Who is the zodiac. Zodiac: the most mysterious serial killer in history

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Motorway Valleggio-Benicia about 35 km. from the city of San Francisco passes near Herman Lake.

In the late 60s of the 20th century, this territory was relatively sparsely populated. The neighborhood of this highway, called Herman Road (in honor of the lake), has long been chosen by picnickers and couples in cars looking for free solitude. At 23.10 on December 20, 1968, on the paved area in front of the building of the pumping station, located next to the mentioned lake, a car of the Rambler model stopped in which there were two young people: David Arthur Faraday, 19 years old, and Betty Lou Jensen, 17 years old.

Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. They were long considered the first victims of a mysterious serial killer who dubbed himself the Zodiac, but later doubts arose about this.
Young people met at the beginning of the seventh hour in the evening - David drove home to Betty. They told their parents that they would go to a Christmas concert, but instead the couple first went to their mutual friend, where they stayed for about 40 minutes, and then went to the lake in order to be alone for an hour or two. Both boy and girl were still in college and were not self-sufficient; this caused them to periodically indulge in such tricks.
What happened after the car stopped now no one can say for sure. But five minutes later - at 23.15 - a motorist passing by found the bloody bodies of young people next to the car in which they arrived. The man who made this grim discovery sped ahead along the motorway towards the town of Benicia, expecting to meet a police patrol, and on an empty highway at this late hour, he saw a lone car moving in the same direction far ahead. No other cars were seen at that moment on this section of the freeway - this was also confirmed by the officer of the highway patrol, who was moving just in the opposite direction - in the direction of Herman Road. Apparently, on this very car, seen by the policeman and the witness, the killer left the crime scene. As early as 11:23 p.m., the duty officer of the Solano County Sheriff's Office registered a Highway Patrol report of the discovery of two human bodies in a parking lot near the pumping station.
The investigation into the double homicide was led by Sergeant Leslie Landblet. The report of the inspection of the scene of the incident recorded the following essential details of the crime committed:
a) The first shots were fired by the killer while the young people were in the back seat of the car. The perpetrator fired through the rear window and hit neither Faraday nor Jensen;
b) With the third shot, the criminal hit David Faraday in the back of the head. The inflicted wound turned out to be very severe: the young man's head literally split open. David apparently died on the spot within a minute. Traces of blood in the cabin indicated that the injury occurred precisely at the time when Faraday was in the back seat. But his body was found lying on the asphalt near the car, with his feet to the rear wheels at an angle of about 45 degrees and head first. The offender, apparently approaching the back door, flung it open and dragged Faraday's body out of the passenger compartment. Convinced that the young man was dead, the killer left him on the spot and focused on the second victim;
c) Betty Lou Jensen managed to jump out of the salon through the opposite back door and rushed to run from the parking lot. Her body was at a distance of 12 meters from the rear bumper of the car. 5 bullets hit the girl's back, which lay quite heaped - in the region of 5-6 ribs. The latter suggested that the offender had excellent command of firearms. However, after the examination of the clothes of the victims for the presence of microparticles, the latter conclusion was revised. It turned out that 4 out of 5 bullets that hit Betty Jensen were fired almost point-blank, from a distance of less than 3 meters. The offender, apparently, having wounded the girl with the first shot, approached her and shot her in cold blood at point-blank range - hence the accuracy of his hits;
d) As a murder weapon, the offender used a 22-caliber (5.56 mm) gun. In total, the offender fired 8 shots: 5 bullets were found in Jensen's body, 1 - in Faraday's body, 2 - in the cabin (they did not hit anyone). Of the bullets found, two were deformed to such an extent that it was not possible to determine which weapon they were fired from.
By interviewing witnesses and comparing the testimonies received, Sergeant Landblet came to the conclusion that the killer left the scene of the crime in a light-colored Chevrolet model car and drove towards the city of Benicia. Most likely, the same car was seen in the parking area in front of the water pumping station as early as 21:00 on December 20. This car stood in place until 22.00, some of the motorists passing by claimed that it was a Chevrolet Impala model.
Les Landblet turned to the locals for help and called for the interaction of private detective agencies. On a pro bono basis, six Solano County agencies sent their employees to assist the sheriff's office. The colleges where the dead young people studied began raising money for a bonus fund from which it was supposed to pay for any valuable information that helps the investigation.
Through intensive police investigations, they were able to find very important witnesses. At about 10 pm, a car with a couple of young people drove into the same parking area (the names of these people, in order to ensure their safety, were never announced by the police). At first, they did not pay attention to the Chevrolet standing right there with the lights out, but when the car began to move in their direction, the young people decided to leave this place. They drove out of the parking lot, but a strange car followed them. After a short chase, the young people broke away from the pursuit, thanks to the fact that they turned off all the lights and began to circle around. In the end, they stopped on the eastern side of Herman Lake and never returned to the parking area. It is possible that caution saved the lives of young people.
If this story was accurate in every way, then it could mean that the reason for the attack was by no means an accidental conflict. The criminal was clearly preparing his attack and was waiting for an opportunity. He was ready to ambush anyone he saw as a suitable target. The apparent lack of motivation for the attack indirectly indicated that this was the case of a serial killer. It is known that persons suffering from various kinds of sexual dysfunctions react extremely painfully to couples of young people who, in their understanding, behave in a deliberately provocative manner. Therefore, attacks in which this specific category of people is the victim are not uncommon. The history of forensic science knows a lot of serial killers, whose aggressiveness turned out to be directed at a couple of young people in love (for example, "Night Killer from Texarkana", "Son of Sam", etc.). So in that sense, the attack near the pumping station on Lake Herman Road did not seem inexplicable. And if so, then the police should have recognized that another sexual serial killer appeared in the San Francisco area. This, in fact, the success of the investigation and were exhausted. Until the next July - 1969 - the criminal did not make itself felt. He sank into oblivion and one would think that he either moved to another state, or went to prison, or finally died. Police experience shows that a break of six months is not typical for serial killers. A steady craving for a new attack usually begins to form in them as early as three weeks after the murder. Even when the offender tries to carefully control himself, he usually cannot resist new crimes after a month and a half. Therefore, the break of six and a half months, which the killer of David Faraday and Betty Jensen endured, should be recognized as an uncharacteristic phenomenon and important for understanding the actions of this person.
But on Saturday, July 5, 1969, the killer went on his bloody hunt again. Around 10:00 pm, he attacked a couple of young men who were sitting in a car parked in front of the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club in the town of Valleggio.
Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22, drove around 11.20 pm in her car for Michael Renault Magow, 19 (Figure 2) and invited him to ride. Elizabeth was married, but this did not stop her from disposing of her personal time at her own discretion. Initially, the young people planned to meet around 6 pm to go to the cinema together in San Francisco, but then the meeting was postponed to a later time.

