'I've Killed Seven,' The Zodiac Claims
Aug. 27th, 2008 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
typedNov. 12, 1969
The cryptic killer who calls himself Zodiac broke silence yesterday to claim credit for two more murders - possibly the young teen-age girls savagely stabbed to death in San Jose three months ago.
"Up to the end of Oct. I have killed 7 people," Zodiac bragged in two letters addressed to The Chronicle in which he taunted police for having failed to catch him.
Both letters were postmarked San Francisco.
As proof the letters were from the true Zodiac and not an imposter, the mass murderer enclosed another portion of the piece of shirt he tore off the body of San Francisco taxi driver Paul Stine, his victim last October 11.
The tidy printing, apparently employed in an effort to thwart police attempts to trace him through his handwriting, was sufficient proof Zodiac was the author. Comparison of the latest communiques with previous letters showed without doubt they had been written by the killer, as usual with a felt-tip pen.
Beyond leaving several cryptic clues indicating that the newly revealed killings occurred last August, possibly in San Jose, Zodiac's latest correspondence - a long, rambling letter and a contemporary greeting card - revealed nothing as to who the two victims were.
Their identities, however, may be concealed in another cryptogram which accompanied the greeting card and, as before, seemed offered as a challenge to cipher experts.
Homicide detectives have forwarded copies of the cryptogram to a number of experts and expect it to be deciphered within a few days.
They, too, feel that the new victims' names, or some other definite information regarding a specific double-murder or pair of separate murders, may be hidden among the strange symbols Zodiac puts down on paper.
At the moment, the few tenuous links between the murders of the two San Jose girls and Zodiac are:
- Zodiac hints the two just-disclosed murders occurred in August.
Deborah Gay Furlong, 14, and Kathleen Snoozy, 15, were slain last August 3.
- Zodiac used a long, thin-bladed knife in his attack at Lake Berryessa, repeatedly stabbing a young girl (who died two days later) and her companion.
The bodies of the two San Jose girls bore some 150 knife wounds each - from a long, thin-bladed knife.
- Zodiac's letter contained five cross marks which possibly refer to five attacks. Comparing these markings against a map, one interpretation that can be drawn is that they pinpoint Lake Berryessa, Vallejo (where two attacks occurred), San Francisco and San Jose.
The girls were murdered in San Jose.
- Zodiac tends to strike on weekends. And, in the Lake Berryessa stabbings, the savage attack came during broad daylight.
August 3 was a Sunday and the attack occurred before dusk.
Despite the circumstantial evidence, the police officer in charge of the San Jose investigation does not think Zodiac is the killer of the girls.
Chief of Detectives Barton L. Collins is personally convinced that while the young girls were killed by a madman, it was a madman other than Zodiac.
DOUBT
"I don't think he's [Zodiac] connected with the case at all," Collins told The Chronicle yesterday after inspecting the latest letters from the killer.
"If it was, he would have claimed credit long ago.
"Zodiac is obviously an egomaniac. I cannot see him committing the brutal murders of these girls without wanting everyone to know," Collins said.
Collins also pointed out that in the Lake Berryessa attack last September 27 Zodiac left at the scene the dates of his previous attacks. August 3 was not included.
"It would simplify my case if it was the Zodiac. There'd be more evidence to work with. But it just isn't ... not in my book," Collins said.
Some detectives assigned to special Zodiac squads in San Francisco, Vallejo and Napan even wonder if the killer's latest claim is a lie - a deliberate attempt to bait them and make them chase a wild goose.
They cite "at least one lie" in his latest letter - the part where he once again insists he watched from a hiding spot the search in the area where Stine was shot to death in Presidio Heights.
'FALSE'
"That," said Chief of Inspectors Martin Lee, "is a lot of ... poppycock. His description of the search activities is false. He wasn't anywhere around there. And it is preposterous that he was stopped and questioned by the officers. That just didn't happen."
Police are carefully checking Zodiac's letters word by word looking for some clue that will lead them to the killer. Somewhere, they feel, he may have slipped and written something that will eventually bring about his arrest.
