Although Chief Martin Lee ridiculed the idea that the Zodiac entered the Presidio Park, it appeared that Inspectors David Toschi and Bill Armstrong weren't so dismissive according to Robert Graysmith, who wrote "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Kahn playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County". The thoughts of Toschi and Armstrong were well founded, especially when you consider that the man seen running into the Julius Kahn Playground carried an extremely similar description to the one given by Officer Donald Fouke and the three Robbins kids. 

If the Zodiac Killer had entered the park here, it is highly unlikely he would have backtracked in a westerly direction towards the crime scene. An escape route north on foot to escape the park would have been extremely time consuming. The detail given by the Zodiac Killer in his November 9th 1969 letter (if true), suggests that once he entered the park at Julius Kahn Playground he headed east, where in the wooded section opposite Laurel Street, he observed dogs that never came within 2 blocks of him, because they were to the west. Two blocks west was Julius Kahn Playground, where "seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio". The Zodiac Killer's claim in his letter was correct that dogs were assembled by​ Julius Kahn Playground, but this detail had been released in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper as early as October 15th 1969, which stated "A large contingent of police with dogs and searchlights secured the area around Cherry Street, which included the wooded south boundary of the Presidio and Julius Kahn Playground. So any escape through the park in a westerly direction, two blocks towards Cherry would have been highly unlikely. 

The Zodiac Killer, after stating "The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west", mentioned that "there was only 2 groups of parking (or barking)". Did he lift this information from the newspapers which reported a "large contingent of police and dogs with searclights" by Cherry Street and Julius Kahn Playground, which was "two groups"? Or was he able to see the searchlights at these approximate locations as he hid in the park? Motorcycles and police cars were mobilized to circle Presidio Park to restrict the movements of the killer, but according to the Zodiac in his October 13th 1969 letter they were "holding road races" instead of "quietly waiting for him to come out of cover". He further elaborated on this on November 9th 1969, stating "the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west".

​If the Zodiac Killer had continued eastwards through the park from the wooded area opposite Laurel Street, he would have reached Presidio Boulevard, where  police motorcycles would have been traveling from the "south to north west" (see map below). The two yellow circles on the map show two positions exactly 150 feet from Presidio Boulevard, so if the Zodiac Killer was at either of these locations he would have been in prime position, nestled in the woods, with the ability to observe motorcycles traveling along the roadway, and ready to escape from the park to the nearby Lyon Street, which was 370 feet from Presidio Boulevard. 

If Robert Graysmith was correct, this thought process must have been considered by Toschi and Armstrong, who conceived the notion of a killer heading towards Richardson Avenue, traveling west on Highway 101, and over the Golden Gate Bridge. The only difference to my analysis, is that they thought the killer may have emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue. However, this would have required the Zodiac Killer to have spent an excessive amount of time in the park, rather than exiting from the south-eastern corner and entering a vehicle parked on Lyon Street. From here, in a vehicle, he would have reached Richardson Avenue in a much quicker time.       

The Zodiac could have combined his experience from that night with maps and the coverage in the newspapers in the intervening four weeks, to concoct a reasonable story of his excursion into the park. However, the description of the man running into Julius Kahn Playground near-matched the description given by the teenagers at the crime scene and Officer Donald Fouke. So if the Zodiac Killer had entered the park at this location, he had to go somewhere. That safest somewhere, based on the police search, would most likely have been east in the direction of Lyon Street and Broadway.  

There has yet to be a satisfactory explanation for why Officer Donald Fouke chose to head away from the crime scene on October 11th 1969 after the initial radio broadcast, rather than turn south on Cherry Street to come to the aid of Paul Stine, other than he was directed there by Zodiac. I am not going to rehash this analysis again, so if you are interested read the article "Two Cops Pulled a Goof" or watch the following Youtube video.   

The argument being put forward here, is that if Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms stopped and spoke to the Zodiac Killer, then the initial radio broadcast informing responding officers to be on the lookout for a black male adult was a fabrication. In other words, there was no such instruction. The story of the mix up between the Robbins kids and the dispatcher would have been created to explain away the fact that Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms didn't apprehend the white male subject on Jackson Street, who was later realised to be the Zodiac Killer.

​In 1969, the percentage of African American males in San Francisco was 13.4%, but in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights their population density was much lower. The Zodiac Killer was all about providing "proof" during his canonical attacks. He provided numerous details of his Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attacks on July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969, including the reference to police talking to a black male (probably by the payphone on July 5th 1969). He wrote on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle at Lake Berryessa, and mailed a piece of Paul Stine's shirt two days after the murder, to indelibly link himself to these crimes. He also made two phone calls after his second and third attacks. The Zodiac Killer's primary goal at this juncture was tying himself to the crimes.

This can be seen on November 9th 1969, when the Zodiac Killer highlighted one particular section of his letter, stating "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again". The Zodiac Killer did this by placing arrows across this section of text with the accompanying phrase "Must print in paper". His knowledge of the police at this particular location was his proof of being there. However, there is one crucial thing missing from the red section of text above. It should have read "I said yes there was this black man who was runnig by waveing a gun".  

Officer Donald Fouke, from all the police accounts we have read, was looking for a black male adult as he approached the intersection of Jackson and Maple, so if he had stopped the Zodiac Killer at this location, the obvious question to have asked a white male adult walking on the sidewalk, in a low density African American area, would not have been "have you seen anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min". It would have been "have you seen a black man acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min". He was looking for a black male adult in the area, so it flies in the face of any common sense that you would not include this distinguishing characteristic in your question, when asking a white male for assistance.

​But how do we know that Officer Donald Fouke didn't include the "black male" description when talking to Zodiac? Because the Zodiac Killer would have written "have you seen a black man acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min" in his November 9th 1969 letter as further proof he spoke to officers, had Donald Fouke said such a thing. Why on earth would the Zodiac Killer omit such a crucial detail like this from a section of text he made a point of highlighting? Probably because Officer Donald Fouke wasn't looking for a black male on October 11th 1969, having never been given this instruction by the dispatcher. It was likely a fabrication issued to him by his superiors, to be documented in a memorandum on November 12th 1969.     

The police and other outlets received many calls from individuals who claimed to be the Zodiac Killer, which were routinely passed off as potential hoaxers. The most infamous of these calls came on October 22nd 1969, firstly at 2:00am to the Oakland Police Department headquarters at 455 7th St, asking for either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey to appear on the popular Jim Dunbar TV Show. The second contact, later that morning, was a series of calls to the TV show from somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer, who was eventually discovered to be a mental patient by the name of Eric Weill, who chose to use the name "Sam" when prompted and ultimately delivered a rambling psychotic message to the two hosts and viewing public.

The police were clearly unconvinced by many of the "Zodiac" calls they received, so it should have been an obvious choice to have vetted anybody wanting to "appear" on a mainstream television show in front of a considerable audience. The Oakland Police Department, either by their request or by wilful submission from the caller, appeared to have done this by getting "undisclosed knowledge about the killings" from the mystery man. This would have been extremely easy, by simply asking the caller to disclose the wording "by knife", written on the white 1956 Karmann Ghia  of Bryan Hartnell at Lake Berryessa, which was withheld from public knowledge. So why wasn't this done when "Sam" rang the Jim Dunbar TV Show a few hours later? This could have immediately removed Eric Weill from the phone line and increased the chances of the real Zodiac Killer delivering his message on the airwaves, to possibly be recognised by one of the many listeners or attending law enforcement. At the very least, investigators may have gained extra insight into the murderer of five, who had undoubtedly rang the Jim Dunbar Show earlier that month when Melvin Belli was last on the show.    

