Myth of the Zodiac Killer (2023): Season 1, Episode 2 - Breaking The Mythology - full transcript

♪

Nock: Diane, how does
it feel to be back here

at Betty Lou's grave?

What goes through your
mind when you come here?

I miss her. I
miss her so much.

Man: Betty Lou Jensen
shot dead in a dark

and desolate lovers' lane.

I just always think
about what she'd be like

if she had a chance to grow up.

She'd have been an
outstanding person.

I know.



So sad.

Horan: I can't stop
thinking about the fact

that none of these people

and their families
ever got any justice.

Zodiac, a symbol that
now stands for terror

in San Francisco.

There is a myth of
the Zodiac Killer

which has taken over.

Woman: The Zodiac Killer,
whose killing spree and ciphers

around the Bay Area draw
worldwide attention to this day.

Puzzled authorities with
a number of coded letters

sent to newspapers
and law enforcement.

Nobody has come close
to cracking this case

for over 50 years.



And that's because there was
no single killer involved

in these murders

and the person
writing the letters

didn't commit any
of the murders.

Beeson: When he first
came out with the theory,

he knew he was gonna
get a lot of pushback.

Butterfield: Thomas Horan has staked
his reputation on this theory,

and that's part of the
problem with the Zodiac case.

Most of the theories are
basically just nonsense,

and people refuse
to give them up.

I think it's important to start

with the original
police reports,

the FBI files, and any
other official documents

you can get ahold of.

That's where you'll
find the facts.

I'm the first person I know of
who read all of the case files,

all of the contemporary
newspaper clippings.

And what I discovered was
the single biggest reason

Zodiac was never caught

is because the Zodiac Killer

is a fictional character.

He's a literary invention.

Butterfield: You'd have to
believe in all kinds of hoaxes

and conspiracies
to believe this.

The simplest explanation that's
in keeping with the known facts

is that one person
was responsible

for the crimes and the letters.

Horan: If we change how we
look at the Zodiac case,

a whole different
reality becomes possible.

Nock: To make a breakthrough in
America's most famous cold case,

I'm trying something
that's never been attempted

in the Zodiac saga...

An analysis through
computational linguistics

and artificial intelligence.

If the A.I. points towards
a single letter writer,

then Professor Horan
is flat-out wrong.

And then, of course,
the biggest question is,

is, if I'm right, the
letters were a hoax,

then the Zodiac
itself is a hoax.

♪

Man: Somebody says he
committed all five murders

and will commit yet more.

Man #2: Zodiac, a symbol
of terror in San Francisco.

♪

♪

♪

Nock: Coming into
this investigation,

I suppose I was
like everyone else

who had taken an interest
in this iconic case.

I believed all the murders were
committed by one person. Why?

Well, partially because when
you search online for Zodiac,

that's the prevailing narrative.

It's the mainstream belief.

But also just look at the
first two crimes side by side.

December of 1968 was
the shooting deaths

of two high-school students

in a lovers' lane in
Benicia, California.

The second so-called
Zodiac crime

was about seven months later.

It was also a shooting in
not quite a lovers' lane,

but a teen hangout in Vallejo,

just a few miles down the
road from the first crime.

Law enforcement didn't
connect these two crimes

until about a month
after the second crime...

when three pretty terrifying
letters arrived at newspapers

in San Francisco and Vallejo
claiming credit for the kills.

So all of this makes sense.

But where it really goes
off the rails for me

and where it really spirals

for Professor Thomas Horan,
who already has questions

about a single killer
after the first two crimes,

is the third so-called
Zodiac crime,

which happens a month and a half

after the "I am
the Zodiac" letter.

Horan: There is no evidence

that connects any
two of these murders,

let alone connects
all of the murders

and let alone connects
them to the letters.

And the attack where we
can see this most clearly

is the third attack
at Lake Berryessa.

♪

♪

The third canonical Zodiac crime

is what we call Lake Berryessa.

The two victims were
Bryan Calvin Hartnell

and Cecelia Ann Shepard.

Bryan had run into Cecelia
at Pacific Union College,

which they used to
attend together.

Cecelia was currently
attending college in Riverside,

but had come up to the
Northern California area

to visit a few friends.

She ran into Bryan at
the cafeteria that day,

and they had previously dated,

so they decided to go
spend some time together.

They were originally gonna go
into the city of San Francisco,

but at the last moment, they
decided to go to Lake Berryessa.

♪

Nock: So I'm here
at Lake Berryessa

in Napa, California.

This is the site of the third
so-called Zodiac attack.

I'm gonna meet Dave Collins.

Dave Collins was one of the
original detectives on the case,

one of the last few
people who are still alive

who can walk me through
exactly what happened that day.

Dave? Collins: Yeah.

There you are.
Nice to meet you.

Andrew Nock. Andrew.
Hey. Dave Collins.

Thanks so much for coming down.

I really appreciate
it. Nice meeting you.

Maybe you can walk me down
to the murder site, please.

Sure. Sure.

This all happened
over 50 years ago.

Trees are gone. The grasses
are a little different.

The water level's lower.

But it's all basically the same.

Right here is where the
crime scene actually was.

♪

How does it feel
to be back here?

Not that good.

I don't have good
memories of this

because this was a terrible
crime that was committed.

A lot of sorrow, a
lot of people upset,

and rightfully so.

We didn't have this type of
a crime at Lake Berryessa.

And even since then,
there hasn't been a crime

like that here at
Lake Berryessa.

So can you point out

where Bryan and Cecelia
first saw this mystery man?

They were here.
Where I'm standing.

There was a large oak
tree right... right here.

And it cast shade.

And so they had
put a blanket down.

Butterfield: They settled
along the shoreline,

and they were there together
for some time, when Cecelia

noticed a man walking
through the trees above them.

And he's not wearing
a costume or anything,

and she just knows
that it's a white male.

And Bryan wasn't too
concerned about it

because at this point,
he's pretty far away.

