Arthur Leigh Allen: The Zodiac Killer

One man responsible for several individuals being murdered, taunting letters being sent to police, living in constant fear of what this killer would do next: sounds like a plot line to a serial killer movie. To the people of west coast California, however, this was very real. One unidentified individual was on a killing spree and was enjoying it too. This man, known as the Zodiac Killer, was a mystery to the police department, but theories were brought up about possible suspects. Even though some people believe Arthur Leigh Allen was the infamous Zodiac Killer, through eye witness accounts and forensic proof, it can be proven that the Zodiac Killer was actually Earl Van Best, Jr. In the 1960s, murder plagued the coast of California. These murders were committed by an unidentified serial
The scientist, Michael Wakshull, was approached by the son of Earl Van Best, Jr. to help him prove the latter’s father was indeed the Zodiac Killer. Wakshull took up this task and used handwriting samples from Earl Van Best, Jr.’s marriage certificate and compared them to samples from letters from the Zodiac sent to the papers. For example, he placed “-est” from “Best” on the marriage certificate to “-est” from “best” in a letter entitled “Exorcist” in comparison to each other. This evidence shows that the two handwriting samples are very similar. They share a similar style and slant that make it appear that Earl Van Best, Jr. is the Zodiac Killer. The evidence clearly does not end there, sample wise. Wakshull proved that the same thing occurs with several other comparisons between samples of writings. From these observations, the forensic scientist came to the conclusion that, in his professional opinion, there is a “strong probability” that the letters were written by the same person who filled out the marriage certificate. Which essentially concludes that Earl Van Best, Jr. is the Zodiac Killer