×
Newsmax TV & Webwww.newsmax.comFREE - In Google Play
VIEW
×
Newsmax TV & Webwww.newsmax.comFREE - On the App Store
VIEW
Skip to main content
Tags: zodiac killer | dna | golden state killer | arrest

DNA Match Sought to Zodiac Killer After Break in Other Case

DNA Match Sought to Zodiac Killer After Break in Other Case
In this photo from March 29, 1974, San Francisco homicide inspectors David Toschi, left, and William Armstrong go through a murder victim's clothes at the morgue in the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. The Zodiac killer is blamed for at least five murders in 1968 and 1969 in the San Francisco Bay Area. (AP)

Thursday, 03 May 2018 08:39 PM EDT

Detectives still trying to identify Northern California's infamous Zodiac Killer who targeted victims in the late 1960s and taunted investigators with letters say they hope to try the same DNA tracing technology recently used to arrest a suspect in another string of cold-case serial slayings — those blamed on the Golden State Killer.

But first they have to get a better DNA profile.

Several months ago, the Vallejo Police Department sent two letters written by the Zodiac Killer to a private lab in hopes of finding his DNA on the back of the stamps or envelope flaps that may have been licked. They are expecting results soon.

"They were confident they would be able to get something off it," Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser told the Sacramento Bee.

Poyser said he hopes a full DNA profile will be found that will enable detectives to try the same DNA sleuthing techniques that were used to arrest Joseph DeAngelo last month. Authorities suspect he committed at least 12 murders and 50 rapes in California between 1976 and 1986.

Investigators uploaded DNA collected at one of the crime scenes to an open-source genealogical website and found a partial match to a distant relative of DeAngelo's. From there, they painstakingly constructed a family tree dating back several generations before they zeroed in on DeAngelo.

Some privacy advocates say they are concerned with the process and worry about future abuses, but detectives investigating the Zodiac Killer say they hope the technique will help solve one of the most vexing cold cases in the country.

"That's a great idea," said Gary Harmor, founder and director of the Serological Research Institute, a private DNA lab. "I think we'll see more investigations use this technique."

Detectives in Southern California are testing DNA collected from a double-murder and rape to see if they can be tied to DeAngelo. Another man, Craig Coley, was recently cleared of those crimes after spending 38 years in prison in the murder of a 24-year-old college student and her 4-year-old son in 1978.

The Zodiac Killer fatally stabbed or shot to death five people in Northern California in 1968 and 1969, and then sent taunting letters and cryptograms to the police and newspapers. The Vallejo police are the lead investigators because the first two victims were killed there.

The suspect was dubbed the Zodiac Killer because some of the cryptograms included astrological symbols and references.

Various pieces of evidence, including a rope used to tie a victim as well as the letters, have been tested unsuccessfully for the killer's DNA profile. Poyser said recent advances in DNA testing prompted investigators to seek a match on two of the killer's letters.

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan said the samples were sent to the lab as a matter of routine. Sampayan, a former homicide detective, said police submit samples every couple of years in hopes that advances in DNA testing will finally yield a profile detectives can use.

"It was coincidental," Sampayan said of the new DNA test occurring at the same time as the breakthrough in the Golden State Killer case.

"There will come a time when we get a match," he said.

The 2007 movie "Zodiac," starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr., renewed widespread interest in a case that has always had a cult following of amateur detectives and cryptographers who sought to crack the killer's code.

One of those amateur sleuths, Tom Voigt, said the key to solving the Zodiac killings is mimicking the Golden State Killer investigation, which included forming a full-time task force dedicated to the case and exploiting publicly accessible DNA databases.

Voigt said the Zodiac case was being investigated part time by a Police Department in a city that filed for municipal bankruptcy.

"There's a formula to follow," Voigt said. "And it's to simply copy what happened to the Golden State Killer."

© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Newsfront
Detectives still trying to identify Northern California's infamous Zodiac Killer who targeted victims in the late 1960s and taunted investigators with letters say they hope to try the same DNA tracing technology recently used to arrest a suspect in another string of...
zodiac killer, dna, golden state killer, arrest
642
2018-39-03
Thursday, 03 May 2018 08:39 PM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
TOP

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Download the NewsmaxTV App
Get the NewsmaxTV App for iOS Get the NewsmaxTV App for Android Scan QR code to get the NewsmaxTV App
NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved