Zodiac Killer

Sailor Haumea said:

Gaikowski is my pick.

He was posting as "Oscar" on the ZodiacKiller.com boards in 2000-2001, using a false identity. He claimed to live in San Bernadino, to have been born in 1969, and to have been a college student as of 1969(?!?!?!).

The fact that Oscar = Gaikowski was suspected since a few years ago, but it was only confirmed aa few months ago when a user had someone at EarthLink compare their IP addresses.

A perfect match in several cases, and the IP addresses do NOT trace to San Bernadino.

Gaikowski said really creepy things as Oscar - speaking as if he knew for a fact what Zodiac thought (rather than in the hypothetical or "I believe"), requesting access to the email account of Pam Huckaby (Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin's sister), etc. Very suspicious, and this was all before the forum members even considered him a suspect.

Only LE, "Blaine Blaine", and Gaikowski himself knew he was a suspect at the time, so why the interest? Why the false persona?

It's all very fishy.

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Someone being weird/evasive online is not proof of anything. Lots of people are like that.

Dan Cooper said:

Someone being weird/evasive online is not proof of anything. Lots of people are like that.

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Ba Ding............post of the day vote.

Super Sleuth said:

Whoever the Zodiac Killer is he never went to prison or was arrested because we have a fingerprint from the Stein murder.

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[Respectfully snipped for space]

If I remember correctly, Sullivan and Allen both had records, would not the fingerprint from the Stein murder have triggered an IAFIS match?

Hello
I am new and just wanted to clarify a few things that just don't make sense to me. Hopefully someone can help. It would take a year to read everything so I thought I'd just ask. I would appreciate your thoughts, but try to be nice I am new lol

1. Who made the 911 call to police after Stein was killed?
2.Does anyone know anything about suspects parents? My interest would be if any ran or owned a antique shop? It would answer a lot of things for me
3. On postcard of The Sierra Club the Zodiac says look through the pines, could he be talking about a fence made from pine?
4. Same card he says look around snow. A round is a piece of wood right? Maybe some big trunk used as a table or?
5. And this is a huge thing, has anyone even noticed the picture of himself on the postcard itself?

Again thank you for your time.

Ps. I also have a picture I'm sure you all know as well, with 3 men on courthouse stairs. I believe the man on left is suspect and the other two are detectives. Anyone know the names of the two detectives? The guy on far right is dead ringer for zodiac killer isn't he? The thIng I zone in on is shape of his head. Add his height and his military buzz cut screams to me.
Have a good night 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😌😌😌😌

PaulR said:

I'm not sure about the cryptography angle. Here is what I've heard from different sources about his involvement:
- From the Petersen notes: "As an A-1 English student, wrote a research paper on cryptography": http://zodiackillerfacts.com/tag/ross-sullivan/
- This seems to have morphed a bit into "took cryptography classes" and even "did a thesis on cryptography": http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-killer-site-forum---hot-topics/ross-sullivan

I believe Sullivan went to Riverside City College. I can't say what was on the RCC curricula in the time period Sullivan went to college, but I find it very unlikely that they had cryptography classes in a community college in the early '60s (RCC only offers two year degrees now, so they claim, I assume it was the same back then.) I've taken one cryptography class, decades later; it was a graduate-level class, the only one offered, and wasn't even a proper math class. Also assuming (from the Petersen notes) that this was written for an English class, what would a paper on cryptography be about?

Does anyone have a copy of the paper he allegedly wrote?

I find this a bit interesting because the first book on cryptography that made it accessible to the masses (as opposed to math guys) was David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" which came out in 1967, which is about when the Zodiac became active; you can read a bit about the book here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Codebreakers. It's one of the classic books on the subject.

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I would be interesting to research as in the 60's we were embroiled in Viet Nam with the need for code operators for the KY28 and other encoder/decoders including those codes created by civilian contractors such as Burroughs (Later Unisys).

Maybe he was just copying the symbols out of a book. I have a book that has a bunch of the same exact symbols including the Zodiac sign and the Z he used to sign his letters in the beginning. It is something nobody has looked into. I have to find my little book it is a different road to explore.

