The Zodiac Killer...maybe?

[Omori]

On March 22, 1971, the Chronicle received a postcard from Zodiac. The postcard showed a condominium complex called Forrest Pines that was still under construction at the time. Forrest Pines was located near Incline Village on the northern shore of Lake Tahoe. In his postcard, Zodiac claimed his twelfth known victim. He did not name the victim but police determined that it was Donna Lass, a nurse who worked for a casino at the Sahara Hotel in Stateline, Nevada.

On September 26, 1970, she left work and was never seen again. Her car was found still parked at her apartment complex. Her purse and the clothes she wore that day were never found. The same day she vanished, somebody called Lass’s landlord and employer and told them that Miss Lass would not be returning due to a death in the family. Police determined that there was no death in Lass’s family. Obviously, the caller, a man, was Lass’s killer and the death he was reporting was her own. Police searched quite diligently for Lass’s body but have never found a trace of her to this day.

Oddly, Lass and her friend, Jo Anne, lived in San Francisco at one time and used to go flying with two men from Riverside, California where Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. Lass had worked at Letterman General Hospital located on the Presidio and had lived in an apartment nearby. This was an area that Zodiac knew well and had killed Paul Stine near there and had fled into the Presidio to make his escape. Lass had worked at the Presidio until June of 1970 before relocating to Nevada. Did she and Zodiac meet during that time? Had they become friends? Did Zodiac also work at the Presidio? Darlene Ferrin’s estranged husband, Jim Phillips, had married Darlene some five months after being discharged from the Presidio in the summer of 1965. Had he met Zodiac while he was there?

I believe the "Mt. Diablo" letter that Zodiac had sent three months prior to the disappeance of Lass was telling people that she would be his next victim. The letter contained his signature circle-and-crosshairs with 5 X's affixed to it.

Zodiac explained: "P.S. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # of inches along the radians." The use of the word “radian” would indicate that Zodiac has more than an average interest in mathematics as about 99% of the population does not have this word in its vocabulary. Further evidence of his possible training as an engineer. A radian is basically the angular measure of a circle equal to its radius or 360°/2pi or approximately 57.3° of a full circle (albeit radians are not actually measured in degrees, e.g. 180 degrees = pi radians, while 90° = pi/2 radians, etc.). The legs of the angle are equal to the length of the arc that subtends that angle.

Other researchers have noticed somethng about the X's on the crosshairs--that they are 57.3 degrees apart and point out different cities if the intersection of the cross is laid on Mt. Diablo. I think this is correct speculation because an occult freak like Zodiac would choose his own axis mundi just as earlier religions have done and that axis mundi is almost always a mountain. Mt. Diablo has a very special significance for Zodiac as I'll explain in a bit.

Looking at the five X's on the crosshairs from lowest to highest measure this way to me: 1. San Francisco or due west, 2. Vallejo/Santa Rose (or Napa measured from due west), 3, Lake Berryessa or Paradise, CA(It is Paradise, CA as measured from Stateline, Nevada), 4. Sacramento (as measured from Napa), 5. Stateline, Nevada (as measured from Paradise, CA).

Since that missive was sent three months prior to Lass's disappearance from the Statelin area, i think he was hinting that she was already targeted. I think this is bolstered by the fact that the missive containing the symbol was sent three months to the day prior to Lass's disappearance and on the same day she left San Francisco for Stateline, Nevada.

 

[Omori]

What is the significance of 57.3 for Zodiac? Here's where I have to pull out the stops and get very speculative, so bear with me.

All ancient cultures were obsessed not only with astrology, but with one particular observation of astronomy: precession. Precession is the phenomenon of the earth wobbling on its axis as it revolves. This causes the sun to rise on the vernal equinox in a different constellation every 2155 years. After about 26,000 years, the sun will rise once again in the original constellation. The ancients placed great significance on this “zodiacal shift” and hailed it as the herald of a new age. When the shift occurred, a new heaven and a new earth came into existence and the old fell away like a sloughed-off skin. Old rulers died, new rulers were instated. Old gods died, new gods took over.

