Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed
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18B. Copycat postcard marked May 6, 1974. SFPD Lab #12.
19. May 8, 1974 (Wednesday). Zodiac’s letter from Alameda to the San Francisco Chronicle. Badlands Letter, signed “A Citizen.” Postmark: 8 MAY 1974 Alameda County.
20. July 8, 1974 (Monday). Zodiac’s “Red Phantom” to the San Francisco Chronicle from San Rafael. SFPD Lab #13, FBI Specimen Q97. Postmark: PM 8 JUL. 1974 San Rafael 1B.
21. April 24, 1978 (Monday). Hoax Zodiac letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I am back with you . . .” San Francisco Police notation: “DNA SAMPLE OBTAINED/NOT AUTHENTIC ZODIAC LETTER.” SFPD Lab #15, FBI Specimen Q99. Postmark: PM 24 APR. 1978 8B.
ZODIAC COPYCAT LETTERS 22.October 29, 1987 (Wednesday). A Zodiac copycat, probably the true author of the April 1978 letter (21), writes the Vallejo Times-Herald . “Dear Editor This is the Zodiac speaking I am crack proof. Tell herb caen that I am still here. I have always been here. Tell the blue pigs . . .”
23. June 19, 1990 (Tuesday). Anne Murray, a reporter with the New York Post received a letter from Zodiac II. “They faxed me a copy,” Ciravolo told me. “It’s our guy—it’s obviously the same handwriting— claiming responsibility for three prior shootings. He says he shot a man with a cane in the street on March 8.”
24. June 21, 1990 (Thursday). “In the letter I left,” Zodiac II said later, “I used the phrase I read from the encyclopedia. It was to throw you off the track. . . . I just wanted to increase the fear.”
25. June 25, 1990 (Monday). Zodiac II wrote, “Only Orion [The Hunter] can stop Zodiac and the Seven Sister. No more games, pigs.”
26. August 5, 1994 (Saturday). Mike Ciravolo told me, “I get a call saying ‘Zodiac shot people. He’s writing notes [and codes].’ It checks out. He’s out there again.”
27. May 24, 1997 (Saturday). “So this is the beginning of the game,” read the letter from Japan’s Zodiac III. “I desperately want to see people die. Nothing makes me more excited than killing. Stupid police, stop me if you can. It’s great fun for me to kill people.”
28. June 5, 1997 (Thursday). The Japanese Zodiac’s rambling 1,400-word letter is published and signed Seito Sakakibara [Apostle Sake Devil Rose]. Zodiac III claimed this was his real name.
Books, Films, Radio, and Television Shows That Inspired Zodiac
“The Most Dangerous Game,” printed in Variety and published by Minton Balch & Company in 1924, won the O. Henry Memorial Award for that year. Richard Connell’s short story has been included in numerous adventure anthologies over the years.
The Most Dangerous Game. In 1932 RKO-Radio Pictures, Inc. filmed a 63-minute-long black and white film version of “The Most Dangerous Game” with executive producer David O. Selznick, producer Merian C. Cooper, and directors Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel (dialogue director). Screenwriter was James Ashmore Creelman. The film starred Joel McCrea (Bob Rainsford), Fay Wray (Eve Trowbridge), Leslie Banks (Count Zaroff), Robert Armstrong (Martin Trowbridge), Noble Johnson, Steve Clemento, and Dutch Hernian. Max Steiner, music. RKO Production #602.
In 1945 RKO re-made The Most Dangerous Game as A Game of Death directed by Robert Wise and starring John Loder and Audrey Long. Edgar Barrier played General Kreigner. The following year, Johnny Allegro used elements of Connell’s story. Nina Foch and George Raft. George MacCready emulated our old friend Count Zaroff as a sportsman killer, who liked to claim his victims with bow and arrow.
In 1956 came the third retelling of Connell’s yarn. Bob Waterfield, former L.A. Rams quarterback, produced the film. United Artist’s Run for the Sun starred Richard Widmark, Trevor Howard, and Jane Greer as a magazine editor who goes to Mexico to ferret out a reclusive novelist. Rather than an island, this time the action was set on a jungle plantation. Widmark and Greer crash-land on the estate of a Nazi war criminal who hunts wayward travelers with a pack of bloodhounds. Long after the film was completed, Greer learned she had been exposed to a rare virus contracted during the grueling waterfall and swamp scenes, Coxsaci B, that lay dormant in her body for years. Only a heart operation in the 1960s saved her life.
