One of the earliest crimes to be connected to the Zodiac Killer was that of Johnny and Joyce Swindle (both 19 years), a newlywed couple brutally gunned down on Wednesday, February 5th 1964 as they were enjoying an evening out alongside Ocean Beach, San Diego, near Narragansett Avenue. It appeared the killer had shot them from distance first - perched near a retaining wall overlooking the sea - before approaching the couple for the final coup de grâce. Five shots from a .22 caliber weapon had been discharged from his sniper position by the rocks, with the last two directed at the heads of the young couple from very close range. Google Map location. 

It has been suggested that the Zodiac Killer must have been familiar with the area due to its remoteness -  and an area of Benicia/Vallejo that would unlikely to have been known by a stranger to the area, particularly in regards to it being used by courting couples late at night - and the exact reason the Zodiac Killer may have targeted this location. He knew it was secluded and he knew the possibility that victims could be found here, however, was there a closer connection. When the Zodiac Killer delivered a letter to the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969 he made reference to the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, 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. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun".

The Zodiac Killer's next attack was at Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, only 3.5 miles northwest of Lake Herman. with both crime scenes a relatively short distance from San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait. His final attack on a couple was on the shoreline of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, yet exhibited a marked deviation from the method he employed during his first two crimes. Nevertheless, it was again very close to a lake or large body of water. Lake Berryessa is situated approximately 50 miles north of Lake Herman Road, passing numerous areas on the way, including the region of Napa where he would eventually place his call at 1231 Main Street after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. It is for this reason, it appeared he had specifically earmarked this area as his preferred choice of attack site.     

The possibility exists that a close connection between the Zodiac Killer and water always existed, not because of the actual names of the crime scenes, but because of what he did there when he wasn't murdering people. The Zodiac Killer may have been an avid fisherman and hunter, not only because he used a different gun at all of the murders, implying an easy access and interest in weaponry, but because of certain hints contained in many of his letters and diagrams to the newspapers.
 
It is well known that 10.5 size Wing Walker impressions were found at the Lake Berryessa crime scene - a variant of the Jump Boot, used by military personnel - but ideal for hiking in rough and slippery terrain, with good ankle support. The Zodiac Killer also used a crossed circle logo, employed to maximum effect when he mailed us his Button letter and Phillips 66 Petroleum Map on June 26th 1970 stating the crosshairs were to 'be set to Mag N'. His directional knowledge was actually correct in both his two phone calls to police (despite what people claim on the internet), and seemed very precise when he talked about radians and inches along the radians, as well as stating the compass dial on the Phillips Map was to be set to Magnetic North. He seemed very familiar with this concept, despite the fact radians would have meant very little to the majority of the general public, unless of course you were a very keen fisherman, hiker or hunter - or all three.    

The compass he may have used could have been set with a directional arrow facing north, designated at zero degrees, similar in fashion to the compass marker he placed on the Phillips Map, complete with Magnetic North instructions. The planning or plotting of radians - and indeed murder sites - would have been easy for somebody who was familiar with the use of such a compass. 

The Zodiac Killer also stated on August 4th 1969 when he mailed the Debut of Zodiac 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. 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 pencil flashlight was a useful tool, not only as the Zodiac claimed, to use as a sighting implement to focus his aim, but a tool that may already have been readily available to him, as it is often used in pursuits such as fishing and hiking. It is ideal to read maps and to manage small fishing tackle because it could be used hands free, held in the mouth - and in addition - it also had the advantage of being lightweight and compact. The proximity of water in all these locations had the added benefit regarding the disposal of his weapon in the immediate aftermath of each crime, if indeed, this is what he did.

The Ocean Beach location, the Santa Barbara coastline (particularly in view of the area of the Domingos/Edwards murders, that would barely have been known by somebody unfamiliar with the area), the Lake Herman and Lake Berryessa locations, all frequented by hikers and in particular fishermen, suggested the Zodiac Killer (if responsible for all these crimes) had extensive knowledge of these areas and had good reason to have visited them all in advance of each murderous attack. They were his comfort zones. They were his areas of familiarity.  

