The Zodiac Killer: 2,500 Suspects Pt. 4

The Zodiac is long gone, or quietly elderly, and his case is still open. More than two thousand five hundred suspects have been formally investigated. Not one has ever been charged. And then, in December 2025, a self-taught codebreaker stands up and claims the one cipher nobody ever solved has finally given up a name, and that the name ties the Zodiac to a murder committed more than twenty years before he ever killed anyone.

This week on Mugshot Mysteries, Kathryn and Gabriel close their four-part Zodiac series with the finale: the suspects, the newest twist, and the question of whether the most famous uncaught killer in American history actually won.

We start with the names. Arthur Leigh Allen, the prime suspect the entire investigation organized itself around for decades, who fit the profile almost perfectly and whose DNA and fingerprints never matched. Lawrence Kane, named by the one officer who saw the Zodiac face to face as the closest match he ever saw, and left in Allen's shadow. Earl Van Best Jr., accused by his own son in a bestselling book that later came apart. Gary Francis Poste, put forward by a team of former investigators in 2021. And Richard Gaikowski, the counterculture journalist who fit and was never cleared. Five men who drew years of serious attention, and not one who produced a charge.

Then we get to what dropped in December 2025. A self-taught codebreaker named Alex Baber claims he solved the Z13, the thirteen-character cipher prefaced with "My name is" that had resisted everyone for half a century. The name he found: Marvin Merrill, a decades-long alias of a man named Marvin Margolis, a Navy corpsman and premed student who was an early suspect in the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a woman he had briefly lived with. A former NSA chief codebreaker says the solution holds up. A dying man's sketch titled "Elizabeth," with the word Zodiac hidden in the shading, sits at the center of it. Some retired detectives call the cases solved. Skeptics say he reached the conclusion first and built the evidence to fit. The FBI has confirmed nothing.

And then the wrinkle that makes the whole thing dizzying. Baber is not the only person to independently conclude the Zodiac and the Black Dahlia killer were the same man. Former LAPD detective Steve Hodel reached that same conclusion years earlier and named an entirely different person: his own father, Dr. George Hodel. Same theory. Two completely different suspects. We sit with what that convergence does, and does not, prove.

We close on the argument that this case was never really about the body count. Five people. What made the Zodiac immortal was the writing, the letters and ciphers that turned murder into a media strategy every later killer would borrow. So we end by naming the five who actually matter: David Faraday, seventeen. Betty Lou Jensen, sixteen. Darlene Ferrin, twenty-two. Cecelia Shepard, twenty-two. Paul Stine, twenty-nine. Plus a bonus breakdown of what David Fincher's 2007 film got right and wrong.

This is the end of the game. For now. This is the Zodiac.

This is the finale of our four-part Zodiac series. New episodes drop every Mugshot Monday. Search Mugshot Mysteries wherever you listen.

SOURCES:

Case records and reporting on the Zodiac investigation across the San Francisco Police Department, the Vallejo Police Department, the Napa County Sheriff's Office, the Solano County Sheriff's Office, and the FBI; Graysmith, R., Zodiac, 1986, and Zodiac Unmasked, 2002; reporting on the 1969 solution of the 408-character cipher by Donald and Bettye Harden; the December 2020 solution of the 340-character cipher by David Oranchak, Sam Blake, and Jarl Van Eycke, confirmed by the FBI; the case for and against Arthur Leigh Allen, including the Don Cheney account, the negative DNA and fingerprint comparisons, and the investigative work of Detective Dave Toschi; suspect material on Lawrence Kane, including the identification by Officer Don Fouke; Stewart, G., The Most Dangerous Animal of All, 2014, and the subsequent investigative debunking of its central handwriting claim; the 2021 Case Breakers announcement naming Gary Francis Poste; suspect reporting on Richard Gaikowski; the December 2025 Los Angeles Times reporting on Alex Baber of Cold Case Consultants of America and his claimed Z13 solution "Marvin Merrill," identifying Marvin Skipton Margolis, including the review by former NSA chief codebreaker Ed Giorgio, the assessments of retired detectives Rick Jackson and Mitzi Roberts, the skepticism of researcher Larry Harnisch and others, the related "Killer in the Code" podcast, and the response of Margolis's family; Hodel, S., Black Dahlia Avenger, 2003, and Most Evil, regarding Dr. George Hill Hodel and the 1950 LAPD wiretap transcripts; historical reporting on the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, the "Black Dahlia"; Fincher, D., Zodiac, 2007, and the director's public comments on the film's "emotional truth"; related portrayals and coverage including the 1971 film Dirty Harry, the 2024 Netflix series, and a 2025 SXSW documentary.

DISCLAIMER:

Content warning: This episode discusses multiple homicides, the murder and mutilation of a young woman, child sexual abuse, and graphic crime-scene detail. Please take care while listening, and consider stepping away if any of this is difficult. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.

The Mugshot Mysteries podcast is independently produced and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any individual, agency, author, publisher, production, or organization referenced in this episode, including any law enforcement agency, the FBI, the Los Angeles Times, Cold Case Consultants of America, or any film or streaming production named.

The Zodiac case is officially unsolved, and no person has ever been charged or convicted. Every individual named in this episode as a possible suspect, including Arthur Leigh Allen, Lawrence Kane, Earl Van Best Jr., Gary Francis Poste, Richard Gaikowski, Marvin Margolis, and Dr. George Hodel, is identified solely in the context of publicly reported allegations, investigations, books, and theories, and not as a finding of guilt. Several were investigated and never charged, and physical evidence has affirmatively failed to match at least one of them. All of the named individuals are deceased. Nothing here should be read as an accusation that any living person committed any crime.

The December 2025 theory connecting the Zodiac and Black Dahlia cases to Marvin Margolis is a recent and unconfirmed claim advanced by a private investigator. It has been endorsed by some reviewers and sharply criticized by others, including the argument that its conclusion was reached first and supported afterward. Law enforcement has not confirmed the cipher solution or the identification, and both cases remain officially open. The competing theory naming Dr. George Hodel is likewise an unproven claim advanced in published books. We present these theories, and the evidence and disputes surrounding them, as claims and interpretations rather than established fact, and details may change as the matter is reviewed.

References to any person, living or deceased, are made in the context of documented reporting and public records and are not intended to defame, harass, or cause harm. Statements attributed to family members and others reflect their reported positions. The commentary and interpretations offered by the hosts are their own opinions and do not constitute statements of established fact or legal conclusions. Any third-party names and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners and are referenced under fair use for purposes of commentary, criticism, and reporting. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.