wolfie379

“Skeleton key” is a term dating back to warded locks, where the only moving part was the bolt. Modern locks, such as pin/disc/lever tumbler, have one or more parts that need to be lifted by the right amount for the lock to open. Don’t lift far enough, or lift too far, and turning the key is blocked. The “cut” where the key interacts with these parts must be an exact height.

With warded locks, the only security elements were passive “wards” that would either block the key from being inserted into the keyhole, or block it from turning, if it didn’t have the right part cut away to allow it past the ward. So long as the key had a solid piece that would move the bolt, it didn’t matter if pieces were cut away that didn’t need to be cut away to pass the wards on a particular lock. A skeleton key was merely a key that had everything cut away except that which was needed to move the bolt, so it would bypass any wards on that make of lock.

Zodiac Killer was active in the late 1960s. That’s around 55 years ago. If the guy was 20 when he did it, he’d be in his 70s by now, assuming he’s still alive. How much should a police force invest, in terms of resources, chasing down a cold case where there’s a fair probability the perp is dead, when those same resources could be put into fresh cases?

Also, the evidence needed for the modern techniques may not have been collected, or preserved if it had been collected. Within the past month, I read about a guy who was convicted, but later proven innocent through DNA evidence. Where was the exonerating evidence found? A lab technician, against department policy scotch-taped a bit of the evidence to the lab report rather than destroying it when the case was closed. Evidence collected before DNA testing became available may have been stored in conditions where the DNA deteriorated and became unusable. A hundred years ago, maggots on a corpse were an “ick!” to be disposed of. Now, forensic entomologists, based on the temperature of the area where the corpse was found and the life cycle stage of different species of insect larvae, can pin the time of death (or body dumping) to a narrow window. Larvae are found for a species that doesn’t inhabit the area where the body was found? The body was moved. If the maggots had been cleaned off the corpse, the evidence they provide would not be available to future investigators.

I’m assuming car locks are disc tumblers. I bought a 20 year old car that came with 1 (worn) key. All 4 of the locks (both doors, tailgate, ignition) are listed as “no longer available” through the dealer’s parts department. I assume that the insides of the (zinc casting) body have been worn by the (steel) discs so that at any disc position, any cut between the original and what the (brass) key has been worn to will work (ran into a similar situation on a heavy truck, cylinder and ignition switch were separate parts, switch went bad, had to replace cylinder as well because key was worn and new switch didn’t have grooves worn into it to allow the cylinder to turn).

Is there something that can be done to fill in the grooves (JB Weld when the cylinder is out?) to make it so only a proper key (can get key re-generated at dealer from the VIN) will work? Also, can locksmiths re-key a car lock to match an existing key? That would allow me to replace a lock that goes bad with a salvage yard part and have it set to match the vehicle’s original key.

Regarding Chuck’s middle initial - was his middle name in honour of his Dutch uncle Edam, or his Swiss uncle Emmenthal?

Daisy-chained dollar store extension cords are evidence of stupidity, but not necessarily of arson. One (non-electrical) case I read about, where the guy was convicted:

House burned, there were swirl marks on the floor that the investigator said were conclusive evidence of an accelerant being used (that was what the person who had trained him had told him about the marks). Traces of accelerant were found beside the door, indicating that the fire had been set in such a way as to block an exit route.

Photo of the neighbourhood where the fire happened showed roughly half the homes had a barbecue grill on the front porch, complete with bag of charcoal and bottle of lighter fluid, houses were narrow enough that this would be right beside the door. To me that looks like reasonable doubt - a fire spreading to the barbecue supplies would melt through the bottle of lighter fluid, leaving traces of accelerant near the door. Few years later, swirl marks “conclusive that the fire was started using an accelerant” were found in houses that had been overrun by a wildfire. It’s now known that those marks are conclusive evidence of flashover.