It is arguable that the Zodiac Killer may have had a profession that took him close to all these areas. A connection could be forged from Humble Oil in Benicia, to the Santa Barbara oil fields, as well as the military angle, pursued from the standpoint of the Vandenberg Air Force Base, nine miles northwest of Lompoc, California to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. However, the possibility also exists that either of these occupations can stand alongside his recreational pursuits, with the military angle spiking the most interest as it can be intertwined with all of the above. The use of Wing Walkers, access to weaponry and a firm knowledge of map reading and co-ordinates, taking his profession straight into his pastimes and pursuits - that kept the hunter within him burning bright.

Recent events have shone some new light on the murder of Meadowbrook student Nikki Alexandra Benedict, just shy of forty seven years ago in Poway Road, Poway, California on Monday May 1st 1967. The young 14-year-old girl was traveling back home to Olive Tree Lane when her journey was cut short by an unknown assailant, who to this day remains a mystery.
She had left her friend's house, situated on Halper Road in the early evening hours and it was in the region of the 12700 blocks of Poway, 100 yards from the Carriage Road intersection that her life was cruelly snatched away by fatal stab wounds to her chest. See area on Google Maps. Nikki Benedict was discovered alive at approximately 6:30 pm by a local boy Ronald Fisk (11), who raced to get help on his bicycle to his fathers shop nearby. Bob Fisk ran a butchers store in Poway throughout the 1960s and 70s. 

Cheri Jo Bates was brutally stabbed outside the Riverside City College library after the killer had sabotaged her Volkswagen Beetle in the pretense of luring the young student to her death. One month later, on November 29th 1966, a typed Confession Letter was received at the Riverside Police and Riverside Enterprise detailing the murder, and culminating with the chilling words "Beware....I am stalking your girls now". Five months later came the murder of Nikki Benedict on May 1st 1967.
However, there is little to link the two cases other than a vague suggestion by the Zodiac Killer that there was a "lot more down there". On the face of it, this appears to be an unlikely Zodiac connection, but all avenues must be explored for the sake of the family and friends of Nikki Benedict, who surely after 47 years of questions deserve some form of resolution to her cruel murder.

This murder took place the day before the Zodiac Killer's Button Letter was received at the San Francisco Chronicle on 26th June 1970, claiming he had "shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38". However, the location in San Diego, and the traveling distance back to San Francisco makes any connection to the Button Letter, as well as the Zodiac Killer, unlikely.  Nevertheless, it provides a significant timeline between the murder of Larry Hargis and the mailing of the Button Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle the following day.

Any information regarding either of these cases, please contact the San Diego Homicide Detail by visiting their website below.
http://www.sdsheriff.net/coldcase/index.html. Thank-you.

Where did the Zodiac Killer live? A question that has always derived much speculation, based on the sites he mailed his letters, the location of his crimes and his apparent topographical knowledge, or lack of, when describing the areas his murders were committed. In a previous article, an area of interest was narrowed down to within a one mile radius of the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street. Indeed, this area contained the home of Arthur Leigh Allen at 32 Fresno Street. A link to this article is available at the foot of the page, but here we will be examining a different possible home location of the Zodiac Killer, based on his movements after each crime, the distance he traveled using the least effort principle, and the standard working week.

His four confirmed attacks were Lake Herman Road on 12.20.68, Blue Rock Springs 7.4.69, Lake Berryessa 9.27.69 and Presidio Heights 10.11.69. These four attacks were committed on a Friday, Friday, Saturday and Saturday respectively, all at the weekend, suggesting the killer may have had a standard 9-5 occupation from Monday to Friday, only committing his murders prior to a day of rest. Serial killers often begin their crimes close to home in what is termed a comfort zone. In other words, areas that are familiar to them, such as their leisure zones, their place of work, the location of friends and family, along with functional activities. But not too close to risk identification or draw attention to their home residence. Once a crime has been perpetrated, the main objective of the criminal is to return home or to relative safety. Killers will venture further away from their home base as they gain confidence, but generally not too far, as the least time they are traveling carrying the 'smoking gun' or harboring transfer from the crime scene, the better.   

On the right is a map of the four crime scene locations and the traveling times to each from Benicia, as this area will now become the main focus of our attention as the likely residence of the Zodiac Killer. If Benicia was his residence during the murders, then his first two attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park would have been relatively close to home, but committed in isolated locations that served to protect his identity.

If he worked standard occupation hours and finished work on Friday at 5:00 pm, the least effort principle would come into play. Murder was on his mind, but having arrived home late afternoon or early evening, he conceivably wanted to travel the least distance possible, while still maintaining a reasonable buffer zone to his residence. 

