Zodiac Killer
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For the New York City Zodiac copycat, see Heriberto Seda.
Zodiac Killer
The crosshair-like symbol used by the Zodiac Killer in signing his
correspondence.
Background information
Birth name: Unidentified
Killings
Number of victims: Five killed, two injured; possibly more
Span of killings: 1968 (possibly as early as 1963) through 1969 (possibly
as
late as 1970)
Country: U.S.
State(s): California
Date apprehended: Unapprehended
The Zodiac Killer is a serial killer who operated in Northern California
in
the late 1960s. His identity remains unknown. The Zodiac coined his name
in
a series of taunting letters he sent to the press. His letters included
four
cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved.
The Zodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake
Berryessa,
and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and
three
women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Others have also been
suspected to be Zodiac victims, but there has been thus far no conclusive
evidence to link them to the killer.
In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case
"inactive", but reopened it some time before March 2007. The case remains
open in other jurisdictions as well.
Contents [hide]
1 The victims
1.1 Confirmed
1.2 Suspected
2 Timeline
2.1 Lake Herman Road
2.2 Blue Rock Springs
2.3 The Zodiac letters begin
2.4 Lake Berryessa
2.5 Presidio Heights
2.6 More letters and codes
2.7 Modesto
2.8 Further communications
2.9 Riverside
2.10 Lake Tahoe
2.11 Santa Barbara
2.12 The final letters
3 Current status
4 Arthur Leigh Allen
5 The Zodiac Killer in popular culture
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
[edit] The victims
[edit] Confirmed
Although the Zodiac claimed in letters to newspapers that he murdered as
many as 37 people, investigators agree on only seven confirmed victims,
two
of whom survived. They are:
David Arthur Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16: Shot and killed on
December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road just within the city limits of
Benicia.
Michael Renault Mageau, 19, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22: Shot on July
4, 1969, at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course parking lot on the outskirts
of Vallejo; Darlene was DOA at Kaiser Foundation Hospital, while Michael
survived.
Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20, and Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22: Stabbed on
September
27, 1969, on what is today locally referred to as "Zodiac Island" at Lake
Berryessa in Napa County; Hartnell survived six stab wounds to the back,
but
Shepard died of her injuries two days later.
Paul Lee Stine, 29: Shot and killed on October 11, 1969, in Presidio
Heights
in San Francisco.
[edit] Suspected
Many others have been identified as potential Zodiac victims, although
evidence is inconclusive. Of the following popular suspected victims, none
have been confirmed:
Robert Domingos, 18, and Linda Edwards, 17: Shot and killed on June 4,
1963,
at a beach near Lompoc. Edwards and Domingos were named as possible Zodiac
victims because of specific similarities between their attack and the
Zodiac's attack at Lake Berryessa six years later.
Cheri Jo Bates, 18: Stabbed to death and nearly decapitated on October 30,
1966, at Riverside Community College in Riverside. Bates' possible
connection to the Zodiac only came to light four years after her murder
when
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery received a tip regarding
similarities between the Zodiac killings and the circumstances surrounding
Bates' death.
Kathleen Johns, 22: Abducted on March 22, 1970, on Highway 132 by I-580,
west of Modesto. Johns escaped from the car of a man who drove her and her
infant daughter around on the backroads between Stockton and Patterson for
some three hours. After escaping to the police station in Patterson, she
saw
the Zodiac's wanted poster and identified him as her kidnapper.
Donna Lass, 25: Last seen September 26, 1970, in South Lake Tahoe. A
postcard with an ad from Forest Pines condominiums (near Incline Village
at
Lake Tahoe) pasted on the back was received at the Chronicle on March 22,
1971, and has been interpreted by some as the Zodiac claiming Lass'
disappearance as a victim. The postcard has not been conclusively linked
to
the Zodiac nor has Lass' body been found.
[edit] Timeline
[edit] Lake Herman Road
The first murders widely attributed to the Zodiac Killer were the
shootings
of high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on December 20,
1968, just inside the Benicia city limits.
The couple were on their first date and planned to attend a Christmas
concert at Hogan High a few blocks from Jensen's home. Instead they
visited
a friend and stopped at a local restaurant, then drove out Lake Herman
Road.
At about 10:15 pm Faraday parked his mother's Rambler in a gravel turnout,
which was a well-known lover's lane.
