[book review]
Reviewed by Stephen Wiley Each instance of violent crime leaves an imprint that resonates out from the victim. It’s not just a reach that extends to family and friends, but into the lives of investigators, the media, and the public. With today’s accelerated, 24 hour news coverage, stories must fight for space in the public’s fleeting attention. Breaking news can saturate the front page one day, but follow-up coverage is often anemic at best, left to fend for itself as an online brief or as filler between newspaper ads. In today’s technology driven society, it’s hard to imagine a time when information wasn’t readily accessible via the Web or even within an organization’s intranet, for example the police or FBI. In an age of wireless, it’s near impossible to wrap one’s brain around the patience involved with calling someone’s office over a landline and, should you not reach them, leaving a message before having to wait until they pick it up and call you back. Or having to ship large files or bundles of paperwork as a means of information sharing. When Robert Graysmith started to research and organize the evidence for what would become Zodiac, published in 1986, he noticed a pattern of miscommunication between police departments. Due to the notoriety surrounding the case, and the pattern of violence that fell across multiple jurisdictions, much of the evidence was intentionally withheld as each department wanted to be the one to solve the case. This pattern of miscommunication was compounded by what investigators determined to be a concerted effort on the part of the Zodiac killer to move from one community jurisdiction to another in order to confuse and pit one department against another. After its publication, Zodiac was adopted by several local and federal agencies as the definitive source of information and evidence surrounding the case. While compiling the evidence, investigators interviewed 2,500 potential suspects; however, one person in particular kept surfacing in connection with the case. With Zodiac serving as an overview of the case, organizing all of the evidence and various suspects, Graysmith’s follow-up, Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America’s Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed, focuses its attention on that one suspect who surfaced repeatedly. Arthur Leigh Allen was first brought to the attention of police in 1971 in connection with the Zodiac killings. No hard evidence was ever collected against him, but a mountain of circumstantial evidence, all detailed in this book, made it impossible for investigators to ignore him. This convicted sex offender was alleged to have had conversations with friends describing the methods of Zodiac prior to any of the killings taking place; was repeatedly seen in areas where the killings took place; had a known association with one of the first victims; and most damning, he was identified in a photograph by one of his surviving victims decades later. Allen died before any formal charges could be filed against him. Without a confession and only circumstantial evidence against Allen, the Zodiac case is still considered unsolved. However, through Robert Graysmith’s investigative skills, each piece of circumstantial evidence against Allen is correlated with the timeline of the killings and the evidence pertaining to each. Zodiac Unmasked is a fascinating study in obsession. Together with his first book, Zodiac, we are shown how each person the case touched was irreversibly changed. Ultimately, though, it is an overwhelming portrait of a man believed by many to be the most elusive serial killer in history. The case may not be officially closed, but through Graysmith’s persistence and dedication, the investigators and the families of the victims now have the answer to the most haunting question. |
