Wyatt Farris English IV Blog: Conflicting Views

Now that we have discussed the history of the Zodiac killings it is time to discuss who the killer may have been. Arthur Leigh Allen is perhaps the most talked about suspect for the Zodiac, but there has never been any hard evidence linking Allen to the kills. Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle conducted his own research into the case and found a horde of circumstantial evidence that he believed was enough to definitively say that Allen was the Zodiac. Graysmith wrote about his findings in his book simply entitled Zodiac. Graysmith researched the killings for eight years while writing the book, he discovered evidence that was never revealed to the public and large amounts of evidence against Arthur Leigh Allen. The first point of evidence was the murder of college student Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th, 1966 in Riverside California. Reports say that Allen was in Riverside on the weekend the murder occurred. In November of that same year two typewritten letters were mailed to the local police and newspaper.
The letters confessed to killing Bates. Experts determined that the letters were written using a Royal model typewriter. This was perhaps the first evidence that points to Allen. Several years after Bates was killed police searched Allen's trailer and found a Royal Typewriter with Elite Type font. The next bit of evidence was Arthur Leigh Allen's wristwatch. The watch was a Christmas gift from his mother, the watch was significant because it was made by the company Zodiac, and the symbol for this company just so happens to be the symbol the Zodiac signed all his letters with. Also, during the search of Allen's trailer size 10 1/2 Wing Walker boots that were only available to those in the Navy or a relative of someone in the Navy. While this point of evidence is quite incriminating, there is still more that makes Allen a prime suspect. According to police statements, within days of receiving the watch, Allen is alleged to have made these claims to his friend, Don Cheney (Allen used the premise of writing a novel to communicate this fantasy. Cheney estimates the conversation took place on Jan. 1, 1969.)
He would like to kill couples at random.
He would taunt the police with letters detailing his crimes.
He would sign the letters with the cross-circle symbol from his watch.
He would call himself "Zodiac."
He would wear make-up to change his appearance.
He would attach a flashlight to the barrel of his gun in order to shoot at night.
He would fool women into stopping their cars in rural areas by claiming they had problems with their tires, then loosen their lug nuts and eventually take them captive.

As you can see this list of ideas is very incriminating and if Allen really did say them, then he is a very strong suspect, but as with all suspects he is innocent until proven guilty.

The second suspect that I will discuss is named Rick Marshall. Marshall was a suspect during the killings and even now he is still considered a strong suspect for the Zodiac. One major difference between Marshall and Allen is what they look like. During the investigation a sketch artist created a picture of what the Zodiac looked like as described by one of the survivors of the attacks. Many people say that Allen looks nothing like the sketch. Rick Marshall however looks almost exactly like the sketch. Rick Marshall also is reported to have lived in the Riverside area during the time in 1966 when Cheri Jo Bates was killed. In 1969 Marshall lived in a basement on Scott Street in San Francisco which was within a few miles of the only San Francisco Zodiac killing. In his book Zodiac Robert Graysmith also discovered that the Zodiac had a particular fondness for the book The Most Dangerous Game, Marshall worked at the San Francisco silent-movie theatre and the movie version of the book was played there several times. The theatre is also responsible for another explanation of where the mysterious Zodiac symbol came from. As many of us films usually start with a count down, well if you have ever looked at the countdown for a movie it looks eerily similar to the Zodiac Symbol. One other important piece of evidence is that a police call operator who spoke with the killer identified Marshall's voice as belonging to the Zodiac. Overall, Rick Marshall may not have as much evidence as Arthur Leigh Allen, but he was and is still considered a viable suspect in the on going investigation into the Zodiac.

Here is the Sketch of the Zodiac as well as pictures of Rick Marshall and Arthur Leigh Allen