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time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
00:02:07
the evening of sunday march 22 1970 five months after the murder of paul stein in san bernardino california
00:02:17
[Music] kathleen jones was preparing for a long road trip the 22 year old was visiting her sick
00:02:26
mother in petaluma a seven hour drive away kathleen who was seven months pregnant
00:02:33
preferred to make this familiar journey at night there were fewer people on the roads and
00:02:39
the car's engine would allow her ten-month-old daughter to sleep kathleen got into her 1957 chevrolet and
00:02:48
set off with her daughter strapped into the back seat by 11 45 pm kathleen was driving along
00:02:56
the interstate 132 highway in patterson she glanced up at her rear view mirror a
00:03:04
late-model light tan-colored car was trailing close behind her it was being driven by a white male
00:03:11
wearing black framed eyeglasses he flashed his headlights trying to get kathleen's attention
00:03:20
kathleen ignored the man and he soon sped up and overtook her nervous that something might be wrong
00:03:27
with her vehicle she decided to pull over and check just in case noticing this the man promptly breaks
00:03:36
then backed up to meet her by the side of the highway speaking in a slow monotonous voice he
00:03:44
explained that her left rear wheel had been wobbling he offered to fix it and kathleen
00:03:50
accepted the man fetched a wrench and knelt by kathleen's wheel for a couple of minutes
00:03:57
tightening the lug bolts he then stood up and told her she was all set to continue
00:04:05
he strolled back to his car and drove away without saying another word kathleen started her engine and pulled
00:04:14
away from the roadside but within moments her car came to a grinding hold she got out to see what was wrong
00:04:24
the left rear tyre had almost completely fallen off with only one bolt still holding it in place
00:04:32
the man who'd made the repairs was still close enough to see that kathleen had a
00:04:37
problem he promptly returned to the scene and offered to drive her to the nearest
00:04:43
service station for professional assistance kathleen agreed and gathered up her infant daughter leaving her keys in the
00:04:52
ignition and the headlights on she then climbed into the front passenger seat of the man's vehicle
00:04:59
holding her daughter on her lap the car's interior was a mess with clothing rubbish and children's toys
00:05:07
scattered about after continuing along the highway for some time the men eventually took an
00:05:15
exit that led down some quiet country roads kathleen was relieved to see a service
00:05:22
station in the distance but the man drove straight past it without so much as pausing
00:05:30
they soon passed more service stations and the same thing happened again and again
00:05:36
confused kathleen finally asked the man why he wasn't stopping he simply explained that none of the
00:05:44
service stations were right then changed the subject by this point they'd been driving around
00:05:51
for about an hour and a half but the man showed no signs of finding help as promised
00:05:58
hoping she was just being paranoid kathleen continued making small talk the man told her that he worked for two
00:06:07
months of the year then spent the rest of his time driving around mostly at night
00:06:14
kathleen asked if he spent his long drives helping many people who found themselves in trouble
00:06:21
the man simply replied when i get through with them they don't need any help [Music]
00:06:46
[Music] kathleen was now terrified certain that the man planned to harm her in some way
00:07:00
when he pulled up at a stop sign she saw an opportunity gripping her daughter in her arms
00:07:07
kathleen flung open the door and jumped from the vehicle she raced into a nearby field as fast as
00:07:14
she could the man made no attempt to stop her instead he simply reached over closed
00:07:23
the passenger door and turned his lights off he sat stationary in the dark for approximately five minutes before
00:07:33
flicking his lights back on and driving away into the night kathleen lay down flat on the ground
00:07:42
it was pitch black and she had no idea where she was it appeared she had run into a vineyard
00:07:49
and was in an irrigation ditch surrounded by tall grass after the man left the area kathleen's
00:07:57
first instinct was to return to the road she clambered up an embankment and stood
00:08:03
near the bottom of a hill by the roadside waiting for a car to come by a semi-trailer approached and kathleen
00:08:12
frantically flagged it to stop the driver hit the brakes kathleen's relief was soon overcome with
00:08:21
anxiety she eyed the semi-trailer's male driver with apprehension and begged him not to
00:08:28
come any closer despite being her only means of escape she didn't want to get into another car
00:08:36
with another male stranger and put herself her daughter and her unborn baby in potential danger
00:08:45
eventually a female driver arrived on the scene and offered to help the woman drove kathleen and her
00:08:53
daughter back to paterson and dropped them outside the town's police station it was around 2 30 am
00:09:02
almost three hours had passed since kathleen's ordeal began she was visibly distraught and it
00:09:10
took officers some time to calm her down eventually she was able to provide a statement about the night's events
00:09:21
just as she concluded her story kathleen noticed a nearby bulletin board she began screaming
00:09:30
the attending officer asked what was wrong kathleen pointed at a piece of paper pinned to the bulletin board and said
00:09:39
that's the man my god that's the man who picked us up the officer looked to see what she was
00:09:47
pointing at it was a wanted poster featuring two composite sketches of the zodiac killer
00:10:00
kathleen couldn't remember exactly where she'd left her vehicle but a deputy was
00:10:05
dispatched to the general area on the lookout for the 1957 chevrolet as he traveled two miles east of
00:10:13
interstate five he noticed the grey smoke emanating from a spot up ahead it was coming from kathleen's vehicle
00:10:23
someone had set it on fire and the car was still smoldering all that remained was an empty
00:10:31
burned-out shell although kathleen had said her left rear wheel was tampered with an examination
00:10:40
of the wreckage showed it was actually the right side back at the patterson police station
00:10:47
interviewing officers began to wonder about kathleen's story it had been five months since the
00:10:54
zodiac's last known attack and they had been waiting with nervous anticipation for him to make his next move
00:11:03
kathleen's ordeal didn't fit with his typical lemo as he had never abducted a victim for a considerable length of time
00:11:11
but it was possible he had changed his approach once again yet with each retelling kathleen added
00:11:19
small details and new claims that varied from the original she said the man took her car keys but
00:11:28
they were still in the ignition and returned to kathleen after her car was towed
00:11:34
initially she also said the man refused to stop then later clarified that he had stopped
00:11:41
at one service station but it was closed complicating matters further was the fact that kathleen never actually asked
00:11:49
the man to stop or let her go because of this police wondered whether the incident could technically be
00:11:57
qualified as a kidnapping over time kathleen's story became more embellished as she added that the man
00:12:05
had repeatedly threatened to kill her after her opportunistic escape he stepped out of the car to look for her
00:12:13
with a flashlight police hoped to verify kathleen's story with the woman who had driven her to
00:12:21
patterson that kathleen hadn't asked for her contact information a few weeks after kathleen's encounter a
00:12:32
group of friends in san francisco were chatting when they realized none of them had seen or heard from their friend
00:12:38
robert salem in several days on april 19 they decided to check in on him they let themselves into the apartment
00:12:49
in the mid market district where 40 year old robert lived alone to their shock his lavishly furnished
00:12:57
home was in total disarray drawers had been upended and robert's belongings were strewn
00:13:04
everywhere the place had been thoroughly ransacked in the middle of the chaos was robert
00:13:12
sprawled on a couch the white jumpsuit he was wearing was covered in blood he had been stabbed five times in the
00:13:21
back once in the chest and his throat had been slashed robert's left ear was also missing
00:13:31
as his friends cast their eyes upwards the sight before them grew even more shocking
00:13:39
scrawled on a wall in robert's own blood were the words satan save zodiac followed by a crosshair symbol
00:13:50
despite the message tying the murder to the zodiac detectives were quick to rule
00:13:56
out any connection nothing about the crime matched the zodiac's mo investigators theorised that the
00:14:05
culprit's motive was robbery and they staged the scene in an attempt to throw police off their path
00:14:12
they were right months later a 22 year old man named stanley dean confessed to the crime
00:14:20
while under investigation for another unrelated murder detective david tosky lived and breathed
00:14:31
the zodiac case the homicide inspector for san francisco's police department had
00:14:38
originally fronted the investigation into paul stein's murder once the zodiac took responsibility for
00:14:45
the cabbies death tosky and his partner william armstrong went in hard to identify the notorious serial killer
00:14:55
toski was a notable character at san francisco's pd in contrast to the dark plain-coloured
00:15:02
clothing worn by his colleagues toski stood out in colorful suits and bow ties he embraced his position as the public
00:15:12
face of the zodiac case a softly spoken friendly man toski worked tirelessly with police
00:15:20
departments in other jurisdictions to collate all the zodiac information and to begin the mammoth task of piecing it
00:15:28
together they focused on the suspect's known features his physical appearance the fact that he committed crimes in
00:15:38
locations named after bodies of water his mention of having a basement which very few homes in california possessed
00:15:48
the possibility that he had a military background several details alluded to this
00:15:56
firstly the zodiac was known to wear winged walker boots associated with the air force
00:16:03
in one of his letters he'd talked about coating his fingertips with aeroplane cement which indicated another possible
00:16:10
air force link he'd also used a bayonet style knife in one of his killings a weapon commonly
00:16:18
linked to the us military after fleeing the scene of paul stein's attack the zodiac had fled into the
00:16:26
