Who Was The Zodiac Killer? The Compelling Case For Arthur Leigh Allen
YouTubeJohn Carroll Lynch as Arthur Leigh Allen in the 2007 film Zodiac.
A 2007 film about the Zodiac Killer, Zodiac, portrays a man named Arthur Leigh Allen as a likely Zodiac Killer suspect. But though the movie was a work of fiction, Allen’s connections to the case are very real.
As SF Weekly points out, investigators have been able to tie Allen to a number of the Zodiac Killer’s crime scenes. He lived near Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin’s workplace and may have stalked her, frequently visited Lake Berryessa, where the Zodiac Killer attacked Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell, and was possibly in Riverside when Cheri Jo Bates was murdered.
What’s more, Allen owned a distinctive watch that featured the same crosshair symbol that the Zodiac Killer signed his ciphers with and wore on his chest during the Lake Berryessa attacks. Tom Voigt additionally reports on his Zodiac Killer website that Allen told a friend he was writing a novel about a murderer called “Zodiac” who would kill couples at random.
Zodiac Killer FactsArthur Leigh Allen strikes many as a convincing Zodiac Killer suspect.
“The reality is that Allen is the suspect you just can’t quit,” Voigt explained to Rolling Stone. “I just can’t quit that ‘Big Al’… If he wasn’t the Zodiac, he might be responsible for some other murders.”
But though some experts see Allen as a strong suspect, others aren’t so sure. Physical evidence like DNA, fingerprints, and handwriting samples failed to definitively tie Allen to the notorious murder spree.
If not Allen — who died in 1992 — then who was the Zodiac Killer?
