Tragic murders
Who are the Zodiac Killer’s victims?
THE Zodiac Killer operated in the late 1960s and much of the case remains shrouded in mystery.
He haunted Northern California and is confirmed to have claimed five victims.
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The killer claims to have killed 37 people in total and said, in a coded cipher, that he believes he will take them to the afterlife with him.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Zodiac Killer’s victims.
Five confirmed murders
Although the Zodiac Killer claimed to have killed 37 people during his five-year span,investigators were only able to link him conclusively to five murders.
The Zodiac Killer's victims include:
- Paul Stine, 30, a cab driver, October 11, 1969
- Cecelia Shepard, 22, September 27, 1969
- Darlene Ferrin, 22, midnight between July 4 and 5, 1969
- David Faraday, 17, December 20, 1968,
- Betty Lou Jensen, 16, December 20, 1968
Some of his other possible victims include:
- Ray Davis, 27, April 10, 1962
- Cheri Jo Bates, October 30, 1966
The Zodiac Killer was given his name by himself after referring to himself as "Zodiac" in his fourth letter to the press on August 7, 1969.
Most read in The US Sun
The letter said: "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking.”
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Who survived the Zodiac Killer?
Darlene and Michael Renault Mageau were both attacked while sitting in Darlene’s car in Vallejo, California.
While Darlene died, Michael became the Zodiac's first survivor.
Cecelia and Bryan Hartnell were also on a date when they were attacked by the Zodiac Killer.
The murderer wore a hood that bore the Zodiac’s symbol, which is a cross running through a circle.
After threatening the pair with a gun, he then tied them up and stabbed them.
Despite being alive when help arrived on the scene, Cecelia passed away while Bryan recovered, becoming the Zodiac's second survivor.
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Was the Zodiac Killer identified?
The Zodiac Killer was never caught and the police and experts have disagreed on who the murderer was.
Arthur Leigh Allen was the only man ever named as a suspect by the police of being the Zodiac killer.
He was named as the killer by Michael Mageau but another witness believed that Allen was 100lbs heavier than the Zodiac Killer.
A police search of his house found a wristwatch belonging to him named the Zodiac Sea Wolf wristwatch, which bore the same logo seen on the killer’s letters.
A group named The Case Breakers claimed to have solved the case in 2021 and named someone very different to the police’s prime suspect.
They claimed that the man responsible for the murders was Gary Francis Poste.
According to former Army counterintelligence agent Jen Bucholtz, removing the letters of Gary Francis Poste's full name revealed a hidden message in the Zodiac Killer’s cryptic cipher.
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Bucholtz told Fox News: "So you've got to know Gary's full name in order to decipher these anagrams.
"I just don't think there's any other way anybody would have figured it out."
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