Who do you think the Zodiac Killer actually is?

[CaMan60]

You are correct, however, to think that it was not the most popular pistol round in the US in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

We don,t know who he was. But he knew about guns. The clues about the gun's he used add to the evidence and give some insight into how he operated.
Most likely he disposed of them after a crime. But looking at this from another angle, he could have kept them.
He knew enough to write (in the original 3 letter's)
Brand of Ammo used Western. Except in one letter he simply wrote Ammo made by Western. A regular guy might have written, Bullets made by Western.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

I read the book pointing the finger at Leigh Allen a long time ago and it was very compelling. The fact that the DNA on the back of the stamp didn’t match him was neither here nor there to me. Like AC4RD pointed out there are a myriad of reasons LA’s DNA is not on the stamp. If it had matched that would have been huge. Not matching just brings it back to where we were…no definitive evidence, but a ton of circumstantial evidence that still points to Leigh Allen.
I’ve also seen the documentary about Ross Sullivan. He is a good suspect also. The information on the Bates murder was all new to me. Sullivan is my #2 suspect.

 

[CaMan60]

I read the book pointing the finger at Leigh Allen a long time ago and it was very compelling.

One thing we have learned is to let the evidence point to a suspect. And not try to make a suspect fit the crime.
On another note the D.n.a. testing has only gone into a gray area that has not included or excluded any suspects.
The gun's used are important to this case, and would be to any case like this one. If Leigh Allen had a gun that matched the case if would have been huge. But at the time the evidence was just not there.

 

[HopeValleyDevil]

Ted Kaczynski

His M.O. morphed from one to another.

The Philips map is just the beginning of his musings about anti development. The map represents development.

His narrative is just to justify his cowardice doings in an attempt to get public on side. The manifest is his narcissistic attention seeking for his failings.

Its about him, it was always about his narcissism, his ego. Another attention seeking psychopath that cannot see his self involved stupidity. Fancy killing for attention.

 

[Oakie]

William Mcduff Andrew.

 

[ZoeBuiot]

William Mcduff Andrew.

View attachment 385194

What evidence against him is there?

 

[Oakie]

What evidence against him is there?

He was uncovered relatively recently. The evidence against him is circumstantial, but it's a pretty long list. And, of course, the photograph/drawing comparison is startling. I became aware of him through the work of Mike Morford.

Suspect page on Zodiackiller.net:
Zodiac Suspects

Mike is one of the co-hosts of the Zodiac Speaking podcast, and he has discussed WMA on several of his podcasts. I don't recall, off the top of my head, which episodes they are, so you'll have to explore. This isn't tedious, though, as (in my opinion), Zodiac Speaking is the best of the various podcasts on that subject.

 

[HopeValleyDevil]

In the late 1960's and early 1970's almost all police departments used revolvers chambered in .38 special or .357 magnum. Zodiac used Automatic Pistols in all of his known attacks.

The Zodiac killer used four different semiautomatic pistols in each of his four known murders.

At Benicia, he used a .22 Auto (possibly a J. C. Higgins model 80) in December 1968,



In Vallejo, he used a 9mm Browning Hi-Power in July 1969,


Possibly a 1911 Colt .45 Auto was shown to the Lake Berryessa victims in September 1969,



and a different 9mm Browning Hi-Power was used In San Francisco to murder the cab driver in October 1969.


In other attacks and murders, thought by some to have been the work of Zodiac, there were different weapons used, but no recovered bullets from later attacks matched ballistics with any of the four original murder weapons.

All handguns, and multiple firearms used. Are they common firearms used by the military?
How old are they? Are they likely ex WWII items?
Four handguns procured from different people or the same?
Still not on today's ballistic database?

Where would the guns come from?

 

[SolVic]

Gary Francis Poste.

Please excuse me for believing 40+ former law enforcement people over the FBI who haven’t tested the DNA despite claiming they’ll do it back in 2018.

 

[HopeValleyDevil]

He was uncovered relatively recently. The evidence against him is circumstantial, but it's a pretty long list. And, of course, the photograph/drawing comparison is startling. I became aware of him through the work of Mike Morford.

Suspect page on Zodiackiller.net:
Zodiac Suspects

Mike is one of the co-hosts of the Zodiac Speaking podcast, and he has discussed WMA on several of his podcasts. I don't recall, off the top of my head, which episodes they are, so you'll have to explore. This isn't tedious, though, as (in my opinion), Zodiac Speaking is the best of the various podcasts on that subject.

Can we eliminate any of them?

Some of the public public evidence is sketchy.
In the Unabomb case, the identikit was a hybrid of the sketch artist themself. The witness recollection was tainted. Not all public evidence is rock solid. Some evidence is error, mostly of witnesses

 

[drmrgrl]

We don,t know who he was. But he knew about guns. The clues about the gun's he used add to the evidence and give some insight into how he operated.
Most likely he disposed of them after a crime. But looking at this from another angle, he could have kept them.
He knew enough to write (in the original 3 letter's)
Brand of Ammo used Western. Except in one letter he simply wrote Ammo made by Western. A regular guy might have written, Bullets made by Western.

