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Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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NO BROWN CAR AT THE PAYPHONE

8/16/2018

 
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Officer Richard Hoffman arrived at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot at approximately 12:13 am on July 5th 1969. Shortly thereafter, an ambulance was summoned (arriving at around 12.20 am) and removed the victims from the crime scene for the 10 minute journey to Kaiser Hospital, where Darlene Ferrin was pronounced dead upon arrival at 12:38 am. Here is an extract from page 7 of the police report:

'On initial arrival, RO requested by radio an ambulance & an investigation at the scene & upon returning to Officer Hoffman RO went to assistance of subject on ground, as Officer Hoffman was with a subject that was sitting on left front seat behind wheel that was also injured. This subject later identified as Darlene E. Ferrin, WF, 19, of 864 Beechwood. On preliminary examination of Mageau, it was apparent he had been shot a number of times, he had blood all over his face & blood coming from his mouth as well as his left leg with blood. RO felt it was necessary to question subject inspight of the fact the subject was in great pain. Subject was coherent & RO asked him, "do you know who shot you?" and he replied "no". RO then asked Mageau to give me some type of description & he replied that he can't. RO then asked a series of questions & was told by Mageau that the responsible was a white male, young & heavyset by himself & that he was in a brown vehicle. Questioning continued until the arrival of the ambulance. By this time Sgt's Rust, Lynch and Odiorne had arrived at the scene & RO gave them the information from the victim & gave a description over the air to all units' 

Michael Mageau also told Officer Hoffman that the perpetrator was last seen heading in the direction of Springs Road and Vallejo. By 12:20 am a rudimentary description of the perpetrator, his vehicle, and direction of travel had been given to all units, who likely scoured the area of Springs Road towards Vallejo. The killer couldn't be certain his vehicle wasn't spotted leaving the Blue Rock Springs parking lot and couldn't be certain that both Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were dead, despite his proclamation in the 12:40 am payphone call to police dispatcher Nancy Slover. With multiple units searching for a description of the vehicle, how likely is it that the Zodiac Killer immediately traveled to the payphone, parked his car outside Joe's Union gas station and made a telephone call to the operator and Vallejo Police Department - a police station situated in extremely close proximity to the payphone. He may have been under the impression that his crime had not been discovered at this juncture, but would it have been the sensible option to remain in his vehicle, with possibly blood transfer on his clothing and the gun still in his possession. If the killer did not have a residence nearby, then he had either driven around or parked up somewhere from midnight to 12.40 am - all while a police search of the area is unfolding around him. There is, however, a new and compelling argument to be had that may dispel the idea of a killer making a payphone call while in the presence of his vehicle - and can be found in the police report and August 4th 1969 'Debut of Zodiac' letter.  

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This is an extract from page 13 of the police report:
'7-5-69 A call received at 12.40 AM by unknown citizen "I want to report a double murder. If you will go 1 mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Good-Bye" 

'12.47 AM Mrs Johnson PT&T operator called. The above call was traced to a coin-operated telephone at Joe's Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The call was traced by Betty MAIN whose supervisor would not allow her to give a statement at this time.' 

This is the recollection of Nancy Slover in the 2007 Zodiac documentary, describing the latter part of the telephone call: 'But he said something like goodbye (drawn out in nature) and he hangs up, and I'm just kind of sitting there thinking "Oh my God."' 

Here is part of Zodiac's August 4th 1969 'Debut' letter:
'The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.'

These four sections of text should be enough to pour huge doubt on a killer making a telephone call to police, having driven to the payphone in a "brown car", further bolstering the idea of a killer on foot who lived nearby. The Zodiac Killer, in his own words, places his vehicle right next to the payphone. He corroborates this using the 'negro male', who spotted him and his vehicle when the phone rang as he hung it up. If the Zodiac Killer is in his vehicle as he claimed, it is highly doubtful that once he replaced the receiver he perched himself alongside his vehicle and smoked a cigarette for several minutes with an eyewitness clocking him and his vehicle. He would have "hung the phone up," returned to his vehicle immediately and driven away. This sequence of events couldn't have taken much longer than 10 seconds.

