A possible 37 people dead…5 bodies, 4 cryptograms, numerous headlines, countless police scratching
their heads, but no prosecutions.
Will the mystery of the zodiac killer ever be solved?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, the channel that sometimes tries
its hand at solving the odd mystery…
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking Who Was The Zodiac Killer?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this video, I would like to ask you guys to hit
that thumbs up button and leave me a comment in the comments section down below.
Okay, so it has been 50 years since the Zodiac Killer began their murdering spree, and half
a century later, police have not been able to figure out who was behind grisly deaths.
I don’t presume that in 5 minutes I am going to be able to do what detectives have failed
to do for 5 decades, but let's give it a good ponder, shall we.
The Zodiac killer terrorized Northern California and claimed to have killed 37 people, although
there were 5 confirmed victims and 2 survivors.
These survivors were able to describe their attacker.
One survivor, Michael Mageau claimed the attacker was a white male between 26-30 years old and
around 200lbs at 5ft 8…so, quite large.
He also described the killer as being white and having short light brown curly hair.
Similarly, survivor Bryan Hartnell said his attacker was 511, so taller, and more than
170 lbs with glasses and greasy brown hair.
On several occasions, police received communication from the killer, or persons claiming to be
the killer in the form of a phone call and letters sent from the killer to local news
outlets.
They have DNA and fingerprints on file as well as eyewitness accounts.
So why, why has the killer never been found?
Good question.
Let’s talk about the most likely contenders.
Back in the 1960s, Arthur Leigh Allen was the prime suspect in the 60s as a result of
the murder of Cheri Jo Bates.
Allen’s former friend, Don Cheney reportedly said that his friend has expressed a desire
to kill and had previously referred to himself a zodiac.
Indeed, a zodiac watch was found in his house.
It seems he even had a typewriter like one used in a murder confession and one of the
survivors identified Allen in a lineup.
Police made Allen take handwriting test, which in the end did not match up to the zodiacs,
nor did his DNA and fingerprints.
Allen was later found dead in his California home.
Also up for debate is Richard Gikoswski, a crime, pro-violence, anti-police writer from
San Francisco.
Gikowski wrote for the Good Times Newspaper under the name Gike, the paper published a
lot of material about the zodiac killer…and one of the killers ciphers clearly had Gyke
written on it.
Unfortunately by the time yes turned to him, police couldn’t get a search warrant or
his fingerprints.
Weirdly in 2013, people started believing that politician and attorney Ted Cruz was
the zodiac killer…apparently 10 percent of the Florida electorate thought it was him,
even though he was born two years after the killings began!
Other names brandished around have been Ham Radio enthusiast, Rick Marshall, Bruce Davis,
Gareth Penn… but again, police have never found any evidence.
Earl Van Best Jnr is the closest visual match to the infamous sketch of the Zodiac Killer,
and his son wrote a book claiming his biological dad was the murderer.
His son, Gary L Stewart claims that EV, Best, and JR can be found in the cipher codes and
that his fathers signature matches the handwriting in the Zodiac letters.
Police aren’t taking it so seriously, but Stewart continues to fight for the link to
be made and is working with forensic experts to analyze his fathers DNA.
While identifying the Zodiac killer may seem hopeless with so many potentials, luckily,
all is not lost.
As time moves on, yes, we are less likely to find the killer alive, but we may be closer
to finding answers as modern technology allows for a better analysis of evidence.
Recently, using updated DNA profiling, Joseph D’Angelo as a suspect in Golden State killer
case.
Until recently the case of the 1970s and 80s murders was closed, but now the suspect has
been charged with all 12 murders in the Golden State Killer case.
Last week on KPIX News Channel it was announced that new DNA studying technologies may help
find the killer.
Dr Monte Miller, a Forensic DNA Expert, has said that the usefulness of the existing evidence
depends on how it was stored – if it was sealed and placed out of sunlight it may still
be good to work with, however, if it was kept in a box in a warehouse, then it may now be
useless.
So there we have it – we still have no idea who the Zodiac Killer is.
All we know is that he is or was a white male of medium to large build with glasses, which
doesn’t really narrow it down.
He could also very well be dead by now.
Could it be possible that he slipped through the net and got away with it?
Or did he change tactic and get arrested for a different set of murders?
We may never know, but hopefully furthering forensics technologies will help us out.
Who do you guys think the zodiac killer was?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
Make sure you leave a thumbs up if you like our videos.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video, but until then, stay
curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning.