The Zodiac killer was America's most famous uncaptured serial killer. He attacked 7 people, mostly couples in deserted lovers lanes, between Dec. 1968 and Oct. 1969. His preferred MO was gunshot. Five of the victims died.
The 3rd official Zodiac attack took place at Lake Berryessa in Sept. 27 1969 and involved a college coed couple, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard. In this crime, Zodiac deviated from his normal late night stalking, trapping and shooting MO. This time he stalked and attacked in daylight and it was the only time he wore his infamous Zodiac costume (pictured). A suspicious man was noticed by three young women who were sunbathing that afternoon at Lake Berryessa. One later gave police a description which contradicted previous Zodiac descriptions. But police took her seriously.
Zodiac left the three young women after a while of watching them and walked up a hill. He spotted Cecelia and Bryan having a picnic and when Cecelia noticed him Zodiac ducked quickly behind a tree. Cecelia told Bryan but Bryan dismissed it as probably nothing until Zodiac came out from behind the tree in his weird Zodiac costume. He approached the couple and Cecelia noticed he was holding a gun. Zodiac made Cecelia hogtie Bryan and then Zodiac tied her. He told them he wasn't going to shoot them. He was going to stab them which he did multiple times. Bryan went still and played dead. Cecelia slumped in pain. Zodiac left. When he reached Bryan's car he wrote on it the date and what he had done. Police later confirmed the handwriting did match Zodiac's other writings to the police.
The couple lived and Bryan dragged himself to get help yelling until someone heard and came to their assistance. Both he and Cecelia were taken to the hospital. Bryan lived and gave the best eyewitness testimony against Zodiac the police ever got. Cecelia died.
Question? Was this killing really a Zodiac murder? The handwriting would indicate it was but why wear an outfit like this concealing your identity so completely, he even wore clip on sunglasses over the eye slits in the costume. If you believe you're going to kill your intended victim they wouldn't be alive to identify you anyway. So why the elaborate disguise?
Why switch to knives to kill when the guns he had used previously were so much more efficient? Impersonal, but effective. This is not like Zodiac's other murders.
Also this time he was seen after the crime by a dentist walking with his son. He gave police a description and said the man looked like he had blood on him. Why take this chance? Was he just testing something new?
I'm not 100 % certain the Lake Berryessa attack was perpetrated by Zodiac, but I'm open to contradiction. What do you think?