As some of you already know, I work overnight and sit in front of a computer for 8 hours. Work used to be slow and I needed something to help pass the time. That is when I discovered zodiackillersite.com. I had been interested in the case for quite some time and knew the basics, but after discovering this site I was amazed at how much information there was posted here. I spent months reading and gathering info before deciding to register and start posting. I don’t have a suspect of my own, but I have thrown out some odd theories at times. I have recently begun writing a movie that I will post more about when I get further into the writing process. Even if the Zodiac case never gets solved, I must admit that I have really enjoyed reading and learning about some interesting people. Even some of the people who may or may not have had a single thing to do with the case but have had their name mentioned for whatever reason have turned out to be interesting people to learn about. EX: George Livermore. An architect in S.F. who lived at the corner of Washington & Cherry not long before the murder of Paul Stine. He and his family are fun to read about. They were one of the most prominent families in the history of San Francisco. When researching the Livermore family, I had found some things that peaked my interest in regards to the case. Livermore is just one of dozens (hundreds maybe?) of people mentioned on this website who live/lived an exciting life.
Also on this site you will find a thread about a guy who actually called himself "Zodiac" and it is even said that he used the phrase "this is the Zodiac speaking." At first I thought "wow, are you kidding me? This has to be made up." But Morf contacted this man and says that he could not have been the Zodiac Killer. Still, this is one of the more interesting people you will read about here. If he really used that phrase, then someone either knew this guy back then, or they somehow heard of him and his shenanigans and decided to borrow his Zodiac persona. IMO, there is about a than 1% chance that the real killer, by pure coincidence, just came up with the name and that particular phrase on his own IF this ZODE really did use that phrase back in high school.
You can read about shady people such as Larry Kane and Troy Houghton who were criminals that lived very sketchy lives, but they are still interesting to read about for many reasons. Both used aliases. Both had a fairly long criminal record. On paper, Kane is a really good suspect and many have him in their top 5 suspect list. Houghton was a member of the Minutemen, who are fun to read about. These guys not only had some crazy views on the government, but they were prepared to go to war if necessary. If certain events hadn’t gone down, they probably would have actually attempted to overthrow the government and start a race war. Houghton’s disappearance is onE of the better mysteries talked about on the site.
Fred Manalli is one of my favorites to read about and research. A teacher, writer, poet, artist and nut job. And a possible drag queen. Most here are familiar with that personal ad that showed up in the S.F. Chronicle a day or two after Manalli’s death. *I will edit this and post a link later* This personal ad just can’t be coincidence. When you look at Manalli’s handwriting, things he wrote about, his mental state and this personal ad, then Manalli automatically becomes a very good suspect in the Zodiac case and the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders. Something tells me that Manalli’s "accident" may not have been an accident. A suicide maybe, or maybe someone was out to get him.
thedude’s suspect(s) might just be the best read on the entire site. I cannot post anything on this subject, but what an unbelievable story. Those of you who have read it will probably agree.
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, along with Manalli, is another guy I think played a part in the Zodiac crimes. I am 100% convinced that Manalli was involved, but Kaczynski very well could have been as well, although there are a couple of problems I have with him actually being Z himself. These two guys both have handwriting that is very close to the Z letters. Ted’s is damn near identical to the letter sent to Melvin Belli.
Those are just a few of my top guys to read about. Other interesting people mentioned on this site include witnesses or possible witnesses to crimes (James Owens comes to mind), students, lawyers, law enforcement and/or government agents, teachers, writers, reporters, musicians, artists, a rich car importer, a kid who raised pigeons, ex-roommates of victims, military persons, activists, cult members, a "family" of murdering hippies, Satanists, pedophiles, perverts, anti-military groups, park rangers, geniuses, dumb asses, and dozens of people from many other walks of life. The list is almost endless. Almost every type of human being known to man are present in some way shape or form on this website. So for anyone who has ever asked me why the Zodiac case is so appealing to me, this is one of the many reasons.
Last but not least is my favorite group of interesting people on this site that I MUST mention. You folks! I have never met any of you in person. I know very little about most of your lives, just what you have posted here. But I can tell you that we have a very wide range of personalities all working together and sharing information with each other. Every one of you has a different style when it comes to research and presenting theories in this case. That is amazing! You folks really are great people for wanting to solve these crimes that happened decades ago.
So what I want to know is this… out of all the people that have been discussed on this website, who do you think is the most fascinating and why?
Apologies if this thread makes no sense. It’s past 4 am and I am running on very little sleep. Didn’t get off work until 7:00 am and then had to get my older son from school at noon (they get out at noon on Wednesday’s for some reason), then the daycare called and said my younger boy had a fever so no nap before I had to come in to work tonight. Good times. speaking of Good Times, there is a suspect… nah, nevermind. He’s not an interesting one.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
Gareth Sewell Penn.
By FAR!
Not because he is/was the Zodiac, but because he has done nothing more interesting in his entire life than write a "self published" book on the case that no proper publisher would touch, has sent page after page of nonsense to the FBI to again, insert himself into the case, and seems to relish in ‘infamy’ – if we can call it that – by being a suspect of his own making.
Quite a sad man, and no genius, in my opinion. But fascinating that he loves the attention.
-glurk
——————————–
I don’t believe in monsters.
Gareth Sewell Penn.
By FAR!
Not because he is/was the Zodiac, but because he has done nothing more interesting in his entire life than write a "self published" book on the case that no proper publisher would touch, has sent page after page of nonsense to the FBI to again, insert himself into the case, and seems to relish in ‘infamy’ – if we can call it that – by being a suspect of his own making.
