Zodiac Killer Case Still Fascinates
PUSSS...@aol.com
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- For Ken Narlow, watching a re-enactment of the
Zodiac killer's handiwork was nearly as disturbing as the crimes
themselves.
The former Napa County detective, now 75, served as a consultant in
the making of the upcoming motion picture "Zodiac." He says the film,
coupled with investigators' recent decision to retest three envelopes
for DNA, is rekindling interest in the still-unsolved case.
"It's a case that gets put on the back burner, but you never put it
away," Narlow said in an interview one day after previewing the film
he called "mesmerizing."
The Zodiac killer - he gave himself that moniker in his taunting
letters to police and newspapers - is blamed for at least five
slayings in 1968 and 1969. He was never caught, though many, including
the author of the book on which the movie is based, believe he was
Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester from Vallejo who died
in 1992.
In September 1969, the Zodiac struck in Napa County, stabbing two 20-
year-old college students picnicking at Lake Berryessa. The crime
scene was a small peninsula jutting out into the lake. The couple were
accosted, hog-tied and repeatedly stabbed by a man dressed all in
black and wearing a hood.
Cecelia Shepard died; Bryan Hartnell survived and is now a lawyer in
Southern California. He did not return calls seeking comment from The
Associated Press.
Narlow met the ambulance at the hospital that day, calling what
happened to the young couple "heart-wrenching."
Thirty-eight years later, he was upset all over again when the
stabbings were re-created for the film.
"I can sit through autopsies and gruesome cases," he said. "But it
never affected me like it did when I was with the director when they
were filming that scene."
The $80 million film, opening nationwide Friday, is based on the 1986
true-crime book by Robert Graysmith, the former political cartoonist
at the San Francisco Chronicle who investigated the case for years as
an amateur sleuth.
It was shot in 2005 in the Bay Area and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as
Graysmith and Mark Ruffalo as police Inspector David Toschi, who also
inspired Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" character. It's directed by
David Fincher, who made "Fight Club," "Seven" and "Panic Room."
Graysmith said he was astounded at the lengths to which Fincher went
to keep the film historically accurate.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life," he said. "Jake is
wearing my clothes. ... Same pad. Same pen. Same bright red VW
Rabbit."
Graysmith and Narlow also are encouraged that police interest in the
case has been reinvigorated, although authorities insisted the timing
has nothing to do with the movie.
Vallejo Police Lt. Richard Nichelman said Friday that three envelopes
from the case had been sent to the state crime lab for DNA retesting.
He said he expects results in a few weeks.
"You're obligated to do it if you have new technology," he said.
"Percentage-wise, it doesn't look good, but you've got to have hope."
Three killings took place in the Vallejo area. David Farraday and
Betty Lou Jensen, teenagers on their first date, were shot to death in
December 1968. Darlene Ferrin, 22, was shot and killed seven months
later at the Blue Springs Golf Club, while her companion, Michael
Mageau, 19, survived. Graysmith said filmmakers even tracked down
Mageau as they grew obsessed with the case.
"They're still calling, asking questions," Graysmith said, laughing.
"There is something about this case from the arcane symbols, the
unbreakable ciphers. ... And the fact they came so close to catching
this guy time and time again."
While Narlow believes the Zodiac is still at large, Graysmith said
he's confident it was Allen, even though an earlier, partial DNA
profile from envelopes holding his letters appeared to clear him.
Circumstantial evidence - a shoe, his presence at Lake Berryessa at
the time of the crime and other factors - points squarely in his
direction, Graysmith said.
Toschi, who was unavailable for an interview but attended the preview
in San Francisco, also thinks it was Allen, according to Graysmith.
Evidence was removed from Allen's house shortly before he died,
Nichelman said, but he refused to elaborate.
"In our hearts we know the Zodiac's reign of terror has ended,"
Graysmith said.
* * *
NY DAILY NEWS/by JOHN CLARK
With all that's going on in the world, it seems like the last thing we
need is a serial-killer movie from a major Hollywood director. But
that's what David Fincher has done in his new film, "Zodiac." Only he
doesn't see it that way.
"I saw it as a newspaper movie," says Fincher. "My father was a
journalist, so I knew a lot of those people. And I thought that the
script - although it was certainly steeped in 'Let's entertain the
audience, let's startle them every once in a while' - I still felt had
a legitimate air of the newsroom and who those characters were."
That may be, but audiences won't soon forget the film's reenactments
of the shootings and stabbings committed by the notorious Zodiac
killer, who roamed the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s
and '70s. "Zodiac," opening this Friday, features three real-life
characters who became obsessed with the case: Robert Graysmith (Jake
Gyllenhaal), an editorial cartoonist; Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.),
a crime reporter; and Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), a cop.
