ZODIAC KILLER PEER REVIEW ON YOUTUBE-EVAN FROM TEXAS

4/27/2020

Evan from Texas has recently uploaded a video to Youtube exploring the claims of Thomas Henry Horan and adding some very interesting extra information. This material is extremely relevant, bearing in mind a recent article on this site entitled Squealling Tires and Raceing Engine. The column in the July 6th 1969 Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper with regard to the Blue Rock Springs attack, quoted George Bryant as saying he heard "the car take off at a high rate of speed, peeling rubber and cutting corners". The police added that "He wasn't sure, but he thought it was headed to the freeway". It was believed that the Zodiac Killer was responding to this newspaper article in the August 4th 1969 Debut letter, when he stated "I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car". However, he used the words "squealing and tires" in identical fashion to the Blue Rock Springs police report of "he then heard a car take off at super speed and it burned rubber and was squealing its tires as it sped along the road". This has led some to believe that the killer had access to the police reports.

Below I will cover just a small part of Evan's excellent video, with respect to somebody who may have had access to the police reports when compiling his July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969 letters. The entirety of the video can be viewed here. It contains a lot more information on this topic, presented over 32 absorbing minutes.

There are two snippets from the police reports below, which includes the Captain Daniel Pitta police report from Lake Herman Road and page 20 of the Lake Herman Road police report. The Zodiac Killer could be argued to be copying the police reports when writing his July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969 letters, just switching or reversing the odd word to disguise the fact. The Captain Daniel Pitta police report in respect to David Faraday, stated "Victim #2 was lying face up". The Zodiac Killer wrote "the boy was on his back". The Captain Daniel Pitta police report in respect to David Faraday, stated he was found "with his feet to the right rear wheel". The Zodiac Killer wrote that David Faraday was left in the turnout "with his feet to the car". He had changed "face up" to "on his back". He had changed "his feet to the right rear wheel" to "his feet to the car".

In respect to Betty Lou Jensen, the Captain Daniel Pitta police report stated she was found with her "head to the east". The Zodiac Killer wrote that Betty Lou Jensen was left in the turnout with her "feet to the west". He had changed "head" to "feet". He had changed "east to west". The Blue Rock Springs police report stated "The girl was lying on her side facing the road". The Zodiac Killer wrote in the July 31st 1969 Examiner & Vallejo Times-Herald letters, that "the girl was on lyeing her right side". He had added the word "right".

This means, that through two sets of communications on July 31st 1969 and August 4th 1969, the Zodiac Killer provided an uncanny selection of facts that appeared to mimic the wording in the Lake Herman Road police report, Captain Daniel Pitta police report and Blue Rock Springs police report. When Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz asked the claimed killer of David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin for "more facts to prove it", did the Zodiac Killer go back to the police reports once again, using the word "squealling" in his reply on August 4th 1969? Or is this one big coincidence?

The Zodiac Killer chose to describe Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs as wearing "patterned pants" and "paterned slacks". The Blue Rock Springs police report on page 13 described her as a "WFA wearing a white and blue flowered slack dress" - and wearing a "slack dress" on page 2.

We also know that 10 shots were fired at Lake Herman Road on December 20th 1968, because that too is in the police report. The Zodiac Killer also described the brand of ammo as Super X, which can be found in the Department of Justice report here.
When the Zodiac Killer wrote in the October 13th 1969 letter "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt", was he aware of the Washington and Maple destination on the taxicab trip sheet? This destination was not mentioned in the October 12th 1969 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper article, or anywhere prior to the Zodiac Killer mailing the Paul Stine letter.

Evan from Texas plans to do some follow up work on the Zodiac Killer in upcoming videos. Please stay tuned.
Zodiac Killer Peer Review on Youtube

art

5/5/2020 11:20:54 pm

Interesting topic Richard. To be clear, is it the (Zodiac) killer that might have been utilizing content from the police reports, or is it possibly a Pretender, i.e. not the killer but rather someone pretending to be the killer…? In other words, are the Zodiac and the killer(s) necessarily one in the same?

