The prints obtained from the letters strike me as being quite solid. Particularly the three palm prints from the Exorcist Letter, which could only have been left by the letter-writer as his hand moved across the page.

Thank you Nachtsider.

Except some now believe the Exorcist letter was a fake.

The only way for me to feel confident (of course I’m not LE) would be to have two matching sets of prints from two crime scenes. Letters wouldn’t hurt either.

Except some now believe the Exorcist letter was a fake.

Based on …. ?

That’s rhetorical T so don’t feel the need to answer.

Except some now believe the Exorcist letter was a fake.

Based on …. ?

That’s rhetorical T so don’t feel the need to answer.

Phew! That’s a relief.

Except some now believe the Exorcist letter was a fake.

The only way for me to feel confident (of course I’m not LE) would be to have two matching sets of prints from two crime scenes. Letters wouldn’t hurt either.

That would make me thing they were his too. Good point,and maybe that is what they have. Since they seem so certain they have them.

I still think the latent in blood at the Stine scene, is likely his

at this point prints are useless..my gut tells me they have partials and thats it (they have something but that something is what and to who)..in some regards it get worse..when they did the comparison they found zilch..Z more then likely never has been arrested and therefore no prints are on file to compare..was Z a model citizen outside of his Z persona (BTK type sunday skol teacher)..very well could be and why we may need to trash 99% of what we think we know and look at the priest around the corner so to speak..now I do not know who put up mr x but in my mind that may be the type of person who was Z (disclaimer-i dont think X is Z..but he does hold my interest along with TK-i just cant shake TK’s hood)

ps: could be we are seeking a total idiot who was the luckiest person to ever live like he would have won the powerball 6 times type luck.i dunno..some days I just think with the luck he had he may have just been a punk kid who through trial and error crafted his trade

As Morf said, the taxi cab print in blood may well be Zodiac’s.

Part I:

What prints they have – and how good they are – is an endless debate, it seems. SFPD were confident about at least two of the cab prints. And prints have been used over the years to eliminate suspects. This is all we know – and all we have to go on.

But people will question the validity of the prints – they certainly will. Me, I’m leaning towards the cab prints being good. Z’s story about airplane cement is nonsense, IMO. It’s not practical, for one thing – and it sounds like a feeble attempt at damage control for another.

What follows after Stine are two declarations on Z’s part (in the Nov 9 letter):

1. “I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different.” Really? Then why do you admit to it? It’s a very useful piece of information which you give away for no good reason there.

2. “As of yet I have left no fingerprints behind me contrary to what the police say in my killings I wear transparent fingertip guards.” You don’t say? Very clever. Not very clever to come out and say it, though. Might’ve been slightly more clever to just let the cops go on believing it was your prints they lifted.

As usual, just my take – but I think there’s a decent chance the SF prints are good. And, again, they were clearing suspects with them for years. Scandalous to say the very least if they’re no good.

Part II:

As I’ve always (well, not always, but for a while now) taken it, there were three kinds of prints on/in the cab:

Regular prints (which could have been left by previous customers, medics, cops, etc. Some of these were obviously checked out through control prints).

Truly bloody “prints”, i.e. smears, marks, call it what you will. These, I think, were no good.

The actual “bloody prints” often referred to. These (I believe there are two of them, one at least is considered very good) were prints left “on top” of blood residue (not great amounts of blood, but fainter splatters, droplets, something of the sort). The fact that they were left “on top” of the residue proves beyond any doubt that they were left by a) a medic, cop or what have you, i.e. someone who handled the cab after the murder and before the prints were lifted (duh) OR b) by the Zodiac killer. We HAVE to assume that everyone who belongs in category a) were properly ruled out through control prints. That leaves Z. And if the prints (or at least one of them) were good, this explains what has always been called SFPD’s “confidence” in these prints.

Well, that’s how I read it. Others will no doubt disagree.

Part III:

My basic take on Stine is this: The murder constitutes, partly, a screw-up on Z’s part. Things do not go according to plan. I think there’s a very good chance he intended to have Stine stop at Maple. And I think something went awry as he approached that destination. There was more of a struggle, more hassle, more…something. It got messy for Z in a way he did not foresee. This explains the prints. He didn’t normally mess up in this way, and I think it’s a very good chance he didn’t leave any prints on – say – the letters. I have grave doubts about the sensationally sweaty palm print in Napa too. But the cab prints are very different for the reason suggested: They were left as a result of things getting a bit out of hand for him.

His response was childish: An attempt to throw them off the track which it is very hard to explain as anything but damage control. If he had truly left no prints – but the cops believed so, and said so in the papers – why on earth did he not keep his mouth shut? He had nothing to lose from doing so, regardless of the truth.

The one hand he can’t play without giving his game away – that’s the one he plays. Hardly a criminal mastermind. More like a rattled punk, actually – one who got stupidly lucky that night. Alright, enough of that.

tl/dr: SF prints decent, Z a punk.

re: norse’s comment above – it could also explain why he stopped after stine. we don’t know for sure what his plan was, but it does seem pretty obvious that it didn’t go well. by his own admission (although he could be lying) he hid out in the park waiting for the cops to leave. he doesn’t seem to make any claims that things went well. this could have been the impetus to stop killing, or at least stop killing as "the zodiac". it would speak to someone with enough of a rational mind to realize the consequences of what they were doing.

I find it curious though…

Why bring himself into the case as Zodiac? If there were ANY chance at all they had his prints, wouldn’t he be better off being quiet about "Zodiac"–at the very least he would have be popped for being the murderer of a cab driver. Heck, one barely had to serve prison time for killing a cop!

The easiest answer is this… nobody knows if they have Zodiac’s prints. There is absolutely no way to be positive that any prints that LE have belong to the killer.

The easiest answer is this… nobody knows if they have Zodiac’s prints. There is absolutely no way to be positive that any prints that LE have belong to the killer.

Exactly…until they get the guy who matches those prints, it’s never a given.