Hello Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome back to the Fifth Edition of the Case Reviewed. In this case review we will be delving deeply into the
mind of a serial killer. A killer that has gone unpunished and a killer that will go unpunished until he dies. This killer was a notorious murderer in
the Northern California area. He taunted police, sent ciphers and tortured the minds of all of everyone.
So without further wait. I present to you:
The Zodiac Killer: The Case Reviewed
Since the Zodiac Killer was never caught, his early biography is unknown, his psychological state is unknown to the point of his killings, and the
Zodiac is just as mysterious as when he was killing. The Truth of Zodiac is something that no one knows and he used his unknown status to frighten
everyone. He was a master at Psychological Fear. And for the lack of background we have to start backwards, analyzing what the killer did and the
possibilities of who he was.
The Location
Vallejo and Benicia lie just north of the San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Strait, about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco. In the late 1960s,
the area abutting the two rough-and-tumble, working-class cities was practically uninhabited, and even now only a few paved surfaces cross the barren
expanses of southern Solano County above the Vallejo-Benicia Freeway. One of these is Lake Herman Road, running from eastern Vallejo to northern
Benicia by way of the unincorporated area between them.
LINK
This is the Zodiacs territory and his place of killing. Now that we have an area to go on. Lets investigate the Victims:
The Victims
Cheri Jo Bates was 18 years old when she had been killed by the Zodiac. She
is considered his very first kill. On the night October 30, 1966, Cheri had left the College Library and went straight to her car. She attempted to
start it to no avail. It would be later found out that the killer had disabled her lime green Volkswagen by pulling out the distributor coil and the
condenser, then disconnecting the middle wire of the distributor, the zodiac killer had apparently waited for Bates to return to her car and try to
start it, whereupon he made a pretense of unsuccessfully tinkering with the engine. It is then speculated that he offered her a ride, she accepted.
He then drove to an alley between to abandoned houses, both owned by the college. Now comes the odd part, apparently the killer and Cheri had spent an
hour and a half together, what they were doing is unknown.
Eventually the man attacked her, slashing her three times in the chest area, once in the back, and seven times across the throat. Police
determined that the murder weapon was a small knife with a blade about 3 1/2" long by 1/2" wide, but the wounds to Bates' throat were so deep and
brutal as to nearly decapitate her, severing her larynx, jugular vein, and carotid artery. She had also been choked, beaten, and slashed about the
face. LINK
Although the library closed at 9:00 p.m. (and books found in her car verify that she had been inside before then), two separate witnesses reported
hearing an "awful scream" at around 10:30, followed by "a muted scream, and then a loud sound like an old car being started up" about two minutes
later. This time matches an estimation given by the coroner, and is generally accepted as the time of her death. Of course a small conjecture can be
made here, the person who killed her knew her. Hence that is why they spent so much time together in the car. Perhaps this was a crime of passion?
Well according to the official police report: Neither rape nor robbery seemed to have been a motive, as her clothes were undisturbed and her purse was
present and intact. So that rules out rape, sexual assault, robbery. What does that leave? A door pretty wide open for the Zodiac. And sure enough he
would be taunting the police with this message:
On November 29, 1966 the Riverside Police recieved this letter about the murder of Cheri Bates:
THE CONFESSION
BY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
SHE WAS YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL BUT NOW SHE IS BATTERED AND DEAD. SHE IS NOT THE FIRST AND SHE WILL NOT BE THE LAST I LAY AWAKE NIGHTS THINKING ABOUT MY
NEXT VICTIM. MAYBE SHE WILL BE THE BEAUTIFUL BLOND THAT BABYSITS NEAR THE LITTLE STORE AND WALKS DOWN THE DARK ALLEY EACH EVENING ABOUT SEVEN. OR
MAYBE SHE WILL BE THE SHAPELY BRUNETT THAT SAID XXX NO WHEN I ASKED HER FOR A DATE IN HIGH SCHOOL. BUT MAYBE IT WILL NOT BE EITHER. BUT I SHALL CUT
OFF HER FEMALE PARTS AND DEPOSIT THEM FOR THE WHOLE CITY TO SEE. SO DON'T MAKE IT TO EASY FOR ME. KEEP YOUR SISTERS, DAUGHTERS, AND WIVES OFF THE
STREETS AND ALLEYS. MISS BATES WAS STUPID. SHE WENT TO THE SLAUGHTER LIKE A LAMB. SHE DID NOT PUT UP A STRUGGLE. BUT I DID. IT WAS A BALL. I FIRST CUT
THE MIDDLE WIRE FROM THE DISTRIBUTOR. THEN I WAITED FOR HER IN THE LIBRARY AND FOLLOWED HER OUT AFTER ABOUT TWO MINUTES. THE BATTERY MUST HAVE BEEN
ABOUT DEAD BY THEN. I THEN OFFERED TO HELP. SHE WAS
THEN VERY WILLING TO TALK TO ME. I TOLD HER THAT MY CAR WAS DOWN THE STREET AND THAT I WOULD GIVE HER A LIFT HOME. WHEN WE WERE AWAY FROM THE LIBRARY
WALKING, I SAID IT WAS ABOUT TIME. SHE ASKED ME, "ABOUT TIME FOR WHAT?" I SAID IT WAS ABOUT TIME FOR HER TO DIE. I GRABBED HER AROUND THE NECK WITH
MY HAND OVER HER MOUTH AND MY OTHER HAND WITH A SMALL KNIFE AT HER THROAT. SHE WENT VERY WILLINGLY. HER BREAST FELT WARM AND VERY FIRM UNDER MY HANDS,
BUT ONLY ONE THING WAS ON MY MIND. MAKING HER PAY FOR ALL THE BRUSH OFFS THAT SHE HAD GIVEN ME DURING THE YEARS PRIOR. SHE DIED HARD. SHE SQUIRMED AND
SHOOK AS I CHOCKED HER, AND HER LIPS TWICHED. SHE LET OUT A SCREAM ONCE AND I KICKED HER IN THE HEAD TO SHUT HER UP. I PLUNGED THE KNIFE INTO HER AND
IT BROKE. I THEN FINISHED THE JOB BY CUTTING HER THROAT. I AM NOT SICK. I AM INSANE. BUT THAT WILL NOT STOP THE GAME. THIS LETTER SHOULD BE PUBLISHED
FOR ALL TO READ IT. IT JUST MIGHT SAVE THAT GIRL IN THE ALLEY. BUT THAT'S UP TO YOU. IT WILL BE ON YOUR CONSCIENCE. NOT MINE. YES, I DID MAKE THAT
CALL TO YOU ALSO. IT WAS JUST A WARNING. BEWARE...I AM
STALKING YOUR GIRLS NOW.
