The California DOJ Meeting/Briefing with Author on Dr. George Hill Hodel as Zodiac- DoJ Handwriting Expert Analysis Opines, “Cannot Exclude George Hodel as Zodiac”-Dr. Hodel’s Full DNA Profile Made Public for Law Enforcement
April 21, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington
The following pages (304-308) are an excerpt from my fourth book, Most Evil II: Presenting the Follow-up Investigation and Decryption of the 1970 Zodiac Cipher in Which the San Francisco Serial Killer Reveals His True Identity (Rare Bird Books 2015).
The section is entitled, “California DOJ (Department of Justice) and the Zodiac DNA Evidence.
It details my meeting with two DOJ detectives who flew down from San Francisco to Los Angeles and viewed my PowerPoint briefing. Subsequent to the briefing I turned over to them my father’s handwriting samples and a summary (including the “cracking of the known cipher) that definitively linked and identified my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel as Zodiac. Here is that summary as presented in Most Evil II:
Two years passed (2011) with no further contact from the assigned DOJ detectives.
It is now, April 2023, twelve years later, and still no further information has been provided.
Absent any information from the DOJ (Delay of Justice) I can only assume that the Stine Gloves, like the Black Dahlia evidence, “has disappeared or been lost.”
With the publication of Most Evil II in 2025 I took the highly unusual step of actually publishing my father’s DNA in the book. (See below) After considerable testing (and expense) of personal items belonging to my father, Bode Laboratory in Virginia (considered one of the nation’s leading law enforcement DNA analysis services) I was able to obtain my father’s full DNA profile.
I did this so that it would be publically available at no cost to Law Enforcement for comparison to all and any unsolved “Cold Cases.” (All that is now required by LE detectives is to pick up the phone and ask their SID (Scientific Investigation Division) to see if any potential DNA exists on the specific item of evidence and if so, to obtain it and simply compare to the below George Hodel DNA.)
Those unsolved cases include but are not limited to the following police and sheriff’s departments and their unsolved cold cases dating back to my father’s “Early Years” up and including what I believe may have been his last murder, as Zodiac. That being, cab driver, Paul Stine in October 1969.
LE unsolveds and known evidence that potentially contain Dr. George Hill Hodel’s DNA:
LAPD- Elizabeth Short 1/15/47; Jeanne French 2/10/47; Evelyn Winters 3/11/47; Rosenda Mondragon 7/8/47; Gladys Kern 2/14/48; Louise Springer 6/14/49; Mimi Boomhower 8/18/49; Jean Spangler 6/13/49; William Desmond Taylor 2/1/22; Nina and May Martin 8/23/24; Doris Dazey 10/4/35; Thelma Todd 12/16/35;Madeline Everett, Melba Everett, Jeanette Stephens 6/26/37
KHJ TV Letter/Envelope sent by Zodiac in 1978 “Helter/Skelter” in LAPD custody. Strong possibility contains DNA. (Not analyzed to date. (2023)
LASD- Ora Murray 7/27/43; Georgette Bauerdorf 10/12/44; Gertrude Evelyn Landon 7/10/46; Dorothy Montgomery 5/2/47; Geneva Ellroy 6/22/58; Bobby Long 1/22/59.
SANTA MONICA PD- Lillian Dominguez 10/2/47
PASADENA PD- Dr. Leonard Siever 12/12/33
LONG BEACH PD- Laura Trelstad 5/11/47
OCEANSIDE PD- Ray Davis 4/11/62
SAN DIEGO PD AND SD- Marian Newton 7/17/47; Francis Conlon/Lois Kentle 8/26/30; Virginia Brooks 2/11/31; Louise Teuber 4/19/31; Dolly Bibbens 4/23/31; Hazel Bradshaw 5/2/31; Maude Detweiler 8/28/31; Mary Adams 3/4/34; Celia Cota 8/18/34; Ruth Muir 8/1/36
RIVERSIDE PD- Cheri Jo Bates 10/30/66
SAN FRANCISCO PD- Father Patrick Heslin 8/5/21; Paul Stine 10/11/69
SOLANO SD- Betty Jensen and David Faraday-12/20/68
NAPA PD- Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell 9/27/69
VALLEJO PD-Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau 7/4/69
EL PASO PD (Texas)- Hazel and Nancy Frome 4/3/38.
CHICAGO PD- Josephine Ross 6/5/45; Frances Brown 12/10/45; Suzanne Degnan 1/6/46.
