The Zodiac Killer placed a phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover at 12:40 am on July 5th 1969, reporting his attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs Park, while also stating he was responsible for the Lake Herman Road double murder on December 20th 1968. Although universally regarded as a payphone call with incorrect directions from Zodiac, this was never the case. The directions he gave were totally accurate and make perfect sense by the addition of one full stop in the message, described as the "substance of the statement" and not a verbatim transcription in the police report. The full explanation can be found here - but here is a depiction of what should have been transcribed by police.  

Recently, the phone call "trace" has been discussed again on the Zodiac forums, which I believe is probably the most important topic regarding the home address of the Zodiac Killer. The original transcription of the payphone message is below, containing two crucial times. 12:40 am: The time the payphone call from Zodiac was received, and 12:47 am: The time Mrs Johnson notified police that the call had been traced to a payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street in Vallejo.    

How they achieved the trace in 1969 will not be discussed here, suffice to say, they located the correct payphone. The Zodiac Killer stated in his August 4th 1969 letter, that "when I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". It is therefore very likely that this trace resulted in the payphone being rung back by PT&T opersators, much to the annoyance of Zodiac. If it wasn't rung back, then it's clear that the Zodiac Killer used this story to invent an eyewitness who saw his "brown car" as a ruse. Assuming the payphone was contacted by a PT&T operator, we have to consider the time that this occurred. Let us evaluate two scenarios, bearing in mind the Zodiac phone call would have lasted no longer than 30 seconds.

[1] The phone call by Zodiac was completed at 12:40:30. Let us assume that Betty Main traced the call very quickly, at about 12:41 am. She would have done this in full knowledge of the seriousness of the call, possibly regarding four murders. So if she understood the gravity of the call and the need for police to respond quickly to the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street, why did the police get the call from PT&T operator, Mrs Johnson, six minutes later? Are we to assume that they just sat on their hands for six full minutes. This makes no sense.

Before the advent of the Rigel software system, utilizing the geographic profiling techniques of criminologist Dr. Kim Rossmo, a rudimentary form of geographic profiling was used by Stuart Kine before the capture of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe. This is mentioned by Dr. Kim Rossmo in a 1998 NCIS Conference, stating "I’m sure people in this room are familiar with this case. This is an example of an investigation going awry because of geography. The tape that was sent to the investigators from someone claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper led to analysis of the accents, they felt there was a Geordie accent, the person was from the Sunderland area, and they focused on that part of England which was about a hundred miles away from where the crimes were occurring. That was wrong. Sutcliffe lived close to the area. Interesting, and I’m not sure how many people are aware of it, but shortly before Sutcliffe’s arrest through work by some patrol officers, a Home Office scientist by the name of Stuart Kine did a sort of basic geographic analysis of the crimes and was quite successful as it turned out in his predictions".  He was in fact very accurate, bearing in mind the size of the killing field - and by literally sticking pins in a map - highlighted an area somewhere by Shipley, only 6 miles from the 6 Garden Lane, Bradford address of Peter Sutcliffe. View geoprofile.

Covered extensively in previous articles, had the Zodiac Killer worked a conventional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 profession and had lived in the Vallejo area at the time of his murders, we would expect to see his first two Friday attacks relatively close to his home base. Unconstrained by time on Saturday, the Zodiac Killer would be able to venture further afield for his attacks - which is exactly what happened. However, we now have another tool in our arsenal, highlighted in this short but informative video by BCU professor Craig Jackson. Here is a small extract: "Wherever the Yorkshire Ripper was based, the time of his murders would be a vital clue to where he lived. So, if one of the Yorkshire Ripper's victims was murdered in the early evening, 8 o' clock or 9 o' clock at night, that individual could be based very far away from where the Yorkshire Ripper's base was. But if the victim was murdered in the very small hours, midnight, or one or two in the morning, that victim would probably be very close to where the Ripper's base was, assuming that the Ripper would have to be home at a reasonable time to be with their partner or families, or friends who they lived with". The type of victim targeted, the areas they frequented and their availability also has to be factored into the target backcloth. Therefore, we will use the Zodiac Killer's four attacks and see if they conform to a home base in Vallejo.

If the Zodiac had left his house to search for victims on a Friday in the area of Columbus Parkway and Lake Herman Road, then he likely had a knowledge that young courting couples or lone individuals may be found in these remote locations. He has a mental map of the area and an optimal time he would like to return to his residence - but he knows that this sort of victim targeting is unreliable. Sometimes the opportunity may present itself immediately, while other times he may have to do several passes before a suitable target or targets appear. He has to factor this into his thinking when leaving his residence. In other words, if he wants to arrive home no later than 12:15 am, he has to allow for this when leaving his residence. In respect to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, he could have left his residence at 10:00 pm to allow for this "hit and miss" technique of trawling the eastern edge of Vallejo. This may have accounted for the earlier suspicious sightings on December 20th 1968, prior to the eventual double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen.

If we apply the model of professor Craig Jackson to our killer, then an attack at approximately 11:15 pm at Lake Herman Road and midnight at Blue Rock Springs Park, would suggest a killer who lived close by and was aiming to return home sometime in the late evening to early morning hours. If the Zodiac Killer had lived near to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone, he would have arrived home at around 11:30 pm on 12/20/68, and 12:15 am on 07/04/69. The Zodiac Killer's attack at Presidio Heights would not have been affected by a "hit and miss" targeting technique. Had the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine been planned ahead of time, he would know where he was to find his victim, where he was going to murder the taxicab driver and where his escape route lay before him - including his journey time back to Vallejo. Paul Stine was murdered shortly before 10:00 pm on 10/11/69. The Zodiac Killer (had he parked his vehicle near the Presidio Park) would have about 5-15 minutes of walk time, followed by a 50 to 60 minute journey home via the Golden Gate Bridge. At the latest, he would arrive home at approximately 11:15 pm. Therefore, his window of time to arrive back at his residence after three of his attacks, would fall within one hour of each other (between 11:15 pm and 12:15am) - although it may be slightly more.     

The Lake Berrryessa crime is altogether different. If we believe that the Zodiac Killer targeted areas he was familiar with, then he knew that the outskirts of eastern Vallejo, in the secluded areas of Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs during the weekend or holiday season, was likely rich pickings for courting "couples" or "stray people" in the night. The sheer fact he wrote about killing "over a dozen people" at the weekend, showed an element of confidence in these surroundings, despite the obvious braggadocio displayed.

The Presidio Heights area must also have been familiar to him, to risk such an audacious attack in a built-up area of San Francisco. Dr. Kim Rossmo summed it up perfectly: ​​"The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts. In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques".

His familiarity with Lake Berryessa (09/27/69) was also obvious. The Zodiac Killer knew on this occasion that a targeted attack in the late evening hours (close to midnight), similar to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, was wholly uncertain with respect to finding a suitable victim or victims in this location. But he knew that a late afternoon or early evening attack within the expanse of Lake Berryessa, would be the safest bet, The location, on this occasion, effectively governed the earlier attack time. When this constraint was unburdened during his first, second and fourth attacks (assuming he lived in Vallejo and went directly home), his arrival time to his residence would have always fell within a 60-75 minute window of time. If the Zodiac Killer had a preconceived time he wanted to return home by, then Vallejo by the payphone was a perfect fit for a good night's sleep - as well as not arousing suspicion - had he been married (with children).     

The circumstances of a payphone call 40 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs attack, being made from a location only 10 minutes journey time from the crime scene, has generated the idea of a killer who lived extremely close to the Springs and Tuolumne intersection in Vallejo. The over-detailed description of a negro-male eyewitness, generously offered by the author in his August 4th 1969 communication, testimony that the murderer was making the phone call accompanied by his car, His unnecessary phraseology of "when I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car", can be construed as a man attempting to sell us the idea that he was not on foot. This laid the notion of a ruthless killer who separated himself from his vehicle, weapon and clothing, before making the risky phone call so near to the Vallejo Police Department. He also admitted to hearing the 'trace' on the payphone, indicating that he was still within earshot of the payphone when it rang. This is important, because if the ring-back hadn't occurred within approximately 20 seconds, he would have been long gone in his vehicle. 

There is also a distinct possibility the slayer of Darlene Ferrin had blood transfer on his t-shirt, as he leaned over the passenger side seat of the 1963 brown Corvair in order to shoot Michael Mageau as he took refuge in the rear of the vehicle. Michael Mageau later described a heavyset man of 26-30 years, standing at about 5'8'' tall, beefy build, but not blubbery fat, possibly 195-200 pounds, short curly light brown hair, almost blond. He stated the assailant's vehicle was similar to Darlene's brown Corvair, possibly lighter in color. The accuracy of these statements must be seen in context to the very brief time he was given to view the subject. Nevertheless, these were his recollections documented in the police report. 

Nearly one month after the attack on July 31st 1969, three letters were mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald threatening more murder and mayhem. Speculation inevitably arose after the Blue Rock Springs attack, as to whether Darlene Ferrin was specifically targeted by the killer, after three further suspicious phone calls were received in the early morning hours of July 5th. Much has been discussed regarding these phone calls, received at the 1300 Virginia Street residence of Darlene Ferrin, and the 930 Monterey Street residence of Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin at approximately 01:30 am, just one and a half hours after the murder of Darlene Ferrin and attempted murder of Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs.

Using the descriptors above, I went in search of a young male, heavyset, brownish hair, around 5'8", driving a vehicle similar or the same as the brown Corvair of Darlene Ferrin. This subject must also have had the ability to drive from Blue Rock Springs to a residence close to the payphone, so he could ditch his vehicle, weapon and clothing, and still walk to the payphone by 12:40 am and place the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. The murderer issued the message "I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye". The wording of the killer gave the impression that he was unaware of the crime having already been discovered. Was he a resident close to the Vallejo Police Department and had not heard or seen the 'surge' of patrol cars heading along Solano Avenue to Springs Road?- which didn't happen. The answer to all the above observations already lay on page 42 of the Blue Rock Springs police report.  

Page 42: At 12:55 pm on 9-9-69 an anonymous letter was received at Vallejo PD stating "Badly rusted beat up Corvair getting a bright green paint job at 909 Georgia. Owner about 25, 5'9", over 200 lbs, brownish thinning hair, sloppy fat, strange acting. Lives with parents. Calif BTU 179. With Sgt Kramer observed this car at the corner of Georgia and Monterey Streets, BTU 179. Car has maroon (brownish red) top, light green hood and dark green panels. Car is 1963 Corvair 2-door. Checked the registration of the car and it reflects that Patrick, 909 Georgia Street. Went to that address and contacted Patrick Dennis, WMA, 23 years, dob 3-19-46. Is employed as a stevedore at Port Chicago.

Patrick states that on 7-4-69 he went to the fireworks display at the waterfront and from there he went home. States that he parked his car in front of the house at 11:30 pm and did not leave after that time. Patrick's mother Delores was present and verified Patrick's statement. Patrick doesn't own a gun and he did not know Darlene Ferrin. Patrick states that the car can be started without a key but he is sure no one else used the car as it was in the same place in the morning as it was the night before. This car apparently has a bad oil leak as the street in front of the house showed oil on the pavement as though the car was leaking oil. FamilyTreeNow.

The similarities are likely unconnected, but 909 Georgia Street is the type of residence we should be looking for - if you buy into the notion of a killer walking to the payphone that morning. An approximate 10 minute drive home, 10 minutes to ditch the vehicle, weapon and clothes, before readying onself for the 15-20 minute journey to the payphone and placing the 12:40 am call to Nancy Slover. And... in a location to have not seen or heard the patrol cars leaving the Vallejo Police Department up Solano Avenue. This location (as the crow flies) is 400 meters from the Vallejo Police Department, 600 meters from Darlene Ferrin's residence, 400 meters from Solano Avenue, 500 meters from the old Vallejo Times-Herald office and 5/8 of a mile from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. However, if the August 4th 1969 letter wasn't selling us one big red herring, then all of the above is superfluous.  

I have recently read Zodiac researcher Mike Rodelli's new book 'The Hunt for Zodiac: The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer'. In it he tackles the payphone call from the Springs and Tuolumne intersection to the Vallejo Police Department in the early morning of July 5th 1969. He takes the widely perceived directions given by the killer to identify the location of St John's Mine Road along Columbus Parkway, from which investigators would be led 'one mile east' to the location of the crime scene. The Zodiac Killer chose this location because he was creating radian angles using the payphone as a vertex to St John's Mine Road and the Lake Herman Road murder site.

This theory relies entirely on the transcription of the message given by Zodiac being written and recorded correctly, despite the fact that police dispatcher Nancy Slover and the Zodiac Killer were talking over each other for part of the message. The police report clearly stated "Writer received call from male subject who did not identify himself. Substance of statement was as follows". The 'substance of statement' reference, indicates that this is not necessarily a verbatim transcription of the spoken message, just the overall substance of the call. The above theory also relies on these locations being predetermined to create the necessary radian angles, and supposes that the killer already had 'radians' in his mind one year in advance of his letter proclaiming the use of such a term. The killer has once again been elevated to a master criminal, creating a labyrinth of puzzles from the terrain of northern California. This is the truth - or there is a much simpler and far more mundane answer.
The idea that the Zodiac Killer was just a ruthless killer scouring the Bay Area for victims using 'hit and miss' tactics, isn't half as appealing as the Moriarty style puzzle merchant he has metamorphosed into in recent years.
What is the likelihood that a killer calling the Vallejo Police Department from a payphone near the police station, was directing the police to the crime scene from their location, rather than creating an elaborate puzzle from a predetermined position along Columbus Parkway to manufacture radian angles? This is for you to decide. 

Thomas Horan, author of 'The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1969', admits that the Nancy Slover police report statement of the message is not a verbatim transcription, but goes on to say "Blue Rock Springs is not one mile east of Vallejo Police Department." Despite this, he then uses the transcription to identify a fire station one mile west of the crime scene in his following hypothesis. Both theories rely on the wording and context of the message having been recorded exactly as it was spoken by the killer.
The crime scene is neither 'one mile east' of the fire station or St John's Mine Road. A significant portion of the journey would be traveling closer to south than east. At best (as the crow flies), southeast would be the more accurate determination.  

Zodiac researcher Gian Quasar also tackled this problem on his website 'The Quester Files'.  He stated "The Zodiac does not know the name of the park. Nor was he in a state to notice the sign. Feigning ignorance would buy him nothing. Not knowing the name or just pretending he didn’t know the name would not indicate he was a stranger. Under normal circumstances a stranger would have noticed the park sign. When he calls the police, he actually gives them directions. But even in these he is quite wrong. He is really not aware of directions and distances.
Blue Rock Springs was neither 1 mile east of where he called, nor a mile east of the junction of Springs Road and Columbus Parkway. It is north of Springs Road by about 1 mile and 3 miles away from where he had called. Instead of simply saying the name of the park, which would tell all and sundry the location, The Zodiac gives instructions and doesn’t really have a grasp on distance and direction. He didn’t stalk his ground much at all. Nor was he in a state to notice the sign. He could not have been a Vallejoan."

​This statement makes the assumption that Nancy Slover recalled and recorded the spoken message of Zodiac 100% correct, while just assuming that Zodiac was incorrect with his payphone message. It doesn't consider the possibility that Zodiac was 100% correct and Nancy Slover recalled and recorded the message incorrectly. This same bias was not applied to either party at Presidio Heights, regarding the incorrect negro male adult description given to responding personnel. We will show later that the message by Zodiac was in all likelihood correct - and Nancy Slover also got the wording of the message correct, but with one crucial mistake. Reading into the message and claiming Zodiac was feigning ignorance by only mentioning the word 'park' is a stretch, and again the same argument could be applied to "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly". Using the word 'park' is not proof of Zodiac knowing the area or not. 

Here is a newspaper article statement regarding the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966.
A Mexican-American student who noticed Cheri Jo Bates close to opening time, stated "he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen in her blue spiral school notebook." The boy told us he was outside about 5:30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6:00 pm, and it was then he saw the girl". This statement is confusing, as it can be read in two different ways - did he see Cheri at 5:30 pm or 6:00 pm. 

Let us consider the three teenagers at the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets, and assume they had a direct hotline to Officer Armond Pelissetti one mile west on Washington Street. They are viewing Zodiac heading up Cherry Street, so they call Officer Pelissetti and state "If you go one mile east, on Cherry Street you will see Zodiac." In the second instance they call Officer Pelissetti and state "If you go one mile east on Cherry Street you will see Zodiac." Both statements are composed of the same words, but mean two different things entirely. The only difference is intonation or the use of a slight pause or break, making the first statement correct, while the other giving the impression of directional unawareness. 

Applied to the Blue Rock Springs call, we go from "If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car" to "If you will go one mile east. On Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car." The wording hasn't changed, but the meaning of the payphone call has changed entirely 
The Zodiac Killer is instructing police to head east to Columbus Parkway, from where they will find the stricken couple at the public park. All this is achieved by a simple full stop. Why would he be directing Vallejo police from a point on Columbus Parkway, when he is ringing the police station near to the payphone? 
Police traveling from the station along Solano Avenue to Springs Road, would then have to travel 1.34 miles east before reaching Columbus Parkway, on which they would head north towards the crime scene. 
Do you want this boring answer, or do you want something far more exciting? The choice is yours. 

Here I will tackle the question of the Blue Rock Springs phone call, traced to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone on the morning of July 5th 1969. The Zodiac Killer stated in the August 4th 1969 'Debut' letter, that "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."
Despite the fact that there was no mention of this individual in the police report, and his supposed description of Zodiac and his vehicle never surfaced in the newspapers, the debate regarding his existence rages on.

This negro male individual became the perfect eyewitness for Zodiac, tying the phone call and brown car into one neat package. The Zodiac Killer attempted to authenticate this individual by giving us his color, age and mode of dress - along with the convenient timing of a phone call which drew attention to him and his brown car. How absolutely unfortunate for the Zodiac Killer to have his vehicle confirmed by this individual as brown, just like the recollection of surviving victim Michael Mageau. This selling job should be viewed with skepticism, when we consider the tracing of the phone call by ring-back.

The Zodiac Killer described in his own words, that once he "hung the phone up" it began to ring. This must have happened almost immediately, because the negro male (according to Zodiac) was "walking by" the phone when it rang, which caused him to notice both Zodiac and his vehicle together. The premise of the following, is that Zodiac is selling us a big fat red herring and he wasn't in his vehicle. He had driven home and had walked back to the payphone to place the call. The introduction of a brown vehicle, designed for purpose, and give the impression that Zodiac could have driven anywhere after the payphone call - and the proof is in the police report, time-stamped at 12:47 am.     

But before we discuss the police report, here are a few commentaries by some Zodiac researchers.
In 'The Cases That Haunt Us' by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, they stated "It took seven minutes for Pacific Telephone to trace the call to a payphone in front of a service station".

In 'Unsolved in America' by by Harold Schechter, Lee Mellor, Michael Newton, Kim Cresswell, Aaron Elliott, Robert Hoshowsky, they stated "Within an hour, the call had been traced to a payphone outside Joe's Union Station". 

In 'The Hunt for Zodiac: The Inconceivable Double Life of a Notorious Serial Killer' by Zodiac researcher Mike Rodelli, he stated "Several minutes later the call was traced back to a phone booth located at Joe's Union 76 Station in Vallejo". 

The question that has to be asked - is that, if the trace was achieved after several minutes, or even seven minutes, why was Zodiac still at the payphone when the ring-back occurred. He clearly stated "the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." If this were the case, then are we to conclude that the Zodiac Killer after hanging up the telephone, remained alongside his vehicle by the payphone for several minutes until police traced the call and rang it back. This clearly doesn't stack up. That is why we know he is lying. The whole negro eyewitness story of a man spotting his "brown car" was designed to divert attention away from the truth - that he was on foot and lived nearby.

Even if the call was traced within 30-40 seconds, how could the Zodiac have heard the phone ring. As soon as he had hung up the phone (bearing in mind his claims of a negro eyewitness and brown car), he would have immediately returned to his vehicle and driven away. He would have been out of audible range. If the call was traced fairly quickly, or if the call was traced after several minutes, a killer in a car would have been long gone. But if the killer lived nearby and was on foot, he could easily have heard the phone ring as he was walking away. The distance he can cover is reduced, keeping him within earshot of the payphone for longer.
Below is an example of the distance the Zodiac Killer could have traveled on foot, putting him within audible range of the payphone. He could have traveled further than the examples shown below and still have heard the payphone ring. 

If you believe the Zodiac researchers above, then the only feasible way the Zodiac Killer can hear the payphone ring after several minutes, is if he is walking away from the intersection of Springs and Tuolumne, negating his claim of being in his vehicle. This could have wide reaching implications regarding the home location of our killer as of July 5th 1969. Here is a further angled view of the location.      

What one has to ask themselves, is which was more likely in 1969 - a call traced to the payphone in about 1-5 seconds, or a call traced to the payphone after 30 seconds, or upwards of a minute. The answer may lie in the police report. This may back up the statements of the Zodiac researchers above.

