It appears a lot of serial killers, BTK springs to mind, who can completely separate their murder campaign from everyday life. You as I do, try to get into the head of these people to explain these actions, but I honestly believe it is an impossible task.
These people lack empathy on many levels. Ted Kaczynski’s brother turned out a rounded individual, whereas he was blighted by an agenda that contradicted itself on so many levels, his travels by pushbike and greyhound bus would have seemed a technological marvel in 1850, but it appeared there was a selective cut off point where he chose what was acceptable and what wasn’t. My guess was that Zodiac was either an only child, strictly censored by a strict religious upbringing, where his mother was the dominant force or had one brother he felt courted all the attention and felt isolated. But quite frankly one thing is for sure, his reign appeared brief. You never know, may’be he met his match one day and the supposed victim of a crime was really our murderer.

Good points, UKS. I would speculate that Z probably had a poor relationship with his father and may have felt abandoned or underappreciated. I suspect that he was at least capable of maintaining a superficially normal life and could have been married and/or had children much like BTK. That’s all it is though- speculation and suspicion- but I think it would be unwise to rule anyone out based on their perceived "normality" in every day life.

If I were a betting man, I’d bet that Zodiac’s relationship with his father was a bad one. I picture his father as a strict disciplinarian – verbally abusive, if not physically. I see his mother as a meek, mousy woman who did nothing whatsoever to counter her husband’s excesses. And as for Zodiac’s siblings, I think he probably had at least one overachieving older brother or sister, to whom he was constantly compared, and punished whenever he could not measure up to them. He was probably regarded as the unwanted runt of the litter. If Zodiac ever had a wife and/or kids, I very much doubt it was any time before 1974.

A toxic home environment doesn’t excuse Zodiac’s crimes. It could help us understand them, though.

If Zodiac ever had a wife and/or kids, I very much doubt it was any time before 1974.
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That sounds good to me. As for siblings I couldn’t comment. I don’t have any. I have half siblings somewhere but I’ve never met them so I have no point of reference for that sort of relationship aspect or dynamic.

As for the father aspect. I don’t have one of those either, at least not since I was 3. I know. I’m careless always losing things. No mother either….. Oh God I’m so in the wrong thread lol

I can see an absent father being a real possibility though for Zodiac and thus possibly, if there was an influence to rebel against it may have been his mother or even grandmother. Not necessarily from anything they did either. The nature to rebel may well have been in him and it would have been against a matriarchal figure by simple default.

The reason I see the possibility of an absent father is the resourcefulness and or diversity that I think Zodiac employed. It’s very introspective and I’m not sure having a father figure around would have been all that conducive for that to have developed. I also imagine that if an absent father was the case I can see him being left to his own devices, i.e not necessarily guided or overly corrected by any matriarchal figure either to also have allowed time for this ‘inward’ looking personae to have developed.

"I lie awake at nights dreaming of my next victim"

IF that was the beginning or near the beginning then I can’t help but wonder if he spent days doodling little symbols, or practicing different handwriting. Being left alone.

Absent father. Not an overly bearing mother or Absent mother and not an over bearing father. Either way absence as opposed to present and abusive.

IF there was a female figure to rebel against and later show this anger in his crimes towards, then it was possibly a grandmother or aunt. In that respect it could also include an uncle. I’m not convinced though that his crimes show any particular preference or hatred either way towards male or female. I think if anything they speak of power and control and that’s again an ‘inward’ thing. The need for that feeling of control being derived from his perception and not necessarily by his circumstances. Something that could need time to grow, or rather a more appropriate word in all of this would be ‘fester’.

So that’s my tuppence worth as a possibility. I can only base it on my own experiences of life and how a lack of a traditional set family up and structure could provide a suitable basis for who he was and became.

Absolutley the opposite Nact, Dad was a weakling, Mom the dominate one, a child molestor of little boys. Zodiac was an Only Child who could do no wrong.
How to create a psycopath? Make him take no responsibilty for any bad behavior, make excuses for him, because you feel
guilty for sexaully molesting him as a child. The father never protected him from the mother. I think they both knew he was the Zodiac.
Father was an alcoholic, and there are lots of drunken fights, with Zodiac being the only kid there to take it…lots of time alone in his room fantasizing to
"escape reality", as my suspect was so fond of saying. Look at all the initial killings, the girls all die for sure, the men are collateral. The vicitms are all
couples at first. This of course is my own opinion based on personal experiences with my own suspect.

I agree with Nacht that the father was a "hardcore" guy, while the mother was weak. I do, however, believe that Z was an only child. I have nothing to base this on, it’s just my opinion. I have seen people grow up in the worst possible situations you could imagine, and they turn out just fine. I have seen/read about people who grow up in "normal" families, and they end up being a mass murderer.

He did use the word "bullshit" once but otherwise seemed to shy away from harder profanity even though he was obviously thinking it. Also he displayed a hatred for police (pigs) and others who crossed him/his path… (particularly the threat against school children possibly because they were witnesses) I’ve often wondered then, why, (if true) he didn’t use the "other" word when describing the negro who he claimed spotted him when making the phone call.
For these and other reasons, I have always suspected that there was at least some religious disclipine in the home when younger and possibly a steering away from romantic relationships.
I would sense a disappointment with the father and a mother he grew to dislike/hate.
Pure guess work of course.

