Similarities Found Between Japan Slaying, Zodiac Killer

TOKYO - Police investigating the beheading of a schoolboy in Kobe, Japan, believe the killer may have been influenced by the Zodiac murders of the 1960s, according to media reports.

Japanese media, quoting anonymous police sources, said investigators were looking into similarities between notes left by the Kobe killer and "Zodiac," who murdered five people in the San Francisco area.

The reports said that a cross-like symbol was found on notes left by both killers and that some of the content of the messages was similar.

Police today refused to comment on the reports.

The bizarre murder last week of 11-year-old Jun Hase has gripped Japan like no other in recent memory, dominating headlines and even eliciting a call from Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto for investigators to find the killer as soon as possible.

Several days ago, police released the taunting contents of a note the killer left in the mouth of his victim, whose head was placed before the gate of a junior high school.

"So, this is the beginning of the game," said the note, written in red ink. "I desperately want to see people die. Nothing makes me more excited than killing."

Accustomed like most of Japan to relatively safe streets, Kobe has been put on alert by the crime. Hundreds of police have been deployed around the school where the head was found. Parents have organized neighborhood watches, and children are being escorted to and from school each day.

New guidance counselors have been added to Kobe schools, where children are still recovering from a major earthquake two years ago that killed more than 6,000 people.

The Zodiac killer, who also left taunting notes with astrological references and claimed to be excited by killing, murdered five people and wounded two in a series of attacks around the Bay Area.

The killings eventually stopped, but Zodiac was never caught and the case has remained open.

Police believe the killing could be related to two assaults in March in the same neighborhood, 270 miles west of Tokyo. One girl was killed and another seriously injured.