THE BENICIA HIGH SCHOOL NOTE-SEPTEMBER 22ND 1973?

11/12/2019

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The Benicia High School note was placed on the front door of the premises sometime in 1972 or 1973. I will attempt to analyze this correspondence from two angles:
[1] It was designed by two young children who were eventually arrested by law enforcement in 1974, and [2] It was authored by a Zodiac Killer employing a different handwriting technique. So first we will take a look at an article published in the Vallejo Times-Herald on May 17th 1974:

"Two 16-year-old Benicia youths were apprehended by police here as suspects in a series of phoned bomb threats that prompted the evacuation of Benicia High School four times during the day. Officers said the pair allegedly made two phone calls to the Benicia Fire Department, warning firemen that two bombs had been planted at the high school and were going to explode. Police said the youths allegedly made two other phone calls to the school, informing officials two bombs had been planted - one inside and the other outside the building. In each instance, police said, the 700 high school students and faculty were evacuated and a thorough search of the building made for explosives. Poilice said the two youths are Benicia High School students and were apprehended near a payphone on J Street, between West Fifth and West Sixth Streets. Officers said the youths admitted making the bomb scare calls from a phone booth but gave no reason for doing so. Police said both were lodged in Juvenile Hall in Fairfield on felony charges accusing them of phoning bomb threats. Officers revealed Benicia High School has been plagued with a series of phoned bomb threats since the start of Fall term last September. During one two week period, police said, school authorities received one or two such calls every day. Police said two 14-year-old boys were arrested as suspects about a month ago (approximately April 17th 1974), admitted making the phone calls and now are on probation".

This article in the Vallejo Times-Herald, coupled with the Benicia High School note (below) could give us the exact date the threatening note was directed toward the school, assuming these two youths were responsible for both. There is an extremely high probability this was the case - and if so - the Benicia High School note was likely placed at the school in the September of 1973. The next thing to do is pinpoint an exact date using the note itself.

The wording on the note as interpreted by Lyndon Lafferty I believe is correct, with "son" meaning Sunday. This is my interpretation of the communication.

"I'm sorry, but by Sunday I shouldn't have said anything about what time I was to blow up the school, so instead I will do it between now and the 22nd December. So, I have killed by Sunday and you will find him (the body) up by Lake Herman Road. If you get there in time you will find him before the dogs eat him. I hope they do".

The phrase "This his blood" has been fashioned with the S's reversed, possibly indicating that the alleged murder had taken place on Saturday 22nd September 1973 - in other words, by Sunday. It is then easy to subconsciously write December 22nd 1973 as an end date for blowing up the school, as this date is already in your mind for September (and a nice round figure of 3 months to project forward from and arrive at December 22nd). A suggested murder committed on Saturday September 22nd 1973, with the note being placed at Benicia High School later that day or the following day, and hence the past tense of "you will find him" and get there "before the dogs eat him". Mischievous kids with too much time on their hands at the weekend, depositing the note at the high school. It is my guess that the note was likely authored on the Saturday and placed at Benicia High School later that day - on September 22nd 1973.

The interpreted wording of "but by Sunday I shouldn't have said anything about what time I was to blow up the school" appears like the author is referring to the past Sunday as the ultimatum and date he had previously phoned in for the deadline of the bomb exploding, to which he was now backtracking. That would have been Sunday September 16th 1973, satisfying the two weeks of incessant phone calls detailed in the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper article and beginning in the Fall. No letter was mentioned in the 1974 article, suggesting it may have been linked to these two children and dismissed as a credible Zodiac correspondence.

Then we have to consider the chance that it was authored by the Zodiac Killer. On the face of it, the communication appears to be inspired by previous Zodiac correspondence, with the threat of a bomb, the reversed letter N on the first line mimicking the Halloween Card, the Confession Letter "about time" and the reference to Lake Herman Road, with the near date of December 22nd a reminder of past events. The only way to confirm the authorship of this letter as being written by the hand of the Zodiac Killer, would be to draw parallels to previously unreleased Zodiac material by 1973. The December 16th 1969 Fairfield Letter is the only correspondence to exhibit any promise, with a comparison of "blood" to "bleeding", the knife-like shape smeared across the Benicia note, the droplets beneath the knife in both instances, and the positioning of the pseudonym "Zodiac" toward the right side of the blade-like design.

Other than this cursory observation, it simply depends on whether you believe that two Benicia High School youths were responsible for the note, having previously made numerous bomb threats upon the school, or the Zodiac Killer had reappeared and threatened Benicia, four years after the brutal murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968. I shall take the first option, but the decision is yours.

This topic on Zodiac Killer Site forum.

