MI MI - Richard 42, & Shirley Robison 40, & 4 children, Good Hart, 25 Jun 1968

[scriptgirl]

From Wiki:
The Robison family murders, also called the Good Hart murders, refers to the murders of Richard Robison, his wife Shirley Robison, and their four children, Ritchie, Gary, Randy, and Susan, in the summer of 1968. The wealthy family from the Detroit area were murdered while vacationing in their summer cottage in Good Hart, Michigan. This case is still unsolved
Richard and Shirley Robison and their three sons were shot to death; their daughter Susan was bludgeoned with a claw hammer. Shirley Robison was nude from the waist down when the bodies were discovered.
Police suspected Richard Robison's business partner, Joseph Scolaro III, of the crimes, but Emmet County, Michigan prosecuting attorney Donald Noggle declined to bring charges. Scolaro committed suicide in 1973, leaving behind a note in which he denied committing the murders.
[edit]References

There is a recent book on the case:

Amazon.com: When Evil Came to Good Hart (9780472033157): Mardi Link: Books

articles:
http://www.petoskeynews.com/news/article_db1f2845-dff6-53f0-a0da-9092a1ea4362.html

http://archives.record-eagle.com/2003/may/22murdr.htm

 

[MaryLiz]

I've never heard of this one before. The book sounds really good. I wouldn't mind getting it to read more about this case. From what I read in the articles you posted, I'm somewhat leaning towards Mr. Robison's business partner. It's odd though that he said he was innocent when he committed suicide 5 years later. Had he done it, you would think he would want to admit to it before he died.

Very sad that this entire family is slain and STILL unsolved! Thanks for posting another interesting old case.

 

[Richard]

From the Travis City (Michigan) Record Eagle article written May 22, 2003:

- Thirty-five years ago in July (1968), a caretaker called police after smelling the unmistakable stench of rotting corpses coming from inside the family cottage of Richard Robison, near Good Hart north of Harbor Springs.

- Inside, police found the decomposing bodies of Robison, 42; his wife, Shirley, 40; sons Richard Jr., 19; and Randall, 12; and daughter Susan, 8.

- Each had been shot in the head with a .25-caliber handgun. Susan had been bludgeoned with a hammer. Shirley Robison appeared to have been sexually assaulted. Police later determined the murders had occurred 27 days earlier, on June 25, 1968.

- "The first shots came through the window - a small-caliber rifle, no exit wounds from the bodies," ...


- ... investigators now hope to obtain DNA evidence from three pubic hairs found on the body of Shirley Robison. They've been told by crime lab experts, however, that it's a long shot.

- ... evidence points to the late Joseph Scolaro, a partner of Richard Robison's in their Detroit-area advertising business.

- Though there was much circumstantial evidence tying Scolaro to the murders, he was never charged.

- That evidence included that Scolaro had argued by telephone with Richard Robison the day of the murders; that for 11 hours later that day Scolaro was unaccounted for; and that he owned the types of handgun and rifle implicated in the murders.

- Five years later Scolaro took his own life with a handgun, claiming in his suicide note he was innocent of the murders. The Robison murder case then went cold....


Source:
Traverse City Record-Eagle

LINK:

http://archives.record-eagle.com/2003/may/22murdr.htm

 

[scriptgirl]

I find it odd that no one came to check on the family-that they just lay there that whole time, dead.

 

[Dreamnine]

Bumping... A very brutal and strange murder.

 

[STANDREID]

Serial killer John Norman Collins has also been mentioned as a potential suspect.

 

[kline]

Serial killer John Norman Collins has also been mentioned as a potential suspect.

The time frame would be right but Collins seemd to prefer one on one assaults of college age women for the most part,I would be surprised if this was him.

 

[Dreamnine]

I think John Norman Collins had attended college with the elder Robison son - that was the only connection to be made.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

This case Reminds me of John List 3 years prior.

Or perhaps he was just influenced in someway with this case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_List#Home_arson​

 

[AKWILKS]

Just when you think there is nothing NEW that can come out in the Zodiac case...

In a thread on Valerie Percy, I mentioned a book that Morf alerted me to after the author contacted him. The book is called "Corroborating Evidence III" by William T. Rasmussen. In the book he discusses the Black Dahila case. But also a theory that the murder of college girl Valerie Percy in the Chicago suburbs on September 18, 1966 may be the work of the Zodiac Killer, who probably killed college girl Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

He also discusses the murders of the wealthy ROBISON FAMILY on JUNE 25, 1968 in GOOD HART, EMMET COUNTY, MICHIGAN, at their summer cottage. Killed were Mr. and Mrs Robison, their 7 year old daughter Suzie and their three sons. This case has many similarities to the murders of the Monsanto Chemical Company employee Mr. Bricca and his family in Ohio on September 25/27, 1966 and the murder of computer expert and State Education official Dr. Sims and his family murder in Florida on October 22, 1966. And perhaps also some similarities to the murder of Hughes employee Mr. Boles and his family in California on August 13, 1965, that Morf has looked at.

The police say that Robison's business partner, Joseph Scolaro, was almost certainly the killer. They say he was embezzling from Robison. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that Scolaro did the murders. But he was never charged. He killed himself in 1973, and left a suicide note denying he killed the family but admitting financial scams.

But here is what is very interesting.

The Detroit News had a secret witness program to get information on the case.

In August 1968 someone sent in a tip that said they had information on the case but in order to get it law enforcement had to place an ad in the personals classified. This is what the ad said - apparently the exact words required by the anonymous tipster:

DR. GUIDINI: Your prescription good.
However, need additional.
-Zodius
------------------------------

ZODIUS?

Remember this is 4 months before the Jensen/Faraday murder, and exactly a year before the killer called himself "Zodiac" in the letter of August 4, 1969.

ZODIUS
ZODIAC

The words share 4 of 6 letters.

From the wiki defintion of ZODIAC:

The term zodiac derives from Latin zōdiacus, which in its turn comes from the Greek ζῳδιακὸς κύκλος (zōdiakos kuklos), meaning "circle of animals", derived from ζώδιον (zōdion), the diminutive of ζῶον (zōon) "animal". The name is motivated by the fact that half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are represented as animals (besides two mythological hybrids).

AK Wilks: The Latin term for Zodiac, "ZODIACUS", has the most similarity to the term used by the Detroit News tipster, "ZODIUS".

I had never paid much attention to this case, because the police said it was more or less closed, as they thought that Mr. Robison's business partner, suspect of embezzlement, killed the family. Others have questioned how he could have been seen by witnesses in Detroit and made it in time to go to Good Hart to do the killings. He would have to have traveled 300 miles in 3 hours. The police said he may have hired a hitman.

But Rasmussen raises a new theory. He mentions reports that Mr. Robison, a publisher of a magazine called Impresario, was contacted by a mysterious possible investor named "Mr. Roeberts" or "Mr. Roberts", interested in the project of Mr. Robison to create "computerized warehouse operations and cultural support centers". There is a reported possible meeting in SAN FRANCISCO on June 4 - 7, 1968 between future victim Mr. Robison and the mysterious Mr. Roeberts, and another meeting in Detroit on June 13/14, 1968. The next meeting was scheduled for June 25, 1968, the day the family was killed. The strange Mr. Roeberts was reported to have a "monotone voice" with "frequent pauses". Sounds similar to the description of the voice of Zodiac.

The murders were horrible. The killer shot through a window with a .22 automatic to kill Mr. and Mrs. Robison and 7 year old Suzie. The killer then entered the home and shot the three boys. He then took a "carpenters hammer" and smashed the heads of the two females, Mrs. Robison and Suzie. HE THEN PLACED THE BODY OF ONE OF THE SONS ON TOP OF MR. ROBISON. This is very rare and is similar to the possible Zodiac crime of Domingos and Edwards, were the body of Linda Edwards was placed on top of Domingos. He then placed the body of Suzie next to her brother. He then pulled down the undergarments of Mrs. Robison and stabbed her seven times through her sanitary napkin. Both Valerie Percy and Linda Edwards had clothes lifted to expose them. FINALLY HE COVERED MRS. ROBISON WITH A BLANKET. Domingos and Edwards, and several EAR/ONS victims, were covered with a blanket, clothes or towels.

Who was the mysterious "Mr. Roeberts"? Was this the business partner Joseph Scolaro, or an associate of his? Or was he a stranger to the Robison family?

Was this the work of the business partner and possible embezzler Joseph Scolaro, who later killed himself? Maybe, there was evidence to suggest he did it, and that is what the police think. If Mr. Robison suspected Scolaro of embezzlemt, that would give Scolaro a motive to kill Mr. Robison. But the prosecutor did not file charges, citing lack of hard evidence. Scolaro denied doing the murder in his suicide note. And why would he kill the whole family?

Was this the work of a hitman hired by the business partner? Maybe, but the battering of the female faces and the strange posing of bodies is not usually associated with professional hitmen.

Could this crime be related to the Percy Murder and the "FAMILY MURDERS OF 1965 AND 1966" - BOLES, BRICCA and SIMS?

Boles, Percy, Bricca, Sims all have ties to high tech companies and/or computers. Mr. Robison was seeking investors for a new company involving computerized operations.

Could this crime possibly be related to the Zodiac case?

