James Owen passed the Lake Herman Road turnout shortly after 11:00 pm on December 20th 1968. He was the only eyewitness to spot a second vehicle alongside David Faraday's 1961 Rambler Station Wagon, giving two accounts of what he saw that night. The first on 12/21/1968, he stated "he saw two cars parked near the entrance to the pumping station. He stated the car parked nearest to the road was a 1955 or 1956 station wagon, boxy type, neutral color. The other was parked to the right and abreast of the station wagon. The cars were about ten feet apart." In his second statement on 12/24/1968 "he definitely saw two cars, a station wagon and another vehicle, parked approximately three or four feet to the right of the station wagon. He did not see anyone in the cars or around them. He stated as he had traveled approximately one quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot. He had his car radio on low."
Whether James Owen unquestionably heard a gunshot is unknown, because he couldn't state definitively, only "he thought he heard a shot". He also gave two distances between the vehicles, however, it is extremely unlikely the vehicles were ever 3-4 feet apart, for which, one reason will be explained later, the other being that David Faraday was found lying on the turnout floor with his feet nearly touching the right rear wheel of the Rambler and his body extended perpendicular from it, indicating this is likely how he fell. Had the suspect vehicle been 3-4 feet away, David Faraday would surely have struck this vehicle, altering his position to the one discovered by responding officers later that night.
During the attack that night a total of 10 shots were fired, but only 8 bullets were recovered: 5 from the attack on Betty Lou Jensen, 1 from the head of David Faraday and 2 were retrieved from the Rambler. Two bullets were never recovered.
Zodiac author, Robert Graysmith, would claim that the murderer rounded the vehicle and shot a bullet into the left rear wheel well, to herd the couple from the right side of the Rambler. This never occurred, as no shell casings were recovered from the left side of the Rambler, and furthermore, the police themselves released a photograph tracing the path of a bullet as it entered the right rear window and which subsequently lodged in the left rear wheel well. The other bullet entered the headliner of the vehicle, 56 inches from ground level, and traveled virtually horizontal, before striking the upper interior region of the Rambler on the left side.
Whether James Owen unquestionably heard a gunshot is unknown, because he couldn't state definitively, only "he thought he heard a shot". He also gave two distances between the vehicles, however, it is extremely unlikely the vehicles were ever 3-4 feet apart, for which, one reason will be explained later, the other being that David Faraday was found lying on the turnout floor with his feet nearly touching the right rear wheel of the Rambler and his body extended perpendicular from it, indicating this is likely how he fell. Had the suspect vehicle been 3-4 feet away, David Faraday would surely have struck this vehicle, altering his position to the one discovered by responding officers later that night.
During the attack that night a total of 10 shots were fired, but only 8 bullets were recovered: 5 from the attack on Betty Lou Jensen, 1 from the head of David Faraday and 2 were retrieved from the Rambler. Two bullets were never recovered.
Zodiac author, Robert Graysmith, would claim that the murderer rounded the vehicle and shot a bullet into the left rear wheel well, to herd the couple from the right side of the Rambler. This never occurred, as no shell casings were recovered from the left side of the Rambler, and furthermore, the police themselves released a photograph tracing the path of a bullet as it entered the right rear window and which subsequently lodged in the left rear wheel well. The other bullet entered the headliner of the vehicle, 56 inches from ground level, and traveled virtually horizontal, before striking the upper interior region of the Rambler on the left side.
The picture on the right shows the trajectory of the bullet fired into the window. It traveled downwards at an angle of 17 degrees to the horizontal, before it stuck the left rear wheel well. Using this angle, the height of the Zodiac Killer, the dimensions of the Rambler, and a liberal sprinkling of trigonometry, it is possible to discover exactly the distance the shooter was standing from the Rambler when this shot was fired.
It could be argued that the assailant fired two warning shots, before escalating his threat and firing two shots into the Rambler - although these two shots may equally have been the initial opening gambit of the killer. The final six shots were reserved for the victims, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. David Faraday was gunned down at point blank range by the right rear wheel, with Betty Lou Jensen fleeing in a westerly direction toward the Vallejo edge of the turnout, before succumbing. The following diagram uses trigonometry and the concept of the internal angles of a triangle totaling 180 degrees to calculate any remaining values.
It could be argued that the assailant fired two warning shots, before escalating his threat and firing two shots into the Rambler - although these two shots may equally have been the initial opening gambit of the killer. The final six shots were reserved for the victims, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. David Faraday was gunned down at point blank range by the right rear wheel, with Betty Lou Jensen fleeing in a westerly direction toward the Vallejo edge of the turnout, before succumbing. The following diagram uses trigonometry and the concept of the internal angles of a triangle totaling 180 degrees to calculate any remaining values.
