Inspector William J. Hamlet Dion Walker and Cragle (primarily found on the Zodiac Discord forum) have achieved some exceedingly formidable and groundbreaking steps forward into our knowledge of the Zodiac case, delving headlong into the FBI files and performing extensive analysis of the documentation regarding the fingerprints retrieved from the Zodiac crime scenes and communications. It's mind-numbing work, but they have taken an extremely complicated set of files and painstakingly broken them down into a language the majority of us can now understand. Dion Walker has presented some of his work on YouTube. If either Dion or Cragle would like any of their presentations linked at the foot of this article, please let me know.
One of the more fascinating parts of their analysis involves Inspector William Hamlet from the crime laboratory of the San Francisco Police Department and the eight latent fingerprints found on two pages of the five-page "Little List" letter mailed on July 26th 1970. which included a left ring finger latent that bore a similarity to a bloody latent fingerprint retrieved from the door of the Ford Galaxie 500 taxicab of Paul Stine. This means that there is a possibility that the bloody left ring finger of the Zodiac Killer was the digit that touched the outside front right passenger door handle of the taxicab. The bloody fingerprint/s retrieved from the dividing panel to the right of the driver side door, were highly unlikely to have been deposited by the left hand of Zodiac (or anybody else other than Zodiac). The Robbins children claimed that the Zodiac Killer opened the driver side door from the outside and attempted to pull the lifeless body of Paul Stine into an upright position. This could only reasonably have been achieved if the Zodiac had braced his right hand against the dividing panel of the taxicab for leverage. But how was William Hamlet able to conclude it was the ring fingerprint of the left hand that was found on the taxicab and letter, and not the right?
One of the more fascinating parts of their analysis involves Inspector William Hamlet from the crime laboratory of the San Francisco Police Department and the eight latent fingerprints found on two pages of the five-page "Little List" letter mailed on July 26th 1970. which included a left ring finger latent that bore a similarity to a bloody latent fingerprint retrieved from the door of the Ford Galaxie 500 taxicab of Paul Stine. This means that there is a possibility that the bloody left ring finger of the Zodiac Killer was the digit that touched the outside front right passenger door handle of the taxicab. The bloody fingerprint/s retrieved from the dividing panel to the right of the driver side door, were highly unlikely to have been deposited by the left hand of Zodiac (or anybody else other than Zodiac). The Robbins children claimed that the Zodiac Killer opened the driver side door from the outside and attempted to pull the lifeless body of Paul Stine into an upright position. This could only reasonably have been achieved if the Zodiac had braced his right hand against the dividing panel of the taxicab for leverage. But how was William Hamlet able to conclude it was the ring fingerprint of the left hand that was found on the taxicab and letter, and not the right?
You can tell if a fingerprint is from a left or right hand by analyzing specific patterns like the whorl axis slant, which shows a statistically significant tendency to slant one way or the other depending on the hand. Other methods involve analyzing multiple parameters within the fingerprint's ridges, such as the slope of the ridges, the positions of the core and deltas, and ridge counting. For loops, the direction of the flow can also be a key indicator: ulnar loops, which flow toward the pinky finger, are more common on the right hand, while radial loops (flowing toward the thumb) are more common on the left.
CLICK IMAGE TO READ MORE A Zodiac Killer without gloves (and minus effective airplane fingertip guards, or none at all) would inevitably have deposited fingerprints on the outside front right passenger door handle when entering the front of the taxicab. When the Zodiac Killer was seen leaving this door by the Robbins teenagers, they described a suspect who then "exited the cab by the passenger side front door, also wiping with a white rag, possibly a handkerchief. The suspect then walked around the cab to the driver's side and proceeded to wipe the exterior of the left door area". The white rag was most probably the cut section of Paul Stine's shirt. But how does a right-handed killer, who might be expected to use this hand when wiping down the taxicab, manage to leave a left ring fingerprint on the outside front passenger door handle? There are multiple possibilities.
If the Zodiac Killer had used scissors or a knife to cut the shirt of Paul Stine, he would have used his right hand, leaving his left hand free to secure the freed shirt piece. If he had immediately left the taxicab after performing this task, his left hand would have still been in possession of the shirt piece, which he could have then used to quickly wipe the door handle as he exited. Alternatively, he may have put the scissors/knife away while inside the taxicab and subsequently grabbed Paul Stine's wallet and Yellow Cab keys using his right hand, while still clutching the shirt piece with his left. As he departed the front passenger side of the taxicab he may have then pocketed the wallet and keys, obviously keeping the shirt piece in his left hand to wipe down the door handle. This would explain why a right-handed individual attempted to remove fingerprints with his left hand. So how was the bloody left ring fingerprint of Zodiac inadvertently deposited on the door handle?
