Yes, that’s a tow rope, damnit – another fantastic on-the-fly theory completely off the mark! Ha!
Well played Trav. I have the Directors cut and I’m looking at it on Blu_Ray. That fence is a combination of three barbed wire strands on the top and square-hole stuff at the bottom, and it stands just a bit lower than the roof of the VW, at around 5 feet tall.
Wait though – why a tow rope? They’d moved the VW, to get a look at the ground and at those footprints, yes? Sherlock Smith got that bit right. Perhaps?
Using a tow rope would make sense, keeping fingers off it where possible.

Re: "speed of writing" – that’s often mentioned in the FBI stuff about whether Q85 matches Q100 and so on. They love that stuff.
Re: the debate on left and right – weeeeell at the Presidio I don’t think it’s been determined, in respect to the cab seating position (although I think up-front’s a no brainer), and since I’m not sure it’s the same shooter at all the locations (so there) I refuse to cross-reference. Sue me!

Sandy – that turn-out, was it a nice long place to pull into? As in room to park in front of the VW as well as behind it, maybe?

Wait though – why a tow rope? They’d moved the VW, to get a look at the ground and at those footprints, yes? Sherlock Smith got that bit right. Perhaps?
Using a tow rope would make sense, keeping fingers off it where possible.

Could be. They did move the car that night to the Ranger’s station, I think so maybe they had a look at the footprints he left at the car whilst writing. It’s tricky though because there’s no ‘specific’ mention of such footprints. The one’s that get a locale are on the path leading to and from the crime scene and "leading up to the vehicle". The photo with ‘ole Snooky’ pointing I always assumed was him pointing at the tire impressions from the Zodiac’s vehicle but then maybe it’s one of the "leading up to" prints.

<shrug>

Not sure why it has to be a "tow" rope. They got Bryan’s keys to move it.

Yes, that’s a tow rope, damnit – another fantastic on-the-fly theory completely off the mark! Ha!
Well played Trav. I have the Directors cut and I’m looking at it on Blu_Ray. That fence is a combination of three barbed wire strands on the top and square-hole stuff at the bottom, and it stands just a bit lower than the roof of the VW, at around 5 feet tall.
Wait though – why a tow rope? They’d moved the VW, to get a look at the ground and at those footprints, yes? Sherlock Smith got that bit right. Perhaps?
Using a tow rope would make sense, keeping fingers off it where possible.

Re: "speed of writing" – that’s often mentioned in the FBI stuff about whether Q85 matches Q100 and so on. They love that stuff.
Re: the debate on left and right – weeeeell at the Presidio I don’t think it’s been determined, in respect to the cab seating position (although I think up-front’s a no brainer), and since I’m not sure it’s the same shooter at all the locations (so there) I refuse to cross-reference. Sue me!

Sandy – that turn-out, was it a nice long place to pull into? As in room to park in front of the VW as well as behind it, maybe?

smithy, This question and answer has been beaten to death over at Tom V’s site . Everyone has their own opinion on the idea that there was or wasn’t a turn out where Hartnell parked the VW. The wording in the police report leads some to think that a "parking area" means a turn out. A parking area can be an area where one chooses to park .

I got so tired of the controversy over a turn out or not, I got the answer from the horses mouth , so to speak.( Officer David Collins was a friend of my ex -husband, so I asked him, he was there that night .) He told me there was not a turn out where Hartnell parked his car, the car was parked on the road , no one could park along side the VW on either side of it , there was not enough room for that. You could only park in front of it or behind it, Zodiac parked behind Hartnells car about 20 feet if I remember correctly. There was plenty of room for Zodiac to stoop, squat or kneel when writing on the car door, he didn’t need to brace himself against the fence, which was about 4 or 5 feet from the car door.
Of course if Zodiac had arms like an Orangutan, he could lean against the fence and perhaps reach the car door ?

See Sandy? I knew you’d know the answer.
Not sure about the Z being an orang utan, but I suppose anything’s possible.

T: I can’t think of any other reason a big rope would be lying in the picture if Trav’s wrong and it ain’t a tow rope, but sure, there might be one.
Not sure what time of the evening the photo was taken either, so if the keys had been retrieved at that point.
Pretty sure that even back then they wouldn’t have jumped in and gunned it out of the way, without good old Hal Snook printing everything three times and so on. Probably.

I don’t know anything about tow ropes but it looks like one, I think. It’s got the loop on the end if memory serves me right. I just assumed it was from a tow truck ready to load the vehicle and take it to the Rangers station. So…presumably they didn’t or knew they wouldn’t have a chance to check and print the vehicle properly that night so they wouldn’t have driven it. As Smithy says, I don’t think they would have driven it anyway – surely that wouldn’t be protocol, would it? I hope not.

It is written in the PD report it was driven to park headquarters.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/LBReport5.html

Thanks T,

You know I’ve read that before but I must have selective memory or something. They must have felt it didn’t matter about the inside of the car since it had remained locked.

Now the bigger mystery is that rope. I think once we resolve that it’ll crack the case wide open lol.

It is written in the PD report it was driven to park headquarters.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/LBReport5.html

T., Yes, I remembered that, but I’d still like to think that they photo’d it in-situ (more than once – and they have more than the one photo we have) and that they spent time a lot of time on the prints and the ground all around it, and all that, before Lonergan jumped in and went joy-riding off to the lock-up. (Gee Whizzzzzz…..!)

It is written in the PD report it was driven to park headquarters.

http://www.zodiackiller.com/LBReport5.html

T., Yes, I remembered that, but I’d still like to think that they photo’d it in-situ (more than once – and they have more than the one photo we have) and that they spent time a lot of time on the prints and the ground all around it, and all that, before Lonergan jumped in and went joy-riding off to the lock-up. (Gee Whizzzzzz…..!)

Sure! Makes sense. A joyride? Not so much.

I just don’t see them tying a rope to the bumper and moving it and disturbing the ground in order to do so.

I didn’t think they would either – but when I see how far it is from the fence, and then it ain’t, it’s quite close, and that looks like a rope, and my personal hero is heroically pointing at the ground (he’s right-handed it seems, Hal Snook, ha ha), and Lonergan isn’t there with the keys, well, I don’t know.

My guess is that they were going to tow it but then found out that the keys were with Bryan’s property at the hospital and sent someone to get them.

Well, since the car’s definitely been moved away from the fence, I’m sticking with "they towed it", Chris. Final answer.

Well, since the car’s definitely been moved away from the fence, I’m sticking with "they towed it", Chris. Final answer.

You think so, yeah? I’m not questioning I’m just being lazy but if you’re thinking it has been I’ll have to have a look. I assume you’ve gleamed this from the 2 photos obviously?

I’ve gleaned it Trav, I’m a gleaner. See if’n you agree.