Nobody has answers to my questions?

Ps I kind of think the Stein murder was not the Zodiac at all. On the front of his letter he put Attaul Averly=chronicle. Why would he put equal sign? I mean he is suposed to be a genius right? Either he is saying it is part of coded message or its a mistake not likely for a man who writes codes we can't crack. He didn't ever robbed any of his victims either. Its not like he mailed his wallet into the police or anyone for that matter. Might just be someone picking up where the Zodiac left off.

Hi Purpose. I'm trying to figure out why you think Stine wasn't a Zodiac victim. A missing portion of Stine's shirt was mailed (can't remember if it was SFPD or Chronicle), with a note that was matched to other Zodiac crimes by handwriting. Am I missing something?

Hi Snow leopard
It could be anyone sending shirt piece in, but I don't recall the Zodiac ever sending in a piece of anything. So that is new. He didn't collect trophies. That is new. He would just call and give some detail only the killer would know about weapon or how he placed bodies.
Also its the first time he robbed someone of their wallet, another new thing.
The last thing is The Zodiac wrote in his letter he had help right? I really haven't put it together but other things struck me as very odd. Like who called in the crime I couldn't find it anywhere? The strangest thing is everyone who worked in Police department knew dam well what the Zodiac looked like so why is it the dispatcher says he was a black man. That is huge mistake.
Its seems like a robbery gone wrong and trying to cast blame somewhere else. The Zodiac never had to go to those lengths to convince everyone he was Zodiac. I'm just saying. I need to read more about case I only know small amount.
Thank you

Oh yeah and Fouke lied, he said there was no conversation with the man they saw. Oh and his partner went along with it. How does that slip your mind? Did they just forget? Then only 1 of them admitted to it a month later. What did he do to remember? what happened? Was he just backing up the Zodiac. I think he sounds confused about that whole night. Was he early stage of demenshia? Maybe he didn't want to have added paperwork?
My mind sees lots of different scenario s.

Purpose2Help said:

Hi Snow leopard
It could be anyone sending shirt piece in, but I don't recall the Zodiac ever sending in a piece of anything. So that is new. He didn't collect trophies. That is new. He would just call and give some detail only the killer would know about weapon or how he placed bodies.
Also its the first time he robbed someone of their wallet, another new thing.
The last thing is The Zodiac wrote in his letter he had help right? I really haven't put it together but other things struck me as very odd. Like who called in the crime I couldn't find it anywhere? The strangest thing is everyone who worked in Police department knew dam well what the Zodiac looked like so why is it the dispatcher says he was a black man. That is huge mistake.
Its seems like a robbery gone wrong and trying to cast blame somewhere else. The Zodiac never had to go to those lengths to convince everyone he was Zodiac. I'm just saying. I need to read more about case I only know small amount.
Thank you

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The writing was matched to Zodiac. How did some random guy get Stine's shirt? As for who called it in, I don't recall the names, but he crime was actually witnessed, albeit at a great distance, by some kids on the second floor of a home across the street from the crime scene.

As for being a different MO, He shot the victims in the first two attacks, but Shepard and Hartnell, Lake Berryesa, were stabbed. He also spoke to them before the attack, all changes in his MO, so another change with Stine is not all that odd.

I could see your point though, particularly with a single victim vs a couple, but I don't see how else the shirt AND the handwriting can both be explained.

The bigger mystery to me is what happened after Stine that either stopped him from killing, or stopped him from claiming specific murders. Yes, he claimed Bates, but only AFTER Avery had broken the story of the possible connection. I still count Bates as only a "maybe, but not likely" that he just seized on and took credit.

Purpose2Help said:

Maybe he was just copying the symbols out of a book. I have a book that has a bunch of the same exact symbols including the Zodiac sign and the Z he used to sign his letters in the beginning. It is something nobody has looked into. I have to find my little book it is a different road to explore.

Nobody has answers to my questions?