This would explain both the Lake Herman Road murders and the Blue Rock Springs attack occurring on a Friday night.
His Saturday crimes of Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights were considerably further - and being a rest day for the Zodiac Killer - the least effort principle would be mitigated. Now we will examine the possible movements of the Zodiac Killer after each crime to narrow down a location for his home residence.

Eyewitness testimony from the Lake Herman Road murders suggested a very small window of time that the Zodiac Killer had available to him in order to escape detection, but one eyewitness, that of Stella Borges, was the most crucial of all. A second eyewitness, James Owen, passed the turnout at what was calculated to be 11:14 pm and he saw no victims lying on the turnout floor. However, Stella Borges in a revised timeline, passed the turnout at approximately 11:20 pm and saw both victims David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen lying on the gravel turnout. Based on this chain of events, the earliest the Zodiac Killer could have murdered the young couple and started to leave the turnout would have been 11:15 pm. Stella Borges, it was estimated left her ranch at 11:15 pm heading towards Benicia. She reported passing no vehicles en route. Therefore the Zodiac Killer could not possibly have headed towards Vallejo along Lake Herman Road using this timeline. The only possible scenario using these claimed times, is the Zodiac Killer headed in an easterly direction towards Benicia and towards the relative safety of home. 

After committing two brutal murders, possibly covered in biological material from the close contact murder of David Faraday, the sound of at least ten shots on a still dark night, and almost certainly still in possession of a .22 weapon, it would have been unimaginably stupid - and furthermore made little sense - for the killer to head in the opposite direction to his home residence, thereby risking a prolonged period of detection, and in all likelihood, ruling out Vallejo as the home residence of Northern California's most elusive serial killer.  

If he lived in Benicia or somewhere in that region, as his movements suggested after the Lake Herman Road double murder, then knowing the phone call would place him at greater risk, it is conceivable he discarded the weapon before making the phone call to Nancy Slover, in his mind, reducing the risk of being stopped carrying the 'smoking gun'. He was familiar with Lake Herman Road - and in near isolation, free from prying eyes - it would have been a perfect disposal site for his weapon, particularly bearing in mind Lake Herman was situated near to his first murders. A journey from Blue Rock Springs to Lake Herman, with time spent to exit his vehicle, wipe down the weapon and toss the evidence into Lake Herman, before returning to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne Street, would have taken approximately 30 minutes, and nearer the time of 12:40 am, the time the call was logged. Any stop by police now, would have held far less risk. He could equally have traveled straight home after the attack at Blue Rock Springs, disposed of any incriminating evidence, before returning to make the phone call. 
In the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover, the killer would announce his campaign of terror "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".

After his third attack at Lake Berryessa, he made a second phone call at 1231 Main St, Napa, heading in a southerly direction, a direct route back to the Vallejo and Benicia region, suggesting a return to the locale of his first two crimes. This was the first time the Zodiac Killer had traveled any great distance to perpetrate murder. Is it possible a connection between Lake Berryessa and Lake Herman could be forged from a standpoint of recreation? Was the Zodiac Killer a keen fisherman in his spare time, hence his choice of remote areas that seemed to punctuate his early crimes?

His final confirmed murder was that of Paul Stine at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. This was in stark contrast to his previous attacks, taking place in a built-up area with high risk. To commit such a brazen attack in a heavily populated location seemed on the face of it an unusual choice, which led to the idea the killer was very confident in these surroundings. ​It is well documented that a large proportion of his mailed correspondence was postmarked San Francisco, indicating he may have likely worked in San Francisco, yet lived in the Vallejo or Benicia region.

The area of the red triangle (drawn on the first map diagram), suggests a comfort zone, incorporating Presidio Heights, Lake Herman Road, Lake Berryessa, Napa, Blue Rock Springs Park, Benicia and the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection. His residence could in theory fall anywhere within this triangle if we take geographic profiling to its basics, with the central area of the triangle providing the greatest interest of all. 

SEE; http://www.zodiacciphers.com/1/post/2013/08/the-lost-40-minutes.html

It has often been theorized that the 340 cipher may have inspired the design of later communications, but equally, as time went by the Zodiac Killer dismayed that nobody was able to crack his masterpiece, may have dropped clues or keys in his subsequent cards and letters, particularly the latter ones as he became more desperate to push people in the right direction. An interesting article on Jos Kirps's Popular Science and Technology Blog, indicated some extremely close connections, that suggested the Halloween card mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on October 27th 1970 may have been the Zodiac Killer's biggest clue to date.

