Mike R., to use Machivelli’s style . . .

Either Tom was lying or he was not lying when he reported that he was told about new DNA developments by law enforcement. If he was lying, he has now burned relationships he spent two decades cultivating and will never get special access to information again. It seems unlikely that Tom would end his Zodiac career over something this small and petty. If Tom was not lying, then either the PD has new DNA or it doesn’t have new DNA. If it has new DNA then the information was released to Tom on purpose or it was released negligently. It seems unlikely that such an important piece of evidence would be released negligently (i.e., a drunken slip of the tongue). Thus, if the information were released to Tom on purpose, then the information is either true or it is not true. If it is not true, then PD must have some amazing piece if unknown evidence or some amazing hunch and they need the information to become public to provoke a reaction by their suspect. If it is true, then it was released by someone with authorization to release the info it was releaded by someone without authorization. If it were released by someone with authorization then, presumably, it wouldn’t be walked back. Thus, the best explanation is that the information is true, it was reported to Tom by someone eithout authorization to make such a report, and Tom reported it accuractely. I take Henry of Occam’s view on this one.

And yet we still do not know fully the nature of the "DNA news".

Do they now have a complete DNA profile of the Zodiac?

Did they successfully recover DNA from the back of the stamps?

Do they have a DNA match of a suspect?

The vague and cryptic nature of the information frustrated many, and then to suddenly have it become "sorry, fake news" made it even worse, IMO.

Gedmatch is a publicly available unregulated database.

Tom was probably rightfully scorned for releasing such details because who ever informed him are probably the same people that uploaded a DNA profile relating to the “Turpin case” on the same day…

Toms announcement coincides with something that’s no longer viewable.

Gedmatch is a publicly available unregulated database.

Toms announcement coincides with something that’s no longer viewable.

To my knowledge, it was never "viewable". It was a vague announcement that "they have DNA". What does that even mean?

Gedmatch is a publicly available unregulated database.

Toms announcement coincides with something that’s no longer viewable.

To my knowledge, it was never "viewable". It was a vague announcement that "they have DNA". What does that even mean?

They have had DNA for 50 years

But seriously it means They have a profile that’s readily able to be utilized.

Ultimately it’s a hunch that tom is telling the truth.

There is no logical reason why Tom V would ruin his reputation by peddling falsehoods, or why someone in LE would bother lying about DNA success.

They have had DNA for 50 years

Yes. That’s my point. The whole announcement was very vague and confusing. I assumed it was the fact that they had recovered a complete DNA profile from the stamps with which to enter into GedMatch.

Let’s say that this assumption is accurate. If they have Zodiac’s complete DNA profile now, they can upload it to GedMatch. It takes 24 to 48 hours to receive a genealogy report from the website. If any relative are found, then the detective work begins. For reference, it too police 4 months from the time the GSK DNA profile was uploaded to his arrest. So, if the Zodiac case proceeds with similar efficiency, we should be looking at an arrest (if the suspect is alive) by July/August. If the Zodiac is dead, it might be impossible to verify his identity using GedMatch.

It’s all good, I didn’t lie about anything, let’s all together watch Zodiac get taken down by the Internet would be good by me.

Keep up the good fight Tom.

Thank you, if yesterday didn’t kill me nothing will lol

my best guess is there was a feedback loop between two or more people who don’t really know anything.

Well fellow Zodiacphiles, what did we learn here?

I think we learned to trust our instincts. We were all wondering why this information would have been released unless they had him. That’s what most of us were asking.

I feel for Tom, he’s going to be roasted, he’s used to that I would think. It’s not his fault if someone spoke when they shouldn’t have or a trusted source didn’t know what they were talking about.

I’m guessing the info was good, it just wasn’t supposed to be made public. It’s out there now though, and that’s good in a way. Maybe the bastard will see it and do us all a favor, kill himself and avoid taxpayers having to waste money on a trial when he got what he deserved, the death penalty, which the state would never impose on him. I have no sympathy for him. I hope it hurts when he does it.

Hopefully he’s too much of a coward to kill himself or too arrogant to think they will ever catch him, he’s crack proof, ya’ know. Best case scenario he will twich and squirm until they show up with the handcuffs.

Hey Zodiac! how does it feel to be the one living in fear? We are stalking you now!

