Zodiac Unmasked

Robert Graysmith reveals the true identity of Zodiac—America's most elusive serial killer. Between December 1968 and October 1969 a hooded serial killer called Zodiac terrorized San Francisco. Claiming responsibility for thirty-seven murders, he manipulated the media with warnings, dares, and bizarre cryptograms that baffled FBI code-breakers. Then as suddenly as the murders began, Zodiac disappeared into the Bay Area fog. After painstaking investigation and more than thirty years of research, Robert Graysmith finally exposes Zodiac’s true identity. With overwhelming evidence he reveals the twisted private life that led to the crimes, and provides startling theories as to why they stopped. America’s greatest unsolved mystery has finally been solved. INCLUDES PHOTOS AND A COMPLETE REPRODUCTION OF ZODIAC’S LETTERS

Robert Graysmith reveals the true identity of Zodiac—America's most elusive serial killer. Between December 1968 and October 1969 a hooded serial killer called Zodiac terrorized San Francisco. Claiming responsibility for thirty-seven murders, he manipulated the media with warnings, dares, and bizarre cryptograms that baffled FBI code-breakers. Then as suddenly as the murders began, Zodiac disappeared into the Bay Area fog. After painstaking investigation and more than thirty years of research, Robert Graysmith finally exposes Zodiac’s true identity. With overwhelming evidence he reveals the twisted private life that led to the crimes, and provides startling theories as to why they stopped. America’s greatest unsolved mystery has finally been solved. INCLUDES PHOTOS AND A COMPLETE REPRODUCTION OF ZODIAC’S LETTERS

From the Bestselling Author of 'Zodiac' , 'Auto Focus' and 'Black Fire'. DAVID FINCHER WAS AFTER THE TRUTH. WITHOUT IT, HE WOULD NOT SHOOT ZODIAC. For nearly two decades, Hollywood had been trying to make a movie of Zodiac, and for nearly two decades, it had failed. In 2003, producer Brad Fischer, and screenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt attempted the undoable, and set their sights on the one filmmaker they felt unequalled for the helm: director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club). Fincher’s eye for detail, probing mind, and unrelenting quest for answers made him ideal. His personal connection to the case made him perfect. From Hollywood boardrooms to remote fog-shrouded crime scenes, they battle a huge script that refuses to be beaten, a case that refuses to be solved, and a running time and budget that threaten their film. Follow as they track down missing witnesses, gather the original investigators, visit the original crime scenes, discover boxes of Zodiac case files from an attic, unearth new clues, a videotape of the prime suspect’s police interrogation, and a surviving victim who doesn’t want to be found. To keep Fincher on board, and get their film greenlit, it will take cold leads, private eyes, new evidence, and most of all, perseverance. “He’s hooked. If he doesn’t make the film, he’ll solve the case.” —Detective Ken Narlow “SOMETHING DRAWS THE GIRL’S attention,” David Fincher said. The maverick director paused at the spot along the shore Captain Ken Narlow had indicated. Something was not right. Fincher looked down at the rocky ground and the steep slope of the rotting tree as if he had not seen them before. Without a word he wheeled and walked some distance around to the adjacent peninsula. The retired detectives watched the celebrated filmmaker follow the curve of land and circle to a little inlet on the other bank. His head was down as he took long, athletic strides. Suddenly, he knelt and studied the ground. He picked up a fistful of earth, let it drift between his fingers, and watched as the wind carried the reddish particles away. He looked up at the road high above where the victims’ car had been found, then looked back at the tree. Next, he tossed a few rocks in the air and gazed to the center of the lake where it was a couple hundred feet deep. Fincher wondered what other mysteries might be buried there. Further up, underneath the dam at Devil’s Gate, was the narrow point of Putah Creek. Fincher returned from his scouting trip and made an announcement. His voice was confident and clear, ringing out over the lake. “The other side of the little island out there is much more vertical than this side,” he said. “I think that is the actual murder site.” “Let’s go over and take a look,” Narlow said and started north with Jamie Vanderbilt. “I’m not one hundred percent convinced this is the place.” When Narlow reached the other side of the inlet, he clapped a hand to his forehead and then hailed Fincher and the rest of the men across the water. “My God!” he hollered, “I took you to the wrong spot!” In that arcane way he had of penetrating to the heart of a riddle, Fincher had discerned the truth. He became quiet as he began working the puzzle of the open taxi door, the blood that should have been elsewhere, a bloody print that belonged to no one, and the shot nobody heard. “David’s considered one of the touchiest and weirdest directors by executives, but as a writer I consider him the nicest and most normal of them all. But maybe the same thing that is wrong with him is wrong with me.” —Jamie Vanderbilt, screenwriter

