Unsolved The Zodiac Killer

[Interceptor]

The "340 Cipher" has apparently been solved:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/a...-cracked-by-code-expert-51-years-15794943.php

 

[Kurve]

Excellent point.

A hypothetical scenario we know he’s a narcissist, what if he isn’t as smart as he is thinks he is and his puzzles are riddled with errors. Investigators bring in experts that don’t make the same mistakes and the puzzles don’t get solved.

I’m not advocating that, but it’s an example of myriad of possibilities.

He's consistently misspelled 'paradise' as 'paradice' here.

Melbourne mathematician Samuel Blake and two fellow cryptologists have been officially recognised by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation for solving a 50-year-old cryptic message written by an as yet unnamed serial killer, known only as the Zodiac.

A deciphered section of the code
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME

THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW

WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME

I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER

BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER

BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME

WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE

SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH

I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS

LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH

Australian mathematician helps crack 50-year Zodiac serial killer mystery

Sam Blake, together with two other cryptologists and a supercomputer, is recognised by the FBI as having cracked a code used by the infamous Zodiac killer.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Kurve]

 

[Kurve]

Needle in the haystack words apparently were 'gas chamber' in this particular message.


"After 50 years of active research, this cipher has finally been solved. We now understand why it resisted attacks for so long," Dr Blake wrote on social media.

"The reading direction through the cipher was so obscure, that the only way it could be found was with a massive search through many candidates using sophisticated software which can efficiently solve homophonic substitution ciphers.

"Not only were we lucky enough to find the needle in the haystack, but we were lucky enough to pick the right haystack in order to start searching for the needle."

Australian mathematician helps crack 50-year Zodiac serial killer mystery

Sam Blake, together with two other cryptologists and a supercomputer, is recognised by the FBI as having cracked a code used by the infamous Zodiac killer.

www.abc.net.au

 

[treeman]

There is the information in regards to how they cracked the code.

Sent from my MI PAD 4 using Tapatalk

 

[JezMez]

Wow. So it was an actual code. To develop a code that took 50 years to cipher - we're probably talking very high IQ. Not sure why this doesn't translate to his grammar? On the spectrum perhaps?

 

[Moonwatcher]

The "340 Cipher" has apparently been solved:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/a...-cracked-by-code-expert-51-years-15794943.php

Has Ted Cruz responded yet?

 

[GreyCrow]

He's consistently misspelled 'paradise' as 'paradice' here.

Melbourne mathematician Samuel Blake and two fellow cryptologists have been officially recognised by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation for solving a 50-year-old cryptic message written by an as yet unnamed serial killer, known only as the Zodiac.

A deciphered section of the code
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME

THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW

WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME

I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER

BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER

BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME

WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE

SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH

I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS

LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH

Australian mathematician helps crack 50-year Zodiac serial killer mystery

Sam Blake, together with two other cryptologists and a supercomputer, is recognised by the FBI as having cracked a code used by the infamous Zodiac killer.

www.abc.net.au

Ironically this might be the one clue - Paradice - that helps point at someone

Most thought it was misdirection - and if this is interpreted correctly - then it swings the suspect needle to specific suspects

 

[JezMez]

I'm busy right now so will read the thread later. Do any of the main suspects fit this new revelation?

Do any of them have high IQ's? (then again, all he's done is got a cipher and made some tweaks to it)
Did any have an interest in codebreaking?
Were any of them engineers, or have a profession that has some personality crossover (I noticed that dude on the break team is a gub coder but also a storeman. wtf?)
What's with the relevance of "paradice"? Both the spelling and the belief he was going to a better place? Did any of the suspect convert to Islam?

 

[GreyCrow]

I'm busy right now so will read the thread later. Do any of the main suspects fit this new revelation?

Do any of them have high IQ's? (then again, all he's done is got a cipher and made some tweaks to it)
Did any have an interest in codebreaking?
Were any of them engineers, or have a profession that has some personality crossover (I noticed that dude on the break team is a gub coder but also a storeman. wtf?)

