Yes, she was driving towards Benicia to pick up her grandson from the movie theater in Benicia.

Wow, look how close the killings were to being eye witnessed by several parties.
How could Zodiac know that hunters were to come up out of the field and leave by Lake Herman Road.
Or that the Yours would be checking the pipes that night.
Or that folks driving by might see him.
How could he know to strike after all those folks left?
And before others arrived?
If we believe Owens then we believe Zodiac came in a car.
I still can’t figure out how Zodiac did the killings in 1 or 2 minutes.

WARNING: I can ramble when I’m just thinking aloud at the keyboard. Apologies all around, in advance…..

This crime scene and the timeline defy all belief… or else we just haven’t put the puzzle pieces together correctly. Either someone is lying–and I know Owen has become a popular candidate for the Pants On Fire award– or someone got their statement horribly wrong or Zodiac got insanely, cosmically lucky on this first effort. (That last possibility might be the reason he ducked and hid for seven months afterward. Maybe the guy really did have his balls out in the wind and just barely managed to slip away, sufficiently scaring him enough for him to shutter his act for a while.)

Think about the randomness of it, and then try to marry that to the insanely lucky timeline/escape…. If we accept hat he just got lucky and happened upon a parked car that fit what he wanted–a young couple alone on a country road in dark of night–then look at what had to happen for it to be just that random and successful: 1) He had to be on the right road at exactly the right time (late night, no moonlight on Dec. 20, 1968, etc.) in order to avoid detection by random eyewitnesses, in a vast public place that made it impossible for him to control for isolation (as opposed to murdering someone in the bathroom of your basement apartment, where you can control for isolation); 2) He had to pull into that parking area at the precise interval–and we mean PRECISE–between exiting witnesses and arriving witnesses, managing to COMPLETELY escape detection by ANY of them; 3) He had to arrive undetected, assess the situation, carry out the (incredibly efficient) double assault, and exit, all in the span of about what, 3-5 minutes, generously?; 4) He had to be away from the scene sufficiently far enough that none of the approaching vehicles got even a whiff of his presence anywhere on that road–which, again, was a pitch-black road that would have been illuminated by his headlights.

There is luck, guys and gals, and then there is impossible luck. What are the odds that he pulled off that crime under those circumstances? One in ten thousand? It doesn’t make an ounce of sense (which doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, I know. One in ten thousand is still one in ten thousand. There is that ‘one’ ….) But let’s take the "what is more likely?" approach. What is more likely, that a) a killer gets impossibly lucky on his first time out (at least in the Bay Area for all we know) and happens to randomly come across his ideal set of victims, or b) what we’ve outlined is all wrong, and we need to look for a different scenario…?

Doesn’t it seem as if he had to have scoured that road for hours, or something near that length of time, driving back and forth looking at cars parked there, waiting until exactly the right car with the right couple showed up? You might guess he followed them from town, but that doesn’t seem likely, since the Rambler was seen there all by its lonesome, apparently. (Or he could have followed them, passed them by once they parked, and then he parked in a field nearby, scouting the place and waiting until the coast seemed clearest.) Zodiac’s track record shows too much organization and pre-planning to allow for the inference that he just happened upon these unfortunate kids. You ask yourself: How many weekend nights did he spend cruising that stretch of road waiting for the right car to park there? Then you ask, wouldn’t that just frustrate a guy who is anxious to start "collecting slaves for the after-life"? Or, did he just pick Dec. 20, 1968 because it was a moonless Friday night, park in a field, sit int he bushes, and reconnoiter that one spot, hoping a fly got tangled in the web?

Again, I ramble…..

It would appear more like a deliberate attack, complete with preparation for the killing and stalking. This is an intended event.
Which goes back to victimology. Was Zodiac a boyfriend acquaintance of Miss Betty Lou?

We assume a female love interest but David is one of two guys he managed to off, and didn’t he basically take his ball and go home when it was suggested he was gay? I have no idea where I’m going with this other than to say we ought not assume anything about his proclivities.

The police report reads there was a "blood splattered path on her attempted escape route".

http://www.zodiackiller.com/LHRPR9.html

Had Zodiac driven in between the Rambler and Betty Lou, wouldn’t there have been evidence of that in the blood?

That is exactly what I said T in a previous thread and one reason why I lean toward him being on foot.

Morf’s comment : If Z was on foot, then Z may as well have been Bingo Wesher,he was tending sheep there. That is an out of the way location,somebody wouldn’t be walking all the way out there on foot,they needed a car to get there, and all the cars seem to be accounted for.

I knew Bingo, he would visit me at work at least every week if not more. I can tell you that he was about 5 ft9, stocky , barrel chested, reddish brown very curly hair round face and loved his sheep. I wish I could remember if he talked to me about the shooting or not but I don’t sorry. The last time I looked for him to see if he was still alive, he was living in NV and married. I never saw him looking clean cut like a Navy guy , he wouldn’t match the composite drawing unless he lost weight and cut his hair .

