Thanks for posting these great articles! I always found Pine Hill Road, very curious!

yes, its a curious case. I wonder if Miss Watson is still alive today…

And finally we know..Z had brown hair, again not 6’2” but rather 5’8”-6’0”, in fact did wear his glasses more than once, drove a light-tan to white car. A bit I do wonder about his age, as if he would have been born in the ’30ies..now above 80 or 6 feet under. Well.

QT

The Chronicle article of April 13, says Isobel Watson specified that Z wore "reading glasses." Reading glasses are for close up vision. He would not need them when he was driving. This is from Wikipedia:
"Over the counter reading glasses

"Ready-made reading glasses go by many names, including over the counter glasses, cheaters, magnifiers, non-prescription readers, or generic readers. They offer clearer vision to people with presbyopia and hyperopia. They are typically sold in retail locations such as pharmacies and grocery stores, but are also available in book stores and clothing retailers. They are available in common reading prescriptions in strengths ranging from +0.75 to +3.50 diopters. These glasses do not take into account the mathematics of the wearer’s distance prescription, often causing the distance to become blurry unless they are removed. If the wearer has little to no need for correction in the distance, may work quite well for seeing better during near vision tasks. But if the person has a need for correction in the distance, it is less likely that they will be perfectly effective.

"Reading glasses come in two main styles: full frames, in which the entire lens is made in the reading prescription, and half-eyes, style glasses that sit lower down on the nose.[22] Full frame readers must be removed to see distance clearly, while the distance can be clearly viewed over the top of half-eye readers."

Now, this leads me to wonder WHY she thought they were "reading glasses," (i.e., for "close up vision/near vision tasks")? If they were single lens glasses, there is no way she would know they were "reading glasses." She would not know they were reading glasses unless they were bifocals, or "half-eye" style glasses. These do not match the description given by Officer Fouke.

For this reason, I do not think this attack was by Zodiac.

Maybe ‘reading glasses’ were the term that came to her mind when describing them? Could be that maybe Z wore any glasses as part of a disguise,maybe the glass was clear glass, not prescription.

Anyone have a description of the area where this attack occurred on Pine Hill?
Sounds like a residential area, bus stop, neighboring homes close by…..somewhat how Stine was attacked?

Also, was this attack meant to disable IW so he could take her somewhere and kill her later? Sounds like the Johns attempt..

Happy New Year!

Consider that this attack took place on PINE HILL Road, in light of what I think is a pattern of Zodiac nature-tree-wood references and clues.

Probable and definite Zodiac crimes took place at RIVERside, Blue Rock SPRINGS, LAKE Herman Road, LAKE Berryessa, South LAKE Tahoe.

Zodiac told cab driver Paul Stine to go to Washington and MAPLE street, it is MAPLE street Z refers to in his letter claiming credit for the murder and crime actually took place closest to CHERRY street. Of course both are types of TREES.

SFPD Officer Richard Radetich, 6/19/70, possible Z victim, was murdered on Waller street, but a large white American car is seen speeding away on nearby OAK street.

Stuart Maher, 3/17/68, a possible Z victim, was shot in the back of the head in San Fransisco on PINE street.

Pat Tan, 4/19/70, possible Z victim, found hanging from a TREE on Mt. Tam.

Isobel Watson, 4/7/72, a possible Z victim, was stabbed in the Tamalpais Valley area on PINE HILL Road.

Yvonne Weber (13 years old) and Maureen Sterling (12 years old), 2/4/72, possible Z victims in Sonoma County, last seen alive at the REDWOOD Ice Rink.

Barbara Jane Perkins, 12/8/67, possible Z victim, a nurse who lived on Grant street in Berkeley (1.4 miles from TJK residence on Regent street) found at Point Reyes National SEASHORE, head was "tucked against base of fallen TREE."

Daniel Williams, possible Z victim, lived on BUSH street in Martinez, reported calls from man claiming to be Z and arsenic poison later put into a soda pop bottle.

Unknown female U Cal Riverside student, late 1966, possible Z victim, accepted ride from man matching Z description, man said "after all I’m not Jack the Ripper," spoke of Cheri Jo Bates death, told woman "I’m not going to kill you. If I wanted to kill you I could just hit you in the head with this piece of WOOD." Attacked the student, who then escaped.

