A team of independent investigators say they’re confident they’ve identified the Zodiac Killer, whose identity is one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th Century.
The team, known as the Case Breakers, specializes in cracking cold cases. After years of poring over the evidence, they believe they’ve got their man. Law enforcement, on the other hand, isn’t so sure.
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The mystery of the Zodiac Killer is a haunting cold case.
The unknown murderer, who dubbed himself the Zodiac Killer in letters he mailed to various newspapers, is known to have murdered five people in the Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969.
Unlike many serial killers, the identity of the Zodiac Killer has remained a mystery.
It’s become a pop culture mainstay.
The Zodiac Killer’s last known victims were killed more than half a century ago. But despite the passage of time, the mystery has only deepened. Hollywood movies and documentaries have told the story of the killer, but so far, no one has any concrete answers.
…and no, it isn’t Ted Cruz .
The killer left plenty of evidence.
It was much tougher to analyze physical and forensic evidence in the late ’60s, but the Zodiac Killer left many clues: taunting letters and cards, along with complicated cyphers. Some have been solved, while others remain a mystery.
Progress has been slow, but steady.
One such cypher was finally solved just last year, more than fifty years after it was written. Code breakers were able to determine what the coded message was trying to say.
While it was a breakthrough, the contents of the message didn’t give investigators much to go on.
There are plenty of theories.
As is the case with any notorious unsolved crime, there’s no shortage of people claiming to have the answers.
A 2014 book written by Gary L. Stewart made a compelling case that the Zodiac Killer was Stewart’s father, who died in 1984. His argument is interesting, but fails to prove anything.
The Case Breakers have ID’d their suspect.
The suspect, who we won’t name to provide his surviving family privacy, passed away in 2018.
The Case Breakers say that a distinctive scar on his forehead matches police sketches based on eyewitness descriptions. They’ve also said that their suspect is behind the 1966 killing of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside County, California — a murder that’s never been officially connected to the Zodiac Killer.
What do police think?
While the Case Breakers are positive they’ve found their man, police have been more measured.
Both the San Francisco Police Department and FBI confirmed to CNN that the Zodiac Killer case remains an open investigation.
“We have no new information to share at the moment,” the FBI told CNN in a statement.
Will the case ever be solved?
The case grows colder by the year, and there’s a strong likelihood that the killer, or anyone who has evidence related to the case, has already passed away.
Still, it’ll be interesting to follow these developments to see if the Case Breakers’ claims wind up bearing fruit. We’ll be sure to update if there are any further developments.