Butterfield: But
at a certain point,

the man approached
Cecelia and Bryan,

and he was wearing a
dark hooded costume

with a white crossed
circle on the chest.

He was carrying a gun.

He had a knife and a
sheath on his belt.

And he also had some precut
lengths of plastic clothesline.

When he came out, she
said, "He's got a mask on."

And that was my first inkling

that there was anything
actually wrong going on.

He had this black hood on,
came clear down to here.

Just little slits in the eyes

and where... you know,
these clip-on glasses.

They were clipped into
those little loops.

Beeson: This black ceremonial-type
hood has a logo on it,

which is the Zodiac's
crossed-circle logo.

And Bryan said that
this was done with care

as if it was sewn.
Very elaborate costume.

The man confronted
them and said,

"Don't worry. I just need
your car keys and your money.

I'm not going to do
anything to you."

He was apparently
trying to lull them

into a false sense of security.

Beeson: And Bryan says,

"Hey, I have a little bit
of change in my pocket.

That's all I have. But
you're welcome to it."

And he says, "No,
what I need to do

is get you two guys tied up."

So Cecelia tied Bryan, and
then the man tied Cecelia up.

Then, without any warning,

the man pulled out a long knife.

Beeson: What Bryan would later
describe as a foot-long knife,

and he starts stabbing
Bryan in the back.

And Bryan just starts hearing

this "chomp, chomp,
chomp" sound.

Butterfield: He stabbed him
approximately six times,

and Bryan decided to play dead.

At that point, the man stopped,
and he turned on Cecelia,

who was, of course, terrified

after watching
Bryan being stabbed.

She's tied up,
and she's frantic,

and he starts stabbing
her multiple times.

More times than Bryan.

She was apparently
stabbed at least 10 times,

five times in the front
and five times in the back.

Beeson: And then he just calmly
walks off, doesn't say anything.

He calmly keeps his costume
on, and he quietly walks away.

After the two were stabbed,

Bryan thinks his bindings
are loose enough,

and Cecelia helps Bryan
get his hands untied.

And he's in a lot of pain.

And Bryan starts crawling his
way to start trying to get help.

I made it up about 300 yards up,

up almost to the road,
and it was a slow process

because I kept black...
I couldn't see.

I kept blacking out, and
my legs kept getting weak.

But I was getting progress.

I think I could have
made it to the road.

Eventually, Bryan's picked up
by park ranger Dennis Land,

and he gets in his car.

The police are called. They
show up to the crime scene.

Collins: I was the deputy
sheriff at the time.

I'm here on the scene.

I've arrived, and
Cecelia's on the blanket

and having a very
difficult time speaking,

in a lot of pain.

I asked her, I said, "Well,
how do you describe this guy?"

She was estimating he was
probably almost 6 foot.

It was bulky. He
looked sloppy.

She said, "I saw his face when
he stood behind the tree."

Said it was more of
a round-type face.

And he had just a normal
haircut, brown hair,

but enough so that when
he pulled the hood on,

it showed on his forehead
through the mask.

And I had asked her, I said,

"Well, how old do
you think he was?"

And she said he was
in his mid-20s then.

"I would say mid-20s."

And she herself was 22.

After the killer walked
away from the victims

at Lake Berryessa, he
apparently walked up the hill

to where Bryan Hartnell's
Karmann Ghia was parked.

And then he used a marker to
leave a message on the car door.

Beeson: The killer put the
dates of Lake Herman Road,

and then he puts the dates
of Blue Rock Springs,

and then he writes out
the date of the attack

that just occurred.

He writes "Sept. 27."

There is, as far as I'm
concerned, a definite pattern.

The message left on the
side of the victim's door

with the dates of the
Solano County murders

and ours,

along with other items
that are on there,

have definitely indicated to us
that they're one and the same.

Nock: So, Thomas, there
isn't a letter sent

after the murder
at Lake Berryessa,

but the writing on the car door

and what is said on the car door

has the local
authorities convinced

that this crime is connected

to the Benicia and
Vallejo killings

that we've talked
about? That's right.

Before we get into whether you
agree with that assessment,

I want to know if you are aware
that it wasn't just Cecelia

and Bryan who saw the so-called
Zodiac Killer that day.

Oh, yes. There were
others at the lake

that day who
witnessed the killer.

And, in fact, Cecelia
and the college girls

gave very similar accounts of
what the attacker looked like.

Nock: The college girls
Professor Horan is referring to

have remained in the
shadows of the Zodiac story

for half a century.

But I found one of them.

And bravely, she's coming on
camera for the very first time.

♪

So, Linda, thank you very much

for coming to meet with
me here at Lake Berryessa.

How does it feel to be here?

Not good.

It's very emotional still.

I have a lot of anxiety.

I still... You know, I
carried fear for decades.

You haven't spoken
about this incident

from September 27, 1969,
very often, have you?

No, I've never talked about it.

I've kept it really quiet.

My family doesn't
even know the details.

You know, I did not want
my face out there, my name.

So everything, I wanted
kept quiet, shut down.

Because if I am one
of the only witnesses

to seeing the Zodiac,

I just assumed he
might come for me.

♪

♪

Just being out here today,
here it comes again.

I feel anxious and unsettled.

But he can't possibly be still
alive, is what I'm thinking.

And so I'm trying to
use this experience

as a way of healing for me

and just let it be a
story from the past.

♪

Bryan was my class at
Pacific Union College,

and Cecelia was my
dormitory monitor.

She's radiant, tiny, petite,

just glowing with light.

She's kind, she's funny.
She was a music major.

Very talented.

Can you tell us what and
who you saw that day?

It was a girlfriend
and her friend.

And we drove to the lake,

laid our towels down,

and a few minutes
later, I looked up.

And the oak tree closest
to us on the beach,

there was a man standing
behind the oak tree.

And he would kind of move
his head to watch us.

