النص 🔗
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On December twentieth, nineteen sixty eight, sixteen year old Betty
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lou Jensen and seventeen year old David Faraday were on
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their first date. Their plan was to stop at a
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local restaurant before driving out to Lake Herman Road, which
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was a well known lover's lane. A few minutes after
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parking in a graveled area just off the side of
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Lake Herman Road, a man parked beside the couple's car,
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rolled down his window and ordered them to exit their vehicle.
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When Betty and David refused, the man got out of
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his car and drew a twenty two caliber pistol. Instead
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of immediately shooting the two teenagers, the man walked behind
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the couple's car and fired a bullet into their rear
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left wheelhousing. His intention was to scare the couple and
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forced them to hurt to the left side of the vehicle.
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Sure Enough, the two scrambled to exit the vehicle using
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the passenger side door. The killer then ran up to
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the driver's side window and pressed the gun against David's
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left ear, shooting him point blank in the skull. By
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this time, Betty had already exited the vehicle and was
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running away, The man ran after Betty, gun extended and
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shot Betty five times in the back. He then returned
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to his own vehicle and drove off. Shortly after eleven PM,
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a woman stumbled upon the bodies of the teenagers and
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immediately reported them to police, thus sparking the search for
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the most bizarre and mysterious serial killer of all times.
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The tires and then the kiddies as they come bounding out.
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The Zodiac Killer is arguably one of the most notorious
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serial killers of the twentieth century. Throughout the late nineteen
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sixties and seventies, the Zodiac terrorized most of the larger
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San Francisco area with almost ritualistic murders, punctuating each murder
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with detailed letters describing exactly how he did it and
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mocking anyone who would try to catch him. These letters
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were sent to several newspapers in police departments that were
Load full transcript
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investigating the cases, along with complicated codes and ciphers that
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are still being decoded to this day.
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Homicide that took place out on a county road about
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sometime after eleven o'clock last night, a devil homicide.
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After his first murder, the Zodiac stayed quiet for about
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half a year before he struck again, this murder being
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much more bizarre than the last. On July fourth, nineteen
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sixty nine, eighteen year old Darlene Ferren and sixteen year
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old Michael Mageaux were going to get fireworks for the
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Independence Day celebrations, but as they pulled out of their driveway,
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they immediately noticed that they were being followed by another car. Panicked,
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Darlene made a series of twists and turns to try
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to lose the other vehicle, but eventually ended up pulling
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into the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park, only
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four miles from downtown Ballejo. As the couple parked their car,
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their pursuer also pulled into the parking lot and parked
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to the left of Darling's vehicle before immediately leaving the
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parking lot. But the couple was only relieved for a
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few moments, because around five minutes later, the same car
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pulled back into the parking lot, and this time parked
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directly behind Darlene's car. A man exited the vehicle with
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a flashlight. Michael, thinking it was the police, reached into
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his pocket to grab his identification and asked Darlene to
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do the same, but before he could get it out,
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the man directed the flashlight into the couple's eyes, distracting
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them for a moment before shooting both Michael and Darlene.
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More than seven shots were fired before the man started
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walking back to his car. The bullets had pierced Darlene's
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lungs and heart, killing her, but Michael still retained consciousness.
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While the man was walking back to his car, Michael
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let out a painful moan. Hearing this, the man paused,
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and for a split second, Michael could see the face
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of his attacker, which he later
described to the police
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in detail. Nevertheless, the man heard that Michael was still
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alive and returned to Darlene's car to finish the job.
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As a last resort, Michael tried jumping into the back
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seat of the car before the man fired two more
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shots at both of them. At this point, the man
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had gotten back into his vehicle and drove off. Luckily,
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three teenagers celebrating Independence Day stumbled across the couple in
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alerted police immediately. Although the strangest part of this whole
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ordeal is that after the murder, at twelve forty a m.
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On the same day, an anonymous man called the Vallejo
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Police Department with a payphone.
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I want to report a double murder.
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Had one mile.
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Park way public park bill, my kid and a brown
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car and they were shot.
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With by a milliter.
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My help kill both kid last year.
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He then abruptly hung up, making this the first time
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the Zodiac contacted the police. Later, on August first, nineteen
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sixty nine, the Zodiac wrote his first three infamous letters
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to the Vallejo Times Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, and
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the San Francisco Examiner. All three letters were nearly identical
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in crude handwriting. The letter read, Dear editor, this is
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the murder of the two teenagers last Christmas at Lake
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Herman and the girl on the fourth of July near
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the Gulf Course in Vallejo. To prove I killed them,
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I shall state some facts which only I and the
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police know. He proceeded to state details about the brand
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of Ammo he used, how many shots were fired in
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the victim's clothing. He continued with, here is a part
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of a cipher. The other two parts of this cipher
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are being mailed to the editors of Vallejo Times and
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San Francisco Examiner. I want you to print the cipher
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by the afternoon of Fry first of August nineteen sixty nine.
