Neil Sareen contributed to this article (2012 Cohort)
The Bay Area’s 1960s are widely remembered as a time of love and social development, yet there is a horrific and unexplainable blemish on the otherwise spectacular history.
At night, a lone and exceedingly elusive killer prowled the streets of the Bay Area.
Because of his messages signed with a zodiac symbol, he became known as the Zodiac Killer, and he became one of the most infamous and scary murders in history.
While he claimed responsibility for the murders of 37 people, police were only able to authenticate the identities of seven victims (five were murdered, two survived).
The Zodiac killer would write letters to the Bay Area press throughout his serial killings in an attempt to gloat and tease his pursuing authorities.
These, however, were not ordinary letters. They were nothing more than ciphers. The Zodiac killer sent four coded messages from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. Only one of the four ciphers has ever been cracked.
His letters were split into two sections.
The first half was normally written in plain text, while the second was written in cipher text, which he claimed included his personal information. In the plain text section, he threatened to kill more innocent people if media did not publish his messages. He specified the names of his next victims in various sections of his letters, wreaking havoc in the Bay region. His purpose was to generate dread in Bay Area residents through the media, and he succeeded. As cryptographers probed deeper into the Zodiac killer’s writings, they were able to figure out what drove him to continue killing.
One of the four cipher letters he sent was a three-part coded communication using a 408-symbol cipher, which he transmitted to three different press companies.
His other famous cipher letter comprises a 340-character encryption for which no definite solution has been found.
After sending his 408-symbol cipher (Z408), the Zodiac killer sent another message to the police indicating that if they could break that cipher, they would be free “They’re going to take me.
To figure out what the Zodiac killer intended, we’ll have to look at how the message was decoded.
Donald and Bettye Harden, two schoolteachers, cracked the Z408 cipher in 1969.
The Z408 encryption was made up of random symbols that matched a plain text message.
While the Zodiac Killer’s ciphers made him appear to be a genius, the Z408 cipher was quite simple to crack.
A homophonic simple substitution cipher was used.
Each ciphertext letter corresponds to a plaintext letter in a simple substitution cipher.
A homophonic substitution cipher, on the other hand, allows more than one ciphertext letter to correspond to a plaintext letter.
This may appear difficult, but this cipher was far easier than any cryptanalyst could have predicted in the past ” (“Zodiac Killer Ciphers, 2012).
Donald and Betty Harden deciphered the Z408 cipher by looking for common patterns and plugging in letters that might fit into the ciphertext.
They discovered that certain symbols appeared more frequently than others after examining the text.
The ciphertext, for example, contained a large number of double symbols (double letters).
When it comes to frequency analysis, the letter “In English, the letter L is commonly doubled.
They reasoned that because the message came from a serial killer, the double letter “L” must be followed by the letter “I,” forming the word “KILLING.
The word “KILL” was used as the “crib” in cryptography, a word that could be plugged into other portions of the message to determine other words.
While there were a few misspellings in the statement, the meaning was clear.
The decoded code provides chilling insight into the thinking of the Zodiac killer.
He was aiming to collect slaves for the afterlife, according to the plain text message.
Despite the fact that the plain text message revealed the purpose for his serial killings, it did not indicate his name.
He refused to give up his identification because it would “slow down or stop the collection of slaves,” according to the message (“Zodiac Killer Ciphers, 2012).
While the Hardens cracked the Z408 encryption, they were unable to crack the plaintext’s final 18 letters “EBEORIETEMETHHPITI EBEORIETEMETHHPITI EBEORIETEMETHHPITI
Despite the jumbled appearance of the text, cryptanalysts believe these characters are filler letters intended to divide the cipher into three equal pieces.
Others think the letters can be altered to spell out the Zodiac killer’s name ” (“Filler Theory, 2009).
The remaining 18 letters could be rearranged in 741,015,475,200 different ways, making the anagram nearly hard to solve.
Perhaps the Zodiac killer was alluding to the last 18 letters when he said the cops would come for him “He’s yours. Is it possible that the remaining 18 letters represent his name, or is it just another way for the Zodiac killer to drive society insane? While the Z408 cipher has been cracked, the last 18 letters are still a mystery.
To add to the terror he once instilled, the Zodiac killer has yet to be apprehended.
Corey Starliper of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, recently claimed to have cracked the Z340 encryption by realizing that Z340 is a Caesar shift cipher (or a cipher where each plain text letter is shifted 3 letters down the alphabet).
