SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO PAPER TARGETS

7/30/2016

On July 31st 1969 the Zodiac Killer began his correspondence with the newspapers in the form of three portions of code mailed to three newspapers. In these letters he would provide details regarding his first two crimes at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs Park. Accompanying his letters he added the now customary 'Zodiac crossed circle', by many considered to be the crosshairs of a weapon, although other reasoning has been offered, such as the Celtic Cross. Since the first attributed murders to the Zodiac Killer were that of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen at Lake Herman Road, was it possible the murderer's inspiration was to be drawn from this crime and subsequently placed in his first correspondence.
In the Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, conducted by David Burd, the firearm identified as the likely murder weapon at Lake Herman Road was a J C Higgins 80 pistol. The Sears, Roebuck & Company specialized in sporting goods and recreational equipment between 1908 and 1962, with the Sears JC Higgins eventually replaced with the Ted Williams brand. The Sears, Roebuck & Company manufactured their own paper targets throughout the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, the very targets a young Zodiac may have used. The following target suggested "For best results with .22 Long Rifle."
#1 Paper Rifle Targets 1930's.
#2 Paper Rifle Targets 1950's.

5 Comments

Greg H.

7/30/2016 10:14:26 pm

Good find, Richard..The thing is, as you know, barring the capture and a debriefing of Zodiac, we'll never really know his inspiration for the symbol.
I was reading "The Bronx is Burning" by Jonathan Mahler which is about New York in the summer of 1977, and contains a section on the Son of Sam who was terrorizing the city at the time. Here's a quote to emphasize the guessing games people played, trying to understand why the killer took this name for himself. It's very reminiscent of our attempts to decipher Zodiac:

"But what did that (Son of Sam) mean? Was he a Vietnam veteran, a son of Uncle Sam? Was Sam somehow a reference to Satan? Was it short for Samson, a reference to his affinity for women with long hair? Or to Sam Colt, the inventor of the revolver he used?"

After his arrest, of course, we learned that "Sam" referred to his neighbor Sam Carr and it was this man's frequently barking Labrador Retriever who apparently drove the delusional Berkowitz to kill.
Something similarly convoluted is probably the case with Zodiac. The name / symbol, various strange details could well be something personal that only he knows about, the outgrowth of some bizarre delusion or mental illness is very possible.

Nobody

10/25/2018 05:47:32 pm

Thanks Greg,

Yes indeed, people often see connections where there really are none. And if there are connections, they do have to be direct. They can be indirect and perhaps even very obscure.

LE at one time presumed that Son of Sam may be a Zodiac copycat, simply because of the similarity to the name the mystery caller used when he phoned the Jim Dunbar show. There was also widespread speculation and fear that the original Zodiac had re-surfaced in New York. As you say, it turns out the real villain had nothing to do with the Zodiac at all. He had been taking his instructions from the neighbor's Labrador who he thought was possessed by a demon. In short, the guy was "barking mad".

This is the whole point. If people at the time had judged the personality and motives of Son of Sam entirely from the letters he sent and the mysterious symbolism he used, they would have reached all kinds of bizarre and erroneous conclusions about him. As you said, this is exactly what did happen. I have no doubt some even believed he was highly educated and intelligent and in full control of his faculties.

The human ability to see patterns in the world around us is of course advantageous to our survival. However the negative consequence of this is we sometimes lead ourselves astray.

A symbol can sometimes have a multiplicity of meanings and it is perhaps unwise to presume that the killer was so in control of his own intelligence and mental faculties that he knew exactly why he was using the symbol; and he thus provided it as a valuable clue to his identity. In reality, he may have used the symbol simply because he dreamed about it or believed the neighbor's cat had told him to use it.

Nobody

10/25/2018 05:51:56 pm

edit: And if there are connections, they do not have to be direct.

Nobody

10/25/2018 06:05:28 pm

Then of course there was Heriberto Seda, who very overtly copied the Zodiac. His short-lived killing spree also fueled speculation that the real Zodiac had come out of hibernation.

LE could not understand how in each instance, the victim's zodiac sign was correctly determined. Had he stalked his victim's for a long period beforehand, or were they known to him?

It was in fact just PURE LUCK that Seda chose each victim according to their corresponding astrology sign. He never had any knowledge of their birth dates.

Coincidences can and do happen!

Nobody

10/25/2018 05:17:33 pm

Several years ago a friend of mine was traveling through Europe and sent me a very interesting photo of the Coat of Arms for Kareda Parish in Estonia. I cannot find the original photo, but it was basically the same as this one shown on Wikipedia.

https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiedosto:Kareda_valla_vapp.svg

It occurs to me:
California is now home to a significant number of people of Estonian ancestry, and an Estonian Consulate has long been based in San Francisco.

Another rabbit hole for a curious Alice?

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