In keeping with my previous update, below is a photo (circa 1969) of San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood, where the Zodiac killer took the life of a Yellow cab driver named Paul Stine. There is a red letter X at the upper-left of the photo, marking the location of the crime scene at the intersection of Washington Street and Cherry Street. The other red X marks the intersection of Washington Street and Maple Street, the Zodiac killer’s initial destination. The Zodiac escaped toward the Presidio, the upper right half of the photo.
By Tom Voigt | Founder | Zodiackiller.com | tomvoigt@zodiackiller.com
(This entry was sponsored by: Les Jones, Cathy Odom “Hoping one day for a solution to the identity of the Zodiac Killer and justice for his crimes,” Mark Goodrich, Alex Cirelli, Keven McQueen)
I created this image to help orient case enthusiasts with the area I call Zodiac Ground Zero, otherwise known as Vallejo, Cal. (The Zodiac killer’s crime scene along Lake Herman Road is out of the picture.)
My recently obtained collection of former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery’s private stash of Zodiac killer materials reveals the name of a “new” suspect in the crimes
Above: Those familiar with the Zodiac case will recognize Sherwood Morrill as being the individual in charge of identifying the Zodiac killer’s handwriting.
Above: The suspect’s name — JOOST — has never before appeared on the radar of amateur Zodiac detectives. Based on the limited information, it appears more of Joost’s handwriting samples were requested.
By Tom Voigt | Founder | Zodiackiller.com | tomvoigt@zodiackiller.com
The latest genetic testing yields mysterious results
By Tom Voigt | Founder | Zodiackiller.com | tomvoigt@zodiackiller.com
To the Vallejo Police Department, the desire to identify California’s still-at-large serial killer, the Zodiac, is as strong now as it was in the late 1960s, when the mysterious offender committed three area murders. Located about a 45-minute drive from San Francisco, modern-day Vallejo does not have an adequate police force, either in terms of budget or manpower. Still, it has been chasing the Zodiac for 57 years, and DNA is the last hope to catch him.
May 2018: In a story that made headlines across the globe, Vallejo police announced plans to genetically test items of evidence in an effort to obtain a DNA profile of the Zodiac killer. Then, in March 2019, Zodiackiller.com received an exclusive update on the testing process when it was announced that a genetic profile had been obtained from the submitted evidence. As a result, “The lab work has turned into more lab work,” the department said. “Vallejo PD is still at it. The hunt continues.”
And now, the latest — and exclusive — DNA update in the case of the Zodiac killer:
According to Vallejo police, the genetic profile that was previously obtained, belonged to an individual who could not have been the Zodiac killer. For privacy reasons, no other information was disclosed, adding to the mystery.
While the killer remains elusive — at least for the time being — “the hunt continues,” according to the Vallejo Police Department.
Located in an isolated spot in the hills over Lake Herman Road in Vallejo, Cal., the “Zodiac Shack” was rumored for decades by locals to be the former hideout of the Zodiac killer. The property had long been abandoned, but I found it thanks to directions from some residents of nearby Benicia. (I took these photos on the morning of Dec. 20, 1998. None of the structures remain.)
The shack was just past the ranch of the late Stella Borges, who discovered Zodiac’s Lake Herman Road victims on Dec. 20, 1968.
I found myself out of cell-phone range. If Zodiac really did use this area to hide from police, he picked a good spot.
After crossing a rickety bridge on foot, I came to this gate. It looked like it hadn’t been opened in years.
My first view of the infamous “Zodiac shack,” complete with barn. It was about here I started wishing I hadn’t come alone.
Yet another gate. The strangest thing about this house is there seemed to be no available vehicle access.
This tiny addition (4′ ceiling) is located behind the house.
A side view of the house. This property was amazingly isolated.
Welcome to the World’s Scariest Hallway.
I still don’t know how I mustered the nerve to actually enter the house…
A beautiful view of complete isolation.
Including a few empty beer cans strewn about, everything inside the house was very old.
The barn could be heard creaking from far away.
I didn’t venture too far inside the barn, as it looked (and sounded) like it could collapse at any second. Within a few years, it did just that.
Top Zodiac killer suspect Arthur Leigh Allen was the subject of three search warrants. During one of those searches, police confiscated Allen’s infamous Zodiac wristwatch.
That watch is now missing and officially listed as stolen.
After Allen died in 1992, police offered all of the confiscated items — including the watch and numerous weapons — to his brother, Ron. However, Ron Allen only accepted certain firearms, as they had originally belonged to his father, Ethan.
