really wanted to solve that case before I retired. I will never give up hope," he said.
Under the title “SFPD Not Thrilled About Spotlight on Zodiac,” San Francisco Examiner columnist Ken Garcia wrote, “It’s been nearly four decades since the last murder. The case has officially been listed as inactive. And yet the public fascination with the “Zodiac” killer seems to just grow with time, a true story that has expanded into urban myth. And now the movie … Up until a few years ago, police were getting calls on the Zodiac on almost a daily basis, but it took so much time and attention away from ongoing homicide cases that they put it on the inactive list until the day they get a lead that might actually go somewhere. But they were definitely hoping it wouldn’t go to Hollywood, backed by a marketing campaign. It’s a legend in the (movie-) making.”
Meanwhile, the real Zodiac story marched on. Preparing for an article about the release of the new film, employees at The San Francisco Chronicle discovered what appeared to be a long forgotten communication from the elusive pen pal. Postmarked in Eureka, California in December 1990, the red envelope was overlooked amid the many hoax letters and forgeries that plagued the newspaper after the release of Graysmith’s first book and the sensational media coverage surrounding the crimes of a “Zodiac copycat” killer in New York. If the card was an authentic Zodiac communication, the killer was still alive as late as 1990, still taunting, and still at large more than sixteen years after his brief appearance in 1974.
Addressed to The Chronicle in pencil and with an eerily familiar style, the envelope bore a 25-cent stamp that depicted a Christmas tree and contained a holiday greeting card. On the front of the card, a Snowman wearing a Groucho Mark nose, moustache and glasses stands in a snowstorm as a small rabbit watches. The text of the card was reminiscent of the Zodiac’s Halloween card to reporter Paul Avery more than twenty years earlier.
FROM YOUR SECRET PAL.
CAN’T GUESS WHO I AM YET?
WELL LOOK INSIDE AND YOU’LL FIND OUT…
The inside of the card read:
…THAT I’M GONNA KEEP YOU GUESSIN!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ANYWAY
The writer had also included a Xerox of two keys on a chain attached to a small pen-like cylinder. Marked USPS for the United States Postal Service, the keys had identification numbers of undetermined significance, leading to speculation that the Xerox might lead to a post office box containing the identity of the Zodiac, or some other clue that could provide the solution to the case.
The Zodiac remains the most elusive ghost in the history of American serial murder. While some believe that the killer died long ago or is locked away somewhere in a prison cell, others believe that he is still out there, watching the world keep his story alive, enjoying his infamy, and waiting to write an ending as shocking as his unforgettable crimes. | 
