New Zodiac Candidate

[kensei]

This tops just about every ludicrous Ripper suspect I have ever read about on these message boards.

Definitely equals any of them, anyway! The book is "IT'S ME- Edward Wayne Edwards, the Serial Killer You Never Heard Of" by John A. Cameron.

[GUT]

This tops just about every ludicrous Ripper suspect I have ever read about on these message boards.

Definitely equals any of them, anyway! The book is "IT'S ME- Edward Wayne Edwards, the Serial Killer You Never Heard Of" by John A. Cameron.

Don't worry worse will come along almost as sure as night follows day.

[Harry D]

Apparently the latest "my step-daddy was the Zodiac" book is supposed to be compelling stuff. I believe the suspect in question is one Earl Van Best Jr.?

In addition to being rather odd and eccentric, Best was known to have a violent streak, especially towards women. Stewart wrote that on several occasions, Gilford (Chandler) caught Best locking his young toddler son (Stewart) in a small wooden trunk (nearly suffocating him).

- Best was paroled from prison in 1965, three years before the series of Zodiac murders began. With pressure from her family and the police, his true-love, Judith Chandler, cut off all ties with him.

- The Zodiac Killer’s female victims all bear a close resemblance to Best’s shunted lover, Judith Gilford.

- Earl Van Best bears a striking resemblance to sketches of the Zodiac Killer.

- Both Zodiac’s and Best’s fingerprints featured diagonal scars.

- Best’s friends recalled him having an unusual, and sometimes creepy, interest in the occult and often joked about sending “slaves” into the afterlife (a claim Zodiac often made in his letters to the police).

- Best likely had a keen interest in serial killers. He once used the false name ‘Henry Lee” [Lucas] on a fraudulent check.

- One of the Zodiac’s favorite symbols was a “dotted V”, potentially indicating the nickname that Best often went by: Van.

- During the Zodiac murders, Zodiac carried on a letter campaign with San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery. Unknown until now, Paul Avery had interviewed Best seven years before the Zodiac Killer murders in an article about Best’s love affair with 14-year-old Judith Gilford (Chandler) titled, “He Found Love in Ice Cream Parlor“. According to Stewart, Avery’s account of the affair greatly upset Best.

- Judy Chandler went on to marry one of the lead homicide investigators on the Zodiac case, Rotea Gilford. Stewart suggests this connection could have embarrassed the San Francisco Police Department and caused them to “shut down” the investigation.

- A handwriting expert matched writing from Zodiac’s letters to Best’s signature from his marriage certificate.

- Best’s father was an expert military cryptographer in the Army. He taught Best cryptography and they often worked ciphers together as part of a childhood game. Cryptic ciphers were often included in Zodiac’s communications to police and the press. Many of the ciphers have never been solved.

- Earl Van Best Jr.’s name (with purposeful misspellings, a common trait in the Zodiac’s ciphers) is found hidden in at least two of the Zodiac’s cryptograms and his partial name is found in several of the ciphers and cipher keys. In the July 31, 1969 cipher sent to the San Francisco Examiner, his name appears in the cipher and cipher key no less than eight times.

- The count of letters in “Earl Van Best Jr” matches the count of the as-yet-unsolved “My name is: “ Zodiac cryptogram. [see possible solution below]

[Harry D]

^ No one have any opinion on the latest Zodiac suspect?

[sdreid]

He's more interesting than most Harry but probably not Zodiac. At least we have a video of this one.

[Harry D]

What are people's perceptions of the Zodiac Killer and his motives? The way I see it, and this might be bordering on cliché, the Zodiac was probably an angst-ridden young man, who may or may not have been the nerdy, socially awkward type. Someone with a grudge against authority figures and frustrated in love, which is why cops and young couples were on his hit-list, and why he thrived on the media attention awarded to his Zodiac persona.

[Abby Normal]

What are people's perceptions of the Zodiac Killer and his motives? The way I see it, and this might be bordering on cliché, the Zodiac was probably an angst-ridden young man, who may or may not have been the nerdy, socially awkward type. Someone with a grudge against authority figures and frustrated in love, which is why cops and young couples were on his hit-list, and why he thrived on the media attention awarded to his Zodiac persona.

Sounds about right. He was what I would label a Thrill Killer serial killer. He got off on the act of murder and the attention, hence all the letters.

and I would bet my bottom dollar, he was ex military. Probably Arthur Leigh Allen.

[Harry D]

Hello, Abby.

What makes you think the Zodiac was ex-military?

I believe Arthur Leigh Allen has been ruled out by forensics. His fingerprints don't match those left at Paul Stine's murder scene, neither do any of the palm-prints on the letters or DNA on the stamps/envelopes (that ALA didn't lick his own stamps is complete hearsay).

[Harry D]

I wonder if they'll ever crack any of the other Zodiac ciphers? I hope I'm still around if that day comes.

[Batman]

I wonder if they'll ever crack any of the other Zodiac ciphers? I hope I'm still around if that day comes.

Best thing I ever read about them is here -http://www.zodiackillerciphers.com/?p=573

I don't believe he had the ability to create complex ciphers and his later ciphers after the simple one that got cracked easily are meaningless. What makes it seem complex is that the FBI tried but failed to crack the first one but they should have because it was easily done by a husband and wife.

[Harry D]

What evidence is there for the 'Zodiac Murders' being a serial killer? Unlike the Ripper, there's a different MO in each of the murders and a different murder-weapon.

[John G]

Well, of course, there are generally thought to be 7 confirmed victims. Additionally, I consider Bates, as well as Domingos and Edwards as possibles (there are obvious similarities between this double murder and Hartnell and Shepard) An obvious link is that the majority of victims were young couples-unusual victimology in itself-attacked in remote locations, usually close to water. All the victims were shot, and a knife was also sometimes used.

Moreover, I've long thought there was something impersonal about his crimes. He seems to me to have more in common with a detached spree killer, like a sniper, than a conventional serial killer. In fact, I would agree with Abby's earlier post, that he was probably a thrill killer as, I believe, are most snipers.

[sdreid]

The letters pretty much tie most of the murders together because of knowledge that only the killer would know. Then you have the letters after Stine that contained actual evidence from the crime scene. With the different jurisdictions, I don't think even a hoaxing policeman could have pulled all that off. My best guess is that he only killed five in four attacks. A gun was used in all the assaults although it was only used for intimidation at Lake Berryessa.

[Batman]

What evidence is there for the 'Zodiac Murders' being a serial killer? Unlike the Ripper, there's a different MO in each of the murders and a different murder-weapon.

DNA. They also have prints from Stine's cab.

[Harry D]

Has any of the forensic evidence (fingerprints, DNA) been cross-matched in the Zodiac murders?

The composite sketches for the Lake Berryessa suspect and Paul Stine's killer don't look anything alike.

Then we have the variation in murder weapons:

Lake Herman - .22 semi-auto pistol

Blue Rock Springs Park - 9mm semi-auto pistol

Lake Berryessa - knife

Presidio Heights - 9mm semi-auto pistol