Zodiac Killer
Encyclopedia
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who operated in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia
Benicia, California
Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, United States. It was the first city in California to be founded by Anglo-Americans, and served as the state capital for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the San...
, Vallejo
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
, Lake Berryessa
Lake Berryessa
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters included four cryptogram
Cryptogram
A cryptogram is a type of puzzle which consists of a short piece of encrypted text. Generally the cipher used to encrypt the text is simple enough that cryptogram can be solved by hand. Frequently used are substitution ciphers where each letter is replaced by a different letter or number. To solve...
s (or cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
s). Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been confirmed to have been decoded.
Numerous suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
marked the case "inactive," yet re-opened the case at some point prior to March 2007. The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
and Solano County
Solano County, California
Solano County is a county located in Bay-Delta region of the U.S. state of California, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento and is one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. The county's population was reported by the U.S. Census to be 413,344 in 2010...
. The California Department of Justice
California Department of Justice
The California Department of Justice is the department in the California executive branch under the leadership of the California Attorney General.-Description:It has 5344 employees and a budget of $791 million...
has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.
Confirmed victims
Although the Zodiac claimed 37 murders in letters to the newspapers, investigators agree on only seven confirmed victims, two of whom survived. They are:- David Arthur Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16: shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, within the city limits of Benicia.
- Michael Mageau Renault, 19, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22: shot on July 4, 1969, in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. While Mageau survived the attack, Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
- Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20, and Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22: stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake BerryessaLake BerryessaLake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
in Napa County. Hartnell survived eight stab wounds to the back, but Shepard died as a result of her injuries on September 29, 1969. - Paul Lee Stine, 29: shot and killed on October 11, 1969, in the Presidio Heights neighborhood in San Francisco.
Suspected victims
The following murder victims are suspected to be victims of Zodiac, though none have been confirmed:- Robert Domingos, 18, and Linda Edwards, 17: shot and killed on June 4, 1963, on a beach near LompocLompoc, CaliforniaLompoc is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1888. The population was 42,434 at the 2010 census, up from 41,103 at the 2000 census....
. Edwards and Domingos were identified as possible Zodiac victims because of specific similarities between their attack and the Zodiac's attack at Lake Berryessa six years later. - Cheri Jo BatesCheri Jo BatesCheri Josephine Bates was a freshman student at Riverside Community College who was murdered on the campus of theeducational institution, on the day before Halloween, October 30, 1966...
, 18: stabbed to death and nearly decapitated on October 30, 1966, at Riverside City College in RiversideRiverside, CaliforniaRiverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
. Bates' possible connection to the Zodiac only appeared four years after her murder when San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
reporter Paul AveryPaul AveryPaul Avery was an American police reporter, best known for his stories on the infamous serial killer known as the Zodiac, and later for his work on the Patricia Hearst kidnapping.-Career:...
received a tip regarding similarities between the Zodiac killings and the circumstances surrounding Bates' death. - Donna LassDonna LassDonna Ann Lass was a nurse who went missing in September 1970.-Background:Donna Lass was the daughter of James P. Lass and of Frances Mary Lass . Her father had been a farmer in the area of Beresford, South Dakota, and she was a 1962 graduate of Beresford High School...
, 25: last seen September 6, 1970, in Stateline, NevadaStateline, Nevada-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,215 people, 510 households, and 245 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,803.3 people per square mile . There were 562 housing units at an average density of 834.1 per square mile...
. A postcard with an advertisement from Forest Pines condominiums (near Incline Village at Lake TahoeLake TahoeLake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
) pasted on the back was received at the Chronicle on March 22, 1971, and has been interpreted as the Zodiac claiming Lass' disappearance as a victim. No evidence has been uncovered to definitively connect Donna Lass' disappearance with the Zodiac Killer.
There is also a suspected third escapee from the Zodiac Killer:
- Kathleen Johns, 22: allegedly abducted on March 22, 1970, on Highway 132 near I-580, in an area west of ModestoModesto, CaliforniaModesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
. Johns escaped from the car of a man who drove her, and her infant daughter, around in the area between StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
and PattersonPatterson, CaliforniaPatterson is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, located off Interstate 5. It is 45 miles southeast of Livermore and part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. Patterson is known as the "Apricot Capital of the World"; the town holds an annual Apricot Fiesta to...
for approximately three hours.
Lake Herman Road attack
The first murders widely attributed to the Zodiac Killer were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, just inside BeniciaBenicia, California
Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, United States. It was the first city in California to be founded by Anglo-Americans, and served as the state capital for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the San...
city limits.
