New DNA Story

[TomVoigt]

Even the stupidest person alive with half a brain cell wouldn't have swabbed the outside of the stamps, expecting to find DNA exclusively from the killer, to then exclude suspects in the confidence displayed. These letters, not only were handled by US Postal staff, but every Tom, Dick and Harry this side of Disneyland. The three July 31st 1969 letters were even retrieved from an investigators house, after he eat his burger and fries off them. I simply am not buying this nonsense, that the 2002 DNA testing was done exclusively on the exterior of the stamps. For this, you would have to believe Cydne Holt, who has a degree in molecular biology, has an IQ of less than zero, along with all the other contributory lunatics in the laboratory. However, if this was the case that stamps were swabbed on the outside, then with the Zodiac case in the hands of mentally challenged people such as these is beyond comprehension.

The entire Zodiac correspondence is evidence. That includes the envelope, the stamp, the stationary, the handwriting. All of it is evidence.

Holt's job was to examine the evidence -- all of it -- and attempt to find DNA. That's what she did.

Genetic material was found behind the stamp but there was not enough to form a DNA profile.

The partial DNA profile she recovered was from the outside of the stamp. Had it matched Allen, or Qvale, or Collins, it likely would have resulted in criminal charges.

[RTF]

The ABC narrator is the one who states that Holt's test "exonerates" ALA. Holt does not state this. She only says that ALA "could not have contributed the DNA that I detected in the stamp." She does not say it is zodiac's DNA. Nor is she responsible for ABCs editorial narrative.

Back in the mix? ALA has never really been out of the mix, in terms of some possible involvement. Good luck to anyone who has 100% faith in the forensics, eye-witness accounts and public pronouncements by police in this case.

[Tahoe27]

....George Bawart didn't make the search warrants happen, a judge did. Twice. Not to mention Bawart had nothing to do with the attempt at getting Allen's DNA compared, a decade after the search warrants no less.

I know Armstrong initiated the Santa Rosa search warrant. Was there a particular officer who initiated the warrant on his parent's house? From what I read, it just states the V.P.D. ??

[Tahoe27]

The ABC narrator is the one who states that Holt's test "exonerates" ALA. Holt does not state this. She only says that ALA "could not have contributed the DNA that I detected in the stamp." She does not say it is zodiac's DNA. Nor is she responsible for ABCs editorial narrative.

Back in the mix? ALA has never really been out of the mix, in terms of some possible involvement. Good luck to anyone who has 100% faith in the forensics, eye-witness accounts and public pronouncements by police in this case.

Good points.

[TomVoigt]

....George Bawart didn't make the search warrants happen, a judge did. Twice. Not to mention Bawart had nothing to do with the attempt at getting Allen's DNA compared, a decade after the search warrants no less.

I know Armstrong initiated the Santa Rosa search warrant.

He took it to a judge and the judge agreed it was warranted. Same thing in Vallejo. All three times, a judge agreed that the search was warranted. If not, no searches.

[TomVoigt]

The ABC narrator is the one who states that Holt's test "exonerates" ALA. Holt does not state this. She only says that ALA "could not have contributed the DNA that I detected in the stamp."

She said "on the stamp."

[mike_r]

Hi Richard,

Well, that is what the unidentified ex-SFPD Inspector told Tom V in January. They resorted to using the outside of a stamp. I don't know for a fact who this Inspector was but I can take a guess. And if it is who I think it was, he had every reason to know. I knew there were issues with the letters long before that but not the scope of what apparently happened. SFPD was beholden to ABC for providing funding for the DNA research in 2002, so they may have had to provide them with SOMETHING from the letters and this was the result. Stay tuned to see if more details come out.

Mike

[TomVoigt]

I see comments here and elsewhere questioning why the outside of the envelope area would be tested at all. The fact is, every Zodiac letter was tested for fingerprints, including on the outsides of the envelopes.

[Tahoe27]

....George Bawart didn't make the search warrants happen, a judge did. Twice. Not to mention Bawart had nothing to do with the attempt at getting Allen's DNA compared, a decade after the search warrants no less.

I know Armstrong initiated the Santa Rosa search warrant.

He took it to a judge and the judge agreed it was warranted. Same thing in Vallejo. All three times, a judge agreed that the search was warranted. If not, no searches.

Yes, of course a judge had to issue them. Just curious who presented it to the judge for the Fresno house.

[TomVoigt]

Yes, of course a judge had to issue them. Just curious who presented it to the judge for the Fresno house.

It wasn't George Bawart, as someone erroneously assumed earlier.

It was Roy Conway.