The Zodiac Killer Murdered 5 People – But Claimed to Have Killed Dozens More. Here’s What to Know About the Serial Killer’s Victims and Survivors

The Zodiac Killer is one of the most notorious serial killers in history.

Known not only for the gruesome murders he committed in northern California in the late 1960s, but for the cryptic letters he sent to the media extolling their own crimes, the killer and their unsolvable ciphers are still puzzling sleuths more than 60 years later.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, which was the recipient of 17 of the 22 letters the Zodiac is known to have sent, the unidentified perpetrator, whose crimes have served as the subject for multiple film and TV projects, including Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, 2007’s Zodiac (Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) and 2024’s This Is the Zodiac Speaking, was responsible for the deaths of at least five individuals.

Teenagers Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday, wife and mother Darlene Ferrin, college student Cecila Shepard and taxi driver Paul Stine tragically lost their lives at the hands of the Zodiac, while Michael Renault Mageau and Bryan Hartnell narrowly escaped death.

Ferrin’s sister Pam Huckaby opened up to the Vallejo Times-Herald about her late sibling in July 2019, noting that Ferrin’s daughter Deena is now a mother herself. “Darlene would have been a great mom to her,” she said. “Darlene loved her family and was very family oriented.”

Huckaby added: “If that hadn’t happened, Darlene would be with me. With us. With the family.”

And while investigators have only confirmed five killings associated with the Zodiac, the murderer claimed to have taken the lives of as many as 37 people through his various letters, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

Keep reading to find out more about the Zodiac Killer’s victims and what happened to them.

Who is the Zodiac Killer?

Zodiac Killer composite sketch.
Credit: Getty

The Zodiac Killer is a mass murderer who terrorized the city of San Francisco from 1968 to 1970. While many theories have emerged regarding the killer’s identity over the years, only one suspect has ever been named in connection to the crimes by investigators, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

The outlet reported that Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester who lived in the Vallejo area, owned boots that matched the killer’s footprints and had referenced a short story in a police interview that the Zodiac had mentioned in one of their letters.

Zodiac survivor Mageau also positively identified Allen from a photo lineup as the man that had shot him years earlier. According to the Chronicle, Allen died of a heart attack in 1992 and was never charged in relation to the Zodiac murders.

In May 2014, business owner Gary Stewart claimed his father Earl Van Best Jr. was responsible for the murders in his book The Most Dangerous Animal Of All, and in October 2021, a team of more than 40 former law enforcement investigators known as The Case Breakers claimed that they had identified another man as the Zodiac: Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018 per Fox News.

The FBI confirmed to Newsweek in May 2023, however, that the killer’s identity was not yet known.

As of October 2024, no one has been charged with the Zodiac’s crimes.

Who were the Zodiac Killer’s victims? 

Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday

San Francisco murder victims Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday, alleged to be victims of the Zodiac Killer.
Credit: Getty

16-year-old honor roll student Jensen and 17-year-old wrestler Faraday were the Zodiac Killer’s first known victims. According to This Is the Zodiac Speaking, the high school students had been out for their first date before David drove them to a secluded area on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, Calif. to be alone.

The couple were shot and killed by the Zodiac on Dec. 20, 1968, and their bodies were later discovered outside of their vehicle by a passerby.

Darlene Ferrin

Darlene Ferrin, killed in 1969 by the Zodiac Killer.

The killer’s next victim was 22-year-old Ferrin, a waitress who was both a wife and a new mother. Ferrin, along with 19-year-old Mageau, was shot while sitting in Ferrin’s car in a remote parking lot in Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, Calif., roughly 15 minutes away from where the previous victims had been found, on July 4, 1969.

After entering and leaving the parking lot abruptly, the Zodiac reportedly pulled up behind Ferrin’s car, then approached the passenger side with a flashlight before opening fire. Mageau survived the attack while Ferrin did not.

Ferrin’s sister opened up about her oldest sibling to the Vallejo Times-Herald, saying, “She was a great sister. There were 10 of us — eight girls, two boys. She was the oldest and my idol.”

According to Times-Herald, the Zodiac Killer called 911 following the July 4 attack on their third and fourth victims to take credit for the incident. “I want to report a double murder,” they said. “If you will go one mile east on Columbus Parkway to the public park, you will find the kids in a brown car. They were shot with a 9 MM luger.”

During the call, the Zodiac also confessed to the killings of the two high school students that had taken place one year prior. “I also killed those kids last year,” they said. “Goodbye.”

Cecila Shepard

Cecilia Shepard.
Credit: AP

On Sept. 27, 1969, 22-year-old Shepard became the fourth known victim to die at the hands of the Zodiac while picnicking in Lake Berryessa in Benicia, Calif., with her boyfriend Hartnell.

According to reports, the Zodiac held the couple at gunpoint and tied them up before fatally stabbing Shepard 10 to 20 times and wounding Hartnell, who survived the attack. Hartnell told authorities that he initially thought the man, who was wielding a pistol and wearing a hood, was a robber, but that he refused money when it was offered, stating, “I don’t want the money, all I want to do is kill [you].”

After attacking Hartnell and Shepard, the Zodiac marked the vehicle’s passenger side door with the dates of two of their previous shootings, per This Is the Zodiac Speaking.

Shepard’s obituary in the Napa Valley Register revealed that she had been a student at Pacific Union College, where she was studying music. Her funeral services were attended by more than 1,000 friends and family members, who recalled her love for her craft.

Paul Stine

Cab driver Paul Stine.
Credit: AP

The Zodiac’s final confirmed victim was 29-year-old Paul Stine. Stine was killed on Oct. 11, 1969, after giving the Zodiac a taxi ride. Radio station KFGO reported that Stine was a San Francisco State doctorate candidate who was working as a cabbie while pursuing his degree.

The Zodiac took ownership for his last victim’s life in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle in which he included a bloodied piece of the victim’s clothing. The letter was printed in an Oct. 15, 1969 issue of the paper.

“This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington St. and Maple St. last night, to prove this here is a blood stained piece of his shirt,” the killer wrote, adding, “I am the same man who did in the people in the North Bay Area.”

Have the Zodiac Killer’s crimes been solved? 

Zodiac Killer.
Credit:Eric Risberg/AP/Shutterstock

While elements of the zodiac killer’s crimes have been solved, including several of the ciphers he sent to the media, others remain a mystery.

The Desert Sun reported on Aug. 13, 1969, that Donald and Bettye Harden had cracked the killer’s first cipher after it was sent to local newspapers. Known as the 408 cipher, it read in part, “I like killing because it is so much fun.”

In December 2020, web designer David Oranchak cracked another of the killer’s ciphers 51 years after being sent to the Chronicle with the help of Australian mathematician Sam Blake, and Belgium warehouse operator Jarl Van Eykcke.

In the note, the Zodiac Killer said that he hoped the authorities were having “lots of fun” trying to catch him and seemingly gave them a clue regarding a 1969 broadcast of Jim Dunbar’s AM San Francisco during which an anonymous caller claimed to be the Zodiac and said they didn’t want to go to the gas chamber.

“THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW,” the Zodiac wrote. “I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE [sic] ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME.”

As the FBI told Newsweek in 2023, “The FBI’s investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved.”