WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:07.040 Citizens. Sleuth Alex Baber believed he had identified the killer 2 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.359 responsible for two of the most infamous crimes in history, 3 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.640 the Black Dahia and Zodiac murders, but his case was 4 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:19.440 built on circumstantial evidence, the breaking of a code left 5 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:23.760 behind by the Zodiac more than fifty years ago. Baber 6 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:27.039 knew that over the decades there had been many like him, 7 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.120 people who claimed to have solved these cases, only to 8 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.679 have their theories be dismissed or ignored for lack of evidence. 9 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:37.799 He knew that unraveling the Zodiac code was one thing, 10 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.320 getting hard evidence to go with it would be another. 11 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.960 Baber had built what he called the Forensic Linguistic Database, 12 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.439 containing the largest collection in the world of the writings 13 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:55.479 of serial killers and other infamous murderers BTK, Son of Sam, 14 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:59.920 the Atlanta child murderer, and so on. He had handwriting exemplar, 15 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:02.880 as they call them, from both the Zodiac and Black 16 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.840 Dahlia killers in the database, and a program using artificial 17 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:11.640 intelligence to compare the two had found linguistic similarities in 18 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:16.079 terms of the use of words and phrases. For example, 19 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:18.560 the Zodiac had promised in a letter to a San 20 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:24.359 Francisco newspaper to supply even more quote material in regard 21 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:28.000 to the murders he had committed. Twenty plus years earlier. 22 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.640 The so called Black Dahlia Avenger had promised a Los 23 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:35.719 Angeles newspaper editor that he would assist by providing additional 24 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:41.519 material about the horrific murder of Elizabeth Short. It's just 25 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:45.280 one simple word, but odd and significant when used in 26 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.400 context to describe the giving of forensic evidence in two 27 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:54.920 seemingly unrelated cases. Still, it was proof of nothing. It 28 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:59.159 was what would be considered circumstantial evidence at best, and 29 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.239 the more linguist to connections that could be made was 30 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:06.079 all the better, but still not good enough to make 31 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.199 his case and persuade the skeptics he knew would come 32 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:12.479 out of woodwork once he made his claims. Baber knew 33 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.199 he would need direct evidence. He would need to find 34 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:19.360 a smoking gun if he were to credibly connect the 35 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:25.840 two cases to the same killer. I'm Michael Connolly and 36 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.280 you're listening to Killer in the Code Solving the Black 37 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:35.319 Dahlia and Zodiac Killer Cases. This is chapter two. Let's 38 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:40.319 recap where we are on the morning of January fifteenth, 39 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.520 nineteen forty seven. The desecrated body of twenty two year 40 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.919 old Elizabeth Short was found in a vacant lot in 41 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:54.000 Los Angeles. She had been mercilessly tortured and murdered. Her 42 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.319 body had been neatly cut in two, severed at the midriff, 43 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.680 and drained of blood. It was a crime that horrified 44 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:05.000 the world and has remained unsolved for nearly eighty years. 45 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:09.800 In death, Elizabeth Short became better known as the Black Dahlia. 46 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.360 Her killer, calling himself the Black Dahlia Avenger, sent a 47 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:20.159 package to a local newspaper following the murder that contained 48 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.199 the property she carried with her, including her birth certificate 49 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:32.439 and an address book. Twenty two years after her murder, 50 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:35.840 and almost four hundred miles north of Los Angeles, the 51 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.960 self proclaimed Zodiac killer took five lives in a spree 52 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.919 that terrorized northern California. Was seemingly random murders committed across 53 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:50.719 a wide swath of geography. The Zodiac stoked the terror 54 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:55.560 with repeated written communications with newspapers, claiming more victims in 55 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:59.159 the past and future. In four of the notes, the 56 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:03.960 Zodiac provid coded messages, three of which remained unbroken for 57 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:08.120 a half a century. The most tantalizing of these was 58 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:11.879 the my Name Is cipher, in which the Zodiac boldly 59 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.639 claimed to reveal his name in a thirteen character cipher. 