Zodiac - On the trail of a serial killer

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Zodiac - On the trail of a serial killer (original title Zodiac ) is the title of a chronicle about a serial killer in the USA , California , who went down in crime history as a Zodiac killer . It was published by Robert Graysmith in 1986. The German first edition was published in April 2007 by Heyne Verlag in a translation from the American by Norbert Jakober.

To the author

Robert Graysmith, who wrote this book, was employed by the San Francisco Chronicle as a cartoonist in 1969 . He was there when the first letters from Zodiac arrived. With every new letter and riddle the paper received, Graysmith grew more curious and began to study the letters and riddles. He tried to expose Zodiac or at least collect enough pieces of the puzzle that others could one day expose this serial killer.

To the book

This book is in chronological order and begins with the murder of the first couple on December 20, 1968. It also contains the killer's original letters.

content

Graysmith writes down all of his research and composed this book from a large body of documents. He goes into the investigation work and asks many people who come from the environment of the crime scenes and the victims in order to find a lead. The beginning of the book is all about crime scenes and people's lives before they became victims of Zodiac.

In the further course he deals with the work of the police and with the letters that were sent to the police and some daily newspapers after the second murder, only then did Graysmith get to work, at the beginning with the deciphering of his messages in symbolic form. The letters were very important to the agency because of the handwriting and detailed description of the murders. In the last authentic letter, Zodiac claims to have committed 37 murders. The authorities around San Francisco believed only 5 murders actually carried out by him. Despite intensive research, the perpetrator was never caught, even though there were several suspects, including the most important prime suspect: Arthur Leigh Allen , who is believed to be the perpetrator by Robert Graysmith, as he claims that after Allen's death he will never receive threatening phone calls or letters again to have.

Graysmith's research ends on July 22, 1984, 16 years after the first murder.

The appendices provide ample information about Zodiac, for example handwriting, his voice and speech, information about Zodiac's language, the description of Zodiac during the investigation, his cars, the weapons he used, a list of the devices and tools, the knowledge and training Zodiac had, a description of his approach and psychological profile.

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