A cryptic message hidden in a 340 character cipher by a criminal dubbed the Zodiac Killer who terrorised northern California communities in the 1960’s and 70s has been unravelled by code-breakers.
The San Francisco Chronicle today reported that experts from the US, Australia and Belgium had decoded the Cipher which has been in existence since 1969.
The Zodiac Killer tormented communities in the late 1960s and early 1970s and has never been caught. He is known to have killed at least five people.
Letters from the killer were sent to several media outlets but in the form of cryptic messages or Ciphers over the course of his crimes. The FBI has now told the Chronicle, one of the outlets to receive letters, the puzzle has been solved.
"Last weekend, a team I'm on solved the 340 and submitted it to the FBI," spokesperson David Oranchak told the Chronicle.
"They have confirmed the solution. No joke! This is the real deal."
It reads: "I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me - that wasn't me on the TV show - which brings up a point about me - I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me where everyone else has nothing when they reach paradise.
"So they are afraid of death - I am not afraid because I know that my new life is life will be an easy one in paradise death."
The case, which is still open in several states, was made into a movie in 2007 by Hollywood director David Fincher, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as cartoonist Robert Graysmith, who investigated the case and proceeded to write two books about it.
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