I remember a discussion between my future brother-in-law and my poi re. these shoes/boots. It was sometime in the early ’70’s when they were at our home. My future brother-in-law was wearing what were known as "desert boots" probably made by Clarke Shoe Co. or another well-known chain. My poi was talking to him about these and said they reminded him of what were called "wing-walkers" that mechanics wore when working on airplanes. My poi would
have had access to these as would many other employees of the many aerospace companies that were thriving at that time. My poi was an executive with Rockwell International and worked on the B-1 or B-2 programs.

I believe they were mostly used in the Navy & Air Force and as for civilian use my POI had a job as a Winger Walker for Lockheed Martin. So I’m sure he had them and he was non military, There has been many discussions on here about them and just go to search on here. Others here have said they could be found at army surplus stores, To me they seem somewhat rare in my opinion and mostly for people working on planes. I think the grip of the boots is what made them special, given one more stability while walking on the planes wings. Again do a search on here and you should find a few discussions on them.

IMO these boots are not at all important now unless someone finds them somewhere! The prints are assumed to have been made by Zodiac but could have been made by someone else! Also, the size is something subjective. My poi always said he wore an 11 B shoe. These boots were thought to be 10 1/2 IIRC. The boots could have been worn slightly large or small. Boots do not fit the same as shoes.
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When my poi appeared in the costume which (like Sandy Betts) I thought to be a Halloween costume, he was wearing work boots similar to these wing walkers as best I can remember. He also had shoe lifts inside them or newspaper wadded up that he’d put inside to make himself appear taller. (He told me this after the entire bizarre and scary episode was over and I was trying to appear calm and non-suspicious but trying to find out as much as I could about the whole thing.)

Criminology podcast on Zodiac stated they could be purchased at surplus stores.

while i think it’s certainly reasonable to assume military boots belong to military personnel, you can also buy just about anything at a yard sale or goodwill.

For what it’s worth, my POI had been discharged from active service in the Navy reserve less than two months before Cheri Jo’s murder. Incidentally, readers may remember that two weeks ago I queried RPD’s Chief of Police, and the detective supposedly dealing with the Bates case. I have received no response from either.

They should be ashamed of themselves that they haven’t responded to your emails.

These are public servants. Perfectly understandable that they don’t have any information for you, but they need to at least acknowledge that they received your communication.

pages 9-12 of the ncsd crime report on the lb attack have details. i’ll quote relevant text –

"At 1945 hours 9/29/69, R/Os Narlow and Lonergan were contacted by Probation Officer H.B. Schotte. Mr. Schotte had observed the footprint design that R/Os had taken at the scene and stated he had knowledge of a possible similar shoe sole design. Mr. Schotte brought into the office a Mr. Bassell <redacted>, address <redacted> Sheveland, Apartment #7, Napa, California (phone number <redacted>). Mr <redacted> is employed at Travis Air Force Base and is a Flight Line Mechanic. He is a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force. Mr. <redacted> showed R/O a pair of Air Force chukker boots that belonged to him. He described these boots as being Government Issue, issued to all Air Force personnel at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. They are primarily designed as a wing-walker shoe, however according to Mr. <redacted>, most Air Force personnel and many of the civilian personnel employed at Air Force bases had this type of shoe. The sole design of this shoe exactly matched the plaster cast design that Sgt. Snook had taken at the scene of the crime."

i’ll paraphrase page 12 – narlow met with a captain at travis air force base who was in charge of base security. he directed them to "Base Supply" where they were told this shoe was government issue and supplied at the "Sales Store". they were told that both civilians and military members could purchase the shoes, by requesting it at Base Supply then taking a requisition form to the Sales Store. the Sales Store kept a record of each person’s purchase, but not with size details. so they’d have a record that jim smith bought these shoes, but not much beyond that. they visited the Sales Store and determined the closest size match was a military 10.5R or civilian 10.5D. records showed 100 pairs of size 10.5 shoe had been purchased in the past 13 months. in oct 1969, lonergan received a phone call from a special agent at travis air force base, saying 500-1000 pairs of that type of "wing-walker" shoe had been sold at the surplus store on base. this is beyond the ones sold at the "Sales Store". they did have records of names of those who purchased the shoes at the surplus store.

