There is no evidence whatsoever that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac Killer. There is no evidence whatsoever that Donald Harden, along with his wife did anything more than solve the 408 cipher. There is certainly nothing to connect the two, or that they ever knew each other. There never has been any validity to this perpetual myth, promoted on countless Youtube videos.
Donald Fouke and the three teenagers roundly dismissed Allen as the subject they saw that night, and Allen’s fingerprints, palm prints and handwriting didn’t match. But I suppose that if he wore a Zodiac watch, then that should do it- they should have locked him up for 100 years for choosing the wrong brand of wristwatch and liking the ‘Most Dangerous Game’. Case closed.

I have always figured that Don Cheney was trying to frame Allen.

Don makes a good zodiac candidate.

Just to be clear, what exactly discounted allen? Like, specific examples, what DNA from what letter was used? What finger prints from what scene? And so on.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac Killer. There is no evidence whatsoever that Donald Harden, along with his wife did anything more than solve the 408 cipher. There is certainly nothing to connect the two, or that they ever knew each other. There never has been any validity to this perpetual myth, promoted on countless Youtube videos.
Donald Fouke and the three teenagers roundly dismissed Allen as the subject they saw that night, and Allen’s fingerprints, palm prints and handwriting didn’t match. But I suppose that if he wore a Zodiac watch, then that should do it- they should have locked him up for 100 years for choosing the wrong brand of wristwatch and liking the ‘Most Dangerous Game’. Case closed.

As for Don harden you are correct, but for Arthur…

There was a little more evidence than the wrist watch and the most dangerous game…

Allen was confirmed to be at lake berryessa the day of the homicides and was found with bloody knives in his car…

If allen was not zodiac, he really did not help the situation, it is almost as if he enjoyed being under suspicion, and he seemed to be intentionally hinting to the police that it was probably him, whether this was the case or not.

…and it’s not like anybody is slandering the name of a respectable citizen, allen was a child-molester, and was a fairly unpleasant individual to begin with.

In the "his name was Arthur Leigh Allen" film, either Norman Boudreau or Don Cheney said "Allen was left handed in more than one way" this has always stood out, as I took it as an obvious reference to "the left handed path"

In Western esotericism the Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path are the dichotomy between two opposing approaches to magic. This terminology is used in various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious black magic and the Right-Hand Path with benevolent white magic. -Wikipedia

When looking at Don or Norman you would think they were two normal old guys, they just look like old hicks, yet that comment caught me off-guard, I mean, do most people know about this type of stuff? That comment regarding "Arthur being left handed in more than one way" could have just been reference to left handed individuals being perceived as "sinister", though if it was a comment on dark magic it says a lot about Don or Norman, who ever made the comment. (Ill have to research the film as my memory is not clear on who made the comment)

The DNA and fingerprints seem very suspect for excluding anyone, but the palm print found on one letter clearing ALA seems pretty solid. I still don’t exclude him though.

Allen was not confirmed to be at Lake Berryessa the day of the homicide- On October 6th 1969, ten days after the Lake Berryessa attack, Sergeant John Lynch from the Vallejo Police Department interviewed Arthur Leigh Allen, with Allen stating that he traveled to Salt Point Ranch, located on the coast, due west of Napa on September 26th 1969 for a spot of scuba diving. The following day, the 27th and the day of the Berryessa attack he returned to the Vallejo area and remained at home for the rest of the day. There is zero evidence placing Allen at Berryessa during the murders.
Could you please show me the proof that "Allen was confirmed to be at Lake Berryessa the day of the homicides", I would like to see the origin of this claim.