Darlene Ferrin and Michael Magow.
After a little circle around the neighborhood, Darlene's car finally stopped on the green in front of the golf club and stood there with the lights off in the cabin and the radio working. Ferrin and Magow remained seated in the front seats.
After some time, three more cars parked on the same site. They were attended by members of one large company who entered the territory of the club. Further events, reconstructed from the stories of Michael Magow himself, looked like this: a few minutes later, after the company that had arrived in three cars left, a car drove into the parking lot with the lights off. She stopped three meters behind Elizabeth Ferrin's car, the person behind the wheel did not get out. The fact that he sat in the dark and did not leave the car seemed suspicious to Michael Magow. He asked his companion if she knew the driver of this car? Ferryn waved it off, "Oh, nothing special!" ("Oh, never mind!"). The young man later admitted that he did not understand the context of what was said, but the fact that Elizabeth was not at all alarmed reassured him. Michael continued to talk to his companion, his eyes fixed on the rear-view mirror, and so he got a good look at the car with the lights out; he thought it was a brown 1959 Falcon. After standing for a few minutes, the car abruptly moved off and left the parking lot.
A few minutes later, the same brown car with its lights out returned to the parking lot. He stopped 4 meters behind and to the right of Darlene Ferrin's car. What happened next happened very quickly. The driver of the brown Falcon got out of the car with a flashlight in his hands and directed his beam at the young people, blinding them. The unidentified person approached Ferrin's car from the passenger side with large steps; Magow thought it was the policeman who was going to check their papers. But instead, the stranger opened fire with a pistol through the open window of the passenger side door. The first bullet hit Michael Magow at the base of the neck; the resulting blow threw the young man back between the seats, so hard that his legs reflexively shot up to the ceiling of the cabin. Therefore, the second bullet hit his right knee. Magow, slumped back, had the opportunity to observe through the glass of the back door the profile of the killer, who at that time fired five bullets at Elizabeth Ferrin. The woman groaned and rolled over on her right side. The killer coolly leaned over to the front door of the car and grabbed Darlene by the shoulder with his left hand, sitting her upright so that she leaned her head against the steering wheel. To do this, the killer actually had to crawl through the door window up to the waist. Considering that the young people were killed, the unknown criminal got out and slowly walked to his car. At this time, Magow screamed in rage. The killer phlegmatically returned back and fired two more rounds: a bullet into each of the victims. Then he again returned to his car, got into it and abruptly started off. Magow, who remained conscious even after three wounds, kicked the horn on the steering wheel with his left foot and pulled himself up to open the door. Having fallen out of the car, he could observe from under the bottom how the criminal's car, rapidly picking up speed, left the parking lot.

The parking lot in front of the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club is the site of Zodiac's second crime. Contemporary photography. The numbers indicate: 1) The far corner of the parking lot on the east side - the place where Darlene Ferrin's car was parked; 2) Traffic light at the exit from the parking lot; 3) Club building.

It is possible that, having heard the klaxon, the killer would have dared to return once more to finish off Magow for sure, but at the traffic light at the exit from the parking lot, he saw three teenagers who were returning to their cars. It is obvious that the offender did not dare to take risks, wasting time on finishing off Magou, but hurried to leave the crime scene as soon as possible.
The teenagers who ran up to Michael Magow, who was lying face down, rendered him all possible assistance. They were the first to alert the police about the crime committed near Blue Rock Springs. Vallegio Police Department duty officer Nancy Slover received a telephone message at 10:10 a.m. on July 5, 1969.
The next person to arrive at the crime scene was 22-year-old George Bryant, the club's caretaker's son. He heard the shots in the parking lot while in his bedroom and immediately rushed to check what was going on there? The house where he lived was 200 meters from the parking lot and it took the young man about a minute and a half to run. Since the police did not show up, he rushed to the club and called the police department a second time.
Desk officer Nancy Slover relayed information about the shooting in the parking lot outside the club to Sergeant John Lynch, but he did not find it necessary to go there. The sergeant could be understood: July 4 is the national holiday of the United States, Independence Day - during which many have fun with fireworks and firecrackers. Therefore, he did not consider the information about the shooting in the parking lot that night worthy of attention.
Only 10 minutes later, when George Bryant called the police, the sergeant realized that this was a real crime. Together with his partner Ed Rust, he went to the golf club, and at the same time ordered to call ambulances there. This delay in time can be called fatal without exaggeration!
When the police arrived at the scene of the crime, Michael Magow was conscious and able to speak coherently. His first words to Sergeant Lynch were: "White man ... Driving a car ... He got out, approached, lit a lantern, started shooting." Lynch tried to question Magow in more detail, and at that moment did not pay attention to Darlene Ferrin, who was struggling to say something. This can be called the second fatal mistake. When, finally, the sergeant turned his attention to the woman, she was already falling into an unconscious state, her speech became incoherent and only the words "I" and "mine" could be made out. Meanwhile, it was Darlene who could provide extremely valuable information that could shed light on the events of that July night.

Lying on the ground near the car, Michael Mago was waiting for the arrival of the police and was bleeding. He was lucky he survived and it was a real miracle, taking into account his blood loss and the risk of injury in the neck.

