Joseph Newton Chandler, considered Zodiac POI by some ID’d
Press conference tomorrow
http://www.cleveland19.com/story/384699 … n-thursdayMore DNA & Genealogy work go hand in hand to solve another mystery!
Hi Morf
Thanks for posting! What DNA and geneology were used-I cant see anything about it from the article.
Do they have this guys DNA? has it been matched to Z?
…a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
There was some speculation here recently that Z was connected to the Richmond area.
Handwriting is not much to go by but I think the s and w look quite similar to Zodiac’s. Especially the s.
his hand writing..
Absolutely not the same, imo. Besides that his DNA never matched any of those of Z:
In 2014, at the request of the local police, Peter J. Elliott, United States Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, reopened the Chandler case. Based on DNA extracted from a tissue sample from a Lake County, Ohio hospital, a CODIS profile was generated, but no hits were found.
Wikipedia
Which gets us to the point..Z still lives (or lies 6ft down under) unknown..no DNA-tested inmate, other famous serial killer etc..rather your neighbor (‘he was always so friendly, a calm and helpful guy greeting every day in such a polite manner..’). One should live next to a serial killer..they seem to be great neighbors.
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
I agree , the handwriting is not even close to Zodiac. I found a Robert Nichols in southern Calif.( Arcadia) 1960 who was listed as a "Electrical Engineer", which we know he was. This one had a spouse listed as Barbara Nichols. 1960 was before he left his family. Did he at this point have two families? I will investigate further to see if that Robert Nichols was the same or not? Did he meet Barbara while he was stationed in LA yrs before, or back home? 1953 he lived with Laverne and was a draftsman for General Electric ( Bentchel) in Albany In. They lived at 107 Cardinal Dr.
Below is a time line for him from 1964 to 1995.
3-19-64 Divorce, Robert Ivan from Laverne Agnes Nichols in Louisville Kentucky
1965 Napa Letter sent to Son with "one penny" inside.
3-66 to 3-71 Cunningham Engineering Co. Fullerton Ca.3-71
3-71 to 4-75 Rosemead Ca.
4-75 to 11-80 Los Angeles , Wilson and Ass. ( Pi said no one knew him there)
7-81 to 7-82 Cleveland Ohio
1983 to 84, also 4-85 to 10-85 missing
? CDI Corp Philly PA.
1-87 to 8-95 Lubrizol corp. Indiana.
I would like to thank Ohio Marshal Peter Elliott for the time line , who gave it to my friend Tommy T from Zkiller.com.
From what I have found on this person, he was a "Dead Beat" father and did not want to pay child support. He left his family and started out a free man, to go and do whatever he wanted.
The wife not able to make ends meet , had to have filed for support. She wasn’t able to find him for a long while and by the time she did locate him, he was very far behind in support payments. (Non support can mean a jail sentence) 1978 is when he changed his name, so it would be impossible to be found by his ex or LE and it worked!
I believe that is who he was running from and not some sinister Zodiac crime. The clue for me was the Napa letter in 1965 sending his son one penny!
He had been treated before with cancer in the past, did the cancer return and that was the real reason he shot himself?
Good work Sandy! Thanks for your efforts getting the background info.
You are very welcome Druzer, Any information that I can get ,I will share.
Peter Elliott is still looking for any information anyone can offer, he is very dedicated to this case. I happen to find another Robert Ivan Nichols that married a Martha Norton in Bath NY on Oct 19th 1946. So it looked as if he was married to two women at the same time? Peter Elliott was interested in that find, but with more investigating I found that Robert Ivan Nichols was born Feb 13th 1921 in Kanova NY, I knew at that point , he was not the same person.
I still need to check out the one who was an electrical engineer in LA in the 60’s, to be sure he is or is not the correct Robert Ivan Nichols.
I was not able to find him in the Napa city directories, so either he didn’t live there and was just passing through ,or was there for a short time?
From what I have learned about him, is he was deceiving and could have sent the letter from Napa to throw his family off as to where he was really living.
Sort of how Zodiac sent letters and cards to make us think he could have been living in any of those areas?
While Robert Ivan Nichols was in the Navy he was listed as a fireman, in 1945 he was on the ship Gosper and in Jan 1946 listed as on the ship Lake Champlain.He was bombed in 1945 and received a Purple Heart. He was out in 1946 and according to his family tree he did live in LA at that time. ( I can’t believe everything that is shown in his family tree) Found a few mistakes so not positive he was living in LA 1946. He could have been stationed there?
There is nothing about this man that makes me think , he was Zodiac.
I don’t think he was Zodiac either but there are a few things that have to give pause to dismissing him. He was a loner, good at staying under the radar and had some issues with his mental health. Lot of guys could fall under that category though.