Clues that Donald Harden and his wife was Zodiac.
The initials D and H are hidden in the bus-bomb diagram.
The 408 cipher. 4=D 0=space 8=H.
After Harden decoded the 408 cipher The zodiac described himself as "crackproof". Implying no one could or has cracked the code but Zodiac himself.
The 408 cipher had 54 unique symbols,Harden’s address was #54 at that time in 1969.The Melvin Belli meeting address that Zodiac gave was 6726 St Vincent De Paul Thrift Shop. Harden’s last 4 digits of his phone number back then were 6726 exactly. Zodiac said he killed 7 victims,when really it was only 5,he lied about August the 8th month. He gave his whole phone number 408-758-6726.
The handwriting is an exact match to Donald, and Bettye in others.
Zodiac was known to have a ego. Donald Harden revealed himself to have a ego during his 1969 interviews.
Don matches the police sketches exactly.
Zodiac mentioned a lot of school threats. Donald Harden was a school teacher.
Zodiac was believed to be a movie buff. Harden was revealed to be a movie buff in one of his 2007 interviews.
Zodiac was believed to be in military. Harden’s father was in military.
The postcards sent by The Zodiac all advertise real estate to which Harden was a venture and associate.
Zodiac mentioned to survivor Bryan Hartnell that he was from Colorado. Harden was in Colorado in 1960.
The first cipher anagram reads "Donald Gene Harden Salinas School Teacher".
William Baker diagnosed Zodiac as paranoid and schizophrenic. Harden’s wife had schizophrenia. Harden’s wife was also paranoid. Evidence of her being paranoid is that she was said to be afraid of a reporter.
Bettye Harden was known to frequently wear a T-shirt which read "I married The Zodiac and all I got was this stupid T-shirt".

Allen:

Well..

Allen communicated to his friend Don Cheney (through the premise of writing a novel) the following ideas:
He would like to kill couples at random.
He would taunt the police with letters detailing his crimes.
He would sign the letters with the cross-circle symbol from his watch.
He would call himself "Zodiac."
He would wear make-up to change his appearance.
He would attach a flashlight to the barrel of his gun in order to shoot at night.
He would fool women into stopping their cars in rural areas by claiming they had problems with their tires, then loosen their lug nuts and eventually take them captive.[1]
In 1992, surviving victim Mike Mageau picked Allen out of a police lineup.
Surviving victim Bryan Hartnell identified his voice and physical appearance as being similar to the Zodiac.
Allen lived in Vallejo near the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Herman Road murders.
Allen was allegedly in Riverside on the weekend when Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. He later claimed to be in Pomona when he heard of Bates’ murder.
Allen took his only sick day of the year on Nov.1, 1966 (Bates was murdered on Oct. 30, 1966).
The Vallejo Police Department seized a Royal typewriter with Elite type from Allen’s home, which is the brand of typewriter used to write the Bates’ letters.
Note: To date, the typewriter has not been compared to the Bates letters.
Received a Zodiac watch from his mother for Christmas in 1967, according to his brother. Allen estimated receiving the watch in 1969.
Allen communicated to his friend Philip that he was fascinated with the idea of killing people. He believed that people were more challenging to kill than animals since they were more intelligent. Similar sentiments were communicated during the three-part cipher mailed to newspapers. Allen also mentioned to the police that his favorite book was The Most Dangerous Game, a book about killing humans and possibly alluded to in a Zodiac correspondence.
Mageau described a brown Corvair at the Blue Rock Springs scene. Allen’s friend, Philip, owned a brown Corvair that Allen was allowed to use.
Allen told friend Don Cheney that he was fond of a waitress at the International House of Pancakes in Vallejo, the place where Darlene Ferrin worked as a waitress.
An unidentified man named "Lee" was known to associate with Ferrin, and Allen frequently went by his middle name.
Told police he was going up to Berryessa on the day of the Hartnell/Shepard attack, but decided to go up the coast instead.
Allen admitted to possessing bloody knives on the day of the Berryessa attack, claiming that he used them to kill chickens.
Cheney mentioned to Ron Allen that Arthur had two .22 caliber weapons.
Zodiac is frequently theorized as having military ties, and Allen was at one time a sail maker in the navy.
Allen wore size 10.5 shoes, similar to those left at the crime scene.
In 1991, a nemesis of Allen’s named Ralph Spinelli told police that Allen admitted to being the Zodiac and that he would prove it by going to San Francisco and "killing a cabbie."
In 1991, the search warrant for Allen’s house found bomb diagrams and the same ingredients for bombs that were mentioned in a previous Zodiac letter.
Karen Allen, his sister-in-law, stated that Allen would use the shortened "trigger mech" in place of "trigger mechanism," as well as spelling Christmas with two S’s. Both idiocyncracies appear in the Zodiac letter to Melvin Belli.
Karen also stated that he was taught to write right-handed as a child, even though he was left-handed.
Allen claimed to have consulted with Melvin Belli, an attorney mentioned by name in the Zodiac letters.

