Fifty years later, the zodiac killer is attracting America

Provocative, megalomaniac, elusive … not qualified to describe the zodiac. He is more than 50 years old for crimes and the name of this serial killer still haunts investigators. In the San Francisco area, who was responsible for at least five murders between 1968 and 1969 – he says he was no less than 37, then disappeared into the woods, leaving many police officers exhausted anagrams and mysteries. Writers and amateur detectives. In these last days, the “zodiac killer” talks about him again: a shock group, baptized Gas breakers, The American media reports that the identity of the mysterious killer has been announced.

Made up of more than 40 former law enforcement investigators, journalists and military intelligence officers, it claims to have identified former U.S. Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste as dead in 2018. Understanding the letters sent by the zodiac and the similarities between the ex-soldier’s face and the killer’s joint image. They are asking for DNA tests to support their claims, which US police are currently refusing. They also link the zodiac to the murder of another young woman, Serie Joe Bates, on October 31, 1966, several hundred kilometers south of San Francisco.

Five murders and one kidnapping

However these expressions should be approached with caution: “The zodiac case is open. We have no new information to share at this time.“Immediately, the FBI and two federal sources said in a statement San Francisco Chronicle The evidence provided by the case breakers does not appear to be conclusive. Especially the comparison between the photo of Gary Francis Poste and the robot portrait of the zodiac: only identical scars link the two documents.

The truth is, this extraordinary affair is appealing to the United States, echoing the slightest twist with the seriousness of its press. It has been closed and reopened several times over the past five decades, and about 2,500 suspects have been questioned. In 2007, filmmaker David Pincher made an amazing film out of it. He himself was inspired by a book written in 1986 by a particular cartoonist, Robert Gracemith. San Francisco Chronicle When the serial killings began.

The first two murders of the zodiac took place on December 20, 1968. That night, the mysterious killer shot and killed two teenage boys, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, who were having fun in a car on Lake Herman. The following year, on the evening of National Day, Darlene Ferrin and her boyfriend Michael Makew were attacked the same way in the parking lot of a golf course. Man will survive. On September 27, 1969, Cecilia Ann Shepherd and Bryant Calvin Hartnell were surprised by the zodiac sign on Lake Perissa. The killer asks them for money and the keys to their car, and then demands that the woman be tied up by the man before the man is tied up. He then stabbed the victims. Here again, only man survives. On October 11, 1969, taxi driver Paul Stein was shot in the head in San Francisco. On October 22, 1970, a young mother and her child escaped the same fate and were able to escape from the car of the killer who abducted them.

A mysterious treasure hunt

While the number of murders confirmed by both Zodiac (37) and cartoonist Robert Gracemith (49) is very high, the killer’s uniqueness lies in the way he plays with his tormentors above all else. Becoming famous, the killer wants to make the front page of the media at all costs. He was then a “Good movieRealize his guilt … 1^{There is} August 1969, Vallejo Times-Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle And this San Francisco Analyst, David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin. They each contain one-third of the 408 codes they want to see on the front page of three California newspapers. These puzzles, according to him, reveal his name. He vows to kill 12 people next weekend if the newspapers don’t run. The San Francisco Analyst Publishes it on page 4. A week later, the newspaper receives a new letter describing the murders of David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin. For the first time, his signature appears: “It speaks to the zodiac“, Whether it is recorded in the introduction, a sign like the Celtic cross, the sight of a target or a sniper rifle ends incorrectly.

On October 14, 1969, the third letter arrived, this time, San Francisco Analyst. Zodiac threatens to hit the school buses there. His fifth victim was found inside the bloody piece of taxi driver Paul Lee Stein’s shirt. In total, all four encrypted messages will arrive at three newsrooms in the city. It’s 1^{There is} August 1969 Quickly understood by a teacher and his wife: “It’s a lot more fun than hunting in the woods because I like to kill people because humans are the most dangerous animal of all. Killing something gives me a very exciting experience. This is better than having a girl2, written.

The second cryptogram, obtained in November 1969 and containing 340 characters, allows a little more identification with the killer’s illusory personality: “I hope you will have a lot of fun catching me. I was not afraid of the gas chamber, it would soon send me to heaven because now I have enough slaves to work with. I am not afraid because I know my new life will be easier in heaven. Life is death“. That “SlavesIts victims in fact.

Recent improvement … but failure

The last two cryptograms, dated April 20 and June 1970, were not yet identified at the beginning of 2021 because they were too short. But File Jiroi, a young Franco-Moroccan polytechnic, recently began to understand two puzzles composed of 32 and 13 letters. Point . The zodiac first indicated the name of the school that planned to explode on Labor Day 1970. The second brought a name: Lawrence Kane, one of the suspects identified by the FBI who died in 2010. Is there a long-awaited surname of the zodiac? The FBI wants to make a statement: “Although decades have passed, we continue to seek justice for the victims of these heinous crimes. Due to ongoing investigation and respect for the victims and their families, we will not provide further feedback at this time..

Anyway, the name of the Gary Francis Post joins the long list of people suspected of being the zodiac. Its chairman, Arthur Lee Allen, whom cartoonist Robert Gracemith considers the only culprit. In 1991, he was formally identified by Michael Mago as the survivor of the second zodiac assassination. Her boyfriend, Darlene Ferrin, who died during the attack, knew the suspect. But when investigators wanted to investigate him, Arthur Lee Allen died of a heart attack. In 2002, a comparison of DNA taken from envelopes sent by the killer seemed to set him free. San Francisco Police have officially closed the case, which will be open in Napa County and Vallejo. Even after 55 years, the mystery remains unsolved.

See also – Michael Fornrite, The Journey of a Serial Assassin