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ZODIAC KILLER REVEALED? Name Hidden in Cipher Changes Everything

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The Zodiac Killer has become one of the most infamous serial killers in American history since his string of murders over 50 years ago. According to a new report, his long-shrouded identity has finally been revealed.

Fox News reported that a team of over 40 people, including former law enforcement investigators, journalists and military intelligence officers, has identified the killer as Gary Francis Poste. Poste died in 2018.

The Zodiac Killer is believed to have committed at least five murders in northern California from 1968 to ’69. While many suspects have arisen in the decades since, the Zodiac Killer was never identified.

The investigative team, known as the Case Breakers, spent years digging through “forensic evidence and photos from Poste’s darkroom,” Fox News reported.

In one image, they found scars on Poste’s forehead matching the ones from a previous sketch of the Zodiac Killer.

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The mystery has generated much public interest over the last five decades, due in part to the riddles and ciphers with which the killer taunted police.

One of those ciphers secretly contained Poste’s identity, the Case Breakers said. Former Army counterintelligence agent Jen Bucholtz said that in one of the notes sent by the Zodiac Killer, the letters of Poste’s full name were removed to reveal a hidden message.

Do you believe Poste was the Zodiac Killer?

“So you’ve got to know Gary’s full name in order to decipher these anagrams,” she said. “I just don’t think there’s any other way anybody would have figured it out.”

The Case Breakers also believe Poste was responsible for the unsolved murder of Cheri Jo Bates on Oct. 31, 1966, in Riverside, California, well south of the sites of the Zodiac Killer’s other suspected murders.

Bates, 18, was found dead on the campus of Riverside City College, Fox reported. A year later, authorities received an anonymous letter that led them to believe her murder could be linked to the Zodiac Killer.

However, in 2016, investigators were sent another anonymous letter from someone who claimed to have written the earlier note.

“The author admitted that he was not the Zodiac killer or the killer of Cheri Jo Bates and that he was just looking for attention,” investigators said at the time.

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The Riverside Police Department subsequently concluded the two murders were not connected.

“Our Homicide Cold Case Unit has determined the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in 1966 is not related to the Zodiac killer,” police said. “We understand the public interest in these unsolved murders, but all inquiries regarding the Zodiac Killer should be referred to the FBI.”

The Case Breakers are not convinced. They say Bates was the first victim of the Zodiac Killer.

The team also says circumstantial evidence connects Poste to the Bates murder. For example, detectives found a military-style boot heel print at the Bates murder scene matching the style and size of other heel prints at Zodiac crime scenes.

A neighbor of Poste in California who identified herself as Gwen told Fox that Poste and his wife used to babysit her in the 1970s and ’80s. She said she believes he could certainly be the killer.

“He lived a double life,” she said. “As I’m [an] adult thinking back, it all kind of makes sense now. At the time when I was a teenager, I didn’t put two and two together until I got older. It hit me full-blown that Gary’s the Zodiac.”

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Grant is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has five years of writing experience with various outlets and enjoys covering politics and sports.
Grant is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He has five years of writing experience with various outlets and enjoys covering politics and sports.




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