1 00:00:02,375 --> 00:00:07,125 ♪♪ 2 00:00:07,209 --> 00:00:11,879 ♪♪ 3 00:00:11,959 --> 00:00:14,499 Man: "This is the zodiac speaking." 4 00:00:14,584 --> 00:00:16,714 I am the murderer of the taxi driver 5 00:00:16,792 --> 00:00:19,832 over by Washington and maple street last night. 6 00:00:21,876 --> 00:00:25,496 To prove this, here is a bloodstained piece of his shirt. 7 00:00:25,584 --> 00:00:26,794 I was not happy to see 8 00:00:26,876 --> 00:00:28,956 "that I did not get front-page coverage." 9 00:00:29,042 --> 00:00:38,962 ♪♪ 10 00:00:39,042 --> 00:00:47,752 ♪♪ 11 00:00:47,834 --> 00:00:50,134 ♪♪ 12 00:00:50,209 --> 00:00:53,789 Welcome to "very scary people." I'm Donnie wahlberg. 13 00:00:53,876 --> 00:00:57,666 The zodiac killer is terrorizing northern California, 14 00:00:57,751 --> 00:00:59,751 and all of america is holding their breath 15 00:00:59,834 --> 00:01:01,634 waiting for a break in the case, 16 00:01:01,709 --> 00:01:05,039 but while police desperately try to identify a suspect, 17 00:01:05,125 --> 00:01:06,705 the killer has a new plan, 18 00:01:06,792 --> 00:01:09,922 one that will spread panic and make him infamous. 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,880 To him, murder has become a game, 20 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,129 but this game is not over, not even close. 21 00:01:16,209 --> 00:01:19,629 We continue with "I am the zodiac." 22 00:01:19,709 --> 00:01:25,959 ♪♪ 23 00:01:26,042 --> 00:01:29,132 Reporter: He stalked and killed with knives and guns, 24 00:01:29,209 --> 00:01:31,959 once even dressed as an executioner. 25 00:01:32,042 --> 00:01:34,832 The man called himself the zodiac. 26 00:01:36,334 --> 00:01:38,424 [ Gunshots ] 27 00:01:40,125 --> 00:01:42,665 Hewitt: The first canonical murders of the zodiac 28 00:01:42,751 --> 00:01:45,461 happened December 20, 1968. 29 00:01:45,542 --> 00:01:50,832 It was on lake Herman road in Solano county, California. 30 00:01:50,918 --> 00:01:54,788 A young couple went on a date. 31 00:01:54,876 --> 00:01:58,456 The killer forced the victims out of the vehicle. 32 00:01:58,542 --> 00:02:00,422 David Faraday was shot in the head once... 33 00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:02,000 [ Gunshot ] 34 00:02:02,083 --> 00:02:04,173 ...and Betty Lou Jensen was shot in the back five times 35 00:02:04,250 --> 00:02:05,580 as she was trying to run away. 36 00:02:05,667 --> 00:02:06,877 [ Gunshots ] 37 00:02:06,959 --> 00:02:08,539 The boy was an eagle scout. 38 00:02:08,626 --> 00:02:11,666 There's no record of any misbehavior 39 00:02:11,751 --> 00:02:13,001 on either one of them. 40 00:02:13,083 --> 00:02:14,383 If you were at that scene 41 00:02:14,459 --> 00:02:19,789 and saw the waste of life and these young kids... 42 00:02:19,876 --> 00:02:21,876 Turn your stomach. 43 00:02:21,959 --> 00:02:24,789 Six and a half months later, the killer returned 44 00:02:24,876 --> 00:02:28,576 and targeted another young couple. 45 00:02:28,667 --> 00:02:30,997 Butterfield: Darlene ferrin and Michael mageau 46 00:02:31,083 --> 00:02:33,043 drove to blue rock Springs park. 47 00:02:33,125 --> 00:02:35,705 They parked in the parking lot. 48 00:02:35,792 --> 00:02:38,382 Hewitt: Again, a lovers' Lane area, 49 00:02:38,459 --> 00:02:40,669 and had only been there a few minutes, 50 00:02:40,751 --> 00:02:42,541 and a car pulled up behind them. 51 00:02:42,626 --> 00:02:45,576 He opened fire through the window of the passenger side. 52 00:02:45,667 --> 00:02:47,037 [ Gunshots ] 53 00:02:47,125 --> 00:02:51,205 And at the hospital, Darlene is pronounced dead, 54 00:02:51,292 --> 00:02:54,832 but Michael miraculously survived. 55 00:02:54,918 --> 00:02:57,078 We think that he's... it appears to us 56 00:02:57,167 --> 00:02:59,497 that he is killing just for the thrill. 57 00:02:59,584 --> 00:03:04,214 Just days after the initial communications from the killer, 58 00:03:04,292 --> 00:03:05,792 a letter arrived. 59 00:03:05,876 --> 00:03:09,996 Oranchak: "Dear editor, this is the zodiac speaking." 60 00:03:10,083 --> 00:03:13,253 Normally, a serial killer gets a name from the police 61 00:03:13,334 --> 00:03:14,584 or from the newspapers, 62 00:03:14,667 --> 00:03:16,667 but in his case, he came up with his own name. 63 00:03:16,751 --> 00:03:21,421 It included a cipher that, when solved, read, 64 00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:23,630 "I like killing people." 65 00:03:23,709 --> 00:03:26,499 Hewitt: September 27, 1969, 66 00:03:26,584 --> 00:03:30,674 the zodiac showed up at lake berryessa 67 00:03:30,751 --> 00:03:34,501 where Bryan hartnell and Cecelia Shepard 68 00:03:34,584 --> 00:03:37,634 were lying by the water's edge. 69 00:03:37,709 --> 00:03:41,539 Butterfield: The man plunged a long knife into Bryan's back, 70 00:03:41,626 --> 00:03:44,166 stabbed him approximately six times, 71 00:03:44,250 --> 00:03:47,290 and Cecelia, she was stabbed five times in the front, 72 00:03:47,375 --> 00:03:48,625 five times in the back. 73 00:03:48,709 --> 00:03:52,079 The killer left both of the victims alive. 74 00:04:02,584 --> 00:04:07,464 Paul stine was a cabdriver who was working the evening 75 00:04:07,542 --> 00:04:09,582 of October 11, 1969. 76 00:04:09,667 --> 00:04:12,627 The man who was sitting in the cab pulled out a gun 77 00:04:12,709 --> 00:04:14,959 and shot Paul stine in the head. 78 00:04:18,792 --> 00:04:20,882 Three kids who were observing what had happened 79 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:23,579 called the police, and they described the killer. 80 00:04:23,667 --> 00:04:25,917 Somehow during that conversation, 81 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,960 the facts got confused, 82 00:04:28,042 --> 00:04:30,832 and when the police broadcast the description of the killer, 83 00:04:30,918 --> 00:04:35,288 they described him as a black man instead of a white man. 84 00:04:35,375 --> 00:04:37,995 Two police officers were responding to the scene, 85 00:04:38,083 --> 00:04:39,833 and they apparently saw this white man 86 00:04:39,918 --> 00:04:41,378 walking down the street. 87 00:04:41,459 --> 00:04:44,539 They dismissed him as a suspect because he was not black. 88 00:04:44,626 --> 00:04:47,166 The dispatcher had misunderstood the children, 89 00:04:47,250 --> 00:04:51,080 and when zodiac is stopped by the police car, 90 00:04:51,167 --> 00:04:54,577 zodiac says, "oh, yeah, I saw a man running with a gun." 91 00:04:54,667 --> 00:04:57,417 "He went that way," and they thank him, 92 00:04:57,500 --> 00:04:59,290 and off they go. 93 00:04:59,375 --> 00:05:02,915 Voigt: Zodiac was right there. They would have caught him. 94 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,920 He was within arm's reach. 95 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,330 Butterfield: Shortly after that, 96 00:05:06,417 --> 00:05:09,497 the description was amended to describe a white man, 97 00:05:09,584 --> 00:05:11,174 and that's when these officers realize 98 00:05:11,250 --> 00:05:14,380 that they had most likely just seen the zodiac. 99 00:05:14,459 --> 00:05:16,539 They would have had the guy. 100 00:05:19,125 --> 00:05:21,785 Jordan: One of the first officers to arrive on the scene 101 00:05:21,876 --> 00:05:23,826 is inspector Dave toschi, 102 00:05:23,918 --> 00:05:26,878 and he's somewhat of a legend in the San Francisco pd. 103 00:05:26,959 --> 00:05:28,379 Graysmith: He's so prismatic, 104 00:05:28,459 --> 00:05:30,749 and toschi is known as the city's super cop. 105 00:05:30,834 --> 00:05:33,544 He's got a trench coat, "trench coat Dave." 106 00:05:33,626 --> 00:05:35,576 Jordan: When inspector toschi and his officers 107 00:05:35,667 --> 00:05:37,377 arrive at the scene, it's still very fresh. 