I’ve been wondering about this one for years now. I live quite far from the area though, and I’m hoping that the answer might be blindingly obvious to a Vallejo native. When Z told Nancy Slover that the police should "go one mile east on Columbus Parkway" what did he mean? Neither the PD nor the SO is anywhere near there. As far as I can determine, there’s nothing of interest a mile west of the park at all.
The fire department was by Ascot Parkway. From here it is one mile roughly eastwards to Blue Rock Springs. Kaiser Hospital was 4.5 miles west of BRS. VPD was on Armador Street 4 miles west of BRS, along Tennessee Street. The only relevant thing is the aforementioned. Either his directional sense was flawed or he was toying with police.
Or perhaps he wasn’t as familiar with Vallejo as is commonly assumed, I suppose.
Wasn’t it along Georgia?
“…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
The intersection of Tennessee street and Columbus parkway is 1.5 miles from the scene. Could he be referring to that?
Soze
What he says doesn’t make much sense.
One mile from where? Clearly not the police station, which is the only point of reference which would make sense – given that he calls, well, the police.
Hard to interpret, though. Perhaps what he said made sense to him, in a certain state of mind. Perhaps he was just a poor judge of distances. The most striking part of it, though, is that he doesn’t, simply, name the actual location. He could have done that, or at least given directions in a much more effective manner.
It might be an indication that he wasn’t a local man. But then again, why does a non-local man strike TWICE in the same area? Perhaps he was toying with them – which is what he says, himself, later: I was having some fun with the Vallejo cops, he says, when the infamous shabbily dressed “negro” appeared on the scene.
But what sort of “fun” this would amount to, is unclear. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason why he would want to misdirect them – he was safely away from the scene when he called, and there’s no way the victims wouldn’t have been discovered soon enough. Not to mention that Z, on the whole, was quite eager to have his victims discovered.
Looking at it now, I think he just meant once you hit Columbus Parkway, it’s about 1 mile. NOT from the police station itself.
“…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
Looking at it now, I think he just meant once you hit Columbus Parkway, it’s about 1 mile. NOT from the police station itself.
That makes perfect sense, actually.
If the scene is actually about a mile from the point where you hit CP, that is – and I suppose that’s the case, T?
The distance from the intersection of Columbus Parkway and Lake Herman Road to Blue Rock Springs Park is 0.8 miles. That’s very close to one mile. I’m not exactly sure of where in Blue Rock Springs Park the shooting occurred but if it was a little further than what is shown as the entrance now, it would be even closer to a mile. That darned mile indicator is hiding the parking lot.
Could this mean that Zodiac was alluding to his LHR attack by saying to "go east one mile on Columbus Parkway"?
From Columbus Parkway/Lake Herman Road it would be approximately 1 mile north.
The distance from the intersection of Columbus Parkway and Lake Herman Road to Blue Rock Springs Park is 0.8 miles. That’s very close to one mile. I’m not exactly sure of where in Blue Rock Springs Park the shooting occurred but if it was a little further than what is shown as the entrance now, it would be even closer to a mile. That darned mile indicator is hiding the parking lot.
Could this mean that Zodiac was alluding to his LHR attack by saying to "go east one mile on Columbus Parkway"?
I like that a whole heck of a lot.
Soze
How can we know for sure Nancy Slover heard the call correctly or even remembered it correctly, he spoke in a monotone drawl, possibly disguising his voice.
"I wish to report a double murder. If you will go four miles east onto Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year…. Good-bye"
@38.1069281,-122.2062257,5968m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0?hl=en”> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/38.10 … !3e0?hl=en
OR
"I wish to report a double murder. If you will go east,, one mile on Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year…. Good-bye"
OR
"I wish to report a double murder. If you will go east, one mile along Columbus Parkway to a public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They have been shot by a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year…. Good-bye"
Hm…East and West not only sound quite similar but could have been mixed in Nancy’s or Z’s memory, too. Just an assumption but in that case we end up directly at Vallejo Junior College / Vallejo High:
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
Solano College, as it was named in 1969, was not in that location at that time. According to the 1968-69 Vallejo Polk’s Directory it was located at 100 Whitney Avenue, further to the northwest than its current location.
