But my question is, would he have the mind set & capability to write long taunting letters to the Chronicle, remembering & citing details from earlier? If the Guy was eating butter & singing Beatles songs,and in the state of mind he was when this man was almost stabbed by him, then I doubt he could have authored the Z letters,just my personal take. But that’s the big question, was he in that mind set at that time? Did being on Meds help him, and clear his mind enough?

The better question was when those letters were written and the state of mind of the killer into 1970s when Ross began to deteriorate. Most letters were cards, etc., in 1970. Short notes asking people to wear buttons, etc. Nonsensical cryptograms. Poems and song lyrics. Designs that may or may not have been bombs. Claims that he murdered people he didn’t murder. The killers coherent letters, if you want to call them that, came in 1969. Those were the ones where he presented information or made specific claims.

There was only a three month period he was writing letters at all in 1970 (April to July). There were no letters between Dec 69 and April 70 and there was one card sent in October 70, otherwise no letters from July 70 to March 71. Ross’ mental state might explain those lapses.

My point is, as someone mentioned, it’s just a piece of the puzzle.

But my question is, would he have the mind set & capability to write long taunting letters to the Chronicle, remembering & citing details from earlier? If the Guy was eating butter & singing Beatles songs,and in the state of mind he was when this man was almost stabbed by him, then I doubt he could have authored the Z letters,just my personal take. But that’s the big question, was he in that mind set at that time? Did being on Meds help him, and clear his mind enough?

The better question was when those letters were written and the state of mind of the killer into 1970s when Ross began to deteriorate. Most letters were cards, etc., in 1970. Short notes asking people to wear buttons, etc. Nonsensical cryptograms. Poems and song lyrics. Designs that may or may not have been bombs. Claims that he murdered people he didn’t murder. The killers coherent letters, if you want to call them that, came in 1969. Those were the ones where he presented information or made specific claims.

There was only a three month period he was writing letters at all in 1970 (April to July). There were no letters between Dec 69 and April 70 and there was one card sent in October 70, otherwise no letters from July 70 to March 71. Ross’ mental state might explain those lapses.

My point is, as someone mentioned, it’s just a piece of the puzzle.

Maybe somebody will come forward to fill us in on more of the timelines for Ross.

A reminder, I reached out to 3 women & 3 men that worked at Terry’s restaurant in Vallejo from 69-70 on the off chance that somebody remembers Ross from there.

This is clearly a matter of interpretation, if you will, but for my money all of Z’s communications from the "golden" period (1969-1971) are coherent (enough). And most of them are linked to something beyond themselves. They constitute a series (one which is, to a sufficient degree, internally linked). Even a small detail like the buttons is part of a pattern. He doesn’t talk about buttons randomly, on one occasion, he does so on several occasions – coming back to the subject, referring to his last mention of the subject, etc.

This is clearly a matter of interpretation, if you will, but for my money all of Z’s communications from the "golden" period (1969-1971) are coherent (enough). And most of them are linked to something beyond themselves. They constitute a series (one which is, to a sufficient degree, internally linked). Even a small detail like the buttons is part of a pattern. He doesn’t talk about buttons randomly, on one occasion, he does so on several occasions – coming back to the subject, referring to his last mention of the subject, etc.

Funny you mention Buttons, but Zodiac first mentioned ‘buttons’ in his Belli letter. That was the day after Elaine Louise Davis was found murdered in Santa Cruz-
http://www.zodiackiller.com/mba/opzv/364.html

It wasn’t mentioned at the time, but there were buttons missing from her jacket(or maybe it was can’t remember). Coincidence? Maybe, but the timing is interesting. I think they found a button near where she was abducted from. BUT, worth noting, she WAS abducted from Walnut Creek (20 miles from Vallejo) & found in Santa Cruz(90 miles from Vallejo). Did her killer have some tie to Santa Cruz??

It’s not just about writing letters though, it’s about the case as a whole–it’s about everything Zodiac got away with. My concern is Ross being able to pull all of this off without getting caught in the mind-set he was in and out of. Zodiac had to be lucky at times…just don’t know if he was that lucky.

