A little summary of Ross as a suspect. I’m not sure how you can completely discount him.

He worked at the library. He was familiar with the library annex 10 feet from where Cheri Jo was killed. In fact, he was familiar with all of those buildings, including nearby Little Theater.

He was implicated by about as good of a witness as you could want in this circumstance in Jo Ann Bailey, a witness who provided many details, and did so with more humility than what is often purported about her. Bailey said he was such a strong suspect to her that she herself tried calling RPD about him, that she spoke not just for herself but for several people, and she included the head of counseling at the school, Evan Vail, as a separate person who also tried to call RPD about him. She said one of the staff witnessed him with a motor bike, he had bad grammar and spelling but liked to enroll in literary classes, that another faculty member had received a term paper about writing in different styles, that she saw him the day before in the quad at night talking to a girl similar to Cheri Jo, that he disappeared after the attack, and that when he came back after the murder he had changed his clothing. He transferred the following semester.

Gerald Katz, another witness and a Riverside acquaintance, said Ross knew Cheri Jo through his brothers marriage to Bonnie Bartlett. He called Ross "depressed/agitated", "a psychotic", "extremely passionate, loved starved, jealous and resentful", and said Ross threatened him when he was dating a girl Ross liked. "I was more scared that I have ever been of anyone else". Katz also said that Ross had skinned sheep and brought the pelts to Noelle as decorative hanging and that Ross’s brother Tim "was sure" Ross was the Zodiac. Another witness later had Ross barging into an apartment threatening someone with a knife in a kind of stupor.

The only way we know he had an alibi, as far as I’m aware, was that Bailey wrote about it and she immediately discounted the alibi saying "Our response to that is his ‘alibi’ would be too frightened not to agree with the alibi". She also, reasonably imo, said "If you have concrete evidence of why the murder couldn’t have been done by Ross, we’d appreciate hearing from you." It doesn’t seem she heard from them. Katz said the police visited about Ross and "didn’t seem interested".

This is an excellent summation. I would add that Bailey also said that Ross frequently talked with cute girls who looked somewhat like CJB (Bailey couldn’t understand why they would talk to him,) and I believe Ross was very familiar with the type of car Cheri drove.

I don’t believe this was a planned killing – a strangulation rope or wire would’ve been much easier and quieter. Or a bigger knife. I think this started out as a conversation that rapidly escalated to murder. If this is what happened, we’re looking for a suspect who’s rage could accelerate from zero to sixty, so to speak, in moments. Not a calm hit man like Shooter Z, or a guy like Stabber Z at LB, who didn’t seem to hold any anger towards his victims, chatting with Bryan, showing him the gun, telling them a story, and so on.

Ross was simply too big to be Zodiac IMO. There are other reasons I discount him for those crimes, but his size is the main one.

As mentioned before, if Noelle Jette was Ross’ alibi for CJB, Katz says otherwise.

I don’t believe this was a planned killing – a strangulation rope or wire would’ve been much easier and quieter. Or a bigger knife. I think this started out as a conversation that rapidly escalated to murder.

Then, was the ruse to disable a car just part of his pickup line?

I don’t believe this was a planned killing – a strangulation rope or wire would’ve been much easier and quieter. Or a bigger knife. I think this started out as a conversation that rapidly escalated to murder.

Then, was the ruse to disable a car just part of his pickup line?

Yes, it starts a conversation. Otherwise she gets in her car and drives away.

Ross, in a schizophrenic haze, blundered into his old apartment — now inhabited by other people — and helped himself to their butter. When they confronted him, he became violent and grabbed a knife from a drawer.

If you rule out the alibi, you’d have to conclude that either RPD didn’t bother checking him for scratches, or Ross had an accomplice. With the wealth of details we have on Ross, nobody noticed this buddy of his? For me, this is the weakest link.

Ross, in a schizophrenic haze, blundered into his old apartment — now inhabited by other people — and helped himself to their butter. When they confronted him, he became violent and grabbed a knife from a drawer.

If you rule out the alibi, you’d have to conclude that either RPD didn’t bother checking him for scratches, or Ross had an accomplice. With the wealth of details we have on Ross, nobody noticed this buddy of his? For me, this is the weakest link.

The Ross Butter Crave incident happened later, but is an excellent example of Ross suddenly becoming quite violent with a knife. At the time of the CJB killing, Ross was staying with Noelle Jette. Katz says he was with Noelle that entire night.

