It seems that a certain Zodiac researcher has announced on his forum that Lawrence Kane could not possibly have been The Zodiac because of Kane’s diagnosis that declared him ‘Losing the ability to control self gratification’. And someone like this with Frontal Lobe Brain Injury (FLBI) could not plan, then carry out, the Zodiac murders, he says.
Well, in this statement he assumes two thing: First,That he is qualified to give an ‘Expert Medical Opinion’ (which he is not). And secondly, the statement assumed that he knows that Zodiac did not act on impulse, but planned every crime in detail. With this in mind, lets look at The Zodiac’s Crimes…
1. Zodiac’s first victims are on a lovers lane, parked in a lay-by. How has Zodiac planned this when he has no way of knowing if anyone will be there, when anyone will be there, how many of them will be there etc etc. I can plan to catch a 20lb trout when I go fishing, doesn’t mean it’s going to be there when I turn up!
2. Zodiac next strikes at Blue Rock Springs Parking Lot. Again, planning to kill a young couple in a car park at around midnight is worthless because you cant know, or guarntee, that anyone will be there. And he must have planned this really well because when he phones to report the incident and says "’If you’ll go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you’ll find kids in a brown car." Zodiac doesn’t seem to have researched the name of this park in his detailed planning stage.
3. Then Zodiac attacks at Lake Berryessa. A man, thought to be Zodiac, is seen hanging around the lake for hours before the attack happens, watching girls sunbathe, walking along the side of the embankment close to where the attack would happened etc. This plan is working! He’s having to hang around and search about for lone couples for hours before, finally, the girls leave and Bryan and Cecelia take up residence on the Island. Then, after the event, he phones police saying he wants to "report a murder, no, a double murder" and that "They are two miles North of park headquarters". Again, what park? Does he know? And they were not two miles north of the Park HQ, either!
4. Zodiac has planned this really well, also. Zodiac asks to go to Washington and Maple Streets, where he has planned to execute Paul Stine. Zodiac has planned this in detail, dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s. This flawless plan works brilliantly and Zodiac ends up at completely the wrong location and is now 150 yards or so further away from his escape route. He shoots Paul anyway (Not acting on impulse mind!). He then seems to be in no rush to leave the cab and immediate area, taking time to wipe around the interior, then the exterior before walking off calmly down Cherry street, turning right at the top of the road onto Jackson St. 30 Seconds later, because his plan has seen him end up at the wrong street, it now results in him walking directly into the path of a responding Patrol Car. I wonder if this was also part of the plan?
Are these the actions of a man planning each and every crime in detail? Or do they seem more like the actions of a man who is acting on impulse?
Seen as Kanes Brian Injury has been used to try and show why he couldn’t possibly be Zodiac, lets look at the facts regarding the Frontal Lobes, their fuctions, and what the results are when they are damaged.
Frontal Lobe Injury and common symptoms:
Inability to interpret external input and adjust behavior accordingly; excessive risk taking and inability to comply or conform to established rules. (Excessive Risk taking is consistant with each of Zodiac’s attacks becomming far more risky than the previous one)
Difficulty communicating, Control of speech pattern ability. (Many times, people who spoke with Zodiac said he spoke in a monotone. Hartnell said ‘Very slow & Measured")
Improper motor functions such as lack of arm/leg, hand and finger strength; lack of or impaired facial expressions, balance and coordination complications. (Don Fouke speaking about the walking motion of the man he saw said "This lumbering Gait <walk>, stumbling along, like a semi limp." )
Inability to appreciate the effects of one’s own behavior or remarks on others. (Yes, Zodiac seemed indifferent to other people and unconcerned with his actions causing anyone any pain, loss or suffering)
Aggression, outbursts of rage and violent behavior. (Certainlly showed that)
Lack of impulse control. (A person acting on rational thought would would be too concerned to murder Betty Lou & David at that location due to the fact that a car could drive by any moment. Same with Lake Berryessa. There were often boats passing between the islands, but again, Zodiac doesn’t seem to be acting on, or in response to, a rational thinking mind. Same with Paul Stine & Presidio Heights. He is also showing "excessive risk taking and inability to comply or conform to established rules".)
"So it’s sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?" Judd Nelson.
Agree for the most part, Chappie. It really doesn’t take a lot of detailed planning to drive around with a gun looking for victims. For all we know, Z may have been driving around for months before the opportunity presented itself at LHR and BRS. I’ve also questioned the level of planning put into the Stine murder given the seemingly idiotic escape plan of parking his car in a residential area, possibly taking a bus downtown, hailing a cab in view of throngs of people on a busy Saturday night and then walking away several blocks or more away from the murder scene. If anyone can bring over the discussion entitled "Planned or Impulsive?" in the Stine thread on the old board, it would be much appreciated.
I think Lake Berryessa is really the only indication of real pre-planning since Z took time to assemble an elaborate disguise and bring pre-cut pieces of clothesline with him. He certainly was planning a pretty specific kind of attack here but again he could have been stalking random people for some time. Does that level of pre-planning rule out Kane as the perpetrator? I have no idea. Unless his frontal lobe injury would have prevented him from organizing his thoughts to accomplish Zodiac’s tasks, I would probably agree that the potential impulse control issues are actually a plus for him as a possible suspect.
Agree for the most part, Chappie. It really doesn’t take a lot of detailed planning to drive around with a gun looking for victims. For all we know, Z may have been driving around for months before the opportunity presented itself at LHR and BRS. I’ve also questioned the level of planning put into the Stine murder given the seemingly idiotic escape plan of parking his car in a residential area, possibly taking a bus downtown, hailing a cab in view of throngs of people on a busy Saturday night and then walking away several blocks or more away from the murder scene. If anyone can bring over the discussion entitled "Planned or Impulsive?" in the Stine thread on the old board, it would be much appreciated.
