The 'Exorcist' letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 29th 1974 - to some a form of epitaph to his impending death by suicide. The final paragraph however warned "If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing," seemingly contradictory to this notion. The letter opened in mocking fashion, describing the recently released Exorcist film as "the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen". Was he constructively criticizing the film, or had its content of exorcism hit closer to home from the point of homosexuality. On October 18th 1969 Paul Avery ran a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle describing the Zodiac Killer as a 'latent homosexual'. Under the banner Zodiac-Portrait of the Killer  he stated "The killer of five who calls himself 'Zodiac' is a clumsy criminal, a liar and possibly a latent homosexual". This was covered extensively in two articles, Skeleton in the Closet and What a Drag, but we shall explore this possibility further in respect the October 11th 1969 murder of Paul Stine.

This was the late 1960s, a time when the gay community suffered unspeakable prejudice from the police, authorities and a seeping religious intolerance. Christian fundamentalists, cloaked in toxic reverence of themselves, believed incorrectly by summoning the will of God upon the person with homosexual feelings, that the devil could be driven out of their body and thus cleanse their soul. It therefore wouldn't be a great leap of faith to believe that the Zodiac Killer had utter contempt for this form of religious piety and the practice of exorcism, hence the description of The Exorcist movie as the "the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen". ​This contempt for the police and newspapers may have been well founded, as arrested gay individuals had their names and addresses routinely published in the newspapers as a form of public shaming.​ 

The Zodiac Killer would reference the film Badlands on May 8th 1974 and the Red Phantom movie (also known as El Espectro Rojo) on July 8th 1974, which had a showing at the Lyric Theater in Mill Valley at the end of April. The Zodiac Killer certainly appeared to have a penchant for the theatrical, with his references to The Mikado in his correspondence, and his 'grand curtain call' at Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969. However, did this extravagance for attention spill out into his personal life. Did these 'attractions' for Zodiac have any bearing on his movements in the hours prior the murder of Paul Stine. 

Taking meter readings from the taxicab at the crime scene and information acquired by Robert Graysmith and Officer Harvey Hines, it was believed the Zodiac entered the taxicab of Paul Stine outside the Westin St Francis Hotel in Union Square. But where had he been in the hours preceding this fateful journey? The 'Exorcist' letter was without doubt a response to the San Francisco Chronicle article entitled Weird Goings on at the Movies, authored by Paul Avery and published on January 11th 1974 detailing the audience reaction to the recently released Exorcist movie in 1973. The news report was from the Northpoint Theatre, located at 2290 Powell Street, San Francisco. The theater was located 3.4 miles from Washington and Cherry Streets, the intersection where Paul Stine was murdered and only 1.3 miles from Union Square where the taxicab driver picked up Zodiac.

The Exorcist movie opened its 26 week stint at the Northpoint Theatre on December 26th 1973 and had performances throughout the day. A typical schedule was 1:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm for films two hours or longer. The area where Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac Killer was the bustling theater district in San Francisco, so his perceived  leanings to the theatrical in his communications may have played a part in his choice of pick-up point. Had he just exited from an early evening performance? The arrival of the taxicab at the intersection of Washington and Cherry at 9:55 pm indicated a departure time of approximately 9:40 pm from Union Square, conducive to his exit from a nearby theater. The Westin St. Francis Hotel may also have been familiar. Union Square borders the Nob Hill and Tenderloin districts, which combines both the LGBT and theater influences under one banner. Jose Sarria, a high profile San Francisco drag performer and gay activist was arrested at the Westin St Francis public restrooms for solicitation - a location known to be frequented by homosexuals.

Had the Zodiac Killer been somewhere else that evening, rather than a stage performance. Could he have been viewing a movie at the Northpoint Theatre. A two hour film beginning at 7:00 pm and finishing at 9:00 pm would leave a 25 to 30 minute walk back to Union Square, possibly with a quick takeaway, to enable the Zodiac Killer to enter Paul Stine's taxicab circa 9:40 pm. But what was playing at the Northpoint Theatre on October 11th 1969?

Midnight Cowboy ran from the 16th July 1969 to 17th December 1969. The film, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the first gay-related Best Picture winner. In addition, it was the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture. Ironically, the film that preceded Midnight Cowboy was The Great Bank Robbery with writer William Blatty accredited for screenplay. 
Here is a very relevant clip from Midnight Cowboy where Dustin Hoffman has an altercation with a Yellow taxicab driver. The taxicab incident in Midnight Cowboy was apparently not scripted in the film - but likely Zodiac's impending murder of Paul Stine was conceived beforehand - a predetermined reel of murder for which there was only one end.

Here we will take one final look at the vital four minutes from the time of the attack on Paul Stine, detailed in the police report as 9:55 pm, to the sighting of an unknown white male by the intersection of Jackson and Maple by Donald Fouke at 9:59 pm.
It is often claimed that trying to break down a timeline to individual seconds can lead to incorrect conclusions (and that is a worthy contention). However, when the discrepancy is so extremely glaring, it is something that should not be overlooked. In major investigations involving many suspects, as it is imperative to interview each and break down the movements of the individual around the relevant time period to consider the validity of their claims. Timelines are crucial in identifying unachievable claims, and including and excluding suspects from the investigation.

There is an argument to be made that two individuals were present in the taxicab that night, and the white male subject observed by Officer Donald Fouke approaching the intersection of Jackson and Maple was not the white male subject observed in and around the taxicab on October 11th 1969, yet both were present as it pulled up to the intersection of Washington and Cherry Street at 9:55 pm. To shoot a taxicab driver in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights, then carefully tear a rectangular piece of the victim's shirt to take from the crime scene is extremely daring. But to then remove his keys and wallet, wipe down the taxicab, and inexplicably attempt to pull Paul Stine into an upright position behind the steering wheel on a busy Saturday night with the certain conviction that nobody has heard the gunshot and called police, is bordering on insanity. This whole sequence of events from murdering the taxicab driver to leaving the crime scene, we have to consider, took just 60 seconds.    

It is without doubt the author of the Bus Bomb letter mailed on November 9th 1969 was a participant in the murder one month earlier. The statement in the letter claiming "2 cops pulled a goof about 3 min after I left the cab", is not only proof he knew the exact time of the murder, but had knowledge that two police officers in a patrol car were present near the intersection of Jackson and Maple at the correct time that night. This information was never published in the newspapers.

Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms received the police dispatch of an assault and robbery of a taxicab driver at about 9:58 pm. This radio dispatch was also received at 9:58 pm by Officers Armond Pelissetti and Frank Peda while patrolling along Washington Street. Pelissetti and Peda arrived at the murder scene a little before 9:59 pm. 

Upon receiving the initial radio broadcast, the journey time is 1 minute for Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms to reach the intersection of Jackson and Maple from their location on Presidio Avenue (passing Washington St), where they spotted the unknown white male on the north side of Jackson Street - apparently the one who described that "2 cops who pulled a goof". This places Donald Fouke at the intersection of ​Jackson and Maple at 9:59 pm. Armond Pelissetti arrived at the intersection of Washington and Cherry just shy of 9:59 pm. But how do we know Armond Pelissetti arrived at the crime scene nearing 9:59 pm? The answer lies in the expanded statement of the three teenage eyewitnesses that night: 

"As both Robbins kids were the oldest, their statements were the given the most weight. Also they were the least traumatized by the event. One of the kids (not sure which) noticed a cab parked outside (in that now famous spot) with the interior lights on. So when Lindsey told me that the light inside the car was like a spotlight, it was so bright. The first kid at the window said the driver looked "sick, or something". Lindsey and Rebecca went to the window and saw the driver laying across the front seat, head toward the passenger door. His head was in the lap of another man (passenger). Rebecca saw blood and said out loud, "he's stabbing that man." She was seeing blood on the victim and saw the glint of a knife, so she assumed a stabbing was taking place. (No shots were heard by anyone). We know now that Zodiac was cutting off a large piece of Stine's shirt with the knife. At this time, Lindsey went downstairs to get a better look at what was happening, while one of the kids upstairs called the police. Downstairs, the lights were off, so Lindsey knew he could not be seen from the outside. He got close to the window and watched his actions. He was shortly joined by Rebecca. They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north. Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry. At this exact point, the first SFPD car arrives with two officers. One, Pelissetti, approached Lindsey and tried to extract what was happening. The other officer went to the cab and found the bloody victim. While Pelissetti was asking questions, Lindsey was trying to explain that the suspect was in sight on Cherry St. By the time Pelissetti got the point, they both looked and the Zodiac was gone".

The key line in the Robbins statement is the last one. Lindsey was trying to show Armond Pelissetti the subject nearing the top of Cherry Street before he disappeared along Jackson Street. The journey time from the intersection of Washington and Cherry to the top of Cherry Street is approximately 1 minute. The remaining journey time from here to Jackson and Maple is about 2 minutes. The total journey time is approximately 3 minutes, exactly as 'Zodiac' had claimed in the Bus Bomb letter, stating "2 cops pulled a goof about 3 min after I left the cab".  Donald Fouke spotted the unknown white male at 9:59 pm, meaning the subject left the taxicab at around 9:56 pm.

Based on the subject leaving the taxicab at 9:56 pm, the unknown white male taking 1 minute to walk up Cherry Street, would place him near the top of Cherry Street at 9:57 pm, where Lindsey pointed him out to Armond Pelissetti as he arrived at the scene. This is where a major problem arises. Armond Pelissetti didn't even get the initial broadcast until 9:58 pm, and still had to travel to the scene "red light and siren". Let us assume that Armond Pelissetti was only 20 seconds away from the crime scene when he got the radio dispatch. He brings his police car to a halt at the intersection, then approaches Lindsey, and "while Pelissetti was asking questions, Lindsey was trying to explain that the suspect was in sight on Cherry St". Attributing all of this only 30 seconds (which is highly unlikely), it would mean the time after the initial radio dispatch of 9:58 pm, was now 9.58:30 pm - and the time he saw the subject at the top of Cherry. But we know that the subject was there at 9:57 pm based on everything above.

According to the timeline of Donald Fouke, the subject left the taxicab at 9:56 pm, so how could he have been spotted 2 1/2 minutes later at the top of Cherry Street, at 9:58:30 pm. Even using this stringent timeline, there is a discrepancy of 90 seconds over the length of Cherry. Another way of looking at it, is that only 30 seconds after the initial radio broadcast, the timeline is already out by a minimum of 90 seconds. If Armond Pelissetti took a more reasonable 1 minute to arrive, park up and meet with Lindsey at the intersection of Washington and Cherry, the time would now be one minute after the initial broadcast (a time of 9:59 pm), when he was made aware of the subject nearing the top of Cherry. However, this is the same time that Donald Fouke spotted the subject nearing the intersection of Jackson and Maple (at 9:59 pm). A discrepancy of two whole minutes. A discrepancy calculated over 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes could possibly be explained away, but this discrepancy of two minutes, only one minute after the initial radio broadcast, is something that cannot be explained away by an argument of nitpicking the timeline.

In the 2007 Zodiac documentary, Armond Pelissetti stated he "got down to the corner of Jackson Street. Had to make a choice. I was on the east side of the street so I turned right to the east and went up in that direction". The question being, did he make that choice because of Lindsey pointing the subject out to him, which is a more realistic reason to why he headed east.      

