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The Zodiac Killer (also known by the pseudonym The Zodiac) is an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969.

The Zodiac attacked three couples and a cab driver in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco. In a series of letters mailed to Bay Area newspapers, the Zodiac took credit for the murders, described details known only to police, threatened bombings and more murders if the newspapers did not print his letters, and included cryptograms with his correspondence. The Zodiac's last letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1974. In the letter, the Zodiac claimed to have killed 37 people. 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. 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. In 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive", but subsequently re-opened the case in 2006. The California Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the city of Vallejo, and the Napa and Solano county sheriffs maintain the case status as "open".

Police and investigators concur The Zodiac attacked seven people on four occasions in California. David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) were shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia. 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: .

July 31st 1969: San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and Vallejo Times.

The first murders retroactively attributed to the Zodiac were the shootings of high school students Betty Lou Jensen (16) and David Arthur Faraday (17) on December 20, 1968.

On August 4, the Examiner received a letter with the salutation, "Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking." This letter marked the debut of the Zodiac persona.

While the Zodiac was tending to the cab, the kids called the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD). He believed the killer lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, "He's a weekend killer.

One year after the Lake Herman Road murders on December 20, the Zodiac mailed a letter to Melvin Belli.

In a letter to the Chronicle postmarked June 26, 1970, the killer was upset no one was wearing Zodiac buttons.

In another letter, the Zodiac explained, "The Mt.

Two days later on July 26, the Zodiac mailed another letter to the Chronicle.

The Chronicle received a letter from the Zodiac, postmarked January 29, 1974 from San Mateo County.

A week later, the Zodiac claimed to have shot a man "in a parked car with a .38".

One of the main Zodiac suspects, Arthur Leigh Allen, was also suspected of being the Santa Rosa killer.

That was followed with Zodiac Killer: Fact Vs. The Zodiac inspired copycat killers like Heriberto Seda in New York City and Shinichiro Azuma in Japan, both of whom called themselves "the Zodiac". In 2021, an anonymous author sent letters to media outlets in Albany using a "Chinese Zodiac Killer" sobriquet.

The first film about the Zodiac Killer was produced two years after his last confirmed murder during his letter-writing campaign. The Zodiac case is also the subject of the film Zodiac (2007), directed by David Fincher, who also directed Seven.

Quick Facts

• In the letter, the Zodiac claimed to have killed 37 people.
• The Zodiac's last letter was received by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1974.
• In a series of letters mailed to Bay Area newspapers, the Zodiac took credit for the murders, described details known only to police, threatened bombings and more murders if the newspapers did not print his letters, and included cryptograms with his correspondence.
• The Zodiac attacked three couples and a cab driver in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco.
• From 1969 to 1974, the Zodiac sent over twenty letters to newspapers, police, Chronicle writer Paul Avery, and attorney Melvin Belli.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Zodiac Killer". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.