The only writing found for Mac so far
The way “CaLiF.” is written on the bottom right looks just like the envelope of one of the Zodiac communications. But I can’t remember for the life of me which one, and more importantly if it’s one of the confirmed or unconfirmed ones. Does anyone know the one I’m talking about?
The only writing found for Mac so far
The way “CaLiF.” is written on the bottom right looks just like the envelope of one of the Zodiac communications. But I can’t remember for the life of me which one, and more importantly if it’s one of the confirmed or unconfirmed ones. Does anyone know the one I’m talking about?
I think I found it, the Riverside “confession” letter. However I seem to remember reading a thread where someone had a picture where “CaLiF.” was written up to the edge of the envelope, by which I mean the writer ran out of room. This is not the case for the “confession” letter although it looks quite similar.
Of course, handwriting analysis alone means next to nothing when there’s around a dozen suspects with handwriting that looks similar to one Zodiac communication or another.
The only writing found for Mac so far
The way “CaLiF.” is written on the bottom right looks just like the envelope of one of the Zodiac communications. But I can’t remember for the life of me which one, and more importantly if it’s one of the confirmed or unconfirmed ones. Does anyone know the one I’m talking about?
I think I found it, the Riverside “confession” letter. However I seem to remember reading a thread where someone had a picture where “CaLiF.” was written up to the edge of the envelope, by which I mean the writer ran out of room. This is not the case for the “confession” letter although it looks quite similar.
Of course, handwriting analysis alone means next to nothing when there’s around a dozen suspects with handwriting that looks similar to one Zodiac communication or another.
It is very easy to look at this and imagine that you’ve seen it before. I read your post and looked at the image and saw the ‘calif’ and thought yeah that does look Zodiac-esque. So I checked the envelopes and the example again. First thing is – I’m not seeing “CaLiF” I’m seeing “CALiF” and possibly (In the first use of it) “CAliF” although I can’t totally sure.
Either way I can’t seem to find an example of either of those formats being used in Zodiac’s envelopes. I’ll check the letters too when I get a chance incase it’s in those somewhere.
“I don’t know Chief, he’s very smart or very dumb.“
The only writing found for Mac so far
The way “CaLiF.” is written on the bottom right looks just like the envelope of one of the Zodiac communications. But I can’t remember for the life of me which one, and more importantly if it’s one of the confirmed or unconfirmed ones. Does anyone know the one I’m talking about?
I think I found it, the Riverside “confession” letter. However I seem to remember reading a thread where someone had a picture where “CaLiF.” was written up to the edge of the envelope, by which I mean the writer ran out of room. This is not the case for the “confession” letter although it looks quite similar.
Of course, handwriting analysis alone means next to nothing when there’s around a dozen suspects with handwriting that looks similar to one Zodiac communication or another.
It is very easy to look at this and imagine that you’ve seen it before. I read your post and looked at the image and saw the ‘calif’ and thought yeah that does look Zodiac-esque. So I checked the envelopes and the example again. First thing is – I’m not seeing “CaLiF” I’m seeing “CALiF” and possibly (In the first use of it) “CAliF” although I can’t totally sure.
Either way I can’t seem to find an example of either of those formats being used in Zodiac’s envelopes. I’ll check the letters too when I get a chance incase it’s in those somewhere.
You’re right, on Mac’s SS paper I pulled a goof and thought it was “CaLiF.” when the A is in fact capitalized. Sorry about that. It is rather similar to the Riverside “confession” letter. But you can say the same about many other suspects and various other Z communications.
Anyway it was just an observation I had. I try not to get attached to any suspects. Mac has a lot going for him but I want to refrain from accusing anybody until the evidence is irrefutable. There’s a lot going for a lot of suspects, but not much of it is more than circumstantial coincidence.
It’s is similar and on one of the Riverside envelopes – ‘Riverside Enterprise Press Headquarters’ (the one that’s not very clear) it even seems as though it says “CaLifornia” which doesn’t help matters lol.
“I don’t know Chief, he’s very smart or very dumb.“
Long post alert! I apologize in advance.
Just read through the entire 775 (!!!) page thread on Tom’s site. What a trip that was! Actually, I probably skipped about 100 of those pages, because after a while, I just started hitting the page down key any time the bickering and mud-slinging started, and kept scrolling until I saw a different profile picture than anyone involved. I might have missed something, but I don’t really care. I’m glad I did read that thread, despite roughly half of it being irrelevant, since there were still a ton of great points made, not even necessarily pertaining to this suspect but to the case in general (there were a lot of things that confused me about Presidio Heights, for instance, which no longer do after reading some of the posts there). Just think, I could have used that time to read The Most Dangerous Animal Of All instead… and watched the documentary about its author’s messiah complex! No thanks. I doubt the phrase “ass bucket” is used anywhere in either, so the Mac thread wins by default. ?
