The Zodiac Killer 1968-1969
The Zodiac Killer
Case Overview
From the most famous unsolved hijacking in U.S history, we will go through the most famous unsolved serial killer case in U.S history. The Zodiac killer, who operated in Northern California in the late 1960’s. We will examine the known and confirmed victims, the claims made in letters to law enforcement, other possible or connected victims and of course some of the suspects.
Basic Facts
The Zodiac Killer had 5 confirmed victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and November of 1969.
The killer wrote letters to the police taunting them, and claiming up to 37 murders, I will expand on this in the third and final segment of this series
The killer also wrote letters to various newspapers threatening killing sprees and even bombings if the letters weren’t published
Written communications with police and newspapers suddenly ceased in 1974
Law enforcement suspended the investigation and declared the case as “inactive” in 2004, but reopened the file in 2007 after receiving a flood of tips upon the release of the movie “Zodiac” starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
The Victims
David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen both 17, December 20th 1968 killed while fooling around in Faraday’s car on Lake Herman Road in Benicia CA.
Herman parked his AMC Rambler (remember those and how awful they were?) on a gravel turnout just off of Lake Herman Road at approximately 10:20 PM, about an hour later their bodies were discovered by a resident of a nearby home while walking her dog. Evidence at the time suggested that another vehicle pulled up either behind on the side of the Rambler possibly someone posing as a police officer ordering the Faraday and Jensen out of the car, Faraday was shot once in the head as he exited the vehicle, and Jensen was shot 5 times in the back as she tried to flee.
July 4th 1969 Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin were murdered in Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, less that 4 miles from the Lake Herman Road scene. It was the same basic crime, young people making out in a car in a desolate area known for such activity. Mageau survived the attack despite being shot 7 times in the face, neck and chest, and describes the attacker as a 5’10” to 6’1” male with short dark hair and provided a composite sketch of the attacker. The crime was reported by the attacker at a phone booth less than 1 block from the Vallejo Police Department.
September 27th 1969 Bryan Hartell and Cecelia Shepard both students at Pacific Union College were picnicking at Lake Berryessa park on a small island connected by a sand bar to Twin Oak Ridge when they were approached by a white male approximately 6 foot in height wearing a black hood with clip on sunglasses over it he also wore a 3 inch square emblem depicting an even cross symbol with a circle.
The attacker claimed to have escaped from a jail in Montana and needed money to travel to Mexico, the killer using rope that he had brought with him told Shepard to tie Hartell up tightly and then tied her up, Shepard had left Hartell’s hands bound loosely with he then tightened, Hartell believed this to be a robbery or a bizarre practical joke initially, but the killer drew a knife and stabbed both of them repeatedly Hartell 6 times, and Shepard 10 times. The killer then hiked almost 600 yards back to the Hartell’s car and drew the following
Once again the killer called to report his own crimes at 7:40 P.M that evening, upon receiving the call the Police traced it with the help of the phone company to a local car wash, where it was found minutes later still off the hook and connected to the police department. Shepard died two days later from her wounds and blood loss, but Hartell survived.
October 11th 1969 just two weeks after the Lake Berryessa attacks a white male passenger got in to a taxi driven by Paul Stine, at the intersection of Geary and Mason Streets in San Francisco (one block away from Union Square) requesting to be taken to an address on Maple St, near Washington Ave in Presidio Heights. Stine was not familiar with the area drove past Maple to Cherry St, the passenger then pulled a 9MM Luger handgun and shot Stine in the back of the head once, he then took Stine’s wallet, keys, and tore away a section of Stine’s shirt, this was witnessed by three teenagers across the street who called police while the crime was in progress at 9:55 P.M, the man walked away after wiping down the passenger area of the cab and headed north in to the Presidio. Two blocks away officers Don Foulke and Eric Zelm responded to the call and observed a man matching the description given by the teenagers walking along Jackson St he stepped in to a stairway leading up to one of the homes. Officer Foulke estimated the man to be 30-40 years old about 6 feet tell with short brown hair combed back, resembling a crew cut, for an unknown reason a second police dispatcher radioed that the suspect was a black male 25-30 years old, standing 5’8”-5’10” and heavyset.
Police initially believed that the Stine murder was a routine robbery that escalated to homicide, but on October 13th, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter with the torn section of Stine’s shirt and “Zodiac” claiming Responsibility. Over the next days and weeks Police sketch artists would would work with the teenage witnesses to come up with a composite sketch. Over the next 35 years law enforcement would investigate over 3000 suspects for the series of killings and attacks.
Additional Mailings through 1974
October 14th 1969 The San Francisco Chronicle receives another letter from “Zodiac” containing a threat about killing a school bus full of children (if you’re thinking some of this sounds familiar you’re right the Zodiac killer was the inspiration behind “Scorpio” the killer from the original Dirty Harry Movie in 1971) and t accomplish this Zodiac would shoot out one of the tires on the bus with a rifle, and then just pick off the kids one by one as they exited the bus.
October 20th 1969 Oakland Police received a call from someone claiming to be Zodiac demanding that either F Lee Bailey or Melvin Belli appear on a radio show. Belli appeared on the show and the person called in, but was determined to be a patient in a hospital and not Zodiac.
November 8th 1969 Zodiac mailed a card with a 340 character cryptogram. The puzzle remained unsolved until 2020 when a group of mathematicians and software engineers decoded it. The message indicated that Zodiac denied being the person that contacted Oakland P.D on October 20th.
November 9th 1969 The killer mailed a 7 page letter to the San Francisco Chronicle claiming that after Stine’s murder police actually stopped him on the street and spoke with him for almost 3 minutes.
There is one other letter from late 1971, that I will go in to on the third and final installment of this, and is 95% of the basis why I believe that the Zodiac killer and D.B Cooper are the same person. I will also go in to detail the connections between the two, identify the suspect and his connection to the Salt Lake City area between 1972 and 1974.