Therefore, we apparently have the same white male subject at the top of Cherry Street at 9:59 pm, and at the intersection of Jackson and Maple at 9:59 pm, leading to the notion they are two different people. Lindsey had tracked the movements of the subject in and around the taxicab that night, as well as when he rounded the corner to head up Cherry Street, thereby inextricably linking this person to the crime scene. Could he have entered Jackson Street and was able to see the red light and siren of Donald Fouke at the other end of Jackson Street pulling over an innocent pedestrian, subsequently referencing this in his Bus Bomb letter a month later, to give the impression that it was actually him Officer Donald Fouke had spoken to? This is highly unlikely, because this person, had he been an innocent pedestrian, would not have directed Donald Fouke away from the crime scene toward Arguello Boulevard, as can be inferred from the statement of Donald Fouke in the 1989 Crimes of the Century' documentary. 

In the 1989 documentary, Donald Fouke recalled "We proceeded on Jackson Street towards Arguello continuing our search, as we arrived at Arguello Street the description of the suspect was changed to a white male adult, believing this suspect was possibly the one involved in the shooting we entered the Presidio of San Francisco and conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect". Why would Donald Fouke be heading away from an assault and robbery to which he was supposed to be responding towards?

The likely answer is contained in the Bus Bomb letter: "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". The white male subject sent them on a wild goose chase, knowing that, presented with the option of the police further questioning him or burning rubber to protect the public from a man waving a gun, the police would choose to quell the imminent threat. Which is why Donald Fouke went off route, away from the crime scene towards Arguello Boulevard. The officers likely made the correct call at the time, as they were on the lookout for a negro male adult, not a white male. Unfortunately, they were duped by the man they stopped. Therefore, it is highly unlikely this man was an innocent pedestrian, rather somebody with a more sinister motive - and likely the man who penned the November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb letter. We could therefore make the case for more than one Zodiac.     

The following are the three descriptions of the unknown male, given by Officer Donald Fouke, the three teenagers, and eyewitnesses at Spruce Street moments after the 'meeting' at Jackson and Maple. Spruce Street was situated just over one block east from the sighting of the suspect, just past the Jackson and Maple intersection, and was indirectly referenced in the Bus Bomb letter: "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".

Here is the description attributed to the teenagers on the police report, who observed the Zodiac Killer in and around the taxicab on Washington Street from a residence across the street: "#2 SUSPECT: 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.

Donald Fouke's description of the likely Zodiac Killer was a "WMA, 35-45 yrs, about 5'10", 180-200 lbs, medium heavy build, barrel chested, medium complexion, light colored hair possibly graying in rear, crew cut, wearing glasses. Dressed in dark blue waist length zipper type jacket (Navy or royal blue). Elastic cuffs and waist band zipped part way up. Brown wool pants pleated type baggy in rear (Rust brown)".

The October 12th 1969 San Francisco article detailed the sighting of a man entering Julius Khan playground, stating "Later reports indicated someone was seen running into Julius Khan playground in the Presidio, and all seven police dog units were pressed into the search. The suspect was described as white, about 40, 170 pounds, a blond crewcut, warning glasses".
 
The three descriptions over a five minute period appear to indicate that one man left the taxicab, headed toward the Jackson and Maple intersection, and on to the area of the Julius Khan playground near Spruce Street. Yet we still have a major discrepancy regarding the statements of Donald Fouke and the Robbins children.

If two assailants were involved that night, then the first assailant could have shot the taxicab driver at 9:56 pm and departed the crime scene immediately. He would have been spotted by Officer Donald Fouke three minutes later at the intersection of Jackson and Maple at 9:59 pm, corroborated by the Bus Bomb letter which claimed "2 cops pulled a goof about 3 min after I left the cab." The second assailant would be the one spotted by the three teenagers, indicating they looked out of the window after the first assailant had left. This man spent two minutes wiping down the taxicab, tearing the section of Paul Stine's shirt, removing the keys and wallet, while subsequently attempting to lift Paul Stine into an upright position behind the steering wheel, before leaving at 9:58 pm. Armond Pelissetti receives the initial radio broadcast at 9:58 pm and arrives en scene just shy of 9:59 pm, at which point the second assailant is approaching the top of Cherry Street, and is pointed out by Lindsey. This would explain the discrepancy in the timeline.       

This may possibly explain the evident lack of urgency displayed by the second assailant in and around the taxicab that night. Had the police arrived earlier, his actions could have been explained as an innocent passer-by, who noticing the stricken taxicab driver had ripped a portion of shirt to staunch the blood flow. He wasn't in possession of the 'smoking gun', so how could he be the killer? However, when he realized the police were not upon him, his last action was to grab the keys from the ignition, and head in the same direction as his accomplice. If he was attempting to lift Paul Stine into an upright position, this would certainly explain why bloody fingerprints were discovered on the dividing panel to the right of the driver side door, which clearly he would have used to brace himself. But why he was doing it, one can only conjecture.

Lindsey was fairly clear in the details observed that night, particularly in the attempt to draw Armond Pelissetti's attention to the white male heading up Cherry Street. If this recollection is accurate, then the man observed walking towards Jackson Street was not the same subject spotted by Donald Fouke as he approached the intersection of Jackson and Maple. These two men were separated by two full minutes. If either of the accounts by Lindsey or Officer Donald Fouke are flawed,  then the idea of an accomplice dissolves away into the night, just like the lone Zodiac Killer.  

In several articles we have explored the concept of geographical profiling to narrow down the search area for the likely residence of the Zodiac Killer, using timelines and his own words in an effort to identify the elusive murderer. A forum member of Zodiac Killer Site with the moniker 'Seagull' has been invaluable in this quest, mailing me names and addresses around the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street payphone in Vallejo in 1969. By cross checking these to previous residency in Riverside and other locations using ancestry records, a common thread is hoped to be unearthed. The problem is, it may take months or even years to manually trawl through a sample area radius of just 0.5 miles around the payphone. 

Another common thread that has been explored, is a possible link between Donna Lass and the Zodiac Killer. According to former police officer Harvey Hines "During the time she worked in San Francisco she lived at 4122 Balboa Street with a roommate named Carol Emerich. Emerich was also a nurse. According to the employment records, Lass was working a late night shift in October of 1969 when the San Francisco cab driver, Paul Stine, was killed by the Zodiac". This, bearing in mind the disappearance and likely murder of Donna Lass only eleven months later, along with the alleged Zodiac 'Pines' card mailed on March 22nd 1971, it is something not to be overlooked. It may be coincidence, but the 'Pines' card does reveal an interesting feature, long believed to be from the hands of a hoaxer because of the victim count not marrying up with known Zodiac correspondence. However, it does in fact fit perfectly into the Zodiac timeline.         

'Lemonboy', a contributor to this site triggered this article, when he stated "What if Donna lass saw Zodiac as he was walking away from the Stine murder? After that he targets her thinking she might have recognized him. The fact she lived so close to the crime scene seems more than coincidence". But what if the Zodiac moved in the circle of Donna Lass, knew the young nurse, or even worked alongside her. His confidence in these surroundings was evident after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, apparent by his detailed account of events in the November 9th 1969 'Bus Bomb' letter. He may have lived in the Vallejo area and worked in San Francisco, hence the copious mailings to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. If we could tie this person to Donna Lass through San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, and possibly Cheri Jo Bates at Riverside, we may inch a little closer. The 'Pines' card may be suspect Zodiac material, but the wording on the postcard does leave a subtle hint that a connection may exist.

It all lies in the wording "Sought Victim 12", considered by some an error on behalf of its sender. But if we examine the victim count of the Zodiac Killer, the past participle of seek, indicated the killer may have been targeting Donna Lass during her residency in San Francisco some four months earlier. "Sought Victim 12" suggested that the Zodiac Killer at some point in his recent history had trailed victim 12. Bearing in mind the 'Pines' card was supposedly referencing the disappearance and murder of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970, then it isn't a giant leap of faith to believe that the murderer was searching for victim 12 relative to his timeline and the young nurse.

On April 20th 1970, the Zodiac Killer mailed the '13 Symbol' cipher claiming 10 victims. On June 26th 1970, the killer mailed the 'Button' letter and Phillips 66 map claiming 12 victims. His search for victim 12 was clearly over, according to him, therefore it couldn't have been Donna Lass, who was abducted just over two months later. However, she may have been the original target. If she had been earmarked as victim 12, as hinted by the 'Pines' card, his plans were clearly thwarted or sidelined.​      

Before Zodiac could "seek victim 12" though, he had to secure victim 11, which he wasn't claiming when the 'Dragon' card landed at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle on April 28th 1970. Donna Lass left her job at the Letterman General Hospital and moved to South Lake Tahoe on June 6th 1970 to begin her new post at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino. If he had targeted Donna Lass in San Francisco, it would likely have fell somewhere between the dates of April 28th 1970 and June 6th 1970, but was ultimately denied to him by circumstances unknown or her move away from the Bay Area. Even if Zodiac had claimed victim 11 as early as the end of April, then we could be looking for a man who either worked with the young nurse during the month of May, was in her near circle, or had a romantic or unhealthy interest in Donna Lass during this short timeframe.

Friends and colleagues of Donna Lass included Carol Emerich and Jo Anne Goettsche, the latter of which visited her around the time she disappeared - and it is these friends or persons close to them - that may hold the key to the identity of the Zodiac Killer during that crucial month in 1970. When the killer mailed the 'Pines' card on March 22nd 1971, either by accident or design, his mask of anonymity may have slipped even further upon pasting the words "Sought Victim 12," and place him a lot closer to Donna Lass than we care to imagine.   

​When somebody has a suspect they believe to be the Zodiac Killer, often a side-by-side comparison using the Presidio Heights sketch is presented to bolster their argument. However, the idea that the Zodiac Killer wore black-styled 'prescription' glasses in his daily life is likely a false one. There could well be seven possible eyewitnesses to the Zodiac Killer, all of whom failed to mention any eyeglasses whatsoever. The reasoning for this comes courtesy of Deborah Perez, the woman who falsely claimed her father Guy Ward Hendrickson was the Zodiac Killer. She claimed she had the glasses worn by Paul Stine, removed from the taxicab that fateful night and the response of the police was telling. Had it been previously established that Paul Stine's glasses were found at the crime scene or at his home, then it would be immediately obvious to police she was a liar. But that was not their response.

"San Francisco police said Thursday that they were still waiting for Perez to produce a pair of glasses that she said her father took as a souvenir from a cab driver he killed. Police believe the Zodiac shot a San Francisco taxi driver named Paul Stine on Oct. 11, 1969. Reports of the crime say that Stine's glasses were missing. Once you make complaints to a police department, you are required by law to provide the evidence to a police agency, and there is no reason to believe she is not going to do that", said San Francisco Police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Asked whether police were taking her claims seriously, Tomioka said: "We take any new leads or any new information or evidence and look at it seriously, and then we follow up to see if there is any legitimacy to the statements".

During the press conference, Perez produced the glasses she said her father took from Paul Stine, the San Francisco taxicab driver, who was the Zodiac’s only confirmed victim in that city. But an investigation determined the glasses didn’t belong to Stine, said Kevin Jones, an inspector in the San Francisco Police Department’s Homicide Bureau. Jones handled the Zodiac case. “They’re not Paul Stine’s glasses,” Jones affirmed this month, though he added he’s still working on other leads that Perez provided him with during lengthy interviews earlier this year. Jones would not say what those leads were. Perez had hoped the glasses might yield some DNA or other evidence. Why would police contemplate the arrival or wait for them to be presented, if they had already known the glasses had never been taken? This strongly indicates -- if they had done a cursory search into the their files - that Zodiac had indeed removed Paul Stine's glasses from his person. Otherwise they would have dismissed her claim immediately. One phone call to Dave Toschi or reviewing the inventory of items recovered from the taxicab would have been a 10 minute job to discover whether the glasses were retrieved that night or not. This suggests Zodiac likely wore the glasses of Paul Stine as he exited the taxicab and was subsequently spotted by the three teenagers. He likely kept wearing them, or donned them as Donald Fouke approached also.

