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THE GUNSIGHTS ON FIFTH AVENUE

1/15/2017

3 Comments

 
On August 4th 1969 the San Francisco Examiner received the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, in which the killer revealed his moniker for the first time. This letter was not planned, it was only mailed by the killer in response to an article released in the newspaper over the weekend, in which Vallejo Police Chief Jack E Stiltz was featured asking the murderer of three to supply more details about his crimes, in essence to prove that the author of the July 31st 1969 letters was in fact the killer. The Zodiac duly obliged.
'For 35 years starting in 1965, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner operated under a Joint Operating Agreement whereby the Chronicle published a morning paper and the Examiner published in the afternoon. The Examiner published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the Chronicle contributed the features.' Wikipedia.  
The first newspaper article was released by the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday August 2nd 1969. Jack E Stiltz requested the writer to send a second letter "with more facts to prove it." The second newspaper article followed on Sunday August 3rd 1969 in the San Francisco Examiner. Jack E Stiltz was 'still not convinced the letters and codes were written by the actual killer.' The police chief 'urged the writer to send more letters, with more facts to prove his connections to the crimes.'  The 'Debut of Zodiac' letter was received by the San Francisco Examiner the following day, so it is likely he is responding to the Sunday article in particular. This may be important if we analyze the nature of the communication and the actual paper it is written on. 
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The Zodiac committed four attacks we know of. The first two at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs were perpetrated on a Friday in the hour preceding midnight. The Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights attacks were perpetrated earlier, both on Saturday. This fed into the belief that Zodiac had a regular Monday to Friday, 9-5 job, with his Friday attacks likely committed closer to home due to time constraints, whereas on Saturday he could venture further afield, as it was one of his rest days.
This may have come into play when the Zodiac sent his August 4th 1969 letter. The Zodiac had just embarked on his letter writing campaign, when he mailed the 408 cipher on July 31st 1969, split into three sections of 136 characters, each mailed to three newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, all of which decided to publish. When Jack E Stiltz questioned the validity of the letter writer, Zodiac was eager to reply, shown by the very fact his response was received on Monday, the day after the August 3rd 1969 Sunday Examiner article. He must have hurriedly drafted a response in order that his letter was published in the Monday edition, but with one key difference.
The Zodiac Killer used Eaton brand paper in his communications with the newspapers, but the 'Debut of Zodiac' was a notable change using Woolworth's Fifth Avenue paper, as though he was thrown out of his routine. No doubt he kept a supply of Eaton paper at his residence, which he reverted back to after the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter. It seems like the Woolworth's Fifth Avenue brand paper was a rushed buy, when he had no easy access to his home location, yet was still in a location to readily purchase the Sunday Examiner newspaper.
Here is one possible scenario, but obviously not the only one.
'The Zodiac Killer has just completed his 408 cipher and the weekend is approaching. He decides to use his Saturday and Sunday off work to relax and bask in his new found notoriety. If he is a resident of Vallejo or Benicia, then a thirty mile weekend trip away to San Francisco, may seem like a justified reward to enjoy his passion of theater in the Union Square and Tenderloin District. San Francisco may be an area he is already familiar with, if he works there. Then Jack E Stiltz puts a fly in the ointment by issuing a doubt that the killer and letter writer is the same person. The Zodiac Killer enjoying a cup of coffee over breakfast in his hotel getaway, picks up his paper and nearly chokes when he reads the article. Young and impulsive, his need to respond is immediate before Monday's edition. He finishes breakfast in his theater district hotel and heads to the nearest stationers to purchase some paper and a felt tip pen.' Enter Robert Graysmith.                   

PictureWoolworths at Powell and Market Streets
"The first letter in which he christened himself "Zodiac" carried a different watermark than three earlier letters (Monarch-cut bond, imprinted with an Eaton watermark). The new watermark was fifth avenue, an imprint of Frank Winfield Woolworth's national chain. A huge Woolworth's stood just a block away from the Chronicle, at the cable car turntable at Fifth and Market and Powell. In the basement, next to the goldfish, Woolworth's sold blue felt-tip pens and paper exactly like Zodiac used. What if he bought his paper and blue felt-tip pens there?"  
His Eaton paper was at his residence, but he is on a weekend trip. The easy option is to purchase a temporary pad of paper from the nearest location and Woolworth's would have been the obvious choice. It is in the heart of the theater district, just 10 minutes walking distance from Union Square and the Westin St Francis Hotel, the location where Zodiac was believed to have flagged down Paul Stine just two months later on October 11th 1969.
Robert Graysmith highlights the Westin St Francis Hotel at Union Square, along with the Pinecrest Restaurant in his book 'Zodiac', whereas the article in the San Francisco Examiner on October 23rd 1969 stated "The search also took police to Nob Hill, where the Fairmont Hotel became involved again in the manhunt. This was because: Cabbie Paul Stine, 29, the Zodiac's latest victim is believed to have picked up his fare on a street near the famed hotel. A waitress in the hotel candy shop-fountain told police she served coffee during the television show (Jim Dunbar/Melvin Belli) to a man who resembled composite drawings of Zodiac. She saved the cup and saucer for a fingerprint check."
Ironically Zodiac, if a visitor at one of these hotels, would add a footnote to his 'Debut of Zodiac' letter declaring "No address".
The Zodiac Killer would later send two further missives, the 'Little List' and 'Exorcist' letter, in which he featured the Gilbert and Sullivan satirical comedy, The Mikado, which played in the San Francisco theater district during this period. This location of Woolworth's, the theater district, the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner and the pick up point of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, certainly center the focus on this small area of San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle at 901 Mission Street/corner of 5th and San Francisco Examiner at 835 Market Street are key locations.          

