This time we will take a trip to the shores of Lake Berryessa and take a closer look at whether the mystery man spotted by the three young women from Pacific Union College was the same man that would later go on to attack Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard just a couple of hours later. A rudimentary sketch of the man, compiled using the descriptions of the three women was generated - an overall description that bore similarities to statements by Bryan Hartnell. On first look, the sketch appears inconsistent with the drawing of the suspect generated from eyewitness testimony at Presidio Heights, just two weeks later on October 11th 1969, however, they may be a lot closer than first thought.
 
Many people have questioned Lake Berryessa as a Zodiac crime, citing the different style of the attack and his failure to detail this crime in any of his subsequent correspondence with newspapers. The writing on the car door, his phone call and the mention of 'sept' on the 'Dripping Pen' card mailed on November 8th 1969, have seemingly failed to convince everyone. So later we will take a closer look at the sketch, bearing in mind the Zodiac could easily have cut and dyed his hair in the two weeks prior to the murder of Paul Stine.
The Zodiac Killer also stated in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill".

Firstly let us take a look at the overall details submitted by the three women.
Earlier on in the day, three young women, students of Pacific Union College parked their vehicle two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand at 5100 Knoxville Road. As they left their vehicle to go sunbathing, a white male, driving a silver or light blue Chevrolet 2-door sedan with California plates pulled up to the rear of their car, bumper to bumper, yet remained inside his vehicle. This man would seemingly remain in his vehicle for approximately 30 minutes before they spotted him again, observing them from about 40 to 50 feet away while they were sunbathing. Each time they looked at him he seemingly evaded eye contact, thus drawing suspicion from the three women. He was described as being between 28 and 40 years, 200-225 pounds, 6 feet tall, styled black hair, with rounded eyes and thin lips - he was good looking, with a muscular or stocky build, wearing dark pants and a dark pullover shirt. He remained observing them, by their accounts, for between 30-45 minutes and then left. At 4:30 pm they decided to leave the shores of Lake Berryessa and noticed his vehicle had gone. Here are the separate descriptions they submitted;

#1. "A subject driving a late model silver-blue Chevrolet, 2-door sedan. This subject was described as 6' tall, weighing 200/210 pounds, muscular build, rather nice looking".
#2. "Vehicle described as a 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet with California plates. Witness believes the vehicle was a 2-door sedan and described the headlights as long rather than round".
#3. "Subject was described as approximately 28 years of age, 6'1" to 6'2" tall, 200/225 lbs, black hair possibly styled, with a part on the left, rounded eyes, thin lips, medium nose, straight eyebrows, small ears, well built, rather nice looking".
#4. "Vehicle was described as a late model Chevrolet, sky blue in color. The rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round. She described the subject as 6' tall, stocky build, about 200 lbs, black short-sleeved sweater shirt, dark blue slacks, and straight dark hair neatly combed. She guessed his age at approximately 30 years".
When the three young women returned to their vehicle at 4.30 pm, the man and his vehicle had left.

Bryan Hartnell thought the attacker to be 20-30 years using voice concept, with dark brown hair visible through the hood, wearing dark blue or black pleated slacks, 5' 8" to 6' 0" tall and 225-250 pounds. He also noticed a knife in a case on the right side of his belt, near the front of his trousers and cut up rope in the assailant's rear pocket. It was the type similar to white plastic clothesline.

Certain key aspects given by Bryan Hartnell and the three women match up. The dark hair, observed by both Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard by the eyelets of the mask worn by the assailant, may indicate his hair was drawn downwards when he pulled on the mask. The sketch by the three women indicates longer hair, probably swept back on top. The description of a heavyset man, 200-225 pounds is identical in both instances, in line with the description of a heavyset man at Presidio Heights. The age is also consistent. The three women described what they thought was a white belt around his back, thinking it could possibly have been a tee shirt hanging out. Another girl stated he was wearing a black short sleeved sweater shirt bunched up at the front, again describing a white tee shirt hanging out the back. Did the bunched up sweater shirt hide anything sinister? Could the descriptions given by the women, describing a white belt around his back or white tee shirt 'hanging out', actually have been the cut lengths of plastic clothesline trailing from his rear pocket in anticipation of a prepared attack on the women, but for whatever reason got cold feet, changed his mind and turned to Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard approximately two hours later. 

In an interview with Sgt John Robertson, Bryan Hartnell mentioned the windbreaker worn by the assailant stating "That was dark blue. And I don't know. Maybe he had something in his pouch". The three women would describe the man as he approached the beach within 20 feet of them, noticing "a black short-sleeved sweater shirt, bunched up in front". Was the knife or gun concealed under his shirt, described by Bryan Hartnell as "a knife in a case on the right side of his belt, near the front of his trousers?" Bryan Hartnell in the police report, stated the assailant was wearing "sloppy clothes. And he had on this old pair of pleated pants. Well like I say, he was dressed kind of sloppily, you know. His pants real tight up here and his stomach kind of pouched a bit". These style of pants would be later detailed by Donald Fouke, one of the responding officers at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. Bryan Hartnell would also describe the clothing worn by the assailant as old-fashioned. One of the women would describe the vehicle driven by the mystery man, stating the car "as appearing very conservative and did not appear to belong to any young person, such as a teenager". ​ 

Just prior to the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, the assailant ducked behind some trees, before he reappeared wearing his costume. The three women mentioned in the police report "the male subject watching them from the edge of the trees" at the top of the hill. Was the "black short-sleeved sweater shirt, bunched up in front", possibly the executioner's hood, concealed beneath his clothing in preparation, along with the gun and knife?

The three women described his vehicle as a 'late model, 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet, the rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round.' Below is a picture of the rear end of a 1967 Chevrolet Nova II, with long taillights, rather than round. What was actually meant by the description of 'long' can be interpreted in two ways - either 'long' vertically or horizontally. However, after much searching of vehicle specifications, this car has been chosen for a reason. Its track width is almost identical to the tire impressions found next to Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Karmann Ghia shortly after the Lake Berryessa attack. This was examined in much greater detail here.

Ninety minutes precedent to the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1968, William Crow and his girlfriend were parked up in the fateful turnout. "He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Crow put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed". William Crow described the vehicle as possibly a blue Valiant in the original police report - and bearing in mind the vehicle momentarily stopped just past the turnout, before reversing, this would undoubtedly be the best view he had of the vehicle that night, before being chased down Lake Herman Road. The rear of a 1967 Plymouth Valiant is shown in the above right photograph, with the characteristics of the rear end and taillights bearing a passing similarity to the 1967 Chevrolet Nova II. So is it possible William Crow was pursued by a 1967 Chevrolet Nova II on December 20th 1968, the same vehicle that would be viewed by the three women at Lake Berryessa nine months later?  A vehicle that would further match the track width, measured by detectives alongside Bryan Hartnell's 1956 white Karmann Ghia.  

Finally, we shall return to the sketch attributed to the three women and compare it to the sketch generated at Presidio Heights.
The first image on the left is the original sketch (colored, without glasses) from the three teenagers overlooking 3898 Washington Street. The middle image shows the Lake Berryessa sketch with the haircut from Presidio Heights. The right image changes one further characteristic from Lake Berryessa;- the lips of the assailant. Taking into consideration the eyewitnesses at Presidio Heights were hindered by distance and poor lighting, was the Lake Berryessa sketch more accurate? Or indeed, was the man observed by the three women actually the Zodiac Killer? It depends on whether the images below could be mistaken for the same person. I will let you decide. 

In the middle image below, the eyes on the Lake Berryessa sketch have been widened to match the Presidio Heights sketch. In the right image below the eyes on the Presidio Heights sketch have been narrowed to match the Lake Berryessa sketch. This has been done to  compensate for any possible changes to the appearance by wearing glasses.

The following will be investigating the idea that possibly two or more individuals may have been involved in the Zodiac crimes, or at least some of the crimes. It is not necessarily something I subscribe to, but certainly would not dismiss the idea out of hand, particularly when we consider the nature of the first two crimes at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, and many of the unanswered questions. Some of the following will consider new angles regarding the crimes that don't necessarily follow the widely accepted Zodiac narrative.

At Lake Herman Road, what strikes you are the occupants of two vehicles observed in the run-up to the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. These occupants, despite the publicity these murders generated, never came forward. This may be a fear of implication in the crime, nevertheless, the owner of the white Chevrolet Impala spotted parked unoccupied in the Lake Herman Road turnout by three witnesses and the blue Valiant observed by William Crow, who stated he was pursued by two Caucasian males in this vehicle within 90 minutes of the double murder, have all remained unidentified. One has to ask, why is the empty Chevrolet Impala sitting parked in the turnout for an extended period of time bearing in mind it was late evening, extremely cold and pitch black? What were the occupant/s of the vehicle doing that night, considering they were never observed in the vicinity at any time by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser or Bingo Wesner?

The 'Blue Valiant' story by William Crow is difficult to dismiss as irrelevant, having occurred so close to the crime scene - and on the face of it appeared threatening. William Crow would later change the recollection of his encounter that night, in addition to altering his vehicle description to a white Chevrolet. This can be easily interpreted as witness embellishment. Mike Rodelli attempted to contact William Crow in subsequent years to no avail. He addressed William Crow thus; "Since that time, you have become a practicing attorney and are reportedly employed by the local government in Solano County. In February of 2004, you spoke to Zodiac researcher Howard Davis. At this time you had a much different story to tell. You clarified the reason you had pulled over to the side of the road near the pumping station as being to learn how to use "toggle switches" on the dashboard of your girlfriend's car. The chase is now much more detail-filled and very dramatic. The car tried to gain on you and, in trying to get inside your left rear quarter panel, presumably tried to force you off the road. He flashed his lights on and off. In taking the turnoff to Benicia, you apparently had to execute a high speed "evasive" maneuver which the less agile, older car could not handle. There was just one person in the car now and his description was eerily like that which was promoted for the Zodiac killer (i.e., short hair and glasses) after October 1969. The car was now remarkably the "white Chevy" that two other sets of eyewitnesses described that night. You stated that your girlfriend lived in (and presumably purchased her sports car in) San Francisco (or was it Napa?). After the encounter, your common sense kicked in and you went home".

It is not unusual for eyewitnesses to become creative in later accounts, which drives at the heart of their credibility, similar in fashion to the changing stories of Donald Fouke at Presidio Heights. This is what William Crow originally stated; "He was driving his girlfriend's sports car and he was testing it out and adjusting the motor. He was parked in the open area by the pump station and he observed a blue car, possibly a Valiant coming down the road from Benicia towards Vallejo. They passed his location, stopped in the middle of the road and he saw the white lights of the reverse come on and the car started backing up towards them. Mr Owen put the car in gear and took off at a high rate of speed and the car followed him at a high rate of speed. They did not attempt to gain on him, but when they got to the turn off towards Benicia, William Crow turned towards Benicia and the other car went straight ahead. The subjects were both Caucasians and there is no further identification on the car or the subjects".

The level of threat these individuals posed is indeterminable, although they never presented themselves to investigators to clarify their account of proceedings - so the question will still persist - to what extent they were connected to the subsequent murders that night? The significance of the white Chevrolet Impala is equally unclear.          

The Zodiac Killer described his attack on David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen "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".

How difficult is it to control two frightened teenagers in near perfect darkness using just a 'pencil flashlight', bearing in mind his vehicle was supposedly parked alongside the victims Rambler, providing limited auxiliary lighting from the headlights of his car? The most obvious position to place his vehicle was to the right and slightly behind, to not only blind his victims and box them in, but to provide some extra illumination in the comission of the crime. The Zodiac also stated "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights". The fact he never used the gunsights may suggest this very scenario. His statement of "all I had to do was spray them" is open to scrutiny, because he never sprayed both victims - David Faraday was shot point blank to the left side of his head. This brings us to the ballistics evidence, covered extensively in regards to two shooters, in the article http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-herman-road-the-ballistics-report  

In short, seven bullets were documented in the DOJ report and only one failed to exhibit 'right hand groove class characteristics' - the one retrieved from David Faraday's head at autopsy. Ten casings were detailed in the crime scene sketches, but only nine were sent to the Department of Justice for testing. Since nine of the casings were retrieved from the turnout floor, it seems likely the tenth casing, marked as sitting on the front passenger side Rambler floor, got towed away with the vehicle and separated from the rest of the casings. Therefore, it is possible that this casing was never tested. If this tenth casing had exhibited different characteristics to the other nine, then a plausible link could be attributed to this casing and the 'odd man out' bullet. It makes perfect sense, because a head shot into David Faraday from his left side by a right-handed shooter could easily have ejected the casing to the rear of the gun, in direct line with the open passenger door where it was ultimately found. The same could be said of a left-handed shooter securing David Faraday from behind. But without ever locating this missing casing we will never know.