Shortly after 11 pm, another car pulled into the turnout and parked beside
them. The driver apparently got out with a pistol and ordered them out of
the Rambler. Jensen exited first. When Faraday was halfway out, the man
shot
Faraday in the head. Fleeing, Jensen was gunned down twenty-eight feet
from
the car by five shots through her back. The man then drove off.[1]
Their bodies were found minutes later by Stella Borges, who lived nearby.
She alerted Captain Daniel Pitta and Officer William T. Warner. Detective
Sergeant Les Lundblad of the Solano County Sheriff's Department
investigated
the crime, but no solid leads developed.
[edit] Blue Rock Springs
Some time around midnight on July 4 - July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and
Michael Mageau drove to the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course in Vallejo, four
miles from the Lake Herman Road murder site, and parked. While they sat in
Ferrin's car, another car drove into the lot and parked beside them. It
drove away almost immediately, then returned about 10 minutes later and
parked behind them. The driver then got out and approached the passenger
side door, carrying a flashlight and a 9 mm handgun. He first shone the
light in their eyes to blind them, then shot both of them multiple times
and
began to return to his car. When Mageau moaned in pain, the driver
returned
and shot them both again. He then drove off.[2]
At 12:40 am, a man phoned the Vallejo Police Department to report and
claim
responsibility for the attack. He also took credit for the murders of
Jensen
and Faraday six and a half months earlier. The police traced the call to a
phone booth at a gas station at Springs Road and Tuolumne, about three
tenths of a mile from Ferrin's home and only a few blocks from the Vallejo
Sheriff's Department.[3][4]
Ferrin was pronounced dead at the hospital. Mageau survived the attack
despite being shot in the face, neck, and chest. Detectives John Lynch and
Ed Rust of the Vallejo Police Department initially investigated the
crime.[5] Detective Jack Mulanax took over the case in the 1970s.
[edit] The Zodiac letters begin
The solution to Zodiac's 408-symbol cipher. The meaning, if any, of the
final eighteen letters has not been determined.[6]On August 1, 1969, three
letters prepared by Zodiac were received at the Vallejo Times-Herald, the
San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Francisco Examiner. The nearly
identical letters took credit for the shootings at Lake Herman Road and
Blue
Rock Springs. Each letter also included one-third of a 408-symbol
cryptogram
which the killer claimed contained his identity. Zodiac demanded they be
printed on each paper's front page or he would "cruse [sic] around all
weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until
I
end up with a dozen people over the weekend."[7] The Chronicle published
its
third of the cryptogram on page four of the next day's edition. An article
printed alongside the code quoted Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz as
saying "We're not satisfied that the letter was written by the murderer"
and
requested the writer send a second letter with more facts to prove his
identity.[8] The threatened murders did not happen, and all three parts
were
eventually published.
On August 7, 1969, another letter was received at the San Francisco
Examiner
with the salutation, "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking". It was the
first time the killer had referred to himself with this name. The letter
was
in response to Chief Stiltz asking him to provide more details to prove he
killed Faraday, Jensen and Ferrin. In it, the Zodiac included details
about
the murders which had not been released to the public as well as a message
to the police that when they cracked his code "they will have me."[9]
On August 8, 1969, Donald and Bettye Harden of Salinas, California,
cracked
the 408-symbol cryptogram. No name appears in the decoded text. [6]
[edit] Lake Berryessa
On September 27, 1969, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were picnicking
at
Lake Berryessa on a small island connected by a sand spit to Twin Oak
Ridge.
A man approached them wearing a black executioner's-type hood with clip-on
sunglasses over the eye-holes and a bib-like device on his chest that had
a
white 3"x3" cross-circle symbol on it. He approached them with a gun
Hartnell believed to be a .45. The hooded man claimed to be an escaped
convict from Deer Lodge, Montana, where he killed a guard and stole a car,
and explained that he needed their car and money to go to Mexico. He had
brought precut lengths of plastic clothesline and told Shepard to tie up
Hartnell, before tying her up himself. The Zodiac checked and tightened
Hartnell's bonds after discovering she bound him loosely. Hartnell
initially
believed it to be a weird robbery, but the man drew a knife and stabbed
them
both. He then hiked 500 yards back up to Knoxville Road, drew the
cross-circle symbol on Hartnell's car door with a black felt-tip pen, and
wrote beneath it: Vallejo/12-20-68/7-4-69/Sept 27-69-6:30/by knife.[10]
At 7:40 p.m., the man called the Napa County Sheriff's office from a pay
telephone to report his crime. The phone was found still off the hook
minutes later at the Napa Car Wash on Main Street in Napa by KVON radio
reporter Pat Stanley, only a few blocks from the sheriff's office and 27
miles from the crime scene. Detectives were able to lift a still-wet palm
print from the telephone but were never able to match it to a suspect.[11]
A man and his son who were fishing in a nearby cove had discovered the
victims after hearing their screams for help and summoned help by
contacting
park rangers. Napa County Sheriff Deputies Dave Collins and Ray Land were
the first law enforcement officers to arrive at the scene of the
assault.[12] Cecelia Shepard was conscious when Collins arrived and gave
him
a detailed description of the attacker. Hartnell and Shepard were taken to
Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa by ambulance. Shepard lapsed into a
coma during transport to the hospital and never regained consciousness.
