WAS THE KILLER SEEN HEADING TOWARDS VALLEJO ON DECEMBER 20TH 1968?

11/6/2024

On 12.24.68 James Owen in the police report stated that "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".

James Owen traveling at 40mph along Lake Herman Road to Humble Oil in Benicia on December 20th 1968, would cover 925 feet in approximately 16 seconds. Traveling at 30mph he would cover this distance in 21 seconds. This is the distance between the bottom of the hill looking up to the now infamous Lake Herman Road turnout. James Owen never reported seeing any headlights of a vehicle entering the turnout as he approached. If the Zodiac Killer had entered the turnout just prior to James Owen arriving at this position on Lake Herman Road, can we reasonably conclude that the moment Zodiac arrived in the turnout, his immediate actions were to pull up to the right side of the 1961 Rambler, exit his vehicle, fire two shots into the Rambler, approach its passenger side door, before summoning both David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen from the Rambler, and then making David, Betty and himself completely vanish from the turnout before James Owen passed? The Zodiac Killer would have needed to achieve all these actions in marginally over 16 to 21 seconds. It simply isn't realistic.

So let us consider that James Owen was 60 to 90 seconds away from the turnout (or more) when Zodiac pulled up alongside the Rambler. Based upon the chain of events we have been sold, wouldn't we now have expected James Owen to see two bodies lying in the turnout? (with or without Zodiac's vehicle}. However, he saw nobody in or around the vehicles, or beyond the turnout. Therefore, if the Zodiac Killer entered the turnout that night with the express intention of extracting both David and Betty from the Rambler and killing them quickly, he can only realistically have entered the turnout moments before James Owen arrived. Let us consider a third option.

The Zodiac arrives at the turnout while James Owen is about 45 seconds away. He has parked up, exited his vehicle, fired off two shots and removed both David and Betty from the Rambler, when he becomes aware of the approaching James Owen. He cannot now kill the couple, so he forces them behind one of the vehicles to hide from James Owen. This would require the Zodiac Killer to shut the passenger door of the Rambler, hide the couple from sight as James Owen passed, relocate both David and Betty back to the right side of the Rambler, execute the couple from this position (based upon the bullet casings and autopsy) and then re-open the passenger door of the Rambler before leaving the scene.

James Owen didn't recollect the passenger door of the Rambler being open when he passed the turnout - so if it wasn't open - then the Zodiac Killer must have closed it before Owen passed and re-opened it later - because this is how it was discovered by responding officers. If we look at the police sketches and this video, James Owen should have had a line of sight to the passenger door of the Rambler. While this version of events is possible, it sounds wholly implausible for numerous reasons.

The Flight for Freedom (PT2}. Click image.

This leaves us with a further option. The Zodiac Killer pulled alongside the Rambler in low gear, which certainly would have alerted David and Betty to the presence of his vehicle (even if his headlights were extinguished), and David Faraday chose to just sit there and do nothing for 16/20 seconds, while the Zodiac just sat there twiddling his thumbs, waiting for James Owen to arrive - who noticed nobody. If James Owen had been 1, 2, or 3 minutes away from the turnout when Zodiac arrived, would David Faraday have just remained in the turnout for this length of time with a man sitting a few feet away in a vehicle? So how did this story unfold? The final option to consider, albeit curious, is that James Owen saw no second vehicle and failed to notice the victims in the turnout. Or he noticed the kids in the turnout and just dismissed the sighting as drunk teenagers. When he realised later that a double murder had occurred he felt compelled to come forward, but needed to change his account because he may have been shamed for just driving by and not reporting what he saw.

Is it possible that the Zodiac Killer had already committed the murders and was heading back to Vallejo when James Owen saw his vehicle by the Borges Ranch? This was the extended police statement given by James Owen, that "just before he approached the scene, a vehicle passed him going in the opposite direction toward Vallejo. He could give no description of the vehicle. This occurred near the Borges Ranch". The person driving this vehicle had impeccable timing, yet never came forward. If the individual driving this car towards Vallejo wasn't the Zodiac Killer, then they could have seen the second vehicle and crime in progress at the turnout also. If this driver was the Zodiac Killer, then it's pretty obvious why he never gave a police statement.

