Okay, it sounds like commuting from Vallejo to SF was no big deal back then. I could envision that but I could just as easily see him living in San Francisco.

Okay, it sounds like commuting from Vallejo to SF was no big deal back then. I could envision that but I could just as easily see him living in San Francisco.

His apparent knowledge of the Lake Herman/Blue Rock Springs sites suggested someone who had familiarity with the area, that a resident of San Francisco would unlikely to have had. The Lake Herman Road was a deserted stretch of road, unlit and very little traffic passed down back in 1968, giving rise to the assumption the killer knew it was frequented by courting couples late at night, lending greater weight to the theory the Zodiac Killer was accustomed to this knowledge of the area.
In the ‘Debut of Zodiac Letter’ he states "Last Christmass In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light."
The fact he used a pencil flash light taped to the gun showed pre preparation to the fact he was visiting an unlit area and this would be required for accuracy, also when he says ‘that area’ is surrounded by high hills and trees suggests familiarity, because he could have just said ‘the area’.

Yes, Spycatcher, I definitely agree that Zodiac knew his hunting grounds very well. But if Z were in his mid-30s, I’m guessing he could have learned about these places by growing up in the area or working there before later moving. I just don’t see anything that definitely precludes Zodiac from living somewhere like San Francisco or Berkeley.

It may be interesting to know when Lake Herman Road first became a make-out spot, if only to gain a more precise handle on Zodiac’s age, plus when he may have begun living in the Vallejo region.

Yes, Spycatcher, I definitely agree that Zodiac knew his hunting grounds very well. But if Z were in his mid-30s, I’m guessing he could have learned about these places by growing up in the area or working there before later moving. I just don’t see anything that definitely precludes Zodiac from living somewhere like San Francisco or Berkeley.

I think he could have lived anywhere in the Bay Area really. Could be he worked in Vallejo or grew up there. Not sure a local would do this if he was living there at the time of the murders. At the very least it would seem he’d high-tail out of there after Mike Mageau lived to tell about it.

Great topic. I believe the 4 known attacks were all done by Z, by himself. We know he used Highway 29, Interstate 80, 580/680, perhaps 37, and 101, highway 4 & 12 may also have come into play. He would definitely have the knowledge of all these highways, and knew the backroads as well. We know these guys are not adverse to trolling, stalking, and travelling long distances to carry out their deeds. Vallejo was such a military town back then, Naval anyway, it’s hard for me to ignore the possibility Z had something to do with the Navy. Along with Mare Island and the Alameda bases. And then there are times I think maybe everything he did was a mis-direct. But he would still have to know the attack areas he chose.

This Geographic Profiling is new to me, I read up on Dr. Rossmo and his theories. Very Interesting. Can anyone tell us what he came
up with for the Zodiac killer, is there a valid link somewhere? The idea is that the killer will kill comfortably close to home, but not
too close, creating a comfort zone. They plot the murder scenes on a map. Zodiac is easier because he left the victims where he killed
them. Also, Zodiac seemed to be aware of Police procedure, and may have been aware of the separation of the Police jurisdictions, from
County to County, in the Bay Area, of which there are several. He may have lived in a Bay Area County where he did not kill, or did not advertise
those murders.

Solano County Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs
Napa County Lake Berryessa
SF County Presidio Heights

http://bayareapoetsreview.com/yahoo_sit … 25_std.gif

This Geographic Profiling is new to me, I read up on Dr. Rossmo and his theories. Very Interesting. Can anyone tell us what he came
up with for the Zodiac killer, is there a valid link somewhere? The idea is that the killer will kill comfortably close to home, but not
too close, creating a comfort zone. They plot the murder scenes on a map. Zodiac is easier because he left the victims where he killed
them. Also, Zodiac seemed to be aware of Police procedure, and may have been aware of the separation of the Police jurisdictions, from
County to County, in the Bay Area, of which there are several. He may have lived in a Bay Area County where he did not kill, or did not advertise
those murders.

Solano County Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs
Napa County Lake Berryessa
SF County Presidio Heights

http://bayareapoetsreview.com/yahoo_sit … 25_std.gif

Hmm… the report seems to have vanished from the interwebs but the basic conclusion was that Zodiac was statistically most likely to have lived in Vallejo based on his pattern of known murders (which doesn’t include Bates, Johns or any other suspected victims). I’ve said before that I have issue with the profile ignoring Z’s constant presence in San Francisco to mail letters. He could well have commuted from Vallejo to SF during the week, as morf suggests, but I think a full profile that ignores over a dozen known "appearances" is stripped down a little too far.

