Zodiac Unmasked (73 page)

especial y authentic as is the climax in the darkened theater where Agent Black is fooled by a statue of Zodiac in costume.

Nash Bridges
. featured an “Inspector Toschi” character and an encounter with Zodiac. At the conclusion, Bridges (Don Johnson) implies that

Zodiac wil return.

A 1974
Lou Grant
episode, starring Ed Asner featured a police inspector obsessed with a Zodiac-type serial kil er, the Judge, who has apparently

returned and is writing letters to press and police again. Inspired by fake Zodiac letter of April 1978.

The Limbic Region
with Edward James Olmos, and to a lesser degree,
Copycat
with Sigourney Weaver,
The Mean Season
with Kurt Russel ,

and
Seven
with Brad Pitt.

Factual Television Programs on Zodiac

Rolanda Show
. “The New York and San Francisco Zodiac.” Tuesday, September 6, 1994.

Hard Copy
. “Zodiac [Hines’s suspect].” May 10, 1994.

America’s Most Wanted
. “America Fights Back: The Zodiac Kil er.” Saturday, November 14, 1998.

Sally Jesse Raphael
. “Zodiac.” Taped on Thursday, August 16, 1990.

Unsolved Mysteries
. “The Zodiac Kil er. (Episode #2324.)

Crimes of the Century.
“Zodiac.” Syndicated program.

The History Channel
. “Zodiac.” Taped 1999.

The Learning Channel
. “Case Reopened.” A 1999 episode with host Lawrence Block.

Zodiac’s Inspiration from Light Opera, Cartoons, and Comics

Gilbert and Sul ivan’s
The Mikado
.

The Yellow Submarine
. Zodiac mentioned the “Blue Meannies,” a reference to the music-hating “Blue Meanies” who terrorized the Beatles in the

1968 cartoon feature. The submarine aspect made sense. Since Zodiac was obsessed with water and Al en was a skin diver, al of his souvenirs

might be hidden in watertight containers underwater.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
referred to the kil er’s loneliness.

Mad
magazine: Zodiac adapted the “fold-ins” on the back cover to conceal messages in one of his letters; Mad #170’s parody of
The Exorcist,

“The Ecchorcist,” written by Larry Siegel and drawn by Mort Drucker. The lampoon appeared in the October 1974 issue (published in August),

cover captioned, “If the Devil Makes You Do It,” and showing Alfred E. Newman costumed as Satan.

Whiz Comics
#2 [#1]. A mention of the “Death Machine.” “This, my friend, is the life machine. With it I can restore the dead to life. But first I must kil you, so—the death machine!” says a mad chemist, a dead ringer for Count Zaroff. “I place these cyanide pil s in the cup. When the door is closed

they wil drop into the bucket of sulfuric acid, forming a deadly gas.”

The
Dick Tracy
comic strip ran daily in the
Chronicle
. Zodiac was a longtime reader of the strip since he recal ed various Tracy’s tips to avoid

leaving prints and other clues. On August 17, 1969, Chester Gould’s story line introduced the Zodiac Gang, a group of astrological kil ers who

drowned an astrology columnist. Their leader, Scorpio, had an astrological symbol of Scorpio tattooed across his face. Light-haired and round-

faced, he closely resembled both Al en and Mageau’s description of Zodiac at Blue Rock Springs.

Visual Inspirations for Zodiac

The Most Dangerous Game.
Count Zaroff’s costume.

Ku Klux Klan hoods and black robes of Klan officials.

Black Mass Symbols and hoods used by Anton Le Vey’s Church of Satan.

A cattle brand used on Fred Harmon’s Pagosa Springs, Colorado ranch.

Carrying a cocked bow and rifle, Zodiac resembled not only Zaroff, but the hooded kil er, a staple of painter H. L. Parkhurst’s forties
Spicy Mystery

pulp covers one of which showed a nighttime scene with a powerful hooded kil er firing a .45 at his pursuers and clutching a struggling woman

under his arm. Is that how Zodiac visualized himself? >

The cross within a circle was the mark of Cain, the kil er-
teth
in ancient Hebrew. The word
tav
stood for the righteous.

The cross-haired symbol is found in ancient American Indian carvings in the Nevada caves.

sources

Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Files, Interviews

A special Confidential Report:
UNSOLVED FEMALE HOMICIDES, An Analysis of a Series of Related Murders in California and Western

America
, California Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement Organized Crime & Criminal Intel igence Branch, February 1975.

Special Report:
ZODIAC HOMICIDES
. Confidential. California Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement / Bureau of Investigation,

1971. 1972 corrected edition. The author also studied the rough draft of this report as corrections were being made by the detectives involved.

