Zodiac: All The Evidence Arthur Leigh Allen WASN'T The Killer

The ending of David Fincher’s Zodiac reflects the sad truth of a real-life crime — the evidence simply isn’t there to name Arthur Leigh Allen the Zodiac killer. Allen was a prime suspect in a truly baffling case, but as Zodiac‘s ending shows, the mountain of circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough to charge Allen before he died of a heart attack. Zodiac is based on the book of the same name by Robert Greysmith, who is a prominent figure in the film. His book chronicled the mysterious serial killer’s reign of terror over Northern California.

In the 2007 Zodiac movie, a police officer and two reporters become obsessed with discovering his identity. Their obsession builds while the killer claims victims and taunts the authorities with letters. As depicted in one of the best David Fincher movies, those investigating the case so badly wanted to end the horror that the killer wreaked on their area, to the point of having to settle on their best guess for the killer, instead of finding someone who matched hard evidence. Fear, trauma, and heartbreak led to Arthur Leigh Allen falsely being identified as the Zodiac Killer.

Arthur Leigh Allen WASN’T The Zodiac Killer

The Real Zodiac Killer Still Hasn’t Been Identified

Some events may have been slightly exaggerated for the sake of the movie, but ultimately the events of Zodiac went down the same way they did in real life. Arthur Leigh Allen was a prime suspect for years with heavy circumstantial evidence against him. Just when it seemed like the police might have a break in the case, Allen died unexpectedly of natural causes. On paper, it truly seemed as though Allen was the famous Zodiac serial killer. But the physical evidence simply wasn’t there, meaning that it could not have been him.

Investigators and the citizens of Northern California simply came to believe it was Allen because they needed to repair the damage the Zodiac Killer had caused in their community. The fear, anger, and pain in the Bay Area were tangible, and Zodiac aptly demonstrated that through the lens of Graysmith, Toschi, and Paul Avery.

These men so badly wanted to save their community that they gave up everything to do so. As Avery was a crime journalist at the Chronicle, he became engrossed in the Zodiac case, to the point that he began receiving death threats, and turned to drugs and alcohol to cope. Toschi’s obsession led to accusations that he forged a Zodiac letter, which prompted his department to demote him.

Zodiac also depicts how, once Greysmith went public with his book, his family began receiving calls with heavy breathing. His wife was so disturbed by his all-consuming obsession with the Zodiac Killer that she divorced him. These men needed Allen to be the Zodiac Killer because they needed California’s pain to stop. Although there was never any physical evidence, accepting him as the killer put some minds at ease. Sadly, the families of the victims portrayed in Zodiac will never have that same comfort.

Arthur Leigh Allen’s Handwriting Didn’t Match the Zodiac Killer’s Handwriting

The Infamous Letters Proved Allen Wasn’t The Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer started to make a name for himself through handwritten letters. Early in the movie, he began sending letters to The San Francisco Chronicle, bragging and taunting them. Finding a match for the handwriting would mean the authorities had their man. Police officer Dave Toschi believed they had a good start with Arthur Leigh Allen.

Toschi began to suspect Allen for several circumstantial reasons. He wore a Zodiac watch, which bore the same symbol inscribed on all the Zodiac Killer’s anonymous letters. Allen’s personality also fit that of a serial killer. He was on the quiet side, socially awkward, and was a known pedophile.

Toschi had Allen’s handwriting analyzed and was devastated to find out it wasn’t a match. Arthur Leigh Allen was partially ambidextrous, and both hands were tested. Still, there was nothing. While Allen’s handwriting may not have come back as a match, the circumstantial evidence was enough to keep Arthur Leigh Allen at the top of his mind throughout the rest of the investigation of the Zodiac case in the real-life-based movie.

Police officers and journalists alike had been taunted by this killer. A few suspects emerged, but no one was as strong as Artuher Leigh Allen. The initial handwriting sample didn’t match, but he wasn’t dismissed by the authorities. Arthur Leigh Allen was the first ray of light in a dark and frightening time for the people of the San Francisco area — the journalists and police officers taunted by the Zodiac weren’t ready to let that go.

Ballistics And Prints From A Zodiac Murder Scene Didn’t Match Arthur Leigh Allen

Physical Evidence Didn’t Point To Arthur Leigh Allen Being The Zodiac Killer

As Zodiac‘s movie portrayal of the true story shows, the case against Arthur Leigh Allen was lacking physical evidence, but Toschi still couldn’t let it go. He went for a second opinion on the handwriting and got some encouraging news. The second handwriting analyst shared a theory that a personality change could bring about other changes in a person, such as his handwriting. But a theory based on conjecture wasn’t enough to convict someone as the killer, so Toschi and his team obtained a search warrant to scour Allen’s trailer.

The police officers found enough evidence that should have hypothetically nailed Arthur Leigh Allen, who was, of course, the prime suspect in the real Zodiac case. He owned the same windbreaker as one found at the scene. His shoe and glove size matched the Zodiac’s sizes. He had a gun. Allen was in the area when one of the Zodiac killings occurred. He fit the profile perfectly, yet somehow the second handwriting sample, ballistics, and the prints in his trailer did not match the Zodiac’s.

Toschi, like others involved in the investigation, had become obsessed with the idea of Arthur Leigh Allen being the Zodiac Killer. So he was shocked and devastated to learn there wasn’t an ounce of physical evidence pointing to the fact that Allen was the killer. Toschi even admits in the movie that he’s not sure if he actually thought Allen was the Zodiac, or just wanted it to be him.

