Posts Tagged ‘california’

Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer was never caught because the law enforcement people in power at the time had used secondary means of catching a first rate criminal. The systems then in place were thought by many to be acceptable to the norms of the time, but criminal minds get away with crimes because their etymology of hate and lust for blood evades the thoughts and behavioral experience of the average policeman from that area in that era. Such law enforcement personnel cannot be expected to grapple with the serial killer type of threat.

The Zodiac Killer is the type of crime that specialized law enforcement agencies were formed to solve. Yet even after decades of forensic evidence and new theoretical modeling systems the Zodiac Killer has never been identified. Yet the improvement of data systems and the records access enjoyed by federal law enforcement today is unparalleled. By changing the approach used to evaluate the Zodiac Killer, a solution may present itself. [Here is an analysis that can clear up why that is].

The Zodiac Killer is thought to have a problem with water. The water comments in the notes indicate there may have been a problem with the killer living in an area that became flooded with water or the ground rose somehow preventing the killer from committing crimes. The Zodiac Killer was operating in a somewhat rural area during an era when options for personal transportation were limited. This could have been an important clue to follow up. Was the water clue a hidden one because in fact the serial killer was not ready to be caught yet?

This may also have meant that the transportation that the killer used was affected by the ground water rising or the conditions of the roads they had to use for access to the killing area was blocked by wet weather conditions.

Isolation of the areas where the killer might have come from might have yielded further information about his home or work. The hours of travel (the killings were always conducted at night) and the roadways open (to single non-freight drivers traveling alone) might have narrowed the search. With the physical description that came later, geographic limitation would have pinpointed more precise data sets to clear using 1960’s and 1970’s methods.

Zodiac Fascinates Public

While many people have thought their relatives or parents might have been the Zodiac Killer, the case remains unsolved. A woman came forward in 2008 claiming her father (adopted) was the Zodiac Killer, but many alleged this was a publicity stunt. The 47-year-old woman claimed to have participated in some way and assisted in writing the infamous Zodiac Killer notes. Zodiac experts are skeptical and continue to scan the data and case histories for a possible solution.

Some members of the public suspect the Zodiac Killer was Ted Kaczynski the Unabomber. Others believe he was simply an insane person deteriorating mentally whose killing spree ended with degeneration in physical abilities or freedom to roam unsupervised. If the Zodiac is still alive, there must be a compelling reason for him to keep his identity a secret, in contrast to the time in the 1970’s when his notes indicated he was on threshold of revealing it.
The killer may have been using an alternate method of transportation not available to him at times when he was not killing or committing murders. The killer may have been intentionally using a car or vehicle that was not his or that he did not have supervised use of in the rain or wet. The killer may have been using the car of someone else, a handy way to avoid people associating the motor vehicle with the person of the description. Access to this transportation (effecting use of cabs or a new car) seems a logical conclusion.

The Car as an Identifier

Cars were generally a good means of identifying and tracking criminals in the 1960’s and 1970’s, due to the fact that roadside stops by police officers tracked the license numbers. The Zodiac may have been aware of this, or even known the policemen local to him. There might be any number of reddish brown haired stocky men in the state, but very few automobiles of a certain color, condition, make and model.

The identification of one man as the probable Zodiac was evidently spurned when it was remarked the man had bought a new car. But why did the Zodiac need to buy a new car? What happened to the suspect’s old car? Was it tainted with evidence or bodies, or had it been part of a botched crime to the extent that the perpetrator had to dispose of it altogether. It may be the case that someone in the Zodiac suspect’s world noticed the use of the car and a change was necessary. Investigation of these cars and where they ended up would be a useful thread to pursue.

The criminology methods should have isolated the times the murders were occurring contrasted against the times the murders were committed and identified what bridgeworks or traffic patterns changed during those times. This might have established some good observation zones for the police to see which types of vehicles the killer might have used to “dogleg” to the murder scenes. While the notes may have implied the Zodiac Killer’s wish to be identified, he actually maintained methods preventing this from happening.

The Zodiac Killer plausibly killed three couples and one cab driver, and the one cab driver that was attributed as a kill by the Zodiac could have been part of his dogleg routine and if the driver made a comment about having recognized him as the killer, or made a remark about his pattern of behavior, or even mentioned seeing him drive a car, the Zodiac Killer would have taken his life to prevent the recognition from being shared or communicated to anybody else.

The San Francisco Connection

In 1968 and 1969 a vicious killer struck down two “lover’s lane” couples, attempting a third. The Zodiac Killer is thought to have murdered a woman, Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California in 1966. Why the divergence from the San Francisco area and why the need to isolate the “lust” crimes to the San Francisco environs? What conflicts were present in the killer’s world to make the geography changes seen in the progressively scripted killing modus operandi?

Note the chronological displacement between the crimes. If Cheri Jo was a “warmup” crime, the Zodiac may have expected the killing of one woman to slake his lust for killing. He may have realized after the killing that a man and a woman killed was his preferred scenario. Was the Zodiac Killer the man in the “scenario” himself? Was his own conception or the birth of a child (from a lover’s lane tryst) cementing unacceptable changes in his life he couldn’t deal with?