Even if the murder was NOT the Zodiac, does the August 1968 use by the tipster of ZODIUS indicate that the tipster may have been Zodiac? If so, does that indicate a possible Zodiac connection in 1968 to the Midwest in general and/or Michigan in particular, in order for him to have heard about the case?

COLLEGE GIRL AND FAMILY MURDERS CLUSTERED IN 1966 - 1969: ALL OR SOME OR NONE OF THESE CASES MAY BE RELATED

Sharon Bubes, Evanston, IL - Attacked in her bedroom with a hammer, 6/30/66

Valerie Percy, Kenilworth, IL - Murdered in her bedroom by hammer and long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/18/66

Bricca Family, Cincinnati, OH - Found bound with household objects and murdered in bedrooms by knife, 9/27/66

Sims Family, Tallahassee, FL - Bound with household objects and murdered, 10/22/66

Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by short 3 inch knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably placed in mailbox on 11/28/66

Robison Family, Good Hart, MI - All family members shot, mother beaten with a hammer, 6/25/68

Cecelia Shepard, Lake Berryessa, CA - Bound and murdered by long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/27/69

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by short 3 inch knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student abducted and killed, 11/28/81

On September 18, 1966, Valerie Percy was brutally murdered in the mansion of her father, Bell & Howell CEO and Republican Nominee for Senate Charles Percy. With the next 34 days, two American familes would be wiped out in horrorific home invasion slaughters. Father, mother, children. These were the Bricca Family in Cincinnati, Ohio found dead on September 27, 1966 and the Sims Family killed in Tallahassee, Florida on October 22, 1966. Just 8 days later, the first crime of the Zodiac Killer happened in Riverside, California, the day before Halloween. This was the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

On June 25, 1968, the Robison family would be killed in their Northern Michigan cottage, in Good Hart. Father, mother, daughter, three sons.

Was this the work of five different killers? There is evidence to suggest that.

But could these five murder sites be connected? Were there similarites between the victims, MO, geography and weapons to suggest that it was at least possible these and others were the work of one man? Yes.

There is evidence and witnesses that say Valerie Percy and Linda Bricca knew each other, and they both came from the same upper class social circles in suburban Chicago.

Valerie Percy, Cheri Jo Bates, Celia Shepard, Betsy Aardsma, Joan Webster - each young woman was a college girl.

Percy, Bricca, Sims, Bates, Robison, Webster - in each case the father had multiple connections to the world of business, high tech, computers, government and/or defense contracts.

Dr. Sims was a government official for the State of Florida Education Department and ran the computer division, and apparently was a top "nationally recognized" computer expert.

Charles Percy was the Republican nominee for US Senate, and CEO of the high tech company Bell & Howell, that made camera's and computer like business machines.

Mr. Bricca worked for the high tech chemical company Monsanto.

Mr. Robison was a magazine publisher and looking to do a major expansion at a rural airport to create "computerized warehouse operations" and cultural centers. He then wanted to expand this idea across the country.

The Sims family being bound with stockings, mens ties and socks in their mouth matches exactly with what a Ohio detective told me was done to the Bricca family.

The father of Cheri Jo Bates worked at the Naval Weapons Facility. The father of Joan Webster was ex CIA, and was at the time the Vice President at IT&T, Defense Technologies Group.

The Percy mansion and the Robison cottage are both on or near Lake Michigan.

The Shepard murder was confirmed work of the ZODIAC, the Bates murder was probably/almost certainly ZODIAC and ZODIAC certainly sent letters to the newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked his letter be published in the newspaper, and ZODIAC has been mentioned in published books as a suspect in both the Percy, Aardsma and Webster murders.

In the Robison Murders a tipster sent in clues to a newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked for the name ZODIUS to appear in the newspaper.


Also, the Bricca Family murder was husband-wife-young daughter. Sims Family murder was husband-wife-youngest daughter. Both were brutal overkill stabbings, as was Percy murder, as was Robison murder, gunshots also in Sims and Robison cases. The Robison Family were shot to death. In Bubes, Percy and Robison a hammer was used. In Bricca, Sims and Shepard victims were bound. Bates and Aardsma were killed in or at college libraries, on Fall Holiday periods, with a short 3 inch knife. In Percy and Shepard an approximately FOOT LONG knife/bayonet was used.

In the possible early Zodiac crime of the Santa Barbara murders of Domingos and Edwards, the Zodiac murder on 12/20/68 of Jensen and Faraday and the Robison Family murders of 6/25/68 a .22 with rifling of six lands and grooves with a right hand twist was used.

I think the evidence shows Bates and Shepard were killed by the Zodiac, but we don't know who the Zodiac was. In some of these cases, like Robison, there are good local suspects, who while never charged have a compelling amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards them. In other cases, like Aardsma and Webster, there are different suspects but none that really stand out and the evidence is not very compelling and they are unsolved. In many of the cases, like Percy, Bricca and Sims, there are no real solid suspects and the cases are unsolved.

The murder sites in Good Hart, Michigan (Robison Family 6/25/68), Cincinnati, Ohio (Bricca Family found 9/27/66) and Tallahassee, Florida (Sims Family 10/22/66) all are in an almost perfect vertical line on a map. Add in Kenilworth, Illinois (Valerie Percy 9/18/66) and State College, Pennsylvania (Betsy Aardsma 11/28/69) and they all form a rough cross, actually more like the Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz Rune. The Algiz Rune translates as the English letter "Z".

---------------------------------

Mr. Robison was in touch with a mysterious figure named "ROEBERT" from a group called the "SUPERIOR TABLE", a potential investor in his airport projects. Mr. Robison was supposed to meet ROEBERT at his cottage the day he died. Did Scolaro hire someone to play the part of "ROEBERT"? Could ROEBERT have been Zodiac?

It seems the police were very interested in this tipster who wanted DR GUIDINI and ZODIUS to appear in the paper. I am ordering the book "Corroborating Evidence III" by William T Rasmussen but have not got it yet. Usually when the police express this much interest in wanting to talk to a tipster, it is because the tipster has said something that leads them to think he has inside knowledge of the case, information that only a close friend of the killer or the killer himself would know.

The case against the embezzling partner Scolaro remains very convincing IMO, and throws cold water on my speculation - at least as far as Zodiac being involved in the murder, not so far as him just being involved in the odd tip using the names DR GUIDINI and ZODIUS.

But there are several problems with the case against Scolaro - who by the way, served in the Army for three years and attended Harvard for one year. He was married with children, and had no prior history of crime, violence or mental illness.

First is, yes he may have had a motive to kill Mr. Robison, but not the whole family, and not in such a brutal and strange way.

Second, if it was Scolaro who was the killer, then who was "Mr. Roeberts" of the "Superior Table" group apparently from San Francisco?

Third, according to the police theory of the case, witnesses heard gunshots around 8:30 or 9:00. Lets be generous and say 8:15. THAT STILL LEAVES ONLY THREE HOURS FOR SCOLARO TO TRAVEL ALMOST 300 MILES IN ORDER TO BE SEEN THAT NIGHT IN DETROIT AT 11:15. That means 100 miles per hour. And yet there was no speeding ticket issued to him that day, and no reports from drivers of such a dangerously speeding car on the highway. Mr. Rasmussen reports that he verified Scolaro did not have a pilot's license. So how did he travel 300 miles in about 3 hours maximum, or more realistically based on the gunfire actually being heard around 8:45, just 2 1/2 hours?

 

[prd2bokie]

Soooo much information. All of it very interesting. I have never been able to lend any help on this site but I am amazed with those who do.

 

[AKWILKS]

In a thread on Valerie Percy, I mentioned a book that Morf alerted me to after the author contacted him. The book is called "Corroborating Evidence III" by William T. Rasmussen. In the book he discusses the Black Dahila case, and a theory that the murder of college girl Valerie Percy in the Chicago suburbs on September 18, 1966 may be the work of the Zodiac Killer, who probably killed college girl Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

He also discusses the murders of the wealthy ROBISON FAMILY on JUNE 25, 1968 in GOOD HART, EMMET COUNTY, MICHIGAN, at their summer cottage. Killed were Mr. and Mrs Robison, their 7 year old daughter Suzie and their three sons. Remember the attacker in the Percy case was seen by Mrs. Percy and fled after killing Valerie - his intent and plan may have been to kill the entire family. The Robison case has definite similarities to the Percy case. This Robison case also has many similarities to the murders of the Monsanto Chemical Company employee Mr. Bricca and his family in Ohio on September 25/27, 1966 and the murder of computer expert and State Education official Dr. Sims and his family murder in Florida on October 22, 1966. And perhaps also some similarities to the murder of Hughes aerospace employee Mr. Boles and his family in California on August 13, 1965, that Morf and others have looked at.

But here is what is very interesting.

The Detroit News had a secret witness program to get information on the case.

In August 1968 someone sent in a tip that said they had information on the case but in order to get it law enforcement had to place an ad in the personals classified. This is what the ad said - apparently the exact words required by the anonymous tipster:

DR. GUIDINI: Your prescription good.
However, need additional.
-Zodius
------------------------------

ZODIUS?

Remember this is 4 months before the Jensen/Faraday murder, and exactly a year before the killer called himself "Zodiac" in the letter of August 4, 1969.

ZODIUS
ZODIAC

The words share 4 of 6 letters.

From the wiki defintion of ZODIAC:

The term zodiac derives from Latin zōdiacus, which in its turn comes from the Greek ζῳδιακὸς κύκλος (zōdiakos kuklos), meaning "circle of animals", derived from ζώδιον (zōdion), the diminutive of ζῶον (zōon) "animal". The name is motivated by the fact that half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are represented as animals (besides two mythological hybrids).

AK Wilks: The Latin term for Zodiac, "ZODIACUS", has the most similarity to the term used by the Detroit News tipster, "ZODIUS".

I had never paid much attention to this case, because the police said it was more or less closed, as they thought that Mr. Robison's business partner, suspect of embezzlement, killed the family. Others have questioned how he could have been seen by witnesses in Detroit and made it in time to go to Good Hart to do the killings. The police said he may have hired a hitman.

But Rasmussen raises a new theory. He mentions reports that Mr. Robison, an opera fan and publisher of an arts and entertainment magazine called Impresario, was contacted by a mysterious possible investor named "Mr. Roeberts" or "Mr. Roberts", interested in the project of Mr. Robison to create "computerized warehouse operations and cultural support centers" at an airport in rural Oakland County, Michigan, and then at or near airports all over the country. There is a reported possible meeting in SAN FRANCISCO on June 4 - 7, 1968 between future victim Mr. Robison and the mysterious Mr. Roeberts, and another meeting in Detroit on June 13/14, 1968. The next meeting was scheduled for June 25, 1968, the day the family was killed. The strange Mr. Roeberts was reported to have a "monotone voice" with "frequent pauses". Sounds similar to the description of the voice of Zodiac.

The murders were horrible. The killer shot through a window with a .22 automatic to kill Mr. and Mrs. Robison and 7 year old Suzie. The killer then entered the home and shot the three boys. He then took a "carpenters hammer" and smashed the heads of the two females, Mrs. Robison and Suzie. HE THEN PLACED THE BODY OF ONE OF THE SONS ON TOP OF MR. ROBISON. This is very rare and is similar to the possible Zodiac crime of Domingos and Edwards, were the body of Linda Edwards was placed on top of Domingos. He then placed the body of Suzie next to her brother. He then pulled down the undergarments of Mrs. Robison and stabbed her seven times through her sanitary napkin. Both Valerie Percy and Linda Edwards had clothes lifted to expose them. FINALLY HE COVERED MRS. ROBISON WITH A BLANKET. Domingos and Edwards, and several EAR/ONS victims, were covered with a blanket, clothes or towels.

Who was the mysterious "Mr. Roeberts"? Was this the business partner Joseph Scolaro, or an associate of his? Or was he a stranger to the Robison family?

It appears the person pretending to be "Mr. Roeberts" lived in the San Francisco area in the summer of 1968, because that is where Mr. Robison flew to meet him. Ted Kaczynski was a professor at U Cal Berkeley in the summer of 1968, and lived in the SF Bay Area. Ted had spent 5 years living in the state of Michigan while attending the University of Michigan.

Was this the work of the business partner and embezzler Joseph Scolaro, who later killed himself? Maybe, there was evidence to suggest he did it, and that is what the police think. If Mr. Robison suspected Scolaro of embezzlement, that would give Scolaro a motive to kill Mr. Robison. But the prosecutor did not file charges, citing lack of hard evidence. Scolaro denied doing the murder in his suicide note. And why would he kill the whole family?

Was this the work of a hitman hired by the business partner? Maybe, but the battering of the female faces and the strange posing of bodies is not usually associated with professional hitmen.

Could this crime be related to the 1966 Percy Murder and the "FAMILY MURDERS OF 1965 AND 1966" - BOLES, BRICCA and SIMS?

Boles, Percy, Bricca, Sims all have ties to high tech companies and/or computers. Mr. Robison was seeking investors for a new company involving computerized operations. MR. ROBISON WAS PLANNING A HUGE EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AT AND NEAR AN AIRPORT IN OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN, THAT NO DOUBT WOULD HAVE REMOVED MANY TREES AND NATURAL AREAS FOR A LARGE COMPUTERIZED WAREHOUSE WITH A CULTURAL CENTER. HE ALSO PLANNED TO EXPAND THIS TO AIRPORTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

Ted Kaczynski hated airlines, airplanes and jet travel. He targeted airline officials and planes as the UNABOMBER (UNiveristy Airline BOMber).

In the 1960's high tech was a small but growing field, and computers were new and just getting started. But each one of the fathers in these horrible murder cases - Boles, Percy, Bricca, Sims, Robison - had ties to high tech companies and/or computers. Ted Kaczynski hated computers and thought they would lead to the literal enslavement of mankind. He wrote in his journal that he wanted to kill "big businessmen", "scientists", "government officials" and "bigshots", along with "rowdy college students", women and couples.

Could this crime possibly be related to the Zodiac case?

Even if the murder was NOT the Zodiac, does the August 1968 use by the tipster of ZODIUS indicate that the tipster may have been Zodiac? If so, does that indicate a possible Zodiac connection in 1968 to the Midwest in general and/or Michigan in particular, in order for him to have heard about the case?

Ted Kaczynski had a family home in Illinois and had lived in Michigan for almost 5 years, between 1962 and 1966/part of 1967.

Astrology was popular in the 1960's, but the more common terms to refer to it were astrology or horoscope. Not Zodiac. So I do find it interesting that a variation of the Latin term for Zodiac was used by a tipster in a murder case, who asks for a message to appear in the paper, as Zodiac did later.

Morf, and everyone, get this. Police reports say it was a .22 LR fired from a weapon with six lands and grooves with a right hand twist. Same as Santa Barbara 1963 Domingos/Edwards murder and Zodiac Lake Herman Road 12/20/68. I understand many weapons fit that, but still it is interesting. Weapon was thought to be an AR -7 rifle or .22 automatic maybe JC Higgins. There were also shell casings from a .25 automatic pistol.

Ted Kaczynski owned a .22 rifle and pistol, and a Raven .25 automatic pistol.

John Douglas said his study showed posing of bodies happened in about 1% of murder cases. Both SB 63 and this case have posing, including placing one body atop another. Both also have blanket placed over a body, and stripping of female clothes.

Mrs. Robison had her dress lifted, Valerie Percy had her nightgown lifted and Linda Edwards had her bathing suit top cut off.

On the flip side the business partner Scolaro owned a .22 AR - 7 and a .25 automatic. There is a damning circumstantial case against the partner.

COLLEGE GIRL AND FAMILY MURDERS CLUSTERED IN 1966 - 1969: ALL OR SOME OR NONE OF THESE CASES MAY BE RELATED

Sharon Bubes, Evanston, IL - Attacked in her bedroom with a hammer, 6/30/66

Valerie Percy, Kenilworth, IL - Murdered in her bedroom by hammer and long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/18/66

Bricca Family, Cincinnati, OH - Found bound with household objects and murdered in bedrooms by knife, 9/27/66

Sims Family, Tallahassee, FL - Bound with household objects and murdered, 10/22/66

Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by short 3 inch knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably placed in mailbox on 11/28/66

Robison Family, Good Hart, MI - All family members shot, mother beaten with a hammer, 6/25/68

Cecelia Shepard, Lake Berryessa, CA - Bound and murdered by long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/27/69

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by short 3 inch knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student abducted and killed, 11/28/81

On September 18, 1966, Valerie Percy was brutally murdered in the mansion of her father, Bell & Howell CEO and Republican Nominee for Senate Charles Percy. With the next 34 days, two American familes would be wiped out in horrorific home invasion slaughters. Father, mother, children. These were the Bricca Family in Cincinnati, Ohio found dead on September 27, 1966 and the Sims Family killed in Tallahassee, Florida on October 22, 1966. Just 8 days later, the first crime of the Zodiac Killer happened in Riverside, California, the day before Halloween. This was the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

On June 25, 1968, the Robison family would be killed in their Northern Michigan cottage, in Good Hart. Father, mother, daughter, three sons.

Was this the work of five different killers? There is evidence to suggest that.

But could these five murder sites be connected? Were there similarites between the victims, MO, geography and weapons to suggest that it was at least possible these and others were the work of one man? Yes.

Dr. Sims was a government official for the State Education Department and ran the COMPUTER division, and apparently was a top "nationally recognized" computer expert.

Charles Percy was the Republican nominee for US Senate, and CEO of the high tech company Bell & Howell, that made camera's and computer like business machines.

Mr. Bricca worked for the high tech chemical company Monsanto. Ted Kaczynski later wrote about his hatred for this company because they are and have been the leader in bioengineering and chemical treatments for agricultural and food. Ted Kaczynski suggested those who work for the Monsanto company should be "hit" because to do that would be "hitting where it hurts" in terms of stopping the technological society.

Mr. Robison was a magazine publisher and looking to do a major expansion at a rural airport to create "computerized warehouse operations" and cultural centers. He then wanted to expand this idea across the country.

In his journal in early September 1966 Ted Kaczynski said he would now "REALLY kill" everyone he hated, including politicians, government officials, scientists, "big businessmen" as well as noisy love making couples, "promiscuous women" and "rowdy college students."

