Sources
Annotated Bibliography
Avehd30qxwyh5-Large. 20 Apr.
1970. Vallejo, California.
The Zodiac Killer sent this letter to the San
Francisco Chronicle on April 20th, 1970. In this letter, the Zodiac explained that he was the bomber
at the police station and that he would kill children on a school bus. He
claimed that he killed 10 people to date and that it would’ve been more. We used this primary source because it
shows how the Zodiac Killer told false statements and how he harassed the
police.
Graysmith, Robert. Zodiac. New York: Berkley,
2007.
The book, Zodiac, written by Robert Graysmith,
explains the time of the Zodiac Killer in full detail. Robert Graysmith, the author, was a
writer in the 1960’s and 1970’s for the San Francisco Chronicle and at the
time, he was writing the latest stories on the Zodiac Killer for the
newspaper. Graysmith was also
working with Paul Avery, one of the police reporters on the Zodiac case, so Graysmith
has a lot of background information on the Zodiac. Robert Graysmith put all of his gathered information from
the detectives themselves that were working on the Zodiac case in his book,
which is why we chose to use this very informational source.
Graysmith, Robert. Zodiac Unmasked : The Identity
of America's Most Elusive Serial Killers Revealed. New York: Berkley, 2007.
Zodiac Unmasked : The Identity of America's Most
Elusive Serial Killers Revealed,
written by Robert Graysmith is book that unravels all of the facts about the
Zodiac. It discusses possible
Zodiac suspects as well as evidence left behind the Zodiac. All of the evidence that is linked to
the Zodiac Killer is shown though pure evidence. The reason why we chose this source is because it has very
solid evidence and is very reliable and we used to find out about the Zodiac
himself and not the people he killed or any other aspect in this case.
Kelleher, Michael D. Suspect Zero. Rochester:
Dead End Street, LLC, 2003.
In Suspect Zero, Michael D. Kelleher introduces
the Zodiac as a serial killer in the in the 1960’s-1970’s. Soon after the Zodiac completed his
proven murders, Byron Avion was suspected to be one of the Zodiac’s
suspects. Byron lived in Santa
Rosa at the time, 50 miles to the north of Vallejo, California, where the
Zodiac killings took place. Byron
seemed to be obsessed with the Zodiac.
Investigators Mick Millian and Manny Bruin found that Avion “Suspect
Zero” took young female hitchhikers, tied them in nylon rope, and left the
women selfless in ditches to die.
We used this source because it explains that other killers were inspired
by the Zodiac, and therefore, the Zodiac killer left a legacy.
Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial
Killers: A Study of the Chilling Criminal Phenomenon, from the Angels of Death
to the Zodiac Killer. Facts On File, Inc, 2000.
The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers reviews many serial murder cases including the
infamous Zodiac case. This book
explains the impact of the Zodiac case, the evidence, the murders, the main
Zodiac suspects, and the connection between the Zodiac and other serial killers
like Jack the Ripper, the Sniper Killers, BTK Strangler, Axe Man of New
Orleans, and many more. The
great connections and information had drawn us to use this book as a source.
1978 Letter. 24 Apr. 1978. The San Francisco
Chronicle, Vallejo, California.
The Zodiac Killer sent this letter to the San
Francisco Chronicle on April 24th, 1978. In this letter the Zodiac acts like he’s in control of the
environment at this point in time, stating that he wants a movie written about
his killings and saying that the police need to search harder to find him. We chose to use this primary source
because it shows the spelling and grammar of the Zodiac. Also, the letter shows how the Zodiac
craved for attention from his killings.
Penn, Gareth. Times 17: The Amazing Story of the
Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts. Foxglove P, 1989.