The shooter on the left is approximated from eyewitness accounts at 5'10" in height, giving him a shoulder height of roughly 60 inches. The bullet entered the right rear window, just above the chrome stripping, and based on the specifications of a 1961 Rambler, gives us an approximate entry point of 43 inches from the turnout floor. These two heights form the basis of two right-angled triangles.
In the trigonometry calculator here, we can place in the 17 degree and 73 degree angles, and the shoulder height or side height of 60 inches. This gives us a value for the distance between the shooter's feet and where the bullet would have struck had it not been impeded by the left rear wheel well of the Rambler. This value is 196 inches. To now get the distance of the shooter from the Rambler, we must calculate the length of the lower red line from the right side of the Rambler to the end of the bullet path, then deduct it from 196 inches. The side height or bullet entry point in the Rambler window is 43 inches and we still have the same two angles of 73 and 17 degrees, so we can now calculate this new distance. This value is nearly 141 inches.
This gives us a shooter distance from the Rambler of 55 inches (196-141), or 4 feet 7 inches. This means with an extended arm, the gun was likely only 25-30 inches from the Rambler window when fired. If, for example, the bullet trajectory is steepened to 20 degrees from the horizontal, this would place the shooter inside of 4 feet. The steeper the angle, the closer the shooter becomes. The height of the Rambler is 57 inches and the shooter's shoulder height is approximately 60 inches, which explains why the other shot into the headliner of the vehicle traveled virtually horizontal with little deviation and therefore failed to exit the glass on the left side of the Rambler. It is extremely likely that this was the first shot fired into the Rambler that night as the assailant exited his vehicle.
In the trigonometry calculator here, we can place in the 17 degree and 73 degree angles, and the shoulder height or side height of 60 inches. This gives us a value for the distance between the shooter's feet and where the bullet would have struck had it not been impeded by the left rear wheel well of the Rambler. This value is 196 inches. To now get the distance of the shooter from the Rambler, we must calculate the length of the lower red line from the right side of the Rambler to the end of the bullet path, then deduct it from 196 inches. The side height or bullet entry point in the Rambler window is 43 inches and we still have the same two angles of 73 and 17 degrees, so we can now calculate this new distance. This value is nearly 141 inches.
This gives us a shooter distance from the Rambler of 55 inches (196-141), or 4 feet 7 inches. This means with an extended arm, the gun was likely only 25-30 inches from the Rambler window when fired. If, for example, the bullet trajectory is steepened to 20 degrees from the horizontal, this would place the shooter inside of 4 feet. The steeper the angle, the closer the shooter becomes. The height of the Rambler is 57 inches and the shooter's shoulder height is approximately 60 inches, which explains why the other shot into the headliner of the vehicle traveled virtually horizontal with little deviation and therefore failed to exit the glass on the left side of the Rambler. It is extremely likely that this was the first shot fired into the Rambler that night as the assailant exited his vehicle.
You will notice that the bullet that struck the window could not have been fired from the suspect gun immediately after he left his vehicle, if his vehicle was parked directly alongside the Rambler approximately 10 feet away (as shown in the police diagrams). The bullet entered the window to the left side of the right rear wheel arch and embedded into the left rear wheel well at a 17 degree angle. A bullet fired from the driver side of a vehicle parked 10 feet or more away would have a much flatter trajectory and missed the left rear wheel well entirely. It would have likely struck just below the left rear window. This means the shooter was 4 and one half feet away and virtually alongside the right rear wheel when he took this shot. The gun barely over 2 feet away (25-30 inches).
The estimated distance of the shooter from the Rambler and body position of David Faraday at least rules out the suspect vehicle being parked 3-4 feet away, as claimed in James Owen's second statement. But what does this prove? It may just indicate, that the killer never drew up directly alongside the Rambler, but having possibly parked his vehicle slightly back, so that his driver side door was adjacent to the rear door of the Rambler, changing the dynamics of the sequence, and thereby allowing the assailant to discharge these two bullets with reasonable haste upon exiting his vehicle and initiating the attack on December 20th 1968. There are of course multiple ways this attack may have unfolded, but the only thing we know for certain is how it ended.
The estimated distance of the shooter from the Rambler and body position of David Faraday at least rules out the suspect vehicle being parked 3-4 feet away, as claimed in James Owen's second statement. But what does this prove? It may just indicate, that the killer never drew up directly alongside the Rambler, but having possibly parked his vehicle slightly back, so that his driver side door was adjacent to the rear door of the Rambler, changing the dynamics of the sequence, and thereby allowing the assailant to discharge these two bullets with reasonable haste upon exiting his vehicle and initiating the attack on December 20th 1968. There are of course multiple ways this attack may have unfolded, but the only thing we know for certain is how it ended.
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