The elusive Zodiac maniac. The history of the serial killer, whose identity is not established

On the night of the fourth to the fifth of July 1969, a phone call was made at the police station in the American city of Vallejo. A male voice said that he had just killed two people. Then the unknown person stated that the death of David Faraday and Batty Lou Jensen, who were found dead last year on a country road, is also the work of his hands.

From this moment began a series of brutal murders, committed by a maniac who represented the name Zodiac. He claimed that he had 37 murders on his account. In the case of the serial killer, extensive material was collected. There are even fingerprints and voice recording, but his true identity has not been established so far.

The handwriting of the murderer

The police in the United States are able to investigate such crimes, but several episodes recorded in California between December 1968 and October 1969, as well as the assassination of Cherie Joe Bates in 1966, have remained undisclosed. All cases share a common handwriting:

1. All crimes were committed on the street, in secluded places, where lovers are traditionally found.
2. Victims of the murderer are young people.
3. The Zodiac maniac attacks in the twilight or at night.
4. Prefers weekends and holidays.
5. Robbery or sexual motives are excluded.
6. Applied weapons - cold, fire, etc.
7. All the victims were in cars or next to their car.
8. The places where the Zodiac maniac operated, are somehow connected with water.
9. The offender is interested in publicity, so he reports his atrocities in letters and on the phone.

The police investigating these cases believe that the killer himself either died by the hand of another potential victim who was more clever than him, or died from drugs, or hid in prison for a very different article than the murder, for such a crime in the United States is punishable by the death penalty . There are other versions.

The first official victims

The murder of Jensen and Faraday was the first in the Zodiac case. For him it was, as they say, a breakdown of the pen. All subsequent crimes of a maniac, in one way or another, resonate with the first. This was noticed both by police and newsmen, who later also became participants in the terrible script written by the Zodiac.

Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday have just started dating. They have known each other for a long time through a common friend, Sharon. Girls studied in the same class and were friends, and David regularly drove them from school home. Lovely companion Sharon liked the boy's cheerful nature and friendly manner of communication. David was not overly shy, but knowing about the severity of the mores that reigned in Betty's family, he was afraid that she would reject it.

The fact is that Betty's older sister, Melony, because of an unplanned pregnancy, got married very early. The marriage was unsuccessful and soon broke up. That the younger daughter did not repeat the sad destiny of the sister, the parents directed their efforts to keep the daughter in the bosom of the family as long as possible. But the call of nature to resist is meaningless, and sixteen-year-old Betty fell in love. Her heart was subdued by a high school student from Valleio. Betty and David lived in neighboring cities. According to the local tradition, schools regularly arranged competitions, concerts and competitions, where students from nearby educational institutions were invited, and they were in Vallejo (where David studied), Hogane (where she studied Betty) and Benicia. The roads in America are excellent, everyone has a car, or even a few, all of this helps to quickly solve the problem with distances.

David, the beauty and pride of the school, an example for the younger, the athlete, the soul of the company, the secret dream of all the young ladies Valleio, Hogan and Benicia, gave his heart to the saffroncock. Saffmers in the US are called sophomores or students of the eleventh grades of higher education. At the time of the novel, David was already a junior, that is, a twelfth-grader, a graduate student. His plans extended further than life in a town of 20,000 people. The young man planned to enter the university, get higher education, get a good job, marry and help the mother raise two younger brothers and sister.

The tragedy that happened with the couple in love, stirred the whole district. In the local newspaper posted an announcement of the collection of funds to investigate and catch the perpetrator. The intersection of two roads, once a favorite place for secret romantic dates, young couples began to avoid, considering damn.

On the eve of the misfortune, David and Betty decided that it was time to move from simple meetings in cafes to more serious relationships. Sharon advised them to retire in the park "Blue Rock Springs" or go to the hill of St. Catherine, but the lovers chose Lake Herman, more precisely, the bend of the crossroads of the two roads - to the pumping station and the route Laik Herman Road, popularly called the "corner of lovers". Betty told her parents that she was going to a singing party dedicated to the approaching Christmas. It was nine o'clock when their Rambler, borrowed from David's mother, rolled a couple for a romantic date. At first there was dinner in a small restaurant, and in an hour the young people were already hugging, lying on the reclined seats of the car.

Chronology of crime and investigation

The first witness, who was passing along this road, saw two empty cars, and then he heard a sound resembling a shot. Zodiac parked his car very close to the "Rambler" to block the side doors. When there were cars on the road, he crouched, so people felt that there was nobody in it.

The following witnesses, a seventy-year-old Stella Borges and her daughter, nicknamed Baby Behind Stella, passed the place of the tragedy at the very moment when the Zodiac maniac had just disappeared from the crime scene. The women saw the corpses, the broken glass of the car and at maximum speed they jerked far away from the terrible spectacle. In a panic, they signaled headlights and buzzer, hoping to draw attention to themselves. Finally, they saw the policeman and told him everything.

