Dec. 20, 2001) Today is the 33rd anniversary of the Zodiac killer’s Lake Herman Road attack, which killed David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. The Faraday-Jensen page has been updated with new information, including police and autopsy reports. Click here for the update.
Nov. 11, 2001) The Zodiac Audio page has been updated to include an MP3 of The Doors’ Jim Morrison mentioning the Zodiac killer in a 1970 interview.
Nov. 2, 2001) The lucky winner of the Oct. 30, 1967 Riverside Press was Bo Edlund of Enfield, Conn. The response was overwhelming; thanks to all of you who participated.
Oct. 30, 2001) Today marks the 35th anniversary of the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. In Cheri Jo’s memory, I have updated her page with a confidential police report. Click here for the latest update.
> By popular demand, I have added a search engine to Zodiackiller.com. Click here to search!
Sept. 27, 2001) Today is the 32nd anniversary of Zodiac’s Lake Berryessa attack that killed Cecelia Shepard and wounded Bryan Hartnell. I have updated the Berryessa victims’ page with many new items, including crime-scene pictures.
Click here to check it out.
> The Riverside Police Department still hasn’t acknowledged that DNA testing in the murder of Cheri Jo Bates produced a conclusive non-match to their top suspect. Meanwhile in San Francisco, the results of the DNA comparison between Zodiac and top suspect Arthur Leigh Allen are long overdue. Is anything being done? Let’s hope so.
Sept. 3, 2001) MP3 sound files have been added to the Archive page. Click here for the MP3s.
Aug. 4, 2001) The Arthur Leigh Allen File has been updated to include a two-page letter Allen wrote to a friend in 1975 while Allen was incarcerated at Atascadero State Hospital. Allen’s handwriting in this letter is much different than other samples I’ve collected that strongly resembled Zodiac’s handwriting. However, the content of the letter is very interesting.
July 21, 2001) A source out of the Bay Area has informed me that Zodiac suspect Rick Marshall is in extremely poor health and deteriorating rapidly at a San Francisco care facility. If Marshall is Zodiac, this would be an excellent opportunity for law enforcement officials to obtain a confession. Meanwhile, I’ve updated Marshall’s page to include some new items of interest, including handwriting samples.
July 4, 2001) Today is the 32nd anniversary of Darlene Ferrin’s death at the hands of Zodiac. Yesterday I spoke with Darlene’s sister, Pam, who was hoping to travel to Vallejo for the anniversary. Due to health problems, she will have to stay home in Oregon. However, Pam said she will be planting a yellow rose bush today in Darlene’s memory.
June 12, 2001) According to two sources within the Cheri Jo Bates homicide investigation, recent DNA testing of hairs found in the palm of Cheri’s hand were a conclusive non-match when compared with the Riverside Police Department’s (RPD) top suspect, a man referred to on this website as “Bob Barnett.” While this isn’t proof that “Barnett” didn’t kill Bates. However, it is a strong indication that RPD might be on the wrong track.
What about Allen?
In February 2000, Lt. Tom Bruton of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) said, “When (detectives in Riverside) provide me with those results, I would be happy to compare them.” A DNA comparison would take “about five minutes,” Bruton said, to confirm or deny that the late Arthur Leigh Allen of Vallejo was the Riverside killer. Unfortunately, Bruton retired last year. Let’s hope RPD and SFPD are still willing to share information.
To comment on the DNA results, click here to e-mail.
> The last several updates have come in rapid succession. Make sure to scroll down and check the last few, as there has been a lot going on.
June 8, 2001) The Arthur Leigh Allen File has been given its biggest update yet.
> There has been quite a bit of recent attention in the news media about Zodiac-DNA evidence. However, none of the police departments involved has been very forthcoming about separating fact from fiction. Here is a San Francisco Police Department document detailing DNA evidence relating to Zodiac’s letters.
May 25, 2001) The excitement caused by last week’s San Francisco Examiner story was unfortunately a false alarm, as the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) has since stated the Examiner exaggerated immensely when it claimed SFPD was close to determining Zodiac’s identity through DNA testing. SFPD is testing Zodiac evidence, but apparently it is focused on fingerprints rather than DNA.
