American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
17 October 2002
Transcription retrieved 20 October 2002 from www.Lexis-Nexis.com
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS
Random shootings, a serial killer terrorizing a city, taunting police. Sound
familiar? It's happened before.
NARRATOR, READING ZODIAC'S LETTERS
"This is the Zodiac speaking. I like killing people because it is so much
fun."
MIKE KELLEHER, ZODIAC PROFILER
His intent was to dominate and terrorize, not just to murder.
DIANE SAWYER
Zodiac, an elusive killer from another time. But unlike the DC area sniper,
Zodiac looked his victims in the eye. Even snipped a souvenir from one victim's
shirt.
JOHN QUINONES, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) All the while, this victim is dying.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT HOMICIDE
Yes.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Cold.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Beyond cold.
DIANE SAWYER
Tonight, a promising breakthrough in the case. He left an ominous trail of
letters and cryptic puzzles, signed with a chilling trademark, a name tied
to the occult.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT
I would then try to recover DNA from the cells that may have been deposited
on the letter.
DIANE SAWYER
Explosive new DNA evidence, uncovered during "Primetime's" year-long
investigation reported here for the first time.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) You're looking at the genetic identity of Zodiac. What does
that feel like?
DIANE SAWYER
One of the most notorious unsolved crimes ever. John Quinones, with proof
in the hunt for the Zodiac Killer.
ANNOUNCER
From ABC news, this is "Primetime Thursday" with Diane Sawyer and Charles
Gibson.
ANNOUNCER
Tonight, the Zodiac Killer, a "Primetime" investigation.
DIANE SAWYER
Good evening and welcome. Charlie Gibson's away tonight. Glad to have John
Quinones with us.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Good to be here, Diane. And welcome to another edition of "Primetime
Thursday."
DIANE SAWYER
Well, tonight, we bring you a major investigation that at first may sound
familiar. A whole region terrified. Random killings. A man who leaves a calling
card tied to the occult. But no, this is not the Washington, DC area sniper.
It's one of the most famous unsolved cases in American crime. And John's
here to tell us about it.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Diane, he called himself Zodiac and he left behind a trail of
bodies and taunting letters. Then, suddenly the murders stopped and he went
silent. For the past year, "Primetime" has been digging for clues. The case
has been reopened. Cutting-edge science is being used to find the true identity
of the killer. And now, there's critical new evidence which we'll tell you
about tonight. But first, we take you back to the beginning of Zodiac's reign
of terror.
MALE ONE, RADIO REPORTER
Zodiac, a symbol that now stands for terror, has killed five and says he's
going to kill again.
MALE TWO, RADIO REPORTER
Psychopath who kills for the thrill of publicity.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The first killings and the enduring mystery begin not far from
San Francisco. It is late one night, five days before Christmas, 1968. Two
young lovers, David Faraday and Mary Lou Jensen are parked beside a country
road near the town of Vallejo when headlights appear out of the darkness.
The car stops behind them, a man gets out and fires a .22 caliber weapon.
MALE THREE, POLICE SPOKESMAN
Bullet entered in the, where the sign is here and pushed through into the
inside of the car.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The shooter circles the car, blows out a rear tire, then confronts
the terrified teenage lovers.
MALE THREE
The two victims were ordered out of the car and shot out of the car.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) A double murder on lover's lane, shocking. Especially for a
peaceful town like Vallejo. Frightening because it's such a random act. And
frustrating because the hunt for the killer turns up nothing. And then, just
six months later, it happens again, two miles from here, at another lover's
lane.
JOHN QUINONES (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) It's after midnight, July 5th, 1969. 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin,
and 19-year-old Mike Mageau, believe the man approaching their car is a
policeman, until he opens fire. Darlene dies at the wheel of her car. Mike
barely survives. No one knows this is the start of a random killing spree,
until the killer begins writing a terrifying series of letters to newspapers.
He calls himself Zodiac, his signature, a symbol of cross-hairs in a gun
sight.
NARRATOR
'This is the Zodiac speaking. I like killing people because it is so much
fun. The police shall never catch me."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) He brags of his killings. He taunts police and he terrifies
Northern California.
NARRATOR
"Dear editor, this is the murderer of the two teenagers last Christmas and
the girl on the fourth of July. To prove I killed them, I shall state some
facts which only I and the police know."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) He reveals the exact number of shots fired. The precise positions
of the bodies. Even the brand of ammunition used in the attacks are listed
in the letters.