32 Comments

11/12/2019 02:10:21 pm

Richard this is great - we need to explore all these possibilities.
If for no other reason to give further ideas, and or check it off the list.
Those punks were budding terrorists - like the Zodiac became.

One idea I just thunk-up is that of welding safety goggles with flip up dark lenses. They seem to be a possibility for the masked man at LB.
This would potentially say he was a welder at a nearby oil refinery or shipyard.

Richard

11/12/2019 02:31:32 pm

I am sure no right-minded 14-year-old would claim planted bombs in a school over the space of half a year BB. There are high jinx and there is plain stupidity. Almost every correspondence is worth looking at, even if it is extremely unlikely to have been penned by Zodiac. This one seems to me like it was penned by schoolchildren just lazily mimicking old Zodiac correspondence for thrills and I suspect that law enforcement put two and two together, and realized the kids were responsible for the Benicia High School note - they may very well have admitted writing it. I don't rule out Zodiac 100%, but near as damn it. Worth covering anyway for people with a differing opinion.

Roger

11/13/2019 10:12:59 pm

The Zodiac universe is vast and expanding at an every increasing rate of light years, but I recall a friend matched up the handwriting on that Benicia note with crazy Earthquake guy Herbert Mullin. The note was around the time of a major earthquake and it is therefore plausible that Mullin drove up that way, got to a certain point, confused and dazed, and decided to pin up his weird little manifesto to a school door. Here is the email I received:

"I recently took a look at a potential Zodiac communication claiming to be from the Zodiac, which was pinned on the door of the Benicia High School back in 1972-73. Lyndon Lafferty mentions the letter briefly in his book and shows us a copy of the letter. I have attached the page to this email. Apparently the letter was found by a janitor, but I have no other information about this mysterious letter.

"The letter ends with the line: "I'm gonna do my thing at QIR School". This was interpreted by Lafferty as a possible mis-spelling of "AIR school"?

"I think we need to look at the historical context in greater depth. According to Lafferty, the letter was pinned on the door some time in 1972-3.

"On April 10, 1972 one of the worlds' biggest earthquakes occurred. It was called the Qir Earthquake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Qir_earthquake

"Now, which contemporary serial killer do we know who, by his own admission, was a "scholar" of earthquakes? The man even formulated his own bizarre theories and "physics-like" equations about them.

"From Wikipedia: By 1972, Herbert William Mullin was 25 and had moved back in with his parents in Felton, California (located in the Santa Cruz mountains). By now he was hearing voices in his head that told him an earthquake was imminent, and that only through human sacrifice could he save California.

"Mullin's birthday, April 18, was the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a date which he thought was very significant.

"[The Qir Earthquake had shaken the world just 8 days prior in 1972! In Mullin's mind, "cosmic forces" were aligning!]

"Mullin believed that the Vietnam War had produced enough American death to forestall earthquakes as a sort of blood sacrifice to nature, but that with the war winding down by late 1972, he would need to start killing people in order to cause enough deaths to appease nature and prevent the imminent earthquake.

"On October 13, 1972, Mullin beat Lawrence "Whitey" White, a homeless man, to death with a baseball bat. White, 55, had been hitchhiking on Highway 9 and Mullin struck him down after tricking him into looking at his car engine.

"Mullin was to claim later that the victim was Jonah from the Bible, and that he had sent Mullin a telepathic message saying, "Pick me up and throw me over the boat. Kill me so that others will be saved." White's body was found the next day.

"Although Benicia is a couple hours drive north of where Mullins lived, it is plausible that he followed the main highway north on some insane mission to get to San Francisco, where he foresaw the epicenter of the coming earthquake.

"Herbert Mullin's artwork and handwriting are rather similar to the Zodiac's in many respects. I would not be surprised if, in his state of insanity, he was riding the Zodiac's wave of infamy. If we consider he may have posted that note on the school door, he was perhaps looking for free advertising space and thought the Zodiac's "badge of approval" may help to promote his own agenda. As far as I know the letter never made it to the press.

"So this is what I think! I still wonder about that blood smear on the letter though. Surely if this is still in the evidence locker at Benicia PD, now may be a good time for them to send it away for DNA testing. The results could be interesting, even if they serve only to rule this letter out as a potential Zodiac communication.

"I also realize that Mullin is still alive. It would perhaps be worth the time of a diligent detective to interview him and ask him if he wrote the letter - that is of course if he can remember, as he was in a highly delusional and psychotic state during that time.

"Prior to killing people, Mullin claims he heard a command hallucination in his father’s voice, “Herb, I want you to kill me somebody” and became obsessed with charts about birth and death rates. Any earthquake predictions in the press only made things worse, because it focused his delusions and gave him a specific goal.

