Zodiac Killer Research Paper

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time of great change in America. The Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the sexual revolution were just some of the issues on the evening news in American households. For citizens of the San Francisco Bay area, as well as the rest of California, the late 60’s early 70’represented terror, fear and death. “The bizarre and theatrical and still unresolved serial murders by real-life ghoul who called himself Zodiac, who claimed in letters to have killed 37 people (though police have focused on five homicides and two attempted murders in the greater Bay Area in 1968 and 1969” (Booth,2) have intrigued people for nearly four decades. How has Zodiac remained so elusive? What

Throughout history, criminal investigators have encountered different forms of serial killers. One of the many famous serial killers in the twentieth century was Theodore Robert Bundy (Ted Bundy). Ted Bundy was responsible for the Chi Omega killings and many more. When people think of serial killers, they visualize some dirty, crazy, looking individual that would stand out from everybody else. In Ted's case this was different. Ted Bundy was a very smart individual who had attended college at various colleges, studying law and finally receiving his degree in psychology from the University of Washington. He had volunteered for the Republican Party in California for a Governor campaign. His family and friends considered Bundy as

In the late sixties and early seventies, California was haunted by dozens of unsolved murders. The offender remains unknown to this day. The murderer, who referred to himself as "the Zodiac," made contact with the police and area newspapers throughout his reign of terror through a series of menacing notes. Although the police were never able to apprehend Zodiac, they were able to gather information about him via the letters. Zodiac boasted of killing up to forty victims, however, police estimated he may have killed over 50.

     Two days after Paul Stine's murder, Zodiac began a new era in his criminal career. For about 8 years, he would write to the San Francisco Chronicle-and occasionally others- off and on. From October 1969 until March 1971, the majority of Zodiac letters were filled with angry threats and bragging. At first he worked hard to prove his murders with information

Death is the sixth highest fear in the US. The idea of death is very prominent in our society, as around 6,775 people die a day, in the US alone. Serial killers are the monsters of the real world and should be feared the most. Villains in comic books or movies are fake, and can only bring us entertainment or the sense of being afraid. Serial killers bring true fear into people’s lives. The Zodiac uses this knowledge of fear and implements it into his own style of killing mass amounts of people, and not be caught. The Zodiac Killer’s intelligence is used to get away from the police, with killing many people of all statuses, age, and gender, by using ciphers and encrypted messages slowly giving the police hints. These hints are used so that

Ever heard of the zodiac killer? He was a serial killer who operated in northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in 5 states between December 1968 and October 1969. The general profile for a serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. There are many types of serial killers. There are natural born killers who are born willing to kill someone, insane killers which have mental and physical disorders and criminaloids who do not exhibit specific traits. The childhood of a serial killer would typically be someone who is neglected by their family mainly their mothers. They tend to be antisocial and have anger issues. Poor families often cannot provide what the child always wants so they might commit crimes to get want they want. Abused children have a higher chance of being killers also because they have a lot of built up aggression and anger. All can lead to substance abuse which is never a good thing to mix in with a potential serial killer in the making. General behavioral progression from pre-crime to post-crime are that they use killing as a source of relief. Before committing a serious crime they could have built up anger and hatred. They is a high possibility that they are suffering from depression and anxiety too. After killing someone the killer feels relieved. They also feel

The earliest dates back to the late 1700s, which happened to be a pair of brothers, known as the Harpe Brothers. The Harpe Brothers were deemed the first serial murderers, and left a bloody trail along the American Frontier. Furthermore, other parts of the world were being terrorized by serial killers. In Germany, Sophie Ursinus became known for poisoning her whole family with arsenic; in England, Jack the Ripper targeted and terrorized prostitutes, and in Russia, Darya Saltykova tortured and murdered over 100 of her serfs. Perhaps, though, the most famous among the other serial killers in this particular era was H.H. Holmes. Holmes had created a hotel in Chicago (now called the Murder Castle) that was used to torment quite possibly hundreds of guests that came to stay there during the 1893 World’s

