coldbloodedkiller:

The Zodiac Killer

On September 27, 1969, Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Ann Shepard were picnicking on the shores on Lake Berryessa. They noticed a stocky, brown-haired man walking towards them. He disappeared into a bush and emerged again wearing a mask and carrying a gun. The mask had the symbol of a circle with a white cross inside on it.

“I want your money and your car keys,” the masked man calmly told the couple. Bryan only had 76 cents with him. The gunman then began to chat with Bryan. He told the couple that he was an escaped convict and would have to tie them up. He had Cecelia tie up Bryan and then he tied up Cecelia himself. He just them, just as calm, “I’m going to have to stab you people.”

Bryan begged to be stabbed first and the gunman obliged. He stabbed Bryan repeatedly in the back with a hunting knife. He then turned his attention to Cecelia. He was calm at first, but after stabbing her once, he wildly thrust the knife into her defenseless body. Once she was still, the masked man was calm again.

Next, he walked over to the couple’s car and wrote “Vallejo/12-20-68/7-4-69/Sept 27-69-6:30/by knife” and drew the circle of the circle with the cross.

At 7:40 p.m., the Napa Valley PD received a call from the killer, who gave a precise location of where to find the bodies.

Cecelia was in a coma when the police arrived and died two days later in the hospital without regaining consciousness. Bryan slowly recovered and was able to give a description of their attacker.