The Zodiac stated in the November 9th '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". He possibly looked like the description due to the glasses he secured from Paul Stine's lifeless body. Had he been aware of the three teenagers observing him from the window, then the choice of using Paul Stine's glasses to help disguise his appearance may have been a wise choice.

Michael Mageau, after the Blue Rock Springs attack, asserted that the killer had not worn glasses, and had noted that his assailant had a particularly large face, all in line with the Berryessa sketch. Bryan Hartnell stated: "And he had clip on sunglasses...it was hard to tell. You know, the sunglasses you clip on when you're wearing glasses, eyeglasses. He had those clipped on. I'm pretty sure...I don't think he had glasses, though. I just think he had these clipped onto his suit....you know, that little mask".

The three female eyewitnesses at Lake Berryessa (if Zodiac) also recollected a man devoid of glasses. On the same day, around the time of the stabbing, Dr. Rayfield and his son recalled a stocky man wandering the hillside approximately 0.8 miles from the area of Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. Dr. Rayfield continued "He wasn't nimble when he was walking. And when he turned to walk away he wasn't like a smooth, athletic person. To me he seemed a little overweight and on the clumsier side." He added "His body type matches what police said at the time-two hundred pounds or more. He was pretty big and built, but he didn't move like he was a real coordinated, smooth walking guy". Dr Rayfield and his son did not recall or mention the man wearing any glasses. This description mirrors the three women, who remembered a stocky build of 200-225 lbs. They also stated that he favored one leg over the other. The idea of a clumsy, uncoordinated man would again be reported two weeks later by Officer Donald Fouke, who observed the killer walking along Jackson Street shortly after the murder of Paul Stine. He described a man with a "lumbering gait, sort of stumbling along, like a semi-limp'. Up to the point of the Presidio Heights murder, along with the sighting of the three teenagers and Donald Fouke, not one of a possible seven eyewitness recall seeing a man wearing eyeglasses.

In two instances, it may not have been the Zodiac Killer, but we cannot know for sure. The Lake Berryessa sketch has by many, been dismissed as the same man portrayed in the Presidio Heights sketch. However, the likeness may be a lot closer than you think. If the Zodiac Killer had changed his hairstyle during the intervening two weeks, and the Presidio Heights face is slightly widened to portray a man around 200 lbs, we get the following.              

On October 13th 1969, two days after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, the Zodiac began taunting the police for their incompetence, stating "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 seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover".

He would continue this theme of ridicule a month after the crime, when he mailed the November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb letter stating "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos? If you cops think I'm going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads". But if that wasn't enough, he would highlight how Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms effectively let him through their grasp as he walked along Jackson Street only minutes after the murder: "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 months after the murder, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled Yellow Cab Sets Reward for Zodiac, offering a reward for the Zodiac Killer's capture. It read Yellow Cab Company yesterday posted a $1000 reward for the Zodiac Killer. Specifically the money is being "offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the deaths of Yellow Cab drivers Charles Jarman and Paul Stine. The Teamsters Union, which represents Yellow Cab's drivers, is also considering offering a reward in the two cases. The subject will be discussed and voted on at a meeting of drivers set for February 8".​  

This would not go unnoticed by the Bay Area killer, who responded on April 20th 1970 in the 'My Name is' cipher communication, stating "This is the Zodiac speaking. By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you. I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now.  I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station".

The Zodiac Killer was clearly emboldened by his narrow escape along Jackson Street and from the park, likely believing he was untouchable. This was clearly demonstrated by his unashamed taunting of police in the Bus Bomb letter by remarking "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them".

Five-and-a-half months after the April 20th letter the tone was pretty much the same, when the 13-Hole pasted postcard was mailed on October 5th 1970 to the San Francisco Chronicle. He would again mention the reward on his head and further suggest to police that they "shall never catch me". The postcard read "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" The suggestion here, is that the killer is taking a swipe at the San Francisco Police Department, having mailed the correspondence to the Chronicle newspaper. The wording on the postcard is particularly telling, and seemingly directed at somebody in particular in the phrase "Fk I'm crackproof," in which the killer is again apparently unable to refrain from his love of cryptic messages. If the killer is addressing the San Francisco Police Department, it makes perfect sense that 'Fk' would in fact be somebody connected to the SFPD also. Bearing in mind the Zodiac Killer's close call with Donald Fouke along Jackson Street when the officer's patrol car approached him and subsequently let him on his way, it gives a new dimension to the phrase "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fk I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?"

Alex Lewis (aka Welsh Chappie) came up with a plausible solution to this cryptic message which fits all the known criteria in the postcard: "There are reports city police pig cops are closeing in on me. Fouke knows I'm crackproof. What is the price tag now?" This simple solution may be the reason for the capitalized F and lower case k in the phrase. Coupled with the "price tag" in reference to the Yellow Cab Company reward of $1000, the 13-Hole postcard mailed on the near anniversary of the Paul Stine murder, could possibly be seen in a whole new light.     

There is nevertheless a massive stumbling block. Apparently Officer Donald Fouke was never mentioned in the newspapers up to October 5th 1970 and the mailing of the '13 Hole' postcard, so how was the Zodiac Killer able to locate the name of the officer involved in the 'near miss' on Jackson Street, if the 'decryption' is correct. 

After the Blue Rock Springs Park shooting of Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin on July 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which he stated "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". This negro male was never mentioned in the police report, and the newspapers were also apparently unaware of this vital eyewitness as detailed in the Vallejo News Chronicle on Monday August 4th 1969: "The car's description was given to police by Mageau, not a phone call witness, as related in the letter. However, there could have been such a witness near the phone booth".
 
If the Zodiac Killer was telling the truth about a negro male by the payphone, how was he privy to this eyewitness speaking to police when clearly the newspapers were not. The killer also must have been fully aware of Michael Mageau's description of his vehicle, making this statement even more curious and unnecessary. In both cases, if correct, the impression taken would be of a Zodiac Killer who had inside information beyond what the newspapers had published. This could place the murderer of five much closer to the investigation than we care to imagine. However, if the above interpretations submitted are incorrect, then "Fouke knows" just about sums it up. 

A big thanks to Alex Lewis - https://welshchappie.wordpress.com/

This is a follow up article, exploring the idea a phone call was placed approximately 10-12 minutes after the Lake Herman Road murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, using the concept of a 'laughing killer' and the disputed 1986 'Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. Many magazine and newspaper articles are littered with basic errors regarding the Zodiac case, however, some recurring themes not widely recognized as fact are present in many.

The Tuscaloosa News ran an article on October 17th 1969, just 20 days after the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. It stated 'Then the man said "I'm going to have to stab you people." Hartnell said "Please stab me first, I'm chicken. I couldn't stand to see her stabbed." The man told him "I'll do just that." He stabbed Hartnell until he passed out. The poor girl, she just had to watch. Then he knifed her until she fainted. When he stabbed Hartnell it was deliberate. When he stabbed the girl he laughed in a frenzy. Hartnell had been stabbed 10 times with a thin 12-inch blade. Miss Shepard, whose writhing provoked her attacker to laughter, had been stabbed 24 times'. One can see the embellishment, in the fact the newspaper reported 34 stab wounds as opposed to 16 - so did the killer really laugh in a frenzy during his attack on Cecelia Shepard?

The second article involves the Argosy Magazine dated September 1970 and the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, two weeks after the Berryessa attack. The following is extremely unlikely, but was a section of the October 13th 1969 letter omitted from public consumption in similar fashion to the phrase 'by knife' written on the car door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia, to provoke a reaction from the killer. It is highly doubtful, and likely sensationalized reporting, however this magazine article actually adds a phrase attributed to the killer, written in the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. The article read 'Four days after the murder of Paul Stine yet another scrawled letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle. With it was a bloodstained piece of cloth, later established by laboratory technicians as a small part of the missing swatch ripped from Stine's shirt. The rambling letter, signed with the crossed-circle symbol, began, as had the others, with "This is the Zodiac Speaking."  The writer went on to say that he was the killer of the cabbie-student, adding "and to prove it, here is a piece of his shirt." The letter also disclosed that the fugitive, from some nearby hiding place, had watched with uncontrollable amusement while police searched the area. He said "they could have caught me if they had done it right, instead of dashing around waiting for me to come out of cover. I like to died laughing".    

The Argosy Magazine article continued with reflections of the Lake Berryessa stabbing: 'The mention of laughter at a murder scene struck a responsive chord in the minds of the manhunters. During his recovery, young Hartnell had told Napa sleuths that "the man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake'.

This would be repeated in the Coronet Magazine in October 1973 where it described the following 'He held an automatic pistol on them, tied them securely with plastic-coated clothesline, and then stabbed them repeatedly, laughing hysterically as they thrashed and rolled in pain'.

The Front Page Detective Magazine article of February 1970 stated "He (the killer) dropped to his knees and slowly, deliberately, forcefully plunged a 12-inch, double edged knife into Bryan's back 10 times. When the youth fainted in pain, the killer turned on the girl. His demeanor changed, kneeling beside her, he laughed wildly as he plunged the dagger 20 times into her back in a frenzied assault".

In April of 1974 Detective Cases Magazine covered the Berryessa stabbing: "He ordered Miss Shepard to tie up Hartnell, then he bound the girl, hands and ankles. The gun had been replaced with a knife and when both victims were securely trussed, the hooded monster began plunging the weapon repeatedly into first, the man, then, the girl, accompanying each thrust with a maniacal laugh. For what seemed an eternity to the horrified, screaming, helpless victims, the merciless butchery continued. Their torturer first slashed, then stabbed as his hideous laughter echoed along the banks of the lake".      

Officer Pierre Bidou remembered a 'crank call' after the Lake Herman Road murders. He described this to the Benicia Herald newspaper: "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Initially, they were told a woman was lying outside a car; they thought they were being sent to a crash. Police at first speculated it might have been a crank call, but the officers headed back north. But when they arrived, Bidou realized it was no crank call and no car accident. Instead, it was a sinister crime scene". Officer Pierre Bidou also recalled this 'car accident' to Zodiac investigator Michael Butterfield. “…we got the call from the dispatcher that an accident, or something, had occurred on Lake Herman Road, so we turned around and came by.” Source.

This is from a previous article: 'When Stella Medeiros observed the crime scene at 11:20 pm, she raced off to seek help in Benicia, eventually locating Captain Daniel Pitta at the Enco Gas Station on East 2nd Street. This is 3.4 miles from the turnout, an estimated journey time of 5 minutes on Google Maps. She is obviously driving faster than normal and flags down Captain Daniel Pitta probably slightly shy of 11:25 pm, allowing her to give her account and for Captain Daniel Pitta to head to the crime scene by 11:28 pm. In the course of this, the information would have been relayed to Benicia Police Department. So where did the supposition of a crank call or a car accident originate from. The description given by Stella Medeiros may have been interpreted as a car crash originally and relayed this way, but why would a radio message from a respected officer of the law be interpreted as a crank call? He was a captain reporting an incident on official police channels. Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday are lying prostrate in the turnout - whether a crash or not - why would Pierre Bidou be under any illusion of a crank call, unless a payphone call had come in slightly earlier than the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta. The Zodiac Killer made phone calls after both his subsequent attacks, so why not this one? The only difference being, he called it in as a car accident, unwilling to show his hand as the murderer.

