wow very cool news.. would be great to get hi res scans of everything.

wow very cool news.. would be great to get hi res scans of everything.

That’s true..especially the police reports and additional letters…

QT

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiack … t7793.html

So…in 2007, DNA was found on the July 31st Vallejo Times letter, but the sample was too degraded to use? I don’t have a bachelor’s degree in lab speak.

Why didn’t they analyze the other two envelopes? The report merely concludes (again, if I’m interpreting it correctly) that the Sam samples didn’t match the 2002 SFPD partial profile.

They did get a viable sample off one of the July 31st letters, along with the Dripping Pen card. That’s how they were able to exclude Arthur Leigh Allen along with two other suspects in 2002.
Across America thousands of samples have been taken from crime scenes and rapes, which have never been sent to the laboratory to extract a DNA fingerprint to compare to the database. The explanation is money, which is criminal in itself. Flint is the perfect example- not only does it serve toxic water to the ‘ordinary folk’, it is understaffed and underfunded. These cases being neglected are far more current than Zodiac, therefore to believe any headway in DNA by forensic investigators or the police in 2017, or the near future is highly unlikely. Unless private funding can be secured, and even then, get your hands on the letters to test, then DNA is not the ‘panacea’ to unearthing the identity of the Zodiac Killer.
Here is the problem we face https://youtu.be/uiBB36PkAKg?t=5m20s

I was under the impression for a long time those July 31st letters were missing. They were not a part of the SFPD’s DNA testing…on their list anyway.

They were mislaid/taken home by investigator and finally unearthed.
Narrator in the documentary "However if Doctor Cydne Holt can find enough genetic material from Zodiac’s stamps and letters, she can compare it to a wafer thin slice of brain tissue from Arthur Leigh Allen’s autopsy." Dr Cydne Holt "This brain tissue from Arthur Leigh Allen is the reference sample that I would use for the comparison." Narrator "Dr Holt has already detected the possible presence of Zodiac’s DNA in the seal of the envelope that contained the greeting card (Dripping Pen Card and 340 cipher), and just in case that test fails to provide a full DNA profile, she also prepares to look for DNA beneath the stamps on two of these three letters (July 31st letters)." Dr Cydne Holt "Depending on whether those DNA’s match each other, might allow me to include or exclude Arthur Leigh Allen as potentially contributing the DNA on the Zodiac letters."
As she states in the last line, she must match between letters to then be sure Zodiac is the contributor of the DNA. Ruling out a suspect to just one letter is meaningless, as that letter could be from the hand of a hoaxer. But by comparing the Dripping Pen Card envelope to the first three letters mailed by the killer, she can then corroborate the DNA as likely from Zodiac, before moving on and comparing it to any potential suspect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYbAdz … e&t=30m20s

Thanks Richard. I remember watching this, but didn’t remember the three envelopes.

These particular tests were requested by VPD in 2007. SFPD had to reopen the case in order for VPD to access the materials.

Very interesting! I would have loved to have been there as well. Looking forward to more info.

Feather

These particular tests were requested by VPD in 2007. SFPD had to reopen the case in order for VPD to access the materials.

Maloney’s dramatic flair aside, the case was inactive in San Francisco but that never stopped evidence from being tested. The DOJ acquired all three letters in an attempt to get DNA to compare to "Sam." No luck, so they used what they had from the earlier Holt testing. Unfortunately that came from the outside of a stamp.

Testing done in the late 1990s by Repetto and his partner used DNA taken from the 1978 letter.

Thanks for the clarification.

In other words, the state crime lab couldn’t replicate Holt’s results, which (I would think) is not a strong argument in favor of the Holt DNA.

I believe the DOJ only tested under the stamps and flaps, not the outside where Holt got her hit.

Reading the report again (had to dig around, since the original link is AWOL), I think that is likely what happened.

The lab sampled the envelope and two of the four stamps from "MM-3" (Times-Herald letter; IIRC, the one that ABC showed), and that was enough for them to discontinue the analysis (no saliva).

So, if the DOJ had known that the SFPD DNA came from outside the seals, they probably wouldn’t have bothered testing them in the first place.

So, if the DOJ had known that the SFPD DNA came from outside the seals, they probably wouldn’t have bothered testing them in the first place.

It could still very well be Zodiac’s DNA. Not that many male individuals had contact with the letter before it was recognized as evidence.