Zodiac
... Darlene Ferrin, a close friend of both Betty and David, was the next victim on the Zodiac’s list. ... From then on, after each new killing, the Zodiac mailed a letter to one of the papers, or the police, taunting and playing with them, as well as claiming responsibility for the murders. In all, the Zodiac killer claimed responsibility for thirty-seven murders, but the police could only identify seven as positively being Zodiac victims. After many years of research on the subject though, it has been found that the Zodiac may have been responsible for as many as fifty-six homicides. One of the most interesting of the Zodiac killings took place on September 27th, 1969, at Lake Berryessa, near the San Francisco Bay area. ... When the figure finally emerged from the woods, it was cloaked in a medieval executioner’s uniform, with a square topped hood and the symbol of the zodiac emblazoned in the center of the all black clothing. ... " This was another Zodiac strike. ... A little fragment of the piece of torn shirt was mailed with every Zodiac letter from then on, to prove it’s authenticity. The Zodiac had struck once again. One of the final incidents of the proven Zodiac crimes was committed on March 22nd, 1970. ... It was of the Zodiac killer, and she positively identified him as the man who attacked her. Years before the onslaught of the slayings, there was a case which would go down in history as the beginning of the Zodiac crimes. At first there was no connection between the Zodiac and the murder of eighteen year-old Cheri Jo Bates of Riverside, California, but once the other crimes started, the evidence became clear. ... " This was the first Zodiac killing. ... Arthur Leigh Allen was the top Zodiac suspect. ... They had a feeling that he might possibly be the Zodiac. He often spoke of the ‘most dangerous game’ and ‘man as a true game’ -- two phrases the Zodiac used in his letters. Allen’s sister-in-law had seen Allen walking around with papers that contained symbols and lines, similar to those of the Zodiac, and when questioned about them he answered, "they are the work of an insane person. ... Allen’s features closely resembled those of the Zodiac’s police sketches. ... He often bragged about being the Zodiac to friends, only to change his story when questioned by the police. ... Kane is a Taurus on the Zodiac chart. Most striking of all, when the Zodiac sent his cryptograms to the papers, he claimed his name could be found within the symbols. ... Some of the most interesting, and at the same time terrifying, things about the Zodiac, were his intelligence and cunning. The Zodiac always killed on weekends. ... Every time a murder was committed by the Zodiac, it was near a body of water or in a place that had a water type name (Lake Herman Pumping Station, Lake Berryessa, Blue Rock Springs Golf Course, Riverside). ... When the Zodiac’s letters to the police and papers are chronologically put in order to where they were sent, a giant "Z" is traced across the San Francisco landscape.