presidio park area which was a former united states army post tuskegee familiarized himself with all
00:16:35
the zodiac correspondence then on april 20 1970 he received an unopened letter that had originally been
00:16:45
sent to the san francisco chronicle addressed to the editor the newspaper staff recognized the handwriting on the
00:16:53
envelope immediately and forwarded it to police without opening it inside was a letter that began
00:17:05
this is the zodiac speaking a question followed by the way have you cracked the last cipher i sent
00:17:15
you the answer was no no one had yet cracked the zodiac killer's previous cipher known as the
00:17:24
340. his letter continued my name is the sentence ended abruptly a 13 character line of symbols followed
00:17:40
it was another cipher then switching back to plain english again the zodiac pondered
00:17:50
i am mildly curious as to how much money you have on my head now he denied responsibility for a pipe bomb
00:17:58
blast that occurred months earlier at the golden gate park police station while simultaneously claiming that he'd
00:18:06
recently tried to detonate a bomb on a bus his plans had been thwarted by heavy rain
00:18:14
if he'd succeeded he said his death toll would be even higher than the ten lives he said he'd taken thus
00:18:23
far included with the latter was a hand-drawn diagram of this supposed bomb along with the words
00:18:32
p.s i hope you have fun trying to figure out who i killed the letter was signed with a crosshair
00:18:42
along with the letters sfpd for san francisco police department an equals sign and the number zero
00:18:52
[Music] in his previous letter the zodiac had mentioned seven victims now he was claiming he'd killed ten
00:19:03
investigators only knew of five david faraday betty lou jensen darlene farren cecilia shepherd and paul stein
00:19:15
either he had killed more people than the police were aware of which would be unusual given his desire to take credit
00:19:22
for his crimes or he was inflating his kill count to either confuse police or increase his notoriety
00:19:33
the 13 symbol cipher was sent to cryptologists but ciphers shorter than 30 characters are generally considered
00:19:41
unsolvable as numerous solutions can be derived from them without further input from the killer
00:19:49
the code was deemed too difficult to decipher and the zodiac's identity remained a mystery
00:19:58
despite his apparent desire to be identified the zodiac went to great lengths to avoid this happening
00:20:06
his handwriting while distinct and recognizable often varied in minut detail the letter d was always in cursive and
00:20:16
his arse appeared like check marks police believed he was disguising his genuine handwriting so as not to give
00:20:24
himself away given the zodiac's claim that his bomb attempt was swamped out by the rain
00:20:33
an investigation was launched into lower lying regions of the san francisco bay area
00:20:40
if police could find the spots where the rainwater pulled they might be one step
00:20:45
closer to locating the killer when denying responsibility for the police station bombing the zodiac had
00:20:54
written it just wouldn't do to move in on someone else's territory did this indicate the zodiac had a
00:21:04
specific area that he considered his turf whatever the case the my name is letter was well examined
00:21:14
and its points thoroughly explored but detectives failed to achieve any major breakthroughs
00:21:21
reports on the matter ended with the bleak remark the investigation continues a little over a week later on april 28
00:21:35
the zodiac's threats escalated when he sent a cartoon greeting card to the chronicle
00:21:42
it featured an image of a small man riding a donkey alongside another small man riding a dragon
00:21:51
printed above the image was the caption sorry to hear your ass is a dragon this pre-printed message appeared
00:22:00
to be a play on words which the zodiac was employing to mock the police's slow investigation
00:22:09
in the zodiac's handwriting was a more personalized note warning of how he was finally intending to carry out his bomb
00:22:17
threat it read i hope you enjoy yourselves when i have my blast there were two ways that the blast could
00:22:30
be avoided the zodiac added one the chronicle was to publish details about his plans to blow up a bus
00:22:40
2. he wanted to see the people of san francisco wearing zodiac themed badges the san francisco police department
00:22:51
instructed the chronicle to run a brief article about the card in order to placate the zodiac
00:22:58
they were certain this latest note was genuinely from him due to the bomb threats which had also been made in
00:23:05
previous zodiac letters the case detectives had always been careful to keep those references under
00:23:13
wraps out of fear they may cause unnecessary panic on may 31 law enforcement made the difficult
00:23:23
decision to publicize the bomb threat suddenly the risk felt too great [Music] it was 5 28 am on june 19 1970 when the
00:23:40
sound of gunshots rang out over wallace street in san francisco's lower hate neighborhood
00:23:47
there were three shots in total fired in quick succession officers were dispatched to the area
00:23:55
after receiving a call from a concerned citizen [Music] they pulled up to the block between
00:24:02
scott and pierce streets where they found a stationary patrol car the car's interior was soaked with blood
00:24:10
and its sole occupant twenty-five-year-old traffic patrolman richard radatic was slumped over towards
00:24:18
the passenger seat barely clinging to life raditic had been preparing to run a check on a parked car when a bullet
00:24:28
fired from a 38 caliber pistol hit him in the head as he was still gripping his police microphone
00:24:36
just as one of the attending officers exited the vehicle to take a closer look a neighbor leaned out of a nearby window
00:24:44
and shouted get down they might still be around the officer quickly ducked down and
00:24:52
waited for backup to arrive soon the area was swarming with police although no one had seen the shooting
00:25:03
witnesses reported seeing a white cadillac speeding away from the area seconds after the shots were fired
00:25:11
officer ratatic was rushed to the hospital but later died of his injuries his colleagues had no idea who could
00:25:20
have killed him and urged anyone who knew anything about the crime to come forward
00:25:30
as the days ticked by the people of san francisco remained on edge wondering when or where the zodiac would strike
00:25:38
next despite their fears they ignored his request to wear badges that acknowledged
00:25:46
his demands as schools closed for summer vacation there was a sense of relief throughout
00:25:53
the city at least there would be no school buses on the roads for the killer to target
00:26:02
almost two weeks passed with no reported attacks then on monday june 29 another suspicious envelope arrived at the
00:26:12
offices of the chronicle it had all the hallmarks of a zodiac letter except that unlike those before it this
00:26:21
one wasn't specifically addressed to the editor inside was a map of san francisco with
00:26:29
the location marked in the mount diablo area the isolated peak sat to the east of the
00:26:37
bay area and was one of california's most iconic landmarks attracting hikers bird watchers and nature lovers
00:26:47
the map was accompanied by a letter that read this is the zodiac speaking i have become very upset with the people
00:26:57
of san fran bay area they have not complied with my wishes i promised to punish them if they did
00:27:06
not comply by annihilating a full school bus but now school is out for the summer
00:27:14
so i punished them in another way i shot a man sitting in a parked car with a 38.
00:27:22
the map coupled with this code will tell you where the bomb is set you have until next fall to dig it up
00:27:34
at the end of the letter were 32 coded characters alongside the zodiac's crosshair symbol
00:27:42
was the number 12 next to the letters sfpd equals zero the killer was now claiming he'd
00:27:52
murdered 12 people while investigators were no closer to catching him the latest cipher was sent to the fbi
00:28:01
but experts were unable to crack the code nor were any fingerprints detected on either the letter map or envelope
00:28:11
however the handwriting was a match to the previous letters confirming it to be genuine zodiac correspondence
00:28:19
[Music] investigators reflected on the zodiac's claim of having shot a man in a car with
00:28:27
a 38-caliber weapon the only recent crime that matched this description was the fatal shooting of
00:28:35
patrolman richard ratatic the scene of the shooting was just two and a half miles from where the zodiac
00:28:42
had killed cabbie paul stein and the zodiac had recently boasted of killing police members in a letter
00:28:51
writing there is more glory in killing a cop than a kid because a cop can shoot back
00:29:00
however several days after officer ratatic was shot a witness reported seeing an ex-convict named joe johnson
00:29:09
driving away from the scene and police thought he was a likely suspect they'd already issued an apb for
00:29:17
johnson's arrest and didn't believe that the zodiac was involved in any way charges against johnson were later
00:29:26
dropped due to a lack of evidence although the authorities remained dubious about the zodiac's confession
00:29:35
they couldn't confirm or deny whether he was responsible for the young officer's
00:29:40
murder one month passed with no further word or action from the zodiac then on july 27
00:29:52
another letter arrived at the chronicle in which the zodiac again complained that people weren't wearing zodiac
00:30:00
themed badges angered he said he now had a little list of people he planned to kill
00:30:09
starting with a woman and a baby whom he'd given a rather interesting ride a few months prior
00:30:16
he claimed that the encounter had ended with him torching their car case detectives believed the woman he
00:30:25
was referring to was kathleen johns and the reference appeared to confirm her suspicion that the man who tampered with
00:30:33
her vehicle and set it alight was the zodiac killer but they also had to consider the
00:30:40
possibility that the zodiac had simply read kathleen's account in the news and decided to take credit
00:30:49
a second much longer letter also arrived at the chronicle that same day in it the zodiac threatened to torment
00:30:58
the souls of his victims if his requests continued to be ignored outlining various torture methods in
00:31:05
graphic detail once again he alluded to having a little list of intended victims
00:31:15
the zodiac's repeated use of this phrase was a reference to a song from a gilbert
00:31:20
and sullivan opera called the mercado the character who sang this song was known as coco the lord high executioner
00:31:29
and he wore a hood very similar to the one the zodiac had donned for the lake berryessa attack
