Anything’s possible.

Under scrutiny though a hitman or hitmen theory just doesn’t hold up well enough for me.

Firstly, what drug element? I mean even if there was what are talking about here? Young people looking to ‘score some pot’ ? So what? Dealers don’t tend to murder their customers, it’s not good business. Even if they were unreliable, or owed money. Psychopaths do that. It certainly wouldn’t be a situation that would warrant the use of a hitman or team of hitmen who then, over several years kill other unrelated people to create a basis for a serial killer cover up and keep in contact with the press and LE to further this charade.

Hitmen require paying and to do that they have to work. Who’s going to have faith in a team or individual if you need them to do some ‘proper’ work while they are continually sticking their necks out by contacting LE to cover up a few ‘nothing’ kills that have remained unsolved regardless of the continuing letters.

It might make a good movie plot as you are allowed to suspend belief in that context but in the really real world, I’m just not seeing it. What I can see is this kind of reasoning being a result of Zodiac’s intention which was misdirection. He didn’t care where it directed people as long as it wasn’t at him and people have been very eager to oblige over the years by filling in the blanks for him and I think this is one of those instances. It’s a direction of thinking that serves the purpose of accounting for alleged discrepancies such as age, appearance etc whereas the reality is probably less ‘romantic’ and just comes down to the natural fallibility of witnesses and Z’s own efforts at disguise.

I’m not sure if going through the time and trouble of proving my points will matter so pardon me for being brief.
How would you explain these few murders with several related letters that apparently ended two or so years later? He was just a lone serial killer randomly preying on couples and a cabbie and who maybe stopped because he died, jailed, retired, or, maybe, still carrying on without having been discovered though there are ciphers, several letters, witnesses, suspects, maybe even some fingerprints and DNA to waste years pouring over?

I’d say that was the intended plan. Genius.

I’m not sure if going through the time and trouble of proving my points will matter…….

Vic – it’s what we’re here for!
I am very suspcious that the crimes were seperate events too – yes, but what makes you believe that the murder(er)s were "professionals"?
– Paul Stine was dispatched with aplomb, I guess, but it was really messy and the "escape" was seriously flawed at best, and….
– the Berryessa stabbing is just terrible – ludicrous – a rage kill by a nut-job(??) – and the comedy get-up?? Why no clown shoes…? And…..
– there were more than 13 shots fired at two close-up targets at BRS with a 9mm auto and Mike’s still walking around, (although dazed, I admit), and….
– LHR the murder weapon was a .22 toy(!), they weren’t contained in the car(!), at least two shots (from ten) are unaccounted for(!), and the girl was running away fast. Nearly made it to the road to attract a car, in fact.
Hmmm.
Mr Hired Hit-man, I want my money back.
And what about the letters…?
Please tell!

I’m not sure if going through the time and trouble of proving my points will matter…….

Vic – it’s what we’re here for!
I am very suspcious that the crimes were seperate events too – yes, but what makes you believe that the murder(er)s were "professionals"?
– Paul Stine was dispatched with aplomb, I guess, but it was really messy and the "escape" was seriously flawed at best, and….
– the Berryessa stabbing is just terrible – ludicrous – a rage kill by a nut-job(??) – and the comedy get-up?? Why no clown shoes…? And…..
– there were more than 13 shots fired at two close-up targets at BRS with a 9mm auto and Mike’s still walking around, (although dazed, I admit), and….
– LHR the murder weapon was a .22 toy(!), they weren’t contained in the car(!), at least two shots (from ten) are unaccounted for(!), and the girl was running away fast. Nearly made it to the road to attract a car, in fact.
Hmmm.
Mr Hired Hit-man, I want my money back.
And what about the letters…?
Please tell!

______________________________________________________

I think volatile situations like murder by hitman or hitmen don’t come off as smooth in reality as they do in the movies. The letters I think were for distraction and it’s worked. Z. is long gone and investigators are still digging up POIs and theories, comparing handwriting and trying to crack ciphers for over 40 years now.

"Authorities said… best leave it… unsolved." Nigel Tufnel

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s an impossible scenario. I find myself tempted at times to start thinking down the lines of more than one killer, or the letters being unrelated but, as Smithy says, that’s why we are here. To thresh out our own thinking and hopefully come to a consensus, if only in our own heads, on certain aspects, points and possibilities in the case.

I wouldn’t even rule out a hitman scenario but I just can’t tally it being a normal, hitman hired, targets attacked, job done situation. There’s just something too insular about the whole thing and as erratic as Z’s or the Z’s behaviour was it all seems plausible in it’s own way as the work of a serial killer or killers. Also with regards to the insular nature it also seems to be ego driven and I can’t tally that either with being team affair, again not impossible, it has happened but where one was dominant and the other subservient so I can’t see that being a normal hitmen team scenario. Not one that would last for long anyway.

I guess I would need to see evidence of the victims involvement in activities that would warrant such an action against them and probably a lot more too.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s an impossible scenario. I find myself tempted at times to start thinking down the lines of more than one killer, or the letters being unrelated but, as Smithy says, that’s why we are here. To thresh out our own thinking and hopefully come to a consensus, if only in our own heads, on certain aspects, points and possibilities in the case.

