An author and expert on the Zodiac Killer has claimed that neither of the two main suspects in the case were actually responsible for the grisly crimes.
The Zodiac Killer emerged in the late 1960s, when they are believed to have murdered at least five people in northern California between 1968 and 1969.
More than 50 years later the killer remains unidentified, but the case inspired the 1971 film Dirty Harry, and the 2007 David Fincher movie Zodiac.
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There has been a lot of speculation about the identity of the Zodiac Killer, with Arthur Leigh Allen and Gary Francis Poste both named as suspects after investigations into their lives.
Poste was suggested to have been the killer in 2021, when a group of cold case investigators made connections between the Air Force veteran and the killer.
The investigators pointed to scars on Poste's forehead which matched a sketch of the killer, while witnesses claimed Poste had a violent personality and had led a 'criminal posse' in California in the 1970s.
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The suggestion that Poste was the killer came after authorities publicly named as a suspect Arthur Leigh Allen; a schoolteacher who in 1975 had been institutionalised for child molestation.
Allen died of a heart attack before he could be charged, while Poste died in 2018.
After Poste was put forward as a potential suspect, Tom Voigt, author of Zodiac Killer: Just the Facts, shared his thoughts on the claim and revealed who he believes is most likely responsible.
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Speaking to Rolling Stone, Voigt expressed belief the claims about Poste were 'bullsh*t' and 'hot garbage'.
"I wouldn’t even call him a suspect. I don’t think he checks any boxes whatsoever," Voigt said.
Instead, he named Richard Gaikowski as his 'best bet'.
Gaikowski passed away in 2004, but had previously served in the Army in the 1950s. He is alleged to have attended the funeral of a victim of the Zodiac Killer, and the killer notably did not write any letters during the same time period that Gaikowski was taken to the Napa State Hospital and diagnosed with a mental illness.
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Discussing his beliefs, Voigt said: "If I was if I was an employer looking to hire the Zodiac, he’d probably have the most impressive résumé in my eyes."
In spite of his suspicions about Gaikowski, Voigt admitted that Allen is a suspect he just can't forget.
He explained: "I just can’t quit that “Big Al,” especially now I’m going over all these old emails and tips and leads going back 25 years. And some of the stuff that was that was said to me about about how it is just mind boggling. Yeah. If he wasn’t, if he wasn’t the Zodiac, he might be responsible for some other murders."
Voigt's comments came after more than 25 years of research into the Zodiac Killer.
Emily Brown