Bryan Hartnell And Cecelia Shepard
Find A GraveCecelia Shepard, the fourth known victim murdered by the Zodiac Killer.
The next victims of the Zodiac Killer were attacked on Sept. 27, 1969. Then, 20-year-old Bryan Hartnell and 22-year-old Cecelia Shepard, both students at Pacific Union College, were picnicking at Lake Berryessa, near Napa.
During their picnic, they were approached by a man wearing a black hood and sunglasses. As Hartnell later told the police, the stranger claimed he was an escaped convict who needed money and a new car in order to escape to Mexico. But the stranger didn’t accept their offers of money, and then he stated: “I don’t want the money, all I want to do is kill [you].”
The Zodiac Killer tied Shepard and Hartnell up with plastic clothesline, then proceeded to stab them with a knife multiple times — Shepard was stabbed at least 10 times, and Hartnell was stabbed six times. Shepard succumbed to her injuries at the hospital, while Hartnell ultimately survived.
By that point, the police knew there was a serial killer in Northern California. In fact, he’d even given himself a name. In addition to the chilling messages he sent to police, the killer had also sent letters to local newspapers that August, in which he identified himself as “Zodiac.” He had also signed a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 31, 1969, with a cross-circle symbol.
Police found that same symbol painted on Hartnell’s car, along with the dates of the other Zodiac Killer victims’ murders.
Public DomainThe Zodiac Killer left the dates of his murders on Bryan Hartnell’s car door.
The murderer seemed to be escalating — fast. But before long, the final known Zodiac Killer victim was slaughtered.
