A question often presented to the community: was Zodiac truly responsible for LHR, or did he simply claim credit for it? Not ALL of the investigators were convinced that Zodiac was the killer at LHR.

The mere proposition might seem absurd at first to those not familiar with it. Yet, the question is nowhere near as ridiculous as it might seem at first glance. When we take a closer look at some of the detail, it seems clear that what the letter writer offered up was not necessarily information exclusive to somebody at the crime scene.

Or, was it?

The first chapter of this article will explore the LHR question and inspect the content provided which is meant to constitute facts “only I + the police know.”

On August 1st 1969, the Vallejo newspapers report that many people could have access to the information that the writer had. Either by their presence at the crime scene or from over-hearing conversations between officers. There’s also a suggestion that the writer was quoting from police reports. I will explore each of these scenarios and approach them from a “boots on the ground” perspective. 

By reading the same newspaper articles that he did at the time we can sense the envy when other crimes were stealing his precious front page slot; re-live the fear and anxiety when he reads about Bryan and Cecelia being alive in Queen of the valley hospital; understand his feeling of power at being back in control when it becomes clear that he had gotten away with riding his luck at Presidio Heights.

This walk through the timeline in the killers shoes will provide the bulk of the article and explain my position on why I believe there is most likely only one killer/letter writer operating as “Zodiac” and that he is responsible for the canonical crimes colloquially attributed to him. It is kind of oxymoronic that we have a killer so desperate to be linked with prior crimes, yet so deliberate in creating enough differences at each scene to keep everyone guessing 50+ years later as to which ones he was truly involved in.

This is not a natural integration when we’re considering the inclusion of a hoax but it’s also not impossible for somebody to maintain this level of deceit if they are so invested. Zodiac was certainly invested so the question we have to ask – is it likely he claimed the LHR attack as his own despite not being involved in it? 

The first mention of any sort of connection is the phone call made to VPD by the BRS perp in the early morning of July 5th, 1969. In this call, while giving directions to where they can find victims at the park, he mentions “I also killed those kids last year” clearly referring to the still unsolved Jensen/Faraday murders. 

The information about shots fired was reproduced in news articles. Initially they reported less shots but later articles stated 10. Not hard for a hoaxer to pick this up. We could also say this about the branding, although it was never made public. Super X was by far the most widely used brand of .22 ammunition used, he could have just as easily guessed this factor, or gotten it in a number of other ways.

This leaves us with the final two “facts” both pertaining to body position of victims.

They were not made public so there would only be three ways the writer could possess the knowledge:

-        Access to police reports and documents

-        Oversharing/overhearing/loose lips

-        Being at the crime scene

Jack Stiltz is quoted in news media at the time saying that “anyone” could have gotten the information from either being at the scene or overhearing people talk. Having access to police reports has been suggested by some in the amateur online community. 

Lets look at each of the possibilities, assuming with each that luck falls the right way and see where it leads us. 

POLICE REPORTS

Is it possible that the killer had access to the SCSO reports for LHR and had retrieved these facts from there? 

Let’s assume for a moment he DID have unfiltered access to them and that he WAS lifting all of his information on the case from that specific source.

Upon checking the all important RO’s and IO’s reports (Reporting Officers and Investigating Officers) he would have discovered that that BLJ was discovered “face down” as described clearly in all of these initial reports. It is not until the 24th of December when Stella Borges is interviewed by Les Lundblad. She relates coming across the scene and states she saw BLJ “lying on her side.” A very subtle but very important detail. It is highly likely BLJ was still alive at this point, and possibly even when Stella Borges cam upon the scene. In death, she has rolled over into the “face down” position related by the reporting officers.

So, a hoaxer getting his information from the reports would have to have this detail in mind when browsing through the hundreds of reports. Of all the possible things he could have taken out of those reports, this is one of the details he actually had to go searching for to get correctly. How did he know the officers had a different detail to Stella Borges? This is a level of detail rarely seen from a hoaxer. Again, not saying its impossible but there were plenty of other options available throughout those reports that didn’t require anything near this level of micro-detail that he could have offered.

