FROM THE ARCHIVE: A look back at Zodiac Killer investigation that impacted Bay Area

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Saturday, December 12, 2020
Zodiac sends bloody cloth after cab driver killing: October 1969
ABC7 News reporter Dick Carlson discusses Zodiac Killer after cab driver, Paul Lee Stine's, death in San Francisco on October 1969.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Zodiac Killer terrorized the Bay Area from the late 1960s through the 1970s.

The elusive figure claimed he killed more than 30 people in Northern California, including five in the Bay Area: Benicia, Vallejo, Napa County and San Francisco.

In December 1968, the Zodiac Killer killed two teenagers on Lake Herman Road in Benicia. A couple was later shot in July 1969 while parked at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. One of the victims died.

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In September of that same year, a masked suspect stabbed two people at Lake Berryessa, killing one of them.

In October 1969, police say a San Francisco cab driver, Paul Stine, was shot and killed.

RELATED: I-Team: Friend confesses to being Zodiac Killer

The killer has never been identified nor caught and there have been suspects.

ABC7 News reporter Dick Carlson reported back in October 1969 a bloody cloth with a letter was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle laboratory. Tests on the cloth torn from the shirt of Paul Stine prove that it came in fact from the cab driver who was murdered a week before.

WATCH: ABC7'S Michael Finney spoke to Zodiac Killer suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen in July 1991, claiming he is not the killer

In this story from July 1991, Zodiac Killer suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen, spoke to ABC7's Michael Finney, claiming he is not the Zodiac Killer.

Arthur Leigh Allen was one of the potential Zodiac Killer suspects but in an interview with ABC7 in 1991 he said he was innocent.

In this edition of "From The Archive," we take a look back at some of our early coverage of the Zodiac Killer.