Robert Joseph Zani

Other details

Robert Joseph Zani

Current characteristics listed included: Parricide - Robberies.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans.

Bibliography included: Kelly Ferro: The Zani Murders (1990).

Background

In 1967, student activist George Vizard was slain at his convenience store job in Austin, Texas. George Vizard was described as a student activist and an open member of the Communist party.

Gladys Zani disappeared from her Tulsa, Oklahoma home in 1974 and was never seen again.

Robert Joseph Zani was described as the son of Gladys Zani, a University of Texas graduate and an apparent psychopath.

Zani's Mexican wife was described as having cooperated in the case.

The offence

In 1967, George Vizard was found dead in the convenience store where he worked, with one bullet in his left bicep and a second in his back.

In 1979, real estate agent A.J. Dess was robbed and murdered while showing property to a married couple.

Robert Joseph Zani was described as killing his mother and multiple robbery victims, with a preference for real estate agents.

Investigation

The original investigation of the Vizard case was botched.

Fourteen years later, Zani was convicted, in part due to cooperation by Zani's Mexican wife.

Arrest

Two Austin cops were described as crisscrossing Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico on a trail “strewn with corpses” in pursuit of Zani.

Trial

Robert Joseph Zani was convicted 14 years after the July 23, 1967 murder of student activist George Vizard.

A quoted passage stated:

Robert Joseph Zani "Robert Zani...does more than just kill his mother. He beats her over the head with a hammer until---well, you don't want to hear about that. That's before he takes her and his band saw into the basement."

Sentencing

Robert Joseph Zani was sentenced to 99 years in prison in Texas in 1981.

He was sentenced to 99 years for his mother's murder in Oklahoma in 1982.

Appeals

The 99-year sentence for his mother's murder in Oklahoma was overturned on appeal in 1986.

Outcome

Zani's Texas disposition was 99 years on one count in Texas in 1981.

Zani's Oklahoma disposition was 99 years for his mother's murder in Oklahoma in 1982, overturned on appeal in 1986.

Aftermath

It was described that a psychopath ran loose in Texas for thirteen bloody years, with a trail involving Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico.

Zani would have kept right on killing if it weren't for two Austin cops who would not give up.

A quoted passage stated:

For thirteen bloody years, a psychopath ran loose in Texas. His name was Robert Joseph Zani. He killed his mother. He killed a kid in a convenience store. Then he began to terrorize Texas real estate agents. With the help of his Mexican wife---a former prostitute turned bruija , or witch---he carried out his bizarre scam with cold and deadly precision. ...And Zani would have kept right on killing if it weren't for two Austin cops who wouldn't give up...who crisscrossed Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico on a grotesque trail strewn with corpses. Their story is compelling high-tension true crime at its best...a tale to give you chills about the killers still out there among us.