The true identity of the psychotic ZODIAC killer has been known by the Mandamus Seven (group of retired law enforcement officers, federal agents, a minister, and a District Attorney) since March 15, 1971. This true story is now being told for the very first time. Official corruption and political intervention forced the investigation into a top secret, covert status, giving the insane ZODIAC killer immunity and a license to kill. His motive -- adultery! Mind and body ravaged by years of severe alcoholism, his blood-lusting revenge turned him into the most shocking and vicious killer in our 20th century. Through his tauntings of the police, his codes, ciphers, and letters, he was on a mission to redeem his shattered ego, to prove that he was better, smarter, and more clever than all the judges and police put together. With lordly arrogance and jealousy and with the assistance of the police, he continued his killing spree until he claimed a total of 37 victims. Lips sealed by secret oaths and federal obstructions of justice, the investigation was further impeded by personal associations with the suspect and his tenacious, intrepid wife, placing family members in imminent danger. The evidence is overwhelming and given the totality of the facts, it is the author's opinion that there is no jury in the world that would not find the suspect guilty of being the criminal genius, ZODIAC.

From the detective who helped catch the Golden State Killer, a memoir about investigating America's toughest cold cases, and the rewards - and toll - of a life spent solving crime.For a decade, from 1973, The Golden State Killer stalked and murdered Californians in the dead of night, leaving entire communities afraid to turn off the lights. Then he vanished, and the case remained unsolved.In 1994, when cold-case investigator Paul Holes came across the old file, he swore he would unmask GSK and finally give these families closure. Twenty-four years later, Holes fulfilled that promise, identifying 73-year-old Joseph J. DeAngelo. Headlines blasted around the world: one of America's most prolific serial killers had been caught.That case launched Paul's career into the stratosphere, turning him into an icon in the true-crime world. But while many know the story of the capture of GSK, until now, no one has truly known the man behind it all.In UNMASKED, Paul takes us through his memories of a storied career and provides an insider account of some of the most notorious cases in contemporary American history, including Laci Peterson's murder and Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping. But this is also a revelatory profile of a complex man and what makes him tick: the drive to find closure for victims and their loved ones; the inability to walk away from a challenge - even at the expense of his own happiness. This is a story about the gritty truth of crime solving when there are no 'case closed' headlines. It is the story of a man and his commitment to his cases, and to the people who might have otherwise been forgotten.

During the 1920s, in more than a dozen cities, over four years, and across two continents, women were being butchered. Eyewitneses claim the perpetrator was a hulking Bible-carrying brute who lumbered on all fours, and laughed maniacally with each new slaughter. The crimes haunted San Francisco Police Captain Charles Dullea, the last honest cop in one of the most notoriously corrupt departments in the country. But nothing could have prepared Dullea for where the case- and the truth-would take him.

The first biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer, told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco. When San Francisco Daily Morning Call reporter Mark Twain met Tom Sawyer in 1863, he was seeking a subject for his first novel. He learned that Sawyer was a volunteer firefighter, local hero, and a former “Torch Boy,” racing ahead of hand-drawn fire engines at night carrying torches to light the way. When a mysterious serial arsonist known as “The Lightkeeper” was in the process of burning San Francisco to the ground, Sawyer played a key role in stopping him, helping to contain what is now considered the most disastrous and costly series of fires ever experienced by an American metropolis. By chronicling how Sawyer took it upon himself to investigate, expose, and stop the arsonist, Black Fire details Sawyer’s remarkable life and illustrates why Twain would later feel compelled to name his iconic character after him when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. A vivid portrayal of the gritty, corrupt, and violent world of the Gold Rush-era West, Black Fire is the most vibrant and thorough account of Sawyer’s relationship with Mark Twain, and of the devastating fires that baptized San Francisco.

By the creators of Criminology: a complete chronicle of the Zodiac serial killer investigation, including photographs and documents. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, an enigmatic serial killer terrorized the San Francisco Bay area—and teased the police tasked with stopping him. Through bold letters and cryptic ciphers mailed to local newspapers as well as taunting calls to police, the Zodiac left his mark on the state of California. Without warning he was gone, but not before achieving infamy in the annals of true crime history. Just who was the Zodiac Killer? In the first season of their popular podcast Criminology, Michael Morford and Mike Ferguson take a deep dive into one of true crime’s most notorious cold cases. Using actual case files, documents, and police reports they present a detailed chronicle of this mysterious investigation. In this volume, Morford and Ferguson bring the series to readers with added commentary, photographs, and documents.