Yes, I gave you my interpretation of what I felt those documents stated. They also compared the mtDNA from the hairs in her hand to that of their prime suspect, the one called Barnett. The documents state it was a definitive non-match, and as far as the FBI is concerned, suspect Barnett was eliminated from being the contributor of those hairs.

I acknowledge that hair color can be somewhat subjective, and it can change depending on sunlight, age and other factors. The FBI would factor in any blood appearing on part of a hair. When they say " four brown Caucasian head hairs" I take them at their word that that is exactly what they found.

But the photos I have seen of Sullivan in high school showed him with light blonde hair. It is true that people who had blonde hair as a teenager sometimes develop darker hair when they reach their 40s or 50s. But if Sullivan had light blonde hair when he was 18, I would think he still has it when he’s 26.

Thank you.

I have the documents, but they are blurred, difficult to read, and in all honesty I was having trouble understanding exactly what they meant.

Again, thank you for your help, understanding and patience, it is much appreciated

Is it beyond the realm of possibility that Z used a dead person’s finger or hand to make a print in the blood?

when he wrote –
"If you wonder why I was wipeing the
cab down I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all over town with, as
one might say, I gave the cops som bussy work to do to keep them happy."

Could he be referring to this?

If so, I wonder if there are any records of crimes around the same couple days, where the victim had a hand or finger removed/missing?

That’s a long shot.

Don Cheney once mentioned that Arthur Leigh allen would take a piece of "silly-putty" and hand it to others, obtaining their finger print impressions. He then could have used these putty fingerprint impressions as a mold, pouring into it plaster, or rubber, or plastic, obtaining a fake finger with a real print. (Though Cheney might have said this just to cover for himself if his prints ever turned up at a zodiac crime scene)

While a fabricated and placed print using fake fingers with real prints generated from impressions on putty or using dead people, or whatever, is a possibility, it really seems very, very, very, unlikely.

(Honestly, I have always suspected cheney of being zodiac. It seems like the things that "Arthur told him" were actually his ideas, and he was bragging about what he had done openly through the guise of "Arthur told me this or that". Cheney also has very similar handwriting to zodiac. I can’t find any cheney handwriting samples with a "k" in them, if I could that could really help. )

That is an unbelievable assertion that Ross was properly ruled out with prints by LE. The evidence would suggest the complete opposite. His name was not in the FBI files with all the other suspects whos prints were checked. Vallejo PD also has no record of Ross ever being a suspect.

The FBI do not automatically get details about every suspect checked out by other law enforcement agencies.

Welcome to the board, Tom.

Paul & Tom: In Dave Peterson’s files, there is a letter to Bud Kelley where Peterson claims Toschi had checked Sullivan’s prints "without success", which I presume to mean it was a negative match:

It’s the "without success" part that concerns me. When I 1st read that, I thought it meant there wasn’t a match. Then when I reflected on it, I realized, that’s not the same as "they were not a match" . "Without success" could mean he couldn’t get Ross’s prints. I don’t know. In the end, Zodiac investigators have DNA they are confident belongs to Zodiac, and Sullivan could be put to bed once and for all as a Z suspect with a DNA comparison

Or they did get Sullivan’s prints, tried to compare them to Stine cab but simply didn’t have enough to work with to make an accurate call on whether it was a match or not.

New photo of Ross Sullivan coming very soon! 99.9% sure its him

New photo of Ross Sullivan coming very soon! 99.9% sure its him

What year was the photo taken? Thanks

Morf: It’s the "without success" part that concerns me. When I 1st read that, I thought it meant there wasn’t a match. Then when I reflected on it, I realized, that’s not the same as "they were not a match" . "Without success" could mean he couldn’t get Ross’s prints. I don’t know. In the end, Zodiac investigators have DNA they are confident belongs to Zodiac, and Sullivan could be put to bed once and for all as a Z suspect with a DNA comparison

Remember that Dave Peterson was still looking for Ross in 1978, so he didn’t know where he was at the end. Unless the San Francisco police took Ross’ prints in 1969-1971 I doubt they ever examined them. How could they have? Was Ross a suspect in 1969? 1970? How would they even have Ross’ name? Ross would have only come on their radar when Peterson started investigating him (after he heard of him from the librarians) around 1975. But Peterson didn’t know he was in Santa Cruz then living at that home.