For Zodiac, this applied to the underworld as well. The old ruler of hell must die and a new one must take over. In his mind, Zodiac saw the new ruler of hell as—surprise!—himself. In the sixties, much hullabaloo was made over “the Age of Aquarius”. Aquarius is, in fact, the new zodiacal age that follows the one of Pisces which was the age in which the murders occurred. This shift was due in the year 2000 and Zodiac bought into the year 2000 as being start of the Age of Aquarius. So, he kills people near bodies of water or at locales named for bodies of water (probably joined the Navy to be near water).

The 57.3 fits in because 57 is the age that Zodiac will be in the year 2000. The extra 0.3 is significant because it is represented fractionally as 1/3. The first third of a year ends with April, which falls under Taurus. Zodiac used the Taurus symbol extensively in his ciphers, so much so that many believe it to be his birth sign. In other words, Zodiac believes that he will become the de facto ruler of hell in April of the year 2000 when he turns 57. I believe that he believes this because many of his letters expressed that he was moving towards his "masterhood" and that those he killed would be his slaves in his afterlife.

A further parallel with Taurus is that Walpurgisnacht occurs under that sign. Walpurgisnacht occurs on April 30th and is sometimes referred to as May-Eve. Hitler killed himself on Walpurgisnacht. In 1919, communists executed several German occultist-fascists on Walpurgisnacht. The communist party assumed control of Russia on May 1st, the day after Walpurgisnacht, in 1917. Walpurgisnacht is an extremely important holiday among pagans, witches, Satanists and various other occultists. In Germany, the witches celebrated the Sabbat on top of Mt. Brocken on that night (there's that mountain angle again). Since it is often associated with the underworld, Zodiac may be using this date as a marker of when he will assume command of hell. And he may well have celebrated it atop Mt. Diablo many times. It is also entirely possible that Zodiac's belief in his own eventual masterhood was due to the coincidence that he was born on Walpurgisnacht. Very possible.

 

[Omori]

If Zodiac will be 57 in 2000, then he was born in the year of 1943. To test my hypothesis, I had stated earlier that his type of psychosis manifests itself in the teen years as acts of torture of animals but may turn into acts of murder in the subject’s early twenties. Zodiac’s first murder was certainly that of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside in 1966. That would have made him 23, which makes him just about textbook perfect for our purposes.

Zodiac may no longer be alive. If he believes that he would rule hell on Walpurgisnacht in 2000, he may have committed suicide on that date. Of course, he might not have. After all, he needn’t be in any particular hurry to get there. Yet, in one letter, Zodiac quoted part of The Mikado with a line that runs, “He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicide’s grave.” In the desktop poem in Riverside, Zodiac stated that he was “sick of living”.

In the end, our search for the perfect suspect should be done with the following points in mind:

1. Born in April or May of 1943. Perhaps on April 30.
2. No father and an abusive, domineering mother who was likely a prostitute. No other family.
3. Huge fan of The Mikado.
4. Watches lots of movies especially old ones.
5. Studies religion and/or astrology as well as math and cartography. Seems to be familiar with the principles of structural engineering although that may be a ruse.
6. Served in the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard or Air Force and was stationed in Britain no earlier than 1961 and no later than early 1966.
7. Was stationed at March AFB in Riverside in 1966.
8. Was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco in 1967.
9. May have been absent from San Francisco area from 1974 to 1978. Possibly he was still in the military and was stationed somewhere else. If this is the case, he may have been released from the military in 1978. He could have been in the military for at least a dozen years if this is the case. Was he in prison during this time?
10. May have tended bar at least part-time. This would tell us that he was not in the military by the time he murdered Darlene Ferrin and so was released in 1967 and likely from the Presidio.
11. May belong to a witchcraft/Satan/astrology cult or is intimately connected with those who are and one or some of them may have assisted him in his crimes.
12. He may have already committed suicide.

 

[passionflower]

Omori,
Thank you this has been very interesting to read

 

[Omori]

This may be a long shot, but Zodiac referred to “paradice” in his letters and there is a Paradise, CA and it figures prominently in my interpretation of the crossed circle with the 5 X's on it. He misspelled things all the time and so I may be reaching with this but it is possible he refers to a large patch in the night sky occupied by four stars that form a square. It is called 1-Iku but is more famously known as “the Pegasus-square” and forms the main body of that constellation. The stars that form the square are a, b, and g Pegasi and a Andromedæ and they are located between the two fish of the constellation of Pisces.

