ZODIAC CIPHERS
RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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HUNTING BY THE BENICIA PUMPING STATION

10/17/2024

 
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Kim Rossmo stated: ​​"The San Francisco murder differs significantly from the Zodiac's other crimes. Up to this point he was hunting in locations that had a good probability of containing his desired victims. Target selection was a function of area, not of an individual. However, it is unlikely the Zodiac was successful in all his searches; serial killers typically engage in extensive hunting activities, and for every attack there are many unsuccessful search attempts".

This may have been the case with the white Chevrolet Impala spotted by Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser when they passed the gate #10 turnout at 9pm on their way to the Marshall Ranch to hunt raccoons in the area of the Benicia Pumping Station. Later, spotted by sheepherder Bingo Wesner at 10pm as he walked the field tending his sheep near the turnout. Or he noticed the Chevrolet Impala when driving into Gate #10 to check his sheep. The question has always been: was this the vehicle of the Zodiac Killer, armed with a sighting attachment to his gun or rifle? Shooting kids in or by a vehicle, aided by headlights, doesn't really necessitate the use of a pencil flaslight. However, if his intention that night was to park in the turnout by the pumping station and head off into the dark fields to hunt potential victims connected to the businesses and ranches in that area, a sighting implement may have been much more beneficial. 

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​On at least two occasions (possibly more), the Chevrolet Impala was observed empty over a minimum of one hour. It was observed by Robert Connelly, Frank Gasser and George "Bingo" Wesner at 9pm and 10pm, parked facing the gate on an extremely cold night in December. What purpose could the owner of this vehicle have for being in this area over this protracted length of time? Undoubtedly, police should have interviewed local ranches and businesses in the area of that turnout to see whether anybody had any late night dealings with somebody who owned a white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala. To this day, we have had no confirmation that this vehicle has been cleared from the investigation.

The Zodiac Killer could have parked his Chevrolet in the turnout sometime before 9pm and ventured into the area by the pumping station to search for victims, but was later disturbed by the arrival of Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser, armed with guns and dogs. He may have thought it wise to temporarily vacate the area and return to his vehicle. Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser reported that they "treed either a cat or raccoon in the area of the Dotta Ranch. While they were there they saw some sort of activity up there, all the lights were on, but they were a little distance away". The Zodiac Killer may have got back into his vehicle and cruised around the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs areas looking for alternative victims. The "extensive hunting activities" described by Kim Rossmo. Failing to find any victims he reverts back to his original plan and heads back to the gate #10 turnout, where he may have "encouraged" the decision by William Crow and his girlfriend to relinquish the turnout (Crow in a later account described the car that chased him as a four-door light-colored Chevy). The alternative is that Zodiac arrived after the William Crow incident. Parking back up sometime before 10pm, he once again ventures back into the field beyond the gate to resume his hunt. While he is scouting the area by the pumping station, Bingo Wesner notices his vehicle at 10pm in the turnout while walking the field tending his sheep. After seeing the vehicle has no occupants he resumes his duties. 

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​Meanwhile, the Zodiac Killer has noticed Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser are still in the area, so once again returns to his vehicle at about 10:30pm. Helen Axe has previously passed the turnout heading to Benicia and possibly notices the Chevrolet facing the gate at 10:15pm, but just before she returns up the road at 10:30pm, the Zodiac Killer has changed the posiition of the Chevrolet in the process of leaving the turnout. This shift in position is noted by Helen Axe. The Zodiac Killer leaves the turnout once again, but is determined to begin collecting his slaves for the afterlife.

​After the Zodiac Killer leaves the turnout, Bingo Wesner, who has now finished tending his sheep, leaves through the vacant turnout sometime after 10:30pm. Approximately 45 minutes after Zodiac had left the turnout, he returns for a third time at about 11:15pm and notices the Faraday Ramber in the turnout. The rest is history. Later, he would recall in his August 4th 1969 letter, that "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights". There may have been no need to use the "gun sights" because these murders were not his original plan.

