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# Vallejo author helps bring 'Zodiac Island' to life

It's not what one typically thinks of as a "monument," but the so-called "Zodiac Island" at Lake Berryessa is the focus of an upcoming segment of a Travel Channel show called Monumental Mysteries. And Vallejo author and former CHP officer Lyndon Lafferty's theories about the infamous Zodiac killer, who is believed to have attacked a couple at that site, are featured in the show, he and the program's producers said. No one else was interviewed for the segment, they said. The Zodiac killer is believed to be responsible for at least five homicides, including one in Vallejo and two in Benicia, in the late 1960s. Two others survived attacks by the Zodiac killer, who sent cryptic messages and codes to the Times-Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner. One of the Lake Berryessa victims, Bryan Calvin Hartnell, 20 at the time, is among the survivors. His friend, Cecelia Ann Shepard, 22, was killed. In his correspondence to the news media, the killer claimed to have killed 37 people, a number Lafferty said he believes is closer to the truth. Show spokeswoman Bonnary Lek said "lots of locations and destinations (such as some national parks) are considered monuments. Lake Berryessa falls under this category."Calling Lafferty "lovely," and the Zodiac story, "fascinating," show producer Laura Marini said they filmed part of the segment at Lafferty's home and part at the scene of the Lake Berryessa crime. The segment, one of the first 13 episodes filmed for this spin-off of the Mysteries at the Museum show, is in the editing process and expected to air in late spring or early summer, she said."Monumental Mysteries is scheduled to premiere later this year," Lek said. "We do not currently have an air date for the episode with Linden's segment."After some 40 years obsessing and investigating the Zodiac killings, Lafferty wrote and published a book -- The Zodiac Killer Cover-up, AKA The Silenced Badge -- which details the results of his and his partners' work.The book was published about a year ago, but while it laid out their case, it did not include the name of the men's suspect because he was still alive and they believed he still posed a threat.In February, 2012, that man, William Joseph Grant of Fairfield, died in a fall at age 91. Lafferty, 78, said he is making photos of Grant public for the first time, so readers can compare them to the Zodiac composite drawings police created at the time based on survivors' descriptions.In his book, Lafferty claims that authorities have known since 1971 that Grant was the Zodiac killer and that a few highly placed power players kept his identity under wraps for decades through intimidation and other means for a variety of reasons. A Korean war-era government-trained code-breaker, Lafferty said he became consumed with the Zodiac case in November 1970, after an encounter on the freeway near Vallejo with the man he believes was the killer.Two book signings are planned in coming months, in advance of the Travel Channel airing."Monumental Mysteries scours the country for America's most extraordinary monuments and reveals the amazing mysteries hidden," according to the channel's Website. "Each hour-long installment in the 13-episode series visits the statues, memorials, national parks, gravestones and sculptures that commemorate the nation's most notorious crimes, scandals, disasters and intriguing events of all time."*If you go...What: The Zodiac Killer Cover-up, AKA The Silenced Badge, book signing with author Lyndon Lafferty When/Where: March 29 at Vallejo's Costco store and April 12 at Fairfield's Costco, both 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  
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