The Elusive Zodiac Killer Essays

What is a serial killer? Retired Special Agent Robert Ressler, a twenty-two year veteran of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit in Quantico, Virginia, is responsible for creating the term “serial killer.” He defines this person as “one who commits a series of murders, usually three or more, the victims most often being strangers, and usually with a cooling-off period in between each kill” (Kelleher & Kelleher, 1998; Pearson, 1998; Ressler and Shactman, 1997). This precise definition is necessary to distinguish this type of predator from the mass murderer (who kills many simultaneously), mercenaries, war criminals, or mafia hit men.

Los Angeles, California went through a time period where serial killings happened and the suspect was on the run for over two decades. Most of the victims were prostitutes in South Los Angeles. The serial killer began his killings in 1987, apparently stopped for 13 years then resumed with his killings. The killer left little to no evidence, besides his DNA from sexually assaulting his female victims. For decades LAPD failed to find the killer or anyone who was related to him (Dolan & Landsberg, 2010).

The Zodiac Killer was an infamous murderer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. He killed with zero remorse and even stated in one of his letters that “I like killing people because it’s so much fun” (“Zodiac Killer”). Between December 1968 and October 1969 had killed a total of five people and severely injured two others. He made his first appearance on December 20, 1968, when he shot and killed 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend Betty Lou Jensen. The police were unable to determine the motive for the crime or a suspect. However, on August 1, 1969, the zodiac sent letters to the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times Herald. Each letter started the same “Dear Editor:

“Ask a psychopath what love is and he’ll go on and on, but he has never felt it himself…If you catch him lying, he’ll just shift gears and go on as though nothing had happened” (Goleman). Ted Bundy was one of the most famous psychopaths in the history of the country (Nordheimer). People say he was the perfect killer- handsome, intelligent, witty, and charming (Boynton 25). Bundy was the complete opposite of what people thought a serial killer looked like, so his victims did not fear him (“Ted Bundy”). Robert Keppel, an expert on serial killers, stated, “He taught us that a serial killer can appear to be absolutely normal, the guy next door (“Serial Killers and Mass Murderers”). At one point he was working for a suicide hotline; a friend

The Zodiac killer struck again on September 27, 1969, where he approached a couple at Lake Berryessa with a gun, then had Cecelia Shepard tie up her boyfriend, Bryan Hartnell. The Zodiac then tied up Cecelia Shepard, withdrew a knife and stabbed her then Hartnell several times. The Zodiac left and wrote on Hartnell’s car with a felt pen the dates of the last two shootings and this stabbing. Sadly, Cecelia Shepard died but Bryan Hartnell lived and was able to tell police and the press about his story. The final confirmed murder by the Zodiac was on October 11, 1969, in San Francisco, of a cab drive named Paul Stine. He used a nine-millimeter to shoot Stine in the head, then proceeded to swatches of Stine’s shirt, which he later mailed to the Chronicle along with another chilling letter (Butterfield, 2012).

Darlene Ferrin, a close friend of the first two victims, was the next victim of the Zodiac. On Friday, July 4th, 1969, Darlene made arrangements with friend Michael Mageau to go to the movies. Darlene picked Michael up from his apartment that evening, and from the beginning it was apparent that they were being followed. Darlene took many country back roads and traveled at very high speeds to try to lose the pursuing vehicle, but with no success. The vehicle forced Darlene’s car off of the road and into the parking lot of the Blue Rock Springs Golf course. Once the pursuer had sufficiently blocked them from any further movement in the car, he stepped out of his vehicle with a lantern in his hand. “Mike could feel intense heat throughout his body. He had been shot. The bullets were still being fired as Darlene slumped over the

Death is the sixth highest fear in the US. The idea of death is very prominent in our society, as around 6,775 people die a day, in the US alone. Serial killers are the monsters of the real world and should be feared the most. Villains in comic books or movies are fake, and can only bring us entertainment or the sense of being afraid. Serial killers bring true fear into people’s lives. The Zodiac uses this knowledge of fear and implements it into his own style of killing mass amounts of people, and not be caught. The Zodiac Killer’s intelligence is used to get away from the police, with killing many people of all statuses, age, and gender, by using ciphers and encrypted messages slowly giving the police hints. These hints are used so that

The Zodiac Killer has seven confirmed victims, but many believe that he has quite a few more. His first attack occurred on December 20, 1968 on Lake Herman3 Road in Solano County, California. David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were on a date and ended in a renowned lovers lane. The Zodiac Killer pulled up beside them and shot them both. Faraday was shot in the head and Jensen was shot in the back five times.

