From scars, paint, letters: half a century later, the identity of the Zodiac maniac, who encoded himself in an ingenious code, was established.

In the late 1960s, his name was on the lips of San Francisco residents: the elusive killer not only corresponded with journalists, but also openly mocked the police. They never caught him alive.

Why do people so enjoy reading about the atrocities of maniacs, watching horror films and savoring the details told by crime victims? Psychologists believe that murderers and rapists, no matter how strange it may be, play an important social role: they allow us to play out the worst scenarios in our heads, survive them and calm down, because this did not happen to us. And to satisfy the animal curiosity - what does it feel like to step over the line?

The maniac who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s understood this very well. His identity remained unknown for more than half a century, which criminologists and police considered a mockery: the killer mocked them, leaving serious evidence and telling in detail about the crimes committed, promised that he would leave new traces of his atrocities and even named specific days and places. But he was never caught.

Between murders, Zodiac sent descriptions of his victims to the newspaper, thus confessing to 37 crimes, but the police confirmed only seven (two survived). It is unknown whether the maniac deliberately terrified local residents or was actually responsible for the deaths of 37 people - the bodies of many of the missing were never found.

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The first victims of the Zodiac were 17-year-old David Faraday and his 16-year-old girlfriend Betty Lou Jensen. The lovers went on their first date after school, stopped the car by the lake and enjoyed the scenery. An armed maniac tracked them down, but did not kill them right away - first he forced the teenagers to get out of the car, enjoying their fear, then stood them next to them and shot them. Betty tried to escape, but didn't have time...

17-year-old Mike Mageau, who was attacked by the killer while he was sitting in the same car with 22-year-old Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin, was able to escape. After the cold-blooded shooting, Zodiac left his first message on the teenager’s car, which shook the entire town. In it, he used ciphers that became one of the main mysteries of the 20th century.

The maniac began sending his encrypted messages to local newspapers, promising that after solving the problem, investigators would learn his name. The police were not sure that this was not a bluff, especially since the killer’s code could not be solved for more than half a century - but was it cruel or a joke?

Only the first message of the Zodiac was deciphered during his lifetime during the commission of crimes - a married couple from the United States was able to crack the code. In the message, the maniac admits that he “kills because it’s fun.”

More than one team of experts worked on his second message, and only 51 years later it was deciphered thanks to the efforts of a web designer from Virginia, David Oranchak, a mathematician from Australia, Sam Blake, and a programmer from Belgium, Jarl van Eycke. The cipher was ingenious and, as you might have guessed, incredibly complex. Who could have composed something like this?

“I hope you're not bored while you're trying to catch me. It wasn't me on the TV program. I am not afraid of the gas chamber, because it will send me to heaven as quickly as possible, since I now have enough slaves who work for me,” the message said.

The killer was referring to Jim Dunbar's TV show, in which an unknown person said over the phone that he was the Zodiac and was afraid of dying in the gas room if he was caught. Criminologists have given up: judging by the first and second messages from the maniac, in his remaining letters there is no solution, but only ridicule.

And now, 52 years after the first murder, a group of 40 former investigators, journalists and military intelligence officers have revealed the identity of the killer.

It turned out to be Gary Francis Post, a painter who repaired almost all the houses in the area. The man was not only well known to the townspeople, but was also a close friend of one of the killed.

Experts identified the maniac by deep wrinkles and scars on his forehead and some evidence - the shape of the heels of Post's shoes and a watch spattered with paint, which the police found at the crime scene. Interestingly, Gary himself was involved in the Zodiac case, but was “dismissed” by the early investigation as a respected ex-officer of the US armed forces.

The maniac really acquired an army of “slaves”, which he mentioned in his letter - Post had his own followers, including among teenagers. But he will no longer bear responsibility for his crimes: Zodiac, who turned out to be a painter, died three years ago.

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Materials used: BBC

Photo: Getty Images, Legion-Media.ru, AA Film Archive / Alamy/TASS