Mike Rodelli responded to this with some additional information, which if correct defies belief: "That missing casing is interesting. I remember being at Russ' home for several days in 2003 and he told me that he had one of the shell casings from LHR. We looked through several ashtrays of junk trying to find it but never did. I wonder if the one he had is the missing one, since the car would have been placed in possession of the SO after the shooting, as seen in several videos. Maybe he took it as a souvenir.". If this were the case, then it is highly unlikely that this promising lead will go anywhere, but it certainly does not discount the possibility that a second gun and second shooter may have been involved that night. Were the two Caucasians spotted by William Crow still en scene, and what role, if any, did the white Chevrolet Impala play?         

Comparing vehicles in the Zodiac attacks is extremely limiting, especially when considering Michael Mageau's less than reliable eyewitness account. Understandable after the horrific attack he was subjected to at Blue Rock Springs Park.

On the left is a blue 1966 Chevrolet Nova, which when compared to the 1966 Plymouth Valiant above has a similar square looking design. In addition, the Chevrolet Nova II and Chevrolet Nova II 327 exhibit equally similar features and specifications. These vehicles have been selected for a reason.

The three women at Lake Berryessa, who spotted a suspicious man in the run up to the double stabbing of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard on September 27th 1969, described his vehicle as a late model, 1966/7 Chevrolet, light or sky blue in color, with long rear taillights rather than round. These Chevrolet Nova models have long taillights. Not a great match up admittedly, however, the police took tire impressions of a vehicle they suspected parked by Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia on the day of the crime, that may have been the killer's vehicle. The mystery man spotted by the three women may not have been the Zodiac Killer, but the tire tracks or tread impression widths of a Chevrolet Nova, if he drove such a vehicle, are almost  identical to the track width of the observed tire impressions by police.   

This is what it states in the police report "Reporting officer observed one set of tire impressions approximately 20 feet to the rear of the victim's vehicle. The suspect track nearer the fence measured approximately 4 1/2 inches in width and showed a parallel tread design. This tread design was photographed by Sgt T Butler and then a plaster cast was made by reporting officer. The tire impression furthest from the fence measured approximately 5 1/2 inches in width. The distance between the inside of the left tread to the inside of the right tread measured approximately 52 inches".
Track width is a measurement from tire center to tire center.
If you look at the specs of a 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala, the tire width is 205 mm or 8.07 inches. This would mean that the center of the tire is situated at roughly 4 inches. It would be nice to think, that if we added the 4 inches of both tires to the 52 inches in the police report (measured to the inside of the tread above), we would get 60 inches track width, which happens to be the exact front width shown here of the 1960 Chevrolet Impala (although 59.3 in the rear). However, tire width and tread width are not the same (shown in the photograph above), where the rubber cambers off on the edge of the tire, meaning the tread width is often smaller than tire width. This is often different bearing in mind the aspect ratio of a tire, given as 75% on a 1960 Chevrolet Impala, in respect to rim size. Here is a brief explanation on Youtube.  If we take the median value of the tread impression widths (5 1/2 inches and 4 1/2 inches) stated in the police report above, we have an approximation of 5 inches tread width. This can vary front and back. 

The police report gave us 52 inches to the inside of the tread (left and right), depicted here on the left. The tread value of each tire is 5 inches, which is 2 1/2 inches to the center of each tire (excluding the camber shown in yellow). With two tires, that amounts to 5 inches. Therefore, the total track width (measured to the center of each tire) is 57 inches. This would suggest that the suspect vehicle, if it is related to the Berrryessa tire impressions at all, is not a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair with a track width of not greater than 55 inches - and shy of the 60 inch track width of a 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala - seemingly ruling both vehicles out as being responsible for the impressions discovered by responding officers. Even taking the actual values of tread width of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 inches, the track width would fall in between the specifications of both vehicles. 


​The three girls descriptions, suggested a 1966 or 1967, late model blue Chevrolet, 2-door, with one highlighting long taillights. The question being, could this description be enough to provide a match to the tire impressions found close to Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. We are looking for a Chevrolet somewhere in the range of 57 inch wheel track width. Here are examples of the Chevrolet II Nova, beginning with the 2-door '66 model.    

Supplemental to this, is the Chevrolet Nova II SS 327.  Here is a Youtube video of a 1967 marina-blue Chevrolet Nova II 327, featuring front, side and rear views. It is 2-door, with long, rather than round taillights.

​If we take the median value of the tire impressions from the police report, then as already stated, we have a track width of 57 inches. If we take the low end estimate of the tire impressions of approximately 4 1/2 inches, this gives a track width of 56.50 inches. Here are the complete specs of the Chevrolet Nova II from two sources. Here and here.

The track width for the front is 56.80 inches, very close to the 57.00 inches estimated from the police report. The track width for the rear is 56.30 inches, very close to 'the suspect track nearer the fence, measured at approximately 4 1/2 inches in width.' This was the closest fit I could find, matching as many specifications as possible, including the color, make, year, taillights, door and track width, and combining both scenes at Lake Berryessa - but this of course is the best one can manage without comprehensive identification. Had William Crow identified a blue Chevrolet Nova instead of a blue Valiant, then its significance may have ramped up a notch. He may have been mistaken on December 20th 1968, after all, he apparently only saw its front and rear end in near pitch darkness. He would eventually change his statement in 2004 to a white Chevrolet - so by taking half of each statement - we could manufacture our blue Chevrolet like magic.

Seven months after Lake Herman Road, the killer struck for a second time, attacking Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs Park. Again, two vehicles may have come into play. Michael Mageau described a vehicle pulling alongside Darlene Ferrin's brown Corvair before leaving in the direction of Springs Road. Approximately five minutes later, this vehicle, or a different vehicle, pulled up about ten feet to their rear. The occupant exited his vehicle with torch and gun in hand, approached the couple's vehicle and fired five shots at the defenseless victims through the open side passenger window. He then retreated, before returning to fire off a further four shots.      

Who was the man who pulled alongside the victims car five minutes prior to the attack? If this man was the eventual shooter, why did he drive away when he had the perfect opportunity to attack the couple in the first instance. If he was unrelated to the murder and attempted murder, why did he pull alongside the couple in an empty car park in which he could have parked anywhere, and in similar fashion to the unknown occupants of the vehicles at Lake Herman Road, he never presented himself as a material witness to police regarding the events that night. Was the occupant of the vehicle who initially pulled up alongside the victims Corvair surveying the scene for an accomplice, possibly known to Darlene Ferrin? Hence, the strategy of parking a vehicle alongside, then behind. This certainly wouldn't be the first serial killer to target someone known to them, before continuing their rampage. Then there is the additional phone call to family members in the early hours of July 5th 1969, other than the call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. This theory I doubt will ever be resolved. 

This attack, and the one at Lake Herman Road, both may have displayed some sort of reconnaissance before the murders ultimately took place, with unidentified vehicles and persons unknown present before each crime.

At Lake Herman Road we had an extensive DOJ ballistics report (although missing one vital casing), along with detailed, if inaccurate police sketches. Blue Rock Springs Park on the other hand, has very little. No extensive ballistics report available to the public and no photographs of the crime scene whatsoever. We know that nine expended bullet casings were retrieved from the crime scene, seven found to the right side of the Corvair and two on the back seat floorboard of the vehicle, as though the killer had leaned into the vehicle to deliver the final two shots at Michael Mageau, who had clambered to the rear of the vehicle to escape the initial barrage. The strange thing about this shooting, is that the killer had unleashed nine shots towards his victims, yet despite both Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin being alive after the first five shots, he retreated according to Michael Mageau. Why didn't he just use up the whole magazine, or nine shots in one 'sitting' so to speak? Although not privy to the Blue Rock Springs ballistics report, I suspect the expended casings were compared and shown to have been the product of one firearm - but who fired the nine shots? This may seem a stupid question, but Michael Mageau by his own admission, stated a vehicle pulled up behind them with the headlights on and a man exited with a flashlight. At near midnight with limited alternative lighting, this would have made it extremely difficult to ascertain how many occupants were present in the assailant's vehicle.              

Michael Mageau stated that the attacker retreated after the first volley of shots. It is entirely plausible that the assailant handed off the gun to a second man in the car, who was then told to 'finish the job'. They came as a team and wanted to be equally involved. The first assailant firing off five shots and the second four shots. This cannot be proved or disproved, especially considering Michael Mageau was blinded by the headlights from behind, in accompaniment to the flashlight - and for a brief period had no view of the assailant/s vehicle as he had sought respite on the back seat of the Corvair. His account of the night and his description of the assailant's vehicle are extremely sketchy, and could also throw into doubt the actual number of perpetrators involved on July 4th 1969.

Lake Berryessa is totally different. We know that one masked man was responsible for the stabbing of Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. What we don't know is who wrote on Bryan Hartnell's car door. We assume it was the same person who committed the stabbing. Lake Berryessa had limited escape routes by car, with the crime being perpetrated during daylight hours and boats still circling the lake. Would our killer be eager to leave the scene of crime as soon as he reached his vehicle? Would he take the time to write on Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia? Or would it have been much easier for a second person to have written on the vehicle while the attack was underway, so as to facilitate a quick exit along Knoxville Road? Again, neither can be proved or disproved.

Finally, we have the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. There have been many debates on where the actual murder took place, in light of no gunshot being heard by the three teenagers across the street - or any other resident for that matter. But what we do know, is that we cannot inextricably link the man observed in the taxicab with Paul Stine's shooting. By the time the three teenagers had looked out of their window that night, all they observed was a man in the front seat of the taxicab, presumably tearing off a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt. The shooter (his accomplice) may have already vacated the taxicab before the teenagers came to the window. Nobody knows the time period between the taxicab arriving at Washington and Cherry and the teenagers initial observations. The shooter could have been long gone and the 'clean up' guy was taking care of business. Without the gun, his lack of urgency may have been measurable by his actions.

The following will explore the possibility that two people were in fact the 'Zodiac Killer', briefly touched upon in a previous Lake Herman Road article entitled 'Lake Herman Road-The Ballistics Report.' This is not necessarily a held opinion, but the idea of more than one person in some way being involved has long been touted in numerous postings, so is worthy of investigation. Let us start at the beginning with some observations noted at Lake Herman Road.

The first interesting aspect of the December 20th 1968 murders was that the bullet fired into David Faraday did not contain the same class characteristics as the other seven submitted bullets. What the Department of Justice report actually said was 'All bullets submitted were Western copper coated .22 long rifle bullets, although some were damaged, it was possible to determine ALL but Item [1] had 6 right hand groove class characteristics.'  Item [1] was the bullet recovered from David Faraday. This doesn't categorically separate this bullet as being fired from a second weapon, but it certainly opens up the possibility, as it couldn't be definitively linked to the other seven bullets. Furthermore, only nine casings were documented in the police report and the Department of Justice report, when clearly ten casings were ejected from the weaponry that night and explicitly marked in numerous police sketches. So why did this tenth casing, described by Zodiac and depicted in the police sketches, seemingly disappear on its journey from the crime scene to the Department of Justice evidence room. In all likelihood, it is because this casing was the one discovered on the front passenger side floorboard of the Rambler, either left in situ purposely or inadvertently when the Rambler of David Faraday was towed away, but which ultimately became separated from the other nine. Having never been tested, we will never know if this 'missing' tenth casing matches the other nine from a ballistics standpoint. Had it displayed unique characteristics, then there remains a strong possibility that this casing could have been the one ejected from the bullet fired into David Faraday's brain - as this was the only bullet not linked the other seven. This would open up the notion of a second weapon that night, or likely a second shooter - but without the tenth casing being unearthed, this remains just speculation. See Lake Herman Road-The Ballistics Report. 

It has been suggested that one person may have written the letters to the newspapers, while the other was the killer. But it is equally possible both participated in the murders, while one or both wrote the correspondence. It is easy to scrutinize every word penned by the author of the Zodiac letters, and interpret the wording in a multitude of different ways. One such example is present in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969.

Imagine that two attackers were present at Lake Herman Road, and as inferred above, one was responsible for the close quarter execution of David Faraday, while the other was responsible for the remaining nine shots. In other words, the second shooter had a containing role, securing David Faraday as he left the Rambler. If this were the case, it could be inferred that the assailant who murdered Betty Lou Jensen was the author of the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter and wrote "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". He did essentially "spray" Betty Lou Jensen with five bullets, but he didn't 'spray them', so he could be writing about the events that night from his perspective, not his accomplice's - who may have clinically murdered David Faraday with a single bullet and suggested at the beginning of this article.