Exactly how the watch went missing isn’t much of a mystery: It is strongly suspected that, decades ago, a now-deceased police captain took the watch in order to show it off to friends.
Of the remaining unclaimed items, also missing from custody is a large knife that fit the general description provided by a surviving victim of the Zodiac killer.
The fate of the missing knife remains unknown.
Should Arthur Leigh Allen’s stolen watch turn up for sale, its specific serial number is logged into a national database of stolen items, and the seller will be busted. Unfortunately, nabbing the Zodiac killer will be a bit more difficult.
The most recent piece of Arthur Leigh Allen misinformation is the nonsensical claim that Allen originally faced police scrutiny because the Zodiac killer had been proven to drive a Volkswagen Beetle.
The claim — posted at Reddit — is nonsense.
As the silly story goes, following the Zodiac killer’s September 1969 attack in its jurisdiction, the Napa County Sheriff’s Department allegedly measured the tire impressions left by the Zodiac killer’s vehicle while it was parked along a road above Lake Berryessa, and those tire impressions were determined to have been made by a tiny VW Beetle. Therefore, Napa investigators were on the lookout for such a vehicle, to the point that Napa detectives phoned the Vallejo Police Department — already investigating earlier crimes of the Zodiac killer — and said “The Zodiac killer was a huge guy driving a VW Beetle!” The Vallejo police then allegedly contacted a local man who owned a service station — a fella named Bob Luce — and asked Luce if he knew of any huge guys who drove a VW Beetle. And that’s how Bob Luce was allegedly responsible for getting police attention to Arthur Leigh Allen.
For a moment, let’s ignore the fact that nobody ever described the Zodiac killer as being “huge.” At Lake Berryessa, Cecelia Shepard saw the Zodiac clearly and did not describe a huge man. Meanwhile, her lake companion, Bryan Hartnell, made it clear he was a horrible judge of height. And while it appeared the Zodiac had a pronounced stomach, Hartnell stressed that it might have simply been the effect of a puffy jacket. And when the local investigators performed what was called “a compaction test” on the depth of the footprints left by the Zodiac killer, those same detectives admitted such a test was not scientific.
So, you might ask, why would Napa investigators tell the Vallejo investigators that the Zodiac killer was a huge guy? Easy answer: They didn’t.
And what about this nonsense of the Zodiac killer driving a VW Beetle? It’s simply more bunk.
While the Napa investigators did measure the tire impressions left by the Zodiac killer, they never concluded the impressions were made by a small car. In fact, quickly thereafter the focus was on finding a man who was driving a Chevy sedan, which were large cars. The Chevy sedan being sought was driven by a man who had alarmed a few female sunbathers in the area. Napa investigators went all-out trying to locate that Chevy sedan, a rather strange thing to do if they were aware the Zodiac was actually proven to be driving a VW Beetle.
This entire story was concocted by a reddit user called u/241waffledeal. The reason? Hilariously, u/241waffledeal used a modern technique to interpret the tire impressions left by the Zodiac killer. If that’s not silly enough, u/241waffledeal then concluded the modern technique had been used by the Napa County Sheriff’s Department back in September 1969, even though the modern technique hadn’t been invented yet. Oh, and since u/241waffledeal believes Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac killer — and since Allen was what some might describe as huge (at least his weight), therefore the Zodiac killer was also huge.
Opinion confirmation, passed along as proven fact to the poorly informed and/or gullible. It’s what I call Richard Grinell 101.
Was Bob Luce the original tipster who gave the Vallejo police Allen’s name back in October 1969, as being the possible Zodiac killer? Maybe. I have a much better candidate whom I’ll introduce in detail in my forthcoming book. However, what I know for sure is the story of the Zodiac killer having been proven to drive a VW Beetle is nonsense perpetuated by a Reddit user called u/241waffledeal.
Dec. 20, 2011) On this 43rd anniversary of the Zodiac’s attack on Lake Herman Road near Vallejo, Calif., I’ve added a comprehensive collection of vintage newspaper articles detailing the double murder. Click here to read and discuss.
Sept. 1, 2011) As we enter the anniversary month of the Zodiac’s 1969 attack at Lake Berryessa, I have received news of an exciting development:
————————————————– “Mr. Voigt,
My partner, Detective Shulman, said he would let you know once we got to the Cecelia Shepard case. We have reviewed the case completely and sent all of the evidence we have to the California DNA laboratory in Richmond. We do not expect to have any results back for some time. Routinely, the turnaround time for cases like this is measured in months if not years.