ROBERT GRAYSMITH, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
First of all, they're scary as hell.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The San Francisco Chronicle's Robert Graysmith says the Zodiac's
letters are full of frighteningly accurate details.
ROBERT GRAYSMITH
Doing such things as describing what the, the woman was wearing. You know,
enough details to tell the police that, that he was the man.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The headlines focus on terror. The public is transfixed by the
menacing threat of random murder. Yet for three decades the Zodiac, a brazen
serial killer who was so careful about leaving a trail, remains at large.
But today, thanks to new crime scene technology, there's reason to believe
that time may have run out on Zodiac. Somewhere, perhaps on the back of this
postage stamp or in the seal of this envelope, may be microscopic clues that
will now finally lead police to the killer.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
We're hoping to be able to get some genetic information about the individual
or individuals that did seal these envelopes or place stamps on them.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) In the San Francisco Police Department's state of the art DNA
lab, Doctor Sydney Holt(PH) is taking up the hunt for Zodiac. Careful as
he was, it's unlikely that 33 years ago, Zodiac would worry about leaving
behind a genetic trail, or that a kindergartner at the time, little Sydney
Holt, would grow up to become a police scientist and come looking for him.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
If there are cells on those envelopes, we will get the DNA from them and,
and get an answer.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) It's the late '60s, the age of Aquarius. When Zodiac appears,
San Francisco was the center of a new era of peace and love. Jim Dunbar,
a radio and TV personality at the time.
JIM DUNBAR
This was a wonderful place to be. And suddenly it stopped. This guy stopped
it.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Stopped it with the murders of those teenage lovers near the
town of Vallejo and with his taunting letters. The Zodiac writes that the
secret to his deadly accuracy here at the first murder scene is a little
flashlight that he tapes to the barrel of his gun, so that he can zero in
on his victims in total darkness. He shoots David Faraday as he tries to
escape through that door. Betty Lou Jensen is hit with the light beam and
the bullets as she runs toward the road. While taking credit, Zodiac includes
something else in his letters, a cryptic puzzle called a cipher. If you can
solve the puzzle, he promises, you will learn his real identity. Plus, he
demands that newspapers publish it on their front pages, or else.
NARRATOR
"If you do not print this cipher, I will cruise around all weekend killing
lonely people in the night, until I end up with a dozen."
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) And what did that do to this community?
ROBERT GRAYSMITH
It terrified everyone. Three newspapers gave their front pages to this man.
I mean, that's how terrified they were.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) At first, nobody solves the puzzle. So in his next letter, Zodiac
teases.
MALE FOUR
"By the way, are the police having a good time with the code? If not, tell
them to cheer up. When they do crack it, they will have me."
MIKE KELLEHER
By today's standards, Zodiac was quite a media genius.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Mike Kelleher is a leading expert on criminal behavior and authority
on the psychology of extreme violence, including serial killers. In fact,
Kelleher recently wrote the first comprehensive psychological profile of
Zodiac. In it, he analyzes each of the Zodiac letters and constructs a portrait
of a constantly evolving serial killer.
MIKE KELLEHER
I think the kind of mind it takes is both brilliant and exceptionally sick,
evil, sociopathic. Based simply on the fact that Zodiac's manipulation of
the media is nothing short of brilliant.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) When the cipher is finally decoded, it sends another chill through
the Bay Area. Zodiac's message, he's killing for sport.
NARRATOR
"I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing
wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) But Zodiac is also a liar. He does not reveal his identity.
MALE FOUR
"I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down or stop my
collecting of slaves."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Over the next two years, Zodiac writes more than a dozen letters
and cards to newspapers. He claims an increasing body count. He includes
more cryptic ciphers. This one comes with a greeting card.
MALE FOUR
"This is the Zodiac speaking. I thought you would need a good laugh before
you hear the bad news. PS, could you print this new cipher on your front
page?"
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
It's a mystery that seems to have a lot of people's curiosity piqued. And
I get asked about it with some frequency.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) After all, the identity of Zodiac is one of the most enduring
unsolved mysteries. And that's why Doctor Sydney Holt is now on the case.
