By Kristina Irwin
Opinion. Neither living man named in this article has been charged with any of these murders.
This is a reader-facing opinion column, published as Kristina Irwin wrote it. It argues that the Zodiac case involved more than one person, and in doing so it discusses two named men, one living and one dead, neither of whom has ever been charged with these killings. The editor's note at the foot of the page sets out what is and is not established about each of them. Please read it.
There are several documentaries on Peacock right now. The most interesting one is the Zodiac Myth documentary based on the book by Professor Thomas Henry Horan. He makes a lot of sense to me on some of his theories. So much so that even an author (Beeson) who wrote a book based on the police and SF Chronicle narrative of the crimes felt that had he not investigated and formed his own opinion, that his theory sounded plausible. The only case that I heard of a conspiracy was that of Darlene Ferrin’s murder. The information presented by Ferrin’s husband and Professor Horan brought to light an even more likely suspect: Ferrin’s former husband. This man had a criminal record and was said to have been stalker her prior to her murder. The strangest thing about this ex-husband is while they have pictures, including mug shots, there is no record of the man being in town. Ferrin’s younger sister and husband remember that when Ferrin left the man, they had been staying at a hotel outside of town. This is where the trail of this man disappears. Beeson says his name is James Crabtee. Ironically, James is also the name of the informant who reported another murder.
Even though the authors and documentarians conflict on their theories they do agree that this man disappears around the time of Ferrin’s murder. Only those who had met the man (such as the husband and the sister) can confirm that he existed under the name that he was known by. He was also known to have been abusive, to the point of making Ferrin sleep on the floor, while he slept on the motel’s bed. Ironically, Ferrin and this man were pregnant when she and Dean, the man she was married to at the time of her death got together.
Beeson would reveal that while he agrees that he did go off the grid and is a plausible place for the investigation to start, he does not believe that Crabtree died, (another place that he and Horan contradict each other. Horan and the documentary team discover that Crabtree has an alias. He is not dead and lives out of state. Crabtree denies the fact that he ever abused or even was cruel to him. Perhaps, since he had revealed that he met her at Haight Asbury during the Summer of Love, that drugs were involved.
He had a few revealing statements that made me feel more inclined to believe that he was involved in her murder. He claimed that it was less than three days before she suddenly was “in love” with Dean, and he left but his statement, “Whatever is going on here, you’re going to get back nine times.” He had a grin on his face when he revealed Darlene had been shot nine times.
The revelation that Jim Crabtree was into the occult, as many of the young adults were in the sixties and seventies was not the startling revelation to anyone who knows anything about the “scene” of the Flower Child generation. He spent two days in jail after a busted taillight while they investigated him, simply for his connection to the murder of Ferrin. What threw me for a loop, and this caught my attention.
This month, I turned 46 years old. I have been studying true crime since I was ten years old. I am two classes and a thesis from a Masters in Criminology. I have an undergrad degree in Social and Criminal Justice. I have had my brushes with murderers who were convicted in court, convicted by public opinion, and have two friends who were murdered. Having said this, the revelation that Crabtree makes in the documentary is only the second time that I have found that the original narrative, based on police investigation, is skewed. In situations of multiple violent crimes, (especially in what Stephen King calls “The Land of Ago,” an era where God, parents, and the American flag were revered more than anything else,) the police were under even more pressure and scrutiny to solve these senseless crimes.
Crabtree even laughs about the police showing up and investigating his time in the Army. He does not reveal how or why he came to the Haight Asbury District of San Franscico in the time that Charlie Manson was recruiting nor does he come across as the type of guy who would have been in “The Family.” He did reveal that he was dropping acid at the time of her death. He claims that a Federal Court Judge had seen him on the road but when investigating the alibi, there is no record of a judge being interviewed. His wife was his alibi witness. He played her death off as a Zodiac. He did say that “when you get to 70, you don’t give a damn what you say anymore.”
Why does this become a matter for “Down The Rabbit Hole,” is Horan said that the information he had researched about him was a lie. The documentarian was creeped out by the statements that he made concerning his connection to the idea of his training in the Army, and statements that he made. Horan felt that Crabtree needed more investigation into, at least, the Ferrin murder. Another theory is the time frame when these crimes occurred, and the discrepancies between the circulated police sketches of the suspect, tend to lend more credibility to the theories presented by Maury Theirry. Theirry is the man responsible for the investigation into the Son of Sam murders that is featured in the Josh Zeman documentary on Netflix.
In this documentary and the book written by Theirry, a demonic cult was responsible for instilling fear in New York. He presents the theory that more than one person was involved in these killings, supported by eyewitness accounts. He also presents a connection to the Manson killings. Ironically, in the case of the SOS case, the letters attributed to Berkowitz, mentioned “John Wheaties,” a friend, John Wheat Car, had a father named Sam. Car and his brother also die under what is described as mysterious circumstances.
Professor Horan also shows that there is a copycat and conspiracy within some of the Zodiac crimes as well. The murder weapon is different, the type of marker used, and so is the time of day in which the Lake Berryessa crimes occurred. However, there are two explanations. The expert, Dr. Judy Ho, presents that the killing is like a drug, the killer gets bored. The high is associated with the risk involved. This was bolstered with the example of Ted Bundy, who changed his MO when he broke into the sorority house in Florida.
The second theory is known as ‘deescalating.’ This means that he is starting to lose control and he is more into chasing the high and does not care if he is caught. We know that this is wrong because, (1) The Zodiac was never caught and (2) a deescalating serial killer is not going to stalk the three college girls laying on beach towels not far from the victims at the next inlet up from the girls. (3) One of the victims thought the park ranger was the killer returning. This park ranger did not leave the crime scene intact. He gathered up everything, placed it in a box, and pretty much ‘cleaned up’ the crime scene, thereby compromising/eliminating it. He also ‘goes dark’ for almost an hour. As an Army veteran, a military police officer, and has a similar haircut.
