Let me take you back in time, even further than 1993, so that before I get ahead of myself, you understand who I am speaking of.
On December 20th, 1968, a couple by the name of David Anthony Fairchild (17) and his girlfriend, Brittany Louise Jenkins, were having a typical date night. Eventually, the couple ended up parked at a lookout, otherwise known as a make-out point, and were…well, getting into the deed when suddenly another car pulled up behind them.
Before they knew what had happened, the young couple were turned into corpses around 11 pm. Young David was hanging halfway out of the car before being shot in the head, and then young Brittany was shot five times in the back as she tried to escape, ending up around twenty-eight feet from their vehicle.
This cycle would repeat with a few of the people surviving but most dying.
If that were all there was to the case, well, it wouldn’t be that interesting; however, things took a drastic turn after the second attack occurred.
On July 5th, 1969, around six and a half months after the murders of David and Brittany, a strange man contacted the Vallejo Police Department in order to claim responsibility for not only the current attack where only the female died, and the man survived, but also the murders of David and Brittany.
When the police arrived at the place where the call was made, a random phone booth at a gas station, there was no one around, leaving them stumped and without any leads.
That is, until August 1st, 1969, nearly a month after the second attack, when three letters arrived at the offices of three different newspaper publications.
As was expected, each letter was essentially the same, but each also contained 1/3rd of a coded message called a cryptogram, which the man claimed proved his identity.
Cryptogram aside, in the letters, the man demanded that the newspaper companies publish his letter on the next day’s front page. Furthermore, the person went on to say that if they didn’t publish his letters as demanded, he would "cruse" around all weekend killing lone people in the night before moving on to kill again until he eventually ended up racking up a body count of a dozen people before the end of the weekend.
As fate decided, only one of the publications would go on to publish the letter; however, instead of being on the front page of the newspaper, it was put on page four along with an article from the Vallejo Police saying they weren’t satisfied with the proof that it was from the actual murderer.
Six days later, on August 7th, 1969, one of the newspaper companies received a second letter with the introduction, "Dear Editor, This is the Zodiac speaking."
This letter would come to be known as the first time the name "Zodiac" was used.
Following the introduction, The Zodiac went on to list the details of his killing, things which only the murderer himself would know, solidifying his identity, as none of the details he stated had been released to the public by Law Enforcement.
The Zodiac then went on to remind everyone that once the police cracked his cryptogram, they would have his identity.
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Over a month later, on September 27th, 1969, another young couple was attacked, only this time, instead of being in their car, they had been assaulted during a late-night picnic on a small island.
Unlike the first two attacks, this time, the Zodiac brought along a tool kit (common name for what the Serial Killer uses, generally containing things like rope or ducktape which they use during the murder)
Evolving into his identity, the Zodiac, described by the sole survivor as a white male standing around 5 foot 11 inches and weighing around 170 lbs, approached the couple wearing a black executioner-style hood with clip-on sunglasses over the eye holes, along with a bib-like cloth on his chest with his new Symbol, the white circle with a cross through it.
Soon enough, The Zodiac, with the aid of a handgun, captured and tied up the couple before brutally stabbing them. Finished with his attack, the Zodiac then left without ensuring the couple was dead and headed about 500 yards away to where the young man he had just stabbed had parked his car.
With the car located, The Zodiac then drew his Symbol on the white vehicle using a black felt-tipped pen.
After the circle-cross Symbol, he listed out the dates of his previous two attacks, along with the current date, indicating the couple he had just stabbed multiple times, followed by the words, "By Knife."
Once done, he then called the Napa County Sheriff’s Department from a random payphone, stating he wished to "report a murder…no a double murder," followed by admitting to being the perpetrator.
After the island incident, The Zodiac would go on to commit more attacks, all the while taunting law enforcement with unconfirmable letters and phone calls, with there even being an incident where someone claiming to be him called a local radio station demanding a conversation with a certain lawyer.
During the interview, he ended up calling himself "Sam" because the lawyer found the name Zodiac to be too creepy to keep saying. Soon after the interview, another Cryptogram letter would be sent to a newspaper publication that wouldn’t be broken for over 50 years.
When it finally was, all it said was that "Sam" wasn’t the Zodiac; there were no further details, leaving everyone stumped. Eventually, the call to the radio station was traced back to a mental patient in a hospital, leading to the police debunking his claims with relative ease.
Moving forward into 1970, for the better part of the year, Zodiac went back and forth with the police, sending them letters, taunting them due to their inability to find and capture him, until eventually…the letters stopped, and The Zodiac disappeared until January 29th, 1974.
This letter in January of 1974 would come to be the final "official" correspondence the San Francisco Police Department would have with the Zodiac; in it, he spoke about a movie and included some snippets of a popular Opera followed by a strange symbol that no one could ever decipher.
Lastly, The Zodiac concluded the letter with an ominous reminder: a score.
"Me=37, SFPD =0"