Not the first time somebody has suspected the police of being involved in the Z crime.

Cops sometimes are not the best typists, or spellers. I don’t read much into it. In fact, I am of the opinion z misspelled words on purpose-in some letters, he spelled a word wrong,and then further down in the letter, spelled it correctly, which would seem to indicate he forgot to spell the word wrong the 2nd time

Meh. The spelling mistakes are definitely consistent with Zodiac’s but that’s not nearly enough to implicate someone as a suspect, IMHO. If anything, I think it speaks to Zodiac’s spelling errors not being all that uncommon. I honestly think people connected to famous cases too often wind up having someone suspect them as potential perpetrators. I’ve already heard of Toschi, Graysmith, the Hardens etc. being suggested as POIs in this case. It’s not impossible but I think it’s usually more the stuff of fiction novels.

I must admit, there are other things that make Hoffman a bit interesting. I found it odd he was pretty much telling his superior to leave the scene of the crime to go where two other officers already had a man (Andy N.) and his girlfriends pulled over….leaving Hoffman there by himself.

Hoffman tells others Darlene was very much dead, when in fact she was not.

He was in an unmarked police car. Interesting considering Mike & Darlene thought their shooter was a cop–using cop techniques.

He picked up and removed casings and outlined Mike’s alive body.

–NOT accusing Hoffman of being Zodiac, but there are some interesting tidbits when it comes to him.

If you compare the Chronicle article about BRS of July 6, 1969, to Hoffman’s report (the only report which was typed before July 8) it seems the reporter (no byline) had a copy of Hoffman’s report as he wrote his story. Zodiacs first two letters duplicate a laundry list of misspelled words, the use of "thus," that suggest he ALSO not only had a copy of Hoffman’s report, but oddly enough, he corrects the July 6 article by pointing out that the "window was rolled own all ready," instead of the reporters claim that police were told the "door was torn open." Interestingly, that July 6 article states seven shell casings were found. Hoffman’s report states he found seven shell casings. But Lynch found two more, but Zodiac doesn’t point out that "seven shell caseings" is wrong. He only points out that the article was wrong about the door/window.

Hoffman’s report also mentions Meyring and Lindemann stopped Andy N. Jr leaving the scene slowly and quietly. BOTH Mike Mageau AND George Bryant told police the shooter left fast and furious. So we know he did. But Zodiac claims to be the guy in Hoffman’s report who left slowly and quietly (15 to 20 minutes after the shooting actually took place at 11:55.)

No one has seen a newspaper article that mentions Andy Jr. The killer was long gone, so how could HE know about him? But Zodiac did. Just like he knew about the blonde guy Fouke and Zelms saw walking toward the park. He wasn’t mentioned in the papers either, so how could Stine’s killer know about him? He was young, 150 or so pounds, with brown hair. Fouke’s suspect was 40s, 200 plus, with blonde hair possibly mixed with gray. He can’t be the killer, and he wasn’t mentioned in the papers, but Zodiac claimed to BE him.

That report of Hoffman’s says he was in that lot about 11:55, the time of the shooting, but didn’t see Darlene’s car there. Villareal told VPD that HE went by there at 11:55, but didn’t see Darlene’s car there. Does that make Hoffman a suspect? Or did Zodiac just have a copy of Hoffman’s report? A reporter from the Chronicle did, and Zodiac scolded him for lying about it.

Rusts report of his interview of Mike (not the transcript of the interview, Rusts report of it) showed up almost verbatim in the Times Herald the next day. Except for one detail, which Zodiac helpfully provided in one of his letters. Again, a reporter has a copy of a VPD report, and again, Zodiac "corrects" him on it. (The part about Mike ending up in the back seat.)

Weird. But not the weirdest thing. The papers reported several times that Mike had been shot in the thigh (true). Zodiac insisted twice that Mike "was also shot in the knee; that’s how I shot him in the knee" (false). But Hoffman’s report mentions that it looked like Mike had been shot in the LOWER left leg. Below the thigh. Which Zodiac claims twice, erroneously, actually happened.

Zodiac wasn’t telling Dear Editor things Dear Editor didn’t know. He was telling Dear Editor things Zodiac could prove Dear Editor DID know, but was stating wrong in his newspapers.

Weird, indeed.

Ricardo had an interesting spin on many of Zodiac’s odd spellings:

http://mk-zodiac.com/game.html

Thank you Mr. Robinson!

RE: Spelling errors, we had discussed that many of those same spelling errors used by Z in some of his letters, were the same misspelled words, with the same exact spelling errors, used by Author James Joyce in his book.

Morf:

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah, but we’ve never seen a signed police report by James Joyce that he was in the parking lot of BRS at 11:55 pm on July 4, 1969. So, that doesn’t really help much. Also, the Chronicle article about BRS of July 6 (no byline) wasn’t plagiarized from Ulysses; it was plagiarized from that report. And Zodiac didn’t write a letter to the Chronicle correcting a Chronicle reporters mistakes about Finnegans Wake; he mailed them a letter correcting the reporters plagiarism of that report. So, that doesn’t really help us, at all. Not at all. And there’s nothing in Dubliners about an unpublicized but nevertheless very real "suspect" leaving BRS park slowly and quietly.

No, although I do admire your taste in literature, I’m afraid your tip just isn’t helpful in the least. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying, though. But if I may be allowed to impose, it WOULD be helpful if you, or anyone else, could explain how the shooter at BRS could have known about Andy Jr AND the blonde guy mentioned in the Fouke memo.

THAT would be extremely helpful.

Thanks again!

Hoffman’s report also mentions Meyring and Lindemann stopped Andy N. Jr leaving the scene slowly and quietly.

Is there another Hoffman report mentioning Andy left the scene "slowly and quietly" that I am forgetting about?

http://www.zodiackiller.com/DFR5.html

Hoffman’s report also mentions Meyring and Lindemann stopped Andy N. Jr leaving the scene slowly and quietly.

Is there another Hoffman report mentioning Andy left the scene "slowly and quietly" that I am forgetting about?

http://www.zodiackiller.com/DFR5.html

Was about to ask the same thing. I suppose he’s referring to Meyring and Lindemann stopping Andy’s car (was it obvious or very likely that he would have come from the crime scene, by the way? Or would they have stopped any car under the circumstances?) – but there’s no mention of "slowly and quietly".

And the latter is the key point, I suppose, if Z, or rather the letter writer who invented him, was to have used a phrase from the report.

For my money it looks like Andy and his girl might have gone to the parking lot (for romantic purposes or whatever the case may be), then stumbled over a murder scene and then fled – not wanting to get mixed up in anything. Andy was a bit of a wild character, wasn’t he? Probably figured it was best to stay clear of the cops if it could be helped.