This article contains discussion of violence.
Netflix’sThis Is The Zodiac Speakingis one of a number of studies of the 1960s murders attributed to self-styled serial killer the Zodiac.65 years on, the killings remain unsolved, despite the widespread curiosity and investigative efforts of sleuths,both amateur and professional. As grisly as the murders were, perhaps the most intriguing element of the Zodiac’s modus operandi, according toHistory.com, were the letters, cards, and ciphers the killer sent to the police and media celebrating his crimes and taunting the authorities for their failure to identify and capture him.
Derekbruff.orgclaims that the first letters were sent in 1969, and began with the words that title the documentary - “This is the Zodiac speaking.“They were sent to theVallejo Times-Herald,theSan Francisco Chronicle, and theSan Francisco Examiner.They admitted responsibility for two of the shootings, at Lake Herman Road in December 1968 and Blue Rock Springs the following July, and, perThe Guardian, provided an immediate insight into the Zodiac’s psyche - the need to control - and the bizarre motive: “…collecting slaves for my afterlife.“Accompanying the letters were mysterious ciphers spelled out in astronomical symbols.
How Many Letters The Zodiac Killer Sent
The Murderer Taunted Police And The Media
Four letters were sent out between 1969 and 1974, purporting to be from the Zodiac. He threatened the various publications that if the letters were not published in full, on the front page,he would kill more innocent people, and he gave the names of those potential victims.Each letter was accompanied by a complex cryptogram, which if the police were able to solve, “they will have me.”
On November 9th, 1969, the Zodiac sent a seven-page letter in response to the October 11th shooting of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, San Francisco,confirming that he had killed Stine and confirming reports that two officers had stopped him in the immediate aftermath, but had released him having been mistakenly told by dispatch that the perpetrator was a Black man. The Zodiac taunted the authorities, declaring he would never be caught, because “I have been too clever for them,” and threatening to blow up a school bus.
Two Of The Zodiac Killer’s Four Ciphers Have Been Solved
The Second Cipher Took 51 Years To Solve
It was the killer’s use of ciphers that most intrigued investigators, the media, and the public. These cryptogramsrepresented a new and perplexing element to the pursuit of the Zodiac. 65 years later, of the four ciphers sent, two remain unsolved, and one was only finally deciphered in 2020. The first was sent in 1969 and became known as the Z408 because it contained 408 astronomical symbols. It was quickly solved by two schoolteachers, Donald and Bettye Harden, who revealed it to be a simple homophonic substitution cipher.
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The second and far more complex cryptogram took 51 years, according toThe Register, and an international team of software engineers and mathematicians, led by David Oranchak, to unravel. The cipher was named the Z340, containing 340 symbols. They developed a program they called AZdecrypt,which ran 650,000 possible solutions for the cipher before arriving at the key to unlock it.The discovery opened up alternative avenues of investigation in the case and prompted a new and curious collection of sleuths attempting to unearth the Zodiac’s identity, including the efforts depicted in Netflix’sThis Is The Zodiac Speaking.
What The Zodiac Killer’s Cipher Solved In 1969 Said
The Killer Revealed A Bizarre Motive
The 1969 Z408 decryption revealed much about the Zodiac’s twisted psychology and worldview. Much of it was misspelled, andit contained some unintelligible gibberish, but also some chilling language. The Zodiac described killing as “more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangeroue anamal of all,“and compared the act of murder to “getting your rocks off with a girl.“The cipher also re-iterated the murderer’s stated motive for the shootings: “I will be reborn in paradice and all the I have killed will become my slaves.”
“I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangeroue anamal of all to kill something gives me the most thrilling experence it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl the best part of it is thae when I die I will be reborn in paradice and all the I have killed will become my slaves”
What The Zodiac Killer’s Cipher Solved In 2020 Said
The Killer’s Need For Control
InThis Is The Zodiac Speaking,the far more difficult Z340 cipher, sent in November 1969 and finally solved in 2020, was no less revealing. In particular, it highlighted the Zodiac’s arrogance and need for control, characteristic of the psychological profile of serial killers. In the message,he denied being a caller who had phoned into a TV show at the height of the investigation and taunted the police: “I hope you are having lots of fun trying to catch me. That wasn’t me on the TV show,” while also indicating that he’d finally done enough killing: “e now have enough slaves to worv for me.”
“I hope you are having lots of fan in trying to catch me that wasnt me on the tv show which bringo up a point about me I am not afraid of the gas chamber becaase it will send me to paradlce all the sooher because e now have enough slaves to worv for me where every one else has nothing when they reach paradice so they are afraid of death I am not afraid because i vnow that my new life is life will be an easy one in paradice death”
SOURCES:History.com,derekbruff.org,The Guardian,The Register
This Is the Zodiac Speaking
After decades of mystery, the Seawater family presents new evidence about the Zodiac Killer, sharing their story and naming the only suspect agreed upon by detectives.