The Sims family being bound with stockings, mens ties and socks in their mouth matches exactly with what a Ohio detective told me was done to the Bricca family. And they along with the Percy case have many eerie matches to the later crimes of the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker in California 1975 to 1986. The murders of the EAR/ONS were those of a nighttime home invader, blinded victims in their bedrooms with a flashlight, bound them with pre-cut rope and/or household objects, somtimes posed bodies, sometimes put blankets or towels over the bodies, shot or bludgeoned victims, often brutally to the point were the face was unrecognizable.

The father of Cheri Jo Bates worked at the Naval Weapons Facility. The father of Joan Webster was ex CIA, and was at the time the Vice President at IT&T, Defense Technologies Group.

The Percy mansion and the Robison cottage are both on or near Lake Michigan.

The Shepard murder was confirmed work of the ZODIAC, the Bates murder was probably/almost certainly ZODIAC and ZODIAC certainly sent letters to the newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked his letter be published in the newspaper, and ZODIAC has been mentioned in published books as a suspect in both the Percy, Aardsma and Webster murders. In the Robison Murders a tipster sent in clues to a newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked for the name ZODIUS to appear in the newspaper.

A CAESAR CODE is a code that uses shifts of letters. ZANDER KITE and myself AK WILKS have explored the use of such a code in the Zodiac case.

ZODIAC Caesar shifts to ZYNSKI with 0, 10, 10, 10, 10, 20.
ZODIUS Caesar shifts to ZYNSKI with 0, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.


+20..T........S.......H.......M........E.......C
+10..J.........I.......X........C........U.......S

**0..Z........Y.......N........S........K........I

-10..P........O.......D........I.........A.......Y
-20..F........E.......T.........Y.......Q........O

ZODIUS

Also, the Bricca Family murder was husband-wife-young daughter. Sims Family murder was husband-wife-youngest daughter. Both were brutal overkill stabbings, as was Percy murder, as was Robison murder, gunshots also in Sims and Robison cases. The Robison Family were shot to death. In Bubes, Percy and Robison a hammer was used. In Bricca, Sims and Shepard victims were bound. In Percy and Shepard an approximately FOOT LONG knife/bayonet was used.

I think the evidence shows Bates and Shepard were killed by the Zodiac, but we don't know who the Zodiac was. In some of these cases, like Robison, there are good local suspects, who while never charged have a compelling amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards them. In other cases, like Aardsma and Webster, there are different suspects but none that really stand out and the evidence is not very compelling and they are unsolved. In many of the cases, like Percy, Bricca and Sims, there are no real solid suspects and the cases are unsolved.

The murder sites in Good Hart, Michigan (Robison Family 6/25/68), Cincinnati, Ohio (Bricca Family found 9/27/66) and Tallahassee, Florida (Sims Family 10/22/66) all are in an almost perfect vertical line on a map. Add in Kenilworth, Illinois (Valerie Percy 9/18/66) and State College, Pennsylvania (Betsy Aardsma 11/28/69) and they all form a rough cross, actually more like the Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz Rune. The German/Norse Algiz Rune translates to the English letter "Z".

Ted Kaczynski spraypainted a Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz Rune on the campus of a Unabomber target in Sacramento. Doug Oswell noted the pattern of stores with tampered Tylenol in Chicago 1982 forms the rough shape of a Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz rune. Based on information given to them by Doug Oswell and myself (AK Wilks) the FBI is currently seeking the DNA of Ted Kaczynski in the Tylenol Murders case, and California authorities want it for the Zodiac and EAR/ONS cases.

KITE: AK, that's amazing how you found DR GUIDINI in the remaining letters in the TJK name, other than where ZODIUS is found in ZYNSKI and DR in TH. It's just like being able to find SPEAKING in the section remaining other than the THE=THE and ZYNSKI=ZODIAC sections. I recalled that DR was found in the TH, but didn't think to look for Guidini. It might seem as if DR. Guidini Zodius was the first try at what would evolve into The Zodiac Speaking. It's really not that easy to pull names or words out like that in what's remaining as your options get less and less with each letter picked or otherwise your options are limited to begin with.

AK WILKS: The circumstantial case against Scolaro is very strong, but not proven, and he was never charged. It is also unclear how he traveled 300 miles in 2 1/2 hours. But for the moment I am looking more if Zodiac could have been the ZODIUS tipster. Remember Zodiac sent in a tip in the SLA case, a case he otherwise had no connection to.

Remember that Zodiac often began his letters with: THIS IS THE ZODIAC SPEAKING

And in the Robison Family Murders we have a tipster asking police to print "DR GUIDINI...ZODIUS" in the newspapers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


+20..N.......B.......Y.......I.......X........I.......L.......Y........D.......E.......U........W.......T........S.......H.......M........E.......C
+10..D.......R.......O......Y.......N.......Y.......B.......O.......T........U.......K........M.......J.........I.......X........C........U.......S

**0..T.......H.......E......O.......D.......O.......R.......E........J........K.......A.......C........Z........Y.......N........S........K........I

-10..J.......X........U......E.......T.......E.......H.......U........Z........A.......Q.......S........P........O.......D........I.........A.......Y
-20..Z.......N.......K.......U.......J........U......X.......K........P........Q.......G.......I.........F........E.......T.........Y.......Q........O



THIS IS......THE...ZODIAC...SPEAKING

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


+20..N.......B.......Y.......I.......X........I.......L.......Y........D.......E.......U........W.......T........S.......H.......M........E.......C
+10..D.......R.......O......Y.......N.......Y.......B.......O.......T........U.......K........M.......J.........I.......X........C........U.......S

**0..T.......H.......E......O.......D.......O.......R.......E........J........K.......A.......C........Z........Y.......N........S........K........I

-10..J.......X........U......E.......T.......E.......H.......U........Z........A.......Q.......S........P........O.......D........I.........A.......Y
-20..Z.......N.......K.......U.......J........U......X.......K........P........Q.......G.......I.........F........E.......T.........Y.......Q........O

DR GUIDINI ZODIUS

I read that the Robison Family was not seen after 4:00 PM, which would give Scolaro enough time to kill them and make it back to Detroit by 11:15 PM. But so far I have only seen reports of shots at 8:30 PM or 9:00 PM. That creates the problem of how Joseph Scolaro covered 300 miles in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

But I do NOT know a lot about this case, I need to read the Rasmussen book and the Link book "When Evil Came To Good Hart." I understand Link explores all theories but concludes that the bulk of the evidence supports the theory that Scolaro probably did it (perhaps assisted by hitmen), while Rasmussen thinks Scolaro did not do it, and that the Robison case may be linked to the Zodiac, who he thinks may have killed Valerie Percy.

Many think "Mr. Roebert" was someone hired by Scolaro, but I have yet to see evidence of that. It does makes sense, if perhaps a little too elaborate. Also it was Mr. Roebert telling Robison that he had deposited $200,000 in the bank account that prompted Robison to call the bank and check his balance on 6/25/68, that led to the discovery that Scolaro had embezzled, mismanaged or lost a reported $60,000 in funds. So if Roebert was just a person hired by Scolaro, why would he tell him to do the one thing that exposes Scolaro? Doesn't make any sense. But killers don't always make sense, and they do make mistakes.

Roebert's voice on the phone was described as "monontone", "frequent pauses" and "robotic". This is similar to the reports by police dispatcher Nancy Slover on the voice of Zodiac.

Mr. Roebert from San Francisco claimed to represent an organization called SUPERIOR TABLE. This memo was found on Mr. Robison's office desk.

If Joseph Scolaro killed Mr. Robison and was behind the Mr. Roeberts persona, then he must have written the memo below.

Rasmussen claims that Zodiac may have killed the Robison's. I have not yet read his book, so I can't comment on his evidence for this, other than the interesting ZODIUS element and the few other things I and Kite have noted here.

If Zodiac did kill the Robison Family, than this "Mr. Roebert" from San Francisco may have been Zodiac, and this memo may be from Zodiac.

If you look at the name ROEBERT, there are *** under the letters "EBE". The letters "EBE" start the Unsolved 18 from the first Zodiac code.

I don't know what "Computer Headquarters" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound like anything a real businessman would write, but more like a lay person's conception of a business memo or a young person who likes comic books and James Bond movies. Or someone with an inflated idea of the powers of computers and their impact, either for good or bad. The ideas of world peace and unity are expressed in such terms that it seems not like idealism but mockery IMO.

The names of the other "members" of this group also seem fake - they are all common first names for men.

OK, Mr. Robison's first name was Richard. So it appears that maybe this very strange memo adresses these men by their first name. Except "Peters" sounds more like a last name than a first name. The others could go either way, as first names or last names, and all have six letters - JOSEPH, MARTIN, THOMAS, PETERS. Weird.

KITE: Let me put some things together here:

*EMMET County, Michigan was given that name in 1843, named after Robert Emmet Irish patriot, died 1803(The same Robert Emmet possibly alluded to in the Zodiac Unknown 18(Robert Emmet The Hippie)

*ROEBERT is an angram for Robert E

*ROEBERT was from San Francisco? (We don't know for sure, but that is where Mr. Robison went to talk to him, though it seems they may have never met face to face - AK).

