Point being Zodiac didn’t look over 150 lbs in the sketch.

Perhaps he lost some weight between the previous attacks and Stine.

Possible.

LE saw him and trust them more then general citizens.

LE would value the corroboration of all the witness descriptions, though.

They did with the kids and all descriptions was similar.

They all agreed that no fat ass shot Stine. Plus to mention was thought to be around 35 to 45 years old.

Great work, I’ve been thinking about doing something like this.

It’s amazing how just by changing the format by which we view the data we get a much better perspective on things.

I feel like this spreadsheet could have stopped a lot of digressive arguments over the years.

Now that I see it all lined up I can see a clear pattern with the hair. Up until LB it’s described as reddish light brown, almost blond and then suddenly at LB it’s much darker. But now that I can see it all laid out on the spreadsheet I think I can see something else, the style changes. At LB it’s neatly parted and greasy. I think that explains the color change. He was wearing pomade, or a similar product.

As a long time user of various greasy hair products I’ve often noticed the way my medium brown hair looks almost black with certain types of pomade. It effects the light refraction. A similar effect is produced just by wetting the hair with water, but my observation has been that particularly greasy pomades achieve a much stronger darkening effect.

A similar effect is produced just by wetting the hair with water, but my observation has been that particularly greasy pomades achieve a much stronger darkening effect.

I’ve suggested that perhaps he was sweaty from hiking along the lake in the afternoon sun with dark clothing on.

Stitch:

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Zodiac was a fat slob, but all of the witness statements, including the Robbins kids and Foulke, describe the suspect as "heavy build", "medium-heavy build" and "barrel-chested". I would put much more credence into what the witnesses said rather than a "sketch" after the fact – particularly since the "sketch" wasn’t a sketch at all.

A similar effect is produced just by wetting the hair with water, but my observation has been that particularly greasy pomades achieve a much stronger darkening effect.

I’ve suggested that perhaps he was sweaty from hiking along the lake in the afternoon sun with dark clothing on.

Stitch:

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Zodiac was a fat slob, but all of the witness statements, including the Robbins kids and Foulke, describe the suspect as "heavy build", "medium-heavy build" and "barrel-chested". I would put much more credence into what the witnesses said rather than a "sketch" after the fact – particularly since the "sketch" wasn’t a sketch at all.

It’s all good but did they play Mr. Potato Head with Fouke & Zelms as well ?

A similar effect is produced just by wetting the hair with water, but my observation has been that particularly greasy pomades achieve a much stronger darkening effect.

I’ve suggested that perhaps he was sweaty from hiking along the lake in the afternoon sun with dark clothing on.

That’s a reasonable hypothesis.

But it’s difficult to imagine grease, oils, or sweat turning light brown hair black. It could bridge the gap in the eyewitness testimony though. To reconcile the accounts his hair would need to be brown, but a dark enough shade of brown to appear noticably dark brown wet.

Then again it was neatly parted, so perhaps a product was used that would also darken the hair. Its an assumption though.

Stitch:
I think the sketch was amended after Foulke’s memo. You’ll notice the updated sketch shows a less thin, more rounded face.

Head:

I think either or neither explanation could be correct. Doubtful we will ever know. I do think it’s reasonable to assume that he let his hair grow out between July 5 and September 27, and then got a crew cut between September 28 and October 11.

Stitch:
I think the sketch was amended after Foulke’s memo. You’ll notice the updated sketch shows a less thin, more rounded face.

Head:

I think either or neither explanation could be correct. Doubtful we will ever know. I do think it’s reasonable to assume that he let his hair grow out between July 5 and September 27, and then got a crew cut between September 28 and October 11.

You could be right and all good. I’m of to watch The Masked Singer where I know who they are all. Have a great night!

I have created a spreadsheet that breaks down each description of possible eyewitnesses of the Zodiac. Almost all information has been gleaned from the police reports available online (thanks, Tom!) other than the documentary stuff.

Some are obvious confirmed eyewitnesses such as Mageau, Hartnell, and the Robbins kids.

Others are possible eyewitnesses such as the three college girls, the doctor and his son, and Foulke.

I have also added Cecilia Shepherd’s possible descriptions based on what the Whites claim she said in the police reports and in David Collins interview in the 2007 Zodiac documentary. I also included the post-Stine murder sketch descriptions for reference.

You may decide the veracity of these descriptions on your own.

I have also created a general, overall description by combining and averaging them. That may be useful or not. Again, you can decide how best to process this. Either way, I think it’s a good way to look at all the descriptions all at once.

Here it is:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ … sp=sharing

As always, please fact check me.

Awesome. Thank you!

I’d suggest adding more witness descriptions of Zodiac’s speaking voice: "drawling", "precise cadence", "like he was reading from a script", "no distinctive accent". Nancy Slover said Gaikowski was the closest sounding POI.

Didn’t Hartnell say he thought he recognized the voice? Or that it sounded familiar?

I’d suggest adding more witness descriptions of Zodiac’s speaking voice: "drawling", "precise cadence", "like he was reading from a script", "no distinctive accent". Nancy Slover said Gaikowski was the closest sounding POI.

Didn’t Hartnell say he thought he recognized the voice? Or that it sounded familiar?

Hartnell didn’t say that as far as I know. He did say that if he heard Zodiac’s voice again, he would immediately recognize it.

Hartnell said this:

"His voice…I can remember…almost like I’d heard it before. You know there’s some of drawls that people have similar. And…almost as if I’d heard it before…couldn’t think where."

Now, he may be saying that the actual voice he’d heard before, or the type of drawl he had heard before.

Stitch:
I think the sketch was amended after Foulke’s memo. You’ll notice the updated sketch shows a less thin, more rounded face.

Head:

I think either or neither explanation could be correct. Doubtful we will ever know. I do think it’s reasonable to assume that he let his hair grow out between July 5 and September 27, and then got a crew cut between September 28 and October 11.

Foukes never contributed to any sketch.

It’s utterly bizarre to me that some people will discount someone like ALA because most witnesses said Zodiac was shorter.

Eyewitnesses are unreliable at the best of times. When you factor in Some of the witnesses saw him at night from a distance looking out a window, others were getting tied up by him whilst he wore an elaborate costume. Witnesses struggle to guess the right age and heights of perps in the best circumstances.

If ALA was Zodiac you would expect to see some discrepancies with age and height etc. The notion each witness would perfectly describe ALA is pretty naive.

I looked pretty thoroughly through the police reports, and I found no mention of a "round face" from Mageau. If someone can locate it, please point it out.

One thing that really struck me was how consistent the description of the Zodiac’s build was:

"heavy set"
"real heavy set"
"beefy"
"not blubbery fat, but real beefy"
"stout"
"kind of heavy, but not obese"
"overweight"
"bulky looking"
"muscular"
"well built"
stocky"
"heavy build"
"medium-heavy build"
"paunchy stomach"

I think it is safe to say that you can eliminate any "skinny" or "slender" suspects. This guy was fire hydrant.

This is a big reason why I have such a problem with the sketch. Sketches are a pretty bad vast majority of the time anyways. But why does the sketch depict such a skinny looking guy? Even the sketch itself describes the suspect as heavy set in a contradiction of the actual sketch itself.