I wasn’t sure my first post would be of this kind, but here goes.

I’ve only been seriously following this case since around 2009, but I’m certain I know enough about the case to say that I don’t actually have a POI.
Like said by Joedetective, I believe that the real Zodiac killer is possibly someone we haven’t even looked into yet. However, this is only a hunch and it doesn’t mean that I don’t find a few suspects to be perilously interesting.

Off-the-bat, I want to say "No Cigar" to a few men that I believe were in no way Z:
Arthur Leigh Allen,
Rick Marshall,
Richard Gaikowski.

These guys, though, really pique my interest as far as reasonable suspects go:

Ross Sullivan: looks the part (and how), was diagnosed schizophrenic, committed to an institution (IIRC during the gap in Z’s writing), his death lines up with the end of Z’s confirmed letters, his handwriting has SOME similarities. Also, he was in SF around the time of Z’s murders (someone correct me if I’m wrong). I’m not sure yet how I feel about Z being CJB’s killer, but Ross certainly seems to have very circumstantial ties to her killing. He worked in the RCC library, was somewhat closely acquainted (can’t remember how), wrote disturbing poetry (I think it’s likely he wrote the desktop poem) and was suspected by both library staff and, apparently, Riverside police as Cheri Jo Bates’s murderer.

Kjell Qvale: could certainly fit the facial composite, was in PH in the very few minutes immediately after Paul Stine’s murder and was spoken to by AP. His letter to the SF Chronicle could possibly be read (and without knowledge of its writer or his status as a suspect) as Z-like. Also, I’m a little suspicious of KQ’s inability to recall his memories of October 11, 1969. Yes, it was 1969, but I highly doubt that someone would be out in the neighborhood and talk to THE RESPONDING OFFICER in the most high-profile unsolved homicide case in a city in which they lived in for multiple decades and seem to not remember something like that happening almost 35 years after. When shown to be otherwise still sharp-as-a-tack at an old age, I highly doubt one would forget being one of the only people connected to such a high-profile, media-friendly case.
Side-note: the idea has been proposed that one of the Qvale brothers may also have been involved or was in fact Z and was aided by Kjell. I’m not a huge fan, as it requires too many extra premises to be accepted as true, but it’s not unreasonable, at least concerning Kjell’s hiding of his brother in PH.

James Owen: something of a dark horse suspect for me. He was confirmed, according to his own statements, to be at or around that turnoff on Lake Herman road in that very small window of time between when Faraday and Jensen were last seen alive and when Stella Borges drove past their lifeless bodies. As far as anyone knows, he was the only other person (besides Z, assuming Owen wasn’t Z) at that location at that time on that date. His Air Force and hunting backgrounds also make him interesting, as do the inconsistencies in his statements. Not a ton of hard evidence, but enough to keep me interested. Besides, what POI IS there good, hard evidence for? (That question will be controversial, I’m sure.) With Owen, his presence at the LHR scene is just such a strong tie it can’t be ignored.

Morf, I’m a fan of what you do with this site, but I’m not super familiar with this classmate of Bates’s. I’ll have to go searching for any threads on him (a link would be appreciated and shorten my search time), unless there aren’t any. Also, i’ll have to look more into Saxberg.

I’d also like to mention 2 people who seem to fit the profile but don’t look a damn thing like Z’s description: Lawrence (Larry) K(C)a(i)ne and Fred Manalli. Kane, with his neurological issues (I have a degree specializing in neurobiology) demonstrated things that seem to coincide with both Z and someone with his type of brain damage: careful/measured/flat speech, impulse control issues (the murders, the brazen nature of the Stine crime incl. wiping prints, etc), affected walk. However, I don’t think there’s enough evidence for me to really consider him, but there’s enough to make me not forget. Manalli seems to have some very peculiar writing habits that have much in common with Z’s, but I also see letters/shapes/habits that are decidedly non-Z. He also seems to have been thinking of murder and certainly wrote about it. Same as Kane: enough to keep me interested.

I forgot to mention Ted Kacszynski: well, I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look much like the first composite without glasses. The sketch artist that drew the Unabomber, IMO, really nailed Ted. Sometimes, the sketches look only very vaguely similar, if at all (think Son of Sam) but Ted’s was spot-on. It’s kinda scary that maybe the SF sketch artist was also accurate…it would be unprecedented that Ted would be 2 famous serial killers with 2 totally different MO’s. Also, he’s a good match for the "Sandy" sketch in the Domingos/Edwards murders, so if that’s a Z thing, then holy crap, Ted is interesting even if not fully convincing.

If someone put a Luger to my head, I’d honestly have to say that I’d go with Sullivan likely being CJB’s killer but that’s all I’d be willing to stick to.

You guys are really doing a fantastic job, especially the ones who do things like interview people, make FOIA requests, dig through yearbook records, and so on. I’m sure that we all share the sentiment that Z’s identity is the puzzle we’d most like to see cracked. I have this odd hunch that if we can solve a crime as difficult as Zodiac, maybe we can eventually identify D.B. Cooper, Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist/Visalia Ransacker, Alphabet (Rochester) killer, etc.

TitWillo, good to see you post.

You mentioned a lot of great and interesting Suspects, including a few of my favorites. Have fun reading up on all of these Suspects

I don’t think I really have a favorite suspect. If I had to give it my best guess, I would say that Manalli was the one writing the letters but not committing the murders. I do think he went on to commit the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders.

