The Zodiac Killer

A colleague at work told me he had ordered the directors cut of a movie I had never heard of: ZODIAC. We discussed it over lunch, and this evening I went to the DVD store, and watched it. I also paid-it-forward, recommendation wise, as there was a couple in the store who couldn't make up their mind what to watch. I suggested Gran Torino, and they took it out.

Now, ZODIAC. It bears some resemblance to Jack the Ripper, a case I also went through in some detail on this blog. It's similar because the killer names himself, approaches the newspapers with clues and other information. The killer also makes spelling errors and is particularly brutal. Unlike the Ripper, Zodiak preyed on couples. It's possible that both cases share something else - that the killers took credit for crimes they didn't commit. And, and this is much worse, despite the mendacity of the crimes, the Ripper was never identified, and the Zodiak was never caught.

That said, it was almost certainly this man: Arthur Leigh Allen.



For an interesting link showing the real cast versus the reel cast, go here.


I recently read about Charles Manson's murders as well, and one must ask: why did the cartoonist - Robert Graysmith - become so obsessed with this case? I find there is a tremendous amount of attention on this blog, finding out about Richard Kuklinski, who must be one of the most heinous serial killers ever. Why is the subject so popular?

In the 90's I wrote a manuscript titled FLY BY NIGHT. It had 4 principal characters. Kato, a down on his luck fellow pursued by a wealthy London socialite, Trillian. For Kato, money, he said, was a curse, and despite coming from a wealthy family, he lived a less than meaty existence, sticking closer to the bare bones of existence. Trillian, very wealthy, enjoyed Kato for his simple love of life, but berated him for his naivety. Even so, Trillian called her own beauty 'her curse'. And then there was Inspector Frakes, a jaded London detective, a bloodhound on the trail of a serial killer in London. One of his prime suspects - Kato. There is a fourth character whose name I forget [I've lost the story; I believe it's on a stiffy], but she was based entirely on a comic book character, Artemis. A powerful woman with a long red rope pony tail. In Fly By Night everyone becomes increasingly suspcious of Kato, and ultimately, Kato begins to suspect himself. But the Artemis character provides the foil; she not only fights back but vindicates Kato and releases him from his 'curse', and his relationship with Trillian.

The backdrop to FLY BY NIGHT, the canvas, is serial killings. It is a powerful subject because it covers a multitude of subjects. Social culpability [we all contribute to the society we create, and the individuals and monsters within it], depravity, manners and the moods all this imbues.

In ZODIAC Robert Graysmith played credibly by Jake Gyllenhaal is cartoonist who takes over the case when the police have given up. His suffers the temporary loss of his family. And for what? Why is he doing this. It's not his job, after all. He says, "If I don't care, who will?"

That to me is the essence of the serial killer story; or any serial killer story. Do you care? I'll tell you why - because you should. A serial killer is by definition strongly influenced by society. He is a vessel of rage and hate and bitter revenge. And to understand a serial killer is to understand ourselves, the struggles of the police, the lot of their victims, and what feelings the victims must have aroused in their killer/s.

It is also interesting to see how serial killers are pardoned and parolled, or their sentences commuted. Charles Manson's 'family' saw their death sentences commuted to life. It is an irony to see mercy given to people who showed no mercy in their crimes.

It is also interesting to note modern examples of brazen killing sprees who got away with it. OJ Simpson, and New Zealand's David Bain.
David Bain wants rifle, photo albums returned
I've said this before, and it probably comes across as psychobabble, but it isn't. How can a society that lies to itself, that profits and earns its daily bread from misleading and manipulating people/consumers/'the market' be capable of even starting to attempt real justice? The answer is we can't, because 'real' no longer exists. The the serial killers rage against this unreality, and the worst of them contact the media and authorities and say, "Do you see me, do you hear me, I'm real? Do you care enough to catch me?"

Somewhere in that criminal logic is the idea that the more crimes that are committed, the more people will care about the person. The killer remains anonymous, but flirts with this anonymity, because somewhere in all of this, the killer wants to be caught, and if not, certainly wants to be pursued. The only thing worse, is obscurity, to be ignored, to be lost in the chaos of an uncaring world. Every act from every serial killer is an opportunity for society to look at itself and answer the question: "Who cares?"