There was some conflict in the statement of Helen Axe according to police, who noted that when Miss Axe first contacted them, she described a Rambler backed into the gate, and then changed her story to a Rambler facing the gate before turning around. Ray Grant may have a good case for arguing that Helen Axe saw the Chevrolet Impala, who ultimately convinced herself she had seen the Faraday Rambler after the story of the murders broke in the newspaper. The shifting position of a Chevrolet facing the gate, to turning around, would effectively describe a Zodiac Killer returning from his excursion into the field at approximately 10:30pm. Her first sighting of a vehicle at 10:15pm facing into the gate would have been only 15 minutes after the sighting of an unoccupied Chevrolet in the turnout by Bingo Wesner, facing into the gate. For her sighting to be the Faraday Rambler, the owner of the Chevrolet facing the gate, would have had to return to the vehicle shortly after 10pm, leave the turnout, to be replaced by the Faraday Rambler minutes later, which also parked facing the gate at 10:15pm. This seems less likely than it being the same Chevrolet in the turnout at 10pm, 10:15pm and 10:30pm. The final time being the Chevrolet after turning around to leave.

PictureErmine white 1960 Chevrolet Impala. The color can vary.
If this were true, we would now have a Chevrolet Impala being spotted in the gate #10 turnout from 9pm to 10:30pm, just 45 minutes before the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, by the occupant of a vehicle parked alongside their Rambler in the same turnout. It's quite amazing what can happen in one turnout over a 2 hour and 15 minute period. So is it likely that these were separate and coincidental events, or the dogged determination of a killer searching for his first victims before Christmas?

There is also the possibility that Helen Axe mistook the color of the vehicle she observed, because the factory color of some Chevrolet Impala's made in 1959 and 1960, were painted in ermine white, which in dark and subdued lighting can appear light brown. The very color that Michael Mageau described as the color of Zodiac's car on July 4th/5th 1969, viewed in less than favorable light. The reason that Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser described the vehicle as white, was that Frank Gasser, while hunting that night, later revealed he had approached the Chevrolet Impala and shone a flaslight at it (noticing it was unoccupied). Bingo Wesner, tending his sheep at night, also noticed the Chevrolet while walking in the field. Bingo Wesner absolutely required visibility to do his job, so it is quite reasonable to conclude he was in possession of a flashlight too. ​The following section is from a previous article, suggesting that there is a possibility Zodiac used the same vehicle during his second attack

PictureMichael Mageau (19)
Shortly before midnight on July 4th 1969, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin pulled into the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs and sat there talking for a while. A vehicle, that most people believe was Zodiac, came from the direction of Springs Road according to Michael Mageau, entered the parking lot and parked alongside the left side of their Corvair for about one minute, about 6 to 8 feet away. The vehicle, that Michael thought was driven by a single male, then left the parking lot and headed back towards Springs Road. He estimated that 5 minutes later the vehicle returned from that direction, once again pulled into the parking lot, but this time positioned itself to the rear of Darlene Ferrin's Corvair.

After exiting his vehicle the Zodiac Killer approached the Corvair and began shooting the couple. Subsequent to the attack (at about 12:02am on July 5th 1969) he got back in his vehicle and then drove away towards Springs Road for a second time. Michael Mageau was able to recall the assailant's vehcle had a California license plate. The Zodiac Killer, without knowing the automobile proficiency of the couple in the Corvair, especially after parking his vehicle alongside theirs for about one minute - and entering and exiting the parking lot twice - must have been aware that there was a reasonable possibility the couple had recognised the make and color of his vehicle. He even drove away from the crime scene slowly according to his story.

The Zodiac Killer, if he was familiar with Blue Rock Springs, also knew that there was a reasonable possibility that the nine shots he fired that morning may have been heard by the caretaker and/or residents of the house approximately 800 feet from the parking lot. George Bryant stated that "he could hear laughing and a few firecrackers being set off. And at approximately midnight he heard what appeared to be a gunshot. This was much louder than any of the firecrackers. A short time later he heard what appeared to be another gunshot. After another short pause he heard rapid fire of what appeared to be gunshots. He then heard a car take off".

