DONALD FOUKE MEMORANDUM: http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/orig.jpg
#1. "I respectfully wish to report the following, that responding to the area of Cherry and Washington Streets a suspect fitting the description of the Zodiac Killer was observed by officer Fouke walking in an easterly direction on Jackson Street and then turn north on Maple Street."
2007 ZODIAC DOCUMENTARY: https://youtu.be/HI0jnsbZwys?t=1h26m39s
#2. "We turned west on Jackson Street, as we approached Maple Street I noticed on the north side of the street a white male adult. We slowed down as we passed him, I don't know, we we're still rolling, saw that it was a white male, step on the gas, 5, 10, 15 seconds tops from first spotting him to passing him. He sort of looked down, perhaps this lumbering gait, stumbling along, like a semi-limp might have come up in my mind, because he was putting his head down when he spotted the police car, and turned into the entrance way of a house, and by entrance way I mean stairs that are leading up that are concrete to a path, that leads to a front door. Never saw him get to the top of the stairs. You want the address of that residence, 3712 Jackson Street."
2002 ABC PRIMETIME INVESTIGATION DOCUMENTARY: https://youtu.be/FPPr7JXISxc?t=32m55s
#3. Narrator "We asked officer Don Fouke to take us back to the place where he spotted the man he later realized was Zodiac." Donald Fouke "He came down the north side of the street and turned and went up a flight of stairs into a courtyard." Narrator "He brings us very close to the house, then occupied by the man Mike Rodelli suspects."
The address of that house is 3636 Jackson Street.
The first thing to clarify, is that the ABC Primetime documentary is clearly showing the occupants of the vehicle parked just past Spruce Street, close to 3636 Jackson Street. It can be identified using a visual reference from Google Maps. The houses themselves, shown in the video, are located much closer to the sidewalk and street compared to the properties located by 3712 Jackson Street, one block west. So where did Donald Fouke actually spot Zodiac - it cannot be all three. If we take a look at his statement in the 2007 documentary and look at the property at 3712 Jackson Street (assuming the layout has not changed drastically) we see only seven steps leading from the sidewalk to the pathway. This sounds like the house he is describing, "stairs that are leading up, that are concrete, to a path, that leads to a front door."
There may be much debate about how Donald Fouke can give such a detailed description with limited lighting and such a short time period, but what he actually stated in the 2007 Zodiac documentary regarding 3712 Jackson Street can be visually corroborated.
In the ABC Primetime video, it could be argued that being 2002, this is his initial identification of a specific residence - his memory is 5 years fresher and he is physically seen revisiting the location. This is actually an 'in situ' recollection, not harbored from memory alone. But this is not 3712 Jackson Street, it is 3636 Jackson Street, 413 feet and nearly one full block distance eastwards. Had Zodiac been seen approaching this house, his next turning north would take him into Spruce Street and Julius Khan playground, not Maple described in Donald Fouke's memorandum.
As described by Donald Fouke in the 2007 documentary, a suspect is seen walking on Jackson Street and turning into a residence. If his wording in this documentary was applied to this address of 3636 Jackson Street, and "not quite reaching the top of the stairs", for "5, 10, 15 seconds tops", a suspect entering this residence would be spending all, if not the majority of his time with his back to Donald Fouke, making his identification and detailed description of the killer all the more unlikely. This particular house is set back and its front pathway is at street level, better described as a "concrete path, leading to some stairs, that leads to a courtyard and front door." Slightly different to his recollection in the 2007 documentary.
But his description in the ABC Primetime documentary does sound more in tune with this residence "He came down the north side of the street, and turned, and went up a flight of stairs into a courtyard." This house has a courtyard. However, for Zodiac to walk in a stumbling manner to reach these stairs, seems difficult to imagine as Donald Fouke's police car rolls by the Zodiac Killer in 5 to 15 seconds "from first spotting him to passing him." Even traveling at low speed he cannot maintain a visual on these stairs long enough for Zodiac to leave Jackson Street, travel the length of the path and reach them, unless the police car is stationary. The field of view is too narrow. For this short time period, he certainly would not be looking into the Zodiac's eyes, only the grey hair on the back of his head.
The statement in the 2007 documentary of Donald Fouke receiving the initial radio broadcast "We turned west on Jackson Street, as we approached Maple Street I noticed on the north side of the street a WMA", cannot separate the issue by itself of where Zodiac was spotted.
However, his 3712 Jackson Street sighting would be negated, as would a Zodiac turning into Maple Street, as described in his memorandum. The San Francisco Chronicle article dated October 12th 1969, indicating a man seen running into Julius Khan playground, in alliance with the Zodiac Killer's Bus Bomb letter, also seems to support the Zodiac being spotted by Donald Fouke approaching Maple Street. The Zodiac Killer stated "p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again."
From 3712 Jackson Street, or just shy of Maple Street, it is nearly 1 1/2 blocks traveling distance to Spruce Street and Julius Khan playground and is approximately 3 minutes from the Washington and Cherry murder scene. It is hard to believe that Donald Fouke could misidentify the area around 3636 Jackson Street for 3712 Jackson Street - it is at least a block away and the layout of the buildings are different. Furthermore, Mike Rodelli's suspect's address had likely already been given to Donald Fouke prior to him being led to the 3636 Jackson Street residence. If we try to answer the question of where Zodiac was spotted using memory as the overriding indicator, it seems we arrive back to the memorandum issued on November 12th 1969 as the likely 'tale', of a Zodiac Killer heading into the blind access of Maple Street.
I just don't know anymore, "let the inspectors follow through."