00:31:37
to ensure this connection wasn't missed the zodiac had written a parody of the song describing the types of people he
00:31:44
planned to target next his lyrics concluded with the chilling words but it really doesn't matter whom you
00:31:54
place upon the list for none of them be missed none of them be missed detectives believed this second more
00:32:05
detailed illusion indicated he was worried his earlier reference may have been misinterpreted
00:32:12
convinced this must be significant they wondered whether he may have performed in the mikado either during school or in
00:32:20
an amateur production they looked into drama troops that were staging the mercado during the time of
00:32:27
the zodiac attacks but these inquiries led nowhere [Music] while this letter featured the zodiac's
00:32:35
usual spelling errors its tone was more bizarre than the others some investigators speculated
00:32:43
that his mental state was deteriorating while others wondered if this was just a
00:32:49
ruse to trick them into believing he was insane in any case his threats felt increasingly empty
00:32:59
it appeared to detectives that the zodiac was now more interested in seeking attention through words than
00:33:06
actions [Music] editors at the chronicle felt that the zodiac had been too encouraged by all of
00:33:13
the media attention consequently they decided not to publish any excerpts from these last two letters
00:33:23
the zodiac no longer appeared to be committing any attacks and the emptier his threat sounded the less interested
00:33:31
readers were in his letters the evening of sunday september 6 1970 11 months after the murder of paul stein
00:33:48
in south lake tahoe california 25 year old donna lass settled in for her night shift at the sahara hotel
00:33:59
casino in south lake tahoe she was employed as the on-site nurse and it was her duty to tend to any
00:34:07
patrons who required basic medical assistance it was a relatively new job as donna had
00:34:15
only recently moved to south lake tahoe from the presidio area of san francisco her shift that night was fairly ordinary
00:34:25
and ended without incident donna eventually clocked off and disappeared into the night
00:34:34
the following day the phone rang at the sahara hotel casino one of donna's co-workers answered
00:34:44
a man on the other line said he was a relative of donna's and explained there had been an illness in the family
00:34:51
consequently donna wouldn't be able to make it to work her employer made note of her absence
00:34:59
and assumed she'd soon return but donna didn't show up for her next shift either and had made no further
00:35:09
contact now concerned her employer notified the police they paid a visit to donna's apartment
00:35:18
finding her 1968 convertible parked out the front inside her apartment was spotless
00:35:28
donna's clothes and credit cards were still there and a check of her bank account revealed it hadn't been touched
00:35:37
officers reached out to donna's family who revealed something alarming there had been no illness in the family
00:35:45
and they had no idea who could have called the casino on donna's behalf donna's unexplained absence now took a
00:35:54
sinister turn given that she wasn't the type to simply leave without an explanation police
00:36:02
suspected foul play intensive searches were conducted throughout the lake tahoe area but to no
00:36:10
avail a witness reported having seen donna walking near her apartment with a blonde-haired man on september 7
00:36:20
but this was never verified detective speculated that donna's disappearance could be connected to the
00:36:28
case of another young nurse judith hikari who had been abducted and murdered six months earlier
00:36:37
judith's savagely beaten body had been found in a shallow grave near tahoe national forest
00:36:44
but with little to go on any connection to donna's disappearance was purely speculative
00:36:54
meanwhile in san francisco two months had gone by with no further contact from the zodiac killer
00:37:02
then on wednesday october 7th a postcard arrived at the office of the chronicle claiming to be from the zodiac
00:37:11
typed on a filing card a message on the back had been crafted from newspaper clippings
00:37:18
it read dear editor you'll hate me but i've got to tell you the pace isn't any slower
00:37:28
p.s there are reports city police pig cops are closing in on me [ __ ] i'm crack proof
00:37:36
what is the price tag now it also featured a crosshair symbol crafted from red paper
00:37:46
given this card was significantly different from the zodiac's previous correspondence
00:37:52
detectives were unsure if it was genuine or a hoax whoever had sent it had also increased
00:38:00
the zodiac's death toll including a number 13 to allude to his number of victims
00:38:08
by this time one year had passed since the last confirmed to zodiac attack the murder of cab driver paul stein
00:38:17
there had been no breakthroughs and both the media and the public were losing interest in the case
00:38:27
it wasn't long before the zodiac made contact again on october 26 an envelope arrived at the
00:38:36
chronicle with the strange symbol drawn in the top left corner it was a letter z underneath a sharp
00:38:44
zigzagging line bordered by four darts on the back of the envelope written diagonally to form a cross were the
00:38:53
words sorry no cypher this letter was addressed to paul avery the journalist who had covered the vast
00:39:03
majority of the newspaper's zodiac stories inside the envelope was a black and white halloween card depicting a dancing
00:39:13
skeleton the front of the card red from your secret power i can feel it in my bones you wake to know my name
00:39:24
and so i'll clue you in inside of the card the message concluded with the words but then
00:39:35
why spoil the game happy halloween the zodiac had handwritten his own message that read
00:39:46
boo you are doomed peek-a-boo on the back of the card written in all capitals to form a cross were the words
00:39:58
paradise and the slaves paradise had been spelled incorrectly with a letter c instead of an ass
00:40:08
intercepting this cross were the words by gun by knife and by rope as this was the first time the zodiac
00:40:20
had targeted a particular individual in his correspondence investigators couldn't help but wonder
00:40:28
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00:43:45
shaken but undeterred by the looming threat paul avery embarked on a 430 mile trip to southern
00:43:52
california after word spread that he'd received a card from the zodiac killer harita had contacted him with a theory
00:44:00
too compelling to ignore they'd been following the zodiac case closely and recognised some similarities
00:44:08
to an unsolved murder that had occurred in the city of riverside four years earlier
00:44:15
was it possible this had been the early work of the zodiac intrigued by the theory paul avery flew
00:44:24
to riverside to examine the case file for himself on october 30 1966 18 year old sherry jo bates had been
00:44:34
stabbed to death by an unidentified assailant after leaving her college library a broken watch and heel print from a
00:44:42
military shoe were found at the scene her killer later sent anonymous letters confessing to the crime and like the
00:44:51
zodiac his writing was peppered with spelling and grammatical errors paul avery read through the typed
00:45:00
confession letter that had arrived at the riverside daily enterprise newspaper following sherry joe's murder
00:45:08
it read in part she was young and beautiful but now she is battered and dead she is not the first and she will not be
00:45:18
the last beware i am stalking your girls now paul then examined the handwritten letters that had been sent to sherry joe
00:45:30
bates's father the riverside police department and the riverside daily enterprise newspaper
00:45:38
all three read bates had to die there will be more paul reached the bottom of the letter he
00:45:48
felt a jolt of surprise two of the letters sent by sherry joe's killer were signed with a squiggle
00:45:57
it looked like the letter z it didn't escape paul's attention that the city of riverside was named for a
00:46:06
body of water just like the zodiac's other murder sites [Music] sherry joe's car had also been disabled
00:46:14
before her attack similar to the experience reported by kathleen johns perhaps the zodiac had inadvertently
00:46:23
left evidence at the bates crime scene that could be traced back to him and had never taken credit for the murder
00:46:29
because he knew it would be his undoing if the zodiac was indeed responsible for
00:46:36
sherry joe's death it would provide some compelling new clues to his identity sherry joe's killer had written in his
00:46:45
confession that he'd made her pay for the brush-offs she had given him in the past
00:46:52
this indicated he may have been of similar age to sherry joe in 1966 meaning the zodiac would now be in his
00:47:00
early to mid twenties perhaps he'd previously lived in riverside and made the move to san
00:47:07
francisco in recent years handwriting expert sherwood morill examined letters on the three notes sent
00:47:16
to sherry joe's father riverside pd and the local newspaper he concluded there was a high
00:47:24
probability that it matched the handwriting of the zodiac killer following sherry joe's murder a
00:47:33
disturbing poem had been found scratched into a desk at her college library which
00:47:38
was believed to have been written by her killer morill analyzed this too and concluded
00:47:45
quote it is unquestionably the work of the zodiac police in riverside weren't convinced
00:47:56
they'd recently been looking into a local man who they considered a prime suspect in sherry joe's murder
00:48:03
however the san francisco police department and the fbi found the theory compelling and an investigator was
00:48:11
assigned to re-examine sherry joe's case full time on november 16 1970 the los angeles
00:48:21
times published an article exploring the possible connections four months later a letter arrived at
00:48:29
the newspaper's offices it read in part this is the zodiac speaking like i have always said i am crack proof
00:48:43
if the blue meanies are ever going to catch me they had best get off their fat asses and do something
00:48:49
[Music] i do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity
00:48:56
but they are only finding the easy ones there are a hell of a lot more down there
00:49:06
riverside police dismissed this final claim they had no other unsolved homicides
00:49:12
that could possibly fit with the zodiac crimes sierra club around in the snow sought victim 12
00:49:26
peak through the pines past lake tahoe areas these were the cryptic words that arrived on a postcard addressed to paul
00:49:37
avery at the chronicle one week later the front featured an artist's impression of the new forest pines
00:49:45