But, until we can establish his whereabouts during that time and use it to rule him out I’ll keep him on the suspect list. The odd thing is that no one has come forward and said they knew him during that time he was in California. I wonder if he was living under an assumed name while there. The Chandler kid might not have been the first identity he stole. Has anyone determined how he found this kids name? Any connection to that family?
I don’t think he was Zodiac either but there are a few things that have to give pause to dismissing him. He was a loner, good at staying under the radar and had some issues with his mental health. Lot of guys could fall under that category though.
But, until we can establish his whereabouts during that time and use it to rule him out I’ll keep him on the suspect list. The odd thing is that no one has come forward and said they knew him during that time he was in California. I wonder if he was living under an assumed name while there. The Chandler kid might not have been the first identity he stole. Has anyone determined how he found this kids name? Any connection to that family?
Curious Cat, It is assumed that he went to where the boy was buried in Texas and got his name ,birthday and death day that way. Then he contacted the hospital where he was born and got his birth certificate. After that he filed for a social security card. He knew that the boy and his parents had died, so it would be much easier to take his ID without any repercussions. There is a chance that he was told about the death of this family by a co-worker or someone else that he knew and decided this would be a perfect ID to use.
I have not seen any documentation of mental illness. As far as being a loner, he seemed to be a kind man who made sure that the people he worked with had some nice cookies to eat with their coffee. (That was according to the letter he wrote to his parents.) His picture has been in the news, so the name shouldn’t matter. I don’t see how no one in Calif. has come forward as knowing or seeing him here? I have not found him in the Napa City directories for 1965,66,67. He could have just been passing through? He looked nothing like any descriptions of Zodiac. From all of the pictures I have seen of this guy he was always on the thin side. "Never stocky"
I have not seen any documentation of mental illness.
Hey Sandy. I’m Tejas Rob over at Tom’s forum, had to use a different name there since it said this one was taken there. I’m the one who posted the photo of his ship going under the Golden gate bridge and the story about the kamikaze attacks his ship suffered. That’s what I’m assessing his mental state on, and I said mental issues, not illness. I have no doubt he had ghosts he was dealing with. That can manifest itself in many ways and as I noted at the other forum I’ve seen my own dad and brother deal with the same thing. But as I said also, 99% of the time it’s only themselves they hurt and I’ve seen nothing showing Nichols was a violent man.
As far as being a loner, he seemed to be a kind man who made sure that the people he worked with had some nice cookies to eat with their coffee. (That was according to the letter he wrote to his parents.)
Yeah, there was no family violence with the wife and kids, or anyone for that matter. Only aloofness and somewhat cold. Kind of like the 1000 yard stare, if you know what I mean. I think things were bothering him that no one else knew or understood. One reason I don’t think he was Zodiac is that I believe he had seen enough death in his life and wanted no part of any more.
His picture has been in the news, so the name shouldn’t matter. I don’t see how no one in Calif. has come forward as knowing or seeing him here?
Yeah, same here. It’s still early though and the authorities might dig something up.
I have not found him in the Napa City directories for 1965,66,67. He could have just been passing through?
Possible since we don’t really know where he was.
He looked nothing like any descriptions of Zodiac. From all of the pictures I have seen of this guy he was always on the thin side. "Never stocky"
Yeah, agreed. He had two legs, a head and wore glasses, other than that he doesn’t look anything like the descriptions of Zodiac. Of course, we would need a photo of him from that time to be sure, but he seems to be on the smaller side, both height and weight.
I’m still curious as to how he got a job as an engineer and a draftsman. I would guess he used the GI Bill to go to college, but when and where?
Oh I am so happy to know that is you at Tom’s, I love your posts!
I have been looking at this guy as you know and I did find one that could be him in collage. I will have to go back and check it out again and let you know the name of the collage.
Thanks sandy, I love your knowledge and experience about the case, as well as several other folks. I’ve looked into the possibility he was involved with the Ford racing effort, since it’s said he worked on cooling systems for race cars, but reached a dead end. I have quite a few contacts in that area who were around at that time but got nothing from them, they didn’t know anyone by either name.
RIN’s wiki page was updated 20 days ago and appears as within the last 6 months, a new possible connections to an unsolved murder of a young girl in Ohio (had not been following this). The sketch on the girls wiki page is striking compared to Nichols, especially the mouth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Amy_Mihaljevic
And here is an article with more details:
RIN’s wiki page was updated 20 days ago and appears as within the last 6 months, a new possible connections to an unsolved murder of a young girl in Ohio (had not been following this). The sketch on the girls wiki page is striking compared to Nichols, especially the mouth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Amy_Mihaljevic
And here is an article with more details:
This could very well have been the reason for his disappearance. He does look like the composites of the perpetrator.
In that case we have a young child victim and an apparent sexual motive. Much different to Zodiac’s crimes.
Didn’t he steal the identity in 1978?
