The Mysterious Zodiac Murders In California

72 years ago, 16 year old Paul Martin and 15 year old Betty Jo Booker were killed at the entrance to Spring Lake Park. The attack made people begin to realize that there was a serial killer on the loose in Texarkana, the “Phantom Killer.” According to my source, txktoday.com, they were not the first victims. Earlier that year, February 22nd, 1946, both Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey were attacked as well on a secluded road known as “lovers” lane, but survived. Mary Jeanne Larey ran to a nearby house, where the homeowner called the police. However, two more were found dead on March 24th, 1946, Richard L. Griffin and Polly Ann Moore were found in Griffin’s car, both shot in the back of the head. Three days later, in an edition of the Texarkana

The Zodiac’s true identity is still a mystery,but the public can confirm that he was in san francisco bay area in the 1960’s and 1970’s.(history channel) His first victim was a teenager by the name of danna lass,she was on a date with her boyfriend when he walked to the car’s window and fired.(history channel) Danna was killed,but

The Zodiac killer was first discovered in July 1960. The Zodiac killer has to have killed 37 people.The killings were all in Northern California in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The killer has remained unknown still to this day. There is a sketch that people think maybe him but still do not know who he is or why he killed so many people.

“Zodiac Killer.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 31 Jan. 2018, www.biography.com/people/zodiac-killer-236027. Accessed 22 February 2018. The author of this article went into detail about the facts of the Zodiac case. They explained what happened to each of the victims and how the Zodiac Killer contacted the police afterwards. They not only talked about the facts of the case, but about the movie that came out based on the Zodiac killings.

As the author Anna Kaufman explained, His confirmed victims include David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, Cecelia Ann Shepard, Paul Lee Stine and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin. What made these murders especially troublesome was the fact the zodiac killer was never found erie enough was the fact of him admitting to about 30 victims but none of them were found nor any evidence. The Zodiac Killer's reasoning and victims is definitely a challenging puzzle, especially for investigators who try to uncover any potential connections or motives even through the seemingly random selection of targets. An article called “The Zodiac Killer,” published by the Federal Bureau of Investigations or FBI, delves into how they played a part in the case of the Zodiac Killer.

The Zodiac Killer caused horror in San Francisco during the 1960s. The Zodiac Killer was responsible for several murders in San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s (Zodiac Killer Biography). The Zodiac Killer first attacked on December 20, 1968. His victims were 17 year old David Faraday and his girlfriend Betty Lou Jensen

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:

Although, police did have an idea and sketch of the Zodiac Killer he was never caught and remains completely unknown. The nature of his crimes was that it brought him entertainment. When the Zodiac Killer killed it was for the fun of it and it brought him a sense of thrilling excitement, especially the ability to taunt and terrorize the officials for being on the losing

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time of great change in America. The Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the sexual revolution were just some of the issues on the evening news in American households. For citizens of the San Francisco Bay area, as well as the rest of California, the late 60’s early 70’represented terror, fear and death. “The bizarre and theatrical and still unresolved serial murders by real-life ghoul who called himself Zodiac, who claimed in letters to have killed 37 people (though police have focused on five homicides and two attempted murders in the greater Bay Area in 1968 and 1969” (Booth,2) have intrigued people for nearly four decades. How has Zodiac remained so elusive? What

The third attack involved Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, on September 27, 1969 while they were having a picnic on the shore of Lake Berryessa, which was a small island that was connected to the Twin Oak Ridge by a sand pit. During this attack, the Zodiac was dressed in all black clothing and an executioner’s type hood cover, which was square on the top like a paper bag. He wore sunglasses that were slipped over the eyeholes so his eyes would not be seen and it was described as a biblike item around his neck that had a circle with a cross in the middle on it, when he approached them he had a gun. Hartnell stated that the Zodiac claimed to be an escaped criminal from Deer Lodge in Montana; stated that he had killed the guard and stolen a car, but he needed a new car and money in order to flee to Mexico. The killer took out pre-cut plastic clothesline that he instructed Shepard to tie up Hartnell with, the Zodiac then proceeded to tie her up, the victims believed that it was actually a robbery until the Zodiac pulled out a knife and

The Zodiac claimed to have murdered all those people, although it was never confirmed. While there are many suspects in the case, none of them have been arrested (“Zodiac Killer Biography”). The first confirmed incident took place on “December 20, 1968, David Faraday was parked with his date, 16-year-old Betty Lou Jensen, on a rural round

Solving the Zodiac mystery has been a long and involved process for many for the past 40 years, but based on the following evidence, there doesn’t seem to be much of a mystery left. “The self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer, although claimed to have killed 37 people, authorities have only attributed 5 victims to the Zodiac in California around 1968 and 1969. After he mocked police and made threats through letters sent to area newspapers from 1969 to 1974, further communication from him abruptly stopped. Despite an comprehensive search for the killer and the investigation into several suspects, no one was ever arrested for the crimes and the case remains open. The mystery surrounding it has been the subject of countless books, theories, and the inspiration for several movies” (Biography.com Editors).

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)

     Two days after Paul Stine's murder, Zodiac began a new era in his criminal career. For about 8 years, he would write to the San Francisco Chronicle-and occasionally others- off and on. From October 1969 until March 1971, the majority of Zodiac letters were filled with angry threats and bragging. At first he worked hard to prove his murders with information

As a young girl I always had a fascination with mystery books, it was my first favorite genre of books. I had a huge interests for mystery and crime and the psychology behind it. But the one crime that truly left me thinking for a while was the story of the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer is a murderer who taunted the bay area with sending descriptions of his brutal crimes to the San Francisco Chronicle to ultimately frighten them. His crimes were in the late 1960’s and up to this day he has never been caught despite his sloppy mistakes. Even with technology so advanced now it is still a cold case. If it was this guys wisdom or the detectives lack of wisdom that made one man able to shake up all of California and get away with it, no one would ever know. But mainly what we will never know is what drove one man to commit such horrid crimes and could all this had been prevented by the community.