Interview with Schoolmate of Ross

[morf13]

He read (from memory)a short poem Ross had written. He asked me not to share it at this time and I agreed. It was nothing like the desktop poem.

He also said Ross loathed himself, reiterated Ross hated his Dad, and also talked about Ross's ability to befriend women, although he could never have relationships with women. This reminded me of what Ms Bailey the librarian had stated.

He said Ross did not Drive at all, at least not back in 1959-62.
He remembered Ross's Brother Tim well, but didn't know his Brother Jon.

We may have made a valuable ally as far as the Z case goes, since this has interested Allan so much, he is interested indoing some sort of Documentary about z and/or Ross.

He also said he's still in contact with people from the Drama dept of their school, which Ross was active in

We may have hit the motherload here. I wonder if Ross had ever been drafted though? Being drafted between 1960-1963 was not that uncommon. As you wrote, Allan himself had been drafted in 1963.

I don't think Ross was ever drafted, I requested any military files for him, and there are none on file. However, I am still very interested in the DraftBoard letter. The person who mailed it, mailed it from Berkeley to Syracuse NY. Ross was from Syracuse, and we know he at some point had Family in Berkeley!

[morf13]

One thing I want to stress, Allan has mentioned that Ross was not dumb, he was quite smart. Some might think that he was a dumb,overweight, and mentally ill loser, but he was a functioning intelligent person, and besides from being overweight, and sometimes odd or withdrawn(likely due to his early mental illness)Ross could interact with people, afterall, he was involved in acting, and the orator club. I asked Allan if he felt that Ross was mentally capable of laying out a plan, and following it through, and Allan said that when he knew Ross, he definitely was.

[Norse]

Also a great Riverside analysis (you doubters should also read this)
http://zodiackillerfacts.com/main/river ... mysteries/

I'm very familiar with Butterfield's work – and I respect him as a Z expert, much more so than many others who have been given that title. His Riverside ideas are certainly worth checking out for those who haven't. Personally I don't agree 100% with all his conclusions – and certainly not with his main conclusion.

One thing, though – and please don't take this the wrong way: I don't think it's justifiable to use the term “doubters” in this context. To me, this suggests that there is no reason to doubt that Z was responsible for Riverside – and that those who do are merely being obstinate. That is simply not the case, in my opinion.

Is there reasonable doubt as to whether Z a) murdered Bates, b) wrote the Confession letter, c) wrote the Bates notes and d) wrote the desktop poem? Yes, there is. Clearly so, I would say. I'm not going to take some kind of leap of faith in the absence of evidence which would dispel any reasonable doubt. And that's where I'm standing: I'm not denying that Z had a hand in Riverside (all of it or some of it), but I doubt it – and that is reasonable as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry about the mini-rant – and, again, no offense intended.

[masootz]

i'm with norse. be very careful building a house of cards.

[morf13]

I agree, I think Doubters is a bad word, how about Skeptics? That's more appropriate. And to you skeptics, I agree completely, we need to verify certain aspects and tidbits before declaring Ross Zodiac

[Norse]

Just to clarify - my comment was mainly about the Riverside connection as such, not with particular regard to Ross (but it obviously matters MORE with him than with certain other suspects).

That said, I don't think we positively need all the Riverside elements in order to keep Ross alive as a suspect, so to speak: He could have killed Bates, NOT written the desktop poem and still have been Z.

Which is just one possibility.

And let's not forget that regardless of whether Ross was Z or not, he has to rank very highly on anyone's list when it comes to Bates, so he's an extremely interesting figure no matter how you look at it.

[morf13]

Just to clarify - my comment was mainly about the Riverside connection as such, not with particular regard to Ross (but it obviously matters MORE with him than with certain other suspects).

That said, I don't think we positively need all the Riverside elements in order to keep Ross alive as a suspect, so to speak: He could have killed Bates, NOT written the desktop poem and still have been Z.

Which is just one possibility.

And let's not forget that regardless of whether Ross was Z or not, he has to rank very highly on anyone's list when it comes to Bates, so he's an extremely interesting figure no matter how you look at it.

It's funny how we disagree, I actually think he likely would not be a strong Suspect in Cheri's case, I just don't think Ross would have had a hard time handling her as big and strong as he was. I think it's possible that her killer was a skinny, or small weaker type of Guy. Then again, when Cheri was fighting for her life, she may have surprised a larger attacker and gave them all they could handle.

Then again, we know Ross knew Cheri. We know that he's the only 'known' Suspect, ever mentioned that definitely knew Cheri and was in the RCC Library, and for that matter, looked just like the sketch.

[Paul_Averly]

It's funny how we disagree, I actually think he likely would not be a strong Suspect in Cheri's case, I just don't think Ross would have had a hard time handling her as big and strong as he was. I think it's possible that her killer was a skinny, or small weaker type of Guy. Then again, when Cheri was fighting for her life, she may have surprised a larger attacker and gave them all they could handle.

One thing we have seemed to overlook is the significance of the sheep skins at the house Ross lived at. Ross must have known how to kill and skin sheep.

Many years ago, unrelated to this case, I was told the way one kills a sheep to butcher on a farm would be to start by cutting its throat. This is to quiet the screams of the sheep. (Very sad, and sorry for this image.)

Cheri's throat was slashed.

Confession letter:
"SHE WENT TO THE SLAUGHTER LIKE A LAMB"

[morf13]

It's funny how we disagree, I actually think he likely would not be a strong Suspect in Cheri's case, I just don't think Ross would have had a hard time handling her as big and strong as he was. I think it's possible that her killer was a skinny, or small weaker type of Guy. Then again, when Cheri was fighting for her life, she may have surprised a larger attacker and gave them all they could handle.

One thing we have seemed to overlook is the significance of the sheep skins at the house Ross lived at. Ross must have known how to kill and skin sheep.

Many years ago, unrelated to this case, I was told the way one kills a sheep to butcher on a farm would be to start by cutting its throat. This is to quiet the screams of the sheep. (Very sad, and sorry for this image.)

Cheri's throat was slashed.

Confession letter:
"SHE WENT TO THE SLAUGHTER LIKE A LAMB"

I wish Ms. Jette would assist us in finding more out about Ross, and about this skinning incident. I wrote her and left a phone message, she never responded.

[Tahoe27]

Considering it was a "confession" and mentioning "went to the slaughter like a lamb", I think we have quite the Catholic/religious undertone.

This does not eliminate Ross. Quite the contrary. But, considering Cheri went to church that morning, it could be someone involved with her there--as we have discussed in the past.

I would ask the schoolmate of Ross how much, if any, does he remember about Ross and religion.