in Answer, to the question, about the costume. I found it on either Sept 28th or 29th 1969. It was a few weeks before Halloween, I thought it was a Halloween costume. It was in two parts despite what you have read! It was made to look like one piece because the hood was made from a paper sack, painted flat black on the outside. The day when I found it was a very warm day, so all the windows in the car were down. My neighbor gave me a ride to pick up my car that my soon to be ex had taken to a restaurant/bar called the Soscal House, which was just off of the highway that connects Napa to Vallejo. I had my 8-month-old baby with me, my neighbor helped to carry things to my car. She saw the same things I did and thought it was a Halloween costume. As I was driving back home, I smelled an odd odor that I didn’t smell until I rolled up the windows. It was whatever made the hood black? It could have been something like shoe polish? I threw that part in the garbage, kept the one and a half yards of black cotton material which was 36 inches wide. The drawings that Graysmith did of the costume were close, but none I have seen were the way it actually looked. The symbol was on the center of the chest and was 3 inches across, the cross extended through the outside of the circle. I do not remember if that was sewn on or painted on in white? All I know it would not be easy to remove! I kept it because I sew a lot and keep scraps for hobbies. It was put in one of my material boxes. In the meantime, I got my divorce and remarried in 1975. When I moved from my condo in Walnut Creek to the new home, my husband said we should store some boxes at his mother’s. That had to be where that box went? About a yr or so ago, that husband who was now ex-husband had remarried, called me to tell me he found some of my boxes when he was moving his mother’s things after she passed away. I told him I would get my truck fixed asap and pick my things up. In the meantime, he put everything (100 or more boxes) in his garage at the home he had just bought. He told me he wasn’t sure which boxes were mine because they are mixed in with all of the others! I offered to help him, but I am guessing his wife didn’t like that idea? He had a huge fire at his home shortly after I posted that I would be getting the boxes. Thank goodness none of those boxes were in the fire! (The fire was under investigation) Since then he has had a heart attack, so I can’t push him. I still have "many things " that the killer put in my car that have DNA on them and can still break the case wide open! If only Napa will take the time to listen to what I have to say and show what the killer "planted"in my car I say "planted" because I now know it wasn’t put by mistake as I thought for all these yrs! He replaced the clothesline he took about 8 or 10 yrs ago, with a new one almost like the one he took, except this one is a bit thinner. I had that plastic clothesline to hang my baby’s diapers on. I recently noticed that the wrapper of the clothesline shows a woman hanging diapers! He had to have bought it a very long time ago because as far as I know, no one washes diapers anymore? How clever of him to pick a package showing that!

It would be great if Sandy could find the person who gave her the above information. Have they seen Tony since? Any more information about him?

He certainly sounds like an evil person and it is amazing to think he could have escaped arrest for at least one of his crimes.

He was almost caught one time when I called 911. One officer asked me if he was driving a blue and white truck? I said yes he took off in it a minute ago. The officer said he was sorry that he saw him speeding away, but couldn’t go after him, because he was called as a backup.

This man I am telling you about is the same man I got away from in Vallejo/ Napa 1968. He claims to be Zodiac, he is worse than evil, he is extremely dangerous!
I have no doubt that he is who he says he is!

Hmm….should Sandy find some crocuses and liver on her doorstep, in her yard or around her car in the near future, that would be a sure sign that her stalker is alive and reading here!

He reads all of my posts on this site and Tom’s, he lets me know by damaging my property when I make him angry. The shot he fired at me in the ’90s is still in my bedroom wall for testing if need be. I looked for the casing outside of my bedroom window when I realized I was shot at but didn’t find one. The neighbors next door saw him climb over the fence with a gun in his hand. They apologized for not calling the police. They said they had been smoking pot and didn’t want to get busted. He did that in the middle of the day!

Sandy, I am curious about your car and ex-husband. He took it to the restaurant where you picked it up. Was he working there as a bartender or just patronizing as a customer? Did he know you were coming to get the car? Since you were soon-to-be divorced, were the circumstances amicable or not? How many cars did you have? How was he planning to get home if you left in the car? (It sounds like he was in the establishment and not with you in the car.)

Was he the forgetful type and could have left this getup init the car rather than taking it inside with him. I can’t help but feel there is something kind of fishy possibly with this guy. Did you know his friends and associates? Ever hear him talk about customers at this bar which IIRC he worked at as a bartender?
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I’m trying to think why the Zodiac would place such incriminating evidence in a random car or even in a vehicle belonging to someone he knew (as in framing that person) as I’d think he’d fear there was blood/figerprints/hair that could be traced back to himself. I’d think he would have kept it as a souvenir thinking to himself how clever he was or disposed of it himself at some point in time in ways that he knew it would be impossible to ever find or point back to him.

Hmm….should Sandy find some crocuses and liver on her doorstep, in her yard or around her car in the near future, that would be a sure sign that her stalker is alive and reading here!