She begins with the remaining envelopes Zodiac mailed. More than half disappeared
over the decades. First, she removes the stamps and flaps.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
I would then try to recover DNA from the cells that may have been deposited
on the letter when someone had licked it.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) She uses a centrifuge to separate the cells from the sticky
adhesive.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
The science is so sound and reproducible that if the material is on the envelope,
we will detect it.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) She uses the newest DNA detection technique called Polymerase
Chain Reaction, PCR for short. To produce a genetic profile, it needs just
50 human cells.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
We can start with a very, very small amount of material, like you would have
on the Zodiac letters, and actually make more copies of the DNA, like a little
Xerox machine, and amplify the areas of the DNA that are different between
different individuals.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) This is what she's looking for, a pattern of spikes that indicates
the presence of DNA. But results from two of the first three envelopes are
negative.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
I can't detect any DNA.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The test produces only flat lines.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
Disappointing. Certainly not the end.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Not the end because there's still work to do on that third envelope,
the one Zodiac used for his menacing greeting card. Back when he-mailed it
in the summer of 1969, Zodiac probably wasn't worried about getting caught
with future science. According to Mike Kelleher's profile, back then, Zodiac
was moving too fast.
MIKE KELLEHER
He evolved very quickly for a serial killer, and in very dangerous ways.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) In fact, Zodiac is now nearing the peak of his bloody frenzy.
MIKE KELLEHER
He was ready to do murder and mayhem, he was ready to do it in daylight.
He didn't care who saw him do it.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Which is apparently why he comes to this tiny sliver of land.
For Zodiac, this would become center stage for something even more strange
and macabre. His first performance in full costume.
ANNOUNCER
Zodiac sets out to prove he can kill anytime, anywhere.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
I believe he came here to San Francisco to commit a deliberate murder so
that he might garner that attention that had remained so elusive.
ANNOUNCER
And a chance to end the horror slips away.
DON FOUKES, POLICE OFFICER
I do feel I second-guessed myself, I think.
ANNOUNCER
When "Primetime" returns.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) By the summer of 1969, the Zodiac killer had murdered three
young people and mortally wounded another, in two separate attacks on couples
parked in lover's lanes. As we pick up our "Primetime" investigation, Zodiac
is poised to kill again. But this time, he's looking for a way to get even
more attention. In a perplexing twist, the Zodiac killer draws inspiration
from a strange place, The Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. In
his letter, Zodiac assumes the role of the Mikado's lord high executioner.
NARRATOR
"As someday it may happen, that a victim must be found."
MALE FIVE, MIKADO PERFORMER
As someday it may happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list
. . .
NARRATOR
"I've got a little list of society's offenders who might well be under ground,
who would never be missed."
MIKE KELLEHER
It was probably something he enjoyed in his youth or was passed on the him.
And it had tremendous symbolism.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) September 27th, 1969. For his new role of executioner, Zodiac
chooses a peaceful setting in the heart of California's wine country.
MIKE KELLEHER
His fantasy-driven motivations were at their extreme. He was feeling very
confident at that point. And his intent was to dominate and terrorize, not
just to murder.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Zodiac's victims, 22-year-old Cecelia Shepard and 20-year-old
Bryan Hartnell. It's late afternoon. The end of a warm, sultry day in the
Napa Valley. Bryan and Cecelia are sitting on a picnic blanket, overlooking
the awesome beauty of Lake Berryessa. The setting is serene, tranquil, romantic.
Perfect for a young couple in love. But then suddenly Cecelia notices they're
not alone. Just steps away, she spots a figure behind a tree. Tranquilly
is about to turn to terror. Napa Sheriffs Captain Ken Narlow, retired 14
years, is still haunted by his memories of that awful day.
KEN NARLOW, RETIRED NAPA SHERIFF
There's no way you can imagine what went through their minds. There's no
way you can put yourself in their position.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) It was a bone-chilling sight. The stranger lunging toward them
with a pistol in his right hand, a foot-long knife strapped to his hip and
coils of plastic clothesline stuffed inside his jacket. He was dressed from
head to toe in black. Black gloves, black military shoes and he was wearing
a black hood like this one, with the eye holes cut out. On his Chest, the
symbol that would become his deadly trademark, the mark of the Zodiac.
KEN NARLOW
He said, "you know I'm going to have to kill you." And of course that's when
he attacked them and stabbed them.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) The Zodiac was not yet done. While his two young victims lay
moaning, bleeding from the massive stab wounds, police say he walked over
to Bryan's sports car, a Carmen Ghia like this one, and scrawled a chilling
message on the passenger side door.
