# Unabomber was the Zodiac Killer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabomber-was-the-zodiac-killer/48263 "2001-01-03T18:10:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BuddyG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BuddyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddyG)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabomber-was-the-zodiac-killer/48263/1 "2001-01-03T18:10:07Z")
Shortly after Ted Kaczynski was arrested for the Unabomber slayings, I remember watching a TV show that speculated if Kaczynski was also the Zodiac Killer. Several interesting coincidences were mentioned, of which I have a vague recollection, so bear with me. [ul] [li]A male survivor of an early Zodiac attack reported that the assailant mentioned going to Montana. After Kaczynski left UC Berkely, he eventually wound-up living in Montana.[/li][li]The code used in Zodiac’s written messages was broken,[/li]except for the last 18 characters, which investigators thought could be the killer’s signature. TheodoreJKaczynski = 18 characters. [/ul] Beyond that, here are some other [coincidences](http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mignarda/connect.htm). Did anything every come of this Zodiac-Unabomber connection? ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabomber-was-the-zodiac-killer/48263/2 "2001-01-03T18:24:57Z")
Go here, it touches on the theory. [http://www.crimelibrary.com/zodiac/zodiac/14.htm](http://www.crimelibrary.com/zodiac/zodiac/14.htm) Sorry, I don’t know how to post it as neatly as everyone else… ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabomber-was-the-zodiac-killer/48263/3 "2001-01-03T19:38:15Z")
Kaczynski has been cleared of the Zodiac murders. From the previously mentioned link… > [@](#): > > Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski came to notoriety when he was > convicted as the Unabomber but was also considered to be a suspect in the Zodiac killings because he had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960’s and had an extremely high intellect. He also had the proven ability to construct bombs. Like Zodiac, Kaczynski wrote letters to the media after committing his crimes. Kaczynski has since been cleared of any involvement in the Zodiac crimes by the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department following handwriting and fingerprint comparison. It was also proven > that Kaczynski was out of California during the time that several Zodiac crimes were being committed. By the way Alias, you can do that neat quote thing by placing {quote} & {/quote} brackets around a block of text. Use the square brackets, not the curly ones though… ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unabomber-was-the-zodiac-killer/48263/4 "2001-01-03T23:42:24Z")
It’s true the Zodiac made a reference to Montana during the Lake Berryessa, CA attack of 27 September 1969, during which he tied up at gunpoint & repeatedly stabbed Cecilia Shepherd (who died) and Bryan Hartnell (who barely survived). The hooded and costumed slayer claimed to the couple - before swooping in for the kill - that he wouldn’t hurt them, that he only needed their car because he was an escaped convict from a prison in Deer Lodge, Montana, where he had killed a prison guard and stolen a car. He didn’t take their car, but instead scrawled information about some other killings on the driver’s side door. The 18 characters at the end of the coded message he sent - in 3 separate parts to the _Vallejo Times-Herald_, the _San Francisco Examiner_, and the _San Francisco Chronicle_ - translate into EBEORIETEMETHHPITI, if one uses the exact same code he used for the rest of the message. The generally agreed-upon theory has been that he tacked on some nonsensical gibberish at the end of the third segment in order to make the segments identical in size, further confounding translation. Arthur Leigh Allen is who most authorities on the case believe was the Zodiac, and his obituary said as much.