There are a number of fact’s one may point to in support of Zodiac not seeming to have been the meticulous, pedantic planning killing machine that many like to picture him as from their own perspectives. I know many seem to want to designate Zodiac the label of Criminal Genius, or Master Criminal, always outsmarting, outwitting and outthinking those that were tasked with apprehending him. The truth of it is, judging from the evidence at hand, the Zodiac’s ability to avoid capture was far more to do with incredible good luck (from his point of view), crucial and costly errors made at the worst of times by one or more members of LE (Like being told the suspect you are looking for is Black, when a while male is walking past the police car and away into the night and that white male is, actually, the man you want for the crime that has been committed minutes ago around the corner.) But here are just a few things that stand out and give us, in my opinion, probable cause to believe Zodiac did not pre-plan his crimes with any specific and detailed planning.

Presidio Heights: Zodiac asks to be taken to Washington & Maple. For reason that we can only guess at, he ended up going one block further to W’ton and Cherry. In his next letter he writes to enlighten the Citizens and Authorities that this was no ordinary cab robbery/murder, but was actually carried out by him, ‘The Zodiac.’ He makes a coment that would suggest that when he ended up having to go one block further to Cherry, he did not have sufficient knowledge of P. Heights to be able to write "I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington & Cherry last night" but seems only aware of the street name for which he gave Paul as his drop off point, that being, Maple. Now it could be that Zodiac simply did not want to give away the fact that he knew Cherry st was adjacent to Maple and that he was familiar with P. Heights, but that doesn’t seem likely by his route taken in escape. He walks up Cherry st, and then makes a right onto Jackson, and proceedes down the hill toward Jackson & Maple, the street we can assume he had been intending to be 50 yards from when shooting the ‘Victom’. If Zodiac really had any real knowledge of the area, or had carried out any pre-crime planning and detailed observation, then he would have known that he needn’t have ‘shuffled along’ Jackson toward Maple St in order to disappear into the Julius Kahn open expanse and field area but that, in fact, right at the top of Cherry st could also be found a pathway leading through the Presidio wall and onto the open expanse of woodland, fields and park area and that the waltz down Jackson was completely unnecessary, and almost led to him being caught.

So, having gone one block too far and ended up at the street he did not originally intend, Zodiac seems oblivious as to the name of the street he now finds himself at, and can only offer that he was the murderer of the taxi driver ‘over by’ Washington and Maple. Because of this Geographical, unforeseen blunder he now walks down Cherry and along Jackson, with his intended destination: Presidio wall entrance on Maple. Had he actually planned the crime with the most basic of pre-planning and area knowledge, he’d have known that he could get to his destination far faster & far safer by walking straight ahead at the top of Cherry and Jackson Intersection. Had he been aware of this, the name’s Don Fouke and Eric Zelms would probably not be associated with Zodiac post Nov of 1969.