Fear and uncertainty had overtaken his hometown. As shown by Robert Graysmith, some people were too scared to ever let their children out of their sight. Toschi just wanted the serial killer chase, portrayed in the movie, to be over.

What Happened To The Real-Life Zodiac Killer Suspect Arthur Leigh Allen

Allen Died Before The Identity Of The Zodiac Killer Was Discovered

Arthur Leigh Allen, a California native who was born in 1933, had a checkered past by the time the Zodiac investigation kicked off. He had been in trouble with the law for sexually abusing children, which, among other factors, made his innocence seem less and less likely. It’s also reported that he was dishonorably discharged from the Navy in the 1950s.

Allen died of heart failure in 1992, and a Zodiac Killer-related documentary entitled His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen was released years later, in 2007. Despite everything, there was never actually enough evidence to prove that Allen was the infamous serial murderer Zodiac focused on.

Who Were The Other Zodiac Killer Suspects?

Arthur Leigh Allen Was One Of Several People Who Could Be The Zodiac Killer

The real Zodiac killer was famously never caught, and though the Zodiac movie puts its focus on Arthur Leigh Allen, there are actually four main suspects (including Allen) that the police were looking into. The Zodiac killer has created terror and mystery for years, inspiring characters like The Riddler in The Batman and beyond – mostly due to the fact that he was never apprehended. While Arthur Leigh Allen is the popular choice when identifying the serial killer, there were three other contenders that police believe could’ve been responsible for the killings.

Richard Gaikowski, for example, was a key suspect on the police’s radar besides Allen, and he looks eerily similar to police sketches. Gaikowski was born in 1936 and died in 2004 of cancer. He served a brief stint in the army as a medic and moved to San Francisco in 1963. The first of the Zodiac killings occurred less than five miles from his house at the time. When asked for an alibi, he claimed he was out of the country at the time of some of the killings. However, passport records proved that this was a lie.

Another popular choice besides Allen was a man named Rick Marshall, whose actual name was Joe Don Dickey. Marshall/Dickey lived in and around the Bay area for 40 years before dying from issues related to Parkinson’s disease. During the Zodiac murders, he worked at a silent movie theater and also served a stint in the Navy. He became a suspect in 1976 after he made suspicious comments on his ham radio – plus, one of the letters from the Zodiac killer was written on his birthday.

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The final suspect outside of Allen was Lawrence Klein, who went under the alias (one of many) Larry Kane. Kane had an extensive criminal background dating all the way back to the 1940s. The sister of Zodiac victim Darlene Ferrin made claims that Kane followed her sister for months leading up to the murder. In addition, the possible Zodiac abductee Kathleen Johns positively identified Kane as her abductor. He eventually died in 2010 in Reno, Nevada. So, while Zodiac focuses primarily on Allen, there were other suspects who fit the bill.

The Zodiac Case Is Still Open

The Identity Of The Zodiac Killer Is Still A Mystery

It’s been over 50 years since the Zodiac Killer opened his reign of terror in California, and the case remains unsolved. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t still being worked on by detectives. The case was thrust into the cultural zeitgeist once again in October 2021 when it was reported by TMZ that an investigative team made up of journalists, law enforcement, and military intelligence officers known as “The Case Breakers” had uncovered the identity of the Zodiac Killer and named him to be Gary Francis Poste, further dispelling the Arthur Leigh Allen rumors.

However, the FBI spoke out against this report almost immediately. Both the FBI and California law enforcement disputed that the identity of the Zodiac Killer had been found upon TMZ‘s report, but what’s more interesting is that both law enforcement agencies revealed that the case is still open.

This means that even over 50 years into the future, the identity of the Zodiac Killer is still being investigated, which is, of course, great news for the families of the victims. It’s unclear just how high up the investigation goes or how large of a team is responsible for pouring over evidence. However, it’s possible that more answers will be found about the subject of Zodiac with another look.

John Carroll Lynch Went On To Actually Play Killers

Lynch Took On Another Infamous American Serial Killer

One of the things that makes Arthur Leigh Allen such a compelling character in Zodiac is the performance given by actor John Carroll Lynch. In the director’s commentary for the movie, David Fincher revealed that when filming the scene in which Allen is being interviewed by the detectives, he instructed Lynch to keep switching back and forth between playing a man who is completely innocent and a man who is the Zodiac Killer and is trying to hide it.

Lynch’s role is brief, but he leaves a lasting impact that haunts the movie. However, those familiar with Lynch’s work might not have been surprised by how effective the actor is in the role of a killer. Though Lynch has played a number of likable and warm characters over the years, he is also known for some villainous roles. One of his most underrated performances is as Pruitt in the intense thriller The Invitation, with Lynch perfectly playing the role of what begins as an awkward dinner guest only to reveal something more sinister.

Ironically, though Lynch played a man accused of being the Zodiac Killer, Lynch went on to play another infamous real-life serial killer. As one of the regular actors in the anthology horror series American Horror Story, Lynch played John Wayne Gacy in the show’s season, American Horror Story: Hotel. It is another chilling performance, but one very different from Lynch’s turn as Allen in Zodiac, showing the actor’s amazing talents.

Zodiac is a mystery-thriller film by director David Fincher based on the true story of the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s and 70s. The killer begins sending cryptic messages to various police officers and newspapers, warning them that twelve people, in line with the zodiac, will die if they do not publish his letters. The film shows reenactments of some of the lives that the killer ended but otherwise follows SFPD detectives that spend over a decade trying to find the truth behind the Zodiac’s motives.

Release Date

March 2, 2007

Runtime

157 minutes

Writers

James Vanderbilt

Budget

$65 million

Studio(s)

Phoenix Pictures

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

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