More than half a century ago, a coded message sent by the infamous Jatak Killer cracked, the FBI announced.
The Russian killer identified in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1968 and 1969 was never shot or stabbed, and all but two of them died. At the time of his murder, he sent them a horrific letter San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper
Some of the letters were written in standard English, others in code. A particularly complex missile was received in November 1939 and became known as the 340 cipher, never cracking.
But now, a video posted on YouTube seems to have solved the mystery.
“I hope you’re having a lot of fun trying to catch me,” Chief told fancy code-breakers David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarrell van Ike last week.
“I’m not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to Paradise as soon as possible (I have enough slaves to work with).”
The misspellings of the word “paradise” throughout the piece helped decoders, and the FBI could detect that the letters were actually sent by a zodiac sign, as the error appeared in other letters as well.
Like murders, they too, solving zodiac ciphers have become an international norm for true crime followers.
Mr. Oranchak, a 46-year-old web designer living in Virginia, said in the video that he hoped the cipher would reveal information about the killer’s identity.
“The message doesn’t really say the whole thing,” he said. “This is more of the same attention-seeking junk from the zodiac.”
The FBI’s San Francisco office on Friday confirmed that the group had leaked the coded message, and said a half-century-old case was under investigation.
The FBI said in a statement posted on Twitter, “The FBI is aware that a cipher responsible for killing the zodiac was recently solved by civilians.”
“The zodiac killer terrorized multiple communities across Northern California, and decades later, we are still seeking justice for the victims of this heinous crime.”
No further charges have been brought against anyone in the Zodiac case, and there are plenty of theories about the real identity of the killer. This case has inspired countless books and films, including the books of the seventies Dirty Harry Starring Clint Eastwood and 2007 The zodiac With Robert Donie Jr.