housing development in lake tahoe nevada right on the border with california the promotional image which depicted a
00:49:54
snowy neighborhood framed by pine trees had been widely circulated in many northern california newspapers the
00:50:01
weekend prior in the bottom right hand corner the zodiac crosshair was scrawled in thick
00:50:09
ink although the rest of the card was notably different to other zodiac correspondences
00:50:17
when detectives saw the postcard they guessed which case the message was referring to
00:50:24
it had now been six months since 25 year old casino nurse donna lass disappeared
00:50:30
without a trace from the south lake tahoe area nothing about her case fit the zodiac's
00:50:37
mo but investigators were intrigued enough to dig deeper they looked into donna's history and
00:50:45
discovered that she shared a loose connection with one of the zodiac's victims at the time of cabbie paul stein's
00:50:53
murder donna was living just six blocks from where his body was found she had also worked at a hospital in the
00:51:01
presidio the park where the zodiac was believed to have hidden after killing paul
00:51:09
in the top right corner of the zodiac's postcard a single hole had been punched out to emit a section of land in the
00:51:16
forest pines development believing that this could be where donna lassa's body was buried police waited
00:51:24
until recent heavy snowfall had thawed before launching a thorough excavation of the site
00:51:31
however they found nothing of significance the zodiac's attempt to draw attention
00:51:39
to the area remained a mystery rumors began circulating that a detective may have sent the lag tahoe
00:51:46
postcard in an attempt to further their career or that a family member of donnas
00:51:52
had sent it out of desperation for her case to be solved torment nagged at donald chaney
00:52:04
for years he'd been stewing over a disturbing conversation he'd had with a friend during a hunting trip in 1968
00:52:14
it had all started with the words have you ever thought of hunting people not only had the friend described in
00:52:23
haunting detail the way he'd carry out a murder but he'd even figured out exactly
00:52:28
who his victims would be it seemed as though his friend was thrilled not only by the notion of
00:52:35
killing people but the thought of toying with the detectives tasked with solving
00:52:40
his crimes donald's friend had mentioned how he would send the police confusing letters
00:52:47
which he would sign off with the moniker the zodiac while the conversation itself had been
00:52:55
enough to make donald feel uneasy it wasn't until the zodiac killer began making headlines that he realised his
00:53:03
friend might have been serious when donald read about the zodiac's threats to shoot children as they came
00:53:10
off the school bus he remembered that his friend had made a similar comment he'd said he would shoot the tyres off
00:53:18
the bus and then quote pick off the little darlings as they bounced out when donald saw a sketch of the suspect
00:53:28
his heart skipped a beat it looked remarkably similar to his friend donald couldn't keep this information to
00:53:38
himself any longer he confided in a work colleague who summoned the los angeles county police
00:53:47
two detectives visited the man's workplace to take donald's statement after holding it in for years he finally
00:53:55
gave them the name of his friend arthur lee allen on august 4 1971 lead detectives david
00:54:08
tosky and william armstrong pulled up at the panel oil refinery 10 miles south of
00:54:14
vallejo they were joined by detective john mullinax from the vallejo police department
00:54:23
the trio approached arthur lee allen's employer who'd been made aware of their impending visit
00:54:30
he took the officers to allen who had just started working as a junior chemist alan looked confused as he realized the
00:54:39
three detectives were there to interview him when told that an anonymous source had
00:54:46
linked him to the zodiac attacks allen was taken aback however this wasn't the first time that he'd been
00:54:55
questioned in relation to one of the zodiac murders police had spoken to him after the
00:55:01
attack against cecilia shepard and brian hartnell at lake berryessa however allen said he couldn't even
00:55:10
follow the zodiac story in the news because he found it too morbid for some unknown reason a member of the
00:55:18
public had tipped police off to allen after the lake berryessa attack he claimed he was nowhere near the lake
00:55:26
on the day in question but 100 miles away diving at salt point state park he returned to the home he shared
00:55:35
with his mother in vallejo at around 4 pm and stayed there for the remainder of the evening
00:55:43
police had asked if there was anyone who could verify this alibi alan said he'd met a couple at salt
00:55:50
point but couldn't remember their names he had also chatted with a neighbor after pulling into his driveway but they
00:55:58
had passed away one week later and couldn't confirm this interaction curiously this was a detail he'd
00:56:06
neglected to mention during his first police interview thirty-seven-year-old allen had admitted
00:56:15
to having an interest in firearms and said he owned some 22 caliber handguns before detectives could ask him about
00:56:24
any other possible weapons he suddenly blurted out the two knives i had in my car with
00:56:31
blood on them the blood came from a chicken i killed the investigators were stunned
00:56:39
perhaps alan was under the impression that they had more information about him than they actually did
00:56:46
later again without being asked alan mentioned that he'd been in southern california at the time of
00:56:53
sherry joe bates's murder he denied having any incriminating conversations like the one donald chaney
00:57:02
had described but admitted that he'd read a short story named the most dangerous game
00:57:08
which had left a lasting impression on him the tale featured descriptions of a bored hunter who decided to start
00:57:16
targeting humans instead of animals and it had been speculatively linked to the first confirmed zodiac cipher
00:57:26
as detectives chatted with alan they happened to notice he was wearing a distinctive looking watch
00:57:34
he claimed it had been a gift from his mother two years earlier detective toski asked if they could take
00:57:41
a closer look allen obliged and leaned his arm closer to the detectives the face of the watch was imprinted with
00:57:52
a crosshair symbol written across the watch was the brand name zodiac [Music] detective john mullinax finished typing
00:58:06
up his report of the interview with alan concluding with the line after interviewing alan
00:58:13
it is the opinion of all three investigators that further investigation should be conducted
00:58:21
ted kidder who had previously employed allen as a lifeguard and trampoline instructor told the inspectors that alan
00:58:29
was fired after numerous people complained about his inappropriate behavior towards children
00:58:36
it was no surprise to kidder that alan was now considered a suspect in the zodiac killings
00:58:43
the thought of allen's possible involvement had crossed his mind before and he'd recently discussed the matter
00:58:49
with another co-worker as far as they were concerned alan was a sexual deviant a loner and a
00:58:57
likely suspect the other former co-worker a man named philip was also pulled aside and
00:59:06
questioned by investigators he remembered discussing the zodiac case with alan who'd mentioned he was
00:59:13
questioned about the lake berryessa attack in another conversation alan told philip
00:59:19
about a great idea he had if a person were to attach a special light to the barrel of their gun they
00:59:27
would be able to see their target in the dark of night and shoot them down notably this is one of the tactics the
00:59:36
zodiac claimed to have used when gunning down david faraday and betty lou jensen
00:59:44
philip owned a brown corvair similar to the one driven by the perpetrator who had shot darlene ferran and michael mojo
00:59:52
in blue lake springs around the time of this attack philip was trying to sell his vehicle
01:00:01
he left it parked on display at a service station for two weeks with the keys inside the station for anyone who
01:00:08
might like to test drive it one of the employees who worked there at that time was arthur lee allen
01:00:18
but that wasn't all philip and his wife had visited alan at his mother's house when he suddenly
01:00:23
announced he had something to show them alan went to his basement bedroom and produced a grey metal box
01:00:33
inside was a piece of paper regarding a person who alan claimed had been committed to a tuscadero state hospital
01:00:40
in san luis obispo county for sexually abusing a child riddled throughout the paragraphs were
01:00:48
symbols they were meticulously neat and resembled the zodiac ciphers to a tea phillips wife was fascinated by the
01:00:58
symbols and asked if she could take the paper home to study it but alan refused and shoved it back into
01:01:05
the box [Music] allen's sister-in-law karen told detectives that alan openly detested his
01:01:14
mother hated women and had never had a relationship with anyone his own age instead he had a disturbing fixation
01:01:24
with children karen admitted that alan needed psychiatric help but she did not believe
01:01:31
he was the zodiac however when looking through the numerous letters sent by the zodiac over
01:01:38
the years one caught karen's attention on the christmas letter sent to melvin bellaire the zodiac had incorrectly
01:01:48
spelled merry christmas with two s's karen had received a christmas card from alan in which he had misspelled
01:01:57
christmas the same way detectives followed up alan's old employer at the service station who put
01:02:05
one concern to rest alan had been fired months before phillips brian corvair was left
01:02:13
unattended at the station due to his habit of arriving at work intoxicated missing shifts altogether
01:02:21
and being quote too interested in small girls allen hadn't always been an unreliable
01:02:29
employee when he worked at valley springs elementary school in 1966 he had only ever taken one sick day
01:02:39
on november 1 the day after sherry jo bates's body was discovered in riverside despite the 400-mile distance between
01:02:49
valley springs and riverside allen had mentioned to detectives that he'd been in southern california at the
01:02:56
time of sherry joe's murder detectives searched a trailer that arthur lee allen owned in santa rosa 45
01:03:06
miles from his mother's house in vallejo but didn't find any concrete evidence linking him to any of the zodiac crimes
01:03:15
regardless he had started to emerge as the most promising suspect so far a background check confirmed allen had
01:03:25
been in the navy in the late 1950s but was dishonorably discharged he also wore a size 10 and a half shoe
01:03:34
