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.