Gary Francis Poste was named as a suspect in the Zodiac Killer case in October 2021 by a volunteer cold-case group called the Case Breakers, but no law enforcement agency has endorsed that identification. The FBI, the San Francisco Police Department, and the Riverside Police Department have all said the Zodiac investigation remains open and unsolved, and the circumstantial case built against Poste has been rejected by longtime Zodiac researchers and the cryptographer who cracked the killer’s 340 Cipher. Poste died on August 23, 2018, at age 80, so the question of his involvement cannot be tested in court.
Who Gary Francis Poste Was
Poste was a house painter and Air Force veteran who lived for years on Merrell Road in Groveland, a small community in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills. According to the Case Breakers, he served with the 782nd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron and was injured in a 1959 car crash near a radar station in Clinton, Indiana, in which another airman was killed.1The Independent. Gary Poste Zodiac Killer Suspect The group says that crash left scars on his forehead, a detail that would become central to their theory decades later.
In February 2016, Tuolumne County sheriff’s deputies arrested Poste at his Groveland home on a felony charge of corporal injury to a spouse. A court found him incompetent to stand trial after a dementia diagnosis, and in 2017 he was moved to a state-run nursing facility in Stockton under a public conservatorship.2Union Democrat. Was a Groveland Man the Notorious Zodiac Killer He died there in August 2018.
The Case Breakers’ Evidence Against Poste
The Case Breakers describe themselves as a team of more than 40 former FBI officials, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, journalists, and forensic scientists. Their investigation was led in part by Thomas Colbert and by Tom Mauriello, a senior lecturer at the University of Maryland’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.3University of Maryland. UMD Forensic Expert Team Might Have Identified ‘Zodiac’ Serial Killer Mauriello described their approach as “reverse-engineering the case,” meaning the team identified a suspect first and then worked backward through historical records looking for connections.
On October 6, 2021, the group issued a press release naming Poste as the Zodiac. The evidence they put forward was circumstantial and fell into a few categories.
The group compared photos from Poste’s personal darkroom dating to 1963 with the 1969 police composite sketch of the Zodiac, saying the lines on the sketch’s forehead matched scars from his 1959 crash.4News.com.au. Why Gary Poste’s Neighbours Feared He Was the Zodiac Killer They also alleged that one of the Zodiac’s letters contained anagrams spelling Poste’s full name, with Colbert claiming the killer “cleverly used the postmarkings as Gary Francis (stamp) Poste.”5KTVU. Very Strong Suspect Named in Zodiac Killer Case by Cold Case Group
Other claimed links included a paint-splattered Timex wristwatch found at the 1966 murder scene of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, which the group tied to Poste’s painting work, and size 10 heelprints from military-style boots at Zodiac crime scenes said to match boots Poste allegedly wore.6Newsweek. Three Major Clues That Led Team to Identify Zodiac Killer Explained The group also cited roughly 20 witnesses and sources, including a self-described “whistleblower” who said he had been part of Poste’s circle in the Sierra foothills and once saw him burying weapons.
A significant piece of the theory involved the 1966 murder of 18-year-old Cheri Jo Bates, a case some researchers have long linked to the Zodiac. The Case Breakers said DNA from the Bates crime scene matched Poste and asked Riverside police to compare biological evidence recovered from the victim with a profile the group had developed from a hiking mat once owned by Poste.3University of Maryland. UMD Forensic Expert Team Might Have Identified ‘Zodiac’ Serial Killer Riverside police refused.
Why Law Enforcement and Experts Rejected the Identification
The FBI’s San Francisco office responded that “the FBI’s investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved” and declined to comment on specific suspects.7The Guardian. Zodiac Killer Investigation The San Francisco Police Department said it was “not identifying potential suspects for this open investigation.”8The Hill. FBI Says Zodiac Killer Case Still Open After New Theory Arises Both agencies characterized the evidence as inconclusive.9San Francisco Chronicle. Zodiac Killer Case Solved Case Breakers
Riverside police were blunter. Spokesperson Ryan Railsback said investigators “have not uncovered any evidence that the Zodiac Killer is responsible for Bates’ death” and added, “Is there a chance that the Case Breakers’ suspect killed Cheri Jo Bates? No. If you read what they put out, it’s all circumstantial evidence. It’s not a whole lot.” Railsback also said the group did not follow up when the department asked for more information in connection with a $50,000 reward in the Bates case.9San Francisco Chronicle. Zodiac Killer Case Solved Case Breakers
Tom Voigt, a longtime Zodiac researcher and author of Zodiac Killer: Just the Facts, called the identification “completely bogus” and “hot garbage.” He disputed the forehead-scar theory directly, saying no witness ever described lines on the Zodiac’s forehead and that the sketch artist added those marks to fill space. “In fact, if he does have scars on his forehead, that’s a really good reason to rule him out,” Voigt said.10Rolling Stone. Zodiac Killer Expert Debunks Identity Theory
David Oranchak, the cryptographer who led the team that cracked the Zodiac’s 340 Cipher in December 2020, said it was “improbable” that the killer’s ciphers contained the suspect’s name, and that the anagram method the Case Breakers used “can produce a dizzying array of names and words with easy manipulation.” San Francisco Chronicle journalist Kevin Fagan noted that other names, including columnist Herb Caen and Charles Manson, have been “found” in the Zodiac’s letters through the same kind of analysis.5KTVU. Very Strong Suspect Named in Zodiac Killer Case by Cold Case Group
The DNA Problem
No DNA match between Poste and any Zodiac crime scene has been publicly confirmed. The closest thing investigators have to Zodiac DNA are partial profiles developed in the early 2000s from saliva traces beneath stamps on the killer’s letters. Those profiles are incomplete and have been useful only for ruling suspects out, as happened with Arthur Leigh Allen in 2002.11NBC News. Case Remains Open FBI Refutes Claim Zodiac Killer Case Solved
The Case Breakers claimed in 2023 that “partial DNA” belonging to Poste had been held at the FBI’s Quantico laboratory since 2016 and that neither the Bates crime-scene DNA nor the profile from Poste’s hiking mat had been uploaded to the FBI’s CODIS database. The group accused law enforcement of mishandling evidence and ignoring leads, citing what it described as “over two dozen examples of law enforcement unprofessionalism.”12Newsweek. Did FBI Miss Chance to Arrest Suspect Zodiac Killer Gary Francis Poste The FBI has not confirmed any of these claims. Biological evidence from the Bates case remains with Riverside police, who continue to say the Bates murder is unrelated to the Zodiac crimes.13San Bernardino Sun. Zodiac Killer Sleuths Identify Suspect but Riverside Police Say Cheri Jo Bates Case Still Unsolved
Where the Case Stands
The Zodiac Killer investigation is still open. No charges were ever filed against Poste in connection with the Zodiac killings or the Bates murder, and no forensic match between Poste and any Zodiac crime scene has been publicly confirmed. His death in 2018 means he cannot be charged, tried, or compelled to provide a DNA sample. On the public record as it stands, Gary Francis Poste is one more name added to a long list of proposed Zodiac suspects, and the identification rests on circumstantial evidence that police and leading experts have declined to accept.