Zodiac's Identity Finally Discovered? Man Turns Hood/Weapon into FBI

So if Allen is the zodiac, how do you explain his DNA not matching the stamp on the envelope that Zodiac sent? Do you think he had someone else stamp it for him? I guess that would make sense.

I've tried to explain this before. We don't know how or what found its way under the stamp. I can think of a very easy way to do this. Just go along any city sidewalk and clean up spittle and take it back to his residence and wring it out into a jar and then freeze it. When the stamps are mailed, simply moisten the stamps with this substance.

Briefly stated, since there is no chain of custody, the DNA is worthless UNLESS it can be traced definitively to another person. It is at that point that person is reeled in to do some 'splaining. Until that person is found means nothing.
 
I've tried to explain this before. We don't know how or what found its way under the stamp. I can think of a very easy way to do this. Just go along any city sidewalk and clean up spittle and take it back to his residence and wring it out into a jar and then freeze it. When the stamps are mailed, simply moisten the stamps with this substance.

Briefly stated, since there is no chain of custody, the DNA is worthless UNLESS it can be traced definitively to another person. It is at that point that person is reeled in to do some 'splaining. Until that person is found means nothing.

Thanks for your answer. I've never really followed this case, but I do remember watching a show a few years back, that had identified 3 suspects as the zodiac and they did testing on all of the suspects. DNA from the stamps couldn't be "connected" to any of those 3. I'm guessing Allen was probably one of the persons I saw on that show. I do hope they solve this case. Hopefully we will get answers soon!
 
So far there's not even credible evidence that the handwriting samples he presents are from Tarrance. Kaufman has tried to sell pieces of "Stine's shirt" and for a while, his website claimed Tarrance was the Texarkana Phantom as well, but I can't provide a link to prove it.

Bear in mind that Kaufman's now pushing a movie.

And yeah, I DO want the Zodiac case solved. Murderers shouldn't be legendary, they should be captured - or at least identified.


Yes, I did a search last night and read that he tried to sell Tom Voigt a piece of the shirt. The Zodiac and the Original Night Stalker are two cases that definitely need to be solved.
 
I think Tom Voight's current POI has a lot more going as a likely suspect then Tarrence ,I dont think his step son has any credibilty after the Stine Shirt nonsense.
Thats part of the problem California in the late 60's early 70's was a very weird place with lots of very weird people running around .
It kind of makes for a legion of suspicious characters that one might consider as suspects.
And the composite is so generic ...from what ive seen its almost if you were a guy, werent a longhair back then you probably looked like that.
I think Allen was a very bent character who seemed to enjoy the notoriety of being under suspicion at least for awhile.
Perhaps it was better to be percieved as a dangerous character like Zodiac then the pedophile that he was.
 
I cannot stress enough how much I am waiting to hear the results of the testing on the items, specifically the hooded outfit and the knife!!!

I think Allen was already ruled out due to DNA not a match. I am leaning toward some creditability that the Zodiac killer may have been JT. This case reminds me of BKT, although I think Zodiac is dead.
 
Tarrance was supposedly placed in all locations at the times of the murders. There was something said about him being from Lubbock, Tx. and older people here saying the term "fiddle and fart around". I'm from Lubbock, so I'd like to know more about this connection to Zodiac. I can only read the archives at T.V.'s site since he now charges a fee.
 
Tarrance was supposedly placed in all locations at the times of the murders. There was something said about him being from Lubbock, Tx. and older people here saying the term "fiddle and fart around". I'm from Lubbock, so I'd like to know more about this connection to Zodiac. I can only read the archives at T.V.'s site since he now charges a fee.
Tarrance was placed at Lake Berryessa and Lake Herman RD. and the Presidio at the times of each of those murders??
By who?
 
I cannot stress enough how much I am waiting to hear the results of the testing on the items, specifically the hooded outfit and the knife!!!

I think Allen was already ruled out due to DNA not a match. I am leaning toward some creditability that the Zodiac killer may have been JT. This case reminds me of BKT, although I think Zodiac is dead.

Allen was not ruled out as Zodiac. There were never any verified DNA or fingerprints from the known Zodiac. Since any DNA such as beneath the stamps could not be identified to ANYONE they are worthless as evidence.
 
yes he was ruled out watch bill curtis A&E trust me he was ruled out by dna and hand writing.
 
There were never any verified DNA or fingerprints from the known Zodiac.

QFE. No one has been ruled out as being Zodiac; they've been ruled out as matching the Stine print or the stamp DNA. That's it.
 
Well the DNA isn't Allen's. Of course that doesn't rule him out - there could be contamination, someone other than Zodiac could have licked the stamps - but the fact is that the tests certainly didn't rule him in any more than anyone else.

Personally I think Allen was a charlatan who wanted attention and to be known as something other than an inadequate child molester. Of course he was weird but he's too far away from the composite, the Don Cheney story is too neat, and a lot of the circumstantial coincidences point to someone who took Zodiac as a role model to play up his role, or were invented by Graysmith.

Now if the DNA on the stamps matches Tarrance or Gaikowski or Elvis - someone who isn't a cop, a mailman or an associate of a known suspect - then I will be pretty certain that they've found him because that would be too big a coincidence to explain away.

As for Tarrance - if the new evidence is genuine then yes, it's him. And if the gorilla suit in an icebox was genuine, they'd have found Bigfoot.
 
Yeah, I entertain myself by having it both ways - NO match to the DNA doesn't mean much to me, but a match would mean a whole lot. Heheh.
 