"So the words "by son" - I think he was literally referring to himself as "the son", who was following his father's "commands".

"I think Mullin pinned this note to the door!"

Richard

11/14/2019 02:13:47 am

I was previously considering Mullin for the "message in the bottle" in reference to Vietnam, so the fact you've brought this up is interesting.
I've blown that image up and it actually reads OIR rather than QIR. This has led me to conclude it is just another deliberate misspelling. The actual phrase I believe should read "I am gonna do my thing at our school", thereby inadvertently tying the two kids to their own school. But with 700 kids attending, highly unlikely to reveal the author. I have tried to pinpoint the date using vague reasoning, but of course, discovering the exact date would be extremely advantageous in ruling certain quarters in or out. I actually don't know where Lafferty got AIR from - likely he already had the idea about the previous murder and "pilot" in his mind, and so just designed the phrase "air school" to confirm to the bias he had clearly already formulated. In other words, he just manufactured "air school" to fit the conclusions he had already settled upon. There is no way this word could be manipulated to read AIR.

Roger

11/14/2019 02:52:59 am

On my image it definitely looks like a Q.

Richard

11/14/2019 03:48:35 am

There looks like a small mark between the O and S, but it's hard to determine if this is just blurring between the letters. If it was supposed to be a Q, the dash element is extremely small in relation to the O, and doesn't extend inside the circle. So, in essence, it's either a very disproportionate Q or an O. I go for O, you may go for a Q. It's a matter of opinion. No problemo.
Here is the blown up version for others to make their determination.

https://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/o_orig.png

Richard

11/14/2019 03:53:55 am

Look at where the author wrote school on the second row. They too could be interpreted a Q's. One forwards, one backwards - but neither are.

http://zodiackillersite.com/download/file.php?id=5604

Roger

11/17/2019 06:53:42 pm

Sorry I kind of left you hanging on this one. Oír is Spanish for "Hear". California School for the Deaf, was located at 39350 Gallaudet Dr, Fremont, CA 94538. It would have been still located there at that time. Benicia High School is about 47 miles North of there if you take Highway 680. The one in Riverside has also been there for a long time but is a lot further south. The thing is deaf kids didn't have much choice in those days. The California Schools for the Deaf at that time were established regionally in Riverside and Fremont. So if the writer of the note came from an "Oír" school, chances are he was a Spanish speaker who came from either of those places. The possibility that this note implied a Riverside connection to the Zodiac may have appealed to some members of L.E. But I doubt if they put out an APB to be on the lookout for a "probably young, Spanish-speaking, deaf person who came from either Riverside or Fremont." LOL!

11/20/2019 03:09:12 pm

Richard - I think that

Lawrence Klein is the best fit for being the Zodiac Killer.

But, the Hardens are the best fit for creating the Zodiac ciphers.

Is there evidence that they worked together?

Bettye (Elisabeth) Harden and Larry Klein (Kane) were both born in 1924.

What they had in common was California real estate.

Is there anything on a business meet up for them?

Perhaps in the Lake Tahoe area?

Peek a Boo (William) Pennington made a living photographing cheating
husbands and wives. His close friend was Melvin Belli. He probably used his services and vice versa. His son William Pennington Jr. helped finance the transporting of Jack the Rippers London Bridge to Lake Havasu City, AZ in 1967. Pennington Jr.s business partner was William Bennet a suspect or POI in the CJB murder. The two men owned more real estate in California than the gods. The Hardens must have came in contact with Klein and the two Williams a some point over the buying and selling of real estate.

Larry Klein, Kaye, Burton, Kane, Cane living in Las Vegas with some person named Cherry. Spent his free time gambling (just like gun runner for the CIA Stephen C. Paddock)like the mass murderer in Paradise, Nevada October 1, 2017.

Pair-of-dice - Two dice each have six sides. 6x2 =12 the astrological Zodiac has 12 characters in it. Larry lived there next to Vegas. Also,
Klein was busted peeking in windows. And 'peek-a-boo you are doomed' is a theme of central importance on the Zodiac Card with all the eyes. Although Klein was able to get away with the murder of Dana Lull in 1974, the testimony of her boyfriend, and Nevada Sheriff's Deputy, Tom Hannah are unimpeachable. Larry Klein murdered her between 4/24-29.
Lawrence's 50th birthday was April 26th or the 29th 1974. The various places for this evidence say Dana was killed between the 24th and 29th. Dates confused for some reason. Mobster Allan Dorfman was Larry's boss. Larry went by many names including Burton, Kaye and K/Cane.
Crime requires one to continually change names. Larry Klein's record just shows the crimes he was busted for. But if it were to show even the crimes he was not nabbed for they would surly be more serious than just being a "peeping tom". The point is - Larry knew how to work the legal system. He was a hit man for the MOB but often went rogue. Why else would he have to kill Dana Lull for his B-day? The Dates for Larry's B-day were probably mutt-led by design. It is speculated that Darlene and her hubby Jim may have witnessed some body (Larry) commit murder. And, that Larry was the man bothering her at her work. Perhaps Larry was toying with his pray the way a cat plays with a mouse before the kill. There is a movie with this guy called "Point of No Return" - Harvey Keitel
plays this hit man that gets sloppy and is taken-out by the star of the show Bridget Fonda. Harvey Keitel's character reminds me of Larry. But, in the movie he gets what was coming to him.

