Zodiac may be late SoCal man

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Zodiac may be late SoCal man
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
04/29/09 1:27 PM

A Southern California woman has claimed that her father was the infamous Zodiac Killer — and that as a 7-year-old she accompanied him on two of the murders.

The Zodiac Killer’s identity has remained a mystery to investigators since the person terrorized the Bay Area in the late 1960s.
Deborah Perez held a news conference Wednesday in The City to announce that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, who died in 1983, was the wanted man.

Her father went through periods of mental illness, she said.

Perez, who is now taking part in a documentary about the crime spree, also said she wrote some of the killer’s letters to authorities.

The glasses worn by slain San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine, which she said her father took from the crime scene, are still in her possession, Perez said. She hopes forensic testing will prove her claims are true.

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Attorney Kevin McLean, who led an independent investigation, offered reports from a handwriting analyst and forensic psychologist supporting Perez’s story. However, he offered no DNA, fingerprint or weapons testing to distinguish her assertion from the scores of people who have come forward through the years claiming to know the Zodiac Killer’s identity.

Perez said she had never heard of the Zodiac Killer until she saw a composite drawing on America’s Most Wanted several years ago and, after looking at letters online, determined it was her father. Hendrickson had confessed to his daughter that he had killed people, but never said he was the Zodiac Killer, she said.

The family was living in Orange County when she accompanied her father on a trip to Vallejo on July 4, 1969 — the day Darlene Ferrin was fatally shot and Michael Mageau was wounded.

Hendrickson and his daughter had visited Ferrin earlier in the day, and Hendrickson and Ferrin had argued “viciously” minutes before the killings.

Hendrickson was waiting in a car when her father shot the couple, she said.

Months later, Perez was also left waiting in a car when her father shot Stine as he sat in his cab in Presidio Heights on Oct. 11, 1969, she said.

San Francisco police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said the group had given investigators a DVD, which they plan to review.

FBI Special Agent Joseph Schadler had no comment on the case.

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Zodiac revealed?
Deborah Perez claims her deceased father was the infamous killer.

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Evidence presented:

Letter from forensic psychologist Jack N. Singer, stating that after examining Deborah Perez, he can say “unequivocally that there is absolutely no evidence of deception, delusional thinking or loss of contact with reality”
Analysis from Bart Baggett, expert document examiner, determining that Deborah Perez likely wrote three letters believed to be written by the Zodiac Killer; however, Baggett notes his opinion is “preliminary and qualified,” since it is based on Perez’s handwriting now, not as a 7- to 9-year-old child

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Evidence that may be forthcoming:

DNA or prescription match on glasses purported to belong to victim Paul Stine
DNA evidence on stamps and envelopes on Zodiac letters sealed by Perez


tbarak@sfexaminer.com
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Woman-claims-her-father-was-Zodiac-Killer-44013032.html

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Proof? Deborah Perez says she still has the glasses of slain cabbie Paul Stine, which would back up her story that her father was the infamous Zodiac Killer.

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Estate agent: 'My father was the Zodiac Killer'

Deborah Perez says that she was fooled into helping 1960s serial murderer who terrorised San Francisco and fascinated Hollywood

By Guy Adams in Los Angeles

Friday, 1 May 2009

It is one of the most grisly murder mysteries of modern times, which inspired countless films and television dramas, terrorised a generation of hormonal teenagers, and has stumped detectives and amateur sleuths for more than 40 years. Now a middle-aged estate agent from California has stepped forward to claim she is the daughter of the famous "Zodiac killer".


Deborah Perez says her late father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was responsible for at least two of the five deaths formally attributed to the notorious figure, who shot or stabbed courting couples as they canoodled in cars.

She said she was going public to "right his wrongs," and claimed to have witnessed two of the frenzied murders. She also announced that she has a pair of spectacles taken from the Zodiac killer's final victim, Paul Lee Stine.

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Deborah Perez claims that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, who died in 1993, was the Zodiac killer who murdered at least five people in the late Sixties

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In a further unique twist, Ms Perez even said she had helped her father scribble some of the killer's infamous confession notes, in which he taunted police, newspapers and amateur sleuths with elaborate ciphers and riddles, claiming responsibility for 37 deaths.

"I was a child and just thought I was helping my dad," claimed Ms Perez, 47, one of six children adopted by Hendrickson, who died in the 1980s. "I didn't know. He told me he was sick, and all I wanted to do was help my dad ... He kept telling me he was sick and he killed many, many people. I had no idea."

She was speaking at a surreal press conference outside the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle, one of the newspapers that received several of the letters, on Wednesday afternoon. It was attended by journalists and Zodiac enthusiasts holding photos of suspects.

Local police, who have never closed their investigation, said: "We get a significant number of calls a year," said Sergeant Lyn Tomioka. "We look into whatever evidence is presented to us."

The development will open yet another chapter in a case which has fascinated Hollywood for decades, providing the loose inspiration for the Clint Eastwood hit Dirty Harry and the hit 2007 thriller Zodiac, among others.

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The "Zodiac killer" first struck in 1968, when he shot high-school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday in a "lovers lane" in the city of Benicia. He was blamed for a string of further attacks, and became famous for sending cryptograms to newspapers which allegedly contained his identity.