In 1961, Robert Reed starred in Bloodlust—another variation. Cornel Wilde’s The Naked Prey was filmed five years later. The Perverse Countess was released in 1973, Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity in 1988, and Deadly Game in 1991—all versions of The Most Dangerous Game.
Follow Me Quietly. Directed by Richard Fleischer, RKO. Starring William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, and Edwin Max as “The Judge.” 1949, 59 minutes. “The Judge” is a Zodiac-like character who carries on a deadly chess match with a police inspector.
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. The 1939 20th Century-Fox film. Directed by Norman Foster and John Larkin. Original Story and Screenplay by John Larkin. Based on the character Charlie Chan, created by Earl Derr Biggers. Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, Pauline Moore (Eve Cairo), Victor Sen Yung (Number Two son, Jimmy Chan), Douglas Fowley (Pete Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter), June Gale (Myra Rhadini, Rhadini’s wife and a professional knife-thrower), Douglass Dumbrille (Thomas Gregory, an insurance investigator), Sally Blane (Stella Essex), Billie Seward (Bessie Sibley), Wally Vernon (Elmer), Donald MacBride (Chief Kilvaine), Charles Halton (Redley), Trevor Bardette (the treacherous Dr. Zodiac’s Turkish servant), Gerald Mohr (voice of Dr. Zodiac), Louis Jean Heydt (Paul Essex). 72 minutes. All the magic props from this film were later re-used in A-Haunting We Will Go (Fox, 1944), a Laurel and Hardy comedy.
The Boston Strangler, the first docudrama about a real-life serial killer, starred Tony Curtis, 1968.
No Way to Treat a Lady. A psychotic killer, Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger) disguises himself as a policeman, a woman, and a priest. He chooses to play a cat-and-mouse game with a police detective, Morris Brummel (George Segal). The killer calls him after each crime, leaves clues in taunting letters, and draws his mother’s lips on his victims’ foreheads. The cop and killer both have mother complexes. Detective Brummel says to the killer of his victims, “But they all had lipstick, didn’t they? The very shape of your dear mother’s lips. The very lips on all those portraits out in your lobby.” Zodiac conceivably took ideas from this 1968 movie in which Steiger portrayed what has been called “the perfect fictional serial killer . . . intelligent and egotistical who never changes his pattern until suitable motivation is provided.”
The Exorcist. William Peter Blatty’s book and 1973 film, influenced Zodiac as shown in his written critique of the movie on January 29, 1974 in which he deemed the film “the best saterical comidy” he had ever seen. Perhaps demonic possession as a factor in serial killings intrigued the Cipher Slayer.
Badlands, a movie based on the Charlie Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate 1950s murder spree, aroused Zodiac to write the Chronicle again on May 8, 1974 to express his “consternation concerning your poor taste” by running ads for the film.
“The Most Dangerous Game” appeared on the radio on Suspense on September 23, 1943, as the most famous audio adaptation of Connell’s short story. The fifty-eighth episode of the series, the program starred Orson Welles and Keenan Wynn. Jacques A. Finke wrote the script for producer-director William Spier. The radio show was still sustaining (without a sponsor) and had just moved from Saturday nights to Thursday the month before.
On February 1, 1945, Finke’s script was used for a second Suspense broadcast, but this time starred J. Carrol Naish and Joseph Cotten. Two years after that Les Crutchfield adapted “The Most Dangerous Game” as a half-hour show for producer-director Norman Macdonnell’s Escape, on October 1, 1947, starring Paul Frees and Hans Conried. Escape had begun its irregular run on CBS radio in July.
A 1950s Alfred Hitchcock Presents starring Myron McCormick and adapted from a story by William C. Morrison—featured a young man with a flashlight taped to his rifle. “Just shoot for the dark spot in the light and you will hit your target,” he said—exactly as Zodiac wrote. Hunting small game at night, he chanced upon two lovers—result: accidental murder and the man’s imprisonment. His ven
geful father says at the conclusion, eyes glittering: “The excitement of a manhunt—the most dangerous game.”
The Man Who Never Was, starring Robert Lansing and featuring the crossed-circle symbol. This ABC television show debuted Wednesday, September 7, 1966.
