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The Zodiac Killer: A Case That Still Baffles Investigators · The Infographics Show Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Infographic Show podcasts, where we dive into
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  Speaker 1: the mysteries of history, true crime, and unissolved cases. Today,
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  Speaker 1: we are delving into one of the most infamous, puzzling
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  Speaker 1: and unsolved cases in American criminal history, the case of
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  Speaker 1: the Zodiac Killer. Between the late nineteen sixties and early
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  Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, the Zodiac terrorized northern California, leaving behind a
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  Speaker 1: trail of cryptic messages, codes, and unsolved murders that still
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  Speaker 1: haunt investigators today. Despite the killer's arrogance taunting police with letters, ciphers,
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  Speaker 1: and confessions, he was never caught. The Zodiac's identity remains
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  Speaker 1: a chilling mystery, with amateur sleuths and seasoned detectives alike
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  Speaker 1: continuing to dig in to the case more than fifty
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  Speaker 1: years after the murders. In this episode, we will take
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  Speaker 1: a deep dive into the timeline of the Zodiac's crimes,
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  Speaker 1: the messages and cryptograms he sent to newspapers, the suspects
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  Speaker 1: that have emerged over the decades, and why this case
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  Speaker 1: has remained so elusive even with the advancement of forensic technology.
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  Speaker 1: Part one, The birth of a serial killer. To understand
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  Speaker 1: the fear of the Zodiac killer instilled in northern California.
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  Speaker 1: We must begin with his first confirmed attack. It was
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  Speaker 1: December twentieth, nineteen sixty eight, when high school sweethearts Betty
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  Speaker 1: Lou Jensen and David Faraday were brutally gunned down on
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  Speaker 1: a remote stretch of Lake Hermann Road near Vallejo, California.
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  Speaker 1: The couple had parked their car in a secluded area
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  Speaker 1: a known lover's lane, when they were approached by an
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  Speaker 1: unknown assailant. David Faraday was shot first a single bullet
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  Speaker 1: to the head, seemingly while trying to exit the car.
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  Speaker 1: Betty Lou Jensen, in a desperate attempt to flee, was
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  Speaker 1: shot five times in the back as she tried to
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  Speaker 1: run away. The scene was gruesome, and at the time
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement had little to go on. The lack of
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  Speaker 1: a robbery or clear motive left investigators puzzled, but the
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  Speaker 1: case did not receive much attention. At first. It was
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  Speaker 1: the brutal slaying of a young couple, but little did
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  Speaker 1: anyone know it was only the beginning. Just over six
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  Speaker 1: months later, on July fourth, nineteen sixty nine, another young
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  Speaker 1: couple was attacked in similar circumstances, Darlene Ferrin and Michael
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  Speaker 1: Majoe were sitting in their car at Blue Rock Springs Park,
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  Speaker 1: a mere four miles from the sight of the first attack. Suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: a man approached their vehicle and opened fire. Michael Majoe
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  Speaker 1: was severely wounded but miraculously survived the attack. Darlene Ferron, however,
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  Speaker 1: was not as lucky. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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  Speaker 1: What set this crime apart was the phone call that
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  Speaker 1: came just minutes later. A man called the Valejo Police Department,
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  Speaker 1: calmly admitting to the murders and providing the location of
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  Speaker 1: the bodies. His tone was cold and matter of fact,
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  Speaker 1: and it was during this call that he took credit
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  Speaker 1: for both the Blue Rock Springs attack and the Lake
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  Speaker 1: Herman Roade murders. For the first time, the world was
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  Speaker 1: introduced to the Zodiac Killer, Part two, The Zodiac's First Letters.
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  Speaker 1: On August first, nineteen sixty nine, the story took an
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  Speaker 1: even more chilling turn. Three letters, all postmarked the same day,
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  Speaker 1: were sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner,
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  Speaker 1: and the Valejo Times Herald. Each letter was nearly identical,
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  Speaker 1: taking credit for the murders. Of Betty lou Jensen, David Faraday,
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  Speaker 1: and Darlene Ferron. The killer included details that only he
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  Speaker 1: could know, details about the crime scenes that were never
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  Speaker 1: released to the public. But these weren't just confessions, they
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  Speaker 1: were warnings. Each letter contained one third of a cryptogram,
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  Speaker 1: a mysterious code that the killer demanded be published on
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  Speaker 1: the front page of each newspaper. He threatened that if
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  Speaker 1: his demands were not met, he would continue killing. The
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  Speaker 1: killer signed off with a simple yet ominous symbol, a
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  Speaker 1: cross hairs over a circle, which would later become synonymous
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  Speaker 1: with the Zodiac. The cryptograms themselves would become a focal
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  Speaker 1: point of the case, known as the See four O
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  Speaker 1: eight Cipher. It was solved just a week later by
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  Speaker 1: a high school teacher named Donald Hardon and his wife Betty.