Z sent card with "peek through the PINES" on it, card hinted a body could be found "around in the SNOW", mentioned "SIERRA club" SIERRA being Spanish for "MOUNTAIN range" (SIERRA club also concerned with protecting NATURE, and TJK was a member), letter mentioning torture by shoving PINE needles under fingernails, Halloween card had eyes looking through a TREE, suspected of sending a taunting Christmas card to sister of probable victim Donna Lass with picture of PINE TREE covered with SNOW, and saying "Saint Donna, Guardian of the PINES." Another card mentioned Monticello (Italian for little MOUNTAIN), and "in the WOODS dies April".

Its interesting how Zs communication before this date and after this date changes…
Was it to close to home for him? Any thoughts

Its interesting how Zs communication before this date and after this date changes…
Was it to close to home for him? Any thoughts

Interesting idea. There was a confirmed Zodiac letter in March 1971 and a possible Z letter in July 1971, then this incident in April 1972, then no confirmed Z letters until January 1974.

Was the gap caused by this failed attack and a new eyewitness description from a close up surviving victim? Or was it caused by other factors we don’t know?

Wonder why it wasn’t claimed. I mean, lets assume it was him, he actually stabbed her. He didn’t touch KJ and yet he claimed that. And he claimed CJB nearly 5 years later. So it’s not like he doesn’t remember and if it had been him then he had ample time to know he couldn’t be found by admitting it. I don’t find it odd that he looked like Zodiac, I mean this is midway between his communications. His ‘appearance’ was well circulated by then, seems like a good disguise for any would be nut job, and an interpreted MO as well. I say interpreted because it bothers me that he would try this in an area that would take him by surprise, like neighbours being home and close enough to hear the commotion and cause him to flee. I think he took risks yes, but did he ever actually flee? Not to my mind. Even at PH he just left.

For me there’s just too much that doesn’t conform to what we imagine about Zodiac. That’s important because to believe this was him then you have to imagine. That’s ok but you can’t ignore previous interpretations of what we suspect of his MO and his nature. Some of those don’t fit here.

I have to say that I think connecting water (or wood) is spurious at best, for myself anyway. I just think there’s too much opportunity for that to mean anything even if it does it’s one of those things that we are unlikely to ever be sure on unless we find out the truth of it.

Now those are just my thoughts on this one and after a time too, not just because of this thread. There are certainly things that we could attribute to Z regarding it but are they accurate or rather, do they actually fit in the bigger picture. I’m not sure they do.

I get what your saying Trav, and i lean towards what your saying.
I thought i heard/read someplace that there were others, other than Isobel or PT right around the same time. Has anybody else heard that?

Dude are you being specific to Marin County? If so there was the murder of Theresa Matthews who was from Novato but that happened in 1979. Her thread is here-
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=665

Also there was a lady in a red dress that was found off Paradise Drive in Marin County. I’ll have to search for the thread on her. She was older and unidentified.

EDITED TO ADD LINK to Lady in the Red Dress articles at the bottom of this page-

viewtopic.php?f=78&t=1086&start=30

There were murders just north in Sonoma County in 1972 and 1973. Just click on the link in my signature.

Maybe ‘reading glasses’ were the term that came to her mind when describing them? Could be that maybe Z wore any glasses as part of a disguise,maybe the glass was clear glass, not prescription.

That’s not a normal term for someone who is in shock from surviving a knife attack to just pull out of the air. Or, by the time she was interviewed for the paper, she had time to think about this. I’m sure she wanted to give as accurate a description as possible. I think she saw the bifocals in his lenses as he attacked her.

Does anyone have a copy of the police report filed on this?

There are things called reading glasses. Now that’s almost irrelevant because we have them in pharmacies here, on racks. They are both vari, bi and single focus. They look like glasses. Nothing makes them reading glasses……except maybe a cord? I imagine that would have been more of a phrase the further back in time we go. When, to have your glasses on a cord meant you didn’t need them all the time and mostly, that was for reading. Obviously, hence the term.

So, were the glasses on a cord? Or, did the victim see something that made her think the glasses were supplemented by something? A cord? elastic?

(TOL) Thinking out loud.

P.s – I wear glasses 24/7 have done since I was about 5. Umm that’s my CV regarding the subject lol.