Dr. Murray S. Miron of the Syracuse Research Institute, Confidential FBI psycholinguistics report, working from Zodiac letters, May 31, 1977.

Federal Bureau of Investigation File Number 2528-SF-94447-1. The complete 900-page FBI file on Zodiac. One hundred pages of the file are on

Arthur Leigh Al en.

FBI report 9-49911-88 (January 14, 1970). Quotes conversation between Bel i’s housekeeper and Zodiac, December 18, 1969.

FBI report, December 31, 1969, noted Bel i letter “not been written as freely as the other threatening letters in this matter.” Enciphered Airtel,

12/29/69.

FBI file #32-27195, Latent Case #73096.

FBI Lab, May 19, 1978. Questioned Documents Q85 through Q99. Riverside letters, including the desktop, studied separately in photographic form

and labeled Qc100.

FBI report 252B-SF-9447, March 23, 1992.

Officer Donald Foulk’s SFPD Intra-Departmental Memorandum, November 12, 1969.

Napa County Sheriff’s Office, Case #105907.

Bawart and Conway Report, Case #243145.

Detective George Bawart of Val ejo P.D. A seven page report to the FBI, Case #243145. “Circumstances Which Indicate Arthur Leigh Al en Is, in

Fact, the Zodiac Kil er,” 1992.

Al en Search Warrant #1970, 22 pages, by Roy Conway, dated February 13, 1991.

Return to Al en Search Warrant, filed February 21, 1991 by Roy Conway. Return lists 37 items recovered including pipe bombs, fuses, guns, and

rifles.

Inspector Wil iam Armstrong, Affidavit for Search Warrant, Santa Rosa, 6 pages, September 14, 1972, 12:00 P.M.

Jack Mulanax Officer’s Reports, July 28, 1971, August 3, 1971, August 9-12, 1971, personal interviews with the author.

Mulanax and Wil iam Garlington: July 29, 1971: Exemplars for Arthur Leigh Al en, report from A. L. Coffey, Chief of the Bureau.

Manhattan Beach Police Department: “Information: Possible Zodiac Suspect,” July 19, 1971, Chief Charles W. Crumly.

Riverside Report, October 20, 1969.

John Lynch, Val ejo P.D. Report on Arthur Leigh Al en, 4:05 P.M. October 6, 1969.

SFPD Report. Two pages: Suspected Zodiac Correspondence and DNA Testing.

San Francisco Police Department, Val ejo Police Department, Napa Sheriff’s Department, Benicia Police Department, Val ejo Sheriff’s

Department, Santa Rosa Police Department, and Riverside Police Department incident reports and files. Included in these reports are bal istics

and crime lab results, autopsy reports, fingerprint comparisons, and suspect files.

Personal Interviews by author with Val ejo Detective George Bawart, Detective Sergeant John Lynch, Detective Jack Mulanax, Captain Ken Narlow

of Napa Sheriff’s Department, Homicide Inspector David Toschi (Toschi’s interviews ran to almost three hundred hours over a thirty-year period),

Detective Wil iam Baker, Lieutenant Tom Bruton, and Inspectors Vince Repetto and Rich Adkins. Police investigators’ personal case notes and

reports, including rough drafts of local and state reports.

Psychiatric studies of Arthur Leigh Al en.

Unpublished crime scene photographs and maps.

Unreproduced Zodiac letters and potential y authentic typewritten letters from the kil er. Photos of the kil er’s shoes, watch, and actual samples of

the prime suspect’s handprinting. Al newspaper and television accounts of the Zodiac case, including computer files and unpublished stories.

Various stories, internal memos, and unpublished notes for stories including personal observations by reporter Paul Avery to the author between

1969-1976.

Cablegrams and reports by phone from Melvin Bel i from Rome and Munich, December 1969.

San Francisco State Zodiac Conference: Attended by author, Captain Roy Conway, Detective George Bawart, and Rita Wil iams. Author worked

from his handwritten record of the meeting and a tape recording that he made. Fol ow-up questions were asked of Conway, Bawart, and Wil iams

after the meeting, and in the weeks fol owing. Additional detailed interviews with Wil iams by phone and in person were conducted by the author in

2000 and 2001.

The original tip letters received at the
San Francisco Chronicle
1969-1983.

Letters and phone cal s from readers to the author 1969-2001.

Employment records, phone logs, and academic files of some suspects.

Hypnotic interviews conducted with witnesses and suspects.

Suspect’s letters from Atascadero State Hospital for the Criminal y Insane.

California Department of Motor Vehicles and some insurance records.

CI&I Handwriting reports and numerous interviews with the State Questioned Documents chief.

Discarded files on the case.

Xerox photocopies made from the originals of al of the Zodiac letters.

