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Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers

January 30, 2023 / 43:42

This episode covers the chilling case of Hedy Berto Eddie Seder, the New York Zodiac Killer, who murdered multiple victims in the early 1990s.

Seder, inspired by the infamous Zodiac Killer, attacked vulnerable individuals in Brooklyn and Queens. His first known victim was Patricia Fonte, a 39-year-old woman with mental health issues, whom he shot and stabbed over 100 times in August 1992.

Investigators, including Sergeant Joseph Herbert, struggled to connect the dots as Seder evaded capture for years. He sent letters to the police, claiming to be the Zodiac Killer, which fueled media frenzy and public fear.

After a series of attacks, including the murder of Joseph Diacon in 1993, Seder was eventually arrested in 1996 during a hostage situation. His connection to the Zodiac crimes was confirmed through handwriting analysis and ballistic evidence.

In 1998, Seder was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to 235 years in prison. His case highlights the terrifying reality of a serial killer operating under the guise of infamy.

TL;DR

Hedy Berto Eddie Seder, the New York Zodiac Killer, murdered vulnerable victims in the early 1990s, evading capture until his arrest in 1996.

Episode

43:42
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in the early hours of the 10th of August
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1992 in Brooklyn New York City a 39 year
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old woman suffering with long-term
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mental health issues found herself in an
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unfamiliar area near Highland Park
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Trisha fonte who was at times homeless a
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very vulnerable woman
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Patricia was lured to the park by a
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stranger the man then shot her twice and
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stabbed her more than 100 times the
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vicious murder was carried out by Hedy
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Berto Eddie seder who believed he was
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following in the footsteps of the
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notorious Zodiac Killer he took the
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legacy of another serial killer and
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tried to make it his own he preyed on
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the vulnerable he killed at random and
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he was utterly heartless within four
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years seder attacked more than nine
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innocent victims killing three being the
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kabukat Zodiac was in his DNA was in his
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soul and he liked the attention he liked
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the media he liked the results
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he sought out and stalked victims on the
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fringes of society to feed his lust for
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power and Status confirming harryberto
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Eddie seder the New York zodiac as one
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of the world's most evil killers
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thank you
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[Music]
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in the early 1990s tarot gripped the
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city of New York USA haniberto Eddie
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seder roamed the streets late at night
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masquerading as the San Francisco Zodiac
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Killer
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[Music]
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it caused a lot of fear within the
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citizens of New York City in particular
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Brooklyn and Queens that there was now a
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serial killer claiming to be the Zodiac
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and everybody recalled that the Zodiac
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and the San Francisco Bay area in the
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60s and he was never apprehended and
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this guy was claiming to be one in the
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same
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in a city already overwhelmed with crime
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Sader was shooting strangers in the
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street but his attacks went unnoticed
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until he left a series of enigmatic
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notes purporting to be from the Zodiac
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Killer
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of course the media frenzy so we had to
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deal with this publicity and reporters
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and
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put a lot of pressure on the NYPD
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Sergeant Joseph Herbert was one of the
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investigators who spent years pursuing
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the New York zodiac what the Zodiac was
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done when he was doing males females
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black white Spanish
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he had no Pacific Target
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I think it was just the best opportunity
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that he had you know he could get away
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with it he prided himself on the idea
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that he got better and better at it that
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he had trained himself to use stealth
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and surprise more and more and more and
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that he became more accomplished as a
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murderer
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the chilling story of Harry Berto Eddie
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seder the New York zodiac begins in New
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York City born in 1967 he was the eldest
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of two children it was a tiny apartment
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in Brooklyn but Eddie's mother was very
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proud she wanted to do the very best
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for her two children it was quite a
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dangerous part of the city to be in and
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I think their mother really struggled in
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terms of keeping her children out of
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that kind of Lifestyle
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seder's father was absent during his
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impoverished childhood they barely had
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enough money to eat at times so Sader
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stepped into that role as the patriarch
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of the family