Bluebel - I don't know if you're agreeing with me or being sarcastic; what we have is DNA that is quite likely to be Zodiac's (impossible to put a percentage on it of course) given where it was found but which could be unrelated. However if it turned out to belong to someone who had another connection to the case then either they would have had to handle a Zodiac artefact independently or have been involved in the hoaxing of one. Neither of those possibilities seems more likely than an individual, who has been identified for other reasons, actually being the killer.
 
I always leaned towards Allen also.

As far as the dna on the stamp, I wonder if that got there simply from people handling the stamp BEFORE it was in Allen's possession..... even though this was before dna testing, I think Zodiac would have moistened the stamp with water & gloved hands to avoid leaving prints.



From Kaufman's website:

http://thezodiackiller.digitalzones.com/

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

August 30, 2008

My good friend, Robert Manor and I, Dennis Kaufman have completed a one hour documentary titled "ZODIAC THE UNTOLD STORY." The documentary will soon be available to order for $24.95, which includes shipping and handling.
 
I don't know if you're agreeing with me or being sarcastic

I was both agreeing with you and being self-deprecating. :)

LI_Mom - yeah, that's the video I referenced a few posts back. He actually posted the "Aug 30" update back on Aug 28; I bet he was initially told that his interview would be broadcast on Aug 30.
 
Ed_neil
Username: Ed_neil

Registered: 5-2006

Posted on Friday, November 24, 2006 - 2:17 pm:
Dennis Kaufman is a conman, nothing more. He has some sort of axe to grind with his stepdad, which is why he's accusing him of being Z. The first clue that he's full of it is the fact that he tried to sell a piece of what he claimed was Stine's shirt to Tom for $50,000; I've seen the e-mail, and Kaufman has spent the last several years denying that fact. It only goes to show that he's trying to make money on this but otherwise has no interest in the case; the fact that he wanted to sell a phony piece of Stine's shirt instead of turning it over to the authorities speaks volumes.

The second clue is his baseless claim that his stepdad murdered his mother; I have a copy of her death certificate, and it shows that she died at the UC Davis Medical Center of cardio respiratory arrest due to anoxic brain injury due to respiratory failure due to autoimmune cholangitis. In other words, she died of natural causes due to the rare disease she had. True, she was only 50 years old, but people can die of natural causes at any age.

Dennis Kaufman is not to be taken seriously. Law enforcement obviously doesn't, or they would have arrested Jack Tarrance for the Zodiac murders years ago.
http://www.zodiackiller.com/discus/messages/27/786.html
 
Well the DNA isn't Allen's. Of course that doesn't rule him out - there could be contamination, someone other than Zodiac could have licked the stamps - but the fact is that the tests certainly didn't rule him in any more than anyone else.

Personally I think Allen was a charlatan who wanted attention and to be known as something other than an inadequate child molester. Of course he was weird but he's too far away from the composite, the Don Cheney story is too neat, and a lot of the circumstantial coincidences point to someone who took Zodiac as a role model to play up his role, or were invented by Graysmith.

Now if the DNA on the stamps matches Tarrance or Gaikowski or Elvis - someone who isn't a cop, a mailman or an associate of a known suspect - then I will be pretty certain that they've found him because that would be too big a coincidence to explain away.

As for Tarrance - if the new evidence is genuine then yes, it's him. And if the gorilla suit in an icebox was genuine, they'd have found Bigfoot.

I agree completely that the recovered DNA beneath the stamps is not Allen's but that doesn't establish anything unless the DNA can be traced to another human being. So far as I know, it was moistened by the collection of human spittle and put into a refrigerator to be used as necessary.

I worked with DNA for about 10 years or so. The common way was to swab the inside of a person's mouth and put it into a tamper proof plastic wrapper that if disturbed would invalidate the sample. The simple remedy was simply to get another sample.

In the situation of the stamp, we have no idea, nor any means to establish a chain of custody. Unless we can trace that DNA to another human being; living or dead, the DNA is completely and totally worthless.

Allen is not exonerated and if anyone claims otherwise they are badly mistaken.

The known facts are that Allen could never be eliminated as the prime suspect in any of these murders. If that were true, then he would have been marked off the list a long time ago.

Unless someone shows me someone who meets the physical characteristics of the positive ID, footprint and description at the Lake murder that comes anywhere close to Allen, I conclude that he was in fact Zodiac.

And I would also add, that to my knowledge, not a single other individual was ever seriously considered by any of the police investigators to have been involved with these crimes. Only Allen.
 
What about the roll of film that he supposedly found that supposedly had pictures of grisly murders on them? He said he had turned those in to the FBI? That seems like at least something, even if it's not evidence of Zodiac.
 
Jack Tarrance is not the Zodiac. Dennis Kaufman is a well-known fraud in Zodiac circles.

The only reason that this is being discussed is because some teleprompter-reading hottie who masquerades as a "reporter" at Sacramento's CBS13 was conned by Dennis into falling for his long-ago dismissed fable.

Doesn't anyone find it curious that Dennis "found" the hood and knife just as his "documentary" is finished and is offered for sale? Hmmm??? :rolleyes:
 
I don't think I have ever heard of this guy before...But, if he is widely known to be a fraud in the Zodiac "community", then why is the FBI bothering to test the items? I guess they can never be too careful and have to check out all possibilities. Still, though...it seems like a waste of money if they are aware of his history of possibly making up stories.

As far as the film goes, it looked like Kodak film roll containers not instant cameras. But, regardless, if those are pictures of dead bodies where did they come from? Even if they are not connected to the Zodiac, they could possibly solve other crimes. Who knows, maybe Kaufman himself is a killer.

BTW, Missouri Mule, thanks for recommending the "Director's Cut" (on another thread) of the recent Downey/Gyllenhaal Zodiac film. I checked it out this summer and it was much, much more interesting than another version that I rented by mistake with Vince Vaughan in it.
 

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