THE BALLISTICS REPORT-DOJ REPLY
​Ten casings were ejected at Lake Herman Road by the murderer of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on December 20th 1968, however, only nine were recorded and tested by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
It was stated in the DOJ report that one of the eight bullets tested did not exhibit 6 right hand groove class characteristics. This was the bullet recovered from David Faraday. The casing from the bullet fired at David Faraday was likely ejected to the rear of the shooter and may well have been the casing found in the front passenger side floorboard of the Rambler. Since only nine casings were tested, it was conjectured that this tenth casing may have become separated from the other nine when the Rambler was towed away and therefore not sent to the DOJ. If this casing exhibited different characteristics to the other nine, it may be related to the bullet taken from David Faraday at autopsy, which did not exhibit the same characteristics as the other seven bullets recovered, and possibly indicate a second firearm was used at Lake Herman Road. The problem is tracking down the missing casing. This is explained in more detail here;
www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/lake-herman-road-the-ballistics-report.
Raymond Grant kindly submitted a request to the DOJ on my behalf and although he didn't hold out much hope, he did receive a reply.
"STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SACRAMENTO, CA 94244-2550"
RE: Zodiac Killer
Dear Mr. Raymond Grant:
Thank you for your correspondence to the Office of the Attorney General requesting that a crime involving the Zodiac Killer be investigated and that the alleged perpetrator of the crime be prosecuted.
​If you have information about a crime, please file a report with the police or sheriff's department in the area where the crime occurred. Local law enforcement authorities are responsible for investigating violations of law within their jurisdictions. After investigating the crime, the local law enforcement authorities may forward the case to the county district attorney's office for prosecution, if appropriate. The decision whether or not to file criminal charges will then be made by the locally elected district attorney. In this matter, we suggest that you contact:
850 Bryant St., Room 525
But as Ray said "The most discouraging aspect of the letter is that they explained that the investigation was a jurisdictional matter, but got the jurisdiction for the specific crime wrong. The Lake Herman Road murders are under the jurisdiction of the Solano County Sheriff's Office. In any case, it's a dead end, because the physical evidence, if it still exists, would be warehoused by the DOJ and not by Solano County SO, which would just respond to any inquiry by saying that it doesn't have possession of the evidence, and that you should probably contact the CA DOJ." Edited.
The missing casing will not reveal who killed David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, but it may reveal whether one or more attackers were present in the Lake Herman Road turnout on December 20th 1968. For now though, it's another dead end.
Alex Lewis
This response is along the lines of what I had expected. I thought they'd use the 'ongoing investigation' or 'Cannot discuss evidence in an ongoing/open/unsolved case.'
" In this matter, we suggest that you contact: San Francisco Police Department."
I wouldn't be able to pass up such a great chance to respond with sarcastic thankfulness. . .
"With Respect, SFPD Officers who responded to the crime have spent the following half Century contradicting each other, calling each others account/version of events into question and One Cop refuting claims and statements of another.
Then I'd have continued. . .
'They also appear to have had a positive identification by a crucial witness that, for some reason, SFPD forgot ever happened and never reported it in any post crime reports in a similar way to them having failed to recall and report their officers encountering a suspect matching the wanted's description and only did so what that said wanted individual wrote about the encounter in a letter to the editor. Plus, SFPD embrace and welcome all contact from the public in relation to Zodiac, an offender who steamrolled their credibility by pointing out how incompetent they were. So, Than you for well intended advice, however, I think I'll pass on that idea.'
What they are doing Rich is the classic 'Passing the Buck.' They cannot help you, but they may know and suggest an agency that can, The San Francisco PD.
Go ask SFPD Rich and they will likely advise you go speak with the Dpt. of Justice regarding this matter, or advise you to file a FOIA with the same Dpt. And thus begins the passing merry-go-round.
