"ZODE" from Pacific High School in San Bernardino

Both are from Pacific High School's yearbooks.

I added his junior year.

AK Wilks wrote:

Hmm. Aside from the "K", none of those letters have the look or feel of Z writing IMO.

An anonymous poster on the internet making these claims...can't put much stock in it.

If this is true, there should be multiple students from that time who remembered this odd fellow calling himself the Zodiac and saying he would kill people and they would be his slaves!

99% of the time, if something sounds too good to be true, it is.

Any actual people who can confirm this behavior? If not, IMO it is likely a hoax or wild exxageration.

Sometimes when it seems too good to be true, it just could be true !
I know this from my own experience's.
As for the other letters not looking like the Z printing.
The M is spot on ,as well as the A, G, and Y. Notice the 0's have that dot near the top just like the o's in all Z letters. The eights don't look like the one's I have seen of the Z's . But I think that this Zode guy should be looked at like any other z suspect.
Mel Belli knew of him, and mentioned it in his book. Zode mentioned meeting Belli as well. So there has to be some credence of this guys existence. He isn't an exact match to my poi either, but we all have to keep a open mind to any one's suspect, or we just might miss the one piece of the puzzle that fits, to complete the whole picture. The word Zodiac next to his picture was enough for me to want to know more about him , sense it was there before anyone knew of thee Zodiac killer. Coincidence maybe, but who knows for sure ?

****

Pat Hautz - 1963 Sophomore (Shows MARY HAUTZ...but it's the same girl.)




Pat Hautz - 1964 Junior




Pat Hautz - 1965 Senior (this year also lists her as MARY--and obviosly MZ and she were in the same class)

Again great work Tahoe !!!

Great work, indeed.

I do understand the interest in this suspect, and the possible connection to Hautz, the Belli factor, etc.

However, I would like to do some side by sides. The sketches can be questioned as to accuracy, but they to provide some value IMO. The basic face structure seems OK though more longish and narrower, ears are OK, but the big glaring problems would be hair and skin color and tone. Nobody reported Z as looking Arabic, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Latin or otherwise dark complected, or having jet black wavy hair.

This guy just does not look like any of the sketches or witness descriptions.

Though that alone should not rule him totally out, given other factors of interest and unreliability of witness descriptions. But IMO it creates a major strike against regarding him as a serious suspect. I don't know for sure how police would react, but I think they would not get too excited about him, given the mismatch against the sketches and descriptions.

But I do think this guy should be investigated, just wanted to see what it looks like side by side.


He seems a total mismatch against the SF Zodiac sketch IMO. If the SF sketch is the Zodiac, I don't see how this guy could be him. Absent total theatrical make up do over.

He is at least a little more similar to the sketches of the Nancy Bennallack suspect and the Zodiac Napa composite. In these sketches, the face seems a little longer and narrower, and the hair is darker. He doesn't really look like either sketch IMO, but you couldn't rule him out. Some things match. But we don't know for sure if Bennallack was a Zodiac victim, or if the Napa Composite man was Zodiac.

I also find this "link" between Hautz and Zode extremely interesting. I find it harder and harder to believe what she told Michael Butterfield. Some people may accept that she doesn't recall writing the letter, had no one in mind when she wrote it, but I find that highly unlikely, given the circumstances. But I guess there will be no more information coming from her end. Pity.

tracers wrote:

I also find this "link" between Hautz and Zode extremely interesting. I find it harder and harder to believe what she told Michael Butterfield. Some people may accept that she doesn't recall writing the letter, had no one in mind when she wrote it, but I find that highly unlikely, given the circumstances. But I guess there will be no more information coming from her end. Pity.

Tracers, I dont know what transpired between Butterfield & Hautz, and I am no Butterfield fan, but I am beyond sure that the writing on the Riverside envelope is indeed, without a doubt, the writing of Ms. Hautz. I obtained her confirmed writing around the same time as Butterfield did, and the sample he provided, as well as the one I got, and the writing on the Riverside envelope all seem to match. I always thought the Hautz letter was interesting, but I think that mystery is somewhat solved...unless, someone obtained an actual envelope written by her, and stuffed a typed letter into it.

No doubt the Zode stuff is interestring

From what I understand, Hautz did tell Butterfield that she too believed that handwriting was hers. She then stated that she had no recollection of sending the letter, but must have. I am just saying I find it hard to believe she has no memory of writing the letter, had no one in mind when she wrote it. To me the letter does sound like she has a specific person/"boy" in mind. But that's just my sense of things. (hope I am making sense. I was up really really late last night and am exhausted.)

morf13 wrote:

Nin wrote:

morf13 wrote:

Here is a closeup of the word ZODIAC as written on the yearbook photo of ZODE. Question is, who wrote it and when?


