Robert Ivan Nichols was the man who killed himself in his home in 2002 and who was discovered to be living under the stolen identity since 1978 of a boy named Joseph Newton Chandler III who died in Texas in 1945. According to US Marshal Peter J. Elliott, Nichols had turned the air conditioning off before killing himself and his body was so badly decomposed that DNA and fingerprint samples could not be obtained. What's more odd is that Nichols apparently went out of his way not to leave fingerprints in his home. It wasn't until over a decade later when his true identity was discovered from DNA obtained from tissue samples from his treatment for colon cancer.
What I found interesting was the year he chose to commit suicide. In 2002, authorities revealed they had created a DNA profile of the Zodiac Killer. This news was preceded in late 2001 by the news that Gary Ridgway was identified via DNA profiling as the elusive Green River serial killer. Coincidentally, Nichols killed himself in the summer of 2002 when the weather was good for fast decomposition. Is it possible that Nichols feared he would be apprehended (assuming that he's the Zodiac) and decided to end his life for that reason?
Here are some interesting info about Nichols that may point to his being the Zodiac Killer:
1. Nichols was in the Napa, California area in 1965. According to US Marshal Peter J. Elliott, he had sent his son Phillip a letter from Napa that year and told his family he was moving to San Francisco because he knew the area from his military days. Unfortunately, his residency during the Zodiac murders (1968 - 1969) is still unknown.
2. He fits the description of the Zodiac Killer. Both had brown hair. The Zodiac Killer was described as being 5'8; Nichols was 5'7. Nichols appeared to have a similar stocky body type as the Zodiac Killer.
3. The Zodiac Killer threatened to use bombs and provided diagrams of bombs in his letters. Searches about plastic explosives were found by investigators on the computer of Nichols.
4. Nichols was in the Navy and (according to some secondary sources I have read) may have had similar or identical shoes that the Zodiac Killer had. However, I have not found info about what shoe size Nichols had.
5. Nichols had almost the exact same handwriting as the Zodiac Killer. The style was the same. He had the same slant and the same letter-spacing and word-spacing. His M's were identical to the Zodiac's M's. I've seen Ross Sullivan's, Don Cheney's, Richard Gaikowski's, and Arthur Leigh Allen's handwriting and think Nichol's handwriting is the most similar to the Zodiac's.
I've also noticed a few writing patterns shared by the Zodiac Killer and by Nichols:
First, both Nichols and the Zodiac placed commas in the middle between their far-spaced words.
Second, both often started their writing with less slanted (in some cases very straight) letters only to end with very slanted letters. You can clearly see this in the dragon card, the June 26 button letter, the Kathleen John letter, and the little list letter. Nichol's letter to his parents exhibit the same trait. It starts out somewhat straight but slants toward the end.
Third, the Zodiac Killer often wrote with a descending baseline tilt. We see this with his first 3 official letters (excluding the Riverside letter and desk poem) and with the dripping pen letter. Nichols' postcard to his parents was written with such a tilt too.
Fourth, both misspelled common words. Some people think the Zodiac Killer intentionally misspelled his words but he may have suffered from dysgraphia. The Zodiac Killer misspelled words like controol for control and buton for button. Nichols misspelled thaught for thought, diden't for didn't, and even his own last name Nichos for Nichols in one letter.
The dysgraphia is an interesting aspect of this. People with autism and asperger's often display this trait. Another common trait of people with autism and asperger's is a monotonous voice, which according to Bryan Hartnell and Nancy Slover, the Zodiac Killer possessed. I have no idea if Nichols spoke in such a way but I have read from articles that the people who knew him wondered if he had autism or asperger's. He definitely exhibited other traits of autism and asperger's like shyness.
Some other interesting things I have read:
1. The Zodiac was described as having an odd gait. According to US Marshal Peter J. Elliott, Nichols was injured in the leg during WW2. I could not find info about Nichols himself having an odd gait but he very well could have had one. It is something that should be looked into.
2. One thing about Nichols that I found particular interesting was mentioned on https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/th...gQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2zAxiPdBTOTatJV4X-nxDQ&cf=1 : "When Robert returned to Center Street from the war, Phil’s grandmother told Phil, he put his uniform in the coal bin and burned it. Then Robert got the wooden airplanes he had built as a child and took them outside. He aimed a model machine gun at them." The Zodiac Killer mentioned using two coats of airplane cement on his fingers to avoid leaving behind his fingerprints. Of course, this may mean nothing. It is interesting though because what are the odds of a person with no experience with model planes knowing that airplane cement exists and works well to hide one's fingerprints? That seems like something one learns from first-hand experience with the stuff. And it's also interesting, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, that investigators could not find fingerprints in Nichols' home which suggests (like the Zodiac) he may have used methods to avoid leaving fingerprints behind.
