Kalla fall-grupp säger sig ha avslöjat ”Zodiac killer”

The Zodiac Killer, or simply Zodiac or the Zodiac, is the pseudonym of a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The Zodiac originated the name himself in a series of taunting letters and cards that he mailed to regional newspapers, threatening killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. Some of these letters included cryptograms, or ciphers, in which the killer claimed that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. Of the four ciphers he produced, the latter two remain unsolved to this day – the first was cracked in 1969, the second in 2020. The Zodiac murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, alternating among rural, urban, and suburban settings. In chronological order, the known attacks took place in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco proper. He targeted young couples, with two of the men surviving attempted murder; he also killed a lone male cab driver. The Zodiac himself once claimed to have murdered 37 victims, and he has been linked to several other cold cases, some in Southern California or outside the state. The Zodiac Killer has become a fixture of popular culture, inspiring amateur detectives to attempt to resolve the case and entertainment such as films, television, novels, and video games. The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) marked the case "inactive" in April 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to March 2007. The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County. The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.