Robert Graysmith and the Hunt for the Elusive Zodiac Killer
The 2007 film Zodiac depicts newspaper cartoonist Robert Graysmith played by Jake Gyllenhaal and his obsession with unmasking the notorious Zodiac Killer
In 2007, Paramount Pictures released the film Zodiac, which chronicled the people and events surrounding the infamous “Zodiac Killer,” who was an unidentified serial killer active in the San Francisco area from 1969 through the mid-1970s.
The killer taunted the police and media through cryptic letters, often using zodiac signs, which led to the killer’s moniker. Over the years, there has been speculation and contested debate over the identity of the elusive killer.
Film Synopsis
It’s a quiet night in Vallejo, California. Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau are parked in a local hotspot when suddenly the pair are attacked by a man with a gun. Darlene is fatally shot, but Mike survives the encounter.
One month later, in August of 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle receives a series of strange letters claiming to have been written by Darlene’s murderer. These letters are encoded in a peculiar manner, and the killer refers to himself as “Zodiac” throughout the discernible text.
The author of the letters insists that if the letters are not unencrypted and his identity revealed, he will kill a dozen more people.
Robert Graysmith, a local political cartoonist, believes that the killer’s identity is not detailed in the letters as the instructions claim. Crime reporter Paul Avery and his editors at the paper do not heed Graysmith’s warning, and the letters are published for the public to view. One letter is successfully deciphered by a couple, but it isn’t enough to stop the spree that is to come.
The following month, the unknown killer strikes again, attacking Bryan Hartnell and Cecilia Shepard in Napa County, California. Cecilia dies from her injuries, as the police and news reporters scramble to decipher more of the letters.
During this time, Robert Graysmith uncovers a reference within one letter: the Zodiac killer, as he’d come to be known, had referred to man as “the most dangerous animal of them all.” Graysmith recognized this as a reference to the 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game, in which humans are hunted for sport.
Two weeks after Cecilia’s death, a cab driver named Paul Stine is shot to death. The San Francisco Chronicle receives another letter, along with pieces of Paul Stine’s bloodied shirt. Police inspectors Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong are put to work on the case full-time, working alongside Vellejo’s Jack Mulanax and Captain Ken Narlow.
The letters continue arriving, and an individual claiming to be the Zodiac killer calls lawyer Melvin Bell on the KGO-TV morning talk show. The police are no closer to finding a lead in the case.
Two years after the first murder, in 1971, the detective team identified a suspect: Arthur Leigh Allen. He is questioned, and during this process, the detectives note that he is wearing a Zodiac watch, inscribed with the same symbol the killer uses in his letters.
Inspector Toschi is convinced they’ve found their man, but handwriting analysis disagrees: the handwriting sample provided by Allen does not match the letters mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. Paul Avery receives a personal letter from the Zodiac, who threatens to kill him.
Avery becomes extremely paranoid and delves into substance abuse to cope. After speaking with the Riverside Police Department, Avery indicates that he believes the killer might have committed earlier attacks prior to the one in July 1969. This information angers Toschi and Armstrong.
Seven years later, Paul Avery has left his posting at the San Francisco Chronicle and now works for the Sacramento Bee. Robert Graysmith continues to pursue the Zodiac case, continually contacting Toschi on the subject.
Though Toschi is not permitted to give Graysmith direct access to collected evidence, he passes Graysmith indirect information, impressed by his knowledge and dedication. Graysmith is conducting his own investigation and becomes obsessed with the Zodiac case.
During this time, he receives phone calls from an unknown number, in which the caller breathes heavily into the phone. The obsession spirals out of control, costing Graysmith both his job and his marriage.
Graysmith still believes, although the evidence is circumstantial and handwriting analysis disagreed, that Arthur Leigh Allen is the Zodiac killer.
In 1983, Graysmith is able to track Allen to the hardware store in Vallejo where he works. Eight years later, after the publication of Graysmith’s book, victim Mike Mageau identifies Allen as the man who attacked him in a mugshot lineup.
This is the plot of the 2007 film Zodiac, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr.
The Real Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith, though initially dismissed and ignored, never gave up the hunt for the Zodiac killer. In 1986, Graysmith published a book summarizing what he knew of the case, aptly titled Zodiac. The book became a bestseller, and in 2002, Graysmith published a second nonfiction novel, Zodiac Unmasked.