Tahoe, The ground was way too icy , that was why they couldn’t find any foot prints near Davids car. It would be hard to see them anyway with all that gravel if there was gravel there at that time.

It would be hard to see them anyway with all that gravel if there was gravel there at that time.

Just spoke with someone who was there shortly after the murders and still lives in Vallejo and he said the parking surface is almost identical to what it was then.

It would be hard to see them anyway with all that gravel if there was gravel there at that time.

Just spoke with someone who was there shortly after the murders and still lives in Vallejo and he said the parking surface is almost identical to what it was then.

Thank you that is good to know.

I went to the crime scenes again yesterday. There were some silk flowers with pine cones attached to the flowers , below the flowers was a pile of bricks that I didn’t notice before. Those were on the other side of the railing, to the right of where Davids car had been parked. Two friends were with me, one of them started to pick up the bricks to see if there was something underneath ? He found a pair of pantyhose buried ! Before finding them below the bricks, there were two sticks crossing a Z like circle of bricks. We also went to the Borges ranch/home , we set the millage to see just how close it was to the crime scene. It was 1.5 miles to the crime scene, exactly 3 miles round trip. Sky Valley rd was not far from there , it is on the other side of the road.

My theory is kind of like morf13’s theory, I think Z was driving by and passed the rambler but slowing down while passing. He then backs up enough to (similar to the blue rocks springs crime when he first drove passed the couples car) pull in beside the Rambler facing forward tho, Z sees headlights coming from Owens car, so he sits there while Owen passes by and then Z pulls out and up to the back of the Rambler ( maybe no headlights on and then turning them on after Owen’s car is out of sight )and stops behind the Rambler, Z’s car being in the road, walks around the rambler fires a shot into the car and David exits the car and the murder takes place from here as evidence shows and then Z gets back into his car and drives off. I think Z took his time and even since he took his time, it would of only lasted a couple minutes.
Owen hearing a shot , Z would of pulled behind the Rambler pretty quick and got out quick or shooting the first round while backing up and still in his car. backs up enough afterwards and pulling in behind the Rambler.
I like this theory because of Z parking his car behind in the next case of Blue rock springs. He parks his car so the couples cant drive off. This explains why David never started his car and backed out to get away.

Z shows smartness while he commits these crimes……example…..in the LB case before he uses his knife he looks around and then decides he can pull this murder off (all the time he spent there talking and tying up the two he still knew he had time) because there are no people around, the BRS case, same thing, he passes by the couple that’s parked and knows there are no cars passing by and is late at night, he must feel he can somewhat take his time and commit the crime and leaves in no hurry, walking back to the road in the LB crime and writing on the car door proves he is in no hurry. I believe he also parked behind the Karman Gia.

Also it is sort of weird David putting his hands on the steering wheel, maybe because of the two fooling around I guess and he is showing good behavior when others pass by. IDK

I have Z pictured of a non resident and a passerby, spontaneous acts of crime but well prepared and thought threw. He probably seen these areas before and were occupied by couples, and he took note

You could be right, but I think because of the way David’s body was so close to the car , that Z used the ruse of something like: " its a hold-up"get out of the car, put your hands up on the car. He waits until the coast is clear before shooting David, then Betty Lou runs and he shoot her. I also believe Zodiac either worked or lived in Vallejo, he was too comportable not to be from there is my thought. That road isn’t a road that you would just happen to end up on, it is out of the city limits. Can you believe that there are still couples going there at night ? That place still creeps me out, more so than all of the other crime scenes !

My theory is kind of like morf13’s theory, I think Z was driving by and passed the rambler but slowing down while passing. He then backs up enough to (similar to the blue rocks springs crime when he first drove passed the couples car) pull in beside the Rambler facing forward tho, Z sees headlights coming from Owens car, so he sits there while Owen passes by and then Z pulls out and up to the back of the Rambler ( maybe no headlights on and then turning them on after Owen’s car is out of sight )and stops behind the Rambler, Z’s car being in the road, walks around the rambler fires a shot into the car and David exits the car and the murder takes place from here as evidence shows and then Z gets back into his car and drives off. I think Z took his time and even since he took his time, it would of only lasted a couple minutes.
Owen hearing a shot , Z would of pulled behind the Rambler pretty quick and got out quick or shooting the first round while backing up and still in his car. backs up enough afterwards and pulling in behind the Rambler.
I like this theory because of Z parking his car behind in the next case of Blue rock springs. He parks his car so the couples cant drive off. This explains why David never started his car and backed out to get away.

