where have you been?i've been waiting since 7:00. get in. i had to find fireworks. let me drive. get in. i haven't eaten in 24 hours. are you coming or not? it's too crowded. i thought you were starving. let's go someplace quiet. okay.
what are we doing? sitting. listening to music. talking. - you seem weird. is everything okay?- yeah, everything's fine. it's july.how many shirts are you wearing? - i'm cold.- you're cold on the fourth of july? fuck off and die! - what?- "fuck off and die"? shut up. was that car at the drive-in?
i saw that car at mr. ed's. - do you want me to tell him to leave?- stay in the car. - was that your husband?- no. who was that, darlene? don't worry about it. - don't tell me not to worry. who was it?- it's nothing. oh, shit. let's go. now, d.
get your wallet. man, you really creeped us out. - vallejo police department.- i want to report a double murder. may i have your nameand where you are calling... if you go one mile easton columbus parkway, a public park,you'll find kids in a brown car. they were shot with a 9mm luger. i also killed those kids last year. goodbye.
spit. come on, buddy. - i swallowed it.- why? it was minty. you can't do that. it's not good for you. lunch box. - why am i not going on the bus?- because we're late. okay, you're stayingwith your mom and aaron tonight. so, you don't likehaving a new little brother?
- no, not really.- oh, that's honest. learn a lot. there will be a test tonight! morning. - hi.- good morning. - morning.- morning. how's the coffee today, shorty? editorial in two. good morning, gentlemen.
- good morning.- good morning. well, stanton, tell mr. howe the draft board piecewas damn near perfect. mr. graysmith. horrid. not so horrid. horrid.i'm thinking we go with not so horrid. paul, what's on the crime beat? janice in datebook left the fondue partybefore everyone got naked.
that's a crime. have you seen her? wouldn't kid you. it may be the beginning of a crime wave. you need to see this. go get the publisher. "dear editor, "this is the murderer "of the two teenagerslast christmas at lake herman "and the girl on the fourth of julynear the golf course in vallejo.
"to prove i killed them, "i shall state some factswhich only i and the police know. "christmas,brand name of ammo, super-x. "ten shots were fired. "the boy was on his backwith his feet to the car. "the girl... " would you read that, please? "the girl was on her right side,feet to the west. "fourth of july.
"one, girl waswearing patterned slacks. "the boy was also shot in the knee. "brand name of ammo was western. "here is part of a cipher. "the other two parts of this cipherare being mailed to the editors of "the vallejo times and s.f. examiner. "i want you to print this cipheron the front page of your paper. "in this cipher is my identity. "if you do not print this cipherby the afternoon of fry,"
f- r-y, "first of aug '69i will go on a kill rampage fry night. "i will cruise around all weekendkilling lone people in the night "then move on to kill again "until i end up witha dozen people over the weekend. " it's unsigned except for a symbol. is it me,or does that look like a gunsight? today's august first. he wants his codein the afternoon edition. if the examiner doesn't havethe balls to run it, we scoop the bay.
al, this man is talking aboutshooting 12 people. and not running thismight make him do that. if we run it, we might be settinga very dangerous precedent. oh, come on, now, it's newsworthy. well, giving some sick bastarda soapbox, what does that say to people? back up. is this vallejo story true?do we know that? - paul?- what? i cover crime in vallejo? yeah, i cover crime in vallejo.ten minutes.
let's shoot the code and call sfpd. if it turns out to be real,at least we'll have the material. all right. graysmith,don't you have that cartoon to finish? oh, yeah. hi, this is paul averyfrom the san francisco chronicle. i'm looking for someone toshed some light on a letter we received. thank you. sergeant mulanax.
sergeant, paul avery fromthe san francisco chronicle. i just wanted to check if you had an unsolvedfirearm-related homicide on christmas andmaybe one on july fourth. shit. you guys got one, too? confirmed.vpd, they confirmed the shootings. al's on the phone with the examiner. they got the same letterwith a different code.
so did times-herald. christmas, two teenagerson lover's lane. both doa. david faraday and betty jensen. july fourth,darlene ferrin and michael... i think it's "mayhew. "anyway, he lived, she didn't. the murder weapons? ballistics, everything he saidin the letters matched. i mean, i think the times-herald'sgonna go with it. the examiner's going,but won't go front page.
i say let's go front page.if he kills 12 people, it's not our fault. robert! we need the cartoon. - you're not finished?- no, i'm finished, carol. i'm finished. thieriot's still here. really? the first editionis off the floor in 10, charles. give us a sec. okay, re-plate. we'll go on page... page four.
what do you say, 20 buckswhoever cracks the psycho's name? he won't give his name. morti's? anyone? - that's where i'm heading.- all right. put those on my desk. turn on the light. grab your book. now go get your jammies on. all right, people, listen up. the cipher's broken into three sections,each with eight lines and 17 symbols.
no breaks between the symbolsdenoting different words. no numbers or cluesto substitution keys. and you got symbolsfrom at least seven different sources. greek, morse code, navy semaphore,weather symbols, astrological signs. - hey, take a gander at this code thing.- okay. you wanna give it a go? guy who used to sit therewas a great cartoonist. bob bastian. now he's doing public television.for some reason. paul avery.
robert graysmith.i've been here nine months. you were right, by the way.he didn't give his name. who cracked it? a history teacherand his wife in salinas. "i like killing peoplebecause it is so much fun. "it is more funthan killing wild game in the forest "because man is the mostdangerous animal of all to kill. "something gives methe most thrilling experience. "it is even betterthan getting your rocks off with a girl.
"the best part of it is that when i die, "i will be reborn in paradise. "and all that i have killedwill become my slaves. "i will not give you my namebecause you will try to slow down "or stop my collecting of slavesfor my afterlife. " methinks our friend'sa tad bit fuckered in the head. i heard he even sent vallejoa code key, just to help. - what is that at the bottom?- leftovers. maybe an anagram.
how does one do that? i like puzzles. i do them a lot. how did you knowhe wasn't gonna give his name? dangerous animal. what dangerous animal?how do i know that? - paul.- yes, templeton. - editorial, now.- very well. another letter. more of the same.details about the murders.
he taped a flashlight to the gun.that's how he hit them in the dark. and he gave himself a name. you know this used to bethe town of montecello? but at some point, the county decided that the landwould work better as a lake. so they flooded it. - but there's an entire...- hidden city under the water. we were here last spring, remember? somebody else is here.
it is a public park. i think he's watching us. well, we're very good-looking. where'd he go? he went behind that tree. all right. so he's taking a leak. he's coming towards us. oh, my god, he has a gun. don't move.
- i want your money and your car keys.- okay. we're not gonna do anything, okay? we're gonna cooperate.just tell me what you want us to do. here. you're welcome to everything i have. if there's anything elsei could do for you... maybe i could write you a check? okay, i could give youmy phone number. you know, i might be able to help you.
even more than you might think. he's a sociology major. pre-law, actually. oh, keys. you know, i'm sorry, i don't know exactlywhere i put my keys. they might be on the blanket.is it okay if... here's the keys. don't get up. i want her to tie you up.
you know, if he comes any closer,i might be able to get that gun. - don't get any ideas.- i'm not. i killed a guardescaping from prison in montana. i'm not doing anything, okay? i'm not afraid to kill again. look away. what was the name of that prison? hey, you said it was in montana, right? i'm taking your car.
i'm going to mexico. we didn't complainwhen you tied our hands. okay, you have everything that i have. we have done everythingthat you've asked. it's okay. it's okay. she tied you loose, didn't she? get on your stomachso i can tie your feet. okay.it gets really cold out here at night. we could freeze.
okay, you all done? you know,just because people are gonna ask, was that thing even loaded? it's okay. this is all gonna be okay. dispatch, this is 43l2,heading south on knoxville road. i've got an abandoned whitevw karmann-ghia... napa police department. i want to report a murder.no, a double murder.
they are two miles northof park headquarters. they were in a whitevolkswagen karmann-ghia. i'm the one that did it. 43l2 has a male victim with him. piner's ambulancehas been dispatched. boy lived, the girl didn't. again. god, can you imaginesurviving something like that? writing the dates on the side of the car. we got two vallejo killings,now there's one in napa. why napa?
what the hell is he doing out of vallejo? sweet mother of christ,what are you drawing? kid at the lake. this is what he saidthe zodiac was wearing. god, that's a hell of a get-up. - paul, what are you doing?- hyman, i wrote it. it's done. now i just got to type it up. type it up?it's not finished until you type it up. we've got to read it.
- what's that?- that's the zodiac at the lake. what's the story with the kid? he seems a little touchedor medicated or... - graysmith?- yeah, what is it? he's a fucking boy scout. he doesn't smoke,he doesn't drink, he doesn't curse. - and he's back.- i knew it. "man is the mostdangerous animal of all. " i knew thati heard that from somewhere.
the most dangerous game. it's a movie about a countwho hunts people for sport. people. - who's that?- that's count zaroff. zaroff? with a "z"? and that will beall for the news on the 20. we've got curfews in effect tonightfor the following counties, napa, solano, contra costa,alameda, marin, and san mateo. so please, everyone, stay safe.
vic in san francisco, you're on the line.you're not scared of the zodiac? heck no,he's only shooting those farm kids. what scares meis those hippies out in the haight with their free love and weird clothes. we've got alfred from vacaville. you know, i thinkthat was really offensive. it's not just farm kids. these are nice, clean-cut young people. hey, nobody's downplayingthe loss of human life here, alfred.
well, that last guy was. we have good solid communitiesout here in the north bay. unlike in the city where you havesatanists running around. well, you bring up a good question.is the zodiac a satanist? amber from oakland,what do you think? i don't really know, but i thought that codethey printed didn't look very christian. but i think the bigger problemis that the papers shouldn't have printed anything that the zodiachas been doing.
that they're just printingall that stuff to sell more newspapers. well, the zodiac did demandthey print his letters or he'd kill more people. yeah, but he would havedone it anyway, whether they printed it or not, i think. an interesting point. so, what do you think he'll do next? - san francisco police department.- yes. there's a fight in a cab! what is your location?
3398 washington,at the corner of cherry. one's drunk andwe think he's robbing him. - is the crime still in progress?- yes, please hurry. oh, my god, look! nuts! whoever this is,you owe me a new lamp. cabbie's been shotthree blocks from the presidio. well, it wasn't me.i've been with my bride all night. - she can vouch.- go put on the folgers.
you'll pick me up? let me just describethe lamp you're gonna buy me. - i just got to sleep.- suspect's negro, male adult. walt's on scene, locked up the caband secured the crowd. seriously, dead asleep.i lost feeling in my arm and everything. crackers. you ever try japanese food? - what do you mean, like teriyaki?- no, like the urchin. - raw fish.- i'm eating here, bill.
