Most Evil

by Steve Hodel

“That’ll be six twenty-five,” Stine said. His passenger answered by placing a 9mm handgun to Stine’s right temple and pulling the trigger. Paul Stine died instantly.

  Three young teenagers, inside a residence across the street, happened to look outside their second-story window. They saw the taxi driver slumped over on the front seat and watched as a man leaned over him and appeared to be rifling through his clothing. The man then began wiping down the interior of the cab with a white cloth or handkerchief. Believing the cab driver was being robbed, one teen placed an emergency call to the police as the other two continued their surveillance. Next the man began to wipe down the exterior doors on both the passenger’s and driver’s side of the cab. Cool and deliberate, the shooter then slowly walked away, northbound on Cherry Street toward the Presidio.

  According to the initial San Francisco police report, the teens gave the following description:

  Male, white, early forties, 5 foot 8, heavy build, reddish-blond “crew cut” hair, wearing eyeglasses, dark brown trousers, dark (navy blue or black) parka jacket, dark shoes.

  It is worth noting several discrepancies in the historical record of the suspect’s description. The first report of the teenagers’ description to appear in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 12, 1969, contains a key discrepancy when compared to the police report cited above—the suspect’s weight is estimated to be approximately 170 pounds. And Officer Fouke’s previously cited estimation of the man’s height was different on the night in question, when he described him as being in the six to six-two range. In a later media interview Officer Fouke would state that “the suspect appeared older than represented in the original composite drawing.”

  In any event, confusion ruled the night: Police dispatchers immediately alerted “all units in the area” with the suspect’s description. But due to a miscommunication, the shooter was described as a black male.

  San Francisco patrol officers Donald Fouke and his partner, Eric Zelms, responded quickly. Approaching the scene of the crime in their cruiser, the two officers observed a lone man walking east on Jackson Street. Officer Fouke got a good look at the man, but claimed he made no attempt to stop him, since they’d been told to look for a black male and the man they saw was white.

  In recent years Officer Fouke’s denial of stopping and talking to the Zodiac suspect has come under serious scrutiny. In a 2007 film interview he adamantly denied ever stopping or talking to the suspect. Tragically, Fouke’s partner, Officer Zelms, was shot and killed by a burglar just ten weeks after the Stine shooting. It is reported that Officer Zelms’s widow provided statements that in the weeks following the Stine shooting her husband admitted to her that he and his partner, Officer Fouke, had in fact stopped and spoken with Zodiac. Apparently, Zelms’s fear of department and public criticism, along with his concern that as a rookie officer he might lose his job, prevented him from reporting it to superiors. Naturally, there was the added pressure of what others, his peers, might think. What patrol officer would want the career stigma of being remembered as “the guy who Q&R’d (questioned and released) Zodiac.”

  A short time later, dispatchers issued a correction advising all units that the suspect was actually a white male. Fouke and Zelms turned around and returned to Jackson, but the suspect was no longer there.

  Suspecting that the shooter may have fled into the Julius Kahn Playground to hide in the dense undergrowth of the Presidio, police quickly sealed off the area and all seven of San Francisco’s K-9 police dogs were pressed into service. San Francisco officers and military police searched long and hard, but to no avail. The suspect had been lucky. Had it not been for a mistake in the initial description, the SFPD would have had their man.

  Since cabdriver robberies were common at the time, detectives at first speculated that the Stine murder was another taxicab heist gone bad. Most ended when the drivers handed over their money. Occasionally a nervous suspect or a hyped-up drug addict would pull the trigger.

  This case, however, contained a big anomaly. Along with removing the victim’s wallet in an apparent robbery, the suspect also took the time to cut or tear out a large section of the victim’s bloody shirttail, which he took with him.

  Why?

  11.5 October 13, 1969, Zodiac letter and envelope

  The answer came posthaste, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle using double postage, written with a blue felt-tip pen. On the front of the envelope, the sender underscored his sarcasm with a polite “Please Rush To Editor.”

  Received only two days after the shooting, it began with what would soon become Zodiac’s trademark salutation:

  This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St & Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area. The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars & sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover. School children make nice targets , I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. just shoot out the front tire & then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.

  Ballistics experts examined the spent slug and casing found in the Yellow Cab and determined that the weapon used to kill Paul Stine was a 9mm automatic. But in their opinion, it was a different 9mm from the one used three months earlier at the Blue Rock Springs shooting of Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau.

