Politics | 04/30/2009 7:55 am

Deborah Perez Claims Father Was Zodiac Killer – and She Helped

Deborah Perez says she unintentionally helped her father, the Zodiac Killer.

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Deborah Perez © Getty Images

There hasn’t been a Zodiac Killer murder since 1969, but the legendary serial killer was given new life yesterday when a California woman named Deborah Perez claimed that her father was the infamous slayer. And, what’s more, Perez admitted that she was an unwitting accomplice to her late, adoptive father, Guy Ward Hendrickson.

The murders, which took place in the Bay Area during the 1960s, shocked and stunned the nation, and the killer, who went by the name "Zodiac Killer," taunted investigators by sending cryptic notes to the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets. Perez said yesterday that she helped her father write those notes, but didn’t know what she was doing: “I was a child and just thought I was helping my dad. I didn’t know." Perez said she hadn’t known about the case until recently, after seeing a movie about the killer, according to The New York Times.

Many people have been suspected in the murders, and Perez’s lawyer said she had passed a psychological test. Meanwhile, handwriting analyst Bart Baggett, who’s producing a documentary about the Zodiac Killer, says her penmanship matched existing evidence. Still, not everyone’s convinced.

The reporter Robert Graysmith, to whom the killer regularly sent letters, voiced his skepticism and said he thinks the murderer has already been named in previous investigations, but does insist he won’t rule Perez and her father, who died in 1983, out: "I believe the case is probably already solved, but I never say never."

Of course, as happens with such legendary, unsolved crimes, the fingers will always be pointing — and the nation will always be fascinated.

5 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

If this story is true and she helped her Father as a little girl, could you image sitting there watching a movie and having flashbacks that you helped write some of those letters? Talk about needing meds after…

By C Hardy on 04/30/2009 8:15 am

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And the guilt…..

By Beth Cornell on 04/30/2009 10:42 am

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HELLO FROM JANICE HENDRICKSON—THE ZODIAC IS NOT MY DAD!!

PROFESSIONAL HANDWRITING EXPERT, NANETTE BARTO HAS COMPLETED ANALIZING MY FATHERS HAND WRITTEN LETTERS, AND CONFIRMED THIS PAST WEEK, THAT MY FATHER GUY WARD HENDRICKSON IS >>> NOT<<<< THE ZODIAC KILLER. SHE , MS BARTO, IS A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL OF BART BAGGET, INTERESTING, THEY HAVE OPPOSING VIEWS, BUT NANETTE IS NOT OUT TO MAKE A MOVIE,,,,,,,,,, BAGGIT HAS ALREADY STARTED, OR FINISHED(?) A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT PEREZ CLAIMS, I KNOW MY FATHER WAS NOT THE KILLER. DEBRA CONTINUES TO MAKE FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT MY FAMILY, DAD , SHE SAID FOR EXAMPLE, TRIED TO CHOKE ME?? LIE, HER CLAIMS TO BE JFK’S ILLEGIT DAUGHTER? NOT, HER CLAIMS TO BE AT THE KENNEDY COMPOUND? NOT, HER CLAIMS THAT OUR COUSIN’S WIFE WAS MURDERED BY DAD, SHE MADE THIS CLAIM ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO? FALSE! SHE CLAIMED THAT MY FAMILY WAS AFRAID OF DAD, NOT TRUE! FALSE!

DEBRA WAS RESCUED BY MY FATHER GUY , FROM TIA JUANA, THE SEVEN CHILDREN OF HER MOTHER WERE STARVING. DAD MET HER MOTHER LUPE A DIME A DANCE GIRL, AND EVENTUALLY MARRIED HER, AND TOOK ON THE RESCUE OF ALL OF HER CHILDREN, DAD WAS UNABLE TO RESCUE LITTLE SYLVIA, THE BABY WHO DIED OF MAL NUTRICIAN IN TIA JUANA MEXICO.

WHAT MORE DOES THIS GIRL WANT FROM MY FATHER, BUT TO RUIN HIS GOOD NAME? AND WHY , IF IT IS TRUE, ARE THE SFPD WILLING TO SHOW THE ZODIAC LETTERS TO DEBRA’S MEN/TEAM/MOVIE BOOK MAKERS/ DISBARRED ATTORNEY SPOKES PERSONS, AND NOT GIVE SAME LETTERS TO THE SF FBI?? TOO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. AND FINALLY, ARE YOU ALL AWARE THAT THERE IS AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION INTO THE CASE OF JACK TARRANCE AS THE ZODIAC? WHY? BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH TRUE EVIDENCE, I HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN THE PHOTOS OF THE MURDER VICTIMS.