I highly recommend watching David Fincvher's 2007 movie, ZODIAC. it's not sensational, nor inaccurate, the acting is solid and the cinematography is sophisticated. A cleverly crafted flick: 8/10.

World's Worst Serial Killer: Richard Kuklinski

Richard Kuklinski was one of the most diabolical self-confessed contract killers in American history, who took credit for over 200 murders, including the murder of Jimmy Hoffa.

From About.com:

Profile of Richard Kuklinski
by Charles Montaldo,
The Iceman

Richard Leonard Kuklinski was born in the projects in Jersey City, New Jersey to Stanley and Anna Kuklinski. Stanley was a severely abusive alcoholic who beat his wife and children. Anna was also abusive to her children, sometimes beating them with broom handles.

In 1940, Stanley's beatings resulted in the death of Kuklinski's old brother, Florian. Stanley and Anna hid the cause of the child's death from the authorities, saying he had fallen down a flight of steps.
By the age of 10, Richard Kuklinski was filled with rage and began acting out. For fun he would torture animals and by the age of 14, he had committed his first murder.

Taking a steel clothing rod from his closet, he ambushed Charlie Lane, a local bully and leader of a small gang who had picked on him. Unintentionally he beat Lane to death. Kuklinski felt remorse for Lane's death for a brief period, but then saw it as a way to feel powerful and in control. He then went on and nearly beat to death the remaining six gang members.

Early Adulthood

By his early twenties Kuklinski had earned the reputation as being an explosive tough street hustler who would beat or kill those who he didn't like or who offended him. According to Kuklinski it was during this time that his association with Roy DeMeo, a member of the Gambino Crime Family, was established.

From Street Punk to Paid Hitman

As his work with DeMeo advanced his ability to be an effective killing machine was recognized. According to Kuklinski, he became a favorite hitman for the mob, resulting in the deaths of at least 200 people. The use of cyanide poison became one of his favorite weapons as well as guns, knives and chainsaws.

Brutality and torture would often precede death for many of his victims. This included his own description of causing his victims to bleed, then tying them up in rat infested areas. The rats, attracted to the smell of blood would eventually eat the men alive.

The Family Man

Barbara Pedrici saw Kuklinski as a sweet giving man and the two married and had three children. Much like his father, Kuklinski, who was 6' 4" and weighing over 300 pounds, began to beat and terrorize Barbara and the children. On the outside, however, the Kuklinski family was admired by neighbors and friends as being a happy and well adjusted.

The Beginning of the End

Eventually Kuklinski started making mistakes and the New Jersey State Police were watching him. When three associates of Kuklinskis turned up dead, a task force was organized with the New Jersey authorities and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Special Agent Dominick Polifrone went undercover and spent a year and a half disguised as a hitman and eventually met and gained Kuklinski's trust. Kuklinski bragged to the agent about his proficiency with cyanide and boasted about freezing a corpse in order to mask his time of death. Afraid Polifrone would soon become another of Kuklinski's victims, the task force moved quickly after taping some of his confessions and getting him to agree to do a hit with Polifrone.

The End of the Iceman

On December 17, 1986, Kuklinski was arrested and charged with five counts of murder which involved two trials. He was found guilty in the first trial and reached an agreement in the second trial and was sentenced to two life sentences. He was sent to Trenton State Prison, where his brother was serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl.

Enjoying the Fame

While in prison he was interviewed by HBO for a documentary called "The Iceman Confesses," then later by author Anthony Bruno, who wrote the book "The Iceman," as a follow-up to the documentary. In 2001, he was interviewed again by HBO for another documentary called, "The Iceman Tapes: Conversations With a Killer."

It was during these interviews that Kuklinski confessed to several cold-blooded murders and spoke of his ability to detach himself emotionally from his own brutality. When on the subject of his family he uncharacteristically showed emotions when describing the love he felt towards them.