the same as the prince that had been found in the lake berryessa attack [Music] the evening of friday april 7 1972
01:03:51
almost two and a half years since the murder of paul stein in tamil pius valley california
01:04:01
it was just before 9 p.m when 33 year old legal secretary isabel watson strolled through the neighborhood where
01:04:08
she lived as isabelle made her way along pine hill road she suddenly felt a shocking blow
01:04:18
a car had knocked her to the ground the male driver leapt from the vehicle a late model ford or chevrolet sedan
01:04:28
he looked to be in his early forties and was about five foot nine with the stocky
01:04:33
build brown hair and black framed glasses he apologized profusely to isabelle and
01:04:41
offered to drive her home isabelle was unharmed and felt fine to continue on alone so she politely
01:04:50
declined the offer her refusal enraged the man he began to pummel her in the neck and
01:04:59
upper back isabelle screamed in pain prompting her attacker to flee the scene it was then that isabelle noticed the
01:05:09
blood the man hadn't been hitting her at all he had been stabbing her repeatedly
01:05:18
isabelle was taken to a hospital for treatment when law enforcement officers learnt of
01:05:24
the senseless attack they couldn't help but notice the culprit's striking similarities to the zodiac
01:05:32
napa county sheriff's captain ken narlow was particularly intrigued by this point he'd been chasing the
01:05:40
zodiac for two and a half years and isabel watson's attacker perfectly matched the description of the man he
01:05:47
was hunting speaking to the media nalo said i think it's a good chance it was him
01:05:57
you get a certain feeling about things i got a feeling about this one in september of 1972 detective david
01:06:09
tosky arrived at the sunset trailer park in santa rosa and made his way to the pink and white trailer owned by arthur
01:06:17
lee allen he knocked on the door but there was no response when alan finally showed up toski waved
01:06:27
a search warrant in his face and made his way inside there was a singular reason for toski's
01:06:35
visit he wanted a fresh handwriting sample even though allen's handwriting had previously been compared to the zodiacs
01:06:44
and dismissed rumors had been circulating that he was ambidextrous according to one of alan's relatives he
01:06:53
was naturally left-handed but as a child his teachers had forced him to write with his right hand
01:07:02
knowing the previous sample had been written with his left hand toski asked alan to write a sentence using his
01:07:08
non-dominant hand instead alan picked up a pen with his right hand and began to write
01:07:18
after a few words he complained it was too difficult toski had to coax him to complete a
01:07:25
small sample with alan insisting it was near impossible tosky wasn't convinced it seemed as though alan was trying too
01:07:36
hard to pretend this was a challenging task after investigators set their sights on
01:07:45
arthur lee allen years passed with no further word or action from the zodiac some speculated he had died or been
01:07:55
incarcerated or perhaps he was feeling the heat from the investigation life for californians returned to normal
01:08:05
as the killer faded from the headlines then three years later on january 30 1974
01:08:14
an envelope arrived at the san francisco chronicle the printing of the line please rush to
01:08:22
editor was unmistakable the zodiac suddenly and inexplicably resurfaced inside was a single piece of unlined
01:08:34
paper on which was scrawled i saw and think the exorcist was the best satirical comedy that i have ever
01:08:43
seen below that the zodiac had written he plunged himself into the billowy wave and an echo arose from the suicide's
01:08:54
grave this was yet another reference to a line performed by the lord high executioner
01:09:02
in the mikado the opera the zodiac had alluded to in previous letters this letter concluded with the words
01:09:11
ps if i do not see this note in your paper i will do something nasty which you know
01:09:18
i'm capable of doing a strange symbol followed consisting of dots and thick lines
01:09:27
what it meant was anyone's guess the letter finished with a final tally that read
01:09:35
me 37 sfpd zero the chronicle granted his request by publishing the letter after years of silence news that the
01:09:50
zodiac had emerged once again captured the public's attention some readers wondered if the reference
01:09:57
to suicide meant he planned to take his own life or stop killing once and for all
01:10:05
investigators were just as uncertain as to how they should interpret this unexpected and oblique communication
01:10:15
over the next few months three similar letters followed one was signed from a friend
01:10:22
another from a citizen and the third was sent by someone in the city of san rafael who called themselves
01:10:30
the red phantom all of these shared similarities to the zodiac's correspondence but the
01:10:38
handwriting differed slightly to account for these differences some theorised that the zodiac might be
01:10:45
ambidextrous but investigators were unable to determine whether any were authentic or
01:10:52
the work of a copycat detectives were still digging into the man many considered the prime zodiac
01:11:00
suspect arthur lee allen in the mid 70s an investigator took lake berryessa survivor brian hartnell to a
01:11:10
hardware store where alan was working at the time brian browsed the shelves pretending to
01:11:18
be an ordinary customer before taking an item to the till while alan rang up the purchase brian
01:11:26
subtly observed him taking in every physical feature brian hadn't seen the face of his
01:11:34
attacker as the man had been wearing a hood but he noted that alan's size build and
01:11:40
voice was a match investigators were intrigued by brian's observations [Music] on september 27
01:11:52
1974 detectives arrived at arthur lee allen's trailer in santa rosa desperate to apprehend him
01:12:01
when their persistent knocking went unanswered they picked the lock to get inside allen wasn't home but
01:12:09
incriminating evidence was seized then detectives headed to the lumber yard where alan was now working and
01:12:17
arrested him on the spot at the county jail allen sat with detectives without a lawyer present
01:12:28
he asked if he would be given a lighter sentence if he simply pleaded guilty his arrest was the result of a statement
01:12:38
provided by one of alan's friends but she wasn't naming him as the zodiac this arrest was for an entirely
01:12:47
different allen had sexually assaulted her eight-year-old son on multiple occasions
01:12:56
investigators still didn't have any real evidence to pin the zodiac crimes on alan despite survivor brian hartnell's
01:13:05
statements on march 14 1975 after pleading guilty to the child molestation charges
01:13:15
alan was sentenced to two and a half years at the atascadero state hospital a mental health facility for individuals
01:13:23
who had committed a criminal offence later that same year a small group of ham radio enthusiasts in the bay area
01:13:36
began speaking to one another over the airwaves one of the men richard marshall invited
01:13:43
the others over to his basement apartment in san rafael a city approximately 18 miles north of
01:13:51
san francisco marshall was in his late 40s and was a film buff who worked as an operator in a
01:13:59
silent theater although marshall had made several comments over the radio that the others
01:14:06
considered strange they accepted his invitation upon entering his home they were
01:14:13
immediately struck by the troubling artwork on his walls he had on display a large number of
01:14:21
explicit images featuring young boys and possessed a large collection of pornographic literature
01:14:29
throughout the evening marshall's behavior was extremely odd at one stage he remarked that he'd
01:14:36
discovered something much more exciting than sex but refused to elaborate he also mentioned that he needed to lay
01:14:46
low for a while but didn't explain why one of marshall's visitors was ted not his real name
01:14:56
ted had been following the zodiac case closely over the years and began to wonder if marshall could be the culprit
01:15:05
ted thought marshall bore an uncanny resemblance to the suspect's sketches right down to his thick framed glasses
01:15:14
furthermore marshall had lived in the bay area during all of the confirmed zodiac attacks
01:15:21
and was residing in riverside at the time sherry joe bates was murdered ted also found marshall's remark about
01:15:30
finding something better than sex was eerily reminiscent of the zodiac's decoded cipher about killing being the
01:15:38
greatest thrill quote better than getting your rocks off with a girl marshall invited his guests to watch one
01:15:49
of his favorite films ls pectoral rojo which translates in english to the red phantom
01:15:58
this was of interest to ted due to the possible zodiac letter the chronicle had received from someone using the same
01:16:05
name moreover that particular letter had been posted from san rafael the city where
01:16:13
marshall lived on june 16 1976 ted sent a letter to the napa county sheriff's department detailing
01:16:24
his suspicions investigators were intrigued enough to set up a meeting with ted when they showed him some of the
01:16:34
confirmed zodiac letters even more similarities emerged ted recognized the oddly shaped pieces
01:16:43
of paper used by the zodiac as matching some he'd seen in marshall's apartment according to ted
01:16:52
marshall had a friend who worked in printing and supplied him with scrap paper ted also thought the zodiac's
01:17:01
handwriting looked similar to that of marshall who was ambidextrous he often wrote with a black marker which
01:17:09
the zodiac was sometimes known to do additionally he owned a royal typewriter the same model sherry joe bates's killer
01:17:20
was believed to have used when composing his confession ladder marshall had served in the navy and was
01:17:28
skilled at drawing electric circuit diagrams like the image of the bomb the zodiac had drawn
01:17:36
he also spoke with the distinct draw which fit the zodiac's voice as described by survivor brian hartnell
01:17:46
marshall was interviewed by detectives they found him compelling but ultimately concluded that he wasn't
01:17:54
a strong suspect due to his fingerprints not matching any of those on file for the zodiac
01:18:02
marshall later spoke publicly about the case during a tv interview he acknowledged that he and the zodiac
01:18:10
seemed to have a number of things in common remarking my innocence notwithstanding
01:18:18
the details do feared by this point detectives david tosky and william armstrong had been leading the
01:18:30
zodiac investigation for close to seven years in september 1976 armstrong requested to be reassigned
01:18:40
elsewhere while toski remained committed to the case in an interview with the examiner toski
