Heriberto 'Eddie' Seda
Random Acts of Violence
Seda waited a year. He thumbed through his scrapbook and visited the scenes of the first four shootings.
It wasnt enough. He knew it was time for the Zodiac to return. This time, however, Seda knew he must make some changes in his style. The police knew he liked Thursday mornings, so he couldnt shoot on Thursdays. He also couldnt risk searching the victims for identification in order to determine his or her astrological sign. This time around, he would just shoot and run.
On August 10, 1992, thirty-nine year-old Patricia Fonti met a good-looking man near the Highland Park reservoir. After some flirtatious banter, she agreed to accompany him to the shore of the reservoir. At 1:30 a.m., he shot her with a .22 caliber zip gun, but she got up and struggled with him. In a panic, the Zodiac stabbed her over 100 times. She died on the scene. She was a Leo.
One June 4th, 1992, forty-year-old unemployed construction worker Jim Weber encountered a young man outside Highland Park at about midnight. The young man shot him in the buttocks. He is a Libra, and he survived.
On July 20th, 1992, the young man shot forty-year-old mental patient Joseph Diacone outside of Highland Park at 11:35 a.m. He was a Virgo, and he died.
On October 2nd, 1992, the young man shot forty-year-old Diane Ballard as she sat on a bench in Highland Park. She is a Taurus and survived the attack.
The police didnt connect these crimes. In a city that at that time averaged five murders a night, detectives found nothing to connect them.
On March 10, 1994, police arrested Heriberto Eddie Seda outside his East New York apartment building after finding him in possession of an illegal zip gun. He was polite and cooperated fully with officers. His gun was incorrectly labeled at the evidence lab, so it was never tested. Seda walked free a week later.
On June 10, 1994, the Zodiac shot a white man in Highland Park with a .22 caliber zip gun. The incident went unreported.
August 1, 1994, the Post received the most bizarre Zodiac letter yet. It contained a list of the new victims, a strange totem-pole code and the creepy line sleep my little dead how we lothe them. The Zodiac mailed it using a Love stamp.
The press ran with the story, and the city fell back into a panic.
The new Zodiac letter baffled police. Was it a copycat of a copycat? Or, was the original copycat back? Detectives didnt know and were sadly certain he would strike again before they found out.