- i always wanted to try it.- so, why don't you? haven't got around to it. evening, gents. what a lovely nightfor a botched robbery. yeah, third this week.must be end of summer rush. i got foot patrols going through the park,dogs are on the way. the victim's name is paul stine.dousette pronounced him at 10:10. suspect fired one shotto the back of the head. driver's walletand car keys are missing. how'd you know his name?
leroy, there, came downfrom yellow cab to id him. neighborhood's pretty high-endfor this kind of thing, so i already set up transpo for the cab. - coroner's here.- any witnesses? kids who called it insaw the suspect from that window. - did they hear a shot?- no. they first saw him in the front seat, thought he was a drunkfighting with the driver. oldest kid ran downstairs to geta better look from the dining room,
described him as a white male, glasses, crew-cut, stocky,and wearing a dark jacket. wait, i thought someone saidhe was black. that's the descriptionthat went out to radio cars. - we already corrected it.- oh, well, that's good. - you guys need anything else?- no. get out of here. thanks. happy birthday. - wait, it's your birthday?- yep. - that's great. happy birthday.- thanks.
- body or scene?- it's your birthday, i'll take the body. dave, looks like hewiped the cab down pretty good. - we got some blood over here.- prints? could very well be.we'll dust it at the hall. the odd thing is, we also got gloves. - suspect's?- there's blood on them. - hey, pete?- yeah, dave. you through over there,can i get in there? yeah, i'm all set.
- who rolled him?- stewarts. i got a single 9mm casing. yeah, luger. nothing from the crowd. okay.i'm your shooter, negro male adult, who also happens to bea stocky, crew-cut caucasian. i flag a cab. i give him this address. did i give him this address?who's got the fare book? right here.
washington and maple.that's one block east. lighting's the same over here, so maybe i seesomeone walking their dog. you don't want any witnessesso you tell him to go down a block. he pulls over. i wait for him to put it in parkbecause i'm smart and i don't want himhitting the accelerator when i shoot him. may i? he stops, puts it in park, boom.
i shoot him on the right side,he slumps right? maybe you've got your handon his collar when you shoot. all right. so, either way, i just dumped a quart of bloodin the front seat. - so, why do you get in the front seat?- for the money. but he's dead. you could just reach over the seat,pull out his wallet. you don't have to goanywhere near the blood. so, why'd he get in the front seat?
- i'm an idiot.- but you're not an idiot. you waited for him to put it in park. - right. thank you.- yeah, sure. - can i see that?- yeah. i am an idiot.i just killed a man for $8.25. it's his third fare of the night.does anyone have any animal crackers? - animal crackers?- they're in the car. i'm saving those for later. fine.
- are you a reporter?- no, i'm inspector dave toschi, sfpd. sir, i was wonderingif i'd be able to talk to your children, one at a time and preferably alone? they just saw a man murdered. i understand. it looked likethey were drunk and fighting. yeah, and he had a rag. he came around the side of the carand he was wiping stuff. - did you get a chance to see his face?- i did.
well, sort of. did you remember what he looked like? - normal.- yeah. "normal?" "this is the zodiac speaking. "i am the murderer of the taxi driver "over by washington streetand maple street last night. "to prove this, here isa blood-stained piece of his shirt. "i am the same man who did inthe people in the north bay area.
"the s.f. police could havecaught me last night "if they had searched the park properly "instead of holding road raceswith their motorcicles. " - gentlemen.- dave. paul. where's the shirt? right there, boss. there's your rag the kids talked about. so he got in the front seatto tear off a piece of the shirt. - is this on the record?- well, what do you think?
he confirmsthe vallejo and napa killings. gets worse. robert, do you have a deadline? what does he mean, it gets worse? read the last part. "school children make nice targets. "i think i shall wipe outa school bus some morning. "just shoot out the front tire "and then pick off the kiddiesas they come bouncing out. "
jesus christ, who's got school buses?department of transportation? - school board.- all right. i'm gonna need elimination printsfrom your staff. has anyone heredidn't touch this letter? on my way back to my desk.they have phones, if you want. we need to get matcheson blood and fabric. i'll call napa and vallejo, get the letters up to sherwoodin sacramento. dave, just one thing.is it true they got a print off the cab?
yeah, we got a partial in blood. - but that is not for publication.- hey, hey, come on. hey, it's me. did he say they got a print? partial. whoa. dude, he wears his gun like bullitt. no, mcqueen got that from toschi. does he think that zodiac'sgonna send another code?
'cause i think zodiac'sgonna send another code. jesus harold christon rubber crutches, bobby. what are you doing? you're doing that thing,the thing we discussed, the thing that i don't like.starts with an "l." - oh, looming.- yeah. in cooperation with sfpd,we will run the zodiac letter without including the threaton school children. we don't want to start a city-wide panic
so i'm asking all of youto please keep this confidential. just go about your daily business. i packed you your carrotsand your soda and peanut butter, okay? - dad, you don't have to wait with me.- i know. you know what? you know what?i'm gonna drive him today, okay? come on. what's that? similarities in the lowercase "r's. " and that?
it is you waiting in the hallif you speak again. i have to concentrate. sorry. "sorry" counts as speaking. there are similaritiesin the lowercase "r's. " we have to release the bus threat. - it'll screw us.- we're already screwed. we just went from"routine cabbie shooting" to "mass murderer targets kids. "
the zodiac killerhas come to san francisco. confirmation tonight, from the san franciscopolice department that in his latest haunting letter, which takes credit for the murderof cab driver paul stine, the zodiac has threatened to,"wipe out a school bus "and pick off the kiddiesas they come bouncing out. " if you think you might knowwho the zodiac is, you can call the san franciscopolice department's newest tip line.
press conference is at 4:00.we got to give them something. we're coordinatingwith the school board, and we expecta break in the case very soon. - what do we really got?- we're swamped. when they can't get anyoneon the tip line they call the switchboardand keep getting put through. you got any hard suspects? about 90 an hour. i'm up to around 500. well, can't you narrow it down?
i would love to,if i could get out of this... - homicide, please hold.- yeah, hold, please. we're gonna need to tell themwe got the entire force on this. how many men can you give me? well, right now, it's you and billand monday's a school day. yeah, i know, chief.i have three daughters of my own. yeah, i know. where's armstrong? he's on the phone with vallejo. we're playing catch up, jack.
i'd like to set up a meetingwith your survivor, michael mageau. i can't. he skipped town. the only guy who's seen zodiacwithout a mask is missing? when he was still in the hospitalwe could show him lineups all day long. as soon as he got out, he split. really? why? i don't think he wantedto have anything to do with this. can you send us everythingthat you have? well, the road goes both ways.
now, we need that printyou lifted from the cab and we should have been inon the handwriting. i apologize.things have been moving fast. who should i talk to in napaso we can coordinate? talk to ken narlow. we really should have been inon the handwriting. i apologize.things have been moving fast. listen, we're gonna needyour scene photos. can't help you.
ken, i don't want to get intoa jurisdictional thing here. no, no, no, no, no.we didn't have a crime scene. the ranger that found the kids literallyswept everything into a picnic blanket. all we have are the wing walker prints. the what? boot prints to and from the crime scene were made by size10-and-a-half wing walkers, military-style bootssold only at military pxs designed to walkon the wings of planes.
and you can't buy at a pxwithout a military id, so our suspect could be military. did you guys narrow your list off of this? - yeah.- did vallejo? i don't know. i don't work in vallejo.i work here. great. i'm gonna need photosof those boot prints. sure, if you send me the handwriting. i thought questioned documentsalready did. nope. vallejo's got them, not us.
all right.i'll have questioned documents... forget it. i'll telefax it to you. we don't have telefax yet. - okay, i'll put it in the mail.- we'll mail ours, too. and call mulanax in vallejo. - maybe he can get you a mimeo.- right. why don't you just get a photooff the original plaster cast? we'd have to wait,because they don't have a fax. we don't have a fax, either.
look, i'm just tryingto get us coordinated. have you called solano sheriff's office? why would i call solano? because the two kids that got killedlast christmas were solano's. i thought they were vallejo. no, they were over the county line so you're gonna needto coordinate with them, too. bill. can i have a word with you?
where did you see this guy? we got the call to circle the sceneand look for a negro male adult. where was he? on jackson. heading east.about the middle of the block. and this is three minutesafter the shooting? give or take. yeah. - and you were heading east or west?- we were going west. all right, so you'reon jackson going west. so the cab was one blockcatty-corner southwest?
- correct.- did you slow down? - of course we slowed down.- all right. listen, dispatch saidit was a negro male. that was corrected. no, but at the timethey hadn't changed it. this guy was white. right, not in a hurry.kind of lumbering along like... lumbering?what do you mean, "lumbering"? - shuffling.- stocky? had a crew cut?
yeah, that's all correct. listen, it was dark. the guy was wearing a dark jacket.there's no way... he would have been covered in blood. did you stop him? did you talk to him? - yes? no?- no. you need to get with a sketch artist. we have to put outa new composite right away.
five persons have been murderedin the san francisco area, and in each case the killer... "i shall wipe out a school bussome morning... " san francisco police... ...to see the stones in concertthis sunday. the new lettersfrom the zodiac killer were sent to the city room of thesan francisco chronicle. one of the letters was... looming. no looming.
- have you considered the water theory?- what? geographically, every attacktakes place near a body of water - or a water-based name.- this is your water theory? lake berryessa. blue rock springs. - lake herman.- wash-ington and cherry? you think? no. i'm reading this book, homicide investigationby lemoyne snyder...
- "leymone. "... and he says you look for patterns, - so i'm looking for patterns.- no. you can't think of this casein normal police terms. - why not?- you got four crime scenes. solano, vallejo, berryessa, and here. not a single usable print at thefirst three or in any of the letters? how does our master criminal cometo the city and leave a bloody latent? i mean, assuming the gloves are his, he shoots the cabbieand then takes them off?
so it's not his print? maybe, maybe not.you're missing the point. - the point is the first attack...- david faraday and betty jensen. they both die. from there on out,he only manages to kill the girls. - not for lack of trying.- not for lack of trying. mageau lives, ferrin dies.hartnell lives, shepard dies. he gets so caught up with the womenhe forgets to finish off the men. plus, they're all couplesand all on lover's lanes.