If Mike Rodelli is correct and Russ maybe took the casing home as a souvenir, then sorry about the pun - I'm shellshocked. The only reason I am interested in this, is that it is another major blunder not to test all the casings fired that night, for Gods sake this is a double homicide, possibly the biggest in Benicia and Solano County's history in 1968. So where is the damn casing. You don't test 9, you test 10. It is not without merit that one gunman held David Faraday while the other shot up the car and held Betty Lou as she exited first, then targeting her. If one bullet should not match the other 7, then it would most likely be the one fired into David Faraday by a second assailant - the casing logically ejecting behind the shooter into the Rambler. Think of it Alex, there are two people killed here, it's pitch black virtually. If you are training your pencil flashlight gun onto David Faraday's head, then you have limited control on Betty Lou in heavy darkness. Furthermore if you are the same guy that committed the BRS attack, why not just riddle the Rambler with bullets. Probably through experience, but why would the same guy who took no chances at BRS, get so close to David Faraday to produce a contact wound. He kept his comfort zone at BRS-the front passenger door, at Berryessa, he stepped back according to Hartnell when he had ideas of grabbing the gun, plus he kept Bryan at arms length getting Cecelia to take the bindings and with Paul Stine he just cowardly blindsided him, so why get close and personal with David Faraday, when you had a gun sight specifically designed for targeting accuracy. It simply isn't necessary. But one possibility is the second shooter without the gun sight had hold of David Faraday or at the very least held him under duress at close quarters. The first shooter charges the Rambler shooting it up as he approaches, as Betty Lou exits first, the first shooter grabs her. By this time the second shooter arrives, immediately grabbing David Faraday and holding him by the side of the car. The first shooter, with sighting implement lets Betty Lou go and fires the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th shot into Betty Lou. David Faraday is executed on the spot by the second shooter, hence this bullet not matching the other 7. If the 10th casing (the one that likely disappeared with the Rambler) was located and was unique to the other nine, as was this one bullet, then two shooters at LHR would be almost certain. There is no way a 10 round J C Higgins firearm would be shot 9 times, then the single shooter changes gun for the last round, that makes little sense. The 10th casing won't find us the killer but it may totally change our perceptions on the Zodiac enigma of a lone shooter, for Lake Herman Road anyway. The first crime may have been committed by two people, before one went alone from then on.
"If Mike Rodelli is correct and Russ maybe took the casing home as a souvenir, then sorry about the pun - I'm shellshocked"
Don't be, Lundblad has tested the evidence from the cottage and confirmed it is real and potent Herbal Reefa. He's chasing & stopping car's on LHR every time one comes by the scene declaring He has a search and seizure warrant and reason to suspect the driver is concealing Illegal Chocolate Bars in His Vehicle, and could be transporting illegal Cheese and Onion flavor crisps, Felony Fence!!
I do believe He was observed attempting to Question at least Three Casing's as potential Witnesses and May have detained one in His Pocket for further questioning.
He also pulled His weapon on Vallejo Units when They arrived Declaring:
"This Turn-Out ain't big Enough for both of Us. You Vallejo Boys are over-stepping the line here, and I don't think Benicia PD appreciate that!" Lundblad pulls sidearm, Aim's at Vallejo PD: "EAT SHIT VA HEY-HO PEE DEEEEE...
*ECHOING REPORT, SHOT FIRED: **THUD** something hits concrete deck. **Radio crackles to life** "All units, Shot's fired and Officer Down. Det. Sgt. Lunblad is Down with a self inflicted Gun-Shot wound to the face." ***Awwuuuchhh, my nose hurtssss"
'Mishandling of Firearm' the report says, official term for holing gun wrong way round.
You know why the above is written as a joke, because that's what these official's are from the outright contradictory nature of statement's they give to the 'Help Yourself' to tamper and remove evidence.
These people and what the say and so Richard should be treated with contempt, not taken at all seriously and in fact, made a joke of because that is exactly what they do when they ask You & I to accept as true the most absurd suggestion that, in Presdio Heights for example, police observed and stopped and spoke to a WMA, but forgot to ask Him for His details because Don was too busy wondering why He wore Pleated Trousers which "were unusual for the time." Wait, don't accept this yet, this is only One Unit's recollection of what in the form of Armond Pelissetti. The other Unit who the claim is made directly about has a slightly different claim of: "We Never Stopped the Man, Never talked to Him. That is an Emphatic statement by Me!! I wouldn't make the denial!" Asked a second time and Donny get quite annoyed: "We DID NOT stop the Zodiac, We DIDN'T STOP ANYONE! I wish Eric Zelms were alive today to tell you so!"
Well I suppose Pelissetti is accurate and right about one thing anyway.. . . "Well, it's very hard to say whether He did or not, it would be A point of Conjecture at this point..."
A lie is what I prefer to cLL it Armond, a misrepresentation and/or Fabrication of known true fact's in favor of alternate version which lessens once own level of clear incompetence = LIEEEE!
"In any case, it's a dead end, because the physical evidence, if it still exists, would be warehoused by the DOJ and not by Solano County SO, which would just respond to any inquiry by saying that it doesn't have possession of the evidence, and that you should probably contact the CA DOJ."
Very defeatist attitude Raymond. This is what they do, they pass you from one agency to another, they then refer you to another, they then refer you back to the original Agency.....
They want to discourage you Ray and frustrating your efforts by passing you from pillar to post they hope will get you to do exactly what you have just done: Give up, believe it's a pointless and futile endeavor and One that is not worth the time and effort in to something that's fruitless.