​Had James Owen passed the turnout around 11:08-11:09 pm, and the Zodiac Killer had exited the turnout somewhere between 11.12-11.14 pm and headed to Vallejo via Springs Road, his journey time to the payphone at the intersection of Springs and Tuolumne would be approximately 10-12 minutes, placing the 'crank call' at 11:22-11:24 pm, just prior to Stella Borges' meeting with Captain Daniel Pitta at 11:25 pm. The 'crank call' and the radio message from Captain Daniel Pitta would have been received in close proximity, leading to the confusion. The crank call being received slightly before the official police radio message.

This is where the 'laughing killer' and the phone call intersect in the aftermath of the Lake Herman Road murders. The Argosy Magazine wasn't finished yet. It continued on further "The man in the hood" had laughed diabolically as he plunged his knife again and again into Miss Shepard beside the lake. He had also laughed in his phone call to Vallejo Police in December 1968.' Does this validate the claim by Pierre Bidou? If the Zodiac Killer had laughed down the phone, could this be why the dispatcher had interpreted it as a crank call? Additionally, the article stated the phone call was made to Vallejo Police, exactly as the phone call had been 6 1/2 months later, after the Blue Rock Springs Park attack on July 4th 1969.

Russell Butterbach of the Solano County Sheriff's Department and his partner Wayne Waterman were just heading onto Lake Herman Road, when they received a call from the sergeant to go to the Hells Angels pad on Warren Avenue, Vallejo. After approximately 30 minutes they then received a double 187 on Lake Herman Road. If a crank phone call from the killer was received after the Lake Herman Road double shooting, then the time of this call, likely just before 11:25 pm, ties in perfectly with a 10-12 minute journey from the turnout to the Springs and Tuolumne payphone. This wasn't the only time that the Zodiac Killer may have directed police to the scene of an accident.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/sacramento-cold-case-contact

The Zodiac Killer wrote in his 'Bus Bomb' letter "If you wonder why I was wipeing the cab down I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as one might say". This has been mulled over incessantly to discover the true meaning to which the Zodiac was referring, with many believing the Zodiac Killer was likely leaving fake fingerprints. But unless these fingerprints were by comparison matched to certain individuals, the police wouldn't be running anywhere.

Three years earlier in a Riverside alleyway, Cheri Jo Bates' lifeless body was discovered by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin. She had been brutally stabbed and slashed with a short-bladed knife on October 30th 1966. Sitting just 10 feet away was a Timex watch, believed to have been ripped from the assailant's wrist during the struggle. Or is that possibly what the killer wanted us to believe. It was determined that the wristband was set for a man with a 7-inch wrist. Was this a 'fake clew' designed to throw investigators off the scent of the killer. 

The Zodiac Killer appeared well read, certainly keeping abreast of the newspaper coverage of his crimes. The extract on the left was published in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday November 1st 1966, only two days after the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. It states "Police have arrested no suspects, but they said they were examining several clews. A man's wristwatch was found about 10 feet from the body". Did the Zodiac drag these clews into his November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb Letter, but this time replacing the 7-inch leather watch with a pair of size 7 black leather gloves as his 'fake clews'?

Although Robert Graysmith claimed in his first book these gloves may have been left in the taxicab by a prior female passenger, he effectively contradicted this account in Zodiac Unmasked, using them, in effect, to implicate Arthur Leigh Allen.

Shortly after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, three teenagers noticed a man in the front seat of the taxicab, stating "The suspect appeared to be searching the victim's pockets. The suspect then appeared to be wiping (fingerprints) on the interior of the cab, leaning over the victim to the driver's compartment". The three teenagers later recalled that "They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard". But was the Zodiac Killer only wiping down the driver side compartment and dashboard? Could he have been removing gloves from his own pocket to deposit them underneath the dashboard? Robert Graysmith stated in his first Zodiac book that "Just under the dash, Toschi found a pair of dull black leather gloves".  Were these Zodiac's "fake clews for the police to run all over town with", as one might say. The Zodiac Killer evidently missed a trick in his Bus Bomb Letter, when he could have stated "fake clews for the police to dash all over town with" - but he didn't. 

The investigators certainly considered these gloves as belonging to the killer, and were taken into evidence (see right). It is equally certain they would have attempted to trace the origin and manufacturer of the gloves, as they did with the Wing Walker's that created the boot impressions noted at the Lake Berryessa crime scene. This would have given the police "some bussy work to do to keep them happy," and would most certainly have had them "running all over town".

In an interview with Bryan Hartnell shortly after the Lake Berryessa stabbing, he was asked if the assailant wore gloves. He replied "I don't remember if he had gloves on or not. I can't remember now. I keep thinking he had gloves on". Did the Zodiac Killer purchase gloves with the express intention of dropping them in the taxicab, to give police the runaround. Or was he steering us towards his previous exploits at Lake Berryessa. One doesn't know if the San Francisco Police Department traced the origin of the gloves, or indeed whether the gloves were labeled, although one of the premier glove manufacturers in the USA and California were the Napa Glove Company in Napa Valley, whose beginnings stretch back as far as 1888. The Napa Glove Company is situated one mile west of the 1231 Main Steet payphone, where Zodiac placed his second phone call to police. This would have been one hell of a 'fake clew'. Napa leather was first 'coined' by Emanuel Manasse in 1875 while working for the Sawyer Tanning Company in Napa, California, and can be found in Merriam-Webster's dictionary. See Wikipedia.

This is a continuation to the article 'Two Assailants at Presidio Heights', examining the statement given by the Robbins teenagers in the aftermath of the Paul Stine murder. The initial police report found on most websites is noticeably brief compared to the other three crimes, and certainly doesn't encompass the whole story that night. The Robbins teenagers themselves have certainly not been publicity hungry during the last 48 years, so couldn't be accused of witness embellishment. Furthermore, their story has been totally corroborated by Officer Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, along with the bloody fingerprints noted from two areas of the taxicab. Here is a reminder of their story:
​
"As both Robbins kids were the oldest, their statements were the given the most weight. Also they were the least traumatized by the event. One of the kids (not sure which) noticed a cab parked outside (in that now famous spot) with the interior lights on. So when Lindsey told me that the light inside the car was like a spotlight, it was so bright. The first kid at the window said the driver looked "sick, or something". Lindsey and Rebecca went to the window and saw the driver laying across the front seat, head toward the passenger door. His head was in the lap of another man (passenger). Rebecca saw blood and said out loud, "he's stabbing that man." She was seeing blood on the victim and saw the glint of a knife, so she assumed a stabbing was taking place. (No shots were heard by anyone). We know now that Zodiac was cutting off a large piece of Stine's shirt with the knife.

At this time, Lindsey went downstairs to get a better look at what was happening, while one of the kids upstairs called the police. Downstairs, the lights were off, so Lindsey knew he could not be seen from the outside. He got close to the window and watched his actions. He was shortly joined by Rebecca. They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north. Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry." ​

The bloody fingerprints shown on the right are indicative of a suspect bracing his right hand on the dividing panel to pull Paul Stine upright with his left hand, in line with the version given by the Robbins teenagers. Lindsey's venture to the corner of Washington and Cherry, latterly joined by the others, is also backed up by the first responding officer, Armond Pelissetti. There is every reason to believe that this is the expanded version of a very brief and inadequate police report consisting of less than two full pages. But more importantly it helps us with the timeline. A timeline that could suggest the person seen by the three teenagers is not the killer of Paul Stine, just an accomplice to the crime.
​
Lindsey went downstairs as the phone call was being placed. What they saw subsequent to this is: "they both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north." The amount of time this took is subjective, but a minimum of 30 seconds is a fair estimate. Then the suspect walked casually north on Cherry Street.

Officer Armond Pelissetti arrived when the suspect was approaching the corner of Jackson and Cherry - approximately 50 seconds walking time. This indicates that Armond Pelissetti was very close when he received the radio dispatch, likely no longer than one-and-a-half minutes after the teenagers called the police. The first job of the police dispatcher, however, is to take the description and reported offence, before then relaying this information to responding units. This would suggest that Armond Pelissetti received the message and arrived in one minute or less. All the indications are, that the suspect began his journey up Cherry Street the moment that Armond Pelisstti received the initial dispatch. When he arrived, the suspect was approaching the intersection of Jackson and Cherry, approximately 50 seconds later.

​The major problem, is that Officer Donald Fouke also responded to the initial radio broadcast at the identical time as Pelissetti. This means that Donald Fouke began his journey from the intersection of Washington and Presidio Avenue at the time the suspect began his journey from the crime scene, just like Armond Pelissetti did. The journey time for Donald Fouke traveling at a moderate speed of 30 mph, places him at the intersection of Jackson and Maple one minute later, where he spots the 'Zodiac'. For this to be the responsible observed by the three teenagers, the suspect would have to travel this 3 minute journey at walking pace in approximately one minute. Something he ultimately failed to achieve, because he was pointed out to Armond Pelissetti at the top of Cherry by Lindsey.

If we take the story of the three teenagers as reliable, which by all accounts it is, then the man observed removing the shirt piece of Paul Stine cannot be the man who pulled the trigger that night. This man would have exited the scene just prior to the teenagers looking out of the window. This would be the suspect observed by Officer Donald Fouke, and may explain the lack of blood on the clothes of the man walking on Jackson Street - because he was never present in the front of the taxicab. Donald Fouke described the sketch given by the three teenagers as 'similar' - only that he was 'older and heavier'. Is it likely these two assailants were related, father and son, or brothers? Or did Donald Fouke exhibit confirmation bias, meshing his story to fit that of the three teenagers? It would have been far more helpful had two independent sketches been sought. Had the sketches then matched, the validity of the eyewitnesses recollection would have been greatly enhanced. 

What is extremely difficult to reconcile is the wildly different versions given by Donald Fouke. The first was from his memorandum only one month after the murder on November 12th 1969 where he stated "The Zodiac Killer was observed walking in an easterly direction on Jackson Street and then turning north on Maple Street."
However, his description in the 2007 Zodiac documentary was taken after observing a man heading into a residence: "We turned west on Jackson Street, as we approached Maple Street I noticed on the north side of the street a white male adult. We slowed down as we passed him, I don't know, we we're still rolling, saw that it was a white male, step on the gas, 5, 10, 15 seconds tops from first spotting him to passing him. He sort of looked down, perhaps this lumbering gait, stumbling along, like a semi-limp might have come up in my mind, because he was putting his head down when he spotted the police car, and turned into the entrance way of a house, and by entrance way I mean stairs that are leading up that are concrete to a path, that leads to a front door. Never saw him get to the top of the stairs. You want the address of that residence, 3712 Jackson Street." 
​
"Never saw him get to the top of the stairs" suggests this is when the subject went out of view. This does not tally with a man last seen heading north on Maple in the November 12th memorandum. He also stated this in the 2007 documentary: "we conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect." But in the above recollection the last place he saw the subject heading was up the stairs of 3712 Jackson Street. Bearing in mind these two wholly irreconcilable statements, what is the possibility both accounts have a shred of truth, muddled by time, and Officer Donald Fouke actually saw two men on Jackson Street that night. The first heading north on Maple, with the second feigning a move into 3712 Jackson Street.
​
The timeline would have the first assailant heading towards Maple as Officer Donald Fouke is approaching the intersection. The second assailant is turning the corner of Jackson and Cherry. Officer Donald Fouke slows down and beckons the man over, who states he saw somebody waving a gun heading towards Arguello Boulevard. The second assailant meanwhile is heading towards his accomplice, thinking he may have to intervene. But fortunately, Officer Donald Fouke, under the impression he is searching for a negro male adult buys the story and continues on Jackson Street, when he spots the second subject. The second assailant then instinctively feigns a turn into 3712 Jackson Street to give the impression to the patrol car he is a resident of that house. Officer Donald Fouke, satisfied by the first assailant's story slows down to observe this man, but ultimately decides to head off towards Arguello Boulevard. This may explain the conflicted versions given by Officer Donald Fouke that night - and his difficulty when it comes to a coherent account of the events that night.
 