She
died two days later, but Hartnell survived to recount his tale to the
press.[13][14] Napa County Sheriff Detective Ken Narlow, who was assigned
to
the case from the outset, worked on solving the crime until his retirement
from the department in 1987.[15]
[edit] Presidio Heights
On October 11, 1969, a man entered Paul Stine's cab at the intersection of
Mason and Geary Streets in San Francisco and requested to be taken to
Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights. For reasons unknown,
Stine
drove one block further to Cherry Street; the man shot him once in the
head
with a 9mm, then took his wallet and car keys and tore off his shirt tail.
He was observed by three teenagers across the street at 9:55 pm, who
called
the police as the crime was in progress. They observed the man wiping the
cab down, and then walking away towards the Presidio, one block to the
north. The police arrived minutes later, and the teen witnesses explained
that the killer was still nearby.
Two blocks from the crime scene, officer Don Fouke, also responding to the
call, observed a white man walking along the sidewalk then stepping onto a
stairway leading up to the front yard of one of the homes on the north
side
of the street; the encounter lasted only five to ten seconds. His partner,
Eric Zelms, did not see the man. The radio dispatch had alerted them to
look
for a black and not a white suspect, so they had no reason to talk to the
man and drove past him without stopping; the mix up in descriptions
remains
unexplained to this day. When they reached Cherry, Fouke was informed that
they were in fact looking for a white suspect; Fouke realized they must
have
passed the killer. Fouke concluded that the Zodiac had resumed his
original
route and escaped into the Presidio, so they entered the base to look for
him but the killer had vanished. A search ensued, but nothing was found.
The
three teen witnesses worked with a police artist to prepare a composite of
Stine's killer, and a few days later returned to produce a second
composite.
The killer was estimated to be 35-45 years of age. Detectives Bill
Armstrong
and Dave Toschi were assigned to the case. The San Francisco Police
Department eventually investigated an estimated 2,500 suspects over a
period
of years.[16]
[edit] More letters and codes
The unsolved 340-symbol cipher, mailed November 8, 1969.On October 14,
1969,
the Chronicle received yet another letter from the Zodiac, this time
containing a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt tail as proof he was the killer;
it also included a threat about shooting school children. It was only then
that the police knew whom they were looking for a few nights before in
Presidio Heights.
At 2 a.m. on October 22, 1969, someone claiming to be the Zodiac called
Oakland PD demanding that one of two prominent lawyers, F. Lee Bailey or
Melvin Belli, appear on Jim Dunbar's television talk show in the morning.
Bailey was not available, but Belli appeared on the show. Dunbar appealed
to
the viewers to keep the lines open, and eventually, someone claiming to be
the Zodiac called several times and said his name was Sam. Belli agreed to
meet with him in Daly City, but the suspect never showed up. Police
officers
who had heard the Zodiac, listened to "Sam's" voice and agreed that he was
not the Zodiac. Subsequent calls the suspect made to Belli were traced to
the Napa State Hospital, where it was learned that "Sam" was a mental
patient.
On November 8, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a card with another cryptogram
consisting of 340 characters. On November 9, 1969, he mailed a seven-page
letter in which he claimed that two policemen stopped and actually spoke
with him three minutes after he shot Stine. Excerpts from the letter were
published in the Chronicle on November 12, including the Zodiac's
claim[17][18]; that same day, Don Fouke wrote a memo explaining what had
happened that night. The 340 character cipher has never been decoded.[19]
Many possible "solutions" have been suggested, but cannot be accepted
since
they do away with codemaking conventions.
On December 20, 1969, exactly one year after the murders of David Faraday
and Betty Lou Jensen, the Zodiac mailed a letter to Belli and included yet
another swatch of Stine's shirt; the Zodiac claimed he wanted Belli to
help
him.
