zodiac unmasked by robert graysmith

Zodiac Unmasked, by Robert Graysmith

(pb; 2002: non-fiction)

From the back cover:

"In the 'provocative' (San Francisco Chronicle) true-crime classic,

Zodiac, Robert Graysmith tracked the violent path of a sadistic sex

killer whose true identity was shrouded in mystery. Now, after

twenty-five years, Graysmith unmasks the killer...

"Between December 1968 and October 1969 a hooded serial killer called

Zodiac terrorized San Francisco. He claimed responsibility for

thirty-seven murders. His actual death toll may have reached fifty.

All the while, he manipulated the media with depraved cunning,

inundating the San Francisco Chronicle with warnings, dares, and

tantalizing cryptograms that baffled the brightest FBI code-breakers.

But as suddenly as the murders began, they stopped. Zodiac disappeared

into the Bay Area fog forever and was never brought to justice.

"Now, through painstaking research and exclusive interviews, Robert

Graysmith closes the last chapter on America's greatest unsolved

mystery. Accumulating overwhelming evidence, Graysmith, who was on the

staff of the San Francisco Chronicle when Zodiac's first letter

arrived, finally exposes the elusive killer's true identity, reveals

the twisted private life that led to the crimes, and provides

startling theories as to why they stopped.

"With never-before-published photos, a complete reproduction of

Zodiac's letters, incriminating envelopes, confidential notes, secret

messages, and puzzles, Zodiac Unmasked is an important and fascinating

coda to one of the most notorious crime sprees of the twentieth

century."

Review:

Author Graysmith concludes the real-life Zodiac drama in his follow-up

to Zodiac.

Robert ("Bob") Hall Starr, not the man's real name, had been named as

the prime suspect in the Zodiac killings near the end of Zodiac. Many

cops "liked" him for the murders, but there was that

can't-match-his-handwriting-with-Zodiac's snag they couldn't get

around.

Graysmith, armed with a plethora of new leads, proves that Starr,

whose real name was Arthur Leigh Allen, was the killer. It was a

teenage boy who led the authorities (and Graysmith) to Allen in 1987.

Everything matches. The dates of Zodiac "inactivity" (the lapse in

murders and letters) stem from a prison stint Allen was serving for

molesting two prepubescent boys (1974-1978); the murders declined

about the same time that Allen started encountering health problems;

Allen was a cineaste, particularly obsessed by the movies A Game of

Death (1945) and Run for the Sun (1956), as well as the story that

spawned those movies, Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game."

Also, Allen's hobbies coincided with the Zodiac's: skin-diving

(explaining why Zodiac utilized the Zodiac SeaWolf watch logo as his

own); Allen hated women, especially his mother, and was a pedophile;

like many serial killers, Allen had applied to a police academy, only

to be rebuffed, therefore fueling his hatred of cops; like his father,

Allen had been in the Navy (Zodiac displayed Navy knowledge and

references in his techniques and cryptograms); Allen was hyperthymic

(highly emotional), as was Zodiac in his letters; Allen was a mechanic

(Zodiac, in trying to lure his victims to him, had tinkered with their

cars); Allen knew a hippie named Robert Emmett Rodifer, which linked

him to the "ROBERT EMMETT THE HIPPIE" cryptogram in one of Zodiac's

early media letters; Allen intentionally misspelled words in letters

to friends, many of the misspellings similar to Zodiac's (e.g., eggs =

"aigs"); Allen's birthday (December 18) coincides with Zodiac's, as

well as one of the Zodiac's victims, S.F. cabbie Paul Stine (who was

shot in the back of the head).

As for the handwriting snag, Allen's handwriting, both real and

altered (he was ambidextrous), was also matched to the Zodiac's, as

was his DNA (though the DNA evidence was kind of sketchy).

Before the cops and Graysmith could prove Allen's guilt, Allen died of

a heart attack on August 26, 1992.

Zodiac, along with Jack the Ripper, has the distinction of spawning

stylistic, stated copycats.

In 1990 (and later in 1994), Zodiac II (as he was called by the press)

appeared in New York, shooting people with a zip gun. Heriberto

"Eddie" Seda, whom the cops had also dubbed "The Vampire," was

arrested on June 18, 1996, after a shoot-out with New York's finest,

and subsequently revealed to be Zodiac II via Seda's confession, and

numerous Zodiac II-consistent weapons in his apartment.

Zodiac III (as he was called the press) struck in Kobe, Japan in March

1997, beheading a retarded neighborhood boy. On June 28, 1997, a

fifteen-year old boy was arrested and convicted of attacking five

kids, two of whom died.

This teenager, Zodiac III, had been emulating a murder he'd seen in

the 1990 film, The Exorcist III, which was based on William Peter

Blatty's 1983 novel, Legion (a book sequel to Blatty's novel, The

Exorcist). In one of his 1972 media letters, the original Zodiac had

found the (1973 wide-release) film to be "the best saterical comidy

that I have ever seen." [misspellings intentional]. Eleven years

later, in a nod at Zodiac's mention of The Exorcist, author Blatty

modeled his Gemini (originally called Zodiac) killer in Legion after

the original, real-life Zodiac.

Author Graysmith ends his two-book serial-killer odyssey in dovetail

fashion by mentioning new evidence linking Allen to the first stated

Zodiac casualty, Darlene Ferrin. (Zodiac had killed two people before

Ferrin, but only later took credit for their deaths.) It's a fitting

finish, bringing the real-life drama back to the Ferrin murder, which

began the first book, Zodiac.

As necessary as its predecessor, this is as perfect a close as one

could hope for. Definitely worth reading.

Zodiac Unmasked, along with Zodiac, is the basis of a 2007 film about

the killer, titled (what else?) Zodiac. Directed by David Fincher

(Fight Club, Se7en), it stars: Jake Gyllenhall as reporter/author

Robert Graysmith; Robert Downey Jr. as reporter Paul Avery; Mark

Ruffalo as police detective Dave Toschi; Anthony Edwards as Bill

Armstrong (Toschi's partner); Brian Cox as attorney Melvin Belli; Clea

DuVall as Linda Ferrin; Donal Logue as detective Ken Narlow; Dermot

Mulroney as Captain Lee; Chloe Sevigny as Melanie.

Other films inspired by the Zodiac murders include: The Zodiac (2005);

Dirty Harry (1971); Zodiac Killer (2005 - most reviews I've read about

this film have said this film was horrible, as in badly-made).