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I will go on a kill rampage Friday night. I
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will cruise around all weekend, killing lone people in the night,
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then move on to kill again until I end up
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with a dozen people over the weekend. At the end
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of the letter was an eight line series of characters,
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including Greek symbols, Morse code, weather symbols, alphabet letters, and
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astrological symbols, complying with the demands of the zodiac. The
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Times Herald in the Chronicle both printed their parts of
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the cipher in their next editions, while The Examiner waited
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until Sunday to publish their part because of doubts that
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the letter was real. The cipher was quickly passed onto
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Naval Intelligence for deciphering, while the NSSA and the CIA
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also joined the effort. Although a police chief at Vallejo,
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Jackie Stilts, wasn't convinced that the letter was real, he
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publicly requested that the killer send a second letter with
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more information to prove it was real. Meanwhile, Donald and
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Betty Harden, a couple living a few miles south of
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San Francisco saw the cipher in their morning paper, and
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having been avidly interested in puzzles since they were young,
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Donald and Betty decided to try and see if they
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could solve it. The couple reasoned that the killer most
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likely started the cipher with the letter I, or by
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saying I like killing. They also used common letter pairings,
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like the double L that appears in the word kill,
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and with these assumptions, the rest of the message could
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be decoded. It read I like killing because it is
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so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild
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game in the forest, because man is the most dangerous
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animal of all to kill. The message goes on to
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describe the thrill of murder. The letter also says that
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when he dies, the people whom he has killed will
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become his slaves in paradise. He explains that he won't
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release his identity because the police will stop his collection
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of slaves. But towards the end of the cipher, the
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letters seem to be jumbled
up. This led some to
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believe that this was an anagram. We'll talk more on
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that later. While the cipher had been solved but not
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released to the public, the letters didn't stop and only
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Three days after Donald and Betty solved the first cipher,
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the Zodiac sent a second letter. This time he was
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responding to Chief Stillt's request for more information to prove
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he was the killer. The letter read, this is the
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Zodiac speaking in answer to your request for more details
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about the good times I had in Vallejo. I shall
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be very happy in supplying more material. By the way,
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are the police having a good time with the code?
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If not, tell them to cheer up. When they do
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crack it, they will have me. This was followed by
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more details about how he murdered his victims and other
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details that had not yet been released to the public,
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which confirmed that the letters were indeed from the real
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killer responsible for the murders, and not the work of
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a fraud. At this point, the decoded cipher was published
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all over the Bay Area in amateur code breakers across
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the country started analyzing the letters thoroughly. They first turned
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their attention to the jumble of letters at the last
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line of the cipher. It was unanimously agreed upon that
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it could be an anagram for the killer's real name.
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Some suggestions were emit O Wright, Robert Hemphill, Van M. Blackman,
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I Am O. Wright and Kenneth O. Wright. Some dismissed
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this theory and suggested that the jumble of letters were
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only there to throw them off. After all, the killer
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did say I will not give you my name. After
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this first string of letters, it wouldn't take long for
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the zodiac to kill again.
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But he told me at that time that he had
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killed a guard getting out of a prison, and so
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I did take him as a killer. To me, a
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killer isn't a normal person, so I assumed at the
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time that something was wrong, but as far as.
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A psychopath or On September twenty seventh, nineteen sixty nine,
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college students Brian Hartnell and Cecilia Shepherd were having a
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picnic at Lake Barriessa when Cecilia noticed a man walking
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towards them. Cecilia mentioned it to Brian, but Brian dismissed
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it as nothing.
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And when she says, I see a man over there,
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what I'm thinking is if you look to the left
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of her, you can see those trees on that hill.
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That would be another picnic area. So seeing someone on
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that hill, you know, would be of interest, but not
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of any great urgency. But seeing someone as close as
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her would obviously be some cause for concern, and so
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I'm continuing to talk, and then she says he went
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behind a tree. So he goes behind the tree where
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she is, and again I'm thinking behind those trees Vos.
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Minutes later, the man was within twenty feet from the
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couple when he drew a gun. He was wearing a
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black executioner type hood with the Zodiac symbol on his chest.
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As the man pointed the gun, he demanded the couple's
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money in car keys so he could drive to Mexico.
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Brian pulled his car keys and only fifty cents out
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of his pockets and handed them to the cloaked man.
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Brian later told police that the man pocketed the fifty
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cents and then tossed the car keys back to the couple,
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at which point the man put his gun back in
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the holster on his waist. The man told the couple
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that he was an escaped convict from Dear Lodge, Montana,
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and that he had killed a prison guard to escape.
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This came out since then, but he told me at
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that time that he had killed the guard getting out
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of a prison, and so I did take him as
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a killer to me, a killer isn't a normal person,
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so I assumed at the time that something was wrong.
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He wanted dur money, and I actually laughed at the
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moment because I
told him. I says, I've only got
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seventy five cents in my pocket, and I says, you're
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welcome to have it, but if you need help.
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He claimed that he had already stolen a car, but
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it was quote too hot. After explaining himself, the man
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pulled out a three foot clothes line and instructed Cecilia
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to tie Brian's hands. After Brian was tied up, the
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man proceeded to tie up Cecilia's hands. At this point,
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Brian recalls the man saying, I'm going to have to
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stab you people. He proceeded to stab Cecilia ten times
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in Brian six times. After believing he had finished the job,
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the man left the scene and hiked five hundred yards
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to the couple's car, and with a black felt tip pen,
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he wrote on the car door Ballejo twelve, twenty sixty
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eight September twenty seventh, sixty nine, six point thirty by knife.
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The couple, who were both still conscious, were found by
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a fisherman and his son and were taken to the hospital,
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and at seven forty p m. On the same day,
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much like the last murder, the Zodiac called in to
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the Napa County Sheriff's office to report his crime double murder.
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The quarters.