Penn’s book, Times 17, best focuses on the
background knowledge and understanding of the Zodiac Killer. Penn explains the
7 murders that took place between 1966 and 1969 by the unidentified killer
known as “The Zodiac”. Not
only does Gareth explain the murders but the taunts to the police, claims of
identification, letters, ciphers, and threats made to the San Francisco
Chronicle and to the Vallejo Police Station. Times 17 takes a closer look to Robert Graysmith’s
book The Zodiac and goes into more puzzling detail and possibilities
then that of Graysmith’s book. We
felt that this book would provide us with alternate answers to the Zodiac killings,
which is why we shoes to use Times 17 as a source.
Still
Searching for the Zodiac Killer 20 Feb. 2007. ABC News. 2 Jan. 2009
<http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=2889679&page=1>.
A couple of years ago, the Zodiac case was getting
high on publicity because of the movie, Zodiac, that just released and ABC
News did a news special on the puzzling case and the movie. In this news special, ABC interviewed
detective Robert Graysmith himself and actor Jake Gyllenhaal who played
Robert Graysmith in the movie. ABC
gives details on the hunt for Zodiac evidence and the investigation. This source gives a summary on the
Zodiac case and that’s why we used it to do our project.
Wark, Jake. "The Zodiac Killer / Zodiac Murders -
Full Story - Crime Library on truTV.com." TruTV.com: Not Reality.
Actuality. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. A Time Warner Company. 09 Feb.
2009
<http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac/river_1.html>.
In his article, Jake Wark shows his great understanding
for the Zodiac investigation. Jake
separates this puzzling case into understandable categories such as: Zodiac’s
phone calls, victims, evidence, crime scenes, police threats, letters,
etc. These categories are well
documented with primary sources and overflowing with information, which is why
we chose to use this source.
Z-Letter. 26 June 1970. Vallejo, California. By
Humby.
The Zodiac sent this letter to the San Francisco
Chronicle on June 26th, 1970.
In this letter, the Zodiac killer show’s that he has control over
whoever he kills; where he threatens again that he’ll kill a school bus full of
children if the police don’t do what he’s commanding them to do. Also, the Zodiac killer admits to
killing a man in a parked car. We
chose to use this primary source because it gives an example of the Zodiac’s ciphers/codes
and how the Zodiac is aggressive towards the police.
The Zodiac.
Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.,
John Carroll Lynch. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2006.
Director David Fincher displays great understanding
and perspective in his movie, The Zodiac. The point of view in the movie is from Robert Graysmith (one
of the writers on the case and the main character), the Vallejo Police
Department, and the writers at the San Francisco Chronicle. Everyone at the Police Department and
San Francisco Chronicle are searching for the notorious Zodiac Killer and it
illustrates how the killings were probably performed. We chose to use this source because the movie is very visual
and it shows the everyday basis during the search for the Zodiac murderer.
Zodiac Killer | The Zodiac Movie | Zodiac Murders |
California Serial Murder. 09 Feb.
2009 <http://www.zodiackiller.com/>.
Tom Voigt built and designed www.zodiackiller.com to inform people of one of the first major serial
killers, the Zodiac, and of the unsolved case that questions investigators to
this day. Tom used resources such
as: police reports, crime-scene photos, newspaper articles, video libraries,
visits to all crime scenes, and interviews with more than 100 people who have
involvement with the Zodiac case to come up with all the evidence of the Zodiac
case. He informed us on every major
aspect of the case and also made his website with very reliable information,
and that’s why we used his website as a source. We used this source to find out
about the case from many different people working on the case at the time, and
used the information to infer back to.
Zodiac Killer Facts. 09 Feb. 2009 <http://www.zodiackillerfacts.com/>.
www.zodiackillerfacts.com provides information on Fincher’s and Graysmith’s
books on the Zodiac killer. The
website wants to explain that the Zodiac is not just a killer that you read
about, but the Zodiac killer is a fact.
The website gives myths and legends about the Zodiac killer and gives
the facts about each one; changes each false statement to a correct and true
statement. The website really lets
you know the truth about the Zodiac and gives you reasons and evidence to back up
the statements and theories, which is what we needed to really complete our
project.
