Zodiac Killer

Last Updated on February 27, 2026

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who is confirmed to have murdered 5 people in the 1960s.

Zodiac Killer has claimed to have killed 37, and two victims survived his attacks.

There have been several suspects for the Zodiac murders.

Officially, the case remains unsolved, and the Zodiac Killer’s identity may never be revealed. 

Zodiac Killer Victims

On December 20th, 1968, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen were shot and killed at Lake Herman Road in Benecia, California.

They had pulled over at the side of the road following a date.

David was shot in the car, but Betty had tried to escape and was shot in the back and found 30 feet away from the car.

Michael Renault Mageau and Darlene Ferrin were shot in the parking lot at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th, 1969.

The killer shone a flashlight in their faces before opening fire.

Darlene was killed in the attack, and Michael survivedando was able to give police a description of the shooter.

On September 27,th 1969, Bryan C Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard were having a picnic at Lake Berryessa near Napa when Zodiac approached them.

He held them at gunpoint and asked for money and their car.

He told Cecelia to tie up Bryan, and then he tied up Bryan before stabbing both multiple times and leaving them for dead.

They were discovered and rushed to the hospital. 

Cecelia died in the hospital two days later.

Bryan Hartnell survived and was able to describe the attack and the attacker.

Taxi driver Paul Lee Stine was shot in the head by his passenger, who robbed him and stole part of his bloodied shirt on 11th October 1969.

The crime was witnessed by three teenagers, who reported it.

An officer potentially witnessed the shooter, but a mistake from dispatch led him to believe he was looking for a black suspect.

Suspected Zodiac Victims

The murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards are believed to be the work of Zodiac.

They were shot multiple times on a remote beach near Gaviota, California, in June 1963; therefore, they weren’t discovered for 24 hours.

The shooting was similar to the later Zodiac shootings as they were bound and shot in the back whilst fleeing the killer.

They were dragged away from the crime scene and posed. 

Cheri Jo Bates may have been a Zodiac victim.

She was murdered on October 30th, 1966, after being beaten and slashed repeatedly.

Letters were sent to the press, which appeared to be from Zodia,c admitting to the crime.

It is unknown if he committed the crime or was simply taking credit for it.

On March 22, 1970, Kathleen Johns reported that she and her baby daughter been offered a ride to a gas station by a man.

They were driven around for three hours after her wheel fell off.

It is believed that the man had loosened her “wobbling” wheel after stopping to help her rather than tightening it.

She escaped the car when it came to a stop and hid before reporting it to a police station.

She identified the driver as Zodiac from a Zodiac Killer sketch at the station.

The credibility of her story has been questioned as her car was found burnt out.

Her story has changed many times over the years.

Zodiac Crime Scenes

A white Chevy was seen at the Lake Herman crime scene by multiple witnesses.

There were bloody fingerprints left on Paul Stine’s taxi.

He was witnessed wiping this area of the taxi, so he may have left the prints.

There was evidence at the Bates crime scene, including DNA evidence, a boot print, a watch and more. 

Zodiac Killer Letters and Calls

The day after the attack on Michael and Darlene, a man called and confessed to the crime.

The Zodiac Killer phone call came from a phone box close to the crime scene, but the caller has never been identified.

Zodiac also wroteseveralf letters to various newspapers claiming responsibility for the crimes.

These letters contained unpublished details that only the killer would have known about the weapons, bullets, location/number of shots fired and the victims.

One letter contained a square from Stine’s shirt.

Police publicly disputed the legitimacy of the letter to force him to write more letters.

A number of the letters contained ciphers, and some parts of the Zodiac killer code letters remain unsolved. 

The 408-letter Zodiac Killer cipher was solved by a teacher and his wife.

Many letters threatened further violence, including bomb threats and threats against children.

These threats were not carried out. 

The full letters are printed in Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation’s Most Elusive Serial Killer (AD*)

Zodiac Killer DNA

DNA evidence was extracted from a Zodiac letter in 2002.

Police were able to create a DNA profile and rule out many Zodiac suspects.

However, the DNA was collected from the outside of the stamp and might not be Zodiac DNA.

In 2018, two letters were sent to a lab to discover if any further DNA could be recovered.

Police are hoping that if any is found, it can be matched to DNA samples submitted via genealogy sites.

Who was the Zodiac Killer?