60 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:19.920 Because of his brevity, the so called Z thirteen code 61 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:24.480 was believed to be unbreakable. That is until fifty year 62 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:30.199 old Alex Baber came along. Baber is not a cop 63 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.839 and not a private detective. He's the founder of Cold 64 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:38.600 Case Consultants of America. He devised a computer program that 65 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.920 used artificial intelligence to weed through seventy one million possible 66 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.879 names that fit the Z thirteen cipher and knock it 67 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:52.319 down to a handful of manageable possibilities. Traditional gumshew work followed, 68 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:56.000 and Baber focused on one man whose name fit the cipher, 69 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:02.160 Marvin Merrill and alias belonged to a man originally named 70 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.720 Marvin Margolis, one of the prime suspects in the Black 71 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:13.000 Dahlia case. Now, to be clear, this was not the 72 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.480 first time the Dahlia and Zodiac cases had been linked. 73 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.399 A retired homicide detective for the Los Angeles Police Department 74 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:23.839 named Steve Hodell had connected the cases through his father, 75 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.240 doctor George Hodell, who was also a suspect in the 76 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:31.319 murder of Elizabeth Short Odell wrote a book about it 77 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.480 that I felt at the time was so convincing that 78 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.800 I even endorsed it with a blurb put on the 79 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:40.399 back cover. I lived to regret that because a subsequent 80 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.399 investigation by the LAPD Cold Case Unit determined that the 81 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:48.839 son's investigation of his father was flawed and the conclusion 82 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.839 was not valid. So now had Alex Baber wandered down 83 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:56.959 the same wrong path as he connected the two infamous 84 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.920 cases to a different suspect. He believed in the cryptography 85 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:05.680 that identified Marvin Merrill, but he knew that as groundbreaking 86 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:07.600 as it was, it wasn't enough. 87 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:11.240 The Z thirty solution was never viewed as a piece 88 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.360 of evidence. It was always viewed as an investigative tool, 89 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:18.160 and looking at it from that standpoint, I knew that 90 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:22.519 I would need some additional evidence to confirm the solution 91 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:27.160 because I couldn't I couldn't expect experts to support my 92 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:33.079 findings based on a possible solution has numerous variables, like 93 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:34.680 there's you could literally. 94 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:37.600 There's thousands and thousands of possible solutions. We needed to 95 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:39.759 have something that was physical that could confirm it. 96 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:43.199 Ultimately, I needed to have something that I can say, Okay, 97 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:45.360 let me let me show you what I have that 98 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.519 shows that this name can be associated with the real 99 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.040 world individual, that we can attach to the case not 100 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:55.040 by speculation, but by physical evidence. 101 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.240 He started with the FLD, the forensic linguistic database he 102 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.759 had created. He had the handwritten notes from both the 103 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:07.920 Zodiac and Black Dalua Avenger in the FLD. The handwriting 104 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:10.920 and the messages is very distinctive and you can go 105 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:15.480 to killer inthecode dot com to see them. Baber knew 106 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.959 that if he could locate writing's author by Marvin Merrill, 107 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.639 then he could have an expert handwriting analyst do a 108 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:26.240 comparison to see if they had come from Merrill's hand 109 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.079 And I have to say the use of handwriting analysis 110 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.720 an investigation is on the wayne, but still it would 111 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.360 be a start. Problem was Marvin Merrill was long gone. 112 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.639 He died of cancer in nineteen ninety three in Santa Barbara. 113 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:46.279 Would it be possible to even find an example of 114 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:51.279 his handwriting after so many years. Baber had made a 115 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.079 deep dive into the life of Marvin Merrill after the 116 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:59.000 name was identified as fitting the Z thirteen cipher. While 117 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:02.279 it was documented that Meryl, using his real name Margolis, 118 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:06.040 had shared an apartment with Elizabeth short three months before 119 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:09.519 her death. He had gotten married shortly after and had 120 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:13.319 started a family, becoming a father. In nineteen forty eight, 121 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:19.040 Baber uncovered marriage and birth records indicating he had been 122 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:22.920 married twice during his lifetime and had fathered four children. 