Three weeks ago, I watched a film named “Zodiac” with my family and it was quite interesting and I actually wanted to write about it immediately after watching but my schedule was fraught with AP progress checks and we also had an exam week so, I’m gonna be writing it today.

Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by James Vanderbilt, based on the nonfiction books by Robert Graysmith: Zodiac(1986) and Zodiac Unmasked (2002). It stars famous actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. The film tells the story of the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Franciso Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers. But for an unknown reason the case still remains as an unsolved crime.

SUMMARY

I don’t wanna give spoilers since some of yall might want to watch it. So I am just going to summarize it. “Zodiac” is a thriller based on true events in the late 1960s and 1970s in San Francisco. The film follows a group of journalists and police detectives as they investigate the Zodiac Killer, a mysterious and elusive murderer who terrorizes the city, sending cryptic letters and ciphers to the press. As the case drags on for years, the investigation takes a toll on their personal lives, and despite numerous leads, the killer’s identity remains unknown, highlighting the obsession, fear, and frustration surrounding the case.

Despite several theories about the Zodiac’s true identity, the only suspect police named was Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender who died in 1992 because of a hearth attack. The Zodiac’s murders, cryptograms, and letters to newspapers have made the case one of the most famous unsolved cases in American history. The Zodiac has become a fixture of popular culture, and the search for his identity continues to be pursued by amateur detectives all over the world.

MURDERS AND CORRESPONDERS

Police and investigators concur The Zodiac attacked seven people on four occasions in California. Five victims died; two survived:

1. David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia.
2. Michael Renault Mageau (19) and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin (22) were shot around midnight between July 4 and 5, 1969, in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. Mageau survived the attack; Ferrin died at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
3. Bryan Calvin Hartnell (20) and Cecelia Ann Shepard (22) were stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Hartnell survived; Shepard died from her injuries on September 29 at Queen of the Valley Hospital.
4. Paul Lee Stine (29) was shot and killed on October 11, 1969, in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. (wikipedia)

And interestingly enough, he exposed and told on himself after conducting a crime so sure that he won’t be found by the officers and organizations such as FBI and the California Department of Justice.

From 1969 to 1974, the Zodiac sent over twenty letters to newspapers, police, Chronicle writer Paul Avery, and attorney Melvin Belli. In the first sentence of the third letter, the writer identified himself as, “This is The Zodiac speaking,” and signed all his letters with a symbol resembling the crosshairs of a gunsight: 

Four of the mailings included cryptograms; only two have been solved. The letters were postmarked in San Francisco and Pleasanton.

Here is a composite sketch made in 1969 based on eyewitness accounts of the Presidio Heights Murder which was the last confirmed Zodiac murder that took place two weeks after the Lake Berryessa attacks. Here is the sketch:

Here is another witness sketch of a man seen at Lake Berryessa shortly before the murder:

And lastly here is an initial sketch made from the teenagers’ description (left)(which I also showed above), and one based on the officers’ description of the man they encountered (right).

Now, if you look closer, there is a lot of similarities between these three pictures. The button nose, slanted eyes, thin lips, dimples next to his lips, a slightly backward tilted hairline and a nebulous jawline. Plus the age ranges also look the same probably because of the wrinkles in the faces. The different hair colors and glass usage is not substantial because he might’ve changed them with haircolor and lenses unlike the permanent facial structure.

The interesting thing is that all of these pictures resemble the face of the criminal defendant (Arthur Leigh Allen) which I mentioned before who was surprisingly a middle aged person during the investigation. Here is his picture:

Not only the similarities, Allen also owned and wore a Zodiac Watch, a brand that uses a logo similar to the killer’s 

 symbol.

In today’s article, I tried to summarize the case for you, but I kept it brief to avoid losing readers and making it boring. But if you’re curious about the defendant’s statements and the details of all these events and witnesses including the investigators, feel free to search them. I also recommend you the film, if you like watching thrillers. Anyways take care and see you in my next blog post.