Zodiac (not your horoscope)
Thoughts on the film + other bits and bobs
Zodiac (2007) directed by David Fincher was added to Netflix (AUS) this week so I had to check it out right before I went to sleep (great timing, I know). The film encapsulates the energy of the Bay Area and the general paranoia during the time when the Zodiac Killer was active. It captures the obsession and frustration of those attempting to solve the case perfectly by showing the slow disintegration of marriages, careers and mental health and paints them as additional victims of the Zodiac.
Fun fact: “Hair was digitally added to the close-ups of Jake Gyllenhaal’s knuckles as he draws or holds letters. David Fincher felt that Gyllenhaal’s hands were too hairless and pretty”
On the downside, for a two and a half-hour film the ending was disappointingly anticlimactic as is true with the real-life case.
Like Mr. Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal’s character), I was also reeled in by the story and was compelled to conduct some further research into the case.
So now I’ll conduct a quick line-up style analysis of the key suspects.
From my perspective, everything still points to Arthur Leigh Allen. There’s a very long list of circumstantial evidence that can be found here if you’re interested. The circumstantial exculpatory evidence of Arthur not wearing glasses and the Zodiac having grey-black hair doesn’t justify anything for me. The Zodiac explicitly stated in the ‘Bus Bomb’ letter of November 9th 1969 that “I look like the description passed out only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirle different. I shall not tell you what my descise consists of when I kill.” Mmmm seems sus to me.
Lawrence Kane is another one that I think is super suspicious having accumulated experience in the navy working with secret code messages. Suffering frontal lobe damage in 1962, Kane would have been prone to exhibiting violence and erratic behaviour. He was also identified by Darlene’s (victim) sister as the guy who she was frightened of. Kane also lived close to the victims or the scenes where the murders took place. Furthermore, when a brown car was identified as being the Zodiac’s, Kane traded in his car within 24 hours. Kane’s DNA has also never been checked against the Zodiac’s making this one not to overlook.
Ross Sullivan is only suspicious for the non-canonical Cheri Jo Bates murder in 1966. He was 6’2” and over 220 lbs which doesn’t match any description of the Zodiac’s height or weight. Sullivan also possessed multiple alibis with one for Lake Berryessa and one for Riverside.
Richard Gaikowski is suspicious as his name “Gyke” appeared in the cipher. At the time of the first murder it was claimed that he was in Europe. However, no evidence actually exists that he was in Europe until a few weeks after. There was a hiatus in letters written during the time that Gaikowski was in a mental health institution during the mid 70s. Gaikowski’s cousin also lived near Washington and Cherry at the time of the Stine murder and her birthday was on October 11 (the day Stine was murdered). He also trained in the Army as a medic and would have had experience tearing the clothing off bleeding victims. But does the fact that shirts tear and the fact that he wore glasses mean he was the Zodiac? Probably not.
Richard Marshall was primarily a suspect due to his location during the Zodiac murders as he lived in Riverside around the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and stayed in San Francisco near the murder of Paul Stine. However, his fingerprints didn’t match those collected from the letters or crime scenes. I’m not convinced on Marshall.
Another conspiracy theory involves the idea that the Zodiac was more than one person with one doing the killing whilst another managed the letter-writing and other tasks. This would have explained why DNA and handwriting wouldn’t match.
All sus? Yeah, I can’t figure it out either. Let me know what you think!
P.S. If you love a good slow-burn, Incendies is available to stream for free on SBS on Demand until 12/01.