Again lets assume he did have that awareness and did indeed include that detail from the reports. So now he’s well aware of and has access to all these things police know about the scene. Let’s move forward a little bit with this assumption in tow. Stiltz’s challenge in the newspaper prompts another letter, this one arrives under the “Zodiac” moniker.

His response to the request asking more details? He brags about his “electric gun sight.”
So, with this exclusive, unlimited access to these reports, when pressed for more unique details, he offers NOTHING from those reports whatsoever but elects to talk about something not even mentioned in them (as far as we know). It’s spoken about in an obscure news article from the days after LHR.

Here is a 3-page report by the RO's from the SCSO files: [P1] [P2] [P3]. He could have chosen to include a number of these details (the class ring or attire of victims for starters) without having been at the scene itself to further establish that credibility.

But he bragged about his pen-light! Seems to be more of a response to specific media statements about light conditions at the scene and certainly not something I would expect to see from someone with access to police reports and all the exclusive information within them.

‘ON THE STREET’

This leaves us with the writer getting the info from other means, overhearing officers/reporters talking about it, manipulating these people into oversharing and the like.

This scenario has many of the same issues as the one where the writer has access to the police reports. And I’ll bring up the pitch from Stiltz here again, his request to the writer, through the media, to give out more details. Why such a seemingly lame offering for exclusive detail at LHR if he could simply go and gather more detail off the street?

We also still have the issue where only three people: The true killer, Stella Borges and her interviewer Les Lundblad, have the critical first hand knowledge of BLJ’s original body position. A small and seemingly inconsequential detail which becomes critical when determining who was at that scene and when. This limits the potential for ascertaining this detail from human means dramatically as it’s highly unlikely any of the other officers will even KNOW about it, let alone consider it important enough to mention in passing outside the investigation anywhere. 

SUMMARY

I can’t prove it’s impossible for the letter writer to have claimed credit for LHR without actually having done it, but I can't conclude that it's the likely scenario here. To be a hoax involves bashing a lot of square pegs into round holes. We simply have to ponder: at what point does it become easier just actually doing the killing? He didn’t go out of his way when claiming responsibility for Kathleen Johns and he had a whole 4 months to gather unique details for that incident. That’s the kind of effort we generally see out of hoaxers. We could say the same about the Riverside “confession” in the L.A. Times letter. It conveniently fell on his lap and he wasn’t in any way challenged to actually supply credible details. Imagine if he had been pressed.

For the purposes of this narrative, we are going to assume that LHR and BRS are one and the same killer and approach events from that specific perspective.

Around midnight on the 4th of July, 1969, the next attack in this series occurs. Like at nearby Lake Herman Road, the chosen location is a "lovers lane" type park spot. As the killer pulls up to the scene, we begin to see some subtle differences/deviations which have increased his chances of controlling the crime scene. (Improvements in MO?). According to Mike Mageau, the parked behind the victims, left the headlights on and approached them with a large hand held flashlight in such a way that made them believe it was a police officer. In fact, the young victims were in the process of presenting their identification as the unknown man approached. At LHR, witness James Owen stated he saw victims and killers cars parked beside each other.

Mike had rolled down his window, which seemed to be a conscious point for the killer who acknowledged this fact in a future letter. The windows were not down on the LHR victims car and we can deduce by the ballistic evidencde that it might have been a factor in the choices made there. Also, this time, the killer had brought a bigger caliber handgun (9mm) with much more stopping power than the .22 used at LHR, a definite upgrade in "killing tool." 

All of these refinements in MO are visible, even without knowing exactly what went down at LHR. It appears that the BRS perp has been deliberate in acquiring control of that scene, in contrast to the evidence presented at LHR. These differences in scene management are able to be easily mitigated – we know serial killers refine their MO’s as they get more experienced and see what works for them (more importantly, what doesn’t work for them.

His failure to kill Mike at BRS doesn’t belie his MO development – he’d done everything he possibly could have to give himself all the advantages – then he simply dropped the ball on the goal line.

 Let's put it another way – with these factors in mind, would you find it easier to believe that LHR is the first one of a series, or that BRS is the first one of a series?

