The Zodiac Killer in California - Identified?

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Just starting another thread since one hasn't been re-started since the crash of '20.

The SFPD said, soon after the GSK was nabbed, that they'd use a similar technique with the Zodiac's DNA. Due to the amount of time that has passed, I'm assuming nothing came of it.
 
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My question: i wanted to understand if in the USA there has ever been talk of Joseph Joe Bevilacqua as a possible Zodiac?

 
My question: i wanted to understand if in the USA there has ever been talk of Joseph Joe Bevilacqua as a possible Zodiac?

There's also a serial killer thread @Mel70 goes on quite a bit and it is this one:

 
My question: i wanted to understand if in the USA there has ever been talk of Joseph Joe Bevilacqua as a possible Zodiac?


I think he spoke to one survivor, and they didn't mention an Italian accent.
 
I think he spoke to one survivor, and they didn't mention an Italian accent.

Bevilacqua is american, is born in Totowa, New Jersey, on December 20, 1935


A video recap
 
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Giuseppe Bevilacqua, nicknamed “Joe“, was born in Totowa, New Jersey, on December 20, 1935, into an Italian-American family.
In 1954, Bevilacqua was drafted into the Army and transferred to Germany. A few years later, he became a CBR chemical instructor, a specialty he performed until 1964, when he joined the 5th Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Military Police in Leghorn, Italy.
During the time of the Zodiac murders/letters (1966-1974 circa), Bevilacqua worked as an undercover detective with the Army CID. This information comes from Bevilacqua himself and other subjects that are not mentioned here according to the ethic rules of journalism on source protection.

In 1968, Bevilacqua was assigned to Vietnam. Decorations obtained: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Soldier’s Medal, Purple Heart.
Bevilacqua’s military ID card says he was 5′ 8” tall (the same as Zodiac according to four eyewitnesses), in the 90s. Also, he was about 200 pounds weight, like the serial killer. His stocky body and prominent stomach were two characteristics that would have accompanied him into old age. Bevilacqua had thick, dark, crew cut hair, which will be dyed white starting in the 1980s. His appearance matched the witnesses’ testimonies on Zodiac with the partial exception of the hair which was described differently after every known sights (use of wigs, possibly).
In the end of June 1974, Bevilacqua retired from the Army with the rank of first sergeant and settled in the American Cemetery and Memorial of Florence, Italy, working with the ABMC as superintendent trainee of the cemetery.
While Bevilacqua stayed in Florence, the serial killer of couples nicknamed “Monster” killed 14 boys in the countryside surrounding the Tuscan city. Most of the crimes took place less than half an hour’s drive from the American cemetery.

Three years circa after the Monster’s last known crime, in 1989, the ABMC transferred Bevilacqua to Nettuno, near Rome. He was then called to testify in the Pacciani trial on the last double murder of the Monster, which had taken place about three hundred yards as the crow flies from his home, in 1985.
Bevilacqua said to the Court he saw the defendant and the victims a few days before their death. He made a serious mistake, claiming to have learned of the murders the day after the crime, when the news had not yet been disclosed.
Retired since 2010, married and with three adult daughters, Bevilacqua currently lives in a suburb of Florence.
In 2017, after a few meetings for a project on his biography, he admitted to me his responsibility in the murders of the Zodiac and the Monster cases.
In 2018, I made a complaint to the police and published the first article on Bevilacqua’s involvement in serial crimes. You can read it and the others here on the blog.

1953, Marines
The first official public record attesting to Joe Bevilacqua’s military career is a Marine Corps muster roll of 1953, where his name is present.

1954 – 1974, Army
The Official Military Personnel File is a form hold by the National Personnel Records Center that contains basic information on each American soldier. For example, list of assignments, medals, as well as other material on his military career, which, however, cannot be requested by people other than the veteran, heirs or by the law enforcement.
Some information in the OMPF could be released upon request under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

I make available the reader the excerpts from Bevilacqua’s OMPF that I received for the second time from the NPRC in 2019.
The absence of references to California in Bevilacqua’s list of public assignments is explainable. For his own admission, since 1966, due to his undercover activity, his real assignments in the detachments of the Army Criminal Investigation (since 1971, Army Criminal Investigation Command) which he would left in June 1974 are not reported.
Beyond its incompleteness, the list of assignments does not contain “alibi”. The presence of two assignments at units located in Vietnam, in 1968, and in Germany, in 1970, does not exclude transfers for work or licenses to San Francisco on the dates in which Zodiac committed a murder (December 20, 1968) and sent a few letters, starting from a postcard dated April 28, 1970.
Through an examination of the Pan Am schedules, there are no particular difficulties in reaching the Californian city from the areas where Bevilacqua was assigned, that is, from Saigon and Frankfurt, on those dates.

