Was the Zodiac Killer a Cop?

[ezioauditore]

I think he at the very least was in the military, if not military and police. I'm so *ed at myself not seeing the GSK being in the police force right away. The biggest reasons I didn't think he was is because he spent so much time casing and stalking his victims I didn't think he'd have time to be a police officer, but I think I overrated that aspect of how time consuming being a cop is, especially during that time when crime isn't as high in volume as it is now, there was probably a lot of downtime. The other reason is, and this is my fault I should have known better, is I trusted the eye witness accounts too much when they said he was 18-23 years of age. Everything about him screamed older. His methodical nature, his diligence in his crimes. His work wasn't "rookie" or novice stuff. I won't make that mistake again.

I think the tactics Zodiac used and his personal beef with the police makes it even more likely that he was a cop than not. But definitely at least the military. He was too good at avoiding capture.

The Zodiac was so unique though. He was pretty much purely a thrill killer. Which for serial killers is rare. Most are sexual in nature one way or another. I'm not sure anything about the Zodiac was sexually motivated. I think it made him feel god-like and made him feel alive, and frankly, entertained him.

As we see with serial killers all the time, which proved itself again with the GSK, so many of them are escalating in nature. GSK started off as the Visalia Ransacker. then eventually graduated so full blown serial killer(with some self preservation murders in between obviously). I don't think regardless of your background, even if you are in law enforcement, you can just start out so damn methodical and meticulous right away. You need to live the experience, learn from your mistakes, master your "craft." I'd be stunned if the Zodiac didn't start out with something small. Since his crimes were not motivated motivated by power, control, or dominance or sexually motivated(as far as we know) his escalation would be different than someone like the GSK who sneaked into homes and went through underwear and stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zodiac was involved in some small stick em up robberies before he graduated to killing people.

Has anyone ever looked into that? Strings of armed robberies/muggings in the general area before the killing broke out?

[peekthroughthepines]

He was prob former military. Possibly a cop or cop wannabe. Maybe he got fired Ala JJD. I would be surprised to find out he has no cop or military background.

[cluso]

Could have been a security bank truck guy, he was maybe military but he was not good at shooting it seems

[woofytreats]

Aug 22, 2018 16:02:26 GMT cluso said:

Could have been a security bank truck guy, he was maybe military but he was not good at shooting it seems

Not sure about that...given the Lake Herman Rd. shooting, it would appear that he was a proficient ( or more than proficient ) shooter, but I don't know if you can classify the circumstance with Mageau, for example, as indicating his shooting prowess.  Unfortunately for us, I think he could have been anything including a bank armored truck guy, cop, or an accountant. If you're not someboby's stepfather then you're a former math professor who lived in Montana....

[trabuco]

Aug 11, 2018 0:05:55 GMT ezioauditore said:

I think he at the very least was in the military, if not military and police. I'm so *ed at myself not seeing the GSK being in the police force right away. The biggest reasons I didn't think he was is because he spent so much time casing and stalking his victims I didn't think he'd have time to be a police officer, but I think I overrated that aspect of how time consuming being a cop is, especially during that time when crime isn't as high in volume as it is now, there was probably a lot of downtime. The other reason is, and this is my fault I should have known better, is I trusted the eye witness accounts too much when they said he was 18-23 years of age. Everything about him screamed older. His methodical nature, his diligence in his crimes. His work wasn't "rookie" or novice stuff. I won't make that mistake again.

I think the tactics Zodiac used and his personal beef with the police makes it even more likely that he was a cop than not. But definitely at least the military. He was too good at avoiding capture.

The Zodiac was so unique though. He was pretty much purely a thrill killer. Which for serial killers is rare. Most are sexual in nature one way or another. I'm not sure anything about the Zodiac was sexually motivated. I think it made him feel god-like and made him feel alive, and frankly, entertained him.