The timeline is suggestive of two assailants, along with two subjects spotted in two different locations by Officer Donald Fouke. This may explain why the man observed in and around the taxicab that night by the three teenagers was apparently so calm. He possibly had no gun - or not the gun that fired the fatal shot into Paul Stine - and was simply aiding a stricken taxicab driver. This may have been his alibi had he required one. 
The Zodiac stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. 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." He didn't say we, so maybe we shall have to take his word on it.

​This is not designed to promote the idea of two assailants at Presidio Heights, merely to point out the discrepancies in the timelines that simply make no sense.   

TWO ASSAILANTS AT PRESIDIO HEIGHTS [PT1]

Here we will take a closer look at the bloody fingerprints left on the Paul Stine taxicab in Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, and see if they can reveal anything about the unfolding events that night.

In total, thirty latent fingerprints, three palm prints and one partial of value were retrieved from the taxicab. The latent prints that exhibited traces of blood were believed to have been deposited by the killer. The two key areas where bloody fingerprints were retrieved, were the exterior front passenger side door handle and the dividing panel between the driver side door and the left rear passenger door, just above half way. The FBI report only stated that the murderer was the likely donor of both bloody latent prints, probably because they likely contained different digit impressions, or one was lacking detail. There is very good reason to believe both impressions were from the killer, which we will explain later. In the photographs on various sites these two prints are circled with a red pen.

There is a possible explanation for the bloody prints shown on the left image, regarding a Washington and Maple murder, but here we shall stick with the widely held belief that the killing took place close to the intersection of Washington and Cherry.

The placement of the bloody print discovered on the front exterior passenger door handle challenges the premise of a passenger who rode in the front seat of Paul Stine's taxicab. Had this been the case, after removing the piece of shirt and exiting the front passenger side door, there would be no need to shut the door using the exterior door handle, but there would be every reason to wipe it down, as observed by the three teenagers. This is because the natural way to open the front passenger door after exiting the right rear of the taxicab would be to use your right hand. When opening a right-sided door it is more natural to use your right hand. Standing by a right-sided door and using your left hand would bring the door into your midriff.
​
When the killer shot Paul Stine he likely received a fine mist of back spatter to his right hand. If he then exited the right rear passenger door with the gun still in his hand, or while putting it away, he would have used his left hand to open it and close it. This may explain why no bloody prints were found on the right rear inner or outer passenger door handle. The Zodiac Killer was described by the three teenagers to be wiping down the front passenger door. It is likely he didn't thoroughly remove the bloody fingerprints, evident by their discovery.  

The Robbins teenagers gave a more detailed account of the night's events in a later interview - one partially corroborated by Officer Armond Pelissetti - who discovered the teenagers by the intersection of Washington and Cherry. They recounted their observations that night - observations that marry perfectly with evidence retrieved from the taxicab: 

"At this time, Lindsey went downstairs to get a better look at what was happening, while one of the kids upstairs called the police. Downstairs, the lights were off, so Lindsey knew he could not be seen from the outside. He got close to the window and watched his actions. He was shortly joined by Rebecca. They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north".

The Zodiac Killer had entered the taxicab at the theater district, shot Paul Stine at the intersection of Washington and Cherry, exited the right rear passenger door and entered the front passenger door. He then removed the shirt piece, exited the taxicab and proceeded around to the exterior driver side door to wipe it down, presumably with his dominant right hand (or not). He then left the scene via Cherry Street. Where in this sequence of events should he had ever touched the panel between the driver side door and left rear passenger door with his bloody hands? This was the version in the police report, and fails to account for the bloody fingerprints discovered on the dividing panel of the taxicab. But the more expansive version given by the Robbins kids explains this anomaly perfectly. ​ 

The teenagers stated that the killer twice attempted to haul Paul Stine back into an upright position behind the steering wheel. The motivation for this has yet to be sufficiently explained. ​The teenagers clearly stated that after he rounded the taxicab, the subject then opened the driver side door, likely using his left hand (for reasons given above). He then attempted to pull the stricken taxicab driver back into an upright position. But to perform this action he needed stability and leverage. This would be achieved by bracing your right hand on the dividing panel between the driver side and left rear door in order to pull Paul Stine upright using your left hand. Once finished, the Zodiac Killer closed the driver side door and wiped down the door handle.

However, he made a crucial mistake. By concentrating on the door handles, he may have inadvertently overlooked the bloody fingerprints deposited by his right hand on the dividing panel. This was detailed in 'Zodiac' by Robert Graysmith : "At one point he opened up the driver's door and leaned forward to wipe off the area of the dashboard again. To steady himself, he leaned his right hand on the rail separating the front and rear windows. The fragment of cloth was still in his left hand. Then he closed the door and walked away". The Zodiac Killer then exited north along Cherry Street and into the night. Paul Stine's body at some point, aided by the camber of the road, fell back across the front passenger seat - his head coming to rest on the front passenger floorboard, where Armond Pelissetti would ultimately discover the stricken taxicab driver just a few minutes later.        

The following has been covered many times before on this site, but on this occasion we will examine the premise of two assailants present in the rear of Paul Stine's taxicab at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets on October 11th 1969. It is not necessarily a position I subscribe to, however, in the interest of neutrality it must be examined. This will not be based on speculation, it will be reasoned using the three teenage eyewitnesses and the timelines of Donald Fouke and Armond Pelissetti, two of the initial police responders that night.

Many eyewitnesses involved in the Zodiac crimes have changed, if not embellished their testimony down the years, and rightly must treated with skepticism. An ever changing and elaborate story is to be considered suspect. But what we notice in the police report of the Paul Stine murder is very little detail - and a report of only one-and-a-half pages long, drafted by the following morning of October 12th 1969. The three teenagers have been noticeably quiet during the last 48 years, in which publicity seeking opportunism can certainly not be leveled at them. They gave a second account of the night's events on October 11th 1969 in later years - and although one usually views with suspicion, second, third and fourth generation accounts of the same event - their full account of the murder of Paul Stine was never originally made public and documented in a rather limited police report. Their recounting of events at a later date carries much weight, because not only does it explain why a bloody fingerprint was found on the dividing panel between Paul Stine's driver side door and the left rear passenger door, their testimony is fully corroborated by the statement of Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 Zodiac documentary.   

This is the statement of the Robbins teenagers "As both Robbins kids were the oldest, their statements were the given the most weight. Also they were the least traumatized by the event. One of the kids (not sure which) noticed a cab parked outside (in that now famous spot) with the interior lights on. So when Lindsey told me that the light inside the car was like a spotlight, it was so bright. The first kid at the window said the driver looked "sick, or something". Lindsey and Rebecca went to the window and saw the driver laying across the front seat, head toward the passenger door. His head was in the lap of another man (passenger). Rebecca saw blood and said out loud, "he's stabbing that man." She was seeing blood on the victim and saw the glint of a knife, so she assumed a stabbing was taking place. (No shots were heard by anyone). We know now that Zodiac was cutting off a large piece of Stine's shirt with the knife.

At this time, Lindsey went downstairs to get a better look at what was happening, while one of the kids upstairs called the police. Downstairs, the lights were off, so Lindsey knew he could not be seen from the outside. He got close to the window and watched his actions. He was shortly joined by Rebecca. They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright. Once upright, he was seen to have a rag, or something like a handkerchief and began to wipe down the door area and leaning over the driver, part of the dashboard. When he was finished, Zodiac calmly walked to Cherry St. and walked north. Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry. At this exact point, the first SFPD car arrives with two officers. One, Pelissetti, approached Lindsey and tried to extract what was happening. The other officer went to the cab and found the bloody victim. While Pelissetti was asking questions, Lindsey was trying to explain that the suspect was in sight on Cherry St. By the time Pelissetti got the point, they both looked and the Zodiac was gone".

There are two key points to remember in this account:
​#1. "They both watched and observed in silence as Zodiac pushed the driver to an upright position behind the steering wheel, exited the car and walked around the rear of the car and opened the driver's door. Stine had fallen over onto the seat and Zodiac pulled him back up into the seated position and had some difficulty keeping him upright". The Zodiac may very likely have deposited bloody fingerprints on the taxicab door divider as he braced his right hand to lever Paul Stine back to a seated position, albeit he didn't remain in this position.

​#2. "Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry". This was backed up by Armond Pelissetti in the 2007 documentary when he stated "We responded to a radio call that told us a cab driver was being robbed and possibly assaulted at the corner of Cherry and Washington Street in Pacific Heights. We fortunately were very close and responded to that corner, and able to do so red light and siren, and got there very quickly. I parked the car in the middle of the intersection, facing the Yellow Cab. There were three children that were heading over to that car, they were about 15 or 16 feet away. I made the assumption they were coming from the home on the corner and herded them immediately back to that alcove. I didn't know if the suspect was still there.....  It was then I was told it was a white male, I couldn't get to the radio fast enough at that point to let everybody else know. The kids had told me whoever had done this crime had left the cab, went out the door and seemed to be wiping the cab down and reaching into the cab and ambling or walking down Cherry Street in a northerly direction, kind of towards the Presidio. I walked that way myself, I did not run because there are innumerable alcoves and parked cars, so I went down following every technique I knew so I didn't get my head blown off".

It is clear from Officer Armond Pelissetti's statement and that of the three teenagers, that indeed they were milling around near the intersection of Washington and Cherry, not confined in their residence throughout, as one could easily interpret from the police report alone. The testimony of the three teenagers, however, provides a massive headache regarding the perceived order of events that night.  

The attack was logged at 9:55 pm, with the police dispatcher sending out the radio message to responding officers at approximately 9:58 pm. This meant that Donald Fouke and Armond Pelissetti both received the initial broadcast at 9:58 pm. Donald Fouke stated he was traveling northbound on Presidio Avenue, having just passed Washington Street. Armond Pelissetti we shall come to shortly.

Donald Fouke stated he saw a male subject as he was approaching the Jackson and Maple Street intersection. The white male adult was close to the intersection. The traveling distance to this point for Donald Fouke is exactly 862 meters (0.5 mile). He stated after receiving the initial broadcast he was traveling at 35-40 mph, but taking into account slowing down as he passed the intersections, it has been calculated that his journey time to the Jackson and Maple intersection from his original position, would have been approximately 1 minute. This places him at the Jackson and Maple intersection at 9:59 pm. This also places the mystery man here at 9:59 pm.

The author of the Bus Bomb letter one month later, stated 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". The movements of Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms were never publicized in the newspapers before November 9th 1969, indicating that the author of the Bus Bomb letter knew the exact location of where Donald Fouke's patrol car was at exactly the right time. This means the man spotted by Donald Fouke was most likely the author of the Bus Bomb letter. But was he the killer? The journey time up Cherry Street is 1 minute. The journey time from the top of Cherry to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is about 2 minutes, corroborating the letter writer when he stated "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab". Working backwards, this places the mystery man at the top of Cherry at 9:57 pm, and leaving the taxicab at 9:56 pm. (shown on the map below).

Now, remember what the three teenagers stated: "Not many know this, but Lindsey (being 16. feeling immortal, and believing the suspect to be armed with only a knife) ran out of his door to see where Zodiac was going. He ran to the corner of Cherry and watched as Zodiac continued his casual pace right up to the corner of Jackson & Cherry.
At this exact point, the first SFPD car arrives with two officers. One, Pelissetti, approached Lindsey and tried to extract what was happening. The other officer went to the cab and found the bloody victim. While Pelissetti was asking questions, Lindsey was trying to explain that the suspect was in sight on Cherry St. By the time Pelissetti got the point, they both looked and the Zodiac was gone".

