Taxi Driver [5]

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After the attack at Lake barri Essa, the Zodiac fell silent. There were no more letters, there were no more phone calls after that initial phone call to the Napa Police Department, and we don't know why. But two weeks after the attack at Lake Barriessa, the Zodiac resurfaced in San Francisco. And while he had already sent a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle establishing himself as a link to San Francisco, he hadn't committed any crimes there that we knew.

Of in the newsroom, our ears perked up, obvious a little more about this kind of case. Now you've got three cases and the one guy claiming responsibility and providing in some of these letters details and only the police would know, so they'd verify that he was at the actual scene. But it wasn't until October eleventh, nineteen sixty nine, when Zodiac first struck in San Francisco, that I think the Chronicle went into full on serial killer mode if

A man in a mask robbed, tied, and stabbed him, leaving them for day.

Subject stated, I want to report a murder, no a double murder.

I did it a man who wore a medieval style executioners hood, carried a knife and gun and intended to use them.

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

I'm not the damn Zodiac.

Who is the Zodiac and where is he from?

iHeartRadio, Housetuff Works and Tenderfoot TV.

This is monster, the Zodiac killer.

Taxi drivers are the unspoken experts of their cities, the unofficial tour guides per se. In a big city like San Francisco, taxi drivers are ubiquitous, They're everywhere, They're a constant, a given, and because of this, they were also an easy target for the Zodiac.

Think about it.

There are a few people more trusting of strangers than a taxi driver. They pull over, pick you up, drop you off. You never even see their face for exchange names. There's intimacy here. You are sharing this small place, but the stranger. Do you really know who's in the car with you. The Zodiac didn't stalk his victims for weeks. He chose them at random because of their environment, their unawareness,

San Francisco is directly linked to the Zodiac killer. There's no escaping it, which is ironic because it's not where he started. He started in Valleo and Benetia.

This is Zodiac expert Michael Butterfield.

And maybe that was something that he wanted. Maybe he lived in San Francisco. Maybe it was easier to write to the San Francisco Chronicle and make sure that he could read that newspaper than it was to drive all the way to wherever he had to go to get a Valeo Times Harold, I don't know. One thing that we know for sure is that the Zodiac wanted the attention that.

He wanted when he wanted it.

Now. What he wanted in July of nineteen sixty nine was for as many people to see this as possible, to get as much attention as possible, and to cement his image as a real threat. And it worked. And then after that, I think one of the things that he started to realize was I'm going to do better if I keep going to the Chronicle, then if I keep going to another newspaper. And there's some evidence that the Vleo Times Herald was not as willing to keep

Well, the key papers in San Francisco were the Chronicle and the Examiner. They were very different. At the end of the day, the Examiner was a kind of symbolic power, but it was losing its circulation war with the San Francisco Chronicle.

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

Was never a gray paper journalistically, but they had some very interesting columnists. It was kind of a fun read for that reason. But the city had never really distinguished itself journalistically. It didn't have a paper during this time like the Los Angeles Times, much less the Washington Post or the New York Times. They were widely read, but they were not any great shakes.

Despite this, the San Francisco Chronicle had the highest readership in the Bay Area, and Peter Richardson says that this was the only thing that mattered to the Zodiac.

The Psychotic killer has already murdered five, one at a lover's lane near a lake just north of San Francisco, three others in nearby Vallejo, the latest a taxi driver in San Francisco.

He apparently was in the area of Mason and Geary in San Francisco and hailed a cab, and that cab was being driven by Paul Stein, who was a student and a husband. The plan was to direct Paul Stein to the intersection of Washington and Maple, which was in an upscale neighborhood of San Francisco known as Presidio Heights. So, from what we know, paul Stein took the passenger to that location. What we don't know is why the cab eventually ended up one block further west at Washington and

Two days later, the Chronicle received a letter and only the Chronicle from the Zodiac.

This is former reporter Duffy Jennings. He was there when the San Francisco Chronicle received this now infamous letter.

As the woman opened it in the editorial department, a piece of bloody shirt fell out with the letter.

This is the Zodiac speaking, I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington Street and Maple Street last night. To prove this, here's a bloodstained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the North Bay.

Area, so they knew that this was Paul Stein's killer. And now he's again taunting police to catch him. And the fear factor went way up, and now he's in San Francisco.

Captain Lee at this particular time is satisfied that the individual who sent this piece of shut in and the letter to the Chronicle was in fact connected with the is the person who killed the cab driver. Let me

That was San Francisco Police Chief Thomas Cahill. The SFPD confirmed the killer was in fact the Zodiac. They knew this because the striped cloth found in the letter matched the striped shirt paul Stein was wearing, and when investigators checked paul Stein's shirt, they found that a rectangular portion was missing. With the San Francisco Police department involved, this crime now crossed over multiple cities and jurisdictions, and those

But pulmonary tests of certain evidence such as fingerprint and handwriting have been made to where we are certain that the man that we're looking for is the same man responsible for the killing of the cab driver in San Francisco, plus the shooting deaths in Solano County. In Leo Well, Sheriff, what type of person is this man?

