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BREAKING NEWS: The Zodiac’s “340 Cipher” has been solved

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Written by Michael Butterfield / Posted: December 11, 2020 / 6:00 AM EST

Over the years, I have heard many rumors about some break in the case and proposed solutions to the Zodiac’s unsolved ciphers. Every amateur codebreaker is certain that their solution is correct but the evidence debunks their claims. The result is immediate skepticism whenever someone declares that they have unlocked the secrets of a Zodiac cipher. One learns not to get too excited about such claims in order to avoid the inevitable disappointment. 

Several years ago, I came to rely on David Oranchak for guidance when trying to understand the many complex issues surrounding the Zodiac’s ciphers. A computer programmer, David’s approach to the ciphers was refreshing and his analysis was informative. I often receive emails from people who claim to have solved the ciphers and I always refer them to David for his examination and conclusions. He always provides a fair assessment of proposed solutions and encourages people to bring new ideas to the discussion. His website ZodiacKillerCiphers.com has been a valuable resource for anyone seeking information about the ciphers.

For these and other reasons, I was not immediately skeptical when I received a message from David on the morning of Saturday, December 5th, which read: “I and two other programmers have a solution for the 340 cipher. No joke. I just sent off the solve to the FBI. I’m pretty sure it’s correct.” 

I believed that David would not make such claims if he could not back them up with clear evidence, so I was instantly intrigued by the thought that such evidence was obviously forthcoming, and I was not disappointed. I soon learned the incredible story behind the solution, a story about the pursuit of a seemingly random clue in a mundane search of data.  

The mystery was finally solved with the collaborative efforts of three individuals in different countries across the globe. From his home in Flanders, Belgium, computer programmer Jarl Van Eycke has worked online with David Oranchak in the United States, and Sam Blake in Melbourne, Australia.

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David Oranchak, Sam Blake, and Jarl Van Eycke.

As members of Mike Morford’s forum at ZodiacKillerSite.com, the trio shared information, examined possible decryption methods, and searched for any clue which could crack the Zodiac’s three unsolved ciphers. Van Eycke created AZdecrypt, described by David as “a fast and powerful cipher solver,” and a modified version of this software helped Van Eycke and entrepreneur Louie Helm set a world record for deciphering of a bigram substitution of the shortest cipher length.

Studying the Zodiac’s 340 cipher, Sam identified and collected information about variations in the cipher text, which ultimately proved to be the key to cracking the cipher. “My main contribution here was actually enumerating many possible reading directions through the cipher, in total over 650,000,” Sam explained. “David and I both ran these through azdecrypt and zkdecrypto respectively. Interestingly, only azdecrypt was able to find the fragments of the complete solution. It was a needle in a haystack. Even finding the right haystack to search in was lucky.”

“Just one very partial solution, in a sea of 650,000 cipher variations I was running,” David added. That one partial solution was not completely correct but instead suggested information about the cipher’s construction. “By luck, we discovered that (Zodiac) split it into three pieces and rearranged the message in a predictable diagonal pattern in the first two pieces.” When the words ended at the right side of the text block the diagonal message would continue in the next line at the left side. The Zodiac made an obvious effort to thwart attempts to decipher the message by constructing the cipher in this way, and the resulting block of text may have been intended to encourage the false assumption that the 340 cipher was constructed with the same methods used to create the killer’s previous cipher, which was a simple message reading from left to right as normal text. By rearranging the message into three parts disguised as one block of text, the Zodiac may have believed that most people would never look beyond its appearance to discover the actual method used to hide the real message.

David explained, “Cracking it required undoing those arrangements then trying to discover his substitution key. That wasn’t enough because he made some mistakes in the second piece. Jarl discovered the mistakes and corrected them, which greatly cleared up the second piece.” After Jarl’s corrections were included and the proper adjustments were made, the decryption process quickly produced actual results. “We had a nugget of a solution on Thursday. I took Friday off and worked on it all day. My teammates Sam and Jarl also worked on it a lot. By (Saturday) morning, Jarl had worked out the remaining bit and it was finally complete enough to send off to the FBI. They responded almost immediately.” David said that he had received three telephone calls from the Bureau on Saturday morning. “When I talked to the FBI, they only needed to make one change to the solution.” David and his team had deciphered a section of six letters to read, “soo her.” “We couldn’t figure out the part that says, ‘soo her,’ [but] their cryptanalyst called me and she said she thinks it’s supposed to say, ‘sooner’” instead.

The solution was also examined by Dan Olson, Cryptanalyst Forensic Examiner for the FBI’s Racketeering Records Analysis Unit in Washington, D.C. Oranchak said, “They are running the solution up the chain now. Dan says it looks solid. I was happy to hear Dan Olson tell me personally that he thinks it’s solid.”

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During his appearance in the 2009 History Channel series MysteryQuest, Dan Olson shared his theory that the text block of the Z340 may have been intended to be separated into two parts in order to be deciphered. The cipher was actually separated into three parts and the message was found in the first two parts.

The FBI experts were so confident that the solution was valid that the bureau would essentially close the file on the 340 cipher. “FBI is amending their original report to include our solution as the actual solution,” David reported, “Then they’ll submit it back to the San Francisco Police Department (the original requestor of assistance with the cipher in 1969).”

The solution revealed a message which seemed consistent with the Zodiac’s persona and character as displayed in his previous communications, including the deciphered text of the 408 symbol cipher. In that message, the killer wrote that he was killing people in order to collect slaves to serve him during his afterlife in “paradice.” The Zodiac also included the same misspelling in text using the words “paradice” and “slaves” to form a cross. In the solution to the 340, the writer returned to this theme and declared that he was not afraid of death.

I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME  THAT WASN’T ME ON THE TV SHOW  WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME  I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH  I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH

David noted that, unlike other proposed solutions, this new solution revealed a clear and discernible message. “(We) didn’t have to do too many steps, and yet a coherent message pops out.”

The writer apparently referred to the Bay Area television talk show, The Jim Dunbar Show, and an episode featuring famous attorney Melvin Belli.  On October 22, 1969, someone called the Oakland police station and claimed to the Zodiac. The caller demanded that Belli, or Boston attorney F. Lee Bailey, appear on the show with host Jim Dunbar.

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TV host Jim Dunbar and attorney Melvin Belli talk with the Zodiac impostor “Sam.”

During the broadcast, a man called several times but kept hanging up in an effort to prevent police from tracing the calls to his location. The caller agreed to be referred to as “Sam,” and he complained that headaches had driven him to murderous impulses. “Sam” expressed his fears of being “hurt,” and Belli promised to help the caller avoid “the gas chamber.” After the broadcast, a recording of the caller’s voice was played for the three people who had spoken to the Zodiac. Surviving victim Bryan Hartnell and police dispatchers David Slaight and Nancy Slover all concluded that “Sam” was not the Zodiac. Police reports, FBI files and other accounts indicated that “Sam” later called Melvin Belli’s home several times and that police were finally able to trace those calls to a patient in a mental institution. Investigators concluded that the man was not the Zodiac, but the incident became an often misunderstood chapter of the story and some people continued to believe that “Sam” was actually the killer.