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Polka Cecilia later died from her wounds, but Brian survived
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to explain the ordeal to the police and press. By now,
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the police were starting to see similarities in the Zodiac's murders.
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One the Zodiac targeted young students, mostly couples. Two the
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attacks all occurred on weekends, two near holidays. Three the
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murders would usually take place at either dusk or night.
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Four the killer would often brag about his murders in
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letters or calls. Five most of the murders took place
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in well known lovers lanes. Six the murders all took
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place in or around cars, and finally, seven the murders
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all took place near a body of water. These patterns,
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picked up by police, suggested a number of reasons for
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his strange killings. Because most of the victims were couples,
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the Zodiac was maybe frustrated with couples or love, and
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potentially could hold a specific hate for women. Because in
241
00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.399
the last two murders, the focus for most of the
242
00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:25.919
damage was on the woman, causing them to die in
243
00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.919
both cases but leaving the men to survive. But with
244
00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.519
his next and final confirmed murder, the Zodiac would break
245
00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:33.600
his pattern.
246
00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:41.759
Guns take the threat seriously. The psychotic killer has already
247
00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.279
murdered five one at a lover's lane near a lake
248
00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.679
just north of San Francisco, three others in nearby Ballejo,
249
00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:52.960
the latest a taxi driver in San Francisco. The Zodiac
250
00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:55.039
Killer seems to crave publicity.
251
00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:59.960
On October eleventh, nineteen sixty nine, only two weeks after
252
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.080
after his last murder, the Zodiac entered a cab driven
253
00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:06.440
by Paul Stein at around nine thirty pm. He requested
254
00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.799
to be taken to Washington and Maple Streets in Pasidio Heights,
255
00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.960
but for some reason, the cab driver drove one block
256
00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.559
past their destination, maybe at the instruction of the passenger.
257
00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:19.120
The Zodiac waited for the car to come to a
258
00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.639
full stop on the side of the road before grabbing
259
00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:24.639
Pallstein's collar and shooting him point blank in the right
260
00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:28.000
side of the skull. At this point, the Zodiac exited
261
00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:30.440
the vehicle from their rear doors and re entered the
262
00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:33.320
vehicle through the passenger side door. While sitting in the
263
00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.279
front seat, the Zodiac grabbed the cab driver's wallet and
264
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:38.600
tore off a piece of his shirt before exiting the
265
00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:42.159
vehicle once again. While all this was taking place, two
266
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.120
teenagers who lived across the street saw the cab from
267
00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:48.120
their second floor window and called the police. But while
268
00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:50.399
the kids were giving the police a description of the
269
00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.879
man they saw, the Zodiac was mistakenly described as a
270
00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:58.080
black male. This one mistake proved to be massively detrimental,
271
00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.279
as it allowed the Zodiac to evade capture once again.
272
00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.000
This was because, in the dead of night, a police
273
00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:06.840
patrol unit
reached the scene and saw a man quote
274
00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.399
lumbering along in the fog. This was later determined to
275
00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:13.600
most likely have been the Zodiac, but since this man
276
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.360
was white, the police didn't stop him and only asked
277
00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:18.720
him if he had seen anything unusual in the area,
278
00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.279
to which the man responded that he had seen someone
279
00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.759
waving a gun around a couple blocks to the east,
280
00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.159
at which point the patrol unit sped off in that direction.
281
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.480
If the police had stopped the man or come any closer,
282
00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:33.240
they would have seen that the man's jacket was drenched
283
00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:36.759
in Paulstein's blood, but police did find evidence in the
284
00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.879
cab driver's vehicle. A partial print was found in blood
285
00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:43.279
that was later confirmed to be that of the Zodiacs. Also,
286
00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:46.320
the kids who had seen the Zodiac quickly collaborated with
287
00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.559
a police sketch artist to try and come up with
288
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.240
a preliminary sketch of the Zodiac. By now, the kid's
289
00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:55.480
mistake had already been corrected, and so the first sketch
290
00:15:55.559 --> 00:15:58.440
of the Zodiac was drawn and circulated to every cab
291
00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.240
company in the area. After another failed attempt at catching
292
00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:06.480
the killer, the Zodiac saw this as a perfect opportunity
293
00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:10.440
to taunt the police department once more. On October fourteenth,
294
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.080
only three days after the murder, the Chronicle received another
295
00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.919
letter from the Zodiac, but this one was different from
296
00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:19.879
his previous letters in that the Zodiac had included a
297
00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:22.639
piece of paul Stein's blood silk shirt. In the letter,
298
00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:26.320
it read, this is the Zodiac speaking. I am the
299
00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:29.399
murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington Street in
300
00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:32.440
Maple Street last night. To prove this, here is a
301
00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:34.840
blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same
302
00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.200
man who did in the people in the North Bay area.
303
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.000
The SF police could have caught me last night if
304
00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:42.679
they had searched the park properly instead of holding road
305
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:46.159
races with their motorcycles seeing who could make the most noise.
306
00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:50.360
The letter continues ridiculing the SFPD before ending with a
307
00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:55.039
chilling threat. It reads, school children make nice targets. I
308
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.240
think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning.
309
00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.679
Just shoot out the front tire and then pick off
310
00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:03.240
the cab as they come bouncing out. The Chronicle published
311
00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:05.880
the letter in their next edition, but excluded the school
312
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:09.319
bus threat at the request of authorities. Despite the advice,
313
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.599
the threat was released a mere two days later.
