Dec. 16, 2004) Welcome, readers of the North Bay Bohemian! Here’s a link to R.V. Scheide’s excellent feature, Killers Club. Meanwhile, here’s a link to my related update: Zodiac: Sonoma Killer?
Nov. 22, 2004) For those of you interested in Zodiac suspect Lawrence Kane, here’s Rider McDowell’s 1994 feature story titled On The Trail Of The Zodiac.
Oct. 31, 2004) With a real-life boogeyman like the Zodiac killer still on the loose, the San Francisco area can be quite spooky…especially this time of year. With that in mind, here is Halloween: Zodiac Style.
Oct. 14, 2004) During the early 1970s, the Zodiac killer was suspected in the murders of several young women in and around Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, Calif. The cases remain unsolved and the Zodiac remains a suspect. However, according to information recently received by Zodiackiller.com, convicted serial killer Ted Bundy was living in nearby Forestville during the period of the murders and was employed at a company called Electro Vector. (Bundy was known to have visited California, but not to have lived, worked, or murdered there.) The Sonoma cases are very similar to Bundy’s known murders.
If you have information about Ted Bundy in California, please e-mail info@zodiackiller.com or call the Zodiackiller.com Info Line at (415) 267-4818.
Sept. 28, 2004) Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the Zodiac’s attack at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, Calif. Over the weekend, Zodiackiller.com held two public gatherings at the lake to remember the anniversary. Click here for exclusive pictures. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Sept. 3, 2004) If you have Zodiac-related information to share, there is now a phone number to call. The Zodiackiller.com Info Line may be reached at: (415) 267-4818.
> The possibility of recent Sonoma County murder victims Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall being the work of the Zodiac was mentioned in this Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle front-page story. On Wednesday I ventured north to check out the crime scene. Was it the Zodiac, a copycat, or just an amazing coincidence? Click here for the report.
> Zodiackiller.com set an all-time record for hits in August with more than 2.1 million.
Aug. 21, 2004) I’ve just added more than 40 pages of vintage Zodiac magazine articles. Check out the Zodiac Magazine Rack.
> Pam Huckaby, sister of Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin, was recently the victim of a knife attack at her home in Sandy, Ore. Her injuries weren’t serious and she’s doing fine.
> Since Wednesday’s discovery of a young couple shot to death on an isolated beach just north of San Francisco, I’ve been swamped with e-mail from individuals concerned the Zodiac has returned from a long hiatus and is the killer of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall. While I’ve seen no evidence to suggest the Zodiac is back, the recent return of Wichita’s BTK Strangler shows that anything is possible.
Aug. 16, 2004) The Riverside Police Dept. (RPD) has closed the unsolved Cheri Jo Bates homicide case, according to RPD’s Lt. John F. Carpenter. Carpenter made the statement in an e-mail forwarded to me by a frequent visitor of this website. Killed Oct. 30, 1966, Bates has long been considered a possible victim of the Zodiac, although RPD is convinced a local youth was responsible for her murder. Ironically, in April 2004 the San Francisco Police Dept. closed its unsolved Zodiac homicide case. Despite DNA being available in both cases, apparently neither police agency made a comparison.
Here’s a look at my Bates case update from late last year. Meanwhile, if anyone has information about Cheri they’d like to share (even anonymously), click here to contact me.
June 27, 2004) The author of the alleged Zodiac letters sent to Zodiackiller.com from Singapore, Atlanta and Thailand in late 2002/early 2003 (see updates below) has recently been identified and is apparently now living in the San Francisco area. (In October 2003 I released custody of the letters to a forensic scientist at a California DNA facility.) If anyone knows the exact whereabouts of the man using the aliases Jacob William Ornstein and Jack Yohiel Alexander, please let me know immediately.
(For additional information on the alleged Zodiac letters received by Zodiackiller.com, scroll down for the updates dated Nov. 22, 2002 and Jan. 15, 2003.)
> If anyone has contact information for the San Francisco informant called “Purple Blaine,” please contact me.
June 22, 2004) Today I spoke with director Alex Bulkley of ShadowMachine Films regarding the status of its upcoming film, The Zodiac. Bulkley said work on the film is essentially completed and a premiere date should be announced soon. The goal is to enter Toronto’s film festival this summer and hopefully be in theatres by early 2005.
June 15, 2004) The Z-Mail page has been updated to include the most interesting and entertaining e-mail I’ve received over the past several months.
> This from Wednesday’s New York Press:
New York’s so-called “Zodiac Killer,” Heriberto Seda, has found love behind bars—but it may be a love he’s not allowed to keep. According to a letter received by the Daily News, Seda has married Synthia-China Blast, a fellow murderer who’s serving a 25-year sentence at Attica. Blast (born Luis Morales) is also suing for the right to get a sex-change operation. While the two are said to have been happily married for a year, officials have decided to move the 29-year-old Blast to another lockup, thus interrupting, at least for quite some time, what Blast described as a “love extravaganza.”
Now if only the original, still-at-large California Zodiac killer would kindly turn himself in, I can guarantee he will also find love in prison.