Films and Television Shows That Zodiac Inspired
Zodiac, a minimum-budget, 84-minute color film in which Zodiac is highly fictionalized. The film features a penlight on a gun barrel and lovers’ lane murders. Shown exclusively at the RKO Golden Gate Theater at Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street for a single week. Police staked it out in case Zodiac should attend and fill out a card explaining, in twenty-five words or less, why they believed Zodiac killed. The person who answered best would win a free Kawasaki 350cc motorcycle. One review: “A movie disguised as a warning sneaked into the Golden Gate this week . . . the print is flawed, but this is expected to be improved. Less easily remedied is the script and its dialogue . . . the picture ends limply, despite a few remarks in the narrative that Zodiac may be the man behind you in the theatre.” The cast includes Hal Reed, Bob Jones, Ray Lynch, and Tom Pittman. Produced and directed by Tom Hanson, with a screenplay by Ray Cantrell and Manny Cardoza. The film was advertised in the Chronicle with the lines, “Who is he . . . what is he . . . when is he going to strike again??” and “Zodiac says . . . ‘I Lay Awake Nights Thinking of My Next Victim.’”
Dirty Harry. While Zodiac was low-budget, Don Siegel’s 1971 Dirty Harry was shot in Technicolor Panavision and starred Clint Eastwood as an Inspector Toschi-type searching for a ski-masked sniper named “Scorpio” (Andy Robinson) who signs himself with a crossed-circle symbol. Like The Most Dangerous Game, Scorpio fired a 30-.06 rifle with a sniper scope such as Zaroff used in the movie. Interestingly, Scorpio wore the military shoes worn by Zodiac. In Dirty Harry police used the personal column of the Chronicle to communicate with him. I suspect that the real Zodiac also used the paper’s personal column to communicate with a confederate or instill fear in people who suspected him. “Dirty” Harry tracks the serial killer through the underbrush of Mt. Davidson and corners him near Golden Gate Park at Kezar Stadium close to Stanyan and Haight Streets, not far from Paul Stine’s house. Faithful to the facts, the movie diverges in making Zodiac’s threat to kidnap a school bus filled with children a reality. Written by Harry Julian Fink, R. M. Fink, and Dean Reisner, photographed by Bruce Surtees. First choices for the role were Frank Sinatra (an injured tendon in his hand made it painful to hold a gun) and Paul Newman (who objected to its politics and suggested Clint Eastwood). The name of Eric Zelms, Fouke’s partner the night Zodiac escaped into the Presidio, is shown on a memorial plaque to San Francisco police officers. Zelms died in the line of duty in 1970.
Lured, directed by Douglas Sirk, a “lost” film from 1947. Black and White, 105 minutes and starring Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Boris Karloff, and Charles Coburn. Produced by James Nasser with screenplay by Leo Rosten. This film concerned a serial killer preying on young women in London.
The January Man, starring Kevin Kline.
Exorcist III: Legion. The “Gemini Killer” is based on Zodiac.
Millennium. This Fox Network series featured a realistic drama about Zodiac. The scene where Agent Frank Black approached Zodiac’s trailer is especially authentic as is the climax in the darkened theater where Agent Black is fooled by a statue of Zodiac in costume.
Nash Bridges. featured an “Inspector Toschi” character and an encounter with Zodiac. At the conclusion, Bridges (Don Johnson) implies that Zodiac will return.
A 1974 Lou Grant episode, starring Ed Asner featured a police inspector obsessed with a Zodiac-type serial killer, the Judge, who has apparently returned and is writing letters to press and police again. Inspired by fake Zodiac letter of April 1978.
The Limbic Region with Edward James Olmos, and to a lesser degree, Copycat with Sigourney Weaver, The Mean Season with Kurt Russell, and Seven with Brad Pitt.
Factual Television Programs on Zodiac
Rolanda Show. “The New York and San Francisco Zodiac.” Tuesday, September 6, 1994.
Hard Copy. “Zodiac [Hines’s suspect].” May 10, 1994.
America’s Most Wanted. “America Fights Back: The Zodiac Killer.” Saturday, November 14, 1998.
Sally Jesse Raphael. “Zodiac.” Taped on Thursday, August 16, 1990.
Unsolved Mysteries. “The Zodiac Killer. (Episode #2324.)
Crimes of the Century. “Zodiac.” Syndicated program.
The History Channel. “Zodiac.” Taped 1999.
The Learning Channel. “Case Reopened.” A 1999 episode with host Lawrence Block.
Zodiac’s Inspiration from Light Opera, Cartoons, and Comics
Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.
