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The ZODIAC Killings Decoded: Facts, Myths and Fincher’s Film

The true beginnings of the Zodiac case date back to October 1966, when a young student, Cheri Jo Bates, was murdered after leaving the library in Riverside.

Karolina Chymkowska

31 October 2024

The ZODIAC Killings Decoded: Facts, Myths, and Fincher’s Film

The Zodiac Case – A Historical Overview

Cheri Jo Bates – The Mysterious Death in Riverside

The true beginnings of the Zodiac case date back to October 1966, when a young student, Cheri Jo Bates, was murdered after leaving the library in Riverside. Brutally beaten, repeatedly stabbed, and with her throat slashed so severely she was nearly decapitated, her death was shocking in its violence. A month later, a letter titled “The Confession” was sent to the local police station and the Riverside Enterprise newspaper. It contained phrases like “she had to die,” “she wasn’t the first and won’t be the last,” “this is a warning,” along with a detailed description of Cheri Jo’s final moments.

Cheri Jo Bates and the Crime Scene

Another letter arrived six months later. This time, it was handwritten in pencil and addressed to the police station, the newspaper, and the victim’s father. It read, “Bates had to die, there will be more.” In mid-April 1967, a janitor at the Riverside library discovered a poem carved into the surface of one of the desks. There is a theory that this poem was written by Cheri Jo’s killer, describing her final moments. In the fall of 1969, amidst the growing Zodiac case, Chief L.T. Kinkead sent a three-page report on the Bates case to the police departments in Napa and San Francisco. However, it was completely ignored. It wasn’t until a year later, when San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery arranged a meeting between the interested police parties, that the Zodiac was officially considered a possible suspect in the Bates case.

Hunting the Lovers

December 20, 1968: In Vallejo, near Lake Herman Road, a young couple sat in their car, enjoying stolen moments of solitude. Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday were supposed to be at a Christmas concert but chose to have a date in a spot known as a lover’s oasis. The killer was armed with a .22 caliber weapon. He began shooting from the back of the vehicle, walked around it, and continued firing from the left side. Sixteen-year-old Jensen managed to get out of the car and crawl away a bit, but the killer kept shooting at her. Contrary to initial suggestions, there were no signs indicating any special shooting skills on his part—rather, it seemed he benefited from sheer luck. Faraday died from a gunshot wound to the head at close range. One witness, Stella Borges, recalled the presence of a bright Chevrolet that drove away toward Benicia just before she discovered the bodies of the murdered couple. An investigation was immediately launched, and a reward for information was offered, but it yielded no results. Robert Graysmith wrote in his book Zodiac, “There were no witnesses, no motive, and no suspects.”

Zodiac

On July 5, 1969, around midnight, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were attacked in her car parked at Blue Rock Springs Park. Darlene had driven Michael there, mentioning that she needed to talk to him about something. Mageau—who survived the attack—described a brown car that drove around them multiple times with its headlights on. He then asked his companion if she knew who it was, to which she replied, “Oh, it doesn’t matter.” This led to Robert Graysmith’s later conclusion that Darlene knew her murderer. The behavior of the driver of the second vehicle suggested he was a law enforcement officer, so Mageau reached for his identification. That was when the shots were fired. Darlene died in the ambulance, but Mageau survived and remained perhaps the only witness who saw the Zodiac up close. He described him as a short, stocky man with a broad face. However, Graysmith’s opinions, based on the aforementioned remark and vague memories from Darlene’s friends—who claimed she had been followed in the months leading up to her death—did not convince most investigators or her husband, with whom Graysmith never spoke while writing his book. Mysterious phone calls to the Ferrin home after the murder were never officially linked to the Zodiac.

At 12:40, an anonymous caller rang the Vallejo police station. In a calm, composed voice, he said, “I want to report a double murder (…), I also killed those kids last year. Goodbye.”