Kuklinski Blames Childhood Abuse

When asked why he had become one of the most diabolical mass murderers in history, he cast blame on his father's abuse and admitted the one thing he was sorry for was for not killing him.

Questionable Confessions

Authorities do not buy everything Kuklinski claimed during the interviews. Witnesses for the government who were part of DeMeo's group said Kuklinski was not involved in any murders for DeMeo. They also question the number of murders he claimed to have committed.

His Suspicious Death

On March 5, 2006, Kuklinski, age 70, died of unknown causes. His death came suspiciously around the same time he was scheduled to testify against Sammy Gravano. Kuklinski was going to testify that Gravano hired him to kill a police officer in the 1980s. Charges against Gravano were dropped after Kuklinski's death because of insufficient evidence.

Kuklinski and the Hoffa Confession

In April 2006, it was reported that Kuklinski had confessed to author Philip Carlo that he and four men had kidnapped and murdered union boss Jimmy Hoffa. In an interview aired on CNN's "Larry King Live," Carlo discussed the confession in detail, explaining the Kuklinski was part of a five-member team, who under the direction of Tony Provenzano, a captain in the Genovese crime family, kidnapped and murdered Hoffa in a restaurant parking lot in Detroit.

A Family Consumed by Fear

Also on the program was Barbara Kuklinski and her daughters, who spoke about the abuse and fear they suffered at the hands of Kuklinski.

One telling moment which described the true depth of Kuklinski's sociopathic brutality was when one of the daughters, described as Kuklinski's "favorite" child, told of her father's attempt to get her to understand, when she was 14, why if he killed Barbara during a fit of rage, he would also have to kill her and her brother and sister.

NVDL: This oke is full of kak.

Guns, Bullets, Blood & Multimedia

from: the australian.news.com.au

Silent kid's sick tirade
A key to understanding the newest mass murderer in the US may lie partly in cultural alienation, writes Robert Lusetich
April 20, 2007

THE strange and tragic irony of Cho Seung-hui is that in life he barely uttered a word to anyone. In death you can't shut him up. Perhaps it is because Cho, who spent countless hours sitting with his only known friend, his laptop, is a child of the impersonal YouTube generation, part of a tribe whose members find it easier to talk into a camera than to converse with another human being.

BLUEPRINT OF A KILLER

Warning signs include obsession with violence, resentment, an urge to blame others, arrogance, contempt and isolation.
In three out of four school shootings in the US, the killer made no threats, but most engaged in behaviour that caused others concern.
Cho Seung-hui was a typical loner. He rarely took off his sunglasses and cap, presenting a barrier to contact with others.

He never spoke in class. His English teacher said he "exuded loneliness".
Cho was apparently infatuated with a beautiful student but his feelings were not returned, triggering feelings of rejection, loss and affront. She was among the first two people to be killed by Cho.
Most people suffer rejection during their lives but do not become killers. Psychologists say that certain people are predisposed to extreme behaviour if pushed.

People with a vulnerability to psychosis are at risk of developing mental illness as their stress levels increase. A strong, secure family can prevent a predisposed person from reaching a crisis.
Some psychologists say a contributing factor is social acceptance of macho violence in computer games and movies. This can desensitise vulnerable young men.

Mass killers and those reacting to rejection don't worry about being caught, unlike serial killers who try to avoid capture. But the 23-year-old South Korean native's desire to justify his diabolical deeds to the world at large is hardly unique.

Theodore Kaczynski, who spent 15 years sending bombs to universities and airlines - hence his FBI nom de guerre, Unabomber - as he retreated from a society he loathed, living like a hermit in the forest, produced a long and rambling manifesto, which he demanded The New York Times publish, and which led to his capture in 1996.

Cho's manifesto is suitably multimedia and his outlet of choice was the American network NBC, although considering the time and care he took in producing it - the video portion is broken up into 27 separate files - it wouldn't have been entirely surprising had he uploaded it on to a MySpace home page before going on to carry out the worst mass killing in modern American history.

