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Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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MINUTES BEFORE THE MURDERS

8/13/2017

 
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Here we will tackle the Lake Herman Road timeline for the umpteenth occasion, but examine it in relation to the movements of Officer Pierre Bidou. This is not the first article looking at the timeline of Pierre Bidou, but the previous have predominantly used the statements given by him in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, in which he said "During that night we had served a search warrant at what we call The Cottage at Lake Herman which was owned by the city of Benicia, a narcotics search warrant my partner and I, we confiscated about a pound and a half of marijuana, which in the 1960s was a big drugs bust, today it wouldn't get very high on the Richter scale. We were heading back to the police department to put the marijuana into evidence and as we drove by, we did not see or observe anyone in that area, because it's a turn there and your headlights shine right in there as you go by. I was pulling into the lot in the police department, we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road, and described the location. My partner and I turned around at that time and responded to the call. We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened and for the best of my recollection we did not pass any other vehicle or traffic. I'm pretty sure of that because that is one of the things we told the sheriff's office, that we did not see any other vehicles coming our way. What could have happened, depending on where a vehicle turned onto Lake Herman Road, if it came from behind us, from Vallejo, we would not have seen them".​

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However, just like Donald Fouke at Presidio Heights, it depends on which version of Pierre Bidou's account you believe when constructing your timeline. Pierre Bidou passing the turnout prior to 11:00 pm, has him arriving at Benicia Police Department (10 minute journey) far too early to simply "pull into the lot in the police department, and hear the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road". It hadn't been reported until 11:25 pm, when Stella Medeiros flagged down Captain Daniel Pitta.

It has been suggested that Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta likely stopped en route back to Benicia PD to grab something to eat - something police officers have been known to do. But this seems unlikely, the reasons for which will be explained shortly. 

The following explores the idea that Pierre Bidou did actually pass the turnout likely minutes before the murders, as he alluded to in the 2007 documentary, when he stated "We felt we were only minutes from the crime scene when it actually happened". In fact, he may have been the final person to pass the turnout before the murders and not James Owen. Multiple versions of the Lake Herman Road timeline can be created. There are so many conflicting versions of the same story, it becomes a matter of where you source your material and/or law enforcement quotes. This is not a character assassination of Pierre Bidou, who was a long standing and by all accounts a very good police officer, but with the passage of time memories become tainted, and recollections become blurred. Pierre Bidou, on no less than four occasions described finding David Faraday in the front passenger seat of the Rambler, yet in the 2007 documentary stated David Faraday was found lying outside the Rambler on the turnout floor. These are discrepancies compounded by ones recollection of a distant event - and totally understandable. It is from this confliction we shall create a new timeline for Pierre Bidou.

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In an interview with the Benicia Herald, Pierre Bidou is consistent in his claim about arriving at Benicia Police Department, when they are informed of an incident on Lake Herman Road: "Bidou and his partner had served a warrant on a Lake Herman Road cabin Dec. 20, 1968, and were on their way to deposit some marijuana in the police department’s evidence locker when they were dispatched back to Lake Herman Road. Bidou and his partner had been in the vicinity a short time before, but they hadn’t seen any traffic, let alone Faraday’s car parked in the turnout". Source.

In another Benicia Herald article the version differed. Although not a direct quote from Bidou, it could be argued that the interviewer simply didn't pluck this account out of thin air. It stated "The timing was remarkable. The officers had just participated in a narcotics raid at a building at the Lake Herman parking area and had driven back to town with suspects in the back of their cruiser. Perhaps, they thought, they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure". Source.

Here lies the problem. If more than one version can be given for the position David Faraday was discovered in the turnout, it is not unreasonable to consider their differing accounts on whether any vehicles were present in the turnout - "they couldn’t be completely sure". The two officers had just secured a big drugs bust of the day and apparently had suspects in the back of their cruiser. Not likely then, that they would stop off for a bite to eat on the way back to Benicia PD. Combine this with the fact that Pierre Bidou throughout the years has never mentioned any detour on the way back to the police department, yet has consistently reaffirmed that he had just arrived at the parking lot of the police department when he was dispatched back to Lake Herman Road, believing he had passed the turnout literally "minutes from the crime scene".  