He did use the word "bullshit" once but otherwise seemed to shy away from harder profanity even though he was obviously thinking it. Also he displayed a hatred for police (pigs)…

He used the word "shit" too when describing his gravel-pile "bomb", and interestingly, only used "pigs" in that same letter.

We know that Troy Houghton and Arthur Leigh Allen most definitely hated cops. It’s hard to say where all others stood on that. Most criminals hate cops, but I was thinking that a hatred for law inforcement was probably a lot more rare back then it is today. Why did Z hate cops? I wonder if there were any particular instance(s) that made him feel this way. Maybe his father was a cop. Who knows? There are so many unanswered questions and so many theories out there that you could read for months and months and still learn new things about the case every day. Personally, I cannot stand cops either, so I try to made myself in the killer’s shoes and try to come up with whatever answers I can.

I probably should not post this because I haven’t slept in about 45 hours and I’m sure this post makes no sense!

Most criminals hate cops, but I was thinking that a hatred for law inforcement was probably a lot more rare back then it is today.

I think I know where you are coming from in your thinking on this one and in some respects it’s probably true. More values possibly instilled in people for one reason or another but I think, even if that where true, it’s scrambled and perhaps rendered null by the context of those times. Civil rights campaigns, anti-war protests, student riots, mini "revolutions" etc etc. Very turbulent times that often brought large swathes of the public into, if not direct conflict with the police, then certainly into moral conflict with them in their thinking.

Why did Z hate cops? I wonder if there were any particular instance(s) that made him feel this way. Maybe his father was a cop. Who knows?

Very plausible IMO. There could be something other than standard dislike or hatred of authority, or rather, something more. It’s the way he wants to control them and at the same time embarrass them which I guess could be construed as reacting to a situation where he was once under that type of control that presented itself as an authority, infallible and actually was an authority. ie I’m you dad you do what I say, I’m always right, and I’m a cop.

The other sides of the many coins are also plausible unfortunately. That being said though it does feel like it’s something personal as opposed to standard, instilled hatred from a criminal background. Personal but also petty in a way, needling, boo-boos – childish if you will as opposed to a hardened, adult attitude of dislike for LE. Maybe if not his father then maybe he had a sibling who was in LE and hailed as a success, hell, maybe the dad and a brother where both LE, providing not only fertile ground for hatred but also jealousy.

And it could actually be Zodiac himself wanted to be a cop and was denied, therefore, needed to prove he could outwit them.

And it could actually be Zodiac himself wanted to be a cop and was denied, therefore, needed to prove he could outwit them.

I’d have to agree with that assumption Tahoe. Zodiac’s taunting and mocking was reserved specifically, for the most part, for the police. He singled out individual officers for ridicule in his ‘2 cops pulled a goof’ statement that went on to slander and torment the police with such statements as "Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos?"
But Zodiac also attempts to portray the SFPD as a whole as incompetent idiots with comments such as "The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise" and "The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them."

Zodiac had an encounter with the police on Jackson st that night (and maybe even spoke too), and doesn’t mention this in his first letter regarding the Stine Murder. Instead, he waits a month before telling his readers that ‘2 cops pulled a goof’ that night and I think he did it because he himself knew that he had encountered the two patrol officers on Jackson st and when he saw no mention of it in the press he more than likely thought that the SFPD was keeping this under wraps due to the potential embarrassment it may cause them to have it know that Zodiac was able to walk away from 2 officers that night yards from the scene. I think Zodiac then decides that he must tell his public of this latest incompetence on the part of SFPD, even making a point of writing down the side of the page where he describes encountering cops "Must print in paper" and finishes the letter by reminding the Chronicle that they must print that part of the letter especially, and this demand comes with a threat if the paper do not print it: "PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing."

It could be that he has a grudge against the ‘blue pigs’ for some other reason also. Maybe he feels he was the victim of false arrest at some point, maybe even feels he suffered police brutality. But that seems unlikely, his goal appears to be to show that he is superior to those at the SFPD, almost as if he’s saying ‘You told me I couldn’t join because I failed some entry exam, and now who’s laughing? I can outwit, outclass and outrun your entire police force. You see what you have missed out on employing?"

IMO, he had a lot at risk with LHR and BRS and cared deeply about it to distract attention away from it going through with LB and SF and fanned the flames with his taunts and threats to get investigators and public tearing in other directions. Not a bad guy on the surface, just don’t cross him, has/had hunting experience (i.e. The Z. cover/ground blind, ciphers/traps, letters and phone calls/scents and calls, claiming other crimes/decoys, knifing and shooting game/murder), was most likely a family man, a real pillar to the community, and he wasn’t going to jeopardize it.

Wasn’t it Kathleen Johns who reported what appeared to be small children’s clothing, et cetera, in the car of the guy who gave her one scary lift?