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Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely

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Speaker 1: those of the podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast,

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Speaker 1: and do not necessarily represent those of iHeartMedia, How Stuff Works,

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Speaker 1: or its employees.

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Speaker 2: After the attack at Lake barri Essa, the Zodiac fell silent.

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Speaker 2: There were no more letters, there were no more phone

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Speaker 2: calls after that initial phone call to the Napa Police Department,

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Speaker 2: and we don't know why. But two weeks after the

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Speaker 2: attack at Lake Barriessa, the Zodiac resurfaced in San Francisco.

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Speaker 2: And while he had already sent a letter to the

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Speaker 2: San Francisco Chronicle establishing himself as a link to San Francisco,

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Speaker 2: he hadn't committed any crimes there that we knew.

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Speaker 3: Of in the newsroom, our ears perked up, obvious a

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Speaker 3: little more about this kind of case. Now you've got

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Speaker 3: three cases and the one guy claiming responsibility and providing

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Speaker 3: in some of these letters details and only the police

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Speaker 3: would know, so they'd verify that he was at the

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Speaker 3: actual scene. But it wasn't until October eleventh, nineteen sixty nine,

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Speaker 3: when Zodiac first struck in San Francisco, that I think

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Speaker 3: the Chronicle went into full on serial killer mode if

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Speaker 3: you will. For a couple of reasons. One is in

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Speaker 3: this case, Zodiac hailed a taxi in front of the

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Speaker 3: theater in the current theater on Geary Street in San Francisco.

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Speaker 3: He asked to be taken out to a fairly upscale

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Speaker 3: neighborhood called Presidio Heights, where he instructed the driver to stop,

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Speaker 3: and once he stopped, he asked them to go another

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Speaker 3: block for reasons no one's ever figured out, And when

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Speaker 3: they got to the next corner, Zodiac shot the guy

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Speaker 3: in the back of the head and killed him. This

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Speaker 3: cab driver's name was Paul Stein.

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Speaker 4: A man in a mask robbed, tied, and stabbed him,

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Speaker 4: leaving them for day.

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Speaker 5: Subject stated, I want to report a murder, no a

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Speaker 5: double murder.

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Speaker 6: I did it a man who wore a medieval style

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Speaker 6: executioners hood, carried a knife and gun and intended to

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Speaker 6: use them.

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Speaker 5: They haven't arrested me because they can't prove a thing.

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Speaker 3: I'm not the damn Zodiac.

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Speaker 7: Who is the Zodiac and where is he from?

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Speaker 8: iHeartRadio, Housetuff Works and Tenderfoot TV.

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Speaker 9: This is monster, the Zodiac killer.

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Speaker 8: Taxi drivers are the unspoken experts of their cities, the

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Speaker 8: unofficial tour guides per se. In a big city like

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Speaker 8: San Francisco, taxi drivers are ubiquitous, They're everywhere, They're a constant,

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Speaker 8: a given, and because of this, they were also an

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Speaker 8: easy target for the Zodiac.

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Speaker 10: Think about it.

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Speaker 8: There are a few people more trusting of strangers than

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Speaker 8: a taxi driver. They pull over, pick you up, drop

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Speaker 8: you off. You never even see their face for exchange names.

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Speaker 8: There's intimacy here. You are sharing this small place, but

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Speaker 8: the stranger. Do you really know who's in the car

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Speaker 8: with you. The Zodiac didn't stalk his victims for weeks.

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Speaker 8: He chose them at random because of their environment, their unawareness,

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Speaker 8: and in some cases, their occupation. What's more frightening than

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Speaker 8: someone who prays on the unexpecting.

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Speaker 2: San Francisco is directly linked to the Zodiac killer. There's

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Speaker 2: no escaping it, which is ironic because it's not where

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Speaker 2: he started. He started in Valleo and Benetia.

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Speaker 1: This is Zodiac expert Michael Butterfield.

