the correct one.

THE 'ZODIAC' 263 CHARACTER CIPHERS

RAYMOND GRANT-THE WHITE CHEVROLET IMPALA

A WHITE CHEVROLET IMPALA AT BLUE ROCK SPRINGS?

THE 'FICTITIOUS' NEGRO MALE

THE LADY IN THE BLUE HOUSE

TWO ASSAILANTS AT PRESIDIO HEIGHTS [PT2]

THE MURDER OF MARJORIE LEE WINN

"RUN ALL OVER TOWN WITH"

CROSSHAIRS-THE INNER CIRCLE

MINUTES BEFORE THE MURDERS

THE 'LAUGHING' KILLER

LAKE HERMAN ROAD NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

FK I'M CRACKPROOF

TWO SHOOTERS AT LAKE HERMAN ROAD [PT2]

MURDER BY AUXILIARY FORCE

THE "SMOKING GUN"

FOUKE KNOWS I'M CRACKPROOF

A ZODIAC KILLER WITHOUT GLASSES

TWO SHORT EXTRACTS FROM THE HARVEY HINES REPORT

LAKE HERMAN ROAD-THE EMPTY RAMBLER