ZODIAC CIPHERS
Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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LAKE HERMAN ROAD-THE EMPTY RAMBLER

9/16/2017

 
James Owen was the only eyewitness at Lake Herman Road who saw two vehicles parked in the turnout on December 20th 1968. He recalled very little about the vehicle parked alongside the Faraday Rambler, but remembered them being 3 to 10 feet apart. His statement to police noted that "he did not see anyone in the cars or around them." This is probably the most puzzling aspect of the Lake Herman Road murders, and is often explained away in unsatisfactory terms. Raymond Grant, author of 'Zodiac Killer Solved' alerted me to this problem, with respect to how the Faraday Rambler was discovered by police in the turnout - with the front passenger side door open. Ray has tackled this 'anomaly' in his book and presented a comprehensive timeline of the eyewitnesses present that fateful night. However, the following will view the crime from a different perspective.

It is possible that James Owen was mistaken and didn't notice David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in the Rambler, but for now we will take his account in good faith and assume they were not present in the front seats. It is extremely unlikely David Faraday would have just remained in the pitch black turnout for any considerable time if another vehicle had pulled up alongside them. So it is likely that the vehicle that James Owen saw alongside the Rambler had just pulled into the turnout before he arrived. Approximately 30 seconds after he had passed the turnout he "thought he heard a shot." Many observers have speculated that the Zodiac Killer had already forced the couple from the Rambler before James Owen arrived. He was about to murder the couple when he saw or heard James Owen's vehicle approaching, so improvised and forced the couple out of sight between the vehicles. But we have a major problem. James Owen does not mention the car doors on either vehicle being open, particularly the Rambler. This can be simply explained away, in that the killer, keen to avoid drawing unwanted attention, simply closed the Rambler door before forcing the couple out of sight. 
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Once James Owen had passed, the killer began his brutal execution of the couple, beginning with David Faraday just 30 seconds later. It was then assumed, he returned to his vehicle and left the turnout. If this version of events were true, then why did the killer reopen the passenger side door of the Rambler before he left, as this is how it was found by investigators responding to the crime scene? Nothing was apparently taken from the victims by the perpetrator, or mailed by the killer thereafter.

It has been suggested that James Owen likely didn't see the couple in the vehicle because they were 'making out' with the seats reclined. This would be highly unlikely, once a second vehicle had entered the turnout in extremely close proximity.
It was a dark, isolated turnout, late at night - and David Faraday, a conscientious young man, accompanying Betty Lou Jensen on a first date, would have been fully aware of the dangers and almost certainly would have reacted to a unknown vehicle pulling alongside them..If we take the statement of James Owen as literal, and the couple were not in the vehicle or under duress between the vehicles, then where were they?

Raymond Grant has presented his version of events in Zodiac Killer Solved, but here we will explore some alternatives. The simplest, is that the couple were in the vehicle but James Owen simply failed to notice them. If they were between the vehicles, then we have to believe that the killer pulled up alongside the Rambler, forced them out of the vehicle with warning shots not within audible range of James Owen's approaching vehicle, but didn't strike immediately. The assailant then noticed the vehicle of James Owen approaching and reacted by hiding the couple out of sight, while at the same time closing his door and the door of the Rambler. Once he believed James Owen had passed beyond audible range, he began his attack on David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Just before he left the turnout, however, he must have reopened the Rambler door, as this is how it was discovered by responding officers. But with nothing reported missing from the young couple, the murderer either didn't find anything of satisfaction within the Rambler, or this chain of events never occurred.  

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Did James Owen see a vehicle parked alongside the Rambler at all? The sighting of the empty white Chevrolet Impala earlier that night, along with the suspicious vehicle reported by William Crow, seems to center the focus around the turnout that night, especially when we consider the events that ultimately unfolded approximately 75 minutes later. This appears to solidify James Owen's sighting of a second vehicle as correct. He may have been unsure of the distance between the two vehicles, but in his statement to police he confidently stated that "he definitely saw two cars".

Another alternative (if we dismiss the above), has been presented by Raymond Grant, hypothesizing that the couple were held captive, contained within the trunk of a vehicle, most likely the Chevrolet Impala. It is not a reasonable suggestion to argue that the killer entered the rear of the Rambler, forcing the couple out of sight as James Owen passed, because the rear doors were discovered locked by investigators when they arrived at the crime scene. Either James Owen was mistaken and he failed to notice the couple in the Rambler, the killer reopened the front passenger door after the murders to possibly collect a souvenir, which seem unlikely, or another unexplored option exists, not dissimilar to that suggested by Raymond Grant. 

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Lemonboy
9/17/2017 06:36:02 am

Richard have you looked into a poster on here that goes by the names"scout69","boyscout69",and"lone wolfe"?he seems to know a lot of info on zodiac..maybe he can tell us something that breaks the case open

Richard
9/17/2017 07:59:35 am

No I haven't. It is hard to know, because there is a lot of people out there who claim to know who Zodiac is, and why he did what he did. Not everyone can be right. Even if somebody did know, how could we ever verify they really knew. Without hard facts, such as the items he took from the taxicab, or the 340 cipher code, claiming to know everything about the identity of the Zodiac means little.

Lemonboy
9/17/2017 08:24:28 am

Thank you for responding!i know he's most likely just another crazy guy that claims he knows who's zodiac but something about him seems off...they way he puts the puzzle together makes sense..like zodiac knew paul stine which I never considered till this guy brought it up. He comments under different names but a quick google search finds that's it's the same person. Maybe it's just me though. One thing I found weird was he types childishly with many grammitcal errors. Kinda like someone we know?

Richard
9/17/2017 11:03:15 am

"Kinda like someone we know?"- That may very well be the intention.
Although it would take a lot to convince me, as I believe he likely died many moons ago. If I were Zodiac on the internet, I would first find an untraceable connection, enter a forum, post the solution to the 340 under the name Zodiac, and watch the internet explode. The 'modern day' Zodiac would relive the attention all over again. The fact he has been silent for 27-43 years tells you everything you need to know. That's my opinion anyway, for what it's worth. Cheers.

Karen Lee
10/6/2017 09:12:00 pm

I think the Zodiac is dead. What he was doing prior to the murders and letters is something I doubt we’ll ever know. He seemed to thrive on the attention from the letters. If he indeed visited an attorney in SF and another ad was placed, I think the deep real estate is code for death. Six feet under, maybe? What do I know?


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