Possible reasons for hair discrepancy:

1) Z got hair cut between LB and PH killings
2) Z wore a wig under the mask at LB
3) Z wore a bald wig, or something similar at PH
4) Some witnesses were mistaken
5) There was more than one killer
6) Hartnell did not mean to imply that Z had long hair, but accidentally expressed himself in a misleading manner

Please feel free to add reasons if I have left anything out.

Please note that I wrote these more or less in the order that I considered most probable, so that the first alternatives seem to me more likely than the last. In some cases, it was hard to decide–it was a rough ordering. Maybe the bald wig idea is just too farfetched, but I am guessing that a theatrical makeup artist might say otherwise.

Anyway, it is worth noting that the first three of these reasons are consonant with Z’s statement "I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different" and the others are not inconsistent with it. This suggests to me that Z’s statement was about a disguise may have been true, at least in some degree.

A theory that could tie the haircutting, or wig–or whatever–explanation in with the Zodiac mask would be very interesting to me.

Thanks,

G

Good analysis, G. We’ve discussed the possibility of Z wearing a longer wig under his Berryessa costume before. It’s certainly possible but would seemingly have been unnecessary under a costume like this:

http://zodiackiller.com/SFPDNapa.html

Hartnell was able to describe the color and texture of the hair he saw face to face with Z and even referred to it as"greasy" somewhere along the line. He at least did not have any inkling that he was seeing a wig under the costume.

The bald wig? It apparently existed and sold in the Haight area for Hippies to appear presentable for job interviews or meeting a boyfriend/girlfriend’s family, I suppose. I’d question this would have succeeded in turning longer hair into the Stine scene appearance and would suggest that the simpler explanation would be that Z simply got a haircut between these murders- maybe as a disguise or maybe just because he needed one.

I would vote for option #1 and ponder how he might have looked substantially different two weeks before the Stine composite sketch.

Zodiac sported short hair in July of ’69, if you go by Mike’s description. It could definitely have grown out by September, thus accounting for the hair Bryan saw through the hood’s eyeholes. He then shaves it down to a crew cut in time for Presidio Heights.

My guess is that he grew a mustache or beard to disguise himself after Paul’s murder.

Until I actually see a ‘crew-cut wig’, I can’t really buy its existence.

I don’t buy a wig either.

Forgive me, as a guy that is bald, and not familiar with old hair styles,but Mageau described a pompadeur(spelling?). That to me implies hair of some sort, I assume, combed back and styled somehow. Two questions, would a pompadeur appear to be shorter hair if it was combed neatly, and could it one sweaty, and messy,and uncombed, appear to be longer hair? Also, is the guy seen by the girls at Berryessa wearing a pompadeur styled hair cut?

I don’t buy a wig either.

Forgive me, as a guy that is bald, and not familiar with old hair styles,but Mageau described a pompadeur(spelling?). That to me implies hair of some sort, I assume, combed back and styled somehow. Two questions, would a pompadeur appear to be shorter hair if it was combed neatly, and could it one sweaty, and messy,and uncombed, appear to be longer hair? Also, is the guy seen by the girls at Berryessa wearing a pompadeur styled hair cut?

A pompadour would be a likely tool for any man-of-a-thousand-faces who needed to alternate between a longer counter-culture look and a more traditional look that will work with the square crowd.

You could certainly hide a fair anount of long hair with a pompadour. It would also account for the greasy look that Hartnell reported as the pompadour typically involved using a grease or something called pomade.

G

I’m glad I inspired a good post and discussion. I have heard many mention the idea of Zodiac wearing a wig under the hood also, but for me that doesn’t make sense because he’s wearing a hood over his head. Mageau also stated in 2007: "When he (Zodiac) came up and shot me I did have an idea of what he looked like. He looked like a tall white guy, about 6 ft tall, jet black hair – curly. He looked like your average person, he wasn’t ugly, he wasn’t handsome, just your average non-descript guy"

Now I know Mike didn’t seem in the best of states in that interview and claims that Dee called the Guy Richard which he’d never said before, but his description of a man with jet black curly hair is fairly consistent with Bryans daylight sighting of his attackers hair being Dark Brown. The style of the Presidio Heights attacker’s hair is described as a crew cut, and if we assume the white male Don Fouke saw was the Zodiac, then Fouke described him as having a widows peak, which means a receding hair line was noticeable. The Presido Heights attackers hair isn’t only described as different in it’s style (crew cut) but also different in colour. Here Zodiac appears to have short blonde hair with red tint, although this could have been an effect by the street lights as Fouke acknowledges. But at Lake B, he has enough brown hair that is long enough for the fringe to freely flow down over his forehead & glasses he’s wearing with the hood. Then jus two weeks later, not only is the hair a different colour, but it’s now a crew cut style with receding hair line. I can understand having your hair cut and dyed to alter your appearance, but the part I have difficulty with is how can he have a widows peak with receding hair line on Oct 11, and two week prior to that he has full fringe hanging down over his forehead? Doesn’t make sense for him to wear a wig under the hood for me, that would be like an armed robber robbing a bank wearing a balaclava and wig underneath, that serves no real purpose. You’d either have one or the other surely?

