Megan Hutchinson
Staff Reporter
“The police shall never catch me, because I have been too clever for them” - The Zodiac Killer. As the Zodiac anonymously spoke those words, they remain true. Today, the Zodiac Killer has never been found. The Zodiac Killer or the Zodiac has been directly linked to 5 murders in Northern California between 1968 and 1969. He taunted the police and made threats through letters to local news offices from 1969 to 1974.
December 30, 1968, was the day the Zodiac chose his first victims. 17-year-old David Faraday and16-year-old girlfriend, Betty Lou Johnson was shot to death in their car in a remote spot on Lake Herman Road just outside of Vallejo, California.
July 5, 1969, The Zodiac’s second victims, 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin, and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Mike Magaeu was sitting parked in their car in a similarly remote location in Vallejo. When a strange man with a flashlight approached their vehicle and fired multiple times, killing Darlene and severely wounding Mike. Within that hour police received a phone call claiming full responsibility for the previous murders of Faraday and Jenson in 1968. Even with Mageau’s description, fingerprints, the decoded cipher, and the wave of tips, the police still could not trace the killer.
One month later on August 1, 1969, The San Francisco Chronicle and the Vallejo Times all received identical handwritten letters without a return address reading, “ Dear Editor: I am a killer of 2 teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman”. This letter contained details only the killers would have known. The killer also provided details on threats and further attacks if his letter was not put on the front page of the newspaper. Also, this letter contained symbols along with the letters. Each letter was closed with a symbol consisting of a circle with a cross through it. This became later known as the “Zodiac’s symbol”. Enclosed with this was one part of a three-part cipher containing his “identity”. Days later, high school teachers Donald Harden and Bettye ( his wife ) deciphered the code, said “ I like killing people because it is so much fun”, “ It is more fun than killing wild animals in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of them all”. Eventually, the FBI began working with the Bay Area Police to help trace this murder. Another letter was sent to The San Francisco Examiner reading, “ Dear Editor: This is the Zodiac speaking”. He also described the murders in detail and taunted the police for not catching him or cracking his codes.
On September 27, 1969, the killer approached another young couple, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell on the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa County. He was wearing a hood and shirt with the circle cross symbol. He had tied them up before stabbing them, he then left a scrawling message for police on the car door. The Zodiac had then called the Napa County Police to claim responsibility for Shepard and Hartnell’s death. The couple was in critical condition but alive when emergency medical services responded. They later died of their injuries in the hospital.
Two weeks later, on October 11, 1969, a 22-year old taxi driver, Paul Stine, was shot in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. However, this killing did not follow his pattern, this was not a couple killing. Initially, this killing was deemed a robbery until The San Francisco Chronicle received a letter claiming responsibility as the work of the Zodiac.
Supposedly, 5 other murders were linked to the Zodiac, including the 1963 shooting of Robert Domingos and Linda Fawards. In 1974, the letters to the police had stopped but their investigation had not. Thousands of suspects have been in question since 1968. However, the most plausible suspects include Richard Gaikowsi, Arthur Leigh Allen, Rick Marshall, and Lawrence Kane.
Today, there are thousands of websites, news stories, and theories about the Zodiac Killer. However, the possibility of him ever being found is slim solely for the fact of lack of DNA evidence or him being dead. Our respect goes out to these families who have lost those mentioned in this article.
Image Credit: Etsy
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