If a clean cut Arthur Leigh Allen wore a toupee on the night of the Zodiac could he fit the look of the kids sketch?
Personally, I don’t think so. Zodiac, that evening, was not described as a big guy like Allen.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
I respectfully have to disagree on that one.
Witness descriptions are notoriously unreliable, however even if we say that the kids description was a very good one, it could not rule out ALA as a suspect for the murder.
The kids said, the guy they seen was about 5"8. Allan was just under 6 foot. This to me is not a big enough difference to rule him out.
The kids said the guy they saw was about 200lbs maybe even bigger. Allan was said to weigh anywhere from 220 to 270 depending on who you ask and what month it was. Again, on a dark night under a jacket, not enough for me to rule out Allan.
Even without a wig I wouldn’t rule Allan out. Allan had hair in 1969.
Again, just my opinion.
Remember the sand compaction test at LB indicated a heavy person.
I still don’t see ALA matching unless he put someone else’s head on his body.
Fouke said Allen was off by about 100 pounds.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Then there is that Tahoe as well and even with a toupee he wouldn’t resemble the sketch at all. ALA writing though IMO opinion looks identical to Zodiac and amazed he was ruled out on it as well. IMO if ALA was involved at all then it was team Zodiac.
Remember the sand compaction test at LB indicated a heavy person.
How scientific was that test? I remember reading, maybe in Graysmith, that they just had a fat guy take a step and said, "yup. it looks the same." and the weight that they said it was was that guys weight. If that’s not true, then do you really think that they tested a variety of different weights and situations to determine that? I highly doubt that. Humidity, temperature, compactness of the sand, all these things should make a difference, right? I’ve never heard of such a test, let alone that this is some kind of standard police procedure.
Correction: I know that NASA did a test to debunk moon landing conspiracy theorists. That’s the only scientific test of stepping on dirt I’ve ever seen.
I know a skinny guy who went to LB and stood on the spot and said that his footprint looked the same. Seems just as legit to me.
Now for Alllen’s crew cut wig… if you got a bald guy that everything matches up, but the one little wrinkle is an ID of a long haired dude, sure. But otherwise, who cares about Allen’s haircut? What’s the value of this speculation? Did Allen wear a toupee in his everyday life? Would it help you if he did?
ALA was already heavily balding in 1961.
