Joan Webster

A topic thread for the murder of Harvard graduate student Joan Webster 11/28/81.

Gareth Penn was the first proponent of the theory of Zodiac involvement in this case, and he considered Harvard Professor Michael O'Hare the main suspect. I do not want to post this Webster thread in the section for Penn or O'Hare, because I do not want to limit discussion to those two.

This thread will look at the general issues in the Webster murder, similarities to other murders, the possibility of Zodiac involvement and other suspects. I would propose people be allowed to mention or discuss specific suspects in the Webster case - be they O'Hare, Penn, Zodiac, Kaczynski or anyone. But basically this will be to look at the Webster murder overall and in a general sense, and not too get too specific to any one POI.

OK?

Azazel = "This student, Joan Webster, was last seen at Boston's Logan airport on November 28, 1981; Mike [O'Hare] flew into Logan on the same day, perhaps even on the same flight."

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Penn start getting some publicity with his O'Hare accusations in 1980 and 1981? Including a piece by Geraldo Rivera? When my mind gets at its most devious, I can ALMOST imagine the real Zodiac saying "So someone thinks this Harvard professor named O'Hare is the Zodiac? Ha ha, ok, lets give them a murder of a Harvard student..."

If O'Hare did fly into Logan the same day I would like to see the proof of that - where does that information come from?

I have investigated the murder of Webster, even talked to a family member.

Joan Webster was last seen standing next to a bearded man with a full head of hair, who was apparently driving an old "rusted" Chevrolet. I do not know if O'Hare had a beard in 1981 - but I do know he was nearly totally bald, and I doubt a Harvard professor would drive an old "rusted" Chevy.

Mr. Webster was former CIA and at that time was VP for Defense Technology for IT&T.

Considering evidence Zodiac struck on anniversaries, I find it interesting that Ms. Webster was abducted on 11/28/81, the 12 year anniversary of the murder of another East Coast graduate student Betsy Aardsma, killed on 11/28/69. The Zodiac has been mentioned as a suspect in both cases.

This is interesting:

The Great Lynn Fire - 11-28-1981 - The 10 alarm fire began at 2:35 AM - 95 engine companies, 25 ladder companies, 2 rescue/ambulance companies, 10 civil defense fire companies called to the fire - "All Out" was sounded 12-14-1981.

It started in an industrial area and a plant that built jet engines.

It obstructed traffic and diverted police resources right after Joan Webster's abduction.





Map showing Logan airport, Lynn Fire and Webster burial site (Note - her purse was dumped in Saugus). You can see a possible path which indicates that the killer of Joan Webster may have started the Lynn fire on his way to or from dumping the body and the purse. All the sites line up and are along freeways.

Lots of Joan Webster stuff here:

http://joanwebstermurder.yolasite.com/

I think this should be listed under 'Non-Zodiac Crimes'.

Gareth Penn contacted the Websters himself about Joan's disappearance and from the get go he told them that MOH was her killer, all with no evidence whatsoever except for his theory and some Geometry. There are a few websites etc about this case as well as books, this ones not too bad http://joanwebstermurder.yolasite.com/ look at the timeline and then look under False Evidence. The only person mentioning MOH is Gareth Penn, the same man who used a credit card slip of MOH to purchase goods that he then sent to O'Hare whilst dealing with the Websters. Nowhere else do you see MOH fingered by the Authorities in this case, and we should remember that both of Joan's parent were CIA, and would have a lot of information at their disposal. Do we see MOH being hauled in because of the Webster case, with Penn's accusation against him if he was on her flight or even at the airport that day I'm sure we would have heard about it. As far as I can see not a hair on MOH's head has been touched because of the Webster case. Look at the case Summary, the amount of people involved and the extortion demands that were happening. MOH has nothing to do with this IMO far less the Zodiac. A certain David Doyle looks far more interesting to me as far as the Iannuzzi/Webster cases go.


Nacht you beat me to it lol.

