Massachusetts Man Says He's Cracked Zodiac Killer Code

http://belmont-ca.patch.com ^ | July 21, 2011 | By Brandon Schillemat

[Red Badger]

The paper that Starliper used to find the solution, complete with notes he used while solving the cipher. Credit Brandon Schillemat

Corey Starliper holds a paper with the solution to the Zodiac killer's most difficult cipher. Credit Brandon Schillemat

[dfwgator]

"A crummy commercial? Son of a b*tch!"

[mmichaels1970]

KILL/SLF/DR/HELP/ME/KILL/MYSELF/GAS/CHAMBER/
AEIOUR/DAYS/QUESTIONSABLE/EVERYY/WAKING/MOMENT/IM/ALIVE/MY/
PRIDE/LOST/I/CANT/GO/ON/LIVING/IN/THIS/WAY/KILLING/PEOPLE/I/
HAV/KILLD/SO/MANY/PEOPLE/CANT/HELP/MYSELF/IM/SO/ANGRY/I/COULD/
DO/MY/THING/IM/ALONE/IN/THIS/WORLD/MY/WHOLE/LIFE/FUL/O/LIES/
IM/UNABLE/TO/STOP/BY/THE/TIME/YOU/SOLVE/THIS/I/WILL/HAV/
KILLD/ELEVEN/PEOPLE/PLEASE/HELP/ME/STOP/KILLING/PEOPLE/PLEASE
/MY/NAME/IS/LEIGH/ALLEN/

Chilling.

[JoeDetweiler]

Dollars to doughnuts says this ain’t it.....

[Lazlo in PA]

Great news!!! Now that we have the identity of the killer, we can stop all these killings. Wait, Allen died in 1992? Well, never mind.

[Gator113]

I like Ovaltine.

I think I’ll go mix one right now.

[randog]

“With a code that constantly changes a pattern ... you can’t attack it using brute force.

Although I sympathize with Mr. Starliper, he lost me here. I would like to see his methodology, but you can't just make it up as you go along. At some point you're just counting the number of characters in the message and making a random message out of it. The fact that none of the authorities are interested is telling, too.

[JoeProBono]

[PGR88]

Don’t worry - OJ is going to find the real killers.

[CORedneck]

Kind of interesting to see an old driver license. If I remember right, licenses didn’t have pictures up until th e1970’s in most states. In fact there was a person from TN who had his TN license and it didn’t even have a picture and this was in 1984 !

[angcat]

Well what is the solution to the code I’m too lazy to read it.

[hattend]

The fact that none of the authorities are interested is telling, too.

I think they aren't interested because the main suspect died in '92.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

The “solution” is completely derivative ... meaning that it recapitulates everything that people think they know about the Zodiac case, with absolutely nothing new included. But if it’s valid, he can show us his solution set and prove it.

[RitchieAprile]

a PO Box address?

[AmusedBystander]

a PO Box address?

Ah, the good ol' days. When you could live at the post office and get away with murder.

[Grammy]

Mr G has a license with no picture on it. As a senior, it is optional for him.

[OrangeHoof]

So you see? Obama was right. Good things can come from being chronically unemployed. You have time to crack the codes of deceased serial killers.

Meanwhile the rest of us were busy looking for a paying job or trying to keep the job we have.

That’s it. I’m ready to sign onto another 99 weeks of unemployment checks. Maybe next Corey can solve the JFK assassination.

[Yaelle]

I think he is awesome! He deserves serious recognition from the police! Good job!

[WKUHilltopper]

A day late and a dollar short...

[Toskrin]

“So that’s what I started with,” said Starliper. “I thought, there’s no way ... that Zodiac is going to be prosaic enough not to mention the U.S. Virgin Islands in this code. This is where it gets even creepier. 3+4+0=7. Right. So you get 7+0=7. 707...707 are the area codes for Vallejo, Napa, and Solano. So I figured, why not start this with Caesar code using 3,4.”

I am still skeptical. I don't want to slam his effort, but his initial premise is wrong. According to Wikipedia, 340 didn't become the area code for the US Virgin Islands until 1997, nearly 30 years after the cipher was written. At the time the cipher was written all area codes had a 0 or 1 as the second digit. He of course could still have stumbled upon the answer by chance, but I doubt that he could solve a cipher that other codebreakers have failed at when he works with wrong facts and seems more concerned with numerology than math.