Quite a sad man, and no genius, in my opinion. But fascinating that he loves the attention.
-glurk
Good choice, and I agree that making himself a suspect was a bonehead move!
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
Forgot to mention "Joe Chandler." Although I have seen nothing that really connects him to the Zodiac case, he is definitely one of the most interesting people talked about on this site. Wish someone could figure out who he really was, but most likely that is another mystery that will never be solved.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
i think the kaczynski connection is the most fascinating. i have followed the zodiac crime spree for years and this board was the first place i saw kaczynski mentioned and it just makes too much sense (which in and of itself is scary). you’ve got a guy who you know is a serial killer, who arguably lived/worked in the area during the time of the murders, and who fits any basic profile of a lone wolf type killer…oh yeah and we already know he likes to write letters.
the problem i see with kaczynski, sullivan, and the others is we are trying to piece together their movements forty years ago based on what’s available on the internet and what the fbi or local le is willing to produce for us. i just don’t think the crimes are going to be solvable in this fashion. i really think we’d have to have someone from one of the families come here and be willing to dig through old boxes to find information. was kaczynski teaching in CA or not during the period of the murders? was sullivan conclusively in the vallejo area during the crimes? you’re not going to find a sign-in sheet from the 1960s that says "ross sullivan was here" so it’s really going to take a friend or family member digging up evidence.
that said, folks like morf should be applauded for the lengths they go to find the truth, and that’s a very small subset (the truth) of the information that flies around cases like this. the search for the truth is constantly bombarded by noise and innuendo and it would be very easy to write your own book and do the tv show/radio circuit which serves no purpose other than personal ego boosting. instead we have members reaching out to friends and family and neighbors and teachers to find the truth. even that deserves a second set of applause – some of you are able to call up a stranger (who is likely in his or her 70s) and tell them you’re investigating a decades old famous murder and still manage to NOT have them hang up the phone.
sorry for the long post, but a sincere round of applause to all of you who search for the truth without getting sidelined by an ego trip.
i like X and I like TK..but like is relative as they all seem to suffer some Z let down..I do not have a suspect either..pretty solid in my belief KJ did ride with Z..lastly i am leaning multiple Z theory and i think the prick worked at a junkyard that sold cars on the side..is that crazy or what?
After researching, and "meet and talk" with Darlen Ferrin’s x-husband James Douglas Crabtree/Phillips in a now shut down forum, reading all his VERY interesting and more or less inconsistent responses etc at that forum, I have to say that he is absolutely fascinating…in the worrisome way.
Penn, Manalli and Mr. X are also in my "fascinating pool"
But most fascinating of them all is of course; my own POI 
Hi, english is not my first language so please bear with me 
Toschi
The Zodiac.
The Zodiac.
Cheating…. New rule: must be a known person alive or dead. 
Pick again!
The Zodiac.
Cheating…. New rule: must be a known person alive or dead.
Pick again!
Why would I pick someone who likely has no actual connection to the crimes instead of the person who is, of course, the definitively most fascinating person in the entire case?
Really, there’s no one else. Certainly none of the so-called "suspects" fits the bill.
I thus pick The Zodiac, whoever he was.
Ted’s is damn near identical to the letter sent to Melvin Belli.
And yet Ted is absolutely not The Zodiac, ergo, using handwriting alone to determine the identity of the killer is a fool’s errand.
Cool thread. SO many to choose from.
Well, if we are simply choosing ‘fascinating’, I have to say ZODE, hands down. I am convinced he is not Zodiac. However, he admittedly called himself zodiac, had a keen interest in Melvin Belli, and admittedly never had a date with a Girl. By most people’s standards, he would be considered ‘odd’, but in his oddness, he very possibly was responsible for the infamous name, Zodiac, which i think is very possible that the real Z stole from Zode. If Zode lived in the Vallejo area, he would have certainly been in the police pool of suspects.
Also interesting to me is Fred Manalli. His writing traits habits, subject matter, choice of words, all line up with Zodiac very closely. While Manalli was writing a book called Paradise, it’s a nice place, Z was writing about Slaves in the afterlife. Add to that, the Ad that ran the day after Manalli died, it all adds up for an interesting person.
Can’t leave out Ross Sullivan, who managed to give us so much in the way of tantalizing clues, yet managed to slip thru the cracks in CA, enough to keep us hunting and guessing.
I’ve also met some really cool people and researchers here, and on other sites. I find all of us to be fascinating in that we all work together with different suspects, theories, and background, to solve a case that’s almost 50 years old!
I also had the privilege to correspond with people like Ken Narlow. Ken was a great guy, and a really friendly person who was always willing to discuss the case right up till the end even though he was sick.
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
The Zodiac.
Cheating…. New rule: must be a known person alive or dead.
Pick again!
What do you mean Mr lowe…many people know who Zodiac is! 
Seriously though. Many of the people involved with this case WE have made more interesting than they probably were. I mean, would they be fascinating if we found out they had nothing to do with it?
I sort of find fascinating the people who were able to pull of the some of the fake stuff out there. Although, fascinating my not be the right word…
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
I think Graysmith is pretty fascinating – well, at least that nice version of Graysmith in Fincher’s movie.
Ted K is obviously fascinating, regardless of the Z case.
Have to go with glurk’s choice in the end, though. Penn is something else.
But “fascinating” and “interesting in the sense that there’s actually a chance this is the guy” are two very different categories.