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  Speaker 1: The message was chilling. I like killing people because it
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  Speaker 1: is so much fun. But while the cipher revealed the
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  Speaker 1: Zodiac's twisted pleasure and murder, it offered no clues about
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  Speaker 1: his identity. Despite his cryptic taunts, the Zodiac remained an enigma.
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  Speaker 1: His next letter, however, would solidify his place in the
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  Speaker 1: annals of American crime. On August fourth, nineteen sixty nine,
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  Speaker 1: another letter arrived at the San Francisco Examiner, this time
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  Speaker 1: addressed to the editor. It began with the now infamous phrase,
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  Speaker 1: this is the Zodiac speaking, marking the first time the
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  Speaker 1: killer had publicly given himself a name. From this point forward,
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  Speaker 1: he would always refer to himself as the Zodiac, and
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  Speaker 1: his reign of terror had truly begun. Part three, The
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  Speaker 1: Lake Barriusa Attack. The Zodiac's next attack occurred on September
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventh, nineteen sixty nine, at Lake Barriessa, and this
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  Speaker 1: attack marked a terrifying shift in his behavior. Brian Hartnell
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  Speaker 1: and Cecilia Shepard were enjoying a quiet afternoon by the
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  Speaker 1: lake when a man approached them. He was wearing an
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  Speaker 1: executioner style hood with dark sunglasses and had the cross
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  Speaker 1: circle symbol and blazoned on his chest. Armed with a
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  Speaker 1: gun and a knife, he forced the couple to comply
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  Speaker 1: with his orders. He bound them with pre cut lengths
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  Speaker 1: of rope before brutally stabbing both of them multiple times.
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  Speaker 1: Hartnell was stabbed six times and Cecilia was stabbed ten times.
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  Speaker 1: The attack was shockingly personal compared to his previous shootings
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  Speaker 1: and strated the Zodiac's growing thirst for violence. After the attack,
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  Speaker 1: the Zodiac calmly walked away and used a pen to
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  Speaker 1: write on Hartnell's car door the date of the attack,
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  Speaker 1: the time, and his infamous symbol. He then drove into
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  Speaker 1: NAPA and called the police to report his crime, stating
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  Speaker 1: I'm the one who did it. Brian Hartnell miraculously survived
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  Speaker 1: and was able to give the police a detailed description
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  Speaker 1: of the Zodiac's costume and behavior. Unfortunately, Cecilia Shepherd died
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  Speaker 1: from her wounds two days later. The Lake Barriusa attack
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  Speaker 1: was different from the others, not only because of the
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  Speaker 1: method used, but also because it was carried out in
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  Speaker 1: broad daylight and involved prolonged interaction with the victims. This
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  Speaker 1: escalation in brutality left investigators deeply concerned. Part four, the
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  Speaker 1: Paul Stein murder and taunts to the police. On October eleventh,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, the Zodiac's next and final confirmed victim
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  Speaker 1: was a San Francisco cab driver named Paul Stein. Stein
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  Speaker 1: was shot in the head while driving his cab in
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  Speaker 1: the upscale Presidio Heights neighborhood. Unlike his previous attacks, which
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  Speaker 1: had taken place in more remote areas. This killing occurred
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  Speaker 1: in the heart of the city, and it marked a
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  Speaker 1: significant departure from his typical pattern of targeting young couples.
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  Speaker 1: The Zodiac took a piece of Stein's blood stained shirt
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  Speaker 1: and mailed it to the San Francisco Chronicle along with
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  Speaker 1: another letter. He again mocked the police and threatened to
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  Speaker 1: kill school children by shooting out the tires of a bus.
