Isobel Watson

http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/category/tamalpais%20valley%20attack


Isobel Watson (33) had just got off the bus on the evening of April 7th 1972 and was walking home along Pine Hill Road, Tamalpais Valley, Marin County at 9.00pm when a light coloured car veered towards her knocking her to the ground. The driver exited his vehicle offering to take her home, but after she had refused his offer of apparent help a second time, the concerned citizen suddenly transformed into a rage pulling out a knife and stabbing the woman in the neck and shoulder. Fortunately she survived the horrific ordeal.

This letter is questionable at best, but did anything occur on Halloween night 1987 to substantiate anything the author alludes to in the letter:


On October 31st 1987, three days after the mailing of this correspondence, Shannon Olson (15) disappeared from the South East Wichita area after she had decided to venture out with friends on All Hallows Eve.

Within hours she was found floating in a pond by two fishermen, in an industrial area off the now I-35 and K-96 in North Wichita. Shannon Olson had been repeatedly stabbed over forty times, her hands bound behind her back with her own bra. It was surmised her body had been dumped there, after possibly being abducted sometime earlier.

The letter and the murder are in within days of each other, with the crime occurring on Halloween night. The killer could have used his car in the crime to lure or disable the victim, similar to the Tamalpais Valley Attack.

Shannon was only a kid of 15 years, bound and killed in what clearly was a frenzied attack of over 40 knife wounds, an overkill bearing partial traits of the Lake Berryessa Attack, the Hood/Garcia Murders and the Domingos/Edwards slayings, all discovered near water.

October 31st 1987 was also a Saturday, bearing in mind the Zodiac's four confirmed attacks at Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, Lake Berryessa and Presidio Heights all took place on a Friday or Saturday.

It is believed by some that the Zodiac murders and correspondence were part influenced by an occultist theme.

The Church of Satan was founded by author and occultist Anton Szandor LaVey, almost to the day, six months prior to All Hallows Eve on April 30th 1966 at the Black House, 6114 California Street, San Francisco, close to the Presidio Heights district where Paul Stine was killed, but the building was later demolished in 2001.

It was also exactly six months later that Cheri Jo Bates was murdered outside the Riverside City College Library on October 30th 1966. The San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times ran articles on LaVey calling him 'The Black Pope'.

Anton LaVey, knew the Tamalpais Valley area well, having attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley until the age of 16. He died on October 29th 1997, but curiously his death certificate stated his passing on Halloween morning.

Was the Zodiac a integral member or part influenced by the Anton LaVey movement and the press coverage.

In a television interview Paul Avery, who had become the subject of the killers Halloween Card, received a phone call from LaVey stating that he thought the Zodiac Killer may have been one of his parishioners, subsequently providing Paul Avery with some material, leading Avery to comically allude to the fact, that the 'Zodiac was so bad even the Church of Satan didn't want him'.

As stated earlier the Zodiac mentioned the 1977 film The Car, about a satanically possessed vehicle that embarks on a murderous rampage, Anton LaVey was awarded the title of Technical Advisor in the movies credits, with a quote from his Satanic Bible.

The murder of Shannon Olson is still highly unlikely a Zodiac crime, with many people suggesting the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader as the possible murderer, as his crimes were in the area of Wichita, Kansas between 1974 and 1991, where he claimed 10 victims, but the majority of his murders involved strangulation or suffocation, only one of his victims Kathryn Bright had been stabbed, once in the back and the abdomen. Dennis Rader has not confessed to the murder of Shannon Olson and the case remains unsolved to this day.

Wednesday, April 19, 1972
Bucks County Courier Times

ATTACK IS LINKED TO ZODIAC KILLER
San Rafael, California (UPI) Authorities said Tuesday that an attack on a legal secretary 12 days ago in Tamalpais Valley might have been the work of the Zodiac Killer.

"I think it's a good chance it is him" Napa County Sheriff's Capt. Ken Narlow said.


Mrs. Isobel Watson was walking on Pine Hill Road near her home on April 7 when she was knocked to the ground by a car.

.....(can't read it, fuzzy) ...told her he was sorry and offered to drive her home. She said she refused and he became angry.

The assailant stabbed her, and she screamed. The man then fled and Mrs. Watson was taken to Marin General Hospital for treatment.

I noticed that the article above omits any reference to the description Isobel Watson furnished of her attacker, which, if my memory serves me correctly, was the primary impetus for Ken Narlow's consideration of the attack as a potential Z case. Here it is, just for reference:

"Watson said the man appeared in his early 40's, was about 5-foot-9, had brown hair and was wearing black rimmed glasses."

Thanks, I had actually been looking for that as well but couldn't find it.

I spoke to her and asked her if she would look at some Zodiac suspect pictures? She said no, that all of that was in her past and she didn't want to talk about it or look at any pictures.
I told her that I believed the Zodiac was still killing,that she could help save a life and to get him caught, she didn't care! She had a heavy German accent.Has anyone ever looked at just how many victims had German last names or were driving German cars?

sandy betts wrote:I spoke to her and asked her if she would look at some Zodiac suspect pictures? She said no, that all of that was in her past and she didn't want to talk about it or look at any pictures.
I told her that I believed the Zodiac was still killing,that she could help save a life and to get him caught, she didn't care! She had a heavy German accent.Has anyone ever looked at just how many victims had German last names or were driving German cars?

who? I am completely lost right now lol. I haven't read anything about any german victims or suspects and im pretty sure I haven't seen any suspects with german names. none that come to mind anyways. anyone else know of any?

LOL, I tend to lose people with my thoughts. We are talking about Isobel Watson, she had a heavy German accent. Darlene had a German last name, Stine I think is a German name?
Hartnell drove a German car, so did Cheri Jo. That to me is a lot of German connections. I am not saying that I think Zodiac hated German cars.
I am always looking for commonalities like how many victims were waitress's, Nurses, couples, teens? Construction that was going on very close to almost all of the crime scenes, made me think the Zodiac could have worked in construction?There was construction close to the Stine crime scene a home was being renovated.

Sure is a lot of German connections. Probably a coincidence but could be something more to it.

I like to look at everything in case there is something to it. It doesn't hurt to look.
When I put together that there were a lot of murdered nurses involving possibly the Zodiac,I posted that.
Within a couple of weeks another nurse was murdered in Fairfield Ca. Sure made me wonder? That case is still unsolved. I think her name was Phong Lee?

sandy betts wrote:I like to look at everything in case there is something to it. It doesn't hurt to look.
When I put together that there were a lot of murdered nurses involving possibly the Zodiac,I posted that.
Within a couple of weeks another nurse was murdered in Fairfield Ca. Sure made me wonder? That case is still unsolved. I think her name was Phong Lee?

http://www.kcra.com/article/murder-mystery-new-details-in-death-of-nursing-grad-phuong-le-1/6404865

Thanks ophion1031. That is the case and she was found near Lake Berryessa. I think that if Zodiac read the posts about nurses and he wanted to show that yes he can still kill , putting the body near of of his confirmed sites, is very much like what I think Zodiac would/ could do?

I agree Sandy. Has that Zodiac feel to it.