It could be that Ross "disappeared" for a few days, or LE didn’t look for him right away, and when LE found him, the scratches had healed. We do know, from Bailey, that Ross did disappear from his job for awhile, immediately after the murder. Also, we don’t know how deep the scratches were. They may have healed fairly quickly. Or an accomplice is possible. I’m not sure what you mean about nobody noticing Ross’ buddy. Weren’t there 2 people searching the area later that night, presumably looking for the watch? As far as Ross having a buddy, his link to CJB was through Tim, his brother, who would soon marry CJB’s close friend. One could speculate what Ross may have felt about that, which might suggest several scenarios that could end in a conflict with Cheri (rejection, etc.) Point is, I see nothing to rule out Ross being involved. And as mentioned above, if not the killing, the communications.

Katz said they came around asking about him but didn’t seem interested. Are we sure RPD checked him for scratches?

What is suspicious to me is that RPD hasn’t released anything about him (that I know of – please correct me if i’m wrong). If they are sure it wasn’t him, Ross has been dead for 40+ years and has basically no family to bother, why not just release why they ruled him out and how they got to that conclusion? Considering how much we know about investigations into Zodiac suspects like ALA or even how they’ve investigated Bob Barnett, I don’t see why if Ross was thoroughly vetted they wouldn’t just share their info. On the other hand, if I was RPD and I put little effort into investigating a guy who multiple people suspected and who had multiple ties to the murder scene, I could definitely see why they wouldn’t talk about him. John Sullivan was still alive last I knew, how much time would it take RPD to give him a call? Or Noelle Jette? How about a DNA sample and comparison, considering people on this board have even offered to pay for that?

I would love to rule Ross Sullivan out conclusively if possible.

"Two guys with a flashlight" originated with an anonymous tip to Tom Voigt (or a source who didn’t want to be named):
https://www.zodiackiller.com/BatesDNA2.html

This is the same source as Barnett giving a sobbing confession that he "snuffed Cheri," the lone guy in the alley who was wearing the same type of clothes Barnett wore that night, etc. Which Voigt now says was Bud Kelly FUD.

As far as Ross having a buddy, his link to CJB was through Tim, his brother, who would soon marry CJB’s close friend.

I’m only referring to the accomplice angle. Who was close enough to Ross to want to fall on that sword? And I don’t buy that the wounds would have healed in a few days…but if someone can actually show RPD dropped the ball, I guess that’s another story.

"Two guys with a flashlight" originated with an anonymous tip to Tom Voigt (or a source who didn’t want to be named):
https://www.zodiackiller.com/BatesDNA2.html

This is the same source as Barnett giving a sobbing confession that he "snuffed Cheri," the lone guy in the alley who was wearing the same type of clothes Barnett wore that night, etc. Which Voigt now says was Bud Kelly FUD.

As far as Ross having a buddy, his link to CJB was through Tim, his brother, who would soon marry CJB’s close friend.

I’m only referring to the accomplice angle. Who was close enough to Ross to want to fall on that sword? And I don’t buy that the wounds would have healed in a few days…but if someone can actually show RPD dropped the ball, I guess that’s another story.

Well, suppose there was something Tim and Ross wanted to discuss with Cheri, and she said something that set Ross off? If we can agree that the killing was spontaneous and the result of a conversation going bad, that’s one of numerous possible scenarios. Jon Sullivan said that Tim was a little odd, too.

"Which Voigt now says was Bud Kelly FUD.

What does that mean?

A trendy way of saying "propaganda" or "BS"

What is it you think is bs?

…"Which Voigt now says was Bud Kelly FUD."

TomVoigt said;
"What does that mean?"
"What is it you think is bs?"

Coffee Time is probably referencing from this;
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=4436&hilit=springboard&start=10#p74316
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=4436&hilit=springboard&start=20#p74345

Incidently, TomVoigt, did they release any CA prison inmates early due
to COVID – if so, do you know if currently, Granville Douglas Kelley Jr
is still alive, still in prison or released?

What are those links supposed to prove? I posted what Bud told me back in 1998. It’s still not evidence she was in the library after 6:15 that evening.

What are those links supposed to prove? I posted what Bud told me back in 1998. It’s still not evidence she was in the library after 6:15 that evening.

Agreed Tom. There is more evidence to prove that she wasn’t rather than she was. If someone can share some thoughts on why they believe that she stayed in the Library until after 6.15 please share ?

Wow, lots of Ross talk of late. The issue for me has always been the lack of a verifiable link to Vallejo, etc.
He’s still on my suspect list, but he is now #2. I feel pretty confident in saying, I think I know who Zodiac was!