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  Speaker 1: This act of brazeness ignited widespread panic in San Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: and parents were terrified that the Zodiac might follow through
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  Speaker 1: on his threats. Witnesses at the scene saw a man
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  Speaker 1: leaving Stein's cab, and a police officer even briefly stopped
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  Speaker 1: the suspect, but due to a miscommunication about the killer's description,
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  Speaker 1: he was let go. Had the officers been given accurate information,
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  Speaker 1: they may have apprehended the Zodiac that night. The Zodiac
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  Speaker 1: continued to taunt the police and media with more letters
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  Speaker 1: and cryptograms, sending a total of twenty one letters over
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  Speaker 1: several years. Each letter was signed with his cross circle symbol,
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  Speaker 1: and in one particularly unsettling letter, he provided a diagram
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  Speaker 1: of a bomb he claimed to have built, though no
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  Speaker 1: such bomb was ever discovered. Part five the suspects. As
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  Speaker 1: with any high profile case, the Zodiac investigation has generated
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  Speaker 1: numerous suspects, but none of them have been definitively linked
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  Speaker 1: to the murders. The most famous suspect is Authur Lee Allen,
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  Speaker 1: a convicted pedophile who had a long history of mental
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  Speaker 1: illness and troubling behavior. Allan was questioned by police several times,
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  Speaker 1: and his connections to the case seemed almost too good
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  Speaker 1: to be true. He owned a Zodiac brand watched with
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  Speaker 1: the same symbol used by the killer, he lived near
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  Speaker 1: several of the crime scenes, and he had a history
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  Speaker 1: of violence. However, despite the circumstantial evidence, there was never
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  Speaker 1: enough to definitively tie Allan to the Zodiac crimes. Any
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  Speaker 1: testing on stamps and envelopes later ruled him out, although
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  Speaker 1: some still believe he could be the Zodiac. Other suspects
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  Speaker 1: over the years have included Rick Marshall, a projectionist with
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  Speaker 1: an interest in cypher's, and Lawrence Kane, a man known
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  Speaker 1: to have stalked women and had a criminal history. Still,
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  Speaker 1: none of these suspects have provided the smoking gun needed
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  Speaker 1: to close the case. The Zodiac's taunting letters came to
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  Speaker 1: an abrupt stop in nineteen seventy four, leading some to
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  Speaker 1: believe that he may have died or been incarcerated under
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  Speaker 1: another name. Others believe he simply grew tired of his
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  Speaker 1: game and faded into obscurity. To this day, law enforcement
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  Speaker 1: has never been able to conclusively identify the Zodiac Killer
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  Speaker 1: Part six theories and ongoing investigation. In recent years, technological
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  Speaker 1: advances such as DNA analysis and genetic genealogy have rekindled
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  Speaker 1: interest in the Zodiac case. This method was used to
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  Speaker 1: identify the Golden State Killer in twenty eighteen, bringing hope
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  Speaker 1: to investigators and amateur sleuths that the Zodiac's identity might
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  Speaker 1: one day be uncovered. Although DNA evidence was collected from
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  Speaker 1: the Zodiac's letters, it has not led to a definitive match.
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  Speaker 1: One promising lead emerged in twenty twenty one, when a
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  Speaker 1: team of former law enforcement officers known as the case
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  Speaker 1: Breakers identified a man named Gary Francis Post as a
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  Speaker 1: potential suspect. Post, who died in twenty eighteen, had physical
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  Speaker 1: similarities to the Zodiac's composite sketches, and, according to the
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  Speaker 1: case Breakers, his behavior and personal connections placed him in
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  Speaker 1: the vicinity of the Zodiac murders. Some of the group's
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  Speaker 1: evidence included testimony from people who knew Posts, alleging that
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  Speaker 1: he had made incriminating statements about being the Zodiac. However,
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  Speaker 1: this theory remains unverified. Investigators with the San Francisco Police
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  Speaker 1: Department have not endorsed Posts as a viable suspect, and
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  Speaker 1: some experts are skeptical of the case breaker's findings, as
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  Speaker 1: with many suspects over the years, post candidacy as the
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  Speaker 1: Zodiac is shrouded in controversy. Despite this, hope persists that
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  Speaker 1: modern forensic science could one day solve the case. Investigators
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  Speaker 1: are working to extract more reliable DNA from the Zodiac's
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  Speaker 1: letters and stamps. Some experts believe that with the rise
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  Speaker 1: of genetic genealogy databases, it's only a matter of time
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  Speaker 1: before the Zodiac killer is identified, much like the Golden
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  Speaker 1: State Killer. Part seven. The cultural impact of the Zodiac Killer.
