Zodiac Killer: STILL Unsolved

Lake Herman Road

Okay, so before we jump into the case today, we just want to kind of touch base on this case as a whole.  It’s one of our most requested cases, and it’s been covered by a TON of different places.  From podcasts to books to documentaries, there is a ton of information out there regarding Zodiac.  You could, and people have, make your entire career about this case.  To start, we’ll just lay out what this episode will and won’t be.  This case is one of the biggest “rabbit holey” (is that a word?) cases of all time.  You pull one thread and the next thing you know, you’ve been watching YouTube videos for 5 hours and you’re still wearing your PJ’s and forgotten to shower. 

We’re going to go over victims and crimes that are considered “confirmed” to be attributed to Zodiac.   We’ll dive into the letters and ciphers he sent to police and media, and then we’ll take a look at some of the more popular or likely suspects.  We’re going to focus more on the broad strokes of this case than the nitty gritty details.  We are not going to sit here and solve this case today.  At the end, we’re not going to have a big revelation and say “We can prove without a doubt that your mama’s Jack Russell is the Zodiac killer.”  But maybe, as we go along, we will learn something new about this case, and why it’s considered to be one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries in the US and the World. 

Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday were both murdered in December of 1968.  They are considered by most to be Zodiac’s first victims.  David and Betty were out on their first date the night they were killed.  When looking into their deaths, there are 2 different stories of what they did that night. One was that they went to go to a Christmas concert at the high school near Betty’s home, and afterwards, went for a drive and ended up on Lake Herman Rd.   The other story is that they decided to go visit a friend of theirs for a while, then go to a local restaurant and have dinner.  After eating, they went for a drive.  

In both stories, David and Betty Lou end up on Lake Herman Rd.  around  10:15 PM. David pulled his mother’s Rambler onto a small, gravel side road.  It was a known “makeout point,” where teens often parked their cars to .. get closer to one another.  It’s really unclear and unknown exactly what happened after the couple pulled off of Lake Herman Rd.  We’re talking about the late 60s, so the forensics that we know today weren’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye.  What is known though is that by 11:20 PM, both were dead.  Their bodies were discovered by Stella Borges, who lived about a mile and a half away from the gravel road pull off.  She found their bodies outside of the car and quickly jumped in her car and raced to town to get the authorities.  She ran into a captain while driving, and by 11:28 PM, he was on the scene. 

David was found lying near the car’s rear right passenger wheel.  He had suffered a gunshot to the left side of his head.  He was still breathing.  He was rushed from the scene to the nearest hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:05 AM.  Investigators thoughts are that Betty Lou exited the passenger side of the vehicle and tried to run away, either of her own volition, or ordered to by the killer.  She made it 33 feet from the Rambler when she was gunned down, sustaining 5 gunshot wounds to her back.  She stumbled for a few seconds, then fell backwards.  When authorities arrived on the scene initially, Betty Lou had already passed away. 

There were 2 bullet holes in the Rambler that David drove, suspected to be warning shots.  There were witnesses who claimed that they saw two cars parked by each other around the time the murders took place.  He estimated that he drove by the scene around 11:14 PM, on his way into the graveyard shift he was working.  He said that he saw the two cars parked but didn’t see anyone.  He couldn’t give a make or model of the cars, but in a police report said that about 30 seconds or so after he passed, he heard what could have been a gunshot.  Another set of witnesses passed through the area at 11:00 PM and saw two people in the Rambler, a boy and a girl, presumably Betty Lou and David.  

With very little evidence to go on, investigators began their search for the killer. 

Blue Rock Springs

In July of 1969, Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin pulled into Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, Ca.  It had been about 6 months since David and Betty Lou were murdered around 4 miles from where Michael and Darlene were.  It was just before midnight on July 4th when they parked.  While they sat in Darlene’s car, a second car drove up and parked beside them.  After sitting for only a few moments though, the car quickly drove away.  10 minutes later though, it returned and parked right behind Michael and Darlene.  

As soon as the man stopped and parked, he was out of the car and making his way to the passenger side of the car.  He had a high powered flashlight, and from inside, he appeared to be a police officer because of the way he moved and his demeanor.  It wouldn’t be out of the norm for a police officer to show up and run a young couple off while they were parked, possibly getting up to no good, possibly smoking the devil’s lettuce.  Michael fumbled inside for his ID, expecting the officer to ask for it, but while he was looking, the man raised a 9MM handgun and fired five shots into the car, striking both Michael and Darlene.  

