Zodiac Killer identified

Danny Tse

Just announced....

SAN FRANCISCO -- A woman stepped forward Wednesday to claim her late father was the infamous Zodiac Killer and that she as a 7-year-old wrote some of the letters that taunted local police.

Kevin McLean, the former law partner of the late Melvin Belli, said he has led a two-year investigation into claims by Deborah Perez that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac killer. Hendrickson, who lived in Orange County, died in 1993 of cancer.

“He was a Jekyll and Hyde,” McLean said of Hendrickson. “He was nuts. He set out to kill people. Some of these killings were not random.”

As a youngster, Perez said she sometimes accompanied her father on his killing sprees to the Bay Area. The family lived in Santa Ana, but McLean said Hendrickson may have worked at one time at the Mare Island Naval shipyard in Vallejo.

“There were strange events with my father,” she said. “I would hear shots and my father would say it was firecrackers. I would see a woman running and then hear shots and he would tell me someone threw firecrackers at her.”

Perez said that she wrote and stamped the letters to the San Francisco Chronicle following the murder of San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969. Those letters have been in the possession of the San Francisco police since 1969.

She also claimed to be with her father when killed Darlene Ferrin, 22, at the Blue Springs Golf Club in July 1969 and wounded her companion, Michael Mageau, 19.

“He had a vicious argument with Dee that night,” she said. “My father grabbed his gun. He goes up to the passenger side. I heard shots. I heard screams and moans. Five minutes later, we were pulled over by the police. He hid the gun on me.”

Perez said her father apologized for “doing bad things” on his death bed, but she didn’t know that involved the Zodiac killings.

The findings of McLean’s investigation have now been forwarded to the FBI and he has also asked local police for help in verifying Perez’s claims. She claims she still has Stine’s glasses.

Perez also said she helped make the mask her father wore during some of the slayings and added she had – as a child – seen a scrapbook that would indicate her father may killed “30-40” people.

“Everyone is going to say she is crazy, but we had psychologists examine Ms. Perez,” McLean said.

The Zodiac killer -- he gave himself that moniker in his taunting letters to police and newspapers -- is blamed for at least seven murders in 1968 and 1969.

He was never caught though many believe he was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester from Vallejo who died in 1992.

In September 1969, the Zodiac struck in Napa County, stabbing two 20-year-old college students picnicking at Lake Berryessa. The crime scene was a small peninsula jutting out into the lake. The couple was accosted, hog-tied and repeatedly stabbed by a man dressed all in black and wearing an executioner-type hood.

Cecelia Shepard died; Bryan Hartnell survived and is now a lawyer in Southern California.

Three killings then took place in the Vallejo area. David Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen, teenagers on their first date, were shot to death in December 1968. Ferrin, 22, was shot and killed seven months later at the Blue Springs Golf Club, while her companion, Michael Mageau, 19, survived.

His final Bay Are slaying may have occurred on October 11, 1969, when a man entered Stine's cab at the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in San Francisco and requested to be taken to Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights.

One block later, the passenger shot Stine once in the head with a 9 mm, took his wallet and car keys, and then tore off his shirt tail. On October 14, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac containing a swatch of Stine's shirt tail as proof he was the killer.

Pauly

So can she be charged with accessory to murder?

ben62670

Pauly wrote: »

So can she be charged with accessory to murder?

From what was posted she should be. If you witness something like that and don't report it...

ShinAce

Is there a statute of limitations on charging a 7 year-old with aiding and abetting?

C'mon. It doesn't sound like she ever said "Daddy! Can we cap some asses tonight?"

ben62670

If you witness something like that and don't report it...

steveinaz

she was 7 guys..."daddy" told her it was fireworks.

Face

steveinaz wrote: »

she was 7 guys..."daddy" told her it was fireworks.

+1. Do you think the police would have believed a 7 year old anyway.

ben62670

steveinaz wrote: »

she was 7 guys..."daddy" told her it was fireworks.

At the time. I am curious when he stopped killing?

Edit: She claims that he may have killed 30-40 people. He did this all by the time she was 7?

Pauly

Prob cant, was just curious to other opinions. Its really messed up. After watching the movie and reading up on it a few times always thought it was Arthur Leigh Allen.

bobman1235

ben62670 wrote: »

At the time. I am curious when he stopped killing?

Edit: She claims that he may have killed 30-40 people. He did this all by the time she was 7?

Who says he did it all while she was alive? I can't believe people are blaming a 7-year old for her psycho father. You people are insane.

AsSiMiLaTeD

This'll probably end up being a hoax...

George Grand

I'm glad they finally found out who it was, and that it wasn't me.

ben62670

bobman1235 wrote: »

Who says he did it all while she was alive? I can't believe people are blaming a 7-year old for her psycho father. You people are insane.

Bobman where did you come up with that It is now 2009. She was about 7 years old in 1969. She said she witnessed some of the murders and said her dad said someone was throwing fire crackers at the woman being shot. She is 40 years old and according to her "knows" her father was the killer. I'm not blaming her for her dad being psycho:rolleyes: This is just a weird situation. I really don't know what the punishment should be for not coming forward, or if there is a statute of limitations, but she knew obviously. Again according to her. Of coarse the loss of human life to you isn't a tragedy. It's just natural. Please tell me what the families should think?

bobman1235

I'm just saying a child cannot be held responsible for not turning in their parents for a crime. We learn right and wrong from our parents, a young child has no way of knowing their parents are evil if that's what they grow up with. And even if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, she was deemed to be responsible... she was a child, so you couldn't prosecute her as an adult.