Richard

11/20/2019 09:10:31 pm

I don't particularly like any of the named suspects for the Zodiac BB. If we counterbalance the things against them being Zodiac with the things that go for them, not many look promising candidates. The only tangible thing with Kane is the claim from Harvey Hines that he worked at the Sahara Tahoe Casino near Donna Lass. I have certainly found no evidence that Kane crossed paths with the Harden's. Lawrence Kane moved from Nevada to Las Vegas in 1971 and was resident at the La Fonda Apartments on Spring Mountain Road. If he was Zodiac, we would have to believe he constantly commuted to and from San Francisco to keep posting letters throughout 1970 and 1971 under the guise of Zodiac. By all accounts, Kane was a peeping Tom, prowler and shoplifter rather than a violent mass murderer, and his whereabouts seem to suggest he was an unlikely candidate for Zodiac, despite supposedly living at 217 Eddy Street during the murder of Paul Stine. But living in San Francisco is not a crime. Kathleen Johns identified a man about 30 years of age during her abduction, but Lawrence Kane was 45 years of age in 1970 (if we believe this was Zodiac).

11/24/2019 04:03:18 pm

Larry Lowe knew both Donna Lass, and Larry Klein.
Lowe say's Klein would travel to San Francisco every
couple weeks to visit his mama.
The cross hairs represent letter "D".
And, "L" is the 12th letter of the alphabet.
Dana Lull's and Donna Lass's initials.

Sully link

12/4/2019 11:00:45 pm

BB - You've done some homework on Larry Klein/Kaye/Kane/Cane, a career criminal who knew the law well enough to stay out of state prisons. His moving from SF to Nevada the summer of 70 to sell RE at the Sahara Tahoe is how/why Harvey Hines connects him to the Donna Lass disappearance (murder). Harvey also did the legwork, as you may know.

Alex Lewis, who's on here occasionally, has no problem with his detective work, but Richard repeatedly refuses to give Harvey's sleuthing the credibility it deserves. I cannot figure out why not.

Save your energy trying to convince him with your research on Kane as he (and others on here) would rather discuss Unibomber possibilities of being the Zodiac 🤡 Happy Holidays to you sir.

Roger

12/4/2019 11:45:55 pm

??? I do not know of anybody on here espousing the Unibomber as a possibility. As for Richard he seems to prefer to remain non-committal whenever it comes to suspects. I can well understand this, because as soon as any person takes up the "cause" of promoting a single suspect, that is inevitably when the problems start. All I can say is I am glad that a lot of amateur sleuths out there are not real police detectives, or we would probably be seeing a lot of innocent people behind bars. lol.

Richard

12/5/2019 12:34:54 am

Now for the facts:
[1] Quote "It was the hunt for missing nurse Donna Ann Lass that became a near obsession for Harvey Hines, becoming closely allied to the family members of the young 25-year-old as he searched undaunted for a break in the case. He has to be commended for his devotion in and out of police hours, when many others seemed to have lost hope......... Harvey Hines remained undeterred, when many others had given up hope - and even though the search for Donna Lass has hit many dead ends in the intervening years, the hope that was held by Harvey Hines still lives on. Source: https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/the-search-for-donna-lass

[2] I have written 580 articles and 1 is about Kaczynski regarding the 1990 letter. I have never touted Kaczynski as the Zodiac. I have always remained neutral. I actually don't believe any of the named suspects are Zodiac and don't treat Kane any differently. Are you saying I must be convinced, otherwise it's dismissive? I rarely discuss pet suspects, because the evidence against any of them is non-existant. I have seen nothing that would take any of these suspects into a courtroom - which is why it hasn't happened. BB is free to choose what suspect to follow, or consider as Zodiac, and so am I. What I didn't realize, is that it was compulsory for me to align with any suspect. Just to set the record straight - I don't believe Kane, Kaczynski, Allen, Sullivan, Marshall, Gaikowski or Penn are Zodiac, and are unlikely to ever do so.

