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RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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PAUL STINE'S TRIP SHEET

8/3/2016

 
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No mention is made to the taxicab trip sheet anywhere in the police report, and despite few people having seen the entry that night, it has long been accepted by many that it documented the destination of the Zodiac Killer as Washington and Maple, the intersection he highlighted in his October 13th 1969 letter, stating "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington Street and Maple Street last night".

A wanted poster was circulated regarding this crime and recent taxicab attacks in the San Francisco area, using supposition and apparently less than accurate details. The poster bearing the name Chief of Police Thomas J. Cahill stated "Suspect takes cab in downtown area at 9.30 pm and sits in front seat with driver. Tells driver destination is Washington and Laurel area or area near park or Presidio. Upon reaching destination, suspect orders driver to continue on at gunpoint into or near park where he perpetrates robbery". Considering the gravity of the crime, it seemingly manages to create an amazing piece of fiction. There is no evidence whatsoever that the killer traveled in the front seat, or that he ordered the taxicab driver under gunpoint - and certainly not into the park. However, the mention of a destination of Washington and Laurel is very curious indeed. To actually pull a street name out of thin air, which is a full three blocks east of the supposed trip sheet destination, and then place it on a wanted poster could be regarded as a remarkable oversight, if in fact, it was a mistake at all.

Keith Power authored an article entitled 'Astrologer Joins Hunt for Killer' in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 17th 1969, just six days after the murder, quoting "When he was picked up by the cab driver about 9.30 pm Saturday at Geary and Mason Streets, Stine noted the destination on his way bill (trip sheet) as Washington and Maple Streets".
The question is, where did he get this information from. Was it second hand information from a police officer or had he seen the trip sheet himself - and was the information he 'garnered' correct? Without actually seeing the elusive trip sheet, we only know what we have been told, that the destination was supposedly noted as Washington and Maple.
  
Responding officers would later notice the taxicab meter read $6.25 at 10.46 pm, allowing them to backtrack the meter reading and calculate that Paul Stine had most likely picked up his second fare somewhere in the vicinity of the Mason and Geary intersection, with many different pick-up points suggested. Robert Graysmith highlights the Westin St Francis Hotel at Union Square, along with the Pinecrest Restaurant in his book 'Zodiac', whereas the article in the San Francisco Examiner on October 23rd 1969 stated "The search also took police to Nob Hill, where the Fairmont Hotel became involved again in the manhunt. This was because: Cabbie Paul Stine, 29, the Zodiac's latest victim is believed to have picked up his fare on a street near the famed hotel. A waitress in the hotel candy shop-fountain told police she served coffee during the television show (Jim Dunbar/Melvin Belli) to a man who resembled composite drawings of Zodiac. She saved the cup and saucer for a fingerprint check".    

PictureFairmont Hotel, San Francisco
As stated earlier, one thing investigators did, knowing that Paul Stine was returning to the theater district from San Francisco Airport having dropped off his last fare, was calculate the origin point of the journey based on the taxicab meter reading, the time of the murder and the time the meter was read, having sat idle since 9.55 pm. This gave investigators an area around the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in the theater district.

Let us compare two distances, [1] Washington and Cherry, the place the taxicab came to rest from the Fairmont Hotel, and [2] Washington and Laurel, the destination marked on the wanted poster and the corner of Mason and Geary. The distances are virtually identical. The distance between the taxicab at Washington/Cherry and Washington/Laurel is exactly 570 meters (0.354 miles). The distance between the Fairmont Hotel and the intersection of Mason and Geary is 584 meters (0.363 miles). Only 14 meters difference.
If one person was calculating backwards using the taxicab location from Washington and Cherry, they would arrive at the Fairmont Hotel. However, somebody sitting at a desk reading the trip sheet destination of Washington and Laurel would arrive further away, at the corner of Mason and Geary. The margins are relatively small.
 
The reason Washington and Laurel catches the attention is twofold. The Zodiac Killer, if he gave Washington and Laurel as the destination in the trip sheet, then it would make sense if he had left a 'getaway' vehicle somewhere along Laurel (possibly at the intersection with Jackson Street or slightly beyond) - as this street actually joins with Pacific Avenue providing a relatively speedy exit route away from the area. Or, he resided in this area. The problem is, the Zodiac Killer actually ended up four blocks further west at Washington and Cherry. Did something go wrong, forcing him to abort his plan? In the 'Bus Bomb' letter mailed on November 9th 1969, the Zodiac Killer revealed some key information. He stated that  "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".