Ps I kind of think the Stein murder was not the Zodiac at all. On the front of his letter he put Attaul Averly=chronicle. Why would he put equal sign? I mean he is suposed to be a genius right? Either he is saying it is part of coded message or its a mistake not likely for a man who writes codes we can't crack. He didn't ever robbed any of his victims either. Its not like he mailed his wallet into the police or anyone for that matter. Might just be someone picking up where the Zodiac left off.

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I am not sure anyone claimed he was a genius and his writing and grammar certainly did not suggest that, although some believe he was deliberately trying to appear uneducated.

Why did he always put too much postage on the letters and why did he always position the stamps in an odd manner? Looking at those things, I don't see putting an equal sign as all that odd, but I have never doubted the Stine letter because of the shirt. Some of the later letters, I am less sure about.

Purpose2Help said:

Oh yeah and Fouke lied, he said there was no conversation with the man they saw. Oh and his partner went along with it. How does that slip your mind? Did they just forget? Then only 1 of them admitted to it a month later. What did he do to remember? what happened? Was he just backing up the Zodiac. I think he sounds confused about that whole night. Was he early stage of demenshia? Maybe he didn't want to have added paperwork?
My mind sees lots of different scenario s.

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Maybe they were embarrassed by having spoken to the Zodiac and letting him go, in spite of the fact that they were, at that time, looking for a black man which, obviously the Zodiac was no.

Not sure why you find the Stine murder so suspicious. In my mind, that and the Shepard/Hartnell attack are the most convincing, although I don't doubt the other two accepted attacks either.

Some of the other other crimes attributed to Zodiac, although not officially, like Bates and Lass, are far more problematic to me, especially Lass which I find an almost amazing stretch.

Did you happen to watch the recent documentary series that ran on the History channel? If not, you might want to look it up, not that I buy everything they were selling, but it was interesting.

Hi Guys
I am just putting scenarios out there. The shirt was sent in by the murder that is clear. Its just not necessarily the Zodiac. What if the guy copied his writing. What if the Zodiac was helping him? What if someone in the department was involved? He did say he had help. However the Zodiac Killer loves to take credit I have a hard time seeing where he would have shared his credit with anyone. He wanted to make the police department look like fools. Why wouldn't the Zodiac said he talked to his two police officers did fouke desire to make himself look like a liar and a fool. Why didn't he just lie and say The Zodiac was lying? Instead he desides to looking like a liar?

About the equal sign that never used on any of his other letters when addressing to someone. Also someone who wrote his coded message, that nobody can crack make a mistake like that? Why don't the guys on history channel feed Paul Averly=chronicle into the super computer. What they were thinking? Its a good idea to make a huge computer think like A serial killer? Yeah that can't be good. Its thinking for itself. What if it thinks how can I kill these people around ?
Anyways about the stamp thing. I think he accomplished what his goal was, to have everyone wonder why he did it, I think it was to drive people crazy. I really don't see it as anything but that. Same thing at Winchester castle, she built strange rooms for same reason.

Does anyone know if any of the suspects parents were antique dealers? That's my big question then we'll know a lot
Thank you

Purpose2Help

One last thing my cell corrects things it shouldn't . So please try to understand my awful posts

The handwriting in the letter that accompanied the shirt was matched to other known Zodiac samples (I, for one, but more faith in handwriting and statement analysis than 'profiling' or psychics). So the sender of the shirt and the writer of the 'known' letters is the same. Is that person responsible for all the Zodiac credited murders, yes, unless the murderer and the letter writers are different but associated. I personally don't believe that. I used to think there might have been some conspiracy, but the eyewitness descriptions at three of the four crime scenes are consistent, with Berryessa being a less clear due to the killer's use of the hood. There's quite a bit about the eyewitness descriptions (and the letters) online.

chlban said:

Maybe they were embarrassed by having spoken to the Zodiac and letting him go, in spite of the fact that they were, at that time, looking for a black man which, obviously the Zodiac was no.

Not sure why you find the Stine murder so suspicious. In my mind, that and the Shepard/Hartnell attack are the most convincing, although I don't doubt the other two accepted attacks either.