The couple were on their first date and planned to attend a Christmas concert at Hogan High School about three blocks from Jensen's home. The couple instead visited a friend before stopping at a local restaurant and then driving out on Lake Herman Road. At about 10:15 p.m., Faraday parked his mother's Rambler
Rambler (automobile)
Rambler was an automobile brand name used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914, then by its successor, Nash Motors from 1950 to 1954, and finally by Nash's successor, American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1969...
in a gravel turnout, which was a well-known lovers' lane.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., their bodies were found by Stella Borges, who lived nearby. The Solano County Sheriff's Department investigated the crime but no leads developed.
Utilizing available forensic data, Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith is an American true crime author. He was working as a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 when the Zodiac Killer case came to light. Graysmith attempted to decode letters written by the killer...
postulated that another car pulled into the turnout, just prior to 11:00 pm and parked beside the couple. The killer apparently exited the second car and walked toward the Rambler, possibly ordering the couple out of the Rambler. Jensen appeared to have exited the car first, yet when Faraday was halfway out, the killer apparently shot Faraday in the head. Fleeing from the killer, Jensen was gunned down twenty-eight feet from the car with five shots through her back. The killer then drove off.
Blue Rock Springs attack
Just before midnight on July 4, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau drove into the Blue Rock Springs Park in VallejoVallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
, four miles from the Lake Herman Road murder site, and parked. While the couple sat in Ferrin's car, a second car drove into the lot and parked alongside them but almost immediately drove away. Returning about 10 minutes later, this second car parked behind them. The driver of the second car then exited the vehicle, approaching the passenger side door of Ferrin's car, carrying a flashlight and a 9 mm Luger. The killer directed the flashlight into Mageau's and Ferrin's eyes before shooting at them, firing five times. Both victims were hit, several bullets passing through Mageau and into Ferrin. The killer walked away from the car but upon hearing Mageau's moaning, returned and shot each victim twice more before driving off.
On July 5, 1969, at 12:40 a.m., a man phoned the Vallejo Police Department to report and claim responsibility for the attack. The caller also took credit for the murders of Jensen and Faraday six-and-a-half months earlier. The police traced the call
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
to a phone booth
Telephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
at a gas station at Springs Road and Tuolumne, about three-tenths of a mile from Ferrin's home and only a few blocks from the Vallejo Police Department.
Ferrin was pronounced dead at the hospital. Mageau survived the attack despite being shot in the face, neck and chest.
Letters from the Zodiac
Vallejo Times Herald
The Vallejo Times Herald is a newspaper in the town of Vallejo, California. Luther Gibson founded the Vallejo Herald in 1922. Later that year, he purchased the Vallejo Times and merged the papers. He owned the paper until 1974, when he sold it to the Donrey Media Group. It is now owned by MediaNews...
, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, and The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...
. The nearly identical letters took credit for the shootings at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs. Each letter also included one-third of a 408-symbol cryptogram which the killer claimed contained his identity. The killer demanded they be printed on each paper's front page or he would "cruse [sic] around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend." The Chronicle published its third of the cryptogram on page four of the next day's edition. An article printed alongside the code quoted Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz as saying "We're not satisfied that the letter was written by the murderer" and requested the writer send a second letter with more facts to prove his identity. The threatened murders did not happen, and all three parts were eventually published.
On August 7, 1969, another letter was received at The San Francisco Examiner with the salutation "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking." This was the first time the killer had used this name for identification. The letter was a response to Chief Stiltz's request for more details that would prove he had killed Faraday, Jensen and Ferrin. In it, the Zodiac included details about the murders which had not yet been released to the public, as well as a message to the police that when they cracked his code "they will have me."
On August 8, 1969, Donald and Bettye Harden of Salinas
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...
, California, cracked the 408-symbol cryptogram. It contained a misspelled message in which the killer claimed to be collecting slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s for the afterlife. No name appears in the decoded text, and the killer said that he would not give away his identity because it would slow down or stop his slave collection.
Lake Berryessa attack
On September 27, 1969, Pacific Union CollegePacific Union College
Pacific Union College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Angwin, California, United States. It is the only four-year college in Napa County, California....
students Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were picnicking at Lake Berryessa
Lake Berryessa
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
on a small island connected by a sand spit to Twin Oak Ridge. A man approached them wearing a black executioner's-type hood with clip-on sunglasses over the eye-holes and a bib-like device on his chest that had a white 3"x3" cross-circle symbol on it. He approached them with a gun which Hartnell believed to be a .45
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
. The hooded man claimed to be an escaped convict from Deer Lodge, Montana
Deer Lodge, Montana
Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,421 at the 2000 census. The city is perhaps best known as the home of the Montana State Prison, a major local employer...
; where he killed a guard and stole a car, explaining that he needed their car and money to go to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. He had brought precut lengths of plastic clothesline and told Shepard to tie up Hartnell, before he tied her up. The killer checked, and tightened Hartnell's bonds after discovering Shepard had bound Hartnell's hands loosely. Hartnell initially believed it to be a weird robbery, but the man drew a knife and stabbed them both repeatedly. The killer then hiked 500 yards back up to Knoxville Road, drew the cross-circle symbol on Hartnell's car door with a black felt-tip pen, and wrote beneath it: "Vallejo/12-20-68/7-4-69/Sept 27-69-6:30/by knife."
At 7:40 p.m., the killer called the Napa County
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
Sheriff's office from a pay telephone
Payphone
A payphone or pay phone is a public telephone, often located in a phone booth or a privacy hood, with pre-payment by inserting money , a credit or debit card, or a telephone card....
to report this latest crime. The phone was found, still off the hook, minutes later at the Napa Car Wash on Main Street in Napa
Napa, California
-History:The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the...
by KVON
KVON
KVON is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Napa, California, USA, it serves the Santa Rosa area. The station is currently owned by Wine Country Broadcasting Company and features programing provided by ABC Radio and Westwood One....
radio reporter Pat Stanley, only a few blocks from the sheriff's office, yet 27 miles from the crime scene. Detectives were able to lift a still-wet palm print from the telephone but were never able to match it to any suspect.
After hearing their screams for help, a man and his son who were fishing in a nearby cove discovered the victims and summoned help by contacting park rangers. Napa County Sheriff's deputies Dave Collins and Ray Land were the first law enforcement officers to arrive at the crime scene. Cecelia Shepard was conscious when Collins arrived, providing him with a detailed description of the attacker. Hartnell and Shepard were taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital
Queen of the Valley Medical Center (Napa, California)
Queen of the Valley Medical Center is a medical center located in Napa, California operated by St Joseph Health System. The hospital first opened its doors in 1958 when it replaced Parks Victory Memorial Hospital.-Services:*Regional Cancer Center...
in Napa by ambulance. Shepard lapsed into a coma during transport to the hospital and never regained consciousness. She died two days later, but Hartnell survived to recount his tale to the press. Napa County Sheriff Detective Ken Narlow, who was assigned to the case from the outset, worked on solving the crime until his retirement from the department in 1987.
Presidio Heights attack
On October 11, 1969, a passenger entered the cab driven by Paul Stine at the intersection of Mason and Geary Streets in San Francisco requesting to be taken to Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights. For reasons unknown, Stine drove one block past Maple to Cherry Street; the passenger then shot Stine once in the head with a 9 mm, took Stine's wallet, car keys and tore away a section of Stine's bloodstained shirt tail. This passenger was observed by three teenagers across the street at 9:55 p.m., who called the police while the crime was in progress. They observed a man wiping the cab down before walking away towards the PresidioPresidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
, one block to the north.
Two blocks from the crime scene, Officer Don Fouke, responding to the call, observed a white man walking along the sidewalk stepping onto a stairway leading up to the front yard of one of the homes on the north side of the street; the encounter lasted only five to ten seconds. The radio dispatcher had alerted to be on the lookout for a black suspect, so they drove past him without stopping; the mix-up in descriptions remains unexplained to this day. A search ensued, but no possible suspects were found. The three teen witnesses worked with a police artist to prepare a composite sketch of Stine's killer; then, a few days later, this police artist returned, working with the witnesses to prepare a second composite sketch of the killer.
Detectives Bill Armstrong and Dave Toschi
Dave Toschi
Dave Toschi is a former inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, where he served from 1952 to 1983. He is best known for his role as a chief investigator in the Zodiac Killer case, which he began work on after the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine.Toschi is currently vice president of...
were assigned to the case.
The San Francisco Police Department investigated an estimated 2,500 suspects over a period of years.
Letter Threatening Schoolchildren
On October 14, 1969, the Chronicle received another letter from the Zodiac, this time containing a swatch of Paul Stine's shirt tail as proof he was the killer; it also included a threat about killing schoolchildren on a school bus. To do this, Zodiac wrote, "just shoot out the front tire & then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out."Call to Talk Show
At 2:00 p.m. on October 20, 1969, someone claiming to be the Zodiac called OaklandOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
PD demanding that one of two prominent lawyers, F. Lee Bailey or Melvin Belli
Melvin Belli
Melvin Mouron Belli was a prominent American lawyer known as "The King of Torts" and by detractors as 'Melvin Bellicose'. He had many celebrity clients, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Muhammad Ali, Sirhan Sirhan, the Rolling Stones, Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker, Martha...
, appear on Jim Dunbar
Jim Dunbar
Jim Dunbar is an American radio program director, talk show host and news anchor who helped boost the ratings of KGO into to the top five with its unique news/talk format. KGO has consistently scored in the top five since 1963 and has been #1 since 1978.In addition to his radio work, he also...
's television talk show in the morning. Bailey was not available, but Belli did appear on the show. Dunbar appealed to the viewers to keep the lines open, and eventually, someone claiming to be the Zodiac called several times and said his name was "Sam." Belli agreed to meet with him in Daly City, but the suspect never showed up.
340-Character Cryptogram
On November 8, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a card with another cryptogram consisting of 340 characters. The 340-character cipher has never been decoded.Numerous possible "solutions" have been suggested, but none can be claimed as definitive.
Second Stine Killing Letter
On November 9, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a seven-page letter claiming that two policemen stopped and actually spoke with him three minutes after shooting Stine. Excerpts from the letter were published in the Chronicle on November 12 including the Zodiac's claim; that same day, Don Fouke wrote a memo explaining what had happened that night.Melvin Belli Letter
On December 20, 1969, exactly one year after the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, the Zodiac mailed a letter to Belli, including another swatch of Stine's shirt; the Zodiac claimed he wanted Belli to help him.Modesto attack
On the night of March 22, 1970, Kathleen Johns was driving from San BernardinoSan Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
to Petaluma
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
to visit her mother. She was seven months pregnant and had her 10-month-old daughter beside her. While heading west on Highway 132 near Modesto
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
, a car behind her began honking its horn and flashing its headlights. She pulled off the road and stopped. The man in the car parked behind her, approached her car, stated that he observed that her right rear wheel was wobbling, and offered to tighten the lug nuts. After finishing his work, the man drove off; yet when Johns pulled forward to re-enter the highway the wheel almost immediately came off of the car. The man returned, offering to drive her to the nearest gas station for help. She and her daughter climbed into his car. During the ride the car passed several service stations but the man did not stop. For about 90 minutes he drove back and forth around the backroads near Tracy
Tracy, California
Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States and an exurb of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. When Johns asked why he was not stopping, he would change the subject. When the driver finally stopped at an intersection, Johns jumped out with her daughter and hid in a field. The driver then closed the car door and drove off. Johns hitched a ride to the police station in Patterson
Patterson, California
Patterson is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, located off Interstate 5. It is 45 miles southeast of Livermore and part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. Patterson is known as the "Apricot Capital of the World"; the town holds an annual Apricot Fiesta to...
.
When Johns gave her statement to the sergeant on duty, she noticed the police composite sketch of Paul Stine's killer and recognized him as the man who abducted her and her child. Fearing the Zodiac might come back and kill them all, the sergeant had Johns wait, in the dark, at the nearby Mil's Restaurant. When her car was found, it had been gutted and torched.
Most accounts claim he threatened to kill her and her daughter while driving them around, but at least one police report disputes that. Johns' account to Paul Avery of the Chronicle indicates her abductor left his car and searched for her in the dark with a flashlight; however, in one report she made to the police, she stated he did not leave the vehicle.
Further Zodiac communications
Zodiac continued to communicate with authorities for the remainder of 1970 via letters and greeting cards to the press. In a letter postmarked April 20, 1970, the Zodiac wrote, "My name is _____," followed by a 13-character cipher. The Zodiac went on to state that he was not responsible for the recent bombing of a police station in San Francisco (referring to the February 18, 1970, death of Sgt. Brian McDonnell two days after the bombing at Park Station in Golden Gate ParkGolden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
) but added "there is more glory to killing a cop than a cid [sic] because a cop can shoot back." The letter included a diagram of a bomb the Zodiac claimed he would use to blow up a school bus. At the bottom of the diagram, he wrote: "
= 10, SFPD = 0."Zodiac sent a greeting card postmarked April 28, 1970, to the Chronicle. Written on the card was, "I hope you enjoy yourselves when I have my BLAST," followed by the Zodiac's cross circle signature. On the back of the card, the Zodiac threatened to use the bus bomb soon unless the newspaper published the full details he wrote. He also wanted to start seeing people wearing "some nice Zodiac butons [sic]."
In a letter postmarked June 26, 1970, the Zodiac stated he was upset that he did not see people wearing Zodiac buttons. He wrote, "I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38." The Zodiac was possibly referring to the murder of Sgt. Richard Radetich, a week earlier, on June 19. At 5:25 am, Radetich was writing a parking ticket in his squad car when an assailant shot him in the head with a .38-caliber pistol. Radetich died 15 hours later. SFPD denies the Zodiac was involved in this murder; it remains unsolved.
Included with the letter was a Phillips 66
Phillips 66
Phillips 66 is a brand of gasoline and service station in the U.S. It is owned by the ConocoPhillips Company.Phillips 66 will also be the name of the future downstream company created when ConocoPhillips repositions its integrated assets and businesses into two independent, publicly-traded...
roadmap of the San Francisco Bay Area. On the image of Mount Diablo, the Zodiac had drawn a crossed-circle similar to the ones he had included in previous correspondence. At the top of the crossed circle, he placed a zero, and then a three, six, and a nine. The accompanying instructions stated that the zero was "to be set to Mag. N." The letter also included a 32-letter cipher that the killer claimed would, in conjunction with the code, lead to the location of a bomb he had buried and set to go off in the fall. The cipher was never decoded, and the alleged bomb was never located. The killer signed the note with "
= 12, SFPD = 0."In a letter to the Chronicle postmarked July 24, 1970, the Zodiac took credit for Kathleen Johns' abduction, four months after the incident.
In a July 26, 1970 letter, the Zodiac paraphrased a song from The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, adding his own lyrics about making a "little list" of the ways he planned to torture his "slaves" in "paradice." The letter was signed with a large, exaggerated cross circle symbol and a new score: "
= 13, SFPD = 0." A final note at the bottom of the letter stated, "P.S. The Mt. Diablo code concerns Radians + # inches along the radians." In 1981, a close examination of the radian hint by Zodiac researcher Gareth PennGareth Penn
Gareth Sewell Penn is an American true crime author and amateur detective known for being among the first non-journalists to write about the famous Zodiac Killer case...
led to the discovery that a radian
Radian
Radian is the ratio between the length of an arc and its radius. The radian is the standard unit of angular measure, used in many areas of mathematics. The unit was formerly a SI supplementary unit, but this category was abolished in 1995 and the radian is now considered a SI derived unit...
angle, when placed over the map per Zodiac's instructions, pointed to the locations of two Zodiac attacks.
On October 7, 1970, the Chronicle received a three-by-five inch card signed by the Zodiac with the
drawn with blood. The card's message was formed by pasting words and letters from an edition of the Chronicle, and thirteen holes were punched across the card. Inspectors Armstrong and Toschi agreed it was "highly probable" the card came from the Zodiac.Zodiac letter to Chronicle reporter Paul Avery
On October 27, 1970, Chronicle reporter Paul AveryPaul Avery
Paul Avery was an American police reporter, best known for his stories on the infamous serial killer known as the Zodiac, and later for his work on the Patricia Hearst kidnapping.-Career:...
(who had been covering the Zodiac case) received a Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
card signed with a letter 'Z' and the Zodiac's cross circle symbol. Handwritten on the card was the note "Peek-a-boo, you are doomed." The threat was taken seriously and received a front-page story on the Chronicle. Soon after receiving this letter, Avery received an anonymous letter alerting him to the similarities between the Zodiac's activities and the unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates, which had occurred four years earlier at the city college in Riverside
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
in the Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
, more than 400 miles south of San Francisco. He reported his findings in the Chronicle on November 16, 1970.
Riverside attack
On October 30, 1966, 18-year-old Cheri Jo BatesCheri Jo Bates
Cheri Josephine Bates was a freshman student at Riverside Community College who was murdered on the campus of theeducational institution, on the day before Halloween, October 30, 1966...
spent the evening at the campus library annex until it closed at 9:00 p.m. Neighbors reported hearing a scream around 10:30 p.m. Bates was found dead the next morning, a short distance from the library, between two abandoned houses slated to be demolished for campus renovations. The wires in her Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
's distributor
Distributor
A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. and introduced in the...
cap had been pulled out. She was brutally beaten and stabbed to death. A man's Timex
Timex Group
Timex Group B.V., or Timex Group, is a Dutch holding company headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, and the corporate parent of several watchmaking companies around the globe including Timex Group USA, Inc., TMX Philippines, Inc., and Timex Group India Ltd...
watch with a torn wristband was found nearby. The watch had stopped at 12:24 p.m., but police believe the attack occurred much earlier.
In December 1966, a poem was discovered carved into the bottom side of a desktop in the Riverside City College library. Titled "Sick of living/unwilling to die," the poem's language and handwriting resembled those of the Zodiac's letters. It was signed with what were assumed to be the initials, "rh." Sherwood Morrill, California's top "Questioned Documents" examiner, expressed his opinion that the poem was written by the Zodiac.
On April 30, 1967, exactly six months after the Bates murder, Bates' father Joseph, the Press-Enterprise, and the Riverside police all received nearly identical letters. In handwritten scrawl, the Press-Enterprise and police copies read, "Bates had to die there will be more," with a small scribble at the bottom that resembled the letter 'Z.' Joseph Bates' copy read, "She had to die there will be more" without a "Z" signature.