CC. CHIEF OF POLICE
ENTERPRISE
Eventually, the Police would recieve another letter stating:
BATES HAD
TO DIE
THERE WILL
BE MORE
The way it is written is in the shape of a Z, the Zodiacs signiture on many things. However, many people are unsure if the Zodiac really killed her or
not. I personally think he did. I think that was the beginning, why would a note be sent in the Form of a Z? Why would things add up to a killer that
has not yet been named? It just does not make sense. The Zodiac was her killer....
Eventually, the killer would brandish a name: The Zodiac and he would begin by terrorizing California and he would claim two couples lives to
officially begin his murderous run....
December 20, 1968, a light-colored hardtop four-door, possibly a
Chevrolet Impala, was seen parked near the gated entrance to the pumping station off Lake Herman Road just east of Lake Herman. The same car was also
seen there at about 10:00 by a different witness. Between these two sightings, a young man and his girlfriend were parked in the same spot when a car
heading west toward Vallejo slowed to a stop several yards past their car, then began to slowly back up toward them. The car gave them both such a
bad feeling that they immediately pulled out of the gravelly area and drove off toward Benicia. The other car followed them until the first exit,
which they took, watching the stranger continue east on Lake Herman
Road
At 11:10 p.m., David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were
parked in the same place when they were shot to death near Faraday's brown Rambler. Having told Betty Lou's parents that they were going to a
Christmas concert, they had instead driven to the isolated lover's lane and had been there for less than an hour when someone pulled in with them,
exited his vehicle, and began firing into their car.
The killer was armed with either a .22 caliber rifle or, more likely, a handgun loaded with .22 LR ammunition. From light footprints and ballistic
evidence, it appeared that the killer started from behind the car, shooting out the right rear window, then the left rear tire, then coming around to
the front left. The two teenagers scrambled out the passenger's side door.
LINK
Now something interesting is here, the Zodiac
uses a handgun. This is important because it would become, his signiture weapon.
Jensen, 16, left the car alive and must have started to run toward the road; her body was found less than 30 feet from the rear bumper. The shot
pattern — five rounds along the right side of her back, ranging from the space between the fifth and sixth ribs all the way down to the pelvis
—suggested that the killer was either competent with firearms or had fired into her body as she lay wounded by a previous shot, as a coroner's
report states that the shots had come from no more than 10 feet away.
LINK
Faraday was killed by being shot in the head. A minute to minute timeline was achieved when several witnesses driving by the area between 9:00 p.m.
and 11:15 p.m. One of these witnesses, Stella Borges, may even have seen the killer's car, described as a light-colored Chevrolet, headed toward
Benicia just before she discovered Jensen's and Faraday's bodies. The Zodiac has made his first official attack and has claimed two victims. His
murderous rampage would begin again and he would be playing all sorts of games with the police and worst of all, he enjoyed what he did....
The Zodiac Killer would wait until six months later, shortly after 12:00
a.m. on Saturday, July 5, 1969 to strike and add fear once again. Again it was a couple, Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22, and Michael Renault Mageau, 19,
were shot as they sat in Ferrin's car in the parking lot of the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course. However, this time something was different. The Zodiac
did not finish the job, he assumed he killed both of them, but that was not the case. Mageau lived athough he recalls the incident with chilling
detail... The Following is from Mageau's own words:
"Ferrin and Mageau were left alone ( Are you seeing the pattern? good because its important) until about midnight, when another car, alone this time,
pulled into the lot from the direction of Vallejo. Its lone occupant turned off the car's headlights and pulled up next to Ferrin's car, six to
eight feet away on her left.
The car, a brown Ford Mustang or Chevy Corvair, idled there for a moment, and Mageau asked Ferrin if she knew the driver, to which she responded,
"Oh, never mind." Mageau later said that he wasn't sure whether this meant that she did or didn't know the driver, but before he could inquire
further the car pulled out and drove off at high speed back toward Vallejo.
After about five minutes, the brown car returned to the parking lot and pulled up behind and to the right of Ferrin and Mageau, about 10 feet back.
Leaving his headlights on this time, the driver exited his vehicle with a bright lamp or flashlight. Obscuring his face by holding the light at
arm's length and shining it directly at them, he walked silently up to the passenger's side door.
From his manner, Mageau thought he might be a policeman, and was reaching for his ID when the man raised a handgun and fired five 9mm rounds through
the window. He shot first at Mageau, hitting him in the face and body: at such close range, several of the slugs tore through his flesh and entered
Darlene.
Fueled by pain and adrenaline, Michael kicked himself into the back seat, catching another bullet in his left knee. The attacker then fired at
Ferrin, hitting her in each arm and in the back as she turned away. Mageau thought that the shots sounded quiet, perhaps fired through a silencer,
but nearby resident George Bryant heard both the earlier firecrackers and the shots, and described the shots as much louder.
The killer was walking back to his car after this volley of shots when he heard Mageau begin to yell, either in pain or in rage. He returned to
Ferrin's car, fired two additional shots at each of the victims, then turned around casually and got back in his own car.
LINK
Mageau was able to catch a look at the man's face in profile, and described him as short, about 5'8" tall, but extremely heavyset. Though
"not blubbery fat" the man was at least 195 pounds and had a large face. In terrible pain but still conscious, Mageau managed to turn
the car's blinkers on in an attempt to summon aid, then opened the passenger's side door and tumbled to the pavement. (This is HIGHLY Important,
now we have an identity) So lets remember this!
The following is also highly important, so pay attention to the Killers psychological state.
