Not long ago, author Michael Connelly became involved with an amateur cold-case investigator named Alex Baber on some work he was doing. A project Baber was involved with interested Connelly. Baber's unorthodox use of genealogy, AI, cryptography, and intuition were applied to the Zodiac Killer serial murder cases and evidence trail and unexpectedly identified a likely suspect. The project and its findings became the basis for the podcast Killer in the Code,the first 10 episodes of which were released at the beginning of this year. Available from all the usual podcast sources.

The first 10 episodes followed Baber’s investigation of the Zodiac Killer, which unexpectedly led to evidence suggesting the leading suspect may also have been responsible for the Black Dahlia murder in the late 1940s. in Los Angeles. That case, also open and unsolved, has become legendary and has been the subject of books and movies.

Connelly’s team with Baber includes retired LAPD detectives Rick Jackson and Mitzi Roberts - the real-life inspirations for characters Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard. These two have long served as his technical advisors concerning detective work and the on the job lives of detectives in general. Also actively consulted were NSA cryptography experts and retired judges with prosecutorial experience.

Episodes 11 and 12, released recently, update the investigation's activities since the beginning of the year. The team now reportedly considers the evidence against the identified suspect overwhelming-more than sufficient for a strong prosecution had he still been alive.

I thought the first 10 episodes could have been a bit tighter and would have perhaps with better editing. They were interesting.

Connelly himself is the narrator of the podcast episodes.

Work is ongoing. The two new episodes released this week (#s 11 and 12) are well edited and very interesting. The team is awaiting the results of still-ongoing analyses. Connelly said to be alert for the release of future episodes.

There was a NY Times article about this in the past few days.

An interesting side story is that there was a book recently released on the Black Dahlia murder. And also a movie/TV documentary either released or about to be released (I don't remember). The work for each determined a different individual to be responsible, not the same for each, and not the one identified on the project Connelly is involved with. Connelly's reply to the controversy was that he expected it. These are two different commercial projects that had findings leading to a final product. They will make a financial return from the results of their work and understandably are defensive and concerned that contrary allegations would diminish the value of their work. To the contrary, Connelly's project is not a commercial production done for financial gain. The outcome will be the result of their own work, not the work of others.

Sorry this is so long. For anyone who has an interest in learning a bit more about these two iconic murderers, the Zodiac Killer and the one responsible for the Black Dahlia, the podcast is worth listening to. Be patient about the bulk of the first 10, the same material probably could have been covered by half as many episodes. But it remains very interesting.