When I’m step back an look all the interests the Zodiac displays across his letters, I’m struck by the incredible variety of creative and niche interests. I also see a didactic quality to the way he describes his own methods. The bomb making plans, the descriptions of his gun sight, plastic cement on his finger tips. He takes a certain pride in his devices, and explaining how they work.

People who are formally educated, when they boast, they boast about where they went to school, who they studied under, their credentials so to speak. The autodidact on the other hand is more inclined to boast about his discoveries and knowledge of a subject. He wishes to prove that his book learning is every bit the match of the formally educated. They take delight in taking credit for their inventions, and act as if they’re the first to think of this, or that. The interests are more personal, they may still have formal education, but the Zodiac isn’t showing us what he does for work, he’s showing us his pride in his hobbies, and nothing ruins a hobby faster than doing it for a living.

As the letters came out authorities at the time tried to fit him into various occupations, but each new letter seemed to come with some new interest. Despite insistence from some that his code training, at least, was formal, many of the other pursuits could easily fall into the purview of the self taught. I think in the balance of things Zodiac as an autodidact is a more harmonious fit that better explains his overall behavior and accounts for some of his sort comings. The coding is the one thorny part, but whilst it’s somewhat impressive for the layperson it still doesn’t quite look rigorous enough, or frankly boring enough, for a person with extensive formal training. All of his skills have the idiosyncratic and creative flare of the self taught.

Once we accept that the Zodiac is self taught we find that it explains a lot of other things. His tendency to be very thorough in some regards, but seemingly careless in others. His overestimation of his own abilities and his creative way of problem solving.

When I’m step back an look all the interests the Zodiac displays across his letters, I’m struck by the incredible variety of creative and niche interests. I also see a didactic quality to the way he describes his own methods. The bomb making plans, the descriptions of his gun sight, plastic cement on his finger tips. He takes a certain pride in his devices, and explaining how they work.

People who are formally educated, when they boast, they boast about where they went to school, who they studied under, their credentials so to speak. The autodidact on the other hand is more inclined to boast about his discoveries and knowledge of a subject. He wishes to prove that his book learning is every bit the match of the formally educated. They take delight in taking credit for their inventions, and act as if they’re the first to think of this, or that. The interests are more personal, they may still have formal education, but the Zodiac isn’t showing us what he does for work, he’s showing us his pride in his hobbies, and nothing ruins a hobby faster than doing it for a living.

As the letters came out authorities at the time tried to fit him into various occupations, but each new letter seemed to come with some new interest. Despite insistence from some that his code training, at least, was formal, many of the other pursuits could easily fall into the purview of the self taught. I think in the balance of things Zodiac as an autodidact is a more harmonious fit that better explains his overall behavior and accounts for some of his sort comings. The coding is the one thorny part, but whilst it’s somewhat impressive for the layperson it still doesn’t quite look rigorous enough, or frankly boring enough, for a person with extensive formal training. All of his skills have the idiosyncratic and creative flare of the self taught.

Once we accept that the Zodiac is self taught we find that it explains a lot of other things. His tendency to be very thorough in some regards, but seemingly careless in others. His overestimation of his own abilities and his creative way of problem solving.

I like your synopsis ..pity we do not have a like button. then again this site works fine with out one. cheers

I’ve noticed serial killers in general often have a penchant for the DIY, although I’m not clear if it’s out of necessity (stores don’t normally stock the tools of their particular trade), or because there’s a real shared pattern of interests.

Wow, what a crazy thread. Some interesting ideas, though. All I’ll say is his ability to create ruses such as imitating an officer or disabling a car to gain personal access indicates a degree of clever while failure to think through a plan and getting "caught" walking away from a crime scene indicates a limitation in mental stamina.

I’ve always thought that the information Z provides in the Mt. Diablo letter (especially 0 is to be set to Mag North) was the biggest clue to his career. With that, I’ve always thought he was either the Captain of a plane or a ship. As we now have another pilot suspect in Waterson, the Navigational knowledge as such; however, there seems to be more water references to Z, especially with the usage of Semaphore.

But now, the angle mentioned on this thread about a possible surveyor is also an interesting thought because of the use of the Phillips 66 Map. Furthermore, Z uses another technical term in a later letter where Z mentioned that the code involves inches along radians, or something to that affect. That could apply to the navigation skills of a pilot, ship captain, surveyor, traffic controller, or god know what else.