He observed that on the Halloween card the Zodiac Killer had added the phrases By Fire, By Gun, By Knife and By Rope in four quadrants around the intersecting Paradice and Slaves, which may bear some relation to the unsolved 340 cipher. The word "By" was also present in the four quadrants of the 340 cipher, all running horizontally. If that was not curious enough, he noticed the possibility that the word Paradice ran down the center of the 340 cipher, and the word Slaves  across its midsection, on the 10th row. In the following section we shall use this as our starting point and attempt to find some more connections to the Halloween card.

We shall add the words  Fire, Knife and Rope underneath the words "By" on the 340 cipher (By Gun runs upwards to remain in its respective quadrant). On the Halloween card the Zodiac Killer placed Fire, Gun and Rope next to the letter B of "By". But the word Knife is placed next to the letter Y of "By" (as it runs vertically). In the diagram below Fire, Gun, Knife and Rope have been colored in.

If you take a look at the word Knife and Rope, the letter E on both would fall over a > symbol on the 340 cipher. The letter E in the word Slaves would fall over a < symbol. The E in the vertical word Paradice would fall over a < symbol as well.

Therefore out of the five E's on the Halloween card, four would fall over a directional symbol, either < or > (Fire would not). If we transposed this E onto the fourth symbol on the top row of the 340 cipher, the word Here is formed.
This would now connect five directional symbols to the letter E. In the above examples, three E's are represented by > symbol and two E's are represented by < symbol. But it would be nice to have five the same.

The Halloween card has many interesting features, but in terms of focusing in on individual alphabetical letters, the Zodiac Killer does two things. He mirrors the letter N in By Knife and underlines LAV in Paul Averly on the envelope. If we then produce a mirror image of all the symbols on the 17th line of the 340 cipher (to correct the reversed N in Knife), the < (E) of Paradice becomes >. If we take a mirror image of all the characters on the 10th line of the 340 cipher, including Slaves (LAV), the < (E) of Slaves becomes >. Therefore all five E's would now be represented by the symbol >.

On a cold dark night back on December 20th 1968, a young couple were enjoying a late night out, parked up in their Rambler on a lonely gravel turnout, just off the unlit, narrow winding road of Lake Herman, when an unknown assailant shattered the tranquil night time air, gunning down both David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in cold blood and unleashing an unparalleled horror on a community, the like of which had never been seen before. Unbeknownst at the time, this crime was just the start of a bloody campaign of terror by the now infamous Zodiac Killer, that would in a little over six months become all too apparent, when police dispatcher Nancy Slover received a phone call from the killer at 12:40 am, on the morning of July 5th 1969. 

The Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa attacks saw two of the victims survive and the final confirmed murder at Presidio Heights had key witnesses view the killer, exiting the taxi of murder victim Paul Stine and heading north along Cherry Street, but the Lake Herman Road double murder was altogether different, in that there were actually no witnesses of the crime in progress. The subsequent analysis of the crime scene was the only story to be told. Several witnesses traveling along Lake Herman Road that night passed by the scene, but by chance failed to spot the killer, in what must have been a slender corridor of time for the Zodiac Killer to have committed the murders and depart the remote turnout, heading back towards Benicia or Vallejo without being seen. 

In a previous post, Morf13 calculated the actual time difference between James Owen passing the location, driving towards Humble Oil in Benicia for his graveyard shift and seeing no bodies in the turnout, and the arrival of Stella Borges (Medeiros), who discovered the two victims, may have been as little as six minutes or less, which is a very small window of time for the Zodiac Killer to unleash his horror and make good his escape.  

unleashing his horrifying attack. But there are some problems with this exact chain of events. 

James Owen mentions no gunshots in his first statement to police on 21st December 1968, but three days later he states that "he thought he heard a shot". On a quiet country road at approximately 11:14 pm at night, the killer only waited 30 seconds after James Owen had passed before firing off numerous rounds from a .22 caliber weapon. But Owen supposedly only heard one. After James Owen passed the turnout, are we to conclude the Zodiac Killer only shot David Faraday (the shot James Owen heard), then waited a certain length of time until James Owen was out of earshot, then murdered Betty Lou Jensen? The sequence of events makes little sense from either perspective and in all probability James Owen heard nothing. This also raises questions. James Owen in his first statement describes two cars 10 feet apart, one was a 1956 or 1957 station wagon, boxy type with a neutral color, but was unable to provide any meaningful description of the other car. This became 3-4 feet in the second statement, but the report also uses the phrase "He definitely saw two cars". Why the emphasis on definitely. Was he questioned on this fact. 