Well Chameleon75 fits the bill

What's with the relevance of "paradice"? Both the spelling and the belief he was going to a better place? Did any of the suspect convert to Islam?

Paradise is not a term exclusively used by followers of Islam

 

[johnymac1]

He was never going to tell the cops who he was, the codes were designed to mess with police. They have no importance in the case.
The word para-dice, might mean something though. Para Vice? could be a play on words. he was said to be ex-military, maybe even ex-police.
Possibly even failed his detectives examination one too many times!
Dice also may refer to Luck, roll of the dice etc. Probably never know who he was!

 

[X_box_X]

So, they cracked a code that doesn't provide any clues to identify Zodiac?

 

[Jimmybob]

So, they cracked a code that doesn't provide any clues to identify Zodiac?

There's other ciphers they could now potentially decode that may reveal his name

 

[justlookingaround]

Wow. So it was an actual code. To develop a code that took 50 years to cipher - we're probably talking very high IQ. Not sure why this doesn't translate to his grammar? On the spectrum perhaps?

It is a lot harder to crack a cypher than it is to make one. I’m sure zodiac considered himself very smart though.

 

[utility]

Impressive! Both to have something ciphered for 50 years and for someone to actually crack the code.

 

[exe ex machina]

Australian mathematician helps crack 50-year Zodiac serial killer mystery

Sam Blake, together with two other cryptologists and a supercomputer, is recognised by the FBI as having cracked a code used by the infamous Zodiac killer.

amp.abc.net.au

 

[Chameleon75]

I'm busy right now so will read the thread later. Do any of the main suspects fit this new revelation?

Do any of them have high IQ's? (then again, all he's done is got a cipher and made some tweaks to it)
Did any have an interest in codebreaking?
Were any of them engineers, or have a profession that has some personality crossover (I noticed that dude on the break team is a gub coder but also a storeman. wtf?)
What's with the relevance of "paradice"? Both the spelling and the belief he was going to a better place? Did any of the suspect convert to Islam?

look into Gareth Penn

 

[Belushi Brassiere]

Whoever Zodiac was, he's likely dead by now.

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

Wow. So it was an actual code. To develop a code that took 50 years to cipher - we're probably talking very high IQ. Not sure why this doesn't translate to his grammar? On the spectrum perhaps?

The spelling might have been deliberate to put people off but he has a high IQ regardless.
The cops spent too much time interviewing people who weren't bright enough to hatch a scheme like this.

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

This was the one solved.

 

[Interceptor]

In the article I linked, there's a line:

It’s a complicated bit of code creation, Oranchak said, but a basic scheme for it can be found in at least one U.S Army code manual from the 1950s.

So Zodiac may have been ex-military or at least had access to cipher documention like that or he may have just been smart enough to work it out independently. As the video points out there appeared to be errors in the way Zodiac had applied the cipher which made it extra difficult to extract the complete message. Mispelling paradise is unusual and if not diliberate was probably a life long habit by Zodiac.

 

[JezMez]

He's probably not a genius
But of average to above intelligence
He may have learnt codes in the military
Throw in some narcissism around his intelligence, and he uses his code knowledge to prove he's smarter than everyone else

Were there any religions or cults around at the time that heavily spruiked going to "paradise" or "paradice"?

I think this decipher provides the ability to find new suspects.

 

[Kram]

The spelling might have been deliberate to put people off but he has a high IQ regardless.
The cops spent too much time interviewing people who weren't bright enough to hatch a scheme like this.

I doubt he was an idiot but what do you base this on?

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

I doubt he was an idiot but what do you base this on?

Creating the cipher shows intellect.

 

[AdelaideFan14]

He's probably not a genius
But of average to above intelligence
He may have learnt codes in the military
Throw in some narcissism around his intelligence, and he uses his code knowledge to prove he's smarter than everyone else

Were there any religions or cults around at the time that heavily spruiked going to "paradise" or "paradice"?

I think this decipher provides the ability to find new suspects.

There is a town in Northern California called Paradise. It has previously gone under the names Leonards Mill, Poverty Ridge, Pair-O-Dice and Paradice. Maybe that has something to do with it all.