“I like killing people because it’s so much fun.”
In July of 1969, a letter arrived at The San Francisco Examiner newspaper containing those chilling words in a coded message.
The sender: the soon-to-be-notorious Zodiac, killer terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s
That identity has stymied law-enforcement officials, professional code breakers and armchair criminologists for nearly five decades.
Between December 1968 and October 1969, three (3) women and four (4) men were attacked in San Francisco and Northern California.
All died except for two (2) of the men,
The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters and cards sent to the local Bay Area press. The letters included four (4) cryptograms.
Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been definitively solved.
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 California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.[
THE ZODIAK claims he killed 37 people. There’s really only proof of 5
During this episode, we interview Chris Garcia, a well-known expert on the Zodiac killings who has a podcast dedicated to the Zodiac killings.
We talk about a lot of the cases but concentrate on the cannonical cases - the ones that are assuredly attributed to the Zodiac.
The ones that we concentrate on are the Ferrin-Mageau, the Hartnell-Shepard and the Paul Stine cases.
On September 27, 1969, college students Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were sitting by Lake Berryessa enjoying a relaxing visit.
They did not know that a man was nearby, watching and waiting for the right moment to set his plan in motion.
Bryan heard some noise and asked Cecelia to look around for the source.
She saw a man as he moved behind a tree.
Cecelia and Bryan dismissed the man as harmless and did not notice as he donned a dark hood featuring the symbol of a white crossed-circle.
The stranger came prepared with a some pre-cut lengths of clothesline to restrain Bryan and Cecelia.
On his belt, a sheath held a foot-long knife and the holster for the gun in his hand. The man needed the gun to prevent Bryan and Cecelia from running away if they began to suspect his true intentions.
He would lie to them and keep them calm with the promise that he meant no harm. Once they complied and were subdued, the man would no longer need the gun and could proceed with his plan.
After stabbing them both, he left and drove to a phone booth and reported the attack.
At 7:40 PM, the Napa Police Department received a call from a telephone booth at a local car wash.
Officer David Slaight answered the call.
The voice of a young man addressed Slaight in a calm, deliberate tone. “I want to report a murder– no, a double murder. They are two miles north of park headquarters. They were in a white Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia.”

The Paul Stine murder was to become the fifth and final confirmed murder by the Zodiac Killer, despite this being challenged by many as a highly unlikely supposition, based upon future unsolved crimes bearing hallmarks of the killer and his claim in the Exorcist letter on January 29th 1974 to have killed at least 37 people.
The Zodiac hailed Stine's cab and gave a Presidio address in the posh San Francisco neighborhood.
After stabbing Stine, he took at piece of his shirt, wiped down the car and walked awasy.
Three teenagers saw this event and called the police to report it. Unfortunately they reported the killer as a black man and this probably kept the Zodiac from being caught.
The crime appeared to be a routine robbery and murder until an envelope arrived at the office of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
The letter inside stated, “This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington & Maple St. last night. To prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt.”
The Zodiac deviated from his previous pattern of attacking young couples in areas known as “lovers lane” spots.
Paul Stine was a cab driver, working alone and just doing his job when he was killed in a residential neighborhood
According to many experts, including Chris Garcia, this was the last of the killings by the Zodiac.
FIFTY years later, the Zodiac crimes remain unsolved and the case is part of true crime history.