MIKE KELLEHER
It was like an artist signing his work.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Using a felt marker, he writes the date of all three of his
attacks, the method of his latest crime, and his ominous trademark.
MIKE KELLEHER
It was essentially snubbing his nose at law enforcement. And basically, telling
others that, "hey, I've been here. I can do what I want. I can do it as often
as I want and there's nothing you can do about it."
KEN NARLOW
Bryan, as I recall, was stabbed five times in the back. And Cecelia was stabbed
approximately five times in the front and in the back. A total of ten times.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Cecelia Sheppard dies of her wounds. Bryan Hartnell, though
gravely wounded, survives. Before this attack, the Zodiac strikes only in
rural, out of the way places. But the prospect of an even larger stage may
have inspired Zodiac's next move, into the heart of San Francisco. Homicide
inspector, Kelly Carroll.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
I believe he came here to San Francisco to commit a deliberate murder so
that he might garner that attention that had remained so elusive. And with
the murder of Paul Stine, he gained that notoriety.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) 10:30 p.m., October 11th, 1969. 29-year-old yellow cab driver
Paul Stine takes a passenger from downtown to an exclusive neighborhood called
Presidio Heights. The cab stops here, at the corner of Washington and Cherry.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Probably as Mr. Stine turned to collect his fare, the Zodiac shot him on
the right side of his head.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) One shot?
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
One shot.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) For the Zodiac, this is a real departure from his previous assaults.
Before this, he ambushes only young couples on remote lover's lanes in the
suburbs. This time, he kills a lone cab driver in a wealthy neighborhood
in the big city. Trying to prove, it seems, that he can kill anyone, anywhere.
As if to underscore that point, he does something extraordinary here, even
for the Zodiac.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
He had planned this and taken deliberate time to not only kill Mr. Stine,
but then, to tear away at his shirt and carry it away with him from the scene.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) All the while, his victim is dying.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Yes.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Cold.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Beyond cold. Beyond cold.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Inspector Carroll inherited Paul Stine's murder as a cold case
two years ago. But he still feels a chill as he examines the cab driver's
bloody shirt.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Well, as you can see, this shirt is blood-stained. And what appears happened
is that the backside, what would be the tail of this shirt, has been cut
out.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Incredibly, the Zodiac lingers here at the murder scene for
quite a while, collecting his trophies, the cab driver's wallet, his ID.
He then calmly walks up Cherry Street. Little does he know that just around
the corner, a police squad car is approaching. What did you see when
you came down this road?
DON FOUK ES
My headlights went on to an individual who was walking in the shadow of the
trees at the time.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) It may be the closest Zodiac ever comes to getting caught. Officer
Don Fouk(PH) has just heard a description of the killer over his radio. But
the suspect is mistakenly described as African- American.
DON FOUK
When the, the headlights hit him, I took a look at him and it was a White
male and I continued on.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Moments later, Fouk's radio corrects the description. But by
then, the suspect has disappeared. At this point, police are investigating
a routine murder and possibly a robbery by an unknown assailant. They have
no idea this is a Zodiac killing. But three days later, another letter.
NARRATOR
"This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver. To prove
this, here is a blood-stained piece of his shirt."
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
The first one was received October 14th, 1969. It was sent to "The San Francisco
Chronicle."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Over the next several weeks, Zodiac sends two more swatches
of the bloody shirt along with letters taunting the police for failing to
catch him. And he confirms that he was spotted that night Officer Fouk.
DON FOUKES
I do feel I second-guessed myself that night.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) That you should have stopped him?
DON FOUK
Should have stopped and talked to him. But we didn't.
NARRATOR
"Hey pig, doesn't it rile you up to have your nose rubbed in your boo- boos."
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
I can only imagine the frustration on the part of the detectives at the time.
It would be almost unbearable in terms of not only the professional but personal
challenge that's laid out to catch this man.
MALE FOUR
"The police shall never catch me because I have been too clever for them."
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
He didn't say catch me if you can. He said you can't.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) And then, in a new letter, Zodiac's taunting turns into an
unthinkable new threat.
NARRATOR
"School children make nice targets. I think I shall wipe out a school bus
some morning. Just shoot out the front tires and then pick off the kiddies
as they come bouncing out."
ANNOUNCER
The San Francisco Bay Area goes on high alert.
MALE SIX, REPORTER
Hundreds of mothers are driving their children to school now, rather than
trust the bus.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Suddenly, everyone in town wants this thing solved and they want it solved
yesterday.
