Dog as "copycat"?

DownUnderNZer

Wasn't there a film made about the ZODIAC killer? Like after 2005 only I could be wrong.

I don't know alot about that killer although the title is definitely familiar, so just had a quick Google.

Hope it's okay.

I think he shot some victims and stabbed others from what I have
read so far and when he stabbed it was multiple times. One survived only to give a partial description of him.

Seems he was territorial. Never seen the "House" as a zodiac sign but different books have their own meanings etc. However, I do see him being local or being in the home.

Dog? As friendly and approachable for either his victims or in everyday life. Some would have actually regarded him as a good type.

Do see now maybe not his victims unless he, how can I put it, observed and stalked them first and interacted a little with some before the onslaught. Like a cat playing with a mouse.

One website estimates possibly 37 murders although less than 10 were connected to him.

Seems also it mostly still remains unresolved as to who the real Zodiac is as the murders stopped suddenly and he was difficult to identify.

Interesting case...

Aster Breo

DownUnderNZer said:
Wasn't there a film made about the ZODIAC killer?

I have no idea.

The Forensic Files episode I watched yesterday said there was a killer in San Francisco that called himself Zodiac, but was never caught.

The one in NYC was 25 or so years later was caught and convicted. That's the one my spread was about.

DownUnderNZer

So, the copycat killer followed in the shoes of the ZODIAC.

This is how I see it then:

The copycat killer would have possibly sussed out his victims and may have interacted with them before the kills.

E.g. Sitting next to them in the cinema or ordering a hot dog at the same hot dog stand. They would have known his face.

With the actual Zodiac:

Why wear a mask if you intend for your victims to die?

DownUnderNZer

Think I found the right copycat killer...

Heriberto Seda - Modus Operandi

Seda targeted seemingly random people and would shoot them with homemade 9mm or .22 zip-guns. Patricia Fonti was also stabbed over 100 times when she fought back. During his first shootings, he carried out blitz-attacks, but he later approached his victims under false pretenses. His goal was to kill twelve people, one person for each Zodiac sign. For this purpose, he would, on at least some occasions, look through the victims' personal belongings to find some form of ID in order to find out their dates of birth.

Another source:

Confessed Zodiac killer Heriberto Seda is "atypically schizophrenic" and may argue that something in him snapped at the time he allegedly shot his victims, his lawyer said yesterday. "He's not classically schizophrenic.

DownUnderNZer

DownUnderNZer said:
Likely to be someone that is territorial and knows the area, so I would think his killings were close to home or in nearby suburbs and/or bordering areas.

Was territorial.

DownUnderNZer said:
Substance addiction and/or behavioral problems like bi polar/depression/mood swings. Very negative or a heavy outlook. Dark side to him killer or not.

Schitzo tendencies, mental problems, and violent.

The sister of the confessed Zodiac killer yesterday recalled years of beatings by her brother, described how he coldly shotgunned her in the back.

DownUnderNZer said:
Life experiences would have contributed to him becoming a murderer....

Rejected from the army.

He grew up in East New York, Brooklyn, in an apartment building he says was frequented by drug dealers, gangbangers, and prostitutes. He was a loner, raised by his single mother, and to this day he swears he has never touched cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs.

" Defense attorneys David Bart and John Wallenstein urged Hanophy to impose a lighter sentence, saying Seda had mental problems and a troubled upbringing. "He grew up without a father. No friends. A mother who was not capable of dealing with his emotions," Bart said. "There was a lot of anger that was never . . . addressed".

DownUnderNZer said:
....and likely he would have researched and familiarized himself with ways to kill. Practiced this as well beforehand is a strong possibility I'd say.

As a teenager, he dreamed of joining the Green Berets. He read book after book about weapons, ammunition, and military maneuvers like how to evade capture. He thought he was ready for the Special Forces. But when it came time to take the entrance exam, he failed.

Then, one day, he saw a PBS special about the original Zodiac Killer, who claimed to have killed about 37 people in the Bay Area in the sixties and the seventies. He says he watched it and thought, “Holy smokes! This guy terrorized a whole city and never got caught. I got nothing to live for. I don’t got no job. I already got those skills. I could be famous. I could do that.

So, he was educated on guns before becoming a killer and then on the decision to be one he would have researched the Zodiac, but he did not research on how to kill as such although that could be a 50/50. May have practiced shooting though.

DownUnderNZer said:
May have, to fool his victims (depends how he got them of course), come across as friendly and approachable. In his everyday life may have put on this kind of mask and to some would have appeared a good type.

One of the unlucky few was a woman to whom he offered a cigarette in Brooklyn’s Highland Park. When the bullet didn’t finish her off, Eddie stabbed her more than 100 times...

Seda gave the impression of being a very religious man and attended church regularly.

DownUnderNZer said:
Violent, aggressive, brutal, and very cruel when he killed. For some, it may have been quick, but they would have suffered.

For some it was quick, others not, and some were lucky to survive.

He was brutal and cruel and he chose people that were "vulnerable" really.

Not sure if the ones that died suffered with just a bullet, but the woman in Brooklyn definitely did.

Aster Breo

DownUnderNZer said:
Think I found the right copycat killer...

Heriberto Seda

Yes, that's the one who was the subject of the Forensic Files episode I was watching.

Are you saying you think the Dog came up in the spread because of him being territorial?

Padma

Actually, Aster Breo, I am inclined to think that Dog as copycat, as in your first post, makes sense...!

Aster Breo

Padma said:
Actually, Aster Breo, I am inclined to think that Dog as copycat, as in your first post, makes sense...!

Yes. Me, too. If the Dog characteristics are about loyalty and faithfulness, those could be applied to the ideas of being loyal/faithful to the methods the first murderer used.

Padma

Especially with Tower following, as the Dog was following "rules" set up by what he may have considered "a higher authority".

Aster Breo

Padma said:
Especially with Tower following, as the Dog was following "rules" set up by what he may have considered "a higher authority".

Oh! I didn't see it like that, but that makes tons of sense.