Some of the other other crimes attributed to Zodiac, although not officially, like Bates and Lass, are far more problematic to me, especially Lass which I find an almost amazing stretch.

Did you happen to watch the recent documentary series that ran on the History channel? If not, you might want to look it up, not that I buy everything they were selling, but it was interesting.

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The suspected murders outside the "canonical five" that there's a strong chance Zodiac killed, IMO:

Robert George Domingos & Linda Faye Edwards, June 4, 1963, Santa Barbara
Johnny Ray Swindle & Joyce Ann Swindle, February 5, 1964, San Diego
Enedine Molina Martinez & Fermin Rodriguez, June 8, 1967, Alameda County
John Franklin Hood & Sandra Garcia, February 21, 1970, East Beach, Santa Barbara
Nancy Marie Bennallack, October 25, 1970, Sacramento

The couples murders have strong similarities to Lake Herman Road.

Meanwhile, Tom Voigt has mentioned three currently unreleased letters believed to be genuine sent by Zodiac to "Sacramento entities" which strongly indicate that the Zodiac Killer was who killed Nancy Marie Bennallack on October 25, 1970.

I believe that Zodiac wrote the Bates letters and mailed the Pines card, but had nothing to do with either case.

I believe that Officer Granville "Bud" Kelley was the actual killer of Cheri Jo Bates. A few years ago, he was convicted of child molestation. He also took home Bates's diary as "evidence" and never returned it. Almost as if there was something in there he wanted kept secret. Never before or since had he taken home evidence. This is the only time he did such. Meanwhile, I don't think Zodiac wrote the desktop poem or the Patricia Hautz letter. There was an actual person named Mary Patricia Hautz, who went by her middle name. She went to the same high school as Cheri Jo Bates and had a habit of writing letters to the editor.

Donna Lass, meanwhile, was likely killed by the security guard, Oscar Victor Johansson. He was considered the prime suspect by police.

Kathleen Johns's abductor likely was a guy who kinda looked like Zodiac but wasn't him. Literally nothing in the letter is something not stated in the news articles.

Trackergd said:

I would be interesting to research as in the 60's we were embroiled in Viet Nam with the need for code operators for the KY28 and other encoder/decoders including those codes created by civilian contractors such as Burroughs (Later Unisys).

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Agreed, I'm not sure whether that would have been taught in a community college setting. Seems like something that would be part of formal military training.

PaulR said:

Agreed, I'm not sure whether that would have been taught in a community college setting. Seems like something that would be part of formal military training.

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Any evidence he was in an ROTC program at any point while in college? Did he ever express interest in working with early large computer systems?

At that time Burroughs built large hard frame, tape drive computer systems, wrote the programs, generated the codes, downloaded them into a military trailer mounted storage system (that today would probably fit in your pocket) and then took a cutting torch to the entire computer system and peripherals until no part was over an inch long. I did a little..."industrial security" work in one of their facilities.

I'm just giving that what id's.
Wow Sailor he took home evidence? I remember that someone did that in OJ case. Which had never happened in the officers 25 years on the force.

Back to Zodiac killer. Nobody finds it odd that the dispatcher thought the Zodiac was a black man? Or did they not suggest that it might be the Zodiac?

I really need to find my book with same
Symbols in it. Its actually a antique book of trade marks and symbols marked on antiques. They are to close not to be some symbols he used in his coded messages.

Members of the Minutemen used the same cipher code to communicate. Same symbols used. One of the members even mentions that he thought the zodiac could be one of their own. Their symbol was also the crosshairs. Just something to note.

I think one of the things Zodiac enjoyed was screwing with the police, and changing up his MO made it more difficult to pin him down. I believe the killer of Stine was the same as the other Z crimes and I also think it’s likely that there were more murders than we know of. The biggest mystery of all for me is why he stopped writing letters and bragging of his killing... I’m no expert but deranged people who seek attention probably don’t stop “cold turkey” so it’s likely he met some fate (prison, asylum, dead,etc).


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