May 19, 2004) While I can’t go into detail, it appears Zodiackiller.com’s recent security issues are finally a thing of the past. There are those who would very much like to see Zodiackiller.com go away for various reasons, but that’s not going to happen. I’d like to thank everyone who e-mailed their support for the website.
> The last time anyone saw the Zodiac killer, he was fleeing his San Francisco crime scene on foot. But where did he go from there? Here is Zodiac’s likely escape route.
April 27, 2004) Long before Wayne Williams was convicted of the series of child murders around Atlanta, Ga. in the late 1970s/early 1980s, someone claiming to be the Zodiac actually confessed to the crimes. The confession was included in a letter postmarked in Atlanta on March 8, 1981 and taken very seriously by the FBI. Here is part of the FBI’s report on the letter.
April 19, 2004) I’ve added a new page answering many of the frequently asked questions newcomers to the Zodiac case often have. Click here for the answers.
> Thanks to Yahoo! for featuring Zodiackiller.com during the month of March.
April 13, 2004) Director Alex Bulkley of ShadowMachine Films sent me this update on the upcoming film The Zodiac:
“The Zodiac” is out of the editing room and into the sound studio. Michael Suby (“The Butterfly Effect”) has been hired on as the music composer. We’re looking forward to an amazing score and incredible sound design. Completion of the film is expected within the next two months. The Zodiac is coming soon to a theater near you…”
Check out film stills and other information for The Zodiac by clicking here.
April 7, 2004) The front page of today’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle features a story first reported here at Zodiackiller.com almost a week ago: The San Francisco Police Dept. (SFPD) has closed the Zodiac case. (The term the department now uses is “deactivated.”) Today’s story is only the second time in the last 26 years the Zodiac case has been featured on the Chronicle’s front page. Click here for the story.
Regardless of the official position of SFPD, Zodiackiller.com will continue to pursue leads and archive case-related information in an attempt to identify the Zodiac killer.
April 2, 2004) In a shocking and unprecedented move, the San Francisco Police Dept. has officially closed the Zodiac case. Click here for details.
> For a start-to-finish digital tour of the area of the Zodiac’s October 1969 San Francisco murder of cab driver Paul Stine, here is Presidio Heights 2004.
> After 25 years of silence, a Zodiac-inspired killer calling himself “BTK” has recently reemerged in the Wichita area of Kansas. As the Zodiac did before him, BTK is in the habit of taunting the police and scaring the public by writing detailed letters of his crimes and sending them to his local newspaper. (One of BTK’s letters sent in the 1970s actually chastised the news media for paying too much attention to the Zodiac and not enough to him.)
> On the topic of Zodiac copycats, the Kobe (Japan) Zodiac copycat of the 1990s is actually being considered for early release by Japanese authorities. It seems the Japanese are willing to quickly forgive such horrible crimes as murdering children as long as you behave properly in prison…
> Zodiackiller.com had a record month for hits in March with more than 1.8 million.
March 20, 2004) Today is the sixth anniversary of Zodiackiller.com and I’d like to thank the millions of loyal visitors around the world for making this site so successful. Thanks also to my many great sources who contribute information on a regular basis and help keep the site fresh.
March 1, 2004) Several years ago I obtained a reproduction of Zodiac’s infamous Halloween card from one of the original Zodiac detectives, now deceased. (In 1970 Zodiac had mailed the card to San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery.) After re-examining the card for the first time in a few years, I noticed two stickers within the card that had gone unnoticed. If the stickers were part of Zodiac’s original card, it’s a secret never before revealed to the public. Since my source was impeccable and worked the Zodiac case for several years, I believe the stickers were indeed included by Zodiac with the original card.
> Despite Zodiackiller.com being down for the first six days of the month due to server problems, February was still a record month for hits with more than 1.4 million.
> Several new crime-scene photos have been added to the David Faraday/Betty Lou Jensen page.
Feb. 12, 2004) I’ve added several exclusive photos of Zodiac victim Betty Lou Jensen.
(Special thanks to John Henslin and Sharon.)
Feb. 9, 2004) Zodiackiller.com was recently offline for more than a week, as my website host unexpectedly went out of business. (If you’ve attempted to send me e-mail during that time, it didn’t get through. Please try again.) Thankfully, the problem has been solved — I’ve moved the site to a new, much larger server. As a result, there are several exciting additions/upgrades:
*High-resolution scans of the Zodiac letters are now available to view, several in full color
*An upgraded Chat Room
*A new, state-of-the-art Message Board (Previous users will need to register again)
Jan. 8, 2004) Just added to Zodiackiller.com are 50 pages of material from the producer of the 1989 documentary, Crimes of the Century: The Zodiac Killer. Among the information are 38 pages of notes taken from interviews with several individuals associated with the Zodiac case, including surviving victim Bryan Hartnell, suspect Rick Marshall, investigators Ken Narlow, Jack Mulanax and Dave Toschi, plus much more. Click here for the update.
Jan. 1, 2004) All the major events of the Zodiac case are now available on one page of Zodiackiller.com. A valuable research tool with a few surprises mixed in, here is the Zodiac Calendar.