— REDACTED INFO —
Thank you for the access to your site. It has proven valuable for vetting out some of the theories we have received. We hope you will continue to allow us to view your research.
Thank you again for your assistance!
Detective Patrick McMahon
Napa County Sheriff’s Department
Cold Case Unit” ————————————————–
Discussion of this development can be found at the Zodiackiller.com message board.
July 5, 2011) It’s my pleasure to yet again share an exclusive and never-before-seen Zodiac case document. This time, it’s a 1971 Zodiac PERT chart, as prepared by the California Department of Justice. Until now, the chart was only available to police. One of the more interesting tidbits contained in the chart is the revelation that Zodiac rode in the front seat of victim Paul Stine’s cab, as discussed here. (For decades it was believed he sat in the back.) For discussion of the PERT chart, click here.
— CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW EXCLUSIVE ZODIAC PERT CHART — (PDF | 1.1 MB) For best results, zoom to 150% or more.
Feb. 19, 2011) Tonight’s episode of America’s Most Wanted featured a photo of Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin that was first seen here at Zodiackiller.com last November. Pictured with Ferrin is a man of unknown identity. Click the image below for a huge version, and if you recognize the man, please contact me:
> A full-length documentary about the unsolved 1963 murders of possible Zodiac victims Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards is now available to watch online for free. The film, which is the work of John B. Averitt Ph.D., a former classmate of the victims, can be found at this link.
Jan. 31, 2011) At the end of January 1974, almost exactly 37 years ago, the Zodiac mailed a letter in which he seemed to claim 37 victims. It was the first Zodiac letter in nearly three years and its arrival sparked a renewed attempt by San Francisco police to catch him. To mark the occasion, I have updated the Zodiac Magazine Rack with a story about the investigation from the April 1974 issue of San Francisco Magazine.
> Click the image below for an amazing late-1960s aerial view of the neighborhood in San Francisco where the Zodiac killed cab driver Paul Stine:
Dec. 1, 2010) Retired Zodiac detective Ken Narlow has passed away after a strong battle against cancer. Narlow, who was a great friend to this website, worked for the Napa County Sheriff’s Dept. for several decades and was the original detective assigned to investigate the Zodiac’s attack at Lake Berryessa. He died in Napa on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 29, 2010.
A recent e-mail from Ken: “This cancer is going to get me it’s just a matter of time. I rarely get out of the house anymore and when I do Marie takes me where I want to go. I still get a few leads, that I pass on to the boys in blue.”
Ken Narlow is pictured below with his son, circa 1960:
Oct. 6, 2010) In the Sept. 19, 2010 update, Zodiackiller.com showed how the Zodiac mimmicked Count Marco’s odd writing style. Just a month later, it appears we have solved yet another mystery. Click the image below for the latest:
Oct. 1, 2010) The 2008 Zodiackiller.com task-force meeting, which was held on Dec. 20, 2008 at the Roxie theater in San Francisco, is now available to watch online for free. Hosted by author David Van Nuys, the 100-minute video features several guest speakers, including Nancy Slover (she spoke to the Zodiac back in 1969).
Sept. 19, 2010) Ever since Zodiac wrote a letter referencing San Francisco newspaper columnist Count Marco back in July 1974, speculation has remained over why Zodiac adopted such an unusual handwriting style for that particular letter. See below for my recent discovery (Click for a larger version):
I believe Zodiac was very familiar with the nuances of Marco’s handwriting. If so, that potentially narrows the suspect pool immensely.
July 29, 2010) It has been nearly 41 years since the Zodiac murdered cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco. Since then, most of us only know Stine through one published picture. Exclusive to Zodiackiller.com, I am thrilled to bring you a look at Paul Stine the public has never seen: MEET PAUL STINE.
Also see: Click the image below for the 13-page scrapbook that was kept by Paul’s mother, Audra: (PDF | 99.2 MB)
Jan. 1, 2010) As we enter 2010, I believe the time is perfect to revisit places the Zodiac haunted more than four decades ago. Click here for a Zodiac flashback.
Dec. 20, 2009) 40 years ago today, the Zodiac killer mailed a letter to famed attorney Melvin Belli. For the bizarre events that preceded the mailing, including exclusive photos, click here.
Nov. 9, 2009) Today I received this e-mail from the FBI’s cryptography expert, Dan Olson, concerning the Zodiac’s unsolved 340 cipher:
————————————————– “We havent seen any recent solutions or ideas that have generated a second look as of yet. If you can point us in the right direction we’ll be all over it. FYI, if we ever do see a good partial or full solution we will forward it with our endorsement to the cold case squad at SFPD, but we will give credit to where credit is due.