About half past midnight on July 5, one ambulance and five police cars arrived at the golf club. Thanks to the high professionalism of the doctors, Magow was quickly operated on and survived. The woman died in the ambulance. Her death was officially pronounced at 0.38 on July 5, 1969. An autopsy stated two penetrating gunshot wounds to the left hand of Darlene Ferrin, two to the right hand, as well as a blind wound to the left ventricle of the heart. It turns out that a woman with a bullet in her heart lived for more than half an hour from the moment she was wounded!
At 0:40 a.m., the phone rang at the Valleggio Police Department. The stranger calmly said the following: “I want to report a double homicide. If you walk a mile east from Columbus Boulevard to a public park, you will find guys in a brown car. They were shot with a 9mm Luger. I also killed those guys last year. Goodbye." According to the instructions prescribing a certain algorithm of actions in case of receiving a message about a crime, duty officer Nancy Slover tried several times to interrupt the speaker with counter questions, but the anonymous person did not allow the conversation to drag on. He only began the next sentence with pressure in his voice, then paused, as if calming down and without emotion, he continued his speech. This manner of speaking, without deviating from the planned option, led Nancy to the idea that the unknown person was reading the text from a piece of paper. After finishing his brief monologue, the caller hung up. The officer on duty, without hanging up her receiver, immediately turned on a special caller ID, which began to send call signals to the number from which the incoming call was made. The telephone on which the anonymous speaker spoke immediately began to ring continuously. This option was specifically designed to unmask the telephone used by the offender to send the message. The ringing phone was very quickly discovered by police patrols - literally three minutes after the anonymous call. It turned out that the caller used a telephone booth at the intersection of Springs Road and Tuolumn Street, literally thirty meters from the police headquarters.
Darlene Ferrin's husband, Dean, arrived home from the Caesar restaurant where he worked at around 0:45. Several friends were waiting for him there, as well as a housekeeper, with whom the Ferryns were going to celebrate Independence Day. Since his wife was not at home, Dean decided to bring her and went in his car in search of Darlene. Meanwhile, at 1300 Virginia Street, casual fun continued: friends gathered to launch fireworks from the lawn when the spouses appeared.

This house at 1300 Virginia Street in Valleggio was bought by the Ferrin family for $9,500 just two months before the tragedy, in May 1969.

But at 1:30 the phone rang at Ferrin's house. One of those present at the party, a certain Bill Lee picked up the phone. No one answered him, but Lee could clearly hear the heavy breathing on the other end of the line. After several questions from Lee, the caller finally spoke, "Why doesn't she stay home with her husband from time to time?" ("Why does "t she stay home with her husband once in a while?" - this question sounded verbatim in English.) Having said this, the caller hung up.
Such was the outline of the events of the dramatic night of July 4-5, 1969. The investigation was led by Vallegio Police Department officer Richard Hoffman.
What did the detectives have at their disposal?
The first official interrogation of Michael Magow began at 8:25 a.m. on July 5, that is, immediately after the young man recovered from the operation. The testimony of the young man was very important.
First of all, Magow was able to give a fairly detailed description of the shooter. According to him, he was a man about 1.73-1.75 m tall, of a dense build, heavy, but without excess fat, his weight could be about 80 kg or more. As a feature of the attacker's appearance, Michael Magow noted a round, wide face. The victim believed that the killer used a pistol with a silencer to disguise himself. This statement, however, was later refuted - all the other witnesses claimed that the sounds of the shots were of the usual loudness. George Bryant, for example, heard them 200 meters from the parking lot! Such a discrepancy in testimony should not be regarded as something unusual, since Magow experienced severe stress during the attack, and this could affect his perception of what was happening. In addition, he was in front of the muzzle of the weapon, and the assessment of the loudness of the shot is directly related to how the barrel is located: it is well known that for a person standing on the side, the shot seems louder than for someone who is in front.
In addition, Michael Magow was able to provide very important details. So, he confidently stated that the criminal's car was moving behind Darlene's car from the very moment she drove away from his - Magow - house. The young man couldn't tell how long Ferrin had been followed, but by the time he got into the cabin of her Chevrolet Corvaira, the woman was already being followed, and she knew it. It was in order to break away from annoying surveillance that she drove into the parking lot.
Magow stated that he had no doubt that Ferryn knew her killer, and he, accordingly, knew her. After the first series of shots, when the perpetrator leaned over Ferryn, who was lying on her side, to seat her straight, he - the perpetrator - called the woman affectionately diminutive "Dee". This short form of "Darlene" was used by her friends.
Magow's testimony, in the part where he described the circumstances of the attack, was confirmed by pathologists who examined the body of the deceased woman. Fragments of Michael Megow's blood and skin, torn out by the bullet that hit him, were found on her face on the right side. This detail fully confirmed all those features of the attack that Magow spoke about and served as additional proof of the accuracy of his story.
9 shell casings and 7 bullets fired from a 9mm pistol were found at the crime scene. Since the offender, according to Magow's testimony, did not reload the weapon, the pistol from which he fired could not have been an 8-round "Luger" (namely, the offender reported the "Luger" in his phone call). Most likely, he took advantage of the 9-round "Beretta". In his own phone call, the offender deliberately gave the police incorrect information, hoping to confuse the investigation with this rather primitive trick.
Michael Mago's claim that Darlene Ferryn knew the man behind the wheel of the brown Falcon seemed to the detectives not without merit. Without such an assumption, it was very difficult to explain the calmness of the woman at the appearance of a strange car without lights. In addition, when the police began interviewing the friends of the deceased, it quickly became clear that already a few months before her death, Darlene began to be subjected to systematic persecution of an unknown person. The woman complained about receiving offensive correspondence, as well as various unwanted phone calls. But most importantly, the deceased was afraid of someone.
So, Bobby Ramos, one of Darlene's friends, a waiter at the Terry restaurant, where, by the way, she herself worked, told the police about a curious conversation that took place on December 21, 1968 (i.e., the day after the murder of Jensen and Faraday on Lake German). Darlene told Ramos that day that she was very scared, that she knew the dead well and would never again appear on Lake Herman.
And on February 26, 1969, one of Darlene's friends was surprised to notice a car from which the house where Dean and Darlene lived at that moment was being monitored. Then they lived in the house of Sweeney (maiden name Darlene Ferrin), located at 560 Wallace Street. The man sitting in the car lit up, so that his face could be seen. The stranger had a round, broad, puffy face, curly light brown hair, and seemed to be middle-aged, that is, he looked clearly older than Dean and Darlene. When Dean Ferrin returned from work, he was told about the strange car and went outside to talk to the driver. He immediately started the engine and drove away.

