Zodiac Killer Identity to be revealed at Press Conf. 4/29/09

[packy]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/Zodiac-killers-name-to-be-revealed-43975857.html

The Zodiac killer, who taunted and terrified Bay Area residents in the late 1960s with cryptic letters and a trail of victims, has been identified, according to a group claiming to have cracked the case that has baffled police for decades.

The killer is not one of the handful of men repeatedly linked to the 40-year-old crime spree, according to the group, which plans to announce its findings today.

The group also says new evidence shows the killer had an accomplice for some of the slayings.

Two years ago, colleagues of the late Melvin Belli, a prominent San Francisco attorney, organized a team of investigators and forensic experts to probe the Zodiac case after a woman came forward claiming to be the killer’s relative.

Belli, who died in 1996, became connected to the hunt for the Zodiac after a man claiming to be the killer wrote him a letter containing a scrap of shirt from his last known victim, San Francisco cab driver Paul Lee Stine.

Edward Lozzi, spokesman for the group and former communications director for Belli’s law firm, said the team will support its claims with forensic evidence, including cryptology and handwriting analysis, along with new information from law enforcement investigations and murder accomplice evidence. (More at link and sample of note)

[F~M]

I'm anxious to hear this!

[Tracian]

I am also very interested. My husband was at Lake Berryessa with his family the same weekend when that young couple was killed. He was only 17 but remembers how scared his mother was when they heard the news once they got home.

[annalyzer]

From above link ~

http://media.washingtonexaminer.com/images/sf.ZodiacLetter.jpg

I am very interested in handwriting analysis and hope we get to see what was done in this case, especially because the above letter is printed. Using handwriting analysis I was able to determine that my dil was the one who had left a love note on my husband's grave.

[SavannahStar]

I am also very interested. My husband was at Lake Berryessa with his family the same weekend when that young couple was killed. He was only 17 but remembers how scared his mother was when they heard the news once they got home.


Oh my gosh!!!

I am anxious to hear the news as well. My son and I watched the more recent movie, about a year ago maybe.....it was very interesting.

[awakening2lite]

From above link ~

http://media.washingtonexaminer.com/images/sf.ZodiacLetter.jpg

I am very interested in handwriting analysis and hope we get to see what was done in this case, especially because the above letter is printed. Using handwriting analysis I was able to determine that my dil was the one who had left a love note on my husband's grave.

Oh, Anna, I am so sorry you had to go through that.



I'll be checking back for updates on the Zodiac case.

[packy]

From above link ~

http://media.washingtonexaminer.com/images/sf.ZodiacLetter.jpg

I am very interested in handwriting analysis and hope we get to see what was done in this case, especially because the above letter is printed. Using handwriting analysis I was able to determine that my dil was the one who had left a love note on my husband's grave.

Oh so sorry, Anna. Who would even think it.

I hope we do hear about this case and that there is something they can prove. They claim to have the proof so we shall see.

[Tracian]

http://sfist.com/2009/04/29/zodiac_killers_name_to_be_revealed.php

The Bay Area serial killer who murdered Bay Area residents in the late 1960s and 1970s, leaving behind bizarre letters, has been identified, or so says a private investigatory group. The team, formed by now deceased San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli, is comprised of "investigators and forensic experts." According to Edward Lozzi, the group's spokesman, the team will announce the killer's name, support their claim "with forensic evidence, including cryptology and handwriting analysis, along with new information from law enforcement investigations and murder accomplice evidence." What's most surprising about their alleged discovery is that the Zodiac Killer (or "Killers") targeted their victims. "The murders were not random. They were definitely people who were targeted ... This is an entirely new direction," said Lozzi. A noon news conference will be held today with the official announcement



Looks like there might be KILLERS!!!!!

[Battnt]

WOW!...After all these years!....

[packy]

Can't find any update on the conference yet. It should be happening by now, right?

[packy]

No link but someone who heard the presser said the girl said her father did it and it looked as though the police blew her off and said her name was Debra.

