LAKE BERRYESSA- THE TWO SIGHTINGS

4/15/2018

For those of you who dislike using measurements and timelines in the Zodiac case, look away now. The following will be a detailed analysis of the Lake Berryessa sighting of Dr Rayfield & Son and the three young girls - the latter of whom provided a possible sketch of the Zodiac Killer to police. This article will argue that the sketch created from the three girls recollection of a suspicious individual was most likely the murderer of Cecelia Shepard and four others in the Bay Area.

Using only the police report, there are enough details contained within it to place Dr Rayfield & Son and the three girls at virtually the identical location alongside the Knoxville Road that day. The "The three girls left the area about 4:30 pm and the subjects vehicle was gone." Dr Rayfield & Son, it was argued in a previous article, noticed a "white male adult subject walking in the area, described as about 5'10", heavy build, wearing dark trousers, a dark shirt with red in it, long sleeves" at about 6.50 pm that evening. Lake Berryessa-A Killer's timeline. If the shirt with "red in it" was blood, this may likely have been the killer returning to his vehicle after the double stabbing by the lake, negating the idea it was parked behind Bryan Hartnell's Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. If Dr Rayfield & Son were at the same location as the three girls, who saw the suspect vehicle no more at 4:30 pm, this may suggest that after he had 'eyed' up the young girls for a potential attack, he ultimately decided to move his vehicle away from any potential crime scene- possibly slightly north - but not too far.

The Zodiac Killer was therefore likely trawling Lake Berryessa along the hillside for victims, and after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard (signing the car door at approximately 6:30 pm or marginally earlier), he returned to the approximate location of where the three girls were earlier, and was spotted by Dr Rayfield & Son returning to his vehicle for the 28 mile journey to the 1231 Main St, Napa payphone. Two different sets of eyewitnesses, spotting a suspicious character before and after the Lake Berryessa attack, one could argue, has a high probability of being the Zodiac Killer, and more importantly the subsequent sketch created thereafter has greater significance.

But the first thing we have to do is place Dr Rayfield & Son at the approximate location alongside the Knoxville Road as the three girls. We will use these details from the police report: The three young women who potentially saw Zodiac, "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road". The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road.

A second set of eyewitnesses saw the Zodiac later that day: "Dr Rayfield and his son stated that they did not notice a vehicle in the area of their vehicle and only this subject at a distance of about 100 yards. This location was approximately 8/10ths of a mile from the scene of the victim's vehicle. There are four coves of water between the scene of the crime and the area where the doctor saw the subject". So it's time for some calculations.

The three girls were 2 miles north of 5100 Knoxville Road. The Rayfield's were 0.8 miles from Bryan Hartnell's vehicle. If the premise above is correct, the two sets of eyewitnesses may have seen the same suspicious individual at two different times of the day, before and after the brutal stabbing of the young couple. Below details these findings.

You will notice that the white horizontal line above passes through the identical features on both images of Lake Berryessa, indicating that Dr Rayfield & Son and the three girls were visiting the near identical location that day, adding weight to the idea, that the suspicious character observed by both had good reason to be in that area. Firstly, to contemplate an attack on the three girls, and secondly, to return to his vehicle that evening. It suggested that once he had moved it slightly before 4:30 pm, it remained in that position until he returned later that day- after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard with a "red color" on his shirt.

The payphone call he made to police dispatcher Dave Slaight at 7:40 pm from 1231 Main Street, may be further evidence, suggesting the Zodiac Killer traveled from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, 0.8 miles on foot back to his vehicle. Somewhere just past the location of Dr Rayfield & Son. The distance from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to the payphone (had Zodiac parked here) is 27 miles. The time estimated for this journey on Google maps is 46 minutes. I shall apply some leeway and say 50 minutes. This would have Zodiac reaching the Napa payphone at 7:20 pm, traveling the journey at an average speed of just 32.4 mph.- arriving at the payphone 20 minutes too early. If he took the 70 minutes available to him (6:30 to 7:40 pm) his speed would be reduced to a sluggish 23.1 mph. So dispelling the latter speed, we are seemingly missing 20 minutes.