Author & former Cop David Paulides filed a FOIA for a list of people missing from US National Parks, first reply was a sort of "Don't know what it is you want." Dave Filed second, told this time to speak to National Park Rangers. Filed third and got A "We don't hold the type of lists you have requested.
Dave then finally used His LE contacts and spoke to a friend of His within the FBI and Dave asked Him is He wording it wrong, are the FBI unsure of what He wanted and His FBI friend cut Him off with: "No, I've spoken to colleagues about your request and Dave, they know and fully understand what it is your asking them for. . .They just don't want to give these lists to you Dave. They are frustrating your efforts Dave hoping you'll give up and go away." Dave asked why they don't want people knowing the truth about people who disappear every year in the National Parks?" FBI agent said three words in answer: "Lack of Integrity."
The FOIA Dpt. ended up admitting OK, we can put these lists together for you, but the List for Yosemite National Park, to be supplied this list will be over $100.000. If He wished to have a lists of all National Park's missing, that will be 1.3 Million Dollars.
They just try to discourage you to go away, which is exactly why you should not!
The majority of the casings were ground just outside the Rambler, only one was a distance away, believed by many to be one of the warning shots. The Zodiac stated in the 'Debut' letter "All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights." There was no need to use the gun sights, he was correct, the first shot into Betty Lou left gun shot residue on her dress, fired from close range. She only reached about 12-13 feet from the Rambler before falling back. Remember her head was only 8.5 feet from the rear of the Rambler, after all she was just over 5 feet in height. Since all but one of the the casings were by the right side of the Rambler and Faraday was positioned just by the right rear wheel of the Rambler and Betty Lou was shot first, are we to assume David Faraday stood likely only a couple of feet from the Zodiac while he fired a minimum of 5 shots into Betty Lou did nothing. David Faraday was an Eagle Scout, who did wrestling, and knowing his girlfriend was getting executed just an arms length away, knowing almost certainly he was to be next, it is highly improbable he would just stand there just watching on, unless he was under duress. It could be argued he got into a scuffle with Zodiac, being hit in the head with one shot, but this apparently is the bullet that didn't appear to match the rest. The grouping of nine casings suggested Zodiac barely moved from the region right outside the Rambler, so if the bullet that killed David Faraday didn't exhibit the same 6RH twist characteristics of the other seven, then this explains a second shooter and why David Faraday was powerless to help Betty Lou Jensen.
I found a reference to the 'Rifle' ammo I was alluding to earlier, this time it's a reference made by Harvey Hines in His report. Harvey is detailing the abduction and murder of Dana Lull in Las Vegas, with Her lifeless body discovered in a mine shaft. He states:
"The weapon used in the killing of Lull was a .22 Caliber Semi Automatic Pistol, such as was used in the Zodiac crimes. Casings and Cartridges found at the scene were .22 Caliber long rifle ammunition. This was the same weapon and ammunition used in the Zodiac's Murder of Betty-Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road. The Jensen and Faraday Homicides were the first of the Zodiac Killer."
I have read it officially somewhere I am sure of it A single.Long Rifle Cartridge Casing was found at the LHR crime scene!
Hines Report:
"The Weapon used (In Lake Herman Incident) was a .22 Caliber Semi-Automatic. Possibly a J.C Higgins Model 80 or a High Standard Model 101. The ammunition was determined to be .22 Caliber Super X Copper Coated Long Rifle."
If James Owen heard only one gunshot a quarter of a mile past the turnout, then if two or three warning shots were fired at the Rambler in close succession then he would have heard two or three. If they were the shots at Betty Lou, he would have heard 5. If he did only hear 1 shot, this had to be the shot into David Faraday, but negates the idea that after shooting David Faraday he immediately turned his gun on Betty Lou, otherwise James Owen would again have heard more than one shot. The question is, is this indicative of two shooters acting separately and independently or a single Zodiac who delayed killing Betty Lou for a time after killing David. Or was James Owen mistaken. He either saw nobody in and around the vehicles because [1] the assailant/s had them out of view, noticing James Owen's vehicle approaching or [2] he simply failed to notice the occupants of the vehicles as he passed by.
You know what Mate, this case and Zodiac Himself, if I thought and believed that it's still unsolved and many efforts to find the missing jig-saw pieces being frustrated by benign means, basically Rich if I had any sense or remote suspicion that this is not solvable because Zodiac was right and He's just been too good, too clever and outsmarted all of use for almost 50 years now, I could accept that as the reason, I wouldn't like it, but it's Zodiac's job after all to not get caught. But mate, I just feel absolutely certain that this isn't the reason We are still searching for His identity.
We're still running around "I wonder who this witness was......
I wonder which cop is telling the true and correct version, did Don stop His patrol car and verbally communicate with Zodiac or are Don's Denials honest denials.....