Liver with saffron sauce? I like it…

Sandy, I am curious about your car and ex-husband. He took it to the restaurant where you picked it up. Was he working there as a bartender or just patronizing as a customer? Did he know you were coming to get the car? Since you were soon-to-be divorced, were the circumstances amicable or not? How many cars did you have? How was he planning to get home if you left in the car? (It sounds like he was in the establishment and not with you in the car.)

Was he the forgetful type and could have left this getup init the car rather than taking it inside with him. I can’t help but feel there is something kind of fishy possibly with this guy. Did you know his friends and associates? Ever hear him talk about customers at this bar which IIRC he worked at as a bartender?
/
I’m trying to think why the Zodiac would place such incriminating evidence in a random car or even in a vehicle belonging to someone he knew (as in framing that person) as I’d think he’d fear there was blood/figerprints/hair that could be traced back to himself. I’d think he would have kept it as a souvenir thinking to himself how clever he was or disposed of it himself at some point in time in ways that he knew it would be impossible to ever find or point back to him.

The only thing I could think of after the Zodiac "reminded" me by leaving me a new clothesline some 15or 20 yrs after he planted all of those things in the car. Was that he wanted to frame my husband for his murders? I forgot about the clothesline until he left a new one on my front porch. I realized then that they were put there for that reason, nothing else makes any sense! My car was not a "random" car, Zodiac knew my car. He had followed me in that car months before from Vallejo to my home in Napa. My husband was not forgetful, he was not the Zodiac for crying out loud!
Zodiac is an insane person, how do you rationalize what a crazy person does? There was no DNA in 1969, he probably wiped everything he left in the car that would have his prints? His plan didn’t work because I had no idea what all of that stuff was? I asked my husband if he picked up someone who left all of that in the car, he never saw it when he drove to the bar. So Zodiac had to put it there while my husband was inside.

My taking the car was necessary, that was the only one at that time that was working if I had another one I would have taken it. My eldest son was turning 12 on Sept 30th and I needed to buy everything for his birthday. I made all of my children’s cakes the day before and decorated them the day of. More than likely I bought everything on Monday the 28th. That is how I remembered when I found everything so many years later. Mondays and Tuesdays were our days off work. My husband was drinking and playing dice with his friends at that bar. I knew that one of them would give him a ride home. Or he could call me if he needed a ride. We lived together knowing we were getting a divorce and got along. He couldn’t afford an apartment on his own at that time. Zodiac had no idea we were divorcing, so to him, he thought I was cheating on my husband with a Vallejo Cop Buzz Gordon. Apparently, Zodiac frowns on adultery and hates cops but thinks murder is ok? There was nothing I read or heard about the Lake B stabbings or about a costume before I found it. Napa didn’t have a Sunday paper and I was too busy to sit and watch the TV for news. ( I had five children ) It wasn’t until 1987 or 88 when I got the Graysmith’s Z book and saw the costume, that’s when I started to put everything together and when I started looking for the costume to give to the police.

There is no way that leaving that stuff in my car could be traced back to him.

Think about it, he left the police many clues and letters, nothing has been traced back to him. This is not some Hollywood movie, it is real life!

It is what it is, even if you don’t understand it.

Can we get back on and stay on topic regarding news of DNA stuff and possible efforts to add to Gedmatch? Thank you

Yes but just one more question. Sandy did your husband go directly from home to the bar or did he stop somewhere like a drugstore where the costume could have been put in the car?

Call me out on my pessimism if you want, but I don’t think there is anything to the DNA/forensic genealogy stuff. I don’t think they have a full DNA profile, and if they have been working this for 3 years they would have hit on something by now.

That said, I PRAY I end up with egg on my face, but at this point I’m not holding my breath.

Morf, Tom, a question:

as far as you know, even as rumors, are the police optimistic about the identification of Zodiac through DNA? Thank you!

Morf, Tom, a question:

as far as you know, even as rumors, are the police optimistic about the identification of Zodiac through DNA? Thank you!

My source is, yes.

And Riverside is re: Bates.

Morf, Tom, a question:

as far as you know, even as rumors, are the police optimistic about the identification of Zodiac through DNA? Thank you!

I understand there is movement in both Zodiac & Bates cases, but I can not say if they have officially linked the Bates case to the Z case, or just happen to be making progress in both cases at the same time.(law enforcement people are being tight lipped and facing the threat of being suspended if they share any info about these 2 cases right now)Based on that, I’d be shocked if one or both cases were not solved sooner rather than later

Thank you very much, to both of you! Great news to hear!

Morf, Tom, a question:

as far as you know, even as rumors, are the police optimistic about the identification of Zodiac through DNA? Thank you!

I understand there is movement in both Zodiac & Bates cases, but I can not say if they have officially linked the Bates case to the Z case, or just happen to be making progress in both cases at the same time.(law enforcement people are being tight lipped and facing the threat of being suspended if they share any info about these 2 cases right now)Based on that, I’d be shocked if one or both cases were not solved sooner rather than later

Any movement in any direction is good news imo. Thank y’all for keeping us updated!