On December 20, 1968, a suspicious crime marked the start of a serial killer’s chilling game. At the crime scene, 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen, were clearly shot while sitting in a car. The car was parked near Lake Herman Road, which is located on the outskirts of Vallejo, California. Betty Lou Jensen deceased at the crime scene and David Faraday passed away on his way to the hospital. The crime scene confused police officers because the killing had no detectable motive. Unfortunately, the tragic deaths of the teenagers was the first act of a dangerous serial killer who would baffle authorities even more.
Several months later on July 5, 1969, the disguised criminal targeted 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Mike Mageau. Ferrin and Mageau were shot while sitting in a car that was parked in a parking lot. Coincidentally, the parking lot was also located on the outskirts of Vallejo. Ferrin passed away at the crime scene, but Mageau survived the brutal attack. Mageau described the killer as a young white male with light brown curly hair and a large face. Mageau also stated that the man was about 26-30 years old, stocky, and approximately 5′ 8″ tall. Despite the detailed description, authorities were not able to apprehend any suspects.
On August 1, 1969, the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Vallejo Times-Herald all received a strange letter with no return address. On a side note, the letters were identical. In the letters, the writer claimed to have killed the young couples and provided extremely specific details that only the killer and the authorities would have known about the crime scenes. Also, the letters were signed with strange symbol, a circle with a large cross in the the middle. The symbol inspired the famous name of the serial killer, which is the Zodiac Killer. Lastly, all the letters contained a unique code. The serial killer took advantage of the indecipherable letters by using them to threaten the newspaper companies. If the newspaper companies failed to print the codes, the killer vowed to strike again. As a result, the codes appeared in newspapers and the authorities frantically scrambled to catch the Zodiac Killer.
Unfortunately, the authorities had no luck and the Zodiac Killer indeed struck again. On September 27, 1969, another young couple was attacked. While picnicking on the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa, California, a man wearing an executioner hood emblazoned with the Zodiac symbol approached the young couple. 22-year-old Cecelia Shepard and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Bryan Hartnell, were tied up with rope and brutally stabbed by the killer. Both teenagers were alive after the authorities arrived on the scene, but Shepard passed away. Hartnell survived the horrific event and was also able to describe the attacker. Hartnell claimed that the man was 5′ 8′ to 6′ tall, stocky, and had dark brown hair. Expectantly, the description corresponds to Mageau’s description; however, the Zodiac Killer was nowhere to be found.
On October 11, 1969, the Zodiac Killer attacked his last victim. During the evening, 29-year-old Paul Stine was shot and killed in his taxi. Authorities believed the attack was initially a robbery, but the Zodiac Killer confessed to killing Paul Stine several days after the shooting in another letter.
Only 5 victims have been linked to the Zodiac Killer, but the mysterious man claimed to have killed 37 people in one of his letters. To this day, the identity of the Zodiac Killer remains a mystery. The case may be unsolved; however, interesting clues have been uncovered that lead to chilling suspects, so stay tuned for Part 2 of the Zodiac Killer!
Here is the link to the video that inspired this blog post. The beginning is hilarious.