Here is a photo of a yearbook page allegedly written by ZODE, with the signature removed.


For what its worth, it doesnt look to me like it matches cursive writing from the Hautz/ Riverside envelope or the Lass xmas card

That was not written by the "Zode" individual". It was written by another female classmate. I erased the name myself.

-Nin

Thanks for clearing that up. Was it written to ZODE? If not, why was it brought up in the ZODE clues? Because of the same ink color?

Here is the closeup of the word ZODIAC written over his photo, and the letter he recently wrote. The letter Z in both samples in my opinion is a match, which leads me to believe that he wrote the word ZODIAC over his own photo

This photo is a closeup of the Z in the word Zodiac written over his yearbook photo:


This next photo is a closeup of the letter Z, he wrote recently:

*****


The girl who wrote this (in pink) was a Senior.

She wrote it to "James". This was obviously James' yearbook. My guess is "James" borrowed her pen and wrote (zodiac) next to MZ's name.

Nothing else in this entire yearbook is written with that same pen. Nothing next to her photo or anyone elses.

self-deleted

tracers wrote:

From what I understand, Hautz did tell Butterfield that she too believed that handwriting was hers. She then stated that she had no recollection of sending the letter, but must have. I am just saying I find it hard to believe she has no memory of writing the letter, had no one in mind when she wrote it. To me the letter does sound like she has a specific person/"boy" in mind. But that's just my sense of things. (hope I am making sense. I was up really really late last night and am exhausted.)

I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday, let alone 40+ years ago. I've come across boxes full of school work, reports, etc. that I could swear I never had anything to do with but for the obvious similarity in handwriting. I too have seen the handwriting comparison between Hautz letters. I have no doubt she was the author. I mean, there's a letter written to the newspaper by Pat Hautz, there's a girl who went to a local high school by that name that has the same handwriting. You have to ask yourself... what are the odds it's NOT her? We've POI's based on much less than that bit of "circumstantial" evidence.

-tbz

"Hautz" is not a very popular last name...even today.

I did a search of "Hautz" and only (88) came up in the entire U.S.A--male and female. ---Not that there weren't some names missing from that list. There has to be more than that!

To this day, from what I can tell, she goes by "Mary Hautz".

So, maybe by using Patricia back when she (allegedly) wrote the letter, she thought she was being a bit more incognito?

BREAKING NEWS:I have been working on contact with 'ZODE', the POI from San Bernardino, CA. He was the student that went to school with Patricia Hautz, and was said to have written a Zodiac symbol on the chalkboard, and called himself Zodiac, as well as using the phrase "this is the Zodiac speaking", years before Zodiac used it. Well, I have heard back from him, and frankly, I was blown away! He verified the stories, at least to an extent. He freely admits he was using the name Zodiac! He also verified that he was at the Belli meeting in Riverside in which police ambushed him asking him if he was the Zodiac. There were things in the letter that seem truthful, but some things that may be less than truthful. For example, he says that he used the name ZODIAC since Jr High, and that in 1961 or 1962 the "infamous murders" happened,and people started ridiculing him for the name ZODIAC. But the Zodiac murders had not happened yet, so why would they be teasing him about using the name of a killer? Opinions please:



I will be doing a followup with him. Any ideas or suggestions for material to cover with him? He seems pretty cooperative and open.

Interesting read about Zode and his response to you....

bayarea60s wrote:

Interesting read about Zode and his response to you....

Yes, it is interesting. By the way, if anyone would like to post this letter at other forums, please do so since ZODE requested that I get this out there.

Great score, Morf!

I'm confused. Is Zode saying that there were murder/s in '61 or'62 that had a zodiac connection and he was teased about that back then? Or is he confused about dates, although I don't understand how he would be teased in junior high or high school about his nicknamed being connected to the Zodiac Killer as the crimes hadn't happened.

Could you ask if he knew Patricia Hautz or was aware of the Bates murder when it happened? Where was he between the time he graduated from high school and when he enrolled in the bogus law school?

He does not seem to have much knowledge of the Zodiac case.

Has the thought never occurred to him that it is possible someone else could have been inspired by his use of the name "Zodiac"?

Seagull wrote:

Great score, Morf!

I'm confused. Is Zode saying that there were murder/s in '61 or'62 that had a zodiac connection and he was teased about that back then? Or is he confused about dates, although I don't understand how he would be teased in junior high or high school about his nicknamed being connected to the Zodiac Killer as the crimes hadn't happened.