- paul stine is not.- exactly. single, male cab driveron washington and cherry doesn't fit. doesn't fit. so, why does zodiac kill him? he's breaking the pattern. yeah? someone claiming to be zodiaccalled oakland pd a half-hour ago. he says he's gonna call in on jimdunbar's morning show in three hours. on television?
he wants melvin belli onto counsel him. all right. all right.let's go wake up melvin. animal crackers? glove box. are these windows bulletproof? yes, melvin.you don't have to lie down back there. this man is a marksman, could snuff me outat a moment's notice. are you sure you're up for this?
don't you worry about me, inspector.i'll be fine when the lights are on. this man has asked for my help. the man you're worrying aboutsnuffing you out? what are these, cookies? dear lord, do you ever clean this car? - shit.- kgo must have tipped other stations. get him talking.convince him to meet you somewhere. if you see an opportunity, we want you to suggestold st. mary's church in chinatown.
you'll be tracing the call? pacific telephone says you need tokeep him on the line for 15 minutes. we can do that, can't we, jim? fifteen seconds. clear the set. here you go, you drunken reprobate. we interrupt our regular programto bring you this news bulletin. welcome to this special editionof our show in which we are joinedby attorney melvin belli who the zodiac killerpersonally requested to appear.
finish up, buddy, and put it in the sink. - good morning, melvin.- good morning, jim. so, the phone lines are open.mr. belli is here. here to help, jim. yes. here to help. and we ask the public not to call in,so that the zodiac himself can reach us. i saw your star trek, by the way.it was excellent. a shame about the show. good people.
you know, i've often thought ofbecoming an actor full-time. what was your character's name? - gorgon.- gorgon. that's right. roll the tape. get the tape. jim, we have a call. we're going live. hello? hello? this is melvin belli. who am i speaking with? this is the zodiac speaking.
is there something i can call youthat's a little less ominous? sam. sam. is there somewhere we can meet, sam,and talk about this? meet me on top of the fairmont hotel. without anyone else or i'll jump... have a unit go to the fairmont hotel. - sam.- yes? do you think you need medical care?
medical, not mental. do you have health problems? i'm sick. i have headaches. headaches? i have headaches, too, but a chiropractor stopped thema week ago. i think i can help you, sam. sam? he knows they're tracing his calls.
sam, we'd like you to knowthat we are not tracing these calls. it's a long, difficult processand ineffective with these short calls. we're not tracing these calls.you have my word. okay. sam, you need to tell mewhat your problem is. i don't want to go to the gas chamber. i have headaches.i kill, i don't get them. that is fucked up! you want to live, don't you?well, this is your passport.
how long have you beenhaving these headaches? since i killed a kid. - do you have blackouts?- yes. - do you have fits?- no. i just have headaches. did you attempt to call one other time when f. lee bailey was with ustwo or three weeks ago? yes. and why did you wantto talk to mr. bailey? why do you wanna talk to me, sam?
- i don't want to be hurt.- why is he calling? - hey, just a second, buddy.- i don't wanna go to the gas chamber. you won't get hurt if you talk to me. and you're not goingto the gas chamber. i wouldn't think they would askfor capital punishment. we should ask the district attorney. do you want me to do that, sam? do you want me to talkto the district attorney? what was that, sam?
i did not say anything. we heard a scream. that was my headache. you sound like you're ina great deal of pain. my head aches. i'm so sick. i'm gonna kill them. - oh, okay.- i'm gonna kill those kids! fantastic. sam?
- let's meet and talk. just us.- okay. how about old st. mary's churchin chinatown? no. in front of the daly cityst. vincent de paul at 10:30. i'll see you there. take care of yourself, sam. my, my, my. you fellows certainly knowhow to put on a secret meeting. you know, the problem is,
i don't want to go to the gas chamber.i have headaches. i kill, i don't get them. no, it's not him. it's the voice.the voice is too high. it's too young. all right.thanks for coming down, bryan. do you have blackouts? that's okay. i got it. they pulled off the trace. our daly city no-showcalled from a mental institution.
oakland pd's operator is sure the man she talked tohad a deeper voice. calmer. might have actually been him. "so i shall changemy way of collecting slaves. "i shall no longer announce to anyonewhen i commit my murders. "they shall look like routine robberies,killings of anger "and a few fake accidents, et cetera. "the police shall never catch me
"because i have beentoo clever for them. "i look like the description passed outonly when i do my thing. "the rest of the timei look entirely different. "i shall not tell you whatmy disguise consists of when i kill. "as of yet i have left nofingerprints behind me, "contrary to what the police say. "i wear transparent fingertips. "all it is is two coats of airplane cementcoated on my fingertips. "i enjoy needling the blue pigs.hey, blue pig, i was in the park.
"you were using fire trucks to maskthe sound of your cruising prowl cars. "hey, pig, doesn't it rile you up "to have your noserubbed in your booboos? "if you cops think i am going to takeon a bus the way i stated i was, "you deserve to have holesin your heads. " and you need to look at this. "take one bag ofammonium nitrate fertilizer, "one gallon of stove oil, "and dump a few bagsof gravel on top... "
- okay.- it's a bomb. okay. we gotta call the armyand see if this science experiment could actually work. another cipher. - when did these arrive?- they arrived this morning. are you planning to publish? robert. we should have a drink. so, tell me about yourself.
- you married?- divorced. two kids. what do you do for fun? i love to read. - i enjoy books.- those are the same things. why you been going through my trash? i'll come back to that. how did you knowhe was gonna send another code? i just guessed. - just guessed.- the first one seemed too easy.
all right, this can no longer be ignored. - what is that you're drinking?- it's an aqua velva. you wouldn't make fun of itif you tried it. but who actually cracked the code? a married couple who like puzzles. so what's that tell us about the zodiac? - he's no expert.- right. it's just a simple substitution code like the one thatwe used to do as boy scouts.
"a" is one, "b" is two. we weren't all boy scouts, robert. well, it's not that hard.you just got to know where to start. in the first cipher... you actually carry that around with you? - why?- no reason. what's the most common doubleconsonant in the english language? consonant? - the double "l."- double "l."
and what's the one word that we knowthat he'll use in here, at least once? - "kill. "- right, "kill. " so the hardens start lookingfor double symbols, which they find here, here, and here. each with the sametwo symbols preceding them. so now they've gota repeating four-letter word ending with two symbolsthat they assume stand for "l." and since they think the whole wordis "kill" then... then you got your "k," you got your "i,"and you're on your way.
but how do you gofrom "a" is one and "b" is two to figuring out this whole code? well, same way i did.you go to the library. in this book, the author presents a very simplesubstitution code in the preface. eight of the 26 symbols thathe suggests are found in this cipher. yeah, but there are non-letter symbols because there's allthese medieval ones. i thought they looked medieval, too.
but then i found a codewritten in the middle ages. guess what it's called? the zodiac alphabet. jesus. what do you want out of this? - what?- what's your angle? this is good businessfor everyone but you. how do you mean "business"? hey. come to bed.
i'll be up in a minute.i need to make a phone call. - hello?- bill? there's not many basementsin california. "basement for future use. " that's right. i'll have vallejo and napacheck with their city planners. - get some sleep.- yeah, sure. "dear melvin,this is the zodiac speaking. "i wish you a happy christmas.
"the one thing i ask of you is this.please help me. "i cannot reach out for helpbecause this thing in me won't let me. " "i am finding it extremely difficultto hold it in check "and i am afraid i will lose control again "and take my ninthand possibly tenth victim. " melvin, he's reaching out to you. absolutely. inspectors, he sent this letterdirectly to my residence. it is a cry for help,intended as a private communiquã©.
which is whyyou contacted the chronicle. the people have a right to know.toddy? - when did the letter arrive?- in the middle of last week. i was away on safari. what did you gentlemendo for christmas? - you're looking at it.- you must see africa. cradle of civilization.fascinating people. beautiful. savage. - back to the killer who wrote to you.- yes. of course. it is my beliefthat he only penned this letter
because he couldn't get through to meon the dunbar show or here. - he tried to contact you here?- several times. i was out,but he spoke with my housekeeper. didn't leave a number. he's kind of crafty like that.do you mind if i speak to her? not at all. but the real story is the letter. - i'll be back.- yeah. she's right this way. inspector toschi, it is my beliefthis is a window into this man's soul.
killing is his compulsion. even though he tries to ignore it,it drives him. it's in his blood. could be.or maybe he just likes the attention. i didn't mean to scare you,but your right rear wheel is loose. if you like,i could tighten the lugs up for you. if you don't mind. well, you can't be too careful. - all done.- thank you.
no problem. have a good night. are you okay? yeah. yeah, we're fine. must have been worse than i thought. i can give you a lift to a service station. it's okay. come on. i didn't know you had a baby. oh, is that okay? the more the merrier.
you shouldn't smoke. it's a bad habit. - i think we just passed a filling station.- it was closed. do you always go aroundhelping people in the night? when i'm done with them,they don't need much help. before i kill you, i'm gonna throw your babyout the window. no! help! please! no! she was on the side of the road.she flagged me down. - what happened to her?- she said she jumped from a car.
i found her like this. - what is it?- please, he said... - it'll be okay.- tried to kill me. my baby! - where's her baby?- she didn't have one when i stopped. where's your baby? - you hid it?- in case he came back. "by the way, have you crackedthe last cipher i sent you? "i'm mildly curious as to how muchmoney you have on my head now.
"i hope you do not think i was the onewho wiped out that blue meanie "with a bomb at the cop station, "even though i talked aboutkilling children with one. " "i'd like to see some nice zodiacbuttons wandering around town. "everyone else has these buttons "like peace, black power,and melvin eats blubber, et cetera. "it would cheer me up considerably "if i saw a lot of peoplewearing my button. - "please no nasty ones. "- "this is the zodiac speaking.
"i shot a mansitting in a parked car with a. 38. "zodiac 12, sfpd zero. " "the map coupled with this codewill tell you where the bomb is set. "you have until next fall to dig it up. " "i'm rather unhappy because you people "will not wearsome nice zodiac buttons. "so, i now have a little list,starting with the woman and her baby "that i gave a rather interesting ride "for a couple of hours one evening,a few months back,
"that ended in my burning her carwhere i found them. " we're really not gonna runany more of his letters? the new policy. our brothers in bluewant us to hold back and see how he reacts. four letters in three months, and this is the first mentionof kathleen johns. that's very weird. that's because he's full of shit. what do you mean? you don't know?
welcome. please put your stuff down.you're going down five rows and left. looking for the modesto beefrom march. i'm going to stand hereand attempt not to vomit. - left.- left. - what am i looking for?- kathleen johns. also probably you wannapull the chron from... you know, never mind. i'll see to that. okay, look at this letter again.the part about kathleen johns. tell me what facts he gives.