​When the Zodiac impersonator rang into the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, the caller was asked by the host "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". Jim Dunbar was clearly aware of a previous attempt by the "Zodiac Killer" to call the television show, but as had become usual, this call was probably dismissed as a hoaxer wasting police time. If the caller to the Oakland Police Department was confirmed to be the Zodiac Killer - who asked for Melvin Belli - then it's hugely significant that a previous caller had asked to appear on the very same Jim Dunbar Show two or three weeks previously, when Melvin Belli was once again the guest. An earlier call that would have been placed a matter of days before the Paul Stine murder in San Francisco. Especially when you consider that the caller rang KGO Radio in San Francisco when no murders had yet been committed by the Zodiac Killer in San Francisco. If the caller to the Oakland Police Department on October 22nd 1969 was fully verified as the Zodiac Killer, then it is with near certainty he rang the Jim Dunbar Show before the Presidio Heights murder on October 11th 1969.

​He may have rang the Jim Dunbar Show between October 1st 1969 and October 10th 1969 to announce that he was about to unleash terror into the heart of the big city, but after being thwarted on this occasion and his attempt on October 22nd 1969, he probably lost patience and declared on November 9th 1969 that he would no longer announce when he was going to commit his murders. The apparent lack of vetting of the Jim Dunbar Show caller, ultimately allowed Eric Weill to waste everyone's time and send law enforcement down another blind alley.

The Zodiac Killer opened up his November 9th 1969 letter with his disdain for police, stating "This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people. I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me. So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. When I committ my murders, they shall look like routine robberies, killings of anger, + a few fake accidents, etc". The lies that the Zodiac Killer was speaking of were likely the utterances of San Francisco Chief of Inspectors, Martin Lee, who stated in the newspaper below that the Zodiac Killer was lying when he claimed he had entered the Presidio Park on October 11th 1969. He rejected the claim of Zodiac that he was close by "in the Julius Kahn Playground" and was a killer who had "almost certainly left his fingerprints somewhere in the Yellow Cab". But there is something unusual about Chief Martin Lee's statements.   

The above newspaper article is correct that the Zodiac Killer chided police for not searching "the park properly (who were) instead holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise". However, the newspaper article claimed that the Zodiac Killer "wrote (in a taunting letter) that all the while police were looking for him he was not far away in the Julius Kahn Playground". But this article was published on October 19th 1969 when the Zodiac Killer had never mentioned his presence in the Julius Kahn Playground. His October 13th 1969 "Stine letter" only mentioned the "park", which could have been anywhere in San Francisco's Presidio Park.

It wasn't until November 9th 1969, twenty-one days later, that the Zodiac Killer made any inference to Julius Kahn Playground, when he informed police that "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again".

​Three days later, on November 12th 1969, a police memorandum from Officer Donald Fouke began with "Sir; I respectfully wish to report the following", before going on to describe his encounter with the Zodiac Killer on Jackson Street (which was about "a block + a half away" from Spruce Street and Julius Kahn Playground). If this was the first time Officer Donald Fouke had told of his encounter with Zodiac to his superiors, it seems odd that Chief Martin Lee was responding to a claim in a newspaper article on October 19th 1969 that Zodiac had told them he was in Julius Kahn Playground. ​Admittedly, there was an October 12th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article describing a man seen running into the Julius Kahn Playground, but Zodiac hadn't suggested this was him until November 9th 1969 when he claimed he disappeared into the park at the northern terminus of Spruce Street (a block and a half away from the cops). So how could Zodiac have lied about being in Julius Kahn Playground by October 19th 1969, when he had made no such claim until November 9th 1969? 

​It has long been suspected that the above memorandum was a belated offering, issued by Donald Fouke's superiors in response to the Zodiac's November 9th 1969 letter, when in fact, they had long known that Officer Donald Fouke had reported his sighting of the white male (Zodiac) shortly after it happened. Chief Martin Lee had been aware before October 19th 1969 that a man was seen running into the Julius Kahn Playground. He was also likely knowledgeable of Donald Fouke's sighting of Zodiac traveling east on Jackson Street towards Julius Kahn Playground. This being the case, it's easy to see how Chief Martin Lee may have coalesced the two stories together on October 19th 1969, when asserting that Zodiac claimed he was hiding in Julius Kahn Playground, when in fact, the Zodiac Killer had only ever claimed he was hiding in the "park" at this juncture.

This is not insignificant, because it shows knowledge of Officer Donald Fouke's sighting of Zodiac long before the police memorandum was issued on November 12th 1969. All that Chief Martin Lee knew, was that a white male adult was seen running into Julius Kahn Payground by eyewitnesses. The Zodiac Killer had made no such claim of entering at this location by October 19th 1969. Therefore, why would Chief Martin Lee be refuting a claim that had never been issued by the Zodiac Killer up to this date? The mere contemplation of a killer hiding in the Julius Kahn playground, suggests a knowledge that the Zodiac Killer was heading in this direction after passing Officer Donald Fouke on Jackson Street. The sighting detailed in the October 12th 1969 newspaper article has never been officially connected to the Zodiac Killer, so why would Chief Martin Lee have been responding to (or brought up) the notion of the Zodiac Killer hiding in Julius Kahn Playground, when the Zodiac Killer had never been conclusively linked to this location, or had even mentioned it in any communication by October 19th 1969? Only by November 9th 1969, in Zodiac's writings, could it have been determined that the Zodiac Killer had entered the park at Julius Kahn Playground. Something that Chief Martin Lee couldn't have known by October 19th 1969.       

On October 18th 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper stated "In a letter to The Chronicle, the Zodiac chided police for not finding him during their search of Julius Kahn Park and a nearby wooded portion of the park". Yet this wasn't true. The Zodiac Killer had not chided the police in his October 13th 1969 letter for their search of the Julius Kahn Playground or any nearby wooded portion of the park. However, the Zodiac Killer had chided the police for their search of this area on November 9th 1969.

In his November 9th 1969 letter the Zodiac stated "Hey blue pig I was in the park -- you were useing fire trucks to mask the sound of your cruzeing prowl cars. The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west". If the Zodiac Killer had walked from Cherry Street to Spruce Street via Jackson Street, it is highly unlikely that once he entered the Julius Kahn Playground, he would have backtracked through the Presidio Park in a westerly direction (back towards the crime scene). If he entered the park, his first movements were likely east of Julius Kahn Playground. This was backed up by the Zodiac Killer's statements in his letter. Dogs were deployed by the entrance to the Julius Kahn playground (the location the man was seen running into the park on October 11th 1969), which was 2 blocks west of a wooded portion where Zodiac claimed he was watching the police activity from (which was two blocks east of Julius Kahn Playground in a wooded area). But the Zodiac Killer did not claim this until three weeks after the San Francisco Chronicle article on October 18th 1969.

The police knew of eyewitness reports shortly after the murder that a man was seen running into Julius Kahn Playground, but the Zodiac hadn't suggested this was him in any letter to the San Francisco Chronicle until November 9th 1969. This sighting is barely mentioned by Zodiac researchers and amateur sleuths. In fact, it is comprehensively ignored by the vast majority of people when examining the eyewitness descriptions given at Presidio Heights. Yet here, on October 18th 1969, they are placing the Zodiac Killer in Julius Kahn Playground by way of a letter he wrote to the Chronicle before November had even arrived.      

The claims by Chief Martin Lee that Zodiac was lying about entering the park, it can be argued, caused the Zodiac to write his lengthy letter on November 9th 1969, and possibly make contact with the Oakland Police Department on October 22nd 1969 requesting an audience with the Jim Dunbar Show, rather than contact the San Francisco Police Department who he thought were telling lies about him. After all, Oakland was only 2.7 miles from San Francisco. 

The first three paragraphs are taken from a previous article, with the following information a completely new analysis.  