The Zodiac's Composite Sketch — The Zodiacs Composite Sketch

This is the Zodiac Speaking

A few weeks later, the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times-Herald each received a portion of a coded message. The author demanded that the cryptogram be published on the front page. In the letter, he described the murders he had committed and suggested that solving the cryptogram would reveal his identity. However, the code was broken by a retired teacher and his wife, but it yielded no such revelations. The killer described how his victims were to become slaves who would serve him in Heaven. He also mentioned the pleasure he derived from hunting humans.

In August, another letter arrived in which the killer introduced himself for the first time, beginning his three-page document with the words, “This is the Zodiac speaking…” The letter contained a detailed description of the murders he had committed.

In September 1969, near Berryessa Lake in Napa County, several witnesses reported an encounter with a mysterious man who had been watching them for several minutes. He was described as neat-looking, friendly, and stocky.

Cecelia Ann Shepard and Bryan Calvin Hartnell were having a picnic by the lake when a tall man in a strange outfit and a hood approached them. He demanded the car keys and money, explaining that he was heading to Mexico. Hartnell tried to reason with the attacker, offering him support and help, but the assailant remained unfazed. He ordered Cecelia to tie up her companion and then adjusted the knots that were too loose. Hartnell noticed that the attacker was starting to get nervous. His hands trembled as he said, “I have to kill you.” Hartnell asked to be the first in line. However, none of the six knife wounds inflicted on him proved fatal. Cecelia was not so lucky and died two days later. The killer carved his symbol—a cross inside a circle—along with the date and type of attack on the teenagers’ car door. He then made a phone call to report the double murder and left the crime scene.

The Death of the Taxi Driver

September 11, 1969: Taxi driver Paul Stine was shot at close range by a passenger. Witnesses saw the assailant take the driver’s keys and wallet, and cut a bloodstained piece of fabric from the taxi driver’s shirt. Three children watching from a window called the police, nervously describing the murderer as a dark-skinned man, which turned out to be incorrect. Acting on this description, two police officers patrolling nearby streets decided against stopping a suspicious man who was approaching from the direction of the crime scene. Fingerprints found in the taxi, as well as those discovered on a letter sent to the Chronicle two days later, did not match any of the later suspects. In his letter, the Zodiac mocked the police’s incompetence and warned that his next target might be a school bus. He included a bloodstained piece of the shirt. The Zodiac was becoming famous and took up significant space in national media. In subsequent letters, he suggested that his future murders would not be linked to him. He referred to the police as “pigs” and denied leaving any fingerprints.

Zodiac

On Christmas, Melvin Belli, a famous attorney who had previously fallen victim to a scam by a man posing as the Zodiac, received a Christmas card. In it, the Zodiac asked for help, claiming he was “drowning” and “losing control.” However, there is much evidence to suggest that this was a kind of joke, carefully planned by the killer, who never contacted Belli again.

In March 1970, Kathleen Johns was driving with her tiny daughter, Jennifer, in the back seat. She was stopped by another driver who claimed that her car’s tire was loose. He offered help, but in reality, he completely unscrewed the tire. After driving a few meters, Kathleen went off the road. The stranger stopped again and offered to give her a ride. She agreed, but quickly realized that something was wrong. She was terrified and seized the first opportunity to jump out of the car. However, her testimony changed over time, becoming more dramatic, which Paul Avery utilized in his article for the Chronicle—the article on which Robert Graysmith later relied. The original version was much less sensational. The last witness who likely saw the Zodiac in person is therefore not entirely reliable.

Once Again: Cheri Jo Bates

In April 1970, the Zodiac returned in correspondence to plans for a bombing. According to the author, breaking the code would reveal the location of the hidden bomb. In July, he sent another note referencing the kidnapping of Kathleen Johns, expressing regret that people did not wear badges with his logo, and fantasizing about the tortures that his slaves would endure in the afterlife.

Halloween brought an unpleasant surprise to Paul Avery in the form of a card from the Zodiac. The contents suggested a threat to take a life. As a seasoned reporter, Avery turned it into a front-page article. In response, an anonymous letter sent from Riverside indicated a possible connection between the death of Cheri Jo Bates in 1966 and the Zodiac. Graphologist Sherwood Morrill, after analyzing the handwriting on a fragment of a table from the library and the letters sent after Cheri’s death, confirmed its consistency with the Zodiac’s handwriting. However, officially, Cheri Jo is still not considered one of his victims.