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Stella Medeiros raced for help after discovering the bodies in the turnout and located Captain Daniel Pitta, according to his police report account, at 11:25 pm. Pitta then radioed Benicia Police Department somewhere between 11:25 and 11:30 pm. Pierre Bidou's journey time from the turnout to Benicia PD is a maximum of 10 minutes. When he pulled into the parking lot the call came in: "I was pulling into the lot in the police department, we heard the Benicia Police Department dispatch about a call of a possible shooting and victims on Lake Herman Road". This had to be around 11:25 to 11:30 pm, radioed in by Captain Daniel Pitta. Therefore deducting this 10 minute journey by Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, has the officers passing the Lake Herman Road turnout at 11:15 to 11:20 pm, where "they had seen a car at the turnout. Maybe there were two. They couldn’t be completely sure".

If you believe that James Owen passed the turnout at 11:14 pm, then Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta passed the turnout after James Owen - and therefore were the last witnesses before the murder. However, this would negate the idea that the shot James Owen thought he heard 30 seconds after passing the turnout, was the shot that began the murders of the young couple. If James Owen was mistaken about the gunshot, then Pierre Bidou could easily have passed after the Humble Oil worker, and before the arrival of Stella Medeiros, widely recognized as 11:20 pm.
 
This timeline has Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11:15 to 11:20 pm, and fits nicely with reaching Benicia PD around 11:25 to 11:30 pm. They likely dropped off the suspects and drugs before returning to the Lake Herman Road turnout, This, bearing in mind they are traveling at increased speed on the return journey, places them back at the turnout shortly after 11:30 pm, just after Captain Daniel Pitta, whose police report has him at the turnout at 11:28 pm. This seems consistent, as both officers recall David Faraday still breathing at the scene. 

It is very difficult to be specific fifty years after the crime, however, if Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta had passed off the suspects to fellow officers and secured the drugs seizure, then received the dispatch of an incident on Lake Herman Road, it can easily be seen how five minutes could be added to the timeline. In this case the two officers would have passed the turnout sometime between 11:10 to 11:15 pm, the earlier of which (11.10-11.13 pm) would allow James Owen to pass the turnout after the officers, at 11:14 pm (and still hear the shot) - yet the gunfire would be inaudible to Pierre Bidou and Steve Armenta, who were further away towards Benicia. If James Owen passed the turnout circa 11:08 to 11:09 pm, then the earlier time of Pierre Bidou passing the turnout at 11:10 to 11:15 pm, or the later time of 11:15 to 11:20 pm, would in both instances have the officers passing after James Owen and likely negating the premise a gunshot had been heard.

If we believe the two officers took no detours that night, then they did literally pass the turnout minutes before the murders.

Drew
8/13/2017 12:08:02 pm

Well, there goes our new 12 minute window!

Richard
8/13/2017 01:06:20 pm

We'll have to accept a 10 minute window. Until next week Drew !.
If you dismiss all of the above, you can have the 2 minutes back.
I'm sure you have your own theory Drew. What do you reckon?

Drew
8/13/2017 02:28:30 pm

I would like to see a theory that accounts for the oddly missed curfew as well as the warm but not hot running Rambler engine. I am not there yet, but as you say questioning the accuracy of these witnesses can produce several scenarios.

Because Owen was so vague and had no reason to be paying close attention I could believe that Owen saw only the Rambler with the engine on with David out of sight slumped in the car and Betty Lou in an unexpected location he didn't notice. If Zodiac was back in his car he may have turned off his engine for discretion and waited until Owen passed. Owen may have noticed this dark car but was incorrect about both cars with turned off engines. It seems just as possible that he only saw one car the Rambler running and no other car in sight.

Bidou was distracted and engaged in a task that would normally trump anything he would expect to see on the way back to the station. There is definitely room to question what he observed.

I think if Bidou's police car interrupted the killer, unless it was unmarked Zodiac would have left immediately because David had started the Rambler. For Bidou and a second officer to make the same mistake as Owen, distracted or not, it would be a lot more plausible if he was heading in the opposite direction of Owen where headlights according to Ray don't light up the turnout. That's not the case though is it? I'm struggling with the geography.

So there is my work in progress theory that attempts to place the Rambler and the attack before 11:00 to excuse the curfew break. The evidence is admittedly more suggestive as you have indicated that, that if the conditions were the same as Owen described and the attack had not yet occurred, Bidou and his partner simply didn't obtain or retain the knowledge of two parked cars with the lights off. One thing I have always doubted is Owen's late reported gunshot.