So, you know, we're
whispering to each other,

"Just don't look at
him. Don't look at him.

And just don't pay
any attention."

But every now and
then, I would look up,

and he would be watching us,

and he would move to another
tree to get a little closer.

We're completely freaked out

because now he's
between us and our car,

which is parked
way up on the bank.

And we were really,
really nervous.

♪

We probably just
lay there tense,

wanting to leave for 45
minutes or something.

And eventually we looked
up, and he was gone.

Didn't see him.

And grabbed our towels,
ran up to the car.

Noticed there was a car
parked, a little white car,

a little bit down
the road to our left,

but there was nobody in it.

That was Bryan
and Cecelia's car.

About the time we left,
Bryan and Cece arrived

and they were literally the
next little inlet over from us.

And then the next
morning, really early,

we got word that Cece and
Bryan had been attacked.

And when we heard the
word Lake Berryessa,

we thought, "Oh, my God."

So I went to the girls'
dean and told her our story.

And so the girls'
dean called the police

and they asked us to come
down and be interviewed.

I spent hours and hours there
the first day and the next day

and the next day just
trying to remember

and trying to place the timing

and trying to describe
exactly where we were.

And then working with the artist

to get an Identi-Kit
face out there.

♪

When the funeral happened,
the FBI was on site,

and I'm not sure
that's widely known.

I only know because they
contacted me directly.

And two agents and two
cars came to the funeral,

and they asked me to stand
with them outside the church

and just to observe
everybody coming

on the thought that maybe he
would show up at the service.

It was horrible.

And I felt like I was the
only person with a possibility

of identifying somebody.

And this is the photo that
was taken of me by the FBI.

I could just see the headache
and the stress and the focus.

It felt really unfair for me

to have to carry
that kind of a load.

It was... It was
really difficult.

I was concerned for
my safety for years.

The police report says
approximately 28 years of age,

6' to 6'2", 200 to 225 pounds.

Black hair, possibly be styled
with a parting on the left.

Yes.

He had very smooth, parted hair

and combed really straight.

So he looked really conservative
and really straight,

just very intense, you
know, like focused.

It just... The vibes coming
off of him were were...

were bad, dark.

All of us felt that.

Pass this to you right now.

When you see that, what's
going through your mind?

I see predator.

I mean, I get fear.

Um...

It's accurate?

I would say...

certainly the hair
was exactly like this.

It was conservative.
Parted this way.

Eyes, the shape is right.
The mouth is right.

So, Linda, do you feel like
the person that you saw

was responsible for the
attack on Bryan and Cecelia?

What are the chances that
somebody would follow us

right there, right
at that timing,

and then there's a crime
committed right next to it,

and when we had such negative
reactions to this person?

I felt like we saw
the Zodiac that day.

♪

But there are other,
you know, drawings

that came out of the Zodiac

that looked nothing like what
I thought I saw that day,

so that confuses me.

Now, what Linda is
referring to is this.

This is the famous Zodiac sketch
that was made by law enforcement

after the fourth so-called
Zodiac crime in San Francisco.

I'm jumping ahead right
now in our documentary

because you need
to see this sketch.

This is considered by experts

to be the best representation
of the Zodiac Killer

because it comes from
witnesses of that fourth crime

who gave police
what they believed

was an accurate description.

But the problem with it is this.

It looks nothing
like the Identi-Kit

made from Linda Jensen's
description in the third crime,

perhaps reinforcing
Horan's theory

that there is not one killer.

So this is the Identi-Kit

that was taken that
day at Lake Berryessa.

Collins: Yeah. This
is what Cecelia

had described as
the suspect, Zodiac.

This is... This is a
good likeness of him.

This description,
just to clarify,

was from the three students.

Right. But you think
that it matches...?

Yeah. Yeah, it
matches what she said.

So let me show you this.

This is the sketch
from San Francisco.

Not even... Not even close.

That's my question,
because one of the things

I'm investigating is the
idea... Not even close.

that there was possibly two
different killers. No. No.

And this would suggest that
it was two different people,

to me. Yeah.

I don't think there are
two different people.

I think there's only one,

but I think this is an
accurate description.

And this one?

Well, my statement is this
is the accurate description.

So you're more... You're
inclined to believe

that there was one
killer. One killer.

And that one killer
looked like the person

that was seen at Lake
Berryessa. Correct.

Okay, so let's just take
stock of where we are.

Without even examining
the fourth crime,

what we know is that the
witness of a potential killer

at Lake Berryessa,
Linda Jensen...

and a deputy sheriff who
talked to Cecelia Shepard

before she died, Dave Collins,

both state that the alleged
killer at Lake Berryessa

looks nothing like the alleged
killer in San Francisco

at the Paul Stine murder.

Now, that's a clear win
for Professor Horan,

who theorizes that the
notion of a single person

as a Zodiac Killer is a myth.

So if the killer of the
third and fourth murders

is a different person, then
the question becomes this...

Could the killer of the
third crime at Lake Berryessa

be the same killer of
the first two crimes

in Benicia and Vallejo?

Do the MOs match up?

Or are there more differences
than similarities?

Thomas, there is no letter sent

after the murder
at Lake Berryessa,

but the killer writes
on the car door

and very clearly connects this
crime to the first two crimes.

But you're not convinced?

Horan: That message that
was written on the car door

is the only thing
that ties this crime

to any other Zodiac murders.

So the attacker
at Lake Berryessa,

he wrote this message on the
door of the victim's car,

implying that he's the guy

writing the letters
to the newspapers.

But he used a black felt-tip pen

because he didn't know that
the real "Zodiac letter writer"

used a blue felt-tip pen.

Point after point after point,

there is zero evidence that
this is not a copycat killer,

and all the evidence points to
your typical copycat slaying.

You have a completely
different MO.

This is at a lake
in broad daylight,

not at a lovers' lane at night.

He talked to the victim
for over 15 minutes.

