Zodiac (2007)
Donal Logue: Captain Ken Narlow
Photos
Quotes
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Ken Narlow : We really should have been in on the handwriting.
Inspector William Armstrong : I apologize. You know, things have been moving fast. Listen we're gonna need your scene photos.
Ken Narlow : Can't help you.
Inspector William Armstrong : Ken, I don't want to get into a jurisdictional thing here.
Ken Narlow : No, no, no, no, no. We didn't have a crime scene. The ranger that found the kids literally swept everything into a picnic blanket. All we have are the Wing Walker prints.
Inspector William Armstrong : The what?
Ken Narlow : Boot prints to and from the crime scene were made by size 10 1/2 Wing Walkers, military-style boots sold only at military PXs designed to walk on the wings of planes.
Inspector William Armstrong : And you can't buy at a PX without a military ID, so our suspect could be military. Did you guys narrow your list off of this?
Ken Narlow : Yeah.
Inspector William Armstrong : Did Vallejo?
Ken Narlow : I don't know. I don't work in Vallejo. I work here.
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Robert Graysmith : I just want to help.
Ken Narlow : What are you, some kind of boy scout?
Robert Graysmith : Eagle Scout, actually... First class.
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Inspector William Armstrong : I'm gonna need photos of those boot prints.
Ken Narlow : Sure, if you send me the handwriting.
Inspector William Armstrong : I thought Questioned Documents already did.
Ken Narlow : Nope. Vallejo's got 'em, not us.
Inspector William Armstrong : All right. I'll have Questioned Documents... forget it. I'll telefax it to you.
Ken Narlow : We don't have telefax yet.
Inspector William Armstrong : Okay, I'll put it in the mail.
Ken Narlow : We'll mail ours, too. And call Mulanax in Vallejo. Maybe he can get you a mimeo.
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[Graysmith visits with Ken Narlow in Napa]
Robert Graysmith : Does the name Rick Marshall mean anything to you?
Ken Narlow : [it does] What are you after?
Robert Graysmith : What have you got?
Ken Narlow : Hypothetically, you just named my favorite suspect in the whole case. This is off the record. Couple of years back, I was trying to get Marshall's prints. I handed him a photo. He looks at it. He's about to give it back and he says, "My goodness, I got fingerprints all over this." And he wipes them off.
Robert Graysmith : Why didn't you test him for handwriting?
Ken Narlow : Because when they finally did run his prints... they cleared him against the one in Stine's cab.
Robert Graysmith : So it's not him?
Ken Narlow : Maybe yes, maybe no.
Robert Graysmith : No? What do you mean?
Ken Narlow : Zodiac left gloves behind at the scene. If he had the foresight to bring gloves with him, how the hell's he gonna accidentally leave a print behind?
Robert Graysmith : But it was in the victim's blood.
Ken Narlow : Could have been one of the bystanders, or a cop just reaches out... Boom. False print.
Robert Graysmith : But that print disqualified 2,500 suspects.
Ken Narlow : Which is why we used handwriting.
Robert Graysmith : But not for Rick Marshall.
Ken Narlow : S.F.P.D. saw a handwritten sign in the window of his house, decided it looked nothing like the Z letters, so they moved on.
Robert Graysmith : How do they know Rick Marshall wrote the sign?
Ken Narlow : [smiles] My thoughts exactly. Rick Marshall was a Navy man. He received code training. He was also a projectionist at a silent film theater.
Robert Graysmith : How do I get a copy of Rick Marshall's handwriting?
Ken Narlow : Three ways. One, get a warrant; which you can't. Two, get him to volunteer; which he won't.
Robert Graysmith : Yeah, and three?
Ken Narlow : Get creative.