I think he looked in and simply saw two legs in some clothing which looked like pants or slacks when sitting in her car. I don’t think Zodiac was trying to be too technical on the name of what you’d call them.

As provided earlier in this thread. This is a sketch of the actual outfit Darlene wore. They show the exact fabric in the Fincher Documentary:

Thanks Tahoe, that is a good drawing of her outfit. Still it would be very hard to tell if she was standing or sitting, as long as her" legs were closed" ,if it was a dress or pants dress. It would have looked like a long dress and we did ware those as well. I do believe that he saw her at Terry’s ,argued with her there and later followed her to Blue Rock Springs. I am one of the few people who feel she was not a random victim. That Zodiac stalked her before killing her and that he had his own reason for killing her, but that he wanted it to look random , so police would not uncover what they were doing. You and I have talked about what illegal things that I am pretty sure she was into. Her family believes the same as I do.

My two cents: we look at the use of slacks in today’s vernacular as being old fashioned. Would it have been in more common usage in the 60’s? Zodiac was a product of his time and it’s likely when he was growing up (40’s or 50’s) the use of the word "slacks" would be fairly common.

I can only go by what I remember for that time and that was the word slacks was a term used mostly by an older person ,or used by someone younger when wearing something more formal looking.
In my closet I have pants made of corduroy, wool or cotton, slacks of velvet ,satin, nylon and jeans of denim or Levy’s.

Remember that Zodiac had a formal way of using words, he may have wrote and spoke that way from a young age. Hartnell thought the voice sounded young, but the man who was bothering Darlene was an older man and the person seen walking up Jackson st looked 35 to 45.
I am a older person with a much younger sounding voice, so I think we shouldn’t go by what Hartnell said Zodiac sounded like.

If the person I got away from in Vallejo 1968 was Zodiac, he looked to me to be about 30 ys old ( Not more than 35),with a full face, curly brown hair ,short and stocky,he was a very angry looking man! He was bold enough to drive past the two officers I was reporting him to.

Hi-

In the Chronicle letter, Z uses the word "slacks" to describe Darlene’s garment. In the other two letters, he uses "pants." I have no way of proving this idea but to me the word "slacks" speaks to a person who was much older than his victims in 1969. Sounds like 1930s or 1940s lingo to me! It just sounds dated and mature. I was 13 back then and I would never have said that a woman was wearing "slacks." I would have said pants. (Or at least I think the 1969 version of me would have said "a pair of pants.") I don’t think I’ve ever used the word "slacks," LOL.

Mike

Donald Harden who with his wife deciphered the first code was a high school teacher. His impression was that the writer was older due to terms he used. He was used to reading high school essays.

More interesting is why the change in terminology. Was the zodiac aware that he was giving his age away or was it a copy cat?

Hi-

In the Chronicle letter, Z uses the word "slacks" to describe Darlene’s garment. In the other two letters, he uses "pants." I have no way of proving this idea but to me the word "slacks" speaks to a person who was much older than his victims in 1969. Sounds like 1930s or 1940s lingo to me! It just sounds dated and mature. I was 13 back then and I would never have said that a woman was wearing "slacks." I would have said pants. (Or at least I think the 1969 version of me would have said "a pair of pants.") I don’t think I’ve ever used the word "slacks," LOL.

Mike

Donald Harden who with his wife deciphered the first code was a high school teacher. His impression was that the writer was older due to terms he used. He was used to reading high school essays.

More interesting is why the change in terminology. Was the zodiac aware that he was giving his age away or was it a copy cat?

Zodiac was known to change , he changed weapons, his MO, his cars. Even changed his style of writing , depending on his mood.

A copycat would not have been able to get away with what Zodiac has, that is my opinion.

Ok I am the old lady in this group. I owned many pants dress’s. It was a one piece outfit that usually had a long zipper down the back unless it was of stretchy material had a tie around the neck . I sent a picture to Tracer’s of what a slack dress/ pant dress looked like. I also own a pair of palazzo pants, that is something different. When you have on one of these pant dress’s and you are standing with your legs together , it looks like a long dress. when you are walking or crossing your legs you can tell it is a pant dress.

Horan and I went round and round about this. He has congratulated me on finding a picture of what they looked like. The pattern that was on Darlene’s out fit was called a Lanze print ( not sure of the correct spelling ) That was who the designer was of that type of print.

What about when your in a car sitting with your legs together? Do these pants still resemble a dress like how you describe when your standing with your legs together?

Ok I am the old lady in this group. I owned many pants dress’s. It was a one piece outfit that usually had a long zipper down the back unless it was of stretchy material had a tie around the neck . I sent a picture to Tracer’s of what a slack dress/ pant dress looked like. I also own a pair of palazzo pants, that is something different. When you have on one of these pant dress’s and you are standing with your legs together , it looks like a long dress. when you are walking or crossing your legs you can tell it is a pant dress.

Horan and I went round and round about this. He has congratulated me on finding a picture of what they looked like. The pattern that was on Darlene’s out fit was called a Lanze print ( not sure of the correct spelling ) That was who the designer was of that type of print.

What about when your in a car sitting with your legs together? Do these pants still resemble a dress like how you describe when your standing with your legs together?