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  Speaker 1: The Zodiac case has not only fascinated law enforcement and investigators,
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  Speaker 1: but has also become a cultural phenomenon. The killer's cryptic messages,
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  Speaker 1: use of codes, and taunting of the police made him
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  Speaker 1: a symbol of unsolved mystery and fear. His methods have
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  Speaker 1: been the inspiration for countless books, documentaries, and movies. The
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  Speaker 1: two thousand seven film Zodiac, directed by David Fincher, is
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  Speaker 1: one of the most notable adaptations. The film, based on
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  Speaker 1: the investigations of reporters like Robert gray Smith, captured the
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  Speaker 1: terror and frustration surrounding the case. The Zodiac's legacy also
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  Speaker 1: extends to pop culture. He has been referenced in TV
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  Speaker 1: shows such as Criminal Minds and American Horror Story, and
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  Speaker 1: his cryptograms have continued to spark the interest of code breakers.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the final unsolved Zodiac cipher, known as the
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  Speaker 1: three forty Cipher, was cracked in December twenty twenty by
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  Speaker 1: a team of code breakers after more than fifty years.
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  Speaker 1: They discovered that the Zodiac's message was another taunt to
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement. I hope you are having lots of fun
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  Speaker 1: in trying to catch me. However, like the first cipher,
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  Speaker 1: the message revealed no clues about the killer's identity. The
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  Speaker 1: Zodiac Killer's ability to slip into the shadows and evade
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  Speaker 1: capture has only added to the mythos surrounding him. He
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  Speaker 1: is often compared to other infamous unsolved cases like Jack
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  Speaker 1: the Ripper, and has become a symbol of the unknown.
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  Speaker 1: The Zodiac case taps into a primal fear, the idea
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  Speaker 1: that evil can exist in our midst operate with impunity,
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  Speaker 1: and then vanish without a trace. More than five decades
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  Speaker 1: have passed since the Zodiac Killer's reign of terror, yet
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  Speaker 1: the case remains one of the greatest mysteries in the
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  Speaker 1: annals of American crime. His cryptic messages, chilling murders, an
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  Speaker 1: ability to outsmart law enforcement have turned the Zodiac into
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  Speaker 1: an enduring enigma. Despite the advances in forensic science, the
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  Speaker 1: identity of the Zodiac remains unsolved, but perhaps that's what
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  Speaker 1: makes the case so compelling. The unknown the Zodiac Killer
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  Speaker 1: seems to have defied all attempts to uncover his identity,
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  Speaker 1: frustrating generations of investigators and amateurs sooths alike. Will we
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  Speaker 1: ever know who the Zodiac was? Or will his case
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  Speaker 1: continue to baffle us? A reminder that some mysteries may
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  Speaker 1: never be solved. If you're interested in learning more about
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  Speaker 1: the Zodiac Killer, there are many excellent resource available. Robert
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  Speaker 1: Graysmith's book Zodiac is one of the definitive works on
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  Speaker 1: the subject, and for those interested in the code breaking
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  Speaker 1: aspects of the case. The three forty cipher Decoded offers
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  Speaker 1: fascinating insights into the cryptography used by the Zodiac. For
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  Speaker 1: anyone following the more recent developments in the case, keep
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  Speaker 1: an eye on emerging forensic technologies and genetic genealogy databases.
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  Speaker 1: The case may be cold, but with advancements in science,
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  Speaker 1: there is always the possibility that we may one day
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  Speaker 1: uncover the identity of the man behind the mask. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for joining us on this journey into one of
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  Speaker 1: the most infamous unsolved cases in history. We hope you
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  Speaker 1: found this exploration of the Zodiac Killer both informative and chilling.
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  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a five
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  Speaker 1: star rating and follow us wherever you're listening to us.
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  Speaker 1: Stay tuned for more deep dives into history's greatest mysteries.
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  Speaker 1: Until next time, stay safe and keep an eye out
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  Speaker 1: for the unknown. The bull Stone Bull Pupton too.