Paul Avery (above, being interviewed in 1970) specialized in covering crime, and he began his career in journalism in 1955, according to Medium, and joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 1959, according to Steve Hodel. That being said, by the time The Zodiac made his appearance, Avery had already gathered quite a bit of experience. After the first three ciphers from the Zodiac were printed in three different newspapers, Avery began to cover the Zodiac story.

He wrote about the killer ruthlessly and without fear. Dozens of pieces were written about the Zodiac with Avery’s name in the byline, and for a while, no one could be sure if the Zodiac was actually reading them. At one point, Avery even wrote that “The killer who calls himself ‘Zodiac’ is a clumsy criminal…” among other derogatory jabs.

As a respected journalist who took his job seriously, Avery was committed to the Zodiac case and invested much of his time in the unique and horrifying occurrences and murders that seemed to have law enforcement stumped. Avery worked closely with David Toschi, a homicide detective working the Zodiac case, and any mail that came to the Chronicle from the killer was reported. Being the writer in charge of Zodiac coverage put a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Avery.