[edit] Modesto
On the night of March 22, 1970, Kathleen Johns was driving from San
Bernardino to Petaluma to visit her mother. She was seven months pregnant
and had her 10-month-old daughter beside her. While heading west on
Highway
132 near Modesto, a car behind her began honking and flashing its lights.
She pulled off the road and stopped. The man in the car parked behind her,
stated her right rear tire was wobbling, and offered to tighten the lugs.
After finishing his work, the man drove off, and when Johns pulled forward
the wheel came off the car. The man stopped, backed up, and offered to
drive
her to the nearest gas station for help. She and her daughter climbed into
his car. They drove past several service stations but the man did not
stop.
For some three hours he drove them up and down the backroads around Tracy,
and when she asked why he was not stopping, he would change the
subject.[20]
When the driver stopped at an intersection, Johns jumped out with her
daughter and hid in a field. He came out to look for her, but when a truck
driver spotted the scene, Johns' abductor drove off. Johns hitched a ride
to
the police station in Patterson. As she gave her statement to the sergeant
on duty, she noticed the police composite of Paul Stine's killer and
recognized him as the man who abducted her and her child. Fearing the
Zodiac
might come back and kill them all, the sergeant had Johns wait in nearby
Mil's Restaurant in the dark. When found, her car had been gutted and
torched.
There are many conflicting accounts of the Johns abduction. Most claim he
threatened to kill her and her daughter while driving them around, but at
least one police report disputes that.[20] Johns' account to Paul Avery of
the Chronicle indicates her abductor left his car and searched for her in
the dark with a flashlight; however, in the two reports she made to the
police, she stated he did not leave the vehicle.[21] Some accounts state
Johns' vehicle was moved then torched, while others contend it was located
where she'd left it.[21] The various discrepancies among Johns' accounts
over the years have led many researchers to question whether she was an
actual Zodiac victim.[22]
[edit] Further communications
The Zodiac continued to communicate with authorities for the remainder of
1970 via letters and greeting cards to the press. In a letter postmarked
April 20, 1970, the Zodiac wrote, "My name is _____," followed by a
13-character cipher.[23] The Zodiac went on to state that he was not
responsible for the recent bombing of a police station in San Francisco
(referring to the February 18, 1970, death of Sgt. Brian McDonnell two
days
after the bombing at Park Station in Golden Gate Park)[24] but added
"there
is more glory to killing a cop than a cid [sic] because a cop can shoot
back." The letter included a diagram of a bomb the Zodiac claimed he would
use to blow up a school bus. At the bottom of the diagram, he had written:
"
= 10, SFPD = 0".[23]
Zodiac sent a greeting card postmarked April 28, 1970, to the Chronicle.
Written on the card was, "I hope you enjoy yourselves when I have my
BLAST,"
followed by the Zodiac's cross circle signature. On the back of the card,
the Zodiac threatened to use his bus bomb soon unless the newspaper
published the full details he wrote. He also wanted to start seeing people
wearing "some nice Zodiac butons" [sic][25]
In a letter postmarked June 26, 1970, the Zodiac stated he was upset he
did
not see people wearing Zodiac buttons. He wrote, "I shot a man sitting in
a
parked car with a .38."[26] It has been proposed the Zodiac was referring
to
the murder of Sgt Richard Radetich a week earlier, on June 19. At 5:25 AM,
Radetich was writing a parking ticket in his squad car when an assailant
shot him in the head with a .38-caliber pistol. Radetich died 15 hours
later. SFPD denies the Zodiac was involved in this murder; it remains
unsolved.[24]
Included with the letter was a Phillips 66 map of the San Francisco Bay
Area. On the image of Mount Diablo, the Zodiac had drawn a crossed-circle
similar to that he had included in previous correspondence. At the top of
the crossed circle, he placed a zero, and then a three, six, and a nine,
so
the annotation resembled a clock face. The accompanying instructions
stated
that the zero was “to be set to Mag. N."[27] The letter also included a
32-letter cipher that the killer claimed would, in conjunction with the
code, lead to the location of a bomb he had buried and set to go off in
the
autumn. The bomb was never located. The killer had signed the note with "
=
12, SFPD = 0".
