Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘This is the Zodiac Speaking’ revisiting the infamous tale of the unidentified Zodiac Killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s, we get a documentary series unlike any other. That’s because instead of focusing on all of these serial killers’ crimes and all possible suspects, it only focuses on the one man who has officially ever been identified as a suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen. Thus, it comes as no surprise that this original features journalists and authors such as Robert Graysmith, who has been involved in this case almost from the get-go.
Robert Graysmith is a Cartoonist turned Journalist
It was reportedly back when Robert Graysmith was just a young boy growing up in Pensacola, Florida, as the son of homemaker Frances Jane Scott Smith and former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert Gray. that he developed an interest in the arts. In fact, by the time he was a teenager, he knew he wanted to pursue different avenues, driving him to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts for a Bachelor’s in Arts. The fact he was never once made to feel less about his interests in comic books and antique toys was also a big deal to him, enabling him to grow into a smart, sensible, talented man who was honing his skills.
Therefore, by the time the late 1960s rolled around, Robert had unsurprisingly taken on the role of lead political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He had carefully climbed the industry ladder. Thus, he was right there when the Zodiac Killer’s first letter to the newspaper came in, which made his offenses and his mockery of the police very clear, intriguing him into the matter too. However, it wasn’t until a while later that he truly became hooked on it owing to the cocky nature of the killer, his unique ciphers, and his overall heinous offenses.
Robert Graysmith Has Always Believed Arthur Leigh Allen to Be the Zodiac Killer
According to Robert’s own accounts, he actually became so enamored by this whole ordeal that he spent all his free time interviewing people/possible witnesses while also studying criminal psychology. The latter is actually what drove him to ask investigator David Toschi whether any one of the police’s reported 2,500 people of interest had ever offered to help them catch the killer, to which he replied Artur. That’s when Robert claimed he was most likely the killer since this is something criminals are known to do to deflect responsibility, only to then learn he was named to officials by a friend owing to his strange behavior.
Nevertheless, owing to a lack of concrete evidence nothing could initially be done, leading David to follow other leads too while Robert continued investigating behind the scenes. The latter actually did so for 15 years before publishing his book ‘Zodiac’ on the same in 1986, unaware David Fincher would adapt it into a movie in 2007. Within this book, he never named Arthur since the case was ongoing with him as an unidentified suspect and since no criminal charges against him were ever filed. However, having given him the moniker Starr in the book, he did strongly indicate that he believed him to be the killer for good.
Little did Robert know that this and his ensuing efforts to look into Arthur would lead to him allegedly being terrorized for years. According to his own accounts in the aforementioned original production, after he had given his number to the latter’s boss once in the late 1970s, his phone rang every Friday like clockwork, only for no one to respond when he would pick up. Then, he further claimed that he vividly remembers one night seeing a figure that looked eerily a lot like Arthur’s on his balcony, only for two of his car’s tires to have been slashed by the next morning. Nevertheless, he unabashedly continued with his work.
Robert Graysmith is a Wildly Successful True-Crime Author Today
While it wasn’t until 2007 that Robert’s 1986 ‘Zodiac’ was adapted into a movie, he had actually switched gears long prior to ensure his and his family’s success. He actually left the world of being a cartoon illustrator behind, evolving into a full-time author, covering not just the Zodiac Killer but also several other interesting cases to have shocked the nation. In fact, he has since penned ‘The Sleeping Lady: The Trailside Murders Above the Golden Gate’ (1990), ‘The Murder of Bob Crane: Who Killed the Star of Hogan’s Heroes?’ (!993), ‘Unabomber: A Desire to Kill’ (1997), ‘The Bell Tower: The Case of Jack the Ripper Finally Solved (1999), and ‘Ghostfleet’ (1999).
Then, Robert wrote ‘Zodiac Unmasked’ (2002), ‘Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer’ (2003), ‘The Laughing Gorilla: A True Story of Police Corruption and Murder (2004), ‘The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shower’ (2010), ‘Black Fire: The True Story of the Original Tom Sawyer (2012), and most recently, ‘Graveyard Harbor: Treasure, Murder, and Vigilantes in the Gold Rush’s Fantastic Floating City of One Thousand Abandoned Ships’ (2024).
As for his current standing, from what we can tell, the 82-year-old continues to serve as an author, all the while ensuring he spends time alongside his children as well as grandchildren. He appears to be single at the moment, but we do know this has her three kids written all over it, all with seemingly families of their own. As for the Zodiac case, he hopes to move forward from it because he knows answers have not yet been uncovered, no matter how much he wants to solve it for her family’s loved ones.