This is another interesting piece furthering a conspiracy within the Zodiac murders. The hair cut is pretty standard for the ‘squared away’ military types. Whether or not, Dennis Land was involved with this murder, whether or not Jim Crabtree was responsible for the death of Darlene Ferrin, the time frame does fit with a very violent time in American history. DNA testing was non-existent in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The lack of electronic surveillance that is now a way of life for us in 2025 was unheard of then. It was far easier for someone to get away with murder, which is why so many serial killers were able to get away with their crimes for so long. It was a very active time for serial killers, (1960s-1980s) and many of the later killers, like Ramirez, seem to show admiration for those who came before him. Killers like Ted Bundy, would be looked to as an expert, and aided in the understanding that proceeded the capture of Green River Killer, Ted Bundy.
Are killers feeding off the hype of the mythos of The Zodiac Killer to get away with their own crimes? Is it a cabal, as presented by Maury Theirry, making blood sacrifices to Satan? Or is The Zodiac, the most prolific, and active serial killer the world has ever known as presented by former Los Angeles Homicide detective Steven Hodel? Hodel put his decades long experience into investigating several serial killers and unsolved murders to present the theory that it was his father, George Hill Hodel, who was responsible for not just the Zodiac, but the Black Dahlia, etc.
I think this is what makes these types of crimes so fascinating to those who research true crime. You have investigators of various experience, age, and medium that are presenting theories, with various suspects. What some of these people fail to realize is that, at the heart of many of their theories, the conspiracy, there is a connection within the theories that they fail to acknowledge. Theirry does a good job proving that New York was under pressure to solve SOS and the same could be said for those who were hunting the Zodiac Killer. Could the police have pressured the San Francisco Chronicle from publishing further alleged letters to decrease the fear of the public and the attention the killer received? What about Paul Stein’s blood-soaked shirt?
We know from BTK that the drive can go dormant in some serial killers for years until irritated by the claims by the media and law enforcement that are so wrong to the point of insulting a killer that alluded the police for so long. That was BTK though. Each serial killer that have been proven in a court of law to be serial killers crave the notoriety of their crimes and they show no remorse. Zodiac inspired fear in the Bay Area but was never caught. Much of the established theories is that no letters could be authenticated to be true Zodiac after Paul Stein’s murder. Although 28 other letters were sent after but were disregarded by the authorities.
I present to readers that a true serial killer would not have allowed these letters to have been ignored if they were still able to continue killing. Either the Zodiac was arrested for another crime, became physically incapacitated, died, or the majority of the letters were not legit.
To be honest when you look at a video of an interview with Paul Avery looks a lot like the sketch of the Lake Berryessa killer. He was known as “Unsavory Avery,” and he was the primary point of contact between the killer and the SF Chronicle. The hair cut and the shape of the jaw are the same. He does seem the type to watch a bunch of girls sunbathing at the lake, but is he the killer?
There are so many questions that perhaps the world will never find out the true identity of the Zodiac Killer as no one in the last 200 plus years has found out the identity of Jack The Ripper. While I am not a criminologist yet, I present my own theory. I am inclined to follow Theirry down his own personal rabbit hole. The reason for the discrepancies is the potential for co-conspirators. Physical evidence left at one of the Zodiac Killer’s crime scene has a killer standing at the driver side door of the killer’s vehicle. If Theirry’s theory is correct, the Zodiac Killer’s crimes falls in line with The Manson Family in 1969 and the 1970s SOS Killings of New York. With the problem coordinating jurisdiction and cooperation within the Bay Area communities where the Zodiac Killer hunted there was no doubt that there would be no coordination between two different states.
This column runs as Kristina Irwin wrote it for the magazine. Her argument and her wording are hers, and they have been left alone. Because it names people, several things have to be stated plainly.
James, or Jim, Crabtree has never been charged with the murder of Darlene Ferrin or with any Zodiac killing. He is a living man. What this column reports are claims made in a television documentary and in the books it discusses, together with the author’s reading of his manner and his phrasing on camera. Crabtree denies having been abusive, and no police force has named him as a suspect in Ferrin’s death. Darlene Ferrin’s murder remains unsolved.
Paul Avery was a real reporter. He covered the Zodiac case for the San Francisco Chronicle, was the journalist the killer addressed directly, and died in December 2000. He was never a suspect, and no investigator has ever proposed him as one. The resemblance discussed here is the author’s own observation about a police sketch and a photograph. It should not be read as an allegation against him.
Three names are misspelled in the text and are given here for readers who want to follow the sources. Maury Terry, not Theirry, wrote The Ultimate Evil and pursued the cult theory of the Son of Sam killings. Steve Hodel, not Steven, is the former Los Angeles detective who has argued that his father George Hodel was responsible for the Black Dahlia murder and others. Thomas Henry Horan wrote the book behind the documentary discussed at the top of the piece.
Two factual slips are worth correcting without touching the prose. The sentence about Ted Bundy runs two things together: Bundy was consulted by investigators hunting the Green River Killer, and offered them his reading of the man. He was not the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgway was, and he pleaded guilty in 2003. Separately, the Whitechapel murders were committed in 1888, which is a little under a hundred and forty years ago, not more than two hundred.
The column was written while its author was two classes and a thesis short of a master’s in criminology, which she says herself, and it is presented as one researcher’s reading of the available theories rather than as reporting. The archive holds straight accounts of both cases for readers who want them, including THE STORY OF JACK THE RIPPER and the Zodiac and Son of Sam material listed under Related Articles.