The Zodiac Killer : Description, Analysis, and Observations of The Zodiac Killer vs Joseph Paul Franklin

Summary of article:

The following article is a quick overview of the description of Joseph Paul Franklin in regards to being a Zodiac Killer suspect. He fits the general description minus the age as most put the Zodiac at around in his 30’s/40’s, but barring that he fits the description. I believe the age description could be way off given that Franklin most likely had a widows peak even at 18, was described in his 20’s as being a bit bigger.

Aside from some of the major issues with Franklin as a Zodiac suspect I believe he fits many of the descriptions and what we should expect from the Zodiac Killer minus the following issues:

Age

Issues with distance

Victimology

I will address the issues above at the end but wanted to give a complete overview of some things pointing to Franklin as the Zodiac Killer.

Description:

Joseph Paul Franklin Height: Around or approximately 5'10 or 5'11 I believe it varies but around that height

Shoe Size: 10.5 inches for Joseph Paul Franklin. I believe the shoe size found at the Zodiac Killer Lake Berryessa stabbing was 10.5 as well. The shoe size for Joseph Paul Franklin was confirmed to be 10.5 as recorded in a book titled “Blood in the Soil”.

Hair color: Joseph Franklin had reddish brown hair, and it has a tendency to be a bit curled when he grows it long.

Accent: Zodiac Killer was described by victim Bryan Hartnell as having a “drawl” of some sort and sounded uneducated but not dumb. Although subjective I believe that this may describe the Alabama southern accent that Franklin had as he grew up in the South and living in Birmingham, AL.

Widows Peak: As far as I know, I believe Joseph Franklin had a widows peak his whole life, and although I cannot confirm this I believe this is the case as seems to have had this widows peak in his 30’s and throughout his life until his 60’s. He never went bald, but seemed to have the hairline as described at the murder of Paul Stine in 1969.

Weight: Franklin was a health nut and tried to take care of his health and if I remember correctly I believe he was into weights so as a young man was described as being around 185 to 200 pds roughly, but not sure how far back this weight description would go as if he was the Zodiac Killer he would have been 18. The Zodiac was described as a big “beefy”, I think he can fit the description especially if wearing a disguise.

Glasses: Last but not least, glasses: Franklin had to wear glasses and added he was virtually blind in the right eye. From the sketch of the Zodiac Killer he is wearing glasses as well, so more than likely I would say this description that he at least has glasses is an accurate one.

Modus Operandi and Signature.

Modus Operandi of Joseph Paul Franklin, it seems on the surface that his modus operandi is mainly sniper style killings, he referred to some of the killings as having to “pick off”, a term used by the Zodiac Killer in one of his threatening letters. However, Franklin also used pistols and bombs to commit crimes, he robbed banks so his spectrum of activities can be all over the place. Was there ever the use of a knife? I can’t think of one instance in which he killed with a knife, however, he was described as having visiting a friend dressed in all black and showing up with a knife at his side, I can’t remember if he had a pistol as well. Activity with that knife, I’m not sure what he was doing, but he also liked to dress in black as per one of the books on Franklin. So, his MO could be all over the place, in my opinion much like the Zodiacs MO, whatever gets the job done. The method didn’t matter so long as the end result which was the killing during his “hunting” (Franklins words).

Signature:

Both the Zodiac Killer and Joseph Paul Franklin were known to have called from pay phones after their killings. The Zodiac Killer called authorities after both the Blue Rock Springs attack and Lake Berryessa attack. Franklin had a high profile attack in which afterwards he also placed a call from a phone booth. After the shooting of Larry Flynt he went to a payphone after he was able to leave the immediate scene of the crime and placed a call to the local courthouse and left a message in which he told the woman taking the call that the prosecuter of Larry Flynt need not worry about Larry Flynt as Jesus Christ has taken care of that.

Organized vs Disorganized: Both the Zodiac Killer and Joseph Paul Franklin seemed to indicate an ability to be both an organized vs a disorganized killer. The Zodiac seemed to have planned the Lake Berryessa attack and there is some reasons to believe some of his other attacks were organized, pre planned but of course we don’t know for sure how organized these attacks were. From the murder of Paul Stine and how closely he seemed to get caught that night there is a good chance this was a disorganized attack. We don’t know for sure how much if any planning went into this attack but I’m going to go with disorganized seeing how he almost got caught, and he seemed to have left fingerprints at the crime scene at that attack. Franklin had both aspects in his killings of both organized and disorganized attacks. Some were spur of the moment, and some were very well and meticulously planned.

Victimology: This one is a counterpoint and a good one against Franklin being the Zodiac Killer. There is no denying that the Zodiac Killer killed people who were outside of what we know of Joseph Paul Franklin. Young white couples in lovers lanes and a taxi driver in San Francisco there is or doesn’t appear to be any connection in victimology between the Zodiac Killer and Joseph Paul Franklin. I acknowledge that the victimology is off, from what we know about how Franklin operated from 1977 to 1980, but in an interview he gave on MSNBC he likened his killings to killings of the Bible, particularly the Old Testement in which entire cities were destroyed by God. Neither man, woman or child were sparred so in giving a response to his actions he likened his activities as no different from the Bible in which wicked cities were destroyed. Could this type of thinking be at play in which victims happened to be associated with the San Francisco or North Bay Area in which it didn’t matter who the victim was, so long as they were from the area?

Some other interesting notes on behavior analysis:

The Zodiac Killer described the use of disguises, and Franklin used disguises during some of his crimes. Both were aware of not leaving fingerprints behind and some forensic techniques and used this knowledge to thwart authorities.

Both usually described their killings with the description of a gun and caliber of weapon used.

Both liked/wanted media attention.

Both seemed to be very much into the news and media.