The Babylonians regarded this square as the Esagil or the ceiling that covered apsu or the abyss. It became the standard for measuring out fields (3600 square meters) and there is again the surveying aspect that would appeal to Zodiac (the resemblance between “iku” and “acre” is not coincidental). The ancients regarded this celestial field to be Paradise (e.g. the Elysian Fields).

Graphically, ancient cultures imaged the Pegasus-square as a game board or a die. Sometimes it was depicted more as a rectangle. The celestial square was also thought to be the perfect image of both heaven and earth. For Zodiac, “paradice” may have been 1-Iku, Esagil, the Pegasus-square, the celestial game board or die, the cover over the Abyss—the underworld. Since “dice” is the plural of “die” and Esagil was the image of both heaven and earth, there is a two-fold aspect to the square, i.e. the die is really a pair of dice, pair o' dice, paradice.

In the Zodiac of Denderah shown below, Pisces is seen as at the right of center with the two fish flanking the celestial gameboard or die.

 

[Omori]

The above information concerning celestial die, Egasil and 1-Iku can be found in the book Hamlet’s Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Herta von Dechend. In fact the first figure in the above post is taken from the book. One caption refers to researcher Arthur Ungnad “who took ‘1-Iku’ for Paradise.” 1-Iku—the Pegasus square—is called a “gameboard” and, on the next page, is depicted as resembling a die with 6 dots shown in Sumatran art and, in Native American art, as resembling a chessboard with 143 alternating black and white squares (but the illustration is in black and white and so the squares might be any color).

This book was published in 1969 initially and it seems to me likely that Zodiac read it. His first mention of “Paradice” occurred in the cipher he sent to the San Francisco Examiner on August 1, 1969. For Zodiac to have read the book that quickly after its publication would indicate that he was intimately acquainted with publications or people who review such books shortly after their release.

Again, this would indicate some type of cult. He might have even been a reviewer himself. Since many of Zodiac’s letters often contained cryptic references as clues to his identity, then this may be one more. Perhaps a check of Bay area cult publications that reviewed Hamlet’s Mill in 1969 would tell us something. I doubt that this connection has been made so I doubt that such a search has ever been conducted.

Hamlet’s Mill is not light reading. It requires familiarity with the principles underlying myths and astrology in order to comprehend it. This tells us that Zodiac is intelligent and has a good attention span. Being able to comprehend such a book as well as reading it so quickly after its release tells us that Zodiac’s astrology angle is not a ruse. He has an intense interest in this subject.

Darlene Ferrin's sister, Pam, stated of the mysterious man who murdered Darlene: “Darlene mentioned the witchcraft angle to a certain degree, knowing this guy that was sitting at the counter up at Terry’s, just the way he talked, the way he was into that skull with the dripping candle. Darlene said that he was the one who kept it lit and talked about these weird things and witchcraft. But there was no ritual. Darlene’s friends would just come over and tease, but the one who would start it all would be this guy, the man who delivered the package. The man at the painting party.”

 

[Omori]

I believe the "Mt. Diablo" letter that Zodiac had sent three months prior to the disappeance of Lass was telling people that she would be his next victim. The letter contained his signature circle-and-crosshairs with 5 X's affixed to it.

This is wrong because the Mt.Diablo letter didn't have that symbol. That was an older letter. The June 26 Mt. Diablo letter had a map with a circle and crosshairs drawn over Mt. Diablo.

Zodiac explained: "P.S. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # of inches along the radians." The use of the word “radian” would indicate that Zodiac has more than an average interest in mathematics as about 99% of the population does not have this word in its vocabulary. Further evidence of his possible training as an engineer. A radian is basically the angular measure of a circle equal to its radius or 360°/2pi or approximately 57.3° of a full circle (albeit radians are not actually measured in degrees, e.g. 180 degrees = pi radians, while 90° = pi/2 radians, etc.). The legs of the angle are equal to the length of the arc that subtends that angle.

