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The Zodiac Killer — Part 5

249 pages · May 11, 2026 · Document date: Jul 6, 1975 · Broad topic: Famous Crimes & Fugitives · Topic: The Zodiac Killer · 249 pages OCR'd
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stabbing death of a 22-year-old woman and the wounding of her male companion at Lake Berryessa . Park — he wore a hood. ; Police believe that Zodiac has an eye problem because he wore " Slasses even under his hood. There are also indications that’ he had Some connection to the military. _ He wore a militarytype crew -. Cut or short hair. His pants had . Pleats at a.time when that cut was not fashionable: He committed sev- eral of his murders in the Vallejo - area near Mare Island and one near ~ *€8e."Presidio. And his messages , 5bowed some knowledge of cryp- - tography. ; Toschi said he leans toward the ‘theory that -Zodiac-may ‘have been ‘ connected with the Navy at one time. In addition to the fact that he wore. a Navy-type windbreaker, jacket for the Stine killing, the detective notes: “Three codes were ., used in his messages, and some had -hautical signs. One sign is used by - weathermen and Navy people.” In consultation with psycholo- gists, Toschi also has come to the conclusion that Zodiac is a high school graduate with a giant ego locked in an inconspicuous identity. “T feel he probably has a menial job and is very lonely, not around ‘Many loved ones.”» _ Although a handwriting expert once concluded Zodiac was impo- ' tent and afraid of women, the investigator says the facts only show that he apparently enjoyed killing defenseless people. “There was no sexual activity,” he said. “No ‘molestation, no mutilation.” The key to solving the case, Paenemeney Toschi said, lies in Zodiac’s ego and his somewhat distinctive lettering Style, not in his coded messages, one of which remains unbroken. . _ Zodiac seemed obsessed with publicizing his exploits: At first he communicated -with smaller news- papers such as the Vallejo Times. ~~. Herald. Then he sent letters to the: two large daily newspapers in San Francisco, and later sent one letter to the Los Angeles Times, the largest West Coast daily, complain- ing that the San Francisco papers relegate his messages to back pages. As a result, however, his letter- ing has been seen by people all over California. “I hope he'll communi- cate with a friend or family mem- ———e of murder glorification can only be deplorable at best.” In a postcard signed “The Red Phantom (red with rage),” Zodiac criticized columnist -Count Marco. for his “superior attitude” and demanded tion of the column. ~ ~~ ““He got his pleasure by telling _ cancella- _ us about the murders,” Toschi said. “My guess is that he hasn’t been Killing. Ego is what forced him to kill and write letters, knowing the — - media would broadcast and print = If that’s so, then why hasn't Zodiac killed in recent years and why has he been silent so long? One theory is that he has been ber and slip,” .Toschi-said. “T-hope. ~in.and.out of-prisons, jails or mental something rings a-bell in someone's head and they'll pass on a letter to police, - “I’m counting on a slip of mind where he feels after nine or 10 years that he’s safe and he'll write a boastful letter to a friend. Medical people and psychologists say it will come out.” . Toschi believes that Zodiac has not killed since 1969, although the mystery man increased his total to 37 on Jan. 30, 1974, after nearly a three-year silence. At that time, Zodiac’s ego was apparent as he . panned “The Exorcist” as “bad . comedy,” although it people to vomit. ; Later in 1974, he ‘sent two messages to the Chronicle, without disclosing his identity. One urged the newspaper to “show some. concern for public sensibilities” by dropping an ad for a movie called caused many “Badlands.” The letter, signed “A Citizen,” went on to say: “This kind college parking lot. institutions. | “I think he is in a period of remission and that some symptoms abated,” Toschi said. “Perhaps dur- . ng this period, he had no desire to There was a previous, though shorter, period of inactivity discov- ered during investigation of five Zodiac slayings from Dec. 20, 1968, 7 to Oct. 11, 1969. Police determined that Zodiac was behind the Oct. 30, 1966, slaying of Riverside City College cheerleader Cheri Jo Bates, _ whose throat was slashed by aman” . who first sabotaged her car in the A janitor inadvertently found a“... / poem scratched in a library study _ . tn es Abe ot
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