Hi Klys,

Nice to seem some enthusiasm regarding Ross. To try and answer this and some of your other questions, members have done some digging around Riverside, but have yet to come up with anything Ross had written that was published.
Not sure how much they looked. I hope the History channel doc crew made an attempt, they found Ross’s former co-worker, so you would think they at least did a basic search.
(You can do an online search of library materials at RCC online, but I’ve never found a ref to Ross)

I did look at some of those RCC yearbooks you posted in the past. One of them showed the teletype machine the school had at the time.
This was probably the source of paper used for the confession letter. I’m convinced RPD figured out the letter was typed up at the school, maybe even located the exact typewriter and withheld this info.

But as far as Riverside goes, we know Ross was there. It would be nice to find more of his writing.
As for the alibi, we don’t have any details. If RPD could solve the case from what they found in that alley, they would have done it long ago.

If you listen to Morf’s Murder podcast, every single person interviewed seems like they all have a great suspect that the police refuse to look into. Happens all the time, not sure why.
So this last ditch notion that Ross was somehow "looked into" and cleared properly is just nonsense.

Hi Klys,

Nice to seem some enthusiasm regarding Ross. To try and answer this and some of your other questions, members have done some digging around Riverside, but have yet to come up with anything Ross had written that was published.
Not sure how much they looked. I hope the History channel doc crew made an attempt, they found Ross’s former co-worker, so you would think they at least did a basic search.
(You can do an online search of library materials at RCC online, but I’ve never found a ref to Ross)

I did look at some of those RCC yearbooks you posted in the past. One of them showed the teletype machine the school had at the time.
This was probably the source of paper used for the confession letter. I’m convinced RPD figured out the letter was typed up at the school, maybe even located the exact typewriter and withheld this info.

But as far as Riverside goes, we know Ross was there. It would be nice to find more of his writing.
As for the alibi, we don’t have any details. If RPD could solve the case from what they found in that alley, they would have done it long ago.

If you listen to Morf’s Murder podcast, every single person interviewed seems like they all have a great suspect that the police refuse to look into. Happens all the time, not sure why.
So this last ditch notion that Ross was somehow "looked into" and cleared properly is just nonsense.

So you believe Ross was not properly looked into ?

Is there any hope the RPD will turn over their files? I mentioned this elsewhere but in the “Your daughter may be next” article a Patton State mental patient in the following weeks is said to have thought he killed Cheri Jo. What’s weird is they ruled him out, according to the article, not because they knew was institutionalized, but because they thought he was delusional. Who was that person? Can they tell us it wasn’t Ross? Ross has disappeared during that time and had a history there.

That article raises a bunch of questions. You have a male librarian who “thought he saw” Cheri Jo, yet we know she checked out books that night. Someone had to check her out. How did no one remember? You have a student with a “good memory” who remembers CJB coming in at 5:30 while sitting outside but also remembers her writing in a notebook with blue ink. Where did he see that? In the library? No one remembers her there but him? What did the writing say in the notebook? Did she take notes or write essays that night so that we can confirm she was indeed studying somewhere? Was that notebook in her car? The time she ate according to the coroner doesn’t add up either. The cops think she was contacted by the murderer almost immediately as no one can place her anywhere for 4 hours yet nothing about the librarians or Ross working for the library? I’ve read elsewhere (but can’t seem to confirm it’s true) that she placed a phone call from an unknown location about 5:30-6:00. That seems like a back room in the library to me. It’s been 50+ years. You gotta wonder why these guys won’t just release their stuff even if their suspect is still alive.

So you believe Ross was not properly looked into ?

What evidence is there that he was ever cleared properly? There are rumors he "had an alibi." The Green River Killer had an alibi the first time they interviewed him.

Ross was probably one of many people they talked in Riverside relating to the CJB murder. It’s safe to say they looked at a great number of people. It’s also 100% true that RPD screwed something up since the case was never solved.

As for the Zodiac crimes, Ross was never on the radar. He was not known to Vallejo.
Morf had a "good contact I had in Napa County about 4 years ago, and he could not even find Ross Sullivan in the Suspect reports, on the list of ruled out POI’s or ones that were still considered POI’s. Vallejo as well did not have him"

Dave Peterson mentioned him to SFPD in 1977, the year Ross died. We don’t know what happened with that, but it seemed very late in the game.