I think Lake Berryessa is really the only indication of real pre-planning since Z took time to assemble an elaborate disguise and bring pre-cut pieces of clothesline with him. He certainly was planning a pretty specific kind of attack here but again he could have been stalking random people for some time. Does that level of pre-planning rule out Kane as the perpetrator? I have no idea. Unless his frontal lobe injury would have prevented him from organizing his thoughts to accomplish Zodiac’s tasks, I would probably agree that the potential impulse control issues are actually a plus for him as a possible suspect.
Thank you Entropy.
In regards to Lake Berryessa, there is a difference in Zodiac showing premeditation, to showing pre-planning. Yes, he was certainlly showing premeditation to commit murder by going equipt. But, if he had pre-planned the event, then he would know the details of when and where it would happen. That, I don’t think he did. If anything, it absolute obvious that Zodiac is searching for victims at random, and having to wait around on this occasion for the oppertunity to present itself for him to attack. The key word there being, opportunity. Thats what it is, a crime of opportunity. The victims themselves are not selected in advance, nor can the exact location be because he cannot know that Bryan & Cecelia will be at a certain spot at a certain time, same with Blue Rock & Lake H. While the intent to murder that day was clearly premeditated, the crime itself (The who, when & where) could not have been. This is why I think he decided on to kill a taxi driver. He is fed up of driving around lanes for hours looking for an opportunity, and hanging around a lake for hours, but instead this time he gets to decide exactly where, when, how, and who the victim will be. This is Zodiac’s first real attempt to plan a murder and control the entire sequence of events leading up to, during , and in the aftermath of it and what happens? He ends up being at the wrong location, and ‘stumbling along’ into the headlights of an SFPD Cruizer. Stick to being an opportunistic killer Z, lol.
"So it’s sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?" Judd Nelson.
Zodiac was an opportunistic killer. His crimes (except the Presidio Heights murder) we crimes of opportunity. He could not have known, untill he got there, that anyone would be parked up in the lay-by on Lake Herman Rd. Also, the location of the scene is highly risky for any to commit a homicide there. The same with Blue Rock and Lake B and especially, Presidio Heights! A rational man with a logical thinking mind would not, IMO, stand out in the open at Lake Berryessa pointing a gun at two young people while wearing an executioners type hood because of the obvious extreme risk of being seen by a passing boat or walker.
Disinhibition
"In psychology, disinhibition is a lack of restraint manifested in several ways, including disregard for social conventions, impulsivity, and poor risk assessment. Disinhibition affects motor, instinctual, emotional, cognitive, and perceptual aspects with signs and symptoms similar to the diagnostic criteria for mania. Disinhibition is a process, of whatever aetiology, which results in an individual having a reduced capacity to edit or manage their immediate impulsive response to a situation. Disinhibition is a common symptom following a physical injury to the brain, particularly to the frontal lobe and primarily to the orbitofrontal cortex."
Zodiac, after shooting Paul Stine, seemed in no hurry to escape the scene and took his time to wipe down the interior, and then rip some of Paul’s shirt off, then get out and wipe down his side of the exterior, then walk around and do the same the other side before casually walking away down Cherry St. Again, this does not seem like the actions of rationally thinking man. Disinhibition with its ‘disregard for social conventions, impulsivity, and poor risk assessment’ seems to be very fitting to the actions shown by Zodiac. In this case, it almost, and should have, led to him being captured.
"So it’s sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?" Judd Nelson.
Yeah we just don’t know….Z may have used that outfit frequently, but succeeded in his goal of killing, so no one left to tell us about it.
For the most part I agree with you, Chappie. I think Z was a troller, checking out likely spots, such as known Lover’s Lanes. The Bates homicide, for which I consider the budding Z responsible, and Lake Berryessa show, in Bates’ case, site-specific planning; and,at Lake Berryessa, equipment/costume-specific planning.
For the most part I agree with you, Chappie. I think Z was a troller, checking out likely spots, such as known Lover’s Lanes. The Bates homicide, for which I consider the budding Z responsible, and Lake Berryessa show, in Bates’ case, site-specific planning; and,at Lake Berryessa, equipment/costume-specific planning.
Well he may very well have scouted for sites that he deemed ‘acceptable’ for him to strike at. But as I said somewhere in another post, he can’t guarantee anyone will show up at these locations for him to strike there. Sure, he could have simply driven up and down Lake Herman until someone parked in the entrance to the pumping station, we don’t know. But if he did scout for the sites of L. H Road & Lake B prior to striking there then I would say that he is extremely poor at it to decide on these two locations. Lake B, for example, the road out of there is long and winding and once your on it there is no opportunity to turn off for quite a long distance meaning he’d have had no option but to head straight into the path of responding units that were heading to the scene. What I mean is, if you were scouting for locations to commit murder at, would you settle on one that has one escape route and that route is one that you cannot turn off for some considerable distance? And even when he was at Lake B, if the man witnesses saw is the man who later went on to attack Bryan & Cecelia, then he seems to have been hanging around the area for some time before actually attacking anyone and was spotted by girls sunbathing and a father and son walking along the lake edge. If the Berryessa attack was planned then he doesn’t take into account that while a location may seem very suitable for him to ‘do his thing’, he can’t guarantee anyone will play along and show up. This is what seems to have let him be spotted by many witnesses in the hour or so prior to the actual attack.
"So it’s sorta social. Demented and sad, but social, right?" Judd Nelson.
