The morning of Ross' death

[morf13]

I wish we could find out how much Ross weighed at the time of his death. We know he was a "beefy 300 lbs" in 1968, but I would bet he started really packing on the weight around 1972 or 1973 and that is probably when the serious health problems began. Do we know how long he lived in the assisted living home? Morf, did your PI contact White's Mortuary to see if they had any paperwork on Ross?


EDIT: Death certificate says he was at 2177 17th Ave for 2 years. So either the later part of 1974 or the first part of 1975 is when he would have went to live there. David A. Carter of White's Mortuary handled the cremation. I wonder if he is still alive. He might remember Ross since he was extremely obese.

Ross was living in Santa Cruz County since 74-75 at the time of his death. Which county was he a resident of prior???? That's the million dollar question. As far as when he lived in the home, we don't know that either, but he had a mental health conservatorship put into place in 73-74

[Dag MacLugh]

Morf:
For a 300 pound man to look "stocky", and not fat, he'd have to be some kind of tall. Either way--fat or "stocky"--people's first impression of him would be his size. Did Hartnell mention Zodiac being oversized? How about Fouke? Bottom line is, you can't weigh 300 pounds and not be big!

[Dag MacLugh]

Morf:
I did some digging online, and found this composite ID of Zodiac: 28-35 y.o., Weight uncertain: 180-220 lbs, may have weighed even less. Hair brownish, maybe reddish. Height 5'8"-6'.

[morf13]

Morf:
For a 300 pound man to look "stocky", and not fat, he'd have to be some kind of tall. Either way--fat or "stocky"--people's first impression of him would be his size. Did Hartnell mention Zodiac being oversized? How about Fouke? Bottom line is, you can't weigh 300 pounds and not be big!

Both Victims described him as being bulky,heavy,or a belly over hanging his trousers. Ken Narlow had a heavy cop who weighed 210-215lbs stand where Z stood, and he "did not sink down nearly as much as the Zodiac's prints did" I am paraphrasing from the report. They felt Z had to be considerably heavier.

This does not rule out Ross. Hartnell wrestled with the height of Z,due to him being very tall himself, but I believe he felt he may have been as big as 6ft2,I have to double check his account. I know the mystery Guy seen lurking close by the girls was described as tall as 6ft 2

I am curious, and maybe this is good for another thread, but, how does anybody judge height in this case??? Mageau, sitting in a car,dark,light shining in his face. The Kids looking downwards from across the street at the Stine scene, & Fouke seated in his car in the dark while driving. Hartnell would be the best to give an accurate account of Zodiac's height, but admittedly was bad with height.If Z was witnessed standing against a tree, or in a phonebooth, etc,I could see an accurate height being more likely,but the witnesses above I don't think are the best for judging Z's height

[Tahoe27]

Wasn't the 300 lbs. in high school a guess by his friend? Honestly, he looks nothing of 300 lbs. and I can't just take someone's word for it.

[bitterbeatpoet]

the bottom line is.....we don't know his {Ross'] height.
at 5' 8", 275 lbs. is way overweight. at 6' 2" it's just pretty big.
i have a couple of friends in the latter description. i would never
think of them as fat. one is even a basketball player that
can dunk the ball. and, Ross was obviously a pretty big fella.

[JeffP]

I have no idea why people are so hung up about this since we don't have any definitive proof what the Zodiac's weight was one way or another. People getting hung up over, literally, nothing. They repeatedly hijack threads that have nothing to do with weight/height to say, for the thousandth time, that the height and weight doesn't match.

There is ample evidence that the Zodiac was overweight, since every description of him gives him a stomach or barrel chested, or "a very big man" with his belly hanging over his trousers. Other than that the description is all over the place.

He may have been very large, he may have been moderately large. He may have been tall, he may have been 5'9. Either way, we don't know. It doesn't mean you come up with some middle ground and that's the answer. It means he can be anywhere within the range of 5'9 to 6'2.

All one can deduce is that 1) Zodiac probably wasn't a midget; 2) he probably wasn't waif thin. Outside of that we don't know.

[snooter]

Just a photo from 1971, 1972 would suffice for me..albeit its nowwhere to be found..really we have better photos of bigfoot and aliens than we have of ross and gaik..napolean dynamite uncle rico tried the ebay time machine and thats not goin be much help either..this whole lack of at least 1 damn legit photo just irks me

[morf13]

Wasn't the 300 lbs. in high school a guess by his friend? Honestly, he looks nothing of 300 lbs. and I can't just take someone's word for it.

I agree, and glad you do as well, Ross doesn't look 300 lbs. Yet,his Friend said he was. Maybe he was 270 or 280 and the guy rounded to 300. We then know that he was that kind of weight in 66 when the Librarians knew him. We then know he was that weight in 68 when he was arrested.

When we say that we can't "trust" what a witness tells us, well where does it end? We don't trust Ross's Friend. We don't trust that lady in the 1969 police report that spoke with Cecelia,and relayed that C told her Z had glasses under the hood. AT what point do we accept that the person may be relaying facts? Here's an exception-James Owen. Owen as a witness contradicts himself multiple times, changes his story, leaves out info, etc. That may be somebody we may not trust, Or Mageau who has changed his tune many times.

[marie]

The best advice I have been given is ::::::
TO GO FORWAD--- YOU NEED TO GO BACK. Did he have a true autopsy, are there slides on file? A well preserved slide is the magic DNA token.

And if his HS weight exists, I'll find it in near where I am. But remember later in life, any form of antipsychotic is going to effect that.

But berating each other, I joined this board cause I thought it had more thought involved.


-M