The meeting with patrolmen Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms took place just short of the Jackson and Maple intersection, therefore 1 1/2 blocks later would have Zodiac entering the park at Spruce Street. In the San Francisco Chronicle article dated October 12th 1969, eyewitnesses recalled seeing a man fitting the earlier Zodiac description running into Julius Khan playground:
"Later reports indicated someone was seen running into the Julius Khan playground in the Presidio, and all seven police dog units were pressed into the search". ​This thoroughfare is adjacent to Spruce Street. Dog units congregated by the Julius Khan playground - and Zodiac would mention this in the 'Bus Bomb' letter as he advanced east along the park perimeter. 

PictureClick for full article
"The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west". ​
Two blocks east of Spruce Street is Laurel Street. Is this where Zodiac exited the park to access his vehicle, parked either on Pacific Avenue or the north end of Laurel Street, having taken the advantage of cover in the park, as opposed to traveling two further blocks on Jackson Street - especially considering his near miss with Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms, possibly sending them on a wild goose chase. His directional movement eastward from the Washington and Cherry intersection, was always suggestive of a killer backtracking from the westward direction he had arrived in the taxicab, with something having interrupted those plans. If the Zodiac had ended up 2 blocks further east of Julius Khan playground, he would in fact now be four blocks east of Jackson and Cherry Street, where he was last seen heading by the three teenagers - and therefore reinforcing the notion he had overshot his original destination.

The only reason to believe the Zodiac Killer held Paul Stine under gunpoint, as detailed in the wanted poster, is if the destination was marked as Washington and Laurel in the trip sheet. Yet the taxicab was ultimately found four blocks further west, giving rise to the notion that the Zodiac Killer had drawn his 9mm automatic on Paul Stine in excess of one minute earlier, and thereby dispelling the notion of a taxicab driver unaware of anything until the deadly shot was delivered.
The alternative, however, is far more simple - the wanted poster is basic human error, just like the police dispatcher two days earlier, when patrolmen were given the wrong description of the suspect as he calmly walked away from Washington and Cherry.      

Alex Lewis
8/16/2016 05:39:57 pm

Well if Harvey's report is accurate, and I certainly don't see it being anything other than accurate, then Maybe it was not Zodiac who gave Paul His Destination, but Paul's dispatcher. Harvey states that according to Dave Toschi, they (The SFPD) had determined that the offender had rang for a cab via the payphone in downtown Union Square.

Now lets take a moment to look at this claim and, using basic logic and reason, determine the probability of the claim being accurate and true.
So, Harvey states He was told of this phone call and doesn't give a vague or general comment of it coming from The SFPD, but is very specific in naming a source it came from, that source being, One David Toschi. Now, how likely is it that Harvey would make such a statement and Name a High Ranking Officer as the source that had given Him this information if it were all untrue? Harvey knows that if this claim He makes is not true, all anyone need to is bring this claim to the attention of Toschi and ask Him is it true? Harvey knows that there could and likely would be legal ramifications at worst, disciplinary action against Himself at best,if He's making a false allegation about a fellow Law Official.

So for Me, there's no questioning Harvey's credibility or claim, He's telling the truth In My Honest Opinion.

So, if Paul Stine was not just unfortunate, but actually dispatched to pick up His Death at or Near The Westin St. Francis, well this surely could mean that same dispatcher spoke to Zodiac, who could have told the cab company He was at Westin St Francis and wishes to be taken to Washington and Laurel, and then in turn the dispatcher gives this info to Paul, who then pick's up the fair, but fair then tells Paul a slightly different destination to that of the one He'd given on the phone.

Theoretical set of circumstances I set out above as to how the mix-up in locations happened but, I willingly acknowledge, no real evidence for or against this idea.