The distance of 0.8 miles, to walk from the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to his vehicle, parked somewhere by Dr Rayfield & Son, would take at a sedentary walking pace of 3 mph (1 mile every 20 minutes) approximately 16 minutes. Allowing for a slightly slower pace, changing any clothes and preparing to leave, 20 minutes is a reasonable estimate. This accounts for the missing 20 minutes above. It has the Zodiac Killer entering his vehicle (now approx 28 miles away) at 6:50 pm, for the 50 minute journey back to the payphone traveling at an average speed of 33.6 mph. This now makes far better reading than 23.1 mph using California State Route 128 and California State Route 121 for the majority of the journey.

The two sets of eyewitnesses, both detailing a suspicious character on the same section of hillside alongside the Knoxville Road, in combination with the distance and timeline presented, hopefully presents a case that the Zodiac Killer had his vehicle parked approximately 0.8 miles north of the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia - the tire tracks examined by police were not the Zodiac's car, and the sketch compiled from the recollections of the three girls was very likely the Bay Area murderer.

Main Lake Berryessa page

38 Comments

Lemonboy

4/15/2018 02:54:54 pm

Richard do you know if the sketch by the 3 girls was released to the public right after the Lake Berryessa attack? It’s a sketch that isn’t as famous as the Paul Stine attack yet it seems pretty likely it was Zodiac. Could that be a reason Zodiac wasn’t as brash after this attack as after the Stine murder because this was a more accurate description of him and he didn’t wanna bring much attention to this case? The person seen by the girls I believe saw him in either a 64 to 65 Ford Mustang or Chevy nova. The tire tracks by Hartnells car indicated the the owner”didn’t have much money”but I feel either of those cars weren’t that old so I don’t believe they were the killers tire marks by Hartnells car making your theory sound pretty likely to me.

Richard

4/15/2018 03:29:19 pm

They were shown in the Vallejo Evening News Chronicle here on October 1st 1969, as one such example. Follow this link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112412867@N06/12004473385/in/album-72157639874409846/
Yes, I considered the Chevy Nova to be a like option at one point. It may very well be a better likeness than the PH sketch, as it was daylight hours and the girls saw him for an extended period of time, as opposed to the 3 teenagers who saw Zodiac properly front on for a matter of seconds. If Donald Fouke stopped Zodiac then he got a decent look- whether he did or not, he described the killer as heavier and older. At least the Berryessa face is rounder. But you can easily widen the PH sketch with image manipulated and suddenly it looks a lot closer to the Berryessa sketch. Unfortunately the Berryessa sketch is a bit cartoonish- I may try to make a proper human image while keeping the general look of the sketch.

Lemonboy

4/15/2018 04:05:00 pm

Yes I was mistaken on my post it was a Chevy nova they described it was I believe Michael mageu that stated it was a mustang that pulled up behind them. In the 2007 movie Zodiac they even used a 65 mustang to recreate the scene with Michael and Darlene. The 64 to 65 Chevy nova and Ford Mustang are very similar cars in terms of size. The foulke sketch does admittedly look very different than the barryessa sketch but I believe this is why Zodiac why so confident in his taunts knowing he didn’t look anything like the sketch. Although I’m not sure what disguise Zodiac could’ve used to fool foulke so much.

shawn

4/15/2018 08:25:38 pm

Hi Richard,

Looks like your bottom two maps are rotated 180 degrees. (upside down)

Napa is to the south of the LB and the attack occurred on the west side of the lake.

Richard

4/16/2018 12:10:58 am

They were just done that way (3D Version) to give a different perspective, with the upper part of Vallejo visible. The 3D version compacts the image well. I only used these images, essentially to show the time given for each journey.

Drew

4/15/2018 04:03:33 pm

I'm convinced that both sightings at Lake Berryessa that day were Zodiac and that the tire tracks by Hartnell's car (thought to belong to a low income owner because the tires were different I believe) were not from the killer. The timeline presented here clearly makes a good case for the sightings as does the resulting sketch of a big faced man without glasses driving a car that looks like the Corvair driven by Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs. Other than a significant height discrepancy the description fits very well with Mageau's description of the Blue Rock Springs killer and his car, and there are decent reasons to believe the SF killer of Paul Stine (who also matches well with all descriptions) wore his glasses as a disguise.

Lemonboy

4/15/2018 04:28:04 pm

A couple things that don’t add up in the PH case sketch and the LB case sketch are the roundness of the faces as one is very round one isn’t and the hairline. LB sketch has a little bit longer hair with a part to the side PH has a very receding hairline. Hair styles can obviously be changed but the hairline would be a lot harder. I do believe they were both Zodiac though.

