Hi everybody, my name is Toni Saxberg-Dillon. Recently I googled " George Saxberg yearbook photo" (George was my father) and got quite a shock, quite disturbing actually. What came up on the entries was this website. I checked it out and saw that it really was my Dad they were talking about. I don’t want to believe that my father was a killer although I’m really wondering it it could have been him. I just don’t know but I have to find out. My father was in and out of my life after my Mom died in July of 1970 so I don’t know him as well as other people know their fathers, however, I still know a bit about my Dad. Maybe with your information and mine we"ll get some answers. My sincere sympathy to all the victims. I pray it wasn’t my Dad that committed these horrific crimes. If by any chance it was him please remember-I’m not him.

Wow, thanks for joining Toni. I wanted to let you know that when we mention names as ‘suspects’ or ‘persons of interest’, we aren’t simply outright accusing them of being the Zodiac. Most of these names are taken from the police reports, and for one reason or another, they wound up as suspects in the case.

The reason your Father’s name came up on the net, is because I essentially went name by name of every suspect in the reports, and then background checked every single one. I was blown away when I found out two things-1st, George’s Mother lived in Deer Lodge area,and that is a big clue mentioned by Zodiac when he attacked at Lake Berryessa, and 2nd, the day after your Father was questioned by police, Zodiac mailed a letter and his most infamous cipher, and then followed up the very next day with a 2nd letter. Zodiac never mailed back to back letters before that or after, so the timing seemed to be very interesting. For those two reasons, George has always been a ‘dark horse’ candidate as being Zodiac.

A couple things to point out, your father was apparently cleared via handwriting(I hope they used more than that to clear him). Secondly, your Father seemed to be described as being thinner or lighter than Zodiac.

The photo we have of him is from the 1950s’, but he does look like a younger thinner version of the zodiac sketch. Finding more photos or info of him from 1968-74 would help, as well as additional writing samples, or any ties for him to Vallejo, Napa, etc

Your Father was a SF Bay area painter-I wonder if he was a painter in the mid 60s and possibly lived in Southern CA? In the 1966 Cheri Bates case. a watch found at the crime scene there was splattered with paint.

Again, thanks for joining us here, I hope we can find some info to clear George out. I will be glad to share with you everything I have found, and will help you as much as you want.

Welcome!

Welcome Toni!

What morf said.

It’s always easier to clear someone than to prove they were responsible. If you have proof he was in different area than the crimes at the time they occurred, that would certainly help.

Chances are pretty darn good your Father wasn’t Zodiac.

Thank you both. I feel like we might actually get somewhere with this now. Even though my father has passed on I still need to know. George & I were never close. He was in and out of my life after my mother Sandra Kay Saxberg died on July 9, 1970. He would usually come around once a year or so in the summertime to take my brother Todd & me camping for a week. George loved fishing, hunting and camping. I remember him taking us to a Georgetown Lake which I believe is in Montana, I’m not sure. I was raised by my grandparents after my Mom’s death (my Mom’s mother Helen Dodson & my Dad’s father George J. Saxberg) until I was 12. From ages 12-15 my grandmother was raising my brother and me alone. When I was 15 George decided he wanted to be a father and Todd & me went to live with him and stepmother #2 in Sparks, NV. that lasted 6 months for me. He was very abusive towards me & my stepmom Dee. I remember him punching me in the eye like you would a man. I also remember him pouring hot gravy right off the stove over Dee’s head because she served it with a slotted spoon instead of a ladle. I couldn’t handle the abuse and finally went to live with my great aunt up in Culdesac, ID. I will write more on George later

Toni, thanks again for sharing. The thread on George is here;
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1503&start=10

Welcome Toni,

Glad you found us, and I sincerely hope our forum can be of some help to you!

Sincerely, Zamantha*

Welcome Toni.

Regards.

Trav.

From what my grandparents and my Dad (George Saxberg) have told me in the past, we moved around a lot in the late 60’s. We lived in Napa, Vallejo, Sunnyvale, Sonoma, San Rafael & San Jose. I’ve wondered why we moved around so much. I always assumed it was because my Dad was going where there was work.

Should I be posting under the "George Saxberg" thread?

Should I be posting under the "George Saxberg" thread?

I would say to try and post in the Saxberg thread