Graysmith originally sold the film production rights of Zodiac to his friend Shane Salerno, who struck a deal with Great Oaks Entertainment to produce the movie for Touchstone Pictures.
They planned to make an adaptation of the book about the Zodiac killer resurfacing, this time in Los Angeles. However, the project never got off the ground.
Screenwriter James Vanderbilt first read Zodiac while still in high school. Several years later, Vanderbilt met Graysmith at a movie premiere, and he became obsessed with the Zodiac case. With Graysmith’s permission, Vanderbilt pitched his script to Phoenix Pictures, who agreed to allow him to write a script and maintain more creative control.
To create the film, Vanderbilt and others spent months interviewing witnesses, investigators, surviving victims, and local government officials. They reviewed police reports and employed a forensic linguistics expert to analyze the Zodiac letters.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the intended financing source for the movie, but they were unable to strike a deal regarding the film’s run time. However, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures stepped up and agreed to provide funding while allowing more flexibility with run time: thus, the Zodiac film we know was born.
Silver Screen vs. Reality: What the Movie Got Right
Unsurprisingly, with all the research that went into the film’s production, Zodiac stayed fairly true to the real-life case. Of course, Hollywood always takes a few creative liberties, but the details of the victims, the letters, and Robert Graysmith’s story are accurate.
The producers of the movie also included factual details such as the Zodiac watch worn by Allen and the bloodied shirt mailed to the Chronicle after Paul Stine’s death. Just as in the movie, one of the real Zodiac killer’s letters did threaten to murder a school bus full of children, and Robert Graysmith actually did meet Allen face to face in a hardware store.
While the movie is accurate overall, there were a few things it got wrong. For example, the movie suggests that Mike Mageau’s eyewitness testimony played a substantial role in the case.
The movie uses Mike’s selection of Allen in a lineup as a critical piece of information, but police were not convinced of the validity of his testimony. Mageau stated that there was “no way” he could be certain of who he saw, given how quick the encounter was, bright flashing lights obscuring his vision, and the close-range nature of the attack.
The movie also overhyped Avery’s involvement in the case and his substance abuse; those close to Avery in real life claim this was an inaccurate portrayal.
The Real Zodiac Killer
The real Zodiac case has puzzled generations of true crime fans. To this day, the case remains unsolved. The Zodiac Killer was active in Northern California in the 1960s and 70s. He sent encrypted letters to local news outlets, claiming the killings would continue until his identity was revealed.
The ciphers in the letters claimed that the Zodiac killer was committing these murders to collect slaves for the afterlife. In total, the Zodiac killer gave the media four ciphers: one was solved in 1969 and one in 2020, but two remain unsolved.
The final letter that was confirmed to have been sent by the killer was received in 1974. In this letter, the Zodiac killer claimed to have killed 37 people, though only five kills were confirmed.
In the last letter, the killer says that many of his murders occurred in Southern, not Northern California. The Zodiac killer took responsibility for the 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates, but no connection was ever discovered.
The identity of the Zodiac killer remains a mystery. Eyewitness accounts led to the generation of sketches, but to this day, nobody has been charged with the murders.
Graysmith, along with many followers of the case, believe that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac killer. However, Allen died in 1992. The case status was changed to inactive by the San Francisco Police Department in 2004 but later reopened in 2007 for unknown reasons.
The unsolved case remains open at the California state level and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The true identity of the Zodiac killer may never be discovered, but the case lives on in infamy both in America and throughout the world.
Sources:
Lang, Kevin. “Zodiac Movie vs. Zodiac Killer True Story - Robert Graysmith.” HistoryvsHollywood.Com, History vs. Hollywood, 5 May 2021, www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/zodiac/.
McCormick, Colin. “Zodiac: 8 Things Fincher’s Movie Gets Right about the Unsolved Case (& 7 It Gets Wrong).” ScreenRant, 8 Feb. 2021, screenrant.com/david-fincher-zodiac-what-the-movie-gets-right-and-wrong-about-the-unsolved-cases/.
“Zodiac (Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 June 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_(film).
“Zodiac Killer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 June 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer.
“The Zodiac Killer: A Timeline.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/news/the-zodiac-killer-a-timeline. Accessed 13 June 2024.