314
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.880
School children make fine targets. I think I shall wipe
315
00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.279
out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the
316
00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.839
front tire and then pick off the kiddies as they
317
00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:25.079
come bouncing out.
318
00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:27.359
Well, what are you doing here for.
319
00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:32.160
The Texas school buses, particularly in San Francisco brings in.
320
00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:35.079
San Francisco we have been since the first day, since
321
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.640
the reception of this note, and up to now and continuing,
322
00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:44.960
we have a number of plane clothes officers following buses
323
00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:46.920
in the morning and in the evening.
324
00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:50.079
I shall wipe out a school bus some morning, shoot
325
00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:52.640
out the tires, and then pick off the kiddies as
326
00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.559
they come bounding out. That was the threat of the
327
00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:59.680
Zodiac killer. Now every day police cars follow the buses,
328
00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:03.880
which likely targets. Officers armed with shotguns take the threat.
329
00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:04.319
Period.
330
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.279
While the world was informed of the school bus threat,
331
00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:11.079
panic swept over the Napa Valley Unified School District who
332
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:14.000
were in charge of the school buses. School Bus drivers
333
00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:16.640
across the district were given a set of instructions on
334
00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:20.440
how to handle an attack from the Zodiac. One. Continue
335
00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:23.640
driving with the flat tire, do not stop. Two, tell
336
00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.759
the children to get below the windows and lie on
337
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:29.240
the floor. Three the driver will continue driving and turn
338
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.400
on all lights while sounding his horn. Four the bus
339
00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:34.799
driver should not stop until he has arrived in a
340
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.039
well populated area.
341
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:36.720
Five.
342
00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:40.440
Upon arrival at this location, a local law enforcement
agency
343
00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.319
should be notified immediately. Despite the claim from the Zodiac,
344
00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:48.279
no such attack ever occurred. Later, after working with the
345
00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.559
police officers that mistakenly allowed the Zodiac to walk free,
346
00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:54.519
a second sketch of the man was made, making him
347
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.839
older in his jaw thicker. This sketch was then circulated
348
00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:01.079
to the public, replacing the original with his letters in
349
00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:03.839
full swing. In the San Francisco area in the palm
350
00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.920
of his hand, the Zodiac did something that shocked everyone
351
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.960
throughout the country. At the end of the month. On
352
00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:13.319
October twenty second, the Zodiac called the Oakland PD and
353
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.319
asked to speak to Melvin Belli, a prominent lawyer at
354
00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:18.920
the time. He said he wanted the lawyer to appear
355
00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:21.440
on a TV talk show so that the Zodiac could
356
00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:23.640
call in and talk to him on the air. The
357
00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.279
talk show the Zodiac was referring to was the Channel
358
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.519
seven Talk Show, which usually started at seven am, but
359
00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.519
began half an hour early that day. After waiting for
360
00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:35.160
forty minutes on the air for the Zodiac to call in,
361
00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:39.400
the telephone finally rang, but hung up almost immediately. The
362
00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.200
next call came in at seven to twenty. This time,
363
00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:44.920
he stayed on the call for longer, and after being
364
00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:47.440
asked if he had any other name other than Zodiac,
365
00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:51.359
the man said, Sam, time till.
366
00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:53.920
Just tell us what's going on inside you right now?
367
00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:54.200
Sir?
368
00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:54.720
Please?
369
00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:00.440
I have a headache right he had those headaches, Sam,
370
00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:05.000
in a long time, I killed a kid?
371
00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:09.440
Well, was it before December that you have the headaches.
372
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.160
It were you in service, that you might have had
373
00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:16.799
an injury in service? Or did you ever fall out
374
00:20:16.839 --> 00:20:18.359
of a tree or downstairs?
375
00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:19.519
We ever unconscious?
376
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.640
I don't know, you don't remember.
377
00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:24.559
Does Aspen do you any good?
378
00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.359
No, it doesn't do any good. Sam, long stuff never
379
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:29.119
did me any good.
380
00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.079
Fight of what I had at Sam, let.
381
00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:31.599
Me ask you this.
382
00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:35.160
There's some reason why you go to a particular doctor
383
00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:36.440
or a particular.
384
00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:38.000
Priest, and some reason.
385
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.759
Why apparently you wanted to talk to me or Lee.
386
00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:43.759
Is it that you feel that we.
387
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.079
Have compassion for people who get in trouble, or.
388
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.240
Is it you feel that if we can do something
389
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:50.680
for you, or is.
390
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:54.640
It you feel that we have enough integrity if we
391
00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:57.519
promise you something that we're going to stick to it.
392
00:20:57.599 --> 00:20:59.680
Well, let's find out why he wanted to talk to you.
393
00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:01.039
Why do you want to talk to mister bell Is.
394
00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.079
Sam, I don't want to be heard if if it
395
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.319
all bears down to the question that you're giving yourself at.
396
00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:11.440
If you could be assured, if you wouldn't get count
397
00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:15.920
for the punishment, So I want to kill a kid.
