The Case Of The 'Zodiac' Killer Quiz

Answer: Cheri Jo Bates

Cheri Jo Bates was murdered on October 30, 1966, and her body was discovered that same day. The killer had made her car unusable, by disconnecting the distributor coil and the condenser. The killer waited near Cheri's car for her to leave Riverside City College's library. Robbery did not seem to be the motive. Why was a young girl, in the prime of her life, killed? Did she know her killer?

Answer: The Confession

Here are excerpts from the famous 'Confession' letter: 'She was young and beautiful, but now she is battered and dead. She is not the first, and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victim. Maybe she will be the beautiful blonde that babysits near the little store, and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Maybe she will be the shapely brunette that said 'no' when I asked her for a date in high. Maybe it will be neither. Don't make it too easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters, and wives off the streets and out of the alleys.

Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb. She did not put up a struggle, but I did. It was a ball! I first cut the middle wire from the distributor, then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been dead by then. I offered to help, and she was very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street, and that I would give her a lift home. When we were walking away from the library I said, 'it's about time'. She asked me, 'about time for what?' and I said that it was about time for her to die.

I am not sick. I am insane, but that will not stop the game. This letter should be published for all to read. It just may save that girl in the alley, but it's up to you. It will be on your conscience, not mine. Yes, I did make that call to you also. It was just a warning. Beware ... I am stalking your girls now'.

This letter was edited for content.

Answer: David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen

Just north of San Pablo Bay and The Carquinez Strait, 20 miles northeast of San Francisco, lies Vallejo and Benicia. Lake Herman Road runs from east Vallejo to north Benicia. On Friday, December 20, 1968 at approximately, 9:00 P.M., a light-colored four-door, Chevrolet Impala, was spotted parked near the east side gated entrance to the pumping station off Lake Herman Road. That same evening, around 10:00 P.M., the same car was also seen.

In between these two sightings, a couple was parked in the road leading toward Vallejo. The brown colored Impala gave the couple such an odd feeling, that they immediately pulled out of the area and drove off toward Benicia. The strange car was following the couple, until they took the first exit. The couple watched the Impala go east on Lake Herman Road at 11:10 P.M. Unfortunately for David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, they were parked in the same place as the Chevrolet Impala when they were shot to death. Could the owner of the Chevrolet Impala possibly be The 'Zodiac'? Was the killer from some branch of law enforcement?

Answer: Bayonet

Police believe the knife used was double-edged and about a foot long, possibly a bayonet. Hartnell described it as looking like it was made by hand or possibly to have been repaired. Hartnell was stabbed six times. A former police source confirms that Shepard was stabbed a fatal ten times. Shepard died of her wounds two days later.

The person who perpetrated these crimes left both for dead, and then inscribed the coded seal and the date of the attack on the door of Hartnell's car. The attacker then went to a phone booth to call police. Upon arrival, they found a series of clear footprints in the sandy shore line. From these footprints, the police investigating team were able to find out a few facts about the attacker: The shoes that formed them were determined to have been Wing Walkers, a style of low-cut military boot, size 10 and a half. The deep set of the prints, suggested a heavy man. Police believed the man responsible was the 'Zodiac'. Did Hartnell really see the 'Zodiac'? Could there be two killers working together?

Answer: Donald Foukes and Eric Zelms

On Saturday, October 11, 1969, Paul Stine picked up a passenger at the corner of Mason and Geary Streets in Union Square. Upon entering the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets, Stine was shot point blank in the head. Three teenagers who witnessed the killing called the police. Officers Donald Foukes and Eric Zelms responded to the dispatch call. Upon arrival at the scene, they noticed a heavyset white male walking slowly east on Jackson Street.

They did not think to stop him because the APB was incorrect.

The description of the killer that Foukes and Zelms received was that of a heavyset black male. Was the white male that Foukes and Zelms seen really the 'Zodiac'? Was the description listed in the APB correct?

Answer: False

The bullet that killed Stine was mistakenly mistyped at the scene as a .38, but the ballistics tests that were performed later determined it to be a 9mm.

Answer: San Francisco Chronicle

This is the letter that was sent: 'This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St and Maple Sts. last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt. I am the same man who did the people in the north bay area. The S.F. Police could have caught me last night, if they had searched the park properly instead of holding road races with their motorcycles seeing who could make the most noise. The car drivers should have just parked their cars and sat there quietly waiting for me to come out of cover. School children make nice targets. I think I shall wipe out a school bus some morning. Just shoot out the front tire and then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out'.

Enclosed in this letter was a piece of Stine's bloody shirt. When the letter was sent to the police crime lab, three latent fingerprints were found. However, the fingerprints did not match any suspects thus far.

Answer: Melvin Belli

This is the letter that was sent to him: 'Dear Melvin, this is the Zodiac speaking, I wish you a happy Christmas. The one thing I ask of you is this, please help me. I cannot reach out because this thing in me won't let me. I am finding it extremely difficult to keep in check. I am afraid I will lose control again and take my ninth and possibly tenth victim. Please help me, I am drowning. At the moment the children are safe from the bomb, because it is so massive to dig in and the trigger mech' requires so much work to get it adjusted just right. If I hold back too long from no' nine I will lose all control of myself and set the bomb up. Please help me, I cannot remain in control for much longer'.