Anyway, there’s a lot that’s compelling about Mac as a suspect. In my opinion, there’s also a lot that isn’t. Like a lot of suspects, particularly the ones who aren’t reported on by cable news, the information we have (and by “we” I mean general forum readers) is made up of a ton of eerie coincidences but nothing concrete. The so-called bombshell, a ball that’s in law enforcement’s court, may turn out to prove that statement wrong. But what we have now would not stand in a court of law.
Before I get in too deep, I want to say that I don’t have a pet suspect and I try to avoid having one. A lot of the antagonism and animosity comes from what’s essentially no different from social media politics: attaching one’s own ego to another figure available to public scrutiny and feeling personally targeted when that figure is attacked. We have Team ALA, Team Ross, Team Kane, Team Gaik… or worse, instead of the suspects, we focus on the investigators: Team Tom, Team Morf, etc., which is where some of that thread’s ugliness lies. While “irresponsible” is too strong a word, I feel like people need to maintain a healthy degree of skepticism regarding this case, even if the information they’ve obtained is compelling. Statistically speaking, we’re more likely to be pinning callous murders on an innocent man than we are on the actual killer, and until we get indisputable proof, we have to assume it’s the former. We want to rule suspects OUT rather than rule them IN. It’s a shame Mac’s identity blew up the way it did, but not the fault of the people who did the investigating.
Morf obviously has strong suspicion about this individual (along with information that we don’t have) but he has also been quite open in stating that he will accept that he was wrong if he is proven wrong by law enforcement. And as far as I know, law enforcement aren’t the ones demanding irrefutable proof any time someone says “could this be a possibility?” when it comes to speculation of coincidences. If we had irrefutable proof for these things, wouldn’t we have identified the killer long ago? So, anyway, I do agree that there’s a line where skepticism becomes trolling, and it gets crossed a lot on these forums for some reason. We can’t have proof for things that we’re asking other people to help us find proof for. Not having the proof doesn’t automatically make us liars. Sorry to break the news.
Before I forget, I may as well address the “bombshell” quick. Sad to say, but I think it ended up doing more harm to Morf than he expected. If there is information beyond just the coincidences, information that can potentially be definitive in ruling a suspect in or out, and the appropriate authorities are interested, then ABSOLUTELY it deserves to remain secret. And props to Morf for keeping it secret. Not many people could do that (especially not if that thread is anything to go by). If it was revealed for all the world to see, some Redditor with the investigative capacity of Inspector Clouseau would undoubtedly barge into the investigation like the Kool-Aid man and cause irreparable harm in some way. It already happened with the worm who spammed Mrs. Mac’s blog. I don’t know what the bombshell is, but in the wrong hands it would not aid the investigation. And that’s why I’m happy it’s in the right hands, whatever it is. Unfortunately, impatience and petulance turned the bombshell from “he has something that made law enforcement interested” into “he just made it up to get attention” or “[such-and-such insignificant coincidence which Morf himself said wasn’t the bombshell] was the bombshell”.
Okay, now that my rant about the annoying things from that thread is over… ? Here’s my (hopefully un-biased) take on Mac.
First, the ears. They’re really pronounced in the common high school picture. That’s concerning, since Z’s ears have never once been mentioned as far as I know. But, Mac’s ears are only sorta pronounced in the wedding picture (with no glasses). They’re just slightly pronounced in the other high school picture, with his head turned a bit. They’re not too pronounced at all in the second wedding picture (I think?), the one with glasses. It really just seems like his ears were weirdly photogenic, or the opposite of it. Last summer I got two puppies, one of whom was twice the size of the other, and yet they looked the same size in every photo I took. If we could be in the same room as Mac, I don’t know if we would notice the ears. And you can argue the sketch… the sketch has tiny ears, but were teenagers who were witnessing the aftermath of a murder and some strange behaviour from the assailant going to focus on ears? Not saying I think it was him, just trying to think from their perspective.
Height… As Morf has said in the past, height is not overly credible. I’m 6’7″. I’ve had to duck through doorways my whole life. My best friend (5’6″) thought I was 5’11”. A doctor (probably around 5’5″), in his own office, thought I was 6’1″. I should also point out I wasn’t committing murder when these estimates were taken! ? However, my spine is also deformed near my collarbone and neck. If I stand up straight, it actually cuts off my breathing (I think that’s called apnea?). As a result of that, and being too tall for door frames, I slouch a lot. That probably puts me closer to 6’2″ or 6’3″. So those estimates aren’t as ridiculous as they seem.
