Zodiac Killer FBI Files & California Law Enforcement Agencies’ Files

Description

Zodiac Killer: Chronology and Key Figures

• December 20, 1968: David Arthur Faraday (17) and Betty Lou Jensen (16) are shot and killed by the Zodiac Killer on Lake Herman Road, within the city limits of Benicia, Solano County, California. These are the earliest confirmed Zodiac killings.
• July 4, 1969: Michael Renault Mageau (19) and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin (22) are shot by the Zodiac Killer in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. Mageau survives severe wounds to his face, neck, and chest. Ferrin is pronounced dead on arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.
• July 5, 1969 – May 16, 1975: Vallejo Police Department files are created and compiled related to the Ferrin/Mageau attack.
• September 27, 1969: Bryan Calvin Hartnell (20) and Cecelia Ann Shepard (22) are stabbed by the Zodiac Killer at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Hartnell receives eight stab wounds in the back and survives.
• September 29, 1969: Cecelia Ann Shepard dies from her wounds received at Lake Berryessa.
• September 30, 1969 – October 4, 1969: Napa County Sheriff Department files are created and compiled related to the Hartnell/Shepard stabbings, including police transcripts of interviews with Hartnell.
• 1969 – 1993: FBI files related to the Zodiac Killer case are generated and collected.
• August 4, 1971: Arthur Leigh Allen, considered the prime suspect, is first interviewed by investigators.
• September 1972: Police search Arthur Leigh Allen’s Santa Rosa trailer home. There was a delay of over a year in obtaining a search warrant for his home.
• 1978: San Francisco homicide detective Dave Toschi, the lead investigator on the Zodiac case, sends three fake fan mail letters praising himself to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Armistead Maupin. This incident leads to suspicion that Toschi may have faked a Zodiac letter from the same year.
• 1991: Police in Vallejo, California, search Arthur Leigh Allen’s apartment.
• 1992: Arthur Leigh Allen dies.
• 1999: A Freedom of Information Act release from the FBI Washington D.C. headquarters contains 1,033 pages of Zodiac case files.
• 2010: A Freedom of Information Act release from the FBI Washington D.C. headquarters contains 709 pages of Zodiac case files, largely duplicating the 1999 release but in a more readable format.
• 2012: A Freedom of Information Act release from the FBI Washington D.C. headquarters contains 923 pages of Zodiac case files, including previously unreleased material such as information on decoding coded messages and psychological assessments of Zodiac.

Cast of Characters

• Zodiac Killer: The unidentified serial killer active in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s. He claimed to have killed 37 people, though law enforcement attributes six murders and two attempted murders to him. He sent letters and coded messages to police and newspapers, sometimes including blood-stained cloth from a victim.
• Betty Lou Jensen: (16) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer, shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road.
• David Faraday: (17) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer, shot and killed on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road.
• Darlene Ferrin: (22) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer, shot and killed on July 4, 1969, in Blue Rock Springs Park.
• Michael Mageau: (19) Confirmed attempted murder victim of the Zodiac Killer, shot on July 4, 1969, in Blue Rock Springs Park. He survived severe wounds.
• Cecelia Shepard: (22) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer, stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa. She died from her wounds on September 29, 1969.
• Bryan Hartnell: (20) Confirmed attempted murder victim of the Zodiac Killer, stabbed on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa. He survived eight stab wounds.
• Paul Stine: (29) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer. (No further details on his case are provided in these specific excerpts).
• Donna Lass: (25) Confirmed victim of the Zodiac Killer. (No further details on her case are provided in these specific excerpts).
• Arthur Leigh Allen: A longtime and considered “prime suspect” in the Zodiac case. He was first interviewed in August 1971. His home was searched in 1972 and his apartment in 1991. He died in 1992.
• Dave Toschi: A San Francisco homicide detective and the lead investigator for the Zodiac case in 1978. His credibility was compromised when he sent fake fan mail praising himself to a columnist, leading to suspicion he might have faked a Zodiac letter.
• Armistead Maupin: A San Francisco Chronicle columnist to whom Dave Toschi sent fake fan mail in 1978.
• Cheri Jo Bates: A murder victim whose case is mentioned, but Zodiac’s involvement in her death is disputed. (No further details on her case are provided in these specific excerpts).