The writer of the cipher text stated, “That wasn’t me on the the TV show.” The incident with Sam occurred on October 22, 1969, and the cipher was sent two and a half weeks later in November. On December 20, 1969, the Zodiac sent a letter to Belli’s home in an envelope which also contained a piece of a victim’s bloodstained shirt to confirm the writer’s identity as the real killer. The tone and text of the letter’s message seemed somewhat insincere, and the message could be interpreted as mockery of Sam’s imposter version of the “Zodiac” character. [To learn more, read the ZodiacKillerFacts article MELVIN & SAM: The Strange Saga of a Zodiac Impostor or listen to the audio version of the article ZODIAC: A TO Z – Ep# 10 – Melvin & Sam: The Strange Saga of a Zodiac Impostor.]

David said that, at first, he did not expect much to come from the possible decipher method, but everything changed when a message materialized before his eyes. “When ‘that wasn’t me on the TV show’ popped out during the solve, I jumped out of my chair and said, ‘Holy ****!’ since that show happened like a few weeks before the cipher was received. That’s when I knew it was on the right track.”

After more than fifty years, the mystery of the 340 cipher had finally been solved, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of three men working together from different parts of the world. “It’s exciting. We were really lucky to come across this solution,” David said. “It was only a handful of words to start with. Could have very easily ignored them and moved on. But ‘gas chamber’ really stood out.”

When David explained to me how the cipher was solved, I was reminded of his previous statements in interviews for my podcast series about possible decryption methods and different theories about the construction of the ciphers. I said to him, “This really bolsters so many things you said in your interviews.” David replied, “Yeah, the statistics in the cipher text really did turn out to reflect the way it was constructed.”

In November, 2019, David and I were discussing the Zodiac’s 340 cipher for the podcast ZODIAC: A TO Z – Ep. #8 – 340: The Mystery. Approximately 15 minutes into the show, David essentially predicted how the Z340 was actually constructed when he described possible encryption techniques. “Route transpositions are things like, read the message from left to right and then right to left and then left to right, kind of like a snake pattern, back and forth, a zigzag pattern. That’s an example of a route transposition. Or like, a diagonal, reading off the message diagonally. So in those situations, you’d end up with a plain text that doesn’t look like it makes any sense. And then the last step there would be to encrypt it using the same kind of substitution used in the first cipher. So the symbols are assigned to each of the letters.”

For years, I stated my belief that the Zodiac may have been somewhat disappointed that his first cipher was solved so quickly and, therefore, he may have intended that the next cipher was more difficult to solve. Some people had speculated that amateur codebreakers Donald and Betty Harden were able to solve the original 408 cipher so quickly because the Zodiac was little more than an amateur who possessed only a basic understanding of cryptography. I asked David if this new cipher solution cast doubt on those theories about the Zodiac’s knowledge of cryptography. “Yes, either he knew codes, or had a good intuition about how to make them.” David also agreed with my theory. “He definitely reacted to the Hardens solution and made it much harder.”

David thanked Mike Morford, owner of ZodiacKillerSite.com, and stated that “the site played a crucial role” in the events leading up to the solution. “It gave us a forum to collaborate. Me and the other nerds used it extensively… This could have only happened with the two other guys I worked with. Sam (Blake) sent me the 650,000 variations. One of them turned out to be extremely close to the right answer. And Jarl built the codebreaking software, and also helped fix up the solution. No way I could have done any of this without them.” Jarl Van Eycke said, “It is unbelievable how everything came together so perfectly between the three of us. And I am so happy to be a part of it.”

David was concerned that media coverage about the solution could be confusing. “It may be hard to convey to the general public because it does require additional steps— diagonal reading, splitting into three seconds, fixing the mistakes, and rearranging letters in the last two lines.” He has produced a new episode of his YouTube video series “Let’s Crack Zodiac with more details about the new solution and the methods used to decipher the message.

While the new solution did not provide any apparent clues to the killer’s identity, the deciphered message revealed another glimpse into the mind of the Zodiac. Whether or not he actually believed that his dead victims would serve as his slaves in his afterlife, the repeated theme was somehow important to the killer. In 1969, the Zodiac claimed that he was killing victims to become his slaves, and, more than half a century later, he remains significant because those victims were sacrificed to achieve his infamy. As his story continues to unfold in the pages of the history books, we are still haunted by the ghost of the Zodiac.

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FBI Statement: The FBI has a team of cryptanalysis experts that decipher coded messages, symbols, and records from criminals known as the Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit. CRRU regularly works with the cryptologic research community to solve ciphers. On December 5, 2020, the FBI received the solution to a cipher popularly known as Z340 from a cryptologic researcher and independently verified the decryption. Cipher Z340 is one of four ciphers attributed to the Zodiac Killer. This cipher was first submitted to the FBI Laboratory on November 13, 1969, but not successfully decrypted. Over the past 51 years CRRU has reviewed numerous proposed solutions from the public–none of which had merit. The cipher was recently solved by a team of three private citizens. The Zodiac Killer case remains an ongoing investigation for the FBI San Francisco division and our local law enforcement partners. The Zodiac Killer terrorized multiple communities across Northern California and even though decades have gone by, we continue to seek justice for the victims of these brutal crimes. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time.

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Michael Butterfield is a writer who has conducted extensive research on the Zodiac case since the 1990s. As a recognized leading expert on the unsolved crimes, he has served as a media source and consultant for news articles, television documentaries, the History channel series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer, and director David Fincher’s major motion picture Zodiac. Michael Butterfield appears in the Zodiac documentary Case Reopened, the History Channel series MysteryQuest, the E! Canada series The Shocking Truth, the Reelz channel documentary The Real Story of Zodiac, the HLN series Very Scary People, the documentary produced for Japanese television Darkside Mystery, and the podcast series Monster: The Zodiac Killer. He is also the producer of the podcast series Zodiac: A to Z and he is a contributing author for True Crime: Case Files, True Crime Magazine, and the two volume collection of essays titled A History of Evil in Pop Culture. Michael Butterfield is also a co-host with author/host Alan R. Warren for The House of Mystery on NBC News radio.

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Follow ZodiacKillerFACTS on Twitter: @TheZodiacFacts

CLICK HERE–> to listen to the ZodiacKillerFacts.com podcast ZODIAC: A TO Z

The ZODIAC FILES

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The Zodiac killer is once again in the news after the arrest of The Golden State Killer. Authorities in Vallejo, Napa, and San Francisco have renewed efforts to obtain DNA from stamps, envelopes, and other evidence with hopes that the forensic genealogy techniques used to identify Joseph James DeAngelo as  the Golden State Killer could also identify the elusive “Zodiac.”

Host Alan R. Warren and writer Michael Butterfield discuss the Golden State Killer investigation and the search for Zodiac DNA in the latest episode of HOUSE OF MYSTERY: The ZODIAC FILES. Previous episodes are now available at the new YouTube channel The Zodiac Files with Michael Butterfield.

The new issue of True Crime: Case Files magazine features the new article Devil in the Dark: DNA and the Hunt for America’s Most Elusive Serial Killers.

ZodiacKillerFACTS now includes a collection of selected audio interviews featuring Zodiac cipher expert David Oranchak, podcast host/webmaster Mike Morford, and writer Michael Butterfield.