When Armond Pelissetti arrived, the suspect was in sight approaching the corner of Jackson and Cherry. We know from the diagram above, this was 9:57 pm. Therefore, Armond Pelissetti must have arrived at the corner of Washington and Cherry Street at about 9:57 pm. However, this is very odd, because Armond Pelissetti didn't even get the initial radio broadcast until 9:58 pm, and still had to travel to the scene "red light and siren".

We know that Armond Pelissetti didn't arrive at the crime scene at 9:56 pm or earlier, because we know Zodiac left the taxicab at 9:56 pm and reached the top of Cherry at 9:57 pm. He couldn't have arrived at 9:56:30 pm, because the mystery man would have only journeyed half way up Cherry (30 seconds traveling time on a 1 minute street). So it is clear that Armond Pelissetti did arrive at 9:57 pm. Therefore, Armond Pelissetti received the initial broadcast prior to 9:57 pm. He stated in the Zodiac 2007 documentary "We fortunately were very close and responded to that corner, and able to do so red light and siren at 9:55 pm at night, and got there very quickly". This time of 9:55 pm makes perfect sense. They "were very close" and would have been exactly two minutes traveling time away from the intersection of Washington and Cherry when they received the initial broadcast, arriving at the intersection at 9:57 pm, just as Zodiac was approaching the top of Cherry. This means the logged attack and initial broadcast would have been 9:55 pm, not 9:58 pm, as detailed in the police report. But here is the major problem.    

Donald Fouke received the initial broadcast at the same time as Armond Pelissetti. So, if Armond Pelissetti received the initial broadcast at 9:55 pm, Donald Fouke received it at 9:55 pm. His journey time traveling northbound on Presidio Avenue, having just passed Washington Street (his initial position that night) to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is again 1 minute. He would now arrive at Jackson and Maple at 9:56 pm, where he viewed the suspect. The problem is, we know from all the above facts, along with the map, that Zodiac had left the taxicab crime scene at 9:56 pm. He cannot be in both places at the same time, separated by 3 minutes walking time. This is a major discrepancy, if we use the corroborated timeline of Armond Pelissetti and the three teenagers.
This would place Zodiac leaving the crime scene at 9:56 pm, and approaching the Jackson and Maple intersection at 9:56 pm.     

We surely cannot have Donald Fouke spotting Zodiac at 9:56 pm, because this would have him leaving the taxicab at 9:53 pm, two minutes before the actual attack occurred. Additionally, Armond Pelissetti would not have been at the Washington and Cherry intersection, when Zodiac was apparently approaching the northern edge of Cherry at 9:57 pm (it doesn't take Zodiac 4 minutes to walk up Cherry). So could Donald Fouke have been mistaken and never saw the Zodiac Killer at all. This doesn't seem likely, as we know the author of the Bus Bomb letter knew that "2 cops" were present at the intersection of Jackson and Maple that night, something not disclosed in the newspapers. Therefore, is it possible Donald Fouke saw the "letter writer" traveling along Jackson Street,  but not his accomplice, who was just leaving the taxicab.

We know that Donald Fouke in the 1989 'Crimes of the Century' documentary, stated that after receiving the initial broadcast "We proceeded on Jackson Street towards Arguello continuing our search, as we arrived at Arguello Street the description of the suspect was changed to a white male adult, believing this suspect was possibly the one involved in the shooting we entered the Presidio of San Francisco and conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect". The question arose, as to why Donald Fouke was heading towards Arguello Boulevard, away from the crime scene of an "assault and robbery" when he should have been heading towards it. The logical assumption was that he did indeed stop Zodiac - and Zodiac directed him that way. If there were two assailants, and one was still present near or at the crime scene, it would make perfect sense for the accomplice on Jackson Street to direct Donald Fouke away towards Arguello Boulevard to protect his accomplice.          

The teenagers never saw the taxicab pull up to the corner of Washington and Cherry Street, they only began observing the crime when the man was already in the front passenger seat of the taxicab. They never observed or heard the shooting, so it could never be claimed as fact or certainty, that the man observed tearing a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt was the actual killer of the taxicab driver. His accomplice may have already shot Paul Stine and cleared the intersection of Washington and Cherry Street before the three teenagers even looked out of the window. If this man (the actual killer) was the man spotted by Donald Fouke at 9:56 pm by Jackson and Maple, he would have left the taxicab at 9:53 pm, before the teenagers looked out of the window at approximately 9:55 pm, and would now back up the timeline of Donald Fouke receiving the initial broadcast at 9:55 pm. This man may very well have been the trigger man, while his accomplice stayed behind to secure the swatch of Paul Stine's shirt. This would have been the man observed by the three teenagers, not the killer. This would have reduced the risk of capture for the man holding the 'smoking gun.' Had the police arrived as his accomplice was tearing a piece of shirt, he could simply have claimed to be a passer by, who was aiding the stricken taxicab driver. After all, Paul Stine was shot and this man possessed no gun. This places the killer at Jackson and Maple at 9:56 pm, and his accomplice leaving the scene of crime at 9:56 pm. Donald Fouke is directed to Arguello Boulevard by the killer, leaving a clear path for his accomplice traveling up Cherry to a predetermined destination and meeting place.       

This lends credence to arguments given by such people as Thomas Horan, who claim that the individual seen by the three teenagers and Donald Fouke are actually two separate people. Here are the two descriptions given:

#1. The three teenagers stated in the police report that the subject was 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.

#2. Donald Fouke in his typed memorandum on November 12th 1969 stated he was a "WMA, 35-45 yrs, about 5'10", 180-200 lbs, medium heavy build, barrel chested, medium complexion, light colored hair possibly graying in rear, crew cut, wearing glasses".
 
These descriptions appear to indicate that the person spotted by the teenagers and Donald Fouke were one and the same, again exposing the deep flaws in the timelines examined that night. Donald Fouke would later remark on the sketch of the suspect given by the three teenagers, stating he believed the suspect to be "older and heavier." However, he never apparently challenged the facial description of the suspect. So was he mistaken and just went along with the description given by the teenagers, or was it the same person all along? The timeline seems to challenge this notion. Were the two accomplices related, wearing the same disguise, or just visually similar, with a crew cut and glasses? As stated at the beginning, I am not closed to the idea of two assailants at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969, but neither am I totally convinced either. The timeline is the key.

The following timeline is my interpretation of events regarding the Presidio Heights murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969. It has been created using eyewitness accounts and the science of time and distance. It is however not the only possible scenario of events in the aftermath of Zodiac's perceived final attack.  

This is not necessarily the time the taxicab of Paul Stine drew up to the intersection of Washington and Cherry. This is the time the three teenagers first noticed what they believed to be some sort of altercation within the taxicab, documented as 9:55 pm in the police report. The Zodiac Killer actually left the crime scene at 9:56 pm to make good his escape north on Cherry Street. We know it was 9:56 pm from the testimony of Donald Fouke, one of the first responding officers that night.

His identification has been challenged, as possibly being a different subject, based on differences in weight, hair color and age compared the description given by the teenagers. However, this is not the case, when we look at the description of the suspect given to law enforcement by the three teenagers in the police report the following morning. The timeline of a subject leaving the taxicab at a normal walking speed of 3.1 mph, traveling north on Cherry Street and east on Jackson Street, matches perfectly with the sighting of Donald Fouke's timeline from when he received the first police broadcast. In addition, Zodiac specifically highlighted in his Bus Bomb correspondence on November 9th 1969 that he ran into two cops who "pulled a goof". The movement of the patrol car occupied by Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms was never disclosed in the newspapers but was known to the letter writer - and the timeline fits perfectly.  

This is the approximate time of the initial broadcast given to Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms as they were traveling northbound on Presidio Avenue, having just passed Washington Street. At the exact time, officers Armond Pelissetti and Frank Peda traveling on Washington Street would receive the same broadcast. Donald Fouke headed north, then west on Jackson Street, and reported seeing a white male adult approaching the intersection of Jackson Strret and Maple Street as he approached in his patrol car, just as Zodiac would allude to in the Bus Bomb letter. This 'meeting' fits the known timeline. The distance from the intersection of Presidio Avenue and Washington Street to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is 862 meters, indicating that Donald Fouke traveling between 30-40 mph, would arrive here at 9:59 pm. Zodiac stated he approached the police "about 3 min after he left the cab". This journey from the taxicab at 9:56 pm, walking at the average speed of 3.1 mph, takes approximately 3 minutes - indicating he would arrive at this point at 9:59 pm, thereby matching the timeline of Donald Fouke.

Although people point to discrepancies in the eyewitness identification, what we do know is that the revised sketch of the suspect on October 18th 1969 was requested by the three teenagers recollection (showing an older suspect) - and at no time to my knowledge did Donald Fouke view this sketch and state that this wasn't the man he observed. The facial features in the second sketch were virtually identical to the original, only marginally older. If Donald Fouke had spotted a totally different subject, he would surely have said so.  

Donald Fouke, in his original statement, stated he saw the subject turn into the northern section of Maple Street, however, there is no direct access from here into the park without negotiating bushes and a retaining wall, which at night may have appeared a dead end to the murderer. This drives to the heart of the killer's knowledge of the area. He may well have known the area fairly well - but to anybody other than the occupants of the residence at the top of Maple Street - why should the responsible be aware of a possible route through, when to all intense and purpose, the area looks like a blind alley. The Zodiac may simply have turned into Maple as a ruse to get out of sight, before continuing on down Jackson Street.  

The Zodiac described that after his meeting with Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms "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". This is where the Zodiac gives us a heads up on his exact movements that night. It has been suggested that the Zodiac Killer was a liar, and we should disregard his claims in the Bus Bomb letter - but any reference to his directional movements in and around the park that night is of little evidentiary value to law enforcement one month after the fact, and independent to his ridicule of the police. Additionally, his explicit detail may have served the purpose to focus the police investigation within the Presidio Heights or San Francisco region, particularly if he was a non-resident of the locale.

If the Zodiac disappeared into the park one and a half blocks from his 'meeting' with Donald Fouke, he would then arrive at Spruce Street at approximately 10:01 pm. For Zodiac, the journey eastwards to Spruce Street from just before the intersection of Jackson and Maple Street is 180 meters (0.112 miles) - so if we assume he picked up his walking speed to 4 mph after giving Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms the runaround, he would arrive somewhere in the vicinity of the Jackson Street and Spruce Street intersection in 1 minute 45 seconds. The time would be approaching 10:01 pm. This is where the October 12th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article makes perfect sense from the standpoint of our third set of eyewitnesses. They describe a man with virtually the same characteristics given by all the previous eyewitnesses - a man about 40 years, with a blond crew-cut, wearing glasses, with dark clothing. It was 10:01 pm at night and the residences likely had their curtains likely drawn, so how were the 'neighbors', described by Robert Graysmith in his book, able to give a fairly detailed description of the suspect at all? We probably have Officer Donald Fouke to thank for that.

If we go on memory alone, then what Donald Fouke stated in the 1989 Crimes of the Century documentary is likely more accurate than his differing claims in the 2007 Zodiac documentary. In the 1989 documentary, he said after passing the subject on Jackson Street "We proceeded on Jackson Street towards Arguello continuing our search, as we arrived at Arguello Street the description of the suspect was changed to a white male adult, believing this suspect was possibly the one involved in the shooting we entered the Presidio of San Francisco and conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue, the opposite side of the wall and the last direction we observed the suspect going, we did not find the suspect".

