Decades have passed, and a mysterious killer named Zodiac remains an integral part of American crime history. Ever since a "known unknown" serial killer staged a nightmare in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s, the creators of countless books, podcasts and films have been inspired by an unsolved case.

Perhaps the solution of the riddle was "under the nose", but we know no more than official sources.

In the TSN.ua article, everything you need to know about the elusive Zodiac — how he got this nickname, who the suspects were and why his story still remains "heated".

Who is the Zodiac?

In the late 60s, he was talked about not only in California, where his atrocities actually took place, but throughout America. The murders gave him pleasure. He really needed attention to his person, so he constantly sent encrypted messages to newspapers, called police stations and regularly watched television shows where his "stage name" was mentioned.

One of the ciphers sent to The San Francisco Chronicle

It is worth noting that the best detectives and agents worked to catch the beast. But they could not get closer to their goal. Moreover, law enforcement officers do not even know exactly how many crimes this psychopath has committed.

It seems that megalomania led the Zodiac himself to claim in his letters that there were 37 victims, because the police point to more modest numbers. However, one way or another, he was able to achieve his goal - the Zodiac made it so that it is talked about today.

Consequently Who was the Zodiac really? Probably a depraved sadist who has eluded power for decades. He gained the desired popularity thanks to mocking letters and ciphers that he sent to local newspapers.

Getty

Although the Zodiac has not yet been caught and the official investigation remains open, public interest remains high. Countless theories have gained popularity over the years, "pointing fingers" at different men who share physical attributes or interests with a California executioner.

"Shades of the Zodiac": the main suspects

Jack Tarrance

In 2007, a man named Dennis Kaufman accused his stepfather Jack Tarrance of being the same Zodiac. He gave several of his stepfather's belongings to the FBI, including samples of written documents, a bloody knife, a black hood with the zodiac symbol on it, and a camera. CBS13 in Sacramento published a report at the time, some of which was described as "terrifying."


Kaufman claimed that Tarrance also killed his wife, Kaufman's mother. Tarrance, who died in 2006, served in the Air Force and Navy and was trained in the different kinds of cryptograms and codes that the Zodiac used in his letters to the press. One forensic expert, Nanette Bartot, believed that the handwriting of Tarrance and the Zodiac were the same.

Jack Tarrance / YouTube

In 2019, the FBI compared Tarrance's DNA with Zodiac DNA, but the results were inconclusive.

Guy Ward Hendrickson

In 2015, Hendrickson's daughter Deborah Perez said she helped her stepfather write the infamous Zodiac letters, including encrypted letters to the San Francisco Chronicle. She also said that she sewed one of the killer's masks.

Guy Ward Hendrickson / DEBORAH PEREZ

Perez's allegations were supported by an attorney named Kevin McLean, who investigated her claims about her father. Hendrickson, McLean concluded, "was Jekyll and Hyde. He was crazy. He was going to kill people. Some of these murders were not accidental."

Perez's sister Janice Hendrickson has strongly denied the allegations.

Arthur Lee Allen

Arthur Lee Allen, a school teacher in Vallejo, California, is the only suspect publicly named by authorities in the Zodiac case.

Arthur Lines Allen/Wiki

In 1975, Allen was arrested for child sexual abuse. He was never officially identified as the Zodiac killer. Linda Toshi-Chambers, the daughter of David Toshi, the investigator on the Zodiac case, told The New York Times that her father always suspected Allen was the real culprit, but never had enough solid evidence to support it.

David Toshi in 1976. With his fancy wardrobe, Mr. Toskey has been the public face of the Zodiac investigation for many people as things have taken a turn/AP over the years

Earl van Best Jr.

In 2014, a man named Gary Stewart released a book called The Most Dangerous Animal of All, co-written with Susan D. Mustafa. It claimed that his biological father, Earl van Best Jr., was a zodiac. Stewart, who was raised by his adoptive parents, came to this conclusion after being contacted by his own mother, who was researching his own father.

Earl van Best Jr. / IMBd

Aside from similar handwriting and facial scars, van Best's appearance looks like a police sketch of a zodiac. Stewart also strongly believes that he has successfully solved the zodiac cipher, and that Earl van Best's name is hidden in it. He also claims that a Zodiac and van Best DNA test failed to rule out the latter as a suspect.

In 2020, FX adapted the book into a four-part documentary series of the same name. In it, Stewart's mother details his connections to van Best when she was 14 and he was 27. She says van Best insulted her. At first, Stewart makes some convincing arguments about his father, but at the end of the series, they all have pretty solid gaps.


Joseph "Giuseppe" Bevilacqua

It is alleged that Bevilacqua confessed to a journalist that he was both a Zodiac and a Florentine monster who killed 14 people in Italy between 1974 and 1985, targeting couples in particular. However, Bevilacqua quickly denied these claims.

Joseph "Giuseppe" Bevilacqua

Bevilaqua was born in New Jersey, spent 20 years in the Army and is said to have worked as a CID agent in San Francisco in the late 1960s. He moved to Florence in 1974, the same year that the Zodiac sent his last letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, and the same year the first murder of the Florentine monster took place in Italy.

