Has one of the nation's highest-profile serial killer cases finally been solved?
A group of former law enforcement officers and former FBI agents says it has.
The Case Breakers, a Los Angeles-based group of about 40 investigators who concentrate on cold cases, told FOX News on Wednesday that they had identified the Zodiac Killer -- and linked him to an earlier slaying.
The Zodiac Killer was responsible for five murders in the San Francisco Bay area between December 1968 and October 1969, though some experts believe he may have committed many more. The killer taunted police with a series of letters and cyphers sent to newspapers. Several possible suspects were investigated over the years -- some amateur sleuths even tried to link the Zodiac to Texarkana's own Phantom Killer -- but there was not enough evidence pointing to any one.
The cold case investigators say that deciphering the Zodiac letters, along with some physical evidence, led them to a man named Gary Francis Poste.
Poste, who apparently died in 2018, is the Zodiac, the Case Breakers claim, and the group says they were also able to link him to the 1966 slaying of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California, about 50 miles from Los Angeles.
So, is that the solution to the puzzle? Maybe, maybe not. It's been more than 50 years since the Zodiac killings. Can anyone ever really say for sure?
One thing you can count on, though. No matter how much evidence the cold-case investigators come up with, a lot of people won't buy it. Longstanding mysteries take on a life of their own. And that ensures they will never really be solved.