From there, he watched the attacker peel out, turn his car around, and drive back in the direction of Vallejo. Though the Zodiac would later claim
that he remained under the speed limit after the attack, both Mageau and George Bryant reported that he left the scene at a high rate of speed." ~End
of Mageau's Personal Account.
Several police cars and an ambulance soon arrived, summoned by more late-night teenaged drivers who had discovered the car and victims, but the
aid they could offer was too little and too late for Darlene, who died in the ambulance with Mageau and Officer Richard Hoffman of the Vallejo PD.
Mageau went straight into surgery, but Darlene was not so lucky: she was pronounced Dead on Arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital at 12:38 a.m.
LINK
The indication that Ferrin may have known her killer — or may have been known to him — was a pair of calls made to Darlene's home shortly after
the murder. And lets not forget that she apparently seemed to know his car! Do not forget that either. When the calls were answered by Ferrin's
friends at the house, there was no voice on the other end. One source close to the family claims that the calls were made by Darlene's brother, Leo,
who was waiting to hear from Darlene about an unrelated matter. I do not believe that source, as harsh as that seems it appears that someone was
trying to make it appear that they were not afflianted with the Zodiac. To give the family some peace. Thats the reason I would do that, to give some
disinfo and get the peace of mind that my family and I need.
At 12:40, a pay phone call was made through the operator to Vallejo Police Headquarters. According to the police dispatcher, the caller's
voice was mature and without accent, and he spoke evenly and consistently as if reading from a script. This is also important and needs to
be brought into attention! All for a psychological analysis.
At one point, the dispatcher tried to ask the caller's identity and location, but he would not be interrupted and said, "I want to report a double
murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also
killed those kids last year. Good bye" .
A few weeks later, on July 31, 1969, the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald each received letters laying
claim to the Vallejo murders. Enclosed with each letter was one-third of a cryptogram, to be published on each newspaper's front page by August 1.
Not only were the author's claims bolstered by an intimate knowledge of the two crime scenes, he also promised another murder spree if his request
was not met. Though worded slightly differently, each letter shared the same salient facts, and each was closed with the crossed-circle design that
would become the Zodiac's signature. The first to be transcribed in its entirety was the one sent to the Vallejo Times-Herald:
LINK
The Chronicle:
The Examiner:
(The Last 18 symbols have never been solved)
And of course his threatening letter:
Dear Editor
I am the killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman and the Girl last 4th of July. To Prove this I shall state some facts which only I+
the police know.
Christmass
1 Brand name of ammo Super X
2 10 shots fired
3 Boy was on back feet to car
4 Girl was lyeing on right side feet to west
4th of July
1 Girl was wearing patterned pants
2 Boy was also shot in knee
3 Brand name of ammo was Western
Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. The other 2 parts of this cipher have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle.
I want you to print this cipher on your frunt page by Fry Afternoon Aug 1-69, If you do not do this I will go on a kill rampage Fry night that will
last the whole week end. I will cruse around and pick off all stray people or couples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have
killed over a dozen people.
By August 2, all three cipher blocks had been printed. Just as the Zodiac had asked for. But wanting more proof that this was actually the Zodiac The
Chief made a public statement: "We're not satisfied that the letter was written by the murderer, but it could have been," said the Vallejo Chief of
Police Jack E. Stiltz, requesting another letter "with more facts to prove it". It was in this three-page letter that the killer first referred to
himself as "The Zodiac." They asked for him to prove it with better facts and he sure provided. Here is the letter in which the Killer refers to
himself as the Zodiac.
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.
On the 4th of July: I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the frunt seat when I began
fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim.
He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the
cene of the killing with squealing tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to
my car.
The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the
Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.
Last Christmass In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied
this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bull# that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a
small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun.
If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of
light about 3 to 6 inches across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was
spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.
No address
The Following is another first hand account. Hartnell is describing his story:
Cecelia Ann Shepard and Bryan Calvin Hartnell, two college students who had also made a spontaneous trip from Angwin, were picnicking at Twin Oak
Ridge, a peninsula on the western shore of the lake, at twilight when they were approached by a man later described as 5'8" to 6' tall,
dark-haired, and heavyset, wearing a dark jacket and dark clothing that seemed sloppy or dishevelled. Again we have yet another
description that seems to match up with the first.
Cecelia, who saw the man first, noted that he was wearing glasses. Yet another clue, now we know that he wears glasses. A highly
important clue. He seemed to Hartnell at the time to be "in his thirties and fairly unremarkable", though the young man would describe a larger and
possibly younger individual after getting a closer and more dangerous look.
Before getting too close to the couple, he ducked behind one of the two nearby trees, put on an unusual four-cornered hood, and emerged about 20 feet
away. The hood was well sewn, black, and had a bib that fell almost to the man's waistline. Embroidered on it was the crossed-circle design that
had appeared in the 3-Part Cryptogram and its cover letters and would serve as the Zodiac's signature in most of his letters to come.
Holes had been cut for the eyes and mouth, and though clip-on sunglasses had been added to further protect the killer's identity, Hartnell caught a
glimpse of greasy brownish hair through the holes in the mask. On his belt, he wore a long knife in a wooden sheath and an empty leather holster. A
large semiautomatic pistol was in his right hand and he pointed it at Shepard and Hartnell as he
spoke.LINK
Hartnell continues to recount his story with grizzly detail.
"I want your money and your car keys," he said in a calm monotone. "I want your car to go to Mexico". Hartnell handed him the keys to his
Volkswagen and all the change from his pockets. The man pocketed the coins and dropped the keys on the picnic blanket, then holstered his weapon.
Hartnell made a vague offer of help to the man in order to escape injury, to which the man responded, "No. Time's running short." The man then
stated that he was an escaped convict from the Pacific Northwest, that he had killed a prison guard there, and that he had "a stolen car and nothing
to lose. I'm flat broke."
Though the town mentioned by the killer is generally given as Deer Lodge, Montana, a reliable source reports that the state was not Montana but
Colorado. An early interview with Hartnell has the badly wounded student saying that he can't remember the exact name of the town, but that it "had
some double name, like Fern Lock or something."