Page 13 of the police report stated "At 12:47 am Mrs JOHNSON PT&T Operator called. The above call was traced to a coin operated telephone at Joe's Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The call was traced by Betty Main whose supervisor would not allow her to give a statement at this time."
It states that Mrs Johnson called the police at 12:47 am to report the call had been traced to Joe's Union Gas Station. But what time was the actual call traced using ring-back. 
This was an urgent matter- a killer had just rang in to Vallejo Police Department at 12:40 am via the operator. If they had rang back the payphone immediately, as Zodiac claimed, and traced the call by at least 12.41 am, why on earth, considering the gravity of the matter, would Mrs Johnson wait 6 minutes before calling the police. One would suspect they would have called the police the instant they had traced the call. The fact that they called the police at 12:47 am, would indicate they had just traced the call moments earlier. Had this been approximately 12:46 am and Zodiac heard the payphone ring, we would have to assume he was still at the payphone over 5 minutes after he hung up. Having just committed a heinous crime at nearby Blue Rock Springs, and made a phone call to Vallejo Police Department, situated in close proximity to the payphone, do we really believe that he just sat by the payphone in excess of 5 minutes. 

But after 5 minutes, had he walked away from the payphone, he realistically should have been out of earshot, as he would have been in a vehicle. However, if he lived in a residence within earshot of the payphone, it wouldn't have mattered when the phone rang back. He would always be in audible range. Was this why the Zodiac Killer was so eager to convince police he was in his vehicle alongside the payphone? Had the police interviewed neighbors close to the payphone about anything they heard or saw that night? Was the residence of the Zodiac Killer closer to the payphone than we ever could have imagined, and the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter was the perfect opportunity to paint a completely different picture of the events that morning.

Officer Richard Hoffman arrived at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot at approximately 12.13 am on July 5th 1969. Shortly thereafter, an ambulance was summoned (arriving at around 12.20 am), and removed the victims from the crime scene for the 10 minute journey to Kaiser Hospital, where Darlene Ferrin was pronounced dead upon arrival at 12.38 am. Here is an extract from page 7 of the police report:

'On initial arrival, RO requested by radio an ambulance & an investigation at the scene & upon returning to Officer Hoffman RO went to assistance of subject on ground, as Officer Hoffman was with a subject that was sitting on left front seat behind wheel that was also injured. This subject later identified as Darlene E. Ferrin, WF, 19, of 864 Beechwood. 
On preliminary examination of Mageau, it was apparent he had been shot a number of times, he had blood all over his face & blood coming from his mouth as well as his left leg with blood. RO felt it was necessary to question subject inspight of the fact the subject was in great pain. Subject was coherent & RO asked him, "do you know who shot you?" and he replied "no". RO then asked Mageau to give me some type of description & he replied that he can't. RO then asked a series of questions & was told by Mageau that the responsible was a white male, young & heavyset by himself & that he was in a brown vehicle. Questioning continued until the arrival of the ambulance. By this time Sgt's Rust, Lynch and Odiorne had arrived at the scene & RO gave them the information from the victim & gave a description over the air to all units' 

Michael Mageau also told Officer Hoffman that the perpetrator was last seen heading in the direction of Springs Road and Vallejo. By 12.20 am a rudimentary description of the perpetrator, his vehicle, and direction of travel had been given to all units, who likely scoured the area of Springs Road towards Vallejo. The killer couldn't be certain his vehicle wasn't spotted leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot and couldn't be certain that both Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were dead, despite his proclamation in the 12.40 am payphone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. With multiple units searching for a description of the vehicle, how likely is it that, the killer parked his car outside Joe's Union gas station and made a telephone call to the operator and Vallejo Police Department - a police station situated in extremely close proximity to the payphone. He may have been under the impression that his crime had not been discovered at this juncture, but would it have been the sensible option to remain in his vehicle, with possibly blood transfer on his clothing and the gun still in his possession. If the killer did not have a residence nearby, then he had either driven around or parked up somewhere from midnight to 12.40 am- all while a police search of the area is unfolding around him. There is, however, a new and compelling argument to be had, that may dispel the idea of a killer making a payphone call while in the presence of his vehicle- and can be found in the police report and August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter.  

This is an extract from page 13 of the police report:
'7-5-69 A call received at 12.40 AM by unknown citizen "I want to report a double murder. If you will go 1 mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Good-Bye" 

'12.47 AM Mrs Johnson PT&T operator called. The above call was traced to a coin-operated telephone at Joe's Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The call was traced by Betty MAIN whose supervisor would not allow her to give a statement at this time.' 

This is the recollection of Nancy Slover in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, describing the latter part of the telephone call:
'But he said something like goodbye (drawn out in nature) and he hangs up, and I'm just kind of sitting there thinking "Oh my God."' 

Here is part of Zodiac's August 4th 1969 'Debut' letter:
'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.'

These four sections of text should be enough to pour huge doubt on a killer making a telephone call to police, having driven to the payphone in a "brown car." Further bolstering the idea of a killer on foot, who lived nearby. The Zodiac Killer, in his own words, places his vehicle right next to the payphone. He corroborates this using the 'negro male', who spotted him and his vehicle when the phone rang as he hung it up. If the Zodiac Killer is in his vehicle as he claimed, it is highly doubtful that once he replaced the receiver he perched himself alongside his vehicle and smoked a cigarette for several minutes, with an eyewitness clocking him and his vehicle. He would have "hung the phone up," returned to his vehicle immediately and driven away. This sequence of events couldn't have taken much longer than 10 seconds.

Police dispatcher Nancy Slover, once the Zodiac Killer had hung up, contemplated the gravity of what she had just heard, likely finishing off writing details of the call, "kind of sitting there thinking "Oh my God." She then had to reconnect to the operator to discover the origin of the call - who would then have traced the call to Joe's Union on Springs and Tuolumne.
'Ringback' would have been used to 'dial' back to this payphone, thereby making it ring. Unless this sequence of events could be accomplished in less than 10 seconds using the technology of 1969, the Zodiac Killer would never have heard the phone ringing. He would have returned to his vehicle and been long gone. The ringing payphone was never reported in any newspapers, so the Zodiac Killer had to be within audible range to know of this occurrence. Nancy Slover received the phone call at 12.40 am, and the Zodiac spoke for approximately 30 seconds. The call would surely have ended before 12.41 am, yet, Mrs Johnson (PT&T operator) didn't get back to police, stating the call had been traced, until 12.47 am. That is just over 6 minutes later. If the trace and 'ringback' had occurred almost immediately (in under 10 seconds), why, bearing in mind the gravity of the murderous phone call, did it take 6 minutes to relay this crucial information to police.   

If the PT&T operator had contacted police the moment they had traced the phone call (12.47 am), then this operation would have taken several minutes. If this were the case, then the Zodiac Killer could never have heard the phone ring if he had driven away in his vehicle. If Joe's Union payphone had been rung in a reasonable estimate time of 30-60 seconds by PT&T operators- once Zodiac had hung up- he still wouldn't have failed to reach his vehicle and driven away. However, it is certainly possible he could have heard the payphone ring if he was on foot while walking away towards his residence. He would still be within audible range.

The Zodiac Killer would have rang the operator that morning and asked for the Vallejo Police Department- hence their ability to 'trace' the call. But, once the Zodiac Killer had 'hung the phone up', is it possible that Nancy Slover could finish up her written record of the call, sit there briefly, thinking "Oh my God," contact the PT&T operator, who then facilitated a trace on the call, and rang the Joe's Union payphone inside of the time it takes for Zodiac to reach his vehicle and drive away. If the 'ringback' took as little as 30-60 seconds, then it's highly likely the Zodiac Killer heard the payphone ring as he was walking away from the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection on his way home. The 40-45, rather shabbily dressed, negro male now becomes the perfectly described eyewitness, who saw Zodiac in his "brown car by the payphone." What a helpful guy.
 

The best evidence we have in the Zodiac case, are not the murders themselves, but the copious letters and cards the killer mailed over many years. They may not have told us who the killer was, however, they can reveal information about the confirmed murderer of five with respect to his use of language - in particular his use of the present and past tense. This was examined in the article 'Zodiac Killer- A Vallejo Resident', attempting to pinpoint the home location of the Zodiac Killer. We attempted to narrow this further by examining his July 5th 1969 payphone call, along with the language he used in the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter concerning the negro male eyewitness. Although not an exact science, the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover is worth another look.

The murderer of Darlene Ferrin made a phone call 40 minutes after the attack, directing officers from the police station to the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs Park. He made the payphone call from the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street at 12:40 am, stating "I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." The overriding impression from the use of language adopted in the phone call, is that of a killer seemingly unaware that the crime has already been discovered by responding police officers. The use of the future tense, with respect to police that "will go" and "you will find," suggests that the Zodiac Killer is of the opinion that his deadly deed is not known to police at this juncture.

​Bearing in mind his directions are from the police station across the road from the payphone, it could be surmised that the killer has either been somewhere in the vicinity of the payphone or police station for at least 30 minutes, to have drawn such a conclusion. The only way the murderer could assume nobody had responded to the crime scene from the police station, from which he gave his directions, is by a notable lack of activity in responding police units from this location, This could be in the form of visual confirmation or the audible nature of police sirens. But to know this, he has to be close by - either in his vehicle or residence. We will later give reasons, to pour doubt on a killer driving from Blue Rock Springs Park to somewhere close to the payphone or police station, to watch the unfolding activity from the confines of his vehicle. This will further corroborate the likelihood of a killer living extremely close to the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street, or very close to the police station itself.       

The most direct route of travel from the police station to Blue Rock Springs would be to take Solano Avenue to Springs Road and head east to Columbus Parkway. The Zodiac Killer got his distance slightly wrong, but from the perspective of traveling in an easterly direction, he is only 0.4 miles off. His expanded phone call should have read "I want to report a double murder. If you will go 1.4 miles east on Springs Road...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." This should leave little doubt, the Zodiac Killer was directing officers from the police station east towards the crime scene. But why was the killer under the impression his "double murder" had yet to be discovered? This is where the police reports and crime documentaries come in handy.

Officer Richard Hoffman stated: "I was working as a patrol officer in a juvenile division. It was a plainclothes assignment. I wasn't far away, so I turned around and went back out there (Blue Rock Springs parking lot)". Detective Sergeant Ed Rust stated "My partner and I, John Lynch, who was also a detective sergeant, he was the senior of our team. We worked a late shift, three to midnight, something like that, and I was driving the plainclothes car- we were plainclothes detectives- and we were round the downtown area in Vallejo. It was close to midnight, when we heard reports of a possible shooting at Blue Rock Springs Park over the radio and they had dispatched a patrol car, and I told John "you wanna head out there" and he said "no, it's probably just firecrackers or something". It was actually just after 12:10 am, when Debra, Jerry and Roger had rang in the crime to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. Detective Sergeant Ed Rust continued "So, since I was driving, I started meandering in that direction, and a few minutes later I believe we got another report of shots fired, again at Blue Rock Springs, and the officer Dick Hoffman, patrol officer, got there first and said he had a shooting- two people involved. So then, obviously, I put it in high gear and took off and we got out there pretty quickly".