12/8/2019 07:59:36 pm

Just to set the record straight. I don't believe-in anything or anyone. I never have. I'm an atheist - and happy to say so. I just said - that of the suspects we have to work with I find Klein and the Hardens the most promising. However, I don't in any way believe they are the Zodiac. I have for the past two years tried selling each suspect that I've encountered as sort of a hat to try-on. The Hardens seem to be the (if I had to guess at this moment) best of the suspects I've come across - for the correspondence performed by the perp. And Klein seems to be the best for the actions of the Zodiac. But, I don't believe-in any of these things. I don't know who the Zodiac is - and neither does any one else. My perspective is that beliefs are for the superstitious. And, I think that this thing we are doing here is to hypothesize different ideas and share as much info as we can until we formulate a theory (fact). To use science. To read and reread the material we have at our disposal. All this and put it up for critique. And to find out and learn more about this case to get a better understanding. PS. Common parlance - the term theory means somebodies idea or opinion on something. But, in science - theories are well proven, and are based in facts. I find so many people thinking that theories are up for debate. When they don't understand the way science works. The hypothesis is the initial notion to be tested and argued over until it is accepted - then it becomes a working theory. And all those people not accepting the theory are labeled and ostracized from the scientific community as heretical. I've seen it done many times. Once a theory is formulated it is too late to for debate. That time has past. But is takes many, many years of argument and testing - before the idea become theory.

Roger

12/8/2019 10:37:29 pm

Very well put BB!

Sully link

12/10/2019 08:26:57 am

Richard -
Apologies for my Unibomber remark, it was made in reference to Mark Hewitts feeble attempts to sell TK as the latest Zodiac.

I'm not here to dishonor all of your hard work. My only bone of contention is why you havent moved your "Kane needle" at all, as he has become the elephant in the room.
1) the three sunbathing lb girls gave Ellie a composite sketch of the dark-haired and some stranger who would not make eye contact as Brian and Cecilia confirmed his dark hair as well. He was not the fair balding a la or the very blond Ross Sullivan.

2) before Mojo was bombed with morphine and became an addict BPD Ed rust got to him at Kaiser Hospital. Mike emphasized Z was short and beefy, with a belly.

3) 7 months pregnant Kathy Johns shrieked with horror... upon viewing the SFPD Sketches, realizing she and her babies escaped certain death that night. My pregnant sister explained how acute the senses become in that third trimester.

4) In 1972, Isobel Watson gets repeatedly stabbed after she dodges getting run over, and all this happened just north of the GGB on a Friday night also. She gives LE the exact same description of her attacker.

As Tahoes Larry Lowe told us, LK visited his mother almost monthly back then, right ? If LE had tracked moms residence to Marin towns thru 1968 - 74... maybe Paul Stines wallet/keys would have turned up there ??

I'm with BB as far as spewing theories on this website, knowing all these horrific Z attacks havent much chance of getting solved. Thank you sir for all your efforts.

Where's that whacky Welsh Chappie these days ?? We need his levity on here, lol...

Roger

12/10/2019 03:34:52 pm

Sorry for butting in, but I am very confused. This has to be the worst example of suspect manipulation I have ever seen, but I can only conclude from your comment about "levity" that you must be joking about Kane (?)

Why should those points all lead automatically to anyone, let alone Kane? For me they lead everywhere and nowhere.

Point 1 for example. You appear to be suggesting that if it was not Ross Sullivan then it had to be Kane, based solely on hair color. lol!

Point 2. Probably half of the Californian male population were beefy with a beer belly at that time.

Point 3) Kathleen John's shrieked at the police sketch. So what?

Point 4) Again, no proof here that it was Kane. Descriptions can never be exactly the same because all witnesses see people differently. She may have been describing an entirely different man to the one who abducted Johns, or he may have been the same. Either way, there is no proof.

Four strikes, he's out!

