Post by Admin Horan on May 12, 2014 9:20:29 GMT -6
In his best-selling 1986 book, ZODIAC, Robert Graysmith tells three kinds of lies. The first kind of lies attempt to fill in certain blanks where information about events was not known. The second kind of lies attempt to frame Arthur Leigh Allen for being the "Zodiac" killer. The third kind of lies, strangely enough, are about the supposed authenticity of the "Zodiac" letters to the newspapers. When we compare those letters to the actual police department files and other documents Graysmith claimed to use as the sources for his book, we not only see that the letters were a hoax, we can also deduce who the real author was.
In December 1968, Lundblad and Butterbach had received tips that a certain gang of drug dealers may have "bumped off" David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Lundblad's investigation immediately came to a halt. In June 1969, a group of young men went on a crime spree, robbing and shooting a series of gas station attendants in Vallejo. David Magris, Matthew Donohue, his brother Robert Donohue, and an unnamed fourth man were arrested. The unnamed man was quickly released. But the young Donohue Brothers, facing a possible death penalty, told Solano County Sheriff's Deputy Terry Cunningham that they had been present at the shooting of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in December. Unlike the "Zodiac," the Donohue brothers accurately described what the victims were wearing, etc. to Cunningham. They accused a notorious local gang leader nicknamed "Big Red" of doing the actual shooting. They also accused Big Red of bragging about shooting Darlene Ferrin in the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs park. This Big Red was later indicted in absentia for the execution style shooting of Ronald Lee Roy in December 1967. One of his accomplices in that shooting, Rockey Dixon, was also accused by several people of shooting Darlene.
Big Red was the favorite informant of Solano County narcotics task force officer Ben Villareal. In July 1969, Villareal arrested and associate of Big Red's in possession of the P38 pistol and handed him over to John Lynch who booked him for the murder of Darlene Ferrin. The P38 pistol was tested by the ballistics lab in Sacramento. The results of that test have never been made public. But the last week of July, victim Mike Mageau failed to identify the suspect or any members of Big Red's gang from their mugshots. On July 31, someone started mailing letters to the Bay Area newspapers.
The author of the letters claimed to be responsible for both shootings. He stated certain "facts" in an attempt to prove this. According to Robert Graysmith, police were able to more or less verify the contents of these letters and were convinced they were written by the killer. However, the truth is, the author of the letters had stated some "facts" which were wrong, and seemed to lack certain knowledge – including what the victims were wearing at Lake Herman Road.
According to the police department files Graysmith claims he used to write his book, the author of those letters could not have been the killer – but rather, was someone who had access to some, but not all, of those police department files. By carefully categorizing "Zodiac's" facts according to 1. the things he knew; 2. the things he thought he knew but were wrong; and 3. things he didn't know at all, we can see exactly which pages from the files he had access to. And which ones he didn't. In July 1969, Solano County authorities had made copies of some of their files to send to the crime labs at other area police departments. One of the recipients of this package of files was Napa County deputy sheriff Hal Snook. And his hand printing happens to be an exact match for "Zodiac's."
"Facts" which Zodiac knew:
"Facts" which Zodiac THOUGHT he knew, but were actually wrong:
"Facts" which Zodiac, for some odd reason, doesn't seem to have known – even though he should have:
You can also watch a short video on this topic here:
[NOTE: THIS THREAD WILL BE UPDATED IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. BEAR WITH ME!]
In December 1968, Lundblad and Butterbach had received tips that a certain gang of drug dealers may have "bumped off" David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Lundblad's investigation immediately came to a halt. In June 1969, a group of young men went on a crime spree, robbing and shooting a series of gas station attendants in Vallejo. David Magris, Matthew Donohue, his brother Robert Donohue, and an unnamed fourth man were arrested. The unnamed man was quickly released. But the young Donohue Brothers, facing a possible death penalty, told Solano County Sheriff's Deputy Terry Cunningham that they had been present at the shooting of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in December. Unlike the "Zodiac," the Donohue brothers accurately described what the victims were wearing, etc. to Cunningham. They accused a notorious local gang leader nicknamed "Big Red" of doing the actual shooting. They also accused Big Red of bragging about shooting Darlene Ferrin in the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs park. This Big Red was later indicted in absentia for the execution style shooting of Ronald Lee Roy in December 1967. One of his accomplices in that shooting, Rockey Dixon, was also accused by several people of shooting Darlene.
Big Red was the favorite informant of Solano County narcotics task force officer Ben Villareal. In July 1969, Villareal arrested and associate of Big Red's in possession of the P38 pistol and handed him over to John Lynch who booked him for the murder of Darlene Ferrin. The P38 pistol was tested by the ballistics lab in Sacramento. The results of that test have never been made public. But the last week of July, victim Mike Mageau failed to identify the suspect or any members of Big Red's gang from their mugshots. On July 31, someone started mailing letters to the Bay Area newspapers.
The author of the letters claimed to be responsible for both shootings. He stated certain "facts" in an attempt to prove this. According to Robert Graysmith, police were able to more or less verify the contents of these letters and were convinced they were written by the killer. However, the truth is, the author of the letters had stated some "facts" which were wrong, and seemed to lack certain knowledge – including what the victims were wearing at Lake Herman Road.
According to the police department files Graysmith claims he used to write his book, the author of those letters could not have been the killer – but rather, was someone who had access to some, but not all, of those police department files. By carefully categorizing "Zodiac's" facts according to 1. the things he knew; 2. the things he thought he knew but were wrong; and 3. things he didn't know at all, we can see exactly which pages from the files he had access to. And which ones he didn't. In July 1969, Solano County authorities had made copies of some of their files to send to the crime labs at other area police departments. One of the recipients of this package of files was Napa County deputy sheriff Hal Snook. And his hand printing happens to be an exact match for "Zodiac's."
"Facts" which Zodiac knew:
"Facts" which Zodiac THOUGHT he knew, but were actually wrong:
"Facts" which Zodiac, for some odd reason, doesn't seem to have known – even though he should have:
You can also watch a short video on this topic here:
[NOTE: THIS THREAD WILL BE UPDATED IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. BEAR WITH ME!]