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he was quite controlling especially when
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it came to his younger half-sister in
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terms of the kind of things that she did
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the kind of people that she hung out
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with
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he was somebody who voluntarily excluded
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himself from drugs and from gang crime
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[Music]
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Eddie grew up being rather religious but
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also strangely reclusive
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nevertheless at least say there was by
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all accounts a good student very
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anti-drugs
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anti-alcohol addiction
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really hated the drug dealers in the
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neighborhood and he really didn't like
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the fact that his younger half-sister
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had some friends who were involved in
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drug dealing he was casting judgment on
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other people for their choices for their
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behaviors for their decisions
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in 1983 at the age of 16 Eddie seder was
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suspended from high school for carrying
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a weapon he would never return
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no longer in education he now lacked a
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focus this part of his life that is
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quite routine that is quite predictable
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and stable has now gone and I think he
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feels an awful lot of resentment about
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that
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he seems to create at this point his own
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very elaborate fantasy world within his
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bedroom he doesn't go out much he
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doesn't have a lot of friends one
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neighbor describes him as the
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chronically unemployed recluse
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the enraged teenager would never return
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to school instead he tried to enlist in
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the U.S military he'd failed the
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entrance exam just by a few points and
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this was something that he didn't take
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very well at all I think this is
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something that he saw as pivotal to his
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sense of identity and his future and he
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became incredibly angry about this he
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looks at the things that he tries to do
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and when he fails to do them it's
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someone else's fault the world is pitted
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against him and I think during the
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course of this rumination he starts
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plotting what is he going to do with his
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life
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feeling rejected by school and now the
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Army Sader searched for a new way to
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define himself
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Sada had a real interest in and
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admiration for violence so he read a lot
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about guns and serial killers he
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actually had a set of real killer
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playing cards these were the people that
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he admired
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he watches a documentary on the San
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Francisco Zodiac killer who killed five
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people and was never caught
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[Music]
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story around the Zodiac Killer is one of
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power and it's one of status somebody
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who was able to hold an entire city to
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Ransom
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somewhere in that developing psyche he
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thinks perhaps I could become the Zodiac
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Killer I can become someone who's
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remembered I can be the same person
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by 1989 22 year old Eddie seder's
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perverse interests had grown and they
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were becoming increasingly practical he
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wanted to be a soldier so he purchased
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fatigues he had lots of hunting knives
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he never worked as I could tell a day in
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his life he really had very little
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income and as a result of that he was
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never going to be able to buy a gun
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steadily he began to teach himself how
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to create and build guns zip guns
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a zip gun is a homemade gun that it's
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basically a length of pipe and you put
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something at the end of that pipe that
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acts as a firing pin something very
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crude it doesn't have rapid fire
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multiple fire capability it's one shot
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at a time
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they're not very accurate it's
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absolutely essential you have to be
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close up to your target
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unemployed unwanted and isolated Sadie
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Was preparing to act on his darkest
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instincts
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on the 17th of November 1989 a cryptic
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letter arrived at an office of the New
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York Police Department
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the letter had an astrological wheel and
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it had some threats and it had the