ANNOUNCER
The killer leaves clues. But it will take police decades to decipher them.
Stunning new scientific evidence when "Primetime" returns.
DIANE SAWYER
John Quinones continues now with our "Primetime" investigation into the Zodiac
murders. By now, Zodiac has killed five people and fear is pulsing through
every neighborhood. No one knows when or where he'll strike next.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) With his credentials established in blood and his letters and
cryptic ciphers making headlines, Zodiac is no longer just a serial killer,
he's now a domestic terrorist, who seems to need attention as much as he
needs to kill.
NARRATOR
"I get awfully lonely when I am ignored. So lonely, I could do my thing."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) He threatens to build a bomb and blow up a bus full of children.
NARRATOR
"The death machine is already made. I would have sent you pictures. But you
would be nasty enough to trace them back to the developer and then to me.
So I shall describe my masterpiece for you."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Zodiac offers his recipe for a bomb including diagrams, schematics,
even maps with cryptic hints about where he plans to ambush the school bus.
NARRATOR
"The nice part is that all the parts can be bought on the open market with
no questions asked."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Immediately, the new threat leaves families with schoolchildren
in fear. Many parents start driving their kids. Police cruisers escort school
buses.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Suddenly, everyone in town wants this thing solved and they want it solved
yesterday.
JIM DUNBAR
It was a pretty ghastly awareness that suddenly gripped the community.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) And Jim Dunbar, host of a morning TV talk show, soon finds himself
at the center of it all. Police tells him a man identifying himself as Zodiac
wants to surrender on his show. Sure enough, the man calls in.
JIM DUNBAR
Just tell us what's going on inside you right now, please.
MALE SEVEN, CALLER TO JIM DUNBAR'S SHOW
I have headaches.
JIM DUNBAR
There was one moment when he talked about killing kids that I still remember
with a sliver.
MALE SEVEN
I wanna kill those kids.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) He calls back 11 times and eventually agrees to surrender to
Dunbar at this thrift store. He never shows up. So the cops were taking this
phone call seriously.
JIM DUNBAR
Yeah. They were satisfied that this could be the guy.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Maps, diagrams and threats aside, Zodiac never does attack a
school bus. But his letters keep coming. And it seems everyone in San Francisco
is looking for a crazed madman. And yet, Mike Kelleher's profile of Zodiac
is a man who no one would suspect.
MIKE KELLEHER
He would be maybe a little gruff. Maybe wouldn't socialize a lot. But wouldn't
stand out in a crowd. And I think he was probably working, working a regular
job during most of that period.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) But back in 1969, profiling a serial killer is still a thing
of the distant future. In fact, police at the time are stymied. A composite
sketch of the killer released shortly after the cab driver murder, describes
Zodiac as 35 to 45 years old, of stocky build and wearing thick-rimmed glasses,
his hair, possibly, reddish-brown. And now, decades later, Doctor Cydne Holt
finds what appears to be a reddish-brown hair stuck behind a stamp peeled
from this letter. Could this tiny strand bear Zodiac's DNA finger print?
She examines it, but again no luck.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
The hair didn't have any recognizable root structure that would have the
kind of DNA that we analyze in the crime lab.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) But disappointment is followed quickly by a possible breakthrough.
Remember that taunting greeting card? Doctor Holt gets a tentative result
from the outside of the envelope that contained it.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
I can tell you that there's an indication that there may be DNA from one
of the stamps.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) You could well be on the trail of the Zodiac.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
Well, it's, the prospect of being able to contribute to the story is exciting.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Then, out of the blue, more good news for Doctor Holt. Our
"Primetime" investigation of the case leads to a major discovery. Three more
Zodiac envelopes in mint condition. They quietly arrive at the lab after
our inquiries with a retired police source. He had kept them in his personal
files.
JOHN QUINONES (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) Now, you have a lot more to work with. It's got to be exciting.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
Well, the potential is exciting. Potential is higher now that we have three
more envelopes, several more stamps.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Exciting because homicide inspector Kelly Carroll and his partner
Mike Malone can then compare it with DNA samples from anyone suggested as
a possible suspect, something the original Zodiac investigators could only
have dreamed of.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Might have seemed like Buck Rogers science fiction to them. But if the Zodiac
is solved, it'll be solved by the use of technology and science.
ANNOUNCER
More than 30 years later, nagging suspicions that can't be put to rest.
