Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac killer was a serial killer who operated in San Francisco from 1960s to 1970s. The Zodiac killer got this name following a series of letters that contained ciphers that he supposedly sent to the press. The zodiac killer is said to have murdered five known victims between 1968 and 1969 but investigations have never substantially connected the murders. However, there were other murders that the Zodiac killer was tied to even though there was inconclusive evidence to confirm these claims. The last Zodiac murder was reported in 1974 after which the serial killings were never reported again. However, the zodiac killer was never caught and the police closed investigations in 2004.
How is this serial killer different from
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According to Guillen (2002), serial killers tend to refrain from confessing or discussing murders before the case is solved. However, the zodiac killer would call the police to report the crimes and he would even claim that he did murder the victims. Besides, he would write numerous letters to the press claiming that he committed the murders.
Another feature of the zodiac killer that differentiates him from other homicide suspects is that he did not show motive behind the crimes. The FBI argues that for most serial murderers, there is always a motivation behind the killings (FBI, 2012). However, Zodiac’s motivation was not clear even though he appeared to take credit for the murders.
Zodiac also did not have a particular way of killing. According to the California Research Bureau (2011), most serial killers tend to use a single type of murder weapon or follow a single pattern of crime. However, the zodiac killer would target different types of victims including couples, teenagers and cabdrivers. In an incidence, he tried to abduct a woman. Besides, his weapons of murder varied from firearms to knives.
Other unique features of the zodiac killer were that he identified himself by the name Zodiac and he would use a cross circle symbol on his letters and on one of his victim’s
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However, the investigators mostly focused on suspect description by witnesses and police officers as well as the deciphering of the coded messages of the suspect’s letters. The local police in San Francisco sought the help of FBI behavioral analysts or psychologists to assist in identifying the behavioral profile of the murderer but they still could not identify the victim (Butterfield, 2002). After the police failed to get any leads, the FBI eventually collected all the Zodiac letters and sought the help of psycholinguistics in establishing a psychological profile. According to Guillen (2002), the psychologists helped in establishing a link between all the murders and also in developing the possible psychological traits of the killer. Despite the psychologists’ help in the case, the zodiac killer was never identified (Guillen,
Another serial killer that we discussed was Theodore “Ted” Bundy. Bundy was also an American serial killer who confessed to the murder of 36 young women. However, investigators believe that he killed up to 100 or more women. He grew up in a nice working family. He did really well in school but didn’t have very good social skills. As a teenager he began peering in others’ windows and stealing things from
Now this man killed allot of people so this paragraph isn’t for the faint of heart. The first victim will be Paul Lee Stein. He worked as a cab driver in the late 1960s 1968 to be exact. The zodiac hopped in the car of steins cab… A normal customer is all steins must have thought but boy was he wrong…. He asked to get taken across town. About a block before arrival he shot stein in the head with a 9mm. pistol. After he took his wallet keys and a piece of his shirt for proof. Now onto Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin the next victim on the list. She sat in her car with her boyfriend who survived the attack… he must have been devastated by the fact that he couldn’t help what is possibly the love of his life…. When the zodiacs car parked behind them. He got out and shot both multiple times with a 9mm. luger pistol. Later, Ferrin, had a medical professional pronounce her dead. The final victim will be Cecelia Ann Shepard. The zodiac pulled up his car by a couple having a picnic he then said he had just escaped from prison he held tied them up while holding a 45. He stabbed both of them but only Shepard died. As it can see he could be known as a very evil man and killed at weird times as the saying goes expect it when it’s least expect
Even though through research we have found the traits, and reasons why serial killers like to kill there is still much to be learned about them. As years go on so will the research on serial killers and hopefully we as a society will fully understand them and one day be able cure whatever inside that makes them have the urge to kill.
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified man who is presumed to be a serial killer that operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Murdering at least five people, but the Zodiac claims to have killed upwards of 37 people in total. In 1969 the Zodiac Killer began sending letters to the Bay Area newspapers, taking credit for the five killings and threatening further violence. The Zodiac Killer would call and send cryptic letters to the law enforcement agencies in Northern California, taunting them since they were unable to bring him to justice. The police had suspects but none that they could ever charge for the murders, due to lack of evidence, so this mystery still remains unsolved. The cultural impact that the Zodiac Killer has had on tv, movies and the media is still around today and has had many shows and movies remade after what this killer did. The cultural impact as well as for the families of the victims still remains today with still no closure, for those families who live in Northern California still there is the fear that crosses the minds on how such an awful criminal was once a part of their society, someone they may
The most common characteristics that many serial killers share are killing and abusing of animals during childhood, fetishism, anti-socialism, high I.Q.’s (while also doing poorly in school), and alcohol and/or substance abuse. Fictional character, Dexter Morgan, exhibited serial killing tendencies from a young age. He would kill neighborhood animals and was forced by his father to fake emotion and normality to fit in. It appears that Showtime hit the nail on the head with this one. One of the most well known serial killers, Ted Bundy, was infamously known for being cold and merciless. During interviews, he responded to questions about his victims by calling himself cold and explaining that he could not care less about his victims. Cannibalistic serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, started out by killing dogs and leaving their heads out on a stick for others to see before moving on to killing and eating people. These are just a few examples of many that prove that commonality is what makes a serial killer, a serial
The Elusive Zodiac Killer Serial killers almost without exception enjoy playing games. Whether played with their victims’, or the police forces trying to track them down, the game of the kill is almost as essential as the murder itself. In most instances this need to draw out the experience leads to the downfall of the culprit. This was not the case with the elusive Zodiac Killer of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The mysterious person did not have a real name because no one was able to identify him. The murder gave his a name which was the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer was responsible for five murders in California during the late 1960s. The Zodiac Killers first two murders was on December of 1968 in Benicia, California. David Farraday, who was 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, who was 16, were the first two of a series of murders by the Zodiac Killer. The two of them were inside a parked, when the Zodiac Killer came up behind them and shot them. A similar case happened to the next victim of the mysterious killer. The following year, on July 4, 1969, another couple were shot dead in their car, in Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, California. 22 year old Darlene Ferrin was shot dead, but Michael Mageau, who was 19 years old survived the shots. The strange thing after these murders is that the police received a phone call from an unidentified person that confessed to murdering those people. The next killings occurred two months later, on September 27, 1969. Two couples were also in a parked car in Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Cecelia Shepard and Brian Hartnell were shot at by the killer, but Brian Hartnell, who was 20 years old survived the mu...