I dont have a graphic to share but here are more details you can post instead: Statistics for repeated characters for each line of text show a distinct higher randomness with the lines we’ve discussed (1-3 and 11-13). The higher randomness may be due in part or whole to greater care by the writer to not repeat characters on these lines. This indicates homophonic substitution. The opposite is true for lines 4, 10, 14, 17 and 18, these lines have many repeats. Additionally, there is far greater randomness for rows versus columns. This rules out any form of columnar or diagnal transpositions (a big step forward).
These same statistical tests were done on Z408. The results suggest that 340 is similar to 408 except for the bogus rows: overall randomness of 408 is .48, 340 is .50. Row randomness of 408 is .22, 340 is .19. Column randomness of 408 is .48, 340 is .68. By way of comparison, row and column randomness should be near identical if the 340 does not contain any message, or if there is a message that is evenly scrambled.
Thanks again for your help Tom.” ————————————————–
If you have a solution to the 340 cipher you’d like to share, I can pass it along to the FBI. Contact me. Discussion can be found here.
Sept. 22, 2009) Here’s the YouTube trailer for a TV project involving Zodiackiller.com:
Aug. 10, 2009) Before you check out the free, exclusive, two-hour Zodiac video below, keep in mind that even though I do my best, often I don’t have time to formally update Zodiackiller.com each time I receive interesting and valuable Zodiac information. Sometimes it can take me weeks or months to get the news to you, or it can just slip through the cracks and never get published. There is now a way for you to get all the good stuff delivered to your e-mail box immediately. Click here to find out how.
> Exactly five years ago, I filmed my own video of the various Zodiac crime scenes and other relevant locations. Click below for the free, exclusive, two-hour ULTIMATE Zodiac video on YouTube:
July 15, 2009) The recent Zodiackiller.com task-force meeting was a blast, and extremely informative to boot. Thanks to all who participated.
> I’ve written a feature article about the events of the last year or so in the Zodiac world. Click here for “The 13th Sign”.
May 14, 2009) About two weeks ago a woman came forward claiming to be the Zodiac killer’s daughter. She was the same woman who recently claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of President John F. Kennedy. Obviously her story is nonsense, as none of the witnesses to the Zodiac’s crimes ever described him as traveling in a motorcade.
In any event, discussion of these recent events — along with thousands of other Zodiac-related topics — can be found at the Zodiackiller.com message board.
> The next Zodiackiller.com task-force meeting is less than two months away. See the Jan. 5, 2009 update below for details.
Jan. 29, 2009) It was exactly 35 years ago that the Zodiac mailed one of his last letters. Today I updated the Zodiac Letters page to include two new additions. (Thanks to Howard Davis.)
Jan. 5, 2009) The Zodiackiller.com task-force meeting at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco might be history, but please enjoy the video at the bottom of this update of the subsequent Zodiac bus tour that 50 of us enjoyed.
> The next Zodiackiller.com task-force meeting will be held this July 5th (Sunday) at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, Calif. That date is the 40th anniversary of the Zodiac’s attack of Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau. Fittingly, the section of the park reserved for the event is called “The Pines” and was the site of the very first task-force meeting back in 2002, as pictured at left. “The Pines” features 22 picnic tables, two BBQs, plus nearby restrooms, water, and shade. (We will most probably tent a portion in case of heat/rain.) Best of all, it’s free. Beer and wine are permitted. Kids are welcome. After the recent hectic task-force meeting, we are looking forward to a mellow affair. Mingling! Discussion! Make your plans to be there. I can’t wait! (Starting a new diet tomorrow.) I’d like to thank the Dahlia for her help.
> I’ve put together a page of vintage Zodiac television programs that you can either view online, or save to your computer. Here’s a link. Enjoy!
at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, Calif. That date is the 40th anniversary of the Zodiac’s attack of Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau. Fittingly, the section of the park reserved for the event is called “The Pines” and was the site of the very first task-force meeting back in 2002, as pictured at left. “The Pines” features 22 picnic tables, two BBQs, plus nearby restrooms, water, and shade. (We will most probably tent a portion in case of heat/rain.) Best of all, it’s free. Beer and wine are permitted. Kids are welcome. After the recent hectic task-force meeting, we are looking forward to a mellow affair. Mingling! Discussion! Make your plans to be there. I can’t wait! (Starting a new diet tomorrow.) I’d like to thank the Dahlia for her help.