The Zodiac remained silent for a long time but resurfaced in 1974, sending another series of letters to the Chronicle. However, he abandoned his customary greeting and the logo that he used. The authenticity of these letters has never been fully proven. The Zodiac went silent for another four years. A letter sent to Avery’s successor, Duffy Jennings, mentioned the name of police officer David Toschi and expressed hope that “a good movie would be made about me.” Analysis showed consistency with the Zodiac’s handwriting; however, controversies surrounding the letter remain alive. Even Toschi himself and Robert Graysmith were suspected of authorship. After a second analysis, graphologists retracted their previous opinion, deeming the letter a careful forgery of the Zodiac’s handwriting. Rumor had it that DNA analysis in 1990 pointed to Toschi as the author, but no official confirmation of this has ever emerged.

Favorite Suspect – Arthur Leigh Allen

Arthur Leigh Allen first attracted the attention of Vallejo police in October 1969, like many others—pointed out by a suspicious neighbor or a resentful enemy. However, he did not fit the established description of the Zodiac and was soon forgotten. In 1971, a California businessman, Santo Panzarella, came forward to the police with information that Allen had confided to his partner, Donald Cheney, about the murders he had committed. Intrigued, the police followed this lead and paid Cheney a visit.

Zodiac

Cheney had been friends with Allen for many years. He recounted to detectives a conversation he had with Allen in 1968, where Allen spoke about Richard Connell’s book The Most Dangerous Game, which fascinated him with the idea of hunting humans. He described how he could accomplish this in the dark by mounting a flashlight on the barrel of a gun, mentioned shooting at the tires of a school bus, and targeting running children (“little darlings”). He noted that he would then send letters to the police and, to top it off, added that he liked the sound of the word “Zodiac” and would happily use such a name. The coincidences with the case are obvious, but why did Cheney wait two years? He claimed, somewhat vaguely, that he hadn’t been following the case. This may have been true at first, but the subsequent media frenzy surrounding the Zodiac would have been hard to overlook. Moreover, as further investigation revealed, Cheney had private grievances against Allen, who had previously molested his underage daughter, which may have driven him to seek revenge.

Arthur Allen was undoubtedly an eccentric. He was also a pedophile, which made it impossible for him to hold a job or maintain friendships. He was fascinated by weapons, the structures of order, and criminal psychology—and it is entirely possible that his conversation with Cheney was purely theoretical, stemming from his fascination with the high-profile case. Especially since, over time, Cheney’s memory began to suspiciously improve, recalling more and more details of his conversations with Allen that fit the Zodiac’s activities. However, each of these details had already appeared in the press.

Zodiac

Allen’s interrogation took place at his workplace. He denied having had a similar conversation with Cheney, although he admitted to having read The Most Dangerous Game and that the book impressed him. He provided an alibi for the time of the murders at Lake Berryessa and unnecessarily mentioned the presence of a bloody knife in his car—explaining that the blood belonged to a chicken. Detectives noted Allen’s watch, a Sea Wolf model made by the Swiss brand Zodiac, whose logo is a cross in a circle. Allen claimed he received the watch as a gift from his mother in 1969. In fact, this watch remained the only clear piece of evidence. Everything Allen said about the murders was freely available in the press, and he could have learned it without being the perpetrator. A search of his trailer yielded nothing. Handwriting analysis showed no match. Fingerprints also did not match. Allen also passed a lie detector test.

The candidacy of Allen was only revisited by Robert Graysmith when he worked on his book Zodiac in 1986. For the purposes of the book, he dubbed Allen “Robert Hall Starr.” However, his conclusions are largely based on manipulation and exaggeration of circumstantial evidence.

Zodiac

In 1990, a man named Ralph Spinelli, facing 30 years in prison for armed robbery, testified that Allen had confided in him in 1969 that he was going to San Francisco to kill a taxi driver. Riding the wave of success from Zodiac and in light of this testimony, the police once again obtained a search warrant for Allen’s residence. Again, without results.

