NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm surprised NSG hasn't posted this, but apparently a woman is claiming that her father was the Zodiac Killer.

Woman claims father was infamous Zodiac killer

One of the nation's biggest unsolved murder mysteries is the identity of the "Zodiac killer," who is blamed for at least five deaths in the San Francisco Bay area 40 years ago.

Now a woman is stepping forward to claim that her father was the killer and that he took her along as a 7-year-old for thrills, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. During the height of the killings, the Chronicle received taunting letters believed to be the Zodiac killer.

The claim by Deborah Perez stirred up much skepticism about a case in which a number of people have tried to take responsibility.

But at least Perez, 47, offers a unique twist, the newspaper says.

She tells reporters that she is going public to finger her now-deceased father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, a resident of Santa Ana in 1968 and 1969, in an attempt "to right his wrongs."

"I was a child and just thought I was helping my father," Perez says. "He told me he killed many people."

Most intriguing, perhaps, is that she says she has a pair of brown, horn-rimmed glasses that her father supposedly took from his last victim, a cabbie, the Chronicle reports.

She also says she wrote a letter to famed defense attorney Melvin Belli at the age of 7 to try to get help for Hendrickson. The letter, with erratic punctuation and misspellings, read: "Dear Melvin This is the Zodiac speaking I wish you a happy Christmass. ... please help me."

The Chronicle quotes police investigators as saying they will look into the story.

The New York Times quotes Robert Graysmith, a former Chronicle reporter who has written two books on the case, as saying he is doubtful of Perez's claims, but "I never say never."

Here's CBS' report on Perez's claim

Link (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/04/woman-claims-father-was-infamous-zodiac-killer.html)

There's a video in the link. So, what do y'all think, is she credible, is she the daughter of the Zodiac Killer, or is she trying to make a buck off of a infamous serial killer?

Personally I am still undecided, as far as I know, she hasn't really turned any of the evidence over to police, and she's already making the news and talk shows circuit. She was just on Fox News, so until she actually produces some hard evidence, such as the glasses, I am skeptical of her claims.

Skeptical, but not entirely ruling it out.

Probably bullshit, but still intriguing.

Probs just attention whoring.

+1.

Why do you hate Capital letters? Are you a Communist?:(

This is going to sound like complete bullshit, but I just worked on show about this. Unfortunately, I of course am just the monkey, so I don't have the details but the consensus was that it made sense for her to think that but she's wrong. If you have Investigation Discovery there'll be a show that puts forth a different theory on that. I did have the disturbing 'pleasure' of filming a 'POV' at the last murder site and being there for an interview with a guy who heard one of the murders happen. In the course of one week I managed to visit two murder sites...I could have done without that...

why do you hate capital letters? are you a communist?:(

i'm just anti-freedom.

Why do you hate Capital letters? Are you a Communist?:(

I am a CAPITAList myself (or were you already implying this joke)?

I am a CAPITAList myself (or were you already implying this joke)?

Well if he wasn't, then making the joke was quite a capital idea.

I think she is nothing more that a misguided young woman wanting attention.

She claims to have been with him. No eyewitnesses collaborate that. I cannot find anything about Paul Stine's glasses having been stolen. The logical conclusion to be drawn is that her claims are false. Whether she is lying or delusional remains to be seen.

Wow a serial killer taking part in bring your daughter to work day.

Wow a serial killer taking part in bring your daughter to work day.

Good thing she didn't use him for the "Show and tell" thing that American schools are rumoured to do....

I'm surprised NSG hasn't posted this...

Why? Doesn't this thing fall under your domain?

Wow a serial killer taking part in bring your daughter to work day.

That's what'll happen if Disney buys the rights to Dexter.

Why? Doesn't this thing fall under your domain?

Hmm true.

Yay, I have a domain! :D

let the police investigate and see where it goes.

The Zodiac is one of my favourite serial killers. I hope he remains an enigma. I even have his symbol tattooed on my inside left wrist.

Update:


Dad was not the Zodiac, second daughter insists
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 2, 2009

(05-01) 12:19 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A Southern California woman's accusation that her long-dead stepfather was the Zodiac killer just took on a bizarre twist: Another daughter of the man popped up Friday to angrily denounce the charge.

Janice Hendrickson said her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, "couldn't hurt a fly" - or at least couldn't kill one.

"My father was real bullheaded, and he did have a temper, and he did hit me ... slapped the crap out of me," Hendrickson, 65, told The Chronicle. "But did he kill people? I don't believe he did."

She added, "I have fond memories of him, even though he went off on me now and then."

On Wednesday, Hendrickson's stepsister Deborah Perez, 47, held a news conference outside The Chronicle to say her stepfather was the Zodiac. She said she also had fond memories of him - but that as a 7-year-old, she had tagged along a couple of times in the family car when the Zodiac gunned down his victims, although she didn't see the slayings and didn't know what the popping noises or moans she heard were.

