Highly unlikely. Chances are very good that the Zodiac is no longer living.

The killer known as Zodiac was organized and consistent in his MO (modus operandi) and made few mistakes. Some of the handwriting samples do deviate, one from another. But this is explainable if the killer was Arthur Leigh Allen. Allen had a near-genius IQ and was left-handed but could write equally as well with the right. This is where the deviations occur.

No possible way. Eyewitnesses and surviving victims describe the Zodiac as a big man, close to 6 ft. tall, heavy or husky, with an awkward, lumbering kind of walk. Roman Polanski is barely over 5 ft. tall and does not lumber anywhere. In 1969 while Zodiac was in northern California killing young college-aged kids, Polanski was in Europe until August, coming home only after his wife was murdered. The July 4th murder of Darlene Ferrin and attempted murder of Michael Mageau in Vallejo, CA, happened while Polanski was filming his latest movie half a world away.

We may never know. Until a time when the Zodiac is positively identified only the killer knows the reasons he picked the name Zodiac. Author Robert Graysmith's favorite suspect Arthur Lee Allen, was obsessed with the name Zodiac, wore a Zodiac watch, loved codes and symbols, and fit the general description from eye witnesses. For Allen anyway, the Zodiac symbol was very important.

He was smart, he was careful and he was lucky. It was very difficult to pool evidence due to the fact that Zodiac killed in different jurisdictions from southern California to north of San Francisco. There was no DNA or Luminol, and many of the small towns involved had no fax machines or cell phone tracking by cell towers. The 1960's and '70s's were not that long ago. But those decades were in the stone age of technology.

In a way it has. After the release of the Zodiac bestseller, updated edition, by Robert Graysmith detectives were in the process of 'getting all their ducks in a row' and had planned to make an arrest in the case. Longtime Vallejo, CA resident Arthur Lee Allen who at the time of his death was serving time on unrelated charges, died before he could be charged in several of the Zodiac murders.

In the last year or so there have been several people that have come forward with claims that relatives of theirs were the killer but these claims have not been able to stand under forensic testing. For those that have read Graysmith's book on the Zodiac murders one thing stands clear. Wherever Allen happened to be, bodies turned up. Whether it was the Los Angeles area where Allen used to visit frequently, Santa Rosa, CA where Allen earned his post-graduate degree or the areas around his hometown of Vallejo. When he left an area, including incarcerations for inappropriate behavior with children, the killings ceased.

Yes, but not like what you might think. Most killers like this have what it known as a personality disorder, unlike a mental illness. Although sometimes they may have both, they remain functional and able to carry out muders and are able to stay at least 1 step ahead of the law, at least for a while. Truely mentally ill people have a problem coping with the world on a daily basis, and to accomplish serial murder a person needs all his wits about him or he will be caught early on.

This does not mean that they are normal. They are not. The big difference between mental illnes and a personality disorder is treatability. Many mental illnesses can be helped and managed with the right drugs and therapy, whereas a personality disorder is not fixable. You can't 'get over it', nor is there any medicine at present to treat personality disorders. Basically, a person's personality is what it is, and after a certain age (3 to 5 most experts think) it is pretty much set in stone. This does not mean that a serial killer can't stop himself. They can but just don't wish to.

The Zodiac Killer was never caught, so we can't really know. We do know that no one has been sent and kept in jail for the murders though.

The original Zodiac* was never caught.

*Zodiac had at least three copycat killers using the Zodiac name.

In a scandal that has stunned the world, the late Russell Johnson, known for his role as Professor Roy Hinkley on the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island, has been identified as the infamous Zodiac Killer. Johnson died of kidney failure this past January. It was a false rumor. He wasn't never identified as such.

