Robert Hunter

I just realized how little I know about this man: next to nothing. I'd be much obliged if people posted in this thread to inform me about what makes him a suspect, good or otherwise.

Nachtsider wrote:

I just realized how little I know about this man: next to nothing. I'd be much obliged if people posted in this thread to inform me about what makes him a suspect, good or otherwise.

I presume you're talking about the Robert Hunter that lived near Jackson & Cherry Sts. rather than the bassist for the Grateful Dead. I've actually heard both discussed as possible Zodiac suspects, neither very convincingly IMO. I've always found it ironic that the Grateful Dead had an earlier incarnation as "The Zodiacs" predating Zodiac himself.

Of course I'm talking about the banker, but now that you're telling me the Grateful Dead's Hunter was also considered a suspect, I'd sure like to know about him, too.

Tantalizing us with tales of the 'Zodiacs' Entropy, I agree with Nacht do spill about the Dead's Hunter.

Solar Pons wrote:

Tantalizing us with tales of the 'Zodiacs' Entropy, I agree with Nacht do spill about the Dead's Hunter.

Meh... I never said he was a GOOD Zodiac suspect, SP, just that he had been discussed. The guy was in the right place at the right time with the Grateful Dead, who formerly called themselves the Zodiacs. He has those infamous "RH" initials, which match the Desktop poem which some believe was written by Zodiac. He wrote some freaky lyrics and participated in MKUltra experiments. His name fits Z's "crosshairs" symbol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hunter_(lyricist)

I know just as little about the other Robert Hunter but he ironically shares the same initials as the Grateful Dead's Robert Hunter and, I believe, lived very near the Stine scene, although probably not at the time Stine was murdered. He apparently was a fairly well-respected businessman in the vain of Mr. X as a suspect.

If there's more damning evidence against either Robert Hunter, I'm not aware of it but perhaps someone else is?

I've had a quick Wiki, seems the Zodiacs thing might be a myth as I can only see them referenced as the Warlocks before changing their name to the GD. I didn't think he would be a good suspect Entropy I was just hoping for a juicy story

Solar Pons wrote:

I've had a quick Wiki, seems the Zodiacs thing might be a myth as I can only see them referenced as the Warlocks before changing their name to the GD. I didn't think he would be a good suspect Entropy I was just hoping for a juicy story

I suppose it's kind of a loose association, SP, but the Zodiacs pre-dated the Warlocks by a year or two.

http://www.dead101.com/1231.htm

http://www.rememberjerry.com/trichromes.htm

I think the other Robert Hunter has been more seriously discussed as a Zodiac P.O.I. so I don't want to divert attention from Nachtsider's original question in this thread.

Wow, no information on him at all? I'm shocked.

There is info Nacht I'll try and post a link.

Ah, okay. Thanks, Solar - I'll be waiting.

Here is a link Nacht to the articles written by Harry Martin at the Sentinel, I can't find them anywhere else there is also another couple of pages relative to a young woman who had her tyre slashed outside of Hunters house and called the police, it is on here somewhere I think Bently may know what I'm talking about. Most of what I have read about Hunter is here and also links with Kane. http://darcsfalcon.wordpress.com/zodiac/

If any of you believe that hog-wash, then please buy my beach front property in AZ !
Harry Martin didn't count on anyone who would disprove what he wrote about R Hunter . First of all Hunter did not live at that address on Maple and Washington at the time of PS murder.
Next Darlene didn't know Betty Lou, and Betty Lou never baby sat for Darlene.

Darlene didn't know Paul Stine the cab driver, who drove her around in S.F. . Paul became a cab driver after Darlene was killed. These are just a few of the false statements that were made by Harry M.
I am not calling Harry M a liar, he was told these things by someone he trusted knew about Darlene.

His mistake was that he didn't investigate to see if these things were facts or not. They were told to him to show that Darlene was the key to solving the Zodiac case. I do believe that to be true ,that she knew her killer, her murder was made to look like a mad man was on the loose killing at random. So far it has worked ! Some were random. I do believe that Darlene was a hit, to keep her quite about what she saw and what she knew about the counterfeit / drug ring in Vallejo.

Hi Sandy, Harry stretches some of this stuff round the corner and back again. This is probably as good as it gets on info on Hunter, and it is mostly unbelievable stuff. I believe there was another couple of people who dug up stuff on Hunter before Martin but I don't know much about them. Just trying to get some stuff for Nacht to read. Do you know who the other two were that got stuff on Hunter Sandy, it's mostly Harry that is better known for his this Sentinel series.

Bentley had alot of the Harry Martin material. I had heard too that Hunter & Lass had some sort of relationship, and that they had gone to the state of PA for a while. I was never able to verify if that was in fact true, and if it was, when/why/Where they were there in PA?

Lulz, I remember reading this Harry Martin stuff back in the day. I didn't mention any of that as part of my knowledge on Hunter and continued to assert that I had nothing on him because I dismissed Martin's articles as horse manure. If any of it can be independently verified, that's all well and good. But I wouldn't bet on that happening. Not at all.

All 30 some pages Harry Martin's articles can be read here. IIRC he talks about Lass and the trip back east.

http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=208

The car flat thing by Hunter's house:

https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/f/aaaa1.jpg/
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/f/aaaa2oi.jpg/
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/f/aaaa3.jpg/

Damn photobucket automatically shrinks pics if they're "too big" or something, arghh! I should upload all of those to another site that won't do that, so they'd be easier to read...

morf13 wrote:

Bentley had alot of the Harry Martin material. I had heard too that Hunter & Lass had some sort of relationship, and that they had gone to the state of PA for a while. I was never able to verify if that was in fact true, and if it was, when/why/Where they were there in PA?

I have a copy of Hunter Sr's will, and Lass is not mentioned in it at all. Martin stated she was in it, she is not, and so there is therefore is no credible evidence that Hunter Sr and Lass knew each other (IIRC he was also married at the time they allegedly had this relationship, but I suppose that doesn't always stop people).

As far as Hunter's story goes, this is it: Ed Rosaia decided he wanted to find Z, and looked at the evidence. He thought what were assumed to be the initials of CJB's killer at the bottom of the Desktop were Z's initials once the crimes were linked (I've expressed doubts as to whether this poem has anything to do with her murder. As Oklahoma Mike pointed out so many years ago, it sounds more like a teen girl contemplating suicide, not a predatory serial killer intent on murder).

Then, since he often signed his name with a rose, he thought that the Z symbol, which the media stated was a gunsight (Z never explained what it meant), must somehow symbolize his real name.

He finally looked at the Stine murder, and thought Z simply got in Stine's cab to be taken home. He therefore looked for someone living at the intersection of Washington and Cherry whose initials were RH and whose name had something to do with a gunsight... and found Robert Hunter Jr living there!!!

It's too bad that Ed Rosaia never bothered to do any real investigation, because the former owner, Mignon Augsbury, died in June 1968 and willed her home to the Academy of Sciences. A man named Victor Schiantarelli was apparently living there at the time (he and his brother worked for Augsbury for about a decade, and Victor ended up with her Jaguar and $30,000 IIRC), and the house finally went to the Academy in December 1969. In March 1970, they decided to sell it, and Hunter, who was on the board, bought it on May 26th, 1970, 7½ months after Stine was murdered.

So, it's nothing but mere zynchronicity that Hunter happened to be living there when Rosaia was looking for Z, so he did not get into Stine's cab to be taken home since he was not living there on 10-11-1969 when Stine was murdered.

Incidentally, Hunter is mentioned (though not by name) in Zodiac, p. 299. Morrill's reaction to Rosaia (also not named) in 1981 tells us all we need to know about Hunter.

Thanks Ed, good info!

YW, Morf! BTW, there is more to this story...

Rosaia claimed that a man named Henry Solorzano was a neighbor of Hunter's and remembered him moving into 3799 Washington a week before Stine was murdered. The only Henry Solorzano I found in SF lived a mile or more away and was a janitor at the El Cortez Hotel... he therefore neither lived near nor worked with Hunter! I don't know who Rosaia spoke to, but he either just made that name up (and it happened to match someone living in SF at the time), or he did speak to the guy I found who was more than happy to tell him anything he wanted to hear...

He further went on to claim that Hunter owned Running Deer Ranch, which overlooked Zodiac Island from across Knoxville Road. I checked the records going back to 1945, and found that Hunter did not own any property in Napa County until the 1990's! His son, Hunter III, did own some property there also, since the 1980's... of course, once I mentioned this to Carl (Ed Rosaia's son, who is still pushing this theory), he immediately changed his story and said that the property was actually owned by the Academy of Sciences! That was easy to check also... not only did they not own any property in Napa County (at least at the time I checked several years ago), I also went back through the records to 1963 (there were only handwritten records prior, and I didn't much want to pore over those again) and found no record of them buying or selling any property there. Carl insisted he held the actual document in his hand, but considering everything else I found that proves Hunter is innocent... I do not believe such a document ever existed, or I would have found it.

Regardless, there is no ranch across the street from Z Island today, nor was there one back in 1969, as the aerial pics taken the day after the stabbing prove.

I knew Ed couldn't resist this thread, lol. I luv Ed because he has a modern, state-of-the-art, highly effective B.S. detector, which he keeps hidden in his basement for use on just such occasions.

On a side note, I still find it amazing that there seem to be so many theories at least partially based on that damn Desktop Poem. I know, I know. It's my opinion vs. Morrill's, a world-class handwriting expert, but I stand by the opinions which are 100% in agreement with my old buddy, Okie Mike (a Psychologist, FWIW).

entropy wrote:

On a side note, I still find it amazing that there seem to be so many theories at least partially based on that damn Desktop Poem. I know, I know. It's my opinion vs. Morrill's, a world-class handwriting expert, but I stand by the opinions which are 100% in agreement with my old buddy, Okie Mike (a Psychologist, FWIW).

...you are not alone.