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Speaker 2: And maybe that was something that he wanted. Maybe he

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Speaker 2: lived in San Francisco. Maybe it was easier to write

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Speaker 2: to the San Francisco Chronicle and make sure that he

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Speaker 2: could read that newspaper than it was to drive all

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Speaker 2: the way to wherever he had to go to get

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Speaker 2: a Valeo Times Harold, I don't know. One thing that

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Speaker 2: we know for sure is that the Zodiac wanted the

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Speaker 2: attention that.

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Speaker 10: He wanted when he wanted it.

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Speaker 2: Now. What he wanted in July of nineteen sixty nine

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Speaker 2: was for as many people to see this as possible,

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Speaker 2: to get as much attention as possible, and to cement

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Speaker 2: his image as a real threat. And it worked. And

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Speaker 2: then after that, I think one of the things that

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Speaker 2: he started to realize was I'm going to do better

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Speaker 2: if I keep going to the Chronicle, then if I

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Speaker 2: keep going to another newspaper. And there's some evidence that

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Speaker 2: the Vleo Times Herald was not as willing to keep

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Speaker 2: playing this game with him. Maybe he sensed that maybe

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Speaker 2: when he was looking at their coverage he didn't like

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Speaker 2: what he saw. So after that he started focusing on

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Speaker 2: the San Francisco Chronicle and they were happy to play alone.

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Speaker 11: Well, the key papers in San Francisco were the Chronicle

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Speaker 11: and the Examiner. They were very different. At the end

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Speaker 11: of the day, the Examiner was a kind of symbolic power,

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Speaker 11: but it was losing its circulation war with the San

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Speaker 11: Francisco Chronicle.

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Speaker 1: Here's Peter Richardson, historian and lecturer at San Francisco State University.

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Speaker 11: Was never a gray paper journalistically, but they had some

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Speaker 11: very interesting columnists. It was kind of a fun read

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Speaker 11: for that reason. But the city had never really distinguished

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Speaker 11: itself journalistically. It didn't have a paper during this time

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Speaker 11: like the Los Angeles Times, much less the Washington Post

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Speaker 11: or the New York Times. They were widely read, but

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Speaker 11: they were not any great shakes.

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Speaker 1: Despite this, the San Francisco Chronicle had the highest readership

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Speaker 1: in the Bay Area, and Peter Richardson says that this

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Speaker 1: was the only thing that mattered to the Zodiac.

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Speaker 4: The Psychotic killer has already murdered five, one at a

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Speaker 4: lover's lane near a lake just north of San Francisco,

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Speaker 4: three others in nearby Vallejo, the latest a taxi driver

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Speaker 4: in San Francisco.

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Speaker 2: He apparently was in the area of Mason and Geary

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Speaker 2: in San Francisco and hailed a cab, and that cab

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Speaker 2: was being driven by Paul Stein, who was a student

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Speaker 2: and a husband. The plan was to direct Paul Stein

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Speaker 2: to the intersection of Washington and Maple, which was in

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Speaker 2: an upscale neighborhood of San Francisco known as Presidio Heights. So,

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Speaker 2: from what we know, paul Stein took the passenger to

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Speaker 2: that location. What we don't know is why the cab

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Speaker 2: eventually ended up one block further west at Washington and

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Speaker 2: Cherry Streets. Some kids were in a house across the

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Speaker 2: street and they heard some kind of commotion and looked

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Speaker 2: out the window and they saw a man in the

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Speaker 2: front seat doing something to the cab driver. They thought

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Speaker 2: that he was stabbing him or doing something to him,

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Speaker 2: and they watched as the man handled the driver, and

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Speaker 2: then they called the police. And apparently while they were

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Speaker 2: talking to the police dispatcher and they were describing what

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Speaker 2: they were seeing, something went wrong. Instead of describing the

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Speaker 2: killer as a white man, the radio dispatch to responding

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Speaker 2: officers described the killer as a black man. The witnesses

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Speaker 2: watched as the man finished whatever he was doing in

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Speaker 2: the cab. He got out of the cab. He walked

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Speaker 2: around to the driver's side and appeared to have some

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Speaker 2: sort of light colored cloth in his hand as he

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Speaker 2: was wiping down the cab or doing something on the

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Speaker 2: driver's side of the cab. He then turned and walked

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Speaker 2: north up Cherry Street.

