On August 4th 1969 the Zodiac Killer hand delivered a letter to the San Francisco Examiner and wrote "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed", suggesting that he was still viewing the payphone at Springs & Tuolumne at least 9 minutes after ending the call to dispatcher Nancy Slover. The police made an appeal in the newspapers for this negro male to come forward, but it appears that he never responded to their request for assistance.
The only way the Zodiac Killer could reasonably have seen the negro male talking to police, is if they had both remained in the area of the payphone after ending his ominous call to police at approximately 12:41am. The negro male that Zodiac described after finishing his phone call to Nancy Slover must have remained in the area of the payphone for a period of time, to be present when an officer responded to this location from Blue Rock Springs to secure the payphone for fingerprint retrieval. If the payphone location was traced immediately (at 12:41am), the earliest an officer could have arrived at the intersection of Springs & Tuolumne was about 12:50am (a 9 minute journey from the crime scene).
The Zodiac Killer claimed that the negro male saw him at the payphone, yet we do not know for certain to what degree the black man saw Zodiac. The encounter may have been significant to Zodiac, but it would have been pretty insignificant to the negro male, who may have just seen a white man making a phone call. If an officer did speak to this black man, he may have told the police he didn't see anything, not wanting to co-operate or get involved with law enforcement. He may have glanced at Zodiac momentarily but was unable to give any useful description to the officer and let on his way.
Can we ascertain whether this black man was a fictional character or a real individual? If the black man was real and did speak to a police officer by the payphone, then it adds more weight to the notion of a killer who either had access to a residence/building within eyeshot of the payphone, or was lurking in the shadows nearby. The idea that he would still be in his vehicle close to the payphone, dressed in the same clothes (possibly with blood on them), and holding the smoking gun, 9 minutes after finishing the call to Nancy Slover, is highly unlikely. The suggestion being, that he had already gone home and walked to the payphone, absent of any incriminating evidence. I know that newspapers can sometimes get information wrong, but let us assume in this instance that the information they gave out was correctly reported. How did the police know that the negro male was a "local man" if they had never spoken to him? If they spoke to him by the payphone and Zodiac knew this, then the Zodiac Killer still had eyes on the payphone at 12:50am or beyond.
Thanks to Jibberjabber for sending me this newspaper cutting.
The only way the Zodiac Killer could reasonably have seen the negro male talking to police, is if they had both remained in the area of the payphone after ending his ominous call to police at approximately 12:41am. The negro male that Zodiac described after finishing his phone call to Nancy Slover must have remained in the area of the payphone for a period of time, to be present when an officer responded to this location from Blue Rock Springs to secure the payphone for fingerprint retrieval. If the payphone location was traced immediately (at 12:41am), the earliest an officer could have arrived at the intersection of Springs & Tuolumne was about 12:50am (a 9 minute journey from the crime scene).
The Zodiac Killer claimed that the negro male saw him at the payphone, yet we do not know for certain to what degree the black man saw Zodiac. The encounter may have been significant to Zodiac, but it would have been pretty insignificant to the negro male, who may have just seen a white man making a phone call. If an officer did speak to this black man, he may have told the police he didn't see anything, not wanting to co-operate or get involved with law enforcement. He may have glanced at Zodiac momentarily but was unable to give any useful description to the officer and let on his way.
Can we ascertain whether this black man was a fictional character or a real individual? If the black man was real and did speak to a police officer by the payphone, then it adds more weight to the notion of a killer who either had access to a residence/building within eyeshot of the payphone, or was lurking in the shadows nearby. The idea that he would still be in his vehicle close to the payphone, dressed in the same clothes (possibly with blood on them), and holding the smoking gun, 9 minutes after finishing the call to Nancy Slover, is highly unlikely. The suggestion being, that he had already gone home and walked to the payphone, absent of any incriminating evidence. I know that newspapers can sometimes get information wrong, but let us assume in this instance that the information they gave out was correctly reported. How did the police know that the negro male was a "local man" if they had never spoken to him? If they spoke to him by the payphone and Zodiac knew this, then the Zodiac Killer still had eyes on the payphone at 12:50am or beyond.
Thanks to Jibberjabber for sending me this newspaper cutting.
A RESPONDING OFFICER LEFT BLUE ROCK SPRINGS AND HEADED TO THE PAYPHONE
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