The signal was handed to Sergeant Bidu and his partner Stephen Arment. They were closest to the "corner of lovers." After 15 minutes, the police were already inspecting the crime scene. David half-hung from the car. The school ring was clamped in his hand. The young man was still breathing, but died on the way to the hospital. He was killed by one shot in the skull. The only bullet hole was behind the left ear. Betty died before the police arrived. She lay at a distance. The girl tried to escape from the criminal, but five shots in the back stopped her a few steps from the car. A few shots were broken glass in their car and a broken roof.

The version of the attack for the purpose of robbery fell away almost immediately. Most likely, the first maniac shot Zodiac did to attract attention. Then he demanded that he give him valuable things. Apparently, he tried on and decided how to deal with the guys. When they began to justify themselves and poke him a ring, he made the first shot. Betty jumped out of the car, and he finished it off on the street.

Detective Lundblad and Russell Butterbach were charged with conducting the case. They did not disclose the murder, but they collected a lot of material that allowed their colleagues to later determine the criminal's handwriting. In addition, the following year, July 31, in a letter to the newspaper The Times Herald, the serial killer Zodiac confirmed his guilt, describing how he dealt with his lovers and pointed out the brand of cartridges of his pistol. These were rifle cartridges - a remarkable detail, and no one except the police knew about it. This was not written in the newspapers.

Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mague (Mazo)

The attack on Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mague is the second crime the Zodiac committed. The killer has not yet taken on a resounding pseudonym, but has already begun to take steps to become famous and demonstrate his fearlessness and uniqueness.

The incident occurred on July 4, 1969, when the whole city celebrated Independence Day. Behind the roar of fireworks, no one heard pistol shots from the Blue Rock Springs Park. At 0010 hours Zodiac called the police station and reported the murder, and added that last year's crime in the "corner of the lovers", he also committed.

This time the victims were 22-year-old Darlene and her young lover Michael Mague. They were sitting in the Chevrolet of Darlin's father, when the Zodiac approached them. The murderer hurried to conclusions - the guy was just wounded. Bullets hit him in the face, neck and chest. The woman died 20 minutes after the phone call in the ambulance.

Darlene was married to a second marriage to Dean Ferrin. In 1968, the couple had a daughter, and two months before the sad event the family bought a new house. From the photo, Darlene is very reminiscent of Betty Lou Jensen. Most likely, the similarity is a simple coincidence. Nothing says that the maniac was hunting for women of the same type of appearance. Michael Mague is not like any of the victims. On a date with Darlene, he arrived, pulling on three trousers, a T-shirt, a tight shirt and three sweaters. The man explained to the policemen that he was very worried because of his thinness and in this way he tried to give himself a volume.

Adultery Darlene caused a lot of noise in Vallejo. Subsequently, the sister of the deceased, Pamela, in order to justify her relative confused the investigation, suggesting that Darlene's husband was involved in the attack on lovers. In order to exclude the motive of revenge on the part of the deceived spouse, the police checked the alibi of Dean Ferrin. Unjustly agreed was acquitted.

The first letters

Obviously, the serial killer Zodiac craved fame, because his crimes did not trace traditional motives - profit, sex or revenge. The desire to become the main topic of conversation among the residents of the whole city, to read about himself in the media forced him to start a correspondence with journalists. At the end of July, three local newspapers, the Waleo Times-Gerald, San Francisco Examine and the San Francisco Chronicle, received letters from the Zodiac, which were parts of a single text, cryptograms and explanations relating to the crimes described above. He promised that in the cryptograms information about his personality was encrypted, he demanded to publish letters on the front pages, otherwise he threatened to kill 12 more people this weekend. What codes Zodiac (killer) wrote after the first disclosed texts, could not be established. It is likely that in some cases it was a simple abracadabra aimed at knocking the investigation out of the way or showing that he is so clever that his ciphers are not to anyone's teeth.

Contact with police and journalists is established

On August 1, the San Francisco Chronicle on the last page published a statement by Jack Stills. The head of the police department of the city of Vallejo expressed doubts about the identity of the perpetrator and asked the author of the cryptogram to provide additional information about himself. Two other newspapers also published letters and ciphers.

The response to the publication was a new letter to the editorial office of San Francisco Examines. The offender clearly enjoyed the sensation caused by him and the fact that the policemen are going about him. It was in this letter that he signed the name Zodiac. The pseudonym, in its essence, is very strange, and with no crime at all. He also said that deciphering the cryptogram will reveal information about his personal data.

All of Northern California joined in unraveling encrypted messages. Spouses Garden of Salinas were the first to make out the killer's texts. They contained a lot of grammatical errors. They said that he collects slaves who will serve him in the afterlife - the offender was obviously mocking. He did not disclose any data about himself, explaining this by his reluctance to help the investigation.

