A team of 40 independent investigators claims to have identified the notorious Zodiac Killer.
On Oct. 6, the team, known as “The Case Breakers,” provided evidence identifying the serial killer as Gary Francis Poste, a house painter from Groveland, California, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 80.
The Zodiac Killer is known to have murdered five San Francisco residents between Dec. 1968 and Oct. 1969. Following these murders, the Zodiac communicated with authorities through a series of handwritten letters, containing coded messages and taunts of over 30 more victims which to this day have yet to be confirmed. The cryptic nature of the case has led to increasing public fixation and prolific portrayal in pop culture.
If the Case Breakers’ evidence is confirmed by authorities, it will bring an end to a 50 year investigation.
After years of digging, the Case Breakers claim to have uncovered both photos and forensic evidence left in Poste’s darkroom. Scars on Poste’s forehead were also said to match scars present on eyewitness sketches of the Zodiac.
Furthermore, removing the letters of Poste’s full name from the Zodiac’s letters is said to reveal an alternate message. “So you’ve got to know Gary’s full name in order to decipher these anagrams,” Jen Bucholz, a former US Army investigator who works on cold cases, told Fox News. “I just don’t think there’s any other way anybody would have figured it out.”
However, the San Francisco Police Department has yet to close the case. “If you read what they put out, it’s all circumstantial evidence,” Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback told the San Francisco Chronicle following the release of the evidence. “It’s not a whole lot.” Furthermore, the San Francisco FBI office sent out an email on Oct. 7 stating the “investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved,” an assertion which has not been updated as of Oct. 15.
The initial press release briefly summarizes the Zodiac Killer’s crimes and the Case Breakers’ findings, but contains few direct quotes from the team. However, Case Breakers team leader Thomas Colbert does suggest that this is not the first time their evidence has been ignored by authorities. “Fifty-five years ago this month, RPD chose to ignore the obvious,” Colbert says in the press release. “It would take just minutes to quickly and quietly compare Poste’s DNA… Here’s to hoping the next chief finds the courage to act.”