As we see with serial killers all the time, which proved itself again with the GSK, so many of them are escalating in nature. GSK started off as the Visalia Ransacker. then eventually graduated so full blown serial killer(with some self preservation murders in between obviously). I don't think regardless of your background, even if you are in law enforcement, you can just start out so damn methodical and meticulous right away. You need to live the experience, learn from your mistakes, master your "craft." I'd be stunned if the Zodiac didn't start out with something small. Since his crimes were not motivated motivated by power, control, or dominance or sexually motivated(as far as we know) his escalation would be different than someone like the GSK who sneaked into homes and went through underwear and stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zodiac was involved in some small stick em up robberies before he graduated to killing people.

Has anyone ever looked into that? Strings of armed robberies/muggings in the general area before the killing broke out?

Easy targets like a drunkard or an illegal and / or undocumented person. What are they going to do? Call the police?

I think this is possible. As you have stated, his crimes do not include the sexual element that most others do.

What about his victims? They appear to be randomly selected. It appears that a vehicle is the only commonality

 in all of his murders. 

[trabuco]

Wasn't the Zodiac killer one of the first known to attach a flashlight to a handgun? Taped perhaps but it was on there.

Can someone point me to where this detail was learned and where I can read about it?

[californiah]

This is from Wiki

August 4th 1969
Sent to the San Francisco Examiner, the FBI later determined these were written on Woolworth's "Fifth Avenue" brand paper, and contained fingerprints on the latter two pages





Dear Editor
This is the Zodiac speaking.
In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police haveing a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it they will have me.
On the 4th of July:
I did not open the car door, The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; thats how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper,. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car. The man who told the police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was at this phone booth haveing some fun with the Vallejo cops when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the dam X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.
Last Christmass
In that epasode the police were wondering as to how I could shoot + hit my victoms in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see the silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or celling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike exactly in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.
Zodiac Killer symbol.svg
NO ADDRESS

[californiah]

Also 11/09/69

at end of bus bomb letter-

PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing.
To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight
which I used to start my collecting of slaves.

[trabuco]

Sept 18, 2018 2:30:30 GMT californiah said:

This is from Wiki

August 4th 1969
Sent to the San Francisco Examiner, the FBI later determined these were written on Woolworth's "Fifth Avenue" brand paper, and contained fingerprints on the latter two pages





Dear Editor
This is the Zodiac speaking.
In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police haveing a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it they will have me.
On the 4th of July:
I did not open the car door, The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the front seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; thats how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene of the killing with squealling tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper,. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car. The man who told the police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was at this phone booth haveing some fun with the Vallejo cops when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the dam X@ thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.
Last Christmass
In that epasode the police were wondering as to how I could shoot + hit my victoms in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see the silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun. If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or celling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike exactly in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.
Zodiac Killer symbol.svg
NO ADDRESS

Thank You!

[tzadikim]

Again, Z. has always been consistently reported as being heavy-set to obese, though his exact proportions are up for debate. Would an active-duty soldier be able to keep the weight on?

[trabuco]

I think about the Zodiac killer taping a flashlight to his handgun and it makes me think about the following from KnR:

"Thinking ONS is so brazen he probably worked as a consultant on his own case.Would bet money on it.
Have often wondered if he's designed anything in use by investigating agencies?
Police procedure/tactical training etc.Fire arms/Surveillance/Ear mites and the like.
Sniffers on all servers in the Southland lol.
Dude was good at what he did.The best for sure."

[CAMFaults]

Jul 4, 2018 11:42:13 GMT andrew said:

What about the cop who turned up not long after the kids got shot in their car?? Didn't he turn up at 2 crime scenes? I strongly suspect him as z

Officer Richard Hoffman. There were a few things related to him that I found troubling, especially after watching his interview segments (This Is the Zodiac Speaking documentary). His recollection of riding with Darlene in the ambulance to the hospital was a little creepy. And according to Graysmith, Hoffman was at Darlene's painting party. But he denies it.