Richard

12/10/2019 11:29:10 pm

I treat the suspects in general as the police would - in that none have been charged because there is no evidence against them. There is innuendo, suspicion, rumour and varying eyewitness accounts, but this doesn't break any threshold of guilt. If Harvey Hines was telling the truth and Kane worked at the Sahara Tahoe, that places him in the near vicinity of the missing Donna Lass, but that isn't proof of anything, because we are left with thousands of other people in South Lake Tahoe who had the opportunity to abduct Lass, who I don't believe was abducted by Zodiac anymore, but was certainly responsible for the Pines Card. Kathleen Johns sat with her abductor (in her words) for upwards of an hour and described him around 30 years of age and 160 lbs, neither of which tie with Kane who was 45 years of age in 1970. This massive discrepancy wouldn't rule him out of being Zodiac, because we can't be sure that Johns was abducted by anybody, let alone Zodiac. Also, Johns picks out Kane decades after the event as Zodiac, which is akin to Mageau's flawed identification of Allen at the airport. These eyewitnesses were clearly influenced by the people interviewing them. I have always commended Hines for his dogged work on the case, but once he latched onto Kane he adopted the tunnel vision you see for people like Qvale and Sullivan today - people cherry pick the evidence they like and dismiss things that don't go for their suspect. Imagine for example Kathleen Johns hadn't picked Kane from the photo array, do you believe Hines would have just said "OK I'll rule Kane out now". No he wouldn't - in the same way backers of Sullivan routinely dismiss his height and weight while promoting the likeness of the sketch. If Sullivan was 5'10" and 180lbs, but looked nothing like the sketch, you can bet your bottom dollar they would now be promoting the height and weight, while downplaying the accuracy of the facial features. Lawrence Kane isn't the worst Zodiac suspect by any means, but there is literally nothing that would drag him into court. If you allowed the Zodiac community to run the judge and jury system, no doubt, 100 people would have been executed or jailed for being Zodiac now. The best place to read information on Kane is Alex's site, but he is clever enough to know, as are Rodelli and Hewitt, that if I asked them to write a book discrediting each of their suspects, they could do an equally good job as they have done promoting them. Alex is still lurking around and occasionally visits, but has took more of a back seat in recent years. We still remain good internet friends. In summary, I haven't changed the needle on Kane, but I haven't changed the needle on any other suspect either - I have literally no interest in any of them, suffice to say you're probably looking for a Vallejoan of around 40 years of age in 1969.

Richard

12/11/2019 12:13:34 am

Mark Hewitt has the right to rebuke what I say, but he had two Napa bookstore videos on Youtube before he named Kaczynski as Zodiac. In these videos he stated how Arthur Leigh Allen was ruled out by fingerprints (and mentioned the blooded fingerprints). But this provided him a problem when he named Kaczynski as Zodiac - because Kaczynski's fingerprints are on file - so could rule him out also according to what Mark Hewitt said in the bookstore. You can guess what happened next - the videos vanished. Mike Rodelli has conveniently dismissed two FBI reports stating that the SLA was postmarked February 3rd from Los Angeles, because he has attributed February 14th to the SLA letter in his book. This is a book replete with official quoted sources, but when presented with two official FBI files stating February 3rd for the SLA letter, suddenly these sources are no good anymore.

Imagine Qvale was out of the country between February 10th and February 16th 1974 and therefore couldn't have authored the SLA letter, and I came along and showed him two FBI files that proved the letter was mailed on February 3rd 1974, don't you think that Mike would fully embrace these files now, and use them to further promote his suspect. But because they don't help the narrative he has written in one of the chapters of his book, he now goes out of his way to question the FBI files, thereby keeping his narrative on track. This is called cherry picking, and has no basis in reality. There is nothing wrong with admitting you were wrong - hell, I've been wrong many a time.

Roger

12/11/2019 03:15:15 pm

Yes Richard, I agree with everything you say. I have no problem with people putting forward a theory and proposing a suspect as a possibility. I have personally had many suspects over time, but soon after found numerous problems with them. Authors will always run into problems when they focus primarily or too heavily on mere circumstance and innuendo in order to build a case. As you say the evidence is often highly circumstantial and in some cases could be applied to suit more than one suspect.

Sadly, we seldom find books that conclude with sentences like "Based on the circumstantial evidence I have presented I have reason to suspect this person may have been the Zodiac Killer." Instead, what we most often find are conclusions like this one - "Based on the overwhelming evidence that I have presented, we can only conclude that my suspect had to be the Zodiac, beyond all doubt."

Of course then when other people read the book and begin to poke holes in the theory - usually because the author has resorted to cherry picking (just as you describe) - the author must then resort to a defensive position, as if their reputation is at stake. We then start seeing rebuttals from these authors which can become very hostile and personal in nature. I have seen this happen many times, not only with the Zodiac case, but with other cases too. Some of those YouTube "authors" take this to its ultimate extreme of course and seek to block negative criticism or attack any critics with personal insults. A common reply from such authors is - "If you do not agree with me then you must be a stupid moron."

I guess this is why the most successful "true crime" books are published after a suspect has been tried and sent to jail for life. At least then there is a much better chance that the evidence the author is presenting has already satisfied a jury and there seems to be little doubt. Writing a book that covers the murders and trial of BTK for example is unlikely to be met with the same level of rigorous critical analysis as one written about the still unknown Zodiac. It is basically impossible to be "sure" about anything when it comes to a cold case that has numerous suspects and the identity of the killer is still unknown.

