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Gareth Penn
Born	Gareth Sewell Penn 1941 Carmel, California
Occupation	German linguist Freelance writer True-crime Author Amateur Detective
Nationality	American
Education	Bachelor of Arts Master of Arts Master of Library Science
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley

Gareth Sewell Penn (born 1941 in Carmel, California) is an American true crime author and amateur detective known for being among the first non-journalists to write about the famous Zodiac Killer case. He published a notable theory about the killer's motives, publicly accused a noted UC Berkeley public policy professor of the crimes, and labeled himself a one-time suspect.

Reviewing the 2007 David Fincher film Zodiac for the Las Vegas Weekly, Mike D'Angelo wrote, "I think the movie erred in selecting author Robert Graysmith as its source and nominal protagonist. Zodiac buffs know well that the true obsessive is a fellow named Gareth Penn." ^[1]

Background

Education

Penn graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in Germanic languages and again in 1965 with an Master of Arts (MA) in Medieval Germanic languages. He received a Master of Library Science (MLS) from U.C. Berkeley in 1971. ^[2].

Military service

In 1965, Penn entered the United States Army in Berlin, Germany and received basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He received artillery survey training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he became an Artillery Surveyor Instructor, receiving the National Defense Service Medal and the designation of Expert Rifle Marksman. In 1967, Penn moved back to Berkeley, California, where he was transferred to the Army reserves. He was honorably discharged in 1971.^[3].

Early works

Penn's work as a German linguist and freelance writer included some 48 articles for the 1981-82 Mensa Ecphorizer and a 1972 academic treatise he wrote while attending UC Berkeley, Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art. A reflection on the legend of Tristan, a 12th century hero of Celtic folklore, Gottfried von Strassburg and the Invisible Art is a dense academic tome published in the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal of Germanic studies, Colloquia Germanica.

Influences

Penn says his father, Hugh Scott Penn, introduced him to the Zodiac case while working for the California Department of Justice and was a U.S. Army cryptographer during World War II.^[3]

Penn's mother Jean Sewell Standish was a noted poet who regularly published her works in The New Yorker, Harper's, and The Atlantic Monthly ^[4].

Zodiac Killer Writings and Interest

Gareth Penn started writing about the Zodiac case in a 1981 article for California Magazine entitled Portrait of the Artist as a Mass Murderer. ^[5]

In Portrait, Penn theorized that the Zodiac crime scenes were selected by the killer in order to create a geometric shape over the surface of the San Francisco Bay Area as a sort of "murderous art project." ^[6] Part of Penn's commentary about that theory included the observation that, "Other artists had sought to remove their work from the ordinary human perspective. Zodiac trumped them all." ^[7]

Penn then spent the better part of two decades publicly accusing University of California, Berkeley public policy professor Michael O’Hare of the Zodiac murders. ^[8]

Accusation against Michael O'Hare

Starting around 1981 Penn began publicly accusing University of California, Berkeley public policy professor Michael O’Hare of the Zodiac murders in amateur newsletters and self-published books. Penn openly accused O'Hare on at least two occasions.^{[9] [10]} The basis for these accusations was Penn's cryptographic analysis of a Zodiac letter, which he claimed yielded the name "Mike O." ^[11] He also accused O'Hare of the murder of Joan Webster, a graduate architecture student at Harvard who disappeared in 1981 and whose remains were found near Boston in 1990. Penn argued that a "geometric design" yielded similarities between the Webster murder and the Zodiac killings in California. On that basis, he accused O'Hare of murdering Webster.^[12] O'Hare denied being involved in any murder,^[13] and has written about his strange experience.^[14][15]

FBI Involvement

“Twelve years after the last Zodiac crime was committed, I began corresponding with Mr O,” Penn wrote to author Michael Butterfield, referring to Michael O'Hare. “He received a number of anonymous cards and letters mailed from all over this continent.” Butterfield has since written a complete description of the melee that ensued.^[16].

After Penn added phone calls to his letters, O'Hare filed an FBI complaint and in May 1981, the Bureau investigated Penn for possible extortion.^[17].

According to FBI memos, an agent “contacted Penn by telephone and told him that if he was responsible for the correspondence to [O'Hare] he should immediately cease and desist, pointing out that it could jeopardize any investigation and he could possibly be subject to both civil and criminal penalties.”

In a May 1981 meeting with FBI agents, Penn “freely admitted sending material to [O'Hare] but stated he had no intent to extort anything. His motive was to elicit some response from [O'Hare] if he was, in fact, the Zodiac.”

Talk Show Trap

After learning of Penn’s books and articles, California radio personality Anthony Hilder set up an on-air confrontation between Penn and O'Hare, luring O'Hare onto the show under false pretenses.

HILDER: One particular book that came across my desk in the past couple of days was one called TIMES 17, by a gentlemen out of San Francisco named Gareth Penn. Have you heard of him?

O'HARE: Have I heard of Gareth Penn? Well, Gareth Penn has been a minor bane of my existence for, gee, I guess, seven or eight years now.

HILDER: Well, I’m curious about this particular book, of course, Gareth Penn is making claims, that you are, according to Gareth Penn, the Zodiac killer.

O'Hare later said that he “had nothing to do with the Zodiac murders or any other homicides or any felony, in California or any other place. This is intended to be the most complete, inclusive, unqualified denial I can phrase. I’ve never initiated any contact with Gareth Penn and as far as I know I’ve never met him or had anything to do with him. I think his hobby is not only abusive of me but more importantly a cruel deception of the victims’ families and survivors.” ^[16]

Accuser Accused

In 2007, Christopher Farmer -- who bills himself as a national security and forensic technology expert -- used circumstantial evidence and cryptographic analysis to name Gareth Penn as a suspect in the Zodiac murders ^[18][19].

Other works by Gareth Penn

About the Zodiac

• 11.0010010000 11111101101^[20]
• Incline Village Unit 6^[21]
• Te Moriarty Salutamus^[22]
• The Once and Future Killing^[23]
• The Calculus of Evil^[24]

US copyrights relating to the Zodiac case

Written documents copyrighted and deposited by Gareth S. Penn with the U.S. Copyright Office^[25].

Zodiac problems Registration Number: TXu-176-361, 29Oct84

Papers relating to the impending suicide of Michael Henry O'Hare on 17 May 1989 Registration Number: TXu-354-164, 15Dec88

Papers relating to the resolution of the Zodiac matter on or about 19 February 1990 Registration Number: TXu-406-808, 13Feb90

Resolution of the Zodiac mystery on 19 September 1989 Registration Number: TXu-430-480, 1Aug90

The second power : a mathematical analysis of the letters attributed to the Zodiac murderer Registration Number: TXu-927-707, 13Dec99

Digital, two-dimensional, private language : the letters of the Zodiac murderer Registration Number: TXu-1-044-778, 18Mar02

Further reading

• Two New Theories Regarding the Zodiac Case by Michael F. Cole^[26]
• TruTV Crime Library, The Zodiac Killer by Jake Wark^[27]
• Zodiac by Robert Graysmith ISBN 0425212181^[28]
• This is the Zodiac Speaking: Into the Mind of a Serial Killer by Michael D. Kelleher, David Van Nuys ISBN 0275973387^[29]
• Times 17: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981 by Gareth Penn ISBN 0961849401^[30]
• The Rhyme of the Radian by Curt Rowlett^[31]
• The Z Files by Curt Rowlett^[32]

References

External links

• Jake Wark at This is the Zodiac Speaking website
• Gareth Penn: [1] [2]