MANILA PD- Lucila Lalu 5/28/67
FBI- Scorpion Letters (1990) Mailed to “America’s Most Wanted Host” John Walsh. High potential for DNA on/under stamps on letters turned over to the FBI by Walsh. (One letter “signed in blood”)
Steve;. Time marches on relentlessly. I hold out hope that just one dedicated and industrious cold case detective picks up the ball and carries it across the goaline. But after another quarter century my patience is wearing thin. I want the correct ending to this long and tragic story. Justice for Elizabeth Short and the other people slain by Gearge Hill Hodel as well as the validation of your decades long investigation into these cases.
Dennis E;
Yes, been waiting for decades for the DNA confirmation. But, truth be known, even if and when that comes there will still be naysayers. “Well, just because he is linked to that one or those three, doesn’t mean he killed —– or —–.” Always will be writers, copyeditors, “Don’t mess with my Dahlia myth” freaks etc. that will go to their graves unconvinced. Minds made up. My goal has been and remains to just reach that large audience of objective, thinking readers out there. Now, with nearly 1400 Amazon reviews and a 4.5 out of 5.0-star rating I feel I have pretty much accomplished that goal. Very rewarding. Most, almost all readers “get it.” Keep the faith my friend.
https://www.amazon.com/sk=steve+hodel+black+dahlia+avenger&crid=ZMXT7VOZ2UVS&sprefix=steve+hodel+black+dahlia+aveng%2Caps%2C148&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I’m curious…You’ve discussed LE corruption and mentioned cover-ups, etc. … Would it be possible to have “stacked the deck” in your favor by mailing GHH’s DNA (the Scorpion letter) to Walsh in an effort to cement your future claims? Or, while ‘investigating’ your father prior to the publication of BDA, would you have the capability to have ‘eliminated documents’ (or altered documents) within the LAPD that showed your Father’s innocence or non-involvement surrounding any of the ‘murders’ you claim he was involved with? I’m speaking hypothetically, naturally–this is a fantasy scenario and not an accusation. Is it likely you might have married Kiyo (intentionally) in an effort to ‘investigate’ George–knowing you’d be writing a future book? Would Tamar have said this? Thanks.
Keith P:
Well, no need to deal with hypotheticals. Let’s just deal with the truth of it.
I had “no clew” that my first wife Kiyo had been in a relationship with my father when I met and married her back in ’62 at age 20. Only three years later after my breakup did I discover that they had been lovers and that she was “twenty-two years older than me” not the stated “28” that she had told me. As written in BDA, my first hint that my father had any connection to “The Black Dahlia Murder” was after his death in 1999, some fourteen years into retirement. As far as “access to LAPD reports” I never had nor have I to this day ever seen any “LAPD reports.” To my knowledge, none exist as relate to my father. Today’s LAPD had no clew as to his connection. Had never heard his name mentioned. And had/have no reports with his name on them. That info came only when LAT reporter Steve Lopez was given access by DA Steve Cooley to the secret/vaulted “Hodel Black Dahlia Files/Transcripts” in 2003, post-publication of my book in April 2003. And finally, the first mention by Tamar to me of any connection of our father to “The Black Dahlia Murder” was in 1999, a week or so after his death in a telephone conversation when talking about our father’s remarkable life she told me, “Well, you know he was a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder. The police that took me to court back then (1949) on the incest trial told me they suspected him.” (Tamar and I had maybe 30 minutes of conversations together over the preceding fifty years.) As stated in BDA, hearing that I was sure I would be able to establish he had “no connection” and thus began my investigation to show he had nothing to do with the infamous crime.
Steve
Our Healing Circle sends you a deep cleansing, centering breath and powerful VIBRATIONS for ancestral healing! Ancestral healing heals the wounds of our forefathers and foremothers. It drives away the negative energy of the past and leaves pure love. Ancestral healing links us to the past and future in an unbroken chain! The message of Ancestral healing never grows old. Never!
Peace to you, to brother Kel, to FaunaElizabeth
Peace always!
