Sept. 4, 2026

Zodiac Killer: The Untold Story by Dennis Kaufman

Show Notes
Transcript

Dennis tells his first story by documentary to immortalize the events that he had discovered. He truly believed that Jack’s existence in his life was purposeful and a cover for something much more devious. After examining the handwriting of Jack W. Tarrance, Jr., it shows that he has the best handwriting match of the last 6 decades, so why has LE dropped the ball on doing their investigations in an attempt to at least rule him out? They gave Debra Perez’s false suspect it’s just due.

Hit the Road Jack: Finding the Zodiac is broadcast live Fridays at 10AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Hit the Road Jack: Finding the Zodiac TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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Thank you.

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Riders on the storm Riders on the storm Into this

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house we're born Into this world we're thrown Like a

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dog without a bone And packed we're out alone Riders

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on the storm There's a killer on the road His

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brain is squirming like a toad Take a long holiday

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Let your children play If you give this man a

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ride Sweet family will die Killer on the road.

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The search goes on in San Francisco for the man

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known as the Zodiac Killer. That was the threat of

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the Zodiac Killer.

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The Zodiac Killer seems.

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To crave publicity.

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He sent letters and cryptograms to newspaper and the police.

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Threatening more murders and making Bay Area residents very edgy.

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Four years ago, the killing stopped and so did Zodiac's letter.

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Now there's another letter.

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They're hoping to find a mass murderer known as the

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Zodiac Killer.

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He is a pathological psycho killer.

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The ace of cases.

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The guy who solves this is going to be the

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greatest detective there ever was.

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Pits and pieces of information, leads and tips from people

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who want to help catch.

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The Zodiac Killer have been pouring into police headquarters here

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at the Hall of Justice for the last few days.

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Zodiac Killer.

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They have an arrested movie because they can't prove a thing.

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I'm not the damn Zodiac. Hello, police department.

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I want to report a double murder. If you go

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one mile east on Columbus Parkway, the public park, you'll

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find kids in a brown car. They were shot with

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a 9mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year.

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Good night.

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Oh my God, he's got a gun.

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Don't move.

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I want your money and your car keys.

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Okay.

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We're not going to do anything, okay?

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We're going to cooperate.

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Just tell me what you want us to do.

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It's okay.

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It's all gonna be okay.

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Heading south on Knoxville Road.

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We've got an abandoned white.

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I'm the one who did it.

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This is the Zodiac speaking.

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In the letter, made it very clear that the person

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that was writing was the murderer.

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And one California man is so convinced his stepfather was

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the Zodiac, he launched a website to prove it. It

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builds a detailed but circumstantial case against Jack Terrence, an

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amateur hunter and electrician who died last year.

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The point all is left is to tell my story

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and hopefully bring closer to the victims' families that they

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have a right to know, they deserve to know, who

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the killer was.

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My name is Steven Dewhurst. I'm an associate professor at

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Northern Arizona University. After investigating Dennis Kaufman's evidence and his

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case for his stepfather being the Zodiac Killer, at this

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point I am completely convinced that Jack Terrence was in

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fact the Zodiac Killer and probably.

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A whole lot more.

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Join me tonight in my search for the truth Zodiac,

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the untold story. My name is Dennis Kaufman. Jack is

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the only father I ever knew. My mother met him

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in South Lake Tahoe in 1970. I was just a

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few years old when they met. I remember the first

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time that I met Jack. I walked into the living

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room and he had his arm around my mother. And

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I walked over to him and I said, get your

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arm off of my mother. Well, he looked at me

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and he says, we need to have a talk. So

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he took me in the bedroom and he gave me

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a whooping. And he said, listen, he says, I don't

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want to be here any more than you want me here,

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but I have no choice. Well, I never knew what

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he meant by that, until now. Here's a photo of

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Jack from 1971, next to the composite of the Zodiac

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Killer from 1969. A photo of Jack was taken in 1973.

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The Sonoma composite was done in 1975. Notice the lazy

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left eye. Here is a photo of Jack in 1967

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and this composite of the Zodiac was done in 1969.

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I took words from the Zodiac letters that he mailed

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to police and I also took words from the letters

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that Jack sent me over the years. The top row

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of words is Zodiac's writing and the row just beneath

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it is Jack's writing.

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You can see the similarities. The only difference I noticed

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in the writing.

