Louisiana man claims to be son of Zodiac Killer

BATON ROUGE, La., May 14 (UPI) -- A businessman in Baton Rouge is claiming to be the son of the infamous Zodiac Killer in a new memoir published by HarperCollins. The Zodiac Killer murdered at least five people in 1968 and 1969, claiming in letters to police to have killed nearly 40 people. He was never caught.

In a new book by adult orphan Gary L. Stewart about the search for his father, Stewart comes to the conclusion he is the biological son of one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. San Francisco Police, for whom the 'Zodiac' murders are still an open case, declined to comment, saying only "it's certainly something our homicide investigators will take a look at."

Stewart, 49, was abandoned by his parents as a newborn in Baton Rouge and later adopted. Ten years ago, Stewart's birth mother reached out to him for the first time. This kicked off a ten-year search for his father that ended with Stewart concluding he was the son of Earl Van Best and Best was the infamous Zodiac Killer. Best died in 1984.

Bryan Hartnell, one of two survivors to live through Zodiac Killer attacks, had little to say on the matter, telling CNN in an email, "I somewhat follow the news, but there has been no time in the last 40+ years when someone was not (stirring) the pot."