These were the first officers at the crime scene - and it's clear they were both plainclothes officers - one responding from close to the crime scene, and the other "meandering" towards the crime scene. Both likely inside the radius of the Springs/Tuolumne intersection and the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, before the gravity of the radio dispatch became evident. Was the Zodiac Killer expecting a massive charge of vehicles from the police station from 12:10 am onward - and when nothing happened - he decided to place a phone call at 12:40 am, instructing police to head to the crime scene?

If he had a visual on the police station from 12:10-12:40 am, one could argue he had seen little activity to suggest the police had discovered the crime in the preceding 40 minutes. Thereby, explaining his use of the future tense in his directions to police. Dispatcher Nancy Slover would corroborate this lack of activity in the 2007 'This is the Zodiac Speaking' documentary, stating "At 12.10 am, the first call I received, was from a young white woman in her late teens, and she was really agitated, excited or whatever. She reported that there were kids being shot at at Blue Rock Springs. So, I took the call and I gave it to the dispatcher, and I remember her saying "I don't know who I'm gonna send, because I don't have anybody free".

If the Zodiac Killer had driven to Benicia or Napa, and made the phone call from such a place, would he not have just proclaimed the murders, as he did at Lake Berryessa seven weeks later, when he used the phrase "I'm the one that did it", rather than "you will find the kids in a brown car". This is not conclusive proof he was close to the Vallejo Police Station in the 30 minutes after the crime, however, the possibility exists, especially when we consider his August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which he tries to sell us a story. 

The police or newspapers have never confirmed the existence a negro male adult reporting his sighting of Zodiac by the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. Therefore, it must be viewed with great suspicion, a killer offering up confirmation that he was in his "brown" vehicle, rather than on foot, when making the phone call to Nancy Slover. If the Zodiac Killer lived close to the payphone, or close to the police station, he may have naively been expecting some activity in the area of Solano Avenue or Springs Road in the 40 minutes after his crime - particularly in view of increased activity at Blue Rock Springs Park during the July 4th celebrations. He may have expected his crime to have been discovered by now. 

The area of Blue Rock Springs was considerably more rural than it is today. Despite this fact, would it be conceivable that the Zodiac Killer just parked up somewhere before he made the call to police. He couldn't be certain his vehicle wasn't spotted exiting the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. He was wearing only a blue t-shirt during the shooting, and had leaned into Darlene Ferrin's passenger side window, over the front seat, to fire the final shots at Michael Mageau. This would have greatly increased the likelihood of blood transfer to his clothing from the window, passenger seat and interior of the brown Corvair. The lighter the t-shirt, the more evident the transfer would have become. Taking these factors into consideration, not withstanding he was still in possession of the firearm, it may have been extremely foolhardy not to have headed straight for home, before heading back to the payphone.

Was the Zodiac Killer's apparent knowledge, of the lack of police activity around the police station, the reason for the language adopted in the phone call to Nancy Slover? Of somebody, who knew more than he should have known. The journey time to the payphone from the parking lot is approximately 10 minutes. So, why not just make the phone call at 12:10 am and be done with it. Or had he planned to watch the unfolding action from a vantage point close to the police station, in fond anticipation of police "running around town." Unfortunately for Zodiac, the wait was too long.   

There remains a widespread misconception that the Zodiac Killer's directions in the phone call after the Blue Rock Springs Park attack were incorrect, even though the police report clearly specified that the recollection of police dispatcher Nancy Slover was in effect the 'substance of the statement', not a verbatim transcription. The Zodiac Killer likely planned the payphone call and location, yet we assume his directions to the crime scene were horribly wrong based on the version remembered by Nancy Slover. There is no evidence to support such a conclusion based on the wording of the call shown below. Nancy Slover even recalled that the Zodiac Killer was speaking in a rehearsed, monotone fashion, as if reading from a script - which is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis. If we conclude he had prepared a written script, then this would seemingly fly in the face of him getting his directions completely wrong. 

The Zodiac Killer was correct when he placed Betty Lou Jensen's feet facing west, along with his apparent knowledge of the the infrequently traveled Lake Herman Road as a location for courting couples, yet somehow became completely disoriented when making one turn off Columbus Parkway to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne Street. When Zodiac made the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa phone calls, he rang the police. Therefore, it follows logically, that any directions given would be to direct the police to the crime scene from their location. In these cases, ​the Sheriff's Office was located at the junction of Virginia and Tuolumne Streets, the Vallejo Police Department at 111 Amador Street, and Park Headquarters at Lake Berryessa.         

If you were calling the police at 12:40 am on July 5th 1969, issuing them with directions to Blue Rock Springs, then your first statement would be to tell them to go east, which is exactly what the Zodiac Killer did. Then take Columbus Parkway to the crime scene. Police dispatcher Nancy Slover was certainly not prepared for the call she was about to receive, crucially interrupting the caller and asking him for his details as he began his message. In other words, she spoke over the killer while simultaneously having to register what he was saying. She may have been a trained police dispatcher, but little prepares you for a serial killer ringing in, claiming the murder of four people in total. She often recalled how unnerving the phone call was.
In the aftermath of the call, she then had to remember its totality, word for word, along with the exact sequence of the message and any pauses or sentence breaks within it, so as to fully transcribe the message delivered in its correct context. 

The message shown above was composed of 46 words, delivered in approximately 20 seconds. The chances of recalling this amount of words in exactly the correct order and context, one could suggest is extremely unlikely and unrealistic. There is often the false assumption that the Zodiac Killer was incorrect in his delivery of the message, whereas, it is a far more credible proposition that Nancy Slover simply recalled the message incorrectly or in the wrong context. We have previously shown that by inserting one break into the message it reads perfectly from a directional standpoint, although possibly incorrectly regarding the distances given. Here is the message with the break or pause inserted "I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye". This message now makes sense regarding a killer directing police from 111 Armador Street to Blue Rock Springs Park. However, there are many alternatives.   

You can see from the map above, it is impossible to direct anybody to the crime scene traveling "one mile east on Columbus Parkway"  You would be traveling "one mile north northeast" or "one mile southeast". Additionally, you would be traveling to the crime scene from effectively nowhere of any note - least of all a police station. It can be seen that responding officers heading away from the police station would be traveling along Solano Avenue, before joining Springs Road, then traveling 1.39 miles east to Columbus Parkway (as opposed to the one mile east given in the phone call). So it can be seen that the Zodiac simply approximated the distance east.

The widely portrayed message reads ""I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye". ​The Zodiac Killer wasn't going to deliver fractions of distances in his payphone call, so rounded 1.39 miles east to 1 mile, now giving us a perfectly reasonable set of directions and distances in his message to Nancy Slover. Unfortunately, yet understandably, it was recalled incorrectly through memory and talking over the killer during the first part of the message. We must not make the blind assumption that the "substance of the statement" was in fact a perfect transcription of what the Zodiac Killer actually said that night. If it was a perfect transcription, then it makes little sense regarding a call directing the police to the crime scene. If it makes little sense - one can argue it wasn't spoken.

Footnote: 
"I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia ...... I'm the one that did it".
"I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. There are two people one mile north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia ...... I'm the one that did it".

Kim Rossmo is a Canadian criminologist who pioneered the art of geographic profiling - a technique used to compliment conventional police work in the tracking of criminals. He has used data from the Zodiac Killer case to narrow down the likely residence and possible commuter routes of the murderer, and even a suggestion of where he may have worked. When the details from the Zodiac case were placed into the Rigel crime mapping software it created significant zones of interest in Rancho Vallejo, northern Vallejo, American Canyon and Benicia. These areas have one critical commuter route relevant to all - that of California State Route 37 - which the significance of regarding Zodiac's knowledge of courting couples, his base location and possible workplace will become apparent. Some of Kim Rossmo's ideas will be presented here, but to read his excellent analysis of the Zodiac case, please visit here. 
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Below is a map showing all the relevant locations concerning the killer's first two crimes - the red circle at the northern end of Tuolumne Street being of significant interest, as it also brings into focus the easy access to and from the payphone after his murder and attempted murder of Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot on July 5th 1969. The journey time to the payphone from the crime scene of less than 10 minutes, and the phone call to police nearly 40 minutes after the attack lends good weight to the premise the killer was a native Vallejoan, and possibly returned home to ditch his weapon and/or clothes before returning to place the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover.  

What better way to have knowledge that Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs were frequented regularly by courting couples, than if you routinely traveled this route to reach your place of work, not unlike eyewitness James Owen who lived at 1735 Mini Drive and would have likely used California State Route 37 at the beginning of his journey, to arrive at Humble Oil in Benicia. The same applies to an area around Mare Island Shipyard and Rancho Vallejo, where Tuolumne Street nears State Route 37. Lake Herman Road on the eastern fringes of Vallejo and Benicia, is a dark, unlit stretch of rural road infrequently used. It is, however, a logical choice for somebody living in Ranch Vallejo (north Vallejo) or American Canyon to use, if they worked in the industrial area of Benicia.

The northern side of the green line on the map above, shows that access to State Route 37 would take somebody towards the northern side of Columbus Parkway, before heading southeast along Lake Herman Road towards Benicia, and crucially encompassing both crime scenes. If the killer lived in the northern region of Vallejo and worked in Benicia, his 'compass' knowledge of specific locations would not be surprising. This was evident in his first attack when he stated in the July 31st 1969 letters, that Betty Lou Jensen "was on her right side feet to the west." Of course, he had six and a half months to work this out, but had only 36-38 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs attack, in which he was able to direct Vallejo police to the crime scene along Springs Road and Columbus Parkway with completely accurate directions when he called Nancy Slover, stating "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." 

Knowledge such as this, could suggest complete familiarity with the public park, golf course, Lake Herman Road and the location of the police station with respect to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. The killer would have one direct route, to and from his residence to the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street. His route to work (possibly a night-shift) also giving him first hand knowledge of courting couples and where to trawl for victims at the weekend.   