Perhaps you’re asking why the cops didn’t crack a basic shift cipher sooner. Before applying the Caesar shift, Starliper translates each Zodiac symbol to a Latin letter at random. The authorities were unable to crack the cipher because it was entirely made up of Zodiac symbols. Given that Starliper’s method is based on his own assumptions, this process appears to be a little shaky. Surprisingly, the encrypted message produces a message with English phrases but not complete sentences (Muessig, 2011).
Surprisingly, the plaintext’s final few syllables produce the words “MYNAMEISLEIGHALLEN is a German word that means “My Name Is Leigh Hallen.”
While authorities were still investigating the crime, Leigh Allen was a suspect, but his DNA did not match that recovered in the envelopes of the Zodiac letters (Winkles, 2011).
Many cryptanalysts doubt the decipherment’s correctness, but one thing is certain: if a basic three-shift cipher was used and gave a name as well as other words used by a serial murderer, it might very well be an accurate decipherment. Leigh Allen’s identity as the Zodiac Killer remains unknown. It’s possible that the Zodiac killer is framing Leigh Allen (Winkles, 2011).
Cryptography has only added to the mystery surrounding this case, and it has never truly assisted investigators in apprehending the Zodiac killer.
However, cryptography has aided us in learning more about one of history’s most mysterious serial killers.
This essay is part of a series on the history of cryptography written by Vanderbilt University students.
These essays were written as part of a first-year writing course led by mathematics lecturer Derek Bruff.
The essays are published here in part to provide students with an authentic and targeted audience for their work.
See the course blog for additional details on this cryptography seminar.
Ben Muessig, Ben Muessig, Ben Muessig, Ben Mue (2011, July 7). Corey Starliper, a Massachusetts man, claims to have cracked the code of the Zodiac Killer. The Huffington Post is a news organization based in the United States.
In This Article...
What was the total number of ciphers sent by the Zodiac?
In 1969 and 1970, the Zodiac transmitted four cryptic signals to the newspaper. The first had 408 characters and took a week to crack. The second was a 340-character cipher that was just cracked. Following that, the killer sent two very brief ciphers, one of which had only 13 characters and the other only 32. An engineer in France claimed to have solved them in January 2021, but Blake is skeptical. He claims that they are both too short to have a unique solution.
What was the genuine name of the Zodiac killer?
How did the Zodiac Killer get his name? According to the Case Breakers, a group of more than 40 former police investigators, journalists, and military intelligence personnel, Gary Francis Poste is the Zodiac Killer.
Who was the recipient of the Zodiac Killer’s letters?
Taylor Hartz contributed to this article. “This is the Zodiac speaking,” begins a letter addressed to The Day newspaper, eerily similar to messages sent to newsrooms in the late 1960s when the “Zodiac Killer” plagued northern California.
What was the purpose of the Zodiac Killer’s letters?
Several news outlets in Albany, New York, have received messages claiming to be the “Chinese Zodiac Killer.” The FBI is investigating after the stations received the communications, according to the Albany Times-Union.
The FBI’s Albany field office sent a notification to local news organizations on Wednesday, requesting that they not open any further potential letters from the source in order to preserve possible DNA evidence, according to the newspaper.
According to the Times-Union, the FBI indicated the community isn’t in danger but declined to comment further on the probe, which did not specify which television stations had received letters from the self-proclaimed “Chinese Zodiac Killer.” However, it stated that it was not one of the news organizations who received a letter.
Although the killer claims to have murdered 37 people, the self-proclaimed Zodiac Killer is documented to have killed five people in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1968 and 1969.
The Zodiac Killer sent cryptic messages to newspapers outlining the motives for the murders.
“The unsolved nature of the murders, as well as the Zodiac Killer’s complex techniques of interacting with the public and his pursuers,” the FBI wrote in 2007.
The case is still unresolved, until in October, The Case Breakers reported a breakthrough, claiming to have identified the infamous serial killer as Gary Francis Poste, an Air Force veteran and professional house painter who died in 2018.
However, law enforcement officials promptly stated that the case was still unsolved.
“It’s all circumstantial evidence if you read what they (the Case Breakers) have to say. It’s not much, but it’s something “In October, a police officer notified the San Francisco Chronicle about the incident.
In 1973, the Times-Union received a letter from someone claiming to be the Zodiac Killer. The letter’s author stated that on August 10, 1973, they would murder a woman in Albany.
According to the newspaper, the note claimed, “YOU WERE WRONG I AM NOT DEAD OR IN THE HOSPITAL I AM ALIVE AND WELL AND IM GOING TO START KILLING AGAIN.”
Elizabeth Ferrin, one of the Zodiac murder victims, had lived in Albany, and Richard Gaikowski, a man previously considered a Zodiac suspect, worked for a now-defunct newspaper in New York’s state capital, according to the publication.