The widely believed sequence of events is that the Zodiac Killer approached in his car, forced the couple to leave their vehicle from the passenger side door, initially shot David Faraday at close range (or after a very brief struggle), and as Betty Lou Jensen ran for her life, she was gunned down by five shots to her back, finally succumbing approximately 34 feet to the west side of the gravel turnout. She fell backwards, her head finally resting 28'6" from the rear bumper of the Rambler station wagon. He then departed the scene.   

Mike Morford (Morf13) posted a very interesting timeline of the main eyewitnesses movements during the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968 and it demonstrates the very small window of time the Zodiac Killer had available to him, to avoid being spotted, possibly as little as six minutes. With his permission, the forum post can be read unchanged and in its entirety here.

WILLIAM CROW-
At aprox 9:30 to 10:00, Crow and his Girlfriend claim that they were parked on that very spot where Faraday & Jensen would be murdered a little over an hour later. There were no other cars parked there. Crow claims that while parked at the spot checking out his girlfriend’s new car, a blue car, possibly a Valient, passed them coming from Benicia to Vallejo, and then suddenly stopped in the road and started to back up. Crow, sensing danger, quickly pulled out, and the other car followed them at a high speed before Crow was able to quickly turn off, losing the blue car behind them. The car that chased Crow apparently contained two white males.

The Yours went down the road a ways, then turned around and worked their way back, and again saw the Victims and their car a couple minutes later, still in the same previous positions. The car was facing “EAST TOWARDS THE FIELD, LEFT OF THE GATE”.When the yours turned around at the Marshall Ranch, they noticed the raccoon hunter’s red truck. (Connelly & Gasser), and “at this time, the car was NOW FACING OUT TO THE ROAD”, and that there were “TWO WHITE MALES IN THE CAR”. There’s a bit of confusion here, because the report mentions “TWO MEN IN THE CAR”, which should read as, “IN THE TRUCK”. And also, it’s not clear from the report, but is likely to be assumed, that the car that was “NOW FACING OUT TO THE ROAD” was Faraday’s, and that the “TWO MEN IN THE CAR” were actually the two hunters in the truck. In a later report about 3 months after the incident, Mrs Your continues to say that she saw the two victims in the Rambler, and again mentions that when their headlights shined on the young Caucasian couple, consisting of a boy, and a girl, the boy adjusted himself, moving in his seat. She also once again details the hunters, and their clothing. Nothing changes in her description of the scene or the cars. She estimates that she encountered the hunters and saw the Rambler at about 11:15-11:18pm. Mr. Your describes the same details, and estimated that they were at the scene between 11:00 & 11:20pm. (The Yours clock was found to be off by____minutes).

After the Yours turned around, the hunters sat there about another 5 minutes, and then drove off. Connelly estimated that they left the area between 11:05 & 11:15pm. 
If we assume that the hunters started walking back to their truck at Connelly’s earliest estimated time of 10:50pm, and it took them 3-10 minutes to get to their truck, they arrived at the truck about 10:53 to 11:00pm. They sat there until approximately 10:58 to 11:05pm, at which time they saw the Yours turn around. They then sat there another 5 minutes or so, until approximately 11:03 to 11:12, before they left.

JAMES OWEN-
James Owen estimated that he passed the scene at 11:20pm. Owen estimated that he left his home in Vallejo for work at Humble Oil at about 11pm, heading towards Benicia. Police determined that Owen’s clock was 6 minutes fast, and that he really would have left at about 10:54pm putting him on the scene at about 11:14. In fact, 11:14 appears on one of the sketches, and the sketch shows Owen’s car passing the scene, and shows Faraday’s car in it’s spot, with a 2nd mystery car parked to the right of it, which is what Owen claims he saw as he went by. Owen’s account may perhaps be more important than any other witnesses, as he is the last person to see the Victim’s car prior to it being found at aprox 11:20pm by Stella Borges, along with it’s two occupants, dead on the road beside it. In short, police think that Zodiac killed the two victims between 11:14pm, and 11:20pm, when Borges found the bodies. Also of note, Owen states that he saw no people in the cars, or anywhere around them, which would include two dead bodies on the ground. Police stated that “it takes 19 minutes to travel the distance from his home to the crime scene”, which again, puts him there at 11:14pm.

