The story in brief
The San Francisco Bay Area, 1968 and 1969. Five people are killed and two survive. The killer writes to the newspapers, signs himself the Zodiac and sends codes that, he says, hide his name. A couple from Salinas solves the first in eight days. The second holds out for 51 years. Neither holds a name, and the case is still open. An account of real crimes, without violent detail.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 4 min · Free
Two Nights in Vallejo
Before the letters and the codes, there were two nights in Vallejo. No one saw a link between them, until the police telephone rang.
Sources: The FBI’s file on the case (1969); Michael Butterfield, “The Zodiac Killer: A Timeline” (2023); San Francisco Chronicle (2007)
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Chapter 2 · 4 min · Free
This Is the Zodiac Speaking
Three newspapers receive a code that, its author says, hides his name. The first to solve it is not the Navy, nor the FBI.
Sources: Letters of 31 July and 4 August 1969; FBI Laboratory report (18 August 1969); San Francisco Chronicle (2 August 1969); Craig Bauer, History (2017)
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Lake and the Taxi
A picnic by a lake, a taxi ride in San Francisco. And a police car that passes a man in the street and drives on.
Sources: Napa Valley Register (2007); KPIX (1969); The letter of 13 October 1969; Michael Butterfield, Zodiac Killer Facts
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
Three Hundred and Forty Symbols
A greeting card with 340 symbols reaches the paper in 1969. The FBI tries. So do hundreds of amateurs. The first sentence only appears in 2020.
Sources: FBI Laboratory report (19 November 1969); FBI statement (11 December 2020); David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke, “The Solution of the Zodiac Killer’s 340-Character Cipher” (2024)
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Open Case
A suspect investigated for more than twenty years, a group that says it has solved the mystery, and police who will not call the case closed.
Sources: ABC News (2002); California Watch (2010); San Francisco Chronicle (2007); Fox News and TheWrap (2021); FBI statement (11 December 2020)
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Modern Hunt”. By the end of it, you can tell how psychiatry, the press, codebreakers and profilers changed the hunt.
Stories in this journey
Sources
- Letters to the San Francisco papers (1969 to 1974)
- FBI Laboratory reports (1969)
- FBI statements (2020 and 2021)
- David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke (2024)
- San Francisco Chronicle (1969 and 2007)
- ABC News (2002)
- California Watch (2010)
