THE Zodiac Killer slaughtered young couples and taunted cops and journalists with mysterious coded letters about his terrifying murder spree.
The murderer’s heinous crimes are being looked at in the Netflix documentary This is the Zodiac Speaking. Here we delve into the life of prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen.
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The Zodiac Killer was the nickname of a serial murderer who may have killed dozens of young men and women in northern California in the late 1960s and early 70s.
He is known to have targeted at least seven victims – three couples and a lone taxi driver – Two of them survived gun and knife ambushes.
The same killer has been linked to as many as 28 murders and he claimed to have killed 37 people in letters to newspapers.
The Zodiac name was used by the killer himself in taunting letters he sent to reporters, using a cross inside a circle as his signature – the same logo he scrawled on one victim’s car.
He also sent a series of cryptograms – a type of puzzle using encoded text – only one has been deciphered.
Part of it reads: “I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all.
“To kill something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl.”
Other letters included swatches of a shirt cut off a victim as proof he was the killer.
His final letter to a newspaper was in 1974, where he praised the film The Exorcist as “the best satirical comedy that I have ever seen” and signed off with his supposed score against the San Francisco police: “Me = 37, SFPD = 0”.
Prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen
In Netflix‘s docuseries This is the Zodiac Speaking viewers are being promised new information about the unsolved murder mystery.
The series aims to give more evidence to suggest that Arthur Leigh Allen was the actual killer.
The convicted pedophile was discharged without honor from the US Navy and was sacked as a primary school teacher after allegations of sexual misconduct.
Allen was first interviewed as a Zodiac Killer suspect in 1969 after he was seen near the scene of one attack.
He came to police attention again in 1971 when his friend told officers he had spoken of his desire to kill people and used the name Zodiac.
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San Francisco police searched his home the following year but found no evidence linking him to the murders.
In 1974, Allen was arrested for molesting a 12-year-old boy and jailed for two years.
Cops raided his home again in 1991 and once more after he died in 1992.
They found a typewriter of the same kind used in one of the Zodiac Killer’s letters.
Allen had a wristwatch of the Zodiac brand.
This Is The Zodiac Speaking
Netflix documentary This is the Zodiac Speaking, which is directed by Ari Mark and Phil Lott, will bring viewers new interviews and clues that place even more evidence of Arthur Leigh Allen being the true culprit.
In the series, scheduled to drop on October 23, 2024, the filmmakers speak to a California family who once had Allen as a teacher, as well as family friends of the suspect.
They go through previously unseen evidence, as they try to connect the dots between the killings and Allen.
Co-director Phil Lott told Variety: “A lot of this material is brand new,
“It hasn’t been seen before because when (Allen) died, there was no more investigation from a law enforcement perspective.
“So there’s no one really to send it to.
“So we got to look at all those letters and read the crazy, very incriminating material.”