- a woman and her baby abducted.- fact. - the car on fire.- okay, now, look at the article from the bee. seen it yet? everything in the letteralready appeared in the article. and he's done it before. officer richard radetich,shot sitting in his car. zodiac claimed that he shot someonein their car. couple days after this article came out.
the police already had somebodyin custody. zodiac didn't do it,but took credit for it anyway because he's in it for the press. he even stole his symbol. - what?- yeah. shit. if i show you something,you promise not to tell anyone? - who would i tell?- okay. totally solid point. okay. that's the only placethat word and that symbol ever appeared togetherbefore the letters.
the guy stole his logo off a watch. how can somebodywho's killed 13 people do... he claims he's killed 13 people, but which onescan we actually confirm? there's three in vallejo,one in berryessa, the cabbie. that's it. bobby, you almost look disappointed. chief's pulling everybody off buses. business as usual. something'll shake loose.
not a peep in four months. first he won't shut up and now... maybe we drove him underground. maybe he's gone. 311 at 582 haight, cross at biltmore.there's a male... - happy birthday, bill.- thanks. does it ever bother youthat people call you shorty? does it bother youthat people call you a retard? - nobody calls me that.- right.
as governor,i pledge to use all my influence to make sure that darlene ferrin's killeris brought to justice. i believe some clues were overlookedin the murder of darlene ferrin. - i believe her murder was premeditated.- who is that? florence douglas, mayor of vallejo.she's running for governor. i believe that the police departmenteither did not have the money, the time or, yes, the inclination... sayonara, police endorsement.good work, flo. does anyone ever call me names, or...
you mean like retard? yeah. shit. fuck. oh, my god. jesus. tell me that's not a pieceof bloody shirt! fuck! holy fucking crap! "i feel it in my bones,you ache to know my name "and so i'll clue you in. "but then, why spoil the game?happy halloween. " paul, you did call hima latent homosexual
in at least one of your articles. dave. i want a gun. a gun? you're in herb caen. "paul avery's investigationhas won him the accolade "of a message from the zodiac warning,'you are doomed. ' "as a result, several crime newsmenare wearing lapel buttons reading, "'i am not paul avery. "' you should sell these.you could do well.
it's been a windfall, sincethey published the threat on my life. i got the leadscoming out of the woodwork. there's one guy down in riverside. i'm gonna drive downand see him tonight. - you wanna tag along?- no, i have a date. - really?- who is this guy? he wishes to remain anonymous.i wish to remain infamous. so we're going to get along great. hi. good evening. hi.i'm looking for a melanie.
yes.it's the young lady sitting by herself. you must be melanie. - which would make you robert.- it would. glynnis told me lots about you. - and you have wine, great.- i do. great. how late am i? just a few minutes, really.i just got here myself. traffic's bumper to bumper.i was at the gun range. - glynnis said you were a cartoonist.- oh, yeah.
well, what're you doing at a gun range? reading. get some more...you need some more napkins. so, you work with glynnis. - for her, actually.- for her? oh, well... my children are terrified of glynnis. me, too. so, the gun range?
we're... i'm working on...do you know the zodiac? - yeah.- i'm working with... - do you know who paul avery is?- sounds kind of familiar. he's the writerthat the zodiac threatened. oh, yeah, i saw that on tv. well, i work near himand he's going down tonight to track an anonymous tipsterdown in riverside. where is riverside? it's near l.a.
oh, wow. i don't think paul knowsthat it's that far away. sounds kind of dangerous. yeah. how do you mean? well, you said it wasan anonymous tip, right? so it could be an ambush.i mean, it could be the zodiac. don't you think it's kind of stupid? yeah, yeah. well, paul has a gun. so, do you know what's good here? i've never been here before.
the pasta, spaghetti? are you ready to order yet? yeah, i'll have the penne vodka.but could you do it in a cream sauce? of course. maybe give us another minute? do you have any change? oh, wait, no wait, hold on. nope. that's a penny. do you have to make a phone call?
yeah, you know,when you were saying that the zodiac... you know, when you said itwas dangerous, i just thought - that it is dangerous, and it's...- stupid? stupid. and i just thought that i should call his wifeand just see if she's heard from him. i have some change. okay. well, she saidshe'd call when she heard from him. - good.- yeah. melanie, i should really go homeand wait for the call.
is this some sleazy planto get me to go home with you? what? no. i'll get the food to go. hello! hi! i'm supposedto meet somebody here. anything? you don't have to stay. are you kidding? this is the most interesting datei've ever had.
- paul?- robert? - yes.- you sitting down? you're not gonna believe this. dave! in a bizarre twist,the hunted has become hunter. san francisco chronicle reporterand zodiac target paul avery claims to have uncoverednew information regarding the only unsolved homicidein riverside county's history, a 1966 southern california murder,
that avery now believeswas the zodiac's first victim. what? - he didn't call you about this?- hang on! the riverside killerwrote to the press letters that i then took personally tothe office of questioned documents. and what did this expert tell you? what i knew in my gut, ron. the handwriting matches zodiac's. how'd he get the evidenceout of riverside?
he took it to sherwoodwithout telling us, the son of a bitch. you know how bad this looks? hey, how do we knowthat this lead is real? it's very real. you know how i know? because i saw it on tv. excuse me. dave. hi. dave, you know mel nicolai.he's working the case for justice.
good to see you, mel. all due respect,can someone explain to me why i'm readingabout breaks in this case in the chronicle insteadof getting calls from you? we got screwed. dave, come on. you do get your name in the paper a lot.people talk. i don't ever talk about an openinvestigation, period. okay, ken? dave? hey. hi.
paul avery. can i catch a ridewith you gents when we get there? not a good idea, paul. he's gonna make me take a cabwhen we're going to the same place. ladies and gentlemen,thank you for choosing psa. - fair enough. fair enough.- please take your seats at this time. remember, smoking isin the last six aisles only. enjoy your flight. - cross? hi.- yeah. - detective david toschi, sfpd.- how are you doing?
great. thanks for having usdown today. not at all.i hear you have some files for us. i'll show you mine. you show me yours. - frisco huh?- that's right. san francisco. - ken narlow from napa.- ken. - mel nicolai, justice.- mel. here's what we know. cheri jo bates attendedriverside community college. she studies in the librarythe night of october 30th, 1966.
she leaves with an unidentified maleat closing, 9:00 p. m. her body's found the next morningin a parking lot, stabbed to death. her car is disabled. someone cut the coil in the distributor,the battery died. the someone comes back,offers to help. - like kathleen johns.- who? a woman outside of modesto,might be a zodiac victim. might. might be.i have her comp right here in this file. a typewritten confession was sentto the riverside press enterprise
on november 29th,a month after bates's murder. they ran it. "i'm not sick. i am insane.but that will not stop the game. "this letter should be publishedfor all to read. " he wants to be published.he calls it a game. i mean, this could be our boy. six months later, the police,the girl's father, and the paper, they all received these. double postage, just like zodiac.
these are what sherwood morrillmatched to the zodiac letters? these and the desktop. don. this was found a couple of months laterby a janitor in rcc storage. sherwood gota handwriting match off wood? who etches in their own handwriting? to be honest with you, our letters and your letters,i don't see it. how did paul averyget his hands on the exemplars? i gave them to him.
we talked on the phone the other dayfor about an hour. and i told him you were gonna be here. - you told him we were meeting?- yeah. i also told himwe don't think this is zodiac. okay, wait a minute. - you don't think this is zodiac?- we got a guy we like for it. we don't have enoughto pin it on him yet, but we're pretty sure it's him. if you don't think this is zodiac,then why give anything to avery?
i'm trying to cooperate. oh, that's how you cooperate?by giving information to reporters? look, i don't knowabout the handwriting, but sherwood says it's a match, right? so, let's just saythat your guy did cheri jo. he types the confession. zodiac reads it in the paper, and hewrites a letter taking credit for it. now, that's something he's done before. look, now you have everything we have.
but, in my opinion,you guys came south for nothing. fubar, gentlemen, fubar. i don't care what he says.this still could be z. the problem isthe entire state already thinks it is. well, there's your press agent.talk to him about it. i come in peace.i don't want any trouble. i really don't want to talk to youright now, paul. not now. - just trying to do my job.- oh, really? well, now i can't do mine. we're already screwed withthe amount of tips we got on this thing,
and you just freaked out the entire state. i have got napa, vallejo, and dojlooking at me sideways and riverside's telling mei'm on a snipe hunt! jesus. hey, cheri jo bates was a gift.i gave that to you. you and armstrongnever would have found her. this may not be zodiac.does that matter to you? - what if it is?- does it matter that riverside may not be able to make a caseagainst their suspect because of you? tell it to sherwood.i'm out here, beating the bushes,
trying to draw him out.we're in this together. no, we're not in anything together, paul, because i'm not interestedin upping my circulation. oh, boy. he wrote me.he threatened my life. hey, bullitt! been a year-and-a-half,you gonna catch this fucking guy or not? - go fuck yourself.- happily. you should have called me, paul. - did you see this?- unfortunately, yes.
here comes every lunatic in california. i'm the zodiac. and how did you kill your victims? with a gun. no, with a hammer. all i'm authorized to tell you is that he's still undergovernment employment. - and who authorized you to tell me this?- that's all i'm authorized to say. only a little rat bastard like andre could have done somethinglike cut off all the victims' hands.
zodiac didn't cut offany of the victims' hands. - are you sure?- yes, sir. travis and i worked hereside by side for 10 years. his foot gets crushed in an accidentand the killings begin. - coincidence?- i don't know. you're a cop, man. do the math. have you consideredthe killer might be paul avery? frequently. he was drinking coors,getting a load on.
starts talking about hunting people.like that book. says how you can put a lightat the end of a gun to use as a sight in the dark. - he said that?- yeah. so i asked him,"how would you get away with it?" and he said, "it would be easy "'cause there'd be no real motiveto the thing. " then he said he'd write lettersto the police and call himself zodiacto mess with them.
leigh liked messing with people. - you're positive he said "zodiac"?- yeah. i thought it was a stupid name.so i told him. he got up all upset and said,"i don't care what you think. "i've thought about it a long timeand that's the name i'm gonna use. " did you feel like he'd beenthinking about it a long time? he was raw about losing his jobat the school. he talked about shooting outthe tires of a school bus and picking off the little darlings.