123 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.800 Not all the children were still alive. Baber focused on 124 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:31.040 Meryl's youngest surviving child, a son born in the early 125 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.639 nineteen sixties, who he had located at an address in 126 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:38.840 southern California. Baber decided to reach out, but knew that 127 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.639 contacting someone out of the blue and saying your father 128 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.639 was a serial killer was not the best way to 129 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:47.519 gain cooperation and a handwriting example. 130 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:50.879 In order to get him to respond, I had to 131 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:56.360 present myself from a different perspective than an investigator or 132 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:58.879 an investigative consultant. What I did was I reached out 133 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.799 and I said, hey, you know, I'm doing some background 134 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:06.559 into World War two and the Battle of Okinawa is 135 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:10.120 a turning point in World War Two that your father 136 00:09:10.279 --> 00:09:13.120 was involved in. And I was able to come to 137 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:16.519 this conclusion based on a nineteen forty five Chicago interview 138 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:22.120 where he gives details about his experiences in Okinawa, and 139 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.120 I opened the door that way, hoping that he might 140 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:28.759 be able to revide me some additional background on Marvin, 141 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:30.120 and he was open to that. 142 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.960 The son agreed to meet Baber and a member of 143 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.279 his team, but he was not in southern California. He 144 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:39.080 was in upstate New York. They set up a meeting 145 00:09:39.159 --> 00:09:42.840 in a local restaurant near his home there. Baber went 146 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.919 to the meeting with his partner, Laurie Halstead, and they 147 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.039 recorded the conversation. The restaurant was loud and the recording 148 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:53.440 was not so good, but the surprises as they exchanged 149 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.879 information were clearly audible. And by the way, we're not 150 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:01.519 going to name Marvin Merrill's son on the podcast, because 151 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:05.080 he eventually agreed to cooperate with Alex and his investigation 152 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:09.879 if his privacy was protected. But Baber quickly came clean 153 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:13.879 and revealed the real reason for the meeting, Marvin Merrill's 154 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:19.519 connection to the Black Dhalia and Zodiac murder cases. It 155 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:22.320 became clear in the conversation that while the son grew 156 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.759 up with a worldview that was quite different from his father's, 157 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:29.240 he had no idea about the depth of the darkness 158 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.360 in which his father dwelled. Baber had brought a binder 159 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:36.399 with him that contained copies of the twenty two different 160 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:39.960 letters sent by the Zodiac to newspapers during his reign 161 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.360 of terror. The son started flipping through and he. 162 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.440 Immediately recognized the handwriting. 163 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:47.799 It's that of his father's. 164 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:51.879 There was a point where he reached across the table 165 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.360 and actually grabbed my hands. 166 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.039 And made the statement that you know, it's going to be. 167 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:58.399 All right, We're going to be all right. 168 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:03.480 His reaction was not that of a normal individual looking 169 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:07.159 at a letter that they did not recognize the handwritten 170 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:10.919 off you know, he definitely zoned in and identified it, 171 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.519 and it moved him. 172 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.399 The son revealed he had a storage location in southern 173 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.440 California where he kept the things left to him when 174 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.279 his father died. He said this included letters and journals 175 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.000 and business documents such as handwritten checks that could be 176 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:32.240 compared by experts to the Zodiac letters. He agreed to 177 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:33.240 turn it all over to. 178 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:38.320 Baber, and I actually exposed the connection to Elizabeth Short, 179 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.759 the black value that we had discovered, and I said, 180 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:42.320 are you aware that your father was the last known 181 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:44.000 boyfriend of Elizabeth Short. 182 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:45.679 She says, Elizabeth. 