The maniac nicknamed “Zodiac”, who terrorized Northern California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, escaped punishment.
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In American criminal history, a mystery remained unsolved for a long time. The maniac nicknamed “Zodiac”, who terrorized Northern California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, escaped punishment. But, as the Daily Star writes, half a century later, the identity of the serial killer has finally been revealed. The “Zodiac” turned out to be combat veteran Gary Francis Post.
Zodiac carried out seven identified attacks, of which five resulted in the death of the victims. However, what made him especially famous was a series of coded letters sent to local newspapers. The killer used complex codes and riddles, accompanied by threats and statements about his crimes. As a signature he used the pseudonym “Zodiac” and a specific symbol reminiscent of a Celtic cross.
This is exactly the cross that was discovered by the private detective agency The Case Breakers near the house that belonged to the American Gary Francis Post. New evidence was then discovered: photographs showing the scars on Post’s forehead turned out to be identical to those depicted in the Zodiac sketches. According to Pentagon central records, the US Air Force veteran suffered a serious head injury during the crash.
After being discharged from the military, Post took a job as a painter and worked conscientiously for more than 40 years. As it turned out, at one of the crime scenes, investigators found a wristwatch with paint spatters that law enforcement officials said had been dropped by Zodiac. Prints of military boots were also found near the scene of the murder, but the identity of their owner could not be determined.
Post has always been considered a law-abiding citizen, except for an incident in 2016 when he allegedly pushed his wife down the stairs. The man was then sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he died two years later, at the age of 80.
The information that Post is the Zodiac was also confirmed by his stepson Chris Avery. According to him, he had exposed her stepfather a long time ago, but Post, upon learning this, tried to kill her stepson and Chris had to flee. However, this does not explain why Avery did not immediately go to the police, but spoke about discovering him only after private detectives made similar statements.
Case Breakers founder Thomas Colbert added that the Zodiac letters finally took on their true meaning when they included Gary Francis Post’s full name.
The maniac’s cryptograms contained four codes in which information about him was encrypted. Three of them were previously decrypted, but Zodiac’s personal data was not included. In his letters he only claims new victims and the commission of 37 murders, but the degree of veracity of these claims is still unclear. According to the police, the criminal may have exaggerated the number of victims due to a thirst for media attention and a desire to confuse the investigation.
Zodiac’s identity and possible involvement in other murders has been the subject of numerous theories, and hundreds of people have been considered suspects for more than half a century. The famous director David Fincher made the film “Zodiac”, dedicated to the search for a criminal.
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