[firespirit]

Sept 26, 2018 23:26:07 GMT CAMFaults said:

Jul 4, 2018 11:42:13 GMT andrew said:

What about the cop who turned up not long after the kids got shot in their car?? Didn't he turn up at 2 crime scenes? I strongly suspect him as z

Officer Richard Hoffman. There were a few things related to him that I found troubling, especially after watching his interview segments (This Is the Zodiac Speaking documentary). His recollection of riding with Darlene in the ambulance to the hospital was a little creepy. And according to Graysmith, Hoffman was at Darlene's painting party. But he denies it.

There has never been any proof that the "Painting party" actually took place. Many believe this was one of Graysmiths "embellishments"...

[qmanfan]

May 28, 2018 19:53:48 GMT gskunmasked said:

May 28, 2018 4:39:41 GMT trabuco said:

That is another big Cop clue just as with JJD and Deputy Randy Comeaux. The flashlight in the eyes. Thanks for mentioning that.

The Zodiac Killer was even experimenting with attaching a flashlight to his firearm.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The Zodiac Killer was efficiency minded. It's all about staying free. Escaping.

Adding to that he seemed to speak like an officer or former military. Describing the guns the ammunition, he was always accurate when talking about time/specific measurements, locations, detailed maps and detailing crime scenes - all in an esque that would suggest previous experience.


I'll tell you one thing that I always found odd about the Zodiac case (all of if lol) Right after the Stine murder he walks off, he is as i believe stopped by officers as he said himself and Eric Zelhms wife confirmed this. So he's seen - he is now aware, even though he skilfuly manages to get away, he knows two officers have just got a good look at him enough for a detailed composition for the first time.

So what i'm trying to say is following normal assumptions of criminals not wanting to be caught - you'd expect him to go back to his home or wherever and think right they've put a face to me, I'm not going to send a letter and claim that murder I'll let it go down as was originally expected a robbery gone wrong and the composite can go with it. That way they still have no real face to put to the zodiac.

Instead he writes a letter claims it and now they know what he looks like, just never really made much sense to me - this a guy who wore a bag on his head hiding his identity going to LB very secluded environment with the intention of killing two people? Why wear a bag..

Nevermind different MO's different victims it doesn't even sound like the same individual. Now i know he wasn't going to walk round SF with a Z bag on his head haha but he could of definitely avoided them putting a face to him by not claiming it - which would fit the not wanting to be caught etc.

Also he left his gloves, we're supposed to believe he had the foresight to bring gloves and not leave prints but forgets them - this makes me think it was a decoy and he wanted them to dust the cab and get the false clues he supposedly left. Does your average criminal have this much knowledge of examining a crime scene and particularly fingerprints baring in mind its 69/70's.

Jeez, i could go on - I really hope Z gets solved like GSK.

I love this observation, leads me to surmise one of two things:

1. the composite came out before the letter and evidence was sent and looked nothing like him.
2. he is losing his mind

Ted K was a genius but clearly losing his mind, shooting at planes in the sky for example. 

I remember reading about a college professor who taught English or poetry who was suicidal and eventually drove into a truck killing himself.  I can't recall his name but there was a weird note left in the classifieds the day before his death about killings in the afterlife or something, it was some sort of note to Zodiac, making him more of an accomplice than a true suspect.  Anyone know who I'm talking about here?  I think he was a potential suspect because his writing was very dark and possibly similar to Z.  

[qmanfan]

Sept 26, 2018 23:26:07 GMT CAMFaults said:

Jul 4, 2018 11:42:13 GMT andrew said:

What about the cop who turned up not long after the kids got shot in their car?? Didn't he turn up at 2 crime scenes? I strongly suspect him as z

Officer Richard Hoffman. There were a few things related to him that I found troubling, especially after watching his interview segments (This Is the Zodiac Speaking documentary). His recollection of riding with Darlene in the ambulance to the hospital was a little creepy. And according to Graysmith, Hoffman was at Darlene's painting party. But he denies it.

Didn't RH sign the desk with the morbid poem at Riverside College (Cheri Jo Bates).