David Ramon Toschi (July 11, 1931 - January 6, 2018) was an American law enforcement officer widely known for his efforts in the San Francisco Police Department as an inspector in the Zodiac Killer case.
The now-infamous police sketch of the Zodiac Killer.
Early Life and Career
Toschi was born to the Italian-American family of school janitor Sam and Millie Toschi in San Francisco and was an alumnus of Galileo High School.
Returning to San Francisco, Toschi joined the San Francisco Police Department, where he served from 1953 to 1985. He was assigned to its homicide division from 1966 to 1978.
He was also assigned to the Zebra murders team, and in 1985 received a meritorious conduct award for curtailing the career of a rapist/burglar.
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Shortly after he left the SFPD, Toschi became Director of Security for St.
Toschi married Carol Bacigalupi in 1957. They had three daughters, Susan, Karen, and Linda.
The Zodiac Killer Case
He is best known for his role as a chief investigator in the Zodiac Killer case, which he and his partner, Inspector Bill Armstrong, began to work on after the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine.
Toschi was put on the Zodiac case after a San Francisco taxi driver was shot to death in 1969. Five people were fatally stabbed or shot to death in Northern California in 1968 and 1969, and their killer sent taunting letters and cryptograms to the police and newspapers.
He was dubbed the Zodiac killer because some of his cryptograms included astrological symbols and references. The killer was never caught.
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By that time, Inspector David R. Toschi - who had been on the case since day one - is said to have interviewed 5,000 people and examined more than 2,000 suspects.
Duffy Jennings covered the killings for the Chronicle and grew close to Toschi.
Jenning said Toschi visited the San Francisco murder scene on the anniversary of the killing for many years in a row to see if he overlooked any clues.
“The Zodiac case gnawed at him,” Jennings said. “He said it gave him an ulcer.”
In an interview with The Times in 1996, Toschi said he thought he had finally tracked down the killer on a November night in 1969.
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A man called a television station during a news program about the killings and told the host, “I think you’re looking for me.”
“The host thought they had the guy, and we put a trace on the call,” Toschi recalled.
“The guy talked on and on, giving all kinds of details.“Meanwhile, we traced the call to a hospital in Oakland, and we talked to one of the supervisors there. He told us, ‘You’ve been talking to a man we just gave phone privileges to. He’s a mental patient.’”
Controversy and Transfer
In July 1978, nine years after the Zodiac Killer first struck, one of the most prominent homicide cops working the case was suddenly removed from his post.
So it’s probable that his sudden transfer from homicide to (in Toschi’s own words) “the pawnshop detail” was always going to make some headlines.
This whole thing started in August 1976 when Armistead Maupin consulted Toschi so he might better write the character of homicide detective Henry Tandy.
Tandy was featured in Maupin’s San Francisco Chronicle column and in the first Tales of the City book that combined many of those stories.
As the years passed, Maupin’s association with the Zodiac case became a distant memory for almost everyone except true crime nerds.
Maupin went on to release nine enormously popular Tales of the City books over a span of 36 years.
Things escalated in April 1978 when, after a four-year period of silence from the Zodiac, a new letter purporting to be from the serial killer arrived at the Chronicle’s offices.
After Maupin saw the letter, he began to suspect that Toschi might have faked it. For one, no prior Zodiac letters had ever mentioned any individual police officers before.
Maupin was concerned enough that he contacted Toschi’s superiors at the San Francisco Police Department; they immediately launched an investigation.
“It was a foolish thing to do,” he said at the time. “I am ashamed of it.”
However, Toschi also denied meddling in the Zodiac case. He declared to the Examiner, “I wrote no Zodiac letter. I don’t need another letter.
“Can a man be destroyed because of vague accusations about ‘tone’?” Toschi said. “You bet he can!
The complaint signed by Maupin and his publicist [Kenneth Maley] says that I ‘may’ have forged the last … Zodiac letter. ‘May have forged.’ ‘Similarity of tone.’ Just this.
Asked what the lowest point of the controversy had been for him, Toschi explained: “Someone from Internal Affairs asked me where I had been on the night that Zodiac murdered the cab driver Paul Stine. I told him - home in bed - but I got sick to my stomach.
Regardless of the suspicions placed on Toschi, he was eventually exonerated of forging the final Zodiac letter.
Later Life and Legacy
He stayed with the SFPD until 1985, before taking on the role of director of security at both Union Square’s Pan Pacific Hotel and St. Luke’s Hospital in the Mission.
Toschi died in 2018 at the age of 86 but, as he predicted, the controversy about the final Zodiac letter never dissipated - and Toschi’s name is now synonymous with it.
Toschi was born in San Francisco and graduated from Galileo High School before serving in the Korean War with the Army.
Toschi’s family said the retired inspector enjoyed music and books. He “could sing with the best of them,” said his daughter.
“His greatest pleasure was his loving family, and we will miss his keen sense of humor, his gentle guidance and his unconditional love.”
Toschi is survived by his wife, Carol Toschi of San Francisco; two daughters, Toschi-Chambers of San Francisco and Karen Leight of San Mateo County; and two granddaughters, Sarah Leight of Pacifica and Emma Leight of Los Angeles.
Influence on Pop Culture
Harry Callahan, the title character of the 1971 film Dirty Harry portrayed by Clint Eastwood, was said to have been modeled on Toschi, while the film's villain "Scorpio" was based on the Zodiac Killer.
Steve McQueen specifically copied Toschi's distinctive style of quick-draw shoulder-holster (wearing his gun upside down) for the 1968 movie Bullitt.
His penchant for bow ties, snappy trench coats and the quick-draw holster for his .38-caliber pistol drew the attention of Steve McQueen, who patterned his character in the 1968 movie “Bullitt” after Toschi. Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” character was also partially inspired by him, the Chronicle reported.
Actor Mark Ruffalo portrayed Toschi in the 2007 David Fincher film Zodiac.
The 2007 movie “Zodiac” starred Mark Ruffalo as Toschi.