It is not rare that infamous killers name themselves with a special nickname for the public to know. This adds to the haunting nature and usually makes the killer more famous. This was the case of the infamous serial killer, the Zodiac Killer, known for committing a series of murders in Northern California during the 1960s and 1970s. He gained publicity by sending taunting letters to news outlets and police stations that contained information about his homicide along with cryptic messages with a distinctive symbol resembling a zodiac sign.
His assault started on December 20, 1968 when he shot seventeen-year-old David Faraday and sixteen-year-old Betty Lou Jenson on Lake Herman road, killing them instantly. His second attack took place on July 5, 1969. While carrying a bright flashlight, he shot twenty-two-year-old Darlene Ferrine and nineteen-year-old Mike Mageau. Ferrine was killed on the spot, but Mageau was able to survive with critical wounds. An hour later, a mysterious man called the police station, telling the police about the location and the shot people, claiming he did the same thing previously on Jenson and Faraday. Police later found Mageau, and despite the call and Mageau’s descriptions of the suspect, they weren’t able to arrest the murderer.
With no clear evidence of the suspect, on August 1, 1969, three local newspapers received a letter from a man who claimed to be “Zodiac.” The letters contained details about the crimes that he allegedly claimed to commit, along with a threatening message that if the letters are not released to the public, he would go on a killing spree. At the end of the letters were the Zodiac cross-circle and a cryptic message that would possibly reveal his identity. However, the cipher was in fact meant for a different thing. The code included messages such as “I like killing people because it is so much fun.”
The homicide did not end there. On September 27, 1969, the Zodiac brutally stabbed twenty-two-year-old Cecelia Shepard and twenty-year-old Bryan Hartall who were having a picnic near a lake. Hartall survived the attack by playing dead but Shepard unfortunately died due to excessive bleeding. Before dying, Shepard gave a description of Zodiac, saying he wore a black executioner’s hood and a bib with the zodiac cross circle on it. The next murder proceeded shortly after, when Zodiac shot and killed a twenty-two-year-old taxi driver Paul Stine on October 11, 1969. After the murder, Zodiac once again sent a letter to San Francisco Chronicle, giving details of the attack. The letter included a blood swatch from the victim and a threatening message saying he will commit his next murder in a school bus.
The identity of the Zodiac was never revealed, and even though the cipher from the letters were solved, it didn’t lead the investigation anywhere. The case of the Zodiac killer still remains a mystery with many questions still remaining.
