PrintNo, Senator Ted Cruz is not the Zodiac Killer
A conspiracy theory accusing Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of being the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer from the late 1960s and early 1970s, has been making the rounds on the internet for years. The conspiracy got more attention on October 18, 2017, when Sen. Cruz's Twitter team posted a cryptic image during a tête-à-tête with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) following a series of lighthearted jabs over a spilled Dr. Pepper.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 18, 2017
The image appears to match historical documents sent by the famed Zodiac Killer to the FBI. The serial killer came back into the public spotlight thanks to a 2007 film highlighting the murders and remains famous for the taunting notes left for his pursuers. The Zodiac Killer was never captured.
The origins of the Zodiac Killer conspiracy are murky, at best, due to the nature of the internet. The conspiracy appears to have first become popular around March 14, 2013, when the @RedPillAmerica Twitter account tweeted that an upcoming speech from Sen. Cruz would be called "This is the Zodiac speaking."
#CPAC Alert: Ted Cruz is speaking!! His speech is titled: 'This Is The Zodiac Speaking'
— The Red Pill (@RedPillAmerica) March 14, 2013
The superficial resemblance between the artist renderings of the serial killer provided by FBI documents and photos of the Texas senator proved enough to fan the flames of conspiracy, creating a meme that lasted throughout Sen. Cruz's presidential candidacy.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
A Facebook page dedicated to the conspiracy, called Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer, had over 47,000 likes and follows as of the Twitter post in October 2017.
Of course, the Texas senator couldn't possibly be the famed serial killer for one key reason. Sen. Cruz was born December 22, 1970. The first Zodiac Killer murders occurred in 1968, two years before Ted Cruz was brought into the world. He'd have been too young to commit any of them. Sorry, internet conspiracy fans.