The Yellow Submarine. Zodiac mentioned the “Blue Meannies,” a reference to the music-hating “Blue Meanies” who terrorized the Beatles in the 1968 cartoon feature. The submarine aspect made sense. Since Zodiac was obsessed with water and Allen was a skin diver, all of his souvenirs might be hidden in watertight containers underwater. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band referred to the killer’s loneliness.
Mad magazine: Zodiac adapted the “fold-ins” on the back cover to conceal messages in one of his letters; Mad #170’s parody of The Exorcist, “The Ecchorcist,” written by Larry Siegel and drawn by Mort Drucker. The lampoon appeared in the October 1974 issue (published in August), cover captioned, “If the Devil Makes You Do It,” and showing Alfred E. Newman costumed as Satan.
Whiz Comics #2 [#1]. A mention of the “Death Machine.” “This, my friend, is the life machine. With it I can restore the dead to life. But first I must kill you, so—the death machine!” says a mad chemist, a dead ringer for Count Zaroff. “I place these cyanide pills in the cup. When the door is closed they will drop into the bucket of sulfuric acid, forming a deadly gas.”
The Dick Tracy comic strip ran daily in the Chronicle. Zodiac was a longtime reader of the strip since he recalled various Tracy’s tips to avoid leaving prints and other clues. On August 17, 1969, Chester Gould’s story line introduced the Zodiac Gang, a group of astrological killers who drowned an astrology columnist. Their leader, Scorpio, had an astrological symbol of Scorpio tattooed across his face. Light-haired and round-faced, he closely resembled both Allen and Mageau’s description of Zodiac at Blue Rock Springs.
Visual Inspirations for Zodiac
The Most Dangerous Game. Count Zaroff’s costume.
Ku Klux Klan hoods and black robes of Klan officials.
Black Mass Symbols and hoods used by Anton Le Vey’s Church of Satan.
A cattle brand used on Fred Harmon’s Pagosa Springs, Colorado ranch.
Carrying a cocked bow and rifle, Zodiac resembled not only Zaroff, but the hooded killer, a staple of painter H. L. Parkhurst’s forties Spicy Mystery pulp covers one of which showed a nighttime scene with a powerful hooded killer firing a .45 at his pursuers and clutching a struggling woman under his arm. Is that how Zodiac visualized himself? >
The cross within a circle was the mark of Cain, the killer-teth in ancient Hebrew. The word tav stood for the righteous.
The cross-haired symbol is found in ancient American Indian carvings in the Nevada caves.
sources
Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Files, Interviews
A special Confidential Report: UNSOLVED FEMALE HOMICIDES, An Analysis of a Series of Related Murders in California and Western America, California Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement Organized Crime & Criminal Intelligence Branch, February 1975.
Special Report: ZODIAC HOMICIDES. Confidential. California Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement / Bureau of Investigation, 1971. 1972 corrected edition. The author also studied the rough draft of this report as corrections were being made by the detectives involved.
Dr. Murray S. Miron of the Syracuse Research Institute, Confidential FBI psycholinguistics report, working from Zodiac letters, May 31, 1977.
Federal Bureau of Investigation File Number 2528-SF-94447-1. The complete 900-page FBI file on Zodiac. One hundred pages of the file are on Arthur Leigh Allen.
FBI report 9-49911-88 (January 14, 1970). Quotes conversation between Belli’s housekeeper and Zodiac, December 18, 1969.
FBI report, December 31, 1969, noted Belli letter “not been written as freely as the other threatening letters in this matter.” Enciphered Airtel, 12/29/69.
FBI file #32-27195, Latent Case #73096.
FBI Lab, May 19, 1978. Questioned Documents Q85 through Q99. Riverside letters, including the desktop, studied separately in photographic form and labeled Qc100.
FBI report 252B-SF-9447, March 23, 1992.
Officer Donald Foulk’s SFPD Intra-Departmental Memorandum, November 12, 1969.
Napa County Sheriff’s Office, Case #105907.
Bawart and Conway Report, Case #243145.
Detective George Bawart of Vallejo P.D. A seven page report to the FBI, Case #243145. “Circumstances Which Indicate Arthur Leigh Allen Is, in Fact, the Zodiac Killer,” 1992.
Allen Search Warrant #1970, 22 pages, by Roy Conway, dated February 13, 1991.
Return to Allen Search Warrant, filed February 21, 1991 by Roy Conway. Return lists 37 items recovered including pipe bombs, fuses, guns, and rifles.