Keep in mind, Owen is placed there at 11:14pm up to this point. Now for something crucial- police checked her clock, and found it to be one minute fast, meaning that she likely would really be there at 11:13-11:14. Well, obviously, this is a huge glaring problem, Owen there at 11:14 seeing two cars and no people or bodies, and Borges being there at 11:13-11:14 and seeing one car and two bodies. Obviously, both of the established times for Owen and Borges can’t be correct. What happened? Borges drove off immediately at speeds of 60-70mph towards Benicia to get help, where she eventually ran into Benicia Police Officer Pitta. From Pitta’s report, he notes that Borges flagged him down at aprox 11:25pm. Pitta then raced to the scene arriving there at about 11:28pm. This is apparently how they established that Borges took 5 minutes to find and make contact with Pitta. They now think that Borges was actually at the scene at 11:20, hence the 6 minute window for zodiac to strike. The police report mentions “the distance was 3.4 miles” from where she found the cops, and the murder scene, and “possibly took her 5 minutes to drive”.

According to Owen, they also never asked him for prints, or writing samples. For these reasons, and the fact Owen is the last person confirmed to be at the crime scene before Borges found the bodies a few minutes later, he has become my favorite suspect. Owen was the only person at the scene that night without a witness to verify his statements, or provide an alibi for him. He had multiple inconsistencies in his statements to police. In one account he mentioned that the mystery car parked next to the Rambler was 3-4 feet away from the Rambler, and in the other statement, it was 10 feet. The biggest discrepancy of all, was that 9 hours after the crime on 12/21, Owen was giving a statement at the scene of the double murder, likely with chalk outlines on the ground, yet he failed to mention hearing any shots 9 hours before when he passed the scene, yet 3 days later on the 24th, Owen suddenly mentions that he heard a shot after he passed the scene, about a quarter mile up the road. Personally, I find it highly unusual that a witness would leave out a detail like that only 9 hours after the crime when it was fresh in his mind, especially a retired military guy like him who you would expect to be more detail oriented.Whether or not Owen was Zodiac, can be debated, the point is, the window for Zodiac to get in and out unseen, is very tight. Between the hunters leaving and Borges finding the bodies, was likely about 10 minutes. Owen is the only one confirmed to be there in between. The time between Owen passing, and Borges finding the bodies, is really tight, 6 minutes according to police, but it could be as little as 3-4 minutes. 

It simply would take the greatest luck for Zodiac to slip in to the scene without being seen just prior to Owen arriving, and slip out just before Borges finding the bodies, and Owen happens to be there at that time. He should have been properly ruled out as a suspect.

Thanks to Morf13 at  ZodiacKillerSite Forum.  To view the Lake Herman Road Timeline thread  visit here. 

The final confirmed letter mailed by the infamous Zodiac Killer to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 29th 1974 has been commonly referred to as the Exorcist Letter. This sixty-one word correspondence appeared to mock the 1973 movie The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin and based on a novel by William Peter Blatty published in 1971, chronicling the demonic possession of a twelve-year-old girl, Regan MacNeil. William Peter Blatty spent long nights in a secluded Lake Tahoe cabin crafting images of good and evil, religion, faith and the afterlife, that would eventually go on to make movie history and court its fair share of controversy along the way. 

The letter is short, reminiscent of much of the Zodiac Killer's later contact with authorities, but as well as mentioning The Exorcist movie, the letter, in rather disjointed fashion, breaks into a Mikado recital once again, recalling memories of the Little List Letter mailed three and a half years previously on July 26th 1970. But this time the foreboding 'Tit Willow' seemed contemplatory in this context, possibly marking the end of the Zodiac reign - and to this day is still often quoted as the murderer's epitaph. The third and final section issued the usual threat of more murders, capped off with Asian style symbols in the form of a cryptic message. Like much of his later correspondence there is little substance here, but we will attempt to delve a little deeper into the Exorcist Letter and find any links that may be relevant or otherwise, as to why he wrote the letter in the first place. This is not a theory, just an examination into where the Zodiac Killer may have been drawing his inspiration.       