WILLIAM COLLINS, SUSPECTS FATHER IS ZODIAC KILLER
I need to know if my father, the guy who held me when I was a baby, was a
serial killer.
ANNOUNCER
He'll get his answer tonight on "Primetime." Stay with us.
commercial break
ANNOUNCER
On the Zodiac's trail.
WILLIAM COLLINS
My father may be the Zodiac killer.
ANNOUNCER
Different theories each with its own suspect.
MIKE RODELLI, AMATEUR ZODIAC INVESTIGATOR
I feel pretty sure that I've discovered the Zodiac killer.
ANNOUNCER
Can modern science finally answer the question that has haunted police for
three decades? When "Primetime Thursday" continues after this from our ABC
stations.
ANNOUNCER
Zodiac Killer, a "Primetime" investigation, continues. Once again, John
Quinones.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) After three decades, the Zodiac's painstaking care to avoid
detection may be over. DNA lab results may finally provide a genetic trail
back to the killer.
NARRATOR
"This is the Zodiac speaking. Like I have always said, I am crack proof.
If the blue meanies are ever going to catch me, they better get off their
fat asses and do something."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) In a corner of the San Francisco Police Homicide office, the
Zodiac murder case occupies an entire file cabinet. Inside, records on scores
if not hundreds of possible suspects. But not enough evidences to make an
arrest. Zodiac has fooled investigators for 33 years, now. And yet . . .
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
We still get calls almost daily, from people who believe they know who the
Zodiac is.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Web-sites and discussion groups abound, fueled by retired
investigators, amateur sleuths and armchair experts.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
This case is a lightning rod in many ways for people's fascination with the
horrors of crime.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Earlier this year, in fact, fans of the Zodiac mystery formed
an amateur investigators' task force. They gather near Vallejo, one of the
murder scenes. But nobody here or anywhere has been chasing Zodiac longer
than former newspaperman Robert Graysmith.
ROBERT GRAYSMITH
There are a lot of strange theories and things. But it fits one man and it
fits one man only.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) His suspect is a former San Francisco Bay Area resident. A
schoolteacher named Arthur Leigh Allen. Graysmith has painstakingly compiled
a mountain of circumstantial evidence over the years, including witnesses
who place Allen at or near every Zodiac murder scene. Victim Darlene Ferrin's
complaint of a stalker who, like Allen, called himself Leigh. Allen's watch,
brand name Zodiac, with a logo identical to the one used by the killer. And
there are footprint impressions, taken at the site of the Lake Berryessa
shootings and traced to a rare military shoe.
ROBERT GRAYSMITH
There were a limited number of them. Our suspect wears them. It's not just
that, he's a size 10 one/two. The shoes that were pressed into the dry sand
at Lake Berryessa, size 10 one/two.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Allen doesn't resemble the composite sketch. But even that could
be explained in a Zodiac letter.
MALE FOUR
"I look like the description passed out, only when I do my thing. The rest
of the time, I look entirely different."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) And, in this police report, one year before the Zodiac murders,
Allen reportedly tells a friend that he plans to kill couples at lovers'
lanes, attach a flashlight to his gun and shoot people in the dark. Write
letters to harass police and that he plans to call himself Zodiac.
ROBERT GRAYSMITH
To know about Zodiac before there was a Zodiac, to use the symbol, to wear
that watch and, and to be at the crime scenes and to know the victims, he
would have to be the Zodiac.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) But Graysmith also lacks any physical evidence. And nine years
ago, Arthur Leigh Allen died without ever being named a suspect by police.
However, if Doctor Cydne Holt can find enough genetic material from Zodiac's
stamps and letters, she can compare it to a wafer thin slice of brain tissue
from Arthur Leigh Allen's autopsy.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
This brain tissue from Arthur Leigh Allen is the, the reference sample that
I would use for the comparison.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Doctor Holt has already detected the possible presence of Zodiac's
DNA in the seal of the envelope that contained the greeting card. And just
in case that test fails to produce a full DNA profile, she also prepares
to look for DNA beneath the stamps on two of these three letters.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
Depending on whether those DNAs match each other might allow me to include
or exclude Arthur Leigh Allen as potentially contributing the DNA on the
Zodiac letters.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Mike Rodelli is another passionate amateur investigator. He
is certain that Arthur Leigh Allen is not the Zodiac killer. Instead, Rodelli
believes Zodiac is not only still alive, but that he's one of San Francisco's
most wealthy and prominent citizens.