Fincher is one of a handful of directors who could get a movie like
this made at a big studio (in this case, Warner Bros.). Like such
directors as David Lynch, Steven Soderbergh, the Coen brothers (Joel
and Ethan) and the Polish brothers (Michael and Mark), Fincher has
been able to go his own weird way without having to make a romantic
comedy or a comic-book picture. For example, "Fight Club" (1999) was
about a bunch of guys beating one another up. And four years before
that, Fincher's first serial-killer film, "Se7en," served up a major
character's head in a box.
Fincher doesn't seem to derive much satisfaction from getting way with
- at least in Hollywood terms - murder. Perhaps that's because he's a
perfectionist.
"The joy I get out of [a project] is really the first time I read the
script," Fincher says. "From then on the production aspect is what
ruins it for you."
Fincher probably makes far fewer concessions than do most filmmakers.
At the same time, "Zodiac" belongs to a recognizable genre, which is
more than the Polish brothers can say about their quirky, just-
released new film, "The Astronaut Farmer." It stars Billy Bob Thornton
as Charles Farmer, a former astronaut trainee who left the space
program to tend the family farm. He never left the idea of traveling
in space behind, however, so he decides to go there himself by
building a rocket ship in his barn with the help of his family.
The film has feel-good moments about pursuing your dream no matter
what, but according to director Michael Polish, it's also a metaphor
for the moviemaking process - one that Fincher might appreciate.
"The struggles of filmmaking parallel building a rocket, so we used a
lot of the same story line of what it takes to make movies," Michael
Polish says. "The FBI [in the movie] is all the opposition."
The Polish brothers have had plenty of practice building rockets.
Their first film was 1999's "Twin Falls Idaho," about a pair of
Siamese twins. The next, "Jackpot," featured a bleak tour of the West,
and was followed in 2003 by "Northfork," about a small-town
evacuation. In their own modest way, all these rockets took off, which
gave the Polish brothers credibility when they pitched "Astronaut" to
Warner Independent Pictures. (Parent Warner Bros. liked the film so
much that they ended up distributing it.) A track record is key for
any maverick filmmaker.
"I think that helps pad the skepticism," Michael Polish says. "When we
went in to make this picture, their line to us was 'Look, we want you
to make your picture. We know what we're getting into.'"
It also helps that these filmmakers attract talent, in this case
Thornton, though his interest was problematic. The character he plays
here is a role model. Thornton isn't known for playing role models -
he's Bad Santa, boozy and depraved.
But Polish asserts, "He's a lot closer to Charles Farmer than people
or the studio realize."
Perhaps the key to getting these films made the way the filmmakers
wanted to make them was that the projects were set up so they couldn't
be made any other way. In other words, the filmmakers either write the
script or, in the case of Fincher and "Zodiac," put their own,
audience-challenging stamp on it.
"I felt like we had to turn over as many stones as we could and talk
about the red herrings and the rabbit holes that people disappeared
down," Fincher says of the Zodiac investigation. "You have to wear the
audience out with it. By the time they get to the end they go,
'Please, somebody stick a fork in me, I'm done.'"
Zeb Quinn
time.
Red
> I was living in San Francisco in 1969. It was a Very Big Deal at the
> time.
Last night on America's most wanted with John Walsh they did a story
with a tie in to the movie. I can't wait to see it. Very fascinating
stuff. I would've been very scared to live in SF at this time. I bet
you didn't go out much at night.
Kyle
> On Feb 25, 11:54?am, "Zeb Quinn" <nastyg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I was living in San Francisco in 1969. ?It was a Very Big Deal at the
> > time.
>
> Last night on America's most wanted with John Walsh they did a story
> with a tie in to the movie. I can't wait to see it. Very fascinating
> stuff. I would've been very scared to live in SF at this time. I bet
> you didn't go out much at night.
It is an incredibly interesting unsolved case. Arthur Leigh Allen is
an almost perfect suspect -- but DNA evidence, fingerprints, and
palmprints rule him out; the killer was someone else. Anyway, it
sounds from this article that the movie will be worth seeing.
Zeb Quinn
> On Feb 25, 11:54?am, "Zeb Quinn" <nastyg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I was living in San Francisco in 1969. ?It was a Very Big Deal at the
> > time.
>
> Last night on America's most wanted with John Walsh they did a story
> with a tie in to the movie. I can't wait to see it. Very fascinating
> stuff. I would've been very scared to live in SF at this time. I bet
> you didn't go out much at night.
Nah. It was more a matter of being fascinated by they way the guy
blatantly played the media.
What was scary was another series of murders in San Francisco a few
years later by the Zebra killer(s).
Red
You're right. I think they have DNA evidence but haven't been able to
link it to anyone. My guess is the person is dead. But who knows! As
for the movie I am excited to see it.
Red
SF must be one hell of a place to live. A beautiful city that has its
share of all kinds of people.