When determining whether the "concerned citizen" card mailed to Sergeant John Lynch on August 10th 1969 was written by a helpful member of the public or the Zodiac Killer, we need look no further than the "good citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969. Taking into consideration that the "concerned citizen" card was not in the public domain in 1969, the "good citizen" author would also adopt the word "citizen" in their signature, address the communication to Sergeant John Lynch once again, and refer to the July 31st 1969 cryptogram by mentioning "code letters", just as the "concerned citizen" author was addressing the "code letters" by supplying us with a key to the 408 cryptogram. Also, both communications would use the word "name" twice. 

​These are compelling reasons to believe that both communications were composed by the same author. The question being; is the wording in the "good citizen" letter that of a helpful citizen or a mischievous individual playing games with the police. The "good citizen" letter read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX".  

The "good citizen" letter was postmarked October 7th 1969 and mentioned 56 Beach Street, which is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. The address at 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, California is a condominium home that measures 2,141 sq ft, and was built in 1938. Irrespective of the exact numbering, Beach Street is just 240 meters from the Presidio of San Francisco, where eyewitnesses saw a white male, about 40 years of age, weighing 170lbs, sporting a blond crewcut and wearing glasses, running into Julius Kahn playground shortly after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. Of all the places in northern California or the Bay Area the author could select, the composer of the "good citizen" letter was not only referring to Zodiac's code letters, but managed to choose the location of Beach Street bordering the Presidio, in which the Zodiac Killer was seen running into just four days later. Possibly coincidence, but noteworthy nonetheless. The "good citizen" author may have been referring to Beach Street in San Francisco just a matter of days before the Zodiac Killer first struck in the big city, before mailing a letter on October 13th 1969, again detailing a destination in the form of a street name - this time "Washington St and Maple St".  ​

I have long believed that the Zodiac Killer lived in Vallejo during his first three crimes, but for the purposes of objectivity we will look towards San Francisco as a possible home location of the Zodiac during and after the Paul Stine murder (and possibly before). When the Zodiac Killer mailed the Bus Bomb letter on November 9th 1969 he gave us an indication to his movements in Presidio Park a month earlier, writing "The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west + there was only 2 groups of parking about 10 min apart then the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west".

It was apparent that after entering Julius Kahn playground the Zodiac Killer suggested that he had traveled 2 blocks east, which placed him close to Presidio Boulevard that went from south to north west in the south-eastern corner of Presidio Park. From a location 150 feet shy of this road, he was extremely close to the Lyon Street steps and his exit route from the park. If the Zodiac Killer had headed northwards from this location to the Marina District and the area around 1654/1656 Beach Street, he could have opted to walk for 25-30 minutes or enter a vehicle parked on Lyon Street for the 5 minute journey. 
​
​If the Zodiac Killer mailed the "good citizen" letter four days before the Paul Stine murder, one could argue that he didn't just pluck the Beach Street address and the name "Jerry" out of thin air. It is possible that he lived close to this location (or within a reasonable distance) and was familiar with somebody who lived or frequented either 1654 or 1656 Beach Street. As an example, he could have lived somewhere within the green circle shown below  The reason I've positioned the circle this way will become evident in a moment.   . 

At the time of the Paul Stine murder on October 11th 1969 Donna Lass worked at the Letterman General Hospital in Presidio Park and lived at 4122 Balboa Street, San Francisco. However, according to Robert Graysmith she moved from this address a few months later and relocated to 225 Mallorca Way in the Marina District. If a few months was three or four, Donna Lass could have moved to 225 Mallorca Way in January or February 1970  Either way, it is possible she moved into an area where the Zodiac Killer lived. He was heading in this general direction after killing Paul Stine, and was referring to 56 Beach Street (1654/1656 Beach Street) on October 7th 1969, only four days before the murder. The 1654 Beach Street address was a mere 300 meters from the 225 Mallorca Way home that Donna Lass moved into. She would have spent several months at an address 300 meters from the residence mentioned in the October 7th 1969 letter, before heading off to South Lake Tahoe on June 5th 1970.

​In the Pines postcard on March 22nd 1971, the Zodiac Killer pasted "Sought Victim 12", indicating that he had previously targeted Donna Lass between the April 20th 1970 letter (10 victims) and the Button letter on June 26th 1970 (12 victims). Therefore, if the Zodiac Killer had sought her in San Francisco as victim number 12, he would have set his eyes on her between April 20th and June 5th 1970 (when she left for South Lake Tahoe). Because the Dragon card on April 28th 1970 didn't increase the Zodiac Killer's victim total, we can narrow down the time he sought Donna Lass as victim number 12 to between April 28th 1970 and June 5th 1970 (probably sometime in May 1970). During this time she would have been living at 225 Mallorca Way, close to the Beach Street residence. Donna Lass and the Zodiac Killer may have been living near to one another in the Marina District of San Francisco, in an area that had relevance to an address mentioned in one of Zodiac's letters. If we could positively identify the "Jerry" in the October 7th 1969 letter (assuming they exist), it may edge us a little closer to resolving this mystery. 

From their vantage point of 50/60 feet away, the three teenagers (Robbins children) described the suspect to the police dispatcher as ​a "WMA, in his early forties, 5'8'', heavy build, reddish-blond "crew-cut" hair, wearing eyeglasses, dark brown trousers, dark (navy blue or black) "Parka" jacket, dark shoes". The claim has always been that crossed wires occurred and Officer Donald Fouke was given the description of a negro male adult before, and as he began his one minute journey westwards from the intersection of Washington Street & Presidio Avenue to the intersection of Jackson & Maple Streets, where Officer Donald Fouke first noticed the Zodiac Killer. Therefore, the dispatcher had at least one minute to relay the description of the man to Officer Fouke.

What the police want you to believe is that he drove by the white man on Jackson Street because he was given a description of a negro male adult. So in the minute that Officer Fouke drove the distance before encountering the man, are we to conclude that the dispatcher only relayed "be on the lookout for a negro male adult" and nothing more? The description of the perpetrator given a month later by Officer Fouke was almost identical to the description given by the teenagers. We had "early forties" and "35-45 years", "heavy build" and "medium heavy build", "reddish blond crew cut hair" and "light colored hair in a crew cut", "dark (navy blue or black) Parka jacket" and "dark blue waist length zipper type jacket (navy or royal blue)", "dark brown trousers" and "brown wool pants", with both wearing glasses. 

Despite the fact that his description of the subject on Jackson Street virtually matched the description given by the three teenagers to the dispatcher, I doubt many negro male adults in 1969 had a reddish blond or light colored crew cut. If we are to believe the event-changing story of Officer Fouke being furnished with a description of a negro male adult, why did neither the dispatcher or Officer Fouke not question the description of the negro male adult having reddish blond hair? Even without the description of the hair, everything else was close enough to have warranted stoppiing the white male on Jackson Street.

The duty of a dispatcher is to gather information from the caller and relay the relevant details to responding officers, which in this case would have been a basic description of the person seen leaving the tacicab of Paul Stine. Are we to believe that Officer Fouke, on the lookout for a negro male adult, required him to slow down to such an extent that he was able to describe brown wool pants that were baggy in the rear, hair that was possibly graying in the rear, pants that were pleated, a waist band that was zipped part way up, elastic cuffs and low cut shoes, despite the obvious fact the subject was white. The color of the subject's skin should have been apparent from a reasonable distance away, making any further scrutiny unnecessary.

Once Officer Fouke had determined the man was white, there was no need to examine this man from top to bottom, and then make a note of his posterior features. He was responding to an assault and robbery on a taxicab driver and his primary motivation should have been to head to the crime scene. However, if he was really looking for a white man when he approached Jackson Street, then this amount of detail would be understandable - especially if he stopped the subject and was informed of a "man waving a gun" up the street.    