Zodiac Killer Suspects

Arthur Leigh Allen

Arthur Leigh Allen was considered the Zodiac killer andthe main suspect.

He was scuba diving in Lake Berryessa, the scene of the third Zodiac crime on the day that a killing took place.

He returned from the lake covered in blood, and the victims had been stabbed.

Police searched his trailer and discovered knives, a Zodiac watch, a typewriter and dissected animals. 

A friend recalls that he referred to himself as the zodiac.

The letters from Zodiac ended in 1970, at the same time Arthur was imprisoned on child abuse charges. 

He was formally cleared as a suspect in October 2002 when the DNA results came back as a negative match.

Lawrence “Kane” Kaye

Lawrence is considered a suspect due to living close to the crime scenes, and he was known to one victim.

It is alleged that Darlene had told her sister that she was scared of Lawrence. 

One of the police officers on the scene after Paul Stine’s murder claims he bears a resemblance to a man he saw leaving the crime scene.

Richard Marshall

Many consider Richard or Rick Marshall to be the Zodiac Killer.

He lived in two properties close to crime scenes.

Rick worked in a movie theatre,e and his favourite film was The Red Phantom, a name Zodiac used to sign off a letter.

Many believe the Zodiac killer symbol, zodiac ciphers and text came from movie imagery.

Earl Van Best Jr

Earl has been considered a suspect due to his uncanny resemblance to a police sketch.

However, his appearance is fairly typical of the fashion of the era (as seen with other zodiac suspects).

Coincidentally, his initials appear in one of Zodiac’s cryptic letters, and he also bears a scar on one of his fingerprints.

His son wrote the book The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer (AD*).

It includes much of the evidence to support the theory that Van is the Zodiac Killer.

Richard Gaikowski

Richard or Gaik was accused of being Zodiac by an unknown acquaintance who went by the name Goldcatcher.

He claimed that Gaik knew too much about the Zodiac murders and had recordings proving his guilt.

The word “GYKE” featured on one cipher.

Nancy Slover, who spoke to Zodiac on the phone, claimed that his voice was the same. 

Good Times newspaper, where he worked, would publish Zodiac-related stories.

These accusations are disputed by most, and there is little to no evidence to back them up. 

Personally, I would not trust an accusation from someone not willing to put their real name to it, and also, it is a pretty shitty thing to do.

Louis Joseph Myers

A friend of Louis Joseph Myers has said that he confessed to being the Zodiac after being diagnosed with liver failure. 

Randy Kenney told police about the confession as per Louis’s wishes for after his death, but they failed to believe him. 

There is some credibility to him as a suspect because he attended the same high school as two victims, David Farraday and Betty Lou Jensen and worked with Darlene Ferrin.

He was stationed abroad when the Zodiac letters stopped and wore the same boots as found in the boot print. 

Other Zodiac Suspects

Jack Tarrance was accused of being Zodiac by his stepson because he had a hood similar to that worn by Zodiac and a bloody knife.

His handwriting and DNA weretested but the results were inconclusive. 

Steve Hodel believed that his father, George Hill Hodel, was Zodiac.

Whilst this is believed to be far-fetched in this instance, he is considered a strong suspect in the Black Dahlia murder.

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was considered a suspect because he lived in the area, had a similar signature and liked to communicate with the press after crimes.

He was cleared by fingerprint and handwriting testing.

Michael O’Hare was briefly considered as a suspect due to his shooting skill and knowledge of mathematics, but there was no other evidence to connect him to the crimes.

A Manson family member, Bruce Davis, has been named as a suspect; however, Bruce bears no resemblance to the composite sketch, and his handwriting is not similar.

He and all of the Manson family have been ruled out as responsible.

Despite the popular meme suggesting Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer.

He isn’;, he was not even born when the crimes were committed.

Jim Morrison isn’t the Zodiac Killer either; this was released as an April Fool’s joke, and somehow it took off as one of the most bizarre Zodiac killer theories.

Media

The Zodiac Killer movie was released in 2007 and followed the investigation and the hunt for the Zodiac killer.

It is actually a rather good movie and well worth a watch.

The Zodiac Killer documentary This is the Zodiac Speaking was released in 2008, featuring interviews withZodiac Killerr survivors and investigators for the Zodiac Killer case.

Pin this post

*True Crime books, films or documentaries are available to purchase for further reading or viewing.

I will earn a small commission if you make a purchase using these AD links.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.