I've Cracked The Code Of The Zodiac Killer

Originally posted by Xcathdra
I also forgot about the guy in 2007 who came forward and said his step father was zodiac. When the step father died, the house as being cleaned out. In the basement his son located a box of sometype that contained a black cloak with the zodiac sign (Lake Berryessa killings) along with a large knife that appeared to have either rust or blood on it.

Those items were turned over to the FBI for analysis, with the results being inconclusive.

I remember this story there was some media attention as well. I never followed up on the results and to find out they were inconclusive is unfortunate. It seemed a bit too good to be true though given what was found.

Also from the deciphered letter the killer refers to 11 dead. This closely matches the number that police "believe" were killed by Zodiac. However there were many other regional murders that were possibly attributed to Zodiac too but nothing definitive.

brill

brill

reply to post by AQuestion


When you say few people knew Allen was a suspect, how few do you mean? Because if it were only the police who knew.....maybe Zodiac was a cop and trying to pin it on Allen? (IF this is correct)

Originally posted by brill
This is an interesting read. An amateur code cracker has allegedly cracked the "340 cipher" associated with the famous Zodiac murders in California during the 60's & 70's. From decoding the cipher using his technique the letter states that the prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen was in fact the killer. The cracker has attempted to contact police but has so far been unsuccessful. Here is the decoded portion:

KILL/SLF/DR/HELP/ME/KILL/MYSELF/GAS/CHAMBER

/AEIOUR/DAYS/QUESTIONSABLE/EVERYY/WAKING

/MOMENT/IM/ALIVE/MY/PRIDE/LOST/I/CANT/GO

/ON/LIVING/IN/THIS/WAY/KILLING/PEOPLE/I/HAV/KILLD

/SO/MANY/PEOPLE/CANT/HELP/MYSELF/IM/SO/ANGRY

/I/COULD/DO/MY/THING/IM/ALONE/IN/THIS/WORLD

/MY/WHOLE/LIFE/FUL/O/LIES/IM/UNABLE/TO/STOP

/BY/THE/TIME/YOU/SOLVE/THIS/I/WILL/HAV/KILLD

/ELEVEN/PEOPLE/PLEASE/HELP/ME/STOP/KILLING/PEOPLE

/PLEASE/MY/NAME/IS/LEIGH/ALLEN/

When compared to his other letters this doesn't sound like him at all. I highly find this cypher in doubt. If he is that sorry for his crimes and wants help.. why put it in a cypher?

Originally posted by Alienmojo

Originally posted by brill
This is an interesting read. An amateur code cracker has allegedly cracked the "340 cipher" associated with the famous Zodiac murders in California during the 60's & 70's. From decoding the cipher using his technique the letter states that the prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen was in fact the killer. The cracker has attempted to contact police but has so far been unsuccessful. Here is the decoded portion:

KILL/SLF/DR/HELP/ME/KILL/MYSELF/GAS/CHAMBER

/AEIOUR/DAYS/QUESTIONSABLE/EVERYY/WAKING

/MOMENT/IM/ALIVE/MY/PRIDE/LOST/I/CANT/GO

/ON/LIVING/IN/THIS/WAY/KILLING/PEOPLE/I/HAV/KILLD

/SO/MANY/PEOPLE/CANT/HELP/MYSELF/IM/SO/ANGRY

/I/COULD/DO/MY/THING/IM/ALONE/IN/THIS/WORLD

/MY/WHOLE/LIFE/FUL/O/LIES/IM/UNABLE/TO/STOP

/BY/THE/TIME/YOU/SOLVE/THIS/I/WILL/HAV/KILLD

/ELEVEN/PEOPLE/PLEASE/HELP/ME/STOP/KILLING/PEOPLE

/PLEASE/MY/NAME/IS/LEIGH/ALLEN/

When compared to his other letters this doesn't sound like him at all. I highly find this cypher in doubt. If he is that sorry for his crimes and wants help.. why put it in a cypher?

