Category: General

Zodiac Killer
Composite sketch made in 1969 based on eyewitness accounts of the Presidio Heights murder
Criminal status	Unidentified
Motive	Uncertain
Wanted since	1968
Details
Victims	5 confirmed dead, 2 injured, possibly 20–28 total dead (claimed to have killed 37)
Span of crimes	1968–1969[n 1]
Country	United States
State(s)	California, possibly also Nevada
Location(s)	San Francisco Bay Area Napa Valley
Date apprehended	Unapprehended

The Zodiac Killer^{[n 2]} is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s.^{[n 1]} The Zodiac murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, operating in rural, urban and suburban settings. He targeted three young couples and a lone male cab driver. The case has been described as "arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in American history", and has become both a fixture of popular culture and a focus for efforts by amateur detectives.

The Zodiac's known attacks took place in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco proper. Of his seven wounded victims, two survived. He coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. Some of the letters included cryptograms, or ciphers, in which the killer claimed that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. Of the four ciphers he produced, two remain unsolved, while the others were cracked in 1969 and 2020.

The last confirmed Zodiac letter was in 1974, when he claimed to have killed 37 victims. He claimed many of them were in Southern California, including Cheri Jo Bates, who was murdered in Riverside in 1966; a connection between the two has not been proven. While many theories regarding the identity of the Zodiac have been suggested, the only suspect authorities ever publicly named was Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender who died in 1992.

The unusual nature of the case led to international interest that has been sustained throughout the years. The San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" in 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to 2007. The case also remains open in the California Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa and Solano counties.^[1][2]

Murders and correspondence[edit]

45km
30miles

4

3

2

1

  

Map of the Zodiac Killer attacks

1

Murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen

2

Attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin

3

Attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard

4

Murder of Paul Lee Stine

Confirmed attacks[edit]

The Zodiac Killer claimed in messages to newspapers to have committed thirty-seven serial murders. Investigators agree on seven confirmed assault victims, five of whom died and two of whom survived:^[3]

• David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, within the city limits of Benicia, California.
• Michael Renault Mageau (19) and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin (22) were shot around midnight between July 4 and 5, 1969, in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, California. Mageau survived the attack; Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
• Bryan Calvin Hartnell (20) and Cecelia Ann Shepard (22) were stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California. Hartnell survived, but Shepard died as a result of her injuries on September 29.
• Paul Lee Stine (29) was shot and killed on October 11, 1969, in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

Lake Herman Road murders[edit]

The first murders widely attributed to the Zodiac were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday on December 20, 1968. Jensen was a 16-year old student at Hogan High School, and on the night of the 20th she had a date with Faraday, a 17-year old student from the neighboring Vallejo High School. Faraday drove his mother's car to Jensen's house at 8 p.m., and they left in the car at 8:30, driving to the house of one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9, they drove to the outskirts of Vallejo, and parked at a lover's lane on Lake Herman Road. A passing motorist noticed the couple between 10:15 to 10:30, parked on the side of Lake Herman Road, on a gravel runoff near the gate to a water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11.^[4]

The couple were attacked sometime between 11:05 and 11:10. Police determined that an unknown assailant pulled his car up next to Faraday's, about 10 feet away from the passenger's side of the vehicle. He left his vehicle and approached the couple's car, firing several shots inside. The bullets hit various car parts, but not the couple; he may have been trying to force them to leave the vehicle. They both attempted to leave through the passenger door. Jensen was able to get out.^[5] As Faraday was leaving, the assailant shot him in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.^[6][5] The assailant began to chase Jensen, who was running away. He fired six shots at her, hitting her in the back five times. He then left in his vehicle. The police theorized the whole attack took two to three minutes.^[5]

A passing motorist spotted the couple's bodies at 11:10. She drove down the road and flagged a police patrol car to report the scene. The officers in the car immediately went to the scene. Jensen was pronounced dead, and Faraday was still breathing. He was taken to the hospital, but died from his wounds.^[5] Police could find no usable tire or foot prints of the assailant, and there were no witnesses. They were unable to find a motive other than the killer being a "madman". An intensive investigation took place over the following months, but a viable suspect was never developed.^[7] The murders were extensively covered by the media.^[8]

