If you read about the Madrid bombings and Brandon Mayfield, the FBI described the fingerprint match as "100% verified, and he was awarded two million dollars after their mistake. His fingerprint matched on many markers and if the real murderer had not been identified we could be looking at a totally different outcome. The FBI require their supercomputer to match up 12 traits to declare a match, Brandon Mayfield’s left index finger produced 15 matches, yet he wasn’t the bomber. Fingerprints are only as reliable, as the method used to capture them. Super glue fuming can alter the ridge line detail and so it depends on how the prints were recovered from the taxicab at Presdio Heights, as well as the letters, if they were mishandled they could have been altered and it is quite possible the prints used to exclude Arthur Leigh Allen, are either not Zodiac’s in the first place or he was excluded incorrectly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Mayfield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=678&v=mIX-cyktpBY

If this case was solved, first thing I would do is take a vacation

But even if solved, there would be further discussion about who zodiac was, his background etc, and of course you would still have people that doubt the case is really solved and would hold onto their theory, suspect, etc

I voted that this case will never be solved. To truly ‘solve’ it, we need a DNA or print match or the guns used in the murders etc, and I don’t see any of that stuff being found suddenly

Fingerprints are only as reliable, as the method used to capture them.

Sure. That goes even for DNA. There are cases on record where NN’s DNA was undoubtedly found at the crime scene – and yet it turned out NN was not the killer.

But those cases are exceptional. If we had a positive DNA match between the Stine shirt and NN, and NN looked like a plausible candidate as such, it would look and walk like a duck. Ideally, the same technique used to obtain the Stine DNA would also yield results elsewhere, e.g. one of the letters – but even without that confirmation it would be pretty compelling.

All sadly hypothetical, of course.

Don’t forget, when a Person is ruled out via multiple methods, that makes it even more likely they were not Z, case in point, ALA ruled out via finger prints, palm prints, writing, DNA

But even if solved, there would be further discussion about who zodiac was, his background etc, and of course you would still have people that doubt the case is really solved and would hold onto their theory, suspect, etc

And there would be plenty of discussion about what other murders were the work of Z.

The case may one day be solved, but not the mystery.

Well, I’m pretty sure that they could arrest the Z tomorrow, but it would take years to go to trial – by which time old man Z might well have expired awaiting trial. It has taken 5 years so far to get the Grim Sleeper trial on, and still it hasn’t happened. Pre-trial discovery in the Z case would be much more intensive and complicated. And just imagine the Defence rooting thru the Z forums for defence possibilities – theories, differences of opinion, other suspects etc.

Therefore, I think we won’t get a tried and convicted Zodiac.

If however a nailed-on, sure-thing perp is identified, I expect him to be such a below-par character that the disappointment will make it easy for most of us to put our interest in the case to rest. A bit like finding that Rader was BTK. When you see the creep, where before it was a shadowy nom-de-plume, you just see that these numbnuts are just people. Assholes, but still people.

Basically, to himself, as Z he’s a somebody – but as a named perp, he’d just be the guy that did it. Like every other sicko that ever got caught.

But even if solved, there would be further discussion about who zodiac was, his background etc, and of course you would still have people that doubt the case is really solved and would hold onto their theory, suspect, etc

And there would be plenty of discussion about what other murders were the work of Z.

The case may one day be solved, but not the mystery.

Thats assuming you can believe he was telling the truth about fake accidents/ routine robberies (clearly chasing rabbits) and the 37+.

Soze

If however a nailed-on, sure-thing perp is identified, I expect him to be such a below-par character that the disappointment will make it easy for most of us to put our interest in the case to rest. A bit like finding that Rader was BTK. When you see the creep, where before it was a shadowy nom-de-plume, you just see that these numbnuts are just people. Assholes, but still people.

Basically, to himself, as Z he’s a somebody – but as a named perp, he’d just be the guy that did it. Like every other sicko that ever got caught.

True dat.

It’s funny really, on one hand people say "the reason serial killers get away with it so long, is they look like me and you, they blend into the crowd". They go on to say "last week he was cooking pies at the bakery, mowing the lawn every Friday and attending church every Sunday, he seemed such a nice guy". Did they expect a drooling, tattooed, glass-eyed guy, with two horns sticking out of his head, reciting Mein Kampf. Then you get the complete opposite, "when I stared into his lifeless eyes, I saw the devil, a soulless pit of emptiness, they were black staring mirrors of evil, he wasn’t a big man, but when he came into court, the fear was palpable".
You can’t have it both ways, a God fearing, green fingered baker, that suddenly transforms into the devil incarnate, once he has left his garden and entered the courtroom. Hindsight is a wonderful thing don’t you think.