Said his name was Guy Ward Hendrickson, Allegedly http://sfist.com/2009/04/29/zodiac_killer_guy_ward_hendrickson.php

[Tracian]

Woman Claims Her Father Was Zodiac Killer
Posted: 8:34 am PDT April 29, 2009
Updated: 12:54 pm PDT April 29, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO -- A woman stepped forward Wednesday to claim her late father was the infamous Zodiac Killer and that she as a 7-year-old wrote some of the letters that taunted local police.

Kevin McLean, the former law partner of the late Melvin Belli, said he has led a two-year investigation into claims by Deborah Perez that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac killer. Hendrickson, who lived in Orange County, died in 1993 of cancer.

“He was a Jekyll and Hyde,” McLean said of Hendrickson. “He was nuts. He set out to kill people. Some of these killings were not random.”

McLean said Perez came forward on Wednesday because another investigator in Sacramento was about to come forward with a different theory of the killings. She was also currently involved in making a documentary on the crime.

As a youngster, Perez said she sometimes accompanied her father on his killing sprees to the Bay Area. The family lived in Santa Ana, but McLean said Hendrickson may have worked at one time at the Mare Island Naval shipyard in Vallejo.

“There were strange events with my father,” she said. “I would hear shots and my father would say it was firecrackers. I would see a woman running and then hear shots and he would tell me someone threw firecrackers at her.”

Perez said that she wrote and stamped the letters to the San Francisco Chronicle following the murder of San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969. Those letters have been in the possession of the San Francisco police since 1969.

She also claimed to be with her father when he allegedly killed Darlene Ferrin, 22, at the Blue Springs Golf Club in July 1969 and wounded her companion, Michael Mageau, 19.

“He had a vicious argument with Dee that night,” she said. “My father grabbed his gun. He goes up to the passenger side. I heard shots. I heard screams and moans. Five minutes later, we were pulled over by the police. He hid the gun on me.”

Perez said her father apologized for “doing bad things” on his death bed, but she didn’t know that involved the Zodiac killings.

The findings of McLean’s investigation have now been forwarded to the FBI and he has also asked local police for help in verifying Perez’s claims. She claims she still has Stine’s presciption glasses, which could serve as the material evidence necessary to help verify her claims.

Perez also said she embroidered the mask her father wore during some of the slayings and added she had – as a child – seen a scrapbook that would indicate her father may killed “30-40” people.

“Everyone is going to say she is crazy, but we had psychologists examine Ms. Perez,” McLean said.

The Zodiac killer -- he gave himself that moniker in his taunting letters to police and newspapers -- is blamed for at least seven murders in 1968 and 1969.

He was never caught though many believe he was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester from Vallejo who died in 1992.

In September 1969, the Zodiac struck in Napa County, stabbing two 20-year-old college students picnicking at Lake Berryessa. The crime scene was a small peninsula jutting out into the lake. The couple was accosted, hog-tied and repeatedly stabbed by a man dressed all in black and wearing an executioner-type hood.

Cecelia Shepard died; Bryan Hartnell survived and is now a lawyer in Southern California.

Three killings then took place in the Vallejo area. David Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen, teenagers on their first date, were shot to death in December 1968. Ferrin, 22, was shot and killed seven months later at the Blue Springs Golf Club, while her companion, Michael Mageau, 19, survived.

His final Bay Are slaying may have occurred on October 11, 1969, when a man entered Stine's cab at the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in San Francisco and requested to be taken to Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights.

One block later, the passenger shot Stine once in the head with a 9 mm, took his wallet and car keys, and then tore off his shirt tail. On October 14, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac containing a swatch of Stine's shirt tail as proof he was the killer.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/19322231/detail.html

[Tracian]

I don't think he was...he may have been nuts, but I don't think he was the Zodiac. I am going to stick with the suspect mentioned in the article, because one of the victims identified him, as well as he did have a connection to one of the victims..along with his 'Zodiac' watch, that had the same symbol..and his favorite movie...'The most dangerous game" Oh, also the letters stopped while he was in prison, and started up again after his release.