108 00:05:37,459 --> 00:05:41,789 The cab meter is still running, and Paul stine, the cabdriver, 109 00:05:41,876 --> 00:05:44,286 is laid out almost on the bench seat. 110 00:05:44,375 --> 00:05:46,745 He's been shot once in the back of the head. 111 00:05:46,834 --> 00:05:48,214 He's already dead. 112 00:05:48,292 --> 00:05:51,672 There are 9-millimeter bullet casings all around, 113 00:05:51,751 --> 00:05:54,581 and because of the amount of blood at the scene, 114 00:05:54,667 --> 00:05:58,577 they do find a bloody palm print right on the side of the cab. 115 00:05:58,667 --> 00:06:00,037 He took Paul stine's wallet. 116 00:06:00,125 --> 00:06:01,995 Voigt: That's going to look to first responders 117 00:06:02,083 --> 00:06:03,583 like a robbery gone bad. 118 00:06:03,667 --> 00:06:06,457 He also took part of Paul's shirt. 119 00:06:06,542 --> 00:06:09,672 He neatly tore it with his fingers. 120 00:06:09,751 --> 00:06:13,541 The only sketch we have that depicts the actual zodiac killer 121 00:06:13,626 --> 00:06:15,326 comes from the stine murder, 122 00:06:15,417 --> 00:06:18,537 and that sketch was created with the help of the three kids 123 00:06:18,626 --> 00:06:20,996 who had seen the killer and from what we know 124 00:06:21,083 --> 00:06:24,003 was also contributed to by the two police officers 125 00:06:24,083 --> 00:06:26,673 who had seen the zodiac escaping that night. 126 00:06:26,751 --> 00:06:31,251 It shows a man with a thinner face, shorter hair and glasses, 127 00:06:31,334 --> 00:06:33,634 and because that is based on eyewitnesses 128 00:06:33,709 --> 00:06:37,249 who saw the man at the taxi and immediately thereafter, 129 00:06:37,334 --> 00:06:42,044 it becomes the most famous sketch of the zodiac killer. 130 00:06:42,125 --> 00:06:44,575 Butterfield: The descriptions probably fit 131 00:06:44,667 --> 00:06:46,207 thousands of men in the bay area 132 00:06:46,292 --> 00:06:50,212 and millions of men across america in the late 1960s. 133 00:06:50,292 --> 00:06:52,462 If you open any high-school yearbook or anything, 134 00:06:52,542 --> 00:06:54,962 you'll see a lot of people who look just like that 135 00:06:55,042 --> 00:06:57,212 because that was the look at the time. 136 00:06:57,292 --> 00:07:00,252 Perhaps that kind of generic anonymity 137 00:07:00,334 --> 00:07:03,634 is how the zodiac killer can walk amongst us 138 00:07:03,709 --> 00:07:05,669 and we never know that he's a murderer. 139 00:07:05,751 --> 00:07:07,881 We wouldn't notice this guy in the crowd. 140 00:07:07,959 --> 00:07:10,999 Butterfield: It may be that he needed to feel important. 141 00:07:11,083 --> 00:07:14,833 He may have had a lot of anger within him that he tried 142 00:07:14,918 --> 00:07:16,378 to assuage through killing other people. 143 00:07:16,459 --> 00:07:17,879 [ Gunshots ] 144 00:07:17,959 --> 00:07:20,379 Two days after the murder of Paul stine, 145 00:07:20,459 --> 00:07:21,879 the "San Francisco chronicle" 146 00:07:21,959 --> 00:07:24,039 received a letter from the zodiac. 147 00:07:24,125 --> 00:07:26,875 Carol Fisher, who was "letters to the editor" editor, 148 00:07:26,959 --> 00:07:28,829 is opening the letter. 149 00:07:28,918 --> 00:07:30,128 She shakes it. 150 00:07:30,209 --> 00:07:32,499 Out comes a piece of bloody cloth. 151 00:07:32,584 --> 00:07:35,674 She let's out a shriek. 152 00:07:46,125 --> 00:07:50,125 The individual who sent this piece of shirt in 153 00:07:50,209 --> 00:07:51,789 on the letter to the "chronicle" 154 00:07:51,876 --> 00:07:53,996 was in fact connected with the... 155 00:07:54,083 --> 00:07:56,713 Is the person who killed the cabdriver. 156 00:07:56,792 --> 00:08:00,542 O'Toole: And I think the zodiac took the time and effort, 157 00:08:00,626 --> 00:08:03,826 went to great risk to make sure that that bloody shirt 158 00:08:03,918 --> 00:08:06,498 would be able to connect him to Paul stine's murder. 159 00:08:06,584 --> 00:08:08,254 Voigt: It seemed to be an addiction or something. 160 00:08:08,334 --> 00:08:10,174 The more he did it, the more he needed to do it, 161 00:08:10,250 --> 00:08:11,960 and he kept topping himself each time. 162 00:08:12,042 --> 00:08:16,922 And what he would promise to do next was particularly chilling. 163 00:08:31,500 --> 00:08:34,880 By late October 1969, zodiac had taken credit 164 00:08:34,959 --> 00:08:36,539 for four different attacks 165 00:08:36,626 --> 00:08:39,916 in which five people had been killed and another two injured, 166 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,000 but now he was threatening to up the body count considerably. 167 00:08:45,083 --> 00:08:46,713 The suspect in this matter indicates 168 00:08:46,792 --> 00:08:48,382 that he is going to make a bomb. 169 00:08:48,459 --> 00:08:51,959 The bomb planted in the street or alongside of a roadside, 170 00:08:52,042 --> 00:08:56,082 which would be triggered when a school bus passed by. 171 00:08:56,167 --> 00:08:59,537 This man is a psychopath 172 00:08:59,626 --> 00:09:05,456 with very, very seriously mentally deranged. 173 00:09:05,542 --> 00:09:09,042 He appears to have no conscience at all, no remorse. 174 00:09:09,125 --> 00:09:14,825 This man is a serious problem to us. 175 00:09:14,918 --> 00:09:18,458 Initially the newspapers did not print the zodiac's threat 176 00:09:18,542 --> 00:09:20,632 because they were afraid of what might happen. 177 00:09:20,709 --> 00:09:23,499 We feel at this time because there is an implied threat 178 00:09:23,584 --> 00:09:26,254 on the part of this suspect, 179 00:09:26,334 --> 00:09:28,464 that this is something that we must do. 180 00:09:28,542 --> 00:09:31,332 Lee: Since the reception of this note, 181 00:09:31,417 --> 00:09:33,997 and up to now and continuing, 182 00:09:34,083 --> 00:09:38,753 we have a number of plainclothes officers following buses 183 00:09:38,834 --> 00:09:41,084 in the morning and in the evening. 184 00:09:41,167 --> 00:09:44,667 Bidou: The public was kind of panicked about it. 185 00:09:44,751 --> 00:09:46,711 We had our plainclothes officers 186 00:09:46,792 --> 00:09:48,832 riding our school buses for months. 187 00:09:48,918 --> 00:09:50,918 The police trailed the buses. 188 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,040 They had planes flying above. 189 00:09:53,125 --> 00:09:55,625 The zodiac said later he had planted explosives 190 00:09:55,709 --> 00:09:58,169 along the roadside that he could detonate. 191 00:09:58,250 --> 00:09:59,750 I grew up in Berkeley, California, 192 00:09:59,834 --> 00:10:03,384 and took public buses to and from school. 193 00:10:03,459 --> 00:10:07,329 We would all have to duck below the level of the windows 194 00:10:07,417 --> 00:10:09,917 because the bus had to stop at the train tracks. 195 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,170 The school district thought the buses were most vulnerable 196 00:10:12,250 --> 00:10:16,540 when they were stopped at a railroad crossing. 197 00:10:16,626 --> 00:10:19,076 Along with that letter that included the threat 198 00:10:19,167 --> 00:10:21,417 against the schoolchildren, there's another cipher. 199 00:10:21,500 --> 00:10:25,750 The second cipher sent by zodiac is known as the 340 200 00:10:25,834 --> 00:10:29,084 because it has 340 symbols in it. 201 00:10:29,167 --> 00:10:32,287 We haven't been too successful. We've had them out with experts. 202 00:10:32,375 --> 00:10:35,325 We don't think that, actually, there was a message in there. 203 00:10:35,417 --> 00:10:36,707 You can have these ciphers, 204 00:10:36,792 --> 00:10:40,172 and they really aren't able to be broken. 205 00:10:40,250 --> 00:10:41,960 Over the years, many attempts have been made 206 00:10:42,042 --> 00:10:44,672 to solve this cipher, and to this day, 207 00:10:44,751 --> 00:10:50,041 we don't know what, if any, message is in that cipher. 208 00:10:50,125 --> 00:10:52,955 I think he liked the idea that there were people 209 00:10:53,042 --> 00:10:55,792 everywhere that were trying to decipher his codes 210 00:10:55,876 --> 00:10:57,706 because he's a game player. 