183 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.200 I said, yes, Elizabeth, he said, I have something I 184 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:49.879 need to show you. 185 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.279 So he pulls out his phone and he starts looking 186 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:54.200 through it, and my mind went to the fact that 187 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:57.159 his father had a background with art, and I said. 188 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.159 In the audio or to say, is do you have 189 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:01.679 a painting? He said, no, a sketch. 190 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:05.360 And at that point he pulled it up on his phone. 191 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:10.919 Oh my god, Wow, looking at a sketch of a 192 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.080 nude woman, you know from the Waystop that appears to 193 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.519 have punctual wounds torso area with smear blood and it. 194 00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:21.639 Has Elizabeth in bold writing, the biggest, the biggest writing 195 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:23.639 on the entire sketches, says Elizabeth. 196 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.120 This was a piece of evidence and it was smoking gun. 197 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:31.720 I was searching for The sketches clearly dated nineteen ninety two, 198 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.679 the last full year of Merrill's life, when he was 199 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.679 dealing with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. He just signed 200 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:41.600 Marty Merrell, which was one of the alias he was 201 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:45.559 known to have used, along with Marvin Skip and Skipton, 202 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.919 among his many different advocations in life. Merrill was both 203 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:53.840 an artist and an art dealer. The sketches. As Baber 204 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.279 described it, a striking image of a nude woman from 205 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.879 the waist up, eerily mirroring the bi section of the 206 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:04.759 black Dahlia. There are contour lines on the torso and 207 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.720 smear marks that also mirror some of the injuries that 208 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:12.480 Elizabeth Short suffered. It is titled Elizabeth in large letters 209 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:16.600 that crossed the entire piece. The mutilation of her mouth 210 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:19.559 and breasts are not evident, but it would stand the 211 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:23.320 reason that including such tortures would have been an immediate 212 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:28.120 and major giveaway, engendering automatic questions of the dying artist. 213 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.159 Alex Baber believed he had found a piece of evidence 214 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:36.200 that was a game changer, and Marvin merril'son was willing 215 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:39.240 to take him back to his residence where he had 216 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:42.679 the sketch framed and hanging on a wall. 217 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:44.600 Well, I couldn't believe what we're staring at. It was 218 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:47.120 a smoking gun. We knew that this sketch was a 219 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.080 piece of evidence. It was physical evidence for the first time. 220 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.360 Since the package was mailed to the local newspapers in 221 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.720 la on January twenty fourth, nineteen forty seven. Since then, 222 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.320 there has been no physical evident It's discovered in her case, 223 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:05.480 and here I am looking at it with the offer 224 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.960 to go back and physically see it myself, well, you know, 225 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:13.759 in his residence, knowing that it's there, that's it still exists. 226 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:17.600 It's not a photo of something that's been destroyed. It 227 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.000 was a moment where I knew at that point that 228 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:20.799 it was game over. 229 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:26.559 There's nothing, there's nothing that can refute that sketch being 230 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.639 signed and dated by Marvin Margolis under his. 231 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.799 Alias, that contains guilty evidence. 232 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.799 If Marvin Merrill was alive today, we could prosecute him 233 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:36.799 based on the evidence. 234 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:41.120 With the masketch. We were caught in a moment of 235 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:47.039 almost disbelief what we were looking at when he handed 236 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:49.919 the hand of his phone to me and I zoomed 237 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:54.440 in on it, on the torso area in particular, and 238 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:58.799 to see the stab wounds and the smeared blood image. 239 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.320 At that moment, I knew what I was looking at, 240 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:04.879 and as soon as I turned the phone to Laurie, 241 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:08.200 Laurie knew what she was looking at as well. It 242 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.879 was instant, and it was almost like in all honestly, 243 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:14.840 it's almost like time froze for a moment and everything 244 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:17.120 around us just went mute. It was. 245 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.399 It was one of those moments in your life where 246 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:23.080 you realize what you're looking at shouldn't be there. 