Kim Rossmo, referring to Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park, stated "In contrast, his target selection at Lake Berryessa and San Francisco did not show any evidence of local area knowledge. Also, the time lapse between the Blue Rock Springs shooting and the Zodiac’s telephone call was approximately 40 minutes, even though the distance between these two locations is only 3.5 miles (7 minutes normal driving time). What did he do for that other half hour? One possibility is that he returned home and disposed of his weapon. If so, that means he most likely lived within a five-mile radius of the crime site. The Zodiac also knew to telephone the Vallejo Police Department, even though the Blue Rock Spring Golf Course and park area was an unusual offshoot of municipal jurisdiction, totally surrounded by Solana County. The Zodiac’s comfort zone clearly includes the Vallejo area."
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However, there is one thorn in our side - the testimony of Michael Mageau. He stated in the police report "as he fell out onto the ground the vehicle the subject was in backed up in a turning movement and then took off toward Springs Road in Vallejo at a very high rate of speed." The obvious route back home for the killer, had he lived somewhere by the top of Tuolumne Street, and wanted to ditch his weapon and clothes before making the call to police, would have been to head north and west along Columbus Parkway - the opposite direction that he chose for work. There may be several explanations for this.
Michael Mageau was simply mistaken, the killer's initial intention was to make the phone call immediately but changed his mind, preferring to remove his weapon and possibly bloodied clothing from the equation, or the intended payphone at the initial time of his arrival had potential eyewitnesses, forcing a hasty change of plan. This may have been his preferred choice of payphone, as it provided easy access to and from his home residence, yet allowed a reasonable 'buffer zone' of just over two miles. It had the added benefit of a voyeur killer who wanted to remain in his vehicle and watch responding officers scurry into action from the police station, along Springs Road to the crime scene. It may actually have been the primary reason he chose this particular payphone so close to the police station, despite it seemingly being an added unnecessary risk on his part.        

There may be another reason why the Zodiac Killer chose the 'wrong way' after leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. A reason that involved near eyewitnesses to the murder in the parking lot..

Three young kids, Debbie, Jerry and Roger were the first to find Michael Mageau just after he had extracted himself from the brown Corvair and was lying adjacent to it. They must have arrived extremely close to the time of the attack - possibly as little as a minute or two after the brutal shooting. The time of the attack can be calculated with a fair degree of confidence to 12.02 am on July 5th 1969. See here. 
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Police dispatcher Nancy Slover received a phone call from Jerry's house at  938 Catlewood Drive, Vallejo from Debbie at 12.10 am. The drive to 938 Castlewood Drive from Blue Rock Springs is approximately 6 minutes, indicating they would have had to leave the parking lot by about 12.04 am to make this phone call in time.
​Yet, this isn't the time they arrived at the parking lot, which must have been around a minute earlier at 12.03 am - just after the attack at 12.02 am. The Zodiac Killer may literally have been leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot as they were approaching it. This may have influenced the direction Zodiac exited from the crime scene.

Debbie, Jerry and Roger stated in the police report that "they had been downtown to see the festivities for the 4th of July. After this was over, at about 11 pm, they decided to look for this girl that Roger knows. They drove around town and did not see her and decided to go to Blue Rock Springs Park to look for her. They went out the freeway to Columbus Parkway and came into the park the back way. While they were driving in toward the park neither boy recalls seeing any vehicle coming out, none parked along the road, nor did they pass any vehicle."  They must have been almost on top of Zodiac as they approached from the north side of Columbus Parkway. Had Zodiac intended to travel home before making the phone call, his obvious route north and then west along Columbus Parkway, was now not so obvious if he didn't want himself or his vehicle spotted by the three kids. They obviously didn't see him, but he may have spotted their vehicle approaching in the distance. This may have forced a change of plan and coerced Zodiac south toward Springs Road. The Zodiac Killer's journey time heading in this direction to somewhere close to the green circle at the top of Tuolumne Street, would take approximately 11-12 minutes. The Zodiac Killer would arrive home at about 12.14 am - leaving him approximately 20 minutes at his residence before driving back to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone to make the call. Once doing so, his escape home is a mere 4 minutes. 
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Calfornia State Route 37 and Highway 101 may have played a decisive factor when selecting a quick and easy separation from San Francisco after the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. Whether or not the murderer had entered the Presidio Park is a moot point today, but in 1969 the Zodiac Killer would certainly have wanted to escape from the area in as little time as possible. A vehicle parked somewhere along West Pacific Avenue or to the east of the park in Cow Hollow, would provide immediate access to Highway 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge, and in a handful of minutes out of San Francisco. The killer can then head north and eventually east just before Novato, taking California State Route 37 right onto his doorstep.  

The selection of a taxicab driver to take him to a predetermined destination so close to an exit route from San Francisco, one could argue was the perfect choice for a resident of Vallejo. The killer has a nearby park in case things don't go to plan, along with an immediate escape and separation from the crime scene via Highway 101 and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even Inspector Dave Toschi thought this a viable proposition: "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Khan playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County."

Kim Rossmo made an extremely salient point regarding the murder of Paul Stine. He stated: ​​"The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts. In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques."  Control your location and you control your escape route.
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The Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969 speaks for itself. The killer headed to downtown Napa and the payphone at 1231 Main Street. He may have been only 12 miles from California State Route 37 and home, had he continued the trajectory he had set for himself. Was the Zodiac Killer's apparent knowledge of a road on the fringes of Vallejo more indicative of his recreational habits or a route he traveled daily..... particularly when the sun went down? 

Below I have placed a visual timeline of the final 90 minutes of Darlene Ferrin's life, to understand her movements in the critical period running up to the brutal attack at Blue Rock Springs Park close to midnight on July 4th and 5th of 1969. To the best of my knowledge these are the correct addresses of the key locations she visited that night, but if anybody knows better please inform me and I can correct the timeline. We cannot be sure if the Zodiac Killer knew Darlene Ferrin, but as Phillips 66 (a contributor to this site) stated "Of course I think it is possible that she did not know her killer but that requires writing off a lot of things as coincidence and writing off a lot of people as liars or dramatists. It seems far more likely to me that she did actually know her killer. To me this is the best lead in an attempt to solve the case." 
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When the killer is known to the victim, it certainly provides a greater opportunity to apprehend the responsible, as opposed to a completely random assailant. We will use the visual below, in conjunction with the estimated times in the police report, to pinpoint Darlene Ferrin's movements and what time she and Michael Mageau arrived at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot that night, and possibly explore where her murderer tagged onto her that night, if at all.  

Following the numbers in red above we will follow her movements:
1.Page 19 of the police report "Stated that Darlene and her sister Christina Suennen WFJ 15 years. had been at Mr Ferrin's (Dean) place of employment Caesar's in the 300 Block of Tennessee Street at approximately 10.30 pm and at this time Darlene left, stating that she was going to take Christina home, then go home herself to 1300 Virginia Street. Take her babysitter home, and return home herself." Christina stated "she collaborated the above story, but stated she and her sister had gone from Caesar's to Terry's on Magazine St, before going home." Therefore she left Caesar's at approximately 10.30 pm, arriving at Terry's Waffle Shop nearly 3 miles away, approximately 6 minutes later at 10.36 pm. 

2. We cannot be sure how long she stayed at the Waffle Shop, but according to Robert Graysmith she talked to her friend for around 10 minutes, before briefly chatting to a man. This can only be estimated at 15 minutes, which would have Darlene and Christina heading off to their parents home on 130 Jordan Street at 10.51 pm. This is a small journey time of approximately 3 minutes, arriving at the Suennen family home at 10.54 pm. We know from the police report that Darlene arrived home shortly before 11.30 pm, as can be seen on page 21. This can be corroborated by page 19 of the police report, because "at approximately 11.30 pm Bill Lee (Dean's employer at Caesar's) called Darlene to ask her if she would try to find a fireworks booth open. She stated she would try to find one and hung up." The journey from the Suennen family home to Darlene's residence of around 2.6 miles is estimated at 7 minutes. 

3. Therefore, Darlene Ferrin likely stayed at the 130 Jordan Street residence for about 25 minutes, leaving at 11.18-11.20 pm for her 7 minute journey, having Darlene back at the 1300 Virginia Street residence shortly before 11.30 pm.

4. On page 21 of the police report the two girls stated "that Darlene didn't return until about 11.30 pm or shortly before that. Darlene then told them that she had changed her mind about going to San Francisco and was going to have a small party when her husband got home. Darlene then spent a few minutes cleaning up the house and then she said she was going to go out and buy some fireworks and other things for the party and that she would be back by 12.30 am. Darlene left the house around 11.40 pm and they didn't see her again." Darlene Ferrin left her residence and traveled to Michael Mageau's house at 864 Beechwood Avenue. On page 8 of the police report he stated "that Dea came over at approximately 11.30 pm or shortly thereafter and picked him up in her car." We know it wasn't 11.30 pm, because Bill Lee and the two girls stated otherwise- plus she still had the 2 mile journey to 864 Beechwood Avenue to negotiate. This journey time is 5 minutes, placing Darlene Ferrin at Michael Mageau's residence at 11.45 pm or thereabouts (11.40 pm plus 5 minutes).

5. Michael stated in the police report "they were both hungry as they had not had supper and were going to get something to eat. Stated that she was driving her vehicle, the Corvair they were found in. Stated they drove west on Springs Road and as they were driving down Springs Road to go get something to eat, Dea stated to him that she wanted to talk to him about something. Michael stated that at approximately at the location of Mr Ed's on Springs Road they turned around and headed east at his suggestion to go to Blue Rock Springs Park where they could talk. They went directly to this location." The journey from 864 Beechwood Avenue to approaching Mr Ed's Drive-In is about 2 minutes allowing for turning around. They would be turning around, heading back east at approximately 11.47 pm. 

6 and 7. The journey from Mr Ed's to the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs Park of 3 miles takes approximately 6-7 minutes, placing Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau arriving at the parking lot in their brown Corvair at 11.53-11.54 pm.  

This makes perfect sense if we pick up the police report on page 8. Michael stated "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 very short space of time, a few minutes. Shortly after this and about 5 minutes before the shooting occurred, a vehicle pulled into the lot." 
 
We know from Michael's statement approximately 5 minutes elapsed between the first vehicle parking alongside them and supposedly returning to begin the attack. We know Michael allocated "a few minutes" from their arrival to the three cars arriving. He also allocated "a few minutes" to the duration the three vehicles remained in the parking lot. Taking this "few minutes" as about 3 minutes, we have a total of 6 minutes. Adding this to the 5 minutes the 'Zodiac' vehicle spent leaving and returning, we have a total of 11 minutes from their arrival at the parking lot to the commencement of the attack. This places the shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at 12.04-12.05 am on July 5th 1969. Even if we take the "few minutes" as two, the earliest the attack could have began was 12.02-12.04 am- the earlier time of 12.02 am the most likely. It was extremely unlikely to have taken place before midnight.    

There are several unusual statements in the police report, notably on page 21, where the two girls stated "about 01.30 am Darlene's husband and friends came home and they told her husband what she had said and he didn't seem worried, said she's always late. Husband then took the girls home shortly before 02.00 am." Dean Ferrin and Bill Lee were apparently under the impression she was nipping out to buy fireworks at 11.30 pm, when Bill Lee rang the 1300 Virginia Street residence from Caesar's restaurant, yet they, according to the police report didn't arrive at the residence until 1.30 am. Apparently they stopped en route to pick up some drinks, but two hours had elapsed from the request to pick up fireworks to the time they arrived. This was apparently the exact time the suspicious calls came into the residence. Had somebody seen them arrive and made the phone calls shortly thereafter. 

