Height was 88 inches, weight was 105 pounds.

This cannot be right… and if it is, he would be easily identifiable.

LOL yep he would, but that was what was on his military records . I guess he can be written off the long list of suspects? Although I am pretty sure he probably gained a few pounds over the next 26 yrs., I hope it was just a typo on the 88 inches and they meant to type 68 inches .

Tahoe, You asked about Paul Petrie. The best I could do was find that he was a CHP officer not a police officer in Vallejo and that he supposedly dated Darlene as told to me by her sister. He was a suspect at one time in Darlene’s murder, not in Betty Lou and David’s.
Harry Martin did an article and named Petrie in his article as one of the police officers who dated Darlene.

Harry Martin had wrong information given to him by "others" he trusted . Although he was correct in saying that Darlene was dealing drugs ( As a small scale dealer ).

Small scale or not, if you are dealing drugs, you are bound to meet some unsavory people. I had suspected that she was doing that along with the counterfeit money.
It was one of her friends who told me about the drugs and Darlene dealing them, mostly to her close friends.
Dean knew nothing about what she was doing, Darlene told everyone that if Deans car was in the driveway, do not stop by.

Paul Thomas Burdett…appears as if he had died ‘of natural causes’ in the end of March, 1970, in Fontana.

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/29880445/

Except Donna Lass, all of the known Z crimes could still go on his account. However, later Z communications of course not. In fact he had died only days after the Kathleen Johns incident, therefore when police searched for a guy looking exactly like him.

Unable to place him in Northern California guess although he is the best match ever, if he is the same person like the Paul Thomas Burdett of Riverside, he probably can be ruled out.

QT

I didn’t read through this whole thread, but a google search for "Paul Thomas Burdett" brought me to this post. His son, Paul Thomas Burdett Jr. was a classmate of Cheri Jo at Ramona HS. Paul Jr., who went by Tom, was the senior class president in 1965 and he looked a bit like the Stine sketch. I was just going through that yearbook and his photo kinda stuck out to me. QT, the obit you posted was actually for Burdett’s father, Paul Sr.

Well let’s try to finish it..there have been some couple’s freshly married/engaged – focussing on Z:

From the Zodiackillerfacts Lake Herman section (Betty Lou Jensen / David Faraday):

‘The teenagers had met two weeks earlier while attending a church function and had become so attached to one another that David was soon cutting classes to visit with Betty Lou.’

So they met at church? Darlene later watching their murder? I am curious at which church they had met, yes curious about that one.. In that context, the small bible from Sandy Betts,

QT

The small bible that was left with the costume in my car was actually a Catholic prayer book that I though was a tiny bible, with the name of the owner torn off of it. The only possible Catholic Zodiac victim that I know of was Cheri Jo Bates. If that prayer book was hers, her killer wanted to leave a clue to that victim perhaps? The costume of course was a huge clue to the lake B victims.
Why not look for suspects with the initials of R.H. who had connections to areas in Vallejo or close to it and Riverside or near it?

I think that the confession letter was very telling. When the writer said her breast were firm, why would a younger suspect think to say that? All young girls breasts are firm. Seems to me it was a much older man who would notice the difference.

Quicktrader wrote on July 12, 2013 at 4:35AM
"I think I identified Z, but don’t worry as there still is the cipher to crack." "Zodiac’s name is (Paul) "
I also have been think Zodiac’s first, second or last name could be "Paul"
Zodiac had an affinity to Paul Avery and why did He change His MO in the murder of Paul Stein?
Zodiac’s 7 know victims were victims of His opportunity, and His suspected victims were also "victims of opportunity"
I one way the murder of Paul Stein could have been planned for weeks.

I one way the murder of Paul Stein could have been planned for weeks.

I would venture to say there is a strong likelihood that he planned all of his crimes months in advance.

Soze

Yep. One might even think they were planned from the very beginning. Maybe not the who, but the why and the where.

Very interesting thread on Zodiac’s first name Paul

I do think Darlene may have dealt drugs to Zodiac (among other things) and he became enraged when he found her in a parked car with another man..