Sully link

12/11/2019 03:40:05 pm

Richard,
Sorry for typos on previous comment, was driving and didnt review anything. Dont know who the new mentee is here, so I'll only respond to your comments directly.

Final comment I forgot to say was...
Ed Rust has been in this game since 1969. Here's an actual detective with 50 YEARS OF Z sleuthing under his belt, having ALL Police reports at his disposal. With all that information hes researched, he is still 100% positive Lawrence Kane is the Zodiac Killer.

Sorry, but his final analysis holds more weight than all of us groupies combined as 50 years speaks for itself, right ?

Richard

12/11/2019 04:38:57 pm

I have nothing but respect for Ed Rust and he is entitled to his opinion, but David Toschi also had many years under his belt and was ploughing a lone furrow for many years, but my guess is he would have disagreed.I suspect law enforcement knew much more about Lawrence Kane than we do today, however, he was never charged in the Zodiac crimes - which should tell us something. As I have always said, people are free to believe whoever they want as Zodiac, but I intend to stay neutral because I have yet to see any viable suspects. If you asked Ed Rust would he pull the switch on the electric chair for Kane as Zodiac, my guess is no and that 100% wouldn't be so 100% anymore. You cannot convict a man on the eyewitness description of Kathleen Johns, whose version of March 22nd 1970 kept changing or because Kane worked alongside a woman we don't know if Zodiac even killed. We cannot link him with fingerprints, handwriting or the sketch at PH. I believe IF Zodiac is ever identified he will be somebody we've never heard of. I do actually believe Zodiac would have been about 40 in 1969, because three sets of eyewitnesses in the space of five minutes in Presidio Heights said so. He will highly likely be a Vallejoan who worked in San Francisco and remained there up to the end of 1971 at least. If I had a suspect Sully, it would probably affect everything I wrote, because I would have to tailor every article knowing I have a favourite suspect in the back of my mind. When I look at geographical profiling to identify a likely location for the killer's residence, I don't care where the analysis takes me, but if my favourite suspect was Kjell Qvale, you know my analysis is only going to lead me to San Francisco. You already have the answer before you start. People whose suspect looks nothing like the PH sketch, bash the credibility of the eyewitness recollections, while the Ross Sullivan camp laud the sketch no end. I am not going to be biased because I don't really give a damn who it is, as long as a resolution is found one day.

Roger

12/11/2019 04:23:31 pm

"Don't Mistake Activity for Achievement" - John Wooden. ;-)

Roger

12/11/2019 07:57:21 pm

Likewise, I have a lot of respect for those who spent decades on this case, often in a state of consistent frustration and without reaching any resolution: Toschi, Lafferty, Hine, Rust etc. All honest and admirable people. But sadly, the number of hours/days/weeks/months/years/decades spent on compiling lots of information on one suspect still may not mean the detective was correct about his suspicions. On the contrary, sometimes it shows how far some detectives are willing to go in pursuit of a suspect, without ever being able to find that "smoking gun" (i.e. the evidence that leaves little or no doubt of a suspect's culpability). I fail to find any "smoking gun" in the evidence locker for Kane or Sullivan, or any other suspect for that matter.

Sully link

12/11/2019 09:09:03 pm

Richard,

I get it that you must remain neutral... to keep ideas flowing here or it would all just descend into another Tom Voight pissing contest so, we are grateful for that.

But if it was true that Sarah Benjamin Klein lived around Vallejo in 1968 -74, what wud your takeaway be? We already know she did live in the Bay Area. And from what Lake Tahoe Larry Lowe said, her son spent weekends with her... and almost monthly.
This is the guy who escaped from SF to Nevada in 1970 and then returned back to the BA. What was it, for sport ? We all know what Zodiacs favorite sport was.

Kane fits the Zodiac profile perfectly, as you well know but can't say on here...

Richard

12/12/2019 04:56:44 am

Vallejo alone had a population of 70,000 in 1970, the Bay Area vastly more. Zodiac has certain traits, narcissism and an inflated ego being one, but laying down an entire profile is difficult, if not subjective. Remember the "qualified" profiles given for Gary Ridgeway and Dennis Rader - they were far from what transpired. As Ray Grant stated, qualified psychologists and psychoanalysists have to sit down with patients for an extended period to evaluate them, and still often get it wrong. Some are often released from prison after being given the all clear, then proceed to kill many more. So evaluating the entire profile of the Zodiac Killer from a few scribblings and four attacks requires a lot of guess work. I can say he came over as a narcissist, and was clearly devoid of empathy for the people he killed - a trait held by almost, if not all serial killers. You have already stated Sully "Ed Rust holds more weight than all of us groupies combined as 50 years speaks for itself, right?"