Could you ask if he knew Patricia Hautz or was aware of the Bates murder when it happened? Where was he between the time he graduated from high school and when he enrolled in the bogus law school?

I wil ask him these things.

I agree, he may be confused about the dates of the Z crimes, but that doesnt explain how his fellow students would tease him about his name & the z crimes, since the Z crimes did not happen yet.

I will ask him about Hautz, Bates, and also Kathleen johns, . (Was JOHNS her maiden name anybody,and what HS did she go to & graduate?)Also will ask about Cecilia since she went to school down there.

Ricardo wrote:

He does not seem to have much knowledge of the Zodiac case.

Has the thought never occurred to him that it is possible someone else could have been inspired by his use of the name "Zodiac"?

I dont know I will get into that more with him.

Thanks for whatever information you can find out, morf!

Please let him know that some of us think that it is possible that the actual Zodiac killer might have been someone who knew him (or knew about him) years ago.

I do not understand how he could rule out that possibility. Did he ever know anyone else who used the name "Zodiac"?

Ricardo wrote:

Thanks for whatever information you can find out, morf!

Please let him know that some of us think that it is possible that the actual Zodiac killer might have been someone who knew him (or knew about him) years ago.

I do not understand how he could rule out that possibility. Did he ever know anyone else who used the name "Zodiac"?

Ricardo, please PM me any questions or topics, and I will pass them along to him.

Morf you might want to contact Sandy or Howard about Kathleen Johns maiden name. I think it was Smith but she had been married before she was married to the guy with the last name of Johns.

From what he's written, on the surface at least he sounds like a genuinely friendly guy who is willing to help - even if only to clear his name from being associated to a horrible murder case.

As mentioned, some things don't fit but then again if it was some innocent fun in high school half a century ago then it would be totally normal for him to possibly get mixed up over dates, etc. Perhaps he used the name in the early 60's and some people brought it up and teased him in 1969 when Z surfaced but he's become confused about the dates and sequence of events.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, I suppose the golden fact we need to know is if he used to say the phrase "This is the Zodiac speaking...". Now if he confirms that he did, we can only surmise one of 3 things:

a) the Zodiac Killer directly witnessed or heard about him
b) MLZ got this name/phrase from a common source as the killer
c) he himself is the Zodiac Killer

Any of the above is a step forward for obvious reasons. If however he just used the name Zodiac (ie no crosshairs and no "this is the zodiac speaking") then it could be a coincidence that some 8 years later a killer chose this name due to whatever different reasons and this would sadly be yet another dead end. I do find it very interesting however that he was in S California, went to a junior high called Vallejo, went to Riverside (albeit a few years later) and met Belli.

Apart from the Zodiac speaking question, I'd ask him where he got the idea of the Zodiac name from and if he ever publicly drew crosshairs.

PS. You could also ask him what height he is and why he typed his letter to you even though he states he struggles to get to grip with a typewriter. I think you might frighten him off with these questions though!

Seagull wrote:

Morf you might want to contact Sandy or Howard about Kathleen Johns maiden name. I think it was Smith but she had been married before she was married to the guy with the last name of Johns.

I will ask, thanks

Quagmire wrote:

From what he's written, on the surface at least he sounds like a genuinely friendly guy who is willing to help - even if only to clear his name from being associated to a horrible murder case.

As mentioned, some things don't fit but then again if it was some innocent fun in high school half a century ago then it would be totally normal for him to possibly get mixed up over dates, etc. Perhaps he used the name in the early 60's and some people brought it up and teased him in 1969 when Z surfaced but he's become confused about the dates and sequence of events.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, I suppose the golden fact we need to know is if he used to say the phrase "This is the Zodiac speaking...". Now if he confirms that he did, we can only surmise one of 3 things:

a) the Zodiac Killer directly witnessed or heard about him
b) MLZ got this name/phrase from a common source as the killer
c) he himself is the Zodiac Killer

Any of the above is a step forward for obvious reasons. If however he just used the name Zodiac (ie no crosshairs and no "this is the zodiac speaking") then it could be a coincidence that some 8 years later a killer chose this name due to whatever different reasons and this would sadly be yet another dead end. I do find it very interesting however that he was in S California, went to a junior high called Vallejo, went to Riverside (albeit a few years later) and met Belli.

Apart from the Zodiac speaking question, I'd ask him where he got the idea of the Zodiac name from and if he ever publicly drew crosshairs.

PS. You could also ask him what height he is and why he typed his letter to you even though he states he struggles to get to grip with a typewriter. I think you might frighten him off with these questions though!

Very good points quagmire