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The murder of Paul Stine on Saturday October 11th 1969 was thought to have originated from a pick up point, either at the Westin St Francis Hotel or the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets. The time would have been approximately 9.30-9.40 pm, so a theater production ending at this time may have provided a connection. Was the Zodiac Killer again on a weekend away, enjoying his passion for the arts, only this time murder was on the menu.
However this murder was a little different. If the killer, as suggested earlier was not a resident of San Francisco, but a guest at a hotel somewhere in the theater district, then you would assume this murder was pre-planned, with a vehicle or three mile walk back to Union Square.
Just like the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter that was received at the San Francisco Examiner on the immediate Monday to the article, so was the Paul Stine letter, containing the swatch of the taxicab driver's shirt, on October 13th 1969. His response to both events was immediate, yet this time, knowing his murderous intentions, was prepared with pen and paper in advance.

PictureThe Northpoint Theatre. Click for information.
The Zodiac Killer mailed the 'Exorcist' letter on January 29th 1974 in response to the San Francisco Chronicle article entitled 'Weird Goings on at the Movies,' authored by Paul Avery and published on January 11th 1974, detailing the audience reaction to the recently released Exorcist movie in 1973. The news report was from the Northpoint Theatre, located at 2290 Powell Street, San Francisco. The theater was located 3.4 miles from Washington and Cherry Streets, the intersection where Paul Stine was murdered and only 1.7 miles from the region of Union Square, where the taxicab driver picked up Zodiac.
If the Zodiac Killer was a regular visitor to the area of San Francisco's theater district, the Northpoint Theatre, easily accessible from Union Square, likely saw the murderer through its doors at some point, although he appeared notably underwhelmed, describing it as "the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen,"
​Does the change in writing material give us an insight into the Zodiac Killer's movements precedent to the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, or is it simply a case of reading nothing into something.   

3 Comments
J.D.
1/17/2017 12:19:26 am

Hi Richard. Sorry to write off topic again. Just wondering if anyone has ever approached the Zodiac's identity from the following angle. I'm using the supposition that the use of "Zodiac" had a much deeper, personal meaning to him, and he didn't lift the name from a Charlie Chan movie or wrist watch. Suppose he used it because, say, someone like his father or grandfather had used it? I'm adding a link at the end to elaborate. It is from page 89 of The Modern Engineer and Amateur Electrician: A Journal of Mechanics and Electricity for Amateurs and Students, regarding the combined engine and dynamo, and signed "yours truly, "Zodiac."" I'm not saying this has any connection to the Zodiac case; it merely serves to make my point. So, suppose the killer's grandfather had used "Zodiac" as some sort of nickname or pseudonym, and shared his passion for the types of projects in the above mentioned manual with his son and grandson. If someone were to find out the name of someone using Zodiac years prior, perhaps that would possibly lead to a grandson or other close relative who might have lived in the Riverside/San Franciso area in the 1960s. I know this is probably far fetched on my part, but one never really knows, do they? Anyway, this is the link to google books, where you can read the letter beginning on page 88 and ending on page 89. Apart from the Zodiac angle, these volumes share some interesting ideas and projects from the past. https://books.google.com/books?id=Tbo_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=zodiac+torpedo&source=bl&ots=hg09yDT_c4&sig=W79yfXg_G53c5CVohABMpcfffdM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt_pCNr8jRAhWExYMKHbmjCfk4ChDoAQgeMAE#v=onepage&q=zodiac%20torpedo&f=false

Reply
Richard
1/17/2017 01:19:46 pm

Yes JD, I'm certainly not convinced by the wristwatch angle or Charlie Chan, but since this question can only answered by the killer, if alive, it's highly unlikely we will ever resolve this. Your idea is eminently plausible, being influenced by somebody he looked up to or family members. This like you allude is one way to still discover the truth despite the possible demise of the killer. I like the 'yours truly' touch, which the Zodiac himself eventually began using on the 1978 and 1987 letters. I like the idea, Zodiac being a criminal, probably throughout his childhood also, liked reading crime novels, watching mystery and murder on TV and as his letters showed, immersed himself in topics preceding his birth such as The Mikado and likely The Most Dangerous Game and Charlie Chan, but one interesting mystery provided a chilling comparison to the Zodiac letters. You may have seen this, but the mysterious death of Alfred Lord was a strange affair, with a sinister ink note pinned to his body. Considering this was 1938, thirty years before the first known Zodiac crime, the handwriting and crosshair is uncanny. You wonder whether Zodiac read or viewed this somewhere.

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/uploads/4/9/7/1/4971630/lord_orig.jpg

http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/6158#.WH6KOVUgXow

Reply
J.D.
1/17/2017 11:39:23 pm

Thank you for the links regarding Bud Lord's suicide. That story is very bizarre in more ways than one. The San Diego connection, the crosshair, the fact that it involves a young couple, he being 20 and she 17. Yes, it's possible that the Zodiac read this exact story. Who knows, maybe the Zodiac had a family member commit suicide over a girl. When a family member commits suicide, it tends to mess up younger siblings in a bad way. One day Zodiac takes out his anger on young couples -- men representing the older sibling, women representing the girl that led to his sibling's suicide, or vice-versa. Of course, that's reaching a bit far. Anyhow, I still hold out hope that something will break which will propel the case forward. Of course, I won't hold my breath, but...

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Photos used under Creative Commons from Marcin Wichary, zAppledot, g_kat26, vyusseem, Alex Barth, Alan Cleaver, cwwycoff1, V31S70, jocelynsart, mendhak, Richard Perry, taberandrew, telmo32, Maxwell GS, eschipul, MrJamesAckerley, Steve A Johnson