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Was the letter A. If you look at the word

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page you can see that the A's are different. Jack

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sometimes forgets and writes the letter A like he did

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on the zodiac letters. The word at and then we

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have the word age. Both of those A's are written

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like they are on the zodiac letters. Then you have

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the word dad. which is Jack's normal style of his A.

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In Zodiac's writing, we find the odd splitting of words.

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This is a letter that Zodiac sent to the San

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Francisco Chronicle in January of 1974. If you look on

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the second line at the word comedy, you see the CLM,

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then it's split, and the IDY continues in the third line.

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There's plenty of room for that word to be written there.

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In Jack's writing, we find this same odd splitting of words.

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The word automatically is cut off and the L-Y continues

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in the next line. Once again, there's plenty of room

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for that word to be written there. Another odd characteristic

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about Zodiac's writing is the odd spacing in his words.

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We find these same odd characteristics in Jack's writing, the

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odd spacing in his words, insubordination, argumentative, disregards, etc. On

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March 19, 1971, Zodiac mailed this card to the San

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Francisco Chronicle. It was mailed from Pleasanton, California. The card

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is a rendition of an area in Lake Tahoe This

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is where we were living at the time. Jack had

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a court date in San Jose, California, the very same

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day that this postcard was mailed. He would have had

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to go right through Pleasanton on his way to court

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that day. We were living in South Lake Tahoe. He

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would have took Highway 50 down through Sacramento, then on

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the 680 South, right through Pleasanton. This is where the

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letter was mailed that day. This is where his court

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date was in San Jose. After Zodiac mailed this card

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on March 19, 1971, he went silent for three years.

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Jack was put on probation at the exact same time

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Zodiac went silent.

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For three years.

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In January of 1974, Zodiac broke his three-year silence and

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sent this letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. On March 17, 1974,

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Jack was arrested for poaching. On May 8, 1974, Zodiac

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dropped this.

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Letter in a mailbox in San Rafael, California. Just two days.

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Later, on May 10, 1974, Jack was sentenced to 30

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days in jail. He was taken right into custody from court.

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This is the first time Jack had done any jail time.

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Zodiac was never heard from again.

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Is he capable of doing something like murder?

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Yes. Based on what I remember growing up, he has told.

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Enough stories that makes me think that he has committed murder.

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Hearing what I've heard.

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Going out and committing cold blooded murders, hard for me

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to believe.

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Is it possible? Yeah, probably.

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And all I remember is him pulling out a pocket

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knife and he stabbed somebody.

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And I just remember I'm horrified because I had no

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mother who wants to see that.

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Do you believe your dad's a Soviet killer? Do I

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believe my dad's a Soviet killer? I know that the

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evidence is there. There's a really big possibility Okay.

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That he is.

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I know he's capable of it. Okay.

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I've seen that side of him.

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Oh, yeah.

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That was after he told me that him and Denny

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had killed.

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That man in that cabin.

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The day that we got him up there, you got

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him up to the house, and I asked him straight up,

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you know, I've heard some bad things about you, Jack.

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And I said, you've told me some bad things about you.

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I said, but I want to know, who are you?

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Straight in front of him?

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Yeah, and he got pissed.

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He stood up and he goes, why can't you just

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leave the fucking past alone?

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God damn you. Leave the past alone. And left. He

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left the house.

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He came back with a bottle of whiskey.

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And anybody who knows me knows I don't drink after

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anybody but my own children, barely my own wife.

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And you remember the statement he made on.

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The way to California was, if you knew who I was,

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you wouldn't like me.

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And when I asked him who he was and he

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came back with that whiskey, he took a big nasty

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drink of it and handed me the bottle and said,

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are you still my friend?

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You can hear the thunder long before the storm But

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you can't hear the lion when he stalks his prey.

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He's moving like a shadow Creeping up on you And

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like a siren's call He's gonna have.

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His way.

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If you don't have what it takes Don't try to play.

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You'll lose your stakes Remember this at least It's the

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nature of the beast It's the nature.

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Of the beast You won't hear a footstep Coming.

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Up on you Moving like a snake, he's in complete control.

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This killer knows his business.

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He is the predator.

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You are its only target.

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You're its only goal.

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What will you say?

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What will you do?

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Your wildest nightmare is coming true. There is nothing you

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can say. No way to change.

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He won't delay.

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This guy will have his face. It's the nature.

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Of the beast.

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It's the nature of the beast.

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It's the nature of the beast.

