The biggest mistake of all was making a phone call forty minutes after the attack at BRS, when it was only a 10 minute journey from the crime scene. This was the biggest clue in the entire Zodiac case.

Very good point..if he actually had ‘lived’ somewhere else, he already would have been there. Same that he left BRS, returned minutes later with his gun.

QT

Zodiac knew about the phone ringing even though this fact wasn’t reported in the newspapers. If there was really a negro male spotting ‘him + his car’, he would have got immediately back in his vehicle and would have left the vicinity of the payphone as quickly as possible, in a matter of around 10 seconds. When he hung up the phone, it is highly unlikely Nancy Slover in tandem with the AT & T operator managed to ring-back the payphone in such short time. So, if Zodiac heard the payphone ring after 20 seconds to 1 minute, then he was clearly walking away from the payphone within earshot. Had he been in a vehicle he wouldn’t have heard it ring – he would have been out of audible range.

As far as I know he didn’t hang up the phone, which is why they were able to track it back, getting some partial prints.

QT

Another mistake: Z wrote to Belli at 1228 Montgomery Road. His office, however, was at 722 Montgomery Road. Z knew Melving Belli’s PRIVATE address. Phone book? Possible.

QT

Another mistake: Z wrote to Belli at 1228 Montgomery Road. His office, however, was at 722 Montgomery Road. Z knew Melving Belli’s PRIVATE address. Phone book? Possible.

QT

Belli was listed and Zodiac wrote on the envelope exactly as it appeared in the listing. He also clearly copied the font on Belli’s house.

Very good point..if he actually had ‘lived’ somewhere else, he already would have been there. Same that he left BRS, returned minutes later with his gun.

QT

Why would he have been at home?

Zodiac knew about the phone ringing even though this fact wasn’t reported in the newspapers. If there was really a negro male spotting ‘him + his car’, he would have got immediately back in his vehicle and would have left the vicinity of the payphone as quickly as possible, in a matter of around 10 seconds. When he hung up the phone, it is highly unlikely Nancy Slover in tandem with the AT & T operator managed to ring-back the payphone in such short time. So, if Zodiac heard the payphone ring after 20 seconds to 1 minute, then he was clearly walking away from the payphone within earshot. Had he been in a vehicle he wouldn’t have heard it ring – he would have been out of audible range.

As far as I know he didn’t hang up the phone, which is why they were able to track it back, getting some partial prints.

QT

So, how could both be true? If Z made the call and hung up after such a short conversation, how could the call have been traced back to that phone, and why was the receiver off the hook when the police arrived? Likewise, if Z left the receiver off the hook so the call could be traced, how could Nancy Slover call back and get the phone to ring, with the receiver off the hook?

I’m having a hard time coming up with a plausible scenario. Unless….. could the operator make a phone ring when the receiver was off the hook?

I think the ringing had occurred before Z even started to speak.

By placing a collect call (‘R-call’), the receiving person has to pay for the call. Z told the then manually connecting operator to place such a collect call to the police. He then had to hang up the receiver, waiting for the call coming in the phone booth (which had an individual phone number written on its phone, btw). After the operator had connected to the police, the call went back and the phone in the booth rang.

After finishing his weirdo call, Z did not hang up the receiver. The police was able to trace back the call by requesting the operator center immediately who had connected the call and which phone booth that was.

Reason for Z to not hang up the receiver, btw, was that he didn’t want the phone to ring again. I think this hasn’t been mentioned, yet. After what he had said to the police, Z indeed had to expect that the police would try to re-connect his call immediately. Because the ‘negro man’ was already alarmed by the R-call, Z wanted to avoid any additional attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ARgHHX-Zs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QGxGxd4Ps0

QT

Very good point..if he actually had ‘lived’ somewhere else, he already would have been there. Same that he left BRS, returned minutes later with his gun.

QT

I’d be curious to see a map with the BRS crime scene at the center, and a circle around it corresponding to a 5-munute car ride!

Zodiac knew about the phone ringing even though this fact wasn’t reported in the newspapers. If there was really a negro male spotting ‘him + his car’, he would have got immediately back in his vehicle and would have left the vicinity of the payphone as quickly as possible, in a matter of around 10 seconds. When he hung up the phone, it is highly unlikely Nancy Slover in tandem with the AT & T operator managed to ring-back the payphone in such short time. So, if Zodiac heard the payphone ring after 20 seconds to 1 minute, then he was clearly walking away from the payphone within earshot. Had he been in a vehicle he wouldn’t have heard it ring – he would have been out of audible range.

As far as I know he didn’t hang up the phone, which is why they were able to track it back, getting some partial prints.

QT

So, how could both be true? If Z made the call and hung up after such a short conversation, how could the call have been traced back to that phone, and why was the receiver off the hook when the police arrived? Likewise, if Z left the receiver off the hook so the call could be traced, how could Nancy Slover call back and get the phone to ring, with the receiver off the hook?

I’m having a hard time coming up with a plausible scenario. Unless….. could the operator make a phone ring when the receiver was off the hook?

The phone was definitely hung up and Betty Main had traced the call.
Police Report "At 12:47am Mrs JOHNSON PT&T Operator Called. The Above call was traced to a coin operated telephone at Joe’s Union, Tuolumne and Springs Road. The Call was traced by Betty Main whose supervisor would not allow Her to give a statement at this time."
If the line had been kept alive on the switchboard, they could employ ring-back. Nancy Slover stated the caller had hung up.
That is probably why Zodiac left the receiver off the hook at Main Street.
https://youtu.be/HI0jnsbZwys?t=2124

Assuming that Z can only be found if we take a closer look on the ‘errors’ he had made (besides his illegal, immoral ‘activities’), which ones were those? I see a few:

– almost being caught, thus being seen at Presidio
– potentially being seen over a longer period of time by Kathleen Johns
– writing a letter to Melvin Belli, calling him ‘Dear Melvin’
– with regard to SF Chronicle: referring to ‘I have always been here’
– mentioning floods sort of with regard to his ‘bomb’ / cellar
– using rare, specific signs & symbols
– confessing to his ‘Riverside activities’
– mentioning movies / Mikado

Any thoughts?

QT

There are two things going on with your list above: errors and intent. The first two in your list would be errors and the remaining intent. To add to your list of errors I would add the Count Marco letter:

"Put Marco back in the, hell-hole from whence it came – he has a serious psychological disorder – always needs to feel superior. I suggest you refer him to a shrink. Meanwhile, cancel the Count Marco column. Since the Count can write anonymously, so can I –

the Red Phantom (red with rage)"

Put Zodiac back in the, hell-hole from whence it came – he has a serious psychological disorder – always needs to feel superior. I suggest you refer him to a shrink.

Who hasn’t thought that about the Zodiac in some fashion at some point? Yet, here he is doing it.

In this letter we have the Zodiac on a rant, or "rage", about Count Marco and his need to feel superior. Not quite the editor or reporters typical of the case. Marco is a columnist. The zodiac comes across jealous in this moment of rage.

Soze

What bugs me with this reflection is that it considers the Red Phantom letter as being from Zodiac, while there is no actual proof of that.

As far as I know he didn’t hang up the phone, which is why they were able to track it back, getting some partial prints.

QT

I believe you are thinking of the phone call after the LB attack.