211 00:10:57,792 --> 00:11:00,502 In the end, no bombings happen in the bay area, 212 00:11:00,584 --> 00:11:05,334 but instead, something completely unexpected happens. 213 00:11:07,417 --> 00:11:10,287 Butterfield: On October 22, 1969, 214 00:11:10,375 --> 00:11:12,705 someone called the Oakland police department 215 00:11:12,792 --> 00:11:14,962 and claimed to be the zodiac. 216 00:11:15,042 --> 00:11:19,132 He asked that the famous attorney Melvin belli appear 217 00:11:19,209 --> 00:11:22,079 on a local talk show to talk about the zodiac, 218 00:11:22,167 --> 00:11:26,327 so belli was transported to the local television station. 219 00:11:26,417 --> 00:11:28,957 Sam: I have headache. Right. 220 00:11:29,042 --> 00:11:33,462 How long have you had those headaches, Sam? 221 00:11:33,542 --> 00:11:35,082 Been a long time? 222 00:11:35,167 --> 00:11:37,167 Since I killed that kid. 223 00:11:37,250 --> 00:11:40,130 He agreed to be referred to as Sam. 224 00:11:40,209 --> 00:11:42,419 Jordan: Melvin belli, he's like, "if this is zodiac," 225 00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:44,420 this is my big chance to try to get information 226 00:11:44,500 --> 00:11:48,000 out of him to draw him out," but this caller, Sam, 227 00:11:48,083 --> 00:11:49,673 doesn't really want to answer his questions 228 00:11:49,751 --> 00:11:52,251 and basically just says he can't remember. 229 00:11:52,334 --> 00:11:53,584 It was a chilling call. 230 00:11:53,667 --> 00:11:55,917 Police are looking to turn to somebody 231 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,170 who could identify unequivocally the zodiac killer's voice, 232 00:12:00,250 --> 00:12:01,580 and that person, of course, 233 00:12:01,667 --> 00:12:04,127 would be the surviving victim Bryan hartnell. 234 00:12:04,209 --> 00:12:06,459 Butterfield: And Bryan hartnell agreed 235 00:12:06,542 --> 00:12:07,962 that he was not the zodiac. 236 00:12:08,042 --> 00:12:09,922 Why did you want to talk to Mr. Belli, Sam? 237 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:11,710 Sam: I don't want to be hurt. 238 00:12:11,792 --> 00:12:16,292 His voice sounded too young and too pathetic to be the zodiac. 239 00:12:16,375 --> 00:12:19,285 Graysmith: As it turned out, it was not the real zodiac. 240 00:12:19,375 --> 00:12:22,375 It was a person from an institution that was calling. 241 00:12:22,459 --> 00:12:25,789 But it did go out there live, and the question is, 242 00:12:25,876 --> 00:12:29,996 could the real zodiac killer have seen the show? 243 00:12:30,083 --> 00:12:33,833 December 20th, in '69, belli gets this letter. 244 00:12:33,918 --> 00:12:37,328 Butterfield: The real zodiac sent a letter to Melvin belli 245 00:12:37,417 --> 00:12:40,997 on the 1-year anniversary of the murders on lake Herman road. 246 00:12:41,083 --> 00:12:43,673 In order to prove that he was the real zodiac, 247 00:12:43,751 --> 00:12:46,671 he included a piece of Paul stine's shirt 248 00:12:46,751 --> 00:12:47,881 with this letter. 249 00:12:47,959 --> 00:12:49,539 We have examined the piece of material 250 00:12:49,626 --> 00:12:51,786 that was included in a letter to Mr. Belli, 251 00:12:51,876 --> 00:12:54,376 which is a piece of the victim's shirt. 252 00:12:54,459 --> 00:12:57,129 We had confirmed that this was in fact 253 00:12:57,209 --> 00:12:59,499 from the suspect known as zodiac. 254 00:12:59,584 --> 00:13:03,214 And it seems obvious that the zodiac is compelled 255 00:13:03,292 --> 00:13:06,082 by power or control. 256 00:13:06,167 --> 00:13:07,827 In the belli letter, he uses the word 257 00:13:07,918 --> 00:13:11,208 "control" three times, 258 00:13:11,292 --> 00:13:13,792 and the fact that he attacks suddenly... 259 00:13:13,876 --> 00:13:14,826 [ Gunshots ] 260 00:13:14,918 --> 00:13:16,748 ...and departs quickly shows 261 00:13:16,834 --> 00:13:19,544 that there's an important aspect of control 262 00:13:19,626 --> 00:13:21,706 and power in the attacks that he is doing. 263 00:13:21,792 --> 00:13:23,332 All of northern California 264 00:13:23,417 --> 00:13:26,917 is now waiting for zodiac's next move. 265 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,250 Reporter #2: Just the possibility 266 00:13:28,334 --> 00:13:29,634 that zodiac might have resurfaced 267 00:13:29,709 --> 00:13:31,879 sent shivers throughout vallejo. 268 00:13:36,375 --> 00:13:38,955 O'Toole: People were still very afraid. 269 00:13:39,042 --> 00:13:41,582 So here we have this person 270 00:13:41,667 --> 00:13:47,247 who was able to hold thousands of people like a puppeteer 271 00:13:47,334 --> 00:13:50,004 in these states of fear and anxiety 272 00:13:50,083 --> 00:13:51,673 about what he could do next 273 00:13:51,751 --> 00:13:55,421 and the potential that he had to blow up kids in a school bus 274 00:13:55,500 --> 00:13:56,830 and what he would do 275 00:13:56,918 --> 00:13:59,578 if he didn't get the credit that he deserved. 276 00:13:59,667 --> 00:14:02,457 That's power and control, and I think he loved that. 277 00:14:02,542 --> 00:14:04,212 Considering he hasn't been caught yet, 278 00:14:04,292 --> 00:14:05,752 I definitely feel he's still around. 279 00:14:05,834 --> 00:14:07,464 Remember, we've never seen anything like this. 280 00:14:07,542 --> 00:14:08,962 It made national news. 281 00:14:09,042 --> 00:14:12,382 If it wasn't important before, it was a big story now. 282 00:14:12,459 --> 00:14:14,329 The search goes on in San Francisco 283 00:14:14,417 --> 00:14:16,827 for the man known as the zodiac killer. 284 00:14:16,918 --> 00:14:19,748 But the question on everybody's minds is, 285 00:14:19,834 --> 00:14:22,334 who is the zodiac killer? 286 00:14:31,959 --> 00:14:34,379 A ruthless serial killer who craved publicity, 287 00:14:34,459 --> 00:14:37,749 he stalked northern California more than 30 years ago 288 00:14:37,834 --> 00:14:40,674 and eludes police to this very day. 289 00:14:42,751 --> 00:14:43,961 Jordan: There are a lot of prevailing theories 290 00:14:44,042 --> 00:14:45,382 on who the zodiac is. 291 00:14:45,459 --> 00:14:48,079 Maybe he had a military background, 292 00:14:48,167 --> 00:14:50,877 or he had a background in law enforcement. 293 00:14:50,959 --> 00:14:53,039 His haircut, he apparently had a buzz cut 294 00:14:53,125 --> 00:14:54,745 that was rather military-looking. 295 00:14:54,834 --> 00:14:58,174 His plain, black-rimmed glasses were kind of military. 296 00:14:58,250 --> 00:15:00,080 He apparently was competent with weapons. 297 00:15:00,167 --> 00:15:03,127 Jordan: Or maybe he's obsessed with astrological signs 298 00:15:03,209 --> 00:15:06,379 and there's some great mystical or occult quality 299 00:15:06,459 --> 00:15:08,879 to this that we really just haven't deciphered. 300 00:15:08,959 --> 00:15:10,289 But I think it was a smoke screen, 301 00:15:10,375 --> 00:15:12,745 just more of that to make him more frightening. 302 00:15:12,834 --> 00:15:14,504 There are some theories that the zodiac 303 00:15:14,584 --> 00:15:18,174 was either a master criminal or some sort of drooling maniac, 304 00:15:18,250 --> 00:15:21,580 and I think the truth probably lies somewhere in between. 305 00:15:21,667 --> 00:15:23,327 For the first time, 306 00:15:23,417 --> 00:15:27,747 he has demonstrated a hostility towards police. 307 00:15:27,834 --> 00:15:32,004 Now we are "blue pigs" and such remarks as that. 308 00:15:32,083 --> 00:15:37,173 His agenda was such that he had to taunt the police, 309 00:15:37,250 --> 00:15:41,960 and he had to do things to make himself newsworthy 310 00:15:42,042 --> 00:15:44,752 and to command the front page. 311 00:15:44,834 --> 00:15:48,004 Zodiac was sending letters that were quite vague. 