398
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.519
The Zodiac called the show a total of thirty five times,
399
00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:25.160
but only twelve of them were heard on air, but
400
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.039
people were still hesitant on whether this caller was really
401
00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:31.519
the Zodiac. To confirm, the only three people who had
402
00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.160
ever heard the Zodiac's real voice, Nancy Slover, who was
403
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:38.599
the telephone operator on duty when the Zodiac claimed responsibility
404
00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:41.720
for the murders, David Slat, who was the police officer
405
00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:43.599
who had seen the Zodiac the Knight of the cab
406
00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.519
driver murder, and Brian Hartnell, the survivor of the Lake
407
00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:49.480
Barriessa stabbing, were all brought in to verify the voice
408
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.880
and the calls. All of them agreed that the voice
409
00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:54.160
they had heard was much deeper and older than the
410
00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.039
one in the calls. We try to give it to
411
00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:58.559
him so well, Sam convinced that this is the main
412
00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:01.200
I could. I'm not convinced.
413
00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:04.160
I'm convinced this is a koup. Well, I'm I mean
414
00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:04.640
a second man.
415
00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:08.039
Yeah, act in the sense that he was perpetrating our hopes.
416
00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:12.079
Not necessarily. I listened to the program. My opinion for
417
00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:17.079
what it's worth. My opinion is that this is no
hoaxer,
418
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.599
no prankster. The man on that show I sincerely believe
419
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:23.400
has a problem as a mental problem, but he may
420
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.759
or may not have been the so called Zodiac person.
421
00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:30.599
Further investigation discovered that the calls were actually made from
422
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:34.039
the Napa State Hospital by a mental patient, effectively proving
423
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:36.519
that the Zodiac was not the one making the calls.
424
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.759
In the following weeks, the Zodiac would send two more letters,
425
00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:45.079
boasting about two more murders. In the first letter, there's
426
00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:47.640
a card that reads, sorry, I haven't written, but I
427
00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.640
just washed my pen. On the inside it reads, this
428
00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:53.079
is the Zodiac speaking. I thought you would need a
429
00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.799
good laugh before you hear the bad news. You won't
430
00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:58.440
get the news for a while yet. PS could you
431
00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:00.960
print this news cipher in your friend page? I did
432
00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.920
awfully lonely when I'm ignored, so lonely I could do
433
00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:08.160
my thing. This letter also contained another cipher, and since
434
00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:10.240
his last one had been cracked in a day, the
435
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:14.359
Zodiac decided to make this one considerably more challenging. Now
436
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.640
known as the Z three forty cipher, this cipher remained
437
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:20.799
unsolved for over fifty years until a few weeks ago
438
00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:24.279
an international group of three amateur code breakers used computer
439
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.720
software to finally crack the Z three forty cipher. This
440
00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.519
cipher requires the letters to be substituted, read diagonally, re
441
00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:35.039
arranged and flipped, while also skipping certain words. It was
442
00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:37.319
due to the complex nature of this cipher that it
443
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.079
remained unsolved for so long, but once it is finally decoded,
444
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.680
it reads, I hope you were having lots of fun
445
00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:46.000
in trying to catch me. That wasn't me on the
446
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:48.119
TV show, which brings up a good point about me.
447
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:51.240
I am not afraid of the gas chamber. The letter
448
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:53.920
continues and says that he will have his slaves work
449
00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:56.799
for him in the afterlife, a belief that he expressed
450
00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.799
in his first letter back in nineteen sixty nine. Although
451
00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:01.920
the letter doesn't give
us any clues as to who
452
00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.519
the Zodiac was, it does confirm that it was not
453
00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:07.440
the Zodiac who called into Melvin's show. Not only that,
454
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:10.240
but it also confirms that the Zodiac keeps up with
455
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.000
his own publicity and was in fact watching the show.
456
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:16.599
The second letter the Zodiac sent in nineteen sixty nine
457
00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.839
read this is the Zodiac speaking up until the end
458
00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:22.640
of October. I have killed seven people. I have grown
459
00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:25.359
rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me,
460
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:28.079
so I shall change the way of collecting my slaves.
461
00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:30.799
I shall no longer announce to anyone when I commit
462
00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.119
my murders. They shall look like routine robberies, killings of anger,
463
00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:37.200
a few fake accidents, et cetera. The police shall never
464
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.359
catch me, because I have been too clever for them.
465
00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:41.839
The letter goes on to list some facts that the
466
00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:45.279
police departments got right and wrong. In a seven page rant,
467
00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:48.240
the Zodiac states that the police sketch that was circulated
468
00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:50.880
is correct, but quote the rest of the time, I
469
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.200
look entirely different. He also states that, contrary to what
470
00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:57.279
the police say, he never left fingerprints at his murders.
471
00:24:57.599 --> 00:24:59.720
He says that he'd been leaving fake clues at his
472
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:03.480
mine keep the cops happy. He then goes on to
473
00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.240
describe the moment where he got stopped by police after
474
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:09.759
the cab murder. Ps. Two cops pulled a goof about
475
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:12.359
three minutes after I left the cab, I was walking
476
00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.240
down the hill to the park when this cop car
477
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:16.240
pulled up and one of them called me over and
478
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:19.039
asked me if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange
479
00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:21.720
in the last five to ten minutes, and I said yes,
480
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.759
there was a man waving a gun and the cops
481
00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:27.640
peeled rubber and went around the corner. After he recapped
482
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.319
his encounter with the police, the Zodiac wrote step by
483
00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:33.680
step instructions on how to create a bomb with household items,
484
00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:37.839
but the following sentence caught investigator's attention. The Zodiac writes,
485
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.599
what you do not know is whether the death machine
486
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:42.720
is at the site or whether it is being stored
487
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.839
in my basement for future use. If the Zodiac was
488
00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:48.119
telling the truth that he had a basement, it would
489
00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.559
drastically reduce the list of possible locations where the Zodiac lived. First,
490
00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:55.200
the Zodiac having a basement means that he lives in
491
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:58.480
a house and not an apartment building, and second, basements
492
00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:00.759
aren't that common in the Bay Area, So either the
493
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:03.680
Zodiac didn't live in the Bay Area, or in revealing
494
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:05.880
that he had a basement, he had made a possibly
495
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:06.880
fatal mistake.