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Speaker 3: Two days later, the Chronicle received a letter and only

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Speaker 3: the Chronicle from the Zodiac.

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Speaker 1: This is former reporter Duffy Jennings. He was there when

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Speaker 1: the San Francisco Chronicle received this now infamous letter.

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Speaker 3: As the woman opened it in the editorial department, a

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Speaker 3: piece of bloody shirt fell out with the letter.

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Speaker 12: This is the Zodiac speaking, I am the murderer of

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Speaker 12: the taxi driver over by Washington Street and Maple Street

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Speaker 12: last night. To prove this, here's a bloodstained piece of

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Speaker 12: his shirt. I am the same man who did in

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Speaker 12: the people in the North Bay.

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Speaker 3: Area, so they knew that this was Paul Stein's killer.

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Speaker 3: And now he's again taunting police to catch him. And

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Speaker 3: the fear factor went way up, and now he's in

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Speaker 3: San Francisco.

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Speaker 13: Captain Lee at this particular time is satisfied that the

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Speaker 13: individual who sent this piece of shut in and the

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Speaker 13: letter to the Chronicle was in fact connected with the

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Speaker 13: is the person who killed the cab driver. Let me

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Speaker 13: put it that way. The contents of the letters, the

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Speaker 13: language of the in other cases are very similar to

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Speaker 13: the language and the form of the letters in this

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Speaker 13: particular case, and because of the fact that the shirt

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Speaker 13: matches the shirt as I understand that we would have

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Speaker 13: to assume that there is validity to the claim of

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Speaker 13: this individual.

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Speaker 1: That was San Francisco Police Chief Thomas Cahill. The SFPD

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Speaker 1: confirmed the killer was in fact the Zodiac. They knew

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Speaker 1: this because the striped cloth found in the letter matched

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Speaker 1: the striped shirt paul Stein was wearing, and when investigators

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Speaker 1: checked paul Stein's shirt, they found that a rectangular portion

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Speaker 1: was missing. With the San Francisco Police department involved, this

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Speaker 1: crime now crossed over multiple cities and jurisdictions, and those

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Speaker 1: individual departments weren't necessarily working together. In Napa, where the

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Speaker 1: last murder occurred at Lake Barriessa, sheriffs had made their

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Speaker 1: own assessment of the murder in San Francisco.

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Speaker 7: But pulmonary tests of certain evidence such as fingerprint and

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Speaker 7: handwriting have been made to where we are certain that

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Speaker 7: the man that we're looking for is the same man

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Speaker 7: responsible for the killing of the cab driver in San Francisco,

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Speaker 7: plus the shooting deaths in Solano County. In Leo Well, Sheriff,

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Speaker 7: what type of person is this man?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 7: We have reason to believe that he's a maniac. However,

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Speaker 7: he is a cunning man. He knows just exactly what

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Speaker 7: moves he's going to make. He knows where he's going

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Speaker 7: to be from one minute to the next. He knows

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Speaker 7: where he's going to start and when he's going to end.

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Speaker 7: He plans these things out, and he knows just exactly

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Speaker 7: how this thing is going to turn out. We think

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Speaker 7: it appears to us that he is killing just for

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Speaker 7: the thrill of killing.

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Speaker 1: So how did the killer avoid the police in Presidio Heights?

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Speaker 1: In the Bloody Shirt letter, the Zodiac gave his own

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Speaker 1: account of what happened that night.

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Speaker 12: The San Francisco police could have called me last night

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Speaker 12: if they had searched the park properly. Instead of holding

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Speaker 12: road races with their motorcycles seen who could make the

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Speaker 12: most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their

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Speaker 12: cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come

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Speaker 12: out of cover.