Yolie💎
Steve, I recall several years ago writing to you about those size 7 gloves found in the back of Paul Stine’s cab (his murder, 1969 suspected murderer Zodiac). Someone commented to you that a size 7 would have been rather small for a tall man like GHH. No! Leather gloves in SF were (still are?) a fashion statement in the damp, cool weather of that City. Working in the men’s notions dept. of Roos Atkins Dept. store I smoothed on many a glove men bought not for warmth but to make a fashion statement with an expensive suit! You better believe there’d be DNA on those gloves! To be casually “forgotten/misplaced” by a well organized big city police department? No Way!! Then when you go to the considerable expense of obtaining your father’s DNA profile and that too is ignored is heinous & criminal behavior in itself😡! I also remember sending you, Steve, the video of SFPD’s Chief of D’s interview on the Zodiac killings. That interview of Martin Lee revealed to me that the SFPD was flat out lying about what they knew & had on the Zodiac murders! I knew Marty Lee (granted, as a young adult) and Lee’s inability to look straight into the camera and stating that Zodiac was most likely a man who had mental problems, anger, vengeful feelings etc. against police, and yes, they were pursuing the Zodiac murders. His demeanor was calm, almost unconcerned and dismissive! This was not the zealous young detective I knew many years before…..not by a long shot! As in the LAPD, the SFPD was following (IMO) a guideline saying “say as little as possible & get the hell off camera”! I acknowledge that both LAPD & SFPD thought this path was the best to follow to insure that the continued “venerable” reputations of both LE departments was the utmost responsibility here…..and what it really is is pure BS!🤬🌵
Patricia O:
Yes, I have no problem believing dad did wear a “size 7” glove. I recall checking with a glove expert on hand size and she indicated (out of the blue) that a men’s size 7 “would be like that of a pianist” (slender). My gut tells me that the Stine gloves are not lost, but may be misplaced or in a storage bldg somewhere. The DoJ agent said he had “got permission to do the analysis’ and was going to follow up on the gloves, but then did not respond to my further queries and I think just retired and let it go. Hard to imagine that SFPDs ‘best evidence” would just be lost.
Ok. I appreciate the fact that you participated and didn’t delete my post. Thanks.
Detective Hodel
Sir
On your entry of 19 April 2023 you state
Having been involved and present in the Ruth Spaulding overdose and present at her apartment and burning Ruth’s writings disclosing George Hodel’s criminality, she was an accomplice to murder and would go to prison knowing if George was arrested he would implicate her.
Further you state
I never claimed, “my mother was with my father when he/they drugged the secretary.”
Sir?
Respectfully,
George A
George A:
Suggest you actually read the original accounting of my investigation in Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. (Arcade 2003). Pgs 178-179: In that initial reportage the victim’s name (Ruth Spaulding) was unknown. In an updated publication I would discover her name, Ruth Spaulding and locate the death certificate on the incident. “I never personally claimed personal/direct knowledge. It was told by my mother, to my half-sister, Tamar who told it to me back in 2002. No name and no location other than “the secretary’s apartment.” In a separate incident in speaking with Fred Sexton’s daughter, she confirmed knowing about the incident and stated, “I think the person you are talking about was your dad’s office manager at the First Street Clinice. Not sure of her name? Might have been Ruth Dennis. …Your dad went to her apartment and found her dead. As I recall it was a suicide an overdose.” (Only later would I identify her as Ruth Spaulding etc.)
Detective Hodel
Sir
1. My girlfriend gave me a first edition of Black Dahlia Avenger for Christmas. Page 178 are photos of your father’s postcards and Page 179 is a photo of Armando Robles. There is no index.
2. Did you find Armando Robles?
3. Your father killed violently. Except for the secretary
Respectfully
George A
George A:
If you are referring to the paperback HarperCollins BDA version (2004) that does show Armand Robles on pg 179 and no I never located him and no further info. That version does have an index. In that version the Tamar reference is on pg 203. The paperback version of BDA (Skyhorse 2012) has the Tamar/Dorothy/OD reference on page 178-179.
Just because the killer knew George doesn’t make George a killer. A lot of people knew George. The Jewish community took care of each other. But they were so mistreated immigrating to the United States they had some shady people in that community. A doctor didn’t have the same legal protections back then that they do today. So other people would go out of their way to cover up for him. Bugsby died in 1947, and Sweeney died in the 60s. So George just moved up north and was the only person covering up. I don’t think he would have started Zodiac in Southern California where his son was a homicide detective. I think it was someone he knew however.
There is for sure a hoax letter complaint from a confirmed killer. Towards the end of the Zodiac letters. (Perhaps after Arthur broke up with him.) The letters almost promoted another killer. It was from that letter some experts made Ted Kaczynski a suspect in the Zodiac. In the 90s a letter was sent by the Unabomber. And Ted admitted he was forced to send a letter calling it a hoax. The DNA evidence on George is very accurate. I enjoy reading your books.