The Zodiac Killer's vehicle had been viewed by Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin for at least 2 minutes that night/ morning, and he had fired off 9 shots in total. If he had planned to make a phone call that morning, the obvious choice was to do this immediately before police were alerted and his vehicle description was sent out over the airwaves throughout Vallejo. But wait I hear you say; Zodiac probably thought the couple were dead. After all, his phone call to Nancy Slover stated ​"I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east...... On Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car". This gives the impression that he thought he had killed two people - but this claim was bullshit - and he knew there was a distinct possibility he had only killed one person that morning.​  

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​He knew this because he gave himself away on August 4th 1969 when he sent a letter to the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. In it he wrote "The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car". 

Michael Mageau was last described by Zodiac as thrashing around violently in the back seat when he shot him in the knee. The Zodiac Killer must have known that a knee shot was not a terminal injury, knew that there was a strong possibility that Michael Mageau was still alive when he left the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs, knew that Michael Mageau had the ability to have seen his vehicle for at least two minutes, knew there was a possibility his 9 shots were heard in the vicinity of Blue Rock Springs, and understood that the crime scene may have been discovered fairly quickly,

​Understanding all this and knowing the make and color of his vehicle could be all over the Vallejo airwaves fairly quickly, is it reasonable to conclude he drove around Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes, before parking his vehicle adjacent to a payphone, only 830 meters from the Vallejo Police Department? He also leaned into the Corvair to target Michael Mageau in the back seat, leaving two spent casings on the rear floorboard of the vehicle, which had the potential to transfer blood to his shirt from the passenger seat.

Taking all these circumstances into account, it is far more reasonable to conclude he drove home, concealed his vehicle, ditched the smoking gun, changed his clothes, and then headed to the payphone on foot to make the call. This would explain why the phone call to Nancy Slover was logged at 12:40am, when the journey time to the payphone from the murder scene was only 9 minutes. If the Zodiac Killer had made these obvious assumptions described above, it would have been reckless to have been driving around or parked up on the streets of Vallejo for approximately 40 minutes after the attack. He would have been right to conclude this, because a limited description of him and his vehicle was given to officers by Michael Mageau at the crime scene, who broadcasted this information over the airwaves. But the Zodiac Killer couldn't have been sure how limited this description would be. He knew his face was shielded by the glare of the flashlight, but his vehicle was afforded no such protection.          

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​In his August 4th 1969 letter the Zodiac was giving police details about the Blue Rock Springs crime scene to prove he was the killer. He immediately jumped into a detailed description of a "man who told police that my car was brown (and) was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed". This description could have easily been verified by police had the Zodiac been telling the truth, so it would have been pretty pointless the Zodiac Killer giving this information had it not been true. But if the Zodiac Killer saw police talking to a negro male, then it was likely by the payphone that Zodiac had earlier claimed he was walking by. Which Zodiac described by stating "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 X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car". 

We know that after the payphone call was traced, a responding officer was sent from Blue Rock Springs to the payphone to secure it for fingerprint testing, so it is logical to conclude that this is where the Zodiac saw police talking to the black man. If so, then the Zodiac Killer stil had eyes on that payphone at least 10 minutes after his call to Nancy Slover. Because if the payphone call was traced as early as 12:41am, it would have taken the responding officer from Blue Rock Springs about 9 minutes to reach that payphone, at approximately 12:50am. The longer the trace took, the longer the Zodiac Killer was hanging around the vicinity of that payphone. If the phone call was traced at 12:47am, the responding officer would arrive at the payphone at about 12:56am.

​The police may have suspected that a payphone call at 12:40am from Sptings & Tuolumne, when its journey time from the crime scene was only 9 minutes, opened up the possibility the Zodiac Killer could have lived nearby. The Zodiac Killer must also have realized this possibility, so he attributed the presence of his vehicle to the negro male, who Zodiac claimed saw it while walking by the payphone at 12:40am, and who at 12:50am (or later), Zodiac claimed he believed, had given the color of his vehicle to the police. By adding in the color of his vehicle as brown into his August 4th 1969 letter, the Zodiac can mischievously corroborate the testimony of Mageau, when in fact, it was an ermine white Chevrolet Impala.  Even if the police were not told by the negro male he had noticed the vehicle of the man in the payphone, the accuracy of the negro male's description by Zodiac (if true), would have added validity to the Zodiac Killer's claims his vehicle was present. Another reason why the Zodiac had to ensure his description of the black male was accurate, was because if this information couldn't be verified, the rest of his story loses validity. The Zodiac Killer, in his August 4th 1969 letter, was effectively telling police he was still present near that payphone when they responded to it. He was nearby, and had hung around the area after ending the call with Nancy Slover. By claiming he was still in his vehicle during and after the payphone call, he was suggesting to the police that he had the capability to travel anywhere. But everything described above, should tell you that this may very well have been a lie. His vehicle was never at that payphone (and it wasn't brown) - and the real negro male was the conduit for this deception.

