A San Francisco Police Department wanted bulletin and copies of letters sent to the San Francisco Chronicle by a man who called himself Zodiac. An amateur code breaker says he solved the Zodiac cipher and identified a suspect tied to both the Zodiac slayings and the 1947 Black Dahlia killing.
Eric Risberg/Associated PressAn amateur code breaker is claiming to have solved the Zodiac killer’s long-unsolved identity — and, in the process, to have linked the slayings to the 1947 killing of Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia.
The theory, reported in depth by the Los Angeles Times, names Marvin Margolis, a former premed student and World War II Navy corpsman, as the man behind both crimes. Margolis later lived under a series of aliases and was questioned by police in the Black Dahlia case but never charged.
The claim comes from Alex Baber, 50, a self-taught cryptographer from West Virginia who says he cracked the Zodiac’s elusive 13-character cipher, known as Z13, which was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1970.
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The cipher begins with the phrase “My name is —” and has long resisted decoding.
Baber says the answer hidden in the code is “Marvin Merrill,” the name Margolis adopted after Short’s killing.
The letter published by the Chronicle April 22, 1970, includes a cypher that Zodiac hints will give away his identity. An amateur code breaker says he solved the Zodiac cipher and identified a suspect tied to both the Zodiac slayings and the 1947 Black Dahlia killing.
S.F. Chronicle“It’s irrefutable,” Baber told the Times.
Using artificial intelligence, Baber generated millions of possible names, then narrowed the list by cross-referencing witness descriptions and public records, including military, census and marriage files.
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He says the final result points squarely to Margolis, who died of cancer in 1993.
Two retired homicide detectives who worked the Black Dahlia case say the theory is compelling.
“In my opinion, these are solved cases,” said Rick Jackson, a former LAPD and San Mateo County homicide detective, told the Times. “There are too many links with both. There’s overwhelming circumstantial evidence. (Margolis) left breadcrumbs all along.”
Margolis was questioned by police after Short’s mutilated body was found in a vacant South Los Angeles lot, severed cleanly in half. He initially lied about the extent of his relationship with her, later admitting they had lived together shortly before her death. He soon moved out of state and changed his name.
San Francisco police circulated this composite of the Bay Area’s “Zodiac” killer. An amateur code breaker says he solved the Zodiac cipher and identified a suspect tied to both the Zodiac slayings and the 1947 Black Dahlia killing.
Bettmann ArchiveSupporters of Baber’s work point to Margolis’ medical training as a Navy corpsman, his documented psychological instability after combat, and a disturbing sketch he drew in 1992, shortly before his death.
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The drawing depicts a mutilated woman labeled “Elizabeth,” with the word “ZODIAC” allegedly hidden in the shading.
The cipher solution has also been reviewed by former National Security Agency cryptographers.
“All of Alex’s work checked out to me,” said Ed Giorgio, a former NSA codebreaker.
Still, skepticism remains. For decades, law enforcement and journalists have been inundated with amateur theories about the Zodiac. As veteran San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan has written, only police can definitively close the case.
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