nov 2, 1975 - Anthony Vincent Bruno

Description:

Seventeen year old Anthony Vincent Bruno was sitting in his parked car with his 16yo girlfriend (unnamed in newspapers) when, shortly after midnight, a man opened the drivers side door and, without a word, shot Bruno from very close range (no more than 18in) using a small-gauge shotgun. He was shot in the mouth and died instantly.

They were in Bruno's station wagon near the paved end of Monte Cresta Drive in the isolated Belmont western hills. The area is described as a little-known lovers' lane area.

The killer used a sawed-off stock of a Stevens Model 1244-124 12-gauge bolt-action shotgun. It was a discontinued model, 20-25yrs old. Police found the stock, recently cut down into a pistol grip, at the scene. They say it was taped to the barrel of the gun and apparently broke apart when the weapon was fired. The killer then turned, dropped the sawed-off stock of his weapon on the ground, perhaps by accident, and fled.

The man then ran south on Monte Cresta from the dark hillside of the shooting, under a streetlight 50yd away and over the brow of the hill, and possibly to a brown late model Dodge or Chevrolet pickup truck that witnesses had seen parked in the area at about that time

Bruno's girlfriend was able to push his body to the side so she could drive to her home to report the incident to the police

About 15min before the slaying, a maroon pickup truck equipped with blackwall tires and white wheels may have approached the parked couple, stopped a distance away, made a U-turn, and apparently drove off. Police specified that the driver may not be a suspect, but instead simply could have been a citizen who made a wrong turn, but police wanted to identify him to see if he saw anything

By Nov. 4, police started to speculate that it ~may~ have been a Zodiac killing. The police also noted that a good amount of the time, the man is shot so the girl/woman could be raped. However, Bruno's girlfriend was unharmed. It's possible the killer didn't kill or harm her b/c he didn't see her inside the dark car


LUNAR PHASE: waning crescent
ZODIAC SIGN: scorpio
DAY OF WEEK: Sunday (just after midnight)
EVENTS: Oct. 31 = Halloween (2 days later)
Mercury-Spica 7:49

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