- he actually used those words?- that's what made me remember. afterwards, i told my wifei didn't wanna see him again. and i haven't since. other thing is, leigh's into skin diving. i know he's been up to that lakea bunch of times. lake berryessa?did you ever go with him? couple times. we went fishingby putah creek near there. tell him when you put it together. about a year ago, in the paper,there was a story about the zodiac.
and it all comes back.i tried to call the local cops. they blew him off.thought he was a nut. and you're surethe conversation you had about zodiac took place on january 1st, 1968? it couldn't have been any later. i started a new job in l.a.on january 20th. i had to move. - this is my problem. this guy...- arthur leigh allen? this guy, leigh,just lays out his entire evil plan
to a fishing buddy on new year's day? i don't know.he's angry, he's been drinking, been thinking about it for a while.i can buy that. so why didn't cheneycontact us sooner? i checked. he did. first recorded contactwith the police department about allen was in pomona. january 10th, 1970. he just got lost in the shuffle. did cheney have anythingagainst allen?
did allen screw his wife or anything? we're gonna doa full background check. but i got to tell you, i like this guy. so, let's pullsome handwriting samples. hi. i talked to sherwood.he got the samples. - what are you having?- blt. so, the check stubs are a wash.there's not enough handwriting. the application's got more,but it doesn't look like z's, so he can't rule him in.but he can't rule him out, either.
- well, that's vague.- he needs more samples. also, our guy is a pervert. when mel got the applicationfrom valley springs, they told him thatallen had been fired for touching kids. - touching?- polite euphemism. - so what do you want to do?- make some phone calls. - are you done with the fries?- go ahead. did you and mr. cheney have a chance to look at the copiesof the zodiac letters we sent you?
yeah.some of this stuff is pretty creepy. - yeah, we know that.- i mean, creepy like leigh. he misspells words like that.he thinks it's funny. what about the handwriting? i don't know.don't you have experts for that stuff? our man at questioned documentssays it's inconclusive. maybe he did it with his other hand. the letters are a little too neat for someone to have writtenwith the wrong hand.
but not for leigh, right. - what do you mean?- he's ambidextrous. he can write with either hand.didn't you guys know that? in everyday life, allen uses his left hand. job applications,letters to friends, et cetera. but he writes the zodiac letterswith his right hand producing a different handwritingthat he can't be linked to. we got to see this guy, chief. - where is he?- vallejo.
he works at union oil in pinole.his brother's up there, too. see them both. make sure you call mulanax.it is his backyard. oh, right, because thatworked so well for us in riverside. cooperation, that's us, at all costs. you can talk to him in here.coke machine's busted, by the way. i'll go get him for you. so how do you guys wanna do this? well, bill talked to the informants.he leads, we follow?
it's okay by me. mr. allen, i'm inspector bill armstrong. this is inspector dave toschiand sergeant jack mulanax. we're investigating the zodiac murdersin san francisco and vallejo. please, sit down. the informant notified usthat you made certain statements 11 months priorto the first zodiac murder. if they're true,they're quite incriminating. do you recallhaving any such conversation?
- no.- have you ever read or heard anything about the zodiac? when it was first in the paper. but i didn't follow itafter those first reports. - why not?- too morbid. i... i told all this to the other officer. - which other officer?- from vallejo. do you remember his name? no, but it was right afterthe murder at the lake.
and what did you tell this officer? i told him that i'd gone to salt pointthat weekend to skin dive. that i was alonebut i met a couple there. i have their names at homeif you want them. that would be great, arthur. - leigh.- what? leigh. nobody calls me arthur. also, that day when i came home,my neighbor saw me. it was around 4:00. but i forgotto tell the other officer that.
- neighbor's name?- bill white. he died a week or so afterwards. heart attack.so i didn't think to call to follow up. the knives i had in my carwith the blood on them, that blood came from a chickenthat i killed for dinner. - what?- i had knives in my car that weekend. maybe bill saw themand called the other officer on me. well, we'll be checking in on that. well, let me ask you something else.
were you ever in southern californiaat any time in 1966? - is this about the riverside killing?- yes. well, i guess i was therearound that time. i used to go down there a lot.i like the auto races. informant says thatyou're ambidextrous? no, that's untrue. you can't write with both hands? my teachers tried to make mewhen i was a kid, but i couldn't. i'm left-handed.
he also said that you made statementsabout killing school children. that is... that is horrible. that is...that's a horrible thing to say. so, you weren't angryabout being fired from valley springs for touching your students? i'm not the zodiac. and if i was, i certainly wouldn't tell you. that's a nice watch. may i see it?
where'd you get it? it was a christmas giftfrom my mother two years ago. that's very sweet. so, tell me something, arthur. you don't remember anyone you might have had a conversation withregarding the zodiac? maybe ted kidder or phil tuckerat vallejo recreation. but i couldn't be positive. i used to work there when...
the most dangerous game.that's why you're here, isn't it? it was my favorite book in high school. it's about this man who waits for peopleto get shipwrecked on this island. because he wastired of hunting animals, he hunted the people for the challenge. and man is the mostdangerous animal of all? that's the whole point of the story. great book. or, at least, that's what i told phil.
may i go? sure. - thanks for your time.- i'm willing to help in any way possible. i look forward to the day when police officersare no longer referred to as pigs. thanks. we'll be in touch. so does anyone think this suspectwarrants further investigation? these are copies of someof the zodiac letters that were sent.
we'd like you to take a look at them. you think my brother's the zodiac. well, we're looking at him. are you going to arrest him? mrs. allen, we don't arrest peoplejust because we're interested in them. well, leigh's always been troubled. is it true about the children? unfortunately. we don't see him much anymoresince we found out.
what are your feelingsabout don cheney? don cheney? my old roommate? - was he the one who contacted you?- that's confidential. well, don's a very reliable guy. if he were to tell you something,i'd believe it to be true. - this one.- what about it? here, where he spells"christmas" with two "s's. " we got a christmas card from leigha couple years ago. he spelled it the exact same way.christ-mass.
- would you still have that?- i can look for it. thank you. that'd be great. is there anything elsewe can do to help? the brother saidhe would search leigh's apartment next time he went out of town. - that gets you around a warrant.- for the time being. if we do find something,mulanax will go to the da in vallejo, and we could search the place properly. now i got a chance to talk to the cop
who interviewed leigh allentwo days after the berryessa murders. doesn't remember how he got onto him, but didn't think he looked like a killerso he didn't like him for z. - but you do?- i wish i could've taken the guy in there. take it slow, dave.try and find more stuff for sherwood. a match'll get us fartheron the warrants. - avery's on two.- tell him to screw. you want me to communicate thatverbatim or can i spice it up a little? christ, kid.
- paul, i've been thinking...- oh, god save us all. the letter to melvin belli was sent exactly one yearafter the lake herman road murder. and the one to cheri jo bates' father was sent exactly six monthsafter her death. - she was killed a day before halloween.- yeah. and you received a halloween card... you know, these are all fascinatingpieces of news, robert, it's a bit early in the day.
paul, it's 11:00 and we missed editorial. - i'm sorry. i didn't mean to wake you up.- no, no, no. - i just thought that...- no, no, no. this suspect is not your zodiac. this sample matches the canceledchecks and the application? perfectly. so we've just retested the left hand.i mean, we know he's ambidextrous. in 38 years, i've never seen anyonethat ambidextrous. both hands would have commonalities.
i'm sorry. just not gonna work. - homicide, toschi.- dave, it's jack mulanax. hey. mulanax. yeah. we struck out with the judge. he won't sign off on a warrantfor allen's house. - why not?- said it wasn't enough. now, unless we bring him a handwritingmatch or some evidence that... how are we gonna get evidenceif we can't toss the house?
i don't know. - i truly am sorry.- no, no. thank you, jack. what do you wanna do? don't know what i can dowithout vallejo. we need allen's right hand.we can't get it without a warrant. are there other guysyou should be looking at? only, what? twenty-three hundred? okay, then.
paul, you wrote the justice department asking to be put in chargeof the zodiac investigation? i merely suggested... on our letterhead? ...that those with intimate knowledgeof the case create an information clearinghouse to promote an exchangeand free flow of ideas. - and that you run it.- well, who better than me? the marked man.
paul, if you want to work here,i need three things. one, stop boozing. two, stop doingwhatever else it is you're doing. and three, cut this nonsense out. sweetest of templetons, if at any time you feel my excellent work is no longerin step with this trashy provincial rag, i'll more than happily... more than happilydecamp for greener pastures. paul, i mean it!
- paul?- yep. - what was that?- an editorial tãªte-ã -tãªte. - wanna grab a drink?- it's 10:00 in the morning. late breakfast? - early lunch, or...- paul. thank you for asking. shorty! let's go out for one. paul, where are you going? so, you moved off my brother-in-law?
we couldn't get a warrant. last year we arranged for leighto get help from a social worker. he only went twice. we saw him recently forthe first time in nine months. my mother-in-law brought him byto see the new baby. after he left,i went to see that social worker. he couldn't talk about a former patient,so i just asked him straight out if he thought leighwas capable of killing people. - because of patient confidentiality...- the man said yes.
why hadn't you seen himin nine months? he's going to school in santa rosa. - santa rosa? where is he living?- in his trailer. - in santa rosa?- sonoma county. we wouldn't have to gothrough the vallejo da. it's been 11 monthssince you talked to this guy, and now you wanna search his trailer? if we find something, great. if not, we get his prints andhandwriting samples from both hands.
i thought sherwood shut you down. what if i can get a second opinion? i don't wanna step on sherwood's toes.he trained me at this. terry, all i need to knowis if the suspect is ambidextrous. could he possibly have writtenthose letters with his other hand? between you and me? because there are differingschools of thought on this. get the samples of his other hand.if he's the zodiac, you'll get a match. that's the current thinking,according to terry pascoe.
meanwhile, i spoke to a psychologistwho'd be willing to testify that someone who undergoesa personality change like zodiac would manifest it physically,altering his handwriting. which is why sherwood couldn'tget a match from allen's samples. we got terry pascoe,this psychology guy, coupled with cheney... it could be enough for a warrant. get cheney on the record. "and that he would call himself zodiac. "
yes. and you're willing to swearto this, under oath, in superior court? without any hesitation. thank you very much, mr. cheney.thank you very much for your time. suspect is arthur leigh allen. lives in sunset trailer courtin santa rosa, california. physical description. allen is similar in height,weight and build to a man seen at lake berryessaon the day of the stabbings.
i understand he doesn't lookmuch like the san francisco composite. true. height and weight are sketchy, but lumbering caucasianwith a crew cut is right on. we never had much confidencein the composite from the kids. the patrolmanwho saw zodiac that night said he didn't look much like the sketch. military boot prints. allen was in the navy.wears a size 10-and-a-half. same size as the printsfound at berryessa.
what about gun? cheney says allen owns severalfirearms. we'll list them in the warrant. - and the ciphers.- could be code training in the navy, and people have seen allenwith ciphers in the past. really? who? that would be his sister-in-lawand a man named phil tucker that he worked withat a public pool in vallejo. and phil tucker told us abouta conversation that he had with allen about how to attach a flashlightto the barrel of a gun.
that gives us two sourceson the ciphers and two on the flashlight. what about his threats on children? suspect worked for elementary schools and was fired for molestationin march, april '68. - could give him motive.- at the very least, it's home turf. he'd have knowledge of bus routes, which the two major threatscentered around. what about the bomb? allen works as a chemist.
take him through the geography. vallejo murders. allen lives in vallejowith his mother in her basement. berryessa murder. on the daythat the two kids were stabbed his neighbor saw bloody knivesin his truck which he claimed were usedto kill a chicken. does he have any alibis? he claimed he did, but he's been unableto produce the names of the couple he supposedly meton the day of berryessa.
the bottom line is that allencan't alibi up on anything. riverside, vallejo, the lake or us. - you want to tell me about the name?- what name? zodiac. allen wears a watch that bearsboth the word and crosshair symbol. and he mentioned zodiac to cheney a year and a halfbefore it appeared in any letter. - john...- that's pretty good, guys. - we think so, too.- let's take it to a judge.
mr. allen? this is thesanta rosa police department. we have a warrantto search your residence. i'll check with the neighbors. close the door. close the door,there's rodents running around. neighbor said he tore out of hereabout a half-hour ago. - you think somebody tipped him?- we're not leaving till he comes back. i'll check the back.