But what they worry about most is when he will next do his "thing."
Note: This article misspells Napa as "Napan." The article also refers to Darlene Ferrin as "Darleen Ferrin."
"Up to the end of Oct. I have killed 7 people," Zodiac bragged in two letters addressed to The Chronicle in which he taunted police for having failed to catch him.
Both letters were postmarked San Francisco.
As proof the letters were from the true Zodiac and not an imposter, the mass murderer enclosed another portion of the piece of shirt he tore off the body of San Francisco taxi driver Paul Stine, his victim last October 11.
The tidy printing, apparently employed in an effort to thwart police attempts to trace him through his handwriting, was sufficient proof Zodiac was the author. Comparison of the latest communiques with previous letters showed without doubt they had been written by the killer, as usual with a felt-tip pen.
Beyond leaving several cryptic clues indicating that the newly revealed killings occurred last August, possibly in San Jose, Zodiac's latest correspondence - a long, rambling letter and a contemporary greeting card - revealed nothing as to who the two victims were.
Their identities, however, may be concealed in another cryptogram which accompanied the greeting card and, as before, seemed offered as a challenge to cipher experts.
Homicide detectives have forwarded copies of the cryptogram to a number of experts and expect it to be deciphered within a few days.
They, too, feel that the new victims' names, or some other definite information regarding a specific double-murder or pair of separate murders, may be hidden among the strange symbols Zodiac puts down on paper.
At the moment, the few tenuous links between the murders of the two San Jose girls and Zodiac are:
- Zodiac hints the two just-disclosed murders occurred in August.
Deborah Gay Furlong, 14, and Kathleen Snoozy, 15, were slain last August 3.
- Zodiac used a long, thin-bladed knife in his attack at Lake Berryessa, repeatedly stabbing a young girl (who died two days later) and her companion.
The bodies of the two San Jose girls bore some 150 knife wounds each - from a long, thin-bladed knife.
- Zodiac's letter contained five cross marks which possibly refer to five attacks. Comparing these markings against a map, one interpretation that can be drawn is that they pinpoint Lake Berryessa, Vallejo (where two attacks occurred), San Francisco and San Jose.
The girls were murdered in San Jose.
- Zodiac tends to strike on weekends. And, in the Lake Berryessa stabbings, the savage attack came during broad daylight.
August 3 was a Sunday and the attack occurred before dusk.
Despite the circumstantial evidence, the police officer in charge of the San Jose investigation does not think Zodiac is the killer of the girls.
Chief of Detectives Barton L. Collins is personally convinced that while the young girls were killed by a madman, it was a madman other than Zodiac.
DOUBT
"I don't think he's [Zodiac] connected with the case at all," Collins told The Chronicle yesterday after inspecting the latest letters from the killer.
"If it was, he would have claimed credit long ago.
"Zodiac is obviously an egomaniac. I cannot see him committing the brutal murders of these girls without wanting everyone to know," Collins said.
Collins also pointed out that in the Lake Berryessa attack last September 27 Zodiac left at the scene the dates of his previous attacks. August 3 was not included.
"It would simplify my case if it was the Zodiac. There'd be more evidence to work with. But it just isn't ... not in my book," Collins said.
Some detectives assigned to special Zodiac squads in San Francisco, Vallejo and Napan even wonder if the killer's latest claim is a lie - a deliberate attempt to bait them and make them chase a wild goose.
They cite "at least one lie" in his latest letter - the part where he once again insists he watched from a hiding spot the search in the area where Stine was shot to death in Presidio Heights.
'FALSE'
"That," said Chief of Inspectors Martin Lee, "is a lot of ... poppycock. His description of the search activities is false. He wasn't anywhere around there. And it is preposterous that he was stopped and questioned by the officers. That just didn't happen."
Police are carefully checking Zodiac's letters word by word looking for some clue that will lead them to the killer. Somewhere, they feel, he may have slipped and written something that will eventually bring about his arrest.
But what they worry about most is when he will next do his "thing."
Note: This article misspells Napa as "Napan." The article also refers to Darlene Ferrin as "Darleen Ferrin."