The couple killings were location specific to the Bay Area, occurring in Vallejo, San Francisco, and Lake Berryessa. Why only three killings? The Zodiac (despite his bluster in the notes) might have feared he was unable to control the killings, as his third couple survived long enough to give details concrete enough to matter in a court of law. The risks the Zodiac Killer may have taken possibly were becoming too great for his limited ability to contain.

The script for the Zodiac killings is a challenging one to solve. There were couples and necking teenagers everywhere, why did these rural spots attract the Zodiac’s rage? Why did a man have to die first with the woman’s molestation and assault coming after? Was there a woman figure of power protected by a male figure within the Zodiac Killer’s immediate world that the murdered couples represented? Why not make the man watch as his wife or girlfriend was raped? There is an element of substitution present in the death order that point to the Zodiac’s motivation and murder/kill reward/release.

Sexual Motives in Zodiac Psychopathology

The identification of San Francisco as a homosexual hotbed directs the analyst’s thoughts to motivation. The social intercourse with homosexuals, the temptation or frustration directed at the self or at a certain individual may have factored into the Zodiac’s killing episodes. The limited number of successful murdered pairs indicates a trigger episode unlocked the fatal combination of Zodiac motivation and action while at large.

The first killing in Riverside in 1966 might have been an experiment with heterosexual longings a man in the homosexual community could not have engaged in or pursued. Was the Zodiac an accepted homosexual? Did he envy the couples engaging in their private snuggling sessions, while his own unassuaged desires went suppressed? Was he in fact a bisexual, dealing with unknown thoughts and desires confusing to him but required to be hidden?

Was the Zodiac Killer sexually confused, thus “proving” himself with the sexual assaults? Was there a man in his life he aspired to get rid of, that the men in the couples killings were supposed to represent? If the Cheri Jo killing was meant to assuage feelings of sexual confusion, perhaps an atmosphere of heterosexual complacency or even attraction was fostered while the Zodiac was in the car with her that he feared enough to Killer to blot out.
Was there a touching off incidence in the Zodiac’s life that secured an immediate blood lust, noticed by the Berryessa victims and reported before they died? The trance the Zodiac went into was a fugue state of emotional and realistic escape from his actual life. Why did the Zodiac Killer need to escape from his life at just these times? Other killings are alleged to have been done by the Zodiac Killer, but without the infamous notes for corroboration, police cannot be sure.

The Notes as Double Blind

The notes formed the basis of chiefly all of the Zodiac information law enforcement officials worked from. Yet this “evidence” was manufactured at the behest of a dangerous criminal! There was no reason to trust any communication that was delivered. The notes may contain various true facts sprinkled with falsehoods, intended to consume police resources and continue the media attention the Zodiac craved. With the cessation of notes being received by media outlets, one might assume the Zodiac Killer was no longer at large or had a medical or physiological limitation preventing him from communicating in this manner.

In all the Zodiac is suspected of killing 5 people and he injured 2 more. The Zodiac in his letters claims to have killed up to 37 people in total.

Article by Roy Whyte . Visit his Google+ page for more.

Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez was perhaps one of the brutal serial killers of all time, notably for the intense brutality and indiscriminate violence visited upon his victims. Ramirez was known as the “Night Stalker’, a man who cruised Los Angeles, California homes and randomly selected areas and victims of all genders, ethnicities, and types.The trial of Richard Ramirez was one of the most expensive in California history, outdone only by the O. J. Simpson media circus to come years later. Lucifer-worshipper Ramirez is currently awaiting a Death Row date with his real maker with all his Supreme Court appeals having been exhausted.

Richard Ramirez typically attacked couples or home owners while at home asleep in their beds at night. Brutal shootings through the eye or death by a blunt object applied with force might occur before victims were fully awake. The vicious and purposely satanic mien of Ramirez during his trial was a chilling reminder of what evil a single individual is capable of. After double digit homicides and invasive murders accompanied by burglary, one final targeting by investigators led to a desperate chase by civilians who recognized the man trying to steal their neighbour’s car. Things might have been different for many people if only the judge for his break-in and motel assault of a woman when he was 16 had been more seriously punished.

Serial Killer Richard Ramirez

Anybody waking up to the face of Richard Ramirez in their bedroom had a date with death. Ricardo Munoz Ramirez had little holding him anywhere except a taste for the suffering of others and the displacement of their cash and goods for resale and drug purchases. Ramirez, a drifting drug user whose violent tendencies were ameliorated by no guilt, religious or conscientious forbearance, had rotten teeth from poor diet habits and had begun a career in robbery to finance a cocaine habit. Ramirez was the child of Texan Mexican American immigrants, yet he favoured rock band AC/DC music, Satanic themes, and decidedly non-Catholic drug uses.

