Cold-case group claims to know who Zodiac Killer was

SAN FRANCISCO (KOVR) - The identity of the infamous Zodiac Killer has been a mystery for decades, until now ... maybe.

An independent cold case group claims to have uncovered the name of the man linked to at least five murders in northern California during the late 1960s.

The Case Breakers, a group who says it’s made up of retired law enforcement and military members, claims to have cracked the code in letters the Zodiac Killer wrote.

They identified the killer as Gary Frances Poste, who lived and worked as painter in Groveland but died in 2018.

The group alleged the man is responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates.

In 1967, Riverside Police received a handwritten letter that led investigators to believe the murder was connected to the Zodiac, but in 2016 investigators received an anonymous letter from a person admitting what was written was a sick joke.

Riverside Police are still investigating Bates’ murder but are not connecting the murder to the Zodiac Killer.

Meantime police in Vallejo sent a statement regarding their Zodiac Killer case, the 1969 murders of Michael Mageua and Darlene Ferrin, saying the case remains under investigation.

They add they are unable to confirm or deny the validity of the reports.

“There has not been a lot of new information developed over the last several years that I’m aware of,” said Jim Jax, who has spent his career on the Zodiac task force, working to identify the infamous killer.

When asked to comment on the claim from the Case Breakers, the FBI branch in San Francisco issued a statement saying the Zodiac Killer case remains open and that they have no new information available.

The Zodiac Killer was never caught and claimed to have killed as many as 37 people.

The suspect gained notoriety by writing letters to police and local media boasting of the killings up until 1974.

Copyright 2021 KOVR via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.