496
00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:12.559
And I believed him when he said and I was
497
00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:13.960
going to die. He was going to kill me, and
498
00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:17.440
your don't panic, got scream, don't yell, just wait and
499
00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:19.440
see what happens. You know, he could have stopped at
500
00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:23.559
any time and physically been stronger than I was. I
501
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:26.000
was like seven months pregnant, and I had a little
502
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:26.759
kid on my nap.
503
00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.440
On March twenty second, nineteen seventy, Kathleen Johns was on
504
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:33.920
her way to visit her sick mother in Pataluma with
505
00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:36.880
her ten month old baby. She was driving on Highway
506
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.400
one point thirty two, a rarely used road, when a
507
00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:42.759
car seemed to be following her in the near midnight darkness.
508
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.799
Kathleen decided to slow down and let the car pass her,
509
00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.400
but before she could do so, the car started honking
510
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.960
its horn and blinking its lights at her. Knowing how
511
00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:53.240
dangerous it was to pull her car over with a
512
00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:56.599
stranger behind her on such deserted road, she kept driving.
513
00:26:57.079 --> 00:26:59.680
The car behind her noticed this and accelerated into the
514
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:03.640
lane right beside Kathleen. From his passenger side window, a
515
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:07.480
man shouted that Kathleen's rear tire was wobbling. Still skeptical
516
00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:09.839
of the man, Kathleen waited until she had made it
517
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.400
to the freeway to pull over. The man pulled over
518
00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:14.720
behind her and told her again that her rear tire
519
00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:17.640
was wobbling. He then offered to fix it, explaining that
520
00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:20.680
he had the appropriate tools in
his car. Kathleen agreed,
521
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:23.000
and so the man retrieved his tools and tightened the
522
00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:26.119
lugs on the woman's vehicle. Once the man finished fixing
523
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:28.920
her tire, he notified Kathleen and returned to his car.
524
00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:32.119
After merging back on to the freeway and driving for
525
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:36.039
a few seconds, Kathleen's whole rear tire spun off. She
526
00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:38.680
attempted to pull over once again when the same man
527
00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:42.799
came back. Seeing her tire completely detached, the man offered
528
00:27:42.839 --> 00:27:46.599
to take her to the nearest gas station. Eventually Kathleen agreed.
529
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.920
They started driving down the freeway, but to Kathleen's surprise,
530
00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:53.200
he completely passed the gas station before passing a number
531
00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:56.720
of exits as well. At this point, Kathleen knew something
532
00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:59.400
was wrong, but didn't say anything. The man took her
533
00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:02.880
to various rocky, deserted roads before breaking the silence and
534
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:04.519
saying I'm.
535
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:05.920
Gonna throw your baby out the window.
536
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:13.839
Terrified, Kathleen began frantically thinking of ways to escape and
537
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:16.839
the panic and chaos. Her best and only option was
538
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:19.720
jumping out of the passenger side door. The next time
539
00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:22.200
the man pulled up to a stop sign, she executed
540
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:25.720
her plan, finally escaping the car and rolling into a ditch.
541
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:28.640
After the Zodiac had tried and failed to find her.
542
00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:30.960
In the ditch, Kathleen waited on the side of the
543
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:33.640
road until a female driver saw her and offered to
544
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.440
take her to a police station. When she arrived at
545
00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.480
the station, she talked to a police officer about her situation,
546
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.319
and after being shown a police sketch of the Zodiac,
547
00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:45.079
Kathleen strongly believed that he was the one who had
548
00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:45.720
abducted her.
549
00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:48.920
I looked up on the wall and there was one
550
00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:52.559
of those composite drawings out the first and I to
551
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:55.640
spend this time. When I turned down, it was the Zodiac.
552
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.400
And I didn't know that was a dimetnutting to me.
553
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.440
After police units went back to retrieve Kathleen's car, they
554
00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.240
discovered that it had been set on fire, most likely
555
00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:10.279
by the Zodiac to destroy any incriminating evidence. Around a
556
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:14.279
month later, on April nineteenth, nineteen seventy, the Zodiac sent
557
00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:17.240
another letter in cipher. The letter read, this is the
558
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:20.200
Zodiac speaking. By the way, have you cracked the last
559
00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.000
cipher I sent you? My name is followed by a
560
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.799
thirteen character cipher, which, when decoded, is supposed to contain
561
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:30.079
the Zodiac's name, but because the cipher is only thirteen
562
00:29:30.200 --> 00:29:33.640
characters long, it is nearly unsolvable. There have been thousands
563
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.279
of possible solutions to the cipher, but no way of
564
00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:39.720
knowing whether any of them are correct. The letter continues
565
00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:42.400
with the Zodiac claiming he's killed ten people to date
566
00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:44.680
and that he would have killed more except the bomb
567
00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:47.000
he was going to use was a dud. The second
568
00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:49.319
page of the letter shows a diagram of his new
569
00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:52.640
and improved bomb in how it works. Of course, the
570
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:55.720
newspaper and the authorities kept any mention of a bomb
571
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.880
thread hidden from public knowledge in order to prevent panic.
