New revelations unearthed by a team of former cops may have unveiled the infamous serial killer.
Earlier this month, a group of former law enforcement investigators called the Case Breakers claimed to have finally discovered the identity of the Zodiac Killer. In the late 1960s, a serial killer nicknamed the Zodiac Killer terrorized the Bay area in San Francisco, killing five people and tormenting the police with ciphers and puzzles. Though Zodiac himself claimed to have killed 37 people, no evidence of the other murders exist.
For decades, police made no progress on this unsolved case. It wasn’t until 2020 that a group of private citizens managed to solve one of the ciphers left by the killer. The decrypted message reads “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me … I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me.” This headway allowed the Case Breakers to identify the serial killer as Gary Francis Poste.
Poste, a U.S. Air Force veteran, passed away in 2018 at the age of 80. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the newspaper received a tip from a relative of Poste’s six years ago that said he was the Zodiac Killer. The relative also accused Poste of trying to kill him with a hammer. When police got involved with the accusation, they said that there was no connection between Poste and the Zodiac Killer.
Six years later, the Case Breakers have come forward with forensic evidence and photographic evidence that links Poste to Zodiac. The investigators claim that the scar on Poste’s forehead matches the scar of the Zodiac Killer’s in his police sketch. Another clue as to the identity of Zodiac lies in the ciphers themselves. According to the Case Breakers, once the letters of Poste’s full name are erased from the cipher, then an alternative message appears.
The Case Breakers also allege that Poste is responsible for a sixth death—the death of Cheri Jo Bates in 1966. Bates was murdered two years prior to the first confirmed Zodiac Killer murder; according to the Case Breakers, Poste was in the area when Bates was murdered. The killer seemingly forgot his paint-splattered watch at the crime scene. Poste, after leaving the armed forces, became a house painter and retained this job for over 40 years. Through these connections, among them a pending DNA test with the FBI, the Case Breakers claim that Poste is responsible for the death of Bates, which if confirmed would make her the first victim of the Zodiac Killer.
Adding to the fire, after the Case Breakers made their evidence known to the public, a Facebook post from a man named Glynn Barnes went viral. The post contains a picture of Barnes with Gary Poste from 2018. The caption says, “My last visit with Old Man! Gary Poste! Zodiac? God Dang! I Miss You Old Man.” Hours after the revelation came about, Barnes promptly deleted the post. Since the Case Breakers released their claims, neighbors and family members, including Poste’s daughter-in-law, have come forward to corroborate their allegations.
However, the San Francisco Police Department has expressed skepticism of the Case Breakers’ claims as the evidence is purely circumstantial. The FBI has also released a statement with the Chronicle saying that the case is still open. Despite these setbacks, the Case Breakers are determined to provide further proof of the Zodiac Killer’s identity and plan to continue their investigation.
