The Most Dangerous Animal of All (20 page)

Van addressed an envelope to the Vallejo
Times-Herald
, including a note on the front that said, “Please rush to editor,” and stuffed the letter and cipher inside. He wrote a second letter—similar to the first, with only a few slight changes—to the
San Francisco Examiner
. He included the second part of the cipher with this letter.

Van sent the third part of the cipher with a letter to the
San Francisco Chronicle
. In this letter he added, “In this cipher is my identity,” letting police and the public know that if the cipher was decoded, they would have their killer. This cipher would become known as the 408 cipher, because it had 408 letters and symbols.

He attached double postage to each letter and put them all in the mail on July 31, 1969, the seventh anniversary of his arrest for child stealing.

All three ciphers were published in the newspapers as Van had instructed.

In a news article, Jack E. Stiltz, Vallejo’s chief of police, asked the killer for more information.

It was time for Van to formally introduce the world to the name he had chosen for himself—Zodiac, from the Greek word
zoion
, meaning “animal,” or, in Van’s mind, “dangerous animal.”

Enjoying the attention he was receiving, he sent the
San Francisco Examiner
a letter postmarked August 4, 1969:

This is the Zodiac speaking. In answer to your asking for more details about the good times I have had in Vallejo, I shall be very happy to supply even more material. By the way, are the police having a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it, they will have me.

On the 4th of July:

I did not open the car door. The window was rolled down all ready. The boy was origionaly sitting in the frunt seat when I began fireing. When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim.

He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that’s how I shot him in the knee. I did not leave the cene [scene] of the killing with squealing tires + raceing engine as described in the Vallejo paper. I drove away quite slowly so as not to draw attention to my car.

The man who told police that my car was brown was a negro about 40-45 rather shabbly dressed. I was in this phone booth having some fun with the Vallejo cop when he was walking by. When I hung the phone up the damn [email protected] thing began to ring & that drew his attention to me + my car.

Last Christmass

In that epasode the police were wondering how I could shoot + hit my victims in the dark. They did not openly state this, but implied this by saying it was a well lit night + I could see silowets on the horizon. Bullshit that area is srounded by high hills + trees. What I did was tape a small pencel flash light to the barrel of my gun.

If you notice, in the center of the beam of light if you aim it at a wall or ceiling you will see a black or darck spot in the center of the circle of light about 3 to 6 in. across. When taped to a gun barrel, the bullet will strike in the center of the black dot in the light. All I had to do was spray them as if it was a water hose; there was no need to use the gun sights. I was not happy to see that I did not get front page coverage.

On August 8, the three-part cipher was solved by a Salinas high school teacher, Donald Harden, and his wife, Bettye, who had seen it in the newspapers. Their results were verified by the FBI. The couple would later explain that they assumed the word “kill” would be in the message, so they began by looking for letters or symbols repeated twice in a row that could represent “ll.” They also determined that the author of the cipher would be egotistical and would begin the message with “I.” After finding the word “kill” and then the words “killing” and “thrilling,” they were able to break the code.

Investigators now realized they were looking for a serial killer and diligently searched the ciphers for the name of the person responsible for the murders. They noted the use of the word “shall” instead of “will” and the spelling of “Christmass” and determined their suspect may be British. They also recognized the reference to the Nine Satanic Statements. That didn’t help. Even though the cipher had been decoded, they couldn’t take the next step of deciphering the killer’s name, because they didn’t know what name to look for.

For my father, the game had intensified. When he learned that his cipher had been decoded, he knew there was a possibility he would be caught soon. He waited for police to arrest him, but no one came.

And although San Francisco and the surrounding areas were buzzing about the cipher-writing killer, another series of high-profile murders would soon steal Van’s thunder and bring even more terror to the Golden State.

30

On July 27, 1969, four days before Van sent his ciphers to newspapers, Bobby Beausoleil, the young musician my father had jammed with at the warehouse in the Haight, murdered Gary Hinman, a music teacher who lived in Topanga Canyon. Beausoleil had long since left Anton LaVey’s flock, and he, along with Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner, had moved to Spahn Ranch, in Los Angeles County, to join the Manson Family, a cult that had come together around 1967 under the leadership of Charles Manson. Still trying to fit in with his elders, Beausoleil set out to impress Manson—first by bringing sexy women into the fold and later by proving his worth through violence.

Over a two-day period, Beausoleil and the girls held Hinman captive while trying to extort money from the gentle teacher, who had allowed Manson Family members to crash at his house from time to time. When they were unable to fulfill their mission, Manson arrived and slashed Hinman’s face and left ear with a sword. The girls attempted to sew Hinman’s ear with dental floss while Beausoleil tried to persuade him to give them his money. On the twenty-seventh, realizing their efforts were futile, Bobby stabbed Hinman twice in the chest, killing him.

Atkins and Brunner then wrote the words political piggy on the wall in Hinman’s blood. A paw print was drawn near the words, their effort to frame the Black Panthers for the murder.

Beausoleil would later claim that he committed the crime because he had a desperate need to be accepted, to be considered a man in the eyes of those he admired.

Beausoleil was arrested on August 6, two days before Van’s ciphers were decoded. The killing of Gary Hinman did not receive the publicity in San Francisco that Van’s letters did, but what happened in the early-morning hours of August 9 would stun the nation and take the focus away from the Zodiac. The Manson Family was about to commit some of the most notorious and heinous murders in American history.

Charles Manson had ordered Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian to kill everyone in a beautiful home located at 10050 Cielo Drive, in the Santa Monica Mountains, which had formerly been rented by Terry Melcher, Doris Day’s son. Previously home to Hollywood stars such as Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, and Melcher’s girlfriend, Candice Bergen, it was now the residence of Roman Polanski and his wife, Sharon Tate.