- what?- squirrels. piece of work, this guy. not one, but two blue windbreakers. - like the stine scene?- we'll have those checked for blood. and a pair of black gloves. men's seven,just like the ones we found in the cab. well, he's got the same size shoesand gloves as z. probably just a coincidence. dave, i got a gun.check that. two guns.
they're both. 22s.one automatic, one revolver. well, that's interesting. because he happens to havean m-1 rifle here in the closet. for little darlings bouncing off buses. someone's here. hello, arthur. remember us? on the handwriting? ballistics, no match.prints, no match. writing, no match. on both hands, right?
because we got handwritingfrom both his hands. and neither hand matches. forget sherwood.let's get another opinion. fellas, he's not your guy. damn it. hey. what do you want? time off? a hug? do you know whatthe worst part of this is?
i can't tell if i wanted itto be allen so bad because i actually thought it was him,or i just want all this to be over. it's because you thought it was him. and i did, too. you know what? take some time off. spend some time with your wifeand the kids. go to candlestick. see a movie. "to the city of san francisco,i will enjoy killing one person every day "until you pay me $100,000.
"if you agree, say so tomorrow morning "in the personal columnsan francisco chronicle, "and i will set up meeting. "if i do not hear from you, "it will be my next pleasureto kill a catholic priest or a... "... scorpio. " who's out of their minds? i've got to get out of here. where the hell does he expect meto find $100,000?
you're not thinking of paying him,are you, mr. mayor? the city of san francisco does notpay criminals not to commit a crime. the killer gets shot in the chest. that's how it ends. do i know you? i'm robert graysmith.i work at the chronicle with paul avery. dave toschi. nice to meet you. dave! that harry callahandid a hell of a job with your case. yeah. no need for due process, right?
- what do you do at the chronicle?- i'm a cartoonist. that's nice. you're gonna catch him. pal, they're alreadymaking movies about it. we today have concludedan agreement to end the war and bring peacewith honor in vietnam. ...charles manson forthe tate-la bianca mass murders... guilty in the chowchillakidnapping case. in the murder trial of one...
chairman mao died today... ...an absolute pardonunto richard nixon... - no, i'm not a crook...- ... generation of hostility... ...has now led to the deathof 50,000 americans and severalhundred thousand vietnamese... patricia hearst is kidnappedby the symbionese liberation army... all of us should stand up togetherand say, "no more. " your declaration of independencespreads that... americans admirethe united kingdom...
mr. hoffa has disappeared. if we despise our own government... ...that the police have captured a man whom they believeto be the "son of sam... " hi. we haven't met. i'm robert graysmith. i'm duffy jennings. - nice to meet you.- good to meet you, man. you got a great desk.
guy who used to work herewas a great reporter. oh, yeah. oh, i'm sure he was. i mean, it's a honorto leave the chronicle and go work for the sacramento bee. dare to dream, right, robert? - nice to meet you.- nice to meet you, too. i'm just right down thereat the art department - if you need anything, duffy.- yeah. - you sure you don't want the car, bill?- it's your turn.
you could just drop me off at my placeand take the car. you should keep the car. i'm not coming in tomorrow. why? what's up? i'm done. i put in for a transfer. where? looking at fraud. i can't be on call anymore.
i wanna see these kids grow up. hey, good for you, bill. - you'll be okay.- yeah. i'll be fine. hey, i'm not leaving youholding the bag on anything, am i? hey, you know what? maybe you'll have a chanceto try your japanese food, the raw stuff. i'm not paul avery. the boys need to be tucked in, please,and the baby needs changing.
- i'll flip you for it.- you wish. nobody has more zodiac crapthan you do. - are you kidding me?- hi, paul. permission to come aboard.it's right there. anyway, you got shoes on.this is perfect right here. - that's the one.- okay. - see that? mesmerizing.- oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. my own kidswould kill me for one of those. - how are you?- fantastic.
i mean, admittedly, the bee ain't exactlythe chron, but fuck it, right? do you want a drink?i don't have anything blue, but i got... don't worry about that.don't worry about it. it's no bother at all.nobody comes by from the old days. cheers. to your health and mine. mostly mine. so,
what's new? - i've been thinking.- yeah. somebody should write a book. somebody should write a fucking book,that's for sure. - about what?- about zodiac. it's not new. i've been thinking thatif you put all the information together, maybe you could jog something loose. and then i was thinking thatnobody knows the case better than you.
yeah. that's true. you know all the players,and you have all the files. lost them. you lost them? or i tossed them. i don't know.i moved onto a boat. you know that we workin the daily business, right? as in, today. what do you thinkwe were doing back then? do you know that more people diein the east bay commute
every three monthsthan that idiot ever killed? he offed a few citizens, he wrote a few letters,and he faded into a footnote. not that i haven't been sitting here idly waiting for you to drop byand reinvigorate my sense of purpose. it was four years ago. let it fucking go. you're wrong. it was important. then, what did you ever do about it? if it was so fucking important,what did you ever do?
you hovered over my desk,you stole from wastebaskets. am i being unkind? oh, that's right, i forgot.you went to the library. i'm sorry i bothered you. - hey, hi.- hi. - where you been?- the library. thank you! - inspector toschi?- yeah? one moment, please. - hi.- hi.
we met at the movies once. it must have been magical. i'm robert graysmith.i work at the chronicle. i was wondering if i could buy you lunch. sure, why not? so, you're a friend of paul avery's? he's actually the reason i'm here. i wanted to ask you about zodiac. well, i appreciate the interest,but we don't discuss open cases.
oh, well, what's going on with it,day to day? we're actively pursuing all leads. and you're the only one on it, right? mr. graysmith, zodiac hasn't written in three years. you know how many murderswe've had in san francisco since then? - no.- over 200. that's a lot of dead peopleand grieving families that need our help. so, nobody cares.
excuse me? i care. okay. can i show you something? i've been doing researchon the first cipher. everything an amateurwould need to create it can be found in these books. now, i started thinkingthat if you can track these books, then maybe you can track the man. so, i remember you thoughtthat zodiac was military, so i went to every base libraryand i got a list of every person
who's ever checked out these booksand that's when i found this. - missing.- it means they were stolen. so, almost every book on cipherswas stolen from the presidio library? and the oakland army terminal library. somebody didn't want a recordof ever having checked out these books. who are you again? i just wanna help. i can't allow you to help. i can't discuss the case with you.
i can't give you information,and i certainly couldn't tell you to go see ken narlow in napa. n- a-r-l-o-w. i'm sorry, mr. graysmith,but we don't cooperate with writers. well, i'm not a writer, i'm a cartoonist. - and dave toschi sent you?- yes. - why?- maybe he... maybe he thoughtthat i could do some good. - what are you, some kind of boy scout?- eagle scout, actually, first class.
well, if you wanna do this,don't let me stop you. better start with vallejo, jack mulanax. i understand what you're trying to do. but this is an open police investigation. i'm a friend of dave toschi's. and he saidthat you might be able to help. i mean, the case is dead.zodiac's long gone. he's yesterday's news, right? that's what they say.
so, what's the harm? no pens, no paper. anything that you see that's relevant,you got to remember in your head. okay, here we go. - which one?- all of them. and there's more in the next room.they're all marked with these numbers. 243-146. you don't smoke, do you? once. in high school.
what's this? "nine millimeter. "said nothing and began firing. " "most dangerous game. "do not eliminate this suspectbecause of handwriting. "not because of handwriting. "darlene's sister, linda. "it was all just deep breathing. george. "it was a strange man. george.strange man. "
thank you so much. oh, briefcase. oh, thanks. - hey, jack.- hey, bawart. - who's that?- that's graysmith. some cartoonist.thinks he's gonna solve the zodiac. well, good for him. - thank you for meeting me, inspector.- no. we're not meeting, robert. we're just two guyswho happen to be sitting on the same bench at the same time.
i've got five minutes.i've got to get back to the hall. okay. as far as you know,did anyone ever get in touch with mike mageauduring your investigation - and show him suspect photos?- why? well, he's the only surviving victimwho ever saw zodiac without a mask. no, i mean, why are you asking me? mageau and darlene,that's vallejo's case. paul stine is mine.you've got four minutes now. darlene ferrin was being followed.
now, i know mulanax saysthat they already found this guy, a george waters? but he also saidthat she had a lot of admirers who would come tothe restaurant where she worked. - she was popular.- very. yeah. so... she and her husband,they move into their new house, and one night they throwthis painting party. and what's a painting party?
it's a party where people comeand help you paint. sounds like a terrible party. well, supposedly,somebody who's not waters shows up. and darlene is terrified of him. so you think that darlene knew zodiac? and if zodiac knew darlene,then maybe mageau knows zodiac. maybe. but mageau's gone. so if you wanna connectdarlene to zodiac, you're gonna have to find another way.
i have another way. phone calls the nightof darlene's murder. - yeah, zodiac called the police.- no, dave, there were four other calls. there were two to darlene's house,one to darlene's brother-in-law, and one to darlene's father-in-law.just heavy breathing. they started around 1:30 a. m., and this was before anyone in the familyknew that darlene had been shot. - this was in the vallejo files?- yeah. god damn it.
it's got to be morethan just a coincidence, right? i mean, somebody doesn't just randomlyprank phone call a victim's entire family 90 minutes after they were shot. so, either zodiac shootsa random couple, then he recognizes darlene... or darlene was shot on purpose. either way,zodiac had to have known darlene. that's good, robert. so, i can't find mageau,so maybe i can find darlene's sister.