That means our opinions hold very little weight, because we are just a bunch of groupies compared to Ed Rust. That being the case, both mine and your opinions don't count for much. Your contention of Kane being Zodiac means little, and my opinion Kane wasn't Zodiac means little. So effectively, anything you or I say really is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I remember another esteemed copper, Armond Pelissetti stating Zodiac must have been smothered in blood when he left the taxicab and didn't believe Fouke saw Zodiac, and he was totally incorrect on both fronts. Two other esteemed investigators fronted the History Channel docudrama and we know what a sham that was. We have two other coppers wearing tin foil headwear chasing Edward Wayne Edwards for every murder since Jack the Ripper, and pursuing Mr Hodel for crimes spanning decades. So being a policeman or member of law enforcement doesn't give you an accredited Sherlock Holmes badge. You have extremely gifted investigators, lots of average investigators and some investigators who are promoted beat cops. They are just like any other profession with people ranging from babbling lunatics to very clever investigators. Being a member of law enforcement doesn't validate their opinions over anybody else, just because they are. I have a lot of respect for certain people in the Zodiac scene, but nobody can claim 100% to know who the Zodiac Killer was, other than the Zodiac himself - and anybody who does is misguided. If I knew who the killer was I wouldn't even be a part of the Zodiac scene, because I would have already solved it and wouldn't need to prove it to anybody - but alas, I'm here after 570 articles and still have no idea whatsoever who Zodiac was. I can say for certain that if Ed Rust did say he is 100% positive of Zodiac being Kane, then he is not being intellectually honest, irrespective of whether he is a good investigator or not. I cannot seriously say Lawrence Kane is not Zodiac without knowing who Zodiac was, but what I do require is evidence that would lead to a conviction, which has never been presented for any suspect. Ed Rust is a small cog in a big wheel and if his opinion carries more weight than all us groupies, then the big wheel of the entire law enforcement fraternity is greater than Ed Rust - but even they didn't charge Lawrence Kane. Therefore, can we make the case that they were all wrong and only Ed Rust was right.

Richard

12/12/2019 05:11:01 am

https://youtu.be/uOMDG-0uSEA?t=53

Roger

12/12/2019 03:10:36 pm

Zodiac has a profile??? :-O

I just had a quick look online and found dozens of "profiles" all seeking to match the Zodiac to different suspects.

In all the cases I have seen, the suspect's profile has been made to fit the limited information available on the Zodiac, and not vice versa. In other words what we are seeing are suspect profiles that have been manipulated and at times cherry-picked to form putative links to the Zodiac. We are not in fact seeing Zodiac profiles. Richard nails it when he writes -- "So evaluating the entire profile of the Zodiac Killer from a few scribblings and four attacks requires a lot of guess work. I can say he came over as a narcissist, and was clearly devoid of empathy for the people he killed - a trait held by almost, if not all serial killers."

Sully link

12/12/2019 09:26:56 pm

Richard -

Youve now become the defense lawyer for Lawrence Kane, which is very ironic lol...
Mel Gibson would ask at this point, Do you have a dog in the fight ? It appears that you might, since this is an open forum... where all POI and suspects get a thorough exam.

Because nobody here is gonna solve any murders, right ? Let's not kid ourselves, all these Z diatribes over the last 8-9 years have brought CLARITY TO OUR BRAINS but in the real world of police detective work, nobodys paying attention. And theres O money to re-open cold case murders. It always boils down to not enough cake!

And this website will keep going, rehashing these horrific murders with the potential suspects for another 10+ years, with or without us, right? So can we be honest with each other? Are you protecting Kane... or is he fair game ??? (pun intended)

Thank you in advance for your honesty.

Roger

12/12/2019 10:21:23 pm

This is funny!

It is very clear that Sully won't be happy until Richard says Zodiac was Kane. But we all know that is never going to happen.

Then Sully asks Richard to be honest. He already HAS been honest, many times, but Sully evidently did not like his honesty!

I am sure what Richard is saying is that he will not prevent anybody from posting comments about a POI, just don't expect him to give any POI a glowing endorsement. So a POI can only ever be "fair game" for those who advocate them. Richard has never gone into bat for any POI. He has always made it very clear he does not wish to play that game.

But really, to suggest Richard is protecting the Zodiac simply because he will not endorse Kane? That has to be the funniest thing I have ever heard.

12/13/2019 10:03:28 am

Richard - You are the man in the arena.
You are doing a damn fine job.
We may yell out at you sometimes.
But, we highly respect you for letting us
get out our frustrated thoughts.

The Man in the Arena - Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

THE BENICIA HIGH SCHOOL NOTE-SEPTEMBER 22ND 1973?

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