Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were Seventh-day Adventists. Their church was very strict about what they could read and watch. Zodiac was not on their radar.

Up to the Lake Berryessa crime, the Zodiac Killer had committed just two crimes. I don’t understand why it is argued that because the Zodiac Killer committed two fairly similar crimes twice, he is now compelled to keep committing the same crimes forever. A sample size of two, is not reason to predict the future acts of a killer. People do things for the first time every day, but we don’t argue we aren’t ourselves anymore because we did something different. I ate mushrooms for the first time at 25, but it couldn’t be me, because I’d never eaten them before. Why is switching to a knife and committing a crime in daylight any argument whatsoever for this being a copycat.

The Zodiac Killer (by his own volition) sent just one set of communications on July 31st 1969. The August 4th 1969 letter was summoned by Jack E. Stiltz. Therefore, from December 20th 1968 to October 11th 1969, he effectively wrote once. Absence of a letter after Berryeassa is not evidence of the absence of Zodiac. The Zodiac Killer could have ripped a piece of dress from Jensen, a bit of shirt off Faraday, a bit of Ferrin’s slacks. He could have shot his gun prior to three of the crimes and mailed in a respective bullet for each crime, he could have left an Elvis Presley record at each crime scene, or possibly a stuffed giraffe. The fact he didn’t do any of these things is not reason to conclude he didn’t commit any of the crimes.

What he did do, is write on the car door and make a phone call. The people who claim Berryessa wasn’t a Zodiac crime just want to tell you what he should’ve done, could’ve done or didn’t do. None of this amounts to evidence, just people who believe Zodiac should have done the same type of crime forever. The phone call and car door was Zodiac attempting to link himself to the crime, but people will say it could’ve been somebody else, without providing any proof whatsoever to back up this statement. It’s just another case of "could of". Do you know why he didn’t mail a piece of Hartnell’s shirt or Cecelia Shepard’s dress? Because people today would say a copycat sent it.

Had Zodiac mailed a communication after Berryessa, people would say it was a copycat. It literally would have made no difference what he did. People can’t seem to reconcile the Zodiac committing a daylight crime with a knife, because he hadn’t done it just twice before. The Zodiac mailed a piece of Paul Stine’s shirt, but even that wasn’t enough for some people. Somebody sneaked into the morgue, one of the ambulance crew took it, Keith Power (the Chronicle reporter) took it, Aliens from planet Gamma265 took it, the police manufactured the letter and mailed the shirt piece, while stuffing toy giraffes.

The Zodiac did leave evidence at Berryessa on the car door, along with the phone call. Proponents of it not being Zodiac, will give you what wasn’t there as proof.

Every police investigation of multiple crimes suspected to have been committed by the same perpetrator begins with comparing evidence of those crimes, looking to establish similarities. A pattern, an identifiable MO. Generally such patterns can be easily found, and that forms the basis for the investigation to proceed.

With the Zodiac case, there are people who think that approach doesn’t apply. They’ll say that LB must have been a Z crime because it is so radically different in virtually every conceivable way.

The 3 shootings are very similar. Close range gunshots into victims in cars. The first victim, David Faraday, was shot much like the last, Paul Stine – one shot, back of the head at very close range. The other victims were shot multiple times. And the shootings were described in great detail in subsequent letters, which proved the letter writer was someone with knowledge only the killer could have. LB is completely different, in the preparation (crazy costume), the attack (daylight, knife, Z being chatty unlike BRS, etc.) and aftermath (no taunting communications, no bragging, no proof provided in a letter.)

But, that idea that similarities in crimes matters is out the window. Why? Because the killer at LB said he was Z on Bryan’s car door, and he made a phone call, as Z had done at BRS. Never mind the dispatchers described Z’s voice differently, with LB Z sounding much younger, as Bryan had also said.

A guy writes the Z symbol on a car door at the crime scene and calls police. That’s about it. If a guy had trained an elephant to sit on couples, and had then spray painted the Z symbol on a nearby tree and called police, I wonder if that too would be considered a confirmed Z attack.