Another example of interpretation can be found in the wording on the first three letters mailed on July 31st 1969, where the author stated alongside part one of the cipher "the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle". Alongside parts two and three of the cipher the author stated "the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner". and uses the present tense of "are being mailed". On all three correspondences the author is tending towards the third person perspective. This is most unlike the Zodiac, who would usually not fail to refer to himself, such as "I have mailed the other two parts of the cipher."  Clearly though, this boils down to the subjectivity of the reader and the dissection of such material.      

The final observation, is the encounter of William Crow approximately 90 minutes prior to the Lake Herman Road double murder, in which he detailed being chased by another vehicle occupied by two male Caucasians. If his account is true, then this suspicious activity so close to the actual time of the murders has to be considered one of, if not the most significant feature of the night's events when searching for suspects. Most telling, was that these two individuals never came forward and were never located. There are many reasons why individuals do not come forward - one being the fear of being turned from eyewitness into the accused, although guilt would certainly head the list. Taking the ballistics from above and linking it to these two white males is certainly worthy of consideration, albeit a little simplistic.

Did these two individuals reappear just over six months later, both of whom were possibly sighted and recalled by Michael Mageau, who survived the horrific onslaught at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969. Michael Mageau would recount two significant sightings that night. Firstly, the vehicle that pulled up alongside Darlene Ferrin's brown Corvair - and either this vehicle returning five minutes later to the rear of their Corvair - or a second vehicle now entering the scene, implying that two males may be involved in the crime. Michael Mageau stated in the police report "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'".
 
The Zodiac Killer appeared bold and brazen, particularly at Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights, where he took enormous risks beyond what was required to execute his murders. The wearing of an elaborate costume, the writing on the car door, and the murder of Paul Stine in the heart of San Francisco (that included the tearing of Paul Stine's shirt), yet here, if we contend that both these sightings by Michael Mageau were of the Zodiac Killer, then the hesitancy looks out of place. When the first vehicle pulled into the parking lot it was empty, other than Darlene's Corvair. Why not pull up behind the intended victims, as in the second instance, and begin the attack? It could be argued that the first vehicle which pulled up alongside the Corvair was a totally innocent motorist, but the parking lot was totally empty, so why pull alongside the only other vehicle and extinguish the car's lights for upwards of a minute? This could be construed as suspicious activity in the run up to the attack at Blue Rock Springs, in similar fashion to Lake Herman Road - and again - as with Lake Herman Road, this person (if innocent) never came forward as an eyewitness to this crime and has never been traced. Three significant eyewitnesses over three murders that all failed to make themselves available.                     

The Zodiac would remind us of his individuality just two days after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, "I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". We do not know exactly what alerted the three teenagers to the unfolding events outside their home that night, but it was apparently not the gunshot, as they stated they heard no firearm being discharged that night. Therefore, it cannot be stated with any certainty that the man they observed in the front passenger seat of the taxicab was actually the killer of Paul Stine. In fact, we do not know exactly how long the taxicab was present at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Street prior to the teenagers looking out of their upstairs window. We can only determine that the person observed inside the taxicab was likely responsible for the removal of the shirt piece and the wiping down of the taxicab.

​It is perfectly feasible that two people were inside Paul Stine's taxicab as it approached the corner of Washington and Cherry just before 9:55 pm. The first person shot Paul Stine and immediately left the scene, taking the 'smoking gun' with him. The second person remained to secure the shirt piece and wipe down the taxicab. Had the second person still been inside the taxicab as police approached, he could just claim to be a witness to the murder or aftermath - and seeing a taxicab driver had been injured or shot, had entered the taxicab to assist the driver. After all, this accomplice would have been devoid of any firearm and incriminating gunshot residue, so how could he be the shooter? The tearing of any shirt (had this been noticed) could be attributed to first aid, acquiring material to staunch the blood loss. However, as police had not arrived in time, any back up plan was not required and the accomplice headed north along Cherry Street.  

It would have been an extremely audacious act to have shot a taxicab driver in a built up area, only yards from nearby residences, and then have taken the time to carefully tear a rectangular section of Paul Stine's shirt while still in possession of the only item that would inextricably link you to the crime - the smoking gun. The same could be said of remaining at the scene after the Lake Berryessa double stabbing, and taking the time to write on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 White Karmann Ghia. Unless, both of these tasks were performed by an accomplice, thereby reducing the risk factor of each crime. 
It is actually impossible to disprove that two people were involved in the Zodiac crimes, as it is for multiple co-conspirators. It is equally impossible to prove a lone killer in all four confirmed attacks, as it simply boils down to what you believe. The murderer crafted an elaborate costume for the attack on Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell on September 27th 1969, but the creation of the 'Zodiac Killer' just prior to August 4th 1969 may have been the greatest disguise of them all.                    

During the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20th 1968, one car, above all, was spotted by numerous eyewitnesses that night, including Bingo Wesner, Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and William Crow, who saw the vehicle up close and personal, either in the turnout or adjacent to it, described in more detail in the police report as a white 1959 or 1960 4-door hardtop Chevrolet Impala. Just under seven months later, the second attack would occur at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th or 5th 1969, again involving a young couple. Unfortunately, this time the surviving witness Michael Mageau was less than confident on the description of the assailant's vehicle. He stated in the police report "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 very dark out there".  The killer clearly could have changed vehicle in the preceding months, but what is the likelihood Michael Mageau saw a white Chevrolet Impala?

The assailant's vehicle left no tracks at Lake Herman Road because the ground in the turnout was frozen solid under 22 degree Fahrenheit conditions. At Blue Rock Springs, the parking lot was Macadam paved, so in both instances this avenue of investigation was unable to generate any linkage between the two crimes. Michael Mageau described the assailant's vehicle as similar in shape to Dea's, and Darlene Ferrin drove a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair. The track width of a Chevrolet Corvair of the respective year, front and rear, is 54.5 to 55 inches. The track width being the distance from the center of one tire, to the center of the corresponding tire. This may be relevant, if any connection can be made to the tire tracks discovered to the rear of Bryan Hartnell's 1956 White Karmann Ghia at Lake Berryessa just under three months later, unless we assume the killer simply kept swapping cars.

The factory specifications show this 1960 model of Chevrolet was produced in Ermine White. The color has a distinctive brown hue, which is further enhanced under reduced light (see above). In respect of Blue Rock Springs, the glare of the assailant's headlights and carry handle flashlight, and Mageau's position throughout, makes it highly unlikely any worthwhile comparison can be made between Darlene Ferrin's vehicle and the killer's from the perspective of Michael Mageau, before or after the shooting.

​The third attack at Lake Berryessa, on September 27th 1969, yielded a further description of a vehicle. However, whether it is connected to the murder of Cecelia Shepard and attempted murder of Bryan Hartnell is unknown. Three young women in the preceding hours to the crime itself, painted a description of a young male hovering around the area as they were sunbathing. Their recollections are as follows;

​#1. "A subject driving a late model silver-blue Chevrolet, 2-door sedan. This subject was described as 6' tall, weighing 200/210 pounds, muscular build, rather nice looking". 
#2. "Vehicle described as a 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet with California plates. Witness believes the vehicle was a 2-door sedan and described the headlights as long rather than round".
#3. "Subject was described as approximately 28 years of age, 6'1" to 6'2" tall, 200/225 lbs, black hair possibly styled, with a part on the left, rounded eyes, thin lips, medium nose, straight eyebrows, small ears, well built, rather nice looking".
#4. "Vehicle was described as a late model Chevrolet, sky blue in color. The rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round. She described the subject as 6' tall, stocky build, about 200 lbs, black short-sleeved sweater shirt, dark blue slacks, and straight dark hair neatly combed. She guessed his age at approximately 30 years". 

Was this the Zodiac Killer's first attempt that day, ultimately abandoning the idea, before finally settling on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard just two hours later? The descriptions of the young girls sound promising, but could the vehicle described as a late model Chevrolet be tied to the scene of the eventual crime, and the tire tracks behind Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia?
​Or can we link the white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala spotted around Lake Herman Road to the murder and attempted murder on September 27th 1969 at Lake Berryessa?  

This is what it states in the Lake Berrryessa police report: "Reporting officer observed one set of tire impressions approximately 20 feet to the rear of the victim's vehicle. The suspect track nearer the fence measured approximately 4 1/2 inches in width and showed a parallel tread design. This tread design was photographed by Sgt T Butler and then a plaster cast was made by reporting officer. The tire impression furthest from the fence measured approximately 5 1/2 inches in width. The distance between the inside of the left tread to the inside of the right tread measured approximately 52 inches".
Track width is a measurement from tire center to tire center.

If you look at the specs of a 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala, the tire width is 205 mm or 8.07 inches. This would mean that the center of the tire is situated at roughly 4 inches. It would be nice to think, that if we added the 4 inches of both tires to the 52 inches in the police report (measured to the inside of the tread above), we would get 60 inches track width, which happens to be the exact front width shown here of the 1960 Chevrolet Impala (although 59.3 in the rear). However, tire width and tread width are not the same (shown in the photograph above), where the rubber cambers off on the edge of the tire, meaning the tread width is often smaller than tire width. This is often different bearing in mind the aspect ratio of a tire, given as 75% on a 1960 Chevrolet Impala, in respect to rim size. Here is a brief explanation on Youtube.  If we take the median value of the tread impression widths (5 1/2 inches and 4 1/2 inches) stated in the police report above, we have an approximation of 5 inches tread width. This can vary front and back. 

The police report gave us 52 inches to the inside of the tread (left and right), depicted here on the left. The tread value of each tire is 5 inches, which is 2 1/2 inches to the center of each tire (excluding the camber shown in yellow). With two tires, that amounts to 5 inches. Therefore, the total track width (measured to the center of each tire) is 57 inches. This would suggest that the suspect vehicle, if it is related to the Berrryessa tire impressions at all, is not a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair with a track width of not greater than 55 inches - and shy of the 60 inch track width of a 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala - seemingly ruling both vehicles out as being responsible for the impressions discovered by responding officers. Even taking the actual values of tread width of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 inches, the track width would fall in between the specifications of both vehicles. 

The three girls descriptions, suggested a 1966 or 1967, late model blue Chevrolet, 2-door, with one highlighting long taillights. The question being, could this description be enough to provide a match to the tire impressions found close to Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. We are looking for a Chevrolet somewhere in the range of 57 inch wheel track width. Here are examples of the Chevrolet II Nova, beginning with the 2-door '66 model.    

Supplemental to this, is the Chevrolet Nova II SS 327.  Here is a Youtube video of a 1967 marina-blue Chevrolet Nova II 327, featuring front, side and rear views. It is 2-door, with long, rather than round taillights.

​If we take the median value of the tire impressions from the police report, then as already stated, we have a track width of 57 inches. If we take the low end estimate of the tire impressions of approximately 4 1/2 inches, this gives a track width of 56.50 inches. Here are the complete specs of the Chevrolet Nova II from two sources. Here and here.
 
The track width for the front is 56.80 inches, very close to the 57.00 inches estimated from the police report. The track width for the rear is 56.30 inches, very close to 'the suspect track nearer the fence, measured at approximately 4 1/2 inches in width.' This was the closest fit I could find, matching as many specifications as possible, including the color, make, year, taillights, door and track width, and combining both scenes at Lake Berryessa. It would have been highly advantageous to have a more positive identification of the vehicle at Blue Rock Springs, however, if it were a Chevrolet Corvair, we would have at least one running theme throughout the first three Zodiac crimes - that of make.

As a footnote, one major Chevrolet manufacturing facility was the Oakland Assembly situated in Elmhurst. 'It was the first automobile plant established in Northern California to build Chevrolet vehicles. In 1916, Chevrolet opened the auto industry's first West Coast assembly plant in Oakland. Production of the Chevrolet Series 490 began on Sept. 23, 1916, while World War I was taking place (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918). The plant remained in continuous service until the summer of 1963, when it was replaced by Fremont Assembly'. Taken from Wikipedia.
See locations on Google Maps.