Arthur Leigh Allen died in 1992, officially innocent but still under the scrutiny of public accusations, which never treat pedophiles leniently. By then, he was blind, had advanced diabetes, and suffered from kidney failure. Despite repeated requests, he was never returned the Sea Wolf watch seized during the 1991 search. After his death, DNA analysis was conducted twice, which did not show a satisfactory match. However, Allen remains a favorite suspect for many, who explain the lack of evidence by claiming he had an accomplice. There are also those who prefer to point to Richard Marshall—a film enthusiast known for his fiery temper and dislike of women. However, none of the suspects—over 2,500 were interrogated—were satisfactorily linked to the Zodiac case.

The Zodiac and His Imitators

The Zodiac had his official imitator. His name was Heriberto “Eddie” Seda. He was 22 years old and killed in the early 1990s in New York. Like his master, he wrote cryptograms addressed to the police and selected his victims using a somewhat twisted astrological key. He was fascinated by serial killers, keeping meticulously organized scrapbooks on the most infamous among them, and the Zodiac intrigued him particularly with his air of mystery and elusiveness. Seda was a troubled young man with a history of abuse, involved in drug dealing and gang disputes. He was emotionally unstable, impulsive, and suffered from mood swings. He was caught when, in a fit of jealousy, he attacked a man dating his sister Gladys. Gladys called the police. Long hours of exhausting interrogations led to his confession. Seda was New York’s Zodiac and was sentenced to 152 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 83 years. Born in the late 1960s, he could not, of course, be the real Zodiac. Today, he spends his days in his cell studying the Bible and continually attempting, so far unsuccessfully, to reconcile with his sister.

Seda is the only known Zodiac imitator identified by name, but there are strong indications that there may have been more. Ongoing controversies, especially surrounding the murder of a teenage couple at Lake Berryessa and the recent letters signed with the Zodiac’s name, suggest that not all crimes were necessarily his work. Did someone latch onto the Zodiac phenomenon? Could they have known each other? Aside from the identity of the Zodiac, this remains the biggest mystery in the case.

The behavior of the killer at Lake Berryessa differs in many ways from what we know about the Zodiac. Most notably, the weapon used was not his favored firearm but a knife. A gun provides distance and control, while a knife requires closer interaction, a struggle with the victim, and is decidedly riskier. Hence, there are opinions that this particular murder may have had personal, even ritualistic significance for the perpetrator. The killer wore a mask, yet he carved his distinctive symbol into the car doors. He told the teenagers an utterly implausible story about escaping from prison, planning a trip to Mexico, and killing a guard, justifying his actions—something he had never done before or after. He demanded their keys and money but didn’t take them with him. He displayed signs of nervousness, even a sense of guilt—having brutally terrorized the teenage couple, he almost apologized for having to kill them. Above all, besides changing the usual time and place, he altered a fundamental element of the Zodiac’s signature—there was never a letter sent to the police or media describing the events at Lake Berryessa.

zodiac

An intriguing theory remains open. Robert Graysmith, in constructing his thesis for the book Zodiac, assumed that the killer knew Darlene Ferrin personally. However, if the attack at Lake Berryessa was not the work of an imitator but the Zodiac himself, the personal factor seems more likely in this case than in the situation involving Darlene and her companion, Michael Mageau.

Profile of the Zodiac Killer and Speculations

Building a psychological profile involves several basic stages of action. The first is assessing the nature of the crime committed and its implications, mainly in terms of sexual connotations. Next is the classification of the crime scene (organized, disorganized, atypical, and mixed). The next stage is victimology, which examines the perpetrator through the lens of their victims. At this stage, the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are also taken into account. Conclusions from geographical analysis, modus operandi, and the translation of facts gathered at the crime scene into hypothetical personality traits of the attacker are considered. A complete profile includes age, race, gender, economic status, marital status, emotional and intellectual level, possible occupation, lifestyle, criminal record, place of residence in relation to the crime scene, and finally, classification of the crime scene itself.

