The Zodiac Killer or a copycat sent a letter to the Vallejo Times-Herald on Wednesday October 28th 1987, claiming he would be driving around on Halloween night in his 'death machine looking for some kiddies to run over. Cars make nice weapons.' He also made reference to the movie The Car, directed by Elliot Silverstein and released in 1977, about a satanic, driverless car that embarks on a series of hit and run deaths. Another review of The Car here.
The Zodiac crimes involved attacks where he tended to seek out couples in cars, the only deviation being the Presidio slaying of taxi driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, yet still a vehicle was integral to the crime.
Quite possibly the Zodiac Killer had used his car as a potential weapon in a previous attack 15 years earlier, when a lone woman in Marin County had a terrifying encounter one dark night.
Isobel Watson (33) had just got off the bus on the evening of April 7th 1972 and was walking home along Pine Hill Road, Tamalpais Valley, Marin County at 9.00pm when a light coloured car veered towards her knocking her to the ground. [view on google maps] The driver exited his vehicle offering to take her home, but after she had refused his offer of apparent help a second time, the concerned citizen suddenly transformed into a rage pulling out a knife and stabbing the woman in the neck and shoulder, fortunately she survived the horrific ordeal. See Tamalpais Valley Attack .
The Zodiac crimes involved attacks where he tended to seek out couples in cars, the only deviation being the Presidio slaying of taxi driver Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, yet still a vehicle was integral to the crime.
Quite possibly the Zodiac Killer had used his car as a potential weapon in a previous attack 15 years earlier, when a lone woman in Marin County had a terrifying encounter one dark night.
Isobel Watson (33) had just got off the bus on the evening of April 7th 1972 and was walking home along Pine Hill Road, Tamalpais Valley, Marin County at 9.00pm when a light coloured car veered towards her knocking her to the ground. [view on google maps] The driver exited his vehicle offering to take her home, but after she had refused his offer of apparent help a second time, the concerned citizen suddenly transformed into a rage pulling out a knife and stabbing the woman in the neck and shoulder, fortunately she survived the horrific ordeal. See Tamalpais Valley Attack .
| This letter is questionable at best, but did anything occur on Halloween night 1987 to substantiate anything the author alludes to in the letter. On October 31st 1987, three days after the mailing of this correspondence, Shannon Olson (15) disappeared from the South East Wichita area after she had decided to venture out with friends on All Hallows Eve. Within hours she was found floating in a pond by two fishermen, in an industrial area off the now I-35 and K-96 in North Wichita. Shannon Olson had been repeatedly stabbed over forty times, her hands bound behind her back with her own bra. It was surmised her body had been dumped there, after possibly being abducted sometime earlier. The letter and the murder are in within days of each other, with the crime occurring on Halloween night. The killer could have used his car in the crime to lure or disable the victim, similar to the Tamalpais Valley Attack. Shannon was only a kid of 15 years, bound and killed in what clearly was a frenzied attack of over 40 knife wounds, an overkill bearing partial traits of the Lake Berryessa Attack, the Hood/Garcia Murders and the Domingos/Edwards slayings, all discovered near water. October 31st 1987 was also a Saturday, bearing in mind the Zodiac's four confirmed attacks at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights all took place on a Friday or Saturday. It is believed by some that the Zodiac murders and correspondence were part influenced by an occultist theme. The Church of Satan was founded by author and occultist Anton Szandor LaVey, almost to the day, six months prior to All Hallows Eve on April 30th 1966 at the Black House, 6114 California Street, San |  |
Francisco, California, close to the Presidio Heights district where Paul Stine was killed, but the building was later demolished in 2001.
It was also exactly six months later that Cheri Jo Bates was murdered outside the Riverside City College Library on October 30th 1966. The San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times ran articles on LaVey calling him 'The Black Pope'.
Anton LaVey, knew the Tamalpais Valley area well, having attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley until the age of 16.
He died on October 29th 1997, but curiously his death certificate stated his passing on Halloween morning.
Was the Zodiac a integral member or part influenced by the Anton LaVey movement and the press coverage.
In a television interview Paul Avery, who had become the subject of the killers Halloween Card, received a phone call from LaVey stating that he thought the Zodiac Killer may have been one of his parishioners, subsequently providing Paul Avery with some material, leading Avery to comically allude to the fact, that the 'Zodiac was so bad even the Church of Satan didn't want him'.
As stated earlier the Zodiac mentioned the 1977 film The Car, about a satanically possessed vehicle that embarks on a murderous rampage, Anton LaVey was awarded the title of Technical Advisor in the movies credits, with a quote from his Satanic Bible.
The murder of Shannon Olson is still highly unlikely a Zodiac crime, with many people suggesting the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader as the possible murderer, as his crimes were in the area of Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991, where he claimed 10 victims, but the majority of his murders involved strangulation or suffocation, only one of his victims Kathryn Bright had been stabbed, once in the back and the abdomen. Dennis Rader has not confessed to the murder of Shannon Olson and the case remains unsolved to this day.
It was also exactly six months later that Cheri Jo Bates was murdered outside the Riverside City College Library on October 30th 1966. The San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times ran articles on LaVey calling him 'The Black Pope'.
Anton LaVey, knew the Tamalpais Valley area well, having attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley until the age of 16.
He died on October 29th 1997, but curiously his death certificate stated his passing on Halloween morning.
Was the Zodiac a integral member or part influenced by the Anton LaVey movement and the press coverage.
In a television interview Paul Avery, who had become the subject of the killers Halloween Card, received a phone call from LaVey stating that he thought the Zodiac Killer may have been one of his parishioners, subsequently providing Paul Avery with some material, leading Avery to comically allude to the fact, that the 'Zodiac was so bad even the Church of Satan didn't want him'.
As stated earlier the Zodiac mentioned the 1977 film The Car, about a satanically possessed vehicle that embarks on a murderous rampage, Anton LaVey was awarded the title of Technical Advisor in the movies credits, with a quote from his Satanic Bible.
The murder of Shannon Olson is still highly unlikely a Zodiac crime, with many people suggesting the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader as the possible murderer, as his crimes were in the area of Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991, where he claimed 10 victims, but the majority of his murders involved strangulation or suffocation, only one of his victims Kathryn Bright had been stabbed, once in the back and the abdomen. Dennis Rader has not confessed to the murder of Shannon Olson and the case remains unsolved to this day.