Police dispatcher Nancy Slover, once the Zodiac Killer had hung up, contemplated the gravity of what she had just heard, likely finishing off writing details of the call, "
kind of sitting there thinking "Oh my God." She then had to reconnect to the operator to discover the origin of the call - who would then have traced the call to Joe's Union on Springs and Tuolumne. 'Ringback' would have been used to 'dial' back to this payphone, thereby making it ring. Unless this sequence of events could be accomplished in less than 10 seconds using the technology of 1969, the Zodiac Killer would never have heard the phone ringing. He would have returned to his vehicle and been long gone. The ringing payphone was never reported in any newspapers, so the Zodiac Killer had to be within audible range to know of this occurrence. Nancy Slover received the phone call at 12.40 am, and the Zodiac spoke for approximately 30 seconds. The call would surely have ended before 12.41 am, yet, Mrs Johnson (PT&T operator) didn't get back to police, stating the call had been traced, until 12.47 am. That is just over 6 minutes later. If the trace and 'ringback' had occurred almost immediately (in under 10 seconds), why, bearing in mind the gravity of the murderous phone call, did it take 6 minutes to relay this crucial information to police.   

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If the PT&T operator had contacted police the moment they had traced the phone call (12.47 am), then this operation would have taken several minutes. If this were the case, then the Zodiac Killer could never have heard the phone ring if he had driven away in his vehicle. If Joe's Union payphone had been rung in a reasonable estimate time of 30-60 seconds by PT&T operators - once Zodiac had hung up - he still wouldn't have failed to reach his vehicle and driven away. However, it is certainly possible he could have heard the payphone ring if he was on foot while walking away towards his residence. He would still be within audible range.

The Zodiac Killer would have rang the operator that morning and asked for the Vallejo Police Department - hence their ability to 'trace' the call. But, once the Zodiac Killer had 'hung the phone up', is it possible that Nancy Slover could finish up her written record of the call, sit there briefly, thinking "Oh my God," contact the PT&T operator, who then facilitated a trace on the call and rang the Joe's Union payphone inside of the time it takes for Zodiac to reach his vehicle and drive away. If the 'ringback' took as little as 30-60 seconds, then it's highly likely the Zodiac Killer heard the payphone ring as he was walking away from the Springs Road and Tuolumne Street intersection on his way home. The 40-45, rather shabbily dressed, negro male now becomes the perfectly described eyewitness, who saw Zodiac in his "brown car by the payphone." What a helpful guy.
 

Shawn
8/16/2018 09:36:21 am

"The 40-45, rather shabbily dressed, negro male"

Maybe a clue to Zodiac's age. Falls within Foukes range of 35 to 45.

Richard
8/16/2018 10:54:13 am

I have Zodiac in his early 30's, and I would certainly classify that as young. Probably not 20 years ago. If Fouke was correct, then the greying hair at the rear may be the nearest biological evidence we're ever likely to get.
"Statistically in their twenties, with that figure tailing off the older they become, but there are an unusually high proportion of serial killers (including Gacy, Shipman, Sutcliffe, Dahmer and Bundy) who all began their "killing" careers as their 20th and 30th birthday loomed nearer or passed by"
https://www.murdermiletours.com/blog/serial-killers-what-age-do-they-usually-start-killing.

Richard
8/16/2018 10:57:27 am

Try this (without the full stop)
https://www.murdermiletours.com/blog/serial-killers-what-age-do-they-usually-start-killing

Shawn
8/17/2018 12:19:49 pm

I think Z was sophisticated and experienced with age by the time of lake herman......within the the age range of officer Foukes which was shown on the wanted poster.

Zelms widow says they stopped and talked to Z per interviews she gave. Giving more credibility the age range of 35 to 45 is correct.

