I didn’t want to inundate either of these guys but I’d be happy to try to contact Chuck Buck if Joel Miller was a dead end. I’m not sure who’s done what in the last.

Also, I know Silliphant dried up but do you know the dates Ross lived with his family?

I don’t recall offhand

I didn’t want to inundate either of these guys but I’d be happy to try to contact Chuck Buck if Joel Miller was a dead end. I’m not sure who’s done what in the last.

Also, I know Silliphant dried up but do you know the dates Ross lived with his family?

It would be great if you contacted him if you know how to. Ross lived with the Silliphants from 1960 to 1962ish. Not sure the exact dates, but something like that. Ross may have left when he went to college (Glendale College) in Sept 1961. I know morf has always disagreed with me, but I think Ross may have entered the military and crashed out. I have his selective service number and someone here found a military record for him (through FOI request to the government). I don’t have the original copy, which I saw directly, but I wrote down all the information.

He registered on October 15th 1959. He was listed as being 6’2 with blonde hair and blue eyes. He weighed 260 lbs.

He was classified 1-A on September 13th 1962. This means he had to sign up for service, back then you had to sign up for mandatory service, but he likely had a college deferment before then. There is no record for Ross in college between all 1962 and early 1964. He took an exam on November 4th 1963 and failed and was re-classified 1-Y on January 16th, 1964. This same month he reenters Riverside City College.

It would be great if you could talk to that guy and ask him about Ross. This was a great find. If you need some help with questions i’ll help you.

"Ed – To a nice guy , though quiet
he(‘s) a nice fellow."

I know people are going to think this is the woolliest post I’ve made so far, but if there was a place for crackpot opinions it’s surely here. I think this is a very toffee mouthed little note, it has a sort of rye sarcasm and would be more at home in 1940’s Eton year book than late 50’s American, or perhaps resembles more a note from your English teacher than a classmate. You think I’m dissecting hairs? Bare with me, we’re going deeper.

A "nice fellow"? This has a certain quality of the British understatement, and it carries the slightest hint of sarcasm and condensation, so mild that it hardly seems within the American style. When Americans do bother with sarcasm they lay it on an inch think, only the British have it so ingrained that they do it without even being conscious of it.

The whole construction of the sentence, the way he qualifies it, interrupting the flow of thought with a "though". Do you know how common it is in American English to interrupt a sentence with a "though"? not very common at all, Americans prefer "although", and they don’t even use that very often and even less often mid sentence. It’s kind of either very British, or more literary, or in the style of old film and theatre. Though he really won’t be missed.

Like I said it’s a bit wild, and it’s embarrassingly scant information to go on. The more I learn about Ross and his interest in theatre and acting though the more I feel it fit’s the Zodiacs overall writing style in very holistic way. Back when Gaik was a more interesting suspect you could sort of see the way his style in the Good Times seemed to fit, but it was never perfect, a little too modern and too hip. The Zodiac dabbled in that counter culture language, but also had an old timey feel as well, not like an actual older person, but someone who watched a lot of old films. But now that we have Ross, we have a suspect that fit’s in a more nuanced way. Amateur theatre is a better fit, the Zodiac was never very successful, always a little shallow in his writing abilities, never fully matured, always trying to put on a persona, but falling short, pretentious and self taught.

It’s "be a nice fellow".

It’s a lot easier to try and fake "Ross" than it is "Sullivan"

"Ed – To a nice guy , though quiet
he(‘s) a nice fellow."

I know people are going to think this is the woolliest post I’ve made so far, but if there was a place for crackpot opinions it’s surely here.

Are you referring to this site in general, or this POI thread specifically?

[Just kidding…….]

It’s "be a nice fellow".

Even more damning! Well perhaps not But really is this the way teens addressed one another in 19… what was it? ’57? It seems a bit… well I stand by what I said in the first post, it’s a little bit "be a good chap", "Well I rather don’t see why you think it could have been the Colonel (Mustard), I thought he was very nice fellow , though come to think of it , he was behaving somewhat peculiar at dinner."

It’s "be a nice fellow".

Even more damning! Well perhaps not But really is this the way teens addressed one another in 19… what was it? ’57? It seems a bit… well I stand by what I said in the first post, it’s a little bit "be a good chap", "Well I rather don’t see why you think it could have been the Colonel (Mustard), I thought he was very nice fellow , though come to think of it , he was behaving somewhat peculiar at dinner."

Judging by the two signatures in my previous post, I’d say nothing is damning at all.

It’s "be a nice fellow".

Even more damning! Well perhaps not But really is this the way teens addressed one another in 19… what was it? ’57? It seems a bit… well I stand by what I said in the first post, it’s a little bit "be a good chap", "Well I rather don’t see why you think it could have been the Colonel (Mustard), I thought he was very nice fellow , though come to think of it , he was behaving somewhat peculiar at dinner."

Judging by the two signatures in my previous post, I’d say nothing is damning at all.

It’s a slam dunk, you just have to look at it cockeyed ;D. I am going back to look at your previous post more carefully.

Oh yes, I see what you mean, you’re quite the dissident Tahoe . I think everyone’s considered the likelihood of a forgery, but I don’t think we really have much choice other than to take it on good faith. It’s plausible. If it’s forged it’s forged with fluency and confidence.

It also seems very restrained for a hoax.

Oh yes, I see what you mean, you’re quite the dissident Tahoe . I think everyone’s considered the likelihood of a forgery, but I don’t think we really have much choice other than to take it on good faith. It’s plausible. If it’s forged it’s forged with fluency and confidence.

It also seems very restrained for a hoax.

Someone else was signing that yearbook with two different names, but what appears to be the same handwriting…and pen. I shared it somewhere in the middle here. Sumthin’ fishy is all…

"This is what Tom wrote a year ago on this very site"

February 2018, which was eight months before I started preparing for the first episode of Murder Basement and reviewing my info from 1998.

Hmmmm…
The thing about handwriting, is a person can write in different styles. Also, your handwriting can change as you get older as well.
I know with my handwriting, sometimes I write a cursive F and sometimes a printed F, and my F is very similar to the candy cane F. It’s the same with S… sometimes cursive and sometimes just printed S. You’d think two different ppl would have written that single letter.
I believe in order to make a judgment if Ross and the Zodiac’s writing is similar… you will need a larger sample from Ross. I’m very certain that RCC probably has some records with his handwriting.
All that being said, from what I have seen from Ross handwriting, it is somewhat similar in ways.

Edit: I recall when I first started gaining interest in the Zodiac case and reading the letters over on Tom’s forum… I was surprised how much my F’s look similar to the Zodiacs F. So, yes, ppl can write a single letter very identical. This is why I think larger samples are needed. I’m very certain, that if someone compared my printed F to the Zodiacs, they would think it’s the same person. Lol, wasn’t me! I was born in the 80’s! Absolutely promise. These murders were before my time!