Zodiac Killer

For the New York City Zodiac copycat, see Heriberto Seda. For the Japanese Zodiac copycat, see Seito Sakakibara.

Zodiac Killer
A sketch of the Zodiac Killer based on witness testimonies
Background information
Birth name	Unknown
Also known as	Zodiac
Born	Unknown
Died	Unknown
Cause of death	Unknown
Conviction	N/A
Sentence	N/A
Killings
Number of victims:	5 killed, 2 injured (claimed to have killed 37)
Span of killings	December 20, 1968 (possibly June 4, 1966), (letters 1969)–October 11, 1969 (possibly 1972), (letters 1974)
Country	United States
State(s)	California, possibly also Nevada
Date apprehended	N/A

The symbol used by the Zodiac Killer to sign his correspondence

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered 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. The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers). Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been confirmed to have been decoded.^[1]

Numerous suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive," yet re-opened the case at some point prior to March 2007.^[2][3] The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County.^[4] The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.^[5]

Victims

Confirmed victims

Although the Zodiac claimed 37 murders in letters to the newspapers, investigators agree on only seven confirmed victims, two of whom survived.^[6] They are:

• David Arthur Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16: shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, within the city limits of Benicia.
• Michael Mageau Renault, 19, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22: shot on July 4, 1969, in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. While Mageau survived the attack, Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
• Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20, and Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22: stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Hartnell survived eight stab wounds to the back, but Shepard died as a result of her injuries on September 29, 1969.
• Paul Lee Stine, 29: shot and killed on October 11, 1969, in the Presidio Heights neighborhood in San Francisco.

Suspected victims

The following murder victims are suspected to be victims of Zodiac, though none have been confirmed:

• Robert Domingos, 18, and Linda Edwards, 17: shot and killed on June 4, 1963, on a beach near Lompoc. Edwards and Domingos were identified as possible Zodiac victims because of specific similarities between their attack and the Zodiac's attack at Lake Berryessa six years later.^[7]
• Cheri Jo Bates, 18: stabbed to death and nearly decapitated on October 30, 1966, at Riverside City College in Riverside. Bates' possible connection to the Zodiac only appeared 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.^[8]
• Donna Lass, 25: last seen September 6, 1970, in Stateline, Nevada. A postcard with an advertisement 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 as the Zodiac claiming Lass' disappearance as a victim. No evidence has been uncovered to definitively connect Donna Lass' disappearance with the Zodiac Killer.^[9]

There is also a suspected third escapee from the Zodiac Killer:

• Kathleen Johns, 22: allegedly abducted on March 22, 1970, on Highway 132 near I-580, in an area west of Modesto. Johns escaped from the car of a man who drove her, and her infant daughter, around in the area between Stockton and Patterson for approximately three hours.^[10]

Timeline

Lake Herman Road attack

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, on Lake Herman Road, just inside Benicia city limits.

The couple were on their first date and planned to attend a Christmas concert at Hogan High School about three blocks from Jensen's home. The couple instead visited a friend before stopping at a local restaurant and then driving out on Lake Herman Road. At about 10:15 p.m., Faraday parked his mother's Rambler in a gravel turnout, which was a well-known lovers' lane.

Shortly after 11:00 p.m., their bodies were found by Stella Borges, who lived nearby. The Solano County Sheriff's Department investigated the crime but no leads developed.^[11]

Utilizing available forensic data, Robert Graysmith postulated that another car pulled into the turnout, just prior to 11:00 pm and parked beside the couple. The killer apparently exited the second car and walked toward the Rambler, possibly ordering the couple out of the Rambler. Jensen appeared to have exited the car first, yet when Faraday was halfway out, the killer apparently shot Faraday in the head. Fleeing from the killer, Jensen was gunned down twenty-eight feet from the car with five shots through her back. The killer then drove off.^[12]