In a letter to the Chronicle postmarked July 24, 1970, the Zodiac took
credit for Kathleen Johns' abduction, four months after the incident.[28]
In his July 26, 1970 letter, the Zodiac paraphrased a song from The
Mikado,
adding his own lyrics about making a "little list" of the ways he planned
to
torture his "slaves" in "paradice." The letter was signed with a large,
exaggerated cross circle symbol and a new score: " = 13, SFPD = 0".[29] A
final note at the bottom of the letter stated, "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code
concerns Radians + # inches along the radians."[30] In 1981, a close
examination of the radian hint by Zodiac researcher Gareth Penn led to the
discovery that a radian angle, when placed over the map per Zodiac's
instructions, pointed to the locations of two Zodiac attacks.[31]
On 7 October 1970, the Chronicle received a three-by-five inch card signed
by the Zodiac with the drawn with blood. The card's message was formed by
pasting words and letters from an edition of the Chronicle and thirteen
holes were punched across the card. Inspectors Armstrong and Toschi agreed
it was "highly probable" the card came from the Zodiac.[32]
[edit] Riverside
On October 27, 1970, Chronicle reporter Paul Avery (who had been covering
the Zodiac case) received a Halloween card signed with a letter 'Z' and
the
Zodiac's cross circle symbol. Handwritten on the card was the note
"Peek-a-boo, you are doomed." The threat was taken seriously and received
a
front page story on the Chronicle.[33] Soon after, Avery received an
anonymous letter alerting him to the similarities between the Zodiac's
activities and the unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates, which had occurred
four years earlier at the city college in Riverside in the Greater Los
Angeles Area, more than 400 miles south of San Francisco.[34] He reported
his findings in the Chronicle on November 16, 1970.
On October 30, 1966, 18-year-old Bates spent the evening at the campus
library annex until it closed at 9 p.m. Neighbors reported they heard a
scream around 10:30 p.m. Bates was found dead the next morning a short
distance from the library between two abandoned houses slated to be
demolished for campus renovations. The wires in her Volkswagen's
distributor
cap had been pulled out. She was brutally beaten and stabbed to death. A
man's Timex watch with a torn wristband was found nearby.[35] The watch
had
stopped at 12:24[36], but police believe the attack occurred much
earlier[35]. Also discovered were the prints of a military-style shoe.[37]
The ConfessionA month later, on November 29, 1966, nearly identical
typewritten letters were mailed to the Riverside police and the Riverside
Press-Enterprise. Titled "The Confession", the author claimed
responsibility
for the Bates murder, providing details of the crime not released to the
public, and warned that Bates "is not the first and she will not be the
last."[38]
In December 1966, a poem was discovered carved into the bottom side of a
desktop in the Riverside City College library. Titled "Sick of
living/unwilling to die", the poem's language and handwriting resembled
those of the Zodiac's letters. It was signed with what were assumed to be
the initials "rh". Sherwood Morrill, California's top "Questioned
Documents"
examiner, expressed his opinion that the poem was written by the
Zodiac.[39]
On April 30, 1967 – the six-month anniversary of Bates' murder –
Bates'
father Joseph, the Press-Enterprise, and the Riverside police all received
nearly identical letters. In handwritten scrawl, the Press-Enterprise and
police copies read "Bates had to die there will be more," with a small
scribble at the bottom that resembled the letter 'Z'. Joseph Bates' copy
read "She had to die there will be more" without a 'Z'
“signature”.[40]
On March 13, 1971, nearly four months after Paul Avery's first article on
Bates, the Zodiac mailed a letter to the Los Angeles Times. In it he
credited the police instead of Avery for discovering his "Riverside
activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a
lot
more down there."[41]
The connection between Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, and the Zodiac remains
uncertain. The Riverside Police Department maintains that the Bates
homicide
was not committed by the Zodiac, but did concede some of the Bates letters
may have been his work to falsely claim credit.[42]
[edit] Lake Tahoe
On March 22, 1971, a postcard to the Chronicle addressed to "Paul Averly"
–
intended for Paul Avery and believed to be from the Zodiac – appeared to
take credit for the disappearance of Donna Lass from South Lake Tahoe on
September 26, 1970. Made from a collage of advertisements and magazine
lettering, it featured a scene from an ad for Forest Pines condominiums
and
the text "Sierra Club," "Sought Victim 12," "peek through the pines,"
"pass
Lake Tahoe areas," and "around in the snow." Zodiac's cross circle symbol
was in the place of the usual return address.[43]
Lass was a nurse at the Sahara Tahoe hotel and casino. She worked until
about 2 a.m. on September 26, treating her last patient at 1:40 a.m., and
was not seen leaving her office. The next morning, her work uniform and
shoes were found in a paper bag in her office inexplicably soiled with
dirt.
