The first confirmed zodiac kills occurred in December 1968 when a man and woman were shot and killed in a car in California. And later in the summer of 1969 another man and woman were shot and again later that year a couple was stabbed at a lake.

On August 1st, 1969 the Zodiac sent out his first letters. He sent out 3 identical letters to two of the large newspaper companies of the time. The letter began with, “Dear Editor: I am the killer of the 2 teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman,” the letters also contained details of the murders and intimidated them of another murder if the letters weren’t published. The letters were all signed with a circle and a cross through it that would later come to be known as the Zodiac Killers symbol. The letters also had one of the parts to the three-part cipher the killer claimed held his identity.

While police and FBI worked relentlessly to track down the Zodiac another letter was discovered. This letter began with, “Dear Editor: This is the Zodiac speaking,” however only one letter was sent this time to the San Francisco Examiner who had also been one of the 3 to receive the first set of letters. This letter shamed the police and mentioned more details about the murders the Zodiac had committed.

A few days later a Highschool teacher and his wife were able to solve the cipher. It read, “I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of them all.”

Not long after the 4th confirmed Zodiac killing another letter appeared. This letter described the murder in detail and also came with a piece of the victim’s bloody shirt. At the end of the sick and twisted letter, Zodiac said he would next shoot a tire of a school bus and “pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out.”

In 1974 everything abruptly stopped, though the investigation did not. Like an illusion, he and his letters disappeared.

Even though thorough investigations took place no one was ever arrested or found guilty and the case remains open.

Though this message doesn’t give any information about who the Zodiac Killer is, it does hint at a twisted motive for all the brutal murders committed. It is believed that the Zodiac killer had an extreme obsession with astrology as the name Zodiac implies. Examples of other serial killers using zodiac signs as a sacrifice of sorts have been seen in the past. As an example of the Zodiac Killer's obsession with astrology he only ever killed twice in one weekday. The number two in astrology is influenced and represented by the moon. And to further this point all of the Zodiacs' kills took place during a full moon or during a Pisces moon. Pisces is an aquatic sign and often known to be the most sympathetic of all zodiac signs. After the moon would phase, the past patterns of the Zodiacs' kills would dictate his future murders, and because of all the terrifying letters he sent, the fear for the next month would emanate from California. And in addition to his full moon and Pisces moon pattern, all his kills would occur on either the second or ninth of the month. Inconsistency in his pattern often was due to a horoscope he received about his zodiac sign. An example of this is the killer never used the same style gun and all attacks varied in some way.

The appearance of letters also arrived during spans of high astrology activity. Such as before and after the full and Pisces moon. The Zodiac killer not only used the Pisces sign but in his encrypted messages, he also used the other zodiac signs.

Not only was his obsession with astrology obvious in his name but it was also noticeable in his signature. The circle with two lines running through it. The circle is believed to represent the full moon while the two lines are believed to be representing the twin fish of the Pisces sign. The Pisces zodiac sign’s element is water and almost every killing took place near a lake or some body of water.

As I’ve shown examples of, the zodiac Killer was obsessed with astrology. The Pisces sign was the killer's obsession as I have shown. The ruling planet of Pisces is Neptune. And Neptune’s number is nine. And as was mentioned previously nine was one of the two dates the Zodiac killer killed on. And Pisces is the “sign of illusions” and the Zodiac clearly tried to copy the mysteriousness of the Pisces sign. And the Pisces sign is believed to be preparing everyone for harsh changes. It is very possible that this killer's twisted and sick motive was to prepare mankind for something far more evil by showing how evil and twisted just one person could be.

Most of the Zodiac killer's victims were couples. It seemed as though almost all of his victims were couples or were people who appeared to be couples. Three of his murders were committed against people from sixteen to mid-ish twenties. Another possible motive could be romantic couples causing him jealousy. He also targeted and was much more brutal to women in couples. For example in one of his brutal attacks, he shot and killed the man with one shot to the head. But he brutally shot the woman five times causing her much suffering and pain. For some reason, he despised young couples and I think it is very possible that he had a past resentment and hatred towards romantic relationships that sent him into such a spiral of jealousy that he enjoyed causing happy young coupled lots of pain due to the fact that he resented them. His obvious hatred towards relationships and women is one of the biggest motives that has been uncovered.

The final motive is the power it made the Zodiac killer feel when he caused chaos and terror. I think that the Zodiac killer lacked power or control in his everyday life so to make him feel more powerful or more in control he would terrorize people. He was so sick and twisted that the feeling of wreaking havoc made him feel powerful in some evil way. It made him feel like a god to have the power over someone’s life or their death. It is very likely that he felt he should be given more credit or he thought he was deserving of power. He could have also been disrespected in his past causing him to have evil revenge on the world. He also left a lot of time between his killings leading one to believe he enjoyed drawing out the suspense and causing more chaos by having a long wait filled with fear and dread for his next strike. And the power the authorities gave him by playing his game and trying desperately to decode his message gave him even more confidence and superiority. Not only were the authorities feeding his love for attention but so was the whole country and the media. Photos of his letters were littered all across the country. People were scared for their children and their own health. This fed his joy for chaos and added to the countries terror. The fame and ego the world built for him fueled his next attacks.

After all that he did, the Zodiac killer was never found. His methodically planned out murders led to a nation of fear but it was never calmed due to the fact he is still out there somewhere. So for all we know, he might still be out there waiting for the end of humanity that his letters hinted at.