Blue Rock Springs attack

Just before midnight on July 4, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau drove into the Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, four miles from the Lake Herman Road murder site, and parked. While the couple sat in Ferrin's car, a second car drove into the lot and parked alongside them but almost immediately drove away. Returning about 10 minutes later, this second car parked behind them. The driver of the second car then exited the vehicle, approaching the passenger side door of Ferrin's car, carrying a flashlight and a 9 mm Luger. The killer directed the flashlight into Mageau's and Ferrin's eyes before shooting at them, firing five times. Both victims were hit, several bullets passing through Mageau and into Ferrin. The killer walked away from the car but upon hearing Mageau's moaning, returned and shot each victim twice more before driving off.^[13]

On July 5, 1969, at 12:40 a.m., a man phoned the Vallejo Police Department to report and claim responsibility for the attack. The caller 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 Police Department.^[14]

Ferrin was pronounced dead at the hospital. Mageau survived the attack despite being shot in the face, neck and chest.^[15]

Letters from the Zodiac

The solution to Zodiac's 408-symbol cipher. The meaning, if any, of the final eighteen letters has not been determined.^[16]

On August 1, 1969, three letters prepared by the killer 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. The killer 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."^[17] 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.^[18] 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." This was the first time the killer had used this name for identification. The letter was a response to Chief Stiltz's request for more details that would prove he had killed Faraday, Jensen and Ferrin. In it, the Zodiac included details about the murders which had not yet been released to the public, as well as a message to the police that when they cracked his code "they will have me."^[19]

On August 8, 1969, Donald and Bettye Harden of Salinas, California, cracked the 408-symbol cryptogram. It contained a misspelled message in which the killer claimed to be collecting slaves for the afterlife. No name appears in the decoded text, and the killer said that he would not give away his identity because it would slow down or stop his slave collection.^[16]

Lake Berryessa attack

On September 27, 1969, Pacific Union College students 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 which 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, explaining 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 he tied her up. The killer checked, and tightened, Hartnell's bonds after discovering Shepard had bound Hartnell's hands loosely. Hartnell initially believed it to be a weird robbery, but the man drew a knife and stabbed them both repeatedly. The killer 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."^[20][21]

At 7:40 p.m., the killer called the Napa County Sheriff's office from a pay telephone to report this latest 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, yet 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 any suspect.^[22]

After hearing their screams for help, a man and his son who were fishing in a nearby cove discovered the victims and summoned help by contacting park rangers. Napa County Sheriff's deputies Dave Collins and Ray Land were the first law enforcement officers to arrive at the crime scene.^[23] Cecelia Shepard was conscious when Collins arrived, providing him with 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.^[24][25] 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.^[26]

Presidio Heights attack

On October 11, 1969, a passenger entered the cab driven by Paul Stine at the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in San Francisco requesting to be taken to Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights. For reasons unknown, Stine drove one block past Maple to Cherry Street; the passenger then shot Stine once in the head with a 9 mm, took Stine's wallet, car keys and tore away a section of Stine's bloodstained shirt tail. This passenger was observed by three teenagers across the street at 9:55 p.m., who called the police while the crime was in progress. They observed a man wiping the cab down before walking away towards the Presidio, one block to the north.^[27]

Two blocks from the crime scene, Officer Don Fouke, responding to the call, observed a white man walking along the sidewalk 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.^[28] The radio dispatcher had alerted to be on the lookout for a black suspect, so they drove past him without stopping; the mix-up in descriptions remains unexplained to this day. A search ensued, but no possible suspects were found. The three teen witnesses worked with a police artist to prepare a composite sketch of Stine's killer; then, a few days later, this police artist returned, working with the witnesses to prepare a second composite sketch of the killer.

Detectives Bill Armstrong and Dave Toschi were assigned to the case.

The San Francisco Police Department investigated an estimated 2,500 suspects over a period of years.^[29]

Letter Threatening Schoolchildren

On October 14, 1969, the Chronicle received 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 killing schoolchildren on a school bus. To do this, Zodiac wrote, "just shoot out the front tire & then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out."

Call to Talk Show

At 2:00 p.m. on October 20, 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 did appear 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.

340-Character Cryptogram

On November 8, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a card with another cryptogram consisting of 340 characters. The 340-character cipher has never been decoded.^[30]

Numerous possible "solutions" have been suggested, but none can be claimed as definitive.

