Born on February 24th 1928, Jack Tarrance is a late addition to the Zodiac suspect list after his name was promulgated by his stepson Dennis Kaufman in 2007. He attempted to back up his claims by producing a bloody knife, disturbing images on rolls of film, handwriting samples of his stepfather he claimed were very similar to the Zodiac letters - and more unbelievably - a black executioner's style hood found rolled up and concealed within the confines of an amplifier. It was claimed by Kaufman that this was the modified apparel worn by the Zodiac Killer during the murder of Cecelia Ann Shepard and the attempted murder of Bryan Calvin Hartnell at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969.
Jack Tarrance died in 2006, but his history suggests he had previously spent time as a serviceman in the Navy and Air Force, tying in with the military boot impressions (Wing Walkers) worn by the Zodiac Killer during his Lake Berryessa attack in Napa County. Trained as a radio operator, it provided him with the opportunity to learn coding that may have inspired the cryptograms and codes contained in at least eight of Zodiac's communications, and possibly more. The composite sketch, created from the three teenagers recollections overlooking the Washington & Cherry intersection in the moments after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, also bore a hauntingly near likeness to Jack Tarrance according to some. However, eyewitness recollections are notoriously unreliable, and the Presidio Heights sketch has been likened to countless individuals. This form of circumstantial evidence used to promote persons of interest is as weak as it gets.
Irrespective of these purported links to Jack Tarrance, Dennis Kaufman has come under widespread criticism for some of his claims and has been roundly discredited by many Zodiac investigators and amateur sleuths. The FBI later performed DNA and handwriting analysis on the items of interest submitted in 2010, but these tests were deemed inconclusive, ruling Jack Tarrance neither in, nor out of the Zodiac mystery.
Dennis Kaufman appeared on a Discovery Channel documentary presented by true crime writer Aphrodite Jones in 2010, where he outlined his belief that his stepfather was in all likelihood the Zodiac Killer. The part featuring Kaufman begins at 14.56 into the video. He recruited Nanette Barto, a court certified forensic document examiner to take a look at Jack Tarrance's handwriting and compare it to the letters written by the Zodiac Killer. (37.11 in video). She thoroughly examined the handwriting exemplars provided and when prompted by Aphrodite Jones, she stated "I think Dennis Kaufman really does have the stepfather of the Zodiac Killer". Unfortunately, Nanette Barto's impartiality has since been called into question in some circles regarding certain aspects of the above suspect. The chances of Jack Tarrance being the Zodiac Killer is practically nil, along with the majority of the persons of interest named in this case. LENGTHY SACRAMENTO NEWS ARTICLE ON DENNIS KAUFMAN https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/zodiac-is-back/content?oid=283929 https://sites.google.com/site/zodiackillerjacktarrance/home 
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1963 June 4th-The Domingos/Edwards Murders
1966 October 30th-The Cheri Jo Bates Murder 1966 November 29th -The Confession Letter 1966 December- The Riverside Desktop Poem 1967 April 30th- Bates Had to Die Letter 1968 December 20th-The Lake Herman Murders 1969 July 4th-The Blue Rock Springs Attack 1969 July 31st- Vallejo Times-Herald Letter and 408 Cipher Page1 (solved) 1969 July 31st- Examiner Letter and 408 Cipher Page 2 (solved) 1969 July 31st - Chronicle Letter and 408 Cipher Page 3 (87% solved) 1969 July 31st-The Complete 408 Cipher 1969 August 4th- Debut of Zodiac Letter 1969 August 10th- Concerned Citizen Card 1969 September 27th- The Lake Berryessa Attack 1969 October 7th- The Good Citizen Letter 1969 October 11th-The Presidio Heights Murder 1969 October 13th-The Paul Stine Letters 1969 October 22nd-Call to Chat Show 1969 November 8th-The Dripping Pen Card and 340 Cipher (solved in 2020) 1969 November 9th-The Bus Bomb Letter 1969 November 19th- The Riddler Notes 1969 November 21st-The San Jose Code Letter 1969 November 28th-The Betsy Aardsma Murder 1969 December 7th-The Fairfield Letter 1969 December 10th- Forecast for Cancer 1969 December 11th- Forecast for Leo 1969 December 16th-The Fairfield Letter 1969 December 20th-The Melvin Belli Letter 1970 Feb 21st- The Hood and Garcia Murders 1970 March 22nd-The Modesto Attack 1970 April 15th-The Robert Salem Murder 1970 April 20th-"My Name is" Letter, Cipher 3 and Bus Bomb Diagram 1970 April 28th-The Dragon Card 1970 June 26th-The Button Letter Cipher 4 (solved in 2019) and Map 1970 July 4th-The Sleeping Bag Murders 1970 July 24th-The Kathleen Johns Letter 1970 July 26th-The Little List Letter 1970 Sept 6th-The Donna Lass Disappearance 1970 October 5th-13 Hole Postcard 1970 October 17th- "You Are Next" Postcard 1970 October 27th-The Halloween Card 1971 March 13th-The Los Angeles Letter 1971 March 22nd-The Pines Card 1971 Unknown- The 148 Character Cipher 1971 July 13th-The Monticello Card 1973 August 1st- The Albany Letter 1974 January 29th-The Exorcist Letter 1974 February 3rd-The SLA Letter 1974 May 8th-The Citizen Card 1974 July 8th-The Red Phantom Letter 1974 December 27th- Christmas Card 1975 November 3rd- The Belmont Letter 1978 April 24th-The 1978 Letter 1978 May 2nd- The Channel Nine Letter 1978 July 19th- The Scotch Tape Letter 1981 March 8th- The Peachtree Letter 1986 May 6th- The Freeway Letter 1987 October 28th- The 1987 Letter 1988 February 1st- The McDonald's Letter 1988 February 8th- The McDonald's Letter [2] 1990 September 25th- The Celebrity Cypher 1990 December-American Greetings Card 2001 January 10th- Happy New Year Card Unknown DMV Letter (possibly November 1971) |
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