Do we know if the Stine killer was standing upright? Was he slouched? Was he standing on his toes? None of that was reported, so all we have is an estimate of 5’8″, a relatively average height. Now, Fouke says the man he observed was closer to 5’10” (and also bent over a little). He also says that, while driving the vehicle at a rate of around 30 MPH, he did not stop when he observed this character, yet he can describe the style of coat the main was wearing, his hair possibly graying in the rear, and engineer-type boots (on a street which most likely had parked cars between the road and sidewalk, potentially obscuring his ability to see below the man’s torso). And then there’s the changing stories… my point is, Fouke may be describing the man he saw accurately, but he has not convinced me that I should trust him, so I take it with a grain of salt. Never mind that my original point was that the height estimates are not necessarily reliable.
The weight is more important. I just posted this in another thread, and Morf has said so for a long time, but unlike the height (ranging from 5’8″ to 6’0″ depending on which police report or decades-later interview you go by), the weight is consistently on the heavier side. According to the BMI chart, 200 pounds for the height range of 5’8″ to 6’0″ is right along the line between overweight and obese. That description is the same all down the line. That’s a good reason to rule out someone like Earl Van Best, who might have weighed 200 pounds if he had cinderblock shoes and was carrying a bucket of water with a fish in it. Mac fits this description (the weight estimate I mean, not cement and bucket). That, of course, does not mean he’s the Zodiac… but it also doesn’t mean he’s NOT the Zodiac. He can’t be ruled out on the most consistent (non-white male adult) characteristic across all the eyewitness reports.
The composite sketch is something I’ve always struggled with. As Morf correctly pointed out in the thread, the sketches of the Son of Sam looked almost nothing like Berkowitz. I’ve seen ten sketches of the Golden State Killer, none of which look like him. Most of them don’t even look like each other. BUT, at the same time, did Zodiac know he was being watched? The teenagers probably had a better chance of describing him accurately than any of Berkowitz’s or JJD’s witnesses did; more time, less danger. But then some time passed before the sketch was drawn, and it had three people contributing at once instead of three individual sketches, which may have led to inaccuracies. This was one of my biggest problems with Ross Sullivan as a suspect. He was a dead ringer for the sketch. How often does someone guilty match a sketch THAT accurately?
Here’s one where I disagree quite strongly with Morf: the code book. I definitely agree with his statement that anybody pushing a POI would be shouting from the rooftops that their suspect owned the same code book that’s been associated with Z for years. But that’s less an endorsement of Mac and more just a criticism of how POIs are handled in the online community, which is why things have a tendency to turn ugly… anyway, I digress. Unless I’m mistaken, that particular code book did not get linked to Zodiac until Graysmith, correct? Add to that the fact that we don’t have any proof that Mac read it before 1970. The earliest we know that he read it is 1980, and we think that he *may* have read it before then, but we don’t know when. We definitely know that he owned two copies. But, as people have pointed out, that was not an obscure book. Lots of people owned it.
Now, enjoying a code book, a code book of all things, enough to ask your wife to buy you another one when you misplace your original (and/or current) copy? And add to that the fact that it’s the original printing, hardcover, with the dust jacket exactly as featured in Graysmith’s book and the Fincher movie? Those are definitely odd… but I’m going to chalk it up to Zynchronicity, unless we somehow find proof that he owned a copy in 1969. And even then, I’d be skeptical (this is assuming this hypothetical discovery happened WITHOUT him being confirmed as Z), because who’s to say Mac didn’t see these ciphers in the newspaper and buy a book in the hopes of finding a way to crack them?
Also, while I didn’t do much with them, I occasionally wrote codes in my youth. They weren’t as complicated as Z’s ciphers, but I maintain that Z’s ciphers aren’t too complicated anyway. The 340 took forever to break because we didn’t know how he arranged it, and Z13 and Z32 are too damn small to find an irrefutable answer. If he followed the method laid out by @doranchak here (at 10:30), then yes, you’d probably need to follow a book’s instruction (although I haven’t read anywhere that this specific code book explains that particular method). It’s also possible that he just invented this diagonal reading rule, decided to split it into sections based on the points he hit the right side of the grid, and made a few mistakes and strange decisions regarding the rest of it. I don’t necessarily think a book was essential to the creation of the ciphers, especially if you take those last two points into account.