Second Stine Killing Letter

On November 9, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a seven-page letter claiming that two policemen stopped and actually spoke with him three minutes after shooting Stine. Excerpts from the letter were published in the Chronicle on November 12 including the Zodiac's claim;^[31][32] that same day, Don Fouke wrote a memo explaining what had happened that night.

Melvin Belli Letter

On December 20, 1969, exactly one year after the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, the Zodiac mailed a letter to Belli, including another swatch of Stine's shirt; the Zodiac claimed he wanted Belli to help him.^{[citation needed]}

Modesto attack

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.^[33] While heading west on Highway 132 near Modesto, a car behind her began honking its horn and flashing its headlights. She pulled off the road and stopped. The man in the car parked behind her, approached her car, stated that he observed that her right rear wheel was wobbling, and offered to tighten the lug nuts. After finishing his work, the man drove off; yet when Johns pulled forward to re-enter the highway the wheel almost immediately came off of the car. The man returned, offering to drive her to the nearest gas station for help. She and her daughter climbed into his car. During the ride the car passed several service stations but the man did not stop. For about 90 minutes he drove back and forth around the backroads near Tracy. When Johns asked why he was not stopping, he would change the subject. When the driver finally stopped at an intersection, Johns jumped out with her daughter and hid in a field. The driver then closed the car door and drove off. Johns hitched a ride to the police station in Patterson.^[10]

When Johns gave her statement to the sergeant on duty, she noticed the police composite sketch of Paul Stine's killer and recognized him as the man who abducted her and her child.^[34] Fearing the Zodiac might come back and kill them all, the sergeant had Johns wait, in the dark, at the nearby Mil's Restaurant. When her car was found, it had been gutted and torched.^[34]

Most accounts claim he threatened to kill her and her daughter while driving them around,^[35] but at least one police report disputes that.^[10] Johns' account to Paul Avery of the Chronicle indicates her abductor left his car and searched for her in the dark with a flashlight;^[36] however, in one report she made to the police, she stated he did not leave the vehicle.^[10]

Further Zodiac communications

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.^[37] 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)^[38] 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 wrote: " = 10, SFPD = 0."^[37]

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 the 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]."^[39]

In a letter postmarked June 26, 1970, the Zodiac stated he was upset that he did not see people wearing Zodiac buttons. He wrote, "I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38."^[40] The Zodiac was possibly 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.^[38]

Included with the letter was a Phillips 66 roadmap of the San Francisco Bay Area. On the image of Mount Diablo, the Zodiac had drawn a crossed-circle similar to the ones 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. The accompanying instructions stated that the zero was "to be set to Mag. N."^[41] 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 fall. The cipher was never decoded, and the alleged bomb was never located. The killer 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.^[42]

In a 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."^[43] A final note at the bottom of the letter stated, "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians."^[44] 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.^[45]

On October 7, 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.^[46]

Zodiac letter to Chronicle reporter Paul Avery

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.^[8] Soon after receiving this letter, 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.^[47] He reported his findings in the Chronicle on November 16, 1970.

Riverside attack

On October 30, 1966, 18-year-old Cheri Jo Bates spent the evening at the campus library annex until it closed at 9:00 p.m. Neighbors reported hearing 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.^[48] The watch had stopped at 12:24 p.m.,^[49] but police believe the attack occurred much earlier.^[48]

The Confession

A 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 that were not released to the public. The author warned that Bates "is not the first and she will not be the last."^[50]

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.^[51]

On April 30, 1967, exactly six months after the 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 the letter 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."^[52]

The connection between Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside and the Zodiac remains uncertain. Paul Avery and the Riverside Police Department maintain 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.^[53]

Lake Tahoe disappearance

On March 22, 1971, a postcard to the Chronicle, addressed to "Paul Averly," and believed to be from the Zodiac, appeared to take credit for the disappearance of Donna Lass on September 6, 1970.^[9] Made from a collage of advertisements and magazine lettering, it featured a scene from an advertisement 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.^[54]

Lass was a nurse at the Sierra Tahoe hotel and casino. She worked until about 2:00 a.m. on September 6, 1970, treating her last patient at 1:40 a.m. Later that same day, both Lass's employer and her landlord received phone calls from an unknown male falsely claiming Lass had left town due to a family emergency.^[55] 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 an excavation yielded only a pair of sunglasses.^[56]

No evidence has been uncovered to definitively connect Donna Lass' disappearance with the Zodiac Killer.^[57]

Santa Barbara attack

In a Vallejo Times-Herald story appearing on November 13, 1972, Santa Barbara Sheriff's Detective Bill Baker (ret.) postulated that the murders of a young couple in northern Santa Barbara County might have been the work of the Zodiac Killer.