NEWAIRTALK – “DNA: Zodiac and the Golden State Killer w/ host Larry Mantle – Guests: Anita Chabria, social justice reporter, Sacramento Bee, and Michael Butterfield. [Aired May 4, 2018, NPR affiliate KPCC California]

ZODIAC DNA: The Silver Bullet

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Joseph James DeAngelo was probably very surprised when he was surrounded by police officers and arrested on April 24, 2018. The 72 year old resident of Citrus Heights, California, seemed rather ordinary but authorities held a press conference to announce that DNA evidence proved DeAngelo was the “Golden State Killer,” a prolific serial rapist and killer responsible for at least 12 murders, 50 sexual assaults, and more than 100 burglaries. DeAngelo may have believed that he had escaped justice for decades but a new method of DNA research has quickly become the greatest threat to elusive serial killers who remain at large.

In 2014, investigators in Arizona used an unconventional approach to identify the man responsible for murders attributed to the so-called “Canal Killer.” Two young women were murdered along a canal in Northwest Phoenix in the early 1990s. DNA linked the crimes but investigation failed to produce evidence implicating any viable suspects. Years later, detectives consulted forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick. Using a Y-STR, or a short tandem repeat of the Y-chromosome found only in men, Fitzpatrick compared the profile to information available on genealogy websites and narrowed the field of patterns to a spectrum of possible relatives of the killer. Fitzpatrick told investigators that the Canal Killer was most likely named “Miller.” Police reviewed the files and identified a suspect named Bryan Patrick Miller, previously arrested at the age of sixteen for stabbing a woman at a mall and again accused of stabbing a woman in Washington state. At the time of the murders in Phoenix, Miller lived in the area and frequently rode his bike along the canal where the bodies of the victims had been dumped. A DNA comparison proved that Miller’s DNA matched the DNA found on the victims of the Canal Killer. Miller was arrested in January 2015 and he denied any involvement in the crimes. He is currently in jail awaiting trial. [To learn more about the identification of the Canal Killer, read the article Shock Waves by Michael Butterfield in the fall 2017 anniversary issue of the magazine True Crime: Case Files.]

Authorities launched a new effort to identify the Golden State Killer using a similar method of DNA research. Retired Contra Costa County investigator Paul Holes had studied the crimes for years and was determined to catch GSK. Holes acknowledged that he had developed an “obsession” with the case, and he was a central character in the best-selling book about the crimes written by the late Michelle McNamara titled I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.

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Retired Contra Costa County investigator Paul Holes and writer Michael Butterfield (ZodiacKillerFacts.com) visit two Zodiac crime scenes (History Channel series MYSTERYQUEST, 2009).

After exhausting other avenues of investigation, Holes turned to GEDmatch, a genealogy website with genetic information obtained from over 950,000 individuals. According to the Washington Post, Holes then narrowed his search to the killer’s great-great-great grandparents, and investigators then assembled a list of at least 25 family tree including thousands of relatives. From there, public records, census reports, obituaries and criminal databases helped narrow the search to relatives who fit the profile of GSK such as age, background, and whereabouts during the crimes. This information led investigators to Joseph James DeAngelo. Police placed DeAngelo under surveillance and retrieved an item he had discarded for DNA comparison. DeAngelo’s DNA matched the DNA recovered from GSK victims and he was arrested.

News of DeAngelo’s capture inspired praise of law enforcement as well as debate about the ethical and legal problems raised by the use of public genealogy information in criminal investigations. The success and identification of long-elusive murderers also inspired other investigators to use similar methods to identify other notorious serial killers. SFGate.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Sacramento Bee reported that authorities in Napa, Vallejo, and San Francisco, California were evaluating evidence which could possibly be used to identify the infamous “Zodiac killer” who terrorized citizens of Northern California with a series of murders and bizarre letters from 1968 to 1974.

In the late 1990s, San Francisco police submitted the suspected “Zodiac” communications to the crime lab for forensic testing. Robert Graysmith, author of the book Zodiac, wrote a story published on the website APB.com titled “The Day They Thought They Nailed Zodiac.” Graysmith claimed that police obtained a “Zodiac” DNA sample which matched “the prime suspect,” convicted child molester and Vallejo resident Arthur Leigh Allen. Graysmith also claimed that SFPD Inspector Vince Repetto then stated that the match was a “false positive” result. According to Graysmith’s account, SFPD Lieutenant Tom Bruton explained that the suspected “Zodiac” DNA was obtained from a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in April 1978. Several handwriting experts had concluded that this letter was a forgery and not an authentic Zodiac communication. In his article, Graysmith expressed his dismay that police had used the 1978 for DNA testing and wrote, “They had tested a hoax letter,” despite the fact that Graysmith was one of the few individuals who claimed that the April 1978 letter was authentic.

In 2000, SFPD Lt. Tom Bruton denied that any DNA testing had ever produced any “false positive” results which matched Allen or any other suspect. SFPD Inspector Vince Repetto also denied that any DNA testing had ever produced any “false positive” results which matched Allen or any other suspect. Repetto further denied that he had ever told Graysmith or anyone else about any such false positive results from DNA tests. A document from the SFPD crime lab from the time in question revealed that the lab was able to find some cells on various Zodiac letters, including the suspected 1978 letter. This document also stated that the San Francisco police department did not consider the 1978 letter to be an authentic Zodiac communication.

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Retired San Francisco police inspector Vince Repetto and Lt. Tom Bruton in interviews for the Reelz Channel documentary ZODIAC: THE REAL STORY (2017).

During interviews for the recent Reelz channel documentary titled Zodiac: The Real Story, Vince Repetto and Tom Bruton described the investigation and efforts to obtain “Zodiac” DNA and exclude suspects. According to Repetto, suspected “Zodiac” DNA was obtained from a Zodiac communication. Repetto’s partner believed the DNA would implicate Allen. “We knew we had Arthur Leigh Allen’s DNA, and then we had DNA from one of the suspected letters.” The results of the DNA comparison were negative, and Allen’s DNA did not match the suspected Zodiac DNA. Repetto said his partner was “pretty upset it turned out not to be Allen.” Tom Bruton explained that the same DNA evidence was compared to other suspects, including Larry Kane. “We had compared handwriting and fingerprints with what we had in the crime lab, and there was no matches there. The last big hope was the DNA comparison.” The results of the DNA comparison were negative and Kane’s DNA did not match the suspected “Zodiac” DNA.

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SFPD Inspectors Kelly Carroll and Mike Maloney (ABC documentary PRIMETIME LIVE, 2002).

At the turn of the century, Inspectors Kelly Carroll and Mike Maloney were assigned to the Zodiac case. In an interview with this author in 2000, Carroll stated his belief that modern forensic science could identify the Zodiac killer. “If the Zodiac case is ever solved,” Carroll said, “it will be solved by someone in a white lab coat.” Carroll and Maloney submitted the Zodiac communications for further testing. The ABC television show Primetime documented work conducted by Dr. Cyndi Holt of the San Francisco police DNA lab. Envelopes and stamps were examined, and Holt stated that a partial genetic profile was obtained from a stamp, reportedly on an envelope sent in November 1969. The partial genetic profile could be used to exclude suspects but was not sufficient to conclusively identify any individual as the Zodiac.