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Speaker 1: But there was more. In another letter sent just a

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Speaker 1: few weeks later, Zodiac gave even more details about what

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Speaker 1: happened after Paulstein's murder.

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Speaker 12: If you wonder why I was wiping the cab down,

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Speaker 12: I was leaving fake clues for the police to run

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Speaker 12: all over town with. As one might say, I gave

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Speaker 12: the cops some busy work to do to keep them happy.

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Speaker 12: I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey, blue pig, I

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Speaker 12: was in the park. You were using fire trucks to

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Speaker 12: mass the sound of your cruising prowl cars. The dogs

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Speaker 12: now came within two blocks of me, and they were

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Speaker 12: to the west, and there was only two groups of

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Speaker 12: parking about ten minutes apart. And then the motorcycles went

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Speaker 12: by about one hundred and fifty feet away, going from

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Speaker 12: south to northwest ps two cops pulled a goof About

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Speaker 12: three minutes after I left the cab, I was walking

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Speaker 12: down the hill to the park when this cop car

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Speaker 12: pulled up and one of them called me over and

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Speaker 12: asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in

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Speaker 12: the last five to ten minutes, and I said, yes,

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Speaker 12: there was this man who was running by waving the gun.

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Speaker 12: And the cops peeled rubber and went around the corner

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Speaker 12: as I directed them, and I disappeared into the park

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Speaker 12: a block and a half away, never to be seen again.

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Speaker 2: Paul Stein, unlike the other victims, became a victim because

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Speaker 2: of his job. That seems very unfair to me, and

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Speaker 2: I know that's an odd way to describe it, but

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Speaker 2: you know, he didn't have a chance, He had no idea.

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Speaker 2: He was just doing what he thought he was supposed

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Speaker 2: to do. He thought he would take this person where

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Speaker 2: he wants to go and go on his way. He

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Speaker 2: didn't know that the passenger he picked up had other plans.

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Speaker 1: This is Michael Butterfield again. He's interviewed numerous people who

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Speaker 1: were on the scene that night.

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Speaker 2: And while the kids were watching, the first responding police

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Speaker 2: officers arrived, and that was Frank Peta and Armand Pealasetti.

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Speaker 2: And Armand Pealasetti told me in several interviews I did

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Speaker 2: with him over the years that he arrived at the scene,

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Speaker 2: he saw the kids coming out of the house. He

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Speaker 2: directed them to stand back. He asked his partner to

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Speaker 2: watch the area to guard the crime scene, and he

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Speaker 2: approached the cab with a flashlight. He said that when

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Speaker 2: he got near the driver's side, he could see some

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Speaker 2: sort of impression on the outer door that appeared to

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Speaker 2: be blood and maybe fingerprints. He then looked inside the

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Speaker 2: cab and he saw Paulstein's body laying in the driver's seat,

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Speaker 2: and according to armand Pallasetti, it was obvious that he

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Speaker 2: was dead. Palasetti then walked north on Cherry Street in

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Speaker 2: pursuit of the killer, and at some point he encountered

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Speaker 2: two other police officers who were responding officers, Don Falk

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Speaker 2: and Eric Zelm's. At some point the description of the

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Speaker 2: killer was corrected to that.

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Speaker 10: Of a white man.

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Speaker 1: According to the new witness description, the killer was a

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Speaker 1: white male in his early forties. He was about five

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Speaker 1: to eight with a heavy build. He had reddish blonde

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Speaker 1: hair a crew cut, and he wore eyeglasses and a

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Speaker 1: dark parka jacket.

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Speaker 2: And when that happened, apparently Don Falk realized that that

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Speaker 2: was a man that they had driven past on their

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Speaker 2: way to the crime scene. So Falc and his partner

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Speaker 2: turned around and went back and went looking for the killer.

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Speaker 2: They did not find him. Palasetti kept walking and didn't

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Speaker 2: see anything. By that time, then the fire department and

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Speaker 2: other investigators were arriving. They did find some fingerprints in

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Speaker 2: that area where armand Palasetti thought he had seen some fingerprints,

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Speaker 2: and those prints were found in the exact area where

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Speaker 2: the killer was last seen making contact with the cab.

