"The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." Debut of Zodiac Letter: August 4th 1969.
The negro male was supposedly never identified or mentioned in the Blue Rock Springs police report. Was the Zodiac lying about this encounter, as many people would argue, or was this a genuine encounter by the Zodiac Killer? Here we will run through some of the arguments.
In the police report it stated a call received at 12.40 am by unknown citizen: "I wish to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.... Good-bye."
At 12.47 am Mrs Johnson PT&T operator called. The above call was traced to a coin operated telephone at Joe's Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The call was traced by Betty Main, whose supervisor would not allow her to give a statement at this time.
The Zodiac Killer called at 12.40 am and the call was traced inside of seven minutes, which is not possible with the technology of 1969. A caller had to be on the line a minimum of 15 minutes for a call to be traced. Although not completely accurate, this was referenced in the Zodiac (2007) movie, featuring a clip of the Melvin Belli 'call to chat show,' when Belli was instructed "Pacific Telephone says you need to keep him on the line for 15 minutes."
It is likely the word 'traced' is being used in the loose sense of the word, and they actually 'discovered' the call was made from Springs and Tuolumne.
At 12.47 am Mrs Johnson PT&T operator called. The above call was traced to a coin operated telephone at Joe's Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The call was traced by Betty Main, whose supervisor would not allow her to give a statement at this time.
The Zodiac Killer called at 12.40 am and the call was traced inside of seven minutes, which is not possible with the technology of 1969. A caller had to be on the line a minimum of 15 minutes for a call to be traced. Although not completely accurate, this was referenced in the Zodiac (2007) movie, featuring a clip of the Melvin Belli 'call to chat show,' when Belli was instructed "Pacific Telephone says you need to keep him on the line for 15 minutes."
It is likely the word 'traced' is being used in the loose sense of the word, and they actually 'discovered' the call was made from Springs and Tuolumne.
The answer may lie in Zodiac's wording at the top of the page, where he said "When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car." Betty Main traced the call, but was not allowed to give a statement. This could have meant that what the witness had to say, contained sensitive material, having been kept under wraps at that particular juncture. If Zodiac was telling the truth and the phone rang almost immediately after he hung it up, this was not likely a coincidence. Was it possible, that although Zodiac hung up the receiver, the operator didn't and was able to ring back the payphone. This would not identify the specific location of the payphone, but if somebody had picked it up, the operator could ask the person on the other end to identify their location, ie; the negro male Zodiac identified as walking by. We know police officers were redirected from the Blue Rock Springs Park to the corner of Springs Road and Tuolumne Street, and it is here the witness to the phone call may have been interviewed. It is equally conceivable that the Zodiac Killer gave the payphone number to the operator when he was patched through to the Vallejo Police Department. Either way, the Springs and Tuolumne payphone was rang back by the operator.
Michael Cole, author of Zodiac Revisited made some interesting points on the Zodiackiller.com forum:
"(1) The information from the letter is being given in direct response to a request for additional identity verification. The other information given in the same context appears to be truthful (mostly). Therefore, I believe Z is being honest in the conveyance of this information.
(2) We know that Z changed his behavior when he made his call to the Napa PD about three months later. Instead of hanging up the phone, he set it down thus avoiding the possibility of a ringback. This behavior modification is consistent with an experienced-based learning regarding the described ringback; not to mention it just sounds like good police procedure to implement a ringback under these circumstances. Therefore, I suspect the ringback did happen as described. Perhaps Nancy will provide some additional insight on this front. I've already asked the question in the other thread.
(3) We know that Mike Mageau described the car as being brown.
(4) As mentioned previously, Z's statement implies that he knows somebody told police that his car was brown. Although I don't have the reference, this clearly implies that the detail was published somewhere.
Given all of the above, I suspect that Z honestly believed that the described witness was the person who told police about his car. He apparently, quite reasonably, believed that MM could not have ascertained the color of his car. This left the witness as the most probable source. The fact that the witness was never identified seems to imply that he chose not to come forward or that he was unaware of law enforcement's desire to talk to him."
Michael Cole, author of Zodiac Revisited made some interesting points on the Zodiackiller.com forum:
"(1) The information from the letter is being given in direct response to a request for additional identity verification. The other information given in the same context appears to be truthful (mostly). Therefore, I believe Z is being honest in the conveyance of this information.
(2) We know that Z changed his behavior when he made his call to the Napa PD about three months later. Instead of hanging up the phone, he set it down thus avoiding the possibility of a ringback. This behavior modification is consistent with an experienced-based learning regarding the described ringback; not to mention it just sounds like good police procedure to implement a ringback under these circumstances. Therefore, I suspect the ringback did happen as described. Perhaps Nancy will provide some additional insight on this front. I've already asked the question in the other thread.
(3) We know that Mike Mageau described the car as being brown.
(4) As mentioned previously, Z's statement implies that he knows somebody told police that his car was brown. Although I don't have the reference, this clearly implies that the detail was published somewhere.
Given all of the above, I suspect that Z honestly believed that the described witness was the person who told police about his car. He apparently, quite reasonably, believed that MM could not have ascertained the color of his car. This left the witness as the most probable source. The fact that the witness was never identified seems to imply that he chose not to come forward or that he was unaware of law enforcement's desire to talk to him."
The most likely answer is ring-back as Michael Cole suggests, which is how the call was 'traced.' Somebody may have picked up and given the operator the details he had just observed. This was alluded to by Zodiac who stated in the Debut of Zodiac Letter "The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed." It is likely this information was withheld from the police report - and why Betty Main's statement was not made public. Either, as Michael Cole stated "The fact that the witness was never identified seems to imply that he chose not to come forward or that he was unaware of law enforcement's desire to talk to him," or he was located by responding officers, but requested his anonymity be respected and why this information was kept off the record.
But the fact the location of the payphone was 'traced' seems to implicate third party information, in that ring-back alerted somebody to its location. However, that still leaves the question - if the negro male was interviewed, was he able to give any additional information regarding Zodiac's description, that was 'incorporated' into the police report, or did his description simply tally with Michael Mageau's and was therefore not included. Or did he simply get no viable description of the killer or his vehicle at all. Either way, as Michael Cole stated, the Zodiac Killer would not make the same mistake again in Napa on September 27th 1969.
But the fact the location of the payphone was 'traced' seems to implicate third party information, in that ring-back alerted somebody to its location. However, that still leaves the question - if the negro male was interviewed, was he able to give any additional information regarding Zodiac's description, that was 'incorporated' into the police report, or did his description simply tally with Michael Mageau's and was therefore not included. Or did he simply get no viable description of the killer or his vehicle at all. Either way, as Michael Cole stated, the Zodiac Killer would not make the same mistake again in Napa on September 27th 1969.
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