During the 60s, 70s, and 80s there were a number of serial killers on the rampage in California, and I’m curious whether they tended to take note of each other’s crimes? Were they keeping score, or learning from one another by following the news? Did they maybe go to the trials of highly publicized killers to get a first=hand look at the evidence? I’ve read a number of true crime novels, including several by John Douglas, but I don’t recall whether this was ever covered.
The reason I’m asking is, last night I went down the Youtube serial killer documentary rabbit hole, and discovered a pair of truly horrible killers, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris. They had recorded some of their murders on audio cassette, and at Bittaker’s trial, one of the cassettes was played by the prosecution. It was apparently an incredibly horrible recording, and it drew a number of morbidly curious spectators, who wanted to hear the tape for themselves.
I’m curious to know what others think are the odds that Zodiac would have turned up at some of these trials. Bittaker’s stands out because it was apparently well publicized, and because of the recording.
Someone uploaded NBC archival footage of some of the trial, including video from outside of the courtroom as the tape was being played. It shows several people leaving the courtroom in disgust, but also shows many of the spectators as they were entering and leaving the proceedings. I’ve looked at the people, and no one really stands out, per se (although there is one middle-aged gentleman with a sort of limp and glasses).
Link to the video:
https://youtu.be/PY4YmVi4_LQ?t=20m8s
I’m almost tempted to look for other courtroom video from similar trials in Northern California, to see if any onlookers fit the description of Zodiac.
I wouldn’t think he’d go so far as to turn up at trial but who knows, others wonder if he turned up at his victim’s funerals. For sure they were influenced by other killers. There are several in the 70’s onward who drew inspiration from guys like zodiac (btk) and it’s well known they viewed those detective magazines as pornography (bundy). They also had a keen interest in other crime so as to learn techniques to avoid law enforcement. From zodiac’s letters he shows a keen interest in the news and current events and he himself seems to some extent be influenced by the jack the ripper letters, or at least the notoriety around them. There were also a few zodiac copycat murderers along with that scorpion thing sent to John Walsh.
