I am also going by the content of the articles and most of all the newspaper statement of February 1st, 1969, that RG set out "some months ago".

With the limited information we have, different people can have different interpretations. For me there is not much to be gained from further discussions.

The good news is, relying in part on your agreement to cover charges in excess of $50, I have submitted FOIA requests to both FBI & State Department for RG’s files, and will post them here and get full copies to all interested parties. Hopefully they may give us some answers.

I am also going by the content of the articles and most of all the newspaper statement of February 1st, 1969, that RG set out "some months ago". .

Please. Do your ex-employers follow your every move?

Regardless, that info originated exclusively with Gaikowski, as did the similar Paley claim. And both happened after the Lake Herman killings. Obviously if Gaikowski was the culprit, he would have wanted an alibi, albeit a fake one.

I have to ask…if we must take the word of a suspect, didn’t Ted Kaczynski deny being the Zodiac?

Well I would think the newspaper had some communication with RG when he was in Ireland, be it by phone, telefax or mail. And that they would exercise some due diligence before running the article to actually determine that RG really was in Ireland and really did witness these events. Be it by photographs, interview transcripts or checking with interview subjects.

But as I said it’s pretty pointless to debate it further. With limited information and ambiguous evidence, people can come to different interpretations.

I found out that the State Department considers applications for passports to be public records subject to FOIA requests. I also asked for information on countries visited and dates of departure and return , although I don’t know for sure if all or some of those will be granted or not. But at least we will know for sure if RG applied for a passport, when he applied and if it was granted.

So I have submitted FOIA requests both to the FBI and the State Department, and hopefully we may get some answers that will shed some light on these issues.

Well I would think the newspaper had some communication with RG when he was in Ireland, be it by phone, telefax or mail.

That’s an assumption. In fact everything you have used in favor of where you believe Gaikowski was on Dec. 20, 1968 are assumptions. When he would have departed after quitting, what contact he might have had with the ex-employer, etc. All assumptions. Yet it’s others who don’t deal in facts, logic and common sense? Your words.

Good luck AK, you’ll need it. A search by a private party are oftentimes fruitless. That’s why I used the Congressman’s Office. I was an "in need" constituent so they preformed a State Dept Travel search for me. And not a FOIA search AFAIK.

Passport Searched Before: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/after/passport-records.html

Passport Searches by Status Name: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/after/status.html

I had a great repore and relationship with the Congressional Office workers, I think they went above and beyond the call of duty,when they did that 4 month search. I also didn’t have to pay for any passport fees. I think it’s about $50.00/per for a search these days.

The only problem I’ve encountered is being asked to supply info that I did a search (on the Congressional office letterhead) That was one huge error I made. The Congressman lost his re-election bid and the office closed etc, so there is no chance of me getting any proof of the search. They did show me and let me read many of the pages showing me the correspondence between Travel.gov and the Congressional Office, but they said making copies wasn’t allowed.

It was a huge assumption on my part that they would or wouldn’t have made a statement on letterhead saying that I made the search and the results of that search, etc. I regret not having anything to show for my efforts, nor do they (closed office)

If I were you, I try the same tactics that I did, contact your local Congressional or Senator’s Office (not so much would happen there (at the Senators office I think) and as a private citizen, you’d probably be able to get a search done. You may have to pay the $50.00. I also didn’t disclose anything about Gyke being a suspect for the Zodiac. I didn’t want to come off in that way, that I was a kook true crime researcher. I think after the search was over, I called them and told them the reason for the search on Gyke, and one of the clerks seemed interested in that, and was going to read up on Gaikowski

In any case, good luck to you and your search/congressional search.

Wood

And again, I saw typed: Gaikowski have neither a passport or any Visa’s.

I’m not going to rule out that he had a fake, stolen, loaned or forged passport. Those passports (in the 1960’s) used to be very simple, not sophisticated like today’s us passports are! For Example, James Baldwin’s Passport (circa 1965) shows passport stamps for 1968 and easily forged/faked passport, no built in fraud alrets, etc

against a current day passport:

So anyway, just thought I’d post this info.

Wood

"Happy Traveler"

They don’t even stamp my passport now.

Thanks for posting that info Wood. It seems to me the problem with going to your local Congresspersons office is that you are dependent upon the staff there. I’ve had some experience dealing with Congressional staff, and they can range from great, to mediocre, to downright disinterested and/or incompetent.

I don’t know what database they showed you, or what database your local Congressperson would have access to that would have the voluminous information the State Department in DC has at its disposal. You say they did a four-month search for you, but you forgot to ask them for a letter (which would take 5 minutes to do) stating that no passport application was found for RG.

If I went that route, would the staff people I get be interested, willing to devote the time and be thorough, and really have access to all the voluminous State Department paper records in DC? I doubt it.

