How many POI’s do we know for sure have connection to Vallejo?
Very few… I actually can’t tie mine to Vallejo (yet?) either.
On a general note, I don’t like it when so-called POIs are treated as a set category in the Zodiac case.
Most of the well known persons people refer to by that term have no actual interest other than as persons who have caught the attention of amateur researchers over the years. They should be treated as such.
To answer the question, the obvious answer is ALA. Who actually qualifies as a POI in a more official sense at that.
He wasn’t Zodiac, though – so there’s that.
On a more specific note, I think Zodiac had some connection to Vallejo. Or at least the general area (Vallejo – Benicia – that region).
So, if a so-called POI does have a connection, that would make him far more interesting to me than someone who does not. I find it hard to believe that someone with no connection to the area opted to strike twice within it, six months apart.
And I have maintained for a while now that if you have a so-called POI who clearly does not have a tangible connection to the area, you need to explain why he happened to favor it. It isn’t an obvious area to strike in for an outsider. And both LHR and BRS are locations which make perfect sense if we go with a killer who had local knowledge, who knew that the spots would attract targets of the sort he – clearly – favored: Young couples at both locations, hardly a coincidence. Lover’s lanes, or similar, that wouldn’t have been known as such by a random passer-by.
My POI attended Ramona High during Cheri’s freshman year; married, in September, 1966 a young lady who lived right around the corner from Cheri; almost certainly attended Riverside College from 1966-68; moved to San Jose in, probably, 1968; and graduated from San Jose State in 1970. My POI would have had plenty of opportunities to travel from Riverside to the Bay Area before moving to San Jose, and could have done so without his wife, while "looking for a place to live."
Oops! I meant, September, 1966.
I have a phrase- don’t crap on your own doorstep. I tell my kids this so they don’t bring crap to our doorstep. Some serial killers have crapped on their own doorsteps and others haven’t.
Zodiac had a car so he could crap anywhere he wanted to. The Rostov Ripper (Andrei Chikatilo) didn’t have a car, so he crapped near train stations. In terms of distance it would depend on the lifestyle and means of the killer, so any POI that draw your curiosity is always worth the investigation.
However, don’t become fixated that your POI is the one- Allen/Kane/Ed Edwards/Dyke/HoH/Graysmith/Penn, etc etc. The list of Zodiac suspects is constantly growing instead of diminishing as most investigations should draw to, and without absolute proof then the mystery of Zodiac may forever persist.
However, I am always wondering about the spate of murders and kidnappings reported after Zodiac ‘signed off’ with his promise of keeping up his killings but without declaring them, and the reports where 2 or more men are involved in kidnappings and murders throughout the 1970s.
Just because we imagine serial killers as lonesome activists in their murderous deeds, it must never be forgotten that they can also work with others or in groups.
Fred and Rose West. Ian Brady and Moira Hindley. The Hillside Stranglers. The Barbie Killers. What is to say that Zodiac wasn’t just 1 person? This could fit with the apparent discrepancies which evidences seem to relay.
It is also worth looking at Arthur Leigh Allen and his actions if more than one Zodiac killer (the ‘team’ theory) is to be considered. Even when he was incarcerated in Atascadero, he wanted maps brought into him and even acknowledged he wouldn’t be allowed one of California. If the design of Zodiac’s murder locations is anything to go by in his plan, then having a map fetish with a deviant mind may be something to consider when it comes to how Zodiac planned and executed his crimes.
Also, Vallejo does have distinction with Zodiac- he doesn’t like the police there if you look at the evidences.