His interviewer suggests "Lodge," and Hartnell agrees. "Deer Lodge" was then suggested as a northwest city with a federal penitentiary, and
the victim said, "That could be it, I guess". Subsequent inquiries to the northwestern authorities revealed that there had been no such jailbreak
or murder. Hartnell, who survived the attack, said that the man's voice was unremarkable, sounding neither educated nor illiterate, and though
Hartnell could not detect an accent, he said the killer did have a slight lilt or drawl to his
voice.]LINK
Still hoping for a peaceful resolution, Hartnell tried to relax the man by talking to him, and they spoke for a few minutes about his car before the
man removed some of the clothesline from his belt and ordered Shepard to hogtie her friend. Hartnell balked at the idea, and the man began to shout,
"Get down! Right now!"
Shepard acquiesced, and as she did so, she took out her wallet and tossed it to the man, who ignored it. When she was finished, the hooded man tied
her up and tightened the knots that she had used on Hartnell. It was at this point that the young man noticed that his attacker's hands were
shaking, and that he seemed very nervous. "I'm going to have to stab you people," the stranger told them.
"I couldn't stand to see her stabbed," Hartnell responded. "Stab me first".
"I'll do just that," the killer replied.
Hartnell was stabbed six times, and a retired police source confirms a fatal ten times for Shepard, who died of her wounds two days later. Leaving
them both for dead, the attacker walked to Hartnell's nearby car and, using a black magic marker, inscribed his crossed-circle logo and the dates of
his Bay Area attacks on the door. LINK
And as the Zodiac did before he went to a pay phone and stated:
"I want to report a murder -- no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia."
When the switchboard operator asked where he was calling from, he said quietly, "I'm the one that did it."
On the night of Saturday, October 11, 1969, San Francisco cab driver
Paul Stine picked up a fare at the corner of Mason and Geary Streets in Union Square headed for the Presidio, which lies at the northern tip of the
San Francisco peninsula. The destination that Stine entered in his log and called in to his dispatcher was at the corner of Washington and Maple
Streets in Presidio Heights.
The cab was parked one block west, however, at the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets, when the passenger shot Stine point blank in the
right side of the head. Whether the killer had made the trip in the front seat or got in front after the murder is uncertain, but witnesses saw him
in front as he removed the dead man's wallet and keys, and then cut a large piece from the back of his shirt which he soaked in blood and took with
him as he walked slowly north on Cherry Street.
However, this time there were witnesses. But they were after the crime witnesses. Meaning they saw him after the cab driver was dead. For instance
there were:
Three teenage siblings on the second floor of 3899 Washington, directly across the street from the cab, happened to spot the killer as he cut
Stine's shirt and suspected foul play. They watched him exit the cab and wipe down parts of the cab's interior and exterior, briefly leaning on the
driver's side door frame.
Consequently, when patrolmen Donald Foukes and Eric Zelms responded in a radio car and noticed a heavyset white man sauntering east on Jackson
Street, they made no effort to apprehend him.
Foukes made a statement about his recollection of the incident, recorded in an SFPD memo dated November 12,1969: "The suspect that was observed by
Officer Foukes was a WMA 35-45 Yrs about 5' 10", 180-200 lbs. Medium heavy build -- Barrel chested -- Medium complexion -- Light-colored hair
possibly greying in rear (May have been lighting that caused this effect.) (Navy or royal blue) Elastic cuffs and waistband zipped part way up.
Brown wool pants pleated type baggy in rear (Rust brown). May have been wearing low cut shoes.
"Subject at no time appeared to be in a hurry walking with a shuffling lope, Slightly bent foreward head now. The subject's general appearance to
classify him as a group would be that he might be of Welsh ancestry."
Again, as we can see the person is that of the same person. All these people are seeing the same man.
And again the Zodiac would taunt police again:
This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St + Maple St last night, to prove this here is a blood
stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did in the people in the north bay area. The S.F. Police could have caught me last night if they had
searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcicles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just
parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover. School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus
some morning. Just shoot out the frunt tire + then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.
In November the Zodiac would send some of the Taxi drivers shirt which he cut from the cab driver (Took a rag size). He then sent this letter:
This is the Zodiac speaking I though you would need a good laugh before you get the bad news you won't get the news for a while yet
PS could you print this new cipher on your frunt page? I get awfully lonely when I am ignored, so lonely I could do my Thing!!!!!!
Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7
A few days later, he sent a longer letter that included a schematic drawing of a "death machine" that he claimed to have rigged and ready. It was
designed to blow up buses. The Chronicle received both of these letters on Monday, November 10, 1969.
The entire letter states:
This is the Zodiac speaking up to the end of Oct I have killed 7 people. I have grown rather angry with the police for their telling lies about me.
So I shall change the way the collecting of slaves. I shall no longer announce to anyone. When I committ my murders, they shall look like routine
robberies, killings of anger, + a few fake accidents, etc.
The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them.
1 I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise
consists of when I kill
2 As of yet I have left no fingerprints behind me contrary to what the police say in my killings I wear transparent fingertip guards. All it is is 2
coats of airplane cement coated on my fingertips -- quite unnoticible + very efective
3 my killing tools have been boughten through the mail order outfits before the ban went into efect. Except one & it was bought out of the state. So
as you can see the police don't have much to work on. If you wonder why I was wipeing the cab down I was leaving fake clews for the police to run all
over town with, as one might say, I gave the cops som bussy work to do to keep them happy. I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey blue pig I was in the
park -- you were useing fire trucks to mask the sound of your cruzeing prowl cars. The dogs never came with in 2 blocks of me + they were to the west
+ there was only 2 groups of parking about 10 min apart then the motor cicles went by about 150 ft away going from south to north west
p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me
over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun &
the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again. [This
section has been marked off with the note "must print in paper."]
Hey pig doesnt it rile you up to have your noze rubed in your booboos?
If you cops think I'm going to take on a bus the way I stated I was, you deserve to have holes in your heads. Take one bag of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer + 1 gal of stove oil & dump a few bags of gravel on top + then set the # off + will positivily ventalate any thing that should be in the
way of the blast.