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On December 20th 1968 we had a Chevrolet Impala, as yet unidentified, present in the turnout on two separate occasions at 9pm and 10pm. If Helen Axe mistook the vehicle she saw and subconsciously attributed her sighting as the Faraday Rambler, then we have three sightings between 9pm and 10:30pm. When we consider what occurred about 40 to 45 minutes later, this 1959 or 1960 white Chevrolet Impala has to be strongly considered as the suspect vehicle viewed by James Owen as he passed the turnout sometime between 11:10pm and 11:15pm that night. Unfortunately, he was unable to give a satisfactory description of the vehicle parked alongside the Rambler. Had he described a Chevrolet Impala in the turnout, it could be argued that the Zodiac Killer's designs that night, bore closer resemblance to a man that thought killing people was more fun than "hunting wild game in the forest". He would have been hunting people on the hillsides of Benicia, armed with a pencil flashlight for that very purpose. What was the "activity" described by Robert Connelly and Frank Gasser at the Dotta Ranch on the south side of the lake? Was it at this point the Zodiac Killer abandoned his plans after noticing the flashlight carrying raccoon hunters in the distance?

At Presidio Heights three similar descriptions of the Zodiac Killer's clothing were given by three sets of eyewitness in a six minute window, during the time the killer left the taxicab and entered the Presidio park. But their description of his age were extremely significant. The teenagers described a man in his early forties. Officer Donald Fouke described a man between 35 and 45. The sighting of a man running into Julius Kahn playground was given an estimation of about forty. Bearing in mind the small window of time that these three descriptions were given, they have to be considered as the likeliest age of our killer. Coalescing the arguments above for Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs and Presidio Heights, there is a reasonable argument to be had, that we should prioritize our search for a man aged about 40, who drove a white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala, who lived within a one mile radius of the Springs & Tuolumne payphone in Vallejo. Such a record search in 1969 may have had a fighting chance of identifying the Zodiac Killer. But was it done?

RAY GRANT'S ROAMING CHEVROLET IMPALA
THE CONNELLY AND GASSER SIGHTING OF THE CHEVROLET IMPALA WAS 9PM
CONNELLY AND GASSER NEVER SAW WESNER
WAS THE HELEN AXE SIGHTING WRONG?


Johnny
10/17/2024 08:14:12 am

It's a little hard to believe, Rick, that someone living that close to the telephone booth owning a Impala in the same colour and approx. production year could wrestle out of this?

Maybe if the car was owned by some other individual, preferably a loyal mother or possible a girlfriend, and if they didn't check enough he could make it.

I believe the Impala heighten the odds some of Zodiac living in Vallejo. Because i really believe he had a Impala because of the hunters and the farmer. Males usually is better with cars then ladies and they got up close to a parked car!


I wonder if some suspect they follwed owned a Impala in the right age and colour. I know Graysmith writes about some younger male chasing cars around. Chester maybe had a car for his work that wasn't registered to him. Maybe they had Impalas at his work?

Richard
10/17/2024 08:39:53 am

It all depends on whether the police put two and two together. How seriously did they consider the Chevrolet in the murders? Did they ever apply geographic profiling techniques around the payphone in a 4-square miles radius to search for a white Chevrolet? Don't forget, the description they were given by Mageau was a light or medium brown Corvair or Mustang, so why would they ever be looking for a white Chevrolet around the payphone? They likely never considered that an ermine white Chevy could look light brown in diminished lighting. The investigation at LHR incorrectly meshed Wesner and Connelly's statement as one sighting, despite two different times. They may have took Axe's sighting of the Rambler to be true. So the significance of the Chevrolet to the police probably bore no resemblance to the one I have presented above. Or indeed, the one presented by Ray Grant.