I’d like to know who the optimist is on here that believes the case will be solved this year. I don’t think it will be solved in my life time. Maybe in the distant future thanks to technological advances. One reason is that most people, including Californian LE, don’t seem to care, but also it is because there is so much information available surrounding the case it is impossible to decipher the relevant from the extraneous. I remember a critic writing on Fincher’s Zodiac remarking that the film was one for our contemporary times because it was really about the overload of information.

I’m not sure if anyone else feels this way, but I get a sense that some 45 years and counting since the murders, there is still some tidbit right under all our noses that we are not seeing because there is just so much else to sort through.

We don’t know your lifetime Joe But seriously, the police were probably optimistic they were going to solve it before the close of 1969 and the crucial 48 hours have passed. In fact nearly 48 years have passed. The chances that this case will be solved now is fast approaching ‘Jack the Ripper’ proportions and as long as people set their expectations at close to zero, then nobody will be too disappointed. Of course it would be wonderful for the families to have the killer unmasked, but justice may still elude them and may have decades ago. Even if he was caught aged 80, he could never fully serve his penance and would probably serve the remainder of his days with the notoriety and attention he had sought for so long.

Agreed with JoeD, who the hell honestly thinks it’ll get solved this year? Talk about the wide-eyed optimist.

There’s just too much extraneous information that mucks this whole case up, but I have this weird feeling that this case is like looking for your keys in a f*cked up, messy room: There’s so much crap strewn about, you’ll never realize that the keys are under that crumpled t-shirt you keep looking at but dismiss as unimportant. I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy’s dead, and therefore unable to be prosecuted, or if he’s alive, dies before verdict/sentencing or serves a short life sentence. Considering California’s lack of executions in the past 10 years, the fact that the murders started 46 years ago (which, assuming the perp was only 20, means he’s at least 66 by now), and the amount of public interest that undoubtedly clouded the investigative process, this case will PROBABLY not be solved, at least anytime soon.

I would love to see or hear about a deathbed confession of sorts, or for the killer to indicate, just before death, his guilt by providing a key piece of evidence (Stine’s shirt, murder weapons, etc). Those are pie-in-the-sky at this point. I would love to see the case resolved so that I can shift my focus on other cold cases, like California’s #1 scumbag EAR/ONS.

I think that if Z is identified, even if he is a boring character, I think I’ll be fascinated nonetheless. BTK was interesting in that he was so seemingly normal, but his true nature (outside of actually committing any violence) was shown in the courtroom confession. Cold and apathetic toward his murders. Treated them like a hobby. I could see Z being quite a dramatic character still in love with his accomplishments, but I could also see him being a detached yet seemingly everyday layperson. If apprehended, who knows if the Bates murder, Domingos/Edwards murders and the 37+ would ever be cleared up. It could be like Bundy, where’s he’s implicated in a small number but gives up more (though not all) later on, or it could be Berkowitz again where all the crimes were accounted for.

Norse is right, though. People will still debate whether Zodiac did Berryessa, BRS or LHR (hoax theory), Bates, whether a partner wrote the letters, other victims. People still debate about whether Berkowitz acted alone.

God dammit do I want this case solved like no other. I doubt it will happen, but I’m almost agreeing with Graysmith about one thing: I have to know who he is. I have to know for sure. Even if he’s never prosecuted, if he’s ID’d post-mortem or is serving a long prison sentence for some other crime(s). It’s just knowing who, I almost don’t care about the punishment side. Just the positive ID would do it for me.

If this case was solved, first thing I would do is take a vacation

But even if solved, there would be further discussion about who zodiac was, his background etc, and of course you would still have people that doubt the case is really solved and would hold onto their theory, suspect, etc

I voted that this case will never be solved. To truly ‘solve’ it, we need a DNA or print match or the guns used in the murders etc, and I don’t see any of that stuff being found suddenly

Why don’t you take a vacation and enjoy yourself before the summer comes to a end ? Mods and the rest here can keep the ship heeded in the right direction to you comeback. You run the best board and need a break bro.! Like you I don’t ever think it will be solved, so it will be here when you comeback.

I think the case will never be solved.

I think the case will never be solved.

Sadly I think that’s the majority!