Ramirez grew up a possibly epileptic, certainly asocial loner, shunning friends and hanging around cemeteries. His former Special Forces cousin Mike acquainted him with guns, violence, the concept of mutilating women and assaulting them sexually for power. The cousin shot his wife while Ramirez was immediately nearby, and a lifetime drug habit began with marijuana at that time. Dropping out of school, by 1981 Ramirez was a native of Los Angeles, albeit without employment or habitation. By 1984, Ramirez began a series of break-ins of older women and people too stunned to recover or fight back at the intruder bringing forth violence and death in their last conscious seconds of life.

Richard Ramirez was a serious threat to public safety due to the erratic nature of his intrusions and murders. No age group or ethnicity was safe, and Ramirez raped a 79 year old woman as well as one aged 29. Ramirez’s compulsion to murder was due less to an unconscious desire for homosexual activity or intelligent heists, but rather seemed to be a random string of violence episodes with little done beforehand in the way of planning or surveillance of his robbery targets. The frequency of Ramirez’ activities show he was getting a taste for it, even as media reports sensationalized his descriptions, deeds, and power over bedroom communities. Ramirez has wanted to exploit a possibly satanic motif with his crimes, but these may have been little more than feints due to his lack of imagination or other raison d’etre.

By 1985, Ramirez had stacked up bodies from Monrovia to Mission Viejo. Ramirez had traveled to the Bay area and introduced his methods of nightly visitation to a stunned set of victims, and reports has the San Francisco populace riveted on the threat from Southern California. Pistol whipping his victims and forcing the women of the home to unwilling sexual acts completed the Night Stalker modus operandi. By this time Los Angeles homeowners and apartment renters had purchased en masse new window treatments, locks, double screens, storm windows, and other notably window-based home improvements.

Ramirez terrified the Los Angeles area because his appearance as a tall thin Hispanic man was too general to identify anyone in Los Angeles. Without a family, social network or job to report to, nobody noticed his absence or observed his activities as unusual. The beatings, rapes, sodomies and murders continued from Diamond Bar to Burbank, or Glendale to Rosemead, and from Arcadia to Monterey Park. Ramirez’ haunts were notably low-rent or suburban residential areas where he might pass unnoticed, unlike upscale parts of Los Angeles like Beverly Hills and Westside Los Angeles, where he never struck.

Ramirez was somewhat proud of the media attention, yet the increased vigilance of Los Angeles residents due to awareness of his crimes and description were his undoing. When he stole an orange Toyota and used it to cruise unfamiliar neighbourhoods, an observer reported this to police. When police examined the abandoned car, a fingerprint identified Richard Ramirez from his drug possession arrests. Ramirez’ fingerprints were part of the evidence from an accountant’s home where he had delivered his deathly visitation earlier in the year, and matched that taken from other crime scenes.

At 25 Richard Ramirez was behind bars with a stack of felonies aimed at him and additional charges pending. While the media portrayal of the trial focused on the pentagram carving and Satanic leanings of Ramirez, most felt this was just a casual pose. Ramirez’ subsequent trial and marriage from within San Quentin prison are the stuff of avid tabloid news, while the majority of the Los Angeles public remembers a summer of uncomfortable radio and news reports, eyeing the window screens and sizing up the risks.

Black Comedy of Capture

Ramirez happened to be away in Arizona visiting family when the news broke of the Night Stalker suspect’s identity broke. Ongoing media reporting concerning the Night Stalker emphasized the work of police to capture the killer and safeguard public morale. Ramirez disembarked from a Greyhound bus to see numerous officers in uniform about, and ducked into a bodega. The newsstand had several cover magazines featuring Ramirez, and the owner called out “El Matador” (It’s Him-The Killer!) Ramirez panicked and ran.

The six minute mile is the fitness standard for California’s schoolchildren, and Ramirez ran two of them in 12 minutes. Casing the neighbourhood, he began jumping backyard fences and eyeballing a new ride. Ramirez spotted a red Mustang with keys in it, and jumped in to escape. But the owner of the car jumped up too, from underneath the car and grabbed Ramirez, ignoring the threat of a gun. Faustino Pinon then held on as Ramirez threw the car into gear and smashed it.

Ramirez then jumped out and tried to carjack the Granada from another driveway, with the owner still in it – Angelina de la Torres. Ramirez threatened her in Spanish, but her husband came running at the sounds of her screams and another neighbour called police after hearing the crash. Jose Burgoin had heard the incident in the Pinon driveway and came outside after making the call to help his neighbour out of the wreck. When de la Torres screamed with Ramirez trying to take her car, Burgoin yelled for his young sons (Jaime and Julio) to come out.

Jaime Burgoin ran toward the car, and recognized the media-saturated suspect’s familiar profile in the car. Yelling that he was the killer, all the men converged as Ramirez was trying to make a break for it on foot. Manuel de la Torres tagged Ramirez with the fence post he’d grabbed, and caught him again and again with it. Tackling Ramirez after a particularly hard swing by de la Torres, the men had achieved the impossible. The Night Stalker had finally been caught. Not by police, but by members of the terrorized community.

In total Richard Ramirez murdered 13 people.

Article by Roy Whyte . Visit his Google+ page for more.