and maybe she can tell mewho this mystery man is. try that. i've got to go. she's very cute. you know, it's interesting that you should mentionzodiac calling people at home. he did that in san francisco once. what? who did he call? i can't tell you.that's privileged information. but maybe melvin belli could. melvin belli.
how do i get to melvin belli? - he should be along soon.- oh, that's all right. i've really...i've only been waiting two hours, so... he's usually not this late. oh, cookies. thank you.these look great. - you are here on business?- i'm writing a book about the zodiac. i remember that. i spoke to him. - you mean to mr. belli about the case?- no, to the zodiac when he called. he said he had to killbecause it was his birthday.
he said it... wait.he said it was his birthday? yes. you want something to drink? - when was this?- oh, so many years ago. mr. belli was away for christmas. gone for a week. the zodiac called,wanting to talk to him. i said, "he is not here. " he said, "i have to kill.today is my birthday. " and then he hangs up.
then the letter arrived. so, the call camebefore the letter of december 20th. mr. belli was gone for a week? he came back on christmas.not a good day to work. so, he left on the 18th. is that helpful? she said it was his birthday. well, you'd have to confirm that,now wouldn't you? how?
well, i never spoke to her,but maybe my partner did. - how do i get a hold of him?- you don't. bill wanted out of this. as far as i'm concerned,he should stay out. how do i confirm it? well, if my partnerdid talk to someone from justice, then they would've hadto put that in a report. that's standard procedure. - okay.- mel nicolai. - thank you.- goodbye.
i just need to confirm a date. - mr. graysmith...- i've narrowed it down between the 18th and the 20thof december, and i just need... okay, i'll play.let's say this phone call did take place. let's say it really was zodiac. why would he volunteerthe day he was born? plus, nobody died on december 18th, just like nobody died over the weekendwhen he was gonna kill a dozen people, or when he was gonnashoot school kids or blow up buses.
he's a liar, mr. graysmith. what if he made a mistake? what if he wasn't lying?what if it was him on the phone? he didn't expect to pick it up,a nice person to pick up. what if? what if? what if? look, off the record,bill armstrong checked this out. we took this very seriously. none of the suspects had thesame birthday as this phantom caller. bill armstrong.
can i give you a piece of advice? you're looking in the wrong place. handwriting, fingerprints,that's what this whole thing's about. stick to the evidence. - hey. how was your day?- long. who's sherwood morrill? he's a handwriting expertin sacramento. he called. he said he can meet youtomorrow morning at 7:00.
oh, great. - so you're taking off work?- just an hour. sacramento's two hours away. - really?- yes. oh, that's that article. "robert graysmith has quietly beenshopping his book about the zodiac. " it talks all about youresearching zodiac. well, that's what the article's about. i'm not so sure that's somethingwe want people to know about.
why? are you embarrassed? robert, what's the one thingwe know about zodiac? he reads the chronicle. yeah, but he's nevergonna read herb caen. - hello.- mr. graysmith? the robert graysmithmentioned in the paper today? - yeah?- i can tell you who the zodiac is. who is this? the zodiac killeris obsessed with movies.
he recorded his murders on film. i tried to tell the police,but they wouldn't follow through on it. there's a man you need to find.his name is bob vaughn. - pen, pen.- v- a-u-g-h-n. he's a friend of the zodiac's. mr. vaughn does not knowhis friend is a killer, and he is storingsome film canisters for him. in these canisters is the evidence. okay, yeah, friend? who is this friend?
you have quite enough to get started. oh, please. the zodiac's name is rick marshall. your toast is burning. we choose at some point in our liveshow to physically construct each letter. once we lock that into our brains, our handwriting may changeover the years, but the moves themselvesremain unaltered. - understand?- yes.
except zodiac's doesn't. specifically with his "k." in his first letters,he executed the "k" with two strokes. later letters, he did them with three. - why?- we don't know. excuse me, i've got to spray this. how many suspectswere cleared through handwriting? all of them. also the print in the cab.no match was ever found.
is there any way that someonecould beat a handwriting test? whoever the zodiac is,he's not someone i cleared. about a month ago, a man showed upon my doorstep very distraught. his name was wallace penny. he said he knew who the zodiac was. gave me a name. rick. rick somebody. - rick marshall?- yeah. i think that the manwho you talked to called me, too.
after he left, then i checked my files. i never cleared a rick marshall. hello? who is this? it's a wrong number. does the name rick marshallmean anything to you? what are you after? what do you got? hypothetically, you just namedmy favorite suspect in the whole case. this is off the record.
couple years back,i was trying to get marshall's prints. i handed him a photo. he looks at it. he's about to give it backand he stops and he says, "my goodness,i got fingerprints all over this. " and he wipes them off. why didn't you test him for handwriting? because when they finallydid run his prints, they cleared himagainst the one in stine's cab. - so, then, it's not him.- maybe yes, maybe no.
no. what do you mean? zodiac left gloves behind at the scene. if he had the foresightto bring gloves with him, how the hell's he gonnaaccidentally leave a print behind? but it was in the victim's blood. could have been one of the bystanders, or a cop just reaches out,boom, false print. yeah, but that printdisqualified 2,500 suspects. which is why we also used handwriting.
but not for rick marshall. sfpd saw a handwritten signin the window of his house. decided it looked nothinglike the z letters, so they just moved on. how do they knowthat rick marshall wrote the sign? my thoughts exactly. rick marshall was a navy man.he received code training. he was also a projectionistat a silent film theater. well, then, how do i get copiesof rick marshall's handwriting? three ways.one, get a warrant, which you can't.
two, get him to volunteer,which he won't. yeah, and three? get creative. i don't know what to tell you.you get it, i'll analyze it. beyond that, you're on your own. okay, what aboutthe guy who came to see you, the one who called me? you mean wallace penny? yeah. did he leave a number?
- hello?- hi, this is robert graysmith. how did you find me? i need a sampleof rick marshall's handwriting. i told you. vaughn is who... mr. penny,if rick marshall is the zodiac, i need a sample of his handwritingto confirm it. can you help me or not? rick used to draw movie postersfor the theater vaughn worked at. - i'll send one down.- thank you.
- i'll need to see more samples.- yeah, but is it... it's as close as i've ever seen.we have to tread lightly here. we're talking aboutimplicating this man as the zodiac. i can get more. i'll just find vaughnand i'll track down linda. i mean, linda is darlene's sister. i've been to the dmv,and i talked to her parents, but still, nobody knowswhere to find her. mr. graysmith, most of the writingmatches the exemplar. in a way, though, it's the part thatdoesn't match that scares me the most.
- what do you mean?- well, on the poster, the one letter that absolutely,positively does not match is the letter "k." you wouldn't happen to have anyanimal crackers in there, would you? unit five.toschi needs to call in on a landline. - dispatch.- hey. dave toschi. i'll connect you. - dave?- yeah. what's up? jennings here from the chronicle.
it came in this morningand you need to see it right now. see what? the new zodiac letter.and it mentions you. okay, okay. shit. all right, come on. hall of justice! now! come on, come on,come on, come on, come on! do you have it with you? "this is the zodiac speaking.i'm back with you.
"tell herb caen i am here,i have always been here. "that city pig toschi is good,but i am smarter and better. "he will get tired, then leave me alone. "i'm waiting for a good movie about me.who will play me? "i'm now in control of all things. " these guys are from internal affairs. we need to talk. good evening. our top story tonight, the san francisco police departmenthas confirmed
that the manwho calls himself the zodiac and terrorized the bay areahas broken his silence of 51 months. in a letter claiming,"i am back with you," the zodiac makes no overt threatsagainst the citizenry, and muses that his life and timeswould make the best movie script yet. these carrots are perfect. the terse 66 word messagealso manages... just go. ...to mention san francisco chroniclecolumnist herb caen
and the department's owndavid toschi by name. - may i be excused?- are they targets? fine, but you have to come back and finish at least halfof what's on that plate. more team coverageon the cipher slayer's return... - okay?- okay. ...begins as alan freeman has more. thank you, eric. san francisco chronicle columnistarmistead maupin says
that he thinks not onlyis this new letter a forgery, but it was written by the very man trusted to hunt down this killer,david toschi. maupin, a very well-respected author,has gone on record saying that he believes toschi wrote the letterto drum up publicity for himself. maupin used davidas a character in his column. david got a kick out of it and so he wrotea couple of anonymous letters asking for the characterto be brought back.
it was likewriting fan mail to himself. that's all. but david did not write that letter. no, i'm sure that he didn't.and i'm sure that this will all blow over. blow over? they kicked him out of homicide. they made him give his handwritinglike some common criminal. - may i talk to him?- no. okay, can you just ask him if he ever investigateda man named rick marshall?
is that all you can think about? mr. graysmith,maupin works at your paper. we trust... this girl, she wants music lessons? dave! dave! i'll catch up to you. you stop calling my house.do you understand me? i just need your help to find linda. - jesus.- look, two seconds. look, we've beenrunning handwriting samples.
- who's we?- sherwood and i. sherwood? sherwood who was firedfrom questioned documents? sherwood who drinkslike paul avery now? - he retired.- is that what he told you? - what, are you saying he's wrong?- i'm saying stop calling my house. - we ran them on rick marshall.- no, robert. no, i know you don't think it's him. i mean, no, i am not havingthis conversation.
but i think that marshall knew darlene,and i can't talk to mageau or linda, so i'm gonna talk to bob vaughn. - robert. robert, stop it!- what? okay, the rick marshallsof this world will suck you dry. they're blind alleys. but he said he wasn't gonna announcehis murders anymore, dave. he was just gonna do them. do you know what the chancesof us arresting someone are now? too much time has gone by, okay?too much of the evidence is lost.
people get old, robert. they forget. now, i have been a cop for 25 years.murder police for 12. - what do you do for a living?- you know what i do for a living. - you're a cartoonist.- so what are you saying? i am saying zodiac was my job.it is not yours. - he's still out there, dave.- no, robert. i am through with this. i am through with you. what about september 26, 1970? - okay, which one was that?- the lake tahoe nurse goes missing.
one day before the vernal equinox. - dad?- yeah. mark that. got another one. june 19th, 1971. that's got to benear the summer solstice. oh, guys. don't tell mom aboutour special project, okay? how come you and momdon't sleep in the same bed anymore? hello. mr. graysmith,it's ken narlow from napa.
oh, captain narlow.thank you for calling me back. yeah. how can i help? i called you because we've beencross-referencing lunar cycles with the zodiac's timeline. more often than not, each cyclesince '69 corresponds with an attack or with one of the letters,or an unsolved homicide. - who's working with you on this?- some colleagues. dad? - ken, can you hold on one second?- dad?