On June 4, 1963, high school senior Robert Domingos and fiancée Linda Edwards were shot dead 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 and attempted to flee, the killer shot them repeatedly in the back and chest with a .22-caliber weapon. The killer then placed their bodies in a small shack and tried, unsuccessfully, to burn it down.^[58]

Final Zodiac letter

After the "Pines" card, the Zodiac remained silent for nearly three years. The Chronicle then received a letter from the Zodiac, postmarked January 29, 1974, praising The Exorcist as "the best saterical comidy [sic]" that he had ever seen. The letter included a snippet of verse from The Mikado and an unusual symbol at the bottom that has remained unexplained by researchers. Zodiac concluded the letter with a new score, "Me = 37, SFPD = 0".^[59]

Later letters of suspicious authorship

Of further communications sent by the public to members of the news media, some contained similar characteristics of previous Zodiac writings. The Chronicle received a letter postmarked February 14, 1974, informing the editor that the initials for the Symbionese Liberation Army spelled out an Old Norse word meaning "kill".^[60][61] However, the handwriting was not authenticated as the Zodiac's.

A letter to 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 were all similar to earlier Zodiac communications.^[62]

The Chronicle subsequently 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.^[63]

A letter, dated April 24, 1978, was initially deemed authentic, but was declared a hoax less than three months later by three experts. Dave Toschi, the SFPD homicide detective who had worked the case since the Stine murder, was thought to have forged the letter, because author Armistead Maupin believed the letter to be similar to "fan mail" he received in 1976 which he believed was authored by Toschi. While he admitted to writing the fan mail, Toschi denied forging the Zodiac letter and was eventually cleared of any charges. The authenticity of this letter remains unverified.

On March 3, 2007, an American Greetings Christmas card sent to the Chronicle, postmarked 1990 in Eureka had recently been discovered in their photo files by editorial assistant Daniel King.^[64] 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.^{[65][dead link]} There is no return address on the envelope nor is his crossed-circle signature to be found. The card itself is unmarked.^[66] The Chronicle turned over all the material to the Vallejo Police Department for further analysis.

Prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen

Main article: Arthur Leigh Allen

Arthur Leigh Allen was the only suspect in the Zodiac murders to be served search warrants by police.^[67] He was never charged with any Zodiac-related crime and his fingerprints did not match those left by the killer of taxi cab driver Paul Stine.^[68][69] In 1991, 22 years after the shootings, survivor Michael Mageau identified Allen as the man who shot him, from a photo lineup of 1968 driver's licenses. Mageau stated he had never been shown a photo line up prior to that appointment in 1991.^[70] Allen, who suffered from diabetes, died on August 26, 1992, from kidney failure.^[71]

Current status of Zodiac Killer investigations

In 2002, SFPD developed a partial DNA profile from the saliva on stamps and envelopes of Zodiac's letters. SFPD compared this partial DNA to the DNA of Vallejo Police Department's lead suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen. A DNA comparison was also made with Don Cheney's DNA, who was Allen's former close friend and the first person to suggest Allen may be the Zodiac Killer. Since neither test result indicated a match, Allen and Cheney were excluded as the contributors of the DNA, though it cannot be stated definitively that it is DNA from the Zodiac on the envelopes.^[72][73] Additionally in 2002, a partial palm print (called "Writer's Palm") was lifted from "The Exorcist" letter and then compared to a palm print of Allen's. Again, test results showed the palm prints did not match.^[73] Even though DNA samples taken from the letters sent by the Zodiac ruled out Allen as the person who handled them, neither the Vallejo nor the San Francisco Police Departments have ruled out Allen as a suspect.^[74]

