A Pizzeria Owner's Bizarre Plot to Capture the Zodiac Killer

Tom Hanson owned a few Pizza Man restaurants and a few KFC outlets in southern California in the 1960s. But what he really wanted to do was get into the movie business, just like millions of other people who moved to Los Angeles from elsewhere. Hanson had done some bit parts, but in 1971, he jumped into film production with both feet -to solve a crime. The Zodiac Killer had been menacing L.A. for a couple of years by then, but no one knew who he was. Hanson spent $13,000 to make a movie about the crimes, rented a theater to show it, and set up surveillance to see who attended. He was sure that the Zodiac Killer could not resist seeing a movie called The Zodiac Killer.     

On the last night of the engagement, Hanson interrupted his surveillance for a bathroom break. “I was standing at the urinal and thought I heard the door open,” he says. “I turned around but didn’t see anyone.”

Without a sound, a man had materialized at the urinal next to Hanson’s, remarking about a graphic scene in the movie and how “real blood” wouldn’t come out of a body like that. “I zipped up, turned, and saw the same face that was on the wanted poster. Same eyes, nose, mouth, hair, everything. I thought, 'Son of a bitch, it’s him.'"

Tom Hanson talked to Mental Floss about his movie and what happened during its initial run at the RKO Theater.


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