Let me add my POI to the list:
1. His initials are RH.
2. He attended Ramona High during Cheri Bates’ freshman year.
3. He joined the Naval Reserve in 1963.
4. His girlfriend, whom he married in September, 1966, attended Ramona High several years with Cheri Bates, and lived around the corner from her.
5. RH’s girlfriend was an assistant librarian at Riverside Community College from approximately 1964-1966.
6. In 1991, I phoned RCC Student Records, and was told that RH attended RCC in the Fall of 1966. Unfortunately (from my standpoint) the law re divulging info on college/university
students now prevents me from nailing this down.
7. In the 1967-1968 Riverside telephone directory, RH lived a block off West Linden Avenue. A month or so after Cheri’s murder, a female UCR student walking on Linden was abducted
by a man who mentioned the Bates murder, and who drove the girl to a rural area and tried to rape her. Luckily, she escaped.
8. RH and his wife were listed in the 1970 San Jose, CA telephone directory; RH was described as a "student."

Let me add my POI to the list:
1. His initials are RH.
2. He attended Ramona High during Cheri Bates’ freshman year.
3. He joined the Naval Reserve in 1963.
4. His girlfriend, whom he married in September, 1966, attended Ramona High several years with Cheri Bates, and lived around the corner from her.
5. RH’s girlfriend was an assistant librarian at Riverside Community College from approximately 1964-1966.
6. In 1991, I phoned RCC Student Records, and was told that RH attended RCC in the Fall of 1966. Unfortunately (from my standpoint) the law re divulging info on college/university
students now prevents me from nailing this down.
7. In the 1967-1968 Riverside telephone directory, RH lived a block off West Linden Avenue. A month or so after Cheri’s murder, a female UCR student walking on Linden was abducted
by a man who mentioned the Bates murder, and who drove the girl to a rural area and tried to rape her. Luckily, she escaped.
8. RH and his wife were listed in the 1970 San Jose, CA telephone directory; RH was described as a "student."

Hm…not so bad finding a guy with ties to CJB and SF area..anything else about him? Pictures?

QT

Hi Dag I like that your poi would or could have had access to the library even if he did not attend the college via his girlfriend..

QT: There’s a photo of him somewhere, probably in the Super-Duper Secret Section. I never can find it myself, except by accident; hopefully, you’re more advanced computerwise than I. As far as his looks go, in his RHS photo he looks like a Hitler Youth: very Nordic looking (sorry, Norse!) blond, and clean-cut. Incidentally, he played football for RHS, as did Dennis Highland, Cheri’s fiancee–although I think Highland might have been JV when RH was varsity. Also, while RH had graduated when Cheri Bates was a cheerleader, she apparently was drawn to jock types. Finally, for a number of years, RH was a frequent visitor to Cheri’s neighborhood, as RH’s girlfriend (and eventual wife) and Cheri lived right around the corner from each other. Could be he made a pass at Cheri, and was rewarded with a tongue-lashing, perhaps even threatened with exposure to his girlfriend and/or Highland? Damn, I’d love to get my hands on Cheri’s diary!

Dag what was his profession s?

Mr. I: He got a degree in Graphic Design.

I vote for the Tarbox Suspect.

My favorite suspects are ALA and Dick Gyke as a team: one liked to shoot and the other liked to stab. One preferred couples and the other liked people who were alone. They were a perfect match: almost same age, veteran, college graduates and they both had confused sexual makeups. I think they both lusted after Darlene Ferrin. ALA is the only Vallejo home grown product among the chief suspects. He had an intimate knowledge of the area.

I think Larry Kane was not part of the Zodiac team, but his crimes (Donna Lass and Kathleen John) were lumped together with team Zodiac.

i think Ross, William Grant..and number 1 is Larry Kane.. beacuse of Testimony KJ ..she picked Larry Kane. Did police ever get DNk from him?

I never had a favorite suspect, but there was someone who interested me recently, and that was Xenophon Anthony (1931-2016), who lived near the location of Paul Stine’s murder and who was identified by one of the eye-witnesses (one of the kids) as the one he had identified as the murderer. But I also found out a little bit after I knew about this identification by a eye-witness that he was ruled out by fingerprint comparison.

There are too many tie-ins between Cheri Bates’ murder and the "traditional" Zodiac killings to be accidental. Far more likely that all are Z’s work.
If you combine the RCC desktop poem with THE CONFESSION, a male with the initials RH who attended Ramona High when Cheri did seems a likely POI. I checked out relevant yearbooks at the Ramona High library, and found a male with the initials, RH, who was a senior during Cheri’s freshman year at RHS. Since he is, I believe, still alive I won’t use his real name but will simply refer to him as RH.
RH dated a girl who lived, literally, right around the corner from Bates. After graduating, RH joined the Naval Reserve and eventually saw active service from August ’64 to August ’66. In September ’66 he married his high school sweetheart who was a librarian’s assistant at Riverside City College. I do not know, but strongly suspect RH attended RCC from September 1966 until 1968, when he moved to San Jose, CA and was listed in the phone book as a "student" (at San Jose State University).

As of March 5, 2018, my top four would be

1) Sandy Betts’ suspect/s (as a solo or as a team)

2) Richard Gaikowski (as a solo or as a team)

3) Ross Sullivan (strictly a solo)

4) Arthur Leigh Allen (strictly as a member of a team)