The Zodiac Killer

It only takes three murders over the course of more than 30 days to be classified as a serial

killer, and thus there have been hundreds and hundreds of individuals considered to be

serial killers in the last century or so.

Most of these people are largely unknown to the wide world, terrorizing local

communities for a while before likely being caught. There are a handful of killers, however,

that make a unique name for themselves, either through the sheer brutality of their actions,

the number of their victims, or the fact that they were never identified.

The Zodiac Killer falls into this last category, managing to kill at least five people in

Northern California around the late 60s without ever being identified.

The Zodiac Killer has been a subject of pop culture dating back to the early 70s when he was still active,

but let's just take a short look at the facts.

We'll be bouncing around the timeline a little bit, but let's begin at the widely accepted point of confirmed kills.

In December of 1968, two teenagers, David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen,

are taking a drive outside of Benicia, California, on their first official date. They had promised

Betty Lou's parents they'd be home by 11 p.m. But around 10.15, David parked his vehicle at a

makeout spot on Lake Herman Road.

Shortly after 11, their two bodies were discovered by a woman that lived nearby.

David was found next to the vehicle with a bullet wound in his head,

and Betty Lou was found further away, apparently in an attempt to flee, with five bullet wounds in her back.

The car itself also had some bullet holes, possibly caused by the killer to force the two to

exit the vehicle. Police were perplexed by the motive of the killings, and had no suspect

...