Why Amateur Crime Sleuths Suspect This Sports Car Mogul Was the Zodiac Killer

March 25, 2017 5:00 am
San Francisco: San Francisco police circulated this composite of the Bay Area's 'Zodiac' killer. At left is a drawing from witnesses to slaying of a cab driver in San Francisco. The amended drawing on the right was based on further questioning of the witnesses (Bettmann/Contributor)
San Francisco: San Francisco police circulated this composite of the Bay Area's 'Zodiac' killer. At left is a drawing from witnesses to slaying of a cab driver in San Francisco. The amended drawing on the right was based on further questioning of the witnesses (Bettmann/Contributor)
Norwegian-American businessman Kjell Qvale (1919 - 2013, right), a majority shareholder in Jensen Motors, is met at London Airport by English car designer and rally driver Donald Healey (1898 - 1988), 21st February 1971 (George Stroud/Daily Express/Getty Images)
Some online crime theorists believer there is evidence suggesting Norwegian-American businessman Kjell Qvale (right) was the Zodiac Killer. (George Stroud/Daily Express/Getty Images)
Matt Green

 

Car enthusiasts have a lot to say about Kjell Qvale, the Norwegian-American entrepreneur who helped launch the Jensen-Healey sports car and introduced many European car brands (MGs, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, and Volkswagen) to Americans on the West Coast. True crime enthusiasts have a lot to say about him too, since some theorize he was the infamous Zodiac Killer.

Qvale was living in California during the Zodiac Killer’s infamous spree, and roughly fits the eyewitness descriptions that became the first composite sketch of the Zodiac Killer. He was also walking his dog just a few blocks from where the Killer shot cab driver Paul Stine in the Presidio Heights area of San Francisco in 1969.

San Francisco, California: The 'Zodiac' killer broke his silence to boast in letters and cryptograms that he has now murdered seven persons (Bettmann/Contributor)
The ‘Zodiac’ killer boasted of his crimes in letters and cryptograms sent to the police. (Bettmann/Contributor)

 

A police miscommunication on that night had the local cops looking for a black suspect instead of a white one, which is how theorists maintain that Qvale would have gotten away with it. A group of amateur Zodiac Killer investigators has a whole timeline plotted out for this theory. It’s all speculation, and Qvale passed away in 2013, but it’s still interesting to consider finally solving one of the greatest crime mysteries of the 20th century.

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