In name, at least.
He was so patient now. Amazing how a little age could do that for you, let you learn the value of control, of waiting. He followed the couple quite a ways, till they pulled off the main road and cut through the cornfields. He knew what they were going to do. It seemed to be all the kids lived for now, sex and drugs. He felt he was doing more of a service than ever before to society. California had been undeserving of his talents. Now he was free to ply his trade, hone his talent. The world was moving on, worrying about hostages in Iran and electing a Republican to the White House again. This would not be like California.
They pulled to a stop where the road bottomed out and he pulled in behind them. An angled cut-off, just as he'd seen highway patrolmen do. They couldn't easily back out now. He grabbed his .45 and stepped out, moving just as briskly as he had moved 10 years before. Briskly, but calmly.
He flicked on the penlight duct-taped to the pistol and raised it. In the beam he saw the boy's startled eyes. There was a surge of energy, as close as he ever came to something like joy.
Then there was thunder in his hand, and the girl's screams echoing across the cornfield. But only for a moment...
Serial-killer.org is the effort of a Viennese woman named 'Elizzza,' who says she is "...really not half as bloodthursty(sic) as this site may let you fear..."
It's an excellent site, one I had not linked permanently from my 'true crime blog,' because I'd mistakenly assumed it was mostly written in german. It is not, perhaps because 'Elizzza' knows that serial murder is, like tornadoes, a primarily American phenomenon, and her readers are no doubt largely english-speaking.
Serial-killer.org is where Xymphora found the connection between a possible Zodiac presence in Ohio and murder, a connection that I missed when first researching a Zodiac-"Joe Chandler" connection.
From the serial-killer.org page about the "Ohio Lovers Killer" - added emphasis is mine:
...(B)etween August 1979 and October 1982, eight victims were dispatched in grisly style by a killer (or killers) who preyed on young Ohio couples, randomly selecting victims in a triangle of death that stretched from Akron and Toledo in the north to Logan, in the south. The first to die were Richard Beard, 19, and Mary Leonard, 17, gone missing from an Akron drive-in theater on August 24, 1979. Their fate remained a mystery until May 29, 1985, when a backhoe operator in Northampton Township unearthed a skull and other skeletal remains. A second skull and more bones were discovered on May 30, a single bullet hole suggesting cause of death. The victims were identified from dental records on May 30, but no clue to the identity of their killer was forthcoming(...)(T)here was nothing to suggest the killer's motive or identity. Authorities stop short of looking on the "couples" murders as a series, but the similarity in choice of victims and the show of brutal violence cannot be ignored. The occupational connection in Toledo indicates a link between two sets of homicides, at least, but nothing more can be advanced with certainty about the ghoulish string of crimes that terrorized the Buckeye State for three long years...
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.
6 - Debbie Fleming
I been reading on the internet that this "Joseph Chandler" could possibility be "John Victor Dial" he has been missing since 1966 John Victor Dial is my uncle so at this point not sure what to think there has not been no reported earnings on him since 1968 also had a private investigator do some searching he has no background is like he does not exist no paper trail.
I want to mention my uncle was a civil engineer which consisted of mechanical,
electrical, plumbing, jack of all trades
he was in the military and orginally from
Texas he married a cuban woman from Panama.