Richard

4/16/2018 12:48:02 am

I have added some images to the bottom of the article Lemonboy, to show how subtle changes can bring the Berryessa sketch and Presidio Heights sketch much more into line. Simply raising the eyes on the Napa version of the Berryessa sketch into a more natural position, where the eyebrows are now connected to the eyes, and donning a wig on the Presidio Heights sketch, the faces are now not that dissimilar. If Zodiac had stalked the 3 girls that day, he isn't going to be driving around in his costume, as he wasn't when he first eyed the girls from the hillside. He did the same when he first encountered Hartnell and Shepard- only donning his costume at the last minute. Had he been trawling the hillside looking for victims that day (in daylight) then the idea that he may have donned a wig that day isn't that far-fetched.

Karen C

4/16/2018 03:29:58 am

Sketches are highly subjective. People do not see other people in exactly the same way. Show twenty people a photo of a person, then sit them down with a sketch artist to describe the person. The artist will probably produce 20 different sketches. Often a final sketch is a kind of consensus among the eye-witnesses, but even then some may remember details that others will discount. It is wrong to assume that the Zodiac must have looked exactly like any one of the sketches.

Richard

4/16/2018 03:39:37 am

Never has a truer word been said. People love the Presidio Heights sketch when it looks like their suspect. People, on the other hand, will use your argument when the sketch looks nothing like their suspect.
However, I totally agree with you.

Karen C

4/16/2018 03:50:12 am

There are very few serial killers behind bars who look identical to the earlier suspect sketches. Some turn out to be sketches based on other people of course, but the subjectivity is always evident even when sketches have been composed that are based on the actual suspect. I think out of all the sketches I have seen of the Green River Killer, only one looks reasonably close to Gary Leon Ridgway.

Karen C

4/16/2018 04:05:56 am

Richard, it is also interesting that some people will see a definite identity in that Presidio Heights sketch, but others will see no or little resemblance. I guess a good case in point is Ted Cruz. Some people swear that he looks exactly like the face in the sketch. Personally, I see no resemblance. If any, it is extremely superficial.

Police sketches and composites tend to function more on the principle that they are intended to provide only a general idea of what the suspect may look like, based on eye-witness descriptions from their earlier observation. Human memory is not very objective, and witness observations are effected by emotion (e.g. fear), potential embellishments, the brightness of the background lighting, shadow, distance... numerous factors are involved. So all very subjective.

Richard

4/16/2018 04:14:59 am

They sometimes are useful. Many sketches were drawn up regarding the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. There were several sketches in among the many that looked exactly like Peter Sutcliffe. If you have 30 sketches drawn up in a serial killer case and 5 or 6 have a likeness to each other, obviously these would carry more weight based on repeated similarity. Peter Sutcliffe was interviewed about six or seven times in connection with the murders and at least six sketches that resembled him closely were hanging up on the wall, yet he was still released to kill many times more, in one of the worst botched police investigations in British history. In this instance of multiple sketches aligning with each other, eyewitness recollection and composite drawings are a useful crime fighting tool. The more eyewitnesses you have, the more chance you have of people recollecting accurately. The smaller the sample of eyewitnesses the less reliable it is. If 10 people estimated an age at 33, 35, 47, 29, 52, 32, 30, 22, 28, 36, then there is obviously a greater chance the suspect is between 28 and 36. The extremes will be discarded. The same with a sketch. People do vary wildly with suspect recollection accuracy, but it's the common thread that should be focused upon. The sketches in the Zodiac case, are effectively two, which isn't large enough a pool to draw any significant conclusions.

Karen C

4/16/2018 04:42:04 am

Yes, it is the "consensus" among the many variables in eye-witness testimony and descriptions that can help to solve the case. But as you say, the witness "pool" for Zodiac was just too few for anything conclusive to be drawn regarding any single identity. I have doubts that he looked exactly like any of the sketches. The 3 girls saw their suspect for a fairly long period of time in broad daylight and they did not have a gun or knife pointed at them at the time. So their description was perhaps more reliable, except perhaps for their interpretation of the suspect's age.