For seven months afterwards, the Zodiac Killer is not confirmed to be active. Author Michael Kelleher and David Van Nuys suggest this was a "cooling off period" to reflect on his actions, experienced by most serial killers.^[8]

Blue Rock Springs murder[edit]

Background[edit]

The couple Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were shot around midnight between July 4 and 5, 1969. Ferrin was fatally wounded, and Mageau survived.^[9] Ferrin was 22, and was popular with many in the community due to her job at a local restaurant. There, she met Michael Mageau, who was 19. They became friends, and went on a date on July 4, despite the fact that Ferrin was still married to Dean Ferrin. After 11:30 p.m. that night, Ferrin received a phone call in her house, probably from Mageau. She left and arrived at Mageau's house around 11:50.^[10]

Afterwards, the facts in the case become "clouded with conflicting statements and speculation". Some information comes from Zodiac researcher Robert Graysmith's work. Allegedly, immediately after Ferrin and Mageau left the house, they started believing or noticed that they were being followed by a man in a light-colored car. For some reason, Darlene started driving out of town in the direction of Lake Herman Road.^[11] Shortly before midnight, she turned her car into an empty parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park.^[11][12][13] It was another popular area for couples, two miles from Lake Herman Road. She parked 70 feet from the lot entrance, and soon, another vehicle parked around 80 feet to her left. The unknown driver, a man, turned the headlights off and sat motionless at the steering wheel. Mageau asked who the driver was, and Ferrin vaguely replied to not be worried about it. The driver then left the parking lot, likely at a high speed.^[11]

Shooting[edit]

Five minutes later, the driver returned, and parked a few feet next to Ferrin's vehicle at the passenger's side. He exited his car, and approached Ferrin's. The man shone a flashlight into the car; the couple assumed he was a police officer and rolled down the window. The man did not speak, and fired a gun into the car. One bullet hit Mageau in the right arm, and the other hit Ferrin in the neck, causing her to slump towards the steering wheel and become motionless. Mageau tried to leave the car, but the door handle on the passenger's side was missing or removed. The assailant stepped away from Ferrin's car, and went back to his own. He did not immediately leave, but instead opened his car door and did something Mageau could not see.^[11] He looked back at Mageau, struggling to get out of Ferrin's car, and moved quickly back to him. Four more shots were fired, two at each person. The attacker moved quickly back to his car and drove off. The attacker was heard by the golf course's caretaker, who estimated it to be at 12:10 a.m.^[14] The killer left no clues that could be traced back to him.^[15]

Aftermath[edit]

Soon, three teenagers drove into the parking lot and saw the wounded couple. They left to get help, and police arrived at the scene at 12:20. The couple were taken to the hospital. Mageau survived, but Ferrin was pronounced dead at 12:40. Mageau described the killer as a white man with a large face, who was heavyset, around 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 195 to 200 pounds, and had short, curly light brown hair and a potbelly. He was wearing dark clothes and did not have glasses.^[14] These details were not enough to develop a suspect.^[16]

Moments after 12:40, the Vallejo Police Department received a phone call from a public telephone within two blocks from them. The man on the other end of the line stated:^[14][17]

I want to report a double murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park you will find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9-millimeter Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye.