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If you play, you're bound to lose. Don't rule the day.

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Don't turn the screws. Just listen to the breezes.

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It's the nature of the beast It's the nature of

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the beast It's the.

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Nature of the beast.

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Most of the items I found in Jack's storage shed

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when I searched it in 2001 were found in this

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green metal box. In December of 1968, a white Chevy

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Impala was seen leaving the crime scene at the Lake

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Herman murders. During that time, Jack owned a white Chevy Impala.

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In September of 1969, Zodiac attacked a young couple on

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the shores of Lake Berryessa. Witnesses reported seeing an ice

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blue two-door Chevy Impala that day. Here's a photo of

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Jack in 1971 standing in front of his ice blue

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two-door Chevy Impala.

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This is Jack's hypnosis symbol in his own writings.

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Zodiac uses the same symbol.

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Dr.

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Zodiac not ordinary criminal. He is man of great ego

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with disease known to science as pseudologia fantastica. Jack was

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stationed at Treasure Island during the time this movie was

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playing there. In September of 1969, Zodiac attacked a couple

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on the shores of Lake Berryessa. At the crime scene,

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he left behind shoe impressions.

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Police were able to determine that they came from a

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rare military shoe called a wing walker. They were designed

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for walking on the wings of airplanes. Jack would have

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had access to these military shoes when he was a

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technical supply sergeant for the United States Air Force. On

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June 3rd, 2003, I was at my cell phone store,

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and Jack was there too, and he found one of

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my guns that I had hidden in the back. Well,

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I saw him with a gun so I grabbed my

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pistol from underneath the counter and luckily my little brother

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was in between us because one of us probably would

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have shot each other. Well, just after this incident, a

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customer walked in named Tracy. She had been in my

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store prior to that and I knew she was married

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to a sheriff. And she walked into my store and

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she could tell something was wrong and I was trying

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00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:00.740
to play it off so it wasn't obvious that something

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00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:04.470
had just happened. And about that time, Jack came from

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00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:06.809
the back and handed me something like a pencil. I

245
00:21:06.809 --> 00:21:08.410
don't remember what it was, but he handed me something.

246
00:21:09.130 --> 00:21:11.869
And Tracy was like in shock, like, and she said,

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00:21:11.930 --> 00:21:14.910
who is that man? I said, Tracy, you really want

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to know? And she said, yes, I do. So I

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00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:23.119
told her. And she left. And there was three Sacramento

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00:21:23.130 --> 00:21:26.240
sheriffs at my store within 20 minutes that she had

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sent down there. And they interviewed Jack. And, um, This

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is her story.

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I noticed there was a man standing at the door,

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the back door, and he was.

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Just staring at me and I looked up and I said, hi,

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how are you?

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00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:47.950
And he just looked at me. He had no expression

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00:21:48.009 --> 00:21:51.849
on his face whatsoever. It was very eerie to say

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00:21:51.890 --> 00:21:56.230
the least. So Dennis was saying, Tracy, could you please

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00:21:56.309 --> 00:21:57.049
go get Ralph?

261
00:21:57.529 --> 00:22:03.039
Ralph is your ex-fiancee. He's a deputy chair. And I said, yes,

262
00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:04.759
I will, but what's going on here?

263
00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:10.839
And it was very weird. It was very scary. So

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as we were talking, he started telling me a few things,

265
00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:16.339
and I was like, what the hell are you telling me?

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00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:20.839
This is that person? And he was like, Tracy... Yes,

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00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:21.670
he is.

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00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:24.339
That's my stepdad. Please, would you go get Ralph for me?

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00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:25.480
Please.

270
00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:29.039
And I went to the parking lot, got in my car,

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00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:31.140
and I called a news channel.

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00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:33.279
I can't remember if it was 13, 3, or 10,

273
00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:34.740
but it is on file.

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00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:36.839
Yes, and I had.

275
00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:42.539
Said something to the fact of, you know, I'm here

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00:22:42.940 --> 00:22:45.740
at this place, and this guy in the store, and

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00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:47.640
I told him what just happened, what I just told you,

278
00:22:48.099 --> 00:22:50.250
and he said, my God, are you kidding me? are

279
00:22:50.309 --> 00:22:52.410
you close to a sheriff's station i said well yeah

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00:22:52.910 --> 00:22:57.150
i drove to the service center i walked in and the.

