# Ex-Detectives review Earl Van Best Jnr as a Zodiac Killer Suspect

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/crime-time-inc-6621363/ex-detectives-review-earl-van-best-jnr-as-a-zodiac-killer-suspect
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/crime-time-inc-6621363/ex-detectives-review-earl-van-best-jnr-as-a-zodiac-killer-suspect.md
Podcast: [Crime Time Inc](https://stenobird.com/podcast/crime-time-inc-6621363)
Published: 2026-04-19T03:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/crime-time-inc/episodes/experienced-ex-detectives-review-earl-van-best-jnr-as-a-zodi
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64f1fe0ba21165001136d51e/e/69e32f45d2febdbec9e4929c/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/crime-time-inc-6621363/episodes/ex-detectives-review-earl-van-best-jnr-as-a-zodiac-killer-suspect
Duration seconds: 1294

## Resource

In this episode of Crime Time Inc, hosts Tom Wood and Simon McLean join researcher Alex to continue their deep dive into the Zodiac killer case, turning their attention from the evidence itself to the deeply human story behind one of the most enduring suspects — a man whose abandoned son became convinced his estranged father was the infamous serial killer. Tom, drawing on decades of experience as a senior investigating officer on cases including the World's End murders and the Robert Black abductions, offers a compelling psychological perspective on why family members of terrible people sometimes come forward to link their relatives to high-profile unsolved crimes. As he explains, these individuals are rarely faking it; they genuinely believe what they're saying, driven by a deep need to make sense of the cruelty they experienced. It's a way of externalising their pain, of finding an explanation grand enough to account for the abandonment and neglect they suffered. The conversation opens up into a broader and thought-provoking discussion about the exploitation of serious crime. Simon raises the uncomfortable truth that bestselling books, films, and television programmes have been built on the back of cases like the Zodiac, Jack the Ripper, and countless others — an industry where there is, as Tom puts it, no quality control and no board of censors. With the rise of artificial intelligence, the hosts note, the barrier to producing speculative true crime content has never been lower. It's a candid moment of self-awareness from two men who make their living in the genre, and they handle it with characteristic honesty and humour. Tom takes the opportunity to share the remarkable story behind his own book, *Ruxton: The First Modern Murder*, recounting how a bundle of case p…

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## Transcript

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