Both police and amateur murder investigators have been eager to solve the Zodiac Killer case for over 50 years.
In the US city of San Francisco between 1968 and 1969, a serial killer killed five victims there and nearby. Then, using coded letters sent to regional newspapers, the unidentified criminal mocked law enforcement and the people of California.
The Case Breakers cold case investigating team allegedly identified the serial killer as Gary Francis Poste in October 2021. The question is, who is he, and who are his purported victims?
Who is Gary Francis Poste?
An ex-member of the US air force, raised in California, is named Gary Francis Poste. Poste may have been violent, according to local media accounts. In August 2018, he passed away at the age of 80.
A male relative of Poste reportedly got in touch with the San Francisco Chronicle six years ago and said he lived in Groveland, a town roughly 150 miles away from San Francisco. This relative said Poste tried to hammer him to death and was the Zodiac Killer.
When the publication contacted Californian police, they said they didn’t seem to have evidence linking Poste to the Zodiac Killer. The newspaper reported that Michelle Wynn, Poste’s daughter-in-law, also accused him of being a serial killer. Ms. Wynn said she had relocated from California to protect herself from Poste.
A police record detailing Poste’s 2016 assault on his then-74-year-old wife Mary, who suffered four fractures to her pelvis, was obtained by The Sun in the US in January 2022. The news source further disclosed that the incident led to US officials locking him up in a mental health facility when it was determined he was too mentally unstable to stand trial. Poste might have received a prison sentence if he had been before a jury.
How was The Zodiac Killer ‘Identified’?
The Case Breakers, a team of over 40 former police investigators, journalists, and military intelligence personnel, contend Gary Francis Poste is the Zodiac Killer despite the police’s assertion that he is not their man.
In 1966, an unidentified assailant killed Bates. The investigation team said it had built its case on forensic evidence, images discovered in Poste’s darkroom, and some coded notes the serial killer left. According to the group, Poste killed Cheri Jo Bates, as the forensic evidence shows.
Those who have closely followed the case think the Zodiac Killer was responsible for Bates’s death, but local police have reportedly rejected this hypothesis, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Additionally, because of the identifiable scars on his forehead, Poste has been compared to a police drawing of the serial killer from 1969.
Further evidence that Poste was the murderer came from the discovery that the letters in his name changed the meaning of cyphers the serial killer had used in letters to the media.
However, local law enforcement and the FBI have rejected the Case Breakers’ claims. The Zodiac Killer case is still active, the FBI’s San Francisco division informed the newspaper.
Case Breakers
The Case Breakers clarified their statements on November 20, 2021, by claiming to have found a “goldmine” of proof in California. The team said in a statement that it had learned that Poste had given away weapons to acquaintances and family members in the days preceding his death, including pistol components, gunpowder, and bullet casings.
The Case Breakers asserted that most of these odd “gifts” have lain unopened in basements and closets ever since. The group claimed to have forwarded this material to private forensic laboratories in three US states.
It was also asserted that Poste had once served as the mentor to a gang of boys whom he had raised to be what the Case Breakers called “killing machines.” According to the New York Post, the individuals in their late teens and early twenties were referred to as “The Posse” and were supposed to have killed animals for fun.
What did The Zodiac Killer Do?
In the late 1960s, the San Francisco area saw the Zodiac Killer murder five people before sending cryptic letters of taunt to neighbourhood newspapers. They were either shot or stabbed. What are their names?
● Mr. David Faraday
● Betty Lou Jensen
● Darlene Ferrin
● Shepard, Cecelia
● Stine, Paul
The Zodiac Killer name came about because all of the letters began with the line “this is the Zodiac speaking” and were frequently signed off with what seemed to be gun sights. Since the 1970s, when these letters ceased to be sent, there has been much conjecture over who the murderer is.
Convicted child molester Arthur Leigh Allen is the only suspect the police have formally named in the case. Allen had a watch with the crosshairs symbol on it and was chosen from a police lineup by one of the Zodiac Killer’s attempted victims.
He told a buddy he had committed the killings but passed away in 1992 from a heart attack before a case could be made against him.
Summing Up
Numerous pop culture references have been made to the Zodiac Killer, including the Clint Eastwood movie Dirty Harry from 1971 and the Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. movie Zodiac from 2007. It is also thought that the serial murderer inspired Paul Dano’s role in the most recent Batman film, “The Batman.”
Also read: Ted Bundy Victims: Know About The Serial Killer and His Victims