You would not know it was pants sitting in the car.

https://youtu.be/ASzyxaPiNDk?t=2782

Sorry, but Ido not go along with "Horan’s hogwash" or the person who backs him in the video!
I did know a person named Donald aka "Don" involved in some bad things going on in Vallejo. He could be who the report was mentioning? He knew Darlene and Toni Anstey!

There was NOTa mistake that Darlene was wearing a jumpsuit called a "pants dress". Her family also mentioned that was what she had on when she was murdered! For her killer to know she was wearing a pants dress, he must have seen her getting into that car before picking up Mike M, or getting food at Mr, Ed’s?

There were some good points made in the video, but most of it muddied up the case much worse than what it was already! He should be ashamed of himself saying Betty Lou and David’s case was drug-related!

Ok I am the old lady in this group. I owned many pants dress’s. It was a one piece outfit that usually had a long zipper down the back unless it was of stretchy material had a tie around the neck . I sent a picture to Tracer’s of what a slack dress/ pant dress looked like. I also own a pair of palazzo pants, that is something different. When you have on one of these pant dress’s and you are standing with your legs together , it looks like a long dress. when you are walking or crossing your legs you can tell it is a pant dress.

Horan and I went round and round about this. He has congratulated me on finding a picture of what they looked like. The pattern that was on Darlene’s out fit was called a Lanze print ( not sure of the correct spelling ) That was who the designer was of that type of print.

What about when your in a car sitting with your legs together? Do these pants still resemble a dress like how you describe when your standing with your legs together?

You would not know it was pants sitting in the car.

So it might be safe to say that he saw her walking in them at some point? Interesting.

Yes, he would have had to be following her probably from her home to pick up Mike M.and was who they saw parked at BRS, shortly after arriving. The same man who Mike asked her if she knew, who left for a short time and returned. (I have always believed he left to go get his gun and returned to shoot them.) Mike was able to describe him partly because he had seen him earlier, is what I think? If I am correct, the Zodiac lived close by, because he returned within a few minutes.

In the video above, they mentioned his many clothes. I was told that they didn’t go to BRS to talk, they went there to confront the stalker who Darlene feared. Knowing he would probably follow her there. Mike wanted to look larger than he was that night. There was another person who was supposed to be there as backup for Mike and Darlene. But because they got there too late, the backup "Randy Young" had left. ( I was not able to find Randy Young )

Mike had mentioned that he did not leave the front door open at his home when he left, yet it was wide open. Did Zodiac go back to Mike’s house before making the phone call? That could explain the time it took Zodiac to make the call to VPD, as well as several other calls that were made minutes after the shooting.

I was told by Darlene’s sister Pam, that her brother Leo was arrested the night of the shooting, for robbing a liquor store. He could not have been the person who called Dean’s parents home after midnight, or all of the other phone calls that night! If that was a lie and Leo did make those calls, why would he just breathe heavy into the phone, why not ask for Darlene if he was looking for her to get some MJ? That to me was silly because he could have gotten MJ very easily back then.

The Hells Angels has befriended more than one serial killer over the years.They werent aware of it, its just the kind of company some of them keep. Kinda curious if the killer was at the drug bust, or knew of it, and if Micheal or Darlene, or both, maybe snitched somebody out, or was blamed for snitching on somebody when they didnt. I would love to see detailed records from the drug bust. Micheal would later move to Canada. It was my understanding he did this because he was afraid of the killer coming back? It makes sense to be scared, but maybe he was running from something more specific? Maybe the killer was new of the bust ahead of time, and seized the moment to strike while the police were busy with something else. Maybe the killer was told what she was wearing and what she was driving by someone who knew her, and told to find her and kill her. Killed by a third party so police couldnt make the connection. Sounds like a Hells Angels type of move.

While we’re talking about pants, I sometimes wonder if everyone is on the same page about what "pleated pants" are. I’m not a men’s fashion expert, so I may be way off base here, but I wonder if some people think of pants with a strong center crease as being pleated pants even when there are no pleats.

Here is a pair of pleated pants with a strong center crease https://www.clothingconnectiononline.co … hgEALw_wcB :

And here is a pair of non-pleated/flat-front pants with a strong center crease https://www.pinterest.com/pin/347973508679265075/ :

The fact that the crease doesn’t extend all the way up to the waistband is all that’s keeping them from being considered pleated, correct? If we’re not sure about the distinction between slacks and pants, is it possible that witnesses weren’t sure about the distinction between pleated and non-pleated pants?

Google search for men’s pleated pants 1960s: https://www.google.com/search?q=mens+pleated+pants+1960s&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi5wdnG46vxAhUJU1MKHTt5By4Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=mens+pleated+pants+1960s&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1AAWABgoF9oAHAAeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQCqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=eh_SYLmcLImmzQK78p3wAg&bih=975&biw=1920

I believe the top picture is correct, most of us back then ( Me still now) Iron a crease on Pants and Jeans. That was pretty common back then. But the baggy pleated pants indicates an older person, some younger Hispanics also dressed like that.

alphadeltarho, I doubt very much if the H.A.s had anything to do with her murder! I do believe that she was about to spill the beans of what she knew he was doing and was killed before she told the police. That is what I think she meant when she told her mother that she would be in the newspaper.