Many people have considered whether the Zodiac was inspired by previous serial killers, such as Jack the Ripper. who brought terror to the streets of Whitechapel, London in the latter months of 1888. Both killer's would be accredited with five canonical victims in a comparatively brief reign, and both cases would also be accompanied by letters to the press. The overarching consensus, is of a Zodiac Killer who readily supplied the newspapers with details of his crimes and intentions, in both a wilful and reactionary manner. He was urged by Vallejo Police Chief, Jack E. Stiltz to provide more information to the police, to prove that the murderer and letter writer were one and the same person. The Zodiac Killer duly obliged when he hand delivered the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter to the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969 revealing his pseudonym to the world - the Zodiac Killer was born. If we ever needed to discover the purpose or meaning behind a Zodiac Killer communication, then often we need look no further than the previous months newspaper coverage. Although the Ripper letters were believed to be a concoction by the tabloid press of the day to boost circulation, the ridicule and taunting of the police became the mainstay that connected both Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer, despite being separated by eighty years.
On May 6th 1986, the Zodiac Killer or a hoaxer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle claiming the April 22nd 1986 murders of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Salee, who were brutally gunned down in similar fashion to the attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969. The killer had approached their vehicle from the rear and fired off 15 small-caliber rounds into the vehicle, blowing out both front side windows. The author of the letter wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am still out here an crackproof. I want you to know about my latest slaves that I have collected about two weeks ago up by Sacramento Ca. I will give you clue to help you with the mystry. They were killed by a freeway. The Blue Meannies almost caught me. The body count is growing now 100+ all over the state of Ca and Na". This letter is a complete outlier to the barrage of communications from 1969 to 1971 - so what inspired a lone communication such as this, if not the release of the Robert Graysmith Zodiac book in the January of that year. The 1986 letter would be belatedly followed by another correspondence on October 28th 1987 referencing the movie The Car - and it is this latest letter that would mimic one crucial detail from another outlier communication from 1978.
On May 6th 1986, the Zodiac Killer or a hoaxer mailed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle claiming the April 22nd 1986 murders of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Salee, who were brutally gunned down in similar fashion to the attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969. The killer had approached their vehicle from the rear and fired off 15 small-caliber rounds into the vehicle, blowing out both front side windows. The author of the letter wrote "This is the Zodiac speaking. I am still out here an crackproof. I want you to know about my latest slaves that I have collected about two weeks ago up by Sacramento Ca. I will give you clue to help you with the mystry. They were killed by a freeway. The Blue Meannies almost caught me. The body count is growing now 100+ all over the state of Ca and Na". This letter is a complete outlier to the barrage of communications from 1969 to 1971 - so what inspired a lone communication such as this, if not the release of the Robert Graysmith Zodiac book in the January of that year. The 1986 letter would be belatedly followed by another correspondence on October 28th 1987 referencing the movie The Car - and it is this latest letter that would mimic one crucial detail from another outlier communication from 1978.
April 24th 1978 letter The letter on the right was mailed on April 24th 1978 claiming the Zodiac Killer was back and waiting for a good movie about him. This communication arrived seven years after the 1971 'Los Angeles' letter and four years after the quartet of communications in 1974. So, what drove the Zodiac killer out of the shadows and back into the limelight? (assuming it was him). We know the Zodiac Killer fed off the newspaper coverage of the day, so there must have been a considerable trigger to drive him to communicate with the San Francisco Chronicle once again. The answer may lie in the design of the April 24th 1978 letter.
The letter began with "Dear" and ended with "yours truly" (placed midline), in similar design to the Dear Boss letter, mailed and accredited to Jack the Ripper on September 27th 1888. This may not be wholly convincing on its own, unless we can discover the inspiration for why the Zodiac Killer decided to resurrect his contact with the Chronicle newspaper in 1978, akin to the release of the Zodiac book by Robert Graysmith in 1986. It may have been a newspaper story that he had followed closely over the preceding months or years. But one that inspired the Ripperesque style approach and the desire for his name to be up in lights.
The letter began with "Dear" and ended with "yours truly" (placed midline), in similar design to the Dear Boss letter, mailed and accredited to Jack the Ripper on September 27th 1888. This may not be wholly convincing on its own, unless we can discover the inspiration for why the Zodiac Killer decided to resurrect his contact with the Chronicle newspaper in 1978, akin to the release of the Zodiac book by Robert Graysmith in 1986. It may have been a newspaper story that he had followed closely over the preceding months or years. But one that inspired the Ripperesque style approach and the desire for his name to be up in lights.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe terrorized the north of England from 1975 to 1981, finally being arrested on January 2nd 1981 and sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences, to serve a minimum of 30 years (later given a whole life tariff). He was convicted for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more. The investigation was marred by police incompetence and a hoaxer called Wearside Jack. Over the course of a year between March 1978 and the end of June 1979, John Humble sent three letters claiming to be the Yorkshire Ripper. Postmarked from Sunderland, two were addressed to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, a member of the West Yorkshire Police who was heading the Ripper inquiry, and one to the Daily Mirror. However, these letters were not published until 1979, so couldn't have inspired the 1978 Chronicle letter. The Yorkshire Ripper case dominated the headlines in the UK - and it is extremely unlikely (whether or not the Zodiac Killer has British ancestry) that an avid reader such as the Bay Area murderer wouldn't have kept himself informed of world affairs.
On January 21st 1978, the Yorkshire Ripper claimed his seventh victim, that of Yvonne Pearson (21). Peter Sutcliffe repeatedly bludgeoned her about the head with a hammer, then jumped on her chest before stuffing horse-hair into her mouth from a discarded sofa under which he hid her body near Lumb Lane. On January 18th 1978, Helen Rytka (18) was struck on the head five times as she exited his vehicle - and after stripping many of the clothes from her body, he then repeatedly stabbed her in the chest. Her body was found beneath railway arches in the timber-yard to which he had driven her three days later. The body of Yvonne Pearson was not discovered and reported in the newspapers until March 26th 1978. One month later, the Zodiac Killer reappeared and wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle, in a communication bearing hallmarks of the Dear Boss letter of 1888. Did the Zodiac Killer keep abreast of the news from England and resurrect the Ripper for the newsrooms of the San Francisco Chronicle, or was there another reason he resurfaced in the April of 1978?
On January 21st 1978, the Yorkshire Ripper claimed his seventh victim, that of Yvonne Pearson (21). Peter Sutcliffe repeatedly bludgeoned her about the head with a hammer, then jumped on her chest before stuffing horse-hair into her mouth from a discarded sofa under which he hid her body near Lumb Lane. On January 18th 1978, Helen Rytka (18) was struck on the head five times as she exited his vehicle - and after stripping many of the clothes from her body, he then repeatedly stabbed her in the chest. Her body was found beneath railway arches in the timber-yard to which he had driven her three days later. The body of Yvonne Pearson was not discovered and reported in the newspapers until March 26th 1978. One month later, the Zodiac Killer reappeared and wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle, in a communication bearing hallmarks of the Dear Boss letter of 1888. Did the Zodiac Killer keep abreast of the news from England and resurrect the Ripper for the newsrooms of the San Francisco Chronicle, or was there another reason he resurfaced in the April of 1978?