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Speaker 2: According to the witnesses, no one touched that cab in

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Speaker 2: between the time that the killer walked away and armand

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Speaker 2: Pallasetti arrived, So that's a strong indication that those fingerprints

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Speaker 2: did belong.

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Speaker 9: To the killer.

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Speaker 1: I had a lot of questions about the murder of

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Speaker 1: Paul Stein. Why would the killer change his mo so

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Speaker 1: dramatically Again, the Zodiac had previously focused on young couples

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Speaker 1: in isolated areas, and his weapon of choice was a handgun.

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Speaker 1: He escalated his attacks when he wore a costume, then

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Speaker 1: tied up and stabbed the couple at Lake Barriessa. This

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Speaker 1: time he went back to his regular clothes and back

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Speaker 1: to his gun to kill a lone male cab driver.

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Speaker 1: It just didn't make sense to me to better understand.

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Speaker 1: I first wanted to retrace the Zodiac steps that night

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Speaker 1: to take the same route in the back of a taxi.

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Speaker 1: So I started where he did, near the intersection of

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Speaker 1: Mason and Geary in the Tenderloin district. There's a theater

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Speaker 1: nearby that the Zodiac may have gone into.

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Speaker 5: My name is Oliver Sutton. I am the head of

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Speaker 5: security for the Act Theater for more than twenty yefs.

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Speaker 5: I've known this area virtually all the time I've lived

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Speaker 5: in South Francisco. The Zodiac, the first murderer could kick

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Speaker 5: place in San Francisco. A patriot came out of the

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Speaker 5: Act Theater. At that time, it was the Geary and

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Speaker 5: the Act American Conservatory Theater. I don't know what show

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Speaker 5: was going on at that time, but he could have

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Speaker 5: got gone into the lobby, used that as a backdrop,

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Speaker 5: or he could actually been a patron of basict that

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Speaker 5: came out, had a taxi and murdered him. I'll take

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Speaker 5: you into the lobby, turned the lights on and give

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Speaker 5: you a chance to see where you know where it

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Speaker 5: took place.

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Speaker 14: This h the lights on, so uh, the the killer,

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Speaker 14: he would have come through these double doors.

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Speaker 5: That's they filmed it that way for the movie. That

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Speaker 5: he walked out of these double doors and held down

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Speaker 5: a yellow taxi, a yellow cabby. Being a hat in

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Speaker 5: any city is tough because you don't know who's getting

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Speaker 5: in the back seat of the car. According to the story,

300
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Speaker 5: the victim was not chosen. It was just a random

301
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Speaker 5: crime of opportunity.

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Speaker 1: From there, the killer called the taxi and was picked

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Speaker 1: up by Paul Stein. So I called the cab two.

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Speaker 1: I asked to be taken to the corner of Washington

305
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Speaker 1: and Cherry Street in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. It was

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Speaker 1: about three miles west, fifteen minutes by car, and oddly enough,

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Speaker 1: my cab driver's name was also Paul sat.

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Speaker 2: Diane Feinstein.

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Speaker 1: Whinstein yea, she lives. Paul and I got to talking.

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Speaker 1: He had heard about the Zodiac case but didn't know

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Speaker 1: much of the details. He asked me how many people

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Speaker 1: the Zodiac had killed. I told him how many of

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Speaker 1: the police had confirmed. He wasn't impressed. He's swaw time,

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Speaker 1: I know, and she's swawed potatoes. He saw a ton

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Speaker 1: of people. The reason why it's it's such a big

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Speaker 1: deal is because he was constantly writing to the chronicles.

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Speaker 14: Well call, he was one of the first one.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he was one of the first, and he

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Speaker 1: was in the paper.

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Speaker 12: So when he did something, he may should that the

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Speaker 12: police knew it was him that did it.

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Speaker 9: Right, Yeah, he would send You want him to really claim.

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Speaker 1: I did that one?

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Speaker 9: I don't want nobody has to try.

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Speaker 2: To claim that as the glory.

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Speaker 9: This is me.

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Speaker 2: I did it.

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Speaker 1: Well, here's where it gets crazy, though, man, because he

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Speaker 1: like in the beginning, like with that one Paul Stein. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he sent a piece of the guy's cloth with his

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Speaker 1: blood on it in his letter to the chronicle, right,

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Speaker 1: and it was a cab driver. He was a cab driver, yeah,

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Speaker 1: named Paul.

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Speaker 12: He gets I'm a gun spooky man.

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Speaker 10: I got bumped.

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Speaker 1: I got goose bumps onthing, you know how related to

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Speaker 1: the Zodiac. When we arrived on the scene of paul

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Speaker 1: Stein's final moments, I got out and just listened for

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Speaker 1: a while. A few cars drove by, but there wasn't much,

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Speaker 1: if any, foot traffic. It felt like a different universe

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Speaker 1: from the bustling city that was just a few blocks away.

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Speaker 1: That's when I realized the Zodiac sought out these types locations, quiet,

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Speaker 1: unassuming areas, places that seem almost peaceful, miles away from

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Speaker 1: anywhere you might consider dangerous. A country road, a public park,

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Speaker 1: and a popular vacation spot on a lake, in this case,

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Speaker 1: a beautiful, upscale neighborhood in San Francisco. It maybe wonder

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Speaker 1: did Zodiac want to strip away the feeling of safety

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Speaker 1: from these places? And as I'm standing there, lost in

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Speaker 1: this thought. I see a man walking towards me. He's

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Speaker 1: carrying some takeout. He asked me what I was doing,

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Speaker 1: and we got to talking. The man requested we not

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Speaker 1: use his name, and we altered his voice for privacy,

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Speaker 1: because it turns out he was related to someone who

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Speaker 1: witnessed Paul Stein's murder.

355
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Speaker 10: So it was my father, who was actually since past.

356
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Speaker 10: He was he was just a kid. He was a kid,

357
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Speaker 10: and he was just playing downstairs and he just you know,

358
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Speaker 10: looked outside the window and saw yellow cab and it's

359
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,280
Speaker 10: being kids there, nosy, and they looked in and I

360
00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:06,480
Speaker 10: guess from my memory of what I was told, saw

361
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,720
Speaker 10: someone slouch over in the car who, you know, come

362
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:14,359
Speaker 10: to find it was a culprit of the zodiac. And

363
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 10: you call the police and his family or his mom

364
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,639
Speaker 10: and dad were down the street at a party, and

365
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,560
Speaker 10: you know, they called me. It was crazy. You know,

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Speaker 10: I think someone just got murdered. Police came and that's

367
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Speaker 10: what they came to find. And he's been hassled. You

368
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,199
Speaker 10: don't buy every investigator since trying to solve it. But

369
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 10: I don't think they ever found him. He'd like talking

370
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,160
Speaker 10: about it that much, But I think it was either

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00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,919
Speaker 10: from that window there the first floor, or it was

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Speaker 10: from the third floor. Pretty sure it was from the

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Speaker 10: first floor. But I think he did feel some sort

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Speaker 10: of weight of responsibility of, you know, give accurate information

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Speaker 10: to help solve this crime. You know, I mean he

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Speaker 10: was young and I think it was only twelve.

377
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Speaker 2: The Zodiacs moved to San Francisco meant there would be

378
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Speaker 2: a lot of changes in the investigation. One of them

379
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:22,159
Speaker 2: was that that was the first time he had struck

380
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,919
Speaker 2: in a major metropolitan city, which meant that a major

381
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,440
Speaker 2: metropolitan police force would be assigned to the case. Two

382
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,919
Speaker 2: of the investigators assigned to the case who arrived at

383
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Speaker 2: the crime scene that night were David Toski and Bill Armstrong.

384
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Speaker 2: Dave Tosky was sort of known as a celebrity cop.

385
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 2: He liked media attention. People who lived in San Francisco

386
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 2: were accustomed seeing his name in the newspaper or his

387
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 2: face on television, and when the Zodiac crime started, that

388
00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 2: just naturally increased because now he was in charge of

389
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,399
Speaker 2: the hunt for the biggest serial killer in California history.

390
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 2: He was identified primarily as the Zodiac in the movie

391
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Speaker 2: Bullet Steve McQueen supposedly based a lot of his character

392
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,359
Speaker 2: on Dave Toski, including the way he held his gun

393
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 2: in things like that, and there's also stories that the

394
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,880
Speaker 2: movie Dirty Harry was inspired by the battle between Tosky

395
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Speaker 2: and the Zodiac.

396
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Speaker 9: Is a mad Matt Loose give him the message at

397
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Speaker 9: the chronicle.

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Speaker 10: We'll agree to pay.

399
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 9: We'll tell him we need time to get the money together.

400
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 8: Wait a minute, do I.

401
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 7: Get this right?

402
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:27,879
Speaker 9: You're gonna play this creeps game.

403
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 13: It'll get us some more breathing space, so I might.

404
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 10: Get somebody killed.

405
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 2: Tosky and Armstrong investigated the scene and at a certain

406
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,640
Speaker 2: point those fingerprints were discovered. There was also a pair

407
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 2: of gloves that were found underneath one of the seats,

408
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 2: I believe, as well as the shell casing that appeared

409
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 2: to have come from the Zodiac's weapon.

410
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,679
Speaker 1: The bullet came from a nine millimeter pistol, but it

411
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,879
Speaker 1: was not the same nine millimeter used to kill Darlene Ferron.

412
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: Tosky and Armstrong would also discover that the gloves belonged

413
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 1: to a pre vis customer of Paul Stein.

414
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 2: All this evidence was gathered, the witness statements were taken,

415
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 2: and a composite sketch of the killer was drawn up

416
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:16,159
Speaker 2: with the assistance of these witnesses. Tosky and Armstrong at

417
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 2: the time thought that they were investigating what you might

418
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 2: call a routine robbery. It was not unusual for cab

419
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 2: drivers to be robbed or even shot in San Francisco,

420
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,479
Speaker 2: So when they were investigating those first two days, they

421
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 2: thought they were looking for a career criminal, somebody with

422
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,000
Speaker 2: a record who probably committed this kind of crime before,

423
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 2: and someone who could be readily identified by searching through

424
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 2: the pool of usual suspects.

425
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:44,440
Speaker 10: They had no.

426
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 2: Idea that in two days the San Francisco Chronicle would

427
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 2: receive a letter from the Zodiac taking responsibility for the

428
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 2: murder of Paul Stein, which also included a piece of

429
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 2: paul Stein's shirt to remove any and all doubt that

430
00:24:58,200 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 2: he was actually responsible.

431
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 6: Since the release of the latest letter yesterday, our office

432
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,360
Speaker 6: has received additional phone calls from persons in the Bay

433
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 6: Area who feel that they can be helpful in the

434
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 6: apprehension of the Zodiac suspect.

435
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,879
Speaker 1: This is Inspector David Toski speaking with KPIX News in

436
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine.

437
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 6: My partner, Inspector Armstrong, and I who were handling the case.

438
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 6: Have received several phone calls this morning and this afternoon

439
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 6: on various informants who have given us some information as

440
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 6: to names, addresses, and locations that we have checked out

441
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 6: and are checking out at the present time. It's generally

442
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 6: stirred up quite a bit of interest.