Johnny
10/17/2024 09:33:52 am

It sounds like a small catastrophe to take those two sightings as one. I always trust what you say and your opinions, but it would be no good if true, from the viewpoint we seem to have right now atleast, with a very high chance that the murderer drove that Impala.

Richard Grinell
10/17/2024 09:51:13 am

What I would say Johnny, is it's the most likely avenue to date. The owner apparently never came forward. That road had no lighting, it was extremely dark, very cold (about 22 degree Fahrenheit, minus 5 degrees Celsius), and remote. What was the owner doing wandering around outside the vehicle, twice, over 60 minutes, or possibly 90.

Richard
10/17/2024 10:00:50 am

As Ray Grant pointed out, we must not be bound by a 1959 or 1960 Chevy. It could have been a slightly newer make, such as 1961.

Johnny
10/17/2024 08:25:18 am

I'm reading Mageaus description now, and i think its sounds similar to Gaikowski. The people that got stopped by a man in the middle of the road saying he searched for his lady also describe a similar looking man i think.

Its hard to say though, but for me it sounds very close.

Jibberjabber
10/17/2024 02:45:02 pm

In his 1986 book,Graysmith has a white Chevy being the car that hit Isobel Watson in Tamalpais Valley April 1972

Richard link
10/17/2024 03:46:13 pm

I have heard that person has been identified. I think I heard it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0K4TClHF-k&t=14s&ab_channel=DrewBeeson-TrueCrime%26MissingPeople

Johnny
10/18/2024 01:46:15 am

Don't know about you, but i can't find any possibility of finding coherent historic resident or property records for Vallejo, but i hope that someone will find the residents close to the phone booth that Rick suggests.


Richard
10/18/2024 02:42:42 am

I can't either Johnny, so it is down to somebody with more knowledge than me on how to achieve this, or somebody from law enforcement. I have limited access to American websites from the UK, so it's down to somebody else to take on this challenge. I doubt many are interested, so my guess is this avenue will also crumble to dust.

Johnny
10/18/2024 01:50:58 am

I guess one thing is to contact a private detective with US residency, but this will cost tens of thousand dollars i think. Don't know how much infomation they could get though and the legality of it.

Richard
10/18/2024 02:48:02 am

Yes, I'm not prepared to spend any more money on this case. Somebody either does it because they are driven to do it, or they won't, because money is their driver.

Richard
10/18/2024 03:11:15 am

I've always believed geographic profiling is the best tool for identifying the Zodiac Killer absent of DNA. As humans we all make decisions based on buffer zones, the least effort principle, our familiarity with locations, all around a framework of time and risk. Despite being a psychopath, the Zodiac Killer was still human and would operate under these principles, especially if the Lake Herman Road murders began his career of killing. He would have likely taken less risk during these earlier attacks, becoming emboldened as time progressed. This was shown to be true, switching from remote attacks at LHR and BRS to more daring attacks at LB and PH, when he never needed to opt for more risky murders. I obviously wouldn't stake my life on him living around that payphone or somewhere in Vallejo, but I think the odds swing that way. But if I was running the investigation, I would check individuals in this area first, before moving on. Kim Rossmo said "In San Francisco, however, the Zodiac controlled the situation through his selection of victim type. The need for such control could be indicative of the distance the Zodiac had to travel to the crime site. Criminals who travel longer distances to offend are less likely to use uncertain target selection techniques. In respect to the killer's home residence. There's a number of possibilities. But remember, Rancho Vallejo (which is one of the places Rossmo identified) was possibly 26,000 people at that time, of which only 13,000 will be male, and only a certain proportion of those are of the correct age, and a certain portion of those are only going to be white. Then we start looking at the neighborhoods involved, we have a pretty small subset. Then we start combining that with some of the personal and behavioral descriptors, and then we work in the vehicle information. If this case was active today, it would not be too difficult to find this person."

I agree. If we found a man aged about 40, who drove a white 1959 or 1960 Chevrolet Impala, who lived within a one mile radius of the Springs & Tuolumne payphone in Vallejo, And found he worked in San Francisco. All we have to do then is drill down a little further into his handwriting, hobbies, interests and whether he was off work during the key dates. Pulling suspects from the internet ad nauseam has got us nowhere for 56 years. We need to drain the pool until the offender surfaces. In other words, narrow our search parameters.

