The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 6

Jan. 39, tS78 J1H 4 yoi so; What happened to the killer who kept The City in terror? From Paget Exp art frustrated; handwriting's not on wall for Zodiac I if 'Vs fat I In his 37 years as a handwriting expert, no case has frustrated Sherwood Morrill as much as the Zodiac killer whose bizarre and boastful letters are believed to be the key to his Identity. "I'd like to find him before I die," the 63-year-old Morrill said. "If he dies, I wish he'd leave a note saying who he was." Since Zodiac's calculated car-nage in the late 1960s, Morrill has analyzed more than 9,000 writing samples for law enforcement officials on Zodiac's trail. He knows Zodiac's distinctive printing better than anyone on earth, even well enough to spot it on a bank deposit slip.

And he believes, as does San Francisco Homicide Detective Dave Toschi, that Zodiac's printing may give him away because he may well use it every day. Tm sure this is his natural handprinting, and he was used to using it a lot," Morrill said in an interview. "It is so consistent. I don't think he uses script." desk and later proved to be written by Zodiac: "Sick of living unwUling to die. Cut, clean, if red! clean, blood spurting, dripping, spilling; all over her new dress.

"Oh well, It was red anyway. Life draining Into uncertain death. She wont die this time; SomeoneTl find her. Just wait till next time." It was signed, "r-h." There was no mention of the name Zodiac in either the poem or confession letters sent to police, a local newspaper and the dead girl's father. Zodiac apparently tried to hide his connection to the Bates murder for some reason possibly because the initials "r-h" might be a clue to his Identity, possibly because he was a fellow student or one of her teachers, possibly because he was a military man stationed in the area, and possibly because he was a traveling businessman from the Bay Area.

Whatever the Riverside nection, Zodiac turned up In the San Francisco Bay Area and convinced police by providing known only to the killer that he was responsible for the following homicides: Dec. 20, 1968, a man used a pencil flashlight taped to the barrel of a 22-caliber pistol to find and kill David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on a lover's lane near Vallejo. July 5, 1969, a man fired a 9mm pistol into a car parked less than two miles from the site of Faraday-Jensen murders, killing Darleen Ferrin, 22, and wounding Michael Mageau, 19. Sept. 27, 1969, a black-hooded man tied up and stabbed Bryan Hartnell, 20, 10 times, and then stabbed Hartnell's companion, Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22, 24 times at Lake Berryessa Park.

The woman died, but Hartnell recovered. Oct. 11, 1969, a man shot and killed cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco with a 9mm pistol. Zodiac frequently used a 9mm pistol, yet he was clever enough never to use the same gun twice. He killed between 10 p.m.

and midnight when darkness obscured his SHERWOOD MORRILL LABORED OVER ZODIAC CASE I'd like to find him before I the handwriting expert said The handwriting samples poured in during the peak of Zodiac's activities. But now though Morrill went into business for himself In December 1973 after 39 years with the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation the samples dribble in at a rate of about one a month. In the last four years, there have been no known written communiques from Zodiac, yet the mass murderer's lettering is fresh in Morrill's mind. "His printing is distinctive," he said. "He is an Intelligent guy and we know he deliberately misspells some words because he sometimes spells them correctly.

"His punctuation and paragraphing are perfect. His tenses and syntax are perfect. His vocabulary is good. The letter is particularly outstanding. It's made in three distinct strokes rather than the usual two." Still, Zodiac was careful when he wrote the bloody details of his killings, threatened to attack a school bus and diagramed a bomb that experts say would have detonated.

Using a ball point pen he wrote on various types of paper, but it generally was cheap, dime-store paper without water marks that could be traced to a manufacturer. And he never left any fingerprints on the paper or envelopes. His one departure from this format was after the 1966 murder of a Riverside coed a murder authorities believe Zodiac sought some big city. A short time later. however, a letter was received along with a piece of bloodstained blue and hite cloth: "This is the Zodiac speaking.

1 am the murderer of the taxi driver last night, to prove this here tea bloodstained piece of his shirt. "I am the same man who did in people in the North Bay Area. The SF police could have caught line if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road with their motorcycle (sic) seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have ust parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out cover." That night was Detective Tos-'chi's first night on the trail of and his closest brush with the killer. Eight years later, he still is waiting for Zodiac to come out of cover.

It's a lonely wait, and each date I of a Zodiac killing or communication rubs his frustration. Today is 1 the fourth anniversary of Zodiac's 'last direct communication, a letter Toschi carries at all times to remind himself that be has failed to catch one- of the most notorious and mysterious criminals in history. "I think he is alive," the detective said in an interview. "It's almost a gut feeling. But, if he had killed in an accident or committed suicide or been mur-'dered, I believe someone would gone into his room.