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00:22:57.109 --> 00:22:58.950
Lieutenant was in there and i asked him please go

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00:22:58.990 --> 00:22:59.710
to the back with.

283
00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:01.509
Me they all met me and followed me to the

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00:23:01.549 --> 00:23:05.829
back they knew me as yeah with ralph and everything

285
00:23:05.869 --> 00:23:08.670
exactly and they sat down with me and i was

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00:23:09.690 --> 00:23:11.890
petrified they knew it i told them the story they

287
00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:15.630
got on their phones and They were questioning me about

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00:23:15.670 --> 00:23:17.730
this and that, and one of them, or Greg, was

289
00:23:17.809 --> 00:23:21.549
upset and saying, you know, this isn't cool to that effect, that.

290
00:23:21.410 --> 00:23:23.730
If this guy is making this up, this is not okay.

291
00:23:23.809 --> 00:23:28.329
To tell the public that this person is the Zodiac

292
00:23:28.390 --> 00:23:30.190
Killer and making this upset.

293
00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:30.849
Of course.

294
00:23:31.150 --> 00:23:33.630
And I remember telling him, you know what, I don't

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00:23:33.650 --> 00:23:35.690
know so much about the Zodiac Killer, but I can

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00:23:35.710 --> 00:23:36.200
tell you one.

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00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:38.190
Thing, this man that was standing there looking at me

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00:23:38.859 --> 00:23:41.140
made my skin crawl.

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00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:42.799
It was unbelievable.

300
00:23:44.609 --> 00:23:50.029
In February of 1999. My mother just had her leg

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00:23:50.089 --> 00:23:54.460
amputated from just below the knee down due to diabetes.

302
00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:58.160
Well after she had her leg amputated I noticed a

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00:23:58.220 --> 00:23:59.980
red spot and it looked like it might be getting

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00:24:00.019 --> 00:24:02.740
infected so I didn't want to take any chances. So

305
00:24:02.779 --> 00:24:04.369
I talked her into going to the hospital and having

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it checked out. When we arrived at UC Davis Medical

307
00:24:08.609 --> 00:24:11.210
Center in Sacramento the doctor agreed that she needed to

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00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:13.690
stay for a few days to watch it, make sure

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there was no infection, make sure the infection went away. Well,

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00:24:17.869 --> 00:24:21.680
while she was in the hospital, she was there for

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about three days, and the doctor said she was okay

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00:24:25.819 --> 00:24:28.779
to go home. So we said we'd be there the

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00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:30.880
next morning to pick her up, to take her home.

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00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.359
And the next morning, she was found on the floor

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00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:40.099
in a coma. Nobody knows what happened. While my mother

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00:24:40.140 --> 00:24:44.059
was on life support, I went to the hospital to

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00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:47.920
visit her, and to my surprise, I was wanted for

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00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.450
terrorist threats that I did not make. I was barely

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00:24:51.509 --> 00:24:53.369
able to make it out of the hospital without getting caught.

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00:24:54.430 --> 00:24:56.210
So I sent my girlfriend Joy back down there to

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see what was going on. Come to find out, Jack,

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00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:02.579
my stepdad, had called the hospital and said he was me,

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00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:05.599
and he threatened to kill the security guards. I was

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00:25:05.660 --> 00:25:09.480
wanted for terrorist threats, and my mother passed away before

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00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:12.059
I was able to clear that up. Okay.

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00:25:12.609 --> 00:25:17.569
When I was in Washington and we were visiting Charles

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00:25:17.690 --> 00:25:21.519
and Jack called me into his room and said, Mary,

328
00:25:21.539 --> 00:25:23.410
he says, I want to ask you something. I want

329
00:25:23.430 --> 00:25:26.380
to know if you really think that I killed Nora.

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00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:30.400
And I said, well, Jack, all you have to do

331
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:35.140
is search your conscience. And if you have a clear conscience,

332
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:38.180
then you don't have to worry about anything.

333
00:25:40.420 --> 00:25:43.190
The plan for Zodiac's bomb came from the schematic of

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00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:47.690
a UP-15 teleprinter. These machines are used by ham radio operators.

335
00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:53.759
Jack was a ham radio operator.

336
00:25:56.940 --> 00:26:00.519
The bomb diagram on the left is Zodiac's diagram and

337
00:26:00.539 --> 00:26:02.859
the bomb diagram on the right is one that I

338
00:26:02.900 --> 00:26:06.779
found in Jack's storage when I searched it in 2001.