I realize the DNA didn't match..but who knows? Maybe he had someone else lick the envelopes; even his family thought it was him.

[nomadpatti]

I don't think he was...he may have been nuts, but I don't think he was the Zodiac. I am going to stick with the suspect mentioned in the article, because one of the victims identified him, as well as he did have a connection to one of the victims..along with his 'Zodiac' watch, that had the same symbol..and his favorite movie...'The most dangerous game" Oh, also the letters stopped while he was in prison, and started up again after his release.

I realize the DNA didn't match..but who knows? Maybe he had someone else lick the envelopes; even his family thought it was him.

Deborah Perez claims to have written and stamped the letters for her father, Hendrickson, in 1969, among some other things I find very bizzare, imo.
Since the letter are still in police possesion, it should be rather easy to to prove it in this day.

[Tracian]

[/COLOR]

Deborah Perez claims to have written and stamped the letters for her father, Hendrickson, in 1969, among some other things I find very bizzare, imo.
Since the letter are still in police possesion, it should be rather easy to to prove it in this day.


IIRC, when they did the last DNA testing, there was not much left to do further tests, I could be wrong, but I thought that was the case.

I find it very hard to believe that she wrote the letters, does she claim to also have copied the cyphers?

IMO, there is a reason that the police 'blew her off'

[nomadpatti]

IIRC, when they did the last DNA testing, there was not much left to do further tests, I could be wrong, but I thought that was the case.

I find it very hard to believe that she wrote the letters, does she claim to also have copied the cyphers?

IMO, there is a reason that the police 'blew her off'

I agree Tracian. She claims she was 7 years old when she wrote them. Perhaps I would blow her off as well. But then again, anything is possible - which I have learned since coming on board here :)
According to the article, "Perez came forward on Wednesday because another investigator in Sacramento was about to come forward with a different theory of the killings. She was also currently involved in making a documentary on the crime." Hmmmm:g:

[packy]

Some people think it's the author Gareth Penn. http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/gareth.htm

I think they were going to come forward with the results of their investigation.

[Tracian]

I agree Tracian. She claims she was 7 years old when she wrote them. Perhaps I would blow her off as well. But then again, anything is possible - which I have learned since coming on board here :)
According to the article, "Perez came forward on Wednesday because another investigator in Sacramento was about to come forward with a different theory of the killings. She was also currently involved in making a documentary on the crime." Hmmmm:g:


If I am not mistaken, the DNA was confirmed male. So right there it blows that story right out of the water.

[awakening2lite]

IIRC, when they did the last DNA testing, there was not much left to do further tests, I could be wrong, but I thought that was the case.

I find it very hard to believe that she wrote the letters, does she claim to also have copied the cyphers?

IMO, there is a reason that the police 'blew her off'


She said she wrote some of the letters and certainly there could be a handwriting analysis performs, as suggested by Anna earlier on the thread.

And, just to put some doubt out there, if she only wrote some of the letters is it possible some letters / stamps have not been tested? Either way, tested or not, they should be able to test them again. Science is able to do touch dna now, perhaps there is enough material left for that.

[packy]

She also said she has Stine's (murdered taxi driver) glasses.

[awakening2lite]

(04-29) 15:15 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- With a flourish of bravado and drama, an Orange County woman proclaimed to a raucous crowd of reporters and self-proclaimed sleuths today that her late father was the Zodiac killer who terrorized the Bay Area 40 years ago.

Deborah Perez, a 47-year-old real estate agent in Orange County, said she accompanied her father on at least two of the Zodiac slayings, wrote the killer's letter to San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli, and has a pair of glasses she said her father snatched as a trophy from his last known victim.


Her dad's name: Guy Ward Hendrickson, a carpenter living in Southern California in 1968 and 1969, when the Zodiac killed his five known victims before seemingly dropping from the face of the earth. Hendrickson has been dead for 26 years, Perez said.


"I was a child and just thought I was helping my father," Perez said at a press conference outside The Chronicle's Mission Street headquarters, where about 30 reporters and 20 Zodiac buffs competed to make their questions heard over the roar of each other and city traffic.


