The Zodiac

One of my main areas of interest in all this crime stuff is unsolved crimes, and The Zodiac is a beauty: serial kiler who has killed at least 7 people - 7 are definitely linked to him, but at one stage he claimed to have killed 37 people. And he sent creepy cyphers to police and the media, some of which are still unsolved. Here is the story:
Most people believe it all started in October 30th 1966 in California, when pretty young Cheri Jo Bates was murdered. He had stalked her in her university library and disabled her car while she studied inside. When she couldn't start her car, he approached and offered assistance. They spent over an hour talking in the dark alleyway. Then he killed he. He didn't rape her, or steal her purse. He just killed her.
The only clue the police had came in a letter from the Zodiac himself. He didn't call himself Zodiac yet. He didn't sign the first letter at all, but in the letter he made threats against women he saw in his daily life and ended the letter "IT WAS JUST A WARNING. BEWARE...I AM STALKING YOUR GIRLS NOW".
The letter was sent to the police and the media. A second letter was then sent, but the police were still no closer to having any firm suspects.
The police had one suspect - an ex-boyfriend who didn't take the break up well. He is still listed as the only firm suspect in Cheri's murder forty years after the event. There is some conjecture whether Cheri really was the first Zodiac victim, but her death certainly fits the pattern.
Now the Zodiac began focussing on young couples in cars. He would simply walk up the car and begin shooting. Some victims survived, but most were not that lucky. The police were baffled - there were no witnesses, no motives and no suspects.
The most baffling aspects of the Zodiac case were not only the phone calls he made to the police and families, but more than that it was the letters and cypher he designed which caught media attention. It seemed he was desperate to get acknowledgement for his killing. He insisted that his cypher be published on the front page of newspapers and the media complied. The cypher, like most of the letters, promised more murders and implied that the Zodiac was always watching. In one letter he even threatened to bomb a school bus, and then shoot the children as they ran off the bus.
With a few appearances over the few years via mail and phone calls, the interest in the Zodiac was maintained, but the case was never solved. Some of the suspects included Ted Kaczynski (The Unibomber) and Bruce Davis (a Manson Family member).
The most likely, and favoured, suspect was Arthur Leigh Allen. I say "was" because he died of natural causes in 1992. To see all the evidence against him click here.
Realistically the case will probably be filed next to Jack the Ripper and JonBenet Ramsey in the "we are never going to solve this one" drawer.
To read the full story click here.