In April 2004, the SFPD marked the case "inactive," citing caseload pressure and resource demands.^[75] However, they re-opened their case sometime before March, 2007.^[3]

In 2007, Dennis Kaufman, the stepson of a man named Jack Tarrance, claimed that his stepfather was the Zodiac.^[76] Kaufman turned several items over to the FBI including a hood similar to the one worn by the Zodiac. According to news sources, DNA analysis conducted by the FBI on the items were deemed inconclusive in 2010.^[77] Kaufman's claims have later been widely discredited. He claimed to have incriminating rolls of film taken by his stepfather. The photos allegedly showed victims of the crimes. Kaufman later published some of these photos on his own web page. The photos were very small, had low resolution, and were so blurry that nothing could be positively identified. An associate of Kaufman's, Nanette Barto, received her Forensic Document Examining certificate through an online course. She claimed to have matched Jack Tarrance's handwriting to that of the Zodiac Killer. In 2010, the FBI's Head Document Examiner at Quantico deemed the handwriting "Inconclusive".

In 2009, Deborah Perez claimed that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac.^[78] However, Perez also allegedly previously claimed that she was the illegitimate daughter of John F. Kennedy, so her claim that her father was the Zodiac has been viewed as unlikely.^[79]

In 2009, a lawyer named Robert Tarbox (who, in 1975, had his law license suspended in California for failure to pay some clients) said that in 1972 a merchant marine walked into his office and confessed to him that he was the Zodiac Killer. The seemingly lucid seaman (whose name Tarbox wouldn't reveal due to confidentiality) described his crimes briefly but persuasively enough to convince Tarbox. The man claimed he was trying to stop himself from his "opportunistic" murder spree but never returned to see Tarbox again. Tarbox took out a full-page ad in the Vallejo Times-Herald in which he cleared the name of Arthur Leigh Allen as a killer, his only reason for revealing the story 30 years after the fact. Robert Graysmith, the author of several books on Zodiac, said Tarbox's story was "entirely plausible." Retired police handwriting expert Lloyd Cunningham, who worked the Zodiac case for decades, added "they gave me banana boxes full of Allen's writing, and none of his writing even came close to the Zodiac. Nor did DNA extracted from the envelopes (on the Zodiac letters) come close to Arthur Leigh Allen."^[80]

In 2009, an episode of the History Channel television series MysteryQuest looked at newspaper editor Richard Gaikowski (1936–2004). During the time of the murders, Gaikowski worked for Good Times, a San Francisco counterculture newspaper. His appearance resembles the composite sketch and Nancy Slover, the Vallejo police dispatcher who was contacted by the Zodiac shortly after the Blue Rock Springs Attack, has identified a recording of Gaikowski's voice as being the same as the Zodiac's.^[81] Additional circumstantial evidence exists but cannot definitively connect Gaikowski to the murders.

The Vallejo Police Department website maintains a link for providing Zodiac crime tips.^[82] The case is also open in Napa County and also in the city of Riverside.

Retired police detective Steve Hodel argues a case in his book The Black Dahlia Avenger^[83] that his father, George Hill Hodel, was the Black Dahlia suspect whose victims include Elizabeth Short. The book caused the release of previously suppressed files and wire recordings by the Los Angeles district attorney's office of his father which showed that he was a prime suspect in Short's murder. The L.A. District Attorney subsequently wrote a letter which is published in the revised edition stating that if he were still alive he would be prosecuted for the crimes.^{[citation needed]} In a follow up book, Hodel argued a circumstantial case that his father was also the Zodiac Killer based upon a police sketch, the similarity of the style of the Zodiac letters to the Black Dahlia Avenger letters and questioned document examination.^[84]

On February 19, 2011, America's Most Wanted featured a story about the Zodiac Killer. A picture has recently surfaced of known Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin and a man who closely resembles the composite sketch, formed based on eyewitness' descriptions, of the Zodiac Killer. Police believe the photo was taken in San Francisco in the summer of 1966 or 1967. Police hope someone can identify the man in the photo.^[85] It has been suspected that the man in the photo is Darlene Ferrin's ex-husband, James Phillips. This has not been confirmed.

