ZODIAC MANIAC

New link to Black Dahlia killing explored

- by CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

FOR more than half a century, the Zodiac killer and the butcher of the Black Dahlia have haunted California like twin ghosts.

One stalked couples under the cover of darkness, the other left a Hollywood hopeful so mutilated it became the defining horror story of post-war LA.

Now a new investigation claims that those two monsters were actually the same man - Marvin Margolis.

The theory, compiled by investigative consultant Alex Baber of Cold Case Consultants of America, is now being reviewed by US law enforcement including the FBI. If the evidence stands up, it would close two of the world's most notorious unsolved cases.

The Zodiac burst into public consciousness between 1968 and 1969, murdering at least five people in northern California and claiming many more.

But he did not just kill - he taunted.

Letters. Codes. Cyphers. A crosshair symbol. The killer used the media as his stage, daring police to catch him and the public to decode his twisted messages.

Two decades earlier, the 1947 Black Dahlia murder left LA in a cold sweat.

Actress Elizabeth Short, 22, was killed in a crime so vicious, it spawned headlines, obsession and copycats.

In both cases, investigations fizzled out and the killers remain phantoms.

Until now, says Baber. At the heart of his claim is the Zodiac's Z13 cypher, sent with a cruel tease: "My name is -." He says he cracked it using AI, classic cryptography and new Census data, with the name pointing to a man who was once a Black Dahlia prime suspect.