Brian Hartnell and Cecilia Ann Shepard

The next crime occurred on September 27, 1969. College students Cecilia Shepard and Brian Hartnell were on the shore of Lake Beresa, when a man came out of the bushes in a hood that covered the upper and lower parts of his head. In the eyes - sunglasses, and on the chest - something like an apron with a pattern in the form of a circle crossed out with a cross. A strange man took a pistol from his pocket and handed Cecily a rope, ordering her to tie Brian. Otherwise, he promised to kill both. The young man took it as a joke, but the alien showed a full magazine of cartridges. Cecilia tied her companion, and the stranger twisted her. Then he took out a long knife and struck a few blows first to Brian, and then to her. Before leaving, the murderer, nicknamed Zodiac, took a black felt-tip pen and drew a circle on his car, crossed out with a cross, and wrote the dates of the three previous crimes.

Having done this, he called the police department and told what had happened. A few minutes later, the duty attire identified the location of the telephone machine. When the police arrived, the tube was still wet. She was fingerprinted, but later they were not useful, because they were not in the file cabinet.

The wounded were taken to the hospital. Brian survived, and Cecilia fell into a coma and a few days later passed away.

Paul Stein

The murder of Paul Stein, a taxi driver, occurred in San Francisco. The crime has even more mysteries than the previous ones. If the taxi driver had told the control that he had picked up the passenger and called the route, everything would have been easier, but it was the so-called left-in paddling. The Zodiac killed Stein as well as David Faraday, a shot in the head behind the ear. Witnesses, three teenagers, saw him put his head in his lap on his knee and do something with a knife. As it turned out, he cut off a piece of blood-soaked shirt from the shot, and the boys thought that this black man cut off the head of the taxi driver. For the Negro, they took the Zodiac because of the dark mask stretched over the face. The police arrived quickly and even collided with a white man who was asked if he had not seen a nigger with a gun. The one, and this was the Zodiac himself, showed them a false direction. Later, he called the police and laughed at the stupidity of the guards.

Three days later, on October 14, 1969, a letter came to the newspaper Kronikl. Zodiac wrote that he plans to kill schoolchildren. To do this, he shoots the wheel of the school bus, and then begins to kill the children emerging from it. So that there was no doubt about his personality, he described in detail the death of Stein and put a fragment of the man's shirt into the envelope.

A week later the Zodiac called the Auckland Police Department and stated that he wanted to participate in the television talk show of Jim Dunbar. The studio should be attended by well-known lawyers. Through them he will conduct a telephone conversation. Melville Bellay agreed to come. On the show called someone who called himself the Zodiac, and gave his real name - Sam. The call came from a psychiatric hospital, and Sam was an ordinary patient who had nothing to do with the serial killer.

Then in November in the "Chronicle" came two more letters of the Zodiac. In one of them was another cryptogram, but it has not been deciphered yet, and on December 20 the criminal sent Bell's attorney a Christmas card and a second piece of Paul Stein's shirt.

Kathleen Jones

At the time of the crime, Kathleen Jones was 20 years old. She was driving her own car to her mother in Petulamu. The woman was 7 months pregnant. Together with her was her 10-month-old daughter. On the road in the area of Modesto, she was caught up by a car that signaled, asking to stop. Kathleen obeyed. The driver of the signaled car said that the right rear wheel of her is staggering, offered her help and corrected the malfunction. As soon as the woman left on the track, the wheel fell off. The man soon pulled up again and offered to take her to the nearest petrol station, where she would receive more effective help. They passed several gas stations, but the man did not stop. Then he, according to Jones, braked at the intersection and said that he would kill her along with the child. The woman jumped out of the car and rushed into the thicket of tall grass. The offender looked for Kathleen, but did not find it and left.

In the police station, where she soon turned, hung the fototobot of the attacker on Paul Stein. She recognized him as his fellow traveler. The woman's testimony is questionable, as she constantly got confused and changed information about the circumstances of the incident.

Cherie Joe Bates

The murder of Cherie Joe Bates took over the Zodiac, but the police doubt the veracity of this statement. The manner of the criminal was too different from the handwriting of the Zodiac.

The first doubt about the involvement in the death of a girl of the same person who committed the above murders is the date of the crime.

An eighteen-year-old girl died in October 1966. She lingered in the library of her college and in the twilight walked through a deserted area with abandoned houses. Cherry was first beaten, and then stabbed with a short dagger. The wounds were inflicted exactly in the carotid artery and larynx, and Shepard and Hartnell Zodiac beat chaotically and never fell into the throat. Most likely, the maniac took responsibility for not committing a crime to confuse the police.

Attribute this zodiac Zodiac forced letters sent to the girl's father, the newspaper "Riverside Press Enterprise" and the police department of Riverside. The handwriting coincides with the handwriting of the Zodiac, but one part of his messages was typed, and the other was written by hand. Confused only that the letters were sent six months after the death of the girl. It's not like the Zodiac - he did not like to wait and always contacted the police right after the murder.

The history of the Zodiac - the murderer is full of mysteries. Some journalists have suggested that under the name of the famous maniac had completely different personalities. The whole blame lies with the newspapermen and the inadequate professional police, who gave out too much information to the general public.