Cecelia Shepard Bryan Hartnell stated in the 2007 documentary "We went down to St Helena and I think we looked in a rummage sale or something - we got distracted - when we looked at the clock we realized we weren't going to make it to the city and back (San Francisco). I had some responsibilities I had to be back for that evening, so we decided instead to take the loop up to Lake Berryessa". Below is the route they took, departing from St Helena at approximately 4:30 pm. They traveled north through Angwin and Pope Valley before heading south along the Knoxville Road to the area of the crime scene. We can calculate their direction of travel and the approximate time of their arrival based upon a couple who knew them. John (22) and Marilyn (18) were parked up just one mile south of the Lake Berryessa Marina and just north of the eventual crime scene. Marilyn stated that shortly after they parked their vehicle (5:15 pm) "they observed the victims who were known to them, driving south on Knoxville Road in Bryan's white Karmann Ghia. She stated as the Hartnell vehicle drove by, Bryan waved out of the window and said "Hi John". Marilyn stated that they did not see the Hartnell vehicle any other time that day".
The three girls from Pacific Union College "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road". The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road. They would have parked their vehicle somewhere in or between the region of Smittle Creek Trailhead and Smittle Creek Day Use Area. They arrived at 3:30 pm. "After approximately one-half hour had passed (4:00 pm), they observed what appeared to be the same subject standing with 40 or 50 feet of them, apparently observing them. The subject hung around the area for approximately 45 minutes (4:45 pm) and then the girls observed him walk up the hill". Allowing 10 minutes for the girls to get their belongings from their vehicle and walk to the beach, the total time passed would have the man walking up the hill at around 4:55 pm (approximately 5:00 pm). However, one page later in the police report, it stated "The three girls left the area about 4:30 pm and the subject's vehicle was gone". Therefore, we have to estimate the man left that location sometime between 4:30 pm and 5:00 pm. This is the approximate area that John and Marilyn were parked up at 5:15 pm when they spotted Bryan and Cecelia heading south to the area of the crime scene. If the man spotted by the three girls was the Zodiac Killer, it is clear that Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were not trailed by their eventual attacker from St Helena.
The three girls from Pacific Union College "parked their vehicle at a location two miles north of the A & W Root Beer stand on Knoxville Road". The Sugar Loaf Park A & W was situated at 5100 Knoxville Road. They would have parked their vehicle somewhere in or between the region of Smittle Creek Trailhead and Smittle Creek Day Use Area. They arrived at 3:30 pm. "After approximately one-half hour had passed (4:00 pm), they observed what appeared to be the same subject standing with 40 or 50 feet of them, apparently observing them. The subject hung around the area for approximately 45 minutes (4:45 pm) and then the girls observed him walk up the hill". Allowing 10 minutes for the girls to get their belongings from their vehicle and walk to the beach, the total time passed would have the man walking up the hill at around 4:55 pm (approximately 5:00 pm). However, one page later in the police report, it stated "The three girls left the area about 4:30 pm and the subject's vehicle was gone". Therefore, we have to estimate the man left that location sometime between 4:30 pm and 5:00 pm. This is the approximate area that John and Marilyn were parked up at 5:15 pm when they spotted Bryan and Cecelia heading south to the area of the crime scene. If the man spotted by the three girls was the Zodiac Killer, it is clear that Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were not trailed by their eventual attacker from St Helena.
If Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard had arrived at the crime scene (0.8 miles south of Smittle Creek Day Use Area) at about 5:20 pm, they would have laid out their picnic blanket at approximately 5:30 pm. The Zodiac Killer's appearance from beyond the tree was about 45 minutes in the making (6:15 pm arrival to 6:30 pm attack). So if this was the same person spotted by the three girls, we could be looking at just over an hour to 1 1/2 hours from last being spotted by the three girls at Smittle Creek (4:30 pm to 5:00 pm) to his arrival by the Karmann Ghia (but not necessarily). If he had been trawling the Knoxville Road between 4:30 pm and 6:00 pm in his vehicle (or the hillside on foot) looking for potential targets, he may very well have stumbled across Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard far earlier. If he arrived at the eventual crime scene (about 5:20 pm to 5:30 pm) shortly after the couple had parked up, had he circled the area in anticipation of an attack on Bryan and Cecelia, just like man observed by the three girls from Pacific Union College? They stated "the subject hung around the area for approximately 45 minutes and then the girls observed him walk up the hill". If this man had used the same "stalking his prey" technique before eventually approaching Bryan and Cecelia, then an arrival time of about 5:30 pm at the Karmann Ghia would have him approaching the couple 45 minutes later. This would have placed him behind the tree at approximately 6:15 pm, before culminating his attack at 6:30 pm (the time scrawled on the car door of the Karmann Ghia).
Is it a coincidence that just a short time later, Dr. Rayfield and his son observed a "white male adult subject walking in the area of Smittle Creek, described as about 5'10", heavy build, wearing dark trousers, a dark shirt with red in it, long sleeves. Dr Rayfield and his son stated that they did not notice a vehicle in the area of their vehicle and only this subject at a distance of about 100 yards. This location was approximately 8/10ths of a mile from the scene of the victim's vehicle. There are four coves of water between the scene of the crime and the area where the doctor saw the subject". They stated that they parked their vehicle at about 6:30 pm that evening and walked down to the beach, when they noticed the man approximately 100 yards away. If this was around 6:40 pm, we have a small discrepancy of about 10 minutes for a man to walk from the crime scene to Smittle Creek. An attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard slightly earlier, or Dr. Rayfield's time estimate a few minutes off, could easily account for this. A suspicious character noted by two sets of eyewitnesses 0.8 miles north of the crime scene, before and after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. Was this man the Zodiac Killer, trawling the hillsides of Lake Berryessa on foot looking for potential victims, before returning to his vehicle parked somewhere in the region of Smittle Creek?
Is it a coincidence that just a short time later, Dr. Rayfield and his son observed a "white male adult subject walking in the area of Smittle Creek, described as about 5'10", heavy build, wearing dark trousers, a dark shirt with red in it, long sleeves. Dr Rayfield and his son stated that they did not notice a vehicle in the area of their vehicle and only this subject at a distance of about 100 yards. This location was approximately 8/10ths of a mile from the scene of the victim's vehicle. There are four coves of water between the scene of the crime and the area where the doctor saw the subject". They stated that they parked their vehicle at about 6:30 pm that evening and walked down to the beach, when they noticed the man approximately 100 yards away. If this was around 6:40 pm, we have a small discrepancy of about 10 minutes for a man to walk from the crime scene to Smittle Creek. An attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard slightly earlier, or Dr. Rayfield's time estimate a few minutes off, could easily account for this. A suspicious character noted by two sets of eyewitnesses 0.8 miles north of the crime scene, before and after the attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. Was this man the Zodiac Killer, trawling the hillsides of Lake Berryessa on foot looking for potential victims, before returning to his vehicle parked somewhere in the region of Smittle Creek?
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