I mean the most obvious way for us to show what it is we are discussing is the composite’s constructed of the Lake B suspect seen hanging around the area, and the composite of the Zodiac two weeks later. Whilst there is no hard evidence to show the Lake B composite was actually Zodiac, I believe that it was him because he’s watching the 3 girls sunbathing in the same area from the same vantage point at the top of the hill that Cecelia will first spot the Zodiac watching her and Bryan before he descends the slope and ducks behind the tree. Here are the two for comparison:

As we see, the Lake Berryessa suspect has full head of hair that even seems to have a fringe swept back. Two Weeks later, he has a short crew cut with clear receding hair line. (The P.H sketch that is in colour probably needs a slightly lighter tone of hair colour, but you get the idea.

…
The style of the Presidio Heights attacker’s hair is described as a crew cut, and if we assume the white male Don Fouke saw was the Zodiac, then Fouke described him as having a widows peak, which means a receding hair line was noticeable. The Presido Heights attackers hair isn’t only described as different in it’s style (crew cut) but also different in colour. Here Zodiac appears to have short blonde hair with red tint, although this could have been an effect by the street lights as Fouke acknowledges. But at Lake B, he has enough brown hair that is long enough for the fringe to freely flow down over his forehead & glasses he’s wearing with the hood. Then jus two weeks later, not only is the hair a different colour, but it’s now a crew cut style with receding hair line. I can understand having your hair cut and dyed to alter your appearance, but the part I have difficulty with is how can he have a widows peak with receding hair line on Oct 11…

I googled ‘widow’s peak’ and it doesn’t seem to mean a receding hairline so much as a v-shaped point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wido w’s_peak

Curiously, there is some discussion of widow’s peaks as a genetic trait and as being associated with some syndromes I had never heard of, although it seems there is some misinformation around the genetics topic:

http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mythwidowspeak.html

I thought it interesting that the wikipedia article mentions some characters from popular fiction with a widow’s peak: they mention Dracula, Eddie Munster and the Joker as examples. Ronald Reagan was mentioned as a real life people. He certainly did not have a receding hairline.

Tks,

G

Dracula, Eddie Munster, the Joker and Ronald Reagan. That’s some pretty scary company if Z did indeed have a widow’s peak. I think all of the eyewitness descriptions needed to be taken with a grain of salt. My whole point is that Hartnell’s consistent description of Z with possible longer hair needs to be factored in and considered equally. I forgot to mention that Cecelia Shepard, in her interview with Dave Collins in his Fincher DVD interview, allegedly supports Hartnell’s description:

http://zodiackiller.21.forumer.com/view … ins#116289 (thanks to the foreigner for the citation and link…)

I asked her if she saw him clearly before he put the hood on?
She said "yes I did"
I said "What did he look like?"
And she said "well he had…
I said "What color was his hair?"
She said well "it was brown"
And what race was he?
"He was white"
And I said "what about his eyes, could you see, could you see the color of his eyes?"
And she said "No he had dark glasses on…underneath the hood"
But she said his hair wo…ehh…hung down across his forehead and was showing through the
eyeholes.

Zodiac certainly would have been able to grow his hair longer between July 4 and September 27 but why? And why wear a disguise at the only scene in which he DIDN’T resemble his everyday self? For giggles, I looked on-line at men’s short hair wigs and none of them remotely resemble Z’s appearance in the Stine composite sketches. I know they were available at the time (Tom posted an ad from Good Times for "Hippie disguise wigs" but it’s hard to imagine that convincingly concealing longer hair while he was hailing a cab on a busy Saturday night in downtown San Francisco.

…
The style of the Presidio Heights attacker’s hair is described as a crew cut, and if we assume the white male Don Fouke saw was the Zodiac, then Fouke described him as having a widows peak, which means a receding hair line was noticeable. The Presido Heights attackers hair isn’t only described as different in it’s style (crew cut) but also different in colour. Here Zodiac appears to have short blonde hair with red tint, although this could have been an effect by the street lights as Fouke acknowledges. But at Lake B, he has enough brown hair that is long enough for the fringe to freely flow down over his forehead & glasses he’s wearing with the hood. Then jus two weeks later, not only is the hair a different colour, but it’s now a crew cut style with receding hair line. I can understand having your hair cut and dyed to alter your appearance, but the part I have difficulty with is how can he have a widows peak with receding hair line on Oct 11…

I googled ‘widow’s peak’ and it doesn’t seem to mean a receding hairline so much as a v-shaped point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wido w’s_peak

Curiously, there is some discussion of widow’s peaks as a genetic trait and as being associated with some syndromes I had never heard of, although it seems there is some misinformation around the genetics topic:

http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mythwidowspeak.html

I thought it interesting that the wikipedia article mentions some characters from popular fiction with a widow’s peak: they mention Dracula, Eddie Munster and the Joker as examples. Ronald Reagan was mentioned as a real life people. He certainly did not have a receding hairline.

