Detectives are closer than ever to identifying the Zodiac Killer who terrorized Northern California in the late 60s thanks to the same DNA technology that exposed the Golden State Killer last week.
The prolific killer fatally stabbed or shot at least five people in Northern California in 1968 and 1969 and taunted investigators with letters and phone calls about the attacks.
After nearly five decades the investigators have found renewed hope in DNA tracing technology that cracked open another cold case of serial murders and led to the arrest of Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngelo, 72, on April 24.
Several months ago, the Vallejo Police Department sent two Zodiac letters to a private lab in hopes of finding his DNA on the back of the stamps or envelope flaps that may have been licked.
The investigators are hoping to receive a DNA profile from the lab in the next few weeks.
Investigators are hopeful that the same DNA testing technology that led to the arrest of accused Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo, left, could help identify the Zodiac Killer, right
The Zodiac Killer fatally stabbed or shot at least five people in Northern California in 1968 and 1969 and taunted investigators with letters and phone calls about the attacks. The Vallejo Police Department submitted two of the letters for DNA testing last month
Though police linked the Zodiac Killer to five murders and two survivors, he boasted of at least 37 victims in his letters to local Bay Area press.
Many of the letters were cryptograms including astrological symbols and references, and in one he identified himself as ‘Zodiac’ and began using the Celtic cross symbol used on Zodiac-brand watches.
Various pieces of evidence, including a rope used to tie a victim as well as the letters, have been tested unsuccessfully for the killer’s DNA profile.
However, Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser said recent advances in DNA testing prompted investigators to seek a match on two of the killer’s letters.
‘[The lab workers] were confident they would be able to get something off it,’ he the Sacramento Bee.
Police linked the Zodiac Killer to five murders and two survivors, but he boasted of at least 37 victims in his letters to local Bay Area press. (left to right) Betty Lou Jensen, David Faraday and Darlene Ferrin, are alleged to be victims of the Zodiac Killer
Investigators are hopeful that the lab will be able to get a DNA profile from the letters using saliva from the back of the stamps or envelope flaps that may have been licked
Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan, a former homicide detective, said submitting the DNA samples for testing was routine, and that police submit samples every couple of years in hopes that advances in DNA testing will finally yield a profile detectives can use.
He said it was only a coincidence that the results are expected to come back within weeks of results that identified another famous California serial murderer.
The Golden State Killer is believed to have committed 12 murders, at least 50 rapes and multiple home burglaries between 1976 and 1986, about a decade after the Zodiac Killer’s attacks.
Last week investigators revealed that DNA collected at one of the crime scenes had been cross-referenced with an open-source genealogical website, revealing a partial match to a distant relative of DeAngelo’s.
Multiple pieces of DNA evidence from the Golden State Killer were found at crime scenes, including the fingerprints above
DeAngelo is believed to have committed 12 murders, at least 50 rapes and multiple home burglaries between 1976 and 1986, about a decade after the Zodiac Killer’s attacks
From there, they painstakingly constructed a family tree dating back several generations before they zeroed in on DeAngelo.
The practice of utilizing public genealogy sites to track criminal DNA is relatively new.
Investigations have long been limited to running DNA samples through state and federal databases that largely only contain DNA from convicted felons.
However, in the Golden State Killer case, investigators said they uploaded a genetic profile into an open source DNA database used by amateur genealogists searching for relatives, which provided a much wider pool of potential matches.
Some privacy advocates say they are concerned with the process and worry about future abuses, but detectives are excited about the possibility it brings of closing cases that have long been cold.
‘That’s a great idea,’ Gary Harmor, founder and director of the Serological Research Institute, a private DNA lab, told AP.’I think we’ll see more investigations use this technique.’
THE ZODIAC KILLER’S VICTIMS
This is Z340, the Zodiac killer’s most infamous cipher, which has remained unsolved – although Mains and his team are using a supercomputer to figure it out
Although the Zodiac Killer claimed to have killed as many as 37 people in his letters to local newspapers, police have only linked five murders – and two other injuries – to him.
On December 20, 1968, David Arthur Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, were on their first date when they pulled over into a lovers’ lane on Lake Herman Road in Benicia. There, they were forced from the car by a killer and Faraday was shot in the head. Jensen began to run away but was shot multiple times in the back.
On July 4, 1969, Michael Renault Mageau, 19, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, 22, were in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo – 4 miles from the first crime scene – when they were shot ‘to pieces’, according to the investigator. But while Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival, Mageau survived being shot in the face, neck and chest.
On September 27, 1969, Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20, and Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22, were having a picnic at Lake Berryessa in Napa County when they were approached by a hooded man who bound and stabbed them. Hartnell survived eight stab wounds to his back, but Shepard died two days later.
On October 11, 1969, cab driver Paul Lee Stine, 29, picked up a passenger and drove him to Presidio Heights – where he was shot in the back of the head and robbed. The killer also ripped part of Stine’s shirt, which he later sent with a letter to a local newspaper.
Four other victims and one other escapee have been connected to the Zodiac Killer, but none have been confirmed.