Arthur Leigh Allen
Arthur Leigh Allen (December 18, 1933 – August 26, 1992) was the prime suspect in the unsolved Zodiac murders committed in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s. He was never charged with these crimes.
Biography
In July 1971, roughly 18 months after the first undisputed Zodiac murders, a friend reported his suspicions about Allen to the Manhattan Beach Police Department, and their report was forwarded to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).[1]
When questioned later, Allen claimed, without prompting, that the bloody knives he had in his car the day of the Lake Berryessa Zodiac attack (September 27, 1969) had been used to kill chickens; and when asked if he had read "The Most Dangerous Game" -- a famous short story referenced in a cypher from Zodiac -- Allen replied affirmatively and said it had made an impression on him.[1]
Allen was the only suspect in the case whom police had enough evidence against to execute not just one, but three search warrants: on 14 September 1972; 14 February 1991; and 28 August 1992, two days after he died.[1][2]
Allen denied his guilt in interviews and there was only circumstantial evidence against him.[3][4] Police found no physical evidence to prove that Allen was the Zodiac Killer, and the Vallejo PD chose not to press charges against Allen, a felon, despite finding weapons and explosive components in his home following the 1991 search.[3]
Ultimately, Allen's fingerprints and handwriting did not match the Zodiac's, no indisputable evidence linking him to the Zodiac killings was ever found, and recent DNA testing on the Zodiac letters in 2002 did not provide a match.[5][6]
Allen is featured in the 2007 thriller, Zodiac
References
- ^ a b c Wark, Jake, The Case Against Arthur Leigh Allen; 2001, accessed on 2007-03-01 Cite error: The named reference "JAKE" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Voight, Tom, The Arthur Leigh Allen File; 2003; accessed on 2007-03-01
- ^ a b Zodiac case overview by Clint Vander Klok; accessed on 2007-03-01
- ^ Suspect profile of Arthur Leigh Allen; accessed on 2007-03-01
- ^ Matthias Gaffni, Vallejo police send three letters for DNA testing; Times-Herald; 2007-02-22; accessed 2007-03-01
- ^ CNN Interview With Kelly Carroll; Aired 2002-10-27; accessed 2007-03-01