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Dr. Cyndi Holt, San Francisco DNA Lab

In public interviews, Cyndi Holt and Kelly Carroll both expressed confidence in the “Zodiac” DNA partial profile, but some critics claimed that the entire DNA spectacle was staged for the media. Mike Maloney reportedly expressed some doubts about the methods used to obtain the DNA and questioned its value in eliminating suspects. Despite the alleged concerns about the evidence, the San Francisco police department announced that the suspected “Zodiac” DNA did not match suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. Allen’s accusers argued that the DNA was not sufficient to outweigh the so-called “mountain of circumstantial evidence” against the suspect, but no credible evidence linked Allen to the Zodiac crimes. Several years later, Vallejo police submitted evidence to a lab for testing, including two envelopes which contained some of the first letters sent by the killer in July 1969. The results reportedly revealed a partial genetic profile which was not sufficient to positively identify anyone as the Zodiac. This DNA profile did not match Arthur Leigh Allen.

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The plastic clothesline used by the Zodiac, and a green bottle found at the crime scene.

In 2010, investigators at the Napa County Sheriff’s Office re-examined evidence in the Zodiac’s attack at Lake Berryessa, including a bottle found at the crime scene, a blood-stained blanket, pieces of plastic clothesline used to bind the victims, and the car door featuring a handwritten message left by the killer. Napa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat McMahon told San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagen that the evidence was submitted to the state Department of Justice DNA lab in Richmond, California. According to The Sacramento Bee, a partial genetic profile was obtained from a mixture of DNA, but this profile could not be separated from the other DNA in the mixture and was not sufficient to identify the killer.

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William White, Napa County Sheriff’s Office, with the blanket and clothesline from the Berryessa crime scene (CASE REOPENED, 1999).

In 2018, the Vallejo police department once again submitted the two early “Zodiac” envelopes for more forensic testing. According to Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser, experts at the chosen lab were “confident” that DNA evidence could be obtained from the envelopes. Investigators in the other jurisdictions involved in the Zodiac case also re-examined other evidence with hopes that new methods might yield something which could identify the killer. The Napa County Sheriff’s Office and the San Francisco police department reviewed evidence in their cases for possible forensic testing. A complete DNA profile would be necessary in order to identify the Zodiac using the same methods used to identify the Golden State Killer. A partial profile would not be sufficient to narrow the spectrum of potential DNA candidates. The new testing could produce important evidence or a failure to discover DNA evidence would require investigators to identify the Zodiac using more traditional methods.

December 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first “Zodiac” murders on Lake Herman Road in 1968. If the Zodiac is still alive, he may be watching the news about the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo with the growing fear that the next knock on his door may be cold case investigators armed with DNA evidence the killer left behind when he licked an envelope or stamp half a century ago.

Read more about the issues and potential problems in the search for new evidence in the article ZODIAC DNA: The Magic Bullet.

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Copyright ZodiacKillerFacts.com

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Michael Butterfield is a writer and a recognized  expert on the unsolved “Zodiac” crimes. He has served as a media source and consultant for news articles, television documentaries, the History channel series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer, and director David Fincher’s major motion picture Zodiac. Michael Butterfield appears in the Zodiac documentary Case Reopened, the History Channel series MysteryQuest, the E! Canada series The Shocking Truth, and the Reelz channel documentary The Real Story of Zodiac. He is also a contributing author for True Crime: Case Files, True Crime Magazine, and the two volume collection of essays titled A History of Evil in Pop Culture.

Dave Peterson’s “Zodiac” Files

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Dave Peterson worked for the Vallejo Times-Herald during the years of the “Zodiac” investigation, and his files detail his own research into suspects and various aspects of the case. Thanks to the efforts of Mike Morford, owner of Zodiackillersite.com, the producers of the new History channel series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer were granted access to several boxes containing hundreds of pages from Peterson’s personal files.

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Dave Peterson’s nephew leads the television crew to the late reporter’s files.

The History channel website posted 32 photographs of documents in Dave Peterson’s “Zodiac” files, including notes about suspects. communications with investigators, and the reporter’s own theories.

View pages from The Dave Peterson “Zodiac” Files at History.com

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer – Episode #2 – Riverside, Santa Barbara, Kathleen Johns, and Larry Kane

Episode #2 of the History channel documentary series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer examined three suspected “Zodiac” crimes, including the unsolved murder of Riverside City College coed Cheri Jo Bates in 1966, the unsolved murders of teenagers Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards in Santa Barbara in 1963, and the alleged abduction of Kathleen Johns in 1970.

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Forensic serologist Suzanna Ryan opens an evidence bag containing the pants worn by suspected Zodiac victim Cheri Jo Bates.

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Ryan points to circles drawn onto the pants in areas where previously forensic testing occurred.

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Kenneth Mains points to a small blood stain on the pants which he believes indicates that the killer may have cut himself during the attack on Cheri Jo Bates. Further testing would be necessary to determine if the bloodstain might contain DNA evidence which could identify the killer.

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Ryan uses a cotton swab to remove a small portion of the blood stain. The swab is then exposed to a chemical which reveals the presence of blood.

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Episode #2 also includes an examination of the unsolved 1963 murders of teenagers Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards near Santa Barbara. Some investigators noted similiatries between this case and the Zodiac attack on a young couple at Lake Berryessa in 1969.

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Cold case investigators Sal LaBarbera and Kenneth Mains meet with police psychologist John Averitt to discuss the Domingos/Edwards case at the scene of the crime.

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In March 1970, Kathleen Johns claimed that she was abducted by a man resembling the police sketch of the Zodiac. Months later, a Zodiac letter seemed to confirm the killer’s connection to the Johns case. In phone call with Kenneth Mains, Kathleen’s daughter says that her mother had once identified a man named Larry Kane.

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Episode #3 of The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer examines Larry Kane’s possible connections to the 1970 disappearance of Donna Lass in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. In March 1971, a suspected Zodiac message referred to Lake Tahoe and “victim 12,” feeling speculation that the Zodiac may have killed Lass. Sal LaBarbera and Kenneth Mains meet with police to learn more about the Lass case, and they also visit retired Vallejo police detective Ed Rust to discuss Kane as a possible Zodiac suspect. LaBarbera and Mains travel to Lake Tahoe and attempt to find Donna Lass’s gravesite using the clues from the suspected “Zodiac” postcard.

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Episode #3 also includes an examination of the Zodiac’s bomb diagrams. Zodiac claimed that a map of Mt. Diablo and a 32-symbol cipher could be used to locate a buried bomb.

Episode #3 of The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer airs Tuesday November 28 on the History channel.

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer – Episode #1 – Riverside Evidence

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Episode #1 of the new History channel documentary series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer featured a unique look into the mystery surrounding the still-unsolved murder of Riverside City College student Cheri Jo Bates in October 1966.

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Retired Riverside police detective Steve Shumway accompanied a film crew to the scene of the crime, now part of the concrete structure on the campus of Riverside City College.

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The production was granted unprecedented access to the boxes of evidence stored at the Riverside Police Department during a tour with Detective Jim Simons.

Bates-Evidence-Boot-Print-and-Cast

Viewers got a rare look at a previously-unreleased photo of the boot print left at the crime scene and a plaster cast of the print.

Bates-Three-Letters-RPD

Shown together for the first time: the three handwritten letters sent to the Riverside police department, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and Cheri Jo’s father Joseph Bates.

Cheri-Jo-Bates-Letter-Z

A close up on the small symbol included as a signature.

