I realise this might be going over some old ground but I did run a search for the Dotta Ranch on these boards before my post and I couldn’t nail down an answer.

Looks like nobody did, actually – I browsed through the thread I vaguely recalled included that particular discussion, but nobody seems to have found any definite answer.

If you can’t get in touch with someone who lived round those parts and remembers, I guess the only way to find out for sure would be to contact the county – property registry office or something of the sort, whoever holds old property records.

Ok, thanks.

Owen a sharp man gives a very good description of DFs car but is vague on the mystery vehicle ,owen seems suspicious as hell.

Owen was time trialed he remembers the rambler make model not the mystery vehicle and makes key changes in his 2nd statement.

Alot of intrest was shown owen his story doesnt add up imo, alot of fast clocks on LHR that night and scared witnesses to imo.

Owen a sharp man gives a very good description of DFs car but is vague on the mystery vehicle ,owen seems suspicious as hell.

If Owen was Z he could’ve described the 2nd car perfectly to throw LE off the track. The fact his recollection of it is not precise is an indication of his truthfulness, I think. I mean, if he was Z, there was a golden opportunity to send the cops out looking for a Ford Mustang, or Corvette, or whatever.

Owen was driving in to work at night, probably had something on his mind (most intelligent people tend to be thinking about something as they are routinely driving to work, on a remote road), he happens to see a couple cars parked by the side of the road, but has zero reason to attach any significance to it.

Later, LE and all of us expect him to remember the details of these two cars, their distance from each other, and so on. Well, the Rambler was closer to the road and therefore the one his headlights lit up, so he can describe that pretty well. The car in back though… it’s understandable that would be much more vague in his mind. Maybe 4 feet away? No… further than that… Just not quite sure, since he wasn’t at all focused on it as he sped past.

I also think Owen is a lousy suspect, when you look at Z’s preparation with his other crimes, LB with the outfit, and possibly stalking earlier, Stine with (what I believe, anyway,) the strategic pre-placement of his getaway vehicle, and BRS, where he pulls in, leaves, comes back 10 minutes later.

For Owen to be Z, he would have to leave for work, spot the Rambler, spontaneously decide to murder 2 people, pull them out of their car, shoot them (Faraday especially, likely splattering blood on him from close range,) then drive into work. All this, decided within moments and executed within minutes, knowing co-workers and other people could be driving by at any moment. Then, of course, he’s at work for his shift, with clothes that likely have victims’ blood on them, murder weapon in his vehicle, knowing the police will have their investigation well underway before his shift ends. They will, of course, be looking at people who took that road to Humble Oil around that time, and given when he left for work, he will of course be someone they will want to talk with.

And then, after drawing all this attention to himself, some think he went on to commit the other murders too.

Try this. Recall a routine trip you made yesterday, to the store, gas station, friend’s house, whatever. Can you describe the random cars that were alongside the road? I sure couldn’t. And if I did notice a couple cars, my memory wouldn’t be infallible – I don’t have photographic memory.

To me, James Owen comes across as a pretty reasonable guy, who was going in to work same as he always did, and remembered seeing a Rambler near the road, and some other car behind it that he really didn’t get a good look at because there was no reason to bother to do so. His recollections were the best he could do. Just my opinion, obviously.

Owen does seem like a pretty reasonable guy, and a veteran of the Air Force. Somebody like that, a shift mgr at Humble Oil, should have an eye for detail or reporting, yet the next morning, while he’s giving a statement about what he saw, with 2 body outlines on the area right nearby, he neglects to mention that he heard a shot a 1/4 mile past the scene. Sorry, but if I am giving a statement about what I saw when I went by the scene of double shooting, I may not remember every detail about car, but I know I am certainly not going to leave out the fact I heard a shot. That’s what Owen did,which is what makes me, and other suspicious of him.

We know from the evidence, that Z forced the couple out of the car, and as Dave slid out, he was shot in the back of the head. These facts do not line up with what Owen claims he saw.He claims he saw 2 cars, and no bodies or people, yet, about 20-30 seconds later, he hears a shot. For this to have happened, Z would have had to have sprung out of his hiding spot, the kids would have had to have sprung out of theirs, he would have had to ordered them out of the car,and started shooting, all within 30 seconds. Doesn’t seem likely. The facts & evidence do not jibe with Owen’s statements. And nothing changes the fact that Owen is the only person confirmed to be at that spot in the 5-6 minute window between the hunters leaving and the Kids being okay, and Borges arriving and seeing their bodies. He should have been hammered about his statements. He wasn’t. He voluntarily gave his rifles to the cops for tests, but when they found out a handgun was used, he should have handed over his handguns. He didn’t. His writing has never been checked against Zodiac’s at least not in the reports.