Both seemed to switch weapons after every crime. Franklin for sure, as he was aware of the forensic techniques and wanted to get rid of any evidence.

Both used the ruse of a fake story to lure victims into situations more convenient for their killings, knowing full well what they were doing.

Both seemed to indicate the use of a “list”.

Both seemed to be aware of how crimes fit within the confines of a map or geographical area. Franklin was aware of how the perception of his killings could be placed on a map forming patterns. Of course the Zodiac Killer gave us the Z32 and map, but this has not been solved but displays an awareness of the use of maps in planning and terrorizing.

Linguistics:

Both referred to their victims as Wild Game.

Both referred to their activity of killing as hunting.

Both described killing from a distance as “Pick off”

Both described how fun it was to kill people.

Both described items as “hot”. Zodiac is said to have described during his Lake Berryessa attack in his fake story that his care was “hot”. Franklin in interviews described his guns and weapons as “hot”.

Both used the ruse of a fake story to lure victims into situations more convenient for their killings, knowing full well what they were doing.

Both used the word “phony” or “phonies”.

Both referred to shooting guns as “sprayed” with the Zodiac Killer referring to shooting on one occasion as if spraying water from a garden hose. Franklin once described shooting an automatic (if I remember correctly) as spraying, although not described with the garden hose addition to the statement.

FBI Profiler Analysis:

Franklins Childhood seems to be in line with opinions of some forensic psychologists on their assessment of what the Zodiac Killer may be like. On the podcast in which FBI forensic profilers examined the Zodiac Killer case many of their opinions fall in line with what I know of Joseph Paul Franklin. He had a very traumatic childhood, particularly from his mother, but abuse from both sides of his parents and grew up in a chaotic household, not much stability and what seems to be a sadistic mother. He hated his mother and was mentioned as being bullied also on the way to and from school with no friends. One FBI profiler mentioned the threat of the Zodiac Killer against a bus load of kids to be very telling that most likely the Zodiac Killer had a horrible and terror filled childhood and therefore wanted to terrorize kids much the same way he was terrorized. Franklin would fit this assessment in that some of the descriptions of his childhood were terror filled. He very much liked westers shows, movies, and looked up to many of the outlaws of the wild west, bank robbers, and villains. He liked to dress in black as well, perhaps as a way to show or project mystery and power?

Major Issues and problems with Joseph Paul Franklin as the Zodiac Killer

As I mentioned above there are three major issues with Franklin as the Zodiac Killer and I will address those and my opinions here below:

Age: Age is a major issue, but given how wildly age descriptions can vary I do not see this as a valid reason to not investigate further Joseph Franklin as a potential Zodiac suspect. A few points to counter the age description used by most of the Zodiac Killer community.

1. ) Age for Zodiac Killer the community holds to today is mostly from the Presidio Heights in which a witness described him as being in this age range of roughly 30’s/40’s. This was mostly observed in low light and from what I gather mostly from the fact that he had a widows peak, but as I mentioned I believe Franklin had a widows peak even as a teen, at 18 and if he had cut his hair he would fit this description still. A younger adult and even adults can easily mistake a teenager with a widows peak for a much older person.
2. Police up until Presidio Heights were looking for someone much younger. Even after they did not exclude anyone based on such a young age.

Distance: I do understand the counterpoints to Joseph Franklin being the Zodiac Killer and another major issue is distance to crimes. What I am indicating requires me to assume Franklin drove at age 18 to Lake Herman Road or rather to the town/city of Vallejo and prey on random teens to kill randomly. Yes, I do believe that and that he did get away with it. Franklin was married in either 68 or 1969, I think it was 1969 in February, but sometimes there seems to be discrepancies in his timeline. He was described in later years as a drifter, someone who moved and traveled a lot from place to place. During the time of the Zodiac murders his timeline is difficult to pin down. There is some indication his wherabouts are unknown such as when his wife around this time described that he would be gone for days at a time “doing secret agent things” as she described it so we don’t know his whereabouts. In later years he used this exact cover to spend time robbing banks and killing. Around this time he mentions to another friend he was traveling the country “trucking”. Between the two there seems to be a lot of gaps, missing confirmation of where he was during the times of the Zodiac killings. He was incredibly mobile, secretive and meticulous when we know he was killing and it is my belief he operated this way during those years in which we know the Zodiac operated.

Victimology: The victims of the Zodiac Killer do not align with the known killings of Joseph Paul Franklin. I understand this but/however the idea that he would not kill someone because they were white is not true. He killed white people just as easily as he would kill blacks and Jews for his percieved crimes against his ideal society. My own thoughts on why he killed random teenagers was that they were random victims and were guilty of living in the state and in and around San Francisco which at that time was where so many young people were traveling to. It was constantly in the news in the late 60’s as being the place where young people and people aligned with more communist thought were living. I don’t think Franklin would have had any issue with killing for what he perceived as punishing the city in and around the city of San Francisco.

Links:

The FBI Consult Podcast, look for espisode 80 which covers part 1 of several parts on the Zodiac Killer:

[embed]The Consult: Real FBI Profilers The Consult is a true crime podcast that examines behavior exhibited before, during, and after the commission of a…www.truecrimeconsult.com

You may like my analysis of how the name James if found in the Zodiac Killers first coded message:

[embed]Zodiac Killer: James Found Three Times in the Z408 Building on top of the idea as I have previously mentioned in some of my posts on the Zodiac Killer and the number 18 I…60thfever.medium.com

More on the Z340 Zodiac Killer message and how it relates to Joseph Paul Franklin. Please note that his birth name was James Clayton Vaughn Jr.

[embed]Pivot Patters in the Z340 JV For those that are new to the case I suggest you watch an interesting episode 9 “Odds and Ends” on the strange patterns…60thfever.medium.com