OPEN LETTER TO ATTY WILLIAM CROW
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 8:06 amHi-
I posted this to Tom's site last May (2012):
Dear Mr. Crow-
On December 20, 1968, you were on Lake Herman Road and allegedly parked briefly at the site where the Zodiac killer would later murder David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Two days later, you came forward to state that you had pulled over in order to adjust what was then described as the motor of your girlfriend's new sports car. You stated that a car, which you then described as a blue Valiant, passed by your car and then stopped and began backing up slowly towards you. Sensing danger, you put your car in gear and sped off with the other car following you but not so closely as to be described as chasing you. When you got to the Benicia turnoff near Route 80, you took the cutoff and the other car went straight ahead. The car, which reportedly had two Caucasian occupants, never attempted to gain on you.
Since that time, you have become a practicing attorney and are reportedly employed by the local government in Solano County. In February of 2004, you spoke to Zodiac researcher Howard Davis. At this time you had a much different story to tell. You clarified the reason you had pulled over to the side of the road near the pumping station as being to learn how to use "toggle switches" on the dashboard of your girlfriend's car. The chase is now much more detail-filled and very dramatic. The car tried to gain on you and, in trying to get inside your left rear quarter panel, presumably tried to force you off the road. He flashed his lights on and off. In taking the turnoff to Benicia, you apparently had to execute a high speed "evasive" maneuver which the less agile, older car could not handle. There was just one person in the car now and his description was eerily like that which was promoted for the Zodiac killer (i.e., short hair and glasses) after October 1969. The car was now remarkably the "white Chevy" that two other sets of eyewitnesses described that night. You stated that your girlfriend lived in (and presumably purchased her sports car in) San Francisco (or was it Napa?). After the encounter, your common sense kicked in and you âwent home.â
As an attorney, I am sure you can see the many problems with your story. If you were a defense attorney, for example, and a witness like you presented himself for cross-examination in court, I am sure youâd be salivating waiting to tear apart his credibility. The reason is clear: When people embellish their stories over time, that is a huge red flag. This is now the problem that you face. You work for local government and draw your salary at least in part from public money. And yet you have two drastically different versions of you 1968 encounter in the (now) public record. What is worse is that your second story is highly embellished, more dramatic, more replete with details and tends to make the reader feel (i.e., given the white Chevy and the lone occupant with "short hair and glasses") that you were most likely chased by the Zodiac killer. All of the details you now provide are part of the "conventional wisdom" of the case and are available in the books of Robert Graysmith, in newspaper articles, on TV shows and on the Internet. We all know that when there are two versions of an eyewitness' story, the most reliable one is the ORIGINAL one, not the embellished one!
I have been trying for many months now to obtain the answers to some naively simple questions from you. I first tried going through people who we know mutually in Vallejo (as I did unsuccessfully in 2004-5 when I approached you for a different reason), who presented you with a letter last year in which I asked you these questions. You readily agreed to assist me and then simply never got back in touch with anyone, them or me, just as you did in 2004-5, when I rewrote my entire report for you and you sent it back unopened and unread after about two months of insisting that all you wanted to do was to help me. Why this happens, nobody who knows you has any idea.
As an attorney and as someone who was apparently directly involved in the events of the night of December 20, 1968, one would think that you would have a strong sense of justice and want to get to the truth about who killed Jensen and Faraday that night, no matter where the truth may lead. Here are some disturbing facts:
1) The type of cars that had toggle switches in those days were British sports cars, like Triumphs, etc.
2) Your girlfriend lived in San Francisco at the time and may well have purchased the car there, not in Napa County where her parents lived. (This part of your story is unclear but potentially of great importance).
3) You tried to blame Les Lundblad for ignoring you and changing the make and color of the car you mentioned from the white Chevy to the "blue Valiant" (which he presumably invented out of thin air). But what you probably don't know is that by the time the words "white Chevy" would have left your lips on December 22, 1968, Les would have already heard not one but two separate reports from three total eyewitnesses of the very same car having been seen that night. When you mentioned the white Chevy to Les, that should have set the alarm bells off in Les' head so loudly that you would have heard them yourself! And yet you claim he drowsily changed the make and color of that car to another one. What motive would he have had for ignoring your statement, since it coincided with what both Bingo Wesher and the two hunters also saw that night?
4) The "white Chevy" may or may not have been Zodiac's car that night. The final eyewitness did not recall the make, model or color of the car he saw parked alongside the Faraday car, despite all the references made to a "dark car with no chrome, etc." If you saw a blue Valiant, that might actually be a crucial bit of information from your report. And if there were two men in that car, that is also obviously extremely crucial information.
