he wanted to kill young couples in love.

he wanted to kill young couples in love.

Right, but then there is Stein…so was he bored with killing young couples in love? Makes me wonder if Z was territorial in a way, such as thinking that these places were "his" and was trying to keep people away.

Was there ever surveillance done in the aftermath to see who frequented the place?

my belief is that he was an erratic person who didn’t stick with a line of thought for very long.

we see him killing and taking no credit (lhr), then killing and taking credit (brs) which included taunting the police, which quickly escalated into taunting everyone with letters, which then changed to an elaborate ritual (lb – the costume, the discussion, all of it), which further escalated into a murder where for the first time he used crime scene items to prove himself.

he uses different weapons – different calibers of guns, knife, rope.

his letters start out talking about slaves and paradise, then morph into threats again everyone, threats against children, taunts to the police, then if you believe any of the later letters are him he basically finishes up by simply corresponding (exorcist letter, etc).

my point is the guy didn’t really do much of anything with consistency and he seemed to make a lot of it up on the fly. he started out targeting young couples. the choice of young couples at lovers’ lanes wasn’t coincidental. at some point he seemed to realize he got more of a kick out of writing letters so he switched his MO completely during a time when a lot of fake letters were coming in. he killed stine to have a piece of evidence to prove HIS letters were from him.

Sounds reasonable to me.

I agree with all of that, really.

The one thing I would add, perhaps, is that couples in cars and/or isolated spots at late hours – are easy targets. Stine was an easy target too. That, at least, is consistent.

I’m a bit reluctant to make too much of the fact that he targeted couples. If you decide that lover’s lane type locations are good "hunting grounds", then couples are in all likelihood what you’ll find there. Much less chance of coming across a single individual sitting around in a car at night. Same for Berryessa – romantic sort of location, arguably not likely that a single individual will hang around there with a picnic basket.

In the three part letter he describes the sort of targets he goes for: couples (yes) but also "stray people", "lone people", "people who are alone at night." I think he may have been somewhat truthful here – he went for people he could get at with relative ease.

EDIT Berryessa is the one scene where he seems to target a couple specifically: Having the female tie up the man seems to have been the plan all along. But that’s pragmatism, arguably. It’s another example of playing it – relatively – safe.

Conquest. It’s not enough for him to take out his aggression by making lone, vulnerable women into proxies for all the women who’ve spurned him. Asserting his dominance over a perceived masculine rival, even if only in an act of cursory elimination, is a huge part of the Zodiac’s pathology which suggests that he has been made to feel inadequate by his male peers as well as having been habitually rejected by the women in his life.

Remember Elliot Rodger’s video diary? A telescopic shot of a young couple on a beach with the soon-to-be mass killer whispering "I hate them" into the camera? One need look no further to understand the kind of person Zodiac was.

For evidence to be correct, it has to match/fit the scenario, all the way. I think the fact that the first three attacks were couples is incidental. If he wanted to kill strictly couples in love then he wouldn’t have killed just Paul Stine. Because he didn’t kill a couple when he attacked Paul Stine would imply that "couples" was not what he was after. Personally, I think location was a motivating factor in his escapeds.

Only an opinion.

Soze

Serial killers accelerate as time goes along, whilst their MO might not change, their targets can.

Zodiac seemed to hunt those who were vulnerable and isolated.

However, he made a mistake. Stine.

He killed the couples in remote areas, not heavily populated around the crime scene.

He stepped up the thrill and took it to the next level, and he was almost (in theory) caught for it.

Zodiac was clearly not a fool, he went to ground because the fear of jail and being caught was worse than having to stop killing so publicly (or stop altogether)

I suspect Z may have had trouble coupling, physically or emotionally. He took out his frustrations on couples, and researched for areas where those most likely to couple–teens, etc.–would congregate: Lovers’ Lanes. I suspect he hung around drive-ins and the like, asked questions, and found out where the Lovers’ Lanes were located. Also, I find it interesting that Z’s victims were high school or college students, which inclines me to believe that his lunacy was probably rooted in his high school experiences.

For evidence to be correct, it has to match/fit the scenario, all the way. I think the fact that the first three attacks were couples is incidental. If he wanted to kill strictly couples in love then he wouldn’t have killed just Paul Stine. Because he didn’t kill a couple when he attacked Paul Stine would imply that "couples" was not what he was after. Personally, I think location was a motivating factor in his escapeds.

Only an opinion.

Soze

I agree completely.

For evidence to be correct, it has to match/fit the scenario, all the way. I think the fact that the first three attacks were couples is incidental. If he wanted to kill strictly couples in love then he wouldn’t have killed just Paul Stine. Because he didn’t kill a couple when he attacked Paul Stine would imply that "couples" was not what he was after. Personally, I think location was a motivating factor in his escapeds.

Only an opinion.

Soze

Very valid point in my humble opinion.

If one assumes that there was something pathological (for lack of a better word) behind Z’s targeting of couples, then Stine doesn’t fit that pathology at all (for obvious reasons). So, what is Stine, then?

The logical conclusion is that if one and the same man killed all known Z victims, there is no consistent pattern as far as his targets go. He didn’t attack couples out of necessity – clearly not and Stine proves this. Nor did he attack couples with the intention of killing the female only (he killed DF with a head shot – and there’s Stine, again).

He didn’t attack couples out of necessity – clearly not and Stine proves this. Nor did he attack couples with the intention of killing the female only (he killed DF with a head shot – and there’s Stine, again).

Just to clarify for others: DF = David Farady (not Darlene Ferrin). Your statement makes it pretty clear Norse…just throwing it out there for any who may jump to Darlene.

I’ve said this before, and it will probably be my last time saying it since I think I offended a few when I made the statement before but, ever thought maybe that Paul Stine wasn’t the intended target but the next best thing? That maybe Claudia was the intended target?

Added: I should probably state that I don’t mean to imply that the Zodiac intended to kill Claudia out right. He may have intended to kill Paul Stine all along, but by killing Stine, he was in essence killing Claudia. At least in a psychological mindset.

Soze

I’ve said this before, and it will probably be my last time saying it since I think I offended a few when I made the statement before but, ever thought maybe that Paul Stine wasn’t the intended target but the next best thing? That maybe Claudia was the intended target?

Added: I should probably state that I don’t mean to imply that the Zodiac intended to kill Claudia out right. He may have intended to kill Paul Stine all along, but by killing Stine, he was in essence killing Claudia. At least in a psychological mindset.

Soze

That would still be out of the norm for him though. If one is going to say he targeted couples, a single individual still doesn’t jibe, imo.

I’ve said this before, and it will probably be my last time saying it since I think I offended a few when I made the statement before but, ever thought maybe that Paul Stine wasn’t the intended target but the next best thing? That maybe Claudia was the intended target?

Added: I should probably state that I don’t mean to imply that the Zodiac intended to kill Claudia out right. He may have intended to kill Paul Stine all along, but by killing Stine, he was in essence killing Claudia. At least in a psychological mindset.

Soze

That would still be out of the norm for him though. If one is going to say he targeted couples, a single individual still doesn’t jibe, imo.

Could you expand your comment for me please.

Thanks

Soze