Cheri-Jo-Bates-Pants-Evidence

Preparing for forensic testing on the pants of victim Cheri Jo Bates.

David-Peterson-Nephew-and-Files

 The production was also granted access to the files of Vallejo Times-Herald reporter David Peterson courtesy of Peterson’s nephew.

David-Peterson-Notes

Peterson’s files also included his notes about Ross Sullivan, a possible suspect in the Bates murder who worked at the RCC library and had an interest in cryptography.

Episode #2 of The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer airs on the History channel Tues. November 21.

 

New History channel series: The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer – Video promos and articles

ZKF-History-Updates

The new History channel documentary series The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer begins Tuesday November 14. You can watch new video promos for the series by clicking on the links below, and the History channel website features new articles including a timeline of Zodiac crimes and letters along with a look at some of the men named as “suspects” over the years.

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer – Episode #1 – Riverside and the Murder of Cheri Jo Bates

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer – Sneak Peek

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 1

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 2

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 3

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 4

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 5

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 6

The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer Video Promo 7

The Zodiac Killer: A Timeline at History.com

Could any of these men have been the Zodiac killer? at History.com

The San Francisco Chronicle published an article with a review of the first episode exploring the possible connection between the Zodiac and the still-unsolved 1966 murder of Riverside City College student Cheri Jo Bates.

San Francisco Chronicle: Can the latest Zodiac ‘hunt’ finally solve the case?

NEWS & UPDATES: October 2015 Archive

OCTOBER 2015: This is an archived posting of the original “News & Updates” page.

zkf-icon-9

* BOOK REVIEW: August 1, 2014 – Gary Stewart and co-author Susan Mustafa recently published the book titled The Most Dangerous Animal of All which claims that Stewart’s father, Earl Van Best, Jr., was the Zodiac killer. Publisher Harper Collins remained silent until the book was released and Stewart went on a publicity tour with interviews on television and radio. According to Stewart, he has presented more evidence against his father than anyone has ever presented against any other suspect in the entire history of the Zodiac case. Stewart and Mustafa are convinced that their claims are true. However, examination of the book and its claims cast serious doubts on Stewart’s solution to the mystery. Much of Stewart’s book has been debunked, leaving virtually no credible evidence to implicate Earl Van Best in the Zodiac crimes. Click here to read the ZodiacKillerFacts review of Gary Stewart’s book.

* UPDATE: MAY 31, 2014 – In March 1971, a letter arrived at the offices of The Los Angeles Times newspaper. The author claimed to be the Zodiac and referred to the recent reports that he was responsible for the unsolved murder of Riverside City College student Cheri Jo Bates in 1966. Previously released photographs of this letter have been dark and the handwriting appeared distorted. I recently obtained a large book collection titled Crimes and Punishment: The Illustrated Crime Encyclopedia. Page 2152 of volume 18 featured another photograph of the LA Times letter. The quality of this photograph was better than the others I have seen. The detail was sharper and the handwriting was not distorted by high contrast or the photocopy process. Click Here to view this image at the ZodiacKillerFacts document gallery.

NOTE: Here is some basic information and links to resources which may be useful to anyone who wants to track down their own copy of this encyclopedia set or the individual volume containing the LA Times letter.

Title: CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT: The Illustrated Crime Encyclopedia

Set: 28 volumes

ISBN-10: 185435793X (entire set)

ISBN-13: 978-1854357939 (entire set)

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corp / H. S. Stuttman

Date: September 1994

Photo of LA TIMES Letter: Page 2152, Volume 18

Available thru: Amazon.com

Available thru: BookFinder.com

* MEDIA UPDATE: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – The San Francisco TV station KGO ABC 7 will feature a story about the Zodiac case on Friday, February 14, 2014. According to Investigative Producer Jim O’Donnell, the new ABC story will examine one of the many tips reported to police regarding possible Zodiac suspects. This time, a New York man claims that a friend once confessed that he was the Zodiac killer. The segment will also include a brief recap of the Bay Area crimes. The Zodiac story will air during the 11:00 PM news broadcast and will available to view on the ABC 7 website approximately one hour later at midnight (Pacific Standard Time).

* RADIO INTERVIEW: February 2, 2014 – On January 31, 2014, I was a guest on “The Fringe Radio Show” to discuss the unsolved “Zodiac” murders and other infamous serial killer. An archived recording of the 2-hour broadcast is now available at the K-Talk Radio Archives. Click on the following link to listen to the show: The Fringe Radio Show with Michael Butterfield.

* UPDATE: November 22, 2013 – In November 1969, the Zodiac mailed one of his most baffling clues and a letter including one of his most controversial claims. The killer sent a greeting card along with his second cipher consisting of 340 symbols. In his next communication, the Zodiac wrote that he was angered by the “lies” told by police who claimed that he had left fingerprints at the crime scene and had been seen by witnesses. The Zodiac announced that he would change his “way of collecting slaves” and disguise his future murders as routine robberies, accidents and other random crimes. The killer also claimed that San Francisco police had stopped him near the scene of his last murder but had inexplicably allowed him to escape justice. The 340 CIPHER: Dead Ends examines some of the solutions offered by amateur code breakers. 

* UPDATE: OCTOBER 30, 2013 – 47 years ago, Cheri Jo Bates was murdered near the campus of the Riverside City College library. One month after the murder, someone mailed an envelope to the offices of the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper. The envelope contained a typed letter titled “The Confession” which included an account of the murder and the warning that more victims were to come. Six months after the murder, someone mailed three handwritten notes to the newspaper, the police and the father of Cheri Jo Bates. The author wrote, “Bates had to die. There will be more.” Three years later, the Zodiac surfaced in Northern California with bizarre letters sent to newspapers and a horrific series of seemingly inexplicable murders. Riverside police contacted Zodiac investigators with the suspicion that their unsolved case was linked to the Zodiac crimes. Many investigators believed that the Zodiac had killed Bates and some handwriting experts concluded that the Zodiac was responsible for the Riverside writings. In November 1970, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery revealed the so-called “Riverside connection” and Cheri Jo Bates became known as the Zodiac’s first known victim. In one letter, the Zodiac wrote, “I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there.” The Riverside Police Department later declared that Bates had been killed by someone she had known and officially denied that the Zodiac was responsible for the crime. The RPD then discovered that DNA evidence found at the murder scene did not match their suspect, but the department continued to insist that the suspect had killed Bates and the Zodiac was not involved. Decades after the murder, the case remains unsolved and the shadow of the Zodiac still haunts this mystery. Read more in the ZodiacKillerFacts blog entry RIVERSIDE ACTIVITY: Unsolved Mysteries.

* MEDIA UPDATE: August 30, 2013 – Former KGO-TV reporter Richard Carlson shares his memories of the Zodiac case in a new article posted at WeeklyStandard.com titled Signs of the Zodiac. Highlights include:

* Carlson recalls visiting the scene of the Stine murder in San Francisco on the night of the crime.

* A behind-the scenes account during the now-infamous televised exchange between attorney Melvin Belli and the Zodiac impostor known as “Sam” on The Jim Dunbar Show.

* A look at the events surrounding the proposed meeting between Belli and Sam after the television broadcast.

Find a link to the story and read more at the ZodiacKillerFacts Forum or go directly to the article Signs of the Zodiac.

