There was something in a British tabloid about newly found letters. What could the police be waiting for? Why not immediately disclose them?

Keyword being tabloid.

yup more stuff needed.. does not take much for a tiny piece of the puzzle to fall into place. a point in time should be designated for all cases that are unsolved that a release of all evidence be revealed publicly.. apart from personal detail that would upset the victim or family. lets say 30 years.. a bit like the jfk stuff. yup its frustrating knowing other evidence probably exists.. diary’s and such.

Awhile back, the Riverside Press-Enterprise published an article featuring a couple of RPD officers who claimed they were dedicated to solving the Bates case. Silly me believed them, and sent them a letter detailing what info I had re my POI. I received zero reply. Anyone surprised?

Doesn’t mean they didn’t look, Dag.

There can be no valid reason at this point to withold any unseen letters or other evidence LE may have. Further, what guarantee is there that revealing such will solve this? Those who might recognize the Zodiac could be long gone or computer illiterate or ignorant of this and other websites and not even see it wherever it would be released.

Many say they pursue this for the victim’s families. Perhaps those remaining might be the ones to pressure LE however that seems doubtful as I’d think they would have done so long before now!

Privacy of POI’s might be one reason, or holding something back only the perp would know. I get that, but…redact and share…I agree.

There can be no valid reason at this point to withold any unseen letters or other evidence LE may have.

Sometimes what police know and what they can prove in a court of law are two different things. There was a case in my hometown where a teenage girl was supposedly kidnapped from her bedroom one night and found murdered. Nearly ten years later her father was arrested for the crime and is now in prison. The Sheriff here said they always knew he had done it but couldn’t prove it until his wife/her mother came forward. It could be a similar case with Zodiac.

They need to hold a press conference and announce the current state of affairs re. dna evidence/investigation/results and letters. If there are letters they refuse to release, then at least say that and give a valid reason.

Isn’t it up to the District Attorney to decide whether or not to press charges based on evidence?

And finally, imo it is a huge disservice to all the named poi’s, their families and friends for LE not to do this as the names of these people continue to be drug through the mud. How would anyone like their son or brother to be named based on a yearbook picture and resemblance to a wanted sketch as a possible poi in a murder case.

Why don’t you write an Op-Ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle calling for that?

Frankly, it never occurred to me but your suggestion is good.

I think it might be more effective for someone like Tom Voight, Sandy Betts or one of the other members here who have spent many hours of their lives investigating this and contributing invaluable research to do so. They also have connections to LE and would get more attention than a nobody like myself.

It might be good to write simultaneously to the three papers such as Zodiac did and to the heads of all the appropriate legal entities as well!

They need to hold a press conference and announce the current state of affairs re. dna evidence/investigation/results and letters. If there are letters they refuse to release, then at least say that and give a valid reason.

Yes, it would be nice to hear some sort of update.

Isn’t it up to the District Attorney to decide whether or not to press charges based on evidence?

Yes, but it’s up to law enforcement officers to provide the evidence they need to press those charges and get a conviction.

And finally, imo it is a huge disservice to all the named poi’s, their families and friends for LE not to do this as the names of these people continue to be drug through the mud. How would anyone like their son or brother to be named based on a yearbook picture and resemblance to a wanted sketch as a possible poi in a murder case.

I don’t think any police department has named anyone as a POI, other than maybe ALA and I’m not sure they ever officially named him as one. They can’t control what the public says or who they accuse. Some have said they excluded certain POI, such as Riverside saying Ross Sullivan had an alibi. I believe SFPD has ruled out ALA.

It would be nice if some of these jurisdictions came out with evidence that exonerates certain POI, if they actually have it. But one of the problems here is that there are several jurisdictions involved, 4 in the "confirmed Zodiac victim cases and 5 if you include Riverside and even more if we include other possible Zodiac victims. It would require a joint effort with these jurisdiction plus the State of California and even the FBI.

But again, this all is based on IF these departments have a suspect they all agree on, or maybe several suspects they believe are good for the crimes. If they don’t however, and still have no idea who Zodiac was, they really should just release all the files from all jurisdictions and let the public help.

If Riverside came out tomorrow and said it wasn’t Ross Sullivan, people would still doubt their motives. Not sure it would do any good…whoever it was, wherever it was.

If Riverside came out tomorrow and said it wasn’t Ross Sullivan, people would still doubt their motives.

Agreed. I’d like to at least know what alibi cleared him. I’ve always figured it was the hippy girl and she seemed the type that would lie to police.

I am pretty sure that the letters which turned up, were the ones that Det. James Deasey took home with him as Zodiac souvenirs.in the 1990’s when he retired. I was told he took three of them.

When the case started to get more attention again a few yrs ago, I heard that he gave them back to SFPD. I wonder how many other detectives did the same thing?

That is tampering with evidence in my book! I was also told that he kept the letters in his garage for all those years. Thank goodness it hardly ever gets very hot in SF, but still not the best way to preserve evidence.

I stupidly did that with some of my evidence, not knowing what I had at that time. Too late now to cry over that spilled milk, but I still do.