This tends to give credence to Zodiac's claims that he spoke to and directed the police - bearing in mind Donald Fouke was traveling towards Arguello Boulevard and away from a crime scene he should have been approaching. When he received the update to a white male, he understandably would have realized that the man he had just encountered was probably the killer. Having last seen the subject enter the top part of Maple Street, he likely concluded that the man had entered the Presidio park over the retaining wall. After passing Zodiac, the journey westwards for Donald Fouke to Arguello Boulevard and eastwards along West Pacific Avenue to Julius Kahn playground is 810 meters (1/2 mile), taking approximately 1 minute traveling at 30 mph. However, he is obviously scouring the roadway and dense undergrowth bordering West Pacific Avenue, so his journey time to Julius Kahn Playground likely took closer to 90 seconds. This places Donald Fouke's patrol car, red light and siren, reaching the area adjacent to Spruce Street at 10:00:30 pm - just slightly before Zodiac also arrives at Spruce Street. At this point Donald Fouke finds nothing, but his patrol car has ultimately alerted the neighbors, who understandably have looked out of their windows in the area of Spruce Street. Donald Fouke begins to turn his vehicle around as Zodiac approaches (who obviously remains out of sight until Donald Fouke departs back up West Pacific Avenue). Zodiac then makes haste into the park to gain some cover from the resultant police search. What he doesn't realize though, is that the neighbors are still looking out of their windows and notice Zodiac as he makes haste into the park. Their description is the one given in the October 12th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle article.        

The search dogs have not yet been deployed, so the Zodiac would naturally head towards either his residence or his waiting vehicle. If he was a resident of Vallejo or Benicia, his obvious escape route would be to head towards Cow Hollow on the eastern fringes of the park. Inspector Dave Toschi also believed this was his likely exit route from the park, as described in Robert Graysmith's book: "The detectives heard from neighbors that a stocky figure was seen dashing across Julius Khan playground and into the dense undergrowth of the Presidio. The dog patrol units, seven of the best search dogs in the country, gathered at the front entrance of the Presidio and were deployed one at a time in various directions. Armstrong and Toschi considered the possibilities. Had the killer gone quickly through the dark woods and emerged from the Presidio at Richardson Avenue, and taken Highway 101 past Fort Point onto the Golden Gate Bridge and vanished into Marin County".

Richardson Avenue is situated right by Highway 101, and provides easy access to the Golden Gate Bridge back to the Vallejo area, forming an immediate separation from San Francisco within minutes of the crime. However, Zodiac is still by Julius Kahn playground, therefore his next move eastwards is telling. He describes this in the November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb letter, stating "I enjoy needling the blue pigs. 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". This suggests the Zodiac was likely just over two blocks east of Julius Kahn playground. We know this because the sniffer dogs had assembled at this location (as well as Arguello Boulevard), to sweep across the park in dragnet style. The Zodiac Killer had only one option to avoid capture - head east. Fortunately for him, he had already taken this option. The journey time by road to the mid-section of Laurel Steet and Walnut Street (just over 2 blocks) is approximately 5 minutes, likely nearer 6 minutes via the park. His next point of cover is shown by the map here, situated by dense undergrowth. The time is now 10:07 pm, with the motorcycles and police cars circling the park. He may at this point have been intending to ride it out until the coast was clear, but he likely hadn't banked on the sniffer dogs being deployed at around 10:10 pm, as detailed in the police report. Faced with reducing options the Zodiac Killer continued eastwards through the undergrowth towards Presidio Boulevard, shown here on the map.   

The journey time to Presidio Boulevard via road is approximately 4 minutes, but the killer is traveling through the park with dogs heading his way and motorcycles circling the park. He has to finely balance keeping up his pace, yet applying caution to avoid being spotted from the road to the south. This would likely take his journey time closer to 5 minutes, placing Zodiac at the edge of the park at 10:15 pm. It is extremely likely he is now hidden in the dense foliage bordering Presidio Boulevard, waiting for an opportune moment to escape the park into Cow Hollow. He alludes to this in the Bus Bomb letter: "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". The only possible location he could be present 150 feet from a road, which travels from south to north west, is if he is sheltering in the trees on the western edge of Presidio Boulevard. It can be seen here on Google maps that Presidio Boulevard heads from the south before veering northwest. Ironically, the road situated close to Presidio Boulevard on the south-eastern fringe of the park is called Lover's Lane.

The Zodiac Killer made this apparent only two days after the crime, on October 13th 1969, when he mailed the first Stine letter: "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 seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover". That cover was probably on the south-eastern corner of the park. The Zodiac Killer waited for his opportunity until the coast was clear and made good his escape shortly after 10:15 pm. If his vehicle was parked somewhere near to Highway 101 in Cow Hollow or by the Lyon Steps, then he is across the Golden Gate Bridge in as little as 8 minutes. His escape is complete.     

On November 9th 1969 the Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Bus Bomb' letter to the San Francisco Chronicle detailing the murder of Paul Stine. In the correspondence he stated "If you wonder why I was wipeing the cab down. I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as one might say, I gave the cops som bussy work to do to keep them happy. I enjoy needling the blue pigs". This has been thought by many to suggest the killer may have been planting fake fingerprints on the taxicab, which sounds a little far-fetched. On October 15th, only four days after the murder of Paul Stine, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled 'The Boastful Slayer.' It stated "Witnesses said they saw the man wiping down the door and interior of the cab with a cloth". The Zodiac suggested he was leaving fake clues, but what sort of clues would make the police run all over town, and what purpose would it serve? He may have realized that the police would likely discover the approximate area he entered the taxicab, so may have wanted to throw them off the exact location by misdirecting them to a secondary location close by. He could achieve this by leaving something in the taxicab on purpose, to give the police "some busy work." Something that featured in later newspaper articles.

Twelve days after the crime, on October 23rd 1969, the San Francisco Examiner ran this:"The search also took police to Nob Hill, where the Fairmont Hotel became involved again in the manhunt. This was because: #1. Cabbie Paul Stine, 29, the Zodiac's latest victim is believed to have picked up his fare on a street near the famed hotel. #2. A waitress in the hotel candy shop-fountain told police she served coffee during the television show (Jim Dunbar/Melvin Belli) to a man who resembled composite drawings of Zodiac. She saved the cup and saucer for a fingerprint check". It clearly states "the Fairmont Hotel became involved again," indicating it had previously been considered a possibility. But why? Paul Stine was returning to the theater district from the San Francisco International Airport, when he was directed by taxicab operator Leroy Sweet to a fare at 500 9th Avenue. There was no mention by anybody that Paul Stine was picking up a fare outside the Fairmont Hotel en route. The taxicab meter read $6.25 at 10:46 pm as it rested near the intersection of Washington and Cherry, and this meter reading, along with the final contact with Paul Stine was used to calculate his approximate position in the theater district, by Union Square. Something else must have prompted this consideration.         

It has been considered that the article on the right, detailing an attack on another taxicab driver only eleven days prior to the Paul Stine murder (click to read full article), may have been the catalyst to revisit the Fairmont Hotel. However, this appears not to be the case. On September 30th 1969, a Chinese Yellow Cab driver in San Francisco picked up a fare at the 950 Mason Street, Fairmont Hotel.

The Vallejo News Chronicle read "He was first robbed at gunpoint. Then he was forced into the trunk of his cab and locked in after his pleas that he might suffocate failed to sway the gunman. But the cabbie was found and freed by military police inside Presidio grounds before being overcome. San Francisco Captain Martin Lee explained there is an amazing similarity in MO in the two cabbie cases. Both times the drivers picked up ostensible fares in the area of the Fairmont-Mark Hopkins Hotels at night- and they climbed in alongside the drivers. Both passengers asked to be driven to Presidio Heights, in fact just three blocks from each other. Then, nearing their destinations, each one made a last minute change, in where he wanted to be taken. The descriptions of the passengers made by the surviving driver and the three children varied widely. But Captain Lee said, only partly in jest, "all Occidentals look alike to an Oriental person." The taxicab driver had been waiting in line in front of the Fairmont Hotel at 11.00 pm on September 30th when a man, who appeared to be a cook or other hotel worker came up. He hopped in the front and asked to be taken to Washington and Locust Streets. The cabbie later asked the fare if he worked in the Mark Hopkins. He replied tersely "yeah". Near the original destination the passenger told the cabbie to drive down to Arguello and into the Presidio".

The crucial part is "Both times the drivers picked up ostensible fares in the area of the Fairmont-Mark Hopkins Hotels at night". This indicates that the September 30th case was not the catalyst for investigators to consider the Fairmont Hotel in the Paul Stine murder, but was separate and independent of it. The Fairmont Hotel clearly generated no leads we are aware of, but what drove investigators to consider this pick-up point as a viable option in the Paul Stine murder case. As stated above, the Zodiac Killer knew that investigators could backtrack his approximate location to the theater district, so possibly had to throw them off his scent by offering an alternative area of interest, in line, and not widely in conflict to the taxicab meter reading. The Fairmont Hotel and Union Square/Mason and Geary Street areas, are virtually the same distance to the Washington and Cherry intersection. Often the police withhold details of a crime to verify future correspondence from the killer. Captain Martin Lee would allude to this in a KPIX news report on November 12th 1969. Did the Zodiac Killer deliberately drop "fake clews" inside the taxicab on October 11th 1969 insinuating a connection between him and the Fairmont Hotel, sending police on a wild goose chase and "running all over town," having been aware of the previous taxicab hold-up, thereby using it to his full advantage.   

​'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. R/Os noted that the meter of the cab was running, indicating that the victim possibly picked up another fare (suspect) en route to his original assignment. (The meter read $ 6.25 at exactly 10:46 pm) A check with the Yellow Cab Co. revealed the victim arrived at work at approximately 8:45 pm and had only one fare prior, that being from Pier 64 to the Air Terminal.'

The above is listed in the police report concerning the murder of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, but something isn't quite right with these statements. The last dispatch given to Paul Stine was supposedly in the area of Union Square, San Francisco at 9:45 pm. Leroy Sweet, fully aware it was a busy Saturday night, deployed Paul Stine to a regular pick up at 500 9th Avenue. This is a minimum journey time of 15 minutes from Union Square, to which Paul Stine should have arrived at around 10:00 pm, yet Leroy Sweet had already reassigned another taxicab to 500 9th Avenue at 9:58 pm, after only 13 minutes. So why the impatience to send another taxicab to this destination?

​There are several reasons to dispel the idea that Paul Stine had picked up the Zodiac Killer en route to 500 9th Avenue. The time of the attack was recorded as approximately 9:55 pm, with the radio dispatch to police officers issued at around 9:58 pm. This ties perfectly with the statement of Zodiac, who stated in the November 9th 1969 Bus Bomb letter that "2 cops pulled a goof about 3 min after I left the cab". Officers Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms received the dispatch at 9:58 pm traveling northbound on Presidio Avenue, having just passed Washington Street. Their journey time to the intersection of Jackson and Maple where they spotted the 'lumbering man', is just shy of one minute, placing them there circa 9:59 pm. We know the journey time from the taxicab to the intersection of Jackson and Maple is 3 minutes walking time, validating that the Zodiac Killer left the taxicab at 9:56 pm. The attack on Paul Stine was observed by the three teenagers at 9:55 pm, with the Zodiac leaving one minute later.