Having said that, it is really not unusual, given the time gap between sketches, for the appearance of the suspect to have changed significantly. A hair cut, or perhaps hair loss, plus the loss or gaining of weight, can all occur over a relatively short space of time. I have a friend who changes his weight depending on how much exercise he does. If he spends a week doing intense physical work he loses a lot of weight and his face actually appears to be longer. If he does nothing for a week or two he gains a lot of weight and his face becomes much rounder. He tends to collect a lot of fluid during his less active periods. Add some glasses and a hair cut and he could look like a completely different person from one month to the next. Perhaps the Zodiac had this kind of metabolism, or an illness that tended to bloat him at times, then make his face look gaunt at other times? Of course all of this is sheer speculation. As Judith pointed out, the two suspect sketches may be depicting two totally different people.

Richard

4/16/2018 04:53:54 am

The one unusual observation, if you can call it that, is that from distance the 3 girls described a white t shirt hanging out at the back. Many have speculated whether this could have been cut sections of clothesline in preparation. It may be unlikely, but an interesting observations nonetheless.

Lemonboy

4/16/2018 06:31:53 am

Obviously Zodiac didn’t look exactly like either sketch if he would’ve been caught very quickly. I’m sure any white guy with glasses and receding hairline were thought by people they know to be Zodiac. But the reason Zodiac was never caught was cause he doesn’t look like the PH sketch, he said so himself.

Judith

4/15/2018 09:40:05 pm

Here is the problem with the Lake Berryessa sketch. This is a public Recreation Area. I myself have been to this location many times. Having been taken there first by my suspect. Every time I have gone there, there have been many members of the public wondering about. The four coves in between the sightings are not easily traversed. They require a little bit of physical endurance as you are going up and down Hills, not straight along on a walking path. The San Francisco composite sketch is made from eyewitness accounts and vairies greatly from the Lake Berryessa sketch. Time to eliminate anything that cannot be confirmed as an actual sighting of the killer himself. Like Fouke.

Karen C

4/16/2018 03:21:20 am

Yes Judith, the possibility of other people wandering about cannot be discounted. It is a recreational area as you say. It is possible that the girls had simply caught the eye of a curious male onlooker who loitered about to "have a perv".

It is a lovely oak woodland descending from the road to the lake. I have often pondered if oaks had any particular meaning for the Zodiac. Some, for instance, claim that the Zodiac was inspired by Nordic and Celtic mythology and symbolism.

Also the close proximity to water is intriguing. Stine was of course killed in Presidio Heights, the "heights" being perhaps an inference to the other Classical element "Air". I cannot help but wonder if he ever killed at locations where the affinity was more with Earth and Fire. And if he ever killed in a holy place like a church, the reference could be with the "fifth element" of Aristotle, Aether.

At Lake Berryessa the Zodiac enacted death by rope and knife. At Presidio Heights he enacted death by gun. It is concerning that there may have been a victim who was burnt to death, perhaps a missing person or a murder that has never been attributed to the Zodiac. The other possibility is he never got the chance to take his Wheel of Doom full circle.

Rubislaw 32 link

4/16/2018 06:32:56 am

Here's the thing,Judith.

The day of the ''Berryessa'' attack,the weather was overcast,with a not insignificant breeze.It was also the middle of the working week [....a Thursday,I believe....].

According to rangers,there were hardly any visitors.

Lake Berryessa was popular with college students,since it was a cheap day out,if you had the means of transport.

Bryan was preparing for the new academic year,and Cecelia was picking up belongings,to move back to Riverside,for further studies.

It is possible that Zodiac,waited for a suitably quiet day,at Berryessa,before going ahead,with his ''theatrical'' project.

Richard

4/16/2018 09:45:55 am

Don't you mean Saturday Rubislaw. There were few visitors that day however. This was mentioned by several detectives.

Stef

9/22/2020 12:14:36 pm

The composite sketch from Pacific Heights was taken from the kids who called it in.

They saw him from above and then across as they went downstairs. The steet light gave them fairly good visibility

Later the younger one said when questioned again that the suspect looked much like Xen Anthony. Not that he was but that he looked much like him

When officer Fouke saw the sketch he said it was similar only the man was older.

His description was very
detailed... recessed temple line creating a "widows peak"
"barrel chested" likely Welsh descendant.