And we know in the second crime,

at least, there
was no conversation

between the killer
and the victims.

The weapon choice is
completely different.

Here, a knife is
used and not a gun.

He was wearing
this hood costume,

bizarre getup with this
circled crosshairs symbol.

All of these clues
that supposedly tie

the attack at Lake Berryessa
to these Zodiac letters...

actually, they kind of prove
it was a copycat killer

because the entire first letter,

including the circled
crosshair symbol,

had been published
in some of the papers

about eight weeks
before the attack.

So anybody in Napa County who
wanted to commit this murder

and try to blame it on
this famous code killer

had all the
information he needed.

I mean, he's had eight
weeks to practice

imitating the handwriting
in the letters

that were published
in the paper.

He's had eight weeks to sew
a circled crosshair symbol

onto his costume.

Nock: Professor Horan isn't
alone in his skepticism here.

One of the original
investigators,

Napa County Sheriff's
Department Detective Ken Narlow,

expressed bewilderment at
Zodiac's use of a costume,

as he told filmmakers
in the 2007 documentary,

"This is the Zodiac Speaking."

One thing that's baffling is

if you're going
to kill somebody,

you normally don't wear a mask

because you got it
in your own mind

you're gonna kill them.

So why do you have to
hide your identity?

So that's always been a
puzzling matter in this case.

Why did the Zodiac go
through such a effort

to make this mask
to horrify people

if he knew he was
gonna kill them?

♪

There's a theory that perhaps
this is more than one attacker

claiming to be
the Zodiac Killer.

Copycats are relatively
rare, but they can happen

because another criminal

is trying to get away
with their crimes

and try to hide it under
somebody else's persona

so that they're less
likely to be caught.

But oftentimes we do see
serial killers change course

because they get bored of
the first type of killing.

And in order to get the same
kind of high from that thrill

that they get from killing,

they have to change the way
that they're attacking a victim,

maybe even make it
harder for themselves

to get out or get away.

Now, Dr. Ho's point about
a change in modus operandi

is backed up by fact.

Serial killer Ted Bundy broke
into the houses of women

in his first two attacks,

but then he changed his MO

and lured women into his car.

Four years later, he went
back to breaking and entering.

But maybe the best example

is the case of the
Sunday Morning Slasher,

Carl Eugene Watts...

One of the most
prolific serial killers

in American history.

If you look at his crimes,

he was constantly
changing his MOs,

though it's impossible to
know if he was looking to keep

the thrill of killing going
by finding new ways to kill

or whether he was just
trying to perfect his MO.

So if you ultimately are right

and this was the work
of a copycat killer,

who's your primary suspect for
the Lake Berryessa killing?

Your first two suspects
in a murder investigation

are the last person to
see the victim alive

and the person who
reported finding the body.

Now, there is a person
we know was present

at the crime scene that day.

We know he followed the victims
to where they parked their car.

We know that he tampered with
evidence at the crime scene.

And then he happens to
match the description

of the killer pretty closely.

Bryan Hartnell said that his
first impression of this man

was that the killer
had come back.

That turned out to be
park ranger Dennis Land.

♪

♪

Beeson: After the
attack of Bryan Hartnell

and Cecelia Shepard,
the police are called.

They show up to the crime
scene and the police say,

"Where is the crime scene?"

And they're like,
"We don't know."

The park ranger, Dennis Land,
removed the crime scene,

which was a blanket with some
of their items on the blanket.

Dennis Land had
taken that with him

back to the park ranger station.

As a professional investigator,

I can't explain why
any trained officer

would touch a crime scene.

You don't ever
touch a crime scene

because what you're doing
is implicating yourself.

Nock: Park ranger Dennis Land
collected up the crime scene

and then put it into a box

and almost like presented
it to the sheriff.

Is that... Is that accurate?

That is pretty ac...

I don't know who
gathered it up exactly,

but somebody did gather it up
and they did put it into a box

and that box was turned over
to the detective bureau.

Nock: It's a moment the
original detective recounted

in the 2007 documentary,

"This is the Zodiac Speaking."

It didn't really make
me too happy at the time

because I couldn't actually
go to the crime scene

because someone, thinking
they were doing the good...

The good thing and the right
thing by protecting it,

actually bundled up the blanket
and the clothing and stuff

that was there and... And
took it into his custody

at Berryessa Lake
Park headquarters.

He thought at the time he
was doing a very good thing,

but at the same time, it took
us away from the opportunity

to actually view
the crime scene.

So put it in a few simple words,

there wasn't really a
crime scene to view.

Thomas, it's clear
that Dennis Land

compromised the crime scene,

much to the chagrin of
these investigators.

But you also mentioned something
else that piqued my interest.

What else makes you believe
he could be the killer?

When you look at the log
of the radio dispatcher

at the park ranger station
and records of calls

between the station
and Dennis Land,

at 6:13 p.m., he radioed
in to the dispatcher

that he was going to go 10-7.

He was gonna go out of radio
contact and go check the marina.

And 10-8 would mean that he
was back in radio contact,

which is procedure.

But Land never radios a 10-8.

So there's a missing time
gap of roughly 47 minutes

until they get a report of
the stabbing at 7:00 p.m.

And if you look at the
total amount of time

that he's out of radio contact,

the killer appears, he
attacks them, he leaves.

That's pretty much
precisely the time

that Dennis Land was
out of radio contact.

Thomas, let's play
out your theory.

If Dennis Land is the killer,

did he even have the
wherewithal to do this?

Absolutely.

He tampered with
the crime scene.

He had his associate's
degree in criminal justice

and he had eight
years experience

as a military policeman.

So Dennis Land
really knew better.

What kind of guy
was Dennis Land?

Honest as a day is long.
Honest as the day is long.

Would bend over backwards to
help anybody with anything.

He was a good man.

I just want to say this to you.

You should be very careful

when Thomas Horan says that
certain things happened.

Thomas Horan claims that Dennis
Land was under investigation.