*There is a statue of Robert Emmet Irish patriot in San Francisco

*ROEBERT has the EBE with dots underneath: EBE... begins the Zodiac Unknown 18 that can be considered an approx of Robert Emmet The Hippie: EBEORIETEMETHHPITI

*An anonymous tipster used the name ZODIUS concerning the Robison case

*ZODIUS can be Caesar shifted to ZYNSKI with (0,10,10,10,10,10)

*ZODIAC can be Caesar shifted to ZYNSKI with (0,10,10,10,10,20)

*Theodore J Kaczynski can be Caesar shifted to TEHIMIOHPERTTEEBEI(An anagram for EBEORIETEMETHHPITI) with the number string(033696336699669960)

AK, that alias of Ted Kaczynski as a youth: APIAS TUBEROSA is very similar, letter-wise, to SUPERIOR TABLE. Both are 13 letters long. Both have 10/13 letters in common: (SUPERIOTAB).

AK WILKS: It does seem that all the letters in APIAS TUBEROSA can also be found in SUPERIOR TABLE. But I am not sure if that is significant or not.

The author of the Superior Table memo, using a weird cursive typewriter font, does put *** under the "EBE" in the name "ROEBERT". And these murders did happen in EMMET County, Michigan. Though I doubt any connection to Robert Emmet, and I see "PITI" as more of a possible word then "HIPI".

Look at the famous unsolved 18 sequence, in the order given by Zodiac, and see where the letters for the name ROEBERT and EMET are:

E..B..E..O..R..I..E..T..E..M..E..T..H..H..P..I..T..I

Given the strong circumstantial case against Scolaro, I am not sure if we should consider these possible cryptic clues significant or likely coincidences. But the number and quality of them is interesting. As Goldfinger once said to James Bond "That is two times you have involved yourself in my affairs. Once is happenstance, twice coincidence. Three times is enemy action."

----------------------------------------

I do remember Ted Kaczynski talking about stringing wires and/or cables from tree to tree in nature areas, with the goal of maiming or killing the "noisy polluting" snowmobilers and motorcyclists he hated.


It appears in the weeks prior to the Robison Murders, in the same exact area, someone strung a cable from tree to tree over a dirt road, damaging a car. In this same time period a motorcyclist died, and some suspect he was killed by a similar type of cable.

This is a post from http://www.thegoodhartmurders.forummotions.com .

I cannot yet verify it as true, but I have no reason to doubt its accuracy. There was a motorcyclist killed right before the Robison Family Murders, and it was very close to the cottage. Mr. Robison did know the deceased. The fact that someone was stringing cables in this area is very interesting, in light of the fact that Ted Kaczynski recorded doing the exact same thing, with the stated intent to kill motorcyclists.

A new book "Corroborating Evidence III" by William T. Rasmussen contains evidence that the Zodiac Killer should be considered a possible suspect in the Robison Murders case, and one item of evidence is that someone, perhaps with inside knowledge of the case, sent a tip to police asking the name ZODIUS to appear in the newspaper as a signal. Ted Kaczynski is a leading suspect to be the Zodiac Killer, and had lived in Michigan for 5 years, from 1962 - 1967. Given his fondness for wilderness areas and hunting, he may well have explored this area of Northern Michigan, but that is speculation on my part.

http://thegoodhartmurders.forummotions.com/t19-strange-events-from-that-summer

Strange Events from that summer

warrior1978 on Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:13 pm

I guess I will tell my family’s story as it was relayed to me many years ago. Some of what I will write about was mentioned or alluded to in the two books I read about the murders, I do not know if any or all of it is the original police reports.

As my father and mother told me the story, the same summer the Robison family was murdered two strange things occurred to them. One summer afternoon they were driving along Lakeshore Drive (I believe or another nearby road) near Blisswood when as they came around a corner of the road, their vehicle hit an outstretched cable damaging the front end of the car. I believe my father mentioned there was oil in the road as well. They left the scene and returned a short time later with a police officer however the cable had been removed. A short time after this occurred, my cousin was killed in a motorcycle crash near Blisswood. This was mentioned in the book. Although he was drunk at the time, my father was convinced that the crash was not an accident and that cable that my father struck was intended for my cousin. I believe my cousin’s father (Chauncey) blamed Dick Robison for something or another as it related to the death of my cousin.

The same day or within a day or two when the Robison family was thought to have been murdered, it was evening and my parents were on the beach very close to the Robison cabin. As my father told the story, he and my mother were relaxing on the beach and my father was shooting at seagulls with a .38 revolver. It grew darker and at some point my father and mother saw a lantern in the woods. My father believing it was Richard Robison called out in the direction of the lantern, “is that you Richard?” and then the lantern went out.

I asked my father in he ever reported any of this to the investigators and he said yes. I’ve always wondered if his stories were ever considered or addressed in the police reports.

-------------------------------------------

AK Wilks: Found a reference to Ted Kaczynski setting traps to kill motorcycle drivers, they sound very similar if not identical to what was found in Good Hart near the Robison cottage:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...30850_1_theodore-kaczynski-sabotage-unabomber


Book Links Unabomber To Sabotage


March 14, 1999|By New York Times


LINCOLN, Mont. - Theodore Kaczynski won notoriety as the Unabomber, the evil genius who mailed deadly pipe bombs to scientists and corporate targets.

But in this mountain village detective work is giving Kaczynski a new notoriety: as a pioneer for environmental sabotage. Starting in 1975, a decade before Earth First made ``monkeywrenching'' a household term, Kaczynski opened a local front in his one-man war against what he called the octopus of technology.

Roaming in a 25-mile radius from his cabin here, Lincoln's environmental radical, according to several sources, booby-trapped motorcycle trails with wires strung between trees, sabotaged mining machinery with sand, burned logging equipment, poured sugar into snowmobile gas tanks and destroyed vacation cabins with ax blows.

The account of this 20-year trail of sabotage comes from two letters Kaczynski wrote from prison in January, an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a new book by a neighbor, Chris Waits.

In 1982, according to Waits' book, Kaczynski smashed up a vacation home and destroyed a motorcycle and four snowmobiles.

One week later, two deputy sheriffs knocked on his cabin door. ``I was so cool and collected in answering cops questions,'' Kaczynski boasted in an entry decoded 14 years later by the FBI. Noting that the police never returned - and that his neighbors did not resume snowmobiling that winter - he wrote: ``Who says crime doesn't pay? I feel very good about this.''

-------------------------------

JEM: Chris Waits, in his book "UNABOMBER The Secret Life of Ted Kaczynski", has two undated entries from Ted's journals:

At the end of Summer '75 after the roaring by of motorcycles near my camp spoiled a hike for me, I put a piece of wire across a trail where cycle-tracks were visible, at about neck height for a motorcyclist. (Next summer I found someone had wrapped the wire safely around a tree. Unfortunately, I doubt anyone was injured by it.)


Summer '77...I strung a neck-wire for motorcyclists along the divide trail above [location]. Later I found the wire was gone. Whether it hurt anyone I don't know.

The two above entries are from page 206.

 

[AKWILKS]

Anyone interested in the Robison case and/or the Valerie Percy Murder should get the new book CORROBORATING EVIDENCE III by William T. Rasmussen. He presents evidence showing these cases on different sides of Lake Michigan may be linked, at that THE ZODIAC should be considered a suspect in both.

KITE:
Concerning the ZODIUS ad [in the Robison Family Murder case]. That ad starts out DR GUIDINI and ends with ZODIUS. Ok, we already established that ZODIUS matches up with ZYNSKI in EXACT ORDER with (0,-10,-10,-10,+10, +10) but it also turns out that GUIDINI matches up with the first seven letters of KACZYNSKI(KACZYNS) in EXACT ORDER with (-30,+20,-20,+30,+10, 0,-10). That ends up being (0,+10,-10,+20,-20,+30,-30). It's ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Here, take a look:

O..........E..........G.......(D)........C.......R........W.......O.........M.....(+30)
E..........(U)........W........T........S........H........M.......E.........C......(+20)
U...........K.........M.........J.......(I).......X.........C.......U..........S.....(+10)
K...........A.........C.........Z........Y.......(N).......S.......K...........I......(0)
A...........Q.........S.........P.........O.......D.......(I).......A..........Y....(-10)
Q..........G.........(I).........F........E........T.......Y.........Q.........O...(-20)
(G).........W.........Y.........V....... U........J.......O.........G.........E....(-30)

So, ZODIUS matches the last six letters of KACZYNSKI(ZYNSKI) with (0,-10,-10,-10,+10,+10) and GUIDINI matches the first seven letters of KACZYNSKI(KACZYNS) with (-30,+20,-20,+30,+10, 0,-10).
So, what are THE ODDS of that happening by chance?[/size]


AK Wilks:

WOW!

Well Zsearcher, Doranchak and most of the other critics keep complaining about anagrams. Well, along with Zsearcher's find, here is another find by you that involves NO ANAGRAMS, NO SCRAMBLES, CORRECT SPELLING, CORRECT ORDER, LEFT TO RIGHT READ.

Of two aliases used by an informant even if he had nothing to do with the murders definitely used ZODIUS one year before ZODIAC, and who MAY have had inside knowledge of the case making him a suspect in the murders. Murders in which the mysterious "ROEBERT" from San Francisco put dots under the EBE in his name. And it is EBE that starts the Unsolved 18 in the first Zodiac code.