it sounds like they were relatively common boots that both civilian and military personnel wore and that there were some records at travis air base, but not complete records, and really no guarantee that whoever wore the shoes at the attack even got them at travis air force base (the shoes were manufactured in philadelphia and shipped to a depot in utah before being sent to various military bases).

pages 9-12 of the ncsd crime report on the lb attack have details. i’ll quote relevant text –

"At 1945 hours 9/29/69, R/Os Narlow and Lonergan were contacted by Probation Officer H.B. Schotte. Mr. Schotte had observed the footprint design that R/Os had taken at the scene and stated he had knowledge of a possible similar shoe sole design. Mr. Schotte brought into the office a Mr. Bassell <redacted>, address <redacted> Sheveland, Apartment #7, Napa, California (phone number <redacted>). Mr <redacted> is employed at Travis Air Force Base and is a Flight Line Mechanic. He is a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force. Mr. <redacted> showed R/O a pair of Air Force chukker boots that belonged to him. He described these boots as being Government Issue, issued to all Air Force personnel at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. They are primarily designed as a wing-walker shoe, however according to Mr. <redacted>, most Air Force personnel and many of the civilian personnel employed at Air Force bases had this type of shoe. The sole design of this shoe exactly matched the plaster cast design that Sgt. Snook had taken at the scene of the crime."

i’ll paraphrase page 12 – narlow met with a captain at travis air force base who was in charge of base security. he directed them to "Base Supply" where they were told this shoe was government issue and supplied at the "Sales Store". they were told that both civilians and military members could purchase the shoes, by requesting it at Base Supply then taking a requisition form to the Sales Store. the Sales Store kept a record of each person’s purchase, but not with size details. so they’d have a record that jim smith bought these shoes, but not much beyond that. they visited the Sales Store and determined the closest size match was a military 10.5R or civilian 10.5D. records showed 100 pairs of size 10.5 shoe had been purchased in the past 13 months. in oct 1969, lonergan received a phone call from a special agent at travis air force base, saying 500-1000 pairs of that type of "wing-walker" shoe had been sold at the surplus store on base. this is beyond the ones sold at the "Sales Store". they did have records of names of those who purchased the shoes at the surplus store.

it sounds like they were relatively common boots that both civilian and military personnel wore and that there were some records at travis air base, but not complete records, and really no guarantee that whoever wore the shoes at the attack even got them at travis air force base (the shoes were manufactured in philadelphia and shipped to a depot in utah before being sent to various military bases).

This is great information. Thank you!

Does anyone know if these shoes were designed to be insulated against electrical hazards?

If they still have those records it would be prudent to check the names of purchasers from the Sales Store and surplus store.

See if there are any familiar names in there – what could it hurt?

Does anyone know if these shoes were designed to be insulated against electrical hazards?

I can’t speak for the ones made in 1966, but later they were. As an example, this (top photo) was written on the inside of a (’79) Weinbrenner boot, much like the ones worn in Vietnam. I do know the soles made by Avon were oil resistant. It has been said they were made for (airplane) mechanics, but with as many that were made, it wouldn’t surprise me if anyone could get their hands on a pair.

credit either zodiackiller.com or zodiackillerfacts.com

I’m starting to think that the Police had further reason to determine that it came from the 1966 onward wing walker batches and not some other shoe with the same avon soles. I think we’re getting the condensed version, they probably spoke to the Avon sole company and had reason to pin point it to that particular run.

That would make the shoe relatively newish, I mean by the time they’re made, shipped and purchased they could be anywhere from 1-3 years old or less, which is corroborated by the well defined print that doesn’t appear to show much wear to the tread. If so it would seem to slightly decrease the likelihood of a civilian owning them through a secondhand purchase. It sounds like procuring a pair would be an obscure process for a civilian even if it was allowed, would it have been common knowledge that one could walk in of the street and request some special form? That’s a lot of trouble for a civilian to go to.

Perhaps the question is: which branch of the military? Vallejo had an air force base and a naval base near by. I wonder if there is a way to determine which.