The death machine is all ready made. I would have sent you pictures but you would be nasty enough to trace them back to developer + then to me, so I
shall describe my masterpiece to you. The nice part of it is all the parts can be bought on the open market with no questions asked.
1 bat. Pow clock -- will run for aprox 1 year
1 photoelectric switch
2 copper leaf springs
2 6V car bat
1 flash light bulb + reflector
1 mirror
2 18" cardboard tubes black with shoe polish inside + oute
the system checks out from one end to the other in my tests. What you do not know is whether the death machine is at the sight or whether it is being
stored in my basement for future use. I think you do not have the manpower to stop this one by continually searching the road sides looking for this
thing. + it wont do to re roat + re schedule the busses because the bomb can be adapted to new conditions.
[Here the Zodiac's crossed-circle has been modified with five Xs drawn along the symbol's left side]
Have fun!! By the way it could be rather messy if you try to bluff me.
PS. Be shure to print the part I marked out on page 3 or I shall do my thing.
To prove that I am the Zodiac, Ask the Vallejo cop about my electric gun sight which I used to start my collecting of slaves.
The Following is a first hand account:
Early in the evening of Sunday, March 22, 1970, Kathleen Johns, 23, was driving with her infant daughter Jennifer on Highway 132 in San Joaquin
County, several miles west of Modesto, when a man in a light-colored American car started honking his horn and blinking his lights at her. Driving
alongside her car, he said that one of her wheels was wobbling and volunteered to fix it. He followed her as she pulled over at Bird Road, a turn-off
just west of Interstate 5, then got out with a lug wrench and pretended to tighten the nuts on her right rear wheel. In fact, he removed them, and
when Johns tried to drive off, the whole wheel spun loose. Again, the man offered help, this time in the form of a ride to a nearby service station.
LINK
She accepted, and they continued in the man's car westward on 132 until he pulled into a Richfield station at Chrisman Road. It was closed, and
there followed an hour and a half or more of silent and apparently aimless driving through the city of Tracy and its rural environs. As they passed
occasional other service stations, she asked a few times "What's wrong with this station," or "Why can't we go in that station," to which he
replied that it was not the right one. A police report states, "she said she was very scared of this man, did want to get out, but did not tell him
to stop the vehicle or let her out".
Ms. Johns soon realized that the stranger wasn't taking her to any service station, and asked him if he always went around helping people like this.
The man responded, "By the time I get through with them, they won't need my help". Finally, he stopped the car short at a stop sign, and Johns
took the opportunity to escape. She held her baby tightly and jumped from the car, running across a nearby field and up an embankment where she hid
in the shadows. The man turned his headlights off, moved his car a few feet, and waited silently without leaving the car. After about five minutes,
he turned his lights back on and drove away. LINK
Now history was going to be made. A sketch and not just a sketch, but an accurate representation of what the past victims and witnesses stated that
they saw. And here it was:
And there it was the Sketch, that matches with all of the witnesses and victims. But who was the Zodiacs name? and was it the Zodiac? However, a bad
thing happened when she was older a person attempted to ask her questions, however, she could no longer remember details of the event.
This is the Zodiac Speaking By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you? My name is --
I am mildly cerous as to how much money you have on my head now. I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a
bomb at the cop station. Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone else's teritory.
But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back. I have killed ten people to date. It would have been a lot more
except that my bus bomb was a dud. I was swamped out by the rain we had a while back.
The new bomb is set up like this
PS I hope you have fun trying to figgure out who I killed
[crossed-circle] – 10 SFPD - 0
The latest bus threat went unreported until later that month, when a note arrived at the Chronicle demanding its publication. Postmarked 28 April
1970, the note was written on a "Jolly Roger" brand greeting card featuring a cartoon prospector riding a dragon and the pun "Sorry to hear your
ass is a dragon." The note stated:
I hope you enjoy your selves when I have my Blast
P.S. on back
If you don't want me to have this blast you must do two things. 1 Tell everyone about the bus bomb with all the details. 2 I would like to see some
nice Zodiac butons wandering about town. Every one else has these buttons like, [peace symbol], black power, Melvin eats bluber, etc. Well it would
cheer me up considerably if I saw a lot of people wearing my buton. Please no nasty ones like Melvin's
Thank you
On June 26, the Zodiac would send this letter:
This is the Zodiac Speaking
I have become very angry with the people of the San Fran Bay Area. They have not complied with my wishes for them to wear some nice [crossed-circle]
buttons. I promiced to punish them if they did not comply, by anilating a full School Buss. But now school is out for the summer, so I punished them
in another way. I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38.
The Map coupled with this code will tell you where the bomb is set. You have untill next Fall to dig it up.
However, there was no man killed with a .38, except for a cop. But the police had already arrested a suspect 5 days beforehand and witnesses stated
that it was black man who shot the cop. The Zodiac was just trying to steal one...
And Here any doubts that anyone had about Kathleen Johns Story was quickly washed away, with this letter that the zodiac sent:
This is the Zodiac speaking
I am rather unhappy because you people will not wear some nice [crossed-circle] buttons. So now I have a little list, starting with that woeman + her
baby that I gave a rather interesting ride for a coupple howers one evening a few months back that ended in my burning her car where I found them.
[Crossed-circle]
As someday it may happen that a victom must be found. I've got a little list. I've got a little list, of society offenders who might well be
underground who would never be missed who would never be missed. There is the pestulentual nucences who whrite for autographs, all people who have
flabby hands and irritating laughs. All children who are up in dates and implore you with im platt. All people who are shaking hands shake hands
like that. And all third persons who with unspoiling take thos who insist. They'd none of them be missed. They'd none of them be missed.
There's the banjo seranader and the others of his race and the piano orginast I got him on the list. All people who eat pepermint and phomphit in
your face, they would never be missed. They would never be missed And the Idiout who phraises with inthusiastic tone of centuries but this and every
country but his own. And the lady from the provences who dress like a guy who doesn't cry and the singurly abnomily the girl who never kissed. I
don't think she would be missed Im shure she wouldn't be missed. And that nice impriest that is rather rife the judicial hummerist I've got him on
the list All funny fellows, commic men and clowns of private life. They'd none of them be missed. They'd none of them be missed. And
uncompromising kind such as wachamacallit, thingmebob, and like wise, well-nevermind, and tut tut tut tut, and whatshisname, and you know who, but the
task of filling up the blanks I rather leave up to you. But it really doesn't matter whom you place upon the list, for none of them be missed, none
of them be missed.