Allegedly Corey Starliper deciphered the zodiac code which would tell the world his name. It reads thus:

KILLSLFDRHELPMEKI

LLMYSELFGASCHAMBE

RAEIOURDAYSQUESTI

ONSABLEEVERYYWAKI

NGMOMENTIMALIVEMY

PRIDELOSTICASTGOO

NLIVINGINTHISWAYK

ILLINGPEOPLEIHAVK

ILLDSOMANYPEOPLEC

ANTHELPMYSELFIMSO

ANGRYICOULDDOMYTH

INKIMALONEINTHISW

ORLDMYWHOLELIFEFU

LOLIESIMUNABLETOS

TOPBYTHETIMEYOUSO

LVETHISIWILLHAVKI

LLDELEVENPEOPLEPL

EASEHELPMESTOPKIL

LINGPEOPLEPLEASEM

YNAMEISLEIGHALLEN

With spaces, that reads "KILL SLF DR HELP ME KILL MYSELF GAS CHAMBER AEIOUR DAYS QUESTIONSABLE EVERYY WAKING MOMENT IM ALIVE MY PR IDE LOST I CAST GO ON LIVING IN THIS WAY KILLING PEOPLE I HAV KILLD SO MANY PEOPLE CANT HELP MYSELF IM SO AN GRY I COULD DO MY THINK IM ALONE IN THIS WORLD MY W HOLE LIFE FUL O LIES IM UNABLE TO STOP BY THE TIME YOU SOLVE THISI WILL HAV KILLD ELEVEN PEOPLE PLEASE HELP ME STOP KILLING PEOPLE PLEASE MY NAME IS LEIGH ALLEN".

Eyewitnesses testified he dressed in dark clothes. Dark blue windbreaker, dark pants, black boots. The Lake Berryessa survivor Bryan Hartnell described the Zodaic's outfit as dark pants, dark blue windbreaker jacket, black hood with eye holes and the crosshair symbol on his chest.

The original Zodiac Killer gave his name to the press during his rein of terror during the 1960's and 1970's. The most likely suspect, Arthor Leigh Allen, of Vallejo, CA,

was obsessed with Zodiac in all it's vairous forms and even wore a Zodiac watch, a gift from his mother, during the Zodiac's killing time. Allen was named as the Zodiac in bestselling author Robert Graysmith's book Zodiac:Unmasked, and was also the favorite suspect of original investigators Dave Toschi and Bill Anderson.

California's Zodiac was never caught or identified so it's hard to say if he is still alive. His letters to police and press stopped after the early 1970's, and he liked to see his name in print so if he were still killing I'm sure he would let someone know about it.

There have lately been a couple of new suspects added to the list, neither one was very impressive, and has not been backed up by forensic science. Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle at the time of the murders wrote a bestseller about the identity of the killer. He had an inside view of the case since the Zodiac sent cyphers and letters (and a piece of bloody shirt) to the Chronicle.

It is possible that the killer could still be alive, but in all probablity he has passed on to his reward.

The original Zodiac, the California serial killer has not been active since the 1970's. Chances are good that he is either very old or has since died.

The way he wrote and his handwriting clearly depicts the works of a male. females tend to explain their mind in a different way a male does. He had very bad writing most common in males.

Allegedly Corey Starliper deciphered the zodiac code which would tell the world his name. It reads thus:

KILLSLFDRHELPMEKI

LLMYSELFGASCHAMBE

RAEIOURDAYSQUESTI

ONSABLEEVERYYWAKI

NGMOMENTIMALIVEMY

PRIDELOSTICASTGOO

NLIVINGINTHISWAYK

ILLINGPEOPLEIHAVK

ILLDSOMANYPEOPLEC

ANTHELPMYSELFIMSO

ANGRYICOULDDOMYTH

INKIMALONEINTHISW

ORLDMYWHOLELIFEFU

LOLIESIMUNABLETOS

TOPBYTHETIMEYOUSO

LVETHISIWILLHAVKI

LLDELEVENPEOPLEPL

EASEHELPMESTOPKIL

LINGPEOPLEPLEASEM

YNAMEISLEIGHALLEN

With spaces, that reads "KILL SLF DR HELP ME KILL MYSELF GAS CHAMBER AEIOUR DAYS QUESTIONSABLE EVERYY WAKING MOMENT IM ALIVE MY PR IDE LOST I CAST GO ON LIVING IN THIS WAY KILLING PEOPLE I HAV KILLD SO MANY PEOPLE CANT HELP MYSELF IM SO AN GRY I COULD DO MY THINK IM ALONE IN THIS WORLD MY W HOLE LIFE FUL O LIES IM UNABLE TO STOP BY THE TIME YOU SOLVE THISI WILL HAV KILLD ELEVEN PEOPLE PLEASE HELP ME STOP KILLING PEOPLE PLEASE MY NAME IS LEIGH ALLEN".

