WASHINGTON AND CHERRY

There has been much debate on which intersection the Paul Stine murder on October 11th 1969 was actually committed and on this occasion we will make a case for Washington and Cherry being the primary focus, taking only the police report and fingerprint evidence as our guideline. The two page Stine report states "The suspect then appeared to be wiping on the interior of the cab, leaning over the victim to the driver's compartment. The suspect then exited the cab by the passenger side front door, also wiping with a white rag, possibly a handkerchief. The suspect then walked around the cab to the driver's side and proceeded to wipe the exterior of the left door area. The suspect then fled north on Cherry Street." This would suggest the killer had previously touched both the driver and front passenger side doors with un-gloved hands and seemed to negate his claim of using transparent fingertip guards, however he was not observed wiping down either of the rear doors.  

In fact he was never seen in the rear of the taxicab by the three teenagers. This may have generated speculation that the killer could have traveled in the front of the taxicab and may have been known to Paul Stine, but for that to have been the case we would have to explain after shooting Paul Stine and removing a piece of his shirt, how and why would he travel around the exterior of the taxicab and deposit blooded fingerprints on the post of the driver side and rear door, if he never opened either at this particular juncture. There have been reports on the three teenagers, quoted as saying that he opened the driver's side door and attempted to prop Paul Stine behind the steering wheel before exiting the scene, but here we will be concentrating on the facts only contained within the police report.
There is a possibility the Zodiac Killer wasn't wiping down either the front passenger door handle or the driver's side door, as the front passenger door handle was not visible from their position across the street and the driver's side door handle area may have been obscured by the Zodiac himself and the three teenagers just interpreted his actions, based upon him holding what was considered to be a white rag or handkerchief, but could equally have been the Zodiac carrying the section of Paul Stine's shirt. But to exit the front passenger side door after securing a strip of Paul Stine's he should have simply just left the scene up Cherry Street. The fact he traveled around the taxicab to the driver's door, without opening it, does not leave many options as to why he performed this action, other than wiping away fingerprints and suggests the interpretation of events by the three teenagers was in fact correct.

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If the Zodiac Killer rode in the rear of the taxicab did he wipe down these doors also. Did he wipe down the rear door he exited at the time he moved to the front section of the taxicab and prior to the three teenagers looking out of their window. But for that to happen the Zodiac may as well have kept the white rag or handkerchief in his hand to prevent placing fresh fingerprints on the front passenger side door as he entered it. The fact he was later seen wiping it down suggests to the contrary. Fingerprints were in fact discovered on the rear doors and any attempt to wipe these either failed or were never performed. Would fingerprints on the rear passenger doors prove to be incriminating evidence, after all it was a taxicab. However fingerprints on the front doors, in view of a piece of the taxicab driver's shirt being torn off may have been a little harder to dispel as insignificant. 
There is a logical course of events that may explain a murder at Washington and Cherry Street, explain the blood pattern on Paul Stine's shirt and crucially the blooded fingerprints on the post to the rear of the driver's side door.
As Paul Stine parked up at the Washington and Cherry Street intersection the Zodiac placed the gun close to Paul Stine's head and fired. Back spatter from the wound struck Zodiac's hand and gun depositing blood onto both. He repositions his hand to put the gun away. Now at this point he could just leave the scene, but his objective was to secure a trophy, so he now had to access the front of the taxicab. In view of the blooded prints on the left post of the taxicab, this may suggest his possible 

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CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR EXTENDED VIEW

route. Had Paul Stine slumped immediately to the right side of the front passenger seat or passenger well and the Zodiac wanted to access Paul Stine's pockets or the rear of his shirt, the logical move would have been to exit the right rear passenger door and enter the front passenger door, to avoid having to clamber over Paul Stine's lifeless body, where he could seat himself on the passenger side and access the taxicab driver's pockets from a more accessible angle and the shirt from a better point of leverage. The problem with this scenario is not only the blood pattern on the shirt, but more importantly there would be no reason for any blood to have imparted itself on the left side of the taxicab. 

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There is a possible order of events but it's by no means conclusive. After Paul Stine was shot he remained upright behind the steering wheel, the killer's quickest route to secure a trophy was to exit the left rear passenger door and access the driver's side door. He opens and closes the left rear door with his blood free left hand. He then opens the driver side door with the same hand, but as he leans into the taxicab to search through Paul Stine's pockets he supports himself by resting his blooded right hand on the post between the two doors inadvertently depositing fingerprints onto the taxicab. He finds the wallet but it either contains nothing useful and the idea of securing a piece of material from the rear of the driver's shirt was an afterthought or part of his intention all along, however Paul Stine was upright, so he pushes the taxicab driver over to the passenger side well to facilitate easier access to his back. He now closes the driver's door and travels around the taxicab and enters the front passenger side door. Enter the three teenagers at this point and this is where they first pick up the story. Knowing fingerprints on the front doors of the taxicab could be interpreted as incriminatory, the Zodiac once he has secured the swatch of Paul Stine's shirt,  then uses this to wipe down the front passenger door before finally wiping down the driver side door and exiting north along Cherry Street. Crucially though he forgot all about the driver side door post and the blooded fingerprints remained.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/
http://340cipherhalloweencardconnection.blogspot.co.uk/
A big thanks to Randall Scott Clemons for his work on this topic.

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