The Zodiac Revisited, Volume 2: Analysis and Fact-Based Speculation

Understand History's Most Enigmatic Serial Killer

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In December of 1968, a serial killer began orchestrating a campaign of terror in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not satisfied with the simple act of murder, he taunted law enforcement and the public by writing letters to local newspapers. Through often cryptic and bizarre content — including four ciphers, two of which have never been solved — the psychopath played a twisted game. Reporters dubbed the man the "Cipher Killer," but the murderer chose a different name for himself: the Zodiac. Eventually, he would claim to have murdered thirty-seven. Law enforcement, however, could only account for five.

In 1971, authenticated communications with the Zodiac ceased. The elusive fugitive resurfaced briefly three years later, sending a small number of communiqués, before disappearing for good. What started out with shocking abruptness slowly dissolved into mysterious uncertainty. To this day, the Zodiac's true identity remains one of the twentieth century's greatest mysteries...

In The Zodiac Revisited, Volume 2, Michael F. Cole builds on the factual foundation established in Volume 1 to examine the killer’s methodology, persona, and ciphers. Looking across the entirety of the case, he identifies meaningful threads of commonality and develops insights into the man behind the crimes and communications.

Volume 1 documents the facts of the case. Volume 3 applies the analysis developed here to reexamine the killer’s letters and crimes, including the possibility of additional murders in Southern California.