This contradicts what Carmela Piccolo-Coakley, then co-owner of Caesar's restaurant, said to the Vallejo Times-Herald in 2007: "We were surprised when we all arrived at the house to find a babysitter. Darlene hadn't gotten home yet. It was midnight and we were a little worried. An hour or so later the phone rang but there was only breathing on the other end." This version of events, albeit in 2007, makes more sense than arriving at 1.30 am in the morning, when you have arranged for fireworks to be collected at 11.30 pm, and are expecting a party.

Darlene Ferrin traveling to Michael Mageau's residence and finally to Blue Rock Springs, suggested she had seemingly abandoned the party and chosen to do something completely different- but this may not necessarily be the case. Although earlier arranging to meet Michael Mageau at some point that evening, she may very well have recruited Michael Mageau in her quest to buy some fireworks, along with getting something to eat. She stated to the two girls "she would be back by 12.30 am." Therefore, she was allocating herself 60 minutes to pick up Michael, head off for a bite to eat, pick up some fireworks and then head home. There may have been something else on her shopping list that night, as revealed by the two girls on page 21 of the police report when they stated "she was going to go out and buy some fireworks and other things for the party." What were these "other things?" However, something changed abruptly on their approach to Mr Ed's Drive-In, that facilitated a change of heart. She stated "that she wanted to talk to Michael about something."
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She picked Michael Mageau up at 11.45 pm and had ample time before reaching Mr Ed's to have relayed to Michael what was on her mind. They both apparently had wanted something to eat, and Darlene required fireworks, yet the "something" on her mind seemingly only occurred two minutes into their journey while approaching Mr Ed's. Had she spotted something or somebody that forced this change of plan- somebody unpleasant enough that she had now abandoned her wanting to eat, her search for fireworks and possibly the party. On the other hand, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin had arrived at the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs at approximately 11.53-11.54 pm, so still had at least 36 minutes to have their chat and for Darlene to arrive back at the 1300 Virginia Street residence at 12.30 am, with or without the fireworks she said she would try to find, and more importantly the time she told the two girls she would arrive back earlier that night. Unfortunately though, she never did.

Many have questioned whether or not Darlene Ferrin was stalked by an unwanted admirer in the run up to her murder during the late night hours of July 4th 1969 or early minutes of July 5th 1969, with little, if any verifiable evidence to support such a claim. This however, doesn't rule out the contention that she may have been murdered by somebody who knew her.
Much has been discussed regarding the mysterious phone calls received at the 1300 Virginia Street residence of Darlene Ferrin, and the 930 Monterey Street residence of Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin at approximately 01.30 am on the morning of July 5th 1969, just one and a half hours after the murder of Darlene Ferrin and attempted murder of Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs. It must be stressed that Darlene Ferrin had been alternatively listed as living at 930 Monterey, Vallejo on page 5 of the police report.
​But how much of this makes sense and is it totally accurate. Here are the extracts regarding the phone calls that morning:
Page 19 of the police report "Stated that Darlene and her sister Christina Suennen WFJ 15 years. had been at Mr Ferrin's (Dean) place of employment Caesar's in the 300 Block of Tennessee Street at approximately 10.30 pm and at this time Darlene left, stating that she was going to take Christina home, then go home herself to 1300 Virginia Street. Take her babysitter home, and return home herself. Stated that at approximately 11.30 pm Bill Lee (Dean's employer at Caesar's) called Darlene to ask her if she would try to find a fireworks booth open, and to purchase some as they were going to have a party at 1300 Virginia Street after they closed Caesar's and had decided to have some fireworks at that time. She stated she would try to find one and hung up. Stated that this was the last any of them heard from her. Stated that after they arrived at 1300 Virginia Street and waiting for Darlene that there was two phone calls where there was no answer on the other end."  There is no reference here to the time these two phone calls were received. These statements were given in the immediate aftermath of the murder, in the early hours of July 5th 1969.
Page 23 of the police report " Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin 930 Monterey Street came to the station and reported that shortly after 01.30 am on 07/05/69 their telephone rang and the party on the other end of the line said nothing but they could hear deep breathing and they were sure someone was there."  There are two things to note about this statement. The statement was given at 3.35 pm on July 7th 1969, two and a half days after they had received the mysterious phone call, and it appears as if the time of the phone call on the police report has been amended. So, were all the phone calls delivered at approximately 01.30 am, or were they all made at a completely different time during the morning hours.

It was considered in this article that the Zodiac Killer drove home after the Blue Rock Springs attack, to somewhere around the location of the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone and walked to the intersection to make the 12.40 am phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. If the attack culminated shortly after midnight, the killer's journey has him entering his residence at approximately 12.15 am. He parks his vehicle, changes his clothes, ditches his weapon and prepares himself for the short walk to the payphone at around 12.25-12.30 am. This gives him a walking time of approximately 10-15 minutes to the payphone and a reasonable 'buffer zone'.
If the Zodiac Killer lived on the south side of the payphone, knew or lived close to Darlene Ferrin on Virginia Street, then his walking time to the payphone would be exactly 10 minutes. Once he had finished his call with Nancy Slover he would then likely have returned home at approximately 12.50-12.55 am. We don't know if the mysterious phone calls to the Ferrin family were from the Zodiac Killer, but had he returned from the public payphone at just before 01.00 am, he now has the opportunity to make these calls from the comfort of his own home. Did the Zodiac Killer make the phone call to police from a payphone fearing he could have been traced, but made the calls to the Ferrin family with no such reservations. It would seem rather foolhardy even by Zodiac's standards to reel off multiple calls that evening from payphones, with the police now in full investigative mode. If he did call the Ferrin family, one could argue he placed these additional calls shortly after arriving back at his residence, sometime between 12.50-01.00 am.  

Here is an extract from the Vallejo Times-Herald interview with Carmela Piccolo-Coakley, who part owned Caesar's Italian Restaurant with her husband in 1969. She described arriving at 1300 Virginia Street on July 4th/5th 1969 "We were surprised when we all arrived at the house to find a babysitter. Darlene hadn't gotten home yet. It was midnight and we were a little worried. An hour or so later the phone rang but there was only breathing on the other end. Later we heard a knock on the door. It was two police officers informing us that Darlene had been shot, and someone calling himself the Zodiac had called the Vallejo Police Department informing them of the killings. We told the officers it was that same time that we had received the call at Darlene's house. Whoever it was would not respond to our questions. They just breathed into the phone. The officer warned us not to open the door for anyone while my husband and Dean went down to the station. They warned that the person calling himself the Zodiac may be watching the house. It was a warm night and all the windows were open. We locked the door and windows and pulled the blinds closed." full article. 

She stated they arrived at 1300 Virginia Street at around midnight and the mysterious calls came in "an hour or so later." This is an approximation, so a reasonable estimate could be anywhere from 12.50 am to 01.10 am (with a 10 minute leeway either side), tying in with the Zodiac Killer after returning from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, sometime around 12.55 pm.
More telling is the assertion that they "told the officers it was that same time (that of Zodiac's call) that we had received the call at Darlene's house." Does this actually open up the possibility that the Zodiac Killer made the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover and the Ferrin family from the same payphone at around 12.40 am, and "an hour or so later" was really 40 minutes. Or did they arrive at 1300 Virginia Street shortly before midnight, bringing this statement somewhat back into line.
The only argument in favor of the 01.30 am phone calls in the above two pages of the police report are the recollections of ​Mr Arthur J Ferrin and Mrs Mildred Ferrin, two and a half days after the fact. Did they really clock the time correctly when the call came in, or was it just another estimation that may be slightly incorrect.

Footnote: In the interest of fairness, although the origin of Robert Graysmith's information is unknown, in his book Zodiac Unmasked he stated "Fifty minutes later, four phone calls were placed through the operator from a booth at Broadway and Nebraska." Arthur Leigh Allen had worked at a gas station at Tuolumne and Nebraska 3 months before Blue Rock Springs attack. Broadway and Nebraska is an approximate walking distance of 20-25 minutes from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. A murderer living somewhere between or equidistant to these locations has the opportunity to make the phone calls to police dispatcher Nancy Slover and the Ferrin family. However, verifying the Broadway and Nebraska site as the origin of the calls to the Ferrin family, or that the Zodiac Killer made any of them on July 5th 1969, is an altogether more difficult task. 

It was considered that the Zodiac Killer after attacking Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, drove back to his residence and walked to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone from the north side. This premise was covered extensively in the article 'I Want to Tell You a Story'. 
​I would like to thank Deb from Zodiac Killer Site forum for supplying me with the Vallejo directory records from 1969. The Zodiac Killer may have lived within a 10-15 minute walking radius of the payphone. Here are the relevant streets from the north side. Click the visual on the left side of 'Download File' to view directly on this site. Once opened, click again to magnify.   

Searching an ever growing and endless suspect list with limited DNA evidence for the identity of the Zodiac Killer, is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack, with that haystack getting larger every year. DNA may eventually help us in the future, but we need to narrow the suspect pool not make it larger. There have been many studies on serial killers down the years, and although these observations cannot be applied to every serial killer, there are patterns that exist which can be used to narrow down the search for the killer's base or home location. Applying what limited details we believe of the killer - the vehicle, age range and description, handwriting and occupation, coupled with possible fingerprints, palm prints and a partial DNA code (if reliable) - if we can then identify a small enough sample of the population to test, we may just strike lucky. Even if the killer has died, he may have had children from whom DNA could be acquired, and using modern forensic genetic fingerprinting it may provide a link to the murderer.

The Kathleen Johns abduction lies on the periphery of the Zodiac crimes, but if her journey around the outskirts of Tracy, California into the early morning hours of March 23rd 1970 was at the hands of the Zodiac Killer, then she may have provided us with some vital information. She described the interior of her abductor's vehicle "as messy- she had noticed men's and children's clothing scattered about, books and papers, a black rubber handled flashlight, and two colored plastic scouring pads on the console dashboard.  Kathleen estimated that the smaller patterned T-shirts were of the age range 8-12 years". If these clothes were not part of his profession, he may have had children - adding another layer to consider when searching for a likely residence and home location. In an initial whittling down process, we could consider married men with at least one child in the age range of 8-12 years in 1970, living in the geographical area we have identified. Throw in what we think we know of the killer, such as age, weight, glasses, vehicle  etc, and the suspect list would narrow to only a manageable number of people.

