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Strange Scrawl Led Police to Zodiac Suspect

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<i> From Associated Press</i>

A detective assigned to a seemingly ordinary shooting in Brooklyn said he noticed strange scrawls on the suspect’s written statement--including an inverted cross crowned by three 7’s.

Detective Sgt. Joseph Herbert, who years ago worked on a task force hunting New York’s infamous Zodiac killer, instantly remembered the taunting letters the gunman had written. They carried a similar symbol, he said.

That coincidence, followed by a fingerprint match, helped crack the case of the killer who terrorized New York in the early 1990s, police said Wednesday.

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At a news conference, Police Commissioner Howard Safir confirmed that the suspect, Heriberto Seda, 28, had been linked to the shootings. Police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the suspect confessed to all nine attacks, telling them that he had been overcome by urges to strike randomly. The suspect claimed it was only by chance that he appeared to know his victim’s astrological signs.

The suspect is a Leo. Seda was born July 31, 1967.

According to “The Secret Language of Birthdays,” those born on July 31 are consumed by the abnormal aspects of people.

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