I still don’t understand what happened but something happened, I don’t want to fan the flames.
On the night GSK was taken into custody, I got a heads up from someone connected to the case. Their message was:
"Our boy’s in custody, but you can’t tell anyone yet, will let you know when you can"
For 2 hours, I was chomping at the bit to tell someone, anyone but I didn’t until I got the word that it was okay to share it. Breaking that news to the world was one of the coolest experiences of my life, so I could never fault anyone for wanting to break big Zodiac news to people. But the key difference was, GSK was already in police custody so even if I told people(not that I would have)prematurely, he couldnt get away. But had they told me that they had identified him using DNA and would be arresting him soon, thats a big difference. If I leaked that, then perhaps the GSK sees it and kills himself or someone else, or destroys evidence. There are definitely downsides to getting info before the rest of the world, and having that info and sharing it properly is key. If someone was given info in confidence and said, don’t tell anyone, and then they go tell people, that can compromise things and burn bridges. On the other hand, if someone gets info and isn’t told that it can’t be shared, and then they share it, it’s likely not their fault. Not sure what happened in this instance, but I also think police shouldn’t share info, that if leaked, could compromise an investigation. We don’t know the exact details of what Tom was alluding to, he didn’t share. Bottom line, until the police say it themselves, there will always be some skepticism

Hopefully he’s too much of a coward to kill himself or too arrogant to think they will ever catch him, he’s crack proof, ya’ know. Best case scenario he will twich and squirm until they show up with the handcuffs.

He won’t kill himself. The entire design of his crimes was to attain celebrity. He’s a narcissistic egotist, so why would he annihilate himself?

It’s not rocket science to conclude that:

It would be irresponsible for ANY ONE, in the middle of an open forensic investigation, to make yesterday’s announcement.

And what was the actual announcement?

At face value: Zip.

It was a tease.

Nothing about retrieving Zodiac’s DNA – Nothing about developing a profile.

Taken at face value, that same announcement could have been made in 2002.

It’s not rocket science to conclude that:

It would be irresponsible for ANY ONE, in the middle of an open forensic investigation, to make yesterday’s announcement.

And what was the actual announcement?

At face value: Zip.

It was a tease.

Nothing about retrieving Zodiac’s DNA – Nothing about developing a profile.

Taken at face value, that same announcement could have been made in 2002.

Yes. This exactly.

I still don’t understand what happened but something happened, I don’t want to fan the flames.
On the night GSK was taken into custody, I got a heads up from someone connected to the case. Their message was:
"Our boy’s in custody, but you can’t tell anyone yet, will let you know when you can"
For 2 hours, I was chomping at the bit to tell someone, anyone but I didn’t until I got the word that it was okay to share it. Breaking that news to the world was one of the coolest experiences of my life, so I could never fault anyone for wanting to break big Zodiac news to people. But the key difference was, GSK was already in police custody so even if I told people(not that I would have)prematurely, he couldnt get away. But had they told me that they had identified him using DNA and would be arresting him soon, thats a big difference. If I leaked that, then perhaps the GSK sees it and kills himself or someone else, or destroys evidence. There are definitely downsides to getting info before the rest of the world, and having that info and sharing it properly is key. If someone was given info in confidence and said, don’t tell anyone, and then they go tell people, that can compromise things and burn bridges. On the other hand, if someone gets info and isn’t told that it can’t be shared, and then they share it, it’s likely not their fault. Not sure what happened in this instance, but I also think police shouldn’t share info, that if leaked, could compromise an investigation. We don’t know the exact details of what Tom was alluding to, he didn’t share. Bottom line, until the police say it themselves, there will always be some skepticism

Very well put Mike. This whole announcement lead me to believe that LE had IDed Z and were probably about to take him into custody. But then this??? Talk about LE foul-ups in this case. I really hope this doesn’t go down as the biggest LE foul-up over the wrong description being broadcasted to patrol cars in SF. Very VERY irresponsible on the part of whoever leaked this to Tom at this point of the investigation. As for Tom, although I agree with your points, I have his back 100% as I have yours. Lets just pray that either A) Z is dead and B) if alive, he is too old, sick and does not even go online to follow this case.

Hi,

The whole notion that Z is so old he can’t even move is absolutely preposterous. I once knew a man who was able to not only travel the world but also dodge traffic ON FOOT on SF streets at like 92. Whoever said this yesterday is clearly out of touch with reality.

Mike