It appears that the Great Lynn Fire either inspired an arsonist or was the work of an arsonist operating in the area.

The problem was so bad that they called out the national guard to patrol the streets. Someone made the comment that it looked like Berlin in the 1940s.

The Great Lynn Fire was almost certainly the work of an arsonist.

Here is another forum link http://breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=61130 read very carefully (this woman was married to Joan's brother) all of this but especially the posts from Sun Dec 13th esp concerning the Websters themselves. Very Strange.

Yes I have communicated with Eve, sister in law of Joan Webster. She has pursued this case very strongly and has a good website. She also makes videos on youtube. She was interested in what I had to say, though she generally is looking at other suspects than my main POI. She did find it interesting that my POI was bearded, and that he may have had a motive for revenge against the daughter of a former CIA man, as my POI was a participant (Maybe "victim" is a better term) of the CIA MK-ULTRA experiments. She talks abput Penn but does not think much of him or his suspect.

One of the problems in this case is what she has uncovered, a whole web of corruption in Boston which has prevented justice. The Boston Police, FBI and other agencies essentially made "a deal with the devil" by aligning themselves with the Irish mafia, and Irish-American thugs and drug dealers, in an effort to eliminate the Italian Mafia. What was the idea, "Buy American"? If you saw the movie "The Departed" or know about Whitey Bulger, this is part of what we are talking about. And an FBI agent (Connally I think his name was) convicted of assiting the Irish Whitey Bulger mob with assassinations. So this network existed on an official legal policy level (use Irish mob and local Irish thugs as informants) and an unofficial corrupt illegal level (bribes and payoffs).

What does that have to do with the Webster case? Marie Iannuzzi was almost certainly killed by David Doyle, an informant. This was covered up, and Leonard Paradiso was scapegoated and convicted on flimsy evidence. Eventually a jailhouse rat looking to get out made up a story about Paradiso killing Webster. The police and DA ran with it. The story from the rat was a joke, he said Paradiso killed Webster on his boat and dumped her at sea. But guess what? The body was found later in Hamilton, not at sea.

This web of local corruption and incompetence has helped to obstruct a solution in this case.

On top of that you add that the father George Webster was ex-CIA, and then a VP of Defense Industries and Technology at IT&T. Eve thinks these connections have also played a role in this case, and that George Webster has gone along with the blatantly false Paradiso story for reasons unknown, but related to a cover up. I am not sure I agree, but it is possible.

This is the what Eve says:

"Joan was seen at the airport with a bearded man with long hair. That was known to authorities and the Websters. It was suppressed from the public except for a couple of lines that got out. It was never pursued and faded into the perception she wasn't noticed. Paradiso did not ever have any facial hair."

AK = Look at Trooper Palombo, who worked as a plainclothes detective at Logan Airport, whom Eve considers a suspect in the cover up and murder, who surpressed the sketch of a bearded man seen with Joan, but in any event is used here as someone said to match the basic description of the last person seen with Joan Webster, a bearded white man with long hair, driving an old rusted Chevrolet.

For comparison purposes, look at:

1. The DA and police suspect, the man they pinned it on, Leonard Paradiso. DA convicted Paradiso of Iannuzzi murder, says he was a serial killer of young women. Criminal record. Violent. No beard, thick black Italian hair but not long, fat face.

2. Michael O'Hare, the suspect of Penn and Grant. George Webster hasd some interest in him as a suspect before switching to Paradiso. Suspect mainly by way of code solutions. No criminal record. No beard, severely balding, so not only no "long hair" but very little hair at all.

3. "East Coast Serial Killer Suspect - Possible Alphabet Killer". Wanted as suspect in murders of three young girls in upstate NY, weird letter and math patterns in murders. Is bearded and has medium to long messy hair. No evidence to place him in Boston, Webster was older than previous victims.