Cragle
10/18/2024 06:38:19 am

Also worth noting is the Meyring report where it’s stated that “Stan” and his “friend” at around 10.30pm that night witnessed a 63 Chevy Imapala, blue with two occupants and a Olde 2 door HT 88 Don turning off LHR onto Columbus

Richard
10/18/2024 07:16:11 am

That is right Cragle. I mentioned it previously but in this article I was attempting to focus the Lake Herman Road story around the turnout. But certainly another possible sighting at an approximate time that matches with an Impala leaving the turnout sometime around 10:30pm.

Jibberjabber
10/19/2024 03:05:36 am

I think you are right Richard, it is Bingo Wesner's testimony that could clear this up if the Impala was there only at 9PM or also at 10PM

Reading the report again last night I just want to point out that even though Wesner's statement reads like he was describing seeing the Impala and Gasser Connelly truck at 10PM:

https://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR26.html

There is a possibly conflicting comment from the police officer writing the report on Connelly's observation of the Impala and the Wesner truck at 9PM writing "this coincides with information from BINGO Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the Impala and also saw the red pick up truck go by"

https://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR22.html

from reading the reports we have, I cannot find anything where Wesner specificlly says he observed the Impala and the Gasser Connelly truck at 9PM when he exited the gate 10 in the turnout (as the police write in the Connelly statement), as you say Wesner's statement reads like he is saying he observed the vehicles at 10PM presumably on foot - so either Wesner did see the Impala & Gasser Conelly truck twice (at 9PM when exiting the gate & later on foot at 10 PM) or he maybe only saw it once at 9PM, but was not able to observe it at 10PM.

I agree his statement reads like that, but the Connelly statement has Wesner seeing the Impala at 9PM. what explains the disceprency in how the police say Wesner actually observed the Impala?

THIS BRINGS UP ANOTHER PROBLEM..

Connelly does insist he saw the Rambler in a different position than when the police found it, this being at 11:15 PM as Gasser & Connelly depart the area after hunting. Helen Axe also says the same thing about observing the Rambler in 2 positions, but she has the time at 10:15 PM.

https://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR28.html

If Helen Axe has the right car (Rambler) but the wrong time (10:15 PM when it was infact 11:15PM) then again maybe the Impala was never actually spotted around 10 PM - it could have been there but no witnesses were there to see it. No one else has the Rambler in the turnout s early as 10:15 PM

It seems it is a case of

1) Believe Helen Axe on the car but not the time
2) Believe Helen Axe on the time but not the car

But Robert Connelly corroborates what she is saying about the car, switching places so maybe Helen Axe simply got the time wrong and there never was an Impala in the turnout at 10PM (or at least no one was there to observed it)

William Crow was in the turnout around 9:30-10 PM but we could ignore his testimony if the Impala had left some time between 9PM & 10PM to return and be seen by Helen Axe, interesting though that Wesner does not report seeing this sports car in the turnout if it could have been there as late as 10PM. Also Wesner specifically states he did not see the Rambler. So if Wesner was on the hill at 10PM approx how is it he missed both the coming & going of the Crow sports car and the Rambler as observed by Axe?

https://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR10.html

You are right to point out Wesner's testimony seems to say he saw the Impala at 10PM, but the report writer says in Connelly's statement that this was at the same time Conner saw Wesner, and Wesner saw Connolly as he exited the turnout at 9PM

There has to either be a second Wesner statement making it clear Wesner saw the car twice, or maybe his one report was written up very badly

I dont know, I am just throwing this out as a possible alternative way to link everything together.

I think I asked this question before and I will ask it again to Ray Grant- why Is Helen Axe's description of the Rambler doubted if what she saw is corroborated by Connelly? She may have just got her time mixed up

I also dont believe Ray Grant is right when he says Connelly & Gasser shone the torch on the Impala, I think they shone the light on the Yours car

https://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR16.html


There is no where in the reports I can find it says the hunters shone their light on the Impala, but I dont see what difference that makes anyway as they had already identified it as an Impala as had Bingo Wesner. Is Grant trying to say Connelly can be trusted to tell a Rambler from an Impala because he shone a torch on the Impala where as Helen Axe simply drove past the Rambler but mistook it for an Impala? He seems to be trying to undermine Axe by virtue that Connelly had a flashlight? But he ignores that Helen Axe reported the moving Rambler just as Connelly did and she also says she saw the occupants

Ray Grant has to be fact checked, I have exposed him as a liar several times and he often presents partial facts that suit his narrative while ignoring the parts of the same accounts that do not.

