Zodiac Killer Cracked

[Eberardo Topher]

TheZodiac Killer[n 2] is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s.[n 1] The Zodiac murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, operating in rural, urban and suburban settings. He targeted three young couples and a lone male cab driver. The case has been described as "arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in American history", and has become both a fixture of popular culture and a focus for efforts by amateur detectives.

The Zodiac's known attacks took place in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco proper. Of his seven wounded victims, two survived. He coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. Some of the letters included cryptograms, or ciphers, in which the killer claimed that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. Of the four ciphers he produced, two remain unsolved, while the others were cracked in 1969 and 2020.

The last confirmed Zodiac letter was in 1974, when he claimed to have killed 37 victims. He claimed many of them were in Southern California, including Cheri Jo Bates, who was murdered in Riverside in 1966; a connection between the two has not been proven. While many theories regarding the identity of the Zodiac have been suggested, the only suspect authorities ever publicly named was Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender who died in 1992.

The unusual nature of the case led to international interest that has been sustained throughout the years. The San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" in 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to 2007. The case also remains open in the California Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa and Solano counties.[1][2]

The Zodiac Killer claimed in messages to newspapers to have committed thirty-seven serial murders. Investigators agree on seven confirmed assault victims, five of whom died and two of whom survived:[3]

The first murders widely attributed to the Zodiac were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday on December 20, 1968. Jensen was a 16-year old student at Hogan High School, and on the night of the 20th she had a date with Faraday, a 17-year old student from the neighboring Vallejo High School. Faraday drove his mother's car to Jensen's house at 8 p.m., and they left in the car at 8:30, driving to the house of one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9, they drove to the outskirts of Vallejo, and parked at a lover's lane on Lake Herman Road. A passing motorist noticed the couple between 10:15 to 10:30, parked on the side of Lake Herman Road, on a gravel runoff near the gate to a water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11.[4]

The couple were attacked sometime between 11:05 and 11:10. Police determined that an unknown assailant pulled his car up next to Faraday's, about 10 feet away from the passenger's side of the vehicle. He left his vehicle and approached the couple's car, firing several shots inside. The bullets hit various car parts, but not the couple; he may have been trying to force them to leave the vehicle. They both attempted to leave through the passenger door. Jensen was able to get out.[5] As Faraday was leaving, the assailant shot him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.[6][5] The assailant began to chase Jensen, who was running away. He fired six shots at her, hitting her in the back five times. He then left in his vehicle. The police theorized the whole attack took two to three minutes.[5]

A passing motorist spotted the couple's bodies at 11:10. She drove down the road and flagged a police patrol car to report the scene. The officers in the car immediately went to the scene. Jensen was pronounced dead, and Faraday was still breathing. He was taken to the hospital, but died from his wounds.[5] Police could find no usable tire or foot prints of the assailant, and there were no witnesses. They were unable to find a motive other than the killer being a "madman". An intensive investigation took place over the following months, but a viable suspect was never developed.[7] The murders were extensively covered by the media.[8] For seven months afterwards, the Zodiac Killer is not confirmed to be active. Author Michael Kelleher and David Van Nuys suggest this was a "cooling off period" to reflect on his actions, experienced by most serial killers.[8]

The couple Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were shot around midnight between July 4 and 5, 1969. Ferrin was fatally wounded, and Mageau survived.[9] Ferrin was 22, and was popular with many in the community due to her job at a local restaurant. There, she met Michael Mageau, who was 19. They became friends, and went on a date on July 4, despite the fact that Ferrin was still married to Dean Ferrin. After 11:30 p.m. that night, Ferrin received a phone call in her house, probably from Mageau. She left and arrived at Mageau's house around 11:50.[10]