Z shows smartness while he commits these crimes……example…..in the LB case before he uses his knife he looks around and then decides he can pull this murder off (all the time he spent there talking and tying up the two he still knew he had time) because there are no people around, the BRS case, same thing, he passes by the couple that’s parked and knows there are no cars passing by and is late at night, he must feel he can somewhat take his time and commit the crime and leaves in no hurry, walking back to the road in the LB crime and writing on the car door proves he is in no hurry. I believe he also parked behind the Karman Gia.

Also it is sort of weird David putting his hands on the steering wheel, maybe because of the two fooling around I guess and he is showing good behavior when others pass by. IDK

I have Z pictured of a non resident and a passerby, spontaneous acts of crime but well prepared and thought threw. He probably seen these areas before and were occupied by couples, and he took note

Well, this is what we do know.

Blue Rock. No question offender was in vehicle, surviving witness gave statements to police stating what exactly happened. So, he was most certainly using a vehicle in the commission of this crime. He drives away, and a short time later, A light flashes on the Vallejo PD’s switchboard to inform the dispatcher that a call is waiting. Nancy Slover answer’s to a man reporting a double murder. When she, thinking this was a witness, asked him where is he calling from, the caller replied "you’ll find the kids in a brown car. I also shot those kids last year, good-byyyye."

So, he’s on wheels, then on the phone.

Lake Berryessa. Police find tyre tracks that seem to suggest a vehicle had pulled up right behind Bryan’s and that the suspect had parked there and then, just as Bryan & Cecelia had done, walked down the hill to the island. Does his thing, and then drives back to Napa stopping at a payphone. Officer Slaight answers the call and a male voice tells him he wises to report a murder, no, a double murder. When Dave asked him "Where are you now?" the caller answered with "I’m the one that did it."

Paul Stine, Pacific Heights. Both Zodiac and his ‘Victom’ travel to the final destination together in the unfortunate drivers yellow cab. Zodiac, after shooting Stine and faffing about at the cab for a minute or two, is observed by witnesses ‘walking off down Cherry Street.’ He’s then spotted, still on foot, shuffling down Jackson Street. It is no known where he went after being observed at the Jax and Mpl Intersection. But, we do know he’s on foot every time he’s seen by a witness as he vacates the scene. Does the SFPD receive a call from him? Not on this occasion.

Now just because he can be shown to call when he’s in a vehicle, and doesn’t call when he’s last seen on foot in the 2nd, 3rd & 4th attacks doesn’t constitute evidence of anything concrete and nor am I implying it does. I am saying while it may not be said to be anywhere near ‘evidential’ of his being on foot, it is, however, an interesting set of circumstances to make note of.

Was he on foot at LH, or ‘prowling’ the lanes in search of names to add them to his list? I have no idea, only opinion based on what is known. Is James Owen lying about seeing the second vehicle, regardless f why or for what reason he would have to do so, or is James a victim of the fairly common eye witness fallibility? My answer is: Pass! Next question please. Simply don’t know.

I don’t mean to steer away from the main thread, but I like to look at all the crimes to maybe fill in the pieces missing in the others. So in the case of Paul Stine, I think Z had a plan from the get go, obviously. Pretty much like LE believes he did and the change in his MO from the couples to a single person was done on purpose to throw off LE. Knowing Z made phone calls in the past, I assume he could of had his vehicle parked somewhere close or close to a payphone where he was more than likely heading on Jackson street. So I think he was intending to make a call, but wasn’t planning on the kids making an early call for him. He maybe never had a plan B and escaped on luck. When Z says in his letter that he was in the park, I think he probably was and watched somewhat while the cops were searching, he states the cops never came within 2 blocks of me, etc. I think he did hide and waited to the coast was clear and went for his car and drove off once again, only this time he was lucky, maybe this is why he changed his MO again, but I still have him as using a car in all cases. I don’t believe he lived in SF and was walking and escaped to his nearby home. He probably hit the 101. Just saying he was probably going to use a payphone again but didn’t have the time because of the kids making the call first.

ON LHR , I don’t see a reason for Owens to lie unless he was Z himself but that even draws attention to himself, so is non likely I would guess, I can pass a vehicle or objects at night and not remember anything or maybe something, I think its all depends how well your paying attention and what catches your eye. In the case of 4 ft away or 10 ft away, Owens perhaps only caught a glimpse of the other vehicle because the Rambler caught his eye first and was more appealing. If Owen new something was happening there at the time he would of probably paid more attention. Owens statements just seem like common witness statements to me. They tell you what they seen and remembered, its better than no witness at all. And he is never in a hurry it seems.

Welch Chappie, While reading your post, I had an idea that I didn’t think of before. Perhaps the reason Zodiac didn’t make a call after he shot Paul was because he was staying in one of the homes or apts. in that area, making a call would be very easy to trace. If he had a car he could have driven to a phone booth to make the call that he seemed to like to do after a crime. I don’t think he had a car at that time, maybe it was in a body shop getting repaired, because it had been in an accident with a cab a few days before perhaps ?