Fouke I believe is Welsh and would recognize certain physical traits or manner of dress...which was also "working class" rather than upper crust as is the neighborhood

SF back then still had very distinctive neighborhoods of immigrant descendants. For example the Irish Catholics were bottom.of that hill and all attended the same schools, stores and churches.
The military had their area, the Italians had North Beach etc

Karen C

4/16/2018 02:59:57 am

Those sketches are not the original sketches, except for the first one. ;-)

Judith

4/16/2018 06:34:00 am

Just saw a recent news report out of Sacramento County showing that they're going to have a conference for people who are family members of missing persons.
The old cases have never been entered into any kind of database. Long forgotten, the county intends to get a handle on it.
They are asking for family members to come forward with DNA and photographs.

Rubislaw 32 link

4/16/2018 11:21:41 am

Thanks for the Saturday correction,Richard.

Thinking about that day....OK,the summer season was over....but,one would think,this beauty spot would still attract hikers,and even on a dull day [?].

Cecilia and Bryan had nominated a particularly narrow headland,as a beach spot to settle.Presumably,to feel surrounded by water [?].

Probably,a mistake.Not only would it have made them quite visible,but Zodiac could have seen an opportunity,to take psychological advantage,by,in a sense,cutting them off from realistic escape.

Targeting a couple,being a presumed deliberate act,on account of responsibilities to each other,handicapping their mobility as a single unit.

Howard_Miller

4/16/2018 05:30:27 pm

I've been to many lakes all around the world, including Lake Berryessa. On many days, especially through the working week, they were deserted, apart from the occasional car that has driven in at lunch time, or just a few fishermen in boats. People are often few and far between and one can, in fact, feel very isolated. Often the only sounds to be heard are the lapping of the waves on the shore, the wind and birds in the trees, and the distant hum of a boat engine. I can imagine that given the smaller number of cars on the roads back in the 1960s, and the generally lower quality of the cars and roads, that far fewer people visited those kinds of "out of the way" recreational areas in those days, even on the weekends. For a young man, lakes would have been a great place to take a girl for a picnic if you wanted some peace and solitude, "far from the madding crowds".

Carl Karas link

4/16/2018 12:15:10 pm

Some conjecture:
Did Z use a boat?
Was he waiting near the girls earlier because he'd overheard Hartnell and Shepard talking about going to their favorite spot at the Lake (they changed their plan).
Z's intended victim was Cecelia Shepard- whom he knew from Riverside/Loma Linda.
He knew he was going to use the knife in advance- it's why he wore a black shirt- so the blood wouldn't show. It's also why he donned the mask- so Cecelia wouldn't recognize him.
The sketches are not very well drawn and I don't think they can be trusted. But of any of the suspects, they bring Kane to mind.
Somewhere along the way he washed blood off his hands- it's why there was no blood on the car.
He knew with certainty which car belonged to the victims so he must have seen them arrive- there is what seems a great deal of premeditation- again a sign he may have been after Cecelia- like he was looking for a particular car to show

Lemonboy

4/16/2018 01:06:04 pm

Cecelia did see him with out the mask though and she didn’t recognize him. She also heard his voice I’m sure she would’ve said if she had recognized his voice.

Karen C

4/16/2018 04:47:48 pm

You have been right on target with your comments, Lemonboy!

Howard_Miller

4/16/2018 10:00:41 pm

"Somewhere along the way he washed blood off his hands- it's why there was no blood on the car."

A very astute observation, which has led to speculation of various "alternative" scenarios, one being that he had an accomplice, another being that he could have written on the door first, before walking down to the lake. It is possible that he was very confident that his plan would succeed, or, perhaps, by writing "By Knife" on the door, he gave himself purpose. The words made him psychologically committed to carrying out the misdeed. Always with Zodiac the words he wrote and his crimes were inextricably linked.

One of the great tragedies with the Lake Berryessa case was that LE did not bring in trained sniffer dogs to thoroughly track the killer's movements. If only this had been done, I am sure more evidence could have been obtained. It was like they swept up everything into a doggy bag and that ended their investigation of the crime scene.

Karen C

4/16/2018 05:13:16 pm

Personally I see no resemblance between the sketches and Lawrence Kane, but each to their own.

As I have said before, pet suspects and their proponent's subjective take on these subjective sketches is in itself all highly subjective.

I guess we see this all the time when a baby arrives and other family members say things like "Oh look, he has his mother's nose and Grandpa Arthur's chin!".

If Kane was still alive I am sure he would be greatly impressed with the way his criminal resume has expanded since the advent of the internet. As with others, like Gaikowski and Sullivan, they have never been so popular. Nor so infamous. Sullivan would most likely be overwhelmed by all the unwanted attention and go hide in a cinema or quiet corner at the public library.

