Build a movie plot around this: What is Graysmith's occupation at the Chronicle? Political cartoonist
A:
On July 4, 1969, an unknown man attacks Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau with a handgun, at a lovers' lane in Vallejo, California. Mageau survives; Ferrin dies.One month later, the San Francisco Chronicle receives encrypted letters written by the killer calling himself the "Zodiac" and taunting the police. Political cartoonist Robert Graysmith is not taken seriously by crime reporter Paul Avery or the editors and is excluded from the initial details about the killings despite his interest in the case. When the newspaper publishes the letters, a married couple is able to decipher one. At a local bar, Avery initially makes fun of Graysmith before they discuss the coded letters. Graysmith interprets the letter, which Avery finds helpful, and Avery begins sharing information. The Zodiac killer attacks law student Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa in Napa County on September 27, 1969. Shepard dies two days later, and Hartnell survives. One of Graysmith's insights about the letters is that the Zodiac's reference to man as "the most dangerous animal of them all" is a reference to the story and film The Most Dangerous Game (which features General Zaroff as a man who hunts live human prey). The fact that both Zaroff's surname and the name "Zodiac" start with a "Z" also seems significant.Two weeks later, San Francisco taxicab driver Paul Stine is shot and killed in the city's Presidio Heights district immediately after dropping the killer off. The Zodiac killer mails pieces of Stine's blood stained shirt to the Chronicle, along with a taunting letter. San Francisco police detectives Dave Toschi and his partner Bill Armstrong are assigned to the Stine case, and work closely with Vallejo's Jack Mulanax and Captain Ken Narlow in Napa. The killer, or someone posing as him, continues to toy with authorities by sending more letters and speaks on the phone with lawyer Melvin Belli when he makes an appearance on a television talk show. Avery and Graysmith form an alliance, delving deeper into the case as...