Betty Lou Jensen (16) In a recent article from the Vallejo Times-Herald, a native Vallejoan, Lorraine Osuna DeGroat, who knew Betty Lou Jensen from school, described her encounter with a man on Lake Herman Road that she believed could have been the infamous Zodiac Killer. Sometime in March or April of 1969 according to DeGroat, a few months shy of the Blue Rock Springs Park attack (but more likely subsequent to 09/27/69), approximately two miles into Lake Herman Road, she recalled "a man wearing a big, bulky trench coat or army jacket that reached to his knees, and he’s in the middle of the road, waving his arms, trying to get us to stop. She describes the man as in his middle 30's to early 40's, with blondish, short-cropped hair and horn-rimmed glasses. His pants were dark, and his shoes may also have been dark army boots." http://www.timesheraldonline.com/general-news/20170710/vallejo.
He apparently claimed he was out looking for his girlfriend, but they drove off in haste.
The description of the man is reminiscent of the details given by Donald Fouke as he patrolled in Jackson Street, Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 - although how much significance can be attributed to this latest news article and recollection is debatable. It is not unreasonable to consider the possibility that Zodiac cruised the lonely stretch of Lake Herman Road and the Blue Rock Springs Park area before and after December 20th 1968, and subsequent to July 4th 1969. One widely held belief is he was likely native to the area of Vallejo, Benicia or American Canyon, and had intimate knowledge of the area, specifically regarding areas frequented by courting couples. This tactic of trying to flag down a vehicle, bringing it to a halt on Lake Herman Road, is similar to a story in the Benicia Herald, where the nephew of Stella Medeiros, Albert Losado, stated that in the fall of 1969 he and his brother were prevented from traveling along Lake Herman Road near gate 10 by a log stretched across the road. The brothers had minutes earlier traveled the opposite way unhindered, from which, they suspected a sinister motive. In his words; "That’s why we didn’t get out of the car.” They backed up and got out of the area. It is possible this was an intentional act by a third party - and if the Zodiac Killer - a deviation in tactics. However, both of the above stories may have perfectly innocent explanations.
He apparently claimed he was out looking for his girlfriend, but they drove off in haste.
The description of the man is reminiscent of the details given by Donald Fouke as he patrolled in Jackson Street, Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969 - although how much significance can be attributed to this latest news article and recollection is debatable. It is not unreasonable to consider the possibility that Zodiac cruised the lonely stretch of Lake Herman Road and the Blue Rock Springs Park area before and after December 20th 1968, and subsequent to July 4th 1969. One widely held belief is he was likely native to the area of Vallejo, Benicia or American Canyon, and had intimate knowledge of the area, specifically regarding areas frequented by courting couples. This tactic of trying to flag down a vehicle, bringing it to a halt on Lake Herman Road, is similar to a story in the Benicia Herald, where the nephew of Stella Medeiros, Albert Losado, stated that in the fall of 1969 he and his brother were prevented from traveling along Lake Herman Road near gate 10 by a log stretched across the road. The brothers had minutes earlier traveled the opposite way unhindered, from which, they suspected a sinister motive. In his words; "That’s why we didn’t get out of the car.” They backed up and got out of the area. It is possible this was an intentional act by a third party - and if the Zodiac Killer - a deviation in tactics. However, both of the above stories may have perfectly innocent explanations.
Officer Pierre Bidou One curious statement in the Vallejo Times-Herald article reminded me of Pierre Bidou. It stated "She was found in a runaway position, as if she’d been running, and was shot in the back multiple times,” said DeGroat, a retired forensic psych nurse at the Napa State Hospital. “He was found still in the car.”
It is fairly unanimous in Zodiac circles that David Faraday was discovered by responding police lying perpendicular to the right rear wheel of the Rambler. That is, until you watch two Zodiac Killer videos and read an excerpt from the above Benicia Herald article. It reports "On a dark turnout along the side of the road, the officers, wearing heavy winter coats, followed the path of their flashlights and their unmarked police car’s headlight. They found the body of a girl face-down on the ground between a bank slope and a parked Rambler station wagon pointing east toward Vallejo. “It was obvious she was trying to run,” Bidou said of the girl, who had five entry wounds in a tight grouping to her right upper back. Inside the car, the officers found a boy in the passenger’s seat who appeared as if “he was trying to get out” of the car. Bidou remembers seeing the shattered glass of the car window, pierced by a bullet. More poignantly, he also remembers that the boy was still breathing."