I am guessing that Kane, if he was still alive, may have even got off on the incredible idea that some people think he was the Zodiac. It would not surprise me if he in fact thought of himself as a Zodiac-esque figure during his earlier life when he was committing minor acts of larceny. He would no doubt have found it a handy gimmick to impress his petty criminal cronies and make any potential lady friends go weak at the knees while he was busy rifling through their underwear drawer or handbag.

Which sketch the Zodiac most looked like? Anybody's guess. We only have an idea of what his various facial features "might" have looked like. His visage is perhaps as uncertain as the exact accent of his voice.

I have entertained one potential suspect who was living close to Riverside at the time, whose resemblance does indeed show uncanny similarities to both the Presidio and Lake Berryessa sketches, given the time gap between them. He also had an ability to alter his appearance in a very short space of time. I have personally dubbed him "The Chameleon". And "No", I am definitely not going to reveal his name here, because I have no proof to link him to the Riverside crime or any other Zodiac crimes. There are enough highly circumstantial suspects on the internet today - Kane, Sullivan, Gaikowski being just three of them - without adding yet another one to create more controversy and confusion.

Judith

4/17/2018 07:12:28 am

On my old laptop computer I had a program for my photographs that had facial recognition software. I would load in family members and pictures of Peter while I worked on the book, and they would ask for me to name the photos. Each time I would add a new photo, it would recognize the person's face and asked me to confirm, yes, that's them, their name. On the day that I loaded in the composite sketch from Presidio Heights my computer asked, "Peter?"

Karen C

4/17/2018 03:27:40 pm

Facial recognition software still has a very long way to go. Law enforcement have developed some reasonably clever ones that can be used to analyze stills from security cameras to detect facial matches with known criminals and terrorists. They would cost a fortune, well beyond the budget of most people, but even these are still in their infancy and regularly "make mistakes".

I use to have a facial recognition app on my computer which I could run on photos. I could also use it in search engines like Google Images. It would check thousands of images for matches. Occasionally it would find a near match, which was not even the same person. Most times it was way off.

Howard_Miller

4/17/2018 03:32:26 pm

Ah yes, the myth of infallible computer software!

http://theconversation.com/the-trouble-with-facial-recognition-technology-in-the-real-world-69685

Judith

4/18/2018 07:04:23 am

Hello Howard Remind me who is your suspect?

Howard_Miller

4/18/2018 03:23:51 pm

I do not have a suspect, not a "pet" one or otherwise!

Judith

4/18/2018 08:12:03 pm

Very good Howard I had you confused with the Manson guy Bruce Davis

Howard link

8/28/2019 11:37:19 am

The three students who saw the stranger said his face and eyes were ‘round.’He had thick full “black”( from Dep. Land’s Note to Ken Narlow 9/29/69) hair. His ears were “small.”He stood at around 6.1/2 ft. All this is at odds with the two officers who sat with police artist Gonzales. He now after retirement lives in Mexico.
A NPD det.told me by phone they are holding some things back. He said they are 100% certain the tire tracks behind the Ghia were the perps car. No doubt there. I pressed this question three times.
The wheel base as per my 30 year automotive engineer contact does not belong to the 66/7 Chevy the girls describe. They indicted the car was in ‘excellent Condition.’The tires of the car behind the Ghia were unevenly worn and mismatched,etc.

Richard

8/28/2019 12:35:57 pm

Answer me this one question Howard. The police were able to track visible bootprints from Hartnell's vehicle to the crime scene on a dry hot day. Why is there no mention of the police traveling to the location where the three girls saw the man trawling the hillside, along with where the Rayfield's saw the man, and take plaster cast impressions of the bootprints in these areas. This surely would have been rudimentary police procedure and used to incriminate or eliminate the subject seen around Smittle Creek that day. The fact that the police in the days following the attack, and up to this day, have speculated upon whether this was Zodiac or not. suggests to me they didn't cross check the bootprints from one location to another. No clarification of them ever checking the bootprints 0.8 miles north in the police report. Had they done so, we may not be speculating on this topic 50 years after the fact. This would have been crucial in adding validity or not to the sketch detailed by the three young women and consequently aided the public. I certainly find it highly unlikely the ground conditions were markedly different all over the hillside in their location, compared to the area of Hartnell and Shepard.

LAKE BERRYESSA- THE TWO SIGHTINGS

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