The first job is to rectify the press attitude towards him and his deeds. He decides to up the stakes by constructing a 3-part cipher (colloquially known as Z408) and mailing this with 3 identical hand written letters to 3 different news agencies (Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner). He claims the solution to the Z408 contains his “identity” and demands the papers print his cipher on their front pages.

The Z408 was a beautiful distraction. Zodiac would become a seed planted apparently out of a taunting curiosity – almost certainly provoked by some not-so-gentle persuasion from Jack Stiltz - it sprouted into a media persona from which the killer could project his nightmares and terrorize the people of the bay area. A public mask for his campaign of fear.

Except, it struggled to catch on outside his own fantasies. None of the newspapers printed him on the front page, a disappointment he acknowledged when he sent the next letter on August 4th – the 3 page letter in which “This is the Zodiac speaking” would appear for he very first time.

We know for a fact he was coveting the front pages of several news publications because he had made it clear this was where he wanted to be. What he saw on the front page of these newspapers over the next two weeks quite possibly served as a kind of “blueprint” for how he himself could finally get that precious spot.

On August 4th, the frenzied knife murders of Kathy Snoozy and Debra Furlong were featured on the front page of the SF Examiner, among others. Their killer Karl Werner would not be identified until 1971 so this horrific crime was very much unsolved during the early part of Zodiacs reign of terror. A fact he tried to take advantage on in later communications, referring to the young girls deaths in very ambiguous fashion. He knew that if he tried to claim them directly, nobody would believe him. He’d only killed people with guns up to this point, not by stabbing them, and he couldn’t provide any credible proof of being responsible. Two things he would rectify at the next two crime scenes…. 

In the days following this letter, two things ramped up the stakes for Zodiac.

Firstly, his precious front page spot was exploding with news of the terrible Tate-LaBianca murder perpetrated by some of Charles Manson’s followers. This included morbid messages scrawled on the walls in the victims blood. If Zodiac had any doubts whatsoever on how to get himself on that front page, this surely erased them. It was clearly obvious he had to start using a knife and get up close and personal, also somehow leaving his “signature” at the scene. He wouldn’t use victims blood though, that wasn’t his style. His most effective weapon was his marker-pen.

Secondly, at around the same time, news reports were emerging that a private citizen had cracked the Z408 and it would become clear over the next few days that the solution had been authenticated by law enforcement. So, not only were others stealing his thunder in the papers, his precious code had been cracked by an average joe. Nobody cared about him anymore and his attempts to create his fearful persona via letters seemed to be an abject failure.

He now clearly realized he needed to up the stakes dramatically. And so it was on 27th September, 1969, when he saw an opportunity at Lake Berryessa and put the next phase of his mission to reach the front page into action.

The need to be dramatic brought out a whole new level of creativity and ingenuity from the killer at his next chosen scene.

This time, he has decided he is going to use a knife, just like the people who rudely pushed him off the front page. It seems clear this change of MO is a direct reaction to the media’s inability to meet his demands. He is effectively saying: “if you’re going to put knife murders on the front page instead of me, I’ll do some knife murders and force your hand. It’ll also make you all think twice about my involvement in previous and future knife murders.”

It’s interesting that Lake survivor Bryan later speaks about the perps tendency to react to the situation and how he let the conversation drag along a lot longer than he probably intended to, due to Bryans insistence to keep chatting, communicating. 

He only took complete verbal control once his victims were tied up and helpless.

Another factor was that because of his previous attacks in lovers lanes in and around the Vallejo-Benicia area, there were far fewer people parking in the “lovers lane” areas and therefore fewer potential victims at this type of location. So he was almost forced to look at alternative MO’s and methodology due to this fact as well.

As happened at BRS, the killer placed a phone call to local law enforcement not long after the attack, claiming responsibility and directing them to the location. Again he has clearly assumed both victims perished upon making the call and realizing the relative remoteness of the scene he wants it discovered ASAP.