Donald Harden (and wife) Looks more and more Strange When Looking into the case.

Have anyone looked into the idea that A.L Allen, that worked as a elementary-school teacher, and also as a Janitor May have connections to the Harden Couple? Donald also worked as a teacher.

If They worked together, it would explain the DNA that Did not match A.L Allen. Maybe the Harden Couple was the masterminds and A.L. Allen was the muscles? OR the Harden Couple used and framed A.L Allen?

You serious Clark?

The Hardens did more to advance a solution to this case than the vast majority of of us have or ever will. Please stop maligning good people.

Allen was not confirmed to be at Lake Berryessa the day of the homicide- On October 6th 1969, ten days after the Lake Berryessa attack, Sergeant John Lynch from the Vallejo Police Department interviewed Arthur Leigh Allen, with Allen stating that he traveled to Salt Point Ranch, located on the coast, due west of Napa on September 26th 1969 for a spot of scuba diving. The following day, the 27th and the day of the Berryessa attack he returned to the Vallejo area and remained at home for the rest of the day. There is zero evidence placing Allen at Berryessa during the murders.
Could you please show me the proof that "Allen was confirmed to be at Lake Berryessa the day of the homicides", I would like to see the origin of this claim.

Hmmm… it’s been a while since I have looked into allen, so I had to refresh my memory.

It turns out that you are half-right, there is not any conclusive evidence, but the circumstantial evidence is pretty clear.

I guess it just comes down to what you believe, do you believe that allen "changed his mind, and went up the coast" or do you believe he was at berryessa?

The day of the homicide Leigh had told others he was going to berryessa to skin dive, and only after returning claimed that he had "planned to go to berryessa, but changed his mind last minute and went up the coast."

Allen was familiar with the Berryessa area and even told VPD’s Sgt. Lynch, in an Oct. 6, 1969 interview, that the day of the attack he "was going to go to Berryessa, but went up the coast instead." Allen first used a mysterious couple from Treasure Island as an alibi, but could never produce their names or phone number.
Later, Allen attempted to use a deceased elderly neighbor as an alibi, claiming this neighbor, William White, had seen Allen the afternoon of the Berryessa attack and that the two had a conversation. (At this time another William White, a ranger from Napa County, was all over the news as a spokesman on the Berryessa attack.)
http://www.zodiackiller.com/AllenFile.html

plus in a confession to police revealed he was in possession of knives covered in blood on the day of the Lake Berryessa attack, but stated they were used to kill a chicken…
https://www.zodiacciphers.com/arthur-leigh-allen.html

Keep in mind that this couple allen claims he met, who he claims he killed the chicken to eat for lunch with, could not be located, and likely did not exist. Arthur’s other alibi was a dead man…

others had reported that allen had bloody knives in his car the day of the attack, and allen admitted to police that he did in fact have the bloody knives on that day, only allen claims he killed a chicken.

Nothing is conclusive one way or the other, we can not say that Arthur was at berryessa or not, at least not with any certainty, but if you look at the situation carefully you should understand why it is difficult to believe allen.

Allen:

Well..