There's absolutely
no credible evidence

that Dennis Land was
involved in the crime at all.

No other police officer in
any of the Zodiac murder cases

was asked to swear out a
formal affidavit under oath.

Only Dennis Land.

He's the only person who
was known to be at the lake

that day who's
not accounted for.

Nock: You know, there's
simply no way to know

if Dennis Land was connected.

But I'll go back to this.

This is the Identi-Kit of

the man both Cecelia described

and Linda Jensen,
the witness, saw.

And this is what makes the
Zodiac cold case so fascinating,

so infuriating and so
curious to so many.

Thomas brings up good
convincing points about Land,

but it appears obvious
that these two images,

they don't look alike.

After the murder
at Lake Berryessa,

no one was arrested,

but the investigation
continued on

and the authorities
now felt certain

that this attack was not
an isolated incident.

Man: There have
been three slayings

in the Vallejo area
in the past year,

and activities at the
sheriff's office today

were centered around
linking the cases.

Because of the writing on the
car door at Lake Berryessa

and because of its proximity to
the murders in Solano County,

which is the county next door,

the authorities begin to
connect all three crimes.

Horan: That's right.

But the biggest hole

in the whole Zodiac
theory of all

is that where's the Zodiac
letter about the attack

at Lake Berryessa?

Where is it?

Nock: Now, there
wasn't a letter sent

after the attack at the lake.

It's not until the Paul Stine
murder in San Francisco,

which comes more
than two weeks later,

that a flurry of
letters arrives again

and apparently doesn't
stop until July 1974.

28 more letters come after
the Paul Stine murder.

And it's these 28

that Professor Horan
has an issue with.

In my opinion, the only really
authentic Zodiac letters

are the first three letters

that were mailed to the
papers with the code.

Then immediately there
was a follow up letter.

After that, there
were serious doubts.

Nock: So Professor Horan believes
that the first four letters

that arrived after the
so-called second Zodiac murder

could be legitimate.

But the remaining
28 that arrived

after the Paul Stine
murders are not.

It's these 32 letters that I
sent to the French experts.

♪

The men specialize in
computational linguistics,

meaning they apply computer
science to the analysis

and synthesis of
language and speech,

and they run it through
a customized artificial

intelligence model.

Computational linguistics
could offer empirical evidence

to support Thomas's claims.

Now, as far as we know,
this is the first time

the 32 letters have ever
been analyzed in this way.

Hi, Florian. Hi,
Jean-Baptiste.

Hi, Andrew.
Cafiero: Hi, Andrew.

It's been a few weeks since I
sent you the Zodiac letters,

and I'm dying to find out
what you've discovered.

♪

Nock: Gentlemen, thank you
very much for your time.

So, I would like to start by
explaining what you're doing

with computational
linguistics and stylometry

and how it differs from
handwriting analysis.

Is that something that's
easily changeable?

Okay, that's interesting
because what we're trying to

understand about these letters
is not so much who wrote them,

but whether or not
one single person

wrote all of those letters

or if there's multiple
letter writers.

And so if you see a change

in this individual
stylistic genome,

as you call it, at some point in
the sequence of the 32 letters,

then that could indicate

that there's more than
one letter writer, right?

And so just so I understand
what you're doing here,

you know, can we walk away
with a certainty of the results

or the findings,
whatever they are,

that they're gonna
be 100% accurate?

Okay.

Okay, understood.

So when you're looking
at the Zodiac letters,

what's the first
step in your process?

Okay. Let me just
stop you for a second.

You said that at a certain
point you see a subtle change.

When is that point?

But that subtle change in style,
couldn't that be purposeful?

Couldn't it be intentional

to kind of throw off
the investigators?

Okay.

Okay. Just let me summarize

because you're seeing
noticeable changes

in the function words
from the four letters

before Paul Stine's murder

to the 28 letters after
the Paul Stine murder.

You're able to conclude that
there is likely a change

in the letter writer?

That is likely more
than one person

writing these
letters... At least two?

Okay. Wow.

That's... I think that's
really significant that

that's a possibility,
because a lot of researchers,

a lot of Zodiac
researchers and detectives,

they all believe that these
letters are from one person.

♪

♪

♪

Butterfield: Approximately two weeks
after the attack at Lake Berryessa,

someone hailed a cab
in San Francisco.

29-year-old cab
driver Paul Stine

apparently picked up a fare
somewhere near the intersection

of Mason and Geary
in San Francisco.

The passenger allegedly
directed him to an intersection

at Washington and Maple Streets,

which was in an upscale
residential neighborhood

known as Presidio Heights.

♪

♪

Some kids who were in a house
across the street heard a noise

or saw something suspicious
which alerted them,

and they looked
outside and saw a man

inside the cab handling
Paul Stine's body.

The man had apparently shot
Paul Stine once in the head.

The witnesses watched
him get out of the cab

and walk around to
the driver's side

with a piece of
cloth in his hand.

And he appeared
to be wiping down

that side of the cab
on the driver's side.

The man then turned,
went around the cab

and walked north
on Cherry Street.

♪

The kids called the police.

We don't know exactly
what happened or why,

but at a certain point, their
description of the killer

was broadcast incorrectly
to responding officers

as a Black man instead
of a white man.

It's possible that when
they were describing

the killer's clothing
as dark or black,

that that was misunderstood
as the race of the killer.

Whatever happened, the killer
went north on Cherry Street

and apparently turned
east on Jackson Street,

one block further north.

Falzon: There was a white man

seen walking away
from the crime scene.

In fact, responding
officers stopped him.

There was an officer
named Donald Fouke

who was with his partner
that night, Eric Zelms,

and they believed
they saw the man

walking in the
Presidio that night,

and they're pretty sure, just
based on where Stine was shot,

that they did see the attacker.

It's mostly believed
that Donald Fouke

did witness the Zodiac
Killer that night,

and he described him as a
barrel-chested man about 5'10".