Her car was found at her apartment complex, and her apartment was
spotless.[44] Later that day both her employer and her landlord received
phone calls from an unknown male who falsely claimed Lass had to leave
town
due to a family emergency.[45] The police and sheriffs' office initially
treated Lass' disappearance as a missing persons investigation, suspecting
she simply left on her own.[44] Lass was never found. What appeared to be
a
grave site was discovered near the Claire Tappan Lodge in Norden,
California, on Sierra Club property, but excavation yielded only a pair of
sunglasses.[46]
[edit] Santa Barbara
In a Vallejo Times-Herald story that appeared on November 13, 1972, Santa
Barbara Sheriff's Detective Bill Baker (ret.) theorized that the murders
of
a young couple in Santa Barbara County may have been the work of the
Zodiac.
On June 4, 1963, five and a half years before the Zodiac's first known
murders on Lake Herman Road, high-school senior Robert Domingos and
fiancée
Linda Edwards were shot to death on a beach near Lompoc, having skipped
school that day for "Senior Ditch Day". Police believed that the assailant
attempted to bind the victims, but when they freed themselves attempting
to
flee, he shot them repeatedly in the back and chest with a .22-caliber
weapon. He then placed their bodies in a small nearby shack and tried,
unsuccessfully, to burn it down.[47]
The suggestion that Domingos and Edwards' murders are the work of the
Zodiac
is due to the similarities between their attack and the Zodiac's attack at
Lake Berryessa.
[edit] The final letters
After the "Pines" card, the Zodiac remained silent for nearly three years,
after which the Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac, postmarked
January 29, 1974, praising The Exorcist as "the best saterical comidy"
that
he had ever seen. The letter included a snippet of verse from The Mikado
and
an unusual symbol at the bottom that has gone unexplained by researchers.
Zodiac concluded the letter with a new score, "Me = 37, SFPD = 0".[48]
The Chronicle received another letter postmarked February 14, 1974,
informing the editor that the initials for the Symbionese Liberation Army
spelled out an Old Norse word meaning "kill."[49][50] However, the
handwriting was not authenticated as the Zodiac's.
Another letter received by the Chronicle, postmarked May 8, 1974, featured
a
complaint that the movie Badlands was "murder-glorification" and asked the
paper to cut its advertisements. Signed only "A citizen", the handwriting,
tone, and surface irony are all similar to prior Zodiac
communications.[51]
The Chronicle received an anonymous letter postmarked July 8, 1974,
complaining about one of its columnists, Marco Spinelli. The letter was
signed "the Red Phantom (red with rage)". The Zodiac's authorship of this
letter is debated.[52]
Another four years passed without communication — purported or verified
—
from the Zodiac. A letter of April 24, 1978, was initially deemed
authentic,
but was declared by three other experts to be a hoax less than three
months
later. In recent years, however, the letter has been deemed in some
quarters
as authentic. Toschi, the SFPD homicide detective who had been on the case
since the Stine murder, was thought to have forged the letter, since
author
Armistead Maupin thought it similar to "fan mail" he received in 1976 that
he believed was authored by Toschi. While he admitted writing the fan
mail,
Toschi denied forging the Zodiac letter and was eventually cleared of any
charges. The authenticity of the letter remains in question.
On March 3, 2007, it was reported that an American Greetings Christmas
card
sent to the Chronicle postmarked 1990 in Eureka had been recently
discovered
in their photo files by editorial assistant Daniel King.[53] Inside the
envelope with the card was a photocopy of two U.S. Postal keys on a magnet
keychain. The handwriting on the envelope resembles Zodiac's print, but
was
declared inauthentic by forensic document examiner Lloyd Cunningham. Not
all
Zodiac experts, however, agree with Cunningham's analysis.[54] There is no
return address on the envelope nor is his crossed-circle signature to be
found. The card itself is unmarked.[55] The Chronicle turned over all the
material to the Vallejo Police Department for further analysis.