On March 13, 1971, nearly four months after Paul Avery's first article on Bates, the Zodiac mailed a letter to the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. In the letter he credited the police, instead of Avery, for discovering his "Riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there."
The connection between Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside and the Zodiac remains uncertain. Paul Avery and the Riverside Police Department maintain that the Bates homicide was not committed by the Zodiac, but did concede some of the Bates letters may have been his work to falsely claim credit.
Lake Tahoe disappearance
On March 22, 1971, a postcard to the Chronicle, addressed to "Paul Averly," and believed to be from the Zodiac, appeared to take credit for the disappearance of Donna LassDonna Lass
Donna Ann Lass was a nurse who went missing in September 1970.-Background:Donna Lass was the daughter of James P. Lass and of Frances Mary Lass . Her father had been a farmer in the area of Beresford, South Dakota, and she was a 1962 graduate of Beresford High School...
on September 6, 1970. Made from a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of advertisements and magazine lettering, it featured a scene from an advertisement for Forest Pines condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s and the text "Sierra Club," "Sought Victim 12," "peek through the pines," "pass Lake Tahoe areas," and "around in the snow." Zodiac's cross circle symbol was in the place of the usual return address.
Lass was a nurse at the Sierra Tahoe hotel and casino. She worked until about 2:00 a.m. on September 6, 1970, treating her last patient at 1:40 a.m. Later that same day, both Lass's employer and her landlord received phone calls from an unknown male falsely claiming Lass had left town due to a family emergency. Lass was never found. What appeared to be a grave site was discovered near the Claire Tappan Lodge in Norden
Norden, California
Norden is a small unincorporated community in Nevada County, California, United States, about west of Truckee. The community is located on a former portion of U.S...
, California, on Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
property, but an excavation yielded only a pair of sunglasses.
No evidence has been uncovered to definitively connect Donna Lass' disappearance with the Zodiac Killer.
Santa Barbara attack
In a Vallejo Times-Herald story appearing on November 13, 1972, Santa Barbara Sheriff's Detective Bill Baker (ret.) postulated that the murders of a young couple in northern Santa Barbara County might have been the work of the Zodiac Killer.On June 4, 1963, high school senior Robert Domingos and fiancée Linda Edwards were shot dead on a beach near Lompoc
Lompoc, California
Lompoc is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1888. The population was 42,434 at the 2010 census, up from 41,103 at the 2000 census....
, having skipped school that day for "Senior Ditch Day
Senior Skip Day
International Ditch Day is a tradition in most American and Canadian high schools and junior high schools where most of the senior class skip school on a pre-determined day, typically the 111th day of school...
." Police believed that the assailant attempted to bind the victims, but when they freed themselves and attempted to flee, the killer shot them repeatedly in the back and chest with a .22-caliber weapon. The killer then placed their bodies in a small shack and tried, unsuccessfully, to burn it down.
Final Zodiac letter
After the "Pines" card, the Zodiac remained silent for nearly three years. The Chronicle then received a letter from the Zodiac, postmarked January 29, 1974, praising The ExorcistThe Exorcist
The Exorcist is a novel of supernatural suspense by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. It was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school...
as "the best saterical comidy [sic]" that he had ever seen. The letter included a snippet of verse from The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
and an unusual symbol at the bottom that has remained unexplained by researchers. Zodiac concluded the letter with a new score, "Me = 37, SFPD = 0".
Later letters of suspicious authorship
Of further communications sent by the public to members of the news media, some contained similar characteristics of previous Zodiac writings. The Chronicle received a letter postmarked February 14, 1974, informing the editor that the initials for the Symbionese Liberation ArmySymbionese Liberation Army
The Symbionese Liberation Army was an American self-styled left-wing urban militant group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army...
spelled out an Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
word meaning "kill". However, the handwriting was not authenticated as the Zodiac's.
A letter to the Chronicle, postmarked May 8, 1974, featured a complaint that the movie Badlands
Badlands (film)
Badlands is a 1973 American crime drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri are also featured. Malick has a small speaking part although he does not receive an acting credit...
was "murder-glorification" and asked the paper to cut its advertisements. Signed only "A citizen", the handwriting, tone, and surface irony were all similar to earlier Zodiac communications.
The Chronicle subsequently received an anonymous letter postmarked July 8, 1974, complaining about one of its columnists, Marco Spinelli. The letter was signed "the Red Phantom (red with rage)". The Zodiac's authorship of this letter is debated.
A letter, dated April 24, 1978, was initially deemed authentic, but was declared a hoax less than three months later by three experts. Dave Toschi, the SFPD homicide detective who had worked the case since the Stine murder, was thought to have forged the letter, because author Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...
believed the letter to be similar to "fan mail" he received in 1976 which he believed was authored by Toschi. While he admitted to writing the fan mail, Toschi denied forging the Zodiac letter and was eventually cleared of any charges. The authenticity of this letter remains unverified.
On March 3, 2007, an American Greetings
American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products , and electronic expressive content...
Christmas card
Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to the Christmas and holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during the weeks preceding Christmas Day by many people in Western...
sent to the Chronicle, postmarked 1990 in Eureka
Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
had recently been discovered in their photo files by editorial assistant Daniel King. Inside the envelope, with the card, was a photocopy of two U.S. Postal keys on a magnet keychain. The handwriting on the envelope resembles Zodiac's print, but was declared inauthentic by forensic document examiner Lloyd Cunningham. Not all Zodiac experts, however, agree with Cunningham's analysis. There is no return address on the envelope nor is his crossed-circle signature to be found. The card itself is unmarked. The Chronicle turned over all the material to the Vallejo Police Department for further analysis.
Prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen
Arthur Leigh Allen was the only suspect in the Zodiac murders to be served search warrants by police. He was never charged with any Zodiac-related crime and his fingerprints did not match those left by the killer of taxi cab driver Paul Stine. In 1991, 22 years after the shootings, survivor Michael Mageau identified Allen as the man who shot him, from a photo lineup of 1968 driver's licenses. Mageau stated he had never been shown a photo line up prior to that appointment in 1991. Allen, who suffered from diabetes, died on August 26, 1992, from kidney failure.Current status of Zodiac Killer investigations
In 2002, SFPD developed a partial DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
profile from the saliva on stamps and envelopes of Zodiac's letters. SFPD compared this partial DNA to the DNA of Vallejo Police Department's lead suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen. A DNA comparison was also made with Don Cheney's DNA, who was Allen's former close friend and the first person to suggest Allen may be the Zodiac Killer. Since neither test result indicated a match, Allen and Cheney were excluded as the contributors of the DNA, though it cannot be stated definitively that it is DNA from the Zodiac on the envelopes. Additionally in 2002, a partial palm print (called "Writer's Palm") was lifted from "The Exorcist" letter and then compared to a palm print of Allen's. Again, test results showed the palm prints did not match. Even though DNA samples taken from the letters sent by the Zodiac ruled out Allen as the person who handled them, neither the Vallejo nor the San Francisco Police Departments have ruled out Allen as a suspect.
In April 2004, the SFPD marked the case "inactive," citing caseload pressure and resource demands. However, they re-opened their case sometime before March, 2007.
In 2007, Dennis Kaufman, the stepson of a man named Jack Tarrance, claimed that his stepfather was the Zodiac. Kaufman turned several items over to the FBI including a hood similar to the one worn by the Zodiac. According to news sources, DNA analysis conducted by the FBI on the items were deemed inconclusive in 2010. Kaufman's claims have later been widely discredited. He claimed to have incriminating rolls of film taken by his stepfather. The photos allegedly showed victims of the crimes. Kaufman later published some of these photos on his own web page. The photos were very small, had low resolution, and were so blurry that nothing could be positively identified. An associate of Kaufman's, Nanette Barto, received her Forensic Document Examining certificate through an online course. She claimed to have matched Jack Tarrance's handwriting to that of the Zodiac Killer. In 2010, the FBI's Head Document Examiner at Quantico deemed the handwriting "Inconclusive".
In 2009, Deborah Perez claimed that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac. However, Perez also allegedly previously claimed that she was the illegitimate daughter of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, so her claim that her father was the Zodiac has been viewed as unlikely.
In 2009, a lawyer named Robert Tarbox (who, in 1975, had his law license suspended in California for failure to pay some clients) said that in 1972 a merchant marine walked into his office and confessed to him that he was the Zodiac Killer. The seemingly lucid seaman (whose name Tarbox wouldn't reveal due to confidentiality) described his crimes briefly but persuasively enough to convince Tarbox. The man claimed he was trying to stop himself from his "opportunistic" murder spree but never returned to see Tarbox again. Tarbox took out a full-page ad in the Vallejo Times-Herald in which he cleared the name of Arthur Leigh Allen as a killer, his only reason for revealing the story 30 years after the fact. Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith is an American true crime author. He was working as a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 when the Zodiac Killer case came to light. Graysmith attempted to decode letters written by the killer...
, the author of several books on Zodiac, said Tarbox's story was "entirely plausible." Retired police handwriting expert Lloyd Cunningham, who worked the Zodiac case for decades, added "they gave me banana boxes full of Allen's writing, and none of his writing even came close to the Zodiac. Nor did DNA extracted from the envelopes (on the Zodiac letters) come close to Arthur Leigh Allen."
In 2009, an episode of the History Channel television series MysteryQuest
MysteryQuest
MysteryQuest is an American documentary television series that premiered on September 16, 2009 on the History channel. Produced by KPI Productions, the program is a spin-off of MonsterQuest...
looked at newspaper editor Richard Gaikowski (1936–2004). During the time of the murders, Gaikowski worked for Good Times
San Francisco Express Times
San Francisco Express Times was a counterculture tabloid underground newspaper edited by Marvin Garson and published weekly in San Francisco, California from January 24, 1968 to March 25, 1969, for a total of 62 issues, covering and promoting radical politics, rock music, arts and progressive...
, a San Francisco counterculture newspaper. His appearance resembles the composite sketch and Nancy Slover, the Vallejo police dispatcher who was contacted by the Zodiac shortly after the Blue Rock Springs Attack, has identified a recording of Gaikowski's voice as being the same as the Zodiac's. Additional circumstantial evidence exists but cannot definitively connect Gaikowski to the murders.
The Vallejo Police Department website maintains a link for providing Zodiac crime tips. The case is also open in Napa County and also in the city of Riverside.
Retired police detective Steve Hodel argues a case in his book The Black Dahlia Avenger that his father, George Hill Hodel, was the Black Dahlia
Black Dahlia
"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short is an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful...
suspect whose victims include Elizabeth Short. The book caused the release of previously suppressed files and wire recordings by the Los Angeles district attorney's office of his father which showed that he was a prime suspect in Short's murder. The L.A. District Attorney subsequently wrote a letter which is published in the revised edition stating that if he were still alive he would be prosecuted for the crimes. In a follow up book, Hodel argued a circumstantial case that his father was also the Zodiac Killer based upon a police sketch, the similarity of the style of the Zodiac letters to the Black Dahlia Avenger letters and questioned document examination
Questioned document examination
Questioned document examination is the forensic science discipline pertaining to documents that are in dispute in a court of law...
.
On February 19, 2011, America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
featured a story about the Zodiac Killer. A picture has recently surfaced of known Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin and a man who closely resembles the composite sketch, formed based on eyewitness' descriptions, of the Zodiac Killer. Police believe the photo was taken in San Francisco in the summer of 1966 or 1967. Police hope someone can identify the man in the photo. It has been suspected that the man in the photo is Darlene Ferrin's ex-husband, James Phillips. This has not been confirmed.
Popular culture
The Zodiac Killer's crimes, letters and cryptograms to police and newspapers inspired many movies, novels, television productions and other serial killers.Primary sources
FBI Files:- FBI Case File (1 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 89 pages.
- FBI Case File (2 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 109 pages.
- FBI Case File (3 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 258 pages.
- FBI Case File (4 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 208 pages.
- FBI Case File (5 of 5) on the Zodiac Killer. 373 pages.
Further reading
- Adams, Charles F. (2004). Murder by the Bay: Historic Homicide in and about the City of San Francisco. Quill Driver Books. ISBN 978-1884995460.
- Davis, Howard. (1997). The Zodiac/Manson Connection (9-Edge Publishing, Lomita, CA). ISBN 0-9629084-2-8.
- Graysmith, RobertRobert GraysmithRobert Graysmith is an American true crime author. He was working as a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 when the Zodiac Killer case came to light. Graysmith attempted to decode letters written by the killer...
. (2007). Zodiac (Berkeley; reissue edition). ISBN 0-425-21218-1. - Graysmith, Robert. (2007). Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer (Berkeley; reissue edition). ISBN 0-425-21273-4.
- Kelleher, Michael D. and Van Nuys, David. (2002). "This is the Zodiac Speaking": Into the Mind of a Serial Killer (Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT). ISBN 0-275-97338-7.
- Penn, Gareth. (1987). Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966–1981 (The Foxglove Press, CA). ISBN 0-9618494-0-1.
- Rasmussen, William T. (2006). Corroborating Evidence II (Sunstone Press). ISBN 0-86534-536-8.
- Renner, James (2008). The Serial Killer's Apprentice: And 12 Other True Stories of Cleveland's Most Intriguing Unsolved Crimes. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-046-1
- Rowlett, Curt. (2006). Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy Chapter 9, The Z Files: Labyrinth13 Examines the Zodiac Murders (Lulu Press). ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
External links
- "Zodiac Murder Map" – Google Map plotting definite and possible Zodiac attacks (with details).
- Zodiac Cipher Cryptanalysis Tool
- FBI file on the Zodiac Killer
- Zodiologists - An amateur site dedicated to open fact discussion and analysis.
- Ciphers of the Zodiac Killer - Information about ongoing research on the Zodiac ciphers.