One of the most mysterious killer maniacs of the last century can be safely considered the Zodiac. His biography is not known for certain. Films have been made based on his "exploits". Many of you have probably seen a movie directed by Don Siegel called Dirty Harry. It was this and his mysterious cryptograms that formed the basis of the picture. By the way, the cryptograms were never solved. The controversy surrounding this mysterious maniac has not subsided to this day. On the expanses of the World Wide Web, intriguing materials about him appear every now and then. Some of the authors even claim that the "Zodiac" lives quietly in Solano County, he was ninety-one years old. The case of the maniac was archived only in 2004. No one still knows for sure the motives for his murders, but information is leaking that he began a series of his murders due to the fact that his wife began to cheat on him with a district judge.

They assert that " Zodiac"committed thirty-seven murders, however, it is reliably known about seven, moreover, two survived. He, like any maniac, had his own style. He sent letters to the newspaper with cryptograms. Practically managed to decipher only one of them.

Nobody knows the biography of this maniac - this is a secret for us. Let's look at his story from December 20, 1968. It was on that day that the Zodiac committed its first (double) murder. It was in California. In the evening, two college students went on a date, especially since it was their first. After taking a walk, they settled in the car, which was parked in the area of the picturesque Herman Lake. The place was secluded, so the couple communicated affectionately. Suddenly, a man with a pistol approached them and opened fire on them. Seventeen-year-old David Faraday died instantly, and sixteen-year-old Betty Lou Jensen jumped out of the car and attempted to escape. However, she did not succeed - the body was found at a distance of ten meters from the vehicle with five bullets. The police found out that the motive for the murder was not rape, although the girl was very attractive. The corpses of young people were found almost immediately, but the offender managed to escape in his car.

A version was put forward about the connection of teenagers with the drug mafia. Investigators began to find out from the friend of the murdered about the personalities who were involved in the distribution of drugs in the school environment. It was to this girl that young people visited on the eve of the tragedy. The version has not been verified. Then there was a secret admirer of Betty Lou, who lived not far from her. They began to promote the version of the murder out of jealousy, they began to put pressure on the guy. It also didn't bring any success. The police fell behind the guy only after there was another double murder. The perpetrator identified himself by stating that he was involved in both tragedies.

More than six months have passed since the first murder. On July 5, 1969, Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, then twenty-two, was in the car with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend, Michael Magew. The car was parked near the Blue Rock Springs club, which was located on the outskirts of the same city of Valleio. Next to their car was another car, where a man was sitting. He followed the couple. Darlene died immediately, and the young man received three bullets, but survived. He was one of those who subsequently testified, and described the appearance of the killer, although he was wounded and lay in the dark in an overturned state. By the way, the attack was committed on a holiday (the night of Independence Day). Police were called to the scene of the crime by teenagers who returned to the parking lot just a few minutes later. The police did not believe the teenagers - they thought that the young people confused the shots with fireworks. When the police finally arrived at the scene of the tragedy, Betty was dead.

A lot of myths and legends about the maniac were associated with this particular victim. Some claimed that she said on the eve of her death: "I watched him kill someone." They also said that just the day before, the girl and her husband were having fun - they were painting the walls of a new house with their friends. It was rumored that the killer could be among those invited, that then someone called the spouses and was silent on the phone. All this is speculation, no one knows for sure. The police also did not reveal the fact that the victims knew the killers. After a while, Darlene's younger brother admitted that he called his sister. She worked in a bar, in shifts, and with his calls he wanted to make sure that she was at her parents' house. Next, Leo wanted to ask the girl to get him herbs. Much of the legendary fiction was said by the sisters of the slain. At first they gave reliable testimony, but when they realized that they had gone down in history, they began to think up the facts on the go. The story was more and more overgrown with details, besides, it was not without journalists. Politicians also intervened in this matter.

The facts are that the killer was just dealing with single couples in cars. Moreover, the murders were committed in convenient "Zodiac" places, such as secluded parking lots, "lovers' track" (there was one). Dozens of minutes after Michael and Darlene were shot, the phone rang at the Vallejo County Police Department. When the phone was picked up, a male voice said that two more victims should be looked for a mile from Columbus Boulevard. This was followed by a confession to last year's murders.

On July 31, 1969, letters were sent to three California County presses. In them, an unknown person confessed to the murders. One could decide that this was someone's joke, however, some circumstances unknown to the general public were cited in the letters. Only the killer and the police knew about them. In particular, it was said how many bullets were fired at each victim, how many at the car. No one except the police knew that several bullets did not hit anywhere at all. Everyone understood that he wrote these letters.

The killer encrypted the messages. The newspapers published the letters only under duress. Zodiac. Otherwise, he threatened to punish more than a dozen innocent people. The most interesting. That the key to the cipher was picked up by a mathematics teacher at a local school together with his wife. In the message, the maniac stated that it gave him great pleasure to kill, and the victims in the afterlife would become his slaves. There was no signature under the letter, but instead of it there was an image of a cross with a circle. To date, no one has been able to decipher the meaning of the emblem. Some criminologists say that perhaps this is a symbolic weapon sight. Others claim that this is the emblem of the American company Zodiac, from which the killer borrowed his nickname. Its logo was a circle, along the diameter of which the signs of the zodiac were located, and the circle itself was divided into four parts. The nickname "Zodiac" first surfaced in a letter that was received in San Francisco on August 4th. Now the killer signed only in this way.

