Donald Lee Bujok was born in Roundup, Montana on July 6th 1936 and it was to become a long and tortuous road from boyhood to manhood, for a child that never grew familiar with the concept of fair play from the outset. Due to circumstances beyond his control he was moulded into a future, that even he may not of dared to comprehend, wiling away his time near the banks of the Musselshell River, and in a state synonymous with mountain peaks, the fall circumventing the young Bujok was about to become dramatic to say the least.
Donald Lee Bujok was afflicted early on in his life with a pronounced speech impediment, and schoolchildren were not the forgiving type, resulting in persistent bullying, that only served to marginalize him on his first tentative steps towards the fringes of society. An isolation and rejection that would eventually manifest itself in the most brutal way.
Donald Lee Bujok was afflicted early on in his life with a pronounced speech impediment, and schoolchildren were not the forgiving type, resulting in persistent bullying, that only served to marginalize him on his first tentative steps towards the fringes of society. An isolation and rejection that would eventually manifest itself in the most brutal way.
With his court appointed attorney, John D Gillan, standing beside him, Bujok, now 21 years of age, received a murder in the first degree life sentence from District Judge C B Elwell, for the unprovoked and senseless killing of Undersheriff Otto S Fossen (65), gunned down by five bullets to the neck and chest as he was beaten to the draw near Joplin, Northern Montana, on October 5th 1957 at 9.30 am, when he stopped a hitchhiker over an abandoned car.
Bujok then attempted his bid for freedom in Fossen's car, after which an intensive, yet brief manhunt ensued, before the suspect was finally cornered by a group of law officers hiding in a restroom north of Chester, and with no possible exit, and heavily outgunned, his days of freedom were about to come to an end.
Donald Lee Bujok, former army veteran and railroad worker, uttered the words "Guilty your honor" before being led away to serve his time in Old Montana State Prison, that became forever etched in the public psyche for the infamous Jerry's Riot that took place on 16th April 1959.
Deep inside the Montana walls of correction, it appeared that the young adolescent Bujok was learning little of value, becoming a disciplinary problem, having been sent to the hole several times, surrounded by hardened criminals of an even less forgiving nature than the schoolchildren that preceded them. But it was the writings of another prisoner, Edward Wayne Edwards, that etched a belief, that the man who started life ridiculed on an almost daily basis was starting to forge his own manifesto of evil, for an afterlife, that would now take fair play to the next level, but this time he would become its orchestrator.
Donald Lee Bujok served only eleven years of a life sentence, being released from Montana Prison on December 17th 1968, and three days later the Zodiac announced his arrival to the world, as the lonely pullout on Lake Herman Road would testify to one dark night in Northern California.
Kevin Robert Brooks believes that the young boy sculpted as a child, hardened in the walls of confinement and further isolated from the clutches of reality, had now embarked on a mission of evil from which their was no turning back, as his collection for the afterlife was now underway.
Bujok then attempted his bid for freedom in Fossen's car, after which an intensive, yet brief manhunt ensued, before the suspect was finally cornered by a group of law officers hiding in a restroom north of Chester, and with no possible exit, and heavily outgunned, his days of freedom were about to come to an end.
Donald Lee Bujok, former army veteran and railroad worker, uttered the words "Guilty your honor" before being led away to serve his time in Old Montana State Prison, that became forever etched in the public psyche for the infamous Jerry's Riot that took place on 16th April 1959.
Deep inside the Montana walls of correction, it appeared that the young adolescent Bujok was learning little of value, becoming a disciplinary problem, having been sent to the hole several times, surrounded by hardened criminals of an even less forgiving nature than the schoolchildren that preceded them. But it was the writings of another prisoner, Edward Wayne Edwards, that etched a belief, that the man who started life ridiculed on an almost daily basis was starting to forge his own manifesto of evil, for an afterlife, that would now take fair play to the next level, but this time he would become its orchestrator.
Donald Lee Bujok served only eleven years of a life sentence, being released from Montana Prison on December 17th 1968, and three days later the Zodiac announced his arrival to the world, as the lonely pullout on Lake Herman Road would testify to one dark night in Northern California.
Kevin Robert Brooks believes that the young boy sculpted as a child, hardened in the walls of confinement and further isolated from the clutches of reality, had now embarked on a mission of evil from which their was no turning back, as his collection for the afterlife was now underway.
Donald Lee Bujok. Picture courtesy of Kevin Robert Brooks. David Van Nuys, co-author of the book 'This is the Zodiac Speaking', parallels the timeline of the Zodiac with ever increasing thrill and risk, apparent in many serial killers, from the use of a .22 handgun in the Lake Herman Road murders, to a 9 mm Luger in the Blue Rock Springs attack, followed by the costume driven close quarter attack at Lake Berryessa and finally the murder of Paul Stine in the built up area of Presidio Heights, where the killer almost came into full view for the first time.
The day the killer shuffled away from the scene of Washington and Cherry, was may'be indicative of a man whose failing health was to prove one step too far in his continued pursuit of souls, having taken one risk too many, and now needed a different agenda.
Since that day the killer has bombarded the press with a multitude of letters, ciphers and postcards to keep his legacy alive, inherent of a man that yearned the attention he so clearly lacked at some point during his life. But is that life that of Donald Lee Bujok?.
Fingerprinting has since ruled out Donald Lee Bujok to ones held on file, after samples sent to the investigatory bodies by Kevin Robert Brooks apparently provided no match, as it had done so for previous suspects before him. But one has to ask the question, are the ones held on file that of the Zodiac. After all, he was undoubtedly a ruthless killer, but was he a fool, as his misspelled letters had led us to believe.
It appears that DNA could be the final denominator for this 20th century crime, to eventually become a 21st century resolution, and without doubt place the man firmly before the myth for the first time since that fateful day of December 20th 1968.
The day the killer shuffled away from the scene of Washington and Cherry, was may'be indicative of a man whose failing health was to prove one step too far in his continued pursuit of souls, having taken one risk too many, and now needed a different agenda.
Since that day the killer has bombarded the press with a multitude of letters, ciphers and postcards to keep his legacy alive, inherent of a man that yearned the attention he so clearly lacked at some point during his life. But is that life that of Donald Lee Bujok?.
Fingerprinting has since ruled out Donald Lee Bujok to ones held on file, after samples sent to the investigatory bodies by Kevin Robert Brooks apparently provided no match, as it had done so for previous suspects before him. But one has to ask the question, are the ones held on file that of the Zodiac. After all, he was undoubtedly a ruthless killer, but was he a fool, as his misspelled letters had led us to believe.
It appears that DNA could be the final denominator for this 20th century crime, to eventually become a 21st century resolution, and without doubt place the man firmly before the myth for the first time since that fateful day of December 20th 1968.
Newspaper article courtesy of Kevin Robert Brooks
