Anthony Vincent Bruno Jr

Anthony Vincent Bruno Jr was killed at a lovers lane, where he was parked with his girlfriend. He was shot with a shotgun after the unknown gunman opened his car door without warning. His terrified girlfriend drove off in the car. This was a shoot first, ask questions later approach, much like Z did at BRS. What is interesting anout this was that the killer rigged a shotgun in such a way as to give it a pistol grip. (We know Z liked to rig his gun). Anyhow, when the shot was fired, the pistol grip somehow fell off, and onto the ground where it was later found by police. I think that is the only reason why the girl got away because the killer probably lost control of the gun without a grip. I am going to posts some articles about this crime later. I know that Foreigner & Seagull have previously discussed this case. I would love to hear more about this case. I know that details of the perp are sketchy, but I also heard that there was an alleged Zodiac letter found in a phone booth the next day.

Sounds intresting Morf. What year did this happen?

Azazel wrote:

Sounds intresting Morf.

Hey Tinman aka Azazel, lovin the Avatar.... haha*
Yeah Morf, what town or where was this at. I just copied it to send off to Seagull. Her internet has
a difficult time logging into some sites, and ours is one of them. But I'll send it off, and see if she can
send us some info to post.

Gleefully Glinda* the good witch aka Zam...being a brat but hey...if you know me, you understand, kindaaaa

Azazel wrote:

Sounds intresting Morf. What year did this happen?

It happened early Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1975


Location of attack: Monte Cresta Drive Belmont Ca, above Barclay Way.

Suspect: 5,5", 140 pound, wearing army gree parka with hood.
A late model brown pickup truck possibly a Dodge or Chevrolet
had been seen in the area at the time of the shooting.

Theforeigner wrote:

Azazel wrote:

Sounds intresting Morf. What year did this happen?

It happened early Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1975


Location of attack: Monte Cresta Drive Belmont Ca, above Barclay Way.

Suspect: 5,5", 140 pound, wearing army gree parka with hood.
A late model brown pickup truck possibly a Dodge or Chevrolet
had been seen in the area at the time of the shooting.

The guy may be too light to be Z, or even too short, but then again, 6 years had passed, so who knows. The MO is certainly the same.

Weapon used in the murder:
"Stevens Model 1244-124. a 12 gauge bolt-action shotgun perhaps 25 years old and not made now"


Sunday Nov 2nd 1975 was:

" All Souls' Day "


http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/all-souls-day

Theforeigner wrote:

Weapon used in the murder:
"Stevens Model 1244-124. a 12 gauge bolt-action shotgun perhaps 25 years old and not made now"


Sunday Nov 2nd 1975 was:

" All Souls' Day "


http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/all-souls-day

The ALL SOULS DAY is interesting.

Here are the articles about his murder. I think you can quite clearly see the similarities in the crime scene, MO, etc

*No rape or robbery
*Couple parked on lovers lane
* Time of crime around midnight
* Shooter just started shooting without warning
Coincidence or not, there was a supposed letter from someone claiming to be Z mentioned in a newspaper a day or two after this murder

All of these articles are from the San Mateo Times, I will post the dates on each:

11/3/75


11/4/75


11/5/75



11/7/75


12/11/75


4/7/76

As I said earlier, had the grip not flew off of this gun, the girl probably would have died too. Its possible that the shooter was injured as well. That shotgun would have flew straight back up at him after the grip came off, maybe he would have shown signs of an injury the next day, to the face or hands.

Cool, Morf & The Foreigner, looks like you two did your homework and have this covered. Thanks to both of you.

Did hear back from Deb aka Seagull Via email. This is what she said.

I found the "letter in the phone booth" story in the San Mateo Times Fri. Nov. 14, 1975. Page 22 in a column on the TV Listings page. Bob Foster's "Does Local News Sometimes Overlook the Real News". It's an opinion rating the local TV news broadcasts. It's literally a one liner.

"This was followed by another unimportant news stry about a letter found in a phone booth alleged to be from the Zodiac killer."

This story aired Nov. 3, 1975 on KGO-TV.

I did go to the Santa Rosa library and look through the San Francisco Chronicles to see if I could find if they reported it and was unable to find anything. Ditto for the Press Democrat.

Still trying to find more on this, not alot to work with.

Zamantha wrote:

Cool, Morf & The Foreigner, looks like you two did your homework and have this covered. Thanks to both of you.

Did hear back from Deb aka Seagull Via email. This is what she said.

I found the "letter in the phone booth" story in the San Mateo Times Fri. Nov. 14, 1975. Page 22 in a column on the TV Listings page. Bob Foster's "Does Local News Sometimes Overlook the Real News". It's an opinion rating the local TV news broadcasts. It's literally a one liner.

"This was followed by another unimportant news stry about a letter found in a phone booth alleged to be from the Zodiac killer."