And I think he could leave something for us to find." It would seem uncharacteristic for an egotistical killer who taunted police with ghoulish and sometimes coded accounts of his deeds to depart this earth without a parting shot. And Zodiac has yet to explain most of the 37 murders he claims. "We're certain he killed at least six and wounded two in the late 1960s," Toschi said. 'There are many unsolved homicides, but there is no reason to attribute any to Zodiac." The days are gone when two dozen law enforcement officers parleyed over the Zodiac menace, when newspapers implored the killer to surrender, when men matching Zodiac's description were stopped and questioned. Now Toschi works the case alone, as he has for two years.

In eight filing cabinet drawers, he has carried on his paper chase of a nameless man who took pleasure In killing strangers on weekends for no rational reason. He has run down and filed away 3,000 leads, many provided by fellow officers and phone calls and letters from private citizens. He has aipnaoeuzea possmie suspects, and has taken a close look at a half dozen "good suspects," none with fingerprints matching those found at Zodiac murder scenes. As the result of wire service stories, tips have come in from all over the world, including Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Austral-la. The cranks have to be weeded out from persons who believe they' know Zodiac and it's a time-consuming task.

A the Riverside area and of military men stationed near Riverside or in the Vallejo area, where several killings occurred. "The one big fault in going through applications for schools is that some are typed and only had a signature," Morrill ex- plained. "Script writing and printing are different." Morrill who has done handwriting identification work involving black activist Angela Davis, mass killer Juan Corona and the late billionaire Howard Hughes said he would have no trouble positively identifying Zodiac in court if it came to that. "Handwriting is as distinctive as fingerprints," he said. "And (handwriting identification) is admissible in court." Tim Reiterman of murder glorification can only be deplorable at best." In a postcard signed "The; Red Phantom (red with rage)," Zodiac criticized columnist Count Marco for his "superior attitude" and demanded cancellation of the column.

"He got his pleasure by telling us about the murders," Toschi said. "My guess is that he hasn't been killing. Ego is what forced him to kill and write letters, knowing the media would broadcast and print If that's so, then why hasn't Zodiac killed in recent years and why has he been silent so long? One theory is that he has been in and out of prisons, jails or mental institutions. "I think he is in a period of remission and that some symptoms abated," Toschi said. "Perhaps during this period, he had no desire to kill." There was a previous, though shorter, period of inactivity discovered during investigation of' five Zodiac slayings from Dec.

20, 1968, to Oct. 11, 1969. Police determined that Zodiac was behind the Oct. 30, 1966, slaying of Riverside City College cheerleader Cheri Jo Bates, whose throat was slashed by a man who first sabotaged her car in the college parking lot. A janitor inadvertently found a poem scratched in a library study A A OB a 0 A 2 A 6 JL A 6 1 8 A stabbing death of a 22-year-old woman and the wounding of her male companion at Lake Berryessa Park he wore a hood.

Police believe that Zodiac has an eye problem because he wore glasses even under his hood. There are also indications that he had some connection to the military. He wore a military-type crew cut or short hair. His pants had pleats at a time when that cut was not fashionable. He committed several of his murders in the Vallejo area near Mare Island and one near the Presidio.

And his messages showed some knowledge of cryptography. Toschi said he leans toward the theory that Zodiac may have been connected with the Navy at one time. In addition to the fact that he wore a Navy-type windbreaker, jacket for the Stine killing, the detective notes: "Three codes were used in his messages, and some had nautical signs. One sign is used by weathermen and Navy people." In consultation with psychologists, Toschi also has come to the conclusion that Zodiac is a high school graduate with a giant ego locked in an inconspicuous identity. "I feel he probably has a menial job and Is very lonely, not around many loved ones." Although a handwriting expert once concluded Zodiac was impotent and afraid of women, the Investigator says the facts only show that he apparently enjoyed killing defenseless people.

"There was no sexual activity," he said. "No molestation, no mutilation." The key to solving the case, to conceal for some reason. Though letters then were not signed "Zodiac," Morrill determined that typewritten letters on teletype paper were from the killer. Investigators were unable to trace the paper to any military installations that use teletypes, yet there were some indications the killer was.associated with the military. Footprints at two of the murder scenes appeared to have been made by military-type shoes, and some witnesses said the killer wore pleated military-type pants or a military-type windbreaker jacket.