I believe Darlene’s killer was probably the same man reportedly seen in the apt parking lot with Donna Lass in 1970.

Was Darlene killed by Zodiac because she could identify him in previous murder?

Darlene is suspected of selling drugs and Donna Lass worked as a nurse at SFrans, Letterman hospital and had access to strong painkillers

just food for thought
TGOZ

Very interesting thread on Zodiac’s first name Paul

I do think Darlene may have dealt drugs to Zodiac (among other things) and he became enraged when he found her in a parked car with another man..

I believe Darlene’s killer was probably the same man reportedly seen in the apt parking lot with Donna Lass in 1970.

Was Darlene killed by Zodiac because she could identify him in previous murder?

Darlene is suspected of selling drugs and Donna Lass worked as a nurse at SFrans, Letterman hospital and had access to strong painkillers

just food for thought
TGOZ

Darlene wasn’t just "suspected" of selling drugs, she did sell them. I was told by one of her friends who bought them from her.

TGOZ, you are not the first person who has mentioned drugs being a part of the Zodiac case. Someone "hinted" that some of the drugs came from Vallejo Kaiser hospital. I totally agree with you , that Darlene saw Zodiac kill someone and that was reason enough for her to be eliminated.But I also believe that she was connected to him through the drugs and counterfeit money she was laundering for his group. It seems that after buying her home, she waned out of that dangerous group.
I am pretty sure that she was about to tell the authorities something and that was why she told her mother, that she would be reading about her in the newspaper. I believe it was about the crime group or the murder she saw, or both. Maybe she threatened Zodiac to leave her alone or she would tell? I know for sure that the group killed who they felt were snitches. From what I was told Tony Anstey was one of those people.

Uhhm…nice idea…let’s assume for a second that Z had killed Darlene because she wanted to come out with some information. I think it is more likely that Dee had witnessed Betty Lou’s murder instead of CJB’s, but anyway.

When Darlene had told her mother about her intentions, her killer must have gotten knowledge about these intentions somehow.

This most likely had happened just a day before her murder (or a short time before it). A killer would rather not wait a long time to make his victim silent, I guess. Thus there are two possibilities..one is that her mother had talked to someone about Darlene’s plans (or someone was present when Dee and her mother had talked about it) or Dee had talked to someone else (potentially a person knowing the killer). As far as I know, Dee had talked to her mother at home. As she had talked to Pam earlier, warning about the man.

According to Pam, Darlene warned that she had witnessed a murder and that the murderer had been following her. Pam suspected that Darlene may have been involved in a satanic cult. Both Pam and Linda claimed they had attended a painting party in Darlene’s home, and that they had seen an unidentified man who arrived wearing a suit. Darlene was reportedly afraid of this man and warned Pam to stay away from him because, “She said he was a bad man… She’d seen him kill somebody.”
http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/forum/ … f=19&t=675

Some questions arise:

– Who was present when Dee had talked to her mother? (Pam)
– Who was present when Dee had warned Pam about the man? To might Pam have talked?
– To whom else may Dee have talked about her intentions?

Facing reality, the killer wasn’t warned by Darlene talking to her mom (or her sister) but was already on her tracks when arriving at the painting party. It might be assumed that it was him as Darlene had told her sister that the guy had killed someone. Thus, Z was already after her when meeting her at the party. It is obvious that Z was not able to kill her during the party without having multiple witnesses. But he did kill her afterwards.

If we get that one into a focus, Z must have known some things:

1. Z did know where Darlene had been living (stalking, presents)
2. Z did know about the ‘painting’ party and the fact that Darlene would be there (at her home)
3. Z did know about her having witnessed his murder (of either Betty Lou and David or CJB some years earlier)

HOWEVER: There is a problem with the timeline..

12-20-1968 Jensen/Faraday homicide
05-24-1969 Painting party
07-04-1969 Ferrin homicide

IF Z had wanted to kill Darlene as soon as possible (to prevent her from talking), he could have done so shortly after the painting party, e.g. on the next day. Obviously he did not. Although being at the painting party, most likely because of her, he had waited over a month (!) before killing her.

That is, what I say, weird. If Z had known Darlene, he did not kill her although he might have known that she had witnessed him murdering somebody.

