The Zodiac Killer

Lake Berryessa

Napa County Sheriff's Department Case #105907 

The next attack came on Saturday, September 27, 1969, on the western shore of Lake Berryessa, about 60 miles northeast of San Francisco in Napa County.  At about 3:00 p.m., three young women from Angwin had just pulled into a parking area near the lake when a man driving a light blue, two-door Chevrolet with California plates, probably a 1966 model, pulled up beside them, drove forward a short distance, and then backed up so that he was right next to their car.  Without leaving his car, he sat looking downward, as if pretending to read something.

The women walked down to the lakeshore and had been sunbathing for about half an hour when they noticed the same man watching them.  They later described him as "clean cut and nice looking," about six feet tall and over 200 pounds, with short dark hair parted on the side.  He wore a black short-sleeved sweatshirt over a tee shirt with dark blue or black slacks.  He watched them silently for another 20 minutes or so, smoking cigarettes, then walked off.  When the women returned to their car at around 4:30, the stranger's car was gone.

Napa County Sheriff's Department patch

The Napa County Sheriff’s Department briefly investigated another encounter at the lake.  It occurred at about 6:30, when a local dentist and his son well north of the crime scene noticed a man walking nearby who met the general description given by the young women.  When this man saw the father and son and realized that he had been noticed, he turned around and walked away from them.  It was initially thought that he might have been involved in the Zodiac’s next attack, but detectives determined that the unidentified man did not have a car in the area, and it would have been impossible for him to arrive at the crime scene in time.

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1. The Zodiac Killer
2. The First Letter
3. Bates Had To Die
4. Speculation
5. Vallejo
6. Ferrin and Mageau
7. Phone Calls
8. Cryptic Message
9. This is the Zodiac Speaking
10. Lake Berryessa
11. Shepard and Hartnell
12. Evidence
13. San Francisco
14. The Suspect
15. Threats
16. Taunting Police
17. Melvin Belli
18. Highway 132
19. More Threats
20. The Summer of '70
21. The Halloween Card
22. The Riverside Connection
23. The LA Times Letter
24. 1974 Reappearance
25. Final Letters
26. The 1978 Letter
27. Controversy
28. Possible Authors
29. A Look at Lake Berryessa
30. Fingerprint Evidence
31. A Tip
32. Donald Cheney
33. The Case Against Arthur Allen
34. Allen's Interview
35. No Evidence
36. Still A Favorite
37. What's Going on with the Zodiac?
38. Mystery Has its own Allure
39. Footnotes