Zodiac Murders

Research paper

Zodiac Murders

            As many people may know, the Zodiac was a serial killer during the late ‘60s and ‘70s in California. What they don’t know is who, how, why, when, or even where. Nothing more than the basic information that was released to the media.

         The Zodiac Killer like before mentioned was a serial killer in California. He hunted young couples in secluded areas, usually at night, except for a few exceptions. The Zodiac used many different forms of weapons, which includes guns and knives. The most uncommon characteristic of this serial killer, however, is that the Zodiac sent a total of 18 letters (www.zodaickiller.com/faq.html).

         The victims at first all had something in common; they were young couples and were in secluded areas at the time of the murders. He attacked Bencia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco. David Faraday and Betty Jensen were both shot in 1968.Brian Hartnell and Cecelia Ann Shepard were both stabbed in 1969, Hartnell survived and Shepard died two days later. Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin, were shot on Independence Day in 1969, however like Hartnell, Mageau would survive.

       Now this is where things start to change up; on October 11^th, 1969, Paul Lee Stein, a San Francisco cabby was murdered. Six months later on March 22^nd, 1970, Kathleen Johns was allegedly abducted with her baby daughter after being driven around for more than three hours.The Zodiac killer claimed thirty-seven murders in total. Only seven were officially confirmed, however out of those seven, two were too survive. Out of those mentioned, there are many more that are suspected, but only because of “specific similarities” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer)

      “Between 1966 and 1974, the zodiacs provided more than 20 written communications to police, some of these letters included ciphers that still haven’t been solved.”(www.zodiackiller.com/faq) What isn’t mentioned above is that The Zodiac killer also sent letters to private citizens and newspapers not just the police. The first letter was sent on July 31^st, 1969 and the last was sent on July 8^th, 1974. The funny thing is, he also sent four different ciphers, which he claimed had his identity in them. Only one was ever solved, and like Robert Graysmith would guess, neither the letters nor the ciphers contained his identity. Whoever Zodiac may be, he sent taunting cards to the San Francisco Chronicle crime writer, Paul Avery, one of which just happened to be on Halloween. The one sent on October 27^th, 1970 claimed 14 victims and according to the movie The Zodiac contained a piece of the Paul Steins clothing, which only Zodiac and the police could have had.

      If anybody has ever seen the movie The Zodiac, they should know of the scene where it shows detectives interviewing people claiming to be the elusive killer, It even

got to the point where people were claiming that their own fathers were the Zodiac killer (Zodiac). Rick Marshell, Lawrence Kane, Michael O’ Hare, Bruce David, Ted Kaczynski, and Richard Galkowki were some of the many suspects. The police did have one major suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen.  Arthur Leigh Allen, or better known as Leigh to his friends and family, was the major suspect in the case mainly because of uncanny similarities.  In one of the letters sent, Zodiac claimed to “Shoot little kiddies as they come bouncing off the bus”. Allen just happened to be a convicted child molester; he even owned a watch made by the Zodiac Company. In 1971, an acquaintance of Allen’s reported his suspicions. In the movie, it shows the police interviewing Allen in his home, and he mentioned that the bloody knives in the trunk of his car were “used to kill chickens”, before the police even asked or mentioned them. He also told the police that The Most Dangerous Game was his favorite book, which the Zodiac made mention to in one of his letters. Allen was also the main suspect when Cheri Jo Bates was murdered, which is what led police to suspect he was The Zodiac killer.

     

Chronicle reporter Paul Avery would later become suspected himself. Avery would get anonymous tips and would go chasing after them, because of this police began to suspect him. Avery would find some interesting clues; tell the police about them, and then all he could tell the police is that he got an anonymous tip. He even flew to a different town one time chasing a tip.

            That was the past… now onto the present… There are, have been, and will be many theories as to who Zodiac killer really is and why he committed all those senseless murders. The one theory everybody seems to agree on is that he was a sexual sadist, the

Zodiac seemed to enjoy the pain and suffering in his victims. “To the Zodiac, violence was a substitute for sex” (Http://www.zodiackillertruth.com/main.htm). . Many other theories include witchcraft, the Zodiac Watch as previously mentioned, a scuba diver, The Most Dangerous Game,  military, cop, merchant, marine, librarian, two-man team, and even an astrological connection.  The true-crime author Robert Graysmith, who became obsessed with the killer when he was working with Paul Avery at the San Francisco Chronicle, has written numerous books on the elusive killer. The most recent of which claims he has found out who the killer really is; Graysmith still to this day blames the murders on Arthur Leigh Allen.

       

More than twenty years later after he was shot, Mageau identified Allen in a lineup of old photos.  In 2002, San Francisco Police Department sent in DNA from letters for analysis. The tests ruled out Arthur Leigh Allen, Vallejo police departments lead suspect. In 2004, SFPD marked the case inactive, through the entire case. “The FBI did not have jurisdiction in the murder cases and did not directly investigate. They did perform many forensic exams of the codes, handwriting, and latent- fingerprints of the letters, cryptograms, and envelopes.”(Yarbough).

            Now that everybody has been presented with every fact that was possible to get, they can decided for themselves if they believe that Arthur Leigh Allen was really The Zodiac killer, or if they believe any of the many theories connecting him to the case. Zodiac was never caught and even if he was caught for some other crime, we will never know for sure if he committed those specific murders. The Zodiac was unlike any other serial killer the world has ever known.

 

Author's Note

This is a research paper for english. Please dont hold back on critiquing, I want it as good as I can get it. Thanks : )

Reviews

[Norma M Sutton]

I can actually remember some of the news reels from this. Goodness I AM old. lol.

[nono]

I love reading about the zodiac so when I saw this I just had to look at it, and I like it nice job! Introduction just pulled me right in and the description was really impressive nice work! Though it is not what I expected I gave you a lot of research sources did you use any of them? Anyway this is amazing nice job!

[.]

I am afraid that I can't critique with regard to this as a English Paper because I wouldn't know constitues a good mark..however, I personally really enjoyed reading this, I saw the film and it was a fasinating case..whether he was unlike any serial killer the world has ever known..I would have to disagree..Jack the Ripper in my opinion was the ultimate serial killer..there are similiarities to the Zodiac as far as goaded the police .. I digress..sorry ..this flows well and you wrapped it up nicely..

[Short.Nerd]

I agree with Wolf, it is a very good paper(:

[Bridget Mcmaken]

wow Very amazing work. You writen it very, very well. I hope you get an A! Best of Luck!! I give you a 100

[Jonathan De Elvira]

This was a marvelous piece...
I liked it so much...
The zodiac killer...he's a terrifying yet a very mysterious serial killer...
it's just weird how he could stay hidden while his method were not that intelligent actually...
when I was a kid the zodiac killer had often been treated as a real Urban legend...
cool way of writing it...

[Wolf]

This is a very good paper. i hope it gets you a good grade i give you 100 so yea keep it up