We do not know exactly how long the taxicab was sitting at the Washington and Cherry intersection before the teenagers set eyes on it, however, we know that the Zodiac had already exited the rear of the taxicab to enter the front passenger seat. The taxicab may have arrived slightly earlier than 9:55 pm, but for the sake of argument we will leave the time at 9:55 pm. This would mean that had Paul Stine received a dispatch from Leroy Sweet at 9:45 pm, the journey time took 10 minutes from Union Square (possibly as low as 9 minutes). However, if Paul Stine had departed Union Square at 9.45 pm, a journey time of 15 minutes to 500 9th Avenue would be approximately 10:00 pm, at which point Leroy Sweet would have already allocated another taxicab for the fare at least 2 minutes earlier. His impatience in removing Paul Stine from the scheduled pick up seems unwarranted, unless of course the time delay was somehow considerably longer.

Paul Stine arrived at the Yellow Cab Company depot that evening at 8:45 pm. He is immediately dispatched to Pier 64, which is a journey time of 8 minutes. But taking into consideration the fare was for San Francisco International Airport, we will factor in a couple of minutes for the loading of any suitcases. This now is 8:55 pm. The distance to the airport via Highway 101 is approximately 12 miles, a journey time of approximately 15 minutes. This would now give us a time of 9:10 pm. As Michael Cole pointed out on Zodiac Revisited "he has two options: 1) to wait for a return fare to take him back to San Francisco, or 2) to return directly to San Francisco to take advantage of the busy evening demands for a taxi in the downtown area. Stine likely noticed that the queue for available taxis was long and that he would be sitting idle for some time, waiting for a fare. He would have decided to return to San Francisco alone and head for the Theater District/Downtown to maximize his chance of fares". zodiacrevisited.com/paul-stine-a-victim-of-opportunity/

The return journey to Union Square is approximately 21 minutes, bringing Paul Stine back to the theater district at 9:31 pm, fourteen minutes earlier than the final dispatch by Leroy Sweet of 9:45 pm. It is unlikely he arrived back quite this early, but 9:45 pm, allowing for Paul Stine to pick up Zodiac in an unscheduled stop, fill out his trip sheet and arrive at Washington and Cherry in 9-10 minutes is borderline.

The Harvey Hines report, secured by Alex Lewis, seems to suggest that the Zodiac Killer ordered a taxicab from a public payphone at Union Square, near to the St. Francis Hotel on the night of October 11th 1969. It stated ​"In looking at an area map of San Francisco, I found 217 Eddy Street appeared to only be two to three blocks from where Paul Stine picked up the Zodiac on October 11, 1969. I then called Inspector Dave Toschi at the SFPD and got more details on the Stine Killing. Toschi said that they had determined that the killer had called for a cab using the public payphone located at Union Square. Toschi said the cab then picked the killer up and drove to the corner of Washington and Cherry Streets".  If the killer had entered the taxicab at say 9:42 pm, then Paul Stine would be three minutes into his journey with the Zodiac Killer already in tow, heading toward Washington and Cherry when he received the dispatch from Leroy Sweet at 9:45 pm. This now gives Paul Stine enough time to reach Washington and Cherry by 9.54-9.55 pm. In other words, the dispatch by Leroy Sweet may have been issued to Paul Stine close to the theater district, but not in it.

Even discounting these claims by Harvey Hines, it is likely Paul Stine arrived earlier than 9:45 pm from the airport, headed to Union Square and waited for a customer. He could have picked up Zodiac at around 9.40-9.42 pm, now leaving him ample time to reach the Washington and Cherry intersection by 9.54-9.55 pm, but again, the killer would already be present in the taxicab when Leroy Sweet offered Paul Stine the fare at 500 9th Avenue (and considering he was already heading in that direction, he accepted). What are the chances that Paul Stine would head off to a scheduled fare at 500 9th Avenue and just randomly stop for somebody flagging him down at the intersection of Mason and Geary on the off chance the person was requiring a lift westwards.

There appeared only one reason for Leroy Sweet to reallocate a second taxicab at 9:58 pm to 500 9th Avenue, after just 13 minutes, for a 15 minute journey. Using the 9:45 pm dispatch time by Leroy Sweet, allied with the taxicab meter reading, it is highly likely the Zodiac Killer entered the taxicab of Paul Stine in the theater district of San Francisco, but not after 9:45 pm, and not en route. The Zodiac Killer was already firmly seated in the back of Paul Stine's taxicab, away from Union Square, when the dispatch gave him the 500 9th Avenue fare.

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.

Three prominent features about the Riverside killing of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 have been put forward in relation to the Zodiac murders. Firstly, the Zodiac Killer all but admitted to the murder in his Los Angeles letter, mailed on March 13th 1971. Secondly, it is claimed the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates mailed three handwritten letters on April 30th 1967, just like the Zodiac Killer did two years later on July 31st 1969, when he constructed a cipher separated into three parts. Thirdly, in his Little List letter mailed on July 26th 1970 the Zodiac Killer used the words "Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and squirm," extremely similar to the typed Confession letter supposedly sent by the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, where the author opined "She squirmed and shook as I choaked her, and her lips twiched."  If the murderer in Riverside and the Zodiac Killer in the Bay Area are one, then a connection between these two locations, or the Greater Los Angeles Area would certainly aid the search for a likely suspect in both instances.   

The closest the Zodiac Killer ever came to capture was on October 11th 1969 after the murder of taxicab driver Paul Stine, not only due to his near miss on Jackson Street, but because he was spotted by four eyewitnesses, likely all resident on Washington Street, overlooking the taxicab murder. Alex Lewis secured the redacted FBI document stating 'Xenophon Lusby Anthony, WMA, DOB 28th February 1931, Resides at 3218 Jackson Street, San Francisco. For Info Ident Division, San Francisco Police Department advised; 8 year old witness in murder of cab driver identified Anthony as possible subject in this matter.' ​

But it was something Alex Lewis mentioned the other day that prompted a further examination regarding this topic: "There's also the little fact that after Xenophon Anthony is named as possibly being Zodiac, the Zodiac murders abruptly stop." This of course could be merely coincidental, and as yet it can be argued there is nothing definitive in the way of fingerprints or DNA that has pointed directly to any suspect. Also, we have yet to fulliy ascertain whether any of the fingerprints on the Stine taxicab were left by the Zodiac Killer. This fourth eyewitness was crucial - not only because the 8-year-old child actually identified a man by name - but because it was stated he was a 'witness in the murder of the cab driver,'  which should have effectively placed him at the scene. Using ancestry records it was possible to identify the owner of 3898 Washington Street on October 11th 1969 as Alexander Henry von Hafften. He had a son of 8 years and 2 months who lived at this residence, and it is likely this is the child mentioned in the FBI document who recognized Xenophon Anthony from his bedroom window that night, directly overlooking the crime scene.  

The crucial thing here is that the eyewitness didn't just describe the suspect, he actually named him or knew where he lived. He resided at 3218 Jackson Street. The proximity of the two addresses only a few blocks apart and the fact the 8-year-old child was able to put a name to the suspect, could suggest the families of 3898 Washington Street and 3218 Jackson Street knew each other socially to some degree.

Xenophon Anthony was born in 1931, making him 38 years old in 1969, around the correct age range as testified by the three teenagers and Officer Donald Fouke. He was married to Valerie Ann Moore in 1956 in Los Angeles, California. They lived in San Marino, California for ten years, before relocating to San Francisco around 1966. San Marino is situated 50 miles from Riverside. David Oranchak of Zodiackillerciphers.com unearthed that Ancestry.com had a college yearbook entry for his wife, listing her residence in Riverside, CA.  Could there be a link to Riverside? Xenophon Anthony would have been 25 years of age in 1966, at about the time of the move. But one must stress that these and the following are simple observations and certainly do not make Anthony the Zodiac Killer, only a subject that was investigated.  

Alexander Henry von Hafften, the resident of 3898 Washington Street, was born around 1914, making him 55 years of age in 1969, so it is not inconceivable he and his family may have passed in similar circles to Xenophon Anthony. He graduated from Stanford University, California in 1934. Here is an extract from the Desert Sun newspaper in 1945: "Alexander von Hafften and his lovely bride of 10 days, the former Miss Sebella Harden, have been honeymooning in Palm Springs for the past two weeks and were seen dining and dancing at the Colonial House on several occasions. She is a direct descendant of the Leland Stanford family, founders of Stanford university. She was married at Palo Alto, her home, on December 8."  Palm Springs is a desert resort located in Riverside County. Here is a United States tax court legal docket of Alexander von Hafften and his wife Sebelle Harden von Hafften, regarding a property dispute in 1974, concerning the sale of a Los Angeles property they bought for rental. Had they connections in the Los Angeles/Riverside area at an earlier date, possibly when Xenophon Anthony resided there?

Sebelle Harden von Hafften, was the great-grandniece of Leland Stanford, who founded of Stanford University. Born in San Francisco in June 1922, she received her early education from the Dominicans at Mt. St. Mary's Academy in Newburgh, N.Y. She graduated from Stanford University in 1944 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. During World War II, she began volunteering for the Red Cross Motor Corps in Palo Alto. She served on various organizations' boards and committees, including the Stanford Alumni Association and the Fine Arts Auxillary. She loved the opera and was an avid supporter of the San Francisco Opera. Sebelle would have been 47 years of age in 1969, Alexander 55 and Xenophon Anthony 38. If their son recognized Anthony, is it not possible they had likely crossed paths. The Zodiac Killer quoted Gilbert and Sullivan's comedic opera, The Mikado, three times in his correspondences. Sebelle Harden von Hafften, as stated above, loved the opera, making it a possibility this was the passion that connected the two wealthy families.

From Wikipedia: 'The first performance given by San Francisco Opera was La bohème, with Queena Mario and Giovanni Martinelli, on 26 September 1923, in the city's Civic Auditorium and conducted by Merola, whose involvement in opera in the San Francisco Bay Area had been ongoing since his first visit in 1906. By the fall of 1921 he was planning his first season, which was presented at Stanford University's football stadium on 3 June 1922 with a star-studded group of singers, including Giovanni Martinelli in Pagliacci, followed by Carmen and Faust.
Another innovation was "Opera in the Park" which, since 1971, has been an annual free concert in Golden Gate Park on the Sunday following opening night of the Fall Season. It traditionally features artists from the opening weekend in full concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The event is open to the public and draws some 30,000 listeners. The concert is presented in conjunction with the non-profit San Francisco Parks Trust and the San Francisco Chronicle Charities.'   

The 8-year-old identified a subject on Washington Street, both families lived in the wealthy district of Presidio Heights, enjoyed fine living and the arts, likely moved in similar circles and may very well have shared a passion for the opera, while at the same time not interacting domestically. The murderer of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969 had entered the taxicab in the theater district of San Francisco by Union Square. His destination on the trip sheet was logged as Washington and Maple, but what caused him the late change to Washington and Cherry? Had he spotted somebody he knew or noticed a pedestrian walking in the area, that forced him on another block westward, only to inadvertently bring the taxicab to a halt outside 3898 Washington Street? A residence, unbeknownst to him, that would contain somebody he had crossed paths with before.

​'Xenophon Lusby Anthony, WMA, DOB 28th February 1931. Resides at 3218 Jackson Street, San Francisco. For Info Ident Division, San Francisco Police Department advised; 8 year old witness in murder of cab driver identified Anthony as possible subject in this matter.' ​ The exact address the subject backtracked towards that fateful night. But did he enter 3218 or walk on by? Alex Lewis is correct - after October 11th 1969 it appears "the Zodiac murders abruptly stopped," after previously gaining pace. This murder was nearly his undoing, and he may have known it only too well. Was the identification of Xenophon Anthony by the 8-year-old a simple mistake and he had only viewed an innocent pedestrian that night. If this was the case we could make the argument that the Zodiac Killer may have looked somewhat similar to Xenophon Anthony. However, eyewitness testimony must always be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism.