Police Have Received Thousands of Tips About the Zodiac Killer's Identity but One Man Stood Out
Police came to believe that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Published Oct. 23 2024, 8:14 a.m. ET
Netflix is taking a swing at the Zodiac Killer in their documentary, This is the Zodiac Speaking.
The title references the opening of a letter supposedly sent from the Zodiac to the San Francisco Chronicle in November 1969. It went on to describe one of the crime scenes in great detail, then ended by referencing a death machine they planned on building.
It was meant to sound playful, while teasing police, but clearly came across as terrifying.
If the true-crime genre has a white whale, it is definitely the Zodiac Killer — who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s. In various communications to police and the press, the Zodiac claimed to have killed at least 37 people though authorities have only connected five murders to this individual.
Although he was never caught, investigators had plenty of ideas as to who was responsible. Their prime suspect was a man named Arthur Leigh Allen. Was he the Zodiac Killer? Details to follow.
Was Arthur Leigh Allen the Zodiac Killer? Plenty of people seem to think so.
On July 14, 1971, the Los Angeles Times reported (via Zodiac Killer Facts) that an unidentified assailant murdered someone using a machete. The outlet theorized that this could be the word of the Zodiac Killer.
This article was read by Donald Cheney, who lived about 20 miles north of Los Angeles in Torrance. The following day, Cheney's business partner called the Manhattan Beach Police Department to let them know they had a possible Zodiac suspect.
Cheney and his partner, Santo Paul Panzarella, went to college with a man named Ron Allen. They also met Ron's brother Arthur Leigh Allen, who lived in Vallejo, Calif., where two of the murders took place.
What made them reach out to police was a strange conversation Cheney had with Arthur while hunting in January 1968, almost a year before the first murders.
"Have you ever thought of hunting people," asked Arthur. Cheny had not.
Arthur then proceeded to say he would probably sneak up on two people at a lover's lane, and then use a gun with a flashlight attached. That was a near-perfect description of one of the Zodiac's kills. Cheney then said that Arthur revealed he would taunt the police with letters that would be signed "Zodiac."
He also expressed an interest in killing children while they were exiting a school bus, referring to them as "little darlings," which was another threat made by the Zodiac Killer in a letter.
Investigators spoke with Arthur in August 1971, asking him if he recalled having this conversation. Arthur did not, but he had heard of the Zodiac but found the murders to be too morbid to follow.
Police took note of the fact that Arthur volunteered information, and was overly helpful, which was usually a red flag. There was circumstantial evidence such as Arthur's watch, which was made by Zodiac, and bore the same symbol drawn in the letters.
Police interviewed Arthur's sister-in-law who shed a lot of light on his mental health. She claimed he hated his mother and thus women in general. Karen also mentioned Arthur's strange interest in children, which reared its ugly head in October 1974 when he was arrested and charged with molesting a young boy.
He was subsequently sent to Atascadero State Hospital where he remained until Aug. 31, 1977.
Arthur Leigh Allen's cause of death was linked to kidney failure.
The Vallejo police and fire departments were called to a home on Fresno Street in August 1992, per Zodiac Killer Facts. It was there that they found an unresponsive Arthur on the floor of his basement room.
The media attributed his death to a heart attack but an autopsy revealed Arthur had died from complications of diabetic kidney failure.
Police obtained a search warrant and confiscated Athur's computer as well as videotapes in his home. They found nothing concrete linking him to the Zodiac crimes.
"We found some writings, some pipe bombs, some illegal weapons ... None of it was sufficient to make an arrest for him being the Zodiac," said Captain Roy Conway toThe San Jose Mercury News.
Two years later Conway told writer Rider McDowell that he always believed Arthur was the Zodiac.