Other researchers have noticed somethng about the X's on the crosshairs--that they are 57.3 degrees apart and point out different cities if the intersection of the cross is laid on Mt. Diablo. I think this is correct speculation because an occult freak like Zodiac would choose his own axis mundi just as earlier religions have done and that axis mundi is almost always a mountain. Mt. Diablo has a very special significance for Zodiac as I'll explain in a bit.

Looking at the five X's on the crosshairs from lowest to highest measure this way to me: 1. San Francisco or due west, 2. Vallejo/Santa Rose (or Napa measured from due west), 3, Lake Berryessa or Paradise, CA(It is Paradise, CA as measured from Stateline, Nevada), 4. Sacramento (as measured from Napa), 5. Stateline, Nevada (as measured from Paradise, CA).

Incorrect speculation on my part. The X's have nothing to do with Lass. Although they probably do represent various cities if situated over Mt. Diablo correctly and possibly even mark places were bodies might be recovered. But it has nothing to do with Donna Lass.

Since that missive was sent three months prior to Lass's disappearance from the Stateline area, I think he was hinting that she was already targeted. I think this is bolstered by the fact that the missive containing the symbol was sent three months to the day prior to Lass's disappearance and on the same day she left San Francisco for Stateline, Nevada.

The Mt. Diablo map letter DOES indicate that Zodiac had chosen Lass for the reasons cited above--it was sent 3 months to the day before she vanished and on the very day she left SF for Stateline. But that letter does not have the 5 X's and so my speculation there is total hogwash.

Sorry, if I was that any good as a profiler, I'd be working for the FBI.

 

[kline]

I think many of your thoughts are probably spot-on.
I know there is some disagreement amongst Zodiac buffs as to whether Kathleen Johns abducter was actually Zodiac,but I feel that it was.
One has to remember too in regard to the glasses with the strap and the composite sketch that probably two thirds of the male population in 1969 looked like that .
Hindsight pop culture would lead many to beleive your average guy back then looked like Country Joe McDonald,not true.
If you look at any College yearbook for '69 youll find 40 matches for the wanted poster before you hit the seniors.
I think I must have had at least 6 junior high teachers with the black horn rims and the elastic strap many students too.
The wire aviator style of frame didnt become prevalent until the early 70's in most parts of the country.
Thanks for your insight with the profile.

 

[Omori]

Yes, in the 60s, a lot of men wore thick-rimmed glasses. My older brother did and he was in high school at that time. The composite is not particularly helpful in that regard because, as you point out, a very large precentage of white men in the United States fit it. There is dispute over whether Cheri Jo Bates was a Zodiac victim. I think she was and I also think she was his first but, of course, I could be wrong.

As for Kathleen Johns, I don't think there is any question that the man was Zodiac. He even mentioned her in one of his letters (as "that woeman") and mentioned that he burned her car. Two cops also ID'd that same person as being in the vicinity of Paul Stine's murder and Zodiac stated in a letter that he was that man. I'd be more willing to accept that Bates was not a Zodiac victim before believing that Johns wasn't. But I think both were.

I would be shocked if the only people he killed were the ones LE attributes to him. There are certainly far more. I would think the number is closer to 50 or 60. Johns even stated that the inside of his car was littered with the type of clothing worn by teen girls and young women. Souvenirs no doubt.

As for the photo of Darlene Ferrin with the "mystery man" I doubt seriously that that was Zodiac--a man she supposedly called "Paul." Paul was described as rather stocky and heavyset with a sort of paunch. The man in the photo was rather slender. It was probably Jim Phillips, her estranged husband, considering that he has his arm around her.

But judging from the Navy-like appearance of Zodiac, I think the glasses were probably those issued to him in boot camp. If you see a photo of a guy wearing "birth control glasses" you'll know what I mean.

 

[medicated]

the Stine murder scene stated that the man’s general physical appearance was common among the Welsh. This could be an excellent clue in narrowing our list of suspects.

I've always wondered what that was supposed to even mean. Half the men in California could be considered Welsh looking.

 

[Robin Hood]

I've always wondered what that was supposed to even mean. Half the men in California could be considered Welsh looking.