Michael quickly tried to jump into the back seat of the car as the man shot.  After the five shots, the man walked away.  As he walked away though, Michael called out for help.  This drew the attention of the shooter, who returned and fired two more shots into each Darlene and Michael.  

About 800 feet from where the young couple was shot, sat the house of the park’s caretaker.  His son, George Bryant recalled that night that he heard some fireworks going off then they stopped.  A short time later he heard what appeared to be gunshots, much louder than the firecrackers earlier.  After a few moments, more shots rang out, followed by a car driving away at a high speed.  He wasn’t sure which way it went though.  

The gunshots were reported, and officers began to show up and investigate.  They found Michael and Darlene, both shot.  One officer rushed to Darlene and tried to talk to her and ask what happened.  She was in shock from her injuries though, and he was unable to make out what she was trying to say.  Both were rushed to the hospital.  The ambulance crew worked tirelessly as they sped to the hospital, but Darlene Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:38 AM at Kaiser Hospital. 

Whether  you want to call it a stroke of luck or an honest to God miracle, Michael survived despite his wounds.  While he was still in the hospital, he was able to give investigators a description of the assailant.  He described a heavyset man, around 5 feet 8 inches tall.  He said the man was big, but not fat, not “blubbery”, he estimated he was around 195 to 200 pounds.  Michael said the man had short, light brown, almost blonde curly hair.  He said that the man didn’t have glasses, but made it a point to say that the man’s face was large, like… he went out of his way to say “This guy has a particularly large face.” 

At 12:40 Am on July 5th, less than an hour after the attack, a call was received at the Vallejo Police Department.  It was later traced to a payphone that was actually near Darlene Ferrin’s home.  While she didn’t know it at the time, the 26 year old dispatcher who took the call would become 1 of only 3 people to talk to the Zodiac killer.  She said that the caller spoke in a monotone, rehearsed fashion, saying “I want to report a double murder. If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year…. Good-bye.”  The kids last year was referring to David and Betty Lou

Lake Berryessa

In September of 1969, between 2 and 3 months after Darlene was murdered and Michael was shot, Bryan Hardnell and Cecelia Shepard were picknicing at Lake Berryessa.  As they sat on a blanket, enjoying the afternoon, Cecelia saw a man about two to three hundred yards away.  He was acting strangely, and appeared to be watching them.  He had completely stopped walking and was just staring at them.  They tried to enjoy their day and talked some more, then they noticed that the man was now closer, like 75 feet away.  Cecelia looked away then looked for the man again, but he had disappeared.  Moments later though, she found him. 

The man had stepped behind a tree and put on a costume of sorts.  When he emerged, he was wearing an executioner’s style hood with clip-on sunglasses over the eyes.  On the front he wore a bib style garment, which had a white circle with a cross in the middle, which are now recognized by many as the Zodiac crosshairs.  As he approached, Cecelia told Bryan, “Oh my god, he’s got a gun.”

The hooded man told the couple that he was an escaped convict from either Montana or Colorado (both have been reported).  He claimed to have killed a prison guard and stolen his car. He told them that he needed their car and all the money they had so he could get to Mexico, since the car he was driving was “too hot.”  He had pre-cut lengths of clothes line / rope, and he told Cecelia to tie Bryan up, then he tied her up.  After tying her up, he checked Bryans hands and tied them tighter, suspecting Cecelia left them loose so he could escape.  As they were laying on the ground, hogtied, Bryan asked the man if the gun was even loaded.  In response, the man pulled it out and removed the magazine and showed Bryan that it was indeed loaded. 

Initially, Cecelia suspected that this was just a bizarre robbery and it would be over soon.  Those thoughts faded when the man produced a knife and began to stab both of them.  Bryan was stabbed six times, while Cecelia was stabbed 10 times. Brayn stopped breathing, in an effort to pretend to be dead, hoping the man would leave.  The man then walked away and found their car and drew the Zodiac crosshair on the door in marker and wrote:

• Vallejo
• 12-20-68
• 7-4-69
• Sept 27–69–6:30
• by knife

The dates were those of the previous attacks.  After the man walked away, Bryan and Cecelia managed to escape their bonds.  A man on the lake fishing heard them yell for help and came to their aid, and park rangers were called to the scene, who then called the police and ambulance.  Around 7:40, both Bryan and Cecelia were being treated by first responders, and both gave statements about the events that occurred.  While they were being treated though, a call came into the Napa Police Department.  When the dispatcher answered the call, he heard the following, “I want to report a murder, no, a double murder. They are two miles north of Park Headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Karmann Ghia”  The man paused for a moment and then said, “I’m the one that did it.”  Police traced where the call came from and found a payphone by a car wash.  The receiver dangled and the phone was off the hook.  It was about 30 miles from the crime scene, but only a few blocks from the Sheriff’s office.  Detectives were able to get a palm print off the receiver, but have ever matched it to a suspect.  