In the San Francisco Bay area, as well as in the rest of California, the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s was a time of terror and fear. What started out as a seemingly random, but brutal murder on the night of October 30th, 1966, turned out to be the start of a series of horrific murders that would span 2,500 suspects, 56 possible victims, and over 400 miles. On the calm, cool night of December 20th, 1968, a young seventeen year-old named David Arthur Faraday was getting ready to take a young sixteen year-old named Betty Lou Jensen on her first date.

This research paper will explore the life of a serial killer named Ted Bundy. We will look at the cause and effects of him becoming a serial killer. We will also discuss the different criminology theories behind Ted Bundy’s actions. Based on what was discovered in the research no one theory can explain the action of Ted Bundy as a serial killer. The remainder of the paper is laid out as follows: biography of Ted Bundy, introduction, discussion of crimes and theories, and the conclusion.

December 20, 1968 David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen would go on their first and last date together. On this fateful day the two would be brutally murdered by an unknown killer, who would become known as the Zodiac Killer. There are as many as 37 other victims that were claimed by the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer’s identity is still unknown today and is the antagonist of one of the most disturbing cases in American history. As the Zodiac Killer took innocent lives as if he was picking candy from a candy store he tested what methods worked, what he liked, and how to not get caught. He took innocent lives of people, and did it in some of the most brutal ways possible (Zodiac). This sounds a lot like a problem we are faced with in today’s society; the destruction of children for the use of stem cell research, the use of embryonic cells, and cloning.

Zodiac's first victim was Cherri Jo Bates. Although the murder was not attributed to Zodiac until 1970, she was murdered one day before Halloween in 1966. Like Zodiac's other victims Cherri Jo was a student. She lived with her father in Riverside, California and attended Riverside City College. She was a petite blond with blue eyes, although she was tan at the time of her death she had a light complexion. (Graysmith, 164)

Once again, he killed the female and failed to kill the male. It seems like he was intimidated by another man's power, maybe he was afraid to lose to a struggle. People say that killing women-for him-was the only intimate relationship he could have with one. The error was pointed out in the media that this serial killer seemed unable to kill the males. It was mysterious to people. This angered Zodiac enough for him to prove people wrong. Two weeks after his last attack, he shot a young male cab drive in the back of the head.

Mageau has reservations about the film."Why would I want to see that?" he asks by telephone from New York. "I don't want to remember that time any more."Hartnell, too, says he would have preferred that the film not be made. But he knows the lurid nature of the crimes keeps the story alive in the media.And he was impressed with the lengths Fincher took to re-create the 1969 attack. "He went to the same spot on the lake, on the same day it happened," he says.The Zodiac, Hartnell says, pulled a gun on him and Cecelia Shepard, 22, as they sat by a lake in Napa County. The attacker, who wore a hood with a zodiac sign around his neck, hogtied both .

It’s a cold California night in December as David Faraday and Betty Jensen are sitting in their car with heavy feeling towards each other. They are the only ones around, lost in each other’ embrace. This might sound like a love story, but shortly after, their fantasy was ripped apart as they stared into the twisted, evil eyes of a man. That was the last thing they saw, evil, and they died in fear. What followed would be the first confirmed murders by the Zodiac killer. He is the most successful serial killer in the world, claiming thirty-seven lives, though we can only confirm five. Both the fact that the police were not prepared for and the fact that the Zodiac evolved allowed him to elude connection to these lurid murders.