THE FIRST THREE CRIMES

1/6/2015

The first two crimes of the Zodiac Killer, Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and Blue Rock Springs on July 4th 1969, are considered the most closely aligned of his four attacks, after all the Zodiac Killer did tie them up into one neat bundle when he first contacted the newspapers, firstly with his three cryptograms sent to three newspapers on July 31st 1969 and then in his follow up 'Debut of Zodiac' letter on August 4th 1969, where he mentions both crimes. This may have influenced the observer to fill in the blanks regarding the Lake Herman Road attack, taking preconceptions of the second crime and overlaying them onto the first. This, along with the depiction of events in documentaries and films, has ultimately led us to believe that his third crime at Lake Berryessa was so far removed from his first two crimes, it must be placed under heavy scrutiny as a Zodiac crime, with suggestions of a copycat killer. A post on Facebook Zodiac Killer 340 by Gregory Haugevik, prompted another look into the Lake Herman Road murders, its comparison to the Blue Rock Springs attack and the widely held belief, that his costume driven attack at Lake Berryessa was separate and unique to his first two crimes.

Taken from Facebook: "We are so reliant on the testimony of James Owen. Since this crime was so close to the Blue Rock Springs attack, I try to look for comparisons to see if they are connected. In both instances it was a lone couple in a deserted area, both in the last hour of the night, 9 shots were fired at both crime scenes, with handguns and on both occasions his first port of call was the passenger side of the vehicle, not the driver side. But one thing has always confused me about the Lake Herman Road crime: why did he try and force the couple out of the Rambler, why didn't he just approach the passenger side and start firing immediately, without warning, as he did at Blue Rock Springs. What purpose did he have for extricating David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the car, after all, if this were his first crime, he should have been less confident. Whatever his reasons, I believe since David Faraday's class ring appeared dislodged from his finger and he supposedly had a swelling on his jawline, he may have got into an altercation with the Zodiac, before he was shot. Even after coaxing the couple from the car, there was never any need to shoot David Faraday from such close contact range, it is unnecessary and risky, unless of course things never went to plan. This may possibly have influenced his actions at Blue Rock Springs, when he decided not to risk losing control of the situation once again, so shot the couple immediately, while they were entrapped within their vehicle. This is what he said in the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter " Last Christmass In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage". So he claimed to have used a sighter at Lake Herman Road, suggestive that he was going to need it. Had he just approached the Rambler at Lake Herman Road and shot them through the window, what need would he have, to have taped a pencil flashlight to the gun barrel. It was suggestive and indicative of a killer that wanted to 'hunt' his victims in the open".
Gregory Haugevik stated "This was the only scene in which there were essentially zero witnesses.. Killer could've been wearing a costume a la Lake Berryessa for all we know...".
This has been touted before, but flies in the face of everything we have come to assume about the Zodiac murders. His first two murders were completely different to his third attack at Lake Berryessa. But were they?. We know nothing of the murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, other than where the evidence, and eyewitnesses, either side of the crime, point us. Unlike the final three attacks, there were no direct witnesses to the Zodiac Killer at the actual crime scene, while it was in progress.

"He may have wanted to remove them from the Rambler and force Betty Lou to tie up David Faraday, like the Lake Berryessa scenario and this may have been the panic, that forced David Faraday to act. I remember Bryan Hartnell said to Cecelia Shepard 'he could get the gun', maybe this time David Faraday tried. He was an Eagle Scout and was a wrestler at school, so knew how to handle himself, albeit under desperate circumstances. Again, the Zodiac must have had something in his mind when forcing them from the car, if he hadn't, why not just shoot them immediately and along with the 'pencil flashlight' showed malice of forethought on his part".
The suggestion being, we simply do not know for sure the Lake Berryessa attack was a 'marked deviation' from the Lake Herman Road double murder, we just assume it was. He may have been carrying a knife. He may have been carrying a 'pencil flashlight' attached to his gun, which furthermore may suggest, there was never an intention to use a knife, otherwise why go to the effort. The 'pencil flashlight' may have been a back up, for 'just in case' purposes. But what is certain, is that we cannot say definitively, the Zodiac Killer was not wearing a costume at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968 and by the same token, claim the Lake Berryessa attack on September 27th 1969 was the first time the Zodiac Killer got dressed up to execute his cold blooded murder.

**Thanks to Gregory Haugevik

4 Comments

Greg H.

1/6/2015 02:35:05 pm

This is a thought my girlfriend actually brought up last week while we watched the documentary "This is the Zodiac Speaking".. A question posed by a police investigator at Lake Berryessa asked, roughly: "If not to horrify, for what reason did Zodiac wear this elaborate black costume and mask if he intended to kill his victims?.. They'd not be able to identify him, after all".. She remarked that the officer had just answered his own question: the intent, seemingly, was to scare them.. I'd carry this a step further and say there was clearly a level of egomania on the part of Zodiac which went into the wearing of this attire.. He was relishing in this anti-hero identity he had crafted for himself.. It seemed as though he might have been inspired by comics, i.e. Dick Tracy or Fred Harman; is it a reach to say he probably had editions of Batman and Spiderman also on a shelf somewhere?.. He was personifying such a crusader come to life, only his goals were far more dastardly than these fictional crime-fighters.. In this sense, you can also probably conclude he lived with a rather pronounced degree of delusion--interweaving extreme elements of fiction superheroes into his real life identity, as an adult, no less.. It reminds of me of a separate idea that was pointed out by John Douglas in his book "The Cases That Haunt Us,'' he states that Zodiac was both well-educated and illiterate as evidenced by his written correspondences.. Douglas further says that Zodiac's careful wiping down of Paul Stine's taxicab, but failure to remove his own fingerprints were illustrative of this type of dyslexia...

