Marked - inactive, unsolved

Confirmed Victims

First officially recognized murders

The Crime Scene: Herman Road, Benicia.

Date: December 20, 1968

The Victims: David Arthur Faraday, 17

Betty Lou Jensen, 16Lake

Cause of Death: Gun shot related injuries.

Second officially recognized murders

The Crime Scene: Blue Rock Springs Golf Course parking lot

Date: July 4, 1969

The Victims: Michael Renault Mageau, 19 (Survived)

Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22

Cause of Death: Gun shot related injuries.

Third officially recognized murders

The Crime Scene: Lake Berryessa

Date: September 27, 1969

The Victims: Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20 (Survived)

Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22

Cause of Death: Multiple Stab wounds

Forth officially recognized murders

The Crime Scene: PresidioHeights in San Francisco

Date: October 11, 1969

The Victims: Paul Lee Stine, 29)

Cause of Death: Gun shot related injuries

Official tally puts the total murders at five, and two survivors.

And so begins the tale of the Zodiac Killer a name given to him as a result of the numerous letters sent by him to the press. It is unclear as to what motivated the killer to commit the murders or taunt law enforcement. But in his letters sent to a number of newspapers, four of them contained cryptograms, three of which have not been deciphered yet. What was he trying to say?

As serial killers go the Zodiac Killer is probably more accurate in his assessment than that of the police on the number of victims. The 1960’s wasn’t exactly a time of peace and harmony, and interaction between law enforcement agencies was limited. The truth behind the real death-toll may never be known and the Zodiac Killer will never tell Why?

Because he was never caught!

Close call: on November 9, 1969, he mailed a seven-page letter in which he claimed that two policemen stopped and actually spoke with him three minutes after he shot Stine. Stine was apparently his last victim according to the officials.

For all his letters and threats sent via the media law enforcement was never able to find him and it is now believed he may have died or been arrested on unrelated charges. All we know is that over forty years ago a mad man went on a killing spree then disappeared leaving more questions than answers.

In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" but reopened it in 2007.

The City of Vallejo, and Napa and SolanoCounties as well as the California Department of Justice still maintain open case files pertaining to the Zodiac Killer. The possibility of ever identifying the killer may only be achieved by modern forensics but I’m afraid this is the one that got away.

,” San Francisco Examiner columnist Ken Garcia wrote, “It’s been nearly four decades since the last murder. The case has officially been listed as inactive. And yet the public fascination with the “Zodiac” killer seems to just grow with time, a true story that has expanded into urban myth. Up until a few years ago, police were getting calls on the Zodiac on almost a daily basis, but it took so much time and attention away from ongoing homicide cases that they put it on the inactive list until the day they get a lead that might actually go somewhere.