The Zodiac killed at least five people in 1968 and 1969 in the Bay Area, taunted the press and police with cryptic, boasting letters, and remains the most infamous uncaught killer in American crime lore.

Perez, a real estate agent who lives in Corona (Riverside County), said she wrote one of the Zodiac's letters, a 1969 missive to the late San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli asking for his help. She also said she owns a pair of glasses her stepfather kept as a trophy from the Zodiac's last known killing, the shooting of cabbie Paul Stine in San Francisco in 1969.

Perez said Friday that she will be sending the glasses soon to San Francisco investigators.

Janice Hendrickson - a former home caregiver who now works with children in the Bay Area - said she, her two siblings, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild "are very mad" about Perez's accusations regarding her father, who died of cancer in Orange County in 1983.

As she held a picture of her parents on their wedding day in 1943, Hendrickson shook with rage. In the frame, Guy Hendrickson cut a dapper figure in a brown suit and tie, his hair slicked back.

Lawsuit threat

"If the evidence proves that my father was the Zodiac, I will apologize, but if not, I will sue for defamation," she said. "Sure, Deborah might have written that letter (to Belli), but that doesn't prove anything."

She said her father had married Perez's mother when Perez was young and brought the family to the United States. Perez confirmed that in an interview.

"My father found Deborah and her mother, a dime-a-dance girl, in Tijuana, Mexico, and brought them up here to live," Hendrickson said. "They lived in a place with dirt floors. That woman had seven kids. ... She was a gold-digger. ... How can you believe Deborah?"

Her father, Hendrickson said, was a carpenter specializing in repairing schools, and lived in many places during three marriages, from Oregon to Orange County. "I just can't see him finding the time to do all those Zodiac killings," she said.

Read the Bible nightly

What's more, she said, "my dad read the Bible every night of the week, and he was always preaching that every man should support every kid he fathers. He didn't even like guns much. The most I ever saw him do was shoot a frog with a .22, and he felt bad about that."

Not that he didn't hang out with some shady characters, Hendrickson conceded. "If anything, it would have been his best friend ... who carried a sawed-off shotgun, who might have done something like the Zodiac," she said. "But not Dad."

Hendrickson said she has spoken with an FBI investigator, and she intends to give him a box of her father's belongings. The box has his writings, a tape recording of his voice and could yield fingerprints, she said. She was grown and out of the house when the Zodiac killings happened, she said, but remained close to her father throughout his life.

Hendrickson contended Perez was coming out with her accusations because she and her associates are making a documentary they say will prove their case. She called Perez on Friday, and as the two spoke for the first time in many years, the conversation became heated, both said.

"I told her she's full of crap, that she's making this movie and she's just trying to make some money," Hendrickson said. "I am so upset."

Sanity rumors

Perez said she had tried hard to protect the family's privacy, and found Hendrickson's accusations "painful." She added that other rumors circulating about her motives and sanity since her news conference were "not even worthy of responses."

"Janice can do whatever she wants," Perez said. "She said abusive words to me and called my family retarded. That really offends me. I have a son with Down syndrome, and that is insensitive.

"And how in the world would being born in poverty in Mexico have anything to do with my credibility? My father did a wonderful thing bringing us to America.

"I'll say this, though," Perez added. "I am ecstatic that Janice is bringing forth this new evidence (the box of belongings) that might help. That makes it all worth it.

"This whole thing is devastating to my family. ... But this is all about helping the families who never received closure."

Link (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/02/MNP217CT9B.DTL)

Hmm, so this story is getting interesting, at least to me.

Also, how the Hell could you claim that a father who beat you wouldn't harm a fly?

The Zodiac is one of my favourite serial killers. I hope he remains an enigma. I even have his symbol tattooed on my inside left wrist.

He's the zodiac killer arrest him!!!

Um.....so, he couldn't hurt a fly and yet he smacked her up quite a bit.....

those don't seem to go together.

He's the zodiac killer arrest him!!!

Nah, his modus operandi is distasteful to me. Guns are so impersonal.

Um.....so, he couldn't hurt a fly and yet he smacked her up quite a bit.....

those don't seem to go together.

sounds like an abused housewife or child.
He is so good, he is so kind.... I just fell down the stairs.

sounds like an abused housewife or child.
He is so good, he is so kind.... I just fell down the stairs.

He only hits me when he's angry, I just have to stop making him angry. He's really nice when he doesn't drink. He's really loving most of the time....

Yeah, I know.

He only hits me when he's angry, I just have to stop making him angry. He's really nice when he doesn't drink. He's really loving most of the time....

Yeah, I know.

not that it lends credence to her story.

Hmm true.

Yay, I have a domain! :D

Is that a good thing?

Nah, his modus operandi is distasteful to me. Guns are so impersonal.

But ive already written a book pinning it on you.

Is that a good thing?

Why wouldn't it be?