From what I can see ''boughten'' and ''clews'' are Northern American as much as British

http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=835

I had to smile at Welsh looking too, what would be a 'Welsh' look ? did he have a Daffodil behind his ear and a leek in his hand ?
I would be curious to know what the Welsh look was originally based on.

Joking aside though I really enjoyed that profile Omori.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

This is the only case I have ever seen that is solved like once every few months. lol What Happend to the last guy that found his dad's stash .Didn't he find a bloody knife a pair of glasses and the executiner's mask / hood . Where did he go ?

Actually, you have combined two different "My Step-daddy was the Zodiac" claimants.

Deborah Perez made a big media splash when she claimed that her step-father Guy Hendrickson was the Zodiac. She claimed to have a pair of glasses that belonged to cab driver Paul Stine, but the glasses she had were different than the glasses worn by Stine on his cabbie license taken just a couple of months before his murder. More damning was the revelation that Perez had also claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of JFK. Needless to say, she quickly faded into well-deserved obscurity, but not before her publicist who also was part of a consortium of Hollywood folks who had bought the rights to her story threatened to sue anyone who repeated this claim. However, two well-respected Zodiac researchers told the same story, so she was effectively exposed as a loon. Hendrickson was not the Zodiac.

Dennis Kaufman made the claim that he had found Zodiac's hood stored in a PA amplifier. He claimed that his stepfather Jack W Tarrance was the Zodiac. There is an entire website dedicated to exposing the flaws in Kaufman's claims - just google "Dennis Kaufman Exposed". (Full disclosure: I am a mod there.) The problems with Dennis's claims are legion. One quick example is that the "hood" was actually one of at least three hoods seen by Kaufman's brother-in-law and the B-I-L says that he knows for sure that Kaufman made the first two. Also, the hood does not match the description of the hood given by Bryan Hartnell. Tarrance was not the Zodiac.

 

[Lera213]

Has this guy in the picture ever been identified?

From AMW, female is one of the victims and the guy closely matches the sketch of the Zodiac.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Has this guy in the picture ever been identified?

Although he denies it, the general consensus is that this is Darlene Ferrin's first husband, Jim Crabtree. He says it is not him, but several friends of Darlene identified him. I suspect that he doesn't want to admit it because the next step would be for people to accuse him of being Zodiac and he was investigated and cleared early into the investigation.

 

[Lera213]

I just don't understand why they cannot solve this case. They must have DNA from the stamps, a partial print. You cannot tell me that a SK has never been in trouble with the law before. Then again we had the BK killer. Wonder if the BK killer use to live in California.

I believe the SK is dead. His ramblings or reported ramblings make me think he was a satanic worshiper. I kept going back to the cab kill and were he got off. He must have lived or was visiting someone in that area. I just cannot believe that LE hasn't solved this.

 

[tmacirish1]

I think hes very similar to the son of sam.

 

[TimeCop]

I have uncovered a possible suspect. I never ever even thought of the Zodiac intil one day my brain said ALERT:
I have a name of someone who mathces the sletch to the 'T' and also was there in SF, that i was told of by him, in 1972 (I think he mentioned being there in the 60's as well) but a discussion we had leads me to believe he was there in 1972, (he was 18 in 1968-69)
This suspect of mine uses many things in language that the zodic did and I am almost 100% the handwritting matches.
What should I do?
WHos an active investigator?

 

[believe09]

Welcome to websleuths, Time Cop!!

As far as I can see, the case remains open at the Napa County Sheriff's Department. Here is some contact information for them:

http://www.countyofnapa.org/Sheriff/

Here is a link to the online tips form:

https://www.tipsubmit.com/webtips.aspx?L=E&AgencyID=912

 

[TimeCop]

Thanks.
I spent last night making a document on all of the connections,then forgot to save when I shut the power button off on my comp. So I have the day cut out for me. I appreciate your help.

 

[believe09]

Thanks.
I spent last night making a document on all of the connections,then forgot to save when I shut the power button off on my comp. So I have the day cut out for me. I appreciate your help.

Man have I been THERE! Good luck in your recreation-I hope it goes smoothly.