Self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer is conclusively linked to five murders in Northern California in 1968 and 1969.
There are allegations that he may have been responsible for at least 30 more murders, although those cases and victims cannot be confirmed yet.
Zodiac Killer often taunted the authority by sending anonymous letters to news outlets to claim responsibilities for crimes or reveal his identity deceptively.
Three different publications, including Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Examiner, and San Francisco Chronicle, received identical letters on August 1, 1969, containing information about two teenagers’ killings in December.
The police are certain the murderer wrote that letter because no one else could have known the case’s details. In 1974, he abruptly ceased communicating with the police and media.
Years of intensive investigations led to some suspects, but none of them were ever found to be the true Zodiac Killer, who until today remains unidentified.
Although not much is known about the killer, the case has revealed some interesting facts as follows.
10 /10 First Murders
On the night of December 20, 1968, two teenagers were shot to death in a remote area north of San Francisco.
Another attack of similar circumstances happened again in July 1969, just four miles away from the previous crime scene, but this time the male victim survived despite being shot in the chest, neck, and face.
Later that year, the same killer ambushed another couple, and again the male victim survived. Zodiac Killer’s last known victim was a taxi driver, shot to death in October 1969.
9 /10 Communication With Media
All those attacks and murders received intense media coverage, partly because the killer sent taunting letters to news outlets and made phone calls to the police.
Communication via letters happened from 1969 to 1974, and each was signed with a symbol that resembled the crosshair of a gun-sight.
At the beginning of the very letter, the sender typically wrote, “this is the Zodiac speaking.” Communication ended without apparent reason in 1974.