When Zodiac tied up Shepard and Hartnell, his ruse was that he was an escaped convict who needed to steal their car as his own was "too hot".
At first I thought this was something to do with engine overheating, but of course "too hot" is criminal slang as in "too hot to handle". Zodiac meant his own car was "too hot" because he’d recently stolen it and the police would be on the lookout for it.
This makes me wonder where Zodiac picked up this term as it could be useful for identifying POIs. For example, Lawrence Kane had convictions for burglary.
It is possible Zodiac had a criminal career in burglary or car theft. Or he could have just learned it from comics, movies etc. which we know he heavily derived his persona from. Where from pop culture could Zodiac have picked up this term?
Could have picked it up from watching too many Edward G Robinson films. Or reading too many The Clock comics. etc.
Could have picked it up from watching too many Edward G Robinson films. Or reading too many The Clock comics. etc.
Exactly, it might be trivial but it could further verify this guy being a nerd who was acting out his supervillian fantasies.
Describing something stolen as being "hot" was very common, still is.
Describing something stolen as being "hot" was very common, still is.
I am a British English speaker so "too hot" sounds like a hokey 1950s gangster saying to me.
It’s not much to go on. I mean I think I does sound a little bit gangster, but not in a way that’s uncommon. The whole scenario is reminiscent of a some kind of criminal fantasy and this fits in nicely with that image.
How sure are we that he used those exact words, it could have been Hartnell paraphrasing.
It seems like unnecessarily elaborate scenario. I’d even say it’s kind of oblique. Whether he made it up beforehand, or on the spur of the moment. It does sound specific enough to be a reference to something, that is it’s either true, or he’s drawing on something for at least some inspiration of details, or he wants some kind of connection to be made to a recent event. Either way it just seems oblique.
Describing something stolen as being "hot" was very common, still is.
I agree, it was a term that was used often. I know I heard it when Don Porter who was from Vallejo, would tell me about the cars that his buddies were stealing and changing so they wouldn’t be seen as hot cars.
Describing something stolen as being "hot" was very common, still is.
I agree, it was a term that was used often. I know I heard it when Don Porter who was from Vallejo, would tell me about the cars that his buddies were stealing and changing so they wouldn’t be seen as hot cars.
Still makes me wonder if Zodiac was a car thief in the area or in his younger days. Serial killers often start with petty crimes.
I believe that as well. I found one thief who robbed a store in the early 60’s in Richmond Ca.where I was living at that time. It showed a great composite drawing of the suspect , that is a prefect match to the Lake Berryessa composite, only a much better drawing.
He looked so much like the man I got away from in Vallejo 1968 that I had to have a copy of that newspaper. I also believe that Zodiac broke into homes and took things, my suspect has done that at my home a few times and he has actually put things in my home for me to find, just to let me know he was in my home. That was when I bought dead bolt locks for all my doors! Now I have security cameras and lights all around my home. You would think it is Fort Knox!