Kim Rossmo, the pioneer of geographical profiling, hit the nail on the head regarding one possible location, stating "There's a number of possibilities. But remember, Rancho Vallejo was possibly 26,000 people at that time, of which only 13,000 will be male, and only a certain proportion of those are of the correct age, and a certain portion of those are only going to be white. Then we start looking at the neighborhoods involved, we have a pretty small subset. Then we start combining that with some of the personal and behavioral descriptors, and then we work in the vehicle information. If this case was active today, it would not be too difficult to find this person" Narrow the original pool down to just a few thousand, and a much smaller radius, and the needle becomes more visible. This is a much more viable option than widening the suspect pool year-on-year, further muddying the waters. 

This will be collating several previous articles under one banner, throwing in a little extra for good measure - and then the book will be closed on this matter. We need to narrow the search, not widen it. That is why geographical profiling could be our last hope, by using the mechanics of the human mind to unravel the pattern of the killer. None of the following is certain, but if we add brick by brick, we may reveal the house.

A recent survey in Germany studied the locations of serial killer victims in respect to the killer's home residence and found that 63% of the time the killer lived within a 6-mile traveling distance to the crime scene. Other studies suggest a 5-mile radius.
​The serial killer generally begins his crimes closer to home - in the case of San Francisco, this is the Zodiac Killer's final crime - it therefore should be one of the furthest from his home location. The Lake Herman Road crime scene is 5.17 miles from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone, while Blue Rock Springs Park is just 2.83 miles from the payphone. Therefore, both crimes sit within a 6-mile radius. The Zodiac Killer may have made two phone calls from this location and therefore should be our first port of call. If the killer had a normal Monday to Friday, 9-5 profession, it would be understandable that he would be less likely to venture any great distance on the Friday as compared to the Saturday (using the least effort principle). Which is exactly what he may have done in the commission of his first two crimes. 

The phone call is interesting for a number of reasons, notably for the fact it was made approximately 40 minutes after the crime, despite the payphone being only 10 minutes from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. Many have claimed the Zodiac Killer wasn't familiar with this area of Vallejo because he failed to mention Blue Rock Springs by name - only a "public park". The directions given in the phone call are equally used as evidence he was unfamiliar with the area. Many assume the Zodiac Killer was incorrect in his directions to Blue Rock Springs, thereby by default, assume that police dispatcher Nancy Slover was perfectly accurate in remembering the exact message word for word. She wasn't expecting that a killer claiming four victims was about to call that morning, and therefore cannot be expected to recall verbatim what he said - because according to her, he had spoken over her as she tried to get more details from him.

The message was recalled as "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". It was therefore deemed incorrect. However, if you just add a comma or break into the message, it makes perfect sense if the Zodiac Killer is directing the police from the station to Columbus Parkway.
"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".
Changing just one word, makes the message even clearer "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".  We assume the Zodiac Killer got the message wrong rather than Nancy Slover hearing or recalling the message incorrectly. We have no problem coming to this conclusion concerning the dispatcher taking an incorrect message at Presidio Heights, sending out a radio dispatch "to be on the lookout for a negro male adult".

The Zodiac Killer didn't get the directions wrong, but he may have got the distance slightly wrong, as he did at Lake Berryessa: "I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia" - and after a brief pause uttered the words  "I'm the one that did it".  On both occasions he was slightly over a mile off. But if we consider the Zodiac Killer's position alongside Springs Road, the police exiting the Vallejo Police Department and traveling on Solano Avenue to Springs Road, would only be traveling 1.3 miles in a true easterly direction.    

The Zodiac Killer mailed three letters to the newspapers on July 31st 1969, with confirmation of the attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park. The author stated "This is the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman + the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo". His compass directions were totally accurate in describing the position of Betty Lou Jensen in the turnout on December 20th 1968. He added "the girl was on her right side feet to the west". In the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter after the Paul Stine murder, he again got his compass directions spot on: "The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west" and "only 2 groups of parking about 10 min apart then the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west" (describing Presidio Boulevard in the park).

So why do we assume that he managed to completely get his bearings incorrect during the phone call to Nancy Slover?
He knew the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs was near the golf course. He also was directing the police east from the station to Columbus Parkway. He clearly had knowledge of where the police station and Columbus Parkway were in respect to one another, despite the fact he had committed the attack only 40 minutes earlier. The killer had plenty of time after the Lake Herman Road and Presidio Heights murders to look at a map and get his compass directions correct, yet here, he had only 40 minutes before the payphone call. He could have studied a map before the Blue Rock Springs Park attack, but had this been the case, why would he have got the directions wrong as many claim. Equally, had he studied a map beforehand, then he would have known the "public park" by name. The fact that he got his compass directions correct in every instance, it could be argued he was very familiar with the location of the police station, Columbus Parkway and very likely the parking lot.  
Then he sent the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, received on August 4th 1969 - probably the most important correspondence he ever composed:
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​This is the Zodiac speaking. 
In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police having a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it, they will have me. On the 4th of July I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. 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.
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. 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. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.  

This will be a deliberately exaggerated interpretation of this correspondence to highlight its misdirection.
In the latter part of the correspondence dealing with Lake Herman Road, the author doesn't mention anything regarding the shots into the David Faraday Rambler, forcing the couple from the vehicle, or his headlights illuminating the turnout to aid his visibility, however, in his story about Blue Rock Springs Park, he uses the word "car" on four occasions. He begins the 'message' by referring to the vehicle of Darlene Ferrin: "On the 4th of July I did not open the car door". He then reminds us about his vehicle as he leaves the parking lot, leading us into the payphone incident - almost selling it as one continuous sequence: "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".
It is extremely strange that the killer didn't want to draw attention to his car when leaving the parking lot, when in the very next sentence he is drawing attention to his car at the payphone: "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro". The police report and newspapers never mentioned any negro male eyewitness, so it was extremely generous of the Zodiac Killer to confirm Michael Mageau's testimony of a brown car, by offering up this valuable second eyewitness to the newspapers and police. One could believe this male negro eyewitness never existed, yet the Zodiac was to make sure he was real by adding valuable extra details. To prove he was the killer in the July 31st 1969 letters he gave "some facts which only I + the police know". In the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter he was doing exactly the same thing: "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". The age, color and attire of this eyewitness are entirely unnecessary and superfluous details designed to convince the reader this man is real - so real - he even reported the Zodiac to police.

The author has now imprinted the word "car" in our head three times. 'Don't forget' that he is still in his vehicle, despite the fact this payphone is only 10 minutes from the parking lot, and 40 minutes has elapsed at this point. But if you were in any doubt whatsoever that the killer is still in his vehicle, remember, the eyewitness "was walking by." The Zodiac missed a trick here.
​He should have said  "the very observant negro man was slowing walking by clocking the color of my car". Then the Zodiac put the icing on the cake by mentioning his car for a fourth time: "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". How convenient that the phone rang and drew the attention of the eyewitness, who just happened to be walking by. The killer could have written "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me", but chose to add in his vehicle once again, as if we'd forgotten he was in his brown car. The reason behind all this misdirection - is that the Zodiac Killer had likely driven from Blue Rock Springs Park to his residence first and walked to the payphone. He wanted the police to believe he was still in his vehicle, thereby not revealing that his residence was but a walking distance from the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. 

The Zodiac Killer was extremely helpful in confirming Michael Mageau's testimony of a brown vehicle by creating the fictitious negro eyewitness. Whether the killer was in his vehicle or not while making the payphone call to Nancy Slover, he certainly wanted to sell us the fact it was "brown" in color. That is because it was likely anything but brown. The above vehicle demonstrates how an 'Ermine White Chevrolet' spotted in the Lake Herman Road turnout at 10:00 pm on December 20th 1968, would have appeared to Michael Mageau at midnight in the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. In a prominent newspaper article Michael Mageau described the vehicle as a "1958 or 1959 Falcon. The color was brown or bronze". In the police report he stated "he could not see the color or anything as it was too dark out there". Michael was clearly not confident of the vehicle that parked behind him that night, but if the vehicle was 'Ermine White', it is easy to understand how this could be mistaken for brown under the conditions experienced within the parking lot that night. The Zodiac Killer, knowing he was driving a white vehicle, was only too happy to confirm Michael Mageau's description of his vehicle in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter. The Zodiac, in his mind, had not only successfully placed his vehicle at the payphone, but had changed its color also. A very successful letter indeed. 

There will be many that will disagree with this analysis, but it is designed as an example of narrowing the search field down to a few hundred or few thousand men, who we can then narrow further based on what we have learned about the Zodiac Killer to this point in time. Find the location and find the killer. Using the geographic profiling developed by Kim Rossmo, such as 'buffer zones', 'least effort principle' and 'circle theory of environmental range,' we can give ourselves a more realistic search field, using the psychology of the human mind - or more specifically - the mind of the Zodiac Killer to work against himself. The alternative, is to keep adding suspects year-on-year, taking the journey down many blind alleys, before you ultimately realize - it is the avenue you should be searching for.

This website contains no advertisements. To help keep it running, any donations, however small, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Richard. ​​

The description of the assailant's vehicle at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969 by Michael Mageau is probably deemed by most observers to be unreliable at best. The vehicle on page 1 of the police report lists Corvair-Mustang as an option.
In a prominent newspaper article Michael Mageau described the vehicle as a "1958 or 1959 Falcon. The color was brown or bronze".

The poliice report on page 8 describes the vehicle five minutes before the shooting: "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".  

On page 9 the vehicle returns: "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. He only saw the rear portion of it (as it left the crime scene), 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". Although sketchy, he refers to the vehicle looking similar to Darlene Ferrin's Corvair on both occasions - but clearly - that doesn't mean it was.   

This crime has been constantly referenced as the most likely of the four Zodiac attacks to have not been chosen at random, in regards to Darlene Ferrin. The suggestion being, that the murderer of five took the time to blend some 'personal business' into his random killings. The strange phone calls on July 5th 1969 testament to this fact. However, many disagree with the notion that the murderer of Darlene Ferrin knew his victim.

One cannot deny that there are some unexplained events at Lake Herman Road prior to the murders. Some will claim an absolute conviction of exactly what transpired on December 20th 1968, above all others. This is not possible - unless you were there. There were several pertinent vehicles (at least three) in the run up to the double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, with an unknown number of occupants who failed to come forward in the ensuing police investigation. There may or may not be an innocent explanation for their failure to do so - as could be said of Blue Rock Springs, if the second vehicle observed by Michael Mageau was independent of the first.
​
​Why would a stalker of Darlene Ferrin target the passenger side of the brown Corvair where Michael Mageau was sitting, having supposedly already driven up to the driver side of the Corvair only 5 minutes earlier. Why target Mageau at all?
Darlene Ferrin was struck 5 times directly, and Michael Mageau 4 times, of whom, most people believe received the initial two shots fired that night. The killer then retreated and returned, shooting both victims twice more. Once Michael Mageau had been shot twice and had retreated to the rear of the vehicle, with Darlene Ferrin completely disabled in the driver seat, there was little further threat from the male. On the face of it, both or neither appeared to be the primary target that night.

