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Post by Admin Horan on Apr 27, 2015 11:59:17 GMT -6
Someone, most likely the assailant, left a handprinted message on the passenger door of Bryan Hartnell's Karmann Ghia that supposedly linked the attack to the now-infamous "Code Killer." Graysmith claimed that there was no way a copycat killer could have forged that message—but, in fact, the Vallejo Times Herald printed a photocopy of the entire first letter, including the circled crosshair "Zodiac" symbol on the front page of the August 4, 1969 edition. Graysmith also claimed that Sherwood Morrill confirmed that the handprinting on the car door was consistent with the letters. However, although Napa requested Morrill take a look at a photograph of the car door, there is no mention of Morrill's response anywhere in their files. In fact, none of the claims Graysmith has made about Morrill's work on the "Zodiac" letters is confirmed anywhere in any files. Mel Nicolai seems to have thought that at least one of the three letters containing pieces of Stine's shirt was a fake of some kind, but the page detailing which letter has never been released.
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Post by martinthejerk on Sept 8, 2016 11:25:28 GMT -6
Regardless of who wrote on the car door, any thoughts on why one would opt for "Sept" in the last line while the preceding lines utilize "12" and "7" to represent the months?
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Post by Admin Horan on Sept 9, 2016 12:57:00 GMT -6
Martin:
Thanks for joining! That's a darned good question—even better than you think. Dennnis Land, who turns out to have been the prime suspect in this attack, and Hal Snook, the person who apparently wrote the Zodiac letters, were pretty close friends. Dennis's brother Ray, a deputy sheriff, was the person who actually "found" the handprinting on the car door, NOT Dave Collins. Collins has told other lies about who did what that day. Why? That's what I'm still in the process of finding out. So far, what I'm finding out, is verrrryyyyyy interesting. IF I can prove it. I believe that, if something is true, it can be proven. Everything I have published so far I have proven. And I won't publish anything new if I can't prove it in court. But I may be very close...
And I hope to have more information to report by Christmas.
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Post by EKH on Mar 22, 2017 11:20:25 GMT -6
Any updates Tom ?
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Post by Admin Horan on Mar 24, 2017 21:40:45 GMT -6
Nothing I can publish yet.
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Post by EKH on Jan 15, 2018 11:00:01 GMT -6
Hmmmm, are you absolutely sure it wasn't in fact Snook who wrote the message on the car door? My SUPER amateur, unscientific analysis leads me to believe that the person who wrote the letter were the same person based on a few similarities, particularly with the numbers. Looking at the "3" on the door and looking at the second letter (gun sight letter), the "4" on the door and on the first letters talking about the 4th of July, the candy cane "f", the "e" look about right etc. I would expect not everything to match up perfect because of the odd posturing of writing on a door rather than a desk, which also explains why the "p" in "Sept" looks different. He wouldn't have been able to turn the door upside down to write his usual "d" to become a "p" unless he got in the car and wrote upside down with the window rolled up, maybe the doors were locked or maybe that adds risk to getting caught by someone not in the know. And keep in mind, they would really only have one chance to get it correct if it was someone copying the handwriting so why not have the primary source of the handwriting write the message? This was REALLY trying to be sold as a Zodiac killing. I can't help but wonder if maybe Snook wrote the message on the door not realizing that a colleague had committed the act and sort of backed off or maybe the other way, he wanted a colleague to get pinned for "zodiac" killings without endangering himself. So many questions.
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Feb 25, 2018 19:15:48 GMT -6
I know you go over this in your book...
The attack happened about 6:30 on the report by Dave Collins, he got the notice to respond to a double stabbing at 7:13 but the phone call was announced via an APB about 7:40 (do we know if that's the time the phone call was made), after the park ranger was already there. I am uncertain of the address of the car wash on Main Street, but I did a rough guestimate of the time needed to drive from the karmann ghia into town and it's roughly 50 minutes to Main Street (that's a very rough guess). Add a few more minutes to walk to escape vehicle, tidy up, and take care of a few arrangements and this would certainly explain the delay in the "self reporting" criminal act. If it had been earlier, like 30 perhaps even 40 minutes after the attack, then we would know that the call could NOT have been made from the killer.
I know civilians have access to radio channels but lets put that on hold for a sec. It still strikes me as odd that a prank caller would actually call to report a real event and not a fictitious one with a slightly humorous flare. And why wait so long to make that prank call ? But maybe I'm wrong about that. I'm open to it just being a prank call, a terrible one.
That aside, the person who made the phone call was either the killer or someone else the killer would have trusted enough to drive to the car wash (either from the lake or even in town) thus establishing a second alibi for the park ranger since he couldn't have been the person to make the phone call or have been the "Zodiac" in the other cases, as you suggested. I'm thinking the only reason the caller left the phone off the hook was so that it could be traced, also as you suggested. I read through the reports and both Hartnell and the dispatcher that took the call both think the voice of the attacker/caller was a young male, somewhere between 20-30 so that didn't really help much. But I wonder if this park ranger had a southern drawl to his voice...I wish there was a recording of him speaking. Interesting to note that I can't find an interview with him since he was the first on the scene so you'd think the press, anyone would want to talk to him.