312 00:15:48,083 --> 00:15:50,963 He talked in his letters about a 13th victim, 313 00:15:51,042 --> 00:15:53,582 but nobody knows whether he's trying to take credit 314 00:15:53,667 --> 00:15:55,287 for murdering 13 people, 315 00:15:55,375 --> 00:16:00,535 or whether he is promising more murders to come. 316 00:16:00,626 --> 00:16:02,076 Butterfield: Paul Avery was a reporter who worked 317 00:16:02,167 --> 00:16:03,417 at the "San Francisco chronicle" at the time 318 00:16:03,500 --> 00:16:04,920 of the zodiac case, 319 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,380 and he was also responsible for many of the stories 320 00:16:07,459 --> 00:16:09,749 in the "chronicle" about the crimes. 321 00:16:09,834 --> 00:16:11,384 In October of 1970, 322 00:16:11,459 --> 00:16:15,289 the zodiac sent Paul Avery a Halloween card, 323 00:16:15,375 --> 00:16:18,535 which appeared to allude to a 14th victim, 324 00:16:18,626 --> 00:16:21,126 and some people believed that the 14th victim 325 00:16:21,209 --> 00:16:22,539 would be Paul Avery. 326 00:16:22,626 --> 00:16:25,876 I think it's an idle threat, but at the same time, 327 00:16:25,959 --> 00:16:26,999 I'm no fool. 328 00:16:27,083 --> 00:16:28,543 I'm going to be very careful. 329 00:16:28,626 --> 00:16:31,206 There was a conference with the police department 330 00:16:31,292 --> 00:16:35,792 and discussion of possible police protection for me. 331 00:16:35,876 --> 00:16:37,126 Graysmith: The zodiac is saying 332 00:16:37,209 --> 00:16:38,379 he's going to come to the "chronicle." 333 00:16:38,459 --> 00:16:39,749 He's going to kill Paul Avery. 334 00:16:39,834 --> 00:16:42,174 In fact Avery made them little buttons 335 00:16:42,250 --> 00:16:45,750 that said "I am not Paul Avery," and everybody wore the buttons. 336 00:16:45,834 --> 00:16:48,504 I think he just wanted to get himself a little publicity. 337 00:16:48,584 --> 00:16:50,544 Hewitt: Zodiac got a lot of front-page coverage 338 00:16:50,626 --> 00:16:54,626 because of these letters and seemed to terrorize the nation. 339 00:16:54,709 --> 00:16:59,039 There almost seems to be a shift in him realizing, 340 00:16:59,125 --> 00:17:00,245 "oh, wait a minute. 341 00:17:00,334 --> 00:17:02,584 This is what I really like to do, 342 00:17:02,667 --> 00:17:05,077 holding the city of San Francisco 343 00:17:05,167 --> 00:17:07,127 and the bay area almost hostage." 344 00:17:07,209 --> 00:17:09,039 The zodiac may have been frightened 345 00:17:09,125 --> 00:17:10,955 by his close encounter with police 346 00:17:11,042 --> 00:17:14,172 on the night of the murder of cabdriver Paul stine. 347 00:17:14,250 --> 00:17:16,000 Hewitt: He did claim in one of his letters 348 00:17:16,083 --> 00:17:18,753 was that he was going to change the way he killed 349 00:17:18,834 --> 00:17:21,004 and that he would not announce his victims 350 00:17:21,083 --> 00:17:23,883 and would make many of them look like accidents. 351 00:17:23,959 --> 00:17:26,459 That was actually a rather clever ploy 352 00:17:26,542 --> 00:17:29,712 on the part of the killer if he wanted to stop killing 353 00:17:29,792 --> 00:17:31,382 but leave the police wondering 354 00:17:31,459 --> 00:17:33,329 whether he was continuing to kill or not. 355 00:17:33,417 --> 00:17:36,167 Voigt: None of the police in any of the jurisdictions 356 00:17:36,250 --> 00:17:39,210 that were investigating the zodiac were anywhere close. 357 00:17:39,292 --> 00:17:40,962 They needed to think outside the box, 358 00:17:41,042 --> 00:17:43,502 but there had never been a box like this. 359 00:17:47,292 --> 00:17:49,712 Jordan: As police try to figure out the identity 360 00:17:49,792 --> 00:17:51,632 of the zodiac killer, they widen the net, 361 00:17:51,709 --> 00:17:53,459 and they start looking at cold cases, 362 00:17:53,542 --> 00:17:56,422 unsolved crimes that may be similar, 363 00:17:56,500 --> 00:17:58,710 and they find one in particular. 364 00:17:59,792 --> 00:18:02,002 Voigt: Linda Edwards and Bobby domingos 365 00:18:02,083 --> 00:18:03,583 were a couple in high school. 366 00:18:03,667 --> 00:18:05,787 It was in 1963, June. 367 00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:07,956 They went to a remote beach. 368 00:18:08,042 --> 00:18:10,252 It was a stretch of ocean that was really kind of isolated 369 00:18:10,334 --> 00:18:12,424 and very difficult to get to. 370 00:18:12,500 --> 00:18:15,710 Just like at lake berryessa, they were bound. 371 00:18:15,792 --> 00:18:17,382 A knife was involved. 372 00:18:17,459 --> 00:18:20,879 Their double murder is still unsolved. 373 00:18:20,959 --> 00:18:24,039 Hewitt: The fact that it occurred by the side of water 374 00:18:24,125 --> 00:18:27,875 and by the ammunition used against the couple suggests 375 00:18:27,959 --> 00:18:30,919 that there were similarities between that attack 376 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,210 and the attack at lake berryessa. 377 00:18:34,292 --> 00:18:37,042 It's a crime that eventually got connected 378 00:18:37,125 --> 00:18:38,995 with the zodiac in theory, 379 00:18:39,083 --> 00:18:40,713 that he could have been responsible. 380 00:18:40,792 --> 00:18:43,832 Whether or not that was the zodiac has never been confirmed. 381 00:18:43,918 --> 00:18:47,208 The zodiac never claimed credit for that attack. 382 00:18:47,292 --> 00:18:49,542 There are some enticing cases to this day 383 00:18:49,626 --> 00:18:53,666 that might very well have been the work of the zodiac. 384 00:18:53,751 --> 00:18:56,251 Graysmith: Paul Avery, our crime reporter, 385 00:18:56,334 --> 00:18:57,964 did something really important. 386 00:18:58,042 --> 00:19:01,962 He found the connection to a southern California murder. 387 00:19:03,667 --> 00:19:07,747 Hewitt: On the night of October 30, 1966, cheri Jo bates 388 00:19:07,834 --> 00:19:11,084 went to the riverside community college library 389 00:19:11,167 --> 00:19:12,827 to check out some books. 390 00:19:12,918 --> 00:19:17,538 Her body was found in a vacant lot nearby the next morning, 391 00:19:17,626 --> 00:19:20,956 and she had been stabbed. 392 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:25,040 The murder was accompanied by letters, 393 00:19:25,125 --> 00:19:28,245 multiple copies of letters sent in different directions, 394 00:19:28,334 --> 00:19:30,964 one sent to the press, one sent to the police. 395 00:19:31,042 --> 00:19:34,672 It's very rare for a serial killer to correspond. 396 00:19:34,751 --> 00:19:37,791 It's exceedingly rare for a serial killer to make multiple 397 00:19:37,876 --> 00:19:40,376 copies of a letter and send it in different directions. 398 00:19:40,459 --> 00:19:43,419 Voigt: Three letters written and posted on the same day 399 00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:44,830 to three different recipients, 400 00:19:44,918 --> 00:19:48,288 that's exactly what zodiac did on July 31, 1969. 401 00:19:48,375 --> 00:19:50,285 It was about 3 1/2 years later. 402 00:19:50,375 --> 00:19:53,165 Multiple stamps, more stamps than you need to put on, 403 00:19:53,250 --> 00:19:55,580 but most people don't do that, but zodiac did, 404 00:19:55,667 --> 00:19:58,037 and so did the person in riverside. 405 00:19:58,125 --> 00:20:00,245 Butterfield: In march of 1971, 406 00:20:00,334 --> 00:20:03,004 the zodiac sent a letter to the "Los Angeles times" 407 00:20:03,083 --> 00:20:06,633 in which he took credit for the murder of cheri Jo bates. 408 00:20:06,709 --> 00:20:09,749 It's not unusual for other serial killers 409 00:20:09,834 --> 00:20:11,384 to take credit for cases 410 00:20:11,459 --> 00:20:14,499 so that they look bigger, badder, meaner, 411 00:20:14,584 --> 00:20:15,794 the worst serial killer. 412 00:20:15,876 --> 00:20:17,956 In that letter he said... 413 00:20:21,292 --> 00:20:23,752 ...which was an apparent reference to the bates murder, 414 00:20:23,834 --> 00:20:25,214 and then he said, 415 00:20:25,292 --> 00:20:27,712 "but there are a hell of a lot more of them down there," 416 00:20:27,792 --> 00:20:30,332 which was an indication of more victims 417 00:20:30,417 --> 00:20:33,747 in southern California that had not been identified. 