True Crime Expert May Have Identified The Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer is the mystery true crime sleuths cannot quit. The identity of one of the country's most notorious serial killers remains unsolved some 50 years later.

Theories and easter eggs continue to populate via message boards, books, podcasts, and social media threads. Most of which are baseless, quickly debunked by investigators. Others attempt to lend credence to notable-but-unlikely suspects: Arthur Leigh Allen and Ross Sullivan.

But then there is the "Mac Theory."

True crime expert Mike Morford released a podcast this month exploring "Mac." Morford says he is "100 percent" certain the suspect was the Zodiac.

Now, it may take genealogy to conclusively name the killer. But if/when that takes place, do not flinch if police announce the name "William McDuff Andrew," whom Morford has since identified as "Mac."

Morford presented the case on his website, ZodiacKiller.net, verbatim:

*Mac grows up in Vallejo living in apartments connected to his father’s realty business 500 feet from intersection of Springs and Tuolumne

*June 1968, MacGruber graduates from Chico State College

*December 20, 1968, Faraday & Jensen killed at Lake Herman Rd about 7 miles East of Mac’s parents on outskirts of Vallejo

*July 4, 1969, just before midnight Ferrin & Mageau attacked by Zodiac at Blue Rock Springs about 4 miles North East of Mac’s parents. Mageau described Zodiac as 5ft8, 195-200Lbs, chubby with a large round face, 26-30 years old, no glasses. Mac was 24 years old, 5ft8, 200 lbs, chubby with a large round face and sometimes wore glasses, but not always.

*July 5,1969 30-40 minutes after the Blue Rock Springs attack, Zodiac calls police from phonebooth approximately 500 feet from Mac’s parents.

*September 21, 1969, Mac’s cousin in Deer Lodge, MT is examined by a doctor due to illness.

*September 25, 1969 After taking a turn for the worse, Mac’s cousin in Deer Lodge, MT is once again examined by a doctor and it’s determined she has Broncopneumonia.

*September 27, 1969, Zodiac attacks at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. During conversation, Zodiac mentions being an escaped prisoner from a prison, presumed to be in Deer Lodge, MT.

*October 11, 1969, Zodiac kills Paul Stine in San Francisco

*October 13, 1969, Mac’s Cousin dies in Deer Lodge, MT

*October 13, 1969, Zodiac mails letter w/ piece of Paul Stine’s shirt

*1970, Mac shows an address in Chico

*June 19,1970 Officer Richard Radetich gunned down in SF near 643 Waller St

*June 26, 1970 Zodiac writes a letter hinting he killed Radetich

*October 1971, Mac shows an address in San Francisco at 551 Duboce Ave, 0.2 miles from Radetich shooting.

*March, 1971, Zodiac mailed his last letter for almost 3 years

*Spring, 1971, Mac takes a job with the State of CA, unsure what position he had, but by the end of his 30 year career, he was a prison sergeant

*Sometime in 1971, Mac’s future wife moves with her family from another state to Vallejo

*1973, Mac listed as living at his parents new home in Vallejo, still within 500 feet of their previous home

*January, 1974, Zodiac writes his first letter in 3 years

*June, 1974, Mac gets engaged

*July, 1974, Zodiac mailed his last confirmed letter

*October 1974, Mac gets married and moves to Vacaville where he lives 300 feet from a couple who had received in 1969 when they lived in Vallejo, a letter containing baseball tickets from someone claiming to be Zodiac

*December, 1990, possible card from Zodiac mailed from Eureka, CA- a town 200+ miles from Vallejo. Mac purchased property in Eureka area in the 1980’s.

*2014 Mac dies in Oregon

*August 2015 Mac’s widow posts on her blog that she found a box of Mac’s old stuff that she called ‘The Guilt Box’ (Guilt was written on side)Inside the box was a copy of David kahn’s book- The Codebreakers, the same book experts believe Zodiac used as a guide to create his ciphers. Mac’s widow mentions that Mac had originally read the book in 1980(as far as she knows) and lost his original copy. He liked the book so much, he asked her to get him another copy, which is the one found in the box.

MISC:

*Mac’s friends recall him driving or having access to what two different friends called a Volvo, or Volvo like car in the late 60’s.One thought it was Tan or Brown, the other recalled it being Blue.

*Mac’s friends recounted that he was a bit odd, but felt he was harmless. They said he did not date or have any relationships when they knew him prior to end of college. Although Mac hadn’t seen most of these friends since college in 1968, he invited them to be in his wedding in 1974. When one of them found out he had become a prison employee, they were shocked because they felt he was too timid to do that job. None of Mac’s friends recalled him having any interest in The Mikado, The Most Dangerous Game, etc, but they said that their group of friends did read comic books and crime noir style detective magazines

*Mac was licensed for one of his jobs, which was to teach firearms training to prison guards for Pistols, rifles, and shotguns

*Mac possessed fishing and hunting licenses
*Mac’s writing looks quite similar to Zodiac’s
*Mac was heavily involved in Freemasonry in the 1960’s and 1970’s

Unlike Arthur Leigh Allen, the focus suspect in David Fincher’s 2007 film “Zodiac,” Andrew fits the sketch of the Zodiac:

Criminologist Dr. Lee Mellor built a profile of the Zodiac Killer. The profile provides a checklist of traits a suspect must match to be the killer -- from asocial status to education level, from career choices to home life.

Mellor appeared on Morford's podcast this month when they learned that Andrews checked nearly all of the requisite boxes to be the Zodiac.

Dr. Mellor concluded that if he were to spend more time researching a specific suspect, it would, in fact, be William McDuff Andrew.

Cases against past suspects contained evidence that contradicted their involvement. Leigh Allen's handwriting did not match the infamous letters Zodiac penned to troll law enforcement.

Retired police handwriting expert Lloyd Cunningham, who worked on the Zodiac case, once stated, "They gave me banana boxes full of Allen's writing, and none of his writing even came close to the Zodiac. Nor did DNA extracted from the envelopes (on the Zodiac letters) come close to Arthur Leigh Allen."

According to Morford, when he obtained Andrew's writings, it was ominous how close they paralleled Zodiac's.

Check.

In the case of Ross Sullivan, there's no evidence tying him to Vallejo, California, where Zodiac notoriously operated.

The only Zodiac location Andrew doesn't tie into is Riverside, where it was theorized but not confirmed the killer loomed.

William McDuff Andrew's parents lived approximately 500 feet from the phone booth on which Zodiac called the police.

Something changed in Zodiac's life the year of 1974 when he ceased written communications. Andrew married his wife in 1974.

Andrew's past traces back to various believed Zodiac locations.

William McDuff Andrew owned at least two copies of "The Codebreakers," the book experts believe Zodiac used to create his signature ciphers.

There's nothing ruling him out to this point.

If I were to place odds on the identity of the Zodiac Killer, it'd look as followed: