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Copyrights © 2021 by Dhvani Mehta Design and organising elements copyright by Black & White Publications. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in anyform without permission. First paperback edition January 2021 Book design by Dhvani Mehta Published by Black & White Publications
THE ZODIAC KILLER
The long pursuit and lure of the case, its mystery, tragedy, and loss, ruined marriages, derailed careers, proved to make history in the crime books of America. Zodiac’s story began with obsession, but its ending was a study in frustration. Police were beaten back time and again. Would the most elusive killer in history, a cerebral, modern-day Jack the Ripper, escape them? Or would the dedicated teams of detectives and amateur sleuths all over the world uncover the final secret of the Zodiac? This book will take you through the jour- ney of unmasking the murders, motives , suspects and the final chapter in the Zodiac Killer case.
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WHO WAS THE KILLER? HOW DID HE WORK? MURDER TIMELINE SUSPECTS AND THEORIES MYSTERY SOLVED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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. I’m the one that did it. - The Zodiac Killer
CHAPTER 1 Who was the Zodiac Killer? Background: Much is unknown about the Zodiac killer, but given physical or sexual abuse in the household. Considering what is known about serial killers in general, this man the adult outcome, Zodiac would have turned out to be was probably born between 1938 and 1943. That would an angry, withdrawn, loner, whose adolescence just could make his age between 25 and 30 years old at the time have been filled with fantasies and irrationality. of his first murder in Vallejo, California, in 1968. Also, that age estimate works with witness statements and it’s The self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer was directly linked supported by Zodiac’s references to his victims in young- to at least five murders in Northern California in 1968 er terms in his letters of 1969. and 1969 and may have been responsible for more. He taunted the police and made threats through letters sent The Zodiac wasn’t an attractive character from what we to area newspapers from 1969 to 1974, before abruptly know. He may have had to wear glasses throughout his ceasing communication. Despite intensive investigations, youth and his facial features weren’t all that pleasing. So no one was ever arrested for the crimes and the case overall he may have been unpopular as a young boy and remains open. spent a good deal of time alone. It seems as though re- jection is a big issue for Zodiac. No one knows anything about the Zodiac’s parents but it wouldn’t be ridiculous to say that there was domestic violence, broken rela- tionships with parents or guardians, and maybe even a 11
The Zodiac Killer roamed Northern California from December 1968 through October 1969, but was never caught despite at least one close run-in with police. He is known to have attacked seven victims, killing five in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa and San Francisco and leaving two survivors. However, the Zodiac claimed re- sponsibility for many more deaths in letters, often signed with a symbol of a cross over a circle. The Zodiac Killer took on an almost mythological pres- ence in the psyche of Californians, and the story of his killing spree has been told in multiple books and movies over the decades. Authorities involved in ivestigating one of the murders 12
CHAPTER 2 How did he work? The Ciphers Killers usually go to great lengths to avoid the police and media attention, but the self-proclaimed Zodiac, who ter- rorized the Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was an exception. He called the police on two occasions to report murders he had committed and sent dozens of letters to newspapers. The first cipher that the Zodiac created was his longest, 408 characters. The killer split it into three pieces of equal length and mailed it to two newspapers in San Francisco and one to a paper in Vallejo, demanding they be printed or he would go on a “kill rampage.” The ciphers were published. Knowing how Zodiac selected the strange symbols he The Zodiac’s Z 340 cipher has long been considered by used to represent his “alphabet” might reveal something many cryptology experts to be one of the most challeng- about him, such as his education or special interests. ing ciphers in history. There have been many ciphers over the centuries that used strange symbols that range from systems intended for kids to alphabets used by occultists. One example is even called “The Zodiac Alphabet.” While