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Zodiac Killer Knife

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Chaucer1 said:
I'm not asking random people. I'm asking people who consider themselves experts in knives - something I admit that I am not. If you would like to help, I'm appreciative. If not, then why bother posting negative things?
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Firstly, these types of threads pop up every so often and usually created to troll. You seem interested and engaged in the topic which leads me to believe you are being genuine in wanting info and are not the aforementioned troll.

Secondly, you are asking random people on the internet. Of course there are experts on the forum and some may even participated in this thread, yet you are still asking and taking into account info from random usernames. Itd be different if you were to bring these questions directly to a professional knife maker or manufacturer either here or through other avenues.

Thirdly, I don't see craytabs post as negative, I see it as observational. Google "Bowie knife " and you will see how vague of a question and how unanswerable it is , hence his post .
 
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benchwarmer380 said:
Firstly, these types of threads pop up every so often and usually created to troll. You seem very interested and engaged in the topic which leads me to believe you are being genuine in wanting and not the aforementioned troll.

Secondly, you are asking random people on the internet. Of course there are experts on the forum and some may even participated in this thread, yet you are still asking and taking into account info from random usernames. Itd be different if you were to bring these questions directly to a professional knife maker or manufacturer either here or through other avenues.

Thirdly, I don't see craytabs post as negative, I see it as observational. Google "Bowie knife " and you will see how vague of a question and how unanswerable it is , hence his post .
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Said it far better than I could.

If I were a serious investigator, one of the last places I'd ask serious forensic questions would be to anyone and everyone on the internet.

OP, you got your best answer early on in this thread. The knife could have been damn near anything, likely a cheap kitchen knife. At this point in time, what type of knife it was will have very little to do with finding the killer. Cheap kitchen knives are available everywhere.
 
Chaucer1 said:
Another thing to consider:

Zodiac seemed to like to buy things mail order. The pistol used in his first confirmed murder was a JC Higgins .22 caliber that was sold through the Sears catalog. It's possible he also purchased this knife from a Sears catalog or similar mail order service. Are any of you familiar with the types of knives sold this way back in the 1960's?

Also, is there anyway that a large Bowie knife could be confused for a bread knife? Could a Bowie knife make the same kind of wounds as described in the autopsy reports?
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The profile of a generally accepted large Bowie knife (clip point, broad blade, etc.) could not be confused with a standard bread knife by any reasonable, observant person. That said, the description of Jim Bowie's original Sandbar knife is closer to the description of the Zodiac knife than it is to what the traditional Bowie design evolved into.

If the autopsy report noted the penetrating blade could have had a double edge, such an assumption would be consistent with a sharpened false edge on a traditional Bowie, though beyond and inch or so, the entry wounds would be much wider with a Bowie than the noted "bread knife" type blade.

With respect to the killer's supposed military background juxtaposed against the knife used (as described above), there is this to consider: If Zodiac had military experience, he would have been logically inclined to utilize a military knife that he had familiarity with, as opposed to a kitchen type blade ... something like a Kabar, bayonet, surplus survival-type knife.

50 years later, the case is still comprised of guesswork and ill-fitting puzzle pieces, though it does make for interesting discussion.

YMMV
 
Another thing to (re)consider is the prevalence of military surplus items and catalogue sales during that time period. The number of options available was near limitless.
 
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Could have been dang well near anything as others have already mentioned at length. By default, availability is the largest factor in determining what would have been used. This means it is likely an industrial, culinary, or hunting knife, or military surplus bayonet. It was probably not anything exotic. A common "slicer" kitchen knife would match the blade profile as well as anything else, and would match both the wound depth and shape, as would a sticking knife or a bayonet. Bayonets and slicers are more commonly available to the public than sticking knives, since those are a less-commonly-used butcher's implement used in bleeding operations of medium to large animals. The blade is punched through the neck behind the trachea and a cut made out through the throat of the hanging animal for it to bleed out fully. Such knives often have guards, though not always.
 
Chaucer1 said:
Zodiac seemed to like to buy things mail order. The pistol used in his first confirmed murder was a JC Higgins .22 caliber that was sold through the Sears catalog.
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I don't think buying one thing through mail order would lead me to assume that he liked to buy things that way. Perhaps that was the easiest way to get that pistol, or it was cheaper that way. Or he didn't want to buy it in person. But someone could go buy a breadknife anywhere and not have anyone bat an eye.
 
unwisefool said:
I don't think buying one thing through mail order would lead me to assume that he liked to buy things that way. Perhaps that was the easiest way to get that pistol, or it was cheaper that way. Or he didn't want to buy it in person. But someone could go buy a breadknife anywhere and not have anyone bat an eye.
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May have already owned the knife in the first place rather than buying one for the purpose. Occam's razor applies here in spades.
 
Chaucer1 said:
Also, is there anyway that a large Bowie knife could be confused for a bread knife? Could a Bowie knife make the same kind of wounds as described in the autopsy reports?
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No, and no. A Bowie, at least the common conception of a Bowie, is either too wide or too short, and the tip is not shaped right.

Ignore the haters, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. The problem with asking questions on a forum is that you have to have a good noise filter.
 
DrHenley said:
Ignore the haters, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. The problem with asking questions on a forum is that you have to have a good noise filter.
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And the one you ask of essentially every random, anonymous, lame-brain with internet access...
 
DrHenley said:
No, and no. A Bowie, at least the common conception of a Bowie, is either too wide or too short, and the tip is not shaped right.

Ignore the haters, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. The problem with asking questions on a forum is that you have to have a good noise filter.
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Or know how to ask a reasonably intelligent question.--KV
 
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