The Chevrolet may have been integral to this story in some small way - and if so - was it from a standpoint of either work, or simply a love for one of America's most cherished automobiles. I'll let you decide.
http://www.novaresource.org/production.htm 

Subsequent to the 6:30 pm attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa, one key eyewitness, Ronald Fong, was circling the lake in his boat and responded to the cries of Bryan Hartnell. Ronald Fong turned his engine on and motored away to seek help at the Rancho Monticello Resort. It was at this point Ranger Sergeant William White received a call from Park Headquarters regarding the attack and proceeded to the Rancho Monticello Resort at 6:55 pm. It is here that Ronald Fong relayed his observations to Sgt William White as to the young couple in distress, and both, along with Archie White and Elizabeth White traveled via speedboat to the crime scene to offer assistance to both Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. The time is now 7:10 pm. At this time Ranger Dennis Land arrived in his truck, carrying the stricken Bryan Hartnell, who had managed to crawl his way towards the road. At approximately 7:10 pm, or very shortly after, Sgt William White radioed Park Headquarters to summon an ambulance and deputies to the crime scene. We know the 7:10 pm estimate is about right, because help arrived via Piner's ambulance from Napa to the crime scene, and returned back to the Queen of the Valley Hospital arriving at 8:50 pm. That is an approximate journey time of 45 minutes each way, including 10 minutes negotiating the crime scene. Detective Sergeant Kenneth Narlow and Richard Lonergan were contacted regarding the attack at 8:20 pm - at which time the ambulance would have been approaching mid-route to the hospital - and both officers were sent to see if they could interview the couple.     

Deputy Ray Land and Sergeant David Collins were dispatched directly to the crime scene from St Helena and Napa respectively. Sgt David Collins spoke on the documentary 'This is the Zodiac Speaking': "It took us a half hour from Napa and/or St Helena to arrive at the location. And we later found out of course that crime had occurred at least half an hour before we were notified". They were notified at 7:10 pm and arrived en scene at approximately 7:40 pm. It would be a further 15 minutes before the ambulance would arrive at 7:55 pm - now of course 85 minutes after the attack - and both victims were in critical condition. The time of 7:40 pm is also the time the killer placed his call from the Napa Car Wash payphone. At this point the victims are being tended to by the respondents, including David Collins, who took a statement from Cecelia Shepard regarding the movements and description of the killer. At this point David Collins and both victims were unaware that this crime was the work of the Zodiac Killer, only that an assailant had brutally stabbed the young couple.

The caller from the payphone issued his declaration "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". Strikingly similar in composition to the Blue Rock Springs phone call nearly three months earlier, where the murderer issued the words "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 has been suggested in certain quarters that the caller in the aftermath of Lake Berryessa may have been a hoaxer, having scanned police frequencies and delivered the message, yet it wasn't the actual killer. However, at 7:40 pm when the call was phoned in, the police were at this point unaware it was a Zodiac crime, having not yet examined the footprints and Karmann Ghia door. They were still by the shoreline tending to the victims - after all, this was their main priority at this point.

The question therefore, is how could the killer and the caller be separate people, without first hand knowledge of the crime as a Zodiac crime, suggested by the near identically structured message. The fact of the matter, is that the caller would be implying a Zodiac crime, even though nobody else has yet discovered it is. This suggests strongly that the killer and payphone caller are one and the same person - especially considering the time of the attack, the distance to downtown Napa and the time of the call - not to mention his direction of travel appears southwards toward Vallejo.

​It would be later that Sergeant David Collins would head towards the roadside to examine the tire impressions and car door. He said "After the ambulance took the victims to the hospital in Napa (remember it arrived at approximately 7:55 pm, so likely left around 8:05 pm, to arrive at the Queen of the Valley Hospital at 8:50 pm), and while waiting for detectives from the Sheriff's Department to arrive Deputy Land talked to the witnesses and obtained statements from them. I began a search for evidence and discovered a footprint that led from Berryessa Knoxville Road to the victims and back again, which was totally separate from the shoes that they were wearing. When I went to the roadway I saw the white Karmann Ghia and I saw tracks leading away from it". He further added "I looked at the Karmann Ghia, and on the passenger door the circle with the vertical and horizontal line through it was displayed on the door and there were several dates, and then it ended with September 27th 1969, 6:30 pm, by knife, which was our crime, so he had left his calling card, which is what he had done. I recognized the symbol on the door as being the same symbol she had described on the hood"." The roadway observations occurred after 8:00 pm, once the ambulance had departed the scene, making any Zodiac styled payphone message at 7:40 pm inextricably linked back to the crime scene, with one perpetrator of the crime and call.  

In the police report Bryan Hartnell backed up Cecelia Shepard stating "He could see hair through the mask's eyelets and observed the hair to be dark brown." Bryan Hartnell in the 2007 documentary remarks that Cecelia Shepard "saw a man over there" and "he went behind a tree." He went on to say "I'll tell you another thing that probably made me think that it was somebody over there, it wasn't an improved park site, there wasn't regular established bathroom, so if you had to go to the restroom you'd just kinda get outta eye-shot of whoever you were with or go behind a tree like that".
​
During the Presidio Heights murder two weeks later, three teenagers saw the Zodiac exiting the taxicab and walking around the taxicab to apparently wipe fingerprints off the driver side door. This was the only time outside of the taxicab that a clear unobstructed view of the assailant was observed. This was a matter of seconds before the assailant turned around and departed the scene up Cherry Street. The three teenagers were viewing the suspect from approximately 60 feet away, at 9.58 pm at night, with only the aid of street lighting, albeit, described a man sporting a reddish-brown crew cut. This description was backed up by one of the responding officers Donald Fouke, who had typed in his scratch 'a crew cut, light colored hair, possibly graying in rear'.The police sketch was compiled depicting a man with short hair - a man viewed by four eyewitnesses. Many have questioned how accurate this sketch may be, but they are confident of a short-haired crew cut.

During the Lake Berryessa attack Cecelia Shepard spotted the man initially unmasked from 200-300 yards away to the point of 75 to 100 feet away. Taking the minimum distance she first observed the Zodiac of 200 yards (600 feet), he then approached to within 100 feet, meaning his approach distance was a minimum of 500 feet. This distance at a walking speed of 3 mph would take approximately 1 minute 50 seconds. Now we do not know if Cecelia Shepard was watching him the whole time, but she definitely stated she saw him before he had donned his mask, and definitely saw him approach the tree and duck behind it. Cecelia Shepard saw the man for considerably longer than the three teenagers at Presidio Heights, and sometime shortly after 6.00 pm on a clear sunny day. If you argue that the sketch from Presidio Heights is likely accurate, then clearly Cecelia Shepard's description is equally viable, if not more, because she saw the suspect in daylight for a considerably longer period of time.          

The validity of the Lake Berryessa stabbings have been called into question as a Zodiac attack, but the handwriting on the car door and the composition of both phone calls at Main Street and Springs/Tuolumne seem to discredit this notion. ​We have been told by David Collins that he took notes at the scene, so the recollection of events by Cecelia Shepard carries great significance, describing her assailant with 'brown hair that hung down across his forehead and was showing through the eye-holes.'

Two weeks later at Presidio Heights, not only had his hair color changed, it was markedly shorter. The Zodiac Killer wrote in the 'Bus Bomb' letter on November 9th 1969. "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill." So the question is, if these two assailants are one and the same, what disguise did he employ. The Presidio Heights sketch exhibited a slight widows peak, not something you would associate with a wig - so is the only conclusion to be had, one of a killer who disguised his looks by cutting his hair and then dying it. However, on the face of it, this appears to be a change as opposed to a disguise. Furthermore, this would negate the Zodiac declaration "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill."  He most certainly didn't look the description at Presidio Heights during the Lake Berryessa attack as recalled by Cecelia Shepard.     

Michael Mageau, in the aftermath of the Blue Rock Springs Park attack described the assailant as "short, possibly 5'8", heavy set, beefy build, 195-200 lbs or maybe larger, short curly hair, light brown, almost blond."  Although Michael Mageau's view was fleeting, his observation corroborates the short light-colored hair description at Presidio Heights by Donald Fouke. However, nearly 3 months later, the man who appeared at Lake Berryessa had not only considerably darker hair, but hair that was now long enough to fall over his forehead - so much so, it had been noticeable in the eyelets of the mask. This could be a wig - although the donning of an executioner's hood would appear to make this choice unnecessary. This discrepancy has to be addressed from the standpoint of tying together these three crimes together and certainly something that needs clarifying.
​
​The attacker at Lake Berryessa seemingly failed to mail any correspondence regarding the events of September 27th 1969, but with Bryan Hartnell surviving the attack and outlining the events in great detail, maybe the Zodiac felt Bryan Hartnell had done a good enough job on his behalf. Nevertheless, it did seem strange to not capitalize on his grand theatrical appearance.
​
If we take the final three attacks in sequence - his hair was short, almost blond, then changed to dark hair, long enough to reach the eyelets of the mask and then reverted back to a short reddish-brown/blond crew cut at Presidio Heights, thereby challenging us to examine the claim "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill".
Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell both described brown hair, long enough to reach the eyelets of the mask, Regarding the four canonical attacks, no other living eyewitness got as close as them for such an extended period, described by Bryan Hartnell as an interaction that lasted approximately 15 minutes. It was a clear sunny day in September with perfect visibility, and Cecelia Shepard had the man in direct line of sight, unmasked, for at least one and a half minutes. If the same killer emerged from the taxicab of Paul Stine and drove away from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, we should consider that this short brown/blond appearance was his disguise as he claimed, and the 'real' Zodiac is the one who appeared on the shores of Lake Berryessa, when a wig on this occasion was rendered unnecessary by the donning of an executioner's hood. It could therefore be reasoned, that the long brown hair by the eyelets may be all we require to confirm the true face of the Zodiac Killer.            

After both the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969 and the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, the Zodiac Killer placed a phone call, firstly to police dispatcher Nancy Slover at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Streets, and secondly to Officer Dave Slaight from the 1231 Main Street payphone, but on both occasions, the time each call was placed left us with a considerable shortfall. Had the Zodiac Killer left Blue Rock Springs Park at midnight, he should have arrived at the payphone at 12:10 am, not 12:40 am. Similarly, if we use the writing on the car door at Lake Berryessa as our guide, the journey to the Main Street payphone should have placed the Zodiac Killer there at approximately 7:20 pm, not 7:40 pm. The Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Berryessa crimes have one distinctive and advantageous feature - in that we can use the phone calls to generate his possible movements, using the two points of contact, and search into reasons for the 'lost time' after his departure from each crime scene.

Obviously, his attacks were fraught with danger, but he would further gamble with his freedom by making further contact at each payphone. Conversely, this risk would be greatly diminished had he disposed of the 'smoking gun' first, in the case of Blue Rock Springs, the 9-mm Luger, with a change of attire a possible consideration. Had the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo, as the majority of people contend, a return journey to parts of this region, including American Canyon, with a ten minute turnaround, would take the killer back to the payphone at the Springs Road and Tuolumne intersection at about the correct time of 12:40 am, when the call was logged. His journey back from Lake Berryessa in a southbound direction through downtown Napa, fortunately for us, sets him on a collision course with American Canyon and the heart of Vallejo once again.   

The journey time from Lake Berryessa to 1231 Main Street is approximately 50 minutes, but if he left the crime scene at 6:30 pm, he should have arrived at the payphone at 7:20 pm, leaving 20 minutes unaccounted for. There was of course greater traveling distance - but even allowing for this - the killer could not have taken the most direct route from Lake Berryessa to the payphone and placed the call immediately, to allow it to be logged at 7:40 pm. So which route did he take and why.

The difference between the second and third crime, is that he used a knife in the close contact attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, which undoubtedly would have left him covered in blood. His 'smoking gun' was greater in this case - that being the costume, gloves, knife, blood transfer and the unused handgun - and traveling from the crime scene directly to the payphone was a stretch, if the timeline was to be maintained. He could have simply placed these items in the trunk of his car, but like the Blue Rock Springs Park attack, the unaccounted time suggested he made a deviation off route. Concealing the items in his car or taking these items home, still leaves us with approximately 20 minutes spare time, that needs to be explained. If, like his previous crime, his first intention was to remove any incriminating evidence before placing the phone call, where did he go that fits our timeline - and was there anything we knew about the Zodiac Killer that may give us a clue?

It has been considered that the Zodiac Killer may have been a hunter, hiker or fisherman, or possibly all three, on account of the specific key words he used in his correspondence with police, the locations of his crimes and the weaponry he appeared to have access to. But can we use this line of thought to fill in our missing 20 minutes. Lake Berryessa is 40 miles from Vallejo taking the Interstate Route 29 through Napa. It is a marked change in distance from Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, if he lived in Vallejo, with many locations en route - suggesting that he carefully selected this as his destination, being familiar with, or at the very least had visited previously.