many of these have some symbols in common with those used by the killer, none matches closely enough to be considered more than inspirational. Elements of the cipher might even tell us something about the killer’s occupation or place of employment. Among the symbols included in his ciphers were circles with different portions shaded in—ideograms believed to have been invented by Harvey Poppel of Booz Allen Hamilton, a management-consulting firm known for its defense and intelligence contracts. The use of Harvey Balls or Booz Balls, as they came to be called, spread to other companies and products, most notably the qualita- tive symbols used in Consumer Reports product ratings. If the killer’s use of such symbols originated from having seen Harvey Balls, it’s possible he may have had a con- nection to Booz Allen Hamilton or a related company. 13
Did anyone crack it? Within about a week North Salinas’ school teacher Donald Harden and his wife Bettye contacted The San Francisco Chronicle with their solution. Bettye is credited with discovering two cribs, words or phrases suspected to appear in the message. Cribs are powerful cryptanalytic tools, because once a location or locations can be determined for them, several substitutions can be identified, which can accelerate the unravelling process. Inspired by the killer’s obvious craving for attention, Bettye guessed that the message would begin with the word “I.” She also believed the word KILL or KILLING—or even the phrase I LIKE KILLING— would appear somewhere in the message. Her guesses turned out to be correct. Schoolteacher Donald G. Harden, with his wife Bettye, broke the Z 408 code very quickly. What could have been his motive? The most likely motive for the Zodiac killings was the Zodiac’s superiority complex. The power and control the Zodiac Killer exerted over his victims gave him the power he lacked in his everyday life. Maybe he was disre- spected or not given the recognition he felt he deserved causing him to seek it out in a different manner. The killings was his ultimate act of power. The power over life and death made him like a God except he felt more joy from death than from life. This is common in most serial killers, however, it is uncommon for serial killers to wait for such a long time between kills. The Zodiac wait- ed this period either because he had mementos from the killings to remind him of his kills or because he reveled in the power from the chaos created after each kill. The Z 408 required only 20-some hours for the husband The most important factor in Zodiac’s superiority and wife team to solve. complex was media attention. The media fed him in 14 the continuous terror of his victim’s but the terror of the whole nation. He wanted to claim his kills and he either wrote or called the media to claim his kills. In total Zodiac claimed the deaths of thirty-seven people despite only having seven confirmed victims by police, but the fame and notoriety such a large kill count brought fur- ther inflated the Zodiac’s massive ego.
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CHAPTER 3 Murder Timeline Betty Lou JensenDec 20th, 1968 Bryan Hartnell & & David FaradayBenicia Cecelia Shepard July 4th, 1969 Vallejo July 4th, 1969 Lake Berryessa Darlene Ferrin & Michael Mageau 16
Paul StineOct 11th, 1969 San Francisco Kathleen Johns Mar 22nd, 1970 Modesto Area Sept 6th, 1970 Lake Tahoe Donna Lass 17
December 20th, 1968 Benicia Five nights before Christmas, high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday set out on their first offi- cial date together, promising Betty Lou’s parents they’d be home by 11:00 PM. Shortly after that time, passing motorists saw the Rambler and its occupants parked at a lovers’ lane spot along Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California. Moments later, another driver noticed two seemingly lifeless bodies on the side of the road. Bullet holes in the car’s roof and back window indicated that the killer may have fired warning shots to force the vic- tims out of the vehicle. Benicia police and others responded to the scene and Vehicle in which David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen discovered Betty Lou dead, with five bullet wounds in were sitting when they were attacked by the Zodiac. The her back. David was found next to the Rambler with a body of Betty Lou Jensen lies beneath the blanket. bullet wound in his head, still breathing but near death. Shell casings recovered at the crime scene identified ammunition as Winchester Western Super X cop- per-coated. Ballistic evidence indicated that the killer used a .22-caliber, possibly a J. C. Higgins Model 80 semiautomatic pistol. Investigators believed the two teenagers were likely