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Jensen - Faraday Related
Information |
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The
first San Francisco Police Department report on this double homicide
gives Zodiac's height as being 5 feet 8 inches. (Kathleen Johns said
5 feet 9 inches.) This jibes with Mageau's first description of the
assailant. On 12/24/68 the Vallejo Times-Herald ran an
article titled, "Single Gun Was Used In Slayings - Small
Caliber Bullet Pierced Roof Of Auto." In the article, detective
Les Lundblad says that the ".38-caliber bullet hole" in
the roof of Faraday's station wagon was actually made by a small
caliber bullet (.22) of the same size as those that killed the
youngsters. "Moreover," he added, "it would not
have been necessary
for the killer (Zodiac), if
he were of at least average height,
to climb on the bumper of the car to shoot through the roof."
(Emphasis ours.) |
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The
following account is from a Mr. W. Crow who was driving the car that
was chased on Lake Herman Road the night Betty Lou Jensen and David
Faraday were killed - December 20, 1968. |
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I
received your e-mail concerning the Zodiac and, yes, I was the
driver of the sports car that night in December 1968. I was
born and raised in Vallejo, and I was living with my parents at
that time. My former girlfriend who had moved to San
Francisco was visiting her parents in Napa and had just purchased
a sports car. She dropped by our home in Vallejo, and since
I was going to get up early to go hunting with my father the next
morning, instead of going out, we decided to go for a ride and
catch up. She asked if I wanted to drive her sports car, and
I went down Lake Herman Road to see how the car handled.
There is a place where a private road intersects the main road.
There is a gate across the private road maybe thirty yards
down it. It provided a spot known to local teens as a place
to "park" and I will leave it at that. This night
I was in a small two-seater and "parking" was not in the
picture. I had just went through the gears and pulled into
the private road area and turned the car around with the front
pointing to and a few feet from the main road. The engine
was running and the lights were on. I had never driven a car
that had toggle switches on the dashboard. As my former
girlfriend was explaining to me what each one controlled, I
noticed a car coming down the road from the direction of Benicia.
The car passed in front of me and then I noticed that it came to a
stop and its taillights told me it was backing up. Common
sense suggested to me to put the sports car in gear and
leave. I pulled out and started driving toward Benicia. The
other car backed into the area where I had been parked, turned
around and in a second or two was behind me. The car hit its
bright lights and then did a bright off, bright on, bright off,
etc. I went through a few young testosterone moments where I
was going "to pull over and kick this guy's ass".
My former girlfriend starting getting upset and I sped up.
The car behind me also sped up, and at one point as I was looking
over my shoulder the car behind me came up on my side with its
right front fender near the driver's rear quarter panel and
appeared to be moving toward making contact. I shifted to a
lower gear and hit the gas. There is a fork in the road
where one continues towards Benicia and the other more towards the
freeway toward Vallejo. The other car was clearly chasing me
and I waited until the last moment and then turned off. The
larger car behind me could not make the turn. I went down
approximately two hundred yards and stopped in the middle of the
road. The other car had stopped shortly after the turn-off.
Each of us sat there in the road. Again, youthfully stupid, I
yelled about kicking his ass. After some moments, the other
car turned around in the roadway and went back down the road from
which we had come. I kept making macho statements, but not totally
without some sense about me, I drove home. I did not
see the car again. I could not see the passenger seat, but
the driver was a man with short hair and glasses. I did not
see his specific facial features. The two from Benicia were
killed exactly at the same place where I was parked that night
when I first encountered the other car. Therefore, in my
opinion, he either randomly came upon that spot or was from
the area and knew of it. |
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Either
that next morning or the day after there was a story in our local
newspaper, the Times Herald. I believe there was a picture showing
where the car of the slain couple had been parked. For sure
there was a description. I put my shotgun in the car, as if he
would really still be there and drove back out Lake Herman
Road to confirm the location. I came home and told my mother
that I had been where the couple had been shot shortly before and
of the car that had chased me. She suggested that I report
it and I called the Vallejo Police Department. They explained
that they did not have jurisdiction and referred me to Solano
County Sheriff. I was interviewed and gave an account. I
have never seen the report, nor been asked any further questions.
A few years ago, a sheriff I knew who was reviewing the
Zodiac records asked me if I was the W. Crow who made a report. I
told him it was me and asked him if he could get me a copy of the
report. I am still waiting. |
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There
is a part of your e-mail that I find extremely intriguing. I
never told the sheriff who interviewed me that the car I
encountered was a Valiant. As I recall, as I was attempting
to describe the car, the sheriff came up with a "Valiant".
