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The Zodiac killer took credit for the murder of five people in the late '60s by sending cryptic letters to The San Francisco Chronicle. Today investigators from Douglas County and the police department are trying to link the Zodiac to Donna Lass, a 25-year-old who disappeared at the South Shore 30 years ago.
Lass' case was jump started in late August when her sister and nephew met with law enforcement agents in the area on the anniversary of her disappearance. They asked Harvey Hines, a 66-year-old retired policeman who worked in California for 30 years, to come to South Lake Tahoe and present a detailed report he compiled on the case.
Hines, who has been investigating the Zodiac since 1973, contends Lass was abducted and killed by the Zodiac. He also claims to know the identity of killer, a man he believes is still living.
"I'm not doing much more investigating because I have a completed case," Hines said. "He (the Zodiac) sent out a series of letters and those letters contained pounds of clues, in your face clues, daring the cops to find him. Everything matches 100 percent. It's as good as a finger print, as good as DNA."
South Lake Tahoe Detective Sgt. Tom Conner said Monday that he is still reviewing Hines' report and hopes to meet with him later this month and go over facts in the case.
"What I'm doing right now is going through the report again for the fourth time highlighting things that don't make sense," Conner said. "You can't verify some of the information he has in that report. It's 30 years down the road."
Conner has also asked the San Francisco Police Department to send he and a Douglas County investigator a psychological profile of the Zodiac. In exchange, Conner said he would like an opportunity to share the large amount of information he's gathered concerning other Zodiac murders.
"I'm trying to sift through all the information and try to dig out exactly what's pertinent to our case and what isn't," he said. "I have so much information that doesn't pertain to my case."
Conner's been deluged with information, some of it coming via telephone or letter. "Three different people contacted me, and one guy thinks it's a guy in Texas," he said. "You never know when someone calls if they're the ones with the right information."
Right now Conner said he's working on the case whenever he gets a chance and that sometimes is on the weekend. But he said, as it always is with police work, current cases take priority.
"Police work is like being in an emergency room at the hospital," he said. "What's most critical are things that are happening now. This case, because it's already been looked at and investigated, means it's not always the first thing we work on. But it is a homicide case ... and that makes it important."
Lass' case was jump started in late August when her sister and nephew met with law enforcement agents in the area on the anniversary of her disappearance. They asked Harvey Hines, a 66-year-old retired policeman who worked in California for 30 years, to come to South Lake Tahoe and present a detailed report he compiled on the case.
Hines, who has been investigating the Zodiac since 1973, contends Lass was abducted and killed by the Zodiac. He also claims to know the identity of killer, a man he believes is still living.
"I'm not doing much more investigating because I have a completed case," Hines said. "He (the Zodiac) sent out a series of letters and those letters contained pounds of clues, in your face clues, daring the cops to find him. Everything matches 100 percent. It's as good as a finger print, as good as DNA."
South Lake Tahoe Detective Sgt. Tom Conner said Monday that he is still reviewing Hines' report and hopes to meet with him later this month and go over facts in the case.
"What I'm doing right now is going through the report again for the fourth time highlighting things that don't make sense," Conner said. "You can't verify some of the information he has in that report. It's 30 years down the road."
Conner has also asked the San Francisco Police Department to send he and a Douglas County investigator a psychological profile of the Zodiac. In exchange, Conner said he would like an opportunity to share the large amount of information he's gathered concerning other Zodiac murders.
"I'm trying to sift through all the information and try to dig out exactly what's pertinent to our case and what isn't," he said. "I have so much information that doesn't pertain to my case."
Conner's been deluged with information, some of it coming via telephone or letter. "Three different people contacted me, and one guy thinks it's a guy in Texas," he said. "You never know when someone calls if they're the ones with the right information."
Right now Conner said he's working on the case whenever he gets a chance and that sometimes is on the weekend. But he said, as it always is with police work, current cases take priority.
"Police work is like being in an emergency room at the hospital," he said. "What's most critical are things that are happening now. This case, because it's already been looked at and investigated, means it's not always the first thing we work on. But it is a homicide case ... and that makes it important."
