Password enthusiasts use AI to decode America's two major cold cases: "The Deadly Zodiac" and "The Black Dahlia"!

In the history of crime in the United States, if we were to select the two most chilling and unsolvable cold cases, the undisputed answers would be the 1947 Los Angeles “Black Dahlia” murder case and the 1960s to 1970s nationwide shocker, the “Zodiac Killer.” These cases span different eras, cities, and victim backgrounds, yet both leave behind numerous mysteries and have spawned countless conspiracy theories, novels, and movies.

The Zodiac Killer’s taunting letters containing coded messages to the police and media have become symbols of the “high-IQ serial killer” in American pop culture. In 2007, director David Fincher’s film “Zodiac” vividly recreates the investigators’ decades-long fruitless pursuit, embedding the anxiety that “the truth is forever absent” into viewers’ minds.

However, at the end of 2025, an amateur detective and cryptography researcher, Alex Baber, delivered a shocking revelation: he claims to have cracked the mystery of the Zodiac Killer’s identity using artificial intelligence, solving a case that has puzzled the world for over half a century. He even further suggests that this killer is likely also the true culprit behind the Black Dahlia.

Amateur Detective and Cryptography Researcher Alex Baber Uses AI to Decode Symbols

Baber’s research focuses on the Zodiac’s mysterious cipher sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1970, known as the “Z13 cipher.” This cipher begins with a provocative “My name is —” followed by 13 symbols that cannot be directly decoded. For over half a century, countless cryptographers and amateurs have attempted to crack it but have failed to reach a consensus.

Baber’s approach is entirely different from traditional manual decryption. He used AI to build a database of approximately 71 million names that meet the 13-character criteria, allowing the algorithm to automatically permute, filter, and compare. These results were then cross-referenced with 1950 US Census data, military records, marriage certificates, and other public files, while also applying witness descriptions of age, ethnicity, and residence to eliminate unlikely candidates. Ultimately, Baber claims the AI’s answer is “Marvin Merrill,” which was one of the aliases used by suspect Marvin Margolis.

Are the Black Dahlia and Zodiac Killer Cases Really Connected?

What truly sparked controversy was Baber’s next inference. He further used AI to scan hundreds of thousands of newspaper ads and real estate records from the 1940s, discovering an intriguing coincidence: near the location where Black Dahlia victim Elizabeth Short was found in 1947, there was a motel called the “Zodiac Motel.” Baber believes this name may have left a deep impression on the killer, inspiring the later self-styled “Zodiac.” Even more explosive, a former NSA cryptography expert verified that some key words used in the Zodiac’s cipher, suspected to be “Elizabeth,” the name of the Black Dahlia victim. If this is true, it suggests the Zodiac Killer was not merely taunting society at random but was immersed in his past crimes, using cryptography to repeatedly indulge in the thrill of killing.

Who Is the Long-Awaited Culprit Marvin Margolis?

The key figure Baber focused on, Marvin Margolis, passed away in 1993. According to his background, Margolis studied medicine and served as a Navy medic, which aligns with the precise and brutal surgical-like cuts in the Black Dahlia case and the firearm skills displayed in the Zodiac case. Police also found that he had a brief relationship with Elizabeth Short and even created an artwork resembling her body at the time of her murder.

Additionally, Baber used image enhancement and AI recognition technology to analyze a sketch Margolis drew before his death. He claims that hidden within the seemingly random ink strokes, the word “ZoDiac” appears, interpreted as a form of non-verbal final confession. Although this evidence is highly controversial, it has become an important piece supporting his theory.

Despite some former NSA cryptography experts endorsing Baber’s technical approach, official US agencies remain cautious. The Los Angeles Police Department and related authorities state that the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases are still “open investigations” with no conclusive evidence to resolve them legally. Experts point out that AI’s greatest value in cold case research is “narrowing down possibilities,” not providing definitive proof. The results of algorithms depend heavily on the completeness of input data and underlying assumptions; if the starting point is biased, conclusions can be misleading.

People’s obsession with these cases may have long transcended mere “solving” and pointed toward a deeper question: can humans truly understand the origins of extreme violence, and do we have the capacity to fill the gaps left by history? Even if Baber’s theory has not yet been fully accepted by official channels, the discussion it has sparked reveals a new era: as artificial intelligence begins to analyze and generate insights into humanity’s darkest and most unverifiable memories, what is being redefined is not just the way we seek “truth,” but potentially the very standards of evidence and the legal system itself.

This article about cryptography enthusiasts using AI to decode the two major American cold cases, “Zodiac” and “Black Dahlia,” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.