Bestselling author Donald Jeffries joined guest host Richard Syrett (Twitter) to discuss the topic of bullying and why teachers, principals, and other school officials invariably side with the bullies in the most egregious cases, instead of protecting the victims. "There really is a conspiracy here," Jeffries admitted, noting the social hierarchy in schools and how well popular kids, especially those involved in sports, are treated by the system. Popularity and the lack of attention shown to unpopular kids is the root cause of bullying, he explained. Jeffries further suggested bullying behavior in males actually impresses female students.
He shared the case of a kindergarten girl who came home with numerous marks on her body and school officials claimed she fell. According to Jeffries, there is case after case of students being bullied and nothing is ever done about it. School officials do not appear to notice the harassment and the bullying, however once a victim fights back they spring into action and often punish them more severely than the bully. "[School] is the first place where young people learn that authority figures are corrupt, they're not to be trusted," Jeffries noted. He also talked about the trauma some students carry into adulthood because of bullying, and how some parents lose their children to bullycide (the term for children who kill themselves over bullying).
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During the second half of the program, Zodiac Killer expert Tom Voigt reported on his investigation into the decades-old cold case. Voigt has spent time rummaging through the "Zodiac boxes" collected by law enforcement, which include police reports that have never been made public, as well as intriguing suspects Voigt had never heard of, plus vintage correspondences that could very well be from the killer himself. "The Zodiac could still be alive, he could still be out there, and certainly with DNA and genealogy we could wake up tomorrow and know his identity," he said.
Voigt called the Zodiac a comic book villain comparable to the Joker who wanted the world to know he was out there. He took credit for numerous murders in Northern California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, and taunted police with letters containing details about the killings as well as mysterious ciphers, Voigt explained. The killer claimed the ciphers contained clues to his identity but that information does not appear in the ciphers that have been solved, he added. Voigt talked about the work of document examiner Sherwood Morrill who authenticated the Zodiac's letters, as well as journalist Paul Avery who reported on the Zodiac case. He also commented on the David Fincher film about the Zodiac Killer which he pointed out is not accurate.