It is believed that the handwriting of Bevilaqua is similar to the handwriting of the zodiac, and in one translation of the cipher of the zodiac found the word "bevilaqua". Some real criminals also took the Zodiac's mention of water in his last letter to the San Francisco Chronicle as a reference to "aqua" in the surname Bevilaqua.

The Florence prosecutor's office obtained Bevilacqua's DNA in late 2020, but there are no links between him and the Zodiac.

Victims of the Zodiac

The Zodiac himself claimed in his letters that he killed 37 people over five years, but investigators were able to establish a definitive connection with only seven victims, five died and two survived.

Among the victims of the zodiac:

  • Paul Stine, 30, was shot in the head from straight distance
  • 22-year-old Cecilia Shepard received 10 stabs - five in front and five in the back
  • 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin was shot five times
  • 17-year-old David Faraday was shot in the head with one shot from a straight distance
  • 16-year-old Betty Lou Jensen received five shots in the back

Betty Lou Jensen, David Faraday, Darlene Ferrin / Getty

Some of his other possible victims include:

  • 27-year-old Ray Davis was shot twice from behind in his own taxi
  • 18-year-old Cheri Jo Bates was beaten and stabbed several times with a short knife

Who survived meeting him?

Ferrin and Majo were attacked while they were sitting in Ferrin's car at Blue Rock Springs Golf Club in Vallejo, California. Zodiac fired a firearm at them on July 4, 1969. Ferrin died, and Mageot became the first survivor after meeting this serial killer.

Just like Ferrin and Mazot, Shepard and Hartnell were also on a date and having a picnic on Lake Berriessa in Napa County when they were approached by a hooded man with the symbol of two intersecting lines in a circle. Threatening the couple with a gun, he tied them up and stabbed them. Even though Shepard was alive at the time of aid's arrival, she had died and Hartnell had recovered, becoming the second surviving Zodiac victim.

Paul Stine, Cecilia Shepard, Brian Hartnell / AP

When was the last time the Zodiac killed?

The last confirmed murder was committed by the Zodiac on October 11, 1969. The murder, which took place in San Francisco, claimed the life of 28-year-old taxi driver Paul Stine. Stine picked up a passenger, now known as the Zodiac, who was heading to the Presidio Heights area. The taxi driver was wounded in the head.

Police radio, reporting on the incident, incorrectly classified the suspect as black, leading to officers responding releasing a white man who matched the description provided by witnesses.

Crime Scene, San Francisco, October 11, 1969.

The San Francisco Chronicle later received a letter from the Zodiac saying it was taking responsibility for the murder and containing a bloodied scrap of Stine's shirt.

Why is the zodiac still not forgotten?

It's already true mythology, says Dr. Harold Schechter, a literature professor and writer who specializes in serial killers. The fact that the Zodiac sent letters to the press is only part of the epic. Going back to Jack the Ripper, it's not that uncommon for serial killers to write mocking letters to the press and authorities, Schechter explained, adding that it "fuels" their megalomania.

Zodiac/AP Letters

It was the content of the letters and the ciphers that made the Zodiac so unique. According to Schechter, he deliberately created the whole story by wearing a costume during one of his murders, using a specific symbol, and calling himself a "Zodiac."

The interest of the zodiac in medieval symbolism

The Zodiac was wearing what could best be called an executioner's costume at the time of the Hartnell-Shepard murders. Hartnell recalled how Zodiac wore dark glasses with clips and a black executioner's hood.

Getty

The suit was handmade and neatly sewn. When Zodiac attacked Hartnell and his girlfriend, he used a knife as a weapon, despite the fact that it was much easier to just shoot them.

The killer's "uniform" looked like the robes of medieval executioners, who were usually dressed in black.

Zodiac/Police Sketch

Another medieval symbol of the zodiac is the seal. It is similar to the German pagan symbol Solar Cross (Celtic Cross).

Why is the zodiac called zodiac?

"Zodiac" is a self-name. The infamous serial killer began contacting the press in 1969, sending local newspapers now-famous ciphers accompanied by letters to editors in which he claimed responsibility for various murders and threatened new ones.

Is the zodiac still alive?

Since the killer has never been officially identified, it is impossible to say for sure whether he is still alive. However, his communication with the media ceased in the late seventies, and in recent years no additional murders were linked to the killer.

How old is the zodiac?

Just like whether the Zodiac is alive or not, the true age of the killer cannot be determined officially as it has never been identified.

Latest information

In May 2023, it was reported that a private nonprofit crime investigation team called Case Breakers provided information that an FBI agent told them that the Zodiac killer was Gary Francis Post, an Air Force veteran who died in 2018.

Gary Francis Post / the case Breakers

According to Thomas Colbert, who runs Case Breakers, Post has been a suspect since 2016 thanks to a zodiac victim's partial DNA. Colbert also noted in a press release that "the actions of the SFPD, the Riverside Police, and the FBI require serious review."

The FBI says Zodiac's case remains unsolved and the investigation is ongoing.

Read also:

  • "Cleveland House of Horrors": how a serial killer in the USA collected women's bodies for years and remained elusive
  • In the USA, the code of the serial killer of the Zodiac was solved: what he wrote
  • The FBI officially recognized Samuel Little as the most massive serial killer in US history: who is he

Subscribe to our channels in Telegram and Viber.