247 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.000 But you know it's a reality, like it's it's it's 248 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.120 in your hands, you know it exists. We arrived, you'd 249 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.639 share the Zodiac's letters with him to see if he 250 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:38.799 recognized him, which which he did, and and then all 251 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.399 of a sudden we get the smoking gun that's in 252 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:42.039 our hands. 253 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.519 At that moment, we knew was game over. 254 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.440 I do believe that the term that I used with 255 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.000 Laurie when we exited the restaurant, I said to her, 256 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:54.080 this is game over. Do you do realize what we have? 257 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:56.440 Laurie said absolutely. 258 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:03.679 You can go to our website Killerinthecode dot com to 259 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:07.200 view the sketch of Elizabeth and other documents and photos 260 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.840 relating to Alex Baber's investigation. We are not providing autopsy 261 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:16.360 photos for comparison to the sketch because they are extremely 262 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:22.879 graphic and available elsewhere on the internet. I have to say, 263 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.840 when I first saw the sketch, I felt a chill 264 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:31.519 go down my spine, and I was not alone. Missy Roberts, 265 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.279 the former LAPD homicide investigator who ran the cold case 266 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.879 unit until her retirement last year, was the keeper of 267 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.840 the Black Dahia case for the last sixteen years of 268 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:45.840 her career. She believes the sketch is direct evidence of 269 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.879 Marvin Merrill's culpability in the murder. 270 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.519 If I was still at the LAPD, I would have 271 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:55.159 been in New York already knocking on the door and 272 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:56.519 retrieving that. 273 00:16:56.519 --> 00:17:00.039 Evidence, because it's we don't have a lot. 274 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:04.200 Of physical evidence in this case, and that is crucial evidence. 275 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:10.839 Roberts former partner and longtime cold case investigator Rick Jackson, agrees. 276 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:16.119 It's almost like a calling card, something left behind, a 277 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:17.839 deathbed confession, if you will. 278 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:21.720 Roberts and Jackson were part of the team Baber assembled 279 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:25.279 after the discovery of the sketch. This included a retired 280 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:30.880 FBI supervisory agent, several season cold case homicide investigators, and 281 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:34.480 a prosecutor. One by one, they were briefed on Baber's 282 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.839 code breaking and follow up investigation. One by one, they 283 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:44.200 were turned from skeptics to believers that after all these decades, 284 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:48.000 two of the greatest crime mysteries in history had finally 285 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:48.799 been solved. 286 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:59.440 It's totally overwhelming, circumstantial evidence and now it has become 287 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:05.319 mixed in with some physical evidence that supports Alex's suspect 288 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:08.920 as being the Dahlia and Zodiac killers. 289 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:13.000 I need to say here that after Marvin Merrill's son 290 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:17.279 agreed to cooperate with Alex Baber's investigation and even turned 291 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:19.640 over the sketch as well as two boxes of his 292 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:23.359 father's documents, he is not convinced his father is the 293 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:27.200 infamous Zodiac and Black Dahlia killer, and of course that 294 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:32.200 is the son's prerogative. Moving on, the value of the 295 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:36.160 Elizabeth sketch went beyond it being evidence that connected Merrill 296 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:40.000 to the Black Dallia murder. Remember what Alex Baber said 297 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:43.119 to me the first day we met. He boldly claimed 298 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.759 that he had the ability to find the hidden beneath 299 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:49.640 the hidden. And now as he studied the Elizabeth sketch 300 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.519 and thought about that long history of the Zodiac's cryptic 301 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.079 clues and the I'm smarter than you taunts to the 302 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:00.880 public and the police, Baber started thinking about the hidden 303 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:01.880 beneath the hidden. 304 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:06.799 If Marvin was who we suspected he was, then that 305 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:11.720 sketch itself wasn't just something he created, It was a message. 