Earl Van Best Jr. died in Mexico City in 1984, according to a 2014 San Francisco Chronicle review. His son, Gary L. Stewart, later argued that Van Best was the Zodiac Killer in the 2014 book The Most Dangerous Animal of All. That remains a disputed theory—not an official identification—and the Zodiac’s identity remains unknown in the FBI’s archived case overview.
Who was Earl Van Best Jr.?
A 2014 San Francisco Chronicle review described Van Best as a San Francisco rare-book dealer and reported that he died in Mexico City in 1984. The review recounts the family history as presented in Stewart’s book: Van Best allegedly abandoned his newborn son in Baton Rouge, was later arrested and imprisoned for statutory rape, and returned to San Francisco after parole. Those biographical details are part of Stewart’s account as summarized by the review, rather than independently established here. (San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2014)
TIME reported that Stewart learned his biological father’s identity after his birth mother reconnected with him in 2002. Its 2020 coverage of the FX documentary describes both Stewart’s search for his identity and his effort to prove that Van Best was the Zodiac. (TIME, March 6, 2020; updated December 12, 2023)
Why did Stewart identify his father as the Zodiac?
In The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer, Stewart and co-author Susan Mustafa advanced the claim that Van Best was the killer. Stewart pointed to an alleged resemblance between his father and a police sketch, handwriting similarities, and claimed connections involving fingerprints, a cipher, and biographical details. The book was published by HarperCollins in 2014. (Google Books bibliographic listing)
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The existence of proposed similarities is not the same as verified forensic evidence. Reviewing the book, former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Lance Williams concluded: “But Stewart’s book is short on proof that his father killed anybody, let alone the six Zodiac victims.” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2014)
What did the documentary find?
The four-episode FX series revisited Stewart’s claims and his search for his father. TIME reported that the documentary’s investigators found holes in his assertions and surfaced a detail Stewart attributed to a police report that had been fabricated. Those findings further undermine the theory as proof of Van Best’s guilt; they do not establish who the Zodiac was. (TIME, March 6, 2020; updated December 12, 2023)
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Was Earl Van Best Jr. officially identified as the Zodiac Killer?
No. The FBI’s archived overview states that the killer’s identity remained a mystery. It says local law-enforcement agencies asked the FBI for help with handwriting analysis, cryptanalysis, and fingerprints, but the murders did not fall under federal jurisdiction and the FBI did not open an investigation. That account describes the FBI’s role; it does not name Van Best as an official suspect. (FBI, “The Zodiac Killer,” March 2, 2007)
Accordingly, Van Best should be described as a man whom his son proposed as the Zodiac in a book—not as the confirmed killer or a solved-case identity. The 2014 book is useful for understanding Stewart’s theory, while the 2020 documentary coverage and the FBI overview make clear why that theory should not be treated as established fact.
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