Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series revisiting the infamous tale of the Zodiac Killer, with a special focus on its prime suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen, Netflix’s ‘This is the Zodiac Speaking’ is truly gripping. That’s because it incorporates not just archival footage but also exclusive interviews to shine a clear light on why many consider him to be a heinous serial killer and how he escaped authorities. In other words, it’s essentially a profile of his life, alleged crimes, actual offenses, and ultimate unfortunate demise, with a focus on his experiences from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Arthur Leigh Allen Was a Navy Veteran Turned Teacher
Although born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 18, 1933, Arthur was actually raised in Vallejo, California, in a seemingly happy, healthy, stable family, yet he still had some dark tendencies. According to records, he took an interest in killing and torturing insects as well as small animals as a youngster before suddenly expanding his interest to the world of Liberal Arts. In fact, the 1950 Vallejo High School graduate ultimately enrolled in Vallejo College before attending Cal Poly State College at San Luis Obispo, California, where he earned his bachelor’s in 1960. From 1951 to 1953, he worked odd jobs such as a lifeguard and a sailmaker.
Arthur was reportedly obsessed with water, making him a great surfer, swimmer, as well as diver – he was even on the state level at one point in time, driving him to feel a pull toward the Navy. Therefore, he enlisted in 1951 and served until he was honorably discharged around 9 years later – he was mostly in the reserves during the period, enabling him to work and study, but he spent some time on active duty across various submarines. It was because of the latter that he earned the China Service Medal, only to then suddenly face a special court-martial at Naval Station Treasure Island for bringing a loaded gun aboard in 1958. He was found not guilty.
It comes as no surprise that once Arthur had moved on from the military and was over with his education, he decided to take up teaching in his hometown as a way to keep his interest alive. Little did anyone know at the time that his interests included not only education, puzzles, ciphers, and helping kids lead a better lifestyle but kids in general, too. After all, he was actually reportedly fired from his teaching job in March 1968 after allegations of sexual misconduct with students, shortly following which he found himself in prison on similar charges too.
Arthur Leigh Allen Had a Checkered Past
While no one ever really questioned why Arthur spent so much time surrounded by his students both in and outside his classrooms, making sure to go the extra mile to give them care and new experiences, he was actually allegedly preying on them. According to court documents, he has an MO of getting closer to the mothers of his students so as to spend more time with them, only to take advantage when they trusted him completely. The aforementioned documentary series also reveals that he often treated the girls and the boys differently and could often be found with his arms around the young girls or giving them hugs, which they never thought was weird at the time.
However, everything changed in the 1970s as Arthur was arrested, charged, and sentenced for molesting a young boy, only for him to tell some of his long-held former students and their mothers that he had lost his cool with a cop. He actually said he had turned violent with an official during an interview as he believed they were mocking him and setting him up, but the reality was that he was behind bars for preying on a young girl. As per records, he served 4 years, and the Zodiac killer was completely silent during this time, too – he attacked no one else, committed no other murders, and didn’t even send letters to mock the journalists/policy.
However, shortly after Arthur was released in 1977, a new letter by the Zodiac came to light, with him just mocking investigators rather than revealing any other brutal offense. It was then that he began working odd jobs, all the while doing his best to keep the stark suspicion of him being the serial killer away from the limelight by admittedly keeping a low profile. He even went as far as to give an interview to Rita Williams from KTVU to deny the same, only for both her and her cameraman to believe he was indeed the elusive serial killer who had been active until 1969.
Arthur Leigh Allen Was the Prime Suspect For a Myriad of Reasons
It was back in 1960 when Arthur first came into the light as a promising suspect as his brother’s roommate/friend Don Cheney came forward to tell reporters that he believed Arthur was the serial killer. Don actually told investigators that he had once gone hunting/fishing with the school teacher, just for him to claim he wanted to shoot at bus tires once and then kill the kids as they hopped out of it. This is the exact same sentiment that the Zodiac once expressed in one of his mocking letters to a local newspaper, making him feel sure that the negative energy he felt that day was more than real.
As if that’s not enough, according to the Seawaters, a family he was extremely close to while he was a teacher in the 1960s, he had taken the kids to the crime scene areas either just before or around the exact same time as the offenses happened. Connie Seawater asserted in the original production that she once even saw him with blood all over her hands as he came back from a beach in Gaviota State Park on June 4, 1963, just to realize years later that 18-year-old Robert George Domingos and Linda Faye Edwards, his 17-year-old fiancée were killed there on the exact same day. They have also since alleged that they often used to help him make his diving costumes, which were similar to the description survivor Bryan Hartnell gave in 1962.
As if that’s not enough, the Seawaters have since also claimed that Arthur confessed to drugging them on their adventures before assaulting Connie, who was not even a teenager at the time. Moreover, and more importantly, a few others have named him as a suspect to the police, driving them to execute at least three search warrants on his place over two decades. During this period, they recovered clippings of the Zodiac case, pipe bombs, and several other circumstantial pieces of evidence, along with the fact he actually wore a Zodiac watch and that his handwriting kind of matched the killer’s, but nothing concrete was ever recovered.
Arthur Leigh Allen Died at the Age of 59
Therefore, despite allegations, concerns, and severe suspicions, Arthur was never arrested or charged as the Zodiac Killer. He allegedly confessed to David Seawater that he was indeed him once while struggling with his health during the later years of his life, but even that led nowhere. However, what’s imperative to note is that when he was found dead in his home from a heart attack on August 26, 1992, after a long period of undergoing dialysis thrice a week for kidney issues and battling diabetes, there was a note in his hand.
In this type-written note, the 59-year-old again denied having anything to do with the Zodiac killings and reiterated his innocence. Nevertheless, some of Arthur’s DNA was still saved in the hopes it would help solve this case one day in the future, and his property was seized merely two days later for further searches. However, most recently, a knife he gave to Connie’s son is being forensically analyzed, so this case of the Zodiac Killer actually remains wide open to this day, with new pieces of possible evidence still coming to light.
Read More: Marlene Dodge and Hily Greene: Where Are the Seawater Siblings Now?