443
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 2: This of course changed the entire investigation. Tosky and Armstrong

444
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 2: thought it was a simple crime, and now they were

445
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,879
Speaker 2: involved in what was possibly the most explosive manhunt in

446
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:57,879
Speaker 2: California history. So obviously moving to San Francisco, changing his

447
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 2: victim preference, acting out much different kind of crime, sending

448
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 2: scraps of victim's clothing in the mail. This was all

449
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,399
Speaker 2: a new level, a next step for the Zodiac. It

450
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 2: was much more terrifying than where it was before. But

451
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,639
Speaker 2: also it sort of began this feud between the San

452
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 2: Francisco Police Department and the Zodiac. Part of that seems

453
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 2: to have come from the fact that the Zodiac did

454
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 2: escape the police that night, and if he did remain

455
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 2: in the area and watch them searching for him and

456
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 2: watching them fail, that must have done a lot for

457
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 2: his ego. He must have felt very powerful, He must

458
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 2: have felt invincible.

459
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,639
Speaker 1: But This was just the beginning of the San Francisco chapter.

460
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 1: In the last part of the Bloody Shirt letter, Zodiac

461
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 1: had one more threat.

462
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 12: School children make nice targets. I think I shall wipe

463
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 12: out a school by some morning, Just shoot out the

464
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,959
Speaker 12: front tire and then pick off the kiddies as they

465
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 12: come bouncing out.

466
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 4: Signed Zodiac, school children are nice targets. I shall wipe

467
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,680
Speaker 4: out his school bus some morning, shoot out the tires

468
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 4: and then pick off the kiddies as they come bounding out.

469
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 7: That was the threat of the Zodiac Killer.

470
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 4: Now, every day police cars follow the buses, which would

471
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 4: be likely targets. Officers aren't with shotguns take the threat seriously.

472
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 3: I think that was the thing that ratcheted up the

473
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,880
Speaker 3: paranoia in the fear around this Zodiac guy, who by

474
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 3: now was a mythical figure of a culking guy walking

475
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 3: around the streets who could not just kill a couple

476
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 3: of kids at a lover's lane, but anybody could be

477
00:27:40,920 --> 00:28:05,639
Speaker 3: the next victim.

478
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 9: Next time on Monster the Zodiac Killer, we have a.

479
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,679
Speaker 7: Number of playing blows. Officers following buses in the morning

480
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 7: and in the evening.

481
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,119
Speaker 15: I remember as a kid having a cop car followed

482
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 15: behind us, and I remember that because as kids we

483
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 15: would all kind of run to the back of the

484
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 15: bus and wave at the cop.

485
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 11: The media frenzy that resulted, predictable as it was, was

486
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,199
Speaker 11: a huge part of the story itself. So in some

487
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 11: ways we start to see the media become a player

488
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 11: in the stories that they're covering.

489
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 15: It is just a sense of not knowing what would

490
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 15: happen next, especially after these letters start coming threatening to

491
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 15: sort of escalate the violence, and people not knowing whether

492
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 15: that was serious or not.

493
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 5: You're not afraid, No, no, You're afraid.

494
00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 2: That wasn't enough for him. Then he moved on to

495
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: the next level, where he started threatening to blow up

496
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 2: a school bus full of children.

497
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 12: The death Machine is already made.

498
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 8: Monster The Zodiac Killer is a fifteen episode podcast produced

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00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 8: by iHeartRadio, House Stuff Works and Tenderfoot TV. Donald Albright

500
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 8: and I are executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,

501
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 8: alongside producers Meredith Steedman, Mason Lindsay, and Christina Dana.

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00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 9: Jason Hoak is executive.

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00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 8: Producer on behalf of How Stuff Works, along with producers

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00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 8: Trevor Young, Miranda Hawkins, Ben Keebrick, and Josh Thain. Scott

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00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 8: Benjamin provides additional voice talent. Matt Frederick is our host.

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00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 8: Original music is by Makeup and Vanity Set. If you

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00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 8: haven't already, make sure to check out the first season

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00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,680
Speaker 8: of Monster called Atlanta Monster, about the Atlanta child murders

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00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 8: from the late seventies to the early eighties. Download the

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00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 8: ten episode season right now. Have questions or comments email

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00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,479
Speaker 8: us at Monster at houstuffworks dot com, or you can

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00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 8: call us at one eight three three two eight five

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00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 8: six six sixty seven.

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Speaker 9: Thanks for listening.