Seagull
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:16 pmHi! I grew up in Napa and had just gotten out of high school when the Blue Rock Springs attack happened. When the Lake Berryessa attack happened the Zodiac case got my attention. I recall that the case put a serious crimp in any dating for myself and my friends. Our parents insisted we go in groups to group settings instead of just pairing up for solo couples dates! But as life goes the horror of it all subsided and we got on with the business of going on to college or moving away and testing our wings as it were, if even for just a couple of years. I eventually married and started a family and the Zodiac case really no longer entered my mind.
I lived in Napa until 1990 when we moved to Franz Valley. My husband and his cousin had purchased a undeveloped piece of land on Franz Valley Road back in 1973, before he and I got together. When we moved to Franz Valley it was not without purpose, we wanted to develop the land and move there. The small house next door to our property came up for rent and we jumped on it figuring that being so close to our land would help hurry along the house building plan. I knew that some bodies had been found somewhere in Franz Valley but did not know exactly where except that my husband and his cousin told me it was not on the property they bought. Well, as I found out about a year after moving to the rental the bodies had been found at the place we were renting.
I tried to learn as much as I could about those crimes but there was very little anyone would tell me. I did not have internet access until after moving away from there. I quizzed the neighbors but was told that the murders happened so long ago that I should just forget about it. Most of the people I spoke with had lived there at the time the bodies were found but no one would tell me anything! I finally contacted a local historian who gave me the date of a newspaper article to read, it was the March 5, 1989 Press Democrat article which told of all the victims and included the information that Zodiac and Ted Bundy had been separately considered as suspects in the murders. Suddenly, I knew that those murders that the neighbors had told me not to trouble myself with were actually very serious and probably done by a serial killer. To this day I can not help but think that the reason the neighbors would not tell me anything was because they suspected that someone they knew or the child of someone they knew was involved in the murders.
Fast forward to 2004 when we sold our property in Franz Valley and moved a couple of hours away. I finally got internet access in 2005, learned to navigate my way around the web and one of the first things I did was to search for information about the murders. I found Tom Voigt's website, his was the only site that had anything of substance on the murders. I made my way to his forum where there were discussions. I learned more about the Franz Valley murders reading the stuff at Tom's in an afternoon than I had learned in the 14 years I lived in Franz Valley. After a couple of months when I read most of the forum, I joined and became hooked on the Zodiac murders. I couldn't have researched my way out of a wet paper bag when I first started but following the lead and advice of others I honed my research skills and now people ask me to help them with research. That is very gratifying.
By 2009 I had gathered enough material, much of it not available online, for the Sonoma County murders to be able to start my own website which went online November 2009. The site has been a success, I have a relatively constant number of people that view the site every day. I get the occasional tip and I receive emails from people regularly thanking me for getting the information about the murders out there for everyone to read.
Of course, I've still continued with the Zodiac case. There is always something new to be learned and or discussed, there are newspaper articles to locate and the subject is rarely boring. I've made some great online friends, some that I've even met! I am a moderator here and at another Zodiac forum.
I also spend some of my time on the Manson Family. That's a case that has for all intents and purposes been solved but there are still people avidly discussing every little detail of the cases. I figure that if the Zodiac case ever gets solved it will still be a topic of discussion. In the Manson arena I write for and help admin a blog. http://www.mansonblog.com/ Come by and check us out sometime, there are always new things being presented and discussed.
Well, I've rambled on long enough. Let's get back to figuring out who the Zodiac was and settle this once and for all.
I lived in Napa until 1990 when we moved to Franz Valley. My husband and his cousin had purchased a undeveloped piece of land on Franz Valley Road back in 1973, before he and I got together. When we moved to Franz Valley it was not without purpose, we wanted to develop the land and move there. The small house next door to our property came up for rent and we jumped on it figuring that being so close to our land would help hurry along the house building plan. I knew that some bodies had been found somewhere in Franz Valley but did not know exactly where except that my husband and his cousin told me it was not on the property they bought. Well, as I found out about a year after moving to the rental the bodies had been found at the place we were renting.
I tried to learn as much as I could about those crimes but there was very little anyone would tell me. I did not have internet access until after moving away from there. I quizzed the neighbors but was told that the murders happened so long ago that I should just forget about it. Most of the people I spoke with had lived there at the time the bodies were found but no one would tell me anything! I finally contacted a local historian who gave me the date of a newspaper article to read, it was the March 5, 1989 Press Democrat article which told of all the victims and included the information that Zodiac and Ted Bundy had been separately considered as suspects in the murders. Suddenly, I knew that those murders that the neighbors had told me not to trouble myself with were actually very serious and probably done by a serial killer. To this day I can not help but think that the reason the neighbors would not tell me anything was because they suspected that someone they knew or the child of someone they knew was involved in the murders.
Fast forward to 2004 when we sold our property in Franz Valley and moved a couple of hours away. I finally got internet access in 2005, learned to navigate my way around the web and one of the first things I did was to search for information about the murders. I found Tom Voigt's website, his was the only site that had anything of substance on the murders. I made my way to his forum where there were discussions. I learned more about the Franz Valley murders reading the stuff at Tom's in an afternoon than I had learned in the 14 years I lived in Franz Valley. After a couple of months when I read most of the forum, I joined and became hooked on the Zodiac murders. I couldn't have researched my way out of a wet paper bag when I first started but following the lead and advice of others I honed my research skills and now people ask me to help them with research. That is very gratifying.
By 2009 I had gathered enough material, much of it not available online, for the Sonoma County murders to be able to start my own website which went online November 2009. The site has been a success, I have a relatively constant number of people that view the site every day. I get the occasional tip and I receive emails from people regularly thanking me for getting the information about the murders out there for everyone to read.
Of course, I've still continued with the Zodiac case. There is always something new to be learned and or discussed, there are newspaper articles to locate and the subject is rarely boring. I've made some great online friends, some that I've even met! I am a moderator here and at another Zodiac forum.
I also spend some of my time on the Manson Family. That's a case that has for all intents and purposes been solved but there are still people avidly discussing every little detail of the cases. I figure that if the Zodiac case ever gets solved it will still be a topic of discussion. In the Manson arena I write for and help admin a blog. http://www.mansonblog.com/ Come by and check us out sometime, there are always new things being presented and discussed.
Well, I've rambled on long enough. Let's get back to figuring out who the Zodiac was and settle this once and for all.