Ferrin-Zodiac prior relationship theories[edit]

Controversy surrounds the discussion of whether or not Ferrin knew the Zodiac Killer beforehand. Kelleher and Nuys write that theories regarding a potential relationship started with Robert Graysmith's book Zodiac. He argued extensively for a connection, using events he was told by Ferrin's friends. However, the argument was ultimately based on "speculation and assumption". There has been no proven connection.^[18] At the hospital, Mageau said he did not know the attacker,^[14] and different sources state that he said he was unsure if Ferrin knew him,^[14] or that Ferrin did know him, and his name was Richard.^[19] Ferrin's sister also claims one of Darlene's boyfriends was named Richard.^[19] In the Zodiac's later correspondence, he only ever referred to Ferrin with the term "girl". The locations of the Zodiac's three known shootings could imply he only shot Ferrin and Mageau because of their isolated location.^[7]

Kelleher and Nuys focus on the idea that the couple were followed once they left Mageau's house, which would be a clue towards the killer knowing Ferrin. One version of events describes a high speed chase between the unknown driver and Ferrin, which would make it unlikely for her to drive into the deserted parking lot instead of getting help. There is also suspicion as to why, if they were being followed into the lot, Ferrin did not drive out of it once the unknown driver initially left. Kelleher and Nuys suggest that Ferrin telling Mageau not to worry about the driver, and the couple assuming he was a police officer, are more likely to happen if they arrived on their own accord.^[20]

In 2010, a picture surfaced of Ferrin and an unknown man who closely resembles the composite sketch of the Zodiac. In a 2011 episode of America's Most Wanted, police stated they believe the photo was taken in San Francisco in either 1966 or 1967.^[21]

Ferrin did know Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday. She previously attended Hogan High School, was familiar with Lake Herman Road's status as a lover's lane, and lived less than two blocks from Jensen's house.^[10]

First letters from the Zodiac[edit]

The Zodiac's letter received by the San Francisco Chronicle on August 1, 1969

The decryption of the letter’s 408-symbol cipher by Donald and Bettye Harden

The Zodiac's letters, sent at least from 1969 to 1974, often started with "This is the Zodiac speaking" and signed with a symbol resembling the crosshairs of a gunsight: .^[22] He sent out four cryptograms, or ciphers; two have been solved, one in 1969 and one in 2020.^[23] The letters were postmarked San Francisco, except for the March 13, 1971 letter, which was postmarked Pleasanton.^[24] His use of astrological symbols led the police to "pore over occult works and astrological charts and even to consult psychics".^[25]

On August 1, 1969, three letters purportedly prepared by the killer were received at the Vallejo Times-Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Francisco Examiner. The nearly identical letters, subsequently described by a psychiatrist to have been written by "someone you would expect to be brooding and isolated",^[26] took credit for the shootings at Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs.^[27] He explained that he was killing victims to collect them as his personal slaves in the afterlife.^[28]

Each letter also included one-third of a 408-symbol cryptogram which the killer claimed contained his identity. The killer demanded they be printed on each paper's front page, or else he would "cruse [sic] 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."^[27] The Chronicle published its third of the cryptogram on page four of the next day's edition. An article printed alongside the code quoted Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz as saying, "We're not satisfied that the letter was written by the murderer" and requested the writer send a second letter with more facts to prove his identity.^[29] The threatened murders did not happen, and all three parts of the cryptogram were eventually published.^{[citation needed]}

On August 4,^[31] the Examiner received a letter with the salutation, "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking." This was the first time the killer had used this name for identification. The letter responded to Stiltz's request for the killer's personal information. He included details about the murders the public had not yet heard, and said that when the police cracked his code, "they will have me".^[32]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to decode the 408-symbol cryptogram. However, on the 5th, it was cracked by Donald and Bettye Harden, a couple in Salinas.^[33][30] It contained a misspelled message in which the killer seemed to reference "The Most Dangerous Game", a 1924 short story by Richard Connell. The author also said that he was committing the killings in order to collect slaves for his afterlife.^{[n 4]} No name appears in this decoded text. The killer said that he would not give away his identity because it would slow down or stop his slave collection.^[30]

Lake Berryessa murder[edit]