The article clearly suggests that David Faraday was in the passenger seat, as though he was half way out when he was shot.
This is backed up on three other occasions, starting twice in a 2010 interview with Aphrodite Jones, an American author, reporter, and television producer. At 11:17 and 11:45 into the video Bidou states "The young man was still in the car" and "you see the male in the car still breathing." Then in a 'Richard Gaikowski-The Case of the Zodiac Killer' video at 13.25, he states "The male was still halfway in the vehicle and he was showing signs of breathing." The two statements "found a boy in the passenger’s seat who appeared as if he was trying to get out of the car," and "the male was still halfway in the vehicle and he was showing signs of breathing," are definitely comparable.
This is the actual statement taken from Stella Medeiros in the police report of the day; "When she arrived at the scene, headlights picked up the car (Rambler) and she observed a boy and he looked like he had fallen out of the open door. The girl was lying on her side facing the road." The question is; how do you interpret "he looked like he had fallen out of the open door." Had he fallen 'halfway out', and was still 'halfway in' as Pierre Bidou stated several times. In responding officer Daniel Pitta's police statement it recalled "A white male (Victim #2) was lying to the southside of a 1960 Rambler 4-door station wagon. Victim #2 was lying face up with a large amount of blood at the base of his skull." If we take all the above statements and recollections as true, then the only logical conclusion to draw would be David Faraday was discovered slumped in the passenger side of the Rambler and subsequently laid out on the turnout floor for medical intervention by the initial responders to the scene, leading to the confusion. But this would throw doubt on the perceived timeline of several officers that night. It would certainly negate the chalk outline of having any consequence in the murder of David Faraday on December 20th 1968. On the other hand, it may be the case that Pierre Bidou was just mistaken four times.
It is fairly unanimous in Zodiac circles that David Faraday was discovered by responding police lying perpendicular to the right rear wheel of the Rambler. That is, until you watch two Zodiac Killer videos and read an excerpt from the above Benicia Herald article. It reports "On a dark turnout along the side of the road, the officers, wearing heavy winter coats, followed the path of their flashlights and their unmarked police car’s headlight. They found the body of a girl face-down on the ground between a bank slope and a parked Rambler station wagon pointing east toward Vallejo. “It was obvious she was trying to run,” Bidou said of the girl, who had five entry wounds in a tight grouping to her right upper back. Inside the car, the officers found a boy in the passenger’s seat who appeared as if “he was trying to get out” of the car. Bidou remembers seeing the shattered glass of the car window, pierced by a bullet. More poignantly, he also remembers that the boy was still breathing."
The article clearly suggests that David Faraday was in the passenger seat, as though he was half way out when he was shot.
This is backed up on three other occasions, starting twice in a 2010 interview with Aphrodite Jones, an American author, reporter, and television producer. At 11:17 and 11:45 into the video Bidou states "The young man was still in the car" and "you see the male in the car still breathing." Then in a 'Richard Gaikowski-The Case of the Zodiac Killer' video at 13.25, he states "The male was still halfway in the vehicle and he was showing signs of breathing." The two statements "found a boy in the passenger’s seat who appeared as if he was trying to get out of the car," and "the male was still halfway in the vehicle and he was showing signs of breathing," are definitely comparable.
This is the actual statement taken from Stella Medeiros in the police report of the day; "When she arrived at the scene, headlights picked up the car (Rambler) and she observed a boy and he looked like he had fallen out of the open door. The girl was lying on her side facing the road." The question is; how do you interpret "he looked like he had fallen out of the open door." Had he fallen 'halfway out', and was still 'halfway in' as Pierre Bidou stated several times. In responding officer Daniel Pitta's police statement it recalled "A white male (Victim #2) was lying to the southside of a 1960 Rambler 4-door station wagon. Victim #2 was lying face up with a large amount of blood at the base of his skull." If we take all the above statements and recollections as true, then the only logical conclusion to draw would be David Faraday was discovered slumped in the passenger side of the Rambler and subsequently laid out on the turnout floor for medical intervention by the initial responders to the scene, leading to the confusion. But this would throw doubt on the perceived timeline of several officers that night. It would certainly negate the chalk outline of having any consequence in the murder of David Faraday on December 20th 1968. On the other hand, it may be the case that Pierre Bidou was just mistaken four times.
RSS Feed
