Pants tucked inside boots very militaristic like….best as I can tell from drawing and yea it looks like rope to me..hood to me still looks like a hood a sandblaster or welder would wear…not totally convinced Z was a master seamstress but maybe if the fabric weight was known I could correct that belief

Thanks for posting that Seagull. Definitely less menacing than Graysmith’s version. I see too the gloves were omitted.

Reminiscent of Cousin Itt.

Or Dilbert. I’m sure that’s been mentioned before.

Pants tucked inside boots very militaristic like….best as I can tell from drawing and yea it looks like rope to me..hood to me still looks like a hood a sandblaster or welder would wear…not totally convinced Z was a master seamstress but maybe if the fabric weight was known I could correct that belief

If the cross-circle symbol was stitched on and was a perfect circle like BH describes, then it would require some intermediate level skill to do this. It involves carbon paper, a metal roller, and some experience with a sewing machine to create. Unless someone else did it for him, that would mean Z had above average sewing skills.

I wished I could remember if it was sewn on, or if it was painted on, like I did when I made a copy to show everyone.Whatever it was. I knew it would not be easy to remove, because I did want to remove it so I could use all of that cotton material to make something out of it. Not knowing what I had!

As far as who the artist was that didn’t show a signature, it may have been done by the Napa Register artist Bob McKenzie? He did the Lake B composite using a ID kit and the help of the three teens who saw a strange man watching them. I have to say that the round faced man with the dark hair they described ,did look like what my Honcho suspect looked like in 1968. Sonoma County had their own very good artist named Don Striepeke, who didn’t sign the composite drawing that he did.

Graysmith did the best drawing of Zodiac with the hood than the others who didn’t make the top flat like it really was. ( Like a Paper sack!)

The costume my poi scared me with was much like you describe.
He told me he’d drawn the circle with white out. The cross did not extend beyond the circumference and like you, I thought at first it was a target. He said he’d used a drinking glass and/or a protractor to draw it and then painted in the lines with white out.

The top of the hood was flat like a grocery bag. It did make him look taller as the rectangles that had been cut for the eyes were placed lower on the bag than they would have been had the top just rested on top of his head (that was rather large). I’m pretty sure they were rectangles but could have been circles. The sunglasses were the aviator type and I seem to remember curly hair could be seen from the right side. When he removed it, I think he was wearing an "Afro" type wig after thinking about this.

I can’t be sure what it was made of but do remember the strong smell which he said was either ink or liquid shoe polish he’d used so think the hood was made using a paper grocery store bag rather than felt (which the bib may have been made from).

He also had lengths of rope which could have been from a clothesline hidden in the back that I’d thought was his undershirt hanging out. He had a knife he showed me that had been broken at what he explained was "the hilt" and the handle was taped to the blade with what may have been white surgical tape. All this had been rolled up and put in his shoeshine kit which he had out in his garage!

When he walked, it was with a loping, unnatural gait. All because at the end when I was trying to get him to explain what this was all about, he took off his boots and showed me how he’d inserted wadded up paper and had (I think) lifts in them that he said he’d ordered through the mail. So this plus the hood made him appear taller than his usual 5’10" or 5’11.

FYI I post at Tom’s site under "down below" since "capricorn" was already in use (probably by me) when I registered there.

I also remember trying to find out what had inspired what he said was a Halloween costume he was planning to wear to a party that he was going to find around the beach area where he lived (Corona del Mar, CA). He told me he’d gotten the idea for the hood (at least) from the helmets used in the steel mills. His dad was an executive metallurgist with one of the big ones at that time in Chicago and my boyfriend had worked there part-time in his student days.

The costume my poi scared me with was much like you describe.
He told me he’d drawn the circle with white out.

Except the notes on this sketch say "3"x3" symbol sewn on".

Why on earth isn’t Bryan Hartnell contacted by the detectives in charge of this now and re-interviewed??? He seems to be one of the very few surviving witnesses and could be very helpful now, at least in terms of eliminating suspects. There are tape recordings available of poi’s voices that could spark some memories.

Why on earth isn’t Bryan Hartnell contacted by the detectives in charge of this now and re-interviewed??? He seems to be one of the very few surviving witnesses and could be very helpful now, at least in terms of eliminating suspects. There are tape recordings available of poi’s voices that could spark some memories.

I have tried to reach out to him directly and have gotten nowhere. I’m sure he values his privacy and I respect that.

Still, I have a lot of questions to ask him about the costume and the knife.

It would be great if Morf or Tom could set up an online Q&A with him where people could submit questions for him to answer or something like that.

Pants tucked inside boots very militaristic like….best as I can tell from drawing and yea it looks like rope to me..hood to me still looks like a hood a sandblaster or welder would wear…not totally convinced Z was a master seamstress but maybe if the fabric weight was known I could correct that belief

If the cross-circle symbol was stitched on and was a perfect circle like BH describes, then it would require some intermediate level skill to do this. It involves carbon paper, a metal roller, and some experience with a sewing machine to create. Unless someone else did it for him, that would mean Z had above average sewing skills.

Zodiac didn’t cut Paul Stine’s shirt, he ripped it like someone used to working with fabrics.

Pants tucked inside boots very militaristic like….best as I can tell from drawing and yea it looks like rope to me..hood to me still looks like a hood a sandblaster or welder would wear…not totally convinced Z was a master seamstress but maybe if the fabric weight was known I could correct that belief

If the cross-circle symbol was stitched on and was a perfect circle like BH describes, then it would require some intermediate level skill to do this. It involves carbon paper, a metal roller, and some experience with a sewing machine to create. Unless someone else did it for him, that would mean Z had above average sewing skills.

Zodiac didn’t cut Paul Stine’s shirt, he ripped it like someone used to working with fabrics.

And, like someone who did not carry a knife.

From top, clockwise:

"papersack"
"dark hair showing"
"flat w/ stitching"
"clip on sunglasses"
"almost to waist"
"pleated slacks"
"3×3 Symbol sewn on"
black ??? shirt showing"
"foot long knife"
BIG STOMACH"
"could be ropes"
"3(2 1/2)"
"ropes by side on out of jacket"
1" x 12" wood sheath"
"black gloves"
"open ???"
"Blue-steel semi-automatic pistol"
"hand outstretched"

"tucked"

Pants tucked inside boots very militaristic like….best as I can tell from drawing and yea it looks like rope to me..hood to me still looks like a hood a sandblaster or welder would wear…not totally convinced Z was a master seamstress but maybe if the fabric weight was known I could correct that belief

If the cross-circle symbol was stitched on and was a perfect circle like BH describes, then it would require some intermediate level skill to do this. It involves carbon paper, a metal roller, and some experience with a sewing machine to create. Unless someone else did it for him, that would mean Z had above average sewing skills.

Zodiac didn’t cut Paul Stine’s shirt, he ripped it like someone used to working with fabrics.

Hello. Not doubting you. I’m not as up to date on all the back information as some of you are.

Is there a link to where the police shared this information? I’m curious if this is from an official report or if it is from "internet" detectives?

Thank you in advance.

Bryan Hartnell was under extreme duress so his description of the costume may not be 100 per cent accurate. He may have assumed the symbol was sewn. Did he ask the perpetrator about it?

It seems very suspicious to me that he is not contacted and re-interviewed.

Maybe the new detective in charge now that Poyser retired will be able to do this. Hopefully he is in good health and not planning to retire soon.

Is this the news that someone was told to "stay tuned" for?

yes those leather knife sheaths were very common
they could have run DNA tests on this one to be more cerrain