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indication that it had been someone
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murdered
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the author of The Letter claimed to be
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the infamous San Francisco Zodiac Killer
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resuming his attacks nearly 3 000 miles
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away and 20 years since his last known
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victim he'd drawn a circle divided into
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12 sections one section was marked out
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alongside the words the first sign is
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dead
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there was kind of a cursory
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investigation to see if there was
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anything matching any of the information
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that was contained in the letter and
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there wasn't and so essentially the
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letter was vouchered and in most senses
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I think just forgotten about
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the 75th precinct was Notorious for
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having the highest murder rate in the
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city so they were not really going to be
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able to put a lot of resources into
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investigating this Oddball letter that
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they received it was regarded as a
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simply crank letter talking about the
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San Francisco zodiac can't have gone
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away for 20 years and changed coasts
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from the west of the East it defies
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belief
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less than four months later 22 year old
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Hedy Berto Eddie seder would Breathe
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life into that Letter's murderous
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prophecy
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on Thursday the 8th of March 1990 49
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year old Mario Orozco was making his way
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home from work at 1 45 a.m Mr orasco
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took the train home from Manhattan
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back to the East New York area of
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Brooklyn where he lived
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he required a cane and he had a severe
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limp when he walked
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he walks approximately four blocks
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when he's approached from the rear by an
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individual who doesn't say anything
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shoot him once in a back
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and runs away
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badly injured Mario Orozco struggled to
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his home across the street and called
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9-1-1
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the bullet is lodged in his spine and
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doctors thought it was simply too
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dangerous to remove it
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and so it remained there
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thankfully Orozco survived but without
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the bullet investigators were left with
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no meaningful evidence from the crime
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scene the New York zodiac 22 year old
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Harry Berto Eddie seder had tasted blood
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for the first time
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up until this point in time he'd just
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been thinking and he'd been planning it
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had all been in his head but now he's
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doing and this is actually real
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three weeks later in the early hours of
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Thursday the 29th of March the Zodiac
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would strike again
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he shot an intoxicated 34 year old man
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once in the back and again took flight
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he suffered serious injuries
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was fortunate that he survived we wound
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up with fragments of a bullet that were
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really not useful for ballistic evidence
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purposes he never saw his assailant we
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had very little evidence so an
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investigation was really very hard to
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mount
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so this is now two victims both of whom
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have survived
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nevertheless they are two random
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shootings in the middle of the night
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both in the early hours of Thursday
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morning
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despite some similarities there was no
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apparent link between the two crimes so
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the cell-style Zodiac Killer remained
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invisible to police as he moved on to a
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third target on Thursday the 31st of May
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1990.
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Mr Joseph Croce lived right around the
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corner from the subway station where the
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first two victims exited the night that
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they were shot
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Joseph Croce was elderly 78 year old man
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he had become a bit senile
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[Music]
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Joseph was approaching his own apartment
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Sader engaged with his elderly man and
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asked for a glass of water
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Joseph said go to your own apartment and
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get a glass of water and turned his back
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and at that point said I shot him in the
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back
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neighbors heard the gunshot and called
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the police but Sader had once again fled