I wonder if someone was spotted running into the presidio which Don's Memo would allow for, or did our Friend Shuffle off up some Steps and hide out on the grounds of 3712....
I wonder why former Cop Steve Balidino sat on camera confirming Yes, there was a recording of Zodiac's voice from a phone call, only to admit He made this up when Slover reminded Him that their call system back then had no ability to record the calls because thus technology was not available in late 1960's to early 70's.....
.I wonder if Armond's WMA really was Kjell and if so, was Kjell accompanied by a four legged friend or was He stood on the confines of A driveway "Just standing There."
I mean Richard I am not Kidding you mate, I could give you another 10 or 15 of these types of examples. Nothing will change until someone has the Moral Decency and an Empathetic Conscience that feel a good degree of compassion for the families & them still not knowing if they are an unwitting and unknowingly friends with the person who murdered their loved one, or was it a truly Random attack by a person they won't know and never have met?
This will never cease, not until someone comes forward and says "Look, here's the missing couple of pieces, these fit the missing slots and you now have a full complete picture to view with all missing pieces given back to you.
That big picture Rich it will never be there nor come into focus because I am convinced mate there are those who are willfully hiding the pieces they know we need and are searching for.
Hey Alex here is something almost slightly interesting I found regarding Zodiac's first cipher and him mentioning 'the most dangerous animal of all.' This was supposedly referencing the 'Most Dangerous Game' by Richard Connell published on January 19th 1924. This cipher also included details of the first two crimes, ie; Lake Herman Road being the start of his hunt. The Zodiac would claim in the Debut of Zodiac letter he attached a light to his gun to aid his shooting. Also .22 casings were retrieved from the crime scene. This next excerpt from the short story by Richard Connell, I know was referring to weight, but if you interpret it in Zodiac terms it sounds a little more interesting;
A small, glittering object not far away caught Rainsford's eye and he picked it up. It was an empty cartridge.
"A twenty-two," he remarked. "That's odd. It must have been a fairly large animal too. The hunter had his nerve with him to tackle it with a light gun. It's clear that the brute put up a fight. I suppose the first three shots I heard was when the hunter flushed his quarry and wounded it. The last shot was when he trailed it here and finished it." .22 and light gun, I wonder.
Well in regard to LHR, from memory alone I am not sure who it was that stated it, (Something in back of My mind is telling Me it was Dave Faraday's sister) but a lot of kids had planned to be out on LHR that night because 'Something was going down.'
Now this, if true, Has always given Me cause to instantly think of The Cottage & the drug raid that was carried out on it that night. I mean that young lad that wouldn't stop pestering Betty-lou for a date was said to have been told By David to back off and stop pestering Betty and if He refused David is said to have threatened Him by informing Him He knew all about His illegal quantity of drugs He often purchased for Re-sale by Him. . .
I often wonder was that lad and His alleged Drug Supplier/Ring connected to that cottage and David knew it and had followed through on His Threat? Is that the reason He and Betty went out there that night to observe the police raid that He had tipped police off about?
See at 16/17 I would probably have been very Naive and not have enough experience of the World to understand that reporting a lad your own age for dealing to teach Him a lesson to Leave your girl alone is never just going to enrage the kid you want to teach the lesson. He May Himself be a prett small time street dealer, but a lower run street dealer will always have a Supplier that nobody see's or knows the Name of. He'll always be a someone that will stay bahind the scenes so-to-speak and He'll be there with His 'Contacts' maybe a Paid off Cop one day, A Smuggler or runner the Next.
David's drug dealing love rival isn't going to pose any real danger or threat to Dave's Life, it's the people He associates with such as A Middle of the Run Drug Grower growing His own to Supply the street dealers.
Who know's if the Ramber and the occupant's were random unfortunate young people or the Couple that really were in the cross-hairs of a Red with Rage drug Supplier!
"Zodiac's first cipher and him mentioning 'the most dangerous animal of all.' This was supposedly referencing the 'Most Dangerous Game' by Richard Connell."
'The Most Dangerous Game' is another completely fictional Robert Graysmith claim. He has made references to it over and over when He's referring to the decoded 408. Zodiac never once used the term or phrase 'Most Dangerous Game' in any communication as You and I both know.
His decoded 408 alluded to Man being the 'Most Dangerous Animal' and Robert has amended 'Animal' with the updated word: 'Game.'
To Myself Rich, if RG had no History of making Fictional statements which He quickly presents as Facts, I'd be Game (Excuse the pun). But the fact that Graysmith stated, live on MSNBC News that Arthur Allen was the only suspect that "Had the capacity to write the codes, the one that knew all of the victims, stalked them, then He would have to be Zodiac" end quote.. It's 'The Most Dangerous Claim' is what it is Rich, one with Zero supporting it.