Was Arthur Leigh Allen Zodiac

May 16, 2022

Yes. Zodiac suspect Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch) is shown sporting a watch with the killer’s emblem and the brand name Zodiac on it. The actual Arthur Leigh Allen wore a Zodiac Sea Wolf watch, which was identical to the one worn by the character (pictured below). “To utilize the symbol… to wear the watch, to be at the crime scenes and to know the victims… he would have to be the Zodiac,” Robert Graysmith said in an interview.

  • Allen grew up in Vallejo, California, where he graduated from Vallejo High School in 1950. (Zodiac is thought to have had strong ties to Vallejo, most likely as a resident.)
  • Allen studied liberal arts at Vallejo College from 1948 to 1957. In 1957, he earned his associate of arts degree.
  • Allen began his career as a sailmaker at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, in 1953.
  • Allen studied primary education at Cal Poly State College in San Luis Obispo, California, from 1954 to 1960. In 1960, he earned his bachelor’s degree.
  • Allen joined the US Navy in 1957. (Zodiac was rumored to have ties to the military, most notably the Navy.)
  • After an altercation with acquaintance Ralph Spinelli, Allen was detained by the Vallejo Police Department for disturbing the peace on June 15, 1958. On July 8, 1958, the charges were dropped. (Zodiac showed hostility toward the cops.) It could have been a result of mistreatment.)
  • In order to obtain his teaching credential, Allen was hired by Santa Rosa Elementary in Atascadero, California, from 1959 to 1962.
  • Allen worked as a mental technician at Atascadero State Hospital in Atascadero, California, for two summers in 1961 and 1962.
  • Allen was a teacher at Travis Elementary School on Travis Air Force Base in California from 1962 to 1963. He was later fired for driving about on school grounds with a loaded handgun in his car.
  • During the years 1964-1965, Allen was afflicted with a disease that rendered him unable to work “A motorcycle accident purportedly resulted in a “severely lacerated leg.”
  • Allen was a teacher at Valley Springs Elementary School in Valley Springs, California, from 1966 until 1968. His teaching career came to an end after he was sacked for sexually assaulting a student.
  • Allen’s mother, Bernice, gave him a Zodiac watch as a gift in December 1968. (The watch was received in December 1967, according to Allen’s brother, Ron.)
  • Allen allegedly told Don Cheney in January 1969 that he planned to kill couples at random, threaten school children in taunting letters to the police, and use the name Allen “The Zodiac.”
  • Allen was fired from his part-time job at a gas station in Vallejo, where he had worked for about six months, on April 4, 1969, while living at home with his parents. Allen’s former employer classified him as “crazy” in August 1971 “With a drinking problem, he’s unreliable.” Furthermore, Allen was claimed to be “I’m far too fascinated in little females.”
  • Shortly after Darlene Ferrin’s murder, a relative of the victim informed investigators that Darlene had a relationship with a man named John “Lee.”
  • Allen worked part-time as a janitor at Elmer Cave Elementary School in Vallejo during the 1969-70 school year. (Zodiac wrote letters threatening school children throughout Allen’s time at Cave.)
  • On October 6, 1969, VPD Detective John Lynch questioned Allen about the murder of Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa. It’s unclear who or why turned Allen in as a suspect. (Allen later admitted that when Lynch asked where he was on Sept. 27, 1969, he told him he was in New York.) “I intended to travel to Lake Berryessa, but instead chose to travel up the coast.”)
  • On October 10, 1969, Allen allegedly warned Ralph Spinelli that he would be fired soon “I’m going to kill a cabbie in San Francisco.” (In a letter dated July 8, 1974, Zodiac taunted San Francisco Chronicle columnist Marco Spinelli.)
  • Allen studied biological sciences with a minor in chemistry at Sonoma State College from 1970 to 1974. He finished all of his academic prerequisites in 1974, but did not receive his bachelor’s degree until July 1981. (The Zodiac murders appear to have stopped during Allen’s time at Sonoma State.) The Sonoma coed killings, on the other hand, began. If you traced where the coeds were last seen and where they were later found dead, Allen’s trailer would be right in the middle, according to retired special agent Jim Silver of the California Department of Justice. Many more murders were eventually suspected to be the work of Zodiac. According to one theory, Zodiac was picking crime spots to make a huge Z.)
  • Allen’s father, Ethan, died on March 17, 1971, at the age of 67. Ethan was a retired naval commander with a long list of awards. (Ethan Allen died on Darlene Ferrin’s 24th birthday, which would have been his birthday.) This was looked upon great suspicion when Allen became a suspect.)
  • Allen worked as a junior chemist at an oil refinery in Pinole, California, in the summer of 1971.
  • Allen’s former acquaintance, to whom Allen allegedly made the incriminating words in January 1968, called the Manhattan Beach (Calif.) Police Department (MBPD) on July 15, 1971. (See the preceding paragraph.)
  • On July 19, 1971, MBPD submitted a report for San Francisco Police Department Inspector Toschi (SFPD).
  • On July 27, 1971, SFPD inspectors Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong drove to Vallejo with CII Special Agent Mel Nicolai to meet with VPD Sgt. Jack Mulanax about Allen. Before making contact with Allen, it was agreed that more background information would be collected. Mulanax started looking into Allen right away.
  • On August 4, 1971, Mulanax, Toschi, and Armstrong interviewed Allen at his Pinole, California, workplace. (The last authenticated Zodiac letter had been mailed just a few months previously, in March 1971.) However, it would be two and a half years following Allen’s police interview before Zodiac wrote again.)
  • On September 14, 1972, the San Francisco Police Department secured a search warrant against Allen and required him to produce handwriting samples. During the search, detectives discovered various strange objects, but none that would implicate Allen in the Zodiac crimes.
  • The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department arrested Allen on an allegation of child molesting on September 27, 1974. (In 1974, Zodiac wrote many times, breaking a two-and-a-half-year hiatus.) After Allen’s arrest, however, no further authenticated Zodiac letters were received.)
  • Allen began serving his sentence in Atascadero State Hospital on March 14, 1975, after pleading guilty.
  • Allen was hired as a fleet mechanic by Benicia Import Auto Service in Benicia, California, on January 3, 1978. This job ceased on March 3, 1978, presumably owing to an economic slump.
  • Allen worked sporadically in Vallejo from June 25, 1978, to 1987, including a period as a senior citizen’s helper. Allen also worked as a buyer for the tool and garden sections at Ace Hardware on Tennessee Street for several years.
  • VPD issued a search warrant on Allen on February 14, 1991, and discovered a large cache of guns. (Allen’s probation did not prohibit him from possessing firearms.) Allen became enraged by the search and began giving interviews to the media to assert his innocence and slam the cops. (There was a mountain of circumstantial evidence against Allen, including Ralph Spinelli’s incriminating remarks from October 10, 1969.)
  • Allen claimed to have met with attorney Melvin Belli in an interview with the Fairfield (Calif.) The Daily Republic on August 1, 1991. (In December 1969, Zodiac wrote Belli a letter.)
  • Mike Mageau, a definite Zodiac victim, chose Allen from a police photo lineup in July 1992 “He’s the one! He’s the one who fired the shot that killed me!”
  • Arthur Leigh Allen died of natural causes on August 26, 1992, at the age of 58. He’d been diagnosed with diabetes and has cardiac difficulties.

*VPD secured a search warrant against Allen on August 28, 1992, and discovered a number of fascinating items.

(The results of this search have been kept a closely guarded secret by VPD.) The goal was to seize a videotape with the letter “Z” on it that Allen had in his possession. Although VPD has stated that there was no confession, the full contents of the tape have never been published.)