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He certainly could have been considerably rattled by the Fouke encounter. As mentioned elsewhere, up until the point when Pelissetti arrived at the crime scene (Z being roughly at the Jackson/Cherry intersection at this point) he wasn't necessarily inordinately stressed (some surmise that he noticed the teens in the window, but this is pure speculation). He then hears sirens. Now, we may presume, he is actually fleeing: He hurries down Jackson St – and very shortly after a second patrol appears (which would have surprised him). He slows down just in time, causing his famous shuffling lope (as observed by Fouke), and pretends to enter 3712. As soon as Fouke has rolled past him, he runs for the park (perhaps even panicking now), jumping the fence (or rather the low wall, as seen on the picture above) at the end of Maple.

Very plausible as such. But it still doesn't explain why he didn't head straight for the park in the first place. Nor – even – why he didn't opt for the Cherry route (straight down the street and into the park) when he heard the sirens.

His movements strongly indicate that heading for the park, as such, wasn't part of his plan.

I think he may have just been walking back towards his car, saw the cops and jetted into Maple. In 1969, Fouke made no mention of the house at Jackson...only Maple and the park.

While he might have heard sirens, it would probably be difficult to know exactly where they were coming from and so his best bet was to just walk to his car as quickly as possible and get the heck out of dodge.

Tahoe27 wrote:I think he may have just been walking back towards his car, saw the cops and jetted into Maple. In 1969, Fouke made no mention of the house at Jackson...only Maple and the park.

Yes, but that particular addendum on Fouke's part I have no problem believing. It would have been easier for him to just claim that Z breezed past them and headed down Maple. So, I don't doubt that Z made for 3712, trying to give the impression that he lived there - and that Fouke subsequently reasoned (as he says) that he headed down Maple afterwards. It makes sense. Z would have tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, just a guy on his way home, etc.

Not that it matters in this context.

Generally, I think what you propose is pretty likely. The question is where his car was parked. Did he have to come back for it (after having fled into the park)?

Years ago my theory was that Z had his car parked somewhere along W Pacific Ave (the idea being that he could easily drive home, across the GG bridge, from there). But this theory raises two pesky questions:

* Yet again, why not head straight for W Pacific Ave (and thus away from the residential area - that's the main thing) going all the way up Cherry St?

* Why not have Stine drop him off somewhere closer? The buffer idea still holds if he instructs Stine to go to, say, Maple/Jackson. Closer but still far enough from the car.

my feeling is he parked his car or motorbike right there over the wall at Maple...He more than likely originally wanted Maple but had Stine drive one more block to Cherry possibly because of witnesses or something. But I've driven and walked this area numerous times..all Z would have to drive about 3 blocks east and he'd be in the heart of the city and still be able to see everything going on along Pacific and Jackson because that "get away" street arches upwards towards the east.