The Astrological Murders

The Astrological Murders was a series of murders in California during 1970 where 9 Women lost their lives in brutal circumstances. The previous Bride to be Murder and the murder of Leona Roberts and Cosette Ellison is included in this series, the author Robert Graysmith was the first to connect these crimes to the Zodiac Killer and though Robert Graysmith believed more women and men had been victims of this killer I will not be including them all as I believe a certain M.O is in place regarding the Murders we have been looking at so far which may connect Joseph James DeAngelo/Zodiac as I believe him to be. Many thought Graysmith was over zealous when connecting some of the crimes to Zodiac and is still a point of discussion today.

The next cases we will be looking at is that of Marie Anstey and Eva Blau, two young girls who were both found bludgeoned and left naked along the lakeside near Napa Lake, Lake County. The Girls were found days apart and in similar circumstances, Eva Blau was the first to be found with Marie Anstey being found by a Family who had stopped to take the dog out for a walk. Jack Adams, 18 of Napa found the young girls body when looking down the hillside.

On March 13th 1970, the young Eva Blau, 17 years of age, a Sonoma State Co-Ed, was found south of Santa Rosa. Eva was found semi nude and the Coroner found an LSD type drug in her system called Mescaline which has hallucinogenic properties and stated due to Toxic Shock from the drug, it had been this that had killed her. There is a small statement from Robert Graysmith's book that Eva was bludgeoned but I can't find any more information regarding this case so am unclear if she had been bludgeoned or not. What is interesting is that the drug is used by Native American Indians coming from a cactus plant, in later EAR attacks by the Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo would often ask where drugs were, did he partake in certain drugs? It is also unclear if Eva had been sexually assaulted but given that she was found semi nude there was a sexual element to the crime

Around March 14th 1970 a day after Eva Blau had gone missing another girl Marie Anstey, 24 years of age from Vallejo was found near Morgan Valley Road, near Napa Lake Border. Marie was found by a young man Jack Adams, 18 of Napa whilst walking his dog over a rise whereupon looking down he saw the naked body of Marie lying face down on the ground.

Particles of sand and gravel were found in her lungs with the Coroner stating that Marie had been immersed in the water for several hours before or after death. Marie had a long cut on her forearm that appeared to be in a state of healing as well as a laceration to the head which was felt at the time indicated Marie had been stunned and then drowned but the Coroner was of the opinion that it was an overdose of drugs which had killed her. The similarities in the young girls death was apparent.

It was believed that Marie's body had been placed in the area and that she had not been killed there, it was later found that her car had been abandoned on Highway 29 near Vallejo where it was thought she had met her fate. There were no clues in the car abandoned, the last Marie had been seen was around 2am at the Coronado Inn some 5 miles out of Vallejo.

Police appealed for witnesses on March 24th 1970 looking for a Volkswagen Campervan that had been seen in the vicinity of where the young girls bodies had been found. I have not found any more information regarding the colour etc of the Campervan but it was disclosed that Police had spoken to the occupant of a Campervan/Camper Bus and names taken down but as of yet they were still to try and contact the said persons. Police were also looking for a man who was known to hunt in the area.

We all know that JJD/Zodiac enjoyed hunting, is it possible the man they were looking for was JJD/Zodiac?, the Campervan is also of note as there are several EAR attacks later on where a campervan had been seen. With not much to go on the cases of both these girls have gone unsolved to this day as has the Disappearance of Nurse Donna Lass on 6th of September of 1970 from Lake Tahoe.

Donna Lass, 25 years old, was last seen in South Lake Tahoe, she worked as a registered nurse in the first aid station at the Sahara Hotel-Casino, her last logbook entry was timed at 1:45 a.m. her last entry was not finished as though she had been interrupted as she wrote "complains of" the pen trailed of the page.

Donna's car was found parked near her apartment in Stateline, Nevada, but nobody saw her leave the casino. She has never been heard from again. All of her personal belongings were left behind at her home, except her purse and the clothes she was wearing the night she vanished.

The day after Donna's disappearance, an unidentified male called her place of employment and her landlord to say she would be absent due to a family emergency. Donna Lass was not actually having a family emergency at the time. The caller has never been identified.

Donna’s sister would receive a cryptic Christmas card in 1974, which featured a picture of trees covered in snow and was signed “Best Wishes, St. Donna & Guardian of the Pines”. Lass's case remains unsolved. She is missing under suspicious circumstances.

The scenario of Donna Lass is much like that of the Bride to Be Judith Ann Hakari and there does seem to be a pattern which I find hard to ignore. The Police Investigator who found the Zodiac's Postcard to be a forgery raises questions and I do think that due to these crimes being more sexually overt in nature compared to Zodiac's earlier crimes Law Enforcement didn't see the connection to the earlier crimes. Zodiac possibly sent that Postcard to raise an eyebrow or two in Law Enforcement, Zodiac enjoyed the thrill of taunting and it makes perfect sense to me that he would do this.

Another area of interest regarding JJD/Zodiac as a possible suspect is the phone calls made to Donna Lass's Employment and Landlord. In this case we have 2 attempts at communication through Letter/Postcard and by Phone calls which are pretty prevalent throughout JJD/Zodiac crimes. The Christmas card that Donna Lass's sister received is another interesting piece of information and again we see a reference to Saints and Guardians which is what I think Zodiac thought himself to be an Angel of Death, he was the Guardian of the Pines no doubt, the reference to Donna is in itself is quite a statement, had she become one of Zodiacs afterlife slaves he described so often? Had Donna become exalted in his mind.

The only items missing with Donna was the clothes she was wearing and her purse. If the killer had her purse it's possible she had her diary in there with the numbers for her employment and landlord. As JJD/Zodiac liked to taunt and call his victims/law enforcement it's likely this is what he done. I do believe the killer was leaving subliminal clues all along but it is only in retrospct we can see it.

That Donna's Lass's sister received a cryptic christmas card from the supposed Zodiac in 1974 also peaks interest as how did he know the sister's address? it's possible if he had Donna's diary he could have found it there or if Zodiac is Joseph James DeAngelo, due to being a Police Officer himself in 1974 he would have access to all that information as a cop.

I will be going into the later murders in the Astrological Series soon but before I do I think there may be another case or two before the Nancy Bennallack case in October 1970. What I'm finding as I move along JJD/Zodiac's Timeline is the possibility that he moved around a lot at weekends/holidays etc committing crimes in different areas of California so as not to be detected. During 1970 Joseph James DeAngelo was studying at Sierra College in Rocklin, starting work later on in the year with his stepfather at Sierra Crane & Hoist Company.