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 productions and other serial killers.

References

1. ^ "Zodiac Letters". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/Letters.html. Retrieved 2011-08-09. 
2. ^ SFPD New Release, March 2007
3. ^ ^{a b} "Zodiac: The killer who will not die". http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/zodiac-killer-who-will-not-die. 
4. ^ Napa PD Website, Vallejo PD Website and "Tipline," Solano County Sheriff's Office
5. ^ California Department of Justice Website
6. ^ "The Zodiac Killer – Famous Criminal – The Crimes – Page 1 of 9 – Crime And Investigation Network". Crimeandinvestigation.co.za. http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.za/famous_criminal/86/the_crimes/1/The_Zodiac_Killer.htm. Retrieved January 2, 2010. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "www.zodiackiller.com/
8. ^ ^{a b} Graysmith, p. 160.
9. ^ ^{a b} Adams, p. 274
10. ^ ^{a b c d} "Police report". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/JohnsReport.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
11. ^ "Dec. 20, 1968 – Lake Herman Road". http://www.clint.ca/zodiac/lakeherman.htm. Retrieved June 16, 2008. 
12. ^ Graysmith, Robert (1976). Zodiac. Berkley. pp. 4–7. ISBN 0425098087. 
13. ^ Graysmith, pp. 26–28.
14. ^ Graysmith, pp. 32–33.
15. ^ Graysmith, p. 29.
16. ^ ^{a b} Graysmith, pp. 54–55.
17. ^ Graysmith, p. 49.
18. ^ Coded Clues in Murders. San Francisco Chronicle, August 2, 1969. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
19. ^ Graysmith, pp. 55–57.
20. ^ Graysmith, pp. 62–77
21. ^ "Message written on Hartnell's car door". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/KarmannGhia.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
22. ^ Stanley, Pat (February 18, 2007). "Zodiac on the line ...". Napa Valley Register. http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/local/iq_3812957.txt. Retrieved September 16, 2008. 
23. ^ Dorgan, Marsha (February 18, 2007). "Online exclusive: In the wake, of the Zodiac". Napa Valley Register. http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/local/iq_3823497.txt. Retrieved September 16, 2008. 
24. ^ Carson, L. Pierce (February 18, 2007). "Zodiac victim: 'I refused to die'". Napa Valley Register. http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/local/iq_3823540.txt. Retrieved September 16, 2008. 
25. ^ "Girl Dies of Stabbing at Berryessa". San Francisco Chronicle. September 30, 1969. http://cdn.sfgate.com/chronicle/acrobat/2007/02/25/zodiac_1969_09_30_1.pdf. Retrieved September 16, 2008. 
26. ^ Dorgan, Marsha (February 18, 2007). "Tracking the mark of the Zodiac for decades". Napa Valley Register. http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/02/18/news/local/iq_3821597.txt. Retrieved September 16, 2008. 
27. ^ "Definite Zodiac Victim Paul Stine". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/Stine.html. Retrieved January 2, 2010. 
28. ^ Rodelli, Mike (2005). "4th Interview with Don Fouke – Thoughts on the Zodiac Killer". Mike Rodelli. http://www.mikerodelli.com/4interview.html. 
29. ^ "Zodiac Killer: Meet The Prime Suspects". America's Most Wanted. September 2, 2008. http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=1542. 
30. ^ McCarthy, Chris. "Alphabet of the 340 Character Zodiac Cypher". Archived from the original on February 6, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080206131017/http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/chris/z/340explain.html. 
31. ^ "I've Killed Seven" The Zodiac Claims. San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 1969.
32. ^ New Letters From Zodiac – Boast of More Killings. San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 1969.
33. ^ Smith, Dave (November 16, 1970). "Evidence Links Zodiac Killer to '66 Death of Riverside Coed". Los Angeles Times. 
34. ^ ^{a b} Montaldo, Charles. "The Zodiac Killer Continued – The Zodiac Letters". About.com. http://crime.about.com/od/history/a/zodiackiller_2.htm. 
35. ^ Adams, p. 268.
36. ^ Graysmith, p. 139.
37. ^ ^{a b} "My Name Is" letter. Retrieved March 8, 2007.
38. ^ ^{a b} Zamorra, Jim Herron. 1967–71 – a bloody period for S.F. police. San Francisco Chronicle; January 27, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
39. ^ "Dragon card letter". Zodiackiller.com. April 28, 1970. http://www.zodiackiller.com/DragonCard.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
40. ^ "Button letter". Zodiackiller.com. June 26, 1970. http://www.zodiackiller.com/ZButtonLetter.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
41. ^ "Zodiac map letter". Zodiackiller.com. June 26, 1970. http://www.zodiackiller.com/ZMap.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
42. ^ "Zodiac Johns letter". Zodiackiller.com. July 24, 1970. http://www.zodiackiller.com/JohnsLetter.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
43. ^ "Zodiac Mikado letter". Zodiackiller.com. July 26, 1970. http://www.zodiackiller.com/Mikado1.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
44. ^ "Zodiac Mikado letter, cont". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/Mikado5.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
45. ^ 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.