Probably the biggest curiosity in the November 12th 1969 Donald Fouke memorandum was the final line, stating "My partner that night was Officer E. Zelms # 2348 of Richmond station. I do not know if he observed this subject or not". The only way Eric Zelms could have failed to notice the white male walking on Jackson Street, is if Eric Zelms was riding in the trunk or was asleep. If Donald Fouke was able to capture all that information about the subject while driving a vehicle and positioned further from the sidewalk than Eric Zelms, then one has to question the honesty of that statement.

​Both officers were approaching a crime scene with reports of a man leaving the intersection of Washington & Cherry and heading north up Cherry Street. They would have been scouring the sidewalks for any potential suspects heading their way, not looking at the sky for potential hang gliders. If Donald Fouke was really responsible for the entirety of that memorandum, it is not only strange that he was totally oblivious to what Eric Zelms saw that night after one month had elapsed, but it would suggest that Eric Zelms played no part in the description given. The later claim that Eric Zelms admitted to stopping the Zodiac Killer on October 11th 1969 is evident by the contrived memorandum, designed by individuals above the pay grade of Officer Fouke to paint a completely different picture of the events that unfolded on Jackson Street that night. There is little reason to believe a negro male adult ever passed the lips of any person on October 11th 1969, and every reason to believe that Officer Fouke was coerced into putting his signature to a memorandum to refute the writings of Zodiac, who had just claimed he was stopped and let go that night.

Thanks to the diligent research of Kristi Hawthorne, we now know that on April 9th 1962 an unknown caller rang the Oceanside Police Department and declared “I am going to pull something here in Oceanside and you will never be able to figure it out”. Two days later, in the early hours of April 11th 1962, taxicab driver Ray Davis was found shot to death and dumped in an alley by 1926 South Pacific Street in Oceanside. His vehicle was not located in close proximity to his body, having been driven away by the murderer and abandoned 1.5 miles northwest on the same street. One week later, on April 16th 1962, the same caller rang the Oceanside Police Department again and ominously reminded them of his previous contact by stating “Do you remember me calling you last week and telling you that I was going to pull a real baffling crime. I killed the cab driver and I am going to get me a bus driver next".

Many people have drawn comparisons between this crime and the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, noting that the sinister phone calls and the promise of a future threat on a bus driver mirrored elements of previous Zodiac activity, and his communications subsequent to the Stine murder which threatened to target school buses and their occupants. However, there were never any phone threats immediately prior to Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa or Presidio Heights. Or were there?

​When the Zodiac impersonator rang into the Jim Dunbar Show on October 22nd 1969, the caller was asked by the host "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". Bearing in mind that Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli were working under the premise that this could be the Zodiac Killer, it makes the statement of "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago" very important. It opens up the possibility that the real Zodiac Killer tried to contact the show two or three weeks previous to October 22nd 1969. Allowing for some leeway (2 days either side), we will go with 12 to 23 days ago. This means that the real Zodiac Killer may have tried to phone the Jim Dunbar Show between September 30th 1969 and October 10th 1969. The earliest would have been three days after the Lake Berryessa attack, with the latest phone call the day before the taxicab murder of Paul Stine, just like the threat before the murder of Ray Davis in 1962.     

The host of the Jim Dunbar Show made this specific remark when questioning the fake Zodiac, asking "Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?". It is fairly obvious that Eric Weill knew nothing about the call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago" by his lack of conviction. However, the phone caller to the Oakland Police Department at 2am on October 22nd 1969 knew all about this phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks ago", because the caller to the Oakland Police Department specifically requested either Melvin Belli or Francis Lee Bailey to appear on the show.

It can be no coincidence that the Oakland Police Department caller and the Jim Dunbar Show caller prior to the Stine murder, both wanted to appear on the TV show alongside Melvin Belli. And with the Oakland Police Department caller providing information to the patrolman who took the call, information about the killings only known to the real Zodiac, it would mean that the real Zodiac Killer did ring the Jim Dunbar Show in the days before the Stine murder. There would have been less reason for Eric Weill to want to appear on a San Francisco TV show before the Stine murder because no Zodiac murders had occurred in San Francisco, but the real Zodiac Killer had every reason to phone the Jim Dunbar TV Show in San Francisco prior to the Stine murder, because he was planning to kill somebody there.   

The phone caller in Oceanside made the threat on the eve of the murder of taxicab driver Ray Davis, and it could have repeated itself on October 10th 1969 had the real Zodiac Killer managed to secure an appearance on the Jim Dunbar Show prior to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine. If the receptionist for the show had taken the call seriously (because it was very likely just another case of believing it to be a crank call), we may have heard from the real Zodiac Killer on the Jim Dunbar Show in early October, rather than Eric Weill crying about headaches on October 22nd 1969. If the Zodiac Killer had appeared on the show prior to the Stine murder and proclaimed “I am going to pull something here in San Francisco and you will never be able to figure it out”, before mailing a shirt piece several days after the murder for confirmation, then we may be looking at the Ray Davis case in a totally different light today. After all, he did say months later "I hope you have fun trying to fiygure out who I killed".

Any phone call from the Zodiac Killer prior to the Paul Stine murder would have coincided with the "Good Citizen" letter mailed to Sergeant John Lynch at the Vallejo Police Department on October 7th 1969, stating ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''. Therefore, we could have had a Zodiac phone call to Jim Dunbar and Melvin Belli promising something sinister in San Francisco, followed by the murder of Paul Stine at the intersection of Washington & Cherry a few days later, by a killer last seen entering Presidio Park by Julius Kahn Playground, just 5,000 feet from Beach Street in San Francisco. Of all the streets to name in the Bay Area, the "Good Citizen" letter author not only chose one less than a mile from Julius Kahn Playground, but chose a street in the direction Zodiac was heading. 

Having failed in his bid to appear on the Jim Dunbar Show with Melvin Belli, probably in early October, he would try again on October 22nd 1969, but this time he used the Oakland Police Department as the conduit by supplying them with details about the murders only known to him and the police. Obviously, what he gave them worked, because the Jim Dunbar Show hastily rearranged their scheduling and contacted Melvin Belli. I sincerely doubt they would have done all this without verification from the Oakland caller that he was indeed the real Zodiac Killer. Unfortunately for Zodiac, his grand declaration was hijacked by a mental patient, who literally stole the show. 

After the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 his brother, Joe Stine, made an ill-advised challenge to the Zodiac Killer shortly afterwards, by advertising his workplace and routes to and from the Richfield service station where he worked as a mechanic. On October 22nd 1969 he was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying "Zodiac has to be sick, a maniac. I hope that by offering myself as a target I can flush him out. I work at the Richfield Service Station at 706 Sutter Street in Modesto, near Rouse Street. I start at 7 am. I go to lunch at the Walk-In Chicken in a shopping center two blocks away, riding a bicycle along Sutter Street and leaving the station at noon each day. I go back to the service station and work until 5". 

This challenge was widely condemned by Modesto residents and law enforcement, who accused Joe Stine of bringing potential danger to their city, that resulted in advise being given to school bus drivers in the event of an attack. Most days at noon Joe Stine went for lunch at La Von's Walking Chicken at 440 Paradise Road in Modesto, a 650 meter, 10 minute walk along Sutter Avenue. If the Zodiac Killer had targeted Joe Stine here, he would literally have been securing a kill in Paradise. Situated along Paradise Road and H Street is the Modesto High School, home of the Paul Tischer Performing Arts Theatre. It would have been quite the thing for a young Zodiac to have left his high school each day and walked home along Paradise Road.