Until now, most people have believed the self-styled serial killer was Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester who died in 1992. Police were never able to find conclusive evidence.

However Ms Perez says she was with her father when he carried out the second attack in the early hours of 5 July 1969. That saw Darlene Ferrin, 22, and Michael Maggeau killed by shots into their car, parked at a golf course in Vallejo, north of San Francisco.

"My father grabs his gun, goes to the passenger side and I hear shots, I hear moans, I hear screams," Ms Perez said. "We leave and we're pulled over by police. My father takes the gun and puts it into a bag and sticks it into my pants and says, 'Don't move. The police will not understand if they find this gun.' "

Ms Perez explained her failure to previously come forward by saying that she had been oblivious to the case until 2007, when she saw a sketch of the killer on America's Most Wanted and started to think her father was involved.

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But others at the press conference suggested it had more to do with a documentary about her that is in the works. Ms Perez denied it, saying: "I am just coming forward to tell the truth."

However, a local man has stepped forward to claim his stepfather was the Zodiac killer – and a documentary is set to appear about him.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/estate-agent-my-father-was-the-zodiac-killer-1677092.html

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Comments
( Leave a comment )
Zodiac
retdet187 wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 01:20 am (UTC)
Without any substantial direct evidence this is just another nutcase. I had someone try to convince me the Zodiac killer was Ben from Ben and Jerrys ice Cream. Another source said it was the owner of British Motor cars on Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco only because his yard at his home was similar to the sketch of the bomb on the school bus drawn by the Zodiac.
Perhaps ms. Perez can remember exactly what she may have drawn at the age of eight and compare it with documents not released to the public.

Retired Detective assigned to the Zodiac case.

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is this just another claim?
earthkrew wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 01:38 am (UTC)
http://www.myspace.com/earthkrew

well I wonder about this woman's claim it just doesn't ring true.
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oblivious to case
honestmary wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 04:30 am (UTC)
Pleeeeze! Who could have lived in California, just in the last 10 years, and been oblivous to the Zodiac killer? Who could have grown up in Califonria, lived to experience such events and STILL been oblivious to the Zodiac? I don't buy a word of this.
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KILLER
43stuka wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 04:57 am (UTC)
She's pretty cute, I wonder what her sign is...
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Prestidigitation
peteran wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 06:17 am (UTC)
"Estate agent: 'My father was the Zodiac Killer'"

Oh yeah. Anything to distract people from what she does for a living.
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Brilliant!
m_a_s_p_r wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 07:10 am (UTC)
:-D

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Re: Prestidigitation
ksheach wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 06:29 am (UTC)
peteran, best comment ever
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Anyone else smell...
jonny_socialist wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 07:45 am (UTC)
An attention seeker?
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doug_piranha wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 08:09 am (UTC)
you only have to read as farf as "press conference" to appreciate the pritorties in this unfeeling
and desipicably selfish act.

what about the victims' families ?
I hope they sue her for every penny .

If you are sincere about helping police - and you have ANY sense of shame -
you would speak to them in private. Most of us would demand anonymity .

This is just another example of the appalling lack of any sense of decency and dignity - which
is fuelled by a gutter press - obsessed by sensationlism and celebrity
the lunatics really have taken over the madhouse

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I smell a rat
thelatimes wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 10:43 am (UTC)
It strikes me a highly unlikely that a man capable of being a serial killer would adopt and take care of six children. That's far from the normal MO of a serial killer. And she started to suspect her father in 2007, but she didn't come out and voice her suspicions publicly until the middle of 2009? If it don't gel, it ain't Jell-O.

I've gotta say though, real estate agents are great storytellers.
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Re: I smell a rat
alexeil15 wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 06:26 pm (UTC)
Well BTK had a wife and kids and was a Cub Scout leader and murder 10 people. I'm not saying I believe her but you can't rule out how serial killers behave at home.
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the_kegs wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 12:45 pm (UTC)
I wonder how many times this woman has been abducted by aliens! Yeah, just another American nutcase looking for her 15 minutes of fame.
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Dates
jeffsalzberg wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 01:05 pm (UTC)
Did e die in the 1980s, as said in the article, or in 1993, as indicated by the caption?
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ireneluzi wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 02:25 pm (UTC)
The key words here are "middle-aged estate agent from Claifornia"....In these though times of enconomic crisi, especially in the Us, what better way to earn some extra cash?

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Zodiac Killer
pl00ky wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 03:48 pm (UTC)
That's nothing my father was Jack the Ripper.

If you want to know more contact me,through my agent Max Clifford.
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Oh yeah?
cjoyce512 wrote:

Friday, 1 May 2009 at 05:13 pm (UTC)
Well, why didn't she just go to the police with all this instead of the news media? She's getting her 15 minutes.
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ridiculous
missy_am wrote:

Saturday, 2 May 2009 at 10:52 am (UTC)
how could she just NEVER have heard of the Zodiac case? its one of the most famous cases of all time. I dont imagine that a child would be ok with sitting in a car while their father shot people either, i mean really. Her story sounds nonsense. Why wouldnt she produce Paul steins glasses either? If I made a claim like that and wanted to be taken seriously I would be taking all the evidence I could.

Nutter.

I still believe the Zodiac killer was Leigh Allen