Zodiac Killer The Serial Killer That Never Caught
The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who was never caught and operated in northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "I like killing people because it is so much fun." That is how one of the many encrypted letters sent to San Francisco newspapers began, sent by the man who called himself the Zodiac. For most of 1969, a serial killer terrorized bay area residents killing five and possibly more.
 |
| The Character in Zodiac Letter |
It started when a couple, Betty Lou Jensen (16) and David Arthur Faraday (17) were shot to death while sitting in a car on a lover's lane on Dec. 20, 1968. After the shot, the killer drove away and the police can find him. On July 4, 1969, lene Elizabeth Ferrin (22) and Michael Renault Mageau (19) were parked at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course in Benicia around midnight, the killer approached and directed the flashlight before shooting them to their eyes so they could not see his face, firing five times then got into his car and drove away. Within minutes after the attack, three teens found the couple. Both Ferrin and Mageau were still alive, but Ferrin died before reaching the hospital.
The Zodiac killer toyed with police and reporters the whole time. He called in several that he was responsible for the murderer. On Friday, August 1, 1969, he began to send coded letters to three newspapers, using a cross within a circle as his symbol. Each letter also included one-third of a 408 symbol cryptogram which the killer claimed contained his identity. On August 8, 1969, Donald and Bettye Harden of Salinas, California, cracked the 408 symbol cryptogram. The message read:
I LIKE KILLING PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH FUN IT IS MORE FUN THAN KILLING WILD GAME IN THE FORREST BECAUSE MAN IS THE MOST DANGEROUE ANAMAL OF ALL TO KILL SOMETHING GIVES ME THE MOST THRILLING EXPERENCE IT IS EVEN BETTER THAN GETTING YOUR ROCKS OFF WITH A GIRL THE BEST PART OF IT IS THAE WHEN I DIE I WILL BE REBORN IN PARADICE AND THEI HAVE KILLED WILL BECOME MY SLAVES I WILL NOT GIVE YOU MY NAME BECAUSE YOU WILL TRY TO SLOI DOWN OR ATOP MY COLLECTIOG OF SLAVES FOR MY AFTERLIFE EBEORIETEMETHHPITI.
At one point, he mailed in a piece of bloodied shirt to prove he was who he claimed to be. Another time, he threatened to shoot up a school bus full of children. The investigation went on for years. Several suspects were questioned, but the killer was never caught. The only thing we can be sure of is that we just don't know the truth.