MIKE RODELLI
He's a very high-powered businessman. And probably the last person you would
ever expect to be a serial killer.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) From his home in New Jersey, Rodelli pursues his theory. Since
Zodiac was a prolific letter writer, he reasons, maybe he wrote to newspapers
before naming himself Zodiac. So Rodelli sifts through old letters to the
editor and surprisingly finds a peculiar one in a California newspaper, exactly
six months after the first murders.
MIKE RODELLI
It mentioned the specter of, of young people lying dead and wounded in the
streets. That had already happened at Lake Herman Road in December of '68.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) The letter writer signs using his real name. Rodelli tracks
him down. As it turns out, at the time of the cab driver's murder, Rodelli's
suspect lived within a couple of blocks of the crime scene.
MIKE RODELLI
You know, if you have a suspect who's living in a house overlooking the crime
scene, or the search area, then this person can both view the search and
also be totally immune from being captured because he's watching from, the
comfort of his own living room, basically.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) In his letters, Zodiac taunts police while admitting that he
did remain near the murder scene, watching the police search from the safety
of a hiding place.
MALE FOUR
"I enjoy needling the blue pigs. Hey, blue pig. The dogs never came within
two blocks of me, and they were to the west. The motorcycles went by about
150 feet away."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) We asked officer Don Fouk to take us back to the place where
he spotted the man he later realized was Zodiac.
DON FOUKES
He came down the north side of the street and turned and went up a flight
of stairs into a courtyard.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) He brings us very close to the house then occupied by the man
Mike Rodelli suspects. How do you feel to have brought us almost right to
the doorstep of an individual that has been singled out?
DON FOUKES
Well, I, I feel a little bit miffed about it that this individual wasn't
pointed out by somebody before now.
MIKE RODELLI
I feel pretty sure that I've discovered the Zodiac killer. Am I, am I certain?
Can I ever be 100 percent certain? No.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Well, maybe he can be. We called Rodelli's suspect at his office.
He says it's, quote, "insane" to suspect that he is Zodiac. And he agrees
to give us a sample of his DNA to compare. It sounds so strange, the idea
that one of San Francisco's prominent citizens could also be the city's most
notorious serial killer. But then, consider the story of this graduate journalism
student in New York.
WILLIAM COLLINS
My father, Charles Clifton Collins, may be the Zodiac killer.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) William Collins first had that chilling thought when he picked
up a book on the Zodiac killer a few years ago.
WILLIAM COLLINS
And I, I popped it open and the very first thing my eyes hit in that book
was the postcard with that strange scrawl on it. I just got the creeps. And
I thought, oh my God, that's my dad's handwriting.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) As Collins reads the book, he finds many more coincidences.
His father looks like the composite sketch. He wore military-style shoes,
size 10" just like Zodiac. He lived in San Francisco only during the time
of the killings. Collins even finds his father's initials, CCC on this card,
sent by Zodiac to goad police. But he keeps coming back to the handwriting
and finds some very odd similarities.
WILLIAM COLLINS
My dad wrote a letter where he wrote the word hoo H-O-O and the Zodiac wrote
a letter where he said "it won't doo," D-O-O. Very strange similarities like
that.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Charles Clifton Collins died in 1993. But his son wants to know
the truth about his suspicions. So, he gives us an old letter sealed by his
father, and a sample of his own DNA for verification. Now, he waits in dread,
while Doctor Sydney Holt at the San Francisco Police Lab tries to isolate
Zodiac's DNA.
WILLIAM COLLINS
I need to know if Charles Clifton Collins, my father, the guy who held me
when I was a baby, I need to know if he was a serial killer. I have to know.
I have to know. I just have to know.
ANNOUNCER
The moment of truth, three decades in the making. The DNA tests come back
from the lab.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
You get an adrenaline rush knowing that part of this puzzle has been revealed
to you.
ANNOUNCER
A major breakthrough in the hunt for the Zodiac, when "Primetime" returns.
DIANE SAWYER
And now, the moment of truth. After three decades of guesses, conjectures
and suspicions about the notorious Zodiac killer, police investigators will
finally know whether he left a telltale clue behind. Will the Zodiac killer
finally be revealed?
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) This is the San Francisco Police Department's DNA lab six days
ago, exactly 33 years to the day after Zodiac murdered taxi driver Paul Stine.