Allen communicated to his friend Don Cheney (through the premise of writing a novel) the following ideas:
He would like to kill couples at random.
He would taunt the police with letters detailing his crimes.
He would sign the letters with the cross-circle symbol from his watch.
He would call himself "Zodiac."
He would wear make-up to change his appearance.
He would attach a flashlight to the barrel of his gun in order to shoot at night.
He would fool women into stopping their cars in rural areas by claiming they had problems with their tires, then loosen their lug nuts and eventually take them captive.[1]
In 1992, surviving victim Mike Mageau picked Allen out of a police lineup.
Surviving victim Bryan Hartnell identified his voice and physical appearance as being similar to the Zodiac.
Allen lived in Vallejo near the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Herman Road murders.
Allen was allegedly in Riverside on the weekend when Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. He later claimed to be in Pomona when he heard of Bates’ murder.
Allen took his only sick day of the year on Nov.1, 1966 (Bates was murdered on Oct. 30, 1966).
The Vallejo Police Department seized a Royal typewriter with Elite type from Allen’s home, which is the brand of typewriter used to write the Bates’ letters.
Note: To date, the typewriter has not been compared to the Bates letters.
Received a Zodiac watch from his mother for Christmas in 1967, according to his brother. Allen estimated receiving the watch in 1969.
Allen communicated to his friend Philip that he was fascinated with the idea of killing people. He believed that people were more challenging to kill than animals since they were more intelligent. Similar sentiments were communicated during the three-part cipher mailed to newspapers. Allen also mentioned to the police that his favorite book was The Most Dangerous Game, a book about killing humans and possibly alluded to in a Zodiac correspondence.
Mageau described a brown Corvair at the Blue Rock Springs scene. Allen’s friend, Philip, owned a brown Corvair that Allen was allowed to use.
Allen told friend Don Cheney that he was fond of a waitress at the International House of Pancakes in Vallejo, the place where Darlene Ferrin worked as a waitress.
An unidentified man named "Lee" was known to associate with Ferrin, and Allen frequently went by his middle name.
Told police he was going up to Berryessa on the day of the Hartnell/Shepard attack, but decided to go up the coast instead.
Allen admitted to possessing bloody knives on the day of the Berryessa attack, claiming that he used them to kill chickens.
Cheney mentioned to Ron Allen that Arthur had two .22 caliber weapons.
Zodiac is frequently theorized as having military ties, and Allen was at one time a sail maker in the navy.
Allen wore size 10.5 shoes, similar to those left at the crime scene.
In 1991, a nemesis of Allen’s named Ralph Spinelli told police that Allen admitted to being the Zodiac and that he would prove it by going to San Francisco and "killing a cabbie."
In 1991, the search warrant for Allen’s house found bomb diagrams and the same ingredients for bombs that were mentioned in a previous Zodiac letter.
Karen Allen, his sister-in-law, stated that Allen would use the shortened "trigger mech" in place of "trigger mechanism," as well as spelling Christmas with two S’s. Both idiocyncracies appear in the Zodiac letter to Melvin Belli.
Karen also stated that he was taught to write right-handed as a child, even though he was left-handed.
Allen claimed to have consulted with Melvin Belli, an attorney mentioned by name in the Zodiac letters.

Cheney is not what I would call a "credible source"

Here is my issue with Cheney, To me, it seems like Cheney could have been zodiac, and as we know zodiac loved to brag about his crimes, and what I see Cheney doing is openly bragging about key features of these crimes under the guise of "Arthur told me". Cheney probably thinks that he is so clever that he can openly talk about the crimes without incriminating himself.

Cheney is able to publicly describe events of these crimes, and because he says "Arthur told me these things" nobody suspects that these ideas might have actually been Cheney’s to begin with.

Cheney gives more detailed descriptions than you would expect, he must have really been listening to everything Arthur said, I mean, Cheney says they were getting drunk on a fishing trip when Arthur told him some of these things, yet Cheney remembers every little detail perfectly…

Cheney describes things zodiac did in great detail, using the pretext "Arthur told me…", yet I really have not heard Arthur speak about these things, and as we know zodiac loved to brag, Zodiac seemed proud of his work and enjoyed telling people about the things he had done, even if he had to do it anonymously through letters, well, it seems cheney does the exact same thing when talking about allen. Cheney will say "Arthur told me you can put a pen light on a gun and it will act as a sight" but he says it with this condescending bragging type tone, like they are his "clever" ideas, and that he feels even more "clever" because he can brag about them openly through other people allen.