01:18:48
explained what drove him to pursue the case so doggedly quote i'll get to him one day and i'll bring
01:18:57
him to justice that's my motivation justice i'm not a vengeful type but when a life
01:19:05
is taken there must be justice toski acquired a celebrity status within san francisco's police department
01:19:15
earning ongoing praise from the public and becoming the inspiration for police characters in the popular films dirty
01:19:22
harry and bullet the public revered the hard-working inspector with one girl writing him a
01:19:30
letter that read i imagine you see a lot of terrible sad things but i want you to know that in
01:19:38
this crazy world of crooked people you are a very special policeman [Music] by late 1976 detective tosky had just
01:19:49
seven years to go until he could retire from the police force his mission was to solve the zodiac case
01:19:57
before then as his seventh year on the case approached he told the san francisco
01:20:04
examiner he was watching his mailbox to see if he received an anniversary card from the zodiac
01:20:12
but the anniversary came and went without a word and another year passed with no
01:20:18
breakthroughs [Music] by april of 1978 it had been more than four years since the last confirmed
01:20:28
letter from the zodiac had arrived and some had started to wonder if perhaps the killer had died without ever being
01:20:35
identified all that changed on april 25 when an envelope appeared at the san francisco
01:20:44
chronicle addressed to the editor inside was a short note written in familiar handwriting that concluded with
01:20:53
the zodiac's crosshair signature it read dear editor this is the zodiac speaking
01:21:04
i am back with you i have always been here that city pig tosky is good but i am smarter and better
01:21:15
he will get tired then leave me alone i am waiting for a good movie about me who will play me
01:21:26
i am now in control of things the return of the zodiac excited detective tosky and nerves kicked in
01:21:37
he held a press conference stating i have always felt he was alive and out there somewhere
01:21:46
i still don't know where he is but at least now i know that all our work all these years definitely has not
01:21:54
been in vain case file will be back shortly thank you for supporting us by listening to this
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01:24:32
when san francisco chronicle columnist armistead maupin read the latest the zodiac letter
01:24:39
he paused there was something odd about it the zodiac had never singled out an individual police officer before
01:24:49
and now he'd mentioned detective toski by name this stood out to armistead because of
01:24:56
something he was keeping secret armistead had been writing a murder mystery series for the paper and toski
01:25:05
had been kind enough to provide him with valuable insights into homicide investigations to give his story a more
01:25:12
authentic feel armistead was so inspired that he created a character based on toski
01:25:20
his readers were so impressed that three of them wrote flattering letters of praise about toski and thanked armistead
01:25:28
for writing about him however there was something about the letters that armistead couldn't ignore
01:25:36
all three had been typed on the same typewriter he was certain that the letters had
01:25:43
actually been written by detective toski himself armistead felt so embarrassed for toski
01:25:50
that he kept this belief to himself but now he had a more troubling concern could toski have also written the latest
01:25:59
zodiac letter to bring the case back into the spotlight armistead reported his suspicions and
01:26:07
toski was confronted by his superiors he admitted to sending the fan mail to armistead but steadfastly denied having
01:26:17
anything to do with the most recent zodiac letter an investigation confirmed he was
01:26:24
telling the truth although they couldn't be certain authorities were convinced the latest
01:26:31
letter was genuinely written by the zodiac killer however the damage to toski's reputation
01:26:39
had been done on july 10 1978 detective toski was officially removed from the zodiac case
01:26:47
and demoted it was a mortifying fall from grace for the celebrity detective over the next few years the case
01:27:00
continued to lag as the zodiac's murders were committed across four separate jurisdictions there
01:27:08
were multiple agencies involved this had led to a messy and unwieldy investigation which was further hindered
01:27:16
by competitiveness as each department strived to be the one that cracked the case
01:27:23
in 1981 california's department of justice was given all relevant files and asked to coordinate the investigation
01:27:32
one vallejo detective publicly regretted that this hadn't happened sooner stating
01:27:39
if the justice department had controlled the case from the beginning the zodiac would be behind bars now
01:27:49
by december 1990 the investigation had entered its fourth decade the vallejo police department received
01:27:57
word that an inmate in santa clara county jail wanted to come clean with some information he'd been holding onto
01:28:06
he claimed to know the identity of the zodiac killer and agreed to hand it over in exchange for a reduction of his
01:28:13
sentence although skeptical two vallejo detectives traveled to santa clara to visit the man
01:28:23
he was fifty-year-old career criminal robert spinelli who was facing charges for armed robbery
01:28:31
spinelli agreed to divulge what he knew but only if the charges against him were
01:28:36
dropped the detectives flat out refused asking spinelli how he could be so certain he
01:28:43
had the right person spinelli said that several days before taxi driver paul stein was murdered a
01:28:52
man he knew told him he was going to san francisco to kill a cab driver spinelli refused to share the man's name
01:29:01
but was eventually convinced to do so by his lawyer the man's name was arthur lee allen
01:29:11
investigators had never stopped considering alan as a zodiac suspect this was despite the fact that his
01:29:19
fingerprints did not match any of the possible zodiac prints on record and alan had never been known to wear black
01:29:26
framed glasses like the zodiac did in 1977 alan was released from atascadero state
01:29:35
hospital after serving a two-year sentence for child molestation charges now with the statement from robert
01:29:44
spinelli he'd been named in the zodiac case again more than a decade later detectives weren't sure whether spinelli
01:29:53
was telling the truth or just had a former score to settle with alan but there were certain factors that sparked
01:30:00
their interest firstly alan had never been publicly named as a suspect in the case
01:30:09
and secondly during the period allen was incarcerated the zodiac hadn't sent any new letters
01:30:17
it was only in the months following his release that the chronicle received the final letter that began
01:30:24
i'm back on february 14 1991 police executed a search warrant at alan's home in vallejo
01:30:34
and found a number of suspicious items there were several mail order catalogs featuring guns and booby traps and an
01:30:43
older royal typewriter with elite type this was believed to be the same model typewriter that sherry joe bates's
01:30:51
killer had used to compose his confession handwritten formulas and supplies for bomb making were also discovered
01:31:00
and in the property's basement police found several completed pipe bombs this startled them as one of the
01:31:08
zodiac's letters had mentioned storing a bomb in his basement police also found a letter from
01:31:17
investigator james silva of the department of justice which stated that alan had passed a polygraph examination
01:31:24
and should no longer be considered a suspect in the zodiac police thought this was odd and
01:31:31
questioned alan about it he admitted he'd printed the letter during his time working in the
01:31:38
atascadero hospital print shop but maintained that it was authentic james silva denied this saying he would
01:31:47
never write such a letter nothing was found that tied alan to any of the zodiac victims but police
01:31:56
confiscated this ladder and his zodiac branded watch as evidence alan was furious
01:32:04
he decided it was finally time to break his silence in july 1991 alan gave his side
01:32:15
of the story to news reporters insisting he had passed polygraph tests that confirmed he was not the zodiac
01:32:24
he'd told the san francisco examiner this damned thing has been haunting me for 22 years
01:32:31
no way in hell could i go out and kill innocent teeny bobbers no way but with the police i'm guilty until i'm
01:32:39
proven innocent and i figure the case will be around until i die retired vallejo detective george bowit
01:32:50
was one of the investigators convinced that alan was the zodiac and persisted in his hunt for evidence
01:32:58
bower tracked down zodiac survivor michael mojo and took him a photo lineup of possible suspects
01:33:06
michael scanned his eyes over the images looking for familiar features he singled out a photo of an overweight
01:33:13
balding man and said that's him that's the man who shot me it was arthur lee allen
01:33:24
investigators continued to focus on alan prompting a review into all previous correspondence from the zodiac
01:33:33
the first cipher sent to the san francisco chronicle in 1969 dubbed the 408 cipher ended with a final
01:33:41
line that had never been officially decoded at the time one citizen who was interested in the case said he'd found a
01:33:50
solution that translated into the words robert emmett the hippie investigators had searched for a robert
01:33:59
emmett with no success in august of 1992 detectives made a breakthrough they discovered that alan had gone to
01:34:11
high school with a boy named robert emmett rodifer robert had gone on to study at the
01:34:17
university of california berkeley during which time he became a hippie he and alan had never gotten along
01:34:28
investigators managed to track robert down in germany he confirmed that he knew alan as a
01:34:34
teenager and suspected that alan held a grudge against him out of jealousy over the years detectives had a master
01:34:45
case file of circumstantial evidence pointing to alan as the prime suspect of the zodiac killings
01:34:53
on august 26 1992 they received some unexpected news 58 year old alan had passed away
01:35:06
initial speculation was that he had taken his own life unable to cope with being labeled the zodiac anymore
01:35:15
though authorities were disappointed that their suspect had died before any charges could be laid allen's death did
01:35:23
present one opportunity it meant they could search his vallejo home again the next morning detectives descended on
01:35:34
alan's modest spanish mission style house inside they found strips of paper containing mathematical calculations and
01:35:43
