Insane Murder Stories

The Zodiac Killer-Pt. 2

On the night of Saturday, October 11, 1969, San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine picked up a fare at the corner of Mason and Geary Streets in Union Square headed for the Presidio, which lies at the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsula.� The destination that Stine entered in his log and called in to his dispatcher was at the corner of Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights.�

The cab was parked one block west, however, at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets, when the passenger shot Stine point blank in the right side of the head. �Whether the killer had made the trip in the front seat or got in front after the murder is uncertain, but witnesses saw him in front as he removed the dead man's wallet and keys, and then cut a large piece from the back of his shirt which he soaked in blood and took with him as he walked slowly north on Cherry Street.

Three teenage siblings on the second floor of 3899 Washington, directly across the street from the cab, happened to spot the killer as he cut Stine's shirt and suspected foul play.� They watched him exit the cab and wipe down parts of the cab's interior and exterior, briefly leaning on the driver's side door frame.�

They called the police, who logged the call at 9:58 p.m. and broadcast an incorrect description of the killer as a black male.� Consequently, when patrolmen Donald Foukes and Eric Zelms responded in a radio car and noticed a heavyset white man sauntering east on Jackson Street, they made no effort to apprehend him. �Despite the intensive search of the area that followed, the killer's head start allowed him to escape, probably to a nearby getaway car.

Foukes made a statement about his recollection of the incident, recorded in an SFPD memo dated November 12,1969: "The suspect that was observed by Officer Foukes was a WMA 35-45 Yrs about 5' 10", 180-200 lbs. �Medium heavy build -- Barrel chested -- Medium complexion -- Light-colored hair possibly greying in rear (May have been lighting that caused this effect.) �(Navy or royal blue) Elastic cuffs and waistband zipped part way up. �Brown wool pants pleated type baggy in rear (Rust brown). �May have been wearing low cut shoes.

"Subject at no time appeared to be in a hurry walking with a shuffling lope, Slightly bent foreward head now. �The subject's general appearance to classify him as a group would be that he might be of Welsh ancestry."

During shooting for a documentary on the case in the mid 1980s, Foukes stated that "The individual I saw�that night was a white male adult approximately 35 to 45 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches, 180 to 210 lbs. �Since we were looking for a negro male adult, we proceeded on Jackson Street toward Arguello, continuing our search. �As we arrived at Arguello Street, the description was changed to a�white male adult.��

Believing that this suspect was possibly the one involved in the shooting, we entered the Presidio of San Francisco and conducted a search on West Pacific Avenue on the opposite side of the wall in the last direction we observed the suspect going. �We did not find the suspect."

Mel Nicolai, a former Special Agent for the California Department of Justice who worked on all but the Lake Herman Road Zodiac murders, is quoted as saying that Foukes' and Zelms' first broadcast description of the man they saw was even taller, between 6' and 6'2", and over 200 lbs.

An apocryphal passage in Robert Graysmith's book Zodiac has the officers going so far as to stop the man and ask him if he had seen anything strange in the past few minutes, but this conversation is not noted in any of the subsequent police reports. �In no known interview does either Foukes or Zelms mention any exchange of words with the unidentified subject, and the story may have been based only on a forthcoming letter from the killer. �

While dramatic, the Zodiac's account of the night's events cannot be confirmed, and may well be a prevarication. �On the other hand, such an encounter and its repercussions would be a tremendous embarrassment to the SFPD on several levels, and if this incident did in fact occur then a concerted effort would certainly have been made to keep it under wraps.

The bullet that killed Stine was mistyped at the scene as a .38, but later ballistics tests determined it to be a 9 mm. �It was not, however, the same 9 mm used for the Blue Rock Springs attack. �