The Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer terrorized Northern California with at least five murders between 1968 and 1969, sending taunting letters and cryptograms that remain partially unsolved. A 2020 breakthrough, more than 50 years after the crimes, cracked the 340 cipher and revealed a chilling message, but the Z13 cipher, which the killer claimed contains his name, still stumps investigators. The 408 cipher, by contrast, was solved within weeks of being sent in 1969. The case has drawn thousands of amateur codebreakers and tipsters over the decades, and the San Francisco Police Department spent years on it, but no conclusive DNA or fingerprint match has ever been made.