another set of instructions for bomb building however it was during a search of a book
01:35:50
case that detectives discovered what they were searching for crammed in amongst the books was a vhs
01:35:58
tape written on the tape was a single letter z detectives inserted the tape into a vcr
01:36:09
and pressed play alan appeared on screen holding his pet dog as the tape progressed allen began
01:36:20
ranting about the vallejo police department any hope that alan would confess to being the zodiac killer dissipated when
01:36:29
instead of confessing alan pulled down his pants and mooned the camera dejected captain ron conway fronted the
01:36:39
media but refused to discuss the search or the findings he did put one rumor to rest
01:36:47
alan had not taken his own life an autopsy confirmed he'd died of natural causes
01:36:56
still the captain was steadfast in his resolve that detectives would not give up
01:37:02
stating it is still an ongoing criminal investigation alan's death has not changed to that
01:37:11
[Music] in late 2000 an important package arrived at the san francisco police dna
01:37:20
crime lab inside the parcel were several stamped envelopes scientists assigned to the case
01:37:29
carefully removed the stamps from the envelopes which all read please rush to edita
01:37:37
improvements in dna testing meant it was now possible that the saliva used to affix the stamps to the zodiac envelopes
01:37:45
could undoubtedly prove whether arthur lee allen was the killer the first step was to establish whether
01:37:53
a dna profile could be made from the stamps in the first place scientists were in
01:38:01
a partial profile was extracted from one of the stamps a dna profile for alan was also
01:38:10
extracted from brain tissue taken during his autopsy it was a long and painstaking process
01:38:18
held up by other active investigations which required urgent results two years later the results were finally
01:38:27
made public allen's genetic profile was not a match to the zodiac stamp by early 2004 the san francisco police
01:38:41
department had been investigating the zodiac case for nearly 35 years it had become one of the longest running
01:38:49
and most frustrating unsolved cases in the city's history on april 8 2004 the department announced
01:38:57
that due to their overwhelming caseload the zodiac file was being declared inactive
01:39:04
although they had more dna on file that was yet to be tested the crime lab was overloaded and more recent cases were
01:39:13
given priority all evidence relating to the zodiac was locked away in a filing cabinet in the
01:39:20
homicide office with no intention of it being unlocked anytime soon detectives in napa valley and vallejo
01:39:30
kept their zodiac files open but for the first time since taxi driver paul stein was murdered there would be
01:39:38
no one in san francisco actively investigating the serial killings three years later it was reopened after
01:39:47
the release of director david fincher's film zodiac sparked renewed interest in the case
01:39:55
the movie was based on a book by robert greysmith a political cartoonist who'd worked for the san francisco chronicle
01:40:02
during the period that the zodiac sent letters to the newspaper he'd become fascinated by the case and
01:40:09
spent more than a decade trying to solve it greysmith was so convinced that arthur
01:40:16
lee allen was the zodiac that he came under fire for twisting facts in order to make alan look more suspicious
01:40:25
he withheld alan's name in the book instead naming him bob hall star detective david tosky was portrayed by
01:40:35
actor mark ruffalo who prepared for the role by spending time with the aging former detective
01:40:42
like robert greysmith tosky remained convinced that arthur lee allen was the killer despite his dna not matching the
01:40:50
profile taken from the zodiac stamp on january 6 2018 tosky passed away from pneumonia in his san francisco home
01:41:02
greysmith penned his obituary for the new york times in which he noted dave tosky cared about the victims far
01:41:11
more than catching the zodiac and in this he never failed on march 3 2007 almost 38 years after
01:41:23
the first letter from the zodiac killer arrived at the san francisco chronicle editorial assistant daniel king was
01:41:31
sorting through old photo files as he flicked through them a bright red envelope caught his eye
01:41:40
it was addressed to the editor in a familiar print the envelope was postmarked from eureka
01:41:49
california and dated december 1990 its seal was still intact meaning it had sat unopened for 16 years
01:42:01
inside was a christmas card depicting a cartoon snowman wearing a groucho marx inspired mask and a pre-printed message
01:42:10
that read from your secret power can't guess who i am yet well look inside and you'll find out
01:42:20
that i'm gonna keep you guessing happy holidays anyway the card wasn't silent and there was no
01:42:30
personalized message but a slip of folded paper was enclosed within it contained a black and white photocopy
01:42:40
of two united states postal service keys on a metal key chain there was no explanation accompanying
01:42:49
the image document examiners studied the writing on the envelope and debated whether it
01:42:56
was an authentic zodiac correspondence or a hoax researcher tom voigt who operates the
01:43:04
website zodiac killer.com eventually traced the identification numbers on the keys to a man who owned a
01:43:12
post office box in eureka the man was looked into by police but ruled out of the zodiac investigation
01:43:21
the significance of the keys remains unknown over the decades the mystery of the
01:43:32
zodiac killer has created as much speculation amongst armchair detectives as it has for the case investigators
01:43:41
amateur sleuths have formed their own task forces and met at the crime scenes to discuss their theories
01:43:48
websites and online forums dedicated to dissecting every detail of the case have
01:43:54
many devoted followers meanwhile law enforcement agencies haven't given up hope that the killer
01:44:01
will one day be identified although arthur lee allen's dna ruled him out as a suspect in 2018 a startling
01:44:11
new revelation came to light the dna sample tested against allen's had actually been obtained from the
01:44:19
outside of one of the zodiac stamps this meant the sample could have come from any number of individuals who had
01:44:27
handled the mail in addition to the real zodiac killer even if alan was responsible for the
01:44:34
zodiac letters it's possible that he didn't lick the stamps himself several of alan's acquaintances have
01:44:42
since reported that he often asked them to lick stamps for him as he couldn't stand the taste
01:44:50
one of these was his former friend donald chaney who was responsible for naming alan as a suspect
01:44:58
in response to these allegations donald's dna was tested against the sample taken from the zodiac stamp
01:45:06
it wasn't a match either to this day a range of individuals have been accused of being the zodiac with
01:45:15
varying levels of evidence and acceptance infamous murderers have been considered
01:45:21
including killer cult the manson family the unabomber ted kaczynski and the btk serial killer dennis rader
01:45:31
other suspects have had connections to confirmed or assumed victims including a riverside city college library assistant
01:45:40
a staff member at the casino where donna lass worked a british automobile in porter and someone who went to the same
01:45:48
schools as david faraday and betty lou jensen a repeat offender named lawrence kane
01:45:55
was scrutinized for his possible ties to both confirmed and unconfirmed to zodiac
01:46:00
victims [Music] darlene ferran's sisters claimed kane was the man who had worked in a white
01:46:07
car outside darlene's home after she claimed to have seen him kill someone kane also moved to south lake tahoe one
01:46:17
month after donna lass and worked a very close by to her [Music] a popular suspect amongst internet
01:46:27
sleuths today is richard garkowski a former u.s army medic gykowski had several circumstantial ties to zodiac
01:46:37
victims and crime scenes and occasionally went by the nickname gerk a word that can be seen clearly at the
01:46:44
center of the zodiac's 408 cipher though the spelling is slightly off ultimately no concrete evidence has ever
01:46:54
been found to incriminate either of these men one person made a deathbed confession to
01:47:02
being the zodiac another did the same but to an attorney ensuring attorney-client privilege would
01:47:10
secure his secret until he passed away a merchant mariner a newspaper editor and an identity thief have also been
01:47:19
considered as the zodiac various people have come forward to accuse their friends and even family
01:47:26
members of being the zodiac despite years of ongoing investigations the suspect list is as long as ever
01:47:37
given the zodiac was only ever known in broad strokes many people could have fit
01:47:42
the bill then there is the zodiac hoax theory in which some believe the killer never
01:47:49
existed those who actually saw or spoke to the killer have identified different people
01:47:56
as being responsible [Music] in 2021 an independent team of 40 former law enforcement investigators military
01:48:06
intelligence officers and journalists named the case breakers claimed they had identified the zodiac
01:48:13
killer as a deceased u.s air force veteran named gary francis post this conclusion like all the others is
01:48:22
based on circumstantial evidence and has not yet been proven [Music] complicating matters are the litany of
01:48:32
pranksters and hoaxes that donned the zodiac identity throughout the years there is a distinct difference between
01:48:40
the zodiac who seems to encompass these types and more and the actual zodiac killer
01:48:47
the individual responsible for the crimes as the lines have been blurred between
01:48:53
these two identities over the years it can be impossible to determine what correspondence or incidence is
01:49:00
attributed to either in 1967 the father of stabbing victim sherry jo bates riverside police and the
01:49:10
press enterprise editorial officers received anonymous handwritten letters a warning of more victims to come
01:49:19
all three letters were signed with a symbol that resembled the letter z for years it was hotly speculated and at
01:49:28
some points firmly believed that these letters were penned by the zodiac long before he adopted the title
01:49:37
these letters led to the belief that sherry joe was the first zodiac victim and while he later made vague reference
01:49:44
to her murder the killer never fully took credit for it handwriting experts had compared his
01:49:52
handwriting to the sherry joe bates letters and concluded they were a match in 2021 detectives fronting the sherry
01:50:03
joe bates case came forward with information they had kept to themselves since 2016.
