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Investigator Says Ciphers Tie Black Dahlia and Zodiac to Marvin Margolis as Police Review

Multiple agencies are assessing Alex Baber’s AI-assisted findings linking a single suspect to both cases, with independent verification pending.

San Francisco police circulated this composite of the Bay Area’s “Zodiac” killer. An amateur codebreaker says he solved the Zodiac cipher and identified a suspect tied to both the Zodiac murders and the 1947 Black Dahlia killing.
A San Francisco Police Department wanted bulletin and copies of letters sent to the San Francisco Chronicle by a man who called himself Zodiac are displayed Thursday, May 3, 2018, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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The Zodiac Killer’s infamously uncrackable 340 cipher. An amateur codebreaker says he solved the Zodiac cipher and identified a suspect tied to both the Zodiac murders and the 1947 Black Dahlia killing.

Overview

  • Alex Baber of Cold Case Consultants of America claims AI-driven work on the Zodiac’s Z13 and Z32 ciphers points to Marvin Margolis, who later used the name Marvin Merrill.
  • Records cited in the investigation place Margolis on a 1947 grand jury list of 22 Black Dahlia suspects and describe him as a Navy medical corps veteran and USC pre-med student.
  • Baber says he has briefed or been invited to brief an interagency group including the FBI, SFPD, Napa County and Solano County authorities, and his team met with LAPD leadership.
  • LAPD confirms Elizabeth Short’s case remains open, and a former Dahlia cold-case detective says the department is aware of the claims but the case is not a current priority.
  • Merrill’s youngest son has supplied boxes of items for forensic testing, and investigators cite a late-life sketch labeled “Elizabeth” with what they interpret as hidden “Zodiac,” though skeptics urge caution pending lab results.