* UPDATE: July 26, 2013 – Forty-three years ago today, the Zodiac mailed one of his most baffling clues and inspired one the most persistent myths in the history of the case. Read the ZodiacKillerFACTS article THE RADIAN THEORY: Mistakes in the Myth-Making and learn how to debunk this myth using a map, a protractor and the facts.

* UPDATE: July 22, 2013 – San Francisco’s Old Mint recently hosted a special screening of the 2007 film ZODIAC. Inspector Pamela Hofsass attended the screening and reportedly told the audience that the SFPD has obtained a partial profile of Zodiac DNA. The SFPD had previously reported the same news more than a decade ago but the latest rumors indicate that investigators are still working to obtain new evidence which could finally solve the Zodiac mystery. Read the ZodiacKillerFacts blog entry ZODIAC DNA: A Question of Answers or visit the ZodiacKillerFacts Forum to discuss this and other case-related issues.

* UPDATE: June 7, 2013 – Dave Oranchak’s site ZodiacKillerCiphers.com features a new article about Zodiac theorist Gareth Penn and math and science writer Martin Gardner, the author of the column Mathematical Games for the magazine Scientific American. The article, titled Gardner and Penn, Jekyll and Hyde, focuses on Penn’s writings and Gardner’s opinions regarding Penn’s theories about the Zodiac ciphers and other material. The ZodiacKillerFacts Blog page has been updated with a new post regarding Oranchak’s article which includes links to various articles related to Penn and his theories. [NOTE: Thanks to Dave Oranchak for obtaining and sharing the collection of Gardner documents.]

* UPDATE: June 2, 2013 – The Benicia Herald featured a story about former Benicia police Chief Pierre Bidou discussing the Zodiac case with students of the Benicia Citizens Police Academy. Read the article: Citizens Police Academy: Signs of the Zodiac.

* UPDATE: On April 17, 2013, the Napa Valley Register reported the death of Napa Police officer David Slaight. On the night of September 27, 1969, Slaight was assigned to dispatcher duty and received a telephone call from an individual who claimed to be responsible for the stabbing at Lake Berryessa. Slaight described the phone call attributed to “the Zodiac killer” in his interviews for the 2003 television documentary COLD CASE FILES as well as the 2007 documentary THIS IS THE ZODIAC SPEAKING. Slaight died at the age of 68 after he was diagnosed as suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Vallejo Police dispatcher Nancy Slover Earp had also received a phone call from an individual who claimed to be responsible for a previous attack attack at Blue Rock Springs Park as well as two other murders. She appeared in several television documentaries including HAUNTING EVIDENCE and MYSTERYQUEST. Nancy Slover-Earp died in 2012. The passing of both Nancy Slover-Earp and David Slaight closed a chapter in history as they were the only two people to have allegedly spoken to the Zodiac killer by telephone. Bryan Hartnell, the man who survived the stabbing at Lake Berryessa, remains the only living person believed to have spoken with the Zodiac killer. 

* UPDATE – ZODIAC BOOKS: Several new books focus on the unsolved mystery of “the Zodiac killer.”

* FRINGE: The ZODIAC PARADOX features characters from the popular FOX science fiction television series FRINGE. In an interview posted at Suvudu.com, author Christa Faust offered this description of the plot. “It starts in the late sixties, when young graduate students Walter Bishop and William Bell are testing a special blend of perception-altering chemicals at Reiden Lake. Their artificially enhanced minds accidentally open a rift between universes and allow a vicious serial killer to escape into our world. The killer is profoundly changed and unnaturally enhanced by their psychic encounter, but it isn’t until 1974 that Walter learns the true nature of the monster they have unleashed. It’s up to him, along with Bell and Nina Sharp, to find a way to stop him.” 

* HUNTER AMONG THE STARS by John Robert Jordan is described as “A Critical Look at the Zodiac Killer as Serial Killer, Occultist, and Speller.” Amazon.com offers the following description of the book: “Hunter Among the Stars is a critical re-examination of the Zodiac Killer’s tragic murder spree. Beginning with a “blitz attack” restatement of the “Zodiac Mythos”, the author quickly establishes his own premise; the Zodiac Killer’s unique pathology and it’s interface with his hitherto unidentified occult practice. After meticulously reconstructing each crime and deconstructing each investigation, the author provides the first systematic diagnostic analysis of the Zodiac’s Killer’s spelling errors in forty years. Critically evaluating the modern technique of profiling, Hunter identifies the fallacies inherent in all Zodiac profiles, and concludes by revealing the personation or “signature” on a “Zodiac kill” linking it to the killer’s use of occult astrology and belief. Hunter offers investigatrs and readers alike the first testable hypothesis forever answer the twofold question of how many victims Zodiac murdered and whether the killer moved his homicidal enterprise elsewhere.” [Note: All spelling errors contained in the original text.]

* ZODIAC CRACKED: THE MANIFESTATION OF A KILLER presents yet another solution to the Zodiac mystery. Amazon.com offers the following information regarding the author: “Marianne Koerfer is a retired Police Secretary and a native Chicagoan. She is the author of two civic articles, Creating Opportunities for The Employee Who is Disabled and Law Enforcement Opportunities. Her current focus is directed toward reviewing, researching, and writing about cold cases. She strives to bring long neglected cases out from the archives and back into the open case status by developing a fresh profile of a viable suspect through an intense reinterpretation of the evidence and circumstances of these dark crimes.

* UPDATE: August 20, 2012 – Mike Morford of the website Zodiackillersite.com has obtained more than 900 pages of FBI documents via a Freedom of Information Act request and he generously shared these documents with the research community. Information regarding these files and links to view the documents are available at the ZodiacKillerFacts Blog page.

* UPDATE: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 – The release of a new book by long-time Zodiac theorist Lyndon Lafferty has sparked a wave of media coverage announcing that the Zodiac killer has been identified. Those who are new to this story, and Lafferty’s history, may be tempted to believe that the case has finally been solved, but the facts tell a very different story. Lafferty has been accusing his suspect for decades and has never presented any credible evidence to implicate his suspect, the man identified in Robert Graysmith’s book ZODIAC as “Andrew Todd Walker.” Lafferty is a retired law enforcement officer, but law enforcement agencies have dismissed his claims and theories and authorities have no interest in pursuing his solution to the case. According to Lafferty and his book, the investigation of his suspect was thwarted by a biased judge and others, including Pam Huckaby, sister of Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin. Pam now claims that Lafferty’s suspect is the man who allegedly stalked Darlene in the months before she was killed. Lafferty claims that Pam betrayed his confidence, leaked sensitive information to irresponsible parties, and destroyed any hope to ever charge and prosecute Lafferty’s suspect. “Andrew Todd Walker” died in February, 2012, shortly before the release of Lafferty’s book, THE ZODIAC KILLER COVER-UP. For more information, including links to the related news stories featuring excerpts of a recent interview with Pam Huckaby, read the ZodiacKillerFACTS blog entry The ZODIAC KILLER COVER-UP: A Bad Case of Deja Vu.