Zodiac Killer FBI Files & California Law Enforcement Agencies’ Files

3,028 pages of files copied from the FBI, Vallejo Police Department, Solano County Sheriff Department, Napa County Sheriff Department, California Department of Justice, and the Benicia Police Department covering the Zodiac Killer case.

In the late 1960’s a serial killer, who referred to himself as “Zodiac,” claimed to have killed 37 people in the San Francisco Bay area. Law enforcement attribute six murders and two attempted murders to Zodiac. Most of the crimes were against couples in “lovers’ lanes.” Zodiac sent letters that included coded messages to local police departments and newspapers. One letter contained squares of blood-stained cloth, cut from a victim’s shirt. Zodiac has never been officially identified.

His confirmed victims were:

Betty Lou Jensen, 16
David Faraday, 17
Darlene Ferrin, 22
Michael Mageau, 19, survived
Cecelia Shepard, 22
Bryan Hartnell, 22, survived
Paul Stine, 29
Donna Lass, 25

FBI Files

A total of 2,748 pages of FBI files, dating from 1969 to 1993, from four different Freedom of Information Act requests. Contains approximately 1,700 unique and discernable FBI documents.

Includes an 83-page Freedom of Information Act request release of San Francisco FBI Bureau files on Arthur Leigh Allen, a longtime suspect in the Zodiac case.

Three additional Freedom of Information Act request releases of Zodiac case files from the FBI Washington D.C. headquarters, includes a 1999 release containing 1,033 pages and a 2010 release containing 709 pages. The 2010 release seems not to contain any material not in the 1999 release, but the later released copies are significantly easier to read. A 923-page 2012 Freedom of Information Act request release of FBI Washington D.C. headquarters files contains previously unreleased material. Much of the 2012 release includes information on the decoding of coded messages and psychological assessments of Zodiac.

Files show there was a delay of over a year in getting a search warrant for the prime suspect’s home. Authorities considered Arthur Leigh Allen the prime suspect. He was first interviewed by investigators on August 4th, 1971. Police first searched Allen’s Santa Rosa trailer home in September 1972. Police in Vallejo California searched his apartment in 1991. Allen died in 1992.

The Zodiac investigation was disrupted in 1978, when San Francisco homicide detective Dave Toschi, the case’s lead investigator, made three fake fan mail letters praising himself and sent them to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Armistead Maupin. This led to the belief that Toschi may have faked a 1978 letter from Zodiac.

California Law Enforcement Files

Vallejo Police Department Files – 97 pages of files dating from 7-5-1969 to 5-16-1975.  Files cover the Ferrin/Mageau attack. Michael Renault Mageau age 19, and Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin age 22 were shot by Zodiac on July 4, 1969, in the parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. Although severely wounded with shots to his shot face, neck, and chest, Mageau survived. Ferrin was pronounced dead on arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital.

Solano County Sheriff Department Files – 76 pages of files, dating from 12-28-1968 to 3-22-1969, covering the earliest confirmed Zodiac killings, the Faraday/Jensen murders.  David Arthur Faraday age 17 and Betty Lou Jensen age 16 were shot and killed by Zodiac on December 20, 1968, on Lake Herman Road, within the city limits of Benicia, a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Napa County Sheriff Department Files – 53 pages of files dating from 9-30-1969 to 10-4-1969, covering the Hartnell/Shepard stabbings.  Zodiac on September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa in Napa County stabbed Bryan Calvin Hartnell, age 20 and Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22. Hartnell received eight stab wounds in the back and survived. Shepard died from her wounds on September 29, 1969. Files includes a detailed police transcript of interviews of Hartnell soon after the attack, while he was hospitalized.

California Department of Justice Files – 48 pages of reports. Includes a California Department of Justice Ballistics report on the Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday Case, a special report on the Shepard-Hartnell case and a report summarizing facts in the Cheri Jo Bates murder case, this is a case in which Zodiac’s involvement is disputed. The report also covers the other confirmed Zodiac cases.

The files contain a text transcript of all recognizable text embedded into the graphic image of each page of each document, creating a searchable finding aid. Text searches can be done across all files in the collection.