Again the Zodiac would send another letter:
Two days later, exactly one month after the Mount Diablo letter, the Zodiac sent his thirteenth mailing, devoted to the tortures that his slaves would
undergo in the afterlife. The penultimate sentence is another corruption of The Mikado.
This is the Zodiac speaking
Being that you will not wear some nice [crossed-circle] buttons, how about wearing some nasty [crossed-circle] buttons. Or any kind of
[crossed-circle] buttons you can think up. If you do not wear any type of [crossed-circle] buttons, I shall (on top of everything else) torture all
13 of my slaves that I have waiting for me in Paradice. Some I shall tie over ant hills and watch them scream + twich and squirm. Others shall have
pine splinters driven under their nails + then burned. Others shall be placed in cages + fed salt beef untill they are gorged then I shall listen to
their pleass for water and I shall laugh at them. Others will hang by their thumbs + burn in the sun then I will rub them down with deep heat to warm
them up. Others I shall skin them alive + let them run around screaming. And all billiard players I shall have them play in a darkened dungen cell
with crooked cues + Twisted Shoes. Yes I shall have great fun in flicting the most delicious of pain to my slaves
[Giant crossed circle, about half the length of the page] = 13
SFPD = 0
And yet again:
This is the Zodiac speaking
Like I have allways said, I am crack proof. If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something.
Because the longer they fiddle + fart around, the more slaves I will collect for my after life. I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my
riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there. The reason I'm writing to the Times is this,
They don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others.
SFPD-0 [crossed-circle]-17+
The letters suddenly stopped. The zodiac would not make contact again until 3 years later.
I saw and think "The Exorcist" was the best saterical comidy that I have ever seen. Signed, yours truley:
He plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicide's grave
titwillo titwillo titwillo
PS. If I do not see this note in your paper, I will do something nasty, which you know I'm capable of doing.
Me-37 SFPD-0
And he would write about 4 more and then stop again for another 4 years.
Editor--
Put Marco back in the, hell-hole from whence it came -- he has a serious psychological disorder -- always needs to feel superior. I suggest you refer
him to a shrink. Meanwhile, cancel the Count Marco column. Since the Count can write anonymously, so can I --
The Red Phantom
(red with rage)
And this is the Zodiacs last known letter (which faces controversy as to whether its a fake or not).
Dear Editor
This is the Zodiac speaking I am back with you. Tell herb caen I am here, I have always been here. That city pig toschi is good but I am bu [crossed
out] smarter and better he will get tired then leave me alone. I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me. I am now in control of all
things.
yours truly:
[crossed circle] guess
SFPD - 0
And this concludes the victims. However, now that we have worked this far backwards we can now head off to the Zodiacs Psychological State.
The Zodiac Killer Psychological State
1) The Zodiacs writing and the way he writes, is that of a person who believes himself to be in control of a situation.
2) The Zodiac is a taunter, meaning he wants someone to challege him.
3) The Zodiac counts his victims.
4) He mocks the police and puts them down, while raising himself above them.
5) He threatens childrens lives.
6) He killed 2 people who were alone. Police stated that those killings were random. However, were they really random? I mean seriously lets look at
it. So far he has killed nothing but couples, so in retrospect he was completing the cycle. He killed one girl, so he would have to kill one guy.
7) The Zodiac is a person that likes puzzles
8) The Zodiac is a person who kills for the game
9) He thinks that he is a type of superhero or god, in his writing he states that MY Slaves and MY buttons and he also draws his symbols. Which is
characteristic of bad/good guys in a superhero comicbooks.
10) The Zodiac believes that his victims have a purpose, that purpose is to be his slaves in the afterlife.
11) The Zodiac is a killer of couples, whcih would mean that either A) He does not know LOVE B) He was never loved. Again as we continue to see LOVE
and emotion is a HUGE fcator in these killings.
12) The Zodiac makes mistakes, but he does not reference these mistakes.
13) He never stutters in his phone call to the police.
14) He sounds that of a confident man, who has only one mission.
So in conclusion we can make some attempts at what kind of person he is:
A) He is a Perfectionist
B) He was adopted, abused, or never loved by someone else
C) He has a huge sense of being god
D) He is a person who is a problem maker, meaning that he can create puzzles and riddles with such complexity.
E) The Zodiac loves attention
F) Hates Police
And now that we know what type of person we are after lets look at some suspects and come up with a conclusion.
Now the Suspects come directly from the Police Reports and the over 2500 people that they investigated as the killer. The following is from evidence
and collaborating family and friends who shed some light on what the killers did.
The Suspects
Arthur Leigh Allen, 1933-1992, was a leading candidate in part do to him
being near all the killings.
Oct. 30, 1966 - Riverside, CA - Cheri Jo Bates Murder
At the time of the murder Allen was a school teacher in Calaveras County, Cal. -- about 400 miles away. But nearly every weekend he traveled to
Riverside where he was a car club member. On the Monday following Bates' murder, Allen did not go to work. If Allen did commit the murder, he might
have needed to allow time for scratches on his face to heal.
About a month after the murder, typewritten confession letters were mailed to a local paper and to police. Analysis revealed that typewriter was a
Royal model with either Elite or Pica type. In 1991, police seized a Royal typewriter with Elite type from the home of Arthur Leigh Allen.
Dec. 20, 1968 - Lake Herman Road, Vallejo, CA - Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday
Shortly after Bates' murder, Allen was fired as a school teacher after he molested a student. He moved in with his parents in Vallejo, Cal.
Friends and neighbors report that Allen spent a lot of time alone, driving in nearby rural areas -- such as Lake Herman Road
July 4, 1969 - Blue Rock Springs - Vallejo, CA -- Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau
Allen was still living in Vallejo -- in fact just minutes from the murder scene. Mike Mageau survived the attack and described the killer's
escape in a brown Corvair. Allen reportedly had access to a friend's brown Corvair.