572
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.559
For the next four years, around eight Zodiac letters were
573
00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:05.720
sent to the Chronicle, containing much of the same information
574
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:09.119
and please for attention as his previous letters. One more
575
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.480
cipher was sent, and when deciphered, it apparently contained the
576
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.839
location of a bomb that would go off in the
577
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:18.720
fall of nineteen seventy. No bomb was ever found or detonated.
578
00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:22.519
In one of these letters, the Zodiac claimed responsibility for
579
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:25.960
Kathleen John's abduction, confessing that he lit Kathleen's car on
580
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.359
fire after failing to kill her. His final letter was
581
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:32.960
sent on January thirtieth, nineteen seventy four, and seemed to
582
00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:37.279
review the movie The Exorcist before once again demanding publicity.
583
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:40.200
At the end of the letter, the Zodiac's final score
584
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:45.759
was written me thirty seven s FPD zero. Police had
585
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:49.559
only confirmed five murders and two attempted murders from the Zodiac,
586
00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:52.519
so his claim of thirty seven murders could very well
587
00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:56.039
just be an exaggeration. The Zodiac did
previously say in
588
00:30:56.119 --> 00:30:58.640
a letter, though, that he would not continue announcing his
589
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:00.960
murders and he would make them lak look like accidents,
590
00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:04.680
meaning the final murder count could technically range anywhere from
591
00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:12.400
five to thirty seven. Because of the magnitude and popularity
592
00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:14.759
of this case, many people have claimed to be the
593
00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:18.240
Zodiac for attention or given false tips to police, making
594
00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:20.920
it very hard to identify who's telling the truth and
595
00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:24.200
who's not. That being said, one of the most likely
596
00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:27.039
suspects of the case, in one that the police identified
597
00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:29.279
very early on, was Arthur Lee Allen.
598
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:31.920
I'm not the Zodiac killer.
599
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:34.119
I know that.
600
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.480
I know that deep in mice.
601
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:39.799
Suspicion first arose about Allan when a friend of his,
602
00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:43.480
Donald Cheney voice concerns he had that Allan was connected
603
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:46.759
to the Zodiac killings. Donald Cheney explained that Alan and
604
00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:49.200
him used to go hunting together and at one point
605
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:52.440
Alan had asked him, have you ever thought about hunting people?
606
00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:54.440
He said he.
607
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:59.880
Would give himself an identity and write letters to the editor,
608
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:03.680
and he'd have a name and.
609
00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:08.119
It would be Zodiac. Allegedly, Alan had started explaining how
610
00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:10.559
he would murder people and how it would be impossible
611
00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:13.279
to track him down because he had no motive. Donald
612
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:15.920
Cheney also claimed that Alan had said he would sign
613
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:19.240
letters to the police as the Zodiac Killer. Alan later
614
00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:23.680
denied any recollection of this conversation. After this tip, police
615
00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:26.799
went to question Alan. In the interview, Alan had said
616
00:32:26.839 --> 00:32:29.279
he had an interest in guns, but only owned twenty
617
00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:33.160
two calibers. A witness would later state otherwise. Alan was
618
00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:36.559
also dishonorably discharged from the Navy, which was a critical
619
00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:39.799
clue because the character profile of the Zodiac indicated that
620
00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:43.720
he most likely had military experience. The terminology used in
621
00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:47.920
the Zodiac letters indicate military, specifically Air force language, in
622
00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:51.039
terms like unflappable, which is an adjective that means calm
623
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:54.039
and clear thinking. There were also footprints that were found
624
00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:56.720
at a few crime scenes that indicated that the Zodiac
625
00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.680
most likely wore Wingwalkers, a brand of boot that his
626
00:32:59.720 --> 00:33:03.079
own sold at military outlets. His knowledge of guns and
627
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:06.599
cryptology is also likely learned in the Navy. When asked
628
00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:09.519
where he was during the Lake Barriessa stabbing, Allan had
629
00:33:09.559 --> 00:33:11.480
said he spent most of his day at his house,
630
00:33:11.640 --> 00:33:14.559
but he had no witness to support his alibi. Allan
631
00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:17.440
also owned a watch from the company named Zodiac, whose
632
00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:21.039
brand logo was the infamous Zodiac's signature. Because this was
633
00:33:21.079 --> 00:33:23.839
the only time that the signature and the name Zodiac
634
00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.799
ever appeared together before the letters, it is assumed that
635
00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:29.559
the Zodiac took his name and sign from the watch brand,
636
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.480
which Arthur Lee Allen owned. In nineteen ninety one, Michael Mijeaux,
637
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:36.279
the man who survived one of the Zodiac's shootings, had
638
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:39.400
later identified Arthur Lee Allen as the person who appeared
639
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:42.440
most similar to the man who shot him, therefore making
640
00:33:42.519 --> 00:33:45.839
him the most likely Zodiac suspect at the time. But
641
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.039
despite the circumstantial evidence, fingerprint and handwriting analyzes did not
642
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:53.079
match between the Zodiac and Allan, and the police sketch
643
00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:56.880
of the Zodiac didn't resemble Allan at all, although police
644
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.000
kept him as a person of interest because they had
645
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.759
speculated that the fingerprint found in Paulstein's cab wasn't from
646
00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:07.079
the Zodiac, But before any concrete incriminating evidence surfaced, Alan
647
00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:09.760
died of a heart attack on August twenty sixth, nineteen
648
00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:14.119
ninety two. He remains the sole and top suspect. Another
649
00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:18.360
possible suspect is Richard Gaikowski. Gaikowski was the editor of
650
00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:21.760
a counterculture newspaper based in San Francisco, where most of
651
00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:24.440
the Zodiac's killings took place. There are a number of
652
00:34:24.519 --> 00:34:27.039
clues that connect him to the Zodiac, such as his
653
00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:30.000
army service as a medic in the nineteen fifties, meaning
654
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:33.400
he fit the military
assumption for the Zodiac, But unfortunately,
655
00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.760
eighty percent of Rich's army records were destroyed in a fire,
656
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.039
so not much more is known about his time in
657
00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:42.920
the army. Although the main reason Gaikowski became a prominent
658
00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:46.039
suspect was the long and frequent letters the police would
659
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:49.599
receive from a coworker of his, who nicknamed himself Goldketcher.