Doctor Cydne Holt is about to answer the question, did the Zodiac killer
leave a genetic trail that could lead to his capture. The answer is yes.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
I found a partial DNA fingerprint from a male individual who at sometime
has had contact with the stamp.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) You're looking at the Zodiac killer's genetic identity, the
peaks on this graph.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
It excites the senses.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Homicide Inspector Kelly Carroll.
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
You get an adrenaline rush knowing that part of this puzzle has been revealed
to you.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) What Doctor Holt finds is four out of a possible nine DNA markers,
plus an indicator of gender. XY means male. Not enough to positively identify
anyone as Zodiac. But it's enough to narrow suspicions or perhaps even eliminate
suspects. Next, Doctor Holt compares the partial profile from the Zodiac
letter, the pattern of peaks on that bottom row, to a DNA sample from Bay
Area school teacher, Arthur Leigh Allen along the top there. You can see
they're distinctly different.
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
Well based on the information that I developed, the, Arthur Leigh Allen could
not have contributed the DNA that I detected on the stamp.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Arthur Leigh Allen, the focus of 30 years of research and a
mountain of circumstantial evidence, exonerated by science. And what about
that prominent San Francisco businessman linked by the research of amateur
investigator Mike Rodelli? We give Doctor Holt the businessman's DNA profile.
JOHN QUINONES (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) Could you tell us whether or not he might have been a suspect?
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
Huh. You know, I've looked at the Zodiac data so much, I can tell you just
by looking at this result, that this person is, is not a match with the evidence
sample.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) But what about this man? Charles Clifton Collins. He looks just
like the composite sketch. And his handwriting convinced his own son William
that he and Zodiac are one and the same. When we present the Collins DNA
profile to Doctor Holt, she stops the interview. This needs a closer look.
DOCTOR CYDNE HOLT
Can I have a minute to go look at some different data at my desk.
JOHN QUINONES DEPARTMENT
(Voice Over) She leaves for a more detailed comparison. A few minutes later,
she's back.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) Okay, you've had a chance to review it. What can you tell us?
DOCTOR SYDNEY HOLT
And it's another sample that doesn't match with the evidence.
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) The comparison was made and it's very clear that your father
was not . . .
WILLIAM COLLINS
Not the guy, huh?
JOHN QUINONES
(Off Camera) The man.
WILLIAM COLLINS
This is a good day in my life. Very good day. I'm very, very, very relieved.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Zodiac's partial DNA profile has already eliminated possible
suspects. It's now an invaluable investigative tool. But is there more evidence
out there? After all, in his letters, Zodiac claimed many more victims than
the five police attributed to him. Inspector Carroll keeps coming back to
the murdered cab driver's bloody shirt. Zodiac cut off a large piece of it
but mailed only three small swatches to newspapers. Where is the rest of
it?
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Do I think it's still out there? I wanna believe it's still out there. And
actually, I do think it's still out there.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Perhaps in the drawer among the keepsakes of an old man. Perhaps
this video of the cab driver's shirt, or the image of Zodiac's frightening
costume, might any of this spark something in someone's memory or revive
someone's conscience.
JOHN QUINONES (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) Do you think the Zodiac is still alive? Maybe even watching
this tonight?
INSPECTOR KELLY CARROLL
Certainly, the possibility exists that Zodiac is still alive. He would be
probably in his 60s. I know that if he is, he's got to be a little more
uncomfortable about the fact that the police have taken one step forward,
one step closer to catching him. And I hope he's worried if he is watching.
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Perhaps Zodiac could also be dead. The possibility of suicide
was raised by the killer himself in his last confirmed letter, dated 1974.
He signs off with a disturbing lyric from his favorite comic opera, the Mikado.
NARRATOR
"He plunged himself into the billowy wave. And an echo arose from the suicide's
grave."
JOHN QUINONES
(Voice Over) Was he about to kill himself or only his identity as Zodiac?
The answer, for now at least, still remains a mystery. The San Francisco
Police Department has set up a special e-mail address for people to send
leads and tips. You'll find that address and more on the Zodiac murders at
abcnews.com. We'll be right back.
DIANE SAWYER
And that's it for us tonight. I'll see you tomorrow morning on "Good Morning
America." I'm Diane Sawyer, goodnight.
JOHN QUINONES
And I'm John Quinones. From all of us here at "Primetime Thursday," have
a great night.
All text on this page 2002 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
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