random targets killed by a stranger for unknown reasons. Nothing about the couple seemed unusual and mysterious. Detectives had few clues, aside from the fact that there had been an earlier confrontation in the same area. Bill Crow and his girlfriend, who were parked in the same place as Faraday and Jensen 45 minutes earlier, told police that someone in a white Chevy drove past them, stopped, and backed up. Crow sped away in the opposite direction. The Chevy turned around and followed the couple but couldn’t keep up after Crow made a sharp right turn at an intersection. Two hunters also reported seeing a white Chevy parked at a gravel turn-around on Lake Herman Road. They approached the car but did not see a driver inside. Betty Lou Jensen, 16, and David Faraday, 17. 18
“We gathered all the physical evidence that was available at the scene, cartridge cases and other items and these will be tested in the laboratory. We pretty well know what time they may have reached the spot and where they were killed but this has not yet been completely been pinned down. At this stage we’re not overlooking any possibilities whatever, slim though them might seem on the surface.” - Sherriff’s Sgt Leslie L Lunblad 19
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July 4th, 1969 Vallejo 22 year-old Darlene Ferrin was a wife, mother and a Michael Mageau popular waitress at a Vallejo restaurant. On the night of July 4, she picked up her friend Michael Mageau and stopped her Corvair in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park. Michael later told police that another vehicle pulled into the lot around midnight and then left, only to return minutes later. The driver got out of the car, shined a bright light and fired into the Corvair with a 9mm handgun. Michael was shot in the jaw, shoulder and leg; Darlene was hit several times. At 12:40 PM, in a call later traced to a gas-station pay phone, a man rang the Vallejo police department and claimed responsibility for the shooting as well as the murders on Lake Herman Road. According to the police dispatcher, the caller spoke in a low, monotonous voice, saying: “I want to report a murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway, you will find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9-millimeter Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye.” Darlene died on arrival at the hospital, but Michael survived. Investiga- tors were unable to identify any viable suspects. Darlene Ferrin He was of stocky build and short, about 5 22 feet 8 inches, weighing about 160 pounds. His face was full, he was bareheaded and had ‘wavy or curly light brown hair’ and looked about 25 to 30 years old. He wore a blue shirt or sweater. Michael Mageau’s description of the Zodiac
I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER I WANT TO REPORT A MURDER 23
The Arrival of the Zodiac Letters On Friday, August 1, the first known Zodiac letters were On August 4, investigators said they doubted the authen- received by three newspapers. The San Francisco Exam- ticity of the letters, attempting to get the killer to contact iner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald them again. The plan worked. On August 4, another each received almost identical letters written by a person letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner. taking credit for the attacks on the four teens. He gave details about the murders and included one-third of a The letter began with the words that have since haunted mysterious cipher in each letter. The self-proclaimed many involved in the case: killer demanded that the letters be published on the “Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking...” newspapers’ front pages by the next Friday or he would It was the first time the killer had used the name Zodiac. randomly kill a dozen people over the weekend. The He included information proving he was present during letters were signed with a crossed-circle symbol. The the murders and indicated that his identity was hidden letters were published, and authorities and citizens began inside the ciphers. The code was later cracked and trans- efforts to untangle the messages in the ciphers. lated by the couple on August 9, 1969. “I like killing because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most danger- ous animal of all to kill. Something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl. The best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and those that I have killed will become my slaves. I will not give you my name because you will try to slow me down or stop my collecting of slaves for afterlife.” - The Zodiac Killer (Aug 4, 1969 Letter) 24
