The Zodiac Killer

Corinne Estes and Molly Skinner

Objectives
● Language:
○ Students will be able to contrast two suspects in the case and construct a
case against this person they believe is guilty of the crimes presented.
● Content:
○ Students will be able to summarize the events of the Zodiac Killer, while
recalling characteristics of the Zodiac Killer in constructing a case and
collaborating with their partners.
Vocabulary
- Pseudonym-a fictitious name, especially one used by an author.
Vocabulary
- Cryptograms - a text in written code
Vocabulary
- Psychopath- a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or
violent social behavior.
- At least 40 percent of all serial killers are unrepentant psychopaths.
Vocabulary
- Sociopath- someone who has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). People with ASPD can't
understand others' feelings. They'll often break rules or make impulsive decisions without feeling
guilty for the harm they cause.
Who was the Zodiac Killer ?
● linked to at least four murders in Northern California in 1968 and 1969 and may
have been responsible for more.
● Taunted police and local newspapers with letters and ciphers
○ Letters included details of the killing only the murderer could have known
○ These letter stopped in 1974
● No one has ever been arrested for these crimes
○ The still remains open
https://play.kahoot.it/v2/?quiz
Id=619c9631-38aa-47b2-a017-
3b65edd28481
Letters and Ciphers
● Sent letters to San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Vallejo
Times-Herald and the local police stations
○ Each letter was hand-written
● The letters were closed with a symbol consisting of a circle with a cross
through it, in what would come to be known as the Zodiac Killer’s symbol.
● There was a three part cipher that was said to include his name
● The code was eventually deciphered and it read:

"I like killing people because it is so much fun," it read. "It is more fun than
killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of
all."
Letter and Ciphers
Victims & Attacks
● Four attacks have been definitively attributed to the Zodiac Killer.
● December 20, 1968
○ 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen,
were shot to death near their car at a remote spot on Lake Herman Road
● July 5, 1969
○ Darlene Ferrin, age 22, and her boyfriend, Mike Mageau, age 19
○ Also shot to death
○ Within an hour of the incident, a man called the Vallejo Police Department,
giving them the location of the crime scene and claiming responsibility for
both that attack and the 1968 murders of Faraday and Jensen.
●
Victims & Attacks
● September 27, 1969
○ This time the attacker wore the the circle-cross symbol on his chest
○ Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were tied up and brutally stabbed
○ Hartnell survived the attack
○ The Zodiac left a note in the car for the police and called claiming
responsibility for the deaths shorty after.
● At least 5 other murders have been tentatively linked to the Zodiac Killer.
Unsolved Murders: True Crime Podcast
Today in True Crime-Zodiac Killer

-9:55
Lawrence Kane
● worked in the same Lake Tahoe hotel as Donna Lass, who disappeared in
1970.
● served in the Naval reserves, where he might have learned coding.
● 1962 car accident left him with a brain injury that could have compromised his
ability to control urges.
● In 1961 he was arrested for peeping and in 1968 he was arrested for prowling.
● A retired detective claimed his name was embedded in one of the ciphers.
● A victim who survived identified him as the abductor.
Arthur Leigh Allen
● A friend told authorities Allen had talked about wanting to kill people and
secured a flashlight to a firearm, as the Zodiac did. 
● Allen wore a Zodiac-brand watch, owned the same caliber gun used in one
Zodiac shooting.
● Told police the bloody knives in his car were used for killing chickens.
● less-than honorably discharged from the Navy and been fired from his
school-teacher job amid sexual-misconduct allegations.
● He was also ambidextrous, which some theorists say could have helped
disguise his handwriting.
● Police investigated Allen again in 1991 after an informant facing armed-robbery
charges said Allen had boasted to him about killing a cab driver.
● He was also identified by a victim that survived.
Directions
● Find a partner around the room.
● You and that partner will be creating a case of who you think the Zodiac Killer
is.
● Two of the main suspects have been presented here, pick one and use the
information as a starting point.
● You may use your notes and laptop.
● Be prepared to share your case with the class.
Your Case
● Should include:
○ Reasons why this suspect is guilty (this should be evidence found from your notes or from your
own research)
○ Reasons the other suspect is NOT guilty (this should be evidence found from your notes or from
your own research)
○ Why this person was never convicted
○ If the person is alive, why did they stop (in your own opinion)?
References
https://www.history.com/news/could-any-of-these-men-have-been-the-zodiac-killer

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopat
h-psychopath