  Based on Zodiac’s letter to the Chronicle and his macabre inclusion of a small cutout section of the victim’s bloody shirt, SFPD homicide detectives Bill Armstrong and Dave Toschi concluded that they were dealing with a psychotic egomaniac who thrived on publicity.

  11.6 SFPD criminalist John Williams examines Stine shirt

  11.7 The Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1969

  Evidence assembled from the multiple crime scenes now included fingerprints, the suspect’s probable shoe size, a pair of men’s size 7 leather gloves left in the Stine cab, extensive handwriting samples, spent slugs and casings from three separate weapons for ballistic comparison, and several police composite drawings of the suspect’s physical descriptions.

  In the hope that people who knew or had seen the suspect would come forward, the SFPD released a composite sketch, based on both the teenagers’ and patrolman Donald Fouke’s descriptions. It was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on October 15, 1969, and amended slightly by sketch artists three days later.

  In an internal SFPD memo dated November 12, 1969, submitted a month after the shooting, Officer Fouke described the man he had seen on Jackson Street as taller and thinner:

  White, male, American, 35-45 years, 5-10, 180-200, medium-heavy build, Barrel-chested, medium complexion, light colored hair possibly graying in rear, may have been lighting that caused this effect, Navy blue jacket, brown pleated pants, baggy in rear (Rust Brown). Possibly wearing low-cut shoes.

  11.8 SFPD Supplemental Bulletin “amending” Zodiac description

  As hundreds of leads poured in, SFPD detectives had reason to feel confident that they would soon arrest the killer who called himself Zodiac. No one at the time imagined that four decades later the case would remain unsolved.

  Chapter Twelve

  We should bear in mind that, in general, it is the object of our newspapers rather to create a sensation—to make a point—than to further the cause of truth. The latter end is only pursued when it seems coincident with the former.

  Edgar Allan Poe, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt”

  Back in October 1969 as happy songs like “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond and “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations dominated the AM airwaves, an evil foreboding hung over the Bay Area like a thick, sickening fog. The crazed killer who called himself Zodiac was on the loose and no one had any idea where he’d strike next.

  From Napa to San Francisco people heeded h
is threats. Police units in Napa and Solano County rode on school buses or followed closely behind in unmarked cars. Teachers showed terrified schoolchildren what to do if their bus driver should yell out, “Hit the floor!” Cabdrivers in San Francisco stopped working the night shift, forcing nervous visitors to brave the streets by foot. Young lovers throughout the area kept their romantic assignations indoors.

  A lone homicidal maniac had burned his weird circle-and-cross symbol into the public psyche. Then, following the same pattern he used in Riverside, the killer started playing elaborate mind games with authorities through the mouthpiece of the local newspaper. This time he had chosen the San Francisco Chronicle.

  He was egged on in part by Chronicle investigative reporter Paul Avery, who threw the first provocative punch on October 18, 1969, with a front-page article entitled “Zodiac—Portrait of a Killer.” Avery claimed:

  The killer of five who calls himself “Zodiac” is a clumsy criminal, a liar, and possibly a latent homosexual . . . that’s the opinion of homicide detectives assigned to bring in the boastful mass murderer.

  If Avery wanted a riposte from Zodiac, he got it. Two and a half weeks later, Zodiac fired back with the following letter and cipher:

  12.1

  12.2

  12.3

  12.4

  Figure 12.3 reads:

  This is the Zodiac speaking I though you would need a good laugh before you hea- the bad news you won’t get the news for a while yet PS could you print this new ciphe- in your frunt page? I get au fully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my thing !!!!!!

  (and I can’t do a thing with it!)

  Des july Aug sept Oct = 7

  The letter contained the same taunting tone and deliberate misspellings as the missives mailed by the killer of Elizabeth Short, Gladys Kern, Suzanne Degnan, and Cheri Jo Bates. Accompanying the letter was a cipher that was feverishly worked on by military and civilian experts but was never broken.

  A day later, November 9, 1969, Zodiac mailed another letter to the Chronicle. This time he upped the ante. After more bragging about his cleverness, he delivered an elaborate bomb threat.

