Peter Sutcliffe (The Yorkshire Ripper) was found guilty of murdering thirteen women between 1975 and 1980 in Manchester and West Yorkshire, England, claiming he received a divine message from God to rid the streets of prostitutes. However, many serial killers target sex workers because they have diminished family ties and will readily enter a stranger's vehicle, meaning they can be wilfully driven to a remote location and murdered with little to no chance of being observed. Their victim will often not be noticed missing for a lengthy period of time (if at all), and valuable forensic evidence will degrade.
Many people claim that the Zodiac Killer targeted couples, born from a feeling of sexual frustration, or that he harbored a feeling of inadequacy because he was unable to form a meaningful relationship himself. While this cannot be ruled out entirely, the evidence does not support this conclusion.
In his earlier crimes, the Zodiac Killer simply targeted locations where he knew there would be vulnerable people in remote settings. Choosing somewhere like Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs places his attack site in a rural location, with the maximum possible chance of not being detected in the commission of his crime. It is no surprise he found victims at these locations, such as David Faraday (17) & Betty Lou Jensen (16) at Lake Herman Road, and Michael Mageau (19) & Darlene Ferrin (22) at Blue Rock Springs. These were young heterosexual couples seeking a bit of privacy late at night - and much more likely to become targets of the Zodiac Killer than homosexual couples, who statistically are a much smaller percentage of American society. The Zodiac Killer was also much more likely to encounter young victims parked up in these areas, because older people are less likely to make-out inside vehicles in remote locations, when they have many more options available to them. Therefore, from a statistical standpoint, it isn't surprising that the Zodiac Killer's victims were young, white heterosexual couples. The premise of a killer targeting locations is backed up by the Zodiac Killer, who told us he wasn't only targeting young couples in his very first communications.
This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the San Francisco Examiner: "I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or un till I kill a dozen people". This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the Vallejo Times-Herald: "I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end. I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". His possible familiarity with Vallejo and his previous attacks, may be the reason he only used the word "couples" in the Vallejo Times-Herald communication, but even here, he was open to the possibility of picking off stray people, placing them first on his list.
Many people claim that the Zodiac Killer targeted couples, born from a feeling of sexual frustration, or that he harbored a feeling of inadequacy because he was unable to form a meaningful relationship himself. While this cannot be ruled out entirely, the evidence does not support this conclusion.
In his earlier crimes, the Zodiac Killer simply targeted locations where he knew there would be vulnerable people in remote settings. Choosing somewhere like Lake Herman Road and Blue Rock Springs places his attack site in a rural location, with the maximum possible chance of not being detected in the commission of his crime. It is no surprise he found victims at these locations, such as David Faraday (17) & Betty Lou Jensen (16) at Lake Herman Road, and Michael Mageau (19) & Darlene Ferrin (22) at Blue Rock Springs. These were young heterosexual couples seeking a bit of privacy late at night - and much more likely to become targets of the Zodiac Killer than homosexual couples, who statistically are a much smaller percentage of American society. The Zodiac Killer was also much more likely to encounter young victims parked up in these areas, because older people are less likely to make-out inside vehicles in remote locations, when they have many more options available to them. Therefore, from a statistical standpoint, it isn't surprising that the Zodiac Killer's victims were young, white heterosexual couples. The premise of a killer targeting locations is backed up by the Zodiac Killer, who told us he wasn't only targeting young couples in his very first communications.
This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the San Francisco Examiner: "I will go on a kill rampage Fry night. This will last the whole weekend, I will cruse around killing people who are alone at night untill Sun Night or un till I kill a dozen people". This is what he wrote in the July 31st 1969 letter to the Vallejo Times-Herald: "I will go on a kill ram page Fry night that will last the whole week end. I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". His possible familiarity with Vallejo and his previous attacks, may be the reason he only used the word "couples" in the Vallejo Times-Herald communication, but even here, he was open to the possibility of picking off stray people, placing them first on his list.
Does anybody believe that the Zodiac Killer, had he encountered two women, two men, or a single person at either location on December 20th 1968 or July 4th 1969, he would have turned around and just gone home? When the Zodiac Killer arrived on the shores of Lake Berryessa on September 27th 1969 he may have first considered attacking the three young women from Pacific Union College, before switching his attention to Bryan Hartnell & Cecelia Shepard approximately two hours later. It isn't just people today that speculate the Zodiac Killer was an inadequate, sexually frustrated deviant, searching for lone couples to destroy their dreams and obliterate something he couldn't attain for himself - the newspapers of the day painted a picture of a man who was driven by animalistic urges beyond his control, who primarily took his greatest anger out on the women at each setting. This may very well be the reason the Zodiac Killer targeted a lone male at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. The murder of Paul Stine designed to show law enforcement and the newspapers that he was quite capable of killing lone people in the night, while dispelling the myth he focused his hatred primarily towards the female sex.
At Lake Herman Road nearing midnight, David Faraday was the biggest threat, so the Zodiac Killer executed the young man at point blank range, leaving Betty Lou Jensen fleeing into the darkness of the turnout. The inevitable result of which, was more bullets being fired at a moving target. At Blue Rock Springs, Darlene Ferrin was struck directly five times, while Michael Mageau was struck four times. So no great disparity there. Cecelia Shepard was stabbed ten times at Lake Berryessa compared to the six times of Bryan Hartnell, because he played dead and Cecelia Shepard didn't - understandably terrified and writhing around - desperately attempting to avoid the plunging knife. At Presidio Heights no female was involved. So again, there is no evidence that the Zodiac Killer specifically vented his hatred towards the female sex. This is just another myth that will long continue, irrespective of any evidence to the contrary. The Zodiac Killer story is just that.
At Lake Herman Road nearing midnight, David Faraday was the biggest threat, so the Zodiac Killer executed the young man at point blank range, leaving Betty Lou Jensen fleeing into the darkness of the turnout. The inevitable result of which, was more bullets being fired at a moving target. At Blue Rock Springs, Darlene Ferrin was struck directly five times, while Michael Mageau was struck four times. So no great disparity there. Cecelia Shepard was stabbed ten times at Lake Berryessa compared to the six times of Bryan Hartnell, because he played dead and Cecelia Shepard didn't - understandably terrified and writhing around - desperately attempting to avoid the plunging knife. At Presidio Heights no female was involved. So again, there is no evidence that the Zodiac Killer specifically vented his hatred towards the female sex. This is just another myth that will long continue, irrespective of any evidence to the contrary. The Zodiac Killer story is just that.
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