It’s a great read though if you can find it and a cool way of looking at things.

For some reason, the video of Dr. Rossmo was available on the official Zodiac website promoting the movie but was never included on the dvd. I just checked my dvd again today to see if there was any "text-based" report describing his findings but I couldn’t find anything. I have the regular, two-disc version of the Director’s Cut.

For some reason, the video of Dr. Rossmo was available on the official Zodiac website promoting the movie but was never included on the dvd. I just checked my dvd again today to see if there was any "text-based" report describing his findings but I couldn’t find anything. I have the regular, two-disc version of the Director’s Cut.

I had a DVD copy of the Rossmo stuff,but cant seem to find it.

I feel it is important to plot all the locations of the mailing of the letters onto the geographic profiling map.
Can anyone get a download for the Dr. Rossmo program itself?

Also we should plot the location of the phone calls made by Zodiac.

As per Dr. Rossmo (this I transcribed from the video, which I own a copy of), so you don’t have to break your back looking for the video online. My comments in square brackets.

"When I entered the results [he means the data pertaining to where the attacks happened] into the Rigel software system [the software that geographical profilers use to determine an offender’s location] and ran the analysis, the focus was on a certain area of Vallejo, probably, I would say, the peak area was the north-west part of Vallejo, Rancho Vallejo, also including Mare Island, the naval shipyard there. It curves around and there’s also the possibility of some locations in the Benecia area.

"Now, if we consider the likely military experience or connection the Zodiac had because of his shoes and some of his actions, this is interesting supportive evidence that maybe he was based at Mare Island – he might have lived there at that time. Maybe he worked there and lived in Rancho Vallejo; maybe he worked in Rancho Vallejo and had worked there [Mare Island] at one time but was retired – maybe no longer with the military, maybe de-enlisted and worked somewhere else, maybe Benecia.

"So there’s a number of possibilities. But remember, Rancho Vallejo was maybe 26000 people at that time, of which only 13000 will be male, and of which only a certain portion of those are the correct age and of which only a certain portion of those are going to be white, and then when we start looking at the neighbourhoods involved, we actually have a pretty small subset. Then we start combining that with some of the personal and behavioural descriptors, and then we work in the vehicle information. If this case was active today, it would not be too difficult to find this person.

"There’s been a number of noted suspects or theories of suspects that have been put forward in this case. The only one that I’m aware of that matches the geographical profile is Arthur Leigh Allen. But before we go down that path too far, Arthur Leigh Allen seems to be excluded multiple times over by forensic evidence. To be clear here, forensic evidence is much more powerful than any sort of profiling. It [profiling] can be useful, however, when you have a suspect that has been excluded, to identify other suspects like him or in the same sort of circumstances, so that’s worthwhile considering.

"The role of profiling is to identify possible suspects for follow up; once they’ve been eliminated by other means, we have to move on."

Not a bad idea. We could go thru the police reports and take each suspect’s or person of interest’s home address, and plot them on a map, google earth or something similar? My main suspect lived on the 1700 block of Mini Dr which is right in that development. One of my other favorite suspects,used an address on the 2900 block of Webb st, I am not sure if that is in the Rancho Vallejo section of Vallejo or not

I was more referring, morf, to obtaining the details of everyone who lived in the Rancho Vallejo area, finding out which of these people were, say, thirty-ish white men with prior military service, and then checking out those who looked the most promising in terms of background.

Not a bad idea. We could go thru the police reports and take each suspect’s or person of interest’s home address, and plot them on a map, google earth or something similar? My main suspect lived on the 1700 block of Mini Dr which is right in that development. One of my other favorite suspects,used an address on the 2900 block of Webb st, I am not sure if that is in the Rancho Vallejo section of Vallejo or not

I was more referring, morf, to obtaining the details of everyone who lived in the Rancho Vallejo area, finding out which of these people were, say, thirty-ish white men with prior military service, and then checking out those who looked the most promising in terms of background.

Okay,I will start the list….James Owen

Prior Military-CHECK
30ish-CHECK
Rancho Vallejo resident-CHECK