Lucas Kelleher/ Street Law 10/3/08 The Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer is a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. His identity to this day still remains unknown. The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting letters he sent to the press. His letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved. The Zodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Others have also been suspected to be Zodiac victims, but they have been ruled inconclusive. The lack of consensus about the number of victims, the inability of law enforcement

The Zodiac usually targeted young couples in secluded areas. He used both guns and knives as weapons. On at least one occasion he wore an unusual costume. On two occasions he telephoned the police afterward to report his murders. After killing, the Zodiac would write letters to local newspapers and demand they be published. The letters would sometimes include physical evidence from a crime scene. Occasionally the Zodiac would send the newspapers cryptograms which he claimed included his identity. The Zodiac sent at least 18 letters, usually to newspapers. The first confirmed incident took place on the night of December 20, 1968, when 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, on the outskirts of Vallejo, California. Then, on the early morning of July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin, age 22, and her boyfriend, Mike Mageau, age 19, were sitting in parked car in a similarly remote Vallejo location when they were approached by a man with a flashlight who fired multiple shots at them, killing Ferrin and seriously wounding Mageau. Within an hour of the incident, a man called the Vallejo Police

Zodiac’s career, which would become the most cerebral murder case of all time, began in Riverside California on the night of October 30, 1966. The first victim, Cheri Jo Bates, a young student at the university was brutally murdered outside the college library. She was stabbed 42 times with a knife with a small

The Zodiac Killer was an infamous murderer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. He killed with zero remorse and even stated in one of his letters that “I like killing people because it’s so much fun” (“Zodiac Killer”). Between December 1968 and October 1969 had killed a total of five people and severely injured two others. He made his first appearance on December 20, 1968, when he shot and killed 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend Betty Lou Jensen. The police were unable to determine the motive for the crime or a suspect. However, on August 1, 1969, the zodiac sent letters to the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, and Vallejo Times Herald. Each letter started the same “Dear Editor:

December 20, 1968 David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen would go on their first and last date together. On this fateful day the two would be brutally murdered by an unknown killer, who would become known as the Zodiac Killer. There are as many as 37 other victims that were claimed by the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer’s identity is still unknown today and is the antagonist of one of the most disturbing cases in American history. As the Zodiac Killer took innocent lives as if he was picking candy from a candy store he tested what methods worked, what he liked, and how to not get caught. He took innocent lives of people, and did it in some of the most brutal ways possible (Zodiac). This sounds a lot like a problem we are faced with in today’s society; the destruction of children for the use of stem cell research, the use of embryonic cells, and cloning.

Who The Zodiac Killer killed. Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday were the first to die to the Zodiac Killer's hands. Then Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau who died to the Zodiacs wrath. The third to die to The Zodiac were Cecillia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell. But the last but not least was Paul Stine who was only a cab driver and was a completely random murder. Dec. 20, 1968 David Faraday,17, and Betty Lou Jensen,16, were killed with a 22. Caliber semi automatic pistol. Darlene Ferrin worked as a waitress and Mike Mageau worked as a Laborer. The Zodiac was connected to at least five murders in California in 1968 and 1969. The Zodiac said to kill thirty-seven but we can only find that he killed five. NAPA California is a city in California and

In Northern California the self-proclaimed Zodiac was connected to five murders from 1968 to 1969. Zodiac is also claimed to have been responsible for more deaths. The first murder to be confirmed was of Seventeen-year- old David Faraday and his girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Betty Lou Jensen, on December 20, 1968. They were shot to death near the couple’s car at an isolated place on Lake Herman Road, on the edge of Vallejo, California (Internet 7).

Mageau has reservations about the film."Why would I want to see that?" he asks by telephone from New York. "I don't want to remember that time any more."Hartnell, too, says he would have preferred that the film not be made. But he knows the lurid nature of the crimes keeps the story alive in the media.And he was impressed with the lengths Fincher took to re-create the 1969 attack. "He went to the same spot on the lake, on the same day it happened," he says.The Zodiac, Hartnell says, pulled a gun on him and Cecelia Shepard, 22, as they sat by a lake in Napa County. The attacker, who wore a hood with a zodiac sign around his neck, hogtied both .