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the scene
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Joseph Croce was rushed into surgery in
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critical condition
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he was unable to provide police with a
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good description of his attacker
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sata's selection of victims bespoke a
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level of cowardice
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somebody that was weak vulnerable
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disoriented he was always looking for
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someone that he was certain would not
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fight back and they can't do anything to
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stop him
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nearly a month later Joseph prachi died
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as a result of the attack
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with his third attempt the New York
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zodiac had claimed his first kill
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he took the opportunity to taunt the
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police the detectives observed a letter
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that was on Mr proty's front stoop and
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it was being weighted down by three
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stones and the letter had a pie Circle
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and within the slices of the pie he had
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documented three astrological signs
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and he stated that three signs are dead
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[Music]
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he indicated that he was responsible for
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the three shootings and the 12th of the
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cops that they would not catch him just
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as he hadn't been caught in San
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Francisco
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was when the police recognized they had
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a Serial perpetrator on their hands
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that became a Tipping Point in the media
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coverage as well because now the Zodiac
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could become a murderer
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after Joe's approach you we shot right
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up for the New York Post we had received
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a letter from someone claiming to be
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the zodiac
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we were pretty certain that the person
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who left the note beside Jose was the
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same person who wrote this note
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to the first sign is dead second sign is
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dead
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even though some victim survived he
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still called them kills he intended to
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kill every single person that he
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attacked
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really just tell us that list of
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narcissistic strand in his personality
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he doesn't want to be caught but he
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wants it to be known that there is a
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serial killer on the loose
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he boasted that the bullets that he was
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using in his weapons had no grooves
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a regular gun the barrel is drilled out
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in a certain way to leave identifiers
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that are unique and they're called lands
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and grooves
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he believed he would be leaving no
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evidence
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by using his zip guns
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upon examination in the ballistics
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laboratory he was accurate
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there were no traditional lands and
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grooves on the bullets that were
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recovered from the victims
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the New York Post turned up the heat on
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the investigation publishing the letter
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on its front page the headlines of
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screaming Zodiac Zodiac Killer boat
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signs
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the enormous crime rates that were
00:16:56
already besieging the city that this
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became even more scary that it was this
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unknown person running around
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not randomly but seeking people by birth
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sign
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a lot of calls came in mostly scraps of
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I met a guy who asked for my birthday
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what's your sign kind of stuff there was
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very little actionable intelligence
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this really is Saida at the height of
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his arrogance
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feels like he struck the right balance
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at this point in time between actually
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being recognized for what he's done yet
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not being apprehended
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in pursuit of the serial killer the NYPD
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had formed a zodiac task force operating
00:17:42
out of Brooklyn Navy Yard they noticed
00:17:45
that the crimes were happening on
00:17:47
Thursdays
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the shootings look within multiples of
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21 days
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so 21 days at the missed approach will
00:17:54
be shot the NYPD flooded to East New
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York and Woodhaven area of Brooklyn and
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Queens in anticipation of a possible
00:18:02
shooting
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operation Watchdog was launched on the
00:18:06
night of Thursday the 21st of June 1990.
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Mike celevolo was one of the officers
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who took to the streets
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I think I had like 50 detectives with
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all kinds of unmarked vehicles
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vans that look like ice cream trucks and
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things that wouldn't readily stand out
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as being a police vehicle
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we were basically going to take notice
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of whoever was walking the street
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between midnight and sunrise and we
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pretty much did that all night long
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sun came up
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and nothing happens
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there was no shootings in the Brooklyn
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and Queens area
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so the detectives were getting ready to
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wrap it up and they received a
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notification that there was in fact a
00:19:02
shooting
00:19:03
but this time he struck in Manhattan in
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Central Park
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a homeless man who had psychological
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problems had substance abuse problems
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was to sleep on a park bench
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he was shot on the park bench
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he only wounded the person and the
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bullet lodged in the bench and it
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actually matched the bullet from the pro
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Chi seams so we knew we had the same gun
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and likely the same perpetrator
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and more valuable than that was the note
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that was left at the scene
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the note had basically more indications
00:19:42
of the three priors as well as birth
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sign
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the following day Friday the 22nd of
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June 1990 a second letter arrived at the
00:19:54
New York Post newspaper again the author
00:19:57
claimed to be the San Francisco zodiac
00:20:00
that letter had a thumb print and it
00:20:02
matched the thumb print that was on the
00:20:04
letter left at the Central Park crime
00:20:06
scene
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The Hope was then that we would be able
00:20:11
to find a suspect and match them up to
00:20:15
some of this information
00:20:16
we looked and checked to see if there's
00:20:18
anyone in the system that matched those
00:20:20
prints and we found no one
00:20:23
he's talking about constellations he's
00:20:26
talking about Faust he's talking about
00:20:29
some really weird stuff that as New York
00:20:34
City cops we're just not familiar with
00:20:36
he was claiming to be one zodiac one in
00:20:40
the same
00:20:42
he's coming across as very angry and
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very frustrated because it's been
00:20:46
speculated that this is a copycat this
00:20:48
is an imitation this is somebody who is
00:20:50
less than the original zodiac
00:20:57
we sent those letters to the San
00:21:00
Francisco police department and they
00:21:02
were able to say with 100 degree of
00:21:06
certainty that
00:21:08
the guy who's writing all letters was
00:21:11
not the guy they were dealing with in
00:21:14
the late 60s and early 70s
00:21:17
he wanted to make himself bigger than he
00:21:21
really was
00:21:23
Eddie Berto Eddie seder had struck four
00:21:27
times but had killed only once
00:21:32
the New York police had scoured the
00:21:34
Zodiac's Communications knowing that
00:21:37
before he was finished he'd promised
00:21:39
that another eight wives would be
00:21:41
ruthlessly taken he had attacked in
00:21:44
Manhattan
00:21:45
in Queens and he attacked in Brooklyn
00:21:48
three of the five boroughs in New York
00:21:51
City
00:21:53
it instilled a lot of fear in the city
00:21:55
as a whole
00:21:58
we didn't have a clear description from
00:22:01
any of the victims we weren't sure if we
00:22:05
were looking for a black man a latino
00:22:08
man a Caucasian man we just didn't have
00:22:11
any concrete witnesses to tell us which
00:22:15
made it tough
00:22:18
by the end of 1990 the New York zodiac
00:22:22
had ceased communication
00:22:26
the NYPD at the time to what that not
00:22:28
only had he stopped communicating with
00:22:30
us but that he had stopped perpetrating
00:22:32
his attacks nothing happened the next
00:22:35
Thursday or the Thursday after the task
00:22:37
force dissolved over a period of time
00:22:40
everybody went back to their assignments
00:22:42
and everybody forgot about them
00:22:45
Cedar takes a step back and I think this
00:22:48
is something that he's learned through
00:22:50
reading about lots of different cases of
00:22:53
serial killers and trying to learn from
00:22:55
the mistakes that they've made
00:22:58
this is to allow him to collect his
00:23:01
thoughts and start planning the next
00:23:03
phase of attacks
00:23:06
Eddie seder had gone silent as the New
00:23:10
York zodiac but maintained contact with
00:23:13
police in other ways
00:23:15
he becomes to some extent a police
00:23:17
informant informing the police about
00:23:19
local drug lords in his bit of Brooklyn
00:23:22
at one point seder can be a killer and
00:23:26
the other point he can be offended by
00:23:28
drug use and Drug dependency
00:23:30
another of the conflicts an
00:23:33
extraordinary character
00:23:34
of any cider
00:23:37
despite this unlikely collaboration the
00:23:40
New York Police Department was no closer
00:23:43
to connecting Cedar to the New York
00:23:45
zodiac attacks
00:23:47
I had always said that this case is
00:23:50
going to be solved by way of a fluke
00:23:53
something bizarre happening maybe he'll
00:23:55
jump over a turnstile to evade the fair
00:23:58
on the subway a cop will grab them
00:24:01
and they'll fingerprint them and then
00:24:03
they'll say Bing we have a match
00:24:07
four years after his first attack on the
00:24:10
10th of March 1994 officers spotted
00:24:14
Eddie seder outside his apartment
00:24:16
carrying one of his homemade zip guns
00:24:19
they arrested him for unlicensed
00:24:21
possession of a potentially Lethal
00:24:24
Weapon
00:24:25
the police examined the zip gun which is
00:24:28
made up of the most extraordinary
00:24:29
materials including shoelaces and a
00:24:32
rubber band
00:24:33
when this contraption is sent to
00:24:37
ballistics
00:24:38
the ballistics guys didn't know how it
00:24:41
worked
00:24:42
and they couldn't figure it out so it
00:24:44
was listed as inoperable
00:24:46
the district attorney dismissed the case
00:24:49
his fingerprint card was sealed
00:24:51
incredibly Sader had escaped from right
00:24:55
under the noses of the NYPD and his
00:24:58
fingerprint record was inaccessible to
00:25:01
police
00:25:02
said his conviction that he was somehow
00:25:04
Immortal and Beyond reproach
00:25:08
is confirmed
00:25:11
on the 3rd of August 1994 three days
00:25:15
after Eddie seder's 27th birthday a
00:25:19
third zodiac letter arrived at the
00:25:21
offices of the New York Post it had been
00:25:24
four years since the last zodiac
00:25:26
communique and the last of his four
00:25:28
known attacks
00:25:31
from handwriting analysis they
00:25:33
recognized that it's our friend's zodiac
00:25:37
back from 1990 again he's been busy
00:25:42
come on in the upper right hand part of
00:25:44
the letter of five documented victims
00:25:48
similar to the earlier letters where
00:25:50
he's giving a brief description of the
00:25:53
date the time and a brief description of
00:25:56
the victim
00:25:57
he had stopped communicating with the
00:25:58
media and the police but he continued
00:26:00
doing his crimes
00:26:03
he had dropped the warnings in advance
00:26:05
so he reported the news afterwards
00:26:09
which gave him a tremendous advantage
00:26:14
the upper left-hand portion of the
00:26:16
letter is a series of Maritime flags
00:26:18
that he put into a code
00:26:21
when I broke down the code of the letter
00:26:23
it said this is the Zodiac speaking
00:26:27
I am in control
00:26:29
he who Masters
00:26:31
there will be more
00:26:32
yours truly
00:26:35
on the bottom half of the letter he's
00:26:37
taunting the police he puts the Zodiac
00:26:40
nine
00:26:41
nypd0
00:26:43
so he's bragging that he's outsmart in
00:26:45
the NYPD
00:26:46
he had shot nine he's threatening to
00:26:49
shoot at least three more
00:26:50
one for every sign of the zodiac
00:26:54
so they started a second task force and
00:26:57
I was assigned to that test was
00:27:00
what I immediately started doing was
00:27:02
tracking down the five victims that he's
00:27:04
claiming in this letter they all were in
00:27:07
Highland Park
00:27:09
the NYPD and looking at it
00:27:12
recognized that the first four they had
00:27:15
open investigations into each of those
00:27:19
the fifth victim we looked high and low
00:27:21
we could not come up with that victim so
00:27:24
we were only able to come up with four
00:27:25
of the five in this new letter
00:27:28
two of the four victims had not survived
00:27:31
their injuries
00:27:33
looking back on these cases
00:27:35
investigators discovered that on Monday
00:27:38
the 10th of August 1992 25 year old
00:27:42
Eddie seder had encountered a 39 year
00:27:45
old with mental health issues named
00:27:48
Patricia fonte
00:27:50
the attack on Patricia fonte was quite
00:27:53
different from the other attacks
00:27:55
all the other zodiac crimes were
00:27:58
approaches from behind one gunshot fired
00:28:01
and he flees
00:28:04
and this was up with up and personal
00:28:08
he went up to her they started engaging
00:28:10
in conversation
00:28:13
she asked him for a cigarette
00:28:17
he enticed her would a cigarette that he
00:28:19
had and he lured her
00:28:21
into Highland Park
00:28:24
he proceeds to shoot her twice
00:28:29
he then goes into Overkill
00:28:33
and his stabs her more than a hundred
00:28:35
times
00:28:36
now to stab someone 100 times takes a
00:28:39
very very great deal of determination
00:28:40
enormous amount of effort because it is
00:28:43
literally terrifying
00:28:46
I think he recognized that if somehow or
00:28:49
another she had eluded his capture at
00:28:52
that point that she might have been able
00:28:55
to identify from the amount of time that
00:28:57
he had spent with her
00:29:00
Patricia fonte of course died of her
00:29:02
injuries there was almost no way she
00:29:04
could have survived
00:29:08
Patricia fonte was the second murder at
00:29:11
the hands of the New York zodiac
00:29:15
more than a year later on the 21st of
00:29:19
July 1993 he'd killed again
00:29:23
Joseph diacon a 46 year old long-term
00:29:27
mental health patient had been shot in
00:29:29
the neck whilst wandering through
00:29:31
Highland Park
00:29:32
he bled out and died instantly
00:29:36
with these new attacks Eddie seder had
00:29:40
shed the constraints of his prior
00:29:42
methodology
00:29:43
these killings were not carried out on a
00:29:46
Thursday there were no links to the
00:29:47
signs of the zodiac that there had been
00:29:49
with the previous four shootings
00:29:53
and he's very deliberately adapted his
00:29:56
routine here because he doesn't want to
00:29:58
be caught
00:30:01
despite this caution one of his
00:30:03
surviving victims had finally managed to
00:30:06
get a good look at their attacker she
00:30:09
sees a male Hispanic with a mustache and
00:30:12
wearing some kind of a hat
00:30:14
point the gun at her and flies one shot
00:30:17
striking heaven and neck
00:30:19
the woman was partially paralyzed but
00:30:22
her description was used in a police
00:30:24
sketch
00:30:26
until then investigators had only
00:30:29
received patchy and inconsistent
00:30:31
information about the appearance of the
00:30:34
New York zodiac
00:30:37
he took quite a lot of care varying his
00:30:40
appearance so he would occasionally wear
00:30:42
hats he would grow a mustache and then
00:30:44
he would shave it off after he had
00:30:45
carried out an attack so he lived for
00:30:48
his attacks they were essentially his
00:30:51
occupation this was his day job
00:30:55
we've been every lead that we could
00:30:57
chasing fingerprints chasing ballistics
00:30:59
but after nine months the department
00:31:01
decided to break up the second task
00:31:04
force like they did the first task force
00:31:08
I was assigned to become a hostage
00:31:11
negotiator
00:31:13
the pursuit of the New York zodiac it
00:31:16
hit another dead end
00:31:20
then two years later on the 18th of June
00:31:24
1996 the NYPD received a call
00:31:29
the phone rang about 12 noon and they
00:31:31
had a hostage job where an individual
00:31:33
had shot his sister
00:31:35
and he was holding her boyfriend hostage
00:31:38
in a back bedroom or the apartment
00:31:41
I raced there she got there as fast as I
00:31:43
could
00:31:45
when I arrived the entire area was
00:31:47
cordoned off
00:31:49
I was informed that not only had he shot
00:31:51
his sister and had the boyfriend still
00:31:53
hostage in the back bedroom
00:31:56
but when responding police arrived
00:31:59
he shot it out with about 15 cops
00:32:03
he had positioned guns at each window in
00:32:06
the apartment and he would run from
00:32:07
window to window
00:32:08
shooting at the cops below and they were
00:32:11
shooting back so finally Emergency
00:32:13
Services arrived they were able to quote
00:32:15
it off the area the gunfire ceased he
00:32:19
still
00:32:19
a hostage taker with a hostage
00:32:22
Sergeant Herbert tried to establish
00:32:25
communication with the man who
00:32:27
identified himself as Eddie
00:32:30
he's not talking to me from the window
00:32:34
finally they were able to evacuate the
00:32:36
entire building and we were able to
00:32:38
climb up the steps to Eddie's front door
00:32:40
and I started to try to get him to
00:32:43
engage me in conversation then
00:32:44
so we were in the hallway for about
00:32:46
three hours
00:32:49
I was speaking to him trying to get him
00:32:51
to surrender I was telling him Eddie and
00:32:53
that blood has been shed
00:32:55
you know we don't need any more violence
00:32:57
in surrender you won't be hurt
00:32:59
your sister's going to be okay
00:33:01
let's end this now
00:33:05
so finally he says am I going to go to
00:33:08
jail I said Eddie I can't lie to you
00:33:10
you're going to go to jail you know you
00:33:12
shot your sister uh you shot a cops you
00:33:15
know it's a very serious thing
00:33:16
so then he tells us that he's ready to
00:33:18
surrender
00:33:19
and he says that he's got a lot of
00:33:21
weapons inside the department and a lot
00:33:23
of ballistics a lot of bullets it took
00:33:25
three bucket loads to get all his zip
00:33:27
guns and bullets out of the apartment
00:33:31
we had already start and like relax a
00:33:34
little bit out in the hallway because we
00:33:35
know all the weapons are out but then he
00:33:36
said I gave you all my guns what should
00:33:39
I do with my bombs
00:33:41
so I said Eddie you got bombs in here
00:33:46
the bomb squad was urgently dispatched
00:33:48
and they recovered two crude pipe bombs
00:33:51
from the small apartment
00:33:55
Eddie was arrested and charged with
00:33:58
attempted murder of his half-sister and
00:34:00
that of several police officers in the
00:34:03
ensuing shootout
00:34:05
during an interrogation the 29 year old
00:34:08
told police what had happened
00:34:11
that his half-sister brought a MAG back
00:34:14
to the flat he's a drug dealer he's not
00:34:18
someone that sadar feels that his
00:34:21
half-sister should be
00:34:23
consorting with
00:34:25
sada's relationship with his younger
00:34:27
sister is a very significant one because
00:34:30
it's a relationship in which he felt
00:34:32
like he was in control that as she got
00:34:34
older she began to challenge that
00:34:36
Authority he also hated his sister
00:34:39
having any relationships with men so he
00:34:42
became incredibly angry about this
00:34:46
he gets into a beef with his sister and
00:34:49
he shoots her in the butt
00:34:51
and that'll certainly bring you to the
00:34:54
attention of the police
00:34:59
and then when he's at the station house
00:35:01
and he's writing his confession he he
00:35:03
just couldn't help himself
00:35:06
detective said we want you to see this
00:35:08
it's a confession that Eddie had for
00:35:11
shooting his sister and the handwriting
00:35:13
jumped out at me as the handwriting that
00:35:16
I've been studying for the last four
00:35:17
years five years
00:35:19
at the bottom of the second page he has
00:35:22
an upside down cross similar to the
00:35:24
earlier letters
00:35:28
I said a show as I'm standing here this
00:35:30
is the zodiac
00:35:32
everything starts fitting together the
00:35:34
zip guns the location
00:35:39
the case had been cracked wide open now
00:35:42
investigators knew where to look the
00:35:45
evidence proving that seder and the
00:35:47
Zodiac were one and the same was
00:35:50
mounting
00:35:51
in his notes the Zodiac boasted that his
00:35:55
homemade weapons would leave no
00:35:57
traceable marks on the bullets found in
00:35:59
his victims
00:36:00
he was wrong
00:36:02
when a bullet travels to a pipe it still
00:36:04
leaves distinctive marks on the bullet
00:36:06
so they were able to identify three of
00:36:09
the bullets from victims of the zodiac
00:36:11
that we recovered from the victims with
00:36:13
some of the pipes and zip guns that we
00:36:16
took out of his apartment
00:36:18
when they matched his fingerprints bingo
00:36:22
had a Berto Selah was arrested charged
00:36:26
as the Zodiac Killer
00:36:28
forensic experts had also confirmed a
00:36:32
handwriting and DNA match with the
00:36:34
Zodiac letters
00:36:36
all he wanted to talk about initially
00:36:38
was the Bible and religion
00:36:42
eventually
00:36:43
he realized you know we were telling
00:36:45
them about the evidence that we had he
00:36:47
know the way we talk and we know what we
00:36:48
were talking about you know we knew that
00:36:49
case we lived that case for years
00:36:53
you finally confessed
00:36:57
he believed that he was ridding Society
00:37:00
of drug addicted people
00:37:04
it was the first time that he in a sense
00:37:08
thrown off the cloak
00:37:10
and said here I am I'm the New York
00:37:12
zodiac
00:37:14
seder revealed much about the Zodiac
00:37:17
crimes but not the most peculiar detail
00:37:20
there was nothing up his sleeve anymore
00:37:23
except he would not reveal
00:37:26
how it was he knew the birth signs of
00:37:29
his first four victims and I always took
00:37:32
that to be
00:37:33
his guilty pleasure of still taunting
00:37:35
the police
00:37:37
that he had something that they couldn't
00:37:38
figure out and he would never reveal it
00:37:44
he described these people as almost
00:37:46
two-dimensional
00:37:47
they have targets they were stick
00:37:48
figures they were not flesh and blood
00:37:51
they were not real people they didn't
00:37:54
hurt they didn't suffer they didn't have
00:37:57
lives they were just inanimate objects
00:37:59
to him
00:38:01
The Arrogant killer had narrowly escaped
00:38:05
Justice once before
00:38:07
two years earlier Eddie seder had been
00:38:10
arrested for carrying a zip gun police
00:38:13
at the time considered it to be unusable
00:38:16
so he was released
00:38:19
they preserved and kept that inoperable
00:38:22
gun let's retest this thing now that
00:38:25
we've got these other guns that we all
00:38:27
recovered from his home
00:38:29
and sure enough yeah it is operable and
00:38:33
we were able to show that It ultimately
00:38:36
matched the bullet that had been removed
00:38:40
from one of the victims the police had
00:38:42
had a decider in their hands but because
00:38:45
the case against seder was closed his
00:38:48
fingerprints weren't available to the
00:38:51
police who were searching for the Zodiac
00:38:53
Killer on the 14th of May 1998 30 year
00:38:58
old Henny Berto Eddie seder began a
00:39:01
six-week trial at Queen's Supreme Court
00:39:04
charged with three murders and one
00:39:07
attempted murder in the Queen's District
00:39:09
of New York he shouts at the judge it's
00:39:13
as if I'm not here I'm being ignored
00:39:15
I think he felt threatened and I think
00:39:19
he felt at the same point that I'm not
00:39:22
being treated merely as significantly as
00:39:27
I should be as a result of all I
00:39:28
accomplished
00:39:30
there's a real vanity that attaches in
00:39:32
this almost puffed up sense of of do you
00:39:37
know who I am
00:39:38
and I think it's a confusion between
00:39:41
Fame and infamy
00:39:45
after a trial of six weeks
00:39:48
the jury take barely five hours
00:39:51
to convict him on the 22nd of July 1998
00:39:56
harryberto Eddie seder was sentenced to
00:39:59
83 and the third years in prison
00:40:03
the following year on the 8th of July
00:40:05
1999 after a second trial of his crimes
00:40:09
in the district of Brooklyn said it was
00:40:12
once again found guilty
00:40:14
he was convicted of three zodiac crimes
00:40:17
as well as the shooting of his
00:40:18
half-sister and four attempts on the
00:40:21
lives of police officers during the
00:40:24
insurance Siege
00:40:25
he is sentenced to further 152 and a
00:40:28
half years in prison making is the total
00:40:31
sentence 235 years
00:40:35
Berto Eddie seder had eluded capture for
00:40:39
over six years and authorities believe
00:40:42
he was far from finished when his luck
00:40:45
finally ran out
00:40:47
he was upset that a number of people
00:40:49
survived the shootings like if I'd made
00:40:52
my weapon a little better there would
00:40:54
have been more people dead
00:40:56
that he was very insulted by the fact
00:40:59
that some of these people lived
00:41:02
I believe that if he did in fact hit the
00:41:05
number 12 that he would continue killing
00:41:07
people
00:41:08
although he might have just graduated to
00:41:10
the bombs
00:41:12
he did say that his ultimate ambition
00:41:15
was to take pipe bombs to the big IMAX
00:41:18
movie theater in Manhattan and lay it in
00:41:22
the middle of the theater under a seat
00:41:23
and see it get detonated
00:41:27
[Music]
00:41:28
it is kind of scary to see somebody who
00:41:32
had such a small life as Mr Sater would
00:41:36
never really went anywhere outside of
00:41:38
that square mile killing field that he
00:41:41
invented who never really had any
00:41:44
connections with anyone on a budget as
00:41:47
small as his he could kill three people
00:41:50
nearly kill others and cause the amount
00:41:54
of misery that he did
00:41:57
he was basically the lowest rent serial
00:42:01
killer that you were ever going to find
00:42:04
well he's a coward he shoots people that
00:42:07
are helpless homeless sleeping walking
00:42:11
with a cane and a limb elderly and for
00:42:15
someone to shoot his own sister
00:42:19
he was a monster
00:42:21
very evil very evil guy
00:42:27
over six years Eddie seder the copycat
00:42:31
Zodiac Killer stalked the streets of New
00:42:34
York City in search of easy targets his
00:42:38
cowardly attacks culminated with the
00:42:40
Ferocious murder of a woman who'd only
00:42:43
asked him for a cigarette
00:42:45
he'd convinced himself that he served a
00:42:48
higher purpose but merely indulged his
00:42:51
Lust For notoriety and violence marking
00:42:54
Hedy Berto Eddie seder as one of the
00:42:58
world's most evil killers
00:43:02
[Music]
00:43:07
thank you
00:43:09
[Music]
00:43:21
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most intense
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • The Rise of the New York Zodiac
    In the early 1990s, Eddie Seder terrorized New York City, claiming to be the Zodiac Killer.
    “He was utterly heartless.”
    @ 00m 54s
    January 30, 2023
  • First Kill
    Seder shot Mario Orozco, marking his first real act of violence.
    “He had tasted blood for the first time.”
    @ 11m 37s
    January 30, 2023
  • Taunting the Police
    After his third victim, Seder left a letter taunting the police, claiming responsibility for the attacks.
    “Three signs are dead.”
    @ 14m 54s
    January 30, 2023
  • The Zodiac Speaks
    A chilling letter reveals the Zodiac's taunting nature and his control over the situation.
    “This is the Zodiac speaking”
    @ 26m 23s
    January 30, 2023
  • The Capture of Eddie Seder
    Eddie Seder, the copycat Zodiac Killer, is arrested after a violent standoff with police.
    “I gave you all my guns, what should I do with my bombs?”
    @ 33m 39s
    January 30, 2023
  • The Trial and Sentencing
    Eddie Seder is convicted and sentenced to 235 years for multiple murders and attempted murders.
    “It’s as if I’m not here, I’m being ignored”
    @ 39m 13s
    January 30, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • He preyed on the vulnerable; he killed at random.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
  • He sought out and stalked victims to feed his lust for power and status.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
  • He believed he would be leaving no evidence by using his zip guns.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
  • I am in control.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
  • He was a monster.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
  • Very evil, very evil guy.
    Heriberto Seda: New York’s Zodiac Killer | World's Most Evil Killers