The solving of the code identifies Arthur Leigh Allen as the killer who had been a suspect in the zodiac killings.

Michael Mageau wounded during the July 4, 1969 shooting that killed his friend Darlene Ferrin, was shot numerous times but survived. Bryan Hartnell and girlfriend Cecelia Shepard encountered the Zodiac at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, on September 27, 1969. Although Hartnell said the killer had a gun he switched to a large knife to repeatedly stab both Shepard and Hartnell. Hartnell survived, Shepard died shortly after the attack. Kathleen Johns (suspected victim) had a close encounter with a man believed to be the Zodiac. Disabling her car on a dark, deserted highway to Modesto, the man then offered her a ride, with her infant daughter along, explaining how he was going to kill her and then her small daughter. Johns was able to escape and hid in the dark by the side of the highway. Her disabled car was found the next morning gutted by fire to conceal any evidence. If there are others they have not come forward, and who could blame them.

Most people think that serial killers are psychotic with a psychopath background. Modern medicine also thinks like that. Some of them were cataloged with Paranoid Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder or Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

One of the most compelling 'coincidenses' occured at least a year before the first murders in northern California. Two friends of Allen's had a conversation with him where he described murdering people and using the name Zodiac. The murders were word for word accurate to what he told his friends.

He was seen on more than one occasion with cyphers and cryptograms almost identical to the ones that the Zodiac sent to police and newspapers, a year before the Vallejo killings.

Allen fit the physical description perfectly, down to the 'lumbering' way he had of walking, almost with a slight limp. Allen had surgery at one time leaving him with a very slight, odd hitch in his walk.

At one of the crime scenes a bootprint was left by someone wearing a military-issued boot called a WingWalker. These boots were only available to servicemen and their families in the western United States. Allen's father was a career military man and the family shopped at the local PX.

Everywhere Allen happened to be, whether at a job or working toward his many degrees, people ended up dead. When he went to southern CA there were Zodiac type murders, in Santa Rosa while attending Sonoma State at least 8 young women hitchhickers went missing, all suspected to have been killed by the same suspect. This occured everywhere Allen had been.

Allen was big on The Most Dangerous Animal, a book he read in high school about a man that hunts humans, because man is the most dangerous animal of all. Allen was really hung up on this book. He mentioned this book to almost anyone who knew him for more than 10 minutes.

The FBI criminal profile described a person that fit Allen almost exactly. At the times when no letters arrived to newpapers and police, Allen was either in prison or in the mental hospital. As soon as he was released, letters began to arrive again.

Allen's family, especially his brother and sister-in-law were certain he was the Zodiac. They cooperated with law enforcement and were intensely worried when an arrest was not made.

Allen's cars matched vehicles seen by witnesses. They were either his own cars, or cars of friends that he had access to, including cars driven to Los Angeles that were seen at the time and place of murders.

These are only a few of the facts that point the finger at Leigh Allen. In fact, police were preparing to get warrents and make an arrest at the time of Allen's death. We owe Robert Graysmith our gratitude for his investigation that lasted three decades and at least two marriages. He sacraficed much so the truth could be told.

The Zodiac usually targeted young couples in secluded areas. He used both guns and knives as weapons. On at least one occasion he wore an unusual costume. On two occasions he telephoned the police afterward to report his murders.

The most likely reason would be that Zodiac could not relate to women in a normal way. By killing couples, he eliminated others who could. It is also likely that Zodiac had a hatred for women, blaming them for his inability to a normal relationship.