Written by Sam Santiago
On July 31, 1969, three Northern California newspapers received letters that sparked one of the most unsettling mysteries in American criminal history. Each letter arrived with details only the killer could know and a demand that the content be printed on the front page or he would continue killing. They came from a man who would be known as the Zodiac killer, infamous not only for his crimes but for his cryptic ciphers and taunting letters that turned the case into a decades-long enigma.
The killer’s first communication was more performance than confession, claiming responsibility for the murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen near Lake Herman Road, and offering forensic-level detail that convinced investigators the author was the true perpetrator. He attached a handshake-like crosshair symbol that would become synonymous with his brand of terror. At the time, psychological profiling was a nascent science, and Zodiac’s fusion of ego and menace fundamentally changed the field of criminal investigation.
One feature that distinguished Zodiac’s letters was an embedded cipher, including the infamous 408-symbol cryptogram. Days after its release, amateur cryptographers Donald and Bettye Harden cracked it, revealing a chilling message about the killer’s pleasure in killing, but no name or identifiable signature. This partial success deepened both fascination and frustration. Later ciphers would prove even tougher. The Z340 cipher eluded analysis for decades until global amateur efforts finally solved it in 2020 without providing definitive identification.
A separate cipher known as Z13, mailed in April 1970, contained a short string of symbols and the phrase “My name is —,” and has long been considered the Holy Grail for Zodiac researchers. In December 2025 a self-taught code breaker named Alex Baber claims he has solved this cipher using artificial intelligence combined with census data, public records, and classical cryptographic techniques. According to reports, Baber’s work points to a man named Marvin Merrill, an alias for Marvin Margolis, a suspect once questioned in connection with the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, who became known as the Black Dahlia. Baber’s claim has drawn both attention and skepticism.
The Black Dahlia case remains one of Los Angeles’s most infamous cold cases. On January 15, 1947, the naked, mutilated body of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found severed at the waist in a vacant lot. The brutality and gruesome display led to intense media coverage and dozens of suspects, but no arrest. Margolis, a Navy medical corpsman and pre-medical student at the time, was interviewed by police but was not ultimately charged. His connection to Short included a brief relationship shortly before her death, and later identification as one of many persons of interest.
Baber asserts that solving the Z13 cipher revealed the name Marvin Merrill, which was Margolis’s alias, and that further patterns and connections, including handwriting and circumstantial evidence cited by retired detectives, suggest this same individual was responsible for both the Zodiac murders and the Black Dahlia killing. Retired homicide detectives such as Rick Jackson have publicly stated they find the circumstantial case compelling, though law enforcement has not officially closed either case. - Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The theory has attracted attention beyond the typical true crime community, with endorsements from former intelligence code breakers and coverage in new media projects such as the podcast Killer in the Code, which explores these claims in depth. Yet many experts urge caution. Generations of theories have emerged around both cases, and official agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department and FBI continue to treat the cases as open and unresolved, even as they show interest in reviewing new leads. - Source: Newsweek
Despite the frenzy around this new theory, the connection remains speculative. There is no confirmed law enforcement declaration that either the Black Dahlia murder or the Zodiac killings have been definitively solved. What is certain is that with every new analysis, from 1969 ciphers to 2025 AI-assisted decoding attempts, these two southern and northern California mysteries remain intertwined in the public imagination. They reflect not just the darkness behind the crimes but the enduring cultural fascination with unsolved violence and the search for closure.
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