[edit] Current status
The last SFPD investigators of the case were Homicide Detail Inspectors
Michael N. Maloney and Kelly Carroll. They were the first to submit DNA
evidence from Zodiac's letters for analysis, which resulted in a partial
genetic profile. DNA testing seems to have conclusively ruled out their
lead
suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen,[56] and later Mike Rodelli's suspect, a
prominent San Francisco businessman who lived near Paul Stine's murder
scene.[57]
The SFPD marked the case "inactive" in April 2004, citing caseload
pressure
and resource demands.[57] They reopened the case some time before March
2007
and returned evidence to Vallejo police for additional DNA testing, where
the case has remained open.[58] The case is also open in Napa County[58]
and
Riverside[59].
[edit] Arthur Leigh Allen
Main article: Arthur Leigh Allen
Arthur Leigh Allen was the prime suspect in the Zodiac murders. Although
he
was never charged in the case, many believed him to have been the infamous
Zodiac serial killer. Among the sources that theorize Allen as the killer
are Robert Graysmith’s book Zodiac and the 2007 film by David Fincher
entitled Zodiac. The plot of the film seemingly makes a case for Allen as
the killer.
[edit] The Zodiac Killer in popular culture
Main article: The Zodiac Killer in popular culture
The Zodiac Killer's crimes, letters, and cryptograms to police and
newspapers inspired many movies, novels, television, and more.
[edit] References
^ Graysmith, Robert (1976). Zodiac. Berkley, 4 - 7. ISBN 0-425-09808-7.
^ Graysmith, pp. 26 - 28.
^ Graysmith, pp. 32 - 33.
^ Vallejo. AOL. Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
^ Graysmith, p. 29.
^ a b Graysmith, pp. 54 - 55.
^ Graysmith, p. 49.
^ Coded Clues in Murders. San Francisco Chronicle, 2 August 1969. Accessed
21 July 2007.
^ Graysmith, pp. 55 - 57.
^ Graysmith, pp. 62 - 77
^ Stanley, Pat (2007-02-18). Zodiac on the line .... Napa Valley Register.
Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
^ Dorgan, Marsha (2007-02-18). Online exclusive: In the wake, of the
Zodiac.
Napa Valley Register. Retrieved on 2007-05-10.
^ Carson, L. Pierce (2007-02-18). Zodiac victim: 'I refused to die'. Napa
Valley Register. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
^ Girl Dies of Stabbing at Berryessa. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved
on
2007-11-24.
^ Dorgan, Marsha (2007-02-18). Tracking the mark of the Zodiac for
decades.
Napa Valley Register. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
^ Drake, Rossiter. Author believes he knows Zodiac Killer's identity; San
Francisco Examiner; 2007-03-01; accessed 2007-03-07.
^ "I've Killed Seven" The Zodiac Claims. San Francisco Chronicle, 12
November 1969.
^ New Letters From Zodiac -- Boast of More Killings. San Francisco
Chronicle, 12 November 1969.
^ McCarthy, Chris. Alphabet of the 340 Character Zodiac Cypher.
^ a b Police report
^ a b This Is The Zodiac Speaking/Highway 132
^ Johns profile
^ a b "My Name Is" letter; accessed 2007-03-08
^ a b Zamorra, Jim Herron. 1967-71 -- a bloody period for S.F. police. San
Francisco Chronicle; 2007-01-27; accessed 2007-03-07
^ Dragon card letter
^ Button letter
^ Zodiac map letter
^ Zodiac Johns letter
^ Zodiac Mikado letter
^ Zodiac Mikado letter, cont.
^ Rowlett, Curt, Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime &
Conspiracy,
Chapter 9, The Z Files: Labyrinth13 Examines the Zodiac Murders, The Rhyme
of the Radian, pp. 64-68. (Lulu Press, 2006). ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
^ Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac. San Francisco Chronicle, October
12,
1970.
^ Graysmith, p. 160.
^ Graysmith, pp. 161 - 162.
^ a b Graysmith, pp. 165 - 166.
^ Photo of watch found near Bates' body. Accessed 21 July 2007.
^ Riverside. Accessed 21 July 2007.
^ Graysmith, pp. 168 - 169.
^ Graysmith, pp. 170 - 172.
^ Riverside and the Zodiac. Accessed 21 July 2007.
^ L.A. Times 1971 Zodiac letter Accessed 21 July 2007.
^ Zimmerman, Janet. New movie 'Zodiac' includes Redlands resident's attack
Riverside Press-Enterprise, March 1, 2007. Accessed March 13, 2007.
^ Zodiac postcard
^ a b Message board containing email from former Lake Tahoe police oficer
^ Graysmith, p. 178.
^ Lass profile
^ Santa Barbara Sheriff Detective Bill Baker explains the case on a
message
board. Accessed 21 July 2007.