4. Ted Kaczynski. Convicted killer and Zodiac suspect. Harvard graduate. Known arsonist, must be considered in Great Lynn Fire that same day set by arsonist. Paticipated in CIA experiments, may have hade grudge motive against Webster for that or for being corporate VP. Left Montana to go out of state early November 1981 (hotel records). Is bearded, medium to long messy hair, at one time did own old Chevrolet. No evidence to place him in Boston. Not convicted for anything but bombings. Many question if he could do in person murder like Webster.



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Cimmerian 10 wrote:

Cimm - Good find. Clearly arson.

I always looks for clues and patterns, sometimes they may be pure coincidences, sometimes they may reveal or suggest something for further study.

Fires at WASHINGTON school between BLOSSOM and CHURCH?

The infamous "Hautz" letter used a WASHINGTON stamp.

Someone, perhaps the man who killed Betsy Aardsma on 11/28/69, sent a letter on WASHINGTON'S birthday and said "heres a present for WASHINGTON'S Birthday. You never did catch that guy who killed that c--t in the library did you?".

Paul Stine was killed on WASHINGTON between CHERRY and MAPLE.

On January 12 1974 "Zodiac" said a body would be found in a church - on October 12, 1974 Arlis Perry was found dead in a CHURCH at Stanford University.

Interesting that the fire burned down an industrial area including a GE jet engine plant, and an area slated for urban renewal and new developement. Was the arsonist anti-development and/or anti-industry?

Of course the fire could be a coincidence, set by someone other than the killer of Webster. But the timing and location along the killers route between abduction site and dumping ground has caused speculation by police and reporters that the two could be linked.

Great points.

Remember the "Puerto Rican Armed Resistance Group" who called in numerous bomb threats and planted numerous bombs on the east coast, right after the ONS spree ends in California, including very sophist acted bombs placed at airports, one of which kills a 19 year old?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x-IjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tikEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4189,943992&dq=boston+pipe+bomb&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JwEyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ko8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5099,4588584&dq=boston+pipe+bomb&hl=en

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/684231711.html?dids=684231711:684231711&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+03%2C+1981&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=PIPE+BOMB+IS+FOUND+ON+CAMPUS+AT+TUFTS&pqatl=google

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/684220421.html?dids=684220421:684220421&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+02%2C+1981&author=Associated+Press&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=BOMB+FOUND%2C+DEFUSED+ON+GROUNDS+AT+TUFTS&pqatl=google

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/684231171.html?dids=684231171:684231171&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+03%2C+1981&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=METRO+%2F+REGION+NEWS+BRIEFS%3B+PIPE+BOMB+REMOVED+SAFELY+AT+TUFTS+U.&pqatl=google

So, right after EAR/ONS ends his killing spree (temporarily, for five years) in winter of 1981, bombs begin to pummel east coast targets including United Nations, airports and universities and stores. Numerous calls are made by an individual calling himself "Puerto Rican Armed Resistance Group".

After summer, there's the Great Lynn Fire and a (possibly unrelated) arson spree - and of course the kidnapping of the daughter of a CIA agent. She was last seen at an airport.

Another Boston pipe bomb, which goes off JUST DAYS after that university bomb, at an NAACP building in Massachusetts!

It was a FOUR INCH pipe bomb, the same size as the one which was detonated at the university just days prior!

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/684264501.html?dids=684264501:684264501&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+21%2C+1981&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=BLAST+HITS+NEW+BEDFORD+NAACP&pqatl=google

AK if you don't want to pay five dollars for these articles (absolutely absurd) I can screencapture the parts of these articles which mention certain details (such as the size of bombs) which aren't normally available in the abstract previews at the boston globe website. I know you must be getting sick and tired of paying for these ridiculously overpriced articles.

Yes please do.

Keep any Boston area fires/bombs here as a possible link to Webster murder/Great Lynn Fire, other wise put bomb stuff in the TK topic, maybe start a new thread on unsolved bombs or just put it in the main TK thread, we want to keep this focused on the general Webster/Lynn Fire case.

Thank you. Great stuff!

Gotcha! I won't let this thread go further off topic.