Poste’s friend Will who spent two decades backpacking with Poste in Northern California said his violent streak was on full display during their trips as he killed animals “indiscriminately” and treated their carcasses in a manner he described as “chilling.”
Years later Will began to suspect that Poste could be the Zodiac after watching a true crime documentary on serial killers, TMZ said.
The Case Breakers, a team of specialists who have worked to crack a number of America’s most high-profile unsolved cases, claimed to have uncovered the Zodiac Killer’s identity on Wednesday.
The man they say is responsible for the string of five murders in 1968 and 1969 is Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018.
They also claim to have linked Poste to a sixth killing hundreds of miles away that has never before been connected to the Zodiac.
FBI CAUTIOUS ABOUT NEW INFORMATION
The San Francisco office of the FBI said in a statement was cautious about the new information, a view echoed by the city’s police department.
“The Zodiac killer case remains open. We have no new information to share at the moment,” said the FBI.
HUNDREDS OF TIPS
Police instead are saying they receive hundreds of tips a year regarding the decades-old cold case, but the Case Breakers believe Poste is “a very strong suspect” in the death of a teenage girl hundreds of miles away that has never been linked to the Zodiac.
However, local police in both Riverside and San Francisco have said the group’s claims consisted of “circumstantial evidence.”
WHEN DID GARY POSTE DIE?
Gary Francis Poste was 80 years old when he died in 2018.
He was alive for 50 years after his murder spree, and never caught or charged before his death.
Soon after the Zodiac’s identity was reported, TMZ was able to obtain his death certificate.
ZODIAC DISAGREEMENT
Gary Francis Poste, was identified by sleuths this week as the notorious murderer – but law enforcement officials countered on Thursday to say they believe he is not a suspect in the case.
The Case Breakers, a team of over 40 volunteers consisting of cold case specialists from law enforcement, military, academic and legal backgrounds, announced their find on Wednesday.
However, law enforcement is claiming Poste, a man who died in 2018, is not the serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay area and killed at least five people in the 1960s.
Police instead are saying they receive hundreds of tips a year regarding the decades-old cold case, but the Case Breakers believe Poste is “a very strong suspect” in the death of a teenage girl hundreds of miles away that has never been linked to the Zodiac.
SOURCE SAID THE ZODIAC KILLER BABYSAT HER
A source, named only as Gwen, said she thought of Gary Poste as an uncle and spent nights at his house.
Gwen told CBS Sacramento: “I looked up to Gary Poste as an uncle. I used to cut his hair. I spent nights at his house.
“1000 percent I do believe I grew up next door to the Zodiac.”
Gwen said Poste was never aggressive to her but that he would “hit” his wife Mary “if she made dinner the wrong way.”
DID THE ZODIAC KILL A SIXTH VICTIM?
The Case Breakers have asserted that the Zodiac is also responsible for a sixth killing in Riverside, California, on October 31, 1966.
Cheri Jo Bates was 18 years old when she was found dead in an alley on the Riverside City College campus.
In 1967, police received a handwritten letter which later led them to believe Bates’ killing may have been committed by the Zodiac.
That theory was quashed in 2016 when investigators received an anonymous note from someone who claimed they’d written the earlier note as a “sick joke.”
However, the Case Breakers have maintained that the Zodiac did kill Bates and claim investigators have blocked them from comparing her DNA to Poste’s.
WHO ARE THE CASE BREAKERS?
The Case Breakers crew is comprised of more than 40 former law enforcement investigators, journalists and military intelligence officers.
The team said they discovered Poste’s identity after years of digging through new forensic evidence and his darkroom.
One image uncovered from the darkroom purportedly featured scars on Poste’s forehead which match a sketch of the Zodiac.
The team said the Zodiac’s ciphers also point to Poste.
CASE BREAKERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT
The Zodiac’s identity has been shrouded in mystery for nearly 52 years since he launched his killing spree in 1968.
But on Wednesday the Case Breakers, a team of specialists who have worked to crack a number of America’s most high-profile unsolved cases, said they had identified the killer.
The man they say is responsible for the string of five murders in 1968 and 1969 is Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018.
They also claim to have linked Poste to a sixth killing hundreds of miles away that has never before been connected to the Zodiac.
WHO IS THE ZODIAC KILLER?
The Zodiac Killer is believed to be a California man who gave himself that nickname to conceal his identity from authorities.
He is known to have targeted at least seven victims – three couples and a lone taxi driver. Two of them survived gun and knife ambushes.
The same killer has been linked to as many as 28 murders — claiming to have killed 37 people in taunting letters sent to newspapers and police.
The letters included complex ciphers – some of which haven’t been officially solved to this day.
POSTE SUFFERED FROM MULTIPLE CONDITIONS
A certificate details how Poste was battling bouts of hypertension, osteoporosis, hypothyroidism and atrial fibrillation, according to the document dated August 24, 2018, and reported by TMZ.
The alleged killer’s reportedly cremated remains were scattered in the Sierra Mountains.
The document suggested Poste had been married, served the country as a veteran and was employed as a house painter.
HOW WAS POSTE IDENTIFIED
A team of more than “40 detectives, journalists, and military intelligence officers made up the so-called Case Breakers,” cracked the Zodiac Killer’s identity.