Richard
8/13/2017 03:28:02 pm

There are no accounts by Pierre Bidou in the police reports. All we have are his recollections from the newspapers and 2007 documentary, 40 odd years after the fact. In the 2007 Zodiac documentary it clearly shows that Bidou's vehicle should illuminate the area where Faraday was parked, but he stated he saw nothing. But this was nearly four decades later when he stated this.
Ray believes Pierre Bidou leaves LHR at 10.40 pm. If he was just pulling into Benicia PD around 11.30 pm and received the news of the shooting. Then this 10 minute journey took him 50 minutes. Ray states the officers may have gone for something to eat, before returning to the police station. He is perfectly entitled to his opinion and I respect that, but I simply disagree. The officers had just seized a big drugs haul for 1968 and had two suspects in their vehicle. Would you risk going for a burger and fries under these circumstances. What if they were trailed?
The Yours returned to Benicia after exiting the Marshall Ranch. Their lights too shone into the turnout and they stated they saw the couple. Ray states that they likely didn't see Faraday and Jensen because they were preoccupied by the raccoon hunters with the gun. He doesn't know this as fact, it's just supposition. It's handy to reject the Yours testimony, because it fits with his theory. I believe the Yours saw the couple around 11.00-11.05 pm, thereby dispelling any murder before 11.00 pm. As I've stated many times, Ray Grant is entitled to his theory and if people believe it, that is fine by me. If people disagree with me, that is perfectly acceptable. I have been corrected many times. However we totally disagree on Lake Herman Road, such as the couple attending the Hogan High Christmas concert. The teenagers were supposed to be back by 11 pm curfew, but I don't take the fact they stayed over the time as an indication they must have been held against their will. Many well meaning teenagers forget the time, defy their parents, concoct an excuse to stay a few extra minutes. Abduction isn't the only option.
As for James Owen, he stated "he thought he heard a shot." This isn't a claim he heard a shot, just that he may have heard a shot. I don't believe he heard a shot either Drew. Although I'm sure I did once. I'll add a bit tomorrow. See you soon!

Richard
8/13/2017 03:37:46 pm

Here is the turnout heading to Benicia at night Drew.
https://youtu.be/HI0jnsbZwys?t=3m33s

Richard
8/13/2017 03:47:06 pm

The problem with that reconstruction is
1] The turnout didn't look like that in 1968, and
2] The Rambler wasn't in the position depicted by that vehicle.
The Rambler was closer to the middle of the turnout.

Richard
8/13/2017 03:50:30 pm

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/3810493_orig.jpg

Notice the eastern edge of the turnout is not visible by the front of the Rambler.

Drew
8/13/2017 04:12:56 pm

It may have been you that informed me that the gate was a full twenty feet further back. That is a lot of darkness to not see something in.

I will grant you my theory does get a bit unwieldy if it has to discard the observations of the Yours, Owen, and Bidou. Never the less the answer is in there somewhere!

I agree that stopping for food with arrested men in the back is neither wise or likely. Also, multiple sightings at the dance is still the best available account of their kids' pre-attack time. The dance helps explain David's curfew breaking ring giving ceremony as well.

Richard
8/15/2017 06:19:18 am

The police report here http://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR48.html recommended they be home around 11.00 pm. Robert Graysmith quoted that at Betty Lou's house they promised to be back at 11.00 pm. If we are talking about actual curfews, then here is a quote from Faraday's mother days after the murders: "He was good at observing curfews (12.30 on Friday nights). So I didn't think a thing about it that night. I was asleep when the phone rang at 3.00 am."
Here is the clipping http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/click1_orig.jpg
If 12.30 Friday night makes any sense. Although most people don't say be in by 12.30 Saturday morning. But the time of 12.30 nevertheless.

Richard
8/15/2017 06:24:22 am

Here is the newspaper article
https://www.flickr.com/photos/112412867@N06/12005451906/in/album-72157639881908444/

Drew
8/15/2017 11:01:16 am

Thanks for the link, I had not read that about the curfew before. It of course changes my mind entirely about it. I think I may be too easily persuaded by the theories of veterans presumed to have read all of the related material. Most of these authors probably do know more than me but that doesn't make them any less wrong.

There is something romantic in the scenario of the brilliant theorist who may be right but whom no one believes. When the well meaning decades in researchers start ranting passionately about the methods of law enforcement or serial killers or something relating to a decade I wasn't even born in, I always want to believe they are on to something, even if their suspect is a wealthy ambidextrous olympic athlete or someone out of state with a clean record.

Ray lost me when he asserted that the killers pulled a steak out of the ground so they could move the Rambler into a temporary 'holding area' and so forth, but he writes like a sarcastic high-powered robot firing off facts and calculations, and seems so bloody confident about everything. His build from the boy scout misses curfew idea had lodged itself in my brain. Thank you for relieving me of it!


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