Winchester Western long rifle ammo.

 

[drmrgrl]

William Mcduff Andrew.

View attachment 385194

I am on the fence between RS and WMA

 

[drmrgrl]

I researched Zodiac killer for four yrs and came to the conclusion both young guys were involved. RS looks like SF composite and WMA looks like LB composite. I came to the conclusion that perhaps both RS and WMA were part of Postes “ posse” BTW, MM is a really smart guy imo.

 

[AC4RD]

All handguns, and multiple firearms used. Are they common firearms used by the military?
...
Where would the guns come from?

Back during the Zodiac days, where I lived (Baton Rouge LA), one could buy a handgun at department stores, hardware stores, and classified ads, all perfectly routinely. If my memory is correct (which it not always is), a purchaser of a handgun had to be over 18, but IIRC no records were reported--a store might have a record of a handgun purchase, but that was a store-to-store issue, not universal.

I don't know about other states' rules, but in BTR you could buy a handgun from a stranger at a bar, no questions asked.

 

[NorthParade]

Gary Francis Poste.

Please excuse me for believing 40+ former law enforcement people over the FBI who haven’t tested the DNA despite claiming they’ll do it back in 2018.

Has there been any more info released on Poste since that initial press release by the investigators’ group? There seems little doubt that he was a very strange and dangerous man, but I’d hoped that they would at least give the world more to go on, updates etc.

 

[HopeValleyDevil]

Back during the Zodiac days, where I lived (Baton Rouge LA), one could buy a handgun at department stores, hardware stores, and classified ads, all perfectly routinely. If my memory is correct (which it not always is), a purchaser of a handgun had to be over 18, but IIRC no records were reported--a store might have a record of a handgun purchase, but that was a store-to-store issue, not universal.

I don't know about other states' rules, but in BTR you could buy a handgun from a stranger at a bar, no questions asked.

Today with ballistics database blob matching I wonder if there might be a match with the database seeing there is four firearms.

The power of the centralised database has narrowed the search down significantly, from faint hope, to a possibility in other crimes.

A Luger may have been brought back from overseas conflict?

They are not long barrel arms. Not comfortable on push bike or bus.

 

[Richard]

Today with ballistics database blob matching I wonder if there might be a match with the database seeing there is four firearms.

The power of the centralised database has narrowed the search down significantly, from faint hope, to a possibility in other crimes.

A Luger may have been brought back from overseas conflict?

They are not long barrel arms. Not comfortable on push bike or bus.

The FBI has maintained a firearms ballistic data base since at least the 1930's. However, that database is/was only used to analyze fired bullets and cases to determine what type/model firearm was used.

There have been many proposals/attempts in the past to establish a database for each firearm. This would be extremely expensive and probably impossible to implement - if not an infringement on the 2nd Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Even if every newly manufactured firearm was test fired and a bullet and casing placed in a massive collection somewhere, this would not provide definitive proof years later because barrels or parts could have been replaced or simply worn during use.

There COULD be an effective program established to have a data base developed which would classify and store information on known or highly suspected murder weapons taken legally during arrests or searches. Cold cases of murder by firearms where bullets or casings were recovered at the scene, might be later solved by comparing those bullets or casings to such a data base.

The Zodiac killer did not use a Luger pistol. He used (on two occasions) two separate Browning Hi-Power automatic pistols which were chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge. The Browning Hi-Power was used by several different nations during World War Two, but it was also a popular Commercially available handgun before and after the war.

 

[Zapoleon]

Gary Francis Poste.

Please excuse me for believing 40+ former law enforcement people over the FBI who haven’t tested the DNA despite claiming they’ll do it back in 2018.

FBI have very little if anything to do with the case.
Vallejo PD sent away samples for DNA testing. The unconfirmed rumors were they found DNA of an unknown person.

 

[taffodills]

+

 

[CEAL]

I was looking over some online documents relating to the Zodiac and found what appears to be Ross Sullivans Social Security application form. We know that whoever the Zodiac was, he wasn’t the world’s best speller (unless of course his mistakes were done to throw off investigators which I don’t believe is true). He was 16. Look at how he spelled Syracuse. Seems very Zodiac of him! He’s a really good candidate. I’m not entirely sure that his height (as observed) puts him out of the running. Wasn’t it only one of the victims who said Zodiac was shorter?

Slightly off topic but…am I wrong or does law enforcement seem largely uninterested in pursuing genetic genealogy with any DNA they have because they can’t be sure the source was the zodiac? (Or?) I realize that it’s no longer a pressing case and department budgets have other pressing priorities however, couldn’t it still be a useful tool? The findings may narrow to one of the primary suspects or to a new one might be found. This case could and should have been solved! I think it still can be with some creative investing!