He had a blondish
colored crew cut

and was wearing what he called
an engineer's type boot.

Unfortunately, when
they make the stop,

coming over the police radio

is a suspect has been
described as a Black male.

So when he said he didn't see
anything or hear anything,

they thanked him
and he walks away.

They drive off. They later
put two and two together.

It wasn't a Black suspect.

It was him, the man
that killed Paul Stine

the cabdriver.

♪

Beeson: Because of this screw
up with the police dispatch,

they missed a
golden opportunity.

He slipped into the darkness,

into the park area after the
murder and was never seen again.

♪

The famous Zodiac Killer sketch

comes from the eyewitness
accounts from those kids.

That sketch was
developed and later

shown to Officer Donald Fouke,
who pretty much agreed with it,

said that pretty much looked
like the man that he saw.

I think that sketch may be
the most accurate portrait

of the Zodiac we'll ever get.

♪

Horan: With the attack
at Lake Berryessa

and the shooting
in San Francisco,

both sets of investigators
think they know

what the attacker looks like,

but clearly these sketches don't
appear to be the same person.

So, Thomas, if the
sketches of the perpetrator

look nothing alike,

there's got to be other aspects
of the murder that match

what happened in the other
three Zodiac crimes before this,

leading investigators to think
all four crimes are connected.

No.

Here's the funny thing
about the Paul Stine murder.

It is totally different
from all the other

so-called Zodiac killings.

It's a single man.
It's not a couple.

This is obviously
not a lovers' lane.

They didn't meet randomly
at the crime scene.

The victim actually drove the
killer to the crime scene.

The motive seems to be
more like an assassination.

It's a similar weapon
to the shooting

at Blue Rock Springs Park.

It is a .9 millimeter handgun.

It's a very cold, calculating,
almost professional killer.

I mean, we don't see
any of this behavior

with the other Zodiac crimes,

especially the
first two shootings.

It's show up, bang, bang,
bang, get the heck out.

All of these things just seem
to be completely different.

So did San Francisco PD
ever investigate Paul Stine?

Beeson: Yes, and
nothing ever came of it.

I was very fortunate to
get to interview somebody

that knew Paul
Stine really well,

and he said, "I knew Paul
Stine, and I could tell you

that he is actually the
sweetest man I ever knew.

He was driving a cab, but he
had a lot further aspirations."

He was a newlywed.

It was just extremely tragic

that that would happen
to him like it did.

So you don't think that
he had any enemies?

You think it was just a random
killing as a taxi driver?

I think the Paul Stine
murder was completely random.

I've never seen
anything credible

to make me think
that he was targeted.

Nock: And so for
those reasons,

along with the fact that San
Francisco is 31 miles away

from Vallejo and 71 miles
away from Lake Berryessa,

law enforcement at the time
figured Paul Stine's murder

was just another routine
robbery and murder of a cabbie.

No one suspected this crime
might be related to the Zodiac.

That is until a few days
later, on October 13th.

Two days after the
murder of Paul Stine,

a letter arrived at the
San Francisco Chronicle

that said...

Falzon: "This is
the Zodiac speaking.

I am the murderer
of the taxi driver

over by Washington Street
and Maple Street last night."

Butterfield: Obviously, the fact
that the killer started killing

in San Francisco

in a wealthy,
upscale neighborhood

changed the narrative
of this case.

But we have to remember
also that in the letter

where he took credit for
the murder of Paul Stine,

he threatened to attack a
school bus full of children,

and that escalated
things dramatically.

Lee: "Schoolchildren
make fine targets.

I think I shall wipe out a
school bus some morning."

Now there's a visible rise
of adrenalin in the newsroom.

Nobody's ever seen
anything quite like it.

Beeson: When the Zodiac
wrote that letter,

it was the pinnacle of fear
in the city of San Francisco

because they absolutely believed
he was gonna act on this

and actually start
shooting schoolchildren.

Falzon: How scary.

It was threats that needed to
be followed up, taken seriously.

Man: Police units
from various agencies

using marked and unmarked cars

followed busses on their
runs to and from schools.

After that, the hunt for
the Zodiac increased.

There were many more people
involved looking for him,

and he became a villain
that had to be stopped.

So, Thomas, in the middle
of all this mass hysteria

with everyone hunting
the Zodiac Killer,

the police also
share information

that this letter contains
something unique.

What was it?

This particular letter,

he's including a piece
of physical evidence

that seems incontrovertible.

It turned out to be a piece of
Paul Stine's bloodstained shirt.

♪

♪

Horan: The Paul Stine
murder is totally different

from all the other
Zodiac killings.

You talk about a murder with
the MO and victim profile

are totally different.

It's a single man.
It's not a couple.

This is obviously
not a lovers' lane.

So you would think
there's no connection

to these murders whatsoever.

But this time he includes a
physical piece of evidence

to prove that he was there...

a bloody piece of cloth
torn off Paul Stine's shirt.

There's a lot of
speculation and debate

about which Zodiac
letters are authentic,

which are possible forgeries.

But there are certain letters

which we accept as
being from the Zodiac,

and those are primarily
the ones that were sent

with a piece of a
victim's clothing.

There was the first letter
sent in October of 1969,

which contained a bloodstained
piece of the cab driver's shirt.

And then there were
two other letters

that were accompanied
by pieces of that shirt.

Horan: This letter came
into the Chronicle,

and the Chronicle called
the police and said,

"This guy claims here's a
piece of the victim's shirt."

And then the police lab realizes
that it is a piece of the shirt.

Man: To prove
his authenticity,

the Zodiac sent along this
time, as he did before,

a piece of the shirt belonging
to the cab driver he murdered.

Police don't doubt that the
letter writer is the killer.

Nock: So here's where we are.

Again, Horan's theory is that
28 of the letters are different

from the four that arrived
before the Paul Stine letters.

And our linguistics
experts have doubts

that the letters are
written by one person.