In the years that have passed, when I have shared the events of
that night, I have described the car as a four-door light-colored
Chevy. Until your e-mail I have never known that two hunters
came upon a white Chevy or that any reference to a Chevy existed
in the investigation. I know this does not support the
theory of two cars, but it is important to me that my account be
accurate. |
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I
can assure you that the events of that night remain vivid in my
mind. I still cannot drive down Lake Herman Road without
goose bumps. I feel very fortunate. |
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W.
Crow |
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Thank
you is made to Mr. Crow for his account and to Zodiac researcher Tom Voigt for
referring him to the author. |
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The
above account by Mr. Crow is fascinating. The story speaks for
itself but a few comments are in order. |
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The
car Mr. Crow saw that night was a white four-door Chevy. This is the
same make and color of vehicle that other witnesses saw that night
on Lake Herman Road. Two hunters also came upon a car of that
description that night. One of them even walked up to the car as it
was parked at the now infamous water pumping station
#10 (the location
of the murders) and looked inside. He saw no one or anything that
seemed suspicious. |
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On
March 22, 1970, Kathleen Johns was involved in a similar situation.
She was driving on Highway 132 in central California when a car came
up behind her and started flashing its headlights and honking. Since
Mr. Crow's account has never been made public before now (August
2004) there is no possible way that Ms. Johns could have known about
Mr. Crow being chased in a similar manner by a driver who was
probably the Zodiac killer. This revelation could give further
credibility to Johns' testimony. |
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Mr.
Crow testifies that they were being chased by a man with short hair
and glasses. This matches the accounts given by both the San
Francisco police officer and the three teenagers in San Francisco on
October 11, 1969. Again, Kathleen Johns' account, of being abducted
by a man with short hair, glasses and driving a light colored car,
matches. |
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Zodiac
seems to have worn his "disguise" of short hair and
glasses that night but changed his appearance for the July 5, 1969
attack in Vallejo. Zodiac victim Mike Mageau saw a young man, short
and stocky and without
glasses on
that night. In some accounts he did say his hair was short. His
basic descriptions line up with Johns' description of her
abductor who some believe (including this Website) was
the Zodiac. |
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The
scenario as given seems to indicate Zodiac was "cruising
around" (as he wrote in 1969) looking for any young couple he
could kill and began his search by chasing that sports car. We see
how the white Chevy stopped and observed the couple, then sped away.
This was similar, in some respects, to the Vallejo attack when
Zodiac pulled up to the Ferrin car and then left. Of course that
time he went back. Perhaps in both instances he was deciding just
what to do. It can be speculated that after the chase the driver of
the Chevy (Zodiac) saw the Faraday station wagon parked at the
same spot the sports car had been at earlier and decided to attack
them instead. |
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To
further answer some questions regarding this incident Mr. Crow
e-mailed this response: |
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(All
emphases by Mr. Crow.) |
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Your
e-mail asks two main questions. First, as to the lighting
conditions. It is true that there are no street lights and that
this is a rather desolate county type road. As I indicated,
that evening I was driving my former girlfriends car to see how it
handled. I pulled off the road and turned around. The car I was in
was
perpendicular
to the road.
My intent was going to go back towards Vallejo. The front of
the car I was in was a
few
feet from the road
and my
headlights
were on.
I was determining what the toggle switches controlled when the
car I described came from the Benicia direction and passed right
in front of me. This road is not a thoroughfare and any other
car on that road at night would be an event to take notice of.
As I was watching the car pass, I noticed that he stopped and
the back-up lights came on. It was at that point that I decided
to pull out and go towards Benicia. |
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As
to the speed and the road conditions. I am not sure where you got
the "cold icy roads". This is a
paved
road
and it was not iced over that night. I initially pulled out and
started toward Benicia. I had no idea what the other car was
going to do. It took time for the other car to back up, turn
around and come in my direction and then catch up with me. The
encounter with the other car did not take place over many miles
and did not reach break-neck speeds. This is a
county
type road with turns
and I was in a sports car. The two times that I sped up were
incremental. Each time it took the car behind me time to react.
At the point where there is a fork in the road he had caught up
with me again, I waited until the last moment and then turned. Again,
I
am in a sports car with a manual transmission and
he was not. Because of a combination of conditions he could not
make the turn. |
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W.
Crow |
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