The first vehicle pulled up on the left side of the Corvair and apparently extinguished its headlights. The Blue Rock Springs parking lot was totally empty at this point, so this act could understandably be perceived as unnerving and suspicious. If there was any time to primarily target Darlene Ferrin - or the couple - this was it. With the passenger side window down and the suspicious vehicle parked alongside, it would have have taken literally seconds to lean out of the window, take aim at the driver side of the Corvair from distance, thereby negating any risk of blood transfer. Leaving the vehicle via the passenger side would have been a matter of seconds more.

The act of driving away to survey Columbus Parkway for vehicles (suggested by some) and then returning back to the parking lot, leaves you in the identical position before you left, therefore makes little sense as an explanation to why the vehicle departed and returned 5 minutes later. It has been speculated as to whether the couple were followed to the parking lot that night. Michael Mageau stated that after they parked up "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".

Where was the supposed vehicle trailing them to the parking lot? Had somebody followed them, surely they would have been present in the parking lot just after the couple parked up and before the young kids arrived, but Michael Mageau mentioned nobody else at this juncture, other than the young kids letting firecrackers off. The vehicle that pulled alongside them arrived at least five minutes after Darlene Ferrin first parked up. If this was the vehicle supposedly following them, the driver would presumably have parked alongside them, in the few minutes before the young kids arrived. Robert Graysmith stated in his book that after Darlene picked up Michael, the young man uttered the words "we're being followed." Darlene sped off towards Blue Rock Springs. The car raced behind them at full speed. Darlene kept turning to lose the stranger. When they arrived in the parking lot, they sat in the parking lot only a moment, when the other auto, similar in design to the Corvair, pulled up alongside them". This is fiction. There was no mention of them being chased in the police report, and apparently the kids letting off firecrackers had now mysteriously evaporated from the timeline.    

If the two vehicles observed by Michael Mageau were one and the same, occupied by the Zodiac Killer, are we to believe he departed the parking lot to retrieve his weapon - the killing tool integral to his other three attacks - and this crime was simply spur of the moment. If this were the case, what was he doing lurking in a parking lot at midnight unprepared in the first instance, if not for pre-planned ill intent. If already armed, leaving and returning makes little sense - his time is now.

In five minutes, the vehicle parked alongside the Corvair (assuming the Zodiac Killer didn't travel home to retrieve the weapon he already should have had), apparently is leaving and returning for no purpose other than hesitation. Unless the Zodiac Killer had second thoughts  which seems unlikely - one could assert the vehicle that parked alongside the Corvair five minutes prior to the attack is incidental and irrelevant to the murder that night - only becoming a vehicle of note because of what transpired a few minutes later. Michael Mageau's recollection of the vehicle, bearing in mind what he had endured during the attack, may have become more suspicious in his mind when he recounted the night's events at Kaiser Hospital.
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Could Michael Mageau's description of the vehicle driving away after the attack been subconsciously transferred to the first vehicle, which had now moved suspiciously within 6 or 8 feet of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair, with extinguished headlights? The 'innocent' motorist observed in the parking lot on July 4th 1969 may have suddenly become integral to the story that night, with imagination the key driver. The same could be said of James Owen at Lake Herman Road. In his first statement to police he recalled that "he saw two cars parked near the entrance to the pumping station. He stated the car parked nearest was a 1955 or 1956 station wagon, boxy type, neutral in color. The other was parked to the right and abreast of the station wagon. The cars were about ten feet apart. He stated he could not give a description of the make or color of the other car". In his second statement, the vehicles had closed up to a menacing 3-4 feet, with a shot now being heard about a quarter of a mile beyond the turnout. The story of July 4th 1969 would be far simpler without the first vehicle 'appearing suspicious' - but to move it further away from the brown Corvair, with the headlights switched on, to make it less suspicious, could also be construed as imagination on my part - which effectively leaves us back to where we started. 

The Zodiac Killer changed his approach from Lake Herman Road to Blue Rock Springs, in that, he decided to open fire on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 while they remained seated in their vehicle. Did his plans at Lake Herman Road backfire to some extent, that forced such a change? He may have wanted more control over the victims by keeping them boxed in their vehicle. But did the weather and the actions of Michael Mageau ultimately force the Zodiac Killer into a critical mistake, when he decided to return to the 1963 brown Corvair of Darlene Ferrin to fire off his final four shots? A choice that would inadvertently reveal the likely home location of the Zodiac Killer.
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We have previously examined the possibility of a phone call being placed after the Lake Herman Road double murder at the exact same payphone located at Springs and Tuolumne, described as a 'crank call' by Pierre Bidou. It was determined, that this being the Zodiac Killer, it had the possibility of shifting the time of the Lake Herman Road murders approximately 5-6 minutes earlier than previously thought, allowing the killer to head in the direction of Vallejo before Stella Borges left her ranch and declaring that she had passed no vehicles en route. After the first two attacks the killer would be heading toward Springs Road on both occasions, turning west and heading for the payphone to place his call, before taking refuge at his residence. The early murders of a serial killer are more likely to be closer to home, before he gains in confidence and ventures further afield, placing the area around the payphone of great interest.         

Despite the understandable sketchy recollections of Michael Mageau, he may very well be the unlikely savior here. His description of the assailant's clothing and his reflex decision to seek refuge in the back seat of the Corvair may have been the undoing of the killer.
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Michael stated two things in the police report. Firstly: "Subject appeared to be short, possibly 5'8", was real heavy set, beefy build. States subject was not blubbery fat, but real beefy, possibly 195 to 200, or maybe even larger. Stated he had short curly hair, light brown, almost blond. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, blue in color. Cannot remember if it was light or dark blue."  Secondly: "States that he tried to climb over the back seat to get away from the shooting and subject kept shooting him again and again. States subject finally quit shooting him and apparently turned the gun on Dea and started shooting her again and again. States subject then turned around and started to walk back to his vehicle which still had the headlights on. Michael stated he could not tell if he meant to yell at the subject or if he just yelled from pain, but he let out some kind of yell. At this time, the subject apparently hearing him, came back to the car and shot Michael two more times, once in the back and once in the left leg. States the subject then turned the gun on Dea and shot her twice more." This final action by the killer may unwittingly have changed the course of the next 40 minutes.
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The time of the year couldn't have been more different from the Lake Herman Road attack - the murders at Lake Herman Road committed in sub-zero temperatures of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, and Blue Rock Springs in very agreeable temperatures that averaged above 80 degrees Fahrenheit for much of the day, which is why the killer was described as "wearing a short-sleeved shirt, blue in color" - something he was unlikely to have been wearing the night of December 20th 1968. It is my guess the assailant's shirt was relatively light in color, and when Michael Mageau "let out some kind of yell", it forced the killer into something he hadn't planned to do - interact closely with the crime scene. 

At Lake Herman Road the killer shot David Faraday once in the head, and Betty Lou Jensen while she was running for her life. His contact or interaction with the Rambler and victims was kept to a minimum. This was likely his intention at Blue Rock Springs when firing through the open window of the Corvair, but Michael Mageau effectively refusing to die and letting out a yell, would inadvertently scupper his well laid plans.
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The first shots at Michael Mageau struck him in the neck (facial area) and once in the shoulder, before he clambered over the seat to the rear of the vehicle in an attempt to escape the initial barrage. The killer also fired three direct shots at Darlene Ferrin, but struck her far more. Michael Mageau would have been bleeding heavily at this point, more than likely coating the passenger seat in blood as he clambered over it to seek refuge in the rear of the vehicle. The killer after firing five shots, retreated, but after hearing Michael Mageau yell, returned to the vehicle and leaned into the open window and over the front passenger seat, in all likelihood smearing blood on his "light blue short-sleeved shirt" and arms from the top of the seat. To angle the gun, striking Michael Mageau in the lower regions, and leaving two spent casings on the rear floorboard of the Corvair, he likely had to lean a reasonable distance into the vehicle. He then delivered the final two shots into Darlene Ferrin. This final action by the killer may very well have created blood transfer to his shirt and body, and ultimately transferred it to his vehicle. The wise choice, is now, not to make his planned phone call immediately after departing the scene of the crime, exiting his vehicle and entering the payphone covered in blood, but to travel home and get cleaned up, thereby minimizing the obvious risk when placing the call.   

Investigators must have considered the possibility of the Zodiac Killer living in the proximity of the payphone because of the time disparity of a payphone only 10 minutes from the crime scene, yet a phone call being placed 40 minutes subsequent to the attack. They must have toyed with the idea, that the killer had remained in the vicinity. They certainly must have searched for eyewitnesses to the phone call, and likely canvassed the surrounding area. It is highly probable that they knocked on the door of the killer and chatted with him briefly. Although Michael Mageau's description of the killer and his vehicle were sketchy, they had some loose indicators to rule out certain people. The investigators probably combed the area around the payphone for a brown Corvair, or a vehicle resembling it.
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Nearly one month later, the Zodiac sent three coded segments in three letters on July 31st 1969 to the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald, giving details of the first two crimes to prove he was the actual killer. However, the Zodiac Killer was doubted as to whether the letter writer and killer were one and the same, and Vallejo Police Chief Jack E Stiltz still wanted more proof, as detailed in the Saturday August 2nd 1969 San Francisco Chronicle. He requested the writer to send a second letter "with more facts to prove it." This may have proved the perfect opportunity for the killer to switch the emphasis away from his home locality.
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He created the perfect phantom witness of a "negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed," who he would not only describe in unnecessary detail, but fortunately a witness that would verify twice that Zodiac was in a car - and it was brown in color. The Zodiac Killer has never been so forthcoming. By placing himself in his vehicle, he gives the impression he could have lived anywhere, as opposed to a killer who probably walked to the payphone. The unaccounted time between the Blue Rock Springs attack and the placement of the phone call, may be indicative of a killer cleaning himself up and removing the blooded clothing, resulting from his return to Darlene Ferrin's Corvair for the final four shots. And Michael Mageau was the trigger.   

Kim Rossmo talked about the possible home locations for the Zodiac Killer using Rigel: "There's a number of possibilities. But remember, Rancho Vallejo was possibly 26,000 people at that time, of which only 13,000 will be male, and only a certain proportion of those are of the correct age, and a certain portion of those are only going to be white. Then we start looking at the neighborhoods involved, we have a pretty small subset. Then we start combining that with some of the personal and behavioral descriptors, and then we work in the vehicle information. If this case was active today, it would not be too difficult to find this person." Apply this to a 20 minute walking radius of the payphone and you can see it's a very real avenue of investigation, if you can acquire the details of residency. Zodiac Killer-Geographic Profiling.     

See also: A Stone's Throw Away.