306 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:14.799 It was a means to an end for him. 307 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:17.279 He knew his life was short, he. 308 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.960 Knew that he wouldn't be on the face of the 309 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:24.200 earth much longer. And it was in my eyes, it was. 310 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:28.240 A deathbeck confession. It was his way of releasing whatever 311 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:31.559 guilt or whatever that was in him, if there was guilt, 312 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:35.720 by putting it out there, knowing that one day. 313 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:40.440 Somebody would come along and discover it and say, look, 314 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:43.839 this is a piece of history that connects directly to 315 00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:48.200 his former girlfriend who was murdered. And that's the idea. 316 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.440 Once I knew that the zodiac was connected through the 317 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.599 Z thirteen and the son identifying some of the evidence, 318 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:57.160 I knew at that moment that this there could be 319 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.960 something more to this sketch than just Elizabe. 320 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:02.240 And at that moment, that's when. 321 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:04.359 I decided that we would look at the sketch from 322 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:07.799 a different perspective and run it through, you know, a 323 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:12.400 light spectrum in contrasts, you know, peel off layers, so 324 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:13.920 I could see if there was anything beneath that. 325 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:21.119 This non invasive imaging is technically known as infrared reflectography 326 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:24.359 and is a technique used by art historians to study 327 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.480 the layers of paintings and sketches to find what is 328 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:31.279 hidden below the surface to identify the creative's depths and 329 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:37.079 changes made by the artist. When Baber applied this technique 330 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.000 to the Elismus sketch, using color and contrast fields, he 331 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.839 found a single word hidden beneath the dark shading that 332 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:49.480 outlined the central image of the woman. That hidden word 333 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:51.559 was Zodiac. 334 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:58.119 I just think that it was his way of saying, 335 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:01.680 you know, here I am, I'm dying. I got I 336 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.279 got away with it, but I'm hoping somedays somebody will 337 00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:08.720 come along that will discover this sketch and identify me 338 00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:12.759 as the perpetrator. One thing that we're absolutely sure about 339 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:15.839 is the fact that the Zodiac was egotistical and he 340 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:19.319 was a genius level at aless. That being said, there's 341 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:22.359 no way that the individual that committed these crimes would 342 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:26.720 have left this planet without leaving behind some source of 343 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:29.519 identifying him. He couldn't do that. 344 00:21:29.799 --> 00:21:32.599 It's like Jack the Ripper, right, whether it's ever solved 345 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:34.839 or not, Jack the Ripper will go down, you know, 346 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:37.519 as being probably the most infamous serial killer with the 347 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:40.759 exception of this case, once we're done, but he'll never 348 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:43.960 be identified there's just no DNA left, there's no evidence there. 349 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:46.920 With zodiacs a different, different circumstances. 350 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:48.559 He wants to be known. 351 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.480 In order to be known, you have to give him 352 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:53.000 a name and a face, and I believe that's what 353 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:54.000 the sketch represents. 354 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:59.519 It concretely ties the two cases together. 355 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:04.680 In case you are wondering, the Elizabeth sketch has been 356 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.960 secured for further analysis by an independent art expert. We 357 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.920 will have a report on that in the episodes that followed. 358 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.519 The sketch, of course, energized the whole investigation, but Alex 359 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.119 Baber did not drop his focus on the angle of 360 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.960 investigation that led him to the sketch in the first place, 361 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.680 the handwriting analysis. We'll have more on that in future 362 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:32.319 episodes of the podcast. We will be back with the 363 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:36.480 continuing story of the investigation on January fifteenth, the seventy 364 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:40.319 ninth anniversary of Elizabeth Shortz murder. We'll tell you then 365 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.240 about breaking the final Zodiac code and its direct connection 366 00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:49.720 to the Black Dahlia. For more information, go to Killernthecode 367 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:54.599 dot com. This podcast was written and produced by Michael Connolly. 368 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:58.720 It was edited by Teroll, Lee Langford and Mark Henry Phillips, 369 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:03.079 with sound design and scoring by Mark Henry Phillips as well. 370 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:05.319 Thank you for listening.