The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified serial killer who terrorized the state of California in the late 1960s. His case has often been described as one of America’s biggest unsolved cases of all time. Furthermore, even pop culture has picked up on this notorious individual and turned his lore into several films and projects.
Between December 1968 and October 1969, the Zodiac Killer took the lives of five people in the San Francisco Bay Area. His modus operandi was usually in urban, rural, and suburban areas. Furthermore, his targets were couples and cab drivers. Two people who encountered him have lived to tell their story.
On record, this serial killer murdered five but he has claimed to have terminated 37 individuals. The Zodiac Killer received his pseudonym from the fact that he sent taunting messages and letters to regional newspapers. In these messages, he used to threaten killings and bombings. Few letters even contained cryptograms or cyphers.
In the year 2007, David Fincher directed a film titled Zodiac. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., etc., this film showcased the manhunt for this dangerous criminal.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the synopsis of Zodiac reads, “In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Investigators (Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards) and reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) become obsessed with learning the killer’s identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers, and menacing phone calls.”
Who were the victims of the Zodiac Killer?
In December 1968 and October 1969, the Zodiac Killer attacked seven individuals, out of whom five were killed and two survived. The five deceased are David Arthur Faraday (17), Betty Lou Jensen (16), Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin (22), Cecelia Ann Shepard (22), and Paul Lee Stine (29). The names of the survivors are Michael Renault Mageau and Bryan Calvin Hartnell, who were 19 and 20 at the time.
On August 4, 1969, the Zodiac Killer sent a haunting letter to the press that described his encounter with a black man. The letter read, “This is the Zodiac speaking. In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police having a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it, they will have me.
It further read, “On the 4th of July I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down already. The boy was originally sitting in the front seat when I began firing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leapt backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in the back, thashing out very violently with his legs; that’s how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the scene of the killing with squealing tires + racing engine, as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car.”
Some people who were suspected to be his serial killer were Arthur Leigh Allen, Gary Francis Poste, Joseph “Giuseppe” Bevilacqua, etc. However, this case remains unsolved.