5) At another Zodiac crime scene, Zodiac was drawn to a white Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia. This particular car was apparently imported by a particular dealership in the Pacific Northwest which had the exclusive rights to import all VW's into the northwest. At the time of the Berryessa attack, Hartnell's car was owned by an ex-employee of this family owned Pacific NW car dealership with strong ties to a particular suspect in the case (see the Napa impound report for this vehicle that is available on the Internet). The "sports car" you were in driving that night also has at least some ties to the same individual/suspect who had imported the VW from Lake Berryessa on which Zodiac chose to write his message. This is due in the very least to the nation of origin of your "toggle-switch bearing sports car," if not the specific dealership in SF where it MAY have been purchased. That would make two cars that drew the attention of the Zodiac killer having ties to the SAME individual. That same man coincidentally was present on the streets of Presidio Heights and spoken to by an SFPD patrolman after the murder of cab driver Paul Stine. He is a dead ringer for the police sketch from that night. He lied about his military training with small arms in a 2006 meeting I had with him. He writes on Monarch sized paper and also has autographed cars in felt tip pen, as Zodiac did.
Here are the questions I'd like you to answer. Anyone who reads them can see that they are hopelessly innocent ones:
1) What was the make, model and color of the car you were driving on December 20, 1968?
2) Was it a hard top or a convertible?
3) Where was it purchased? (I do not expect you to know this but I am asking that you provide the name of the woman who did purchase it to the "mutual friends" we have in Solano and Contra Costa Counties, so one of them can locate her and ascertain its origins. You know who to contact.)
4) Are you being forthcoming about the actual time you left the Lake Herman Road area that night?
5) Why have you been so evasive in answering these simple questions that may have a strong impact on the direction of the Zodiac investigation?
Given how odd it would be for TWO cars that have strong ties to the same individual to be intimately involved in the Zodiac case, these are important questions. I did come after you aggressively last year because I feel that you are being evasive. I am admittedly an aggressive researcher of this case, who doesn't have time for the mind games you are playing with me. If you do not wish to assist someone, why did you tell me in our 2004 phone conversation that you would be happy to do so and then send back my report unopened? Why did you tell someone last year that you would be willing to answer the above questions and then never have the courtesy to reply to him or to me? You are an attorney who is telling two different stories, the second of which is an embellishment of the first one that is more in line with the specifics of the "conventional wisdom" of the Zodiac case that would never stand up to scrutiny if you were cross-examined in court. This situation is unacceptable. Why is your story changing? Why won't you answer my simple questions?
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Mike Rodelli
I posted this to Tom's site last May (2012):
Dear Mr. Crow-
On December 20, 1968, you were on Lake Herman Road and allegedly parked briefly at the site where the Zodiac killer would later murder David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Two days later, you came forward to state that you had pulled over in order to adjust what was then described as the motor of your girlfriend's new sports car. You stated that a car, which you then described as a blue Valiant, passed by your car and then stopped and began backing up slowly towards you. Sensing danger, you put your car in gear and sped off with the other car following you but not so closely as to be described as chasing you. When you got to the Benicia turnoff near Route 80, you took the cutoff and the other car went straight ahead. The car, which reportedly had two Caucasian occupants, never attempted to gain on you.
Since that time, you have become a practicing attorney and are reportedly employed by the local government in Solano County. In February of 2004, you spoke to Zodiac researcher Howard Davis. At this time you had a much different story to tell. You clarified the reason you had pulled over to the side of the road near the pumping station as being to learn how to use "toggle switches" on the dashboard of your girlfriend's car. The chase is now much more detail-filled and very dramatic. The car tried to gain on you and, in trying to get inside your left rear quarter panel, presumably tried to force you off the road. He flashed his lights on and off. In taking the turnoff to Benicia, you apparently had to execute a high speed "evasive" maneuver which the less agile, older car could not handle. There was just one person in the car now and his description was eerily like that which was promoted for the Zodiac killer (i.e., short hair and glasses) after October 1969. The car was now remarkably the "white Chevy" that two other sets of eyewitnesses described that night. You stated that your girlfriend lived in (and presumably purchased her sports car in) San Francisco (or was it Napa?). After the encounter, your common sense kicked in and you âwent home.â
As an attorney, I am sure you can see the many problems with your story. If you were a defense attorney, for example, and a witness like you presented himself for cross-examination in court, I am sure youâd be salivating waiting to tear apart his credibility. The reason is clear: When people embellish their stories over time, that is a huge red flag. This is now the problem that you face. You work for local government and draw your salary at least in part from public money. And yet you have two drastically different versions of you 1968 encounter in the (now) public record. What is worse is that your second story is highly embellished, more dramatic, more replete with details and tends to make the reader feel (i.e., given the white Chevy and the lone occupant with "short hair and glasses") that you were most likely chased by the Zodiac killer. All of the details you now provide are part of the "conventional wisdom" of the case and are available in the books of Robert Graysmith, in newspaper articles, on TV shows and on the Internet. We all know that when there are two versions of an eyewitness' story, the most reliable one is the ORIGINAL one, not the embellished one!