What I would like to know is who would he have known to make that call ? Because of the timetable I think it's not unreasonable to suggest that the person that made that call was also at or near Lake Berryessa. Who would he have known ? Where was the nearest phone on the lake ? Or was there someone waiting in THEIR car ? Was someone else, perhaps even a fellow authority figure, accounted for during the attack but absent during the early investigation stage, say between 7'ish and 9'sh ? Who was this "stranger on a train" ?
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Post by Admin Horan on Feb 27, 2018 9:58:49 GMT -6
Well, by far, the most likely suspect is reporter Pat Stanley of KVON himself. After all, he was sitting in his car waiting for deputies to arrive at the phone booth. And in those days, EVERY newspaper and radio station had police dispatch-tuned radios.
The call to VPD the night Ferrin and Mageau were shot came in 30 minutes after the first police dispatch at 12:10am from a phone booth near the Solano County Sheriff's office in Vallejo, from which the coroner's deputy (or maybe coroner Dan Horan himself) was dispatched to take charge of Darlene's body in response to the call from the hospital by Hoffman. In fact, the call was made at the precise moment that the coroner/deputy was driving past that very phone booth. Did the coroner/deputy stop and make that call?
The call to Napa PD was made 45ish minutes after the first dispatch to Lake Berryessa. Again, Pat Stanley was sitting there waiting when the first police officer arrived.
Now, suppose one person made both calls. That would mean that one person had to be located somewhere where he could receive BOTH police radio dispatch stations. Look at a map. See those little mountains? That's a pretty narrow strip of territory where said person could have been sitting, listening to both stations, waiting for the right opportunity. In fact, that strip of territory runs on a straight line north-south through Napa and Vallejo--right down to Oakland.
Aaaaaan, here is something interesting--the Vallejo phone booth is almost exactly 30 minutes (driving at 75 mph on traffic-free, weekend-night I-80) from the Oakland Tribune, and the Napa phone booth is about 45ish minutes from the Oakland Tribune. Where Robert G Smith II used to hang out on weekend nights, moonlighting as an "investigative reporter."
Cops don't usually give reporters and pizza delivery guys speeding tickets, unless they happen to cause an accident. And if anyone noticed Graysmith hanging around...he had a PRESS pass, after all...
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Apr 7, 2018 16:37:00 GMT -6
Interesting that the thread on Dennis Land is on total lock-down so I will have to post here. Two things I am VERY curious about are: 1) The thread's cliffhanger detail about the Lake Berryessa attack that everyone has overlooked. I notice a funny spelled word in the affidavit. I will also keep looking at the witness statements and compare them with the affidavit looking for discrepancies. 2) You mention a "good" motive for that attack. The Seventh Day Adventist angle is contradictory (but it might fit if another murder at the lake is connected as seen below). So does that motive have to do with how he couldn't be with a woman (never married, never had children). I'm not sure if you can say why exactly, but my question is does he not want to be with a woman or is he UNABLE to be with a woman i.e. medical/biological reason? A medical/biological reason would make more sense to me to have triggered an attack.
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Post by Admin Horan on Apr 8, 2018 6:29:35 GMT -6
NICE work!
Uh, you can't comment on the Dennis Land thread? I'll see what's wrong. And yes, he had a medical condition, for sure.
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Apr 9, 2018 6:39:53 GMT -6
Two more things of interest to me. 1) It is very possible that the murderer was seen the day before near the location of the attack. Only a description of the man's hair would make this as close to a certainty as possible. 2) After reading the DOJ report on Lake Berryessa, and observing that many of the people who were present that day, not only the victims but other people at the lake and authorities, even people who weren't there, had plenty to say about the crime; all except one person. The person who picked up one of the victims, was present at the lake, gathered up blanket, etc. had very, very little to offer and is surprisingly unhelpful. From what I can tell, apart from radioing for an ambulance, he was nearly silent during the entire ordeal. It's almost as if they needed the affidavit to pry information from him. Granted, I'm looking at this from a slightly biased angle (I have been influenced towards a suspect), but I still think it should be noted.
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Post by Admin Horan on Apr 9, 2018 9:01:47 GMT -6
And his statements are flat contradicted by others, including the radio dispatcher at the Ranger Station.
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Apr 10, 2018 12:07:29 GMT -6
Does this improve the likeness ?
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Post by Admin Horan on Apr 11, 2018 8:59:19 GMT -6
I have a photo of Dennis (that I don't legally have permission to publish) with glasses on and yes, he looks EXACTLY like the sketch. And in his younger days, he had the exact wavy, dark hair that Bryan and Cecelia saw behind the hood.
I don't think there's any doubt that Dennis was the creepy guy stalking the girls on the beach. He had a reputation around Napa for doing the same thing.
On the other hand, there's no specific proof that that guy murdered anybody. But LB was virtually unpopulated that weekend.
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ekh
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Post by ekh on Apr 12, 2018 10:19:12 GMT -6
I believe I have stumbled across a photo of Dennis Land from several years ago. We may even have the same photo. I'm 99% sure I know the answer, but would you say later in life between the two brothers, he had significantly more hair than his brother? Also, slightly altered glasses.
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