Z probably had a deranged mental issue that expressed itself as immaturity in his letters.

Judith
8/16/2018 09:47:42 am

As Peter used to say, "DENIAL ... is a powerful thing" Here you have an eyewitness to murder and the phone dispatch saying he was YOUNG.

Tahoe27
8/18/2018 11:27:03 am

I'd have to question if that was reporter error. Here, Nancy Slover, who took the BRS phone call, clearly says the voice was "mature".

http://www.zodiackiller.com/DFR4.html

Tahoe27
8/18/2018 12:04:42 pm

I have always felt Zodiac was on foot when he made that phone call. Of course, he could have simply parked further away, but the time-lapse makes it curious.

Also, a ring-back feature was probably different from a trace. The ring-back could have happened right away.

When it comes to the "brown car" comment, I think that was to further bolster the idea his car was brown, when in fact it was not--not the brown we think of anyway.

Mike Mageau mentioned a brown car, and of course, it was in the paper. Zodiac knew it was Mike! No need to say "the man who told police my car was brown was a negro". To me it was like a "yah, that's it...my car was brown"...when using the comment about a negro male-- makes it more believable with more detail, and...coming for a 2nd source.

Mike said, "possibly a little bit lighter brown" than the car Darlene was driving. Could have been a different color (certainly not blue or red, etc.), but Zodiac wanted to reiterate "brown" and used the made-up "negro" do it, imo.

Richard
8/18/2018 12:19:38 pm

Remember the white Chevrolet at LHR Tahoe, described by Wesner and Connelly. The specifications of this vehicle I looked up in the manual. It was made in Ermine white.
Ermine white has a slight brown hue. I placed this in low level lighting, as would have been at BRS. This was the result (link below) and probably why Zodiac was only too keen to corroborate that his vehicle was brown. Throw in a handy eyewitness to validate this- along with adding the eyewitness to see his vehicle- and the police hopefully never suspect you live nearby.
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/scene-8_1_orig.jpg

Tom M
8/19/2018 04:52:31 pm

I remember something about a ring back feature back then. Pay phone use was of course very common. There was also a method to link phones somehow to avoid long distance charges. A trace was not neccessary if a pay phone was used.

greyrat
8/22/2018 04:07:14 pm

You make a strong case here that Zodiac was doing a pump fake on the brown car. Very plausible.

Jeff Spaulding
1/25/2019 10:40:00 am

No where in the police report does it say that the car left in the direction of "Springs Road and Vallejo". That doesn't even make any sense as Springs Road is one of many similar east west road in Vallejo.

Perhaps Mageau stated that the car turned left toward Vallejo, but including Springs Road would be bizarre to say the least.

Richard
1/25/2019 11:10:03 am

http://www.zodiackiller.com/DFR9.html

Apart from here.

"the subject continued on Blue Rock Springs Road at a very high rate of speed towards Springs Road in Vallejo".

Chaucer
3/15/2019 12:45:04 pm

There's another explanation. The operator (Mrs. Johnson) illegally listened in on the Zodiac's call to Slover. When Zodiac abruptly hung up, the line would still be open because the operator had not closed hers. Thus the phone would immediately ring. As soon as the call was over, Johnson would have recognized the need for a trace and requested one. Five or six minutes later they would have traced the call. The ringback at the payphone and the call trace are two unconnected events.

Richard
3/15/2019 01:02:57 pm

That would tally with the sequence Chaucer. It's really annoying these details haven't been clarified down the years, because a Zodiac hearing the phone ring 30 seconds, or 1-2 minutes after having hung up, could certainly indicate he either lived within earshot of the payphone, or at the very least nearby. Obviously, in a vehicle he could have travelled anywhere. To me, this is so crucial to the case, and is why I wanted to trip somebody up (in the nicest possible way) and get them to say the payphone was rung back after let's say a minute. With a DNA resolution looking ever more unlikely, I believe pinning down a home location is the next best bet. Cheers.


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