Hey,don;t get me wrong. Owen didn’t look much like the sketch. He was pretty tall. Also, I can not place him in Riverside, and I am confident Zodiac was there. But for all the reasons above, Owen should have been treated maybe a little more like a Suspect as opposed to a witness, until he could be ruled out. That didn’t happen. Police work on the part of Solano County was not strong,they even allowed Owen to question a co worker who was a potential witness, and Owen relayed the info back to police. Seriously, when does a case witness question other possible case witnesses?

I can’t find the thread right now, and I’m on the phone so browsing through the reports is a bit of a pain:

Did Owen state that he heard a shot – as in ONE shot? Or gunfire – as in potentially multiple shots?

The killer fired multiple shots, as we know, and in rapid succession. Seems to me that if Owen heard something at all, he would have heard shots rather than a shot.

Is it possible that he heard something else? Something he mistook for gunfire? See, the thing is precisely what morf touches on above: He’s interviewed nine hours after the incident – and fails to mention that he heard something. Now, if he heard distinct gunfire, would he not have said so right away, this being an obviously important detail (as anyone would have realized)? Granted, this was an area in which people hunted (even late at night) and gunshots weren’t uncommon as such – but this is a man who is being interviewed specifically in connection with a double homicide. Again, if he heard something he identified as gunfire (there and then), it’s very odd that he didn’t mention this fact right away.

On the other hand, if he heard something more indistinct, he may have recalled this at a later time – only realizing after some days that the noise he registered at the time must have been gunfire. But what if he was – simply – mistaken?

What I’m proposing is the possibility that the killer may not have started firing a mere thirty seconds after Owen passed the scene. It may have been longer than that. * Which makes much more sense from the killer’s point of view. The attack is reckless enough no matter how you look at it – but jumping out of your car, starting to blast away, while the last passing driver is still within earshot, well: That’s incredibly reckless.

* The timeline allows for this. He could have started firing, say, two minutes after Owen passed. That’s possible, technically speaking, and the extra ninety seconds make a world of difference in this context.

"As he traveled a quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot". He does admit his radio is on

Soze

"As he traveled a quarter of a mile beyond, he thought he heard a shot". He does admit his radio is on

Soze

That’s correct, ‘A shot’. If Owen was telling the truth, this was likely a single warning shot fired into the roof???? Still, it really does not explain Owen not seeing any People in or around the cars when he went by, yet 30 seconds later, Dave is sliding out of his seat getting shot.

I have not studied the victim information so what i am about to say may not be correct. Its simply based off of what little i have read. Doesn’t make it true but I like to envision the following:

As Zodiac is approaching the turnout he sees headlights of another traveler on the road. Maybe the lights are up ahead. Maybe they are behind him. He’s already been by the turnout. He knows a couple is there or maybe even just assumes it is a couple. He’s planning to do his deed but there is that distant car. He pulls in and turns his lights out. He waits for that car to either stop or pass on by. For the car to stop would mean the end of Zodiac’s plans. The car passes on by. He waits 10 maybe 15 seconds, opens the door of his car and moves to the rear of the rambler. He knows, having just pulled in and waiting for the traveler on the road to pass, that the rambler seats are reclined. He aims for a head shot and fires. That one lone shot is what i think Owen heard. The kids are startled. They were busy making out and probably didnt even hear the Zodiacs car pull in. When they realize whats happening, the Zodiac has already positioned himself near the passenger door with the intentions of firing into the vehicle again but before he could fire another shot the kids come flying out. Betty takes off running. David makes a step or two outside of the vehicle and BAM he’s down. He then guns down Betty.

30 seconds can be a long time. But i think, given the distance of travel, one shot was all Owen was going to be able to hear. I don’t think that one shot would be enough for him to be alarmed. I wouldn’t have been. I might have wondered if that was a shot or why I heard a shot but I wouldn’t have been alarmed. He had no way of knowing a crime was taking place.

Soze

It may have happened that way,but,still doesn’t explain why Owen didn’t mention it 8 hours later while standing next to the murder scene with two chalked body outlines on the ground

To me the only thing which makes sense is that he didn’t actually hear any gunfire (which he identified as such at the time). If he did hear gunfire (thinking it was gunfire), it’s extremely odd that he fails to mention this a mere nine hours later when he’s being questioned by the police in connection with a double homicide. Whether he was alarmed or not at the time isn’t really relevant.

Is it suspicious? Yes. I suppose it is. But then again, if he was deliberately holding it back, one may ask why he bothered to include the detail later on. He could have just stuck to the first version if he was hiding something.

Maybe he imagined it,and added later. That would be odd,but….I know most People wouldn’t leave out hearing a shot while your at the scene of a double shooting

What I’m theorizing, specifically, is that he did hear something – but that he didn’t identify this "something" as gunfire at the time, nor some hours later when he talked to the cops. After some days, however, he remembered having heard something – and concluded, then, that it must have been gunfire.