01:50:10
that year the riverside police received an anonymous letter printed from a computer and postmarked from san
01:50:17
bernardino california the author claimed to be the person who sent the original handwritten letters
01:50:25
following sherry joe's murder warning of more deaths to come in the newest letter the author revealed
01:50:33
that he was a troubled teen in 1967 and the letters were nothing more than a sick joke
01:50:41
he denied killing sherry joe or being the zodiac killer investigators confirmed his link to the
01:50:50
handwritten notes via dna recovered from a stamp and were able to definitively rule him out as being responsible for
01:50:58
sherry joe's murder although the handwritten letters were deemed a hoax the prankster didn't claim
01:51:06
responsibility for the separate typed confession this typed letter is still considered
01:51:13
authentic given that it contained information that only her killer would know riverside investigators have never
01:51:22
supported the theory that sherry joe bates was killed by the zodiac they had another prime suspect in mind a
01:51:30
former high school acquaintance of sherry jones who came to their attention in 1981
01:51:37
he'd been spotted near the library around the time of sherry joe's murder wore a similar sized shoe to the prince
01:51:44
found at the crime scene and owned a wristwatch like the one recovered there by mid-1982 detectives were hopeful of
01:51:54
arresting this man imminently but they failed to gather enough evidence and the suspect's name was
01:52:01
never released years later detective certainty about this person's involvement was quashed
01:52:09
when advancements in dna technology confirmed that he wasn't the perpetrator the only two people known to have
01:52:22
directly interacted with the zodiac no longer talk publicly about the crimes shooting survivor michael majo struggled
01:52:30
with substance abuse and homelessness in the years following his ordeal while brian hartnell who was stabbed by the
01:52:37
zodiac at lake berryessa has chosen not to speak in recent years in march 2008 brian spoke to inland
01:52:47
empire magazine about his decision to cease talking saying there were two reasons why i quit giving
01:52:55
interviews one everything that could be said had been said and the second reason was the zodiac was
01:53:02
a publicity hound if i'm out there giving interviews talking keeping my face in the news i'm
01:53:10
taking the attention away from him he may view that as a threat to him and decide to eliminate the competition
01:53:20
in 2018 a genealogy website was used to identify a prolific serial rapist and killer known as the golden state killer
01:53:30
whose crimes were covered in episode 53 of case file after the perpetrators arrest an
01:53:38
increasing number of law enforcement agencies began turning to genealogy databases to help with criminal
01:53:44
investigations investigators have confirmed that the potential dna samples collected from
01:53:51
zodiac crime scenes and documents have been sent to a private lab in the hopes a full genetic profile can be created
01:54:01
if successful they will be able to run it through genealogy databases in the hopes of linking the zodiac to a
01:54:08
relative even if the killer is deceased a match could still be made and the case could
01:54:15
finally be closed the database grows bigger every year and technology continues to improve
01:54:23
increasing the possibility that the zodiac will one day be identified despite the lack of answers one of the
01:54:32
smaller remaining mysteries surrounding the zodiac killer was unexpectedly solved in december 2020
01:54:40
two computer programmers and a mathematician decided to try their hand at cracking the zodiac's 340 cipher from
01:54:47
1969 it had been sent just weeks after a man identified only as sam called into the
01:54:56
jim dunbar television show claiming to be the zodiac using code breaking software that one of
01:55:04
the men had created they tested 650 000 possible solutions through a system of trial and error
01:55:13
finally after months of attempts some interesting words emerged hope you were trying to catch me was the
01:55:21
first phrase or the gas chamber was the second soon the men had solved the entire
01:55:30
message it read i hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me that wasn't me on the tv show
01:55:42
which brings up a point about me i am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all
01:55:49
the sooner because i now have enough slaves to work for me where everyone else has nothing when
01:55:57
they reach paradise so they are afraid of death i am not afraid because i know that my
01:56:05
new life is life will be an easy one in paradise death like previous zodiac correspondence the
01:56:16
word paradise had been misspelled with a c instead of an ass overall the code breaking trio were
01:56:25
disheartened by the message they had managed to crack 51 years after it was sent
01:56:32
it contained no revelation about the killer's identity one of the code breakers david aranczak
01:56:40
told the new york times that he didn't see how the solution would be helpful to the victim's loved ones
01:56:46
quote the message in that cipher i don't see it as being helpful to them it's more of the same junk that the
01:56:55
killer liked to write about it's just intended to hurt people and to make them afraid
01:57:05
an enduring mystery about the zodiac is his number of victims by the time he stopped taunting people
01:57:13
the killer had claimed to have killed 37 people police have only attributed five murders
01:57:20
to the zodiac david faraday 17. betty lou jensen 16 darlene farren 22 cecilia shepherd 22 and paul stein 29
01:57:36
to this day the murder of sherry joe bates remains unsolved other unsolved cases throughout
01:57:43
california have since been examined for possible zodiac links [Music] the 1962 shooting murder of cab driver
01:57:52
ray davis in oceanside bears striking similarities to paul stein's murder and featured a killer who made taunting
01:58:01
phone calls to police before and after the fact the 1963 shooting murders of robert
01:58:09
dominguez and linda edwards in gavioda were also highlighted as a possible zodiac crime due to it involving a young
01:58:16
couple at a beach robert and linda were restrained with pre-cut robe much like cecilia shepard
01:58:24
and brian hartnell at lake berryessa but unlike the latter robert and linda managed to escape and were gunned down
01:58:33
while fleeing their assailant is believed to have also been armed with a knife in both crimes the perpetrator ordered
01:58:44
the female to tie up her male companion at gunpoint brian hartnell recalled the zodiac had
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tested and tightened his restraints which could be interpreted as a precautionary measure he might have
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learnt from a previous failed attempt eight months later newlyweds johnny and joyce swindle were gunned down by the
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sea in ocean beach all of these crimes share remarkable similarities including the fact that
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they were seemingly random and motiveless more recently law enforcement has considered whether these crimes detailed
01:59:24
in episode 1 of this series could have been committed by the zodiac before he adopted the title
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while there is enough to hint that these crimes might be where the serial killer's origin story begins
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opinions remain divided of the many people suspected for several of these crimes is an unidentified man
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known only as sandy sandy is a fake name used by a transient young man and petty criminal who came to
01:59:58
the attention of police in 1963 after stabbing a man to death during a robbery he was known to wear military clothing
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and a pair of black thick rim dye eyeglasses sandy desired above all else to obtain a
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gun he has never been located composite sketches of sandy bear a striking similarity to sketches of the
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zodiac some have speculated that sandy may have been responsible for killing robert
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dominguez and linda edwards and that their deaths marked the beginning of the zodiac attacks
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[Music] on june 26 1963 an open letter to the unidentified killer known as sandy was published in
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the lompoc record while sandy may have no connection at all to the zodiac case the words
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delivered a powerful message that could have been written especially for the unidentified serial killer as well
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the latter rad if you are guilty you will pay even if you remain free and continue to
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run for many years guilt has a way of weighing heavily upon a man often more heavily than all the
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retribution a court can exact so if you continue to run you must forever move with this shadow lurking
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behind you blocking all your attempts to gain peace and happiness i am sure you have heard the old saying
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let your conscience be your guide well it is just as true that your conscience can be your hell
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unless you find a way to make peace with it all of these troubles you will find within yourself in that place known as
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your soul but you face other problems too every place you turn for food work money
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in sickness or in need of any sort will mean a fight you will have to fight the fear within
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you for you will be afraid that they know and will tell one day somewhere along the road you will stop
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and think and then you will know that for all of the time you have been running you have
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been in a prison of your own making one likely far worse than any devised by modern justice
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and one built by you because you did not find the courage to clear your name or to face the
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responsibilities of your own actions [Music] [Music] the australian federal police is
02:03:25
australia's national policing agency their work includes counter-terrorism serious organized crime cyber crime
02:03:34
fraud child exploitation and human trafficking within human trafficking it's a tight rope to walk between
02:03:42
prosecuting someone for a humor trafficking offence and looking after the victim her nausea was bleeding
02:03:48
profusely they couldn't call ambulance or police because they knew what's going to happen the money that she had made
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during that week was 82 and a half thousand dollars and that was her worst week in 10 years the case file team has
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been given exclusive access to the afp case vault to bring you stories of some of their most challenging operations
02:04:09
narrated by me you'll hear in-depth interviews with afp federal agents and learn how they investigated and
02:04:16
interrupted the most serious of crimes her level of criminality and just the level of smartness that people didn't
02:04:24
actually attribute to her what our job is in cyber crime is to make it we do know about it gain an
02:04:31
insight into how the afp disrupted a major human trafficking syndicate and arrested a sex offender who targeted
02:04:39
children online by the number of victims that he targeted it wasn't just one child or two children it was hundreds of
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children the threat was always there always present like a dark cloud hanging over their heads he kind of mocks
02:04:52
one of the boys where he says you think i'll be caught from investigating counter-terrorism and disrupting major
02:05:00
drug importation chains to international kidnappings we take an inside look at some of the
02:05:06
biggest investigations and learn how the afp stayed a step ahead i was led into the house and i was met
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with another two guys one with a handmade pistol another one with a machete des sounds as though he's really in
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trouble he doesn't stand himself if you give the money they could kill you or if
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you don't give them money they can still kill you when you're talking about a 21
02:05:30
year old offender who still lives at home it's a fair shock to your dad when the police aren't only knocking at your
02:05:37
door they're breaking it down crime interrupted is the latest release from case file presents
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the first episode is out now with the new episodes dropping weekly listen for free wherever you get your
02:05:52
podcasts and be sure to hit the follow button so you don't miss an episode you