First, I must give credit where credit is due; if it were not for this blog entry by the writer of xymphora.blogspot.com, prompted in part (according to the blogger) by my own ideas, I would not be writing this entry. Xymphora is a mystery all his/her own - no e-mail links or comments at the blog, no way for me to figure out how to thank the writer directly, but hopefully lavish credit here to them for finding a connection that only supports a theory I have about the fate of the Zodiac Killer will suffice.
In an article titled The Hope Only of Empty Men I wrote about John Doe number 454umoh. The man was found after his suicide in 2002 to have been an impostor, using the name Joseph Newton Chandler III from around 1978 till his death. Joseph Newton Chandler III was actually a young Texas boy who died during the Christmas season in Oklahoma, in 1945. John Doe had sent away for his first social security card under that name in 1978, when Doe would have been about 41.
I wondered if "Chandler" could be the Zodiac Killer. Zodiac taunted the police and public in the late 60's and early 70's in northern California. He tended to target couples parked in lovers lanes, killing assassin-style, with one exception, his knife attack on Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell at Lake Berryessa. His taunts came in the form of letters and ciphers sent to various news outlets, the police, even famed defense attorney Melvin Belli. Zodiac seemed to disappear after 1974.
I speculated that the connection in the name Joseph Chandler was this; a lesser-known investigator of the original Jack the Ripper murders in London in the late 1880's was named Joseph Luniss Chandler. My logic was predicated on having always presumed, and many "Zodiacologists" agree, that Zodiac was himself a Ripper afficionado - the nature of his letters to the press seem to prove this. Zodiac was likely an anglophile - in more than one of his letters he quoted lyrics from Gilbert & Sullivan's operettas.
Zodiac's final known murder, the handgun killing of San Francisco cabbie Paul Stine, seemed utterly illogical based on his previous targeting of couples until I examined the dates of Ripper letters to various authorities and newspapers in London in 1888.
On October 16, 1888, George Lusk, head of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received the infamous "From Hell" letter containing half a human kidney, supposedly that of Ripper victim Catharine Eddowes [source: casebook.org, the premiere Ripper website.]
On October 13, 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle received from Zodiac what is now known as "The Paul Stine letter." This letter contained a bloodstained piece of Paul Stine's shirt [source: Zodiackiller.com, the best site about Zodiac on the web].
Article comments
1 - Donald E. Schultz
The story of Todd Schultz and Annette
Cooper (she was never addopted by Dale) is way out of line. They were both shot and didn't come from a drive in to the corn field.To blame it on some one other than Dale N.Johnston who was found guilty in a court of law with three judges is ridiculus. Take it from me the young man's father. It wasn't the Zodiac that killed Todd. It was Dale N. Johnston
2 - lorie
I know who the man was who claimed to be Joseph Chandler III, I met the man several times during my life and he is related to my ex-husband. Both he and my ex have lived lives of crime dating back to when they were teens. "Chandler" said that he had dated the Black Deliah" and had been the one who cut her body in half...she'd jilted him because he was younger than her. He is the man in the photos of her...she was Elizabeth Short. Contact me back if you want more info. Thanks.
3 - Steve Huff
I am interested, Lorie. Please go to planethuff.com/darkside and write me via the contact form, and I will e-mail you back.
4 - David Schultz
This Chandler thing is funny. Todd Schultz and Annette Cooper were murdered by Dale N. Johnston.
A three judge panel in a court of law convicted and sentenced Mr. Johnston for this crime, Unanimously. He was later released from prison on a technicality, never declared innocent, but was in fact granted a new trial. The only reason he is loose today is because of lack of funding for the re-trial. The Chandler thing is still funny to me. It would make a great class-b thriller chiller drive in movie for teens.Can anyone explain to me the significance of the geographical "triangle" (Toledo, Akron & Logan)?
As a work of fiction this is interesting. If you want really scary stuff I would invite you to get my perspective on those murders. Todd was my first cousin & only 4 years younger than me when
he was murdered. Do you want to know the horror a family goes through when something of this magnitude strikes at your soul? We're not talking fiction and fantasy anymore now. The loss is real. It doesn't regenerate with a screen refresh or attaining the next level. Would you like to share the real faces of death with me? The real faces of death were the ones I saw when the news was broken to Todds' parents. I was there when the news was broken to them. That was the moment I consciously recognized what death really looks like. It's not pink wax and flowers at the funeral home.It'a deafening silence colder than you could ever imagine. It is the sharpest reality to the point of madness.It hurts when someone outside and not affected likes to twist it for pleasure or worse yet, profit by my familys' loss. I respect the freedom of speech. I will defend your right to it with my own life, even if I disagree with what you're saying. I wanted all who run across this to know that there are people living with the knowledge that horror is very real and live those lives changed forever.
5 - Mike
When I was 6 years old I saw The Zodiac Killer right after he killed a cab driver. I didn't know who he was at the time. When I saw the pic of Joe Chandler I realized that he is the man I saw in October 1969. No doubt about it.