418 00:20:33,834 --> 00:20:37,334 Jordan: In the cheri Jo bates case in 1966, 419 00:20:37,417 --> 00:20:42,417 a lot of attention had been paid to a man named Ross Sullivan. 420 00:20:42,500 --> 00:20:44,790 Sullivan is a stocky man with glasses, 421 00:20:44,876 --> 00:20:49,416 and he works at the library where bates was last seen alive. 422 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:52,170 He had apparently had some mental-health issues. 423 00:20:52,250 --> 00:20:54,960 He was largely antisocial, 424 00:20:55,042 --> 00:20:58,832 and so some people considered him to be the logical suspect. 425 00:20:58,918 --> 00:21:01,248 In at least three letters, the zodiac referenced 426 00:21:01,334 --> 00:21:03,334 or quoted "the mikado." 427 00:21:03,417 --> 00:21:07,537 "Mikado" is a light opera written by Gilbert and Sullivan 428 00:21:07,626 --> 00:21:11,206 and first performed in the 1890s in London. 429 00:21:11,292 --> 00:21:13,212 Voigt: Some people think that that means the zodiac 430 00:21:13,292 --> 00:21:15,712 had some kind of a connection with opera 431 00:21:15,792 --> 00:21:17,542 or maybe his last name was Sullivan. 432 00:21:17,626 --> 00:21:19,246 Butterfield: Ross Sullivan was investigated 433 00:21:19,334 --> 00:21:22,384 also a zodiac suspect in the 1970s, 434 00:21:22,459 --> 00:21:24,039 and his fingerprints did not match 435 00:21:24,125 --> 00:21:27,785 the fingerprint found on the cab in San Francisco. 436 00:21:29,459 --> 00:21:32,709 The police are going through suspects that seem to fit, 437 00:21:32,792 --> 00:21:36,672 but the evidence isn't there, and then zodiac appears 438 00:21:36,751 --> 00:21:38,291 to change his m.0. Again, 439 00:21:38,375 --> 00:21:43,575 a shift that could lead police to his identity. 440 00:21:43,667 --> 00:21:46,457 She goes to the police, and she looks at the poster. 441 00:21:46,542 --> 00:21:47,632 She said, "that's him. 442 00:21:47,709 --> 00:21:49,789 That's the man who picked me up." 443 00:21:56,417 --> 00:22:01,627 ♪♪ 444 00:22:01,709 --> 00:22:04,169 Welcome back to "very scary people." 445 00:22:04,250 --> 00:22:07,130 By 1970, the zodiac killer had eluded police 446 00:22:07,209 --> 00:22:11,169 for at least 2 years, and the cases had gone cold. 447 00:22:11,250 --> 00:22:13,420 Police had no shortage of suspects, 448 00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:15,330 but no one was a perfect fit, 449 00:22:15,417 --> 00:22:18,497 and zodiac himself seemed to have stopped killing. 450 00:22:18,584 --> 00:22:20,834 Could he be done with his terror spree, 451 00:22:20,918 --> 00:22:23,418 or has he just entered a new phase? 452 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:30,670 ♪♪ 453 00:22:30,751 --> 00:22:33,211 Hewitt: Kathleen Johns was traveling 454 00:22:33,292 --> 00:22:36,832 from San Bernardino, California, to petaluma, California. 455 00:22:36,918 --> 00:22:39,458 She was approximately 8 months pregnant 456 00:22:39,542 --> 00:22:43,502 and had her 10-month-old daughter with her in the car. 457 00:22:47,083 --> 00:22:49,293 Jordan: She experiences some car trouble, 458 00:22:49,375 --> 00:22:52,705 and somebody, seemingly a good samaritan, 459 00:22:52,792 --> 00:22:55,962 pulls up behind her and offers her a ride. 460 00:22:56,042 --> 00:23:00,382 She gets into his car with her infant daughter. 461 00:23:00,459 --> 00:23:04,379 Once she's in the car, he starts to terrify her. 462 00:23:05,876 --> 00:23:09,126 He makes statements that really frighten her 463 00:23:09,209 --> 00:23:13,129 and make her believe that she's going to be killed. 464 00:23:13,209 --> 00:23:15,329 Kathleen Johns grabbed her daughter, 465 00:23:15,417 --> 00:23:17,207 opened the door and dove out of the car 466 00:23:17,292 --> 00:23:20,882 when the car came to a stop at a stop sign 467 00:23:20,959 --> 00:23:23,709 and escaped the car that way. 468 00:23:25,459 --> 00:23:28,249 She goes to the police, and she looks at the poster. 469 00:23:28,334 --> 00:23:29,464 She said, "that's him. 470 00:23:29,542 --> 00:23:31,382 That's the man who picked me up," 471 00:23:31,459 --> 00:23:34,129 so that's how they made the zodiac connection. 472 00:23:36,125 --> 00:23:37,955 The zodiac, about 5 months later, 473 00:23:38,042 --> 00:23:39,582 claimed credit for the attack. 474 00:23:39,667 --> 00:23:41,167 The zodiac, in his letter, 475 00:23:41,250 --> 00:23:45,790 "I gave a rather interesting ride to a woman and her baby." 476 00:23:45,876 --> 00:23:49,746 Kathleen Johns later identifies in a composite setup 477 00:23:49,834 --> 00:23:51,384 a man named Lawrence Kane 478 00:23:51,459 --> 00:23:57,039 as the man who possibly abducted her and terrified her. 479 00:23:57,125 --> 00:23:58,575 Kane does have a history 480 00:23:58,667 --> 00:24:01,877 of being a peeping Tom in the early '60s. 481 00:24:01,959 --> 00:24:04,959 A former police officer believed that Larry Kane was connected 482 00:24:05,042 --> 00:24:08,922 to the disappearance of a nurse in lake Tahoe. 483 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,920 Hewitt: Donna lass was a nurse who disappeared in stateline, 484 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,460 Nevada, in 1970. 485 00:24:14,542 --> 00:24:17,132 It has been linked to the zodiac 486 00:24:17,209 --> 00:24:19,459 because a couple of letters were received 487 00:24:19,542 --> 00:24:23,172 that seemed to indicate a connection to her 488 00:24:23,250 --> 00:24:24,920 and a connection to the zodiac. 489 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,420 By 1970, police have confirmed five murders 490 00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:30,080 and two attempted murders. 491 00:24:30,167 --> 00:24:32,207 In addition, there are another three murders, 492 00:24:32,292 --> 00:24:35,462 a missing persons case and a kidnapping case 493 00:24:35,542 --> 00:24:39,212 that the police speculate could be the work of the zodiac. 494 00:24:39,292 --> 00:24:44,922 ♪♪ 495 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,710 By 1971, he was sending postcards 496 00:24:47,792 --> 00:24:49,382 which alluded to other victims 497 00:24:49,459 --> 00:24:51,829 and then sending letters to the "Los Angeles times" 498 00:24:51,918 --> 00:24:53,578 taking credit for other crimes, too. 499 00:24:53,667 --> 00:24:57,377 But provided no details that the police did not know. 500 00:24:57,459 --> 00:25:00,419 The cases we know are for sure the zodiac killer, 501 00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:01,790 he was very detailed. 502 00:25:01,876 --> 00:25:04,376 He told the media and the police things 503 00:25:04,459 --> 00:25:06,579 that only the killer could have known, 504 00:25:06,667 --> 00:25:09,207 and in the bates case and in the Johns case, 505 00:25:09,292 --> 00:25:10,382 that doesn't happen. 506 00:25:10,459 --> 00:25:13,209 So based on facts known to public, 507 00:25:13,292 --> 00:25:15,132 he could claim credit 508 00:25:15,209 --> 00:25:17,669 and stay on the front page of the newspaper. 509 00:25:17,751 --> 00:25:19,501 Butterfield: So it appeared that at that point, 510 00:25:19,584 --> 00:25:22,674 it became a publicity campaign rather than a reign of terror. 511 00:25:22,751 --> 00:25:27,001 The zodiac killer sends a total of 19 communications or contacts 512 00:25:27,083 --> 00:25:29,583 with the media over the next 5 years. 513 00:25:29,667 --> 00:25:31,877 Armstrong: We are learning more about the man psychologically. 514 00:25:31,959 --> 00:25:33,919 Man #2: What exactly are you learning psychologically? 515 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,290 The content of these letters tell you quite a lot. 516 00:25:36,375 --> 00:25:37,705 Such as? 517 00:25:37,792 --> 00:25:39,172 Well, I wouldn't want to disclose to our suspect 518 00:25:39,250 --> 00:25:43,080 what we think of him and where we're looking. 