At the Napa phone booth we see another subtle difference that displays a level of awareness and learning. In Vallejo, once he’d replaced the phone receiver, it began ringing, apparently startling him. The operator had managed to trace the booth and called it. This affected him enough to write about it in his “debut” letter, claiming that a negro witness had seen his car in the process.

At Napa, once he had finished speaking, he simply left the phone dangling off the hook. Possibly demonstrating that he had learnt from previous incidents.

The first reports on the attack started coming through on Sunday evening in Vallejo. 

Any joy at his work being put on the front page would have been immediately blunted by the news that he had failed to kill either of his victims. Unlike at BRS, there had been a lot of interaction between himself and his victims. They could potentially describe an awful lot of things about him.

It’s probably not a coincidence that Paul Stine was shot by Zodiac the day after Bryan Hartnell walked out of Queen of the valley hospital.

Whatever it was that prompted the killer to choose that specific part of the city, it seems clear to me that events of the evening were heavily influenced by those that preceded it.

Zodiac had lost control of his own “story” and he had to get it back, pronto. Nobody was taking him seriously in the media. He’d left two survivors at his last two attacks. He’d not only failed to instil the fear and terror he had wanted, he’d apparently become almost as much of a laughing stock.

What better way to take back the power than to leave a body in an affluent part of the big city, right on the doorstep of the SFPD.

It appears as though he has now moved on from having his vehicle associated with the crime whatsoever. Remember, he makes a point about mentioning his vehicle being seen in the “debut of Zodiac” letter and investigators have found tire tracks where they believe the Berryessa perp may have parked.

Had he exited the cab directly after shooting Paul things would certainly have turned out differently – for starters the famous composite sketch wouldn't exist. But no – he was determined to do something dramatic, something that would etch him into criminal history if not the front page of the newspapers. He had to let them know he was deadly serious and not to be ever ignored or mocked again.

That extra time he spends at the scene, that massive risk came with many drawbacks. If he was planning on killing more people, just the cab keys with a letter was enough. There is a suggestion that the way he words this in a later letter is evidence that he literally planned on never being seen again. Additionally, we learned in 2020 (thanks to absolute legends David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke solving the Z340) that he felt he had enough slaves for his afterlife - was he suggesting he'd killed enough people under the Zodiac persona?

In the here and now he is preparing to wage war with SFPD and the “ignorant” press. On the 13th arrives the next letter, complete with bloody swatch of shirt, claiming responsibility. Handwriting experts confirm it. And when we compare the tone and content of this letter to his previous effort, we see a big shift in attitude.

I’m sure he was thrilled that people were hoaxing and mimicking him, writing letters, making phone calls, adding to the confusion. It all helped to muddy the waters and make him harder to catch.

When the “Zodiac killer” movie hit theatres in April 1971, no authentic letters bearing the words “This is the Zodiac speaking” ever arrived again. Had he achieved the ultimate recognition – his place in history – by being made into a film?

I’m going to suggest that when Zodiac did LHR, he may not necessarily have planned to kill more people and launch a campaign of terror through the mail at that point. It may have merely been some kind of release – one that grew on him as time went on.

So, 7 months later when he does BRS and goes to claim credit for LHR, his memory of some of the finer detail from the scene is limited. Mostly because of the poor vision he seems to have had, the information he gave was about as good as he could give. It was dark and so probably not feasible to recall clothing, or the class ring. He would know ammo type and shots fired. He would know exact body positions when they lit up in his headlights upon leaving the scene. His main thoughts would have been occupied with what went right, but more importantly, what went wrong. That’s how killers learn and refine their MO’s.

Of course it’s impossible to know what was going through his head during any of this and I could be completely and utterly miles away with my ideas and thoughts on it.

One thing I can guarantee is that there is a lot to be learned from absorbing the same material Zodiac was (we know for certain he was following the newspapers) and putting yourself in his shoes, trying to see things the way he would have seen them by the way he reacted and developed the persona. This is how I’ve come to the conclusion that one offender/one letter writer is the most likely, most probable scenario. Without access to all of the relevant information and resources, we’ll simply never ever know for sure. But there’s no harm in tapping into everything that is available and attempting to make feasible deductions based off it.