Johnny

11/6/2024 03:38:56 pm

I wonder what the odds what be of he driving towards and possible living in vallejo if we exclude everything else ( the wording in the letters that seems suggesting this +all other circumstances that we have discussed ) and just look at and around the crime scene.

One thing i have thought about, is if this first crime was a bit impulsive in a sense. If this is the case, maybe it could be some type of trigger in the personal life of the killer that lead forward to this ( i mean to act on his certainly long time fantasies ). Doerr maybe could fit this scenario, but Rick told us he didn't live in Vallejo.

Bob Tarbox said that the individual speaking to him looked like a french mediterranean according to a forum poster that says he talked to him. This is a real long shot, but could a relative or friend to one of Chesters foreign ladies be this person.

I don't like stories like this of Tarbox, but i find it very a mean and needless thing to do, that is to publish a artice by himself in the paper, if it wasn't to comfort the people around Leigh Allen. Therefore i believed in this somewhat as soon as i read it from Graysmith ( i think ), and the later evolution has just been making this scenario stronger.

Ofcourse, Tarbox should also himself be checked properly because of his fantastic story.

JIbberjabber

11/6/2024 10:38:03 pm

What is the definition of an "impulsive" crime though? If someone was cruising around in a car for hours on a cold dark December night with a flashlight taped to their gun barrel, is that impulsive behavior?
he seems to have fired at least 2 warning shots, I think maybe 3 because of the shell towards the gate although it could have been thrown up by his car wheels when he left the area or bounced off his car roof.

I am rethinking now if Zodiac was impulsive or a shock killer etc, people have said he came in committed the murders then left quickly. But he never did this, he obviosuly spent some time at this Rambler (6 minute window of time unaccounted for?) he pulled into the parking lot at BRS only to drive away and come back, he spent a period of time talking to the victims at Berryessa and likely did the same in the cab with Stine.
If he was the killer of Cheri Jo Bates and abductor of Kathleen Johns then he also spent periods of time talking to them.

Is Zodiac "impulsive" I think I need a definition in the context of these crimes. We do have someone describing this dark car lacking chrome, so unless that is a lie / invention there maybe was a second car observed although it is not clear from the police reports who ctually said that as they are muddled about (I am thinking it can only be Owen?) then he said he heard the gunshot, which he never said on his first interview!

If you believe the witnesses in the Zodiac case word for word, I think we would never be able to make sense of the case. So we have to allow for some latitude in their testimony, but the question is how far do we take that - there is mistake and then there is flat out lying etc I dont think we will ever know.

I really hope there are more witness statements from LHR and deeper clarificatio of points or confusion etc because if this is literally all there is, there is so much that has never been resolved in what was seen that night, by whom, where etc

Richard

11/7/2024 01:05:50 am

On page 6 of the police report it states the time window of Stella Borges (Medeiros) and James Owen in the top left corner, indicating the possible time of the attack at 11:14 pm to 11:20 pm. It names Stella Medeiros as the person who discovered the crime, the location of the crime, the likely firearm used (JC Higgins auto/pistol), but most importantly in the section labeled 'Vehicle used by suspect(s)' it states "Unknown. Witness observed dark car, lacking in chrome, not large and not compact." Unknown; referring to the make, yet the witness described the suspect vehicle as dark. The only eyewitness that saw two vehicles in the turnout that night was James Owen, so it couldn't be anybody else between 11:14 pm and 11:20 pm other than Stella Medeiros, and she clearly stated on page 20 of the police report "She saw only one car at the scene. It looked like a Rambler, grayish in color, it had a chrome rack on the top." Therefore, James Owen was the witness to the description of the assailant's vehicle on page 6.

Johnny

11/6/2024 11:33:52 pm

I only meant that if he didn't plan the first crime for so long, maybe it could show up in an individuals history, a trigger that lead up to all this. Maybe it's even something to look for in Vallejo papers, but most probably not.

With planning i mean long standing fantasies, buying of material ( for example a gun ), driving the car to look after victims etc. These things i have almost taken as a given, but who knows...

Johnny

11/7/2024 12:01:04 am

A few snipers and their age when beginning,

Colonial parkway suspect around 32 when it began

Beltway sniper ( the leading man i guess ) Around 41

Monster of Florence believed to be approx. 40

Dale Hausner around 32

Berkowitz around 23

Herbert Seda around 23

Thomas Dillon around 39

Aaron Saucedo 26?