The campus killing and the possible military connection sent Morrill on the arduous task of checking handwriting samples of thousands of college students in Toschi said, lies in Zodiac's ego and his somewhat distinctive lettering style, not in his coded messages, one of which remains unbroken. Zodiac seemed obsessed with publicizing his exploits. At first he communicated with smaller newspapers such as the Vallejo Times-Herald. Then he sent letters to the two large daily newspapers in San Francisco, and later sent one letter to the Los Angeles Times, the largest West Coast daily, complaining that the San Francisco papers relegate his messages to back pages. As a result, however, his lettering has been seen by people all over California.

"I hope he'll communicate with a friend or family member and slip," Toschi said. "I hope something rings a bell in someone's head and they'll pass on a letter to police. "I'm counting on a slip of mind where he feels after nine or 10 years that he's safe and he'll write a boastful letter to a friend. Medical people and psychologists say it will come out." Toschi believes that Zodiac has not killed since 1969, although the mystery man increased his total to 37 on Jan. 30, 1974, after nearly a three-year silence.

At that time, Zodiac's ego was apparent as he panned "The Exorcist" as "bad comedy," although it caused many people to vomit. Later in 1974, he sent two messages to the Chronicle, without disclosing his identity. One urged the newspaper to "show some concern for public sensibilities" by dropping an ad for a movie called "Badlands." The letter, signed "A Citizen," went on to say: "This kind Honeyman was shot as he returned to the hotel after he chatted with a parking lot attendant next door, Toschi said. Both men had lived at the hotel for seven years, on separate floors. In yesterday's incident, homicide inspectors Dave Toschi and Frank McCoy said Fidel Ruiz, 50, a laborer, died of a gunshot wound to his head shortly after the 1:25 a.m.

incident. Ruiz, of 62 Sycamore was shot with his own revolver, Toschi said. He said the shooting happened in front of the girl's 7-year-old sister. Her mother and brother were in another room. The girl, whose name was not released because she is a minor, fled immediately after the shooting, Toschi said.

2 ZODIAC ALPHABET Letters and missing He has had to contend with a self-appointed helper who called himself 'The Valiant Crusader," an alcoholic named "Old Tom" who claimed to be Zodiac and jilted women who tried to finger their former spouses or boyfriends out of revenge. Tips continue to pour in at a rate of. roughly one every three days, and Toschi runs down each until satisfied that it will not lead to the long-silent killer. "I have no idea what Zodiac looks, like now," he said. "That's the problem." Eyewitness descriptions of Zodiac can be considered shaky at best, especially since eight years have passed since the last known sighting.

The witnesses at the slaying of "cab driver Stine were frightened. The police officers who saw Zodiac got only a fleeting view. And the only time Zodiac killed during daylight hours the Sept. 27, 1969,, Examiner face, and he used a hood for his one daylight murder. Although he took care to wipe his fingerprints and boasted that be took other precautions, Zodiac made mistakes.

Toschi said police have enough fingerprints from the Stine murder scene and from a Napa County telephone booth where Zodiac once called police to make a positive identification if he is captured or surrenders. The Stine murder was a break with Zodiac's pattern of killing women and couples. And perhaps the best explanation was Zodiac's message a month later: "I shall no longer announce to any when I commit my murders, they shall look like routine robber- ies, killings of anger, a few fake accidents, etc." Whether or not Zodiac is carrying out his morbid promise, Toschi is waiting and working for the day when he meets the killer face to face to inform him of his legal rights. "Hopefully, that day may come," the detective said. 250 flee church fire LOS ANGELES (AP) A fire that started during a quarterly business meeting of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles yesterday caused an estimated in damage and forced the evacuation of about 250 persons, authorities said.

6 9 0 1 A "3 -e- I 0 4 A A 8 A OV 6 Vll 9 A 5 0 0 0 Tenderloin killing, suicide; girl, 13, slays stepfather 4e0im0' Two residents of a Tenderloin hotel died Saturday night of gunshot wounds in a murder and suicide, and, in another incident, San Francisco police were looking for a 13-year-old girl who shot and killed her stepfather early yesterday morning. Glenn Hines, 52, and Charles Parker Honeyman, 65, were found dead in the lobby of the Hotel Spaulding, 240 O'Farrell St. by the hotel manager, who ran down from her apartment after she heard several shots. Homicide Inspector Dave Toschi said Honeyman apparently was shot seven times by Hines near the hotel's elevator at about 10:30 p.m. Hines then turned the automatic pistol on himself, Toschi said.

He died of one gunshot wound above his right ear. JL I Dy 9 I 4o a a ro J0FNA1O9O8 O-dBK(0? FXQWA1BD 9 A A I KI CRYPTOGRAM SHOWS HOW ZODIAC USED CODE IN MESSAGES Letters and symbols gave police puzzles to solve ZODIAC MYSTERY HAS BAFFLED DAVID TOSCHI FOR YEARS 1969 photo shows detective hard at work studying clues 1.