The team said they discovered Poste’s identity after years of digging through new forensic evidence and at his darkroom.
One image uncovered from the darkroom purportedly featured scars on Poste’s forehead which match a sketch of the Zodiac.
The team said the Zodiac’s ciphers also point to Poste.
SPECULATION
Over the years, many independent sleuths have claimed to have decoded the Zodiac’s true identity.
One of the most convincing names to emerge was an alleged pedophile named Arthur Leigh Allen.
He had been discharged without honor from the US Navy and was fired as a primary school teacher after allegations of sexual misconduct.
Allen was first interviewed as a suspect in 1969 after he was seen near the scene of one attack.
He came to police attention again in 1971 when his friend told officers he had spoken of his desire to kill people and used the name Zodiac.
340 CIPHER PART 2
The Chronicle credited a group of citizen coding experts who submitted their findings to the FBI.
“Last weekend, a team I’m on solved the 340 and submitted it to the FBI,” coding expert David Oranchak said. “They have confirmed the solution. No joke! This is the real deal.”
The FBI acknowledged the achievement in a statement, writing: “The FBI is aware that a cipher attributed to the Zodiac killer was recently solved by private citizens.
“The Zodiac Killer remains an ongoing investigation for the FBI San Francisco Division and our local law enforcement partners.”
340 CIPHER CRACKED
The case was revived in December 2020 when the San Francisco Chronicle revealed it had solved the 340 cipher it received back in November 1969.
“I am not afraid of the gas chamber,” the killer wrote, according to a Chronicle journalist, noting the serial killer gave no name when he penned it a whopping 51 years ago.
The coded letter – full of letters, numbers and symbols – read: “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me.
“I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me.”
DECIPHERED MESSAGE CONTINUED
“ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADISE DEATH,” the killer said.
It is unknown what television show the Zodiac was alluding to.
In a statement to NBC from FBI headquarters, the bureau said its own Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU) acknowledged and confirmed the code breakers’ work.
PREVIOUS MESSAGE DECIPHERED
The Zodiac Killer’s case was inactive since 2004 but the San Francisco Police Department reopened it in March of 2007.
Australian software engineer Sam Blake, American cryptographer David Oranchak and Belgian software engineer Jarl Van said they finally got the symbols, numbers and letters to decipher a message left by the Zodiac.
The message read: “I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADISE.
POSTE’S CAUSE OF DEATH
The certificate says that Poste died from a combination of dysphagia, vascular dementia, septic shock, and sepsis.
It’s not clear what caused the dysphagia (an inability to swallow), or the extremely low blood pressure from the septic shock.
However, TMZ reports that Poste suffered from a host of health issues including atrial fibrillation, hypothyroidism, hypertension, and osteoporosis.
WHEN DID GARY POSTE DIE?
Gary Francis Poste was 80 years old when he died in 2018.
He was alive for 50 years after his murder spree, and never caught or charged before his death.
Soon after the Zodiac’s identity was reported, TMZ was able to obtain his death certificate.
NOT AN OFFICIAL SUSPECT
After the Case Breakers’ announcement this week, authorities made it clear that they do not officially consider Poste to be a suspect and the case is ongoing.
The FBI and California cops pushed back against the team’s claims on Thursday, noting that they have continued to receive hundreds of tips about the case each year.
Local police in both Riverside and San Francisco have said the group’s claims consisted of “circumstantial evidence.”
SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS
A friend named Will spoke to the Case Breakers team during their hunt to unmask the Zodiac Killer.
The hunt culminated with Poste – who died in 2018 – being publicly identified as the culprit on Wednesday.
Will said he spent two decades backpacking with Poste in Northern California after they formed a relationship when Poste helped him sort out a legal matter, TMZ reported.
He was 18 years old when Poste first invited him on a hunting trip in 1987, nearly 20 years after the Zodiac Killer carried out his string of murders.
FBI CAUTIOUS ABOUT NEW INFORMATION
The San Francisco office of the FBI said in a statement was cautious about the new information, a view echoed by the city’s police department.
“The Zodiac killer case remains open. We have no new information to share at the moment,” said the FBI.
CONFESSION NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY
In 2001, Louis Joseph Myers reportedly confessed to a friend that he was the killer after finding out he was dying from cirrhosis of the liver.
He told his pal Randy Kenney to go to the police following his death, which he did in 2002.
But cops reportedly wouldn’t take the claims seriously – despite there being some links.
From 1971 to 1973 no Zodiac letters were received, and during this time Myers was stationed overseas with the military.
According to Kenney, Myers told him he targeted couples following a bad breakup with his girlfriend.
JOSEPH BEVILACQUA NAMED A SUSPECT
A journalistic inquiry on a connection between the Zodiac and Monster of Florence cases named Joseph Bevilacqua as a suspect.
Bevilacqua was born in New Jersey and had a career in the Army for 20 years before moving to Florence.
The author of the inquiry, Francesco Amicone wrote an account of Bevilacqua’s reported partial admission to being responsible of the murders attributed to both killers in an unregistered conversation in 2017.
But after the release of the first part of the inquiry, Bevilacqua denied his admission and threatened Amicone with a lawsuit.