But how coincidental was it that the subsequent crime to the Paul Stine murder, which was connected to the Zodiac Killer, was along Highway 132 near Modesto, where Joe Stine worked and invited the Zodiac Killer to pay him a visit? Kathleen Johns' route from San Bernardino to Petaluma on March 22nd 1970 via Highway 99, took her 4,750 feet from the Richfield service station of Joe Stine. Assuming that Kathleen Johns didn't read or watch the Joe Stine challenge to Zodiac back in October 1969 and decide to concoct an abduction story involving the Zodiac Killer near Modesto, it must be considered an unusual coincidence that - of all the places in California - the Zodiac Killer would strike in the very location the challenge was issued (assuming it was the Bay Area murderer). Some researchers from the Zodiac forums uncovered an unusual letter mailed to the Modesto Bee newspaper that they suspected could have been the Zodiac Killer playing games. AK Wilks stated "Someone reacted to Joe Stine very strongly. Doug Oswell and I, and some others, wonder if this letter from AROUSED is actually the Zodiac". Joe Stine worked near ROUSE Street. This individual claimed he went to Hughson Union High School with Paul Stine (a notable alumni in 1957). 

Two decades after the claimed abduction of Kathleen Johns, in December 1990, a Christmas card was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle from Eureka, California, that dragged Chester Clark Kilingel into the Zodiac story. Believed by many to have been sent by the Zodiac Killer, the card carried the image of a disguised snowman wearing spectacles, with the photocopied image of two post office box keys. The numbers on these keys were traced to Chester Clark Klingel.

The last time the Zodiac Killer could be linked to spectacles, a possible disguise and keys, is when he left the taxicab of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, having taken the keys of the taxicab driver. Regarding the Eureka card, it appears that the Zodiac Killer may have also swiped a key belonging to Chester Clark Klingel, twenty-one years later. 

​If the Eureka card was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, how did he acquire one of the post office box keys of Chester Clark Klingel in order to photocopy it? If the Zodiac Killer didn't find the key and trace its owner, then the logical conclusion is that at some point he may have crossed paths with Chester Clark Klingel.

After Chester married his wife, Blandina, in 1965, they visited relatives regularly in Turlock, before they purchased property at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson, California in 1973 (now Alpine Pacific Nut Company). The route taken by Kathleen Johns on March 22nd 1970 had her traveling northwest on Highway 99, through Turlock and near Hughson, California, before reaching Modesto and heading west on Highway 132. It so happens that E Keyes Road passes over the top of Highway 99, with the 15-acre farm at 6413 E Keyes Road in Hughson situated less than two miles from Highway 99. The farm purchased by Chester Clark Klingel was just 3 miles from Hughson High School that Paul Stine attended. The school is located at 7419 E Whitmore Ave, only 5 miles from Highway 99. It means that Kathleen Johns, on March 22nd 1970, drove close to the high school of Paul Stine, the workplace of Joe Stine and the East Keyes farm eventually owned by Chester Clark Klingel (who Zodiac sent xeroxed keys from in 1990), before she was abducted by the Zodiac Killer on Highway 132 near Modesto - if you believe her story. You can't make this stuff up. 

Recently I have been covering the autopsy reports of various Zodiac Killer victims to better understand the dynamics of each crime - and as such - dispel some of the inaccuracies and myths surrounding the four canonical attacks. The final Zodiac murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 will be examined using information taken from the autopsy report featured on the once Howard Davis website. Here is an excerpt taken from the coroner's findings; "Both lungs are moderately increased in weight. There is congestion at the base and dependant portions. Multiple intraparenchymal hemorrhages are noted". Lung parenchyma is the substance of the lung that is involved with ​gas exchange and includes the pulmonary alveoli.

If Paul Stine was of healthy disposition and had no underlying health issues, the multiple parenchymal hemorrhages causing blood to leak into the tissues of the lungs and creating congestion in the dependent portions, can be found in patients with chest trauma. An impact to the chest from such things as the steering wheel can cause parenchymal hemorrhage without injury to the sternum and ribs. "A pulmonary contusion is a bruise on the lung parenchyma. Pulmonary contusion is reported to be present in 23% of patients with significant blunt chest trauma, and occurs most often from automobile collisions with rapid deceleration. Regardless of the mechanism, injury to the lung results in injury to capillaries and the leaking of blood into the lung tissue and alveoli. This collection of fluid in the alveoli interferes with normal alveolar-capillary gas exchange". link. "Chest wall and pulmonary injuries caused by blunt thoracic trauma include many organs, tissues and systems. The age of the patient is important when evaluating a blunt chest trauma. While a trauma in the pediatric age group may not cause a chest wall injury due to bone elasticity, it may lead to serious complications and even death in the elderly population.The best example of acceleration-deceleration damage is motor vehicle accident. The most common condition is the sudden and high-speed deceleration of the anterior thorax, resulting in injury to the vascular structures, bones, soft tissues and organs. At the same time, the presence of steering wheel deformity caused by the driver hitting the steering wheel increases thoracic injuries, complications and mortality" .link..

"Signs and symptoms of thoracic trauma include: cyanosis of fingers, lips or face, dispnea, tachpnea or bradipnea and contusion". link. Cyanosis is the medical term for a blue, purplish or gray discoloration of the skin, caused by a shortage of oxygen in the blood. Peripheral cyanosis can occur in the extremities such as the hands, fingers and toes. Paul Stine had, according to the coroner, parenchymal hemorrhage in the lungs (reducing oxygen levels in the blood) and dark marks on the dorsal side of his left hand. It is not possible to conclude whether the two conditions are related to one another, but these autopsy findings of blood in the tissue of both lungs is an unusual facet of this case. If the Zodiac Killer had presented the gun earlier in Paul Stine's journey, could the taxicab driver have attempted rapid braking in an attempt to disarm his eventual killer, causing non-fatal steering wheel trauma to his anterior chest region, and causing the Zodiac Killer to strike his legs on the rear of the front seat? Officer Donald Fouke did describe the Zodiac Killer as walking with a "lumbering gait" and "stumbling along like a semi-limp" in the 2007 Zodiac documentary. But how accurate are these recollections 38 years subsequent to the events that night?

It is without doubt that Paul Stine died as a result of one shot to the right side of his head causing massive brain injury, but what occurred during the taxicab journey from the Union Square plaza in San Francisco to the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets in Presidio Heights? It is unknown when the Zodiac Killer pulled the gun on Paul Stine, despite the common portrayal of a surprise attack occurring during the very last seconds of the trip.​

The injury to Paul Stine's head was described upon opening the cranium as "a small quantity of hemorrhage into the temporal muscles bilaterally. There is extensive fracturing of the base of the skull. The above described entry wound has passed almost directly medially, passing beneath the pituitary gland and sella turcica, the floor of the left orbit and into the midportion of the left temporalis muscle near the zygomatic arch (red circle on diagram)..​A smashed and fragmented, copper jacketed lead bullet is found embedded in the left temporalis muscle. There is laceration of the ventral surface of the right temporal lobe. There is marked flattening of the gyri and diffuse hemorrhage into the subarachnoid space".

To sum up the autopsy, the bullet entered just in front of the right ear, traveled at a shallow angle anteriorally and struck the left temporalis muscle (used in chewing). Without knowing the head position of Paul Stine at the moment the gun was fired, makes it impossible to determine where the killer was seated in the taxicab when he delivered the fatal shot. The parenchymal hemorrhages to the lungs of Paul Stine (if not present prior to the taxicab journey) warrants an answer to the possible events that occurred within the taxicab during his final journey on October 11th 1969. The story is not complete. 