519 00:25:43,167 --> 00:25:45,287 Jordan: On July 8, 1974, 520 00:25:45,375 --> 00:25:48,745 the zodiac killer sends his last letter to the media, 521 00:25:48,834 --> 00:25:52,044 and he is never heard from again. 522 00:25:52,125 --> 00:25:54,785 Some people have theorized that the zodiac killer 523 00:25:54,876 --> 00:25:59,246 reemerges later as a totally different kind of serial killer. 524 00:26:02,209 --> 00:26:04,289 Reporter #3: Justice department investigators believe they have 525 00:26:04,375 --> 00:26:06,325 enough evidence against Theodore kaczynski, 526 00:26:06,417 --> 00:26:08,377 so much so, they've begun to think about 527 00:26:08,459 --> 00:26:10,039 where to hold a trial. 528 00:26:10,125 --> 00:26:12,125 Butterfield: One of the popular suspects was the unabomber, 529 00:26:12,209 --> 00:26:13,919 Ted kaczynski. 530 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,170 The unabomber, like the zodiac, also sent letters to the media. 531 00:26:18,250 --> 00:26:20,000 Reporter #4: The bomber had said he would kill again 532 00:26:20,083 --> 00:26:22,333 unless "the post" or "the New York times" 533 00:26:22,417 --> 00:26:23,747 printed his paper, 534 00:26:23,834 --> 00:26:26,924 all 35,000 words, by this Sunday. 535 00:26:30,083 --> 00:26:32,713 The bulk of the zodiac's activity happened 536 00:26:32,792 --> 00:26:36,042 during the 2 years following Ted kaczynski's time 537 00:26:36,125 --> 00:26:39,325 as a professor at uc Berkeley. 538 00:26:39,417 --> 00:26:42,167 Kaczynski's final day of work at uc Berkeley 539 00:26:42,250 --> 00:26:45,420 was June the 30th, 1969. 540 00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:49,460 Four days later, the 4th of July, 1969, 541 00:26:49,542 --> 00:26:54,132 the attack occurred at blue rock Springs park. 542 00:26:54,209 --> 00:26:57,129 The zodiac was involved in designing bombs 543 00:26:57,209 --> 00:26:59,419 and designing passive bombs, 544 00:26:59,500 --> 00:27:03,290 exactly as the unabomber would do many years later. 545 00:27:05,584 --> 00:27:08,334 The zodiac used the phrase repeatedly 546 00:27:08,417 --> 00:27:11,247 "collecting slaves for the afterlife." 547 00:27:11,334 --> 00:27:14,294 Well, "slaves" is a repeated term 548 00:27:14,375 --> 00:27:18,455 used in the unabomber's manifesto. 549 00:27:22,417 --> 00:27:25,247 It's an interesting theory, but he's also tall and lanky, 550 00:27:25,334 --> 00:27:29,464 and I went to his trial, and I did not like him. 551 00:27:29,542 --> 00:27:31,962 I think kaczynski was just getting even with the world. 552 00:27:32,042 --> 00:27:34,042 I don't think he could possibly be zodiac. 553 00:27:34,125 --> 00:27:36,205 Butterfield: There's no credible evidence that Ted kaczynski 554 00:27:36,292 --> 00:27:38,922 was the zodiac, and no one in law enforcement 555 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,750 appears to think that he's a viable suspect. 556 00:27:43,751 --> 00:27:46,171 Jordan: Our fascination with the zodiac killer has spawned 557 00:27:46,250 --> 00:27:51,380 so many theories about who the killer actually is, 558 00:27:51,459 --> 00:27:52,829 and some of them are outlandish, 559 00:27:52,918 --> 00:27:54,998 and some of them are just intriguing. 560 00:27:55,083 --> 00:27:56,503 But every once in a while, 561 00:27:56,584 --> 00:28:00,504 there's a theory that captures everyone's attention. 562 00:28:00,584 --> 00:28:06,254 In 1991, Michael mageau, that lovers' Lane passenger 563 00:28:06,334 --> 00:28:11,634 who actually survived being shot was shown a picture. 564 00:28:13,292 --> 00:28:16,922 And he said, "that's the guy." 565 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,380 Just point-blank, are you a murderer? 566 00:28:26,542 --> 00:28:29,002 Just point-blank, are you a murderer? 567 00:28:31,125 --> 00:28:32,625 A man named Don Cheney, 568 00:28:32,709 --> 00:28:35,209 a civil engineer from northern California, 569 00:28:35,292 --> 00:28:37,632 goes to the police with a story about a friend 570 00:28:37,709 --> 00:28:40,879 of his named Arthur Leigh Allen. 571 00:28:42,500 --> 00:28:44,830 Butterfield: Arthur Leigh Allen was a former schoolteacher 572 00:28:44,918 --> 00:28:47,458 who lived in vallejo, California. 573 00:28:47,542 --> 00:28:51,172 This individual Don Cheney had known Arthur Leigh Allen, 574 00:28:51,250 --> 00:28:55,170 and according to Cheney, in December of 1967, 575 00:28:55,250 --> 00:28:58,920 he mentioned his desire to write letters and use the name zodiac 576 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,420 and that he wanted to shoot people. 577 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:04,670 He says Allen always said he was going to kill 578 00:29:04,751 --> 00:29:06,171 these couples at random, 579 00:29:06,250 --> 00:29:09,880 that he knew how to attach a flashlight to a firearm, 580 00:29:09,959 --> 00:29:12,169 which the zodiac killer had done. 581 00:29:14,792 --> 00:29:19,332 And Allen owned firearms exactly like the zodiac killer used. 582 00:29:19,417 --> 00:29:21,577 He had been in the military. 583 00:29:21,667 --> 00:29:24,207 He was dishonorably discharged from the Navy, 584 00:29:24,292 --> 00:29:26,542 and he actually worked very close 585 00:29:26,626 --> 00:29:29,076 to where one of the victims of the second shooting, 586 00:29:29,167 --> 00:29:31,247 Darlene ferrin, lived. 587 00:29:33,125 --> 00:29:35,535 He makes a statement in front of Cheney. 588 00:29:35,626 --> 00:29:38,416 He says, "I want to shoot the little kiddies 589 00:29:38,500 --> 00:29:41,080 as they come bouncing off the bus." 590 00:29:41,167 --> 00:29:44,457 He's wearing a zodiac wristwatch, for god's sake. 591 00:29:44,542 --> 00:29:46,292 Lake berryessa is where Arthur Leigh Allen would go 592 00:29:46,375 --> 00:29:51,705 and hunt for squirrels and scuba dive and sail and catch fish. 593 00:29:51,792 --> 00:29:55,542 It's a great fishing lake, but I have a photograph. 594 00:29:55,626 --> 00:29:59,286 It's him in 1958, and he's at that spot. 595 00:29:59,375 --> 00:30:00,705 You can see the beach down below. 596 00:30:00,792 --> 00:30:02,332 He's at lake berryessa. 597 00:30:02,417 --> 00:30:06,457 There's even an explanation for why zodiac quit killing. 598 00:30:06,542 --> 00:30:11,962 The theories were he died, he's sick, or he's in prison. 599 00:30:12,042 --> 00:30:14,332 It turns out Arthur Leigh Allen was in prison. 600 00:30:14,417 --> 00:30:16,787 He was in atascadero for molesting children. 601 00:30:16,876 --> 00:30:19,956 And the case against Allen kept getting stronger. 602 00:30:21,792 --> 00:30:27,502 In 1991, Michael mageau, that lovers' Lane passenger 603 00:30:27,584 --> 00:30:30,424 who actually survived being shot, 604 00:30:30,500 --> 00:30:34,420 was shown a picture of Arthur Leigh Allen, 605 00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:37,330 and he said, "that's the guy." 606 00:30:39,417 --> 00:30:42,707 They obtained a search warrant and searched Allen's trailer. 607 00:30:42,792 --> 00:30:46,382 It's difficult as hell and it can be ext... 608 00:30:50,167 --> 00:30:53,827 It can be terribly depressing, 609 00:30:53,918 --> 00:30:56,328 and if I deserved any of it, 610 00:30:56,417 --> 00:30:59,167 that would be something different, but I don't. 611 00:30:59,250 --> 00:31:02,130 San Francisco police determined that Allen's fingerprints 612 00:31:02,209 --> 00:31:05,129 did not match the suspected zodiac fingerprint 613 00:31:05,209 --> 00:31:08,079 found on the cab. 614 00:31:08,167 --> 00:31:10,127 Experts had determined that his handwriting 615 00:31:10,209 --> 00:31:12,579 did not match the zodiac's handwriting. 616 00:31:12,667 --> 00:31:17,037 By the 1970s, the police were out of suspects. 617 00:31:17,125 --> 00:31:22,625 ♪♪ 618 00:31:22,709 --> 00:31:26,329 O'Toole: There's a reason that he was able to get away 619 00:31:26,417 --> 00:31:29,077 from law-enforcement nets 620 00:31:29,167 --> 00:31:30,327 that were out there at this time. 621 00:31:30,417 --> 00:31:33,747 In the 1960s and the early 1970s, 622 00:31:33,834 --> 00:31:35,174 law-enforcement agencies 623 00:31:35,250 --> 00:31:38,750 weren't even on the same radio wavelengths. 