Welcome Newfie,

I am very glad that you have joined this forum, please feel heartly welcome.

It’s one of the saddest stories ever and unless someone is ID’d we won’t be able to say if the case is Z related or not. Imo, the regional connection to Z was definitely given, and so was the time frame when this crime had happened. Also we do know that Z liked to frequent diners, possibly the Francis Truck Stop, too.

The Phyllis O’Brien Carson forum can be found here:

viewtopic.php?f=99&t=1162&p=18170&hilit=phyllis#p18170

so try to add as much information as possible, so we can get a clear picture of the case. Thanks for your trust and interest,

QT

Dear Newfie,
Welcome & so sorry about your Mother, so unfair. Hopefully this forum can help dig up some information that could be helpful! Please share with us as much as you know.

Zincerely, Zam*

Sorry for your loss, let us hope you find the answers you have searched for.
Can someone point out the truck stop location, where the family home was and where your mother was sadly found on a map, to give us a possible route. Thanks.

Sorry for your loss, let us hope you find the answers you have searched for.
Can someone point out the truck stop location, where the family home was and where your mother was sadly found on a map, to give us a possible route. Thanks.

I only know about Yettner Road, where she was found
viewtopic.php?f=99&t=1162&p=18170&hilit=phyllis#p18170

QT

Just trying to work out the possible route the killer may have taken, thanks.

Welcome Newfie, there are lots of great minds here that might be willing to help you find justice

Welcome newfie.

I echo other’s sentiments and thanks for joining us. Hopefully our forum will work for you in your search.

Trav.

Hi Newfie–

I have been following your Mom’s Facebook page for a while now. Her’s seems like a very solvable case…if someone only had the decency to come forward.

I very much hope for you and your family to one day get the answers you seek and for justice to be served.

How awful. I cannot imagine the horror of losing a loved one, a mother, in such a horrible way. I am so sorry! I’m very glad you joined this forum, you never know what someone might turn up. I hope someone is finally able to solve this horrific crime for you. (And I don’t know why "the authorities" are so quick to insist it wasn’t Zodiac-related–how do they know?! They never caught him!) And putting up a Facebook page is also an excellent idea, I have met some wonderful people on there who are searching for missing loved ones and we try to support them and help them any way we can. I will definitely go to your mom’s page and alert some of my friends to it. I think it can be solved too!!

How awful. I cannot imagine the horror of losing a loved one, a mother, in such a horrible way. I am so sorry! I’m very glad you joined this forum, you never know what someone might turn up. I hope someone is finally able to solve this horrific crime for you. (And I don’t know why "the authorities" are so quick to insist it wasn’t Zodiac-related–how do they know?! They never caught him!) And putting up a Facebook page is also an excellent idea, I have met some wonderful people on there who are searching for missing loved ones and we try to support them and help them any way we can. I will definitely go to your mom’s page and alert some of my friends to it. I think it can be solved too!!

Well, authorities go for the facts. Indeed they won’t be able to say it wasn’t Z as long as they don’t have any solid facts for that theory..currently they don’t even know the cause of death, do they? Some modus operandi would rather not be Z-like, however there was none considered to be very distinctive.

More facts to know about this would be good, e.g. an autopsy report (someone may want to black the names or addresses) or a police report, which for sure should exist. Newfie, if I were you I insisted on getting this report from the local PD, same with the autopsy report from the Medical Coroner. Pictures definitely will exist, too, as will numerous witness reports. Police does have this information, surely the FBI will have such stuff, too (Sacramento?). You then can still decide to black e.g. various details, however in some cases it helps to understand which decisions had been done at the scene and in the hours before her death. Nevertheless, to solve this case, 100% transparency is most important.

You as a relative probably are the only person to fully and easily (…) request that stuff, and don’t get bothered by some officers telling you that this case is ‘cold’ or ‘closed’. According to Freedom of Information act, as far as I know, all information has to be given after 30 years – so you should get access to the files, which probably are stored in print in some PD/FBI/Coroner storage since a few decades…maybe Morf or some others on this board can help you with any formalities of such a request (FBI), but mainly it’s going there and explaining plus possibly sending them a request in written form.

QT

QT

Hi, QT. You make a good point about LE needing facts before they can even hope to solve a case. I understand they get inundated with ideas and theories and suggestions (often each one loonier than the last), not to mention ppl trying to blame notorious crimes on folks they dislike–including close relatives! (It’s astounding how eager some people are to claim that some serial killer was none other than dear old dad.) And of course psychics come forward claiming they can lead investigators straight to the perpetrator(s), and while they’re at it, tell them where any missing bodies can be found.

I just want the police to keep an open mind about possibilities. Killers can and do modify their "work" (I know, a terrible word to describe it)–the way the Green River Killer stopped dumping his victims in rivers and started putting them on dry land instead. That got even the FBI so confused that for awhile they thought they might be looking for two serial killers–but it turned out to be Gary Ridgeway, and he wasn’t even very bright. I think he was said to have a borderline IQ, so even dull-witted killers can elude capture, at least for awhile, by adapting and changing. I said I don’t consider Zodiac a genius, and I don’t, but he was certainly brighter than Gary Ridgeway!

I agree with you that transparency is best. I need to look into the information Newfie has provided (NOT that I have any illusions that I can solve her case!! ) but just so I know a bit of what I’m talking about! I also agree that as a close family member she must have the best chance at getting the necessary documents on her mother’s case. Of course I can’t speak for Newfie–and even going thru those files would be incredibly painful, I would think–but I think you’re right about trying to get the autopsy report, police records and anything else they have on file. Some "cold cases" have been solved simply because a new investigator was brought in to see if previous researchers had missed anything–and sometimes they do, and end up solving the case even decades later. I don’t see that it would do any harm, anyway–and any family has a right to know what happened to their loved one.

Okay–lecture over.