Arthur Leigh Allen, circa mid-1960s

By Tom Voigt | Founder: Zodiackiller.com | tomvoigt@zodiackiller.com

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In early October 1969 — a couple of years before Arthur Leigh Allen’s former best friend, Don Cheney, came forward to police with incriminating statements indicating Allen was the Zodiac killer — someone had already contacted police with a Zodiac accusation against Allen. Unfortunately, no information about the accuser was documented, making them impossible to identify.

Who was that first accuser, and why did they suspect Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac killer?

Those questions bring us to the most recent piece of Arthur Leigh Allen misinformation circling the Internet drain: That Allen had originally faced police scrutiny because the Zodiac killer had been proven to drive a Volkswagen Beetle.

The claim — initially posted at Reddit and then regurgitated elsewhere — is nonsense. However, that hasn’t stopped it from gaining traction among the misinformed. So, why do I care what misinformed individuals think? That’s easy — I want to catch the Zodiac killer…and the more of us looking in the right direction, the better.

The silly story goes something like this: Following the Zodiac killer’s September 1969 attack in its jurisdiction, the Napa County Sheriff’s Department measured the tire impressions left by the Zodiac killer’s vehicle while it was parked along a road above Lake Berryessa. That much is true. Now the false parts: According to the story, the tire impressions were determined to have been made by a tiny VW Beetle. As a result, 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 big guy driving a VW Beetle!” The Vallejo police then contacted a local man who owned a service station — a fella named Bob Luce — and asked Luce if he knew of any big guys who drove a VW Beetle. It was a question that prompted Luce to remember Allen, thus getting the police on his trail.

Reminder: In the above paragraph, the only true detail is the part where the police measured the Zodiac killer’s tire impressions.

KNOWLEDGE BOMB:

While the Napa investigators did measure the tire impressions left by the Zodiac killer, it was 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 knew the Zodiac was actually driving a VW Beetle.

Was Bob Luce the original tipster who gave the Vallejo police Allen’s name back in October 1969, as being the possible Zodiac killer? Impossible to say, as nobody knows for sure who the tipster was. However, what is certain is the story of the Zodiac killer having been proven to drive a VW Beetle is nonsense.

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