Earlier this month, an independent investigation team of over 40 former law enforcement officers, forensic experts, and federal agent consultants, known as the Case Breakers, claimed to have solved the case of the infamous Zodiac Killer. 

   The Zodiac Killer, directly linked to at least five murders, first struck in 1968 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is notorious for naming himself and communicating with law enforcement through ciphered letters, cryptogram, and symbols. 

   “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 all,” one of his letters read after being deciphered by high school teacher Donald Harden and his wife Bettye. He relished the fact that the police couldn’t catch him and continued his taunts until 1974. As one of the biggest cold cases in history, many people have dedicated years of their lives to solving it. Still, after 52 years, no one has come up with anything significant except for the recent development from Case Breakers. 

   According to the Case Breakers, new evidence and witnesses led them to pin down who they believe to be the killer. Gary Francis Poste, the man accused of the gruesome murders, died in 2018 and is supposedly connected to another homicide that occurred south of San Francisco two years before the first confirmed Zodiac killing. 

   “I absolutely feel we solved this case,” said Tom Colbert, a member of the Case Breakers.

   However, local police departments and the FBI refused to make a statement on the Case Breakers announcement and made it clear that the investigation is still open. “The FBI’s investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time,” the San Francisco FBI office declared. 

   It is uncertain whether this lead will have any significance in the official case, so for now it looks as if the killer will continue his 52-year streak of anonymity.