Or it could just simply be some unknown loner that self taught himself whatever he wanted to know and then brag about his new found knowledge because he was always that insecure type that nobody thought was smart. Hmm

I’m thinking that Zodiac could have been in surveying. Either a surveyor himself or a survey tech. Perhaps he was in the navy and was a quartermaster. They assisted the navigator on board the ship.

Here is some information on surveyors: (emphasis mine)

"Surveyors work with elements of geometry, trigonometry, regression analysis, physics, engineering, metrology, programming languages, and the law."
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveying

The crosshair symbol is used by surveyors for what is called a "principal point" to indicate locations of important on a map. Moreover, the crosshair or reticle is used by surveyors when they look through their theodolite and level.

"The Mount Diablo meridian, established in 1851, is a principal meridian extending north and south from its initial point atop Mount Diablo in California. Established under the U.S. Public Land Survey System, it is used to describe lands in most of northern California and all of Nevada. Mount Diablo also marks the baseline at latitude 37°52′54″N."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Diablo_meridian

Surveyors also use codes like this:

Bruce McGregor Davis worked as a surveyor and the Zodiac symbol surveyor code is… BM. I find that interesting.

I was reading another thread about the mailboxes and and it led me to start thinking his job may have been some sort of a delivery person…..mail delivery?

I think Zodiac had some type of job in the electrical field. Perhaps an electrican. I was looking at various electrical contractors in the Bay Area and came across a company called Sierra Electric. Their office is located on Geary Street.

I also thought this was interesting (from their website):

"Shortly after WWII, Dave and Rose Stadtner, Jakes son and daughter-in-law, were instrumental in growing the business from smaller residential projects to larger commercial and industrial projects. Rose became President and ran the business operations and Dave ran the work in the field. It was at this time the company was renamed Sierra Electric. David recalls some of the more interesting projects during the companies early growth; “During the late 50’s there was a lot of growth down on the piers. Some of the older buildings, particularly restaurants had holes in the floorboards where they would just dump the garbage into the bay. The rat problem under the piers became so unbearable for the electricians we had to arm our electricians with pistols to fend off the rats.”

It probably means nothing, but it made me smile.

Guess you could say he has, in the least, slightly above average intelligence. That’s owing to his ability to evade capture and exacerbate the drama. No small feat creating mass hysteria over a few killings. The murder sites he chose, for example, were deemed "safe areas" that he turned into places to fear. The letters, replete with claims and threats, of course, doubled down on the terror.
Also, he likely had a difficult relationship with women as his killings mostly targeted couples.
Other than that, it’s hard to tell much. Fan of guns? Fan of drama/literature? Day job?

I was reading another thread about the mailboxes and and it led me to start thinking his job may have been some sort of a delivery person…..mail delivery?

Or something that requires him to travel. If you have followed the topics regarding stamps then you would know about central and inner richmond. Both are divided by hwy 1. Hwy 1 runs north. From the 1 you can get on i-80. Presidio attack was a 36 minute drive to i-80 via the 1. Blue rock springs was 8 minutes to i-80. Lake Herman a couple more minutes. Lake Berryessa was an hour straight line shot to i-80. A good portion of the cities mentioned in the mailbox post and the areas involving Donna Lass are very close to i-80. Don’t have the minutes drive handy. Seems odd like he traveled i-80 frequently.

Soze

I have often thought about what Darlene said about her stalker being back from out of state. That told me he traveled a lot like a salesman or construction worker? Barrel chested could have been from lifting something heavy at his job? The band that held his glasses on, told me that he may have had a job that caused him to look down at what he was doing. One of my suspects worked in printing , the other in construction.

I will start with 1963 the D/ E beach murders. Their school was Lompoc High school. In their 1963 yr book I found that the cafeteria had a lot of construction being done. Also at UC Santa Barbara construction for an extension and that was very close to the beach area.

1966 RCC , we all know their was construction happening at the time of Cheri jo Bates murder.

!968 – 69 There was a boom in new subdivisions being built in Vallejo / Napa. I bought my new home in Napa 1968 and moved in 1970.
San Francisco 1969 two homes were under re-construction on Jackson st. Rooms that faced the park could be rented by the day, week or month according to a women who live there in 1969.

1970 Lake Tahoe , lots of construction going on there , the Peek through the Pines card that was sent showed construction workers. Was that one of his in your face clues?

