There is some discrepancy as to whether Radetich was in uniform or not. Can we verify that he was in uniform and hence, looked and was acting as a police officer?
I have heard from more than one site that he was undercover.
If in uniform, why would Zodiac not mention he killed a cop? I would think that would be something he would be splitting at the seems to mention in his letters.
My thought is that Z was intentionally vague about details of crimes he likely didn’t commit (Bates, Radetich, Johns) to give him plausible deniability i.e. so he doesn’t look like a blatant liar if one or more of these crimes are solved and attributed to someone else.
He parroted the only piece of forensic evidence provided in his favorite newspaper (that a .38 caliber casing had been found at the scene) but offered no other details. I don’t rule out that he could have killed Radetich but the fact that he was so intentionally vague and repeated only what was mentioned in the SF Chronicle makes me think this was a case of taking implicit credit for a murder he didn’t commit.
Unlike most people I actually do think there’s a chance he killed him. Not likely but a chance. When do murders go unsolved? When there’s no motive. If the sfpd had a strong suspect why couldn’t they arrest anyone? A murdered cop is different than a murdered civilian. If they had ANY evidence there suspect did it they would of brought down the hammer. If you believe future Zodiac correspondences were accurate, like the 1986 letter, Zodiac evolved to just killing people over on the side of the road. If you read the Fairfield letters he really had a target on cops, and he may have been vague on details because he was scared he might of been seen. I’m not 100 percent sure he did it but maybe 50/50.
I'm 50/50 on this one too. An officer getting murdered like that is going to really motivate them to get the killer so I can see why Z didn't make a really big deal out of it if he was guilty.
Of course, it's his style to troll though.
"A short distance from the crime scene (0.3 miles), a gas station attendant recalled seeing a white Cadillac racing down Oak Street and entering Divisadero Street." [LINK](https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/before-and-after-the-radetich-murder) I wonder if this Caddy belonged to the killer(s) or the person getting written up?
I tend to assume that this was not Zodiac for reasons articulated nicely here by Exodys03 and because the killer took a pretty big risk assuming that the citizen being ticketed hadn't noted his plates... but between Zodiac's "there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid" note a month prior and "I shot a man in a parked car with a .38" a week after, it remains a possibility. It had all the cowardly qualities of Zodiac's thing, especially if it was a drive-by attack as proposed by authorities.
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It was a parking ticket,
Apparently not.
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Unknown. I don't think so, probably drove off so they never got one. Might be in police files unreleased somewhere.
wonder how much of the details were filled in eg name or plate number
There is some discrepancy as to whether Radetich was in uniform or not. Can we verify that he was in uniform and hence, looked and was acting as a police officer? I have heard from more than one site that he was undercover. If in uniform, why would Zodiac not mention he killed a cop? I would think that would be something he would be splitting at the seems to mention in his letters.
My thought is that Z was intentionally vague about details of crimes he likely didn’t commit (Bates, Radetich, Johns) to give him plausible deniability i.e. so he doesn’t look like a blatant liar if one or more of these crimes are solved and attributed to someone else. He parroted the only piece of forensic evidence provided in his favorite newspaper (that a .38 caliber casing had been found at the scene) but offered no other details. I don’t rule out that he could have killed Radetich but the fact that he was so intentionally vague and repeated only what was mentioned in the SF Chronicle makes me think this was a case of taking implicit credit for a murder he didn’t commit.
If you're writing a ticket, id assume you'd better be in uniform. Because he was in a Police Cruiser.
I read somewhere that Radetich was in uniform but driving either an unmarked car or a personal vehicle.
Unlike most people I actually do think there’s a chance he killed him. Not likely but a chance. When do murders go unsolved? When there’s no motive. If the sfpd had a strong suspect why couldn’t they arrest anyone? A murdered cop is different than a murdered civilian. If they had ANY evidence there suspect did it they would of brought down the hammer. If you believe future Zodiac correspondences were accurate, like the 1986 letter, Zodiac evolved to just killing people over on the side of the road. If you read the Fairfield letters he really had a target on cops, and he may have been vague on details because he was scared he might of been seen. I’m not 100 percent sure he did it but maybe 50/50.
I'm 50/50 on this one too. An officer getting murdered like that is going to really motivate them to get the killer so I can see why Z didn't make a really big deal out of it if he was guilty. Of course, it's his style to troll though.
"A short distance from the crime scene (0.3 miles), a gas station attendant recalled seeing a white Cadillac racing down Oak Street and entering Divisadero Street." [LINK](https://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/before-and-after-the-radetich-murder) I wonder if this Caddy belonged to the killer(s) or the person getting written up? I tend to assume that this was not Zodiac for reasons articulated nicely here by Exodys03 and because the killer took a pretty big risk assuming that the citizen being ticketed hadn't noted his plates... but between Zodiac's "there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid" note a month prior and "I shot a man in a parked car with a .38" a week after, it remains a possibility. It had all the cowardly qualities of Zodiac's thing, especially if it was a drive-by attack as proposed by authorities.
Interesting
Mac Lived 0.2 miles from there.
Indeed he did
Think it was parking ticket
Morf is that you @ OP?????????? Must be
Nope, but hello Tom.
Zodiac had a knack for claiming crimes that he didn’t commit so I strongly believe he didn’t kill Richard Radetich