Well?

We have reason to believe that he's a maniac. However, he is a cunning man. He knows just exactly what moves he's going to make. He knows where he's going to be from one minute to the next. He knows where he's going to start and when he's going to end. He plans these things out, and he knows just exactly how this thing is going to turn out. We think it appears to us that he is killing just for the thrill of killing.

So how did the killer avoid the police in Presidio Heights? In the Bloody Shirt letter, the Zodiac gave his own account of what happened that night.

The San Francisco police could have called me last night if they had searched the park properly. Instead of holding road races with their motorcycles seen who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover.

But there was more. In another letter sent just a few weeks later, Zodiac gave even more details about what happened after Paulstein's murder.

If you wonder why I was wiping the cab down, I was leaving fake clues for the police to run all over town with. As one might say, I gave the cops some busy work to do to keep them happy. I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey, blue pig, I was in the park. You were using fire trucks to mass the sound of your cruising prowl cars. The dogs now came within two blocks of me, and they were to the west, and there was only two groups of

Paul Stein, unlike the other victims, became a victim because of his job. That seems very unfair to me, and I know that's an odd way to describe it, but you know, he didn't have a chance, He had no idea. He was just doing what he thought he was supposed to do. He thought he would take this person where he wants to go and go on his way. He didn't know that the passenger he picked up had other plans.

This is Michael Butterfield again. He's interviewed numerous people who were on the scene that night.

And while the kids were watching, the first responding police officers arrived, and that was Frank Peta and Armand Pealasetti. And Armand Pealasetti told me in several interviews I did with him over the years that he arrived at the scene, he saw the kids coming out of the house. He directed them to stand back. He asked his partner to watch the area to guard the crime scene, and he

Of a white man.

According to the new witness description, the killer was a white male in his early forties. He was about five to eight with a heavy build. He had reddish blonde hair a crew cut, and he wore eyeglasses and a dark parka jacket.

And when that happened, apparently Don Falk realized that that was a man that they had driven past on their way to the crime scene. So Falc and his partner turned around and went back and went looking for the killer. They did not find him. Palasetti kept walking and didn't see anything. By that time, then the fire department and

To the killer.

I had a lot of questions about the murder of Paul Stein. Why would the killer change his mo so dramatically Again, the Zodiac had previously focused on young couples in isolated areas, and his weapon of choice was a handgun. He escalated his attacks when he wore a costume, then tied up and stabbed the couple at Lake Barriessa. This time he went back to his regular clothes and back to his gun to kill a lone male cab driver. It just didn't make sense to me to better understand.

My name is Oliver Sutton. I am the head of security for the Act Theater for more than twenty yefs. I've known this area virtually all the time I've lived in South Francisco. The Zodiac, the first murderer could kick place in San Francisco. A patriot came out of the Act Theater. At that time, it was the Geary and

This h the lights on, so uh, the the killer, he would have come through these double doors.

That's they filmed it that way for the movie. That he walked out of these double doors and held down a yellow taxi, a yellow cabby. Being a hat in any city is tough because you don't know who's getting in the back seat of the car. According to the story, the victim was not chosen. It was just a random crime of opportunity.

From there, the killer called the taxi and was picked up by Paul Stein. So I called the cab two. I asked to be taken to the corner of Washington and Cherry Street in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. It was about three miles west, fifteen minutes by car, and oddly enough, my cab driver's name was also Paul sat.

Diane Feinstein.

Whinstein yea, she lives. Paul and I got to talking. He had heard about the Zodiac case but didn't know much of the details. He asked me how many people the Zodiac had killed. I told him how many of the police had confirmed. He wasn't impressed. He's swaw time, I know, and she's swawed potatoes. He saw a ton of people. The reason why it's it's such a big deal is because he was constantly writing to the chronicles.

Well call, he was one of the first one.

I mean, he was one of the first, and he was in the paper.

So when he did something, he may should that the police knew it was him that did it.

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

I did that one?

I don't want nobody has to try.

To claim that as the glory.

This is me.

I did it.

Well, here's where it gets crazy, though, man, because he like in the beginning, like with that one Paul Stein. Yeah, he sent a piece of the guy's cloth with his blood on it in his letter to the chronicle, right, and it was a cab driver. He was a cab driver, yeah, named Paul.

He gets I'm a gun spooky man.

I got bumped.