Wow.

O...........E..........G..........(D)............C..........R..........W.........O...........M....(+30)
E..........(U).........W..........T..............S..........H..........M.........E............C....(+20)
U...........K..........M...........J.............(I).........X...........C.........(U)........(S)...(+10)
K...........A..........C...........(Z).............Y........(N)..........S.........K............I.....(0)
A...........Q..........S............P.............(O).......(D)........(II).......A.......... Y.. (-10)
Q...........G.........(I)...........F..............E..........T...........Y.........Q...........O...(-20)
(G).........W........Y...........V...............U..........J...........O.........G...........E...(-30)

+20..N.......B.......Y.......I
+10.(D)....(R).....O......Y

**0..T.......H.......E......O

-10..J.......X........U......E
-20..Z.......N.......K.......U

A January Detroit News article mentioning the August 1968 tip from an informant, who may have had inside knowledge of the case, and the informants message that he asked to be place in a classified ad.

The ad mentions ZODIUS, almost one year before the ZODIAC announced himself to the world. Both come from the Latin word ZODIACUS.

Body of Mrs. Robison covered by a blanket. The bodies of Domigos and Edwards killed June 1963, possible Zodiac crime, were also covered by a towel, as were some victims of the EAR/ONS. Like the bodies of Domingos and Edwards, the bodies of Mr. Robison and one of his sons were placed on top of each other. Former FBI Agent John Douglas says posing occurs in less than 1% of murders. Like Valerie Percy, Mrs. Robison had her dress lifted up to expose her.

Police ballistics reports in the Robison Family Murders indicate a .22 with six lands and grooves, with a right twist. This matches both Domigos and Edwards Santa Barbara 1963 and Zodiac 12/20/68.

COLLEGE GIRL AND FAMILY MURDERS CLUSTERED IN 1966 - 1969: ALL OR SOME OR NONE OF THESE CASES MAY BE RELATED

Sharon Bubes, Evanston, IL - Attacked in her bedroom with a hammer, 6/30/66

Valerie Percy, Kenilworth, IL - Murdered in her bedroom by hammer and long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/18/66

Bricca Family, Cincinnati, OH - Found bound with household objects and murdered in bedrooms by knife, 9/27/66

Sims Family, Tallahassee, FL - Bound with household objects and murdered, 10/22/66

Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by short 3 inch knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably placed in mailbox on 11/28/66

Robison Family, Good Hart, MI - All family members shot, mother beaten with a hammer, 6/25/68

Cecelia Shepard, Lake Berryessa, CA - Bound and murdered by long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/27/69

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by short 3 inch knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student abducted and killed, 11/28/81

On September 18, 1966, Valerie Percy was brutally murdered in the mansion of her father, Bell & Howell CEO and Republican Nominee for Senate Charles Percy. With the next 34 days, two American familes would be wiped out in horrorific home invasion slaughters. Father, mother, children. These were the Bricca Family in Cincinnati, Ohio found dead on September 27, 1966 and the Sims Family killed in Tallahassee, Florida on October 22, 1966. Just 8 days later, the first crime of the Zodiac Killer happened in Riverside, California, the day before Halloween. This was the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

On June 25, 1968, the Robison family would be killed in their Northern Michigan cottage, in Good Hart. Father, mother, daughter, three sons.

Was this the work of five different killers? There is evidence to suggest that.

But could these five murder sites be connected? Were there similarites between the victims, MO, geography and weapons to suggest that it was at least possible these and others were the work of one man? Yes.

There is evidence and witnesses that say Valerie Percy and Linda Bricca knew each other, and they both came from the same upper class social circles in suburban Chicago.

Valerie Percy, Cheri Jo Bates, Celia Shepard, Betsy Aardsma, Joan Webster - each young woman was a college girl.

Percy, Bricca, Sims, Bates, Robison, Webster - in each case the father had multiple connections to the world of business, high tech, computers, government and/or defense contracts.

Dr. Sims was a government official for the State of Florida Education Department and ran the computer division, and apparently was a top "nationally recognized" computer expert.

Charles Percy was the Republican nominee for US Senate, and CEO of the high tech company Bell & Howell, that made camera's and computer like business machines.

Mr. Bricca worked for the high tech chemical company Monsanto.

Mr. Robison was a magazine publisher and looking to do a major expansion at a rural airport to create "computerized warehouse operations" and cultural centers. He then wanted to expand this idea across the country.

The Sims family being bound with stockings, mens ties and socks in their mouth matches exactly with what a Ohio detective told me was done to the Bricca family.

The father of Cheri Jo Bates worked at the Naval Weapons Facility. The father of Joan Webster was ex CIA, and was at the time the Vice President at IT&T, Defense Technologies Group.

The Percy mansion and the Robison cottage are both on or near Lake Michigan.

The Shepard murder was confirmed work of the ZODIAC, the Bates murder was probably/almost certainly ZODIAC and ZODIAC certainly sent letters to the newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked his letter be published in the newspaper, and ZODIAC has been mentioned in published books as a suspect in both the Percy, Aardsma and Webster murders.

In the Robison Murders a tipster sent in clues to a newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked for the name ZODIUS to appear in the newspaper.


Also, the Bricca Family murder was husband-wife-young daughter. Sims Family murder was husband-wife-youngest daughter. Both were brutal overkill stabbings, as was Percy murder, as was Robison murder, gunshots also in Sims and Robison cases. The Robison Family were shot to death. In Bubes, Percy and Robison a hammer was used. In Bricca, Sims and Shepard victims were bound. Bates and Aardsma were killed in or at college libraries, on Fall Holiday periods, with a short 3 inch knife. In Percy and Shepard an approximately FOOT LONG knife/bayonet was used.

In the possible early Zodiac crime of the Santa Barbara murders of Domingos and Edwards, the Zodiac murder on 12/20/68 of Jensen and Faraday and the Robison Family murders of 6/25/68 a .22 with rifling of six lands and grooves with a right hand twist was used.

I think the evidence shows Bates and Shepard were killed by the Zodiac, but we don't know who the Zodiac was. In some of these cases, like Robison, there are good local suspects, who while never charged have a compelling amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards them. In other cases, like Aardsma and Webster, there are different suspects but none that really stand out and the evidence is not very compelling and they are unsolved. In many of the cases, like Percy, Bricca and Sims, there are no real solid suspects and the cases are unsolved.

The murder sites in Good Hart, Michigan (Robison Family 6/25/68), Cincinnati, Ohio (Bricca Family found 9/27/66) and Tallahassee, Florida (Sims Family 10/22/66) all are in an almost perfect vertical line on a map. Add in Kenilworth, Illinois (Valerie Percy 9/18/66) and State College, Pennsylvania (Betsy Aardsma 11/28/69) and they all form a rough cross, actually more like the Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz Rune. The Algiz Rune translates as the English letter "Z". The Yggdrasil has 3 roots, 6 serpents and 9 branches. Ted Kaczynski drew a Yggdrasil at a crime scene.

At the campus of a Unabomber target, Ted Kaczynski spraypainted the Yggdrasil symbol, also known as the Algiz Rune, along with the letters "FC" and "Anarchy". The Anglo-Saxon translation of the Algiz Rune is "Z"! It consists of, once again, crossed lines inside a circle. The Yggdrasil is the World Tree, but it also stands for "tree of terror; gallows", and the Algiz Rune also means to "wound severely; to mark with blood."

Doug Oswell noted the sites of tampered Tylenol in the Chicago area in 1982 form a Yggdrasil shape, and I have seen this pattern repeat in other cases I have studied in which TK is a suspect.

 

[Dreamnine]

Good work, AK.

 

[AKWILKS]

Thanks Dreamnine and amandab!

It is virtually impossible that ZODIUS could have been Joe Scolaro, the Robison business associate and chief suspect. He was being watched by police in August 1968 and there would be no ability or motive for him to place this ad undetected.

IT DOES APPEAR THAT ZODIUS KNEW CORRECT CRIME SCENE INFORMATION THAT ONLY THE KILLER OR AN ASSOCIATE OF THE KILLER WOULD KNOW.

BUILDING ON MY DISCOVERY HERE IS KITE'S DISCOVERY - NO ANAGRAMS, NO SCRAMBLES, CORRECT SPELLING, CORRECT ORDER, LEFT TO RIGHT READ.

Of two aliases used by an informant who even if he had nothing to do with the murders definitely used ZODIUS one year before ZODIAC, and who MAY have had inside knowledge of the case making him a suspect in the murders. New information shows ZODIUS DID HAVE INSIDE KNOWLEDGE (see below). Murders in which the mysterious "ROEBERT" from San Francisco put dots under the EBE in his name on a letter and on a medal put around Mr. Robison's neck. And it is EBE that starts the Unsolved 18 in the first Zodiac code.

Wow.