After departing the Knoxville Road - heading westwards takes him directly to Interstate Route 29 and a direct route back through Napa to Vallejo. But it also has the added advantage of passing somewhere he may have been familiar with, if what we think we know of him to be true. Lake Hennessey is a man made 1,234 square mile reservoir serving Napa County, providing boating, fishing and hiking to the general public. If the Zodiac Killer knew this area, he knew Lake Hennessey.
It lies just 17 miles or roughly half an hour drive due west of Lake Berryessa, heading along Sage Canyon Road towards Rutherford, CA. It has all the familiar features, 'lovers lane' style turnouts, hiking trails, rest areas, parking facilities and more importantly seclusion. In fact, the perfect area for a killer to get changed and possibly dispose of any incriminating evidence, before heading off to the Main Street payphone. The journey time to Rutherford, CA, then heading along Interstate Route 29 to 1231 Main Street Napa is 55-60 minutes, but crucially our killer now has that all important 10-15 minute time period, to rid himself of any link to the crime at Lake Berryessa and place himself in the vicinity of the payphone at exactly 7:40 pm. 

The first two crimes of the Zodiac Killer, Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, are considered the most closely aligned of his four attacks, after all the Zodiac Killer did tie them up into one neat bundle when he first contacted the newspapers, firstly with his three cryptograms sent to three newspapers on July 31st 1969 and then in his follow up 'Debut of Zodiac' letter on August 4th 1969, where he mentions both crimes. This may have influenced the observer to fill in the blanks regarding the Lake Herman Road attack, taking preconceptions of the second crime and overlaying them onto the first. This, along with the depiction of events in documentaries and films, has ultimately led us to believe that his third crime at Lake Berryessa was so far removed from his first two crimes, it must be placed under heavy scrutiny as a Zodiac crime, with suggestions of a copycat killer.  A post on Facebook Zodiac Killer 340 by Gregory Haugevik, prompted another look into the Lake Herman Road murders, its comparison to the Blue Rock Springs attack and the widely held belief, that his costume driven attack at Lake Berryessa was separate and unique to his first two crimes.   

Taken from Facebook: "We are so reliant on the testimony of James Owen. Since this crime was so close to the Blue Rock Springs attack, I try to look for comparisons to see if they are connected. In both instances it was a lone couple in a deserted area, both in the last hour of the night, 9 shots were fired at both crime scenes, with handguns and on both occasions his first port of call was the passenger side of the vehicle, not the driver side. But one thing has always confused me about the Lake Herman Road crime: why did he try and force the couple out of the Rambler, why didn't he just approach the passenger side and start firing immediately, without warning, as he did at Blue Rock Springs. What purpose did he have for extricating David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the car, after all, if this were his first crime, he should have been less confident. Whatever his reasons, I believe since David Faraday's class ring appeared dislodged from his finger and he supposedly had a swelling on his jawline, he may have got into an altercation with the Zodiac, before he was shot. Even after coaxing the couple from the car, there was never any need to shoot David Faraday from such close contact range, it is unnecessary and risky, unless of course things never went to plan. This may possibly have influenced his actions at Blue Rock Springs, when he decided not to risk losing control of the situation once again, so shot the couple immediately, while they were entrapped within their vehicle. This is what he said in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter " 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". So he claimed to have used a sighter at Lake Herman Road, suggestive that he was going to need it. Had he just approached the Rambler at Lake Herman Road and shot them through the window, what need would he have, to have taped a pencil flashlight to the gun barrel. It was suggestive and indicative of a killer that wanted to 'hunt' his victims in the open".
Gregory Haugevik stated "This was the only scene in which there were essentially zero witnesses.. Killer could've been wearing a costume a la Lake Berryessa for all we know...". 
This has been touted before, but flies in the face of everything we have come to assume about the Zodiac murders. His first two murders were completely different to his third attack at Lake Berryessa. But were they?. We know nothing of the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, other than where the evidence, and eyewitnesses, either side of the crime, point us. Unlike the final three attacks, there were no direct witnesses to the Zodiac Killer at the actual crime scene, while it was in progress.

The one thing a killer certainly tries to avoid is being caught in the commission of the crime, along with being stopped on the journey back to the 'safe zone' - usually their home or current residence. The least time they spend carrying the 'smoking gun' before its disposal, or at the very least its return to the relative security of home, the better. Bearing this common sense approach in mind, we will again examine the most likely hot spot the Zodiac Killer returned to after his murderous acts of evil, and narrow down a location to the small town of Benicia, a low crime rate, middle class community with a population of roughly 5,000 in 1968/69.

The first thing to consider is the trusted geographic profiling technique of the 'least effort principle,' and the high probability that the Zodiac Killer had a standard 9-5 occupation, which seemed to govern his actions during all four of his attacks. This is not a giant leap of faith, bearing in mind that a serial killer will often begin his crimes close to home, before venturing further afield, based on a 'buffer zone', that generally facilitates a safe and speedy return once the crime has been committed - but obviously, not too close as to wipe your feet on the front doormat. Taking this as our rule of thumb; if the Zodiac Killer had finished his working week on Friday at 5:00 pm, then using the 'least effort principle' and 'buffer zone' as a template, one would expect the Zodiac Killer's first crime to be relatively close to home - especially considering he had finished work that same day. If he lived in the southern reaches of Benicia, then the Lake Herman Road double murder of Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on December 20th 1968, just a few miles away, seems to fit the bill. It would not be too close to home, while allowing for a relatively short journey time of 10 minutes to the perpetrator's residence. Bearing this in mind, his first two attacks would have been chosen using this 'least effort principle,' as both were on a working day, both were on a Friday, and both crimes fell within a 10 mile radius of the lower region of Benicia. His rest day of Saturday would facilitate his ability to travel further afield, firstly to Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and culminating with the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969.           

But why Benicia, and not Vallejo or San Francisco?
Lake Herman Road is a two-lane, secluded and unlit road, infrequently used by commuters in 1968. Somebody who lived in San Francisco would have been unfamiliar with this road, unless of course they had previously lived in the Vallejo or Benicia regions. Furthermore, it flies in the face of what we assume was the Zodiac Killer's first crime, in that the 'buffer zone' is unnecessarily lengthy and risky - and the 'least effort principle' has seemingly been abandoned.

The distance from the nearest point of San Francisco to Lake Herman Road is approximately 32 miles, or a journey time by car of about 50-60 minutes. The Zodiac Killer may have lived in Vallejo, but his actions after the double slaying at Lake Herman Road spoke volumes. He exited the turnout and headed east to Benicia. This was explained in a previous post entitled 'East to Benicia', and here is a small portion as a reminder: Eyewitness testimony from the Lake Herman Road murders suggested a very small window of time the Zodiac Killer had available to him to escape detection - but one eyewitness, that of Stella Borges, was the most crucial of all. A second eyewitness, James Owen, passed the turnout heading towards Benicia (calculated by police to be 11:14 pm), and he saw no victims in or around the vehicles. Stella Borges, in a revised timeline, passed the turnout at approximately 11:20 pm and saw both victims, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen lying on the gravel turnout. Based on this chain of events, the earliest the Zodiac Killer could have murdered the young couple and started to leave the turnout would have been 11:15 pm. Stella Borges, it was estimated, left her ranch at 11:15 pm heading towards Benicia. She reported passing no vehicles en route. Therefore, the Zodiac Killer could not possibly have headed towards Vallejo along Lake Herman Road based on these timelines. The only possible scenario using the testimony of these eyewitnesses, is that the Zodiac Killer headed in an easterly direction towards Benicia and the relative safety of home. 

After committing two brutal murders and possibly having received biological transference from the close contact murder of David Faraday, in addition to the sound of at least ten shots on a still dark night - and almost certainly still in possession of a .22 caliber weapon - it would have been hard to imagine a killer heading in the opposite direction to his home residence, thereby risking a prolonged period of detection, and in all likelihood ruling out Vallejo as the home base for Northern California's most elusive serial killer.  

The phone call after the Blue Rock Springs attack on July 4th 1969 points us back to Benicia once again - but for different reasons. The attack has been narrowed down to a few short minutes around midnight, yet the call from the payphone at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street was logged at 12:40 am. The journey from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot to the payphone is about 10 minutes, leaving at least 30 minutes of unaccounted time after the double shooting. 

What the Zodiac Killer stated in his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, exactly one month after this attack is crucial. He stated "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealing 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". No mention of a negro male is detailed in the police report or newspapers - and quite frankly - why would the Zodiac Killer refer to this eyewitness at all, if indeed there ever was one? It appears on the face of it, to be providing police with unnecessarily helpful details of a man seen by the Zodiac in the area of the payphone, thereby aiding their investigation in locating a second key eyewitness in the aftermath of the crime. But it is the detail of the description that raises a red flag. The author of the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter  describes his age as 40 to 45 - a rather superfluous and unnecessary detail to highlight - as his age was irrelevant.

The letter further described the nature of his clothing as "shabbly dressed", again raising suspicion as to whether this eyewitness was simply fabricated. The Zodiac Killer also overtly emphasizes the fact his car was brown, pointing out that when he hung the phone up "the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". The Zodiac Killer once again tags his vehicle into the narrative, highlighting "me and my car", when there was no reason to add 'my car' to the end of the phrase. That is, unless he was employing a double bluff, in that he was telling the truth, but wanted it to be perceived as a lie. Had the police believed as many have, that the killer would have wanted to get rid of the 'smoking gun' as soon as possible, after what he thought was the murder of two young people at Blue Rock Springs Park, then this unexplained 30 minutes would not have gone unnoticed by law enforcement. His seemingly inflated description of the payphone incident may have been Zodiac misdirection at its best - and he had actually driven straight home after the Blue Rock Springs attack, changed his clothes, dropped the weapon, readied himself, and walked back to the payphone. After all, police would have been looking for a murderer in possession of the 'smoking gun,' so being on foot, having discarded his car, clothes and weapon, the Zodiac Killer would now feel far more confident. Is this what the Zodiac Killer had hoped police would believe? Had he wanted to guide them into disbelieving what he wrote and center their focus within a walking distance of the Springs Road and Tuolumne payphone?

If the Zodiac Killer had spent 5 to 10 minutes parking his car outside his residence, changing his clothes, concealing his weapon and readying himself, before venturing back to the payphone, then this would have left him approximately 20-25 minutes to walk to the payphone, thereby placing his residence extremely close to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection - and the search field for the police would have been secured. Their focus would be narrowed to an approximate one mile radius of the payphone in Vallejo - and more importantly - away from other locations. His ruse would have been complete. Had the killer been in his vehicle throughout this time period,  the search field would have widened once again.

However, it should be noted that the traveling time from Blue Rock Springs Park to southern Benicia and back to the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection (with 10 minutes turnaround at his possible home residence), is 38 minutes by car - almost giving us the time difference between the Blue Rock Springs attack and the phone call to Nancy Slover. The Zodiac Killer's intention may have been the same after the Lake Herman Road murders, in that he wanted to discard his weapon immediately, but by traveling back to this particular payphone after the attack at Blue Rock Springs Park, his intention may have been to create a red herring and divert the attention of police towards Vallejo. 

In the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, the author gave us the line "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealing tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper", making sure it was understood, that he did indeed read the Vallejo paper and so cement his ties to this particular location even further. In the 'Bus Bomb' letter mailed on November 9th 1969, he rammed home the message once again: "Have fun!!. By the way it could be rather messy if you try to bluff me. PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing. To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves".  The message seemed loud and clear - the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo. 

Using the hypothesis of a Zodiac Killer who wanted to dispose of his 'smoking gun' as quickly as possible after each attack - which seems totally understandable - his choice of turning east towards Benicia after the Lake Herman Road murders and the 38 minutes round trip to Benicia, from the Blue Rock Springs parking lot back to the payphone, could be argued for a Zodiac Killer who lived in the region of Benicia. 

We can carry this premise into the double stabbing at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 and the disposal of the knife, gun and the executioner's costume, which in this case, were the totality of the 'smoking gun'. Access in and out of Lake Berryessa via the Knoxville Road was limited, with a 27 mile journey (48-50 minutes) ahead of the killer to the payphone at 1231 Main Street in Napa.