In 1971, Zodiac stopped writing for three years, which roughly corresponds to the period of Bevilacqua’s assignment to Camp Darby, Italy (1971-1974). The last letter attributed by the police to the serial killer was sent on January 29, 1974, five months before Bevilacqua’s retirement from the army.

The list of assignments also contains some transcription mistakes (“USA” instead of “USAREUR” – US Army Europe, for example).
Bevilacqua’s list of assignments is not the original but an end-of-career transcript. It can be deduced from the fact that it was compiled by the same typewriter, while the original one, compiled at each assignment, should have looked like the one at this link.

1974 – 2010, American Battle Monuments Commission
Official records from the US agency that manages monumental war cemeteries, the ABMC, attest that Bevilacqua began working and residing in the American Cemetery in Florence from July 1, 1974 until 1988, when he was transferred to Nettuno.
According to the annual reports of the ABMC, both in the days of the Borgo San Lorenzo crime, in 1974, and in 1981, when the Monster started the wave of his murders of the 1980s, there were no American official other than Bevilacqua that resided in the cemetery.



 

Attachments

I guess there's been no match with his DNA through the Ancestry type sites. They submitted that long ago.
I have always wondered how often they are taken down a wrong path due to families not knowing that some people had kids that were not from the parents they were raised with and the family of the real parents don't know anything about this child, so when they are questioned about a familial trait, they don't have any info for them. I think I am explaining myself for what I mean????
 
If I was a murderer (and NO I'm not) I would never lick an envelope I sent to the cops or the press. I'd go totally self seal at least... Or try to train Frank to lick the envelope, that would throw them off big time lol.

Seriously though, you think they are wrong? The images are sure striking in closeness--sketch and photo.
Don't think they had self seal at that time, but I get what you mean. My sister worked at a place that made envelopes when I was small and I always remembered her saying "don't ever lick and envelope. I've seen what is in that glue tank!". I always use a damp paper towel if I have many and a drop of water on my finger if I only have one or two. Now totally self seal.
 
I think he spoke to one survivor, and they didn't mention an Italian accent.
I have never heard anyone mention an Italian accent. I stand firm that I think it's "Arthur Lee Allen". And @SheWhoMustNotBeNamed the most famous book written about the Zodiac was by Robert Graysmith. The movie "Zodiac" follows him and his tenacious work on the case. So I am sure that is the book you read. He dug up all the information on "Arthur Lee Allen".
 
Giuseppe Bevilacqua, nicknamed “Joe“, was born in Totowa, New Jersey, on December 20, 1935, into an Italian-American family.
In 1954, Bevilacqua was drafted into the Army and transferred to Germany. A few years later, he became a CBR chemical instructor, a specialty he performed until 1964, when he joined the 5th Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Military Police in Leghorn, Italy.
During the time of the Zodiac murders/letters (1966-1974 circa), Bevilacqua worked as an undercover detective with the Army CID. This information comes from Bevilacqua himself and other subjects that are not mentioned here according to the ethic rules of journalism on source protection.

In 1968, Bevilacqua was assigned to Vietnam. Decorations obtained: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Soldier’s Medal, Purple Heart.
Bevilacqua’s military ID card says he was 5′ 8” tall (the same as Zodiac according to four eyewitnesses), in the 90s. Also, he was about 200 pounds weight, like the serial killer. His stocky body and prominent stomach were two characteristics that would have accompanied him into old age. Bevilacqua had thick, dark, crew cut hair, which will be dyed white starting in the 1980s. His appearance matched the witnesses’ testimonies on Zodiac with the partial exception of the hair which was described differently after every known sights (use of wigs, possibly).
In the end of June 1974, Bevilacqua retired from the Army with the rank of first sergeant and settled in the American Cemetery and Memorial of Florence, Italy, working with the ABMC as superintendent trainee of the cemetery.
While Bevilacqua stayed in Florence, the serial killer of couples nicknamed “Monster” killed 14 boys in the countryside surrounding the Tuscan city. Most of the crimes took place less than half an hour’s drive from the American cemetery.

Three years circa after the Monster’s last known crime, in 1989, the ABMC transferred Bevilacqua to Nettuno, near Rome. He was then called to testify in the Pacciani trial on the last double murder of the Monster, which had taken place about three hundred yards as the crow flies from his home, in 1985.
Bevilacqua said to the Court he saw the defendant and the victims a few days before their death. He made a serious mistake, claiming to have learned of the murders the day after the crime, when the news had not yet been disclosed.
Retired since 2010, married and with three adult daughters, Bevilacqua currently lives in a suburb of Florence.
In 2017, after a few meetings for a project on his biography, he admitted to me his responsibility in the murders of the Zodiac and the Monster cases.
In 2018, I made a complaint to the police and published the first article on Bevilacqua’s involvement in serial crimes. You can read it and the others here on the blog.

