Page 58 - Veritas - 02.03.22

THE ZODIAC

KILLER

Ms. Jismi Mathew

Ms. Prarthana Nagesh

BACKGROUND

An era of trepidation was invoked in the citizens of Northern

California in the 1960s and 70s. This was the result of a killer on the

loose, who claimed to be the ‘Zodiac Killer’. He was found to be

operating his murderous schemes on young people and couples in the

secluded areas of California and Nevada. He manipulated and

threatened the media, mainly the local newspapers like San Francisco

Chronicle, the Vallejo Times-Herald and the San Francisco Examiner.

The letters he sent included Cryptogams - ciphers in which he claimed

that he was killing people to make them his slaves in the afterlife. He

used the San Francisco Chronicle as his literary outlet. His first letter

to the chronicle was attached with a cipher. In the letter, the

anonymous killer taunted the police by giving them gory details about

the murders he had recently committed. It included facts of his

murder that were obscured from the public eye. Most of its readers be-

lieved that the man wanted attention from the media or had a thirst

for fame. He was referred to as the ‘Zodiac Killer’ after the arrival of

his second letter in which he attested to the same. He signed the letter

with the symbol marking the crosshair of a gunshot. In one of his last

taunting letters to the news media, the Zodiac Killer claimed he had 37

victims to show for his five years of terrorizing the San Francisco Bay

Area.