He therefore either was at the party accidentially (I don’t think so) or it was only later that he had known about Darlene having some information about him being a killer. But then again: Why was he at the party?? It simply doesn’t match..

What is a match, however, is that he potentially had made various presents to Darlene and stalked her since he had known about her knowledge. Darlene either didn’t enjoy that or (bad version) even black-mailed him with the information she actually had. Z couldn’t stand such situation any longer, Darlene then even talks about going to inform the media and – BANG goes the shot.

We should be aware that he did so only after Darlene had talked to her mother, not earlier. From that day on, her killer had seen no other choice except to make her silent. All this after ‘waiting’ for over a month since the painting party, if not years (in case of Darlene witnessing the murder of CJB).

My conclusion is that either Darlene, her mom, her dad or Pam had talked to at least one person knowing Z or even Z himself.

One might further conclude that those two persons must have met in a timeframe approximately 24 hours before the murder. To be precise such a meeting must have happened between the time of Darlene talking to her mother about her intentions and the homicide of Darlene Ferrin itself. Some people might have talked about Darlene’s intentions:

a.) If Darlene had talked to Z about she must have either been crazy or simply black-mailing him.
b.) Pam had known about him being a killer, thus nothing new about that from her side, except that she might have talked directly to Z informing him about what Darlene had said.
c.) Darlene’s mother had little if any ties at all to Darlene’s stalker, except she had known him as a lover?
d.) Mike Mageau appears to have no idea about the guy who had stalked Darlene.
e.) Painting party guests talking about Darlene’s intentions may be ruled out as a releasing cause as the party had happened weeks earlier.
f.) Dad theory: What if Darlene’s dad had learned about Darlene’s intentions from her mother and then took her stalker to task? He also would have known about that one..

Darlene black-mailing a known killer? That girls must have had guts.
Pam talking to her sister’s stalker? Not very likely either.
Darlene’s mother having a relationship with Z? Nice idea but then Darlene would have known about, I guess.
Mike Mageau not telling the truth? Why should he, if being shot by such a guy.
Dad not talking about his spare time shortly before his daughter’s murder? Not so likely either.

All of this appears to be nonsense. What I try to figure out, however, is the way of communication the causing moment had made. The one that made Z make his decision to kill Darlene NOW. To follow her and shoot both of them as hard as he could. Not to forget: He could have killed her earlier (if being the stalker and/or the painting party guest), but he did not.

The causing moment, for 99.9%, was the information that Darlene had the INTENTION to publish information abouth the homicide she had witnessed.

The central question is: How did that information get to Zodiac, if not by Darlene herself.

My best guess is that Darlene had talked to someone about her intentions and that this person was either Z himself (black-mailing theory) or someone who actually had known/informed Z about her intentions. It therefore might be very useful to figure out, if possible, what Darlene had done between talking to her mother about her intentions to make all this public and her murder itself.

QT

It could be as simple as the argument Darlene had in the parking lot at Terry’s minutes before she was killed. What ever that was about, could have been the icing on the cake so to speak.

It could be as simple as the argument Darlene had in the parking lot at Terry’s minutes before she was killed. What ever that was about, could have been the icing on the cake so to speak.

Correct..do we know with whom she was there? Assuming she had argued with or about Z, was there anybody else watching the argument? Her sister Christina?

QT

Yes it was Chris, she believed the guy was Larry Kane ( Because the guy looked very much like Kane). She knows Kane has died, so now she feels Darlene’s killer is dead. That is something she said to one of my guy friends this past year, who was her neighbor in another state.
My suspect just happens to look like Kane, he is still alive.

As far as I am concerned , Darlene’s killer is very much alive!

I am not sure I believe this is a Z communication but it’s an interesting riddle. The last name of Jacques fits nicely into the riddle. (I am athletic, "jocks"….swim gear etc). So something like Paul St Jacques or Jacques St Paul fits really well based on the riddle.

I am sorry, maybe I am just getting too old to understand some of the posts, what riddle???????? That makes about as much sense to me as a clue to Jock itch fitting the Zodiac.