339
00:26:18.069 --> 00:26:23.109
Because when you faint, you wake up home.

340
00:26:23.250 --> 00:26:26.339
I've spent some time to be alone.

341
00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:29.859
I hope to see the place once more.

342
00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:53.200
We have three different composites from three different counties. We

343
00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:58.059
have the San Francisco composite that was done in 1969.

344
00:26:58.059 --> 00:27:00.559
Then we have the Sonoma County composite that was done

345
00:27:00.599 --> 00:27:05.720
in 1975. Napa County had their own composite, and it

346
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.220
looked nothing like the others. Who was this mysterious man

347
00:27:09.269 --> 00:27:16.509
in this composite? This is Jack's oldest biological son, Denny.

348
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:18.900
I remember reading the letter that he had sent his

349
00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:22.579
dad from Vietnam. The letter ended with, Dad, you would

350
00:27:22.619 --> 00:27:25.180
love it over here. It's hunting season all year long.

351
00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:33.079
By March of 2001, I was fed up with the

352
00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:36.859
answers I was getting from different law enforcement agencies regarding

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00:27:36.900 --> 00:27:40.920
Jack's involvement in the Zodiac case. So I decided I

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00:27:42.059 --> 00:27:43.980
should call him just to see what he had to say.

355
00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:47.500
But before I called him, I had to find a

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00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:49.500
way to make him feel comfortable about talking to me

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00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:52.849
about his past. So what I did was, I told

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00:27:52.890 --> 00:27:55.630
him I discovered who he was, and I wanted to

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00:27:55.650 --> 00:27:58.250
write a book, but it wouldn't be published until he

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00:27:58.289 --> 00:28:01.769
was dead. And he agreed to give me the information.

361
00:28:03.369 --> 00:28:07.960
You know what I mean? I wouldn't want to... Well,

362
00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:17.190
after it's written as fiction, and after I'm gone, which

363
00:28:17.250 --> 00:28:18.509
some days I don't think.

364
00:28:18.329 --> 00:28:18.910
It'll be long.

365
00:28:19.509 --> 00:28:23.470
Some days I feel like it'll be a long time.

366
00:28:23.569 --> 00:28:24.750
Yeah, 20 years from now, huh?

367
00:28:24.789 --> 00:28:25.569
Yeah, right.

368
00:28:26.789 --> 00:28:27.069
Right.

369
00:28:29.190 --> 00:28:30.670
I understand.

370
00:28:30.730 --> 00:28:32.930
I don't want to play anything out there that's going

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00:28:32.950 --> 00:28:34.390
to bring a prosecution before you're gone.

372
00:28:34.410 --> 00:28:35.690
You know, that's not my intention.

373
00:28:36.470 --> 00:28:36.839
You know?

374
00:28:37.660 --> 00:28:39.740
I just, you know, I just kick myself in the

375
00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:43.549
ass for not, you know, Just listen to you closer

376
00:28:43.569 --> 00:28:47.630
because I never, my ears thought that, you know.

377
00:28:47.670 --> 00:28:48.339
Most of the.

378
00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:52.380
Things I could deny and they.

379
00:28:52.259 --> 00:28:55.619
Have no proof. Right, it must be like circumstantial. Yeah.

380
00:28:55.779 --> 00:28:56.079
Right.

381
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:01.359
Right. I'm not too worried about it.

382
00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:08.880
It's what the people I know would think.

383
00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:09.660
Right, right.

384
00:29:11.109 --> 00:29:14.519
I see what you're saying. Yes, it was a known

385
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:16.299
fact that.

386
00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:17.400
It was.

387
00:29:20.589 --> 00:29:20.829
Me.

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00:29:22.069 --> 00:29:23.750
People come up to me all the time and say, Dennis,

389
00:29:24.490 --> 00:29:26.309
why don't you move on from this Zodiac case?

390
00:29:27.170 --> 00:29:28.869
Well, the answer to that is simple.

391
00:29:30.150 --> 00:29:38.930
Touch, touching the flames, desires, feelings.

392
00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:33.690
Touch, touch in the flame's.

393
00:29:33.509 --> 00:29:43.579
Desires Feeling the pain's denial And your fingers in the

394
00:29:43.619 --> 00:30:02.660
ground Look, look in the candlelight In the flame of

395
00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:07.000
life In my spell is the.

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Zodiac Killer: The Untold Story by Dennis Kaufman

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