46. ^ Gilbert and Sullivan Clue to Zodiac. San Francisco Chronicle, October 12, 1970.
47. ^ Graysmith, pp. 161–162.
48. ^ ^{a b} Graysmith, pp. 165–166.
49. ^ Photo of watch found near Bates' body.. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
50. ^ Graysmith, pp. 168–169.
51. ^ Graysmith, pp. 170–172.
52. ^ L.A. Times 1971 Zodiac letter. Retrieved July 21, 2007.^{[dead link]}
53. ^ Zimmerman, Janet. New movie 'Zodiac' includes Redlands resident's attack Riverside Press-Enterprise, March 1, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
54. ^ "Zodiac postcard". Zodiackiller.com. March 22, 1971. http://www.zodiackiller.com/PinesCard.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
55. ^ Graysmith, p. 178.
56. ^ "Lass profile". Zodiacmurders.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928121425/http://www.zodiacmurders.com/victim_lass.html. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
57. ^ "Possible Zodiac Victim Donna Lass". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/Lass.html. Retrieved January 2, 2010. 
58. ^ Santa Barbara Sheriff Detective Bill Baker explains the case on a message board.. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
59. ^ "Zodiac Exorcist letter". Zodiackiller.com. January 29, 1974. http://www.zodiackiller.com/ExorcistLetter.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
60. ^ Tips Still Pursue Multiple Slayer. San Francisco Chronicle, August 26, 1976.
61. ^ Kelly Wilson (November 6, 2008). "SLA Letter". Members.aol.com. http://members.aol.com/Jakewark/SLA.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
62. ^ "Citizen Letter". Archived from the original on June 15, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070615151031/http://www.zodiackiller.com/CitizenLetter.html. 
63. ^ "Red Phantom letter". Zodiackiller.com. July 8, 1974. http://www.zodiackiller.com/RedPhantomLetter.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
64. ^ Williams, Lance. "Zodiac's written clues fascinate document expert", San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
65. ^ Freedman, Rich. Zodiac: Did killer send card in 1990?; The Vallejo Times Herald, March 3, 2007. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
66. ^ Christmas card envelope; Christmas card front; Christmas card interior; Photocopy of Christmas card keys and pencil. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
67. ^ Voight, Tom, The Arthur Leigh Allen File; 2003. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
68. ^ Zodiac case overview by Clint Vander Klok. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
69. ^ Suspect profile of Arthur Leigh Allen. Retrieved March 1, 2007.
70. ^ "Definite Zodiac Victims: Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau". Zodiackiller.com. http://www.zodiackiller.com/FerrinMageau.html. Retrieved 2011-08-09. 
71. ^ "Zodiac Movie vs. Zodiac Killer True Story – Robert Graysmith". Chasingthefrog.com. http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/zodiac.php. Retrieved January 2, 2010. 
72. ^ Weiss, Mike; DNA seems to clear only Zodiac suspect; San Francisco Chronicle; October 12, 2002. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
73. ^ ^{a b} "Cold Case Files – The Zodiac Killer". Aug 2, 2010. http://www.livedash.com/transcript/waiting_for_god-%28foreign_workers%29/10/KTEH/Monday_August_2_2010/267317/. 
74. ^ Mathias Gafni (Oct. 16, 2002), Still a suspect, Vallejo Times-Herald 
75. ^ Goodyear, Charlie. Files shut on Zodiac's deadly trail; San Francisco Chronicle; April 7, 2004. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
76. ^ "Zodiac Killer: Meet The Prime Suspects". Amw.com. http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=1542. Retrieved 2011-08-09. 
77. ^ Pickel, Kris (Feb 10, 2010), FBI: Test Results Back For Zodiac Killer Suspect, CBS Sacramento, http://cbs13.com/local/zodiac.jack.tarrance.2.1486853.html, retrieved May 31, 2010 
78. ^ The Associated Press (April 30, 2009). "Ca. woman Deborah Perez says Zodiac killer was her father; police to investigate claim (New York Daily News)". Daily News. New York. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/04/30/2009-04-30_woman_claims_father_was_the_zodiac_killer_.html. Retrieved May 30, 2010. 
79. ^ Zodiac Killer's Daughter, Deborah Perez, Also JFK's Daughter. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
80. ^ "Another possible Zodiac suspect put forth", San Francisco Chronicle, Jul 19, 2009, http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-07-19/news/17219101_1_zodiac-killer-arthur-leigh-allen-serial-killer 
81. ^ "This is the Zodiac speaking: Will the Zodiac murder cases ever be solved? (Martinez News-Gazette)", Martinez News-Gazette (Martinez,CA), May 6, 2010, http://www.martinezgazette.com/news/story/i927/2010/05/06/zodiac-speaking-will-zodiac-murder-cases-ever-be-solved, retrieved August 10, 2011  Retrieved August 10, 2011.
82. ^ City of Vallejo – Police. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
83. ^ Hodel, Steve (2006). Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0061139610. 
84. ^ Hodel, Steve (2009). Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel. Dutton Adult. ISBN 0525951326. 
85. ^ America's Most Wanted, Fugitive Cases: Zodiac Killer, Television airing February 19, 2011.

