Witness

As Site Administrator of zodiackiller.com, Tom Voigt has spent ten years trying to solve the case of the serial killer, Zodiac, who terrorized the population of the San Francisco area in the late 1960’s through early 70’s. Over the years, Voigt has accused seven men of being the serial killer. At least six are not guilty.

Before Zodiac, Voigt was the BTK hunter. His chief BTK suspect was not guilty, but he accused him incessantly online until the case was solved. Interestingly, Voigt was in jail on the day they arrested BTK. More on that later. Like BTK and Zodiac, Voigt feels no guilt or remorse for killing the reputation of innocent men and humiliating their families. These false allegations can bring great shame to the suspect’s extended family. In our information society, false charges can never be completely erased. But for Voigt, it’s a great game. A who-done-it with great rewards for the person who cracks the mystery. (Voigt identifies the rewards in his comment, #46 in the Help Wanted post below).

Earlier this year, the tenth anniversary of Voigt’s Zodiac website was approaching. The San Francisco PD had already officially closed the case. Just when it seemed that the Zodiac story was over, Tom Voigt introduced his next mark, newspaper reporter the late Richard Gaikowski, “The best suspect you’ve never heard of.” When I saw Gaikowski’s mugshot for his arrest after an altercation with the Zodiac’s 2nd victim, my strong first impression was that Voigt and researcher Blaine had successfully identified Zodiac. A real life Holmes and Watson!

The evidence was rock solid. If only it were real.
As I kept reading, other zodiackiller forum members questioned the evidence and then the entire story fell apart. Many of us began to realize that the primary evidence was fake and Richard’s sole accuser, Blaine, was not reality-based. Not this reality anyway. Richard Gaikowski was never arrested, the mugshot was fictional (created to illustrate a story Gaikowski wrote for the newspaper), and he never had an altercation with the Zodiac’s victim. Forum members who questioned Blaine’s evidence were dispatched by Voigt to the void, never to be heard from again. You learned that, to survive at the forum, you kept quiet and played along. Just like in prison.

Zodiac Hunter
We now know that in early 2008, Voigt began planning for the 40th Annimversary of the Zodiac’s first killing. Tom knows the media will seek him out so he needed a new suspect fast. Preferably someone dead, to avoid libel laws. So, like two grave diggers, Voigt and Blaine dug up Richard Gaikowski and put him on trial on the Internet, in a courtroom of their own making, with false evidence permitted and no lawyer for the defense.

Seven weeks ago, this blog was created to invite discussion of alternative theories that could not be discussed at Voigt’s site. In the following weeks, we found out that Tom Voigt and chief witness Blaine T Blaine are both convicted jailbirds and their top suspect, Richard Gaikowski, didn’t have a record at all. We also discovered that the FBI examined and interviewed Gaikowski in 1988, in response to accusations by Blaine, and concluded that evidence presented by Blaine “proved negative.” Voigt, in desperate need of a suspect for the 40th anniversary media circus, had dismissed the FBI findings and resurrected a suspect who had already been cleared.

Update:

-Bystander

**The Multinomah Stalker mugshot was allegedly taken after an altercation with a female victim. A commenter sent a link to an alleged recent photo of Voigt. The caption is from a comment Tom Voigt wrote about your humble moderator.