The only place that I wasn’t able to find construction happening near a crime scene, was Lake Berryessa. My thought on that was Bryan and Cecelia were spotted at the rummage sale in St Helena and possibly followed to Lake Berryessa. The costume could have been put together with in minutes of the stabbing. The logo that "looked sewn" could have been done with white paint, Like the copy I made of the one found in my car. The black material could have been bought at the rummage sale?

The picture that I took of my Honcho suspect was taken on Aug 10th 1990 in Antioch Ca. In that picture you can see he has cement dust on his hands, knees, top of his boots. He was working construction in Contra Costa County at the time of several unsolved female murders in that area. The list of some of them are on another thread called The Highway 4 murders.
That killer actually phoned the Pittsburg PD to tell them where to find Andrea Ingersols body and then told them he was the Zodiac killer. Even though he was correct about where to find her body, they refused to believe he could be Zodiac. So for those of you who believe Zodiac died many yrs ago or stopped killing after Paul Stine, you might want to re-think?
Bottom line, construction work can take you anywhere at any time.

My thought on that was Bryan and Cecelia were spotted at the rummage sale in St Helena and possibly followed to Lake Berryessa.

So for those of you who believe Zodiac died many yrs ago or stopped killing after Paul Stine, you might want to re-think?

I can agree with both of those statements.

My guy was a writer. Spent time reporting and editing too. My guy lived in Utah beginning sometime around 75′. He could have traveled along i-80 to get to San Francisco or could have traveled along i-15 to get to Riverside. My guy was into comic cons and sf cons. I would be interested in knowing if there were any conventions going on within two weeks, before or after, each crime. And I mean conventions of any kind.

Soze

My armchair theory is that he worked as a security guard for a private security company. His assignments would vary from patrolling neighborhoods to protection of various construction sites and public institutions.

My armchair theory is that he worked as a security guard for a private security company. His assignments would vary from patrolling neighborhoods to protection of various construction sites and public institutions.

Typically, those jobs are shift jobs. It seems as if Zodiac had a pretty typical M-F, 9 to 5 job.

I try to keep in mind the things that were mentioned to possible victims and known victims of the Zodiac. Kathleen Johns said he mentioned working only a few months out of the year. What sort of work could that be? I can’t help but think about my POI who I call Honcho. He worked with concrete from the gray powder that I could see all over his clothes and hands in the pictures I took.
I know that when I planned to do any concrete work around my home, summer was not a good time to do that ,because it would dry too fast and was hard to work with. Wouldn’t work when it was raining either , so there are only a few months out of the year for that type of work.

Darlene mentioned he must be back from out of state. If his job took him out of state, he could be a traveling salesman , truck driver, or went to wherever there was construction going on. When it is hot in Calif. it is cooler in other states for concrete work. Some people who work construction can do more than just one or two things in construction.
what other jobs can any of you think of, that would be only a few months out of the year? It would have to pay enough to carry you through the rest of the year, I would think?

If Zodiac was a part of the counterfeit ring going on in Vallejo at that time, he wouldn’t have to work very much to get the money he needed. Going out of state like Nevada to distribute the money , was common practice from what I know. Don Porter was a part of that group and he mentioned the name of Dee in front of me.
Darlene’s family suspected she was laundering counterfeit money. She was spending more money than most waitresses made. She stopped paying her sister with tip change to babysit and started giving her $20.00 bills. I believe the man at the painting party , who was talking about Darlene and her money, was her killer and was in that ring.

Darlene was more than likely killed because she was going to tell the police about the group. That was why she told her mother that she would be reading about her in the paper. Why else would she make that comment? These are facts that have been ignored! I will always believe Darlene is the key to the Zodiac case. Zodiac’s main job ,could be part of a cover up for the counterfeiting? I know that Don Porter’s main job was a car painter, but the phony money was what got him the things he liked. Until he was caught and put in jail. He never gave up the names of the others evolved, is why they didn’t kill him. I knew better than to ask him, because then I could be killed.All I knew was that two of the people in the ring came from Chicago with the money plates.

I received only one call from Chicago , that was in the late 90’s. Ed Neil received a call within minutes of the call to me. The person played a aria from the opera "Ave Maria" to both of us. What that meant I have no idea, a clue to something maybe? At that time I was spending a lot of time with Ed investigating all of the known Zodiac crimes. Perhaps my POI thought we were a couple? (We were not.) The men I did date were also harassed by my suspect. Some found it amusing, others not so much.