Ted Bundy Ted Bundy's Trail of Terror From the Beginning of Taking Life Until The End of His Life. Serial killers tend to be white heterosexual males in their twenties and thirties. While it is impossible to predict who will become a serial killer, there are traits that appear to be similar in all killers. These behaviors include cruelty to animals, bedwetting, lying, drug and alcohol abuse, and a history of violence. According to Robert Ressler et al., "serial homicide involves the murder of separate victims with time breaks between victims, as minimal as two days to weeks or months.
But maybe he died, which could explain the end of his communication with California. In the end, he claimed to have killed at least 37 people. People thought Zodiac was unintelligent, but that perception was obviously wrong because he had training in the following areas: explosives, cryptography, astrology, chemistry and guns. He also knew how to prevent leaving fingerprints on crime scenes; he could have learned that from jail. He knew he was clever, and it made him happy to know that the police seemed to be running in circles.
The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer from the late 60’s and early 70’s. The zodiac killer identification was never known. The Zodiac Killer was most famous for killing couples in their car at night. He started his killing spree on October 30, 1966 in San Francisco with his first victim, eighteen-year-old Cheri Jo Bates. Cheri’s throat was cut so deep it almost decapitated her. On November 29, 1966, the Riverside police received a copy of an anonymous letter in the mail. This letter taunted the police about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and how she will not be the last. (Wilbur R. Miller, 2012) This was his way of being in control and getting his voice heard. Just a few months later he kept to his promise that there will be more death. The Zodiac killer murdered a young couple, David Faraday and Betty Jensen, in Vallejo, California. David was killed by one shot to the head and Betty was shot five times ten feet away from the car. The police suspected Arthur Leigh Allen, a child molester, who fit the description of the Zodiac Killer almost to a T, but there was no incriminating evidence, so he was never charged. The Zodiac Killer was suspected of killing 2,500 people throughout his killing spree, and was never caught. The Zodiac Killer’s reason for killing was that once he killed his victims they would be his slaves in the afterlife. He thought of himself as a “God”, all powerful and all knowing. (Wilbur R.
Murderers and Serial Killers in the Chicago Area. A notorious murderer or serial killer is the typical next door neighbor one would hardly associate with a serious crime: an educated psychopath with little regard for life. Most of them commit murder for some misplaced psychological benefit. Their actions border on insanity, as some commit theft by stealing their victims’ belongings and committing rapes, an indication of a need for financial gain or a craving for distorted sexual desires.
Ted Bundy is one of the most infamous, sadistic serial killers known to man. During his tenure as a killer, Bundy confessed to the murders of 30 women, though the official number of kills is unknown to this day. Bundy’s sadistic habits began at an early age due to his rough upbringing and abusive parents. His tactical methods of killing left miniscule amounts of evidence, which remained undetectable by the “still rudimentary forensics techniques of the 1970s” (Crime Museum). Bundy also managed to uphold an impressive “clean-cut appearance” and portrayed characteristics of an “upstanding character” (Crime Museum). Ted Bundy, through the course of a troubled childhood and keen wit, managed to successfully become known as one of the most infamous
A serial killer is a person whom everybody knows as a friend, a lover or even a father but no one knows about his killer instinct until it's to late. Serial killers have plagued this country and others for many years. They are hard to find and virtually undetectable until they start murdering the innocent.
In order to identify serial killers before they kill repeatedly, a person needs to study the characteristics that makes up this type of criminals. Most serial killers have been abandoned, by one or both parents, they are emotionally, physically, and even sexually abused by a family member, or relatives from unstable families who have criminal, psychiatric and alcoholic histories, or tend to have hate for their parents and people in general which makes them have antisocial personality disorder. They have conflicted pain or tortured animals at a young age and most are highly interested in gaining control over things. Even though not every serial killers posses these characteristics, but most share these characteristics the same way they share the psychological need to have complete control and power over people.
The early signs of a serial killer can be caught at a young age. According to Shirley L. Scott, “Because serial killers don’t see other people as more than objects, the leap between setting fires and killing people is easy to make.” (Scott 5) This is describing one of the signs, which is setting fires just to destroy things. Another sign is bed-wetting; most psychologists believe this is a sign because of the disturbing dreams that some potential serial killers have. Another sign of a serial killer is harming animals. Th...