The Little List Letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 26th 1970 heavily featured the Gilbert and Sullivan stage play, The Mikado. One section loosely quotes 'a more humane Mikado',  followed by the more extensive paraphrasing of Act 1 Part 5a, 'As some day it may happen'. The curious thing, is that the Zodiac Killer's version of the Little List mimics closer to the Groucho Marx version in the Bell Telephone Hour (1960) than the original Gilbert and Sullivan play. Visit here for the full audio collection: Gilbert Sullivan-The Mikado audio. A thread at the Zodiac Killer Site Forum also covers this topic in detail. Groucho Marx would possibly appear again, depicted in the American Greetings Card or Eureka Card, mailed by either the Zodiac or a copycat in the December of 1990.

The Eureka Card was reminiscent of the Halloween Card mailed some 20 years earlier. It begins with the words FROM YOUR SECRET PAL CAN'T GUESS WHO I AM YET?  WELL, LOOK INSIDE AND YOU'LL FIND OUT...  and once opened stated ... THAT I'M GONNA KEEP YOU GUESSIN'! HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ANYWAY. The scene portrayed on the Christmas card  was of a snowman disguised in a Groucho Marx style nose and glasses. In front of the snowman was a rabbit or hare apparently gazing up at the wintry scene. One cannot help thinking the Zodiac Killer chose his cards for a reason.

Another interesting connection was noted on viewing the Tom Hanson Zodiac movie from 1971, in that the killer wore a Groucho Marx style nose and glasses in one scene from the movie. View the scene and thread at ZodiacKiller.com. But this was not the only possible film connection to the Groucho Marx disguise featured on the 1990 Eureka Card.  

Terror Train was released in 1980, directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson and David Copperfield. During New Year celebrations at the students fraternity house Sigma Phi, a prank backfires on Kenny Hampson (Derek MacKinnion). Mentally scarred by the event, this forms the basis of revenge when the students responsible for the prank board a private train hosting a fancy dress party, exactly three years later. On boarding the train one of the students is stabbed, but his friends believing it is a prank, continue along unconcerned. The killer collects the victim's Groucho Marx mask, follows them onto the train and seeks his revenge, one by one. The movie was primarily a thriller/slasher, filmed in Canada from November 21st to December 23rd 1979 and released by Twentieth Century Fox in the October of 1980.

But can we connect Groucho Marx to the Exorcist Letter? Not directly, but by association. The Zodiac Killer described The Exorcist as, "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen". Well, this may not be the case, however, the genesis of the movie may well have been born with the help of a comedy genius - that of Groucho Marx. The Exorcist author, William Peter Blatty, was a close friend of Groucho Marx, and there was an intention by Marx to dress as the priest Father Lankester Merrin from the movie and appear on the set of the Exorcist film, but due to scheduling matters the comedic entrance never materialized. But in one episode of the popular You Bet Your Life series, hosted by Groucho Marx, William Peter Blatty was a contestant and walked away with a prize of $10,000. When he was asked what he was going to do with the money, he stated he was to take some time off  to work on a novel. That novel was the acclaimed inspiration for the movie The Exorcist.  

Groucho Marx was a lifelong fan of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, appearing as Ko-Ko in a production of the Mikado, on NBC's Bell Telephone Hour in 1960. He also recited Tit Willow in 1960 and on the Dick Cavett Show on March 20th 1970. Wikipedia. Therefore, Groucho Marx can be associated through the Little List Letter mailed on July 26th 1970, the Exorcist Letter on January 29th 1974 and the Eureka Card in the December of 1990. However, there is a little more background.

William Peter Blatty released a novel in 1966, entitled Twinkle,Twinkle Killer Kane. It achieved little commercial or critical acclaim. View accompaniment. The story centers on a psychiatrist, 'Killer Kane' (Hudson L Kane) and explores faith, humanity and irony. He enters a madhouse to determine if its residents, comprised of soldiers and astronauts are actually mad or just putting on an act. This results in extended interaction with resident Manfred Cutshaw on the concept of God. In the story Kane postulates "every man who has ever lived has been born with desire for perfect happiness. But unless there is an afterlife, fulfillment of this desire is a patent impossibility". It was to be later rewritten and published under the new title 'The Ninth Configuration' in 1980, attempting to explore the marginal line of sanity over insanity. It failed to inspire the public on its cinematic release.    