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The Arrival of the Zodiac Letters On Friday, August 1, the first known Zodiac letters were On August 4, investigators said they doubted the authen- received by three newspapers. The San Francisco Exam- ticity of the letters, attempting to get the killer to contact iner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald them again. The plan worked. On August 4, another each received almost identical letters written by a person letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner. taking credit for the attacks on the four teens. He gave details about the murders and included one-third of a The letter began with the words that have since haunted mysterious cipher in each letter. The self-proclaimed many involved in the case: killer demanded that the letters be published on the “Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking...” newspapers’ front pages by the next Friday or he would It was the first time the killer had used the name Zodiac. randomly kill a dozen people over the weekend. The He included information proving he was present during letters were signed with a crossed-circle symbol. The the murders and indicated that his identity was hidden letters were published, and authorities and citizens began inside the ciphers. The code was later cracked and trans- efforts to untangle the messages in the ciphers. lated by the couple on August 9, 1969. “I like killing because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most danger- ous animal of all to kill. Something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl. The best part of it is that when I die I will be reborn in paradise and those that I have killed will become my slaves. I will not give you my name because you will try to slow me down or stop my collecting of slaves for afterlife.” - The Zodiac Killer (Aug 4, 1969 Letter) 26
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July 4th, 1969 Lake Berryessa On a Saturday in late September, college students Bryan to Bryan’s car, and used a pen to draw a crossed-circle Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were relaxing along the on the door with the dates and locations of the previ- shore of Lake Berryessa, some 30 miles north of Napa, ous attacks, the date “Sept 27 69,” the time “6:30,” and California. A man appeared holding a gun and wearing a the notation, “by knife.” At 7:40 PM, a man called the hooded costume with a white crossed-circle stitched over Napa police department to report “a double murder.” the chest. Explaining that he had escaped from a prison The caller described Bryan’s car, directed police to the and needed money and a car to escape to Mexico, the scene of the crime, and confessed, “I’m the one who did stranger bound their wrists with pre-cut lengths of plastic it.” Police traced the call to a pay phone at a car wash in clothesline. Without warning, he plunged a large knife Napa. Cecelia died two days later, but Bryan survived. into Bryan’s back six times. He then stabbed Cecelia 10 times as she fought for her life. The man then walked 28
Shoe print left by Zodiac at the Lake Berryessa Police composite sketch of the Zodiac wearing his now infamous executioners hood based on the description given by victims Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. 29
October 11th, 1969 San Francisco Paul Stine, a 28-year-old student and husband, worked as a cab driver in San Francisco. That night, Stine picked up a fare headed for a destination in the upscale Presidio Heights neighbourhood. At the intersection of Washing- ton and Cherry Streets, the passenger shot Stine in the head and removed a piece of the victim’s shirt. A teenage girl from her home across the street heard the shot along with two other witnesses in her home and got a good look at the man as he wiped down the car and walked away. The called the police immediately. A police car that was nearby came quickly to the scene A white male, 25 to 30 years old and around but the chaos of the situation would strangely result in 5’8”. He was stocky and had a reddish brown the police dispatcher incorrectly identifying the suspect crew cut. He was wearing heavy rimmed as an ‘African American Male’. Fingerprints found on glasses. the driver’s side of the cab may have belonged to the killer and a sketch was produced based on descriptions Neighbour’s description of the Zodiac provided by witnesses. 30