* TV ALERT: The case of the Zodiac killer and other California crime stories will be featured on the Travel Channel series “Hidden City” hosted by writer Marcus Sakey. The Hidden City webpage offers this synopsis of the broadcast: “Marcus examines the infamous murder of Harvey Milk, rides along with the San Jose police to uncover the fear and greed which created the Vigilance Committee during the gold rush, and gets inside the mind of the Zodiac killer.” The show will air on Tuesday January 10, 2012 at 10:00 PM and again at 1:00 AM in the Mountain Time Zone. Check your local listings for the Pacific, Central and Eastern times zones, or, consult the Travel Channel schedule.

* UPDATE: January 3, 2012: ZodiacKillerFACTS.com has been updated with four pages designed to provide basic information about the Zodiac case. The Case Summary has been revised, expanded and updated with more information on various aspects of the case. A Reference Information Page has been added which provides basic information such as the names of the victims, the law enforcement agencies involved, the recipients of Zodiac communications, and a list of Zodiac-related books, films and television broadcasts. A new section titled Zodiac: UNSUB offers two pages featuring information regarding The Eyewitness Descriptions and The Psychological Portraits of the Zodiac killer. The site has also been revised for easy access to basic information with a link to The ZODIAC CASE FILES, including the police reports and other official documents regarding the original Zodiac investigation. This new page features a filing cabinet approach to the files produced by the Benicia Police Department, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the Vallejo Police Department, the Napa County Sheriff’s Department, the San Francisco Police Deparment, the California Department of Justice, the FBI and other official agencies involved in the investigations of the known and suspected Zodiac crimes.

January 2012 marks the fifth anniversary since ZodiacKillerFACTS.com was first launched in 2007. Throughout the new year, other areas of the site will be revised, expanded and updated to include more information about the case and other material which may be of interest to regular visitors and new visitors. The Mysteries of the Mt. Diablo Map contains several pages devoted to the Zodiac’s so-called “Mt. Diablo map” and other clues. The first article serves as a basic introduction to this enigmatic piece of the Zodiac’s legacy. The second article Radians & Inches focuses on the Zodiac’s mathematical clues. The Mt. Diablo Map provides a unique look at one of the Zodiac’s most cryptic clues. Zodiac researcher Ed Neil obtained a copy of the same road map used by the Zodiac. Ed’s photographs may be useful to those with questions about the Zodiac’s map. Radians: By the Textbook features pages from an 11th year high school textbook which explain the use of radians and inches in mathematics. The ZodiacKillerFACTS Document Gallery features a collection of FBI files about the Zodiac case which is presented in chronological order, organized and listed by month and year for easy reference (the remaining sections will be added soon). This site also features a comprehensive list of links to the original police reports, crime scene sketches, official documents, photographs, videos and other material which is organized by each of the four known Zodiac crimes as well as other cases possibly linked to the killer. The Document Gallery includes a collection of the Zodiac letters, other possible communications, and suspected forgeries. The ZKF Blog page features periodic updates and articles about new developments, media reports, and case-related issues. This page also includes a list of links to reliable Zodiac websites and sources. The ZodiacKillerFACTS forum offers a place for discussion about the case, the exchange of information, and the examination of theories (membership is free). Credible tips, case-related information and legitimate inquiries should be directed to info@zodiackillerfacts.com.

* TV ALERT: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 – Director David Fincher’s movie version of the Zodiac story airs tonight on the Independent Film Channel. The IFC website states that the film will air at 12:30 AM Eastern Time (late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning). Check your local listings for times in your area or check the schedule at IFC.com. A scene-by-scene examination of the film and its factual accuracy is available in the ZodiackillerFACTS article titled FACT vs. FINCHER.

* ANNIVERSARY: October 11, 2011 – Tuesday marks the 42nd anniversary of the Zodiac’s last known killing, the murder of San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine. To learn more about this case and view original police reports, other official documents and photographs, click here.

* TV ALERT: August 4, 2011 – Director David Fincher’s movie version of the Zodiac story airs tonight on the Independent Film Channel. The film be will be repeated twice in a back-to-back broadcast. Check your local listings for times in your area or check the schedule at IFC.com. A scene-by-scene examination of the film and its factual accuracy is available in the ZodiackillerFACTS article titled FACT vs. FINCHER.

* UPDATE: August 1, 2011 – Recently, several news reports have stated that the Zodiac’s infamous “340 cipher” had been solved by a resident of Tewksbury, Massachusetts named Corey Starliper. The alleged solution ends with the line, “MY NAME IS LEIGH ALLEN,” an obvious reference to the once-prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. The overwhelming majority of those who have examined Starliper’s solution have deemed his work invalid and critics have challenged his questionable methods. Starliper contacted me in late June 2011, and I have added a new blog entry about this issue titled, “The STARLIPER SOLUTION.” This blog page also features links to news stories about Starliper’s claims and links to articles which critique and debunk Starliper’s methods and findings.

* RADIO INTERVIEW: July 27, 2011 – I was a guest on the Ireland radio show hosted by author and broadcaster Sean Moncrieff. After a basic run down of the case itself, Sean and I discussed several issues, including the recent claims by amateur “code-breaker” Corey Starliper. You can listen to the segment by clicking on the following link; the interview starts just before the 5 minute mark. The Sean Moncrieff Show.

* UPDATE: July 21, 2011 – The ZodiacKillerFACTS.com Document Gallery has been updated to include the infamous “code key” sent to the Vallejo Police Department on August 10, 1969. This “key” was mentioned in the Vallejo police reports but has never been available to the general public. The individuals known as “morf” and “AK Wilks” sent a Freedom of Information request to the FBI and received copies of the original envelope, the note card and the key itself. [Note: Special thanks to “morf” and “AK Wilks” for their persistence and generosity.]

* UPDATE: May 28, 2011 – The ZodiacKillerFacts.com Document Gallery has been updated to include two suspected “Zodiac” forgeries: A card sent in October, 1970 which read in part, “YOU ARE NEXT,” and the so-called “Equinox” letter sent in 1972. Neither letter is included on the list of authenticated Zodiac letters. These messages are presented with the corresponding pages from the FBI files regarding the Zodiac case. View the “You Are Next” Card or view the “Equinox” letter. [Note of thanks: The letters were obtained by morf (of zodiackillersite) via the Freedom of Information Act and were provided to ZodiacKillerFacts.com by AK Wilks.]

* UPDATE: March 29, 2011 – ZodiacKillerFacts.com and the Document Gallery have been updated to include the suspected Zodiac forgery mailed in Atlanta, Georgia during the notorious “Atlanta Child Murders.” The letter was postmarked March 8, 1981. The author claimed to be the Zodiac and signed the message with a crossed-circle symbol. CLICK HERE to view the letter and corresponding pages from the FBI files regarding the Zodiac case. [Note of thanks: The letter was obtained by morf (of zodiackillersite) via the Freedom of Information Act and was provided to ZodiacKillerFacts.com by AK Wilks.]