Moving on, the Deer Lodge thing. Now that’s a strange coincidence if I’ve ever heard one. The Lake Berryessa attack is one of the weirdest things that’s ever happened. A guy presumed to be a robber wears a ridiculous getup which includes the symbol Zodiac has been attaching to his letters. But he doesn’t introduce himself as Zodiac, and his victims don’t seem to recognize the symbol, and nobody even mentions Zodiac, so it’s essentially irrelevant (except for the fact that the hooded man is Zodiac). He insists that he only wants their money and car as he’s escaped from (presumably) Deer Lodge and he’s fleeing to Mexico. Obviously these poor kids probably don’t know where Deer Lodge is, and that it’s quite a detour to end up in the SF Bay area (a place full of people who could potentially recognize him, assuming he was an escaped prisoner, which was obviously not true). Then, having been presented with the money and car keys he requested, he doesn’t take them, but instead ties up the people, stabs them, and walks away while they’re still writhing in pain. Then he writes on their car door and tells police that he killed them. Obviously the escaped convict story was just a way of getting them to cooperate, but still… it’s just weird.
Part of me wants to say that Deer Lodge is just a wild coincidence. People have pointed out that Bryan could only vaguely remember this, because it was just the robber’s backstory which stuck in his mind less than being stabbed six times in the back and watching the same thing happen to his friend who tragically did not survive. In some reports he said Colorado, in some reports he said Montana. He never specifically said “Deer Lodge”; someone else suggested it and his reaction was along the lines of “That might be it”. But it is pretty damn compelling that we have someone who had the capacity to know about a prison break at Deer Lodge less than a week before (assuming Z didn’t just pull something out of a hat that weirdly ended up being true). Mac could have been living with his parents at that time (or just been visiting), and his parents may have traveled up to Montana to visit the cousin in Deer Lodge who was in poor health, leaving the house to him. There are some amazing coincidences in this case, chief among them Z encountering the police and not being apprehended. If Mac turns out to not be Z, I’m going to rank this Deer Lodge incident second, because seriously, what are the odds of this?
Some other observations:
While I don’t agree with the way they presented it (being snarky and aggressive), I do agree with the dissenters in the thread on Tom’s site regarding Mike Mageau’s description of the shooter at the time of the attack. He thought it was a police officer, so he rolled down the window with his ID ready, had a light shined into his face, and then got shot to hell and back. He was probably deafened by the sound of the shots and hazy from blood loss by the time the killer returned, which seems to be where his description of the “round face” and height comes from. I can’t imagine his brain would have stored that information from before a bullet came nightmarishly close to it. But maybe I’m wrong. Either way, like with Fouke (but for different reasons, obviously), I would not put a ton of stock into what Mageau said… outside of “I didn’t get a good look” or whatever his exact words were.
As someone pointed out, Mac went through a LOT of college, apparently studying sociology, only to end up working in a prison and eventually being a shooting instructor (whatever the proper term is, forgive me as my brain is mush from reading the entire thread!). There’s also no indication of him being at college during the height of the Vietnam draft. Yet we know he didn’t get drafted. While these aren’t the only options, I can clearly see three scenarios: 1. He was still in school (despite it conflicting with what records we have) and thus didn’t get drafted; 2. He had a medical condition (being overweight was already ruled out) which allowed him to be exempt; 3. He was just insanely lucky. Didn’t someone calculate that his draft number was 4? To not get drafted was insanely lucky. Obviously, this isn’t proof of anything (and I’m not convinced Mac was Z), but there was this other fella in the Bay area at around the same time who was also insanely lucky…
The handwriting looks pretty close, but we don’t have a lot to go on. One thing that does bother me is that the capital W from Zodiac always starts straight up and down, whereas Mac’s always come in at a backwards angle. The lowercase W matches exactly. Initially, I wanted to point out that we’re technically matching Zodiac’s lowercase W to Mac’s capital W (since that form is almost entirely capital), but since the letter W is virtually identical whether capitalized or not, it doesn’t really matter. I do agree on the top of the C, the “ill”, and a few other things. And there’s also some things that don’t appear to match (lowercase U being the most obvious). It would really help if we had a lowercase F or D to compare. But we also have to remember how similar Ross Sullivan’s handwriting is to Zodiac’s; there weren’t two of them taking turns writing the letters. Handwriting is not anything to make bets on, as far as I’m concerned.
