Deciphering the Zodiac Killer
Image Courtesy: Collider
For over five decades, the mysterious case of the Zodiac Killer has remained unsolved and unresolved. From the time of his first murder in 1968, Zodiac has had the San Francisco police department and expert code breakers, along with many others, perplexed by his unsettling phone calls and cryptic letters.
In 2004, the San Francisco Police Department deactivated their Zodiac investigation. In the wake of new information, the infamous cold case has now been reopened by authorities. What new developments could have possibly sent the media and the public into a frenzy? Well, just this past month, a team of former law enforcement members, prosecutors, and intelligence officers who go by the name of The Code Breakers claim to have solved the mystery behind the masked murderer who terrorized Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area all those years ago.
Which brings me to the million-dollar question: Why has it taken so long to figure out who the Zodiac is, and how has he evaded discovery all this time? Here’s what we know so far. The first murder took place in Vallejo, California, in 1968 around Christmas time. Seven months later, the first letter was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in July of ‘69 after the murder of Darlene Ferrin. The letter declared himself as the Zodiac, causing a state-wide panic. Zodiac hadn’t sent more letters until January, May, and July of 1974, nearly five years after the first one. In terms of figuring out why there could have been the fact, the one random killing in Santa Barbara in ‘72 threw off investigators. Finding proper DNA samples that matched prime suspects had also been a hardship, and as far as we know there is still no clear-cut DNA evidence. Another piece of the puzzle is the letters themselves. The letters are what baffled everyone the most. “I like killing people because it’s so much fun,” wrote one letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. They almost provided too much to too little information about his identity.
Image Courtesy: The Guardian
What’s more, in November 1969, the infamous 340-character cipher was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. The coded message has bewildered the public since its first release in the Chronicle, at the request of Zodiac himself. All who tried to crack it failed, but after fifty-one years, we finally believe the message has been decoded by software developer David Oranchak with the help of applied mathematician Sam Blake and computer programmer Jarl Van Eyche. “I hope you are having lots of fun trying to catch me” and “I am not afraid of the gas chamber” were two of the encrypted messages that were solved earlier this year. But, what does this tell us about his identity and his image other than that he was an attention-seeking serial killer who reveled in terrorizing the Bay Area in the late 1960s and 70s?
Image Courtesy: ABC Australia
The elusive killer has yet to be determined for certain, but with the investigation still open and the solving of his coded message, there may be hope to find justice for these unmerited murders. “The FBI’s investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved,” the FBI told Fox News. But The Code Breakers cold case team says they have ID’d the Zodiac, linking him to another murder. The group believes the Zodiac Killer to be Gary Francis Poste, who passed away in 2018. Poste was an Air Force veteran and the teams said there were a series of coincidences that connect him to the Zodiac murders. Do you think Poste is the true identity of the Zodiac Killer? Will we ever get to the bottom of this seemingly impossible case?
Strike Out,
Writer: Samantha Petters
Editors: Noelle Knowlton & Lexi Fernandez
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