Another murder took place on the twenty-seventh of September 1969. The victims, as in previous cases, were a young couple. They were twenty-year-old Brian Hartnel and a young twenty-two-year-old lady, Cecilia Shepherd. They had a picnic on a small island near Berries Lake, California. They couldn't know that the killer had spent the whole day watching several young girls. Then he watched his father and son, however, he was scared away by a gun in the hands of his father, and the maniac proceeded to his car, which was parked almost a few meters from the car of his son and father. Then he left there, and settled down near a young couple who were resting on the peninsula. Events unfolded as follows: when the couple settled down on a blanket spread on the grass, a man dressed in a hooded mask with embroidered Zodiac branding approached the young people. He had sunglasses over his eyes. The man demanded car keys and money from them. According to legend, he escaped from prison and wants to go to Mexico. After that, the young people were tied up, and the maniac began to stab them in the back with cold weapons. One version says that the killer thus wanted to kill without attracting attention, others say that he also experimented with other weapons. Be that as it may, the girl received more than ten blows in the back and stomach. She died two days later at a local hospital. The young man received six blows in the back, but crawled up to the people (about two hundred meters), and informed them about what had happened. “Zodiac wrote the dates of past murders, the date of this tragedy with a marker on the car door, therefore, he took full responsibility for what happened.

After some time, another call was made to the Napa police station. Once again, a murder was reported. The handset of the pay phone dangled on the wire. The last time the phone wasn't hung up, the killer ran over to the gun to set it on the lever. The phone immediately started ringing as the police set up a pay phone number. This time the criminal became more prudent. Based on this, it can be assumed that in both cases the caller was "Zodiac".

The next (last murder) was strikingly different from the others. The taxi driver whose name was Paul Stein was shot, he was twenty-nine years old. He received a bullet in the head. How did it happen? On the evening of October 11, 1969, a taxi drove through a busy, well-lit intersection. Instead of money, the driver received a bullet from the passenger, however, he did not know that everyone saw the surrounding teenagers from the house opposite. They also reported to the police. When the children described the perpetrator, they said that it was a dark man. They implied that the killer was tanned, but the policemen thought that it was a Negro. That's what was said in all the posts. As a result of incorrect orientation, the police patrol did not detain the killer, who was walking along the other side of the street. They didn't know it was a white-skinned maniac. When the orientation was corrected, it was already too late - the killer had disappeared. This is how, as a result of an unfortunate mistake, the Zodiac left the just retribution. According to the description, he was a heavyset man wearing glasses. However, in the letters the offender stated that his appearance was completely different, he was just disguised.

Just a few days later, an envelope was sent to the newspaper of the city of San Francisco with a piece of a taxi driver's shirt with blood stains. Thus, the police became aware of the next murder of a maniac, although they had not thought about him before. This time he threatened to shoot many children, because he found out that it was the children who pointed at him. However, it was all a bluff.

"Zodiac" received the widest fame thanks to newspaper reports that published letters from readers, essays, all kinds of testimonies of the victims of the maniac. Many enthusiasts offered to help the investigation.

No one else heard of the murders committed Zodiac. Who knows, maybe the reason was his miraculous salvation when witnesses saw him. However, from time to time he still wrote threatening letters to the police and newspapers. We can say that the activities of the "Zodiac" are present in two stages: first, the actual murder, then the terror of the inhabitants through letters with cryptograms. It was said that in some messages he encrypted his real name with a surname, in others he put forward demands that the city be decorated with his brand name. Year by year, the testimony about the murders became more and more confused. If earlier the offender claimed seven victims, then there were eight, seventeen, thirty-seven ... And all this was without providing real evidence, only speculation, although he spoke about his real crimes in great detail.

The total number of messages from the Zodiac was twenty. All of them were sent between 1971 and 1974. The investigation into this case dragged on for several decades. Unbelievable versions were put forward. For example, one of them said that the "Zodiac" is not one person, but a whole gang. Another version said that the criminal was actually the Unabomber. The police officers had evidence from the crime scenes, but they did not approach any of the suspects. Everything has remained a mystery.

There are stories that I want to tell someone else, I want to shed light on events that happened enough time to use the word “long” in relation to them and at the same time took place no later than 30-40 years ago, so that nothing could forget yourself. This will be an unusual story, it will touch on a serial killer who committed his atrocities in the United States in the 60-70s and entered the history of forensic science around the world under the name "Zodiac". A maniac who could not be found, on the trail of which they could not even get out, but at the same time a maniac who corresponded regularly with the police and the media in San Francisco, as one of the largest cities in the state of California, which became for him the main field for his criminal experiments. The article was inspired by the 2007 film Zodiac, which became another masterpiece in the piggy bank of director David Fincher, who shot Fight Club at one time.

First appearance of the Zodiac Killer

This is the story of the most mysterious and unique killer, which began in 1969 with a series of attacks and murders on young people in a deserted place. The scenario of events was similar to one another, as if it had been copied as a blueprint. A couple of lovers came to a quiet place on a date. Without long waiting, a suspicious car appeared, which parked directly behind the unsuspecting young guys. Silently and calmly, the stranger approached the driver's door first and opened fire on the guy, and then on the girl, discharging the entire clip to the characteristic sound of an empty magazine. With the same calm gait with which he approached his victims, he returned to his car and left. The calmness of the killer does not cause such surprise as his further behavior causes. After the second such murder, the difference between which was almost a year, he calls the police and reports a murder committed by his own hands, and then hangs up the phone with a light heart. Both calls were traced and were made in the immediate vicinity of the police station where the call was received. It was the first gesture of a provocative game that dragged on for many years to come.