Is there any hope the RPD will turn over their files? I mentioned this elsewhere but in the “Your daughter may be next” article a Patton State mental patient in the following weeks is said to have thought he killed Cheri Jo. What’s weird is they ruled him out, according to the article, not because they knew was institutionalized, but because they thought he was delusional. Who was that person? Can they tell us it wasn’t Ross? Ross has disappeared during that time and had a history there.

That article raises a bunch of questions. You have a male librarian who “thought he saw” Cheri Jo, yet we know she checked out books that night. Someone had to check her out. How did no one remember? You have a student with a “good memory” who remembers CJB coming in at 5:30 while sitting outside but also remembers her writing in a notebook with blue ink. Where did he see that? In the library? No one remembers her there but him? What did the writing say in the notebook? Did she take notes or write essays that night so that we can confirm she was indeed studying somewhere? Was that notebook in her car? The time she ate according to the coroner doesn’t add up either. The cops think she was contacted by the murderer almost immediately as no one can place her anywhere for 4 hours yet nothing about the librarians or Ross working for the library? I’ve read elsewhere (but can’t seem to confirm it’s true) that she placed a phone call from an unknown location about 5:30-6:00. That seems like a back room in the library to me. It’s been 50+ years. You gotta wonder why these guys won’t just release their stuff even if their suspect is still alive.

You have to be more clear on what "Your daughter may be next” article is.

RPD did a bunch of work with Bates and even did the library night re-creation. They must have cleared much of that up, however the case is not solved so anything is possible.

Newspaper article link:

viewtopic.php?f=94&t=3154

Is there a list available to us of the people at the library the night Cheri was killed?

So you believe Ross was not properly looked into ?

What evidence is there that he was ever cleared properly? There are rumors he "had an alibi." The Green River Killer had an alibi the first time they interviewed him.

Ross was probably one of many people they talked in Riverside relating to the CJB murder. It’s safe to say they looked at a great number of people. It’s also 100% true that RPD screwed something up since the case was never solved.

As for the Zodiac crimes, Ross was never on the radar. He was not known to Vallejo.
Morf had a "good contact I had in Napa County about 4 years ago, and he could not even find Ross Sullivan in the Suspect reports, on the list of ruled out POI’s or ones that were still considered POI’s. Vallejo as well did not have him"

Dave Peterson mentioned him to SFPD in 1977, the year Ross died. We don’t know what happened with that, but it seemed very late in the game.

Yes I agree, we have no evidence that RPD took a hard look at Ross. they may have only given him a cursory look only
because he was an employee of the library.

Many people on this board believe Ross was thoroughly investigated because it’s impossible for any Detective to be so
incompetent to overlook him. They really had no reason to suspect him that we know of so I think he could have easily
slipped through the cracks.

So you believe Ross was not properly looked into ?

What evidence is there that he was ever cleared properly? There are rumors he "had an alibi." The Green River Killer had an alibi the first time they interviewed him.

Ross was probably one of many people they talked in Riverside relating to the CJB murder. It’s safe to say they looked at a great number of people. It’s also 100% true that RPD screwed something up since the case was never solved.

As for the Zodiac crimes, Ross was never on the radar. He was not known to Vallejo.
Morf had a "good contact I had in Napa County about 4 years ago, and he could not even find Ross Sullivan in the Suspect reports, on the list of ruled out POI’s or ones that were still considered POI’s. Vallejo as well did not have him"

Dave Peterson mentioned him to SFPD in 1977, the year Ross died. We don’t know what happened with that, but it seemed very late in the game.

The issue is that Riverside has never been forthcoming with a lot of info. I have a lot of police reports from the Zodiac case, but nothing from Riverside PD. So I can’t verify that he was looked into. I’d like to think he was. He seemed like a logical suspect to the staff there, and you would think they would have. Bailey seemed vocal that they should check him out. She said that he had an alibi, but maybe she heard 2nd hand, and heard wrong. I don’t know if it matters in the grand scheme of things for me because he may not have killed Cheri, but could still be the Zodiac, or whomever Zodiac was didn’t necessarily kill Cheri

Sullivan had easy access to the desk and has to be considered a strong suspect for Bates and hence Zodiac. He worked in the library. He was known to write poetry. Morf has covered all of this and I suggest everyone read his threads.

I read a post that surmised "rh" might stand for red hands. Makes sense in light of the Red Phantom and Red Ryder and Don "Red" Barry and of course implies blood.