Afterwards, the facts in the case become "clouded with conflicting statements and speculation". Some information comes from Zodiac researcher Robert Graysmith's work. Allegedly, immediately after Ferrin and Mageau left the house, they started believing or noticed that they were being followed by a man in a light-colored car. For some reason, Darlene started driving out of town in the direction of Lake Herman Road.[11] Shortly before midnight, she turned her car into an empty parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park.[11][12][13] It was another popular area for couples, two miles from Lake Herman Road. She parked 70 feet from the lot entrance, and soon, another vehicle parked around 80 feet to her left. The unknown driver, a man, turned the headlights off and sat motionless at the steering wheel. Mageau asked who the driver was, and Ferrin vaguely replied to not be worried about it. The driver then left the parking lot, likely at a high speed.[11]

Five minutes later, the driver returned, and parked a few feet next to Ferrin's vehicle at the passenger's side. He exited his car, and approached Ferrin's. The man shone a flashlight into the car; the couple assumed he was a police officer and rolled down the window. The man did not speak, and fired a gun into the car. One bullet hit Mageau in the right arm, and the other hit Ferrin in the neck, causing her to slump towards the steering wheel and become motionless. Mageau tried to leave the car, but the door handle on the passenger's side was missing or removed. The assailant stepped away from Ferrin's car, and went back to his own. He did not immediately leave, but instead opened his car door and did something Mageau could not see.[11] He looked back at Mageau, struggling to get out of Ferrin's car, and moved quickly back to him. Four more shots were fired, two at each person. The attacker moved quickly back to his car and drove off. The attacker was heard by the golf course's caretaker, who estimated it to be at 12:10 a.m.[14] The killer left no clues that could be traced back to him.[15]

Soon, three teenagers drove into the parking lot and saw the wounded couple. They left to get help, and police arrived at the scene at 12:20. The couple were taken to the hospital. Mageau survived, but Ferrin was pronounced dead at 12:40. Mageau described the killer as a white man with a large face, who was heavyset, around 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 195 to 200 pounds, and had short, curly light brown hair and a potbelly. He was wearing dark clothes and did not have glasses.[14] These details were not enough to develop a suspect.[16] Moments after 12:40, the Vallejo Police Department received a phone call from a public telephone within two blocks from them. The man on the other end of the line stated:[14][17]

I want to report a double murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park you will find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9-millimeter Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye.

Controversy surrounds the discussion of whether or not Ferrin knew the Zodiac Killer beforehand. Kelleher and Nuys write that theories regarding a potential relationship started with Robert Graysmith's book Zodiac. He argued extensively for a connection, using events he was told by Ferrin's friends. However, the argument was ultimately based on "speculation and assumption". There has been no proven connection.[18] At the hospital, Mageau said he did not know the attacker,[14] and different sources state that he said he was unsure if Ferrin knew him,[14] or that Ferrin did know him, and his name was Richard.[19] Ferrin's sister also claims one of Darlene's boyfriends was named Richard.[19] In the Zodiac's later correspondence, he only ever referred to Ferrin with the term "girl". The locations of the Zodiac's three known shootings could imply he only shot Ferrin and Mageau because of their isolated location.[7]

Kelleher and Nuys focus on the idea that the couple were followed once they left Mageau's house, which would be a clue towards the killer knowing Ferrin. One version of events describes a high speed chase between the unknown driver and Ferrin, which would make it unlikely for her to drive into the deserted parking lot instead of getting help. There is also suspicion as to why, if they were being followed into the lot, Ferrin did not drive out of it once the unknown driver initially left. Kelleher and Nuys suggest that Ferrin telling Mageau not to worry about the driver, and the couple assuming he was a police officer, are more likely to happen if they arrived on their own accord.[20]

In 2010, a picture surfaced of Ferrin and an unknown man who closely resembles the composite sketch of the Zodiac. In a 2011 episode of America's Most Wanted, police stated they believe the photo was taken in San Francisco in either 1966 or 1967.[21] Ferrin did know Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. She previously attended Hogan High School, was familiar with Lake Herman Road's status as a lover's lane, and lived less than two blocks from Jensen's house.[10]

3a8082e126