Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer

Only confirmed to be active during the late 1960’s, the Zodiac Killer’s identity remains unknown and is suspected to have aditional victims dating before and after the late 60’s that have not been confirmed. “The first known murder by the Zodiac Killer happened on December 20 1968, a man approached a couple sitting in their car in Vallejo, California , and shot them dead” (allserialkillers). At a later date “letters were sent to newspapers in San Francisco supposedly claiming to be from the killer, and were signed ‘Zodiac’ which was adopted by the media to name the mysterious killer. In some of the letters there was lines in code which was decoded by a cipher expert, this read some thing such as – ‘hunting humans was the most exciting of all sports’” (allserialkillers).

Confirmed victims:

-David Faraday (17), Betty Jensen (16) – shot and killed, Dec 20, 1968

-Bichael Mageau (19), Darlene Ferrin (22) – shot, Mageau lived, July 4, 1969

-Bryan Hartnell (20), Cecelia Shepard (22) – stabbed, Hartnell lived, Sept 27, 1969

-Paul Stine (29) – shot and killed, Oct 11, 1969

Suspected victims:

-Robert Domingos (18), Linda Edwards (17) – Shot and killed, June 4, 1963

-Cheri Bates (18) – Stabbed and killed, Oct 30, 1966

Arthur Leigh Allen

The most suspicious of about 2500 potential suspects in the Zodiac case, Allen could not be proven to be connected as “the forensic technology of the times was not advanced enough to nail any one of them conclusively” (Jake Wark). There are also connections made to Allen through things such like the ciphers left by the Zodiac Killer (see Button Letter Cipher).

With an I.Q of 137, Allen skipped three grads and continued on to Vallejo University where he majored in art and literature. After graduating from Vallejo, he joined the navy. This however was short lived and he was dishonorably discharged for an unspecified reason December 27, 1957 – the same year he enlisted. He later received employment “as an elementary-school teacher in California’s Calaveras County at the time of the Bates murder, by the time his employment ended in late March 1968 Allen had used only one of 19 available sick days. The day Allen was absent was Nov. 1, 1966 (ZodiacKiller).This date stands out because Cheri Jo Bates was murdered the previous night.

Besides than having suspicious alibis, Allen seems to be a likely suspect because of other crimes. He had been fired from two teaching positions for having a gun on school ground and molesting a female student, let go from a janitorial job for threatening students, and finally arrested when “Allen’s problem with children had apparently led him to molest a young boy” (zodiackillerfacts). For this last crime he received only two years in a hospital and subsequent probation.

Victim: Cheri Jo Bates

Bates was born in Omaha but lived in Riverside, California with her father. She was murdered at age 18 outside the Riverside City College Library around 10:30 and though screams were heard, “no one who heard the screams called the police” (Angelfire). The assailant’s watch was broken and ripped off in the attack but could not be matched. Not too long after a letter was sent to her father saying that his daughter had to die. The signature on the bottom had a symbol that seems to be a ‘Z’ made out of a 32. “At the time Bates was killed, Allen was 32 years old, and his permanent residence was 32 Fresno St. in Vallejo, California” (Zodiackiller).

Zodiac: 340 Cipher

One of the ciphers by the Zodiac Killer, known as the 340 Cipher, uses a reference of a Japanese oriented comedy play, The Mikado, to help decode the message. Through reference to the play, the folding fans that each of the main character holds is noted as they have a look similar to a protractor. This is a good clue because all of the Zodiac’s ciphers have been noted to have references to radians in all of them. This has pointed detectives to fold the cipher like a Japanese folding fan and gave interesting results. When correctly folded the coded message of “Her Pi God. Body By Old Book By Red Loop Foot (12”). Go To It OK.” This could be the location to find one of his victims “or possibly it means that the Zodiac ties a “Red Loop” around the ankles of one of his victims and is telling police that he was responsible for the crime” (opordanalytical).

Zodiac: Button Letter Cipher

A cipher by the Zodiac Killer that implicates Allen is the Button letter Cipher. In the envelop sent to police and the paper there is a letter, cipher, and a map of San Francisco with the Zodiac’s symbol drawn out as a compass marker. By filling in the compass with the cipher clockwise starting at north, the code is separated into more manageable sections with south being an easily deciphered message. When the letters are rearranged, “the variables at the 6 O’clock position spell ‘JFK WROTE’” (opordanalytical).

By taking the clue of something that ‘JFK WROTE’, the rest of the cipher is a lot easier to decode. After combining West, North and East, then rearrange the letters and symbols, you get the message ‘ask not what your country can do for you’. This is of course part of the famous JFK speech given in 1961. Another interesting fact that has been noticed when trying to figure out what is implied by ‘JFK WROTE’ is that is book, Profile in Courage, won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1957. This is significant because “Arthur Leigh Allen joined the US Navy in 1957” (oppordanalytical). In addition it could be looked as a small hint he was the killer because JFK was also well regarded for being a commander on the PT-109 boat in World War II.