The Case Breakers compare scar markings on the potential zodiac killer’s forehead versus the sketch of the confirmed killer.
As a criminology major and California native- I had to talk about the news that emerged pertaining to the potential solving of the Zodiac Killer murders.
For those who need a little help remembering the case, here is a broad timeline of the case:
The Zodiac Killer is responsible for a string of murders in California in the late 1960s. In total, there were five confirmed victims in a span of approximately four years. The first confirmed victims were 17-year-old David Faraday and his girlfriend 16-year-old Betty Lou Jensen was shot and killed near their car in a secluded area near Vallejo, California. This attack happened on December 20 of 1968.
July 5 of 1969: Another couple was attacked and injured while in a secluded area in Vallejo. The couple Darlene Ferrin (age 22) and Mike Mageau (age 19) were seated in the car when a man approached with a flashlight; he then open fired. Darlene would not survive the attack, and Mike was very injuried. Interestingly, a man called the Vallejo police department and gave the location of the crime scene while claiming responsibility for both attacks. However, police were not able to track down the killer.
August 1, 1969: the San Fransisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Vallejo Times-Herald all received a handwritten letter – of course without a return address. The letter confessed to being “…the killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman” (Biography). The killer pressured these newspapers to release his letters on the front page, or there would be another attack. Each letter had one piece of a three-part cipher that supposedly named his identity.
September 27, 1969: Couple Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, when they were brutally attacked. The two were tied and brutally stabbed to death by a man wearing a hood and a shirt with a “circle-cross symbol” (Biography). The man left a message on the car door for police before fleeing the scene and calling the Napa Police Department, and claiming responsibility.
October 11, 1969: 29-year-old cab driver Paul Stine was shot by the zodiac killer while in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood. Originally, Stine’s murder was not linked to the Zodiac due to the lack of a similar methodology.
October 15, 1969: A letter received by the San Francisco chronicle detailed Stine’s murder. This is the same letter where the killer threatened to shoot out the tire of a school bus and hurt the children.
In 1974, the letters stopped completely.
Now that we have that covered, let’s talk about what happened recently.
On October 6, 2021, a team called the Case Breakers (composed of former law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and intelligence agents) stated that they had found the man responsible for the Zodiac Killings in the late 1960s (Anguiano). The Case Breakers claimed they had new physical and forensic evidence and eyewitnesses that could support their theory. The Case Breakers said their identification was collected by comparing photos of the suspected killer and the confirmed Zodiac killer based on scarring on the forehead. The man they claim to be the Zodiac is named Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018 (Cosic, Cinone).
This information should be taken with a grain of salt. The FBI stated that the Zodiac case is still open, and there is not any new information at the moment.
So, to answer the big question, was the Zodiac Killer caught?
Probably not.
References:
Anguiano, D. (2021 October 8). Case of the Zodiac Killer Takes ANother Twist-But Police Say It Isn’t Solved.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/08/zodiac-killer-investigation
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2). Zodiac Killer. Biography.com. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/zodiac-killer%C2%A0.
Cosic, M., & Cinone, D. (2021, October 12). ‘Zodiac Killer’ was ‘obsessed with killing animals’, former friend claims. The US Sun. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://www.the-sun.com/news/3808404/zodiac-killer-gary-poste-francis-solved-dna-code-suspects/%C2%A0.
Miller, J. R. (2021, October 6). Zodiac Killer identified, linked to sixth murder, cold-case squad claims. New York Post. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://nypost.com/2021/10/06/zodiac-killer-identified-linked-to-sixth-murder-cold-case-squad/.
I’m so glad you decided to talk about this. I had heard about this story and was wondering if a conclusion had been made, but it seems the case is still up for debate. The passage of time is making it more and more difficult to gather evidence, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the case remains a mystery forever.
The zodiac killer was actually a story I got really into during a quarantine youtube binge. Did you see that they solved one of his cyphers like 5 years ago? It was like unsolved for 5o years!
Now I am someone who admires serial killers and the whole aspect surrounding them. I am so happy you touched upon the Zodiac killer as he us one of the most infamous killers in history. I actually just recently started wishing the movie, “Zodiac” with Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo. While I have yet to finish the movie, it really is an interesting movie. There have been numerous movies based around serial killers and I enjoy them all. I would love to see another criminal report, like that of Richard Ramirez or something. Man I love Cali!