"The Zodiac Killer was my stepdad," said Dennis Kaufman. "And his name is Jack Tarrance."
People in Wichita Falls, Texas, have been intrigued by Kaufman's further claims that he is checking into the possibility that his stepdad may have also committed several murders in Texas in addition to the ones in California.
Is it possible he may have committed any of the unsolved murders near Wichita Falls?
Kaufman, who has submitted evidence to the FBI which he claims proves his stepdad's guilt, also said, "We moved from here(California), to Minnesota to Texas and then back here to California."
He also claimed, "The killings started only a month after we moved back here."
Although the known killings of the Zodiac Killer occurred in northern California, Kaufman made a dramatic trip to Texas recently in response to the request of a father whose daughter was murdered in the Lone Star State. Kaufman said the father thought there were similarities between the way his daughter was murdered and the way the Zodiac killings occurred in California.
A Seguin, Texas, newspaper article quoted Kaufman as saying he was checking into the possibility that his stepfather Jack Tarrance might have been involved in the deaths of four Texas girls while living in Texas.
The Seguin Gazette-News article reported that none of the suspected murders occurred in or near Seguin.
Kaufman and three men who accompanied him met with the father of one of the murdered Texas girls. The father showed Kaufman and his investigators a letter he had received from the killer himself. Kaufman said the letter was eerily similar to the letters Zodiac Killer wrote during his California murder spree.
The article also reported that Tarrance lived all over Texas during a four-decade period when they repeatedly moved from Texas to the Pacific Northwest and then back to the Lone Star State. Tarrance reportedly ran a filling station in Austin during one of the family's stays in Texas.
Kaufman has been reported as claiming his step-dad probably committed a hundred murders based on his review of his stepdad's notes and papers after his death in 2006. Kaufman claims he has a taped statement from his stepdad in which he admitted to being the Zodiac Killer. Tarrance later recanted this alleged confession shortly before his death.
The family reportedlly bounced back and forth between Texas and California for several decades, according to the newspaper article.
While San Francisco police officially credited the arrogant Zodiac Killer with seven murders in the late 1960s and early 70s, the murderer himself boasted he took the lives of more than 30 victims.
A relative of Jack Tarrance's who lives in Texas confirmed that the FBI had been there to take DNA samples from Tarrance's uncle.
The FBI is unable to take DNA samples from Tarrance himself since he was cremated upon his death a few years ago.
A Texas relative of Tarrance said, "FBI agents came and swabbed Jack's mouth. We gave consent."
Relatives of Tarrance spoke only on condition of anonymity.
The FBI has so far declined to disclose the results of any DNA testing done as a result of the collection of the evidence in Texas.
Kaufman said he discovered the Zodiac Killer's hood when he was going through his stepfather's belongings after his death.
At the time that Zodiac was terrorizing the San Francisco Bay Area with his murder spree, DNA testing was not in existence as part of criminal investigations.
The strongest forensic tool investigators had at that time was fingerprinting.
The Zodiac Killer boasted in letters to newspapers and police that the police would never prove his identity. So far he is right. No one has ever been arrested in the cases.
He also boasted that he eliminated any possibility of fingerprint evidence by applying airplane glue to his fingers.
One Wichita Falls resident who watched the movie "Zodiac" this week, was fascinated by the possibility the most famous American killer to remain un-arrested may have roamed the North Texas area. This Wichita Falls man said yesterday, "It would be incredible news if the FBI investigation connected him to any crimes around here."
It is important to note that at this point there is no known evidence of the Zodiac Killer ever traveling through or ever being in Wichita Falls. Despite that fact, many people in Wichita Falls have been discussing the case the past few days and are intrigued by the possibility that the Zodiac Killer possibly could be guilty of many unsolved crimes throughout Texas and the nation.
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