How to Find Zodiac

Extraordinary – brilliant, unconventional, original, edgy.Somewhere between Hunter S. Thompson -- perceptive, irreverent, fresh -- and William Vollman -- ambitious, sweeping, edgy.I read How to Find Zodiac, then Motor Spirit. Readers not familiar with the case might read Motor Spirit first.First, a bit of context. I’m a Bay Area native, and was 14 years old when Zodiac was in the headlines in 1969. I remember it all as it happened -- the taunting letters to the Chronicle and Examiner, the ciphers, and more. I’m curious about the case but not more. I had never read any of many books about Zodiac, nor visited a website or listened to a podcast, much less spent and time trying to investigate the case. What interests me is how people think about the case -- wrongly or rightly.The evidence has been compiled and scoured closely for decades, with no progress or solution. We might imagine that we’ve been looking in the wrong place.Enter Kobek, who looks at things very differently. Zodiac was not some hippie or believer in the occult, but wanted to appear like one, to blend in with the counter-culture of the times. He’s someone who wanted attention. He’s not a deranged killer who can’t control himself. After four attacks he stopped killing, and the letters stopped a couple of years later.So Kobek uses a bit of lateral thinking. Someone who writes to letters to editors may have done so at other times. Someone who makes many popular culture references may have written for the many fanzines of the era – now searchable on-line or in libraries. Someone who wore an executioner hood on one occasion might have found use for it elsewhere. And so on.Quickly there’s a hit: Paul Doerr, who lived in the Vallejo–Fairfield area, worked at the Mare Island Navy base. With a name in hand, Kobek searches for Doerr and find many, many links to Zodiac. Descriptions of bomb making, with similar phrasing and an identical omission. Mention of hand stamping letters. Similarities in penmanship. Participation in “creative anachronisms,” one that took place the same day as the murder with the hood. Skill in ciphers and the same spellings – cipher and cypher. And much more. Have a look.Each time Kobek says he’s looking to see if he can exclude Doerr, but time after time, he’s unable to do so. Absence of proof is not proof of absence, but still ...Impressed by the many plausible connections, most never made before, I reached out to the author of a well-received set of books about Zodiac, and to a website dedicated to the case. What do you make of Kobek’s book, and what about Paul Doerr as a suspect?I get replies from both within 24 hours, both saying the same thing: 1) I’m aware of the book but have not read it; 2) it’s probably another example of the confirmation bias – people identify a suspect and then find reasons to confirm that supposition.Maybe they’ve been so inundated with "solutions" for so many years that they can’t be bothered to read one more. Maybe.My guess is that something else is at work.First, if the case is solved, what happens to our little industry? Poof. There may be a vested interest in a rejecting solution, which we might call a disconfirmation bias. (As the saying goes, “If you shoot the fox, what is left to hunt?”) Second, how did Kobek find the solution and not me? A bit embarrassing, perhaps, for folks who have dedicated themselves to the case.Has Kobek found Zodiac? Definitive proof might come be a fingerprint match. Can one be found from his employment files with the Navy, or lifted from a possession?Until then, this is the most original, creative, provocative, and insightful treatment of a case that has baffled many for 50 years. And, I would guess, very likely correct.