The Zodiac made a mistake at Berryeassa because he should have waited for darkness to descend, used a gun and not wore a costume. Then it would have definitely been Zodiac. Three crimes were committed in or around cars, so obviously anything outside this concept couldn’t be Zodiac. It seems to me that a person must commit every crime in almost identical fashion, otherwise they will be accused of being an imposter.

By the way, Richard Grinell didn’t write this post, because he has never written this before. This is the first time I have ever composed a reply like this, so it couldn’t be me. Nobody is allowed to do anything different to what they have previously done. If they do, it couldn’t be them. Just remember that you must do exactly what you have previously done, otherwise it can’t be you. Sorry if I keep repeating myself, it must be me.

By the way, Richard Grinell didn’t write this post, because he has never written this before. This is the first time I have ever composed a reply like this, so it couldn’t be me. Nobody is allowed to do anything different to what they have previously done. If they do, it couldn’t be them. Just remember that you must do exactly what you have previously done, otherwise it can’t be you. Sorry if I keep repeating myself, it must be me.

LOL RG….

LB was his most spectacular crime,yet he doesn’t provide ANY details of the attack to the press? He did for LHR,BRS and Presidio Heights. Look ,Im relatively new to this case,so I may be missing out on some details that the more experienced investigators on this site know,but it seems like an outlier. Anybody reading the Vallejo Herald Times could have got the info to write that on the Ghia. Does the hand writing match?

The Zodiac made a mistake at Berryeassa because he should have waited for darkness to descend, used a gun and not wore a costume. Then it would have definitely been Zodiac. Three crimes were committed in or around cars, so obviously anything outside this concept couldn’t be Zodiac. It seems to me that a person must commit every crime in almost identical fashion, otherwise they will be accused of being an imposter.

If a crime is committed and it is similar to Z (like LHR, BRS, and PH), then it is Z. If a crime is committed that is completely different from the 3 known Z attacks, it is Z. A guy writes the Z symbol at a crime scene and there is no way it can’t be Z. Why? Because he signed it with Z’s symbol.

Never mind the guy lied about being an escaped prisoner on the run. Never mind he lied about needing Bryan’s money or car. He said he was Z, we must believe him. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY a guy who is walking around stabbing people while wearing an elaborate, childish halloween-type costume he’s stitched together, and referencing a Tim Holt juvenile comic book could POSSIBLY be playing out some personal fantasy.

If the same standard was applied to communications signed as Z, then Z wrote LE a thousand letters.

referencing a Tim Holt juvenile comic book

When did Zodiac do such a thing?

referencing a Tim Holt juvenile comic book

When did Zodiac do such a thing?

Don’t you think the "By Knife" on the car door is referenced by the "By Knife" in the halloween card?
Do you think the "By Knife", "By Gun", By Rope", "By Fire" in the halloween card was referencing Tahoe’s 1952 Tim Holt comic book find?

referencing a Tim Holt juvenile comic book

When did Zodiac do such a thing?

Do you think the "By Knife", "By Gun", By Rope", "By Fire" in the halloween card was referencing Tahoe’s 1952 Tim Holt comic book find?

Nope. Death wheels were all over popular culture back then, from comic books to film noir. It wasn’t exclusive to Tim Holt.

Here’s one from 1954:

Nope. Death wheels were all over popular culture back then, from comic books to film noir. It wasn’t exclusive to Tim Holt.

Here’s one from 1954:

You don’t see a much more definitive match between this comic book illustration and the halloween card?

I don’t see anything that makes Zodiac’s Halloween card a Tim Holt-specific inspiration.

By the way, the mask on the skeleton is orange, not red.

Here’s another death wheel:

I don’t see anything that makes Zodiac’s Halloween card a Tim Holt-specific inspiration.

By the way, the mask on the skeleton is orange, not red.

Here’s another death wheel:

So, the exact four, and only four, methods, with the word "By" in front of each, isn’t "anything?"

When there are direct, irrefutable similarities, between the comic book illustration and halloween card, the obvious similarities are dismissed. When the entire LB attack is completely different from the 3 Zodiac shootings, the differences are dismissed.