Zodiac

What can we say about the Zodiac? He changed his modus operandi and switched tools of the crime. He mainly attacked after dark or before dawn, on weekends or holidays. The sexual motive seems secondary, although initially, he directed his aggression mainly towards women, targeting couples on dates. This suggests jealousy, possibly stemming from his own inability to form a relationship. However, victimology is disrupted by the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine—a solitary man. It seems that the main driving force behind the Zodiac’s actions was violence, and he viewed killing as a sport. These were not high-risk murders, although the perpetrator may have perceived them as such, thereby reinforcing his self-esteem. He was undoubtedly intelligent, organized, and meticulous. He was fascinated by astrology and may have considered himself motivated by the influences of the stars. He likely felt insecure and doubted his own intelligence, hence his desire to prove his superiority over structures of order and to play games with the police. This sense of control, meaningless cryptograms, and unfounded threats allowed him to revel in the impression that he was dealing the cards. The need for control seemed to drive the Zodiac, who felt increasingly smarter and more invincible with each letter he sent.

However, problems begin to arise. Periods of stagnation, long silences, a possible imitator—could it be that the Zodiac got bored? Does the continuous use of codes indicate specialized training, perhaps military, or is it just a hobby? As an organized type of killer, he likely had a relatively stable life, a steady job, and was clearly mobile—possibly due to his profession. However, he probably felt that he was “above” mundane activities like earning a living.

The primary motive behind the Zodiac’s actions seems to be a desire for immortality. He wanted to create a symbol that would transcend himself. He sought recognition, fame, and visibility, but perhaps not necessarily under his own name. He wanted the Zodiac to remain an anonymous hunter, a symbol of Fate, an indestructible and elusive demon of crime—how else could a person with such a degree of arrogance and egocentrism endure, without visible reaction, the imitators of his work? It is possible that he viewed the Zodiac as a universal messenger—someone greater than himself, like some John Smith. He did not want to be the star; rather, it was the Zodiac he created. Perhaps killing was not an end in itself, but rather a means to an end. It was easier for him to enter periods of stagnation if he was not driven by an overwhelming need to take lives, an addiction he could not shake. He wanted to create history—and undoubtedly achieved his goal. If he is still alive, perhaps somewhere in a well-hidden safe lies a confession waiting for posthumous publication. The final piece of a long game in which he ultimately proved to be the winner.

Fincher, Graysmith, Zodiac 2007

Several films have been made about the Zodiac, but it’s better to let them fade into the shadows of mercy and forgetfulness and not mention them at all. If the Zodiac truly wanted a good movie about himself, he only got it in 2007, when David Fincher, the brilliant creator of the unforgettable Se7en, took on the case.

Zodiac

It is not easy to find a concept for a film about a serial killer who was never caught, about whose case there are more uncertainties and assumptions than certainties. One cannot convey how the truth was uncovered since there is no truth. One can adopt a certain point of view, but it will necessarily be one-sided and subjective. Fortunately, David Fincher achieved the impossible by combining an objective recapitulation of the Zodiac case with the subjective conclusions of Robert Graysmith in such a way that essentially no definitive conclusion is reached; doubts remain, and at the same time, we look at the case from the inside, through the eyes of all those involved, piecing together the fragments of the puzzle and having the full opportunity to draw our own conclusions. No judgment in Fincher’s Zodiac is categorical; none is final. There is enough space for our own speculations, as the entire reconstruction of the case is accurate, factually faithful, without a preconceived thesis dictating the terms. Robert Graysmith has his thesis, and we can have ours, and the film allows for that completely.

Zodiac

The atmosphere of Zodiac is extraordinary. Thick, dark, it pulls you in from the first minute and doesn’t let go for a moment. We navigate through the meanders of a complicated investigation, witnessing how the fascination of an outside observer develops, throwing themselves headfirst into dangerous speculations—how accurate those are is an entirely different matter. Graysmith’s conclusions, presented in his bestselling book Zodiac, did not receive widespread acclaim, although he is still regarded as one of the best specialists on the case. In Fincher’s Zodiac, the central focus is on the people—painstakingly sifting through evidence, disheartened in the face of failure, excited by every new lead, juxtaposing their experience, commitment, and dedication against the undeniable skill of a cunning killer. We see the investigation from its unappealing, bureaucratic side—piles of paperwork, miles of dubious witness testimony, a procession of witnesses seeking their moment of fame, formal obstacles, regulations, and paragraphs, all while amidst it all is a sudden glimmer of light in the darkness that we cling to desperately, although it may lead nowhere.