The police car driven by officer Donald Fouke and Eric Zelms would come upon a white male walking on the sidewalk described by officer Fouke as five foot nine, a hundred and seventy pounds, abut forty years old, wearing glasses with reddish hair and a crew cut. Howev- er, because they were looking for an African American male, Fouke and Zelms left the man alone, watching him disappear into a park. The Zodiac later commented on this interaction in his letter in detail making it very likely that Fouke and Zelms came into contact with the nation’s most notori- ous serial killer at the time without even knowing it. A composite sketch was drawn based on the two descrip- tions which later became part of a famous wanted poster. The San Francisco Chronicle received an envelope with a letter from “The Zodiac” which began with the words, “I am the murderer of the taxi driver.” The envelope also contained a blood-stained piece of Paul Stine’s shirt. The Zodiac denied he left fingerprints and claimed the police sketch was completely inaccurate because he had worn a disguise. “School children make nice targets, I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire and then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out .” - The Zodiac Killer (Oct 13, 1969 Letter) October 13th, 1969 letter sent to the San Francisco 31 Chronicle regarding the Paul Stine Murder
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The 7 Page Letter 33
March 22th, 1970 Modesto Area On a Sunday in late March, 22-year-old Kathleen Johns packed her infant daughter into a station wagon and left San Bernardino, California to visit her sick mother in Petaluma, in the northern part of the state. Kathleen was also seven months pregnant with the child of her long- time boyfriend. As she travelled on Highway 132 near Modesto, another vehicle pulled alongside the station wagon and the driver appeared to signal that Kathleen should pull over. On the side of the road, the driver explained that the back wheel of Kathleen’s station wagon was loose, but he promised to fix the problem. Instead, he loosened the lug nuts and the wheel fell off as Kathleen tried to drive away. The man then offered to drive Kathleen to a gas station, but she climbed into his car and discovered he appeared to have other plans. She claimed he also made veiled threats to harm her child. Eventually, Kathleen grabbed her daughter and jumped from the car. A passing driver took Kathleen to a nearby police station where she identified the stranger from a police sketch of the Zodiac. Months later, a Zodiac letter mentioned “a rather interesting ride” with a woman and her baby. Headline in the newspaper Kathleen Johns 34
September 6th, 1970 Lake Tahoe A postcard attributed to the Zodiac featured an adver- tisement for a condominium project in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, with the phrases “pass Lake Tahoe areas” and “Sought Victim 12.” Some interpreted the cryptic mes- sage as a clue to the disappearance of 25-year-old Donna Lass. In May 1970, Donna worked in San Francisco at Letterman General Hospital, located on the Presidio military base near the area where the Zodiac killed a cabdriver. Donna moved northeast to South Lake Tahoe and found work as a nurse for the Sahara Hotel and Casino. On September 6, 1970, Donna vanished some- time after the last entry in her work logbook at 1:50 AM. Her car was later found abandoned near her apartment. According to some accounts, an unidentified man called Donna’s employer and her landlord, claiming she had to leave town due to a family emergency. Donna’s family told authorities there was no such emergency, and the man was never identified. Investigators suspected Donna had been abducted and killed, but her body was never found. Her disappearance remained a mystery and her name was added to long list of possible Zodiac victims. The letters stopped in 1974. In that final letter, the writer stated that he had recently seen “The Exorcist” and thought it was the “best satirical comedy that (he had) ever seen.” He ended the note with a tally of all the murders he claimed he’d committed. “Me -- 37, SFPD -- 0.” Inside the card, the Zodiac demanded publication of his bomb threats and insisted that the people of the San Francisco Bay Area wear “Zodiac buttons” featuring his chosen symbol, the crossed-circle. 35
CHAPTER 4 Suspects and Theories For nearly five decades, police and amateur sleuths have Over the years, Zodiac buffs have suggested dozens sought the identity of the Zodiac—and never come close of possible suspects based on speculation and circum- to making an arrest. The serial killer who murdered at stantial evidence. Conspiracy theorists have fingered least five people, taunted police and terrorized Bay Area Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Wichita’s BTK Killer residents in the 1960s and 1970s apparently vanished or members of Charles Manson family. A handful of without a trace. Yet, he left behind a mystery that still publicity-seekers claim their fathers were the Zodiac. In grips the public imagination, spawning books, movies, recent years, absurd allegations have spread on social TV crime shows, websites—and a trail of tangled theo- media—including that Texas Senator Ted Cruz was the ries. Zodiac, even though he was born two years after the first confirmed killings. 36
