The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that someone claiming to be a copycat of the "Zodiac Killer" sent Chinese letters to various news stations in Upstate New York, causing concerns within the agency.
The agency's field office in Albany said that several TV stations in the Capital Region received letters that allegedly came from the infamous Zodiac Killer who was responsible for killing at least five people in Northern California in the late 1960s. FBI officials urged media outlets to be aware and be on the lookout for other letters. The agency has also told staff not to open the letters to preserve any potential DNA evidence from the suspect.
Chinese Zodiac Killer
While the bureau did not provide further details regarding the incident, they said that there were no threats to the Albany-area community. Additionally, the FBI did not identify the TV stations that received the letters from the apparent Chinese Zodiac Killer, Syracuse reported.
The Zodiac Killer claimed to have killed 37 people throughout his crime spree and is considered to be the most famous unsolved murder case in the history of the United States. The case has also inspired various films and stories detailing the events of the crimes.
Authorities have identified five known victims that have been attributed to the Zodiac Killer from December 1968 to October 1969 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The suspect was known to have targeted young couples, where two of the men survived the attacks, while one lone male cab driver was among the victims.
It was revealed that a portion of the letter wrote, "YOU Were WRONG I AM NOT DEAD OR IN THE HOSPITAL I AM ALIVE AND WELL AND IM GOING TO START KILLING AGAIN Below is the NAME AND LOCATION OF MY NEXT VICTIM But you had Better hurry because I'm going to kill her August 10th at 5 P.M. when the shifts change. ALBANY is A nice Town," People reported.
The Killer's True Identity
The Zodiac Killer was known for taunting media outlets by sending coded messages, threatening bombings and killings if the letters were not published. While the FBI has never confirmed the identity of the 1960s California serial killer, a group of former law enforcement officers believe they have determined the identity of the Zodiac Killer as Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018.
The suspect called himself the Zodiac Killer in a letter that was sent to the press on Aug. 7, 1969, which was his fourth coded message. Many amateur sleuths have tried to crack the code and determine the real identity of the killer in the years since his crimes.
The Case Breakers, a group of about 40 independent investigators, identified Poste in October to be the suspected Zodiac Killer. They said that he gave away weapons and bullets before he died, which could finally reveal the true identity of the criminal.
"When The Case Breakers approached officials about a new Zodiac suspect last spring, five police and state agencies would not cooperate," said the group in a statement last month, Daily Mail reported.
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