After the brutal execution of Paul Stine at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, the question has always remained, which route did the Zodiac Killer take after he was last seen walking away from the crime scene northbound along Cherry Street? This is where the facts cease and the speculation begins, so let us start with what we do know. The Zodiac Killer was spotted from the upstairs window of a house across the street approximately 50-60 feet from the murder scene by three teenagers.
The killer appeared to be wiping down areas of the taxicab from both inside and outside, but crucially the witnesses reported hearing no gunshot. The fare was logged for Washington and Maple Street but the taxicab had traveled one block further to the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets. More importantly, two days after the callous murder, the Zodiac Killer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle containing a torn section of Paul Stine's shirt, leaving law enforcement in no doubt that the murderer of four young people, had indeed brought his reign of terror to the midst of San Francisco - but that was not all.

The Zodiac Killer began his letter with the words "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. I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". The killer was even claiming to have committed the crime of murder, at Washington and Maple, not at Washington and Cherry where he was ultimately observed leaving the taxicab and heading north up Cherry Street. This would clearly explain the absence of any gunshot heard by the three teenagers - had this been the case.

heading back to his getaway vehicle, somewhere at the top of Maple Street. It may be the case his vehicle was parked somewhere along Jackson Street, West Pacific Avenue or by the eastern edge of Presidio Park, but ideally the least walking he could afford himself, the better.

When responding officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms steered their patrol car along Jackson Street, they noticed a white male, described later, as 35-45 years, 5'10" in height, 180-200 lbs, barrel chested, with light colored hair, who appeared to be in no hurry - in what Officer Donald Fouke described as a shuffling lope, bent forward with his head down. He also claimed in the 2007 Zodiac documentary that he saw the man entering the stairwell of a house, thought to be 3712 Jackson Street. But was this the Zodiac Killer?

sidewalk of Jackson Street, placing himself in closer proximity to approaching police vehicles and the glare of headlights. Any blood transfer on his person or clothing would be more likely to be spotted from a patrol car on this side of the road. One reason the murderer of Paul Stine would have contemplated being present on this side of the street, is if he had killed the taxicab driver at Washington and Maple, not Washington and Cherry. But why?

The absence of a gunshot being heard by the three teenagers has been speculated on before, with a great article here at http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/blog/mysteryquest-paul-holes-and-the-murder-of-paul-stine, explaining a possible alternative to the widely held view. The killer draws his gun just as Paul Stine is starting to pull over at Washington and Maple - and either a brief struggle ensued - or the taxicab driver is killed immediately with a single shot to the right side of his head. But either way, Paul Stine's foot slips off the brake pedal and the killer has to react immediately by entering over to the front passenger side of the taxicab, leaning or pushing Paul Stine's lifeless body over towards the driver side door so he can gain some form of limited control over the foot pedals and steering wheel. He then coasts the taxicab away from Washington and Maple - and the sound of the gunshot -  to the next intersection at Washington and Cherry, where the taxicab is brought to its final resting place. There has also been speculation that the murderer traveled in the front passenger side of the taxicab during the journey, but either way, if Paul Stine had been murdered at Washington and Maple as the Zodiac Killer himself claimed, then for one entire block it was possible the killer was pushing left against Paul Stine's body as he tried to regain some form of control. The blood loss exhibited at the scene would have meant the Zodiac Killer's left side would have received the majority of the blood transfer, as he leaned against Paul Stine in commandeering the vehicle. This would explain why the killer was wiping down various parts of the front side of the taxicab. If he had remained in the rear of the taxicab throughout, this action would have been unnecessary.  

Of course, if the killer had exited the crime scene and traveled on the left side of Jackson Street (as viewed by the approaching patrol car), the left part of his body would have been exposed to the full glare of passing vehicles. Any motion to turn into a residence on that side of the street would again expose the blood on the left side of his attire. If he had turned to face into the street to conceal his left side, his face would be in full view, so any description passed out would once more draw too much unwanted attention.

This may explain the reason why the killer chose to walk on the north side of Jackson Street in closer proximity to oncoming traffic and fly in the face of the rational choice, of staying on the south side of the street. The killer claimed two days later in his letter the the San Francisco Chronicle that he was hiding in the Presidio Park, despite this proclamation being discredited by some Zodiac observers, due to the fact sniffer dogs were employed in the search, and anybody hiding in the park covered in blood, would have been apprehended fairly quickly. But one thing the Zodiac Killer did say that was probably true, was "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night" - and the real reason, why he was, where he was, when Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms entered Jackson Street on that fateful October night back in 1969.