It might be a good idea to ask old Santa Cruz cops about Ross. The new info suggests he was a "regular customer." Ross seems to stand out, and it would not be surprising if an officer remembered him.

as i asked on another post, why would he not have been an obvious
suspect after the Paul Stine composite sketches were released? the Santa Cruz
PD arrested at least 2 other men because they resembled the sketches.
Morf’s newest guy seems to confirm he was well-know by Santa Cruz PD.
so, either they were asleep at the switch, or they may have made a big
mistake….thinking like some folks on this site that he was not capable
of being Z. now is that Luck? there is no doubt he was capable of doing
everything Z did. get real folks!

Would you please refresh out memories BBP. Who were the two men arrested because the looked like the sketch? It must have been more than that as you can’t get arrested for looking like a murder suspect.

It’s not just about writing letters though, it’s about the case as a whole–it’s about everything Zodiac got away with. My concern is Ross being able to pull all of this off without getting caught in the mind-set he was in and out of. Zodiac had to be lucky at times…just don’t know if he was that lucky.

What exactly did he pull off? Keep in mind police didn’t have the tools to deal with such a killer in 60s and were likely not even familiar with serial killers as they are today. There were no special units dedicated to this back then. There were no camera phones back then. All the police departments didn’t typically deal with each other and a special task force had to be set up after the last known murder.

All they had were letters after that.

I believe that these two articles about Santa Cruz questioning two men regarding the Zodiac killings are what BBP is talking about.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
Nov. 20, 1969

Santa Cruz Sentinel
Dec. 30, 1969

thank you, Seagull.

Yes, thank you.

So Zodiac was a Libra? Where do they come up with this stuff?

I wish that cleared things up, but it just means: They didn’t really know Ross all that much or they knew Ross was institionalized at the time of one or more of the Zodiac killings or they knew him well and just didn’t think of it or…that he wasn’t a Libra.

Yes, thank you.

So Zodiac was a Libra? Where do they come up with this stuff?

I wish that cleared things up, but it just means: They didn’t really know Ross all that much or they knew Ross was institionalized at the time of one or more of the Zodiac killings or they knew him well and just didn’t think of it or…that he wasn’t a Libra.

all it would have taken is one interaction…..we know of at least two.
there was the phone booth incident and this recent one with the knife.
Morf’s guy also mentioned it seemed the police were familiar with him.
so, answer the question. why wouldn’t they have suspected him????
it baffles me. an alibi for what? looking like Z. they should have been
on him like a cheap suit. attacking someone with a knife? even the
Riverside PD 3 years and 500 miles away made connections. and Santa
Cruz at the time was a serial kiiller’s playground it appears. do some
comparison here. Son of Sam, there’s one for you. his dog was telling
him what to do. i don’t think Ross was that crazy. i say let’s concentrate
our energies on proving it was Ross until definitively, we find out otherwise.

That sort of takes me back to my last post though.

Cops on the streets were looking at guys that looked like the composite. If they didn’t look at Ross, why? It could be LE enforcement DID look at him and there was proof he could not have been Zodiac, and so he was dismissed. And it could be otherwise.

This is all jumping around in the same "we just don’t know" bracket for me.

We don’t know to what extent Ross was mentally ill.

We don’t know to what extent he was institutionalized.

Speculating on what a man who was considered "schizophrenic" at the time would have been capable of – or not – strikes me as pretty much pointless. We have zero details on his actual condition.

Demonstrate that he might have been, plausibly, around LHR, BRS, LB and PH – and then we’re talking. It boils down to that at this stage.

Final point: There’s a clear connection from the initial cipher (which was made by someone who wasn’t completely out of it) to the later ones. They’re strikingly similar, formally (design wise) speaking. If there’s some kind of deterioration in play here, it isn’t immediately obvious.

what? took him in a room and had him sit there for 45 minutes?
then a detective comes in and talks to him for ten minutes?
there appears to be no record of his fingerprints on file. if Ross
had ever been seriously suspected, they would have taken his
fingerprints. on the basis of his likeness to the composite sketch
and attacking someone with a knife, what more do you need to
take a thorough look at Ross. as i say, alibi for what? the most
likely answer is they thought he was too crazy. reminds me of
some folks on this site. SCPD had all they needed to consider
Ross a suspect as Z. and, they didn’t follow up. so, apologize
for the police one more time.