As a related topic to Lake Berryessa--I've often thought of the courage Bryan Hartnell has mustered in his ability to go through his life with the knowledge that the man who attempted to take his life was still on the loose.. Had it not been for Harnell's testimony, the haunting visage of Zodiac in his black get-up, after all, would have never become such a staple of true crime lore.. (The same bravery, I might add, goes for Mike Mageau).. Can you imagine how fearful it must be that this unknown assailant may seek reprisals against you because you've witnessed him and could theoretically jeapordize his freedom?.. It's truly a horror movie come to life.. The identities of Hartnell and Mageau were out in the open after the attacks on each, respectively.. Zodiac, by simply reading a newspaper, had to have learned their identities and certainly could have found them had he been so inclined.. It's a great credit to these two for showing so much strength....

Alex link

3/18/2015 08:14:18 pm

Bryan was, for a time after the attack, fearful and extremely afraid to the point where he wouldn't leave his house. He said in an interview He gave a while back now that He sat down one day and asked himself the question: 'Do I want to allow this person to destroy me, my life and the plans I had & goals to set out to achieve? Or do I pick myself up, accept this happened to me, and carry on with life and show him that he hasn't won and I have made my life a successful one?'
Bryan said that at that moment, he decided to not allow this man to completely destroy what he wanted to become and made the decision there and then that he will move on and go bk to law school to study and will not give the man who attacked him any acknowledgement and decided to never give interviews, even discuss the attack again because He does not want to give the man who attacked him a printed recognition in a newspaper or on TV.
He has made one on screen appearance to recount his ordeal & that was for the 2007 Docu. 'This is the Zodiac Speaking' and made it clear that this was the one & only time he will speak of the Zodiac and his being stabbed by him and was doing so mainly, he said, out of annoyance that it was widely believed that Z told he and Cecelia "You know, I'm going to have to stab you people" and he was alleged to have replied "Well stab me first cause I can't stand to see the girl hurt.' This pissed Bryan off very much and he basically wanted to set the record straight in that Zodiac never said he was going to stab him and He certainly didn't tell the masked man to stab him first. He won't be giving any more interviews regarding this negative experience he stated, and this 2007 decision to give the interview was to declare that this rumoured statement by Z & reply by him was absolutely incorrect & never happened.

Richard

1/6/2015 04:24:03 pm

Yes that's correct, without doubt the ferocity of the attack stabbing Bryan Hartnell six times and Cecelia Shepard 10 times, there was never any intention to leave any witnesses behind, so it seems fair and proper to come to the conclusion he was engaging in a fantasy role that empowered him somewhat. Either like you say, he had a comic, film fascination that he took into the real world or prior to the attack he may have read or watched something that triggered this idea. After the crime he never bragged to newspapers about this crime, as he had done after the Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs attacks, leading some people to consider that this may not have been a Zodiac crime or a copycat. I do not believe this. The murder of Paul Stine occurred only 2 weeks after this crime, he was probably already planning his next attack, not to mention that by inadvertently failing to kill Bryan Hartnell, he was getting all the publicity he could have wished for. Bryan Hartnell was recounting his terrifying ordeal at the hands of a man dressed in a black executioners outfit, with the crossed circle logo and the papers had a field day. The Zodiac Killer had by his failure to kill both victims, had his day in the sun. What more could he have wished for. Had Bryan Hartnell died, I am convinced he would have written. He only wrote about Blue Rock Springs in conjunction with the Lake Herman Road murders. Both the July 31st 1969 letters and the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter on August 4th 1969 referred to both crimes together. Bryan Hartnell and Michael Mageau could have become targets, but there descriptions, without any tangible evidence was never likely to threaten his freedom. Why kill two people who are effectively recounting details about his crime and creating more newspaper headlines for him. He would be biting the hand that feeds. Latterly mind he sends us the disputed Fairfield Letter on December 16th 1969, with the phrase by knife, written almost exactly how it was written on the door of Bryan Hartnell's car and again references by knife and by rope in the Halloween Card. Considering his other three crimes were committed with a gun, is this a reference to Lake Berryessa. The 'by fire' element who knows, unless he is referring to Domingos/Edwards in 1963.

Alex Lewis

7/3/2015 08:39:19 am

Hey Rich I was watching a crime show the other day and a Homicide had taken place where a witness had come forward to state He was at the location of the murder and had seen two vehicles, one that He could remember The Make, Model, Year, Color and parking position which, as it happens, was the victims vehicle and the second car, the witness claimed, He could give any details of as He didn't remember or may not have been able to see it as clearly.

Here is what the Detective Investigating the Homicide came on screen and declared: "This witness came forward to tell us that He saw two vehicles parked in the exact area the homicide occured and was able to describe our victims vehicle with very specific detail and said the second vehicle was parked right next to the Victims. So when this witness could not tell us any detail, even a basic body type, this made us extremely suspicious of this witness. We knew, based on the FBI's profile of our suspect, that this offender would likely try to interject himself into our investigation to keep an eye on what progress we were making."

Anyway, long story short, there was no second vehicle & the 'witness' turned out to be the suspect who committed the crime and invented the 2nd vehicle scenario to throw police off.

THE FIRST THREE CRIMES

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