Reports from South Korea - where Cho lived in relative poverty with his parents until he was eight, when the family immigrated to the US - suggest Cho had trouble communicating even at a young age.
His 81-year-old grandmother, who identified herself to journalists in Seoul only as Kim, says Cho "troubled his parents a lot when he was young because he couldn't speak well".
"But (he) was well-behaved," she says.

Well-behaved in the Korean culture means he was subservient; he didn't rock the boat, which is of great importance in a strict society where order and obedience, particularly to elders, are expected. For a young boy with communication problems and antisocial tendencies, arriving in the US without knowing a word of English could only have made the situation worse.

"Within the Korean culture, we are known as the 1.5s (one and a half generations)," says Andy Chong, who came to the US with his family when he was five and now lives in Los Angeles. "We're not Korean like the first generation, which is more strict, speaks Korean and has more traditional Korean values, and we're not like the second generation, which the first generation looks at as better because they speak English without an accent, they're more integrated, more advanced. We're sort of stuck in between: we don't speak Korean that well and a lot of us speak English with accents; we're sort of this lost generation, caught in between.

"Obviously, I don't know this guy but if I was going to guess about him, I'd think he was like some guys I've known, some 1.5s. Their parents work long hours, work really hard to make a good life for their kids, and he's the only son, so that's a lot of pressure just there.

"A lot is expected of you if you're the only son in a Korean family and this guy, it looks like he just couldn't handle it. To Koreans, it's a big deal about which colleges their kids go to. I see (Cho's) sister (who works for the US State Department, directing aid to Iraq) went to Princeton: that's Ivy League, that's very prestigious with Koreans. Everyone's impressed when they hear something like that.

"But he's going to Virginia Tech; not bad, but it's not Princeton. And then he's majoring in English, not business or accounting or law or medicine. If you look at the background and the pressure a guy like that is under to do well in life and to repay his parents for everything they've done for him, to carry on the family name, to be successful, to have everyone believe you're successful: if you're not a guy who can handle all of this, which it doesn't sound like he is, then, yeah, I can see him going postal."

Certainly, a portion of Cho's diatribe seems to indicate a hatred of the successful and wealthy: "You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats? Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs? Your trust fund wasn't enough?"

BIZARRE RANT
Selections of Cho Seung-hui's messages posted to NBC:

"You have vandalised my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenceless people."

"Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave?"
"Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive?"

"Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon on a cross? And left to bleed to death for your amusement? You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?"
"You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac weren't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfil your hedonistic needs. You had everything."Source: NBC News

Perhaps surprisingly, not many saw Cho "going postal", a popular shorthand expression for mass killings among Americans that was coined when post office workers began killing co-workers in the mid-'80s.

"Honestly, I never thought he was dangerous," one of Cho's university roommates, Karan Grewal, said in a television interview yesterday. "He didn't seem aggressive. He didn't seem like a guy with a death wish.
"He just seemed very lonely. I just thought he was really, really shy. At first I thought he just got (to the US) last year and didn't know English very well, so that's why he didn't talk. I mean it was pretty weird that he didn't talk. I never heard him talking to anyone: not on the phone, not even to his parents."

After nine months of living in close proximity to one another, Grewal said he did not even know what Cho was studying at the university.

All he could say about the country's newest mass murderer was that he spent hours typing on his laptop. Others say he liked to watch wrestling on TV and had recently started going to the gym to lift weights. "I just assume he was trying to get buff," Grewal says. "He was pretty skinny." He says he was shocked when he saw the video clips of Cho yesterday, principally because he looked up at the camera, whereas in real life always looked down when he was around other people, never looking anyone in the eyes.

The character sketch of the archetypal friendless loner is the same as far back as anyone has gone. Neighbours who remember him growing up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, say he was always by himself and if they approached, even if just to say hello, he would ignore them or leave. "He was just a very antisocial sort who was very quiet and never talked at all," says Joe Aust, who shared a bedroom with Cho at Virginia Tech.
"I tried to make conversation with him but he would give one-word answers. Other times he would just ignore me."