After the Lake Berryessa attack, the killer wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white Karmann Ghia, indicating the time of the attack was 6:30 pm. Of course, this may not be true or accurate - the attack may have been at 6:30 pm, but he may have written the message on the car door at 6:40 pm after traveling back up the hillside after the brutal stabbing. But using this as our guideline, the 50 minute journey to 1231 Main Street, where he placed his second phone call, would have placed him at the payphone at approximately 7:20 pm. Crucially though, this phone call was logged at 7:40 pm, leaving us with a possible 20 minutes of unaccounted time. If this is the case, what was he doing during this crucial period. Even allowing for his removal of the costume and any reconnaissance at the payphone, there is still a measurable ambiguity. The Zodiac Killer must have conceived that if the victims had been discovered quickly and radioed in, his 50 minute journey was fraught with danger - particularly along the initial part of his journey along the Knoxville Road. Being stopped with a blooded knife and executioner's costume would take some explaining. Had he kept hold of them all the way back to the Vallejo/Benicia areas, then the phone call at Napa would have placed him in further danger. Police, having possibly discovered the car door, and already aware of the Zodiac Killer's previous crimes in Benicia and Vallejo, would know his quickest route back to this region - in all likelihood, the primary route of California State 29, leading straight back to Vallejo and Benicia 

If we go back to the 'smoking gun' hypothesis - and regardless of the the time calculations - the quicker the Zodiac Killer removes this burden, if only for peace of mind, the better. They could have been weighted and thrown into Lake Berryessa to destroy any evidence, simply tossed from the car into the undergrowth along the Knoxville Road, or concealed with greater forethought, either alongside the Knoxville Road or beyond, en route to the payphone. Spending an inordinate amount of time parked up somewhere along the Knoxville Road would have been an unnecessary risk.  All options are plausible, but clearly the time disparity, if we believe he completed his message at 6:30 pm, may push us in the direction of a killer who deviated off route for at least 20 minutes - and likely beyond the entrapment of the Knoxville Road - such as California State Route 128, either south or west, so as to dispose of the 'smoking gun' at the safest and earliest time, and more crucially, before he placed the call in downtown Napa. 
The murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights could have followed the same template - a speedy exit through the park to his waiting car, across the Golden Gate Bridge and subsequent disposal of his weapon at the earliest possible convenience.
 
However, there is an alternative to the 'lost' 20 minutes at Lake Berryessa:
​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-berryessa-north-of-the-crime-scene
​http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-berryessa-north-of-the-crime-scene-pt2

The Zodiac crimes have been analyzed extensively, almost to the point of now being questioned whether any or each of the attacks are related to one another - and this is not difficult to do. To play devil's advocate in dismantling each crime is as simple as looking for an alternative theory - which isn't necessarily a bad thing - but when the alternative theory is less likely or more outlandish than the original based on just speculation, it just provides another dark avenue to get lost within. All the Zodiac crimes are different from one another, and it is with little doubt that the murder of Paul Stine at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 would have been routinely dismissed as a Zodiac murder had the killer not sent a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper just two days later.

Doubts have plagued the validity of Zodiac involvement in the murder of Cecelia Shepard and attempted murder of Bryan Hartnell at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, despite the fact the killer wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell and placed a payphone call to police dispatcher Dave Slaight just 70 minutes after leaving the crime scene. One reason touted is the failure of the murderer to identity himself as the Zodiac Killer throughout his interaction with the couple. But why should he? In all of his crimes, no doubt his intention was to leave no living eyewitnesses, so any mention to himself as being Zodiac is superfluous. Additionally, he never mentioned his pseudonym in either of his phone calls at 1231 Main Street, Napa, or the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street in Vallejo. The attack at Lake Berryessa has been further questioned regarding the handwriting on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white 1956 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Was it really the Zodiac's handwriting or a copycat?      

The perpetrator at Lake Berryessa brutally stabbed Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard a total of 16 times, in what has been described a calculated and merciless attack with a long-bladed knife. The attacker had knelt over his victims while thrusting the knife down into the back of Bryan Hartnell at least six times, before turning his attention to Cecelia Shepard and stabbing her at least ten times in the back and abdomen as she was rolling around, vainly attempting to escape the onslaught. After the attack the perpetrator walked back up the hill and departed the scene.

Writing on the car door was found (see inset), believed to have been penned by the Zodiac Killer after the attack. There was no mention of any blood being detected and analyzed from the car door in any subsequent forensic examinations, however, some fingerprints were retrieved. Bryan Hartnell clearly stated in later interviews that he could not remember whether the attacker wore gloves or not. So let us examine this conundrum.
​
If the killer had not wore gloves, then any fingerprints on the car door one may argue, would not have been the killer's.
He had forcefully struck both victims using a long-bladed knife at least 16 times, possibly securing them with his free hand while thrusting the knife back and forward, in what can only described as a prolonged and vicious attack. Therefore, it is practically impossible that no blood whatsoever would have transferred onto either hand. So, if the fingerprints on the car door were his, are we to believe that all the blood transferred at the scene of the horrific attack simply bypassed both his striking and accompanying hand? Or had he wiped his hands down so thoroughly after the attack that he had removed every last trace?

If he had worn gloves during the attack and leaned on the car door, blood smears would have been apparent on the vehicle but they were not. Had he worn gloves during the attack, which seemed the obvious choice from a standpoint of gripping the knife, as well as covering his fingertips, then subsequently removing them to now lean on the car door while writing the message, on the face of it seems rather illogical. He had covered his upper body with a costume to conceal his identity, so to then expose his hands to plaster the car door with blood free fingerprints and palm prints does not sound a reasonable premise. If he wore gloves, he clearly didn't want his writing hand to smear blood onto the car door where he was trying to write, so unless he was ambidextrous, he was no doubt writing with the same hand he ferociously attacked Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell with. The same hand that was closest to any blood spatter and impact area. However, if he was ambidextrous and chose to write on the car door with his least preferred hand, then his writing may justifiably vary from the usual pattern displayed in his correspondence with the newspapers. 

There have also been question marks over the style of the handwriting itself, with certain alphabetical characters appearing incompatible with known handwriting samples from his letters. But it is evident that the handwriting on the car door is incompatible with itself.

For example, he wrote the letter 'E' three times and each one is different. He wrote the number '6' four times and each one is different. He has just stabbed a couple 16 times in a prolonged attack with his adrenaline possibly high, he was squatting or kneeling down in front of the car door parallel to his writing surface - far removed from the position he would adopt writing from the comfort of his home - he was writing above and below his natural midpoint on a cambered door, possibly faster than normal, and his lettering was larger than usual. So any comparison to his regular correspondence cannot be applied without factoring these differences into the equation.

His palm was extremely likely to have been free of contact from the car door. If it wasn't, then one would have expected blood transfer to have occurred regardless of whether the assailant was wearing gloves or not. Yes, he could have took the gloves off - but which is worse - smearing blood on the car door or placing your hands on the car door. The Zodiac Killer was undoubtedly a merciless killer, but he was certainly no fool as some would lead us to believe. He could have stabbed the couple without gloves and then donned a pair to write on the car door, but this seems rather unnecessary when he simply needed not to touch the door with either his fingers or palm. And again, if he possessed gloves that day, why logically would any fingerprints found on the car door be his?
 
In terms of the handwriting, our next task is to sit at a table with pen and paper at hand, and write the wording from the car door. We then need to follow this up, by squatting in front of a wall with some paper pinned to it and write the same wording without resting your palm on the wall and note the results. One would expect a discrepancy, let alone all the contributing factors that faced the Zodiac Killer at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969. The final option, suggested by some, is that the killer wrote on the car door before attacking the couple. This would circumvent the blood issue, but would have relied heavily upon his method of operation going exactly as planned, otherwise the only smear on the car door may have been in black ink.
 
To view a comprehensive discussion on this topic and pursue other lines of reasoning, please visit the following thread at the ZodiacKillerSite Forum. Or click the banner below, to join or access the main index page.      
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=806

Kim Rossmo is a Canadian criminologist who examined the Zodiac crimes in depth, giving a detailed account of the killer's possible movements after each crime and a likely location to the most notorious murderer in US history, employing the art of geographic profiling. It is an extremely interesting and thought provoking analysis, using the logic of the human mind, that involves 'the least effort principle', 'comfort' and 'buffer zones', along with a fair sprinkling of common sense, to reach inside the mind of the Zodiac Killer and examine why he did, what he did, during his brief but nonetheless devastating ten month reign, that struck fear into the heart of Northern California and beyond. See Zodiac-Killer-geographic-profile-by-Kim-Rossmo-Ph-D.

In two previous articles, The Lost 40 Minutes and East to Benicia, two different home locations have been identified as the possible residency of the long sought after Zodiac Killer, but this time we will predominantly be examining his logical exit routes away from each of the murder sites using the premise that the Zodiac Killer would immediately head for a secure or safe location after each crime - usually home - to destroy or dispose of any incriminating evidence transferred during the commission of his evil acts. This article will back up the East to Benicia article, in so far that his likely residence may possibly be in the Benicia area or slightly further south, in the region of Martinez CA or Concord CA.

The Zodiac Killer's movements directly following the shooting of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on Lake Herman Road appeared the most telling, The Zodiac Killer was estimated to have left the gravel turnout at approximately 11:15 pm, the same time Stella Borges left her ranch. According to the eyewitness timelines, if the Zodiac Killer had turned west to Vallejo he would have passed Stella Borges as she was heading toward Benicia, however, she reported passing no vehicles, lending weight to the hypothesis the Zodiac Killer headed east in the direction of Benicia or beyond. 

It would then be just a short journey over the Benicia-Martinez Bridge; (officially known as the George Miller Memorial Bridge), to the immediate towns beyond the Carquinez Strait.

The Zodiac Killer also appeared more familiar with the Lake Herman Road and Presidio Heights areas, as opposed to Blue Rock Springs Park and Lake Berryessa regions, as he reveals in his correspondence with authorities. In the San Francisco Chronicle letter mailed on July 31st 1969 he referred directly to Lake Herman Road, even pointing out that Betty Lou Jensen's feet were facing west, which indeed was correct. In the Debut of Zodiac letter' mailed on August 4th 1969 he recalled "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 surounded by high hills + trees".

His final confirmed murder, that of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, portrayed the picture of a man confident in these surroundings. Committing the crime in a built up area, close to 10:00 pm at night and escaping from the scene, showed distinct elements of pre-planning and a knowledge of the area. However, in both of the Zodiac Killer's phone calls to police after Blue Rock Springs Park attack and Lake Berryessa, his directions were questioned on both occasions. He fails to mention Blue Rock Springs at all, only Columbus Parkway, stating "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". In his Chronicle letter, he only refers to Blue Rock Springs as "near the golf course in Vallejo". If it were the case that his knowledge of Lake Herman Road and Presidio Heights were greater, then his two southernmost crimes were possibly the areas he frequented the most - although all are punctuated by lakes or expanses of water. Indeed, Blue Rock Springs is only four miles from Lake Herman, the greatest distance any major body of water lies from any of the crime scenes. If the Zodiac Killer resided in Benicia, Martinez, Concord, Lafayette or somewhere around the vicinity of Walnut Creek, then his knowledge of Lake Herman Road would logically be greater. This may suggest ease of access both to the Benicia and Vallejo areas, as well as to San Francisco via the Oakland Bay Bridge, where he may likely have worked, or at the very least traveled to mail the majority of the Zodiac letters. It is only a 37 mile journey from Martinez to Presidio Heights and only 27 miles from Walnut Creek..

However, there was unaccounted time from the commission of his crime at Blue Rock Springs, to the placing of his first phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover of approximately 40 minutes. The short journey to the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne was approximately 10 minutes journey time, therefore it has justifiably been theorized that the Zodiac Killer used this time to go home first, stash his weapon, remove any incriminating evidence, before readying himself and venturing back out to place the phone call, thereby placing himself at far less risk of detection than being exposed in a public area carrying the smoking gun.

If this chain of events were the likely scenario - and the Zodiac Killer lived in the southern regions of Benicia or Martinez - then the maximum window of 40 minutes would be available to travel home and return to the payphone.   

The journey time from Blue Rock Springs to Martinez is roughly 18 minutes, with a return journey to the payphone of 17 minutes, including a 5 minute turnaround, therefore making this southernmost destination the furthest possible round trip to account for the 12:40 am call. Although this gives us a further problem. Are we to believe the Zodiac Killer, after murdering Darlene Ferrin and seriously injuring Michael Mageau, would traverse the Vallejo and Benicia areas, over the Carquinez Strait to home and then return all the way back to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne. It appears to make the 'least effort principle' look like hard work - and criminals are like the rest of us in this regard - that the easier option is usually the preferred choice. Despite the fact the Zodiac Killer seemed determined to place the phone call, obviously the least time he was in the public spotlight, not only carrying a murder weapon for one part of the journey, but heading back to an exposed intersection, the better. The thought of the Zodiac Killer heading towards the Benicia area and beyond, reaching the safety of home, then making the choice to place himself back into the firing line and return to within close proximity of the crime for a second time, would make even a madman look irrational. As explained in the East to Benicia article, a further option exists.
  
