We’ve all heard of the Zodiac killer, but many will be unaware of a copycat who plied his trade on the opposite of the USA during the 1990’s.
Heriberto “Eddie” Seda is currently serving an 83 year prison sentence for three murders, and the critical wounding of a further four people.
An “admirer” of the original Zodiac killer, Seda set out to hold a whole city to ransom in a similar style to his cross-state predecessor.
Although presenting himself as an extremely religious young man, Seda was believed to have started a campaign of sending threatening letters to the NYPD in 1989, when he was just 22 years old. He claimed he would kill twelve people within the city, one for each sign of the zodiac.
He also wrote to news networks and TV stations around New York State, threatening further action if his demands were not met.
However, Seda seems to have been missing the “skill” of his namesake, who remains at large to this day, as he was caught quite easily, after giving himself away by his handwriting.
During a confrontation with his sister, Gladys Reyes (to whom Seda was physically and mentally abusive) and her boyfriend, Seda pulled out a weapon and began threatening the couple. While Reyes’ boyfriend hid in the bedroom, she tried to escape through the front door, but Seda shot her in the buttocks. Wounded but not incapacitated, she made her way to her neighbour’s apartment where she called the police.
After a standoff with the police, Seda was arrested.When asked to write a report on what had happened, Seda wrote in a fashion which one of the detectives, Joseph Herbert, found strikingly similar to that of the Zodiac killer, especially due to the signature symbol that he wrote at the end of all of his letters, which he claimed signified God.
He was later convicted and pleaded guilty to several counts of murder and attempted murder.
The following is a news broadcast which was aired after Heriberto Seda claimed to be the “original Zodiac”. This was, of course, proved to be a hoax.
Red Ink Letters 