I AM ALWAYS WATCHING YOU RAY GRANT




Richard Grinell
10/21/2024 02:00:54 am

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-connelly-and-gasser-sighting-of-the-chevrolet-impala-was-9pm

Wesner only saw the Chevrolet while tending his sheep in the field at 10pm. Connelly/Gasser saw the Chevy at 9pm and a truck coming out of the gate, that wasn't Wesner's truck.

The statement by police of "This coincides with information from Bingo Wesner that when he came out of the gate he saw the same Impala and also saw the red pick-up truck go by", wasn't said by Wesner. The police wrongly assumed the truck coming out of the gate was Wesner. He never said anything about coming out of the gate. His only statement said he saw the Chevy while checking his sheep. This was lazy police work who meshed two separate statements into one event that never happened. They interpreted the statement of Wesner. They should have got a second statement from Wesner, more detailed, but they never.

When Connelly/Gasser went by the turnout at 9pm, how could they possibly have identified Wesner's truck coming out of the gate. That gate was 100 feet away in 1968 in virtually total darkness. They saw a truck coming out of the gate - that's it. It was probably another individual, because Wesner NEVER said he exited the gate at 9pm. His ONLY statement has him checking sheep at 10pm.

Richard Grinell link
10/21/2024 06:18:12 am

Robert Graysmith in Zodiac Unmasked stated that Gasser shone his flashlight into the Chevy Impala.

Richard
10/21/2024 06:25:15 am

Helen Axe couldn't have seen the Rambler at 11:15pm, because the murders would have been in progress. She said 10:15pm and 10:30pm were her sightings. If that was 11:15pm and 11:30pm she would have seen the murders and the bodies in the turnout, which she didn't.

JIbberjabber
10/26/2024 12:00:32 am

I am thinking that if Z was on foot for a period of time, he really may have stalked Gasser & Connelly and attempted to ambush them (which is maybe how the Domingoes/Edwards, Swindles etc went down - if they were Z).

Maybe when he did get eye on them he saw they were also armed and he changed his mind (like he may have done when he seen David Rayfield at Lake Berryessa - if that was Z which I think it may have been)

One thing is for sure, Lake Herman Road and especially the gate 10 turnout were not as deserted as you might expect for almost midnight on Dec 20th 1968.

Could Z (in the white Impala if that is what he was driving) have been waiting in cover at some other vantage point where he had visibility of the turnout, and it was all the people there in cars around ~ 11PM that made him come out and have another sweep of the area

seems Gasser & Connelly and the Yours were in the area with lights on, engines running etc did Z see that?

I do think Zodiac was some sort of killer who maybe used his car more than the typical killer, and he may even have been roaming around for victims in a bit of a "territory" for want of a better word, but at the same time if he observed cars parked up it may have piqued his curiosity. It would be strange to be simply driving around LHR for hours on end increasing the chance someone would see him , maybe he had a little lookout place somewhere in the area and was holed up for a while.

JIbberjabber
10/26/2024 12:06:09 am

Observing the crime scenes after the attack may be something Z did, it would be an alternative explanation for why the call to Nancy Slover came ~ 30 minutes after the attack.

By 12:40 the victims were on their way to the hospital, or may already have been there? This I am thinking about again since Richard Hoffman's grandson claimed Hoffman was the Zodiac and various people came out to say he could not be Zodiac as he was at Kaiser hospital when the call from the phone booth was made.

Zodiac also claims (but could be lying, but at the same time seems to have been right about the fire trucks etc) that he observed the search of Julius Khan playground.

Did Z retreat to an observation point after his attacks, could he have done the same at LHR before & after, could he have done the same at BRS (and explains the interval between shooting & phonecall) and explains his knowledge of the Julis Khan search


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