Or when Cheney found out that DNA testing was going to be conducted on zodiac envelopes he comes up with this story that allen had others lick his stamps and envelopes because the glue made him sick. This might have been Cheney trying to cover himself if his DNA turned up on a zodiac envelope

Cheney also mentions that Arthur would take a piece of putty and obtain a finger print impression, which he could have used to create an object for planting false prints, this sounds like Cheney trying to cover himself if his prints show up…

So when it comes to the things that Cheney said "Arthur told me", I am highly skeptical.

Clues that Donald Harden and his wife was Zodiac.
The initials D and H are hidden in the bus-bomb diagram.
The 408 cipher. 4=D 0=space 8=H.
After Harden decoded the 408 cipher The zodiac described himself as "crackproof". Implying no one could or has cracked the code but Zodiac himself.
The 408 cipher had 54 unique symbols,Harden’s address was #54 at that time in 1969.The Melvin Belli meeting address that Zodiac gave was 6726 St Vincent De Paul Thrift Shop. Harden’s last 4 digits of his phone number back then were 6726 exactly. Zodiac said he killed 7 victims,when really it was only 5,he lied about August the 8th month. He gave his whole phone number 408-758-6726.
The handwriting is an exact match to Donald, and Bettye in others.
Zodiac was known to have a ego. Donald Harden revealed himself to have a ego during his 1969 interviews.
Don matches the police sketches exactly.
Zodiac mentioned a lot of school threats. Donald Harden was a school teacher.
Zodiac was believed to be a movie buff. Harden was revealed to be a movie buff in one of his 2007 interviews.
Zodiac was believed to be in military. Harden’s father was in military.
The postcards sent by The Zodiac all advertise real estate to which Harden was a venture and associate.
Zodiac mentioned to survivor Bryan Hartnell that he was from Colorado. Harden was in Colorado in 1960.
The first cipher anagram reads "Donald Gene Harden Salinas School Teacher".
William Baker diagnosed Zodiac as paranoid and schizophrenic. Harden’s wife had schizophrenia. Harden’s wife was also paranoid. Evidence of her being paranoid is that she was said to be afraid of a reporter.
Bettye Harden was known to frequently wear a T-shirt which read "I married The Zodiac and all I got was this stupid T-shirt".

Not to sound like I am shooting down your ideas, because they are interesting, but personally I would need some better evidence. A good deal of your points could have been coincidence, or could have other reasonable explanations…

It’s like when it came to the case against Theodore John Kaczynski, at first, I thought the idea was fairly unreasonable and I was highly skeptical and dismissive of it, yet, the case presented against him on this site was really convincing, and managed to make me see that POI as being a fully plausible suspect. Your ideas are interesting, but not convincing, at least not to me.

Again, I always feel like I am being the jerk who shoots down ideas, and believe me that is not my intention, but how else could I explain that I have yet to be convinced?

others had reported that allen had bloody knives in his car the day of the attack, and allen admitted to police that he did in fact have the bloody knives on that day, only allen claims he killed a chicken.

I’ve always found that very odd. I mean, where the hell did he get a chicken to kill? Did he find one running around? Did he bring one with him? I would think the police asked him about that but have never seen it explained.

Either way, ALA was one very strange dude. This is a very weird thing to say, IMO, from a TV interview he did shortly before his death…

I couldn’t murder anyone, it’s difficult as hell, and it can be terribly depressing….

How does he know how difficult it is and how it’s depressing? Sounds like the voice of experience speaking. Until we have irrefutable evidence someone else was the Zodiac, ALA will always be a prime suspect to me.

Not to sound like I am shooting down your ideas, because they are interesting, but personally I would need some better evidence. A good deal of your points could have been coincidence, or could have other reasonable explanations…

Yeah, it’s a load of crap. Gonna need better evidence than that to bring DH into the suspect lineup.