California serial killer's letter deciphered after 51 years, says 'I am not afraid'
Experts after 51 years, on December 11 deciphered the code sent by still unidentified Zodiac killer, who haunted the northern Californian communities back 60s
- World News
- 2 min read
Experts after 51 years, on December 11 deciphered the code sent by still unidentified Zodiac killer, who haunted the northern Californian communities back in the 1960s and 1970s. A coded letter was sent to a San Francisco newspaper by the Zodiac serial killer in 1969 and amateur sleuths from the United States, Australia and Belgium were able to decipher it on Friday, as reported by San Francisco Chronicle. It was one of the many ciphers sent by the killer who referred to himself as Zodiac in letters sent to both the detectives and the media. The unidentified killer took lives of at least five people in the Bay Area in 1968 and 1969.
The newspaper reported that according to a code-breaking expert David Oranchack, the cipher’s text includes, “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.”
Oranchack has been reportedly working on decoding the letters for several years and said in an email sent to the newspaper that the solved cipher has been already sent to the FBI.
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FBI confirms Oranchak’s claim
Reportedly the code-expert wrote in the email, “They have confirmed the solution. No joke! This is the real deal.” Oranchak’s claim was later confirmed by the spokesperson for the FBI’s San Francisco office, Cameron Polan on Friday.
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“The FBI is aware that a cipher attributed to the Zodiac killer was recently solved by private citizens. The Zodiac killer case remains an ongoing investigation for the FBI San Francisco division and our local law enforcement partners,” she said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press.
“Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time,” she added.
This was not the first time that Zodiac killer’s cipher was cracked. A Salinas schoolteacher and his wife solved a lengthy cipher sent in pieces to The Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald papers in 1969 and it said, “I like killing because it is so much fun.”
Image: AP