"Guilty! Guilty!" some of the buffs screamed as Perez spoke. "Bull—! Bull—!" screamed another.


One of the most compelling pieces of evidence Perez mentioned was a pair of brown, horn-rimmed eyeglasses she says her father took from Paul Stine, a cabbie shot on Oct. 11, 1969, in San Francisco. She said she is turning them over to the San Francisco Police Department, and that if the prescription fits Stine's or is linked to the Zodiac in any other way - such as through a DNA match - it will help prove her case. According to accounts of the crime, Stine's body was missing his eyeglasses when he was found.


She also said she hopes authorities can find DNA on the stamps of letters that the Zodiac sent and match them to herself or her father.


Of particular interest will be the letter written in December 1969 to Belli, who died in 1996. The letter, filled with erratic punctuation and misspellings, begins, "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me."


Perez said she wrote the letter at age 7 in an effort to get help for her father.


Investigators working the Zodiac case said they weren't aware of anything they've received from Perez, but they will look into her story.


"I have not heard of her before today," said San Francisco police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka, a spokeswoman for the department. "We definitely will look into any statements made to us. This is an open investigation."


Privately, some investigators wondered if the timing of Perez's announcement had something to do with a documentary on her story that she is hoping to finish soon.


Perez's attorneys, however, said she came forward to help solve the crimes and to refute the claims of others, including one from a man in Pollock Pines (El Dorado County) who says his late stepfather was the Zodiac.


Perez said her father took her along on murder jaunts because they were unusually close. She was a young girl, unaware of exactly what her dad was allegedly doing, she said. Her father explained to her that the gunshots she heard as she sat in the family car nearby were "just firecrackers."


Her father died at age 68 in 1983, she said. Her mother and five siblings had no idea of what was going on, she said - and indeed she said she had no inkling that Hendrickson might be the Zodiac until she saw a composite sketch of the killer on the TV show "America's Most Wanted" in August 2007.


"I recognized the individual as my father," she said. "I researched the Zodiac killer, and to my surprise I found cards and letters that were in police custody that were written by my father or myself." Perez did not provide a photo of her father for comparison purposes.


Perez said it never occurred to her to call police until she saw the TV show because she didn't pay attention to crime issues and had not heard of the Zodiac before then. She did not elaborate why she didn't report the Belli letter before - but one of her attorneys mentioned that she has "recovered memories" about the times, and that may have had something to do with it.


At one point, Perez's lips quivered, and she paused, appearing to be filled with emotion. One of her attorneys, San Francisco lawyer Kevin McLean - a former associate of the flamboyant Belli - laid a hand on her arm and jumped in to say he is convinced the Zodiac mystery is now over.


As for Hendrickson's motive? "He was nuts," McLean said.
Perez believes that her father was "a Jekyll and Hyde," McLean said. "She wrote that letter to Melvin Belli to try to get him some help."


He added, "Melvin Belli is reaching from the grave to solve this crime."
Regaining her composure, Perez said her father "told me he was sick, and all I wanted to do was help my dad. He told me he killed many people."


McLean said he was skeptical when Perez approached him two years ago to help her prove her story. But after having Perez examined by a forensics psychologist, and having a handwriting analysis done of writings by her, her father and the Zodiac, "I became convinced there is something here," he said.


That hundreds of other people, including at least a dozen each year who contact The Chronicle, also claim to know who the Zodiac was seemed not to deter Perez or the attorney in the slightest.
"Our evidence is good," McLean said.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/29/BAFA17BE9N.DTL&tsp=1

See video of her speaking at link

[Tracian]

She also said she has Stine's (murdered taxi driver) glasses.



Yeah...okay..and I have his jacket...

This makes little to no sense..I don't buy this story...

[annalyzer]

From above link, "Of particular interest will be the letter written in December 1969 to Belli, who died in 1996. The letter, filled with erratic punctuation and misspellings, begins, "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me."


Perez said she wrote the letter at age 7 in an effort to get help for her father."

I don't believe a child wrote that letter.

