Zodiac Killer | Aerin Flaharty

The Zodiac Killer. Apparently dead but his identity (possibly) alive, the Zodiac Killer was likely identified on Wednesday, October 7, 2021. Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018, is believed today by a group of private investigators to be the prominent “Zodiac Killer.” Now, there is more evidence that leads America to believe that the Zodiac Killer has been confirmed.

The Zodiac Killer started his mysterious and unsolvable murders in 1968. His first acts of homicide occurred in Northern California, near a remote area close to San Francisco, where he shot and killed two teenagers who had been relaxing on their Senior Ditch Day. But this was just the start. The Zodiac went on to kill 3 more people over the course of a year after the first recorded killing in December of 1968. To this day, there have been 7 confirmed murders committed by the Zodiac and 37 claimed by Zodiac himself.

What made the Zodiac so intriguing was the fact that he never had an identity. The Zodiac, compared to other serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Juana Berraza, or Ed Bein, was never identified or found guilty for the murders that occurred; thus, he remained as the Zodiac and nothing more. After his killings in 1969-1970, he provided San Francisco newspapers with letters and ciphers to unravel, wanting to spark fear among the state of California and bring utter panic to people all over, making them question who was next. He provided undisclosed details in his letters about the murders that not even police would be able to find through their investigations. To the Zodiac, his murders were his game and the San Francisco journalists were losing it by a long shot. In total, he provided four letters, and once sent the same letter to three different news outlets. Since the time he started killing, he had submitted four ciphers to several different newspapers, mainly the San Francisco Chronicle, but also the San Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times-Herald. While one letter was decoded, still no one was deemed successful in interpreting the meanings of all his messages.

Through the work of multiple private experts, the code is believed to be unraveled … 51 years later.

So how is it that people were finally able to crack the code five decades later? What do we know now that we didn't before? Was the answer hiding in plain sight? According to a group of 40 former law enforcement investigators, called “The Case Breakers,” the trick was using new physical and forensic evidence. “The Case Breakers” are known for their interest in this specific case and have dedicated themselves to identifying the Zodiac once and for all. The FBI has not confirmed that Gary Poste is the Zodiac, but the Case Breakers argue otherwise. Law enforcement argues that Gary may not be the famous serial killer, but then again, it's been about half a century. Will we ever really know for sure?