Unless your under thirty or just plain don't like true crime drama you've probably heard of the Zodiac killer. The events and incidents have been depicted in numerous documentary films and if you (youtube) Zodiac you would get enough results to sort through for a three day span. First, let's start by naming the prime suspect. The prime suspect in the Zodiac case was a man named Arthur Leigh Allen. Arthur Leigh Allen was from Vallejo, California, whereabouts the original crimes occurred.
The movie is actually pretty good. Director David Fincher did a quality job depicting crimes, crime scene areas, and the story offered by one Robert Graysmith, naming Arthur Leigh Allen as the killer. The movie is long though so have a whole evening if you want to watch it almost 2 and a half hours. The case has confused, frustrated, obstructed law enforcement in its own right for nearly half a century. It sort of shows one the power of the media which is exactly what Zodiac wanted was attention. The reason for the frustration was that Arthur Leigh Allen passed away when they were nearing arresting him in 1992. It was a case filled with circumstantial evidence but before DNA there wasn't any real way to bust the responsible.
Circumstantial Evidence against Allen
Allen had a criminal history involving deviancy with minors. His shoe size was similar. He lived in the area. Some of the strongest circumstantial evidence occurred to me when I started watching documentaries. Arthur Leigh Allen was a "well meaning screw-up" according to his college friend. He seemed to have a series of jobs that bordered good/decent to menial. However, to some it might seem he is incapable of being this criminal. Arthur Leigh Allen worked at a gas station during the summer of 1969 and the owner (gone on vacation) left his car with keys available to the attendant. This would explain why a vehicle early on could not be definitively matched with suspect in the area.
I would encourage everyone bored or otherwise to watch "His name was Arthur Leigh Allen", it is a fair documentary and quite informative. It also brings up the issue of Don Cheney who offered information that led to Allen being looked at. Mr. Cheney was a friend of Allen's early in life. In 2002 a partial DNA analysis was done and the saliva from the stamps of Zodiac letters are said to not match Allen. Where was Cheney? He says in the video Allen asked him to "lick stamps" when he was writing thank you notes. Maybe Allen was smart enough to have someone else do that but the Detective mentioned in the documentary (Vallejo Detective) this is very bizarre. Who would have the foresight to have someone else lick their envelopes? So maybe Don came up with that as a backstory because he was worried if his DNA showed up? Allen supposedly was a child predator to the extent of abusing one of Cheney's children. This would of given Cheney motive with Allen's frustrations, what he said previously, easy access to frame... Just a thought...but a damn good one.