“The level of crackpottery in the Zodiac case is stunning. Most of the people we refer to as suspects aren’t really suspects at all and just some- body that someone accused whose name got repeated online, even though there was never anything there.” - Michael Butterfield (a writer who has spent 20 years researching the case and runs the website zodiackillerfacts.com.) 37
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1. EARL VAN BEST JR. In his 2014 book, “The Most Dangerous Animal of All,” Gary Stewart made a case that his biological father, Earl Van Best Jr., was the Zodiac. Stewart said Best resem- bled the composite sketch of the Zodiac, lived in Califor- nia at the time of the killings, was interested in ciphers, knew a Satanist and a Manson-family member and liked Gilbert and Sullivan. Best also served time in prison for the statutory rape of Stewart’s mother and may have held a grudge against San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery, who wrote a series of articles about the couple. Stewart claimed that the name EARL VAN BEST JR matches the number of characters in the code given, and a document examiner said the handwriting on Best’s marriage certificate matched the Zodiac’s. Although their fingerprints didn’t match, a mark that could have been a scar was visible in Best’s and those found in Stine’s cab. Gary Stewart, son of Earl Van Best Jr The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Gary Stewart Earl Van Best Jr was later ruled out as despite the vast publicity Stewart’s book received, experts quickly dis- missed most of its claims. The method he used to crack the cipher was questionable; the fingerprint mark was similar to the Zodiac’s only if it was reversed and the handwriting on the marriage certificate was the minis- ter’s, not Best’s. As for Best’s resemblance to the com- posite sketch, Butterfield says, “a crew cut with horned- rim glasses was hardly a unique look in the 1960s.” Gary Stewart also tried to test his father’s DNA against the the recovered 2002 Zodiac DNA, but investigators never complied with their reason being not enough evidence. Gary has maintained that is a police cover up. Best died in 1984. 39
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2. ARTHUR LEIGH ALLEN Portrayed as the prime suspect in Robert Graysmith’s books, one of which was the basis of the 2007 movie, “Zodiac,” Actually Robert Graysmith was a political cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle that became obsessed with finding the Zodiac. After a decade of personal research, Graysmith wrote two books entitled Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked that heavily implicate Allen as the Zodiac Killer. The day of the third Zodiac attack at Lake Berryessa in 1969, Allen told his family he was going scuba diving at Lake Berryessa. Later that night, he came home covered in blood with a bloody knife in his car. Cecelia Shepherd had died that day, with a knife. Two years later in 1971, one of Allen’s friends, Don Cheney said that Allen called himself the Zodiac before the killer publicly referred to himself as the Zodiac. As a result of this information the police interviewed Allen the second time where Allen said that his favourite book was the ‘The Most Dangerous Game’, a book about hunting humans. This book was referenced by the Zodiac in his very first letter to the press. To add insult to injury, Allen also wore a Zodiac brand watch that contained the same symbol the killer used. The police then searched his trailer where they found small dissected animals in a freezer, bloody knives, and sexual devices, but no direct evidence of the murders. In 1974, Allen was convicted of child molestation, a crime for which he spent three years in jail. Coinciden- tally, duing this time no Zodiac letters were received. In 1987, a San Jose jail inmate names Ralph Spinelli told police that Allen admitted to him that he murdered Paul Stine. In August 1991, Vallejo detective George Bawart interviewed Michael Mageau, the man who survived the second Zodiac attack and saw the Zodiac without his mask on. When shown a lineup of photographs Mageau picked out the man who shot him, it was Arthur Leigh Allen. With this info, the police searched his house again and this time they found formulas for bombs, con- structed bombs and tapes about the Zodiac Killer. Upon interviewing Allen, he claimed to know nothing. A year later in August 1992, Allen was found dead at his home from a suspected heart attack. 42
