THE SCIENCES
How Mathematicians Cracked the Zodiac Killer’s Cipher
After 50+ years, a trio of codebreakers solves the puzzle and earns a nod from the FBI.
By Stephen OrnesDec 18, 2021 12:00 PM
Zodiac
(Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
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This story was originally published in our January/February 2022 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
In the late 1960s, a serial killer self-identifying as “the Zodiac” killed at least five people in Northern California and claimed to have murdered more. In November 1969, the Zodiac Killer sent a card to the San Francisco Chronicle containing a 340-character secret message that for more than 50 years went unsolved by detectives, cryptography experts, amateur sleuths and curious others.
Wonder no more, true-crime aficionados.
After months of crunching code during the pandemic, three researchers on three different continents announced that they’d finally decoded the message. Further bolstering the claim, experts at the FBI verified the solution (and even tweeted about it). The encrypted message didn’t reveal the identity of the Zodiac, but it did bring decades of speculation, conspiracy theories and guesswork to a dramatic close.