624 00:31:38,834 --> 00:31:41,634 Police reports were filed in San Francisco 625 00:31:41,709 --> 00:31:45,169 and filed in vallejo and filed at lake berryessa, 626 00:31:45,250 --> 00:31:48,290 so there wasn't the communication that you see now. 627 00:31:48,375 --> 00:31:49,325 That really hurt us. 628 00:31:49,417 --> 00:31:50,877 The case went cold, 629 00:31:50,959 --> 00:31:54,959 and the zodiac killer sort of faded from the front page. 630 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,130 Then Robert Graysmith came out with a book 631 00:32:00,209 --> 00:32:02,039 in the 1980s on the zodiac killer 632 00:32:02,125 --> 00:32:06,285 that was later made into the very famous movie in 2007. 633 00:32:06,375 --> 00:32:09,575 It was just called "zodiac," and it introduced the case 634 00:32:09,667 --> 00:32:11,917 to just a new generation of people. 635 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:15,210 The main villain in the movie was Arthur Leigh Allen, 636 00:32:15,292 --> 00:32:17,582 and he was, you know, it was so compelling, 637 00:32:17,667 --> 00:32:19,327 the case that they made against him, 638 00:32:19,417 --> 00:32:23,417 that people leaving thought that he had to be the killer. 639 00:32:25,584 --> 00:32:28,634 But the movie doesn't bring any new evidence, 640 00:32:28,709 --> 00:32:32,209 and again the case fades from the headlines. 641 00:32:34,959 --> 00:32:38,669 In 2014, a man named Gary Stewart in Louisiana 642 00:32:38,751 --> 00:32:40,711 wrote a book 643 00:32:40,792 --> 00:32:44,292 claiming that he knows who the zodiac killer is, 644 00:32:44,375 --> 00:32:47,745 and it's someone very close to home. 645 00:32:47,834 --> 00:32:52,584 The wanted poster from 1969 from the San Francisco 646 00:32:52,667 --> 00:32:56,037 police department flashes on the screen, 647 00:32:56,125 --> 00:32:57,125 and my heart stops. 648 00:32:57,209 --> 00:32:58,629 It's my father. 649 00:32:58,709 --> 00:33:02,629 Earl Van best Jr.'s son was very impressed 650 00:33:02,709 --> 00:33:05,079 with a photo he found of his father. 651 00:33:05,167 --> 00:33:08,497 I believe for the first time in the history of this case 652 00:33:08,584 --> 00:33:10,794 that I've presented more evidence 653 00:33:10,876 --> 00:33:13,876 that's ever been presented on any one suspect 654 00:33:13,959 --> 00:33:17,129 and had the belief of the head of homicide behind me 655 00:33:17,209 --> 00:33:19,249 at one time. 656 00:33:19,334 --> 00:33:22,084 Reporter #5: Gary Stewart's father died in 1984, 657 00:33:22,167 --> 00:33:23,707 but he says forensic experts 658 00:33:23,792 --> 00:33:25,922 have matched his father's handwriting 659 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,250 to cryptic notes the killer left behind. 660 00:33:28,334 --> 00:33:32,334 He cites forensic evidence of handwriting exemplars. 661 00:33:32,417 --> 00:33:35,877 He says that the handwriting of his father matches 662 00:33:35,959 --> 00:33:37,499 that of the zodiac killer, 663 00:33:37,584 --> 00:33:40,504 and he presents as his evidence a marriage certificate, 664 00:33:40,584 --> 00:33:42,464 but there's a fatal flaw to this theory 665 00:33:42,542 --> 00:33:43,882 because it turns out 666 00:33:43,959 --> 00:33:45,289 that the handwriting on the marriage certificate 667 00:33:45,375 --> 00:33:46,995 actually traces back to the minister 668 00:33:47,083 --> 00:33:50,213 who married his parents and not his father at all. 669 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,250 The zodiac killer insisted to the press 670 00:33:56,334 --> 00:33:58,134 and to the police that, 671 00:33:58,209 --> 00:34:02,289 "if you crack this cipher, you will have my identity." 672 00:34:02,375 --> 00:34:06,745 They cracked the cipher and got the cryptic message, 673 00:34:06,834 --> 00:34:09,334 but they didn't know what name to look for. 674 00:34:09,417 --> 00:34:11,997 Woman: Because they didn't know your father's name, right? 675 00:34:12,083 --> 00:34:13,253 And that's there. 676 00:34:13,334 --> 00:34:14,924 You can find anything in the cipher. 677 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,460 You could find your name in the cipher if you wanted to, 678 00:34:17,542 --> 00:34:19,582 but it's not scientific. It's not conclusive. 679 00:34:19,667 --> 00:34:23,247 The media said that, "if he has any information, 680 00:34:23,334 --> 00:34:24,714 please come forward," 681 00:34:24,792 --> 00:34:27,132 and I believe I've come forward. 682 00:34:27,209 --> 00:34:28,459 I got to tell you something, though. 683 00:34:28,542 --> 00:34:30,172 He did not take this information to police, 684 00:34:30,250 --> 00:34:32,710 which in a way, sort of undermines his credibility. 685 00:34:32,792 --> 00:34:34,832 But there is no credible evidence linking 686 00:34:34,918 --> 00:34:36,668 Earl Van best to the zodiac crimes 687 00:34:36,751 --> 00:34:39,331 and no reason to believe he was the zodiac. 688 00:34:39,417 --> 00:34:47,417 ♪♪ 689 00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:50,580 Years went by and then decades. 690 00:34:50,667 --> 00:34:54,787 Suspects, witnesses, investigators died, 691 00:34:54,876 --> 00:34:58,956 but the zodiac remains hidden. 692 00:34:59,042 --> 00:35:00,922 Butterfield: It's my personal belief that if and when 693 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,250 the zodiac killer is ever identified, 694 00:35:03,334 --> 00:35:04,464 he will turn out to be someone 695 00:35:04,542 --> 00:35:07,752 who was never named as a suspect. 696 00:35:07,834 --> 00:35:10,334 It's one of those cases that looks like 697 00:35:10,417 --> 00:35:13,327 it might stay a mystery forever. 698 00:35:15,125 --> 00:35:17,075 In April of 2018, 699 00:35:17,167 --> 00:35:20,417 California police make a stunning announcement 700 00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:23,540 that could help solve the zodiac case. 701 00:35:23,626 --> 00:35:26,826 Over 40 years after the golden state serial killer 702 00:35:26,918 --> 00:35:29,788 began raping and murdering throughout California, 703 00:35:29,876 --> 00:35:33,286 an arrest today just outside Sacramento. 704 00:35:33,375 --> 00:35:36,875 Another cold case from northern California might be solved. 705 00:35:36,959 --> 00:35:38,289 Butterfield: The golden state killer 706 00:35:38,375 --> 00:35:39,665 was captured through the use 707 00:35:39,751 --> 00:35:42,421 of forensic genealogy and DNA technology. 708 00:35:42,500 --> 00:35:46,540 They upload that DNA profile into an ancestry website 709 00:35:46,626 --> 00:35:49,786 called ged match, which contained approximately 710 00:35:49,876 --> 00:35:53,876 960,000 genetic profiles of individuals. 711 00:35:55,042 --> 00:35:57,042 Investigators found what we think 712 00:35:57,125 --> 00:36:01,875 are three distant cousins of the killer in that database, 713 00:36:01,959 --> 00:36:03,629 and then they were able to trace 714 00:36:03,709 --> 00:36:06,329 back to a common ancestor from those three people 715 00:36:06,417 --> 00:36:10,207 to a great-great-grandparent of the killer. 716 00:36:11,918 --> 00:36:14,748 There was only one individual who stood out, 717 00:36:14,834 --> 00:36:17,544 and that was a man named Joseph James Deangelo. 718 00:36:17,626 --> 00:36:22,286 We all knew as part of this team that we were looking 719 00:36:22,375 --> 00:36:24,325 for a needle in a haystack. 720 00:36:24,417 --> 00:36:26,537 We found the needle in the haystack, 721 00:36:26,626 --> 00:36:29,246 and it was right here in Sacramento. 722 00:36:29,334 --> 00:36:33,424 If the police were able to find a complete profile 723 00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:34,960 of the zodiac's DNA, 724 00:36:35,042 --> 00:36:37,422 the hope is that he can be captured in the same way 725 00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:40,380 that the golden state killer was captured. 