Content:
A crudely written Letter to the Editor arrived in the day's pile of mail. One of three penned to the Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times-Herald, its contents brought the newsrooms to a standstill. "Dear Editor, This is the murderer..." of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen shot to death Dec. 20, 1968 on Lake Herman Road in Solano County and the July 4, 1969 fatal shooting of Darlene Ferrin and attempted murder of Mike Mageau at the Blue Rock Springs golf course parking lot in Vallejo. He didn't call them by name, but he gave a laundry list of details only the police could know. Each paper was given part of a cipher which, when decoded, would purportedly reveal his identity. It was followed by a threat -- publish or more would perish. No killer since Jack the Ripper had written the press and taunted the police with clues to his identity. Zodiac had raised the bar for homicidal psychopaths in the U.S. A Salinas couple decoded the message. But it was Graysmith, a cipher enthusiast, who decoded its hidden intent, a reference to the 1932 film "The Most Dangerous Game."
More letters and threats would follow. On Sept. 27, 1969 Zodiac would strike again, hooded and armed with a gun and sheathed blade, he would stab to death Cecilia Ann Shepard and leave for dead Bryan Hartnell as the young couple picnicked at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. One month later, Oct. 11 the killer had come to San Francisco. Taxi driver Paul Lee Stine was shot in the back of the head in the posh Presidio Heights neighborhood. Three days later a fifth letter arrived, the most ominous of all: Zodiac told police they could have caught him that night. Worse, school children were in the cross hairs of his gun sight. He would pick them off as they stepped off the school bus. San Francisco was literally a city in panic.
Zodiac inadvertently had turned detectives Toschi and Armstrong and reporter Avery into overnight celebrities. Characters based on Toschi would prove pivotal roles launching three movie stars' careers. Graysmith remained committed to his armchair sleuthing from the sidelines, injecting his input when Avery would allow. Zodiac was always one step ahead, covering his tracks, peppering his lettered taunts with more threats. And then they became personal.
Infamy would eclipse fame as Toschi fell from grace; Armstrong, frustrated moved on; Avery left the paper, crippled by his addictions. Zodiac would no longer reveal his targets. Copycats sprang up coast to coast. The key suspect was still out there.
Graysmith's moment had come. That moment would change their lives forever.
|
Sign Up
Buy
Buyoyo News Feeds