Zodiac/GSK Unsolved Murders Timeline

I am going to continue on the journey of the Zodiac & GSK timelines and try to put them together so we can see the Unsolved Murders in the State of California and how these crimes can be attributed to these Killers. I do believe Joseph James DeAngelo is Zodiac and as I have said before there is too many similarities to ignore and we have to remember that Zodiac said he would kill by Gun, Knife, Fire & Rope so we know the 4 main attributes to look for when looking into the Unsolved Murders as well as the geography and other characteristics that we are aware of.

The first case we are going to look at is that of James Michael Gardner 21 years of age who was shot off his Motorcycle on the freeway near Fountain Valley, California. On 7th Aug 1968, sometime between 12:30 and 2:40 a.m., the Santa Ana resident was riding his motorcycle on the southbound San Diego Freeway, just north of the Ward Street overpass, when he was shot with a 22 or 25 calibre handgun or rifle. His body was found by California Highway Patrol officers, who initially believed he had been involved in an accident. Evidence that he had been shot was uncovered at the Autopsy where several bullets were found in his body.

I have noticed that this crime is often attributed to Zodiac and can see how it fits as it first appeared to be an accident then later finding out it was a homicide by gun. James had been shot 5 times to the back, when considering Zodiac as the possible suspect the similarity of Betty Lou Jenson's wounds is of interest as well as the case that Zodiac would shoot his victims around 5 or six times.

An interesting point which I came across in this case was that James's watch was found at the scene, smashed at the time of 1.55am which was a little strange considering James's girlfriend had said he left her at 2am. The travel time for which James was travelling would have taken around 20 - 25 minutes so the murder was committed in this short amount of time. There were a few suggestions at why the watch would have been running late but my own thoughts on this is that the 1.55am if deliberately set by the killer maybe represents the

I 55 freeway, possibly a message left by the killer or it could just be that James's watch was running late. The watch is also of note as in the case of Cheri Bates, a watch was also found at the crime scene smashed up so there are similarities there.

Joseph James DeAngelo was 22 years of age at the time and in August of 1968 he had enrolled at Sierra College in Rocklin, California. JJD's deployment from the Navy ended in September that year so would have been living in and around San Diego at the times of James's murder. Around this time JJD started dating girlfriend Bonnie Colwell who also attended Sierra College, Bonnie has spoken of there being many red flags in JJD's behaviour such as dragging her along on illegal hunting trips, controlling behaviour and being insatiable when it came to sex which eventually led to her to break off the engagement and give DeAngelo his ring back. DeAngelo, unhappy at the break up then went to Bonnie's house, tapped on her bedroom window, with gun in hand and pointed it at her, he told her to get dressed as he was taking her to Reno to get married, in fear Bonnie called her father who was able to talk JJD down, thankfully. Bonnie was so fearful of DeAngelo that she stayed off college for a month and changed her majors to avoid him.

If we look at what Bonnie says about DeAngelo, he loved Illegal Hunting Trips, it's reasonable to draw the conclusion that DeAngelo enjoyed killing on these trips and often tried to get Bonnie to shoot his gun. Zodiac has the same trait, he loved the hunt and says so in his letters, it would also explain why all the different calibre weapons, no doubt both would have had quite a collection that is if they're not the same person.

It's possible this was the first murder Joseph James DeAngelo made on his return from Vietnam, happening before he started a Sierra College in Rocklin. I'm going to be interested in where I am taken following the unsolved cases of both Zodiac & GSK to see if the timeline works and hopefully solve a few mysteries along the way.

Both Zodiac & GSK in my opinion are possible suspects for this cold case, the only way it will be solved now I imagine is if the gun is still in the killers possession. It could be possible there is dna evidence on the watch/clothing if it still lies in evidence but following the later cases of Zodiac this does fit into his M.O and with GSK his love of the hunt is an obvious marker.

In my next Blog we will take a look at the murder of Elaine Louise Davis, 17 years of age from Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County in 1969.