The Zodiac Killer - 1732 Words

Lucas Kelleher/ Street Law 10/3/08 The Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer is a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. His identity to this day still remains unknown. The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting letters he sent to the press. His letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved. The Zodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Others have also been suspected to be Zodiac victims, but they have been ruled inconclusive. The lack of consensus about the number of victims, the inability of law enforcement†¦show more content†¦At 2 a.m. on October 22, 1969, someone claiming to be the Zodiac called Oakland PD demanding that one of two prominent lawyers, F. Lee Bailey or Melvin Belli, appear on Jim Dunbars television talk show in the morning. Ba iley was not available, but Belli appeared on the show. Dunbar appealed to the viewers to keep the lines open, and eventually, someone claiming to be the Zodiac called several times and said his name was Sam. Belli agreed to meet with him in Daly City, but the suspect never showed up. Police officers who had heard the Zodiac, listened to Sams voice and agreed that he was not the Zodiac. Subsequent calls the suspect made to Belli were traced to the Napa State Hospital, where it was learned that Sam was a mental patient. On November 8, 1969, the Zodiac mailed a card with another cryptogram consisting of 340 characters. On November 9, 1969, he mailed a seven-page letter in which he claimed that two policemen stopped and actually spoke with him three minutes after he shot Stine. Excerpts from the letter were published in the Chronicle on November 12, including the Zodiacs claim; that same day, Don Fouke wrote a memo explaining what had happened that night. The 340 character cipher has never been decoded. Many possible solutions have been suggested, but cannot be accepted since they do away with code making conventions. On December 20, 1969,Show MoreRelatedEssay on The Zodiac Killer2341 Words   |  10 PagesThe Zodiac Killer Works Cited Not Included In the late sixties and early seventies, California was haunted by dozens of unsolved murders. The offender remains unknown to this day. The murderer, who referred to himself as the Zodiac, made contact with the police and area newspapers throughout his reign of terror through a series of menacing notes. Although the police were never able to apprehend Zodiac, they were able to gather information about him via the letters. Zodiac boasted of killingRead More The Zodiac Killer Essay2809 Words   |  12 Pagesear. The shot made a deafening blast, as the bullet entered David’s head at a horizontal angle, blowing it apart (Tina 3). With David out of his way, the killer turned his attention back to Betty. He pursued her through the woods, his gun drawn, and shot her five times in the back from less than ten feet away. (Tina 3). The killer then got back into his car, and drove away as quickly as he had appeared. David, amazingly, was still alive, and bleeding profusely from his wounds, but Betty wasRead MoreThe Zodiac Killer Project2069 Words   |  9 PagesThe Zodiac Killer Project The crime spree murders of the Zodiac killer is one of the greatest unsolved murdered cases of all time. The Zodiac’s murders took place from later 1960s, through to about 1972. Most of The Zodiac’s murders took place in Northern California. Some main areas where murders took place are Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco, California. Two out of the four men that were attacked lived and three women out of the three were killed. The ages of the victims goesRead MoreEssay On The Zodiac Killer1734 Words   |  7 PagesThis is the Zodiac Speaking â€Å"I like killing people, because it is fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest, because man is the most dangerous animal of all.† These are the words spoken by a man who terrorized the area of San Francisco, California for two years, lurking in the shadows killing five people, but taking credit for 37 different murders. This man taunted police, seeing his murders as one giant game, sending cryptic messages to the newspapers, forcing them to publish themRead More The Elusive Zodiac Killer Essays2062 Words   |  9 PagesThe Elusive Zodiac Killer Serial killers almost without exception enjoy playing games. Whether played with their victims’, or the police forces trying to track them down, the game of the kill is almost as essential as the murder itself. In most instances this need to draw out the experience leads to the downfall of the culprit. This was not the case with the elusive Zodiac Killer of the San Francisco Bay Area. Zodiac’s career, which would become the most cerebral murder case ofRead MoreEssay On The Zodiac Killer3047 Words   |  13 PagesLaw enforcement officers meet in San Francisco in 1969 to compare notes on the Zodiac Killer, who is believed to have killed five people in 1968 and 1969. The killer gained notoriety by writing several letters to police boasting of the slayings. He claimed to have killed as many as 37 people and has never been caught..Zodiac kill up to 45 people and more that they dont know about because he kill people in a different way in the different town that he was in but he word the same thing every timeRead MoreEssay on The Zodiac Killer2094 Words   |  9 PagesThe Zodiac Killer The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time of great change in America. The Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the sexual revolution were just some of the issues on the evening news in American households. For citizens of the San Francisco Bay area, as well as the rest of California, the late 60’s early 70’represented terror, fear and death. â€Å"The bizarre and theatrical and still unresolved serial murders by real-life ghoul who called himself Zodiac, who claimed inRead MoreTaking a Look at the Zodiac Killer1610 Words   |  6 Pages The Zodiac Killer is one of the greatest unsolved serial killer mysteries, after Jack the Ripper. There were 2,500 suspects, but the case was never solved. The Zodiac’s first known victim is Cheri Jo Bates. His first letter, Confession, mentioned Cheri and said, â€Å" she is not the first and she will not be the last†. Six months after Cheri’s death, the killer sent copies of the letters to the Riverside Press, the police, and her dad. Since the killer knew her dad, the police thought that CheriRead MoreThe Zodiac Killer Case Revisited1231 Words   |  5 PagesThe Zodiac Killer Case Revisited I. List of crimes The horrors in California began on Friday, December 20, 1968 in the city of Vallejo when sixteen-year-old Betty Lou Jensen and seventeen-year-old David Faraday were killed while out on a date. At the time, according to Haugen (2011), they had driven to a remote lover’s lane on Lake Herman Road. It was while they were there that a vehicle stopped nearby and the driver got out, shot out the rear passenger window of David Faraday’s station wagonRead More The Zodiac Killer Essay examples1229 Words   |  5 Pages Much is unknown about the Zodiac killer, but given what is known about serial killers in general, this man was probably born between 1938 and 1943. That would make his age between 25 and 30 years old at the time of his first murder in Vallejo, California, in 1968. Also, that age estimate works with witness statements and its supported by Zodiacs references to his victims in younger terms in his letters of 1969. Zodiac wasnt an attractive character from what we kn ow. He may have had to wear glasses