726 00:36:40,459 --> 00:36:43,379 Reporter #6: Investigators just obtained enough DNA 727 00:36:43,459 --> 00:36:45,169 for a partial profile. 728 00:36:45,250 --> 00:36:48,210 First the suspected golden state killer, 729 00:36:48,292 --> 00:36:51,292 could the zodiac killer be next? 730 00:36:56,792 --> 00:36:58,832 Tonight, the case that was considered 731 00:36:58,918 --> 00:37:01,208 all but unsolvable may have new legs. 732 00:37:01,292 --> 00:37:08,002 ♪♪ 733 00:37:08,083 --> 00:37:11,383 There is hope that, by using the same technology, 734 00:37:11,459 --> 00:37:15,459 the identity of the zodiac killer will be discovered. 735 00:37:15,542 --> 00:37:16,922 What they're trying to do with this case 736 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:21,130 is what they did with the golden state killer, 737 00:37:21,209 --> 00:37:26,999 so they're going to try and do some genealogical testing first. 738 00:37:28,417 --> 00:37:30,997 If they can collect the zodiac's DNA, 739 00:37:31,083 --> 00:37:36,543 they could possibly connect it to a family member of the zodiac 740 00:37:36,626 --> 00:37:38,996 and find the zodiac in the same way. 741 00:37:39,083 --> 00:37:40,923 The previous attempts in the zodiac case 742 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,500 to test the DNA was done in 2002, 743 00:37:44,584 --> 00:37:46,884 and that would have been pretty limited. 744 00:37:46,959 --> 00:37:49,749 Reporter #6: Investigators just obtained enough DNA 745 00:37:49,834 --> 00:37:53,504 for a partial profile in the saliva on a licked stamp 746 00:37:53,584 --> 00:37:57,384 on one of the many letter the zodiac sent in the late '60s 747 00:37:57,459 --> 00:38:00,129 taunting police and bragging about his crimes. 748 00:38:00,209 --> 00:38:03,879 They obtained a partial profile from the evidence 749 00:38:03,959 --> 00:38:07,539 which, to me, says that it's a very degraded sample 750 00:38:07,626 --> 00:38:10,076 and probably not very useful for identification. 751 00:38:10,167 --> 00:38:12,957 It was only sufficient to exclude suspects, 752 00:38:13,042 --> 00:38:16,002 but not to positively identify anyone. 753 00:38:16,083 --> 00:38:21,463 ♪♪ 754 00:38:21,542 --> 00:38:26,882 Jordan: Today, DNA technology can find the most microscopic, 755 00:38:26,959 --> 00:38:29,669 minuscule traces of DNA. 756 00:38:31,334 --> 00:38:32,924 Those envelopes he may have licked, 757 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,790 the stamps he may have licked, and they're thinking that 758 00:38:35,876 --> 00:38:38,876 if they can extract some of the DNA, 759 00:38:38,959 --> 00:38:43,129 they may be able to match it to somebody's DNA today. 760 00:38:47,417 --> 00:38:49,997 There are renewed efforts to get new DNA 761 00:38:50,083 --> 00:38:51,463 from other zodiac letters 762 00:38:51,542 --> 00:38:56,212 and possibly from other items in the zodiac case. 763 00:38:56,292 --> 00:38:57,582 Right now, it's my understanding 764 00:38:57,667 --> 00:38:59,497 that the vallejo police department 765 00:38:59,584 --> 00:39:01,964 is attempting to find zodiac DNA. 766 00:39:02,042 --> 00:39:04,502 There are multiple ways to try and obtain samples, 767 00:39:04,584 --> 00:39:08,504 but the best way, especially if you think that the stamp, 768 00:39:08,584 --> 00:39:11,334 for instance, was licked, is to actually remove the stamp 769 00:39:11,417 --> 00:39:16,077 from the envelope it's on, and it's simple. 770 00:39:16,167 --> 00:39:19,957 You use steam to remove it and very gently take it off, 771 00:39:20,042 --> 00:39:23,582 and then scrape the glue from the back of the stamp 772 00:39:23,667 --> 00:39:27,327 and from the envelope, and you extract DNA from it. 773 00:39:28,667 --> 00:39:31,167 The changes in the technology that would allow you 774 00:39:31,250 --> 00:39:34,710 to get better results at this time 775 00:39:34,792 --> 00:39:36,792 would be that the sensitivity of the test 776 00:39:36,876 --> 00:39:38,666 has increased substantially. 777 00:39:38,751 --> 00:39:43,831 ♪♪ 778 00:39:43,918 --> 00:39:46,708 Butterfield: If they can find a sufficient DNA profile, 779 00:39:46,792 --> 00:39:48,212 they can take the same process 780 00:39:48,292 --> 00:39:50,752 and put that into an ancestry website. 781 00:39:50,834 --> 00:39:54,044 Hopefully that ancestry website database would contain 782 00:39:54,125 --> 00:39:58,535 someone's DNA who was a part of that killer's family. 783 00:39:58,626 --> 00:40:02,206 Barlow: The probability of getting a high-quality sample 784 00:40:02,292 --> 00:40:06,042 from evidence that was collected in the late '60s 785 00:40:06,125 --> 00:40:09,205 and early '70s is extremely low. 786 00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:13,210 All these homicide samples ended up in a warehouse 787 00:40:13,292 --> 00:40:18,712 infested with cats and rats for a period of time. 788 00:40:18,792 --> 00:40:20,882 The samples are going to degrade. 789 00:40:20,959 --> 00:40:22,169 Butterfield: It's not just looking 790 00:40:22,250 --> 00:40:23,540 for a needle in a haystack. 791 00:40:23,626 --> 00:40:24,996 It's not even being sure if there's a needle 792 00:40:25,083 --> 00:40:26,753 in the haystack you're looking through. 793 00:40:26,834 --> 00:40:30,794 As forensic scientists like to say, "anything is possible." 794 00:40:34,918 --> 00:40:37,378 Voigt: The case continues to intrigue people, 795 00:40:37,459 --> 00:40:39,379 and it's now, like, the last major 796 00:40:39,459 --> 00:40:42,459 north American unsolved serial-killer case. 797 00:40:42,542 --> 00:40:44,252 Graysmith: There's no resolution. 798 00:40:44,334 --> 00:40:46,294 There's something about that in the human nature. 799 00:40:46,375 --> 00:40:47,825 We want to know the answer. 800 00:40:47,918 --> 00:40:50,578 Hewitt: It's the greatest unsolved American mystery, 801 00:40:50,667 --> 00:40:52,747 in my opinion. 802 00:40:53,209 --> 00:40:57,379 He has garnered an awful lot of attention, books, 803 00:40:57,459 --> 00:41:01,289 press, legends, stories. 804 00:41:01,375 --> 00:41:03,285 Butterfield: One aspect of the zodiac's game 805 00:41:03,375 --> 00:41:06,125 appears to be creating publicity for himself, 806 00:41:06,209 --> 00:41:10,079 which ensures that his status as some sort of legendary killer, 807 00:41:10,167 --> 00:41:13,577 and if that was his purpose, he certainly succeeded 808 00:41:13,667 --> 00:41:16,327 because here we are 50 years later. 809 00:41:16,417 --> 00:41:18,167 People are still talking about him. 810 00:41:18,250 --> 00:41:21,500 He's still viewed as some sort of boogeyman from the past, 811 00:41:21,584 --> 00:41:24,004 and he most certainly escaped justice. 812 00:41:27,918 --> 00:41:31,458 Every year on the anniversary of each confirmed killing, 813 00:41:31,542 --> 00:41:35,962 a small group of zodiac hunters revisits the crime scenes. 814 00:41:36,042 --> 00:41:37,752 Former law-enforcement officials, 815 00:41:37,834 --> 00:41:40,254 family members of the victims and civilians 816 00:41:40,334 --> 00:41:43,464 who are drawn to the mystery use these occasions 817 00:41:43,542 --> 00:41:45,832 to debate the facts of the case. 818 00:41:45,918 --> 00:41:48,288 Though DNA experts continue their work 819 00:41:48,375 --> 00:41:50,375 to uncover his real identity, 820 00:41:50,459 --> 00:41:54,129 the zodiac is one of the last major serial-killer cases 821 00:41:54,209 --> 00:41:55,709 to remain unsolved. 822 00:41:55,792 --> 00:41:58,922 The zodiac, a man who wanted to be famous 823 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,540 has remained both in the public eye 824 00:42:01,626 --> 00:42:04,326 and mysteriously just out of reach. 825 00:42:04,417 --> 00:42:05,667 I'm Donnie wahlberg. 826 00:42:05,751 --> 00:42:08,211 Thanks for watching "very scary people."