The Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer was directly linked to at least five murders in Northern California in 1968 through 1969 and may have been responsible for more that he did not confess to. He mocked the police and made threats through various letters sent to newspapers in the area from 1969 to 1974, before completely stopping all communication. Although there was intensive investigations, no one was arrested for the brutal murders and the case remains open.
The Cipher
On August 1, 1969 the Zodiac killer started sending letter without a return address to the Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald. In it described the killings of two teenagers at Lake Herman. They knew the letter was from The Zodiac Killer himself because of the detail. He then threatened that attacks would be made if they did not publish his letters in the paper front page.
Each letter had a symbol at the bottom that was a circle with a cross through it. Moreover, he claimed that the letters had one part of three part cipher that would give his identity one solved. The police, as well as the FBI, worked very intensively on the ciphers. They soon received another letter describing murders along with taunting the police for not being able to identify him.
Several days after receiving the letter, high school teacher Donald Harden and his wife, Bettye, solved the cipher. It read "I like killing people because it is so much fun," and "It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all."
Three days after a murder that was the fourth known Zodiac killing, yet another letter was sent to the Francisco Chronicle. The letter contained the confession of the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine, which also had a bloody scrap of his shirt with the letter. The Zodiac then stated he was going to shoot the tire of a school bus and take the children coming out.
He went on to send more letter with ciphers to bay area papers and mocked the police for not being able to solve his ciphers or catch him.
His Victims and Attacks
Four attacks have been made by the Zodiac Killer.
"The first confirmed incident took place on the night of December 20, 1968, when 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen, were shot to death near their car at a remote spot on Lake Herman Road, on the outskirts of Vallejo, California. Police were baffled, unable to determine the motive for the crime or a suspect."
The Zodiac was relentless and the police could not identify his motive.
"Early in the morning of July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin, age 22, and her boyfriend, Mike Mageau, age 19, were sitting in parked car in a similarly remote Vallejo location, when they were approached by a man with a flashlight. The figure fired multiple shots at them, killing Ferrin and seriously wounding Mageau.
Within an hour of the incident, a man called the Vallejo Police Department, giving them the location of the crime scene and claiming responsibility for both that attack and the 1968 murders of Faraday and Jensen.
Despite evidence that included fingerprints, Mageau’s description, the decoded cipher and a wave of tips and leads, police were unable to track down the Zodiac Killer."
There seemed to be a patter of some sorts to his killing, but only in location as far as anyone knew.
"On the evening of September 27, 1969, he struck again, approaching young couple Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell as they relaxed on an isolated part of the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Wearing a hood and a shirt bearing a circle-cross symbol, he tied them up before brutally stabbing them, scrawling a message for police on their car door and leaving the scene. He then called the Napa Police Department to claim responsibility. Shepard and Hartnell were both in critical condition but alive when emergency services arrived, but Shepard died of her wounds shortly thereafter."
He seemed to be targeting couples. This could seem to be his motive, but not knowing who he is makes it incredibly unclear as to what started this motive.
"Two weeks later, on October 11, 1969, the Zodiac claimed another life, shooting 29-year-old taxi driver Paul Stine in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood. As the murder did not seem to fit the Zodiac’s pattern, it was initially deemed a robbery until the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter claiming the crime."
The Zodiac Killer is strange and did not keep up with the pattern of his crimes. Not knowing who he is gave almost no lead to uncovering this case.
At the very least, five other attacks were connected to the Zodiac killer, "including the 1963 shooting of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards near Santa Barbara, California, and the 1966 stabbing death of college student Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California."
All quotations are from: https://www.biography.com/people/zodiac-killer-236027
The Zodiac Killer was directly linked to at least five murders in Northern California in 1968 through 1969 and may have been responsible for more that he did not confess to. He mocked the police and made threats through various letters sent to newspapers in the area from 1969 to 1974, before completely stopping all communication. Although there was intensive investigations, no one was arrested for the brutal murders and the case remains open.
The Cipher
On August 1, 1969 the Zodiac killer started sending letter without a return address to the Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo Times-Herald. In it described the killings of two teenagers at Lake Herman. They knew the letter was from The Zodiac Killer himself because of the detail. He then threatened that attacks would be made if they did not publish his letters in the paper front page.
Each letter had a symbol at the bottom that was a circle with a cross through it. Moreover, he claimed that the letters had one part of three part cipher that would give his identity one solved. The police, as well as the FBI, worked very intensively on the ciphers. They soon received another letter describing murders along with taunting the police for not being able to identify him.
Several days after receiving the letter, high school teacher Donald Harden and his wife, Bettye, solved the cipher. It read "I like killing people because it is so much fun," and "It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all."
Three days after a murder that was the fourth known Zodiac killing, yet another letter was sent to the Francisco Chronicle. The letter contained the confession of the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine, which also had a bloody scrap of his shirt with the letter. The Zodiac then stated he was going to shoot the tire of a school bus and take the children coming out.
He went on to send more letter with ciphers to bay area papers and mocked the police for not being able to solve his ciphers or catch him.
His Victims and Attacks
Four attacks have been made by the Zodiac Killer.
"The first confirmed incident took place on the night of December 20, 1968, when 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen, were shot to death near their car at a remote spot on Lake Herman Road, on the outskirts of Vallejo, California. Police were baffled, unable to determine the motive for the crime or a suspect."
The Zodiac was relentless and the police could not identify his motive.
"Early in the morning of July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin, age 22, and her boyfriend, Mike Mageau, age 19, were sitting in parked car in a similarly remote Vallejo location, when they were approached by a man with a flashlight. The figure fired multiple shots at them, killing Ferrin and seriously wounding Mageau.
Within an hour of the incident, a man called the Vallejo Police Department, giving them the location of the crime scene and claiming responsibility for both that attack and the 1968 murders of Faraday and Jensen.
Despite evidence that included fingerprints, Mageau’s description, the decoded cipher and a wave of tips and leads, police were unable to track down the Zodiac Killer."
There seemed to be a patter of some sorts to his killing, but only in location as far as anyone knew.
"On the evening of September 27, 1969, he struck again, approaching young couple Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell as they relaxed on an isolated part of the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Wearing a hood and a shirt bearing a circle-cross symbol, he tied them up before brutally stabbing them, scrawling a message for police on their car door and leaving the scene. He then called the Napa Police Department to claim responsibility. Shepard and Hartnell were both in critical condition but alive when emergency services arrived, but Shepard died of her wounds shortly thereafter."
He seemed to be targeting couples. This could seem to be his motive, but not knowing who he is makes it incredibly unclear as to what started this motive.
"Two weeks later, on October 11, 1969, the Zodiac claimed another life, shooting 29-year-old taxi driver Paul Stine in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood. As the murder did not seem to fit the Zodiac’s pattern, it was initially deemed a robbery until the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter claiming the crime."
The Zodiac Killer is strange and did not keep up with the pattern of his crimes. Not knowing who he is gave almost no lead to uncovering this case.
At the very least, five other attacks were connected to the Zodiac killer, "including the 1963 shooting of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards near Santa Barbara, California, and the 1966 stabbing death of college student Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California."
All quotations are from: https://www.biography.com/people/zodiac-killer-236027