What I found interesting was the year he chose to commit suicide. In 2002, authorities revealed they had created a DNA profile of the Zodiac Killer. This news was preceded in late 2001 by the news that Gary Ridgway was identified via DNA profiling as the elusive Green River serial killer. Coincidentally, Nichols killed himself in the summer of 2002 when the weather was good for fast decomposition. Is it possible that Nichols feared he would be apprehended (assuming that he's the Zodiac) and decided to end his life for that reason?
Here are some interesting info about Nichols that may point to his being the Zodiac Killer:
1. Nichols was in the Napa, California area in 1965. According to US Marshal Peter J. Elliott, he had sent his son Phillip a letter from Napa that year and told his family he was moving to San Francisco because he knew the area from his military days. Unfortunately, his residency during the Zodiac murders (1968 - 1969) is still unknown.
2. He fits the description of the Zodiac Killer. Both had brown hair. The Zodiac Killer was described as being 5'8; Nichols was 5'7. Nichols appeared to have a similar stocky body type as the Zodiac Killer.
3. The Zodiac Killer threatened to use bombs and provided diagrams of bombs in his letters. Searches about plastic explosives were found by investigators on the computer of Nichols.
4. Nichols was in the Navy and (according to some secondary sources I have read) may have had similar or identical shoes that the Zodiac Killer had. However, I have not found info about what shoe size Nichols had.
5. Nichols had almost the exact same handwriting as the Zodiac Killer. The style was the same. He had the same slant and the same letter-spacing and word-spacing. His M's were identical to the Zodiac's M's. I've seen Ross Sullivan's, Don Cheney's, Richard Gaikowski's, and Arthur Leigh Allen's handwriting and think Nichol's handwriting is the most similar to the Zodiac's.
I've also noticed a few writing patterns shared by the Zodiac Killer and by Nichols:
First, both Nichols and the Zodiac placed commas in the middle between their far-spaced words.
Second, both often started their writing with less slanted (in some cases very straight) letters only to end with very slanted letters. You can clearly see this in the dragon card, the June 26 button letter, the Kathleen John letter, and the little list letter. Nichol's letter to his parents exhibit the same trait. It starts out somewhat straight but slants toward the end.
Third, the Zodiac Killer often wrote with a descending baseline tilt. We see this with his first 3 official letters (excluding the Riverside letter and desk poem) and with the dripping pen letter. Nichols' postcard to his parents was written with such a tilt too.
Fourth, both misspelled common words. Some people think the Zodiac Killer intentionally misspelled his words but he may have suffered from dysgraphia. The Zodiac Killer misspelled words like controol for control and buton for button. Nichols misspelled thaught for thought, diden't for didn't, and even his own last name Nichos for Nichols in one letter.
The dysgraphia is an interesting aspect of this. People with autism and asperger's often display this trait. Another common trait of people with autism and asperger's is a monotonous voice, which according to Bryan Hartnell and Nancy Slover, the Zodiac Killer possessed. I have no idea if Nichols spoke in such a way but I have read from articles that the people who knew him wondered if he had autism or asperger's. He definitely exhibited other traits of autism and asperger's like shyness.
Some other interesting things I have read:
1. The Zodiac was described as having an odd gait. According to US Marshal Peter J. Elliott, Nichols was injured in the leg during WW2. I could not find info about Nichols himself having an odd gait but he very well could have had one. It is something that should be looked into.
2. One thing about Nichols that I found particular interesting was mentioned on https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/th...gQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2zAxiPdBTOTatJV4X-nxDQ&cf=1 : "When Robert returned to Center Street from the war, Phil’s grandmother told Phil, he put his uniform in the coal bin and burned it. Then Robert got the wooden airplanes he had built as a child and took them outside. He aimed a model machine gun at them." The Zodiac Killer mentioned using two coats of airplane cement on his fingers to avoid leaving behind his fingerprints. Of course, this may mean nothing. It is interesting though because what are the odds of a person with no experience with model planes knowing that airplane cement exists and works well to hide one's fingerprints? That seems like something one learns from first-hand experience with the stuff. And it's also interesting, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, that investigators could not find fingerprints in Nichols' home which suggests (like the Zodiac) he may have used methods to avoid leaving fingerprints behind.
