Zodiac Killer Victims

The Zodiac Killer is one of the most infamous unidentified serial killers in American history. The confirmed attacks began on December 20, 1968, when David Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were shot to death on a remote road near Benicia, California. On July 4, 1969, the Zodiac shot Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo; Ferrin died but Mageau survived. On September 27, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were stabbed at Lake Berryessa; Shepard died but Hartnell survived. On October 11, taxi driver Paul Stine was shot and killed in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood.

What made the Zodiac unique was his communication with the press. Beginning in August 1969, he sent a series of letters and cryptograms to Bay Area newspapers—the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and Vallejo Times-Herald—taking credit for the murders and threatening more. The letters included a four-part cipher that, when decoded by a Salinas couple, contained the Zodiac's boast that 'killing is more fun than killing wild game.' He sent at least 18 letters between 1969 and 1974.

The investigation was the largest in San Francisco Police Department history. The SFPD, Vallejo PD, Napa County Sheriff's Office, and later the FBI all worked the case. Suspects included Arthur Leigh Allen, who was extensively investigated but never charged. DNA from stamps on the letters was tested but proved inconclusive. A second cipher, the Z340, remained unsolved for 51 years until a team of codebreakers cracked it in December 2020, revealing another boastful message.

The Zodiac claimed to have killed 37 people, though investigators believe the confirmed count is five dead and two wounded. Additional unsolved murders in the Bay Area have been tentatively linked to the Zodiac, including the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside in 1966. Despite decades of investigation and thousands of suspects, the Zodiac Killer has never been conclusively identified. The FBI and California Department of Justice consider the case open.