And just becuase I don't think every death is a tragedy (because it's not, by definition) doesn't mean that I don't understand that murder is wrong or think people shouldn't be punished for it. What kind of monster do you think I am?

AsSiMiLaTeD

I don't really have a problem with her not coming forward as a child so much as not coming forward as an adult until now.

Granted when she's young maybe she 'doesn't know any better', but she's been an adult for a while now, I'm just surprised that she hasn't come forward before now.

But then I guess if you see that kinda stuff as a child you're not going to be a normal person are you?

dorokusai

I'll wait for the A&E special.

Hillbilly61

ShinAce wrote: »

It doesn't sound like she ever said "Daddy! Can we cap some asses tonight?"

Reminds me of the time my daughter said, "Daddy, I don't wanna help you cap any asses tonight. There's a Hanna Montana special on TV that I wanna see."

Hillbilly61

To be serious here, it has been very interesting reading the posts about a child possibly witnessing her father commit serial murders and then take so long as an adult to come out with this. Is she a fraud? Who knows. That will come out in due course.

These are very difficult situations for any individual - forget being a child. What if you distantly remembered things that tie to murders that you learn of when as an adult? These things take time to develop a private suspican and then find enough evidence (like clearing out the old man's estate) to reach a conclusion.

A similiar thing happened here in the Albany, NY area concerning the Unibomber, Ted Kacynski. It was his brother, David Kacynski, that turned him in. It did not come all at once. From an extensive interview in the local regional paper, David related how he read one of the manifestos published in the NY Times and how it was so similar with the rambllings that his mentally ill brother would send to him in letters.

Over time, he compared things, etc, etc and became convinced that his brother was the Unibomber. Then he didn't do anything for a long time. Too conflicted about the whole mess. Finally, he turned his brother in (and obviously gave sufficiently good facts to the authorities) for the authorities to go check out this crazy hermit living in Montana.

Before doing it, David Kacynski described that he negotiated with the authorities that they would not seek the death penalty if his brother was the Unibomber. The authorities kept their end of the bargan.

Think about how much more complicated things would be for the daughter coming to this conclusion after her father's death? Like why, ruin the family's name? The killer is dead and cannot do more harm....

Of course, she could just be a whack job too.

WastelandWand'r

Very interesting read.
Everyone, never underestimate the manipulative nature/abilities of a 7(seven) year old girl.
I would not be surprised at all to find out that she is the actual Zodiac killer and is placing the blame on her poor, deceased father. At this point he is beyond defending his good name and she knows it.
She is using the system to get attention and a possible book deal worth millions of dollars by laying the blame at his feet. Disgusting if you ask me.
Sounds like an investigative report worthy of Geraldo.
I'll side with Dorokusai on this one.
Nathan

AndyGwis

Did I just read you think the girl, 7 at the time, might be the Zodiac killer? Hopefully that was with tongue firmly pressed to cheek.

Yeah, if she saw a scrapbook noting as many as 30-40 potential murders by her father, why not come forward after he kicked the bucket? I can see (but not agree with) waiting till a family member passed before you went to the coppers, but waiting 15 years after his deal when you even suspected your dad (who you were at the very least were sure he was bat **** crazy) was a famous serial killer, is insane.

Crazy stuff out there. I think I would rather think this was a hoax than know there's a 40 year old that waited 15 years after her dad passed to put things together and go to the police.

WastelandWand'r

Yes. The 7 year old being the Z man was just that. I apologize, often there are things lost in translation/transmission. (I was laughing as I wrote it, but I see now that it might not have been such a knee slapper to the casual reader)

My sarcastic/dim views of these type of things often get the best of me.
I truly hope that she is right, it would bring closure to the families.

I have read and applied to the letters what I thought was a passing ability at 'crackn code' with obviously unspectacular results. If I did have those results I wouldn't be sitting where I am. I would be on the talk show circuit offering to teach others my amazing skills.

If anyone was offended, my apologies.
Nathan

ben62670

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm just saying a child cannot be held responsible for not turning in their parents for a crime. We learn right and wrong from our parents, a young child has no way of knowing their parents are evil if that's what they grow up with. And even if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, she was deemed to be responsible... she was a child, so you couldn't prosecute her as an adult.

And just becuase I don't think every death is a tragedy (because it's not, by definition) doesn't mean that I don't understand that murder is wrong or think people shouldn't be punished for it. What kind of monster do you think I am?

You are insensitive about stuff like this, and I am very sensitive about stuff like this. We balance fairly well here.
Take care.
Ben

bobman1235

We're the yin and yang of Polk sensitivity, Ben

ben62670

bobman1235 wrote: »

We're the yin and yang of Polk sensitivity, Ben

Hey Bob even though we are on opposite sides of the coin I do enjoy having you around:) What was that cartoon with the sheep dog and the coyote:p Someday maybe we'll hit the time clock and have a beer.
Ben

bobman1235

ben62670

Good mornin Ralph. Good mornin Sam.