Nock: So this is one of the
things that leaps out to me

that it could be
different killers,

because in the Paul Stine case,
he takes part of the shirt.

He doesn't seem to take trophies
in any of the other crimes.

So now he decides
to take a trophy?

Ho: It could also still
signify the same person.

And the reason is people
can change their ideas

about what might
be exciting to do.

I also think that he understood

that as these crimes
were piling up,

he's gonna have to
prove to the press

and to police and detectives
that he is who he says he is.

Why would he go out
of his way to do that

when he didn't do that in
any of the other murders?

Why does he think
he needs to do this?

And if he's interested
in clothing,

why wouldn't he take some of
Cecelia Shepard's clothing?

Why would he not do
this at Lake Berryessa?

You know, it's interesting
in the police report

for David Faraday's murder
the night of the first murder,

they make a big point of
him holding this class ring.

Right.

You would think that
would be an obvious trophy

for a serial killer to take

and not to leave it there in
between his fingers, right?

Right. It's certainly
the kind of trophy

you'd think a serial
killer would take.

Some people would say
the answer is simple...

Serial killers sometimes
change their MO.

But, Thomas, if you don't
believe that he did it

to prove he was the
killer, what's your theory?

I reviewed that case
file, and I discovered

Paul Stine's car keys and
wallet and money were missing.

And there had been a string
of odd cabdriver robberies.

The cabbie would pick up a fare

and then the fare would ask to
be driven to Presidio Heights,

very close to where
Stine was shot.

And then he would rob the
cabbie and then leave.

Beeson: When it did
happen that evening,

they absolutely thought it
was just another robbery

because there were robberies
going on in San Francisco

and surrounding
areas of cab drivers

just because they were
pretty easy targets

back in the day, unfortunately.

But the shirt meant
definitively that the person

sending the letters had
access to Paul Stine's shirt.

Horan: And that is
technically true,

but it's not from that
very first rectangle

that was torn off the
shirt by the killer.

Someone has torn off
another piece of shirt.

You can see that multiple tears.

And then that piece of shirt

is mailed with different
Zodiac letters or cards.

So to be clear, Thomas,

you're suggesting someone
other than the killer

is inserting themselves
into this homicide case?

Yes. Those pieces of shirt

were taken by someone
other than the killer.

There's more than one person who
had access to Paul Stine shirt.

♪

♪

Nock: So what's your
theory as to how they got

ahold of the shirt if
it wasn't the killer?

Who would have access to
the crime scene evidence?

Once the body arrives at the
morgue, they undress the body.

They take all the clothing,
which is blood soaked.

They take it to the crime
lab and they spread it out

for several hours under
the heat lamps to dry.

Anybody who could have
gotten into that crime lab...

And in those days,
reporters had free

run of the Hall of Justice...
Could have gone in there,

saw a piece of cloth missing
from Paul Stine's shirt

and tore off a couple more
pieces of bloodied shirt

and used them to
write Zodiac letters.

But what's the motivation?

To prove that the
Zodiac was real,

to keep the story going.

And the big problem with
the serial killer story

is when the killer is finally
caught, the story's over.

So I think someone was
twisting these investigations

by writing these letters
to the newspapers.

Would anyone but police officers

have access to the crime lab...
Like journalists, for example?

No journalist would
be allowed in there

under any circumstances.

Nobody's allowed in that area
except the homicide squad,

the investigating officers,
the coroner's people,

the crime lab, photo lab.

So Detective Falzon says
absolutely impossible

that someone could have
gotten a hold of this

and tampered with the
crime scene evidence.

I have quite a bit of evidence
that it was very, very possible.

You read the San Francisco
Chronicle day by day by day,

there's a story in there almost
every day about corruption

at San Francisco
Police Department,

including tampering with
evidence in homicide cases.

So I've read that
back in the day,

reporters had much better
access to law enforcement

than they maybe do today.

Is that true? Jennings: Yes.

So at that time, late
'60s, early '70s,

police and reporters had a very
collaborative relationship,

and there was a newsroom
in the Hall of Justice.

Reporters would go to cops to
try to get inside information

about a case, make a
better story out of it.

You'd be shocked to learn
how often a reporter

was the one taking down
the witness statements.

Then he would type up
the report for the cop

and be allowed to
keep a carbon copy

and take it back
to his newspaper.

Jennings: So it
was very chummy.

It was a very congenial
atmosphere for the most part.

But I don't imagine ever
that some journalist

wrote a Zodiac letter

just to make a bigger
story out of something.

♪

So what happens after
these three letters arrive

with the bloody swatch
at the end of 1969?

Horan: Law enforcement zeroed
in on this letter writer

as the sole killer.

But consider this... I can
definitely see a change in style

and a change in personality
in these letters.

The handwriting changes.

The purpose for writing
the letter changes.

There's no longer any
souvenirs, physical evidence.

There's no longer any
details about any crime.

As an English professor,
it's pretty obvious to me

that another person takes
over writing the letters.

Jennings: "This is
the Zodiac speaking.

I have become very upset with
the people of San Fran Bay Area.

They have not complied
with my wishes for them

to wear some nice buttons."

Horan: And then,
conveniently enough,

Zodiac doesn't write any more
letters to any other newspapers.

He only writes to the Chronicle

from that point forward.

The other newspapers
have to give

the Chronicle free publicity
for a story that's gonna be

exclusive to the
Chronicle from now on.

Jennings: Now it's the
Chronicle's domain exclusively

because he didn't send pieces
of shirt to The Examiner,

to other papers.

So it's sort of cemented
this relationship,

if you will, between
Zodiac and the Chronicle.

Thomas, the Chronicle
becomes ground zero

for the Zodiac at this point.

Why do you think that happened?

Horan: Well, I think that
journalists at the Chronicle

had a motive to keep this
story going in the Chronicle.

Is there someone in
particular at the Chronicle?

