| Did the Zodiac Killer place a phone call in San Francisco a few days before the Paul Stine murder on October 11th 1969 in Presidio Heights, threatening to bring his murderous rampage into the heart of the big city? |
Jim Dunbar In the early hours of October 22nd 1969, a phone call was made to the Oakland Police Department asking for either Francis Lee Bailey or Melvin Belli, two prominent attorneys, to appear on the KGO Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco that morning. A few hours later, somebody rang into the Jim Dunbar Show pretending to be the Zodiac Killer, adopting the less menacing name of "Sam" once prompted. That person was later identified as a mental patient, Eric Weill. When the 340 cipher was deciphered by Dave Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke in December 2020, the Zodiac Killer message finally revealed what everyone knew all along - that the Zodiac Killer never made that call to the Jim Dunbar Show. However, he didn't deny making the phone call to the Oakland Police Department. But why would the Zodiac Killer make a phone call to Oakland police to arrange an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco? Why not ring the Jim Dunbar Show directly? The answer may lie in the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, spoken by Jim Dunbar himself.
This was the dialogue between "Sam" (Eric Weill) and Jim Dunbar:
Jim Dunbar: Sam, let me ask you a question. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?
Sam: What?
Jim Dunbar: Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago when Mel Belli was with us?
Sam: Yes
Jim Dunbar: And you couldn't get through, the phones were tied up. Is that it?
Sam: Yes
It could be argued, when you listen to this exchange between the host and caller, that "Sam" has no idea what Jim Dunbar is referring to when he mentions a previous phone call received at the Jim Dunbar Show. He hesitates profoundly when asked the question, before saying "what". This could mean that the Zodiac Killer had previously phoned the Jim Dunbar Show between October 1st and October 8th 1969. When Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli are interviewing the caller, they are doing it under the presumption this could be the Zodiac Killer. So when they ask "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago", they are effectively asking the Zodiac Killer if he rang two or three weeks ago. This suggests they were aware of a previous call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the murder of Paul Stine. The Zodiac Killer may have rang the Jim Dunbar Show in early October but failed to get through. In other words, he attempted to call the TV show but the call was rejected for whatever reason. They may have thought it was just another crank call. This is probably why the Zodiac Killer eventually decided to ring the Oakland Police Department instead - getting them to relay the message to the Jim Dunbar Show - which they obviously did. There seems to be no other good reason why the Bay Area murderer would place a call to the Oakland Police Department, other than his failure to get his message across to the Jim Dunbar Show before October 11th 1969. It should also be noted that the San Francisco Police Department were inundated with calls after the murder of Paul Stine, probably forcing the Zodiac Killer to target his phone call to a 'less busy' police department and thereby guaranteeing the delivery of his message this time around. But what date was Melvin Belli on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to October 22nd 1969? PART 2.
This was the dialogue between "Sam" (Eric Weill) and Jim Dunbar:
Jim Dunbar: Sam, let me ask you a question. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?
Sam: What?
Jim Dunbar: Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago when Mel Belli was with us?
Sam: Yes
Jim Dunbar: And you couldn't get through, the phones were tied up. Is that it?
Sam: Yes
It could be argued, when you listen to this exchange between the host and caller, that "Sam" has no idea what Jim Dunbar is referring to when he mentions a previous phone call received at the Jim Dunbar Show. He hesitates profoundly when asked the question, before saying "what". This could mean that the Zodiac Killer had previously phoned the Jim Dunbar Show between October 1st and October 8th 1969. When Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli are interviewing the caller, they are doing it under the presumption this could be the Zodiac Killer. So when they ask "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago", they are effectively asking the Zodiac Killer if he rang two or three weeks ago. This suggests they were aware of a previous call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the murder of Paul Stine. The Zodiac Killer may have rang the Jim Dunbar Show in early October but failed to get through. In other words, he attempted to call the TV show but the call was rejected for whatever reason. They may have thought it was just another crank call. This is probably why the Zodiac Killer eventually decided to ring the Oakland Police Department instead - getting them to relay the message to the Jim Dunbar Show - which they obviously did. There seems to be no other good reason why the Bay Area murderer would place a call to the Oakland Police Department, other than his failure to get his message across to the Jim Dunbar Show before October 11th 1969. It should also be noted that the San Francisco Police Department were inundated with calls after the murder of Paul Stine, probably forcing the Zodiac Killer to target his phone call to a 'less busy' police department and thereby guaranteeing the delivery of his message this time around. But what date was Melvin Belli on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to October 22nd 1969? PART 2.
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