The crimes described took place in a small town near San Francisco called Vallejo. The local police couldn't figure out what to do in such a situation. Small towns differ from megacities and large cities in that no big crimes are committed here, and this cruel act of manic manifestation was an out of the ordinary event. The commotion continued exactly until it escalated into general hysteria. The reason for this was anonymous letters to the publishers of 3 newspapers at once - Vallejo Times-Herald, San-Francisco Cronicle, San Francisco Examinor. The same text was written in the messages with the requirement to place on the front pages of each of the newspapers one cipher-cryptogram attached to the letter, in which the essence of the killer is hidden. And yes, this message was sent to the editorial office by the killer, in order to confirm what the maniac indicates the characteristic features of his murders, which only the police and, of course, he could know about. In essence, it was not a demand or a request, it was an ultimatum, the violation of which will lead to the death of 12 more people. The police and the media had less than a day to think.

Mysterious letters of a maniac

The messages were still posted, but no one could understand the cipher. A week later, another letter arrives, which begins with the words "This is the Zodiak speaking" ("This is the Zodiac speaking"). For the first time, he felt his omnipotence and impunity so much that he was not afraid to give his name, at least the alter ego that calls him to murder. In the new message, he once again confirms his involvement in the murders with new details and leaves another cryptogram. Several special services puzzled over the solution of these messages at once, and as a result, the simple Garden family solved the problem, the head of which was an ordinary school teacher, and his and his wife's main hobby was solving puzzles. As a result, the message spoke about the pleasure that the Zodiac receives from killings, that for him this is a matter of life. He is going to kill people until he is satisfied, especially since he wholeheartedly believes in the righteousness of his actions and is sure that he is collecting slaves for his future afterlife. And he will not stop collecting slaves.

New killer attack

A certain silence, during which the police frantically tried to trace the killer, was broken by another attack on a couple on the shores of Lake Berryessa. This time, the victims were able to describe their executioner, since at first the girl remained alive after 24 stabs, and the young man eventually survived due to the fact that he received only 8 stab wounds in a chaotic manner, which avoided damage to vital organs. The lovers described the picture of their meeting with the Zodiac as follows: they sat on the shore and talked, then a silhouette in black clothes appeared in the distance, which was rapidly approaching them, trying to be unnoticed, which in the end it did not really succeed. True, young people had no idea what kind of threat was moving in their direction, so they were absolutely indifferent to the appearance of the unknown on the horizon. The maniac was armed with a pistol and a knife. Approaching the victims, he forced the girl to tie up his companion, and then he tied her up himself. Then he began randomly stabbing the bound victims. On the car of his victims, the Zodiac wrote in felt-tip pen "Vallejo 12-20-68 7-4-69 Sept 27-69 6:30 by knife." Dates of his previous attacks and murders + the knife event that day. The girl who survived the first hours claimed that in front of them was a man in a black mask and sunglasses. He was wearing black clothes, on which a light image of a "sight", "belt of the signs of the zodiac", "Celtic cross" was applied - he has many names and interpretations.

Sign of the Zodiac

It was with this sign that the eminent killer ended each of his messages. This is his trademark, brand. There are many versions of where the desire to use this particular drawing appeared in the maniac's head. One of the versions is a commitment to the Zodiac brand watches popular in those years in the USA. At the same time, some experts were inclined to follow the killer of his astrological fetish, expressed not only in the name, but also in the strict dependence of the approximately close location of the dates of his murders with the days of the equinox. But each of the versions collapsed and crashed due to the unpredictability of each subsequent action of an extraordinary and elusive maniac.

By the way, it is still worth noting that the guy who survived after 8 stabs was not the only one who survived after the attack of the Zodiac. The second official Zodiac attack was marked by the rescue of Michael Magjot, who survived at least 5 direct hits at close range from a firearm. One got the impression that the killer does not seek to kill 100%, this is a game for him, in which human lives are at stake.

taxi driver murder

The next murder was not long in coming, and it went out of the general rut, out of the general style. The zodiac changed his style, broke stereotypes, there was no obscuration of mind in his actions. Frightening genius prudence betrayed in him a very capable and intelligent criminal. This time the victim of the Zodiac was an ordinary taxi driver Paul Stein, who was shot in the back of the head from the passenger seat. The killer took the keys, money and tore off a piece of shirt. The moment of the attack was seen by small children from a neighboring house. This time, the Zodiac did not have to call about the murder, he was handed over by the guys, in front of whom he wiped the traces of his stay in the car and tore off a piece of cloth from his shirt. Leaving the crime scene, the maniac stumbled upon a patrol car, but they did not detain him, but only asked about the person who received the orientation. He would have approached her 100%, if not for one BUT. The orientation was black. For some reason, the children decided that he was black, apparently the night time of the day made itself felt.

3 days later, a letter arrives at the San-Francisco Cronicle, accompanied by a bloody shred of shirt, as well as a new message from the Zodiac, confirming the murder of the taxi driver and promising to shoot the school bus next time. This news sowed such panic in the city that parents besieged police stations with a request to immediately find the killer, as they were afraid to let their kids go to school. A little later, the Zodiac calls one of the police stations and demands a conversation during a television broadcast with one of the well-known lawyers. The role of the negotiator was entrusted to lawyer Melvin Beline. The communication was very strange, the offender even called himself by name - Sam, and at the end abruptly hung up. The police traced the place where the call came from - it was a psychiatric hospital. The call was made by her patient named Sam. At the same time, it was stated that the voices of the caller to the police station and to the TV broadcast were excellent. Two different people called.

Escape from the hands of the Zodiac

On March 22, 1970, a remarkable event took place. The victim of the Zodiac managed not only to survive, but also to escape from his tormentor. Kathleen Jones and her 10-month-old daughter were heading from the city of San Bernardino to visit her mother. On the road, an outside car began to honk at her. She stopped and waited for the driver of the transport that disturbed her to clarify. He approached the driver's seat and said that one of the wheels of the woman was loose, but he was ready to help with the repair. As soon as he finished the job, he immediately left. The girl, not suspecting anything, decided to continue on her way, but as soon as she drove off, her wheel fell off. In the blink of an eye, her new acquaintance, who fixed the wheel, drove up and offered to take her to the nearest gas station or repair shop. Having driven the girl around for a long time, he missed several gas stations, to which the girl wondered logically why they had not stopped there. The driver did not answer, continuing to move in an unknown direction. Then he stopped and said that he would first kill her and then throw the child out the window. What the Zodiac did not expect was the reaction of the woman and her maternal instinct. Kathleen rushed out of the car straight into the thicket of the forest and hid there with her baby. The taken aback maniac did not even pursue the young mother, but nevertheless took out his anger on her car, burning it right on the roadway.

