I know some of you don’t think that there is any good information in the so called “Yellow Book” written by Robt Graysmith . But almost everything that you are talking about on this thread , is in that book.
I am very surprised to read , as if it is a “new discovery” that the phone booth, Sheriff’s dept and Darlene’s house were so close to each other? That has been mentioned many times , some of us have gone to each of those places , just to see for ourselves just how close they were to each other.

As far as the Vallejo / Benicia Lovers lane shootings, if Zodiac worked at either Syar or Humble Oil, he would have noticed that couples were parked there.

I agree with Susie, that Zodiac felt he had to put fear into Bryan and Cecilia , by saying he had killed a guard . Because they sure as heck didn’t recognize his symbol on the chest area of his costume, that he thought would scare them and let them know that he was thee Zodiac. After all by that time, Zodiac felt that he was a famous killer and wearing that costume showing his well-known logo, should have frightened anyone in California .

Yet it is interesting that he didn’t tell them he was thee Zodiac to control them. Maybe he felt if he did that, they would know they would be killed ,instead of only being robbed and try to run ?

If Zodiac was the man who Darlene said she saw kill someone, that man did travel out of state, so his having been to Montana is not out of the question.

The picture shown of Darlene’s house and the circled area above, I feel is a bit deceiving, because you could not see the sheriff’s dept. from Darlene’s house in 1969. It was never on Virginia st.as that circle shows .

Yet it is interesting that he didn’t tell them he was thee Zodiac to control them. Maybe he felt if he did that, they would know they would be killed ,instead of only being robbed and try to run ?

That is interesting. Almost paradoxical.

The picture shown of Darlene’s house and the circled area above, I feel is a bit deceiving, because you could not see the sheriff’s dept. from Darlene’s house in 1969. It was never on Virginia st.as that circle shows .

The Solano County Sheriff’s Office was located in the building circled at right. It was at 1350 Virginia St. I have a Polk directory.

And the boy scout bldg(Faraday), very close to Darlene too at 400 Contra Costa-40 seconds by car

That is interesting…although Darlene didn’t yet live at that property when David was killed.

Just for the sake of clarity, regarding what Sandy touched on above – didn’t Graysmith screw up on the actual location of the phone booth in Yellow Book? I seem to recall that – he was some distance off the real location.

Not that it matters in this context. Morf has a point regarding the time frame here – there’s no denying that.

Let’s assume Z wasn’t a Vallejo resident. He decides to hit a couple in an isolated location, then call it in, then blow town. Straight forward enough, one could say – but why the wait? In order for this to work, given the time frame, he has to – what? – drive around aimlessly for a length of time before finally making the call? It certainly begs a question or two.

I don’t have the city directory only my notes , the address I have for the Sheriffs dept that Graysmith said was close to the gas station Zodiac made his call from, was 321 Tuolumne st around the corner from Virginia st.

Just for the sake of clarity, regarding what Sandy touched on above – didn’t Graysmith screw up on the actual location of the phone booth in Yellow Book? I seem to recall that – he was some distance off the real location.

Yes. He was mistaken in "Zodiac", but corrects his mistake in "Zodiac Unmasked".

I don’t have the city directory only my notes , the address I have for the Sheriffs dept that Graysmith said was close to the gas station Zodiac made his call from, was 321 Tuolumne st around the corner from Virginia st.

That address is where the Solano County Courthouse was, and still is. The Sheriff’s Office was on Virginia St.

Yes. He was mistaken in "Zodiac", but corrects his mistake in "Zodiac Unmasked".

Thanks, T – that’s what I thought. Or rather, I didn’t think he corrected the mistake…so credit to old man G for that!

Yet it is interesting that he didn’t tell them he was thee Zodiac to control them. Maybe he felt if he did that, they would know they would be killed ,instead of only being robbed and try to run ?