Primary sources

FBI Files:

• FBI Case File (1 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 89 pages.
• FBI Case File (2 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 109 pages.
• FBI Case File (3 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 258 pages.
• FBI Case File (4 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 208 pages.
• FBI Case File (5 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 373 pages.

Further reading

• Adams, Charles F. (2004). Murder by the Bay: Historic Homicide in and about the City of San Francisco. Quill Driver Books. ISBN 978-1884995460.
• Davis, Howard. (1997). The Zodiac/Manson Connection (9-Edge Publishing, Lomita, CA). ISBN 0-9629084-2-8.
• Graysmith, Robert. (2007). Zodiac (Berkeley; reissue edition). ISBN 0-425-21218-1.
• Graysmith, Robert. (2007). Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer (Berkeley; reissue edition). ISBN 0-425-21273-4.
• Kelleher, Michael D. and Van Nuys, David. (2002). "This is the Zodiac Speaking": Into the Mind of a Serial Killer (Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT). ISBN 0-275-97338-7.
• Penn, Gareth. (1987). Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966–1981 (The Foxglove Press, CA). ISBN 0-9618494-0-1.
• Rasmussen, William T. (2006). Corroborating Evidence II (Sunstone Press). ISBN 0-86534-536-8.
• Renner, James (2008). The Serial Killer's Apprentice: And 12 Other True Stories of Cleveland's Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-046-1
• Rowlett, Curt. (2006). Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy Chapter 9, The Z Files: Labyrinth13 Examines the Zodiac Murders (Lulu Press). ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.

External links

	San Francisco Bay Area portal
	Criminal justice portal

• "Zodiac Murder Map" – Google Map plotting definite and possible Zodiac attacks (with details).
• Zodiac Cipher Cryptanalysis Tool
• FBI file on the Zodiac Killer

• Zodiologists - An amateur site dedicated to open fact discussion and analysis.
• Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer - Information about ongoing research on the Zodiac ciphers.

Persondata
Name	Zodiac Killer
Alternative names
Short description	American serial killer
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death