Let’s now transition into all the reasons why Allen might not have been the Zodiac Killer. Allen’s DNA was compared against the 2002 DNA extracted from stamp saliva on a Zodiac letter, it was not a match. However, it’s also believed that Allen had a habit for letting others lick his stamps instead of him, which would explain why the profile didn’t match him. Additionally, in 1971 the police took Allen’s fingerprints, but the prints did not match the bloody prints recovered from the Paul Stine crime scene. They also had Allen undergo handwriting analy- sis, but the handwriting did not match the Zodiac. Allen also does not look like the sketch from the Paul Stine killing in the slightest, but it’s worth mentioning that Arthur Leigh Allen was considered the prime suspect for the Zodiac for most involved police departments and is widely believed to be the Zodiac. The report is from the Sonoma County Sherrif’s Depart- ment regarding the arrest of Arthur Leigh Allen on child molestation charges. 43
3. LAWRENCE KANE The third suspect theory is from retired Escalon, Cal- ifornia police officer, Harvey Hines who believes Law- rence Kane or more commonly known by the surame Kane, was the Zodiac Killer. Kane was involved in a car accident in 1962 which resulted in brain damage influ- encing his behaviour. One psychologist claimed Kane was, “Losing the ability to control self-gratification.” Ad- ditionally, Kane can be seen in the Zodiac’s “my name is” cipher and in that cipher there are three eights with circles around them, three times eight is twenty-four and Kane was born in 1924. The Zodiac’s second victim Darlene Ferrin had a sister Lawrence Kane who said Kane was the man who followed and harassed Darlene in the weeks leading up to Darlene’s murder. In the 1969 Paul Stine murder, the man suspected to be the Zodiac seen by officer Don Fouke was described as thirty-five to forty-five years old and Kane was forty-five in 1969. Officer Don Fouke said in 1997 that of the hundreds of pictures over the past 20 years he had been shown, Kane was “The closest of them as he remem- bered the killer.” Kane also lived a six minutes walk away from Mason and Geary, the location where cab driver, Paul Stine was thought to have picked up his killer. In fact, an excerpt from Vallejo PD states, “Investigation has placed Kane in the locales where several of the Zodiac’s victims either lived or were killed.” Escalon police officer Harvey Hines, in uniform and in an early television interview. 44
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To piggy back on that, in 1970, Kane moved to South Lake Tahoe and that year a possible Zodiac victim, Donna Lass disappears in South Lake Tahoe. Donna Lass also coincidentally worked at the same South Lake Tahoe hotel as Kane. But the last and arguable most damning evidence Kane is about another Zodiac inter- action. On the night of March 22, 1970 on highway 132 near Patterson, California, Kathleen Johns and her baby were tricked into riding in the Zodiac’s car. After enter- ing the car, the Zodiac told Johns that he was going to kill her and throw her baby out after her. As the Zodiac was about to make a turn, Johns jumped out of the car and ran into a nearby field with her baby and escaped. Despite some believing this is an unconfirmed Zodiac encounter, others believe a letter confirms this incident. Kathleen Johns, unlike most surviving Zodiac victims, had extended face time with the Zodiac. When shown a line up of photographs, Kathleen Johns was reported- ly able to pick out the man who tried to kill her. It was Lawrence Kane. The reason why Kane couldn’t have been the Zodiac or Poster for Donna Lass was ruled out was because the DNA test related to the stamp was negative. There is also no record of Kane’s fingerprint being tested against the fingerprint found at the Paul Stine crime scene. Furthermore, Kane’s hand- writing was not a match to the Zodiac’s, but also could not be ruled out. Additionally, Kane, much like Earl Van Best Jr., matches the description of the killer at the Paul Stine murder scene, but does not match the large heavyset description of the Zodiac in the first three crime scenes. 4. ROSS SULLIVAN The 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, Ca. bore many similarities to the Zodiac killings. Staffers at the Riverside City College library, near where Bates’ body was found, said a coworker, Ross Sullivan, had made them uncomfortable and disappeared for sever- al days after the murder. Sullivan also sported a crew cut and glasses similar to the composite sketch of the Zodiac. He moved to northern California in 1967 and was hospitalized several times for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Sullivan wore an Army jacket and mili- tary-style boots like those that left footprints at the Lake Berryessa stabbings. Zodiac buffs also note that his letters mention “The Mikado,” by Gilbert and Sullivan, which could be a reference to Sullivan’s name. 48