Contrary to Ross Sullivan, we CAN actually place Mac in the Vallejo/Bay area at the times of the attacks. The Chico address is troubling if you want to believe it was him, but the first two murders happened right around Christmas and Fourth of July, times when visiting one’s parents would be normal. We also don’t know exactly when the census takers (or whatever they are) verified that Mac was living in Chico, so he could have been staying in Vallejo with his parents throughout the second half of the year. OR, he could have been living at that Chico address. If he was Z, he would have had to drive quite a lot in order to reach the crime scenes, but if we know anything about Z it’s that he was very dedicated.
I do agree that we need to stick to the confirmed crimes, and if we get proof that Mac was Z, then start looking for connections to the unconfirmed ones. Yes, Mac owned property in Eureka. Yes, Mac looks like the guy at Lake Berryessa who may or may not have been Zodiac. Yes, he lived within 500 feet of two people who received potential Z correspondences. But there’s no proof any of this stuff actually was Zodiac. If the goal is to build a case for Mac as Zodiac, then any unconfirmed Zodiac activity should be ignored until Mac can be proven as the Zodiac. Only then should those seriously enter the picture. That’s not to say that they aren’t compelling; they certainly are. But by trying to establish a link to unconfirmed crimes when a strong link doesn’t yet exist to the confirmed crimes, you’ll be opening yourself up for attack. And that probably accounts for at least 30-50 of those 775 pages.
The last thing I want to say is directly to Morf. After reading through that whole thread, there’s a lot of vitriol going on, a lot of it unnecessary and a lot of it from both sides (sorry, but it’s true). Unmasking this monster is a subject we’re all passionate about, and often passion can create friction. And friction can start a damned forest fire. But let’s push all that aside for a moment. You put in a ton of work identifying a previously-unheard-of suspect with a lot of interesting coincidences to the Z case who can’t be unquestionably ruled out yet after several months (some guy online saying so isn’t “unquestionable”). We had a lot of those suspects in the past, but they’re as stale as a biscuit in the sun with nothing new added in a long time. Regardless of whether or not Mac turns out to be Z, you’ve done something that not a ton of people have. You started from the ground up and built a case that, even after nearly 800 pages of forum discussion, can’t yet be irrefutably disproven.
Now, it will suck if it turns out to be wrong and you’ve dug into the past of an innocent man and linked his name to something horrible he had nothing to do with. But your intentions were good, and the dedication you put in is still something to be proud of. I guess what I’m saying is that trolls will always be trolls, doubters will always be doubters, and being wrong usually sucks. But there’s more respect in being someone who brings something new (of value, that is; publicity-seekers need not apply) to the table than there is for someone who just tries to wipe that table clean. The evidence you’ve presented has not convinced me, but you still have my respect for presenting that evidence in the first place. This mystery is not easy to solve, and we’re not all going to agree while trying to solve it, but we ALL want it to be solved at the end of the day. Keep your chin up, keep breathing, and keep fighting for justice. Peace! ?
Just add to the conversation above, here is an example of Mac alternating upper- and lower-case in his SS application, which we can also see in the envelope to the Steve McQueen letter (unconfirmed). He alternates the same letters in the same position in the word “CAliF”.
Similarly in the letter itself, he consistently alternates case, keeping ‘l’s and ‘i’s lower case.
Mike . can you post up all the pictures and paintings Mac has done please.
And is this the top secret section.
volvo amazon .front and rear track 51.3/4”
just googled and copied the below not sure of its accuracy
I was reading the NSO report on the Shepard Hartnell case. There was something that struck me. The report refers to a car that was parked a distance away. The track(distance between the wheels breadthwise was approx 52 inches
A clear copy of the wedding announcement for Mac
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
A clear copy of the wedding announcement for Mac
Very good front profile photo of Mac.
In relation to the PH sketch, it’s worth factoring in the impact lighting and shadows can have on the shape of a subject’s face. In particular, “short lighting” is widely used in photography to make a person’s face appear thinner, through the effect of shadow.
I don’t know what the street lighting was like on that night in PH, and whether the Zodiac was being lit from above or below. But it is fair to say that the description the kids gave may have been influenced by lighting.
It would be interesting to see the PH sketch with a few extra pounds added.
"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." Albert Einstein
@andr3w_0 don’t forget also Andrew about the Halloween card and envelope, also with the exact uppercase A’s and lowercase i’s
@mrsean this photo was from ’74? It isn’t at all a stretch to think he may have put on 20-30 lbs while courting his future wife. He looked much thinner in his HS photo. I know that when I’m single I drop weight, and when I’m in a relationship I add weight.
@nck Yes, exactly. I should have added that Mac could well have weighed less five years prior to that photo. I think a few extra pounds on the PH sketch would be interesting, but certainly not to match the 1975 picture.
"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." Albert Einstein