On the night of August 8, Sharon, eight and a half months pregnant, was at home preparing for the arrival of her new baby. Her friends Jay Sebring, screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski, and Frykowski’s girlfriend, Abigail Folger, were also at the house.

Steven Parent, an innocent eighteen-year-old, was the first victim. He had been visiting a new friend, William Garretson, who was the caretaker of the property. The unfortunate young man was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he rolled down his window to push the button that would open the electronic gate. Watson, reportedly high on acid and methamphetamine, walked up to Parent’s car and stabbed him once in the hand as Parent tried to defend himself against the knife that had suddenly come out of nowhere. Watson shot him four times before continuing on to the house.

After entering the home through a window, Watson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel gathered the occupants into the living room. Tate and Sebring were tied together with a rope around their necks, and Frykowski’s hands were bound with a towel. While protesting the treatment of his pregnant friend, Sebring was shot by Watson.

Frykowski, a martial arts expert, freed himself from his bonds and began fighting his captors—first Atkins, who stabbed him, and then Watson, who pistol-whipped him, stabbed him, and shot him twice as he was trying to escape. The autopsy report would later identify fifty-one stab wounds on his body.

Folger escaped the house and made it to the pool area before Krenwinkel caught her. She would die there from the twenty-eight stab wounds her attackers inflicted upon her.

Sharon Tate pleaded for the life of her unborn child, but the deranged killers would not hear her pleas and stabbed her sixteen times before writing messages on the walls of her home in her blood.

Even the most seasoned detectives were horrified by what they found when they got to the scene of the murders.

Manson decided to have his family members kill again the following night. Together with Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten, and Steve Grogan, Manson headed to 3301 Waverly Drive, in Los Angeles, the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Manson and Watson were the first ones to enter the house. They found Leno sleeping on the couch. Rosemary was in her bedroom. After bringing Rosemary into the living room, they tied the couple up with leather cords. Manson stole Leno’s wallet, then went back to the car and instructed Krenwinkel and Van Houten to go into the house. After Manson drove off with Grogan, Atkins, and Kasabian, Watson covered the frightened couple’s heads with pillowcases and gagged them with lamp cords. Krenwinkel and Van Houten led Rosemary down the hall and into her bedroom, where Krenwinkel began stabbing her with a knife she had found in the kitchen. In the living room, Watson stabbed Leno in the throat with a bayonet.

Rosemary fought with Krenwinkel and Van Houten until Watson came into the room and stabbed her with his bayonet, ending her life. She sustained forty-one stab wounds, some of them inflicted postmortem by Van Houten. Watson then returned to Leno, stabbing him repeatedly until he was certain he was dead.

The word war had been carved into Leno’s stomach, and rise and death to pigs had been finger-painted in blood on the walls. healter [
sic
] skelter had been written in blood on the refrigerator.

The LaBiancas would be found by family members nineteen hours after their deaths.

Because stolen vehicles had been spotted on their property, Charles Manson and twenty-five members of his family were arrested on August 16 at the ranch where they lived together. Police had no idea when they arrested the suspected auto-theft ring that they had in custody some of the killers who were terrorizing Los Angeles.

Although there were so many similarities between the cases, police did not link the Hinman, Tate, and LaBianca murders for several months. It wasn’t until Atkins told her cell mates that she had participated in the murders that the pieces began to fall into place.

Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten were found guilty and sentenced to death, but their sentences would later be commuted to life imprisonment when California outlawed capital punishment. Manson would also be found guilty of two more murders: those of Donald Shea, who lived on Spahn Ranch, and Gary Hinman. Grogan was also found guilty of the Shea murder and was sentenced to death. After his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, he would become the only member of the family involved in its murders to be paroled. Grogan was released from prison in 1985.

Beausoleil was sentenced to death at the age of twenty-two, but his sentence also would be commuted to life in prison. Brunner was granted immunity for her unwilling testimony against Beausoleil, testimony she later recanted. Kasabian was granted immunity because she had not participated in the actual murders. Prosecutors needed her testimony to help convict the others.

Although Manson’s followers revered him as their spiritual leader, most people in America thought he was the devil incarnate.

Unfortunately, Charles Manson was not the only devil residing in California as the decade of love, peace, war protests, and a culture-changing civil rights movement came to an end.

31

September 27, 1969, was a perfect fall day in San Francisco. The sun shone brightly over the Golden Gate Bridge, and the air was crisp and cool. Twenty-year-old Bryan Hartnell had stopped by the cafeteria at Pacific Union College to grab a bite to eat and was surprised when he saw Cecelia Shepard, his ex-girlfriend. He had heard that she was transferring to the University of California at Riverside because of the excellent music program there.

Bryan was a nice young man, studious, and Cecelia liked him tremendously, even though they no longer dated. Bryan felt the same way about her. Cecelia was gentle, a kind soul who loved to sing and play the piano.

“I came here with Dalora to spend the weekend,” she told him, referring to her friend, “but I have to go back tomorrow.”

“Can we spend some time together this afternoon?” Bryan asked hopefully.

They decided to take a drive to Lake Berryessa, some two hours away in Napa County. The man-made lake, with 165 miles of shoreline, attracted people from all over the region. Its grassy hills provided a haven for wildlife and picnickers, while warm water temperatures invited swimmers and boaters. The hills and forests offered privacy and, when no one else was around, a hushed romanticism.

My father had been to the area several times for the Lake Berryessa Bowl—concerts held every weekend from May to September in a huge amphitheater about a quarter-mile from the lake, featuring acts like Alice Cooper, Sly and the Family Stone, Iron Butterfly, and the Sons of Champlin, a Bay Area band that Beausoleil had played with on occasion. Although music had originally drawn Van to the area, it was the beautiful young girls who tanned by the lake that brought him back again and again.