The "Z" Report

by slasher_13

Throughout the course of history few serial killers have been as elusive and infamous as The Zodiac Killer of Riverside California. Killing with everything from a long hunting knife to a 22. Caliber rifle The Zodiac to this days remains one of the most talked about and speculated serial killers of all time and remains to be captured to this day. He is an enigma of epic proportions, sending several letters to the police, playing games with them even going as far as to send them a message with a cryptic code and a message above it stating my name is.

The killing spree all began on December 20, 1968 with the brutal murder of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen along the isolated road on the eastern outskirts of Vallejo California. The victims were approached while in Faraday's station wagon, shots were fired into it in an effort to get force them out. As they exited Faraday was shot first at point blank range in the head. Jensen tried to run away on foot but was shot five times in the back and died instantly. The ammunition of the 22. Caliber automatic pistol used was super X copper coated long rifle. There was not a single sign of robbery or sexual molestation. Although there was no witnesses some seen a light colored car bolt by before discovering the bodies.

July 4, 1969 only a few months later the Zodiac struck again this time killing Darlene Femn and severely wounding Mike Mageau at the parking lot of secluded Blue Rock Springs park in the eastern outskirts of Vallejo, Ca. Mageau the surviving victim he and Femn had parked the car to talk when a car, possible a Ford Mustang pulled into the lot just a few feet away and a man stepped out with a flashlight. He approached then and without warning starting firing shots at them after five shots where fired the man walked back to his car at which point Mageau screamed in pain causing the man to return firing more shots at the car. It was at this point that Mageau got a look at him, he was a White man 5'8" to 5'9" possible late twenties to early thirties, stocky build, round face, and brown hair. Absolutely no conversation between the victims and the man occurred. About forty minutes later the police department got a call from a man claiming responsibility for the attack. He correctly identified the weapon as a 9mm and also took credit for the Jensen and Faraday murders earlier.

For the next few weeks the investigation went nowhere until they finally received two letters claiming to be from the killer, details were mentioned that only the killer and the police could have known and each letter contained half of a code that if solved was said to be the killers name. The man had not yet given himself the name Zodiac.

Sept 29, 1969 Cecela Shepard and Bryan Hartnel were relaxing on a blanket at a very remote location near the Lake Barryessa when a man wearing a black executioners hood bearing a odd symbol and holding a gun approached them. He appeared to be more than six feet tall with a heavy build. He claimed to be an escaped prisoner from Colorado and need their car to flee to Mexico. Hartnel offered his wallet and his keys which weren't taken. After several minutes of conversation the man tied the couple up with clothesline and began stabbing them with a 11 inch long hunting knife. Hartnel was attacked first then Shepard. After the attack the man calmly walked away from the scene. A fisherman heard the couples screams and alerted park rangers. By the time help arrive the victims had managed to untie their restraints (note: They must have been the toughest people in the world!) but they were in critical condition. Just after the attack a man called claiming responsibility for the murder, the call was quickly traced to a downtown phone booth and finger prints were later recovered. When the police investigated the scene they found that the murderer had written a message on the victims car door, it included the dates of all the murders and also a strange symbol of a circle with a cross in the middle, this was found along with tire prints of the killers car. No robbery or molestation had taken place.

On September 11, 1969 yet another murder took place this time involving Paul Stine who was a 29 year old cab driver. His cab was hailed with the intended destination being Washington and Maple Street but ended up on Cherry Street. Witness watched as a man shot Stine in the head at point blank range with a 9mm semi automatic pistol, not the same one used before. The witnesses reports where very similar to the other witnesses. The police lost him though when the station mistakenly thought him to be a black male, once again the Zodiac eluded police.

The Zodiac sent several letters to the police claiming that he had killed over thirty seven people, but there wasn't enough evidence to prove it for certain. One chief of police speculated that it was highly possible consider that a streak of unsolved murders had occurred across the sate of California, on the map they seemed to form a giant Z, but his theory lost a lot of its persuasiveness when Ted Bundy was arrested and admitted to the crimes. There are however several other unsolved murders that resemble the Zodiac in a number of ways. Three of them include Robert Domingos, Linda Edawrds, Cathleen Johns, and Jonah Lass.

The Zodiac is a case that baffles experts even today. The Zodiac although insane was a genius in every aspect of the word. No one knows if he is still alive, but most people suspect that he is dead considering that there have been no other mysterious murders. There also been several suspects, but none of them seem to hold any evidence. The Zodiac is seems to defiantly be the one that got away.

_(NSM04)_