I have been trying for many months now to obtain the answers to some naively simple questions from you. I first tried going through people who we know mutually in Vallejo (as I did unsuccessfully in 2004-5 when I approached you for a different reason), who presented you with a letter last year in which I asked you these questions. You readily agreed to assist me and then simply never got back in touch with anyone, them or me, just as you did in 2004-5, when I rewrote my entire report for you and you sent it back unopened and unread after about two months of insisting that all you wanted to do was to help me. Why this happens, nobody who knows you has any idea.
As an attorney and as someone who was apparently directly involved in the events of the night of December 20, 1968, one would think that you would have a strong sense of justice and want to get to the truth about who killed Jensen and Faraday that night, no matter where the truth may lead. Here are some disturbing facts:
1) The type of cars that had toggle switches in those days were British sports cars, like Triumphs, etc.
2) Your girlfriend lived in San Francisco at the time and may well have purchased the car there, not in Napa County where her parents lived. (This part of your story is unclear but potentially of great importance).
3) You tried to blame Les Lundblad for ignoring you and changing the make and color of the car you mentioned from the white Chevy to the "blue Valiant" (which he presumably invented out of thin air). But what you probably don't know is that by the time the words "white Chevy" would have left your lips on December 22, 1968, Les would have already heard not one but two separate reports from three total eyewitnesses of the very same car having been seen that night. When you mentioned the white Chevy to Les, that should have set the alarm bells off in Les' head so loudly that you would have heard them yourself! And yet you claim he drowsily changed the make and color of that car to another one. What motive would he have had for ignoring your statement, since it coincided with what both Bingo Wesher and the two hunters also saw that night?
4) The "white Chevy" may or may not have been Zodiac's car that night. The final eyewitness did not recall the make, model or color of the car he saw parked alongside the Faraday car, despite all the references made to a "dark car with no chrome, etc." If you saw a blue Valiant, that might actually be a crucial bit of information from your report. And if there were two men in that car, that is also obviously extremely crucial information.
5) At another Zodiac crime scene, Zodiac was drawn to a white Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia. This particular car was apparently imported by a particular dealership in the Pacific Northwest which had the exclusive rights to import all VW's into the northwest. At the time of the Berryessa attack, Hartnell's car was owned by an ex-employee of this family owned Pacific NW car dealership with strong ties to a particular suspect in the case (see the Napa impound report for this vehicle that is available on the Internet). The "sports car" you were in driving that night also has at least some ties to the same individual/suspect who had imported the VW from Lake Berryessa on which Zodiac chose to write his message. This is due in the very least to the nation of origin of your "toggle-switch bearing sports car," if not the specific dealership in SF where it MAY have been purchased. That would make two cars that drew the attention of the Zodiac killer having ties to the SAME individual. That same man coincidentally was present on the streets of Presidio Heights and spoken to by an SFPD patrolman after the murder of cab driver Paul Stine. He is a dead ringer for the police sketch from that night. He lied about his military training with small arms in a 2006 meeting I had with him. He writes on Monarch sized paper and also has autographed cars in felt tip pen, as Zodiac did.
Here are the questions I'd like you to answer. Anyone who reads them can see that they are hopelessly innocent ones:
1) What was the make, model and color of the car you were driving on December 20, 1968?
2) Was it a hard top or a convertible?
3) Where was it purchased? (I do not expect you to know this but I am asking that you provide the name of the woman who did purchase it to the "mutual friends" we have in Solano and Contra Costa Counties, so one of them can locate her and ascertain its origins. You know who to contact.)
4) Are you being forthcoming about the actual time you left the Lake Herman Road area that night?
5) Why have you been so evasive in answering these simple questions that may have a strong impact on the direction of the Zodiac investigation?
Given how odd it would be for TWO cars that have strong ties to the same individual to be intimately involved in the Zodiac case, these are important questions. I did come after you aggressively last year because I feel that you are being evasive. I am admittedly an aggressive researcher of this case, who doesn't have time for the mind games you are playing with me. If you do not wish to assist someone, why did you tell me in our 2004 phone conversation that you would be happy to do so and then send back my report unopened? Why did you tell someone last year that you would be willing to answer the above questions and then never have the courtesy to reply to him or to me? You are an attorney who is telling two different stories, the second of which is an embellishment of the first one that is more in line with the specifics of the "conventional wisdom" of the Zodiac case that would never stand up to scrutiny if you were cross-examined in court. This situation is unacceptable. Why is your story changing? Why won't you answer my simple questions?
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Mike Rodelli