Sept. 27, 1969 - Lake Berryessa - Napa, CA - Cecile Shepard and Bryan Hartnell
Lake Berryessa is a recreational are about 40 miles north of Vallejo. It's an area the avid outdoorsman would have frequented for SCUBA diving
and camping.
Bryan Hartnell survived the attack and described the weapon as a 12-inch long knife in a sheath with rivets. During the 1991 search of Allen's
home, police found a a 12-inch long knife with a sheath and rivets.
Arthur Leigh Allen died in his home in Vallejo, California on August 26, 1992 of coronary heart disease. He went to his grave proclaiming his
innocence. LINK
For a more detailed version of events and Allens connection to teh Zodiac, visit this website:
According to his brother, Ron, Allen was given a Zodiac watch as a Christmas gift from their mother in 1967. (Allen's estimation of when he
received the watch was July or August 1969.) The logo for the Zodiac watch is a cross-circle symbol, the same as eventually used by the Zodiac
killer.
According to police statements, within days of receiving the watch, Allen is alleged to have made these claims to his friend, Don Cheney:
(Allen used the premise of writing a novel to communicate this fantasy. Cheney estimates the conversation took place on Jan. 1, 1969.)
He would like to kill couples at random.
He would taunt the police with letters detailing his crimes.
He would sign the letters with the cross-circle symbol from his watch.
He would call himself "Zodiac."
He would wear make-up to change his appearance.
He would attach a flashlight to the barrel of his gun in order to shoot at night.
He would fool women into stopping their cars in rural areas by claiming they had problems with their tires, then loosen their lug nuts and eventually
take them captive.
Jack Tarrance is not a name is often associated with the Zodiac murders. In fact, he was not even considered a suspect until the summer of 2000, when
his stepson, Dennis Kaufman, watched a Zodiac Killer documentary. Dennis became convinced that Jack Tarrance is the Zodiac. His research has produced
some intriguing and complex clues.
Sept. 27, 1969 - Lake Berryessa - Napa, CA - Cecile Shepard and Bryan Hartnell
The killer left footprints with a size 10 ½ Wing Walker -- a fairly obscure military boot. While employed as an Aircraft Supply Sergeant in the
US Airforce, Jack would have had access to the Wing Walkers.
Ciphers
During Tarrance's time as a ham radio operator he would have to have been very familiar and skilled with different types of codes and coding
schemes.
Mt. Diablo
Jack Tarrance was an avid camper and geographer who liked to pinpoint exact locations. Zodiac's June 26, 1970 letter to San Francisco Chronicle
reporter Paul Avery included a map with Mount Diablo marked off. The letter also included a cipher that has never been solved.
Many years later a Zodiac enthusiast drew a line connecting the murder of cabbie Paul Stine and the Vallejo murders to the tip of Mt. Diablo. The
connection displayed an angle that measured 57.3 degrees - a precise radian angle. Dennis took the radian concept a step further and mapped the
locations of Zodiac victims' bodies, and discovered that numerous body locations fell along the radian line. In 2001, Dennis found many letters and
other documents that Jack was keeping in storage. Among the items found were formulas relating to radians and measurements.
Zodiac's Last Verified Letter
In what seems to be another coincidence, Zodiac sent his last letter on July 8, 1974. Two days later, Jack appeared in a California court and was
sentenced for poaching. He was taken directly into custody and spent the next 30 days in jail; it was his first time behind bars.
All of the documents and evidence Dennis collected was given to the FBI and then forwarded to the San Francisco Police Department.
LINK
Rick Marshall was a known film projectionist and movie poster creator. Rick
Marshall's movie poster's that he drew and the handwriting in the Zodiac letters seem to have some sort of similarity between them. Marshall's
association to classic films (old movies were played weekly at the Avenue Theater where he worked) could also link him to the Zodiac, whose costume at
Lake Berryessa was similar to the costume worn by Dr. Zodiac in the 1933 film Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. In the movie, the killer sends messages
to local police and news media. Like the real-life killer, the character also wears the symbols of the Zodiac around his neck. In addition to this
classic film, the Zodiac signed one of his letters as "the Red Phantom," which was also the title of a silent film that Rick Marshall had at one
time invited guests at his apartment to watch.
LINK
Robert Graysmith a VERY Well known investigator to the Zodiac killer and victims wrote a book known as the ZODIAC and even had a movie come out
entitled Zodiac. He did many investigations and had this confirmed story about Marshall which appeared in the movie:
In the movie, Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) visits the home of a man who supposedly knew Zodiac suspect Rick Marshall. He goes there in search of
film canisters that may contain Zodiac murder footage. When Graysmith is in the man's home, he asks him about the movie posters that Rick Marshall
drew. The man tells Graysmith that it wasn't Marshall who drew the movie posters, it was him. He then takes Graysmith into the basement where
Graysmith hears footsteps above him, even though the man had told him they were alone. This is all true and really happened to Graysmith, even the
footsteps. Some investigators who have researched the case believe that this man and Rick Marshall may have been working together.
The person who we are after is a person who wore glasses, had short hair, and was of pretty good build (By Build, I do not mean fat or buff, but in
between). Lets see why I believe that this man is the Zodiac Killer:
According to our Psychological Profiler that we were able to create. The
Zodiac Hates police and guess what this man was an editor for an anti-police paper, called: Good Times. All of the Zodiacs victims were young (except
for the cab driver) and guess what this Good Times paper did? It promoted the killing of young white suburban youth. Richard also seems to match the
man in the Composite Sketch pretty damn good. Ranging from his glasses to his hair. The Zodiac Stated that his name was in the Cypher, that does not
necessarily mean that you have to SOLVE the Cypher to get his name. Richards nickname was Gyke and guess what!
On March 13, 1971 the Zodiac sent a letter to the Los Angeles Times. Coinciding closely with the mailing, Gaikowski was involuntarily committed to
the Napa State Hospital after "going berzerk." He was then diagnosed with a mental illness and began treatment at Mount Zion Hospital in San
Francisco. The Zodiac didn't write again for almost three years. LINK
Coincidences of this magnitude do not happen so "luckily". He stopped writing for three years. And then began writing again, probably after
Stines house and the Good Times Switchboard, in which Gyke worked. Odd, isn't it? To much a coincidence.