Richard
8/17/2016 01:11:53 am

I have no doubt Alex the pick up was from the area of Union Square by the Westin St Francis Hotel, as you said Toschi could have easily rebuked this claim. Dave Toschi had an input into the 2007 Zodiac film, which shows Mark Ruffalo playing Toschi reading from the trip sheet and stating Washington and Maple. However this trip sheet got no mention in the police report, although integral to the crime and destination, and has never been laid eyes on by the ordinary Joe. The SFPD only issued a memorandum one month after the crime in response to Zodiac's statement of 'two cops pulled a goof', in fact the suspect being spotted by Fouke was never mentioned up to this point, as was the blunder over the BMA description. We also heard nothing about the trip sheet until Keith Power wrote about it in the Chronicle, but the SFPD nothing was said of the trip sheet. Power said "Stine noted the destination as Washington and Maple", intimating he had seen it or been told by somebody connected to the case. But since the original 2 part Pelissetti police report, no follow up whatsoever, or at least not released. However this first wanted poster was released before the Power article stating Washington and Laurel. I find it difficult to imagine getting the street name wrong, it is not something you just create in your mind, unlike supposition of how the crime went down. Also the holding of Stine under gunpoint is consistent with this destination. The SFPD mentioned Washington and Laurel in the wanted poster, but as far as I am aware have never officially or unofficially been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as stating a Washington and Maple destination. The question is why didn't Dave Toschi point to Washington and Laurel in the 2007 film if that's what the trip sheet said. Well Zodiac's claim of a murder at Washington and Maple may have become intertwined with the trip sheet destination, Keith Power's article and passed but incorrect information can get supplanted as what the trip sheet said, but in actual fact it didn't. I go back to the wanted poster, authorized by the Chief of Police in a murder case. If the trip sheet did say Washington and Maple, how does this get changed to Laurel, firstly it doesn't sound like Maple and secondly what does the writer of the poster do; just drag a random name off the map. Surely like a missing persons poster, when you are going to reproduce and distribute thousands of them, it's certainly important to not only write about the crime, but get the street name correct.

Richard
8/17/2016 01:29:53 am

Also notice that the wanted poster says specifically "Tells driver destination is Washington and Laurel" as you alluded. The only way this could be interpreted normally, is in the first person. The Zodiac requested orally Washington and Laurel, and who knew that - Leroy Sweet the taxicab dispatcher. So we could have a scenario of Zodiac requesting a taxicab from the Westin St Francis to Washington and Laurel over the phone to Leroy Sweet, once inside the taxicab Zodiac changes destination to Washington and Maple, and Stine enters it in the trip sheet, then either Stine is killed at Washington and Maple and Zodiac guides the taxicab to Washington and Cherry, or Zodiac instructs a second change to Washington and Cherry. If this were the case then the designer of the wanted poster got the destination from Leroy Sweet as opposed to the trip sheet.

Carl Karas
12/14/2017 03:07:15 pm

If Alex is right about the Zodiac giving two destinations then it seems Z knows the neighborhood pretty well, and perhaps the whole city, this being long before Google Maps etc. Just saying

Chuacer
3/10/2020 08:47:18 am

This is interesting, Richard. When you combine this with Zodiac own (apparently inaccurate) letter where he says "over by Washington and Maple", it gets even more confusing.

He apparently believes that the murder occurred at Wash and Maple, not Cherry. That leads me to believe that he didn't know the area all that well and couldn't tell the difference.

Also, I think it's possible that the initial wanted poster was basing it's information on a previous robbery of a Chinese cab driver. He was held at gunpoint and told to go to Washing and Laurel. Initially, police assumed it was the same guy with the same MO.

Richard
3/10/2020 11:17:11 am

There are multiple ways of interpreting it Chaucer. The San Francisco Chronicle article on Sunday October 12th 1969 specifically stated "the cab was stopped at Washington Street, near Cherry". The Zodiac would undoubtedly have known the location of the taxicab based on this article, but still chose to write "over by Washington and Maple". If this was truly the destination written on the taxicab trip sheet, don't you think it was a big coincidence that the Zodiac happened to write "over by Washington and Maple" in his letter, when this was the destination on the trip sheet, which nobody else knew at this juncture other than law enforcement. Assuming that the Zodiac wasn't involved with law enforcement (which is unlikely), then he may have deliberately wrote "Washington and Maple" as further corroboration he was the killer. The Zodiac was effectively bragging and saying "I know what is written on the trip sheet".

Tom Pyke
4/18/2020 07:45:16 pm

While the evidence for Allen is clear, one thing that stands out about this murder is the brazen way it was conducted. The killer then sets out on foot. Am I correct in thinking the killer walks East? This is now a classic predator/prey scenario. The killer would need safety and to get to his ''haven''. Gaikowski lived in Scott street, did he not? I believe Gaikowski was the killer and Allen was a disturbed, a well hidden disturbed from the outside world, man who was a ''would-be'' Zodiac who wrote letters to the police and papers and inadvertently made a mess of capturing the real killer- Gaikowski.

BB
9/5/2020 12:02:58 pm

Tom - you have a friend in Tom Voit as it concerns POI Gaikowski.
But you have an opponent in Tom Horan he says "Keith Power took a piece of Stine's shirt" for Graysmith and his friend Hal Snook. I think it was Richard Marshall that lived on Scott street.Then again some of his data gets mixed together with Gaikowski.


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