No one saw this one coming. Unheralded new book claims to reveal whom the Zodiac Killer was.

[John1956PA]

Last edited Wed May 14, 2014, 09:34 PM - Edit history (2)

There have been many books which purport to identify the shadowy perpetrator of the Zodiac Killings which haunted northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The number of competing theories about the killer's identity rightfully causes any new book on the subject to be met with skepticism. However, after looking at two of the arguments purportedly contained in the book which HarperCollins released yesterday, May 13, 2014, without any advance publicity, I am intrigued.

The book The Most Dangerous Animal of All http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Dangerous-Animal-All/dp/0062313169 is from a Louisiana businessman who was raised by adoptive parents. The author sets forth his arguments to support his claim that his biological father Earl Van Best, Jr., who died in 1984, was the Zodiac Killer. Two arguments which impress me are that at least one of the cryptograms sent by the Zodiac killer at the height of the crimes contains a multi-directional sequence of letters spelling out "E V Best Jr" and that the sketch of the killer (a police artist's rendering based upon the description of one of the few survivors) matches the appearance of E V Best, Jr., as he looked at that time.

My information is based on a Daily Mail online article at the following link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2627426/Revealed-The-real-face-Zodiac-Killer-compelling-evidence-adopted-man-search-biological-father-led-explosive-discovery.html

Here are a few images from the article:






Earl Van Best:





Police artist sketch:

[Sheldon Cooper]

1. Whoa. His mother married the lead detective in the case??

In a remarkable coincidence his mother Judy married Rotea Gilford one of the lead investigators in the case.

He is now dead but Stewart is convinced that this would upset the department and that it may have caused them to try to 'shut down' the investigation into the case.

'The fact remains: Judy married Van, the Zodiac. Judy married Rotea, the homicide detective,' he concludes.

And:

After his discovery he also claimed that another expert found 'Earl Van Best Junior' written backwards in another code.

The book claims that the chances of his father’s name being in two ciphers is 'astronomical'.

Stewart then went onto match fingerprints taken from his father’s arrest and those from the crime scene. Both have a diagonal scar on them, he claims.

[WinkyDink]

2. I intend to read this book ASAP. I'm a true-crime fan, plus the movie with Jake Gyllenhall is great.

[gratuitous]

7. I read the book that movie was based on

In his book, Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhall's character in the movie) strongly implies that he knows who Zodiac was, down to a description of where he lived at one time when Graysmith went to observe him. But he wasn't 100% sure and didn't make a positive identification, I suspect to avoid a libel lawsuit.

We'll see if Graysmith weighs in.

[JaneyVee]

3. Yup, he's the killer.

[exboyfil]

4. Of course the attorney in this clip

when Van Best appeared in court also looks like the composite.

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/208846

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. I don't know who the Zodiac Killer was. I do know that

he scared the bejesus out of me and I was not close to the area he operated in. That killer gave me complete agita.

[Hoppy]

6. If you want the real story,

my book, proving beyond any doubt, reasonable or otherwise, that Dick Cheney was the Zodiac Killer will be out in June.

[John1956PA]

8. I have lost enthusiasm for the book's premise that the name was intentionally placed in the cipher.

Last edited Thu May 15, 2014, 08:16 PM - Edit history (2)

The encrypted message utilizes the word "BEST" in a consistent and logical manner given the the bizarre thoughts which the killer expressed in said message. In my opinion, the killer's use of the cipher symbols "E" "V" "J" and "R" for a portion of the word "BEST" and portions of the words near it is a coincidence.