In the aftermath of the Lake Herman Road double murder on December 20th 1968, law enforcement combed the turnout for ballistics evidence well into the next day. A supplemental investigation report listed the 2 bullets removed from Betty Lou Jensen's body at autopsy, the bullet retrieved from her panties and the bullet found on her "blood splattered path" on the turnout floor. It described this bullet as exiting from the center of her stomach and falling to the ground without penetrating the front of her dress. Only 4 of the 5 bullets were noted. There were 5 bullet holes in the rear of her dress and only one to the front of her dress. The bullet wound mentioned as passing through her stomach was described at autopsy as the one that entered "the tip of the right 12th rib, 3 and 1/2 inches from the midline", penetrated the liver and exited "below the xyphoid process and 1/2 an inch from the midline". This is entry wound 4 on the diagram, described in the supplemental investigation report as being found near her body in the turnout - backing up the contention that this was very probably the final shot fired by the Zodiac Killer that night, as Betty Lou Jensen was hunched forward, before collapsing backwards onto the ground.  Both the bullet found in her panties and the bullet that fell to the ground had both lost such velocity through her body, that neither penetrated the front of her dress.  

The exit wound (furthest red circle to the left in the diagram) is described at autopsy as "over the left interior chest laterally and left margin of the breast, in the 4th intercostal space and 5 and 1/2 inches from the sternum". This is the bullet wound that caused the hole in Betty Lou Jensen's dress and had an extreme right to left trajectory, fired by the Zodiac Killer as her right side was predominantly facing him at very close range. If this bullet had lost comparable velocity to the other two bullets that exited her body, it should have been found just a few feet to the right of the Rambler, close to the cluster of shell casings that peppered the turnout floor. Yet this bullet was seemingly never retrieved from the Lake Herman Road turnout, despite an extensive search by law enforcement. In fact, this bullet was never documented as submitted items in the Department of Justice report either (see below).

So what happened to this bullet? Despite traveling across her body at an extreme right to left trajectory, can we expect this bullet to have retained a markedly higher velocity than the other two "exited bullets", that it flew out of the much larger turnout of 1968? Or did the Zodiac Killer retrieve this bullet from the turnout floor using his "pencil flashlight", to later mail in a letter alongside the shirt piece of Paul Stine, thereby proving he was responsible for the murders of the "people in the north bay area" as well. The opening section of the October 13th 1969 letter referring to the San Francisco murder through the evidence of the shirt piece, with the bullet being the evidence for his following line of "I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area". This (if it happened) would be two crime scenes where the Zodiac Killer took evidence away, with Lake Berryessa being the crime scene where he left evidence behind.  

Bearing in mind we have two documents that have failed to itemize the same bullet that exited Betty Lou Jensen's dress, it is rather unusual that a 1995 BBC2 documentary called "Great Crimes and Trials" stated that "any doubts about the killer's identity were dispelled the next day when a letter from Zodiac arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. With it was a bloodstained piece of the driver's shirt and a bullet from the same pistol that had killed Jensen and Faraday". We do come across errors in newspapers and documentaries, but considering we do have a "missing bullet" from the Jensen/Faraday murders, this outrageous claim doesn't seem so outrageous after all. It certainly isn't unusual for law enforcement to withhold evidence from the public to distinguish between any future hoaxers and the real murderer in any crime. But was this one instance? 

Many esteemed researchers in the Zodiac community like to say that some of the most beneficial and trusted information in the case can be found in the pages of original source documentation, such as the police reports and FBI files. They say this, until information is revealed within them that doesn't conform with something related to their suspect, or when a long held belief or consensus narrative about the case has been dismantled using the very original documents they praise. One simple example is the SLA letter mailed on February 3rd 1974. Despite the first two documents ever produced on this letter clearly showing that the letter was postmarked February 3rd 1974 from Los Angeles, certain websites and outlets want to keep pushing the myth of a February 14th 1974 postmark, because it's an inconvenient truth that goes against everything they have always believed. The consensus narrative of the Zodiac case has, and always will be, more important than the truth. 

Here is the section regarding LeRoy Sweet in the October 12th 1969 police report: "Assistant traffic manager of Yellow Cab, LeRoy Sweet responded and gave reporting officers the victim's identification. Mr. Sweet further stated the last dispatch given the victim was at 9:45 pm to 500 9th Ave. apt. #1. Victim allegedly never arrived at the above location as the dispatch was reassigned to another cab at 9:58 pm". The prevailing narrative is that the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab somewhere by the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in the theater district of San Francisco and then traveled to the Presidio Heights district. But Mason and Geary (or Union Square) is unlikely to be where Paul Stine was when he received the 9:45pm dispatch from LeRoy Sweet, asking him to pick up a fare from 500 9th Avenue.

The journey time from Mason and Geary (or Union Square) to 500 9th Avenue on a busy Saturday night is about 12 to 13 minutes. Therefore, if LeRoy Sweet knew that Paul Stine was in the vicinity of Mason and Geary or Union Square at 9:45pm when he gave him his second fare that night, he would have known that Paul Stine's journey time to 500 9th Avenue would have him arriving there at 9:58pm. So why did the police report state that another taxicab was allocated to that address at 9:58pm, when that was the time Paul Stine was expected at the address? Unless, of course, Paul Stine wasn't near the theater district when he received the 9:45pm dispatch - and the dispatch was given to him much closer to Washington and Cherry Streets, with the Zodiac Killer already seated in the taxicab. Paul Stine may have been already heading to Presidio Heights when he accepted the dispatch to 500 9th Avenue. One would assume that LeRoy Sweet knew exactly where Paul Stine was at 9:45pm because he expected Paul Stine to arrive at 500 9th Avenue earlier than 9:58pm. So when he didn't, LeRoy Sweet reassigned the dispatch to another taxicab.      

For example: if Paul Stine was two minutes away from the intersection of Washington and Cherry, and 5 minutes away from 500 9th Avenue when he received the 9:45pm dispatch, then LeRoy Sweet (and possibly the resident of 500 9th Avenue) could have expected Paul Stine's arrival at the address at 9:50pm. If the customer was in a rush and became impatient by 9:58pm, then it's reasonable to conclude they rang the Yellow Taxicab Company again and another taxicab was summoned to that address.

​If the expected time of arrival was 9:58pm from Mason and Geary Streets and the customer knew this, then there would have never have been any need for LeRoy Sweet to reassign another taxicab to the address that night. However, if Paul Stine arrived at Washington and Cherry two minutes after the 9:45pm dispatch, then he arrived at the murder scene at 9:47pm, eight minutes before the 9:55pm time of attack given in the police report (supposedly when the three teenagers first looked out of the window). If this was the case, then what was the Zodiac Killer doing in the taxicab for eight minutes? The further back towards Mason and Geary Streets (or Union Square) we take the taxicab when the 9:45pm dispatch was given by LeRoy Sweet, the less reason the customer has to become impatient and for another taxicab to be assigned to that address. 

Paul Stine would likely have been traveling along Highway 101 from the San Francisco International Airport after his first fare was dropped off, and may have exited Highway 101 and Interstate 80 by 7th Street to pick up a random fare at the theater district - so the Zodiac Killer could have entered the taxicab anywhere in this locality. The taxicab meter reading taken at the crime scene supports the Zodiac Killer entering the taxicab in this area. However, when LeRoy Sweet gave Paul Stine the final dispatch, he was possibly much closer to Presidio Heights than once considered. Many will not like this analysis of a killer arriving at Washington and Cherry up to eight minutes prior to the 9:55pm attack time, because it doesn't conform to the widely held narrative of a taxicab driver being murdered the moment he parked up at the Washington and Cherry intersection. The statements of LeRoy Sweet may be erroneous, but they are what they are. Is it possible this extra time was swallowed up by something that occurred at the intersection of Washington and Maple Streets - the destination written in the taxicab trip sheet? 