Interviews with Donald Lee Cheney, January, February, May 2001.

Interview with Sandy Panzarel a. The ful story of Cheney and Panzarel a’s tip to police is also enclosed in the 1991-92 requests for search warrants

for Al en’s home. These court documents are now on file at the County Courthouse.

January 29, 1981, interview with Darlene’s close friend, Bobbie Ramos.

Interview with Linda Del Buono on November 8, 1980, January 29, 1981.

Bobbie Oxnam, a close friend of Darlene’s, interview, June 15, 1981.

Interview with Mary Pilker, Donna Lass’s sister, April 7, 2001, July 7, 2001.

South Lake Tahoe Police File, Case #70-6436-Donna Lass, RN.

Douglas County Sheriff File, Case #70-3120-Donna Lass, RN.

Sonoma County Probation File No. 62892, Court No. 7588-C.

Technical advice: Dave Toschi, Mary Ontano, Wendy Manning.

Penny Donaly, Sonoma County Coroner’s Office.

Santa Rosa Sergeant Steve Brown, August 2001.

Newspapers and Periodicals

Blum, Walter. “Zodiac.”
San Francisco Examiner
, November, 1968.

Clark, Mark. “Dangerous Games.”
Scarlet Street Magazine
, No. 27, April 1998, pp. 33-37.

Dorn, Norman K. “Putting the Right Sound into Silent Movies.”
San Francisco Chronicle
, January 4, 1972.

Ginley, Jacqueline. “Local Attorney Claims to Know Zodiac.”
Vallejo Times-Herald
, October 30, 1991, p. A-1.

Hackler, Timothy. “Can We Blame It on the Moon?”
San Francisco Examiner
, December 13, 1978, p. 24.

Hedger, Matthew. “Was the Zodiac Kil er a Local Teacher?”
Calaveras County Ledger Dispatch,
June 2, 2001.

Holt, Tim. “The Men Who Stalk the Zodiac Kil er.”
San Francisco Magazine
, April 1974, pp. 34-36.

Jennings, Duffy. “Step by Step with Two Detectives.”
San Francisco Chronicle
, April 1, 1974, p. 4.

Lieber, Dr. Arnold L. “The Lunar Effect and Dade County.” Report cul ed by Dr. Arnold from
Florida Homicide Records,
1955-70.

Lyons, Corey. “Zodiac.”
Contra Costa Times
, December 3, 2000.

Martin, Harry V. “Zodiac.”
Napa Sentinel
, December 17, 1991.

McCockran, Robert. “Suspect’s Death Won’t Halt Zodiac Investigation.”
Vallejo Times-Herald
, September 3, 1992.

O’Flaherty, Terrence. “The Police: Reel vs. Real.”
San Francisco Chronicle
, August 21, 1975, p. 46.

Peterson, Dave. “Zodiac Link to Santa Barbara Murders.”
Vallejo News-Chronicle
, 1969.

Starr, Kevin. “The City’s Supercop.”
San Francisco Examiner
, August 13, 1977, p. 11.

Silverman, Gene. “Zodiac.”
Vallejo Times-Herald
, “January 19, 1986, p. 1.

Stark, John. “The Man We Loved to Hate.”
San Francisco Examiner
, January 20, 1980, Scene Section, p. 1.

Stienstra, Tom. “Zodiac.”
San Francisco Examiner
, March 17, 2000.

Weir, Tom. “The Cop Who Hunts Zodiac.”
Oakland Tribune
, July 13, 1976.

Zel erbach, Merla. “My Fair City.”
San Francisco Chronicle
, September 11, 1968.

Sources for the New York Zodiac [Zodiac II]

Associated Press
. “Attacks by ‘Zodiac’ Gunman Linked to Book.” July 1, 1990.

Celona, Larry, and Bowles, Pete. “Shooter Foils ‘Zodiac’ Author’s Intent.”
New York Newsday
, June 24, 1990, p. 1.

Bunch, Wil iam, and Gordy, Mol y. “Trying to Chart a Gunman’s Moves.”
Newsday
, June 22, 1990.

Crowley, Kieran. “Breaks Zodiac Code.”
New York Post
, August 8, 1994, p. 5.

Crowley, Kieran.
Sleep My Little Dead
. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Frankel, Bruce. “Zodiac Kil er Stalks NYC.”
USA Today
, June 27, 1990, p. 3A.

George, Tara, Breen, Virginia, and Mooney, Mark. “He’s Nailed.”
New York Daily News
, June 19, 1996.

Lyons, Richard D. “Zodiac Detectives Turn to Computers and Stars.”
New York Times
, June 28, 1990.

Marzul i, John. “Zodiac Knew Signs of Victims.”
New York Daily News
, p. 3.