Throughout the 70th year, the Zodiac sent his messages to the editors of the San-Francisco Cronicle newspaper, where he constantly sneered at the helplessness of the police, leaving a postscript at the end of each message, the last of which, dated that year, looked like this: “Zodiac trademark = 13, SFPD (San Francisco Police)=0". He mocked society, kept score in his game of collecting the souls of slaves for his afterlife, and no one knew how to find and stop him. He was a ghost.

Paul Avery

One of the employees of Cronicle, Paul Avery, who wrote all the articles about the Zodiac for his editorial office, conducted a parallel investigation using his sources and channels, which the police could not connect to. As a result of his research, he came across a similar handwriting of the murder that occurred in 1966, then a young girl was killed near the library, and after a while 3 letters were sent to her parents, police and local media, in which the killer claims that the girl was supposed to die. The killer said that she was not the last and not the first victim. There was no signature. Many believe that these are the first steps in the criminal field of the Zodiac, but there are quite a large number of skeptics of this version. True, this did not prevent the Zodiac from taking the 1966 murder upon himself in one of his letters and at the same time sending a threatening letter to Paul Avery.

On March 22, 1971, the game resumed. In a letter to the editors, the Zodiac indicates the place where the police can find the trail of a nurse who disappeared a year ago. The letter consisted of clippings from various newspapers, magazines and advertising booklets with a map that marked a certain place with the maniac's trademark. At this very place, the police found the sunglasses of the missing girl, but the search came to a standstill.

Silence of the Zodiac

There was an unexpected pause for the police. Zodiac disappeared or hid for a long 3 years, although he already hinted that he would soon start killing without advertising, and the game had just begun. After 3 years, a letter from a maniac comes to the editors of Cronicle, in which he hinted that he was depressing by the behavior of the police and the stupidity of all those who could not find him in any way. This greatly disappointed him, and he did not see the point in continuing to play openly. The letter was accompanied by the signature "Me=37, SFPD=0". From this figure, many of the hairs on their heads began to stir. If this was a true figure, then there was an elusive maniac on the loose who takes pleasure in killing whoever he wants. And nothing can stop him.

This was the last letter officially confirmed by experts of the proven authorship of the Zodiac. Suspicious letters from anonymous people regularly came to the editorial office, but the handwriting betrayed imitators in the authors. But there were also instances very similar to the handwriting of the Zodiac. Especially memorable is the letter in which he was waiting for the film to be made about him, he wonders who will play the main villain.

Prime Suspects

During the entire period of investigations, there were about 2,500 people under suspicion. The most suspicious was a certain Arthur Lee Allen. In favor of his involvement in the case spoke strange behavior, weapons at home, wardrobe items similar to the Zodiac, testimonies of his acquaintances, as if he was talking about murders and hunting not on animals, but on people, and most importantly, Michael Maggiot, a former longtime time under the witness protection program. It wasn't until 1991 that Magjot was able to see the faces of potential suspects, which included a photograph of Arthur Lee Allen. In him the victim recognized his executioner. But there was no direct evidence in relation to Allen. The fingerprints did not match, the voice and handwriting did not match, even the DNA analysis did not give any results.

Robert Graysmith

It was Arthur Lee Allen who was suspected by Cronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith, who was so fascinated by the story of the Zodiac that he sacrificed his work, his family and, in fact, his life for this. For almost 15 long years, Robert conducted his own independent investigation, the fruit of which was a bestseller dedicated to the most mysterious maniac of our time. In his book, Graysmith gave out his interpretations of the translations of the Zodiac cryptograms and led his investigation to the personality of Arthur Lee Allen, considering him the very maniac who terrified California in the late 60s and early 70s. Once the author of the book even met with Allen at his workplace, and this meeting was enough to establish his opinion. But again, there was no direct evidence.

The story of the Zodiac forever changed the fate of Arthur Graysmith, he quit his main job, although he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and became the author of a crime narrative of real events. His books are incredibly popular, but they will never reach the level of the Zodiac. His theory is subject to incredible criticism, his conclusions raise many questions, but he is one of the few who has conducted such a thorough investigation and come to at least some conclusion.

How the zodiac killer was hidden

Just a few years ago, another high-profile book was published dedicated to another independent investigation of the former police officer Lindo Lafferty, called "How the Zodiac Killer Was Hidden". In it, he provides convincing evidence of the guilt of one person (name has been changed), who was actually hidden from punishment. The author cannot give all the details of the case, because, as it turned out, the killer is still alive and well. He is currently 93 years old and lives in California. All these years, he most likely continued his murders, although he finally stopped communicating with the police and newspaper publishers, since the disappointments of previous years discouraged him from such a dangerous occupation. Lafferty blames a man who went berserk after his wife went to a local judge who, to make amends, covered up the legendary killer. I wonder how comfortable all Californians now feel, living close to matching 93-year-old grandfathers.

Based on the adventures of the Zodiac, many books have been written and a decent number of films have been shot. The first logical desire after getting acquainted with the case of an uncaptured maniac is reading the books by Robert Graysmith "Zodiac" and Lindo Lafferty's "How the Zodiac Killer Was Hidden". What we will do ourselves, and also offer you to do. How many of you have the desire to get to the bottom of the truth?

David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen are a couple who get shot on their first date. They were in a car parked near the lake. The criminal drove up in a car, forced the lovers out and shot them. The girl tried to run away, but failed.

Darlene Ferrin and Michael Magjot were also shot by the Zodiac. Their offender shot right in the car. Since it was at night, he used a flashlight so as not to miss. Despite the terrible injuries, the guy managed to survive.

