Zodiac Killer: Meet The Prime Suspects

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"This is the Zodiac speaking..." For five long years, Bay Area newspapers received letters from the infamous serial killer with this terrifying starting line. But who was the Zodiac?

Throughout the past four decades, police have investigated the murder cases and the extensive collection of communications from the self-named Zodiac. But 2,500 suspects later, the Zodiac's identity remains an intriguing mystery.

Here are profiles of four primary suspects. Most of the suspects are now deceased, and the evidence is all circumstantial. But could one of the men below be the notorious serial killer who stalked the Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s?

The Suspects

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Name: Arthur Leigh Allen 1933-1992 Occupations:Dishonorably discharged from US Navy; Elementary School Teacher; Lifeguard

Arthur Leigh Allen is the man most widely mentioned as the suspected Zodiac Killer. He can be placed near the scene of nearly all of Zodiac's murders

Oct. 30, 1966 - Riverside, CA - Cheri Jo Bates Murder

At the time of the murder Allen was a school teacher in Calaveras County, Cal. -- about 400 miles away. But nearly every weekend he traveled to Riverside where he was a car club member. On the Monday following Bates' murder, Allen did not go to work. If Allen did commit the murder, he might have needed to allow time for scratches on his face to heal.

About a month after the murder, typewritten confession letters were mailed to a local paper and to police. Analysis revealed that typewriter was a Royal model with either Elite or Pica type. In 1991, police seized a Royal typewriter with Elite type from the home of Arthur Leigh Allen.

Dec. 20, 1968 - Lake Herman Road, Vallejo, CA - Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday

Shortly after Bates' murder, Allen was fired as a school teacher after he molested a student. He moved in with his parents in Vallejo, Cal. Friends and neighbors report that Allen spent a lot of time alone, driving in nearby rural areas -- such as Lake Herman Road

July 4, 1969 - Blue Rock Springs - Vallejo, CA -- Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau

Allen was still living in Vallejo -- in fact just minutes from the murder scene. Mike Mageau survived the attack and described the killer's escape in a brown Corvair. Allen reportedly had access to a friend's brown Corvair.

July 4, 1969 - Blue Rock Springs - Vallejo, CA -- Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau

Allen was still living in Vallejo -- in fact just minutes from the murder scene. Mike Mageau survived the attack and described the killer's escape in a brown Corvair. Allen reportedly had access to a friend's brown Corvair.

Sept. 27, 1969 - Lake Berryessa - Napa, CA - Cecile Shepard and Bryan Hartnell

Lake Berryessa is a recreational are about 40 miles north of Vallejo. It's an area the avid outdoorsman would have frequented for SCUBA diving and camping.

Bryan Hartnell survived the attack and described the weapon as a 12-inch long knife in a sheath with rivets. During the 1991 search of Allen's home, police found a a 12-inch long knife with a sheath and rivets.

Arthur Leigh Allen died in his home in Vallejo, California on August 26, 1992 of coronary heart disease. He went to his grave proclaiming his innocence.

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Name: Jack Tarrance 1928 - 2006 Occupations: Honorable discharge from US Air Force; Navy; Ham Radio operator; Steele company worker; General Electric test foreman; Laundry attendant.

Jack Tarrance is not a name is often associated with the Zodiac murders. In fact, he was not even considered a suspect until the summer of 2000, when his stepson, Dennis Kaufman, watched a Zodiac Killer documentary. Dennis became convinced that Jack Tarrance is the Zodiac. His research has produced some intriguing and complex clues.

Sept. 27, 1969 - Lake Berryessa - Napa, CA - Cecile Shepard and Bryan Hartnell

The killer left footprints with a size 10 ½ Wing Walker -- a fairly obscure military boot. While employed as an Aircraft Supply Sergeant in the US Airforce, Jack would have had access to the Wing Walkers.

Ciphers

During Tarrance's time as a ham radio operator he would have to have been very familiar and skilled with different types of codes and coding schemes.

Mt. Diablo

Jack Tarrance was an avid camper and geographer who liked to pinpoint exact locations. Zodiac's June 26, 1970 letter to San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery included a map with Mount Diablo marked off. The letter also included a cipher that has never been solved.

Many years later a Zodiac enthusiast drew a line connecting the murder of cabbie Paul Stine and the Vallejo murders to the tip of Mt. Diablo. The connection displayed an angle that measured 57.3 degrees - a precise radian angle. Dennis took the radian concept a step further and mapped the locations of Zodiac victims' bodies, and discovered that numerous body locations fell along the radian line. In 2001, Dennis found many letters and other documents that Jack was keeping in storage. Among the items found were formulas relating to radians and measurements.

Zodiac's Last Verified Letter

In what seems to be another coincidence, Zodiac sent his last letter on July 8, 1974. Two days later, Jack appeared in a California court and was sentenced for poaching. He was taken directly into custody and spent the next 30 days in jail; it was his first time behind bars.

All of the documents and evidence Dennis collected was given to the FBI and then forwarded to the San Francisco Police Department.

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Name: Lawrence "Larry" Kane 1923 -Present Occupations:Navy; various blue collar jobs

Retired detective Harvey Hines has repeatedly and publicly stated that he has proof that Larry Kane is the Zodiac killer and has spent years building a case against Kane. In 1962 Kane was in a car accident that left him with severe brain injury. In 1965, he was reportedly diagnosed with a mental disorder in which he was "losing control of his self-gratification."

July 4, 1969 - Blue Rock Springs - Vallejo, CA -- Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau

Hines believes that he has found evidence that links Kane to Darlene Ferrin. Her sisters identified Kane as the man who was stalking her shortly before her murder.

Oct. 11, 1969- San Francisco, CA -- Paul Stine

Larry Kane was living at the Clark Hotel -- just 2 1/2 blocks from where Stine picked up the Zodiac.

Sept. 6, 1970 - South Lake Tahoe, Nev - Donna Lass (possible victim)

Donna Lass disappeared on September 6, 1970 and her body has never been found. She was a nurse in San Francisco who lived just blocks from the Stine murder scene. In June 1970 she moved to South Lake Tahoe, Cal where she began work as a nurse for the Sahara Tahoe Hotel Casino. Larry Kane also moved from San Francisco to South Lake Tahoe in June 1970. He worked in a real estate office located in the same hotel.

There is no confirmed connection between the Lass case and Zodiac. A postcard was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22, 1971, and implied that Lass was a murder victim. The postcard has never been verified as a communication from Zodiac and it did not include any of the "proof" that marked Zodiac's letters.

Kane can only be linked to one of Zodiac's confirmed victims -- Darlene Ferrin. Possible links to other victims or locations are tenuous. The first confirmed Zodiac murder was the Faraday and Jensen attack, and so far, Hines has not found a link to this murder.

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Name: Bruce Davis 1942 - Present Occupations: Former Manson Family Member

Bruce Davis is most commonly known for his participation in the serial killings of the Manson Family. For a short time he was considered a prime suspect. At the time of the Zodiac murders he was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and he is indeed a convicted killer. However, there is not a lot of evidence that supports the theories that he is the Zodiac.

In the later parts of the 1960s, Davis had long hair – not a crew-cut style like Zodiac eyewitnesses have reported. His handwriting has been compared to that of the Zodiac and a definite match cannot be made. Also, a 1970 police report stated that all members of the Manson Family had been investigated and none were considered Zodiac suspects.

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