Subsequent to the 6.30 pm attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa, one key eyewitness Ronald Fong was circling the lake in his boat and responded to the cries of Bryan Hartnell. Ronald Fong turned his engine on and motored away to seek help at the Rancho Monticello Resort. It was at this point Ranger Sergeant William White received a call from Park Headquarters regarding the attack and proceeded to the Rancho Monticello Resort at 6.55 pm. It is here Ronald Fong relayed his observations to Sgt William White, as to the young couple in distress, and both, along with Archie White and Elizabeth White traveled via speedboat to the crime scene to offer assistance to both Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. The time is now 7.10 pm. At this time Ranger Dennis Land arrived in his truck, carrying the stricken Bryan Hartnell, who had managed to crawl his way towards the road. At approximately 7.10 pm or very shortly after Sgt William White radioed Park Headquarters to summon an ambulance and deputies to the crime scene. We know the 7.10 pm estimate is about right, because help arrived via Piner's ambulance from Napa to the crime scene, and returned back to the Queen of the Valley Hospital arriving at 8.50 pm. That is an approximate journey time of 45 minutes each way, including 10 minutes negotiating the crime scene. Detective Sergeants Kenneth Narlow and Richard Lonergan were contacted regarding the attack at 8.20 pm, at which time the ambulance would have been approaching mid route to the hospital and both officers were sent to see if they could interview the couple.
Deputy Ray Land and Sergeant David Collins were dispatched directly to the crime scene from St Helena and Napa respectively. Sgt David Collins spoke on the documentary 'This is the Zodiac Speaking' "It took us a half hour from Napa and/or St Helena to arrive at the location. And we later found out of course that crime had occurred at least half an hour before we were notified." They were notified at 7.10 pm, so arrived en scene at approximately 7.40 pm. It would be a further 15 minutes before the ambulance would arrive at 7.55 pm, now of course 85 minutes after the attack, and both victims were in critical condition. The time of 7.40 pm is also the time the killer placed his call from the Napa Car Wash payphone. At this point the victims are being tended to by the respondents, including David Collins, who took a statement from Cecelia Shepard regarding the movements and description of the killer. At this point David Collins and both victims were unaware that this crime was the work of the Zodiac Killer, only that an assailant had brutally stabbed the young couple.
The caller from the payphone issued his declaration "I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia" and after a brief pause uttered the words "I'm the one that did it".
Strikingly similar in composition to the Blue Rock Springs phone call nearly three months earlier, where the murderer issued the words "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." It has been suggested in certain quarters that the caller in the aftermath of Lake Berryessa may have been a hoaxer, having scanned police frequencies and delivered the message, yet it wasn't the actual killer. However at 7.40 pm when the call was phoned in, the police were at this point unaware it was a Zodiac crime, having not yet examined the footprints and Karmann Ghia door. They were still by the shoreline tending to the victims, after all this was their main priority at this point. The question therefore, is how could the killer and the caller be separate people, without first hand knowledge of the crime as a Zodiac crime, suggested by the near identically structured message. The fact of the matter, is that the caller would be implying a Zodiac crime, even though nobody else has yet discovered it is. This suggests strongly that the killer and payphone caller are one and the same person, especially considering the time of the attack, the distance to downtown Napa and the time of the call, not to mention his direction of travel appears southwards toward Vallejo. This similar to his direction of travel from Blue Rock Springs Park to the Springs and Tuolumne intersection, in a westerly direction toward Vallejo once again.
The caller from the payphone issued his declaration "I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia" and after a brief pause uttered the words "I'm the one that did it".
Strikingly similar in composition to the Blue Rock Springs phone call nearly three months earlier, where the murderer issued the words "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye." It has been suggested in certain quarters that the caller in the aftermath of Lake Berryessa may have been a hoaxer, having scanned police frequencies and delivered the message, yet it wasn't the actual killer. However at 7.40 pm when the call was phoned in, the police were at this point unaware it was a Zodiac crime, having not yet examined the footprints and Karmann Ghia door. They were still by the shoreline tending to the victims, after all this was their main priority at this point. The question therefore, is how could the killer and the caller be separate people, without first hand knowledge of the crime as a Zodiac crime, suggested by the near identically structured message. The fact of the matter, is that the caller would be implying a Zodiac crime, even though nobody else has yet discovered it is. This suggests strongly that the killer and payphone caller are one and the same person, especially considering the time of the attack, the distance to downtown Napa and the time of the call, not to mention his direction of travel appears southwards toward Vallejo. This similar to his direction of travel from Blue Rock Springs Park to the Springs and Tuolumne intersection, in a westerly direction toward Vallejo once again.
It would be later that Sergeant David Collins would head towards the roadside to examine the tire impressions and car door. He said "After the ambulance took the victims to the hospital in Napa (remember it arrived at approximately 7.55 pm, so likely left around 8.05 pm, to arrive at the Queen of the Valley Hospital at 8.50 pm), and while waiting for detectives from the Sheriff's Department to arrive Deputy Land talked to the witnesses and obtained statements from them. I began a search for evidence and discovered a footprint that led from Berryessa Knoxville Road to the victims and back again, which was totally separate from the shoes that they were wearing. When I went to the roadway I saw the white Karmann Ghia and I saw tracks leading away from it." He further added "I looked at the Karmann Ghia, and on the passenger door the circle with the vertical and horizontal line through it was displayed on the door and there were several dates, and then it ended with September 27th 1969, 6:30 pm, by knife, which was our crime, so he had left his calling card, which is what he had done. I recognized the symbol on the door as being the same symbol she had described on the hood."
The roadway observations occurred after 8.00 pm, once the ambulance had departed the scene, making any Zodiac styled payphone message at 7.40 pm, to be incontrovertibly linked back to the crime scene, and one perpetrator of the crime and call.
The roadway observations occurred after 8.00 pm, once the ambulance had departed the scene, making any Zodiac styled payphone message at 7.40 pm, to be incontrovertibly linked back to the crime scene, and one perpetrator of the crime and call.