Zodiac Killer.com
As far as I know this is the best match for the Zodiac killer, however, I cannot help but be compelled to say that Jack Tarrance seems to match that
Sketch exceptionally well. I mean if you look at Jack and you look at the Sketch they do match better than Gyke. However for me, it comes down to the
Dispatch Nancy, the Cypher name and of course his Psycho profiler of hating cops. It seems to me that he is the killer. And I believe this concludes
my theory and yet again closes another case review. But before we officially leave I will leave with these:
I've always been fascinated by this case and often check www.zodiackiller.com... for any updates.
There have been a few threads on the ZK on ATS..... glad you brought it up again though as I'm always interested to hear new views and ideas and
theories.
Yes, the case is definately one that is intriguing as it is graphic.. But hey we cannot forget the victims, we must keep trying to solve their cases.
That Zodiac website is awesome, I referenced it..lol
Apparently, they stated he was not in the areas of two of the killings at the time. Or so they saw, I have not seen official documents saying this
except for the FBI case brief in the last OP, which refutes my theory. But I think thats what they based it off of. Him not being in the area of two
of the killings, but hey the Zodiac was smart. Smarter than the police at the time, what did they expect? Thanks for the S and F.
I don't know anything baout his death nor who inherited his belongings. I will look some more an dsee what I can find.
Personally, they BELIEVE that they solved it. However, many people are unsure and believe that they have not solved it correctly. So I would
personally go back and attempt to solve them with fresh eyes. Would be cool to see if different results yield to more info. Perhaps the Zodiac left
the Ciphers to be solved 2 ways, after all he attacked couples so why would that escape his mindset?
Good thread, S+F. I've always been intrigued by the Zodiac, I was given a book on him as a kid and out of all the serial killers I've heard about
he seems the most interesting.
Reading through was very engaging, yet there's a few of things that occured to me:
1) In the 1st killing there seems to be a discrepancy between the time of the murder, the police put it that she might have spent up to an hour and a
half with the Zodiac, but the Zodiacs' letter implied a much quicker encounter - this may have been an effort to obfuscate some kind of evidence,
although I think the victim in this case did know her killer.
2) It gave me the very strong impression, nothing more, just my feeling, that the Zodiac may well have been more than 1 person.
3) Is it possible that the Zodiac may have been in a Japanese P.O.W. camp? Some of his gloating messages related "details" of his fantasies that
seemed linked to tortures that took place in Japanese P.O.W. camps - which may or may not lend creedence to him being a military man.
Excellent questions and I think I can give some answers. According to the Zodiacs letters he lied a lot during his writings and would often exagerate
and gloat about what he did. So I tend to go along with the police, but I did see that discrepancy.
The Zodiac could have been two people. I recomend the movie ZODIAC which hints and nearly all the theories while staying true to the TRUE story of the
murders, victims and of course the main character.
As far as the military thing, I am not sure, however, it was rumored that he could have been a military man. But their is not enough evidence to say
so for certain. Excellent questions and thanks for the kind words!
ATS Server: www2.theabovenetwork.com
Powered by AboveTop:Board v2.3
Header data processed in 0.010 seconds
Page processed in 1.218 seconds
6 total database queries (1)
The Above Top Secret Conspiracy Community Web site is a wholly owned social content community of The Above Network, LLC.
Cheri Jo Bates was 18 years old when she had been killed by the Zodiac. She
is considered his very first kill. On the night October 30, 1966, Cheri had left the College Library and went straight to her car. She attempted to
start it to no avail. It would be later found out that the killer had disabled her lime green Volkswagen by pulling out the distributor coil and the
condenser, then disconnecting the middle wire of the distributor, the zodiac killer had apparently waited for Bates to return to her car and try to
start it, whereupon he made a pretense of unsuccessfully tinkering with the engine. It is then speculated that he offered her a ride, she accepted.
He then drove to an alley between to abandoned houses, both owned by the college. Now comes the odd part, apparently the killer and Cheri had spent an
hour and a half together, what they were doing is unknown. 
The Zodiac Killer would wait until six months later, shortly after 12:00
a.m. on Saturday, July 5, 1969 to strike and add fear once again. Again it was a couple, Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22, and Michael Renault Mageau, 19,
were shot as they sat in Ferrin's car in the parking lot of the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course. However, this time something was different. The Zodiac
did not finish the job, he assumed he killed both of them, but that was not the case. Mageau lived athough he recalls the incident with chilling
detail... The Following is from Mageau's own words: 
The Following is another first hand account. Hartnell is describing his story: 
The Following is a first hand account: 
Arthur Leigh Allen, 1933-1992, was a leading candidate in part do to him
being near all the killings. 
Rick Marshall was a known film projectionist and movie poster creator. Rick
Marshall's movie poster's that he drew and the handwriting in the Zodiac letters seem to have some sort of similarity between them. Marshall's
association to classic films (old movies were played weekly at the Avenue Theater where he worked) could also link him to the Zodiac, whose costume at
Lake Berryessa was similar to the costume worn by Dr. Zodiac in the 1933 film Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. In the movie, the killer sends messages
to local police and news media. Like the real-life killer, the character also wears the symbols of the Zodiac around his neck. In addition to this
classic film, the Zodiac signed one of his letters as "the Red Phantom," which was also the title of a silent film that Rick Marshall had at one
time invited guests at his apartment to watch.
According to our Psychological Profiler that we were able to create. The
Zodiac Hates police and guess what this man was an editor for an anti-police paper, called: Good Times. All of the Zodiacs victims were young (except
for the cab driver) and guess what this Good Times paper did? It promoted the killing of young white suburban youth. Richard also seems to match the
man in the Composite Sketch pretty damn good. Ranging from his glasses to his hair. The Zodiac Stated that his name was in the Cypher, that does not
necessarily mean that you have to SOLVE the Cypher to get his name. Richards nickname was Gyke and guess what! 