When determining whether the "concerned citizen" card mailed to Sergeant John Lynch on August 10th 1969 was written by a helpful member of the public or the Zodiac Killer, we need look no further than the "good citizen" letter mailed on October 7th 1969. Despite the fact the "concerned citizen" card was not in the public domain in 1969, the "good citizen" author would also adopt the word "citizen" in their signature, address the communication to Sergeant John Lynch once again, and refer to the July 31st 1969 cryptogram by mentioning "code letters", just as the "concerned citizen" author was addressing the "code letters" by supplying us with a key to the 408 cryptogram. These are compelling reasons to believe that both communications were composed by the same author. The question being; is the wording in the "good citizen" letter that of a helpful citizen or a mischievous individual playing games with the police. The "good citizen" letter read "On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX".  

The "good citizen" letter was postmarked October 7th 1969 and mentioned 56 Beach Street, which is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. The address at 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, California is a condominium home that measures 2,141 sq ft, and was built in 1938. Irrespective of the exact numbering, Beach Street is just 240 meters from the Presidio of San Francisco, where eyewitnesses saw a white male, about 40 years of age, weighing 170lbs, sporting a blond crewcut and wearing glasses, running into Julius Kahn playground shortly after the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. Of all the places in northern California or the Bay Area the author could select, the composer of the "good citizen" letter was not only referring to Zodiac's code letters, but managed to choose the location of Beach Street, bordering the Presidio in which the Zodiac Killer possibly escaped into just four days later. Possibly coincidence, but noteworthy nonetheless. The "good citizen" author may have been referring to Beach Street in San Francisco just a matter of days before the Zodiac Killer first struck in the big city, before mailing a letter on October 13th 1969, again detailing a destination in the form of a street name - this time "Washington St and Maple St".   

This letter, likely referring to San Francisco, may hold some significance when we consider the statement of Jim Dunbar on October 22nd 1969, when somebody pretending to be the Zodiac Killer rang into the KGO-TV Jim Dunbar Show. He asked the caller "Did you try to call us one other time, about two or three weeks ago. Did you attempt to call this program one other time when Mr. Belli was with us?" It can be understood why the hoaxer, Eric Weill, would ring into the Jim Dunbar Show, because he got wind that the Jim Dunbar Show was possibly entertaining a call from the Zodiac Killer that morning. Therefore, it isn't unreasonable to conclude he used opportunism to hijack the limelight. But why would Eric Weill claim to be the Zodiac Killer and ring into the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks" earlier, when the Zodiac Killer had never comitted an attack in San Francisco at this juncture?

The Zodiac Killer wanting a TV audience in San Francisco on October 22nd 1969 after his murder of Paul Stine in San Francisco eleven days earlier, can be argued. It is also possible that the Zodiac Killer may have rang into the Jim Dunbar Show "two or three weeks" earlier (between October 1st and October 8th), requesting a slot on the show to announce his intentions of bringing terror to the heart of San Francisco. A phone call placed to the Jim Dunbar Show in San Francisco on October 8th 1969 would coincide with the "good citizen" letter on October 7th 1969, also possibly involving a location in San Francisco - and both would predate the murder of Paul Stine in San Francisco by just a matter of days. A murder, in which the Zodiac Killer was spotted entering the Presidio grounds, which Beach Street borders. If we are to determine whether the "concerned citizen" card on August 10th 1969 was mailed by the Zodiac Killer, we have to factor in the letter on October 7th 1969 and the phone call to the Jim Dunbar Show around the same time - and the significance they may, or may not hold.  

On October 21st 1969 the San Francisco Chronicle released an article entitled Fear Rides the Yellow Bus, in which Fred Sowash, the transportation director of Napa Valley Unified School District stated he had been informed that somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer had telephoned a threat on October 15th 1969 to kill schoolchildren in Santa Rosa by placing bombs on the buses. This meant that this person was targeting schoolchildren and school buses at least one day before the Zodiac Killer's threat to "wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out" was released in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 16th 1969, and two days before San Francisco Chronicle released the details on October 17th 1969. It is virtually inconceivable that a random person pretending to be the Zodiac Killer could have foreshadowed the real Zodiac Killer and just happened to pre-empt his threat on schoolchildren by sheer luck. The phone caller to Santa Rosa threatening to target school buses with bombs came 25 days prior to the Zodiac first mentioning bombs as a method to kill schoolchildren, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 letter. The individual who rang Santa Rosa on October 15th 1969 (or slightly before) was almost certainly the Zodiac Killer. This can be backed up by a further incident on October 17th 1969.

A female school bus driver was taking schoolchildren to the Yulupa Elementary School on the morning of October 17th 1969, when she reported that sound of gunfire beside the school bus, stating "As I came around this bend I heard a loud shot from the left hand side of the bus. The children heard it too. Now I don't know if anything struck the bus. We can't find anything that struck the bus". Law enforcement, as usual, were skeptical, pointing out that there was no physical evidence that a shot was fired at the bus. The KRON news footage stated that law enforcement were expecting more reports of this kind based upon the Zodiac Killer's latest letter regarding the murder of Paul Stine. The newspaper report in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Santa Rosa bombing threat on school buses wasn't released until October 21st 1969, so a school bus driver reporting shots heard alongside her school bus in Santa Rosa four days earlier, should be considered of some significance. 

​So, if the Santa Rosa school bus shooter wasn't the Zodiac Killer, we would have to believe a random individual bought the Los Angeles Times newspaper on October 16th, read about the "picking off kiddies as they came bouncing out" of a school bus, and then decided to target Santa Rosa the following day (but pre-ermpted the location of Santa Rosa mentioned on October 21st). The female bus driver could have had no knowledge of the Zodiac Killer's phone call to Santa Rosa threatening school buses and schoolchildren on October 15th 1969, unless the specific threat was relayed to her and she was unduly influenced to report an attack that never happened. Bearing in mind (in the relevant timeframe) that this currently is the only reported shooting with respect to a school bus that we know of, it seems unusual that it should somewhat mirror the threat two days earlier in the same location. Unfortunately, law enforcement regularly dismissed things as hoaxes, as they did with the Oklahoma radio station recording of a man claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on December 7th 1969. Passing things off as hoaxes seems a tried and trusted method of doing absolutely no work. 

Another threat using bombs in Santa Rosa would again be reported in the newspapers, when somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer threatened a K-Mart store on two occasions on May 8th 1970, just ten days after the Zodiac Killer promised to have his "blast" when mailing the Dragon card to the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1970. 

This lends greater credence to the claim by Robert Graysmith in his "Zodiac" book that "A man identifying himself as Zodiac had made a Santa Rosa Bomb threat exactly a year earlier". In other words, Graysmith claimed that on May 8th 1969 (before the Zodiac pseudonym was known) somebody had aimed another bomb threat at Santa Rosa. This possible threat encompassing Zodiac, telephoned bomb threats and Santa Rosa would come four months before the October 15th 1969 telephone call encompassing Zodiac, bombs and Santa Rosa. An October 15th 1969 telephone call to Santa Rosa threatening schoolchildren on school buses, that was made at least one day in advance of the Zodiac Killer's threat on a school bus was released to the newspapers, and therefore, not currently known to the public when the October 15th call was made.

If Graysmith was correct about somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969, this K-Mart bomb threat (or threat to another entity in Santa Rosa) would have come just over one month after the last major newspaper article about the Lake Herman Road murders (March 30th 1969). This Sunday Times-Herald article read "The horrifying crime may very well be the most celebrated murder mystery currently under investigation in California, and Lunblad has received aid and offers of it from a score of law enforcement agencies in the state. Those which have given him particularly large measures of support include the Vallejo Police Department, his own sheriff's department, the Benicia Police Department, the Napa and Sanoma County sheriff's departments, and the Fairfield Police Department".  All these police departments would become the focus of the Zodiac Killer's murders and threats in the following months. The county seat and largest city in Sanoma County is Santa Rosa, the focus of the K-Mart bomb threat by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on May 8th 1969. Vallejo and Napa County both saw the wrath of Zodiac when he attacked at Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa, with the two Fairfield letters in December threatening the promise of further attacks. Every police department mentioned in this newspaper article as helping Sergeant Les Lunblad would receive the attention of the Zodiac Killer.       