If the Zodiac Killer had used scissors or a knife to cut the shirt of Paul Stine, he would have used his right hand, leaving his left hand free to secure the freed shirt piece. If he had immediately left the taxicab after performing this task, his left hand would have still been in possession of the shirt piece, which he could have then used to quickly wipe the door handle as he exited. Alternatively, he may have put the scissors/knife away while inside the taxicab and subsequently grabbed Paul Stine's wallet and Yellow Cab keys using his right hand, while still clutching the shirt piece with his left. As he departed the front passenger side of the taxicab he may have then pocketed the wallet and keys, obviously keeping the shirt piece in his left hand to wipe down the door handle. This would explain why a right-handed individual attempted to remove fingerprints with his left hand. So how was the bloody left ring fingerprint of Zodiac inadvertently deposited on the door handle?
The above image shows the door handle of a Ford Galaxie 500 taxicab. If the Zodiac Killer was clutching a portion of the shirt piece with his little finger and thumb, and wiping up and down and/or horizontally across the inside of the door handle with the three longest fingers (digits 7, 8 and 9) by positioning his hand at either the top or bottom of the door handle, it is easy to see how the side (or front) of his left index or left ring finger could accidentally make contact with the inner edges of the door handle. That is why it would be important to know the exact location and orientation the bloody left ring fingerprint was positioned on the door handle.
Elimination prints were taken of responding personnel who attended the Presidio Heights crime scene, as they were of San Francisco Chronicle staff and members of the police department who touched the "Little List" letter mailed on .July 26th 1970. Therefore, the bloody fingerprint found on the taxicab and the latent left ring fingerprint retrieved from the "Little List" letter exhibiting similarities to one another, have a strong possibility of originating from the hand of our killer. Any fingerprints found on the inner pages of the five-page "Little List" letter (protected by the front of page 1 and the rear of page 5), one might expect to be the fingerprints of the author, had the San Francisco Chronicle staff ceased further examination once they read the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking". This, of course, assumes that the Zodiac Killer folded pages 1 to 5 in order. There should be very little to no reason why a machine produced writing pad should contain any fingerprints on its inner pages, other than that of the Zodiac Killer. Especially when using five consecutive pages over a constrained time period to author this letter.
Elimination prints were taken of responding personnel who attended the Presidio Heights crime scene, as they were of San Francisco Chronicle staff and members of the police department who touched the "Little List" letter mailed on .July 26th 1970. Therefore, the bloody fingerprint found on the taxicab and the latent left ring fingerprint retrieved from the "Little List" letter exhibiting similarities to one another, have a strong possibility of originating from the hand of our killer. Any fingerprints found on the inner pages of the five-page "Little List" letter (protected by the front of page 1 and the rear of page 5), one might expect to be the fingerprints of the author, had the San Francisco Chronicle staff ceased further examination once they read the introduction of "This is the Zodiac speaking". This, of course, assumes that the Zodiac Killer folded pages 1 to 5 in order. There should be very little to no reason why a machine produced writing pad should contain any fingerprints on its inner pages, other than that of the Zodiac Killer. Especially when using five consecutive pages over a constrained time period to author this letter.
It is clear that the similarity between the left ring fingerprint from the "Little List" letter and Presidio Heights crime scene did not extend to any database search results, that included subjects such as Arthur Leigh Allen, who quite frankly should have been removed from the suspect list decades ago. All of the eight latent fingerprints retrieved from the "Little List" letter were compared to "suspects" in the Zodiac case and no match was effected.
Dion Walker summed everything up nicely, stating "Is it really so much of a stretch - so hard to believe - that it's probable for two latent fingerprints from two different surfaces, that had both been checked against elimination prints - and were almost certainly touched by the exact same man - were similar because they were left by the same man. I think it makes sense looking at the whole picture". If the left ring fingerprint of a "suspect" exhibited similarity to the left ring fingerprint from the "Little List" letter, which itself showed a similarity to the one retrieved from the tacicab of Paul Stine, this would be our starting point. The remaining seven latent fingerprints from the same letter could then be used to compare to other digits from the "suspect", which should reasonably effect an identification (or not) of the man who masqueraded as the elusive Zodiac Killer.
I would like to again thank Dion and Cragle for tackling this extremely labor intensive subject, and for three of the images used in the above presentation.
SEARCHING FOR THE PRINTS OF ZODIAC
AN INITIAL CUT TO THE LEFT SIDE [PART ONE]
AN INITIAL CUT TO THE LEFT SIDE [PART TWO]
Dion Walker summed everything up nicely, stating "Is it really so much of a stretch - so hard to believe - that it's probable for two latent fingerprints from two different surfaces, that had both been checked against elimination prints - and were almost certainly touched by the exact same man - were similar because they were left by the same man. I think it makes sense looking at the whole picture". If the left ring fingerprint of a "suspect" exhibited similarity to the left ring fingerprint from the "Little List" letter, which itself showed a similarity to the one retrieved from the tacicab of Paul Stine, this would be our starting point. The remaining seven latent fingerprints from the same letter could then be used to compare to other digits from the "suspect", which should reasonably effect an identification (or not) of the man who masqueraded as the elusive Zodiac Killer.
I would like to again thank Dion and Cragle for tackling this extremely labor intensive subject, and for three of the images used in the above presentation.
SEARCHING FOR THE PRINTS OF ZODIAC
AN INITIAL CUT TO THE LEFT SIDE [PART ONE]
AN INITIAL CUT TO THE LEFT SIDE [PART TWO]
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