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Retired police sergeant Vern Lippold claims that while patrolling for the Hayward, California Police Department, he encountered a man he believes was the Zodiac Killer
On May 20, 1981, was called to a scene at a local shopping center. As he pulled into the parking lot, Lippold saw a uniformed security guard standing with a young woman and a tall man. The security guard had aa hand on his gun.
Lippold describes the tall man thusly: "The closer I get, I see a white man, 52 years of age, tall, thin, white suit, white shirt, white tie, white short cropped hair with dark horn-rimmed glasses and a white 1966 four-door Chevy sedan"
Lippold believed that the security guard had just interrupted the Zodiac Killer in action. The security guard told Lippold that he had patrolled the parking lot every half an hour. The suspect had parked his vehicle in the back and had not moved for about 90 minutes. The guard was suspsicous of the vehicle and the intentions of its driver, thinking he possibly intended a robbery.
The security guard says the woman, in her twenties, entered the lot. The guard sees the man follow her. the man calls out to the woman and then grabs her by the arm. The woman resists the man's attempts to subdue her. The guard approached the two and asked the man waht he was doing. The man claims to be a plain-clothes poolice officer in the process of making an arrest. He tells Lippold, "I don’t need anything from you. If I do, I’ll call, so get the hell out of here."
The woman claims that she asked the man to show his badge and he refused. The security guard then tells the man to show him his badge. The man says he doesn't need to do that, that he has to bring her in to be processed. The guard tells the man that he knows the Hayward police would not have a problem showing their identification. The man continues to refuse. A shop owner calls the police, bringing Lippold and another officer to the scene.
Lippold interviews the man. The man denied telling the woman that he was a police officer and that she was under arrest. Lippold then inspects the man's car.
Here is what Lippold found inside
Lippold said that the man had marked certain business addresses in the directory. At each of those addresses, Lippold remembered a murder occurring.
The woman was too afraid to cooperate, hindering Lippold's investigation.
Lippold told the security guard that he had just stopped the Zodiac. Lippold said upon hearing these words, the suspect turned white and stiffened up. The man does not refute the claim. He doesn't say anything. The suspect was transferred to the Hayward Police Department and Lippold never saw him again --though he remained haunted by the incident.
