Believed to have killed at least five people in northern California from 1968 to 1969, the Zodiac killer has remained unknown since his first murders: the shooting of a teenage couple. When another couple was shot in 1969 (this time one of the victims survived), the killer called the police to take responsibility for both crimes. He also wrote taunting letters to newspapers. The letters often began with the words “This is the Zodiac speaking” and ended with a symbol resembling the crosshairs of a gunsight.
Those newspapers published not only the killer’s letters but also the ciphers he sent along with them. The papers encouraged the public to help decode the secret messages. One text, known as the “408 cipher,” contained the message “I like killing people because it is so much fun.” Another, the “340 cipher,” wasn’t decoded until 2020. It began, “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me.”
But the letters and the decoded ciphers haven’t been enough to crack the case. Though several suspects have been investigated, the Zodiac killer’s identity has never been proven. (The most scrutinized suspect, schoolteacher Arthur Leigh Allen, was institutionalized in 1975 for unrelated crimes.) And when we consider the theories that the killer was active before 1968 and well into the ’80s, we have to admit that we don’t even know for sure how many people he killed.
Zodiac killer, unidentified American serial killer who is believed to have murdered at least five people in northern California between 1968 and 1969. An earlier murder, the stabbing death of an 18-year-old college student in Riverside, California in 1966, is also sometimes attributed to the Zodiac killer. The case inspired the influential 1971 action film Dirty Harry, which starred Clint Eastwood, and it was the subject of the critically acclaimed David Fincher dramatic film Zodiac (2007).
In 1968 a teenage couple was shot to death near their car in a remote area north of San Francisco; one year later another couple was attacked in similar circumstances, though the male victim survived. After the 1969 attack, the killer phoned police to alert them to the crime and to take responsibility for the 1968 murders. Later that year the Zodiac killer attacked another young couple, though once again the male survived. The last known victim, a taxi driver, was shot in October 1969.
The murders were the subject of intense investigation and media coverage, particularly because of the killer’s taunting letters to newspapers and phone calls to police. His letters, sent from 1969 to 1974, were signed with a symbol resembling the crosshairs of a gunsight and typically began with the phrase, “this is the Zodiac speaking.” Included among the letters were four ciphers or cryptograms, the first of which was sent in three parts to three Bay Area newspapers in July 1969. Known as the “408 cipher” for the number of characters it contained, it was soon decoded by a pair of private citizens. Its message stated in part that, “I like killing people because it is so much fun.” Another cipher, the “340 cipher,” mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle in November 1969, was finally decoded in 2020 by a team of three amateur code breakers; its message began, “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me.”
Much remains mysterious about the Zodiac case, not least the issue of when the crimes stopped. Crime writer Robert Graysmith argued that the Zodiac killer remained active through the 1980s and murdered dozens more people, though this view is controversial. During the 1990s several investigators claimed to have identified the Zodiac killer; the suspect most often cited was Arthur Leigh Allen (1933–92), a Vallejo, California, schoolteacher who had been institutionalized in 1975 for child molestation, though his identification with the Zodiac killer has never been substantiated.
Credits: John Philip JenkinsThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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The FBI has identified the infamous 'Zodiac Killer' who killed at least five people in the 1960s as an airforce veteran, a cold case investigator has claimed.
The theory has been put forward by journalist Thomas Colbert, who has said a Bureau whistleblower confirmed to him the chief suspect was Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste.
Poste, who died in 2018, was connected to the case by a 'partial' DNA sample, Mr Colbert claims.
Case Breakers, an organisation set up by Mr Colbert to crack cold cases, said in a statement: "The felon has been secretly listed as the Zodiac "suspect" in Headquarters' computers since 2016."
The 'Zodiac Killer' is formally connected to five people brutally murdered in Northern California between 1968 and 1969. Their killer sent taunting letters and cryptograms to the authorities and newspapers.
He was dubbed 'Zodiac' because some of his puzzles included astrological symbols.
As the murders were never solved, they captured the public's imagination inspiring countless books, documentaries and even blockbuster movies.
Although the killer is known to have killed five, the true figure could be much higher and the killer themselves claimed to have killed 37.
The FBI have frequently denied the case has been solved, most recently in October 2021.
But Case Breakers say they have evidence connecting Airforce veteran Poste to all five murders and even a sixth from 1966.
The group quote their alleged whistleblower saying: "Like cops, federal agents are dealing with huge caseloads, constant training, odd rules and bureaucracy.
"But when someone wearing a badge or uniform works with others to avoid or hide materials, sidestep difficult procedures, or lie about evidence, they're hurting our volunteers and the thousands of families waiting for answers."
Despite the claims from the group, the FBI have said the case remains "open and unsolved".
The supposed evidence that led the group of sleuths to Poste was that their suspect gave away a horde of guns, ammos and other weapons not long before he died.
"Old associates of the housepainter/alleged serial killer claim that, a few years prior to Poste's 2018 death at 80, he had quietly given away his weapons, pistol parts, gunpowder, bullets and shell casings – more than a thousand, involving 25 different calibres – to his favourite locals," Case Breakers added.
Journalist Mr Colbert boxed up much of it and sent them to be investigated in labs in three different states.
He believes with this new evidence they identified the killer more than five decades later.
Mr Colbert told Fox News in 2021: "My FBI guys say it's irrefutable. It's a match.
"We also have six people that he's confessed to that he was the Zodiac. Three of them on our court affidavits. So we strongly feel that."
The gang of sleuths making up Case Breakers also connected Poste to the brutal killing of student Cheri Jo Bates, 18, who was found stabbed 42 times and nearly decapitated on October 31, 1966.
Although the FBI have debunked any claims her murder was connected to the Zodiac Killer, Case Breakers aren't so sure. They have said Poste was in the area at the time of the killing.
Credits: Mirror.co.uk
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