I agree. He was bragging about his crimes and kept sending notes and cards and such. He never mentioned being upset over his actions.

In the cipher...there are 31 symbols. 2 numbers. and 24 letters used.
The numbers are 9 and 8. I tend to think that the 8 is actually the letter B and the 9 is actually the letter P (backwards). The reason for this thought is no other numbers are used and he does use backwards letters (D, K, C, F, Y, J, B, P )

If this were the case, then he uses 25 letters and 33 symbols with no numbers.
The only letter left out is the letter Q. But there is a symbol that resembles Q, except the tail (or cue line) is on the left side of the O and not the right.

This would lead me to believe that all the letters are used and that all the backwards letters can also be used as forward letters.

This would leave 23 symbols and 26 letters.
I also think the upside down T could be the same as a T backwards....but since a T backwards looks identical as forwards, he switched it upside down.

22 symbols and 26 letters.

Now this means absolutely nothing...because I still havent made sense of the cipher.

Anyone have any other ideas like this? There are only 26 alphabet letters...he has to use the same letter as two separate variables.

Very interesting,thanks OP.

I shall look into this subject further.

Cheers

reply to post by DIDtm


I don't know anything at all about the Zodiac code, but just speaking in general since every now and then a code pops up.

If a code has more than 26 symbols, the first three things to suspect are 1st, what you said, multiple symbols could refer to the same output letters, or a repeated symbol can refer to multiple output letters depending where it's found in the code.

But there are two other things to keep in mind. If it has more than 26 symbols then the decoded output may not be English. Is there another alphabet that has that many symbols?

And also, numbers. 31 symbols compared to 26. Does the output have something like a phone number or a date that would explain the five extra symbols like 7-22-11.

Not that this has any relevance to the Zodiac code, but it's always something to keep in mind with general code breaking.

This question is for anyone....

How much creative license did they take in the movie? I am reasonably well versed on this subject but not well enough to pick the movie apart. Great topic OP, and a very interesting read.

Originally posted by Alienmojo
When compared to his other letters this doesn't sound like him at all. I highly find this cypher in doubt. If he is that sorry for his crimes and wants help.. why put it in a cypher?

Hard to say and it is in contrast to other letters from the Zodiac. On other hand I think we can mostly agree that no one truly understands the mindset and psyche of a criminal. There are theories and ideas put forward to perhaps outline how someone like this thinks but in the end your best friend could have a screw loose as well. Maybe this was the killers way of coming clean but not openly revealing himself because, as others have indicated, he was extremely brazen in letters to law enforcement.

brill

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by brill

 

My problem with the proposed answer is that Arthur Leigh Allen was absolutely not the zodiac killer and his DNA proved it wasn't him. Arthur Leigh Allen was not a nice person by any standard; but, he also was not the Zodiac killer. If the investigators verify the code and if it does indeed refer to Mr. Allen then that would raise separate questions as it would indicate that Zodiac was attempting to blame Mr. Allen and knew that he was a suspect. Few people knew that Mr. Allen was a suspect when the 340 cypher was sent.

The DNA profile was lifted from a postal stamp. Not really that conclusive of a DNA profile to begin with. Anyone could have licked the stamp for him.

Originally posted by Wyn Hawks

Originally posted by Xcathdra
I know the T and C doesnt like promotion of other websites, however I hope they overlook this one.

...not sure where you got that idea cuz ats is literally littered with links to other websites...

...i went to the one you posted:
Zodiac Killer

...i was looking for a mostly solved cipher that i remember... seems like it was done by a husband and wife... what i recall is kind of sketchy but i think it was addresses and, maybe, latitudes and longitudes...

...does that ring any bells with anyone?...

yes, that was the first Cypher, the one that was cracked by the math teacher and his wife over a weekend. It just talked about how he liked hunting Humans, because Humans are the most dangerous game ect.

Never contained a name.

However the 340 cypher to my knowledge has never been cracked, but has always been the one they thought might have the best info.

There is also the short "My name is...: Cypher, which has also never been cracked.

I thought most people believed the Zodiac killer was Richard "Gyke" Gaikowski. 2nd was authur Leigh Allen.

Also right in the center of the 340 Cypher is the word "GYKE".

I'm gonna check out Zodiackiller.com and see if this is being talked about over there, as I browse that forum from time to time.

Good stuff if this is true.

Originally posted by StealthyKat
reply to post by AQuestion

 

When you say few people knew Allen was a suspect, how few do you mean? Because if it were only the police who knew.....maybe Zodiac was a cop and trying to pin it on Allen? (IF this is correct)

edit on 7/22/2011 by StealthyKat because: added content

This isn't true hundreds of thousands of people probably, especially in the Bay area, or in Vallejo CA know of Authur Leigh Allen.

I mean he's been on TV, numerous times. He's the all time #2 Zodiac suspect at Zodiackiller.com (the biggest Zodiac website on the net for over a decade) behind Richard "Gyke" Gaikowski.

So MANY, MANY people know of Authur Leigh Allen. Too bad he's dead.

Also iirc Authur Leigh allen hated the taste of the glue on stamps, according to a nephew, but who's to say or believe that.

They are discussing the crack of this "latest" crack of the 340 now at that site (I say latest crack because many people have claimed to have cracked it before)

here's the link.

zodiackiller.21.forumer.com...

they aren't too convinced, hehe, and these are hard-core Zodiac heads.

The site master has appeared on ID discovery episodes, they're in comms with many victims relatives, as well as the mysterious "Goldcatcher" that apperently got Gyke to admit to the killings years back. This was the premise of the show on ID discovery.

Oh well. I always thought Authur Leigh Allen was the best suspect. I never really thought it was Gaikowski.

But another thing to note. Alot of Zodiac heads don't wan't to see this solved. I mean then what will they do, hehe. Also everyone loves a good mystery.

I mean it's Americas Jack the Ripper.

reply to post by StealthyKat


Dear StealthyKat,

I would guess a few police and some newspeople knew about Allen. The website ZodiacKiller owned by Mr. Voight has a chart showing some of the suspects but in fact the police investigated many people. Mr. Voight also has a copy of the FBI reports. It was a big case and there wasn't this one main suspect back then. I guess my belief is that until someone can provide real evidence that Allen was Zodiac I believe we should still be looking at others rather than put all of our eggs in one basket.

If the code is proven to have been correctly broken then yes, I would suspect that someone within the force or a newspaper person that knew he was a suspect was involved. In fact, Mr. Voight has a suspect that was a writer for a local paper at the time, cannot remember the guys name. Be well.

Originally posted by tinfoilman
reply to post by DIDtm

 

I don't know anything at all about the Zodiac code, but just speaking in general since every now and then a code pops up.

If a code has more than 26 symbols, the first three things to suspect are 1st, what you said, multiple symbols could refer to the same output letters, or a repeated symbol can refer to multiple output letters depending where it's found in the code.

But there are two other things to keep in mind. If it has more than 26 symbols then the decoded output may not be English. Is there another alphabet that has that many symbols?

And also, numbers. 31 symbols compared to 26. Does the output have something like a phone number or a date that would explain the five extra symbols like 7-22-11.

Not that this has any relevance to the Zodiac code, but it's always something to keep in mind with general code breaking.

good point. But I don't think the # of letters in the broken cypher will HAVE to equal the number of symbols in the Code itself. For many reasons.

One of the top of my head was a show I watched with a CIA codebreaker, who was looking at the 340 cypher (I think it was that one), and he was convince that the middle line of symbols should be removed, and the first 5 or so lines needed to be put side by side with the last 5 or 6 lines, in order to get the cypher in the correct order to even begin to try and crack it.

I don't know much about codes, but this guy did, and I guess Code-makers, and Breakers are a pretty crafty bunch so we can't exclude theories like this.

Also need to look at spelling errors. The Zodiac was notourious for his poor spelling in his letters, spelling paradise, paradice. Double letters for no reason, leaving out letters ect. Maybe he was doing that to cover his tracks, because many think he must have been VERY intelligent, as all serial killers are right, *rolls eyes*

But yea, there's lots of reasons for the number of symbols in the cypher not matching the number of letters in the solution. A date at the end as you mentioned, maybe that the code breaker couldn't solve? Who knows.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Dear ExPostFacto,

As I said earlier, there was no reason for him to have someone else lick the stamp as DNA reading technology did not exist, if he was worried about his DNA being traced then he would have used tap water. The DNA didn't match Allen and neither did the fingerprint lifted from the taxi. We know the fingerprint was Zodiacs and it has never been matched to anyone, sort of implies that the killer has never been one of the suspects whose fingerprints were taken.

reply to post by Nola213


Dear Nola213,

The reference to the most dangerous game is generally considered to be a reference to a movie about hunting people made in 1932 called "The Most Dangerous Game".

reply to post by brill


He's trapped, trapped in his body and he is begging for someone to come and liberated him. This is a clear example of someone who has their shadow taken over. He sends out messages like this to get people to help him, to free him of his shadow, not something that is easy to do.

Originally posted by tinfoilman
reply to post by DIDtm

 

I don't know anything at all about the Zodiac code, but just speaking in general since every now and then a code pops up.

If a code has more than 26 symbols, the first three things to suspect are 1st, what you said, multiple symbols could refer to the same output letters, or a repeated symbol can refer to multiple output letters depending where it's found in the code.

But there are two other things to keep in mind. If it has more than 26 symbols then the decoded output may not be English. Is there another alphabet that has that many symbols?

And also, numbers. 31 symbols compared to 26. Does the output have something like a phone number or a date that would explain the five extra symbols like 7-22-11.

Not that this has any relevance to the Zodiac code, but it's always something to keep in mind with general code breaking.

Thats a great point. The extra symbols maybe meaning numbers for a date....or a specific order to read the cipher itself.
From what all the expert codebreakers say, they think this guy was very intelligent. From what I have read and seen, I tend to agree with them. Ive often wondered of the wrong spelling, myself. As if it was maybe a clue to something. I wondered if you switched the wrong letters/extra letters out for the correct letters, if it said something or implied something. (Like in paradice....the S). Maybe it would tell how to arrange the cipher itself so it could be completely read. Or along those lines.

Just thoughts.

I was just trying to figure out ways to get the symbols, letters and numbers a way to equal 26, or 52. But then...maybe he didnt use the less common letters at all. Like Z or X.

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by Nola213

 

Dear Nola213,

The reference to the most dangerous game is generally considered to be a reference to a movie about hunting people made in 1932 called "The Most Dangerous Game".

yep your correct. The Zodiac was big movie buff. Count Marco, The Red Phantom, even Opera /plays. He even commented on the Exorcist in one of his letters iirc when it was released. The police worked that angle for a long time. Thinking maybe the Zodiac killer worked at a movie theatre as a projectionist ect.

But I was just rattling off some of the cypher solution I had remembered that was asked about...off the top of my head. I remeber the Zodiac said solve this cypher and you will have my name, however his name wasn't contaied in the solution. Sneaky, heh.

Also it was a History Teacher and his wife, not a Math teacher. After checking my facts, my memory had failed me.

But I do like this solution personally, Everyone at Zodiackiller.com is throwing it aside, because well the site admin is convinced Gaikowski was/is the Zodiac, so any break that reveals ANY suspect name, (and there is a handful of good ones) unfortunately is gonna be shunned by the people over there.

It's really a shame.

I'd like Corey Starliper (the newest 340 codebreaker) to take a look at this code, and useing the same methods see what he comes up with.

zodiackiller.com...