If he lived in Benicia or somewhere in that region, as his movements suggested after the Lake Herman Road double murder, then knowing the phone call would place him at greater risk, it is conceivable that he discarded the weapon before making the phone call to Nancy Slover (but not at home), in his mind reducing the risk of being stopped carrying the 'smoking gun'. So the next thing to do is examine his possible movements during this timeframe. He was familiar with Lake Herman Road - and in near isolation, dark and free from prying eyes - it would have been a perfect disposal site for his weapon, particularly bearing in mind Lake Herman was situated near to his first murders. A round trip from Blue Rock Springs to Lake Herman, with time spent to exit his vehicle, possibly remove his gloves, change clothes, wipe down the weapon and toss the evidence into Lake Herman, before returning to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne (a total of 10 miles), would have taken approximately 30 minutes, obviously dependent on time spent at the lake. These actions could have taken him to 12:40 am, the time the call was logged. Any stop by police now would have carried far less risk.

Paul Stine was brutally murdered in his taxicab during the evening of October 11th 1969 at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Street. The Zodiac Killer's last known movements were north up Cherry Street and towards the Presidio. After killing Paul Stine, the logical approach, considering he may well have been covered in blood, would have been to return to his waiting vehicle and get the hell out of San Francisco as quickly as possible. So presuming his apparent knowledge of the obscure Lake Herman Road and his movements towards Benicia after the double slaying of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, what was his likely exit route away from San Francisco?

After the murder, police vehicles would have converged towards the Presidio Heights area from the southerly, westerly and easterly directions, so the least time he spent in San Francisco from a safety aspect, would have been the most preferable option. If his vehicle was located somewhere near the Jackson and Maple Street intersection or beyond, then the obvious choice would have been to remove himself from any contact with approaching vehicles, by accessing West Pacific Avenue, creating a buffer zone between him and the police. His next logical step to depart the San Francisco area in the fastest time possible, would have been the Golden Gate Bridge, past the Sausalito area, towards and across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and the 20 mile journey back from Richmond to Martinez.  

Another interesting aspect of the Martinez and Concord areas is concerning the Modesto Abduction of Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 (if you believe this to be a Zodiac crime). After she entered the assailant's vehicle, he drove her around through the the countryside of Tracy, CA before she made her escape across a field. The route from Modesto to Tracy and on to Martinez, Benicia and Vallejo is virtually a direct route as the crow flies.  

The route also passes by Mount Diablo, a location that featured prominently in the Button letter, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on June 26th 1970, as well as the Little List letter on July 26th 1970. The suggestion here is that after abducting Kathleen Johns he was unlikely to head away from home, but again travel toward safety, as well as creating the necessary buffer zone between the crime location and his residence. On this occasion Tracy, CA would provide a 57 mile buffer zone to Martinez.

Finally and probably the most controversial crime attributed to the Zodiac Killer, was the costume driven attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard on September 27th 1969. This would be the furthest the Zodiac Killer would ever travel in search of a victim (based on a residence near the Carquinex Strait).
.
His phone call to police dispatcher Dave Slaight, again appeared to show little in depth knowledge of the area - although in all likelihood he had probably visited the area at least a few times from a recreation standpoint, possibly fishing being one of his pursuits, when he wasn't out murdering people. After brutally stabbing both victims he made his second phone call from 1231 Main Street in downtown Napa, stating "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".  However the location of the attack is only 0.7 miles north of Park Headquarters. The simplest route back from Napa is California State Route 29, past American Canyon, directly through to the Bay Area, north of the Carquinez Strait. This would provide easy access to and from the Lake Berryessa region.
 
Placed altogether, the movements of the Zodiac Killer after the Lake Herman Road murders, his direction of travel in the Modesto Abduction, as well as the direction taken from Lake Berryesssa to Napa, including the 'buffer zone'  phone call at the mid point, before continuing on to the Benicia region or beyond, along with his logical exit route from Presidio Heights, centers the focus squarely in the region either side of the Carquinez Bridge. But who said murderers make sense.

Some websites have explored the possibility that a silencer was used in the Blue Rock Springs Park attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969, while others argue the contrary, resulting in much debate on many Zodiac Killer forums. Nobody knows for sure, however, here we will be experimenting with the idea that indeed a silencer was used in the commission of the Blue Rock Springs attack, with an argument presented that a silencer or modified compressor was either used or carried during all four attacks attributed to the Zodiac Killer over his deadly ten-month reign. We will begin the analysis at the location of his second crime in the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs just after midnight, as the July 4th 1969 celebrations were slowly ebbing away.

July 4th (or Independence Day) is a federal holiday commemorating the independence secured from Great Britain on July 4th 1776, which is celebrated annually with fireworks, parades, family events and such like. But for one person the festival of goodwill was clearly of no concern, as he raised his 9mm Luger to the open passenger side window of Darlene Ferrin's brown Corvair - and without uttering a word - unleashed a volley of gunshots into both victims. The perpetrator then retreated back to his vehicle, only to realize that at least one of his victims may still be alive, so returned and fired off a further four rounds at the defenseless young couple. In just under forty minutes the relatively quiet neighboring towns of Vallejo and Benicia were about to receive a rude awakening, as the Zodiac Killer made contact for the first time in a payphone call that police dispatcher Nancy Slover was never to forget. 

In the police report by the Vallejo Police Department, Michael Mageau stated that as the assailant approached his passenger side door he reached for his wallet, believing the person to be a policeman. He was in the process of doing this when he heard a muffled sound and felt a pain in his back and neck area. He then heard further muffled sounds, that he interpreted as a gun with a silencer on, before the killer returned a second time and fired a couple more shots into Mageau as he attempted to cower on the back seat of the Corvair. Michael Mageau clearly states that all the shots he heard that night were muffled - again sounding as if a silencer had been employed. He did not state that the first shot was really loud and the remaining shots were muffled. If a silencer had not been employed, then clearly the first deafening shot at such close range would have understandably impaired his hearing to any subsequent shots fired off by the perpetrator that night. Michael Mageau appeared to imply that all the shots were muffled. This interview was conducted at the intensive care unit of the Kaiser Hospital on July 6th 1969, being one of Michael Mageau's earliest recollections.   

This was a life changing event for Michael Mageau, as was the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. She claimed right up to her death that the voice she heard over the phone that night is something she was never likely to forget. Some of Michael Mageau's memories of the night have altered over intervening years, but it is proposed here, that if he said two days after the attack that all the shots were muffled, then this would be the most reliable testimony he was ever likely to give. As your ear enters into trauma after the first shot, it must make the subsequent shots audibly different from the original. This, however, is a distinction Michael Mageau never made, simply stating "all the shots were muffled".

George Bryant resided in a caretakers house near the Blue Rock Springs parking lot, from where he heard the events unfold that night from approximately 800 feet away, describing the following sequence of noises. He stated that he heard "one gunshot", then a moment later "another gunshot", then after a further gap the sound of "rapid gunfire". This sequence of events markedly differed with the chain of events described by Michael Mageau, He recalled how "a white man drove up in a car, got out and walked up to their car, shined a flashlight inside and started shooting". The man then left for a brief time, before returning and firing off four more rounds. It is without doubt that Michael Mageau was under unfathomable stress that night and may have been understandably confused about the exact sequence of events that transpired, whereas, from the relative calm of his occupancy 800 feet away, George Bryant was able to give a much more reasoned and accurate account of events. He was also able to discern the difference between firecrackers being let off that night and the sound of gunfire, which he assuredly claimed were much louder. But could he?

In Corpus Christi, the two holiday dates of January 1st 2012 and July 4th 2012 were analyzed, when fireworks were most prevalent. Of the 625 emergency 911 calls received that year concerning gunshots fired, 379 were reported on these two dates alone, suggesting a significant proportion of the general public mistook fireworks for gunshots. The following video demonstrates the sound of firecrackers and gunshots, indicating that over as little as 30 yards the sounds become more indistinguishable. The greater the distance, the harder they are to tell apart. George Bryant was 800 feet from the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs. They become even harder to tell apart from within the confines of a building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYqPAkCZfiI

We also do not know where all the sounds heard by George Bryant that night came from. Were they from Blue Rock Springs parking lot, Columbus Parkway, directly above his house or elsewhere? Without being able to determine the distance of each sound, it is impossible to determine their volume at source. So, the fact he heard some sounds louder than others is no proof of gunshots - only a perceived notion of gunshots from his standpoint.

The Zodiac Killer claimed to use a pencil flashlight to aid his aim during the Lake Herman Road double murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, so appeared adept at modifying his weapon to suit his purpose. He also gave us a detailed description of his bomb making plans in the Bus Bomb letter on November 9th 1969 and April 20th 1970 communication, so it is actually no great leap of faith to believe that he was able to create a fully functioning homemade suppressor attachment for his gun also - or possibly own the real thing.

David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were mercilessly gunned down in a lonely turnout on Lake Herman Road in Benicia on December 20th 1969. David Faraday was shot once behind the left ear and Betty Lou Jensen was struck five times in her back as she fled for her life across the gravel turnout, obviously in a desperate bid for freedom. However, she managed just 33 feet from the rear of the Rambler, before collapsing backwards onto the turnout floor. At least ten shots had been fired that fateful night, testinony to which lay the strewn cartridge casings on the gravel turnout. 

Lake Herman Road traveled through undulating hills and trees as it meandered from Benicia to Vallejo in near total darkness. On the night in question it was also extremely cold, just 22 degrees Fahrenheit with the ground frozen under foot.

The sound of gunfire can travel for several miles, depending on the type of weapon, air temperature, humidity, the surrounding terrain, etc. The sound of a bullet being ejected will travel further in cold air, which has a greater density than warm air, however, Lake Herman Road was (as Zodiac stated), surrounded by high hills and trees which would help to contain any localized noise. Regardless of this, we have to consider it was about 11:15 pm at night, with local residences scattered along Lake Herman Road. Why would the Zodiac Killer attract unwanted attention to himself when his exit strategies are limited? There is one main exit road to the west and limited choices to the east. To travel eastbound and exit Lake Herman Road would take approximately 2-3 minutes, whereas westbound would take marginally longer, at around 4 minutes. Any respondents to the sound of the gunfire could conceivably have passed him as he fled the scene of crime. An unnecessary risk and one he needed never take.

James Owen, who passed by the scene just before the murders, mentioned no gunshots in his first statement to police on December 21st 1968, however,  three days later he stated "that he thought he heard a shot" approximately a quarter of a mile after he passed the turnout. On a quiet country road at approximately 11:15 pm at night, are we to believe the killer only waited 30 seconds after James Owen had passed before firing off numerous rounds from a .22 caliber weapon? But Owen supposedly only heard one. After James Owen passed the turnout, are we to conclude the Zodiac Killer only shot David Faraday (the shot James Owen heard), then waited a certain length of time until James Owen was out of earshot, then murdered Betty Lou Jensen? The sequence of events makes little sense from either perspective - and in all probability James Owen heard nothing. 

Then we had the murder of Paul Stine in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. His dormant taxicab lay motionless at the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets, yet to be known that the Zodiac Killer had brought his reign of terror to the midst of San Francisco. The Zodiac Killer was witnessed by three teenagers across the street exiting the taxicab, before heading away from the crime scene north up Cherry Street. They stated they heard no gunshot. 

The Zodiac Killer would claim the murder of Paul Stine just two days later in a letter mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle, stating "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night". The three teenage  eyewitnesses (or anybody else) failed to hear any gunshots at the intersection of Washington & Cherry, as was the case at Washington & Maple. At 9:55 pm at night, why was this?

This crime had all the hallmarks of pre-planning, with the Zodiac Killer even removing a section of Paul Stine's shirt, which he mailed two days later along with the letter. But despite being a far more populated area, in which he secured a trophy from the crime scene, it was an unnecessary risk he was prepared to take. Again, imagine you were the perpetrator. Would you fire a loaded, unsilenced weapon within feet of a house, then proceed to start rummaging through the victims pockets, wipe down the inside of the cab, exit the vehicle and proceed to the exterior doors and start wiping them down, before moving off casually - or get the hell out of there? If the Zodiac Killer had used a silencer and believed no witnesses had observed him and called the police, then quite possibly he may have showed less urgency.  Which is exactly what the Zodiac Killer did. Finally, we will move to the brutal stabbings at Lake Berryessa, resulting in the murder of Cecelia Shepard on September 27th 1969.

Again, access to and from the scene of the crime along the Knoxville Road was limited. It was not a short journey back to the main arterial roads and on to Main Street in Napa, so the last thing the Zodiac Killer wanted to do was blast away with his weapon on the shores of Lake Berryessa, thereby creating the feeling of entrapment, with limited exit strategies. This is probably why the Zodiac Killer switched  from gun to a knife in the close quarter attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard.

