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Theory of the zodiac killer
Theory of the zodiac killer
Introduction to serial killers
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The United States has the highest number of serial killers, with 76% of the world’s total. Europe comes in a distant second with 17%. Men constitute the overwhelming majority of serial killers, at over 90%. (http://facts.randomhistory.com/serial-killer-facts.html) The Zodiac killer and Jack the ripper are two of the many commonly known serial killers and though these two shared similarities, they were altogether very different. Because of this, these two murderers were extremely famous and are still studied by many criminologists today. Firstly, one of the biggest differences between Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer is that they occurred in very different time periods. The murders committed by Jack the Ripper took place in East End London, 1888. Because of the time period, Jack the Ripper became extremely well-known throughout the world due to the media constantly releasing day to day coverage of the crimes and …show more content…
Jack the Ripper killed only female prostitutes who roamed the London streets after dark brutally, sadistically mutilating the women and even cutting off body parts to keep as souvenirs. His murders lapsed in minutes within police arriving on the scene. People speculate because of his precision and knowledge of anatomy that he was an intellectual of a surgical background or a butcher. On the other hand, the Zodiac Killer would stop young couples in vehicles late at night and impersonate a police officer in order to get close enough to murder them with a close range firearm. He approached the young lovers with a flashlight, asked them to roll down their windows and then fired multiple shots. Although, much like Jack the Ripper, his identity was never confirmed but a policeman spotted a man driving away from the scene and the Zodiac Killer later confirmed in a letter that the police came close to catching the murderer but
I would like to try and discuss theories and ideas about the Zodiac Killer (1966-1978, 1966 is when the killings started and his letters sent, 1978 was when his letters stopped but the killings unsure about if they stopped). What I have found out is that he killed about 37 or 40 people (he claims to have killed). The Zodiac sent letters to the chief of the SFPD or the News, threatening to kill someone or many people. The Zodiac wrote on some of his letters of how he killed some of his past victims, it explained what he used to kill his victims, to how he used his tools. Some of the letters the Zodiac sent were in ciphers or encrypted; one letter was thought to uncover the name of the Zodiac, but the letter was never cracked. Moving to his victims.
Now this man killed allot of people so this paragraph isn’t for the faint of heart. The first victim will be Paul Lee Stein. He worked as a cab driver in the late 1960s 1968 to be exact. The zodiac hopped in the car of steins cab… A normal customer is all steins must have thought but boy was he wrong…. He asked to get taken across town. About a block before arrival he shot stein in the head with a 9mm. pistol. After he took his wallet keys and a piece of his shirt for proof. Now onto Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin the next victim on the list. She sat in her car with her boyfriend who survived the attack… he must have been devastated by the fact that he couldn’t help what is possibly the love of his life…. When the zodiacs car parked behind them. He got out and shot both multiple times with a 9mm. luger pistol. Later, Ferrin, had a medical professional pronounce her dead. The final victim will be Cecelia Ann Shepard. The zodiac pulled up his car by a couple having a picnic he then said he had just escaped from prison he held tied them up while holding a 45. He stabbed both of them but only Shepard died. As it can see he could be known as a very evil man and killed at weird times as the saying goes expect it when it’s least expect
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified man who is presumed to be a serial killer that operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Murdering at least five people, but the Zodiac claims to have killed upwards of 37 people in total. In 1969 the Zodiac Killer began sending letters to the Bay Area newspapers, taking credit for the five killings and threatening further violence. The Zodiac Killer would call and send cryptic letters to the law enforcement agencies in Northern California, taunting them since they were unable to bring him to justice. The police had suspects but none that they could ever charge for the murders, due to lack of evidence, so this mystery still remains unsolved. The cultural impact that the Zodiac Killer has had on tv, movies and the media is still around today and has had many shows and movies remade after what this killer did. The cultural impact as well as for the families of the victims still remains today with still no closure, for those families who live in Northern California still there is the fear that crosses the minds on how such an awful criminal was once a part of their society, someone they may
...se events formed two rectangles held together by a solid line. This symbol, whose origin is the same as the Zodiac symbol used by the murderer, symbolizes the afterlife, and is placed on graves to hurry the souls to the afterlife. With Zodiac’s obsession with the afterlife, and the need for slaves in the thereafter, it is hypothesized that he is responsible for close to 100 murders across the area. The most resent developments to the Zodiac case have taken place on the East Coast. In 1998, a string of murders occurred in the New York metro area by someone claiming to be the Zodiac. Though police have assumed that this is a copycat case, it has not been ruled out that the Zodiac may once again be on the move.
In California, December 20, 1968, Zodiac attacked Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday. This was his first significant criminal act. In a matter of 2 or 3 minutes, the attack was finished and he drove casually away from the scene. He showed no signs of remorse and seemed very calm about all of his actions. After the attack of these two people-murdering the female-Zodiac would have read about his actions in local newspapers, listened to it on a radio report, or watched it on a local news report on the tv. Seven months later he attacked Darlene Ferrin and Micheal Mageau on July 4, 1969, killing the woman of course. Afterward he phoned the Vallejo Police departement to brag about what he did. He also wrote to three newspapers to brag.
A serial killer is a person who has killed three or more people over a month apart. Their motivation for killing is usually based on psychological issue.(Sanmartín,2001) In the U.S, the most reported serial killers are lower middle class white males, usually in their late twenties to early thirties (Skrapec,2001). Serial killers, often, are liars. They have no sense of remorse or guilt. Most of the time they are not in serious relationship or have any emotional obsession to any one person, besides their victims. Most of the well-known serial killers are: Robert Pickton, Charles Manson, Anthony Sowell, Ted Bundy, The Zodiac Killer, The Green River Killer, and The BTK murderer. (Sanmartín,2001). Often, women were never seen as even a suspect
As the killer was never truly found, the investigation turned into a historical research. It was so prominent that the research of Jack the Ripper became known as Ripperology. So whether the world will ever know the true identity of the killer of all killers, it will always be in study.
Almost all people know who serial killers are, but what exactly defines a serial killer. The FBI defines serial murder as “a minimum of three to four victims with a ‘cooling off’ period between, the killer is usually a stranger to the victim, the murders reflect a need to sadistically dominate the victim, and the murder is rarely for profit.” (Vronsky, 2004, p.36) Serial killers are usually a white male from a lower-to-middle-class background typically in his twenties or thirties. Also, 85% of the world’s serial killers live in America, with at least twenty to fifty unidentified active serial killers plotting another one of their killings. On average, every person has seen or met at least 37 serial killers in their lifespan.
Although mass murderers and serial killers are both dangerous and somewhat sick people, there are several distinct characteristics of each that put them in different categories. The most distinct differences between the two are; Most mass killers kill several victims over a relatively short period of time, usually hours, but sometimes days (Murder 1). Serial killers most often kill his or her victims separately, over a much longer period of time, sometimes lasting several years until the killer is taken into custody by authorities or killed.
Attention Getter: Jeffrey Dahmer, The Zodiac Killer, Donald Henry Gaskins, Tsutomu Miyazaki, Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, Amelia Dyer, Jane Toppan, these are the names of some of the most notorious serial killers the world has ever come to see, and there are many more where that came from.
Serial killings are not a new phenomenon. In 1798, for example, Micajah and Wiley Harpe traveled the backwoods of Kentucky and Tennessee in a violent, year-long killing spree that left at least twenty-and possibly as many as thirty-eight-men, women, and children dead. Their crimes were especially chilling as they seemed particularly to enjoy grabbing small children by the ankles and smashing their heads against trees (Holmes and DeBurger 28). In modern society, however, serial killings have grown to near epidemic proportions. Ann Rule, a respected author and expert on serial murders, stated in a seminar on serial murder at the University of Louisville that between 3,500 and 5,000 people become victims of serial murder each year in the United States alone (qtd. in Holmes and DeBurger 21). Many others estimate that there are close to 350 serial killers currently at large in our society (Holmes and DeBurger 22).
Serial killers have been around for decades but According To Jack Levin, 'seven of the ten largest mass killings in American history have taken place in the last decade (Douglas, p. 137). One of the most popular and well-known serial killers in history was Ted Bundy. He was convicted of killing three women but is suspected of killing thirty-six other women (Douglas, p. 137).
Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...
These factors are categorized into biological factors, psychological factors and psychosocial factors. Firstly, biological factors involve one’s genes, nervous system and endocrine system. Since the Zodiac Killer was never caught, it is unknown at this point how his genetic material could be related to his criminal behaviour. We cannot be certain if any of this family members had psychological disorders, or if he inherited any genes for antisocial personality traits. Secondly, psychological factors include the gender and sexuality of the criminal, their cognition, their motivations and emotions and their moral thinking and personality. From the facts the police do have, the Zodiac Killer was a Caucasian male, which fits the majority of statistics according to the Radford University/FGCU Serial Killer Database (2016). It can also be concluded that perhaps the Zodiac Killer lacked intimate relationships of his own and therefore mostly targeted young couples who were in love. In both cases where young couples were attacked, the women both died, however the men survived. The Zodiac Killer also showed high levels of intelligence as no one could solve the ciphers he sent in to the local newspapers. These coded messages motivated him to continue killing as he was able to taunt the police with another “win”. Lastly, psychosocial factors touch on family and peers, psychosocial
"I am Jack the Ripper, catch me if you can" (Cornwell, 55) has been one of the most haunted lines of history, especially in London's Whitechapel area from August 1888 to November of that same year. Jack the Ripper was the mystery everyone wanted to solve, but not everyone was as determined as Patricia Cornwell. Throughout her series of all her Ripper investigations, she was destined to prove once and for all that Jack the Ripper wasn't just any man, but Walter Richard Sickert himself. In her book Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper Case Closed, she discusses and confirms that everyone had known the Ripper all along, just fell for his act. The author wasn't going down without a chance to prove to the world that Walter was the evil serial killer