I think that’s it – yes. He likely planned in advance to tell his victims this prison break story in order to pacify them while tying them up. If he had told them he was Z and they knew who Z was – they might have become desperate and put up a struggle. One may ask, however, why he didn’t reveal that he was Z after they were securely bound. One possible answer is that Z wasn’t all that interested in his victims on a personal level. All his attacks have this characteristic, arguably. He kills them (or tries to anyway) quickly enough and then leaves the scene. The taunting and the bravado of the Z persona seems to be something he saves for the written communications.

This, if I interpret it more or less correctly, says a great deal about him. Others have suggested many times that Z doesn’t appear to derive much of the sadistic pleasure one would perhaps expect from performing the actual killings – and I would agree with this. They – the killings – seem to be almost exclusively about HIM, with the victims functioning almost as extras (or props even, pardon the grotesque imagery) whose roles aren’t those of "normal" serial killer victims but…something else. Necessary work, almost – something he has to deal with in order to continue with his game.

I’m rambling – sorry.

Good Ramble

Yet it is interesting that he didn’t tell them he was thee Zodiac to control them. Maybe he felt if he did that, they would know they would be killed ,instead of only being robbed and try to run ?

I think that’s it – yes. He likely planned in advance to tell his victims this prison break story in order to pacify them while tying them up. If he had told them he was Z and they knew who Z was – they might have become desperate and put up a struggle. One may ask, however, why he didn’t reveal that he was Z after they were securely bound. One possible answer is that Z wasn’t all that interested in his victims on a personal level. All his attacks have this characteristic, arguably. He kills them (or tries to anyway) quickly enough and then leaves the scene. The taunting and the bravado of the Z persona seems to be something he saves for the written communications.

This, if I interpret it more or less correctly, says a great deal about him. Others have suggested many times that Z doesn’t appear to derive much of the sadistic pleasure one would perhaps expect from performing the actual killings – and I would agree with this. They – the killings – seem to be almost exclusively about HIM, with the victims functioning almost as extras (or props even, pardon the grotesque imagery) whose roles aren’t those of "normal" serial killer victims but…something else. Necessary work, almost – something he has to deal with in order to continue with his game.

I’m rambling – sorry.

They still could have recognized the symbol which would have been more prevalent in news stories. There really was no "Zodiac" yet.

No Zodiac when the call from Springs & Tuolumne came in and pretty much no Zodiac yet at LB.

They could have – yes. We can only surmise that if they had recognized it – and panicked – Z would have opted for a different strategy. Impossible to tell what went on in his head.

Then again, there’s the possibility that the attacker wasn’t Z, but an escaped convict from Montana (or Colorado) on his way to Mexico, in a bizarre costume w/ Zodiac logo, who seemingly forgot both to rob his victims and the fact that he already had a car.

Back on topic:

I’m getting all sorts of facts and details mixed up at the moment, so you’ll have to excuse me for asking silly questions, but here goes: Is there any reason to think that Z would have been aware of the police’s ability to trace his call back to the payphone he used?

Furthermore, was the fact that this trace was indeed made, made public (i.e. did it appear in any of the papers)?

If Z had reason to suspect that the police could trace the call, this obviously has some bearing on the theory in question. If he didn’t – and if he subsequently didn’t learn that they HAD traced the call – he might feel perfectly safe, not to say downright smug, knowing that he had called it in from his own backyard, so to speak. I can easily see him taking pleasure in that.

Lastly, is there any indication that the cops – at least to some degree – attempted to do what morf proposes to do here? Or is that too much to ask of these small town cops? To my thinking the idea should have at least occurred to them: They knew the facts as we know them: The time of the attack and the time of the call. There’s about half an hour missing there. Is this mentioned at all in any report and/or file?

Sorry for being too lazy at the moment to do any research – I’m in a bit of a daze, having imbibed obscene amounts of coffee trying to stay awake to finish a pesky work assignment!

just playing devil’s advocate, maybe Z waited because he wanted to enjoy what he just did, or was waiting to see if the police would rush out to the crime scene. And when it wasn’t going fast enough he decided to call. Having a car around after the call would be a fast get away.

However, none of the above explains why Z was in vallejo in the first place and I think Mike’s mission makes sense. The "suspect circle" just might be a bit larger than walking distance.