Bryan Hartnell observed the Zodiac Killer's gun up close and there was no suggestion of a silencer. But this does not necessarily mean he was not carrying one. However, on this occasion his knife would seve as the perfect silencer. The Zodiac Killer first presented his gun to the young couple - and although the ordeal was undoubtedly terrifying - there may have been little reason to suspect anything other than robbery as a motive at this point. The time was approximately 6:15 pm in the evening and it was still light. There were other people in the vicinity (although not many), and the thought that the assailant would start firing away with restricted exit points seemed unlikely. Unbeknownst to the couple, the assailant possessed a silent weapon, which had they seen from the outset, greater danger may have been inferred. The knife, from the perspective of the Zodiac Killer, was the perfect choice. 
The Zodiac Killer may not have used a silencer in any of the crimes, but there is one question you have to ask yourself. If you were the Zodiac Killer, hell bent on creating a legacy of evil and considering the locations he chose, would you have used a silencer?

After the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969, the police report stated that the assailant had mentioned 'Lodge State Prison' in an interview conducted by Sgt John Robertson at the Queen of the Valley Hospital on September 28th 1969. Bryan Hartnell stated that the assailant said "I just got out of...some prison in Montana" and "It's some double name, like 'Fern Lock' or something". The wording was scrutinized, with one accepted avenue for further investigation being the possibility that a connection existed between the hooded attacker and Deer Lodge Prison in Montana. Bryan Hartnell also recalled to Sgt Robertson that the assailant had also mentioned that "he broke out and had to kill a guard getting out". But how much of this is based in fantasy, either from the killer's imagination, or from Bryan Hartnell being prompted towards certain responses by the suggestive nature of the interview, performed only one day after the brutal attack while he was still under heavy sedation? 
​
Deer Lodge Prison is approximately 1,000 miles from Lake Berryessa, and no guards were reported to have been killed in the relative timeline. The suggestion of such was almost certainly designed to instill fear and compliance from his victims. However, there was still a possibility that the killer may have inadvertently let something slip that was relevant to his history, and more importantly the police investigation. On Sunday September 21st 1969, only days before the Lake Berryessa attack, two convicts, Carl Pierce (27) and Ronald Woods (22) made an escape bid by cutting through the wire fence at the rear of Rothe Hall, Deer Lodge Prison, Montana. This newsworthy story may have had an influence on the Zodiac Killer's strategy when he entered into dialogue with Bryan Hartnell, or may well have just been something that he recalled on the fly to divert investigators away from his real identity. However, the ferocity of his attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard clearly indicated that there was no intention to leave any surviving witnesses, so any cover story would be superfluous. It would therefore seem that any of the information he revealed would not have placed him at any risk, other than if he had been disturbed during the commission of the crime or immediately prior to his attack. Was the September 21st 1969 escape from Deer Lodge Prison relevant to his history? If this was the location he really mentioned to Bryan Hartnell, it may prove that what he said, if he had no prepared script or dialogue that evening, may be the closest to the truth we can ever truly attain.

The inmates already had guns, so death by these four methods may have provided the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer's Halloween card, mailed on October 27th 1970, especially if the Northern California killer had indeed resided within the walls of Old Montana Prison, whether he was present during the riot or thereafter. 
​
John Cameron, a former Great Falls, Montana police sergeant got to know Edward Edwards in Montana Prison and firmly believes that he is the Zodiac Killer. The suggestion of slaves and the afterlife by another prisoner in Edward Wayne Edwards autobiography Metamorphosis of a Criminal, may have been a case of supplanting his thoughts firmly at the door of someone else. Like the Zodiac Killer, it was a game he truly enjoyed playing and may have been his final attempt at mocking the authorities. Many researchers have placed Edward Edwards in Northern California during the timeline of the Zodiac murders of 1968 and 1969. There is little circumstantial evidence tying Edwards to the Zodiac murders, but one thing we do know about Edwards,  is that he was a ruthless killer not to be taken at face value. John Cameron has recently released a book entitled 'It's Me, Edward Wayne Edwards, the Serial Killer You Never Heard of', complete with the Zodiac crossed circle, to leave you in no doubt where his suspicions lie.   

But the story doesn't end there. In the March of 1971 The Akron Beacon Journal ran a story by William Kezziah about two former inmates from Akron, Ohio, who served time at Old Montana Prison, Deer Lodge - who both had their suspicions on the Zodiac Killer's identity. One former prisoner Edward Wayne Edwards has already been discussed, but the second wanted his identity withheld from print for fear of reprisals, however, he did recall the inmate was called Richard. Unfortunately though, he could not recall his surname.

He goes on to say Richard had killed a police officer (and comparing Ohio to the sentencing leniency of Montana) revealed that in his mind, he would only have likely served 18 years jail time. Old Montana State Prison, he believed, had housed approximately 20,000 prisoners since it creation, so it would not be too difficult to narrow down the search. If his information is accurate, it isn't difficult. You visit Montana State Prison records here, enter Richard into the search box and up comes the list of all prisoners between 1869 and 1974 with the relevant name. Then once the correct years have been identified, there should only be a handful remaining. Then lastly, identify the crime attributed to each person to verify if any murdered a law enforcement officer. It is highly likely that this would have already been cross checked by investigators.
 
Cheri Jo Bates was believed to have been murdered in the late night hours of October 30th 1966 at the Riverside City College library - her body discovered on the following Halloween morning by a caretaker. She had been brutally stabbed and slashed numerous times. Sometime during this period, it was considered that the Zodiac Killer may have written the message found on the inside of a school desktop, known as The Riverside Desktop Poem and discovered by a janitor in late 1966, that ultimately may have significance to the Bates crime. The message ended with the initials RH. Checking these initials in the Montana State Prison records, one can find Richard Haessly, Richard Harris, Richard Hayes, Richard Heavygun, Richard Hill, Richard Happel, Richard Helten, Richard Hodke, Richard Hunt and Richard L. Hendrickson.

​So, if the Zodiac Killer did sign his initials and our man from Akron, Ohio is correct, that the inmate at Montana State Prison is of worthy consideration, then we have ten names of great interest. You can check out most of this list here, which shows the prisoner records, including age, occupation, date incarcerated, length of sentence, vital statistics and mugshot. Only two of the names show slight promise, but I will let you decide for yourselves. But if detective work was this simple, the case would have been solved years ago. This approach is too simplistic and relies heavily on the testimony of a former inmate, whose memories may be deliberately or inadvertently skewed, especially since eyewitness recollections are far from accurate - not only from this case - but quite possibly the composite sketch drawn up from the three eyewitnesses at the Presidio Heights crime scene. Furthermore, we do not know whether the RH at the foot of The Riverside Desktop Poem were intended as initials.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If he lived in Benicia or somewhere in that region, as his movements suggested after the Lake Herman Road double murder, then knowing the phone call would place him at greater risk, it is conceivable he discarded the weapon before making the phone call to Nancy Slover, in his mind, reducing the risk of being stopped carrying the 'smoking gun'. He was familiar with Lake Herman Road - and in near isolation, free from prying eyes - it would have been a perfect disposal site for his weapon, particularly bearing in mind Lake Herman was situated near to his first murders. A journey from Blue Rock Springs to Lake Herman, with time spent to exit his vehicle, wipe down the weapon and toss the evidence into Lake Herman, before returning to the payphone at Springs Road and Tuolumne Street, would have taken approximately 30 minutes, and nearer the time of 12:40 am, the time the call was logged. Any stop by police now, would have held far less risk. He could equally have traveled straight home after the attack at Blue Rock Springs, disposed of any incriminating evidence, before returning to make the phone call. 
In the phone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover, the killer would announce his campaign of terror "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye".

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

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

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

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

We have just crept past the 44th anniversary of the brutal events that occurred in the quiet retreat of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969, where Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were enjoying life together, before the idyll of an autumn afternoon was cruelly snatched away by a man we have now come to know as the Zodiac Killer. There appears to have been little progress in the case in the intervening years, so is there anything in witness statements and analysis of Zodiac correspondence that can move the tragic events forward, or shed a little more light on the subject, however incrementally small it may seem?
​
We shall start with eyewitness recollections taken shortly after the brutal attack and the description of a lone male spotted close to the vicinity of the crime, having caught the attention of several key parties.

Earlier on in the day, the three girls from Pacific Union College "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road". The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road. They would have parked their vehicle somewhere in or between the region of Smittle Creek Trailhead and Smittle Creek Day Use Area. They arrived at 3:30 pm.

As they left their vehicle to go sunbathing, a white male, driving a silver or light blue Chevrolet 2-door sedan with California plates pulled up to the rear of their car, bumper to bumper, yet remained inside his vehicle. This man would seemingly remain in his vehicle for approximately 30 minutes before they spotted him again, observing them from about 40 to 50 feet away while they were sunbathing. Each time they looked at him he seemingly evaded eye contact, thus drawing suspicion from the three women. He was described as being between 28 and 40 years, 200-225 pounds, 6 feet tall, styled black hair, with rounded eyes and thin lips - he was good looking, with a muscular or stocky build, wearing dark pants and a dark pullover shirt. He remained observing them, by their accounts, for between 30-45 minutes and then left. At 4:30 pm they decided to leave the shores of Lake Berryessa and noticed his vehicle had gone. But in a curious observation, one of the girls thought he was wearing a white belt around his back - or possibly what could have been a tee shirt hanging out. Another girl stated he was wearing a black short sleeved sweater shirt, bunched up at the front, again describing a white tee shirt hanging out the back.

Did the bunched up sweater shirt hide anything sinister? Bryan Hartnell thought the attacker to be 20-30 years, with dark brown hair visible through the hood, wearing dark blue or black pleated slacks, 5' 8" to 6' 0" tall and 225-250 pounds. He also noticed a knife in a case on the right side of his belt, near the front of his trousers and cut up rope in the suspect's rear pocket. It was the type similar to white plastic clothesline. 
​
Could the descriptions given by two of the girls, describing a white belt around his back or white T-shirt 'hanging out', actually have been the cut lengths of plastic clothesline trailing from his rear pocket in anticipation of a prepared attack on the girls, but for whatever reason got cold feet, changed his mind and turned to Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard approximately two hours later. This is not a new concept but deserves more consideration. In both instances, if indeed this was the Zodiac Killer, he appeared to be observing the potential victims for some time at a distance, possibly waiting for the right moment to don his disguise and ready his attack.  
  
During a later interview with Bryan Hartnell, a transcript revealed that the assailant had apparently stated: "I'm on my way to Mexico, I escaped from Deer Lodge Prison in Montana, Deer Lodge. I need some money to get there", and continued "I killed a couple of guards getting out of prison. And I'm not afraid to kill again". After the senseless attack on the young couple, the Zodiac Killer uses a marker pen and writes the dates of his murders on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's white Karmann Ghia, yet despite dating the attacks of Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs and the current attack, he fails to attribute the apparent murder of these two guards. That is because it is likely fiction, introduced into the conversation with Bryan Hartnell to indicate that he was not to be messed with.  

It has been questioned whether this attack is related to the previous attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, as the modus operandi varies dramatically in time, choice of weapon, theatrics and the very personal nature of the crime. The answer may have lain 27 miles away with the hanging receiver at the 1231 Main Street, Napa payphone. In the aftermath of the Blue Rock Springs Park double shooting, the killer placed a call from a payphone at the corner of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street. He later stated in his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter on August 4th 1969, "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"  And here lies the answer - he was unwilling to make the same mistake twice.

Was the man the three girls observed on this fateful day, the Zodiac Killer? - where the unusual observation and innocence of a hanging T-shirt may actually unearth the killer's true intentions during the afternoon of September 27th 1969, a day the world sadly cannot forget, yet at the same time should always be remembered.​
​
Descriptions of the eyewitnesses: 
#1. "A subject driving a late model silver-blue Chevrolet, 2-door sedan. This subject was described as 6' tall, weighing 200/210 pounds, muscular build, rather nice looking."  
#2. "Vehicle described as a 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet with California plates. Witness believes the vehicle was a 2-door sedan and described the headlights as long rather than round." 
#3. "Subject was described as approximately 28 years of age, 6'1" to 6'2" tall, 200/225 lbs, black hair possibly styled, with a part on the left, rounded eyes, thin lips, medium nose, straight eyebrows, small ears, well built, rather nice looking."  
#4. "Vehicle was described as a late model Chevrolet, sky blue in color. The rear taillights appeared to be long rather than round. She described the subject as 6' tall, stocky build, about 200 lbs, black short-sleeved sweater shirt, dark blue slacks, and straight dark hair neatly combed. She guessed his age at approximately 30 years."