- what is it?- what's this? in the decade since the zodiac'slast cipher was received, every federal agencyhas taken a crack at decoding it. but today,where those agencies had failed, a cartoonist has succeeded. how did you do it? oh, just a lot of books from the library,and i love puzzles, so i just... yeah. the fucking library. i believe that you can accomplishanything that you put your mind...
that's a "j"? okay. honor camp? hey, we found linda.she's in jail. isn't that great? why'd you do it? because she'll be able to identify rick... - what are you talking about?- you went on tv. you put yourself out therefor him to see. oh, hon, you're being paranoid. then who's been calling our housein the middle of the night at least once a week?
nobody. what's it gonna takefor you to be done with this? i can't talk about this now.i have to go see bob vaughn. well, that's too bad,because we're gonna talk about this. and when is it gonna be finished? when you catch him?when you arrest him? - be serious.- i am serious. i need to know who he is. i need to stand there,
i need to look him in the eyeand i need to know that it's him. is that more importantthan your family's safety? of course not. why? why do you need to do this? why? because nobody else will. that's not good enough. are you done? can i go? - mr. vaughn?- mr. graysmith?
- yes.- hi. you needed to speak to me? yes. there's a coffee shopright on the corner. - why don't we just go to my home?- oh, i don't wanna put you out. it's no trouble at all. - where are you parked?- just right there. - you can follow me.- oh. okay. watch your step. come in.
- very nice house.- oh, thank you. it's very rustic. - can i take your jacket?- no, thank you, i'm fine. okay. this way, please. - have a seat.- thank you. - how about some tea?- oh, no, i'm all right. - you sure?- yes. i wanted to ask you about a filmthat the avenue may have played while you were the organist there.
the most dangerous game? oh, it's a classic. rko. 1932. fay wray, joel mccrea, leslie banks.we've run that picture many times. in '68, '69? i'd have to check my records. why? do you remember the zodiac? this is about rick marshall, isn't it? - he was a projectionist there, right?- for a time, yes. but i have no occasionto correspond with him these days.
okay. well, there is a connection between one of the zodiac attacksand that film. you mean the symbol? hold on. the zodiac symbol on film.it's on the countdown. it's trimmed off each reelbefore it's shown, but it always arrives with it. right there. the first time i saw it in the papers,i thought about that.
we got a tip that rick left a film canister herethat he told you never to open. a tip about a mysterious film canister? is it true? - did you open it?- no. - may i see it?- rick took it back in 1972. this tip is how you got it in your headthat rick is the zodiac? that and the poster. the poster?
the poster that rick drew. the handwriting is the closestthat we have ever come to a match. - rick didn't draw any posters.- no, he drew this one. mr. graysmith, i do the posters myself. that's my handwriting. i won't take any more of your time. why don't i just go and find outwhen we played that film? oh, that's all right. it's not a problem.they're just down in the basement.
not many peoplehave basements in california. i do. you coming, mr. graysmith? the original studio one-sheets,i always kept for myself. the cheapo knock-offslike you brought today i end up tossing into the back alley. '69. you live alone? most dangerous game ran in may '69.
so, that would be about nine weeks beforethe first zodiac letter, correct? do you think he saw the filmin our theater and was inspired? are you surethere's nobody else in the house? would you liketo go upstairs and check? thank you. thanks for everything. you're welcome. it's locked. good night, mr. graysmith!
two killers. got to be two killers.one has the... guys? you've got five minutes. linda? hi, i'm robert. did you get my note? - what's this about?- zodiac. figures. - you got the look.- what look?
i didn't mean anything. tell me about this painting party. i told the cops about that so long ago. darlene always hada lot of boys around, even though she was married. and this one guy was weird, though. he used to bring her presentsfrom tijuana and... i don't know whyshe was friends with him. she once told me he'd killed somebody.
yeah, i think maybewhen he was in the service. - navy?- i think so. was he into movies?was he a movie buff? i can tell you thathe was not into people. the party darlene threw, people were supposed tojust show up and drink beer, help paint. but this guy showed up in a suit, and just sat in a chairall by himself all night long. didn't talk to anyone.
and darlene told meto stay away from him. she was scared of him. and a couple of weeks later,she was dead. i'm sorry. do you remember his name? i mean, it was short,like a nickname, like stan. - rick?- no, i don't think so. - are you sure?- yeah. how can you be sure?it was a long time ago. think hard. i am thinking hard.
it was rick. no, it wasn't. - it was rick. it was rick marshall.- no. just say it! it wasn't rick. it was leigh. - leigh?- yeah, leigh. sounds right. officer! i need you to let me in.
- is this an emergency?- no, i just need to see one file. no, you need to come backtomorrow morning. - one file, just for one second.- 8:00 a. m., when we're open. sergeant! sergeant mulanax! sergeant, i just need to see one file! just give me five minutes.i know exactly where it is. please! i shouldn't be talking to you. - you got five minutes.- okay.
here. here. linda states that some ofdarlene's closest friends are leigh, who used to bring darlenepresents from tijuana. - so what?- he knew her. linda said leigh. this is leigh. no. that's just one name in a filethat contains hundreds. it's nothing. - dave toschi...- agrees with me. our investigationinto this subject is over.
who's there? - you didn't return my calls.- oh, i've been kind of busy. yeah. i can see that. how's the book coming? i tried to send you these. i called the chron. well, i'm not a cartoonist anymore, so... i heard. when's the last timeyou ate something?
nothing makes sense anymore. - did it ever?- yeah, it did. robert, it was just the datethat didn't end. you don't mean that. a little. the kids miss you. - i can't have them see me like this.- neither can i. so, do whatever you have to, but finish this.
dave! it's robert! - dave!- is he actually here? i'm gonna kill him. i'm calling sfpd. where's my gun? robert! go away! dave! he made a mistake! - get away from the window.- i'll meet you around front. no, you won't. - you have to hear this!- no, i don't, robert!
the birthday was the one timethat he was weak! the one timethat he gave something away! - robert, i am calling the police.- it's arthur leigh allen! where did you get that name? he called the bellis' house. december '69."i need to kill. today's my birthday. " it was his birthday. arthur leigh allenwas born on december 18th. get in here.
- here you go.- thanks. he wrote me, you know? 2,500 suspects, the only one who ever wrote mea letter was leigh allen. they like to help, you know, sometimes. yes, robert, i know. he was arrested january 1975for molestation. he sent me that when he got out. "dear dave, if i can ever beof any help to you, just let me know.
"i'm sorry i wasn't your man. " and it's typewritten. using a typewriter is not a crime. and he knew darlene. it's in the vallejo files. mulanax said thathe was your favorite suspect. that you spent two years on him,and that nobody ever came close. all the evidence said no. sherwood disqualified his handwriting.
the same sherwoodthat drinks like paul avery now? yes, you have sherwood morrillin writing saying, "i'm sorry, this just won't work. " - but you also have terry pascoe...- his protã©gã©. yeah, fine, it's his protã©gã©, but he's a handwriting expertnonetheless, and he's saying, "do not disqualify this suspecton the basis of handwriting. " - so the two cancel each other out.- no, they don't. it was sherwood's case.
he was the headof questioned documents. if it went to trial, all the defense would have to dois call sherwood to the stand. and there was no way of getting alleninto court in the first place, because there was no evidence, robert. what do you mean,there's no evidence? you have him seen with the ciphers. the military boot prints.the same size shoes and gloves. the most dangerous game.the zodiac watch.
the background with school children. the misspellings of christ-mass.the bloody knives. all circumstantial. paul stine's shirt, his wallet, his keys. we should have foundone of those things in that trailer. - we didn't.- that's... okay. catherine allen states that "leigh cleaned out his traileron friday after work "and moved it to santa rosaon saturday, august 7th, 1971."
you interviewed himat the refinery on august 4th. - yeah.- so, he's cleaning out his trailer, he's moving into a different county48 hours after you interviewed him? okay. okay.look at the stuff side by side, dave. okay, arthur leigh allenand the zodiac, their timelines. - when was the first murder in vallejo?- christmas, 1968. eight months before that,allen is fired for molesting his students and his family discoversthat he's a pedophile. - now, when do the letters begin?- july, '69.
after the murder of darlene ferrin. and they continueuntil you go to see him at work. now, after that, do any of the letterscontain swatches of paul stine's shirt? no. because he dumped them,because he got scared. because he knewthat you were on to him. - so, when's the next letter from zodiac?- not until january of 1974. he is silent for three years. then, in '74, he feels comfortable again because everybody's moved offallen as a suspect.
and what do we get? three new letters from zodiacin january, may, and july in '74. - but then the letters stop.- what happens to allen? he's arrested. january, 1975,they send him to atascadero. we don't get another letter from zodiacthe entire time he's there. - when is he released?- august, '77. allen gets out. he types you an apology,and then what? we get our first new zodiac letterin four years.
okay. zodiac had to have knowndarlene ferrin, right? yes, because of the phone callson the night of her murder. because of the vallejo file, we know that darlene knewa man named leigh? so, all coincidence aside, robert, how can you be sure that leigh allenis the leigh from this file? now, vallejo is a small town,but it's not that small. how do you putthe two of them together? this is a case that's coveredboth northern and southern california,
with victims and suspectsspread over hundreds of miles. - would you agree?- yes. darlene ferrin workedat the vallejo house of pancakes on the corner of tennessee and caroll. arthur leigh allen lived in hismother's basement on fresno street. door to door, that is less than 50 yards. is that true? i've walked it. jesus christ.
so? the prints, the handwriting... - i'm not asking you as a cop.- but i am a cop. i can't prove this. just because you can't prove it,doesn't mean it's not true. easy, dirty harry. finish the book. thank you. thank you for breakfast. can i help you?
mr. mageau. thanks for coming to see me. you're the one i talked to on the phone? i'm george bawart. vallejo pd.i took over for jack mulanax. it's been 22 years.i don't know how i can help you. well, this is just a formality. i'm gonna show youa group of photographs. now, the person that shot youmay or may not be among these photographs.
you don't have to pick anybody out just because i'm showing youthese pictures, you understand? yes, sir, i do. take your time. if you don't recognize anyone,that's okay. that's him. how sure are you? yeah, i'm pretty sure. he had a round face like this guy.
wait. am i to understand that you're now identifyingthe second photograph? no, no. just thathe had a round face like that. it's this man. now, on a scale of one to 10,10 being positive, how sure are you? at least an eight. the last time i saw this facewas july 4th, 1969. i am very surethat's the man who shot me.