Two days after the attack, Cecelia was in the hospital, and succumbed to her injuries and died from extensive internal and external hemorrhage from the knife wounds.  Bryan Hartnell survived the attack and worked with investigators to give as many details as he could recall. 

Presidio Heights

Two weeks after the Lake Berryessa attack, a white male passenger entered a taxi on the intersection of Mason and Geary streets in San Francisco.  He requested a ride to Washington and Maple in Presidio Heights.  The driver, 29 year old Paul Stine didn’t think anything of it and set out on his way.  Paul drove about a block  past Maple street, whether he did it on his own or he was instructed to, we don’t know.  But, the passenger brought out a 9MM firearm and shot Paul in the head.  

The passenger then took Paul’s keys, wallet, and cut a piece from his blood stained shirt to take with him.  There were three teenagers across the street from where the murder took place and witnessed the man take the piece of shirt and wipe down the car before fleeing.  Before he left though, he also wiped down the right front passenger door and driver side door handles.  The youths called the police.  The teens described the man as a white male adult, probably in his early forties, with a heavy build.  They described reddish blond “crew-cut” hair, with eye glasses.  

While they had given a great description, the information given to patrolling officers at the scene was completely wrong.  Whether you chalk it up to poor communication or misinterpretation or some kind of crossed wires, the police were dispatched to be on the lookout for a black male adult.  They didn’t know it at the time, but the Zodiac killer had slipped through their fingertips.  At one point, responding officers saw a man around 5 feet 10 inches, 35 to 45 years old and 180 to 200 pounds walking near Jackson and Maple Street, but since they were told to look for a black man, they didn’t stop the man at all. 

Eye witnesses said that the man exited the cab, and nonchalantly walked up the street.  Around the same time, two officers who were patrolling in the area got the call of the shooting and began to head towards the scene.  One recalled seeing a white man with a crew cut, wearing a navy jacket, and rust / brown colored trousers (both of which were described to the dispatcher by the teens).  Initially, Paul Stine’s murder was thought to be just a random robbery, but that would change.  

Zodiac Speaks

Okay, so we’re jumping back a little bit to go over some of the things that Zodiac mailed to various locations over the years.  

On July 31st, 1969, the Vallejo Times Herald, San Francisco Examiner, and San Francisco Chronicle all received letters from Zodiac.  Each letter was similar in contents, and all claimed that he was responsible for the Lake Herman Rd and Blue Rock Springs attacks. 

Dear Editor

This is the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman + the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo 

To prove I killed them I shall state some facts which only I + the police know. 

Christmass (Lake Herman Rd)

1 Brand name of ammo Super X

2 10 shots were fired

3 the boy was on his back with his feet to the car

4 the girl was on her right side feet to the west. 

4th July (Blue Rock Springs)

1 girl was wearing paterned slacks

2 The boy was also shot in the knee.

3 Brand name of ammo was western 

Here is part of a cipher the other 2 parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of the Vallejo Times and SF Examiner (Each letter had the names of the other 2 newspapers). I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper. In this cipher is my idenity. If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend.  

Each letter contained part of a cipher containing 136 characters.  They are known collectively as the 408 Cipher.  The letter mailed to the San Fran Chronicle differed from the other two in one section.  In this letter, he specifically stated “in this cipher is my identity.”  

About a week after the cipher was received and published for the public, it was cracked by Donald and Bettye Harden.  After solving the cipher, it turned out to be the killer’s thoughts and ramblings, with several misspellings.  Although he said it would contain his identity, it did not. It did contain references to The Most Dangerous Game, a story about a man who falls off a yacht and swims to an abandoned island.. That isn’t as abandoned as he thought.   It’s owned by a Russian millionaire who hunts him for sport. 

In the letters, he also claimed that he was collecting souls to be his slaves in the afterlife.  He said he would not give his name because it would slow down his collection of afterlife slaves. 

After Paul Stine was murdered, The San Fran Chronicle received another letter.  This one included a section of Paul Stine’s shirt that was taken when he was killed, as proof of his involvement.  In this letter, he said,  “I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning, just shoot out the front tire & then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.”  This led to fear and panic throughout the city, and no one took the threats lightly, because Zodiac had already proven he was willing to murder brutally whenever he wanted. 

In a second letter regarding the Paul Stine murder, Zodiac stated “p.s. 2 cops pulled a goof abot 3 min after I left the cab. I was walking down the hill to the park when this cop car pulled up + one of them called me over + asked if I saw anyone acting suspicious or strange in the last 5 to 10 min + I said yes there was this man who was runnig by waveing a gun & the cops peeled rubber + went around the corner as I directed them + I disappeared into the park a block + a half away never to be seen again.”

On November 8th, 1969 another cipher was received from Zodiac, this one consisting of 340 characters;  it was dubbed the 340 cipher.  For 51 years, it went unsolved.  In December of 2020 though, it was solved by a group of private citizens.  In the message, he claimed that he was not scared of the gas chamber because it would get him to paradise sooner.  The team who cracked the code sent everything to the FBI to verify, and they confirmed that it had been solved, but the cipher itself didn’t contain any further clues to Zodiac’s identity.  

Zodiac continued to communicate with the media and authorities over the years via letters or greeting cards.  In one, he wrote “My name is _______” followed by a 13 character cipher, which has never been solved.  Throughout the years, he sent messages referring to a bomb that he had built / was building.  At various times, he wrote and claimed responsibility for various murders or abductions, but these were never confirmed to be committed by Zodiac.  

The final confirmed Zodiac communication arrived in January of 1974.  It praised The Exorcist as “the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen.”  It included a verse from “The Mikado”, and an unusual symbol at the bottom, which has never been explained or figured out.  In his letters, Zodiac had been ending with a score count of sorts.  Example: Zodiac = 10 SFPD = 0.  This final letter ended “Me= 37, SFP = 0,” meaning in his final letter, he claimed he was responsible for 37 deaths.  

Over the years, there have been other letters received that have never been proven to be from Zodiac himself.  While many contained similar wording and phrasing, their authenticity is in question.   

Suspects

Arthur Leigh Allen is perhaps the most popular suspect.  He was interviewed by police in the early days of the Zodiac investigation, and had been served with search warrants several times.  In 1969, he was interviewed and  was reported to be in the vicinity of where Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were attacked at Lake Berryessa.  He claimed to be scuba diving in the area on the day of the attack.  A few years later, Allen would show up on investigators radar again when a friend reported him for talking about a desire to kill people, using the name Zodiac, and getting a flashlight to secure it to a gun for use at night.  The friend claimed that his conversation happened before January 1, 1969.  

In 1974, Allen was arrested and convicted of sexually assaulting a 12 year old boy.  He served two years in prison.  Arthur Leigh Allen died in 1992. In July of 1992, Michael Mageau picked Allen out of a photo lineup, saying “That’s Him!  That’s the man who shot me.”  One of the officers who saw him flee the Paul Stine crime scene said that Allen weighed at least 100 pounds more than the man he saw though.  

In 2002, a DNA profile was made from saliva pulled from the stamps that Zodiac sent.  The profile was tested against Allen, and it was not a match.  A retired handwriting expert was given boxes of samples of Allen’s handwriting, and after comparing it to the letters received from Zodiac, concluded that Allen wasn’t Zodiac.  Coupled with the DNA results, Allen was officially ruled out as a suspect, although many investigators involved still believe that he was the Zodiac killer.  

Investigators compared the fingerprint they took from the payphone to Ted Bundy’s fingerprints; he was obviously not a match.

At one point, Ted Kaczynski was investigated as possibly being the Zodiac killer, but he was ruled out via fingerprint and handwriting analysis.  

Members of the Manson family were also investigated, but eventually eliminated as well.  

In October of 2021, a team of 40 cold case investigators consisting of former law enforcement, military intelligence officers, and journalists claimed that Gary Francis Poste was the Zodiac killer.  Poste died in 2018 at the age of 80.  The team claimed that they had uncovered forensic evidence and photos from Poste’s own darkroom.  They also claimed that Poste had scars on his forehead that matched the Zodiac.  

The FBI stated that the case of the Zodiac killer remains open and there is no new information to report.  Many say that the case against Poste is largely circumstantial, and that there are no eyewitness accounts that even mention Zodiac having scars on his forehead. 

To this day, Zodiac has never been officially identified or arrested, and as we stated at the beginning, it remains one of the most notorious unsolved cases in the US and around the world.  

We’ve only scratched the surface of everything that’s available in the case of the Zodiac Killer.  If you want to dive into the case yourself, “Zodiac” by Robert Graysmith is a great place to start.  There are several podcasts out there that go over the case in several parts / episodes.  If you’re more in the mood for a docudrama type deal, Zodiac, released in 2007 stars Jake Gylenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo, and tells the story of Zodiac as well.  It was based in part on the book written by Robert Graysmith.