O...........E..........G..........(D)............C..........R..........W.........O...........M....(+30)
E..........(U).........W..........T..............S..........H..........M.........E............C....(+20)
U...........K..........M...........J.............(I).........X...........C.........(U)........(S)...(+10)
K...........A..........C...........(Z).............Y........(N)..........S.........K............I.....(0)
A...........Q..........S............P.............(O).......(D)........(II).......A.......... Y.. (-10)
Q...........G.........(I)...........F..............E..........T...........Y.........Q...........O...(-20)
(G).........W........Y...........V...............U..........J...........O.........G...........E...(-30)

+20..N.......B.......Y.......I
+10.(D)....(R).....O......Y

**0..T.......H.......E......O

-10..J.......X........U......E
-20..Z.......N.......K.......U

A January Detroit News article mentioning the August 1968 tip from an informant, who had inside knowledge of the case, and the informants message that he asked to be place in a classified ad.

The ad mentions ZODIUS, almost one year before the ZODIAC announced himself to the world. Both come from the Latin word ZODIACUS.

From the excellent Robison case researcher CHEYENNE:

AK Wilks wrote:

Great find Cheyenne! Seems likely IMO the killer placed the medal on Robison, and again EBE is important to the killer, as it was to the Zodiac.

Did the tipster called ZODIUS have inside information only the killer would know? Is that why police and media were so interested? Can you find and post The Detroit News, Sunday, January 5, 1969, Page 27A, which contains the reprint of the tip from ZODIUS and an article entitled "Is key to Robisons' killer in classified ad?"

Cheyenne wrote:

Detroit News January 5, 1969

IS KEY TO ROBISONS' KILLER IN CLASSIFIED AD?

==========
DR GUIDINI: Your prescription
good. However, need additional.
-Zodius

==========

The classified ad above may contain a key to the killer who wiped out the six-member Robison family of Lathrup Village at their cottage last summer.

Through its highly successful "secret witness" program, The Detroit News

HAS RECEIVED SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE CRIME. THIS WAS TURNED OVER TO POLICE.

BUT THE INFORMANT SAID HE HAD MORE AND TOLD HOW TO GET IT. "THERE IS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION" HE WROTE, "AND YOU MAY CONTACT THIS WRITER THROUGH THE DETROIT NEWS PERSONAL COLUMN." (emphasis here and upcoming is added ).

The ad was run as suggested, but the informant never has replied.

Now State Police detectives, following dozens of assorted leads, have asked The News to publish the notice again, in the hope of learning more. (IMO the State Police would NOT have made this request unless the crime scene information submitted by the informant was accurate - AK Wilks).

When the informant submitted WHAT HE SAID WAS PARTIAL INFORMATION, he followed the "secret witness" plan shown in the coupon on this page.

He assigned himself a six-digit number and wrote it on his letter and on a corner which he tore off for himself. (This Detroit News technique is nearly the same method Ted Kaczynski later implemented as "FC" the Unabomber - he had a secret nine digit number - AK Wilks).

Detectives ask that, to avoid "crank" replies, the informant include the number in his new information. The "secret witness" plan is designed to protect the identity of informants.

Richard C Robison, Lathrup Village advertising man and publisher, and his wife and four children were murdered last June in their summer home near Good Hart, in Emmet County.

The News has offered a $5000 reward in this case on the theory that "somebody knows" who commits eery crime.

Ordinarily its reward program is limited to crimes committed in Wayne , Oakland or Macomb counties. But occasionally, as in this case, police of other Michigan counties request a reward and there is a Detroit-area connection of either victims or suspects, or both.

----------------------------------------

AK Wilks: Great find Cheyenne. That is very important info IMO.

Scolaro was not Zodius! And it does appear Zodius had inside knowledge.

Also, the timeline released by the Oakland County Prosecutor shows that Robison put a stop payment order on the business checking account that morning - as all the "Scolaro did it" versions note. But the timeline also shows Robison LIFTED the stop payment order later that morning. Major item of evidence IMO. Scolaro raised his salary, but it had been done overtly, not covertly, and while it appears Robison was at first mad about some of the expenses claimed by Scolaro, he later calmed down and must have thought most were reasonable, or at least a matter to be settled later, and in the meantime he let Joe Scolaro continue the ability to write checks. That does not sound like a man who was going to try to prosecute Scolaro for embezzlement. No embezzlement, no motive!

I think there may be a lot more to this case, we have the EBE, the ZODIUS, the SF connection, monotone voice, .22 with six lands and grooves right twist, bodies stacked on each other, body covered by blanket...

This case is now on my list of possibles. Still not convinced, but with ZODIUS having inside knowledge, and the amazing tie in to the TJK name, and everything else...my interest level is going up. And this ties in to Percy as well.

 

[Dreamnine]

I think it is telling what Cheyenne wrote about Scolari..

If he was going to commit suicide because of the heat from LE, why not in January 1970 when the heat really was on?

He waited 'til March 1973 when he owed a lot of money to people.

 

[KarlK]

It's odd though that he said he was innocent when he committed suicide 5 years later. Had he done it, you would think he would want to admit to it before he died.

Yes indeed. This may be a case where LE focused on a single suspect under public pressure to find the perpetrator of such a horrifying massacre and neglected other possibilities. If that's what happened then the case was doomed to go cold after Scolari's death.

 

[KarlK]

I find it odd that no one came to check on the family-that they just lay there that whole time, dead.

It does indeed seem odd at first glance, but back in the 1960's it was not unusual for many people to be unreachable at their summer homes.

Since no one noticed the smell and lack of activity around the cottage I assume that it was located in a fairly isolated area with no neighbors nearby. In those days it was still quite common even for well-off folks to not have a phone at their summer home -not even a party line- if said home was not close enough to Ma Bell's main telephone lines. If such was the case then there would be no reason for friends and relatives to become worried about not hearing from people residing at their cottage in summertime.

 

[AKWILKS]

Very interesting effect looking at Ted Kaczymski with glasses and the Valerie Percy suspect.

Look at the framing, the forehead, hairline, nose and lips, overall face structure. Striking IMO. May send this to the detectives.

Back to Zodiac case...

What the glasses add is this - look how the glasses frame the face, forehead, ears.

Look at the over all face structure, eyes, ears, jaws, chin, look at the lips...very similar, and the glasses enhance the similarity.

A January Detroit News article mentioning the August 1968 tip from an informant, who may have had inside knowledge of the case, and the informants message that he asked to be place in a classified ad.

The ad mentions ZODIUS, almost one year before the ZODIAC announced himself to the world. Both come from the Latin word ZODIACUS.

Body of Mrs. Robison covered by a blanket. The bodies of Domigos and Edwards were also covered by a towel, as were some victims of the EAR/ONS. Like the bodies of Domingos and Edwards, the bodies of Mr. Robison and one of his sons were placed on top of each other. Former FBI Agent John Douglas says posing occurs in less than 1% of murders. Like Valerie Percy, Mrs. Robison had her dress lifted up to expose her.

Police ballistics reports in the Robison Family Murders indicate a .22 with six lands and grooves, with a right twist. This matches both Domigos and Edwards Santa Barbara 1963 and Zodiac 12/20/68.

COLLEGE GIRL AND FAMILY MURDERS CLUSTERED IN 1966 - 1969: ALL OR SOME OR NONE OF THESE CASES MAY BE RELATED

Sharon Bubes, Evanston, IL - Attacked in her bedroom with a hammer, 6/30/66

Valerie Percy, Kenilworth, IL - Murdered in her bedroom by hammer and long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/18/66

Bricca Family, Cincinnati, OH - Found bound with household objects and murdered in bedrooms by knife, 9/27/66

Sims Family, Tallahassee, FL - Bound with household objects and murdered, 10/22/66

Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by short 3 inch knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably placed in mailbox on 11/28/66

Robison Family, Good Hart, MI - All family members shot, mother beaten with a hammer, 6/25/68

Cecelia Shepard, Lake Berryessa, CA - Bound and murdered by long 10 - 12 inch knife, 9/27/69

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by short 3 inch knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student abducted and killed, 11/28/81

On September 18, 1966, Valerie Percy was brutally murdered in the mansion of her father, Bell & Howell CEO and Republican Nominee for Senate Charles Percy. With the next 34 days, two American familes would be wiped out in horrorific home invasion slaughters. Father, mother, children. These were the Bricca Family in Cincinnati, Ohio found dead on September 27, 1966 and the Sims Family killed in Tallahassee, Florida on October 22, 1966. Just 8 days later, the first crime of the Zodiac Killer happened in Riverside, California, the day before Halloween. This was the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966.

On June 25, 1968, the Robison family would be killed in their Northern Michigan cottage, in Good Hart. Father, mother, daughter, three sons.

Was this the work of five different killers? There is evidence to suggest that.

But could these five murder sites be connected? Were there similarites between the victims, MO, geography and weapons to suggest that it was at least possible these and others were the work of one man? Yes.

There is evidence and witnesses that say Valerie Percy and Linda Bricca knew each other, and they both came from the same upper class social circles in suburban Chicago.

Valerie Percy, Cheri Jo Bates, Celia Shepard, Betsy Aardsma, Joan Webster - each young woman was a college girl.

Percy, Bricca, Sims, Bates, Robison, Webster - in each case the father had multiple connections to the world of business, high tech, computers, government and/or defense contracts.

Dr. Sims was a government official for the State of Florida Education Department and ran the computer division, and apparently was a top "nationally recognized" computer expert.

Charles Percy was the Republican nominee for US Senate, and CEO of the high tech company Bell & Howell, that made camera's and computer like business machines.