Douglas Feldman around 40

This is to few cases, but i notice a maximum age at around 40. It could be when male testosterone goes down, and if Zodiac started around this age, perhaps we have a clue why he stopped.

Johnny

11/7/2024 01:15:50 am

Wolfgang Zaugg around age 38 and forced to stop the next year when apprehended.

Texarcana top suspect around 29

Joseph Franklin starts at around 27

James Kopp is the oldest i can find at around 44, but he from what i understand tried to hurt and not kill, but one individual died. He was driven by anti-abortion ideology, but still he was 44 and shot at several people from a sniper position.

The people that started around 40 either got apprehended or stopped short thereafter. But Dillon was ( i think ) 41 when arrested and began at 38 or 39, the same age as one of the beltway snipers was when arrested.

It's also interesting that in the mature age of 40, the frequency of their killings is that high. It's s like maybe a sexual compulsion in that they feel that their potency soon coming down, but they want a last say?

Maybe if someone can find more snipers from around the world, i would think that the older ones mostly prefer to shoot at a distance, but i could be wrong about it, and Zodiac if around 40 certainly killed upclose.

Richard

11/7/2024 01:41:47 am

Charles Whitman (born June 24, 1941, Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.—died August 1, 1966, Austin, Texas) was an American mass murderer responsible for the deadly Texas Tower shooting of 1966. On August 1 of that year, having earlier in the day killed his wife and mother, Whitman fired down from the clock tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, killing 14 people and wounding 31 others.

Richard

11/7/2024 01:44:40 am

64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada from his 32nd-floor suites in the Mandalay Bay hotel. He fired more than 1,000 rounds, killing 60 people and wounding at least 413.

Johnny

11/7/2024 02:14:26 am

Repeat sniper offenders ( or so called thrill killers ) i tried to list. I dislike correcting ( and you said nothing wrong ) people smarter then me, but i think you Rick told us about more what i would call massmurderers.

Richard

11/7/2024 02:07:06 am

The eyewitness times are up for debate but if James Owen passed the turnout at 11:14pm, then he saw the car heading to Vallejo by the Borges Ranch at 11:11pm, which means this unidentified car must have passed the crime scene at 11:08pm. Just after Connelly & Gasser. The problem I have is that James Owen's testimony has problems. Let's assume he was correct and saw nobody in or around the vehicles. Then he must have taken the couple into the field for a spot of hunting, but had a change of mind and brought them back to the vehicle to murder them. If they hadn't been taken into the field they must have been hidden behind one of the vehicles. But for that to be the case, what about the passenger door being open when investigators arrived? If Zodiac had shut the door and hid the couple, the re-opening of the Rambler door could suggest a killer looking for souvenirs but found none. I can't believe Owen would fail to notice an open door on the Rambler. But the biggest problem is that the position of David when he was shot, and starting position of Betty when she first started running are both consistent with a couple being shepherded from the passenger door by the killer. If the killer had hidden them out of view when James Owen passed they would likely have been shot from a different position. His viewing of nobody in the turnout has big questions around it.

Johnny

11/7/2024 02:26:41 am

When Voigt interviewed him he seemed very thoughtful and a little slow giving answers. An old type of man mostly gone nowadays perhaps or something else, i dont know. He could have some small dementia problems perhaps.

12/26/2024 06:11:31 pm

We only have that one sketch of what Zodiac looked like after Paul Stines murder.

He looks military with the short back and sides, there is also a link with many who served going on to work in private industry.

Herman Rd seemed to be a route favoured by those workers of the Humble Oil refinery project. I have found evidence of at least one person who worked for C.F. Braun Co, who were the builders of the Benicia refinery, who had also served at Hamilton Air Force Base and was in his 40s and lived in Vallejo, I'm sure there is more.

Another link would also be with Presido, there was great rivalry between the Arm services with regular competition between Hamilton, Travis and Presido bases, there was even a regular bus service between these base.

Its just another avenue to explore, plenty of those, who served, who wore those horrible glasses.

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WAS THE KILLER SEEN HEADING TOWARDS VALLEJO ON DECEMBER 20TH 1968?

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