* TV ALERT: March 28, 2011 The AMC network broadcast a new series of documentary vignettes titled The UNSOLVEDWATCH THE VIDEO. The first segment focused on the Zodiac case and featured brief interviews with author Susan Milano Murphy, author John Gilmore (Severed), author Michael Connelly, and FBI profiler Jim Clemente. Host Dan Abrams introduced and narrated the segment which included a brief synopsis of the case as well as briefs clips of vintage news footage featuring Det. Les Lundblad, Bryan Hartnell and others. In a melodramatic introduction, Abrams said: “The ideals of the 1960s were born in California’s Bay Area, and that’s where some would argue they died, smothered by a costumed serial killer who worked in shotguns, hunting knives and cryptograms. Local police forces clashed, careers ruined, and a new kind of monster emerged. He took five confirmed victims with as many as two dozen more suspected but never proven. The series of lover’s lane murders committed by the man still only known as the Zodiac remain unsolved.” The Zodiac did not use a shotgun in any of his known or suspected crimes, and claims of police clashes have been greatly exaggerated by the media and others over the years. The program did not include any new or important information. AMC’s limited series of vignettes will continue throught the last week of March leading up to the April 3rd premiere of the new series The KILLING. On Tuesday, March 29, AMC will broadcast the film ERASER along with another UNSOLVED vignette about the unsolved murder of Jon Benet Ramsey.

* The Zodiac Killer on AMC’s The UNSOLVED – Susan Murphy Milano Tapped for New AMC Network Project “The Unsolved” Produced by Eight Time Emmy Nominated, Jeff Roe – Nationally recognized Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Expert and Author, Susan Murphy Milano has recently been invited to participate in a new project by the producers and host of the short-form documentary series, “The Unsolved.” This nightly series leads the way towards the premier of the new original drama, “The Killing” premiering Sunday, April 3 at 9pm ET on AMC (amctv.com). “The Unsolved” will focus on true-life unsolved crimes such as Jon Benet Ramsey, The Black Dahlia, Natalee Holloway, Marilyn Sheppard, The Alphabet Murders, and The Zodiac Killer. Host Dan Abrams’ voice will guide viewers through the evidence packed presentations of each of these cases along with Murphy Milano’s commentary. Each night the shows will delve into the lives of the people most affected by these crimes, using footage, police reports and news stories, the cases will be fleshed out quickly, but huge in content so viewers will come away with a better understanding of, not only the crime itself, but its ramifications upon friends, politicians, media, detectives and family members whose lives are forever changed. The goal of the series is to produce compelling, not sensationalized, treatments of each case through interviews and visuals that will keep viewers engaged, yet aiming to be sympathetic and respectful to the victims and loved ones left in the wake of the events of the trauma and its inevitable aftermath. Outlaw Laboratories and eight time Emmy Award nominee, Jeff Roe will produce and direct each of the shows in the series, told in a stylistically different approach that won’t rely on re-enactments, but will be chocked full of evidence directly from the case files. NOTE: The AMC series The UNSOLVED is actually a series of vignettes. Each segment will last approximately 3-5 minutes and will be shown during the broadcasts of six true story films over six nights. The Zodiac segment is reportedly scheduled to air during the broadcast of the gangster film GOODFELLAS on the night of March 28, 2011. [See also: SusanMurphyMilano.com and AMC TV Originals “The Killing”.]

* NEW: March 21, 2011: A new section titled The Mysteries of the Mt. Diablo Map contains several pages devoted to the Zodiac’s so-called “Mt. Diablo map.” The first article serves as a basic introduction to this enigmatic piece of the Zodiac’s legacy. The second article Radians & Inches focuses on the Zodiac’s mathematical clues. The Mt. Diablo Map provides a unique look at one of the Zodiac’s most cryptic clues. Zodiac researcher Ed Neil recently tracked down and purchased a copy of the same road map used by the Zodiac. Ed’s photographs may be useful to those with questions about the Zodiac’s map. Radians: By the Textbook features pages from an 11th year high school textbook which explain the use of radians and inches in mathematics. More information is also available in the article titled Gareth Penn and the Radian Theory.

* TV ALERT: February 19, 2011: NBC’s THE TODAY SHOW aired a segment on the Zodiac case which featured Dave Collins and Dick Lonergan of the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, FBI profiler Cliff Van Zant, author Robert Graysmith, and Zodiac survivor Bryan Hartnell. WATCH THE VIDEO or read the story at the NapaValleyRegister.com.

* TV ALERT: February 19, 2011: AMERICA’S MOST WANTED aired a segment on the Zodiac case which featured a photograph showing Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin and an “unidentified man.” The AMW website states that “police want to know who he is.” Read more about the issues surrounding this photograph in the article Darlene Ferrin and the Unidentified Man or join the discussion at the Zodiackillerfacts.com FREE FORUM.

* Featured Blog: Remembering the GOOD TIMES and Richard Gaikowski with “Becky Sharp”

* NEW: The MYTHS & LEGENDS section has been updated with new articles regarding the Ferrin case, including: Darlene Ferrin MYTHS: The BeginningThe Painting Party, The Stalker and “Andrew Todd Walker”, and an examination of the 1991 Geraldo Rivera television broadcasts regarding the life and death of Darlene Ferrin, NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: The Rest of the Story, including links to watch the original programs.

* TIT WILLOW: THE STORY OF THE ZODIAC KILLER by Judith Chapman presents yet-another “I-knew-the-Zodiac-killer” tale. Chapman accuses her now-deceased husband Peter Plante. Amazon.com offers the following summary of Chapman’s book: “This book details the murders of the Zodiac Killer of the San Francisco Bay Area of the 1960’s. The author describes twenty years of terror, living with the man she believes to be the Zodiac. The book includes handwriting evidence and a solution to the “My name is ..” cipher.

47 years ago…

47 years ago, Cheri Jo Bates was murdered near the campus of the Riverside City College library. One month after the murder, someone mailed an envelope to the offices of the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper. The envelope contained a typed letter titled “The Confession” which included an account of the murder and the warning that more victims were to come. Six months after the murder, someone mailed three handwritten notes to the newspaper, the police and the father of Cheri Jo Bates. The author wrote, “Bates had to die. There will be more.” Three years later, the Zodiac surfaced in Northern California with bizarre letters sent to newspapers and a horrific series of seemingly inexplicable murders. Riverside police contacted Zodiac investigators with the suspicion that their unsolved case was linked to the Zodiac crimes. Many investigators believed that the Zodiac had killed Bates and some handwriting experts concluded that the Zodiac was responsible for the Riverside writings. In November 1970, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery revealed the so-called “Riverside connection” and Cheri Jo Bates became known as the Zodiac’s first known victim. In one letter, the Zodiac wrote, “I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there.” The Riverside Police Department later declared that Bates had been killed by someone she had known and officially denied that the Zodiac was responsible for the crime. The RPD then discovered that DNA evidence found at the murder scene did not match their suspect, but the department continued to insist that the suspect had killed Bates and the Zodiac was not involved. Decades after the murder, the case remains unsolved and the shadow of the Zodiac still haunts this mystery. Read more in the ZodiacKillerFacts blog entry RIVERSIDE ACTIVITY: Unsolved Mysteries.

MEDIA UPDATE

Former KGO-TV reporter Richard Carlson shares his memories of the Zodiac case in a new article posted at WeeklyStandard.com titled Signs of the Zodiac. Highlights include:

* Carlson recalls visiting the scene of the Stine murder in San Francisco on the night of the crime.

* A behind-the scenes account during the now-infamous televised exchange between attorney Melvin Belli and the Zodiac impostor known as “Sam” on The Jim Dunbar Show.

* A look at the events surrounding the proposed meeting between Belli and Sam after the television broadcast.

Find a link to the story and read more at the ZodiacKillerFacts Forum or go directly to the article Signs of the Zodiac.