Paul Avery's name comes to mind,

and I wouldn't
put it past Avery.

I mean, Avery was always looking
for some sensational story.

Paul Avery was a
newspaper reporter

who was reporting heavily
on the Zodiac crimes.

The killings that have gone on
in this area in recent weeks

that have created
very big headlines

that possibly he's
a little miffed.

He's not the center
of attention anymore.

So Paul Avery was
always getting the scoop

on the Zodiac for some reason

and the only reporter that
received direct correspondences

from the killer.

Nock: Is that suspicious
in any way? I mean...

I think it's highly suspicious
that the Zodiac Killer

actually sent correspondences
directly to Paul Avery,

namely the infamous
Halloween card.

The Halloween card said, "This
is from your secret pal."

It was how he was referenced in
that particular correspondence,

which I always found
very interesting.

Another one called the pines
card or the Sierra card,

where he spelled his
name Paul "Averly"

for some reason.

The Zodiac is just making
an idle threat, frankly.

People speculate maybe
Paul Avery could have

had access to that shirt,

which is an interesting
route to go.

It's just impossible to say

how well they maintained
their evidence at the time,

if somebody else
could have easily

gotten to that shirt or not.

Nock: I have a quick
question about Paul Avery.

Is it true he was
called "Unsavory Avery"?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

It was a kind of an affectionate
sobriquet, if you will,

to call him Unsavory Avery.

But... But at the same time,
it's kind of a testament

to his... to his
aggressiveness as a reporter.

Is it possible that Paul Avery

may have had a hand in
writing those letters

to get the story to
be bigger and bigger?

Have you ever heard that?

That's preposterous, in my view.

First of all, I
never heard that.

Second, you know...

it's hard to imagine any
journalist doing that.

If he was, that wasn't
his primary job.

His primary job was
some kind of criminal.

But I don't... I just don't
see that as feasible at all.

So this... this
is all news to me

and speculation by some
armchair detective.

Do you think he would have
been keeping the story alive?

You can speculate, but
until you show me proof...

I'm an investigator.

I live on facts or something
that I can prove to a jury

that is factual and true.

Facts and proof... two
things that have been at odds

since the very first
so-called Zodiac murder

on December 20, 1969,

and all the way through
the investigation

into Paul Stine's death.

Do you have any strong leads
as far as possible suspects?

No, we do not.

We're going through all
the leads that we get,

and each one has turned
out to be negative.

But someday one of them will
turn out to be positive.

That's our hope.

Falzon: We ended up over a
period of five, six years

with roughly four file
cabinets, three drawers deep,

full of potential suspects
of who could be the Zodiac.

Did some suspects
look good? Yes.

But nobody was ever charged.

So Zodiac...

remains unsolved today.

Butterfield: The Zodiac
letters began in July 1969

and apparently
continued into 1974.

And then the killer went silent.

Nock: Michael, the linguistics
analysis of the letters

that we conducted
seemed to line up

with Professor
Thomas Horan's theory

of there being
numerous letter writers

after the fourth
so-called Zodiac attack.

I think the notion that there
was a change in the writing

after the Paul Stine
murder could indicate

that there was more than
one person involved.

But I also think it could
be a psychological shift

in the killer himself.

Well, look what happened
to the Unabomber.

He actually delivered a
bomb to Salt Lake City.

Someone saw him do it.

He disappeared for six years.

He went into hiding for
fear of being caught.

And clearly the Zodiac was
not planning on being caught.

And so he ended up
then just disappearing.

And then sometimes people like

to insert themselves into cases.

You could make up these
letters and send them in,

pretending to be the Zodiac
when actually you weren't.

♪

Watson: And this was just
a little box that she made.

Her mother let Sharon
and I go into her bedroom

and pick out whatever we
wanted to keep of Betty Lou's,

and that's what I chose.

And inside is a charm bracelet.

Nock: When you think of Betty
Lou, what comes to mind?

Funny, wonderful sense of humor.

And just fun to be around.

Very good friend.
Very good friend.

♪

What do you want people
to know about Darlene?

That she was a wonderful woman.

That she was a great gal,
and she didn't deserve...

to be killed at his
hands or anybody's.

And it was very, very tragic
for her daughter to grow up

without her

and me to grow up
without my sister.

I miss her so much, and I
wish she was still alive.

I'd do anything
to find this guy.

I would love to have an
actual resolution someday

and know that we know
who this person is.

The real tragedy of the
myth of the Zodiac Killer

is not just that it
robbed the victims

and their families of justice

and that it robbed
society of justice,

people have become so
wedded to their beliefs

that they hold on to them
even in the face of clear,

contradictory evidence.

And that's the whole issue
with the Zodiac narrative.

The facts have become
secondary to the story,

and Zodiac is such a
compelling storyline,

I'd write it into a novel.

It works. It just isn't true.

You have to unlearn
a bunch of things.

But when people...
Intelligent, trained people...

When they take another
look at this case,

they see the same things I see.

But the actual story of what
really happened to these poor,

unfortunate young people, cut
down on the threshold of life,

that story is much
more compelling

than the myth of the
so-called Zodiac Killer.

Nock: The dive into
the Zodiac story

and the more of
the onion you peel,

you don't really get to
the core of what happened.

You just get to a muddier place,

because with every Zodiac
expert that you speak to,

it's clear that their
theory on what happened

in the so-called Zodiac crimes
is the strongest theory.

Even when there's solid
evidence in front of them

that challenges their
position, they're unmovable.

The problem with that is when
you're so entrenched in an idea,

like the notion that a
single person committed

all four of these
horrible crimes

and the same person
wrote all of the letters

and the evidence
proves otherwise,

what you get is a cold case that
stretches on for 50-plus years,

and then there's no justice
for any of the victims.

Professor Horan
may be eccentric,

but he's studied every document
publicly available on this case.

And it's impossible not
to walk away wondering,

was there ever a Zodiac Killer?

♪