An investigative group comprised of law enforcement, military intelligence officers, and journalists alleged this week that the FBI failed to adequately investigate the Zodiac Killer’s identity — despite having a suspect’s DNA since 2016.
The group, called The Case Breakers, identified the serial killer as Air Force veteran Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018. The Case Breakers wrote that the FBI secretly had Poste listed as a suspect in the case since 2016, and his partial DNA profile was housed at the agency’s lab in Quantico, Virginia.
The Zodiac Killer was behind at least five slayings in California in the late 1960s. The killer boasted about his actions in coded notes that were sent to police and the media.
The Case Breakers alleged that they recovered Poste’s DNA from a hiking mat owned by him three decades earlier.
“CBs [Case Breakers] found the ancestral town of the now-dead Poste, where DNA from a blood relative was offered by a confidential informant. Days later, ‘good profiles’ from Poste’s kin and the mat’s DNA were compared by forensic experts from 5 colleges. ‘Strong similarities’ were found; team hopes the results will be compared to hairs found on 1966 victim Cheri Jo Bates,” the post read.
Bates was murdered in October 1966 in Riverside, which is hundreds of miles from where the other victims were killed. Riverside police said it does not believe the Zodiac Killer carried out Bates’ slaying.
However, the Case Breakers previously claimed it decoded messages that heavily suggest Poste is the Zodiac Killer — including one in which Poste’s entire name was removed to express a completely different message. Further, the group said it obtained a 1975 FBI memo to Riverside police that listed Bates as one of the Zodiac’s victims.
In their latest post, the Case Breakers publicized a picture of Poste, which apparently shows him with a forehead scar that is also shown in sketches of the elusive killer. The post also went on to accuse the FBI of hiding evidence after Groveland residents directed agents to Poste in 2014, four years before his death.
“‘Jaw-dropped’ FBI agents were shown his elaborate escape map, photos, dual identities, cryptic clues (left), shell casings – and in 2016, his DNA,” the post read. “But witnesses and emails reveal the feds, Riverside PD and SFPD white-washed the residents’ heroics and seized their briefcase with all the documentation.”
The Case Breakers claimed that Groveland residents and news anchor Dale Julin contacted them about the apparent coverup in 2020. The DNA scoop reportedly came from an FBI whistleblower.
“The FBI’s investigation into the Zodiac Killer remains open and unsolved,” the FBI’s San Francisco Office told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, and out of respect for the victims and their families, we will not be providing further comment at this time.”
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[Featured image: Sketch/San Francisco Police Department; Gary Francis Poste/Handout]
