EFFORTPOST Zodiac Killer crime scene photos (with info and other pics) PART 1

The Zodiac Killer is one of the most famous serial killers in the world and THE most popular unsolved crime case, and the fact nobody ever made a post about him and his victims left me quite suprised, so, I decided to make one myself

The Zodiac Killer is the nickname of a currently unidentified serial killer who, during a period between December 1968 and October 1969, murdered atleast 5 people in the San Francisco Bay area, Northern California; He usually targeted lonely young couples, and only 2 of his victims survived, but they weren't able to give a description of the killer because his costume, seen below:

(of course, these being only sketches from the witnesses' description)

The Zodiac Killer also claimed to have killed 37 people and there are many unsolved murder cases that are associated with him, but none of these have been confirmed, meaning his kill count stays at 5. Now, you might be wondering "why is this dude called the Zodiac Killer?" well, that's where the fun part comes in: mysterious letters! These letters were mailed to various newspapers, containing incredibly confusing cryptograms and cyphers, with only two that have been solved, one of which was cracked in 2020 (this shit was unsolved for 50 fucking years, crazy!).

As I said, the killer's identity was never revealed but there are many clues which have led the FBI to the conclusion that the Zodiac is probably Ted Cruz Arthur Leigh Allen, an elementary teacher and sex offender who died in 1992, seen below:

Lake Herman Road murders

The first murder attributed the Zodiac Killer. This happened on the 20th December, the victims were Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday, an high school couple who were on their first date. They had visited a friend and ate at a restaurant before parking their cat at 10:15 PM at a gravel turnout in their Faraday's mom's car; Just an hour later, their bodies were found outside of their car after being shot and killed by the killer with a handgun. No evidence left on the crime scene.

photo of the couple:

enhanced and colorized photo with a blanket over Betty Jensen's corpse and blood splatters next to car:

the same photo showing where the bullet casings were found:

Faraday's blood splatter on the ground:

Betty's corpse after being shot five times in the back:

detective pointing at Faraday's blood on the scene:

diagram of Betty's gunshot wounds:

forensic photo of Betty's corpse:

forensic photo of Faraday's corpse, showing the ear wound:

Blue Rock Springs murder

The second victims were a couple, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau, who, on the 4th July, 1969, parked themselves in a lot near midnight; A second car parked behind them, and a man with a flashlight and a 9mm Luger handgun approached them before shooting at them both 7 times, and leaving behind no evidence... or so he thought! While Ferrin died, Mageau survived the shooting and described the suspect as "a 26-to-30-year-old, 195-to-200-pound (88 to 91 kg) or possibly even more, 5-foot-8-inch (1.73 m) white male with short, light brown curly hair". This description was fairly generic, but it helped bring the police department to the current sketch of Zodiac's face that we have now, seen below:

As for the crime scenes on this murder, there isn't really anything graphic except for this photo of a detective on the scene:

One day after the murder, on midnight, a man called the Vallejo Police Department with a public phone booth, taking responsability for the murder for both the Blue Rock Springs murder and the Lake Herman Road murders. The police department were able to track down the phone booth and found it that it was located at Springs Road & Toulumne, seen below:

Lake Berryessa murder

The third victims were another couple, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard, who were students at the Pacific Union College and who, on the 27th September, 1969, were picnicking on an island of Lake Berryessa. The couple was approached by a man wearing the costume (that was previously mentioned and shown in part 1), while holding a .45 ACP caliber handgun; The man claimed to be a convict who escaped from prison after killing a guard and stealing a car, threatening them with the handgun and forcing Cecelia to tie Bryan's hands up using a clothesline, before being tied up herself. Afterwards, the man stabbed them both with a knife, 6 stab wounds for Bryan and 10 stab wounds for Cecelia, before drawing his iconic cross symbol on their car's door alongside a message, seen below:

This time, the killer left footprints in the mud on the crime scene, but they unfortunately were to no use for the investigation:

At 7:40PM of the same day, the killer called Napa County's sheriff's office and claimed once again to be the person who committed the crime. The department were able once again to track down the phone booth, seen below, but found no useful evidence other than a hand print which was never assigned to any individual.

Afterwards, Cecelia and Bryan were found by a man and his son who were fishing after hearing Cecelia's screams, but when the officers arrived and rushed them both to ER only Bryan survived.

Presidio Heights murder

The fourth and last victim was a cab driver named Paul Stine, who was murdered 11 weeks later the Lake Berryessa murder, on a road near Union Square named Cherry streets, San Francisco, after a man entered his cab and ordered him to drive him to Maple streets. Paul, probably accidentally, took a wrong turn and drove past Mable streets, after which the killer shot him in the head with a 9mm handgun; The man then stole Paul's wallet and keys and wiped away the blood from the scene with a piece of the victim's bloodstained shirt, while a group of teenagers watched the crime happening and called the police. The police officers on the scene were wrongly told to look for a black suspect (I wonder why...), and they completely drove past the suspect who was walking on the sidewalk of the east side of North street, in the Presidio of San Francisco.

The Zodiac, this time, contacted the San Francisco Chronicle instead of a police department to report his own crime with a letter, and to prove that he was the killer he even mailed them the piece of clothing that was ripped off from Stine's shirt, which matched with Stine's shirt on the crime scene, both seen below:

the yellow cab in which Stine was murdered:

the blood staind left on the handle of the car after being wiped by the killer:

photo of Paul Stine's corpse in the cab:

colorized of a different angled photo of his corpse:

blood stains on seat and out of the car after Paul's corpse was removed:

grainy close-up of Paul's corpse:

photo of Stine's corpse from the other side of the car:

detectives and witnesses on the crime scene:

Zodiac had also sent many other letters in 1969, were he kept taunting the police department in various ways, from calling a talk show named KGO-TV after requesting for a lawyer to be there, for the police department to then find out it was just some mentally ill hospital patient who was probably hired by Zodiac to play as him, to sending out letters with false statements of the police officers who were assigned to Paul Stine's case actually speaking to him... combined with the fact that he was never caught and the extremely lulzy uncomprehensible cyphers has made him the greatest troll of all time.

there's a TON of stuff to talk about more about the Zodiac, but I wanted to keep it short for now. If you would like me to make a part 2 to this post that talks the encrypted messages then lemme know in the comments

ok cya!