Identity Of The Zodiac Killer Determined, Cold Case Team Claims

A team of cold-case investigators has said that they have identified the infamous Zodiac Killer.

Fox News reported that a team of more than 40 detectives, journalists and military intelligence officers claimed that the unknown killer is Gary Francis Poste, and linked another previously unsolved murder to him.

The team believes that he also killed Cheri Jo Bates, an 18-year-old college student who was found dead in an alleyway, two years before the first killing linked to the Zodiac Killer occurred.

Investigators have previously denied that Bates’ death was the result of the Zodiac Killer, and say that the case is still open.

“Our Homicide Cold Case Unit has determined the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in 1966 is not related to the Zodiac killer,” the Riverside Police Department’s Homicide Cold Case Unit told Fox News. “We understand the public interest in these unsolved murders, but all inquiries regarding the Zodiac Killer should be referred to the FBI.”

The team has been investigating the case for years and found new forensic evidence needed to potentially identify the killer. They also found an image of Poste that features scars on his forehead that match scars on a sketch of the Zodiac, the team said.

Another clue that lead the team to Poste was hidden messages within the Zodiac Killer’s letters, according to Jen Bucholtz, a former Army counterintelligence agent who works on cold cases. In one note, the letters of Poste’s full name were removed to reveal an alternate message, she told Fox News.

“So you’ve got to know Gary’s full name in order to decipher these anagrams,” Bucholtz said. “I just don’t think there’s any other way anybody would have figured it out.”

The Zodiac Killer is one of America’s most famous serial killers, having several movies and books made about him and his actions. He terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and was linked to at least five murders, but claimed to have killed 37 people.

His case gained notoriety because he sent letters and complex ciphers to authorities taunting them as the investigation continued.

The case had a resurgence in public interest after the 2007 film Zodiac was released, detailing the investigation into the killer. John Carroll Lynch, the actor who played the primary suspect in the film, told uInterview about the process of preparing for the role.

“Arthur Allen was an incredibly disturbing person to learn about,” he said. “I got to see videotapes, I got to read transcripts, I got to read about him, I got to see where he was all throughout the process of trying to chase down the Zodiac,.”