Mr. Bricca worked for the high tech chemical company Monsanto.

Mr. Robison was a magazine publisher and looking to do a major expansion at a rural airport to create "computerized warehouse operations" and cultural centers. He then wanted to expand this idea across the country.

The Sims family being bound with stockings, mens ties and socks in their mouth matches exactly with what a Ohio detective told me was done to the Bricca family.

The father of Cheri Jo Bates worked at the Naval Weapons Facility. The father of Joan Webster was ex CIA, and was at the time the Vice President at IT&T, Defense Technologies Group.

The Percy mansion and the Robison cottage are both on or near Lake Michigan.

The Shepard murder was confirmed work of the ZODIAC, the Bates murder was probably/almost certainly ZODIAC and ZODIAC certainly sent letters to the newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked his letter be published in the newspaper, and ZODIAC has been mentioned in published books as a suspect in both the Percy, Aardsma and Webster murders.

In the Robison Murders a tipster sent in clues to a newspaper claiming knowledge of the crime and asked for the name ZODIUS to appear in the newspaper.


Also, the Bricca Family murder was husband-wife-young daughter. Sims Family murder was husband-wife-youngest daughter. Both were brutal overkill stabbings, as was Percy murder, as was Robison murder, gunshots also in Sims and Robison cases. The Robison Family were shot to death. In Bubes, Percy and Robison a hammer was used. In Bricca, Sims and Shepard victims were bound. Bates and Aardsma were killed in or at college libraries, on Fall Holiday periods, with a short 3 inch knife. In Percy and Shepard an approximately FOOT LONG knife/bayonet was used.

In the possible early Zodiac crime of the Santa Barbara murders of Domingos and Edwards, the Zodiac murder on 12/20/68 of Jensen and Faraday and the Robison Family murders of 6/25/68 a .22 with rifling of six lands and grooves with a right hand twist was used.

I think the evidence shows Bates and Shepard were killed by the Zodiac, but we don't know who the Zodiac was. In some of these cases, like Robison, there are good local suspects, who while never charged have a compelling amount of circumstantial evidence pointing towards them. In other cases, like Aardsma and Webster, there are different suspects but none that really stand out and the evidence is not very compelling and they are unsolved. In many of the cases, like Percy, Bricca and Sims, there are no real solid suspects and the cases are unsolved.

The murder sites in Good Hart, Michigan (Robison Family 6/25/68 ), Cincinnati, Ohio (Bricca Family found 9/27/66) and Tallahassee, Florida (Sims Family 10/22/66) all are in an almost perfect vertical line on a map. Add in Kenilworth, Illinois (Valerie Percy 9/18/66) and State College, Pennsylvania (Betsy Aardsma 11/28/69) and they all form a rough cross, actually more like the Yggdrasil Symbol/Algiz Rune. The Algiz Rune translates as the English letter "Z". The Yggdrasil has 3 roots, 6 serpents and 9 branches. Ted Kaczynski drew a Yggdrasil at a crime scene.

At the campus of a Unabomber target, Ted Kaczynski spraypainted the Yggdrasil symbol, also known as the Algiz Rune, along with the letters "FC" and "Anarchy". The Anglo-Saxon translation of the Algiz Rune is "Z"! It consists of, once again, crossed lines inside a circle. The Yggdrasil is the World Tree, but it also stands for "tree of terror; gallows", and the Algiz Rune also means to "wound severely; to mark with blood."

Doug Oswell noted the sites of tampered Tylenol in the Chicago area in 1982 form a Yggdrasil shape, and I have seen this pattern repeat in other cases I have studied in which TK is a suspect.

Boles Family murder scene in CRESTLINE CA is just 27 miles from Bates murder scene in RIVERSIDE CA:

I read one report that the Boles family were found in one room, and that BODIES WERE STACKED ATOP EACH OTHER, as in possible Zodiac 6/4/63, Bricca 9/27/66 and Robison 6/25/68. Amazing. Maybe someone else can confirm?

And the Boles murder weapon was a .22 LR, same as Zodiac 12/20/68 and Robison 6/25/68. Also, police in the Boles case said the weapon was likely a HIGH STANDARD, and in Zodiac 12/20/68 and Robsion 6/25/68 police said the weapon was likely a HIGH STANDARD or JC HIGGINS.

NOTE: While the Percy murder fits the lone female college girl attacks, it should also IMO be considered a family attack, BEACAUSE THE ENTIRE FAMILY WAS HOME AT THE TIME OF THE ATTACK AND MAY HAVE BEEN THE TARGET, BUT FOR THE INTERRUPTION OF THE STEPMOTHER AND THE BURGLAR ALARM.

Bottom line, in a ONE MONTH PERIOD OF SEPTEMBER 18 1966 TO OCTOBER 30 1966, THERE ARE THREE HOME INVASIONS WERE THE ENTIRE FAMILY IS PRESENT - PERCY, BRICCA, SIMS - WITH TWO FAMILIES WIPED OUT - BRICCA AND SIMS - AND TWO COLLEGE GIRLS KILLED - PERCY AND BATES.

Also, in a THREE YEAR PERIOD from 8/14/65 to 6/25/68, we have five families attacked in their homes- Percy, Bricca, Sims, Boles, Robison. All have a high tech connection. In Bricca, Boles and Robison bodies are stacked atop each other. And a .22 LR, knife and a hammer is a frequent weapon.

REVISED TIMELINE CHART BY AWESHUCKS

Very interesting that posing occurs in only 1% of murders, yet we have posing of bodies stacked atop each other in Santa Barbara 1963, the Robsion murders and the Bricca case.

And the timing - Domingos-Edwards 6/4/63, Percy 9/18/66, Bricca 9/25-27/66, Sims 10/22/66, Bates 10/30/66, Robison 6/25/68.

Kaczynski family home was 15 minutes from the Percy home in Kenilworth, Illinois.

Picture of Bubes/Percy suspect and Ted Kaczynski, glasses added by Traveller1st.

 

[Ausgirl]

In August 1968 someone sent in a tip that said they had information on the case but in order to get it law enforcement had to place an ad in the personals classified. This is what the ad said - apparently the exact words required by the anonymous tipster:

DR. GUIDINI: Your prescription good.
However, need additional.
-Zodius

Isn't it a bit strange that this person asked the police to place the ad, rather than doing it themselves? This suggests a couple things to me:

1. The informant was toying with the police, a very Zodiac thing to do.

2. The informant was a follower of the Zodiac crimes and wanted this one linked, for whatever reason.

3. The message was real, and the informant was possibly in prison at the time, and unable to post it himself.

Also, this office 'memo' is sheer bunk, and came from no office of any organisation, anywhere. To pick a few holes in it:

1. No secretary of any company dealing in that kind of money would be that illiterate (note the many misspellings and grammatical issues: "the govern power", "soully") and last more than two minutes on the job.

2. No secretary would sign just her first name on any official memo.

3. The entire wording, as AKWILKS said, sounds like something a kid obsessed with espionage stories would make up. Something from the Thunderbirds, that sort of maturity of thought in it.

AKWILKS: I don't know what "Computer Headquarters" is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound like anything a real businessman would write, but more like a lay person's conception of a business memo or a young person who likes comic books and James Bond movies. Or someone with an inflated idea of the powers of computers and their impact, either for good or bad. The ideas of world peace and unity are expressed in such terms that it seems not like idealism but mockery IMO.

I can't add much more than that, sums up my perception precisely.

So forgive me if it's been stated already, but what's the story with this memo? Where and when was it found? How was it handled, as a possible piece of evidence?

I have to add that the reason I'm looking at this case is that it, along with several other Zodiac-related crimes, reminds me of what happened with the Keddie murders, and I have often wondered if the crime scene at Keddie was staged to resemble reports of these murders, maybe to throw investigators off the track.

To recap briefly, there was a family murder at the Keddie resort, Plumas County, CA., in 1981. The crime happened at night, and there's a LOT of unanswered questions.

- Sue Sharp, 36, was severely beaten facially, bound with medical tape and stabbed to death. Then moved and bound again in a hogtie position with multiple black electrical cords. She was gagged, excessively, with tape and her own underwear. Sue was also posed, with her night dress pulled up to her bra, nude underneath, and then covered with a sheet and blanket.

- John Sharp, 15, was severely beaten facially, bound and stabbed to death. Then moved and bound again most likely post-mortem by his ankles with a single white electrical cord, which was also tied to Dana Wingate's feet.

- Dana Wingate, 17, a friend of John's, was severely beaten facially, strangled and hit with a hammer, cause of death called as 'strangulation'. Then he was moved (several hours after his death, says his livor mortis patterns), his head placed on a sofa cushion on the floor, and bound post-mortem to John Sharp by his ankles, with the white electrical cord).

- Tina Sharp, 12, abducted from the scene. Her skeletal remains were discovered 3 years later, 65 miles away. There was evidence of blunt force trauma to the facial side of her skull.

How this differs, though is -- there were three young boys left alive in the cabin, two Sharp brothers age 5 and 10, and their guest for the night, a boy age 11, almost 12 (and step-son of one of the main suspects). All the younger boys shared a room right next to the living room where all the bodies were found. None were harmed.

I don't think this was Zodiac, but I do think there's enough similarities to consider a copycat, at least with the staging.