SATURDAY DIGEST: World's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries (Day 13)

It's another beautiful Saturday morning and the first Saturday in the month of October, We return all glory to our heavenly father for his mercies, love, protection over us and for taking us this far...plus many thanks to all DTB readers for helping us grow.

Today the Zodiac letter Killer joins the long-list of our "World's greatest unsolved mysteries".

In the late 1960s a cold-blooded serial killer operated in northern California. The serial killer murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryess and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women fell victim to this unknown killer, who became known as the "Zodiac" in a letter dated August 7, 1969 that the killer sent to the local press. The serial killer will later send another three letters and all four included cryptograms ( a type of puzzle 'encrypted in text'), of all the four letters only one has been definitely solved.

Though the serial killer claimed 37 murders in letters to the press, investigations can only confirm 7, two of whom survived.

Suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) marked the case "inactive", yet re-opened the case at some point prior to March 2007, when a man named Dennis Kaufman claimed that his stepfather Jack Tarrance was the Zodiac. Kaufman turned several items over to the FBI including a hood similar to the one worn by the Zodiac. According to news sources, DNA analysis conducted by the FBI on the items was deemed inconclusive in 2010. Kaufman's claims have later been widely discredited. He claimed to have incriminating rolls of film taken by his stepfather. The photos allegedly showed victims of the crimes. Kaufman later published some of these photos on his own web page.

One of the letters with his trade mark symbol to sign the letters

Three of the letters remained unsolved till date and the identity of the cold-blooded killer, who claimed a new score "Me = 37, SFPD = 0" in a final letter to the press on January 29, 1974, remained unknown and as a result meriting a space on our list.

Do have a blissful Saturday out there...

Reference: Wikipedia