^ Zodiac Exorcist letter
^ Tips Still Pursue Multiple Slayer. San Francisco Chronicle, 26 August
1976.
^ SLA Letter
^ Citizen Letter
^ Red Phantom letter
^ Williams, Lance. Zodiac's written clues fascinate document expert. San
Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2007. Accessed March 15, 2007.
^ Freedman, Rich. Zodiac: Did killer send card in 1990?; The Vallejo Times
Herald, March 3, 2007. Accessed March 16, 2007.
^ Christmas card envelope; Christmas card front; Christmas card interior;
Photocopy of Christmas card keys and pencil. Accessed March 15, 2007.
^ Weiss, Mike; DNA seems to clear only Zodiac suspect; San Francisco
Chronicle; 2002-10-12; accessed 2007-02-28
^ a b Goodyear, Charles; Files shut on Zodiac's deadly trail; San
Francisco
Chronicle; 2004-04-07; accessed 2007-02-28
^ a b Goldman-Hall, Jason; Police still keep Zodiac Killer's case open;
San
Francisco Examiner; 2007-03-01; accessed 2008-03-22
^ Hill, Lisa O'Neill; Sleuths keep mysterious death alive (reprint)];
Riverside Press-Enterprise; 2002-05-13; accessed 2008-03-22
[edit] Further reading
Beeman, William (writing as “Dr. Oscar Henry Jigglelance”) Jack the
Zodiac
Parts I & II (White Lite Publishing, Vallejo, CA, 1990).
Davis, Howard, The Zodiac/Manson Connection (Pen Power Publications, Costa
Mesa, CA, March 1997). ISBN 0-9629-0842-8.
Graysmith, Robert, Zodiac (Berkeley; reissue edition, January 2007). ISBN
0-4252-1218-1.
Graysmith, Robert, Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive
Serial Killer (Berkeley; reissue edition, January 2007). ISBN
0-4252-1273-4.
Kelleher, Michael D. and Van Nuys, David, “This is the Zodiac
Speaking”:
Into the Mind of a Serial Killer (Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT,
January
2002). ISBN 0-2759-7338-7.
Oswell, Douglas and Rusconi, Michael, Dr. Zodiac: The Unabomber-Zodiac
Connection (CD-ROM; Carfax Publishing, Dover, DE, 1998).
Penn, Gareth (writing under the pseudonym "George Oakes") Portrait of the
Artist as a Mass Murderer, California Magazine November 1981, pp. 111-114,
166-170.
Penn, Gareth, Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in
California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981 (The Foxglove Press, CA, April
1987). ISBN 0-9618-4940-1.
Penn, Gareth, The Second Power: A Mathematical Analysis of the Letters
Attributed to the Zodiac Murderer and Supplement to Times 17
(self-published
booklet 1999).
Rasmussen, William T., Corroborating Evidence II (Sunstone Press, 2006).
ISBN 0-86534-536-8.
Rowlett, Curt, Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy
Chapter 9, The Z Files: Labyrinth13 Examines the Zodiac Murders (Lulu
Press,
2006). ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
Rowlett, Curt, Decoding the Zodiac Killer, Issue 43, Paranoia (magazine),
Winter 2007, pp. 48-52.
[edit] External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Zodiac Killer lettersTwo New Theories Regarding the Zodiac Case
Zodiac Killer Ciphers 2.0 - Statistical analysis of the Zodiac's ciphers
as
well as tools to attempt to solve them. (Requires JavaScript.)
Zodiac Cipher Tools - Software to aid in solving the ciphers of the Zodiac
killer.
"Decades Later, Zodiac Murders Still Draw Sleuths" - National Public
Radio,
1 March 2007
Zodiac called a "clumsy criminal" - Original San Francisco Chronicle
article
from 18 October 1969 where Zodiac's methods and psychology are questioned
by
law enforcement.
"Zodiac: The Conclusion" - An argument that the Zodiac Killer was a hoax.
Zodiac cipher web toy - Dynamic online interactive tool for decoding the
Zodiac's unsolved 340-character cipher. (Requires JavaScript.)
"Zodiac Murder Map" - Google Map plotting definite and possible Zodiac
attacks (with details).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer"
Categories: American serial killers | Unidentified serial killers |
Unsolved
murders | 1960s in the United States | 1970s in the United States |
Vallejo,
California | Riverside, California | Napa County, California | Possibly
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