Why Our Suspect?

For the last several weeks, we've been sharing our story on social media. Our story was premiered on YouTube by Ned Dehan, host and creator of YouTube's Black Box Online Radio Channel. One of his listeners asked a very important question in the comments section on July 20, 2023.

Ned Dehan: Just passing on a question. Someone heard the episode of BBOR and asked me something about Loring D. Hill. I'll pass it on to Jeff and Melissa. "I can follow what they say about the timelines, and I can also see how this guy had the brain for it. But why would he attack couples parked in cars? He could have killed anyone. Why three attacks on couples near or in cars?

Melissa Rose: Stayed tuned, as we will continue to unpack his background, throughout this process. There are a lot of personal, psychological, and professional factors as to why he would choose teenagers, couples in and around cars, lakes or bodies of water, hills. And also why he had differences in M.O.s. Even in these differences, there are similarities. What we know is that he was a mechanic and felt very comfortable around cars, we also know being in the Navy, he felt comfortable around bodies of water. He would often go fishing on lakes in his free time. We do know that his first marriage was filled with turmoil and infidelity, and did not end well by any means, thus why he may have targeted couples of lovers lane. Some of those details will be released at a later date. Even the Stine murder had aspects of his professional life that are made evident. When we look at the details of the Zodiac case, we can see that whoever did this interwove his identity in terms of his profession, his upbringing, his home life. And these may seem like minor details until you know who the person is, and then they fit like a missing piece of the puzzle. We can see parts of the picture, but not all of it, until we place the missing pieces and then it all comes together with the full picture.

What attributes make him a suspect?

Loring D. Hill

Age 35 fits description
Helicopter Rescue Pilot that also delivered AIR MAIL between aircraft carriers
Vocation was Aviation Naval Mechanic (Aviation Structural Mechanic, Petty Class Officer 2). He was demoted in 1960 from AMS2 to AMS3 to re-acheive his AMS2 ranking. after a court marshal of stealing fishing equipment from fellow mechanic on base. He had to redo "B" school in 1965
Wore 10.5 size Wing Walker boots for his structure work on airplanes every single day
Can prove he lived and worked in Alameda at the time of the murders from 1967-1970, although this doesn't mean he remains stagnant in the area at all times.
Many references to Air/Airplanes, water, military navy communications and codes
Fought in Vietnam - not accepted by counter-culture at the time
Name fits Z13 & codes fit occupation - MrLoringDHill is 13 characters, so he isn't ruled out by an unusually long or short name. The code has symbols of AM and NAM that could be attributed to Navy anchor in NAM (short for Vietnam) or Naval Aviation Mechanic... 8 balls could equate to H as the 8th letter of the alphabet or could just be circled Hs.
Z-32 revealing the location of a "bomb" whether real or theoretical - Depending on whether you entertain that the Z-32 when positioned to Mag N, at about 4-5 inches along the radians, is pointing to Alameda, Calif. "ILIVEANDWORKINALAMEDACOUNTYCALIF" is 32 characters.
Handwriting is consistent with Zodiac AND other cold cases across the US, such as the West Virginia Co-ed murders of April 1970, The Circleville Letters in the 20 years span from 1974-1994, the Colonel Sanders threat letter of January 14, 1974, and the January 14, 1984 cold case of 7 year old Gary Grant, Jr. in Atlantic City, NJ., to name a few. **special thanks to Eduard Versluijs, Cheryl Birch, Same Fisher, and Voices for Victims
Eye witness description matches their father's draft card - Loring's H/W (5'11", 168-205)
Later confirmed that Loring''s height and weight was 6'0", 190 on July 31, 1969, according to his military records.
Pictures match composite sketches, along with pleated brown pants described by Officer Foulk from Paul Stine murder
Mother was a newspaper correspondent and reporter, providing us with more material to identify his general whereabouts across country. Also serving as a possible ins[iration to write the San Francisco area papers.
Deployment schedule out of Alameda of January 6-July 2, 1969 fits the "cooling off period" timeline between December 20, 1968 and July 4, 1969 murders
January 14, 1969, fire on USS Enterprise lost 28 service men - were they victims or was this only a key date and milestone for Loring as occurring between Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs near Naval Base, Mare Island.
March 1969 conducts repeat fire safety training on Treasure Island
Kathleen Johns incident corroborates Zodiac AND Loring's family life. I.e., description of clothing of small children matching the ages of his younger kids. Loring was still stationed/living in Alameda.
Drove a brown/gold station wagon with children's books and clothes (had a 12, 9, and 6 year old in 1970), as described in Kathleen John's statements
He possess knowledge of the following examples: mechanics (M.O. from Bates and Johns cases), welding (M.O. from Shepherd case, inspiration for hooded costume and clip-on sunglasses), celestial and nautical navigation (M.O. from Mt. Diablo), military rescue, (M.O. Paul Stine's shirt).... and more
Loring had ties to Oklahoma through his wife. Record of Zodiac calling Oklahoma radio station. Graysmith suspects ties to Texas.
Zodiac claimed to buy weapons out of state, except for one that was delivered. Loring would frequently leave the state to visit home in Ohio and his wife's family in OK & TX.
Unconfirmed account that Loring shot & killed a man (possibly a cabdriver there helping her leave) while stationed in Texas (Corpus Christi?) in 1957 when he caught his first wife, leaving with a cabdriver, the man he shot. Spent some time in jail while military police investigated, claimed it was home-invasion, then was exonerated.