One of Cho's professors, Lucinda Roy, says Cho wore sunglasses even when he was indoors, pulled a baseball cap tight down on his forehead and rarely looked up during a class. He never said anything. She describes him as "the loneliest person I have ever met in my life".
But being lonely isn't a crime. Events took a darker turn for Cho in 2005, when he was caught photographing female students in a class from under his desk. He was also reported by two female students for stalking, which nearly led to him being committed to a mental institution.
Cho, who Aust confirms took anti-depressants - which can trigger homicidal or suicidal behaviour - began expressing a creepy rage and anger in his writing projects.
One of them, a short, quite unimpressive play titled Richard McBeef, is laden with violence and foul language, as well as occasional attempts at something vaguely resembling humour. "You committed a conspiracy, just like what the government has done to John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe," Cho has one of his characters say.

Cho's behaviour became so disturbing that many students in one of his writing classes would not attend if he was there.
Cho spent weeks, if not months, planning this week's massacre. He purchased the handguns - the first on February 9, the other on March 16 - and carefully filed away their serial numbers, began making his videos and taking photographs of himself in various Rambo-like poses, and prepared chains and padlocks to ensure no one could escape Norris Hall once he opened fire.

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," Cho says on the tape, "but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

Killer Profile

...a sullen loner, and authorities said he left a rambling note raging against women and rich kids.

It's fascinating for me that this killer (worst in US history) was:

- Korean
- majoring in English
- had a bone to pick with women
- had a bone to pick with 'rich kids'

It's interesting because I've spoken to Koreans who have returned from time abroad and, particularly in the case of Asian men, they usually have pretty nasty experiences. One reason is the foreign women, who they are no doubt attracted to, are not, in most cases, attracted to them.

It is also very difficult to adapt, as a foreigner to a foreign country, and even more so (even worse so) if you can't maintain a conversation.

Korea though has, as far as I'm concerned, a schizophrenic approach to reality. They are a polite, decent and wonderful people, yet can be (exceptionally I admit) rude, emotionally irate and irrational. The sheer number of massage parlours and love hotels that exist side by side apartment buildings with families ostensibly inhabited by 'decent' Koreans is bizarre.
Just the North-South Korea schizm is evidence enough of a people and a country who are not fully integrated with reality (or how to deal directly with it).

Their obsession with plastic surgery, and appearances (cutting the face to look less eastern, aborting female children) makes their confucian moral codes somehow irrelevant.

The above are stereotypes, but the point remains that the world's worst shooting spree was perpetrated by a Korean policeman as an emotional response to an argument with a girlfriend.

I've seen people tearing each other's clothing off on a few occasions in the streets of Korea, been vehemently scolded on buses and trains for how I was sitting (or speaking), and watched a shoe store owner hurling shoes at the door after a client returned them. And so on.

It's a society where boys and young men are treated like princes, and women are expected to serve and adore. Naturally, in the wider world, this isn't always the case. Which our young killer no doubt discovered, to his chagrin, and now, ours.

My question is: was this kid playing computer games all the time? My guess is yes. Was it Counterstrike?

from msnbc.com:

Roommates said Cho Seung-Hui rarely spoke or made eye contact with them and that his bizarre behavior became even less predictable in recent weeks.
Cho started waking up as early as 5:30 a.m. instead of his usual 7 a.m., his roommate, Joseph Aust, told ABC's "Good Morning America."



"I tried to make conversation with him earlier in the year when he moved in," Aust said. "He would just give one-word answers and stay quiet. He pretty much never looked me in the eye."





News reports said that Cho, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English, may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic.
Writings for his English degree were reportedly dominated by disillusioned, violent characters.
“I felt he was a very lonely, isolated kind of person the whole time,” Lucinda Roy, an English professor who taught Cho, told CNN on Tuesday. “He would always wear sunglasses even inside, and a cap.”



Cho, who immigrated to the United States 15 years ago and was raised in suburban Washington, D.C., was found with the words “Ismael Ax” written in red ink on one of his arms, the Post reported law enforcement sources as saying. It was unclear what the words meant.
Cho used two handguns, which police confirmed he had purchased legally, and stopped only to reload. Police have stopped short of saying he was responsible for the shooting deaths of two other people two hours earlier at a dormitory but said tests showed the same gun was used in both incidents.