Are there any unresolved Zodiac ciphers?
The Zodiac Killer wrote, “I hope you’re having a great time trying to capture me.” Reddit Fayal Ziraoui claims to have deciphered the final two ciphers of the Zodiac Killer. Despite the breakthrough, Z13 and Z32 ciphers remained unsolvable. These ciphers are substantially more difficult to crack since they are so short.
What was the meaning of the 408 cipher?
On the surface, the killer’s shortest cipher looks to be the most essential. It is preceded by the phrase “My name is
“By the way, are the cops having a good time with the code?” Zodiac wrote, “By the way, are the cops having a good time with the code?” If they don’t, tell them to brighten up; when they do, they’ll want me. This was not the case. “I WILL NOT GIVE YOU MY NAME,” the solution stated explicitly. When Zodiac sent the Z 13 cipher, he may have been lying again, but the unbroken cipher that followed Z 408 may have given him the confidence to genuinely divulge something substantial.
What were the contents of the Zodiac Killer’s letters?
According to an old FBI statement, the ‘Zodiac Killer’ gave local newspapers a three-part coded message detailing his purpose for the 1969 crimes, and hinted his name was concealed behind an elaborate cipher message in a second letter to the editor. The killer’s warped motive was revealed in the decrypted message, but his identity remains a mystery.
According to CNN, the FBI announced on Friday that the “340 cipher” was cracked by three codebreakers: David Oranchak, a Virginia software developer, Jarl Van Eycke, a Belgian computer programmer, and Sam Blake, an Australian mathematician.
The encryption was sent in all capital letters, with no punctuation marks, according to the deciphering.
Why did Zodiac come to a halt?
Serial killers may stop if their lives alter, according to the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Perhaps coming so near to being apprehended the night of Stine’s murder spooked Zodiac into taking a more cautious approach. Another idea is that the fear he instilled in the populace acted as a cover for his murders. Furthermore, merely getting older may reduce predatory tendencies.
The murderer may have recovered from dissociative identity disorder, sometimes known as multiple identities, according to a psychology professor who wrote a book about Zodiac. With his rehabilitation, he lost his drive to kill. It’s also possible that Zodiac ceased killing people because to circumstances beyond his control, such as institutionalization, incarceration, or death.
Gary the Zodiac Killer, who is he?
The Case Breakers, an investigative group, stated in October 2021 that they had discovered the genuine identity of the Zodiac Killer. The group, which includes 40 former police officers, journalists, and military intelligence officials, claims that the infamous Bay Area serial murderer was in reality Gary Francis Poste. Poste had some identifying marks in common with the Zodiac, including forehead scars and a shoe size, and one witness told the investigators that he saw Poste hiding weapons in the woods.
According to the Case Breakers, one of Poste’s old neighbors is now certain that he is the serial killer, recalling him as dominating and abusive to his wife. “He led a double life,” the next-door neighbor explained. “In retrospect, now that I’m an adult, it all makes sense. I didn’t put two and two together till I was older when I was a teenager. Gary is the Zodiac, it hit me like a ton of bricks.”
Is the Zodiac Killer still alive and well?
The Zodiac Killer was the moniker of an unidentified serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s. The case has been dubbed “America’s most famous unsolved murder case,” having become a part of popular culture and prompting amateur investigators to try to solve it.
Between December 1968 and October 1969, the Zodiac murdered five people in the San Francisco Bay Area, in rural, urban, and suburban settings. His known attacks took place in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco proper, where he targeted young couples and a lone male cab driver. Two of his intended victims made it out alive. The Zodiac claimed responsibility for the murders of 37 people, and he’s been linked to a number of additional cold cases, some in Southern California and others beyond the state.
The Zodiac came up with the term in a series of taunting letters and cards he sent to local media, threatening murder sprees and bombs if they didn’t print them. Cryptograms, or ciphers, were included in some of the letters, in which the killer claimed to be gathering his victims as slaves for the hereafter. Two of the four ciphers he devised have yet to be cracked, and one was just cracked in 2020. While various speculations have been proposed as to the identity of the killer, Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender who died in 1992, was the only suspect ever publicly recognized by authorities.
Despite the fact that the Zodiac stopped communicating in writing around 1974, the peculiar character of the case piqued international interest, which has persisted throughout the years. The case was deemed “inactive” by the San Francisco Police Department in April 2004, although it was reopened before March 2007. The investigation is still ongoing in Vallejo, as well as Napa and Solano counties. Since 1969, the California Department of Justice has had an open case file on the Zodiac murders.