Brian Calvin Hartnell and Cecilia Ann Shepard were attacked at the water's edge. This time, the Zodiac acted not with a firearm, but with a knife. The girl died after numerous wounds, the guy survived.

Paul Lee Stein - This man was shot to death in San Francisco.

There are a number of other victims that may have been the work of the Zodiac. Among them is another pair of young people, a 17-year-old girl and a 27-year-old woman. According to 22-year-old Kathleen Jones, a man abducted her and her 10-month-old daughter and tried to take her out in a car in an unknown direction. Fortunately, the woman managed to escape with the child. Why are there suspicions that these 5 crimes are the work of the Zodiac? The police saw in them the handwriting of a serial killer.

The cryptogram, which was able to decipher, contains a brief explanation of the purpose for which the Zodiac commits crimes. According to him, in this way he prepares for himself the slaves he needs in the afterlife...

Letters to newspapers came until 1974. Then the Zodiac fell silent. In the spring of 2007, when analyzing the archives of The Chronicle, the publication's employees found a Christmas card. The handwriting on it was similar to that of the Zodiac. It was posted in 1990. The official handwriting examination did not confirm the authorship of the Zodiac...

He sent provocative letters to the press and the police with threats and ridicule, in which he called himself the nickname Zodiac. Investigators in Northern California after a series of mysterious murders began hunting for a serial killer. However, this has not been successful to this day.

We are trying to understand the history of this mysterious person and remember what we already know about him.

The first of the murders that the Zodiac committed was that of Betty Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman on a road near Vallejo, California on December 20, 1968. The students were sitting in a parked car when a car drove up to them, the driver of which forced them to get out. Faraday was killed first, while Jensen tried to escape but was shot in the back. The killer fled.

Victims of the Zodiac Killer

The first Zodiac murder was committed in California on 12/20/1968

Six months later, in July 1969, another murder was committed. Darlene Ferrin and Michael Magjot were also parked when someone drove up to their car. The man came out, shone his flashlight, and shot them both. Then he got into the car and drove away. Ferrin died, but Magjot survived and was able to tell about it.
The very next day, a man who called the police claimed he was the killer of "those guys" from the first murder, Betty Jensen and David Faraday.

On August 1, 1969, the editorial offices of various newspapers received letters with different parts of the same ciphertext. The killer demanded to print it, otherwise he threatened with new murders. A week later, another letter arrived. In it, the killer called his nickname - Zodiac.

Zodiac Letters

On August 8, the school teacher and his wife were able to decipher the message. It contained nothing about the Zodiac Maniac's identity, and only stated that he was "gathering slaves for the afterlife".

From the letters of the Zodiac: "I collect slaves for the afterlife"

On September 27, 1969, students Brian Hartnell and Cecilia Shepherd were having a picnic by Berryessa Lake. A man in a hood and black glasses approached them. He called himself a runaway convict and, at gunpoint, forced Cecilia to tie up Brian. He later tied up Cecilia, pulled out a knife, and stabbed the couple multiple times. Soon he called the police and himself mockingly reported the crime. Nearby, a father and son were fishing on the lake. They heard heartbreaking screams and called the police. Shepard succumbed to her injuries, but Hartnell survived.

On October 11, 1969, taxi driver Paul Stein was killed in his car by a passenger who pulled out the driver's wallet, took the car keys, and wiped all traces of himself with a piece of the driver's shirt. He was seen by three teenagers who compiled a description of the killer, but he was never caught.

A message from the Zodiac killer is on the car door

Zodiac sent threatening letters to the editor of an American newspaper

On October 14, 1969, an American daily newspaper received another letter, allegedly written by the Zodiac maniac. This time, as proof of his murders, he sent in a letter a piece of fabric cut off from the taxi driver's shirt. The letter contained threats of more murders of children. The Zodiac demanded that he be given an opportunity on a famous TV show to contact lawyer Melvin Bailey.

Failure of the Zodiac

On the night of March 22, 1970, seven months pregnant, Kathleen Jones was on her way to her mother in Modesto. She also brought her 10-year-old daughter with her. The driver behind her honked and flashed his headlights. Jones stopped, a man approached her and said that her rear wheel was loose and could come off. He offered to help, tweaked something, and then left. When Jones' car started moving, the wheel immediately came off. The assistant, who had not gone far, returned and politely offered to give them a lift. Kathleen and her daughter got into the car. The driver drove for more than an hour and did not stop, and then said that he was going to kill them. At the crossroads, Kathleen and her daughter jumped out of the car and hid in the field. The man tried to look for them, but gave up and left. Jones got to the police and confirmed that they were kidnapped by a man who looked like an identikit drawn from the description of the killer Paul Stein.

Confession

Letters with threats and ridicule from the Zodiac maniac continued to come to the newspapers. On October 30, 1966, 18-year-old student Cherie Bates was stabbed to death.

Murder scene Cherry Jo Bates

A month later, on November 29, 1966, printed letters with the title "Confession" were sent to the press and the police. The author was aware of the minutiae of the Bates murder near the college library, although the details of the crime were not released to the general public.

Investigative work on the Zodiac case

To find the Zodiac, the police checked thousands of suspects

The police checked more than a thousand suspects. According to circumstantial evidence, the role of the main suspect was most suitable for Arthur Allen. But the DNA analysis from the stamps on the envelopes sent by the Zodiac maniac and Allen's DNA did not match, there was no weighty evidence against him. In 2007, Dennis Kaufman claimed that his stepfather Jack Tarrance was the Zodiac, but the evidence he turned over to the FBI was not convincing either. In 2009, Deborah Perez claimed that the Zodiac Killer was her father, Guy Hendrickson, who died of cancer in 1993.

Photograph of the alleged perpetrator

For 40 years of searching, there have been many imitators and imitators of the Zodiac. His letters of police mismanagement are reminiscent of the confessions of Jack the Ripper. To this day, the Zodiac remains one of the most mysterious maniacs, whose identity has not been established.