This story aired Nov. 3, 1975 on KGO-TV.

I did go to the Santa Rosa library and look through the San Francisco Chronicles to see if I could find if they reported it and was unable to find anything. Ditto for the Press Democrat.

Still awaiting FBI response under the FOIA. I want to see if they examined this letter, and if so, what their opinions are. The timing of the letter coming right on top of this lovers lane attack is weird.

Theforeigner wrote:

Azazel wrote:

Sounds intresting Morf. What year did this happen?

It happened early Sunday morning, November 2nd, 1975


Location of attack: Monte Cresta Drive Belmont Ca, above Barclay Way.

Suspect: 5,5", 140 pound, wearing army gree parka with hood.
A late model brown pickup truck possibly a Dodge or Chevrolet
had been seen in the area at the time of the shooting.

Pretty close to Pleasanton & San Jose. We have had alot of discussion not too long ago regarding possible Zodiac clues in San Jose

IIRC when TF and I were researching this one, she found something at Facebook someone had written about Anthony Bruno's murder. I don't do Facebook so I couldn't follow up on it. Maybe someone here who does Facebook can contact the person. BTW if it wasn't Facebook it was one of the other social networking sites.

Seagull wrote:

IIRC when TF and I were researching this one, she found something at Facebook someone had written about Anthony Bruno's murder. I don't do Facebook so I couldn't follow up on it. Maybe someone here who does Facebook can contact the person. BTW if it wasn't Facebook it was one of the other social networking sites.

I could never find out anything about this case on Facebook, or anywhere else. I requested the FBI to release the supposed Z letter found in the phone booth a day or two after this murder, but they denied it...makes my even more curious. Anyone ever hear anything else about this?

This is what I had in my files:

Here is what I found of interest:


somone posted about a Belmont Serial killer named Jon Dunkle. He worked at the same High School as the one Vincent Bruno attened!
However that was probably way later than 1975.

https://te-in.facebook.com/wall.php?id=2263536687&page=3&hash=e4b0bbee1da3ee74f7937448a7906cb2

Quote:

"Jill Correll
Vince Bruno
Does anyone know if they ever solved Vince Bruno's murder? I remember living down the street from him. He was so nice, even to us little kids."

Quote:

"who else is creeped out that the dunkle guy was killing boys in our neighborhood while he worked in the admin. ofice at Carlmont High, while I went to school there!"





Jon Dunkle was 15 years old at the time of the Vincent Bruno murder, a bit too young I would say.

California Birth Index, 1905-1995
about Jon S Dunkle
Name: Jon S Dunkle
Birth Date: 11 Oct 1960
Gender: Male
Mother's Maiden Name: Needels
Birth County: Los Angeles

Here are two people discussing the case on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2263536687&v=wall#!/topic.php?uid=2263536687&topic=15436

Jill Correll
Does anyone know if they ever solved Vince Bruno's murder? I remember living down the street from him. He was so nice, even to us little kids.

Sandy Meitrott Tyler
Jill -- Vince's murder remains unsolved.

Jill Correll
Thanks Sandy.
for ca. 5 måneder siden · Anmeld
Sandy Meitrott Tyler
Jill -- Absolutely. Vince and Liz were both people I knew in High School. I would love to see this ultimately solved.

Sandy Meitrott Tyler
Jill -- I actually know an officer who was involved in some level with reinvestigating this as a "cold case." Organized crime never came into the investigation. From what I've been told, there was a viable suspect. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges.
for ca. 5 måneder siden

Thanks for that Foreigner, and Seagull too. They made a movie about this killer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107204/
And a book: http://www.paperbackswap.com/Boy-Next-Door-Gretchen-Brinck/book/0786010118/

But I dont think this guy killed Bruno...and I would love to know more details of the supposed Z letter in the phonebooth

I started a new thread here regarding the possible letter and/or tape found in a phonebooth, that supposedly came from Z the same day as this attack. Here is the thread:
https://zodiackillersite.forummotion.com/t719-october-november-1975-zodiac-letter-found-in-a-phonebooth

Interesting in the news article that it says 'could this be the work of another Zodiac?' Well, why not the Zodiac? Again the FBI deny sending the letter. I wonder how much pressure there was to kill Z press and just try and let the whole thing die down.

Luke68 wrote:

Interesting in the news article that it says 'could this be the work of another Zodiac?' Well, why not the Zodiac? Again the FBI deny sending the letter. I wonder how much pressure there was to kill Z press and just try and let the whole thing die down.

The guy that they seemed to suspect was described as a hippie type, and maybe too young, short & lightweight to be Zodiac. Then again, its possible Z lost some weight and grew some hair between 69 & 75

This physical description fits my suspect Peter Plante,including the long hair. Peter kept his weight very low
after the classic Zodiac crimes. His father may have had shotguns that old. Peter had been hunting large
game for years at Lake Shasta by 1975.