The Zodiac Killer
Recently I watched David Fincher’s movie Zodiac, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo. It was pretty good, if a little slow (like most true crime stories). I was interested enough to do a little research on the case, which revealed that the book the movie is based on is really just the opinion of Robert Graysmith (played by Gyllenhaal). Graysmith has been obsessed by the case for years, but his accusations of Arthur Leigh Allen don’t hold up to close scrutiny.
Arthur Leigh Allen is the prime suspect, but that’s based on testimony from someone with a rather large (and entirely reasonable!) grudge, so even though Allen was a perverted criminal I don’t think he was actually a serial killer. All of this led me to various conspiracy sites, each one with an implausible theory about who the Zodiac really was. Some claim it was one of the Mansons, others that it was an activist journalist, others that it’s a lecturer in politics who lived on the other side of the country (poor guy, he’s been harrassed for years).
The best site I found about all of this is Zodiac Killer Facts. It’s a skeptical look at the wacky theories, written by a guy who’s interested in facts and evidence rather than sensationalism. He’s driven by compassion for the families of the victims and a desire for the truth rather than an easy answer. Unfortunately his blog reveals that everyone connected with the case is old and dying. Unless some previously hidden evidence comes to light, it seems more and more unlikely that the murders will ever be solved.