On September 27, Pacific Union College students Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were picnicking at Lake Berryessa on a small island connected by a sand spit to Twin Oak Ridge. A white male, about 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) weighing more than 170 pounds (77 kg), approached the couple wearing a black executioner's-type hood with clip-on sunglasses over the eyeholes and a bib-like device on his chest that had a white three-by-three-inch (7.6 cm × 7.6 cm) cross-circle symbol on it. The hooded man approached with a gun, which Hartnell believed to be a .45, and claimed to be an escaped convict from a jail with a two-word name, in either Colorado or Montana, where he had killed a guard and subsequently stolen a car.^[35] A police officer later inferred that the man had been referring to a jail in Deer Lodge, Montana, yet a park ranger claimed that Hartnell told him the man referenced Colorado.^[35][36] The hooded man then said that he needed their car and money to travel to Mexico because the stolen vehicle was "too hot".^[35]

The killer had brought precut lengths of plastic clothesline and told Shepard to tie up Hartnell before the killer did the same with her. The killer checked, and tightened Hartnell's bonds after discovering that Shepard had bound them loosely. Hartnell initially believed this event to be a bizarre robbery, but the man drew a knife and stabbed them both repeatedly. Hartnell suffered six wounds and Shepard ten in the process.^[37][38] The killer then hiked 500 yards (460 m) up to Knoxville Road, drew the cross-circle symbol on Hartnell's car door with a black felt-tip pen, and wrote beneath it:^[39][40]

Vallejo
12-20-68
7-4-69
Sept 27–69–6:30
by knife^[39][40]

At 7:40 p.m., the killer called the Napa County Sheriff's Department from a pay telephone at a car wash in downtown Napa. The caller first stated to the operator that he wished to "report a murder – no, a double murder",^[41] before saying that he had committed the crime. KVON radio reporter Pat Stanley found the phone, still off the hook, a few minutes later. The phone was located a few blocks from the sheriff's office, and 27 miles (43 km) from the crime scene. Detectives lifted a still-wet palm print from the phone but were never able to match it to any suspect.^[42]

After hearing the victims' screams for help, a man and his son fishing in a nearby cove discovered Hartnell and Shepard and got help by contacting park rangers. Napa County deputies Dave Collins and Ray Land were the first law enforcement officers to arrive at the crime scene.^[43] Shepard was conscious when Collins arrived and provided him a detailed description of the attacker. She and Hartnell were taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa by ambulance. Shepard lapsed into a coma during transport, never regained consciousness, and died in the hospital two days later. Hartnell survived to recount his tale to the press.^[44][45][46] Napa County detective Ken Narlow, who was assigned to the case from the outset, worked on solving the crime until his retirement from the department in 1987.^[47]

Presidio Heights murder[edit]

Shooting[edit]

Two weeks later, at around 9:40 p.m. on October 11, a white male passenger, the Zodiac, entered the taxi driven by Paul Stine in downtown San Francisco, requesting to be driven to Washington and Maple streets in Presidio Heights. When they arrived, the passenger asked to be driven one block down to Washington and Cherry streets. The reason for the request in unknown; perhaps the Zodiac saw someone close by, or wanted to drive to the next block's corner, which was darker and obscured by a large tree. Stine then drove the distance. At approximately 9:55 p.m., the Zodiac shot Stine in the head with a handgun, likely killing Stine immediately. The Zodiac then took Stine's wallet and car keys.^[48] This was the last officially confirmed murder by the Zodiac.^[28]

Three teenagers across the street witnessed the incident and phoned the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) while the crime was in progress, saying the man in question was a "husky" white man wearing a "dark or black jacket". The dispatcher mistakenly broadcast to police that the suspect was a Black man. The witnesses also observed the killer wiping the cab down and seemingly "rifling through the man's clothing". As he leaned on the inside of the cab and cleaned it up, he left partial prints from two of his right hand's fingers.^[49]

Two blocks from the crime scene, patrol officers responded to the radio dispatch and arrived to Washington and Cherry two minutes after the phone call was placed.^[50] They observed a white male in dark clothes walking north, away from the crime scene and towards the Presidio Army Base. This man may have been the Zodiac. When the officers' patrol car pulled up alongside the man, they asked him if he had seen anything suspicious. He responded that he had seen a man waving a gun earlier, and went east down Washington. They drove quickly away, believing that a Black man was the culprit.