The vast majority of these records from the 1960’s and earlier are not digitized or on any computer database. They exist only as paper files. This is why it can take quite a bit of time to find them. For a FOIA request to the FBI or State Department, they will commence a search for the paper records and the first two hours of search time are free. After that they charge you by the hour.

I have already submitted my FOIA request directly to the State Department (and FBI). I found out that it seems to be the rule that applications for a passport are considered public records subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and thus should be produced when requested.

So at least I think I should get that information. I also asked for other information, such as countries visited and dates of departure from the US and return to the US. It is not clear to me one way or the other whether all, some or none of that type of material will be produced under a FOIA request.

It’s always a bit hit and miss , depending on what you ask for, who gets assigned to look for it, how you word your request, how persistent you are, etc. But over the years I have learned some things and I’ve had pretty good success with FOIA requests to federal agencies on the Zodiac and other cases.

Morf and I worked on some Zodiac FOIA requests together, shared information on what we learned from our experiences and succeeded in getting some previously unreleased documents, including unconfirmed letters. I got a little tired from the work after awhile and took a break from it, but Morf went forward, was very tenacious and persistent and succeeded in getting a ton of Zodiac documents from the FBI, many previously unreleased.

So we shall see what comes of my FOIA requests to the FBI and State Department.

But let’s say RG did not go to Europe in the fall of 1968, that he only left for Ireland the first week of January 1969. You still have this problem, as I see it. There is no proof RG was in the State of California in October 1966, November 1966, April 1967 or December 1968.

In 1966 – 1967, RG is living, working and writing articles in Albany, New York. Whether or not Zodiac killed Cheri Jo Bates and/or wrote the letters in that case can and has been debated. But for those who think the evidence shows Zodiac did likely kill Bates and write the letters, you have the problem that RG, living, working and writing articles in Albany, NY, would have to be in Riverside, California on October 30, 1966, November 28, 1966, and April 30, 1967.

Of course there is the possibility of air travel. I don’t think the paper he worked for paid a lot of money, which he would need for three separate round trip flights from NY to CA. I don’t know if he could get that much time off work or even afford to get that much time off work, plus pay for three round trip cross country flights. And I don’t know if the dates of articles he wrote in 1966 and 1967 would realistically allow for the three separate flights and Riverside activities, even if he could afford them. Does anyone know if RG had published articles that covered events on or near 10/30/66, 11/28/66 or 4/30/67?

You have a similar problem in 1968. According to the letter Drew talked about, RG mentions seeing the snow in November in Albany, in a letter postmarked from Albany.

So even if he did not go to Europe in 1968, RG, now unemployed, must buy a ticket to fly from NY to California, purchase a gun there, purchase or obtain a car there, scout the area (not having any known prior knowledge or experience of that area of CA?), commit the first Zodiac crime on 12/20/68, then buy a ticket to fly from CA to Ireland to be there by the first week of January 1969.

All of which I suppose is possible, if the unemployed RG had the funds to purchase multiple long distance cross country and cross Atlantic flight tickets, a gun and a car. But seems IMO to be very difficult, impracticable and unrealistic. I am not aware of any other serial killer who took multiple cross country airplane flights to get to his crimes.

Former FBI agent and serial killer profiler John Douglas said he found in his study of dozens of serial killers that almost without exception their first crimes were in an area close to "home", that they lived in currently or had in the past, that they knew well and felt comfortable in. This also proved to the case with recently captured GSK.

AK,

I never mentioned anything about an application. I would assume that if there was a passport application there would also be a passport. I went for the meat, I wanted to know if Richard Gaikowski ever held a legal US Passport, ever!

Let me state this again for clarity. The Congressman’s office doesn’t have a database, I never stated or implied that they did. The Congressman’s Office sent out requests to the proper agencies involved, this included the State Dept Travel Divisions, where both paper and digitized versions of passports are stored. They also reached out to several other divisions as I recall.

I never viewed anyone’s database. I view some of the correspondence between the Congressional Office and the State Dept.

I have no idea if you went by the Congressional Office, that they wouldn’t treat you as a kook. I’m implying it is always better to not disclose your target of your search. That’s the #1 way to label you as a kook and shush you away. That’s why you should try to build a repore with the staff there, be friendly, bring them some donuts, they’ll appreciate the gesture, believe me! They won’t forget that you treated them so kindly!

I wasn’t charged by the hour, that’s why I think that the Congressional Office would be the route to go! In addition to your FOIA.

Again, are you searching and doing your FOIA for Gyke’s passport application OR for his passport records?

For the record, I don’t believe that CJB was killed by Zodiac. I do believe that Zodiac wrote the letters and took the credit. I also think that desktop poem is specious.

And yes, I missed the boat in asking them for a letter on their letterhead. I did ask if I was allowed to have copies made of some of the search (the correspondence for example – when I was told no, I sorta thought maybe I should just leave it at that) thus a "proof" letter wasn’t exactly front and center in my mind. That’s that on that!

