I read somewhere about the kids who said they recognized the the man exiting the cab at Cherry st. What was the story
in regards to this information? Where did that lead end up?

From the FBI files.

Nothing more is known about this, however. To me it looks as though the kid in question saw the perpetrator and recognized him as a neighbor – or a local man, at least. This jibes – sort of – with another (unsubstantiated) story about a man being brought to the crime scene in a police car to be looked at by a witness (who may or may not have been this same 8 year old kid).

It’s all a bit mysterious. A former member of this board sent in a FOIA request pertaining to this, hoping to get an un-redacted version of the document in question – but nothing has come of this so far, to my knowledge.

It seems almost to good to be true: Someone actually got a close enough look at Z to positively identify him. It raises all sorts of questions and possibilities. It would certainly help to know precisely who it was the kid identified, so hopefully something will eventually come out of the FOIA request mentioned.

This 8 year old child would not have been one of the three teens that observed the Stine scene from across the street as they were all older than 8.

This 8 year old child would not have been one of the three teens that observed the Stine scene from across the street as they were all older than 8.

Indeed – and an important distinction to make.

Unless the stated age is some way off (unlikely), the witness in question is clearly not one of the kids/teens from across the street.

Besides (one might add) the latter have been interviewed on several occasions about that night – and as far as I know they have never mentioned anything about this identification business. So, no – it has to be a different (and younger) kid.

It appears to be something that should be looked at. The story came from somewhere. It’s been kept on the QT for a reason?
An interesting path to follow, seeing that the Zodiac reportedly stopped after that crime.

It appears to be something that should be looked at. The story came from somewhere. It’s been kept on the QT for a reason?
An interesting path to follow, seeing that the Zodiac reportedly stopped after that crime.

Makes me wonder if Z saw the kid too and stopped after this….possibly a kid related to someone he knew or even in his own family? Maybe he could not do anything to this kid because of this and knew if he kept up his work the kid would spill the beans. Could be that his threat to kill kids on a bus was directly related to him seeing this 8 year old as well…..he threatens to kill kids as a veiled threat to this kid specifically. He then goes on to say he was kidding in another letter later. Makes me think it is quite possible that this kid DID see Z and Z saw this kid and they knew each other in some fashion.

Either way…..I would love to know who the kid named.

There has been discussion about who this child could have been in the past. Sandy Betts had a very good suggestion about who he might have been. As far as I know, though, no follow-up has been done to try to determine if Sandy is correct.

Read Sandy’s first post on this page, it’s the 4th one from the top.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … 4&start=60

I followed with a post stating that the residents that Sandy mention had a son who would be about the right age depending on when the 8 year old was questioned. He was 7 years old when the Stine murder happened but if he wasn’t questioned until after the first of the year, 1970, he would have been 8 years old. We have no idea when this 8 year old was questioned because there is no date on the FBI page.

For background about who these people were and how they figured into the Zodiac case please read a post that was transferred over from the old forum. Look for a post made by Tracers that is about a third of the way down the page. It is a long post that is in italics and it is quoting posts made by Ed Neil at Tom’s old forum.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … f=30&t=402

There has been discussion about who this child could have been in the past. Sandy Betts had a very good suggestion about who he might have been. As far as I know, though, no follow-up has been done to try to determine if Sandy is correct.

Read Sandy’s first post on this page, it’s the 4th one from the top.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … 4&start=60

I followed with a post stating that the residents that Sandy mention had a son who would be about the right age depending on when the 8 year old was questioned. He was 7 years old when the Stine murder happened but if he wasn’t questioned until after the first of the year, 1970, he would have been 8 years old. We have no idea when this 8 year old was questioned because there is no date on the FBI page.

For background about who these people were and how they figured into the Zodiac case please read a post that was transferred over from the old forum. Look for a post made by Tracers that is about a third of the way down the page. It is a long post that is in italics and it is quoting posts made by Ed Neil at Tom’s old forum.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … f=30&t=402

I read another post online somewhere that said it was a "she" that was the witness, though I have no idea how they came to that conclusion. Any chance anyone found any girls living in the area at that time? It is hard for me to believe an 8 year old was still up at 10PM at night and happened to be looking outside, or was outside and close enough to ID someone in the dark.

Wondering if this kid may have heard the shots and woke up and looked out a bedroom window….though that would mean it was almost directly across from the crime scene which some believe could have been a little farther up the road and the cab was coasted to its stop location.

I suppose the witness being a girl is possible. If someone wants to go through the SF Polk’s Directory for 1969 and determine which houses would have had a line of sight to the crime scene and then look each of those families up to see if there could have been an 8 year old child living in one of those houses I guess it could be done. I do not have the time to devote to that project now though.

I suppose there is also the possibility that the detectives found where Z may have been picked up and the 8 year old witness was at that location and saw Z get IN the car, not post murder.

Hard to tell what this actually amounts to – if anything at all.

I remember reading JDean’s comments a while ago – see the link Seagull posted – and they’re well worth checking out. One of the things he mentions is the fact that MANY leads, including rather obvious dead ends, were followed up on in the aftermath of the Stine murder. It’s very possible, I guess, that the business we’re talking about here was, simply, a dead end: The kid could have been entirely mistaken about what he/she saw or thought he/she was seeing.

It’s very tantalizing at first glance, this thing – but taking a step back and thinking about it, well, it’s surely inconceivable that the investigators didn’t follow this up properly: They must have talked to the kid and cleared up whatever it was, meaning that whoever was identified was checked out of the case with good reason.

Still, it would be nice to know who it was – for the sake of leaving no stone unturned, etc.

On a slightly different note, it’s very interesting that JDean seems to confirm that the oldest of the teens actually followed Z and saw him walk all the way up to Jackson St.

If authorities had a name and ran it through the FBI, etc, I think this is the most pertinent information the kid could provide. The trick here is to get the name of the suspect above all else. The least we know they had a name if the information was requested by local LE. Finding the witness would be nice too. Nailing down who they both were would be
quite an accomplishment.

There has been discussion about who this child could have been in the past. Sandy Betts had a very good suggestion about who he might have been. As far as I know, though, no follow-up has been done to try to determine if Sandy is correct.

Read Sandy’s first post on this page, it’s the 4th one from the top.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … 4&start=60

I followed with a post stating that the residents that Sandy mention had a son who would be about the right age depending on when the 8 year old was questioned. He was 7 years old when the Stine murder happened but if he wasn’t questioned until after the first of the year, 1970, he would have been 8 years old. We have no idea when this 8 year old was questioned because there is no date on the FBI page.

For background about who these people were and how they figured into the Zodiac case please read a post that was transferred over from the old forum. Look for a post made by Tracers that is about a third of the way down the page. It is a long post that is in italics and it is quoting posts made by Ed Neil at Tom’s old forum.

http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … f=30&t=402

I looked for the kid Sandy mentioned a while back and found him…still in S.F. Just never contacted him. I guess I could. Some reply, some don’t. It’s worth a shot I suppose. He is in law enforcement apparently.

Welsh Chappie I think it was had some info about this or posted more info I seem to remember, before he got banned

Welsh Chappie I think it was had some info about this or posted more info I seem to remember, before he got banned

He sent in a FOIA request pertaining to the redacted page in the FBI files. I don’t think he possesses any further information about the incident beyond what has been mentioned here already – and the last time I communicated with him he had not heard from the authorities regarding the request.