Update (Oct. 6): According to a report from The Wrap, FBI and police in California have now disputed reports from investigators claiming that the Zodiac Killer’s identity has been revealed. New reports say the case remains open.
The real identity of the infamous Zodiac Killer has been revealed, according to investigators researching the case. The Zodiac Killer is one of the most well-known serial killers of all time, having committed at least five unsolved murders in the San Francisco Bay area between 1968-1969. One of the things that kept the murderer in the headlines, besides never being caught, was his string of letters, cards and notes sent to the police to taunt them, many of which contained cryptograms, or ciphers.
The cryptic messages have baffled investigators for decades since, with multiple theories and suspects being named throughout that time, but nothing definitive ever sticking. The Zodiac case has spawned a number of documentaries, films, and books over the years, all of them attempting to shine a light on who the real killer may be/have been in an effort to solve the case once and for all. One of the most recent documentary series on the case was FX’s The Most Dangerous Animal of All, which focused on a man who believed his father was the real Zodiac Killer.
Today, TMZ (via Fox News) revealed an investigative team called “The Case Breakers,” a group of more than 40 former law enforcement investigators, journalists and military intelligence officers, announced that they have cracked the case, naming Gary Francis Poste as the true Zodiac Killer. The team spent years researching the case, examining new forensic evidence and photos from Poste’s darkroom, which have linked him to the murders. From photographs that match police sketches, to boots worn at a crime scene, and codes broken on letters that revealed Poste’s name, investigators have dug through a trove of evidence to link Poste to the crimes. One of the lead investigators said that finding Poste’s name was the key to unraveling the case, saying, “So you’ve got to know Gary’s full name in order to decipher these anagrams. I just don’t think there’s any other way anybody would have figured it out.”
Poste was a former Air Force Veteran who worked as a painter for decades prior to his death in 2018. He was known to own firearms and acted as a father figure to young men in his life, including his own son’s friends. Little else has been revealed about Poste, as the investigation is still unraveling, but expect more details as it develops. To date, the most famous exploration of the case in pop culture was David Fincher’s film, Zodiac, which left audiences with the name Arthur Leigh Allen as the prime suspect, while also entertaining other options. The film starred Robert Downey Jr. as journalist Paul Avery and Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle who became obsessed with cracking the Zodiac case.
As technology and forensic science continue to advance, it’s no surprise that unsolved mysteries are finally being cracked. The Zodiac Killer has haunted investigators and amateur sleuths for decades, and this is a big step in putting the case to rest, allowing these same advances to focus on other unsolved murders and mysteries. For the victims and their families, these types of revelations are likely bittersweet, but also help to bring some closure to their loss and allow them to move on.
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