Still, good luck to you on your continued search. Oh, by the way, does anyone have Gyke’s FBI records and if they do, would they be willing to share them?

Wood

"Happy Traveler"

They don’t even stamp my passport now.

Last time I was in Europe (2 years ago iirc),they stamped all my entries and exits from countries, despite the Schengen areas (rules or whatever) See here:

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/scheng … ries-list/

Wood

My FOIA request to the State Department was for RG’s passport application, date of departure from the US, countries visited, date of return to the US, and "all available passport and State Department information". It seems that applications for a passport are public records subject to a FOIA request. I do not know if all, some or none of the other information will be available through an FOIA request and/or appeal.

I agree with you on this point, if he applied for passport, he got it.

I also did a FOIA request to the FBI, simply for RG’s entire file and any FBI records pertaining to RG.

Thanks for posting the information about your experience with your Congressional office. To me, it just seems to add a layer of complication to it if I went that route. To some extent, you’re dependent upon the Congressional staff being interested, willing to work hard, being persistent and being competent. It seems to me there’s a higher chance of success going the FOIA route.

As I said, I’ve had some years of experience, and pretty good record of success, in doing FOIA requests to the federal government. So I already went that route.

The FOIA requests to both the FBI and State Department have been made, and we’ll see what happens. Any records I get I will post in their entirety here, if they’re not too large, and I will get full copies to you Wood, Tom, Drew, Doranchak and anybody else who contacts me now and requests a copy.

So even if he did not go to Europe in 1968, RG, now unemployed, must buy a ticket to fly from NY to California, purchase a gun there, purchase or obtain a car there, scout the area (not having any known prior knowledge or experience of that area of CA?)

No prior knowledge?

Immediately before moving to Albany, NY, Gaikowski worked for a couple of years in Martinez, Cal, which is just across a bridge from Benicia and just a few miles from the Lake Herman crime scene as the crow flies. And he had weekly meetings at the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Before desperately attempting to debunk something, you really should learn about it first.

So even if he did not go to Europe in 1968, RG, now unemployed, must buy a ticket to fly from NY to California, purchase a gun there, purchase or obtain a car there, scout the area (not having any known prior knowledge or experience of that area of CA?)

No prior knowledge?

Immediately before moving to Albany, NY, Gaikowski worked for a couple of years in Martinez, Cal, which is just across a bridge from Benicia and just a few miles from the Lake Herman crime scene as the crow flies. And he had weekly meetings at the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Before desperately attempting to debunk something, you really should learn about it first.

Well perhaps you didn’t notice that I was asking a question, after the words "no prior knowledge of the area", I placed a question mark . That was my way of saying I don’t know the answer to this, maybe somebody can fill in the blanks.

I don’t think I’m desperately trying to debunk anything. There were things being asserted here that I thought were incomplete, and I tried to fill in some facts and countering information. There were also unanswered questions raised about whether or not RG was ever in Ireland, and when he might have left and returned. We now will get the answers to those questions, I hope, because of the FOIA request I filed with the FBI and State Department.

That’s helpful that at least RG had some prior knowledge of and experience in that general area of California. I still think it would be fairly challenging for him, on a reporter’s salary, plus writing articles about events he covered in Albany, to fly to Riverside, California on perhaps three separate occasions in 1966 and 1967, to kill Bates and write the letters in that case. (Of course whether or not Zodiac killed Bates and/or wrote those letters is a topic for a separate debate.)

And even if RG did not fly to Ireland until the first week of January1969, given the letter that Drew talked about, were RG mentions the snow in Albany in November, in a letter postmarked from Albany, he is still facing a rather challenging scenario IMO.

The now unemployed RG would have to buy a cross-country ticket to California, purchase a gun there, purchase or obtain a car there, commit the first Zodiac crime on 12/20/68, then purchase a ticket to Europe. All of which is possible, but for the reasons I go into more depth above, seems highly impracticable and unrealistic.

But I don’t know if further debate will shed much light on these issues. We are dealing with incomplete information from which different conclusions can be reached. I hope that when I get the documents some of these questions can be more definitively answered.

It has already long been established that Gaikowski visited his best friend in the Bay Area, Bob Loomis, around the time of the Lake Herman murders. Allegedly Loomis told Blaine in 1986 that the visit was in December 1968, but then later told me he thought the visit had happened a bit later. Plus Loomis said that Gaikowski routinely borrowed his car during the stay.

In any event, the Loomis visit happened, which proves that yes, Gaikowski had the ability and means to visit the Bay Area around the time of his travels abroad.

And if I may, the fact that Bob Loomis redacted the story is a clue! He probably knew at heart that Zodiac was Gyke or had suspicions enough, that he was ashamed that his family car was used in conjunction with the murders on LHR. I know, I would be redacting too, if I realized that!

Wood