1969. “Why has DNA evidence not yet unmasked the Zodiac Killer?” by Charles Russo. Medium.

As a criminology major, I hope to dedicate my time at Penn State studying the human psyche and researching criminals’ motivations. When I first became interested in learning more about crime, I began falling into holes on YouTube, attempting to gain as much accessible knowledge as I could about the “monsters that walk among us”. A video by BuzzFeed Unsolved entitled “The Horrifying Murders of the Zodiac Killer” caught my eye in 2016. As arbitrary as it seems, I owe my initial interest and fascination with serial murderers and criminal psychology to this 22 minute video. Thus, there is no better way to begin my blog than talking about the unsolved murders that started it all.

1968: San Francisco Bay. Two teenagers are murdered in their car in December, both shot to death. A year later, and another couple has been shot, though the male survived the attack. Investigators didn’t believe the two were related, and had zero witnesses or suspects for either incident.

1969: On the 1st of August, the San-Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald each receive an identical, handwritten letter. The author of the letters takes responsibility for the attacks, stating “I am the killer of the two teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman.” They then go on to explain details of the crime in which only the murderer would know: the type of ammunition used, the clothing worn by each victim, the location of each bullet wound. After a demand for their letter to be printed on the front page (or else more blood would be shed), 1/3 of a cypher followed, encrypted with homemade symbols that supposedly hid the identity of the killer. Each letter was signed with a circle with a cross through it, later attached to the symbol of the Zodiac Watch Company.

This was the day that the Zodiac Killer was born.

Later that year, a third couple would be attacked, with the male victim surviving once more. This time, the letters began with: “Dear Editor, this is the Zodiac speaking.” After sufficient “proof” was given  that the writer was indeed the killer, the author would begin to delve into his motivations, and taunts directed at the San Francisco and Vallejo Police. The descriptions were vivid, and posted verbatim on the front page for every Californian to read.

The Zodiac Killer had exactly what they craved (perhaps even more than murder), and that was attention.

A taxi driver was shot and killed in October. The subsequent letter contained a piece of his blood-soaked shirt, and the information that they remained at near the crime scene, even as police arrived.

“The S.F. police could have caught me last night if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcycles seeing who could make the most noise.”

Some investigators believe the first responders came in physical contact with the Zodiac Killer, that night, yet after a few brief questions let the passer-by go.

The letter concludes with a threat to attack a children’s school bus and “pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out”

Chaos ensued.

Around this time the first three cypher pages had begun to be de-coded by a school teacher and his wife. To this day, it remains to be the only Zodiac Letter to be decrypted, and contrary to what the Zodiac had promised, it didn’t contain their name or address.  Rather, it contained the explanation of why the Zodiac killed.

1969. “Zodiac killer theories still rolling in after 45 years,” by Kevin Fagan. SFGate, SFChronicle.

“I like killing people because it is so much fun.” read the first line of the letter. It contained references to Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and proclaimed that they would never release their name, in fear that the police would try to “slow down or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife”.

1974: The final letter is received. Aside from their review of “The Exorcist” as “the best satirical comedy”, the Zodiac gives the final scoreboard:

ME-37 SFPD-0

Throughout the years, many copycat letters have been sent, as well as cyphers. It’s unknown how many victims fell pray to the Zodiac Killer, or even if it was a single person. Theorists have dedicated years to uncovering hidden evidence, re-examining DNA, and fanatics alike have created sites, forums, and research blogs to keep the memory of those lost alive, and to keep the hope alive that one day, an answer might be found.

Cases 40+ years old (especially as the odds of the killer being deceased increase astronomically) don’t get solved every day, and usually, they never do. Readers can attribute the failure to that of the police department, who missed several key pieces of evidence, to the news outlets, for giving up their platform as free real estate for panic, or congratulate the Zodiac on flaunting just enough to get us to look but never find.

I highly encourage those who wish to learn more (like me!) to read the letters themselves and do their own research, as well as watch the BuzzFeed video that got me so enthralled in the first place. Original scans of the letters and cyphers can easily be found, and they’re both fascinating and chilling.

One can only hope that this intriguing and unique case doesn’t fall into limbo, and that new answers may be found in order to grant the families of the victims peace. I’m of the group of people who think that perhaps the case just needs another set of fresh eyes.

As of now, I hope those eyes are mine.