Zodiac

The figure of Robert Graysmith serves as the glue for Fincher, a guiding motif upon which he built the structure of his film, but without pressure, without suggesting that this version is the only correct one. It is merely an axis around which he oriented the best recapitulation of the Zodiac case that cinema has known so far. He abandoned cheap sensationalism, focusing instead on the people—those whom the Zodiac case affected personally, in various dimensions, with varying effects. We cannot look from the perspective of the perpetrator since we do not know him. Thus, the only option is to view things through the eyes of the people who knew him as well as possible. Add to that facts, testimonies, speculations—and the entire picture slowly shapes itself right before our eyes, creating an absolutely fascinating, engaging story. Without excessive dramatization, moreover, this is not the only case, nor is it the only one that remains unsolved. It is not the center of the world but merely one of its elements.

Mark Ruffalo in Zodiac

Fincher’s film is closer to All the President’s Men than to The Silence of the Lambs. The axis is the investigation, which, in the case of the Zodiac, is multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, and unfolds in several locations simultaneously. The story runs along multiple tracks, on one side through the media channel and on the other through the police. There are long-standing misunderstandings between law enforcement and sensationalist media, but the rhythm of the Zodiac’s actions inevitably forces cooperation between the two sides. Various individuals enter the orbit of the investigation and then, just as suddenly, disappear—relatives of the victims, police officers from other districts, witnesses, attorney Melvin Belli, families involved in the case. A powerful network of interactions is created, an uncontrollable flow of information, making it increasingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, facts from media creation, and on this fertile ground, the Zodiac is born—a symbol, the Zodiac—an autonomous phenomenon. A phenomenon that persists while Robert Graysmith’s children grow up, Toschi’s partner changes career paths, Paul Avery resigns from his job, and Sherwood Morrill retires…—in this three-hour film, a significant slice of many people’s lives is condensed. This enhances our awareness of how complicated and absorbing the Zodiac case was, how strong its impact was, and how frustrating the lack of a conclusive outcome felt.

Zodiac R Downey Jr i J Gyllenhaal

The strength of the film is firmly based on three points of a triangle, three outstanding acting personalities, through which the main currents of the film flow smoothly before our eyes, without chaos or disruption. There’s the strong and charismatic cop with a biting sense of humor—David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo)—our guide through the realm of the police investigation. Paul Avery (the brilliant Robert Downey Jr.)—the eccentric reporter—serves as the audience’s ticket into the arena of media frenzy, a partially unhealthy but certainly intense excitement that burns out anyone unable to withstand the pressure. Finally, there’s Robert Graysmith (in a calm and measured performance by Jake Gyllenhaal)—the observer, commentator, and someone entirely on the outside who, paradoxically, turns out to be the one whose life is most profoundly impacted by the Zodiac. Three points of view, three interested parties, three elements of the overall puzzle—a pattern that never fully materialized.

Zodiac

As the Zodiac desired, a good film has been made about him. Although he probably wouldn’t be satisfied with it, as he is not the main character in the film about himself. For the outside observer, the Zodiac is, fortunately, not a biography but a documentary of the times, a testimony to a real case and its implications—the impact that is rarely considered while following dry press reports. It is a historical gem that is excellent to watch. On the shoulders of the most mysterious serial killer since Jack the Ripper has grown Fincher’s most mature film to date. I wonder what the Zodiac would think of it?

Karolina Chymkowska

In books and in movies, I love the same aspects: twists, surprises, unconventional outcomes. It's an ongoing and hopefully everlasting adventure. When I don't write, watch or read, I spend my days as a veterinary technician developing my own farm and animal shelter.

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david fincher serial killers thriller

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