I got goose bumps onthing, you know how related to the Zodiac. When we arrived on the scene of paul Stein's final moments, I got out and just listened for a while. A few cars drove by, but there wasn't much, if any, foot traffic. It felt like a different universe from the bustling city that was just a few blocks away. That's when I realized the Zodiac sought out these types locations, quiet, unassuming areas, places that seem almost peaceful, miles away from

So it was my father, who was actually since past. He was he was just a kid. He was a kid, and he was just playing downstairs and he just you know, looked outside the window and saw yellow cab and it's being kids there, nosy, and they looked in and I guess from my memory of what I was told, saw someone slouch over in the car who, you know, come to find it was a culprit of the zodiac. And you call the police and his family or his mom and dad were down the street at a party, and

The Zodiacs moved to San Francisco meant there would be a lot of changes in the investigation. One of them was that that was the first time he had struck in a major metropolitan city, which meant that a major metropolitan police force would be assigned to the case. Two of the investigators assigned to the case who arrived at the crime scene that night were David Toski and Bill Armstrong. Dave Tosky was sort of known as a celebrity cop.

Is a mad Matt Loose give him the message at the chronicle.

We'll agree to pay.

We'll tell him we need time to get the money together.

Wait a minute, do I.

Get this right?

You're gonna play this creeps game.

It'll get us some more breathing space, so I might.

Get somebody killed.

Tosky and Armstrong investigated the scene and at a certain point those fingerprints were discovered. There was also a pair of gloves that were found underneath one of the seats, I believe, as well as the shell casing that appeared to have come from the Zodiac's weapon.

The bullet came from a nine millimeter pistol, but it was not the same nine millimeter used to kill Darlene Ferron. Tosky and Armstrong would also discover that the gloves belonged to a pre vis customer of Paul Stein.

All this evidence was gathered, the witness statements were taken, and a composite sketch of the killer was drawn up with the assistance of these witnesses. Tosky and Armstrong at the time thought that they were investigating what you might

They had no.

Idea that in two days the San Francisco Chronicle would receive a letter from the Zodiac taking responsibility for the murder of Paul Stein, which also included a piece of paul Stein's shirt to remove any and all doubt that he was actually responsible.

Since the release of the latest letter yesterday, our office has received additional phone calls from persons in the Bay Area who feel that they can be helpful in the apprehension of the Zodiac suspect.

This is Inspector David Toski speaking with KPIX News in nineteen sixty nine.

My partner, Inspector Armstrong, and I who were handling the case. Have received several phone calls this morning and this afternoon on various informants who have given us some information as to names, addresses, and locations that we have checked out and are checking out at the present time. It's generally stirred up quite a bit of interest.

This of course changed the entire investigation. Tosky and Armstrong thought it was a simple crime, and now they were involved in what was possibly the most explosive manhunt in California history. So obviously moving to San Francisco, changing his victim preference, acting out much different kind of crime, sending scraps of victim's clothing in the mail. This was all a new level, a next step for the Zodiac. It

But This was just the beginning of the San Francisco chapter. In the last part of the Bloody Shirt letter, Zodiac had one more threat.

School children make nice targets. I think I shall wipe out a school by some morning, Just shoot out the front tire and then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.

Signed Zodiac, school children are nice targets. I shall wipe out his school bus some morning, shoot out the tires and then pick off the kiddies as they come bounding out.

That was the threat of the Zodiac Killer.

Now, every day police cars follow the buses, which would be likely targets. Officers aren't with shotguns take the threat seriously.

I think that was the thing that ratcheted up the paranoia in the fear around this Zodiac guy, who by now was a mythical figure of a culking guy walking around the streets who could not just kill a couple of kids at a lover's lane, but anybody could be the next victim.

Next time on Monster the Zodiac Killer, we have a.

Number of playing blows. Officers following buses in the morning and in the evening.

I remember as a kid having a cop car followed behind us, and I remember that because as kids we would all kind of run to the back of the bus and wave at the cop.

The media frenzy that resulted, predictable as it was, was a huge part of the story itself. So in some ways we start to see the media become a player in the stories that they're covering.

It is just a sense of not knowing what would happen next, especially after these letters start coming threatening to sort of escalate the violence, and people not knowing whether that was serious or not.

You're not afraid, No, no, You're afraid.

That wasn't enough for him. Then he moved on to the next level, where he started threatening to blow up a school bus full of children.

The death Machine is already made.

Monster The Zodiac Killer is a fifteen episode podcast produced by iHeartRadio, House Stuff Works and Tenderfoot TV. Donald Albright and I are executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producers Meredith Steedman, Mason Lindsay, and Christina Dana.

Jason Hoak is executive.

Producer on behalf of How Stuff Works, along with producers Trevor Young, Miranda Hawkins, Ben Keebrick, and Josh Thain. Scott Benjamin provides additional voice talent. Matt Frederick is our host. Original music is by Makeup and Vanity Set. If you haven't already, make sure to check out the first season of Monster called Atlanta Monster, about the Atlanta child murders from the late seventies to the early eighties. Download the

Thanks for listening.