So, I have heard that LE believe that Zodiac sat in the front seat of Paul Stine’s cab. I was riding around one day and thought about how difficult it would be for someone while sitting in the front seat to pull out a gun, place it behind some guy’s ear and shoot him. Most would see the gun being drawn and move or duck or something when it was pointed at them.
It sure does seem like it would be a lot easier to sit in the back directly behind the driver, brandish one’s pistol, lean forward, position it and pull the trigger.
Stine was shot in front of his right ear.
If Paul Stine picked up Zodiac at Mason and Geary and drove him to Washington and Cherry, then I think that Zodiac was probably sitting in the back, right side of the taxi. Taxi drivers don’t like people riding in the front seat, and I’m sure Paul Stine felt the same way.
Taxi drivers don’t like people riding in the front seat, and I’m sure Paul Stine felt the same way.
Paul allowed riders in the front until he got robbed a couple of times by strangers in the front who grabbed his cash box and jumped out. At the time of his murder, if Paul didn’t know you, it was strictly back of the cab.
I’ve sat in the front seats of taxis.
Stine was shot in front of his right ear.
Okay. It still seems like if someone was sitting in the front seat with me and pulled out a pistol, I would see it and I would react by not sitting there and getting shot in the head.
Stine was shot in front of his right ear.
Okay. It still seems like if someone was sitting in the front seat with me and pulled out a pistol, I would see it and I would react by not sitting there and getting shot in the head.
Stine pulls up at curb to drop the passenger off, the next logical event in this timeline would be the passenger reaching into their pocket to get money to pay Stine. So Stine would not have had any reason to think this unusual. How long would it take to then put the gun to Stines head and pull the trigger ? 1 second, maybe 2.
He would hardly have had time to react, perhaps this explains the bruising.
Stine was shot in front of his right ear.
Okay. It still seems like if someone was sitting in the front seat with me and pulled out a pistol, I would see it and I would react by not sitting there and getting shot in the head.
Stine pulls up at curb to drop the passenger off, the next logical event in this timeline would be the passenger reaching into their pocket to get money to pay Stine. So Stine would not have had any reason to think this unusual. How long would it take to then put the gun to Stines head and pull the trigger ? 1 second, maybe 2.
He would hardly have had time to react, perhaps this explains the bruising.
With Stine pulling up at the curb be could have had his head turned. To face the meter, or having to talk with, zodiac in the backseat.
It takes surprisingly longer to make an accurate shot even at point blank than one might think. Try shaping your fingers like a gun and putting your pointer on the temple area of a person driving a car. Add in some nervousness and pressure and it gets harder. Also, pulling out a pistol would be more obvious than simply getting out money.
I can say that I think things would be much more sneaky coming from the back seat area.
It takes surprisingly longer to make an accurate shot even at point blank than one might think. Try shaping your fingers like a gun and putting your pointer on the temple area of a person driving a car. Add in some nervousness and pressure and it gets harder. Also, pulling out a pistol would be more obvious than simply getting out money.
I can say that I think things would be much more sneaky coming from the back seat area.
Agree, and if Paul began to turn his head towards the back seat to get the money, that would expose the right side of his head quite nicely for the fatal shot.
It takes surprisingly longer to make an accurate shot even at point blank than one might think. Try shaping your fingers like a gun and putting your pointer on the temple area of a person driving a car. Add in some nervousness and pressure and it gets harder. Also, pulling out a pistol would be more obvious than simply getting out money.
I can say that I think things would be much more sneaky coming from the back seat area.
Agree, and if Paul began to turn his head towards the back seat to get the money, that would expose the right side of his head quite nicely for the fatal shot.
I partly think that Zodiac feigned robbery, asking Stine to hand over his keys and wallet, while already holding the gun to his head. GSK was known to do this to get the victims to acquiesce to his commands. Zodiac had already practiced this technique at LB. It’s a way of maintaining control and avoiding panic.
Yes, there’s a lot of assuming that Stine didn’t know what hit him, we don’t really know what happened.
Yes, there’s a lot of assuming that Stine didn’t know what hit him, we don’t really know what happened.
He did not want to leave another surviving victim. Which is what happened just a few weeks earlier at Lake Berryessa. He must have took aim this time.
Sorry, but I can’t help but flashback to all the times I had a backseat passenger and turned the mirror down because their fidgeting was so distracting.
The way I see it, he has some major disadvantages if he sits in the back: 1) the mirror (which Stine only has to glance at), 2) takes longer, more awkward (has to reach around with his right hand and turn the gun to the left), 3) he’s completely screwed if Stine knocks the gun out of his hand. Which the "dark marks" potentially indicate he tried to do.
From a 1967 edition of the L.A. Times:
"Cabs have a special switch to turn off one headlight. That signal tells police that the driver is in trouble. It is an effective device. ‘I burned out a light the other night, and four squad cars stopped me in half an hour,’ said one driver."
I’d be curious to know if both of the taxi’s headlights were on.