Richard

5/5/2020 11:21:31 pm

There are many options Art, but the murderer could be one individual and the letter writer could be a separate individual. They could in theory be the same person, but then there is little reason to imitate the police reports. The big stumbling block with this theory, is you may have somebody connected to law enforcement getting their hands on the LHR and BRS police reports and effectively turning the killer in the first two attacks into the bogeyman called the Zodiac Killer, but thereafter we would have to believe that this person then just randomly chose a taxicab murder to continue the series and subsequently secured a shirt piece from the victim to appear more convincing. This is where it breaks down for me.

The newspapers carried a lot of coverage of the LHR murders, but they weren't particularly specific. They did describe David Faraday being found by the Rambler and Betty Lou 28 feet from the vehicle - and even pinpointed the victims positions by way of arrows pointing at the blood in the turnout. Therefore Zodiac had limited ways to prove he was the killer, other than describe the exact positions of the bodies in the turnout in relation to their alignment - and we know from the Mount Diablo map and his directions given in the Bus Bomb letter regarding the Presidio park, he was fairly specific. Therefore his options were limited at LHR. So he detailed the victims exact positions in which they lay in the turnout, one of the only things not covered in the newspapers. To do that, he either has to describe which way their heads or feet were facing, or whether they were on their side, back or front. It therefore it isn't that surprising his proof of his involvement by detailing the body positions, closely aligned with a police report designed for accuracy, such as Pitta's.

On the face of it, the story of somebody connected with the police copying the police reports, sounds fairly compelling. That is, until you scratch the surface. How else was the Zodiac Killer able to prove he was in the turnout that night, other than describing the exact body positions of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, along with the ammo he used. His options are limited. So, what looks initially like somebody with access to police reports, is probably nothing more than a killer having to be specific about the body positions that night - in other words, something not covered in the newspapers. The Youtube video is an interesting watch, but approaches the subject predominantly from the perspective of Thomas Horan and his claims, rather than what other detail could the killer possibly have given when trying to prove he had first hand knowledge of the crime scene. Clothing may have been another, which he did at BRS. It's an intriguing video and gives you pause for thought, but describing the body positions in relation to their head or feet, is not evidence that the killer had any knowledge of the police reports.

Richard

5/5/2020 11:22:05 pm

Imagine it another way Art. You have read about two "couple attacks" by a killer and you are a restless police official or detective who wants to play a game, and invent a Zodiac Killer character to pass the time. You begin by manufacturing letters from the killer. How do you then get to the position of selecting the last crime to imitate, which looks nothing like the first two or three attacks, before sneaking into another jurisdictions morgue and tearing off a piece of the victim's shirt. Why pick this crime, so alien to the first three, and why bother with the shirt, when you could have just read the PH police report or related documents and do what you supposedly did at LHR and BRS to prove your involvement. The shirt piece then becomes unnecessary. Did this criminal forger have no access to the LB police report? Also, why carry this charade through the 70s and into the late 80s or beyond, without any inside information in any police report. Had this law enforcement officer been sacked or had left his job? Nothing known to Zodiac and the police only, was evident subsequent to 1969. He never revealed anything about any of the subsequent crimes he claimed that wasn't already in the newspapers. The hoax theory fails to convince on many fronts.

art

5/5/2020 11:22:33 pm

Thanks for the explanation Richard. Based on what you are saying, it makes me wonder if a feasible scenario is that the first two murders (LHR and BRS) were a Pretender, i.e. someone not the killer but who created the entire Zodiac persona – but then the subsequent murders were copycats, i.e. real killers but adopting the persona of the Zodiac created by the Pretender…??

Richard

5/5/2020 11:23:05 pm

It's certainly feasible Art, if we were going down this route. However, I believe it far more likely Zodiac was just being specific with his body positions, and somebody found words from a report that closely aligned. In terms of "squealing tires", just probably an unfortunate match to the BRS police report. One match doesn't make the case for inside information. We'll see what the follow up video reveals. Regardless of my scepticism, I did find it intriguing, and well researched and presented.

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ZODIAC KILLER PEER REVIEW ON YOUTUBE-EVAN FROM TEXAS

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