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A serial killer is a person who murders two or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time. The serial killers' psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims tend to have things in common such as demographic profile, appearance, gender or race. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.
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Harold Schechter is an American true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He is a Professor Emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two years. Schechter's essays have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and the International Herald Tribune. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, True Crime: An American Anthology. His newest book, published in September 2023, is Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects.
The zodiac is a coordinate system of twelve "signs", based on twelve constellations used in astronomy and astrology.
"The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in Collier's on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter from New York City who falls from a yacht and swims to what seems to be an abandoned and isolated island in the Caribbean, where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. The story is inspired by the big-game hunting safaris in Africa and South America that were particularly fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.
Zodiac is a non-fiction book written by Robert Graysmith about the unsolved serial murders committed by the "Zodiac Killer" in San Francisco in the late 1960s and early '70s. Since its initial release in 1986, Zodiac has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Graysmith was a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle and later also wrote Zodiac Unmasked.
Jim Dunbar was an American radio program director, talk show host and news anchor. Dunbar was associated with KGO Radio in San Francisco for 37 years. According to radio historian Ben Fong-Torres, "He changed the Bay Area radio landscape by helping turn KGO from an also-ran into the greatest powerhouse on the dial, with a 30-year run at the top of the ratings."
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John Edward Douglas is an American retired special agent and unit chief in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
David Ramon Toschi was an American law enforcement officer widely known for his efforts in the San Francisco Police Department as an inspector in the Zodiac Killer case. His personal style was the model for Bullitt and Dirty Harry.
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The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California from at least the late 1960s to the early 1970s. His identity remains unknown. His crimes, letters and cryptograms to police and newspapers inspired many movies, novels, television and more.
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Zodiac Watches, or simply Zodiac, is an American brand of Swiss-made watches founded in 1882 by Ariste Calame in Le Locle, Switzerland. The company mostly focuses on its dive watches through its Sea Wolf line, one of the first modern dive watches, which debuted in 1953, before the Rolex Submariner and after Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Although Zodiac was acquired by Fossil Group in 2001, its manufacturing remained in Bienne, Switzerland. Zodiac and Fossil Group are headquartered in Richardson, Texas.
Karl Francis Werner was an American serial killer who was active in Santa Clara County in Northern California. He was convicted of the murder of three teenage girls during his period of activity from 1969 to 1971.
The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders were a series of at least seven unsolved homicides involving female hitchhikers that took place in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa of the North Bay area of California in 1972 and 1973. All of the victims were found nude in rural areas near steep embankments or in creek beds near roads.
George Hill Hodel Jr. was an American physician and suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. He was never formally charged with the crime, but is believed by many to have been the murderer, including by two of his children. He was also accused of raping his daughter, Tamar Hodel, but was acquitted of that crime. He lived overseas several times, primarily between 1950 and 1990 in the Philippines.
References
- 1 2 "Graysmith, Robert 1942-". Encyclopedia.com . Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ↑ "Reflecting on Robert Graysmith/". August 10, 2012.
- ↑ Booth, William (March 1, 2007). "A Killer Obsession". The Washington Post.
- ↑ "Just the Facts: David Fincher's Zodiac". stopsmilingonline.com. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