Tks,

G

That’s what a widows peak is, a V shape hairline. That happens when the hair at the front sides of the head starts receding.

This discussion about Z’s hair is part of a larger discussion of Z’s use of disguises in general. I have been wondering if there would be a tie-in between the apparent changes in his hair length and his use of a very different kind of disguise: the mask at Lake Barryessa. With that in mind, I made the following (not so little) list, hoping to get a sense whether there might be motives that could suggest a tie-in between the apparent changes in Z’s hair length and the use of a mask at LB.

For now I will present my list of possible motives for wearing a mask at LB, then I will leave it to steep for awhile as I mull over possible conclusions. One main conclusion is clear–when it comes to guessing Z’s motive for wearing the mask, there are tons of possible reasons. Here we go:

Possible reasons (and other factors) for decision to use mask at LB:

1) Desire to emulate fictional characters (villains, etc) – as fantasy
2) Desire to emulate fictional characters (villains, etc) – as bizarre clue
3) Desire to emulate fictional characters (villains, etc) – as murder art
4) Desire to strike fear into victims
5) Sense of humor
6) To hide features: Z was somebody victims would recognize
7) To hide features: to generally prevent being able to describe it
8) To hide features: as his face had very unusual features
9) To hide features: face might not be sufficiently intimidating (could lose control)
10) To hide features: he was not very manly, perhaps effeminate
11) To hide features: that he was partly blind
12) To hide features: injuries or signs of recent medical history
13) To hide features: e.g.: Z undergoing sex change (my speculation)
13) To hide nervousness or other signs of weakness
14) Z anticipated possibility at least one victim would survive
15) Z was not confident he could gain and maintain control
16) Z was not confident he could anticipate all factors
17) Z was worried about being spotted by other witnesses
18) Utility: the mask could be used as a carrying sack during getaway
19) Mask was top layer of multi-layer disguise (wig underneath)
20) Killer was a copycat killer (admirer/wannabe)
21) Killer was a copycat killer (wanted to throw blame on Z)
22) Killer was working with Z, but was more nervous, needed mask
23) Mask was part of some form of ritual
24) Mask with reticle emblem was article of satanic cult worship
25) Mask was going to be used later as an artifact to be found

The above items are in no particular order. They are not mutually exclusive, so more than one item may be true and even overlap.

In general, I felt that this was a reasonably comprehensive list, but not exhaustive–I could probably think of more reasons. Feel free to add to the list, or suggest improvements.

Thanks,

G

… Now I know Mike didn’t seem in the best of states in that interview and claims that Dee called the Guy Richard which he’d never said before, but his description of a man with jet black curly hair is fairly consistent with Bryans daylight sighting of his attackers hair being Dark Brown. The style of the Presidio Heights attacker’s hair is described as a crew cut, and if we assume the white male Don Fouke saw was the Zodiac, then Fouke described him as having a widows peak, which means a receding hair line was noticeable. The Presido Heights attackers hair isn’t only described as different in it’s style (crew cut) but also different in colour. Here Zodiac appears to have short blonde hair with red tint, although this could have been an effect by the street lights as Fouke acknowledges. But at Lake B, he has enough brown hair that is long enough for the fringe to freely flow down over his forehead & glasses he’s wearing with the hood. Then jus two weeks later, not only is the hair a different colour, but it’s now a crew cut style with receding hair line. I can understand having your hair cut and dyed to alter your appearance, but the part I have difficulty with is how can he have a widows peak with receding hair line on Oct 11, and two week prior to that he has full fringe hanging down over his forehead?

I don’t think Mike’s statement in that Fincher DVD is worth very much.

Here is what Mike Mageau stated in 1969. THIS basically matches Foukes statement and the composite. It’s LB that truly throws us for a loop–not even close to a mention of blond hair.

Here is what Mike Mageau stated in 1969. THIS basically matches Foukes statement and the composite. It’s LB that truly throws us for a loop–not even close to a mention of blond hair.

T., the composite is of a "beefy" guy? The description from the kids v’s Fouke’s also throws us for a tiny loop, no? Hence the re-draw?
Hmmm.
I have very much enjoyed the "he was partly blind" and "bald wig" speculations in this thread by the way – they certainly would never have occurred to me.
(BTW what happened to that thread which listed and discussed all the variations in the descriptions?)

…
(BTW what happened to that thread which listed and discussed all the variations in the descriptions?)

Yes. Do tell.

That would be an interesting and useful list.

G