DR. MARK HEWITT
FOR DECADES THE ZODIAC KILLER HAS REMAINED AS ENIGMATIC AS HIS CIPHERS, BUT A NEW INVESTIGATION HAS YIELDED EVIDENCE THAT POINTS TO A VERY FAMILIAR FIGURE
The devastating aftermath of the Zodiac killings have long haunted the state of California. Beginning on a brisk autumn evening in the late 1960s, the unknown serial killer targeted his victims in the shadows of local lovers’ lanes, leaving behind barely a shred of evidence. Not satisfied with his slaying,s he terrorised the public with a series of threats and enigmatic clues in the form of letters and codes, which spurred fear into the hearts of people everywhere. In the early 1970s the Zodiac apparently ceased his hunting, prompting people to ask if he had died or been caught for another crime when the trail went cold. Californian author Dr. Mark Hewitt has speculated that perhaps the Zodiac did not disappear, but simply evolved.
His latest book, Exposed: The Zodiac Revealed, is the last in the series of his research-driven trilogy on the long-standing cold case that after more than a decade has revealed the identity of the Zodiac killer as none other than ‘Unabomber’ Theodore Kaczynski. Before he died, the domestic US terrorist was serving eight consecutive life sentences for three murders committed during the commission of a university and airline mail-bombing spree between 1978 and 1995. Speaking to Real Crime, Dr. Hewitt reveals why several pieces of evidence link Kaczynski to one of the world’s most infamous crimes and why, despite the case’s high-profile status, Kaczynski never claimed responsibility for the Zodiac killings.
What alerted you to the Kaczynski/Zodiac theory?
In 2007 I decided to go in full-time and throw myself into the case completely. I decided I was going to read everything I could possibly read, and one of the books that I came across was entitled The Unabomber And The Zodiac [by Douglas Oswell]. When I first got the book I thought, “Somebody obviously is picking on one serial killer and plugging him into the i