  12.5

  12.6

  12.7

  12.8

  12.9

  The letter reads:

  (Page 1/6)

  This is the Zodiac speaking Up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people . I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me. So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. when I comitt my murders, they shall look like routine robberies , killings of rage-, & a few fake accidents, etc. the police shall never catch me, because I have been too cleve- for them. I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill

  As of yet I have left no fingerprints behind me contrary to what the police say

  (Page 2/6)

  in my killings I wear transparent finger tip guards. All it is is 2 coats of air plane cement coated on my finger tips—quite unnoticible & very efective.

  my killing tools have been boughten through the mail order outfits before the ban went into efect. except one & it was bought out of the state. So as you see the police don’t have much to work on. If you wonde- why I was wipe ing the cab down I was leaving Fake clews fo- the police to run all ove- town with, as one might say, I gave cops som bussy work to do to keep them happy. I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey blue pig I was in the park—you were useing Fire trucks to mask the sound of your cruzeing prowl cars. The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me & they were to the west & there was only 2

  (Page 3/6)

  groups of barking about 10 min apart then the mot or cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west. ps. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ min afte- I left the cab. I was walk ing down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up & one of the m called me over & asked if I saw any one acting supicisous or strange in the last 5 to 10 min & I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber & went a-ound the co-ne- as I directed them & I dissap- eared into the park a block & a half away never to be seen again .13 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your

  booboos? If you cops think Im going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads.

  (Page 4/6)

  Take one bag of ammonium nitrate fertlizer & 1 gal of stove oil & dump a Few bags of gravel on top & then set the shit off & will positivly ventalate any thing that should be in the way of the Blast. The death machiene is all ready made . I would have sent you pictures but you would be nasty enough to trace them back to develope- & then to me, so I shall desc-ibe my master piece to you. The nice part of it is all the parts can be bought on the open market with no questions asked. 1 bat. pow clock—will run for approx 1 year 1 photo electric switch 2 coppe- leaf springs

  2 6V ca- bat

  1 flash light bulb & reflector

  1 mirror

  2 18″ cardboard tubes black with

  shoe polish inside & oute

  (Page 5/6)

  12.10

  (Page 6/6)

  the system checks out from one end to the other in my tests. What you do not know is whether the death machiene is at the sight or whethe- it is being stored in my basement fo- futu-e use. I think you do not have the man power to stop this one by continually searching the road sides looking fo- this thing. & it wont do to re root & re schedule the busses bec ause the bomb can be adapted to new conditions. Have fun !! By the way it could be rather messy if you try to bluff me.

  PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing

  To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves.

  Bay Area detectives took Zodiac’s “death machine” seriously. Besides trying to locate it, they stepped up their surveillance of schoolbus routes and checked on the recent sales of ammonium nitrate fertilizers.

  Investigators knew they weren’t dealing with a run-of-the-mill killer. Zodiac was unique, and by November 1969 was even out-headlining his Southern California competition, Charlie Manson and family, who’d left a paranoid, drug-induced trail of blood through L.A. just three-months earlier. What did Zodiac want? He seemed driven by a deep psychosis that manifested itself as savagely misdirected rage. Although he’d succeeded in instilling terror and attracting attention, he expressed no political or personal agenda, except collecting slaves as part of some bizarre plan for the afterlife.

  Criminologists and columnists speculated that the killer was a Renaissance man educated in military tactics, chemistry, mathematics, cryptography, and music. He was highly intelligent, but tried to disguise his sophistication with clumsy misspellings.

  Following the exact same pattern that the Black Dahlia Avenger employed in his letters to Los Angeles newspapers after the death of Elizabeth Short in 1947, Zodiac now made noises about turning himself in.

  The first of his coy offers was sent to celebrity defense attorney Melvin Belli on December 20, 1969—exactly one year after the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen in Vallejo. It included another bloody swatch of cabdriver Paul Stine’s shirt.

  12.11

  Dear Melvin

  This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass .

  The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me. I cannot reach out for help because of this thing in me wont let me. I am finding it extreamly dif- icult to hold it in check I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & posibly tenth victom. Please help me I am drownding. At the moment the children are safe from the bomb because it is so massive to dig in & the triger mech requires much work to get it adjusted just right. But if I hold back too long from no nine I will loose all controol of my self & set
the bomb up. Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer.

  The publication of the letters generated thousands of tips from people who believed they had some clue to the madman’s identity. Some were sheer speculation. Others were hunches or fears about an oddball neighbor. An average of ten per week came from women who were convinced that Zodiac was a former husband or ex-boyfriend.

  Investigators meticulously checked each tip. More than two thousand suspects were pursued and questioned, some as far away as Cleve-land, Atlanta, and Germany. They included a wealthy San Francisco businessman and a former Harvard lecturer. In the decades following Zodiac crimes, theorists attempted to link Zodiac to the Unabomber, members of the Manson family, Texarkana’s “Phantom Killer,” a mysterious and taunting letter writer calling himself “Scorpio,” and most recently to Wichita’s “BTK Strangler.”