December 16, 2016
Los Angeles, California
Another Family Anecdote
“Know all things to be like this: As a magician makes illusions of horses, oxen, carts and other things, nothing is as it appears.” ~The Buddha, from the Samadhirajasutra
As I recall, it was sometime in the summer of 1995. I had traveled south from my home in Bellingham, Washington to spend several days visiting with my father and his wife, June in San Francisco.
Dad wanted the three of us to make some day trips. Day 1 included an afternoon visit to the beautiful Muir Woods. The following morning we made an early visit to the car museum across the Oakland Bay Bridge, then back for a leisurely ocean view brunch at the Point Lobos Cliff House.
We returned to their 39th-floor penthouse suite on Bush Street, by mid afternoon. A kiss on the cheek to June, a hug to dad, and I was off to the airport to catch my return flight to Bellingham.
As I turned to leave father raised his hand. “Oh, just one second. I have a small gift for you.” He walked the few steps to his home office removed a paper sack from his desktop and returned to the door. “Here, a little present for you.”
I opened the bag and removed the contents (shown below). It was a pair of large silver scissors sheathed in a black leather case. They were of a modern attractive design accompanied by a silver ruler which fit neatly inside the leather casing.
“Thank you, father. Very nice.” I smiled at June, who’s eyes were averted downward. They walked me to the elevator, thanked me for the short visit and I headed home.
Other than initially thinking that my father’s gift of a pair of scissors was a bit odd, I never really gave it another thought. I threw them in a desk drawer and forgot about them.
Fast forward to May 1999. My father had just suffered his heart attack, collapsed and died in their apartment. I was down helping June deal with her loss and all that is required with the passing of one’s father.
We had just returned from shopping at a street market, and June was in the kitchen, preparing a salad. I had purchased a newly baked loaf of San Francisco sourdough bread. “June, do you have a bread knife so that I can slice this loaf?
She looked at me and shook her head, indicating, “No.”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be a bread knife. Any large knife will do.”
Again, June shook her head. I wasn’t comprehending her. “You don’t have a knife to cut the bread June?”
“No, I only have a small paring knife. I have a phobia of knives and your father did not allow any in the house.”
At that moment I thought to myself– “How strange.” But, I accepted it at face value and like the gifted scissors, gave it no further thought.
That was then.
But, today, some seventeen years later, we now know that my father was responsible for the serial murders of at least twenty-five victims. We also know that at least five of those female victims were savagely stabbed to death by his using a long bladed knife and a sixth with a smaller pocket knife.
In a mad, uncontrolled rage George Hodel as “Avenger” stabbed Los Angeles victim Gladys Kern multiple times in the back. Los Angeles teenage victim Lillian Dominguez was stabbed to death with one thrust to the heart using a “long thin-bladed stiletto type knife.” In Chicago, he stabbed victim Frances Brown through the neck with her own bread knife and slew Josephine Ross by severing her jugular vein. Victim Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside was stabbed a dozen times and had her throat cut, nearly decapitating her. As Zodiac in his 1969 Lake Berryessa attack, he tied up his victims, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell then used a long bladed knife to stab both of them. (Cecelia died from her wounds, Bryan survived.)
Are the gifted scissors a George Hodel “Thoughtprint”?
Yes, I believe they are.
I can no longer take my stepmother, June’s words, “I have a phobia for knives” at face value, as I did back in 1999. I now believe the reason there were no large knives in my father’s home was because there likely had been “an incident.” Either something happened, or was about to happen. I suspect my father feared he might “lose control” and by gifting me the 9″ scissors was taking preemptive-preventive measures.
Let us recall what George Hodel as “Zodiac” said in the plea for help letter he mailed to famed criminal defense attorney, Melvin Belli. (Shown in its entirety below)
…I am finding it extremely difficult to hold it [the monster inside him] in check. I am afraid I will loose control again and take my nineth & posibly tenth victom. …Please help me I can not remain in control for much longer.
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