Key Moments

  • Vulnerable Victims00:25
  • First Attack10:21
  • Arrogance Peaks17:20
  • Taunting Police26:35
  • Second Murder29:11
  • Arrest of Seder36:26
  • Trial Begins39:01
  • Sentenced39:56

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

Related Episodes

Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 25 - Sign of the Zodiac - Full Episode
December 16, 2021
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22:08
Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 25 - Sign of the Zodiac - Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 9, Episode 1 - Updated Full Episode
March 16, 2022
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46:08
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 9, Episode 1 - Updated Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 1, Episode 6 - New Updated Full Episode
March 16, 2022
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45:33
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 1, Episode 6 - New Updated Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 7
March 09, 2017
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42:55
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 4, Episode 7
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 1, Episode 7 - Full Episode
May 16, 2019
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42:57
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 1, Episode 7 - Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 22 - Full Episode
May 23, 2019
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49:39
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 6, Episode 22 - Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 9, Episode 13 - Full Episode
May 23, 2019
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42:37
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 9, Episode 13 - Full Episode
Touch of Evil | Forensic Files | S14 E8 | FULL EPISODE
March 13, 2021
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21:15
Touch of Evil | Forensic Files | S14 E8 | FULL EPISODE
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 7
March 09, 2017
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42:47
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 7
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 4 - Full Episode
May 23, 2019
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45:16
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 5, Episode 4 - Full Episode
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 12
March 09, 2017
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42:48
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 12
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 11
March 09, 2017
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42:54
Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 3, Episode 11