The mystery tale of the Zodiac Killer
Time to read: 2 minutes
The Zodiac Killer is one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American History. The serial killer is still unknown to this day, which is really unusual as serial killers do not normally stop until they have been caught.
The Zodiac Killer murdered at least 5 victims in the San Francisco Bay area between December 1968 and October 1969.
The Zodiac Killer got his name after he use to send taunting letters to the regional newspapers. He demanded that his letters were published in the newspapers, and if they wasn’t then he would carry out more horrendous murders.
After being named “The Zodiac Killer” in the Regional newspapers, he started writing letters starting with “This is the Zodiac speaking…”.
Many of his letters were written in cryptograms and it was up to the police to decode his messages. He famously signed all of his letters as a circle and a cross through it, which looked like a target.
In 1968 he shot and killed Betty Jensen who was 16 years old and David Faraday who was 17 years old.
In 1969 he shot another 2 people, they were later named as Darlene Ferrin and Michael Magueu, both of whom were 19 years old. In this instance, Magueu survived the attack however Darlene died.
In 1969 he then stabbed both Bryan Hartnell who was 20 years old and Cecelia Shepard who was 22 years old. Shepard died however Hatnell managed to run away and escape.
In 1969 he then went on to murder Paul Sting who was 29 years old.
Although these were the only known attacks by the Zodiac Killer, in one of his letters he boasted that he had actually killed 37 people.
During his killing spree, he sent over 400 crypted messages, however less than 20 were ever fully decoded.
The letters stopped being sent in 1974 and no-one has ever been arrested.
There were 2 main suspects, Arthur Allen, a convicted sex-offender, and Gary Poste. However, police were unable to gain sufficient evidence to charge either of them with the attacks.
To this day, the Zodiac Killers identity is still a mystery.
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