Zodiackillersite.com

Norse wrote:

jroberson wrote:This was the case where the technician kicked himself for smudging the prints, right?

Yes - he tried to dry them (because they were too wet/fresh for lifting) and then botched the job.

Ah yes. I remember that bit of trivia. The tech tried to "artificially" dry them or something and then totally butchered the prints. Like you said. Graysmith, I believe.

Interesting bit of info here on fingerprints and powders, by the way.

http://www.evidencemagazine.com/index.p ... ew&id=1387

White or aluminum powder and a camera would have been more helpful, in hindsight.

Pretty sure the botching is mentioned in the P.D. reports.

Thanks to Seagull....we can see (red dot) the general area of the phone booth. It backed the laundry facility and was next to the car wash. (sorry so big)

Tahoe27 wrote:Pretty sure the botching is mentioned in the P.D. reports.

It is - can't remember exactly where, but I do believe it is.

EDIT It apparently isn't, actually.

No mention of the actual botching – at least not in this:

http://www.zodiackiller.com/LBReport15.html

part of the report.

But note what Snook says here: The moisture remained THREE HOURS after he arrived at the scene. So – well. I have no idea, really – perhaps this is normal.

Those pics are indeed great, BTW.

This pic isn't marked with the red dot but it is a clearer picture of the car wash.

Norse wrote:But note what Snook says here: The moisture remained THREE HOURS after he arrived at the scene. So – well. I have no idea, really – perhaps this is normal.

I was reading up on fingerprints and from what I can tell, how long a print remains wet depends on a number of factors, one of which is the amount of sweat present. Hartnell sad the guy had a greasy forehead IIRC, so perhaps the Zodiac either sweated profusely or was one of those people who have very oily skin.

Regardless, I found one mention in RG's first book wherein he first mentions artificially drying the print

I think he said his hair was greasy.

Tahoe27 wrote:I think he said his hair was greasy.

He did. He said that in the police interview. But I seem to recall someone else claiming that the Zodiac had a "greasy forehead".

Perhaps I'm hallucinating.

A-ha! Here it is. I knew I wasn't hallucinating.

Bryan could have said that, unfortunately Graysmith says a lot of things that simply did not take place. There are people who were interviewed who would concur. But hey, if he had greasy hair, it wouldn't surprise me if he had a greasy forehead.

I just highly doubt the guys palms were dripping with sweat an hour after the crimes, so much so they left the phone wet for such a long period of time after the phone was left dangling.