I wouldn’t even rule out a hitman scenario but I just can’t tally it being a normal, hitman hired, targets attacked, job done situation. There’s just something too insular about the whole thing and as erratic as Z’s or the Z’s behaviour was it all seems plausible in it’s own way as the work of a serial killer or killers. Also with regards to the insular nature it also seems to be ego driven and I can’t tally that either with being team affair, again not impossible, it has happened but where one was dominant and the other subservient so I can’t see that being a normal hitmen team scenario. Not one that would last for long anyway.

I guess I would need to see evidence of the victims involvement in activities that would warrant such an action against them and probably a lot more too.

___________________________________________________________

"… see evidence of the victims involvement in activities that would warrant such an action against them and probably a lot more too."?

Respectfully, I can’t nor won’t cough up anymore than is what already before our eyes for over the last forty years and how I’ve already presented it – almost (2) young SoCal couples somehow involved in drugs get dispatched for unknown reasons (competition, silence, burn, etc…) and (3) more people used as distraction – all supposed the victims of a guy with a pompadour, or escaped 30 y.o. stocky convict with long brown hair wearing a hood on his way to Mexico…better make that last one a 40-45 y.o. with a Scottish look and a flattop.

And all this time Mageau, from the first shady group of victims, stays hidden and silent and then later changes his tune more times than a cheap guitar. And Hartnell, from the second unrelated group of victims, even helps search for Z. but eventually moves on while keeping his story straight.

And afterwards, Z. who’s so hot and heavy for the thrill and publicity is back from Mexico only after a month, brings more heat on himself which means yet another makeover, sticks to writing letters then gets bored keeping in touch while doing his thing.

Well, we’ve not seen or heard of a bald man having just shot or stabbed a couple or cabbie seen limping through SoCal with pieces of the victims clothing anxious to boast about his killing streak …or have we?

I’ve noticed there are approximately 5 miles between the, IMO, more related Z. crimes scenes at Lake Hermann Rd and Blue Rock Springs.
More related because of the rumor of drug trade being involved, the couples possibly knowing each other, there were couples involved, and the description
of Z. unconfirmed, method of attack by gun, and at night in semi-rural semi-secluded area.

The other Z. crime scene at Lake Berryessa is approximately 45 miles away from the closer Blue Rock Springs site. The other Z. crime scene at San Francisco is approximately 40 miles away from the nearer Lake Hermann Rd (approximately 85 miles between these two sites). And I consider these two attacks unrelated, or different, from the first two attacks because Z.’s appearance seems to be different between these last two attacks, attacked by knife and by gun, in another semi-rural semi-secluded area and the middle of a neighborhood, once during the day and once at night, and appears to have taken evidence from both attacks and uses evidence to tie these to the first two attacks.

I’ve always wondered if Zodiac’s crimes were ‘hits’. There is, as always seems to be the case when it comes to Zodiac, some coincidences that make the hitman theory plausible. They are:

1. On the same night, on the same road, at approx. the same time as Faraday & Jensen were shot and killed, a drug raid had taken place only minutes earlier.
2. The next attack was Blue Rock Springs, and Mike Mageau’s story doesn’t seem to add up in many places and seems, to me anyway, as if he’s not telling the whole story as to why they were out at The Springs that night. Here are just a few…

Mike says that he and Darlene were hungry and decided to go to Mr Ed’s for something to eat. Mike states that as they arrived at Mr Ed’s, Darlene stated she wanted to talk to Mike and he suggested they go to BRS, so having arrived at Mr Ed’s, decided not to eat and turned around and headed to BRS instead.

Mike states that a vehicle pulled in behind them and the driver just sat there for several minutes before driving off. A few minutes later, the same car came back and this time the driver exited his car and began shooting.

Mike says in his statement that he and Dee pulled up and turned the lights off. The police, upon arrival at the scene, stated the lights were on and questioned Mike about this. He said that he couldn’t be sure, but either he or Dee may have flashed the lights to attract passing vehicles.

Here’s a possible scenario…

The ‘Fireworks’ that Mike states in his statement that he and Darlene were going to purchase was, in fact, drugs. (This is again plausible due to Darlene not having bought any fireworks.) Darlene has arranged, maybe through a 3rd party, to meet someone at BRS to purchase drugs. She doesn’t want to go alone as she doesn’t feel safe meeting a drug dealer alone in a car park at midnight, so rings Mike to go with her for support. Something goes horribly wrong. Whether the drugs brought to BRS were not what Darlene had ordered, or the amount was wrong, Darlene refused to buy them. This the explains the offenders vehicle pulling up, then leaving the scene, before returning minutes later. The Offender, aka Zodiac, goes back to his supplier and tells him that he’s just met with the two at BRS, and they are refusing to take the drugs.

Or, maybe Darlene was told to ‘come alone’, and seeing another person in the car, the Zodiac panicked, turned and left and got his gun. He returned to murder them both, fearing that the Male seated with Darlene could ID him.
These are just a few possibles.