On October 14th 1969 a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle laying claim to the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine, in addition to a further ominous threat of "School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out". 

​In compliance with the wishes of the San Francisco Police Department, the Chronicle withheld the threat on a school bus when this latest Zodiac letter was published in the newspaper on October 15th 1969. It wasn't until October 17th 1969 that the Chronicle published the threat on a school bus (and October 16th in the Los Angeles Times). Therefore, the threat delivered by telephone to Santa Rosa by somebody claiming to be the Zodiac Killer on October 15th 1969 promising to blow up a school bus, was made before the Zodiac Killer's threat in his letter was ever released in the newspapers. This suggests it was the Zodiac Killer who telephoned the school bus threat in Santa Rosa on October 15th 1969. This is what was reported in the Chronicle on October 21st 1969: "Someone hinting he might be Zodiac has telephoned such a threat in Santa Rosa. The man responsible for the safety of the students who ride the buses is Fred Sowash, the district's transportation director. Since last Wednesday, when he learned of Zodiac's threat, Sowash has been devoting 18 to 20 hours a day to blunt it".  Last Wednesday was October 15th. 

On October 17th 1969, a female school bus driver was traveling southeast towards Yulupa Elementary School in the morning, when she claimed she heard a shot ring out, stating "As I came around this bend I heard a loud shot from the left hand side of the bus. The children heard it too. Now I don't know if anything struck the bus. We can't find anything that struck the bus". Looking at the October 17th 1969 KRON News footage, it appears she may have been traveling along Bennett Valley Road in Santa Rosa, with relatively low density housing dotting the route and the Sanoma Mountains in the distance. This route would have provided the perfect cover for the Zodiac Killer to shoot out the tires of a school bus in relative seclusion. Assuming a shot was fired at the bus and heard by the driver and/or schoolchildren, either he missed, or his intention was merely to create panic on the school bus to ensure the shots were heard and reported - and thus lend credibility to his telephone threat two days earlier. After the shot, the woman driver "hit the foot feed and started going on", realizing there were no other cars in the vicinity she could get the attention of. "So I just kept going fast to the Yulupa School" she added.   

Unfortunately, investigators were skeptical because they could find no evidence of any bullets striking the bus. One would have thought that a Santa Rosa telephone threat from the Zodiac Killer directed at a school bus, followed by a woman driving a school bus in Santa Rosa reporting what she described as "a loud shot", would have stimulated less skepticism  It seemed that Fred Sowash took it seriously, because when he learned of the threat on Wednesday, October 15th 1969, he devoted 18 to 20 hours a day to repel the threat. Yet it appears that no police vehicles were trailing this school bus on October 17th 1969 as it approached Yulupa Elementary School in Santa Rosa, despite the Zodiac threat to shoot out the front tires of a school bus and "pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out", and the direct threat to Santa Rosa itself.  

​FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: THE SPOTLIGHT ON SANTA ROSA 

On August 10th 1969, somebody mailed a typewritten communication to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch providing the code key to the 408 cipher, that may or may not have been authored by the Zodiac Killer. The communication, ending with "concerned citizen", was withheld from publication. This means that a second communication mailed just two months later, on October 7th 1969, again addressed to Vallejo Police Sergeant John Lynch, with the phraseology "code letters" and ending with "a good citizen", was very likely the same author. This was the cryptic footnote by Sergeant John Lynch regarding the "good citizen" letter.

The writer has a strong feeling of ESP. While having these feelings, the writer writes with a pencil. On occasion, while thinking of the code letters, the pencil wrote: ''Go to 56 Beach Street. I get the name Jerry, perhaps he knows people or his name is XXXXXXX''.  

It had been approximately two months since any Zodiac communication was received, yet the "good citizen" letter referenced ESP and 56 Beach Street. A form of ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) is second sight, whereby a person perceives information in the form of a vision about future events before they happen. Four days after the "good citizen" letter, the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. After his murder at the intersection of Washington & Cherry Streets, the Zodiac Killer was believed to have entered Presidio Park just a few minutes later, mocking law enforcement in a letter he mailed two days later, in which he stated "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles". The northeast corner of Presidio Park is 296 meters from Beach Street. This means we have a letter mentioning 56 Beach Street just four days before the Zodiac Killer escaped into Presidio Park, the northeast corner of which sits near the western tip of Beach Street. This street runs from Pier 39 to the Palace of Fine Arts,  A contributor to this website informed me that:"56 Beach St is the old block numbering from the original planning maps, which comes out as 1654/1656 on the street numbering. 1654/56 Beach St, San Francisco, CA is a condo home that contains 2,141 sq ft and was built in 1938".  

On April 20th 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article on the murder of Robert Michael Salem at 745 Stevenson Street in San Francisco. The pseudonym "Zodiac" was written in blood on his apartment wall next to the body. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that "Salem's designs have been exhibited in England, Japan and Russia under State Department cultural exchange programs. Until last year (1969) he had been the lighting designer for restoration of the historic Haslett Warehouse. The address of the Haslett Warehouse is 680 Beach Street at Hyde. This location is less than one mile from 1654/56 Beach Street (see map below). The author of these two "code" communications from "concerned" and "good" citizens may not have been Zodiac, but did they know the identity of the killer?

Have you ever wondered who inspired the Zodiac Killer to mail in a piece of Paul Stine's bloody shirt after the murder in Presidio Heights in 1969? The same member of law enforcement who influenced the arrival of the Zodiac pseudonym on August 4th 1969. The only reason the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter was ever sent to the San Francisco Examiner is because Vallejo Police Chief, Jack E. Stiltz requested the writer of the July 31st letters to prove he was the killer, asking the murderer of three to write another letter "with more facts to prove it". This request by Vallejo Police Chief, Jack E. Stiltz was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 2nd 1969, followed by the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle on August 3rd 1969.

​The Zodiac Killer's response was swift, sending a letter to the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969, replying directly to Jack Stiltz and stating "In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material". Without this prompt by Jack Stiltz, the pseudonym of "Zodiac" may never have come to pass - at least not by August 4th 1969.

The next communication was mailed just over two months later, on October 13th 1969, admitting to the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights only two days earlier. But the Zodiac Killer hadn't forgotten that Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz had doubted his involvement in the attacks at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs, by stating he required "more facts to prove it". So, the Zodiac Killer in advance of the taxicab driver's murder, decided to remove a piece of the victim's shirt and leave law enforcement in no doubt he was the true killer at Presidio Heights. Two days later, he mailed the Stine letter, stating "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt". The Zodiac Killer was responding to law enforcement who doubted him previously, but primarily to Jack Stiltz's comments in the newspapers back on August 2nd and August 3rd 1969. 

In his next descriptive letter on November 9th 1969 the Zodiac Killer would continue this theme, with Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz still in the back of his mind. The Zodiac Killer was angry with the San Francisco Police Department for "telling lies" about him, threatening to change his way of collecting slaves for the afterlife. He would finish this communication by warning San Francisco law enforcement not to bluff him, by stating "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." Jack Stiltz was the "Vallejo Cop" that the Zodiac Killer addressed on August 4th 1969 when he wrote to the San Francisco Examiner and described his "small pencel flash light (taped) to the barrel of (his) gun". 

​Therefore, Vallejo Police Chief, Jack Stiltz was instrumental to the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter in which the pseudonym "Zodiac" was revealed to the world, as well as the inspiration for the Zodiac Killer to decide in advance of his San Francisco murder, that something from the victim (a shirt piece in this instance} had to be mailed with his next correspondence, "to prove" undeniably he was the killer.