It is interesting to note that in this letter, the word complete was crossed out. Also, the 'Zodiac' wrote to Melvin Belli in the hopes that Belli would represent him. Belli was never contacted by the killer again.

Answer: Kathleen and Jennifer Johns

Kathleen and her baby daughter, Jennifer, accepted the man's offer. When he passed gas station after gas station, Kathleen became scared and when the man made a full stop at a stop sign, Kathleen used this opportunity to escape. Kathleen and Jennifer are the only known survivors not to be harmed by the 'Zodiac'. Kathleen then went to the police station and gave a detailed description of the man.

This is the only full description of the 'Zodiac' that the police had to date. It is interesting to note that the story that Kathleen gave to the police has varied over the years. Was Kathleen really a victim of the 'Zodiac'? Is it possible that she was partners with the killer, and gave the police different versions to confuse them?

Answer: Rick Marshall

In the 1970s, the police thought they had the 'Zodiac' in a man named Rick Marshall. Marshall fitted everything that the police knew about the 'Zodiac' at that time. Rick Marshall was born in Texas in 1928. He matched, almost identically, the description of the 'Zodiac' that witnesses had given to the police.

At the time of Cherie Jo Bates' murder, Marshall lived in the immediate area. Marshall had also disappeared from the San Francisco Bay area for a couple of years, right around the time that the 'Zodiac' did.

However, due to lack of evidence, no charges have ever been brought against Marshall. Is Rick Marshall really the 'Zodiac'?

Answer: KTIM

The 'Exorcist' letter that the 'Zodiac' sent to the Chronicle had the letters 'KTIM' inscribed in the symbols. This is another piece of evidence that the police tried to use against Rick Marshall. Marshall worked for KTIM radio station.

Answer: True

At one time, the police suspected Ted Kaczynski as being the 'Zodiac' killer. They thought this because he also lived in the same area as Cherie Jo Bates and knew how to construct bombs. Ted Kaczynski has been taken off the suspect list because it was found that he was not in San Francisco at the time of five of the murders. Ted Kaczynski has been convicted of being the 'Unabomber', and is now serving a life sentence.

Answer: Pulled over for speeding in the same area that Hartnell and Shepard were attacked

On the night that Shepard and Hartnell were attacked, Allen received a speeding ticket in the Lake Berryessa area. For two years the police had nothing else to go on, but in 1971 Allen became the prime suspect once again.

Answer: Santo Panzarella

Santo Panzarella told the police that Allen had incriminated himself in the 'Zodiac' murders. Panzarella's story about Allen was second hand information. Panzarella heard the story from Donald Cheney, who was friends with Allen. Allen told Cheney that he wanted to hunt humans, shoot the tires out of school buses full of children, and that he was in fact the 'Zodiac'.

When Panzarella told this information to the police, Allen immediately became the prime suspect once again.

Answer: The Green River Killer

In the 1980s, the police thought that the 'Green River Killer' was really the 'Zodiac Killer'. They thought this because the physical description in both cases matched closely, and because the 'Zodiac's last known killing was in 1969. Although the 'Zodiac' kept in touch with the police throughout the 1970s, the police believed he had started killing again when the 'Green River Killer' surfaced.

Answer: A Radian sign

It was discovered in late 1980 that the June 26, 1970 letter had a radian sign hidden inside the letter. Gareth Penn, a free-lance writer, discovered that the California Attorney General's office had this information. Penn discovered that a radian is a specific angular measurement based on the transcendental number pi. Was the 'Zodiac' a murderous mathematician? If not, how did he know about the radian sign?

Answer: False

The real Zodiac has not resurfaced since a letter he sent in 1978. However, in 1990 in New York, a copycat killer murdered several people before police apprehended him. Heriberto 'Eddie' Seda was 22 years old when he began his career of copycating the real 'Zodiac'.

Answer: Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin and Michael Renault Mageau

At midnight on July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were sitting in Ferrin's car when the killer shot them. Unfortunately, Darlene was pronounced dead on arrival to Kaiser Foundation Hospital at 12:38 A.M. Michael lived. Michael was able to describe the killer and his car.

Answer: Vallejo Police Headquarters

When the 'Zodiac' called the Vallejo Police Headquarters he said, 'I want to report a double murder. If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9mm Luger. I also killed those kids last year. Good bye'.

The 'Zodiac' wanted the police to know that he was indeed smarter. The police believed that the 'Zodiac Killer' was like the 'Son of Sam', always near the murder scene when the police came.

Answer: In a letter sent in 1978

In 1978, the 'Zodiac' sent the police and newspapers his final letter. The letter said: 'Dear Editor, this is the Zodiac speaking. I am back with you. Tell Herb Caen I am here, I have always been here. That city pig, Toschi, is good but I am smarter and better.

He will get tired, then leave me alone. I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me? I am now in control of all things'. Since this letter the 'Zodiac' has not been heard from. Is the 'Zodiac' still alive today? No one really knows.

The police believe that the 'Zodiac' just faded away, waiting to resurface once again.