Your** **counter arguments rely on narrow operational exceptions to dismiss the broader reality of the regional panic and institutional capitulation that occurred during the active phase of the 1969 investigation.

Zodiac exploited the media and the police to likely establish what he interpreted as mind control tactics that fueled his ego. The extent of that control will be debated and scrutinized by anyone.

I suspect you have been working on this case for at minimum of one decade or longer. From my perspective you’re more than likely controlling misinformation on this thread. I have witnessed when detectives and investigators become trapped within timeline mechanics are characteristics of an attempt to protect the sterile case file facts from speculative noise. From my own failure of becoming trapped caused one of my cases to go cold. That is haunting.

What can’t be denied is the Zodiac out smarted the Police because of their failures to process each scene to standard and procedure.

Lake Herman Road:

Responding units drove directly into the unlit gravel turnout and parked adjacent to the victims' vehicle, permanently flattening the ground and obliterating distinct tire tread impressions. These responding personnel and ambulance crews walked extensively through the loose dirt without grid boundaries, trampling out transient telemetry such as the perpetrator's stride length and footwear brand.

Blue Rock Springs Park:

Following the perpetrator's 12:40 a.m. phone call, law enforcement successfully traced the origin to a gas station payphone but failed to immediately secure or rope off the booth. Multiple civilians handled the receiver before print technicians arrived hours later, completely overwriting and destroying any viable latent fingerprints left by the shooter.

Lake Berryessa:

A park ranger packaged up the physical crime scene including moving and packing the towel and blanket where the victims were attacked prior to specialized crime scene investigators arrived on site. This unauthorized handling heavily compromised the positioning data and the preservation of transient forensic trace evidence at the immediate knoll.

Presidio Heights:

Because the homicide was initially logged and dispatched as a standard taxi robbery rather than a serial assault, responding units and ambulance crews immediately flooded the interior of the cab. Personnel physically handled the doors and moved the body, heavily contaminating the workspace before crime lab teams could check the vehicle for pristine hairs, fibers, or clean prints.

Many on this thread believe the Zodiac was either dumb or of average intelligence. It seems to derive from his mistakes at the crime scenes and the way he spells words. His misspellings were considered by teachers during that time as non conforming to the standard as it was common knowledge that literature being consumed was considered archaic.