[LiveLaughLuv]

"I recognized the individual as my father," she said. "I researched the Zodiac killer, and to my surprise I found cards and letters that were in police custody that were written by my father or myself." Perez did not provide a photo of her father for comparison purposes.


Perez said it never occurred to her to call police until she saw the TV show because she didn't pay attention to crime issues and had not heard of the Zodiac before then. She did not elaborate why she didn't report the Belli letter before - but one of her attorneys mentioned that she has "recovered memories" about the times, and that may have had something to do with it.


At one point, Perez's lips quivered, and she paused, appearing to be filled with emotion. One of her attorneys, San Francisco lawyer Kevin McLean - a former associate of the flamboyant Belli - laid a hand on her arm and jumped in to say he is convinced the Zodiac mystery is now over.


As for Hendrickson's motive? "He was nuts," McLean said.
Perez believes that her father was "a Jekyll and Hyde," McLean said. "She wrote that letter to Melvin Belli to try to get him some help."


He added, "Melvin Belli is reaching from the grave to solve this crime."
Regaining her composure, Perez said her father "told me he was sick, and all I wanted to do was help my dad. He told me he killed many people."


McLean said he was skeptical when Perez approached him two years ago to help her prove her story. But after having Perez examined by a forensics psychologist, and having a handwriting analysis done of writings by her, her father and the Zodiac, "I became convinced there is something here," he said.


That hundreds of other people, including at least a dozen each year who contact The Chronicle, also claim to know who the Zodiac was seemed not to deter Perez or the attorney in the slightest.
"Our evidence is good," McLean said.

Why would this Deborah come forward and say she too wrote some letter, I presume for her father?

She is putting herself in a spot to also be arrested. I just don't understand after all these years why did she come forward now??? Is this her claim to fame? Who would want to be connected to such heinous acts? Maybe she too has a Jekyll and Hyde personality...:groan:

[SavannahStar]

Yeah...okay..and I have his jacket...

This makes little to no sense..I don't buy this story...

I saw a comparison of the two pairs of glasses on another board and you could see distinct differences in them.

[Tracian]

From above link, "Of particular interest will be the letter written in December 1969 to Belli, who died in 1996. The letter, filled with erratic punctuation and misspellings, begins, "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me."


Perez said she wrote the letter at age 7 in an effort to get help for her father."

I don't believe a child wrote that letter.


Not only that, Melvin got a phone call from the Zodiac at that time also, and Melvin was gone...he said it was near his birthday, and he had to kill someone...

[annalyzer]

Not only that, Melvin got a phone call from the Zodiac at that time also, and Melvin was gone...he said it was near his birthday, and he had to kill someone...

While I can remember certain events from when I was about seven years old I cannot remember day to day events, like this happened this day and the next day this happened. I remember everyone crying when the President was killed. I don't believe this woman could've remembered all of those events that allegedly took place with her father. In that news conference she mentioned something happened one day and then the next day such and such occurred. Nope, I'm not buying it. And I absolutely don't believe that a seven year old penned that letter.

Then she speaks of a scrapbook of her father's but surprise, surprise, she doesn't have it. This lady has done her homework and is trying to profit imo.

[annalyzer]

I haven't kept up with this case and suppose I could google but does anyone have a link to a site that has the letters and a lot of good info on it?

[Tracian]

I haven't kept up with this case and suppose I could google but does anyone have a link to a site that has the letters and a lot of good info on it?

http://www.zodiackiller.com/


This is a good site with lots of information.

[awakening2lite]

I don't understand why LE is taking so long to confirm or debunk her story.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

[annalyzer]

I don't understand why LE is taking so long to confirm or debunk her story.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

My thoughts on this are posted upthread and thanks Tracian for the link.

[packy]

According to posters at this site Fox will have something about this tomorrow morning. The girl who made the claim had posted there. http://www.opordanalytical.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=87&p=11860#p11860

[Harmony]

Click on Unknowing Accomplice

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=4829493&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Apr21/0,4670,MissingMarineCORRECTIVE,00.html