660
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:54.199
In these letters, Goldketcher claimed that Gaikowski had frequently talked
661
00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:57.239
about committing violent acts similar to that of the Zodiac.
662
00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:01.079
In two thousand and nine, Goldketcher provides voice recordings of
663
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.199
Gaikowski's voice in Nancy Slover, the police dispatcher who took
664
00:35:05.239 --> 00:35:07.480
the Zodiac's nine to one one calls when he reported
665
00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.039
the murders. In one of the only four people who
666
00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:13.119
have ever heard the Zodiac's real voice, confirmed that the
667
00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:16.719
voice recordings of Richard Gaikowski match the voice she heard
668
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:17.599
on the phone that night.
669
00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:23.599
The teleicode is broken. You never know, never any way
670
00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:26.480
of knowing whether it's a real code or whether it's
671
00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:27.480
just a fake code.
672
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:34.559
The last part of that was even more like.
673
00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:41.719
What I heard in the first part. Lastly, in the
674
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:45.599
cipher that supposedly contained the Zodiac's identity, the word geik
675
00:35:45.719 --> 00:35:50.440
appears in Some speculate this might be a nickname for Gaikowski. Unfortunately,
676
00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:53.599
most of the evidence against the suspect are claims made
677
00:35:53.639 --> 00:35:57.039
by the anonymous gold Catcher, who has very little credibility,
678
00:35:57.440 --> 00:35:59.960
so none of these claims can be considered conclusive.
679
00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:05.199
The mystery has never been solved, and now one man
680
00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:09.280
claims to have indisputable evidence he knows who the killer is.
681
00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:12.840
Gary Stewart, author of a new memoir The Most Dangerous
682
00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:16.320
Animal of All, says the serial killer is his father,
683
00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:18.559
Earl Van Best Junior.
684
00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:21.960
The final and one of the most popular suspects in
685
00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:25.280
the Zodiac case is Earl Van Best Junior. The basis
686
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:27.960
for suspecting Van Best comes from the book The Most
687
00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:31.519
Dangerous Animal of All, authored by Gary Stewart, who claims
688
00:36:31.559 --> 00:36:34.599
that his biological father, Earl Van Best Junior, was the
689
00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:37.960
Zodiac killer. When this book was published, it became very
690
00:36:38.039 --> 00:36:41.119
popular among the general public. The author claims that his
691
00:36:41.239 --> 00:36:43.840
father lived in California at the time of the killings
692
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:47.119
and was very interested in cipher's and codes. He also
693
00:36:47.239 --> 00:36:49.880
matched the composite sketch of the Zodiac and had many
694
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.400
strange friends, including a Satanist and a Manson family member.
695
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:56.440
Some of the more concrete evidence was the fact that
696
00:36:56.519 --> 00:36:59.639
a handwriting expert found that the handwriting on Best's marriage
697
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:03.559
matched the handwriting in the Zodiac's letters, making this one
698
00:37:03.559 --> 00:37:06.159
of the few times and experts certified a match to
699
00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:11.239
the Zodiac's handwriting. Unfortunately, critics quickly dismissed the suspect because
700
00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:14.320
there was not enough evidence against him. The facial match
701
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:16.880
to the composite sketch was a very loose one, and
702
00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:20.000
it was also later determined that the handwriting on Best's
703
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:23.440
marriage certificate actually belonged to the minister who officiated the
704
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:27.159
marriage and not to Best himself, therefore effectively ruling out
705
00:37:27.320 --> 00:37:31.920
Best as a suspect. Throughout the late nineteen sixties and seventies,
706
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:34.840
the fear of the Zodiac Killer gripped the San Francisco
707
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:38.360
area and sent the whole nation into a frenzy. Although
708
00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:41.480
even decades after the last letter, there are still many
709
00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:44.800
aspects of this case that remain unsolved. Not only is
710
00:37:44.840 --> 00:37:47.800
the identity of the Zodiac Killer unclear, but the number
711
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:50.880
of victims could range from five to nearly fifty, and
712
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:54.199
the translations to his cryptic ciphers are still being decoded
713
00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:57.199
fifty years later. Despite all of the publicity that this
714
00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:00.639
case received, the identity of the Zodiac Killer remains one
715
00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:04.000
of the most popular unsolved mysteries in true crime history.