Remember that Dave Peterson was still looking for Ross in 1978, so he didn’t know where he was at the end. Unless the San Francisco police took Ross’ prints in 1969-1971 I doubt they ever examined them. How could they have? Was Ross a suspect in 1969? 1970? How would they even have Ross’ name? Ross would have only come on their radar when Peterson started investigating him (after he heard of him from the librarians) around 1975. But Peterson didn’t know he was in Santa Cruz then living at that home.

If that is Ross who was arrested in the 1968 phone booth incident then Santa Cruz would have his fingerprints on file most likely. I’m not sure if they were aware of that arrest however. Maybe Morf or someone can confirm it.

.

I’ve made this same point before. There are claims Ross was Blonde when he is clearly not. There is a photo somewhere in color of his brother Jon. Jon had brown hair with a reddish color.

Thank you doranchak for the source document.

I go back to the simple fact that if every lead, suspect and piece of evidence was followed up on perfectly, we wouldn’t have a 50 year old cold case.
They missed something, simple as that.

Sullivan being in a big pool of suspects back in the 1970’s with postage stamp sized prints eye balled, missing something is totally possible.
With the info that we have gathered and learned about Ross, he is a suspect who needs more scrutiny and not dropped based on one note from 40 years ago.

Remember, the cab prints have never been matched to anything, including prints from confirmed Z letters. So if they can’t match Z to Z, then who knows…

ALA was cleared on 4 factors:
Physical appearance – No Match
Handwriting – No Match
Prints – No Match
DNA – No Match

Ross:
Physical appearance – Match
Handwriting – Match
Prints – No Match ???
DNA – ???

Remember that Dave Peterson was still looking for Ross in 1978, so he didn’t know where he was at the end. Unless the San Francisco police took Ross’ prints in 1969-1971 I doubt they ever examined them. How could they have? Was Ross a suspect in 1969? 1970? How would they even have Ross’ name? Ross would have only come on their radar when Peterson started investigating him (after he heard of him from the librarians) around 1975. But Peterson didn’t know he was in Santa Cruz then living at that home.

If that is Ross who was arrested in the 1968 phone booth incident then Santa Cruz would have his fingerprints on file most likely. I’m not sure if they were aware of that arrest however. Maybe Morf or someone can confirm it.

If I remember correctly from the original Ross thread, this was checked up and the result was that Santa Cruz had purged archives about menial misdemeanors from that time period. So the prints were gone.

However, if Toschi did compare them, perhaps he did it through a copy that was sent from Santa Cruz to San Francisco so one would assume that copy would still be in the Zodiac file cabinet. They probably found out about Ross, Santa Cruz arrest through whatever cross-reference methods law enforcement had back then.

.

I’ve made this same point before. There are claims Ross was Blonde when he is clearly not. There is a photo somewhere in color of his brother Jon. Jon had brown hair with a reddish color.

His photo seems to show blond hair to many of us, and it appears Ross himself mentioned his hair color. Many siblings have different color hair.

We are all still basing opinions off his looks in 1959. Seems almost pointless.

Ross Sullivan in Drama class at Glendale High School circa 1959. It appears he’s getting a fake mustache applied to his face. My Girlfriend would be *livid* if I didn’t give her credit for this find. lol. So, many thanks to Raeanne Bartlett for this find!!

You would never really notice it unless you have the actual book as the online scans just arent clear enough. Page 39 of the ’59 Glendale Stylus:

99% sure that’s Ross. I notice he’s holding his glasses in his hand. That hair doesn’t look "blonde".

This is one thing that really makes me suspect Ross in the Zodiac crimes, he had experience in makeup and costume design. That would help someone who wanted to look different when he "did his thing".

Great find Ham.