5. RICHARD MARSHALL Marshall, a ham radio operator and movie projectionist, lived in Riverside in 1966 and later in San Francisco near where Stine was murdered. Visitors to his home told police they found him peculiar and that he had talked about finding “something much more exciting than sex.” Marshall liked old movies, including “The Red Phan- tom,” which was mentioned in a 1974 Zodiac letter. He lived in a basement apartment, which the Zodiac also cited. He owned a typewriter and a teletype similar to those the Zodiac used. They both liked felt-tip pens and odd-size paper. In a 1989 TV interview, Marshall conceded there were many similarities but denied being the Zodiac. Napa County sheriff’s detective Ken Narlow, who pursued the case for decades, said “Marshall makes good reading but not a very good suspect in my estimation.” Marshall died in a nursing home in 2008. 6. RICHARD GAIKOWSKI Gaikowski edited a counter-culture newspaper in San Francisco. A former coworker sent long, rambling letters to law-enforcement agencies accusing him of being the Zodiac and said Gaikowski invited him to engage in violent acts together. The accuser, nicknamed “Gold- catcher,” appeared in disguise on an episode of the HIS- TORY Channel’s “MysteryQuest” in 2009 and provided recordings of Gaikowski’s voice. On the show, a police dispatcher who spoke to the Zodiac said she thought it was the same voice. Researcher Tom Voigt also notes that “Gyke” appears in a part of a cipher the Zodiac said contained his identity. “Goldcatcher” was a known conspiracy theorist with little credibility, described by a San Francisco police inspector as “one of the three top Zodiac kooks.” When Narlow, the Napa detective, interviewed Gaikowski, the journal- ist claimed he was out of the country at the time of the 1968 murders on Lake Herman Road, but had lost his passport. San Francisco and Napa police denied requests to compare a DNA sample from Gaikowski with the Zodiac’s. He died in 2004. 49
7. JACK TARRANCE Dennis Kaufman also received extensive publicity claiming that his late stepfather, Jack Tarrance, was the Zodiac. Kaufman said Tarrance was a dead-ringer for the composite sketch and claimed to have a stash of incriminating evidence, including a roll of film depicting possible victims and a bizarre hooded costume like one the Zodiac wore during the Lake Berryessa stabbings. On a 2007 Discovery Channel documentary, a docu- ment examiner said Tarrance’s handwriting matched the Zodiac’s. Law-enforcement officials dismissed Kaufman’s evidence as nonsense. One photo showed a blob of color he claimed was Black Dahlia victim Elizabeth Short. The hooded costume Kaufman produced was much cruder than what the victims described. Researchers also challenged the document examiner’s credibility; she believed Tarrance had also written the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note. Tarrance died in 2006. 8. DONALD LEE BUJOK The hooded man who stabbed the couple at Lake Berryessa said he had just escaped from a prison in Montana, according to Bryan Hartnell. Researcher Kevin Robert Brooks developed a lengthy circumstantial case implicating Donald Lee Bujok, who was released in 1968 after serving 11 years of a life sentence for killing a sheriff’s deputy. According to Brooks, fellow inmates said Bujok had talked about killing people to make them slaves in the afterlife, as mentioned in a Zodiac letter. Brooks claimed the Halloween card sent to reporter Paul Avery depicted harsh conditions at the prison and that “Boo!” on the inside referenced Bujok’s name. Bujok had been discharged from the Army for mental-health reasons; Brooks alleged that markings on some Zodiac envelopes spelled out ‘Zodiac is a veteran with 4F.” Brooks also speculated that the Zodiac’s signa- ture crossed-circle symbol was inspired by the helicopter landing pad at Fort Ord, California, where Bujok had been stationed. Bujok’s fingerprints did not match those believed to be the Zodiac’s. A park ranger at Lake Ber- ryessa claimed Hartnell said the prison was in Colorado, not Montana. Bujok was released just three days before the Zodiac’s Lake Herman Rd. killings; some research- ers think he would have had difficulty traveling across three states in that time. Bujok was incarcerated during the Bates murder and other early killings that may have been the Zodiac’s. He died in 1993. 50
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