1953, Marines
The first official public record attesting to Joe Bevilacqua’s military career is a Marine Corps muster roll of 1953, where his name is present.

1954 – 1974, Army
The Official Military Personnel File is a form hold by the National Personnel Records Center that contains basic information on each American soldier. For example, list of assignments, medals, as well as other material on his military career, which, however, cannot be requested by people other than the veteran, heirs or by the law enforcement.
Some information in the OMPF could be released upon request under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

I make available the reader the excerpts from Bevilacqua’s OMPF that I received for the second time from the NPRC in 2019.
The absence of references to California in Bevilacqua’s list of public assignments is explainable. For his own admission, since 1966, due to his undercover activity, his real assignments in the detachments of the Army Criminal Investigation (since 1971, Army Criminal Investigation Command) which he would left in June 1974 are not reported.
Beyond its incompleteness, the list of assignments does not contain “alibi”. The presence of two assignments at units located in Vietnam, in 1968, and in Germany, in 1970, does not exclude transfers for work or licenses to San Francisco on the dates in which Zodiac committed a murder (December 20, 1968) and sent a few letters, starting from a postcard dated April 28, 1970.
Through an examination of the Pan Am schedules, there are no particular difficulties in reaching the Californian city from the areas where Bevilacqua was assigned, that is, from Saigon and Frankfurt, on those dates.

In 1971, Zodiac stopped writing for three years, which roughly corresponds to the period of Bevilacqua’s assignment to Camp Darby, Italy (1971-1974). The last letter attributed by the police to the serial killer was sent on January 29, 1974, five months before Bevilacqua’s retirement from the army.

The list of assignments also contains some transcription mistakes (“USA” instead of “USAREUR” – US Army Europe, for example).
Bevilacqua’s list of assignments is not the original but an end-of-career transcript. It can be deduced from the fact that it was compiled by the same typewriter, while the original one, compiled at each assignment, should have looked like the one at this link.

1974 – 2010, American Battle Monuments Commission
Official records from the US agency that manages monumental war cemeteries, the ABMC, attest that Bevilacqua began working and residing in the American Cemetery in Florence from July 1, 1974 until 1988, when he was transferred to Nettuno.
According to the annual reports of the ABMC, both in the days of the Borgo San Lorenzo crime, in 1974, and in 1981, when the Monster started the wave of his murders of the 1980s, there were no American official other than Bevilacqua that resided in the cemetery.
This is fascinating i think. Although I am not up on all of the Zodiac or Monster murders and facts, I am following the intriguing possibilities here. Of course circumstantial facts won't convict but...
 
Don't think they had self seal at that time, but I get what you mean. My sister worked at a place that made envelopes when I was small and I always remembered her saying "don't ever lick and envelope. I've seen what is in that glue tank!". I always use a damp paper towel if I have many and a drop of water on my finger if I only have one or two. Now totally self seal.
I have licked a few and one just recently but that ends that right now. Generally they are a return envelope otherwise I use self seal.

A serial killer that has gotten away with crimes for a long time generally isn't too stupid. If they send letters they have cut out block letters, etc. and I'm sure don't seal envelopes with their own saliva, at least not since DNA evidence became a real thing and probably watch out for leaving fingerprints and more...

However, these murders were some time ago BUT this man was an undercover guy and likely as up on things as anyone or the possibilities...
 
I have never heard anyone mention an Italian accent. I stand firm that I think it's "Arthur Lee Allen". And @SheWhoMustNotBeNamed the most famous book written about the Zodiac was by Robert Graysmith. The movie "Zodiac" follows him and his tenacious work on the case. So I am sure that is the book you read. He dug up all the information on "Arthur Lee Allen".

Bevilacqua is american, nothing Italian accent.
 
To get a clear idea you have to read all the links I put, as they are in English, there are also documents. ;)
I would love to but where I'd find the time right now I don't know. I barely keep up on reading the info others provide in the threads and am behind right now big time on that. Life is pretty hectic at the moment and that's putting it mildly.

And it's too bad because it sounds like a very intriguing case. I'm lucky if I can stay up on reading the news about the current ones and the legal documents even more so although I try to stay abreast of them but can't always and sometimes have to rely on listening to a podcast or someone else's take on them.

If life ever settles down this is one case I'd like to do that with. I have a few others on that list too and podcasts I watched some of and never finished the series on cases, etc.

I'm not even a Wiki fan with some things but as you saw, I headed for Wiki and I'll give them that, at least it gave me an overall synopsis of the case and it is one way I at least know the basics or can find them out. I just can't keep up right now or find much time to spend on crime which really bothers me as it is something I'm very into doing.
 

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