A Louisiana author claims in a new book that he is the son of the notorious Zodiac killer of northern California, an unidentified serial killer who terrorized the county in the late 1960s, Reuters reported.
Gary L. Stewart, who penned "The Most Dangerous Animal of All" with journalist Susan Mustafa, discovered items of evidence "that conclusively identify his father as the Zodiac Killer" after he embarked on a journey to find his biological father, publishers Harper Collins said in a description of the book.
Adopted at birth, Stewart's search for his real father, Earl Van Best Jr., led to the discovery that the antique bookseller was the serial killer who terrorized San Francisco.
The book claims to present "forensic evidence" and "a chilling psychological profile" that identifies the killer.
However, the identity of the elusive killer has been reported by quite a few people over the years.
"In 1991, a lawyer said he believed his deceased brother Jack Steadman Beeman was the murderer," Reuters reported. "San Francisco police in 1996 investigated links between the Zodiac killer and 'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski, who killed three people and injured many more with a series of homemade bombs from 1978 to 1995."
The Zodiac serial killer, believed to have killed five people between 1968-69, got the title after he started writing several letters to police boasting of the slayings, with swatches of bloody clothing as proof of his claims.
The serial killer claimed to have killed as many as 37 people and has never been caught for multiple unsolved murders in San Francisco and Northern California's Bay Area, Fox News reported.
In 1969, police received a final letter claiming that there would be no more murders. A taxi driver was the serial killer's last alleged victim.
The case inspired the 2007 film "Zodiac," based on San Francisco Chronicle journalist Robert Graysmith's quest to uncover the identity of the killer, Reuters reported.