> I have updated The Arthur Leigh Allen File to include several reports that were contained in his immense Sonoma County file, which I was able to obtain earlier this week while visiting the Bay Area. The update is a must-read, although the subject matter is definitely disturbing.
> The envelope to Zodiac’s bus-bomb letter of Nov. 9, 1969 has been added to Zodiac Letters. I believe this is the first time the envelope has been reproduced.
May 18, 2001) Today’s San Francisco Examiner features a big story on a possible break in the Zodiac case. Additionally, several other Bay Area news-media outlets have stories scheduled, including FOX-TV and KCBS Radio. I’ll be in San Francisco in the next few days and hope to dig up some additional information.
May 15, 2001) New pictures of Betty Lou Jensen and Paul Stine have been added to their pages in The Victims section of this site. Neither picture had been published anywhere prior to this update. (Thanks to John Henslin and Geneva Stine.)
> I’ve spent the last week sifting through a large package of materials I received regarding possible Zodiac victim Cheri Jo Bates, including several Ramona High School yearbooks from the mid-1960s. (Cheri graduated from Ramona in 1966.)
Shockingly, one of the yearbooks contained a cross-circle symbol, Zodiac’s future signature.
> The premiere issue of Forbidden Internet magazine is now available. One of the feature stories is about websites that focus on serial killers. Thankfully, this site was given high marks in the story.
April 30, 2001) KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif. featured this site tonight during a segment on DNA testing in the Zodiac case. If you saw the segment and would like to comment, send e-mail to [email protected].
> I’ve added a page to The Arthur Leigh Allen File that documents what is known of his teaching history, as well as a class portrait of Allen from 1966. If you went to public school in California during the late 1950s and 1960s, the Zodiac suspect might have been your teacher. Click here to find out.
April 12, 2001) I often get asked who my sources are and where I get my information. A list of my sources can be found here.
> While there is nothing new to report in the Cheri Jo Bates/DNA investigation, this week I made contact with Michael Bates, brother of possible Zodiac victim Cheri Jo Bates. Michael has been extremely helpful and insightful and I’m looking forward to my future conversations with him.
> Click here to read a couple of vintage newspaper articles about the Cheri Jo Bates murder.
March 11, 2001) Last week I was lucky enough to speak to Lt. JoAnn West of the Vallejo Police Department. While she couldn’t divulge specifics, West made it clear that DNA testing is happening within the Zodiac investigation. Apparently the testing includes, but is not limited to, suspect Arthur Leigh Allen.
March 5, 2001) I’ve published a nearly perfect reproduction of the desk-top poem found in the Riverside City College library in 1967. The writing was eventually attributed to Zodiac. To check it out, visit Zodiac Letters.
Feb. 18, 2001) After viewing video of Arthur Leigh Allen I sent her last week, Kathleen Johns didn’t hesitate to inform me tonight that Arthur Leigh Allen was definitely not the man who abducted her in 1970. (The first segment on the tape features an interview with Allen.) In 1991 Kathleen had been shown a picture of Allen by the Vallejo Police Department, but the video was the first time she had gotten a good look at him and heard his voice.
> Sacramento’s KOVR-TV has a Zodiac feature scheduled for Monday’s evening news. If you’re in that area of California, please e-mail me your thoughts on the segment.
Jan. 29, 2001) During filming of the America’s Most Wanted feature on the Zodiac case (which aired in December 1998), I was flown to San Francisco to act as a consultant for their reenactments. Click here for behind-the-scenes photos.
> Every month I receive e-mail asking if the rumors of a “Zodiac shack” are true. (Ever since 1969, various counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have been rumored to feature Zodiac’s hideout, i.e. the “Zodiac shack.”) While I can’t vouch that Zodiac actually occupied a particular dwelling, I can say for sure that one such rumored place is located here.
Jan. 8, 2001) Just over a week ago I interviewed Don Cheney, the man who was most responsible for Arthur Leigh Allen becoming a Zodiac suspect. (In 1969, Allen allegedly confided in Cheney that he would kill couples at random, write taunting letters to the police and call himself “Zodiac.”) Click here for the details of our meeting.
